One Heck of a Home Team

“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire?”  C.S. Lewis said it right! And, at last over the past couple months I have experienced the truth in this statement. 

Fellowship. That is the word that describes this semester, but what is it? Some would say it’s a happy gathering, involving laughter and maybe copious amounts of food. And that’s all good, but isn't there more? Lately I have learned there is.  The word for fellowship in Greek is koinonia which means sharing intimacy.  I have been blessed over this past semester more than any of these friends would know. The way that they live intentionally, desiring to love each other through their love of Jesus is so cool to see. Seeing the Lord work through friendships and simple weekly dinners to bring us closer together and closer to him is amazing to watch. 

However, letting people get close isn't easy. They see your mistakes and your bad days and your sins and your tears and your heartaches in a very up-close-and-personal kind of way. But it’s precisely this kind of intimacy that sharpens. That heals. That comforts. That teaches. That binds.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” 

Fellowship is about closeness. But how do we get this closeness? There are two ways to achieve it:  through drawing near to God and being real in our community. We walk in and toward the Light together. Walking in the Light implies a sense of openness… of an intentional effort to hide nothing: no flaw, no quirk, no abnormality, no burden, no weakness, no sin. When we’re engaging in koinonia with others, we keep nothing from them.

What keeps us from this kind of openness?  Everyone has their own reasons or excuses.  I would normally say it’s my personality, “this is just the way God made me” or a desire to be cautious with my heart, keeping it from rejection that has come from engaging in closeness with others.  After all, if I don’t get close to anyone, I can’t get hurt, right? We are so prideful, whether we think it or not, and that is why it is so hard to let people in.  More often than not, our social insecurities are rooted in pride.  This display of pride shows I’m worrying what others think about me, rather than finding my identity in God’s acceptance of me.  No one ever wants to be the one who doesn't have it together.  I am kind of introverted and letting people in is hard for me, but I have been amazed by the way God has convicted me of that and brought people into my life that genuinely desire to know me.

Even though I’m somewhat of an introvert I love being connected. Friendship is important to me. I consider my closest friends my family. Unfortunately, in my life I have felt like I was on the outside of circles.  In high school I went to a different school than my best friends.   In college, some of my friends are involved in Greek life and other organizations and some go to different churches.  But this semester with “Fam Dinners” I began to feel like I was on the inside; inside of a beautiful circle of friends.

They have taught me that once we get over our need to fit in and be included, we realize that each individual friendship is fulfilling. These friends get to know the deepest parts of us, and share both in our joy and our suffering. They have earned the right to hear our story and speak truth into our lives. These are the friends who celebrate with us when blessing comes, and walk shoulder to shoulder and help carry our burdens. These friends are encouragers, kindred spirits; they are the people with whom I look forward to doing life. This is fellowship. This is community. 

Practically speaking, about a few months ago I was introduced to some of the greatest people I have ever met. {that sounds extreme but it is true} Almost every Thursday night is “Fam Dinner” where we all pile into one of our friend’s houses and fellowship. Thursday nights are sweet times of conversation, laughter, good food, and lots of playing Signs. They are some of the most accepting people I know, it’s crazy to think back on the first time I got talked into going to a random girl’s house for a worship night.  Since that day, I am constantly amazed by the intentionality of these people, how they actively pursue real relationships. We are united not only by Auburn, but by our desire to build genuine community through studying, speaking and sharing the Gospel.  

We do life together, love Jesus together, but we also sit by a fire or go climb the fire-tower or  have a dinner or play Signs. The awesome thing is that I see Jesus through it all. They give a picture to “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” 

Unity, Love, Togetherness.  The best thing this side of heaven.  A bond that is formed in Christ is not easily broken.

Y'all are one heck of a home team!

Well Done, not Well Said.

At passion we sang a song with the words “like a bride waiting for her groom, we’ll be a church ready for you, every heart longing for our king, we sing even so come. Lord Jesus come….” 

20.000 college students sang this as a cry to the lord. but my question now is, is that the true desire of our hearts? That we long for the Lord to come and come soon. we as a generation are procrastinators.

Have you ever stopped and thought about how rarely we are forced to give up options? We live in a generation that never closes a door completely, we wait until the last second to give up our choices. Like for example, we have 87k different drink options we can choose from at Starbucks, you can literally make any drink you want. We as a generation love options, we hate commitment and avoid making decisions. When did it become okay or even expected that we don't have to decide? You see as Christians this option thing isn't really a thing, once we have decided to follow Jesus, there is no turning back. [Like that children’s song from church, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, No turning back.] 

John Piper and Christine Caine both talked about this some. As i stated in a previous post John Piper spoke on the beauty of the gospel, that the gospel is less about a decision and more about being sight being restored to the blind. He says that the beauty of the gospel is the Light of the Glory of Christ. We have to see the beauty, the awe, the glory before we can ever decide. Because here is the thing once you see that beauty, there is no decision, we understand that we are created to bring more glory to Jesus. See that little children’s song is more true than we know, once our eyes are opened and we decide to follow Jesus, there is no turning back; there simply cannot be. Let me put it this way, we used to be dead, DEAD, and Jesus laid down his perfect life for us, he took our sin and shame and defeated it. Because of Jesus we are ALIVE, this life is no longer ours but his. So then what other choice would we have but to live our everyday for the advancement of God’s glory?

In 1 Kings 19:1- 20 we see Elijah in a crisis of faith, he has just killed all the prophets of Baal with the Lord’s help but he has gotten word that Ahab and Jezebel want him dead so he flees in fear. It is like he has forgotten all that the Lord has done in and through him. Elijah spirals into depression, but the Lord renews him, the Lord provides for him both physically and spiritually. See in this moment of Elijah losing hope God comforts him in saying that he has brought up someone to take over this work Elijah had struggled with. Here is one of the important parts, God tells Elijah to go back where he came from, because the Lord usually uses what we are running from for his greater will. So Elijah returns to find Elisha working, plowing. Elijah passes his cloak unto him and Elisha stops what he is doing and follows Elijah. The Lord will use people who are already working, he wants us to be willing to not receive the glory, and he wants us to join his work now. 

Here is my point, we can say we follow Jesus all we want, but God isn't impressed by our words, he isn't impressed by our Savior complex, he isn't even impressed by our good works. God love for us is constant, he loves us the same yesterday today and tomorrow. God however does want to use us, he wants works in his harvest, not people looking to receive praise and glory, but willing to plow the fields behind cattle. Following Jesus isn't a glamorous thing, but being a part of glorifying the Lord is greater than anything else. 

Earlier i pointed  out that our generation is a generation of non committal procrastinators. let me quote Christine Caine in saying that the Lord often uses those already working, willing to get their hands dirty. We love the praises we receive and we love to save the day. But the truth is the world doesn't need a Savior or a hero because there was one, and he has already finished the work. Our job is to be a vessel, a servant, a worker to bring his name to the ends of the earth. This isn't a job for tomorrow or for someone else, but for each of us. If we want to call ourselves a follower of Christ we have to realize that we are not costars with Christ but simply supporting roles. 

I think that sometimes we get so focused on being the next Billy Graham, or Louie Giglio, or whoever that we lose sight of what the goal is. the goal being to bring the gospel to all nations. We focus so much on what we can offer or what we are good at that we forget God is already working all we have to do is simply join in. We have to die to self and realize that we get the chance, we get the greatest honor, to bring glory to the name of Jesus. God doesn't get to use us, we get to be used by God and that is truly an honor.  So join in, now, don't put it off any longer. 

So let me summarize; when we see the beauty of christ, we decide to follow Jesus, no turning back. we immediately and completely take up our cross and follow him, when we do this we have to realize that we live to bring him glory, not ourselves. We no longer do anything for ourselves, because we were dead and now we are alive in christ.  

My prayer is that my generation, our generation, stops being a me and mine generation and becomes a you and yours generation. May we be willing to put aside our desires and wants and live whole heartedly for the pursuit of the gospel, so that our prayer can truly be “even so come, Lord Jesus come.” 

Matthew 9:37-38  “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Jesus heard from his father “well done good and faithful servant.” not well said. 

WELL DONE!

 I guess that means we need a little more working and a little less talking, as our time on earth is short. We can be a generation who lives on mission, showing each other and every person in the world what it looks like to be lit up by the light of Christ. 

Tetelestai. It is Finished.

John 19:28-29 

"28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

 {This past weekend, January 2-4, I had the pleasure of going to Passion, I am still in awe of what the Lord did there.   Worshiping the Lord with 20,000 peers is something amazing.} 

Tetelestai. The title of this post, and the overwhelming theme of Passion. This is the Greek word that Jesus spoke on the cross, it is translated into English as "It is finished." 

The thought that has continued to run through my mind since leaving Passion is "It is finished, but the fight has just begun" (this was something Louie said on the last day) 

I am going to try my best to explain this statement.  Let me begin with what Ben Stuart talked about:  the struggle and temptation, or the fight.  See Ben explained that each person is tempted in their own way, like how fish are enticed by different lures.   One may see a fake frog bobbing in the water and bite, while another who sees that as stupid is enticed by a shiny lure.  We, like fish, are lured or tempted in many different ways.  The devil is smart and he knows how to get us thinking.  He knows that what we think about is what we will care about and what we care about is what we will chase.  I am going to use that last statement [what you think about is what you care about, and what you care about is what you chase] as a definition of temptation.   If that is so then we see that the problem has a solution. And that is think about the Lord, fix our eyes on Christ.  Great idea but easier said than done because those lures seem pretty wonderful.  Let me explain it this way, Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" opens with Romeo pining over Rosaline.  Romeo says none is fairer than Rosaline, that is until Romeo is dragged to a party and sees Juliet, then comes this lovely line:

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night." 

In other words, Rosaline who? Romeo sees the beauty of Juliet and he forgets the beauty of what he believed he loved.  God does the same for us if we surrender to his will.  He will replace our broken affections with something far more beautiful.  This is how we chase God, we realize that he is far more beautiful than anything else. Romans 8:18  "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." 

You see Satan wants so badly for us to believe that God doesn't love us, but that couldn't be further from the truth. [Our minds can't even fathom the love the Lord has for us.]  Satan wants to convince us that because of our shame and guilt we can never be seen as righteous. That our sin can never be forgiven, and we slowly believe these lies.  We think, how on earth could God love me? We think we will never be good enough, that we are too broken.  But God doesn't need us to have all our ducks in a row to use us... How? Why? Because of one simple word.
Tetelesai. (It is finished) When Jesus uttered this last breath, he won.  He defeated death and he made it possible for us to be seen righteous. See, when Jesus died on that cross hell irrupted in celebration, but they didn't understand that they were celebrating their own death.  Louie, being an Auburn fan explained it like this: think back to the 2014 Ole Miss game, it was a back and forth battle, but when the end came near Auburn was leading. Ole Miss however was driving down the field.  They had a receiver, Treadwell,  make a catch and head for the end zone.  An auburn defender caught up and pulled him down, but it appeared he still scored. The stadium erupted, until it became obvious the player wasn't getting up.  Not only was their best receiver down, but the play was under review. During the review it became clear that this player was seriously injured and would be out for the season.  The stadium became silent... Until the referee came on his mic, "After further review the runner fumbled before crossing the plane and Auburn recovered the football, Auburn ball." Auburn was going to win. What happened when Jesus said, "It is finished" is something like that, see hell thought they won, but Jesus knew better.  Jesus knew that when he said,  "Into your hands I commit my spirit", he was getting ready for a fight.  It was finished and he knew the outcome.  He was going to win , but the fight was at hand. 

Jesus claimed our victory when he rose from the grave!
Tetelesai. IT IS FINISHED. But the fight has just begun. 

This thought brings us to the idea that John Piper presented, that the root of Christianity is not a decision about the truth, but it is in seeing the beauty of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:3-5 "3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants[a] for Jesus' sake." Once we see this glory there is no greater joy.  In the words of John Piper, the greatest good of the Gospel is the gift of the beauty of God in the person of Jesus Christ.  If we look back to what Ben Stuart said about Romeo, Rosaline, and Juliet; we see that these points relate because Ben said that the way we focus on God is to never lose sight of the awe of Christ, the beauty of Christ.  And Piper says that the glory of God is the greatest gift we can ever receive.  Finally,  Ben said that seeing the glory of God is how we keep our minds from falling into sin. 

Hebrew 10:35-39

35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

“Yet a little while,

    and the coming one will come and will not delay;

38 

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

    and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Thank Goodness for Grace

Do you ever just stop for a minute and think "thank goodness for grace"?

For me that seems to be a reoccurring phrase of the past few years, when I look back on who I just a year ago I am nothing but grateful for a faithful God, who continuously seeks us.

  

  The truth is when I was talking to a friend the other day about who I was when I came to college, I realized I really had nothing good to say about myself. Not to say that at the time I had any idea that I would look back at who I was and be appalled at the shallow person I was. Now to the world and the culture I grew up in, I think that most people wouldn't realize how broken I was. I mean I was at church anytime the doors where open, most of my friends were Christians, and my summers were spent on mission trips, but when it came to my heart, I had a deep problem of insecurity and honestly bitterness. This was a problem that developed over time and got bigger the more I stuffed it down because I didn't want anyone to know that I didn't have my life perfectly together. The climax of this issue came when I was a senior in high school and broke my  ankle in a little bit of a freak accident. my dreams of cheering in college were crushed, I thought, this is the worst, I thought. (but if  I'm being honest i might have been more bothered by the fact that someone else was going to become the point dancer for my competitive teams, and that was my thing, I thought "no one could actually replace me.") As I said I was pretty insecure and being great at something gave me value, and this injury took that value from me. I pretty much got to a point where I stuffed the bitterness and pain down so far that I became numb to it. I put on a smile and thought I had everyone fooled. Truthfully I threw myself about a nine month pity party. At this point I think that no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I was trusting the Lord, I really wasn't. I pretty much decided that I was fine, that I was wanted, that I was great (all of these being in the world's eyes.)  I decided that high school didn't end the way i wanted so college would be picture perfect, little did i know God had not thrown in the towel teaching me what I so desperately needed to learn but so stubbornly refused to see. As I talked a little about before on this blog, my freshman year certainly didn't start the way i planned, I ended up dropping out of rush, broken by the fact that "no one wanted me, " I went months feeling like I was worth nothing because of that. So there I was an 18 year old girl who came from a great home, had great friends and had just made her dream school her new home, but all I cared about was that i deserved better, I deserved to be wanted by these things. I was a girl who was terrified to let anyone in because it looked like I had my life together until you got too close.

 My mindset about this time was: God, I have lived a life for You, I have lived in a constant trial for what feels like forever don't I deserved good things, deserve to get what I want? I was a "good Christian" so I deserved better, right? WRONG.

There is a story that Jesus told while he was on earth, that if you have grown up in church I am certain you have heard countless times. This is the story of the prodigal son. You have heard it, right? It’s about a father that has two sons, one takes his inheritance and leaves home recklessly, the other stays, but then the reckless son comes home and the father takes him back in. Well that’s the super short version. When we teach on or hear this lesson we focus on the “horrible” son who leaves, but I want to look at the other two characters. First prodigal is a weird word so let’s define it one definition is; having or giving something on a lavish scale. Okay so  I guess that could describe the son, but what I really think that describes is the father. The father has been shamed, and dishonored by his son, but when after a long while he sees his son coming home he RUNS to meet him. Now in this story the father is God, God is faithful right? Persistent?  Gracious? Yep, all of those, we are nothing without God and we dishonor him but his response is not to give up on us; it is to run to us hold us in his arms and whisper “Welcome Home, my dear.”  So we see God is grace. God is love. God is faithful. So as I stated before, growing up I pretty much thought I did the right things and at my heart I believed I deserved better, I mean I didn't go out and get wasted on the weekends or sleep with my boyfriend, so I guess I really thought this story wasn't for me. Until I heard it from not just the reckless child’s perspective, there is an older brother a brother that stayed with the father and when his brother came home, basically had a pity party and said why him? I am the one who was here the whole time. And the father answers him saying you have been with me, all that is mine is yours but now we celebrate the return of your brother. He was lost and is now found. See the Lord is like this he says to each of us come to me. My grace is enough to cover you.  

I think that over the past few years, I had a slanted view of salvation, I think that I saw it for what made me feel best at the moment, I think it took me seeing that my value is solely dependent on what the Lord sees, to also realize that the same is true for others. I think that realizing that is what made me take a step back and see that there is no one on earth that I “deserve” better than. I had to realize that it wasn't about my momentary happiness; that trials or hard times weren't punishment, but that God was refining me so that I was able to be a picture of the gospel.

We serve a prodigal God, a God that lavishes his grace upon us when we deserve nothing. 

So one of the things i have learned to love about the Lord is that he is persistent. HE IS FAITHFUL. He is faithful in that he loves us always, but he is also faithful in that he doesn't give up on you when you take FOREVER to get it. It took me about two years to truly understand the “why” to difficult things. Here at Auburn I am involved in Cru and we have been going through a series in 1 Peter focusing on "Living as Exiles" one of the lessons was on trials specifically fiery trials; one point was that these trials refine us. If we think of ourselves as workmanship of God, as precious metals being refined think of this question and the answer a metal-smith gave, "How do you know that silver or gold has been refined enough? When you can see your face in it. " So these hard times they refine us, they shape us to look more like Christ.

So if we refine our mindset, we can see its not really about us. You see it is about Christ and the gospel, I am slowly realizing that our lives should be a picture to the world of the gospel. Before this year my thought process was centered on me, and how "good" I was, how I deserved. It was my pride, my pride that became the enemy of grace. I wanted to earn it, I didn't want to let anyone know I needed help. Here is what I finally understand: I alone am worth nothing, I am not good enough, and in my sin I don't deserve anything at all. BUT GOD, don't lose sight of the significance of those two words, but God is gracious. And thank the Lord for that! In Him and Him alone i have infinite value, I am desired, I am important, because the Lord has grace and he sought me out of my self-consumed rebellion and held me in his arms and says to me " you are mine, I love you, you can do nothing to change that."  

In the story it isn't about the son. He didn't do anything to deserve forgiveness. It was about the father and his grace and unfailing love. In life it isn't about us, or how good or bad we think we are. It is about the father and his grace and unfailing love for us. 

This semester I have really learned that nothing matters but Christ.  Our lives, our love, and our relationships should be a picture of the gospel, and that is a picture of grace.

Christ is enough.

Grace is enough.

 And that is the gospel.

thank goodness for grace. 

Failed but not a failure

I am a little obsessed with the show One Tree Hill... It's a drama, its kind of dumb but I love it. My roommate and I spend many a night watching our favorite episodes that span over nine seasons. This show, might be over dramatic and at some points completely unrealistic but the funny thing is there is some great advice or quotes that come from it. Now don't let my quoting of a stupid teen drama take away from the realness of the words.
  "People are gonna label you, it's how you over come those labels. That's what matters."
Think about that. How real is that? If you really think about these labels we have to overcome, I think you will realize that there are two types of labels we must overcome. At least I did. That is the labels of other and the labels we put on ourselves. The Lord has really been teaching me this over the past year, through so many ways.
  First the labels of others, that's pretty self explanatory. I mean I do it myself, that's the super involved girl or that's the girl who always has a 4.0 or that's the ΧΩ. Like I have said before these labels aren't necessarily bad, but if we are honest what follows soon after those surface labels is that we decide to label them based on our grading scale for sin.
 This aspect of labeling goes with both the personal and public side of it. We as people  have created a "sin scale." You know what I'm talking about, we see or hear of something someone else has done and we say to ourselves "at least I'm not that bad." I sure know I do that all the time. I label myself as a good person, based on my scale of good and bad sins. But the thing is those labels I have created  mean nothing because I am just as bad as anyone else NO MATTER WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. We are all on the same desperate level of our need for God. Here is the best way I can describe it, so we see sin as if we were walking around downtown NYC with all the different sized buildings (the different heights measuring the level of sin) but God sees sin as if he was looking down from a plane (all of those buildings look equal, level)
In the book Jesus is by Judah Smith, he talks about this specifically. He says that what we must realize is that it doesn't matter how good we think we measure up, all that matters is that we realize our need for Christ. The blood that saved that murderer on death row is the same blood that saves me, because I with whatever sins I have done I  am just as separated from God as they are. Realizing the truth of this gets rid of us using labels to boost our ego, but in the same way it is important that we rid ourselves completely of them.
    In one of the Bible studies I am in we are talking about the truth that failing doesn't make you a failure. In a society where this comfort of labeling is so present, it is easy to see yourself as a failure. I have definitely struggled with this, when we are looking for approval and comfort from the successes of life we will always feel that we come up short. But because you "fail" at something that doesn't make you a failure.
  We put labels on ourselves, we put labels on others and we assume they label us, and we let those things define who we are. But if we can understand that overcoming those labels means seeing ourselves as others as The Lord sees us we have to understand that once we are believers what He sees is Jesus, He sees this perfect child that he desires and knows better than we know ourselves. He sees success, and significance.
 So like good ole One Tree Hill says "People are gonna label you, it's how you overcome those labels. That's what matters."

You are more than any circumstance or failure, you are loved by the God of the universe.

All the Glory

 Francis Chan says " the irony is that   while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want him most of the time." 

I think that we as Christians believe we are being selfless but most of us are far from it. Think about it this way... When something bad happens what is your first thought? 

For me it is usually something along the lines of why me, or what am I supposed to learn from this. Now these questions in and of themselves are not bad questions, but look at what the subject is. ME. Cause life is about me right? 

It's about what makes me look good, how I am better than others, or even why in the world I would have something bad happen to me and not them 

let's clear up something up first. Why me? Why you? The real question is if God let Jesus suffer why would we expect to not have struggles? But we don't think that way for the most part, we think we don't deserve these trials we face. You know, "why do bad things happen to good people?"

So if not why me, then we probably ask what am I supposed to learn from this? Well when we go through troubles we think God must need to teach us  something, but the truth is the trial may have nothin for us. It took me a long time to realize this, it took me asking this over and over again to realize that truth. Our purpose on earth is bring God glory, don't think though that he needs us to receive glory, we just get to be a vessel for his use. 

 James 1:2 Consider it pure joy my brothers when you experience trials of various kinds." Two parts of this verse are very important in this, James says when, not if, but when you experience trials. Second we focus on the word joy, and if we realize that joy is based in Christ not in circumstances. This verse isn't saying we are to happy about trials but joyful. And we can be joyful because in trials we know God is receiving glory and is working. 

If we shift the focus away from ourselves and on the the Lord then we can find this "joy" in the fact that a perfect selfless God loves us and lets us be a vessel to bring him glory. So basically if we can come to grips with the fact that our purpose is to bring glory to The Lord and can understand that whatever happens is not about us, but instead is what He will receive the most glory from we can find the truest joy!

The "Right" Answers

Wasn't your freshman year just so great? Was college all you thought it would be?
These were questions I grew to dread over the past year.
  In our society today, and especially in the south, being polite is expected. It's just what you do, when you see someone you are supposed to ask how they are or how they have been. It's the nice thing to do, right? Well it is, but do we really ask these questions wanting an honest answer?
 
 I quickly became very good at giving the "right" answer to those two questions I mentioned. A simple yes or good is what I thought they would want to hear, they don't want to know the truth, or I don't want to burden them with my problems are the things I would tell myself. The truth was this past year was the hardest year of my life, but in a way it was great, because God taught me so much. I had become a master of hiding the pain or heartache I was going through with a smile and a few surface answers. I continued with this life of surface happiness as I came home from school.
  And then came a new question...
How was your summer?
   I wanted to be able to say it was great! But the truth was I was terrified of some things that were happening, and others just felt like they were falling apart. There came a point during summer when I had basically lost hope, I joked that if I planned it would happen you could pretty much put money on the fact that it wouldn't. I felt like I was stuck, God was teaching me so much, but I was stuck in this cycle of disappointment, this was when I became so convicted of what I call the "right" answers. You know, giving the easy answer I believed people wanted to hear.
   We live in a society that wants everyone to be "happy" so we ask and answer these questions that show we care and we give answers that make life sound great all the time. This summer when I started to see the need I had to be real with someone  I asked myself how often do I ask these wanting to know the truth or answer them honestly. For me that was not the majority. It was then that I truly saw the need for honesty in our lives.

  Honesty is the best policy, as cliche as it may sound it is true. The fact is God works in different ways in all of our lives and we should view these simple questions as a witnessing tool, to tell others how God is working. Because the truth is life isn't always great, sometimes it really stinks, and you know what? That's ok. The point of our lives is to bring God glory so if you feeling a little awkward or uncomfortable telling somewhere your life isn't perfect is the cost of sharing the truth about our Lord, I think it's worth it.
  On the other side we should want to know the truth, so when we ask the question we should not expect a simple good, or yes.

   I guess all in all, over the past year God has really challenged me with the truth; the truth of the gospel, the truth of the struggles of life, and the truth of his joy. I want to live a life that is true, and that involves being real with the people. This life of truth goes hand in hand with a life of love. My desire is to BE REAL and truly live out the truth of the gospel with love.


John 13:35 "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”