"In God We Trust"

Someone recently asked me about this topic and I have decided to revise this because the way it was written before gave the reader the idea that we are "capable" of earning our way to salvation. This is not the case. Romans 9:32 states this:

^31-32It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over the stone that makes people stumble.

Here it is again in the NIV translation:

Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."

I'm sure most people are familiar with the "In God We Trust" writing on a US dollar bill, but have you seen this:

"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." I noticed this writing on a dollar bill this past Sunday as I waited for the collection plate to come around. If this bill is legal tender for all debts public and private of men, what is our tender to God? What do we use to repay Him? The answer is our actions. However keep in mind that salvation comes through faith, not through works! With that said part of being a Christian means we try to be like Christ, in every way. What do we owe to God, not in the monetary sense but in other forms. The first thing that comes to mind is that we owe Him our lives for sacrificing His only son to save us. I thought about the other things we owe Him for: His grace, guidance, love, compassion and understanding. The list kept growing in my head until I realized I was trying to answer the wrong question. The right question is what don't we owe to God. Without Him we would have nothing; we would not exist. We owe him everything we have for everything He has done for us.

I have had a rough time lately and started speaking with a family friend about the issues I was having. Her advice helped to push me to the next step in Christianity and my relationship with God. I was always thankful to have God in my life but I was still taking Him for granted. I had always prayed to God about the things going on in my life but I didn't feel truly connected to Him. This family friend told me about her methods of talking to God through prayer. Since then prayer feels much different to me, I feel connected and confident that He hears me. I see His answers much more clearly than before. I have started to question my life purpose--the choices I am making, and God has answered me a day at a time. It is reassuring to have Him at my side in a new way. His insight is just what I need in my life right now. I didn't understand what I was missing; I could never go back to the way things were before. I never really knew how lost I was until I was found. Going back to what we owe God and the question of what our tender to Him is, its hard to know what to do. How do I even start to repay my debts to Him? What could I possibly do to please Him? I have started to get a mental list together of these things and do them. No matter how much we do, we will never be able to earn our way to salvation but that isn't going to stop me from trying to be like Him in my actions.

Out on the Line.

I think there comes a time in everyone's lives where God tells them to put it all on the line for something they want. No matter how bleak a situation may be or how far gone a cause, THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE IN CHRIST! Its refreshing to know that when we place our life in Him, we cant go wrong. God will always show us the right path after we get used to listening.

As humans our vision is not right, we are blinded by our thoughts, feelings, and desires. Gods vision for our lives is perfect. He knows what is right and where we belong but he gives us free will to teach us lessons. If we were just handed all the answers to life, we would learn nothing and therefore screw up everything. Its rough at first like a kid learning to walk but if you give it patience it starts to come naturally. Listening to God becomes fluid and intuitive. Ask. Receive. Follow.

James

No, not the book of James, but a person I met. James approached me on the Plaza in Kansas city recently asking for change. He is homeless. James is an older African American man, gray hair and wrinkles around the eyes. His worn military jacket spoke of his past. I sat for a while and talked with him, gave him my spare change and asked him if he had a place to stay because it was pretty cold out. He told me that he knew of a warm place to rest and that he would be fine for the night. He thanked me for the change, said "God bless you", and we parted ways. A few weeks went by and I saw James again this time I found him sleeping behind a fast food restaurant because the vent on the building was blowing warm air out. It broke my heart to see him like this, I called his name out softly to see if he was awake, he responded and stood up. I reminded him of our first meeting and he remembered. I offered to buy him some food but he declined. He said he had ate, I left James and again he said "God bless you", I turned to him and said the same.

To see someone less fortunate than yourself set aside their problems to bless you is a humbling experience. I couldn't help but to sit down and cry for James, I wish there was more I could do for him, that people in general could have more compassion in life. Please keep people like James in your prayers.

HELP!

As humans we love and make promises to each other, but we can only begin to fulfill those promises with Gods help! There is no way to possibly do everything we planned in life without His guidance. This topic reminds me of a book by John Steinbeck, "Of Mice and Men". The reoccurring theme of this book was that as careful as we are and as detailed our plans for life may be, they are sometimes as futile as mice making plans. A simple gust of wind and they are gone. Only with Gods help are we able to truly accomplish our goals, hopes, and dreams. A friend of mine stated this theme well in a post of his own; "Prioritize the Presence". Tim says it well: " More can be accomplished in a nanosecond of prayer, worship, and listening to the voice of God than in a month's worth of strategy meetings." Tim is correct this is shown true to me also throughout my life in the past year. I take small breaks to ask for His assistance, forgiveness, advice, or to generally lift me up in life and it helps tremendously.

Many forget the importance of prayer. People become complacent or worse, use it to continually ask for forgiveness rather than changing their ways. I personally do ask for forgiveness in prayer as we should, but this does not mean that it is right for me to go on sinning. Part of our relationship with those around us is directly related to our relationship with God. There is a time and place for everything and when I look at those around me that I care about or pray for its no different. In the case of my family or friends and co-workers I want to talk to them about Christianity but the time must be right, so I pray for God to let me know when that time may be. When I am job hunting or making large decisions in life, I pray for reassurance.

The Pitfalls of Gambling.

I was at a casino recently because some friends wanted to meet there. I observed some of the people playing the slot machines and video poker. They seemed to be thoroughly out-of-it when it came to paying attention to anything but what was in front of them. You could say hi to some of them and they wouldn't flinch or even know you were next to them. It is sad to see so many people in this daze that is gambling. Its not healthy to sit by yourself and play video poker until early hours of the morning, never looking up from the screen. I hope that God can guide some of these people to realize what they are missing around them, to take away their temptation of money. As a Christian I think a great ministry would be to talk to some of these people about Christ, to try and bring Him into their life. Unfortunately large greedy casinos will not let that happen. Please keep these people in your prayers.

The Book of John.

For some people it is helpful to have a story told visually. It helps to keep events in order and names straight rather than staring at a page of text. An accurate depiction of the Gospel of John (click)

Our Feelings vs. Gods Will

Many times I find my self confused about a situation or feeling a certain way about the events and people in my life. I have learned that it is not always right to trust our feelings. As hard as this may sound, our own feelings do lead us astray from Gods truth. Our feelings can be totally wrong based on our mood, how the day has gone, God knows our path and can tell us if we ask so we need double check with Him before we trust our feelings.

For me, it seems to work best to listen to my feelings, but wait to act. I sleep on them, cross reference them with prayer and others advice. I know this is the best I can do in an imperfect world. I don't always take this long for every decision. By continually keeping up with prayer devotions and studying scripture, it helps to make good decisions, quickly and confidently. If a group of friends is going out and I know they will be making choices that I would not make, I decline to go. Another example is people who are fun to hang around with sometimes that make us FEEL good or happy, but who are also bad influences at other times. By continually thinking about my faith, I have been able to recognize when a good time stops being a good influence.

Feelings and Thoughts on God.

For a few weeks now I have felt distant and out of touch with God. I havent felt his message or guidance. I prayed longer and tried to read scripture thinking that I had neglected it. It didnt help. I thought about it and I realized that it wasn't an issue between God and I, it was an issue between the people in my life and I. Recently some of the people I look up to have let me down, and have shown thier true colors under pressure. I really expect more from them, but I also know that people will always let you down, God wont. All I can do is pray for them that they make the right choices. I cant hold it against them and am not trying to be judgemental as no-one, including me, is perfect. I know that feelings are misleading and thats what I get for trusting them. Only God can offer us perfect love and not let us down.

Our Toolbox, From God

I have found that Christianity is like a tool. Without the right tool you get nothing done. Once you have the right tool, you learn to use it and get good at it, you get just as much out as you put into it. Christianity is our tool to establish a closer relationship with Christ and God. For me reading scripture and keeping Him on my mind daily is irreplaceable to guide me. Its the single largest thing that has ever happened to me, I love it. Once you understand and start to have faith you realize that it is so much more than a tool. Christianity is our link to our salvation, it is the link to forgiveness, the link to unconditional love, a link to Gods wisdom and understanding. Christianity is a way of life, a community, and an understanding. When we decide to take the step and accept Christ in our lives it opens new doors for us that were never visible before. For me I know that God opens doors for me to take certain paths; sometimes it is hard to see those doors and sometimes you dont always want to take them. It can be hard to step into the unknown and place your whole trust in God. I know that He is taking care of us and has our best interest in mind so I can be confident that I'm heading the right direction even if its scary at first or a rough ride.

I know that taking that step and placing trust in Him can be hard for people that have not tried it before. I recently asked someone very close to me to place their trust in God, try to pray daily, and be silent, listening for Gods word. They tried it and told me that they did not hear anything, that it did not effect them. I suppose they are just not ready to hear God. It hurts. I pray that God changes hearts so that they can listen to Him.

Jesus is the way to our Salvation

I ran across this website today: Click It talks about some basics of Christianity. The site explains the foundation of our religion and why its important. I just thought I would share it with others. Building a stronger relationship with our savior is one of the key topics addressed. It ends with this prayer that I found appropriate and refreshingly simple:

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."

The foundation of Christianity is so simple yet so hard for some to understand. I know that one of the hardest things for me is to only rely on Jesus when I am in pain. I suppose I am human, flawed, and want the company of friends or family members but I am getting better with practice.

The Devils True Colors

I was looking around on YouTube yesterday and ran across this film that made me start thinking. The film portrays James Brown meeting with the devil to renew his contract that made him his success. He argues that he cannot maintain his fame and fortune because of the aging process. The actor that plays the devil, Gary Oldman, plays the part just about perfect. Watch it below:



If I were to ever meet the devil in real life I can only imagine this is how he would look and act. At first he seems to be just another person, a person that wants to have fun and wants you to come have fun with him. He seems harmless at first, small stature, dressed like Elton John (sorry Elton), and he seems nice enough. The film is put together in such a way that it is surreal, a clue to the darker agenda going on here. Once you are past the initial introductions you start to see his true colors, the dark atmosphere he lives in, the company he keeps. His true nature comes out as the film progresses. At one point he looses his wig and you see what he really looks like in the sun light, his evil is completely revealed. The tricks he was using to seduce those around him are gone.

Although we may not meet the devil face to face, he is very much there lurking around us. He tempts us and uses things around us to lure us away from God. The devil trys to temp Jesus in Mathew 4:1-11. Jesus sees through the devils tricks and wards him off.

God tells us to remain steadfast in prayer and avoid temptation. Proverbs 16:6 says this:

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.

One of the ways we can draw near to God is through scripture. Reading scripture, will help you to recognize satans temptations and avoid them. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, its not always satan tempting us, its just us tempting us. We cannot blame satan for all the things we do or are tempted with. In 1st Corinthians 1.18-20 it says:

"The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way to salvation it makes perfect sense."

Again this is telling us why scripture is so important. Scripture is one of our main weapons not only to keep satan from our lives but to keep us on track. The same applies to the Proverbs verse above; when it says "fear of the LORD" it literally means a fear and respect. That fear and respect is what keeps us from being our own worst enemies. It is the part of our lives that we can control. Daily scripture combined with a respect of God and His kingdom will help you stay on the right path, Gods path for you!

Hope.

Earlier today I felt overwhelmed, lost, alone, and stressed. Stressed about school, my future, the people around me, and the people that are special to me. I had to just walk away from school for a while to get some fresh air. As I walked downtown I felt especially sad despite the nice day. I need a quiet place where I could relax and be alone. I walked by a church near campus, went in and found an empty room with no people around. I sat and tried to pray but couldnt, the only thing I could do was cry, I felt horrible because of all the things going on around me, my doubts and worries. Once I got it out of my system, I was able to pray and asked for Gods help. I felt Him telling me to stop being sad and get back up so I did. I went back to school, and He helped me get everything done that I needed to. I started to feel better about my day and the people around me. He gave me a gift in the form of a call from someone very close to me that cheered me up even more. God provided emotional support for me throughout the rest of my day and I wanted to thank Him. Through Him we are able to get the strength we need to press on past our obstacles and short comings. He uses the events in our life to bring us closer to Him and for that I am truly grateful.

Jesus and His works

Today's church service centered around the wisdom of God embodied in Jesus. It started off talking about Solomon. Of all the things people ask God for, Solomon asked for wisdom. God granted him wisdom and he was able to understand many things about the world around him. Solomon was a man of science and people came from all parts of the world to hear him speak. Despite all of Solomon's knowledge and understanding, it was still only humanly knowledge. A knowledge that is as incomplete as we are in the eyes of our Father. The service talked about the difference of humanly and divine knowledge. Divine knowledge is only possessed by the Father and His son Jesus. Unlike humanly knowledge, divine knowledge is complete, all knowing. Our pastor, Kieth Simon said "people of past generations used to wake in the morning and read the bible for divine knowledge, now people wake and read their email for human knowledge." Its true that we can access part of Gods divine knowledge through scripture but its sad that more people don't do it. It is just an example of the incompleteness of humans, that we rely on one another for knowledge that is flawed to begin with. Flawed humans and flawed knowledge go hand in hand, divine knowledge cannot be fully comprehended by such simple minded humans. That is only for God to know.

Scientists say that at any given time interval humans are only using 10% of their brains. It is argued that through-out the day each part of the brain is used at least once meaning that over a 24 hour period we may use close to the whole brain. Much like Soloman; the geniuses of our time Albert Einstein, Steven Hawking, and Ludwig Wittgenstein who are considered some of the most intelligent people of our time but were still greatly flawed. Despite all of their great advances in math, science, and theology, none of them could come close to Gods divine knowledge.

So how can we learn from God and draw from His divine knowledge to be more like Him and be more productive, influential Christians? Scripture. Reading scripture and understanding its meanings is THE best way to learn from God. Seeking the advice of other Christians is good also, but as anything associated with humans, advice can be flawed, or wrong all together. Read Gods word, understand what it is saying, seek advice, cross reference that advice through prayer.

All Scripture is God breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16)

This passage is telling us why scripture is SO important. Every thing God has given us through scripture is great for helping us in times of need, teaching us valuable lessons, and spreading the gospel. Using Gods word to guide my life has helped me so much in life. If the most important part of my life could be summed up in one verse it would have to be

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

I feel like my life has been changed by reading scripture and listening to Gods word. I hope it can change yours also.

The Hard Questions.

There are certain questions that most churches don't always address; the questions that are controversial or risque. These questions are sometimes avoided due to their nature but they need to be addressed at some point. As Christians we sometimes forget that our faith and relationship with God still needs to look at the topics that we struggle with. Topics like the hard side of our faith, an honest look at our creation, and sex in the eyes of God. All of us have talked about these things at one point in time or another but have we really dug down to the core of them and been honest with ourselves?...

FAITH:
Jesus tells us in Mark 9:43-47: :

"43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.[a] 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[b] 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,"

When He says these things they are meant in a figurative sense. If they were meant literally, we would all be blind and missing limbs. They are given as a metaphor that we should all avoid sin to this extent. Despite the fact that this verse says we should just remove and avoid these situations in our lives, I believe that God puts challenges in our lives to overcome, NOT to run from. If we are faced with a test in school that is hard, we must complete it to the best of our ability rather than avoid it, so how are our tests from God any different? If God were to put these tests in front of us and we were to run from and avoid every one of these situations what would that prove? Where would we be in Gods eyes if we skipped class every time where we were faced with challenges?

Science:
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide."

I was reading a website that gave some interesting insight on the topics of science in relation to our religion. I wanted to take some quotes from the site (including the one above). The author of this work said: "I think that science is a noble endeavor. We honor the Creator when we study His creation." Meaning that our study of our world is an honor to Gods work. God created our world and everything we know so why wouldn't we want to study it? I also believe that many people take this too far and start making assumptions about what we study. God never wanted us to make assumptions from His creation. For example: Just because He created all living creatures both large and small, and gave us the ability to adapt/evolve to our situations does NOT mean that we evolved from single cell organisms. Yes God did give us the ability to assess our situation, make necessary changes, and continue on in the best manner, but that does not mean that we evolved from primates (or any other creature for that matter). Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, and conversely religion without science is blind.” This is SO true. As a major of science I can see where there are just to many things in our world that are beyond our understanding. It is not our place to understand everything about our world. If it was, we would already know how to predict the future, solve energy and food crisis, and could travel to heaven and back whenever we wanted. God is the ONLY one that is to know these answers. If we were given these answers it would be the same thing as cheating on His tests.

Sex:
I am going to quote the same site from earlier as I don't think I could word it better myself:

"Let’s give credit where credit is due. Sex was God’s idea. Sex is a gift from God. Are there parameters? Absolutely! It is a gift from God to be enjoyed by a husband and a wife in the context of marriage, and in that context it is a gift, a beautiful thing, a good thing and we ought to celebrate it. God never gets any credit for that. Why? Because the enemy has corrupted it, and it is because the misuses and abuses in our culture are ruining people’s lives. But the truth is, it is a good thing, it is a God thing."

This quote is really self explanatory; be happy that God gave us these gifts to enjoy, however be sure to enjoy them at the APPROPRIATE times! Just like any gift we are bestowed with, the same rules apply; enjoy them only at the appropriate times, in moderation, and treat them with respect. Do NOT abuse our gifts from God! Do NOT take advantage of them! If we are serious about being responsible Christians we need to also be responsible adults and act as such. Being a Christian means showing our dedication through our actions, not just our words. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder. Try your best to set the example rather than follow someone else's.

Teaching at The Crossing.

This happened a few weeks back at church and I told a friend about it, they thought I should post it into my blog:

I was teaching the childrens class at The Crossing today (I teach the 5 year olds), when we went to take them to the group class where all the children meet, this little girl jumped in my lap as soon as I sat down. She looked up at me and said "Will you hold me?, I don't feel good." I thought it was cute and I replied "yes of course I will hold you." As the kids watched the skit I was not sure if she was paying attention (she seemed very tired and her eyelids kept fluttering). The skit told about how Christ put love in the heart of the Samaritan to help a Jewish man that was injured after a robbery. As the skit finished I gathered up the kids and held the girls hand as I walked her back to her class. She looked up at me and said "those other people were not nice (referring to the people who didn't help the injured man) but I liked the Samaritan, he helped the man because Jesus told him too." When she said that, I really felt God working not only in her life, but through her to me. When I see Gods works it is a neat feeling. It is really unlike anything else in this world.

Long Time Caller, First Time Listener

I came home yesterday stressed out from the day just wanting to relax and talk to someone. I decided to spend my evening with God. Learning to spend time with Him is new in my life, in the past I have always tried to reach out and talk to humans. I am starting to see where God is always there to listen no matter what. Despite that we can communicate with God easier than anyone else in the world, it is still hard to wrap your mind around speaking with Him. Once I realized that He was there listening, I decided to think of Him as a person that was always by my side, that I could communicate with through telepathy. It sounds silly, like a kid with an imaginary friend, but its true. God is right there with us every second of every day of our lives. Mathew 10:30 says: "For the very hairs on your head are numbered." If God is keeping track of each hair on your head, don't you think He hears you talking to Him?

Last night I wanted to really make sure God was hearing what I had to say to Him. I was thinking about all the ways I could communicate with God when the idea came to me to send Him a text message, again silly but I did it anyway. I got out my phone and entered 000-000-0000, (by the way thats His phone number if you didnt know ;), careful who you go giving that out to). I entered what I wanted to say to Him, and sent it.

Click to enlarge


As absurd as the whole idea was, it helped me come to terms with how easy He is to talk to. I was not trying to "humanize" God or disrespect Him, it was more to help my brain see that I could just talk to Him through thought. While there are many ways to speak with God, you must back up your words to Him with your actions for Him. Asking God for forgiveness then going and doing that sin again is not right. God wants us to ask for forgiveness, learn from our mistakes, then move forward with that knowledge. Talking to God isn't just asking for forgiveness or for things in our lives. We should thank God, pray for others, and just ask Him everyday questions that we have in life. He is there for every thing we might have no matter how large or small.

P.S. Thank you God for answering my prayers :)

Back to Trust.

I wanted to return to the topic of trusting in God as I have some new understanding on the topic. Over the past few months I have noticed a reoccurring theme in my life where God feels most present in my life in the mornings for the most part. As the day progresses and evening falls, I feel Gods strength leaving me. I suspect this is my mind growing tired as the day goes on, or possibly the devil trying to grab ahold of me, or a combination of the two. In the evenings is when I doubt, fear, and worry the most. I see where this is not the right thing to do. A friend told me: "Doubt and fear are from the devil; hope, faith, and peace are from God." This makes sense to me. I have learned that instead of trying to reach out to others when we go through a time of crisis, it serves us well to reach out to God. Using His help we are able to overcome these problems on our own. Learning to hold Gods strength in my life is trusting in Him. Whenever I am going through a rough time and go to reach out to someone, I stop myself and say "wait, is this something I can deal with on my own." God is helping to give me strength to do this.

There is a Veritas Bible study coming up this week that I am looking forward to. the topic is doubt. I may have to come back and add to this later but I'll share it for now.

In Tune With God

On the drive back home this past Sunday night I was listening to a radio station that I found in Kansas City called K-Love, a Christian radio station. As I was driving down the highway, the station started to fade out slowly and in its place a hard rock station of some sort. The stations kept fading back and forth as I traveled, for some reason it popped into my mind that it was symbolism for the fight between good and evil. I know it is just a radio station, but the Christian music would fade to horrible heavy metal and back again. I don't think I could have found a better metaphor. I took this with a grain of salt as I continued to drive until I came upon a billboard that said: "XXX Nude Girls". A rather offensive billboard, evil and sin is represented by it. I started to see more of them as the drive went on, then a billboard for a church, then one for the Humane Society. A reoccurring theme was presented of good and evil bombarding me as I went on my way. Aside from the blatant instances of good vs. evil in our lives, there are so many subtle ones that we unintentionally filter out everyday. Violence, cursing, lust, greed, envy; all these things are forms of sin. Our minds learn to block these things out around us. Does this mean we are turning a blind eye to sin, or just accepting that we don't have the power to change everything around us? What does God think of this 'filtering' process we do?

Psalm 27:13 says:
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!

I think this tells us that we should focus on Gods works in this world, not take them for granted. As far as the bad things surrounding us; I have talked to other people on this topic and have heard consistently that the only thing we can truly change is ourselves. Just because we are in this world does not mean that we are of this world or have the power to change all the things around us. We may filter out those bad things because we cant change them, but we can change ourselves and not contribute to those things. God does not expect us to fix everything, that is his job, however he does not want us to create more things to fix. Do not contribute to sin or Gods laundry list of things that need to be "fixed". Instead learn to set an example of Him through our actions, hopefully this will rub off on others along the way.

"East of Eden"

The larger topic I have been working on still isn't quite ready so I thought I would jot down my thoughts on tonights Veritas bible study topic. The topic was disappointment in our lives. Genesis 2:8-17 talks about the garden of Eden and sets up for Genesis 3:23-24, where God kicks man out of the garden of Eden for eating the forbidden fruit. Now that we as people are forced to live in this world rather than a utopia, we are continually disappointed and discontent. The overall focus of the bible study was to try to learn to accept things the way they were, learn to look forward to God bringing back our utopia rather than trying to create it ourselves, and not having false hopes for this world.

The leader of Veritas mentioned that we were continually trying to make things better, to recreate our Eden. This made me think that rather than trying to recreate our own utopia, we should allow God to work through us to try to create someone else's utopia. If we try to help others who may not be as fortunate as us, they may feel that it makes all the difference in the world. While only God can create true utopia, it should not stop us from trying to use His strengths in what we do. No matter what disappointments we have in this life, how hurt we are, or what losses we must endure through, God will help us through it. We must not forget to serve God in the present despite our condition.

Reaching Out.

In trying to seek Christian fellowship and have found a few blogs I enjoy. The first is by a friend I went to school with for a number of years; Tim Smith. From what I know Tim has always been a Christian, I just didn't know he had a blog about it until now. The blog is a combination of both lessons to learn and the Christian fellowship in Tims life. Here is his blog entitled: Love, Laugh, Learn, Live. After reading through his page I see where he has made Christianity an all encompassing part of his life. I admire this trait and am trying to work on it in my life. I especially like the clip he posted about comedian Lewis C. K. adding perspective to life, I just wish I would have found it first...you only beat me by a day Tim :)

The other blog I have found is from Steve Furtick; the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The blog is based around the Christian fellowship that is his church rather than the lessons to be learned from God. There is a particular post that I like called Stop the Slide. The post talks about addressing and fixing the problems in our life before they become too large. I have always known these concepts but its nice to hear it worded differently.

God Through Art

Recently I have notice the pastors using media to support sermons. Dave Cover's sermon this past Sunday at The Crossing talked about films and art that portrayed God. There have been many film clips shown the past few weeks. I have taken some for this post, you can click on some of these to watch the clip.

The Shawshank Redemption scene shows the main character, Andy, playing music over the intercom while locked in the wardens office. The beautiful music makes the inmates feel free for a fleeting moment, despite being locked away. This is a metaphor of how we are free from sin when we live in Christ. However unlike like the beautiful music in that scene, Jesus allows us not only to feel free, but actually be free.

The Passion of The Christ scene here (from 1:15-1:35 minutes in) shows the portrayal of satan lurking through the crowd as Jesus is being beaten. Towards the end of that section satan holds up a disfigured baby like creature that looks toward Jesus and smiles. The baby represents sin in our lives, its disfigured and ugly just as sin is in the eyes of God. Jesus died for us so we could be forgiven of sin. He endured unspeakable pain so we could be saved, so we could enter Gods kingdom. He alone was able to give us this gift. It is ours to accept.

A clip from Saving Private Ryan was shown but I couldn't find a clip online. The segment shown was the aftermath of the beach scene where the water was stained red with blood and bodies littered the ground. The blood, bodies, and death in the air represents the sin of man.

There was a documentary from last years True False Film Festival called From The Earth To The Moon. In the previous examples I was just trying to reiterate the message that was given at The Crossing, however this clip really stood out to me. It was a documentary put together to speak to the astronauts that had left earth and come back; the only people to step back and look at earth from afar. Various men gave their thoughts, feelings, and depictions of what their journey was like. As scientists the astronauts tried to explain everything that occurred to them. Many people that grow up with science as a heavy influence in their lives struggle to accept the idea of God with so many things pointing towards evolution. I expected to hear these kinds of things from the people who spoke, but I heard the exact opposite. There are over 2.5 million parts in a space shuttle, it has to be able to travel 25 times the speed of sound, withstand temperatures of 3002 degrees Fahrenheit, travel to the moon 238855 miles one way and then back again. After achieving such great feats, all the astronauts said that they felt a higher power acting. There are so many small details that go into a space launch, that many of the people involved started to see that we were meant to do great things, not by accident or evolution, but by God. We were given these gifts by God. These people of science acknowledged a higher being guiding us.

At one point in my life I believed in evolution of man because as a engineer its hard to ignore scientific facts. As an engineering student I was always taught to question things and look at every possible aspect of a situation. Looking back I can see where there are too many gaps to fill in for evolution to work, at some point its just our minds trying to connect the dots. We have accomplished so many great feats that it cannot be an accident. The bible says God created us in His image; if we can do these great things, imagine what things God is capable of. Evolution may have some valid points but none of them have been proven.

The content of clip itself was not what stood out to me, it just made me think about why I believe in Christianity. It made me realize something; its not the fact that these theory's are not proven that make me believe in Christianity. I did not say to myself "oh well, evolution doesn't explain how mankind came to be, so I'll believe in God instead." It was not the absence of these theory's, but rather the presence of God in my life that made me believe in Him. I cannot see God however I do see His works, feel His presence, and can listen to what He is telling me to do. God is our father and He intended us to carry out these great acts.

Look forward to Gods gifts

This week I decided to take on two larger topics for my blog so I haven't posted in a few days as I have been working on them.

I was thinking of my past recently; about my memories and friends who have since gone. I have reflected on both good and bad memories in my life. I have been feeling guilty about the mistakes I have made and the people I had hurt within this time. I felt so guilty about certain things that it was consuming me. A friend gave me some advice on the subject that helped me. He had told me that if God has forgiven you, and the people involved have forgiven you then you should put it behind you. I realize now that the hardest one to forgive is sometimes ourselves. He quoted Romans 8:1-2

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. "

I see where this is correct, but I still beat myself up over things. I wrestle with this lesson the most right now. With so much change in my life that it's hard not to look at my past. However I also realize if people are constantly thinking about their past, they cannot perform God's works or help others. This means taking what we have and moving forward. I know God wants me, as an individual, to repent from my sins and mistakes then progress in life.

I never truly knew the extent of God's care for me until recently, so I'm undergoing many changes. I have learned from listening to other, more experienced Christians and through scripture that God wants us to live a healthy, productive lifestyle. Knowing the things I know now, I can work on becoming the person I was always meant to be. I have learned from my past, now its time for action. Serving Him, spreading the gospel, and putting my all into life are the things that I am meant to do. My past self would have thought this was too much to handle, but now that I am calling on God's help I feel I can accomplish anything. This knowledge is one of His many gifts to me, but right now its my favorite.

Patience is a virtue

I always thought of myself as a patient person, very slow to get mad or bothered. I do however have stronger feelings and am impatient when it comes to those I care about because I expect more of them. Occasionally I do get impatient with some things, people who are slow drivers in the left lane, long lines,ect. Recently God has been helping to guide my life and show me what I need to do. I want to be proactive and try to fix my predicaments but I am learning to accept Gods time line for my life rather than my own. I can see where he provides for us in His own way and that doesn't mean giving us everything we want right when we want it. I have been seeing where sometimes no matter much we think we know, we just need to place our confidence in God and let Him tell us what is right. Again I see that total trust in God is key here. I have always had trust issues, but I'm working on them with God as I know he will always take care of me. Here are a few examples of patience as talked about in the bible.

Psalms: 37:7-9 says:

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land

Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

It is literally telling us to be patient for the Lord and His salvation. God is a very giving God in His own time and will give when He sees fit. Patience is easy to exercise when we see everything going our way but it gets much more difficult when things are not working out the way we want. It is not a skill one develops overnight, it takes time to learn total patience. Patience is a learned act that we get better at as life continues. When we are young, little thought is given our future and we don't have to wait for long about the things we think about. As we get older, our ambitions, plans, and goals get larger and we must learn to wait longer to get to them. Without waiting, things would not be special, If everyone got everything they wanted when they wanted all sense of accomplishment would be lost. By having patience we are showing God that we trust him to deal with the issues at hand. It shows Him we are following His plan for us, not the other way around.

The Importance of Christian Fellowship.

I struggle with this topic--it's an area that I am working on, so I decided to write about it as it will remind me of what I need to do. I think there are three aspects of Christianity that are very difficult to perform on your own: learning, living, and serving. Learning Christianity on your own is much like trying to teach yourself calculus. You may learn some aspects of it but you're not going to see the whole picture and it will take longer to understand. Proverbs 27:17 says: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Beginners need a good teacher to get them started the right way, and people that are more familiar with Christianity need peers to discuss their thoughts with. Church on Sunday is like going to class, but you need to do your homework to understand better. I have found from experience that independent study only goes so far; you need to see other viewpoints about scripture to understand it the way it was meant. Church attendance and group bible study are important to fill in those gaps.

When I say living is an important aspect of Christianity, I mean living within a Christian community. Mathew 18:18-20 : "When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." By surrounding yourself with fellow Christians you inadvertently weed out a lot of negative influence in your life. Showing your faith and dedication to God as a Christian means living a certain lifestyle. Being a member of any religion brings you under the scrutiny of others which means that it is important to show your faith through your life and actions. Be a Christian; live as a Christian (this goes back to the post: Life in God). A fellow Christian will uplift you in your walk of faith, discourage you from sin, and hold you accountable for your actions. Knowing that another person is invested in your life is a great motivator to follow the right paths.

Acts 2:44-47 brings us to the third aspect of serving, it says this:

"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

When envisioning this in a modern-day society, it is hard to get a mental picture. Church gatherings, bible study, and service groups are all forms of Christian fellowship. Individually we can serve God, however in groups we can accomplish more. An article I was reading here said this: "You might say that God’s plan must be compared not to a solo but to a symphony." I can see where this is quite true; as humans it is our job to serve and praise God as a community. God intended us to serve Him by spreading His word and building on His kingdom that is Christianity. This is in no way possible on your own; a team is required.

"Gods Gonna Cut You Down"

The lyrics of Johnny Cash's song, Gods Gonna Cut You Down, go like this:

GODS GONNA CUT YOU DOWN - JOHNNY CASH

This song really hit home for me. "As sure as God made black and white, what's down in the dark will be brought to the light." I know all too well that the when we sin it will come back to you. God will punish you. It is the way things are meant to be. Sin, be punished. Don't sin, be blessed. I have gotten much better in recent years, however I do sin, and I accept full responsibility. The punishment received from God hurts not just mentally, but also physically. The weight of carrying that punishment feels unbearable sometimes, but we have no other option but to endure through it. We must walk through the dark bearing this weight to get back to the light. Someone once said, "God's business is setting things right." This is 100% true in my opinion. He is the only one who can fix our lives, but we must be proactive in this process. He will not fix our problems if we just sit around; He is not here to do things for us, but rather us for Him. In serving Him, He will help us and guide our actions to fix our own lives after sin.