Surreal.. It's All Jesus!

The Beginning of A Beautifully-Ordained Adventure

    The past seven months have been the wildest, most amazing, heart-frenzied times I have lived in my short twenty two years, but to be honest I have only truly lived the past two and half years.. " For me to live is Christ, to die is gain." When God chose me to die to self and to be raised with His son, Jesus, in the summer of 2013 on a tiny island in the Bahamas, little did I know that two years later I would call that place my home. Spanish Wells, Bahamas is where my gracious Heavenly Father has brought me to live a life that reflects one who truly treasures Jesus above all else with a family that feels exactly the same! The Boykins are an example of a God-fearing, people-loving, passionate family whom I cherish and admire more than any family I have ever met! Transitioning from an American college athlete who had every opportunity to be "successful" in the world to a missionary in another country has not been easy. I graduated college, played my last football game and moved to this island in eight short days, but oh wow has my God been so faithful (2 Timothy 2.13).  God told me to move here before Christmas back during the week of my birthday in October. Christmas Eve was somewhat difficult considering that it was the first Christmas Eve I would not be with my family. I was going to miss the Caldwell's and the Fetner's Christmas get together. Blakely and Emmy would not get to see their Uncle T for Emmy's first Christmas! The annual ride around the farm to see what my brother-in-law works day in and day out for would not be taken this year! So obviously, I got lonely...really lonely that night. Waking up on Christmas day, I realized something. I wasn't comfortable.. I was in the will of God. The One True God! Yahweh! The Great I Am! Abba! I was not in the places back where I considered home. My family would not have me around this Christmas. Not because I didn't want to be there, but because I want as many people with me, in God's family, when we meet Jesus for the first time (1 Timothy 2.3-4)!! I was exactly where He wanted me to be! I walked the trail leading to a field in a small Haitian community named Blackwood saying a silent prayer to myself, " Dad, may Your Name be exalted today! Use me how You want! I am Yours. I love You!" The field was the place where I died.. two years earlier! As my brothers and sisters in Christ flooded the field with smiles and laughter, God filled my heart with an unexplainable joy (Romans 15.13)! I sat there and looked at these kids, twenty or more kids from the ages of three to fifteen, playing kickball with no shoes, dirt-stained faces, and smiles that are only given by the God so loving that He allowed a twenty two year old man to witness.. talk about undeserving! I was sitting in the shade against a fence made from pallets and a small boy named Gino walked up to me and jumped right into my lap! A boy whose skin was as dark as night, and felt as light as a feather in my lap with the biggest black eyes and an even bigger smile! We had a conversation that consisted of very little words. This boy, Gino, was completely different than me. I do have a pretty descent tan and a big smile but we have a completely different physical appearance; however, I fall back on what the Lord said in 1 Samuel 16.7 says when he said.."man looks at outward appearance,but the Lord looks on the heart"!! Did you catch that?? The Lord, Abba, Yahweh, The Great I AM looks on the heart! Gino and I have very different physical attributes, but we have a heart that is gazed upon by the Creator of the universe! Wow!!  Not only are our hearts looked upon, but He desires to change it! God desires to come in and conquer the hearts of myself and Gino! To completely defeat the flesh and make a new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17)! Even so different, God spoke through a little boy named Gino! A boy in which I have nothing in common, but the Gospel! The Gospel of Jesus Christ! We were created in Jesus, through Him and for Him (Colossians 1.16)! And that is why I am here. That is why God sent me here.. to die even more, so that I might truly live and to be a servant (Matthew 28.16-20)! Jesus didn't die to make bad men good..and trust me, I was a bad dude.. but Jesus died to make the bad men live! Live for Him. 

Father, 

Help me in this season of my life to fear You! Help me treasure You above all! Allow me the opportunity of planting seeds of Hope, the one true Hope, for kids like Gino and men like me! You have all of me! I am so in love with You, Jesus! 

Stay tuned..

Hidden in Christ with God,

T

Hello World! Let's Fellowship!

First allow me to introduce myself, I am Trey. Whew! Now that I got that out of the way, I would like to dedicate my first blog post to a subject that is very dear to my heart and I have become quite passionate about: Community. This may seem a little strange for a twenty-one year man to be passionate about, but I have been doing some thinking lately. First and foremost I love people. People of all colors, shapes, ethnicities, and so on. It's simply incredible to me that no one person is truly identical(even identical twins aren't exactly identical). That means that everyone is different. Everyone! And everyone has a different story. One thing is for certain about every human. We were created and have a longing for community. It is a trait that we inherit from our Heavenly Father. In the very beginning of Genesis, God the Father created the heavens and the earth. He wasn't alone. As you continue to read Genesis it says in verse two that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Jesus, God the Son, was also there as clearly stated in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.". This is just fascinating to me. I understand how difficult it is to understand the Trinity, but They are three different beings all in one! So therefore we have the first glimpse of PERFECT community. Wow!! As we were created in God's image, we must also understand that we were created to be in community. God did not create us because He got bored. He created us because He loved us! The only time that God did not say His creation was good was in verse eighteen of Genesis which says, "It is not good for the man to be alone…". This just jumps out of the Bible at me. The best of all human experiences revolves around God and His perfect community. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden and had perfect fellowship with Him until sin caused a broken community. Thankfully the sin that broke community was nailed to the cross when Christ gave it all for us. Jesus had to give up His righteousness to become sin and die to restore the community we have with God(as long as we accept Him into our hearts).He not only came to earth to show us the perfect example of a servant king, a true lover and friend to all, conqueror over sin, but Jesus also came to revolutionize community. 

The world today uses the word community in ways that is not biblical, but it is where the word originated from. Humans struggle with the definition of community. Some of the definitions of todays version of community include:
1. A neighborhood in which people live.
2. Online community (Facebook,twitter,instagram, etc.) 
3. Social clubs (Fraternities,sororities,teams)
4. Community organiztions

Here is the problem with these definitions. How often do neighborhoods have get togethers and true community? How often do neighbors truly love and serve their neighbors? Loving and praying for your neighborhood is entirely different than seeing them drive by and tossing up a friendly wave. People have lost the sense of emotional relations to people because of online community. There is very little reality in it. Twitter expects you to describe your feelings in fifty words or less. Not to mention emoticons make this even more difficult. Where is the authenticity in that? Social media allows the world to only see what YOU want them to see. They see your smiling faces and the parties you attend, but do they see the struggle? Do they see the pain that follows us in our everyday life? Of course not! Because it's not real community. Online community allows us to cut and paste parts out of our lives, but we cannot cut and paste difficult parts out of our lives altogether. Social clubs and community organizations most often involve people with similar characteristics which is great and convenient, but is it real? Is it authentic love and fellowship that we were created for? Real community takes work. True biblical community is not a commitment to others, it is a commitment to the Gospel of Christ. It is the natural outcome of love that believers practice while being purified by Christ. My main purpose is not to promote community, because community isn't the goal we should work towards. The goal we should work towards is the natural ability to interpret and understand the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. However as a Christian, I love community because it is what I am commanded to love. 1 Peter 1:22 says, " Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,". I wrote this to share my heart. To preach and teach me how to truly love people. I am one of the most guilty people when it comes to sending a short "I am praying for you" text and being too lazy when I have felt called to visit friends and have personal conversations. As Christ continues to transform me in this process of sanctification, I realize that this process is not meant to be done alone. He gave me His Holy Spirit to guide me. Guide me to people that long for perfect community. Much love to you all. 

TreyFet

John 16:33