DISTURB ME

"Disturb me, when the things I've gained cause me to lose my thirst for more of You.  Disturb me, when I've acquired success only to lose my desire for excellence.  Disturb me, when I give up too soon and settle too far short of the goals You have set for my life."

This was a quote from a devotional i have e-mailed to me every day, and it really resonated in my spirit.  The truth is, I don't want to be "disturbed".  I want easy, comfortable, calculated, safe, peaceful, lazy, as little effort as possible, free rides, a pampered life.  It is often a fight for me to complete the most simple of tasks and disciplines.  So, I guess what I'm talking about is self discipline or self sacrifice.  Kind of what Paul was talking about when he talked about making our bodies our slaves, to be a "living sacrifice".  Doing what you don't want to do for the cause of christ, as if you were working for him.  Such an easy catch phrase "Work as if you were working for the Lord".  I've heard it a thousand times, but have never really felt like it truly registered in my brain.  I long for that motivation to kick in sometimes.  That i would be driven to serve and impress my heavenly father in whatever way possible.  I suppose it all comes down to reverent, God-fearing, ambition, that drives me to excellence.

So, the prayer I prayed today was simple.  "Help me."  Teach me how to surrender my will to yours, and teach me how to be empowered, and emboldened by your spirit.  Give me passion, and ambition to live life for You.  For it is because of You that I live at all.  Disturb me."  - Jon.

127 Hours - The Overcomer

So i finally just watched the movie 127 hours.  For those unfamiliar, it's a true story about a dude (played by James Franco) who falls into a ravine, gets stuck under a boulder, and (spoiler alert) needs to cut off his arm in order to escape...  it made me pretty emotional so i wanted to make a few comments on it... deconstruct it a little... people love an overcomer.  We love to see people beat the odds, beat circumstance, bluff their way through a bad hand dealt... that's why the world still has at the very least an 'appreciation' for characters like Jesus, or Ghandi, or Martin Luther King... overcoming is the stuff of happiness, engrained in us all... what is hope if it's not the hope to overcome something.... poverty, disease, pain, life itself... we want, need, live to overcome.  That's why we get emotional i guess... it's the inspiration to go on, and not just to go on but to try harder, to press ahead, to persevere.  Makes me think about my weekly battle to do something as simple as hitting the gym... how small the trial of pushing myself to 20 minutes on the treadmill is compared to what james franco's character was going through... life is all about the desire (or lack thereof) to live it... the problem is, we often don't have the motivation to move until it's too late... retroactive motivation never works... deathbed regret is probably the saddest thing we as humanity know.

I guess the application here is pretty simple. don't live numb to the life that surrounds you. enjoy it. laugh through it. overcome.  - Tim.

Acceptance

I read the story of Zaccheus a few days ago in Luke, and It hit me in a way it hadn't before.  I felt convicted.  It wasn't that he was a "wee little man", or that he climbed up into a tree, and was persistent in his quest to see and hear Jesus.  It was the way Jesus responded to him.  With warmth and acceptance.  Now, sure, I'm not gonna invite myself over to stranger's houses whenever I feel like it, like Jesus did, but I want to reach out the way he did.  There was no pretense, or judgement on the part of Jesus.  He saw a man that wanted to be good again, despite the wrong he had done, and Jesus responded with compassion.  Jesus was attracted to honesty & humility, to people that had a blind hope that maybe, just maybe, Jesus would help them.  

I guess what I'm getting at, is that the example of Jesus in this situation is not to simply ignore and shun Zaccheus for who he was or the shady reputation he held, but rather to reach out to him with openness and warmth.  I want to be more like Jesus.  I want to recognize hopefulness in a person that feels hopeless.  The example of Jesus is that we should ignore societal barriers, and class, and reach out to others.  This might mean going against what's comfortable.  For Jesus this meant entering Zaccheus' home, eating with him, and experiencing community with him.  Jesus never condoned sin, but he loved others deeply.  That was more important to him than whether or not the company he kept seemed appropriate or acceptable to others.  

I've grown up believing that it is okay to avoid people who aren't like me, or don't have the appearance of being put together.  The older I get, the more this paradigm is crumbling.  I guess I'm learning and realizing that we are all the same.  We all want truth, acceptance, and love, and something to hope for.  My prayer is that I will see others as my brothers and sisters first, and not as outsiders.  I believe that this is how Jesus saw others.  He was drawn in by the humility and brokenness of others,  no matter who they were.   - Jon.

Led by the Spirit.

"But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard." - Oswald Chambers

I find myself living this way all the time.  Claiming I can't make a decision, move forward, create anything, or do anything, until I hear from God.  This is a cop-out.  God commands us, and expects us as children of God, to have faith, confidence, and persistence.  We are to walk in step with the spirit, and trust that he is guiding our decisions.  I find myself wanting God to make hard decisions for me, instead of allowing him to use a situation where I have to make a hard decision to teach me something new, or stretch me in a new way.  The most, productive, free, and respectable people I know seem to have one thing in common, they don't obsess over the will of God in their lives.  Instead, they live with confidence and freedom, trusting that God is leading them.  I think this is a life lesson that I'm yet to learn completely.  I think the key is to be in prayer and meditation every day.  Speaking and interacting with the holy spirit, and allowing myself to be transformed into a person that is full of the peace, and clarity that comes from communion with the living God.  My prayer today is that I would pray, listen, and be still more often, and that in turn my actions and decision would reflect the Holy Spirit living and breathing through me.  - Jon.