3000/12

So I got a chance to go home and see my family for four days last week, and my good friend, Jon Carr came up from Moody Bible Institute (where he's going to college) in Chicago to see me. During some of our fantastic discussions, he mentioned how during this summer he and some guys at the summer camp he was a counselor at had challenged each other to 3000/12. A challenge in which they did 3000 push-ups and memorized 12 Bible verses in twelve days. In the ten weeks they were there, they did 15,000 push-ups and memorized 60 verses.

Well, I came back up to Ft. McCoy, and found a friend who was willing to join me in this adventure (check out the video that's coming to a youth group near you to see how I found a friend and answer to prayer!). We decided to take up the challenge, and memorize starting in Philippians. While I was reading ahead, I ran into a suspiciously amazing verse, Philippians 1:21, and it says "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Isn't that a neat perspective? What can you say to someone who thinks like that? 

Could you imagine being one of the guys trying to intimidate Paul?

"You quit talking about Jesus, or we'll beat you up," 

"I would count it a privilege to suffer for Christ"

"You quit talking or will put you in jail"

"Put me in jail, and the word of God will spread more rapidly"

"You quit talking about Jesus, or we'll kill you!"

"For to me, to die is gain... I get promoted, I'm excited about the day I die."

Seriously, what would you say to someone with that perspective? Nothing else would matter if we could get to that mindset. No suffering, nothing would compare to the privilege we get in Jesus! That is so cool.

Alright, that's all from me for now.