You Can Raise the Dead?!?

Wow it has been some time...too much time...but like I always say, a lot has gone on since my last post.

For one thing...I graduated from college...minor accomplishment with major implications for my life. Graduation opens the door to the rest of my life, well maybe not solely, but I now have to be a real adult. That is pretty scary.

For another thing...God seems to be really showing up right now, which is a prayer answered.

I just got back from Rockbridge, Intervarsity's Blue Ridge Region retreat from awesomeness. I always seem to go into it so expectant of massive transformation, and leave far more changed than I thought I would be. In fact, that is a running theme...I expect God to move and I expect God to change me, but my expectations are so conditional. I expect change to come in some capacity, that is arguably much smaller than what God can do...much like a scripture from this past week.

John 11:1-44 is the story of Lazarus...I hate calling it a story, but for right now it will suffice. Here we see Jesus, deeply saddened by the illness and subsequent death of his friend Lazarus, brother to Mary and Martha, raise Lazarus from the dead. I am not going to summarize the story much more because if you are interested, you should pick up the Bible and read it! But, one thing caught me off guard. This past week, one of the staff workers in the People of the Word track, my track, provided a brief bit of background about this miracle. Up until then, Jesus' power was thought to end at death. This meant that all of His power couldn't raise the dead. Well, we know how that theory worked out.

But the importance of this is in its parallels with my life, and what I assume is in many Christians' lives. We only expect God to do only so much. We put God's love in a box that can only do this and only do that...but when God really shows up, which is always when you allow Him to show up, that love goes above and beyond. We are just like the Jews in the story of Lazarus. If only Jesus could have been here, we say, then all of this would be ok. If only...well you know what, He has been here. And yet all we can seem to do is pull a Mary and Martha and sulk our way into a straw faith. We are so angry with God for not showing up in our lives, for not being there when we needed Him, that when He does show up, we are bitter and yearn for His attention. We want God to know we are angry at Him. We want Him to know how much He has supposedly let us down.

Wow...pretty conditional right?

First off...God doesn't always have to show up as a burning bush, or on this day of Pentecost, flaming tongues. In fact one of the most amazing appearances of God before Man is Elisha and the whisper. Elisha expected God to come in an earthquake, then a fire, and then a great wind...sound familiar? We look at God and expect Him to speak and move in one way, then when that doesn't work, we continue to expect Him to come in another way...it is pretty cyclical...until we learn to trust Him, and well, shut up. God is going to move...He is moving...

So Lazarus is raised from the dead, and most of the people present are struck with awe and belief. But to end this post, if you read the scripture, you see that some go to the Pharisees, who eventually use this information to plot Jesus' death. So what are you going to do when God shows up?

What have you been doing?

Holy Cow it has been a long time since my last post. I would love to explain why it has been such a long time, but that would just be an excuse, of which usually doesn't matter in this instance.

But something has been really bugging me the last few weeks.

Prayer.

Yep I said it...go ahead and criticize me, but listen to what I have to say.

It's not that prayer is bugging me. It's just that a lot of people around me are only praying. And that to me is just not how this walk should be.

Our journeys with Christ are built on prayer, but it is not only prayer. So why do we pray for things, and then wash our hands clean of it? Why do we pray without intention?

Why do we pray for change, yet not allow God to use us and move us into action for change?

The world is hurting and yet all we can do is pray that God moves. Well, I don't think it is that farfetched to say that God is moving in us, urging us to be that change. Is that a dumb idea?

If all we do is pray to God, and not allow us to be His instruments for change, then that shows that our hearts were not in it in the first place. It shows that we were cautious to allow God to use us to show His love.

We have a campus to love upon, and yet we look at the world instead. We have a nation and a world to love, yet we spend all of our time praying for that love to show up.

HELLO! Is anyone there? That love has shown up. It shows up in our lives, and in our faith, and in our prayers. Why do we keep waiting for God to move, and just let Him move in us?

I'll leave you with that for now...until next time!

I wrote a post a while ago proclaiming my dislike of being a trendy Christian. In my opinion, a trendy Christian, or one who raises their hands during worship just to be seen or who wears the WWJD bracelets just to fit in, is something that is becoming a serious issue. I don't know, maybe I am just turned off by what I perceive to be spiritual fanaticism. I was raised to love God and love Him in my way...I guess I never understood that others can worship in a different way.

I have realized that focus too much of my disdain of my faith on others. What does that matter? I recall a certain scripture about removing the plank from my eye before I remove a speck from another person's eye. I waste so much of my time concerned with being seen...and therefore, I fit my definition of the one thing I don't want to be. I don't want to shout freedom and revolution, and yet, I refuse to act in freedom and revolution in Christ. I don't want to look like a crazy Christian fanatic...yet I refuse to even act like a Christian sometimes.

Where is the happy medium?

Hmm...I look at others and I see passion. I look at others and I see fanaticism. But I don't look at myself. My priorities are severely screwed up. If I am a Christian, I should live like a Christian. And if I recall correctly, that doesn't necessarily mean that I should raise my hands towards heaven, as some would say, when a Christian song comes on the radio. It doesn't require me to recite scripture at the drop of a hat, nor to place it for all to see on my facebook page.

But what I've failed to miss is that I don't have to, but I can. Me. That's where this is going. I chose to follow God. I love God. I would do anything for God, even allow Him to turn me upside down so I can actually be right-side-up. So why don't I act like it? Why do I concern myself with others...what does that matter in this individual relationship with Christ. He is the judge...not me...hmm...

Today's Highs and Lows are...

Happy belated new year everyone!

Sorry for the time lapse...I was in St. Louis for Intervarsity's Global Missions Conference, Urbana. It was probably one of the best, if not the best, experiences in my life. I was both exhausted and excited about what God was doing in my heart and the hearts of the 18,000 other college students from 100 countries of the world and all 50 states. So, now that I have had some time to relax I hope to make this a much more frequent blog.

So I was gonna talk about God's call in one's life. I had it all in my head and I was ready to just write it all out. But I think that is gonna have to go on the back burner for right now. I think I am going to talk about something I am going through at this very moment.

I wish everyday was Urbana. I wish my time was spent hanging out with all 18,000 students just worshiping the Lord and learning how to serve Him. But if everyday were like that then that would diminish the purpose of the conference, and His word.

Spiritual highs and lows are something that comes naturally. Sometimes way too naturally. How do we cope? How do we continue? How do we live like we did when we were spiritually high?

To be honest, I don't have those answers. I have begun journaling my thoughts and struggles with the return to normalcy in hopes of finding some solace. I also have begun spending more time with God in prayer in hopes of maintaining a healthy relationship with Him. At Urbana, I learned a type of prayer that really helps me out with this issue. I pray to God in phrases or questions, and then sit in silence for a little bit, allowing Him to speak to me, whether it be a whisper or burning bush. I journal those prayers as well.

I am hoping to continue this process, updating it here for you to see. But also I am going to be discussing some changes in my life as a result of Urbana, and God's call. You may be surprised to find that some of my "dreams" have diminished, while others have flourished. Life is never settled. It is always changing. My path continues to mature and transform into something that is worthwhile. We'll see where it leads me...