American Dream? Sounds like a nightmare to me.

kay. Lately I've been feeling unsatisfied with my lifestyle, unsatisfied with my priorities, and unsatisfied with how I feel about the importance of living a life sold-out for God. Now I know that what I'm about to say might be kinda extreme, I certainly will offend you, and you'll probably disagree with me, but if I can accomplish anything with this Note I would at least like you to think and re-evaluate how you feel about where you are right now. May I not get in God's way.
So. Here's the thing.
I am raised in a Christian home and I love my parents so very deeply. I am not allowed to watch most movies and TV shows, raunchy music has never even been an option, and I'm not even allowed to go to some birthday parties or sleepovers. I am so thankful for this and I will certainly implement these restrictions on my own children. Using my parents, God has saved me from so many things that would still affect me today.
However (and I know I'll offend people when I say this, so please don't be mad at me), I am living the American dream. And I don't like it. I live in a nice house in the suburbs and I have nice things in my room and I watch my nice TV shows every Monday and it's been ingrained in my head to vote republican and to have a certain theology. My parents' dream for me (and what used to be mine) is to go to a certain schnazzy Christian university, find a husband there, get married, and basically repeat the lifestyle that I have now.
However, lately God's been kind of breaking everything that I thought that He wanted for me...and I thought this solely because it's what I'm told He wants for me. I seriously do not feel led to go to that fancy university (though this may change as God may want me there but He hasn't revealed it yet) and go to a nice college where I dine in a luxurious cafeteria and go to the movies with my boyfriend and maybe once a year go on a mission trip. There's got to be more, right??
I'm not satisfied with "living comfortably." Isaiah 55:2 (I realllly like this verse) says "Why are you spending your money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And delight yourself in abundance." I honestly can't look at a pack of earrings---of ANY value---and say "Okay, this will satisfy me. This will edify the Body. This will make God happy." Nor can I say that with a Starbucks, a Wii game, the latest Weird Al CD, or anything else like that.
We live in such a materialistic world where hedonistic spending of time and money is not only tolerated, but it's EXPECTED. And this is disgusting.
I KNOW I'm going to step on toes here, but what do you think Jesus would do with $10? Would he go with the disciples to see the Dark Knight? Doubt it. Would He buy a Celine Dion CD (even if it was clean and there was nothing bad in it?) I honestly don't think so. I think He would buy groceries for a struggling low-income family, or buy a homeless guy some socks or something. Or maybe He would take a lost friend to Burger King just to encourage them and let them know that He loves them. Or he would spend the money on stationery and make a card for a Brother or Sister that He knows is struggling...
Luke 16:13 says that “you cannot serve both God and money.” 1 Timothy 6:10 bluntly states that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” So is it wrong for a Christian to have lots of money? . I believe that we should buy what we need, that Christians should not be wealthy if they want to honour God, and that the Bible clearly spells out how we’re supposed to spend our time and money.
Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of good, Godly people being very wealthy. Abraham, the father of many nations, had great wealth (Genesis 13:2.) Job had a tremendous amount of material possessions (Job 42:12.) King Solomon is the richest man that has ever lived, and he got his wealth by means of God-given wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:11-12.) In fact, Solomon himself said in Ecclesiastes 5:19 that “when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God.” So with a verse like that, we are led to believe that if God gives you money, spend it on whatever you want because He would want you to be happy. Well, earlier in Ecclesiastes, Solomon had just been talking about how even all the wealth in the world cannot bring happiness; only God can satisfy!
In Isaiah 55:2, God is saying that He is all that’s good; everything else just leaves you empty and wanting more. The LORD created everything in the earth, so it would just be silly to devote one’s life to the creation rather than the Creator! You cannot take your bank account with you to Heaven. What matters to God is not your extensive collection of CD’s or how many times you’ve seen a certain movie or how many friends you had or how "hot" all the guys thought you were, but God cares about what you did for Him while you lived those few years on the earth.
Many people justify their mass riches, though each excuse can be refuted with Biblical truth. They claim that the more money they get, the more money they can give away. Though this makes sense on the surface, these people ignore the fact that God doesn’t need our money; it’s all His anyways! (Psalm 24:1) In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus commends the woman who gave two little coins for offering, and says she has put more in than those who could fill the treasury to the ceiling. For they gave money out of their abundance, yet she gave all she had. We are not to give money out of abundance but out of a desire to please Him and of reliance that God is going to provide, no matter what. They also say that God gives good gifts, so we must enjoy them. This is true, but it is a far great blessing to give to someone who can’t pay you back on this earth, rather than to enjoy something that can give you momentary joy! (Luke 14:13-14.)
The ultimate question is what actions one can take to spend their money the way God would want them to. John Piper calls us to live a wartime lifestyle; to live simply and be free of the American dream. (2:06 on "A Wartime Lifestyle"...you can watch it on Youtube.) With the money that one would spend on a designer bag or a mocha latte, they ought to give to those who cannot earn their own. (Emphasis on CANNOT, not "choose not to.") This would include giving money to a struggling family who wants to go on a mission trip but cannot afford the plane ticket, or buying food to donate to a food bank, or buying Bibles to be sent across the globe to those who cannot even read the Word for themselves because it is not available there. But even doing something close to home, like the examples I mentioned earlier. Yes, there are scammers out there and people who pretend to be homeless…but people ought to do their research and instead of just giving money to a homeless man, buy them lunch or a new pair of socks. They can’t trade that in for drugs or other addictions.
Jesus said more about money than He did about Heaven and hell combined (That's in 0:50 of "A Wartime Lifestyle".) In Matthew 19:24 Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The reason we have money is to show the world that money is not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure; this shows the great value of the LORD. ("A Wartime Lifestyle", 1:47.) He is worth it! He is so worth it! Moses understood this. He could have lived as a prince, but “he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:25-26.) His treasure was not in an earthly city, but in the lasting City to come. May this be our mindset also, and not buy mansions or sportscars or $200 pants, even if we have the means to afford it. We can't take those to Heaven!!! (That's what the Egyptians would do...they'd bury their jewels and gold and money and even servants with them because they thought that all those things would go with them in the afterlife. What a tragedy to see all those things still here in the pyramids! Also, no matter how many riches they had or how popular they were, they were not putting their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and consequently they are burning in hell right now!!! How tragic!)
It's okay to be uncomfortable. For example, my friend Brian (he's suuuuper skinny) was sharing with me one time about how he gave blood...I don't exactly remember what happened, but he got all weird-feeling and he went through some moments of extreme discomfort. When I heard this, I was like "Oh no. This will happen to me too...I don't think I can ever give blood." And Brian was like "But it's so worth it to have a few moments of discomfort in order to possibly save someone's life!" And that's true...people who are dying because of a lack of blood are probably way more uncomfortable than I would be if I got shaky and fainted from giving a bit of my blood. The same can be said with our time and money and possessions...and what others think about us. Invite the unpopular kid to your house just to hang out...even if they are annoying or they're super shy and no fun at all, this will mean the world to them! A few hours of boredom will bring you more blessing than hanging with the most popular kid in your school. Once you're made uncomfortable, that means you'll have to tap into another Source for comfort---and God is the giver of comfort...rest in Him!
So basically, if our hearts are SOLD OUT for Christ, that wouldn't leave any room for anything else, right? I'm trying to have a child-like faith here but I could be wrong in my thinking. I mean, of course we must spend time with the "seeking" but just because we should be relevant to them doesn't mean that we should have everything in common with them! How are we supposed to be different if we look exactly like them? Please tell me if you disagree with me and why. And if I'm coming across as arrogant or pious, I am so sorry and I am trying to speak in love as much as possible.
Something I've learned is that the applause of God is greater than the approval of man. In "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper was talking about a huge tragedy of this couple who was retiring to Florida to live on the beach and collect shells for the rest of their life. What a waste!!! When they meet God on Judgment Day and He says "Why should I let you into my Heaven?", they will show them their shells and say "We had a great, relaxed couple of years!!!!" That just doesn't do it! And even if they had trusted in Christ for their salvation and they were already let into Heaven, what if God said "What did you do for Me for the 80 years I gave you on earth?" A collection of sea shells is not pleasing to the LORD! As Victor said a few years ago, "One thing that there won't be in Heaven is lost people." If we're going to be witnesses, if we're going to love on the unloveable, we'd better do it now! This is nearly impossible if we're tied down by the things of this world.
But an important thing to note is that it's not necessarily what you DON'T do (or what ungodly things you abstain from), but what you DO. In James 1, it says "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Make sure that you're not just keeping "unstained"; make sure that you yourself are staining the world with the love of God!! Visit the orphans and widows. Love the unloveable. Do it. I dare you.

Quit Yer Complainin'

The other morning as I was getting ready for school, I was listening to the Desperation podcast, and the speaker mentioned Acts 13:36a, which says that “David had served God's purpose for him in his generation.” So I was like “Wow, okay, I need to serve God's purpose for me in my generation.” So I said, “Show me Your ways, LORD, teach me your paths! Please, Father, show me how to serve!” and in that moment God seemed to be saying “I already did: My Son.” So I thought, “Okay…Jesus…” and I went to Isaiah 53, where I know Jesus described best.
So I read about all these awful ways He was scourged (pronounced "skerged"; it means kind of beaten up viciously), then in verse 7 it says "He was opposed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth." I cross-referenced and found some other verses that said "But Jesus kept silent." (Matthew 26:63a) "And He did not answer him with regard to a single charge, so [Pilate] was quite amazed." (Matthew 27:14) Jesus had an awesome trait, very rarely round in people of that time and especially today: silence. Even Pilate, who had seen everything since he was governor and all, was amazed. Jesus wasn't complaining or grumbling about the excruciating pain or injustice. He was silent, like a lamb led to the slaughter (also in Isaiah 53.) The world notices silence. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but sometimes the lack of words speaks louder than words as well. Philippians 2:15 says we'll shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation.

I tend to complain a lot, about things a lot less painful than scourgings or dying for someone else. I complain that I owe Mom 12 bucks for something that I thought she should buy. I complain that I’ve had 5 tests this week. I complain that I'm lonely (which isn't even true. I am so blessed.) I complain about my mac 'n' cheese being cooked too long or my water smelling fishy. Was I spat upon? Were my clothes gambled for? Um, no. Not even close. I think I finally see a perfect example of "do everything without complaining or grumbling" (Philippians 2:14): Jesus, who came to the world as the Ultimate Example for us.

So in this season of exams and stress, I challenge you: do not complain. (And hold me accountable! If a not-necessary word even creeps upon my tongue, slap me upside da head.) Complaining has a domino effect; if you bring out the bad in something, not only will people join in on the negativity, but they’ll also dwell on it! There’s a big drama going on at my school right now, and everyone’s vicious words are ripping some reputations to shreds and it breaks my heart to see it. Truly, friends, God is so much bigger. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you! (1 Peter 5:7)

Be like Jesus. Don’t complain. I dare you.

Taking Up Your Cross...DAILY. Yipes!

And He said to them all, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

I know we have all heard this verse zillions of times, but God has shown me some stuff about it and in this Note I would like to especially emphasize the importance of making a “daily” commitment to Christ.

Being a Christian is more than just walking down the aisle when you’re in second grade, repeating a prayer, and getting baptized. It is a daily commitment, where you "re-sign" up every single morning. I think a lot of us don’t truly understand what Jesus was calling us to do, because it’s a big deal and our lives should look a whole lot different. (Now let me say up front that salvation is found by grace through faith alone, and when I say re-sign up, I don’t mean your salvation “expires” every night so you have to renew it every morning; I’m saying that we must realize every single day the importance of following Christ.) Jonathan Edwards made 70 resolutions (they’re really good; read them here http://www.reformed.org/documents/Edwards/index.html?mainframe=/documents/Edwards/j_edwards_resolutions.html) and one of my favorites is:
“Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722.” This is what we should be doing!!!

Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” CRUCIFIED!? That’s certainly not a weak way of putting it. We Americans don’t fully understand this precious concept of crucifixion since it doesn’t really happen all the time, but the crucifixion was totally humiliating, painful beyond words, and you looked a whole lot different by the time it was over.

Do you understand, friends, that we must give up the world to follow Christ? You cannot serve both God and man. You cannot live in both light and darkness. Famous poet Emily Dickinson understood the kind of commitment it takes when you sign up to follow after Christ, but unfortunately she could not give up the world.

She said this when she was FIFTEEN years old to a friend after a Christian revival came to her hometown: “The world allured me and in an unguarded moment I listened to her siren voice. From that moment I seemed to lose interest in heavenly things. Friends reasoned with me and told me of the danger I was in. I felt my danger and was alarmed, but I had rambled too far to return and ever since my heart has been growing harder.” The world beckoned, and she liked it. Later in that letter, she said “I do not feel I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die.” So she didn’t. She was unwilling to surrender.

Surrendering all to Christ is a big deal. The song that made me want to learn sign language was “I Surrender All”, because as it was being interpreted, I almost cried upon seeing the powerful meaning of the words. “Surrender” in ASL is putting your hands up, like when the police come up to you and they’re like “HANDS UP!” so you throw down your loot and you’re like “Ahhh I surrender!” (You can see the sign at http://www.signingsavvy.com/search.php?search=surrender&submitSearch.x=0&submitSearch.y=0) Then “all” (in this context, at least) is motioning head-to-toe all of me, like “allllll o’ dis.” (I’m bad at explaining stuff, sorry hehe.) But anyways, the sign language interpretation so beautifully portrays what we need to do: say “I drop everything, God, and give every bit of me to You.” Jesus died for you (then rose again!); that’s an amazing example of a life commitment. He was born to die (and rise again!), and He realized that. May we die to our sin and take hold of the new life that Jesus offers us. I mean it.

We as humans were made to love adventure, to want to do big exciting things. One particular week I was feeling kind of down and like God wasn’t using me in the big ways I wanted Him to. So at youth group one Wednesday, we were singing “Devotion”, and I was kind of just mindlessly singing along until it got to the part that says “I will take up my cross and follow, LORD, where You lead me.” At that moment, if ever I have heard God’s voice (though not audible) it was then, and He so clearly seemed to say to me, “That is no small calling.” Waking up every morning, denying myself, and choosing to follow Christ no matter the cost is an adventure, and it’s not easy by any means. And I fail a very large majority of the time.

So my challenge to you is this: wake up each morning and re-sign up. If ever you received salvation, you have it and no one can snatch that away from you. But you need to re-DEDICATE your life every single morning. Preach the gospel to yourself every single day, and do not let it become stale to you.

Do it. I dare you.

Loving the Unlovely.

What you say and do has a bigger influence than you think.
I just finished reading an email from a friend of mine who used to go to my school (which is a CHRSTIAN school, staunch Baptist.) He left last year because he had gone there since preschool, and he still felt that he didn't fit in. I don't know when the rumours started, but some guys started telling everyone that he was bisexual, and then gay...and I know he wasn't always this way because he liked my friend (who was a girl) when we were in ninth grade and last year he asked me to homecoming. These guys thought it'd be funny to creep out one of their friends, a "homophobic", so they told this friend of mine to go in the bathroom and corner the guy to creep him out. And he did. Nearly everyone made fun of him...and he wasn't unaware of this.
A little while before he left the school, he wrote me a letter confessing all kinds of hurts in his life, and I won't expose those but I will say that he was hurting. A LOT. He felt used. Situations at home were far from perfect, and he contemplated suicide all the time.
In the email I got tonight, he said "What bothers me the most about [your school] is that they make fun of people for being different, I became so stressed, I almost killed myself, then I found a friend in something that didn't judge me, didn't bother me, didn't put me down, it was music. It opened my mind to the ideals that being different scares people and that can mean being superior." Marilyn Manson understood his hurts, Marilyn Manson's lyrics applied to him. His gay friends understood him, his gay friends accepted him. His boyfriend cares about him. And as for everybody else: if you can't make them love you, make them fear you. So he spread some death threat rumours, told people he was communist, etc. etc. And mission accomplished: everyone feared him.
My friends, we failed at showing this guy the love of Christ. When he was telling me about his new school, he even said "there are a lot more nice people there than there are at my school (which is sad, cause many would think the opposite.)" 2 Corinthians 5:20 says "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us..." We've done a pretty bad job representing the love that Jesus has shown us. How is he to know that a Saviour loves him? He's heard the gospel a zillion times, but he hasn't SEEN the gospel, if that makes sense. The Marilyn Manson song he told me about that really had lyrics that applied to him has a part that says "I never really hated a one true god but the God of the people I hated." If God acts anything like "His people" do, then he's not interested. OUCH.
Do know that I'm not trying to preach to you guys and hate on everyone, because I have done a cruddy job loving others too, but man...how far will we go for a joke? He mentioned that another thing he didn't like about my school was that some find it humorous that they think some people are going to burn in hell. You guys, hell isn't a joke. Hell is for real. It is a sick nasty place worse than anything we can ever imagine; it is eternal separation from God and that is sickening. Yet we joke "haha you're gonna go to hell for that", etc. etc. Is it really worth it? (And while I'm on that note, I just want to remind you guys, especially those of you who have been walking in Christian circles for a long time: don't get so comfortable with the things of God that you no longer fear Him. And when I say fear I mean revere Him...a lot of times it's very easy to make jokes about Him or to so casually mention the name of Jesus, and we don't realize the power that is in the Name and we obviously don't have a good picture of how truly awesome our LORD is. Just a reminder.)
Is it worth it, friends, to joke about gay people? Their lifestyle is wrong, yessir, and homosexuality is a choice they have to make for themselves, but most of the time it's our fault for leading them on that path anyways. If they're told constantly "haha you're gay" or "go away, faggot" then it might enter their brains that maybe they are. It's like eating disorders...if a perfectly normal-sized girl hears some people snickering about her weight, she'll think "Oh my goodness I'm fat" and she might develop an eating disorder...was she really "fat"? No. But others' heartless words led her to believe that. And she acted upon it.
I just want to challenge you guys: watch your tongue. Watch your facial expressions. People notice if you exchange judgmental glances with a friend after someone said something a little odd. We're ripping people apart with our words. What we may see as harmless leads the harmed to go home and long for dying!
It's far better to be known for being silent than to be known for tearing down others. And the latter is far easier to do; I think those who don't talk that much have a lot more wisdom than the rest of us.
So, my friends, I'm asking you to love people. Yeah, they might say or do strange things and it might be really easy to make fun of them (even behind their backs), but right now what they're not getting from Christians is love, and they're not getting the gospel. I beg of you, please...love the "unlovely."

Eaten Up.

God totally shook me this week, and it seems like everything I’ve been learning lately at church, in my quiet times, through books I’m reading, and through my music has culminated and been summed up by Psalm 69:9:

“Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”

I learned this verse while reading in John 2 (this is the NKJV)...
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’”

Jesus was so “eaten up” (in Hebrew it means ‘destroyed’ and ‘consumed’) with passion for God that He absolutely hated the things that God hates, and absolutely loved the things that God loves. A few weeks ago one of my friends was teaching my Sunday School class about the holiness of God, and how since He is such a holy perfect God, He hates sin more than we ever could understand. (And let me clarify what I mean by sin; sin is not “drugs, sex, and rap music.” When I talk about sin I mean doing stuff that makes God sad, or failing to do stuff that makes God happy…basically sin is rebellion against God...and every single one of us is very very guilty of that, even if you don’t do the “typical” stuff that the “moral” people look down upon.) So since God is so holy and just, when He sees us giving in to the flesh rather than surrendering to Him, it’s like we’re drinking someone else’s vomit, which is absolutely disgusting, but still not an adequate portrayal of how God sees sin. So in order for us who sin to be able to have a relationship with such a holy God, Jesus (the sinless one) came to die for us sinners before we even knew Him. (Romans 5!) What a beautiful way for both God’s love and His justice to be satisfied!

So anyways, Jesus saw sin like God saw it…so when He saw people making a mockery of the temple, He was angry. And He did something about it. May we be so consumed by God that we love the things He loves and hates the things He hates too. This should radically change the way we live our lives. In Isaiah 6, upon encountering God, Isaiah said “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” In this verse, “ruined” also means to be destroyed. So God, upon us seeing Him, will ruin who we are and rebuild us to who He wants us to be…so what a beautiful destruction!

Lately I’ve read some awesome books by people who have been “ruined” by God. Gary Witherall wrote a book called “Total Abandon” that talks about how he and his wife Bonnie were serving as missionaries in Lebanon. They were “souled out” to God; forsaking all that they were to be used by God in a country that was very closed to Christians. Bonnie was killed on November 21, 2002, by a Muslim extremist…and Gary, through his pain, forgave her murderer and continued serving God. Gary Witherall was ruined.

On Tuesday I started reading “Through Gates of Splendor” by Elisabeth Elliot. (She is the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the men speared by the Auca Indians while trying to show the love of Christ.) I haven't even really gotten to the part where he's a missionary yet; just his journal entries from his early life are so insightful.

After trying to lead Gospel meetings for youths that turned out very unsuccessful, he wrote "This problem of meeting a culture with truth from God is the most difficult kind of thing. One comes as a renovator, a conditioner of society, and society is in no mood to be conditioned. The fixedness of the human mind is the wall of Jericho to Gospel preaching. GOD must shake, or there will be no shaking." Wow! What a beautiful picture of salvation! Jericho, like the lost soul, is closed to Him and is perfectly content with the wickedness going on inside. And He commands us Christians to "walk around the walls" to pray for these people and proclaim to them the gospel, and when the time is right, if He so chooses, Jesus tears the walls of their stony hearts down, and He enters. He alone is capable of this beautiful destruction. Praise God for destroying the walls of Jericho around my own heart, so that He may enter in!

Another thing Jim said that I thought was totally cool was in a letter he wrote to his parents regarding his numerous awards and achievements for academics, wrestling, popularity, the whole gamut. But in spite of this, he said, "The LORD has given me a hunger for righteousness and piety that alone can be of Himself. Such hungering He alone can satisfy, yet satan would delude and cast up all sorts of baubles, social life, a name renowned, a position of importance, scholastic attainment. What are these but the objects of the 'desire of the Gentiles' whose cravings are warped perverted. Surely they can mean nothing to to the soul who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ...life is not here, but hid above with Christ in God, and therein I rejoice and sing as I think on such high exaltation." I think we all can look at our own lives or our little trophy closet and see all the accomplishments we’ve made and, even if we don’t say it out loud, we take great pride in them. Truly, in light of the Kingdom of God, these things mean nothing! When I get to Heaven God won't say "Good job being homecoming representative in tenth grade, Hope. I always wanted you to be kinda popular." NO NO NO NO! If I were truly unashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16 yay!) I would have a great deal less friends. I have abused the gift of encouragement that God has given me to make friends and increase social status...life is such a vapor, and all these things are vapors too, vapors in which I once and delighted and of now am ashamed. (In case you can’t tell, striving for popularity is one of my biggest struggles haha.)

Jim’s friend Ed McCully said this as God was working on his heart to come to Ecuador: "I have one desire now: to live a life of reckless abandon for the LORD, putting all my energy and strength into it. Maybe He'll send me someplace where the name of Jesus Christ is unknown...I'm taking the LORD at His word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His Word. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basket, but we've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as our life is concerned? If there's nothing to this business of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with our life hereafter. But if there IS something to it; then everything else the LORD says must hold true likewise."

What a good point! If we trust Jesus for salvation (which is a biggie) why don't we trust Him for His direction in our lives? Why don’t we trust Him to abolish who we are and recreate us to who He wants us to be? One time a girl named Lauren was being introduced to speak to our youth group, and my youth pastor described her as “There’s not much of Lauren left.” WOW! God shines so brightly through her that (for the most part) her personality is not her own, her words are not her own; her every thought is geared towards pleasing God. Such is a life that has been “eaten up” by zeal for His house.

I’ll close with this example that I heard on Wednesday: Sometimes in forestry it’s necessary to make something called a “prescribed burn” where the forest is set on fire, but it’s controlled in such a way that it doesn’t destroy any more than what’s needed. By setting the forest on fire, the old is destroyed and new life begins. Some seeds (such as sequoia) are actually dormant until fire breaks down the seed coating. We need God to destroy who we are and replace us with who He is; it might be painful to let go of things we always loved or start doing things we always hated, but we must remember that God’s ways are always best, no exceptions.

So surrender yourself to Him.
Ask to be consumed with passion for Him.
Love Him.
Live for Him.
Be ruined by Him.
Do it.
I dare you.