Monday, February 9, 2009
Summer of 2009
Up until just a week ago my thought for this summer was that I would stay here in des Moines and do whatever I could to get by for housing, but last Monday an idea popped into my head that I was so sure in that it felt like it had been there for my whole life. Aster this school year is over I am eligible to be a counselor at the bible camp that I went to as a kid, and so I am going to apply there. As of this point I have only recieved positive feedback on this idea, though it is possible that there will be someone who tells me that I should stay. this is a wonderful opportunity for me because I can use it to share the love of God with hundreds of strangers over the course of the summer, and I can't imagine anything that would be a better usage of my time. I would not only get free room and board all summer, but I would also be getting paid more than twice what I am getting at the library. It seems that this idea could be a great thing if i comes to pass, though I won't know until the beginning of March. I can only pray that the Lord will use me as He sees fit and that whatever ends up happening will be His will. My own ideas about the future have been challenged in the last few weeks, and I have no idea where the Lord will take me this summer, let alone the rest of my life. Whether or not he will keep me in Des Moines or have me go somewhere else; or if he will have me continue what I am doing or do some other kind of ministry. All I know for certain is that as long as God loves me I will go where he leads me, and I will live my life for him, at whatever personal cost I am charged.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
I want to start off with a disclaimer: this is not based on anything going on in my life right now, it's just a reflection on the past.
The title of this posting is Hebrews 13:7, and it's a verse that I think goes very well with this subject.
There comes a time in every person's life that they realize that their mentors are only human. The person that they used to think was infalible proves to be prone to weakness and shows that they are no better than anyone else. This weakness may be something small, such as them getting sick, or something big, like an unflattering secret being told about their lives. When we are young this hero is often one of our parents, but as we grow older it changes to someone else. Possibly our favorite teacher or coach, maybe a professional in the career that we intend to take, or maybe it's someone that just shows great personal strength. Whatever the case, when that person shows a human weakness we often will discard them and look for someone better. We don't realize that we will never be perfect, and so having a mentor who isn't is not a big deal. We can learn so much from the mistakes of the people who teach us, but often we just judge them without realizing that a lot of what they taught us came from lessons they learned based off of their mistakes. There will even be times that we see things in our lives that we can do better than our mentors, and so often we think that that makes us better. It's an issue of pride that Americans deal with on a regular basis. We see one thing that we're good at and make it th basis of our lives. It's like thinking I'm better than my math teacher because I know English better than her. It's so stupid, and yet we do it with everyone, but it mainly hurts how we see our leaders. How will any of us ever learn if we cannot see past the mistakes of others? We can only fully cooperate and work as a team if we understand our own strnegths and weaknesses as well as those of the people around us. I personally have met a lot of people who have talents that I will never possess, but I know that I can do things that they can't do as well. How do you measure musical ability to scientific knowledge to see who is better? You can't, and yet we all do it every day of our lives. I don't understand why it is that we seem incapable of respecting those who struggle with something that isn't an issue for us. One of my favorite teachers in high school was homosexual, which is not something I agree with, and yet he taught me so much more than any of my other teachers when it came to life skills and how to be respectful. I want to point out that I am not talking about tolerance, respect and tolerance are different things. If I can't respect someone because of a flaw that they have it shows a flaw in me just as much as it does in them. Even though I disagree with his lifestyle I can still respect the wisdom that he has gained through the course of his life, and I can learn from it. That doesn't mean that I approve of his choice, just that I respect his wisdom. It's the same with any person and their sins, if I stopped respecting everyone who has told a lie I couldn't learn from anyone, and that would put me in a very pitiable condition.
The title of this posting is Hebrews 13:7, and it's a verse that I think goes very well with this subject.
There comes a time in every person's life that they realize that their mentors are only human. The person that they used to think was infalible proves to be prone to weakness and shows that they are no better than anyone else. This weakness may be something small, such as them getting sick, or something big, like an unflattering secret being told about their lives. When we are young this hero is often one of our parents, but as we grow older it changes to someone else. Possibly our favorite teacher or coach, maybe a professional in the career that we intend to take, or maybe it's someone that just shows great personal strength. Whatever the case, when that person shows a human weakness we often will discard them and look for someone better. We don't realize that we will never be perfect, and so having a mentor who isn't is not a big deal. We can learn so much from the mistakes of the people who teach us, but often we just judge them without realizing that a lot of what they taught us came from lessons they learned based off of their mistakes. There will even be times that we see things in our lives that we can do better than our mentors, and so often we think that that makes us better. It's an issue of pride that Americans deal with on a regular basis. We see one thing that we're good at and make it th basis of our lives. It's like thinking I'm better than my math teacher because I know English better than her. It's so stupid, and yet we do it with everyone, but it mainly hurts how we see our leaders. How will any of us ever learn if we cannot see past the mistakes of others? We can only fully cooperate and work as a team if we understand our own strnegths and weaknesses as well as those of the people around us. I personally have met a lot of people who have talents that I will never possess, but I know that I can do things that they can't do as well. How do you measure musical ability to scientific knowledge to see who is better? You can't, and yet we all do it every day of our lives. I don't understand why it is that we seem incapable of respecting those who struggle with something that isn't an issue for us. One of my favorite teachers in high school was homosexual, which is not something I agree with, and yet he taught me so much more than any of my other teachers when it came to life skills and how to be respectful. I want to point out that I am not talking about tolerance, respect and tolerance are different things. If I can't respect someone because of a flaw that they have it shows a flaw in me just as much as it does in them. Even though I disagree with his lifestyle I can still respect the wisdom that he has gained through the course of his life, and I can learn from it. That doesn't mean that I approve of his choice, just that I respect his wisdom. It's the same with any person and their sins, if I stopped respecting everyone who has told a lie I couldn't learn from anyone, and that would put me in a very pitiable condition.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Amazing Love of God
A subject that is very near to my heart is the love that God has for us as his children. Most people understand the fact that God loves us, but they tend to forget the whole aspect of "God the Father". They understand that God loves them, but they don't understand how it relates to the love of a father. As someone who grew up without a father I am the last person who should be able to understand this subject, and yet God has given me some insight into the matter bu giving me friends who have good relationships with their fathers. I have seen the love that a father has for his children, and so I have seen the love that God has for all of us. He calls us to love people as he loves them, and yet we often forget that. There is a common theory going around that showing someone love means accepting them despite their mistakes, but the problem with a theory like that is the outcome of such a kind of love. A father will tell his child not to touch the hot stove, he knows that the child will get burned if he does. That is the love that God has for us. He doesn't let us touch the hot stove and learn from our mistakes unless there is no other way to teach us. If we love people despite their shortcomings we should try to help them by preventing them from making mistakes. That means that if we believe that the bible says that something is wrong (i.e. abortion or gay marriage) we should do our best to warn people about the consequences for such actions. For those of us who believe it should be enough that God has said something for us to believe it, but I understand that those who do not will need reasons for why we believe what we do, which is why Christians have to have more knowledge about their faith and why God says something is wrong. If we cannot defend our faith we cannot speak about it, or we will be made to look like fools. With the issues of Gay marriage and abortion the bible states clearly that they are both sins, though does not say exactly why in the context that it lists them as sinful. God has said that murder is wrong, and so we look at abortion and have the option of saying that it is wrong or right. The matter becomes whether or not the baby has any human rights before it is born. Disregarding the scientific facts that make it clear that there is a heartbeat and brain activity long before any cutoffs for abortion, it becomes a matter that each individual must make for themself, whether by being informed or not. The bible states that whoever strikes a pregnant woman and causes the child to die while still in the womb shall be put to death. The idea is that a life will be payed for a life, and so we know where God stands on the issue. An unborn fetus has life, and to abort it is murder in God's eyes, and so is also murder in the eyes of his followers.
The issue of Gay Marriage is also heavily disputed between Christians and non-Christians, though there is crossover on both sides. Leviticus 20:13 says, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads ." It lists homosexuality as a detestable act, and is therefore something that the Lord's followers should stand against. People have made the argument that the Old Testament law is invalidated by Jesus' sacrifice, but it does not say that anywhere in the New Testament. It does say that the things that were unclean are no longer unclean, allowing people to eat and wear what they wanted, but it made no such statement that the laws as to what is right and wrong according to the Lord would change. The new covenant does not prevent anything from being sin, it frees us from the religious traditions that were practiced for centuries for the forgiveness of sins by providing us with a new way to be forgiven, and eliminating the old.
Some Christians do not agree with everything that God says, but we just need to humble ourselves and admit that God knows better than we do, after all, he did make us. I'm not saying that it's wasy, it was a hard decision for me to make, but it's worth it. One of the hardest things for me to accept was that my will is smaller than God's, and what made it so hard to accept is that my twin brother is homosexual. We have never been very close, but I knew that admitting that God was right would mean admitting that my brother was living a lifestyle that is not pleasing to him. It was very difficult for me to choose anything over my family, but I know that it will be worth it.
The issue of Gay Marriage is also heavily disputed between Christians and non-Christians, though there is crossover on both sides. Leviticus 20:13 says, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads ." It lists homosexuality as a detestable act, and is therefore something that the Lord's followers should stand against. People have made the argument that the Old Testament law is invalidated by Jesus' sacrifice, but it does not say that anywhere in the New Testament. It does say that the things that were unclean are no longer unclean, allowing people to eat and wear what they wanted, but it made no such statement that the laws as to what is right and wrong according to the Lord would change. The new covenant does not prevent anything from being sin, it frees us from the religious traditions that were practiced for centuries for the forgiveness of sins by providing us with a new way to be forgiven, and eliminating the old.
Some Christians do not agree with everything that God says, but we just need to humble ourselves and admit that God knows better than we do, after all, he did make us. I'm not saying that it's wasy, it was a hard decision for me to make, but it's worth it. One of the hardest things for me to accept was that my will is smaller than God's, and what made it so hard to accept is that my twin brother is homosexual. We have never been very close, but I knew that admitting that God was right would mean admitting that my brother was living a lifestyle that is not pleasing to him. It was very difficult for me to choose anything over my family, but I know that it will be worth it.
First Post!
So this is my first post on my new blog, and I'm pretty excited about that. I guess that most people keep up with others by reading their blogs, so I figured that I should jump on the bandwagon. Hopefully the things that I put up will inspire thought in the individuals who read it, and I hope that you will read what I write carefully and prayerfully.
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