Like a Ripple in a Pond

"A family is a lot like a pond. If something happens to one of us, it's like dropping a stone in that pond. It makes ripples. And no matter what you did or didn't mean to do, those ripples extend outward and touch other people." -Annie Camden, 7th Heaven
"The inherent connection between all human beings guarantees that someone will get hurt. Because we are, whether we like it or not, one family. The human family. And what happens to one of us, one way or another, happens to us all." -Eric Camden, 7th Heaven

A church family is so interesting, it is very dynamic. Sometimes those dynamics allow the church to grow and touch many people in a positive way. However sometimes we let those differences get in the way of our mission on Earth. And when that happens we still touch many people, but in a negative way. With this understanding we experience a phrase that we are probably all familiar with: actions have consequences.

We often give the word consequence a negative connotation, but really its a neutral term. It can be positive or negative. Our actions have consequences positive and negative; seen and unseen. They don't just affect ourselves, the affect those around us. They affect everyone we are connected to in one way or another.

The culture around us is constantly casting stones into the pond of our national church family. These stones create ripples. How we react to these ripples is more important than the cause of the ripple. Actions speak louder than words. The way we react to the ripples within our church culture reflect our true beliefs. Very often these are not the beliefs we want to be associated with. This is how we become known as hypocrites, homophobics, and bigots.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

This sounds easy, but is actually an incredibly hard command. I struggle with this everyday that I am at work. I come across so  many people that I can't find any reason to love, but loving your neighbor is more than liking them; it's taking care of them when they are in need, praying for them, and treating them as if they were Jesus.

Many people do not treat fast food workers well. Based on my experience Christians do this more than atheists. Its hard to love Christians from this perspective. Our actions have consequences. All the time. Not just when we are out serving God. ALWAYS.

This command is more than just loving each other, its loving each other as Christ has loved us. A love that is hard to completely understand. Its a love that is unconditional, never ending, always forgiving. Motivated by nothing other than our inherent connection to each other through humanity.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The Christian legacy is dependent on how we, as Christians, treat each other. The ripples that we react to and the ripples that we cause. Christians had a great legacy in the first few centuries after Christ's death. As times changed and the truth's of Christ were masked by the sins of man the message of Christ got muddled, and as the message got muddled, so did the actions of Christians and it became a cycle. Like ripples in a pond.

Christians do great things everyday through service, yet the Christian legacy today is not so great. Why is that? Serving is only part of our lives. Too often when we stop serving we think people stop looking, but that isn't true. Every aspect of our lives must reflect Jesus. Its never too late to change our legacy. Like a ripple in a pond.

The Meaning of Life

At night the only light we have is the moon; the light of the moon is not the moon's own light, but the light of the Sun reflected off the moon's surface. In the same way the light that we are called to shine is not our own light, but the light of our savior who has sent us into the world to bring about guidance during the dark hours of night. We must be a reflection of Jesus who is no longer on Earth. We cannot hide our light and keep it for ourselves for it is not ours to hide. We need to go out into the darkness and shine our light for all the world to see; not to bring recognition to us, but to Jesus.

This is the core of our existence as Christians. This is why we are here. This is why God has put us not only in the world, but in our respective countries, states, cities, and even neighborhoods and churches. We are where we are for a reason and that reason is to show Jesus to those in our vicinity who do not know Him. To influence those around us. To help others learn about His love. This is the meaning of life for anyone who follows The Way.

⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

                                                              - John 9:4-5

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

                                                                 -Matthew 5:14-16

Winterfest- Worship, Lessons, and Snow

Winterfest is an annual worship conference for teens. It starts Friday night, has two sessions on saturday, and closes out Sunday with an excellent worship service. I learned this weekend that it actually started as a winter retreat for my church, Farragut Church of Christ.

The teens get a lot out of the lessons which is great, I love to see them learn and grow! Unfortunately it doesn't do much for me, but that's intentional. The target audience is high school students. However, its nice to step back and look at things from a different age perspective.

The worship is amazing, its definitely my favorite part of Winterfest. The group "Offering Worship" led the singing; mostly songs from their CD "Awake My Soul". Most of these songs were new to our group, but I loved them. I really appreciated that Winterfest put this information on their website late last year as I was able to get the CD and familiarize myself with the songs.

We got lucky this weekend and it snowed a lot on Saturday. Gatlinburg and snow just go hand in hand. Most of my Gatlinburg memories growing up involve it snowing. So a Gatlinburg experience doesn't seem complete without it.

I'm thankful for the oppurtunity to go on this trip with the youth group and I look forward to many more Winterfests.

Also, Kaleigh wanted me to say that she is my favorite. (Truth undisclosed)

Spiritual Nourishment

In this day and age we have access to God's word so easily, so readily in so many different forms. Hundreds of translations, various methods of telling the stories, thousands of sermons available online at the click of a button and all typically for free. Yet, for some reason we seem to be the most spiritually malnourished generation since Jesus' time on Earth.

Along with this easy access to God's word comes easy access to so many other forms of entertainment, distractions that is. We are so concerned with what's going on in the news, or our favorite TV shows of the year that time with God gets pushed back more and more and more. We say things like "I'll read my Bible tomorrow." But tomorrow is always tomorrow.

Until we change our attitudes, until we change how we think and look at the world, tomorrow will just be tomorrow. It's time for tomorrow to be today; time for later to be now. We can't just sit around waiting for change. If we want change, especially in ourselves, WE have to start it.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

-Mahatma Gandhi

God has given us the nourishment we desire, we just have to seek it, and spend our time in it.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.

-Isaiah 55:1-3

Have Faith

"Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." -Psalms 9:10

I had awaken early this morning, before even the sun had risen, with the thoughts of a dear friend. As I worked through these thoughts and memories some words were spoken to me:

God doesn't promise things won't change, but He does promise that when they do, He will take care of us.

I felt inspired to share these words, so I posted them on Twitter and Facebook, but then I started thinking about faith. I thought it would be a good opportunity to update my blog, so I started searching through the bible for topics on faith. There are lots. After reading through so many I was encouraged yet disheartened; I had no clue where to go from there and almost just stopped there. But I logged in to my blog account anyway and stumbled across a post I had written back on March 25th, 2010. Yeah, over a year and a half before this post. After I wrote the ramblings in that post I had decided not to post it for whatever reason, I was probably scared and frustrated with somethings going on in life. Anyhow here is the post I didn't publish:

I live my life day to day. Some good, many miserable. I wonder why, but I know the answer. I go along, pretending to be fine. Telling everyone I'm fine.

I wonder if I'm truly alive, not because I'm dead but because I'm empty. Or at least feel empty.
I only say this because I was talking to a friend of mine who is feeling similar. I've known this to be the problem for a while, but this is the first I am speaking of it.

I do things to help, don't I? Maybe it isn't enough, or maybe I'm not doing the right things.

I want to rid myself of this feeling. I want to feel full. And I know that I need to do more for God. He can fill me, but I'm afraid to do more, or to change what I'm doing. And even if I decide to do something, what? What would I do?

Well, God has certainly changed my life. I read this and thought, 'This is me?' But it isn't. It WAS me. There will be changes in our lives, constantly and frequently. We can't allow these changes to turn us from God, instead we must have faith in Him to see us through. Let me tell you, I no longer feel that way. I don't feel full exactly, but I do not in the least feel empty anymore.

Faith is something I often struggle with; I have it, but not consistently. I worry, I get stressed out, but things always work out. Maybe not the way I had intended, but they do always seem to work out.

If something is troubling you, if you are worried, stressed, or afraid of something that might be changing, or has already changed, please don't be. Just stop and take a few minutes of your day to pray about it. Maybe write it out like a letter or blog post. Let it sit there for a few weeks before you post it, send it, delete it, or whatever. Just keep praying about it, ask God what He wants for you. Ask Him for help, He will give it to you.