Say Yes

Dear readers, 

I am writing to you as soon as I could, training camp has come and gone, and there is so much to catch up on. 

So much can happen in 7 days. I’d go as far to say God wrecked me in 7 days. 

It will be almost impossible to describe fully, but I will do my very best to capture it. (I’ll go into more details with a little mini series of letters from camp. As long as I have the time…)

Right out of the gate I was greeted by my squad. We all came from many different places, but we all came for the same reason. 

To train. To grow. To become one functioning body of Christ. 

We grew so close to each other, names and favorite colors were not enough for us to know about one another. We dove deep. We heard each other’s stories. We became vulnerable. 

We were reminded of who we are in Christ. 

I was taught this truth. 

If God created me, and Jesus died for me, and the Holy Spirit lives in me, the true me is a reflection of God. 

I am his ambassador. Here to spread the good news of the Gospel. 

Next they wanted us to really know and view God as our Heavenly Father. This truth personally was one of the harder ones for me to grasp. I’ve always loved my dad very dearly, I look up to him, and respect him, even though I have seen him slip up many times in my life I still love him in that. 

Seeing God as my Heavenly Father has really changed how we talk. I sit and talk with my Dad. I ask Him questions, he guides me and disciplines me as we walk together. He loves me so much. So much more than my earthly father could. 

My dad, Timothy Vine, is an amazing man. He is silly, kind, and very loving. But he is here on this earth to point me back to my Heavenly Father, and he does a very good job at doing just that. 

Okay, so that was all just the first two days. I’m going to do my best to speed through the rest so you aren’t sitting here for forever. 

We learned the importance of feedback, and vocally encouraging and pushing each other closer to Christ. If we are in the process of becoming more like Christ than we should be eagerly wanting to grow in that process day by day. And our brothers and sisters should be continually helping us in that process. 

We broke down sin as well. What an amazing session. It all came back to us not having a sin problem, but having a forgiveness issue. We don’t have to sin anymore. We were dead flesh. We are now a new creation, and we ought to be living accordingly. 

Next up we learned how to share the gospel in each culture, through Contextualization. (Big word I know.) We dug into how each culture has different ways they view morality, and we needed to be very aware of each genre of morality whilst sharing the Gospel with them. 

Now. If you’ve read up to this point I want to commend you. But I also want to give you a warning. What happened next blew me out of the water. 

I want to invite you to read on. But please, do so with an open heart. Asking God and The Holy Spirit to lead you through each paragraph. 

Deep breath. 

Here we go. 

I started a lifelong friendship with The Holy Spirit this week. That is a sentence I never thought I would ever type in my whole life. 

Growing up I was taught all about God and Jesus, I truly believed I knew a ton of wisdom concerning them and how to live my life accordingly. 

But the third, the Spirit. We never truly connected until this past Saturday, the 10th of October. 

I learned the role of the Holy Spirit, it convicts us, it bursts into us as we become born again, and it becomes my partner to walk through life with me now, until the end of time. 

Together we picked apart John 16: 5-15 among many other scriptures that dive into the Spirit and why it exists. Jesus says in verse 7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away,the Helper will not come to you. If I go I will send Him to you.”

I met with Him this week. I see him as a child, kinda a mix of the bald kid from the Matrix movie with Aang from Avatar the last air bender. I’ll write another letter diving more into this story.  (And if you don’t understand those two references that is very okay. Just keep reading on.)

I see the Holy Spirit as a kid who grabs my hand and says “Hey, come on, can you go do this with me?” 

I’m learning to say yes. “Yes absolutely. I’d love to.”

Guys I learned so much. God showed up in so many different ways. I don’t want to make this post too much longer but there is one more fantastic thing God did this week that I wanted to share with you. 

Some of you, most of you know I have been working with media for most of my lifetime. Whether it was with Photography, Videography, or writing. I’ve just had a certain knack for it. 

I went into this week telling God that I was done with using that gift for Him. I wanted to be used in different ways, someone else can take pictures. 

Well. That didn’t last very long. You see I love to wrestle with God. But He always wins, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it again with him the next day. 

He showed me that He gave that skill to me for a reason. And He wasn’t willing to let me just throw it away. I have totally come around in a full circle to where I used to be. Creating content for His glory, whatever that may be. 

I want to be a storyteller. 

The best one you ever did see. 

As I go and make disciples and love those around me, I want to share those stories with anyone and everyone God brings to me. 

We all have a responsibility to share the good news of what’s he’s done. In a sense we are all his storytellers. I can’t think of any other role i’d rather have. 

There is still so much to say, so I will write to you again soon, who knows, I’m very much wanting to walk down the roads I’m called to go down, even if they aren’t logical, my yes is still very audible. Nothing the Enemy can do to me will stop me from serving the One True God.

This week transformed me. My relationship with Christ, The Father, and The Spirit is on a whole another level now. And I am eternally grateful for it. 

I’m currently on the road, meeting with people for the purpose of bringing them into my support family, and sharing with them all that I have learned. If you read this letter, would you please pray for me as I go?

This road is not an easy one, but it is so worth it when you know its exactly what I’m supposed to be doing right now. 

I hope you have been encouraged, please share this story with someone who needs to hear it. 

I love you all dearly.

Until next time. 

 

-Mitchell Vine