Both Hands

I remember when I started following Jesus. Man was I a little over the top.
I remember yelling at people cause they were loud during prayer....
I remember saying that Good Charlotte was the devil...
I was just ridiculous.
Then I went the other direction when issues started popping up.
I smoked weed a lot...
I drank a little bit excessively... all the time.
I had no balance in my life.
And it is still a struggle.
Our walk through life is mostly about finding the right balance. A lot is too much and barley is not enough. And I'm not necessarily talking about the "if your too heavenly minded that your no earthly good" quote. I'm talking about things we deal with in life.
We are quick to judge those that do things that we are so against, but we don't even take a second to look into their heart.
"Many have stayed in the place where they could still reach the lost and they were wounded greatly for it. For some of us it's because of them that we are saved. These are the fearless ones that will not retreat from the enemy." -Last Battle
But for some of us we are too concerned where WE are headed with Christ we forget about what He never forgot about.
Us.
Keep your eyes on Him and both hands out to the world.

He Cries

I used to have a hard time crying. Now I cry a good bit just not in front of anyone.
In our society, especially western society, it's not okay to cry. It's no wonder why everyone is so angry and defensive these days.
You also don't hear very much about God crying. I guess it's easier to scare people into repentance by having people assume God is angry and mean. But that does nothing but increase the amount of people that  want nothing to do with God.
We were created in God's image, we cry because He does. I heard somewhere that the reason why water comes out of our eyes when we reach that state of emotion is because our bodies don't know how to handle  the emotion so it weeps. God gets into an emotional wreck over us.
It comforts me to know He cries. Not only does He cry, but He cries for us.
When we cry He cries with us.
It helps me feel closer to a God that we think is so distant.
Just because He cries.

Silence

Sometimes God can be very silent... and it seems like He is silent in the times you feel you need to hear from Him the most.
He is a smart God... so wise. It's hard to trust Him when He is so quite but sometimes in that silence He will let you figure Him out for yourself.
We are told of who God is by others, we are told who He is by what we read, sometimes God even reveals Himself to us.
But when He is quite and there is no one around, thats when we need to grasp Him.
In the silence He speaks so loud.
I think it's at that moment we just need to stop dipping our finger in the cup, we need to stop starring at the cup, and we need to drink from His cup. When we drink of the cup that is when we realize how refreshing it is and how thirsty we are.
We stop asking for proof of who God is and we finally experience who God is... in the Silence, He speaks very loud.

Simon

So I was watching the Passion of the Christ the other day. I know we all remember that movie when it came out. We all went to see it, cried a little bit, then went on our merry way.
Thats what I did anyway. I remember right after seeing it being all weird and over spiritual and wanting to do something huge for Christ. But not to long after I returned to my usual teenage self.
Well the other day when it showed up in my mailbox from Netflixs, I watched it again. I cried a little bit, but something this time caught my attention that I didn't really give much thought before. Every time I read one of the Gospels or heard the story talked about, my mind kind of skipped over it.
Simon, the guy traveling from Cyrene.
A man helped Jesus carry the cross.
Now I have always heard we need to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, I have even seen a few radicals that carry wooden crosses with wheels wherever they go. But I think there is a little bit more to it.
Jesus carried and was crucified on that cross for us, Simon helped carry that cross for Him.
What are we carrying our crosses daily for? What are we living this thing we call Christianity for? So that WE might have OUR promise WE were promised? Or are we carrying our crosses for something bigger than that, something deeper. Jesus' mission was to save us, humanity, the world. A man helped Jesus carry that cross so that it could be finished. I don't think Simon did it for himself.
Are we doing this for us, or is it so He can save the world?

Faulted Growth

I never want to be the person I once was...
If that means five years ago or five minutes ago, I don't ever want to stay the same.
I am a person that has issues, there are some things I suck at, and there are some personality quirks I have that are not "socially acceptable". And I know it.
There are some things about me I have struggled to overcome sense I can remember. And there are some new faults I have found on my way through life. I am one messed up person.
I am scared about the future. I am frustrated with now. And I don't have the slightest clue about a thing.
But that is where it stops being about how jacked up I am, and I start seeing how great He is.
I am now because HE IS. And I will be because He always WILL BE.
I'm a new creation through Him.
The thing that gets me though is the fact that although I'm full of faults and issues, He still is calling me.
Many are called but few are willing.
It's not easy. We want the end result of a big dream, we want what everyone will see.
What no one sees is what weighs us down, the responsibility of peoples lives, and what we do with that responsibility when only God is looking.
Have that weight plus the fact you have to deal with your own crap on your shoulders. No wonder why people let go so easily.
But even knowing all of that... will you still say yes?
His promise remains true, but will we?
He gave His life so we could live ours. Neither one of those were or are going to be easy.
But is it really about you?
2 Timothy 2:11-13

Climax

There is a quote I heard about a year or two ago that has always stuck in the back of my mind...
"A character is not an interesting character unless their story has a climatic problem that they somehow overcame."
Im not even sure if thats how the quote reads but you get the gist... I hope.
In other words we all have major issues and crap that we just deal with. But your story is not worth reading unless you overcame and rose above what threatened to take you down.
All the time it seems like the same story... "oh, she got drunk and ran off the road" or "he got caught dealing drugs and was put in jail"and on and on. Yea we remember those stories, but the stories that truly stick with us are the ones where the character came out on top.
We remember James Bond, kicking butt and always still alive at the end...
We remember Cinderella, trapped and escaping to live happily ever after with her prince...
There are tons more stories we all remember.
But is your story worth reading? ... Is it worth watching?
And when it's all over is it worth remembering?