Access

The world is getting smaller. There are three McDonald’s and a Starbucks in tiny, post-cold war, formerly communist Bulgaria, half a world away from their American roots.  We passed one of the McDonald’s on our way from the Sofia airport to the town of Pernik where the Service Project is being held.  If people in Sofia want a nice dinner out on the town, they go to McDonald’s (open 24 hours a day). Most of the buildings I’ve seen in Bulgaria are crumbling; poverty is everywhere, their hospitals and schools are sub-par, but one can get a caramel macchiato at Starbucks.

It’s a funny world we live in, isn’t it?  A world of irony and oxymoron’s and unfairness.  The people of Bulgaria have access to a Big Mac but not proper health care. Teenagers in America have access to the best coaches, the best computers, the best malls, the best clothes and yet many have limited access to their parents. They are often unreachable because they work too much or they’re distracted too often by their phones or their tv’s.

This week in Bulgaria, the kids who came on the service project have access to the entire world. They go to excellent schools in England, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany. Their parents run oil companies and international conglomerates and foreign Embassies. There is no doubt they will attend college and go on amazing vacations; they’ll see more of the world than most of us ever will, and if their health is at risk, they’ll go to the best doctors and hospitals. 

 A little Young Life fun around the town of Pernik yesterday!

We were a tourist attraction, too.

Program team selfie

Yet none of this access matters when compared to eternity. It’s our access to the King of kings that really matters.  The older I get, the more responsibility, the more money, the more notoriety I receive, I can’t help but hear the echo of this truth ring through these empty accomplishments. Each of them has an end. God’s kingdom has no end.

So a team of about 40 people has worked for many months before and for many hours since last Wednesday to put together a Service Project in Bulgaria so that we could tell these world-rich teenagers that it’s better to be poor in spirit so that you can inherit the rich kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3). Instead of piling up accomplishments and treasures on earth that fade and diminish, it’s best to pile up treasures in heaven that never end.

The best way we know how to share this “access” to God’s kingdom is to tell them about the One who is the access- JESUS.  He is the gate and the door who beckons us to come to the Father, the bread of life who sustains every need, the vine who gives life & growth, the Shepherd who guides and protects, the resurrection & the life who conquer death; He is our comfort, our peace, our everything. It is in Jesus that ALL things hold together. The world is not held together by Ambassadors or billionaires or geniuses but by the perfect Son of God who gives us access to a Kingdom lined with streets of gold and a river of life, one with no tears and no pain but with the glorious wellspring of everlasting joy.

Thanks for reading these thoughts & for caring about my time here in Bulgaria. It's been fun and hard work to pull off a week of YL camp NOT at a YL camp. But I've loved it! I've met and worked with some incredible people- so loving and selfless. As you remember, please pray for the kids & leaders and for our assigned team. Pray for the speaker, Brooke Johnston. Please pray for the Bulgarians we meet, for the language barrier and all the hiccups that come with what we are trying to do (like this morning the water at the hotel just kind of ran out...). Most of all, please pray that Jesus would lifted up in our words & deeds and that kids would fall in love with Him!

Enjoy some pictures:

The view from my hotel room. The town is at the edge of the mountains in Bulgaria.

The assigned team eating dinner before camp starts.

Speaking of access, we can get Coke Zero here! (Still haven't seen Diet Coke or "Coke Light")

Madi helping out on one of the job sites with the kids

One of the schools where we are building a playground (the service project part of the week)... very "communist" looking around here

these types of apartments are all over Pernik. I've barely seen any houses. Just lots of cement and straight lines!

There is some beauty in this town- the snow-capped mountains off in a distance.

more service project work!

the kids eating dinner at the hotel... please pray for the students from Munich, London, Brussels, Kandern & Basel.

a close up of what most apartment buildings look like. 

sweet little boy I met at one of the schools

the main square in Pernik... can you say cement?

Very typical of apartments in Pernik

there's an old fortress that dates back to the 11th century, high on a hill in Pernik. The kids headed up there yesterday during their scavenger hunt!

part of the fortress... 11th century! and the Bulgarian flag

catapult from the middle ages

They use the same alphabet as the Russian language...the Cyrillic alphabet.

graffiti everywhere

a snail I saw yesterday... and it was moving at a snail's pace! Bulgarian wildlife :)

Little Pernik neighborhood

I love all the tile on the roofs of the older homes- before communism :)

so many cute little ladies tending to their little houses :)

Do you speak English?

One of the gorgeous sites in Vienna- inside Schonbrunn Palace!

   These few days in Austria (and Slovakia) have been fun and enjoyable. Right now I'm sitting at the airport in Vienna waiting for my flight to Sofia, Bulgaria where I'll be working for the next 10 days. 

    In the mean time, let me share a few adventures from the past few days: 

 There are some new & old friends with me here in Vienna- all make up the assigned team for the camp in Bulgaria. Namely- Madi Smith who is my program side kick and Kristin Farren who is a Wolfpack girl now in Colorado. The rest of the friends are new to me and work in YL camping in Colorado. 

We visited Schonbrunn Palace on Monday. Madi and I took the tour of the inside (pics below) and we all enjoyed a beautiful day around Vienna. The highlights were the delicious desserts. (I did try the Wiener Schnitzel but didn't love it... it's veal. I didn't know either) 

We also heard several musicians around the city - cellos, violins, accordions. It was nice to hear music in the city where music was born.

The Vienna Opera house! 

 
  
   Lots of horse-drawn carriages around Vienna! Enjoy more pictures at the bottom of the page. 

European Adventure Take 1

          Well, I’ve been in Vienna for a little over  two hours and so far it’s been memorable: I was the VERY last person off my plane; I caught (like a baby) an elderly woman who was in front of me on the escalator when she fell back on me; I had zero people in line in front of me at customs (read: everyone had already left because I was THE last person off the plane…. and they are really trustworthy in Austria. The customs lady looked at me and then my passport and then gave me a grunt to say you’re through). I’ve paid $65 for a cab ride and $7 for a latte and was a spectator at a marathon which included many children, people on rasor scooters, several men running barefoot (not those weird toe shoes, actually barefoot) MANY women and a few very secure men participating with walking sticks and long strides (read: Phil Dunphy) And a few seniors on bikes.

        Speaking of secure men, I've seen many men wearing headbands. Not just sweatbands but headbands. I can dig it. And a special treat was when I arrived at the hostel, there was a line of 50 or so Italian teenagers checking in before me and 10 or so of their European buddies blowing smoke in my face as I rolled my massive American suitcase on the sidewalk to be put in storage bc check in is at 2:00, and it wasn't even 11 yet. It’s currently 5 am in America. I want to go to sleep but I’m sitting at a café on a street in Vienna, watching a marathon, drinking coffee. OH and I just got weirdly yelled at by a man in German. He stopped at my table and put his face really close to my computer and yelled a kind of siren sound for about 10 seconds. I'm still a little freaked out.

       Other things I’ve seen a lot of so far: pigeons, small cars, the word Wien (I think that’s Vienna in German?), really long words that look fake and really funny English names for food and restaurants like Chicken Run and Kebap Pizza Palace. Also I’ve seen a lot of dogs and children and did I mention the people smoking? Oh and really annoyed people at the airport. (maybe I was looking in the mirror at that moment?)

       What I haven’t seen, on this Sunday morning, is anyone who seems like they are going to church or coming from church. I’m sure they are here somewhere. At least I hope they are. But I’m guessing like most of Europe, the Christ-followers and church-goers are dwindling. 

That’s ultimately why I’m here. I’m on my way to Bulgaria (with a few scenic days in Austria) to share Jesus with a bunch of Europeans through Young Life. I’m always excited for an adventure and a new place, but what I hope to report when my time is over, is that I saw many people come to a saving faith in Jesus.

So please pray for me (doing program, connecting with kids & leaders, helping break down walls) and the many friends from the States (who arrive to Vienna soon) and from all over Europe who will be serving together. Will you pray James 4:8 over the kids whom we will be serving... that they will draw near to God and that we will help them draw near. I cling to his promise that if we draw near to him, He will draw near to us. 

Prepare Him Room

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139:23-24

The other day I had a scheduled solitude day. That means phone off, in my living in room in my chair and a few hours of uninterrupted listening, reading, praying and journaling. It's usually difficult to settle into that time, but it is always refreshing and refocusing. I've said it before, but it is a gift that we are required to take one every month. 

This particular day I woke up and did some things around the house, got my coffee, sent some emails. As I was thinking about my time, I felt God leading me to have some confession time with Him, to specifically confess some specific sin. 

Ughhhhhh I thought. I don't want to do that. I don't want to dig in and remember that ugly stuff that I know is not honoring to God and that I know isn't light to others but darkness. I don't want to be ashamed of what I've thought or done or said. I don't want to admit weakness. Ughhhhh. 

But I sat down, and I gave in. Ok, Lord, bring it up to the surface. Let me be broken over it because I know it breaks your heart. More than that, I know you hate it. God hates sin. Let me remember that you died for this sin, before I committed it, knowing that I was going to deny you more times than Peter and choose riches and personal gain more times than Judas. 

Then as I sat, God gave me a little picture of confession. He knows I'm simple-minded, so He gave me a simple picture. The guys with the big dump truck were driving down my street sucking up dead leaves that lined both sides of my street. Big piles, lots of dead leaves. I sat by the window and just watched the beautiful clean up. They were sucking up those leaves and getting rid of them. Bringing the street back to its intended state- clean, usable, not crowded with decaying leaves, plenty of room for movement, plenty of room for people to enter in and to leave. 

You see where I'm going with this... what a picture of our lives and sin and confession. If it sticks around in decaying, dark piles then it keeps us in a state in which we weren't intended. If our sin stays in the darkness of our hearts and minds then it decays our hearts and minds instead of freeing them. It keeps piles of shame and sin around. Who knows what is hiding in it? Addiction that needs to be dealt with, self-hate that needs to be lifted, pride that God opposes? 

When we confess- whether on paper or to a person we've wronged- we bring that sin into the light and we take away its power. We are able to ask forgiveness and believe the truth of Psalm 103:8-12: 

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever; 
 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Autumn is a beautiful time- the changing leaves are gorgeous, but they are dead and dying. They are trying to get out of the way for new life, new fruit. We would never want to hinder that process. We should feel the same way about sin and confession. Out with the old and in with the new. For me, that can be painful, but it is so worth it. 

In light of the Advent season starting today, let's take time to "prepare Him room" in our hearts and enjoy the gift of confession and the covering and cleansing of our sins by the life and death of Jesus. He who knew no sin became our sin so we could be set free and have everlasting, fruitful life. 

 

confidence

This morning at church I saw a man singing with joy, raising his hands, huge smile on his face, to the lyrics, "I am bound for promised land." I love that song (On Jordan's Stormy Banks) because it talks about the promise we have to look forward to when earth passes away and when we leave this painful, troublesome, sinful life for the one where there are no more tears, no more pain and where only God and His goodness abound. 

A visitor at church this morning, seeing this man, might've thought, what a sweet picture of a happy man, but I happen to know this man is dying of cancer. And what I saw was not dismay or sadness about his deteriorating health or impending death. I saw pure confidence- confidence in the Father, in His promises, in the fact that indeed, sooner than later, he would be in the promised land with Jesus. 

That is the confidence that we all long for. Everyone feels it. Some of us think it's worldly confidence or success or maybe even wealth that will satisfy the longing. Something to fill us up. However, what this man knows is that it's not a filling up but an emptying. An emptying of all things this world has, all things that cause pain- envy, greed, laziness, sin, hatred, dead-end relationships- and a filling up of the Holy Spirit. That's where we will find this confidence- one that brings no fear in life or death.  

Every now and then we get a glimpse of this confidence- singing praise songs, seeing a breathtaking view of God's creation, when someone is truly selfless. I see it at Young Life camp and when I'm studying scripture. And we ask, what is it? Why do I "feel" it at those times? Well, it's because we've emptied ourselves and opened the door for Jesus to be the center, the fulfillment, the focus. 

Everything else, everyone else, will leave you longing for more. They will leave you in a place of insecurity and wariness. Everything else, everyone else, will make you question and search and thirst. Jesus alone fulfills.

A few months ago, I heard a friend say that what changed his life was when his mentor said to him, "if you're going to live like heaven and hell don't exist, you better be absolutely sure." If you are in Christ, you can be sure. And that will radically change your life here and your life for eternity. I guess my question for your is, are you absolutely sure? Does your life show confidence or insecurity? 

And we don't know when that life will end. We don't know when that confidence, that surety will come into question. So as I was reminded by my pastor this morning, what if you knew it was today? Would you argue, complain, cheat, be lazy? Or would you share, serve, love, enjoy? Since we don't know what day or what hour we will take our last breath, let's live in that confidence that comes in Christ alone, being joyful even in sorrow, being secure even in trouble. (Matthew 24:36-44)  

 On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, 
 and cast a wishful eye 
 to Canaan's fair and happy land, 
 where my possessions lie. 

 (Chorus) I am bound for the promised land, 
 I am bound for the promised land; 
 oh, who will come and go with me? 
 I am bound for the promised land. 

 O'er all those wide extended plains 
 shines one eternal day; 
 there God the Son forever reigns, 
 and scatters night away. 
 
 No chilling winds or poisonous breath 
 can reach that healthful shore; 
 sickness and sorrow, pain and death, 
 are felt and feared no more. 

 When I shall reach that happy place, 
 I'll be forever blest, 
 for I shall see my Father's face, 
 and in his bosom rest.

The Secret of The Centurion

                                                 My grandfather, M.O. Owens

    

    A couple weeks ago (Sept 4th) my grandfather "Papa" turned 100 years old. A century. Born in 1913. In his lifetime, he's witnessed/been affected by/been a part of: World War I and II, the roaring 20's, women's suffrage, the Great Depression, segregation, the civil rights movement, Watergate, JFK, Martin Luther King, hippies, the first man on the moon, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, the war in Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, oil shortages, recessions, along with the birth of the internet, cell phones, television, the automobile industry, records, 8 tracks, cassette tapes, cd's, dvd's, mp3s, ipods, laptops ... the list could go on. 

    When I stop and think about that list, I cannot comprehend the amount of change he's seen in his lifetime. As a boy, his family bartered for sugar during the Great Depression, yet now he can visit a drive-thru and swipe a piece of plastic that somehow communicates through the air to tell money from his bank account to "jump" into theirs.  

    As we've celebrated his life and accomplishments, many cannot believe all he's done, the lives he's touched, the legacy he's created. Many have asked him, "what's your secret to making it to 100?" When I spent time with him during his birthday weekend and asked the same question, he laughed and simply couldn't answer.

    From my observations, he does some practical things like exercises weekly by playing golf, eats well & not too much, hasn't ever smoked, reads a lot, does crossword puzzles to keep his mind sharp, has lots of friends to help him laugh, and he "exercises" his brain by writing a monthly newsletter & working on a couple books. Daily, he navigates through the interruption of phone calls and emails while also writing 2 sermons per week. He socializes with the other residents in his building and with friends from church and golfing, and of course he studies his Bible. 

   During our visit I asked him a few more questions and learned his favorite books of the Bible are Isaiah and Philippians (because it's so down to earth). He watches very little tv (ballgames mainly), and if you look around his little apartment you'll see a lot of books, magazines and pictures of his family. He loves fruit and decaf coffee, has lots of plants around his place, and if he stops to eat lunch, it's usually just a bowl of soup. 

   Before I left, I asked again, about his life well-lived. He said, "well really, I just take it a day at a time. I've never really looked ahead. Today's the day, so I pay attention to today." To him, it has never been a secret. It's been a decision... to live his life in a way that honors God- active, full, doing rather than being, immersed in the Word rather than in the world. 

   So let me answer for him. His secret is that he lives each day like James 2: "faith without works is dead" and Colossians 4: "make the most of every opportunity." He sees life like James 4: "we are not promised tomorrow... your life is but a vapor."

  In Colossians 1:27, Paul talks about the secret to life, the mystery that was hidden for the ages until Jesus came on the earth. That secret is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And that is how my Papa lives- Christ is IN him so that everyone around him is given hope. This secret defines my grandfather's amazing life. 

   When we live with Christ in us, no matter how many days we draw breath, "[Jesus] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me."  Colossians 1:28-29

  

Missing in Action

 An update from my summer...

Well, it's been over four months since I've written on here & a lot has happened. You could say I've been "missing in action." Another school year of YL ended with new leaders, new ministries and new lives changed. I went to Europe for 3 weeks with 6 friends from BHS Young Life where we backpacked around 4 countries & worked at a camp in the French Alps (I know, not too shabby). I went to YL camp for 4 weeks where I dressed up like a penguin, wore a camoflauge dress with sequins and hot pink netting, lost my voice from too much singing, talking, and screaming and saw hundreds of teenagers from Raleigh and all over the US cross over from death to life as they heard the Gospel. And I spent a very fun week at the beach with my whole family and only slept in my own bed about 4 times all summer. 

                                         Documenting the sites we were seeing in Barcelona! 

                                 Laughing & trying to stay dry during a bike ride through Paris! 

                            Raleigh kids & leaders at Sharp Top Cove- a YL camp in North Georgia.

                              One of my program characters- "Sunny"- about to go on stage.

                                                 Yes, this is my job. I get paid to do this! :) 

                    And my 6 cute, hilarious, wild, playful nephews at our family beach week.


 And there are some changes in my life...

Since about 1995, I've been doing ministry with high school students- mainly through Young Life but also at my church and even in Uganda. This summer I made the leap into college ministry with the start of Young Life College at NC State and Meredith. A lot feels the same, but there are many differences. I'm sure, when I can actually find some time I will write about those differences here. 

One of things that feels the same is that we're still dealing with adolescence (and adolescents). Does that sentence even make sense? Well, if you need a reminder, adolescence is the period of development when a person moves from being a child to being an adult. Fifty years ago, adulthood started at 18. Today, adulthood seems to start at 22 or 25 even. Many may frown on this shift and think parents need to stop enabling, and kids need to start taking responsibility. Well, I'm choosing to look at it in a positive way- A longer adolescence means there are 4 (or 5) more years of development, where young people can actually grow and learn and discover and be shaped into people who love, serve and give. 

I want to be a part of this development at every stage- because I see so many lost and searching teenagers being shaped by the dead end pursuit of popularity, partying, materialism, and success, to name a few. These pursuits seem to temporarily fill that longing for eternity, but we all know, they never satisfy. And so many young people have taken what God created to be good- relationships, work, money, pleasure, learning and sex- and perverted His intentions. I want to be one of the truth tellers- of God's goodness, so that they can quit fumbling in the darkness and enjoy the freedom of the light.

Because of this trend and need we've seen in young people, in the past 2 years we have widened our focus in Raleigh Young Life to include outreach to middle schoolers and college students. While this has been extremely overwhelming personally, I am beyond excited about what God is doing and how He is using us to share the love of Christ to more people. 

The more I learn about the freedom, the fullness, the completion that Jesus gives, the more I want to share it. As many think that it's about God's rules and religion around us, I am convinced that it's about God's passion and power for us.

Please pray for me, for wisdom and generosity, for faith and reliance solely on the Lord.