TomorrowLand

I am sitting on the edge of my summer, simply waiting to dive into the ocean of craziness they call summer camp. Amidst keeping my training up, pouring into my kampers, and growing closer to Jesus, it is easy to loose perspective in times like these. If you are around any college kid long enough, a subject that will almost always come up in conversation is summer plans. "What are you doing this summer?" "Gosh, I can't wait foir summer!" "Summer is coming soon." All are comments heard on college campuses everywhere. This is just one example of a people that look forward to something. We all partake in this, whether we look forward to marriage, college, summer, or a football game. We attempt to make these future plans we have a sort of pinnacle to acheive. As if once we reach this certain place, then life will be all it is supposed to be. We all have something we just can't wait to take part in. In some capacity, we all buy into the lie that once we reach, conquer, overcome, or accomplish a certain thing(s), then we will be complete. I fall into this same trap, and it is just that, a trap. The moment we begin looking to the future, wishing we were in some other season of life, is the very moment we lose the opportunity to lay hold of what we have in the present. We look to the future, and the present loses its signifcant. Thus, we make our way through life looking down the road, and we fail to take in the breath-taking and beautiful wonder that surrounds us in whatever season of life we may find ourselves in.

My favorite movies are Lord of the Rings, and I have a friend who has only seen the third one. So he cannot understand nor can he fully appreciate the significance of the only movie he has seen because he has no background of the story. So it is with us when we are so quick to move forward and ignore the greatness of what the Lord is unfolding before our very eyes.

I look to summer, and the motivation to work in school fades. I wish I was married, and I can't appreciate the brotherhood I have been blessed with. How arrogant? With our anxiety we spit in the face of our Creator telling him that the road he has us on is not good enough to satisfy our hearts. We tell him we need something more, yet I question if I would have this attitude if I truly sought the Lord in the present instead of looking for what He has in store for me. We are so easily consumed by lovers less wild, and the most fierce of all loves in found right where we stand, it is not at the end of a yellow brick road, or a long journey. But grace emerses us if we simply allow ourselves to stand in the present. If we truly believed that God has plans to prosper us and give us hope and a future, not to harm us, then we can take a deep breath and begin to simply live. I complicate things by planning, and if I simply allowed my God to lead me, then I would truly be satifsied. Fulfilling His perfect will for me by bringing glory to Him in all that we do... right now. My prayer is that we would simply allow the pages of life to be turned by the one and only Author, and we would stop attempting to skip ahead on this incredible adventure that the Lord promises us. May we begin to be captivated by the present, and by our faithfulness to the here and now, cultivate a sweeter, more glorifying and satisfying future. Live today as if it was truly enough to fill your soul.

Omg.. Did you hear that...

As this year of college is coming to a close, there is something that I have witnessed in my life, and I would assume that is a common denominator among many of my Christian brothers and sisters. This has been ruined my perception of so many, and has become extremely offensive to my God in heaven. Selfish Arrogance. I'm not simply speaking of wanting your way when we dont get it, or thinking we would do better at this position than so and so, or even being frustrated at our circumstances because we can't see the good in them, and we think we know best. No, what I speak of, I believe, hits much closer to home for any person in the faith, and for that matter, on the outside as well. We are selfish in a way that reveals the deepest depravity of our hearts. We believe that we have the right to hold our fellow Chrisitians to a standard that Christ isnt even holding us to. How on earth do we think we have the right to pass judgement and pass it off as juicy gossip concering those around us? I have heard and done some form of this interaction so many times that I am often blinded to the weightiness of what's going on.

It goes something like this:

Person 1: Hey, do you know so and so?

Person 2: Ooh, uum, yeah I do, she's a great person, its just...

Person 1: Wait, just what?

Person 2: Ooh no, like I said, shes a great girl, I just have a bad taste in my mouth because (Insert juicy piece of gossip that skewed this person's vision of the other here)

Person 1: Ooh man, I didn't know that about her, but I can kinda see that about.

Person 2: But dude, like I said, she is an awesome girl, she's just got some sin/growing that she needs to deal with.

It is so suttle that we either let it slide, or don't even notice it. But it leaves person 2 feeling good because they pointed out a flaw in someone else which makes them feel much more secure with their shortcomings. We all deal with our depravity in this way, because we all know the truth about ourselves. We are wrecthed. Comparison is the idol of choice for person 2. And then person 1 invariably has a skewed vision of the person of conversation, and the next time they interact with that person, their own impression is all but lost, and the only thing that is left is the gossip extended his way. So next time he hears that person pray, speak of the Lord, be kind to someone else, we question their intentions because we know some dirt. This then becomes a matter of the heart, always assuming that person's intentions are off-base when they do something we disagree with, or don't know the full story of. Then we tell our friends about what this person did and what you heard, which skews their vision of that person. It's cancerous. And the body of Christ is devoured from the inside. "I would never do that, I just cant believe so and so did." It makes us feel good. We hold a sick sinner up to our standards and watch them fall short. What arrogance? Now matter if you are person 1 or 2 (trust me I've been both plenty of times), we rub dirt in Christ's side everytime we pull out our measuring sticks and size up a fellow believer. As Paul says, "Are you so foolish? Having started with grace, are you now ending with works?" Grace is the victim here. We mock God's very sacrifice we when do not allow our eyes to see only the blood of Christ that covers a person's life. Christ calls me holy, blameless, and beloved, why is it so difficult for us to do the same? My prayer is that gossip would be crushed, and selfish arrogance woud have no place in our hearts.