102 reasons to live with me in mind

I'm sure there is a more eloquent way of putting this; simply put, it's not always easy to engage with others where they are at. A few months back a friend challenged me to consider the meaning of Romans 12:15 and how I was living my life.

Rejoice with those that rejoice; mourn with those that mourn.

My initial response was, of course I was living this way, never actually contemplating how I spent my days. I did not really take the time to ask myself if I was really engaged in others lives where they were at, regardless of whether or not it was joyful or sorrowfully.

Recently two of my friends lost someone close to them, two other families that I know lost their homes in the fires, and another is experiencing tremendous heart ache over a lost relationship. On the other hand there are so many that have things to rejoice about. A new baby being born, a marriage proposal and wedding day to plan, and God supernaturally protecting their property from the fires. Over the past few weeks the Holy Spirit has began to speak softly to me about how selfish I had originally interpreted this passage. If I had been more honest with myself about this passage, I would have seen back then what I see now... how twisted my heart in its natural form truly is and how easy it is to wake up thinking only of myself.

I expect everyone else to rejoice with me and mourn with me in my time, rarely do I want to rejoice and mourn with others when it's not convenient for me. In fact, when the fires broke out late last week my heart was torn between rejoicing and mourning for how it was impacting my life. I live far out east and yet many of my friends live directly in the line of fire, including my church. At first my eyes were glued to the TV, mainly because I wanted to know how the evacuations were going to effect me. I wanted to help in any way possible not because I wanted to engage with others but because I wanted life to get back to "normal". The chaos and hopelessness created within me this awkward feeling of displacement and all I could think of was how to get things to calm back down so we could all just go back to peace and quiet.

Now you may think this is being a bit harsh on myself, it's natural to want things to be calm and to feel like you have things under control. Yes, and that's exactly what I am trying to point out, my natural sinful self took over for the first three days of the fires. However, there comes a point when the Holy Spirit decides enough is enough. As I stood outside in the parking lot of Village Inn Tuesday night my eyes began to tear up. There was absolutely no way to control the circumstances and all I could think of was how sad I was for the families that were running for their lives. Driving home with the mountain in my rear view mirror only made things worse. I was safe and so far out East that I could see the whole mountain range. Looking from the deck of the house I saw the fire crawl closer and closer to the city, consuming everything in its path. What was there to do? There was no way to control this circumstance or predict the outcome. Who knew what the morning was going to bring?

In what seemed like just a few seconds life change for thousands of people. They learned over the the days that followed that the flames has destroyed their homes, burned all of their possessions, and for a few, that their loved ones did not make it. For me, I learned that scriptures is right, there is nothing good in me (Romans 7:18). It doesn't take effort to wake up and be selfish, it takes a miracle of Christ's doing to choose to fight the battle to live each day with others in mind. How I choose to live my day, engaged with others and their joys and loses is what matters most and can only be accomplished by his power and strength. So the question I am left with is whether or not I will force others to engage with my joys and loses or step back and choose others over myself? What's going to bring more glory to Christ?

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 4:20-21)

Brandy

Modern Slavery

For my Senior Capstone I am writing research paper on a topic of my choice that relates to my degree. After weeks of procrastination I have begun working on my 30 page paper focused on the effects of awareness of modern slavery on the business world. How does the knowledge of slavery existing change business men's behavior and/or decisions on how to conduct business around the world? Better still is the question of how does it effect us on an individual basis when we know our products were created by slaves?

As I have taken advantage of googles beautiful search engine, it has become evident that there is plenty of research out there for me to use in my paper. In fact here is just one of the talks on modern day slavery that I've watch/heard given by Kevin Bale during one of TED's talks back in 2010. It lasts about 18 minutes but is definitely worth your time.


2 more weeks until my paper is due, I am sure there will be plenty blog posts from me on this one.

May we always keep in mind the true problem we all face is not economical or physical but rather it is a spiritual one. These people don't need freedom from slavery here on earth, but freedom from their spiritual bondage. Your continued prayers for these men and women to come to know our Lord Jesus Christ will have an eternal effect and should never be taken lightly.

Fighting in world full of darkness with the only power that has and will change everything,
Brandy

Fighting Against Death

On my run this morning, my prayers took a different turn than expected. As my route curved along the dirt road in front of where I live, I was reminded of how important it is to fight for the energy to keep going. Some days it is easy to find motivation to get up and run 3.2 miles, yet other days my flesh longs to stay back and have a lazy morning. For instance it took about 10 minutes this morning to psyche myself up, finally I was off but my mind was playing tricks on me. To complete the 3.2 miles, I have to pass my drive way three times. Each time I found myself coming up with a list of reasons why it would make sense to head in. Each time I thought of something new; (first) laundry needs to be done, (second) dog needs to be brought in, (third) internet guy may show up while I am taking a shower, should probably take a shower earlier. O and each time my favorite one would come to mind… man I really need coffee. J What is that?!?!?!?

As the reality that I needed to become more disciplined in my exercise habits sunk in, I tried to remind myself why I was out there to begin with. Running 3.2 miles doesn’t take that long and I know that it is healthy for me. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that working out is something that our bodies need. In fact, it doesn’t take much more than a simple walk up a flight of stairs to see that our bodies need to be worked in order to work. Ultimately, I ended up asking myself why I fight against what I know is good for me. Well, I have a hunch that it’s because I lack discipline and live in a fallen world. It is natural for our flesh to want what brings death. Sadly, we are sinfully programmed to long for things that are not going to bring life, if we allow our flesh to take over that’s exactly what we will get. After thinking about this all morning, my lack of motivation to be disciplined in exercise can also be true of any discipline in other areas, especially ones that are fighting directly against death.

Since become a Christian it has become common to have others ask me if I am reading God’s word. After 10 years one would assume that this habit would have become consistent; however, there are still days, weeks, and seasons when digging into God’s word is not something that I wake up joyfully willing to do. I have to fight hard to make myself realize that there is ALWAYS time for God’s word. Not to sound harsh, but if I can find time to breath I can find time to spend on mediating and feeding on God’s word. It is humorous that some of the same excuses I come up with while passing my driveway on my exercise journey come to mind when I am sitting down to read my bible. It is so tempting to say that I can read later, knowing full well that more often than not, later never becomes the present.

Yesterday as I read chapter one of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I was struck by Paul’s confession of wanting to depart and be with Christ because to him it would be far better than here. (Now bare with me as I make the connection to this desire for more discipline in my life and Paul’s desire to be with Jesus in heaven, I swear I can bring all the noodles together. J) 

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” (Philippians 1: 21-26)

In order to long for life after death with Christ, Paul must have a pretty good understanding of what that reward will look like. The very concept of heaven and being in Jesus’ presence seems so foreign to me, that Paul’s desires to depart from here seems odd. I don’t think it’s my lack of desire for Jesus that makes Paul’s statement seem odd, but rather my shallow understanding of just how amazing it will be to be surrounded by all of creation worshiping, admonishing, and bringing ultimate glory to our King.

When I think about the effort and energy it takes to wake up each morning and get out on my journey, I wonder if like Paul I would find it easier to finish the race if I had the end goal in mind. The 5K run up to the Shrine is only a few weeks away and although it is a short-term goal, I want to beat my time from last year. Secondly, I have worked for 2 years to lose weight, in order to continue going in the right direction I must keep up my workout habits. Also, what about the fact that I want to one day run and play with my kids and my grand kids? You see how there are plenty of short and long term goals to keep me motivated towards the finish line.

It was probably while watching Finding Nemo over the weekend, my subconscious started thinking about all of this. I realized that sometimes it is important to just tell ourselves that we must keep swimming, no matter how much the current wants to pull us back. We can’t give up the fight to live because, like Paul, our eternal reward is waiting and as I enter into His throne room I want to know that I spent every breath on earth bringing Him glory. Just thinking in light of eternity helps me to understand more fully Paul’s desire to be in Christ’s presence hearing the angels sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy!!!!!”

It is my prayer that you too would hear God’s voice calling you to discipline on whatever journey you find yourself running today. Don’t give up the fight to seeing Him glorified through your life because it would be my pleasure to have you standing next to me singing to our most high King.

Philippians 3:12-14

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. “ 

Brandy