HCLM BLOG

It has to be frustrating for true Seminole fans to see so many people hop on the bandwagon after the humiliating loss of the Gators on Saturday afternoon. And if anyone knows humiliating losses, it's a Michigan fan. What is it about human nature that we want to be associated with a winner? Where were all those flags, t-shirts and banners over the last several end of Bowden era years? I know...they were on the shelf at the store. So I'm with you true FSU fans. I hang my Michigan banner every week, even over the last few years when the winingest team in college football history had a losing season...and then another one...

I'm so glad that God isn't a fair weather fan. Could you imagine what life would be like if God only was for us when we were "winning?" It is rather humbling to know that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) We have a God who is for us...all the time. Granted, this is nothing incredibly profound...just a random thought...one of my many earthly examples of the profound love that Christ has for us.

Next blog will be thoughts on wrestling with God through the call process. That one may be intellectually a bit deeper. :-)

I was recently reading an article in the August edition of the Reader's Digest (still not sure why the August issue comes the second week of July but that's for another blog). The story was about Sobibor, a Nazi death camp deep in the forest in Poland. It reminded me of the emotions I felt visiting the Holocaust Museum while I was in Israel. Can human nature really be that bad?

Was struck me about this particular story is what the Germans had done, or more accurately, tried to do. After a semi-successful escape attempt, the Germans destroyed the camp, burning it down and burring the remains underground. What is it about human nature that can justify doing something so inhumane and yet still have the need to hide their behavior? 

When in Israel, I thought of the mass killings that have taken place throughout history. Christians against Muslims, Jews against Christians, Germans against Jews...and the cycle continues. Unfortunately, there is part of that sinful nature in us that can justify behavior but still have the desire to cover it up. So goes the wrestling match with sin. We (or at least I) want to be a living sacrifice for God (Romans 12:1-2) but I find myself (because I'm a LIVING sacrifice) crawling off the altar and doing my own thing. God help me to be "transformed by the renewing on my mind." Then help me to share that with others. You are the only hope for human nature.

"God is your true friend and will always give you the counsel and comfort you need.  Do not resist Him!  Learn to listen to Him in silence so that you won't miss a word of what He says to you.  You know a lot about outward silence, but little about inward silence.  You must practice quieting your restless imagination.  Stop listening to your unrenewed mind and the kind of logic it has!  Get used to coming to God and asking Him for help when He asks you for something you are afraid to give.

Your sensitivity to the smallest affairs shows how much you need God to tear the things of the world from you.  You are making great progress when you begin to give God all the childish attitudes you have, and let Him deal with the "small" problems in your life.  You need not make a deep show of spirituality--just let God work on your everyday issues.  You can die to yourself in the course of your everyday life--you don't need to go out into the desert, or on some high mountain to be spiritual.  All God asks of you is to give Him what He directs you to.  To do this you must watch and pray.  Cultivate trust in God."

-Francois Fenelon

I don't know about you all, but I've got one heck of an imagination!  To this day, if I ever get my hands on a box of legos, or maybe some cardboard and duct tape, I'm good for the rest of the day!  My mind is always running with different ideas and perspectives on things happening throughout my day.  Our imaginations can be awesome things, but we can also use it against ourselves; like when we try to imagine what the future holds and get ourselves all worried about things that aren't even real.

I read this passage from Francois Fenelon this morning, and was blown away by the simple thought that he presented: what if, instead of thinking to ourselves, we thought to God?  What if, as we went through our everyday lives and wrestled with the different situations that arose, we let God in on them instead of mulled them over in our own minds?  Even deeper than that is the idea that we can train our minds to dwell on God's presence all the time.  Instead of having our mind just going crazy with random thoughts 24/7, we can actually learn to focus them onto God.

I love that Fenelon emphasizes that "you need not make a deep show of spirituality--just let God work on your everyday issues".  We don't gain God's peace by pretending that we've got it all together, but just by letting God enter into each moment of our lives as they come to us.  We become like Him by simply experiencing Him in our everyday, ordinary lives.