Dan Gould

Author: dgould77

  • Galveston Mission Trip – Day 3: Humble

    “About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’

    2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

    5 And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[a] is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.’” Matthew 18:1-6 (NLT)

    Today was our first day on the work-site and doing VBS in the park.  Both places had challenges.  At VBS, the students and leaders only had 3 kids show up.  This is much different than the VBS we were able to do in Mexico and it left some of the team feeling discouraged.  In that came the question, “Why go if no-one is going to show up?”  Great question!  I think it is easy sometimes to want to pull out of something when it doesn’t go the way we thought it should, or if kids don’t show up.  But we lead by example, if we pull out after 1 day, disgaurding all the work we did to pass out fliers, and talk it up with our students, I think we teach them that when things don;t go the way we thought, or when things get hard, its ok to give up.  There’s a word that I am sure will surface this week as a word called perseverance!  Maybe the lesson was never meant to be for anyone other than our group and our students to learn that sometimes when you work for the Lord you don’t see the results immediately, but you serve out of obedience, sacrifice, and perseverance.

    We had some challenges at the work-site also. We arrived and demolished the rest of the fence to get ready to put the new one up in the next 2 days.  We will dig 28 holes for new fence posts to a 8ft privacy fence.  While several crews do that we will have another crew stripping/scrapping the trim and soffets as well as the front entry so it can be repainted.  The homeowner is a widowed lady’s who’s husband died 5 years ago.

    In our worship time, Penelope shared the word of the day HUMBLE, and Josh led us in musical worship.  What a sweet time we had, the Spirit moved in a mighty way breaking students and adults challenging us to surrender all of us for all of Him.

    It’s been a good trip!  We have had some challenges, 1 sick, 2 students stepped on nails, and 1 students stepped on a rock
    and caused her foot to swell and toe to feel numb, and lots of sunburns!  Please continue to pray for our group!

    Here are some pics from today!


  • 1 John 1

    “This is the message we heard from Jesus[c] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” v. 5-7 (NLT)

    Today you have several choices to make, and the question remains, will you be in the light or in the darkness? Now know that we all try to put on a front and try to look good.  We may be able to fool many people but we can’t fool God.  He knows the condition of our heart and if its desire is to live in the light (publicly and privately) or if it hides in darkness.  Every decision you make forces this reality.

    Today, lets choose to walk in the light, so we can begin to step out of darkness (the things we hide and think no-one will find out about I call it secret sin), and live the life Jesus calls us to live.  He is the light of the world and he shines though us illuminating the path for others.

  • Galveston Mission Trip – Day 2: Self-Control (update)

    “‘So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.’[c]” v. 13-16

    Today was very busy, Church, VBS and Work-site planning, the beach, and a lot of people moving in. The space has become very crowded and someone tried to break into our trailer. They put a hole in it and broke all the lights. God is going to do some awesome things this week because Satan is doing so much to distract us.

    On a side note, the Internet isn’t the greatest here, so it’s really hard to blog! Please make sure to follow the twitters for the best updates. Our group is going to crash early! Got a big day tomorrow! Pray with us!

    This morning, Day 3, we will challenge our students with yesterdays word – Self-Control.  We will typically do this in the evening from 8-9.  At this time we will worship through song, Bible Study (word for the day) and prayer.  Please pray for these times as we share with each other the things God is doing in us and through us!

    Here are some pics from yesterday:

    Don’t forget, follow my Twitter for the latest updates at http://www.twitter.com/dgould77 it also links to my FaceBook so add me as a friend nd you can follow there also!

  • 1 Peter 1

    “‘So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.'[c]” v. 13-16

    Are you a person of self-control?  Many of us would probably say that we were so lets just take a little test to see how well we do in this area:

    1. Can you sort between needs and wants, when buying things?
    2. Do you find yourself getting caught in the moment?
    3. When you are tired, do you say things without thinking or worrying about how they sound or come across?
    4. Do you have a short fuse?
    5. Are you the same person in public as you are in private?

    I m sure the list goes on, but the Bible says to think clearly and use self-control.  A person with Self-Control thinks before they buy, speak, act or re-act.  A person with Self-Control is a person who can be used by God in great ways.

    Could you be described as a person of Self-Control?

    Today, lets THINK before we do that thing we are thinking about doing and lets show some Self-Control!

  • Galveston Mission Trip – Day 1: BE AN EXAMPLE

    “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” 1st Timothy 4:12

    We have arrived in Galveston. Alamo Elementary is a great facility that we are lucky to be able to stay in. The showers are small, but we are thankful for them. I believe that this week is going to be very impactful for our group. Each night we will be meeting from 8:00-9:00 to sing, learn, and pray. Each night a different student will share a word and a verse that encourages or challenges us in our walk. Tonight, our word was EXAMPLE. We were challenged to BE AN EXAMPLE. Everywhere we go people are watching. Let’s stop making excuses and start living like we Jesus called us to live. It’s a challenge for all of us, young and old. What a great reminder and Challenge as we begin this week! Let be examples in the words we use, in our action, in our love, in our faith, and by our PURE lives!

    Pics from today

  • Galveston Mission Trip – post #1

    Well, in less than 24 hours Fusion Students and Leaders will load some vans and head to Galveston TX.  We are working with Good News Galveston helping the community rebuild from hurricane Ike.  We will be one of the first teams reaching out to the children through VBS/Back Yard Bible Clubs.  Along with this we will have some of our team members doing construction projects.  As we have prayed and planned, we have purposely left some open spaces so we could be flexible and meet a need as a need comes up. Sometimes we schedule so much that we schedule out the opportunity to meet needs on the fly.  As you pray, would you remember our students, and leaders as we embark on this mission tomorrow.  Here is what I would ask that you would pray for:

    * Pray for Safety
    * Pray for Brokenness
    * Pray for Salvation’s
    * Pray for Repentance
    * Pray for Spiritual Growth
    * Pray for Unity
    * Pray for Attitudes
    * Pray for Surrendered Hearts

    I believe God is going to use this team greatly.  I know personally for me, mission trip is always a impactful and a highlight to see students do things they don’t normally do and experience God in ways they don’t normally allow themselves to experience Him.

    If you want to follow the latest and greatest details, I will be twittering the trip and posting updates daily to the blog.  You can follow me on twitter here:

    www.twitter.com/dgould77

  • Scarred

    Scarred - series

    We just finished a series with our students called scarred and boy was it awesome.  We challenged the students to begin to unpack the hurt and pain that they have learned, from a young age to suppress and hide because of fear or rejection.  As we shared this series, I used a back pack to illustrate how we try to pack away the emotional pain we experience thinking that we can deal with it on our own, or that we can ignore it and it will go away!  I wish that was the truth!  But the reality is, as we pack these things away in our backpack there are two realities we can see:

    Reality #1 – I can only fit so much in my backpack.

    Reality #2 – The more I try to carry, the heavier the backpack becomes.

    One thing I have learned is …  pain happens.  Everyone deals with pain, but not everyone deals with it in healthy ways.  I want to be the person that deals with pain in a healthy way.  The only way to do that is to begin the journey of unpacking the hurts I have experienced … and let me tell ya, I have some hurts. We all do.  Here are 5 things I shared this weekend with the students that I think are helpful steps to take to deal with the pain that many of us try to ignore or hide.

    1.    Jesus welcomes your HEALING!
    As I read the Bible, I have never seen someone Jesus turned away from or didn’t heal.  Notice that when this man ran to Jesus, Jesus didn’t run in fear or disbelief.  He simply talked to him as he would anyone else and healed him from the pain and torment he was in. You might be able to hide your pain from everybody in this room but you can’t hide your pain from Him. He welcomes it.

    As you begin to unpack the emotional scars in your life hand them over to Jesus so He can heal you

    2.    Do the opposite of what FEELS SAFE!
    Whenever we get serious about dealing with a hurt, for some reason we begin to talk our way out of what needs to be done and settle for something that might be easier or feels safer.  For us to have the healing we need, we need to do the opposite of what feels safe.

    Here’s what I mean.  If you have a pain that no-one knows about, the temptation will be, to try do it on my own, because that’s what feels safe.  If you want to experience the healing we are talking about in this series, you need to do the opposite of what feels safe.

    3.    Connect with SAFE FRIENDS!
    A lot of us have stuff in our life that we’ve kept hidden for a long time. Something that happened to you. Something that you did. You’ve never told anyone. Maybe there’s some things in your life—maybe an eating disorder, maybe it’s pornography, maybe its depression, maybe its just your family is just falling apart and you feel like life is spinning out of control. You’ve dealt with whatever this thing is for so long and you’ve tried and you’ve tried and you’ve tried to get past it. You see that all you’re doing is you’re just sitting there with your defense mechanisms. You’re exploding on people, you’re pouting, you’re denying and you’re never healing. Today, what I’m telling you is if you’re ready to get serious, if I’m ready to get serous, if we want to heal it’s going to start with us inviting some safe friends into our life and saying, I need help.

    The question for you today is. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to invite some people into your life and share with them the deep hurt and the pain that’s going on and saying, “Will you help me?”

    To help you with this we have created a safe place where you can have safe friends that will take this journey with you, it called Life Hurts God Heals.  It is a ministry that starts this Wednesday right here from 7:00-8:30.  I want to encourage you to get involved in this.  As you leave today, sign up at the booth, talk to one of the leaders and take the information to your parents.  I know it’s a risk, but remember, we have to do the opposite of what feels safe!

    4.    Confess with TOTAL HONESTY!
    It is much easier to tell partial truths.  But if you are going to take the steps toward healing take all of them!  Allow yourself to be totally honest so you can begin to deal with the whole problem and not just some of it.

    Yes, it will be scary and hard, but once you find those safe friends it’s OK for you to be vulnerable. Here’s the thing. Everyone is broken. You are not alone. If you’re dealing with depression, you’re not alone. If your family is falling apart at the seams, you’re not alone. If you’re dealing with cutting, if you have thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. It’s a lie. You are not alone.

    5.    Commit to CHANGE!
    Change takes work, it can be scary and at times you may want to give up!  My prayers is that we can do this together.  That we could see and meet God in new ways as we begin to replace the hurt and resentment with peace and forgiveness.

    Bottom line, hurt happens!  Let’s learn to deal with that in healthy ways . . . TOGETHER!

  • Packing Round 1

    Well it’s that busy time of the year for me, long days and week long trips with students.  This Saturday we will leave Grace Community Church for a week long mission trip to Galveston TX.  However, my wife and boys are leaving for MO tomorrow.  As I put Josiah down for bed tonight he said in his sad voice that he was going to miss me.  I tried to encourage him with all the fun stuff they were going to do while they were in MO, but he said it didn’t matter because he was still going to  miss me.  It makes me feel good, but sad at the same time.  Josiah is getting old enough where he really wants to be with Daddy.  It will definitely be a quiet lonely house for the next three days.  But I know that they will have fun and that God is going to use our team in a special way next week in Galveston.  I will be posting daily happenings and testimonies from our students.

  • 2 Peter 1

    “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

    8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”  v. 5-9

    Faith must be more than belief in certain facts; it must result in action, growth in Christian character, and the practice of moral discipline, or it will die away.  Peter lists several of faith’s actions, learning to know God better, developing perseverance, doing God’s will, loving others.  These actions do not come automatically; they require hard work.  They are not optional; all of them must be a continual part of the Christian life.  We don’t finish one and start on the next, but we work on them all together.  God empowers and enables us, but he also gives us the responsibility to learn and to grow.

    Today, is your faith more than a belief in certain facts, or is it changing your actions?

  • 1 Peter 3

    “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” v. 15

    Some Christians believe that faith is a personal matter that should be kept to themselves.  It is true that we shouldn’t be boisterous or obnoxious in sharing our faith, but we should always be ready to give an answer, gently and respectfully, when asked about our faith, our life-style, or our Christian perspective.  The question we must ask ourselves is this . . . Can others see Christ in you?  Is there enough evidence by the way you live, not what you say, that would cause others to see that you are a Christ Follower?

    Today, let examine ourselves and ask God to speak though our actions.  This might mean we have to ask differently.  If God exposes or convicts you of an attitude or an action, don’t be afraid to acknowledge that, ask for forgiveness, and start heading in a new direction.  Jesus, be with us today, and allow us to represent you to others.