Today I went to the mall to find a jersey for my brother (no luck). I was a little hungry, so I went over to the Starbucks kiosk to get a muffin and order an ice coffee. As I sat down with my refreshments in hand, a woman came up to me and asked where Best Buy is.
Then, she excitedly went into talking about her adventures of skydiving out of an airplane. She explained how it wasn't a solo jump, that a guy was strapped to her, how they didn't use parachutes but used "gliders" to coast onto the ground, how her ears were popping due to her past life of scuba diving, how she had eye issues along with everything... etc.
It kind of reminds me of people becoming new Christians. Zealousness. Excitement. Can't wait to talk about Jesus. It's a thought that popped into my head as I listened to the lady: comparing her excitement to the excitement of becoming a new Believer. She was very excited by this new experience. And despite all her ailments and her age (she was in her 50's), she went and did it anyways. And enjoyed the adventure.
As I get older, I tend to forget some of that excitement. I came as I am, with all my ailments, to be renewed by Him just as this lady came to skydiving with her ailments to be thrilled by the adventure. I hope when I get to her age or even now, I'll find that excitement also in life. :)
All because she asked for directions. I guess I got directions instead.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Running the race...
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. " ~Hebrews 12:1-3~
These last few months have been like a race to me. Bids and budgets, budgets and bids. I just feel very swamped right now. And with that comes fatigue of working and stressing out over so many different things. Even today, a co-worker was noting that I probably even should step-it-up. But the reality of that is... I'm just so busy! How can I go any faster??? Or smarter???
But with the busyness, I kind of neglected God for a while. Well, I have been to church and taught Sunday school and made coffee for the cafe. But those are no substitutes for the real thing of spending time with God.
Tonight, out of randomness, I turned on my computer and went to Bible Gateway, a website of Biblical resources. Today's verse is as noted above. And the first few things that came to mind:
1. Our life can be like a race.
2. We are all running for the endurance.
3. We have a "cloud of witnesses". To me, that means God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is surrounding me as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And they are all here to help. To take it a little further, even though co-workers are not always believers, God placed me at this workplace in order that I learn to work with them and in turn, they kind of support me if needed.
4. Put aside things that are hindering me and causing me to stumble in the race. We may have hurdles (haha, no puns intended) but even those, God helps us jump over to get to the finish line.
5. Not to sound cliche but sometimes it's not the destination but the journey. But the journey sucks sometimes. :)
With work, I feel God is telling me to hang in there. That's it. Just keep going and just do your best.
And I'm sure people have wrote about these verses a tons of times. But it's a reminder that God is there because He has endured even more than what we can imagine!
These last few months have been like a race to me. Bids and budgets, budgets and bids. I just feel very swamped right now. And with that comes fatigue of working and stressing out over so many different things. Even today, a co-worker was noting that I probably even should step-it-up. But the reality of that is... I'm just so busy! How can I go any faster??? Or smarter???
But with the busyness, I kind of neglected God for a while. Well, I have been to church and taught Sunday school and made coffee for the cafe. But those are no substitutes for the real thing of spending time with God.
Tonight, out of randomness, I turned on my computer and went to Bible Gateway, a website of Biblical resources. Today's verse is as noted above. And the first few things that came to mind:
1. Our life can be like a race.
2. We are all running for the endurance.
3. We have a "cloud of witnesses". To me, that means God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is surrounding me as well as my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And they are all here to help. To take it a little further, even though co-workers are not always believers, God placed me at this workplace in order that I learn to work with them and in turn, they kind of support me if needed.
4. Put aside things that are hindering me and causing me to stumble in the race. We may have hurdles (haha, no puns intended) but even those, God helps us jump over to get to the finish line.
5. Not to sound cliche but sometimes it's not the destination but the journey. But the journey sucks sometimes. :)
With work, I feel God is telling me to hang in there. That's it. Just keep going and just do your best.
And I'm sure people have wrote about these verses a tons of times. But it's a reminder that God is there because He has endured even more than what we can imagine!
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