What WILL you DO?

Before reading the rest of this post, I ask that you watch this video. I know it is somewhat long (but not that long), but it part of the inspiration for this post, and if you only listen to part of it then you will lose some of the impact.

So now the question comes, what do you do? Or what WILL you do? I think that all too often our response is like that of the biblical story of the good Samaritan, only that's not who we imitate; instead, we cross over to the other side of the road. We look down upon and judge people in dire situations saying that is their fault and they need to suffer the consequences and/or get themselves out of it. In many cases this is true, but isn't it true of ALL of us? And Jesus did not leave us to suffer the consequences, but rather came TO us.

Now I am not saying that this means that one should always give money to the man on the side of the road, but maybe sometimes it DOES mean that. Or maybe it means helping, with time and/or money, at a Crisis Pregnancy Center, a homeless shelter, an orphanage, or in a drug rehabilitation program. Maybe it means reaching out to your neighbor, or the person you know is a drug addict or worse. We can reach out with practical help as well as with what they need most; the Gospel! I do not think that the "least of these" are those people who have it all together. They surely include those who need help, but in no way deserve it just like we do not deserve the help Jesus offers.

As the song says, "When men here are hurting/And children they cry/When women are lifting their face to the sky/With hope disappearing and their backs to a wall/Now tell to me, Christian, who'll answer the call?/Oh we can't ignore them/The Church cannot sleep/If we sow indifference/Then what will we reap?/We may have the answer/right here in our hand/But how can we help them/With our head in the sand?" 

And even more importantly, as the Bible says;

    "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

    Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:34-46 

What will you do? 

P.S. This is in NO way trying to say that our works determine our salvation. 

Trusting For Real

In the Bible, we are commanded to trust in God. "Trust in the Lord will all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5-6. While it is often fairly easy to make our brains and mouths say the words "I trust You", it is even more often difficult to make our hearts and feelings trusting. I know for me I can often, in a way, be thinking, "Yes God, I trust that your way is best, but..." I still really want my way, or I want answers now rather than waiting until God says it is time to show me the answer.

For example, sometimes I wonder what I should do after I finish school, and yes that can grow worrisome to me at times. By no means is it wrong to think, pray, and even plan now, nor is it impossible that God will give me an answer before I finish school. However, I need to trust in Him, and not worry that I do not have the answer NOW. I need to trust that by the time I need it, I will have His answer. I like Elizabeth Elliot's quote related to this aspect of trusting God. She says, "The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?." The rest of the verse that I began in the first paragraph says, "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (or "direct your paths").

Another aspect of trusting God that He is working on in me is in trusting that His will for what He gives me in life is perfect. His timing if He chooses to give me things is perfect. If I do not have what I want now, or even if I never get it, it truly is because it is better this way. God's way is perfect.

What about you? What do you struggle with most when it comes to trusting God, and how do you fight those challenges? How has God encouraged you in those areas?

9/11 : A Day in the History Books

We do not often think about whether or not we will live through events which will end up in the history books that our children, grandchildren, and more will be reading. But on 9/11/01 we did just that. Sadly, this was not a joyous, triumphant historical event (such as tearing down the Berlin wall), but one of immense tragedy.

I remember sitting in our living room, and my dad came in the house and turned on the TV. The attack was all over the news. I remember, in a way, understanding what had happened, but not really grasping the severity and tragedy that it was; I wanted to finish schoolwork. I was only 12 years old. I have since grown to understand the terrible sadness of that day. It is a horrible thing that happened in our country.

On this 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks let us remember. The word "remember" is used quite often in association with that historical day. However, let us not just, simply remember and ponder that day. Let us use our memories to spur us on to pray. To pray for those affected by the tragedy; those injured, those who survived, those have loved ones who did not survive. Yes, let us even pray for the remaining terrorists and others who planned and/or enjoyed this attack due to their hatred for our country. God tells us, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" Matthew 5:44.  As much as we may not want to, we should pray for those people as well. Pray that God would touch their hearts, and that they would repent and be saved. We can also pray that God would keep us, and other countries, safe. That future attacks will be prevented.

9/11 : Remember. And pray

Three

This week is the 3rd week of the semester. The first two weeks went by fairly quickly, and were a mix of craziness and stress, but were overall not that bad. Hopefully as the weeks go on I will get more into the swing of things, and get used to my schedule and to doing homework again. As I type this, the windows in my room are open letting in the amazing fall weather that has finally arrived, at least for a little while  (one never knows how long it will last here in VA).

One of my classes this semester is Children's Literature. I am excited about this class because we have/get to read a LOT of children's books through the course of the semester. I few are assigned, but many are up to us to choose. I really enjoy reading so this is fun for me, and I sometimes almost feel guilty while reading, and have to remind myself that I AM doing homework (though I can't forget my other work)!