Brain Works.

Whenever we are faced with a challenge some of us think about the following things:

What is the probability of the situation working out?

How many different scenarios can arise from this problem?

What is the probable outcome for each of those scenarios?

Which are the best scenario courses of action?

It gets worse...

Of those best courses of action, which will be most likely to succeed?

If one or more of those choices has a desired, probable outcome, which will you chose?

Congratulations- you just took a step into the way my brain works. I hope I didn't confuse you too much along the way. Some people claim I think too much and the truth is I do. I tend to over analyze my situations and dissect them into the simplest forms of matter for processing. But it's not always a good thing (and if you know me, you would never have guessed I think like that because I am generally laid back and easy going). Seeing as we serve a God whose ways are above our ways and thoughts above our thoughts, why do we try so hard to understand?

God always tends to chose the course of action for me that I never would've chosen because the end result, after countless hours of thinking, are always inconclusive. These are the paths I can not see the light at the end of the tunnel in. This requires blind and selfless faith to jump right in and let God light up the path a little at a time along the way.

Honestly this is just what has been on my mind lately. If I can see a probable outcome and a simple solution, it is most likely not what God has for me. On the other hand lately, If the situation seems impossible and no probable outcome can be established, God says to go that way.

So that's what I do. And that's when God makes His plan crystal clear. He is not the author of confusion, but He wants to be the one to show us the clarity. So if we try to figure Gods ways out on our own, we get confused. Everything happens for a reason. God will show you what that reason is. Sometimes you just need to stop searching for it. Sometimes you need to stop questioning it. Let God be God.

Love without limits and bounds.

If I tell you that love knows no limits and knows no bounds what is the first thing that comes to mind?

We often hear stories about the love people have for each other that allows them to over come every obstacle and even defeat evil. At the end of every disney movie it is usually love that breaks the spell and the loveless villain that gets destroyed. We have an understanding that love is a powerful force but we never fully understand it until we see it in action.

There have been countless stories about a parents love for their child, saving them. Or stories about a couple that falls in love and must change the hearts of their families and their entire world in order to be accepted and be together. There are also stories of best friends sticking together and helping each other in their most desperate hour. If love is such a powerful force that it causes people to change their entire lives to pursue it, how can we say that it doesn't exist?

If people loved more they would accomplish more. If they loved even their enemies there would be no reason for fighting. This world destroys love on a daily basis because it realizes how powerful it is.

"For God so loved the world"- a verse we hear all the time but do we really know what that sentence entails? Think about the craziest thing you or someone you know has ever done for love... People risk everything they have for the power of love because they know that love will always triumph over hate. It is a powerful weapon. Once you have it, you don't want to ever let it go. God LOVES us. And if we think the human version of powerful love has had some impressive stories, nothing compares to Gods.

He sent His son to die for us. Love washed away our sins, love raised His son from the grave. Love is what connects us to God. The God of the universe used love as his most powerful weapon to free us from sin. If God's most powerful attribute is His love, why shouldn't our most power attribute be our love?

Love knows no limits, love knows no bounds. We live in a world that restricts and taints love. But the world does this because it knows how powerful love can be, that it can change peoples lives and cause people to climb mountains they never thought possible so they try and keep it at bay. What if we loved like God loves? Even our enemies. Even the people we just don't like. What would happen to this world if we all had the power of love, limitless and boundless?

My weird Dream last night

For the past two nights I've been having the weirdest dreams. It might be because I watched Inception on saturday night with my mom. After I first saw it in theaters I had crazy dreams for a week. Maybe watching it again is just restarting the trend.

I was at this museum that you had to swim through. Yes the museum was half way filled with water and then the art was in protective glass cases on the walls. The water was probably 6 feet deep so if your like me (5'5) you had to swim the whole time! I was with a lot of my friends going from room to room but I kept bugging them because I wanted to go see a particular piece of art. I have no idea what piece of art it was but I wanted to go.

So anyway, a much taller friend of mine with dark hair (although I never saw his face and I don't think I even know him in real life) helped me swim to a staircase and then up to the top floor to see some masterpiece. When we finally go there it turned out the art piece I wanted to see had been replaced with one of those claw machines where you try to get the stuffed animals. So naturally we put our coins in and while still swimming in water, we try to win a stuffed sea otter. We finally won it and when we did the wall and the machine slide to the side to reveal the piece of art I'd been waiting to see.

The art piece was a picture of people sitting in a crowded concert hall watching a UFC fight. I could care less for ultimate fighting so no I have no idea why I dreamed that. Anyway I turned to my friend and told him thank you for bringing me up there because without his help I never would've made it up the stairs and I never would've won that sea otter.

Moral of the story. Everyone needs someone they can rely on. Everyone needs a helping person. Someone who has their back at all times. You can get worn out easily and there's no one there to share in the triumphs of victory. So God gives us people in our lives to work with us and help us carry the load. Sometimes it's hard because we want to accomplish things on our own and sometimes we do that because we think it's easier. But that's not how God designed us.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who fall and has no one to help him up!"- Ecc. 4:9-10

The Straw That Broke The Camels Back.

I'm sure many of you have heard the phrase, 'the straw that broke the camels back.' What it means is, a camel was carrying a bundle of straw way to heavy for itself and so one more piece of straw being added to the bundle caused the camels back to break. That's all she wrote.

So what does this have to do with anything? Nothing really. Just kidding.

Sometimes we have to be broken in order to let go of something in our lives. Sometimes the tea kettle has to whistle before we realize the waters hot. And sometimes we have to be smacked in the face with a tree branch and get a splinter in our eye before we realize we are probably heading down the wrong path.

Please enjoy the following metaphorical story:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Leia who loved to swim with seals. The seals would splash her, give her piggyback rides, and bring her fish to eat everyday. She loved her seals but one of them was particularly angsty. Seabert didn't like Leia. He would splash her so hard it hurt her skin, he would bring her poisonous fish, and forget piggyback rides, he would take her down into the ocean so far she wasn't sure she'd ever reach the top and be able to breathe! But Leia put up with Seaberts behavior because she loved being with the other seals.

Inside, every time Seabert did something mean it made her mad. And the madness kept building up. Finally, Seabert did something that broke the camels back. Leia was playing with the other seals and Seabert came up to her and punched her in the face with a blowfish. Leia was so hurt and angry she told Seabert to leave now and never come back. So he swam off into the ocean. He came back several days later with an apology fish and asked Leia to forgive him. She did and Seabert was able to stay with the other seals and he and Leia had a mutual understanding to be nice to one another.

The moral of the story is: Sometimes we let things build up instead of letting them go or taking care of them early on. Leia could have avoided being hit in the face with a blowfish if she had confronted Seabert about his behavior early on. Sometimes we hang on to things for dear life because we are so sure we are on the right path or doing the right thing even though along the way the warning signs are blinking in our eyes and we keep getting hurt or jostled about.

After that its like we've been given plenty of warnings and now the only way to get our attention is to be slapped in the face with it. The straw that broke the camels back. The final confirmation that we need to turn around. Or the final confirmation is that we need to get something right.

I'm one of those people who will hang onto something until I know 100% if it's right or wrong usually ending in me being slapped in the face and redirected by God. It's not a terrible thing but it's definitely not the best way to go about things. When God's in it, you don't have to guess whether it's right or wrong. The doors are wide open and there's a peace there.

1 Cor. 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches and saints.

Have a Decision to make?

So our decisions are a lot like diving. Sometimes our dives are from a cliff and other times they are from the sidelines of the pool. We walk straight up to certain decision in our lives, we look down at the water below, assess the situation, and decide how and if we will jump.

We do this everyday though. With every choice we make. Even in the slightest of situations we have to make a choice then jump right into our choices and deal with whatever consequences we meet.

Lets say your decision brings you to a cliff because its a big choice. You look down and see the crystal clear waves but there is a sign next to the edge that says piranhas. So hold your breath, look over the edge and fall like an idiot face first into the icy abyss. Way to go. You know that the decision will most likely end in injury or your ultimate doom but you go anyway because lets face it the drop down was really fun. Sure once you hit the lake it'll be horrible but thats all apart of growing up and experiencing life right?

WRONG. So now that you've waisted time getting bitten up and hurt you can climb out of the lake and up to the next cliff and try again. But this time you might actually look before you jump. (This goes with choosing which relationships we get in, obedience with your parents, and where/how you go/perform in school, etc.)

There are big decisions like cliffs that shape who we are and leave us with some nice scares, but there are also little decisions like jumping into a pool from the side that affect how we get to the bigger decisions. And then when we jump and make the right decision we get to focus on how fancy our jump is and try to make the biggest splash!

So think about where God wants you using your faith and jumping in and where God is telling you to steer clear. You won't regret your choices and have your butt bitten by sharks if you look to him for every choice you make.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." -James 1:5

Who you are

Today I went on an RWJ (Run with Jesus) and we talked about some stuff.

You know, God uses us to our fullest. He uses every single thing about us to show the world something about Himself if we let Him. There are things about us that we don't like. There are things we try to hide and do hide for fear of how the world would respond. I'm not talking about what the world would think. I mean literally how they would respond to everything about us. What would peoples reactions be if

They found out I like this...

They found out I still do this...

They found out my life isn't this...

They found out my secret this...

They found out that I think I'm this or that or whatever the possibilities are endless. And I'm not talking about sin here either. I'm talking about what makes us us.

Do we not realize that God planned out everything we are for His purpose? Everything that we think is not right or stupid, He plans to use.

God made you the way you are so you can reach specific people or a certain person in your lifetime. Looks can be intimidating and He planned every curvature of your face so that you could fulfill His purpose. God has who you will affect with your life planned so intricately He modeled it into our bones and skin. This means there's a reason your nose looks that way and there's a reason your hair is that color and there's a reason your skin is that color and a reason your that height and a reason your that age...

And you might think some of the stuff you like to do is dumb and what you look like and who you are is wrong or awkward and that others won't respond well to it. But think about all the people you can reach because of those attributes. Think of all the people you can reach if you embrace who God has made you and start asking Him how He can use you instead of asking Him how He can change you so that you fit the model of who you think your supposed to be. Let me tell you right now, God doesn't make mistakes so stop asking why did you do this Lord and start asking how can You use this Lord.

If you play sports be the only person not harassing other teams.

If you play video games, be the only person not cussing on vent.

If you model for some random clothing company, be the only person not practically naked.

If you rock at science be the only person advocating for creationism.

Be the only person who looks in the mirror and sees what God sees.

Be the only person who can reach a specific person because of who you are.

USA Victory- Good always Triumphs over Evil

A lot has been going on starting last night and leaking into this morning. The evil Osama Bin Laden has been vanquished bringing about a sweet vengeance that Americans have waited 10 years to experience. Last night I was busy getting my Glee on whenever my Grandmama called me with the news. Immediately we paused Rachel Berry in the midst of epic solo-dom and turned on Fox. Everyone was a buzz about Bin Laden's death and the President told the world that he's been busy working on this operation for a while now. My family celebrated by making a cherry crisp pie and my bestie at the Naval Academy partied with the Seals in a campus wide celebration. Everyone was happy about the glorious defeat of the boss.

With all that being said, I leave you with this to ponder. It took us 10 years to finally initiate a fresh helping of payback, but we did. I've talked about this before in the form of diligence and persistence. A lot can be illustrated from the events of the past week and put into the conforms of our own lives. Let me explain, you see:

Good will always triumph over evil.

No dark force is unbeatable and no wrong can trump right. In the end, the purity of good will expose the darkness of evil. Even if the rest of the world has given up on the fight, there will always be those people who plan on keeping their post until the end. It is through them that we find success. Many people can say that is what happened during our time fighting Bin Laden. Although many of us gave up on the drawn out fight overseas, many brave men and women decided they simply wouldn't let evil win.

LOTR Reference:

If an elf, a dwarf, a human and a wizard had given up on fighting against the power of the ring in the midst of the eye of Mordor, would they ever have gotten a couple of hobbits to Mount Doom?

So who are you going to be? Will you be the kind of person who simply stops fighting whenever you grow tired or wil you keep the post? We will be fighting a spiritual battle against sin and satan for our entire lives. We do not have to sin. We have a choice every time we are tempted to choose darkness or light, good or evil. And you may be battling a specific sin or challenge and yes it may feel like a 10 year tour searching for Bin Laden overseas, but look what happens whenever you don't back down! Victory is sweet, there's light at the end of this tunnel and God's not going anywhere. So if you already know good triumphs over evil, why give up?