College Applications

     Does anyone feel like I do? These applications are looming over my head. I’m thinking, why didn’t I go early decision like the smart kids, haha. Yeah this time is full of stress especially considering all of the homework I’ve got to do on top. It doesn’t help that I feel utterly lost in Physics right now. School is tough. It’s definitely trying on me but as I’ve been typing this I was just reminded of something I read this morning:

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold… may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

1st Peter 1:6-7

     So perhaps if I’m doing all things as if they were for the Lord and not men then maybe the trials I face with stress are testers of my faith. Not to say that God is purposely weighing me down with anxiety but that he can use the opportunity as a tool for my growth. I’m encouraged and thank my Father who gives me strength.

Work

So I just recently started a job after being out of work for a solid two and a half months. It’s been great working and having money again. There are definetly different feelings brought forth when you no longer have to look in between the couch cushions for change to go see a movie or get a cheeseburger at McDonalds with some friends. Also it feels really great that I’m making a difference and doing something and impacting someone somewhere. It seems to me like I’m in my natural groove when Im’ working.

You know I thing that as people we are purposly programmed to work. I think that people, regardless of griping and grumbling, are happiest when they are busy. At least I am. Some people I know get depressed when they have nothing to do. Why is that?

It seems that there is satisfacetion from putting forth effort and reaping benefits while serving others that cannont be obtained any other way. Also I think in all of us is the desire to prove to ourselves and those around us our worth. By working we show that we are meaningful and that our life and the things we do have purpose. (That’s why after playing videogames for hours on end lots of kids come away with a feeling of depression and an unexplainable sense that they just wasted their time. That’s also why after a long day of cleaning or organizing there in deep sense of satisfaction and pleasure. Yes work is in fact pleasurable.)

Now some become obsessed with certain aspects of their jobs and work all of the time, not a good practice. To the reverse, some are quite lazy and don’t want to work or do much of anything. These people I think what I’m going to call a work-related deficiency. Just the right amout or work is good; too much or too little will be detremental to a person. Many wives wish their husbands would stop spending so much time at work and have more for them. Another many wives with their husbands would stop watching television on the coutch and get a real job. 

Work, like anything else, is beneficial, and pleasureable, and satisfying when it is done in the right amount. We were made for work just as we were made to serve. So go out and enjoy

God’s Love Never Fails Me

Even after I do something incredibly stupid God still loves me.  A wise friend once said to me, “God knows you completly and loves you perfectly.” You see all of our faults, fears, and failures are not hidden from God but are in plain view. Nothing we screw up is missed by his eye, yet God is full of compassion for us. Even though he can see all of the gross ugly crooked things in our lives he so despratly wants to show us how much he loves us and how much he cares about us, and you know what? Nothing we ever do will ever change how deeply and intimately God love us, Nothing.

“…And I pray that you… may have the power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

                                                                                             Ephesians 3:17-19

Isn’t that awesome? Do you really understand what was just said, That we have a God who is not distant and impersonal as a statue made stone but is a God who has this incredible deep love for us. It is right that we should call God father because in so many ways he is like an earthly father who looks at his children with tender eyes. God just wants to be involved in our lives, to be in a real relationship with us.

Who Cares?

    

     The best movie I’ve ever seen: “Blood Diamond”. Directed by Edward Zwick (Director of “Glory” and “The Last Samurai”) and released in 2006, “Blood Diamond” is a powerful movie based on the true story about the civil war of Sierra Leone in 1999 over diamond fields. The story follows a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou), named Solomon Vandy, whose village is attacked by a savage rebel group. The village people are massacred, women and children alike. Survivors have their arms chopped off to aviod them voting in upcoming elections. Luckily Vandy’s family escapes however, he is dragged away to be a slave of the rebels working in the diamond fields. 

     While sifting through a river Solomon finds a very large and precious diamond which he hides to keep from the rebel group. The story goes on: Solomon meets up with a mercenary/diamond smuggler Danny Archer played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The two use eachother for their own quests: Solomon trying to reunite with his family and Danny seeking to gain the diamond.

     Overall I was profoundly impacted by the portrayl of the atrocities commited in Aftrica by the rebel groups and the failures of an inept government. Before watching the movie I was unaware that there was even a war in this small African country called “Sierra Leone.” Even more I was shocked by the scores of horrible things that have happened there: the massacre of whole villages, children being spared only to be brainwashed and become child soldiers who carry AK-47s and in turn kill others, tightly packed refugee camps made up of thousands of now homeless people, and the complete breakdown of a nation. All of this was so someone could walk into thier local jeweler and buy a diamond wedding ring, or neclace, or earring. After watching this something within me wept for all that happened.  Other Americans after seeing the carnage and destruction would be touched after watching this too.

     But you know what? Who cares? Honestly, the horrors of what goes on in third world African nations is reported on the news every day but nothing gets done to solve the problems and stop the slaughter of innocent lives. I am reminded by a quote from the movie “Hotel Rawanda”; a journalist says, “People back home will watch this on TV and say, ‘that’s horrible’ and then go back to eating their dinners.” Too many Americans see what happens around the world and do absolutly nothing. Why? Perhaps becuase we don’t care or perhaps becuase we are too lazy. Because the execution of innocent women is too far away and the turning of thousands of 10 year-olds into child soldiers is foreign, we as Americans simply ignore it and as easily as that and our conscious is lifted. “Not my problem” is most likely the dark thought that hides in the back of our minds veiled behind our feigned cries of “that’s horrible.” No, Americans are much more concerned with the price of gas.

     That is the real tragedy: millions of innocent people die horrible deaths every day in places just like Sierra Leone and those who have the power to stop it care more about filling up their SUVs and getting home in time to watch the latest episodes of their favorite prime time TV than saving those crying out for help.

Big Mac

Do you ever meet random people and either get along with them instantly or are quickly turned off by them? I recently had an interesting experience at the local McDonalds where I live. It was late on a Friday night after going to my high school football game and I caught up with a group headed to get some grub. While there a random guy who knew one of my friends showed up and sat with the six of us who were already sitting at a table.

This guy was a dynamic speaker and took over the conversation easily. He was pretty funny but seemed a little older for our age group. Suprisingly I found myself one of the only people of the group to find his presence pretty weird. Here was a guy in his late twenties who was acting like a sixteen year and who positioned himself in the middle of conversation. From the moment he sat down untilll everyone left he directed what was going on. He was funny though but in an odd way. The thing was everyone at our table was laughing at all his jokes but me. I just couldn’t seem to get with it.

I guess I just felt a little odd at the whole thing. Perhaps I am too cautious with new people I meet. Also I was late at night and I was exhausted after having just come from a football game. It was an interesting experience for me becuase usually I bond with people as soon as I meet them but this case was different. (It wasn’t untill after that I found out he was my friend’s youth pastor.)

So maybe first impressions aren’t always the best. If we had met under differnet circumstances I might have less suspect of his character.

That’s all I have to share. It was just one odd experience for me.

PS: Go Hawks!

Rest

     Do you ever notice how we are always running around trying to do everything? We live in a society today which pressures people to work harder, do more, and all in less time. I think the youth especially have a tough time with this. Just ask any high school junior or senior. What is their top concern? “Getting into college.” How do they go about doing this? By cramming every club, sport, community service project, and side job in that they can. People are so saturated with tasks that time to rest is often overlooked. They pack on things in their schedules and don’t let up until they are burnt-out and cracked with stress. They are so hard pressed that they bring it into every activity that they do and bring down those around them. They can’t have fun and just enjoy themselves in what they’re doing; they don’t have time to. The last thing they were doing is always on their mind or the list of things to come.

 Then they wonder why they feel so empty and unsatisfied with their life even after working the hardest they ever have. They feel like they are not good at anything that they are doing because the truth is that they can’t give their best efforts at their activates, they are already stretched too thin across too many things that will “get them into college.” I can attest that I’ve been that person.

     In reality what more youth should be doing is resting: taking time out of the day to relax, unplug, and recharge. This way students can allow their bodies and minds to catch up with all the activities going on. We are finite beings with only so much energy and strength so, we must sometimes take a break.

     What I am saying is: when you feel like you are at the end of your rope and you find yourself in a well of things to do and places to be you probably need to take a break. Take thirty minutes, step back, watch television, read a book, talk a walk, or do whatever gives you joy.