Day In, and Day Out

We live - day in, and day out.
We sleep - day in and day out.
We brush the same teeth, comb the same hair, wash the same body - day in, and day out.
We open the same curtains, pull out the same chairs, and type in the same logins and passwords - day in, and day out.

We pour the same coffee, we read the same newspaper, and we throw on the same clothes - day in, and day out.
We drive the same way to school or work - day in, and day out.

We go to classrooms, we do the homework over and over and over again - day in, and day out.
We wrack the same brains, we pull out the same hair, we get the same frazzled looks in our souls - day in, and day out.

Would there ever be a way out from this day in, and day out?
For hoping to change this day in and day out is the chasing after the wind, the nothing new under the sun.

We come home from work the same way, alcohol pit-stop on the way or not - day in, and day out.
We come home to the same building, we sit down at the same table, and we eat off the same plates - day in, and day out.

We watch the same news, we look at the same weather forecaster, and we think all the same about the next day in, and day out.
We climb the same stairs, push the same chairs back in, and turn out the same lights - day in, and day out.

So what's the answer to climb out of this day in and day out?
God - pure and simple. He plucks us out of our days in, and days out, to where his day is never ending, and his plan is overflowing.
So that he may have his glory through us, and we will not have so much of the same - day in, or day out.

Who is Paul?

In modern day, Paul is a friend of mine who attends Grove City College. But I'm not referencing him in this post (though he is a very cool guy). No, I'm talking about Paul. As in - the apostle Paul. To admit a lot - I don't know much about him. I know that he was one of the first missionaries, and that he wrote several books of the New Testament. I know a couple of them, but not all.

Paul, to me, (like everyone else in the bible) used to be one of those good Godly people they always referenced on Sunday, and he wasn't much more than that. But since the Spirit has been guiding me (and I've been trying to listen to it a bit more), I've learned a little more about Paul. Primarily the fact that he had a lot of faith in Christ. So much more even than I think I could ever hope to have. You just read his words, and his praises to the Father, and you know he's in with Jesus for the long haul.

I read the whole of 2 Timothy last night (it's rather a shorter book than I'd first thought). It's only four chapters. But it was amazing. When Paul writes it, he's sitting in a Roman prison, waiting to be executed for his belief in Jesus. But even then, in a cold, dank cell, he is so filled with the Holy Spirit that he is willing to die for God. It is an amazing thing to read about. Timothy, in case you were wondering, was a protege of sorts to Paul, and Paul was writing to Timothy in this book.

I hope to learn a lot more about Paul in the coming weeks and months, and even years. Thanks, Paul.

The 'Everything' Question

What's the answer to everything secular?
Money.
What's the answer to everything for certain in life?
Death, and taxes.
What's the answer to everything relating to school?
Yeah, don't have money for that.
What's the answer to everything church-related?
Jesus. More often than not anyway.

But out of those four aforementioned questions, what's the answer we want to give most of the time? Probably whatever we know will please people. Since they're in the here and now, and we have them to more readily answer to.

What many of us (OH SO many of us forget) is that God is ALSO in the here and now. C'mon. He CREATED the here and now. Don't we owe him a little more respect? Shouldn't we give "the great I AM" a bit more often as the answer to all those 'everything' questions?

I'm trying to. In many ways, it's proving a challenge. But at the end of the day, I'd still rather try to live for God than give up all together.

I've Heard It All Before

You know the expression “I've heard it all before.” I know I've heard it all before! We've become so sick of hearing it, we're now pre-inclined to just turn our ears off whenever someone wants to give us something to hear. Hearing is like a curse sometimes. We hear too much when we don't want to hear it at all, and we can't hear enough when we're trying to hear more. Hearing is very straightforward, but it is never really straight inward. We hear things every day.

But do we actually listen? Listening implies that you hear. And indeed! We DO hear it! Like I said - we've heard it all before! But have you listened to it all before?

I thought I had. I went around for twenty years claiming that I'd listened. I was brought to church every Sunday to listen. But did I? No. I promptly fell asleep on my mother's shoulder. I had absolutely no intention of listening. Sure, I could hear it, and remember a sentence or two for a moment. I thought that was enough. But once that moment was gone - so was the hearing. The hearing was on to the next thing, and the listening hadn't even been activated.

Granted, some of the listening was activated. I'd like to think there are several things I absolutely would not do, even if tempted very persuasively. But for the vast majority of the time, the listening wasn't activated. Sure, I heard who God was, I heard who Jesus was, and I heard he had died on the cross for me.

But what the heck does that mean? Absolutely nothing to a young, impressionable American youth, too preoccupied with the materialistic goodness the rest of her life had to offer. Oh, and of course there was the raging sidenote of school to be accountable for. Who had time to really want to understand what they were talking about on Sunday? Sunday was the day you had to get up really early just to be bored. The rest of the week was for living your life, and essentially forgetting about church. And they talked about the same thing - over and Over and OVer and OVEr and OVER again. WHY?!

I didn't know. So I just kind of kept hearing it, and not listening. I might have tried to listen a couple times, but for the most part, it was boring nonsense that didn't fit. Church, to me, was a conglomeration of random stories and parables. I started taking communion, and was confirmed, but it still didn't really mean anything. They kept pushing this whole Jesus idea, and how he died for us. Me? Really? Yeah. He's some guy who lived two thousand years ago during the Roman Empire. Big whoop. And what was with calling him 'King of the Jews' if he died for me? I'm not a Jew.

I still didn't really know. Nor did I want to. I kept being happy, living the way I was living. Not a care in the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you right now: It's CHANGED.

Many of you know I went to Hawaii for school, but then (much to all of your dismay) I came back after just two semesters. HUH!? The most common response I get after people find out that little factoid is “What!? Why on earth did you come back to this crappy place!?” It's why I've tended to shy away from the fact. It's as though I were given a gift to go to Hawaii, but that coming back was just wasting it.

But it's the opposite. If I hadn't come back, I would have wasted the gift. Yes, at the time, the gift was going. But now that I'm back, I'm discovering the true nature of the gift. I felt focused when I came back. Mostly on school.

But then, on no particular day this past October, a man who was in his eighties finally decided to be baptized after being an agnostic his whole life. And from there, I cannot explain what happened. Not in logical human terms anyway. You might manage to call me a kook. I'd call myself awoken. Awoken to the Spirit.

An atheist once told me that since I felt it was not my duty to convert people to Christianity, then my faith must not be very strong. But in fact, it is NOT my duty to convert people to Christianity. It is not humanly possible. People have been planting seeds of faith in me my whole life, but not one of them has made me change my mind about my faith. Not one. We cannot choose where the Spirit will go, or how it will do its work. I went for twenty years calling myself a Christian, yet doubting. Truth be told, I still doubt. It's human nature.

But I've discovered something else. I've discovered the work of the Holy Spirit. There are times where it's relatively invisible. But there are other times where it's staring me in the face, beckoning me on. There are facets of living for God which used to turn me off. Completely. But now, I would have them no other way than to be a huge turn ON.

I cannot make you listen to me. I doubt many of you allowed yourselves to even completely hear me out. But if you have - I will say this: Hopefully, somewhere in you, this has planted a seed. I wouldn't expect this to be the only one. That'd be arrogant. But I'll be praying for you.

To Laud My God

Random things still amuse me, but I've found a greater purpose in my life than to be amused, and tell you about it. I'd rather tell you about my God, and his son, Jesus. The gift he gave us is something greater than I think we ever truly comprehend here on earth, even though, to me, it has become a lot clearer (and thus - so much more appreciated).

And so, I'm going a different direction with this oh-so humble blog. In the past, I've felt a bit discouraged, but also a bit full of myself. I wanted people to read it. I wanted them to leave comments and tell that of what an interesting person I was, or at least the things I found amusing. Granted, my selfish human nature would still like those comments. But it is up to you, whoever may be reading this, to give them. I will take them, and even if I never get any, I will pray that maybe in some small way (or in a big way) through the words here, that you too will be able to deepen your relationship with Jesus.

I'm no one perfect. In fact, my own relationship with Him still feels fledgling, and something of a trifle. I cannot even explain to you why it is that I decided to become so interested in God all of a sudden. I went for twenty years labeling myself as a Christian. But it wasn't until only a few months ago that I really began to feel called towards Him. I never really prayed, save for church, and the Bible was something I opened only when I felt I was in serious turmoil.

All that has changed. But again, I can't explain it. Only the Spirit can.

And so, I give a humble laud to my God, in hopes that maybe there's someone on the face of this troubled planet that can hear these words and put them to their own good use for growing in the faith.

They say that no words could describe the true majesty of the Father. I didn't believe them for a time. I do now.