Mumford and Sons

As I was listening to one of my new favorite bands the other day and found one of their lyrics quite powerful.

In these bodies we will live, In these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life.

It doesn't matter what we do, we cannot change the body we are in or if we will die. The only thing we can have a say in is where we put our effort. In recent years the majority of the information I have been seeking has been within either the business or spiritual realm. So when I heard these few sentence fragments a few key words stuck out to me. Anytime love is put into something I think of God, for He is love. The other word that caught my attention was “invest.”

In a business sense, to invest means to put forth capital with hope or expectation of return greater than put in. It is not uncommon for an entrepreneur to "invest" tens of thousands of dollars to start up a new business to hope for return years down the road. The same goes for long term investments into the stock market.

The combination of love, life, and invest in the same phrase struck me. We can work our whole lives and trade our time for money as employees. Or for the select few who get into to investor market their money makes money for them. We are not made to spend our love on people or things or we will become love poor. We need love in return. If we invest our love wisely, God will guarantee a return ten fold. Don’t you wish you had that kind of guarantee in money investments! Invest your love wisely, for you do not know when the life of the investment (you) will end.

I John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

An Experiment In Sleep

While reading some of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Meditating on the Word, I was compelled to try a theory. He states within that an essential part of living the Christian life, is starting off every morning in prayer and reading scripture. This morning I had to work at 8:30 a.m., not exactly a late start for me. If I was to be up early enough to read and pray, then my alarm would sound no later than 6:45 a.m. It seemed like a daunting task to peel myself away from my warm pillow and homemade blanket. I forced myself to do it purely for the sake of experiment. Now it is 9:30 a.m. and I am all smiles and ready to take on the day. We’ll see how I feel around 3:00 p.m.!!! I do feel much more productive right now than usual. I guess Bonhoeffer was as smart as they say.

"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."
                                          -Dietrich Bonhoeffer-

I've got it figured out!

It has finally hit me. I have got it all figured out. I have figured out that I have NOT arrived. I have so much to learn about life and how to interact with people that it makes my head spin. The most interesting thought in all of this is that if it took me 22 years to figure this out (and I would consider myself an observant guy) then how do others feel? All too often we get caught up with our own opinions of situations. The best thing to do is take a step back and look at it from a different perspective... theirs. I have learned this the hard way all too many times with people I love. A word of advice... don't give advice unless time has been spent looking at all the perspectives!

"A man convinced against his will, is of the same mind still"

Just around the corner

Life can hit fast. One day I am pullin an nighter at my youth pastors house with Halo 1 being the big draw, and the next I am plucking a grey hair and making wedding plans. Looking into a career can be a scary thing. I guess I just have to keep reminding myself that I need to seek God's plan in a career and not try to find one myself. I don't want to just let it happen.
A wise man once told me there is a big difference between being old, and getting old. Being old is a mindset, one that never really has to happen. Getting old is when you wake up one morning only to find you are sore from lifting a few boxes or all of a sudden have hair in places it never was before. It is not a bad thing to not want to be old. You cannot help the getting old part, but being youthful can always be a part of your life. Don't let your youth die. Yeah, life can suck at times. But don't let it speed your aging process.

As a great quote goes from the movie Braveheart, "all men die, but few men truly live"
Let's work on keeping the life in life.

Destructive power of Love

In my short experience here on this large sphere called earth, I have seen what power there is behind this word, this action, this expression called love. God is love. But just like any other great thing that is in existence, put a little sin called human nature in the mix and that great thing turns destructive. I have multiple strong examples of this that have occurred closely to me. Three involving my close friends, two involving family, and once in my own life. People shift their whole lifestyle for this thing called love.

When used properly love is binding. Love is the driving force that keeps this world in order. Without it, there would be no law, no morals, no joy. And yet it drives even the most intelligent people to foolishness and blindness. I have felt love; have seen it build up and replenish people. I have also witnessed it being poorly used and even ruining peoples lives. A man giving up his joy to please an ungrateful woman; a woman giving up her body for a lust driven man; a list of people driven into the ground for another, yet left empty by an unyielding significant other. How do we break this cycle? How to we protect ourselves from this blind love? God demands love. And I think in the pursuit of finding out what that love look likes will help us better recognize love in another. Relational love must be reciprocated.

We are to love everyone. But when love is the root of a growing relationship, it must be flowing from both sides. We are to pour ourselves into the people who need Christ. But the people who are close to us, not only need us to pour into them, but also need pour into us. We need each other. Be sure you are being filled by the close people in your life or you will find yourself endlessly empty.

color blind

A crayon sits on the table. I look at it and you look at it. We both decide it is blue. I have been told since I was a small child just like you, that is what blue looks like. But what if, through my eyes I see the color green, but have been told my whole life it is called blue. What if I was color blind from birth, seeing differently than everyone else, but still have every color named? How I see the world would be completely different than anyone else.

This is religion in a nutshell. Everyone across the globe has been told one thing from birth (or nothing, but that is still a view) about what to believe. Each knows that they see "blue". As Christians we believe we see the true blue, but how do you explain blue to someone who cannot see it? The way we see the "colors" of the world shapes how we interact with the world. The trick is, how do we attempt to understand what others see? One cannot go into another's head and see the world. The phrases "see the world through their eyes" or "to spend a day in their shoes" now have much more power.

What color is your crayon?

Faith and Sports

Through the course of the last few weeks I have noticed a change in my own thought process. It has come with the increase in competitiveness of Intramural Football. Football has been one of my favorite things to do since I was a child. But now I find myself being at odds within my mind of whether or not it is good for me. To play with the intensity that I need to focus on making the right plays, I find myself in conflict with God's Kingdom.

Romans 12:18  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

In order for me to do something good on the athletic field, generally means to make someone else look bad, or to cause some form of discomfort to them. This does not keep me at peace with them. Does this further the kingdom? Is there a way to play at a highly competitive level without bringing pride into the mindset of every athlete involved?

The answer is yes. But it is comparable to a rich man entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It is very difficult.

Lord help us be humble...