Thankfulness Post #8

             Every few days something happens that makes me pause and wonder. The small everyday mysterious of life. The oddities of everyday that remind me humans are not all powerful when it comes to this world and sometimes we just need to sit back and laugh at our own stupidity. 

Mysteries like the following.

1. The dryer that can't do it's job with demanding at least one sock in payment. Resulting in this.
                                                                 

2. The couch that will not be comfortable without first eating several pens or small objects from your pockets

3. The pot of noodles that won't boil if you are too close but will burn if you are too far away.
                                                    
4. How fifteen more minutes in bed = thirty seconds of real time.

5.  The reality that 8 cups of coffee is really only about 4.

6. Where hair ties go?

7. Ticklishness. Seriously why does it bother to exist?

      The list goes on. These are just a few that make me laugh and wonder. Wonder if maybe fairies are real, if machines might actually be alive, if something exists beyond just the laws of physics and chemistry which can alter the world we live in. 

Thankfulness Post #7

     It's a pretty normal question for religious people to ask, "what is God's will for me?" It's important to ask and even more important to obey when God answers. For anyone who isn't sure what God's will is for them, I have a simple answer to at least get you started doing what He made you to do. Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Thessalonians, in chapter 5 verses 16-18 a few things that are God's will for us. 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

     So we ask God questions like, "Where should I go to college?" "Who should I marry?" "What career should I have?" "Who do I sit next to at lunch?" "How would you like me to treat my siblings" ect... My thought and my experience agree that becoming good at the parts of God's will He has revealed to us in scripture will bring us to a place where we are ready for God to give us answers to more specific questions about our individual lives. So the Bible has alot of basic commands which we know are God's will. I listed three above. 1. Rejoice always,. 2. Pray continually. 3. Give thanks in all circumstances. It makes sense that we should start working on the parts of God's will that He has shown to us, than if we are faithful in doing that, than He'll answer the other questions. 

     The application is this. If you aren't sure where your supposed to go to college or some question like that. Start working on the things God has already told you to do and just keep your eyes and ears open for an answer to your other question. It's often the case that in obeying God's basic commands to love, to sacrifice and to be thankful we find answers to those personal questions which we want God to answer. 

     All that doesn't really have anything to do with what this post was supposed to be about, except that in an attempt to rejoice more and be thankful more I'm going to continue these thankfulness posts indefinitely. 

     Today I'm thankful for hair. Mine in particular but occasionally for other peoples as well. You can laugh or scoff or whatever, that's fine. It's funny what things we learn to think are beautiful and what things we can just ignore. I can't say why, as long as I can remember I've always appreciated hair and wanted to grow mine long. The Spartans used to say, "Long hair adds beauty to a good face and terror to an ugly one" Another quote by Khalil Gibran summarizes me quite well. "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair."  

Qui Gon Jinn from Episode I is my favorite person from Star Wars. Yoda is my favorite character. 

     I'm thankful that I"m thankful for hair. Like imagine the poor person whose most thankful for something obscure or out of the ordinary like the weekend, or vacation, things that aren't around most of the time. Most everyone has hair and most everyone tries to take good care of it so it's always around and it's a constant reminder to be thankful. 

An attempt at making my hair like Edward Elric's.

     In closing take good care of your hair and grow it longer. Well kept hair frames the face and highlights it's beauty. Have a good week everybody. 

Thankfulness Post #6

       If you know me well, this post will probably come as a surprise. I'm thankful today for some anime shows which have been, over the past two years my main source of entertainment. An important life principle is, "think before you act." Sometimes it may be necessary to do something just for the purpose of enjoying oneself. Even in that scenario one should think about what is the best option for things you can do to enjoy yourself. These tv shows have helped me relax, enjoy myself and taught me  alot of cool things besides. 

Code Geass, make sure you double check than check again to make sure you watch season 1 before you watch season 2. I made that terrible mistake from laziness and I hope no one makes it again. 

      The three highlighted here are not ranked in any order and I don't endorse them for general viewing....particularly for kids. I've been very surprised at how adult alot of the material is and from what I understand these three are fairly tame when it comes to Anime as a whole. So I do not recommend Anime for casual viewing. However these three shows have shown beauty more beautiful, evil more repulsive and love more virtuous than any entertainment I've watched. Some episodes will make one wants to cry, others will leave one depressed and sad. It's a fascinating experiance to have, something like life on fastforward. Life in which unexpected, unplanned bad things can happen and these isn't necessarily a happily ever after ending. Yet an undercurrent of hope, purpose, truth remains so that even in the midst of chaos life cans till go on and peace can be found. 

Darker than Black was the first anime I was very fortunate. In my ignorance I stumbled on a gem and have treasured it in my heart since than. 

The three shows have each centered around conflict between the main character and a super powerful organization. Questions like, "in a corrupt system is it better to reform from the inside or destroy from the outside?", "If I can't win should I still fight for the right thing?" "If other people get hurt or killed because of my mistake what am I supposed to do?" "Is revenge worth pursuing?" These questions and many others drive the characters actions and often help me to answer similar questions from my own life. 

Currently I'm watching Fullmetal Alchemist, it is probably the most famous anime ever created. Thus far it deserves it's reputation.

Disclaimer, watching anime is primarily a means of entertainment. These shows do not compare to reading a good book, prayer or good conversations. Don't replace reading a book about virtue with watching an anime to learn something about virtue. It won't work and you won't enjoy the anime very much either.

Thankfulness Post #5

I'm thankful for alot of things today. All having to do with the baking of a certain batch of cookies. Some years ago I was exposed to a cookie like no other. It was epic and cheesy and berryie and big. So after long years of searching for the recipe I found it and made them and am thankful for them. Below are the pictures. 

Stage 1. Kitchen is clean. 

Stage 2. Take out more utensils and ingredients than you'll need. 

Stage 3. Add vanilla to cover up the bad taste of everything else. 

Stage 5. I skipped stage four because it's not really important. Stage 5 is to form batter into little bowls. 

Stage 6. Drink a three liter of cheap ginger ale. 

Stage 7. Take a close up.

Stage 8. Bake them for 15 minutes longer than the recipe said to bake them for. 

Stage 9. Double the guards and the bar the gates because as soon as your done the hordes of hungry cookie monsters will descend and devour your delicious culinary masterpiece. 

The author does not endorse or take any responsibility for the 9 step method of cookie production described above. I hope you have enjoyed this post and will comment below. 

Thankfulness Post #4

Today Nathan, Sarah and I recreated the conquest of the Aztec Empire. Within the world of Age of Empires we transported our armies across the Atlantic and bested the superior numbers of marauding savages. Seriously, Age of Empires is awesome and my favorite video game of all time. It is one of the few video games that I look back on and don't regret playing. Come play it with me sometime and if your not already good at it I will teach you. It's great fun and a good history lesson as well. 

           

Thankfulness Post #3

Everyone knows your not supposed to judge a book by it's cover or a person by their exterior. Everyone also knows that when it comes to having a good conversation, having one with a beautiful person is more fun than having one with a troll. Obviously the having of a good conversation is the most important part but to simply ignore the cover, or the exterior is to deny a large part of what makes that person themselves or that book the way it is. This train of thought brings me to my thankfulness post #3 idea. Today I"m thankful for mugs and their different exteriors. 

This is my classic mug, good for guests or people of unknown emotional status. 

When I want to feel smart I go for one of the families 4.0 mugs. 

Next comes the smaller more artistic creative mug used for drinking the same amount of coffee in more cups so it seems like your drinking less. 

Than is the monstrosity sometimes called "bottomless". Typically used for all-nighters this unseemingly character adds a strength to one's coffee that an average mug would crack under. 

Last and best is my personal favorite. Like the wounded solider who will not give up this faithful servant to my coffee addiction never fails to put me in a good mood. Despite being chipped, cracked and handleless I can rely on this mug to serve me well and faithfully despite long hours and an unpaid pension. 

There you have it. Remember to appreciate the little things and if you are consistently in a bad mood consider making a mug change to something more encouraging. If you tell me, "well I don't use mugs at all because I don't drink tea or coffee" Well you can start there. If your not having a good conversation, it doesn't matter whether your talking to a troll or a beautiful person the interaction will probably be a waste. So start with the tea or coffee and than find the mug suited to your needs. 

Thankfulness Post #2

     In our modern age of cheap literature produced with minimal effort or thought it is all too common for reading to be merely a means to escape reality. Good fiction literature, does not necessarily represent reality as it appears to the reader but it should open up the reader to a deeper reality than what his own life circumstances force him to interact with everyday. Today I'm thankful for Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy who have captivated me time and again and brought me to worlds away from the world I live in. I'm grateful to them because all the time I spent in the worlds they created only helped me better understand the world I had to come back to whenever I put away their books. 

I'll buy their books simply because they are written by them which I don't do for many authors. 

They are two of the greatest Russian authors and perhaps of the greatest authors ever to put pen to paper. For them putting pen to paper was not an expression. Just imagine for a moment writing, by hand, in a legible script, books hundreds and hundreds of pages long. The forearms of these men must have been like iron and their wrists like steel. 

Currently I'm reading Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky and thoroughly enjoying it. 

  The story, The Three Questions is particularly person for me. I heard it the first time in story tape form when I eight. The story teller was fantastic and the last lines are etchedd into my mind. I hope forever they will stay there forever. The three questions are, 1. What is the right time for every action? 2. Who are the most important people? 3. What is the most important thing to do? The story concludes and the hermit in answer to the three questions says, "Remember than there is only one time that is important, now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. We can do nothing about yesterday and what happens tomorrow depends on what you do now. The most important person is the man who your with. For you will never know if you'll ever have a chance to help another person and to do that person good is our most important business because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life." 

    

Thankfulness Post #1

The holidays are such an exciting time it's easy to get confused and swept up in a big emotional tide of holiday cheer. Sadly this unrestrained tide leaves alot of people out of breadth, confused and disoriented. In the midst of all the expectations, traditions, family obligations and pressure to give people stuff it seems that people lose track of what the holidays are really all about. Figure out what the holidays actually mean to you. Don't sit around and let the spirit of the season control you. Let it motivate and empower but you should be behind the wheel, not the social norms or expectations that you've grown up with. 

I consider Thanksgiving to be about recognizing all the things which have been accomplished since last year that I couldn't have accomplished on my own. It's a time to think back, reflect, thank God or relevant individuals and be proud of the progress that has occurred. This process for me takes more than just one day. So today I'm starting a series of posts about the things I'm thankful for. My list is not in any order other than the order in which I think things up. 

Today I was extremely grateful for a Monday without work. I work on average three days a week and because working is based on unpredictable variables like the weather, the mood of my boss, and the specific contract my boss has, my three work days may fall anywhere within the week. My favorite is working Tuesday Wednesday and Friday. I might get that this week. My days off are really nice and I'm thankful for them. 

I get to sit at my desk and read my books and write my letters....

and drink tea from a cool cup. I do believe that in a mysterious unscientific sense that the epicness of one's tea utensils increases the taste of the tea itself.

I get to read cool books like Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov

and another, How To Read A Book.

 And there you have it. Come back tomorrow and maybe I'll have gotten hold of a better camera so you can actually see something other than fuzz in my pictures. 

Some Thoughts About A Relationship With God.

If relationship with God is a beautiful country. This essay is an attempt to zoom out and see an aerial view of the landscape.   It is very easy to get focused on the specific wood or field that we as an individual are walking through. We get focused on what we are going through and forget that we can see only a small part of a larger country. So we’re going to think and try to understand what a relationship with God is all about. It’s always a good idea, when you are trying to understand something is to ask, is this something the goal I’m trying to achieve or the way I’m going to achieve my goal. The ends ares results and the means are the way we achieve results.

  As I’ve thought more about relationship with God, it seems that such a relationship is not merely a means nor is it an end but it is both. Each time we reach the “end” that end merely becomes a means for an end still further along. I think of it as a great spiral ascending into eternity. God has been in relationship with Himself since eternity past and will continue for all eternity future. He created us within space and time for numerous reasons, some we know, some are beyond us. We have the choice to join in that spiral and ascend into eternity with God.This sort of journey is different from the way we are used to thinking. Normally we think of means and ends in finite terms. Like a number line. Imagine number 10 being the goal we’re striving for. To reach that goal we use the other numbers, 9+1=10, 8+2=10 7+3=10 ect.. and we can come up with dozens of ways with which to reach the number ten. However once we've reached 10 we have accomplished our goal and we need another goal. God is not something that can be reached in the same way. He can be reached but not completed. Like the process of becoming a good musician or artist. A person may legitimately be an artist but that doesn’t mean they are done with art. They may have walked half a mile into a world that very few people every walk more than a few steps into but that doesn’t mean they have conquered that world. Our relationship with God is not something we complete. It is something we use to achieve a greater relationship with God. A never ending cycle of growing. This cycle is shown all the virtues. God desires us to be humble, to be kind, to be gentle, to be loving. These are things you don’t ever really get. You can always become a more gentle person and even when on the scale of humility you surpass everybody else you are not done with humility. All the commands of |God are wrapped up in our relationship with Him. It doesn’t really matter the vocabulary I use. If I pursue biblical, Orthodox, humility than I will develop my relationship with God. Conversely if I pursue a biblical Orthodox relationship with God I will become a more humble person. It doesn't matter so much which good thing you pursue because all virtues are of God and in discovering a virtue you’ll find God who will than teach you all other virtues.

At first glance this may be discouraging. It may appear that I’m describing an endless eternity of doing hard things to make God happy. Imagine forever having to do stuff God wants. If imagining that is unpleasant, the problem is not with God or with how He created us. The trouble is that what we want is not the same as what God wants. If we wanted the same thing as God the prospect of being in an eternal relationship with Him wouldn't be sad...it would be awesome. But it is sad or not very exciting for some of us. If I write a list of all the things I would like to do. Than write a list of all the things God would like me to do. The lists would look very different. Jesus says….

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Loving God changes the list of things I want to do into a list identical into the things God wants me to do. How do I love God if I don’t love him yet? Love is many things. Jesus commands three types of love. Mental love, soul love and heart love. The mind represents understanding. To Love God with our mind means we understand what it is He wants from us and how to do it. To love God with our soul is to desire His glory and His pleasure. To love God with our heart is to like Him. To like Him, to like doing His work. When we love God with our hearts we’ll honestly enjoy life. Our minds and souls are necessary for obeying God the heart is required for us to enjoy it.   

So the relationship we should have with God is characterized by three types of love. Love of the mind, love of the soul and love of the heart. Understanding this is important. Now we know we have something to pursue, we have a vision of that first three steps on the eternal spiral.

How do we now proceed? This part is simple but difficult. It’s often the case within Christianity that it’s not complicated just hard. This is the case here. What is important is to find the virtue most practical and use that as the foundation for your relationship with God. If you are lazy develop diligence. If you are proud develop humility. Use the tools God gave us to get to know Him. God created the church, He left us the scriptures, He allows us to talk with Him. These three things are enough to get anyone to love God with their heart mind and soul.

1. God doesn’t command us to do anything we can’t do.

2. God’s given us tools to accomplish His commands that we can’t do on our own.

3. God commands us to love Him with every part of our being.

4. If you don’t love God right now, there must exist tools that will help you to love Him.

This concludes my long rambling train of thought which originated at the station of frustration at the common misunderstanding associated with the term, "relationship with God". Good day. 

Quick Notes About Prayer

Prayer is like food. Here is how, 

1. It's more important to eat than it is how you eat. If a person is not praying at all, they need to start praying rather than puttering around waiting to figure out exactly which method is correct. 

2. How you eat will determine how healthy you are, whether you eat or don't eat will determine whether you live or die. A life without prayer will produce a person trying to function without their main tool that helps them live. Can a person live without prayer? Yes. Can a Christian glorify God and become what God created them to be without prayer? No. 

3. Eating is meant to be done differently depending on the circumstances. Prayer has many different forms and types.Sometimes it's hard to know what sort of prayer is proper or appropriate. "Do I kneel?" "Do I say Lord or Father?" "Do I ask God for things or tell Him to do what He thinks is best?" "Does God get bored when I ask Him for the same thing over and over again?" "What if someone asks me to pray for something totally stupid?" Questions like these are easier to answer the more we pray. 

4. Eating is just one ingredient in a mixture meant to create a healthy body. Prayer, study of truth (god's word, philosophy, theology, Church History, Catechism ect.., and the process of applying Christian principles are similar to food, drink and exercise. Without a balance of the three it is easy to become weak and sickly. 

5. Often the fastest most efficient way of knowing something is good, is tasting it. Prayer, I think is 10 % theory 90 % practice. You only need a few basic principles in order to start praying. Reading all the books about prayer doesn't guarantee being good at it. The people who are good at prayer are generally the one's who do it the most. 
. 

Two more thoughts on prayer. 

1. The only requirement necessary for praying is honesty. Don't lie to God it's just a waste of your time and His. Honestly seeking God regardless of posture or vocabulary a good thing and will produce godliness within a person. 

2. Reverence comes second after honesty. I understand sometimes a person just has to vent and bubble over for a little bit emotionally with God. But when we've cooled off a little, talking to God sensibly and quietly will help us hear when He responds. If all were doing is telling God things and asking Him for stuff, we'll rarely if ever have a conversation with Him. I do mean an actual two way conversation where you say something and God responds. It can happen. 




So now we do this simple like the AT&T commercial. 

I. Which is better, prayer or not prayer? 
Answer: Prayer
II. What makes a conversation go better, deception or honesty? 
Answer: honesty
III. What makes for a good relationship, talking to a person regularly or just asking them for help when you need them? 
Answer: talking to God regularly. 


It's not complicated, if God made us to be in relationship with Him, He's given us everything we need to have that relationship. Let's get down on our knees and use the tools he's given us to become what He created us to be. If you don't agree with this post, pray about it and comment with what you don't like. 

To The Desperate

The world can be very discouraging. It is a desperate world full of desperate people. Accidents, drunkenness, murder, war, slavery, theft, and rape are common enough to fill every news station morning and evening with their tantalizing tales. These things are bad enough but what I find most disturbing are the common practices, committed everyday by the majority of individuals. Most of us will never murder someone but probably all of us have looked with hatred upon another human being. (I John 3:15) We have been angery with our siblings, (Matthew 5:21) We have dishonored our parents (Matthew 15:4) We have not used the things God has given us like time, a mind, and a spirit, to their full potential.  (Matthew 25:14)

In our laziness and ignorance we dishonor ourselves who were created in God's image, for a world of perfection and a life of unity with God. We dare to mock God by spitting upon His extended hand of benevolence. He who takes no pleasure in the death of us, who are wicked, but would have the wicked turn and live lest we die. (Ezekiel 18:32)

Truly we are in desperate straits. Eternity looms large over the time span from birth till death whether the individual sees it or not. The furnace of hell is heated seven times hotter than normal in preparation for the souls who perhaps have never broken a commandment but have routinely mocked the Most High God with conceited prayers and days spent in thoughtless self-gratification. The souls of men feel the fire of eternal damnation heating up and call urgently to the body while there is yet time, "Wash yourselves, make yourself clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before Mine (God's) eyes; cease to do evil." (Isaiah 1:16). We experience this pleading of our soul without realizing  it. The inability to sleep, a poor appetite  depression, anxiety, bodily aches and an inability to get excited about life, these things are often, not always, but often your soul trying to get your attention. Yelling "something is not right you are ignoring the way things ought to be."  And again the soul cries out, "Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself to the Lord and He will exalt you." (James 1:8) The God who has the power to put constellations into the sky burning in their place and following their orbit, who bids the ocean "be calm" and holds back the flow of time. He who could destroy humanity at His pleasure bids us come to Him for our benefit and we say, "no, I want to watch tv" or I want to hang out with friends, or I want to earn more money, or I would rather be looked up to by my peers and damned by God almighty than humble myself and submit to the burden of my cross. How desperately wicked, arrogant, deceived sinners are we who would deny God his rights as the Creator over us, His creation and than complain when things don't go the way we would like.

The United States, has greater access to physical comforts  (food, shelter and clothing) mental development(education, information databases and books) and spiritual resources (counselling, religious freedom and a culture of tolerance) than anywhere else in the history of human kind. Why is it that so many of the troubles that we have today are on us at all? Depression, suicide, obesity, addiction to drugs, and debt all run rampant in this country and many places besides. I do not imagine it's difficult to reach the necessary conclusion. When a people becomes so proud as to ignore God's commands they must suffer.

The situation is desperate. Sadly most people aren't doing anything to help, either for themselves or those around them. The world is not full of well intentioned, well meaning individuals who honestly try to find the purpose of life and be of help to those around them. The world is like a big chicken coop. Chickens are calm and nice enough when you leave them to themselves and feed them enough. However whenever a threat exposes itself chickens go berserk, they run, they squawk, they bang into each other. They do just about everything you could imagine except something that's actually helpful. Society and often the church will ignore the issue, ignore the threat and put on a big show, make alot of noise and try to forget the reality of who we are and how far we have wandered from the truth.

We live in desperate times and it's easy to get depressed. For alot of us it's easier to do like an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand ignoring the problems swirling around us. Many of us have comfortable enough lives, access to enough entertainment and enough money that we can muffle the desperate plees of our conscience telling us to "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand". We can ignore the broken relationships, the hurt feelings, the illogical assumptions and the steady tick, tick, tick, of our life clock by making alot of noise. We fill our lives up with stuff, things to do and things to use. We disorganize the order of things and put things like sports, food, video games, and feelings in higher positions than God, family, truth, reality, honor and decorum.

We don't use words like etiquette, decorum or proper much anymore because we don't want to recognize that their is a way things ought to be. That there are correct and an incorrect way of doing things.

At the beginning I made the statement that the people of our world are desperate. We see it in their eyes. They are frightened, or lost, alone and uneducated. Some are desperately trying to cover up what they feel to be lacking in themselves. They are the chickens seeking to hide behind a smokescreen of noise and motion how terribly incapable they are of dealing with the questions which life demands everybody answer. Than there are ostriches, people who are trying desperately to ignore the reality of life and the troubles that life brings. They'll spend years developing habits of selective understanding which allow them to hear what they want and pass over whatever is unpleasant to themselves.

Finally there are those who desperately want help and are willing to seek it. Here is hope. Here is healing. To find unity of body soul and mind. To find answers to those tough life questions you've been too scared to ask yourself. To destroy that slave master of your own creation who has driven you to drive needles into yourself and look for answers at the bottom of every bottle. To be emancipated from past regrets and to burst the chains of weariness. To be free from the reflection haunting you in your own mirror, the image you hate, but not enough to destroy and love, but not enough to fix. Let us who would live life free from desperation look to  Jesus in whom there is redemption and forgiveness of sins.He says,

Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-29)

I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) 

MY CHILD, the more you depart from yourself, the more you will be able to enter into Me. As the giving up of exterior things brings interior peace, so the forsaking of self unites you to God. I will have you learn perfect surrender to My will, without contradiction or complaint.

Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way which you must follow, the Truth which you must believe, the Life for which you must hope. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth, the unending Life. I am the Way that is straight, the supreme Truth, the Life that is true, the blessed, the uncreated Life. If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free, and you shall attain life everlasting.

If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light.

(The Imitation of Christ, Chapter LVI; Book III) 

I can not offer better advice than that of Jesus the Lord or his faithful servant Thomas A'Kempis. It helps nobody to sugarcoat reality and try and pretend there are easy solutions to the worlds problems. The answer I find is more difficult than it is complex. Submission to God, acceptance of His will, obedience to His commands and a faith that He who made this world knows best how to fix it. \I learn to trust that in humbling myself before Him I'm doing the best possible thing for my family, friends, church, school, nation and environment. It's not easy but it's the only method that history has examined and found successful. 

Lamentations 3:21-26 

But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 

his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning; 

great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"therefore I will hope in Him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, 

to the soul who seeks Him.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 

Some Thoughts on God's Will

I had an interesting experience a few days ago. I was spending time in prayer. Mostly I was trying to discern God's will for what sort of things He would like me to do now that I've finished college. The opportunities are endless and I don't want to go off and invest years of my life in something only to wake up one day and realize I've wasted however many years doing a "good" thing but it wasn't the thing God had intended for me. With that desire before me I had gone to prayer and was an hour or so into a good conversation with God when I felt inclined to go clean the living room. It was a bit odd but I needed to clean it up anyway and figured maybe God was sorta tired of talking to me and wanted me to go do something useful instead of just sitting around. I cleaned for maybe an hour, did a pretty good job and sat down to rest. As I sat I looked around and saw all the things I could have cleaned but didn't or should have cleaned but was too lazy.

That's when God broke His silence and said, "you can't even clean a room well when I tell you to. Why would I explain all my big plans for your future when you couldn't even accomplish my plan for the next hour?If I told you everything I wanted you to do, you'd set out and try your best and fail utterly because your not ready. Too much information at the wrong time is harmful. Do the things I tell you to really well and I'll reveal my future for you in stages as you become mature enough to handle the information"

It was a sobering reminder and a more real conversation with God than I usually have. Basically God was saying, I want to know my future but I'm not ready yet. As I meditated on it God seemed to be teaching me two things. And these are the things which you might find applicable to your own life.

1.  God will only show us as much of His will as we can do well. This means God won't tell you to do something you are incapable of doing. It also means that everything God does tell you, you can do. So when God says, "love your enemy" you are capable of doing that. You may not know how which is why we take time and study. God may need to help you but He promises to help those who trust in Him. When God says, "Take up your cross and follow me" It means that our cross is not impossible to bear. This truth is encouraging but also embarrassing. It means that God trusts enough to do things and He believes in us to accomplish as much of His will as He's communicated. That's encouraging. It's encouraging to think that the God of the universe who has all power and all control has given me some of that power and control so that I can make a small part of the world the way God wants it to be. It's embarrassing and disgraceful because, God, the one who holds the universe together, the One who can tell the planets to spin and they spin, who can tell the stars to shine and they shine, the One who can command the sea, "thus far you shall come and no further", He also commands us, "come and be my disciple" and I say "no I have tv to watch." Or, "no I want to hang out with my friends."

2. Make sure we're doing well the part of God's will He's already revealed to us.  The Bible is full of God's will and it doesn't take long when we read it to find somethings God wants His people to do. Some of the most obvious examples I know of are the following.

Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.

Micah 6:8 He has shown you own Mortal what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy not sacrifice and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Philippians 2:12 Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  

Luke 12:22 Therefore do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body what you will put on. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

I have not given translations or commentaries on any of these passages. The point is that God has communicated an awful lot of his will to us already and most of us just don't like it so we ignore it. We want God to reveal His will that will be easy and fun and full of blessings. We don't want Him to reveal a will like what He revealed to Saint Anthony who had to sell everything he owned and live in the same suit of clothing for 54 years praying for the world. We are scared to do the will of God that has already been revealed and we are scared to make a major life decision without God saying it's ok.

3. There are two types of God's will. General will and specific will and we must learn the general will before we try and discover the specific will for us. God has certain things which apply to everyone. I think it's fair to say God doesn't want anyone to be an idiot. or lazy, or a coward, or a weakling. God wants everybody to be wise, merciful, loving, and virtuous. Those are general things which apply to everyone and we should always be working on. Personal will is are the aspects of God's plan which only apply to a specific person or group. God's will was for Moses to lead the people of Israel, He willed that David would be king of Israel, He willed that Jesus would suffer and die so that we might have redemption and forgiveness of sins. Not everyone is supposed to be a king and just because that was God's will for David doesn't mean it His will for me. So after we work on fulfilling the general will of God we can start asking Him what his will is for us specifically.

I don't really understand all of this, or even most of this. These are my thoughts after thinking about my experiences in prayer and the conversations I've had with God. fortunately for us we serve a real God who is involved in the lives of His followers so when we do start wandering away from the truth He will call us back. For those who will hear and obey there is satisfaction, peace and joy in the fulfillment of God's will. No matter how difficult the task may appear, no matter how against your personality what He calls you to do may be, when God is involved all the virtues of godliness are present as well. Let us open ourselves to God and make time and room for Him to work within us, scraping out the junk and repairing that which is broken. He is the master craftsmen and never fails to produce beauty wherever He is welcomed and destruction where he is rebuffed.

Some Thoughts From This Week.

It's far too easy to find someone your superior to and base your evaluation of yourself on that comparison. We want to feel good, indeed we were created to feel good, so we'll cut whatever corners we have to in order to feel the way we were created to feel. Unfortuanetly it's also very easy to forget that we are more than feelings. Feelings are big and loud and up in our faces so they are difficult to ignore. Often they are so dominating we forget we have a spirit and a mind more than capable of putting one's feelings back into their proper place. Like the school bully who is so scary that we forget there are teachers and parents who can defend us from a bully. 

Balance is a good word, it's applicable here as it is necessary to find. Balance between the mind, heart and spirit. Or as The Great Commandment decrees, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart (which is the body or appatite), all your soul (which is the spirit), and all your mind, (which is the reason)" Matthew 22:37 We do not deny one for th sake of the other but in the purification of any part of the human person the rest will be bettered as a result. One can not have a sanctified mind without having a sanctified soul or flesh, they will grow in holiness together. If we seek to control our flesh we'll find ourselves discipling our reason and increasing it's power level as well. 

The intentional development of this harmony between the three parts of the person can be done in innumerable ways. The key component is simply the will to harmonize the components of the person. One of the most fundamental truths of God and our relation to Him is that He will guide the human who seeks life the way it was meant to be lived. I'm increasingly more hesitant to recommend books or methods of conquering, than harmonizing self because it seems like have the benefit of this process comes from figuring it out yourself. 

Now it is not wise to forsake the wisdom of our predeccesors. The reality that prayer has been a major component of nearly every significant follower of God would indicate that one who wants to follow God should pray, and pray often. We, more so than any other generation have access to more information on getting to know God than any other group of people in all of history. It would be only sensible to mine that information and apply to our own life what is profitable. 

Ultimatly a God exists and He is not silent, He is not hidden and He is not unwilling to help us, if we'll let Him. What's important is starting the search. Crack open the dusty volumes of religion, philosophy and history which has always been of interest but never enthralling enough to trump tv. Seriously, just read trying to learn something. It doesnt have to be big or old or complicated. Wisdom begins with being sensible and studying something you'll understand. 

A quote by A.W. Tozer to end with, "we'll hardly get our feet out of time into eternity and gaze on eternity that we bow our heads in shame and humiliation and say, 'look at all the riches there are in Christ and I,ve come to the Judgement seat nearly a pauper.'" Everyone has access to the riches in godliness, the joy in generousity, the peace in humility, the Hector like heroisim in courage, the logic in truth and the glory in wisdom. Lets not leave these treasures for the sake of the confusion in ignorance, the depression in laziness, the frustration in cowardice and the greed in self pity.