Comments on: denver blog 08

By: A cup of cold water

A cup of cold water — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:39:54 +0000

Mikey: Hi my name is Michael Flammini, and this is Meghan Mahoney. And we would like to share with you something special that went on in Denver

Meghan: You might have received a cup of cold water today while walking into church. Well while in Denver, we did something called “cups of cold water” led by Jude. What we did was we went up to an unsuspecting person and offered them a cup of cold water. It was that simple. Then we tried to get to know them and when we felt comfortable we would try to bring up our faith. We brought scripture tracks or pamphlets and DVDs with us to hand out.

Mikey: while our leader was explaining in detail, much better than what we can do, something was going in my mind. I was thinking “Oh man, what are we doing? I am about to go up some random person and share my faith.” I was terrified, were you Meghan? What would people think of us? Well, our devotion for that day had a lot to do with what we were going through. The verse that went with the situation was Second Chronicles 20:15 “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” After remembering this verse, I put all my fears aside and I went out there and picked my first target. Still unsure while walking up, I offered the water to them, and before long became comfortable with all of my surroundings.

Meghan: We went to two places: a bus stop and a skate park. We went to this skate park and we were all really scared. Not only were these people strangers, but they were our age, so it would be basically like trying to share our faith with our peers. Most teens don’t care and we figured that out right when we got there. A bunch of teens came up to get water, but skated off and we had no chance to talk to them. After a little while, Mikey, Emily and I started walking around and handing out water. We stopped and talked to this one guy who said he was a non- believer, but let us pray for him anyway. After we prayed for him he thanked us and skated off.

Mikey: This experience has shown us that we can share our faith anywhere, because we feel God leading us to people who need to hear the gospel. We’re just His instruments. He gives us confidences, and sometimes even the words to help others understand the gift of salvation. And I think I speak for everyone when I say we all have been changed for the better because of this experience. Thank you!

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:48:33 +0000

You know college, life, and other stuff. All I know is that I have no idea what God wants me to do with my life as a career. So wherever God decides to put me that’s where I will go I guess.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:44:17 +0000

Tim,

Not bad young man. it has been fun to watch this part of your spiritual quest, thanks for letting me walk with you for a while (would have lovedto have seen this trip). What a great question to end your message with, so it begs to be asked – “what’s next?”

Todd

By: cheese

cheese — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:44:32 +0000

Tim,
You are just amazing. I love your writtings you have a way with words. God truly did work through all of us. As you know Crystal, my daughter was very impressed with what you had to say the night at Red Rocks.
Just so you all know she left me a vm saying how she was so amazed at the love everyone showed to her and the boys. When she asked me why everyone was so nice I told her because you have the love of Jesus in you. In her vm she wanted me to tell all of you how much you influenced her without you really knowing. She said that she wants to find a fun church like ours because she knows how much I love ours because I always “work” for the church. She also said that she wants her boys to be in a yg so that they will be like you guys. She said Daniel makes a very good leader, her description he’s extreme, crazy and fun who wouldn’t want to follow him. Hopefully I can play the vm at YG. She said she hopes we include her next year when we come to Denver.
So my thanks to all of you guys for who you are and for loving my family. Hey Tim you are so right God showed us how to LOVE.

By: Mrs. Z

Mrs. Z — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:19:25 +0000

Tim, It was amazing to hear your recap of the trip the other night. Your stories were heart warming and heart wrenching. Your outspokeness about your love of the Lord is a challenge and a lesson to us all. I will continue to pray for God to work in your heart.

Mrs. Z

By: Dona

Dona — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:20:15 +0000

Hey Tim,
Thank you for verbalizing what God did in your life while ministering in Denver. Isn’t it amazing that the more you give, the more you come away loving Jesus?
I am so blessed to have read your journal. It’s a challenge to my heart! Dona Eggar

By: Mrs. Marina

Mrs. Marina — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:38:40 +0000

Wow Tim, Thank you for sharing this in writing for all to read. Also I loved hearing your heart from your journal.
Love you

By: A Jesus Warrior

A Jesus Warrior — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:41:19 +0000

This writing comes from a service trip to Denver with a group of 10 people. We went in Christians; we came out soldiers in the name of Christ. Written by Tim, a member of this “Jesus Army.”
The Body of Christ has always had such a strong meaning to me. We are connected by something so much stronger than ourselves. That one common bond I would never replace for anything. Yet before this trip I have never seen this body work so well together. Seeing each piece using their different talents to bring out the love of Jesus: Jake with his new leadership, Emily with her compassion, Josh with his jokes and constant vigilance to see what God is trying to show him, Mikey with his goofiness, Brianne with her contagious energy, Steve with his new found focus, Meghan with her new confidence, Daniel and Cheese with their laid back leadership and ability to allow us to follow God’s call with whatever tools we needed. Then there’s me… all I can say is that I am the crazy one in the group. We were all God’s hands and feet using the opportunities that only God could have given us. We did not miss one call to spread the Good News… let’s call it the Great News. We spread this little thing called love, as a body.
Great now you have me talking about love. This is going to take forever isn’t it? I went into the trip wondering what love truly is. Just hoping that God would give me this grand definition and boy was I wrong. I got a much better answer than that. I know you’re probably thinking of 1 Corinthians 13 as a definition and I would have to disagree. I think that that verse is the best way to say what love is in a way that humans can put into words. The thing is from this trip I learned that love is so much more. One would never be able to put into words what it truly is. The very first question that I will ask God when I get to heaven will be “What is love?” Even though I can not say what it is, our group showed that love. That perfect love that only one man could have given us by dieing for us. He brought hope to the world and a way to be with our Great Father in heaven. He sacrificed his life! Now we can be saved. That man was Jesus and we were Jesus to people in Denver. It came from our hearts, our love. We poured our love into little cups of water to give out at a skate park and a bus stop. We sat next to homeless and talked with them. Mikey and Josh started a new ministry called “The Hackisac Ministry” and showed their love in their own unique way. We gave out bibles. We worshipped outside of an abortion clinic. We debriefed, we bonded, we prayed, and we did in all in the love of Jesus Christ our Savior. That love was a powerful, powerful force. They saw Jesus in our eyes and actions. That is what love is! I could never give anyone a definition in any way, but God gave us an ability to show it. We used that ability and it made us into strong warriors bearing the flag of Jesus Christ.
I do not really have a good way to tie my next paragraph in with the previous so I’m just going to tell you, this is a new paragraph. This new paragraph is about prayer: That great tool that we have that allows us to have a true relationship with God and Jesus. It is a blessing that God has given us to be able to just talk to him and figure things out through him. It is such a great tool that we have and sometimes the power of prayer seems to become desensitized to us. Well I’m here to say that it is amazing and true miracles come out of prayer. Do not EVER forget that when we pray it does not fall on deaf ears. God answers prayers. Think about that for a second… When you call out to God to help you through something he is there to answer. When you thank God for what he has done he is there listening to you. When you praise God for his greatness he is there. The Denver group used this tool as much as we could. It started out with prayer in the morning with our devotionals and before eating breakfast. We prayed for our day and that God would provide us with many opportunities to do his will. We prayed with people asking God to reveal himself to them, to bless them, to nurture them, and to love them. Let me tell you, God ALWAYS answered. There was not a single point in the day when I felt like I was not where God wanted me to be. I was talking to the people that God wanted me to talk to. I was praying for the people that God wanted me to pray for. I was doing God’s will at every possible moment. God ANSWERS prayers! Amen? I will never forget that and I will always have faith that my prayers will be answered.
Have you ever heard the saying “it’s like the blind leading the blind?” It is not a very happy thought when one considers that crossing the street runs the risk of being hit by something that weighs 10 times a human’s body weight (not a confirmed fact). It’s sort of funny how we can sometimes trust someone who has absolutely no idea what he or she is talking about but we can not always trust God, the Lord of all creation. On this trip we had no choice but to completely trust God and let him lead us to where we needed to go. If we had any plans they were thrown out immediately. I’m sure everyone has heard stories of people completely trusting God with their lives and never being dissatisfied with the results. Well there is a reason why there are so many stories. It is because it is true. God always is with you and repays you, even if it is at the start of a new life with God in heaven. Our group trusted God, we had faith and hope and God provided. It has proven time and time again that God is a great provider and I am so glad that I was able to experience what he provided for me. We took those provisions given by the Almighty and we repaid God to the best of the abilities that the Lord gave us.
Now here comes the conclusion, my final input into this little writing. These thoughts and opportunities that I have been given were not provided by ME alone. I can only give credit to God and thank him from the deepest parts of my heart. Our God is an awesome God. Look around you at your church, among your friends, within your home. Can you feel God’s presence? I can. We have a perfect God that surrounds us with great Christian brothers and sisters to create a great Body of Christ, a perfect God that gives us such a powerful force, love, a perfect God that answers our prayers, a perfect God that is in complete control. Now I ask myself and every one of you, what can we give back?

By: Dear God

Dear God — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:48:49 +0000

Dear God,

Thank you for changing my plans for the week and teaching me how to trust you instead. Thank you for putting me in a place where I could no longer rely on my abilities but rather on your plan. Strip away my schedule. Help me to be led by you.

Love,