Supersize It!

A man travels throughout this country only eating McDonald's which throws his system into shock, liver problems, skin problems, and weight problems. He reflects what he eats. So what do we eat? Do we thrive for the word of God or scurvy ourselves into shock with junk food? Pick up the Bible, rediscover God, find your passion for Him - are you truly in love with Him or are you culturally trained to acknowledge His existence.

"It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is EVERYTHING." A.W. Tozer

Micromanaging Our Way into the Future

Why is it that we (maybe just me?) react so strongly to being told what to do, when to do it, and how it should be done? When you really think about it, doesn't the very fact that someone else is making decisions for us relieve stress and responsibility for failure and allow us to just ‘go with the flow?’ Is there someone else that knows better than me? It makes me think that I am not as humble as I imagine. I find within me a desire to control, to invent, and to create. Self-determination is really what I mean. How does this affect my relationship with my creator? Is God a micro-manager? After all I think he is completely sovereign, therefore he must have control of even the smallest of details in order to accomplish his plans. The converse to this is that his sovereignty is dependent upon mans free will. Maybe I am straying a little far from the subject of why I don’t like to be micro-managed. Pride I guess. After all, my ideas and plans are usually better than any one else’s. Right? Isn’t invention and creation a good thing for us; in fact are these the very things God instills in us, a very part of the image of himself? Where is the balance? These thoughts stem from an instance I recently found myself in where I wanted to punch my supervisor (not a very godly reaction) because he was micro-managing the hell out of me. He was concerned that I had used the wrong form, actually it wasn’t really wrong just not the best form, and wanted me to redo the paper work so it was on the correct color coded form even though the accounting office knew what I needed and the details of what account to charge the items to, etc. Then he finished with flair and added ‘just let me see the forms before you turn them in.’ In my mind my arm was swinging towards his nose. Anyway, I know I don’t like to be controlled except I have always claimed to submit to God. There is some sort of tension here that I will have to reconcile at some point.

Sorry for the complete rambling nature of this post – more of a catharsis than anything else.

Success and Suffering

It seems to me in my short life that we achieve more through suffering than through success. I don't mean to say that we ought to seek out suffering, but when faced with it we should react with some sense of hope. Hope you say? When crap happens? Yes, now I don't pretend that we will enter suffering with a silly smile or fake pretension that all is well because it ends well. It may not end well - that is no fun at all. But the knowledge that suffering molds our character, transforms our lives, and creates reliance should bring about a paradigm shift in thinking so that as we suffer we become more refined and tempered. We will be somehow better for it and that change in perspective allows hope to creep in. Let us encourage each other that we live for a time in such a place as this but this is not our final destination, this is simply a stop on the way. Don't unpack, don't settle in to much, because soon enough - off we go. Live with eternity in mind. Take care of each other along the path because you never know who you may run into again in the future. The next time suffering steps through the door remember that you will be better for the meeting. Weep, rejoice, whatever, but focus on the fact that in our times of success we tend not to know who we really are and that suffering ushers us closer to God.