Amelia Student Ministries - Amelia Church of Christ

Most of you probably realized at some point that I have been out of the country for the last several days. While this is not the first time that I have planned on leaving the country, this is the first time I actually have gotten to. I cannot even begin to tell you the extent of all that I learned on this trip (at least not in the roughly 300 words of this blog post) but I can say one thing that really stood out to me this week…

GOD IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mind-bogglingly huge.  Living in America can give us a pretty skewed impression of who God is.  Going to another culture really opens your eyes. Personally I have always viewed God (and Heaven) in a pretty limited small way. When We got to Heaven, I naturally assumed that everyone would speak English and be singing Chris Tomlin and Hillsong United songs.

Obviously this might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but that was basically what I pictured. But then I got to sit and worship with these people in there churches.  I got to see how passionately they worshiped and loved God. And even though I couldn’t understand every word (or most words for that matter), I knew what they were talking about. I felt the connection because of the bond that we share in Christ.

So now I think I can truly see Heaven in a new and more accurate way. Everyone, all people, all tongues, all nations, will be worshiping together. And God hears all of us. He knows ALL OF US!! Isn’t that amazing?  Not only does He know you intimately. All of who you are and what you do and say and think and feel, but He also knows the little boy in Africa that speak Swahili. And the little girl in Kosovo and and the man in France that runs a bakery. I find that so amazing. And I certainly can’t wait to sing with the brothers and sisters that I met in the Dominican Republic in Heaven one day.

I got a tetanus  shot today in preparation for my upcoming mission trip.  I have come to a conclusion that tetanus shots do not feel very good. In fact, not only do they not feel good, but they actually hurt. Now I am not one to hurt easily; I actually have a very high pain tolerance, but this shot even got to me.  This shot, though, got me thinking… tetanus shots= good. It is good to be protected against tetanus which can kill you. Why then does it hurt.

But then I came to a shocking realization…Almost all good things in life come with some pain attached. If you want to succeed in a sport, you have to train hard at it. You have to run and push yourself through a lot of pain to train your body. If you want to learn, you have to study (doesn’t seem painful, but who actually enjoys studying?).

Following Christ also involves some pain. It isn’t easy to follow Christ. People will mock us. People will assault our believes. We will have to make choices that are not easy, and that go against everyone else around us. Following Christ can end relationships. Following Christ can distance family and divide houses. In fact, Jesus himself had this to say in Matthew 10:34-35, “³⁴ Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—”

But, just like this tetanus shot, it will save your life. Even though following Christ can be painful, the life that it brings is always worth it.

So my random thought for today is gonna be really quite random. It is this: Blowguns are AWESOME!!!! I really came to this conclusion while at CIY. I purchased a Nerf blowgun a Kmart for the low, low price of $3.15. I thought it was a bargain…I had no idea how good of one at the time.

Well once I figured out how to aim with a blowgun, I quickly began to have fun. It started as shooting pop cans from across the room.  However, that soon got boring, so instead I started shooting Ryan in the face. That was a lot of fun. In fact, it is still fun, so if any of you guys have Nerf guns, I highly recommend Ryan’s face as a target option.

However, I think my blowgun skill have moved to the point where I am ready to hunt leopards in the amazon with poison-tipped darts. I can feel it. The time has come. So if you want to go leopard hunting with me, buy a Nerf blowgun and practice. That is my Random Thought for today.

I’m sure many of you have heard the song “The Good Life” by Three Days Grace.  I recently heard this song…again, and it really made me start thinking.  This is an incredibly sad song. All it talks about is the if he can have a little bit more fun, more money, more, more more, then he will be able to be happy.  Many of us can look at that and immediately see what is wrong with that theory. If all you ever want is more, then it will never be enough and you will never be happy.

The problem is that many of us pretty much pray this prayer to God all the time. How often do we as Christians fall on our knees to plead to God for more grace?  For more strength? For more forgiveness? We don’t need to ask these things from God. He has already given us what we need. When we are baptized into Christ, we get everything that we need. We receive forgiveness and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Often when we sin and fall short, in our guilt and shame we plead for God to be merciful on us and forgive us and give us more grace.  He already has…2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Christ’s death is enough for us. In 1 Peter 3:18, it says that “Christ died for sin once for all….” One time, was enough for all sins; every sin you ever commit is covered by the blood of the death of the cross.

We don’t have to walk around miserable and defeated when we sin because we know that our sin is forgiven. Already, we don’t need more. I will however caution you. Paul writes about this to the Romans in 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” We should never sin just for the sake of gaining more grace.  Being forgiven will NOT justify living in sin. But it doesn’t mean we have to live in constant fear of not being forgiven either.  We have the good life already because we are forgiven.

I was reading today about David’s Mighty Men. This little story in 2 Samuel 23:8f always intrigues me, but on this occasion I noticed something I hadn’t before. Mostly, it talks about the amazing exploits of the Three Mighty Men of David who were Josheb-Basshebeth, Eleazer, and Shammah.  These were some tough dudes. These were the kind of dudes that they make movies about because they were the guys that fought whole armies by themselves and won. I personally wouldn’t want to tangle with them.

But WAIT… there were two more??? I thought it was the Three. Well, yes, these two were never actually included in the Three. Bummer, right? Well, the story goes on to say that even though they were never really included in the group, they were potentially more famous than the other three. These two were named Abishai and Benaiah.  So what happened to these guys?

Well, Abishai, even though he never was a part of their group became their commander. Yep, he was put in charge of them. And Benaiah was personally chosen by David himself to lead his bodyguard. Hmm…I guess sometimes it pays to not be a part of the group.

A lot of times we get in our minds that a certain group is exactly where we want to be. Maybe they are the cool kids, or the they get the special treatment from teachers. But this story shows us exactly what can happen when we aren’t a part of the group… Amazing things. They could have changed to be a part of the Three, or been bitter that they weren’t, but instead they continued to do what they were called to do, and so they were rewarded because of it.

We are called to live for Christ. If that means that we won’t necessarily get to be a part of a group, oh well, because God can do amazing things where you are.