The Tree Chronicles of Woody

What were the most significant things in your life this year? How did they shape you?

Awaken 2013 – The Spring Break mission trip tested my endurance, patience, and perseverance. I went on this trip as a first-timer and had an entire different experience than the norm. I played drums for the worship band every morning and every evening rehearsal after outreaches. Also, I served by producing humor videos and taking shots for the Awaken Recap video. Last but not least, I met my girlfriend, Lauren, during that trip! I went deeper in servanthood and realized more that serving the body is just as important as doing outreaches. My role in the body of Christ is significant and needed. I also grew in my serving capacity and learned to rely on Jesus for more of His strength.

Playing for Antioch’s Worship Band – I improved my musicianship big time by playing with this band. My time with this band is priceless and something that I absolutely cherish. Not just playing for the college ministry was fun, but I enjoyed and felt growth when I played in the Sunday services. The biggest thing that I learned was “Less is more.” Also, I got to help create some drum tracks for this year’s album “Our God Comes.” That was quite an honor.

Impact Trip in Turkey – Probably one of the most humbling experiences and trips in my life. Being a leader on this trip was a privilege and an honor. Even though I didn’t get to spend tons of time with the team, my travel experience for video shoots was spectacular. I learned to embrace patience throughout this trip. Things weren’t immediate or instant. We had to wait on the Lord many times for him to reveal direction. Engaging God with the brothers on the trip each morning was a wonderful lifestyle to gain. The world definitely became smaller for me after this trip and my horizons were widened. Learning to be confident in my beliefs was challenging amongst the millions of Muslims. I really felt like my team and I were the light in the darkness. It wasn’t easy to just go out and share the Gospel. It took sensitivity and wisdom. I learned that my time was precious as well. Each day someone is dying not knowing the true Gospel. My heart was broken for the lost, especially for my parents during this trip. I do admit that my lifestyle has gone back to the comfortable ways after being in America for more than 6 months. I hope to have an outward focus more and increase my hospitality skills as well.

World Mandate 2013 – What a pretty awesome conference that I got to be a part of. I have to admit, to perform in The Rave performance of World Mandate was pretty epic. I was nervous as heck when I got up there, but it was super cool to be involved. I ran around a lot though, taking tons of video footage for the promo videos and recaps. It was truly an honor to be on staff for World Mandate. Something that I will never trade.

Cultivating a love relationship – 2013 is probably one of the best years of my life in its weirdest ways. Pursuing a godly woman for the first time in my life was and is challenging. Each day I have to learn to love unconditionally and choose to forgive this special woman for any wrongdoings. Through the ups and downs and heart tearing/breaking moments, I am learning to love, serve, honor, and respect like Jesus Christ. When I told myself, “I’m going for it,” I wasn’t going to jump into this relationship half-heartedly. I am fully committed from beginning to end. I have been shaped to be more like Jesus through this relationship so far. Also, she has taught me more about embracing the small things in life, whether it be five minutes of face time with one another over coffee or getting chocolate or frozen yogurt for her when she had tons of studying to do. I look back now and realize, wow, the small things that you do for a person can truly affect them for the better. So people and young adults, be glad to serve someone in small ways; it can be dishwashing, taking the trash out, cleaning the table, etc. You don’t need people’s approval or recognition; God sees it all. That counts the most. I don’t need to make a list of things that I have done for my girlfriend in order for me to feel like I’ve done something for her. She knows and appreciates them all. Find a significant other who can do the same. I could serve this woman for the rest of my life and feel secure and confident. There may be a lot of you out there who have scars and wounded hearts from relationships. All I have to say is choose forgiveness if you want healing. My girlfriend and I still don’t have it all down still and we won’t for a long time. You have to be willing to work it out and learn to forgive because that is true love. God didn’t send his one and only begotten son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could choose to bicker and hold grudges towards others, but to love and forgive. She and I have chosen to believe that we are imperfect people who are trying to work things out for the best. We have committed to support and encourage each other in our hardships and stresses. My life has truly been transformed by her and can’t wait for deeper intimacy. The one thing that I really look forward to within this relationship: eating together at restaurants we have never been to. It’s our thing.

Dear Bloggers, Please join me in fighting human trafficking by saying no to pornography. What does pornography have to do with sex trafficking? Many women and children who are sexually exploited are being used for the production of pornography and suffer extreme abuse. In fact, according to Shared Hope International, pornography is the primary gateway for sex trafficking. After hearing about some new anti-pornography efforts in the U.K., my church's anti-trafficking ministry, UnBound, started a campaign to urge the U.S. government to tighten restrictions on Internet pornography. We’re doing this through the “Your No Is Her Hope” petition. The petition asks the federal government to put laws into place requiring Internet providers to automatically block pornographic websites. If households want access to the sites, they can request the block be removed by their Internet service provider. Most harmful addictions in our country (alcohol, gambling, smoking) are highly regulated. These laws would put regulations in place to protect people being victimized by this harmful addiction. Our goal is to have 10,000 signatures by October 16. Help us achieve this goal by simply: 1. Signing the petition at http://antio.ch/no4hope  2. Forwarding this to people who may be interested. 3. Sharing it from your social media platform(s). To find out more about the petition, access more resources and read the statistics, visit: http://antio.ch/herhope. Thank you so much! Unbound Team

Let me just start out saying that my junior year so far at Baylor has been a wreck. It has been extremely challenging; there has been lots of trials already. It feels as if I am in a desert constantly trying to search for the Living Water through the heat and sand storms. I just can't wait to be done with this season of my life.

So far, I have been feeling emotional pain that I haven't dealt with in years. Relationships are tough sometimes, and it is one of those big trials that I am having to face. I won't go into detail but let's just say that I have been mourning and crying for the past two days. I have poured my heart out and everything that I have to a woman in my life and when it is not being reciprocated in the same manner because of the past, it is painful. My pride has been shattered. But I realized that it hurts so much because I have given everything to her. If I had not been fully committed to this relationship and to this woman of my life, it would not hurt as much. True love is giving and sacrificing yourself for your significant other. Still to this very moment, I want to walk with her and pray for her and about our relationship. It's a time of challenge, not a time to give up. Through this season of life, I hope that I learn to persevere and endure better than I ever have before in my life. God allows these times to stretch our capacity and build our character and conform us more into His image. He is worth pursuing every day. My girlfriend is worth pursuing every day and every moment that I have with her. The vision of our relationship has been:

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful."

I have been called to forgive and love. Not to make someone else feel more broken or upset. 

A revelation that I am constantly thinking about is that this is exactly how God feels with thousands or millions of people when they turn against him or do not acknowledge Him. He deals with this every single day. When I choose to disobey Him with whatever, He feels sad for me because He wants the best for me. Thank you Lord that I am not God! Haha. He wants to communicate with us every day. He loves each and everyone of us for who we are, not what we do because we love God for who He is, not what He does! This brokenness and sadness that I am experiencing is for character growth and bringing my girlfriend and me closer. Only through Christ will she and I overcome this pain and struggles. Relationships are not always pretty and romantic as people wish them to be. 

But I am still trying to be thankful for everything that I have in my life. I am glad to have a bed to sleep on with a roof over my head. I get to access food whenever I want to. I don't live with the thoughts of figuring out where I would sleep the next night or who I could ask to help me with my life. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only son, who was crucified, dead, and buried and suffered for us all so that we may have a better and eternal life. 

As I finish this post, I would like to invite any believers out there to pray with me about my relationship and my girlfriend who needs breakthrough in fixating her heart. We cannot do this on our own but through Christ and His people. Please pray with us so that we will see breakthrough and freedom.

Here is a promo video that I just made using last year's footage from this event. Please check out helpinghandsbc.tumblr.com for more info!

Mr. & Mrs. Caleb Dameron

To my friends and family,

Thank you so much for supporting me through prayer and financially and giving me the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Turkey that transformed my life!

Turkey is such a beautiful country and interacting with the Turks was an amazing experience. We spent most of our time in a city called Eskisehir, which is east of Istanbul. Robert Fuller on our team helped us plan most of our days since he was a former missionary in Istanbul and Eskisehir eleven years ago. Eskisehir is known for having many young adults and college students because of the two large universities in the city. We had many opportunities on sharing the Gospel and planted many seeds there. Even though we did not see any salvations, the trip transformed all of us. Regardless of the hardships, we finished the trip strong and were encouraged by Turkey.

One of my favorite moments from the trip was when Robert Fuller and I got to stay with a Turkish family one night. Robert and I traveled for a week in Turkey shooting video footage for the church and World Mandate, which is the missions conference that Antioch Community Church hosts in Waco, Texas. At the end of the week of our video shoots, Robert had the opportunity reconnect with a friend he led to Jesus Christ eleven years ago when he used to live in Turkey. His friend, Babur, took us to our hotel when we arrived in Antalya and invited us to stay with him and his family for one night. Staying with a Turkish family allowed me to experience a new culture and family lifestyle. Robert and I got to present the Gospel to Babur’s family that night, and we felt so much peace at that home. I got to truly experience a whole new level of hospitality and would have loved to stay with that family for a whole week if possible. Many Turks are welcoming and inviting. I was invited to two Turkish weddings, a birthday party, and a family dinner as well.

This trip transformed my life in several ways, but the most significant thing that changed was my perspective of the Gospel and our personal testimonies. The Gospel is what sets people free and is one of the most powerful stories we can share with people. Our testimonies carry so much power and hope for the lost as well. When I shared my testimony with the Turks, their hearts were captured by the testimony more than the presentation of the Gospel. Even with the language barrier, I tried my best on sharing the Gospel with the Turks even if I had to play charades with them for an hour. I realized that having a common language is extremely important and now that I am back in the States, I can easily share the Gospel and my testimony to others. My goal is that I would continue to have an outward focus on the people of God wherever I go. Every single person has been created in the image of Christ, and each person has something to offer about the character of God for me to learn about.

I cannot thank you enough for supporting me. I am truly thankful for you. Please join with me in praying for the nations. They need Jesus as much as we do everyday. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Blessings, Chris Han

A lot has happened since I last posted. I post with this date in the title because it marks a very special day in my life. Something that could last forever started officially on this day.

First, I would like to just start off with thanksgiving to the Lord. He has truly led me through this whole process that I am about to share. I don’t know where I would be without our relationship. He has truly spoken to me and I am so thankful for all of the signs He has given me. His timing and plans are so much greater than mine. I am so blessed that the scriptures say, “my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

When I came back from my mission/retreat trip after Spring Break in March, I became very interested in a lady who I met for the first time during this trip. We were able to share a lot about our lives with each other during the trip and something sparked in my heart for this girl. I had been struggling so much for 9 years with lust and temptation as a guy, and I was afraid that my emotions were taking over. I was afraid that I would come back from this trip just having a crush on this girl and it would only last for couple of weeks. Well as soon as we came back from the trip, I went to my apartment and laid in my bed just thinking to myself, “What am I going to do now? God, am I truly feeling something different this time or is it just going to be one of those retreat crushes again?” I decided to pray and worship for a while to calm my heart. I sought the Lord that weekend asking for signs, dreams, visions, and scriptures. I didn’t want to pursue this girl without God’s hand over it. I wanted to obey the almighty King of Kings before my thoughts and emotions. The wonderful thing is that when I came back from the trip, I felt so much freedom in purity. I didn’t want to even think about other girls and didn’t care about the dumb temptations that men face all the time these days. I was truly attracted to this girl’s heart and character more than anything else. My shallowness of girls was broken off of me for once!

As the following school week came around, I had some dreams of her name written somewhere consistently for 3 nights in a row. Then I decided to ask the Lord to give me an opportunity to meet this girl’s family some how. Next thing you know when I see her on campus for the first time on the following Monday of spring break, she tells me that her mom and sister are visiting Wednesday to visit church and her. I was now blown away by God and His plans. I am now in awe of the Lord. Then I meet her mom and sister at church that Wednesday and briefly spoke with them. Her sister decided to stay for a week and a half till Easter Sunday.

During Thursday morning as I was spending time with the Lord, I kept reading scriptures that had the word “servant” or “servanthood” and felt like God was calling me to a place to truly serve a woman to the fullest. My time has come to serve and lay my life down for a woman. Usually my Thursday’s this semester is filled with discipleship sessions, so I brought up my pursuit for this girl to 10 brothers that day as I went to each discipleship sessions. They all asked me very deep questions and blessed me and said they were all for me. Praise the Lord! I felt confident now to pursue her but I wanted to make sure that God was truly calling me to this so I asked for more signs.

Friday of the same week, I meet her on campus and she tells me that she is thinking about going to some of the basketball games this weekend. I wasn’t thinking about going to those at all, but that afternoon, a brother calls me and asks if I want to go to the game with him and another brother. I said yes but had a huge feeling she and her sister would be there. I told the guys that I was going to hang out with them and that was my intention. As we are walking into the basketball game, I hear girls screaming my name from a distance and I turn around see her, her sister, and one of her roommates. Great. Now God was really pressing it on me. One of my brothers said, “Well there’s another sign for you” as he chuckled at the situation. We all sat together but I sat between the two guys because that’s what I had intended doing in the first place. I forgot to say this but around noon, I called this girl’s mentor/discipler who I’ve never met in my life to see if we could meet up sometime to talk about the girl and trying to see if this is the right season for her to be pursued. We scheduled for Saturday morning. Dun dun dun.

The next day, Saturday, I met up with the girl’s mentor to discuss about the girl and what my process has looked like. By the end of it, she was very honored that I had even wanted to talk with her even when she was a complete stranger to me and blessed me to pursue her disciple. Now this girl and I had a party to go to that evening. This party was a celebration of her section and my section merging together after the spring break trip. The college ministry at our church has 9 sections currently so we went from 10 to 9 that day because our sections were merging. At the merge party, we would talk to each other briefly but I did my best to limit my time and conversations with her so that it didn’t seem obvious to her. After the party, I really felt like I had to ask her out on our first date on Sunday after church or lunch.

Sunday rolls around and I decided to ask her out on our first date after lunch at Cane’s. She said, “Yes, I would love to!” Then that warm fuzzy feeling came and I felt so excited and joyful. We had our first date at a froyo place and talked for 2 hours or so intentionally trying to get to know one another.

Then we had couple more dates and by the end of this whole beginning process, we both agreed to be in a relationship and that this wasn't going to be a wasteful one. We would truly try to find out how compatible we are with one another and see if marriage is possible. It feels weird to say all of this at the age of 20. I still feel like I’m 19 but I’m old enough to get married now. It’s a weird feeling but this relationship has been the best one ever. I couldn’t have asked for someone better and let’s just say that I do feel like I’m truly in love with someone. I want to continue to pursue this girl for the rest of my days. She is worth it all.

If you are reading this and have been wondering, “What is her name?!” Here it is: Lauren G. I pray that our relationship will continue to be Christ centered and that is the only way it’s going to work. I present to you, my godly girlfriend.

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:12-17 (ESV)

These past couple of weeks have been so exciting for me and I am super blessed by God's faithfulness. Each and every day, He gives me another breath of life to live in His glory. But there was an extremely deep revelation and connection I had with Jesus couple days ago that shifted my paradigm in many degrees.

On Good Friday morning, I woke up at 7:30 AM in my bed back at home in Carrollton, TX and started off with just worshiping Jesus and praying with Him. As I thought about Good Friday and the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit came upon me, and I began to bawl before His feet for 15 minutes. I am so unworthy of God and this relationship with Him, yet He sent His one and only Son to die for all of our sins, gave us eternal life, and gave us the opportunity to have an intimate relationship with Him. Who am I to receive such a gift?! Why in the world would you sacrifice yourself for someone that you barely know?! It amazes me that God would do such a deed for us. On top of that, He provides everything that I need every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE! He has been giving me all that I need and just enough. I am just blown away by Him.

Recently, I have been given such a sweet opportunity to get to know someone better, and it has truly been an exciting, fun adventure. I have been praying for this opportunity for few years now and God has given that to me. The deep revelation I had that same morning was that God is willing to give one of His precious daughters to me for marriage and eternity. I am a sinful man, yet He is willing to trust me to protect, serve, and love one of His precious daughters?! I don't deserve this kind of opportunity yet He still gives and gives. Why would you not want to meet God face to face?! This kingdom logic makes no sense! And it doesn't have to. That's what makes Him God. I absolutely am so blown away by God and His faithfulness. Even all of the times I turned my back against Him, He is willing to still love on me and give me all that I need.

Instead of going back home to do tons of recordings for spring break, I went to Edinburg, Texas with the Antioch Community Church's College Ministry for a mission trip/retreat! This spring break trip was so worth it and it has been the best one so far! I wasn't expecting 600+ college students to be on this trip. I would go on this trip every spring break if I could! I saw so many people get transformed by God.

I got to witness tons of salvations on our outreaches and hear amazing testimonies of signs and wonders. This was my first time going on the trip and have always heard great things about the trip. Unfortunately, my first time experience on this trip was very different compared to the average first timer. I felt like I was on staff because I played drums every day on the trip and that includes 1.5 hours of rehearsal at night and in the morning and playing for about 2 hours during the morning sessions. Even though I got super exhausted at times, God was faithful in giving me strength every hour and letting me function to the fullest. I got to take part in a work service at a food bank for the first time and really enjoyed working with my section! I also had to shoot some videos and interviews during the trip so I missed out on a whole day with my section. I still enjoyed doing all of the services I was doing. I never knew I could do so much in a day! God truly stretched me to my limits and I was doing so much out of my weakness, yet He provided everything that I needed daily. I got to meet new people and get closer with them, and that was always fun. Also, I've been hungry and praying for more opportunities for me to hang out with the Antioch worship team since 2 years ago, and that truly happened on this trip. Spending hours and hours with them was so much fun and I want to do it every week if I could! It has opened new doors for me and I love the worship team wholeheartedly!

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8