Having A Good Time?

Is it possible to have a good time even when you are having a bad time?

No, you say, it is not possible to be happy when you're sad or sad when you're happy. If you believe that I encourage you to keep reading... Happiness goes much deeper than we tend to think.

If you sit back and look at your surroundings what do you notice? Besides the fact that you are obviously reading this blog, you are probably at home in your room in front of your computer screen. Or maybe you are at school, reading this because you figure it must be more interesting than your teachers babble. But what about this situation makes you happy?

Maybe it's your purple keyboard, or the music playing from the speakers...

There is something. There is always a way to find happiness even when the situation feels helpless. Some of the happiest people I've seen have the least in this life. Yet they smile like they have the world and are happy to just be alive.

Whether it's turning on your favorite song, watching people at your school (and laughing at the ridiculousness of it all!), there is usually a way to find something good to be happy about.

You can be happy with the time you were given with someone, the lessons that you have learned, the moments that last forever, the memories you've made with the right people. You can be happy that your situation isn't 'that bad' because in all reality it could be worse. I think many times we get so focused on the bad and the feelings of despair that we completely shut out the good. We often forget to be thankful when the going gets tough or we feel we have become stagnate.

I'm not guaranteeing this will work for you but it's worth a shot! Be thankful for the people and things that make you happy and brighten your life. Focus on the good and always put God first. His joy is perfect and He will always be willing to remind you of what makes you happy if you ask. Remember never to doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light.

Nehemiah 8:10 "...For the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Roadblocks and Interventions

Last night we talked about how we must actively seek after God if we expect to have Him in our lives. This world makes it difficult for us to encounter God because we are constantly being bombarded by distractions. We have to fight through the world and sometimes even ourselves to tear down the walls of the maze that keeps us from reaching Him. I asked three questions:

1.) What are some of the things you are around at your school that society says is ok, but you personally do not think God has in His plan for your life?
2.) How do you get to know and understand God and what He has for you?
3.) About what percent of Christians do you believe are at church for the wrong reasons? What are those reasons?

We do not make a mental and emotional decision to seek God because he is lost. That’s why we would seek our wallet, phone, or a sock. But God is not lost so we do not feel this sense of urgency to seek after Him. "But still, there is always something through which or around which we must go to meet him consciously. This going through or around is what seeking is. He is often hidden. We must go through the maze and around obstacles." I believe that sometimes as Christians we expect God to just fall out of the sky and into our laps, but because we live in this world, it's not that simple.

This world and what it wants for us and how it wants us to behave is nothing more then a series of road blocks that make it difficult to seek after God, to reach His shoulders. God's shoulders is where we should all strive to be. If we can see this world from his point of view, it will make our lives easier and help us make sense of His plan for us.

How can we truly get to know Him if we bring these road blocks into church or youth group? If we come to church with a the wrong intentions and do not want to put forth the effort to seek Him, we will never 'find' Him. The same goes for school. If we walk the halls with the intention of blending in and not taking a stand for God, we are putting up road blocks in our lives and we might be putting some up in the lives of others without realizing it.

The God Test: What are some roadblocks in your life that are building up walls between you and God?

Colossians 3:1-2
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

A Wake Up Call

The worst thing we can do is push God out of a relationship. Any relationship apply's not just with the person you love. God is supposed to be the center of it all. He's supposed to be the center of our entire life and yet often times we push him out more than we pull him in. Why?

Doing things the 'normal' way just feels easier. We start to go about life thinking only of ourselves and we mimic what we see everyone else doing. We treat ourselves and our relationships like the interactions we see on our favorite t.v. shows and we take the path of least resistance. The problem is that it works. . . for awhile.

Recently I have just lost touch with God. I've put my dreams and passions aside and settled for a life of the mundane. I decided to focus on other things and told God to 'wait' until I was done doing earthly things like college, part time job, relationships etc. It just seemed easier to do what everyone else does around me and it seemed o.k.. Than I almost lost the most important thing in my life.

You see, God gave me something that some people spend years dreaming about. It was a perfectly orchestrated blessing that he entrusted me with and told me to carry out in a way that would please Him. He basically said, "If I give you this now will you water it with prayer, put in under the light of my Son and respect it with a higher standard than what the world would?" I said yes and so my blessing began to grow. And than it seemed better to water it with my own words, place it in the coolness of night and lower its standards because I was afraid of failure and rejection. Instead for taking care of this precious gift, I almost destroyed it.

I had a wake up call. A slap in the face was exactly what I needed. A harsh reality kicked in. God was telling me that if He had entrusted me to carry out something this big, that I couldn't not continue to do so without him or it would crumble apart. What was I thinking? We weren't meant to handle things this big on our own. God wants to be the center of it all, which is why He places us in situations we can't possibly handle without His help.

I got back that part of me I almost lost and I have never felt more assured in my life. God moved his blessing back over me and I feel restored to His will. And I thank Him for giving me something stronger than me to show me that I needed to change.

Don't ever take God out of the equation. You may have the blessing but if you don't take care of it you can lose it. It's a choice. And the best part is that if God is in the center you will never have to worry about whether it's right, wrong, if you are missing out or living it out. You'll just continue on His path and all questions will be answered.