Day 5: Seeing Life from God's View

This was Thursday's reading, and Thursday was kind of a neat day for me, but not because of the clinics or concerts. Those were phenomenal (mostly), and I pulled a lot of philosophical and practical knowledge as well as great encouragement from them, but what I'm going to speak of happened between the last clinic and the evening concerts. I ended up spending a lot of time with God, which was not what I was originally planning, but you know, it was quite nice. I didn't find anyone to go to dinner, so I walked over to a nice restaurant (read: expensive restaurant) and had dinner alone (actually, I found a tasty grilled chicken sandwich with fries for only $10). I had my bag with me, so as I waited for my food to come I pulled out my Bible and began reading (Pslam 107-112, to be exact). I found parts of that to be encouraging and applicable to my life and everything I'm trying to figure out right now. Pslam 108 is especially great.

After dinner (tasty food and great service; I could see myself going there again next year at FMEA), I spent a lot of time just walking up and down the Riverwalk. It was gorgeous; I have pictures, and hopefully I'll put a few up here if I think about it later. It was really nice just to soak in the beauty of God's craftsmanship, both in nature and in architecture (sometimes, I feel like people curse buildings as being "made by the hand of man, not God." Don't you think God had something to do with buildings, arcitectures, bridges, structures, and so on? I do, and I will not feel guilty for admiring their beauty). I also found myself doing a lot of thinking (as I often do on nightwalks) and found myself humming and singing songs. When I stopped to think about what I was singing, it was "Home" and "A Change in Me" from Beauty and the Beast. If you aren't familiar with those songs, look them up on YouTube; they're from the Broadway musical, and both are quite good in my opinion (much better than Maurice's song, or anything the Beast sings). I've been trying to reconcile the idea of where my "home" is. I can call South Haven home, since that's where I was born and spent most of my life, but truthfully my only friends there are the small handful from high school that also went to WMU and my OTP friends. I can call Kalamazoo and WMU my home, as I spent four years pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into my degree, and there are so many people I know and love there. And now I'm in Florida, and I am really loving the area I live in (DeLand, if you didn't know). There are some great people and amazing things happening that I would have never imagined a year ago, nor even a few months ago as I was moving down here. And I feel like God is calling me to do. . . something. But I don't know what it is. I don't know if I'm meant to stay down here for a little while, a long while, or the rest of my life (I don't expect to know that, though). I don't know if I'll be teaching at Taylor for my whole career, or if this is just the first step in an adventure that will take me to places unknown. But I feel like there's something I should be doing. Whether it's personal, or professional, or both, I'm still trying to figure out. I'm trying to listen, and Thursday evening was a good first step. I just wish I always had 2-3 hours to just wander around and think about things on demand. Guess you gotta take those opportunities when they come up.

Anyway, onto the book.

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Another interesting quote opens this chapter, this time from Anaïs Nin:
We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Perspective influences EVERYTHING. Great example from this weekend- a trolley (ie bigger than Kalamazoo buses) made a right turn and nearly took the headlight off of a car in the left turn lane. At least, that's what it looked like to me and Craig. But we were at a slight angle because of the shape of the road, so for all we know, it wasn't as close a call at it seemed to us. So, depending on where we stand, whether it be on the west side of the street or extremely Democratic (as in, taking a stand?), we see things in a different light.

I don't know about you, but I want to look at everything through the light of eternity (from the last chapter).

The beginning of the chapter talked about our "life metaphor." I know my life was a "whirlwind" when I accepted the job and moved down here; so much was happening so fast and my head was spinning. Things have calmed down now, of course. Still. . . this metaphor we hold in our head has a great impact on our way of living. In college, the best way I could think of to describe my schedule was that each of my engagements (accompanying, school work, Broncoband, friends, family, etc.) was like an inverted pyramid (as in a 3-D object) about my height. It was my job to scramble around and keep the pyramids from crashing to the floor, but it was really hard because it only had that very small point to balance on. And sometimes, pyramids fell, and broke, and I had to balance everything else before I could even start to pick up the pieces, or I'd end up with an even bigger mess on my hands. I am so glad not to feel like that anymore. Granted, I did it to myself, but man. . . I don't know how I got through that.

Testing is almost constant. But so are the ways to get through or get out of those situations, if we keep our eyes and minds and hearts open. I've found that to be true about my life since the move at least (and if I had paid attention, probably before as well).

Without further ado-

Point to Ponder: Life is a test and a trust.
Having this perspective gives a different flavor to everything that we do. It's also a good reminder that in the end, it really isn't about us at all.

Verse to Remember: Luke 16:10a- "Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones." New Living Translation
I feel that everyone agrees with the principle this verse says. Someone lies to you. Aren't you cautious about what they say to you the next time you interact with them? You have a bad experience at a restaurant with the food. It's likely you won't go back to that place, or if you do, you won't order the same food, because you can't trust it to turn out well. Therefore, if you turn it around, why would anyone give you more responsibilities if you can't even handle doing the things you are currently doing? It's like having a bad credit score; no one will take a chance on you until you can prove you can be trusted.
Another good note from my Study Bible- Our integrity often meets its match in money matters. God calls us to be honest even in small details we could easily rationalize away. Heaven's riches are far more valuable than earthly wealth. But if we are not trustworthy with our money here (no matter how much or little we have) we will be unfit to handle the vast riches of God's kingdom. Don't let your integrity slip in small matters, and it will not fail you in crucial decisions.

Question to Consider: What has happened to me recently that I now realize was a test from God? What are the greatest matters God has entrusted to me?
The most recent thing that wasn't obviously a test (like when I was flipping through the channels on the TV at my hotel and passed a very inappropriate show on HBO. . . I'm really OK with not having cable) was probably the sudden time I had on my hands Wednesday morning. Craig was running a little late, and I had already powered down my computer and wasn't really in the mood for video games. There were a number of things I could have done, productive or unproductive, but I wasn't really in much of a mood to do anything except mess around on the internet. So, I powered up my Wii and got on the internet channel. Then, an interesting and unexpected thing happened; I went onto YouTube, and instead of looking up random videos, I searched for worship songs. I'm not sure what prompted me to do that, but I ended up spending probably 45 minutes singing along to different songs and worshipping God, and it was pretty awesome. Actually, it was VERY awesome. I wish I had the motivation to wake up early each morning (well, and the schedule; sometimes my nights just take me into the "late" hours for teachers, meaning 11 or 12 PM), because how awesome would that be to do before showering, making tea, and heading off to school? Granted, I sing along with Z Radio sometimes (I ought to have all their songs memorized by now) but I'm also driving, and it's generally not me being focused on God but just singing along on the surface as I think about what the school day has in store for me.
As far as what I have been entrusted with, the things I came up with were: new and old friendships, and finding my place(s) to serve at SBC.

OK, I need to go work-out now (otherwise I won't tonight, and I need to get back into/stay in the habit). I'll be back for days 6 and 7 in a little while.