Everyday thoughts bloggarized.
http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
I wanted to post this on my blog to bring attention to the Lolcat Bible. It isn’t complete yet, but it’s close. I can totally see this being an awesome bathroom read. With more interest, some publisher will be interested in putting this on the market.
“I forgive you.” But have I? Who do I play the role to convince?
“I’m sorry.” I hope you can forgive me, but truly I cannot forgive myself.
What’s wrong with me? I harden my heart toward every offense, given and received. Why do I do it? Because I think I can handle the pain, the authority, the grace, and the love of forgiveness. In reality, I’ve only built a wall against anything good and a fly trap for everything bad. Now I have a sticky piece of yellow tape wrapped around the boulder I call my heart.
Usually, I can avoid all knowledge of what I am doing. Usually, I feel as if I have everything I could ever need. (Yes, God has been good to me, but usually I do not let Him be great to me.)
But then there’s a moment when every unforgiven offense, both of others and of myself, returns. That hardened heart of mine cracks for an instant and every terrible memory is able to linger in my mind.
Well, I’m giving up holding on to sin. Those sins have been paid for and forgiven. I want to live in God’s love and freedom rather than make myself a slave of ignorance.
I’m sorry for what I’ve already said I’m sorry for and I forgive you for what I’ve already said I’ve forgiven.
I was browsing around facebook when I stumbled upon a link in a friend’s profile.
It’s called We Feel Fine
I want to see if this blog post will make it into their search database. Right now, I feel loved, beautiful, intelligent. Now if only I could get my take home test done.
XD
This past weekend I went on a retreat with the Navigators at Millersville University, Rutgers University, Franklin & Marshall, and of course University of Maryland.
Forrest Watson was the speaker for the weekend. And the theme was World Missions, but I feel like the more applicable point was what we are living for and how that relates to God’s will for our life.
What am I living for? I feel like a majority of my plans are just that: mine. I often don’t consider how I fit into God’s plan but how I can fit God into my plan.
And I have everything planned out and stuck together until I try to put God in there too.
One problem.
God’s too big to be put into my plan.
So my dream of a husband, a house, a handful of kids, a job, and a great church family may be what God wants for me, or maybe He wants me to have more.
But the beauty of it all is that I have time to let God show me what he wants for my life.
Right now, I am a student at the University of Maryland, and right now, God is using me in ways I don’t realize. The future is important, but
What are you living for right… now?
I’ve played softball since I was about 4 or 5 years old. When I started playing fast pitch, my dad(a softball coach for high school) talked me into being a pitcher. One problem: I hated to practice on my own. It was one thing to go to practice where all my friends were, but to stand outside on my own throwing the ball at the side of the house was boring. So my dad had me attend pitching clinics to give me more training to get better and learn more about pitching. On thing each coach would talk about was muscle memory. After doing a certain motion many many times, you can do it right without thinking about it.Similar in concept to pitching a softball, our daily quiet times and relationship with God needs some muscle memory. I can attest that when a person starts having daily quiet times with God, it’s hard to stay committed to having one every day. And I still struggle with putting it off until I’m too tired and then not doing it. When I do have quiet times, they are so so so rewarding that I can never imagine why I would put it off. There are a few places in scripture that I find very encouraging and helpful for my desire to meet with God daily.
1. Even Jesus needed to spend time praying to God, and he was perfect!
Mark 1:35 -
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left
the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
If the Son of God needed to have a quiet time to get in touch with God, don’t you think you need to also? And furthermore, Jesus was a very busy guy whose time on earth was short, but he still made time to spend alone with God.
Hebrews 12
2. We are surrounded with accountability.
Hebrews 12:1-
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us.
It’s not possible to run a race without other people running with out. Think of accountability as the person running right beside you. You’re neck-and-neck and neither one of you wants to stop to walk. Accountability with someone will help both of you run your race so that you can finish to your best ability.
3. We can see the finish.
Hebrews 12:2 -
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before
him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God.
Because we have a testament of Jesus’ life, we know what we are striving for. We know who we are meeting with. And what’s even better is that He is at that finish line rooting us on. He’ll help us out on our journey, but only if we’ll let him. Every time we meet with God, we get to know him more and more. So if we meet with him for 15 minutes 365 days a year for X number of years, that’s a lot of getting to know, and that’s a lot of getting closer to the finish.
Enoch in Genesis lived far shorter than any of the generations before or after him. “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24). He really strove for that finish with his commitment to God.
4. It’s hard to be committed, but don’t stop.
Hebrews 12:3-6 -
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful
men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In
your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that
word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
It’s going to be hard to commit to spending time with God, you can count on that. Commitment doesn’t happen instantly, something that this world is not used to. It takes work, it takes heart. It wasn’t easy for Christ to get on that cross, and he knew he had to long beforehand. But from the commitment he gave us, how much of it was bad? Because he was committed to us, we can be called children of God.
5. Meeting with God will change you.
Hebrews 12:7-10 -
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as
sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If
you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes
discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not
true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers
who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How
much more should we submit to the Father of our
spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little
while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for
our good, that we may share in his holiness.
If we meet with God, he will discipline us. And as we allow him to discipline us, tasks that seemed hard to commit to, will seem like second nature. This is the muscle memory I was talking about earlier. Furthermore, as we become more disciplined to meet with God daily, we will also grow more like him. We become better people when we meet with God. It may feel hard to commit to meeting with God daily, but it’s for good.
6. You will reap benefits.
Hebrews 12:11-13 -
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been
trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak
knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that
the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
From that discipline there will be fruit. Quiet times can strengthen us when we are weak, assure us when we have doubt, and bring peace into our hectic lives. Ask a farmer if it’s hard to sow seeds, and even to pick the crop. Also ask him if it’s worth it. I bet he will answer both with a yes. And then ask him if he would have it any other way. Many will say no. A life with God is similar, except that the harvest is 1000 times the the pain of the planting.
Without a quiet time?
Hebrews 12:14-15,25 –
Make every effort to live in peace with all
men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter
root grows up to cause trouble and defile many…See to it that
you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when
they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will
we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
Life is a lot hard without God’s daily encouragement and outlook. He sees so much more than we do that we are completely lost in our own selves with Him. It’s hard to live in peace and grace if we don’t meet with God to see it. Without meeting with God we are left by ourselves to fix things in our lives that we don’t understand and we left without a shelter to be trampled on by the world. God wants to help us escape from this world, but only if we go to him and ask him to guide us.
God isn’t like the world. Actually, he is the complete opposite. He doesn’t care how we look when he meet him, he just wants us to come to him, meet with him, and learn more about him and what he’s done. He wants to be number one in our lives, after all, we’re number one in his. He didn’t even spare his son to save us.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’ ” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
Meet with God, gain some muscle memory. That muscle memory will make your spiritual life less of a chore and more of a delight. It’s worth it. Way worth it.
The host’s servers of my previous blog have been down for over a month now, so I’ve decided to start a new one. I am upset that a couple of my postings are gone (hopefully not forever), but a couple of them are posted elsewhere. I’ll be linking these writings or pasting them on here. And hopefully with a blog that works, I can be more committed to writing.
Happy reading!
Instead of copying Pastor Scott’s answer to my question about the relationship between forgiveness, trust and feeling wounded, I’ve left the link here.
I hope you enjoy. =)
