I Never Saw This Coming

What did I learn? I’ve written a lot about my mission trip, saying phrases like “I learned that in Mississippi”. But I was recently asked by my church to share my experience during this Sunday’s "reunion lunch", and that made me think about what I learned. Well I know I learned a lot, but I only get five minutes so what can I say. I learned many things, but the most important thing I learned is how God operates. God does not operate on our time, and here’s how I learned that. Three years ago in 2005 hurricane Katrina hit the southeast, and that I believe is where this whole story started. Three years ago I was sitting in my history class room listening to someone from the class talk about how their church went down south to help out in New Orleans (or as they say, it sounds like ‘nawlens’). Well I thought “Gee I’d like to go down and help people, but it would never happen”, but little did I know a different kind of storm was brewing, the “storm surge” of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Three years ago I did not see myself roofing a house, writing a blog, or even speaking in front of my church, that I think is what I learned, and it continues to amaze me, it’s how God can work in our lives. God does an amazing thing- He makes the unlikely likely. He takes a situation and turns it to His plan for us, and when we look back we say “Wow I never saw myself here”. When we take God’s hand and walk with Him He takes us to amazing places. He takes an ordinary man and has him do extraordinary things.

Take Two

I’m going to try to re-explain my thoughts on predestination. My views have changed, and have changed so much that I deleted the earlier post “predewhatanation?” I now believe in predestination. The word is used several times in the Bible, mostly in the New Testament. I do not believe it to the extent that the street preacher did, and I’ll explain why. The street preacher I got in a fight with believed God goes through all the people and decides who can be saved and who can’t. God makes people who go to Heaven and He makes people who go to Hell. I didn’t buy it at all. God would not do such a thing as to make people who will only die. If that was the case why did He send down His son so that “all the nations” may one day believe? Here’s what I believe. I believe before time began even God knew He was going to make us and therefore desired that we may spend eternal life with Him. There it is. God wants us in Heaven, He predestined us to go. Each and every day in some small way God gives us a chance to believe in Him, it’s up to us though to choose our path. People go to Heaven because they snatched at the chance they got; people go to hell not because God wants them to, but because they chose to. Imagine a friend of yours has a party and invites you. They are in control of who is going, it is their desire for you to come, but you can either say yes or no, that I believe is where free will comes in. God wants us in Heaven and He maps out our lives and gives us chances to believe in Him. If I hadn’t become a Christian my whole life (or even family) would have been different, but it was God’s plan for me to become a Christian, and it was God’s plan to get my family where it is. I guess that’s what predestination looks like. I want people to remember that this is a person’s understanding, in no way is this to be taken as the absolute truth. The best understanding of God or His doctrines is like looking out of foggy glasses, we get the idea, but never will we understand all the details.

GO SOX

As you can see I've changed my blog a little. Well I was bored so I decided to get ready for mission SOXTOBER and change it to Sox colors. The Sox have a shot at the playoffs, but they will have to play against tough teams to get into the AL Championship, I'm still sticking with my vote, I think the Angels will make it to the World Series. The Sox did it last year, but this just isn't their year. Hopefully Beckett will pitch tonight as planned and have a good start against the Texas Rangers. No offense to any Rangers fans, but they aren't that good and this should be an easy series.

Squares don't fill up circle holes

You know those squares with shaped holes that kids have? The ones where kids try to put the right shapes in the right holes? You know how a kid will keep trying to fit the square in the circle? He’ll keep trying to fit it in, but the corners don’t fit right, there is still empty space. He may be able to budge it, but it still doesn’t seem right. After a number of tries of several shapes kid eventually puts the circle in the circle. We can be like that, and this may be the only time I’ll say we either are or were like that (even I was like that). Our hearts (not the ones beating in our chest) have a God shaped hole in them. God made each and every one of us with a God shaped hole in our hearts that He waits to fill. As we grow older and as we learn about God it is my hope that we choose to fill our hearts with Him. But sometimes we go through life without God, and as we grow older that hole becomes more evident. The hole become evident because it is what keeps us whole (sorry for the bad pun, but I couldn’t resist and I get a kick out of it). So any way (after I get a laugh) we tend to fill that hole with things. You spend two hundred dollars at the store, it fills you up. You spend two hours washing your car and admiring it, it fills you up. You watch three hours of T.V., it fills you up. But while you’re filling up all that amounts to is a square in a circle, there are empty spaces, at the end of the day you examine yourself and your life and you feel empty. It’s like filling a cup full of ice at the end of the day it melts into half a cup of water. Only God can fill that hole in your heart, nothing else can. You may think everything’s alright but when a storm comes where is your shelter? I’m not saying things are bad, I like my new camera, I like to watch the Red Sox, but I always try to make sure they don’t go into the hole, I always try to make sure they aren’t center stage. An idol isn’t always a statue of a guy with nose rings there are hidden idols all around us. Just remember there is a hole that God fills to make you whole (sorry again for the bad pun). Remember squares don’t fill up circle holes, they only block them.

He's Got a Plan for You

In the earlier post “The Power of Prayer” I said God works not for our own pleasure but for our own good. I’ll elaborate a little. God does care about us; there is no doubt and never a doubt about that. But in caring for us He lays out a plan for us. I am reading the book Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. It is a very interesting book, and I encourage you to read it, but only if you can handle it and your no afraid of getting your boat rocked. It makes me wonder if I am wasting my life. I know I have my whole life ahead of me (at least I think I do), but what am I to do with it? How can we live a life that God wants? I think the most basic fundamental and hardest thing to do is to live a life that fully glorifies God at all times. It’s simple, yet hard to do. Why is it hard? Because we often forget to carry it out. I will admit it when I woke up I don’t think I was thinking how I can glorify God over the course of the day. But it gets somewhat simpler. If we wake up and view each day as a gift, each choice as affecting our life then I think we can manage it. The Bible says “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to glorify God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31. You may be thinking ‘How the heck can I do that? How can I glorify God by eating and drinking?’ And I thought the same thing. To understand that verse you’ve got to know what it means to glorify God. To glorify God is to make Him as much a part of our life as breathing is. How can we manage that? Think about it when you wake up tomorrow, when you eat breakfast, when you go to school or work. If we look at each day as a gift, as a new creation, as a new adventure that only God knows the end of I think we can manage it. If we look at our work as a job given to us, at our coworkers as people we can love as Jesus did, people to share the love of Christ I think we can do it. If we look at each day and ask ourselves “What can I do for the kingdom of God today?” One thing I learned in Mississippi was to ask “What can I do?” “What do you need me for?” “How can I help?” If we can let ourselves be used for His glory, if we can let ourselves be loved and love others. If we can glorify Him I think we can do it. Will it always be easy? No. Will it give us the satisfying sense of joy one finds when he is truly living a life purposeful life for God? Yes. That is what God works for.

Let Us Pray

This is more of a request to you as a reader. As the whole country probably knows there are now a series of three hurricanes coming through the south. I was down there last month to help out with Katrina victims so my request is this. I ask that we may pray that the people in danger of the storm are okay, that the hurricanes aren't too bad, and that the people may recover quickly after the storm.

The Power Of Prayer

The power of prayer is amazing. I pray many times a day, when I wake up, before I eat, before I go to bed and I will admit very few times when I pray I think about what I’m really doing. Sometimes we all can be like that. Very few times do I really dwell on what I am actually doing, and what I am doing is talking to God. Sometimes prayer can seem like a chore, a mandatory action; we do it when we wake up, before we eat. Sometimes we may skip it altogether. But what if when we pray we think about the actions behind the simple action. We are actually talking to God! In Biblical times the Jews needed a priest to act as a go between for them, they couldn’t talk to God, only a holy man could. But at the time of Jesus’s death the curtain separating God from man ripped in half symbolizing the new covenant. We don’t need a mediator; we can go up to our creator any time we want. Just as ordinary communication can be used in many ways so can prayer, and one part of prayer that is usually abused is to ask God for something. Jesus said “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” Matthew 7:7. I am a firm believer that God answers prayers, but I also believe that He only answers them on His own time. Prayer is not a magic spell to get what you want when you want it. It is a communication with God, and through that communication we may ask for something, but just like a parent telling a child that they can’t have too many sweets, God will only work for our best interest. God is like a parent, He works for our best interest, not our pleasure. There are many other parts of prayer and if I wanted to write about them all then it could fill a book, one more thing I will say is to read the book of Psalms, it is a collection of open thoughts and prayers and a good place to look at a picture of a true relationship with God. Just as relationships with people build up when we spend time with them the same goes for God. Next time you pray remember this: you’re talking to Him, and He’s listening.