House Sitting And Kids Adventure Weekend

The beginning of this month has been like no other. I started it out house sitting for my closest friend and their family. I'll be honest, I wasn't to excited about it at first. I was going to be in someone else's home for 5 days and 4 nights ALONE. Now, I'm a introvert, I like to be alone, so I should have been excited. The family left right after church Sunday, and that's where it all started. First I had a fever, I laid on the sofa, my bed for the next few days, and flipped back and forth between baseball and NASCAR. Eventually I settled into a couple movies and tried to relax.

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Monday morning came and it hit hard. God showed up in this time and wanted to take care of a few things in my life. By the end of the day I had nine handwritten pages of personal growth that God worked on. It was a hard day, God used it to expose the lies spoken over my life by the world.

The lies that I am a failure, no one wants me around, I don't look good, I'm not good enough, or that I'm not worthy. Many of these lies that have been around for years, taking deep roots and robbing me of the identity I have in Christ. As God exposed these lies, several that I didn't even know about, it felt like God's hand was reaching deep into my heart, soul, and spirit and pulling on the very roots of these lies. God wanted these things out of my life because they are not who I am and who I'm called to be.

Now God just didn't pull out all the lies and leave a void. Oh no, once He clears out space He fills it. God started to fill that void with truth. That, I am not a failure, I am more than a conquerer, that I am loved, a child of a Most High King, and I am worthy to do the work of God. These are strong truths, something I need to remind myself of everyday. God has called me to do things in His kingdom. God looks past all my weaknesses, where I fall short and sees me as His Child. God trusts me.

The next couple days went well. Watched some movies and cleaned my friend's house to be a blessing to them. The entire family came home a day early. They were camping and that night it stormed and their tents leaked, so they came home early for it was going to storm again their final night. It was nice to be back around people. We unloaded the van, ate, cleaned up, and eventually the kids went to bed. I asked my friend to pray for me that night. As they finished I got more clarity on the calling God has placed on my life. It was amazing. 

A couple days later I found myself helping at my church for the KidZone Adventure Weekend. I was asked to help with production and take photos. There is nothing like running around with two cameras taking still shots of the kids and adults having a blast. And during the times in the auditorium I was also running a video camera while taking still shots. I had a blast. Over the course of two days I must have taken between 300 and 400 photos. There was a point during all this that I was sitting on the floor near the stage where out of nowhere a child comes and sits on me. It was different, this kid just sat down and started talking to me and asking questions. When they were done they got up and left. 

The final thing of the weekend happened once again at my friend's house. It was after church last Sunday. I found myself watching Disney channel with the kids. Later playing card games like UNO and go-fish. After I made dinner, pancakes, we watched some movies together. Here we all are sitting in the living room and the kids all wrapped up in blankets sit around me. When I was alone later that night and had time to think, I wondered if what happened today was what being a father would be like? 

In all I had an amazing time. God did so much in me from my time alone, to serving at church and spending time with my friend and their family. It was a blessing.