Dad I want a Jet Pack....

Dad, I want a Jet Pack……….. My son, Ezekiel said that as we were hiking on a field trip last week. Ezekiel proceeded to say after that statement….. because, I do not like to walk. I laughed and we just kept walking. I so often have felt the same way in life….. DAD, I want jet pack so I do not have to face the pain, struggle or whatever you might be facing. Today I wake up facing writing a thesis again which seems like a mountain that I will never summit but I just climb and climb and barely move. But I thank God that I am able to climb and move forward however small of step it may be, at least I am forward. I so often think in my head: “DAD, I WANT A JET PACK” directing it to God. My emotions many times just want to run away or figure out a way to avoid the situation, but I am frozen and perplexed when I see Psalm 46:10. Whatever comes you way face it, embrace it, and trust. IT is that moment that God wants to meet you and it is all about TRUST. That is what GOD wants. Are you going to trust him and not the circumstance……. Easier said, than done in my experience. In my own journey trials have come and gone and I have learned that God is a faithful God and HIS ways are not our ways. I know that in my heart , but still sometimes I am crying out Dad, I want a Jet pack……

Isom's next steps

Winter 2010
Dear friends,

I have had the privilege of teaching in the public school system in Louisville Kentucky this last year. One day I was substitute teaching in a 8th grade classroom when I heard a girl offer her body to a couple of guys in the classroom. The actual words she said are too explicit to write out. It was shocking! My heart was broken for this girl. All I could think is, "What is going through her head and why would she say that? I asked her to go out into the hall way and she flippantly said "I was just kidding", with a smile on her face. At that very moment I thought to myself how do I connect truth to this girl, we obviously were on two different pages. What page is this generation on? Students today are living in a very divided world. If you have any connections with teenagers you will notice their addictive relationship to their cell phones and this modern activity we call texting

American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier. Youth of today are always "on" and never unplugged! Communications happens faster today and with more people then ever before, but with no real connection. I believe that the real need of youth today is true community and adventure vs. the cyber community and adventure that many students are exploring. They are searching for something else because the worldwide Cyber community and video gaming world leaves them feeling somehow ripped off. Youth of today are bored and technology is not quenching their thirst for a challenge that pushes them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I am working on my thesis for my masters in Adventure Education. This thesis asks the question; “Is technology sabotaging students' journey to create healthy community.” The technology world offers another place for students to hide in and have pseudo community and a divided life in my opinion. At the core of community is relationship that comes out of an undivided heart, focus and attention. In other words if you go to sleep half way then we get no real rest. If we seek God with a divided heart we never get to experience all He has for us. My passion for working with students has been driving me since I was a teenager myself and as I continue on my journey this month I started an internship with Sojourn Community church which gives me a launching pad to jump back into connecting Christ to this generation. My passion is to create transformational experiences for un-churched students and create a bridge from church into public schools. My role will focus on three main areas of development.

· Assist Gary Almon the student pastor, in leadership and vision development of Quest Student ministries of Sojourn community church.
· Public and Private School Campus Ministry-Designing and building a self sustainable non-profit focused on building community in public high schools and middle schools initially focused on the Louisville and Southern Indiana school districts. The non-profit would be an effective bridge between public schools and the local church. The goal would be to launch this non-profit fall of 2010 after building the vision and team in the community of Sojourn Community church.
· Student Ministry Outreach
·
I will need to raise 2000 dollars a month to cover my expenses during this internship. Please keep me in your prayers.

Thank you for joining me in this faith journey as I begin this internship after being with Christian Associate International for over 10 years. My journey with Christian Associates has been life changing starting from student pastor at Crossroads International church starting the pump café which helped launch youth café in Germany and Romania. There was even a team from Texas who caught a vision while being in Amsterdam and they started a pump youth center in their community. God opened so many doors as we started camp juice snowboard camps and camp juice summer which blossomed into True Life Adventures. The other day one my former students e-mailed for prayer as they are starting a church plant in South Africa. Here are some visuals of my journey over the past 10 years in ministry with Christian Associates.

(FOR MORE PICTURESAND STORIES FROM MY JOURNEY GO TO MY FACEBOOK PAGE JEREMY ISOM)

Quotes from the adventures:

A 15 year old Mexican girl on our snowboard camp who was adopted by Dutch and American parents committed your life to Christ on the last day of the camp.
One student went home and confronted a bully at school after learning and experiencing the value of compassion.
“Best week of my life”
“I am Muslim but the best week of my life is hanging out with Christians and learning of Jesus”
“I learned this week that I am lost and I need Jesus”
“I danced for the first time in my life”

God is so good and I have so much to be thankful even in the unexpected places. I am trying to follow God’s redemptive journey through places that don’t make sense. My heart is broken for this generation. Thank you for continued prayer for my kids and God’s provision for this next adventure.

Embracing,


Jeremy Isom
www.sojournchurch.com
isomjeremy@gmail.com
Facebook: Jeremy Isom
http://thedownwardmobility.blogspot.com
615 483-1818



Funds can be sent to Sojourn community church 930 Mary Street Louisville, KY 40204 in the memo put quest internship.

Ezekiel Sking

I love this my son skies. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Zayne also skies and we will post her next rocking the night.

Remember to jump.

Jeremy

Following God when it does not make sense!

Have you ever felt God why me? What did I do to deserve this or that. My own little mind can sometimes get caught up in the present reality. What is your present reality.
SicknessDEATHLOSSHUNGERdivorceangerlonlinessfearabuserape
When you look at the Bible narrative it is full of people following God when it did not make sense!
Walk on water....God is there (That does not make sense)PeterDreams from God....Know my brothers are trying to Kill MEE (That does not make sense!) JosephAll I have his the lunch mom made me. ......It is going to feed 5000(That does not sense) The kids with a lunch.My brother died Jesus where were you..Jesus replies no worries(That makes no sense.)
Keep following through the junk and the clouds of life His hand is there all you have to do is grab on for the ride. What type a ride is your life right Know?
Following God when it does not make sense? My humaness cries out against that statement and says I want life to make sense and fit into my little Jeremy Box. What I see in the narrative in the Bible is Seek and you shall find. Walk by Faith not by Sight.

Journeying with a limp,
Jeremy isom

“.....every time there are losses there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper” Henri Nouwen

Baby steps.......

Baby steps…….


“They say to climb Everest successfully, you actually climb the Mountain five times over-in the process of going up and down. It is a giant game of snakes and ladders, and like the game, the higher you go, the further you have to fall” (Bear Grylls, The kid who climbed Everest)

The harder the journey has become and the more things stripped away Jesus’ grace continues to meet me in new ways. Since the last communication, the summer has brought many adventures from a skateboard mission trip with the kids, leading a trip with Global Expeditions to the San Blaas islands off the coast of Panama and a trip to a friend’s church, “Jacobs Well” in Spokane, Washington.

While in Panama I was on an island with one of our teams who were ministering there to the Kuna tribe through vacation Bible schools and service to the islanders. A guy named Mattias docked his small boat and we had a conversation which led to hanging out for a few hours and just sharing our stories. Mattias had quit his job in Brazil as the President of a bank which he had taken him all over the world. We were on the same page and he had two kids…we had many similar stories. He had began his trip around the world with his whole family and two young kids but it ended up too much for his wife and kids so they decided to go back home to Brazil. The rest of the journey around the globe would be on his own: he talked of his loneliness and I talked of my unexpected time in my life and being away from my kids. It blew me away how God uses our stories and brings people into our paths for a reason. I gave Mattias one of my favorite books and we prayed together for his journey around the globe and the search for Christ.


I am continuing my studies in Adventure education as I plan to write my thesis in the spring. I also am plugging into my church working with the youth group as well on next step in my journey. The internship timing has changed, beginning in January 2010, at that time all funding will be changed to Sojourn Community Church. 930 Mary Street, Louisville, KY 40204 In this internship I will need to raise monthly support as part of my internship needs which will cover basic living needs and education. I am a deacon in training and playing a leadership/vision development role in the youth ministry. I also will have a space to create a non-profit focused on building healthy community in public schools through the medium of adventure education. More vision and information to come in the new year.

The pastors at sojourn community church have been very supportive and embracing me in this difficult journey of navigating this painful time. This internship is a space to fully embrace Gods vision for the future. The vision for the year would be a incubator and a time to retool in the midst of people who love me and believe in me. Please continue to pray for my family during this transition. My journey is really about obedience: simple. Am I willing to follow God’s plan and His word vs. my own emotions?


Isaiah 40:29-31
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.”

A word from Hud McWilliams, Sr. Resource Pastor Christian Associates International “On behalf of Christian Associates, I would like to thank you for your support of the Isom family during this time of difficulty and transition in their lives. While none of us would have hoped for this outcome, we know that God has continued to be at work in many ways, and we're grateful for your partnership in that process. We are in support of the direction that Jeremy is taking, as outlined in this letter, and we hope that you, too, will continue to walk alongside him and his family as they go forward from here. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me."


Embracing,


Jeremy Isom
http://www.sojournchurch.com/
isomjeremy@gmail.com
Facebook: Jeremy Isom
http://thedownwardmobility.blogspot.com
615 483-1818

The Naked Truth

The naked truth

I am writing this letter to all of you, to let you know what’s going on in my family’s life and my vision for the future. We relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, two years ago, largely due to marital issues that existed between Candice and me. Unfortunately, nothing was resolved or changed, and against my deepest desires and hopes, we divorced. This has been the hardest time in my life. I have been stretched beyond what I thought I could bear. And, I have put off writing this difficult letter for several reasons: 1) I felt a deep sense of shame and embarrassment…I felt like a failure, 2) I know how divorce is viewed in the Christian world, and my belief is that marriage is a covenant, meant for life, and 3) I feared that I had let you down; that I had nullified your support throughout the years. I never thought I would ever be a divorced man. I never thought that I would have to write these words to anyone. So, I write this letter with great humility and vulnerability, letting you know the truth of my life as it is and my hopes and dreams that I pray for. This process has opened up my life to God in ways I did not know were possible. I have been striving for Paul’s statement, “I have learned to be content in all circumstances”, to be the reality of my life. I have so much to be thankful for, even in this unexpected place of pain I have faced. I have had the privilege to do a plethora of jobs in this transition, ranging from After School Director with the YMCA, motivational speaker with Making it Count, a Starbucks barista and a substitute teacher in the local public school system. This has been a dynamic and transformative time for me.

“God where you in all this pain, God where are you, I am hurting. Then, in a still small voice I hear…. I AM HERE, IN THE PAIN. This is a portion of a song I wrote last year.

I had this perception in my life; all I wanted was to get to the other side of the pain. But, I have realized that life is about soaking up what is in front of you…not trying to look past what is, in order to get beyond it. Embracing what is in front of you, is the lesson that I have been learning in the depths of who I am. God is a redeeming God. He is redeeming my story and family. In this season, I have enrolled in a masters program at Prescott College, studying Adventure Education. I will graduate in the spring of 2010. True Life Adventures is on hold while I am pursuing my masters. However, I am praying for practical direction in morphing its mission stateside. My thesis is centered on creating eye opening and transformative experiences for students (specifically in middle and high-school). In this transition I have connected with a great church called Sojourn Community Church. This church understands and sees value in the mission behind True Life Adventures. They are eager to have this be incorporated into their church body as they set out to reach young people in their local urban communities, in real and transformative ways. I have just been offered a year long internship starting in July with Sojourn Community Church to assist them in their efforts.

Please pray for me and my family and as I focus on this step of my journey. Zayne is 6 and Ezekiel is 4 years old now. Please keep them specifically in your prayers as they too learn to traverse this shaky ground. Do not hesitate to contact me at anytime; I would love to hear from you.

“I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God’s way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth” Colossians 1:25(The Message)

A word from Hud McWilliams, Sr. Resource Pastor Christian Associates International “On behalf of Christian Associates, I would like to thank you for your support of the Isom family during this time of difficulty and transition in their lives. While none of us would have hoped for this outcome, we know that God has continued to be at work in many ways, and we're grateful for your partnership in that process. We are in support of the direction that Jeremy is taking, as outlined in this letter, and we hope that you, too, will continue to walk alongside him and his family as they go forward from here. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me."

Jeremy Isom 615 483-1818 isomjeremy@gmail.com