Bitterness

He stood in the midst of the rubble of a church. The only sign of life was a dead leaf limping through the mess, as if picked up by the hand of a giant and sent sweeping over the remains. The people who had once been here were long gone. And there in the middle of the church he saw a line where the church had been divided many years ago...

And then his eyes opened and he was there sitting in church. He looked up and heard the pastor drone on about forgiveness and the love of Christ. He'd heard it all before. As he looked around he saw the emptiness in people's eyes. They didn't care. Why was he even here? He hated half the people anyways. But his parents raised him to be a good Christian and go to church every week. Why did he still come?



Our hearts so easily are pulled this way or another. But the thing which separates hearts more than anything is the sin of bitterness. It's one of those sins that starts out so small. It's like building a wall. One brick at a time.

I'm surprised how easily just the small things can spark bitterness. Someone puts the plates in the wrong place for the 4th time. A friend knocks over your trophy and breaks it. And other etc stupid stuff.

Then, there are the big things. Someone tells you they hate you. A brother runs over your child. But does this give us reason to be bitter?

Why do we forget so often that God has forgiven us? Why is bitterness overwhelming our heart? Why can't we focus on God instead of all the tragedies that happen to us?

Take a moment today and ask yourself if you're bitter towards someone. Ask yourself why God has any mercy with you. Then look at the debt that God forgave you and finally turn and look at the debt that someone else owes you.

Offences

Sometimes, I hate being around other people. They sit on their little thrones. If you hurt their pride or attack something they believe, they become angry. By the way, I'm one of the most guilty of this act.

Then, at the same time I tend to be someone who wants to please others. I want others to be happy. I don't want people to go away angry. But, it's so much work.

In our culture of people who are raised by media and culture to become angry if their food is cold when it's served (and it's supposed to be hot.) They become flustered if you tell them something isn't going to go their way. $5.00 is a life or death issue for them.

To be honest, it can end up driving me crazy. You go to church and with most people it seems like you have to tread around them with a 10 foot pole feeling like if you say something wrong they'll get up and leave. And, that's our culture. We've been trained because of good return policies and good customer service and lots of beautifully built malls and the so many other things God has blessed us with to be whiny and ungrateful people. You get offended or turned off, well then move on to the next product, or church, or friends, etc.

And, by no means do I not struggle with these things as well...

It comes down to how much you love other people and how much you love God. God gave us commands that tell us turn the other cheek and to love one another. But, guess what it's going to be hard. I personally think I have the biggest trouble with loving other people. And I'm not talking about where you have to love each other when you're enjoying an ice cream sandwich or a fun picnic. No, it's when they're angry with you or you messed up and lost one of their dogs or something much worse... Anyways, you get the point.

In the end, what are you willing to sacrifice for friendships? Christ sacrificed his life for his friends. What are you willing to give up?

The End

P.S. This post isn't meant to offend anyone. ;-P The reason for this is in my life I don't really like to have close friendships because I understand how easy it is to offend people and the farther you keep them away the less of a chance you have to offend them or be offended. And, I'm trying to grasp the concept of close friendships and it really comes down to offering up of yourself. And, I see very few people who are willing to do this. So, if you find a friend who's willing to give up their lives for you, count that friendship precious because there are very few you'll have like this over your lifetime.

P.S.S. I apologize for all the terrible grammar mistakes... Note to self: Don't write when you're tired....... zzzz.

Discipline

It's easy to start projects, but not easy to finish them. I tend to have all of these ideas for things I want to do and start them but end up not finishing them. Especially in a culture that talks about following your heart I see how it's easy for people to not stick to things but to follow their heart in a thousand directions.

You can see it in college where the majority of college students change their majors three times. And, then a lot of people don't even use their degrees later in life.

But, I think the true challenge is becoming a genius at something. I have this tendency to get involved in something till I learn the basics and then I want to go learn something else. But, this isn't a way to get good at anything. Whatever we do, we need to do with excellence and when you're always switching to different things then it'll be hard for you to be successful or excellent in anything you do.

There's a number out there that says that to be a genius at something you need to do it/study it for 10,000+ hours. Which is basically 3-4 years of full time work.

Whatever it is in your life, be it your work, or your relationships, or even hobbies if you really want to succeed at it, you need to spend the time on it for it to come to a true fulfillment. Life wasn't meant to be easy...

The Winding Road

As I rode in the car this past Saturday down a long highway with trees on all sides and just winding through them with them never stopping I thought about how our lives tend to be this way. We're going down this long winding road and we can never see far ahead of us. There are other people we meet along the way and sometimes they walk with us for a ways and then they'll leave us. So much happens over one's lifetime. I don't know where I'll be in the next 10 years. What will be the path that God takes you down?

As you wander down the road it's so easy to be unsure. You think you're going to go one way and you fall into a ditch and go a different way. Your friends today won't necessarily be your friends tomorrow. You may live on the other side of the world in ten years. Many of those around my age will be married as well.

Life can be quite an exhilarating and exciting journey. Yet at the same time it can be very stressful. Relationships will break down, you may lose you job, your house could burn down, or you could even die in a car accident.

And so as we stare down this winding road not being able to see very far in front of us we move forward in faith. It's God who will keep us. The Lord is our refuge and our habitation.

Let's not get caught in the winding road, just look forward and up toward the wicket gate and follow the light of the Word of God.

New Posts Coming...

Speaking of dedication. *cough* I've had trouble being creative and thinking because of the last 6 weeks of traveling. But, I'm back to writing and I have 3 posts coming this week.

So, check back every single day!

Or else..

Dedicated

The Christian life is a long journey. We go through valleys and over mountains. We can feel discouraged and we can rejoice. And, you need dedication to keep going.

When things are a walk in the park, sure it's easy to keep going. When life feels like it's being handed to you on a golden platter that's when you feel like you can go for forever.

But, eventually everything becomes difficult. There's never a downhill without an uphill eventually. And at that point it takes dedication to get back up the hill.

I think that's one of the reason I enjoy running. Sure there are easy times when you run, but when you get to that 12th mile of 15, you start to feel the pain. Your muscles are getting sore and you're losing energy. But, you finish because you see the value in finishing and the feeling when you get through the tough times is incredible.

So, don't give up when things get tough because when you get through the tough times, there's a great feeling of satisfaction. At least imo.

*Sorry for the not posting, :-( I'll try to do better*

Immaturity

When a child comes out of the womb they have no knowledge of what is acceptable in culture. They grow up being corrected and learning what's acceptable and right. They learn to keep their elbows off the table, what words not to use, and essentially what's appropriate in certain circumstances.
But, then we come to the teenage boy. He was taught good penmanship but now it's become sloppy. He was taught to have respect for elders, but now he no longer respects them, and he now no longer knows how to dress...
In the homeschool movement, specifically, it seems the young man is very proud. He's always been catered to by his mother and given lots of love from their parents, in general. He's lived an easy life and really hasn't had to make his own way in the world. And if there's one thing I've learned about proud men it's that they hate to listen to others.
Young men are fighters. They want to fight anything and everything they have a chance to fight against. Being a fighter is definitely a good thing, but the problem is that these young men are cutting off their brother's ears and chopping at their parents. Their immature humor and knowing how far to go with pranks and such is pretty standard. This combined with pride is a prime example of why they're so immature.
Then there are the other things that contribute to boy's lack of maturity. Of course there's pride on both sides. There's also an emphasis on not growing up. You want to be cool, so you don't want to work. You want to buy the best stuff and look good in the eyes of others. Basically the way of the fool is right in his own eyes and so he doesn't see that he needs to learn and act as a grave man.
Many men have trouble getting into deep conversations. It feels uncomfortable to talk about anything besides the weather and what the local sports teams. Why do we have to be so immature? Is there a reason for this? Possibly men's brains not fully maturing till they're 25, but that's kind of a lame excuse...
In Titus, the young men are exhorted to be sober minded. If there's one word to describe what most young men are not, in America, it would be the word sober minded. So how do we become more mature? It's kind of hard for me to answer that since I'm not the most mature person, but I have a couple thoughts.
Number one, they need to listen to older men. And, by listening I don't mean listening in the ordinary definition of the word. I mean taking what you hear and actually applying it in your life. These men older then you have been through a lot more and sure, maybe some of their advice is misleading but I think there can always be things you can learn.
The second reason I find to be intriguing is the thought that sometimes we focus on vision too much. Most men today have no vision so they don't go anywhere. And, we see that lack of vision. But, for young men who have been taught by those around them a great vision. Every time you talk to them it sounds like they're going to do great things. They have their vision written for the next 2,000 years. Yet, here they are struggling to get married, get off the couch, etc. Sometimes it seems we don't emphasis enough, in some of the circles I run in, the need for application. A vision is definitely very important and there isn't enough of it normally. But, when a young man is swamped with vision that is crippling his ability to grow now then it's a negative effect. So, we do need to focus on our lives here and now.
It's so easy to put things off till tomorrow that should be done today. And, that's how growing up and maturing works. If you're constantly putting it off to play your video games and make crude jokes then it will never happen. Your maturating has to happen today. And, I guess that's the point of all this. You need to make a change in your life to not be one of the 70% of 30 year old men that are not grown up.