300 WORDS TO SAVE THE WORLD

The following blog was inspired by true events.

Just kidding. It was actually inspired by a conversation I had with a friend a couple nights ago.
I would've written this yesterday, but unfortunately my internet was down and so blogging was simply out of the question. Anyway, without further ado...

Yesterday, as I was walking around campus, I was thinking about the conversation I had had the night before.. and then I had a thought. It was this.. Imagine that you (yes, you!) were given the opportunity to give a speech to the world. It would be translated into every possible language and everyone would be tuned in. You get to choose the topic.. it can be anything you want! .. but there's a catch - You only get 300 words.
Think about it.. 300 words.. that's about one page.. double-spaced. And no matter what message you decide needs to be conveyed in these 300 words, you'll probably want to choose them carefully. You want to make sure every word is necessary and deliberate.

I gave this a lot of thought yesterday. I'd love to tell you that I wrote my 300 word speech.. but I didn't. Maybe someday I will, but for now, that's not really the point. My point is this: Your life is your speech. Just think about it. Chances are, nobody will ever ask you to actually give a speech to the world.. probably no one will ever ask you to even give a speech to your country. Fortunately though, we're given an opportunity that (I think) is equally great! You are probably seen by hundreds of people each day. In fact, you might even talk to hundreds of people each day.. maybe thousands! On the unfortunate side, we're not usually even given 300 words. Sometimes we're lucky if we get two.. but our actions speak volumes..
So, what exactly am I getting at? Well, I guess in some ways, this is directed at Christians, although in other ways.. not so much. The phone conversation I had was actually about Christians and drunkenness. Over the years, a lot of people have asked me what my thoughts are on alcohol, etc. I've always said that I don't have a problem with drinking in and of itself. This is still true. But as Christians, you should know what your message is. Your speech already has a topic.. your life has a purpose. You don't know exactly how long you have.. but I can tell you right now, it's not long enough.
So shouldn't all your choices be necessary and deliberate? I'm not saying that you shouldn't have fun.. this might make your 'speech' boring and uninteresting. But while you're having fun, don't you think it's important not to stray from your purpose?

I have a lot more to say about this, but I think I'm going to stop here.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. " Ephesians 5:15-18

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." 1Peter 3:15-16

THOUGHTS ON GOD

Yesterday I started writing a blog, but didn't finish it... and therefore, didn't post it. The reason I didn't finish it was because I didn't really know how to word what I was trying to say.. or maybe I just didn't really know what I was trying to say.
The blog was supposed to be about God.. just essentially my thoughts on who he is and what he does, etc. etc... but I felt like I had said everything before and so that left very little to say that would be of any interest to anyone (including myself). Today, however, we sang this song at church and, although we've sung it many times, it didn't really mean that much until today... specifically in light of the fact that I attempted to write a blog yesterday and failed miserably.
Anyway, here it is:

This is Our God
by Chris Tomlin

A refuge for the poor, a shelter from the storm
This is our God
He will wipe away your tears and return your
Wasted years
This is our God
This is our God
A father to the orphan, a healer to the broken
This is our God
And he brings peace to our madness and comfort
In our sadness
This is our God
This is our God
This is the one we have waited for
This is our God
A fountain for the thirsty, a lover for the lonely
This is our God
He brings glory to the humble and crowns for the Faithful
This is our God

PURPOSE

Last night I dreamt that I stepped out, stood back, and looked at my life.

Then I scribbled all over it with a purple crayon.

I hate the colour purple.

READ THIS BOOK

Recently I started reading a book called "Do Hard Things" by Alex & Brett Harris. Please read it.. I'll talk about it a lot. Anyway, they quoted a guy named Charles Spurgeon. He said,

"Perhaps some of you can claim some sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you - Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's word? Do you make it the man of your right hand - your best companion and hourly guide?"

I like this quotation.. and I love this book. Their writing echoes my thoughts exactly.. and then some.

CHRISTIANS WHO STRUGGLE.. LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE... and more

There's a lot on my mind and this blog doesn't even begin to cover it.. but it seems like an easy lead-in to talk about "Christians". Why? because they're an easy target, I guess. (I feel that I can say this freely because I am one.) Growing up in the church, I've noticed that there are two types of Christians. There are Christians who are perfect. They live seemingly perfect lives and nothing ever goes wrong.. of course, if something were to go wrong, they would tell you that they are better because of it and all glory to God, etc. It also seems that they never sin and they know the words to every new worship song that no one else has ever heard before. They have the bible memorized and would never consider missing a service. I love these people. Really I do. But I confess, I am not one of them. I'm more of the other type of Christian...
What I mean by that is, we're human.. we struggle.. we suffer.. and sometimes our faith suffers too. I think that praising God in every situation is great, but if we're honest.. most of us would admit that we rarely do this. We have our ups and downs, our good days and our bad days.. and we have days when we just don't feel like going to church, or talking about our faith, or singing worship songs..
For this reason I say it's important to have Christian friends... and I could really write a whole blog about that.. if I wanted to.. which I don't. Maybe some other day.
What I'm really thinking is this..
I've had a few conversations recently with other Christians.. ones who are struggling with different aspects of life. I've been short on words.. even though I could say a lot.. nothing has seemed quite right. Today, however, I realized something.. or it actually, finally sank in.. I found myself asking this question: Is bringing glory to God my purpose for living, or is it more of a guideline that I live next to?

What I mean is this.. It seems that in almost every conversation I have with Christians trying to deal with different issues the question always seems to be something along the lines of, "Is God okay with this?" or "Is this a sin?" Both are good questions and I believe they're helpful for staying on the 'straight & narrow'... but it seems to me that most of the time when we ask this, we actually know the answer. So I have a better question.. What if we started weighing our decisions according to how well we could glorify God in each situation? Maybe instead our question would be, "Can I grow in my relationship with God and bring him the glory if I do this?" (Whatever "this" is.. it obviously varies)
In essence what I'm saying is, what if we stopped trying to push the boundaries? Stopped trying to see just how far we can go and still be "ok" and "sin-free"?

When I say that bringing glory to God can be a guideline that we live next to, I mean exactly that. It gets set aside as the boundary line between "ok" and "not ok". It's no longer our purpose, but just something that we measure things against to make sure we're not sinning. I'd give examples, but this blog is long enough. Those are my thoughts... talk to me.
Cheers
-E

Trust and Patience

Sometimes I think I've learned a lesson.. and then months later, discover that I still haven't really. I noticed this today.
I think that trusting God completely is the most difficult thing in the world. I thought I was learning.. maybe I am.. but I'm a slow learner.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life." -1 Timothy 1:15-16

CONFESSIONS AND TRUTHS

I just arrived home from a long day downtown and I admit, it feels good to finally be getting this down on paper (or.. not really paper.. you get the idea.) I've been thinking it over all day and it's become a bit of a headache. Just a warning, this is a long blog.. hang in there.
It's been almost two and a half months since I moved to Vancouver. I get asked a lot why I decided to move here. I guess I haven't really had much of an answer.. or more honestly, I think there may be more than a hundred answers and none of them seem quite right on their own. Perhaps I still don't have a good answer to that question, because in all truthfulness.. I still don't know.
For a long time before I moved I knew that I wanted to. For a few years my plan was to move to California (mostly for the film industry as that was my career-path of choice at the time.) About a year and a half ago, though, it became obvious to me that California was not God's idea.. and neither was film. This came as kind of a slap in the face (for those who have heard that story, you'll understand.. for those who haven't, feel free to ask.)
I spent a year trying desperately to figure things out and decide what I should do with my life. British Columbia had been on my mind for awhile.. years really. Aside from the California plans, it had always been where I wanted to be. I've never had a good solid reason to back that up, except that I was born here... but in reality, I think it makes little difference.
Anyway, I did a lot of praying about it and in January I decided that I would move. After pushing back my moving date three times, I finally bought my plane ticket and made the move. I didn't really know what to expect when I got here. However, what I was NOT expecting was two and a half months of depression and spiritual battle.
It's been a rough couple months. I've felt uninspired and essentially uninterested in life and the world around me. Being unable to figure out why left me frustrated. Sure, it's difficult starting life in a new city, but I knew it ran a lot deeper than that.
I've always been a church-goer. I don't always feel like going, but I shutter to think where I'd be if it weren't for my church family.
Leaving my church in Ontario was maybe the hardest thing I've ever done, but I was blessed to find a church here almost immediately. I went this morning prepared to learn something.. maybe find some inspirational tidbit worth writing about.. who knows. I wasn't really prepared to get hit in the head with a brick of a reality check.. but that's what happened. (Thank you Pastor Norm.)
The sermon was about glory.. giving God the glory.. worshiping in our everyday lives.. perhaps these topics are not so new, but here's what was revealed to me.. my bittersweet moment of truth.
For the past couple months I have spent most of my time wallowing in self-pity. Now I know why. I spent much of my life in Ontario building up a reputation. When you live in a city of 35,000 it's fairly easy to have a reputation that sticks for a lifetime.. this can be good or bad. At any rate, it was fairly clear that I knew who I was and people knew me. I developed a strange sort of self-confidence and my friends were more than happy to feed it. During highschool I knew that perhaps for the first time ever, there were people who wanted to be me. I knew that there were people who practically worshiped the ground I walked on. I knew I was cool and respected. People liked me. I liked me. That seems like a fairly safe combination.. until you move.
I guess I'm discovering more and more what it means to give everything to God. Everything including my pride, my confidence, my hunger for admiration. Sometimes God does have to take away things in our lives in order for us to realize that we've lost our focus. For me it meant taking away my reputation which had become how I was defining myself. It wasn't a bad reputation really. For the most part, people knew what I believed and respected me for that. In itself, it wasn't a bad thing... maybe that's why it was so hard to see. Today my pastor talked about worshiping. We are all made to worship and we all do worship. The question, 'what are we worshiping?' maybe doesn't get asked often enough. It can change daily.. or it can stay the same.. It can be obvious.. or maybe not so much..

I think that where I moved had little to do with the lesson I'm learning.. for now, anyway. Maybe the most important thing was that I moved at all. What mattered most to me was taken away. I can no longer live hiding under my reputation. I can no longer worship my abilities, my life, the affirming words of others.. truth be told, it's not worth it anyway. All of that is dirt in comparison to God, the one who is worthy of ALL our praise.

"You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands"
-Psalm 63:1-4