Such a Good Day

The Rangers won,
The Mavericks won,
and these were the least good parts of the day.

Church was good. The guest speaker's sermon started with a story of visiting a place named Trium Fontium Ad Aquas Salvias located near to Rome. (that name was a little difficult to dig up just now, too.) He started by talking about visiting it, and then about some of the "Christian Legend" behind it. It was pretty cool. I didn't know any of it beforehand. He talked about how it is, according to legend, the place where the Romans kept the Apostle Paul prisoner, where they then dragged him up the hill, and then beheaded him. According to legend, his head bounced three times and, each time it bounced, a fountain sprang up. Thus the name is essentially "Three Fountain." (There's a little more to the translation, but I don't remember acuratly what it is and it's unimportant) Assuming that this was the place where they kept him, then several of his letters were written there. Including 2 Timothy amongst them. This is where the speaker started to work his way into his intended sermon which centered heavily on these verses :

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

2 Timothy 1:16-18

The speaker today was, I think, trying to address a percieved sense of "shame" in some of the parishioners because the church is currently without a pastor, and because, only a handful of years ago, it was also without a pastor. The most recent full time pastor was somewhat short lived in his tenure. (if you consider a few years to be short lived which is kind of the truth in churches...) So he went on talking about how Paul commended Onesiphorus for not being ashamed of Paul's chains in an effort to drive home how important is that we should not be ashamed of the hardships in this life. He pointed out at one point that Paul says twice in 2 Timothy to "endure hardships". He then made quite clear the truth that being a Christian is not about blessings here on Earth. That's of course not to say they don't happen, but rather that we should not expect to never get sick, never suffer persecution, or never suffer hardship of any other kind. Christ was raised as the firstfruits of the resurection. (1 Corinthians 15:20 & 1 Corinthians 15:23) When He returns we will all be raised. It's good to remember sometimes that we are not working towards Earthly gain, but, rather, Heavenly gain.

Things of this world are passin' away
Here tomorrow, but they're sure not here to stay
Things of this world are passin' away
So lay your treasure above
And start to live for Him today

- excerpt from DC Talk's song "Things of This World" off of their album Nu Thang

I like sometimes to think about my life here on Earth. I like to think about my future (as if I'm in control). I like to dream about what I want. And, in a very true way, that is not bad. I mean, I don't think there is anything wrong with asking God for blessings on Earth, hoping in a future, or dreaming of one. I think it's just so important to remember to keep your mind focused on what does God want. You know, it's entirely possible to want things that seem holy that He doesn't want for us. It's also entirely possible to not want things that He does want for us. It's really easy to become blinded to what He is wanting for us by wanting for ourselves. I find myself often praying that He will make my wants comform to His wants so that I will not want what He does not want me to want. (that's a kind of tanlged sentance...lol Only 5 "wants" in it.) I have to trust Him to help me with that because I can't force Him to do it.

I find myself running a lot on trust these days. I can't speak on the exact circumstance, but it's crazy. Imagine running blindfolded. In your mind, you can picture what the path looks like, but you can't really see it. You only know that it is somewhere there. If you are foolish enough to run blindfolded, you never know when you might hit a wall. Maybe you will just run out into the street and get *smacked* by a giant Mac Truck. Who in their right mind would do that?!?

I think that trusting God is sometimes exactly like that. With one major difference. He is jogging at our side, holding our hand, and occassionally describing what is ahead of us. My analogy seems to run into a snag here though because it still raises the question of "why blindfolded?" Well, I can think of a few crazy ways to spruce up this analogy with things like "illusory paths", "sinful distractions", and "actual blindness". I'm not going to touch upon those. They are not important to my point. My point is that trusting in God to work out the kinks and potholes in our lives is not easy. It's hard to let go. It's natural instinct to try to do it ourselves, and I find myself constantly wanting to and trying to "get a grip" on things. I have this mental image of a Merry-go-round on a children's playground. It's spinning at high speed, and I am hanging on barely. However, it's as if God is saying, "Let go, and I will put you on solid ground." When the whole world is spinning around you, and you are barely hanging on, how do you let go!?!

Today was pretty good through no reasonable action of my own. The best part started with an email being shown to someone I didn't intend to see it. I almost sent a follow-up after originally writing it to suggest deleting it because I thought it might be silly or presumptuous. What if I had? It turned out that it was good for that person to see it. I like the reality that something I was worried about someone seeing turned into a really good thing for that person to see. God knows better than I do what should or should not be done. All I know is that I am just trying to hold the anxious panic down and run blindfolded at the same time...

...and that there is no one more reliable to trust in than God.

the LORD delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.

- Psalm 147:11

May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope is in you.

- Psalm 25:21