The Author of My Life. Thursday, June 26. 2014.

I like to mentally plan out my life.

Down to every last detail.

Like I’m writing my own story.

Sometimes my hoping,

and dreaming,

and wishing,

and fantasizing,

and planning goes a bit too far.

Sometimes I bank more on my own planning

than the plans that the Lord has in store for me.

When I write my own story

I place trust and hope in myself.

I see it as my duty to do this or that

to accomplish what I want to

so that my life works out the way I have planned.

But in reality,

I should be a servant.

A servant of the most High

obediently carrying out His will for my life.

The thing is,

He is Creator.

He made everything out of nothing.

He is the Master Planner.

He has the blueprints down.

There is no need for me to live my life in accord with my plans.

It is my duty to follow His plan for my life

to the fullest extent possible.

If I should fear anything,

it should be me getting in the way of His plans for my life.

My story is written.

He knows how it plays out.

Why should I think that I have the authority to rewrite it?

Who am I to think that God makes typos?

His goal is to provide us with what is best for each of us.

Why do I think I know better than His best?

He is the God of Wisdom.

Since when do I think I’m smarter than God?

That’s just silly.

This concept comes with a bit of surrender.

A lot actually.

It doesn’t mean I have to give up on planning my life out

but it does mean that I should be more in tune to Christ’s plans for my life.

Maybe I should be humble enough to take into consideration

the perfect plans of an ever-loving and all-knowing God.

Though it is a daily struggle and sacrifice to give up my own plans,

the pain that results from me following my ‘wisdom’

is not even comparable to the joy the comes from following the wisdom of the Father.

Who’s ready for the joy that’s coming?

Society's Mottos v. The Gospel's Motto. Thursday, June 19. 2014.

Sometimes my sister and I can be heard making use of the phrase,

‘You do you boo’.

I’m going to put some cheese on my salad.

You do you boo.

Do what you want.

It is a phrase that is utilized and 

has become a lifestyle in our society.

Do what you want.

Do whatever feels right.

Do what you feel like doing.

Maybe I don’t agree,

but it’s your choice.

This strategy might be okay for how you take your coffee.

But when it comes to bigger matters,

moral matters,

it doesn’t work as well.

It gets us into trouble.

When it is no longer a matter of opinion

but a matter of right and wrong,

we can’t all be right.

We just can’t.

Life isn’t a game played by 5 year olds where everyone wins.

There are things that are right

and there are things that are wrong.

Society doesn’t think that way.

Society simply tells us to

do whatever feels right.

It’s almost as if it were the current society’s motto:

Do Whatever Feels Right!

So contradictory from what the Gospel proclaims.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have not wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers,

“Do whatever he tells you.’

John 2:1-5

The motto of the Gospel:

Do Whatever He Tells You!

I do not think that these two mottos could be any more different.

Do whatever He tells you.

It means surrendering to His will.

It means setting aside our own desires and feelings.

It means taking the road less travelled.

It means doing some things that we might not want to do.

It isn’t about doing what we feel is right,

but rather,

it is about doing whatever He tells you.

This was such a bold reminder to me that

I do not want to follow the motto of society.

Not only do I not want to follow it,

I want to flee from it.

And go the complete opposite direction.

No wonder Christians are not supposed to be of this world.

The world doesn’t hold itself to the same standards that a Christian should.

The world doesn’t model itself after the Gospel.

I want to hold myself to a higher standard,

to not be of this world

and not to do whatever feels right

but rather,

I pray that in this life,

I do whatever He tells me. 

Seeking Completion. Thursday, June 12. 2014.

I often wonder why divorce rates have skyrocketed

and why we don’t know how to have quality relationships.

Myself included in this.  

I think we have the wrong idea of what

relationships (romantic and not) should be.

Unfortunately, in my humanness,

I often see relationships as

‘What can I get out of this?

How can this person help me?

What do they have to offer me?

How can they complete me?’

This is so far from the mindset that I should have.

I also think that this mindset is what has led us

down a path of destructive relationships.   

When we look for completion from others,

we will be disappointed.

We are all broken

and wounded

and incomplete.

Typically if you have two incompletes

it results in a complete.

But that isn’t the case with relationships.

Two incompletes in a relationship just fester.

No matter how one does the math,

there is not a way to make incompleteness complete

via another human being.

We were not created to be fulfilled and completed by other people.

Our identity is in Christ.

His is our fulfillment.

He is our complete.

Human relationships are not made to complete

but rather, to complement.

If we continue to look for our complete in places other than Christ,

we will be disappointed.

If we see relationships as a means to complete our lives,

we will be disappointed.

If we seek our completion and identity in Christ,

we will be fulfilled and completed.

And our relationships will flourish.

If you have two people who have found their completion in Christ,

they will be able to lead each other closer to Christ,

knowing that He is fulfillment.

I truly believe that if we all believed this

and put it into practice

relationships would be radically different.

Relationships would be able to accomplish their original goal,

bringing others closer to Christ.

Challenge yourself to look at your relationships.

Are you seeking completeness?

Or are you leading others closer to their identity in Him?

Challenge yourself to see where your identity is found.

Is it in Christ?

Or are you looking for it elsewhere?

Compelled by the Spirit. Wednesday, June 4. 2014.

But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me.  Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.

Acts 20:22-24

This is part the first reading from Tuesday.

It really stood out to me.

I love that where Paul is compelled,

is where he goes.

He does not go where he wants.

He does not disobey.

He does not take the easy route.

But rather,

he goes where the Spirit leads him.

So often I don’t know the route I am supposed to take.

I don’t think it is lack of the Spirit prompting.

I think it is my lack of listening.

My lack of prayer.

My lack of being open to the Spirit compelling me.

Paul goes where he is compelled

despite the warnings from the Spirit.

The Spirit warns him of imprisonment and hardships.

He is warned,

yet he goes.

If I feel an ounce of discomfort,

I immediately flee the other direction.

If I am warned of discomforts?

I won’t even begin.

Yet,

Paul does.

Full force.

Why does Paul go full force into this ministry,

knowing of all the hardships?

Because what is his life worth if he doesn’t

complete the mission set before him by God?

What are our lives worth

but for completion of Christ’s mission set before us?

For the Lord's Glory and Your Salvation. Thursday, May 29. 2014.

Sometimes Jesus might lead us down paths that have seemingly never been traveled.

Or He might ask us to do something that we automatically dub as crazy.

Or maybe we understand Jesus’ plan for us

but the rest of the human race looks at us like we are insane.

Sometimes Jesus’ perfect plan doesn’t fit in with the template that the world has prescribed.

I know that I have be called to do some things in my life that cause people to question,

to accuse,

or to give funny looks.

My response tends to be

‘Jesus told me to do it.’

This response often gets as many funny looks as the action itself.

The reality is,

Christ might call us out of our personal comfort zones,

He might ask things of us that we are reluctant to do,

He very well may challenge every fiber in our being.

But praise God.

The challenge is good.

The challenge will only be for His glory

and for your salvation.

St. Catherine of Siena had some pretty amazing conversations with Our Lord.

Our Lord told St. Catherine that the paths He would ask her to take

wouldn’t be the most traveled of paths,

but rather,

the road much less traveled.

Our Lord said that even those who loved Catherine dearly would doubt her way of life.

There would be those who would formulate lies about Catherine

and there would be those who would oppose of her life choices.

The doubt

and the lies

and the opposition

were not to be an easy load to carry.

Not at all.

In fact,

it was a burden that might cause fear and anxiety

but the Lord consoled Catherine.

He said to not be afraid or anxious for He was to be with her.

He would keep her soul free from evil and from lies.

The doubt

and the lies

and the opposition

that we receive in our own lives

for choosing Christ’s path is not easy.

It’s hard.

In fact,

sometimes it is enough to choose to NOT follow Christ’s path.

Sometimes all the backlash from the world

seems more intimidating than the joy of following Christ.

We ourselves begin to doubt,

we begin to believe the lies,

and we rage this battle within ourselves

one side desiring to follow Christ

and the other firm in opposition.

Even through our own time of doubt and struggle,

the Lord is still using the journey for His glory

and for our salvation.

He reminded St. Catherine that He had a glorious purpose for following His path.

“Carry out undauntedly whatever the Spirit prompts you to do, for through you I shall snatch many souls from the jaws of hell and by my grace transport them to the kingdom of Heaven.”

The Life of St. Catherine of Siena

The Lord was to use St. Catherine’s obedience to His will 
to keep souls from the fires of hell.

We cannot even begin to fathom

the ways in which the Lord might use our lives for His glory

if we are willing to follow His plan for us,

if we are willing to take the path less traveled,

if we are willing to submit to His most holy will.

How might the Lord be able to use your life

for His glory and your salvation?

The Purpose of Our Creation. Thursday, May 15. 2014.

In grade school,

I despised memorizing the Baltimore Catechism year after year.

However, 
I now see the fruits of it,                                                                                     

seeing as I can spout of the first few questions and answers without even flinching. 

The fact that these questions are well-ingrained into my long-term memory

has given me the opportunity to truly think about what I memorized

and determine what it is actually saying. 

Through much contemplation,

I decided at a young age that the answer to the question:

‘Why were we created?’

was a very boring one.

The Baltimore Catechism proudly states that we were created

to know God,

to love God,

and to serve God.

In grade school,

that did not seem to be a very fun answer.

At that age,

my purpose of existence was to color pretty pictures

and play with friends.

As I got older though,

I started to look at this answer in a different light.

I realized that in order to understand this answer,

I had to look at the answer itself-
as a process.

We have such a negative understanding of serving.

I think that Christian churches are doing a great job of seeing service in a positive light.

However, I think that often we still link serving and service to slavery.

To serve means to give up our own desires and wants.

It means giving up freedom.

It means being self-less and humble.

Generally,

we are not okay with being a servant to just anyone.

Sure, we might be of service once to a stranger

but constant,

unfailing,

humble,

perfect service

is typically reserved for someone that we love.

When we truly love someone,

we are willing to do the impossible to please them,

to serve them.

Our service to them stems from love.

Not be because we have to.

We aren’t forced to.

We choose to.

Because we love them.

So too with God.

If we do not love Him,

then serving Him is a useless

and inconvenient chore.

But I don’t truly and wholeheartedly love someone unless I know them.

Not I just met them so I know them

but really truly know them inside and out.

Truly knowing someone,

quirks,

flaws,

and all.

This leads to loving that person.

Which in turn leads to service.

It is a ladder process.

It is through knowing that we may begin to love.

It is through loving that we may begin to serve.

I won’t serve God if I don’t love Him

but I cannot begin to love Him if I do not know Him.

If you have trouble with loving or serving Him,

get to know Him.

Service is useless if you cannot stand behind your Master.

Love cannot truly be love if you do not know Him.   

Get to know Him.

Ask hard questions.

Seek truth.

But be prepared,

you might just fall in love with Him,

and you might just desire to serve Him.

And you might be able to tell your 5-year old self that

maybe, just maybe,

there is more to life than coloring pretty pictures

and maybe that reason for our creation isn’t so bad after all,

actually,

it’s pretty amazing. 

Happiness. Thursday, May 8. 2014.

I like being happy.

I’m sure most would agree.

There are things in life that make me happy.

Usually simple things.

Spending time with good friends,

getting frozen yogurt,

going for a run,

playing at the park.

Those things bring a smile to my face.

Sometimes even to my heart.

But it only last for as long as the frozen yogurt does.

Or as long as the run does.

Or as for as long as my friend can stay.

Then it’s gone.

Even though frozen yogurt is great it’s not enough.

Even though you might have enough to buy the world and all its contents, it’s not enough.

How could we possibly have access to all we could ever need

and ever even imagine

and have it not be enough?

If we are given all we need, how can it not suffice?

Must there then be something else?

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in the world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

C.S. Lewis

If we have everything we could possibly need at our fingertips

and it’s not enough,

then there must be more.

We’re looking for happiness in all the wrong places,

yet we wonder why we haven’t found it.

Last night at confirmation class I was trying to explain this analogy to a group of boys.

I told them that it is like a little kid

constantly try to fit the circle puzzle piece into the square puzzle slot.

They had no idea what I was talking about and asked me to explain it again in English.

Food!

“Josh, if you ordered a big steak with potatoes and I bring you chicken, are you going to be happy with that?”

“Well, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want steak.”

“Right, you have a craving for steak and I brought you chicken. Chicken won’t satisfy your steak craving.”

So too with happiness.

We crave happiness.

We will fill this craving with worldly things that make us happy,

we will never truly be able to satisfy our craving.

We will try and try and try

but will not succeed.

We have everything we could need

yet there is still a craving within us that is not satisfied.

Is there then a chance that there is within us a craving for happiness,

one that cannot be filled by things of the world?

What is this other world that C.S. Lewis was talking about?

Could it hold the key to happiness?

True happiness?

It seems to me that Christ alone can satisfy this craving for happiness that we all want to desperately to be filled.

If nothing in the world has satisfied thus far,

Christ is a logical explanation.

I like logic too.