These past semester has been one of the toughest periods in my Christian life. With both the situation going on with my mom, as well as the difficulties that I have encountered in trying to get a staff job squared away with the Men's Basketball Team after graduation, as well as juggling a VERY intense workload in my 5 Senior Level Business classes, my faith has been stretched, tested and challenged in a variety of ways. For a couple of weeks now I have been reading a book by Pastor Jim Cymbala, the Head of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church called Fresh Faith. Pastor Cymbala had come to LU last semester and spoke, and I have had the book since Christmas, but have only just now started reading it. I was reading some stuff in Chapter 3 today that was a great deal of help in this daily struggle that I am facing to have faith in Christ no matter what the circumstances. Allow me to share some of what I have learned from Pastor Cymbala.
At the start of Chapter 3, I came across these lines that put a finger on some of my faith struggles. Pastor Cymbala said, "When most of us think about how we are doing spiritually, we think about surface things. We zero in on behavior patterns, such as have we been gossiping, have we been staying true to our marriage, have we been reading our Bibles, have we been tithing ? We concentrate on outward works while forgetting that they are simply the fruit of a deeper spiritual factor."
As I thought about that passage, I realize how frail my faith really has been during these past couple of months. Here I am thinking that I'm doing good because my wife and I are reguarly attending church, I'm meeting weekly with an accountability partner, we're tithing reguarly, we're serving at our church and I'm maintaining a steady devotional time with the Lord. I look at all those "activities" and I realize that at the core of it, I'm not allowing my "faith" to be strengthened by those activities because I'm not thinking that my faith NEEDED to be strengthened. As the past couple of weeks especially has shown, that was the wrong attitude to take.
Later on in Chapter 3, Pastor Cymbala made a statement based off 1 Peter Chapter 1 vs 5 that literally put a spotlight on how my lack of faith is affecting my mindset towards several important key areas of my life right now, especially in regards to my job situation with the basketball team that I work for currently. Pastor Cymbala said, "Faith ALONE is the trigger that releases divine power. As Peter wrote, it is through FAITH that we are shielded by God's power(1 Peter 1:5). Our trying, struggling, or promising won't work-FAITH is what God is after. Faith in the key to our relationship with Him."
As I read 1 Peter Chapter 1 today, I was struck by the verses 3-9 in how applicable they are to what I have been going through these past couple of months. I love what Pastor Cymbala was able to share some insight into those verses that was so right on for what I've been going through these past couple of months. Here's the verses, then Pastor Cymbala's thoughts,
"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls."
I loved Pastor Cymbala's thoughts on that passage as well, "When most people break down in their Christian life, they simply "try harder." I have since learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who has ACHEIVED the most, but rather the one who has RECEIVED the most. God's grace, love and mercy flow through him abudantly because he walks in total dependence. The Christian who is getting right is the one who follows the words of Hebrews 12 vs 2, turning the other way and looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."
Reading those words was both convicting but also satisfying. Even today, facing the many struggles going on in my life, whether they be financial, or with my mom, or this job situation, it's so comforting to know that it's ok to admit that I'm weak and that I need to trust Christ for His provision to help my faith through those struggles today. How about you believer, do you try to control your life and the circumstances that you deal with like I have done ?? If so, I pray the Lord opens your eyes the way He opened mine to the simple fact that struggling along without real faith in Christ is not the way to go.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
My 2008 Wish List
I got to thinking some more this morning, and I started to think about if i could write down a wish list for 2008, not in any order of importance, just what are some things that I would like to accomplish or do or see, what would it be ? Here's my attempt at it, maybe having a written record will help me "stay organized" in trying to accomplish these things, but, in the end, I'm not God, so, I have no idea if He'll allow me to accomplish them, but at least I'm being honest, right ?? Here goes, not in any order of importance either:
1. Land the Video Coordinator job with the Liberty Men's Basketball Team or a Director of Basketball Operations position with another Men's Basketball Program.
2. Take another weekend trip with Jen to somewhere fun
3. Buy a newer car
4. Move into a nicer, bigger place, maybe a townhome
5. Watch Jennifer start graduate school
6. Read the 9 books that I have gotten as Christmas and Birthday presents that I still need to read
7. Graduate in May 2008 and finish my 3 remaining summer school classes
8. Go to Creation East 08 with Jen and friends
9. See Duke again in Cameron Indoor Stadium
10. Come in 1st Place in the Business Simulation Group Contest in my Strategic Planning/Business Policy class
11. Watch my mom beat cancer
12. Go to Florida and do the following things: Hang out with Memere(it's been too long), swim with dolphins, go to Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens Tampa and stay in a nice Disney Resort Hotel
13. Get better at communicating with my wife
14. Get in shape after graduation(seriously)
15. Become a better spiritual leader for my family
16. Learn how to operate a Mac at a high level and also learn the ropes with the GameChanger program, which is a film editing program college basketball programs use
17. Move into a place that has a dishwasher
18. Learn how to decorate a real home
19. Spend more quality time with Jen and other friends
20. Grow closer to the Lord
21. See another Red Sox game in Fenway
22. Watch a New England Patriots game in Foxboro
23. Go on a cruise
24. Get better at the Sports games on the Nintendo Wii
25. Get a new laptop for Jen and I
26. Hang out with my good buddy Mike Corey
I think that's a solid list to start with, we'll see how it goes.
1. Land the Video Coordinator job with the Liberty Men's Basketball Team or a Director of Basketball Operations position with another Men's Basketball Program.
2. Take another weekend trip with Jen to somewhere fun
3. Buy a newer car
4. Move into a nicer, bigger place, maybe a townhome
5. Watch Jennifer start graduate school
6. Read the 9 books that I have gotten as Christmas and Birthday presents that I still need to read
7. Graduate in May 2008 and finish my 3 remaining summer school classes
8. Go to Creation East 08 with Jen and friends
9. See Duke again in Cameron Indoor Stadium
10. Come in 1st Place in the Business Simulation Group Contest in my Strategic Planning/Business Policy class
11. Watch my mom beat cancer
12. Go to Florida and do the following things: Hang out with Memere(it's been too long), swim with dolphins, go to Disney, Universal, Busch Gardens Tampa and stay in a nice Disney Resort Hotel
13. Get better at communicating with my wife
14. Get in shape after graduation(seriously)
15. Become a better spiritual leader for my family
16. Learn how to operate a Mac at a high level and also learn the ropes with the GameChanger program, which is a film editing program college basketball programs use
17. Move into a place that has a dishwasher
18. Learn how to decorate a real home
19. Spend more quality time with Jen and other friends
20. Grow closer to the Lord
21. See another Red Sox game in Fenway
22. Watch a New England Patriots game in Foxboro
23. Go on a cruise
24. Get better at the Sports games on the Nintendo Wii
25. Get a new laptop for Jen and I
26. Hang out with my good buddy Mike Corey
I think that's a solid list to start with, we'll see how it goes.
A Social Butterfly pushing some buttons........
About a month ago, Jen and i were at our church here in Lynchburg. For the past couple of months, Jen and I have started serving in one of the ministries here at Timberlake Baptist Church, the Welcoming Committee. Now I know what you're probably thinking here when I mention the words Welcoming Committee. You probably associate it with some old school Baptist Church in Podunk town that has a couple old ladies saying, hi, how you doing ?? I thought that was going to be the deal when we were offered the opportunity to serve in this ministry in our church, but little did I know that it would actually help grow our marriage in many different ways, which brings me to the title of this blog.
Ever since Jen and I got married over a year and a half ago, there have been, how do I say it........buttons that God has been pushing. For me, it has been God consistently pushing me through Jen to communicate my feelings and even more importantly, what my ideas and plans are for the week in a better manner. There are countless reasons why I think God has been doing this through Jen in my life, but I think the most important reason why is because I think my wife would go certifiably crazy on me if I wasn't communicating regularly with her about what my schedule is looking like for the week and where I see potential times where we can spend quality time together.
Now, on the other hand, with Jen, I'm firmly convinced that God is working through my love for being the social butterfly with other people in the life of my wife. She'll probably tell you how funny it is that I can talk with literally anybody about anything and have a good time doing it, as evidenced by alot of times when we are at church or hanging out with friends, she's constantly joking on me for striking up a conversation with somebody that I know about basketball or the Bible or even what kind of food that they like. It's our ritual when we are at church that I'll go and talk with one of the many friends that we have made there, which always follows with Jennifer saying something to the effect of, "How can you be so comfortable talking with so many different people from completely different walks of life ?"
As I thought more deeply this morning about why I think it's good that I'm a social butterfly in terms of Jen, I kept on hitting the words "Comfort Zone". Every one of us has them, whether they be nursing a warm cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in the morning, or watching Duke basketball whenever they are on, or even taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon like somebody is known to do(wink wink, I wonder who that is ?) For Jen, having been married for over a year and a half now to her, I've come to discover that one of Jen's comfort zones gets busted wide open when she's put in a position to meet new people and develop relationships with them. I am not saying that it's a bad thing, it's who she is, and as my wife has taught me it's possible to psycho-analyze pretty much ANYTHING, I think looking at how she spend practically her entire life in one city, going to the same schools, seeing her same friends, going to the same Tuesday Night Bible Study, and seeing the same family day after day, that helped develop in her a love or comfort zone in terms of developing her personality. With me on the other hand, being a military brat my entire life, we moved around alot, and on average, I was starting a new school on a 3 year basis. For matter of survival, i was forced to become the outgoing guy that I am, because otherwise I'd be the quiet dork off in the corner who never made any friends.
When Jen and I got married, those two personalities collided in a variety of ways. As most married couples go through this, there was definately some rough patches along the way as my natural personality of wanting to develop new friendships with people we met up here in Lynchburg started coming out, while Jennifer's preference to SLOWLY ease her way into the scene up here were oftentimes pitted against each other. Now, a year and a half later, it's interesting to me to see how God can take two strong willed people and help them grow in areas that they needed to. If you ask me today, is my wife a social butterfly, I would say probably not, but last night Jen did something that showed me how God can take a person completely out of their comfort zone and after awhile, they can actually start to like it.
What I'm talking about is Jennifer took off last night to go to church for the Tuesday Night Ladies Small Group Bible Study. She's been going for a few months now with a friend of ours, and trust me when i say this, that Bible Study is not your typical Tuesday night bible study. It's filled with women of all age ranges, and it seems to have a level of organization that Jennifer is most clearly not used to. Last night when Jen got home, I was finishing watching a movie and I asked her how it went. She said something that I will never forget as long as I live. She said, "Well, we had a really good time. There's a couple ladies there I look forward to seeing every other week and they are taking more of an interest in me, which is kinda neat."
If you had told me a year and a half ago that Jennifer would be uttering those words to me about developing relationships with women who so clearly are different from her in a variety of ways, i would have been like, "You're CRAZY." However, thinking about it today, it's no different from the path that God takes us on in our walks with Him. Many of our lives have taken twists and turns, and oftentimes in the moment it seems like this is the craziest thing to do, but in the end, God always has good reasons for taking us through those different paths.
Ever since Jen and I got married over a year and a half ago, there have been, how do I say it........buttons that God has been pushing. For me, it has been God consistently pushing me through Jen to communicate my feelings and even more importantly, what my ideas and plans are for the week in a better manner. There are countless reasons why I think God has been doing this through Jen in my life, but I think the most important reason why is because I think my wife would go certifiably crazy on me if I wasn't communicating regularly with her about what my schedule is looking like for the week and where I see potential times where we can spend quality time together.
Now, on the other hand, with Jen, I'm firmly convinced that God is working through my love for being the social butterfly with other people in the life of my wife. She'll probably tell you how funny it is that I can talk with literally anybody about anything and have a good time doing it, as evidenced by alot of times when we are at church or hanging out with friends, she's constantly joking on me for striking up a conversation with somebody that I know about basketball or the Bible or even what kind of food that they like. It's our ritual when we are at church that I'll go and talk with one of the many friends that we have made there, which always follows with Jennifer saying something to the effect of, "How can you be so comfortable talking with so many different people from completely different walks of life ?"
As I thought more deeply this morning about why I think it's good that I'm a social butterfly in terms of Jen, I kept on hitting the words "Comfort Zone". Every one of us has them, whether they be nursing a warm cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in the morning, or watching Duke basketball whenever they are on, or even taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon like somebody is known to do(wink wink, I wonder who that is ?) For Jen, having been married for over a year and a half now to her, I've come to discover that one of Jen's comfort zones gets busted wide open when she's put in a position to meet new people and develop relationships with them. I am not saying that it's a bad thing, it's who she is, and as my wife has taught me it's possible to psycho-analyze pretty much ANYTHING, I think looking at how she spend practically her entire life in one city, going to the same schools, seeing her same friends, going to the same Tuesday Night Bible Study, and seeing the same family day after day, that helped develop in her a love or comfort zone in terms of developing her personality. With me on the other hand, being a military brat my entire life, we moved around alot, and on average, I was starting a new school on a 3 year basis. For matter of survival, i was forced to become the outgoing guy that I am, because otherwise I'd be the quiet dork off in the corner who never made any friends.
When Jen and I got married, those two personalities collided in a variety of ways. As most married couples go through this, there was definately some rough patches along the way as my natural personality of wanting to develop new friendships with people we met up here in Lynchburg started coming out, while Jennifer's preference to SLOWLY ease her way into the scene up here were oftentimes pitted against each other. Now, a year and a half later, it's interesting to me to see how God can take two strong willed people and help them grow in areas that they needed to. If you ask me today, is my wife a social butterfly, I would say probably not, but last night Jen did something that showed me how God can take a person completely out of their comfort zone and after awhile, they can actually start to like it.
What I'm talking about is Jennifer took off last night to go to church for the Tuesday Night Ladies Small Group Bible Study. She's been going for a few months now with a friend of ours, and trust me when i say this, that Bible Study is not your typical Tuesday night bible study. It's filled with women of all age ranges, and it seems to have a level of organization that Jennifer is most clearly not used to. Last night when Jen got home, I was finishing watching a movie and I asked her how it went. She said something that I will never forget as long as I live. She said, "Well, we had a really good time. There's a couple ladies there I look forward to seeing every other week and they are taking more of an interest in me, which is kinda neat."
If you had told me a year and a half ago that Jennifer would be uttering those words to me about developing relationships with women who so clearly are different from her in a variety of ways, i would have been like, "You're CRAZY." However, thinking about it today, it's no different from the path that God takes us on in our walks with Him. Many of our lives have taken twists and turns, and oftentimes in the moment it seems like this is the craziest thing to do, but in the end, God always has good reasons for taking us through those different paths.
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