Sunday, August 29, 2010

This is Home

Having headed home for the first time since arriving at college, I'm struck with a strange question: Where is home now? I was driving for 2 hours, listening to some great Christian music, just wondering where I was going and where I was leaving. Which one is home?
Is home where my dormroom and roommate and suitemates and new friends are? Or is home the town my mom, brother, and I moved to when my mom got married, and the house my mom and stepdad live in now? Or maybe home is the town where I lived for almost 10 years, where I learned how to drive and graduated high school. Or it could be the city I was born, or the state where I spent my childhood, or... Where is home? That's my question.

Switchfoot sings a beautiful song that they originally wrote for the soundtrack of the second "Chronicles of Narnia" movie. In the movie, the song refers to Edmund, Peter, Susan, and Lucy having arrived again in Narnia and feeling at home. But the song also relates to our lives today, experiencing the feeling of missing the place where we belong. And where do we belong? Heaven. In God's arms. We are but sojourners in this life. 1 Peter 2:11 says that we are foreigners and aliens in this world. We don't belong here.
One reason we don't feel like we fit in sometimes is because we don't. We are strangers here. We belong with God. And we are here for this time to accomplish a purpose for God's glory.

Let these lyrics resonate with you, especially if you feel lost or alone in this world.


I've got my memories
They're always inside of me
But I can't go back
Back to how it was

I believe you now
I've come too far
No, I can't go back
Back to how it was

Created for a place
I've never known


This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home
Yeah, this is home

Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back
Back to how it was

And I got my heart set on what happens next
I've got my eyes wide, it's not over yet
We are miracles
And we're not alone


Yeah, this is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home
Yeah, this is home

And now after all my searching
After all my questions
I'm gonna call it home

I got a brand new mindset
I can finally see the sunset
I'm gonna call it home

This is home
Now I'm finally where I belong, where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching for a place of my own
Now I've found it, maybe, this is home

This is home
This is home
Now I know
Yeah, this is home

I've come too far
And I won't go back
Yeah, this is home

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

How God Changed My Mind

Earlier today I had every intention of finding a moment where I could speak to God one on one and tell him everything that was going on and how I felt about it. I was going to tell him about the person who had hurt my feelings, the "intense" stress I was going through, the immaturity I had encountered at one point, as well as my personal triumphs and the reasons I was better than someone else. It was going to be my rave and rant session with God.
But God had different plans. Very slowly, as I was finishing up my evening, God spoke to me. Instead of my ostentatious spiel about me, God revealed my need for selflessness. Here I was, focusing on everything I desired, everything I deserved, everything I needed God to do for me, and God said "Love me with everything you are and everything you have and love your neighbor more than you love yourself".
I was shocked. One part of me wanted to ask God how he could just command that from me. And then I realized he was... well, God. God's got a purpose and a plan and my concern for only myself cannot be used by God to bring good in and through my life.
It took me visiting the prayer room in my dorm, opening up to God, and seeing the need there was for genuine love amongst siblings in Christ for me to realize that I wasn't loving the way I should. There are so many hurting, spiritually hungry, exhausted, afraid, empty, lonely, and disappointed people in this world, both Christians and non-Christians. I have to be loving them.

One last thing, we cannot truly love by ourselves. Do you know how hard it is to love someone unconditionally? But if we open our hearts to God, he will love the people around us and show us how to love them in return. Just be willing and open to love those God puts in your path.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Temple Tuesday

A few years ago, I started to read the book of Psalm, a chapter a day. I started with good intentions, but my plan fell through because I didn't feel like I could relate to the Psalms. David and the other authors of the Psalms wrote about lions, enemies on the hunt for them, wars, political strife, personal crises, and more. Personally, I wasn't being pursued by vicious enemies who wanted to torture and kill me.
Towards the end of this summer, however, I started reading Psalm again. And this time there was a huge difference. As I entered college, I began to identify these enemies David struggled with in my own life. Things like stress, worry, fear, and the feeling that surviving my challenges are impossible... Those are my "enemies". Those are the "people" who I feel are chasing me, hunting me, enveloping me.
For example, on my first day of classes, I was overwhelmed, God gave me the sixteenth chapter of Psalm. It was next in my regular reading schedule, but it really, really spoke to me. I was worried, and I was afraid, and David wrote the words I needed to make it through the day. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak these words to your heart.

Keep me safe, O God,
for I have come to you for refuge.
I said to the Lord, “You are my Master!
Every good thing I have comes from you.”
The godly people in the land
are my true heroes!
I take pleasure in them!
Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.
I will not take part in their sacrifices of blood
or even speak the names of their gods.

Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.
You guard all that is mine.
The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
What a wonderful inheritance!
I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
My body rests in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Psalm 16:1-11

Sunday, August 22, 2010

College [Dis]orientation

Going to college is a challenge, if you didn't already know that. It is a huge change and a great challenge to adapt to college life and to adapt to being away from home. In fact, this morning at the campus church, the pastor asked us if we were disoriented or if Orientation had actually worked. :)

Do you remember Joshua from the Bible? After Moses died, God called Joshua to lead the Israelites. Imagine Joshua, a young adult, being given a task to lead his people. This was a big challenge! God led Joshua to conquer new territory, to tackle new challenges, to fight new battles, and to advance His purpose even further. See, God didn't change and God's purposes didn't change. But changes happened in Joshua's life to challenge him and Israel and further accomplish God's plan.
While at college, remember that this is a change! You are going to feel disoriented. It's going to be hard. Like Joshua, we need to have the right attitude (be strong and courageous) and follow the right path (Study this Book of Instruction [Bible] continually). But fight those battles, cross that threshold, and follow God, because he is always with us.

[Thanks to Pastor Dave at the Campus church for a message on Joshua. This post is based on his message on Joshua 1:1-9.]

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Temple Tuesday... Wednesday

I'm sorry about the late Temple Tuesday, but I moved into college yesterday and did not get a free moment at all!
Thinking about college recently has left me thinking about who I am, which has led me to question the things I do and the way I interact with people. I need quiet time, so sometimes I feel like I am rude to say no to activities or not hang out with other people 24/7. It's just that I have to have time to regroup. And, especially at orientation week at college, I feel like I'm supposed to always be doing something with someone, and that it would be selfish to ask for some time alone.
I also feel like I should be more friendly, more outgoing, more talkative, and more sociable. Which is not to say that I haven't been meeting lots of new people, just that I'm not a naturally extroverted person.

And in the midst of this, I can hear God. Through a song. See, we are not called to be the life of the party or a wall flower. We are not called to be the star on the sports team or in the band or at the school. Just in general, we are called to love God. To know him and love him.
Now, God might call you to play soccer or baseball or guitar or piano or act in the play or join this random club... But our goal in life, our purpose, is to know God and love God. That comes first.

Sidewalk Prophets asks, "When did love become unmoving? When did love become unconsuming? Forgetting what the world has told me, Father of love, you can have me. You can have me!" Think about that for a minute. The world has told us love is a fleeting emotion, but God says otherwise. Love is actually a choice, a decision, to care for the other person, to give them the best, to make them better than yourself. So, despite everything that's going on, know God and love God.
When you feel like you need to fix or change something about yourself to be better, remember: your goal and purpose is not to please everyone else, it's not to become a better person, even. Your goal is to know God and love God. And love, by the way, is consuming and moving. Know God and love God and he will direct you. Trust in him and he will make your paths straight.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Passion and Thoughts

Do you have a passion? Maybe you have a passion for art, drama, a particular sport or sports team, an activity or person. You might even feel somewhat apathetic.
It's true that no matter what we're passionate about, we will spend a lot of time thinking about it. How many times have you stayed up really late to watch your favorite team play? How many hours did you spend making that piece of artwork or that short story or that skateboard trick or that song on your guitar just perfect?
But listen to this: John Piper writes: "Nobody had a more single-minded vision for his life than Paul did.... One thing matters [to Paul]: Know Christ, and gain Christ. Everything is rubbish in comparison to this." (pg. 48, Don't Waste Your Life). The Apostle Paul's passion in life was knowing God. Piper urges his readers to adopt this same, single, life-changing passion, to make it the forefront of our lives.
Elsewhere, John Piper writes that with the single passion and goal of knowing Christ, resisting temptation becomes easier. There is less time to think about the lusts of the flesh if one's mind is filled with thoughts of God, knowing him, and rejoicing in his work. That is why Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about the admirable, excellent, praiseworthy things in life - because they come from God. See, sin starts in the thought life. If we don't stop the immoral thoughts when they first enter our mind, if we dwell on them, they becomes sin. Don't let that happen! Keep your mind on God and his majesty!

The point I'm making is that having pure thoughts and living a God-centered, God-passionate life does not begin with me saying "Okay, this is what I need to do to please God. This is my battleplan, this is my to-do list." It begins with having a passion and living passionately for God - something I cannot do in my own power. I just can't. That's why the possessed boy's father exclaimed, "Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). He couldn't believe fully because he was human - and neither can we. We have doubt. But give it to God!
It's funny to me that the life of a believer is asking God for help to praise God. But this shows that we need God - that we desperately need him and desire to passionately fall in love with him.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

I hate change.

I hate change. There, I said it. If you want to know what I hate: I hate change. Hate it with a passion. After celebrating (and dealing with) graduation, mom's remarriage, moving, and adapting to a stepdad and stepfamily, I thought, with some humor, Oh, God's trying to teach me about change. This is cool. I can adapt to change. Everything is going fine.
But I guess I spoke too soon. God isn't about coasting through life or simply taking what you're given and merging into your present life. God is about change.
See, if I became a Christian and then spoke the same way, watched the same movies, listened to the same music, befriended the same people, and thought about life the same way as I did before Christ (or as non-Christians do), then has Christ made a difference in my life? Or am I simply the same as I was before I met Christ?

As Christians, we've got to be different. We must be different, so we reflect Christ instead of this world. We do this through our choices in media as well as our actions, words, and thoughts. And while we are choosing cleaner, Godlier choices in media and words, God is in the process of refining our thoughts and viewpoints and feelings. This whole, entire movement or shift in our lives is a big change! It's a change towards Godliness, an adjustment in the direction of Christ along the straight and narrow path. In theology, we call it Sanctification.
Isaiah 48:10 explains this by saying: "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." Whatever survives the 'furnace' is good and Godly, but it's a life-long process.

Okay, so back to the change in my life. I hate it. But God has a purpose for it. God's plan is that through the things I hate (like change), I will be refined. I will become more like Christ, and my life will conform to God instead of to this world.
Josh Wilson writes and sings about those uncomfortable, even painful moments in life that have a purpose like this:
Do you wonder why you have to
feel the things that hurt you,
if there's a God who loves you,
where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can't see
and all those things are happening
to bring a better ending
some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see

Chorus
Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
'cause the pain you've been feeling,
can't compare to the joy that's coming

So hold on, you got to wait for the light
press on, just fight the good fight
because the pain you've been feeling,
it's just the dark before the morning

My friend, you know how this all ends
and you know where you're going,
you just don't know how you get there
so just say a prayer.
And hold on, cause there's good for those who love God,
life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time,
but you'll see the bigger picture

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Temple Tuesday

Ever met someone who just brightens your day, who makes you feel good, who asks you about yourself and what matters to you, who reminds you of God's presence and encourages you? Not in that cheesy hypocritical way, but someone who reminds you of sunshine - who you just can't get enough of.
Why are they like that? What (or who) gives them the power to just keep going even when life gets them down?
Well, I think I'm answering my own question.

Last week I talked about enjoying God as a way to rejoice in him. But I also mentioned displaying God and his glory. Displaying God is best seen when we imitate Christ. The goal through displaying God is that others will see that something is up with us - we're just different. It will get people talking. A great way to do this is found in Philippians chapter 2.


Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:4-11)

In the end, this all goes back to the same thing: losing ourselves for God. Becoming less so he becomes more in my life through my actions, words, and everyday choices.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Growth

Imagine, just four years ago. Where were you? What were you doing? What mattered most to you? What filled your free time? What made you busy? Who occupied your thoughts?

As I leave high school and step into college, I am amazed at the growth and change in my life. The realization, discovery, and acknowledgement of me. Alex. Who I am and what I am and my personality, my needs and wants, my strengths and weaknesses, my similarities and differences with those around me, how I feel and what I feel and what it is that exists outside of my feelings and space and time. Well, who, that is. It's God.

And, believe it or not: God never changes. It's so beautiful that God is the same. He's always there. He is trustworthy and dependable and consistent, because he never changes. The lovely thing, the almost romantic thing, is that when we grow, we change. Our perceptions and illusions and beliefs and claims and feelings and desires change. And through these changes, we begin to see different sides of God. God hasn't changed, but now we see a deeper picture of God.

I once read a story about marriage. The author wrote about how men enjoy something new and adventurous. That's why when you're dating, young women are cautioned to be mysterious - to let guys enjoy the chase. Then the author posed a question like this: In marriage, though, one man is "stuck" with one woman for his lifetime. How can men enjoy that? And the author answered: In marriage, instead of going surface deep with several women, the husband goes deeper into his wife, learns more about her, and gets to know what makes her tick.
Such is the same with God. We can grow deeper into God if we allow changes within our own lives - if we don't fight change from God, but welcome it as a chance to grow.

So... four years ago! Think about God, too. Where were you with God four years ago? Where are you now? And where do you want to be with God in four years?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Temple Tuesday

Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice!" What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord?
John Piper tells us in his book, Don't Waste Your Life, that God created us for his glory. God created us to enjoy and to display him and his glory.
Enjoy, you ask? Yep, to enjoy him. I think, especially with regard to rejoicing in the Lord, that we forget the actual part about enjoying. Look, God made the world, God made the beautiful landscapes, the lovely things in life, the sun and moon and stars, the giggles of little children, the love between a husband and wife. Go see and feel something greater than you, something beautiful - and enjoy God. Rejoice in him, thank him, and praise him. Christianity is not about being sad and boring. Go rejoice!