The Lamb is Worthy of His Reward

Two posts in a day?! Boy do I treat you guys well. This morning we left from tiny Ashland Montana dark and early (a nice 5am departure) and have been driving since, with more than a few hours to go. It's a long ride, but much much better than the first drive from Wisco to the Bob a few weeks ago. I've gotten to know the guys really well and we've become the best of friends in just a few weeks! It's been really sweet to be able to grow so close so quickly and makes long car rides way better too. That's some pretty evidence of God's hand on the six of us if you ask me! After a bit of a rocky start, God has provided affirming moment after affirming moment. Plus, Corbin loves hugs and being close to people in general (he was a wrestler) so I get that out of my system which, again for those of you that know me well, very necessary for me!

In Ashland we stayed in the basement of a tiny little church for the week. For our service projects we helped split wood at this sweet ranch just outside of town (our directions were to take the second driveway on the right after the road turned to dirt). I got to ride a horse there!! It was beautiful. Kind of like those classic movies where the heroic cowboy rides off into the sunset amid mountains and desert. Except I had to turn around and come back. I think I heard a director somewhere yell "CUT!" before I turned around though. 

We also built a deck for an old man, Russ, in town. This guy was one of the cutest, most awesome old men that I've ever met! He had a bunch of awesome stories about his life. For one of the days we were supposed to be working I spent most of it chatting with him and doing odd jobs around his house. We got to run a Sunday school type thing on Tuesday night and I dressed up like a zoo keeper and hang out with little kids. Pretty much right in my sweet spot there! On Wednesday and Friday we went to bible studies at a church across town. 

The Bible studies were where the most depth of the week came in. We talked about two main things separately at the studies but they connected really well. First was about motives. About living and doing everything for Christ. Not for ourselves and not for others but for Him! This showed up the next day actually when we were working on building Russ' deck. At the end of the day we were supposed to be done, we were nowhere near finished. We were all willing to stay and finish but instead we decided to leave. We decided that had we stayed and finished we would have been working for ourselves. Working to get the deck done for the feeling of being accomplished, the satisfaction of finishing. Instead we left to take a step back and reevaluate our motives and to return later in the week with new mindsets to complete our task for the glory of God rather than for ourselves or even for Russ. The lamb is worthy of the reward for His suffering!

The second was about dying to ourselves, letting Him fill in the space, and picking up our crosses daily. It was an awesome study cause we were with a bunch of old guys (who referred themselves as "graybeards" and us as "the youth") and they had a lot of wisdom to share with us. I'm now regularly rechecking myself and my motives to why I'm doing things. If the answer isn't "I'm doing this for the glory of God" then I need to step back and recenter myself and my heart. For example, why am I here? Am I here to figure out my future and what I'll be doing next? There's too many "I"s and "my"s in that statement. I need to do it all for the glory of God and focus on making that my number one priority. From there all it takes is a ton of trust (easier said than done) that God will use me for the glory of His Kingdom.

Next stop is Moab, Utah for a week of Mountain biking! I've never mountain biked before but I'm excited to get out there and start cruising down mountains on a pair of wheels. I can't wait to see what God has for me on the next leg of my journey! 

Unfortunately I don't have pictures from Ashland yet, but they DO exist! I just don't have them... Hopefully I'll have some pics to add to this post soon. 

Words can't describe how thankful I am to each of you for caring enough to follow me along my journey with God and for your consistent prayer. They really are felt in BIG BIG ways!

It's been beautiful and eye opening to watch God work in myself and in the guys I'm with and the communities we touch. How sweet to be in the midst of a 7 month journey with God! No better way or place to invest my time than in things that are eternal - a treasure that will last me well beyond this life! Or as Buzz Lightyear would say, "To infinity and beyond!" 

Thanks for reading and God Bless,

Benjamin Hershberger