David Miller

On April 25th, thousands gathered from all over the world to come to “The Rescue” of Joseph Kony’s child soldiers.  

This video will catch you up on the plan.

      

Invisible Children challenged the supporters of this cause to buy The Rescue Pack, consisting of two        t-shirts, and wear only those two shirts for the entire month of April.  Many of the Students and leaders of The Element Accepted this challenge. 

Hundreds came from all across Central Florida and met at the abduction site (Edgewater High School)  to make the 3.5 mile walk to the LRA camp.

We were placed into groups for the long walk to our camp site.  Each group of 50 held onto a rope and walked in a straight line in the same fashion of the abducted child solders. 

Our trek ended at Trotters Park (our LRA Camp for the night)

This was more than a sleepover under the stars.  We were raising awareness!  We wanted to get the world to take notice and accept the call to action.  We made YouTube videos and wrote letters to people of influence to come and “rescue us”.  

In Orlando we were rescued by two “Moguls”:

Aaron Gillespie, front man of The Almost and drummer for Underoath came to our rescue.   You can see his YouTube video to Obama below.

                             

Ryan Kirkland, my personal favorite, also came to our rescue.  Ryan is the frontman for Between The Trees.  Each of our rescuers did an acoustic set for the hundreds they came to rescue.  

The media also took notice! 

It was incredible to see people sacrifice their comfortable beds and air conditioned rooms to sleep outside and experience, just a small portion, of what the child solders go through. 

This was an amazing example of the value of your voice!  I was proud to be apart of this cause and even more proud of the over 50 Element Students who participated  by wearing the t-shirts, making the videos, getting their schools involved, praying for those affected by this war, and coming to “The Rescue”.  

You all inspire me.

 

I am a workaholic!

Way too often I forget that God is in control and I am simply lucky to be apart of His plan.  For the last month and a half I’ve been taking it upon myself to fix the problems of the world and it is taken its toll on me.  I’ve felt like I’m running on fumes and could collapse at any moment.  It all came to a head last  Wednesday as I was putting the final touches on my talk for The Element.

I found myself breaking down as I tried to put the final touches on the night, plan our student trip to Bolivia, put together a graduation for our seniors, and the brainstorming teaching topics for our upcoming summer camp.  My mind simply shutdown.  I heard God clearly ask this question, “what is my part in all this?” I couldn’t answer Him.

I needed perspective.

I closed the door to my office and dropped to my knees.  ”God, bring back my joy!  You are the hero and I am NOT.  Give me rest.”  I continued to repeat those words over and over and waited in silence for over an hour for His response.

What I heard back changed me to my core.  “This ministry I’ve entrusted to you is not about you.  It’s about showing me to these students.” To you this may seem like a no brainer, but sometimes I forget the students and make it about the ministry (at least the work of the ministry).

Just then my TweetDeck chimed and I saw that one of my students had posted a new video.  Since my mind was far too wrecked to continue work, I checked it out.  Below is the video that I found.

You have no clue how much I needed that! I spent the next hour watching youtube videos and listening to music they’d made. I called our Melissa, our admin, away from here job about ten times to come watch or listen to what our students could do.

I found myself at peace as I took it all in.

I was reminded that I have the sweetest job in the world and not because I deserve it, but because God chose me to be apart of it. Below is another of my favorite videos and if you get a chance, you need to check out Ericatronic. She was the soundtrack of the day and is another student involved in The Element.

I simply needed some perspective!

I don’t think I”m the only one in ministry who struggles with getting caught up in the work of ministry.  I want to encourage you to take time and gather perspective.  Take the time to talk with God and restructure His place in your ministry.  Look at the lives of the people entrusted to you and delight in them.  I promise this will be a changing point for you and your ministry.  I can also promise that you will need to continually come back to this point and be reminded again why you do what you do.

Another post is on the way about finding rest.

A few weeks ago the glasses I’ve had for the past four years literally fell apart and I was forced to find a new pair.  I was bummed until my wife convinced me to check out a sweet little shop in Winter Park called SEE Eyewear.  They had some sick glasses and their prices didn’t make me want to cry.

With the help of Ashley I found a pair I’m stoked on!  Below are a couple pictures.  I’d love your thoughts.

Check out the SEE website HERE