"Building upon the imperishable, rather than the perishable"

This is Ryan Buss. I know that Valerie has been blogging for the last couple of months, so I thought that it was an appropriate time for me to blog! She has done such a wonderful job, I feel like she is tough act to follow. However, I will blog and hope that it is articulate enough for you, the reader, to enjoy and think about with me on this matter :)

I just had a quiet time with the Lord in Psalm 49. It is a wonderful Psalm written by the sons of Korah who have written several Psalms to our Lord that He included in His written Word. This Psalm comes at a very good time in my life as I ponder and consider the future for me and my wife. To be perfectly honest, our funding has been quite slow and hard going, and I have naturally been asking myself if this is the path that God would have us walk down. As I have been considering other paths and careers that I could pursue, God has been very faithful in our times toghether in His Word to remind me to wait patiently and to trust Him!

Every quiet time I have had with the Lord this summer at least one of those themes would come up and I would feel encouraged by Him to keep pressing on and to persever in this time of hardship. Today, it was about my career options in general and how I am doing exactly what I love to do, and what I feel passionately led to do! The Psalm is all about how every single person is under the same inevitability of death and how all of our strivings and pursuits will avail nothing if not with the glory of God in mind. Here are a couple of verses from that Psalm that I have been pondering and have been turning my eyes back to the lifestyle that God has led me into:

Psalm 49

vs. 10" For he sees that even wise men die; the stupid and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others."
vs. 16,17" Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not descend after him."

These are intense verses, but they remind me of how transient our life is and how the stuff that we strive for in this life is often stuff that doesn't last and will burn away in eternity.

As I was reading, I was reminded of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians in [1 Cor. 3: 11-15]. He is exhorting the Corithians to build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, because He is the foundation that will last, not the perishable stuff of the world. So, I was thinking of what is imperishable according to the Word of God that I ought to build with upon the foundation of Jesus Christ?

1. God's Word [Isaiah 40: 8]
2. God's Kingdom [Revelation 22: 1-5]
3. Soul's of men

For me, the commands of Jesus that best fits these pursit are found in:

[Matthew 28:19,20] "Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age".

[Matthew 6: 19-21, 31-33] "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys and where theives do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will also."

"Do not worry then, saying 'What will we eat' or 'What will we drink' or 'What will we wear for clothing'? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father know that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

For me, I see that we are to actively pursue making disciples of Jesus Christ, and that building upon the Kingdom of God with the souls of men [1 Peter 2:5] [1 Cor. 3:16] and knowing Jesus through His Word [John 15:7,8] are the most important things in this life and will last, even after we die! If you are looking to impact the world and leave your mark here, you will fail. If you desire to see people impacted for eternity and to know the Creator of the Universe and the Lover of our souls, that will last!

I tie this all back to what I am doing with my life, because sometimes I feel like it has no impact and that I am wasting my life away with pursuing fundraising and ministry and such. But then I read Psalms like this and take a trip with the Lord through His Word on the stuff that lasts, and am convinced that I have the sweetest job in the world; I get to see people impacted for eternity and I get to spend time with the Lord in His word as a job! So, all the fundraising and trusting of the Lord is just a step I need to take to be able to do what I believe God has led me and my wife to do!

Purpose and Potential

by Val,

Snow is a funny thing...

This summer I kinda felt like snow. Not cold and white, but rather unmoving and fragile. Whereas water gushes and flows, snow sits silently while it waits. It sits there for who knows how long just waiting to melt.

This summer I forgot that snow melts. Also, that snow has a purpose, and a potential. You see, without the cold of snow, the internal mechanism of some plants would never allow them to germinate. The seeds become plants only after they have been touched by the frost of snow. God also had a purpose for my time of snow. He never wastes time ever,He always has a purpose for what he is doing.

Snow also has the potential to become life giving water. The funny thing is though, snow can't just will itself to magically become water. It has to wait on the sun to melt it. In a similar way, no matter how much I wanted to move, it didn't make a difference because I still had to wait for God to provide the funding.

So now here we are at the next chapter. Now that we are moved, how will I use this time? When snow melts sometimes it still just sits there in a puddle. Other times it mixes with dirt and creates messy mud sludges. However, other times this water seeps into the ground, to where it is no longer seen and gives life to the grass and plants around it. It dies to itself.

John 12
24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

My prayer is that Ryan and I learn to die to self while at San Diego State. That we model Christ in serventhood, grace and truth. Our goal is to make our house a place of refuge where students can come and experience Jesus everytime. That "in everything we would set the students an example by doing what is good." Titus 2:7. That I would "teach what is good. " Titus 2:5 to the younger women. That we would both be "active in sharing our faith, so that we would have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Philemon 6.

We ask that you would keep these verse in mind while you pray with us.

John 12:24
Titus 2:7
Titus 2:3
Philemon 6

Moved In

Thanks to all who helped move us this last week. It was an incredible testament to those around. We went around to meet our n eighbors and many of them commented on how amazing it was to see the amount of help you guys blessed us with. It brought to mind John 13:35

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

We are now officially living in San Diego, California. We love it and are so grateful to God for His faithfulness and provision. We are mostly unpacked, but are lacking some furniture. Some dressers, and bookcases. But everything else is pretty much in order. I LOVE our place, it's so cute! Our guest bedroom has just a few boxes in the corner, but plenty of room for a bed if people want to visit anytime. Just give us a call. We'd love to see any of you.

We've been on campus already, and I forgot how much I love it. Even though the semester is winding down, I'm so excited to see what God will do.

Please pray that God will provide us with friends here in San Diego. Some heart friends that we can share our lives with and encourage one another. For me, I know that's a huge prayer.

Well, call or write anytime. We are at:

4372 56th St.
92115 San Diego, CA

We'll continue to keep everyone posted through this blog and emails! Miss you all.

His Ways, His Acts

YAY! Our cute little pink/peach house. God is the great provider!

In training yesterday God gave me a quick kick in the behind. We were talking about the Israelites and Moses in the books of Exodus and Numbers. As many of you know, it is full of God's provision and the Isrealities ungratefulness. I don't know about you, but I use to roll my eyes at the Isrealites and guffaw at their constant lack of faith. However, God has really humbled me during these last, almost six months.

We didn't know where we would live, how we would pay our bills or when we would be fully funded, if ever. Some days God gave me the strength to trust. Other days, not so much. Our teacher made a good point though.

Psalm 103: 7
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

Moses praised God for His ways, the Isrealites praised God for just His acts.

Moses was constantly praying to know God better in both the good times and the hard times. Though he would get frustrated with the people, his faith in God did not waver. Though he was in charge of over 2 million people INCLUDING his wife and two sons, he still made time to be with God. Moses faithfully followed God and His ways.

In contrast, the people were not concererend with God's ways, but rather with His provision. The would rejoice when things were good and grumble when things were difficult. They would frustrate GOd with their lack of faith and grumbling attidudes. In comparsion to Moses, their responsibilites were simingly small, yet not many of them sought to really know God.

Moses followed for the long run. The Isrealites only followed when things were going well.

So what if it's a long, difficult path for us to be fully funded? So what if this new rental house falls through like the last one? So what if we have to change a tire as we travel to California? So what if the students at SDSU are not responive? There are many things, hard things that God may still have planned for us. Because He loves me, because he wants to grow me. The question is, will I be an Isrealite or a Moses? Will I continue to seek his face during even the hard times? Will I continue being in the Word even when it's hard, or confusing, or seeminingly not encouraging? Will I continue to pray even it feels like He's not listening? Will I continue sharing the truth even when people scoff or ignore me?

Do I rejoice over his ways...or just his acts?