Cause I Gotta Have Faith...

And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." Matthew 21:21-22

I love great dinner conversations. I had dinner with a buddy of mine tonight and we were talking about things of a spiritual nature. It's always great for me to listen and to be able to chime in with things that the Lord is doing in my life. The question always seems to arise, "How is your family?" For those that don't know, I come from a family of non-believers. It's kind of a long story, but I come from a family semi-rooted in the traditions of Catholicism. I've spoken openly to my mom about my faith and it just seems that those roots keep her from coming to understand the goodness of our God. We don't need to perform any sort of rituals or say any certain prayers, but it just takes faith. When I say "semi-rooted" I mean it's all my family has ever known. We don't go to church every week and I'm not even sure the last time my family went to church, but it's where most of what they know about God comes from. Oh yeah, and reality tv! 

Anyhow, as I fill my buddy in on the continuing telenovela that is my family, I begin to wonder about their salvation. I've prayed about it. I've asked God to bring them closer to Himself. My heart breaks for it, but do I think He'll do it? I'm not sure. He tells me that if I ask in prayer, believing, that I will receive. I guess my struggle is the believing. Do I think He can? Of course! I'm just not sure that He will.  How can I fix that?! Is it even something that I need to fix? 

Adding to my confusion, I read from Exodus last night. God is sending Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and asking him to let God's people go. Pharaoh continues to deny the requests despite the plagues the Lord is sending down upon Egypt. Here's my question: Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? I thought I had an answer when I read further, but it lead to more confusion. Let me explain...

"For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth..." -Exodus 9:14

So this is why God did what He did: He wanted to prove His power so that they would all know there is no one on the earth like Him. But here's where I get confused...

"Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go." -9:17

How has Pharaoh exalted himself?! What has he done wrong? Yes, he didn't let them out of Egypt, but isn't God the one who continually hardens Pharaoh's heart towards letting them go in the first place? Ultimately the Lord's power was shown through all of this and eventually Pharaoh did let God's people go, so it all worked it. It always does. But I just don't understand why God does the things He does the way He does. I guess it's not for me to understand. 

Regardless, my prayers deepen for the salvation of my family members, and I ask that you join me in praying for them as well. Please. May His grace and mercy open their eyes to His wonder and majesty. May their lives be a testament to His power and glory. In Jesus' Name. Amen! 

Kimo "Piper" Aleman?!

I swear, sometimes I feel like I need to be an intellectual writer of sorts. I mean, thoughts run through my head that I mistake as confused randomocity (?!) but end up being written by other credible writers. Let me explain...

I must admit, first off, that in my 28 years of life, I had never once voted until this year. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think a lot of it has to do with apathy and feeling as though I wasn't adequately educated to make an informed decision. Plus, I didn't ever want to go by myself! No excuse, but it's what I was thinking. Plus, I felt it kind of dangerous that tons of people my age (probably mostly uneducated like me) were going out and voting simply because Puff Daddy told them to. Really?! 

Anyhow, this year (with the strong urgings of teachers at school) I felt like it the was the time to step out and vote. I mean, there are people all over the world literally dying for the freedom to make the choices that I take for granted. I head all the opinions and arguments for both sides, but really in my head I was thinking, "Does it even matter? God is in control and He is gonna put in place who He wants in place. I will do my duty, but I know and trust full-well that God is in control." I just have felt like it's gonna get a whole lot worse before Jesus comes back to get us anyway. Is that just me being naive? I have no idea. Regardless, I voted.

Back to my first point. All of this was running through my head but I could never get it all situated enough to think it was a valid enough thought to share with others...until I read a friend's blog that had posted an article by John Piper. Yes, in my opinion, I shared an intellectual thought with THE John Piper...at least, I think so. He's comparing the crash landing of USAir Flight 1549 with the election of Barack Obama. God is in control. Here's a selection:

If God guides geese so precisely, he also guides the captain’s hands. God knew that when he took the plane down, he would also give a spectacular deliverance. So why would he do that? If he means for all to live, why not just skip the crash?

Because he meant to give our nation a parable of his power and mercy the week before a new President takes office. God can take down a plane any time he pleases—and if he does, he wrongs no one. Apart from Christ, none of us deserves anything from God but judgment. We have belittled him so consistently that he would be perfectly just to take any of us any time in any way he chooses.

But God is longsuffering. He is slow to anger. He withholds wrath every day. This is what we saw in the parable. The crash of Flight 1549 illustrates God’s right and power to judge. The landing of the plane represents God’s mercy. It was God’s call to all the passengers and all their families and all who heard the story to repent and turn to God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and receive forgiveness for sin.

He goes on to compare this to the election of Obama and the Lord's provision through it: 

As much as I reject Obama’s stance on abortion, I am thankful to the bottom of my soul that an African-American can be President of United States. The enormity of it all is unspeakable. This is God’s doing. The geese were God’s doing. The landing of Flight 1549 was God’s doing. And the Obama presidency is God’s doing. “He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21).

And I pray that President Obama has eyes to see. The “miracle on the Hudson” and the “miracle in the White House” are not unrelated. God has been merciful to us as a nation. Our racial sins deserved judgment a thousand times over. God does not owe America anything. We owe him everything. And instead of destruction, he has given us another soft landing. We are not dead at the bottom of the Hudson.

O that Barack Obama would see the mercies of God and look to the One whose blood bought everlasting life for all who trust him. The parables of God’s mercy are everywhere. The point of them is this: God is a just and patient Ruler, and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. Turn. Turn. Turn, O President of the United States and passengers of this planet.

All of that was basically what I was trying to say, right?! Ah whatever, just humor me! :) No matter where you stand in the realm of politics, our country is in desperate need of its Saviour! I would feel that way regardless of which political party is in office. Jesus, come quickly!

If you're interested in reading the entire article, here it is: The President, the Passengers, and the Patience of God

Random Thoughts...

Some things I've been thinking...

1. Voicemail Messages: Why do people not do away with the silly operator that takes me through the millions of options? Do people really still want to send a numeric page?! Who does that? Just let me leave a message and quit wasting my minutes waiting for all the options that I never want to use!
2. Survivor: I'm eager to watch the new season and even more eager to be on the season after that! Interviews start early March, so if I don't hear by the end of February, they've made a HUGE mistake. Regardless, it still remains my favorite show on TV...and that says a lot! 
3. Guitar: I need to pick it up again. Why can't music come easily?! 
4. Homeless: I drive by several homeless men (and a few women!) on my way home from work. I want so badly to help them, but a few things cross my mind. I never have cash because I spend it and usually just use my debit card instead. Plus, there's always that thought that runs through my head that says they'll just squander the money I give them foolishly. Who am I to judge, though?! Aren't we called to help the least of these regardless of how I feel about the way they'll use the money I give them? So I've come to a conclusion of sorts. I'm gonna start buying gift cards from restaurants that are in the area. I've challenged myself to buy a gift card or 2 whenever I buy food for myself. That way, when I'm stopped at an intersection I have something to give them. What do you think?
5. Home: I've officially decided to move back to New Braunfels. There are a lot of reasons why and more things that I'm looking forward to getting back to. But that's for another blog...

Words from a Wise Man

"If God told us what was going to happen next, we wouldn't need Him. We would go to what's next and totally leave Him out of the picture. We'd get caught up in doing "good" and leave out God. Thus we weren't made to chase life. We weren't made for what's next...We were only made to follow Christ. Wherever He leads, we were made to go. In doing so, we live. We...live to chase Christ. We chase Christ to live." -BJB3

I couldn't have said it better myself! 

God-Colored Glasses

"Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." -Matthew 16:23

Booyah! This was part of my reading tonight and it was pretty impactful on so many reasons. First, what a bad-A Jesus was. Can I say that?! Anyway...He didn't sugarcoat anything. Even Peter, this man that He just said He would build His church upon wasn't immune to it. But what really got me was Jesus' referral that Peter was a stumbling block to God's interests. Peter meant well, I think, as we all do. He probably wanted to prove to Christ that he was willing to do whatever it took to protect Him, but that wasn't what Christ was looking for. More than His own life, He wanted God's will to be done on earth. 

Applying that to my own life, I think about how many times I unintentionally (and, let's face it sometimes intentionally) prevent God from doing His will in my life. Are the decisions I make for my purpose or for His? Am I truly seeking Him in each and every decision that I make? Or am I looking to make the choice that benefits me most? It's probably whatever is easiest. When did His call become easy? When was I called to be selfish?! My prayer tonight for my life was to see the world through God-colored glasses. (Lame, I know, but it's in reference to the phrase rose-colored glasses...whatever!) I want to be able to see each choice as being made to impact His Kingdom most. I wanna be able to serve those in need. I want to reach out to the unreachable, either directly or indirectly. I want my heart to break for what breaks His. 

For me, I think it starts in my classroom. I want to prepare the generations. I want to instill in them the sense that He is their King and each breath they take should be an witness account of who He is in their lives. I want to teach them now what I am still learning so much later in life. But first I need to see them through God-colored glasses. I need to do what's best for them and show them Christ's love through everything I do. Whether I'm teaching them the day's lesson (we're learning our times tables!), disciplining them (what?! never!), or playing soccer at recess (one of the joys of my day!), I need to be Jesus for them. I might be the only way they get to see Him. What exactly are they seeing?!  That's a huge responsibility I have. 

My Singledom

"The disciples said to Him, 'If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." -Matthew 19:10

Am I okay being single? Yeah, I am. I'm okay with it for now. Society tells that by this point in my life I should already have been married for a couple years and possibly have a couple of kids, but that's where I think a lot of couples make the mistake of getting married too soon. I learned today in church that foundationally, marriage is the doing of God, but ultimately, it's the display of God to the world. Definitely changes my perspective. Am I seeking to be married because I want to make myself happy or because I want to make God happy? Does every aspect of my life (single or not) really show off who He is to those that don't know Him? Am I seeking Him first and foremost before anything else? Right now, I don't think that I can answer those questions with an emphatic YES!. So I'm okay being single. I want to be completely and utterly in love with Jesus. I want His love for others to seep out of my pores. I want His love to be more satisfying and intoxicating than anything else my heart and flesh longs for. Will I get there? I have no idea. But I know and trust that when He's ready, I will find the one that He has been preparing, if it's His will for me to be married. Yes, man was not meant to be alone, but with Christ in my life, I never am!  

Really?! I'm blogging

Welp, here I am world. In all my glorious splendor. I know I'm super late in jumping on the bandwagon, but better late than never, right? I don't know why I even starting this thing because I'll probably stop adding to it next before the end of the month, but it's worth a shot. I guess I just needed an outlet for the million and one things running through my mind. Why not share it with the entire world?! 

Don't expect anything super profound or hilariously funny, but I figured this was a great way to be able to process what's going on in my life and share what God's teaching me through it all. Everything happens for a reason after all...I hate that phrase! So...here goes nothing...Happy reading!