Blessed (:

Shoo Akbar!? (What's up in Arabic - getting better slowly).

Hello friends and family and a Happy Friday to you all. Mannn, October has been a pretty solid month for me so far and I hope the same for you. Apologies for not posting in a while, but I've had some cool and exciting things going on in the last couple weeks.

Last week I was asked to share at the 11th and 12th grade Chapel period at the school where we are connected with Young Life. Once a week the kids have a 45min period where they sing some worship songs and a message is shared. The group varies from students with Muslim and Christian backgrounds. I basically did a YL Talk sharing about me and what I thought about life when I was their age. Then told the story from Mark 8 when Jesus asks Peter and His Disciples "Who Do You Say I Am?". We get information from all over incessantly and maybe what we say isn't necessarily our own thought out opinion but simply a regurgitation or repeating of other's words. But we are ALL asked this question by Jesus and it's an important one, so it deserves some time and thought. Really thankful for the opportunity and it was my first time speaking with a translator!

sharing at chapel

 

I've spent a lot of time at the Nazareth Village volunteering as first century villager. Lots of time in the kitchen preparing the meals for tourists and then serving as a waiter or even baking all the bread given with the meal. It's been pretty sweet to see believers from all over the world (Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, England, Russia, China etc)...come to the village and make their experience as enjoyable as possible. Furthermore, in just a month and a half of being there, I was asked to learn the tour guide script! I've given a couple tours so far and it is my favorite thing to do. There was a lot to learn but it's all such great knowledge and given me more of an understanding of parables/lessons Jesus spoke of and how life was like then. Then getting to share this knowledge with other people!

plow - each side is a yoke and the middle is the sight

Example: A simple mention but in Luke 9:62 Jesus says "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." This is a picture of a plow He was talking about. When working it would be hooked with 2 donkeys on the outside yokes who pulled it and then has a 'sight' like a gun in the middle. When working it's vital that a farmer stays focused on the sight and not be distracted or otherwise his plow line will be crooked/jagged/not as useful as it ought to be. Oddly, this simple thing really connected with me. I like the analogy and have experienced a change in life since putting my full focus on following Jesus (the sight). and through trusting Him, I've experienced blessings put in the path of my plowline (:

I'm giving the "talk" tomorrow at Young Life Club after our Clasico themed YL (Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game). something you could pray for...me, any nerves, and mostly that the words said are of God and connect with the students!

Cheers and love you all - Zack

just a cool pic from the village - replica 1st century synagogue