Opinions

Have you ever had the feeling that the opinion of a person that you had cherished in the past has come to disappoint you in the present?

I came to realize that today when one of the leaders at my home church expressed his opinions to me on what to do when I graduated. In a discussion, I told him what I felt and then he responded by telling me to "look at all my options."

Now I am open to looking at all the options, and I know that I need to look at everything that is available to me, but I knew that in the way that he was telling me things that he was expresses his theological beliefs as well as through the expression of these beliefs the in my opinion rejection of my opinions.

This really disappointed me for I had for years looked to this person as a spiritual leader, but in this discussion I realized that his beliefs in theology were opposed to mine and that I would need to heed what he told me with that fact in mine.

I am not trying to make myself sound as if I am against differing opinions, but I know that in situations such as this I cannot let the beliefs of another compromise what it is that I know and hold true.

One of the things that I try to do is surround myself with people who have like opinions with myself, specifically when it comes to theological beliefs.

These beliefs are quiet possible the most important beliefs to have for it is theological beliefs that shape us as Christians. It is in these theological beliefs that we find our identity as Christians.

So to have someone in a way question or go against these ideals, especially when I know that this person is a fellow Christian is disconcerting.

I have had to defend my beliefs to non-Christians before and I am at least comfortable when it comes to this, but to have to listen to someone who is a fellow believer go against my beliefs was a new experience.

Maturity

It is really amazing how much we mature over the years, in ways physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Take for example a seventh grader. Fresh into a youth group, the seventh grader brings with them an immaturity that only the nurturing of others can help to end.

However, through interactions with others, namely older adults, youth leaders, and fellow older youth the young are able to come to terms with their immaturity and eventually grow into young adults.

I find it interesting how younger youth interact with each other when they are in the presence of older youth and adults, especially when there are more younger youth than older people.

It seems to me that the younger youth, when in the presence of their older peers only, attempt to try to “act up” to the older youth, showing just how mature they think they are. However, it is in the environments when there are more younger youth than older youth that this façade of maturity ends.

I bring this up because I have found that I have had experiences such as this when it comes to spirituality in that when I am around those who know more about faith than me I attempt to “act up” to their knowledge of faith.

Case in point: on the way to the airport in Sao Paulo last spring on missions, two of the guys on the trip with me were having a discussion on Calvinism, and I attempted to act like I knew what they were talking about and tried to stay in the discussion.

However, at the time I knew that there was Calvinism and that was it. I knew nothing of the tenants of Calvinism and just tried to pick up on them as the discussion went on.

This is a clear sign of immaturity in that I attempted to “act up” while later in an environment where I was more comfortable I was able to admit my lack of an understanding of the topic.

If I were truly mature, I would have been able to admit this lack of knowledge when the discussion had begun.

A recurring theme of this it seems is that there are areas in my life where I need to continue to grow, and this is definitely an example of this.

As I continue to grow in my faith and as a person, I hope that I will be able to grow out of the immaturity that I have talked about above, as well as the immaturity that I live in as a college student who in the past has been susceptible to stumble.

I freely admit that in the past I have made mistakes, such as gone out with friends and done things that I regret, namely going out and drinking excessively.

And the ability to come past that stage is just one of the ways in which I feel that I have matured, for as I mentioned in a previous post, I have attempted to distance myself from the actions that have caused me to stumble in the past.

Maturity. It is definitely something that is in the eye of the beholder, but I feel, no I know that there are areas I need to mature, and I know that I need to continue to work on maturing myself as I grow.

Finding Blessings

In a previous post I wrote about how important it is for us to be able to recognize the blessings that God has put before us.

Well today I found an amazing example of the blessings that God can and does provide to those to who are faithful to him.

I have made it no secret that I am planning on pursuing a path in missions to serve God and spread the word of the Gospel. Well, in the time being, since I am still a full time student, I attempt to take all the available opportunities to go and help spread the word of God.

Well, as you might imagine, this can be rather expensive.

Well, my mom called me and told me that she had spoken to someone who has quite a bit of influence in my home church (the pastor's wife) and she had taken an interest in my plans for missions and asked my mom to have me set up a time so that we could sit down and talk. So today I met with her at the Panera Bread in Southern Pines.

Wow was I amazed at what we talked about as well as the blessing that this meeting has given me!

In this time of discussion, she told me how I should go about trying to gain funding for my mission trip to Southeast Asia and the ways that I need to go about attempting to secure that funding.

She further told me that she would attempt to help me with my pursuit of help from the church for she wanted me to be able to see that the church where I grew up would take care of me.

Wow, simply wow. It is amazing how good God is to us if we just listen. I could have not set up this meeting, I could have (excuse the language) half-assed what I told her, but instead I recognized this as an opportunity and low and behold it was a blessing from God.

The funding for my Southeast Asia trip was one of the things that has been worrying me for a while, so to know that God has blessed me with a potential source of funding to help pay for the trip is such a relief that I know that God is looking out for me.

And I pray that this will continue to occur in the future, but not just for me. I pray that we will all jump on the opportunities that are presented to us and be able to recognize that God blesses us through these opportunities.

Moral of the story: it is through opportunity that God blesses us, we just need to be able to recognize it.

The Future

There are some things that are just so frustrating, but nothing can be more frustrating than the questioning of the plans that people have for the future.

More specifically, the way that othrs can question the plans that I have made for the future.

I know that my plans are not airtight, I know that my plans are not perfect, but as far as I am concerned they are as well laid out as possible.

I know that there will be obstacles for me to face. I know that there will be problems that I will face as the years pass, but I know that I believe that I will able to overcome whatever comes my way.

I know that the path that I have chosen is a difficult one, but I also know that it is the path that I am meant to undertake.

And that is the key thing that I keep trying to tell people.

I know that this is the path that I am meant to take because this is the path that has been laid out before me.

As I have mentioned, I have sustained so much personal growth over the past two years that I know that I am better able to grasp the plans and view the path that I believe God has laid out before me.

So when people question me and my future plans, to me it feels like they are questioning the growth that I have had as a person over the past two years.

And I know that this is not the intention, but it is what it feels like.

So I know that I need to overcome this feeling, but I know that it will be hard for me to do this as i have a propensity to take things personally.

And when I get over this, I will get over many things that are difficult in my life.

Counting Blessings

So how many times have you ever sat down and thought of all the ways that the Lord has blessed you, that you have been vindicated and pulled out of death through the death of Jesus?

Honestly, think about it. I for one know that I don't do that nearly enough.

I don't sit and think about the blessing that I have in my education, that this will enable me to do things that billions of other people in the world are unable to even imagine.

I don't sit and think about the blessing that I have in the house that I live in, the fact that at the end of the day I have a place that is warm where I am able to lay my head and be at peace.

I don't sit and think about the blessing that I have in the family that I have that loves and supports me and will love and support me through all of my days.

I don't sit and think about the blessing that I have in the people that I surround myself with everyday, the friends and companions of mine in whom I can confide and know that they will not let me down.

I don't sit and think about the blessing that I have in salvation, the fact that God loved me and this world so much that He sent his one and only Son to come upon the Earth and die.

Think about that - He sent his Son to DIE, not to live, but to DIE! While Jesus did rise again, the only way for Him to be resurrected was for Him to make the ultimate sacrifice and die a death so horrible that I don't wish it on anyone.

This is a blessing above all other blessings.

And I know that in my everyday life, I don't dwell on this nearly enough. I know that if I truly did, I would have a greater appreciation of what it means to be claimed by grace, to know that I have a place in Heaven through the blood of Christ.

How could I possibly live up to that blessing?

Two simple words: I can't.

I know that I can never live in such a way as to fully repay my debt to God, all I can do is live my life in such a way to bring Him glory. And I know that through that, I will find my blessings and count them in every way that I can.

Fellowship

By far one of the greatest things that has helped me change my life this past year has been my fellowship that I have had with three guys who have all helped me in different ways.

Two ministers and one good friend whom I trust with so much.

I know that it is important for me to be able to express how I feel to another for it is this inability that has hindered my spiritual and emotional growth.

Take today for example.

I had the opportunity to go to a friends birthday party, which I would have loved to do. However, I know that had I gone to this party, then I would have done things that I would have regretted in the long run.

In years gone by, I would have not thought twice about going out, getting drunk, and potentially making a fool of myself. Also, this would have ruined the ministry that I have attempted to build between me and my friends.

However, instead of doing this, I instead made a decision to do something different.

While it is true that I could have gone to the party, not had anything to drink and instead just hung out, I don't think that putting myself in a situation to be tempted by alcohol would be constructive.

So instead I went and played football with a group of guys from the ministry that I attend.

And it was amazing.

This type of decision is what I mean when I say that I have grown spiritually and emotionally through fellowship with these three guys. I know that by being able to open up about who I am then they are able to help me see the error of my ways and attempt to change the direction that my life is going.

As one of my fellowship partners told me, "In order to change our lives out of sin then we need to acknowledge that we are in sin."

It is through fellowship that I feel that I am better able to recognize my sin and through that I am able to attempt to change my life out of sin.

Leadership

There is such a great difference between good and bad leadership, Godly leadership and selfish leadership.

And unfortunately, right now it seems that I am stuck right in the middle of a battle between two examples of both types of leadership.

Right now there is a real split going on in one of the organizations that I am involved in and it truly pains me to see how friends that I have seem to be divided as to who they support, the student or the teacher.

I personally feel that this is an example of younger, less experienced people not knowing what is best for the organization that they have been entrusted to take a leadership role in.

It is unfortunate that this is the case, and I hate speculating about things that I am not directly involved in, but I feel that in this situation it is important for me to say what I think and feel and for me to be clear as to this.

I feel that the organization is on the verge of a dangerous transitional period that could either cripple the organization or galvanize the members of the organization to grow together.

However, realistically, I know in my heart and in my mind that the only way for the current situation to be fixed is for there to be some alienation for the change is absolutely necessary.

And I really hate saying that. I really do.

But like I said, I know in my heart that the best thing for the organization is for there to be almost a pruning of members who are holding the organization back from achieving its overall goals.

All I can do is pray that this will work in the long run.