The North Pole

We're back up in Fairbanks for our last stretch of the summer and a lot of us got new host familys. We were staying in some dorms at the university of alaska when we were here before but since they found some host familys we are no longer in the dorms. The new host familys just happen to be at the North Pole though. It's a decent drive up here but were definitely gracious to have familys that are willing to take us in. It really is crazy to see how God works in so many different ways and just all over the world. I'm all the way up in North Pole, Alaska and there are people living their lives to serve Jesus Christ. It's really been a great experience to meet people with completely different backgrounds, that live totally different life styles but still have the drive and passion to serve God in everything they do.

I'm having to post from my phone so I do apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. We don't have internet at our host familys house right now but I'm working on a way to post from my computer and get a lot more up.

Love

How often do we use and hear this word in our lives? I think we use this word so often it can make us lose sight of what it really means. What does love really mean anyways? When you hear the words God loves you, it might not mean anything special to you. I think that might happen if we don’t understand what love really is. The love that we know as humans is usually based off of emotions or feelings. The circumstances surrounding us often will dictate our love. This idea is something far from what the bible tells us love really is. The love shown in the bible that God has for us is an unconditional love. It isn’t based off of feelings, circumstances, or anything that we could of possibly done.

1^st Corinthians 13:4-7 says 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

The idea that God has this type of love for us is something almost impossible to understand. The fact that we make so many mistakes in our lives but yet it doesn’t change the way God loves us is really a crazy idea. Another verse that really shows the power of Gods love for us is shown in

Romans 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There’s absolutely nothing in this world that can separate us from how much God loves us. How often do we find ourselves looking for love? Why is it we look in all the wrong places for something God has told us we can only find in Jesus Christ? Why do I look towards baseball, my relationships, or what people think of me for happiness and acceptance? It’s so easy to miss the love that could change our lives when we look in all the wrong places. 

Here's a picture of some of us at the field.

Left to Right

Colby, Marc, Matt, Chad, Harrison, and myself

OIA

We have a term we like to use up here in Alaska. OIA, which stands for Only In Alaska. It’s a beautiful place but you can certainly find some strange things. This picture is with a fans car in the parking lot of one of our games.   

Why follow Jesus?

What would make someone want to devote their life to following Jesus? What makes following Jesus different from other religions like judaism, buddhism, atheism, agnosticism, or humanism? Depending on what you believe or where you stand this question can be very confrontational. I was actually asked this question by a good friend of mine over a year ago and I wasn't sure what the best answer really was. This summer I've learned a lot about why following Jesus is something more real than I could have ever imagined. One point that was brought up to me that I wanted to share was how the world actually views Jesus Christ. In Islam, Jesus is viewed as one of the most important prophets from Allah. Buddhism views Jesus as an enlightened teacher. Other religions view Jesus as merely a man but a great teacher and one of the most influential people in history. Here's the point that was brought up to me that made a lot of sense. When Jesus Christ lived, He openly and repeatedly claimed that He was God. If Jesus claimed He was actually God and the Son of man there are really only 3 options on how He could be viewed. 

1) The first option on how to view Jesus is that he is crazy or psychotic. If a man claimed to actually be God, the creator of the universe, most people would think he's crazy. 

2) The second option of how Jesus could be viewed is as a liar. If a man claims to be God himself in the flesh, I'm sure a lot of people would think he's obviously lying. 

3) The third option of how Jesus could be viewed if He claims to be God himself is  that He's actually right and truly the Son of God. 

It's really weird to me how so many religions or people think of Jesus in a positive light but don't believe He is the Son of God. Claiming to genuinely be God is a pretty bold proclamation. If He's not right about a claim as bold as being God himself, it makes sense he's either crazy or a liar. The other major religions and vast majority of people don't view him negatively though. This really made a lot of sense to me and showed me another reason why Jesus Christ is 100 percent true in everything He says. 

How do you personally view Jesus Christ? If He really was right and is the Son of God, shouldn't we at least read and learn what else He said? If He really was right and there is a God, shouldn't we figure out what He wants from us?

The good news is God wants what's best for you and wants you to be truly happy, and that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. God already loves you even if you don't know Him yet. 

If you want to learn more or even decide whether or not Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I challenge you to read the book of John. When I read and started to understand the book of John, it changed my life.

Games in Kenai and Palmer

While we're in Alaska we travel all over to play the different teams of the Alaska Baseball League. We spend most of our time in Anchorage and Fairbanks but travel to a couple other places as well. The first stretch of games for us was in Anchorage. We then traveled to Palmer for a couple games and then Kenai for a series of games as well. The weather in Anchorage was pretty warm but when we went to Palmer it was a different story. The field was surrounded by snow capped mountains and let's just say it wasn't exactly warm. Heres a few pictures of a game we played in Palmer.

Arriving in Alaska

Taking pictures of the landscape really doesn’t do justice to how beautiful it really is here. The huge snow capped mountains and ocean shorelines certainly make fore great views. We flew into Anchorage and are staying here for a couple days with another host family. This time I’m staying with 5 other guys on the team with a very gracious host family who is housing all 6 of us.  I think the most interesting thing about Alaska so far definitely has to be that it stays light for like 20 or 21 hours a day. It’s been pretty weird playing 7pm games and having the sun out for the entire game.  

Here are some pictures of the landscape on one of our drives.

San Francisco

We were able to make the drive over to San Francisco while we were in California on our off days. We went as a team and visited a lot of different places in the city. I was actually fortunate enough to go back the next day with my host family and Tyler and go to a Giants game to watch Tim Lincecum pitch. Here are some pictures from the two days.

Cows by the Church

We found some cows on the side of the road in California next to our church. Justin got some video footage as we tried feeding a couple of them.