A little about me

This was a questionnaire form our supervisor wanting to know how we were growing, and what is going on for us spiritually.  I wanted to also give those whom are praying for me an update as well.  I give you this update for two reasons, to show that your prayers have played a major part in it, and so that you will keep prying for me b/c it’s a daily struggle growing in my walk with the Lord!!  So here are some questions and answers.

 

What are the top three areas where you feel you have grown? Explain. 

My prayer life- I have always been one to pray, I love to pray and I tend to feed off prayer.  While I have been here though, my prayer life has moved from more of self-prayer to praising the Lord and interceding for others.  It has been nice to wake up in the morning praising my Lord in prayer with words of praise and thanksgiving, and then before moving on I will check my spirit to make sure there is nothing that is offensive within me.  I then intercede for whoever the Lord puts on my heart, and at the end of my prayer I will lift up request of the Lord.  I would use to consume my prayers with “Lord help me with this or that”, or for blessings, now if I pray for myself it is a request of His voice, for a clear picture of His will for the day, and for more faith and love!!  Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way trying to make myself look good, I still struggle with this, and it is easy for me to go back to just praying for myself.  But the Lord has been gracious to me in pointing me in the right direction of prayer.

 

My desire for the word- this has been the biggest growth in my life.  I will have to honestly and sadly say I have never read through the whole bible.  I have only read maybe 7 books of the OT!!  I have no excuse on why this is, just being lazy and not interested really.  However, this is no longer the case.  When I got here in Botswana, the Lord put a burden on my heart for reading through the OT as well as memorizing scripture, mainly long passages of scripture.  I use to only read around a chapter or two a day, and even when I only read so little I didn’t take too much time to really study it (now this wasn’t always the case, just a majority of the time).  Here in Botswana, I have been reading anywhere from 5 to 20 chapters a day, mostly 10.  Like I said the Lord has given me such a burden to read the OT, which has now turned into such a joy for me!!  It has been so much fun and enjoying to read the OT.  It is like when one reads a book and can’t put it down- I have that disease.  I have also taken different parts of the bible to study, lately I have been in Matt.  I don’t say any of this to brag, just to show you that the Lord is behind all of this!

 

Being flexible- This was my biggest struggle that has turned into a blessing.  My whole life I have been put in the spot light, which has probably been due to having a pastor for a dad.  In doing so, I have been use to being the center of attention for the Lord, and many times I have placed myself before others thinking it was what the Lord wanted, many times though that was not the Lord’s will!!  The Lord has done a work of humility here for me!  My place here in Botswana is not the mouth or the head for that matter.  The Lord has called me into a lower position, which really isn’t low unto the Lord- just in worldly eyes (us who are still immature in our walk!!).  The Lord has put me in a position where I am in the background doing the dirty, but needed, work.  At first this was tough, but it has become a gradual joy!!  Instead of being jealous of my brothers here, I have become happy for them!!  Trust me this was a God thing!!

 

2) What are the main challenges you have faced in ministry?

 

The two biggest challenges have been staying focused and truly having the right heart.  Even though there are not as many distractions here as there are in America, there are still distractions, and they have the same effect on my spiritual life.  There have been times that instead of being in prayer or reading or just simply telling others about Jesus I would choose sleep or many times just think dumb things.  I know that sounds silly but it is the truth.  It is getting a lot easier to stay focus though.  Having the right heart has been a constant problem.  Whether it was with the team or just simply doing the work of the Lord.  With the team I have had a little trouble getting accustomed with how they work.  But that has almost become finished with.  I know all of them well, and the fact that we never got into an argument or a drawn out complaint against one another has helped us all stay in good, close relations.  The Lord has defiantly blessed our team with great unity and love for one another.  There are times when we butt heads though, which would not be normal if it didn’t happen.  And when those times come in it is usually when my heart is not right!  Ministry part, well there have been many times when we would get ready to go out and prayer walk or go and talk to the kids in school or simply just go and witness to people that my heart has not been right.  Whether its because I’m tiered or I just don’t feel like walking in the heat through the sand, or I don’t want to have to deal with the drunks, many times my heart has not been right.  I have found many times I will have to take a step back and really get my heart right before I do many things here and I makes me sad because I wish I was always pumped to do the Lords work!!  There have been many times my heart was ready, and it has been awesome, but my flesh has really tried to do battle with my spirit!!  Anyway it is getting better and the Lord is really making my flesh weak!!

           

     What are the main challenges you have faced in your living situation?

I really can’t put anything here.  Our living conditions have been great.  The only thing I can think of is there have been times when I didn’t sleep as good as the other nights.  To be honest though, our living is great, and I will have to give the Lord all the credit on why I can’t complain about anything!!

 

4) What are you learning about yourself through team living & team ministry?

Through team living I have learned that I am selfish!!  I have learned that I’m not the servant I made myself out to be.  But the team has been gracious to me and has been willing to help me out with this problem in many different ways haha.  The ministry part has taught me so much.  I have really found my spot here on our team.  I guess you can kind of call me the middle man.  When we first got here I try to be the center of everything, the leader/head and mouth.  But the Lord quickly humbled me and reminded me that I’m here for Him and not myself and that He had another position of the body for me.  I quickly found myself in a position I’ve never been in.  And I love it because it is where the Lord wants me and has put me!!  I speak when I feel lead, I pray when others speak, I lead when its needed, but mainly I get in the background and just coat the whole thing in prayer while the Lord uses one of the others to be the mouth and really take over!!  I’ve never been this part of the body, but it has taught me so much about the Lord!!

 

            This is just s summery of what the Lord is doing in my life right now.  Being here in Africa has been not only a great experience but also a huge step in my walk with the Lord.  It has pushed me to limits I’ve never been before.  It has gotten me out of my comfort zone at times.  It has taught me how to have a genuine quiet time.  It has increased my prayer life.  It has helped me in becoming a better worshiper.  It has taught me how to hear the Lord’s voice.  And so much more.  I want to thank you all for your prayers and support.  Without it I know I would not be able to make it another day here.  God bless!!

      In Him,

         Hunter Clark

 

Round 2 in Kang

The song “Lord Prepare Me” was the unannounced theme of these past two weeks in Kang.  If you are not familiar with this song or if this is the wrong title of this song I will write out the words.  It goes like this:

      “Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true, with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for you”  (repeat as many times as you want!)

            It is a very simple song, but a very huge request to the Lord!!  While we were in Labotse, we were going to the school to speak, playing on the soccer team, encouraging other believers, being encouraged by other believers, but other than that we had a lot of R and R (resting and relaxing).  During this time we were spiritually fed, reading the word and praying for hours, amazing bible studies, as well as just a lot of personal time of whatever you wanted to do whether that was reading, writing, playing with the kids, walking into town and meeting people, prayer walking, or just whatever you desired.  And all of this was great, and was very needed!  But Kang life is almost completely different.  Probably b/c we did more feeding than being fed!!  In doing so we daily requested of the Lord to prepare us for all that that day had in store for us.  We needed to be prepared for everyday because a couple of curve balls (whether it was the devil attacking us, or just battling with our weak flesh or simply anything and everything that would throw us off course) would always be thrown our way, and  we couldn’t make it on our own, we were always needing the Lord’s help, and this is how this song became our unannounced theme while in Kang!

            From day one in Kang we hit the floor running.  This was the second two week segment we were in Kang so we had an idea what to expect (sort of- we knew only what the land looked like, where we would be living, where the food store was, who are neighbors were, and the new believers that were growing daily in the Lord-we kept in touch with them by different ways while in Labotse- other than that we had no idea what to expect)! The first two people we saw were Kabo and Morrepettie. [ Just to give you some names you can be praying for.  These are new believers both from the first visit and this visit- Kabo, Morrepettie, Jones, Reccardo, Ganzi, Sharan, Kathryn, Hope, Martin, Shakes, and Bonan.  Thanks}  After seeing them we all got together and had bible study, prayed, and talked about life!!  The next day was Sunday so we had church and to our surprise we had about 17 people under the tree in our yard!!  Without being there for a week (we also went for one day the week while in Labotse to have church with them) many came to praise God and learn more about Him!  It was to our encouragement and joy to see that many people.  That Sunday we caught back up with everyone, and had a great time hearing how the Lord was speaking to each one specifically. 

            The rest of the week was filled with much prayer walking, many bible studies, and more evangelizing than I’ve done in my entire life!! Everyday we would start out the day with a good solid quiet time, we would then go and prayer walk until noon or we would have random bible studies during this time, after lunch we had a bible study everyday with Kabo, Morrepettie, and sometimes Jones and Reccardo while the ladies had their own bible studies- these bible studies have really helped these new believers become more equip and understanding what it means to be a disciple of Christ, after this we would either show the Jesus film at different  places in the village or we would have a group prayer and praise time. 

            During this week Jones became born again- it was something we had been praying for daily!!  His gentle, but bold spirit along with his desire for the word and praying has really made him a strong warrior for the Lord.  Also during this time Jones’ mother became born again which was also amazing since she could not speak English nor Setswana- Jones told her about Jesus and she, without hesitating, gave her life to Jesus saying He is her Lord!!  Wed that week we had a worship service, where we sang songs, spoke words of praise and thanks to the Lord, finishing with much prayer.  Kabo, Morrepettie and the Ladies all showed up and it was powerful!!  The presence of the Lord was very thick and tangible!! 

            The next week was very similar to the first one.  Although there were a couple of differences.  Allison got sick and had to go to Gabs with Mr. Robert and Mrs. Margrett while leaving us boys in Kang for two days on our own.  During this time we really made many new friends, we added more bible studies, led the worship service that wed, and showed the Jesus film in a place we’d never been before (where we met Reccardo).  During this time we met Reccardo, who became born again as well as became a dear friend to us!!  Reccardo is in school there in Kang (its like a in between high school and college school- he is 20).  After that night he didn’t leave our side.  He wanted to know everything he could about the Lord!!  He later became born again and is now growing daily in the word- it is so encouraging to see all of these new disciples of Christ growing in the word daily!!  His story is very remarkable and it is only by the grace of God that he is still alive today and not headed down the wrong path!!  Without going into much detail, at the age of 6 his dad left them, he had to take care of his mother who was drunk all of the time and spent their food money on alcohol, his brother was in a gang type thing where he stole and did many terrible things, this same brother put a gun to Reccardo’s head many times b/c Reccardo tried to tell him to stop doing the things he was doing.  Reccardo, without a hope or bright future told me he wanted to die at times, but that now know that he does have hope and has someone who loves him no matter what, he has a new attitude about life!!  This is just one story out of a handful of these believers here.  It is amazing here seeing how the Lord is working.  At church this past Sunday Hope became born again.  Hope is a girl that was run down by Reccardo because he wanted to tell everyone about Jesus, and when he saw her he ran across a field to tell her about Jesus, and now she is born again!!  Also Ganze was there who also became born again the first week when Jones did.  He stood up and asked if we would pray for his family and his friend- he wants to share the good news also!!  Basically the Lord is doing a might work in Kang.  Even though we are not there we pray for them daily, and we know they are continuing to meet daily for bible study and are still growing daily!!  Please pray for our new brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the church that is newly started there- thank you!!

   God bless

           

              

School and Soccer

This past week we have been speaking to the school called Itereiling.  It has been real good.  We have had an amazing response.  We have been doing this program that we have put together, with much prayer.  Our theme is 2 Timothy 2:22.  We basically have been going in and telling the kids how to make right decisions using skits, the story of Joseph, and two personal stories.  We really focus on the whole two roads analogy.  We get one of the students to get up and write on the board.  All the other students will give examples of what will be on the wide road, and what will be on the narrow road.  We have had an amazing            response.  It  has been so much fun doing the Lord’s work!  The guidance and counselor has become a good friend of ours.  We usually spend time with him before and after we talk with the students.  Through him we have met many of the other teachers whom have also become good friends.  Skanopo, the guidance and councilor, has become such a good friend that they asked us to be on their soccer team.  The team consist of about 15 people whom are all teachers of some sort for the school.  They play local teams.  Haha its like everyone has a team here in Botswana- the brick company, the grocery store, all the surrounding school staff- its awesome.  Anyways, we are officially on a Botswana soccer team.  We have played two games so far and we have won one and lost one.  I almost scored, well not really, but it was close.  Our second game, which we won, was an away game.  It was an expeiernce just riding with the team to Lotlakanaye for the game which is about 30-40 min away.  I tell you all of this so that you can know that the Lord can do anything.  This door that He has opened for us has created an opportunity to tell these teachers and others about our Lord and the hope in which they can share in with all other believers- and hopefully to get them on fire for the Lord because if they come on fire for the Lord the way they interact with the students will change and the students will be surrounded by teachers and staff who carry the Lord Jesus Christ.  And from this who knows that doors the Lord will open- our Lord is amazing!!

Kang- Our First Visit

I must first stress that this is only a summary of what the Lord has been doing here in Botswana!  I could only give you a summary b/c it would be way to long to go into detail some of the things the Lord is doing here- but you should know that it is truly amazing to see the Lord work here.  As I have reviewed the past two weeks while we were in Kang it has come to my attention that all that I will say will look as if I am being prideful and boastful, but I want to make it clear that it is not out of pride I tell you these things- It is out of boasting in the Lord, giving Him all credit for our time here!

            As you know we have been in the village of Kang for the past two weeks.  Let me try to explain Kang to you.  The first thing that comes to mind is sand.  Think of a desert with some curvy type trees- the ones that only grow in Africa, and don’t forget the many donkeys and chickens that have the power to keep one up all during the night if they want!  Keep those in picture, and now put thad roof houses as well as some center block houses, many kids running around everywhere, woman with baskets on their heads carrying whatever they need for the day, men looking for work or taking a break from work, and last but not least the many venders on the side of the sandy road.  If you can picture all of that in one setting you have pretty much seen the village of Kang.  Now I will have to say that it is prettier than I have described as well as it is a nicer village than some.  I am just painting the basics.

            I must tell you, the people here are more hospitable than people in America- yes even the one in the south!!  I only came across a couple of rude people, other than that everyone will listen to you, invite you into their house, offer you what they really don’t have, and take time out of their day so that they can honor you as their guest!  It has been real nice seeing all this in action.  I will not lie to you- I figured the village life would be filled with skinny, about to die men and woman who don’t have anything more than a thad roof to their name.  I was wrong, for the most part.  Yes, the homeless in America have it about 10 times better than a mediocre paid person here.  People here don’t have much, but they are satisfied with what they do have.  They make the most of everything!! I haven’t seen anything ever wasted- makes me fill ashamed for all that I waste back home!  The people here do live in tin or thad roof hut/houses and the only cool air they get is through a window that usually has bars on!!  Let me tell you Kang and all of Botswana for that matter is hot!!  The sun can be unbearable here at times!!!  But the people here are ok with it- they don’t have a choice!  Nevertheless, when it rains it does feel quit nice!  Yes it is true that aids is rampant, but people don’t talk about it, and if you don’t know what the symptoms look like you would never know.  All in all the people here are somewhat poor, but they do have something over their head, they do have somewhat of meals or a meal a day, and they can get running water.  Even though this sounds like they are above average- I wish you could see how they have to  live and go though day by day!!  The people are content with what they have and though its not much and it hurts me to think  how much I waste or take for granted when they don’t even get the chance to waste or take for granted, it is beautiful to see how they live their life!

            Spiritual life in Kang, well there is not much to say about this one!  I think besides us their was only one other church their that taught born again doctrine, some of the time!  Out of all the people I met I think maybe a handful of people, if that, were born again.  Around 1 out of every 5 people had heard something about Jesus, some more than others.  I think more people here believed in the witch doctor or some form of African taditon type thing that was just farther from God than I knew.  However, once we had left, everyone we met heard the truth about the good news and even more than that since in the culture there, word about something new like that whether they  believed in it or not would be spread around!!! Praise God for that!

            Let me try to explain how the Lord used us in spreading His hope and love to the locals.  Since day one we prayer walked as much as we could.  It was so refreshing to coat that village with prayer.  Before our first prayer walk you could just sense darkness, but afterwards the Light illuminated everything- I don’t say that lightly either, darkness was very tangible!!  Anyways, accompanying the prayer walking we would daily meet different people whom we instantly, by the Lords doing, were able to clearly tell them about why we were their which led to tell them about Jesus and the hope in which comes with our Savior!  From that point we would invite them to either come to one of the Jesus film showings, or back to our home so that we could elaborate and go into detail more about Jesus and why we were there in their village.  Along with the prayer walking, and the meeting of random people, we would play soccer outside our house and kids would come play with us.  The first two kids were Aban and Oudareele.  We eventually became friends- they were very shy at first.  Then many kids eventually started to come and we were able to make friends.  We would also play the guitar and sing many days and night, and many people would come and see what was going on which gave us the opportunity to tell them about Jesus!  

            We had church on Sunday outside our house under the tree. I must say the church service was very simple, but powerful.  It was a beautiful service which around 20 showed up and around 4 became born again!  There names were Andrew, Kabo, Merribettie, and Deasebie.  There were also some ladies, whom I forgot most of their names, but the ones I remember, Sharon, Kathrin, and Amanda, Karren, and mompi.  We have been discipling them ever since that Sunday and it has been amazing how hungry they are for the word and doing what is right.

            Accompanying the church service, prayer walking, and telling as many people as we were given the chance about Jesus- we had also been involved with the school.  Mr. Robert ( our director) had talked to the headmaster of the school and worked out a way for us to go in and talk to the students.  Through the guidance of the Lord we were able to put together a school program to go in and talk to the students about making good decisions through skits, the story of Joseph, and a personal testimony.  The scripture we centered the program on was 2 Timothy 2:22.  We were given the opportunity to spend the whole week with the kids, some days even twice a day.  We were only given permission to speak to the kids on the first two days because they were having testing.  Nevertheless the Lord provided for us the whole week and on some days twice a day!  The Lord is good… All the time!!

            Some random things-  Our translators were Teboho and Klalaphong.  Teboho and I became best friends and he defiantly did the best translating ever- I do tend to slur a lot as well as have a deep ascent.  And Klalaphong was an amazing help especially when it came to understanding the culture.  God had blessed us with tremendous translators whom became good friends- praise be to God!!

            We were blessed with good shelter as well as good food!!  We were never left stranded without our Lord!!  There were many times we would be out walking to either the store or some destination and never made it b/c the Lord would guide put someone in our path that needed to hear about Jesus!! The other day we were headed to a soccer game that some guys we met were playing in, however, we never made it to the game.  We met a man whom worked in another school which we had been trying to get into to speak but didn’t know anyone to ask.  Well the man we met worked at that school and said they’d love for us to come- yep another God thing.  It was also at that time we were able to meet the witch Doctor!! Teboho and I were given the chance to have a bible study with him daily and tell him many important things- like what he was involved in was wrong and what he needed to do was use the influence he had to bring people to know Christ.  Yes, when we were with him, evil was tangible no lie.  But before we left for Labotse He said that he needed help because he was being attacked by evil spirits and didn’t know how he would ever be born again.  Praise God that he is looking for a way out!!  With man it is impossible, but with God everything is possible!!!

            I hope this summery has helped you understand what the Lord is doing in and through us here in Botswana.  I hope all is well where you are, and that you are allowing to let the Lord use you in any and every way!! God bless!! 

            

what we are doing

In a quick overview, this is the Lord has us doing over here.  Right now we have literally just gotten settled in our homes, just gotten somewhat use to the village, and have just gotten to know the other missionaries as well as some local chiefs and pastors( as they call them morunites).  We are now leaving to a village around 4 hrs away, where no one from the IMB have every gone, where we will be telling people about Jesus Christ through many different ways, where hopefully one day there will be a church, and needless to say we will have to get use to that villages culture.  I say all this to make it clear that the Lord is taking us out of our comfort zone and keeping us there.  By no means am i complaining- i'm over joyed because i know that i'm about to see the Lord work in ways i've never seen before that are indescribable!!!  Every other two weeks we will be in this village(Kang), then back here at the compound.  While at the compound we have already and will continue to hang out with the local kids who meet everyday after school at this community center type place b/c their parents have died from aids, we will continue to prayer walk the streets as well as the local villages streets, we will continue to play soccer with anyone who is willing so that we can continue to tell people the good news, we will continue to praise God at the local church and hang out with the youth their, and we will start going to schools going through this program that the Lord helped us to put together so that the jr high and high schoolers will quit having sex, drinking, drugs, violence and all other things like the kids back in mississippi do (the kids back home act just like the kids here, and i'm glad to know that our God doesn't show favoritism... though these here don't have hardly anything, compared to back home- they still have the same Savior who can save them from the death we all deserve and who can give them a hope!!)!!! Bottom line is God is working in and through us in many ways and i hope that you will continue in prayer for our behalf- thank you.

Humility

            To be taken out of an area where I can easily do things on my own, instead of relying on God (which I have to sadly admit that that is what I have been doing for the last year or so), to being put into an area where the only option I have is total reliance on God is very humbling.  Back in America, mainly mc, I have been living very comfortably.  Don’t get me wrong, there where and are plenty of chances to allow God to take over my life in everything, I just failed to take any of those chances.  In doing so I fell into a pit that left me far from God’s voice and direction.  At this point I was sitting in a position where my day to day life consisted of doing everything on my own.  I might have done some good during this time, but I could have been doing something great because with man it might look good, but with God it is great- you could say it is God sized!!!  By His grace thought, He allowed me to hear this one call from Him- Africa.  I have said all this to tell you that being humbled by God is probably one of the best gifts if not the best I have received from God.

              Here in Africa I don’t have the liberty of making my own decisions.  I can’t even go to sleep or wake up on my own.  Every second I’ve been here God has revealed to me how useless I am without Him.  By His grace, He has revealed to me how selfish I have been living the past year or so in my comfort.  He also revealed to me how much joy I was missing out with every second I chose comfort over Him!!  Even though being here in Africa has been, at times, tough, it has been so rewarding- if not to others, it has been to me.  Waking up in His presence and humbly coming before Him asking Him for strength daily is not only humbling, but as well as relieving.  I say this because I wake up every day knowing that if the Lord doesn’t show up not only will I look very dumb, but peoples lives might be lost( eternally) because I could mess up something on my own.  Basically God is doing some amazing stuff here in Africa, not only in our team’s lives, not only in the Botswana’s lives, but also in my life.  God is good!!!

Transition

Right now in God’s story I am in a transitional period.  I have just finished two weeks of intense training that was amazing.  Every day for two weeks straight we went from 9 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon sitting in meetings, having many bible studies, learning more than I ever have in the word, understanding culture, building team unity, understanding different religions we will face and so forth.  One day we had to do something special for lunch haha it was interesting- the girls had a full plate of food and had to eat everything while us boys had a little portion of rice.  The reasoning for this was when we are asked in houses for dinner we never know what we will eat as well as how much-we have to be flexible!  Our  new prayer is- Lord I’ll put it down if you’ll keep it down!  It has been a needed prayer.  Anyways, it has been an interesting two weeks which were very needed.  There have been times our team has almost killed each other and there have been times our team has been family.  We have been put in situations that I’ve never been in before that will happen many times.  We have been asked more challenging questions than ever having to give scripture for answers.  Nevertheless, it has taught me many things about God and his character as well as much needed key verses!!!  Needless to say I expected training to be different and what I got was exactly what I needed- thank you God!  Right now I’m in transition period.  Just finished training and now I’m in our village trying to settle in.  Not easy!  Trying to meet people, get enough sleep, eat the right stuff, not do this or that, learn the culture, try and understand their English, love our team, and others.  It hasn’t been the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but I will tell you the most rewarding.  It has really increased my prayer life, my walk with God, and surprisingly my maturity.  Just figured I’d let you know where God has me in His story.  Thank you for all your prayers, they have been needed!! We are going to meet the Chief of a certain village today as well as another one tomorrow.  These visits are vital to our ministry.  It we are not welcomed we do not get to minister there.  We are also having the chance to witness to a certain girl today.  We met her a week ago and planted a seed, now the Lord will be using us to follow up with more!! Thank your for your prayers

                                                In Christ alone,

                                                             Hunter Clark

Africa

For those of you following this blog, or maybe clicked the wrong blog and stumbled upon mine, I would like to inform you that I will be spending this next semester, Jan 14-May 30, in Botswana, Africa.  This is not through the school, but through the IMB.  I will be doing mission work under the leadership of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Fortenberry.  I will be doing God's work along side with Allison Hunter, Brett Barnhil, and Stirling Foxworth.  These three attend school with me at MC and are very dear to me, they are like family.  While in Botswana we will be doing full out missions which consist of: evangelism through stories and other ways that help the locals understand, we will be hanging out with the locals trying to build life long friendships, we will be going to local schools telling the kids about purity and abstinence and why we all should stay pure before marriage, and most importantly we will be praising and glorifying God in all that we do.  I write this not only to inform what we will doing, but also so that you can be praying for us.  While we are there the devil and his evil forces will be attacking us at every corner and I believe that this spiritual battle has already begun as well as will last beyond the time we leave.  I ask you to pray first and foremost that the Lord will be glorified through it all and that nothing will hinder that.  I also hope and ask that you will pray for spucific things that include: pray specifically that God will adjust our personal & cultural behavior so that we will enter our new community as a learner with a servant’s heart, pray that we will be flexible and that God will help us maintain a positive attitude which allows us to look for blessings in every situation – even the hard ones, pray that the Lord will prepare our hearts, pray that we will be obedient to the Holy Spirit and submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that when the Lord guides our thoughts we will have pure and humble thoughts, so that when the Lord guides our feet we will go where He leads us, so that when the Lord guides our conversations we will say exactly what we are suppose to, so that when we pray we know what to pray for, and so that in all we do we bring glory to God and we don't grieve the Holy Spirit. 

This is just a short list of things to pray for.  I also ask prayer for the people we come into contact with.  I ask that you will pray that God will prepare their hearts.  Pray that they will be open to hear and listen, that God will open their eyes and ears(both spiritually and physically).  Also pray that there will be healing for those who need it(again physically and spiritually).  And finally pray that God will be glorified in their lives.  Thank ya'll so much for taking the time out of your day for prayer.  It is needed.  If the Lord prompts you to pray for anything else please do so.  I hope ya'll have a great 2009 and God bless.

                                     In Him,

                                         Hunter Clark 

My part in God's story

The reason I created this blog, I am not, is because I wanted to inform those interested, how I am being used in God's story.  Let me try to explain what I mean by saying "God's story".  After reading Louie Giglio's book, "I am not, but i know I AM", I realized that there is a bigger story out there other than my own.  It's the only real story.  The one everyone and everything lives, moves, and functions in.  It is the one that God is the Author, publisher, and main character.  He is the center of it all.  The story that was from the beginning, still being written today, and will continue until the end; God's story.  All the others are made up with an ending that is never satisfying.  

I finally realized that I had been trying to live in a story that I had made up.  In this story I am the main character, where everything is about me.  In this story I let God be a character, but not the main character, and He's only in the story when I feel like He's needed.  In doing so, my story sucks.  It is lifeless.  It is unsatisfying.  It is empty.  And worst of all it is not worth reading.  Don't get me wrong it feels good being the main character, but that feeling only last for a brief time.  When the feeling is gone emptiness and an feeling of being lost appears.  What gets me is the fact that every time I decide to jump back into the Lord's story, He lets me.  Its as if I hadn't done anything wrong, which I did.  I spat in his face every second I was saying NO to His story and I was living it up in my own.  No matter how many times I turned back to my story the Lord forgave me.  And because of this grace, only found in Him, every time I come back to the Lord, He gives me a role in His story, weather its small or large.  It is satisfying, full of joy, filled, and best of all its the best read out there. 

 You may ask, "If the story is so good and yours sucks, then why in the world would you not give up being the main character of a bad story that no one will read to being a character of a great story that everyone will read?"  The sad thing is, I had to ask myself the same question.  The answer i've come up with is the Devil!!  Yes i know this is cliche, but it is true.  Lying is the Devil's native tongue (John 8:44).  He is the father of lies.  Since lying is a sin and we all sin (Romans 3:23), it is because of the Devil that I have written my own story, and it is because of the Devil I keep going back to it to write more time and time again instead of being in the Lord's story.  It is the Devil that fills my head with all the lies, telling me that my story is better than the Lord's since I can be a main character in mine.

I have realized, not perfected, that being in the Lord's story is a daily struggle.  There are spiritual wars going on behind the scene every second.  As well as the worldly struggles we go through each day that are visible.  Needless to say, we all have the option to either submit and be in the Lord's story that will bring meaning and allow us to be prosperous eternally, or we can write our own that will be unsatisfying, and will make us miss the mark ( the mark being spending eternity with the Lord).  This is why I have started this blog.  To show others how the Lord is using me in His stories.  I will also reveal the times I stumble and start to write my own.  Hope you enjoy and I hope I can stand firm every second so that the Lord will be glorified with my character!