Hey y'all.

So last week on our drive up to Northern Virginia, we were involved in a small accident. Luckily, everyone was safe and unharmed and there were no other cars involved. What happened was, the driver had slightly lost control of the vehicle and ended up hitting a guard rail. It wasn't due to the weather or anything. How that happened isn't really important.

Thankfully, our van still runs. The damage to the van is all cosmetic. The majority of the hit was taken by our trailer. The hit had bent the axle, ruptured the hubs, and the wheels were sitting unevenly. The fender also bent in and tore a gash in the sidewall of the tire and bent the wheel slightly.



Reflecting back on those few seconds, and looking back at the scene of the accident and all that occurred between the collision to our brief trek to a nearby rest stop, and the eventual fixing of our trailer, got me thinking about a few things. Actually, more like reminded of a few things.

I think the major thing is the simple fact that nothing in life is guaranteed. So many times, we take the frailty of life lightly. If we had gone another 200 or so yards, we could have easily ended up in a ditch. The guard rail we hit was pretty randomly placed and very short. This was a well needed wake up call I think.

Going off on a tangent, as I'm going through the process of praying about and thinking of my next steps in life after CTI is over, there are so many times where I just automatically assume that I'll have that time. And, sadly, this process of thinking ahead, worrying about it, and feeling extremely stressed and pressured by everyone, has made me neglect the task at hand. There have been so many times where I'll be asked by a host family, "What are you planning on doing after CTI?" and I just respond, "I have no idea." and stress out about it for days on end. And because I'm focusing on that, I can't give the minstry opportunities at hand my 100%. And so many times, I reflect back on those few days, and justify that by saying, "oh there's still a few more months of ministry left." Isn't that sad? Thinking about that kinda makes me sad. I can't help but think, "what if, during those few days, where I said it was ok to not focus completely on the task God has given, someone didn't get a chance to hear the message of Christ?"

Now I know that someone's salvation doesn't hinge on the gospel according to Jon Lee. And I know that God doesn't NEED to use me in this way. Quite honestly, it's still hard for me to fully comprehend the depths of the love and grace that God pours out. It's like... everything we do is flawed. And yet, God delights in that... as long as we respond to the call. God reminded me, and continues to remind me that I shouldn't focus on being perfect in my service... but that I should focus on serving the perfect God. But does the justification of my lack of enthusiasm or focus stem from my simple inability to do things right? No. Friends, I know this stems from a heart of entitlement. This thing that I've been battling from the start, and even before, full-time ministry. And I need to shed this nasty heart. It's almost like, I'm demanding God to give me clarity with the next steps in life because I'm currently doing what He called me to do. But I'm forgetting the fact that I'm only doing what I'm doing BECAUSE He made it possible. It wasn't by anything that I did. Going back to the first point, nothing is guaranteed.

Which, I guess, brings me to the next thing. The next thing is just the fact that God has a plan for everything. I dunno why this accident happened. I don't know what's next in store for me. I don't even know why I'm spilling some of my deepest struggles for everyone to see. Or just those 2 who happen to read this. (does anyone actually read this?) Or why I'm having these struggles that I'm writing about. But I think it goes to show that things may not always make sense, but in His time, all will unfold in a bizarre, surreal, and beautiful way. I don't know what I'll be doing. But, I know that God has a plan for everything and in His time, everything will work out and I'm sure that I'll look back and say in the words of Jon Foreman, "Why do I worry? Why do I freak out?"

So, friends. As y'all have walked beside me these last few months, and for those of you who have been following me via this blog, I want to leave you with these thoughts.

Please continue to pray for us as we're continuing to meet new people and spreading the Word as we travel.

Until next time. Cheers,
Jon

Hey y'all. Sorry it's been quite a while since the last update. Well, winter tour is well on it's way... about 4 weeks in now. We started out with a pretty long drive from MN to Illinois, where we battled all sorts of issues from black ice, extreme temps, overturned cars and tractor trailers (14 cars and the tractor trailer in ditches in our short drive through Wisconsin), and having to shift weight from the back of the trailer to the front of it and the back of the van to get enough traction. We spend a few days in Illinois, drove over to Nashville and spent a few days there, then made our way to Columbus, GA. And then we were able to drive back to Florida we've been to multiple towns including Panama City, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and West Palm Beach. God has definitely shown us heaps of things in our short time here in the sunshine state..

so we went from this...


to this.


One of the things that we had a chance to do was just sit on the beach and marvel at God's creation after having a blast with the SOY group from Hurlburt Field AFB's youth retreat. Not only did we get to see God's creation in full splendor, we got to see what it means to give everything you have to further the kingdom of God, no matter what circumstances life throws at you. So our hosts at Hurlburt Field AFB, Cope and Sue, literally gave everything they have in order to invest in the lives of their students and in our lives as well for the short time we were there... their time, finances, life stories and experiences. Nothing was too much for them and they always did it with a joyful heart. And their love for their students definitely poured out and overflowed and the culture of their YG became much the same as how they lived out their lives. They weren't shy about sharing their pains and hurts and asking their students to lift them up in prayer... and their students weren't worried about what others thought about them or anything like that if they were to share their struggles. Thanks guys!

The other thing I experienced was the surreal experience of having two worlds collide. This past Friday, we had the opportunity to play at my home church. And it was great!


People from both Harvest and Vision Church were led in worship by the team. And while the whole experience of being back home, looking out into the congregation and seeing familiar faces, and looking around and seeing team 14:22, was odd, it was good to have an opportunity to share the mission and goals of CTI with my home church and to tell them a little bit about what we've been up to. And it was great to see that it didn't matter how different everyone was... we got a little glimpse of heaven that night. It didn't matter what language we spoke, what stage of life we were in... we all worshipped the God who deserves all of our worship. And no language barrier, power outage, and awkward pauses between sentences in explanations of experiences had so far, kept us from worshipping God. And what brought us together wasn't the fact that I attend Harvest or the fact that we happened to have a venue there, but it was the love of Christ that brought us together. And it was good to see and be reminded of the fact that there are people back home rooting for us and praying for us.


So thanks for everything family at Harvest!

We'll be in Florida for a little while longer and then we'll be heading north in the next few days. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!! We really couldn’t be doing this without you lifting us up in prayer!! Here are a couple more prayer requests for the following weeks:

• Safety as we travel (we’ve got some gnarly drives coming up... and we'll be heading up towards the snowy bits of the country as well as back up to Ontario.)

• Servant hearts (that we would continue to want the Lord to work mightily in us and through us)

• The hearts of people that we meet (that the Lord would be working even now in their hearts... that they’ll be ready to hear the message that He has for them)

• Health. It seems like someone on the team has something that they're dealing with health-wise. Pray for strength and health as we travel.
  

• financial support. Thankfully, I'm almost halfway there! Praise God for that. I still need to raise a big bulk of the $12,000 though. If you feel led to support in this way, or have questions, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to help ya out.
  
  Thank you again for all your support!!

btw... Photo props to Isaac Lee (jakleephotography.blogspot.com) and Sue Copeland. Thanks y'all. Until next time.

Cheers,
Jon