Where have I been?

So if you couldn't tell, or have been living under a stupid rock, I haven't blogged on here in a while. 264 days in fact.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been blogging! Since I am currently on the World Race, I've been posting on my blog there.

I've also been posting a picture a day on Tumblr since January 1st, and plan on continuing that until at least I finish the race.

I don't know where I will blog after I return from the race. I'm planning on coming back here, so keep me in your RSS feeds por favor. If I don't, I'll be sure to at least stop by and give you a new website where you can read my musings.

Check out my World Race blog at nickrice.theworldrace.org

And my Picture-A-Day at nick-rice.tumblr.com.

God Bless!

Fresh Wind

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me I HAD to read Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, and I am so grateful that I took her advice and read it. This book is super convicting, and not in a typical "here are three steps to improve your walk" christian book. This book focuses on one thing: prayer.

It's so simple, yet how many of us truly believe in the power of prayer and give up everything to God? I know I'm terrible at that. I feel like so much of my life right now I can take care of myself. I know how to do homework, go to Monday night dinner, and plan cru. While I may know how to do it, it won't be blessed the way God intends it to be.

I'll be honest, I'm really bad at making prayer a priority in my life. Thankfully this book was a good reminder of that and helped me realize just how much prayer matters. This is what Jim said to his faltering church one Sunday and hasn't looked back since:

From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure because that will be the measure by which God blesses us.

Wow. That statement is so simple yet so profound. I'm not going to go anywhere just guessing where God is taking me and hoping for the best. I need to spend more time with the Lord in prayer.

I feel like sometimes I forget just how powerful prayer is and how much God blesses that. I want to lift up more of my life and the things I'm involved with to the Lord.

I've been quick to push out the Spirit moving in order to keep things orderly and efficient. I need to let God take the reins and see what He does. It'll probably be a lot better than whatever I plan.

Keep me accountable to these things please. Plus if we all make a culture of prayer I'm pretty confident God would start doing some awesome things here.

Needless to say, there is WAY more in this book than what I've talked about right here. I highly encourage you all to read it sometime. Expect to be challenged though. It's great.

Changing Seasons

The last few days in Los Angeles have been cold. And not an LA-72-degrees-and-cloudy cold. It has been straight up brisk. Highs have been the in 60s and lows in the 40s. This is not what I expect in Los Angeles. If I wanted sunny and "super cold" (as defined by southern Californians), I would've gone to Iowa or Michigan or some other Big Ten school. But I didn't; I went to the University of Southern California, otherwise known as the best school ever.

Nevertheless, this frigid weather got me thinking about seasons, and not just weather seasons, but spiritual seasons as well. God doesn't always coincide worldly seasons with my spiritual ones, but this time I think He did.

Over the summer, I was on a spiritual high. I had plenty of time to spend with the Lord and expand my spiritual knowledge. In addition, I was having a bunch of deep spiritual conversations with friends even though I was living in good ole' Fallbrook. When I got back to school, I thought this trend would continue...I think I forgot how busy I am during the school year, and so my God time began getting neglected. This, compounded with the transition into senior year, put me into a spiritual funk; a dry season if you will.

Dry seasons with God are never fun. You know (and are told) that God is always beside you and is working for your good, but you don't see it. I felt like I wasn't growing spiritually, and I definitely wasn't spending time with God because I lacked desire and motivation. I was getting frustrated easily, and became completely cynical about everything. If you had a good idea, I could probably give you 10 reasons why it was a bad idea and would fail. Yeah, not a good time for me.

I was so ready to get out of it, and so I was looking to the World Race as my escape. I was semi-regretting not applying for the January race so I could just graduate in December. But alas, God had bigger and better plans for me.

Last week, three things occurred.

1) The August race was revealed.

2) The weather got colder.

3) I actually had some free time.

God was ready to bring me out of my dry season. I got re-excited about the July race and the adventures God has in store for me in my future. I started spending more time with the Lord, and lo and behold, my attitude started getting better. Finally, with my extended free time, I was able to start reading again and just having time to process more.

God is so good. Despite me feeling like He was nowhere near me, He was definitely right there. It was my pride and selfishness that kept me from looking to Him. It's easy to be stoked on life when God is continually rocking you, but when you feel like He isn't around, you must keep speaking truth into your heart and the hearts of those around you. Don't let the devil convince you otherwise.

Lord, thank You for bringing me out of the dry season and into this new season of spiritual growth. You are so good to me, it is unfathomable. You are bigger and better than any dry season or trial that I could every face. Take my pride away from me, and mold my attitude. Thank you for always being with me, even if I'm not seeking You. In Jesus name, Amen

In other news, I'm reading a book called Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire that is fantastic and really making me rethink the way I live my last semester here. Except a blog about it soon. Also, I submitted my world race application today so be expecting A LOT more blogs about that soon. Basically God is stirring in me again, and I want to share it with all of you.

I'll end with a question. What is God showing/teaching/growing you in your life right now? Are you going through a dry season or growing season?

Be Still

Be still and know that I am God

-Psalm 46:10

I have spent the last couple of months-actually nearly my entire life-doing; feeling like I have to be doing something. Thinking that there is something I need to do in order to get closer to God.

And there is something...Be still. That's it.

Lord, teach me to be still before you. I can't seem to stop going, but I want to be still with You. Please calm my life in such a way that I can listen to You. Amen

Be still and know that I am God

Stress Relief

It's amazing how even though I've heard it, known it, and even blogged about it, I still am fickle in my walk with the Lord and sometimes don't rely on Him. In the midst of everything I have to do on a daily basis, I forget to turn to God and say " I take your yoke." Last week, as you know, I went on Fall Retreat. It was a culmination of an extremely busy first 4 weeks, and so I was hoping that last week would be calmer and I could get back into the swing of things. But alas, I was still busy, still sick, and starting to feel burnt out. I even planned a long quiet time on Saturday to just spend time with the Lord. It was a great time, but come Monday when life got busy again, I was starting to get stressed out and burned out on my commitments. I just wanted to get away from everything for a while.

It wasn't until Tuesday night when I had 45 minutes to myself when I sat down with the Lord and said "I can't do it anymore. I need you. I want to be close to you again." And seriously, it was like God said "Finally. Now get some rest." and immediately I started feeling refreshed. Touché God. You are always there, waiting for us to come to You.

I need to stop forgetting about God's love and desire for me.

I pulled out My Utmost for His Highest and read the day's devotional. It was called "The 'Go' of unconditional identification" and the verse was Mark 10:21.

Jesus . . . said to him, ’One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’

Chambers says "Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships." (September 28th)

I need to give up everything to the Lord. Nothing I do is of myself. It is all His. I must stop trying to do things on my own and let Him take over. As Carrie Underwood said it well, "Jesus, take the wheel." I desire oneness with Him. All of my "busyness" must be given up to Him. I still have my commitments, but when they are on the Lord's shoulders and not my own, I won't be stressed, and I won't get burned out. Why do I always forget this again? Oh right, because I haven't been made perfect yet. Jesus, can you come back soon?

The other thing is that I started rereading The Pursuit of God with some guys in AGO, and it was a great reminder of how I need to desire God. I mean, once you start desiring Him, the passion just increases. The prayer at the end of chapter one is fantastic (like always), and it's a prayer asking for a desire to desire God. It has been a good prayer for me this week. I don't need to pursue God and Cru, or God and AGO, or God and my friends. I just need God. That's the only thing that matters. I need to follow hard after him.