The 'M' Word

Dear Christian,
I know you. I know you because I am one of you. I know that you have memories of being in Sunday school and saying that Bible verse over and over to try to remember it. I know that you were at one time, that little AWANA kid. The kid who wanted to earn more patches, or points, or jewels, or just the signature at the bottom of that page that meant you never had to see that verse again. You were probably the AWANA wanna be. The kid who wanted to be like those star kids. The ones who memorized three verses a week, did the review AND that extra credit stuff. But you weren't. You weren't that star kid. Instead, you were the kid that your mother had to remind a hundred times to go over their verses. You were the kid that dreaded having to remember all those fancy words just to get a badge. You were the kid who sat down five minutes before you had to leave and learned that verse just well enough to say it and get it marked off. I know because I was that kid too!

Or maybe you were that star kid, but only because your parents worked it into your scheadule to go over verses. Maybe you were that star kid because you wanted to beat all the other youngins. Maybe you were that star kid just because you wanted to be. But you aren't anymore. You don't have time, right? And there are no points to be made for memorizing a bunch of words like justified or begotten.

We all have probably gone downhill since we finished AWANA. And the "M" word terrifies us. We have all kinds of excuses. "I hated memorizing all those Biology words, but at least they were used in regular English sentences. The Bible is even worse!" or maybe it looks more like, "I can't memorize things. My brain's just not cut out for it!"

Well, probably to your dismay, I'm here to tell you that the excuses are over. Memorizing scripture is an essential part of the christian life. Just as important as reading your Bible or praying. There are many reasons for this.

The first is that we need to store God's words in our brains so that when we need them, He can bring them to our minds. When you're having that hard day where you just want to give up, He can't tell you "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" unless those are words you've committed to memory.

God also uses those verses to help us when we are tempted. This is something I've experienced within this past week, even! I've been working on keeping Hebrews 4:14-16 in my long term memory for several weeks. And when I was tempted, God's door out was just running that verse through my mind,

"Therefore since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." 

Pretty cool, huh? God could only do that because I had memorized that verse.

Another great reason to memorize verses is because we may not always have our Bible with us. Within this point, I can think of two scenarios. The first is, imagine that you are having a spiritual conversation with your unsaved friend. You say God is a loving God, but he asks you to prove it. He has only seen many natural disasters with little signs of God's love. You know it's in the Bible somewhere, but since you don't have a Bible with you, you are left unable to back up the truth. If you had memorized a verse like that, you could've said it then and there and kept the conversation going.

A second scenario I think of is one that may at some point be true in America. Throughout history, Christians have been persecuted for their faith. Situations would range from Bibles being confiscated, to the Christian being put in prison. If this ever happens, your only access to the Bible would be through verses and passages you had put to memory.

These reasons for memorizing are only scratching the surface to be sure. But before you get too discouraged that you are a horrible Christian with no hope because you can't memorize, let me present a new idea to you.

Maybe the dreaded "M" word we've been using is actually the wrong word entirely. Maybe the reason you've had such a hard time memorizing is because you weren't called to memorize; you were called to use a different 'M' word: Meditate. Now before you freak out because that sounds an awful lot like weird monk dudes sitting Indian style and chanting "OM", let me explain.

Meditating is more than memorizing. It's not just going over words until you remember them. It's so much more! It's taking a verse or passage and thinking about what it means. It's digging deeper and taking it a step further. When meditating on a verse, you don't just recite words until you can say them without looking. You look at the passage as a whole. Look for the context. Look at all the little parts. You look at all the word pictures and think of what they truly mean. You look up words like 'justified' so that you know what they mean, and aren't just saying an empty word. You pray the verse, you wrestle with the verse, and there's something else. Something important. One huge difference with meditating is that it's not just a sit down and say the verse over and over one time. When meditating, you look at that verse when you wake up, you take it throughout your day and are thinking about it as you go about your life, you go through it at night. Meditating is so much more than memorizing.

And I wanna pause right here for a few seconds for you to take some deep breaths. Don't freak out. This is not a major time commitment. The thing is, when you meditate, you remember. You remember the concept of the verse, what it means for your life, and eventually you know it word for word. It enables you to know the verse long term and be able to remember it when you need it. Because the verse now means something to you. And you can share it with others.

So to put you at even more ease that memorizing and meditating is something you CAN do, let me share a  couple tips and a story.

1. The easiest way to meditate on a verse--like, I'm telling you, SUPER easy--is to put it somewhere within your boring routines. I have started taping verses to my shower door. (which is glass, and I know not many of you have glass shower doors) That way when I get into the shower, and wash my hair (which takes no thought process whatsoever) I can actually use my time efficiently and go through a verse or two while I'm at it. Proof that this works is actually right above! I wrote Hebrews 4:14-16 by memory, and it was a verse that I first memorized a few months ago! Some other easy places to put it is: a) By your bed. This works especially well if you are in a bunk bed, cause you can tape it above you and still be able to read it cause it's pretty close. If you don't sleep in a bunk, you could write it big and tape it to the ceiling, or put it on your nightstand. b)Write it on your mirror. You can do this with a dry erase or vis-a-vis marker. I do this all the time with reminders or my to-do list too. It's an easy way to remember things because you use your mirror several times a day and most of the time it's while doing things that take no thought process. Let me just say, without any intention of memorizing the verses when I put them up, every single verse that I have taped to my wall, I could say from memory now. It truly works, people!

2. I want to tell you, I never really believed I was the memorizing "type" until I got bored and challenged myself. I ended up, to my astonishment,  memorizing Philippians 2:1-11, which I can still (probably imperfectly) quote for you today! "HOW?!?!?," you ask. Well, basically I went over one verse per night. I learned one verse, or even just a phrase, and I went through what it meant, I thought of scenes and pictures in my mind, I thought of how I could live that part out in my own life, I prayed the verse. And then the next night, I went over that verse and learned the next. Until I had learned eleven verses with not much effort at all!

Now, Christian, I could probably keep going for a while on this topic, but I don't want to keep you too much since I have already written a small book. There are, however, a few things I want to leave you with.

There IS hope! You CAN memorize! The trick is to change your 'M' word to Meditate! Meditate on those verses, read them day and night, think about them when you shower and when you brush your teeth. And if you do that, you can easily learn verses that God can use to enrich your Christian walk so much! It IS worth it. And always remember, now that you've read this, you know how to do it. And you CAN do it!

Now go! Pick a verse and start working. You won't be sorry!

***NOTE: Any part of this post stating that God can't bring unlearned passages to memory is purely to emphasize my point. Of course God can do anything, but in most cases He doesn't unless its a verse you've memorized***

Just people.

Dear people out there,
There is this impression out there that Christmas break will give you extra time to write blog posts. I am here to tell you that is FALSE. So I hope you all had a good break, and here is a letter concerning you all.

Yes. All of you. Are you 40? This concerns you. Are you 12? This also concerns you. What is it? Well I just want to discuss a certain topic that I've become very passionate about this year.

So right now I want you to close your eyes. Close them and think of people that have impacted your life. Whether that was that teacher in 2nd grade, or the upperclassman that helped you learn more about Romans in college. Think of all those people that shaped who you are.

What was special about them? What did they have in common? That is something I've been working through this year. Because I'm a leader in the Jr. High youth group now, and I'm a upperclassman in our high school youth group. I am in a position to be that person to others. But what does that mean?

I remember my 5th grade Sunday school teacher, Mr. Vale. He was the best! He had such a passion for his faith that made me want to jump on board too! He was the one that inspired me to take my faith as my own.

I remember my junior high youth group leaders, Ashley and Chantal. I looked up to them so much! They were some of my favorite people. I thought they were so old and had this life thing figured out. Now I am their age and a Junior High leader, and man, I do not have life figured out! But it just makes me appreciate them more! Cause they did what they could to impact us, even though they didn't really have anything figured out.

I think of my teacher that taught me various literature classes, Mr. Yeiter. He was instrumental in confirming the passions and strengths that God has giving me and encouraging me to pursue them.

I think of my youth pastor now. He taught me to be intentional. He pushes me out of my comfort zone even when he knows I hate it, because his only goal is to push us closer to Christ.

I can think of about 100 more names of people who have impacted my life. And I wish I could personally thank each one. But the point is, these people did not have a whole bunch in common. They weren't at a certain point in their lives, they weren't doing some magic thing to impact me, they were just people.

So I want to encourage you to be that same kind of person. It doesn't take much to impact someone. It takes you caring aboput the people God has placed in your life. Being intentional about reaching out to them, whether they're younger and need advice, or lonely and need a friend. God has placed people in your life right now that you can impact. Now it's your choice whether you go out and do that.

Mary and her worst day ever...or not...

So we've all had bad days. Those days when everything goes wrong, or those days when it's all going fine, until that one thing happens that ruins your whole day. Those days are never fun. But I got a glimpse this week of what David might have been feeling when he wrote the Psalms.

You see, in the Psalms, David goes through so much, but he always ends by praising God. There are some Psalms when everything is going great for him and he praises God because of it. But there are other Psalms that might reflect where you are right now. They say something to the effect of 'Life sucks, but I praise you anyways.'

Now we all know that's what we're *supposed* to do when trouble comes, but seriously, how did David do that? I know you've all asked that in your mind. Why did these people in the Bible have to be so great at this christian thing? We can't ever actually come close to all that they did, right?

Wrong. You see, I've had those bad days. Those days when I'm asking God 'why'. I'm asking Him 'where do you want me to go from here?' 'Why can't my life be more normal; less difficult.' I even had one of those days this week. But then I had a realization: our "bad" isn't really bad.

To explain, let me take you back to a certain story you all know very well.
Meet Mary. Mary is a normal teenage girl who lives with her parents. She, like many other girls her age, was betrothed. Betrothed to a young man by the name of Joseph. Such a fine young man he was, too. Mary's life wasn't especially exciting, but it was good. She would sweep out the house, wash the tunics in the river and hang them on a branch to dry, bake some bread, and work in the garden. Mary's life was normal. Predictable. Stable.

One day that all changed. She was just going about her normal chores. And then she went blind. She realized she wasn't actually blind, there was just a man in the room. A glowing man. Who hadn't been there before. She was terrified. But he didn't kill her or take her hostage or anything. He just told her something. Something so life shattering, that for a minute she almost thought that being taken hostage might have been easier. She was pregnant. With the Savior that her people had been waiting for for hundreds of years.

There was just one thing: She wasn't married yet. And you see? There's this thing about pregnancy. It can only happen one way. And if you tell people that you didn't do that thing and play the God card, saying He just "Made" you pregnant......yeah, no one's gonna believe you. 

Yet Mary had to go tell her parents and her fiance knowing that they wouldn't believe her. And oh yeah, there's this other thing about pregnancy. It's kinda hard to hide.

These were all the things going through Mary's head just from one day. We celebrate this story without thinking much about it. But if this had happened to you, you would've said you'd had a bad day. Worse than that. Your world was shattered.

But this is exactly what I'm saying. Our definition of "bad" is all screwed up! Why else do we celebrate that story? Because it wasn't bad. It was a miracle. Amazing! And we praise God for working through Mary.

That was not a bad day. Why? Because God was working through each circumstance to write His story. And don't you dare say that He doesn't do the same with you! I know you've seen it. Maybe it was that time when you were a few minutes late to work, but as you drove, you saw an accident that you might have been in if you had been on time. Or maybe it was that time that your kitchen burnt down, but through that you were able to relate to your friend whose house burnt to the ground and bring her to Christ. It could've even been that time when you had less money in your wallet than you were counting on, but then the bread ended up being on sale so you had the perfect amount!

Yes, we have less than happy days sometimes. But remember this. Because next time something bad happens, remember that God works through bad. And if He's working through it, then it isn't really bad, is it?

The Spider and the Bug...another of God's great object lessons

Okay, so I saw a scene today that really made me think. Picture this in your mind.
A spider had built a pretty extensive web in the corner of the room. This spider was small, but was a BIG bully. A box elder bug was just minding it's business this morning, when, ouch! His leg was stuck to something. He turned to look and, oh, no! His leg was caught in the very outer edge of the spider's web. He needed to get out! He pulled and pulled, even to the point where he was almost pulling his leg off. Ouch! This was the point where I took notice and helped the little guy out. I pulled him free, and rid his leg of any extra web tagging along.

Now this may not seem like much of a story to tell, to you, but it really got me thinking. You know, Satan is a lot like a spider. Compared to God, he's pretty insignificant. But he is one heck of a bully! He spins webs for us to get caught in. That could be lies that bombard your mind and that you start to believe. It could be a short temper where you know he's just setting you up for failure. It could be harming yourself, where you know you shouldn't, but you can't stop. It could be an eating disorder that you are caught in. I don't know what that web is for you, but I'm sure you can think of it without much effort.

But here's the thing. That little bug just kept pulling and pulling. He wanted to get unstuck, but by himself, it wasn't possible. He didn't realize that I was right there and I could help him in a moments notice.

We can be so much like that little bug. We think we can get "un-stuck" by ourselves. And we pull and pull, only becoming more worn out. We often don't remember that God's right there. He can help us in a split second. He could even squish that little spider...er, I mean, devil, if He wanted to. Why do we try to get "un-stuck" by ourselves when we have such a powerful resource right there beside us the whole time?

Now I don't know what you're going through. And I know that getting "un-stuck" from these real life webs most often take much longer than in that bug's situation. But don't loose hope! You have a very powerful Lord and Savior right beside you. He loves you more than you could imagine and He wants to help you! You are weak but He is strong. And the things you can't do by yourself, He can do for you. Ask Him to help you out. God's got your back!

Black Friday, or black hearts?

Okay, let me start by saying I love Black Friday. I confess, I have never actually been out in the middle of the night shopping, mostly because my mother would rather be sleeping at that hour. This year was actually the first year I've actually gone out and shopped on Black Friday, and we left the house at like 2pm. But I loved it nonetheless. I like shopping, what can I say?

With that said, there are some major problems with the event. I mean just the fact that it's practically become a holiday for us is very telling. When stores started doing this, I'm sure they didn't expect the whole of the nation to rush to their doors. They've had to extend the hours further and further every year. Even to the point where several opened their doors on Thursday night this year!

Now I know that Black Friday is mainly for Christmas shopping. But let's put that aside for a minute and ask ourselves: Are we truly thankful if we leave Thanksgiving early to go buy new stuff? Even if it is for Christmas shopping. Should we really be more focused on buying gifts for the relatives, or spending time with the relatives? Cause if you leave their house early to go buy stuff for them, something just isn't right.

And then there's the issue of the mobs and injuries and all that. It's sad. Just sad. I'm sure you would agree. I read this post, (which is a satire, by the way) and it did a wonderful job of pointing out the idiocy of what happens on Black Friday. http://www.secretsofthefed.com/woman-kills-3-last-x-box-chicago-wal-mart/

One word comes to mind when i read that and see the news stories: GREED.

Just the fact that THIS website needs to exist, makes me want to be sick. Really people?

And I know what you're saying. That's the extreme. That's not me on Black Friday.

I know. That's not you on the OUTSIDE. But what about the INSIDE? Is your heart filled with greed too? Is what you already own enough, or do you need more? Are you standing silently in that line, just wishing you could push these crazy people aside? Is Black Friday about me, me, me?

Or are you really just focused on ways you can serve the people around you? Are you trying to make the store clerk's life a bit happier? Are you trying to help the slow old lady find that item she's looking for? Are you buying these gifts thinking how happy your niece will be rather than that you can buy Starbucks with the money you saved?

When we really look at our hearts, it usually isn't very pretty. But good news! You can change that! You can turn it around and START focusing on serving others. And what you can't change, your Heavenly Father can! Why not start today?

Think of one thing you can do today to start making others a bigger priority in your life! Got your one thing? Okay. Now go and do it!

Humans

I feel like I could write many many posts on those "duh" moments of the christian walk. Cause to tell you the truth, there are many of them! Humans are stupid. let's face it. Reminds me of this commercial:

 

When you really take a step back and look, we are all really like children. Some with a little more knowledge than others. Isn't it awesome, then, that God loves us so dearly and cares for us even when everything goes wrong? He doesn't get mad at us for being stupid. He knows that we aren't perfect, and that's okay, because He wants us to just trust in him more because of that.

One stupid thing that us humans can do is believe lies. Lies that we know are lies. Lies that we know aren't true. And yet we still believe them. Why?

It's definitely one of these^ moments!
One of the lies that I realized we all believe is this: God is FOR me....but only to a certain extent.
This can be reworded by the enemy, many different ways to hit hardest. It could be:

God loves me. But not specifically ME.

God loves everyone. But He couldn't love ME after what I've done.

God wants to bless me. Just not as much as He wants to bless Joe over there.

God wants to help me. Just not enough to fix this problem.

And on and on. In the back of our heads we know it isn't really true. But it is just so hard for us to believe that, in a world full of people, God loves ME specifically and is for me---how much?---ALL THE WAY.

So please take heart today. God loves YOU. Take a minute to just let that sink in. Yes, all the way. Don't just let it sink in to "Cubbie" level. (What's the Cubbie motto? "Jesus loves me") Don't just repeat it in defeat. It is true! What's your name? ____________ Well <that person right there. That is the person God loves. With all of his love. Not just some...ALL. And he wants to bless you. He wants to bless YOU richly. And he is for YOU. On your side. So often we forget that, thinking that we need to prove ourselves before God will help us. But no, He's already rooting for us. He's fixing a problem right now that you didn't know needed fixing. And that problem that you've been praying for for years? He's on it. Trust Him. Life doesn't always look like we thought it would. But God's plan is always way more awesome than we could think up.

It's like if you had a Polaroid camera. Remember those things? The ones where you take a picture, and it comes right out. Well imagine you have one of those for your life. You snap a picture of a specific event, excited because you know this will be a great one to add to your wall. The photo comes sliding out of the camera, black. As you wait for it to show up, you're sure you know what it will look like. You just snapped it, remember? But when that picture develops, it looks entirely different than you had planned.

This is what life is like. Stop planning your pictures before they show up. That one picture may look way different than you planned. But that does not mean that God has turned his back on you! No! If you could only see what that picture looks like when added to all the other pictures you've snapped! Oh my, it's breathtaking. It's a masterpeice. A masterpiece created by the ultimate Artist. The one who is FOR you until the end. Hey, if God is for you, then who can be against you!

Remember

God has been teaching me so much lately, and I love it! And what better way to tell others than to tell you!
First of all, I want to say something that I always forget. Always. It's one of those "duh" moments because it's so simple, yet you never think of it. Simply put, if you want something, just ask. It's all throughout the Bible, and yet its never something I tend to remember. Matthew 7:7-11 says,    

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

God wants to bless us and give us things. Why are we just sitting there wishing, when we could just come to God and ask!

This simple fact is never brought to my mind  until I end up doing it accidentally. That's what happened last night. I was praying, and I asked God to teach me something through the sermon this morning. And sure enough, He did. I still am amazed that its so easy to forget such a simple concept. This is why Jesus says we are like sheep.

So what did I learn? Well my take away from this morning can be summed up in one word: Remember. Once again, a simple concept. It is so easy for us to get swept away by the busyness of life and make God just another relationship that exists in our crazy lives. We talk to him at the end of every day, and read a little from His book, and then start making our to do list for the next day in the next instant. But what would happen if we took time to just stop everything. Just sit in His presence. Remember all He has done in our lives. All He will do. Who He is. That's kind of what Thanksgiving is about. But how many of you thought more about what God has done in your life than the time it took to cook a turkey. I doubt many hands would be raised. I know I didn't.

The preacher this morning told a story that really hit his point home. He was talking about a man that went ahead of Billy Graham for his crusades to partner with local pastors in prayer. One particular week this man was very excited because several of the pastors were big name pastors that he was excited to pray with. The first night, these men started praying. A few big name pastors prayed, and then this Spanish pastor jumped in and just started thanking God. "Thank you, Lord for you mercies, that they are new every morning. Thank you that you sent your son to die for us. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your love..." The man went on thanking God for fifteen minutes, leaving little time left for other pastors to pray. The next night when they met to pray, it was the same thing. "Thank you, Lord for you mercies, that they are new every morning. Thank you that you sent your son to die for us. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your love..." and on and on. The third night the pastors came to the man in charge of the prayer meetings telling him he'd have to do something. This little Spanish man couldn't keep taking all the prayer time. So the man approached the Spanish pastor. "Sir, I'm sorry, but do you think you could not pray tonight? We really want to allow time for other pastors to pray specifically for the crusade itself." The Spanish pastor replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just can't even begin to pray to ask God for anything or hear him speaking to me until I have spent time reminding myself who He is."

Wow, that's powerful. Shouldn't that be what we all say? Instead we often say, "We need to pray for these specific things on this list. Forget God Himself." When was the last time you spent time just remembering? I would challenge you to take some time TODAY to do that. Don't wait. You won't be doing yourselves any favors.