As I was walking around Wal-mart the other day, I made the realization that being a door greeter would be one of the hardest jobs to have this time of year. I mean, sure, cashiers have it rough with all of the last minute shoppers that forgot to buy gifts. And the stockers have it pretty rough too. But the door greeters…I think they’ve got it the hardest. You see, it’s this time each year that their two biggest critics come out: The Liberals and the Fundamentalist Christians, and they’ve been waiting all year to pounce on the poor door greeter.
Now, you may be wondering to yourself why anyone would want to go after a door greeter. I mean it’s their job to be nice and make people feel welcome during their shopping experience.
Well, I’m going to let you in on a little known secret. Greeters are one of the few accurate ways to tell the spirituality of a country. I tell no lies! They are indeed humanity’s spirit-o-meters.
Here’s how it works: If a greeter greets you with the greeting “Merry Christmas,” you can rest assured that our country is spiritually on track. However, if you are greeted with the alliterative “Happy Holidays,” you know that are country is currently morally defunct and those pesky liberals are winning.
If you think about it, this makes perfect sense because we all know that the spirituality of something is decided by whether or not the word “Christ” is somewhere in it…right?
Tricked you! Of course that’s not right! Yet year after year we hear this same argument. Should we use “Merry Christmas” or should we use “Happy Holidays?” Personally, I do not think it matters one way or another, but the arguments did get me thinking so I’ve decided to run with them. When people get offended at “Happy Holidays,” they generally assume that it is said because the person, or company the person works for, either doesn’t want to offend non-Christians, wants to make sure other religions that celebrate holidays in the winter aren’t excluded, or they simply aren’t Christians and don’t want to be associated with Christ. Oh, and they’re liberal. Don’t forget that.
So, here’s my question. What is the purpose of trying to get people who say “Happy Holidays” to say “Merry Christmas?” I mean, isn’t that like me telling everyone that I’m French? I can say the words all I want, but unless I move to France and apply for citizenship, I am still an American. It’s the same for people and spirituality. People can use any greeting they want, but unless they are living a life that matches their greeting, it doesn’t reflect them. Ultimately, it’s not a person’s greeting that needs to be changed. It’s the person’s heart, and once the heart is changed, a greeting from a door greeter won’t be necessary to tell how spiritual someone is. Their lives will do that.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Does this blog make me look fat?
As the end of the year approaches, I've had some time to think about all the things that have gone in my life and what I've learned from them. As I look at myself compared to who I was last year, I think I can see some major positive changes. At the same time, I've noticed another change that I can't really say used to characterize me: Insecurity. Now everyone experiences insecurity of some sort, so I didn't find this too strange. What's strange to me is the people that I've come to find myself insecure around. It's not in groups of people that I don't know or people that I'm trying to impress; it's my closest friends.
At first, this didn't make any sense to me. Why would I feel insecure around the people that care the most about me? Something seems out of place. I know I shouldn't feel insecure around these people; but why?
The more I thought about it the more frustrated I became. These were the most important people in my life. I care more about them than anyone else but rather than enjoying my time with them all I seem to think about it how I might do something stupid and drive them away. This, in turn, makes me want to always make sure that I haven't done something to upset them. However, it doesn't take too many times of being asked if you're mad to drive a person to madness. So, I found myself in this constant circle of worry that I felt I could never get out of. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know how to fix it.
Let me give you a quick analogy. Imagine an old record player that gets stuck. The needle seemingly refuses to move, so the track just keeps repeating over and over again. Sometimes the needle will find its way back to where it belongs and it will continue its journey through the record. However, sometime the needle needs help. This was me.
For some reason I just kept going over the same path over and over again. Luckily, I have a few good friends that helped me get back on track.
They showed me, partially through example, that the reason I was afraid to disappoint the most important people in my life was because they were the most important people in my life.
What I had done is made my friends, not God, the most important people to me, and that was where I went wrong.
Making something the most important thing in your life is tricky for two reasons: one is that once you've placed something in the number one spot, you will do anything to keep it there. Second is that whenever you place something in the number one spot, you have to disregard what was previously there.
This is when I realized that I had done something very stupid. I had taken the one person who could help me through anything, the one person who knows my every need, the one person who loves me more than anyone else ever could, and I had replaced him with people who could never come close to any of those things. I knew that they were just people like me, yet I had placed them on this pedastal, thinking that if I didn't amount to what I felt was good enough for them, I was some sort of failure. I've come to realize that if I keep trying to compare myself to my friends, not only will I disappoint them, but they will disappoint me. My friends are some of the greatest people in the world, but they are not what I need the most. My God is.
Now that I know this, I've realized that until I've returned God to his rightful spot as the most important thing in my life, I will always feel like I something is wrong because my friends cannot give me everything that I need and I cannot give them everything I need. Only God can.
At first, this didn't make any sense to me. Why would I feel insecure around the people that care the most about me? Something seems out of place. I know I shouldn't feel insecure around these people; but why?
The more I thought about it the more frustrated I became. These were the most important people in my life. I care more about them than anyone else but rather than enjoying my time with them all I seem to think about it how I might do something stupid and drive them away. This, in turn, makes me want to always make sure that I haven't done something to upset them. However, it doesn't take too many times of being asked if you're mad to drive a person to madness. So, I found myself in this constant circle of worry that I felt I could never get out of. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know how to fix it.
Let me give you a quick analogy. Imagine an old record player that gets stuck. The needle seemingly refuses to move, so the track just keeps repeating over and over again. Sometimes the needle will find its way back to where it belongs and it will continue its journey through the record. However, sometime the needle needs help. This was me.
For some reason I just kept going over the same path over and over again. Luckily, I have a few good friends that helped me get back on track.
They showed me, partially through example, that the reason I was afraid to disappoint the most important people in my life was because they were the most important people in my life.
What I had done is made my friends, not God, the most important people to me, and that was where I went wrong.
Making something the most important thing in your life is tricky for two reasons: one is that once you've placed something in the number one spot, you will do anything to keep it there. Second is that whenever you place something in the number one spot, you have to disregard what was previously there.
This is when I realized that I had done something very stupid. I had taken the one person who could help me through anything, the one person who knows my every need, the one person who loves me more than anyone else ever could, and I had replaced him with people who could never come close to any of those things. I knew that they were just people like me, yet I had placed them on this pedastal, thinking that if I didn't amount to what I felt was good enough for them, I was some sort of failure. I've come to realize that if I keep trying to compare myself to my friends, not only will I disappoint them, but they will disappoint me. My friends are some of the greatest people in the world, but they are not what I need the most. My God is.
Now that I know this, I've realized that until I've returned God to his rightful spot as the most important thing in my life, I will always feel like I something is wrong because my friends cannot give me everything that I need and I cannot give them everything I need. Only God can.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Running on Faith
I recently overheard a story about how one of my friends was driving somewhere and was about to run out of gas. Apparently they couldn't find a gas station anywhere and they were getting really worried that they weren't going to make it to their destination. They finished their story with "Yeah, but I just ran on faith until I got to the gas station to refuel..."
Now, I'm not usually prone to making arguments out of nothing, but my following thought process went something like this: "If you were running on faith, why would you need to refuel? I mean, shoot, if my car could run on pure faith, I wouldn't even think about buying fuel again. Can you imagine the financial burden that would be lifted? I'd be driving all over the country! I'd go to the east coast, then the west...anyway, you get the point." However, I knew it was just a story, so I put my cynical attitude away and just laughed at the story...until now!
While I may not have realized it at the time, my question was somewhat valid. If I had the opportunity to use faith to make things happen, why wouldn't I? Let me rephrase the question: We have the opportunity to use faith to make things happen, so why don't we?!
That's right! We have the ability to tap into a power that makes things happen. And I don't mean little things. The Bible/Jesus (double whammy!) tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains! Ok, so this may be a bit hyperbolic, but you get the point...or do you? As I think back on my prayer life over the years, I think of how weak it really is. I mean, basically, I pray for things that I know are going to happen anyway. "Dear God, please be with Johnny as he's driving home. Keep him safe, yatta yatta yatta..." (Do not misunderstand what I just said. Prayers of protection are important.) I pray for Johnny to make it home because I expect him to make it home safely anyway. It's likely that he will safely make it home, so I pray for this; and once again, there is nothing wrong with this. However, I feel that many times my prayers have stopped there. I don't ask God for anything truly spectacular because I feel like I'll probably be disappointed, and that's where I go wrong. Where is that in the Bible? "And upon the occassion that ye pray in earnest for something, be ye sure that it is something small, lest you want to be disappointed" -David 4:28 (That's not a real verse and it's not a real book of the Bible.) Actually, it's the opposite! Paul says in Ephesians 6:18 that we are to pray in the Spirit on all occassions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Jesus then tells us in John 14 that we can ask for anything in his name and he will do it. And again in Luke he tells us that whatever we ask for, we are to believe we will receive it and it will be ours. (Before I go on, I need to clear up that I am not blogging a health and wealth sermon. This verse doesn't mean go and ask to be rich. If you did that, God would just ask you to give it away, so don't even think about it you stinkers.)
As I looked at what God had to say about prayer, I began to wonder why I'm not praying like this. Then it hit me; I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid to pray.
Do you remember those times when you were a kid when you wanted to go do something but you knew if you asked your parents if you could they'd probably say no? Well I think that's what I feel a lot of time. If I ask God to do something crazy and he does it, I know that I'll have to submit to him. When I pray for Johnny to make it home safely, I know that he's probably going to make it home anyway. But, when I pray for my friend who is most likely going to die of cancer and he is miraculously healed, well, it's gonna be a lot harder to blame that one on something other than God. And if I see God at work because of things I asked for, I know that I will have no excuse when it comes time for me to be held accountable. If I have seen the power of God and still choose to ignore him, then I have no one left to blame but myself.
So, I think about all this and it does scare me. But it's not a permanent scared; It's a scared that I know I can change to praise. I have no reason to be scared because I have put my faith in the one who has the power to do anything and just happens to be the same one who died so that I could be with him forever. I know that it's a lot to grasps and I know that I don't have all the answers on what exactly I'm supposed to do, but I'm ok with that. I have faith.
By the way, this blog was brought to you in part by Jessie's blog, http://runningthroughmoments.blogspot.com/2009/12/as-seen-on-tv.html, which in turn was brought to you by Dave's blog, http://dheffren.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-search-of-swagger.html. You should also check out Chuck's block at http://butonaseriousnote.blogspot.com/.
Now, I'm not usually prone to making arguments out of nothing, but my following thought process went something like this: "If you were running on faith, why would you need to refuel? I mean, shoot, if my car could run on pure faith, I wouldn't even think about buying fuel again. Can you imagine the financial burden that would be lifted? I'd be driving all over the country! I'd go to the east coast, then the west...anyway, you get the point." However, I knew it was just a story, so I put my cynical attitude away and just laughed at the story...until now!
While I may not have realized it at the time, my question was somewhat valid. If I had the opportunity to use faith to make things happen, why wouldn't I? Let me rephrase the question: We have the opportunity to use faith to make things happen, so why don't we?!
That's right! We have the ability to tap into a power that makes things happen. And I don't mean little things. The Bible/Jesus (double whammy!) tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains! Ok, so this may be a bit hyperbolic, but you get the point...or do you? As I think back on my prayer life over the years, I think of how weak it really is. I mean, basically, I pray for things that I know are going to happen anyway. "Dear God, please be with Johnny as he's driving home. Keep him safe, yatta yatta yatta..." (Do not misunderstand what I just said. Prayers of protection are important.) I pray for Johnny to make it home because I expect him to make it home safely anyway. It's likely that he will safely make it home, so I pray for this; and once again, there is nothing wrong with this. However, I feel that many times my prayers have stopped there. I don't ask God for anything truly spectacular because I feel like I'll probably be disappointed, and that's where I go wrong. Where is that in the Bible? "And upon the occassion that ye pray in earnest for something, be ye sure that it is something small, lest you want to be disappointed" -David 4:28 (That's not a real verse and it's not a real book of the Bible.) Actually, it's the opposite! Paul says in Ephesians 6:18 that we are to pray in the Spirit on all occassions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Jesus then tells us in John 14 that we can ask for anything in his name and he will do it. And again in Luke he tells us that whatever we ask for, we are to believe we will receive it and it will be ours. (Before I go on, I need to clear up that I am not blogging a health and wealth sermon. This verse doesn't mean go and ask to be rich. If you did that, God would just ask you to give it away, so don't even think about it you stinkers.)
As I looked at what God had to say about prayer, I began to wonder why I'm not praying like this. Then it hit me; I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid to pray.
Do you remember those times when you were a kid when you wanted to go do something but you knew if you asked your parents if you could they'd probably say no? Well I think that's what I feel a lot of time. If I ask God to do something crazy and he does it, I know that I'll have to submit to him. When I pray for Johnny to make it home safely, I know that he's probably going to make it home anyway. But, when I pray for my friend who is most likely going to die of cancer and he is miraculously healed, well, it's gonna be a lot harder to blame that one on something other than God. And if I see God at work because of things I asked for, I know that I will have no excuse when it comes time for me to be held accountable. If I have seen the power of God and still choose to ignore him, then I have no one left to blame but myself.
So, I think about all this and it does scare me. But it's not a permanent scared; It's a scared that I know I can change to praise. I have no reason to be scared because I have put my faith in the one who has the power to do anything and just happens to be the same one who died so that I could be with him forever. I know that it's a lot to grasps and I know that I don't have all the answers on what exactly I'm supposed to do, but I'm ok with that. I have faith.
By the way, this blog was brought to you in part by Jessie's blog, http://runningthroughmoments.blogspot.com/2009/12/as-seen-on-tv.html, which in turn was brought to you by Dave's blog, http://dheffren.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-search-of-swagger.html. You should also check out Chuck's block at http://butonaseriousnote.blogspot.com/.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
"I get a thousand hugs..." Actually, you don't...
Recently I heard this song by Owl City called "Fireflies" or something like that. I want to make it known that this fireflies song is rediculous. Think about it. How could you get 1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs? The minimum amount of hugs you could get from 10,000 lightning bugs is obviously 10,000.
Now, you may be thinking "Connor, he could be saying that he gets 1,000 hugs from EACH lightning bug."
Really? That's your argument? Allowing a 3 second timespan for each hug, that's 3,000 seconds of hugging per lightning bug and 30,000,000 seconds, or 500,000 minutes, or 8,333 minutes of hugging total. That means, in order for all these hugs to take place, he would have to be continually hugged for aproximately 347 days straight. Now, I'll admit that while this is highly unlikely, it is still somewhat plausible...except for one thing: Fireflies have a lifespan of two months. This poses a real problem doesn't it? Before all the fireflies would be able to hug Mr. Adam Young, they would be dead. Of course, you could try to say that their babies would continue this huggathon, but you forget that fireflies only reproduce in the spring and summer, so they would still die out in the winter.
The last argument for this is that they all hug him at once, but as we discussed, they'd each have to hug him for 3,000 a piece and if you had ten thousand lighnting bugs covering you for 3,000 seconds, you'd probably suffocate.
Now, you may be thinking "Connor, he could be saying that he gets 1,000 hugs from EACH lightning bug."
Really? That's your argument? Allowing a 3 second timespan for each hug, that's 3,000 seconds of hugging per lightning bug and 30,000,000 seconds, or 500,000 minutes, or 8,333 minutes of hugging total. That means, in order for all these hugs to take place, he would have to be continually hugged for aproximately 347 days straight. Now, I'll admit that while this is highly unlikely, it is still somewhat plausible...except for one thing: Fireflies have a lifespan of two months. This poses a real problem doesn't it? Before all the fireflies would be able to hug Mr. Adam Young, they would be dead. Of course, you could try to say that their babies would continue this huggathon, but you forget that fireflies only reproduce in the spring and summer, so they would still die out in the winter.
The last argument for this is that they all hug him at once, but as we discussed, they'd each have to hug him for 3,000 a piece and if you had ten thousand lighnting bugs covering you for 3,000 seconds, you'd probably suffocate.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Oh You Can't Get To Heaven...
I was going to title this blog post "Can You Take Me Higher" but I changed my mind because I'm pretty sure most of the world would quit reading this as soon as they saw a Creed reference. (Not that there's anything wrong with Creed, you haters!)
Anywho...
This semester I've been meeting with some Mormon friends that I met here on campus. We get together about once a week and talk about our religion and what and why we believe what we believe. This week I brought up the topic of Heaven, which unfortunately, is a subject that I rarely think about. For those of you who don't know, the Mormon's version of Heaven is slightly different than the typical evangelical view of Heaven and in order to better understand what I'm trying to say, it's important that you understand their view. So, let me take a minute to do my best to explain it as it was explained to me: God cares about you a ton and what he wants more than anything is for you to be happy. Because he loves us, he has given commands that, if you follow, will lead to happiness. Following these commands is our way of showing him that we love him. If we follow the commands really well, after we die, we will eventually go to Heaven. Now "heaven" is a tricky term. We are not all going to the same heaven. There are three different "heavens" that we can go to, each one a little better than the next. We are sent to these heavens based on how well we follow God's commands. The top level of heaven is where God is. This is where we will be in his presence and be forever happy. Anything our heart desires, we will receive because God will hold nothing back from us. So, let's say I want to have a million guitars (I actually used that example when trying to understand this) and jam out for eternity, I would get my guitars and eternal jam session if that is what made me happy. This is what we are aiming for. God will give us anything we desire because seeing us happy is what makes him happy and as long as everyone's happy, it's all good.
After they finished explaining all this to me, I sat there quietly thinking about what they had just told me. I mean, I can see how this would be an enticing view. If I obey some rules, I get to have whatever my heart desires for all eternity. That's not to shabby.
Or is it?
I don't think they had many people that didn't like this view of heaven, because they seemed somewhat dumbfounded when I finally gave them a response.
"I don't think I'd want guitars for eternity."
"Well then just think of something else. What makes you happy Connor?"
I've never thought much about this question because it's usually only asked hypothetically and I know I'm never going to get what I want because it's something stupid like wanting some girl to like me or having an endless supply of something that I really don't need.
"I don't know..." I said. How pathetic, I thought. I don't even know what would make me happy? Geez. It's me! Connor! How do you not know what make yourself happy...lahoo zaher. But as I continued to think about it I realized that it wasn't actually that pathetic of an answer. I mean, yeah, I like guitars, but if my reward was an eternity of guitar playing, I think I'd be disappointed. So I tried to think of what I do now that I like better than playing guitar. After listing off some stuff, I realized what it was. Friends. Good friends. There's nothing I would rather do than spend time with my good friends and ultimately I think it's like that for about everyone. We would rather spend time with the people that we love more than anything. I gave them the illustration of a girlfriend. (They didn't know I didn't have a girlfriend, so this worked a lot better with them than it will with you I'm sure, but just play along) Let's say that I have a girlfriend, or even a wife, and I love her. Now, if I was given the choice between getting a new guitar and equipment or getting to spend time with my wife and letting her know that I love her, without hesitation I am going to choose spending time with my wife. The guitar is nice, but it's not real. I doesn't know I love it. At the end of the day, I'm alone with a guitar that doesn't reciprocate my love. And it's the same for my friends. If I had to choose between a friend and some item, I'd be a fool to choose the item. It's not going to last. It doesn't have my back. It doesn't love me in return.
Then it clicked...
That's what I look forward to in Heaven. That's what I want out of Heaven. I don't care about some dumb guitars. I want to spend eternity with God. Anything else would be stupid to me. It seems like wanting to go to Heaven for any other reason would be a slap in the face to God. He loves us. I mean, shoot, he created us just to be with us! He spoke us into existence and when we messed up, He came down to our level and died for us just so that he would still have the chance to be with us! I have some pretty good friends in my life that would do almost anything for me, but they don't even begin to compare to that. When I get to Heaven, I can't think of anything else that would even begin to compare to the thrill of spending time with the one who gave it all for me.
So, while we never came to an agreement about our beliefs, I can say that I did find out what makes me happy.
Peter Pan would be proud.
Anywho...
This semester I've been meeting with some Mormon friends that I met here on campus. We get together about once a week and talk about our religion and what and why we believe what we believe. This week I brought up the topic of Heaven, which unfortunately, is a subject that I rarely think about. For those of you who don't know, the Mormon's version of Heaven is slightly different than the typical evangelical view of Heaven and in order to better understand what I'm trying to say, it's important that you understand their view. So, let me take a minute to do my best to explain it as it was explained to me: God cares about you a ton and what he wants more than anything is for you to be happy. Because he loves us, he has given commands that, if you follow, will lead to happiness. Following these commands is our way of showing him that we love him. If we follow the commands really well, after we die, we will eventually go to Heaven. Now "heaven" is a tricky term. We are not all going to the same heaven. There are three different "heavens" that we can go to, each one a little better than the next. We are sent to these heavens based on how well we follow God's commands. The top level of heaven is where God is. This is where we will be in his presence and be forever happy. Anything our heart desires, we will receive because God will hold nothing back from us. So, let's say I want to have a million guitars (I actually used that example when trying to understand this) and jam out for eternity, I would get my guitars and eternal jam session if that is what made me happy. This is what we are aiming for. God will give us anything we desire because seeing us happy is what makes him happy and as long as everyone's happy, it's all good.
After they finished explaining all this to me, I sat there quietly thinking about what they had just told me. I mean, I can see how this would be an enticing view. If I obey some rules, I get to have whatever my heart desires for all eternity. That's not to shabby.
Or is it?
I don't think they had many people that didn't like this view of heaven, because they seemed somewhat dumbfounded when I finally gave them a response.
"I don't think I'd want guitars for eternity."
"Well then just think of something else. What makes you happy Connor?"
I've never thought much about this question because it's usually only asked hypothetically and I know I'm never going to get what I want because it's something stupid like wanting some girl to like me or having an endless supply of something that I really don't need.
"I don't know..." I said. How pathetic, I thought. I don't even know what would make me happy? Geez. It's me! Connor! How do you not know what make yourself happy...lahoo zaher. But as I continued to think about it I realized that it wasn't actually that pathetic of an answer. I mean, yeah, I like guitars, but if my reward was an eternity of guitar playing, I think I'd be disappointed. So I tried to think of what I do now that I like better than playing guitar. After listing off some stuff, I realized what it was. Friends. Good friends. There's nothing I would rather do than spend time with my good friends and ultimately I think it's like that for about everyone. We would rather spend time with the people that we love more than anything. I gave them the illustration of a girlfriend. (They didn't know I didn't have a girlfriend, so this worked a lot better with them than it will with you I'm sure, but just play along) Let's say that I have a girlfriend, or even a wife, and I love her. Now, if I was given the choice between getting a new guitar and equipment or getting to spend time with my wife and letting her know that I love her, without hesitation I am going to choose spending time with my wife. The guitar is nice, but it's not real. I doesn't know I love it. At the end of the day, I'm alone with a guitar that doesn't reciprocate my love. And it's the same for my friends. If I had to choose between a friend and some item, I'd be a fool to choose the item. It's not going to last. It doesn't have my back. It doesn't love me in return.
Then it clicked...
That's what I look forward to in Heaven. That's what I want out of Heaven. I don't care about some dumb guitars. I want to spend eternity with God. Anything else would be stupid to me. It seems like wanting to go to Heaven for any other reason would be a slap in the face to God. He loves us. I mean, shoot, he created us just to be with us! He spoke us into existence and when we messed up, He came down to our level and died for us just so that he would still have the chance to be with us! I have some pretty good friends in my life that would do almost anything for me, but they don't even begin to compare to that. When I get to Heaven, I can't think of anything else that would even begin to compare to the thrill of spending time with the one who gave it all for me.
So, while we never came to an agreement about our beliefs, I can say that I did find out what makes me happy.
Peter Pan would be proud.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The One That Got Away...
Two summers ago, I was on Ozark Camp Teams and had the opportunity to serve out by the west coast. While there, I met a girl that changed my life. For the first time in writing, this is the story. The names and facts have been changed to make the story more interesting.
It all starts with a girl that we'll call Angie. Angie was from Hope International University out in Cali and happened to be working at the same camp that my team was working at. She worked out at the archery stand with me in the day, which turned out to be really convenient. You see, if you are like me, you probably pictured California as really warm. So naturally, I packed shorts for the week. However, we were in Northern California and it actually gets quite chilly. Luckily for me, Angie was pretty hot and I was actually able to wear shorts most of the time.
Anyway, let's fast forward to now. Angie and I have kept in touch and I even got to go out and visit her again this past summer. We kept talking and she kind of met my friends through facebook, and this past week she came out to visit me for my birthday. We took her out to do crazy Joplin things and went to a cornmaze, which is where i come to the precipice of my story. While I was out in the cornmaze, I got separated from the group and was lost for about an hour and a half. This is where I had my a revelation: I am lost without Angie! I fell down to my knees right there in the middle of the cornfield, faltering under the weight of the predicament that I found myself in. I knew that I was called to teach English in Russia. However, I also knew how miserable and lost I was without this girl "Angie." What was I supposed to do? Was there no answer?
My friends found me a few minutes later and after finding our way out of the cornmaze, we headed back to school. Later that night, Angie and I had a good talk and she came to the conclusion that we should just throw caution into the wind and get eloped. However, after talking it over more thoroughly, we decided that it would be better to do what we were called to do.
The next morning she got on her flight back home and today I am sitting here wondering if doing the right thing was really worth it. I mean, she said she'd wait for me to retire and then we could be together forever, but it just seems so far away. I guess sacrifice isn't sacrifice if it doesn't cost us something...
Over and out.
Connor
It all starts with a girl that we'll call Angie. Angie was from Hope International University out in Cali and happened to be working at the same camp that my team was working at. She worked out at the archery stand with me in the day, which turned out to be really convenient. You see, if you are like me, you probably pictured California as really warm. So naturally, I packed shorts for the week. However, we were in Northern California and it actually gets quite chilly. Luckily for me, Angie was pretty hot and I was actually able to wear shorts most of the time.
Anyway, let's fast forward to now. Angie and I have kept in touch and I even got to go out and visit her again this past summer. We kept talking and she kind of met my friends through facebook, and this past week she came out to visit me for my birthday. We took her out to do crazy Joplin things and went to a cornmaze, which is where i come to the precipice of my story. While I was out in the cornmaze, I got separated from the group and was lost for about an hour and a half. This is where I had my a revelation: I am lost without Angie! I fell down to my knees right there in the middle of the cornfield, faltering under the weight of the predicament that I found myself in. I knew that I was called to teach English in Russia. However, I also knew how miserable and lost I was without this girl "Angie." What was I supposed to do? Was there no answer?
My friends found me a few minutes later and after finding our way out of the cornmaze, we headed back to school. Later that night, Angie and I had a good talk and she came to the conclusion that we should just throw caution into the wind and get eloped. However, after talking it over more thoroughly, we decided that it would be better to do what we were called to do.
The next morning she got on her flight back home and today I am sitting here wondering if doing the right thing was really worth it. I mean, she said she'd wait for me to retire and then we could be together forever, but it just seems so far away. I guess sacrifice isn't sacrifice if it doesn't cost us something...
Over and out.
Connor
Monday, October 19, 2009
A serious blog about analogies and swords.
As I was thinking about what I'm about to write, I noticed that the majority of my blog post topics stem from conversations that I have with friends. Maybe I should be more social...
Anywho,
Last night I was talking with a friend who was telling about how they had just become involved in a Bible study in their church. My friend has a real gift with connecting with people, so it was a real blessing to see that they were putting that gift to good use. I made a comment how a lot of students have real gifts and yet they just sit around and let them go to waste with the expectations that once they graduate they will just jump into an effective ministry. It is at the point that I realized three things:
1. I fall/have fallen into this category.
2. It's time for an analogy.
3. I love analogies.
Picture, if you will, your spiritual strength as a sword. With this sword, you are going to do battle. For those going into ministry, this sword is going to be the tool of your trade and your time in Bible College is for you to learn everything there is to know about swords and sword warfare. You are going to learn how a sword is made, the history of swords, how to properly take care of your sword, etc, in hopes that you will be ready for battle when you leave school as a graduate.
However, there is something that Bible college doesn't specialize in. It may teach you everything about your sword, but it does not make you an experienced swordfighter. The only way to become an experienced swordfighter is through, well, experience.
Sometimes I wonder why we would expect anything different. I mean, would you expect a soldier who had never shot a gun to be much use in combat? Of course not! But for some reason, we expect that we are ready for the responsibility of a ministry once we leave college. I'll admit that I have fallen into this belief before. For a long time I lived from Sunday to Sunday just doing what I needed to do, going to church for my two hours, then going home. I wasn't involved in any church activities, but hey, I'm gonna be in the ministry someday right? I'll have plenty of time to be involved when it's my job.
But I think I was wrong. A soldier isn't just a soldier when he wears a uniform. A soldier is a soldier the moment he signs up. I think it's the same for us. The moment we became Christians, we became soldiers in the Lord's army. (I wasn't sure if I was going to use the "Lord's Army" analogy as I find it a bit cheesy, but I think it will work out. If you don't like it, quit reading my blog. TOUCHE!)
Once we recognize that we are already in the ministry, we just have to allow ourselves to be used. This doesn't mean we have to go get a paid ministry position or something extravagant. Just do what you know. Build relationships; encourage people. The church I interned for this past summer gives every staff member a day of the week to go visit the hospital. We would just show up on our day and go down the halls visiting with the people who were sick. We didn't preach to them or anything. We just spent time with them. That's not that hard is it?
To wrap it up, you don't have to be gifted in preaching to be a gifted minister. Shoot, I'm not even going to school to be a minister! I'm here learning to teach English. I'm just taking what God has gifted me with and using it for him.
Gettin silly with my 9milly,
Connor
Anywho,
Last night I was talking with a friend who was telling about how they had just become involved in a Bible study in their church. My friend has a real gift with connecting with people, so it was a real blessing to see that they were putting that gift to good use. I made a comment how a lot of students have real gifts and yet they just sit around and let them go to waste with the expectations that once they graduate they will just jump into an effective ministry. It is at the point that I realized three things:
1. I fall/have fallen into this category.
2. It's time for an analogy.
3. I love analogies.
Picture, if you will, your spiritual strength as a sword. With this sword, you are going to do battle. For those going into ministry, this sword is going to be the tool of your trade and your time in Bible College is for you to learn everything there is to know about swords and sword warfare. You are going to learn how a sword is made, the history of swords, how to properly take care of your sword, etc, in hopes that you will be ready for battle when you leave school as a graduate.
However, there is something that Bible college doesn't specialize in. It may teach you everything about your sword, but it does not make you an experienced swordfighter. The only way to become an experienced swordfighter is through, well, experience.
Sometimes I wonder why we would expect anything different. I mean, would you expect a soldier who had never shot a gun to be much use in combat? Of course not! But for some reason, we expect that we are ready for the responsibility of a ministry once we leave college. I'll admit that I have fallen into this belief before. For a long time I lived from Sunday to Sunday just doing what I needed to do, going to church for my two hours, then going home. I wasn't involved in any church activities, but hey, I'm gonna be in the ministry someday right? I'll have plenty of time to be involved when it's my job.
But I think I was wrong. A soldier isn't just a soldier when he wears a uniform. A soldier is a soldier the moment he signs up. I think it's the same for us. The moment we became Christians, we became soldiers in the Lord's army. (I wasn't sure if I was going to use the "Lord's Army" analogy as I find it a bit cheesy, but I think it will work out. If you don't like it, quit reading my blog. TOUCHE!)
Once we recognize that we are already in the ministry, we just have to allow ourselves to be used. This doesn't mean we have to go get a paid ministry position or something extravagant. Just do what you know. Build relationships; encourage people. The church I interned for this past summer gives every staff member a day of the week to go visit the hospital. We would just show up on our day and go down the halls visiting with the people who were sick. We didn't preach to them or anything. We just spent time with them. That's not that hard is it?
To wrap it up, you don't have to be gifted in preaching to be a gifted minister. Shoot, I'm not even going to school to be a minister! I'm here learning to teach English. I'm just taking what God has gifted me with and using it for him.
Gettin silly with my 9milly,
Connor
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