Missions

Matthew 28:19 says to go into all the world and teach the nations. He did not say, "I call you to be a missionary." No He said it to everyone. I was reading on the new this morning that the death toll in China is about 3000, Haiti was in the hundreds of thousands. I can guarantee (that took 4 tries to spell correctly, Mrs. Morris) you that not everyone who died this past year was Christian. Why aren't we being effective, why are we sitting back, twiddling our thumbs thinking, "well maybe tomorrow..." James warns about boasting about tomorrow, as does Proverbs 27:1. The time is now not tomorrow. You don't know what could happen tonight or tomorrow. If you were to die tonight whose fault is it that your unsaved friends do not know about Christ. Maybe you are reading this and thinking, "well I don't have any unsaved friends." Ha! well it sounds like a good idea to go out and make some friends. A few months ago I didn't have any unsaved friends. Guess what I prayed and now I am now working with more unsaved people then I could count. Many of whom are now friends. James 2 states that faith without works is dead. If you claim that Christ changed your life you should be out there proving it.

Freeing captives and light

Has God done a miraculous work and freed you from something? Anything from addiction to depression? If you have seen God work and got you past a "mountain" that was hindering you from God and you have been set free, have you since worked to set other captives free. Whether we admit it or not we have all struggled with some kind of bondage or we are still struggling with bondage, but if we have been set free it only makes sense to go out and set others free by taking Christ to them.

To switch gears a little bit, I was reading in Matthew 5 right after the "blessed be's" (beatitudes) where Jesus talks about us being salt and light. It says that a city on a hill cannot be hidden. When we accept Christ we should be letting his light shine through us and others should see it. The term closet Christian should be an oxymoron. We should be willing to go up on a high hill and let our lights shine. In the words of that church song we all were forced to sing at some point, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

Combine the two, let God work, and watch as "mountains are moved"

Freedom?

I need to know this is semi new for me. Has anyone else been quieted for saying something about Christ? At work I was having a jolly good time working the grill and talking with my coworkers which is fine as long as we stay busy. About two weeks ago I was conversing with my coworker who asked about some things in Christianity. I started talking and my boss told me to leave Christ out of McDonalds. I like to work lobby when I am tired because it requires little to no thought, but on a normal day I really don't mind the grill or fryer or whatever because I am something close to conscious. At first the thing with my manager didn't seem like much, but as of late I have discovered that I am working lobby almost everyday, while I dont mind much, I wonder if there is a reason behind it. After all only one person works lobby at a time and there is little to no chance to come in contact with my coworkers. Furthermore, I figured that Christ was not spoken of because it might 'offend' someone, but my coworkers can speak with freedom about drugs, alcohol, sex, and who they screwed over recently with language filthier than the bathrooms I had to clean. Of course when I say something they say either I am being intolerant or else attribute it solely to "religion".

Oh lots of stuff really

Ever gone through one of those periods of time where you just can't seem to explain why you are down? Ever felt so spiritually disconnected you just can't do anything right? Well that is more or less what I just went through. Anyways after starting work on Wed. I came to the realization of a few things.
First: I really don't have time for a spiritual disconnect. I am working at a place were there are few if any people who know Christ. That's my missionary field right now.
Second: If love and living a Christian life were totally dependent on feelings well we'd be a bunch of lousy Christians. Yesterday evening I just asked myself, "if i were totally connected and passionate about God right now, what would I be doing differently." and attempted to fix the issues, not such an easy task.

Now then if you are going through one of those rough spots, ask yourself what you would do differently if in fact you were totally on fire for God and what you can change. Then pray for it.

Classical Craze

After discovering that the first five pages of "Twilight" are written at a 4.2 grade level I decided that that for the next year I am going to read only classic books. This may be crazy for a student who is still in high school (only 2 months left though), but I want to see if it makes a difference. I still can't believe that... 4.2, that means that if required to write at grade level all 5th graders could undoubtedly come up with better. I regret to say that I actually was obsessed with the series a couple years ago.

Spiritual disconnect

As of late I have been feeling that oh too familiar feeling of a disconnect from God. It is a frustrating thing to deal with, but not impossible to revert. Yesterday evening I noted that it had been a good three weeks since the last time I read the Bible, therefore starving myself spiritually. Worse than that my prayer life had become pitiful, praying only when something big was going down and late at night when I could not sleep. Perhaps the worst of all of it was the recurrence of some sin in my life, not cutting just to clear that up, but some not so pretty sins. However as sin often does, it blinds you from seeing what it is that you are doing wrong, how to fix it, and the salvation we can obtain from Christ. Tonight I decided to stop being lame and pick up my Bible. Normally I would not be in favor of a random search of the Bible, but it worked tonight. I turned to Psalm 38 (the book I have been intending to start). Read it now then come back. After reading it twice I decided to go online and find some commentaries, just for grins. This is what I found:

Isaiah 53:5 "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Mark 14:50 "Then everyone deserted him and fled."

Mark 15:3-5 "The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, 'Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.' But Jesus still made no reply and Pilate was amazed."

Christ suffered and died for you. Now maybe you know that in your head, but let it sink in a little bit, He died a horrible gruesome death so that he could spend eternity with you. Every single little secret sin, which nailed him to the cross, he sees and still loves and forgives you, that is a radical love. Even though many people will never love him, he still loves them. Think about the person who has hurt you the most, and I might add repeatedly with little to no regard to how it hurts you. Love them. A little tough, right? And yet Christ loves us despite the fact we regularly spit in his face.

- Salvation means making safe, more specifically after death
- soteriology - theological study of salvation that covers the how we get salvation and how the
process is began (weird terminology, hard to explain)
- freedom from bondage to sin
- salvation is not earned
- It brings a person back into the right relationship with God
- Salvation must be accepted or claimed
- Repentance is more than just saying sorry for past mistakes, it is being sincerely remorseful
for rejecting Christ.
- Salvation is rooted in the grace of God
- God is good, perfect, and fair so sin keeps us from being in a right relationship with God.

I would encourage you to also google the names of God with scripture, a website I found to be helpful was: http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestudyresources/qt/namesofgodjesus.htm.

I ask for prayer for the trip Katie and I are planning for Canada this summer and for my job which I should be starting next week sometime.

Opportunity

I have the awesome opportunity to (for lack of better word) mentor a 8th grader. She is 14 and the youngest in her family, she has the whole tough chick routine and knows how to play church girl when needed. Please pray for that, I really hope she can know Christ on deeper more personal level. Also looking for good devotionals to go through with her.

Also pray for my job interview tomorrow, so nervous.