Monday, June 18, 2007

Reasons why I know there is a God who has a plan for me

A few reasons that I believe in God:

-For my trip to South Korea/Chicago, I needed to raise 2800 dollars in support + 190$ of plane ticket to/from chicago/atlanta. Today I got 3 checks in the mail that bring my total support raised to 2985$.

-I haven't gotten to talk to Jessica in over two weeks. The first day I get a chance to call her I get off work half an hour early which means I could talk to her longer (the 6 hr time difference makes for poor talking times when you work all day).

-I have to talk to my boss at work about my job situation when I return from project. I really didn't want to talk to my direct boss, but the company president instead, but that wasn't going to look good on my part. My direct boss happens to have decided to take this week off for vacation instead of next week (like he'd planned) so I have no choice but to talk to the president now.

-I really have been looking for a way to get some more experience leading worship so I might be able to at Clemson soon, and today I got an email from my project director saying that we really need someone to sing/lead worship while we are in Chicago.



Those are just the ways I was observant of God speaking to me today. I'm sure He works like this everyday, but I don't realize it. How is God showing himself to you?

Monday, June 4, 2007

Ugly People

"Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They've got nothing to lose."


We all feel like in our lives we have something to lose. Pride, money, respect, friends, cookies (ok, so that last one is just cuz i'm hungry and i just ate my last box of Dunkaroos). But in all reality, we've got nothing to lost. It is all meaningless. I watched a movie with Lindsey last night called About Schmidt. It stars Jack Nicholson, who is an amazing actor, who in the movie realizes after he retires, his wife dies, and his daughter gets married, that his life has had no purpose and it has no meaning. My pastor Mark preached about the same topic on Sunday. If you've ever read the book of Ecclesiastes, it pretty much has the same message: everything in this world is meaningless. Pleasures, wisdom, riches, the works- and this is coming from the author, Solomon, the richest, wisest man ever.

So if everything in his life was meaningless, ours is too, right? What have we got to lose? Which has lead me to a paradigm shift in my small, pathetic life. Solomon had nothing worth living for. But the difference between between him and me is Christ. So if everything apart from Christ is meaningless and not worth living for, than he is the only thing worth living for. Why do I spend day after day after day being totally consumed with my own desires and meaningless things? Everything I work for and occupy my time with, outside of God, is pointless. I'm seriously starting to question , then, what is my purpose?

What am I supposed to be doing?

Why did God give me the talents I have?

Why are all the dunkaroos gone?(sorry, still hungry.)


I could use some prayer. I think we all could. We have a lot of things in our lives that are not of God, that are of our own, or even worse, Satan's, plans and ideas. We are called to be totally consumed by God and his plan for us, his blessings for our lives. I've got a lot to think about, whether or not engineering is how I'm supposed to be spending my time, where God wants me to minister, and how can I better live a meaningful life.


So don't fight ugly people. They've got nothing to lose. Yet Christ loved the ugly people. The sick and disfigured. He gave them everything to live for. He's given me everything to live for.