"If I Die Young"

You may or not be familiar with the song title I have selected to be my title for this post. That's okay. The song is "If I Die Young" by the Band Perry. Personally, I love this song  but something happened the other day that makes me think much more deeply about young death (as it is portrayed in the song, and in real "life").
When was the last time you felt deeply about death? When was the last time you ALLOWED yourself to feeeeel about the subject of death? I know for myself, that I try to keep those feeling at bay. I try to keep them from coming into the "ports" of my mind because they are unpleasant, I don't understand it, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it, and that death is much too...weighty a matters to think about for too long. But sometimes it is necessary to take honest evaluation of ourselves and see what we are actually living for. 


I didn't know him personally, and I don't even know exactly how old he was, but he was in between the ages of 14 and 16 years old. Yesterday he was alive. Today this young boy is a memory in the minds and a hole in the hearts of his family and friends. He, this person that I never even knew..is gone. Gone. This boy with just as much value as myself, just as in need of a Savior as me...today he's gone. His death was sudden and completely unexpected, and his ended life leaves a gap in many people's hearts. Not to take anything away from him, but that could easily be you or me. I feel like I have so much to say on this, but when it comes down to it, my heart simply aches for his lost life. Why does it take a lost life to show me that how we are running out of time in this life to show the absolute wonders of a God who defeated death to people headed straight for it..?  Why does it take a death to make me realize the value of a life?  :(


Now, concerning death, we can't press the "panic" button, because God is ultimately in control and he plans good for us not destruction. But we can't be careless and satisfied either!  I wonder now how many times I walk through a store and show God's love in nothing that I do for other people. But then they might leave the store, get hit by a car and die -never having seen in me the Love that Christ has for them... You might be thinking "That's just morbid. cut it out." But morbid or not, it could be true. And as uncomfortable a thing sudden death is to think about, it IS a possibility. Can you deny that? What if the electric impulse from your brain didn't reach your heart two seconds from now? (Haha. You just waited two seconds to see if you were still alive. Admit it.) But no really. Like I said, God is in control. He has his eyes and his hand on you whether you like that idea or not. But each breath and heartbeat you have is a GIFT from Him.


Don't waste your life!


Our lives are a vanishing mist, and there is no promise of a tomorrow. So why do we live like we are immortal? It is true that we will have eternity (Heaven or hell. Take your pick.). But what about the time that is given to us NOW? 


I pray that God shows us how utterly dependent we are on Him, and how terribly gracious He is to us every day in every way. May that motivate us to live for what is most worthy. WHO is most worthy. The most high God. May we trust Him.
 You, God, know the number of my days. Don't let me waste them.

Disturbed

This poem pretty much speaks for itself. Obviously, I didn't write it, but I hope it provokes some thoughts in you:


Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.


Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

      attributed - sir francis drake -1577

Your God is Too Small

I heard that phrase once. "Your God is Too Small" (and I think it's the title of a book, but I'm not positive on that one.)  But I heard it said and much to my amusement, as I look back now, I had instantly pictured myself standing before God and all I could see was the tip of his finger. (please, picture it with me. :) No matter which way or how far I tilted or turned my head, there was this never-ending finger. He was huge when I thought of Him that way. Haha. But even on that line of thinking, the way I imagined him was too small. He's bigger than my imagination could possibly conjure up. Go ahead, imagine God however you will, but then realize that how you see Him is much too small, far too weak, and way too simple compared to how He really is.


Now, speaking in terms that are less...literal, I suppose, your God is too small.  How do you know that the God that you have a relationship with is too small in your head? Well, what are you doing that you don't think God could handle? None of us would actually saaaaay that, though. It would be like saying, "God, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to back outa this one, I got this. Don't worry, chill out, take a break, and I can handle this." But we say this all the time. If you are thinking "what?! I do not!", let me ask you when was the last time you knew you ought to pray or seek God about something, but didn't. -


--- For example, I've been making college plans, stressing over them, and thinking about what I would like to do, etc. I kneeeeew I should have been seeking God for these plans, and actively trusting Him with my worries, but frankly, I forgot to pray. I forgot/didn't a lot. (You can ask my mom, it's true.) But when I didn't go to my Father about this area of my life, my actions were telling him that I was trying to handle it myself.  Whether we say "God, I got this." out loud or think it or not, when we don't trust God for EVERYTHING, we undermine who He really is, how big He is, how powerful, great, wonderful, mighty, just, loving, caring, gracious, etc. because we either like to do it ourselves, errantly thinking that we can do it best, or  because our minds are lazy, we have stopped trying to realize the extent of who God is.


I can look at an algebra problem/equation (sorry to bring math up, since I know we just got out of school.) and be instantaneously overwhelmed by the x's, y squared's, formidable decimals, something cubed or to the nth power divided by some symbol that means something else, and of course they want to graph it eventually....and then a whole string of directions about what to do...  I would stare at it for a moment, start hyperventilating, and then run for the nearest inhaler (at least..I would if I had asthma...). I probly hadn't even picked up the pencil yet, but I would already be ready to give up. -----  To say the obvious, God is bigger than that algebra nightmare, but at that time I'm having some trouble seeing past it. If something like that (or anything material, emotional, mental, spiritual, or relational) seems too big for you or me, we are thinking too small. Not that we could ever think big enough, but when I realize that my God is bigger than everything else in size, power, importance, or whatever, it puts things into perspective, and I am compelled (in a good way) to worship Him as He made me to do.


We are called to worship him. Why? Because he is worthy. How is he worthy? Look around you. He created all that. In the beginning...he said "let there be light, and there WAS LIGHT." Who else do you know who can simply speak things into existence? 
No really, who? Being in awe of God is worship. Not that we will ever ever grasp the awesomeness of God, but worship is trying. Worship can be you in the bathtub with water scalding your skin and you trying to dodge the boiling drops of liquid as you reach for the knob to make it cooler, but you think, "Wow. Wow. The nerves in my skin work great! Wow, God, You made that. I don't get how they work, but they work! and You do know how! Wow."
 Worships is getting to know Him better, worship is doing what He did, and worship is looking at a situation/circumstance and saying, "God, I know you are even bigger than that. So I'm gonna trust you with it and obey you in it, because YOU are bigger than I can fathom." God is indeed bigger (and many many more other adjectives) than we give Him credit for, so let's give Him the credit/the worship he deserves, and stop trying to handle our things in our lives ourselves.

Windows to the World

Ok, since it's my style to just jump in and get to my point, here is a quick intro to what I'm gonna be talking about here:


I was driving home from work in a certain '91 Pontiac 6000 LE (also known as "Google" -If you can figure that one out ;), and as I was praying and asking God to help me see things as He does, etc. I got a picture in my head that was of people walking around in boxes. In one side of each person's box was a window that they could look through. This idea applied directly to what I was praying about, but I think it also applies more broadly to all of us, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to share.


People walking around in their little boxes, viewing the world through their little windows... I felt that the boxes themselves are the lives we put ourselves in, the patterns of thinking, and they determine how open we are to accepting things outside of our "little worlds" or in this case -boxes. But the window is the detail I want to focus on more, here. Some people's windows were bigger or smaller than someone else's. Some windows may be foggy or cracked and inhibit how well someone can see through it. 


Now the problem ISN'T that someone's "window to the world" might be big or small or more clear glass or cracked, or dirty, or whatever. I repeat, that is not the problem. The problem isn't that they have windows. Every person HAS a window -aka, a limited view. They can only see what is in front of them.  The real problem lies in when we think that our perspective (what we see out of our windows) is all there is. When we think that how we see it is how it is, that we comprehend a whole situation, and that there are no other angles to be covered or things that we might be missing. When we do that, we make ourselves gods.

However, the truth about this is that God is the only one who sees the whole picture, he doesn't even HAVE  window because he sees EVERYTHING. his perspective is the only one that matters, because it is HIS universe. Nothing is hidden from Him. He created us as finite human beings and we have limited viewpoints. Our windows are little and we tend to be blinded by them, though we often think that we see things the right way. But that is us putting ourselves on a higher level than we are. When we think we see it how it is, we are are trying to be God.

Look at the world and all the chaos created by people walking around thinking they know best...

The ways we see things (situations, events, and other people, opinions, etc) separate us from each other. We each walk around in our own little boxes, bumping into or off of things that get in our way, going through them, or around them. 

Windows = perspectives. So my question for you as well as myself, is "What is shaping your perspective?" Fears, your temper, your prejudices, hate, jealousy, love? Blinding love that keeps you from seeing the truth? Love of self, money, or some other person? Is it mercy, compassion, or what? Think about it. The list could go on and on.


I don't know about you, but for myself, I do not want to live my life in a blind little box with a crack of a window. I would rather step out of my box, live life out loud, unhidden, and open. I want to have a broad perspective, but I want to also always know that God is the only one who sees it all -and in that, TRUST Him for everything since He does see everything. Since He is that One who is in control and isn't limited in any way. 


My prayer about this is that those of us who call ourselves that people of God would take up His perspective on every matter we encounter in our lives and that we would trust Him for what we think we see and what we don't.

A Piece of Canvas

A Piece of Canvas

I am a piece of canvas...

Once blank, but am no more

I have been put to use, you see,

Here spread out on the floor

I am a piece of canvas

Dirty, marred, and stained

I keep the foot-prints off the wood,

and catch stray drips of paint

I am a piece of canvas

I've laid here quite awhile

The brushes, cans and other tools

In heaps, on me, are piled

I am a piece of canvas

Feeling lonely, used, unseen

Until You come and pull me out

And wash me until I'm clean

I am a piece of canvas!

I'm clean! A stunning white

Whatever use He puts me to

I know it will be right

I am a piece of canvas

Hoisted high onto a mast

I'm stretched and taught, a useful thing!

And waves below me crash

I am a piece of canvas

Angled full into the breeze

The thrills, the gusts, the waves, the sky!

I fit this perfectly.

-By Enna