Author Archives: Jordan Bolte

I hear people say this phrase or something similar all the time. It usually bothers me because I wonder what the heck it even means. Recently, God has been showing me what it means. I spent two weeks at Covecrest to be able to spend some time observing the way camp is run there. Although the purpose for me being there was camp related, God used my time in Georgia for a purpose far greater than just camp. It’s a really long story, but I will try to give you a brief summary. While I was in Georgia,

Although it was two weeks ago, I keep referring back to the retreat we led in Flagstaff because a lot stood out to me from that weekend. I think our entire community would agree that in many ways that retreat was just as much for ourselves as it was for the teens. From the very beginning as we were praying through the different sessions, it seemed clear that each part of the retreat called each of us deeper into the lifestyle we are currently living. One of the sessions was titled, “Washing of

Last weekend on our retreat in Flagstaff, we were encouraging the teens to get involved in their community, particularly at the parish. So as a part of our retreat, we went to the church Sunday morning to give out coffee and donuts after the early mass and greet those coming to the next mass. It just so happened that it was the weekend the parish had designated to welcome and recognize new families in the parish. I was assigned to the table that had a big banner over it, saying “New Families.”

It is easy for me to live into the season of Lent. I can give things up, fast, and make sacrifices. For all of Lent we focus on the suffering and the crucifixion. And then Easter comes. We celebrate Christ’s resurrection and then move on. At least that is how it has always been for me. I have always focused on Lent and then Easter lasts a day. The problem with this is that I have been missing out on a lot of celebration time because in our Church the Easter season actually lasts seven weeks. This

Yesterday I was reading about the call of Matthew in Matthew 9:9- As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. As I reflected on this verse, I wondered what was going through Matthew’s mind. I have heard this many times before, and it always strikes me how Matthew follows Jesus so easily. Once again I was struck by the simplicity of the event. Jesus says, “Follow me,” and Matthew immediately

During morning prayer recently, we read the following from Romans 8:10: “If Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, while the spirit lives because of justice.” While it was being read aloud, I only heard the first part: “If Christ is in you the body is dead.” Then I stopped listening. I heard that first part, and immediately my mind was all over the place. How is your body dead if Christ is in you? I didn’t understand what it was trying to say. It didn’t make sense to me. I

At the beginning of the year, blogging was so easy for me. I was overwhelmed with so much I wanted to share that I had difficulty in finding the time to share all of it. It seemed as if multiple times a week that Lord was speaking something profound, in a small or large way, to my heart. But recently, it has been different. I haven’t been sharing as much because I just don’t know what to say. I get frustrated that I have nothing to post, as my life seems busy and should be full of thoughts to

This past weekend, the Mesa missionaries were in California for the LA Congress. I was blessed with many wonderful conversations and encounters throughout the course of the weekend, but one specific encounter really stood out to me. At the end of Saturday, we were getting ready to leave to get dinner. It had been a long day, and we were all tired and hungry. We were heading towards the car, but I needed to meet up with one of the staff members before we parted ways for the evening. I could tell the

I have mentioned many times before that God has continued to speak to me through consistent themes. This past week, the same exact message stood out to me twice during our morning prayer. The following is from Psalm 51: For a sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn. In Daniel 3:39-40, it says: But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; as though it were holocausts of

This past weekend, the entire Life Teen staff went to Camp Covecrest in Tiger, Georgia for our staff retreat. I will admit that when the retreat began on Friday night, I felt like I wasn’t completely open to what the weekend may have in store for me. It was only a week after coming off of our silent retreat, and we were going to be seeing all of the other missionaries who I was with for the first month of this mission year. Honestly, in my mind, I hadn’t been thinking about retreat. I had been