Living Hope

The sermon at church this Sunday was taken from 1 Peter 1.  It was such a good reminder to me and I thought I'd share a little of what hit me the most.  


1 Peter 1 :3-5
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

These verses are so amazing if you take the time to just think about them for a little while!  God in His great mercy sent His only Son to die so that we could live with Him in Heaven some day and experience the wonders of being in His presence continually.  Just the thought of being in Heaven with Christ  for all eternity is absolutely mind-blowing.  I somehow think that if I kept my mind more on the expectation of what is to come, this life wouldn't seem nearly so weighty at times.  

The preacher used the example of a person who has an extremely hard time with money, he lives paycheck to paycheck and sometimes don't even make it to the next paycheck.  Bills pile up and life seems quite bleak.  But let's just say this person knows that when his dear, rich, relation dies he's going to inherit 50 million dollars.  His present money troubles don't seem quite so bad.  He knows that things will get better eventually.  He won't always be in the straits that he is in now.  When he gets the 50 million dollars he won't even really remember the money troubles that he had.

In a way, that is a picture of Heaven, only Heaven will be 50 million times better than 50 million dollars.  It is so hard for our human minds to grasp the thought of something better than our best laid out, planned life.  We spend so many futile years planning what we think is the "perfect" life and just hope that our dreams will come true. Sometimes the dreams do all come true and we wonder why we still feel an emptiness. 

But, if we are believers we have the hope of Heaven that makes the emptiness so different. Which, to me, is why these verses make so much more sense.

1 Peter 1:6-9
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
" For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

The troubles of life seem so much clearer when you can look at them with this perspective.   If we can remember in the middle of our trials that they are "for a little while," that they are testing the "genuineness of our faith."  And if we can "rejoice with joy inexpressible," the end of our faith will be the final salvation of our souls!!  

That is so mind-blowing!  While it doesn't automatically fix every problem in the here and now, or answer every question I may have, it does give me the hope that Christ can give me "Strength for today" and that there is a "Bright hope for tomorrow"!!!

Camp Reflections

Over the last week I had the amazing privilege of being a counselor at Generation Joshua's iGovern East.  There aren't enough words to describe how amazing this week was.  One of the things I have always appreciated the most about Generation Joshua is the focus that is put on God.  Anyone can have a teen camp.  It takes an extra amount of God's grace to pull off a teen camp that teaches kids how they can be involved in government while still modelling to them the importance of staying focused on God.  Sometimes (most of the time) showing a group of homeschooled kids how to lay down their pride and how to excercise humility is an extremely hard task.  Having 140 different teenage personalities together in one camp is like......Well I can't even think of something that it is similar to.  Let's just say it is very interesting!!  One of my favorite things to see is the changes that take place in lives when you start showing these different personalities the biblical reason for not being prideful, showing humility, and most importantly modeling the love of Christ in a way that makes people wonder what you have and where they can get it.  In politics that is an extremely hard thing to do.  Honesty, integrity, and honor aren't looked upon in a favorable light many times.  Being set apart from the world for Christ's glory is misunderstood by many.  Teaching the kids how to be all of those things without being offensive is hard.  Most of the time you are operating on about 5 hours or less of sleep.  In order to teach the kids the things that I have mentioned, you must model each of those things.  Modeling Godly attitudes and behaviors on little sleep is a challenge.  The only way you are able to do it is with God's help. I pray that the experience these kids had and that with the lessons they learned they will be able " to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

I am going to switch gears from campers now to the staff that I was blessed to work with.  They were INCREDIBLE!!  It is amazing to me how you can pull 20 people together, many of whom don't know each other that well and walk away at the end of the week feeling like you lost your best friend.  It is a powerful testimony of what the power of the Gospel can do and how it can draw people together.  Each and every single one of the people I worked with this week impacted my life in some way or another.  I love the way that I am challenged to grow and think by these people.  If you are reading this post and you worked with me in the past week, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

A very NOT original post

Since it has been two months since I last posted I figured I really should let my followers know that I am still alive.  Then I  ran into a problem because I don't have any inspiration this week (not that I am ever loaded with it or anything.)  I was on the Internet looking for some quotes and ran across some amazing quotes by my favorite author, C.S. Lewis.  They really meant a lot to me today so I decided that I would share my faves on here!!  C.S. Lewis was such an amazing man.  Every time I read something that he wrote I am so struck by the amazing gift he had to express his thoughts into words and onto paper.  He blessed so many people with that gift!!

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” 


“We read to know that we are not alone.” 


“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” 


“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” 


“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” 


“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” 


“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” 


“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” 


“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” 


“I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.” 


(This next one is one of my ultimate faves :)
“A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” 


“God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.” 


“I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.” 


“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” 


“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” 


“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” 


“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 


“If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.” 


“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” 


“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ” 


“Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” 


“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?” 


And I'll end with this next quote.  There are so many good ones that I am going to have to have a part two I think!!  Please forgive my lack of originality.  


“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” 

Some of my thoughts on the election

 If you are like me the 2012 elections are on your mind.   A lot.  And if you are like me the possibilities scare you.  I don't just want to beat Barack Obama.  I want to see a change in our country.  Not just an economical change.  I want to see the person/people who we elect to national and local offices show that they have desire to  bring our country back to biblical principles.  Electing someone who says they can turn the economy is no good if they can't show that they value our most precious God-given resource-Life.  I know that we aren't voting in a preacher or the board member of a church but the person who we elect has to show that he values the principles which God lays out in His Word.  The biggest problem we are facing in America right now isn't the economy or a bad President, Congress, and Senate.  The biggest problem that we have is that we have turned our backs on what God has laid out for us.  We have become too scared to stand up and just say what is blatantly wrong.  Our society is by far a tolerant one.  Whatever you think is best is ok for you.  And the people who don't think that is right and who sit around complaing 3 years after an election don't even bother to get out and vote.  How can you complain if you didn't even try to make your voice heard?  I feel that this election season is our last chance to turn back from the rejection of God in this great land.  Even if you don't get as excited as I do about politics please take the time to vote and above all spend time in prayer. Pray that God will give us another chance even though we don't at all deserve it and that He will open people's eyes.  We ourselves can NOT pull off a victorious election but our AWESOME and AMAZING God CAN!!  And with Him ALL things are possible :D