Touches of God's Grace

Greetings and happy weekend to you all!

It has been a little over a month since returning to Nazareth for this next part of my expedition. Things have been going very well and I continue to learn day to day through experiences and how I hope to live my best life.

Young Life has gone to another level with lots of new kids and the regulars attending club. We can usually count on around at least 30 students to show up and sometimes get up to 60! Furthermore, while we are directly involved with just one high school, students "our" school have invited their friends from other schools...and then they invite their friends. So students from around 4-5 different schools have at least had one experience with Young Life Nazareth which is exciting. Hunter and I continue with our bible study of some solid guys who want to go deeper into the bible questions and thoughts about discovering who Jesus is. Laurie (Hunter's wife) facilitates the girls group and sometimes we all come together for study with a little worship - this has given me an opportunity to lead on the guitar which has been fun to pick back up after learning some basics when I was younger. B.Study nights usually end with a game of Settlers of Catan which I brought from America and the kids here love it!! Buttt, they still are working to beat me haha.

I also returned as a volunteer to the Nazareth Village Tourist site. This includes dressing as a 1st century villager "working" the land, helping serve meals in the kitchen/restaurant, and finally as a guide leading tours through the village. Current circumstances also led the director of the village to asking if I could give a bit more time and have a more involved role. Basically, I am her personal assistant which has a role similar to that of an operations manager for the other volunteers & staff just making sure people are where they need to be and managing the timing of things to provide the best experience for the tourists. I work about 35 hours a week but still remain a volunteer and while this may seem crazy and not logical on my part...for me it was simply an opportunity to fill a need for a place I have come to love.
My favorite thing by far is leading tours because I am directly involved with tourists from all over the world and share about life during Jesus's time. One example - I led a group from Singapore of pastors who were full of energy. They were a delight to share knowledge with, laugh with, and then at the end they provided a memory that will stay with me forever as they prayed for me and the ministry I'm involved with here. A line that has stuck in my head was - "Lord, let Zack continue to pursue You, and finish with the same passion and energy that he started with." At moments when I feel I am tired or just want to stop, I remember this.

Then, actually today I led a group from Canada. Now, every tour I give, my focus is to give my best and that those the group will learn something new. At the end of the tour the group leader, Pastor Todd took a moment with me. He said "Zack, thank you so much, you did a great job. And can I tell you something?" I replied, "Of Course." And he said "You have a touch of God with you."
I've come to strongly believe that one of the ways God works in our lives is through people - words, actions, service, etc...and things like these kind words are a treasure for me.

I'm thankful that every day I am involved with things centered around Christ because it makes it much easier to keep my focus on pursuing Him and what he taught. I know we all don't have this privilege, however I believe He is always there for us, wherever we may be.

Hope you have a great weekend, and Blessings to you. I'm giving the talk/message tomorrow at club so that's something you could keep in your prayers for me.

(this was taken from my "porch" last Sunday after a storm

a reminder of God's first covenant)

Love Zack