School Beckons

As the new school year approaches, and with it a new found campus job as a Building Monitor as well as classes and studying, my time devoted to this blog will be drastically cut short.  But do not fret my handful of followers. My goal is to keep this blog going, updating at least once a week during the school year.  I'll start posting again in early September, some time during the week of the 7th when the year starts. Until then, I encourage you guys to stay close to the Lord and walk in His strength and not your own. Blessings

--Randy (Isa. 41:10)

The name says it all. I say that books intended for women can just as well apply to us guys because of a book I'm currently reading.

The book is written by Beth Moore, a name synonymous with books and other resources for women. So this past weekend when I won her book "Arm Yourself Against the Enemy's Schemes: A Taste of 'When Godly People Do Ungodly Things'" from my church's men's conference, I had some objections. Initially I thought that since this book was for women (the back of the book has Moore's picture with the "Lifeway Women" logo) that I wouldn't be able to get anything out of it. But was I ever wrong!

This book has some amazing truths about Satan, his craftiness, and his ultimate goal to have us fall away from the abundant life God has for each one of us. This book has been great for me personally considering my battles with sin and wanting to walk in true repentance.  So far, I've gotten into the second chapter of the book, and I've learned some great things along the way:

• Overcoming Satan's lies and schemes is possible and it's possible because of who Christ in us. With His power we are able to overcome.

• Anyone can be attacked by the evil one, even those who are in good seasons of their life and close to the Lord.

• Things like our ignorance, passion without a Scriptural foundation, and a lack of discernment are tools that Satan can use to knock us off the path Christ has set for us.

In the end, I think I am learning quite a book from this book, be it targeted to women or not, because it is something relevant to my life and it's a struggle I have and am facing. A quote my brother has told me a few times which he heard from a fellow pastor was, "Read about things you are struggling with." I think for me, this is one of those books. I encourage you to find a book concerning something you're struggling with, be it a specific sin like pornography or feeling distant from God, there's more than likely a book out there for you. If you hate to read, download an audio version of the book and listen to it while you work out or while driving. If there's one thing I've learned from reading these types of books myself and hearing others tell me what they've learned from reading these books, it's that reading about things you're dealing with causes you to learn more about your struggle and see it from a new perspective, and in my opinion,  that can only benefit you. 

When was the last time you said these two small words?

Was it difficult? Was it humbling? How about tedious?

I would consider myself a very thankful person. I would say it's just a part of my nature. I always try to thank people who help me out during my times of need and even in the little things in life like when someone holds a door for me. 

But I don't say this to brag about myself. No, I want to share what my life is now since I've taken on a lifestyle of being thankful. Really, this all connects to my love and passion for worship, and with that comes a brief lesson in etymology.

The word "worship" as we know it has its origins in numerous languages. One in particular is the word "worthschipe" (worth-ship) which has its origins with the Anglo-Saxons. Notice the root word there? It's "worth," and if we use context clues, we can conclude that worship gives something value or importance; That's worth! Now add God to the picture (Duh!). Our worship of Christ means that we call Him worthy, we think He is valuable. He's important to us.

Alright, class dismissed. If we can understand how our worship of Christ, the Holy One who indeed is worthy, it's easy to see where the idea of praise comes in. Praise simply is the action of giving worth. It the "God, You're great," "God, You're merciful." But in my time of learning and studying about worship in college, I have learned that worship is only a lifestyle once it has action behind it. 

These two words, "Thank You," fall into a statement of praise. But as I said previously, words aren't enough in order to achieve a lifestyle of worship. The truth with all of this is that this it's really only possible with God. He is the source of our praise and worship; He's the reason we do what we do and the reason we are who we are, and it's Him, through the work of His Holy Spirit who, that this change happens. 

What does this action look like? The best way I can describe it is with myself because I remember where I used to be and I see now where I am now in my relationship with Christ, and with it, my life of worship towards Him. Before, I could care less about the sky or nature. But now, I love it when there's a beautiful sunset or the sky looks like it's painted on. Before, I thought prayer was about getting my agenda across and asking for things and I rarely prayed outside my youth group. Now, I pray for others all the time and love to pray in the shower. [:-D)

I think the bottom line is that all of this, understanding what worship is, what praise is, what a thankful lifestyle is, all starts at our relationship with the Lord. Again, I don't share all my experiences to brag about me. I do it to brag about God and what He's done and is doing in my life. My prayer is that you would see this and see the goodness of Christ and see how rewarding He wanted this life to be. Most of all, I ask you to pray about this for yourself and seek the Lord. "Ask, seek, and knock" as it talks about in Matthew 7:7. Draw near and stay close to the Lord and I can tell you He will help you understand what worship is and how it is a way of life.

I had a dream last night about two things: soap and persecution. Why on Earth would these two things go together? I have no idea, either. Anyway, let me set the stage for you.

My dream went like this:
     I found myself in this hallway outside of what seemed like a laundry room. All the floors were concrete and they were old and disgusting. The walls weren't too awesome, either. Picture sea-foam green straight from the '70s everywhere. Next thing I know I see this old hag-like woman handing me a large basket of laundry. When I say heavy, I mean it. The basket was filled to the brim, it looked like a full basket of clothes but it must have weighed a hundred or more pounds. I was in agony as I carried it! She then directed me to this room at the end of the hallway, the laundry room.
   This room was pretty empty besides her equally hag-like assistant, a couch that was falling apart, and a washer and dryer. There were also cobwebs in each of the room's corners, and I saw a few tiny spiders crawling around. I was thinking, "Why am I here, who is this woman, and what's the deal with the laundry?" Being exhausted from carrying the clothes, I propped my feet up on the table. Her assistant thn proceeded to take my shoes (my ratty Chuck Taylor knock offs from Target, also falling apart) and my socks off my feet and put them off to the side somewhere. I'm assuming they were with the other random clothes.
   Next, to make this story weirder, the old hag-lady (not the assistant) tells me I'm going to drown in dish soap if I didn't renounce my faith in Jesus Christ.

Don't ask me why dish soap and why the laundry and why couldn't my dream could have been more manly. I have no idea. It just happened.

So, anyway, I'm sitting in this gross laundry room being threatened by a dish soap flood if I don't renounce my faith in Christ, and I told the old hag-lady a paraphrase of what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar: "No I will not renounce my faith in Christ. My God's faithful and I know He can save me from this soapy death. But even if He doesn't, I'll still serve Him" (see Daniel 3:16-18 to see what they said, minus the soap references). Then I remember looking at the doorway of this laundry room and I see this blue-ish dish soap start to flood in (think Dawn dish soap). I got kinda nervous as it got closer and closer to me and as it got higher and higher. It got up to the ball joints on my feet and I was nervous still. Part of me was freaking out, thinking, "Okay, God, where are you." I took a deep breath, everything went white, and then I woke up.

After I woke up, I was trying to figure out why persecution was on my mind and in my dream. Maybe it was because I read the first chapter of I John yesterday, and it talked about being in the light and truly living out your faith, and really just being real. The soap, on the other hand, I have no idea why it was there...

Jesus says that in this world, we'll all face persecution because we follow Him. Realistically, I doubt any Christian will face persecution like this. Although, if someone's got a bone to pick with you and they happen to shop at Sam's Club, I'd watch my back. Either way, I hope that regardless of the situation I'm in, I hope I wouldn't ever hesitate to stand up for my faith in Christ, and I hope the same thing for you. I hope we wouldn't be ashamed of the hope we have because of Christ being in our lives.

Know that whenever we are persecuted because of what we believe, Christ is alongside us each step of the way to help us endure it and He's also gone before us. So, in the end, I pray that we would take courage if we face persecution. I pray that we really would "[c]onsider it pure joy..." when we face our trials (James 1:2), however strange they may be.

Over this past week as I've been thinking about what to do with my blog (that has a few new followers and comments, mind you. Thanks to everyone!) I was feeling a little bit of a creative block as to what I should do. I couldn't find inspiration anywhere until I thought about something I do a lot on Twitter.

If you're not that familiar with Twitter and its use of hashtags, feel free to click on the hashtag link  so you can get up to speed.

However, if you're stubborn like I am, or just a PC user weary of viruses from some unknown link placed in a blog post, I'll gladly give you a brief definition of what a hashtag is. On Twitter, people use hashtags, or a pound sign (#) with text after it, to group their Twitter posts so they can find them easily if they need to or see what people using the same hashtag are saying.  For example, a hashtag I use a lot  in my tweets is #qwikquestion. I use this whenever I have a random question on my mind. For instance, I was wondering about how if toilets flush in the opposite direction in different hemispheres of the world would their faucets be labeled the opposite from ours (e.g hot would be on the right, cold on the left, etc.)

Well, after being told the whole "toilets flush in different directions" thing was bogus, I cried a little on the inside. Then, I felt a little bit better and felt good that I was now an informed person who knew the truth that all toilets flush the same way.

But anyway, I was inspired by this hashtag that I use every now and then and I thought I'd bring the concept to you guys here at Confessions of A Follower.

So, today's Qwik Question is: What is the role of the church to you?

I read online today that Anne Rice, a famous author who writes a lot about vampires,  left the Christian faith via her Facebook status. If you remember the '90s movie "Interview With A Vampire" with Tom Cruise and Matt Damon, she wrote the novel of the same name that spawned that movie.  I remember a few years ago when she was interviewed on Good Morning America about her leaving the dark atmosphere that her books were about in favor of a Christian slant. But now to hear this, it's kind of sad.

There were also some interesting comments about this story, one in particular that made me want to ask this question. The comment is by a user on the Today website named "Texas Lady-1937322" and here's what she said in response to Rice leaving her faith:

"I think I understand what she was trying to say. However, her choice of words is, perhaps, not correct. I am a Christian. Have been all my life. But, I am anti-church. I think more harm has been done in the name of organized religion than in the name of any other institution in the history of mankind. I refuse to be a part of this. It irritates me when someone tells me that because I do not attend a church I am not religious, but spiritual. That makes it sound as though I have created my own religion . I am VERY religious and believe in the true Christian doctrines. I just chose to practice my religion in the quiet of my own home rather than parade it before the community. It is a private matter to me, between me and my God. Anyone who tries to force others to do as they do in the name of religion is just a bully and organized religion is their weapon of choice."

What I don't understand about this woman's comment is how she can be a Christian without the church. In my opinion, I think the church is a critical part of our spiritual growth and development. I keep reading her words and I keep getting blown away; "...I [choose] to practice my religion in the quiet of my own home rather than...before the community[?]" What about our calling to be salt and light from Matthew 5: 13-14? Aren't we called by God to "add flavor to" this bland world and shine the light of Truth in this fallen world that's covered by darkness? I don't think God wanted us to wait for everyone to come to us, I think he told us to "Therefore, go and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19).

In the end, she may have some scars from how the church has treated her in the past, and I can understand that, but if she was hurt, she didn't heal properly from it and it seems like she's formed some bitterness. All I know is that the church, the Body of Christ, has many parts, and all of them are needed to function. A body can't function with only one hand or eye, can it? Maybe prosthetic limbs could be an option, but they only cover up the real problem: you're missing a hand or an eye. The Body needs parts, people gathered in the name of Christ, to function properly. The church is where we gather together (be it in a legit church building or your neighbor's basement) to fellowship, to worship, to be accountable with one another, to meet each other's needs, to pray for one another, etc. The church builds up certain areas of our lives that just aren't tapped into when we are by ourselves. When our relationship with Christ is when it's purely vertical, when it's "me and God and that's it," or when we are injured by the church and aren't treated properly, we become deformed. We start to spiritually rot and we can only go so far in our walk. As gross as it sounds, it's true and it happens.