On Going Out with a Bang

Tonight is New Year's Eve. I thought about discussing New Year's resolutions, but I figured everybody and their brother talks about that this time of year, so I decided to examine a different New Year's topic: fireworks.

Fireworks and New Year's Eve have a strong relationship, only superseded perhaps by the 4th of July. People crawl out of the woodwork on New Year's Eve to go to their local firework supplier to load up for the night's festivities. Some people even drive all the way out of state to purchase the flying combustibles due to certain state restrictions (like here in GA). The holiday rush for fireworks is so strong, most fireworks retailers rake in about 75% of their annual yield on New Year's Eve and the 4th of July.

When you consider this statistic, it's kind of mind boggling. Most fireworks stores are open most of the day 7 days a week, and on many of those days, customers may never walk into the store. When you add things up, that's a lot of time and effort put into 360 days of the year for very meager sales. However, on the 4 or 5 days surrounding New Year's and the 4th of July, everybody suddenly wants to buy fireworks, and the stores are packed.

This phenomenon is eerily similar to our spiritual lives. Our Father is present 24/7, waiting on us to come and share communion with him. However, most of us settle on reaching our spiritual "quota" by meeting with God on just a few days out of the year. Some of us are the twice-a-year folks who only attend church on Christmas and Easter. Others may go once every month or so.

You might be sitting there thinking, "Hey, I go to church every Sunday, so quit badgering me!" Is that good enough? Can we really experience all that God has to offer on one day out of the week? I think not. God sits there all the time, waiting to here from us, but we choose to show up only on Sundays or other special times.

Imagine if every night we shot off fireworks. That would be pretty amazing. However, most people are satisfied by shooting them off twice a year. Similarly, most Christians are satisfied with the "bang" provided by an occasional meeting with God, whether it be through a worship service, a prayer time, or even more seldom, a random hour spent in God's Word. But, imagine what life would be like if we experienced God like that all the time, every day?

Tonight, the old year will go out with a bang, and fireworks won't be shot off in full swing again until 07/04/2009.

Let's not let the same thing happen in our hearts.

A Pause

Today I'd like to pause from my usual blogging style to mention a couple of pieces of information:

1. Sorry for the absence of blogs the last 2 days. I was in Macon, Ga. at Youth Evangelism Conference (YEC) on Sunday and Monday and I didn't have my computer with me. When I got back Monday night, I was exhausted and just didn't post. Forgive my laziness, but I think the couple of days off was good for me. Hence, point 2...

2. I feel like I kind of got stuck in a rut there for awhile with my blog. Stuff didn't seem fresh. I felt like I was forcing ideas the past few days, and that kind of made blogging seem more like a chore than anything. But, after having had a couple of days to recharge and get my head right, I think I'm back on track. Hence, point 3...

3. A lot of times, I tend to teach or share things that are from me without putting much prayer or thought into it. You may think "It's no big deal, Matt. It's just a blog." But for me, it's not. For me, this is an opportunity to reveal the evidence of God on our lives and to share what he has been teaching me. Consequently, I can't just throw something together last minute and be faithful in this task. Now point 4...

4. So, from now on, I'm going to try to put a little more depth into this (not necessarily making it longer, just making it a little more concentrated, I guess). More than anything, I want God to be glorified through my words. The format of the blog will remain the same. I think I have a good balance here, but at the same time, I want to make it a little less watered down. I'm not exactly sure what that means as far as details go, but that's fine. We'll take it a day at a time.

I leave you with a passage of Scripture which has challenged me and encouraged me in my evaluation of this blog--

Lamentations 3:40 - "Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!"

So, here we go.

Psalm Saturday: Psalm 8

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
_____________________

This has always been one of my favorite Psalms.

I love David's descriptions here, and I think there are a few key points we must realize after reading this Psalm.

First of all, God is the majestic Creator of everything. He made the earth, moon, sun, stars, and everything else in the entire universe. Anything that is, God made it. That is truly an awesome thought to behold! He is strong, powerful, and wonderful, and that leads us to our second thought.

God is so powerful and awesome, he didn't have to make us. He didn't need us. He definitely didn't have to love us, much less even think of us. We are mere specks of dust upon the great landscape of all creation. Yet, God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us, first of all. On top of that, he cares for us. He speaks to us. He guides us, and He nurtures us. We didn't deserve it, but God gave us these blessings. Praise be to Him!

Finally, we must understand that we are all without excuse. God's handiwork is evident in creation. When we look at the stars or the earth, we see evidence of God. We must understand that there is an authority who made everything and that authority created us and loves us. God reveals signs of his glory everywhere. We just have to open up our eyes and realize it. But more than that, we have to tell everyone we can about the Creator God of the Universe.

For he is truly worthy of all the praise that we and everyone else on earth can give.

On Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day to you!

What? You don't know what Boxing Day is? Well, if you desire to learn more about this holiday, I'll send you over to Wikipedia. However, here's a brief rundown:

Boxing Day is basically a holiday that is based on the tradition of giving to those who are less-fortunate. It is celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and several other former British countries. However, the holiday has basically been transformed into the foreign version of the American "Black Friday." Particularly in Canada and Australia, retailers open up really early and offer doorbuster prices to the first few people that get there.

This saddens me.

A holiday that once celebrated giving gifts to the poor and needy has now been largely reduced into a giant day of consumerism. Instead of focusing on giving to people that truly need clothing and food, people would rather pour out tons of money on themselves, standing in line for hours and hours just to make sure they get the best deals. Who knows, maybe by standing outside in the snow for 4 hours, they'll have more of a heart for the homeless people who have to do it every night, but I highly doubt it.

It's really a sign of the way people think now. Giving has been replaced by greed. Compassion has been moved out of the way to make room for selfishness.

I think Jesus would celebrate Boxing Day, except that he would probably do it the original way. I doubt he would stand in line so that he could get the best deal on the latest electronic item. Instead, I truly believe that Jesus would be giving what he had to those in need.

So happy Boxing Day! Let's celebrate it how Jesus would.

On Christmas

Merry Christmas! Today is Christmas Day, and I hope that you’ve had a wonderful day celebrating it. However, I wonder how many of us have truly celebrated at all.

When we speak of “celebrating” Christmas, I think we have softened the meaning of that word. For most people, celebrating Christmas is in fact more like observing a holiday. We exchange gifts, eat big meals, spend time with family, decorate things, and may even sing some songs. However, true celebration just doesn’t seem to happen anymore, not unless we’re extremely excited about a present that we got that year.

I think that it’s time we really started celebrating Christmas again—I mean REALLY celebrating. Celebrations involve being extremely excited and joyful. It includes loud songs of joy, praise, and thanksgiving for something that has been done. People don’t care what others think about them at celebrations because they’re too busy celebrating. Most of the time, celebrations are not clean-cut and proper, they are passionate and often disorganized.

When did Christmas become so prim and proper? When, in the famous words of Charlie Brown, did Christmas become “too commercial?” I don’t know, but I know that this Christmas I didn’t really celebrate. I just observed a holiday and its rituals.

We need to truly celebrate the birth of Christ. That means singing as loud as we can. It means telling everyone we see about the joyous occasion that they can be a part of. Celebrating the birth of Christ means we are passionate and thankful about it. It means we literally can throw a party because of what Christ has done!

It’s probably not exactly what your parents had in mind when they hung your stocking over the chimney with care, but then again, Christmas isn’t about stockings.

Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, and that’s something that deserves the biggest celebration that we can put together.

On Christmas Eve

Tonight is Christmas Eve. For some reason, it just seems like this is one of the most special days in the year, almost more so than Christmas itself. There's such a heightened sense of anticipation and excitement. Everybody has one thing on their mind: tomorrow is Christmas.

Many people have a lot of traditions on Christmas Eve. I remember when I was little, we used to always go over to my grandparents' house in Thomaston to hang out with my dad's side of the family and exchange gifts with our cousins. It was always a blast. If you're curious as to what the Peek family Christmas looked like, take a look at the following pictures from 1989, 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively (I'm the stud with the blond hair).









One thing that we always did for Christmas Eve was draw names between our cousins, and we would get that person a gift. When we were really young, it was mostly our parents who picked out the gifts for us, but as we got older, we started to pick out our own gifts to give to our cousins. This was always a really tough process. I mean, you're trying to find a gift for someone whom you don't see but a handful of times throughout the year, yet you want it to be meaningful. Hmmm. Quite the dilemna. Then Wal-Mart gift cards became popular and made things easier for us.

When I think about drawing names for Christmas Eve, I'm reminded of the gift that God gave us on that first Christmas. Like us, God had our names in mind when he sent his Son. Although we join the billions of other people for whom Christ lived and died, we were still central in the mind of God when Jesus came. It's almost as if he drew our names.

God didn't debate on what to give us, though. He knew all along. As one of my favorite songs by a Canadian band called Downhere says, "but sacrifice and paradise were in the plans that you made." God knew what he was doing when he sent his Son. He had planned it from the very beginning of time.

And even though we didn't know him at all, God gave us the most precious gift that we could ever receive.

That's the most personal gift that I've ever received, and I'm glad that I can share in that with you who read this blog.

Have a great Christmas.

On Listening

Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God."

Let's try that one today.

On Abandoned Trains

Have you ever seen a bunch of abandoned train cars sitting on some old railroad tracks? They’re like something straight out of the Boxcar Children series, and they always make me want to go and live in one like the orphaned children did in the books.

Today, on the way down to Brunswick, we drove parallel to some old railroad tracks for awhile. For a span of about 10 minutes, we saw mile after mile of abandoned train cars sitting on the tracks. The cars were silent and still, sitting there like cold, empty shells of what was once a very long and powerful transportation system. Now, however, their only function is to serve as roadside decorations, crude animal shelters, or unique playgrounds for Boxcar Children wanna-be’s (like me).

The thing about railroad cars is that they are not self-powered. In order for them to move and transport goods, they must be attached to a source of energy, i.e. a locomotive. When they are hooked up to this locomotive, they have extreme potential, carrying tons of goods across the country in a fairly efficient manner. However, as soon as they are unattached from the engine, they must lie dormant, and their potential is untapped.

People are the same way. We can do nothing on our own. We cannot self-power or self-motivate ourselves to anything good, useful, or of eternal value. When we try to live life by ourselves, operating on our own will, we can accomplish little more than an empty railcar. We are lonely, forgotten shells of untapped potential.

But when we attach ourselves to God, he provides the source of life that we need. We accomplish our purpose. We become useful, and when we join up with other believers around the world, we become very efficient mechanisms by which God can reach people all over the world, i.e. the church. No longer are we dormant or useless.

There’s a sad aura that surrounds an abandoned train. Likewise, there’s a lonely feeling of disappointment that accompanies someone who is trying to live a life without God.

We would be wise to attach ourselves to the Lord and surrender to his will. The alternative isn’t very fun.

Just look at an abandoned railcar.

Day of Thanks, 12.21.08

Today, I am thankful for:

1. Going home: I got to go home for Christmas today. It's nice to be home with my family for the week. We'll be going to Brunswick to see my grandmother, too. God, thank you for my family. Thank you for allowing me to be able to go home this week for Christmas. Thank you also for letting me see my grandmother.

2. Our progressive dinner: We had a progressive dinner for our youth on Friday, and we had a really good time. Several families really bent over backward for us so that the youth could enjoy a nice evening of food and hanging out. Thank you, God, for the people that helped with our progressive dinner. Thank you for their generosity and hospitality. Thank you for the youth that went, and may you continue to work in their hearts and lives.

3. Friends: I got to spend a good bit of time with several of my friends this week. I got to see some of my old friends from my days at Western Heights. I went hiking with Beth and Katie. I went to a carousel. I saw some old friends from college that I hadn't seen in awhile. And I had a nice lunch with some of my friends on Sunday. Thank you, God, for friends. Thank you for bringing these people into my life, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to spend some time with them this week.

4. Christmas gifts: I got several Christmas gifts this week from my friends, including an awesome scarf, some ornaments, a couple of books, some slippers, and a few sentimental gifts. I really enjoy and appreciate them all. Thank you, God, for my Christmas gifts. Thanks for friends that gave them to me. Thank you, most of all, for the gift of your Son. Thank you for giving us the greatest gift of all.

5. David Platt: I really enjoy listening to David Platt, the pastor at Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, AL. I think he's one of the greatest preachers I've ever heard. He presents the Bible in a very heartfelt, humble, and wise manner, and I've always enjoyed hearing him teach. I listen to his podcasts each week, and they are always very encouraging and challenging. Thank you, God, for David Platt and his sermons. Thank you for calling him to preach, and thank you for giving me the capability of hearing him preach your Word. Thank you for your Word and for lifting up people to teach it.

Thank you, God, for these blessings, both significant and trivial. You are God, and you are good.

Psalm Saturday: Psalm 7

Psalm 7

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust.
Selah.

Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.

The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous--
You who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
_________________________

God is righteous. We are not.

God judges the unrighteous. We must repent.

God's judgment is impending. We need a Savior.

God gives us grace. We do not deserve it.

God is a shield. We have a protector.

God gives us life. We can be with him forever.

God deserves our praise. We must thank Him.

On Progressive Dinners

Tonight, I took my youth on a progressive dinner. I lined up 3 families from our church, which prepared appetizers, the main course, and of course, desserts. I had 14 students a few adults who went around with us. Overall, it was a really great evening of food and fun.

**Quick aside: I was particularly glad to do this tonight because of the fact that so many of our students are not very well-off, financially speaking. It was nice to allow them to enjoy a really good meal and some particular dishes that they might not get to eat very often. Overall, it was a great chance for some of the typical "last" to be treated "first" for a change.**

With progressive dinners, you have to make sure you have one thing: self-control. It's so easy just to fill yourself up at the first house with the appetizers and then not have any room for any of the rest of the food. This was particularly an issue tonight, considering our first house threw out a smorgasbord of food for us. It was extremely difficult not to over-indulge on all the great appetizers that were offered to us. Nevertheless, I was able to remind myself that I had to save room for the "real" meal.

In life, it's easy to over-do it with a lot of things. As humans, we are greedy things, and our flesh craves stuff--even when we don't need it. In 1 John, sin is described as having 3 categories: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. In other words, all of these 3 things revolve around the issue of greed. We feel like we deserve something, and our body wants it even when we don't really need it.

There's nothing inherently wrong with enjoying the pleasures of this world. After all, God is the author of pleasure, and he wants his creatures to be able to be recipients of that pleasure in a certain framework. However, when we do indulge in too much of something, we fill ourselves up with a bunch of junk and don't leave any room for what really satisfies us.

Tonight, I just wanted to keep eating cream-puffs at the first house, but I knew I had to save room for food that was actually good for me. Then, I could enjoy all that the progressive dinner had to offer.

Jesus wants to fill us up. We can have a "cream-puff" or two, but we've got to make sure that we fill up on what truly satisfies us: the Bread of Life.

On the Next Song

Every once in awhile, I’ll go through my iPod and pick out some of my favorite songs on the fly while I’m driving (I’ll post “On Safe Driving Habits” at a later date). I always enjoy doing this, particularly with friends. We’ll pass the iPod around and take turns picking out a song. This can be quite an entertaining activity, especially when you start hearing songs you haven’t listened to since 7th grade (Backstreet Boys anyone? Wait….I don’t have them on my iPod…I promise).

Whenever I do this, though, I always find myself thinking ahead to what song will be next. For instance, let’s say my brother picks out “Genie in a Bottle” by Christina Aguilera (his favorite artist—OK, not really, nor do I have the song on my iPod…I promise—but let’s just use it for an illustration). I’ll listen to the first few minutes of the song while it brings back memories of middle school dance parties, and then I’ll start thinking ahead to what song I want to pick out on my turn. So, I effectively end up tuning out the rest of the song.

Even when I’m doing this by myself, I’ll start searching for the next song in the middle of listening to my present selection. By doing this, I am missing out on the enjoyment of the moment while looking ahead to the future. And when I get to my future song, I do the same thing again, looking ahead to the next selection.

As people, we always look ahead to what we think is next instead of living in the present. We always look for the greener grass on the other side of the fence, not realizing that when we get there, we’ll see another better looking pasture. Somehow, it’s just a part of our human condition to look ahead.

I had a current friend and former professor tell me that I did this when I led worship services once. At first I was offended, and then I realized that it was true. Instead of reveling in the current song or prayer, I look ahead to what’s coming next, hoping to get to the next part which I think is going to be particularly awesome. And then that moment comes, and I’m already skipping to the closing song.

It’s time that we learned to slow down and live in the present. We’re not guaranteed another minute, so why try to jump ahead?

When you look at the life of Jesus, he didn’t jump ahead to the crucifixion. He lived in the present among the people he was around, healing them, taking care of their physical needs. Yes, he knew the cross was coming, and his life moved towards that, but he never forgot to minister to people in his current situations. We would do well to do the same thing.

So, no more skipping ahead. Live in the moment. Be where you are right now.

And when the next song comes, you can truly enjoy it, too.

On Hiking

I love to hike. It's something that I never really got to do when I was growing up, but since I've been in college, I've really enjoyed hiking. There's just something about getting away from everything, going into the woods, and walking around in the middle of nowhere that particularly appeals to me.

Yesterday, I went hiking at F.D.R. Park in Pine Mountain with a couple of my friends. Thankfully our schedules coincided so that we either didn't have to work or were able to change our work schedule so that we could have the afternoon off. We had a great time, and did a 3.2 mile hike. It was great. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the companionship was very nice--on a couple of levels.

First of all, I enjoyed hanging out with my friends. It had been awhile since we'd really done anything like that, and it was great just to spend some time with them, talking and what not. We also listened to some good songs on the ride there and back--like some good old According to John.

Secondly, I enjoyed listening to God. Going hiking always does this for me. It makes me slow down and listen, and being in the middle of the woods is a perfect place for such activities.

People all throughout Scripture retreated into the wilderness to listen to God speak. Elijah fled to Mt. Carmel. John the Baptist lived off of locusts and honey. Jesus often went away in the early morning to spend time alone with God in the mountains.

God wants to speak to us, but we get too busy to listen. We can't hear his voice amidst the hustle and bustle of our normal lives. It just gets drowned out by our business.

Sometimes we just have to slow down and find him in the world around us. Sometimes we just have to look for him in his creation.

Sometimes we just have to take a hike.

On Shuffle Mode

A couple of weeks ago, I started putting my iPod on shuffle. I really have never been a big fan of the shuffle mode. I’d much rather pick an artist and listen to an album, or make a playlist of my favorites and listen to them. But, the other day, I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to listen to, so I put it in shuffle mode.

As I’ve listened to music the past couple of weeks, shuffle mode has reintroduced me to some of my all-time favorite songs. It’s really been quite nice. I’ll be sitting there and all of a sudden some old-school Switchfoot or dc Talk will come on, taking me back several years. Or, lo and behold, Michael W. Smith will come on from his “Live the Life” album from 1998. It’s pretty awesome.

But with the good songs also come some absolute duds. I’ll be jamming out to one of my favorite songs one moment, and then it’s followed up by the worst song on an album that I never really liked in the first place. That’s a frustrating feeling, and it’s probably why I never really put my iPod on shuffle mode in the first place.

There’s kind of an anticipation that comes with shuffle mode. You don’t really know what to expect. I’ve got over 3000 songs in my music library, so any of them could pop up and surprise me. I just have to wait and see.

Life is the same way. We don’t know what tomorrow will hold. As much as we’d like to make a “playlist” for our life, planning things out and putting all our ducks in a row just the way that we like them, we just can’t do it. Life doesn’t work like that.

I’m reminded of the James’ words in James 4, when he tells his readers that they don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so why plan everything out for the next 10 years? Instead, we should trust in the Lord to direct our steps. Just like a computer chip controls what song comes up next on my iPod, God functions as the controlling authority on what happens in our lives. It is his will that matters—not ours.

I think I’m going to keep my iPod on shuffle for awhile and just see what happens. I’ll take the good and the bad. Who knows? Maybe some of the songs I used to hate will actually grow on me now. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

And when it comes to life, I’ve got to do the same thing. I’ll take the good times and the bad times, trusting that God is in control of them all and that he has a purpose for my life.

I can’t wait to see what he’s got in store.

On Taking Medicine

I’ve never been one to rely on a lot of medicine when I get sick. I don’t know, I just don’t like throwing a bunch of substances in my body. However, I will take medicine when I need it. I’m not one of these people who would rather die than swallow a pill. I would just rather let my body naturally get over the illness. Nevertheless, sometimes medicines are necessary.

For instance, I’ve had this cold/sinus infection thing for the past week. I don’t really know what the deal was (I never went to the doctor—I’m cheap). So, I took some sinus medicine to clear up my head and keep my fever down. The medicine worked pretty well I guess, but I still hate taking it.

One of the reasons I hate taking medicines is that most of them, particularly OTC drugs, only combat the symptoms of your ailment instead of really attacking the cause. Or, if you have an infection, you usually are prescribed some large-scale antibiotic which kills anything it finds while trying to rid your body of the infection. It's kind of like the atomic bomb of medicine. Medicines rarely ever focus on the problem at hand very effectively.

As people, when we deal with problems in life, a lot of times we tend to rely on temporary “medicines” to cure us of our issues. When we’re depressed, we get drunk. When we’re lonely, we have sex. When we’re economically unstable, we look for quick-fixes like winning the lottery. While all of these things may temporarily relieve our pain and suffering, they do not really deal with the problem. They merely cover up the systems for a brief amount of time, and then we have to take another dose.

Worldly remedies will never cure our human condition—the disease of sin. Nothing can truly satisfy us, regardless of how glamorous or popular it may be. The only thing that can truly heal us of our disease and provide a remedy for our humanity is God himself.

God does not treat our symptoms. He treats the cause by freeing us from sin itself. He is not a cover-up drug or a quick fix. He truly rids us of our disease.

I’m trying not to take any more medicine this week. I’m almost over this cold thing. More importantly, I need to not rely so much on worldly things to cure me of my problems.

For that, I need the Great Physician.

Day of Thanks, 12.14.08

Today, I am thankful for:

1. Getting better - I recently contracted some sort of bronchial/sinus/throat disease last week (please see Tuesday's post). However, the sickness didn't really last entirely too long or get too bad. I'm still not 100%, but I have been feeling somewhat better the last couple of days, and I haven't really had to limit my activities very much. Thank you, God, for helping me to get better. Thank you, also, for keeping this sinus thing from getting too bad. You have definitely taken care of me and my health.

2. Going home - I got to go home on Thursday to spend some time with my folks. I was able to see my sister's chorus concert (see Thursday's post), help my mom put up Christmas decorations (see Friday's post), go to breakfast with my Dad, and just have some quality time with my family at home. It was very nice. Thank you, God, for allowing me to go home last week. Thanks for giving me a safe trip there and back again. Thank you for a great family that loves me and supports me, and thank you for letting me visit them.

3. Children - Tonight, the kids at my church put on a little Christmas musical. They sang some Christmas songs and read Scriptures in between them. They even dressed up like angels and shepherds. It was pretty cool. There was something very pure about it. I don't know. Maybe I'll post on it later this week. Either way...Thank you, God, for the kids at our church. Even though they might get a little crazy every once in awhile, thank you for them. Thank you for speaking to us through children.

4. Generous church friends - Our youth are going to a youth conference at the end of the month. However, due to the low economic status of many of my students, several of them can't afford the cost to go. This morning, I had 4 people come up to me and give me the deposit money for 4 of my students in need. Thank you, God, for people in our church that are willing to give to those that do not have as much. Thank you for generous hearts and for allowing these kids to be able to go to the conference as a result.

5. An old friend - When I was at home this past week, I was able to sit down and eat lunch with a good friend of mine who was my former pastor. I've known Andy for several years now, and I always enjoy talking with him. He is always very encouraging and gives me some very sound council. At the same time, he's not afraid to give me an honest opinion on something, even if it's not what I want to hear. Thank you, God, for Andy. Thanks for allowing us to get together for lunch on Friday. Thank you for our friendship and for providing me someone with whom I can seek advice. Thank you for a godly man and a great pastor.

Thank you, God, for these blessings, both significant and trivial. You are God, and you are good.

Psalm Saturday: Psalm 6

Psalm 6

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord--how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled.
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
____________________

David, as he does in many of his psalms, writes Psalm 6 out of a desperate situation. He is being chased by his enemies, and he feels cut off from God's love and protection--at first.

David wasted no time in speaking his mind to God, and honestly, I think that's what God desires. David was described as a "man after God's own heart," yet time after time, David questions where God is during his time of trouble. There is nothing wrong with being honest with God about our doubts and fears, as long as we don't completely lose hope in him. If you look carefully at what David says, although he questions God at first, he voices his faith in him at the end.

Why? Is David confident because of his righteousness? No. Instead, he is confident in God's righteousness, and more importantly, God's grace. David asks God to save him for the sake of God's steadfast love, not because of what David deserved.

We must bear this in mind. So many times we ask God to help us because we feel like we deserve it. We ask him to deliver us from sickness, debt, and other tribulations because we feel that we are being treated unjustly. We feel that we deserve better. However, we must understand that as sinful humans, we don't deserve God's deliverance. Nevertheless, God gives it to us anyway because of his love.

David's faith becomes especially evident in the last stanza of this Psalm. Before God has removed David from his troubled situation, David has faith that God will put his enemies to shame. He states clearly that the Lord will hear his plea and accept his prayer, not because David deserves it, but because God is full of steadfast love and mercy.

I'm glad God doesn't give us what we deserve, but instead, gives us mercy. His love endures forever.

On Decorating for Christmas

Today, I helped my mother decorate the house for Christmas. She's still recovering from some recent health issues, so she couldn't really do it herself. Thankfully, I was able to come home for a couple of days to spend some time with my folks, so I was able to help my mom with decorating.

Like most people, we keep our Christmas stuff up in the attic for 11 months out of the year. So, this afternoon involved several trips up and down the attic ladder, getting down boxes of bows, wreaths, garland, and other Christmas decor. We got a good bit of it put up, including getting the Christmas tree up and lit (still haven't hung any ornaments as of right now, but that will come soon enough).

As I was going back and forth from the attic and the living room, I caught myself wondering how much easier it would be if we left the stuff out all year long. It sure would cut down on a lot of time and effort every December! I mean after all, shouldn't we be celebrating Jesus' birth all the time? So why not leave the decorations out instead of keeping them boxed up in an attic all year long?

Then it hit me: we do the same thing with our faith. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that most of the time, our faith is not on display for the world to see. We live our "normal" lives throughout the week, and then we put on our Jesus decorations on Sunday when we head to church. Once Sunday services are over, we put Jesus back in the box and store him away until next Sunday rolls around. Then, we pull Jesus back out, dust him off a bit, and show him off for everyone to see so that they can talk about how awesome our Jesus looks.

Jesus is not a seasonal decoration. He is not a temporary ornament on our lives. Jesus should constantly be present in what we say and do. He should always be evident. We should treat every single day like it's a day of the Lord.

Scripture reminds us to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, making no provision for earthly lusts." I believe Paul meant that this should be an everyday occurrence, not just something we do once a week.

So, leave those decorations out a little longer this year. Or, if you're one of those hardcore Christmas people, then I guess you can put them back in the attic right after Christmas.

Just don't do the same thing with your faith.

On Choral Concerts

Tonight, I attended my little sister's high school chorus winter concert. It was really nice. My whole family was able to go. I also got to see some old friends. Overall, it was a fine evening of music and companionship.

Her high school is quite large, so the choir was really big, too. Consequently, the sound that they produced was magnificent. For a high school choir, they were very impressive overall. The depth was great, their diction was crisp, and their overall sound was very full. The fact that they sang Christmas music also added to the wonderful atmosphere. I must admit, I was very impressed.

I've always enjoyed classical music performances. Call me old school, but I love when choruses sing in four-part harmony. I especially love "A Capella" renditions, particularly in songs of a minor key. I say all of this just to portray how much I truly enjoyed the night.

As I was sitting there enjoying the music, reveling in the beauty of the sound of a hundred voices in song, I caught myself wondering what it would be like in heaven. What will it sound like to hear all of the angels singing praise to our Lord? How loud will all the believers singing praises to God actually be?

I can't wait to join in that moment. I can't wait to sing in the eternal song of praise to our Father.

Tonight was a great night of music. But while the CCHS choir was really good tonight, they're nothing compared to the sound of the heavenly choir of which we will be a part one day.

On the Falling of Rain

It rained here today--all day long. From early this morning until right now, it has been raining. Don't get me wrong, I like the rain. I actually love the rain. However, it can be quite an inconvenience for your daily routine.

On days like today, it is impossible to escape the rain. Wherever you go, there's the rain. When I try to walk to work, it's raining, and I have to drive. When I want to drive to the store, traffic is bad and it takes a long time because it's raining. When I decide what to wear for the day, I have to keep in mind that it's raining. Even my choice of music for my drive around town is based upon the rain (certain songs just fit the weather, you know?).

Thank God for the rain, though. We very much need it. Even though we can't get away from it, it is definitely what we need.

God is exactly the same way. We cannot escape from his presence, wherever we go (see Psalm 139). Sometimes, we may feel that this is an inconvenience. It knocks us off our daily routine. It forces us to do thinks differently. The fact that God is always there effects every part of our day, whether we like it or not.

Yet, while we may feel like always having God around can be bothersome (like when you want to do something you know you shouldn't...), God's constant presence, like a good soaking rain, is definitely what we need.

Imagine the world with no rain. Yes, it would be bright and sunny for awhile, but then we would thirst to death. Imagine the world without God's presence. Yes, we would be free to do whatever we wanted---for the 30 minutes before we turned the world upside down and ruined ourselves. The world needs the rain. We need God's constant presence. It's that simple.

It's still raining right now, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. That's OK. It actually makes me happy, because we really need it.

God is here right now, and he'll be here tomorrow. And that's more than OK, because we need him more than we can ever imagine.

On the Approaching of Sore Throats

This evening, after dinner, I noticed that my throat was becoming a little scratchy. I absolutely hate this feeling. It is the feeling of impending doom, an ominous foreboding of evil.

Yes, it's that dramatic.

The reason I am so afraid of this scratchy throat is because I know what's coming: a sore throat. It never fails. It's like when the breeze picks up before it starts pouring down rain. You just know it's coming.

Whenever this happens, I either do one of two things. Option 1: I accept my fate and hope that it's not as bad as I thought. OR Option 2: I immediately begin taking multivitamins, cold medicines, and anything else I can find in the form of home remedies. Then I try to get plenty of rest and try not to do anything--except do everything I can to prevent the sore throat from worsening.

Tonight, I'm working on Option 2. We'll see how it goes in the morning.

So where is God in all this? Well, as I feel this impending sore throat, I am reminded of how my spirit feels before I commit a deliberate sin. It's the same feeling. I have this little prickly notion that something bad is about to happen. And like my itchy throat, it carries a dire warning of horrible things to come.

So, I have two options. Option 1: I accept what I'm about to do and hope it's not as bad as I thought. OR Option 2: I immediately get as far away from the situation as possible and do everything I can to prevent this from happening.

I prefer Option 2, and so does God. Scripture tells us to flee temptation and give it no opportunity to take a hold in our lives. This means that we cannot give it a chance. We must do whatever we can to avoid sin. If we don't, we get into a really bad situation involving a lot of pain and suffering--just like a really bad sore throat.

So, I'm off to get some rest, and I pray that I won't get a sore throat or something worse. But more importantly, I pray that I will heed the Spirit's warnings when I'm about to do something wrong so that I can avoid the suffering that accompanies it.

Option 2, here we go!

On the Development of Photos

I enjoy taking pictures when I can. I wouldn't describe myself as an avid photographer, but I like to take pictures of my surroundings. Some of my favorite subjects include: my cats, nature, people, etc. As you can see, I really don't care about the content of my photos. I just enjoy taking pictures of life around me.

What do I do with the pictures? Well, I'm glad you asked. Most of them end up in piles on my dresser. My camera is a film camera, albeit a pretty nice one, so whenever I finish a roll, I get it developed and the pictures start to pile up. I guess I should probably get some frames and do something with them, or at least put them in a photo album. Maybe later.

There is one thing, though, that really frustrates me with the whole photo development process. It seems like whenever I take a picture of any of my surroundings, I'm always disappointed by the resulting photo. It's not that the quality is bad (my camera takes wonderful pictures), nor is it because I take bad pictures (for the most part, I'd say I take some pretty decent photos). The disappointment revolves around the fact that I don't feel like the picture adequately portrays the scene that I tried to capture. I feel like the images don't give a full realization of the setting. For instance, my pictures of sunsets can only capture part of the horizon. I can't fit the entire sky into my picture, and that frustrates me. Or, if I want to accentuate the facial expression of a person of whom I'm taking a picture, I often have to leave out some of the surroundings I'd like to include in the picture. It really pains me.

I often feel the same way about God.

I feel like every time I try to describe him, I don't give him an adequate portrayal. I cannot fit his entire image into my vocabulary. Whenever I portray him, it's only in bits and pieces of his entirety. Our human nature and our limited minds cannot fully encapsulate the image that is God. We cannot fully see him or, much less, describe him. It is impossible. No matter how good my description may be, I'm always leaving something out.

Maybe I'm just a bad photographer. I don't know. Perhaps there is a remedy for this. Maybe I just need to take lessons or something. Maybe if i break down a buy a really expensive landscape lens, I can include more in my pictures. I don't know. But I have a feeling that I'll never be truly satisfied with any picture I produce because, no matter how good it may be, it is only a glimpse of the real thing. There is no substitute for experiencing what the photo portrays.

God is the same way. Here, today, we can only take snapshots of him, portraying glimpses of his splendor, greatness, and love. But one day, we will fully realize him. We will stand in front of him in awe, beholding him in all his glory.

And that will truly be an image bigger than any camera can capture.

Day of Thanks, 12.07.08

Today, I am thankful for:

1. My sister-in-law - Today was Noelle's birthday. I know it may sound weird to be thankful for your sister-in-law, but if I had to pick anyone to be my brother's wife, I couldn't have done better than Noelle. She's fun to hang around (when she doesn't pick on me), and she makes Chuck happy, which is a lot more important. Thank you, God, for Noelle (and her birthday). Thanks for giving Chuck a good wife and for allowing us to be friends.

2. December - Christmas is almost here, and that's always exciting. I enjoy the Christmas season and what it brings, including: beautiful lights, decorations, time spent with family and friends, hot drinks, some time off work, and many more things. Obviously, and most importantly, I am very appreciative for the birth of Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, and my friend. Thank you, God, for the month of December. Thank you for Christmas, for giving your Son. Thank you for what the holidays bring, particularly opportunities for fellowship with family and friends.

3. End of school - Classes ended for me this week. I'm very glad of that. I've got one paper due on Tuesday, but that's it, so I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to being able to focus a lot more on my work at the church and on some other things. Thank you, God, for the end of this semester. Thank you for giving the the opportunity for an education, and thanks for getting me through it, even when I didn't really enjoy it.

4. A blog - I haven't really thanked God for this yet, but I'm glad that I have an opportunity to share my thoughts/musings via the web. It also is good to be able to see and hear from my friends on their blogs. Thank you, God, for this blog. Thank you for an opportunity to share how I see you in everyday life to the people that are around me. Thank you for the people that read, and may what I say through you make an impact upon their hearts.

5. The Lord's Supper - I was able to take communion at a worship service at the college tonight. I was leading worship for the service, and at the end, we partook of the Lord's Supper together. I always enjoy this sacrament and what it represents. It is truly special, and I really wish I could do it more often. Thank you, God, for the institution of communion. Thank you for the body that was broken for us and the blood that was shed for us. Thank you for your sacrifice. May we always remember it.

Thank you, God, for these blessings both significant and trivial. You are God, and You are good.

Psalm Saturday: Psalm 5

Psalm 5

Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.

Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

______________________________

We cannot worship without grace. It is impossible.

According to David, wickedness and evil may not enter into God's presence. The boastful may not stand before him. Unfortunately, we all fit into that category. We are liars, cheaters, thieves, and murderers. So how do we worship? Well, David gives us the answer: grace.

It is only through the abundance of God's steadfast love that we are able to enter into his presence in worship. There is no other mean. We do not deserve to worship or bring praise. God's name is too great. He is too worthy. And when we rebel against the Lord and live a life of sin, the consequences are severe: separation from God's presence. But his love is stronger than our sinfulness, and his forgiveness is greater than our guilt.

I love the image that David gives us of God covering those he loves by spreading protection over them. While David mentions this in relation to physical protection from enemies, I think the same principle applies to God's covering for our sins. Apart from that covering, we are dirty and despicable. But, we are covered by the Lamb and washed whiter than snow.

Praise be to God for his unfailing love. May we never cease to praise him, just as David did.

On Aquarium Fish

I have a 10 gallon aquarium that I keep up at the church in the youth room. I know, I know. I'm the coolest youth minister ever--or the dumbest one. Either way, it looks good. There are 5 little fish in there along with several decorative items.

I must admit that I don't take care of the aquarium like I should. We keep the heat off at the church during the week, so the temperature in the youth room drops dramatically. It was in the 50's this afternoon when I went up there. For those of you who do not have a lot of aquatic knowledge, 50 degrees and tropical fish do not mix well. However, my fish are real troopers and keep on swimming despite the cold.

Secondly, I don't feed them everyday. There are at least 2 days a week where I don't get to make it up there to feed them. But they're survivors. They even survived 5 days of Thanksgiving Break without a morsel of food.

Today, though, I splurged on them. I bought them a little heater. It controls the temperature in the aquarium, keeping it at a constant 78 degrees. It's a little fish thermostat, if you will. So now, my fishies are warm and cozy despite the cold weather. Plus, I gave them plenty of food, treated their water, and topped off the tank. Now they're happy.

Before you call PETA on me, I'd like to make a point. First of all, the fish don't mind going without food. They like to fast. After all, they are in a church.

More importantly, we often treat our spiritual lives like I do my fish tank. Yes, it's there, it's running, it looks cool, and that's great. But, we don't care for it every day. We don't nurture it, clean it, or feed it regularly. We tend to go several days without feeding on God's Word or worrying about the cleanliness of our spiritual condition. Instead of our Christianity being a daily process, we go to church once a week and get our spiritual cleansing/feeding and go another week before we do it again.

Friends, this cannot be so. I'm surprised my fish have lasted this long with my crappy care-giving. They're hardy, I guess. And like my fish, just because we don't feed our spirit doesn't mean it won't exist. It'll just be ugly, stinky, and on the verge of death.

Taking care of an aquarium is a daily process, and I'm working on getting better at it. More importantly, taking care of our spirit is much more serious, and we should work on it too.

After all, just like 50 degree weather and no food leads to weak or dead fish, the same conditions on our spirit have the same results.

On Trivia

For the past few weeks, I've been going to trivia night at a local restaurant with some of my friends. We've done quite well, finishing in the top 3 every week we've gone (and yes, before you ask, there are more than 3 teams....there's usually around 6 or 7). Anyway, as a result of our intelligence, we are rewarded with gift certificates, which we redeem the next week for pizza, and the cycle continues (as long as we win....).

We always have a good time, but it can be quite frustrating at certain points, particularly when you know that you knew the answer to a question at one point in your life, but you can't recall it for the world at the moment. Yeah, that happens a good bit. Or, you have the right answer, but then you second guess yourself and change it just before you turn it in, only to find out that your original answer was indeed correct. Talk about frustration!

As I try to recall all of this useless information that I regurgitate for these questions, I'm reminded of all the things I studied in school, only to forget as soon as I was tested on it. For instance, tonight there was a question about African geography. Only 2 weeks ago, I had to label a blank map of Africa for one of my classes, but this week I could barely remember any of it. Why? Because I learned it for the test and not to apply in real life.

At the same time, I'm amazed at all of the useless facts that I do know. I'm able to recall certain pieces of information that have absolutely no other purpose than answering a trivia question. Sure, it makes me sound smart (and it wins me pizza), but in the grand scheme of things, it's completely useless.

I think we treat God like trivia sometimes, doing both the things that I just mentioned. We memorize verses when we're little so we can win the prize in our youth group. Or, we learn about Jesus, memorize doctrines, and recite verses, filling our heads with all of this information about God, but we never put it to use. We never actually live it out. Sure, we learn the right answers so we can please our Sunday School teacher or impress our friends, but when you really think about it, we have no clue how all of this applies in real life.

If we're not careful, we can study the Bible only to fill our head with useless information. We're head-smart about Jesus, but our hearts are not in it at all. It's just useless trivia.

But here's the thing, when you stand before God one day, it's not going to be a trivia contest. He's not going to care about how much you know about him. He cares about how well you know him. God doesn't want mere scholars or Scripture-spouters. He wants disciples. Yes, studying God's Word is EXTREMELY important, and we need to learn as much as possible, but it doesn't mean anything unless we live it out.

Trivia's great for winning pizza, but it sure won't get you into heaven.

On Losing Things

I lost my flash drive today. It was pretty terrible. I got to work and tried to start finishing a project I started yesterday, only to find out that I didn't have my flash drive. I thought it was at home, so I left work momentarily to walk back to the house and get it, but alas, it was not there either. So, off to the computer lab from last night, which also yielded no results.

Consequently I was in a bind. ALL of my stuff from work was on this thing. That on top of a bunch of personal stuff, including resumes and church material, made it quite a horrible loss.

I didn't know what to do. I checked with people from the college to see if one had been turned in. I turned my room at the house upside-down looking for the thing. Finally (no lie), I actually sat down and prayed to God to help me find the thing. It was a pretty big deal.

Well, long story short, I found the flash drive. Actually, someone at the college found it and contacted me, so I got it back along with all of my information. Needless to say, I was greatly relieved. No one had stolen my identity (which is oh-so-valuable).

After I breathed a big sigh of relief, I was reminded of Jesus' parable in Luke 15, in which a woman loses one of her ten silver coins. She then sweeps the whole house looking for it, and when she finds it, she rejoices with her neighbors. Such a great celebration for such a small find, but I completely understand. I felt the same way after finding a small piece of plastic!

God feels the same way when we come to him. Whenever one sinner comes to saving grace in him, he rejoices with all his might. It may seem like a big to-do over nothing due to the fact that it's just one person out of several billion, but to God, that does matter. He finds joy in each individual person, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

No, I'm not going to throw a party because I found my flash drive, but I am pretty excited. After all, I got all my stuff back.

God gets excited about us too, because we're his creations. And that's more personal than anything on my flash drive.

On the Rising of the Sun

I got up early this morning to go to breakfast with a couple of my youth, for our usual Tuesday morning meeting. It was really cold outside, and all the windows on my truck were frozen over. There was a hard frost on the ground, and I looked like a dragon every time I exhaled because you could see my breath so easily.

I really enjoy cold mornings. I like walking to work in the still, cold air (thankfully it’s only about half a mile…if it was any more I probably wouldn’t enjoy it so much).

One of my favorite things about getting up early in the wintertime is watching the sun come up. I’ll be honest; I usually don’t get up early enough to watch the sunrise. However, on Tuesdays, I like to watch it come up as I drive to Chick-Fil-A or as I sit there eating breakfast.

There’s something special in a sunrise. It signals a new day. It’s a fresh start. It’s the light that chases away the darkness. It’s the warmth that overtakes the cold chill of night. It’s peaceful, but at the same time it’s powerful and majestic. Every day the sun comes up, right on schedule, to give light and warmth to the earth. It doesn’t matter how long, cold, and dark the night is. The sun is always just a few hours away.

As I sat there this morning with the guys, watching the sun come up over LaGrange, I was reminded of one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Lamentations 3:22-24 says:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

I love that passage. And as I sit there looking at the sun coming up in the morning, I am reminded of the fact that God does the same thing. Even though we may feel like we’re in the pit of despair, God is faithful, and he will be there for us. His love never fails, and his mercies are new every morning. Every single day, God’s faithfulness is evident, just like the rising of the sun.

Sometimes we just don’t get up to notice it.

On Putting off Papers

I hate writing papers.

Today was my last day of class for my Monday night class. Consequently, I had a paper due. It wasn't that long of a paper--only 4 pages. I've done a lot worse in my collegiate career, but still, I just couldn't seem to get motivated to sit down and type those 4 pages.

Maybe it was the fact that it was for a class that I don't particularly have a use for. Or maybe it was because it was the last project due for that class, and I was kind of burned out. Or perhaps I was just not back in the swing of things after returning from Thanksgiving. I don't know, but I sure didn't want to write that paper. I did anything and everything trying to put it off until the last minute.

I ended up finishing the thing early this afternoon. It didn't take too long, but it wasn't my best work. I didn't put forth my entire effort on it. I just wanted to type the four pages so that I could be done with it, turn it in, and be finished with that class. I don't know that I've ever felt such an urge to be done with a semester than this one.

As I sit here thinking about how I treated that paper, I think about how we react to the fact that God wants us to spend time with him. We feel busy or burned out and put off what we know that God wants us to do, finding excuses to do anything else. Sure we have enough time to watch a TV show or play a video game, but we don't have enough time to study God's Word or spend some time in prayer.

On top of that, when we actually sit down to read the Bible or spend a few minutes in prayer, we often just power through it. We read a chapter, close the book and run off to do the next thing. Or, we say a quick prayer just to say we did so and move on to the next task of the day.

I don't expect to get a wonderful grade on that paper. I didn't put enough time and effort into it. And right now, I'm not doing so well in my relationship with the Lord, because I'm not putting enough time and effort into that either.

No, God will not fail me (I'm hoping my professor doesn't). God will still love me. However, he is quite disappointed when we don't give him our best efforts. After all, he gave his best effort for us. He puts us first, above everything. Why can't we do the same for him?

So, while I may not have anymore homework to do for school, I've still got some work to do in seeking my God.

And I can't procrastinate with that.