I've never wanted to be a blogger before, and I'm not sure if I will continue to do this or if it is a one-time thing, but I know there are a lot of people at home wondering what I'm doing and what my life looks like in South Carolina. Plus, I had an experience tonight that led me to prayer, and during my time of prayer I felt God calling me to share my life with friends and family around the world. I'm going to break down my adventure into different sections so that you only have to read a little if you just want to know about one aspect of my life. At the very end I will share with you what happened tonight and why God put it on my heart to share all this with you.
HOW I GOT TO CHARLESTON
God has done so much to lead me here. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. In December 2011 I was in Mexico with Max Oakes and his family. I met a man down there (Mark) who, after talking to me, had a very strong desire to help me find a job that I would love. He helped me start networking in Raleigh, NC and Greenville, SC. For a few months I did online job searches in these two cities, along with networking with whoever I could through the connections that Mark helped me get in touch with. I had no luck at all finding a job or even talking to anyone that could remotely help me.
I had a spring break the first week of April. Max asked me if I wanted to go out to Colorado to visit our friend Dylan for the first weekend of my break, and I couldn't say no to the mountains, so we went! I came back Monday evening with plans of possibly going down to the Carolinas on a prayer tour. I had really felt like God wanted me to come down here and check the area out to see if I was job searching in the right locations. Well, I didn't feel well after the trip to Colorado. I think I had a little altitude sickness and I was very tired from all the driving. I prayed heavily that if God wanted me to continue on my prayer tour the next day that I was going to have to feel better. I also prayed that if God didn't want me to come down that my car would break down before I left the state of Wisconsin. I didn't want to go on a wild goose chase.
I woke up that Tuesday, feeling great! So, I got in my car with what I needed for a week and drove down to the Carolinas. My plan was to go to Raleigh, Wilmington, Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. I saw God direct me to and from those cities by the experiences I had while I was in them. For example, I had car trouble in Raleigh, and I had a horrible time trying to get my car fixed so I could continue on my trip. Also, in Charleston I was able to talk with some of the nicest people I had ever met and got to spend some really good time in a couple great places.
So, I returned to Wisconsin feeling as if God wanted me in Charleston. It seemed like a great city. I had been praying that God would lead me through my passions and use my likes and dislikes to guide me. I love the mixture of people in Charleston. There is a constant flow of tourists that come in for the history of the city, plus a few tourists on the beaches. There are a lot of locals on the beach islands that are very easy to get to know. There are also a lot of college aged students and a large mixture of financial statuses. I didn't want to make the wrong decision though, so I continued to pray.
One night after having a lot of worry and doubts about my future, I prayed, asking God if this is really where He wanted me. I prayed for a long time, then went to sleep. I woke up the next morning having received an e-mail from a guy in Charleston telling me that he was trying to help me find a job and a place to live. I had emailed the guy like a week before, and I had concluded that he was never going to get back to me, but God showed me that the door was still open.
After a couple more weeks I started to worry again. I asked God if this was really where He wanted me and if He wanted me here for a long time or just for a short season. Immediately after praying I decided to go online and see if I could find any jobs available in the Charleston area. I found the first, and only, posted entry level architectural engineering job that I have found during my entire job search. God continued to show me that doors were going to be open for me to come down.
Here's the tricky part. Why would I come down to Charleston without a job or a place to live? I lived in my car for 3 or 4 days after moving down here. It wasn't comfortable. It wasn't what I wanted. But, God had put people in my life who shared their stories of how God provided for them and their friends when He had called them out of a place of comfort into an unknown area. God opened my eyes to the fact that He wanted me down here right away. He didn't want me to wait, so I came.
HOW GOD PROVIDED
After sleeping in my car for a few days I was to the point where I needed to find something else. I had spent time searching couchsurfer.com, craigslist, facebook, and emailing churches, trying to find any type of sleeping situation possible. I was tired of sleeping in my car, and really hadn't gotten any sleep because of the heat/humidity at night. I thought God may've been closing the door.
It was a Saturday and I was laying on the beach trying to figure out where God wanted me to be and a friend called me. I started talking to her about what I should do and she helped me remember that I was going to go to a Saturday church service at SeaCoast church. I got up from the beach real quick to go to Starbucks. (Side note- The GPS broke upon my arrival into Charleston. God clearly didn't want me to leave. I'm good with directions, but we'll call it a sign that I shouldn't leave. So, whenever I had to go anywhere, I had to take my laptop into Starbucks and look up directions.) I looked up directions quick and headed to church.
The church service was good, but I was really expecting something great, like... a place to live. So, after church I figured I'd see if the church had wireless, and they did. I got on my computer and started trying to figure out an affordable place to stay for that night. As I was on my computer I noticed a large number of young adults hanging around church. I went in to figure out what was going on. They were hosting a mixture of young musicians from the church in a concert-like setting in order to raise money for a mission's trip that some of the students were going on to Africa.
I started talking to students because I had nothing better to do. I had no where to go and no one to visit. The leader of the mission trip came up to me at one point and started asking me about me. The conversation got to the point where I told her I was sleeping in my car and that God had told me to come to Charleston, but that I was still unsure why. A girl heard me telling this woman that I was sleeping in my car and immediately told me that she had an extra bed available in her apartment that I could stay in as long as I needed to. I thought for sure God was going to provide something else quickly, so I jumped on the opportunity to have a place to stay for a few days. (God still has me in the same apartment, but the people I live with are great and loving and I couldn't ask for better roommates!)
Emily, the girl who offered her apartment to me, started bringing me with her everywhere she went. I was able to meet a ton of people very quickly. I also spent a lot of my time at the beach playing volleyball where I have also gotten to know a lot of great people. God has been bringing people into my life from so many different areas. I'll talk more about it later in WHAT GOD IS TEACHING ME.
JOB SEARCH
It was very difficult to sit back and wait for a job for the first couple weeks I was here. I felt worthless. I felt like I needed something right then. I thought God was going to bring me down here and give me something right away, and after I didn't get it I started to grow in concern with whether I was going to stay here or move back to Wisconsin.
After those couple weeks God began to show me the importance in being in Charleston without a job. He showed me that if I had been given a job before I came down here that I would most likely be going to work every day, followed by going to the gym, then going to wherever I was staying and calling it a night. I never would have been able to meet any of the people I have met and I would have been miserable, feeling lonely, and not knowing anyone here. God has definitely showed me the importance of patience and trusting Him.
During my time down here doors have opened, just to close. I think God wants me to stay awake and not give up on Him by reminding me that He can open a door if He wants to open a door.
I had an interview three weeks ago for a company called DWG. The position was for an architectural engineer with a mechanical emphasis. It was exactly what I went to school for. It's actually the company and job opening that I found and applied for after praying in mid-May. They had turned me down at that point in time, but my resume had re-entered the office through a connection I had made on LinkedIn with one of two principals from the company. They called me a few days later to bring me in for a second interview. The first interview had been short and sweet over the phone. They said they were going to call by this last Tuesday. I have called and emailed to find out what's going on, but I have not yet heard back.
This morning I went to an energy company where I was supposed to meet with a man I had met at church to talk to him about what I want to do in a career. Things went very well and I may be able to tell more later, but the company sounds great. It is a new company so there is a lot of opportunity for growth. I feel like I have a lot to offer the company and that God has placed it right into my hands. The owner talked as if maybe he would be offering me a job soon, but we will see. I know that God may close this door like He has with other things many times since I've been down here.
Between the two opportunities, I feel like I will have a job soon. Maybe God will close the doors to both of these companies, but I think there is a reason that the job search is starting to yield more opportunities, and I trust that God has plans to provide something soon.
WHAT GOD IS TEACHING ME
I have met a ton of people down here. People from a mixture of different churches, homeless people, college students, beach bums, gym rats, business owners, and many other people. God has been showing me very clearly that there is a problem with the "body of Christ". We are all supposed to be one body, yet the people I know from one church have no idea who the people are from another church. It seems that there are "bodies of Christ" that are all trying to survive and function separately. This shouldn't be. I have been seeing God use me to bring people together. Non-believers and believers. Believers of one church with believers of another church. God wants the church to be one community. Sure, there can be different leaders that may have different teaching styles, but God wants His body to be ONE, and I have been praying about that and seeking out how God may utilize me in bringing action into that thought.
God has taught me a ton about patience and listening. I never really knew how to listen to God. Everyone always told me to listen and sometimes I thought I heard something, but I was never sure. When you have nothing, and you trust God in everything, it's much easier to listen. And by listening in those situations, I was able to learn and understand listening to bring it into an area of my life where God has granted me a few things.
Growing from that thought. God hit me hard one of my first Sundays down here. I had gone from trusting God with everything to trying to take some relationships and situations into my own hands. God reminded me that we are supposed to crave pure spiritual milk, and also that He wants us to all come to Him as little children in order to enter into Heaven. When I came down to Charleston, I had nothing... everything I needed I had to get from God. I continually had to look to God for Him to lift the bottle of milk to my lips- the exact position He wants to have in every area of our lives. I realized that as I met more people and became more comfortable, I was trying to lift the bottle to my own lips. I was trying to "graduate" from certain areas of my life and trying to lift the bottle to my own lips. God doesn't want us to graduate. We're not smart enough or strong enough to do anything without God. We need to continually allow our Papa to lift the bottle to our lips in every area of our lives.
When I got down here I asked a guy at church to pray for me. I told him I wanted direction on what to do and where to turn. He told me he wasn't going to pray for direction, but for things to happen. At that point, I realized how selfish and non-trusting I was being by wanting God to show me where I was going. I have shared with a lot of people the picture God put in my head before I came down here. I was walking down a small trail behind God, who was the size of the Hulk. I kept trying to see passed Him, under Him, over Him... I couldn't see anything. After I struggled forever to see passed God, He turned around and said "Why are you so worried, you're following me." I realized I don't need to know where I'm going. I need to trust God to take me where He wants me to be. All I need to do is continue to walk, staring at the back of the Hulk, knowing that every step I take is a step in the right direction as long as I am staring at the back of God.
MINISTRIES (And the story from today)
God has been showing me a lot of opportunity for ministry, and I'm currently not sure where He wants me to be in the future. All I know is where He has me right now and what He has been using me for recently.
I have been meeting a ton of people at the beach. I spend a lot of time playing volleyball, and there is a pretty consistent group of locals that hang out around the volleyball court and play when we get enough people. It's been great getting to know people and meet new people. Having friends from church is great, but eating with the tax collectors is so much better! I see God using my attitude and my personality to be a part of these people's lives, and I hope that even after I get a job He will continue to use me in this area.
God has also been using me to bring people together. I have seen great relationships established through me inviting two groups of people to the same place and allowing them to meet each other. This is just an area where I feel God is showing me that His church is divided, when He wants to see us function as one body.
God has also placed it on my heart recently to get involved with high school or middle school ministry. I have not yet begun anything in this area, but I am praying about it and seeing where God may lead it.
So, what happened tonight!?!
I met with a homeless man a couple weeks ago. I thought I was going to go out to a bar with a guy I had met a few days before. I was on the way to meet up with him when this man asked me to buy him some sardines. Now, if I have the opportunity to talk to a homeless man instead of just providing for their needs, then I'm going to talk with them. I got the sardines and brought them to the man (Jimmy), which ended up leading us into a 2-3 hour conversation. He talked to me about his life, from his childhood, through his time in the navy, to his time as a father, and through tears... told me that he was told he had 9 weeks to live in 2009 and his wife got scared and left him for another guy, leaving him on the streets with nowhere to go. He shared with me that he hasn't seen his firstborn daughter since a few months after she was born, and that he has tried to find her but hasn't been able to. He desperately wants to meet her and hear her voice. She's 42 years old. This man broke my heart and I have been trying to help him find his daughter through the help of some great friends and the facebook newsfeed.
While I was talking to that man, other homeless men came up to us and talked to us. I couldn't help but offer them the opportunity to have dinner on me as well. No one turned it down. Three men had dinner that night.
Tonight, I went out looking for Jimmy to see if I could find more information on his daughter so that I could tell my friend who is trying to help me locate her. I didn't find Jimmy, but I found Patrick. Patrick was trying to sell sawgrass roses in order to make enough money to buy some dinner. I had a chocolate shake when I ran into him and told him I'd be happy to buy him one as well. We then talked for two hours. He told me about his history as an atheist and how God has been showing up more and more in his life lately. I told him all the ways God has provided for me since I've been down here, and how I really felt that God wanted me to meet with him tonight. He was extremely touched by my kindness and very encouraged by the things I was able to share with him.
DO YOU WANT TO HELP?
First of all, God listens to prayer, and He answers. So I ask you to pray for me. Pray for the ministries God has given me. Ask God to use me, regardless of where that may lead me. Ask God to use me as a light in dark places and to by continually unashamed by the Gospel.
Second, God really put it on my heart tonight to bring this to the people in my life who may have a tug on their heart to find a ministry to donate toward. I spent 18 dollars on homeless people tonight. That may not seem like a lot, but until God provides an income for me, it's 18 dollars I'm not replacing anytime soon. I was also embraced by 4 homeless men tonight, and got to share the reason for my gift with 2 of them.
I want to be able to continue to do this, and I will until I run out of money, but God put it on my heart to share this opportunity with you. If God is telling you to be a part in this, I want to guarantee you that every dollar I receive will go right back to serve the people in the Charleston community. If you have questions, please feel free to facebook message me, call me at 262-930-9046, or email me at kevdeboer@gmail.com. I want the name of Jesus to be known in this city. I want these homeless men to know that God loves them and that He cares about their every need. I want to feel their hugs and be able to calm the storms in their lives by offering them the Man who calmed the rage in the sea.
If you feel led to be a part of this, you can send a check to me at:
231 Coming St.
Apt C
Charleston, SC 29403
There is a ton more happening down here in my life and through my life. I wish I could write it all out but I've already written a book. Hopefully I can keep everyone updated with what's happening and how ministry continues to grow.
Definitely contact me if you have any questions or concerns. If you want to know more, contact me. If you want to talk, call me. Right now, ministry is all I have, and I want to make the best of it.
I love you all!
Kevin
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