New Blog...

I have changed blog sites. My new blog is:

http://www.faithenoughtodare.wordpress.com/

Strength in the suffering.

It seems like every time I pass by the "Gifts of Inspiration" table at Books-a-Million, I see a new "Where is God in the suffering?" kind of book. I love those kind of books. A lot of them have been written by some great people, some even by a few of my favorite writers.

But when I walked by that table yesterday, I saw a common thread running between all of those books, and I had the thought,  

All of these books about suffering seem to be written by white, prominent Americans.

Don't get me wrong, I know that suffering is universal, and I'm not saying that white, prominent Americans have never experienced suffering. But I did ask myself, "I wonder if our sufferings here in America look at all similar to the sufferings of half the people in the world."

Think about it.

A woman here in America goes thousands of dollars in debt and suffers in paying off the outrageous expenses of a surgery; A woman in Africa suffers excruciating pain and humiliation because even the idea of having surgery is outrageous to her.

A boy here in America holds his mother's hand as he mourns the loss of a Father at an open-casket viewing; A 10-year-old boy in Uganda holds a shovel as he buries his family after they are murdered before his eyes.

Parents here in America struggle "to make ends meet" as the property taxes on their home shoot through the roof; Parents in Peru struggle to literally feed their children as they mend the liquor boxes that are the walls of their house.

A mom here in America struggles to keep it together when her daughter moves across the country for school; A mom in India holds back her weeping when her 12-year-old is sold into the sex trade.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: We all struggle. But sometimes I could kick myself for saying something like "I'm broke" when I know that there are people all around the world who are literally broken; I often elevate my suffering to a martyr's level. The truth is that sometimes I'm so engrossed in my own self-pity that I am blinded to the actual sufferings of people around the world.

What seems even more ironic in this discussion of suffering is that when I think of my friends in Peru, I don't believe they would even use that word to describe their lives. They are grateful people. When their son celebrates another birthday, they truly recognize it for the blessing that it is. When they get actual sheet-metal to replace their broken roof, they can't stop smiling. When they hear of the God who will wipe every tear from their eyes, they weep for joy.

I want one of them to write a book about strength in the suffering. That would be a good read.

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule."-Matthew 5:3 

Mid-day scriptural ramblings...

I was sitting on my laptop about to do some school-work, when I had the thought, "Man, I really would like to read some scripture right now." It's almost comical how undisciplined my approach to reading the bible has been over the years, but in spite of my failure, God's Word continues to call to me...I love that about Him.

Anyway, I read through a little of 1 Corinthians, saw all the stuff about Paul's simple speaking, Cornith's sexual immorality (a son sleeping with his dad's wife), the expelling of the immoral brother, all of which seemed like a rather harsh dose of truth. After reading that, I thought I'd jump over to 2 Corinthians to see how all this played out.

There's this part in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 that seems to give a sort of resolution to the problem of sin shown in 1 Corinthians. It's really beautiful:

"6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake..."

Forgiveness is always there...I bet that guy in 1 Corinthians felt pretty crappy about sleeping with his dad's wife, but to see that there is always forgiveness offered and encouraged is comforting to me in a world where Churches have so often failed in that...we always need to "reaffirm" our love for one another. (So, whoever is reading out there, know that I love you.)

In chapter 5, I saw this verse, and I love it:

"16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer."

Paul goes on to talk about how the only way to see people through God's eyes is to be "reconciled" to him. I love that word 'reconciled.' It literally means "to reestablish a close relationship between."

Re.

Do it again.

It makes me feel like less of a failure when I haven't picked up my bible in a few days. If Paul is telling people to "be reconciled" to God, it implies that we tend to drift away from Him, something I know we all share.

Draw close to God. Come back to Him. If we do that, I think we'll be amazed at how we start to see people differently.

Blessings.

Last night at church I talked about how I expected this season to be a time of supernatural blessing from God. After all, we have united together as a church community to seek him together, so that automatically means blessing in my mind.

But, as I said, it seems like it has been quite the opposite. A great number of people suffered under sickness. Some good friends experienced a terrible tragedy in their life. Some relationships saw tense friction. Everyday life seemed to be weighing down heavily.

But something Josh said last night reminded me of a profound truth of God.

The truth is that sometimes suffering is, in itself, a type of blessing.

James chapter 1 says this:

 ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (my emphasis)

How odd is it that the road of suffering leads to completeness, that persecutions and trials lead to a state of fulfillment?

I believe that's the season I've been through lately. God is making me complete by breaking me down and showing me that HE is everything I need.

Praise God for suffering and trials.

A very belated post on the ignorance of Pat Robertson and the faulty theology of wrath.

Okay. So, I realize I'm way behind on commenting on what Pat Robertson said about the earthquake in Haiti.

For those of you like me, here's a clip of what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOQrcg9y1iA&feature=rec-LGOUT-real_rn-1r-2-HM

As you can see, Pat Robertson claims that the earthquake was a result of Haiti's making a pact with the devil to come out from under the oppression of French rule. And as he convincingly adds, it is a "true story."

Sadly, we've seen a running theme of this over the past decade with so-called "Christian" leaders. It's essentially the same thing that Jerry Falwell said about 9/11 in 2001 and hurricane Katrina in 2005: that 9/11 was God's punishment upon the United States for the sin of homosexuality, and that hurricane Katrina was God's judgement upon the city of New Orleans for its practice of Voodoo and Dark Magic.

What's even worse is that, as crazy and ludicrous as this thinking is, it can slowly make it's way into the church. After hurricane Katrina, I remember hearing an awesome woman of God from my old church repeat Falwell's words.

I don't get it.

I don't get how Falwell and Robertson's thinking could get so screwed-up. I don't get how they could possibly think that the Jesus they talk about is the same one we see in the Scriptures.

But after thinking about it, I see that it's just a lazy attempt to try and make sense out of things that we can't understand.

Robertson looks at the isla of Hispanolia, and his logic says, "Look at the Dominican Republic next-door to Haiti. They're prospersous; they have wealth and beach resorts. They must not have pissed God off...But Haiti. No. Haiti made a pact with the devil. Look at them. They are poor. They are wretched. They are seeing the wrath of God."

Since when is wealth and prosperity a sign of God's favor? The Jesus I see didn't say, "Pick up your beach umbrella and follow me to the shores of wealth." My Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow me. I don't promise you a life that's nice and peachy. But what I do promise you is life that is really life."

I watched a lady being pulled out from under rubble after six days of being trapped without water, without food, without light to see. This same lady, as she was being pulled out on a stretcher, was singing. Covered in dust, holding her broken hand, and with her parched throat, she was singing. And what's even more amazing is what came out of her mouth: the words, "Thank God."

Those people that I've seen being pulled out from under buildings in Haiti have shown more faith in their week of suffering than Pat Robertson has ever shown in his pampered life.

This theology of wrath that we see from Falwell and Robertson is not reflective of the God we see in Jesus Christ. I know it's source, though. It seems to rise up because we don't understand why God allows pain and suffering, and we have to place the blame on something. We are not content with mystery, and we are not content with questioning God. And what results is a shallow, misguided faith.

I feel for Pat Robertson, and my heart aches to know that people who don't know God equate Jesus' name with the poison that comes out of Pat Robertson's mouth.

We may not know how God works, but we can't just turn a blind-eye to suffering while we make faulty sense of God's mystery.

People.

At the beginning of class the other day, my professor said, "Honestly, I just prefer to avoid people at all costs."

Kind of hard to do when we live in a world full of people.

People.

One of the things I think God is showing me lately is that loving him means loving people in the way they need to be loved.

Everyone is different. Some people need to feel loved by your touch. Some people need to feel love by your presence. Some people need to feel love by your encouragement. Some people need to feel love by the practical things you do for them.

Everyone feels love in a different way.

Sometimes it's hard to show love to all the different people in your life in all the different ways you need to do it.

But, I'm not going to make excuses anymore. I'm going to be one big bundle of love.

Need some love?

Good news.

I was feeling like a discouraged sinner today, wallowing in my shame, and I finally made myself pull out my bible and read some scriptures.

Once again, I found a loving God embracing me with open arms instead of a disappointed one shunning me with crossed arms. Once again, he spoke to me through his word.

In Psalms 3, I found this:

"But you, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head high." verse 3 (NLT)

He told me that there's no need for me to sulk with my head down; his mercy never fails; he is the lifter of my head....yours, too.

You and I can't do a thing to impress God. And that is good news.