Not just going through the motions…

Wow…. That’s all I could really say after College and Career’s learning centre today… I mean what else do you say to such a powerful testimony. We were watching the Fruitcake & Ice-cream sermon by Louie Giglio and it was absolutely amazing! Topic was about grace… and instead of sharing his own thoughts for most of the sermon, he shared a testimony… A testimony of a girl named Ashley. I’m pretty sure NO ONE from our group that day left the room without any tears in their eyes by the end of the DVD.

What do you say when you hear about someone who’s going through a lot of heart ache and feels like God just doesn’t care for “screw-ups”… and then through a serious of definitely non-cooincidental events comes to know Christ just to die from a car crash 3 months later…. This is an extremely brief story of what Louie Giglio read from her very own journal that was given to him by her parents… And it was just so touching….

It made me re-think EVERYTHING…. Yeah we’ve heard how loving God is and how Jesus came and died for our sins… but what does that really mean? I mean.. do we really understand the full concept of that? Do we really understand grace… do we really experience it’s freeing power? Do we realize that we have absolutely no right to keep this amazing love.. this amazing gift… this amazing grace to ourselves? Do we realize that this isn’t for use to keep and hoard but to share it with everyone around us? I guess we really don’t because most of us get too comfortable with where we are in life and how our social atmosphere is set… We conveniently ‘forget’ about telling others about a Man who WILLINGLY gave His very own life for us… despite knowing that all of use will hurt Him; despite knowing that many of us will reject Him; despite knowing that only some of us will accept Him; and despite knowing that only a handful will truly love Him….

But He still came… willingly… didn’t retaliate when he was beaten… didn’t resist when they made Him drag his own cross after the torture He’d just gone through.. and didn’t turn back when they were about to drive nails through His holy hands and feet before dying a criminal’s death… He disregarded the humiliation that He faced…. Just for you and me…. just so that we could have the option of coming to Him openly and personally… All He ever wanted was us.. our love.. our fellowship… all He wants is for us to acknowledge His great sacrifice for us and to ask Him to live in our hearts.. all He ever wanted was to be our God.. our Father.. our Friend….

And even after all of that… we still reject Him.. we still feel ashamed of telling others about this amazing gift that God has give us….

Why? Do we feel ashamed of a gift our friend, our loved ones, or anyone that we care about gives us? No.. in fact… we flaunt it… We Facebook it! We tell EVERYONE about this gift our loved one gave us… we feel proud of it and cherish it… What a shame that we don’t do the same for the gift of eternal life that Christ is offering to us…..

He loves us so much… everyone! No one has gone too far or screwed things over so much that he or she can never come to God… in fact He wants us to come to Him so that He can show us just how much He cares for us and loves us… just so that He can help us through this life… You’re not alone… He’s promised to never leave you and never forsake you! Till the end of time He’s with you!

No matter what you’ve gone through, He understands… there is nothing that you’ve gone through that He hasn’t already gone through when He walked the earth. And He just wants you to know that He loves you and wants to help you through everything that hurts you and causes your heart to ache… because His heart aches when He sees His child hurting… He just wants you to trust Him.. Trust Him that He’ll be with you every step of the way- through thick and through thin… when things are looking up or when they can’t get any lower…

At the end of one of Ashley’s Journal entries she wrote down the lyrics to a song that just touched her heart… and I know it will touch yours. I’m sure many of you may know it, or if you don’t will know it… We all have messed up in life.. but He doesn’t want us to beat ourselves over it… He doesn’t care what you’ve done… He doesn’t care how bad you think you are… all He wants is you… just you. He’ll take care of all the baggage you’ve acquired over the years..  He says “Come to me all of you who are heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest” He loves you… no strings attached… are you willing to do the same…

Mighty To Save

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that’s never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King…Jesus (x2)

My Saviour, You can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Thoughts on Others

Wow, It’s been quite a weekend. It’s been really busy cooking at the restaurant- especially it being the valentine’s weekend and the restaurant just opening up from a two week holiday. And on top of that, I just got news that another family member just passed away- thats 5 deaths in the past 3-4 months. It’s saddening. Sometimes you don’t even know what to say or think anymore. Even more saddening is that most of them weren’t believers (at least we didnt know for sure) and I wouldn’t like to think of where they are right now.

Funny that at church we were talking about meeting the needs of others. Pastor Bill talked about the Good Samaritan and a lot of other things as well. The main theme was about helping and meeting the needs of the oppressed and the needy. There are millions of people with a genuine need in this world. A majority of the people in North America are ignorant to the fact that every 5 seconds a lot of babies die of starvations and malnutrition. I wish I remembered the statistics, but it was way too much. The worse part is that some, if not most, of these people don’t know Christ and will face eternity without Him. Why? Because we didn’t chose to love them and care for them like we are commanded to. We are too comfortable in our private lives. We build fences around our lives, and make sure that we don’t cross it otherwise it becomes too much of an inconvenience to us. I mean, we’d rather get that boat, or that tv, or the video game that we so want, but we will neglect the needs of others as they are dying. Why is the world so? I’m preaching to myself too. I’m guilty of this as well. But, what am I going to do about it now that I realize what I need to do? What are you going to do knowing that there are millions dying while you lie comfortably in your bedroom with your luxuries all around you. We feed our wants by denying others their needs.

Don’t tell yourself, “Well, they’re not doing anything to help themselves out. They’re not trying to get a job or work or make things better for themselves”! How many of these people would be able to get a “real” job?!!! How many of these people do you think will be give the opportunity like you and I?!!! They live in already food stricken and poor lands! Hunger is not just a one or two day thing for them- it’s a lifestyle! That’s sad! They can’t help it! Imagine if it was your son, or daughter, or father, or mother, or girlfriend, or boyfriend, or someone that you cared about? I bet you would go out of your way to do anything for them. They why not these people? Can’t you see the needy faces of those precious little children?! Aren’t you moved with compassion??!!! Are our hearts so cold?!!

You know, something really true that Pastor Bill said today is that you can look at helping people two ways : proclaiming the Word of God, and acting to help the needy. Which is the right answer? Well, both are. You need a balance. Sometimes, you just help. Just like the good Samaritan. He just helped the guy on the road. He didn’t preach to him. And then there are times when you proclaim His word.

Life isn’t about you. This seems to be coming up a lot in my blogs. Life is about others. Always about others. It’s more meaningful and fulfilling when you live life for someone else and know that with God’s help you’ve made a difference. Why don’t we, then?

Don’t live in ignorance while someone else is out there….

Dying….

Because no one cared…

it’s a choice we have to make… If we really want something, we’ll find a way to do it or achieve it.

you have to want to do this…

you have to want to care…