What if I did not have Jesus?

This is a scary thought. On my blog I try to be as real as possible because I consider all the people who read this as friends and we are all in this together. I enjoy conversations with people who like to get real about life so call me anytime I will gladly buy you an americano (or any other coffee drink) and we can learn from each other. With that said, I was journaling the other day and I titled my entry "What if I did not have Jesus?" Because last week I was feeling very "human" for lack of a better term. I had a week where I desired things: I wanted to spend money, eat a ton of food, spent a ton of time on facebook, and essentially find my happiness for the week in "human things" rather than set my identity in Jesus. And when you look at it... money, food, friends, fishing, clothes, facebook, and all that are not bad things. Yet they were all things that distracted me last week from the gospel of Jesus. Even though I was in the word daily, I was very distracted and felt restless. This is essentially sin being a part of my life, and I use the word feeling "human" because sin is human nature. As you have heard me say in Young Life talks there is SIN which is the disease we have as humans, and then SINS which are the symptoms of the disease. Notice the difference? Since sin is human nature there is NOTHING I can do about it, I will always have sin, and always sin. Saturday morning I got so tired of being a sinner, it just weighs on you. In turn, that made me so thankful for Jesus! I can't do anything about sin, but a person who loves you and me A WHOLE LOT can do a lot about sin. He actually defeated sin for you and me, so death where is your sting? 2 Cor 5:21 "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Guess what, we are all in the righteousness of God because of  belief in Jesus. And because of this sin does not have to weigh us down. I still listen to River West sermons on pod cast, because it is the best church that has ever existed, period, and I miss it so much, however, Guy Gray said last week as he was talking about Revelation 1 "No matter how hard things are, or get, always begin with Jesus, BEGIN with Jesus, with Him you have a triumphant chorus of Christ ringing in the ears of your heart and mind because you have the truth of the gospel." What is the soundtrack playing in your life right now? Mine is the song "Kids" by MGMT. You need Jesus, no matter who you, if your older than me, smarter than me, whatever, as you are reading this, no matter where you are with Christ, stop and think about your life, think about it this holiday season as we slow down and celebrate Thanksgiving this week. Stop to see how you need Jesus in your life to take away the weight of sin. He takes it away and its a miracle going on right before your eyes in YOUR life, do you believe in miracles? What if we did not have Jesus? Where would there be hope then? I finished my journal entry with this "My sin was why he took the punches and spit in the face, why he accepted the mocking and the crown of thorns, why he carried a tree up a hill as he was half dead, to be nailed to that tree within the hour to die an unfathomably painful death for me, Andy Gadach, and you the awesome blog reader."My sin is the nails that held him on the cross, and now I am free from the weight. That's the truth of the gospel in my life, that's why I celebrate the weight of sin GONE!


A lot has happened since I last posted in early November. The office is fully revamped and it is really slammin' now! Its painted green, has a huge white board, and a really cool log cabin themed rug that I enjoy thoroughly. The last 2 Mondays "the tent" YL club has averaged 70 kiddos to join the fun, skits, a sharing of the gospel, and pies in the face. I finally received my Washington drivers license, 3rd time is the charm, booyah grandma. The ducks are still #1 in the country. I had the amazing and humbling privilege to baptize Ashtyn Fewel at George Rogers Park on the Willamette River in Oregon on Sunday Nov 7th. Then that night I booked it to Seattle to meet up with David Rosser and his Kennedy crew to serve at operation night watch where we whipped up turkey/chicken spaghetti for the homeless people and it was great to see them get a square meal, joke about how bad the Seahawks are, and talk about Jesus. My homie Andrew Salter from Arizona called me randomly and was in Seattle and needed a place to stay for 3 nights as he was finishing up his American promo tour of the ski/snowboard/skateboard film premiere "Look on the bright side" by Velourz. They are a Canadian clothing company who support fun, wildness, and outdoor adventure, all while wearing quality action clothing on the streets, in the mountains, and to Fred Meyer, or whatever you do every day. Salt (short for Salter) and I had a GREAT time and it was a blessing having him as a roomie for 3 days. We non-stop talked about Jesus, our lives, snow sports, adventures, and our dreams for future ministry! Plus your friend and mine Garrison Petrie has a snowboard video that I showed Salt and Velourz is interested in having Garrison as an American representative rider as they try and promote their clothing line down the west coast in America. Gary would be a sweet rep for the brand! We also set up an 8 foot projector in my tiny loft and watched hours and hours of skimboard, snowboard, ski, and skate videos while eating M&M's and grilled cheese with our buddies Evan and Conor. 

To top off the week I took a solitude day over on the Methow River on Thursday and Friday and stayed at Katie Blincoes cabin by myself. Didn't catch a steelhead, yet had a blast trying, and mainly enjoyed my time with Jesus, the beautiful country surrounding the Methow (it looks like Montana, really!), and chillen at the cabin in front of the wood stove eating stir fry. 

What if I did not have Jesus? My life would look vastly different, and as Jesus says in John 10:10 it would not be "life and life to the full." This adventure I am on is all about and for Jesus, and its not just an external adventure in Seattle on YL staff, it is an internal adventure as Andy Gadach.

Blessings, thanks for reading! Happy Thanksgiving! If you want to know what thanksgiving is really about, read this...

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimsteinfeld           
     

An Eventful Week

Praise Jesus for an eventful week in His kingdom, on the river, and in Los Angeles...

In His kingdom- Highline/Tukwila Young Life officially has an office as of today at Lake Burien Presbyterian Church. However, I am still working today and possibly most of this week at coffee shops because we have to get the office ready for operation with paint, white board, pictures, desk, filing system, etc. I am confident that Jesus has blessed us with this relationship with LBPC to work shoulder to shoulder together for the advancement of the gospel in our community. Scripture speaks to relationships like we are developing in Mark 9:38-41. This partnership will continue the momentum in starting a new ministry in this community...Sylvester WyldLife...gotta love it! Last week Foster YL had club Monday night with about 44 kids there in the Montoya's living room. That room holds about 25, so it was packed! For the Halloween festivities all the kids dressed in "western theme" and David sent me a video of the entire club doing the "Cupid Shuffle" in the living room, now that's Young Life at its finest! Wednesday night Kale held Lancer Life at Kennedy High School and we all carved pumpkins and sang blue grass music. I would say unofficially there were about 35 kiddos there to hear Kale share his heart about Jesus guiding us through tough times. He helped all the kids realize that if you think you are the only one going through a tough time, or have had a loss in your life, look around, everyone has their hand raised.  Great job Kale, what a great way to show kids how to relate with one another.

Collin Gilbert shared this wonderful Oswald Chambers devo with me the other day, thanks Collin!
http://www.myutmost.org/10/1030.html

Then David Montoya shared this devo with me yesterday and I read it while I was getting on the Satsop river to Salmon fish with Pat Farmer.
http://www.devotions.net/devotions/10october/31.htm

On the river-Thursday and Friday Keith Dow, Brian Boucher, and I stayed at our friends house in Roslyn, Washington. We floated the Yakima river fly fishing for trout. It was slow, yet Keith and Brian hooked a few good fish on a blue winged olive hatch in late afternoon. The next day Brian left so Keith and I explored the river by driving and hiking sections of the river. That day I caught 1 trout on a bwo nymph pattern. Slow, slow, slow. So on Saturday I was not pleased with the fishing (yet the trip was soooo fun, we had great fellowship, and ate lots of great food!) so I talked to Pat Farmer who lives down in Hoquiam and Sunday we decided to float the Satsop river. I caught my first chum Salmon and learned a lot from Pat about fishing in the state of Washington. He is very experienced in Salmon/Steelhead fishing. We had a blast tiring out our arms on those chum, though it would have been nice to take home some silvers, but they were not in.

In Los Angeles- On Saturday the Oregon Ducks went down to USC and beat them 53-32, I watched the game with my homie up in Redmond Andy Freeman. The following day (Halloween, yet no hoax) The Ducks were ranked #1 in the BCS for the first time in school history. This Saturday the Ducks play the Huskies at Autzen and my Dad and I will be there! Sunday in Lake Oswego at 1:00 pm at Dale Haas' house we are doing a lunch, so feel free to come by! All are welcome.

If your still reading ill give you a dollar, so thanks! I am now 0-2 on trips to the DMV to get a new Washington Drivers License. Last week I drove 20 minutes there and realized they only take checks or cash, and today I drove there 20 minutes again, to find out they are closed on Mondays. Hmmm...perhaps I should check this stuff before driving 20 minutes. Third time is the charm ;)

Tight Lines and thanks for praying and caring -Andy-

I was tricking you about the dollar, happy belated halloween...bleeehhh!!!