As I scurried across campus today, I realized the vast amount of numbers that control my life and my actions and frankly, I'm sick of it.
What's your GPA?
How much will you make after graduation?
How much of that will you give back to the church?
How much do you weigh?
How many calories were in that wrap?
How many people are coming to Cru tonight?
What was my score on that last exam?
How many credits do I take next semester?
*mind explodes*
The vast majority of these numbers that control my life are arbitrary and man-made and I want for a brief second to take all of those numbers off of my shoulders and relax into the arms of Jesus. That's what I want.
I'm so incredibly excited for Heaven, where the numbers will have no relevance. There will be One. That's it. I think I'll spend the first glimpse of eternity in the arms of my Savior so thankful that the numbers are no longer pressuring me in every move.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Faith through an Airhorn
Here I stand, in Dick's Sporting Goods, staring at airhorns. I didn't even know there were different types of airhorns. I reach to grab the smallest one and stop. God, I have more faith in you than that.
Let me start from the beginning.
Each year, Cru students stand on the corners of streets and in front of dining commons in the blazing sun to collect Surveys. Surveys contain question related to students faith, and act as a net to get contacts for people that might be interested in Cru or talking about their faith.
Normally we contact the people that are interested and invite them to our Cru meetings, that's it. But this year we are taking a different approach.
Greg Boros, our Missional Team Leader, introduced a radical idea called "Follow Up Fest". Basically, we will have collected hundreds of contact information for students all over campus. So why not share the Gospel with them? Why not give them the opportunity to go from an eternity in Hell to an eternity in Heaven?
That's the idea. And, should someone accept Christ, they get to blow the airhorn which can only be a microfraction of the singing and shouting of the angels in Heaven rejoicing.
Back to Dick's. I'm standing in front of the airhorns, and my mind is saying, "Get the smallest size. We won't have that many people come to Christ." Get away from me, Satan. My God is bigger than that.
I doubt God sometimes. Okay, I doubt God a lot of times. I doubt that my prayers can be answered. I lack faith that He can do BIG things.
I reject this notion. My God is BIG and can do BIG things.
I'm tired of restricting God to what I can do. I forget so easily that His plan is so much bigger than me.
So, I grab the larger airhorn. God, I'm taking a step of faith. You can touch this many hearts. Lead us to those people to tell them the truth. I say quick prayer for the people that will come to faith this week. So many people that we would exhaust the small airhorn and we need the larger one.
At this point, I've spent 10 minutes in front of the airhorns talking to myself and weighing out things as I'm praying this step of faith. I quickly grab the airhorn and walk to the register.
My faith is the size of a mustard seed. Lord, let it grow.
Let me start from the beginning.
Each year, Cru students stand on the corners of streets and in front of dining commons in the blazing sun to collect Surveys. Surveys contain question related to students faith, and act as a net to get contacts for people that might be interested in Cru or talking about their faith.
Normally we contact the people that are interested and invite them to our Cru meetings, that's it. But this year we are taking a different approach.
Greg Boros, our Missional Team Leader, introduced a radical idea called "Follow Up Fest". Basically, we will have collected hundreds of contact information for students all over campus. So why not share the Gospel with them? Why not give them the opportunity to go from an eternity in Hell to an eternity in Heaven?
That's the idea. And, should someone accept Christ, they get to blow the airhorn which can only be a microfraction of the singing and shouting of the angels in Heaven rejoicing.
Back to Dick's. I'm standing in front of the airhorns, and my mind is saying, "Get the smallest size. We won't have that many people come to Christ." Get away from me, Satan. My God is bigger than that.
I doubt God sometimes. Okay, I doubt God a lot of times. I doubt that my prayers can be answered. I lack faith that He can do BIG things.
I reject this notion. My God is BIG and can do BIG things.
I'm tired of restricting God to what I can do. I forget so easily that His plan is so much bigger than me.
So, I grab the larger airhorn. God, I'm taking a step of faith. You can touch this many hearts. Lead us to those people to tell them the truth. I say quick prayer for the people that will come to faith this week. So many people that we would exhaust the small airhorn and we need the larger one.
At this point, I've spent 10 minutes in front of the airhorns talking to myself and weighing out things as I'm praying this step of faith. I quickly grab the airhorn and walk to the register.
My faith is the size of a mustard seed. Lord, let it grow.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Forever sowing.
There are a lot of plant analogies in the Bible. It's probably because it was an agricultural period (or at least that's what I'm told), but I feel like the more I learn about the Bible, the more I learn about planting! It's quite handy.
Anywho. Two plant-related (not really) events in my life recently.
PART ONE.
I'm currently reading "Finding Common Ground" by Tim Downs, recommended by one of the staff members in Cru. In the first chapter it speaks about sowing, tending, and harvesting - relating the physical concepts in farming to their counterpart in evangelism.
Everyone loves the harvesting season, where people are coming to Christ and there is cake and happiness all around. Everyone loves that part of evangelism.
However, the sowing (especially the sowing) and the tending are not as fun and seem fruitless sometimes. I definitely fall into this category of folks. But it is also where God keeps me in people's walks more often than not.
The thing is, I've never seen a person come to Christ in front of me. I went sharing (where we go out in pairs in a public area and ask people questions to spark conversation) a dozen times this past year, and nothing. Lots of good spiritual conversations, but no eternity-altering decisions. And this is frustrating. I want results! I want one person, ONE. But no. I sow, and I tend, and somewhere down the line someone will harvest. I have to be okay with this and accepting of it, because that's the way it is.
But it helps when I can see it in context like this. Maybe one day I'll be the harvester. That day is not today.
PART TWO.
For devotions, I'm using the "Growing Closer to God in 31 Days" from Cru's Summer Survival Guide (scroll to page 7), and one of the passages I looked at earlier this month was John 15:1-8.
Sword drill.
In this passage, Jesus is speaking about how He is the true vine and the Father is the gardener. Cool. We're tracking along.
Verse 2 is where it gets interesting.
"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (NIV)
Ouch. Have you ever seen someone prune a branch? It does not look pleasant, but it is done for the good of the plant, it allows it to grow more! And even though it sucks in the moment, the plant can than flourish because of the pruning.
Sometimes it seems like I'm in constant pruning or constant sharpening (Prov. 27:17) or constantly in flames (Job 23:10) - whatever analogy floats your boat - but it's always for my good. Always. That's a promise.
One way-too-overly-quoted verse, Jeremiah 29:11, states that God has a plan for me that is not evil and will not harm me. But let's put this verse in context. The Israelites are about to go into the desert for FORTY YEARS.
THAT is when God is telling them this, not when their boyfriend broke up with them, not when they didn't get a leadership position, and not when they didn't get into the college they had been dreaming about.
FORTY YEARS.
IN A DESERT.
WANDERING.
And what did God do in that desert? He provided. He always provided for them. Even when they were unfaithful, He provided for them.
Check out 2 Timothy 2:13 for yummyness on that front.
When I'm being pruned, feeling faithless, or like I'm constantly sowing and never harvesting, I can be sure that God is faithful and will provide. He can make food fall from the sky in the desert and can raise people the dead. It may not be in the way I expect, but He will provide for me.
That's a promise.
Anywho. Two plant-related (not really) events in my life recently.
PART ONE.
I'm currently reading "Finding Common Ground" by Tim Downs, recommended by one of the staff members in Cru. In the first chapter it speaks about sowing, tending, and harvesting - relating the physical concepts in farming to their counterpart in evangelism.
Everyone loves the harvesting season, where people are coming to Christ and there is cake and happiness all around. Everyone loves that part of evangelism.
However, the sowing (especially the sowing) and the tending are not as fun and seem fruitless sometimes. I definitely fall into this category of folks. But it is also where God keeps me in people's walks more often than not.
The thing is, I've never seen a person come to Christ in front of me. I went sharing (where we go out in pairs in a public area and ask people questions to spark conversation) a dozen times this past year, and nothing. Lots of good spiritual conversations, but no eternity-altering decisions. And this is frustrating. I want results! I want one person, ONE. But no. I sow, and I tend, and somewhere down the line someone will harvest. I have to be okay with this and accepting of it, because that's the way it is.
But it helps when I can see it in context like this. Maybe one day I'll be the harvester. That day is not today.
PART TWO.
For devotions, I'm using the "Growing Closer to God in 31 Days" from Cru's Summer Survival Guide (scroll to page 7), and one of the passages I looked at earlier this month was John 15:1-8.
Sword drill.
In this passage, Jesus is speaking about how He is the true vine and the Father is the gardener. Cool. We're tracking along.
Verse 2 is where it gets interesting.
"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (NIV)
Ouch. Have you ever seen someone prune a branch? It does not look pleasant, but it is done for the good of the plant, it allows it to grow more! And even though it sucks in the moment, the plant can than flourish because of the pruning.
Sometimes it seems like I'm in constant pruning or constant sharpening (Prov. 27:17) or constantly in flames (Job 23:10) - whatever analogy floats your boat - but it's always for my good. Always. That's a promise.
One way-too-overly-quoted verse, Jeremiah 29:11, states that God has a plan for me that is not evil and will not harm me. But let's put this verse in context. The Israelites are about to go into the desert for FORTY YEARS.
THAT is when God is telling them this, not when their boyfriend broke up with them, not when they didn't get a leadership position, and not when they didn't get into the college they had been dreaming about.
FORTY YEARS.
IN A DESERT.
WANDERING.
And what did God do in that desert? He provided. He always provided for them. Even when they were unfaithful, He provided for them.
Check out 2 Timothy 2:13 for yummyness on that front.
When I'm being pruned, feeling faithless, or like I'm constantly sowing and never harvesting, I can be sure that God is faithful and will provide. He can make food fall from the sky in the desert and can raise people the dead. It may not be in the way I expect, but He will provide for me.
That's a promise.
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