Day 6: Life is a Temporary Assignment

It makes me a little sad that I didn't bother to work out at all while I was home on Christmas break. Granted, it's easier when I have WiiFit right there (especially since there was no way I was going to go for a walk outside in MI winter weather). It just got me out of the habit, so now I'm building back the physical and mental endurance I had developed before. Yes, even 2 weeks makes a big difference. I did attempt to do something at the conference (Thursday night, as you read in the last entry, and then Friday morning I got to the convention center early and walked around for about a half hour before my first clinic). And working out this late at night is never much fun, especially when you know you have lots of things to do (like update a blog, write a final exam, grade papers, make decisions about how to invest retirement money. . . it amazes me how much I sound like an adult sometimes).

So, I'm almost caught up. Let's continue, because I'm excited to get to the reading for tonight (I haven't done it yet).

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The chapter opens up with a list of metaphors the Bible uses to describe the span of a man's life in comparison with eternity. I think it's always good to keep the eternal perspective in mind. . . yet how can we even fathom it? I can barely think about time as it is happening. Look at my life a year ago: I was interning at Lakeshore High School, applying to Teach for America, everything falling apart and crashing around me. . . and now here I am in central Florida, teaching at a small school (by Florida standards. . . it's like a normal Michigan school), and putting my life back together.

I love the idea of having a spiritual green card. I am seriously considering making one from construction paper and putting it in my wallet as a reminder. It's strange to think that we are strangers in the world. I think we have to realize that the Earth was created for us, not the other way around. God didn't make man, then think about the habitat and way of living. He created everything else first, got it all set, THEN brought man into the scene. We were created for Heaven; Earth is just the stop on the way there (well, assuming we make the choice to follow that path). Another good analogy is thinking of Earth as an apartment. We don't own it, but we take care of it because we know someone else is going to be using it after us. However, we are always looking to our future home, and in our case someone is taking care of all the preparations; we're just waiting for the move out date.

I also love the thought that "We are Christ's ambassadors.". We need to be sure we are not falling into the world's patterns of doing things. The problem is that the world makes it so easy to do EVERYTHING: even if you think only of the medium of the internet, there are so many amazingly good and horrendously bad things we can choose to explore there. So that's great for some things (evangelizing, missions work, maybe prayer or "fellowship" though human interaction can never be replaced by anything digital) and bad for a lot of other things (laziness, instant and easy access to inappropriate sites, stalking, and so on). We have to be careful. Yes, we have to live here temporarily, but we need to keep in mind the King's mission and purpose and not become too comfortable and begin to prefer this foreign nation.

I think everyone experiences the gaps that the world can't fill. . . this can't be the end of the story, can it? Unfulfilled dreams, bad relationships, persecution, disappointments. . . even people who are the most successful and popular by the world's standards have felt this way. But, what a novel idea: maybe we will never be happy here! At least, not in that complete everything-makes-sense way. We aren't home yet!

Now, go back and read Thursday's entry. See any "coincidences" in there?
Wait a second. . . "we aren't home yet."

No questions have been answered for me yet, but maybe this book will reveal some more information to me as I go along. Almost done-

Point to Ponder: This world is not my home.
This serves as a reminder and warning that we should not become too attached to this world and the things it holds important. How does this related to my question of feeling called to do something? I'm not sure, but I feel I may make a connection sometime soon.

Verse to Remember: 2 Corinthians 4:18- "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." New International Version
It's hard to focus on the "unseen" because the rewards of them are also "unseen." It's like the classic definition of character.

Question to Consider: How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?
Well, it already has been, and I will continue to work on making it better. I now study the Bible, attend church regularly, spend time in prayer, fellowship with other believers, attempt to be open and share my faith, try to listen to God more and figure out (and then do) His will. Basically I'm getting myself away from time wasters and spending more time getting closer to God.