Italian job was right

A while back, I made a connection that I'm completely (probably too much) proud of.  This connection is about how we as people need to walk the fine line between trusting in God, and trusting in people.  Now, before you go saying "of course you trust God over humans," hear me out.

If we need community like Scripture says, why can we not rely on people as well as God.  Of course, you're wondering where The Italian Job comes in to play here.  Well, in the movie, two characters (a daughter and her late father) say this quote, "I trust everyone, it's the devil inside them I don't trust."  I never quite realized how completely accurate that quote is.

Think about the most trustworthy people you know.  Don't those people (Christian or not) seem to radiate some sort of goodness from inside them?  What if that goodness is Christ?  The people we trust should, in all reality, have some of the qualities of Christ.  But, there's always that sense of doubt that happens when you really need to trust someone.  Perhaps, that is the devil inside of them that you don't trust.

Think about this before you have to trust someone next time.  But over all, don't be scared to trust someone.  The things that take risk will bring you the most joy in life.

Which brings me to my next point.

I think people today are too scared of taking risks.

It's horrifyingly scary to do certain things in this life:  ask a girl out on a date, apply for a big job or promotion, interview for said job or promotion, and be in a relationship just to name a few.  But, in today's society, it seems like more and more people are becoming scared to take risks and scared to fail. I will be the first to admit that I am absolutely horrified at the thought of failing at something.  Failure and I don't get along and we have a mutual understanding that this is how we are going to run.  But, what if the fear of failure gets in the way of having something amazing.

I'll use the best example I have possible.  I have the most amazing woman in my life right now.  She is kind and caring, unspeakably beautiful, hilarious, witty, musically and academically gifted, has the same general outlook on life as I do, and is just an all around perfect person for me.  There are times when we both recognize that it's terrifying to be in an all-out-committed relationship.  But at those times, we realize that it is more than worth the scary-ness for the outcome that we want.

That being said, go take a risk.  Talk to someone, apply for that promotion, do something that could potentially blow up in your face.  And if and when it does blow up in your face--and trust me, at some point, something will blow up in your face--thank God for the opportunity to grow.

Prom night

About a week ago, my best friend and I travelled to Valley Fair in Shakopee, Minnesota.  Every last second of the four hour drive was spent talking; most of it streaming from a passage from 2 Corinthians.  We eventually strayed pretty far from what Paul was saying to the people in Corinth and started talking about things that came into our minds.  We somehow came on the topic of people asking for help from God, but not being patient enough or too stubborn to hear what God actually says in response to those prayers.  I likened it to a prom night.

The young boy is waiting patiently for his date to come down the stairs in her dress.  While he's waiting, he endures an awkward time of sitting with the parents and waiting for the thing he came to see--the beautiful young lady he came to pick up walk down the stairs.  The boy doesn't leave because of the awkward waiting time, for he knows that his prize is to take the young lady out and show her a great time.  Finally, the time comes.  He hears her step down the first step, and rushes, not too anxiously, to the bottom of the stairs to watch her finish her descent.  Her dress barely skimming the top of each stair, eyes sparkling, and hair in perfect order, he looks up and smiles, knowing that his wait time was more than worth it.

Why can't we wait for God like the boy waits for his date?  Of course we all know the waiting time with her parents is one of the most awkward things ever.  But he stays.  Why is it that when we ask God for something, we're not willing to wait that awkward time for him to answer?  And even when He does answer, if it's not what we want, we simply pawn it off as a "thought" that happened to come into our head.  Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to hear what God is saying, we first must be willing to run with whatever He answers with.  That's a huge proposition.

Sometimes the thing that God answers with is exactly 180 degrees from what we want Him to answer with.  And we don't like that.  We have everything planned out in our heads and we just want God to be ok with whatever we want.  News flash.  It doesn't work that way.  We have to be ready for what He says, and run with it.

Be the boy on prom night.  Wait through the awkwardness for the ultimate prize; God's guidance in your life.

Hallelujah

Esther and I went to ValleyFair yesterday and had an unbelievable time.  The ride home was tiresome, but I managed to listen to all three Leeland CD's that I own.  It's hard to pick one of their songs as my favorite, but this one would rank right up there.  I know it's not much of a blog post, but seriously, read it, listen to it, put it in braille and run your fingers over it, I don't care.  Just make sure it somehow gets into your mind that these things Leeland writes of in the song actually happened, and they are the reason we can hope for something better than what we're living right now.


Via Dolorosa


He traded his crown for a crown of thorns
He picked up His cross and laid down His sword
He stumbled down the road bruised and beaten for me
Jesus walked the way of grief
Hallelujah! 

On the via dolorosa! 
All my sin was carried away! 
And the power of hell was broken
As He gave His life away

He knew it was to come from the very start
But his love for the world beat inside His heart
He climbed the road of suffering to the hill of calvary
Where the saints would be redeemed.
Hallelujah! 
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/leeland/via_dolorosa.html ]
On the via dolorosa! 
All my sin was carried away! 
And the power of hell was broken
As He gave His life away

Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon
Soon he would arise and the world would be forgiven! 
Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon
Soon he would arise and the world would be forgiven! 

Hallelujah, Jesus rose again! 
On the cross He she'd His blood on Calvary
I'm thankful for the journey of my King! 

On the via dolorosa! 
All my sin was carried away! 
And the power of hell was broken
As He gave His life away
As He gave His life away

He traded his crown for a crown of thorns

Thank you

This post, is not some rambling commentary of my day, just a simple thought that I would like to think is one of the most profound things that has ever crossed my mind.

My life has been an absolute joy ever since Esther Hannah Nissen came into it.  I have never been happier, nor have I ever been closer to my Savior.  It dawned on me today, that we love, because He first loved us.  Yeah, we've all heard that one.  But think about it.  We love.  We get to love, because He first loved us.  It doesn't even get specific as to who we love.  Because, up until about 15 minutes ago, I kinda thought it was we love God because He first loved us.

No shit, Sherlock.

But no, we get to love people too!  And specifically, we are all capable of loving one individual on another level than we love other people.  That is something that I truly believe is blessed by God.  When that kind of love happens, it directs you back to God and the Kingdom.  If the love leads you away from there, it's not the right kind of love.

I'm lucky enough, to say I have that kind of love, and I am eternally thankful for it.

Green card revolution

While at work today, a store manager from another town called to wish our store a happy 4th.  The funny thing about this fellow, is that he is from England--which shows through his heavy British accent.  He proceeded to tell me about a conversation he and his employees had today.

Precursor to this entire thing; I'm not saying anything we talked about was actually legitimate or is what I believe or what is right.  I'm just saying--this is an interesting point.

This man was telling me he asked his employees why the American Revolution started.  They spouted off the typical "taxation without representation" line.  The store manager calmly replied with something like, "so, does this mean that people working in the United States with green cards should revolt and start a new revolution?"

I never thought about it before.  People working and living in this country under a green card pay taxes just like the rest of us, yet they get no voice in who leads this country because they cannot vote.

That brought me to a very patriotic feeling.  Suddenly, I felt as though I wanted to be one of those door-to-door remind you to vote salesmen.  Today of all days, we should all feel something like that.

This country we live in, while it may have some problems--monetarily, morally, whatever--is an extreme blessing that we almost always take for granted.

An easy lesson for the church to teach is that we are a free country because people before us fought and died in order to create freedom; just as Jesus died before us to make us free from our sin.  I've heard that one before.  But seriously, how true is that?  It's unbelievably cheesy and the most cliché "first-grade-Sunday-school lesson" ever, but literally, let that sink into you for a minute.  Jesus fought Satan, fought the weight of all of our sin (even those not even committed yet), and won our freedom.

The men that fought for the original 13 colonies fought so their children, and children's children, and many generations beyond that could experience freedom from the tyranny of their day.

So, readers, whoever you are, take a moment out of your work, grilling, fireworks, and family time, to thank God for giving us this country, and for giving us His Son.  And while you're at it, remind yourself to do it again the next day.  And then, the day after that, do it again.

Repeat.

Let them know

Today, I said goodbye to a person that didn't even know how much I looked up and respected him.  Dr. (Pastor, Reverend, Awesome Guy) Kimlyn Bender preached his last sermon today at Oak Hills Baptist.  I couldn't help but tear up during his last benediction.  I feel like if someone from that church would have seen that, they wouldn't have understood how someone who didn't attend that church regularly would be that emotional over Kimlyn's departure.  Likewise, any USF Theology or Philosophy major that doesn't already know me (which is all of them except for one) would have thought that I was just a "sympathetic crier" at best.  That is about as far from the truth as possible.

I took Intro to Christian Thought with Dr. Bender back in my sophomore year.  I was very nervous coming in to the class because I remembered someone saying how hard classes with him were.  By the end of the first class, I distinctly remember being excited to learn from someone with the same sense of humor that I have.  As that semester went on, I learned new things about Scripture and doctrines that I never even dreamed could be true.  Kimlyn's teachings helped me to realize many things about the religion I supposedly believed in.  That class challenged me as a learner as well as a Christian.

As I walked out of Oak Hills today, I passed Dr. Bender and shook his hand as I left.  We exchanged a hand-shake-man-hug and I simply told him "thank you".  If only he knew what I was thanking him for.  And as I sit here with tears in my eyes, having just finished an e-mail to this amazing man, I am thankful for the one seemingly insignificant class I had with him.  My regrets however are that I never got to take more classes with him and that I took so long to tell him the things I had learned and grew from because of his teachings.

Moral of this odd story:  tell those around you that you care about them; that you are thankful for what they do in your life.  No matter how small a part, let someone know that you appreciate them.