Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Learning to Let Go (part 1)
Growing up as the youngest boy amongst me brother, relatives and neighborhood kids, I was forced to learn how to do things quickly otherwise I'd be left behind. I didn't enjoy games such as tag/chase because I was the slowest and if I got tagged then it would most likely remain that way until someone felt sorry for me or I quit. If we played hide-n-seek, my survival dependent on a good hiding spot because I couldn't rely on my speed to take me to the safety of base. There were many times when the game would be over and I would still be left in my hiding spot, punks...training wheels were not an option for me, those extra plastic wheels only slowed me down on my bicycle, therefore it was push and crash until I succeeded...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Standing through the Gauntlet
3Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4[Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
5Who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God's power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.
6[You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations,
7So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
rebirth
Do people blog because they have really interesting lives or just a really interesting way of wording mundane events to sound enjoyable?
I mean honestly, I read some people's blogs who write everyday I'm really impressed by the amount of excitement they have from day to day. and do they have a lot of time to 'blog' or are they just that talented and the writing comes natural, and what exactly is the point of blogging? Is it to relay what goes on in our life or to express views, thoughts and pictures? ... it has been a really long time since I have written a blog so you'd think that mixed with the intensity of the past two years, I'd have tons to write about. I do actually, but I just don't know where to start. So how about with something simple, through my eyes...
I don't prefer to be stuck in an office all day and so I use my breaks as a means to escape outside any chance I get. I use this time to walk around the building where the concrete meets the "gardening" (not elegant by any means) clear my head and think. However, everyday my eyes are drawn down to squirming earthworms who have broke their way through the dirt and have now found themselves trapped on the pavement. Little do they know (since they have no eyes) that hundreds of their comrades have made this same error before them and are now fried and left decomposing from the day before.
Usually, I'll look, think dumb worms, step over and ignore them. But on one occasion I felt this small tug on my heart/conviction to pick one up and rescue it. Now let me preface, I am not a worm lover at any rate and it's not like I was losing sleep over these dying worms, but lately I've been working on being more sensitive to the Spirit and what God is trying to ask of me. So as I step over and try to ignore, I stop in my tracks and am reminded of "today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart"... so I utter something to myself, bend over pick up the slimy thing, who goes crazy as if I'm trying to hurt it, and throw it back into the shrubbery stuff. So this starts an inner dialogue between me and God. Thinking: what was the point of that? There are still a hundred or so still out baking in the sun and who's to say the same one that I saved won't be out here again tomorrow? It's pointless I thought, I can't save them all. The only thing that would save them is if I could become a worm myself, relay the message that when you are digging and then stop feeling earth around you, turn around and go back...and then it hit me.
God looked at me, you, us, flailing about in a fallen world, blind, certain to die and knew the only way to save us was to become like us, with us, teach us, show us how to live and then die in my place so that I could be spared. So in His infinite love and mercy He sent His son Jesus, to walk in my shoes, to see what we see and to become light in darkness to reconcile what was broken to Himself at the cross. So Now for the ones who have been enlightened, He has commissioned us, entrusted us, to take this same message, the gospel, to those headed for the concrete.
Now try to grasp this. The God of the universe, who created EVERYTHING, knows every small detail down to why atoms bond together how they interact to hold things together, to how proteins are formed inside our body so that we survive. He knows everyone who has ever lived and who will be born...this same God, a mighty King, humbled himself, stepped off His throne to such a low state that He was born in a manger, ridiculed, despised and rejected throughout His life and eventually died a thief/murderers death while remaining silent. And He did this for me. For you. There is no greater love than this... Now I don't know the equivalent of that...but surely that's worse than you or I becoming a worm?
I mean honestly, I read some people's blogs who write everyday I'm really impressed by the amount of excitement they have from day to day. and do they have a lot of time to 'blog' or are they just that talented and the writing comes natural, and what exactly is the point of blogging? Is it to relay what goes on in our life or to express views, thoughts and pictures? ... it has been a really long time since I have written a blog so you'd think that mixed with the intensity of the past two years, I'd have tons to write about. I do actually, but I just don't know where to start. So how about with something simple, through my eyes...
I don't prefer to be stuck in an office all day and so I use my breaks as a means to escape outside any chance I get. I use this time to walk around the building where the concrete meets the "gardening" (not elegant by any means) clear my head and think. However, everyday my eyes are drawn down to squirming earthworms who have broke their way through the dirt and have now found themselves trapped on the pavement. Little do they know (since they have no eyes) that hundreds of their comrades have made this same error before them and are now fried and left decomposing from the day before.
Usually, I'll look, think dumb worms, step over and ignore them. But on one occasion I felt this small tug on my heart/conviction to pick one up and rescue it. Now let me preface, I am not a worm lover at any rate and it's not like I was losing sleep over these dying worms, but lately I've been working on being more sensitive to the Spirit and what God is trying to ask of me. So as I step over and try to ignore, I stop in my tracks and am reminded of "today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart"... so I utter something to myself, bend over pick up the slimy thing, who goes crazy as if I'm trying to hurt it, and throw it back into the shrubbery stuff. So this starts an inner dialogue between me and God. Thinking: what was the point of that? There are still a hundred or so still out baking in the sun and who's to say the same one that I saved won't be out here again tomorrow? It's pointless I thought, I can't save them all. The only thing that would save them is if I could become a worm myself, relay the message that when you are digging and then stop feeling earth around you, turn around and go back...and then it hit me.
God looked at me, you, us, flailing about in a fallen world, blind, certain to die and knew the only way to save us was to become like us, with us, teach us, show us how to live and then die in my place so that I could be spared. So in His infinite love and mercy He sent His son Jesus, to walk in my shoes, to see what we see and to become light in darkness to reconcile what was broken to Himself at the cross. So Now for the ones who have been enlightened, He has commissioned us, entrusted us, to take this same message, the gospel, to those headed for the concrete.
Now try to grasp this. The God of the universe, who created EVERYTHING, knows every small detail down to why atoms bond together how they interact to hold things together, to how proteins are formed inside our body so that we survive. He knows everyone who has ever lived and who will be born...this same God, a mighty King, humbled himself, stepped off His throne to such a low state that He was born in a manger, ridiculed, despised and rejected throughout His life and eventually died a thief/murderers death while remaining silent. And He did this for me. For you. There is no greater love than this... Now I don't know the equivalent of that...but surely that's worse than you or I becoming a worm?
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