oh, just read a book

I was listening to someone talk the other day about how to connect with youth. He recommended certain books and videos for those who aren't often able to observe the radicals frequently. At first, I was slightly offended. The older generations want to learn about my generation- about ME- via generalization and stereotypes in videos and books? They want to learn from a secondary source instead of simply asking any 'youth' what they think about their own culture?

Then I realized that this idea of reading a book or watching a video to constantly build up knowledge instead of acting is nothing new. I mean, I do it practically all the time. I can't go there, do that, talk to that person, etc, because I do not know enough yet. I don't want to ask my friend with a different religion about their religion firsthand because that might be offensive and I don't want to look stupid. I can't try to communicate with the Hispanic at my work place because I need to learn more Spanish first.

Why is that? Why can't I use the knowledge and gifts that God has given me right now, at this moment, to begin impacting the people around me, instead of waiting to feel better equipped?

In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man. The Pharisees question the healed man about Jesus and what he knows about Him, and this is how the conversation continues:


 ²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
 ²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
 ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
 ²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
 ³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
 ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

-John 9:25-34

Isn't it amazing that the blind man who was JUST introduced to Jesus' power and goodness understands more about Him than the Pharisees? The blind man physically interacted with Jesus and then understood how He could not possibly be a sinner. The Pharisees, for all their book knowledge and studying, still did not understand this!

May I not be a Pharisee. May I choose to learn directly by interacting with people and touching their lives instead of basing my world view on books that I have read that are written by people I will never meet. The people around me are walking stories that I need to learn to listen to.

Understand, I am not saying that reading books or watching informational videos is a bad thing. But I pray that I never learn to stereotype people, religions, or anything else by what I learn via those resources. Generalization is a dangerous thing. The beggar realized that Jesus wasn't just another sinner because he had an actual encounter with Jesus and was open.

Be open. Make encounters. Change lives. Don't just read books about ideas and religions, ask the people involved directly.

"ONE thing I do know. I once was blind, but now I see."
- the beggar.

I guess that's all I really need to know to effectively change lives.

what if?

What if?

That phrase makes me think of the insurance commercial with Snoopy; the commercial basically assures you, the audience, that if you use this insurance, you will never have to worry about the "what ifs" of life because you are covered and taken care of.

Does that sound like any other scenario to you? I immediately think of my amazing Heavenly Father, who goes to lengths to remind me not to worry because He's got me 'covered' (pardon my extremely bad metaphor). Here are some of my favorite examples:

"This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky...Aren't you worth more than they?" -Matthew 6:25-26

"I look out the window; the birds are composing. Not a note is out of tune or out place. So why do I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need." -Jon Foreman

"So when they arrest you and hand you over, don't worry beforehand what you will say. On the contrary, whatever is given to you in that hour- say it. For it isn't you speaking, but the Holy Spirit." -Mark 10:10-11

"On days when life is difficult and I feel overwhelmed, as I do fairly often, it helps to remember in my prayers that all God requires of me is to trust Him and be His friend." -Bruce Larson

The thing I love about these quotes and verses is that they all point back to the fact that God simply asks us to trust him because He knows what we need and He wants to give it to us. We are not called to look at the "what-ifs" alone. God will provide the food, just as he does for the sparrows; he will provide the words, through the Holy Spirit; and God will provide the friendship so that we are never alone.

We are also supposed to remember God's faithfulness even in our mess ups and overactings and exaggerations:

"What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all!..." -Romans 3:3

God wants to use my worrying and "what if" thinking to turn me to Him and His hope that I would trust Him. Even if I am unfaithful and choose to ignore His friendship and provision, my unfaithfulness does NOT define him. God wants to protect me from worrying because when an all-powerful God rules the universe, placement of control is not a questionable issue.

I once heard a speaker put it the following way: you are holding a quarter in both your hands- covering it completely. Then imagine another set of hands on top of your hands, holding your hands in place over the quarter. We are the quarter. Your heart is the quarter. God is the hands. You and I are so completely protected by God that worrying becomes really quite silly.

I no longer have to think about the "what if"s of life. I am protected and I am cared for. God provides.

trust and goodness

I'm amazed by God's goodness. 


This past week, I have been praying for some very specific things to happen. Things relating not only to me, but also some of my dear friends. And every single one of those specific things occurred in the way that I had prayerfully asked them to. 


Except for one. One of those prayer requests seemed to immediately be answered, but as the week progressed on, the answer turned into quite the opposite direction. To say that I was disheartened is putting it lightly- especially because this request had been about a friend of mine and her struggles. 


Why does God choose to respond to some requests and not others? Why did he pick THIS request- out of all of them- to be the one that didn't turn out? 


"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." -Isaiah 55:8


I will never understand God or the way He works. But I'm beginning to learn that God moves independently of me; He wants to use my life to spread his glory and love, but they will certainly be found by others regardless of what I do or do not do- even what I do or do not pray for. Yes, God loves giving those who follow him the desires of their hearts (Psalm 37:4-5), but He is more than my prayers sometimes limit him to. 


Today God is saying to me, "My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." Will I trust that? Will I choose to accept the fact that God is good- whether I feel it at any moment in time or not? 


God, in His infinite goodness, is good independent of any prayer request or human being. God is good.