Road Trip

From now to July 8 I will be in Oregon visiting family so until then I will not be posting on the blog. Enjoy the fourth, and god bless.

Why Grace?

As I look back on the past few posts I’ve written I think there is one central idea I’ve been hinting at, and that is the concept of grace. To be honest I never really “got” grace, it just didn’t make sense to me. I come from a family of workers, I’ve always believed that you had to work for what you got, that handouts were never an option. So then I come along the idea of grace in my faith and I’m thinking “seriously God, you mean there’s nothing I have to do?” It just never really made much sense to me. Now, looking at the posts I’ve written I can see the concept of grace clearly, it’s not that there’s nothing we can do, it’s that God doesn’t want us to do anything. God doesn’t want us to “clean up our act” before coming to Him, He just wants us to make a choice. Once choice, that’s all it is, and that choice is to follow Him instead of going your own way. Looking at Hosea there’s no part where God says “Well, before you come back to me, boy do you have a long list of things to do.” No, it doesn’t work that way at all, instead God’s just asking us to come back, no clean up necessary just a promise of commitment. Really, grace isn’t a simple handout like I thought it was, as I come to dig in my Bible a bit more I’ve found that grace is God’s way of accepting us despite our faults and never giving up. Synonyms for grace are “poise, refinement, charm, and beauty.” Very often when we need God the most and come to Him we are not that way at all, but by His grace alone we can be perfect in His sight.

It's a Two Way Street

As I continue reading through Hosea I keep coming across some very interesting passages. The thing I’ve always been amazed at by the Bible is that I can read the same passage multiple times and come away with different impressions, case in point right here. I wrote about the comparison made between God and a pained lover, but here are a few more verses to clarify that and also explain the reasoning behind God’s judgment. 5:15 says “Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” 6:6 says “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” And finally 7:13 “I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me. They do not cry out to me from their hearts.” So why the scripture, well, doesn’t it sound similar to something someone who has been cheated on would say? Or maybe a parent whose child left them never to come back? You always hear the “All I want is for them to come back…” well, God is the same way. A lot of the time it seems people think of God as some sort of evil puppet master rooting against them, well, clearly seen here God is rooting for us, not against us. God wants us to succeed, He doesn’t want us to leave Him or worse, end up in eternal separation from Him. A common question is “how can a loving God send people to hell?” Well, God doesn’t really send people to hell; I don’t really think He would want to. C.S. Lewis (yeah, him again) once wrote something along the lines of how our eternal outcomes aren’t decided at one point, but really a culmination of many decisions. The attitude of today could affect where I am in ten years ultimately deciding where I end up. If anything God wants us more than we could ever know, it’s just up to us to want Him back.

Charlie and Rosy

Here are a few pictures of Charlie (younger male) and Rosy (older female). It's been a while since I posted pictures of them so here it goes. Also for some annoying reason all my writing is centered, not alligned to the left, sorry for that.



Not Asked for Much

I recently finished Daniel and have started the book of Hosea. For some background info Hosea is one of the minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament and like many prophets, warning Israel of the coming invasion of Babylon and Jesus’ coming. The interesting, and very sad, thing about Hosea is he is used by God as an instrument to demonstrate how He feels. Hosea marries a prostitute that despite his love, continually breaks his heart by being unfaithful. God’s point is that we are that women, we are unfaithful to Him. Makes you think doesn’t it? This post isn’t so much about that, but more about chapter 2 verses 16 and 23. Despite being continually letdown time after time this is what God says to Hosea, “In that day…you will call me ‘my husband,’ you will no longer call me ‘my master.’” In verse 23 God says “I will show my love to the one I called ‘not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people’ ‘You are my people:’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”  That is the depth of God’s love, it’s not that He turns a blind eye to what we’re doing, it’s that He refuses to give up on the hope that we will once again turn to Him. The truth is that God is more hurt than angry when we sin, it’s like having someone you love turn against you. Sin isn’t something off the long list of “no no’s” it’s when we take something given by God and put it either out of context, or above him. A few examples, revenge is a perverted form of justice, baseball (for me) can become a too-consuming passion, the list goes on and on. And more importantly God is hurt by this, but He doesn’t give up on us. It used to be that the Israelites were “the chosen people,” but in these verses God is saying “No, I made all people, I will not give up on ALL of my people.” All God really asks of us is our time, considering what He’s given to us I think it’s fair.

We've Got to Come Together

I’m not sure if I already blogged about this or not but it’s something that has been on my mind lately so here we go. I mentioned I was preparing for college this fall, but I am not sure whether I mentioned I am going to Holy Cross. For those who don’t know Holy Cross is a Catholic school, and although I was raised Catholic (like every other Italian in the world) I now go to a Presbyterian church. When I talk to a lot of people in my church community about the Catholic Church I tend to get the same response about how “the Catholic religion is different than Christianity.” For those who have said this before I am not singling anyone out, I just have something to say. While the Catholic and Protestant Church certainly have their differences, fundamentally it is the same thing. Both churches profess a belief in an all powerful God whose son descended to earth to pay for our sins, and also the belief in the Holy Spirit as God’s spirit in us. I’m reading a fantastic book titled Tattoos on the Heart by a Jesuit priest named Gregory Boyle. Not even halfway through this book I’m thinking how cool it would be to be this man. He works on rehabilitating former gang members in a series of small businesses (bakeries, city cleanup, ect.) he calls “Homeboy Industries,” mixed with brief Spanish phrases, mildly course language, and anecdotes from life on the streets is a single truth, and that is the Gospel. That got me thinking, even though we go to different churches, are Greg and I all that different? Yeah he’s Catholic and I consider myself nondenominational but at the heart of the issue don’t we both worship the same God and go out with Gospel in hopes of spreading the good news? So here’s what I think, Paul (whether you call him saint or not) wrote that we are the body in Christ. Body means together, one organism, not two. Imagine if my legs looked at the rest of me and (if they could talk) said, “even though we’re supposed to be together, you’re altogether different than I am, so let’s split.” Yeah I know, crazy right, but that is exactly what the church has done in the past and still does! If we can’t come together in worship then how can the church expect to combat the evils of the world and all the devil does to ruin the paradise God made? Jesus once said that a house divided cannot stand, well this house better get some crazy glue fast because we need to come together.

Never Alone

Lately I’ve been reading the Book of Daniel (you know, the one with the lion’s den) and something struck me as applicable to modern day society (yeah, I didn’t say ‘something stuck out to me’). First a little background info, Daniel was taken, along with many other Israelites, to Babylon after the invasion. Now he is in the service of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, as an interpreter of dreams. As a Jew Daniel sticks out like a sore thumb in Babylon, needless to say, except for a few friends, he is alone. As a follower of Christ I can feel alone too; when others choose to live their lives a certain way I find myself on occasions on the outside looking in. The thing with Daniel though is this; he trusted in God and didn’t change himself for anyone. From the get go Daniel stuck to his guns, in chapter one Daniel refuses to eat the king’s food opting for vegetables instead. Next, when Daniel is called to interpret a dream for Nebuchadnezzar instead of reveling in his new job he says to the king “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” 2:27. Instead of conforming to his environment, Daniel transforms it for the better. It can be tough to be on your own, when it feels like the whole world is going one way and you’re not it is never easy. But the thing is this, we’re never alone, we’ve got God on our side. As I go on to college it’s going to be tough to continue on my journey in faith, but I know that with God by my side I am not alone.

More than Meets the Eye

In case you haven’t noticed the Sox have been playing very well lately, one player in particular fueling that success. The player is Adrian Gonzalez, the sweet swinging, errorless, first baseman. Currently Gonzalez is hitting .352 with 15 HR and 62 RBI’s. Gonzalez’s career average is .290 so I guess saying Fenway is a good park to hit in is a bit of an understatement, the highest he has hit before this year was .304 in 2006 for the Texas Rangers. While Gonzalez has shown he is very impressive with a bat in his hands, this post is not just about his hitting. As far as hitting goes Gonzalez is living proof (like Ted Williams) that an intimate knowledge of hitting coupled with a love for the game produces great results. While Gonzo may be no Teddy Ballgame, Dan Shaughnessy was wrong to say the two aren’t similar. Even more impressive than his hitting ability is Gonzo’s faith, something I was pleasantly surprised the hear about. Gonzalez took part in an interview and professed a faith that was strong, heartfelt, and more important than baseball. I used to think that to live in the service of God I had to be a monk or something similar. I had to be a missionary or sit at home reading my Bible all day. While those may be the right choices for someone else, Gonzalez has shown that to him, baseball is a way for him to worship God and share the Gospel. Gonzalez talked about how while hitting is good for him; it’s what’s done for Christ that really matters. As I read further into Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, and more of my Bible, I’ve begun to see that a life fulfilled is one where what we do revolves around God, not me.

Faith and Reason

So yesterday I mentioned two books, for now I will write about one, The Reason for God by Tim Keller. I was given this book by my youth pastor because I am a graduating senior and going on to college. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. I thought “Oh great, another book full of ‘reasons’ but no faith.” Lately I’ve been pretty heavy on faith, almost to the point of rejecting reason. I “reasoned” to myself that faith is supreme, to bring up an old example of my fear of spiders, no amount of fact can change what I firmly believe: that is I will be bitten. Here’s the thing I’ve realized, and once again C.S. Lewis comes to the rescue. For my senior quote I chose a nugget of wisdom from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity “Faith…is the art of holding on to something your reason once accepted despite your changing moods.” While faith is necessary for a belief in God and Christianity, reason too is needed. While you can never absolutely prove the existence of God (you can’t prove He doesn’t exist either), you still need reason. Without reason you engage in blind belief, you go along with something half-heartedly without even thinking about it. Not only is this not the way to go, it is a dangerous way to live life. Faith is not a substitute for reason; it is as the book of Hebrews puts it “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” So then, reason is what we use when we initially believe in something and faith keeps us believing. I suppose that reason and faith both make up belief, without reason you engage yourself in blindness and without faith you have no hope of believing for a long time; I guess for an image, reason is a spark to a fire but faith is the addition of wood to keep it going.

It Takes Work

In my last post I briefly mentioned two books I was reading, I’ll get to those books in detail soon, but for now I will go into detail about what I’m doing. I remember sophomore year in high school chemistry learning about entropy. Entropy (for those who care, and those who don’t I’m writing this anyway) is the principle that without work/effort things go from a state or order to disorder. A good example is the cleanliness of my room. Another example is our relationships, especially with God. I used to think Christianity was a “one and done thing” I say I believe and that was it. Well I was wrong, it requires work and lots of it. Our relationship with God is described as a marriage in the Bible, could you imagine a marriage where the groom says “I do, okay so that’s it right?” Like any relationship, ours with God requires time, effort, and communication. That means devotion, prayer, and digging into that Bible on the nightstand. I admit that I’ve fallen off a bit lately. For whatever reason I haven’t been praying as much and reading my Bible and suddenly I looked around and said “Wait where am I?” I wrote about stewardship of time and how I have a limited amount of time left, well I know I am still very young but that means I have lots of time to cover even more ground. I was talking with my father the other day that the last thing I want to is to graduate from Holy Cross, get a job I don’t like, raise a successful family, and look back at it all saying “What was it all worth? Who was it all for?” Without effort our relationships break down, it takes work, hard work sometimes, to keep it going. While I am not a fan of resolutions I now resolve to put the work in that God deserves, the last thing I want is a life lived for nothing.

Searching for Answers

In my last post I wrote about stewardship of money, well here’s a post about how we are stewards of our time in a bit more detail. Lately I’ve come to realize, rather painfully at first, that I have a limited amount of time here. Yeah, it’s a somewhat morbid thought, but as my high school graduation begins to fade from memory I realize I will grow old. So, what do I do? Well I could panic, do nothing, or use my time wisely. One and two are out, but what in the world does using my time wisely mean? Does it mean I stop sleeping, or watching the Red Sox, or playing baseball, or does it mean something else? Well at the moment I am not completely sure, our lives and faith are called a journey for a reason. Lately I’ve been reading two books, one given to me recently another a long time ago. I was recently given The Reason for God and a while ago was given Don’t Waste your Life. I’ve got another post on this to come soon, but for now all I’ll say is I’m making some changes in my relationship with God and my life. For now the only answer that comes to mind is Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, there are many verses that stick out, here are key parts of them. 3:7 “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” Finally 4:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” I do not have the exact answer, what I do know however, is that a life not lived for the glory of God is a wasted life and that is something I shall try hard to avoid.

Show Me The $$$

So lately in my church we’ve been talking about stewardship. Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve never liked the stewardship sermons. This time of year I find myself thinking “Oh no, today they’ll be talking about money.” Don’t get me wrong, I tithe my income and am generous with donations to charities; but today I found the sermon rather interesting. Today we talked about Matthew 6:19-24, but verse 21 stood out to me, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Here’s my take on the whole stewardship sermon. I wrote a post a while back in the beginning of the financial crisis about money titled “Ocean Views Aren't That Great”. My feeling is this; we are not just stewards of our money, we are stewards of our time, energy, talents, and lives. So instead of making stewardship all about donating money, we should instead focus it on a lifestyle of giving. Giving time to God and others, giving energy to God and others, giving of our talents to God and others; that’s what real stewardship is about. If I put God first in my life always, then the natural course of action would be to be generous with all that I have. Hypothetically I could be a great steward with money; I could give 12% to the church and extra to charity. However, if I do not give of my time, life, talents, energy… to God and those around me is it really worth it? I guess my point is this, stewardship isn’t such a bad thing, actually it is extremely important. Yet, I feel it has a focus on money which it is not, it relates to everything. Here on earth we don’t really own anything, we are stewards of it, entrusted by God, so it is only right that we give back to Him. Stewardship isn’t just about money, it’s about how we live our lives and we should focus on giving in all areas, not just financial ones.