Burnt

Today I attended a Scottish Highland Games because my brother happens to play the bagpipes (I still have the sound of bagpipes ringing in my ears).  It was a warm day, but not supposed to be a hot one (meaning it was around 75˚).  I spent the entire day in the sun and now I can safely say that I look like a pale lobster.  My mother offered me sunscreen several times during the day.  At first, I claimed that I didn't need the sunscreen because it wasn't hot out.  Towards the end of our time there, I switched and started using the excuse that putting sunscreen on would do little good (I had made it that long, I could make it a bit longer).  I hope that I have learned my lesson and will remember in the future that it is never too late to put sunscreen on.
I didn't think I needed the help and protection of sunscreen today.  How many days do I deny God's help too?  How often do I push forward towards reaching my goals thinking that I am near the end and have made it this far on my own (from what I can perceive)?
I think there are many suns in our lives that we perceive.  Some of which we see, ignore God, and get burnt.  People may claim that they have sought God's help when they see suns and are terrified of being burnt, but God didn't provide them protection from that sun.  Sometime, I believe, in order to help us become more intimate with God, we need to have the outer layers burnt away.
It is like that scene in C.S. Lewis' The Dawn Treader.  Eustace gets turned into a dragon by his own greed.  Eustace soon wishes that he were once again a boy instead of a dragon.  It takes Aslan (God) to come and scrape the scales off for Eustace to be a boy again.  Did it hurt like having our skin burnt?
Absolutely, but through that experience, Eustace grew closer to Aslan and he, as a boy, was reformed (read the book to see exactly how).
We can go to God to prevent being burnt from a variety of suns that we see as dangerous.  While I believe He will protect us from some, He may not protect us from all.  If God's will is to let us be burnt by the sun, He has a particular plan in mind and is peeling the outer layers off of us to reform us and draw us closer to Him.

(Please do remember to always wear sunscreen though on naturally sunny days)

God in the Dock (Part 1)

I picked up the next book in my seemingly overly tall pile of books from the local library.  I have a method of taking notes when I am reading where I read the book and type my favorite quotes into my iPhone.  I haven't even read two full pages in the book God in the Dock (by C.S. Lewis) and I already bothered to type in two quotes to my phone!  You can rightly presume that I am already loving the book.

In 1941, Lewis responded to an article in which he addressed the growing concern of what was happening in the world.  He reflects briefly back the the Victorian era which he called the happiest era. Now, with Britain well into World War II, Lewis seems to sense that there is a growing longing to return to what is normal for the world.  Lewis however, takes a brief look back through history and points out that being on the brink of destruction is indeed normal.  He ends his thought with the quote, "The present state of the world is normal; it was the last century that was the abnormality."

Would you say that we are currently in a state of what Lewis would call normal?

I think I would.

What are we expecting?

Tonight I finished reading the book "Has Christianity Failed You?" by Ravi Zacharias.  I originally picked it up off of the library shelf thinking I could pick up some arguments that I could use in debates with my friends who view Christianity critically.  The book did give me ideas to spark deeper conversation with my friends about how the nature of Christianity and also surprised me by challenging  me to consider why I am a Christian and what that means.

My major takeaway from the book is that before making the claim '_______ has failed me', I need to understand what the ____________ is and encompasses.  (I used _______ instead of the word Christianity because I believe this formula could be used for many religions/companies/ideas/etc.)

Sometimes, I think we miss seeing the big picture.  In the animated movie 'Meet the Robinsons' Lewis, an intelligent boy who was left at an orphanage as a baby, creates a machine that would allow him to look back in his past at the night his mother dropped him off on the doorstep.  He completes the machine just in time for his school science fair.  At the school science fair, however, he plummets into despair when his machine fails to work.  It is not until much later in the story (spoiler alert) that Lewis finds out that the evil hat had interfered and kept his machine from working properly.  The machine, does in fact work just as Lewis had planned it to, he just failed to see the big picture at the time.  The big picture, in the movie, also involved realizing it wasn't crucial for his life to understand who his biological family was (thus opening him up to love those around him rather than seeking something less crucial).

Lewis hopes and dreams failed as he originally planned them.  Yet, through the failure of those plans, he was exposed to the bigger plan for his life.

I don't believe that God ever fails and leaves us completely abandoned.  When prayers go unanswered, when the spiritual fire within isn't roaring up, when God doesn't seem to be active in the everyday life, it can feel like God has failed.  In the big picture, however, we need to realize who He is and that by His nature, He will listen to every prayer but not answer all with a resounding 'yes'.  It is only when God has disconnected us from our beliefs about what Christianity can give us that we can embrace God's bigger picture on what being a Christian is, loving God and loving others.  It is not about being prosperous, though sometimes God blesses us with prosperity.  It's not about getting a better place in heaven, but continuing to love God and through loving Him, love others.

Has Christianity or God failed you?  Or are we holding false presumptions about what Christianity is and who God is while failing to continue to pursue finding more about who and what this is all about?

Judging Yourself?

Recently in a small group, somebody mentioned how they felt like they need to keep doing good things to even out the bad things they had done, especially before becoming serious about the faith.  Somebody else in the group pointed out that by judging themselves, they were putting themselves above God.  If God is our judge then who are we to say that we have or have not done enough to achieve salvation?  

I believe that we need to judge ourselves at the beginning to realize that we are sinful and in need in Jesus for salvation.  After that, however, who are we to say we have done enough?  Is that not promoting self-righteousness? 

Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe that we are called to do good works, but those good works spring out of the source of love that God has given us to share with others.  They are not meant to be a measuring device with which we judge or promote ourselves.

"Why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgement seat."-Romans 14:10

As I was getting ready for bed, I picked up a book that categorizes Bible verses according to their subject.  I looked and read the verses under the subject of being content (going along with the theme of my post earlier).  Look up Philippians 4:11-13 and let me know what you think!

Summer kicked in the same day it always does in my town: July 5th.  These past two days have been beautiful with clear skies and the warmth of the sun.  My mind wandered through the experiences of past summers.  I pondered one experience in particular that happened a few summers ago.  The lesson I learned from the experience has proved to be invaluable over the past few years.
Imagine doing 300 dishes.  That's right.  Over 300 dishes.  It would take almost 3 hours to finish all of them (and that was with a team of people).  Welcome to service crew.  I was with a group of high school students spending the week working at a summer camp doing whatever needed to be done.  I got deeply frustrated (though I didn't let it show) about how much work we had to do.  I thought that summer camp was supposed to be fun.  I climbed a hill for quiet time one day and when I came off the hill I had a different outlook.  It occurred to me that it wasn't all about me having fun but about those I was there to serve.  I learned to make the most of the situation and to be content with what lot I was given.

The Dishes

I have found that being content gives me a sense of peace in whatever situation I am in.  How do you continue to be content in your life?  What keeps you from being content?

I'm currently watching a lecture series called "The History of Christian Theology".  One of my favorite parts of the series happened in yesterday's lecture when the subject turned to typology (a way Christians read Scripture).  Typology is looking for pre-figurations of Jesus (example: Jesus as the temple) or of other things (example: Israel being a pre-figuration of the church).
Here are some of my favorite typologies:
Jesus as the Passover Lamb
Jesus as the Temple
Jesus as the Rock from which water sprung to quench the thirst of the Israelites
wood of the ark as the wood of the cross.
What is your favorite typology?