The Three Word Miracle

Today as I sit and type this, is the wonderful day that we set aside to remember Christ's first coming. Last night at our Christmas Eve Service I had a perspective change. I had spent the entire day watching a television show--a great one at that--but I realized I had spent most of my Christmas eve in a fake reality. How messed up is that? Shows are great, but when its this amazing season of giving, spending time with loved ones, and love I should have been doing more than just watching television. So by the time I was sitting in the service I was just praying for forgiveness for being so materialistic and for lack of better words beating myself up, and then something happened that changed it all. It all started with three words "Look Whose Here." My sister had no idea how great those words felt to me, as I saw that the family that left church 5 years ago had entered our church for the first time since they left. I realized I had witnessed a miracle that night--some may argue whether or not that was one, but I believe it was--this family that did not want anything to do with our church came back. It totally made me reevaluate my Christmas perspective and reminded me not to be so focused on "me, me, me." but to focus on others and what I can do for others, I mean for all I know the time spent obsessing over the amount of television I've watched I may have missed out on an opportunity to show God's love to someone. Then today, we had a Christmas Service, as it is Sunday and it was incredible. Maybe it's the geek in me coming out, but I loved the sermon so much and am just reminded how much we can forget how amazing this day we celebrate truly is. I mean it's the season we celebrate God giving His most precious possession, His one true son. The season that we can all stop our anger and give to those in need. There are so many things we can do to give, such as: lifestraws, Toms Shoes, Heifer International, and many more. I pray that the Christmas attitude of giving will stay in me and others 365 days a year and not just during this Advent season. Let's all try and move past our flaws from the dust and become the people that we truly can be. The people the Christ made us to become. 

Do not mistake a Privilege for a Right.

Wow. I stumbled upon this picture today on iwastesomuchtime.com and it occurred to me how selfish Americans have become. So often we get stuck in this bubble of "Oh I'll just donate money and not get involved in the world's problems" and then proceed to complain about our own "1st world problems" such as our Internet not completely working or our cable dying. There are children dying all over the world and yet we seem to be more concerned when our cable dies. How messed up is that? There are so many privileges that we think are our rights and we take advantage for. What if one day we lost all of that? What would we do? What is the church doing to help out in this dilemma is an important question we must all be asking. There are multiple answers to that; some Churches are doing a great job at responding to the horrible poverty in our world, but there are sadly some that are not as responsive. We need to get out of our little bubble of comfort and show God's love to this dying broken world and instead of just investing money we need to find ways to invest in these impoverish people's lives. I know that I am at fault in just wanting to give money, because I am a flawed man from the dust, but I am striving to find ways to help those in need. We are all called to be ministers and to "love the least of these" as Christ says "Whatever you did for the least of these you did for me" (Matt. 25:40). We need to stop deceiving ourselves that sitting in pews and giving money is loving the least of these to the best of our abilities. There must be more that we can do and as followers of the Way it is our responsibility to because the Scriptures teach us to "do everything you say or do in the name of Jesus." and to do it to the best of our abilities, because Jesus does not want our second best...He wants our best. These are my thoughts on this third Sunday of Advent the day of Joy; for we should have Joy to Give to those who are in need as we speak of God's second coming to renew the world.

The End of an Era of Passions and Accidents.

Approximately one day ago I finished my first semester of the after-high school known as College. It seemed like just yesterday that I entered campus filled with passions and ideas; now I was ending an era filled with so much more passion and little idea of what to do with it. One may argue that this is not the end of an era, but simply the beginning of it and to them I would say that is partially right. Yes, this is the beginning of an amazing four years, but it is also the end of the beginning. It is the first semester that is filled with meeting new people and developing lasting friendships, it is in this first semester that habits, friendships, and jokes are formed. There may be many new memories approaching but the late nights spent commenting on TV shows and laughing at inside jokes of my first semester will last for decades. As famous "philosopher" Barney Stinson is known to say this semester is "Legen--wait for it---Dary!"  Now I sit, back in this place I once called home, and I contemplate everything that occurred during these fateful three months.

Passions. Since the moment I stepped into my first semester I have been filled with passions and the more I read the more I wanted to find ways to fulfill these passions. So often we find out what we are passionate about and we just want to do something. Whether it's social justice, theology, little kids, teenagers, drama, art, whatever it is there comes a time in our lives where we just want to find as many opportunities as we can to do what we are passionate about. When one gets to college these passions only strengthen and there are so many possibilities, but so little time. I have been continuously getting great ideas and desires but I do not have the resources or the time. I am learning that college is a time to discover passions and slowly find ways to work with them. Do not push your passions away, embrace them. Find ways to do what you are passionate about and God will use you. I firmly know and believe that God will use me, and others, and my passions to do His will. God gives us our passions and would not do that if they were for nothing. God wants to use your passions to affect and change this world that He will bring His kingdom to in the age to come. So don't hesitate, use those passions for God's glory.

Accidents. Accidents are what develop into the best friendships. This phrase may seem odd to some and in the past I would have discounted it right away, but think about all of your close friendships. When did you ever say "I am going to be this person's best friend." and it actually worked out like that? How often can one person meet someone and just decide to make sure they are best friends? Well I used to think you could do that, that you could in essence create your own friendships with anyone you like. Which you can, but you cannot do that with best friends. In fact the best friends are found through accidents. The people I have met and purposely tried to be "best friends" with were the ones that were not there for my struggles and in fact caused some of those struggles; it was the friends I accidentally met this semester that are developing into the best of friends. The guy I met at orientation who I thought was weird, the girl I met at a scavenger hunt who I thought was quiet and out of my league, the girl who seemed to copy my speeches in class, the guy I have known for years but didn't plan on rooming with until last minute, and so many 'accidental' meetings that have became lasting friends. It is these accidental meetings that have made close friendships not the forced ones.

I propose we embrace accidents, because so often we can cry about spilled milk, as the old phrase goes. Many people think that when an accident happens it's a bad thing but instead of looking a the glass "Half empty" or "half full" let's look at it as just "full" and when it spills we help clean it up and look for more milk for our glass. Why cry about the milk when there's so many good things that come from it? What if that milk in your cup was spoiled and you did not realize it? So by it being spilled you were able to get fresh milk. Let's look beyond milk though. If you're driving down the road and get lost or miss a turn, don't get upset. You should think "maybe an accident happened on the road we're supposed to be on...maybe this detour saved us." Life can always be better if we find the positives in the accidents and embrace them. Sometimes a baby is an accident, but if you look at those cute little babies and see the miracle of life in them, it's hard not to say "Oh, this is a miracle." these ideas that things are accidents can really be turned into miracles. If I was given a horrible accident I bet I could find at least one positive element to it and it is these positives that keep us together in the end.

 As I am at the end of this era and at the beginning of another I encourage everyone to embrace the accidents of life, find ways live out their passions, and continue on to the new era where bigger and better things are in store.

A Day of the Battles of Consumerism.

Today I had the privilege of joining my family on their shopping spree on this day dedicated to consumerism. My day started off with good intentions but little did I know I would begin a struggle that I never conceived I would deal with on this typical day that only occurs once every twelve months. All throughout the day I was spending countless amounts of money and would justify myself because I was making purchases for other people--which don't get me wrong was perfectly fine, but that is another topic in and of itself--and then I began to realize that days like "Black Friday" completely contradict what I have been reading about in Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and what I have been "preaching" to my fellow friends. I had been so focused on trying to find the best gifts I could for people that I was completely forgetting about all of those homeless who cannot spend large amounts of money on their friends. Now I know that it's great to use the money that God has allowed me to acquire to give towards friends, but I feel that if I am going to speak on helping the homeless I truly should watch where I put my money. What really got to me was when my aunt commented on my beard and I said "Well the homeless could not just go out and get their beard trimmed." to which she replied, "They also can't buy their friends books." Which really provoked my thoughts and created this struggle that I imagine is going to sadly continue in my life. A struggle between the consumerism that the world throws upon myself and the call to love the least of these. We should not simply say "I love the least of these" but we should be striving to help them in any way we can. I am always falling into the pattern of consumerism thoughts to buy more and more when in the grand scheme of things I do not deserve any of the things; in fact I should be using that money to help those who don't have anything. I just wish my desires to get more would one day transform into a desire to give more. When I am not around good sales my desire is to give to those in need, but I just wish that desire would always be there. I am praying the words from Romans 12:2 which says "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." I may be overreacting to the guilt of consuming so much for I am a flawed man, but I do know that I want God to completely change the way I think and allow these desires from the dust to follow His will alone.

It all starts with the question: Why?

As I sat here in my dorm room and contemplated what to do at such a late hour of the morning it occurred to me that I had started up a blog, but never took the time to write on it yet. I believe the most obvious topic to start with is why? Why this blog? Why do we ask that question so often though? Why should it matter my reason for wanting to start a blog. So often we are too focused on the question why, when we need to be more focused on the questions how and what. How can we make a difference in this world and What can we do to initiate that. How can I learn from this blog or What can I get out of reading this blog; Enjoyment? Freedom from the dreaded word known as boredom? To attain knowledge? We need to question why and how in everything that we do, because if we do not we can fall into the trap of just blindly accepting things. That may not seem like a trap to some, but to truly grow in life--whether through our "spiritual" life or "regular life" (As if labels and categories should really be necessary, but that's an entirely different topic.)-- we need to question the mundane, the extremes, and everything in between.  As one who is striving to be in relationship with our creator, God, I believe we need to all remember that in a relationship you cannot just blindly accept, but you need to question why and how can I... It is having the faith to question our beliefs that makes all the difference. I encourage the readers to take these words with a grain of salt and with your "crap detector" on, for these are simply the thoughts from one who was made from the Dust, a son of Adam, a Fallen Man.