How much time and thought do people today sincerely put into understanding this stupendously miraculous, wondrously magnificent, magnanimously amazing, God-breathed thing we call life? It seems like we're so focused on trying to get ahead of everyone else that we fail to even understand why we even do such things in the first place. What is the reasoning of the guy who just cut me (and half a dozen others) off, while weaving dangerously through traffic? Was he.... pregnant and had to get to the hospital? Was he auditioning for the part of 'driver 2' in the next Fast and Furious movie? (Really!! That's the only two logical explanations I can currently thing of!) We were designed to think and rationalize like no other creature here on earth, yet why do we lack the reasoning that would otherwise tell us that getting to the stoplight first doesn't necessarily merit us a gold star in life? The world, especially Western civilization, seems so focused on the self, but do we really even know what 'self' is? Who are we? What is man, really, and why do we constantly try to manipulate things to get our way?
We see in Genesis 1:26-27, God says, “‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over… all the earth…’ God created man in His own image…”
We have been created in the image of an Almighty God, yet we live an existence where man is ruled by paper money and coddled by the opinions of others. If we were created in His image and His creation was “very good,” why are we such a flawed and fragile people? Why did we Fall in the first place?
When “God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,”[1] He created something unlike anything He had created prior to that. The human being in Genesis was “the culmination, the climax, the crown of God’s creative activity.”[2] Rather than using the same formal decree from His other creative activities, “Let there be,” God calls man into existence with the personal command,[3] “Let us make.”[4] This gives a sense of a special, more intimate endeavor by God – the conception of “man in [His] image, according to [His] likeness.”[5] And in the same breath, in the same sentence, He says, “let them rule,” to entrust man with dominion over the world. The concept of the image of God ties “into ancient Near Eastern thought. In the ancient world an image was believed in some ways to carry the essence of that which it represented… This does not suggest that the image could do what the deity did or that it looked the same as the deity, [but] rather, the deity’s work was thought to be accomplished through the idol… to establish their authority.”[6]
Genesis 5 provides further insight when Adam “became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image.”[7] The author of Genesis uses parallel language that was used in Genesis 1:26. What it cultivates is the illustration and relationship of a father and child. “The child mirrors the attitudes, expressions, and character traits of his or her father. The Biblical text, by offering us this explanation gives us the key that… we were created with the potential to mirror divine attributes.”[8]
Adam, in a sense, may have been righteous and holy – as an image of God, he may have possessed similar attributes to God, but he was not God, as witnessed from his ill choices. He chose his own will over the Father’s, he chose to be self-righteous rather than truly righteous, and he chose to be god rather than be with God, severing his relational bond with the Father and marring the image of God in himself and in those who would follow him.
As the author of Ecclesiastes confirms God’s creation of man was good, but it is man himself who strays from God. “Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”[9] Mankind is to be blamed for human failings, for searching for human schemes “rooted in false and self-destructive ‘accountings’ of life and conduct.”[10] We seek our own way, our own truth, and our own life.
From when I was child, I had considered myself a “good Christian”, even though I did not truly understand what that meant. I did not argue with my parents when they told me we celebrated Christmas because Jesus was born, and I did not question them when they told me that Jesus died for us and was reborn at Easter time. I had no reason to not believe them; they loved me and wanted only the best for me. I didn’t really care too much to know why the skinny man with the beard wanted me to behave and who he was exactly – for as long as my parents loved me, the jolly, fat man gave me presents at Christmastime, and the bunny rabbit hid me colorful eggs to find during Easter, I was a happy, well-behaved little boy.
However, as I grew older, the frail veil of innocence began to wear thin. I started to see how others bended and broke the rules and mistreated and misused their fellow man to get what they wanted. And yet, I saw how these ‘others’ seemingly remained happy, whilst my family struggled and was constantly being stepped on. I was no longer that happy little boy who didn’t whine or complain. I became frustrated and depressed, and I started asking “why?”
It only when I started to recognize the rationale and compassion of that skinny man with the beard that my “why’s” began to be resolved. He had the heart and understanding that could fix my dismal view of the world. He knew how to live. For He is “the way, the truth, and the life,”[11] and is the perfect image of God – and thus the perfect model for man. Man is illuminated in God’s image by Jesus Christ as John states, “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”[12] He is as Adam was before the Fall – the unblemished image of God. However, where Adam failed, Jesus Christ did not. He may have had His own will here on earth, but His will was aligned with the Father’s.
Being made in the image of God, but not being God, means man needs God in order to prosper, let alone, function properly. “If the human being is defined fundamentally as one ‘in the image of God,’ then his identity must be sought in relation to God. For it [is] only reasonable that the identity of an ‘image’ is found by knowing the original.”[13] If mankind is to ever understand who we are, we need to stop chasing the American Dream, reset our definitions of this world, and seek our identity in Christ Jesus.
What we also see is the value and significance of each and every human life. “Every single human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin, or illness, or weakness, or age, or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer.”[14] “It is that we remember not to consider men’s evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.”[15]
As we look at others with love and at Christ for our identity, it is important for us to remember that we our God’s beloved as well and that value is inside of us as well. “It would be good for us to reflect on our likeness to God more often. It will probably amaze us to realize that when the Creator of the universe wanted to create something ‘in his image,’ something more like himself than all the rest of creation, he made us! This realization will give us a profound sense of dignity and significance as we reflect on the excellence of all the rest of God’s creation… We are the culmination of God’s infinitely wise and skillful work of creation. Even though sin has greatly marred that likeness, we nonetheless now reflect much of it, and shall even more as we grow in likeness to Christ.”[16]
[1] Genesis 2:7, NASB.
[2] Ronald Youngblood, The Book of Genesis (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1991), 30.
[3] Paul Wright, Genesis (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1997), 14.
[4] Genesis 1:26, NASB.
[5] Genesis 1:26, NASB.
[6] John H. Walton, The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 130.
[7] Genesis 5:3, NASB.
[8] Walton, 131.
[9] Ecclesiastes 7:29, NASB.
[10] William P. Brown, Interpretation: Ecclesiastes (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2000), 84.
[11] John 14:6, NASB.
[12] John 1:9, NASB.
[13] Moreland, 30.
[14] Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 192.
[15] John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 3.7.6.
[16] Grudem, 192.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
True Freedom
FREEDOM from this world comes from the cross… FREEDOM in this world comes from you understanding the full weight of the cross.
It is not an easy thing to do, not at all an easy thing to fully comprehend, but there is nothing more freeing than when you come to a certain realization in this world – that no matter how badly you screw up, no matter how horrible a day you are having, no matter how alone or unloved or mistreated you have felt, feel presently, or will ever feel again – there is someOne that always loves you, someOne that has unequivocally had a worse day than you, and someOne that stands by you regardless of all the transgressions in your past, present, and future. That someOne is the One that died for you on the cross – Jesus Christ.
Even before I became a “serious” Christian, I knew Christ was the key to… something about our salvation – not that I really understood what that meant at the time. But what I did understand then was this: if I ever wanted to escape the endless cycles of the hurts, the pains, the woe-is-mes, the loneliness, the anger and frustrations of this world, I had to seek a heart like Jesus’. If it were any one of us but Jesus that was wrongly accused, mistreated, tortured, and nailed to that cross, we would be cussing each and every one of our accusers out. The ‘f-word’ we’d be using wouldn’t be, “forgive them.” FREEDOM comes at just this cost: breaking yourself free from all of the bad teachings you’ve had in the past, from all of your doubts, fears, and unbeliefs, and from your own enormous ego. Then and only then will you experience the freedom God has intended for your life and beyond.
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty; I’m free at last!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A Reasonable Faith
You might think a man not reasonable when he seemingly gives up on a respectable career after investing over ten years of schooling, work, and experience in said profession. You may paint that man a desperate fool when he devotes his life to a God he has never seen after suffering from countless setbacks, failed plans, and a deep and painful personal loss. And you might seem right to color him crazy when he makes it a priority in his life to tell others to do the same. Call me unreasonable, call me a desperate fool, and, if you like, call me crazy, but if you are judging me solely based on the qualifications I stated above, then you may very well be the one who is the fool. I had not come to these revelations lightly. There is a method to my madness and I would contend that I am doing the right and reasonable thing. I do not speak with arrogance or contempt, but with a love and a hope that you would be willing to open your mind and soften your heart to what I, and my not-so-invisible God, have to say to you.
Congratulations! Through the generosity and grace of God, you are the new owner of a villa in the small town of Cortona in Tuscany, Italy. The villa is quite lovely yet is in the state of some much-needed repairs. But hey, you can put up with those little annoyances. Anything is better than going back to your gloomy, empty apartment in San Francisco, which only serves to remind you of your failed life from the past. This is the start of your new life filled with new hopes and dreams and possibilities. You’re walking one day on the side of the road along the outskirts of town when you notice a neighbor’s vineyard. You are surprised to find it completely overgrown with thistles; its surface covered with nettles; and its stone wall broken down. What you could have only imagined was once a field of promise and budding life, now a wasteland of broken dreams. How would you feel in this situation? Would you see the affect of ruin slothfulness has? Would you see how it could affect adversely your new life as well if you are not careful? Or would you just go and gossip about it with your new neighbors? Wasn’t that how you were in your old life?
How does this story really end? Well, I don’t want to spoil it for everyone, so you’ll have to rent Under the Tuscan Sun to see for yourself. Well honestly, I don’t really remember how it ended myself. The vineyard scene, though so crucial and meaningful, might not have happened either. The reason I included it is because I think it speaks a wisdom that is true to life and is instrumental in you coming face to face with the Truth whether you want to or not.
So let me ask you: when you pass by this desolate vineyard, does it tell you something about life? I think it should. Life has so many stories to tell, yet we are so concentrated on our own story that we often miss out on something so priceless and essential like this. In life, we have two teachers: wisdom and consequence. Wisdom is gained through other people’s knowledge and experience, and consequence is something you’ve learned the hard way of experiencing it painfully for yourself. I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways: pain is no fun; seek wisdom.
There are two lessons that I’ve ascertained from my encounter with the vineyard: (1) look at life with a discerning eye in order to discover truth and wisdom, and (2) do not succumb to slothfulness when you have work and responsibilities to act upon. There is something in these two lessons that rings true to me. And without them, I’m not so sure where I’d be today.
In all honesty, I consider myself a rather ignorant person. I say and do a lot of stupid, foolish things that I’m sure make me an embarrassment to not only myself but to God, and I do Him a great disservice whenever I try to speak in public. I don’t even know what to say more than half the time when I’m in a conversation and when I do, my words often get in the way of my true intent. There is a lot that I do not know yet and so much of it I will never know in this lifetime. Each of us wants to make sense of something that's so much bigger than us whether it's through science, evolution, aliens, God, many gods or none at all. But there is just something that makes sense to me, and I hope you too, that if we simply look at the world around us, we can see the reality of God in this world.
The world we were born into is something many people take for granted. This world certainly does not belong to us, but we seem to think we’re born with some kind of entitlement to do whatever we choose on it and with it. “Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but [we] humans do not.” The problem with this is that we don’t appreciate what a miracle life here really is. It somehow sustains our life and only under these specific circumstances would life here be possible. If the universe’s rate of expansion were greater or lesser by even one part in a million, it would have ruled out the possibility of life altogether. If the ratio of carbon to oxygen had been slightly different than it is, none of us could breathe the air. If the earth’s size, tilt, rotation speed, distance from the sun, etc. – if any of these variables were in any other configuration than it currently is in, life on this planet would not inhabitable. It doesn’t make any sense how any of this could just come about by accident – it’s too perfect. Its design is just too intelligent to have been something that was made by chance.
I believe in what I believe and I believe it can be found in the God of the Old and New Testament because no other religion is so heavily supported by historical facts and no other religion has impacted my life in such real ways. I see God working in my life and I see how God worked in other people’s lives through the Bible and through their own personal testimonies. The places/events the Bible talks about are real; Christ was really crucified. Eyewitnesses saw it and made records of it. And they saw him rise as well.
Religions make their own beliefs and assumptions from the truth. Atheists seem to ignore certain bits history and mathematical fact. The Jewish refuse to see Jesus as nothing more than a teacher. Mormons and Muslims recognize Jesus’ existence, but choose to focus their beliefs elsewhere. Even some Christian religions emphasize certain ideas or practices over others. But people can be fickle. They can change their minds, their beliefs to custom-fit their lives comfortably. God’s not fickle and His Word is never changing. God did not come to earth to create another religion, but to bridge the gap created by our sin – it’s all our doing that created all of this religiosity and rules. What’s important is not to build our own belief system, but to seek the truth because there’s so much to it than getting a sense of purpose or security – you’ll get that, of course, but also so much more.
If you feel ill about ‘religion,’ you have a right to be. There is no truth in religious customs or practices. Idols and rituals hold no true power. And if we try to do things solely on our power, we will fail. Maybe you feel like you've searched you're soul, and that in your mind you're satisfied with your conclusions. But I say never close your mind. This is not something to be lazy about or blind to. Do not rest on your laurels and your current beliefs and/or disbeliefs – just because it may have worked in the past, it does not mean it will sustain in every case you come across. I have my own conclusions, but I will never stop seeking and I will never stop learning… not if I can help it. All I’m asking you is to do the same. Never turn the focus on yourself; always looks at the bigger picture. Never stop learning; never be satisfied with what you know. As long as you are alive, you are not done living yet – you have a responsibility to seek the truth. In the meantime try to at least ask yourself these questions: Is your version of the truth actually true if you’re not seeing the whole picture? Is a life lived not knowing the whole truth a life worth living? Is it worth searching a lifetime if you possibly have an eternity to gain?
Congratulations! Through the generosity and grace of God, you are the new owner of a villa in the small town of Cortona in Tuscany, Italy. The villa is quite lovely yet is in the state of some much-needed repairs. But hey, you can put up with those little annoyances. Anything is better than going back to your gloomy, empty apartment in San Francisco, which only serves to remind you of your failed life from the past. This is the start of your new life filled with new hopes and dreams and possibilities. You’re walking one day on the side of the road along the outskirts of town when you notice a neighbor’s vineyard. You are surprised to find it completely overgrown with thistles; its surface covered with nettles; and its stone wall broken down. What you could have only imagined was once a field of promise and budding life, now a wasteland of broken dreams. How would you feel in this situation? Would you see the affect of ruin slothfulness has? Would you see how it could affect adversely your new life as well if you are not careful? Or would you just go and gossip about it with your new neighbors? Wasn’t that how you were in your old life?
How does this story really end? Well, I don’t want to spoil it for everyone, so you’ll have to rent Under the Tuscan Sun to see for yourself. Well honestly, I don’t really remember how it ended myself. The vineyard scene, though so crucial and meaningful, might not have happened either. The reason I included it is because I think it speaks a wisdom that is true to life and is instrumental in you coming face to face with the Truth whether you want to or not.
So let me ask you: when you pass by this desolate vineyard, does it tell you something about life? I think it should. Life has so many stories to tell, yet we are so concentrated on our own story that we often miss out on something so priceless and essential like this. In life, we have two teachers: wisdom and consequence. Wisdom is gained through other people’s knowledge and experience, and consequence is something you’ve learned the hard way of experiencing it painfully for yourself. I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways: pain is no fun; seek wisdom.
There are two lessons that I’ve ascertained from my encounter with the vineyard: (1) look at life with a discerning eye in order to discover truth and wisdom, and (2) do not succumb to slothfulness when you have work and responsibilities to act upon. There is something in these two lessons that rings true to me. And without them, I’m not so sure where I’d be today.
In all honesty, I consider myself a rather ignorant person. I say and do a lot of stupid, foolish things that I’m sure make me an embarrassment to not only myself but to God, and I do Him a great disservice whenever I try to speak in public. I don’t even know what to say more than half the time when I’m in a conversation and when I do, my words often get in the way of my true intent. There is a lot that I do not know yet and so much of it I will never know in this lifetime. Each of us wants to make sense of something that's so much bigger than us whether it's through science, evolution, aliens, God, many gods or none at all. But there is just something that makes sense to me, and I hope you too, that if we simply look at the world around us, we can see the reality of God in this world.
The world we were born into is something many people take for granted. This world certainly does not belong to us, but we seem to think we’re born with some kind of entitlement to do whatever we choose on it and with it. “Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but [we] humans do not.” The problem with this is that we don’t appreciate what a miracle life here really is. It somehow sustains our life and only under these specific circumstances would life here be possible. If the universe’s rate of expansion were greater or lesser by even one part in a million, it would have ruled out the possibility of life altogether. If the ratio of carbon to oxygen had been slightly different than it is, none of us could breathe the air. If the earth’s size, tilt, rotation speed, distance from the sun, etc. – if any of these variables were in any other configuration than it currently is in, life on this planet would not inhabitable. It doesn’t make any sense how any of this could just come about by accident – it’s too perfect. Its design is just too intelligent to have been something that was made by chance.
I believe in what I believe and I believe it can be found in the God of the Old and New Testament because no other religion is so heavily supported by historical facts and no other religion has impacted my life in such real ways. I see God working in my life and I see how God worked in other people’s lives through the Bible and through their own personal testimonies. The places/events the Bible talks about are real; Christ was really crucified. Eyewitnesses saw it and made records of it. And they saw him rise as well.
Religions make their own beliefs and assumptions from the truth. Atheists seem to ignore certain bits history and mathematical fact. The Jewish refuse to see Jesus as nothing more than a teacher. Mormons and Muslims recognize Jesus’ existence, but choose to focus their beliefs elsewhere. Even some Christian religions emphasize certain ideas or practices over others. But people can be fickle. They can change their minds, their beliefs to custom-fit their lives comfortably. God’s not fickle and His Word is never changing. God did not come to earth to create another religion, but to bridge the gap created by our sin – it’s all our doing that created all of this religiosity and rules. What’s important is not to build our own belief system, but to seek the truth because there’s so much to it than getting a sense of purpose or security – you’ll get that, of course, but also so much more.
If you feel ill about ‘religion,’ you have a right to be. There is no truth in religious customs or practices. Idols and rituals hold no true power. And if we try to do things solely on our power, we will fail. Maybe you feel like you've searched you're soul, and that in your mind you're satisfied with your conclusions. But I say never close your mind. This is not something to be lazy about or blind to. Do not rest on your laurels and your current beliefs and/or disbeliefs – just because it may have worked in the past, it does not mean it will sustain in every case you come across. I have my own conclusions, but I will never stop seeking and I will never stop learning… not if I can help it. All I’m asking you is to do the same. Never turn the focus on yourself; always looks at the bigger picture. Never stop learning; never be satisfied with what you know. As long as you are alive, you are not done living yet – you have a responsibility to seek the truth. In the meantime try to at least ask yourself these questions: Is your version of the truth actually true if you’re not seeing the whole picture? Is a life lived not knowing the whole truth a life worth living? Is it worth searching a lifetime if you possibly have an eternity to gain?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
A Sudden Change in Plans
An old post of mine that I hope will help a new friend.
[2009]… I planned for a year like no other. I planned for a great year. I planned for a new job that I could be passionate about. I planned to watch my sister graduate and finally come back home for good. I also planned to look for a place of my own shortly thereafter. And even more importantly, I planned on getting my family to church for the first time in years. It was going to be a great year. But… there was a change in plans.
I don’t know… I guess I must have been planning my life with the wrong set of blueprints – some engineer I turned out to be… Like the Joker showed James Gordon and company, plans to control the future – plans to manipulate the world and lives around them – were nothing, but futile and pathetic. Never mind the fact that their intentions were for the greater good and safety of Gotham and its citizens – plans almost never go as… planned. The Joker wasn’t present in my predicament, but I was enough the fool to think that everything would just fall nicely into place solely based on some well-laid plans and good intentions.
Well… It certainly turned out to be a year like no other. However, it is nowhere near the stratosphere of what I would have considered great. If I could turn back the hands of time, if I could open my eyes and wake up from this horrible nightmare, without one iota of a shred of hesitation, I would do so. But I can’t. I am already awake and this nightmare is in fact my reality. So here I stand in the rubble of what used to be the life I once knew with two questions on my mind: (1) why; and (2) where do I go from here?
Not the “Kerrigan” why (a.k.a. ‘Why me!?’), but an all-encompassing ‘why’…? Why do bad things happen? Why does God sometimes interrupt our lives when things seem to be going smoothly? Why did He change the course of my life when I finally felt I was on the right track? Yes, despite what has happened, I still believe in God’s master plan… so does this mean I must believe that everything happens for a reason? Even the bad? Well, I certainly, without a doubt… have no clue whatsoever why the events of my life are unfolding in this particular manner, but I do believe that everything does happen for a reason. And I believe that there is a reason that I am still here on this spinning globe. I believe that I can do some good. I believe that I was not meant to live the sort of commonplace life that so many seek – the kind of drama-free, non-eventful existence, void of suffering or sorrow. And I believe the same for you too. For without strife, success will never be achieved. Without pain, there will be no gain.
Although one may think the contrary, as I seem to advocate pain and suffering, and continue to run into walls every step of the way, I am not a masochist. I do not run into walls willfully. And I am not that stupid. I know that most walls are hard and I know it hurts when you run into them. I hope you should know the same too. However, you must be willing to encounter some walls in life and not just turn the other way when you see one. Anyone who shies away from the very mention of pain and turns the very moment life starts getting even a little difficult or uncomfortable does not have a clue of what life really is about. The problem with most of our lives is not God’s supposed inconvenient, sometimes painful, and unfortunate timing, but our own unrealistic expectations, self-centered thinking, foolhardy planning, and of course our inability to incorporate God’s plan when it is staring us straight in the face. Life is not supposed to be easy and God’s plans are not optional. Face your walls. See what’s on the other side of them. That’s where God’s waiting for you.
Yes, sometimes God does put walls in your way… sometimes to test you… sometimes to make you stronger… and sometimes to show you just how much we all need Him. Oftentimes we do turn the other way – we intentionally ignore Him because He just doesn’t seem to fit into our lifestyles. We don’t have the time and effort to deal with Him on a daily basis let alone on Sundays. And it is in this that we have our downfall – plain and simple: we think too much about ourselves. It’s not something we want to hear and it’s so easy to deny ourselves the truth, but we easily get too wrapped up in trying to make the story of our lives great that we let the greatest story of all time fall to the wayside. We think so highly of ourselves that we forget about others, yet we still get so upset when others stop paying attention to us. It’s time we get over ourselves!
The supposed “American Dream” is one reason for this false sense of thinking. The pursuit of the American Dream is not the pursuit of true happiness and the ultimate culmination of fulfillment in our lives that we readily think it is, but actually the path to superficial happiness and ultimate fulfillment of one’s sloth, avarice, and complacency. Happily ever after is not meant for our lives here on earth, but our eternities up in Heaven. We graduate – we gain our freedom, we find careers/jobs that suit us and our lifestyles, we find the love of our lives, get the 2.5 kids, the house, the dog, and the big screen TV with surround sound, then we look back at our lives and we think, “Is THAT it?!?”. That’s why so many of us are bored and discontented in our lives and in our marriages. That’s why so many of us seek excitement elsewhere or try to create unnecessary drama in our lives. That’s why we have broken families, a crumbling morality, and wear masks to pretend that everything is all right. Everything is not alright. We want the extraordinary, but we are only willing to expose ourselves to the ordinary. We cannot see clearly because we’ve been wearing our masks most of the time. People do not learn living in a sterile vacuum with rose-colored spectacles on – we grow from facing our adversities and embracing life’s experiences. We profit and prosper from the questions we ask and the answers we seek.
It would be easy for a person in my position to play the pity card. Why me? My family and I – the victims of some major, cosmic injustice! Sure, we may garner some sympathy and pity, but this false sense of comfort would not last long. I could go on and on about what happened to us, but what good would that accomplish? That is not why I write. I’m not to here to tell you my sob story. The story here is not what is important – it’s what happens after the story that counts. It’s about how we react to change and tragedy. It’s about what happens when we don’t get our way, when our plans go awry. ‘Why me’ accomplishes nothing but wasting everybody’s time. Neither would it be right to go on with life completely ignoring what happened. It is critical – for our sanity and for our future – that amidst our tragedy, we must ask the right questions and seek their complete answers. Otherwise we are doomed to walk forever in darkness, depression and confusion. If we ever want peace and understanding, we must work through it with Him and not our delude ourselves with our own convenient version of reality. If we ever want to know what is in store for our lives and live it to its fullest potential, we must search for the light. For it is only in the light that things can hope to grow – it is only within the full light and recognition of what happened, might we see what God wants in our lives.
Whether you choose to believe it or not, God has done everything – catastrophe or blessing – to get us where He needs us to be. Every step of the way, in all things, God is working to shape us. He chips away at our rough and callous exteriors and removes the chips that reside on our shoulders. Even though we cannot see how, through our pain and suffering, we are being made to be more like Christ.
Fight, resist all you want – your plans, your agenda pales in comparison to the masterful plans that He has for your life and everyone else’s. Just step back and look around you: we are just small, insignificant specks on a gigantic globe – tiny grains of sand on an infinite beach. Our lives, our voice, our story – we’re just one diminutive thread in God’s intricate tapestry. Each of us is a part of God’s artful masterpiece, but we need Him to set us in the right place. Otherwise, the entire thing unravels…
So what’s the best course of action? To believe whatever we want to believe – just as long as it suits our needs? To think we deserve more than others – that the only person we have to serve is ourselves? Do you really think that it is in our best interest to ignore the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Heavens and the universe and think we know better than Him or that He doesn’t even exist? And then what happens? We get knocked off our high horse like Saul… we get thrown into pits and prisons like Joseph… we lose sight of the real prize and lose everything we were ever blessed with like Samson. And these were all men who believed in God but decided to do things their way! What about the unbelievers and the skeptics? What will it take for God to get your attention? Does He need to come at you with a 2 x 4 before you believe He’s out there?!
Please, heed my warning; learn from my experience. If it wasn’t for my dad, I would have never studied Engineering. If I never studied Engineering, I would have never worked at KN Consulting. If I hadn’t worked at KN, I would have never joined 24-Hour Fitness. If I hadn’t joined the gym, I would have never met Trisha. If I had never met her, I would have never come to ....New Hope..... And if I never came to ....New Hope...., well, I probably would not have much hope now… and I definitely would not be speaking to you today. It was hard enough for me to deal with the tragedies in my life with God that I’d hate to think where my dark mind would have taken me without Him. Each stepping stone: critical to making me the man I am today. Each trial, each struggle although so painful and trying, has given me more faith and, in turn, strength to persevere. It is not until we change our hearts and minds; mature and grow in the Lord that we can understand the storms we must endure and the true future He holds for us all. Listen to God. Let Jesus be your guide. Life is the highest of mountains you must climb and you will need help to reach the top. HE is your Tenzing Norgay. HE is the only guide that can take you to the very top. Don’t plan the trip up yourself because your plans and mine are flawed and you will fall. Follow Him – He knows the way.
Chris Carrabba expressed the struggle we have within us in a recent song of his called Get Me Right:
I need my maker
To cure me of/ My doubting blood
And drain me of/ The sins I love
And take me from/ My disbelief
I know it should come easily
But it remains inside of me
It battles me and devours me
It cuddles up/ Beside of me
In whispers it convinces me I’m right.
Let us stop and think about it: who’s right? Who holds the best plans for our lives? Is it us? One day my family will come to church… maybe not today… may be not next week… or the week after next… may be not here… It may not be due to the foolish schemes of this clown, but because of the loving guidance of The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords… according to His timetable and His perfect, immaculate plans."
[2009]… I planned for a year like no other. I planned for a great year. I planned for a new job that I could be passionate about. I planned to watch my sister graduate and finally come back home for good. I also planned to look for a place of my own shortly thereafter. And even more importantly, I planned on getting my family to church for the first time in years. It was going to be a great year. But… there was a change in plans.
I don’t know… I guess I must have been planning my life with the wrong set of blueprints – some engineer I turned out to be… Like the Joker showed James Gordon and company, plans to control the future – plans to manipulate the world and lives around them – were nothing, but futile and pathetic. Never mind the fact that their intentions were for the greater good and safety of Gotham and its citizens – plans almost never go as… planned. The Joker wasn’t present in my predicament, but I was enough the fool to think that everything would just fall nicely into place solely based on some well-laid plans and good intentions.
Well… It certainly turned out to be a year like no other. However, it is nowhere near the stratosphere of what I would have considered great. If I could turn back the hands of time, if I could open my eyes and wake up from this horrible nightmare, without one iota of a shred of hesitation, I would do so. But I can’t. I am already awake and this nightmare is in fact my reality. So here I stand in the rubble of what used to be the life I once knew with two questions on my mind: (1) why; and (2) where do I go from here?
Not the “Kerrigan” why (a.k.a. ‘Why me!?’), but an all-encompassing ‘why’…? Why do bad things happen? Why does God sometimes interrupt our lives when things seem to be going smoothly? Why did He change the course of my life when I finally felt I was on the right track? Yes, despite what has happened, I still believe in God’s master plan… so does this mean I must believe that everything happens for a reason? Even the bad? Well, I certainly, without a doubt… have no clue whatsoever why the events of my life are unfolding in this particular manner, but I do believe that everything does happen for a reason. And I believe that there is a reason that I am still here on this spinning globe. I believe that I can do some good. I believe that I was not meant to live the sort of commonplace life that so many seek – the kind of drama-free, non-eventful existence, void of suffering or sorrow. And I believe the same for you too. For without strife, success will never be achieved. Without pain, there will be no gain.
Although one may think the contrary, as I seem to advocate pain and suffering, and continue to run into walls every step of the way, I am not a masochist. I do not run into walls willfully. And I am not that stupid. I know that most walls are hard and I know it hurts when you run into them. I hope you should know the same too. However, you must be willing to encounter some walls in life and not just turn the other way when you see one. Anyone who shies away from the very mention of pain and turns the very moment life starts getting even a little difficult or uncomfortable does not have a clue of what life really is about. The problem with most of our lives is not God’s supposed inconvenient, sometimes painful, and unfortunate timing, but our own unrealistic expectations, self-centered thinking, foolhardy planning, and of course our inability to incorporate God’s plan when it is staring us straight in the face. Life is not supposed to be easy and God’s plans are not optional. Face your walls. See what’s on the other side of them. That’s where God’s waiting for you.
Yes, sometimes God does put walls in your way… sometimes to test you… sometimes to make you stronger… and sometimes to show you just how much we all need Him. Oftentimes we do turn the other way – we intentionally ignore Him because He just doesn’t seem to fit into our lifestyles. We don’t have the time and effort to deal with Him on a daily basis let alone on Sundays. And it is in this that we have our downfall – plain and simple: we think too much about ourselves. It’s not something we want to hear and it’s so easy to deny ourselves the truth, but we easily get too wrapped up in trying to make the story of our lives great that we let the greatest story of all time fall to the wayside. We think so highly of ourselves that we forget about others, yet we still get so upset when others stop paying attention to us. It’s time we get over ourselves!
The supposed “American Dream” is one reason for this false sense of thinking. The pursuit of the American Dream is not the pursuit of true happiness and the ultimate culmination of fulfillment in our lives that we readily think it is, but actually the path to superficial happiness and ultimate fulfillment of one’s sloth, avarice, and complacency. Happily ever after is not meant for our lives here on earth, but our eternities up in Heaven. We graduate – we gain our freedom, we find careers/jobs that suit us and our lifestyles, we find the love of our lives, get the 2.5 kids, the house, the dog, and the big screen TV with surround sound, then we look back at our lives and we think, “Is THAT it?!?”. That’s why so many of us are bored and discontented in our lives and in our marriages. That’s why so many of us seek excitement elsewhere or try to create unnecessary drama in our lives. That’s why we have broken families, a crumbling morality, and wear masks to pretend that everything is all right. Everything is not alright. We want the extraordinary, but we are only willing to expose ourselves to the ordinary. We cannot see clearly because we’ve been wearing our masks most of the time. People do not learn living in a sterile vacuum with rose-colored spectacles on – we grow from facing our adversities and embracing life’s experiences. We profit and prosper from the questions we ask and the answers we seek.
It would be easy for a person in my position to play the pity card. Why me? My family and I – the victims of some major, cosmic injustice! Sure, we may garner some sympathy and pity, but this false sense of comfort would not last long. I could go on and on about what happened to us, but what good would that accomplish? That is not why I write. I’m not to here to tell you my sob story. The story here is not what is important – it’s what happens after the story that counts. It’s about how we react to change and tragedy. It’s about what happens when we don’t get our way, when our plans go awry. ‘Why me’ accomplishes nothing but wasting everybody’s time. Neither would it be right to go on with life completely ignoring what happened. It is critical – for our sanity and for our future – that amidst our tragedy, we must ask the right questions and seek their complete answers. Otherwise we are doomed to walk forever in darkness, depression and confusion. If we ever want peace and understanding, we must work through it with Him and not our delude ourselves with our own convenient version of reality. If we ever want to know what is in store for our lives and live it to its fullest potential, we must search for the light. For it is only in the light that things can hope to grow – it is only within the full light and recognition of what happened, might we see what God wants in our lives.
Whether you choose to believe it or not, God has done everything – catastrophe or blessing – to get us where He needs us to be. Every step of the way, in all things, God is working to shape us. He chips away at our rough and callous exteriors and removes the chips that reside on our shoulders. Even though we cannot see how, through our pain and suffering, we are being made to be more like Christ.
Fight, resist all you want – your plans, your agenda pales in comparison to the masterful plans that He has for your life and everyone else’s. Just step back and look around you: we are just small, insignificant specks on a gigantic globe – tiny grains of sand on an infinite beach. Our lives, our voice, our story – we’re just one diminutive thread in God’s intricate tapestry. Each of us is a part of God’s artful masterpiece, but we need Him to set us in the right place. Otherwise, the entire thing unravels…
So what’s the best course of action? To believe whatever we want to believe – just as long as it suits our needs? To think we deserve more than others – that the only person we have to serve is ourselves? Do you really think that it is in our best interest to ignore the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the Heavens and the universe and think we know better than Him or that He doesn’t even exist? And then what happens? We get knocked off our high horse like Saul… we get thrown into pits and prisons like Joseph… we lose sight of the real prize and lose everything we were ever blessed with like Samson. And these were all men who believed in God but decided to do things their way! What about the unbelievers and the skeptics? What will it take for God to get your attention? Does He need to come at you with a 2 x 4 before you believe He’s out there?!
Please, heed my warning; learn from my experience. If it wasn’t for my dad, I would have never studied Engineering. If I never studied Engineering, I would have never worked at KN Consulting. If I hadn’t worked at KN, I would have never joined 24-Hour Fitness. If I hadn’t joined the gym, I would have never met Trisha. If I had never met her, I would have never come to ....New Hope..... And if I never came to ....New Hope...., well, I probably would not have much hope now… and I definitely would not be speaking to you today. It was hard enough for me to deal with the tragedies in my life with God that I’d hate to think where my dark mind would have taken me without Him. Each stepping stone: critical to making me the man I am today. Each trial, each struggle although so painful and trying, has given me more faith and, in turn, strength to persevere. It is not until we change our hearts and minds; mature and grow in the Lord that we can understand the storms we must endure and the true future He holds for us all. Listen to God. Let Jesus be your guide. Life is the highest of mountains you must climb and you will need help to reach the top. HE is your Tenzing Norgay. HE is the only guide that can take you to the very top. Don’t plan the trip up yourself because your plans and mine are flawed and you will fall. Follow Him – He knows the way.
Chris Carrabba expressed the struggle we have within us in a recent song of his called Get Me Right:
I need my maker
To cure me of/ My doubting blood
And drain me of/ The sins I love
And take me from/ My disbelief
I know it should come easily
But it remains inside of me
It battles me and devours me
It cuddles up/ Beside of me
In whispers it convinces me I’m right.
Let us stop and think about it: who’s right? Who holds the best plans for our lives? Is it us? One day my family will come to church… maybe not today… may be not next week… or the week after next… may be not here… It may not be due to the foolish schemes of this clown, but because of the loving guidance of The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords… according to His timetable and His perfect, immaculate plans."
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