Preface

Hey folks!

Today was another great day at the plant with a lot of exciting problems to overcome; not to mention the sickness that my team leaders suffered through. Of course I didn't get sick because Carlos says that I have a “Mexican” stomach. After work, we went to this beautiful beach and got to enjoy the pleasant seawater. It was definitely something from a vacation commercial or movie. I couldn't imagine it was real. 

I do feel obligated to preface these blogs for my readers that don't necessarily live near me. It is a great story of the Lord providing and I would love to share it. 

The past couple of years, I did a lot of crazy things like actually follow Jesus, change my major, added a different major, and allowed God to be the author of my future. All of these things were extremely frightening at the time, but I have been able to build faith in my God and His provisions for my life. After a year of deciding not to go to medical school but instead work with environmental issues, I pleaded for the Lord to show me His plans for my life. It wasn't until October 2011 that He made me realize that He really does provide.

I went to this conference, called World Mandate, that my church, Antioch Community Church, has once a year to excite people about changing the world by being the light in their local community or wherever God calls them. On one day, they had a workshop about how to advance the kingdom in business and establishing a kingdom-minded company. During the workshop, I heard Elisa Teipel speak about her company, Natural Composites Inc., and how they wanted to find innovative ways to use agricultural wastes and meet legitimate needs in developing countries using a cheaper product. On the kingdom side, they wanted to transform the communities around their facilities and place value in the nation they were located in. This nearly blew me away: a company that desires to see the kingdom advanced? This sounds completely fake. I decided to speak with her about this company and I became ecstatic about working with them when I graduate. We exchanged information and I knew that this was a possible opportunity for me.

Time went by and I almost forgot about the company until I decided to email Elisa around January 2012 about a possible internship in the summer. At this time, my pastor, Tyler Hardy, sent a few guys an email about this company that needed some help for this semester and I decided that I can work there while I wait for Elisa's reply. Little did I know, however, that the company was actually Natural Composites! It was amazing to see God just orchestrate this setup for me to work with NCI. We had a few laughs as Elisa finally emailed me a week after I started working with NCI and asked to set up an interview. 

I haven't had many jobs, but this is by far one of the most encouraging ones I've had! Every day is like working with friends that I've known for years. I receive encouragement when I come into work, while I’m working, and before I leave. I’ve never felt so appreciated in my life! I didn't care if I was grinding coconuts to make powder or working a sieve machine to separate different powder sizes. I felt honored and like a part of the team. The employees are extremely humble and really love Jesus a lot. After some time, I started praying for God to provide an internship. Edgar, my manager, tells me a week after I plead to God that they want me to intern at the Dominican Republic. At first I was excited, but then I felt so unworthy and unqualified that I really doubted they wanted me to handle such a big responsibility. It wasn't until the team really encouraged me that I started to feel like I was able. It nearly blew me away. They trust me? I've only been working here for 4 months and they trust me enough to send me to a foreign country and gather important data to improve their company? How is that possible? With God all things are possible of course. Completely in a state of euphoria, I began to see how this connected to God and His plans for me.

Sometimes I find myself wondering about how much God trusts me. How is it that from the moment I decided to follow Him, He entrusted me with advancing His kingdom? The day I said yes to Him and no to my old life, Jesus simply said to follow Him and He would make me a fisher of men. We as people tend to think that we can’t do anything for God because we aren’t pastors or some high and mighty evangelist. That just isn’t the case! The moment we receive Him, we are commanded to make disciples. He called us first to do great things. I began to read about Paul and how he started his ministry. It didn’t start by learning about the Word or status; it started by God calling him. Even when the apostle Ananias was afraid of bringing him to the church, God told him that He called him to do great and wonderful things for the kingdom! Talk about living in an upside-down kingdom! God doesn’t see the mess that we are; He sees the marvelous creation He intricately made in our mother’s womb. I can’t imagine anyone that would see a drug addict or murderer and put him in charge of a ministry to see millions of those same people find freedom.

After this trip, I can see how close-knitted every area of life is with God and His kingdom. I’ve always thought that in order to fully understand God, we need to fully immerse ourselves in all the good things that he created for us. Now, I’m actually seeing how that is very true. I can’t comprehend the magnitude of His plans as He consciously created all things for His glory. Such things are too wonderful for me to think about.

I can’t wait to go on my next trip and experience God in a whole new way! I’m really excited about seeing a new side of Him or look deeper in one I’ve seen! This blog cannot truly capture my excitement or joy for the Lord and His purposes! I hope to be able to express what I receive from Him. I will be writing my adventures in Gulu, Uganda in my other blog adventureswithmyking.blogspot.com so be sure to check it out every now and then!

God bless,

Pablo