check out my South African blog

I am now in South Africa for the next 13 months. Please be checking my blog eppesafrica.blogspot.com for regular updates of my ministry there.

I will still be blogging here as well with the more random non-AIA stuff. take care!

Charlie Davies and suffering

Today I received a text from a friend telling me of the car accident Charlie Davies, a forward on the men's national soccer team, was involved in. Upon my further research I found that his injuries required several hours of surgery and he will be missing 6-12 months of competition where he will be undergoing extensive rehab.

It still amazes me why God takes people through such events to reveal Himself. That was my prayer for Charlie and the other friend who survived the crash as one passenger passed away. God works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I trust in his hard work ethic that Charlie will bounce back from this but my heart quickly turns to where his heart is in relation to Jesus. I dont know where Charlie is spiritually but I pray that this accident is more than an accident...that the crash breaks down Charlie's heart to see who God truly is and that our God has a plan for his life. My prayers reach to his teammates that are believers in Christ that they can use this to showcase God's plan and let the players know that God has a plan for their lives. Just because these guys are 'famous' doesnt mean that they dont hurt or have pain. Hardship and suffering are real. God has given us suffering as a gift (Phi 1:29) and are you really embracing that? Are you looking at suffering in your own life as tragedy or as a present 'wrapped in a bow' as John Piper puts it ready to be used for God's glory?

Let us pray over Charlie and his friends tonight for God to show them mercy/grace/forgiveness/life/love in ways they never thought possible...

hilarious soccer celebration!

South Africa!

Today I reached my support totals for my year in South Africa! how amazzzing is that? Just over 6 months ago I started a ginormous goal of raising support. Through this journey God has taught me so much. Now I ache to serve the Lord and be used for His Kingdom. I will be leaving in just over a month so the time is comin quick!

Johannesburg awaits...

Heaven and Earth

Phil Wickham has a new album out and its incredible...Phil's passion to worship God through song is undeniable through his lyrics and sounds. I think its also amazing that his music is getting in to worship sets around the country. This past Sunday at church his song "Beautiful" was played which happens to be my favorite Wickham tune! He has quickly turned in to one of my favorite artists. You can download his new album Heaven and Earth at PhilWickham.com.

an unforgettable weekend / patience

unforgettable, amazing, surreal....those are are just a few of the words to describe my weekend in Hershey, PA. My best friend Jon was married to his amazing bride Jennie. From the karaoke on Thursday to my drive home Sunday night it all seemed as if it was a dream....

God has allowed me to interact with some amazing people in my lifetime and this weekend was no exception. I was able to meet amazing and Godly people and also reunite with some old friends. It was special to see Jon and Jennie get married because they did it right. In so many ways they waited on the Lord in the process leading up to getting married. To me its an amazing story of God's love and plan for His people. God's word talks of patience and living a life for Christ in the first book of Colossians:
¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light
Jon has focused on God and in-turn God led his steps along his journey with Jennie.

I think its hard for us to wait on God like Jon and Jennie did. We are human and we put limits on ourselves and how much we can take. I quickly forget how a God-pleasing life exemplifies patience and a steadfast spirit of obedience. I pray that I take that example of patience from Jesus in to next year in South Africa. He, himself, was patient for thirty years leading up to a three year ministry. I desire a patience with a new culture, patience with the distance between myself and friends from home, patience with building new relationships. My trust is in Him...

VMA

So I dont watch MTV very much but I did catch some of the highlights and low lights of the award show the other night. the best moment had to be Jay-Z's and Alicia Keys performance of "The Empire State of Mind'. It was just done so well and not to mention the song is hot...it really makes you want to be in the City. I figured I would put it up for anyone who hadnt seen it.

At 81% raised...South Africa is comin on soon.

a week in the Rockies

Last week I returned from Colorado after having one of the most incredible weeks of my life. At Copper Mountain Resort Campus Crusade and all its ministries, including Athletes in Action, gathered to train all the individuals going abroad for the coming year in areas such as: what its like to share your faith in the country you are going to, how to resolve team conflict, and how to love your ministry team. As for attendance at this briefing in Colorado there were about 5 people specific to the ministry of Athletes Action among 200 some others with Campus Crusade.

It was an amazing week to get to know so many others giving a year of their life to go and share Jesus with the Nations. There are two people in particular at the briefing that impacted me in a tremendous way...

Riley Wogamon is on staff with Athletes in Action. She played soccer at Syracuse and like me was a goalkeeper. Riley and I will be on the Johannesburg team together doing ministry with a few others in the athletic communities of South Africa. She is an awesome person and it was just great to get to know her and I so look forward to serving alongside with her. We shared our visions for reaching the lost athletes in South Africa and it is just mind blowing to know that our great God is preparing in advance so much for us there in Joburg.

Barrett Grant is a life long friend from Forsyth, Georgia. Our dads attended their residency programs together in Roanoke, Virginia back in the 80's. Barrett and I are 4 years in age apart but that didnt stop God from aligning us together here in Colorado as he is leading a ministry team with Crusade in Durban, South Africa. It was amazing to catch up with him and see how God has matured him. I am so excited to be serving just a few hours north of him next year and I am sure our paths will align in our time abroad. His team going to Durban includes many students from all over the southeast. We met several times in breakout sessions with other teams going to the same region of the world. I am so excited for Barrett to take this step of faith and leadership in the year to come...there team will depart January 2010.

Currently I am at 62% of my support raised. I am sending out a prayer letter soon to keep people up on my ministry even before I get to South Africa. I am so thankful for you following my approach to my year in South Africa. Please continue to pray for my financial needs to be met and for a steadfast approach to my relationship with the Lord as that relationship takes priority before any other...

here are a few pictures from my time in Colorado at the briefing...

getting away

Im heading up to Hershey, PA for the weekend to take part in the Jon Small Bachelor Bowl 2009. My buddy Jon is having a weekend full of sports and fun to celebrate his getting married in september. Such a momentus occasion!

After the weekend though I am headed to a Cabin near Covington, Va to get away and get quiet with God. I have never done this before but after getting encouragement from friends and REALLY feeling the Spirit's call to get away I will be stepping away for a couple days of being still before Him.

I need this time with Him more than ever. If anyone is out there reading this I would so appriciate your prayers for focus and restoration with God as a result of my couple days on the river.

now we are free

The past few months for me have been up and down spiritually. Even in support raising for Africa I havent been living in right alignment with God. Its hard for me to put that in words and tell others that I have lost my focus. Now I feel like I have it back...I feel like I restored in the freedom of Christ (Ruth 4:15). It has come through confession and through realizing alot of pain from poor decisions but I am free in Him.

I press on now in life knowing that God's ever flowing grace is just as abundant now as it was when I first received Him. I wanted to put a video up that Ive been searching for. The song in it fits redemption through Christ's atoning sacrifice...the title is 'Now We Are Free'. It comes from the Gladiator soundtrack but this version is live by Andrea Bocelli in the opening ceremony of the 2009 Champions League final in Rome. This whole intro gave me goosebumps watching it. I really wanted the commentators to stop talking so you could just turn up the volume and feel this moment. I have found a feed where these commentators for the most part are silent and giving respect to the moment. I so wish I was a player for one of these teams walking out of the tunnel at this match...but for now I just watch in awe of the moment.

We are forgiven and free in the arms of Jesus....He is always enough...

stepping out of mediocrity

I think all of us have that thorn in our flesh (2 Cor 7). We have those struggles that really keep us down and behind in full pursuit of God. How many times do we struggle with that thorn before we know that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness? 5, 10, 20 times? You find His strength when the desire for righteousness outweighs the slide of sinful nature.

I hate falling down on my face at times but it really wakes us up to what we need to do and where we need to go. for me I feel like the past 5 months I have been sitting comfortable in a very mediocre form of Christianity. When we are in a very comfortable form of living for Christ we make Christ seem like a mediocre God...and He is by NO means mediocre. I need to truly see and savor Jesus Christ with all that I am to show this world who He really is.

So today I am really stepping out. I am going to step up my time spent with Him, my prayer life, my devotion to guarding the Gospel with all that I am and really knowing it with all of my inmost being. I need to not be afraid to eliminate all distractions to living for those causes either. I have done enough justifying to friends, accountability partners, pastors. Its time to step out of the boat and step it up to a new level of relationship with Jesus.

go Hoos!

in honor of the UVA - Johns Hopkins game tomorrow at noon on ESPNU I am putting up the highlights I shot in Baltimore from the first meeting of the year. Go get em boys...one more till Foxboro!

back in Tally

in Brew and Bean coffee shop (tallahassee, fl)

so after about 5 months I am back in Tallahassee. Its kinda bittersweet to be back. I really did like this town. I especially like the people I met here. I miss them more than anything. It has been great catching up and hangin out with some amazing people.

I certainly would have loved to be here longer at FSU. I feel like the rug was puled right out but I gotta go forward! In Romans 8:28 it says 'God works ALL things for good to those who love Him...'. That verse has been really saturating my heart over the past week or so. I think a large part has to do with me going through John Piper's book Future Grace. IT has dived in the that promise that God makes to work in us no matter what ish goes down in our lives. I think it is a tremendously hope-filled promise that we all should go do daily.

So this weekend though I took a road trip with my friend Scott to Athens, GA this past weekend...highlights included:
-crashed my first wedding...(Scott was playing mandolin)
-heard Andy Stanley preach at North Point...a great sermon on God and our country.
-finding and hearing more affirmation through prayer about going to South Africa in the fall.
-The Original Pancake House in Atlanta
-experiencing encouragement in the body of Christ by just meeting solid believers


so all in all it was a great weekend listening to worship and bluegrass and experiencing the great spring weather of the south. Now I'm off to meet with the coaches Bible Study I was a part of last semester at FSU....should be a great reunion!

pursuit

He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life...John 12:25

what does that mean to you? God is really pressing in to me and helping me understand what it means. Life can be so trivial and made out to be something so important when in all reality all that matters is not your own life or own ambition but really throwing that all away to follow Jesus Christ.
Scripture is so clear that if we do this we will gain eternal life and I dont know many who dont want that.

This is one of those statements by Jesus that has really shaken me to my core over the past few weeks. And the verse before this one in John 12 that talks about a grain of wheat having to die in order to produce fruit is another point of really dying to your own desires in life. How do I die now in life....well I know that I have things I would love to accomplish in my life...desires that I even wish to see come true before I leave for South Africa but honestly I need to die to these desires. I need to pursue what He has given me here and really abandon myself to this call to reach the nations.

Desires may be realized in this time before I leave or in my lifetime but only when the focus isnt on myself or on the desires themselves. The pursuit needs to be on the true pursuer...Jesus.

my sister is headed to cville

so today my sister found out some amazing news! She was accepted to the class of 2013 at the University of Virginia! Her hard work has been rewarded and I couldnt be more proud of her. She has just persevered though soooooooooo much to get to this day and I really feel this is straight from the Lord (James 1:17). I wish I could visit her next year but I know that I will be able to when I get back. She will have an amazing time!

I need to update this blog more often

I am at 15.8% in raising support for South Africa...God is good!

His promises

God has been pressing upon me lately the importance of His promises. There are thousands in His word and how often am I mediatating and really praying that I apply them? Well over the past week God has really shown to be faithful in several biblical promises. The one that sticks out most to me in this time is the promise that when we go to God with our prayer and requests, in thankfulness of who He is, He promises to bestow upon us a peace that not one person can comprehend. This promise comes from Philippians 4:7.

This past week my stepmom was killed in a car accident and our family has gone through some rough times. But through my dad's steadfast pursuit of Christ I have seen some amazing promises of God fulfilled right before my eyes. After my dad said His goodbyes to Cathy and her gravesite today he talked to me of this peace that surpasses all understanding....a peace over him that he could only describe as the Spirit of God resting upon Him. And I know and believe too that that is what it is. I know my dad has made so many requests to God over the past few days and I know our amazing God has heard each one of them. God has stayed true to His word. And this has just sparked me to pursue Him deeper. Am I really pressing in to the promises of God...am I testing Him and His faithfulness with a pursuit of Him that exposes me more to be a true follower of Christ?

I struggle at times with guilt from my past mistakes but am I really believing in what His word says is true about me? Am I really dying to my thoughts and taking them captive as God is calling me to do? The bottom line is that I need to press on and press in to His promises and break the pattern of idleness and selfish futility.

God I believe that you are who you say you are....change me and my heart and help me to not waver at all when it comes to trusting your word and diving in to your heart. Help me to become a better man for you and may you increase the desire to become hard after your Word and the promises that it holds. amen

board meetings

So I read a devotional last week that really hit home. I think it was a sign of what God wanted me to in the week following it so I really sought the guidance of this devo when it spoke of really organizing your life like a CEO would. You are the CEO of your life but you need a great group of board members to guide your company. So I called a bunch of guys last week just sharing my heart and life. And as I thought last week between thoughts of desiring 'stability' in my life I just came to the conclusion that its not really about pursuing stability but pursuing God himself.

I desire stability for the thought of providing that for someone else in my life. I know that life is never about money but if I was to get things going with someone in my life then stability financially would be a must to have on the offering table. I want to have that now but I think God is teaching me more by pursuing Him. Stability will come through our walk with the Lord. He will provide. We must trust that He knows our heart but its a must that we lay our desires and hearts at his feet. I dont need anything else in life other than Christ...not one thing...

The hardest part is putting my dreams of being married and dreams of sharing life with someone at the foot of the Cross. Its really interesting how in once sense you know that God desires to prosper you and give you hope but there is a huge part of me that thinks I can do this part of life on my own and really just to pursue the route that would get me what I want quicker.

All this comes as I wait to hear about a one year STINT with AIA in South Africa. If accepted I would support raise and then aim to leave in Sept. 2009 for one year. If not accepted then I would look to get back in to football most likely.

A verse that really give more meaning now as I look at it is Proverbs 13:12....'hope deffered makes the heart sick..but when desire comes it is a tree of life'.

I press on to meet God and share with Him my specific dreams...after all He aches to hear from His children and we need to go through this life sharing each dream with Him along the way but in the end I desire His will most of all...

Rick Warren's Inauguration Prayer

I was very proud of Pastor Rick Warren taking a great step in his life and accepting the opportunity to pray at the inauguration of President Obama.
Proverbs 22:29 says:
Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before unknown men.

I was reminded of this verse as I heard He was going to be praying today. Pastor Rick has surely excelled in his work and I think this is a direct blessing from God that he was able to pray in front of millions of people and talk about God's glory and might. You could hear the passion in his prayer to God, you could hear his personal cry to how God changed his life, and you could hear Rick's love for the first family as he named each one. This was just an amazing day all the way around but my highlight had to be Pastor Rick's prayer.

the economy and obama

I havent really felt the economic downturn until the past couple weeks. I have been searching for a job and have not found but just a couple jobs in the food service business that are hiring. It is very frustrating but I press on. I really rest in the desire that God has placed in my life to go abroad and really impact the world through sport.

I have even ventured out to charlottesville this past week to find work. As I was there just a couple days ago I really saw God at work as He provided a great friend who offered me a place to stay for any length of time rent free. God's faithfulness is really all around me and not just in specific instances like that. I think that I need to be more thankful for what I have right now. Even jobless I have so much that I know I do not deserve one bit. In fact most people reading this have more than they need in life. Now that I recognize that how do I need to live differently. Should we give more away when we get to a point like this? More time, more money, more of our freedom?

Tomorrow our great country will swear in President-Elect Obama. I think this is an amazing time in our country and I do believe it is a time of promise for social progress. I just am a bit sick of the Bush-bashing that has gone along with this change of power because even amoungst several difficulties there was alot of resolve shown in his 8 years in office. My sister is actually up there for the inaugrauration and I am so proud that she has taken the opportunity to go and be a part of this. She is with a young leaders program that has been formed to put the kids in front of alot of great speakers and even celebrate tomorrow night at one of the inaugural balls. Her specific ball is located in the National Air and Space Musem! How amazing is that? I will hopefully post some of her pictures soon that she will be bringing back.

updates and thoughts

After a 2+ year hiatus from Facebook I have decided to return. So far its been great getting back in touch with some old friends and also having the ability to easily communicate with friends all over the planet. Its insane the number of people married now...but i guess the mid 20's is about that time.

I have been job hunting lately. The more I hunt the more I see of how much a blessing it was to actually have a job. So many places are in a hiring freeze...even FSU is one. But I trust in so much more than the job market or a faulty economy. Jesus is the ultimate source of life and fulfillment. I know that will never change. Its actually a gut check time for a lot of people I am sure to see where they really put their hope and confidence.

So I have applied to go abroad to South Africa with Athletes in Action. I should hear back within the month I hope. I just feel this call to make a difference in something so much bigger than myself. I think I am just understanding more of what God has intended us to be: the salt and light of the world. I am so humbled that God chose to give me life and an amazing opportunity to praise Him and bring glory to His name....and bringing Glory to Him is ultimately why we all have come to this earth. Thank you thank you thank you Lord....

prayers for Cathy

Over the past couple days my stepmom has taken a big turn for the worse. There is just a ton of bondage tearing her life apart from alcohol to a very intense personality disorder. Its so hard to watch her struggle but I continue to believe that God can tear down these walls that are up around her heart.

there is hope from the word...

It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve
- Isaiah 14:3

we must never stop believing in what Christ has and will continue to accomplish! thank you in advance for any prayers lifted up on Cathy's behalf