Week 5, Day 1
Today we went through John 10:1-21, which contains my favorite passage of Scripture for a few reasons. First, John 10:10 was the first piece of Scripture I ever fully memorized. Second, this whole chapter talks about God’s protection over our lives when we’re living and walking with Him. Third, the message of this passage is why it’s one of the chapters I keep locked in my heart — the longer I walk with Him, the more I come back to it, especially when I’m going through trials. Let’s dive into these points, but first I want to open this post with a prayer to invite Him into this story.
Opening Prayer
Dear God,
First off, You are a holy God who seeks a relationship with Your people, wanting to show each of us the perfect plan You have for our lives. Thank You for this platform to share the powerful things You did through me in Lake Tahoe, California last year. Lord, as I share my experience from week 5 of the trip, let me decrease so that You can increase. Let the readers and supporters of this trip see You through these events, not me. Nothing I encountered last year was my own doing — it was all orchestrated by You to grow me closer to You and to make me look more like You. Thank You for the lovely people who supported me so I could go on this trip. Bless this time we have together, and let Your message shine through this post. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen!
Week 5, Day 1 (cont.)
At the beginning of middle school, I was still going to church with my aunt and uncle, since my private school hadn’t yet moved into the church where I first started serving. In the youth program at my uncle’s church, we were going through the book of John, and when we got to chapter 10, the youth leader brought out a special Bible known as the Hawaiian Pidgin Bible to read John 10:10.
For those who don’t know the verse in English, John 10:10 (NLT) reads:
“The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
In the Hawaiian Pidgin Bible, it says:
“Da steala guy, he ony come to steal, kill, an bus up the place. But I wen come fo da people come alive inside, an fo dem live to da max.”
No disrespect to the language, but to us teenage boys, it was the funniest thing ever. I said it to everyone for the rest of that month — so much so that when my aunt and uncle picked me up the following week, I could tell they’d had enough of John 10:10. Lol.
The verse stayed fresh in my mind because I connected it to a language I didn’t even know existed until that day, and that connection is what’s helped me remember it ever since. It was one of the first small connections I felt with Jesus. That was also when I learned the Bible wasn’t originally written in English — it was translated from manuscripts in languages far older — and it piqued my interest in reading and understanding the Bible more deeply.
John 10 is such a powerful chapter of the Bible. It continues right where chapter 9 leaves off, just after Jesus heals the blind man. Here, He gives the Pharisees a parable about sheep, a shepherd, and a sheepfold to explain who He is and His relationship to His people. Once again, I was seeing this passage in a way I never had before. If you’ve never read it, I encourage you to study it for yourself — but here’s the “Justin summary” and what I believe God was trying to teach me through it.
First, Jesus was showing the Pharisees that He (God) is our shepherd, and we — His followers — are the sheep. He guides us, but we have to listen and watch for His staff to keep us safe. Next, He warns that the enemy (the thief) will try to lead us astray and steal the purpose God has planned for our lives. This passage led to some really interesting conversation with my life group.
We talked about how, even though Jesus knew the Pharisees wouldn’t understand the parable, He still gave it — and how, as our shepherd, He needs to be our guide in everyday life. We also discussed that while it’s good to bring God our big decisions, we need to bring Him the little ones too. That’s something I’ve been trying to put into practice, and every time I do, it’s freeing and amazing. Giving Him your whole day is freeing because you start to feel the Holy Spirit guide you, and there’s less stress in decision-making when you already know He’s got it covered.
We wrapped up our discussion talking about how powerful this passage’s message really is. Overall, it shows that God wants a deep, personal relationship with each of His children when we submit to Him and His plan for our lives. That’s why I love the parable of the sheep, the shepherd, and the sheepfold — it shows that He is our shepherd, and as long as we listen to His guidance, He will protect us and keep us on the path He’s set for us.
After these powerful discussions, I headed to the family room, grabbed an iced coffee and a bagel, and ate breakfast while the other groups finished up. My body had finally adapted to the routine, so I was able to start my day after devotionals without needing a nap. Afterward, I took a shower and got ready to head to the church — I had a job opportunity there and needed to be there by 10:00 AM, which only gave me an hour and a half. My roommate drove me, which was a great chance to get to know him on a deeper level.
I learned that he and I had similar interests when it came to education, and we both enjoyed video games and gaming on PC. We were also in similar places in our walks with the Lord — each of us using this trip to strengthen our trust and relationship with Him.
That time with my roommate made me realize I need to get better at asking questions and getting to know people on a deeper level. I tend to talk about myself and only ask about the other person when they bring it up. Through my studies, I was learning that Jesus was the master of asking questions and getting people to open up to Him.
All of this made me want to develop the skill of asking good, meaningful questions to really get to know the people God has so graciously placed in my life. I wanted to be the person people come to, but I realized I can’t be that person if I’m not taking the time to ask questions that get to the root of the conversation and the other person’s feelings.
Working at the Church
Before I get into what I did at the church, fair warning: this section gets into some technical jargon. Feel free to skip ahead if it’s not your thing. I do plan on making videos for my YouTube channel that explain everything covered here, so stay tuned for updates on when that content goes live.
When I first arrived, I had to wait for the lead pastor since I’d shown up a bit early. As I waited, I got more excited because I had no idea what was in store for the day. All the pastor had told me over the phone was that they needed help moving their network to the cloud — which, for a tech like me, could mean a lot of different things. That’s why I brought my iPad: I wanted the ability to draw diagrams and take notes as I learned their environment, so I could figure out the best solution for them.
When the pastor arrived, he shook my hand and let me in to start our meeting. We began by walking around the church’s office area, and he showed me their makeshift network closet/IT office, which I assumed was where I’d be spending most of my time on this upgrade. As it turned out, that assumption was completely wrong.
Based on everything I was seeing, they were already operating in the cloud and had been for years — the servers in that network closet hadn’t been used in five years or more. To me, that’s what a successful IT upgrade looks like: users never even notice the change. It’s a dream for us technicians, because it means we can move on to the next project without having to retrain anyone on new tools. In fact, they were only missing one piece of their setup, which I was able to get fully deployed in under three hours.
The solution was adding Google Drive to each of their workstations. If you’ve worked at a church, you know how much document-sharing happens between team members — and email isn’t the best way to do that, since it’s easy to lose track of who has the latest version and what changes were made. Google Drive solves that problem: you just right-click a file and share it, and from then on it’s stored on Google’s servers as well as on the workstation of everyone with access, updating for everyone in real time.
I chose Google Drive because they were already on Google Business — in essence, they were already paying for something they weren’t using. They seemed thrilled with the solution and were using it like pros as soon as it was fully deployed. Once it was set up, I called my roommate to come pick me up and take me back to camp.
Week 5, Day 1 (continued)
When my roommate picked me up, we headed back to camp and grabbed our dirty laundry. We decided to go to a laundromat a bit farther from camp, near a restaurant where we could sit while our clothes dried. We kept talking and getting to know each other on a more personal level, and I really felt our bond grow deeper during that time. Once the laundry was done, we headed back to camp, since it was almost time for dinner.
Dinner still felt a little strange — the camp felt empty without the other half of our group. We only filled about two rows of picnic tables instead of three. The food was just as good, and with fewer people to feed, there was actually more variety. We sat down, enjoyed our food and conversation, and then headed to our first teaching night with our newly appointed leaders.
Teaching night felt different too. We kicked things off with a camp-wide game of four corners, which was so much fun — one of those moments where time seemed to slow down. There was so much laughing and smiling that the leaders had a hard time wrapping up the game to move into worship and the lesson. By this point I’d started leaving my phone in my roommate’s car, which let me focus much more on the message and the Word.
Worship felt different in a good way, starting that night. I could picture myself sitting before the Father, looking up at Him with my arms raised wide, asking Him to pick me up — like a baby asking his father to hold him. It brought me to tears, because I felt the Father pick me up and tell me, “I’ve got you, My child. I have always had you.” Since then, worship has become a deep connection with the Father for me — to the point that everything around me disappears, and it’s just me worshipping and singing to Him. I finally understood why people fall to their knees and just sit and soak in worship. It’s something I’d desired in my walk with God for years, and I finally had that moment. Worship has slowly become part of my everyday life, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more joy and peace than I do now. When it was time for the lesson, God had my full attention, and I never wanted that moment to end.
This lesson was practical for us when evangelizing in the community. We went through an app called God Tools — a digital version of our Gospel presentation booklet, available in many languages and geared toward many different walks of life. I really love this tool because, used effectively, it helps you speak directly to the heart of the person you’re presenting the Gospel to — which is exactly what God does and wants us to do. Just as He was teaching me all summer, He cares more about connecting with your heart than He does about any religious action you perform. God just wants you and your attention. That was a simple but powerful realization for me during this time. Time with God has become such an important part of my life, and it’s made me intentional about spending time with Him in ways that deepen my connection with Him. I can’t wait to expand on this more in a future post.
After teaching, a group of us went to Taco Bell to grab food and hang out. Afterward, my roommate and I went back to my cabin and watched Netflix on my iPad — we wanted to watch Cyberpunk together. We set up my chair, propped the iPad up on it, and settled in for a couple of episodes before heading to bed, since we were getting tired. This was one of my favorite things we did together in the cabin, because that’s when it really started to feel like home. It felt great to finally, fully enjoy where I was without the nagging thought that I might get sent home early over something out of my control. I went to bed that night relaxed and ready for whatever the next day would bring.
Week 5, Day 2
I woke up that morning excited to see what the day had in store, and actually early enough to get dressed before devotional time. After getting dressed, I headed to the family room, grabbed my iced coffee, and made my way to the picnic tables to meet my group. I was the first one there, so I put my coffee down, grabbed my bagel, and opened my Bible while the rest of the group joined me.
That morning we were in John 10:22-42, which continues the theme we’d been reading about over the past couple of days. During what we now know as Hanukkah, a group of Jewish leaders surrounded Jesus and began questioning Him again. They asked Him directly whether He was the Messiah, and in typical Jesus fashion, He answered in a way that, on the surface, seemed cryptic. To them, at the time, it sounded like blasphemy.
The reason people thought Jesus was speaking blasphemy is that they didn’t yet understand He was part of the Holy Trinity. So when He associated Himself with the Father, they saw only the human Jesus and didn’t recognize that He is one with God. Second, Jesus was — and is — in close relationship with the Father, so when He says He only operates in the Father’s will, it’s because He knows that will intimately, through that relationship. I was reminded that we have that same ability as we spend time in the Word and in prayer.
I was learning the power of getting alone in the Word and in prayer, like we did every Tuesday that summer. The more time I spend alone with Jesus, the more refreshed my spirit becomes, and I started really feeling the Holy Spirit guide me throughout the day. That’s still growing today as I prioritize my relationship and time with the Lord — I’m finding more peace and learning to recognize when I need to rest, say no to overcommitting, and prioritize what helps me serve the Lord and the church well. This lesson inspired some real changes I needed to make once I returned home to Florida.
I was beginning to recognize that I needed an older, more mature group to help me grow. It was awesome that I was serving and leading the young adult ministry at my church, but to pour into them effectively, I needed someone pouring into me — so I could keep growing in my own walk and developing as a man. The more I’m able to grow, the better I can lead the younger generation I’m trying to disciple. If I’m not taking time to grow myself, I can’t lead well, because then it becomes the blind leading the blind — which benefits no one.
This lesson hit me hard, and honestly, it’s something I’m still working through more than a year later. I’m still seeking the Lord to figure out exactly what this looks like for me — it’s been a genuine struggle, and one I plan to talk more about in a future post. For now, I left my devo time with a lot of questions I needed to bring to God and to wise counsel back home, since my friends in Lake Tahoe didn’t know my story the way my mentors did. After praying, I decided to reach out to my home pastor for counsel.
That conversation really helped put some things into perspective. I’d assumed that doing what the Lord was asking would mean completely leaving the young adult ministry to grow. My pastor said maybe not — that as I was growing and getting fed myself, my role with the young adults might just look different. He suggested God might want me leading a small group instead of leading the tech team. It was a lot to process, but really insightful. I left that conversation praying and asking God for more discernment.
As I walked and talked with the Lord, I felt an overwhelming peace. The Holy Spirit reminded me that I didn’t need to worry about this right now — I still had three more weeks in Tahoe, and there’d be plenty of time to think about life after Tahoe once I got home. For now, I just needed to focus on finishing the trip and learning everything He wanted to teach me here. It was the same lesson from the day before: focus on my relationship with Him and trust Him with the details. I was learning the lessons, but I still needed to keep turning over the reins and letting Him guide my steps. That’s when I’d finally experience the peace I’d been longing for in my walk with Him. After that walk, it was time to get back into community and enjoy the rest of my time in Tahoe.
At dinner, we had pasta for the first time in a while, and I really enjoyed it — it was actually one of the few meals I went up for seconds on. Dinner was fun, and we learned that instead of staying at camp for an activity like the night before, we’d be heading to another church in the community for the week’s practical lesson. I found that interesting, though part of me didn’t know what to expect. We finished eating, cleaned up, and headed to the cars with our Bibles and notebooks.
At the church, we were greeted by our new directors, who explained that for the rest of the trip, we’d come there every Friday for the practical lesson. The plan was to have the same guest speaker come in to expand on the Thursday night talk and take Q&A most weeks. The more they explained, the more interested I got, since I’d often had questions during prior weeks that never got asked because of Thursday night’s time and format. We were there for a couple of hours while everyone got on the same page.
When we got back to camp, we treated the evening like a Wednesday, since a lot of people had Saturday off work. A few of us watched a movie, some hung out in the family room, and the rest went to get food.
I stayed back to watch the movie but asked my roommate to grab me a soda, since I was really craving a fountain drink. He agreed, and watched the rest of the movie with us once he got back. We ended up watching Cars, which was a lot of fun, though I got tired about halfway through and ended up heading to bed.
Week 5, Day 3
Since a lot of people had the day off, we got to sleep in. We were encouraged to do our devotional alone that day and talk about it with our life groups later at dinner. We were reading John 11:1-37, and there was so much I wanted to slow down and really soak in — I was glad to get to read it on my own.
For those who aren’t familiar with this passage, it’s one of my favorites because it shows just how fully human Jesus was, like each of us. I’d argue that’s a powerful reason we can relate to Jesus and turn to Him when we’re mourning — because He can relate to our pain.
This passage opens with the news that Jesus’ friend Lazarus is gravely ill and dying. Jesus can’t get there right away, since He decides to go to Judea first, delaying His trip to Lazarus by two days — and Lazarus ultimately dies before Jesus arrives. When Jesus does get there, Mary isn’t happy.
When Jesus arrived, Mary told Him she was upset, because she knew He could have saved Lazarus had He been there when he first got sick. That made me pause and think about other passages where Jesus heals someone from a distance. One example is John chapter 4, where a man from Capernaum begs Jesus to come heal his dying son. Instead of going to the man’s house and laying hands on the boy, Jesus simply tells him to go home, because his son is alive. That raised a question for me: if Jesus can heal from a distance like that, why didn’t He do the same for Lazarus?
After thinking it through, I believe I have an answer, though I’d love to hear your thoughts too. Jesus does everything to bring the Father glory, and we’ll get more context on this specific question when I talk about the day 5 reading — so stay tuned, and we’ll pick this back up. In the meantime, the more I read and study the person of Jesus, the closer I feel to Him.
The rest of the day was wide open until dinner, since the kitchen staff was off that night and we were on our own for food. I decided it was the perfect day to do laundry, since there was no rush to be anywhere — and laundry was basically an all-day event anyway, since the public laundromat’s dryers took almost two hours to fully dry a load. I took advantage of the alone time to listen to an audiobook my leader had recommended before he left to head home.
That audiobook really caught my attention and opened up a whole new layer of studying the Bible for me. It covers the history of the Bible and dives into how it was translated into the version we read today, including the difference between word-for-word and thought-for-thought translations. It made me want to find a word-for-word translation to study and dive deeper into God’s Word. So while my laundry finished up, I took advantage of the good Wi-Fi and went Bible shopping on Amazon.
My laundry finished around 3:30 PM, and I didn’t need to be at family night until 7:00 PM, which gave me time to bring my clothes back to camp, charge my chair, put everything away, and grab something to eat. After everything I’d learned that day, I wanted a sandwich back at camp, some quiet time to shut my brain off, and a bit of solo relaxation before jumping into family night. As I keep writing this, I’m noticing I’m starting to value being alone with God — I really feel connected to the Holy Spirit as I write and revisit these passages from the trip last summer.
After dinner, we gathered for family night. I felt rested and excited to spend time with everyone in camp. We played a fun game of Manhunt, split into four teams, with the only rule being that we couldn’t leave camp or go into the surrounding neighborhood. It was so enjoyable — one of those nights I didn’t want to end. We laughed so much while we played, and once it got dark, we transitioned into movie night. I watched the movie, ate my snacks, and turned in afterward.
As I was heading to bed, I noticed my roommate working on the guitar he was building, and I was curious enough to stay up with him for a while. In hindsight, I should have gone to bed and saved my energy, given how I woke up the next morning.
Week 5, Day 4
Waking up for church that morning, I felt awful — congested, with a runny nose — and knew I needed to stay back and rest. My roommates were kind enough to let the leaders know I’d be staying at camp. I asked my roommate to grab me some cold medication, and as soon as he got back with it, my recovery journey began. I ended up sick for the rest of the week.
Being Sick on the Mission Trip
After resting for a few days, I still wasn’t getting any better, so I went to the hospital since urgent care didn’t take my insurance. They ran a few tests and had me wait for what felt like forever.
Thankfully, the tests came back negative. The doctor said my body was properly fighting off a cold and recommended some different over-the-counter medication to help. Luckily, the friend picking me up to take me back to camp knew exactly what I needed to get.
On the way back to camp, we stopped at CVS for the medication. Honestly, I felt like I was in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen — it felt like my camp brothers and sisters were rallying to help me get better by the end of the week. We found what I needed, grabbed the medication and a Gatorade for electrolytes, and headed back to camp so I could recover.
Back at camp, we had about an hour and a half until dinner, so I lay down and planned to wait until after I ate to take my meds. To my surprise, a few friends made me some soup so I wouldn’t have to wait. I knew right then I was loved and in great hands. I ate the soup, took my medication, and went to bed. It felt so good to know my friends really cared and were looking out for me — those small acts showed me that God sees me and provides for me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without these new lifetime friends caring for me the way they did. If any of my friends, new or old, are reading this: thank you for all you do, and have done, to help me day to day. I’m blessed to have you in my life.
Since I was sick for the rest of the week, I didn’t get to finish my devotionals and had to catch up on them the following week once I felt better. More on that in my next post.
I really hope you’re enjoying this, and I pray it’s helping you grow closer to Jesus. Thank you for all your support, and I look forward to talking with you all soon.
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