I'm here in Memphis. I've been here for little over a week now and I'm loving it. I have the privilege to work with 45 other fantastic mature Christians here at SOS and I love them and the community that comes with working and living with them. Service Over Self is more than a name for this camp. It's a lifestyle.
Jesus Christ was a servant. He hardly ever claimed credit for himself directly. Even though he was weak, he humbled himself to the lowest of the low. He was friends with the poor, needy, and sick. He even went as far as to consider himself as one!!! (Matthew 25:40) I feel that this is an often overlooked aspect of the Gospel (if it's not, then it's often overlooked for me). This has been emphasized over and over again here at SOS. First of all, the "higher ups" on staff that are looking out for all of the other summer staff here at SOS are called staff servants. I think that this is so cool. The fact that servants are lifted up and given more responsibility. I feel as though in today's society servants are generally looked down upon if not subconsciously then explicitly. The lifting up of the servant is what we do when we worship Jesus. We are giving the ultimate servant the glory and worship that He deserves.
The staff servants brought this concept of "leading out of weakness" to the summer staff during the first 24 hours of staff training. This blew my mind. Any sort of leadership style, training, or booklet that you'll find out there is all about power. They look at your strengths and how you well you can take power in any situation. The concept of leading out of weakness comes from how we are all failed and horrible sinners of this world. There's no hope for us... any of us. Here's the beautiful part of this: Jesus is our strength. If we lead out of weakness... if we lead with nothing of our own, the only thing that the people you're leading are going to see is JESUS! Whoa. Your strength, wisdom, and power is only going to get you so far. The only way that you can be a true Godly leader is to be leading out of weakness, confessing your sins to the people around you, and turning to Jesus for any and all the glory that is present in this world.
This concept has also brought on a new grasp on the gospel. It's so easy to say that you're a sinner and to even mean it a lot of the times. It's so easy to say that you've accepted Christ into your life and say that you're a "Christian". But the severity of our brokenness is GIGANTIC! We are all broken people and that makes this whole earth broken. There's no way that we can be made whole by ourselves. There's nothing that we can do to earn it. The only way is to turn to Jesus. He's the only way that our lives, this world, and relationships are going to be made whole and brought back to the way they're supposed to be again. I love this stuff. I love Jesus.
What would it look like if we all realized our brokenness and weren't afraid to show it? Confess to someone. It frees the soul.
I'm excited to see how God is going to work through me, SOS, Bingham(p)ton, the campers, the homeowners, and all of the staff here. I've already learned so much and seen God work in crazy ways. Prayers for me being present while I'm here in Memphis and friends from school and home are appreciated. Prayers of wisdom and discernment on who God highlights in my life and what needs to be done.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
· · · — — — · · ·
Some of you reading this started reading this blog because of LeaderTreks. Some of you have started reading it this past academic year. Some of you are reading this for the first time. A lot has happened this last year... Thinking about everything that has happened in the last year and where and who I was a year ago is all overwhelming. LeaderTreks taught and grew me so much last summer (see previous posts). This last school year has been insane. I've learned a lot about God, engineering and what living out the Gospel looks like. One theme that God has been driving home this last year has been loving the "orphans, widows, immigrants, and the poor." These four people groups are seen in the Bible as people that God values. God sees the need of these people and wants to use the material possessions that He has blessed unto the rest of society to meet those needs. Obviously these people groups have changed a little bit in today's society... The idea is that there are always going to be marginalized people groups in society and God loves those people and cares to supply for them. This is evident in a lot of Scripture. One example of this is the concept of gleaning in the Old Testament. God told the farmers that while they are picking a crop and they miss some to leave it. This isn't for laziness sake... It's so that the people that do not have can pick it and have food.
God has been putting many opportunities to love these people groups in my life this last year. Some of the main situations that He's gave me are my summer in Chicago, my job as an RA, going to college in Milwaukee (fourth poorest city in the country), and *drum roll.....* working in Memphis as a construction manager this summer for Service Over Self (SOS). (For those of you that didn't know that I'm working for SOS this summer, this is something that I've been looking forward to since mid-February.) Working for SOS is something that I believe that God has placed in my life to challenge and grow me into a more faithful servant of His. I'm excited to experience a new city and to grow my knowledge of construction management this coming summer. SOS is a home repairs ministry that gives high school and junior high school students a place to learn about God, get a missions experience, and challenge them in their construction skills. There are students that come into the SOS for a week at a time and do construction projects in an inner-city neighborhood called Binghampton.
I am excited for this summer for a multitude of reasons:
1. To get away from MSOE for a while. As much as I LOVE going to school at this wonderful institution, it will be nice to escape for a while. I enjoy the people here and what they have done in my life. However, MSOE does not bring very much diversity in my life. I'm looking forward to interacting with people of different majors, personalities, and faces. It will be a refreshing yet challenging time getting away from MSOE and getting to know all of the amazing summer staffers that I will be working/growing with this summer.
2. Experiencing a new city. I've enjoyed learning more about the diversity, history, and culture of Milwaukee this last year. Milwaukee is an incredible city to live in and to experience at any time of the year (unless you can't stand the cold...). I'm looking forward to experiencing life in a new city. One of the largest things that has struck me hard just in the last couple months is the civil rights movement. Memphis, being the city that Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in, was home of one of the largest turning points in the movement. I'm also excited to experience the beauty that is found in the buildings and structures in Memphis seen in this slideshow.
3. Learning more of what God's plan for my life is. Right now in my life, I believe that God is calling me to use my degree in Architectural Engineering and Construction Management to be in ministry someday. I don't know where or what that's going to look like. I think that exposing myself to people that have made these decisions for their lives is a good way for me to figure those questions out. I'm excited to dive into God's Word all summer and be in a place that is submerged in the presence of God to find a little more of God's will for my life.
4. Learning more about God! I love working with high school students. I love challenging them and exposing the talents that they didn't know that they had. I love seeing God in the city. I love seeing God work through brokenness. I love experiencing God through His Word. I love learning more and more about what it means to have "gospel-faith". I'm pumped to be challenged and molded by God, the people that I'll be working with, and all of the experiences I'll have this summer.
To everyone that supported me for LeaderTreks last summer:
If you think that what you gave or all of the prayers prayed were just a one time thing last summer, you're dead wrong. Last summer shaped who I am and how I go about living my life for the one and only Lord of the universe. I thank you for every penny that you gave and every word that was prayed for me. Last summer pushed me to seek other inner-city connections and possibilities for this summer. So if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in Memphis this summer either. I have been blessed by having all of you loving supporters out there. I hope that there has been some way that I have been a blessing in your lives as well along the way.
To everyone reading:
I don't need financial support for this summer. SOS is nice enough to provide a stipend for this summer that comes directly from them. Just because I don't need financial support for this summer, I need prayer support. As I'm preparing for this summer, I ask that you join me in prayer for this coming adventure. I ask that you pray for me being able to finish school without dying. I still have 4 weeks of school left including finals and it's crunch time. I will need prayers to be able to focus on God and being able to set aside time to prepare for this summer spiritually and emotionally. I ask that you can be praying for all of the relationships that are in my life. This summer I will not have very many opportunities to keep in touch with all of the friendships that I have here at MSOE. If these friendships are not strong and steady before the summer, there's a chance that they will be crippled when I come back from the summer. I ask that you can be praying for an urgent and intentional mentality in this area of my life.
I thank God for the each and every one of you and the support system that I have in my life. I feel extremely blessed through the friends and family that He has placed in my life.
"May God bless you a million times"
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Brew City isn't all beer and cheese...
ATTN: Long Post. If you have something to do/ somewhere to be, you have been forewarned.
This past week was MSOE's spring break. Yeah, yeah... it's really late for spring break. I know. You don't have to tell me. The InterVarsity chapter at my school had the privilege of having our own Milwaukee Urban Plunge (MUP for short)! This week is to train and inform the college population of the injustices urban populations go through. Another thing that this trip did was to empower college students to do something about these issues. This week (that wasn't really a week I guess) lasted from Tuesday till Sunday. The theme for the week was "Who is my neighbor?" The reasoning for this to be the theme was that the college campus sets up walls around itself so that it doesn't have to experience the outside world. Honestly, if I didn't want to, I could go a month without hearing about anything outside of the MSOE world. This trip forced us to get a (hypothetical) ladder and look over those walls into the parts of Milwaukee that are deemed undesirable by society. The week looked a little something like this:
In the morning we would have a Bible study going over various passages dealing with the "Who is my neighbor" theme of the trip. The passages included James 2, John 4, Acts 18:8-25, and Ruth 1-2. The study made clear that our "neighbors" are anyone that we come in contact with. When Jesus said in Mark 12:31 that we should "love our neighbors as ourselves" he wasn't just talking about our physical neighbors. We also discussed injustices that dealt with neighbors (everyone) and how we (middle upper class white folk) tend to shy away from looking at those issues (especially when those people don't look like us, come from the same background, or believe the same things as us). We weren't just shown the wrong things to do but the good things as well.
The next part of our day we went to a ministry on the north side of Milwaukee called Mother Scott's Christian Youth Center. This place is blessed upon blessed by God. Mother Scott is considered by many as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has been serving in Milwaukee since 1974. This ministry provides hot meals to the homeless and poverty stricken, has a food pantry, clothing donations, addiction counseling, a 24 hour prayer hotline, as well as summer programs and tutoring for children. They also have a computer lab that they are currently working on getting internet in. This computer lab does wonders for the homeless community. When someone doesn't have access to a computer it's considerably more difficult to look for jobs, make a resume, and read the news. Mother Scott's also mostly hires people that are living in poverty/ need. In the time serving there I spoke to at least 3 people that said they just started working at Mother Scott's and got hooked up with them through a temp agency. Seeing Mother Scott interact with the people that were in her building allowed me to see why she was widely known as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has such authority, people respect her, she is intimidating but has unfailing love for everyone, and she strives after God and encourages others to as well.
In the evening of the days during MUP we experienced the city more. The activities that we did included watching a documentary about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee and the racism still prevalent in the city (Milwaukee is the most segregated city in America). This opened up my eyes to the complexity and abstractness of segregation and how everyone contributes to it.
Another evening activity was going to a Hispanic church on the south side of Milwaukee called Desatar (day-say-tar: means undo or untie) for their evening service. The sermon this night was about being a good steward of what God has blessed you with. This was extremely interesting because just that morning our planned quiet times was on Revelation 18 and the temptation of materialism. The sermon at Desatar spoke on God wanting to bless His people financially and it's our job to do good with what we have. (Those of you that are familiar with the prosperity gospel, this is not that.) Our quiet times, on the other hand, was talking on the temptation of materialism and wanting our stuff too much. The reason that these two things are such an interesting contrast is that, on the surface level, these are two opposite teachings. However, if we go too far in either direction (not wanting money because it is "evil" and wanting money too much), is not sound theology. Yes, God does want to bless us with enough money to survive and live in this world. Yes, God wants your full and undivided attention, not distracted by something as trivial as money. There is a happy medium between the two. Another thing that I learned from the contrast between the two was the cultural differences and the fact that with different cultures comes different struggles while following.
Thursday night we went to a food kitchen in the downtown of Milwaukee called St. Ben's. This was probably the most thought provoking and best experience that happened all week. At St. Ben's all we did was get food and sit down to talk to another person there that we didn't previously know (preferably a homeless/ poverty stricken person). I talked to a man named John (he introduced himself to me as Giovanni). While I ate with him the conversation went from Illinois to Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky to legalizing weed to other laws in America that should be passed. After eating, John left. I felt the urge to go pray for Him. So I got up and asked if I could pray for him, he agreed and asked if we could go outside. We talked for another 20 minutes outside about Christianity, family, and injuries in our lives. While talking to this man that may or may not be homeless, I was thinking to myself "Why am I so afraid of people like this?" Here he is, pouring his heart out to me and on the verge of tears. He's a person. I'm a person. There's no more reason for me to be afraid of him than there is the professor that is teaching my Macroeconomics class. As I'm writing this, I'm understanding that this is what the theme of the week is all about. If we're all living in the same city, under the same government, surviving through the same weather, and created by the same God, why can't we just love each other like it? Why do we fear people that are different than us? Why do people feel that they can't change? Why does our society marginalize the people that don't have and seclude the people that have a lot? What would love do to our society? What would it look like to have everyone love everyone? Maybe the Beatles were right...
This past week was MSOE's spring break. Yeah, yeah... it's really late for spring break. I know. You don't have to tell me. The InterVarsity chapter at my school had the privilege of having our own Milwaukee Urban Plunge (MUP for short)! This week is to train and inform the college population of the injustices urban populations go through. Another thing that this trip did was to empower college students to do something about these issues. This week (that wasn't really a week I guess) lasted from Tuesday till Sunday. The theme for the week was "Who is my neighbor?" The reasoning for this to be the theme was that the college campus sets up walls around itself so that it doesn't have to experience the outside world. Honestly, if I didn't want to, I could go a month without hearing about anything outside of the MSOE world. This trip forced us to get a (hypothetical) ladder and look over those walls into the parts of Milwaukee that are deemed undesirable by society. The week looked a little something like this:
In the morning we would have a Bible study going over various passages dealing with the "Who is my neighbor" theme of the trip. The passages included James 2, John 4, Acts 18:8-25, and Ruth 1-2. The study made clear that our "neighbors" are anyone that we come in contact with. When Jesus said in Mark 12:31 that we should "love our neighbors as ourselves" he wasn't just talking about our physical neighbors. We also discussed injustices that dealt with neighbors (everyone) and how we (middle upper class white folk) tend to shy away from looking at those issues (especially when those people don't look like us, come from the same background, or believe the same things as us). We weren't just shown the wrong things to do but the good things as well.
The next part of our day we went to a ministry on the north side of Milwaukee called Mother Scott's Christian Youth Center. This place is blessed upon blessed by God. Mother Scott is considered by many as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has been serving in Milwaukee since 1974. This ministry provides hot meals to the homeless and poverty stricken, has a food pantry, clothing donations, addiction counseling, a 24 hour prayer hotline, as well as summer programs and tutoring for children. They also have a computer lab that they are currently working on getting internet in. This computer lab does wonders for the homeless community. When someone doesn't have access to a computer it's considerably more difficult to look for jobs, make a resume, and read the news. Mother Scott's also mostly hires people that are living in poverty/ need. In the time serving there I spoke to at least 3 people that said they just started working at Mother Scott's and got hooked up with them through a temp agency. Seeing Mother Scott interact with the people that were in her building allowed me to see why she was widely known as the "grandmother of Milwaukee". She has such authority, people respect her, she is intimidating but has unfailing love for everyone, and she strives after God and encourages others to as well.
In the evening of the days during MUP we experienced the city more. The activities that we did included watching a documentary about the civil rights movement in Milwaukee and the racism still prevalent in the city (Milwaukee is the most segregated city in America). This opened up my eyes to the complexity and abstractness of segregation and how everyone contributes to it.
Another evening activity was going to a Hispanic church on the south side of Milwaukee called Desatar (day-say-tar: means undo or untie) for their evening service. The sermon this night was about being a good steward of what God has blessed you with. This was extremely interesting because just that morning our planned quiet times was on Revelation 18 and the temptation of materialism. The sermon at Desatar spoke on God wanting to bless His people financially and it's our job to do good with what we have. (Those of you that are familiar with the prosperity gospel, this is not that.) Our quiet times, on the other hand, was talking on the temptation of materialism and wanting our stuff too much. The reason that these two things are such an interesting contrast is that, on the surface level, these are two opposite teachings. However, if we go too far in either direction (not wanting money because it is "evil" and wanting money too much), is not sound theology. Yes, God does want to bless us with enough money to survive and live in this world. Yes, God wants your full and undivided attention, not distracted by something as trivial as money. There is a happy medium between the two. Another thing that I learned from the contrast between the two was the cultural differences and the fact that with different cultures comes different struggles while following.
Thursday night we went to a food kitchen in the downtown of Milwaukee called St. Ben's. This was probably the most thought provoking and best experience that happened all week. At St. Ben's all we did was get food and sit down to talk to another person there that we didn't previously know (preferably a homeless/ poverty stricken person). I talked to a man named John (he introduced himself to me as Giovanni). While I ate with him the conversation went from Illinois to Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky to legalizing weed to other laws in America that should be passed. After eating, John left. I felt the urge to go pray for Him. So I got up and asked if I could pray for him, he agreed and asked if we could go outside. We talked for another 20 minutes outside about Christianity, family, and injuries in our lives. While talking to this man that may or may not be homeless, I was thinking to myself "Why am I so afraid of people like this?" Here he is, pouring his heart out to me and on the verge of tears. He's a person. I'm a person. There's no more reason for me to be afraid of him than there is the professor that is teaching my Macroeconomics class. As I'm writing this, I'm understanding that this is what the theme of the week is all about. If we're all living in the same city, under the same government, surviving through the same weather, and created by the same God, why can't we just love each other like it? Why do we fear people that are different than us? Why do people feel that they can't change? Why does our society marginalize the people that don't have and seclude the people that have a lot? What would love do to our society? What would it look like to have everyone love everyone? Maybe the Beatles were right...
Monday, March 26, 2012
"Charity Gives but Justice Changes"
This is a saying that I have recently run into. The difference between justice and charity is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit lately. In today's society, it seems like they should be pretty much interchangeable. Is that the case though? What is the difference? How does "Justice Change" and what does it change? Let's look at both of these words and see what each of them entail and how they're done.
Charity
A lot of times when I'm talking to people about service events that I do/ will be doing in the future, this word comes up a lot. It kind of makes me cringe inside a little bit... When I looked up the definition of charity, I found a few things related to volunteering, giving things away, and even one that says "love of humankind, typically in a Christian context." What's so bad about the word charity then? It's an action that gives poor people money. Where's the bad in that? Well, with charity, that's all there is. There's just giving. When there's just giving, there's no relationship.
Justice
Before we get into justice, it's important to realize that the type of justice that I am talking about it Biblical justice. The type that is talked about over and over in Isaiah (1:17, 58), in the gospels (Luke 14:12-13, Matthew 9:13), and in the letters to various branches of the early church (James 5:1-6, Galatians 6:10). That being said and looking to scripture for characteristics of justice, there are aspects of charity that are in justice. For example, justice calls us to give our possessions to the poor (Luke 18:18-22). However, Jesus calls us to more than simple giving. He sets the standard by having dinner with the "lowest of the low"... people in society that wouldn't even be looked at (Luke 14:12-13). Jesus is a radical dude. He went against so many social norms. He loved people (no matter who they are). He gave to people (no matter where they came from). He led others to do the same.
Justice is active. It's hard. Something that needs to be worked on and practiced. It's something that goes so against so many social norms that it's hard for us to want to do it because "people will look at us weird". Justice is something that Christians need to strive for because Jesus (and God) value it very highly.
When looking at charity, it's passive. Giving is easy. It doesn't require much work on our part. We put in our money to a box and we're done. Yes. Charity gets money to people that need it. Charity brings good things to society. It can unite people in a community around a certain cause, redistribute the money economically, among other things. But what about the people that are stuck in these injustices? The people that have no way to get out of "the system"? Where does charity lie in that? There's not a whole lot that charity can do for people that seem to find themselves in situations where they can't meet the necessities in life.
As a Christian, I feel a sense of urgency and need to do something about these problems. I see that there are people out there that are being victimized in many different ways and it disturbs me. I understand that I may not "change the world" in the sense that most of society sees it. But by seeking justice and loving people the way that Jesus did, I'm hoping that God will use me to just "change one person's world" on the way.
Charity
A lot of times when I'm talking to people about service events that I do/ will be doing in the future, this word comes up a lot. It kind of makes me cringe inside a little bit... When I looked up the definition of charity, I found a few things related to volunteering, giving things away, and even one that says "love of humankind, typically in a Christian context." What's so bad about the word charity then? It's an action that gives poor people money. Where's the bad in that? Well, with charity, that's all there is. There's just giving. When there's just giving, there's no relationship.
Justice
Before we get into justice, it's important to realize that the type of justice that I am talking about it Biblical justice. The type that is talked about over and over in Isaiah (1:17, 58), in the gospels (Luke 14:12-13, Matthew 9:13), and in the letters to various branches of the early church (James 5:1-6, Galatians 6:10). That being said and looking to scripture for characteristics of justice, there are aspects of charity that are in justice. For example, justice calls us to give our possessions to the poor (Luke 18:18-22). However, Jesus calls us to more than simple giving. He sets the standard by having dinner with the "lowest of the low"... people in society that wouldn't even be looked at (Luke 14:12-13). Jesus is a radical dude. He went against so many social norms. He loved people (no matter who they are). He gave to people (no matter where they came from). He led others to do the same.
Justice is active. It's hard. Something that needs to be worked on and practiced. It's something that goes so against so many social norms that it's hard for us to want to do it because "people will look at us weird". Justice is something that Christians need to strive for because Jesus (and God) value it very highly.
When looking at charity, it's passive. Giving is easy. It doesn't require much work on our part. We put in our money to a box and we're done. Yes. Charity gets money to people that need it. Charity brings good things to society. It can unite people in a community around a certain cause, redistribute the money economically, among other things. But what about the people that are stuck in these injustices? The people that have no way to get out of "the system"? Where does charity lie in that? There's not a whole lot that charity can do for people that seem to find themselves in situations where they can't meet the necessities in life.
As a Christian, I feel a sense of urgency and need to do something about these problems. I see that there are people out there that are being victimized in many different ways and it disturbs me. I understand that I may not "change the world" in the sense that most of society sees it. But by seeking justice and loving people the way that Jesus did, I'm hoping that God will use me to just "change one person's world" on the way.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Biggest. Puzzle. Ever.
It's been a while... I think I'm ready to express myself again.
Your will is like a 4,000,000 piece puzzle that expresses all that this world is. You are the Father that is completing this puzzle, and we are the child that is sitting in your lap in awe of what you are doing. We watch enviously as You work while wanting to help. We look at this puzzle and we are overwhelmed. We don't know what to do with all of these pieces. We want to help finish this puzzle. Every now and then we will think that we see a place that a piece will fit. We'll try and slam it into the piece. We think it fits. It doesn't. You take the misshapen piece out, take our hand, and allow us to help. We did it! We helped with the puzzle. That's all we wanted ever since we saw this daunting project. After that, we get a taste of what it's like to put a puzzle together and we want to do more. We try to slam a few more pieces into places that it doesn't fit like children do so well. You will once again, so graciously, allow us to help again. Taking our hand to get .000025% closer to the end of the puzzle. The process repeats itself over and over again. Every time we help, we get happier and more excited that You're allowing us to help with Your puzzle. Someday, maybe, just maybe, we will understand that the only way that we will be able to help You, serve You, is if we allow You to work through us.
Your will is like a 4,000,000 piece puzzle that expresses all that this world is. You are the Father that is completing this puzzle, and we are the child that is sitting in your lap in awe of what you are doing. We watch enviously as You work while wanting to help. We look at this puzzle and we are overwhelmed. We don't know what to do with all of these pieces. We want to help finish this puzzle. Every now and then we will think that we see a place that a piece will fit. We'll try and slam it into the piece. We think it fits. It doesn't. You take the misshapen piece out, take our hand, and allow us to help. We did it! We helped with the puzzle. That's all we wanted ever since we saw this daunting project. After that, we get a taste of what it's like to put a puzzle together and we want to do more. We try to slam a few more pieces into places that it doesn't fit like children do so well. You will once again, so graciously, allow us to help again. Taking our hand to get .000025% closer to the end of the puzzle. The process repeats itself over and over again. Every time we help, we get happier and more excited that You're allowing us to help with Your puzzle. Someday, maybe, just maybe, we will understand that the only way that we will be able to help You, serve You, is if we allow You to work through us.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Silly Pharaoh...
This "morning" I stayed in bed after I woke up and read Exodus. Not the whole thing, just the part about the plagues and stuff. What I thought was most interesting about this passage was the part where "God hardened Pharaoh's heart." (Ex 7:3) I actually thought of this more disturbing than anything else. Disturbing in the fact that God would "harden someone's heart." So, I looked more into what this meant.
God didn't do this outside of Pharaoh's will. That is, God didn't change anything about Pharaoh. He would've made the same decision regardless of whether God did this or not. What I got out of digging deeper into this passage is that God was looking at this situation and thinking to Himself, "How can I make the best out of this situation?" The best thing that He could think of is that He had to empower Pharaoh to make these decisions to, in time, build him up. Or in other words, there would be a better chance that Pharaoh would come to know the power and who God really is through all of this crap that was about to happen to his nation. Of course, Pharaoh knew that all of these plagues would happen and eventually wipe out his nation, but he still didn't let Israel go.
Another thing that interested me is the progress that was made throughout the this whole plague process. Pharaoh at the beginning was so unbelievably skeptic of the whole situation. The first time that Moses and Aaron go to the Pharaoh, I picture him laughing at the two young Godly men. He says "Show me a miracle." (Ex 7:9) They do. Then Pharaoh summons his little magicians. They do the same thing. Pharaoh's reaction to this is that Moses and Aaron's message wasn't from God because it was duplicated by human hands. Eventually, once you get further into the plagues, Pharaoh starts to admit that he's sinning against God. Still, he's stubborn and doesn't allow Israel to leave. Then, he FINALLY allows them to leave and Moses is all like, dude, we want all of our people to leave, not just the men. And Pharaoh's all like, no man. That's not happening! Still stubborn. Man, what's it going to take to break this homie down!? Finally, after ten plagues, Pharaoh gives up. He admits defeat and realizes that God is bigger and He always will be.
That made me think about how stubborn I can be sometimes. It forced me to take a step back from my life and look at what I'm holding onto saying "No God, I'm bigger than you and there's no way you're getting what you want in this area of my life." Man, that's challenging. Challenging to just admit that I'm not big enough to fight Him. Why even try?! There's no use. I might as well just wave the white flag now. Why should I go through ten plagues with a hardened heart when I could go through none and do God's work to its fullest.
God didn't do this outside of Pharaoh's will. That is, God didn't change anything about Pharaoh. He would've made the same decision regardless of whether God did this or not. What I got out of digging deeper into this passage is that God was looking at this situation and thinking to Himself, "How can I make the best out of this situation?" The best thing that He could think of is that He had to empower Pharaoh to make these decisions to, in time, build him up. Or in other words, there would be a better chance that Pharaoh would come to know the power and who God really is through all of this crap that was about to happen to his nation. Of course, Pharaoh knew that all of these plagues would happen and eventually wipe out his nation, but he still didn't let Israel go.
Another thing that interested me is the progress that was made throughout the this whole plague process. Pharaoh at the beginning was so unbelievably skeptic of the whole situation. The first time that Moses and Aaron go to the Pharaoh, I picture him laughing at the two young Godly men. He says "Show me a miracle." (Ex 7:9) They do. Then Pharaoh summons his little magicians. They do the same thing. Pharaoh's reaction to this is that Moses and Aaron's message wasn't from God because it was duplicated by human hands. Eventually, once you get further into the plagues, Pharaoh starts to admit that he's sinning against God. Still, he's stubborn and doesn't allow Israel to leave. Then, he FINALLY allows them to leave and Moses is all like, dude, we want all of our people to leave, not just the men. And Pharaoh's all like, no man. That's not happening! Still stubborn. Man, what's it going to take to break this homie down!? Finally, after ten plagues, Pharaoh gives up. He admits defeat and realizes that God is bigger and He always will be.
That made me think about how stubborn I can be sometimes. It forced me to take a step back from my life and look at what I'm holding onto saying "No God, I'm bigger than you and there's no way you're getting what you want in this area of my life." Man, that's challenging. Challenging to just admit that I'm not big enough to fight Him. Why even try?! There's no use. I might as well just wave the white flag now. Why should I go through ten plagues with a hardened heart when I could go through none and do God's work to its fullest.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
My extended family
This past Saturday I went to the Milwaukee Brewers game. Miller Park, the Brewers stadium, is just an architectural and structural phenomenon. The retracting roof is unlike any other retracting roof as it rotates open, not slides. I usually enjoy going to professional sports. Even when I don't like either team playing, similar to Saturday. The main thing that I like about professional sports is seeing everyone so unified on one goal. When a player does anything close to something a physically average body wouldn't be able to handle, everyone cheers. Even I cheered. As a Cubs fan, a team that the Brewers have beat up on all year, I should despise Brewers. But I cheered. I didn't care. The good feeling in the stadium is contagious.
When I saw everyone so happy and cheering for anything and everything that was going on on the field, I thought of the family that is promised to us as Christians. This family of brothers and sisters that traces back to the very beginning with Adam and Eve. I think that the relationship that we should have between our brothers and sisters in Christ is very similar to the relationship that we have with people at professional sports games. We should be doing all of the following:
1) Watching for successes and failures. In a professional sports game, the players are under a microscope. Everything that they do in those times are ridiculed and criticized to no end. Given, all of this stuff is on a very surface level, but can still be applied to our relationships with each other as a Body of Christ. We should be watching each other's lives very carefully. As Christians, we know that it's hard. We're put under the microscope of everyone else in the world. They expect us to be perfect a lot of the time. We know we can't do that though. It's up to us, as brothers and sisters, to call out each other when we make a big mistake like fans do for professional sports players mess up in a game. (Maybe booing someone off the field is a little harsh and not loving...) Because we know how hard it is to live in this world and not of it, it's up to us to call each other out on it.
The other big thing that we need to remember is to CELEBRATE with each other! So often Christianity is boiled down to "What am I doing wrong?! How can I make this better?!" I'm not saying that that's the wrong mentality to have, because it's good. We all have to be striving for a solid walk with the Lord. However, we need to celebrate with each other and lift each other up when good things happen! It's in those times that can really fuel them to continue whatever it is that they're doing. This is something that I've encountered this year at school so far. I'm tired. I haven't gotten much sleep. I've been pouring into a lot of people and whenever I see some sort of result, ANY result, it causes for celebration. Celebrate with that random 300 pound guy next to you in the stands if it comes to that.
2) Be undignified! At these professional sporting events, it's kind of funny if you ever just watch people. I'm not sure if it's because they've had a little too much to drink or because of the atmosphere, but their actions at these events just scream "I'm going to do _____ and I don't care what you think!" Why can't Christians have this mentality? (Once again, maybe a little more loving and less "drunk guy in the stands"...) We all know that we love the same God. We all know that we follow the same Jesus. We all know that we have the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us. So why can't we just worship however we want? pray how we want? talk freely about what's on our minds?
At professional sporting events, with most people in the stands, you have one thing in common: the game. You're completely sold out for everything Brewers or Cubs or Packers etc. Often times when we go to one of these events we end up at least sparking a conversation with the person/ people next to us. Why can't this be with our brothers and sisters in Christ? With most of the Christians in this world, we have one thing in common: Jesus. So what's stopping you from sparking a conversation with the person you're sitting next to at church that you've seen for a month in a row? Why can't you talk to the person that openly confesses they're a Christian in front of the entire class or work place?
A lot of times Christians don't see every other Christian as a brother or sister (I'm guilty of this too). We just see them as another person that believes the same thing we do. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. God loves us enough to call us His children... yet we still ignore each other or ignore the actions that we are making and shrug it off as no big deal. When Paul concludes his second letter to the Corinthians, he states how important this concept is of embracing the relationship with each other. As you go through the day, my challenge to you is to treat everywhere you are like Miller Park. Every one throughout your day treat like an all star.
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