I Am Thankful For...

During this holiday season most people are seeing family, eating way too much food, and catching up some sleep. I doubt that many people will even read this due to the busyness of the season, but I thought I would reflect on ten things that I have been thankful for in 2014. Obviously, this is the most cliche thing to do, but cliche is sometimes good for the heart.

10. Legacy Conference

Ali and I attended a conference in late July that focused on Christians living and ministering to diverse people groups in diverse neighborhoods. I was mostly encouraged to see God’s people come together and worship Him.

9. Free Prayer

My friend, Scott, and I have been walking around the neighborhood on Friday afternoons and praying with our neighbors. Asking to pray for people reveals what they value and what God wants to speak into. There have been many amazing stories of God working in the hearts of others, but God has been working on my heart just as much as anyone else.

8. Saturday Morning Prayer

A group of people gather each morning to pray for the needs of the people present, their spheres of influence, Karis Church, churches in Columbia, and the city of Columbia. Ali and I have been meeting on Saturday morning and God has been revealing our need to depend on His strength in all areas of our lives.

7. Douglass Park

The Douglass Park neighborhood has been a warm and welcoming place for my wife and I. I have met so many people that it would take months to write down the names and stories we have heard. Not only have we gotten to know the history of the neighborhood itself, but we have gotten to know the people of the neighborhood as well - which we value very highly. Such a grace from God to know and love so many people.

6. Douglass Park Missional Community

Going along with the last one, I am very thankful for the community of people that have committed to be on mission in the Douglass Park neighborhood. We call ourselves Douglass Park Missional Community (#DPMC), but we believe that God has called us together to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ as a community of believers who love each other and go out on mission in all areas of our lives.

5. New Friendships

This year God has led so many men and women into my life. He has called people like… Scott, Angela, Vincent, Jessica, Chris, Triston, Christina, John, Angie, Ron, Mark, Mike, Brian, and Nate. This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives a picture of all the people God has placed in my life. Thank you to each of you for being great friends this year!

4. Internship

The Karis Church internship has been very challenging this year, but I have grown to see a clearer picture of the gospel. Growing in this has not always come in some miraculously beautiful way - most of it was difficult and challenging. I am thankful that they have not given up on me and that they are being to faithful to discipling me.

3. IMSD

The Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity is the grant program that I work at in the Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Missouri. My boss, Brian, has been amazingly gracious and encouraging during my first couple of months. I have made genuine friends there and I am thankful that God has blessed me with a job that is flexible and expects a lot out of me.

2. My Wife

Ali is my best friend, my wife, and my sister in Christ. She is making me a better man of God, and she pushes me to seek after Jesus more and more each day of my life. God has been good to me by giving me a woman of God who is also pursuing a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. I am going to grow in my thankfulness for her over the course of our marriage, which I am looking forward to each and every day.

1. God

God has given me the best thing in the entire universe: Himself. I have been made alive in Jesus Christ due to His works, not mine. Over the course of my walk as a Christian I have found that I am much more sinful than I originally thought, but He is much more loving, gracious, and forgiving than I could ever imagine. I am thankful for the life that He has given me, but I am most thankful for Him.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Saturday Morning Prayer and the Grace of God

I woke up today at 5:30am.

Now, that might seem a little too early for a Saturday morning for most people, but this has become a normal waking time for Ali and I. We had a hard time initially waking up this early on “our only day off.” Over time though, this waking time has become something we look forward to.

We wake up to go to a small group gathering called Morning Prayer. Karis Church, the church that we have been members at for some time now, started a morning prayer time for each day of the week. Each morning, at 6am, there is an organized time to pray for God to work in our lives, our friends and family, the city of Columbia, and for the church.

As the elders introduced this to the church I immediately felt a conviction. I didn’t understand what the conviction was at first, but I knew I desired to be involved with a Morning Prayer time. I remember hearing that there were still two morning slots that needed leaders - Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

I can’t remember much of the sermon that morning because all I was thinking about was if I should step up and lead one of the open dates. I immediately crossed off Tuesdays because I have Staff Meeting for the church on those mornings, so I knew that it would conflict with that time. So… Saturday was all that was left.

I sat in the pew that morning thinking about why I would want to do this. Did I want to do it because “real” leaders step up? Did I want to do it because I wanted to conquer a challenge? Did I want to do it because I could tell people I am choosing “the hardest morning?” (By the way, waking up at 5:30am is hard any day of the week!)

Those are all twisted reasons to get involved in leading others in prayer, but the one reason that came out from all of it was this:

I struggle with prayer.

I remember sitting there being struck with this healthy conviction that I am robbing myself of God’s intimacy by not spending time in prayer. This reality struck me because I knew it affected my relationship with God.

Why do I say that? Well, I say that because I see how easy it is to fall into believing lies that influence my heart and thoughts about God and His grace. I, like most people, stray into focusing too much on my sin and not our Savior.

"Dear Father, teach us to give our greater efforts to reveling in Your grace rather than groveling in our sin.” Art Azurdia

My lack of prayer reveals that I am more focused on my sin than the grace of God, and I know that the more I focus on my sin the more that I feel guilt and shame for falling short. Sinning in the first place is not “reveling in [God’s] grace,” but refusing to come to God in prayer is also not reveling in His grace. 

There are plenty of reasons why most of us don’t pray: guilt, shame, pride, self-sufficient lies, unbelief, anger, etc. I think of the reasons that I struggle with prayer because I feel extreme guilt and God won’t forgive me for something so offensive to His holiness. While it is true that my sin does affect my relationship with God, the truth is that my sin does not change my standing in Christ. I have placed my life in the grace of God for my salvation and not my works, so when I fall short - and I certainly will - His grace is sufficient to forgive me.

The same thing is true for you if you have trusted in Christ: His grace is sufficient to forgive you and His love for you is the motivation to come before Him for forgiveness and thank Him for His glorious grace.

We have the freedom to come before God, humble ourselves, and ask Him to give us eyes to see Him as He truly is. God is faithful and forgiving to those who are humbled before His holiness and His glory.  

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10 ESV)

Saturday mornings have now become a blessing from God. It started off with just my wife and I, but now we have three others joining us. I wake up groggy each time, but I wake up knowing that God is faithful to hear our prayers. 

If you are interested in joining me pray, please let me know and I would love to connect with you. 

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Neighborhood Accident

Hello,

This is very unformal post, but please pray for my neighbors. A house near mine was struck by a car flying down the road and did some damage to the front of the house. No one was hurt, but they need our prayers.

Thanks!

Let's all be thankful to God that no one was hurt!

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

We Need Co-Laborers

This post was not something that I planned on writing, but after having a couple of conversations on Monday afternoon I felt even more moved to write. I belive that those conversations pushed me into a more transparent vision for what I expect to happen in my neighborhood.

The reality of the situation is that I am unable to muster up enough passion, vision, or desire for my neighborhood to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I am incapable of articulating convincing and moving words so that everyone understands the burden I have for the Douglass Park neighborhood. And this is okay by me.

God is the One who changes hearts. God is the One who saves people. God is the One who changes lives.

Ali and I moved to this neighborhood trusting that God sent us here with the desire and the vision for seeing a revival in this neighborhood. We hope that not only one Missional Community (small groups at Karis Church) begins in this neighborhood, but we are hoping that multiple MCs are flourishing and thriving. My dream is to see a healthy, biblical, and Jesus-centered local church in the neighborhood.

For all of this to happen, Ali and I need a significant amount of prayer. Sincerely pray with us for these things:

1. Co-Laborers
2. Financial Support
3. Salvation and Revival
4. Faith, Courage, and Boldness

Right now in this post, we need all of you to pray that other people catch the vision that we are casting for the neighborhood. We need your prayer for brothers and sisters in the faith to come next to us and practically and sacrificially love the people in our neighborhood.

This passage from Scripture comes to mind when I think of our situation in the Douglass Park Neighborhood:

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”(Matthew 9:35-38 ESV)

Please pray that Ali and I would have others come next to us and faithfully live out the gospel in a radical, biblical, and Christ-like way so that Jesus may be known, loved, and worshipped! We need laborers.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Possibly Broken

Last night I decided to play basektball for the first time in about a month - maybe even longer than that - due to the wisdom teeth surgery. I thought it would be good to get active again and start shooting the basketball with friends again.

Less than five minutes into the game, I went up for a rebound and the ball hit the top of my pinky finger. I thought I jammed my finger, so I kept playing through the pain. After the first time it hit my finger I can recall over five other times where the ball hit my hand it sent shockwaves through my body.

My finger might be broken.

Please pray for me today. Pray for healing, and if there is no healing that I find peace that God is using this to draw me closer to Him. Pray that I seek God's grace and His patience in this circumstance.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Rain, Tears, and Prayer

This morning was a particularly interesting morning. There were rain, tears, and prayers for the future.

This morning started off with this picture above. It was pouring here in Columbia. When I say "pouring," I mean it was coming down so hard that it was hard to see a lot of things in the distance.

Something you may not know about me: I love rain.

Rain reminds me of a lot of good moments in my life, but mostly I love rain because it reminds me of God's grace and His faithfulness. It reminds me of God's promise that He made to Noah after the flood.

Ali and I taught this past Sunday about God's covenant that He made with Noah that He would never flood the Earth again (Genesis 8-9). Rain reminds me of how God's faithfulness has been active and present in my life. Rain reminds me of how God has been loved and saved me from a life without Him and His saving grace.

This morning also brought forth a video about a church that is going to be planted (started) in the city of Chicago. I watched this video about a group from Texas about the influence of Chicago and how they are hoping to plant a church in Chicago by 2014. I honestly had to hold back tears while I was sitting at my desk.

Ali and I have thought quite a bit about what God is calling our family to do after the internship, but if you are curious about what we are seeking to plant a church - specifically and possibly in Chicago - watch this video. It explains the importance of Chicago and it beautifully explains the need for Jesus to be known, loved, and praised in the innercity.

Check out the video here: http://reachchicago2014.com/

Pray for Ali and I as we pray about where our family will go after the internship. Pray that we seek wise counsel within Karis Church to help guide and lead us towards where God would have our family. God is good and He will do great things in the coming months and years. Your prayers are needed and appreciated.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales

Ending the Night

I am ending the night with a swollen face, a gratefulness for God's healing, and thankfulness for God giving me a beautiful, helpful, and servant-hearted wife. 

Thank you for your prayers and continue to pray for me as I heal and recover back to full health.

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales