Hey everyone!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post on here! Life has been crazy this past month! With me gaining new responsibilities, going to a conference in Salem, and taking vacation.

The new responsibilities I inherited were that I am now the SOS (summer of service) Coordinator. So basically I am in charge of all of the SOSers. SOS is when people come to the base to serve Mission Adventures for the summer. They lead teams with us and serve the base in many other ways. 

The conference I went to in Salem was amazing! It was for North America Mission Adventures! And the whole point of it was to network and connect with other bases and share vision for 2012. It was an amazing time to get to know other bases and how they run their programs and see how we can improve ours! It makes me so excited to know that there are so many other ways to run MA!

After the conference I went on a mini vacation to Washington where my parents live to see them and my grandpa. It was so nice to see my mom for mothers day, and to see my grandpa after everything that has happened with him! My grandpa had a stroke not too long ago and it made his whole right side unusable. But by the grace of God he is getting better!

I want to thank you all for everything you do! I know I say it all the time, but without your support (prayer, financial or whatever it is) I would not be able to do what I do! 

In other news the SOSer’s get here on Monday May 28, and I would greatly appreciate it if you all would be praying that I can listen to God on how to lead them best! 

Thanks for everything!

Peter Shirley

I am continually in awe of what God is doing in my life and the lives of others! This past week-and-a-half have been great! Seeing the DTS students at the base go through plumb-line and grow closer to God after was amazing! And to see my team from Fresno Pacific University be challenged by God with homeless people is just truly amazing! God is moving so much in this place that it is crazy!

Colossians 3:11 talks about identity. “Here there is no Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” This just reminds me of all the times that I have struggled with “who” I was as opposed to “WHO’s” I was. My identity is in Christ! First and foremost!

Who is Christ in your life? Is He first and foremost, or is He sitting on the sidelines? Read Colossians 3:1-17 and meditate on identity and on your identity. It is amazing what God will reveal!  

There is this song by Will Reagan called “Set A Fire,” and the opening words are “there is no place I would rather be than here in your love.” And it got me thinking, “where am I when I am not in the love of God? Where do I go when I don’t continually exist in His presence?” The answer came to me like it was the easies one ever. I am existing in my own “world.” I create a bubble that I am comfortable with and dwell in it because it is not foreign. Because it is easier at times than following the voice of the Lord.

Such a challenge it is to die to self daily. To decide that I am going to live today for Jesus and not for myself! But when we truly love God it becomes easier! I noticed that when I start each day by not even getting out of bed before I commit my day to the Lord, that day is better! Is it easier? No but in the long run it is a better day. My whole mind set of how things will happen changes from a “me” perspective to a “we” perspective. By simply “putting on the new self” that Paul talks about in Colossians 3, we are able to live and exist in Gods presence and His unfailing love!

I challenge you this week to do this. Don’t even leave your bed with out committing your day to the Lord. And if you already do this… Well good on you. But if not I truly challenge you to do this because it really does make a difference!

This las week was one of awesome fellowship! I had some of my best friends from my DTS come and visit over the weekend and that was amazing! To be able to see what God has been doing in their lives and notice what He has done in my own!

I was reading Colossians 3:1-17. You know, the one that talks about being raised in Christ and taking off the old self… Ya that always stings. Its like taking off an old bandaid. But instead of slowly taking it off (me in my infinite wisdom) ripped it off fast. But by doing that I saw what I had been doing wrong. That not putting God first in everything I do really messes things up! And realizing that when I die to self that I am free to do what He has for me! Because then I am not in the way! My pastor spoke on Genesis this weekend. About Abram and Sarai. How they went out of Gods way and did things on their own accord, by Sarai giving Abram her servant Haggar as a wife to have children with so that child could be Abrams heir, they went out of Gods plans and did their own thing. I kind of wonder what things would have been like if the would have waited on the Lord and not done things their own way.

So I challenge you to die to yourself and get out of God’s way. And see where He takes you.