Is God Enough?

Is God Enough?

As God has led me on this journey of starting up H15 Ministries, my wife and I have felt like we were taking some big leaps of faith. Don't get me wrong, we have stepped out on faith, but big leaps? Maybe not as much as we thought. Some of the leaps we took were big for us at the time but looking back I can see the net that I was making sure was there and I realize now that I wasn't leaping very far.

As time has passed, there have been more leaps and some have been bigger than others but looking back I realize once again that I was still hanging onto something that I could control and instead of actually leaping in faith, I was just leaping.

We have been following God's will and He has been working in some amazing ways as the ministry gets started. The issue wasn't that we weren't doing the right thing, it was that we still had a lot more to learn about following God! God has been gentle in His lessons but nevertheless, He has been teaching some hard things!

The president of our board was talking to me one day and said there was a book he wanted me to read. He handed me the book by Phil Vischer entitled "Me Myself & Bob". It is the story of how Veggie Tales got started by God giving a kid playing around with film equipment and watching MTV a vision to provide the world with good quality Christian children's videos. Phil very honestly tells the story of how Big Idea got started and how it grew and grew and how he allowed his pride to get in the way and all at once his dreams came crashing down around him and he was left with nothing but the question, "Why, God?" At the end of the book he talks about what he learned and how a recording of a sermon that his mom gave him posed the biggest question he would ever have to try to answer, "Is God enough?"

I have been wrestling with that question myself now. It is easy to say God is enough when we are looking for a quick and easy answer to some simple dilemma we are facing. When face a problem and say God is enough, it is great but it goes far far deeper!

As I strive to walk on faith I have realized that there were things that I was assuming God and I agreed were important. Things like food, shelter, clothes, my family, my health, you know, the necessities. Of course I can trust God because I know He's not going to let my house get repossessed or my kids get killed in a car accident, after all, I told Him I'm walking on faith and trusting Him so He wouldn't let me down, I'm His child, right?

RIGHT???

GOD??? That's right isn't it???

What if God's will for my life isn't to have those things? What if at the end of it all, He knows that the very best way to use me in His divine plan is to allow me to lose everything? What if the day comes when I find out that I am losing my home? What if I find out my family is suddenly and tragically gone?

IS GOD STILL GOING TO BE ENOUGH FOR ME THEN??????

Truly walking on faith means that I can't assume that God is going to keep me happy healthy and wealthy. In fact, He promises to provide all my needs but the thing is, He decides what I need, not me. What if He decides all I need is Him...just Him and nothing else?

Am I willing to surrender myself so completely to God that no matter what He decides to allow me to go through I will still come before His throne and worship Him with love and adoration? I want to have that kind of faith. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I like having a home to live in and of course I hope that God isn't planning to take those things away from me but if He does, Will I still love Him?

I'm standing on a cliff which has no bottom in sight, no net to fall into and no ladder coming back up and God just asked me to jump. Will I? Would you jump?

Here I go....

Can I help, Daddy?

Photo Credit: Southern Blessings

Daddy, Can I help you work?

By Andy Schafer
 

If you have children, you have probably had this experience. Your toddler is fascinated by what you are doing and wants to help.

Can they help? Probably not. At best, they won't hinder what you're doing but help? Rarely does the help of a toddler make the task go smoother or faster!

As the months have passed and the renovation of the Teen Center progresses, there have been many times that I have looked at what needed done and tried to make sure everything is in order. Sometimes I'm able to get a few ducks in a row but most of the time I feel like I'm running just a little bit behind! Sometimes we are right down to the wire and there isn't enough money, or sometimes we are trying to get ready for a work crew to come in and everything goes awry and I don't even get close! There are days when I have great plans to accomplish a lot of work and nothing gets done at all because of all the unexpected things that come up.

I go to God frequently and ask Him to help me accomplish whatever I feel needs accomplished. 

The other morning I was praying about all the things that needed to get done and reminding God of what I had to do. It suddenly hit me:

I was trying to do the work!

I realized that I was like that toddler who really didn't know what I was doing but was still trying to help my Daddy with HIS tasks! I realized I was getting in the way more than I was helping.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I should just go sit on the couch and watch cartoons and expect God to get everything done, but I need to allow Him to work through me. I need to keep moving forward but trust that each step, each conversation, each hammer stroke, and each load of debris hauled away, are part of His plan. 

If some stranger unexpectedly sees me working and asks what we're doing and I spend an hour sharing the vision instead of working, that's OK, God planned it.

If the day before a work crew comes and there still isn't money to buy the materials I think we need to have on hand, that's OK, God has different work planned.

I need to watch God at work with awe and wonder at how cool He is and how nothing ever stumps Him, and if He gives me a hammer and says "hit that board for me" I'll do what He asks and not question it. And at the end of the day, I'll realize that He is awesome at planning. Just being there to watch Him work is an amazing honor and privilege!

So now, I try my best to say,

Daddy, what cool thing do I get to watch you do today?

It's so much nicer, not being in charge! God does a much better job!!! 

Faith and Time

Faith and Time
By Andy Schafer

As we have been working to get this ministry off the ground I have spent a lot of time in prayer. God has been stretching my faith and allowing me to go through some pretty uncertain times! I have to admit that there have been days when I wondered if I really did hear God’s voice calling me to open this Teen Center!

The beauty of God’s will is that it is going to happen. For every doubt I’ve experienced over the past several months He’s given me several confirmations that this is His will! This morning as I was praying, He allowed me to have a pretty powerful realization that has blown my mind! I wanted to share it with you.

We are in the beginning stages of raising the money for the down payment on the buildings and it has been slow going! I found out yesterday that we have been given a deadline of May 1st to have financing in place or the purchase agreement we made will no longer be binding. I was praying this morning and asking God to guide me as we try to raise these funds. As I sat there praying I knew in my head that God is already taking care of it. However, it hit me like a ton of bricks that God is outside of time and that from His perspective, He isn’t going to take care of it, He is taking care of it right now!

I try to walk in faith that God is guiding me. I think we can all agree that faith is a pretty tough thing to grow and no matter how hard we try, doubts will creep in sometimes! I realized this morning though, that God is working in all of time simultaneously! As I sit here writing this, He is working in future me to help some teenager through a tough time, He is working in 5 year old me as I kneel and ask Him to be my savior, He is working in 23 year old me as I ask Tammy out for our first date and He is welcoming me home as I reach the end of my time here on earth. And here’s the kicker, He is doing all those things RIGHT NOW! He doesn’t need to plan ahead for things because all of time is laid out before Him and he is working in all of it at once. Everything that has ever happened or ever will happen is happening right now for God! God doesn’t exist in time, time exists in God!

So when we are struggling with our faith, all we need to remember is that at the very moment we are on our knees asking God for help, He has already helped us. We just need to wait for the flow of time that we live in to bring us to the place where we can see what He has already done!

This has given me a different outlook. Faith is a little easier when we realize that when we ask something of God, He has already taken action before we ever think of asking! He sees the steps that led us to make the request as well as what comes of the request and nothing is going to be able to stop Him from doing His will!

Beginnings

Beginnings

October 27th 2015 is going to be a special date for me.

On that day I finally obeyed God’s leading to start a Christian youth center in Millersburg, Ohio. I picked up my phone and made a call that set the wheels in motion for what has been one of the most amazing rides in my life! Since that day, God has been opening doors, knocking down barriers, and confirming over and over that He is in charge and that Tammy and I just need to follow His will and watch this become a reality!

So what’s happening so far?

We are set up as a bonafide non-profit ministry and have come to an agreement to purchase buildings downtown. We have talked with many people who are excited to help support this new ministry through volunteer time in the renovation process as well as financially. We are constantly discussing ideas for what we can do with the teens and ways we can help make their lives better. We are looking forward eagerly to the day that we can really start reaching out to the hurting youth of our area and letting them know that they are loved!

So how can you help?

First and always foremost is prayer! Pray for God’s guidance for us as well as His provision! Pray for the teens that we will be reaching out to. Pray for the staff and volunteers that will be serving in the center.

The immediate need right now is finances. We need to raise money for the down payment on the buildings and commitments to regular monthly support to show the bank that we will be able to make the payments and operate the ministry. Once the buildings are purchased we will need manpower and supplies for cleaning and renovations!

I am excited to watch God working! I am humbled that He would choose me to be a part of this great work! I am proud to be serving alongside of a great group of people who love God and have the same passion to serve Him!

Thank you for taking an interest in this ministry. I hope you’ll be around for the long haul because if the past four months are any indication of what God intends to do, you won’t want to miss any of what’s to come!

Stay tuned to this channel, I’ll do my best to keep you all up to date!