All posts by Michael Clinger

Native of the 615. Avid sports fan and reality television consumer. Into Jesus. Engaged to a wondrous woman.
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Why we (yes, men too) need feminism (RACHEL HELD EVANS)

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The first I ever heard of Rachel Held Evans was when she spoke at NYWC (Nashville) in November.  Since then I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her blog and other of her writings.  I enjoy her thinking because I think she understands what feminism is.  Feminism, in its purest form, is a push for women to be treated equally to men, not better than men.  Sometimes things I read on the internet frustrate me because it is straight up demeaning to men and elevating to women.  I’m sick of articles being shared on my Facebook feed comparing all men to pigs.  

I read this today, and I think everyone should read it. So check it out.

We need feminism…

Thank you, Rachel Held Evans for being prophetic in your thoughts on feminism. You can guest-write for my page anytime. 

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more than me.

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I woke up pretty late on my day-off today here in California.  It was about 11 o’clock or so, and I checked Facebook/Twitter/Instagram like I normally do when I wake up (gotta keep up to date on the world’s happenings).  Today was cool because many of my friends from back in Nashville at Donelson Church of Christ got back from Camp today.  From my social media creeping, it seems like this year was yet another successful year at Fall Creek Falls for Donelson.  Pictures and tweets point to a great week in Christ like many that I have experienced in the past.  This was my first year not being at the camp in 10 years.  Since January, I have thought about this year’s camp occasionally.  My thoughts have been hopeful.  Hopeful that those present would experience the Spirit of Christ through each other.  Hopeful that the counselors would love their campers in a Christ-like way.  Hopeful that the younger campers would take showers and change their clothes.  Hopeful that the older campers would be a light to each other and the younger campers.  I was hopeful, not worried.

The past few years at Camp, I had put in a lot of effort to influence it and leave a mark.  In my mind, Camp was my thing.  I was obviously the best counselor, the coolest staff member, and by far the best softball/volleyball coach.  I am extremely grateful for something Russ, one of our ministers, said to me in the Spring.  We were chatting in his office, and he said to me, “Camp is bigger than any one person.”  Donelson’s Camp, like many other camps around the world, is a living, breathing organism.  Camp has taken on its own identity, one that is bigger than any one person or group of people.  When one person can’t make it, someone else does.  When one cool tradition is discontinued, another one is born.  Camp evolves and changes, but it’s not going to shrivel up and die because of one little thing.  Camp is something that God uses mightily, and something that is set into motion by God doesn’t just stop.  So, cool staff members come and go, but there is only one who runs Camp (and it’s not the director…even a really, really awesome one).  

I guess what I am trying to say is: a lot of things change in our lives and in this world, but God doesn’t.  God is still God at Fall Creek Falls State Park whether I am there or not.  When I leave the Bay Area to go back to school in August, God will still be here.  A lot of times, I think Christians (good, well-intentioned, Bible-believing Christians) get the idea that they are taking God with them.  Taking God to our workplaces, schools, other countries, etc., but the truth is that God is already there.  God was here before we showed up, and He will be here after we’re gone.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God endures forever.

                 Isaiah 40:8

above all else, God is.

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Living with “No”

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Let me tell you a story.

Last summer, a man took his 8-year-old son (we’ll call him Jimmy) to his first baseball game, it was Jimmy’s birthday.  As most 8-year-old boys at a baseball game do, Jimmy brought his glove, primed and ready to catch a foul ball.  The boy waited expectantly for his opportunity, and he didn’t take his eye off of the game for the whole first inning.  The first inning went by, no foul ball.  The second inning passed with the same result.  Then the third, then the fourth.  Eight innings go by, still no fly ball for Jimmy.  The father, who has been sitting and watching his son wait, becomes distressed.  Jimmy still has hope, but will certainly be let down if they leave the park without having caught the ever elusive foul ball.  It’s Jimmy’s birthday, and his father wants him to have the best possible memory of his first experience at the ballpark.  So, Jimmy’s father prays to God.  He prays, “God, please let a foul ball be hit over here.  Its Jimmy’s first game, and its his birthday. Please, it would make his day.  He’ll remember it forever.”  Right on cue, with one out in the top of the ninth, the second baseman hit a lofty foul ball into the seats down the first base line.  People all around are reaching out trying to catch this foul ball.  The ball bounces off a man’s hand two rows in front of the father-son duo and hits Jimmy in the chest.  Jimmy picks the ball up off the ground, finally in possession of his newest prized possession.  Jimmy was beyond excited, and his father looked up to heaven thanking God for answering his prayer.  It was a miracle!  An everyday miracle.

I heard that story on a Christian radio station in Nashville about a month ago.  I don’t think I had ever felt so angry at a radio station in my life.  Why was I angry?  Because that’s not how prayer works.  Over the past several years, I have seen health declines and deaths, I have become more aware of poverty, both domestic and abroad, and time and time again, I have stumbled in my walk with Christ.  In all of these situations, prayer has been present.  So why the heck does God have time to send baseballs to little kids when people are starving and dying!?!?!?  With stories like that in our Christian circles, it no wonder that people think we’re all hypocrites.  Maybe God had something to do with the birthday boy catching a fly ball, and maybe he didn’t.  That’s not the point.  The point is that these aren’t the stories we should be telling.  I don’t have a degree in marketing, but if our evangelism point is telling people that we prayed a wish list to God, and he gave us all the stuff we wanted, then we are attracting people who have wish lists.  Then what happens when our Santa Claus version of God doesn’t come through?  We end up with churches full of discontent, unhappy non-followers of Jesus.

Maybe I am being a little harsh.  I mean after all, ending world poverty is a huge prayer, and surely it was part of God’s plan when those loved ones got sick and later passed away.  Maybe God answers easy prayers.  No, it doesn’t work like that.  I pray for a lot of easy things.  Sometimes, I pray that the stop light will stay green long enough for me to make it through (and I work at a church, so God definitely doesn’t want me to be late).  In high school, I prayed that we would win football games.  And we did win a lot of football games…until my senior year.  I mean, come on God, Just make the ball bounce our way a little more.  Keep the refs from blowing the call on the last play of the game keeping us from going to the playoffs (I’m not bitter, I promise).  So why is God answering some dude at a baseball game’s “easy” prayer, but not mine?  God, why couldn’t You have given me enough knowledge and wisdom to get an A on my Greek final?  Where were You on that one?

We live in a culture saturated with wants.  After all, I’m a 20-year-old, white, American male from a middle class family.  I’m supposed to graduate college, get a job, get married, have 2.5 kids, and live a long and happy life after retiring at 65.  I’m supposed to live happily ever after because God wants good things to happen to me, right?  Wrong.  If anything, by the standards of our culture, being a Jesus-following Christian actually makes life worse.  Among other things, Sunday mornings are no longer sleep time for you, no more premarital sex, and you are called to give away your stuff and money.  On paper, without supernatural genie powers, following Jesus just looks dumb.

So Jesus, let me get this straight.  You’re calling me to come and die.  Ok, well at least I get little “everyday miracles” along the way for, you know, praying and being a good guy.  I may die for Your name, but at least before that I get to catch balls at baseball games and get to have perfect health for me and my family.  This whole following Jesus thing doesn’t sound bad at all.  No. No. No. No. No.  Once again, this is not how following Jesus works.

Imagine a guy (we’ll call him Mike) at a bus station looking to purchase a ticket.  Mike is sick and tired of the life he has been living in his hometown of Jackson.  Jackson is a town, not too big but not too small, and Mike has grown discontent with the lifestyle.  There’s not enough hustle and bustle in Jackson to keep Mike excited and on his toes, but he also longs for the simplicity and serenity provided by a farm town out in the country.  He can purchase a ticket to Los Angeles or Farmville, USA.  In a tragic miscue, Mike didn’t decide where he was going before leaving his house that day.  Mike sits at the bus station all day trying to make up his mind, and finally decides that he is better off just going home.  After all, home has got a little bit excitement, and a little simplicity.  Mike missed the bus.  Sometimes I feel like this is how we Christians are.  Discontent with where we are in life, we look heavily at two sides of the coin, the American Dream & the Way of the Cross.  After much thought, we decide that staying where we are is the safe play.  There’s no risk.  We’ve got some fun worldly pleasures, but just enough Jesus to get us on to heaven… or wherever it is we go when we die.  There is no fusion between the American Dream and Jesus.  That is a lie we as Christians have to stop telling ourselves.  The Spirit of Christ does not reside in the things of this world.  Jesus and his followers have gotten on one boat.  The American Dream and the things of this world have gotten on another.  You can’t sit in between the two boats.  You’ll drown.

As a Christian, I am concerned about what kind of message we give off when we broadcast certain things.  The beauty of following Christ is not how easy life becomes, but how much our struggles become worth the struggle.  Our struggles become worth it when we see others fighting alongside us.  The Church is God’s gift to us.  Paul’s command to the Church in Romans 12:9 is, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  We have been given a group of people to cling to in times of trouble.  So let us not only tell people of the random “everyday miracles,” but let’s share stories of grief and pain.  Let us share stories of being uplifted in times of great hurting through the love of Jesus shown to us by his people.  Let us pray about everything without ceasing.  Prayer is a source of hope in our broken world.  Without hope, there is no prayer.

We must choose to live a life fully in pursuit of Christ.  That life is full of trials, hardships, and pain.  James (the brother of Jesus) comes at it like this: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  Not only does James acknowledge that there will be bumps on the road, but he argues that they are necessary, beneficial even.  If a child grows up getting everything he or she has ever wanted and has never been told “No,” then when they are finally told “No,” they will inevitably have a break down.  This is a new experience for the child, and he or she doesn’t know how to handle it.  After a while though, the child becomes accustomed to not everything going their way.  This doesn’t mean they stop asking for help or things they think they need, but when they are told “No,” they handle it better.  Also, having been exposed to “No” makes hearing “Yes” much sweeter.

So let us follow Jesus.  Let us pray, understanding that “No” is a potential answer.  Let us not be discouraged, but let us persevere.  Let us live, knowing that no matter how bad life gets, we serve a God who understands our pain having lived on earth Himself.

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Thank You for…

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If you have ever volunteered in a youth/student ministry anywhere, this was written for you.

Volunteer Thank You

By Michael Clinger 5/29/14

 

Thank You for following God’s lead.

If you are a volunteer or youth worker reading this, then you are one of the few, the proud, and the brave who followed a calling to youth ministry. Thank you for giving your life to students. The road you are on is not the easiest, and there are a lot of entry ramps onto it. Whether you have a child of your own that is a student, needed a place to serve in the church, or got volunteered by someone else, you are here for a reason, and God knows that reason. Every youth worker has a unique set of gifts that God can use, so thank you for giving yours for the sake of our students. Ephesians 2:10 reads, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has a purpose specifically for you, so thank you for following God’s lead to our students.

 

Thank You for standing up for our students (all of them).

       So often in our culture, teenagers are described as being too (Fill in the blank). Too loud, too young, too unpredictable, etc. Thank you for being countercultural in that aspect. So often teenagers are referred to as the “Church of the Future,” but thank you for understanding that they are the church now. Thank you for seeking opportunities for our students to have responsibility, for listening to their ideas, and for being a voice for them among your peers. Every ministry has those students who are on the fringes. Thank you for being consistent in caring and reaching out to those who have trouble fitting in, smell funky, are a little crazy, are misunderstood, are shy, and also those who are not shy enough. In Mark chapter 2, Jesus is looked down upon for spending time with those who were disliked by the religious. Jesus responded by saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” You are mirroring Christ when you pursue those students. Thank you for that.

 

Thank You for believing that God’s Word makes a difference in the lives of our students, and for sharing that Word with little to no affirmation.

If you’re involved with youth ministry for the recognition, you won’t be involved much longer. Students are very unlikely to thank you or openly appreciate you. THAT DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU DON’T DO A GREAT JOB. Another frustration of many youth workers is there often is no fruit of their labor evident in the lives of students. Keep planting seeds and cultivating your plants! Just because you don’t see any difference in the lives of the teenagers doesn’t mean you aren’t making one. You are taking the Word of God and putting it into the lives of teenagers, how could that not make a difference? God’s Word will not return void. Thank you for your perseverance in sharing a beautiful gift with our students.

 

Thank You for giving while never expecting anything in return.

       Thank you for sacrificing. Most people probably have no idea how much money you spend being a volunteer. No one knows how much of a time commitment you have made to be in the presence of and praying for our students. Thank you for offering your resources, time, and money to share the love of Jesus with teenagers who will never pay you back. There is a lot more to being a volunteer than people on the outside will ever know. Thank you for opening up your home, buying food, coming to events, and praying regularly for these teenagers. In Matthew 18 Jesus said that anyone who welcomes a child in his name welcomes him. These teenagers aren’t exactly children anymore, but still, thank you for welcoming Jesus into your home in the form of our students. Thank you for your generous spirit, and remember, God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

 

Thank You for being a voice of truth and encouragement in the lives of our students.

First of all, thank you for spending enough time with our students so that this is possible. Something great that volunteers have the opportunity to do is see the strengths of teenagers that no one else sees. Our students live in a world where they likely think plenty of negative thoughts about themselves, let alone what other negative things people tell them. Our teens need to hear what they do well, and they need to be encouraged to continue in those things. They would never admit it, but they deeply desire affirmation from the adults that they respect, and you are those people. When you see a student with a particular gift, tell them that you see it, and encourage them to cultivate it. Thank you for being an adult that is both accessible and approachable to these teenagers. You have become a trusted voice of reason in their lives. Let God continue to speak through you. Thank you for the constant encouragement that you are.

 

Thank You for being vulnerable in your weaknesses.

       One of the worst things for a teenager to believe is that mature Christians are perfect people. They know their weaknesses and struggles, and if they believe that perfection is what God wants, many of them will turn away, knowing that they can never achieve it. They need a person who is human and struggles with some things, just like they do. Thank you for being that person. Obviously, oversharing is not good, but thank you for sharing what needs to be shared. A great thing about God is that He uses our weaknesses to bring forth his glory. In 2 Corinthians 12, the Lord says to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Even Paul had struggles, and he let people know that he did. There has been only one perfect person, and you are not him. Thank you for appearing human to our students.

 

Thank You for loving God and trusting Him to use you.

To spend the amount of time that you do sharing God’s Word with our students, you must love God. Thank you for having that relationship with God and letting Him guide you to our students. You likely do not have the total package for the “ideal” youth worker. You’re probably not prepared, skilled, trained, and cool all at the same time, and that’s ok, no one is. Being a good youth worker is not about being young and cool, but it’s about loving God, trusting in Him, caring for students, and pointing them towards God. Thank you for doing those things, that’s all that can be asked of you. Thank you for serving God despite your inadequacies. Many let their shortcomings keep them from living out the calling that God has for them, but thank you for trusting that God can use what gifts you have for the betterment of His kingdom. The young boy that came with five loaves of bread and two fish did not have enough food to feed five thousand people, but through Jesus, God made it more than enough (John 6). God can take what little you have and make something amazing happen. Thank you for trusting that God can do more than you can.

 

In Conclusion…

You are the unsung heroes of youth ministry. What is done among our students could never be accomplished without you and others like you. Thank you for all that you have done, all that you are doing, and all that you will do.

 

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”   1 Corinthians 15:58.

 

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you peace. Amen.

 

 

 

 

*This is something I wrote for volunteers in youth/student ministry. Its not an original idea, but most of the content is original. Inspired by Doug Fields’s booklet, “Thank You: Appreciation for
Volunteer Youth Workers.”

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Opportunity

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Well there are now 3 weeks left in school (including finals) for me this semester.  I honestly have no idea where the time has gone. This semester has been a really crazy ride.  My brain is now filled with so many awesome memories, and my life is filled with so many awesome new and old friends.  The next three weeks will be insanely hectic, but then it will be over.

This summer I have accepted a job as a youth ministry intern at Campbell Church of Christ in Campbell, California.  I have never been to California, and I have never been away from Nashville for even close to three months.  I really feel weird about it though.  I feel weird because I really think I should be terrified or worried, and honestly, I’m just not.

There are a lot of things that will not be the same this summer that have become regular happenings for me.  This year, I won’t be going to the church camp that I have attended for the past 10 years.  This year, I won’t be able to spend an excessive amount of time “fishing” (doing absolutely nothing) with some of my best friends in the world.  This year, I won’t get to spend July 4th, my dad’s birthday, with my family.  This year, I’m not going to be able to live at my house and enjoy God’s incredible gift of family.  This year, I will be missing out on a lot, but somehow, it’s ok.

Sometimes, I believe God gives you opportunities to do something awesome that you didn’t see coming.  Sometimes God drops things into your life out of nowhere, things that would have never even have appeared as an option previously.  God did that last year when I was able to travel to Ukraine and share my faith on the other side of the world.  God dropped this opportunity on me in November when I got an email from some church that I had never heard of in California.  The email was looking for people to apply for the youth ministry internship at their church.  I was looking for an internship, and I hadn’t heard from any churches in the area, so I thought what the heck, I’ll apply.  After applying, I had a phone interview, then sent some references.  Next thing I know, I am offered a job, given an opportunity, that I never saw coming.  Honestly, I am super excited because I have no other explanation for this happening than God.  When I truly believe that something is of God, my worries and concerns always seem to disappear. 

God calls us to things that we never see coming.  This makes me think of Jesus calling the twelve. 

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.          -Mark 12:13-14

Levi was probably having a pretty normal day.  On that day, Levi made a choice that would change his life forever.  Levi probably didn’t know that he was going to become a close friend and follower of the man that would change history forever, but he went anyway.  Sometimes God convicts us that something is true or good.  When that happens, run with it.  Go, and don’t look back.  

In conclusion, live a life full of excitement.  When God invites you to a party, just show up.  God will take care of the rest.

-MC

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Title Change

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Hello Dear Readers, 

You may have noticed that there is now a different title at the top of my site.  I thought “Thoughts in Written Form” did a better job of explaining what the blog was than “Where I’m At: Confessions of Self-Examination,” and let’s be honest the original title was just a mouthful. Hopefully will be posting some good stuff in the near future.  Hope that you keep reading!

Love you all!

-MC

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My Spring Break: 30 Takeaways

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Over my Spring Break, I was fortunate enough to go, for a second time, with a group from Lipscomb to Ft. Worth, TX.  We partnered with a church there named Siempre Familia (“Always Family,” for you non-Spanish speakers).  We painted a little inside the church building, and spent a lot of time in fellowship with families in the church.  It was a great experience! I learned a lot, so I thought I would just share some of my takeaways from the week. They are as follows:

  1. Always, double, triple, even quadruple check your backpack for knives before trying to go through airport security.
  2. There is a place at the airport that can store said knife until you return, BUT it costs $10.
  3. The first time around, it takes 4 or 5 people to inflate an unfamiliar air mattress.
  4. Quinceaneras (what hispanic girls have on their 15th birthdays) are INSANELY FUN.
  5. When in doubt, DANCE.
  6. Sometimes it is ok to make a fool of yourself, encouraged even.
  7. Getting a good group picture with a mariachi band is more difficult than you would think.
  8. When you don’t know where to start, do something (anything is better than nothing).
  9. When you think you have been to Home Depot enough, you haven’t.
  10. Having music playing makes every activity more enjoyable.
  11. Always double check paint colors before slapping them up on the wall.
  12. You can save a lot of money on paint colors by mixing the ones you already have.
  13. Tamale making is an all day job.
  14. Most people end up being way cooler than you originally thought.
  15. Speaking another language is tough.
  16. A smile means the same thing in every language.
  17. Ask people for their input. Two heads are better than one.
  18. A lot of times our comfort zone is not the zone we need to be in.
  19. Find what other people’s passions are, and listen to those people talk about them.
  20. Share your passions with others.
  21. When you see something awesome happening, get out of the way. You don’t have to be the at the center of everything.
  22. Do more of what you’re good at and less of what you stink at.
  23. Sometimes God drops opportunities for Kingdom conversation out of the sky, and right into you lap.
  24. When #23 happens, don’t freak out. Pray and trust that God will speak through you.
  25. Just when you start to think about how awesome you are, God shows you otherwise.
  26. God uses broken people to make things whole.
  27. Wherever you are, God has a purpose for you there.
  28. God puts things on our hearts. let the Spirit lead you.
  29. Relationships built in a week don’t have to be one-week relationships.
  30. God provides.

Those are just 30 little nuggets that I learned from my experiences last week.

Above all else, God is.

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Lost

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Yesterday in Sunday School, I had the task of teaching a group of 4th and 5th grade boys the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector and his interactions with Jesus from Luke 19.  For those of you not familiar with the story, here is a brief rundown:

  1. There was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a rich tax collector.  Tax collectors = despised amongst Jews; Viewed as dishonest and greedy; “sinners.”
  2. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but he was really short, and there was a crowd. (I feel your pain Zach) So…
  3. He climbs up into a sycamore-fig tree. In case you don’t know what in the world that is: Image
  4. Jesus looks at him and says, “Get down, I’m coming to your house.” (paraphrase)
  5. Zacchaeus obliges.
  6. People talk bad about Jesus because He was hanging out with a “sinner.”
  7. Zacchaeus comes around, claims that he will give away half of his stuff, and pay back anyone he has cheated financially 10x more that he cheated them out of.
  8. Jesus says that “salvation” has come to the house, and that He has come “to seek and save the lost.”

After finishing the story, in one of my most fantastic teacher moments, I followed the lesson plans given to me by our children’s minister.

I asked the question, “Have you ever been lost? How did it make you feel?”

The responses were actually really good.  I got the typical responses. i.e. “I got lost, and I was scared.”  That was good.  That was what I expected, but then a couple of answers caught me off guard, and I am so glad they did.

One of the guys told the story of how he was lost one time.  He said it was fun at first, until he realized he was in trouble.  What he said rang ever true in my ears.  Isn’t that what I experience so often?  Something seems like such a good idea.  Something harmless.  Something fun.  Something that surely won’t get me into any trouble or a predicament.  There are so many lies that Satan is constantly whispering in my ear.  These lies show their true colors down the road, even if at first it seems like fun, or it seems like it won’t come back to bite you.  

Another one of the guys told the story of getting lost in the library.  He and his sister had walked a little ways from their mom and sat down on a couch in one of the reading areas.  He said that he and his sister didn’t even know they were lost until their mom, who had been frantically searching for them, found them.  This was also deeply stirring for me to hear when thinking metaphorically.  It made me wonder about a lot of things.  

  • How many people walk through life thinking that they are doing great when, in reality, they are so far off from where they need to be?  
  • Am I walking through life unaware of how lost I actually am?
  • How do we avoid becoming numb to God’s calling in our lives?

I think that this tends to be incredibly common in our churches.  Here in the “Bible Belt” of the U.S. it is really easy to get comfortable in our faith.  I see so much comfort that sometimes the church looks a lot more like an inexpensive country club than the living breathing bride of Christ.  I think contentedness can be a huge enemy of the mission of the Kingdom.  When we become ok with the things of this world, and content with how far we have come, we become lost.  God is calling us to be people who have a mission and a direction here on earth, but when we become lost in this world, we are not living to the calling that God has for us in our lives.  

lost: adj. Unaware of one’s whereabouts.

I pray that we will be constantly aware of the situations that we find ourselves in.  I pray that when we find ourselves to be lost, that we will be found.  I pray that we realize we are lost, and that we need to be found.  Jesus came to seek and save us from the things of this world.  Let us not go on being unaware of our state, but let us be found in the great salvation afforded us through Christ.

“Today, salvation has come to this house.” 

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Today

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Recently, I have been sick of what I find myself doing. 

For the past couple of weeks, I have been pondering an escape strategy from the life that I have been living.  School, money (or lack thereof), my relationships, and everything else had me in a funk.  I have been wishing my life away.  Wishing for a simpler, more fulfilling life.  One where I live a life of intentionality and purposefulness.  I kept wondering what major life changes could make that happen.  Where I could go, what I could do, and how I could do it.  This dissatisfaction I have been experiencing came from a lot of different areas.  One especially has been this weather.  It has been so cold here in Nashville this winter, and to make matters worse, we have had no snow.  If its going to be cold, it should at least snow, right?

Today, something great happened.  Today, the sun came out.

Things were just better today.  People were outside, willingly outside.  In related news, I wore my chacos for the first time in 2014, and for whatever reason, life just seems better when my toes are out there in the open for all to see (maybe not everyone appreciates my toes, but I like it, so they can deal with it).  

Today, I spent intentional time with God admiring His creation.  Having withdrawn from all of the people, work, and stress, I was able to really reflect on a lot of things.  In my reflection, I was able to realize how blessed that I am. I have been given opportunities that not many people get.  God has blessed me so richly, and so often I don’t even care or realize it.  Through my interactions with some people today, I realized how great my community really is.  I have some of THE most awesome friends.  The constant encouragement that I receive from my friends blows me away.  How great it is to live in community with people who are actively serving God by living out His Kingdom in their daily lives.  Knowing that I have people that are there for me in any situation is incredibly comforting.  

Today was an attitude changing day.  For a while now, I have been looking for the quickest, easiest escape plan from this chapter of my life, and after today, I wouldn’t mind sticking around here for a while.  

Something about our bodies that I feel may apply especially to me is our need for Vitamin D.  One of the main suppliers of Vitamin D is the sun.  God has made us to interact with his creation, and in fact, we could suffer from not doing so.  As much as we need the sun to survive, we have even more need for the SON.  Today, I was able to get a taste of both of those in my life.  Spending time in the presence of Jesus, is something that can be so easily overlooked, but is so necessary for our spiritual health.  Just as Jesus would often withdraw to places of solitude to be with His father, we too need to find times to just be in the presence of the One True God, the Creator, the only one worthy of our praise.

Today I learned that there is an awesome life that God is calling me to live right here, everyday.  God sends people all over the place, and maybe some day in the future, God will send me, but right now, I pray that God will use me as an instrument of His love where I am right now.  I pray that God will open my eyes to the hearts of the people around me, and that God will use me as an incredible encouragement to the people I interact with.

God is Good!

-MC

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P.S.:

line that got cut from this post:

“As much as we need Vitamin D, we need Vitamin J (Jesus)” 

Yeah, it got cut for a reason…

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UPCOMING

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Hello dear family, friends, acquaintances, and online blog readers! Been a while since my last post, but I thought I would just let you know that there will likely be a new post soon.  I’m excited.  

ALSO: If you read my blog, YOU ROCK! It is such an encouragement to me that there are ever people that take time out of their day to read about something that I have to say.  

I LOVE YOU ALL. SO MUCH.

Take it easy!

-MC