I matter!

If you look closely, my glasses are asking, “Do I matter to you? Really?”

 

Day 10

I stepped on them accidentally while stumbling out of bed in the morning.

Paul in Acts 27 is on his way to Rome when he experiences a huge tornado of a storm. Two hundred seventy-six people on board are facing death as he’s a prisoner on his way to Roman trial. While it was Paul’s desire to go to Rome, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be handcuffed and face near-drowning to get their dream. He and his fellow shipmates including prisoners and centurions reach the end of hope when God shows up and shows out (verse 24-25).  Against all odds, their vessel manages to find the tiny dot of an island of modern-day Malta.

God’s providence pulls through. Paul sees everyone freaking out, God tells Him directly that it’s going to be ok, and Paul tells everyone. So he goes: “Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told to me.” We’re going to be safe because God has promised safety to me, and not just to me, but everyone else here. Paul’s presence assured everyone else’s survival.

It’s like the show Prison Break, sort of. (Well Paul didn’t kill any more people after his conversion; however he was actually innocent of their false claims just like Michael was.) He takes everyone out from the ordeal with him. In the end though, Paul remains a prisoner, and does die for the sake of Christ, in chains, under Nero’s rule in Rome.

So this man saves all 275 people who are with him, who are daily coming to understand the power of the God whom Paul serves simply because they were in the same ship. Imagine if Paul had never taken the journey. In the last 2 verses of the chapter it states:

“And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.

And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”   

All safe and sound. We’re safe and sound in God as well. We’re on a journey for a reason. I’m reaffirmed in the fact that Christ’s presence in His believers is a shield over the community that we’re involved in. You are a protection to your co-workers! Your presence is like a balm from the day’s exhaustion. As ”little Christs” our life literally blesses others who don’t yet know the Christ who died for them. It’s a blessing AND a responsibility. We matter!  

Note: Bible study help from Grace to You ministries.

Day 7!

Black car, white paint

 This is the picture that’s taken at night

because of the day, that started at 5, and later at 6,

when part of a Bible study was missed

to leave for work

to beat the drive

that Michelle passed through this Monday morning.

And that is the paint

that’s stuck on the tires

because of the crash

that dropped the supplies

in front of the van

that stalled the bus

the brought the cop

that stared me down

and made me drive

all over the paint

that’s stained my car and tires!

Those are the tires

that are leaking slow

from a premature hole

on a car that’s NOT pre-owned

but now turned upside-down

just like the frown

Michelle got this morning.

David and Bath Mats

 (David)                    (bath mat)

I was reading 1 Samuel 22 earlier this week thanks to a little Bible study that makes reading a little less daunting. 1 Samuel has been pretty interesting. To begin, you have a man who is clearly set out to be God’s prophet since his birth from an infertile woman, Samuel. God moves in the characters in a very obvious way. Later, God will answer the Israelite’s pleas by giving them a king who will blatantly go against explicit commands in war. And He will still answer. 

But one of the things I found pretty interesting as of late is the character of David before he takes the throne. Saul has already proven himself ineffective, and Samuel has anointed David as God’s next chosen king. Before David can have this right, he has to wait for Saul’s death. Saul, the guy who David would play music for to calm his headaches. Saul, the guy who has thrown spears at David in broad daylight to kill him. He’s the same guy who allowed David to fight a giant after seeing God’s heart in the boy. No wonder we see such a conflicted David in the Psalms – content in one scene, then angry and confused at God in another. He’s had poor emotional leadership to follow.    

Anyway, God allowed David to spend time waiting for his promise as king. He had to run away, even hide his family while waiting for Saul’s anger to calm down and the time when he would finally take the throne. Like Moses, Abraham, Noah, all the patriarchs of the Bible, David had some serious waiting to do. What did he do in the meantime?

He fought. The man who protected his sheep from lions and decapitated a giant was fighting to protect his people while waiting for God’s promise to come to fruition. He physically fought against tribes: the Geshurites, Gezrites, Amalekites (1 Samuel 27:8). He didn’t slow down or back away. He literally fought the good fight. He sought God’s wisdom, and David waited for his answers actively.

Application? If we want to live according to God’s plan, we’ve got to wait. And, we’ve got to be active. Actually moving around and seeing this life as a blessing from God requires me to fight against everything that says it’s not.

Turn the page. So what have I been actively doing? Watching HGTV. Yeah, home decorating, home buying, home selling, home renovating, houses, houses, and more houses. I watched how you can completely change the style of your living room with just a few dollars by sewing bath mats together to make a floor rug. Do you know what it looked like? Like bath mats sewn together to make a floor rug…

What are we actively doing with our lives? Two completely different cultures - one of kings and prophets, one of a Do-It-Yourself economy – yet we have the same promise: God is with us and shows himself in amazing ways for those who will wait on Him. Actively fight the good fight. I got rid of my remote control (not because I had the brilliant idea), but I’ve gotten off of my bed and I’m not just getting up to change stations. We are expected to be deliberate in our decisions, in our actions, in what we say and don’t say, what we do and don’t do. I’m getting up and seeing how God looks when I wait on Him and commit to fighting those concepts that sneak in and tell me that waiting isn’t worthwhile.

Blessed are the Poor

For most, our social lives are constructed around those with similar social habits. If we have the fortune of graduating a high school, we’re around other graduates…college, other college grads, and on up. When is there opportunity to meet other people? Public transportation? Inside a fast food restaurant or yoga class? Not exactly. 

Why is empathy lacking when it comes to having empathy for those less fortunate than ourselves? It’s easy to not have a clue if I don’t even understand, if I never took a class on social conditions, or had the lesson modeled by parents, friends, a movie. I have no idea that empathy can be taught until I’m taught it by circumstance. And then, before any philosophical thinking and sociological academia, I remember Jesus already covered it. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (Matthew 5:3). It’s the first thing Jesus says as He gives His sermon on the mount. He’s looking out at a mass of people and this is on His mind. There will be times when you’re going to go to work and never have to face an entire grouping of my creation. There’ll be times when you seem like nothing compared to the ‘everything’ that others have. I imagine that He was seeing into the future when He looked into some of the faces in the crowd of all of us who would think again and again of how little we feel. He knew those who truly did have nothing. ‘Theirs is the kingdom of God,’ He said.

Somewhere, peace to those who live as a have-not or have-little. God’s kingdom is their domain. Where am I in all this? I want my life to be mingled up with everyone else. I want to have the empathy to understand, to better know and help someone who may have so little. So I can know what little I have. If Christ recognized those who had less, who am I? 

This issue’s Discipleship Journal is in!

So I subscribed for a year to Discipleship Journal, left it for a year, and now just started it up again. It’s a great resource and magazine. This bimonthly issue’s cover topic is “Thinking Biblically about Politics,” only a huge concern right now for upcoming elections. But what I’m really excited about is page 62: “Between Here and There: Help for navigating life’s transitions.” I’m totally in transition! I just have no idea where it is exactly that I’m going. For anyone interested, the magazine is a Christian resource with honestly impressive art which complements the thoughtful Biblical commentaries and sections. In an effort to get my work done, I’m tyring to use it as my reward and actually start writing a paper. Instead, I’m blogging. Aghhhh….

But hey, if you’re not procrastinating, check out www.discipleshipjournal.com!

Solitary Confinement

So I’ve been sick for an entire week, and unless your bedroom overlooks the beach, things can get pretty downcast while you’re stuck there. Thankfully, I’ve been able to get a lot of rest. It’s speeding up my recovery. On another note, staying in bed is just a reminder of how easy it is to let all that bad energy seep into my thinking. I’m sick, I’m not working, and suddenly my life is going nowhere and nobody likes me. Get out of bed!

Thankfully, God’s been very good and I was able to spend some sweet time going over scripture and devotionals. I highly recommend a little book called “Joy Breaks” by Johnson & Swindoll. In times when we get off-balance, I think it’s important to remember who we are. When we’re by ourselves for a little too long, or in a different group of people, we always have to come back. There’s a reason I listen to relaxing music, and hanging out with people who make me laugh. It’s who I am. I like fellowship, making peace, sharing the love of God. It’s not enough to dwell on the idea. We have to do it – for all those moments when we’re caught off guard or stuck by ourselves. We have to be doers of the word and not hearers only to help us in those hard times when we forget how good life is and forget “what manner of man we are” (James 1:24).

Recommended chill out music: Da Lata - Songs from the Tin (Brazilian)

 

Life and Internet Shopping

My lovely friend Adria gave me some helpful philosophy the other day that made me smile. She explained that life is a little like internet shopping:

You know what you want; you’ve bought it; and now you’re just waiting for the FedEx package.

Live like you expect the most of the life that’s already been promised to you. Don’t get too caught off guard when route 1, 2, or 3 gets stale. Keep going toward your goal.