update follow up.

hi again,

I felt that I needed to write a quick follow up to my last update letter. I wanted to apologise for laying out a "five year plan" to you. I understand that it was a lot of information to digest and that maybe it was too much. I wanted to make it clear that Alexa and I are completely open to whatever God has for us. The "five year plan" that I laid out is only a really rough guide, and in experience whenever I have tried to work it out that far in advance before it just doesnt happen... As you may know from my stories of how I ended up in Vancouver.

Alexa and I have decided that with marriage comes a completely new start, so we are going to sit down together with a completely white sheet of paper and just pray. And see where God wants us for the the immediate future. We both have a heart for studying the Word of God and going down that route and in working with churches. My heart has always and always will be to work as a "missions pastor" this has not changed, but how I will get there only God knows. So I'm sorry for trying to paint the whole picture when actually I have no idea.

I invite you to join us in prayer as we seek God for what He has for us, be that in Vancouver, England, India, China, etc... All places we both have a huge heart for.

Any feedback from you I would love to read.

Blessings, peace and grace always,

Joel

January Update

hey!
Wow, this last month has been one of the craziest and most eventful months since moving to Vancouver! How have you been? Let me know some of the events in your life...

Going through changes
So there are a few pretty big changes going on in my life right now. One you already know about, I am getting married to the wonderful Alexa Blevins on the 12th March 2011.  With all that comes married life together and the changes that brings as you can imagine. Also over the last few weeks I have been praying and processing a lot about my calling in Vancouver and where I feel God is taking me and where God is taking Alexa and I.

Let me try to unpack all of the recent goings on. As you may have read over on the right in the prayer requests before reading this that I will be leaving YWAM Vancouver. Now this wasn’t an easy decision to make but it has been a decision that has brought a lot of excitement to me as I believe God is calling me to something more suited to where I am at right now and I am excited for what that holds. I will be joining a different YWAM group that is based in Vancouver called “YWAM Nexia”. This group is a national team that is based in Vancouver. They focus heavily on promoting missions around the country and continent. They go to churches, schools, youth groups and talk about missions and YWAM and how people can get involved. I have a heart for this. But the biggest reason to “switch bases” is that YWAM Nexia are running an internship that is already established and already has leaders and structure. This is something that I have realised that I have really wanted. Since being in Vancouver it has been a journey of trying to pioneer an internship which has been unsuccessful because at the end of the day that was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to be part an internship that looked like the one I was pioneering but much of my time was taken up with the administration of it all rather than the “doing”, this started to cause restlessness. Another reason for me preferring the internship that YWAM Nexia are offering is that I am at a place where I feel I need more self-development and growth, I talked about this in a recent blog. I felt my priorities, in short, were to work on my relationship and growth with God and really focus on that and give more time to that and to work on my relationship with Alexa. With these in mind the internship with YWAM Nexia seemed to suit well. Alexa is also very keen to do this internship and we decided as a couple, before we were engaged, that we wanted to do it together.

I’ll try to bring it all together…
I will be leaving YWAM Vancouver on the 11th February and flying down to California on the 14th February, spending a month there planning our wedding, going to pre-marital counseling, and also serving with YWAM in Modesto. I have been blessed with a place to stay and my own room for the time while I’m there. We will be getting married on the 12th March and then after a honeymoon, approx 10 days, we will be moving to Vancouver as a newly wedded couple and starting the internship with YWAM Nexia on the 4th April 2011. The internship is a year long and our plan right now is to go to England in April 2012 where we will look to find somewhere to live while we serve with outreaches during the London summer olympic games and then come September 2012 we will start a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and World Missions at Oak Hill Bible College, in North London. Three years later we will complete the course and then who knows! We both have a big passion for working in the local church and in missions.

How’s that for a lot of information, eh? So to try and portray in one e-mail is hard so please be checking my blog to get a better feel for my heart behind decisions and also just for more frequent updates. Also please do write to me, I love to hear from you and I love to answer questions, be challenged and walk on this journey knowing I am in relationship with you.

For wedding updates and information please visit our “Wedding blog”. We currently have very little money towards it, so if you can help in that way the please get in contact, more details on the blog.

Finances. The subject I don’t like to talk about but I need to share with you where I am at and where I need to be. Currently Alexa and I have around $850 a month support coming in from very generous and faithful givers. This has been able to keep me serving as a single in Vancouver. Alexa and I need, as a couple, a bare minimum of $1,500 a month, ideally closer to $2,000. Feel no obligation or pressure to support us financially but if you feel led to partner with us for this year as we do an internship and start married life together then please get in touch.

Thank you again so much for reading these updates and for partnering with me so far in this journey, in prayer and encouragement. I hope that I have kept you informed to your satisfaction. I would love to be praying for you so please do let me know how I can be. With distance and business going on I am sad that I don’t get to chat with you more.

---

I want to leave you with a passage that’s been speaking to me:
"….I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." [Eph 4: 1-3 - NIV]

Blessing to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

Your brother,

Joel

Anyone would do it.

Today as I was walking to the building we meet as a YWAM group I watched an older gentleman stumble and fall to the ground. Face first as there was nothing he could do to stop himself. I rushed over to help him up and to make sure that he hadn't injured himself. He slowly got up holding onto my arm and then thanked me as I briefly looked over his face for cuts. 

We both went on our days.

My first thought was anyone would have done the same thing in my position, I didn't do anything special. Atheist, Christian, Agnostic, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, anyone... They would have all done the same thing. Maybe the only difference is I prayed for that man as I walked away that he would remain safe and get home. 

So my first thought is "what makes me different?'


This led me to keep thinking and it is so clear that anyone in my position would have helped that man, anyone. 

Why? 

Why do we feel like we should help him? We don't know him, he is just a random person. He isn't going to reward us or marry us off to his gran-daughter. What is inside us, all of us, that causes us to want to help that man?


CS. Lewis calls it the Law of Human Nature. We have installed in us from the day we were born that there is a real right and a wrong way of doing things.

Why is that inside of us? How did it get there? Why does everyone around the world, whatever background, whatever stage of life, however they were brought up, know that it is Right to help that man up?

Why?
 


I'm going to end with a quote from CS. Lewis' book "Mere Christianity":

These, then are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.

The New Year.

Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for being with me over the last year, your support and prayers have been incredible. This was my second Christmas running that I spent in Vancouver, but it looked very different to last years.

The new year brings changes. I am currently praying and talking through some things that could cause big changes. I will keep you posted as they develop.

The first change that came with the new year was that I decided to no longer have a laptop. This came after some prayer and consideration on what I actually need it for and if it is more of a distraction than a tool of production. It also became clear that Alexa would really benefit from having a laptop as she works on raising support and finances to continue her work with YWAM. With this decision came the purchase of a iPod Touch (4th Gen) using Christmas monetary gifts from family and friends. It became apparent that most of what I use a laptop for can be done on an iTouch. I am able to check e-mails and stay in touch. But it is harder to stay on it for hours on end wasting time. I have already started feeling the benefits and feeling more free. The iPod Touch has replaced my laptop and my mp3 player (which I also gave to Alexa). In all of this YWAM has donated me an old desktop eMac which I will use to do word processing and write support letters or blogs (such as this); things that I do find more difficult on an iTouch.


So far I feel like this has been a good decision. I am trying to remove distractions from my life and also exercising the value of giving and letting go of things that I feel I need.


So yeah, that is a brief update. I felt I should share.


I will hopefully be sending out an update letter with "bigger" news by the end of next week. After I have moved into my new place.


Stay in touch. Do write or Skype (joey.upton).

Back to school. Pt 2.

2 of 2 [continued from Part 1]

Now you know the background. You see that throughout my life I have changed my mind a lot on what I wanted to do. i went from wanting to work in construction to then working in a hospital with dreams of being a Nurse.

Then YWAM happened and God grabbed my heart for His plan.

So now I am hear writing from a library in Vancouver City, Canada.

Nearly two years since I last had a job.
Over three years since I have been to school.

I title this Blog "Back to school" because I am realising more and more since leaving school that I am going back to school. every day.

Let me try to unpack what is going on in my web of wild thoughts.
I have had a lot of people other the last year give me words that "you will achieve big things" or that "God has big things for you" and this excites me. a lot. It also causes me to be restless. Because sometimes I don't see big things. That "sometimes" is now. I have prayed a lot on God's calling on my life. Throughout DTS and while in India I realised I had a heart to see missionaries looked after. I felt that maybe that looked something like apostle Paul. I also had words spoken over me as an encourager, like Barnabas (Paul mentions him in some of his epistles). Then after that I felt called to learn more about Discipleship Training so I stayed with YWAM to learn by doing. This time was very straining and I had little time to myself and to develop myself I felt. It was all GO and just trying to keep up. I know God was there and He used me but I felt like I had neglected what I had learnt in my DTS. When I returned from leading an outreach team to Vancouver, as part of that DTS, I went to Berlin where I spent a month serving in that city but also just to take time away to pray. There I felt my hearts desires confirmed and that God was calling me to Bible college where I would study theology and then enter into a church pastoring role, focusing on missions. Some people would call it a "Missions Pastor", this is the role that I see most similar to my calling. But I also felt Him calling me back to Vancouver first for a time.


I still feel very much that I am called to be a "Missions Pastor" working within the local church, maybe even church planting and creating and establishing a network of churches around the world, supporting and learning with and from each other. Looking similar to YWAM but with more of a church foundation and base. This may only mean little things to each of you, but I hope there are enough pieces to work out the whole picture..? I have described it as I want to be in a position where Joe Blogs can come to me and say "I have a heart for the orphans in India" and I can say "Ok Joe, lets go!" and then with links already established, or going with new eyes, to go with Joe to India and help him pursue his hearts desire with the support of a church and with me behind him. Encouraging him in his God given calling. Make sense? maybe...


So back to now. Now I feel is a time that I am still learning, still at "school". I have sometimes been frustrated that I am not seeing anything change. Not doing anything. It is making me restless. I know what I am heading towards. But I am here. It has taken a lot of listening to God and a lot of me sulking like a child. But I am now feeling that I am in the place of be content. I am here. God called me here and put me here. I am here to grow. To learn. To be at school.


I know that I have issues in my life, in my personality, in my closet that I need to deal with. I am dealing with them. But they aren't dealt with. I know that God is purifying me. Zechariah 13:9 says:

And I will put _them_ into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'" [ESV]

This is where I feel I am...

It hurts.
Fire hurts.
Testing hurts.


But I am calling on His name and He is telling me over and over that He is my God.


I will be stronger. I will be able to achieve the big things I know God has for me. I will be able to pastor and look after people. God loves me just as I am. But He loves me too much to leave me like that. I know with all my heart that I will see big things. I will be a part of big things and they will all point to God and then I will be gone, as the morning mist, but God will have been glorified in my life and God's Kingdom will continue to be established on earth.


For now I allow Him to purify me, to put me into the fire.


It hurts.

But He is worth it.

Back to school. Pt 1.

1 of 2
Let me start this two part blog by telling you a little bit of my story when it comes to school... I left school at the age of 16 where I went to a college to do a 2 year Construction course. At about the age of 15/16 I decided that I wanted to work in construction, working on the side of building management and building surveying, more the theory side of building. Before this I had never really settled on a dream or career, it was always changing, from physio, to flouriest to something in IT... So off I went at 16 to follow my dream of learning about the construction world. About two months into the course I realised that it was not very academically stimulating for me. I was even teaching the Maths class as my fellow class mates understood me better than our teacher. This started to drain on my and I realised that maybe construction wasn't where I wanted to be. I met some very cool people and learnt some skills that still pop up every now and then but my heart wasn't in it and I was feeling the desire to be stretched more academically. I left this college about 4 months after starting in pursuit of more general classes that will be more challenging. I decided that I would be attending a 6th Form college the following September to study Maths, Information Communication Technology, Accounts and Geography. But I still had 7 months before the course started, so off I went and started working in a supermarket as a cashier, very quickly I was looking after the CDs, DVDs and Videos sales and also the Newspaper and Magazine sales. I was also helping to train new (and old) cashiers on how to use the cash registers, etc... It was work... I was bored and eager to get back to school.

September finally came and I started at college. Within two weeks I realised that perhaps Maths was too challenging so it was agreed that I would drop that class, I continued with the 3 remaining classes. First year was up. I had failed Accounts and had done average in the other two. Accounts was also dropped so I started the second year with picking up a new class in Business Studies. I enjoyed my time at college, mostly because it was right next to a river! I also had good friends there and enjoyed socialising... maybe too much... I had no idea still what career I wanted as the final exams were approaching, I had lost interest in the subjects I was studying. It eventually came to me just before my exams that I had a heart for people, so this lead me to the decision to pursue a nursing career. By this time it was too late to apply for university so I was going to have to wait a year until I could go to university. After finishing my exams and doing ok... I started working at a Hospital as a Health Care Assistant/Nursing Assistant. I enjoyed this work. It paid enough for what I needed and I enjoyed spending time with patients and I was fast learning some very useful skills. Also I was working with closely with nurses and really realising that it was a career I wanted. I had chosen to attend a university up north where at the time my girlfriend was studying. Unfortunately we broke up and I realised that I really actually was only going there for her... But again by this time it was too late to apply for another university. I withdrew my application and decided to keep working in the hospital and re-apply to a university that I actually wanted to go to. So I did. I applied to attend the University of Southampton, one of the best nursing schools in the UK, in a great area. I was so excited. But deep down I was unhappy. In September 2008 I decided that I needed to dedicate a "year to God" so I started with reducing my hospital work to only part-time hours (about 20 hours a week) and then I started volunteering at a Christian Drug rehab centre two days a week. So my time was taken up with hospital 3-4 days and at the rehab center 2 days a week. This was a great time of learning and I really gained some great life experiences here. I also decided as part of my "year for God" that I would do a DTS with YWAM at Holmsted Manor starting in January 2009. So I quit my hospital job, and my rehab position and went off to YWAM having paid for the lecture phase but with very little money left.

-12 weeks of lecture phase
-10 weeks in India

you've heard me tell the story. if not then ask.

I sent back to staff at Holmsted Manor and I staffed a DTS that started in September 2009 as part of that lead an outreach team to Vancouver for the winter Olympics and time before. Left, realised I loved it and was being called back. In September 2010 I moved back and now I am here.

I write all this because I wanted to set the foundations for what my education and schooling life has looked like in the past as I now look to what God has for me.

This is the background. Read Pt 2 (to follow) for the present thoughts....

December update

[To see a printout version of this update click here]

hi

It has been a cold past few weeks in Vancouver, when flying to California at the end of last month there was snow on the ground. Not as much snow as there has been in England however, so I can’t really say too much! Now traditional Vancouver has set in and it is back to rain. I am sipping on Early Grey tea looking out the window thinking over the last month and the month to come. I hope that you are well and staying warm? Enjoy reading and if you have any questions or challenges or words then please don’t hesitate to write.

Thanksgiving

I was privileged enough to spend Thanksgiving in America with Alexa and her family. My first real American Thanksgiving. It was a good time of lots of food, fellowship and more food! I passed up on the turkey and was fed Mac ‘n’ Cheese just in case you were worried that I had sacrificed on my vegetarianism for one day. It was especially good as it is as season for being thankful. Everyone is encouraged to look back over the last year and say what they are thankful for. “One thing?” I asked, there are many many things that I am thankful for. A big thing has to be that I am in Vancouver, even though it is a challenge to be here at times I just look back at how I got here and how thankful for that I am. I have also been reminded this season of just how amazing grace is. I deserve nothing but death, yet I am alive only because of the grace of God through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I am also hugely thankful for you. Without you I couldn’t be here. I know that God does not need me, yet He chooses to use me and you are making that possible, through finances, prayer and encouragements. It is an honour to serve and work along side you in bringing God’s Kingdom to Vancouver and to all I meet, you are part of the testimony of God’s faithfulness in my life. I will always be thankful for this time and for you helping to make that happen.

Into The Urban

So what am I actually doing in Vancouver? Since arriving here I have been part of pioneering and establishing a new ministry opportunity. We are calling it “Into The Urban” and it is a 10-month internship program with YWAM Vancouver. It is being put in place to encourage anybody to come and serve with YWAM here with a focus on urban ministries. That will look like working with us in new initiatives around the city and also partnering with existing ministries that are already in place. It is an exciting program where we will grow together learning more about God’s heart for the city and discovering new opportunities to reach the un-churched people of Vancouver. As well has helping to pioneer this program I will also be getting involved in the urban ministries. It’s exciting and I am so grateful to be apart of it. So in partnering with me you are part of creating a place for people to hear God, grow in vision and see changes in lives.

For more information go to
www.ywamvancouver.com/intotheurban

Personal

I recently posted a blog entry titled “Swings and Roundabouts”, if you have a moment check it out. I have recently had to really check where my security and stability lies. I had to reconfirm that it lies in the Lord and that I have to rest in the knowledge that He has called me here and He is working in my here. On returning from California last week I found out that both my current housemates will be leaving, one is going on a field assignment for 3 months and the other will be leaving Vancouver. This was a bit of a shock to the system. It basically means that I now need to find somewhere to live. Talking with one of my housemates about their unsettlement here in Vancouver made me start to question my purpose here. This I had to quickly shake off and realise that it has nothing to do with me. I was letting someone else’s feelings of being unsettled effect me. I began to seek God and was filled with a sense of His security. So even though this brings in some potentially challenging times I know that I am secure in God. It has been a struggle since arriving in Vancouver finding my happiness. There is not the community here that I was used to at Holmsted so at times it can be very lonely. But I know that my joy and my happiness has to rest in God: “the joy of the Lord is my strength”. Knowing this I push on. I keep going and I keep knowing that God has called me here and that He is using me here. I ask you to pray with me, that I will continue to feel a spirit of peace in uncertainty and never loose sight of the vision and purpose of me being here. I am blessed to know you, and am blessed to have you in my life. Thank you again for your support.

I end this update with a passage from Hebrews that has spoken to me:

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.“ [Heb 10:23—NIV]

I pray that we will have hope and know that God is faithful and that we will walk with that all the days of our lives as we seek to make the name of Jesus famous over this earth.

Stay in touch!

Joel