With the completion of week four, we are now halfway through summer training project. Everyday project feels more like a home away from home, and many others feel the same way. Over the weekend we were able to open our doors to host parents and have a co-worker grill out. It was a great opportunity to show our parents what we’ve been up to this summer. Parents got to meet each other and enjoy breakfast together before listening to Patch, Derek, and Brittany talk about Campus Outreach as a whole and how Project specifically has been foundational for us. The grill out gave us time to get to know our co-workers from Walmart, Chick-fil-A, and Surfside Chapel outside of a work setting. We all enjoyed getting to host the people we’ve been working with for the last month.
This week at life training we heard from Zach Simmons about how we are commissioned to work and should use it to glorify God. This was an interesting topic for many of us since society has conditioned us to believe that the main purpose of work is to make money when we should be using it to glorify Him in the process. Through different jobs, we get to glorify him in different ways. Knowing that we are all entering the workforce within the next few years it is comforting to know how we can still help further the kingdom in whatever we do after graduation.
At evangelism training this week we heard Ryan share about how God’s role and ours work together to share the gospel and change people’s hearts. When we take up God’s commission, it’s easy to put pressure on ourselves and feel like we need to fulfill both roles, however, we are to share the gospel and then let God work in people’s hearts. For God says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) Because God is doing the work and we are simply sharing it, he receives the glory alone. An analogy to help understand this is that we are an axe and God is the lumberjack. An axe cannot boast about the trees it cuts down when it's only a piece of old iron once set aside, but with the lumberjack, it can achieve its purpose.
During word training, Billy spoke about the protection of God’s word. This talk aimed to help us understand how the Bible can fight against sin, temptation, and lies both proactively and reactively. From Ephesians 6:11-17 we are told to put on the armor of God, that will protect us from the schemes of the devil. The truth is our belt, the breastplate our righteousness, and the shoes are readiness given by the gospel of peace. It also says to have the shield of faith in all circumstances. These together are the protection the Lord has given us. A way to always keep the armor of God with us is to memorize scripture. Throughout this summer we have been memorizing a verse a week to keep in our hearts, so we have the protection that has been given to us when in a time of need. Billy shared a new memorization method with us called the 10/10/10 method. A verse is read 10 times, written 10 times, and recited 10 times. We practiced this all together and quickly learned how easy it is to memorize. This is something that doesn’t take a large amount of time but has great value in the long run.
Overall, this week has really set in how great God’s love for us is. God eagerly works with us through our daily jobs to satisfy us and glorify him. As time continues each day is sweeter as we grow together towards the Lord more. It is evident through everything we learn that each piece of enlightenment is coming together to form a deeper understanding of who God is. We are excited to see the fruit of this summer as we continue our walk with him.
Thanks for reading and as always stay tuned for more updates!
