Perplexed

So many things on my mind that I could write about right now.

Today was our last big work day at the new church building to get it ready for Resurrection Sunday... which is tomorrow. It was hard, but we did it, Praise God! Kind of thankful we're not having Bible Study in the morning, because we will be focusing on the main service. We had a test-run tonight, to get the kinks worked out of the sound system and such. Two people were baptized, and we had food and fireworks afterward.

For some reason it feels like it's been a long time since I've been with my church family. It's only been since Sunday. But worshiping with them tonight was much needed. My heart has been longing to sing out in worship. Probably because this week has been one that has had me perplexed. The last couple of months or so have been super stressful all around, but this week was just... different.

I thought it was interesting, when I read the passage from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 that this is where the song "I'm Trading My Sorrows" gets its lyrics. The leave out the part about being perplexed, but not in despair. Of course it didn't rhyme with the rest of the lines/rhythm of the song (though if they tried hard, I'm sure it *could* have worked!) But it is such a powerful line. If we are perplexed - We don't know what to do. But we are not in despair over it, which would be the normal response to not knowing what to do about something. Because isn't that what we do when we don't know what to do? We fret, we worry, we let our thoughts run rampant and they kind of take over. But as Christians, we don't have to be that way. We can be perplexed. However, we don't have to fret, or worry, or over-think things to the point we want to pull our hair out and scream.

So if you are hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, or all of the above; take courage, because in Christ you are not crushed, you're not to despair, you're not abandoned, and you are not destroyed.

I know this is the last thing the enemy wants you to hear, much less think and believe. But maybe you just have to believe this to get through whatever it is you may be going through. Maybe this is a choice you have to make. Maybe it is a new attitude that the Holy Spirit has given you. Maybe you're just having a bad day and you need some encouragement. Be encouraged. Life doesn't have to be like it's always been.

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've posted. Not that I haven't had things to post about. I have been sidetracked by work, being sick with a sinus infection, and trying to help out with the new church building as much as possible.

I have a new craft project I'll be working on as soon as I can get my supplies. It will involve carving basswood. I am so excited for this!

So much other stuff I would like to post right now, but I have to get going. I might make a post through the week if I have time. This is all I have for not.

Valentine's Day

I found myself annoyed with the Valentine's Day stuff this year. More so than usual. I usually don't care much for it either way. I still don't care for it much but it's really annoying sometimes when you have been single forever. I had read the passage below several weeks ago, then was reminded of it again at Bible study last night. I have quoted it below - parentheses mine.

"Are you pledged to (another)? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a (spouse)... I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." (1 Corinthians 7:27, 32-35 NIV)

Famous One

I was reading through my news feed on Facebook earlier. Someone posted about a famous person being at a meeting or conference they were attending. They said they would be front and center in the audience while this person were speaking.

When I read that I though that If given opportunity to meet someone famous people stand in awe in their presence.

We have opportunity, not only every once in a while, but daily to stand in the presence of the true Famous One.

Do we treat our time with God the same we treat our time with a human who happens to be popular in the eyes of your peers or the world?

I'm not saying that we run around screaming our heads off and fainting like these preteen girls do for Justin Bieber.

What I am saying is that maybe we should be a little more excited for what God has done through Christ for us! We clap louder for a good play during a football game on tv. Should we not cheer that God has defeated death and given us eternal life? Isn't this something that we should be a little more than ho-hum about?

Anyway... That's my random thought for the day. I know it's not a very well written thought, but it's what was on my mind.

Rhinocehorse

I had a strange dream last night. Not that most of my dreams aren't, but this one stuck with me long enough to remember it.

I dreamed that I was at my parents house, and had to go outside to do something at 4am or so. It was more light than dark out, but I could sense that the time was around 4am. The color was not quite like dusk, but almost, that blue-gray-dark color that is still light enough to see detail but dark enough you know it isn't daylight anymore. I looked west beyond the corner of the porch as I headed back inside. Over by the fence I saw a horse looking creature. It was a greenish-gray color, and looked to be fairly muscle bound, like it was a body builder or something, its muscles were huge and somewhat foreboding. Its face looked somewhat angry or determined. It also had this large protrusion from its face, like a horn, but it wasn't a unicorn, because it did not originate from its forehead, but more the bridge of its nose, like a rhinoceros. Its horn was a good 3 or 4 feet in length, almost looking like a broadsword, but very dull and rough, almost like the weapon used by the Uruk-Hai in Lord of the Rings, except without the extra turn to the blade on the end.

The creature saw me and breathed out deeply, and changed course from south along the fence row to due east, directly toward me. It came down to a dip and up over the short rise near the very edge of the porch, and swung around toward me. As it came toward me I was wary, but not really afraid of it. Adrenaline was pumping, and I was in a fight or flight mode, but I let the creature come toward me, because I could not run fast enough to make it inside before we would collide. So I stood near the sidewalk, which was as close as I could get to the door, and I waited for it to come. When it did near me, I seemed to do one of those slow motion martial arts blocks with it. I stood there and stepped to the right, using my right hand across to simply push its horn to the left as I sidestepped. Since it was running at full speed, it had to continue in a counterclockwise run in a fairly wide circle around me.

I then ran inside the porch and latched the door. I thought that it was not much safer inside, since the door was a simple screen door, and the windows could obviously be punctured by that massive horn, but the creature circled a moment and left, once I was inside.

Then I woke up briefly, only to go back to sleep and dream other strange dreams that I don't remember. But this one I did remember.

The End of the World as We Know It

As I was driving back to my apartment tonight, I looked up and saw a small bright light coming straight down over the shoulder of the road. It looked like a shooting star. But it seemed a lot closer, like maybe 50 feet in front of me. It was probably a reflection from the lights of the car passing me on the left. I don't know. I thought it seemed a bit strange. Then I thought about if it were the end times (like for real, not like this is the age of the end times kind of thing) then how sudden would that be? And how strange it would look to people. What if this was it?

Then I thought about what we talk about in church all the time but I rarely see happening (of whose fault but my own?) - ask yourself -
How many of the people do I know would be going to heaven in the end times?
How many of them can actually say that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior?
How many of them think of His name as something other than a swear word when they are frustrated
How many just think He is an awkward and uncomfortable topic of conversation?
How many of them simply don't believe that He exists?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."
John 3:16-18 NIV

You have been given a choice. We are not robots. You can choose to follow and do your own thing. Live your life how you want to live it. Out have that freedom. Or you can go after the good things. It means denying self. It doesn't mean this life here on earth will be perfect. But it means a security in your eternal existence. It means that you will not be bound for eternal torture, that you are trying so feebly to run from right now. Just look at what we do. We try to avoid bad situations an horrible things and circumstances. It's impossible to do so here on earth. But it's not impossible with Christ in the scheme of eternity. Think about that for a moment. Everything that hurts you. You could be living with that pain for eternity. Or you could turn it over to your Savior who took all that pain and agony on Himself, hung it on the cross, and separated it as far as the east from the west when He rose up out of that grave!

You can be mad at me for posting such things. Or you can study and see what the Bible is really all about. If you don't know something, study it. Be willing to learn. You cannot be open minded if you shut out the things you are unsure or have questions about. Ask questions. I may not be able to answer all of them, but I can try. If I don't know something I will do some research and try to find an answer for you.

You'll never get to know someone without having a conversation with them. I can at least help with the introductions. The rest is up to you, whether you keep that conversation going. I can only plant seeds, I can't make them grow.

The Greatest of These is Agape

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.