Pay it Forward

June 23, 2011

Lord, thank you for each one of your children gathered in front of me. I pray that their hearts are receptive to you and your message, not just right now, but on a twenty-four/seven basis. Lord, I pray that the words that I am about to speak are yours…that you receive any praise that this message may bring. Lord, shut me up right now, I pray that you take over from amen on. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This sermon really goes back to the routes of my sermons…my freshmen or sophomore year of high school, I stood before the church and gave a sermon on being called to the broken…on how there are so many people dying in a state of spiritual hunger each day and showed a clip from Pay it Forward. I bawled for about a half hour before I was supposed to walk up the pulpit and speak and was so shaky the entire time.  Well, today, the message is very similar…a Pay it Forward clip is included and my nerves will probably get the best of me a few times throughout this sermon. I say all of this to show how important I feel this message is to the Church and to the churches, so pay attention J

Pay it Forward clip of Scene 2

We are on that hellish, shaky bridge that everyone must cross, before we become members of that undyingly enviably elite. Now, some of you may think that you can’t get across this bridge fast enough, that you’d rather hold your breath, close your eyes and not think about anything until it’s all over. I’m here to tell you, that’s not an option. This class is LIFE, which is you and the world. Yes, there is a world out there and even if you don’t want to think about it, it is still going to hit you in the face. What does the world mean to you? Come on’ a little class participation. Well, let me ask you another question…how often do you think of things that happen outside this town? Do you watch the news? All right…so there are some global thinkers, but why not more….we are not 11 year olds. What does the world expect of us? We have to pay taxes and show up to our jobs, send kids to school…but what more. What if when God asks what we’ve done for HIS kingdom and you haven’t prepared? We are at a loss….unless we take the things that we don’t like about the world, what breaks God’s heart,  and flip them upside down.

We are in a place that is comparative to a middle school…somewhere that we have to be…it is the law of nature…we have to live.  As Christians, we know that there is somewhere else…somewhere better that we all want to be, but we just can’t be yet. We have to live in this world…this world that essentially expects nothing of us….but the world is only one aspect. Where does God and church factor in?

The church and world and their correlation have been the topic of many recent conversations. My pastor at school did a sermon on the church not that long ago and it really got me thinking. He started by saying that there are one hundred and ten churches in Huntington County…Huntington county is only about ten thousand more people than White County…and I would estimate that we have about the same ratio of churches to people in White County.  Even going to a Christian college, there are so many students who refuse to go to one of those one hundred and ten churches because so many people feel that the church has been distorted. So here’s another audience participation question…what does “CHURCH” mean? Does it mean the building with the steeple and stained glass windows, the people gathered together right now in this building, all of the people worshiping in different buildings this morning, all of God’s family? What is the church? What does the Church expect of us?

The church has grown to expect so much out of their members. We are expected to tithe…preferably over ten percent. We are expected to bring people to church with us every Sunday to grow our numbers. We are expected to not only show up every Sunday, but at least two other times each week for church activities. We are expected to follow the laws and make it so that our families are portrayed as the perfect little church-going families so that our church (little c) looks like the best church it can be.

The church has grown into some skewed motives. Churches, little c, are often concerned more about the building that they have residency in. They are concerned with which political figures and good-looking people attend their church because they want to look like the best. Is there a need for one hundred and ten churches in Huntington County?! No, but the church has chosen to become a group of competitors competing for God’s love, favor and grace instead of a body..a family of believers lifting eachother up… and saving the world.  Each church seems more to be trying to top the church down the street than following God’s call to save the world. Churches even seem to be more encouraged not to get the broken and un-churched to church, but to get the members of that church down the street to their church…proving that they are the better church.  

I think it is about time to get back to the routes of what God expects…isn’t that the question we should all be asking anyway?

Today, most of our time will be spent in Galatians 6, I will be reading from the Message translation just because I really like how it breaks it down.

Galatians 6:1-3, “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the days out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.”

No Christian should ever think that they can live independently, not ever needed help from others; on the flip-side, no Christian should ever think that they are excused from helping others, from loving others where they are. This passage doesn’t just tell us to love our neighbors; it commands us to share in their burdens. What does sharing in anothers burdens actually entail?

Well, how many times have someone revealed his or her struggles to you and you’ve given the Christianese answer of “I’ll pray for you”? Now, how many times have you actually left them and steadfastly prayed for that person’s struggles? The Church, big C, has become really good with words, but we’re lacking in our actions of follow-up. So, not only tell the person that you will pray for them and actually earnestly pray for them. Invest some time in that person. Call them, text them, check up on them once in awhile. If they are struggling financially, show some of Jesus’ love and be willing to sacrifice.  A story that I heard always sticks out when I think about this concept. A man had been talking to a single-mom family that had been struggling financially; she had just gotten a job, but had to figure out how to get there because they didn’t have a ca. Instead of just praying that God provide for the family, which he did, he prayed that if there was something he could do for them, that God would let him know what. Well God answered with give them that extra car that you have…so he did. He not only used words to share in their burdens, but he wasn’t afraid to step up to a little action. Now not many of us have an extra car or that much extra money to just give to someone else, but how many of us donate clothes with Keith sends out things about a family who lost all their clothes in a fire. We all have plenty of extra clothes. Not always, but typically there is more that we can do for someone than prayer…though prayer is important. We also need to keep in mind that we can not be everything to everybody, we can always try to find someone else that CAN meet the needs of the burdened person.

When my pastor at school did a similar sermon, advised to “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.” The Church seems to be going wide, trying to shallowly reach everyone…this especially happens with churches are in competition with eachother trying to gain more attendance than the one down the road. Instead, each member of the church needs to go deep. Pray for one or two people for God to stick in your life to really minister to for an entire year. Do everything you can for those two people. Pray for them daily, be a long-term friend. Remember money doesn’t save the broken, love and time saves the broken.

Galatians 6 goes on to say in verses 9-10, “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time, we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get a chance, let us work for the benefit of all.” It is easy to become discouraged when we are not seeing the sowing-reaping principle mentioned in this chapter immediately. We are still encouraged to continue to doing good for God’s glory and trust God for the results. Eventually, maybe not even in this worldly life, we will reap a harvest of blessings.

Throughout the rest of Galatians 6, Paul takes the pen and takes the opportunity to talk about the people who were forcing circumcision because of the outward appearance of holiness. Verse 13 of the Message puts it like this, “They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!” This is just what the churches, little c, have gotten in the habit of doing. They recruit the “good looking” people to their churches, pulling them from other churches since they will already know how to behave. The churches have decided to neglect the completely broken people because they are too much work, and it looks bad to have a church full of addicts and drunks. Churches go surface level, changing people’s actions and appearance so they look more holy…and neglect the heart. Paul says right here, THAT IS CONTEMPTIBLE! The Church, big C, is called to the broken, to the ugly, the addicted, the drunk, the poor, the people that everyone else shies away from..they people that are whispered about, the people never looked directly in the eye. You know, the people like yourselves.

Galatians 6 finishes with the central issue: “I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all of this? It is not what you and I do-submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God-His chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!”  

Churches, little c, have made it about them, about them getting the glory…to see who can have the best stained-glass windows, the hippest band, the biggest building, the most in attendance, the greatest offering. We have made it about us..about the expectations of the world: to be the best and richest. However, we are called to be more than what the world expects of us.

We are called to more than the world, more than this hellish bridge of middle school. We are called to more than crouching in a corner and closing our eyes until it’s all over. We are called to share in the burdens of others. We are called to BE THE CHURCH, not only take up our cross, but to help with anothers load. We are called to not make it a show, to not make it about us or the church, the building, the world.

Two songs come to mind to sum up this sermon. Matthew West has a song that is on KLOVE a lot…my own little world. It’s lyrics go like this:

In my own little world it hardly ever rains
I’ve never gone hungry, always felt safe
I got some money in my pocket, shoes on my feet
In my own little world
Population me
I try to stay awake during Sunday morning church

I throw a twenty in the plate, but I never give ’til it hurts
I turn off the news when I don’t like what I see
Yeah, it’s easy to do when it’s
Population: me

What if there’s a bigger picture?
What if I’m missing out?
What if there’s a greater purpose
I could be living right now

If our world is population me, we are missing out: There are 27,000 children under the age of five dying each day due to hunger. We are called to them. There are 1.2 billion that live on less than a dollar a day, we are called to them. We are called to the 13, 000 girls under the age of 13 that are captured into sex slavery in America. We are called to the 5 children who die each day of child abuse in Indiana. We are called to the addicts, the drunkards, the ugly of White County. We are called to make the imperfect, the ugly, the poor, the broken, the divorced; the beaten…part of our population.

I want to do something a bit different to end this sermon. There is another song by Hillsong called Hosanna to really make this our prayer. Really pay attention to the lyrics.

What would that look like, to see our generation rising up to take the place with selfless faith…to see a near revival praying and seeking? To see our entire generation living God’s expectations.What would it look like to surrender everything we are…our entire identity as a church and as individuals to His Kingdom’s cause? So let’s stand to sing this song along with Hillsong…make it your prayer… however, that may look for you, if it’s raising a hand, closing your eyes, getting on your knees. Let’s pray for God to break our hearts to what breaks His. Let’s not be like the metal detectors at the beginning of the scene of Pay it Forward, the ones that didn’t even go off when the knife was slid through them….let’s not let the broken go unnoticed.

Hosanna by Hillsong

The Pay it Forward video challenged the students to changed the world and each of the students responded cynically, that it was weird, crazy, bummer, hard…but it is indeed possible…it is God’s ultimate expectation and hope for each of us. The realm of possibility exists in Christ. He has already done His part in changing the world, through the cross…now he has passed the buck to us. It is your job to take it and not sit back and let it atrophy. Let’s close in prayer.

Lord, we want you to break out hearts for everything that breaks yours, to nudge us out of our world of population one…to surrender everything we are for Your kingdom’s cause. Guide us in everything we say and do that it may be used to change the world for Your glory. We love you Lord, Amen.

Why the Narrow?

I spent the majority of yesterday watching Harry Potter...okay I spent ALL day yesterday watching Harry Potter. I had never watched any of the series before, but found myself engrossed in them this weekend. I found myself being caught up in though several times throughout the movies. One of my favorite lines came from the fourth movie: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Voldermort is coming back into the picture and the creepy one-eyed guy (I don't remember his name) is pointing out that he returned to his master and Voldermort retorts something to the extent of, "You came back because of fear, not because of loyalty."This line got me thinking of my motives for continually returning to my Lord. 

Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Right there, it says that our path to God is not going to contain as many of the things that the world does...we are going to have to limit our activities. It says later on that we will endure persecution...that we have to love our enemies...that we have to pick up our cross. Who in their right mind would choose each of these things instead of enjoying the fun of life? 

What are the motives for coming to Christ when there is so much of this torture promised to us? Do we come to Christ and continue to serve him out of selfishness when indeed, we are called to pick up our crosses. A main motivator to come to salvation is so we don't have to be damned for eternity. We can serve other people so that when we reach heaven we can hear "well done good and faithful servant." What are our motivators for asking for forgiveness and forgiving others? 

So many of these motives can boil down to selfishness. I think it is important to continue to evaluate ourselves and what our motives for Christianity are. Christianity calls us to deny our human nature, to humble ourselves and live selflessly.  Christianity is about caring for our neighbor, whether we like that neighbor or not. We are called to return to our master, not out of pure fear, but out of humility...out of a desire to rise above our tainted nature and strive for the way we were originally created. 

So I ask you why? Why are you returning to your Lord? Check yourself.

Much Love and Prayer,
D

One Dress/One Month

Wow! It has been so long since I have written...my life has been so busy and filled with immense amounts of school work: aka. papers (10 page ones!) AND research. Any who, the month of April has been a trying one in multiple ways but one obvious one has been the fact that it kicked off the One Dress/One Month campaign for StreetLight Phoenix. 

Streetlight is a shelter for child sex slaves in Phoenix that opened April 4. We often hear about sex trafficking in other countries but rarely hear of the impact it is having in America. So let me toss out a few facts:


1.) There are an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 children at risk of entering the industry IN AMERICA.
2.) The average age of entrance to trafficking is 13...though girls as young as 5 have been found...IN AMERICA.
3.) These girls averagely sleep with around 1500 men each year...IN AMERICA.
4.) The biggest demand is for girls age 14-17 because they are innocent and clean and come with a sense of danger.
5.) For the many of these girls, sex trafficking is NOT an option...they are forced into it by pimps through an intense process of grooming. 
6.) These girls are subjected to brutal abuse...sexual and physical...and are often tattooed or branded as a sign of belonging to their pimp.


StreetLight is opening to help save these girls...to provide them with Christian counseling, career counseling, education, food, clothes and shelter. On a side note, the cabins are beautiful! Streetlight will rewrite what love means in these girls' lives. 


StreetLight is using the One Dress/One Month campaign as a fundraiser and a way to raise awareness to this often overlooked and unknown abuse. Many women have been wearing one dress or one outfit for the entire month of April because so many of the girls caught in trafficking are forced to wear one outfit...for the majority of their time. They don't chose this outfit...it is chosen for them...chosen so that they can attract customers.


This cause has broken my heart every since I have watched the documentary Branded (which I recommend), yet this month has drilled it into my head. Each morning I wake up and put on the same black shirt and jeans...I have had the privilege of washing it as much as I want and accessorizing as I please. However, after the 12 day...I was over it...the challenge was no longer exciting...I was tired of it. Then I remembered that I am doing this because thousands of girls my age are forced to do this very thing only they don't get to accessorize or wash their clothes as much as I. It is all chosen for them...they are owned.


As I fall asleep each night, my heart breaks for those who are just now beginning their night and will be forced to stay out until they sleep with enough guys to collect the right amount of money for their pimps. Some girls are forced into cages or inadequate living spaces after these long nights. They can no longer cry because they are numb and have cried every last tear they have. They look at their skin and see where it says that they are property of so and so. They don't have the freedom to do even the simplest of things. 


I ask you to open your eyes to the injustices that are thriving in AMERICA right now...in your own backyard. Sex Trafficking isn't just in Arizona...cases have been found in almost every state. When you go to sleep tonight think about the girls who are out on the street being beaten, branded...having foreign objects inserted in places that they don't belong. Educate yourself.


Here is Streetlight's website...check it out: http://streetlightphx.com/
And if your heart is breaking and you are being urged to dig into your pockets, feel free to donate here: https://donations.towercare.com/StreetLight

Jesus Christ Dethroned?

Today in my World Masterpieces class, we were discussing Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. Dostoevsky was a devout Christian, which showed through his writing. In this piece, there is a very cynical man who adamantly admits that he is the biggest jerk on the face of the planet. He meets this prostitute and tries to lift her up out of her current position saying that if she keeps on this road she is going to become a slave to other people. This same girl though is the Christ-figure. That can be taken in so many wrong ways...I have completely not meaning to draw a parallel between Christ and a prostitute. This woman, Liza, loves the Underground Man despite the fact that he is the biggest jerk on the face of the planet. She loves him through his faults. She becomes the redeeming hero of the story.

The Underground Man simply can not take the fact that she is becoming his hero. He can not take the fact that such a lowly person is leading him to redemption so he undoes everything that he had told her and gets her to sleep with him and then pays her. He dethrones his hero to his prostitute. 

How many of us are doing in this with Christ? Sometimes it is so hard for me to humble myself before my hero. I want to be self-sufficient. I want to be able to save myself. I often times place human characteristics upon him in an attempt to knock him off of my throne. I want to think that I can not trust Him or that He doesn't really love me through all of my sins. I can't comprehend Him and that frustrates me. I want to fit God into this box that actually makes sense to me. 

So this blog is a rather short one, but it is gorgeous outside and I want to go for a drive to take in my Hero's majesty. However, I ask you....Are you trying to dethrone Christ? 

Much Love and Prayer,
D

The Bridgemaster Video

So a few years ago, I presented this sermon to my church back home. I have to admit I have not been a huge fan of any of the sermons that I have ever preached, yet God continues to do amazing things each and every time I stand to give a sermon. This sermon however, has gone down as one of my favorites. Today in church I began thinking about it again because they played the infamous Bridge Master Video.

The Bridge Master Video

December 27, 2009

LifeSong Church

            Before I begin, I want to warn you that this sermon isn’t the kind that I usually do. Not very much of it is actually my own words, rather words that have captivated my heart in a way that I couldn’t retell.  God is so good and I hope that this video and book captivate you too.  For now, here is the ever-popular, bridge master’s story:

BridgeMaster Video

            I had watched this video quite a few times before this year. It seems to constantly be one of those annoying forwards people are always doing through email-most of them I delete without even reading but this one captivated my heart each time I received it.   Each time I watched it, I was filled with the love for me that God possessed, shown through his sacrifice.  At school, I borrowed a book from a friend, God Came Near by Max Lucado.   Lucado pointed out that even though there are quite a few parallels in the crucifixion and the bridge master video like God having to sacrifice His son in order to save humanity and some hesitation near the end, there was a very important, often looked over difference. 

            Lucado alludes to Acts 22:22-23, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him as you yourselves know.  This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and fore-knowledge; and you with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” There is one key phrase in this passage that the bridge master video neglects to show.  GOD’S SET PURPOSE AND FORE-KNOWLEDGE! You see, the bridge master didn’t see it coming; he had no idea that his son was going to go down into that hole and that he would be faced with such a difficult choice.  If he had known, he like many of us probably would have quit his job in order to ensure not having to make this choice.  GOD KNEW-He knew from before Mary rode to Bethlehem on the donkey that His son was going to die on the cross.  He knew the pain and the suffering that His son would have to endure and yet when weighing the cost with His children spending eternity with Him, we won. Lucado puts it in a way that I just could not captivate,

“Jesus’ death was not the result of a panicking, cosmological engineer.  The cross wasn’t a tragic surprise.  Calvary was not an automatic response to a world plummeting towards destruction.  It wasn’t a patch-job or a stop-gap measure.  The death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril.  No, it was part of a plan.  It was a calculated choice.  It was the Lords’ will to crush him.  The cross was drawn into the original blueprint.  It was written into the script.  The moment of forbidden fruit touched the lips of Eve, the shadow of a cross appeared on the horizon.  And between that moment and the moment that the man with the mallet placed the spike against the wrist of God, a master plan was fulfilled.  What does that mean? It means Jesus planned his own sacrifice. It means Jesus intentionally planted the tree from which his cross would be carved.  It means he willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of the earth from which the nails would be cast.  It means he voluntarily placed his Judas in the womb of a woman.  It means Christ was the one who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem.  And it also means he didn’t have to do it-but he did.  It was no accident ---would that it had been.  Even the cruelest of criminals is spared the agony of having his death sentence read o him before his life even begins.  But Jesus was born crucified. … The ropes used to tie his hands and the soldiers used to lead him to the cross were unnecessary.  They were incidental.  Had they not been there, had there been no trial, no Pilate and no crowd, the very same crucifixion would have occurred.  Had Jesus been forced to nail himself to the cross, he would have done it.  For it was not the soldiers who killed him, nor the screams of the mob: It was his devotion to us.  So call it what you wish: an act of grace, a plan of redemption a martyr’s sacrifice.  But whatever you call it, don’t call it an accident.  It was anything but that. “

                        I have read this expert from the book so many times since I have originally read it and yet each time it still captivates me.  Do you realize how much God truly loves us? This is the season in which messages of his love are everywhere, but do you realize how much he loves us.  He would have nailed himself to the cross! I can’t think of anyone or even group of people that I would pierce long dull pieces of iron through my body to save. We often see the cross as the end of the story but in all of reality, the rest of the story was written around the cross-it being present before the rest. Isn’t that radical to think about?!  Like the bridge master, God knew the kind of people that he was killing his son to save. He knew he was being murdered for the lonely, angry, selfish, hurting and addicted. He was dying for the lowest of lows on the face of the earth and yet HE STILL CHOSE TO DIE! God’s love is amazing people…as if I sat at my computer for like half an hour just trying to put to words how amazing and I couldn’t come close.  It is as if every good thing put together in a blender, mixed up and then multiplied about a bazillion. That just may grasp it. 

                        One other characteristic that Lucado didn’t mention, but that bothers me is that every single person on that train goes on living their lives without even hearing of the sacrifice that saved their lives.  They didn’t even know that they were in danger and about died. They never heard of the boy who died to save them and the tremendous father who made a tough decision just for them.  Some of the passengers remained asleep while the entire video played out.  WE, as the church need to make sure that this is one sad difference between the bridge master’s story and that of our Savior’s.  For real, we have just come out of the Christmas season, one of the easiest seasons of the year to talk about our God and his sacrifice and yet how many of us filled conversations with Santa, where to get the toys on kids’ Christmas lists, Christmas lights and the annoying family that one must endure through family dinner? How many of us volunteered to say grace (I know I personally neglected the chore)? How many of us carried on a pleasant conversation with the people in the never ending line at the check-out, well how many, expect Mearl? How many of us invited someone to church with us through the holidays? How many of us told children the actual Christmas story and not just the one about visions of sugar plums?

                        Who are the sleeping passengers in our lives? Who are completely unaware of the price that was paid so that they can go on living their lives?  Who are those ignorant of God’s set for-knowledge? My mission for each of you is to add to your new year resolutions part 2009, add waking up one of the passengers to your list.  Tell someone of God’s unexplainable love-share the bridge master parable with him or her.  Enlighten them to the fact that Jesus planted the tree that would be carved into the cross. 

                        As we close in prayer, let God speak to each of you, He KNOWS the passengers that are sleeping in your life. He KNOWS the people that He has put in your life so you can wake them up.  He knows the people that you have been sitting by all through life without ever bothering to show them the truth.  Let God guide you to each one of these people.  I pray that we don’t let God’s sacrifice go as unheard as that bridge master’s that day. 

Convient Aquaintances or Real Relationships?

I had a great night tonight just playing Wally-Ball with some pretty cool and new people and then just hanging out with friends until 10pm. Seriously, it was a really good night and I am so fortunate to have these people in my life. However, the turning point of the night came when my close friend that I had been hanging out with decided it was her bedtime and that she was going back to her room. I had spent the majority of the night and afternoon with her so as I was walking back to my room I was trying to think of who may be available that I could hang out with.

As names of people and there whereabouts and current activities were skimming through my head, I began thinking about my relationship with each of the people. For the majority of them, I decided they were probably hanging out with some of their friends that I am never really around with or their "significant" others or are just people that I never really hang out with anyway. 

I realize that any relationship is two-sided and that it is my duty to keep up on friendships, but I am not getting into that right now. 

It is in my personality to always be second-guessing people's motives...seriously just ask any one of my close friends and they will tell you that I often even voice my insecurity. I have been thinking about how different my friend groups are just this year from last year and there are so many of them that have changed; some have disappeared all together, some have just changed and so many of them are completely new. Seriously, I have a handful of the same friends but even the majority of them have been altered in some way or form in the last twelve months. The question I think I am trying to get to through all of this is simply what motivates a friendship? More so what is the difference between a lasting friendship and one that is just here for a brief season?

I have realized that so many of our even close friendships are because of convenience. We live in the same building or same hometown: once we move to a new location, these friendships are often severed, ashes of memories only remaining.   We have the same classes, we tend to make friends especially if the other person is better in the subject than ourselves. I have seen so many people hanging out in lounges all the time together for a mere semester because one of them has no idea how to do the homework: once that class is completed, the friendship fails. I am assuming these roles to be that of what is considered a friendship and not a mere acquaintance. Living close to each other and having similar classes often triggers the beginning of a relationship that morphs into sharing meals and going on random expeditions.

What causes the relationship to stall at the end of the semester? Why does moving to a new location even if it is on the same campus and just a different people constitute reason for so many relationships to end? If someone worked for an entire semester on a beautiful painting that they loved; it would be highly unlikely for the artist to take the masterpiece to the burn pile out back and watch it flare up in flames. Yet, this is exactly what is happening to so many relationships. 

My main explanation is that we are a very lazy group of humanity. We are only willing to put into a relationship when there is some direct reward for us; like getting a better grade on a test or having someone to sit next to in a class where you know nobody. Once the relationship actually requires some for of work whether it be walking to the person's new room or calling them up once in awhile just to check in, we lose our motivation. It seems far more practical to just make friends within your new surroundings. 

I realize the fact that each relationship has its own season; that it is natural for relationships to alter and even die off with time; I just think that too many times we are rushing the calendar. We are missing out on some fantastic relationships because they take work and we don't find it necessary to actually work for them. It is important to let some relationships die and even kill off some, but eventually we are going to have to make the choice that some of them matter enough to fight for. 

As I have been writing this, faces continue to scroll across my mind; some of them bring tears to my eyes wondering what the friendship could have amounted to; others bring joy anticipating what is to come; even more bring fear, fear because I don't want to lose them, and am praying that the other party feels the same. 

I guess in closing, I just want to ask you to evaluate your list of friendships, calculate your motives, I beg you to not be the lazy person merely seeking out convenient acquaintances, instead invest in some real friendships. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there; don't be selfish and expect something in return; just seek out truthful and meaningful relationships....ones that you want to keep.

<3

A Losing Battle

This week, it has become more and more evident at how little we are actually in control of our own lives. More than that, I have really seen how big of a war can take place when I want one thing and God may be leading me in another direction. 

As I type this, I am listening to Fight by Point of Grace; such a good illustration of my point. The lyrics to the chorus go like this, "I am coming to you with all of my broken motives, all of my selfish dreams, all of my foolishness. I know that you're reaching out so what am I fighting more. Only you can save me, Only you can change me, only you can love me." 

Sometimes, I think that God keeps me around for His amusement, seriously. I mean, I know I find some sort of sick pleasure in being able to say "I told you so" when a friend doesn't follow my advice. I don't see why God would be any different. Just this week alone, I feel like God has told me that very phrase that I hate hearing probably enough times to fill up both of my hands. 

How many times of hearing "I told you so" is it going to take me to just start listening to Him? I mean it isn't like this is me trying to decipher whether to trust what a complete stranger has to say or even a close friend...this is me fighting to trust the mapper of my life.  This is the God whom has written out all of the possible choices and then has weighed them multiple times to see which would be the most productive in my life and has picked one possibility. He has done all the work and yet I still sit here with my list of pros and cons and apprehensive mind, insisting on figuring it out on my own. 

I have been around long enough to know that the conclusion that God has come to is often not the one that I want to pick. It is typically filled with pain, tears and the chance to say "I was wrong, you were right" (also a phrase I think God finds a little too much humor in hearing). It all comes back to that wide is the gate that leads to destruction and narrow is the gate that leads to life. Another little fact that I am slowly learning is that both of those paths are often clearly marked life....the wide one isn't marked destruction or it would be far to easy to just turn in the other direction. A war isn't started when you think that the other person is right and you are wrong; a war is waged when you believe yourself to be right and the other person wrong. 

Hosea 6:1 has come in much comfort to me over the past few weeks. It reads, "Come let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us. He has injured us, but will bind up our wounds." I have more so seen this verse as saying that I have torn myself to pieces, but He will heal me and that I have injured my own self, but He will bind up my wounds. I have injured myself each time that I have chosen to challenge the God of the universe. Yet, like a parent He continues to come to me with a band-aid, cleaning off my wound and remembering to say "I told you so, when are you ever going to start listening to me?"

So I ask you the same question, "When are you ever going to just start listening to HIM?"  

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