Dependable...

Dependable... adjective, meaning trustworthy and reliable...

I serve the God who is trustworthy and reliable... even when I am not. Have you ever made choices or said things that later you cringe or tremble when you think about them... Careless words or actions that cut to the core of even your staunches beliefs... I have been a few situations that I would love to change and take back, I've said and done things have compromised who I am as a person but the reality is that everyone makes mistakes and everyone breaks down... everyone, that is, except God...

This isn't to say that I am putting God on the same level as humanity... but as a Christian and a follower of Christ I can rest assured that even in the midst of the blackest mire and muck that I could ever think up or get myself into God is there and He doesn't turn away from us. He is the strong arm ready to pick us up and the gentle soother of our souls when we work through our own struggles and trials.

There is a sense of justice and discipline in the nature of God... He disciplined the Israelites when they sinned against Him... consider when Israel rebelled against God several time throughout the Bible and God let them go into the hands of their enemies... suffer pestilence, drought, and famine... but as soon as they threw down their idols and turned back to Him, forgiveness, grace, and mercy were there... He is a dependable God...

Mercy and Grace... wow these two concepts are very hard to accept sometimes... consider that we live in a society where everything is completely self focused and increasingly becoming more and more hedonistic. For me I struggle with not accepting God's grace and mercy because I think that I can do it all by myself... but in reality I am left empty and deeply wanting. Grace and mercy are often paired together in the Christian world but sometimes the nature of these attributes of God are separated from His love. What I mean is that Grace and Mercy without of love would be empty. So for people like myself who sometimes begrudgingly accept the grace and mercy of God must first grapple with the reality that God loves us... I say grapple or struggle because Love... real love... especially for those who have a distorted understanding of love is sometimes hard to accept. It's like an abused dog that is picked up by a loving family at the pound. The dog at first doesn't understand the love he is receiving from the family... all that he has known is hardship, mistreatment, or abandonment... possibly even abuse. The family nurtures the dog into accepting love, but this takes time.

Accepting God's love sometimes takes time, but God's love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness never diminish or leave... He sticks around... He is dependable... even in the midst of our own terrible choices and mistakes... our sins...

Let us seek after God's love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness... I pray that I will grow more confident in my acceptance of God's love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness as I seek after Him... I pray that I will be dependable just like Christ continues to be dependable. Life sometimes doesn't progress the ways we want it to... sometimes dreams are crushed in order to cultivate our lives for something more profound.

Jesus... please be my rock in all times and in all seasons... please be a sure foothold when I am unsteady in my faith or make the wrong choices... please breakdown my pride and please partner with me as I throw down my idols. Remove the high places of my heart and take your place on the throne in my heart. Make me compassionate as you are and dependable in all ways. Please make me open and willing to serve You unwaveringly and please support me when I fall. God you alone deserve all praise and honor and glory...

I serve the dependable God... He is dependable to you even when you don't believe it or believe in Him...

Blessings...

It's all about people...

I know it might be naive of me to think that I have any sage like wisdom to pass on to others... I am nearly 26 years old and I have a lot of life to live... But in retrospect I believe that I've lived a lot of life in those 25 years... So what I have learned and what I hope to keep on applying is that other than keeping God in control of your life and serving Him with everything you have and are... life is all about people.

Achievements... school, education, traveling, eating, working, breathing... everything centers around people. What I have found out is that I continually miss applying this truth to my everyday life. I get involved in my classes, assignments, job, movies, television, books, the mundane and normal responsible tasks of life and I ignore people. Ask yourself this question... When was the last time you called your mom or dad or when did you last have a real genuine deep conversation with someone? For me my answers would be I talked with my mom and dad about three days ago and I had a good conversation with someone last Friday. Ok now that might make me look like I'm doing awesome... but in reality I have spent 2 or 3 weeks not calling my parents before and I have actually lived life not really communing with people beyond the surface conversations for weeks as well.

So where does the disconnect happen? Are we really afraid of relationships? Am I really afraid of close relationships? It's breaking the ice and not caring what people think that will open doors to new relationships, to new experiences, to new avenues of life that would previously be closed. Have you ever been to a new place and were taken back at how wonderful or awful it was and never knew that something like this could actually exist. It's like going on a missions trip and seeing poverty first hand or stepping off the train near the center of L.A. and seeing the entropy of society at its' core.

People... rich people, poor people, beautiful and ugly the marginalized and those with every opportunity available, those who would label themselves normal or above average, Christians, atheist, and everyone else of all faiths... every race and nationality... boil everyone down into one group... those who breath... who have a pulse, who exist... even those who are yet to be born... everyone is important... everyone is beautiful... everyone is loved by God and everyone should be loved by you (generic you).

I have been in seasons where the most important person in the world was "me." That is when sin creeps in and takes root... when God is out of the picture or at least on the sidelines... sin and lies have the opportunity to take root and really mess things up...

This doesn't mean that I am always this way, but it does mean that I have to be careful to avoid these seasons or these trains of thought...

Back to my point... people... the living breathing kind... are so very important...

Jesus came to save people... not just the special spiritual kind of people... all people...

God has no discrimination of who you are, how much money you have, what you look like... God only cares about the heart... and loves everyone... even those who hate Him and hate others...

In Acts 1o:34b-35 Peter learns that "God is not one to show partiality but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him." (NASB)

So there it is... people are important... love them... all of them...

Blessings,

Sam