The Time Has Come

Introduction and Thanks

Hello, to everyone who does not know me my name is Jacob Farler, I am eighteen years old, and currently reside in Middletown OH. At least for the next four hours I do.  The time has finally come to depart on the amazing journey God has laid out before us.  I am ecstatic to have the privilege to be a part of this team.  I am looking forward to getting to know everyone else that have been given the same privilege.  I would also like to thank everyone who has made this even possible for me.  My family, friends, co-workers, and everyone else who has been, and will continue to pray for us.  A special thanks goes out to my home church, Towne Blvd. Church of God, for being an amazing group of brothers and sisters in Christ who have, and will continue to support me throughout this trip.  

My Story

As I said before my name is Jacob and I am eighteen.  I do live in Middletown, and have the entirety of my life.  I have grown up in an amazing community full of Christians who have helped shaped who I am today.  I attended Madison High School for the duration of my time in school and Miami University for my last semester. When I return from the trip in the fall I will be moving to Oklahoma City to attend Mid-America Christian University to major in Bible and Theology.  As far as my mind allows me to remember I have been a part of Towne Blvd. Church of God.  But all of that is just the logistics of myself, not who I really am.  Lets get into that.  

I owe a great amount of the person I am to the best church camp in the world, Camp Lebanon.  (EAT ROCKS) This is the camp that started out as a great week in the summer to see friends and have fun, that soon turned into the most anticipated three weeks of my summer to deepen and share my relationship with Christ to everyone around me.  I did have a life plan set out at one point.  Actually from about fifth grade on to my freshman year I was absolutely certain that the Marines were going to be my ticket to school and my career.  Then I got to know someone a lot better than I ever had and he changed that completely.  His name was Jesus.  The summer after my freshman year is when he took ahold of me and said "follow me".  The last night at Camp Lebanon a guy named Zach (I hope you read this) was speaking. He spoke on how one person could change the world through Christ.  After he was done and the worship started I felt the presence of God like I have never felt before.  Tears instantly filled my eyes as I fell to my knees at the alter and cried out to Him.  People surrounded me and prayed with me, that is the moment where I dedicated the rest of my life to go into ministry.  Oh boy did God take a hold of that.  

The following summer our youth group went on a missions trip to our former youth pastors (Bob Daniels) church in West Virginia.  We were there to do some work on the church along with runing a vacation Bible school for the children.  During this trip myself and a few other guys were put in charge of leading the Bible portion of the VBS. (The boat was awesome) At some points it was interesting.  Like when a group of ten or twelve kindergarten through second graders say they want to play hide-and-go seek after the lesson.... and you are in a eight by ten room with nothing but walls.  The challenge only made it better. Anyway back from that tangent now, during this time I had also been working on what I was calling a "sermon".  It was just some small ideas that were floating around in my head that I decided to write down. On one of the days we were there I asked Pastor Bob to take a look at it for me just to get his thoughts on it.  He responded by asking me to share it with the congregation on the Sunday morning service! After some prayer and thought I told him I would.  The week went on and I began to prepare.  Saturday night rolled around and I got my first taste of what happens when you stand up for God.  Blindsided is what I would refer to it as.  I found myself curled up in a ball outside the front of the church, balling my eyes out with a knife in my hand.  The devil or at least his minions did not like what was going on and that hit me full force.  Circumstances pilled on top of each other and drove me to a point of loneliness that I did not understand, and still to this day it is hard for me to pick apart how I got to that point, except for someone did not want me to speak.  But the Bible tells us rebuke the devil and he will flee I cried out to God for an answer.  At the moment I hit rock bottom I looked up and there was one of my closest friends.  He talked me down and brought me inside where everyone comforted me and prayed with me.  The next morning I woke up feeling more rejuvenated than ever.  The only someone negative feeling (more constructive than negative) now was my nerves.  I was about to stand in front of a congregation of people that I had never met before, besides a few, and at the age of fourteen try to be a teacher to them.  As I stepped onto the stage, beads of sweat started to pour down my head and a knot formed in my stomach. Pastor Bob said a prayer for me and then I was alone on stage.  I started to talk and stumbled over the first few words took a deep breath and God took over.  Every word that came out of my mouth was not me talking, not really, but God through me.  I could feel his presence all around me, I could see that people were actually listening and comprehending what I had prepared. It was unbelievable.  

The entire experience was one of the most amazing I have had and will always be one of my greatest memories.  Since that time I have had the oppurtuninty to share my faith on many more occasions, speaking to our youth group, the Sunday night service at "big church", to the residents of Hope Hill in Kentucky, and not to leave out the amazing Camp Lebanon.  I do not tell you all of these things to brag or boast, but I tell you to share just the beginning of a story that God has changed and mended into something beautiful.  I tell you to encourage you if you think you are called into this life then to dive deep into the Word and pray about it.  I tell you to warn you it is not an easy path, but a rewarding one at that.  I tell you so that you can rejoice with me, mourn with me, and pray with me for everything I have and will encounter in my life.  Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpen a friend.  This is why I tell you.  To grow and spread the Word throughout the world and to change and shape it into what God has planed.  

This trip will be life changing and I cannot wait to tell you more in the many weeks to come. 

Jeremiah 1:6-8 …6Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth."7But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8"Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD.…