Today

One of the most favorite people in my life is my grandmother. She is the only living grandparent I have. She is your typical Southern, conservative, set-in-her-ways type of woman. We talk alot mainly because I like to joke around with her. She has a good sense of humor. Also, whenever she has pushed some buttons on her tv remote and screwed it up, she calls me to talk her through getting it back working again.


Besides making chess bars, one of the things my grandmother does best is worrying. She worrys about everything. I would think that the older you get, the less you worry - but not in her case. One of her favorite sayings is, "Nothing good happens after dark." I don't know why she says this. She used to tell me this alot during college because I would always tell her about going out with friends. To me, alot of good things happen after dark, like Christmas caroling. I always ask her when I talk to her what's something new she's worrying about and she always has something new she's losing sleep over.


In the aspect of worrying, my grandmother and I differ very much. I don't really worry over things, or you will never get me to admit that I worry about things. I get concerned about things, but I just don't worry that much over them.


"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:34.


"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now." As Rob Bell would say, "be fully present" wherever you are. This seems like such a foriegn concept soemtimes. There are those that live in the past. There are those that fret over the future. But Jesus says, "Slow down. Pay attention to the now. Don't get worked up over tomorrow or even yesterday. Live in what God is doing today."


I don't think that Jesus was saying that planning for the future is bad. There's nothing wrong with that. But I know the future is ultimately out of my hands and in His. So why should I worry over something that He has taken care of?


Last night we were talking in class about how death can be a motivator to act upon something. Whether it's reconciling a broken relationship, doing something you've always wanted to do, or asking that person out that has recently grabbed your attention; the idea that death could happen at any moment is a motivator to act on these things. This ties into the idea of living in the present- fully living in the present and taking advantage of every breathe you have been given- because we really never know how much longer we will have.

I know this all sounds cliche. "Live everyday to the fullest." But sometimes cliche things are true.


It seems that this whole idea of living for today is important to Jesus. I know for myself, sometimes I get too caught up in things I could've done or what I should've said. Sometimes, even though it's not that often, I get too troubled by what may happen or could take place tomorrow.

But the past is in the past. Learn from it, apologize about it, and move on.

The future is in the future. Plan for it, but realize it's ultimately out of your hands.

Today is today. The moment that God has given us right now is the moment we can use for Him. Today is when we can show others love. Today is when we can love our enemies. Today is when we can become closer to Him.

Having HOPE

Right now there seems like there is one theme that keeps repeating itself in my life. As if there is one word that God keeps telling me over and over again.

HOPE.

I had the opportunity to talk with a new friend of mine a few weeks ago about some of the things going on in her life. Yes, usually new friends don't talk about personal things early on in their friendship but she thought that maybe I could relate. She was dealing with some issues from her parents divorcing and was just trying to work some things out. One conclusion that we both came to is that what happened in the past does not have to keep affecting your future. The baggage from back then doesn't have to keep you from becomng who you want to be. There is HOPE.

I read an article the other day about the ex-gutarist for the rock band Korn. To make a long story short it was about how he found God, quit the band, and kicked his drug habit. I don't know what it's like to kick a drug habit, but I imagine it's hard. And I know that telling your friends that you no longer want to be apart of their group is hard too. But that's what he did. If you were to look at this guy 10 years ago, God would be the furthest thing from you mind. But God can break through the toughest barriers. Because of that, there is HOPE.

I have read the story of a pornstar who left that industry to pursue a life with God. She has past filled with abuse, shame, and a feeling of being unloved. But that's her past. Yes, her past is real but HOPE is real also.

I have my own issues I have dealt/am dealing with. I'm a work in progress. I am preparing a group presentation for class in which I am portraying a man going to see a therapist about his problems. A friend recently told me I would be good at playing the crazy person. I think she was joking. Well, it was kind of deep because some of the issues that are being dealt with in the presentation are things I have dealt with in my own life. It's been a great opportunity for me just to look back and see how far God has brought me. It's been an opportunity to for me to remember that there is HOPE.

Sure we live in a messed up world. A world where we see such things as poverty and excess, political corruption, religious persecution, human trafficking, terrorism, genocide, disease, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the crisis in Darfur, Republicans attacking Democrats and Democrats attacking Repulicans, abortion, divorce, child molestation and abuse, and the list goes on. It's easy to forget about hope.

And we all have our our things to deal with too; we are all a little messed up in our own ways. We all have those wounds that have been dealt to us, those addictions that we just can't seem to break, those fears of rejection or failure or the past or the future or abandonment in which we live out of. We all have those relationships that have left their mark, those areas in which we seek forgiveness, those things that bring us shame, and those days where nothing seems to go our way. We all need HOPE.

There is HOPE. Hope for something better, hope for tomorrow, hope for things to be made right. We know that things aren't like they are suppossed to be, so we have hope that one day they will be made right. We know that we aren't like we are suppossed to be, so we hope we can become someone more. One thing I know of, one thing that I can say without a single doubt, is that there is HOPE in Him. He is sure, steady, and always true. God is Hope.

"God, the one and only— I'll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from him, so why not? He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I'm set for life." Psalm 62:5

My Relationships with Roxanne and Jesus

Let me take you back to eighth grade. Middle school. Ah, those were the days. I was quite a different person back in 8th grade. Inside and out. Straight A's, Academic Decathlon team, 8th grade Science Award. Yeah, that was me. To top it all off, I wore glasses. When you are in middle school and smart and you wear glasses, for some reason you get the label of being a nerd. (I guess being a Star Trek fan was a factor as well.) I was also really skinny. I'm not a huge guy now by any means, but I was like a skeleton back then.

There was this girl in my homeroom. Let's call her Roxanne. Roxanne was great. Smart, funny, pretty, nice, & popular. If you were a boy in the eighth grade, you had a thing for Roxanne. She was just it. Roxanne and I were friends. Not best friends or anything. But because she was a nice girl, she would always talk to me. I had liked girls before Roxanne. Like the girl named Michelle in 1st grade. We would squirt glue on each other. That's how you get a girl's attention in 1st grade, you squirt Elmer's in her eye. Then there was Stacy in 5th grade. She had blonde poofy hair that for some reason I found attractive.

But Roxanne was different for me. I mean, I was in 8th grade so I was practically a grown man and all. There was a Valentine's Day dance coming up and I wanted to ask her to go with me to it. So I made of list of things I had to do so she would go with me. 1. Talk to her. 2. Make her laugh. 3. Wear a gallon of my dad's cologne every day. 4. Buy her the new Boyz II Men cd. I did everything on my list. So I asked her if she wanted to go to the dance, to which she replied, "We are such good friends; I think we should just stay friends." Which really means, "Are you serious? No, I'm too cool for you." My first endeavor into the world of relationships had been crushed by the notorious Friend Zone. I still have bitter feelings toward the Friend Zone.

So what did I do wrong with Roxanne? I did everything on my list. I followed every step exactly. Maybe that was my problem.

I have a relationship with Christ. I'm not dating Christ or anything like that. He's married to the Church. It's hard to explain my relationship with Him. I mean, it's hard to put into words any relationship. Relationships are just something you have to experience, are they not? The definition of relationship, an emotional or other connection between people, really doesn't do that great of a job explaining relationships. As Christians, we like to use the word Evangelism when explaining how we invite others to have a relationship with Christ.

Evangelism is a funny word. You go to most Protestant churches and you will find the phrase, "...to evangelize the lost" in their mission statement. Of course we have all heard of the "Evangelical Church." Basically the term is based on the emphasis of sharing the story of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection with a non-believer. Witnessing to the 'lost.'

Sometimes the word 'evangelize' bothers me though. Sometimes the word makes me think of negative things. Sometimes when I think of the word 'evanglize', I think of a check list of things you have to do to become a Christian. In our society, we like our steps and our rules. We like guidelines and things we can check off. Sometimes I think the whole idea of 'evangelizing the lost' has been hijacked by a bunch of people who have turned it into some kind of process. Step A. Read this verse. Step B. Say this prayer. Step C. Get dunked underwater by the pastor. It makes it seems so rigid and so cold.

And when telling someone about Christ, evangelizing, I need to ask myself what I am really doing. Am I giving some person a list of steps they have to follow or am I inviting them into a relationship. As I learned with Roxanne, there are no steps in relationships. (You were wondering how I was going to tie that in.) It's not some systematic process. I have met people before who said the knew Jesus was God and they knew His whole story, but they just weren't ready to follow Him yet. The could check off everything on the list, but didn't want to become a Christian. This means it's not just some system. Becoming a Christian is entering into a relationship. Presenting the Gospel of Christ as some sort of list of steps or a type of process to follow is pretty much something a Pharisee would do. And we know that Jesus' way was different from what the Pharisees were doing.

I have never found in the Bible the list of steps you have to take to become a Christian. My Bible doesn't have any checklists in it at all. So where did the "How to Become a Christian" process come from? I don't know. I do know that what I have with Him is a relationship. And like any relationship, there are no checklists...it's simply all about the journey together.