Joseph and Frodo

So today I couldn't really think of myself being courageous... or cowardly. But I did think a lot about it.

In devotions today I read about Joseph. The workcrafter guy who was pretty much... boring. God could've chose some priest or pharisee, but he chose Joseph. Joseph was put in a position where he had to give up his reputation for taking a wife and a "illegitemate" son, being called a lunatic for talking to an angel, and spending the night of his son's birth in a filthy stable. Despite all that he chose to take Mary as his wife and Jesus as his son and face the problems and the people.

It reminds me of Frodo. In the tunnels underground he talks to Gandalf and says that he didn't choose this situation and he didn't want this situation. Gandalf wisely says that heroes are not the ones who make the situations, but the ones who decide the outcomes.

That is courage to me. When God places a problem in life. Like cancer, divorce, bad grades. We become defined as courageous or cowardly. We either pout about the situation or say, "God, help me fight this fight with your armor". For truly, we need not fear anything no matter what because we have got the greatest power of the universe on our side. With that we are truly more than even a heroic hobbit.

Chip on the Shoulder

Today I didn't feel very courageous. In fact, for the past couple of days I've felt like I have a burden that I can't carry. Recently my mom's cancer meds stopped working so this weekend she had to travel to a doctor in Oregon to ask about new medicine. She came back and her cancer has been causing her pain. She can barely talk or lift her arms without pain. So throughout school I've been thinking "woe is me". I've got so much homework, too little time, no sleep, my mom is sick... Courage (I believe this is brought up) is putting others before yourself. I definitely wasn't doing that. So, I decided to try something else. I didn't just ignore my problems, but I focused on praying for the problems of others. It helped... a lot.

So tonight I did devotions w/ my parents and I asked if we could play some praise and worship with my guitar. We sang "How Great is Our God" and my mom started crying. She shared with my dad and I her prayer journal of how she was dealing with the exact same thing I was. She dealed with her chip on her shoulder I believe in a more courageous way than I did. She praised God. She praised him for the good, the bad... everything. It blew me away. So now here is what I think. Courage when you have a burden takes something that many don't realize. The ability of surrender. To realize that our burden is heavy but Jesus' yolk is light and giving up our burdens. For he is a great God and he can take it on. It is not up to us to carry our burden... but to throw off that burden that hinders us in the race and keep our eyes on the prize... Christ.

This song is truly amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud0kaWLHEd4

School Prayer

10/29/07

Recently I’ve been pondering what I can do to bring God not only into my life, but also into my friends’ lives at school. Over the past two weeks, I may seem small, but it was a big step for me. I started leading prayer at lunch everyday. I believe that courage in the Bible is taking hold of God’s promise that “where 2 or 3 are gathered, he would also be there”. Who knows, it might become something bigger than just a lunch prayer. Sometimes, God’s calling a person to courage leads to bigger things one never expects.