Oh, to Have Purpose

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

~Acts 17: 26-27

The past couple of weeks have been a test for me, and only now as I come out of my nonsensical faithlessness does God teach me what I should have known from the beginning (and what He was teaching me all along, but I just was being stubborn and not listening). But, again, it all works better for His glory.

I have no need to worry about where I am or what I need to be doing. I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I just need to pursue Him, and then His work will be done. What a stress-reliever!

Faith, faith, faith, faith...

Golly Gee Willickers, Batman!

Dick Grayson: "What's so important about Chopin?"

Bruce Wayne: "All music is important, Dick. It's the universal language. One of our best hopes for the eventual realization of the brotherhood of man."

Dick Grayson: "Gosh Bruce, yes, you're right. I'll practice harder from now on."

Two Shoes, or Not Two Shoes

So today I participated in the "Toms One Day Without Shoes" event and went barefoot for (most) of the day today (I had to wear them in the cafeteria, and I will have to wear them at the recital tonight).

Why?

Because it reminds me that I have so much that makes me comfortable, and others do not. I've never really spent much time thinking about how nice it is to wear shoes. But today as I skipped into paint lines, treaded carefully over gravel, felt my feet go numb in class, and got some odd stares from my peers, I now realize how difficult it is just to get across campus without shoes. Now, I didn't participate to show some kind of misplaced sense of pride or "Iook at me; I'm putting myself through pain to help these kids thousands of miles away from me." The truth is, I didn't help anybody.

Nobody.

I understand that. But maybe I sparked somebody else's thoughts. I definitely sparked my own. There's more to this nonsense than people realize. Never again will I take my shoes for granted, that's for sure. It's an experience, not an experiment, and I didn't intend to put myself above others by taking my shoes off (that's an absurd thought now that I write it, but I did get hit with a bit of flak for it).

It's a broken world, full of shattered glass and dusty rocks. Sometimes we forget that. Of course, sometimes we forget the wonderful coolness of a soft patch of clover too. It goes well to be reminded of these things at times.

Would you rather live your life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, or live as if there isn't a God and die to find out there is?

I've heard this my whole life, and I think it might be from Blaise Paschal (at least, that's what someone I highly respect told me).

I've had to be very cautious when reviewing this statement. At first I liked it very much, but the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized it leaves too much room for doubt. Surely doubt is that good test of all belief; but I think it's a very strong tool of the enemy too. We can get wrapped up in our own questions and lose track of what we should be doing, namely, coming to the full knowledge of God and sharing it with others. Why doubt what we already know (1 Peter 1:3-9)? Plus, Jesus rebuked his disciples' doubts on numerous occasions; I think particularly of Matthew 21:21, where he said that without doubt we could move mountains.

Christianity's not an insurance service. And I get really nervous when people try to simplify it to such terms.

I've just found ol' Blaise to be a bit misleading with his comment. Good logic; tricky consequences.