Charlie and Dane
Charlie hadn’t even taken a bite of his sandwich when Dane threw his juice box down and stepped on it, laughing as the juice leaked into the gravel. Dane looked up and slapped Charlie across the face, cursing him out and walking away. It was injustice at it’s worst and yet it continued day after day. Charlie didn’t do anything though, he was afraid. Why? Dane always let Charlie feel like a friend for a few moments a day before he abused their relationship and his ‘friend’.
Was Charlie really so alone that he was afraid to give up Dane? Apparently he was. It continued for years.
This miserable story repeats itself on a daily basis in marriages, families, and schools around the world. Does this make you mad? It makes me mad, especially because I see it in my own life. You probably see this story in your own life too. Where? Whenever you or I sin.
We put up with the harmful abuses of sin because for a couple minutes a day (or more) it pretends to be our friend. It always hugs us before it comes back to stab us. We are Charlie, Dane is sin. We are often too afraid to give up Dane and live in peace and freedom because true friends are so rare in this world. That’s why Jesus tells us He wants to be our friend, so that we can turn to Him instead of Dane and finally be free of that cycle of abuse and injustice.
Jesus, rid us of Dane, we’re sick of him and we need a new, better, lasting friend.
8 Things It’s (really) Hard To Do
- Pray for others before yourself.
- Forgive enemies.
- Stay passionate about people.
- Flee from lust.
- Be generous even when you have little.
- Separate ‘difference’ and ‘judgement’.
- Stay away from social networks.
- Remain hopeful even when the world is collapsing.
Thanks Jesus for making these things possible, even though they’re (really) hard.
8 Things It’s (too) Easy To Do
- Give up on a plan.
- Worry about money.
- Lose touch with old friends.
- Start too many projects.
- Talk too much.
- Dismiss exercise.
- Not read any books.
- Become comfortable with routine.
I love my baby boy so much. Gideon is a little bigger now (the picture is a month old) but I still get as excited as a teenage girl at a Bieber concert when he’s asleep and I can lay down next to him and pray.
I Don’t Know, Man
I’ve asked a lot of people I work with, meet with, and hang out with a question: what do you wanna do with your life?
The overwhelming response I get, from Christians and non-Christians alike, is “I don’t know, man” or “I’m trying to figure that out”. To be clear, my social circles are full of teens, college students, and young adults - stages in life that lend themselves to some uncertainty - but the overwhelming majority are clueless about their future hopes, aspirations, and plans. Is this wrong? No. Is it healthy? It can’t be.
It seems like this younger generation’s currency IS uncertainty. Growing up in the times that we have, why shouldn’t it be? A once ‘invincible’ U.S.A is at it’s weakest. Faith in politics drops as every election rolls by. Job security is a thing of the past. Uncertainty fills the air like mosquitoes near a stagnant pond. When I ask my co-workers about money, they say they don’t have any. Why? Well why should they? Marriage is an antiquated custom, so saving for that is pointless. Kids are seen as nuisances. Future plans are subject to change (like everything else around us) so why place our hope in them?
Sadly, for a secular society and an amoral culture, these questions are good questions to ask because they are logical. If you don’t place any real value in marriage, getting married is pointless. Take this valid argument into other contexts and you find a culture of uncertainty pervading every aspect of life. The answer? Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
What about this generation’s Christian population, also characterized (much of the time) by uncertainty and fear? The answer is obviously not a resolve to drown our emotions and thoughts in substance, sex, or alcohol abuse because that hasn’t gone well for anyone and it’s called sin by Jesus. So how do we deal with these difficult feelings of uncertainty and fear? I think God has a solution for us.
It’s a twofold understanding:
- God is never in a hurry. (I owe this thought to Unkaglen’s post)
- We’re commanded in Scripture to take one day at a time. (see Matthew 6)
God is never rushed and cannot be late. His timing is always right because he exists outside the sequential order of things we call time. Your sin, your move to college, your future spouse, your career path…God already sees and knows it all as if it’s happening right now. So relax a little, uncertainty isn’t wrong, it’s normal, God has lots of time to show you what He wants. Maybe we should stop calling it uncertainty too, with all it’s negative connotations. How about “I’m waiting”, rather than “I don’t know”. God has a plan for you, it’s coming, just wait.
If you read the link to Matthew 6 you’ll have read some words spoken by Jesus about worry, fear, basic neccesities and you’d have picked up on something: He knows. He knows what? EVERYTHING. God knows tomorrow and sixty years from today and during that span (which for us is a lifetime) He never changes. He knows what we’ll need and how we’ll need it and when. So He says: “…don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
The creator of the universe is saying: I know everything, I’m in no rush, just take one day at a time! When I think about that, I feel at peace. If I can get through today’s uncertainty, our culture’s pressure, and society’s influence, with God by my side…I’ll be OK, man.
Toe Trends
“I don’t want to look like an idiot!” and “They’re awesome! This is my sixth pair!” are two statements I hear about the same product, almost everyday. I work at REI which is one of the biggest outdoor specialty retailers in the nation and Vibram FiveFingers is the buzz-word these days.
Vibram is a privately owned company based in Italy. They make rubber soles for a large majority of outdoor footwear and FiveFinger ‘shoes’ are their contribution to the barefoot running community. Right now the hype surrounding them is part trend, part deserved.
What they’re good for:
- Barefoot running (their original intent).
- Strengthening muscles in your feet and legs.
- Aligning joints in your body in a more natural way than regular shoes do.
- Stamina while standing/walking/running (partly due to the increase in muscle).
- Looking cool. Seriously, they are being worn to clubs and bars for looks-sake.
- Deeper ‘connection’ with the earth (no joke) seeing you feel everything underfoot.
Links & Info:
10 Reasons I’m Re-Blogging
My personality is like my baby. When he’s really hungry, he gets excited, moves around, starts speaking infant, and is a force to be reckoned with. The rest of the time he sleeps. I operate on a similar level. I get excited, make things happen, start writing, speaking, meeting, or planning, and I’m somewhat effective…for about a week. Then I sleep, forget, rethink, doubt, and do everything BUT stay committed to that original idea. Well, I’m trying to change that. Here are 10 reasons I am re-entering the blogosphere.
1. I’m learning how to take things slowly, to be more deliberate and less gung-ho.
2. Writing is a passion, but needs to be practiced. Practice needs to be scheduled. I’m scheduling it.
3. I wear glasses now, and I’m pretty sure people expect me to be more studious and intellectual. Writing will grow me into the glasses.
4. I’m going to be writing about more topics. I research a lot about a lot, this will be an outlet for that research.
5. I have set a goal for the number of followers I want. I want this goal to be realized (see reason 1).
6. I want to better my writing because I want to write a book. That’s right, someday I will be an author, this blog is my boot camp.
7. I am connected, because of my childhood, to people all over the world. I want them to know me, and that’s hard over Facebook, Twitter…
8. I want to use this blog as an encouragement to real people. People wear lip gloss and fake smiles, life doesn’t. I think more should be written about the nit and the grit.
9. I want to connect with more people online in a deeper way than most social networks offer. Tumblr hosts 20 million blogs (that’s more than Wordpress). I think I’ll start here.
10. I love drinking Earl Grey tea, and nothing seems to bring out the flavors like writing while listening to Sbtrkt.
Wonderfully Inconsequential
I’m sitting in front of my computer, eyes closed, hands covering my mouth, kind of like I’m praying, but I’m thinking. Life is difficult, there is no escape from that prison-like reality. Quite often, it causes me to feel overwhelmed, partly because of life’s trials, partly because of my sinfulness. Have you ever felt that way? Incapable. Wanting to do something to help yourself, help the world, or help God, and then realizing that you simply and utterly cannot. I feel like that right now. And as I sit here, puzzling over why and how and when, I feel small…in a very good way.
Life, and our stubborn pride, have an odd tendency of working in tandem, fooling us into believing we are it. We are the center. We are the kings and queens of our civilized, well-governed kingdoms. Here, we are being duped. We are actually wonderfully inconsequential. Yes, God loves us and desires us to enter into His rest, but beyond that He does not need us or rely on us in any way. We like to think friends and family need us, and to a certain extent they do, but they will not die for lack of me or you. They mourn, weep, wonder, and yearn, but they do not vanish just because we do. Neither do our jobs or pets or bank accounts or hobbies leave the world with us. We are, in every sense, momentary and finite.
“Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
together they are lighter than a breath of air.” -Pslam 62:9
While at first this may all seem disheartening and glum, it is oddly freeing. If we appropriate the smallness of our existence, then we will better understand the magnitude of Christ’s. Christ is all. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. He is the Morningstar, Mighty God, Messiah. I need to be reminded of this, hourly. Why? Because my sinfulness and large head tempt me to become the ‘it’, the center of all things, just as often. When I become that center I sin against God in idolatry, and God hates idolatry.
Lord, remind me throughout my days that I am wonderfully inconsequential, and that while I was in a state of pathetic smallness, You chose me to become a child of Yours through Jesus Christ, Savior. For that, I am forever grateful.
Faith is the surest of all sin-killers.
Selflessness
Before the highways are invaded by legions of commuters, before barristas pull the first creamy espresso shots of a new day, a mother is feeding her child for the third time since the dark hours of midnight. A sleep-deprived father kisses his baby’s feet and wonders what he can do to serve his wife. As romantic the picture may be, it is not, typically, a very accurate telling of an early morning scenario. Why is that? Selflessness is difficult. In fact, selflessness may be the most difficult character trait we strain to possess.
Christ exemplified it perfectly, but emulating His selflessness seems like an impossible task. And it is, if not for the power of the Spirit in the life of a man or woman whose life is Christ and whose purpose in the world has been redeemed. Selflessness is possible, only because Christ was selfless. The idolatry of oneself, the sin that cast Satan from before God’s throne, is the most devious and slippery sin that humanity faces because it is the root to a hundred lesser evils. Selflessness is a battering ram to our lofty fortresses of pride.
I find in my heart the enemy of selflessness hunched down, ready for a long fight. Selfishness is ready for the onslaught, every morning waging a fresh war against me.
God, may Your mercy and grace be multiplied to me. May Your strength give me victory in the battle against selfishness and pride and every other evil that my sinful nature drools over.
