Justin Weekly

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It gives me great joy to be writing you from Los Angeles de San Rafael de Heredia, Costa Rica.  I have been here since June 3, and loving every bit of it.  Allow me to share with you how I got here, what I’m doing, and how God is moving in this place.

More than a year ago, I knew I would be traveling to Costa Rica.  The plan was to be a participant in a study abroad trip offered every year through my university (The University of Memphis).  I would study for about 5 weeks, living with a local family and enjoying the abundant beauty of this tropical paradise.  As God picked my life up and started running with it in the last year, these plans developed into something more and something beautiful.

About 4 months ago, I felt God’s conviction in my spirit to go to Costa Rica prior to the start of my classes at the University of Costa Rica.  So I went about looking into different organizations here to volunteer with.  God threw one in my lap, but I wouldn’t see it this way until after trying my hardest to do things on my own.

I called a friend of mine about volunteering for about a month prior to my studies.  He sent an email to his contact in Costa Rica.  This contact wouldn’t get back in touch with me for a couple of months.  During this time of waiting to hear back, I grew impatient.  I then got in touch with a friend of my uncle, who has another contact in Costa Rica.  He got me in touch with a missionary living and working in Costa Rica.  Within 24 hours, I was in communication with the missionary here in CR.

I thought that something this easy must have come from the Lord, but as it turns out, time kept passing along and I wasn’t hearing anything back from the missionary.  Eventually, the first person I contacted in Costa Rica got back in touch with me with an opportunity to work with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) in Heredia, C.R.  But because I had already done so much work with the missionary, I initially declined the invitation to apply for a summer staff position for YWAM.

Long story short . . . through an act of faithlessness, I pursued working in Costa Rica in a manner against God’s plan.  Thanks, however, to the grace of God, He set up every appointment divinely and in His perfect timing so that I would be right where I am, working with YWAM.

I made a short, informational video about this particular YWAM base if you are interested in learning and seeing more specifically what it is we do here.  You can find it   For now though, I would like to share with you some photos of what the volunteer youth team has been up to recently.

In this photo, a youth volunteer team from Indiana went into the inner city to do some children’s ministry at a place called La Roca.  La Roca means, “The Rock.”  This is a place where kids can some and hang out after school everyday.  It serves as a refuge for at-risk youth, kids who need clothes and food, children who need after-school tutoring, and also a place where pregnant teenagers can go to receive vitamins and counseling and other types of moral and spiritual support.

The team did a reenactment of the Biblical account of David and Goliath.  Guess which one is David . . . 

In this photo Mario, our trusty leader/tour guide/bus driver is selling avocado on the streets.  “Why?” you might be asking . . .  Well, if you look behind the girl in the teal colored shirt, you’ll see a man wearing yellow.  This is the owner of the fruit in the wheelbarrow.  A couple of team members took an opportunity not commonly taken, to evangelize to a fruit peddler.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the past three posts, I introduced and discussed the topic of quantification.  If you are not caught up to this point, I highly suggest you skim over the past couple posts to get an idea of what I am talking about.

I would like to end this series by first re-emphasizing that if you are a Christian, than you are not like those who are not Christians.  The key difference is the presence of the Holy Spirit living inside you.  Secondly, it is important to re-emphasize one more point: “The typified natural man desires to solve every problem by placing his faith in logic and reasoning (i.e. quantification). This creates a limitation of faith based on this man’s individual capacity to comprehend and understand the world around him. The typified regenerated (or saved) man desires to solve every problem by means of prayer and spiritual guidance by placing his faith in God. Ideally, there is no limitation of this faith because God is infinite and everlasting.”

Now, you may be thinking, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t ALWAYS desire to solve every problem by means of prayer and spiritual guidance.”  Of course you don’t!  You are not Jesus Christ, none of us are perfect, but we do have an example of the perfect man to look up to.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ.  Every word He spoke and action He took were done through faith.  Look at this example and search out the times when the disciples quantified this situation.

4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. 7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” 10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” - John 6:4-12

Jesus, unlike His disciples, already knew even before the loaves and fish were brought forth that every man would be fed.  He even asked Philip a testing of faith question.  Instead of asking, “How much would it cost to feed these people, or how many loaves of bread would it take to feed these people” Jesus instead asked for a location.  He said, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”

In your life it is crucial to recognize when you are without faith.  Faith is what prevents you from believing in only that which you are physically capable of comprehending.  If Philip could physically comprehend that five loaves and two small fish could fill five thousand people and leave left-overs, he would have had no reason to follow Jesus Christ.  You, likewise, have every reason to follow Jesus Christ because you know truths of Jesus that even now you are unable to understand.

Begin to take notice of when you quantify a situation, not because it is proof of sin or poor decisions, but that it is evidence of a faithless life.  It is easy to start noticing when this happens.  If you are worried about anything, ask yourself why.  If you have stress in your life over something, ask yourself why.  For every decision you make, ask yourself why.  This question immediately detects the motivations of you heart, the processes of your brain, and the presence of faith in you life.

If you come to the conclusion that you need more faith in God, than I must advise that you pursue faith with everything you have.  The most difficult part of being a Christian is faith.  Faith grows through perseverance.  Perseverance follows obedience.  Obedience includes the complete separation from all evil things.  To strengthen your faith you can add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

In conclusion, I find the importance of quantification very often overlooked.  In my life, I constantly challenge myself to view the world around me through the eyes of Jesus Christ, being aware of how relatively large everything is in comparison to my physical existence, but not being trapped into only thinking and believing that which I know or can comprehend.  God made it very clear from the beginning that He is simply God.  He does not define himself by how large He is, but rather how immeasurable He is.  Jesus did not perform miracles based on any pre-established rules or quantities, but by the faith people had in His ability to heal them.

I urge you brothers and sisters, to look at life through the eyes of faith, and leave reason in God’s control.  He’s done pretty well so far.

I love you, each and every one, because God first loved you.

All for the King and His Kingdom,

Justin Weekly

Creator of all things, You have created a whole in my heart.
It rains all day long, but I know the taste of tears torn, not these fallen.
The distinction between slave and free has never been
the same in my eyes since I heard Your whisper solemn.
There is a place where I go to find a new start.

Creator of hope, I hope to know Your name.
A cloud of peace hovers above a dense fog, but I will wait.
The promise of love says so much less than what it means
and so I know to not only hear those words, but find a patient faith.
I am blind, and until now I have been lame.

Creator of peace, I am at war.
The pain of suffering is deepened that You had suffered more.
Your forgiveness continues like a spinning wheel
without beginning or end, the name I oft ignore.
If I do, let it be done for You, Lord.

Creator of bread, that which I have stored up is now rotten.
In fear of growing weak, I can help not but to pray.
A treasure is misplaced on this earth that will never be found
in place of eternal life, so I must not to this path remain.
Renew my strength once more; my body is trodden.

Creator of forgiveness, You forgave me forevermore.
All is done in Your name and in Your strength and in Your will.
Though guilt casts its heavy net across the sea of my heart, I know
that love will always prevent sin from keeping this body still.
So let me fall Lord only if it is my face that hits the floor.

Creator of life, I have come alive.
In the shadow of Your presence, I can now see, hear, feel and taste.
The world around us remains asleep through the loudest thunder,
but I can see this storm approaching just as I can see the need to make haste.
Help me keep my ground, Father, for I can now hear the cries.

- Justin Weekly Read More »

Creator of peace, I am at war.
The pain of suffering is deepened that You had suffered more.
Your forgiveness continues like a spinning wheel
without beginning or end, the name I oft ignore.
If I do, let it be done for You, Lord.

Creator of bread, that which I have stored up is now rotten.
In fear of growing weak, I can help not but to pray.
A treasure is misplaced on this earth that will never be found
in place of eternal life, so I must not to this path remain.
Renew my strength once more; my body is trodden.

-  Justin Weekly Read More »