It's been tough. Recently my mom been feeling like junk w/ her new dose and medicine, we got news of a friend who was diagnosed w/ cancer, and the church is now struggling with shootings at YWAM at New Life. If I were to send you to a news station webpage there you could find many more opportunities that God could use us in life. I've started to learn to view problems as opportunities as greatness. It's a daily race... a daily carrying of the cross... a daily act of courage.
I got to thinkin about this at a church called "Grace Be Unto You", which my small group helped serve at since they serve meals to the homeless and give out presents before Christmas. I felt my blood running again for God. The passion there is amazing. They conveyed the message of the church w/ deathstarian passion (yes, that's my new made up word "deathstarian"). And the crazy thing is that the lady who gave the message had walked the path of what we view as the "horrible" sinner. She'd come out victorious in a battle of true evil and temptation. It amazed me. She talked about the race and the daily act of courage as a call to holiness. In a little segment she talked about rejuvenation through church and constant renewal of your mind and it sort of stuck in my head the rest of the night.
As I started serving I began to start meeting the homeless people (which is quite a daunting task especially taken alone because you friends are too shy! Ugh... love all y'all though...). It was a true perspective check and made me reevaluate my wants and needs. I then met a guy that truly amazed me.
His nickname was Bear and I don't remember his real name. He opened up to me. Started talking about his ex and his son and his job and his days spent at the shelter. I mean this guy had problems... majorly. He talked to me on how much the sermon affected him. It made him begin to reevaluate his life and his walk. It awed me.
He told me the story of the day before this happened. He had seen a doe... and he went to pet it. He petted it for 30 minutes and it was the first time for years he didn't dwell on his problems. He just enjoyed who God was by his creation. My friend Amy took a trip to Cancun and did the same thing. She told me about dolphins, the ocean, and christmas. She just took a break from tough life and enjoyed God.
I felt good about sending letters to the church and building others up, and I even had an amazing time praying over the friend who got cancer. But today... Bear awed me... it's good to try and change the world... but God always wants me to come back to the reason of it all.
It's because of a beautiful creation, man's sin, a babe in a manger, the cross, and an empty grave. It's a simple truth behind a complicated world. So yes, it is courageous to change a complicated world... but it's important to remember the truth that runs the motive behind changing the world. Enjoy the fact that he came as a baby in a manger in a filthy stable to ordinary people. And that simple truth clears many webs of complication.
So if your running 2000 miles an hour right now, remember that God sometimes calls you to pet the doe... Merry Christmas everyone!
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