Jordan Leahy
My plans for next year...
The first time I heard of Mission Year was from a friend who did MY Oakland in 03-04. She kept telling me how great of an experience it was for her and strongly encouraged that I do it myself. The more she told me, the more I wanted to be a part of it. After much prayer about direction after college, I felt that God was leading me to MY. I applied, and here I am. I can’t wait for this year to start and look forward to meeting people and share (and receive) God’s love.
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Jordan Leahy's Blog
Wednesday night devotions. / May 29, 12:14 PM
On Wednesday nights I get to lead devotions with the guys right before dinner. The first time I went to do it I felt like I got stuck with it and wasn’t really interested. I mean, it’s just like any other new experience. We don’t know what it’s going to be like so our first reaction is to fear it rather than embrace it. Well. That’s what I tend to do. I don’t mean to generalize. I don’t think it’s an unfounded claim though. Which is why I said it. Oh dear.
Anyway. I’ve come to really enjoy doing it. The guests are going through Matthew, so it’s a great chance to go through it with them and talk it through. The other night read chapter 10:24-31. We got talking about having a sort of reckless faith in God and not worrying. It was great seeing the confused looks on the guys faces. They’re looking at me thinking and saying “isn’t that hard?” as if I know something they don’t, some sort of secret that makes living with a reckless faith easy.
So I responded “heck yeah! It’s damn near impossible.” I mean, it is but it isn’t. It’s so simple. Don’t worry. But when we can’t see what’s ahead of us (the unknown, see first paragraph) we stick to being afraid.
I was reading a work by Leonard Schiemer soon afterwards…
“Now if we are no longer to love any creature that we have loved before there is only one thing for God to do and that is to prune our branches… gives us his Spirit and teaches us to know and love him. This however does not take place without pain, suffering, and anguish… it is our unbelief that gives us pain. We cannot firmly believe that it happens for our good and that something better awaits us in the future… But there is an even greater unbelief that tortures us, namely godless thoughts such as: God will forget me. He will not remain faithful to me. He is a respecter of persons and will not help me as he has helped others. Unbelief cannot be more stupid than to think: if I surrender to God I surrender security. I will perish… Since he is the greatest good it is impossible not to love him alone and above all things if one knows him.”
That sort of spells out how it’s easy and why we’re wack enough to not believe it.
Just give it up already.
Peace.
Comment [2]
Tandy. / May 22, 01:11 PM
There was a guy who stayed at Breakthrough until just about a month ago named Tandy Tryon (“as in ‘Try-On some clothes’” he’d say). He had been in the program since I started working here in October. He was one of “our” guys. Coming into work was great because you knew Tandy was going to be there and you could look forward to hanging out with him. Breakthrough did a focus on him a few months back. Read it here.
Tandy was one of my boys. He’d moved out of Breakthrough and was struggling a bit. He stopped into the day center from time to time and was in the process of getting by in here.
This past Monday morning I got a text message from Rusty at around 9 o’clock that informed me that Tandy had died in his room over the weekend. That was it. I don’t remember the last time I talked to him, but it was just that. The last time.
Tandy certainly had his struggles. He was an alcoholic, a very visible addiction. He fought it until his last day. It helped bring him to Jesus. He found nowhere else to go but to Him. It helped him understand love and grace. I am in no way advocating for alcoholism as a means of evangelism, but Jesus goes for the throat. He gets at what will get us. This is what got Tandy, and he knew God’s grace and loved Jesus for it. Tandy got “it.” He loved Jesus.
I love you Tandy. See you at the gates. Can’t wait to hug you.
Peace.
Comment [1]
Matthew 8:5-13. / May 22, 12:57 PM
So tonight during pre-dinner devotions at Breakthrough we read Matthew 8:5-13…
5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
7Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
8The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
I mean, this passage is packed with good stuff, but check out verse 8. I want to live with the faith and confidence that the centurion shows there. He has full confidence that Jesus knows what’s best and that he’s got it under control.
Peace.
Be Thou My Vision. / May 22, 12:57 PM
I’ve definitely been playing, singing, humming, listening to this song all day. The lyrics are certainly some of the most beautiful lines ever.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
I usually put that third verse last because it’s my favorite.
High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.
Peace.
I Samuel 15. / May 9, 10:58 AM
On Wednesday I read through I Samuel 15. It’s the story of King Saul’s last stand…
God instructs Saul to go and wipe out the Amalekites. He tells them to spare no one, not even children, even down to the livestock (vs 3). Sounds simple enough, right?
Wrong. Saul and his crew go and tear them apart. But they spare the king and leave the good stuff to sacrifice it to God. Samuel catches wind of this (from God, no birds chirping in his ear) and goes to confront Saul. When he gets there, Saul is really excited to see him and’s like “Sammy! What’s going on!? Check out how great a job me and my crew did!” (vs 4-13).
Samuel sighs and, hinting that Saul messed up, asks what the deal is with the sheep that are bleating in his ears. Saul fails to get it and is like “Dude, it’s the cattle that we kept to sacrifice to God. I thought of it myself. Good job, eh?” (vs 14-21). Samuel sighs again and says; “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (vs 22-23). Samuel tells Saul that his run as King is over and finishes what Saul failed to finish by putting the Amalekite king to death (vs 24-33).
I like how this passage points to trusting God. Saul had some pretty basic instructions. Had he done what God told him he would have been set. When he started getting creative with God’s plans it fell apart. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We need to stick with what we know and where we are, not think about where we could be.
I tend to freak out about what’s ahead of me. Since I can’t see what’s coming, I’ll try to take things into my own hands and then I get bent out of shape when I screw things up. Verse 22 says “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of a ram.” Focus on where you are and where God has you. Soak up the love He’s giving you right now, not what you want it to look like. His love is perfect for us right where we are. He knows what we need and has it under control.
Peace.
