At the end of my trip to Cuba last month, the pastor of the church, Noel, gave some closing thoughts to the group about how our visit impacted him personally, the church we went to serve, and the small church plant that we helped paint.
I recorded this with my iPhone and then put some subtitles on it in English. This video means a lot to me because of what he says about how the trip impacted him and how our group was perceived by the people there.
I’m trying out a new audio platform called Anchor. In this episode I talk a little about my crazy life the last 30 days and what I’ve been doing. As I reflect on what has occupied my time, I realize that it really speaks about the three priorities in my life at this time.
Check it out and let me know what you think about it.
If you can’t see the audio player above, you can listen at this link.
By the way, I didn’t edit at all. These are just the thoughts straight out of my head and into my mouth.
For the longest time, we didn’t have much of a 4th of July celebration. We would have low-key celebrations in Mexico alongside our other expat friends, but we couldn’t actually go out and do fireworks.
Since we’ve moved back to the USA, we’ve really gotten to know our neighbors and enjoy being around them. It’s been a fun few years. Almost every evening this summer we have spent time outside with them, and last Monday we had a Fourth of July celebration, complete with some fireworks (no big ones lit by us).
Here’s a video I made:
How did you celebrate the Fourth?
I spent some time this week helping my friend Micah make some videos about the Adolescent Orphan Ministry he is starting with our organization, Youth Ministry International.
The story he tells grabs my attention because this entire ministry started with one person’s desire to do something daring and take a mission trip. Then one thing led to another and now there is an entire vision to connect local church youth ministries to adolescent orphans around the world and help them become followers of Jesus.
Remember, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10).
What is the one thing God is asking you to do today that you need to obey Him in?
If you want to know more about YMI’s Adolescent Orphan Ministry, be sure to visit pattersonfam.org.
I was flipping through the channels yesterday, and I saw that the original Karate Kid movie was on. I remember that movie from when I was a kid, so I watched the end…right where Daniel Son was entering the tournament, gets his leg swept by the Cobra Kai, goes into the locker room and gets told there’s no hope, and then stares at Mr. Miyagi and asks him to “do that thing you do” to heal up his injured leg.
Then he hobbles out to the match to fight the final battle and delivers a Crane kick to Johnny’s face and wins the trophy.
What a great movie! I quickly posted this on my Instagram story: “Everyone needs a Mr. Miyagi.” If you’ve seen the movies, you’ll know that Miyagi helps young Daniel through life.
Here are a few things a Mr. Miyagi does for your life:
What else did Mr. Miyagi do that you think is useful life?
Do you have someone who helps you like Miyagi helped Daniel?
