Last week I went on a trip to the boundary waters in northeastern Minnesota. It was absolutely amazing.
There was one lake that was huge compared to the rest and it was extremely windy. The waves were so big on the lake that we didn't dare try to cross it in our canoes. So we waited for the wind to stop.
       We all just wanted to keep going, we still had a lot of energy left and we didn't want to stop now, in the height of our success. But we couldn't risk flipping over our canoes in the high waves. So we waited and waited.
         After Jesus ascended into Heaven they obeyed God's command to go and wait in the upper room for what He was going to do next. Can you imagine that? Ken Hutcherson puts it this way, "after all the promises, after all the miracles, after all the great, amazing events, God was telling them to get together in a room and wait patiently for what He was going to do next!"

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, ^(A)is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

⁷He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which ^(B)the Father has fixed by His own authority;

⁸but you will receive power ^(C)when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^(D)My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and ^(E)Samaria, and even to ^(F)the remotest part of the earth."

Act 1:6-8 NIV

         The people gathered in the upper room were impatient and they wanted action done NOW (vs.6). But then, God set them straight (vs.7-8). He wanted them to wait for His timing.

             Many times in our lives we keep saying, "Lord can't you just do this now, why do I have to wait." We want the answers, the miracles, the signs, the knowledge, the resources, we want it all NOW! We forget that we need to wait for God's best.

            Finally, around 2 a.m., the lake was safe to cross. At first it was kind of creepy when you looked straight ahead into the unknown land covered in darkness. But then I looked up to the sky. It was filled with millions of beautiful stars. There were so many falling stars that night, it was absolutely amazing. Then dawn came and we saw the amazing sunrise that God had been saving for us to see.
          Because we waited for the right time I will forever treasure the memory of crossing a motionless lake with the beautiful stars of Heaven above.

in His grasp,
          JD

Hi everybody,
  I haven't written anything in a long time so I thought I better get busy! Just last weekend I went to United Teens Encounter Christ. Better known as TEC. I have to say, that was one of the best weekends of my entire life. We spent 3 days encountering Christ in a way that most people would overlook. I can't exactly tell you what we do there because everything we do there is kept a secret. But there is one thing I can tell you.....
    I wasn't quite sure what more there was to learn about Jesus, but I knew God had something in it for me. When I was there I felt so loved and totally comfortable about everything around me. This place was true paradise. Obviously it didn't have palm trees and a sandy beach next to the Carrabin sea, but I think this paradise had much more joy and meaning in it.
    So this whole entire weekend I, and everyone else there, was in paradise. But eventually we had to go home, away from this perfect place. And I began to ask myself, why doesn’t God just let us stay here?  We were praising Him all weekend and learning and experiencing so much that would forever positively impact our relationship with Jesus. So why doesn’t God just let us stay here, away from all the troubles of the world?  
    Did Jesus spend all His time on earth with the best people, or at the best places you could be? No, He didn't. He spent time with people that no one would expect the Son of God to even care about, and visited the places that were forgotten by the world.
    Many people ask, why does God allow so much suffering in the world? Well, first of all, we created all the suffering and pain, not Him. But more importantly, God teaches us the greatest lessons of life through great suffering and pain. Every single time we fall and then get back up, we get stronger, less able to fall. In the same way, we learn so much from the things that we hate.
    So I believe the reason God doesn’t allow us to live in places of great joy all the time is simply because we are not meant to spend our lives there. In order for us to learn the great lesson of life we need to experience pain and suffering. And remember Jesus told us to show our love for others by helping them. Well, if we live in a perfect world, who would need help? We then would have no appreciation for what we have, and eventually have no need for Jesus (we always will need Him, but we would just cease to agknowlege it).
    When I was at TEC I was on top of a mountain. But I have come to realize that we are not called by God to stay on the mountain top, but to take the light we find their and bring it down into the darkness of the valley below it.  We are called by God to spread His love we found on the mountain top through the people of this lost world were living in today.

                                              in His grasp,
                                                       JD Mechelke

P.S. TEC is truly a one in a lifetime experience. I encourage you to go to one of their weekends. Check out their website at http://mn-utec.com/default.aspx   

Hello! Call me JD. I hope you guys like my blogs and please give me comments and feedback too. So, heres my site. I hope you like it.

in His grasp,
JD