Have you ever felt like standing in a hallway? Like you would need a direction, a signal, a word or just something or anything that would show you how to move on, what step to take next but nothing seems to happen? I believe that each and everyone of us knows that feeling. And it can get really challenging. Especially when we feel like our time is running out but you feel that God is still waiting and nothing is really changing. It could be a sickness, a difficult marriage, singleness, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, waiting for a child, or just simply a graduation. We have many examples in the Bible that show us similar stories or situations. How about Noah who was building the ark in the desert for approximately 75 years. How about our famous Abraham, how did he wait for his promised son? How about Joseph after his brothers sold him to Egypt or when he was imprisoned? How about Moses who spent 40 years in the desert before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and then he had to wait another 40 years wandering through the desert towards the promised land? Or how about David whom Saul loved first but later became his enemy and chased him for about 4 years? There are so many more stories in the Bible about someone waiting on God, and not only for a few days but for weeks, months and years. How did these people spend those times of waiting? As we know, not all of them were able to wait faithfully. But we don’t want to raise our fingers to judge them. Rather, how do we deal with the times of waiting? With the times in the hallway where we seem to be alone, where every door seems to be closed and maybe we only glimpse a tiny window if we look up? I believe, that God is using those times for something good. He wants to see, how we react and behave in the hallway. If we get desperate, hopeless and depressed Or, if we look around us to see if there are other people in the hallway waiting just like us, who might need our encouragement, advice, a listening ear or simply a smile. How do we act in the hallways of our lives? A few days ago I had a conversation with someone about the “waiting in a hallway” and he said that sometimes it’s not easy to wait in the hallway. He sees it more as a desert. A plant challenged by drought learns to develop stronger roots. And that this is exactly the case in our spiritual life. Looking back, we see that God meant it well and that we were allowed to grow through our situation. Let us trust in God during the process, during the wait in the hallway and keep in mind that the hallway is just a season, not a destination, which God can and wants to use for our good, if we are willing to follow him and seek his will.

God has been teaching me so much during my stay here at Legacy, through the study of His Word. One of the most dominant lessons lately has been to surrender my ideas, hopes and dreams to Him. To surrender means to cease resistance and submit to an authority. To surrender, I must trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6  I serve the One with ultimate power and authority. Life is not “all gas no breaks” as lots of us young people seem to think sometimes. I have always said that I want whatever God wants for me but how will I know what that is? First, I must truly surrender my deepest hopes and dreams to Him in prayer and display my intent with my actions. I have begun to write my prayers down so that I can look back and praise God for the principles He's taught me and the wrongs He's convicted me of in my everyday habits and practices. Am I intentionally examining myself, my motives? How can I require His guidance while overlooking surrender to the things He has already given me in his word! I am called to be his steward here on earth. Verse 25 of Psalm 73 says: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” I have been asking myself ever since the first weeks of this year, is this verse a reality in my life? Deep down, if I do not get what I am hoping for out of this life, will I still praise Him and be content in Him? Does He fulfill my deepest desires or am I reserving that for something else? Am I experiencing true intimacy with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ? These are the challenges set before me and I can say, by the grace of God, I will strive to be obedient to the Holy Spirit no matter what my feelings may dictate. This life I have is a gift, I was not brought into this World to fulfill my desires but to shine the Light of the Gospel to those in darkness. Gods' way is best. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

Worship is the very reason we exist. Worship is much more than singing, worship is presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, dying to sin and giving your life to God (Romans 12:1). Worship is living to glorify God. Worship is serving. Our worship is only made possible by God Himself. It takes a marvelous trinitarian action for us to be able to worship at all. We are saved for the purpose of worship. God displays this purpose in Exodus as Israel is saved from captivity in Egypt in order to worship the Lord (Exodus 3:12,18 ~ 5:1,3,8 ~ 7:16 ~ 8:1,20 ~ 9:1,13 ~10:3,7-11,24-27). Parallel to Israel being stuck in Egypt, we are by nature stuck in sin. We were captives, dead in our sin. As Romans 8:6-8 says, in our flesh we cannot please God. We had no hope or way of escape. Romans 6:17-19 says that we were “slaves to sin,” but by the trinitarian work of salvation we have become “slaves to righteousness.” Just like Israel was saved from Egypt so that they could serve and worship God, we are saved from being slaves to sin so that we can become servants and worshipers of our redeemer! God saves us for worship. Each part of the trinity plays a unique role in our salvation and in making worship possible. The father made the plan, and it was a well calculated and long prepared plan: Ephesians 1:3-6 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” The Son accomplished the plan given to Him by the Father: He became human, lived perfectly, died for our sins, and rose for our justification. Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And the Holy Spirit applies the finished work of the Son to believers: We are sealed and sanctified by His indwelling presence. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” “Without the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we would be dead in our sin, unable to recognize God, much less worship Him” (Zac Hicks Doxology and Theology). Jesus not only died for our sins, but He gives us His perfect life. We cannot bring an acceptable offering to God; we cannot live anywhere close to His standard. We cannot even look upon His holiness, let alone give Him the worship He deserves. Christ provides us with the worship God requires of us. He was obedient in living a perfect life and worshiping the Lord perfectly. God sees Christ’s perfect worship as we continually worship imperfectly. Jesus Christ is the only Worship Leader. He worships for us. Similarly to how we pray, we worship the father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our great God is why we worship, how we worship, and who we worship. Apart from Him we are dead and we have no worship. He has graciously gifted us a pardon from sin, eternal life, and the ability to worship Him. Key Verse: Romans 12:1: "I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

I was born in a Christian household, but I was a troublemaker as a kid. When I was a teenager, I always thought I would get baptized. But I was in 8th grade when I started looking at porn. Then during high school, that’s when I started smoking and doing drugs and being depressed. Whenever I went to church I would see my friends and see them so happy and I would think to myself saying why don't I feel like that, and I would just hate myself for it. During Eastern Camp in 2021 on the last night, I heard Dylan’s testimony and thought, I’m not the only one that’s dealing with this. I started crying, and then Fred Weinhardt was sitting behind me and asked if I wanted to talk. I said yes, and I just confessed all my sins to him. And felt the Holy Spirit to start confessing my sins and the Holy Spirit was working with Fred Weinhardt to come up and talk to me. After camp I asked Thomas Nitz if he could start counseling me. Counseling with Thomas Nitz it was on and off for a while because I would keep on sinning and I would tell myself that I wasn’t good enough to keep on counseling. But after a couple of years, Stephen asked me during camp to come to Legacy with him. At first I said no, but then my family convinced me to go. During the first month of Legacy, I decided I wanted to get baptized here in Wooster. When I realized I wanted to get baptized, I felt the Holy Spirit working in me, and I felt that I didn’t need to sin anymore. And after that day, I haven’t done any drugs, smoking, and I haven’t looked at porn or felt depressed with myself; I feel the peace of God in me.

God will make a way when there seems to be no way… What an awesome song, right? I raise my voice and turn the volume up every time when I hear this one. It makes me happy and gives me new hope. But what I don’t like is to actually be in situations like this, where I don’t see the outcome, where I don’t know what is going to happen next, when it feels like I am totally left in the dark, or where I simply don’t even see a way out. A lot of question marks are buzzing around in my head. One of the biggest question marks right now: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER LEGACY? I have desires, dreams, ideas but also fears. But how can I know what is right? How can I know what God wants for me? Is it only my dream or did God put certain desires in my heart? Maybe we all can imagine that in situations like this we are confused after a time. So was I. The last few days and even weeks I struggled with doubts, with confusion, some sleepless looooong nights and a lot of prayers that ended in tears. Starting everyday with reading in psalms and proverbs and sing and worship and to study the bible with loved ones gave me strength. One day, after a long sleepless night and deep prayer I got a few answers from God: “Trust in the Lord completely. Do not think that you understand things well enough for yourself. Whatever you are doing, remember that the Lord is with you. Then he will show you the right way to go.” Proverbs 3:5-6 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” Psalms 37:4-5 “Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray to God about everything. Ask him to help you with the things that you need. And thank him for his help. If you do that, God will give you peace in your minds. That peace is so great that nobody can completely understand it. You will not worry or be afraid, because you belong to Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 … and of course my favorite song right now: God will make a way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see He will make a way for me He will be my guide Hold me closely to his side With love and strength for each new day He will make a way. So God already answered. He cares. He also placed me here where I am surrounded by loving people, who have opened ears and hearts for me, who are praying with me aloud, whether only with one or two good friends, or my mentor, or even in a prayer meeting in church. He gave me a few very helpful conversations. I definitely feel the Love and that God cares and is working “behind the scenes.” Did I already receive my answer(s)? No! Do I still have question marks in my head? Yes! But what I definitely learned and what God showed me the last few days: Not to look at my circumstances, not to focus on my situation, BUT to look and focus on Jesus, NO MATTER WHAT. And believe in HIS almighty power. Because when I focus on my circumstances or on my question marks, then after a time I get depressed and confused and disappointed. But when I look at Jesus and his word and his promises I get hope and strength and I can be very sure that a solution, a way will come. Yes, it is easier to say and write it down than to actually put it into reality. I pray that I can be opened for His will, for the way, he is gonna make for me. Because sometimes it is something different He wants for us: “The Lord says, ‘Remember! My thoughts are not the same as your thoughts. The way that you do things is not the same as the way that I do things. The sky is far higher than the earth. In the same way, I do things in a much better way than you do. Also, my thoughts are much higher than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9 He will make a way.

The past four months of my life have been riddled with ever-changing environments. From my family home in Serbia, to Florida in a house setting with four little boys to a house with five pet cats and then finally to Ohio and the long anticipated, “Legacy Bible Institute.” Am I going to just hit the ground running, will I fit in? Who will be there? Will I have neat roommates? All these thoughts were running through my mind as we drove into the driveway of my new “home” for the next six months. In retrospect, all those questions were valid, but when I examine their motives, I find them selfish and self-centered. It was all about me and how others would view me, but I ended up experiencing the biggest blessings and lessons through situations where I did not fit in or feel comfortable. I am not saying it is wrong to be alert and prepared for new situations in life, but this is something I feel God has been teaching me this past month. Integrating into a completely unfamiliar environment that has already been running without you for a while can be intimidating. The comfort in all of this is that the world could go on just fine without me. I do not need to be the main character in every story. Filling in the gaps of a well-integrated group of people has been an amazing experience for me. Learning to fit in with my roommates, paying attention to their needs and preferences has been a process of dying to myself and my desires daily. Who would have known that denying yourself something you thought you needed would bring you to something you never knew you wanted. A small funny example of that is that now I airdry all my laundry and enjoy the scent of my clothes much more. When I first came the drying racks annoyed me and the concept of airdrying when we had a dryer just one room over seemed absurd to me. It is also a subtle way I was able to show them that I accept their culture, which draws me closer to them. It can be the smallest change you are willing to make that will teach you the most surprising things. My time away from home has also caused me to trust in God more concerning situations back home that I cannot impact in any other way other than through prayer. I am learning what it means to truly cast my cares on Him. Christ is my confidant and friend but above all Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

“Hear my prayer, LORD, Listen to my pleadings! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in your righteousness!” Psalm 143:1 

When I get back home, I will take a couple days off and then start to work for my Dad again. I will be working on smart houses at the warehouse where we work. And, hopefully, I can travel with my dad when he goes to different countries for work, such as helping him when he goes on mission trips to Africa. I want to tell friends how good Legacy was and hopefully some people will be called to do a year at Legacy. I also want to travel and spread the love of Jesus to those that have never seen God's love. I would like to join a youth group committee to help out with the church. When I go back to the church, I would like to become a member of my church back home. I would also try to talk about the bible to my friends that are not Christians and also my brother that doesn’t have Jesus in his life. And I want to keep on studying the bible when I get back home and not fall back into bad habits.