Bungy Jumping

Our team went to Queenstown for two days last week. If you have ever seen the Lord of the Rings, this is where most of the mountain scenes come from. It is the extreme sports capital of the world, and is also the place where bungy jumping was invented. I have always been the kind of guy who loves getting an adrenaline rush from things like that so I decided to go bungy jumping with a few of my friends...  I have been bungy jumping before, and it was the scariest thing I have ever done... this bungy was 4 1/2 times higher than the one I did previously, making it in the top three highest bungees in the world and New Zealands highest. 

The name of the bungy was Nevis. The platform was suspended between two very tall mountains... We had to ride a gondola to get to the jumping platform. You jump, then fall for nine seconds, ( it doesn't seem like a long time, but look at your watch for nine seconds... that's a long fall) 440 ft down towards a rocky river then bounce back up. It was terrifying! 

The night before the excursion I sat on my bed trying to imagine what it would be like jumping of a ledge and then free falling for 440 ft. I wondered if I would be able to throw myself off that ledge. Then I realized the spiritual implications of a bungy. The Christian life is like bungy jumping in so many ways. 

“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life...” Matthew 16 :24-26

As Christians we are called to have faith and believe in Christ for our salvation. When I was about to bungy jump, everything in my flesh told me not to jump. My flesh would say,” no that's a stupid idea... it will be scary, and you might get hurt or even die”. But I had to have faith in that bungy cord in the same way that I have faith in Christ. If I jump in a spiritual sense outside of my will and into his, then my life, though uncomfortable, will be so much more fulfilling... and in the bungies case, thrilling. I had to die to myself and all my fears or worries and jump. It might sound cheesy, but if you have ever heard of a leap of faith, this is a good example. To be a Christian seems silly to most people... to jump off a ledge that's 440 ft above rocks seems silly too... without faith it would be silly. We as humans may be able to conjure up  faith in a bungy cord on our own, but only the Lord can give you true faith that leads to repentance. 

Before the Jump

Me right after I jumped off the platform

Falling...

A Shot from the mountain. This picture doesnt show how long the drop is. Below me are mountains, and a river.

Swine 09

For the past week I have been sick... with what you might ask.. I am not totally sure... but I have a feeling that it was the swine. It might be the weirdest sickness I have ever had... and now I have developed a sinus infection. Don't worry I will be fine, but please pray that I will get better soon. I really want to be able to get on campus this week. I got some antibiotics today so hopefully that will help. Sorry this is a short post, but I didn't really do much but sleep this week. Sweet as...

The Furnace Burns

The theme of our time here in New Zealand  is boldness... To be bold with the gospel of Christ. But it seems that I have adopted a different theme. One of the things that I have been praying for quite some time is that God would help me to be humble. Where I may seem like a fairly humble person on the surface it is not so in my heart... at least not apart from constantly catching myself in the midst of prideful thoughts and prideful motives. 

I read a verse in 2 Cor this morning and as I thought about it I became broken over my sin.

“And even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this age (satan) has blinded the hearts of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.(This next part is what hit me) For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake.” 2 Cor 4: 3-5

For us as Christians to be able to proclaim “not ourselves” but Christ, we can not be wrapped up in ourselves at all, but only in Christ. In my pride I often convince my self that  Richie is more important than Christ. With this unspoken thought in the back of my mind I go onto the campus of Otago and try to build relationships with students... and I make contacts and get phone numbers just like my team mates, but if I dig down deeply into my heart I must confess that I didn't love those students for Christ sake and for the sake of the kingdom, but for the glory of Richie. You could reword the verse to in 2 Cor to better fit my thoughts if it said: 

For what we proclaim ( at least in my heart) is not Jesus, but Richie Lisenby as Lord, with Jesus as your servant for Richie’s sake.’ 

So many times in ministry I end up doing it for the glory of me, not the glory of God. Even when my motives seem pure and I really and truly feel broken for people and long for them to know the Lord, somehow a Richie centered thought creeps into my mind... “I must be a pretty Godly person to care about these people I don't even know.” It makes me realize  how warped my view of God’s kingdom is... You don't realize how wrapped up in yourself you are until your summer job is loving people. I am  glad that God is breaking me of my selfishness and of my pride... but its definitely not fun. 

But the great thing is that even in my sin... my pride and selfish motives, God can still work for the good of His kingdom. He can do a mighty work through a week jar of clay like me. 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:9-10

Rugby Day

As you all know I am a small person. Small person + Rugby = Broken Person. On Saturday I joined the rugby team of Selwyn College, which is one of the dorms at the university. If you are unaware, the best way to describe rugby is American football without any pads. I only got the ball twice, and each time it was less that two seconds until I was tackled by a HUGE man. Although I could here my body crunch when I hit the ground I survived and was able to make some friends in the process. Please pray for the guys that we are meeting in Selwyn college. Also pray that I don't die playing rugby... really I'm not kidding...


That is me on the ground...
(below) I am the one on the end... facing the Asian guy

hip to the hop

Yesterday was an exciting day because I finally got to see exactly what kind of ministry I will be doing. I am taking a class on hip hop dance and a break dancing class to build relationships with people, and I joined a rugby team that is run by one of the dorms. I also joined Japan club... I am really looking forward to see what God will do this summer through these classes. I am constantly reminded how great God is. Yesterday, Jeff and I (my ministry partner) were walking around campus ( keep in mind that we don't know anyone here) and we were supposed to go "build relationships." I don't know about you, but I think that just walking up to people is a little strange and we didn't know how to just meet people in a campus of 25000 students. So we sat down and prayed that God would bring us to someone from a specific dorm and that they would let us be on their rugby team. About 15 minutes after we prayed we met a guy who was more than enthusiastic about getting us on his rugby team. It was so cool!

Last night at about 9:20 there was an earthquake here. I thought it was awesome but apparently the US news is saying that it will cause a tsunami. Dont believe it... we are fine and there is nothing to worry about. I can see the water from most places in this city and it has not started rising yet. Thanks for the concern though!

Its a little overwhelming to make friends with random strangers all day every day. Please pray that our team would be able to build relationships with ease and that we would be able to clearly share the gospel with them in the next few weeks.

Tropical Rain Forest? far from it... everything stays green even in the winter
The road closed sign on our way to Wellington.


Sheep I have discovered are very dumb creatures...