It's been about an hour since I've gotten my mac back from the Genius bar at the Apple Store. As I was working on photoshop two days ago, the little "rainbow wheel of death" mouse icon came up. And then a clicking noise follwed... not a good sound to hear. So I took it to the Genius bar at the Apple store and they said what I had feared the most... hard drive is fried, gonzo, toast. "So now what?" I asked. "Well it will be about $215 for the hard drive, and about $85 for installation." Not what I wanted to here. But he wasn't finished talking. "...but you don't have to pay anything. It's all free." I don't know how, I don't know why, but obviously I'll take it! Where do I sign?!
And as I was sitting here rebooting all my applications, I realized how it relates to my faith.
To be honest, I have not been the man has called me to be lately. I'm struggling to find the desire to read his Word or to spend time with the Lord. I seem to hit this slump when I come home because i don't have a set schedule to my day. My job hasn't started and my class is at night, so I have all day to do whatever I want. I need structure. You would think with so much time I should be soaking up all the time I can. Well I'm not. And I know I should.
So today is a day of rebooting for both myself and my computer. I'm starting clean. I've been taking to the "genius bar", fixed and made clean, and I'm ready to start all over again. I know it's pretty corny and maybe far-fetched, but it's how my mind works. I know i'm not the smartest, or very normal at times, but it's how I was wired. And the coolest part is that we're all made new, cleansed, wiped clean, at NO COST to us. All of the cost was paid on the cross over 2000 years ago. Praise the Lord for his unending grace and mercy.
I wish I could say that I've always been strong and had a faith that is unwavering, but it would be a lie.
Here's to God's grace, love, and mercy. I get another chance. And so do you. Praise the Lord.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Friday, May 28, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Season In Review
Today, my 2010 track season came to a close. This isn’t one of my favorite feelings, but it’s an encouraging thought. Summer is here, which means summer classes, summer jobs, and summer fun. The latter is the one I’m looking forward to the most, but the first ones are of higher priority.
With the track season ending and summer freedom being 4 days away, I am looking forward to a challenging couple of months. While it is easy to be encouraged and growing in an atmosphere like Liberty, it is time for my faith to be put to the test. Without my close friends here to challenge me daily, how will I react on my own? Not that I don’t have great friends at home, because I do, but it’s different when you live with them and they are there constantly keeping you accountable. And it’s not just my friends who challenge me. My coaches are very helpful in my walk because I see them everyday too. I wish I could explain or that you could experience what I experience in my daily life with my coaches. They are so focused on God, that most of the time we’re talking about spiritual-related things rather than track. I love it. It is so encouraging to my faith to know that my coaches care about how I am doing spiritually, not just track-wise. How many teams in the country got together last night to do a church service since we were going to miss church this morning because of the track meet? I don’t know of many that would do that. I hope there are more, but I’m not aware of any.
This year was a big year for me - not necessarily track oriented either. Yes I did have some big improvements, but I had some major eye-opening experiences over the past 8 months. In our Tuesday night group we talked about what were learned this entire year and it was awesome to hear some of the things people were saying. For me it was a couple of things. I learned a lot more about love and I learned that God doesn’t have to “bless you” in a positive way in order for you to be used.
I think there are a lot of people who have that one person in your life that… tests your patience and anger. I’m sure you probably have someone in mind or had someone like that that you know. Well for me there was this one guy, let’s call him Joe. Joe was not around often, but when he was around, my attitude immediately changed sharply. I was very negative and had hatred towards him. Joe was an interesting fellow, and not to go into many details, but he seemed like he wasn’t always there. Sometimes he seemed mentally stable, other days you questioned his sanity. Either way, he seemed really sketchy to me and I had a negative attitude towards him. Had I ever let him have a chance to prove my impressions wrong? No. It was all in a matter of 5 minutes that my attitude completely changed for the better. All of the sudden, Joe asked to stay at the house that I live in with 5 other guys because he needed a place to stay. My immediate response: NO WAY!!! But my roommates were quick to call me out on it. As I stood there in disbelief of my actions and thoughts, I thought about the wristband WWJD. I remembered the story about the Good Samaritan. I thought about how I would help almost anyone; go above and beyond to help anyone that needed it…except for Joe. God had broken me down. He was calling me out on my attitude and my heart. And then a couple weeks ago during Tuesday night, someone pointed out the verse that talked about how it is easy to love someone who loves us back, but that isn’t true love. True love is to love everyone just like Jesus did. When the crowd was cursing Jesus’ name while he was on the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It was then that God made me realize that I need to love the people who hate me. It’s what God would do. Guess what happened? When we stayed over, I sat with him, ate with him, and chatted with him; and I loved every second of it. I knew that God would be doing the same thing. He would be sharing God’s love and truth with him. We had a worships night with bonfire at our house the first night he was there and it was unbelievable to hear afterwards what he was thinking. He was shocked because he didn’t know we were like this. All he wanted was friends. All he wanted was people to love him. All he wanted was someone to listen. He wanted to be wanted. And it really broke my heart that he just wanted friends. While I have a group of 30+ friends, he is alone when he is home. While I take my friends for granted, he is cherishing every moment he has with us down here in Lynchburg. It rocked my faith. It challenged my real sharing and showing of love. I wasn’t truly showing God’s love. I was doing what any other person was doing – loving those who love me back. How easy is that? Sometimes I have probably done it by accident. That’s not true love. It was a very humbling and heart-examining experience.
Now it’s the Big South Conference Championship. I ‘m in the lead by a bunch of points, and should easily win the decathlon by 600 points. I get to my favorite event, the pole vault. I don’t do anything stupid or uncharacteristic of my usual pole-vaulting scheme; just a normal or possibly a more conservative approach than normal. I end up no-heighting. I get 0 points in my favorite and best event in the decathlon. As I see the bar closely following me as I descend to the mats, I feel under control. I feel stable. I’m not super angry, I’m not reacting negatively or freaking out. I have this peace about what just happened. “There’s nothing else I can do. Let’s move on to the next event Geren” I thought to myself. I immediately began to ask God to comfort me. I don’t know why God let this happen, or what God was going to do through this, but I gave it God. It wasn’t the fact that God would use this energy to fuel me to beast a javelin throw out to 187 feet, a 10 foot improvement, as a blessing. It was after the decathlon had finished that I realized how God had used me. When the coach from another team came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on handling my attitude and controlling my behavior after no-heighting, I realized how God had used me. God used me to bless him by no-heighting. Right then I had another humbling experience. I felt terrible to think that God would only bless me in a positive way. Who am I to think that God would only let me do well in order to bless Him? I think if Job was alive today he would correct me. He had everything taken away from him and he did not sin against God for one moment. He trusted God completely. I hope that I can be that strong some day.
You don’t know how God is going to use you, so don’t limit yourself. Don’t think, “Oh God can’t use me today. I’m not feeling well. I’m not healthy. I’m not ready to perform.” It’s in moments like those that you are asking God to rock your world. Don’t put limits on God. You also don’t know how God is going to speak to you until you are listening. We spend a lot of time talking to God, but how often to we spend time just to listen to him? “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Sometimes we need to shut our mouths and listen to God’s still voice. So SHHHHH!!!! Listen. He’s talking to you.
With the track season ending and summer freedom being 4 days away, I am looking forward to a challenging couple of months. While it is easy to be encouraged and growing in an atmosphere like Liberty, it is time for my faith to be put to the test. Without my close friends here to challenge me daily, how will I react on my own? Not that I don’t have great friends at home, because I do, but it’s different when you live with them and they are there constantly keeping you accountable. And it’s not just my friends who challenge me. My coaches are very helpful in my walk because I see them everyday too. I wish I could explain or that you could experience what I experience in my daily life with my coaches. They are so focused on God, that most of the time we’re talking about spiritual-related things rather than track. I love it. It is so encouraging to my faith to know that my coaches care about how I am doing spiritually, not just track-wise. How many teams in the country got together last night to do a church service since we were going to miss church this morning because of the track meet? I don’t know of many that would do that. I hope there are more, but I’m not aware of any.
This year was a big year for me - not necessarily track oriented either. Yes I did have some big improvements, but I had some major eye-opening experiences over the past 8 months. In our Tuesday night group we talked about what were learned this entire year and it was awesome to hear some of the things people were saying. For me it was a couple of things. I learned a lot more about love and I learned that God doesn’t have to “bless you” in a positive way in order for you to be used.
I think there are a lot of people who have that one person in your life that… tests your patience and anger. I’m sure you probably have someone in mind or had someone like that that you know. Well for me there was this one guy, let’s call him Joe. Joe was not around often, but when he was around, my attitude immediately changed sharply. I was very negative and had hatred towards him. Joe was an interesting fellow, and not to go into many details, but he seemed like he wasn’t always there. Sometimes he seemed mentally stable, other days you questioned his sanity. Either way, he seemed really sketchy to me and I had a negative attitude towards him. Had I ever let him have a chance to prove my impressions wrong? No. It was all in a matter of 5 minutes that my attitude completely changed for the better. All of the sudden, Joe asked to stay at the house that I live in with 5 other guys because he needed a place to stay. My immediate response: NO WAY!!! But my roommates were quick to call me out on it. As I stood there in disbelief of my actions and thoughts, I thought about the wristband WWJD. I remembered the story about the Good Samaritan. I thought about how I would help almost anyone; go above and beyond to help anyone that needed it…except for Joe. God had broken me down. He was calling me out on my attitude and my heart. And then a couple weeks ago during Tuesday night, someone pointed out the verse that talked about how it is easy to love someone who loves us back, but that isn’t true love. True love is to love everyone just like Jesus did. When the crowd was cursing Jesus’ name while he was on the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It was then that God made me realize that I need to love the people who hate me. It’s what God would do. Guess what happened? When we stayed over, I sat with him, ate with him, and chatted with him; and I loved every second of it. I knew that God would be doing the same thing. He would be sharing God’s love and truth with him. We had a worships night with bonfire at our house the first night he was there and it was unbelievable to hear afterwards what he was thinking. He was shocked because he didn’t know we were like this. All he wanted was friends. All he wanted was people to love him. All he wanted was someone to listen. He wanted to be wanted. And it really broke my heart that he just wanted friends. While I have a group of 30+ friends, he is alone when he is home. While I take my friends for granted, he is cherishing every moment he has with us down here in Lynchburg. It rocked my faith. It challenged my real sharing and showing of love. I wasn’t truly showing God’s love. I was doing what any other person was doing – loving those who love me back. How easy is that? Sometimes I have probably done it by accident. That’s not true love. It was a very humbling and heart-examining experience.
Now it’s the Big South Conference Championship. I ‘m in the lead by a bunch of points, and should easily win the decathlon by 600 points. I get to my favorite event, the pole vault. I don’t do anything stupid or uncharacteristic of my usual pole-vaulting scheme; just a normal or possibly a more conservative approach than normal. I end up no-heighting. I get 0 points in my favorite and best event in the decathlon. As I see the bar closely following me as I descend to the mats, I feel under control. I feel stable. I’m not super angry, I’m not reacting negatively or freaking out. I have this peace about what just happened. “There’s nothing else I can do. Let’s move on to the next event Geren” I thought to myself. I immediately began to ask God to comfort me. I don’t know why God let this happen, or what God was going to do through this, but I gave it God. It wasn’t the fact that God would use this energy to fuel me to beast a javelin throw out to 187 feet, a 10 foot improvement, as a blessing. It was after the decathlon had finished that I realized how God had used me. When the coach from another team came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on handling my attitude and controlling my behavior after no-heighting, I realized how God had used me. God used me to bless him by no-heighting. Right then I had another humbling experience. I felt terrible to think that God would only bless me in a positive way. Who am I to think that God would only let me do well in order to bless Him? I think if Job was alive today he would correct me. He had everything taken away from him and he did not sin against God for one moment. He trusted God completely. I hope that I can be that strong some day.
You don’t know how God is going to use you, so don’t limit yourself. Don’t think, “Oh God can’t use me today. I’m not feeling well. I’m not healthy. I’m not ready to perform.” It’s in moments like those that you are asking God to rock your world. Don’t put limits on God. You also don’t know how God is going to speak to you until you are listening. We spend a lot of time talking to God, but how often to we spend time just to listen to him? “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Sometimes we need to shut our mouths and listen to God’s still voice. So SHHHHH!!!! Listen. He’s talking to you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
