ryan's life @ yogi bear

2009-04-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

I promised some of you that I would post yesterday but my internet stopped working. I don't have the time at the moment but it will come soon.

with love, Ryan.

2009-03-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry it has been such a long time!!! In the past couple months I should have had a lot more tome to keep you all up to date, I just let distractions come first and for that I apologize. Sorry! But now that I am done apologizing, the last little while has been awesome! God is good! The last couple months have been what we call the off-semester. In this time we have not been doing sunday school, but we have still been visiting our kids once a week. During the off-semester we have been keeping very busy with work around the center and all the odds and ends that we do not have time for in the semester. A lot of the guys have been doing demolition and renovations in the center. The center is a big old hospital building that Metro Ministries bought a few years back and is now renovating into staff housing and offices and hopefully will be able to be used for almost all areas of the minisry. But it is still very far from that. A lot of people have been taking care of computer and paper work for the 'Won by One' child sponsorship program. Catching up from the semester. And of course a lot of the leaders have been writing the new lessons for the upcoming semester. Which starts in three days!! This tuesday we are all back on the sidewalk making noise again. At the beginning of this week all the new interns were put in their divisions and this week has been busy getting everything ready. Please pray for us in this time! It is a particularly stressful time for everyone. Pray for patience and peace as we get ready for sunday school again. Pray for avery one who we will minister to this coming semester, that God would guide us in everything and that nothing we do would be for our own gain. Let God give us the hearts of servants that our people would see Him in us. Let God fill us with His perfect love that casts out fear ad let it show to every person we come into contact with. Pray that God would glorify Himself by our work. He is so great and good that bringing Him glory is the best thing we as people can do. Doing His work is an honor we do not deserve. Pray all this for me as I pray it for you. Thank you so much for all the support, and especially those who are keeping me in your prayers or offering financial support. God is with us. Awesome!!!

-Ryan.

2009-02-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

I want to encourage you who are feeling a urge to do more. Those of you who are not satisfied with the life you are living and feel a passion and excitement to do more. I hope that would be most of you. Just know that when you start living it out it is a lot harder to keep the passion. But God is always faithful. Often though we begin loosing the passion for His will that we once had. But just know that God allows that to test if we have the commitment to Him and His will or if we are just acting on an emotion. Be careful that you do not loose that passion for doing more! Often people get that excitement but when they face the reality of God's plan for their life, they back down. The excitement you have is so good but it cannot be the reason you seek to do great things through God. They must be based on a solid commitment to the things of Christ and not just a feeling inside you. Because believe me, that feeling will not always be there when you follow God. But if you then press through the times when you want nothing other than to forget his will and live your own life your way, God will then use you for His greatness because you have showed that you care more for His will than for your own interests! And then you will begin to see what it means to die to yourself, when after following Gods will as it is written in the bible, you start to see His plan for your life, and then you realize that you want the opposite. But instead of falling away, you ignore the lust of the flesh and submit to Him. And this will be the hardest thing you do. Which is why almost all of North American "Christians" do not do it. God calls us to PERFECTION. That is not possible for us. And it is so much more than going to church and staying out of trouble. The only way it can be possible is if there is nothing left of us, and that is exactly what God wants for us. Read John 3:30 and Galatians 2:20. God is not selfish in any way! But He is so perfect and we are fallen. So the best thing for us is to become less like us. And as we do He is able to fill us with Him, which is far better for us! But that all goes back to being committed to His will when we want want to be doing any thing but it. Submission is never something you want to do or enjoy doing. That is made obvious by society. But we are not of this world. At least we should not be.

love you all.
-Ryan.

2009-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

I stopped to think this afternoon while I was shoveling some bricks into the dumpster from demolition at the center. A good friend named Peter was with me. It was snowing. In that moment I had a bit of a revelation. I said to him, "We are living in New York City! And we get to work with the coolest kids in the world! Almost no one gets an opportunity like this." I became overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for this opportunity, and for every open door that has led to this. I am in awe that God would allow a person like me to take part in His great purpose in this way. The task that is in front of me and all of us is unimaginable. And God entrusted this small part to me. And for that I cannot be thankful enough. I told Peter that I probably have less physical things than I ever have but I have more to be thankful for than ever. The smallest of the things of God are so much greater than everything we can imagine to accumulate. But you already know that. Or do you, as you seek after and strive for that job to make that money to buy that car, to pay off that house, to get those clothes? Of course you know that to be a fact. But do you know it? So much so that you would give up everything today and then, with nothing left of your own, follow wholeheartedly after everything that is of Christ. Because wait, that is exactly what you as a "christian" are commanded to do. I do not pretend to have arrived, or even come close to this point. But as I seek to discover the things that are of Christ, I realize how far I am from it. But then I am greatly encouraged that I will never on this earth come close to the obedience of everything Christ requires of us. But as I instead strive to diminish my self and flesh until there is nothing left of my own, The Holy Spirit then comes in, and the things that are impossible for me to achieve, become possible only through what the Spirit does in me. Jesus was not joking when He spoke to that rich man. Remember, the man asked "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Jesus went on to answer, "If you want to be perfect..."

Sorry, it has been too long.
-Ryan.

2009-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!!! Sorry it's been quite a while since I've been on here. Everything with Christmas break and then getting back into working again after Christmas and traveling has been too crazy. But here I am. My Christmas was wonderful. So good to get away for a bit and see family and friends and nature, and eat good food again. Thanks again to everyone. Love you all. On the other hand though, it is so good to be back home. I really missed this place over the holidays, more than I thought I would. I still have not gotten to see a lot of my kids yet. I saw a few on Saturday when I went to deliver a couple late Christmas Presents. Hopefully this week soon I'll get to go on a proper visitation again. For the off-semester a lot of the guys and I (and one girl) are doing work in the center with the renovations in there. We mostly smash down walls with hammers and break stuff. It's good work. A lot of the other side-walk staff are working in the finance department or working with the "Won by One" child sponsorship, helping get presents and letter delivered to our kids and get the thank-you cards back to the sponsors. We all keep busy enough during the off semester. Sunday School will start up again towards the end of March. During this time we do still visit our kids once a week, to deliver stuff from the sponsors and just to see them and hang out. But it will go by quick and Sunday School will be back soon enough for sure. Pray that the staff would take this time that is not so busy and stressful to really rejuvenate for the next semester. And that we would not loose the focus and vision even when it seems this work is not the ministry we are here for. Because the ministry does in fact fully depend on this kind of back-ground work. Thank you for the support. Love.

ryan.

ps. Thank You so much to all of those who took a profile and considering Sponsoring me financially, And especially to those who already are. I really do need you all.

2008-12-21T10:18:00.001-08:00

People the semester is done! Wow. that was the fastest, busiest, craziest, most amazing three months of my life. This is just going to be short, I'll give a real update when i get some time to think. The past couple of days i have been realizing what an impossible thing this is that we do. Our church sanctuary is an old warehouse. Half the staff is living in an old hospital that is being renovated around them as they live there. I heard it was more than 25,000 kids this last week in New York. If you have a vision that is not possible to accomplish and the faith that you will see it happen, you will see so much more. The memory verse for this week is Luke 1:37. I am blessed to be a part of this. And you could be to. where ever you are and whatever your doing does not matter. The body has many parts. But the branches that do not produce fruit will be cut off...

almost there

2008-12-17T05:04:00.000-08:00

This semester has gone by so fast. We only have four more days of sunday school! Yesterday we had to say bye to the kids at the Tuesday site until March. Those kids are so crazy. So much fun. For some its hard to say bye to because you don't really know what kind of life they go to When Yogi Bear is gone. We do keep on visiting every week all though the time off though. But we still are not able to see them all. Just keep praying for our kids. When I left after my internship though it was different. I knew I would never see those kids again and that was hard. But here it is actually kind of exciting, saying good bye because I know in three months I will be back. I love it here. The past three and a half months have been some of the most challenging, frustrating, and rewarding times of my life all at once. After being here for my first semester on staff I do not regret the decision to come back at all. And I will not be leaving soon. But of course this semester is not quite over yet. And I have a lot to do before I go back for Christmas in five days. If you could just pray that I don't go crazy and have enough energy to finish this very well. Thank you all so much. And I'll see a lot of you soon I hope over Christmas. God bless and Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

So those last two post are kinda backwards. Just ignore it. The one under comes first. Have fun...

More Pictures!!!

2008-12-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Hope you enjoyed these few pictures. I'll show you more when you come and visit me and see the ministry. Be blessed.

Pictures!!!

2008-12-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pictures I promised. Just some of the best kids in the world. There are more in the next post because I cant upload more than 5 at a time. I really do not have time at the moment for a huge update. But its okay. Hopefully I will see a lot of you soon over Christmas. I am doing very good. Learning a lot. Pray that the next two weeks go smooth. The two before Christmas are always the craziest. And it is my first time seeing them. Pray that i continue to become diligent with my work and that I would learn more and more to do it as unto the Lord. Thank you for all you prayers and support. Love.

2008-11-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hey there! So this week I have something for you to think and pray about. I don't want to sneak up on you or anything so here it is; I am asking for support. The ministry has decided to have the staff start raising their own support. In Part because of the economy being the way it is. You should know though that the state of the economy has forced other ministries in this country to shut down completely, but Metro has not even had to close parts of the ministry. Pastor Bill says, "The economy is a resource. Not the source. God is our source." The salary of the staff has always been taken care of by Pastor Bill as well as all other money coming into the ministry. There are 160 full time staff working here. That is a lot of salaries to pay, and that is just a fraction of the finance that is needed to run this ministry. Pastor Bill just celebrated his 60th birthday. It is time some of the burden was taken off of him. And so comes the need for us as staff to bring in a little bit of the money ourselves. A sponsorship program called "Run With One" has been created for us to raise support. Profiles were made up for each of the staff to send out that explain how the sponsorship works and how donations and pledges can be made directly to the ministry on our behalf. The minimum pledge is $25.00 monthly per staff member. If you would be interested in receiving one of my profiles and helping me raise support, please contact me. My new email address is ryanjacobwood@hotmail.com. And I'm on facebook if that works better for you. Thank you for your time. And to those of you who have been praying, THANK YOU!!! I could not keep going with out it. seriously. I've wanted to quit many times already. But I wont! Peace and love.

Ryan.

2008-11-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Hi there! hope you are all doing good and missing me a lot. haha. I miss you too. I will be back on the good old island for a couple weeks this Christmas, from Dec. 22 to Jan. 5. So if you are going to be in Duncan during that time let me know and we can hang out sometime, sound good? Last time I said I would get some pictures on here for you. And then I lost my camera. So I am very sorry and hopefully I can borrow somebody's soon so I can show you what this thing I am doing looks like. But for now if You will forgive me, words will have to do. I was riding the bus last Saturday for sunday school with my kids. I was sitting with one of my little girls, Jessica, a 5 year old. Up at the front above the driver there was the bus number with the "no standng or eating permitted" sign right above it. Jessica read out the number, "2...6...1...2". I asked if she could read the sign above it. She looked at it for a moment, thinking hard. She looked up and said, "I think it says bus". It was cute. It has been a good week, for real. Things are getting crazy as we're coming up to the end of the semester. I cannot believe it is already half way through November. Two weeks till my birthday baby!!! I need money and cookbooks. haha... just kidding. Thank you all so much for your support, your prayers, your encouragements. drop me an email sometime. God bless.

My first post ever!!!

2008-11-08T04:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!! I am so sorry it took so long for me to start one of these things. But hopefully it will help a lot with keeping in touch with all of you. As this is my first blog it is kind of simple but I promise it will be followed with pictures and stories and all kinds of awesomeness. So far though I am doing very well. For those of you who I have neglected to tell, I am living in Bushwick, an area in Brooklyn, and my site where I do sidewalk sunday school is in Harlem. Look up Drew Hamilton Houses on Google earth and you'see it. The past few weeks have been frustrating and tiresome. But you will never get anywhere in this life if you are not willing to stay committed through those times. a lot of people have been asking if I am enjoying myself or if I am having fun. No. At times yes, of course, but this is not the place to enjoy yourself. Last weekend the Bloods were having their initiation. The Bloods and the Crips are the two biggest gangs here. The rumors said they had to kill 31 women over the weekend and they were cutting people's faces. It's hard to teach Sunday school knowing that's going on a few blocks away. But yes, we still had Sunday school, still on the sidewalk, and I still love it. Every Friday I get to spend almost an hour just hagning out and dancing with my boys at my site. It's such a blessing to be here. God has provided me with opportunities that I do not deserve and I praise Him for that. Well hopefully I'll here from a lot of you soon. Blessings.
I will get some pictures here as soon as I can. If you guys could be praying that I could keep my focus where it needs to be and that I would learn to have more dilligence with the paperwork aspect of my work. Thank you all so much. I really appreciate all of you, some more than others. hahaha. Peace.