I posted this Nov. 6th, 2006:
It feels like all I've done lately is complain about things. I really have no right at all whatsoever to do so. I chose the path of integrity for a reason, and although it destroyed most of, or all, of what I thought was good in my life.. I'm still blessed. Last night was the ultimate example of this.
So Charlie and I went to Jack and the Box..it's become our favorite place when we realized it's open 24/7 and cheap. So anyway, we're at Jack and the Box before the Mae concert, just talking about everything going on in our lives. How crazy the last month has been for us, and how our situations are very much the same. We had reached the point where we hated integrity and what it had done to us. Truth be told, it's horrible. We felt like everything we had was stripped from us. Some friends, a relationship.
Then God got involved.
We're getting off the freeway at Congress and a homeless man is standing there with his cardboard sign. I felt the need to give him some money so I reach in my back pocket, but the light turned green and cars were honking at me so I told the man "Stay there, I'll be right back." I turned into the Circle K right there and told charlie we're gonna go over there and give him a few bucks. We rushed out of the car and started walking out of the gas station when a man's car broke down right there because he was out of gas. So we offered to help him push his car into the gas station. It was something small, but we knew that God had placed us there in that moment for that reason.
So then we walked across the street to the other side of the freeway where the man we saw was ready to beat up another homeless man, and his wife was trying to stop it. Charlie and I just said, "hi." and it ceased. The other man walked off. We gave like 5 bucks to the man, and said God Bless. His wife was thankful just that we showed up "to break up the fight". So at this point Charlie and I are just like...we're on God's timing now. Just in span of a couple minutes we were used to push a car, provide money, "break up a fight", and then we talked to the other man that was involved in the fight. It was so humbling. It seems small, and a much smaller deal than I'm building it up to be. But had you been there with Charlie and I...you just felt God doing His thing.
Our problems were just gone. Worthless. Every person we encountered that night God had used us in some way. Money, fellowship, labor. Something. We talked to many other people as well. Because I'm dumb and in the rush of getting out of the car I locked the keys in the car. But even that God used. The man we'd helped move the car didn't have money to fill up some gas. I didn't have my wallet on me. It was in the car. I just took the few bucks I needed for the homeless man. Charlie dug in his pockets and came up with a few bucks in change for the man. It must have been enough to get him where he needed to go next because he left.
Point is, I'm no longer on my timing. God slapped me in the face last night through humility and grace. He was showing me, once again, that His path is rough no matter where you're at, but it's abundant. I can honestly say I'm absolutely miserable right now, but I've never been more thankful to be miserable.
thank You
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Salt and Light: The Light
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
I went on a missions trip to Los Angeles. We had stayed in Watts for a little over a week serving in all kinds of places. I could write a book about that week and all the things it taught me. One of the things that sticks clearly in my mind is one of the last days were there we were brought up to a mountain top near the Hollywood mountain. It was near sundown, and the mountain overlooked Hollywood, and downtown LA in the distance. It was beautiful -- except for one thing: the smog. As huge of a city as LA is, and as many lights as it has, it was kind of hard to see. So, a city on a hill cannot be hidden, but pollution makes it hard to see. I wondered if the same could be said of my life: "I know God is in there somewhere, but all I can really see is pollution."
Light does some amazing things. It reflects, it reveals, and it radiates. It is the only thing in the universe that is never ending. It also defies the laws of physics, for it bends like it shouldn't.
Jesus calls Himself the light of the world for those reasons, but He also calls us to be the light of the world. He will always be here, always leading with the light, constantly revealing who we really are and how to bend back to Him.
We are to shine with that same light. We are to love without limit, without pollution. We do not put it under a lamp stand.
There are usually two types of believers when it comes to "being the light". The first, which I admit to falling into, is the believer who would rather live by example than share a testimony. My favorite quote in the world is given by Mother Theresa: "Preach the Gospel at every opportunity. And if necessary, use words." I've always believed that just living the Gospel will radiate enough light for people to wonder where it's coming from.
The second is the believer who just wants to share their story. Their the ones you'll find in malls asking you awkward questions about salvation and sharing their story with you. Nothing wrong with that, and I've seen it work here and there. Personally, it creeps even me out and I'm on their team.
I think we're called to do both. I think shining your light, being the light, means you live in the light and you speak of your light. To leave one or the other out is letting the darkness creep in. There's a passage that speaks of this in Scripture. John 3: 9 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
We cling to the dark out of fear of the light. Light exposes and reveals who we are and I don't know about you but for me that's terrifying. I'm a guy who does and thinks some shady stuff. To have that brought into the light? Forget it. My eyes will adjust to the dark. But this is what Jesus calls us to. This is what makes being a follower of Christ so hard. We are called to live completely in the open because Jesus died with His arms wide open. What does His death mean if I hide the things He's done with my life? Even the stuff I'm not proud of, God's working in it.
My challenge this week is to be more willing to be more genuine. God help me.
P.S. this is the alphabet would look like if Q and R were removed. Sorry, couldn't help throwing in Mitch Hedberg. But really, I got the chance to share of my life recently at church. I'll start by sharing it here: http://www.tucsonfriends.org/index.php?p=Media
The volume is extremely low. My dad had to wear headphones and turn it up all the way to hear it.
I went on a missions trip to Los Angeles. We had stayed in Watts for a little over a week serving in all kinds of places. I could write a book about that week and all the things it taught me. One of the things that sticks clearly in my mind is one of the last days were there we were brought up to a mountain top near the Hollywood mountain. It was near sundown, and the mountain overlooked Hollywood, and downtown LA in the distance. It was beautiful -- except for one thing: the smog. As huge of a city as LA is, and as many lights as it has, it was kind of hard to see. So, a city on a hill cannot be hidden, but pollution makes it hard to see. I wondered if the same could be said of my life: "I know God is in there somewhere, but all I can really see is pollution."
Light does some amazing things. It reflects, it reveals, and it radiates. It is the only thing in the universe that is never ending. It also defies the laws of physics, for it bends like it shouldn't.
Jesus calls Himself the light of the world for those reasons, but He also calls us to be the light of the world. He will always be here, always leading with the light, constantly revealing who we really are and how to bend back to Him.
We are to shine with that same light. We are to love without limit, without pollution. We do not put it under a lamp stand.
There are usually two types of believers when it comes to "being the light". The first, which I admit to falling into, is the believer who would rather live by example than share a testimony. My favorite quote in the world is given by Mother Theresa: "Preach the Gospel at every opportunity. And if necessary, use words." I've always believed that just living the Gospel will radiate enough light for people to wonder where it's coming from.
The second is the believer who just wants to share their story. Their the ones you'll find in malls asking you awkward questions about salvation and sharing their story with you. Nothing wrong with that, and I've seen it work here and there. Personally, it creeps even me out and I'm on their team.
I think we're called to do both. I think shining your light, being the light, means you live in the light and you speak of your light. To leave one or the other out is letting the darkness creep in. There's a passage that speaks of this in Scripture. John 3: 9 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
We cling to the dark out of fear of the light. Light exposes and reveals who we are and I don't know about you but for me that's terrifying. I'm a guy who does and thinks some shady stuff. To have that brought into the light? Forget it. My eyes will adjust to the dark. But this is what Jesus calls us to. This is what makes being a follower of Christ so hard. We are called to live completely in the open because Jesus died with His arms wide open. What does His death mean if I hide the things He's done with my life? Even the stuff I'm not proud of, God's working in it.
My challenge this week is to be more willing to be more genuine. God help me.
P.S. this is the alphabet would look like if Q and R were removed. Sorry, couldn't help throwing in Mitch Hedberg. But really, I got the chance to share of my life recently at church. I'll start by sharing it here: http://www.tucsonfriends.org/index.php?p=Media
The volume is extremely low. My dad had to wear headphones and turn it up all the way to hear it.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Salt and Light: The Salt
Listening to Andrew Peterson the other day, as I do most days, got me thinking. There's a song on the Love and Thunder CD called "Let There Be Light" that talks about all of our different talents and how "we're the salt of the earth/ The music we make is the light of the world so let it shine". The second verse talks about all of his friends having different talents or vocations: "Aaron's a preacher, I play guitar, Jim he can tune up your Ford. Dave is law school for 800 years for the sake of the sick and poor."
Salt and light is something that's often talked about from a pulpit and it's been done so many times there can't be anything new to say on the subject, but I really like this passage. It's one of my favorite analogies for living the way Jesus intended us to.
The passage says this:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Now, salt has a lot of different uses. I once read that we will consume 29,000 pounds of salt in our lives. That's pretty ridiculous. But it's because salt is so good. It adds flavor. It was also used to preserve foods, and sometimes still is for some delivery companies. It's also used to keep icy and snowy roads safe to drive on. Wars have been waged, revolutions fought for the sake of salt. It's a benefit to our lives in most ways. In fact, there are an estimated 14,000 benefits of salt. On the other hand, have you ever rubbed salt in a wound? I have, just out of curiosity. I can assure you that it's one of the worst ideas you will ever have.
We have the opportunity to either flavor the world, make it better, purify it... or we can make it hurt like nothing else. We've all encountered Christians who either enhance your life, or makes you wonder why you hang out with Christians at all. I'm sure I've been both of those things.
The interesting thing is that Jesus asks if we loose our saltiness, can we get it back again? It's interesting because can salt really loose its saltiness? Only by one way: deluding it. If you add water to it, or any other chemical compound really, it will not have the same effect. It will still be salt, but it won't protect food the same way, or add flavor probably at all.
Don't delude yourselves. Too often, we justify Scripture to meet our needs. We water down what Jesus has to say so that it's easier to live by. This is not what Jesus wanted from us. His words are hard to sallow sometimes, but that's what iron sharpening iron means. We're not alone in this. We not a single grain of salt, we are together being the salt of the earth. Iron sharpening iron is not pretty; it's dangerous, and ugly. There's sparks and fire. But at the end, it's something beautifully created with a purpose by the Master.
And then there's light.
Salt and light is something that's often talked about from a pulpit and it's been done so many times there can't be anything new to say on the subject, but I really like this passage. It's one of my favorite analogies for living the way Jesus intended us to.
The passage says this:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Now, salt has a lot of different uses. I once read that we will consume 29,000 pounds of salt in our lives. That's pretty ridiculous. But it's because salt is so good. It adds flavor. It was also used to preserve foods, and sometimes still is for some delivery companies. It's also used to keep icy and snowy roads safe to drive on. Wars have been waged, revolutions fought for the sake of salt. It's a benefit to our lives in most ways. In fact, there are an estimated 14,000 benefits of salt. On the other hand, have you ever rubbed salt in a wound? I have, just out of curiosity. I can assure you that it's one of the worst ideas you will ever have.
We have the opportunity to either flavor the world, make it better, purify it... or we can make it hurt like nothing else. We've all encountered Christians who either enhance your life, or makes you wonder why you hang out with Christians at all. I'm sure I've been both of those things.
The interesting thing is that Jesus asks if we loose our saltiness, can we get it back again? It's interesting because can salt really loose its saltiness? Only by one way: deluding it. If you add water to it, or any other chemical compound really, it will not have the same effect. It will still be salt, but it won't protect food the same way, or add flavor probably at all.
Don't delude yourselves. Too often, we justify Scripture to meet our needs. We water down what Jesus has to say so that it's easier to live by. This is not what Jesus wanted from us. His words are hard to sallow sometimes, but that's what iron sharpening iron means. We're not alone in this. We not a single grain of salt, we are together being the salt of the earth. Iron sharpening iron is not pretty; it's dangerous, and ugly. There's sparks and fire. But at the end, it's something beautifully created with a purpose by the Master.
And then there's light.
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