Love, you're seriously messing me up!

I'm continually being amazed by this message of love that has been on my heart this last year. It came up again this morning in church.

The message related back to finances, and at the end of the message the question "what can we do with our finances" (or something to that degree) came up.

I started to think of the greatest and second greatest commandments and used he same definition for love. Then I asked myself, how can my finances reflect the greatest commandments?

Heres what happened. I started asking the question "How can my finances allow me to be patient with others, kind towards others, not envious of others, not proud towards others, not rude to others, etc".

Wow. I'm stunned again. While I don't have an answer for each one of those statements, others speak loudly. The same could be done with other resources such as time as well.

I have so much to learn about love!

Love in a college classroom

I am really excited for tomorrow.

Over this last week I have been attending a Facilitation Skills class at a local college. This is the first course that I have taken towards a "Trainer of Adults" program. I'm hoping to complete this program over the next few years.

As it is right now, I am a high school graduate and had never really entertained the thought of taking any post-secondary school until a colleague of mine had mentioned it. After I was given this idea I thought it would be wise for me to complete this program.

So here I am now, on the eve of my last full day of my first course.

Why am I so excited for tomorrow?

I am excited because tomorrow will be the first time (ever) that I will be talking about the teachings of Jesus - how He has asked His followers to love our neighbours. My final graded facilitation will be about the attributes of love - the love is patient, love is kind, does not boast, is not proud, etc.

As far as I know, there is only one other fellow Christian in this course (and maybe one other one based on some comments she made earlier, although I'm really not too sure where she is at). The rest are all regular people.

I am very curious as to how well a message of love will be received by the class. Will that message get rejected? Will it be accepted? Will anyone want to know more of what I have to say? Will any relationships extend past the classroom, and into every day life?

I can't wait to share this message with them!

Dream with me a little

It has been a busy month now that I am back to work. I feel a lot different now then I did before I left work. I think I've grown a lot spiritually over the last year, but mostly within the last three months. I realize now just how much I had pondered the things of God while I was off work.

So what's so different? I think it comes down to the way I'm looking at people. What I mean is that I think I've finally gotten past what is displayed on the outside. While this may be something a lot of you will think is easy, this for me is something I've struggled with all my life.

I never could get in with the popular groups in grade school, all the way through high school. I barely got in with the unpopular groups too. Even after becoming a Christian, I struggled with trying to fit in for the first while.

However, over time, God has been working on me. I'm even to the point now where I am pretty comfortable getting up and speaking in front of audiences. I'm pretty sure I like it, which I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable with. Strange, I know.

And now I have this dream. Is it God inspired? Maybe, maybe not. I'd like to think it is. I picture myself operating an organization that helps Christians with their faith. But not necessarily a church. Maybe more like an evangelist or something. It's not too clear yet. I guess I've only taken the dream as far as running the odd Saturday seminar now and again, where Christians from the area could attend. I'd take everything I've learned about learning and development and apply it to this one day seminar. Over time I'd like to enable others to then take over the program, so I could build different seminars. All the while I'd have the chance to love all those who attend the program, and help them to love everyone hey come in contact with.

So that's the dream as it currently sits - which is a lot clearer than it was even 6 months ago.

In the meanwhile, I'll continue to work at my present dream job. I am truly loving the work that I am responsible for.

Try, try, and try again

It has been roughly a week and a half since I had written about food controlling my life. I thought it would be worthwhile to provide an update on how I'm attempting to overcome this battle.

While this might look like a weight loss challenge, it definitely isn't. Although I will admit I step on the scale probably too often - and then I have to remind myself why I'm being more careful with the foods I'm eating.

This also isn't a "look how much I lost", but more of "this is what I have experienced" and "this is why God is awesome" kind of a post.

For the first couple of days I struggled a lot. I went to the cupboards and fridge more times than I care to remember. Each time, however, I was able to resist the temptation by both remembering the consequences (excess food = self-seeking = sinning towards God) and secondly by praying for help. I was amazed at how much easier it was to walk away from the snack. I even thought to myself - perhaps this is what it means to deny yourself and take up your cross daily?

Now have I given in to temptation since those early days? Yessir, I have. Especially when company was over, or my wife wanted to order in. Back to my old habits I went. Why oh why do I continue to fail? I turn to God for forgiveness and try again. I have the belief that while I may always have a weakness to poor food choices, I can be sure that God will help me overcome - provided I seek Him in the process.

In short, I have a long way to go to overcome this sin, but as I persevere, I build character, which results in a hope that things will change, and all the while I grow closer to God.

Live like the Amish or use a Megaphone?

For the last little while I have been thinking a lot of how to approach the topic of Jesus with those I come into contact with. Am I to immediately jump to that topic, or simply, let my life be an example?

While I haven't reached a conclusion yet - mostly because I want to read more about this topic in the Bible first - I have started to gather my thoughts on the topic. As a Christian, I know I am to share the Gospel (Good News) through all the earth - and what good news it is! However, I also think about how Jesus talked to those around him about heavenly things.

The message to me seems pretty simple. God loves us. A lot. Sacrificed his own life for us - even though we should be considered his enemy. Says a lot about his character. In fact, the more I try to live in the "love is" and "love does not"'s I start to see how awesome my God really is.

So how do I share this with others?

As of this moment, I really believe that first and foremost I am to live this way myself. They will know us (Christians) by our love. But what does that mean? That's where I believe I am to live out the "love is patient / kind / not envious / not proud / not boastful / not rude / not self-seeking / not easily angered / keeps no record of wrong / not delight in evil / rejoices in the truth / always protects / trusts / hopes / perseveres / never fails" kind of love. I get this from the greatest and second greatest commandments. My current belief is that if I live this way, more people will be attracted to me, or maybe not so much me, but the Holy Spirit who I am allowing to work through me - which then allows for an open discussion about the things of God.

I can say for certain - I simply do not feel like I am the same person from even 3 months ago. I have a very long way to go to be sure, but, as I keep trying to love others the way God loves me the more I feel connected to God.

Do you have thoughts about how to approach the topic of Jesus to others? Are there versus that stick out in your mind when I mention this topic? I would love to hear them!

Oh food, why do you torment me so?

I like food. Actually I love food. Sort of. But not really.

The reality is I have a problem with food. Not only do I eat the wrong kinds, but I eat it too often, and I eat too much of it.

Last summer I started to realize, for the first time, that my problems with food is a sin. This sin has been a tough one to leave behind.

I believe that my problem with food is a sin because I'm treating food as a lower-case g god. God was also quite clear about putting other gods before him - so much so that it was the first of the ten commandments. By eating too much, too frequently of the wrong foods, I believe I am putting food before God. That's a problem.

As I had touched upon in a previous post, I also believe my problems with eating is also an issue with loving God, as this is an act of temporarily satisfying my own desires, which to me, is an exercise in being self-seeking.

In the past I have tried different programs to help with my problem - weight watchers, some weird tomato soup diets, and the like. Each time the motivation was the same - to look good, be healthy, and lose weight - which again could be considered self-seeking reasons to change my lifestyle.

Knowing this time around that my food problem is a sin and distancing myself from God, I have decided to do something about it. I believe that to help battle this sin, I will need to take up my cross daily - put away my selfish desires - and focus on God the entire time I feel like grabbing another calorie-laden snack.

Do I think I am going to fail this time around? Of course I do. I have every other time. The difference I believe between this time and others is that the motivation is to love God.

With God's help I can remove this sin from my life.

A Laundry Basket of Love

I often miss the obvious. My wife will leave a basket full of laundry in front of the staircase basically indicating to me that I am to carry these dirty clothes to the laundry room, and I will walk around, over, or even sometimes move the basket out of the way so that I can walk down the stairs, all the while leaving the basket behind.

I'm not doing this for any particular reason other than I'm not really paying attention to what my wife is saying. I have been married almost 8 years and this sort of thing still happens.

I've also been a Christian now for over 10 years, and yet I still miss the obvious in my spiritual life, too.

Tonight while with some really good Christian friends of mine the verse regarding "husbands, love your wives the way Christ loves the church" kept repeating itself in my head.

When I got home I looked up this passage and read the rest of Ephesians chapter 5 starting at verse 25. "He who loves his wife loves himself". I missed this before. I must have walked around this basket too.

Knowing the definition of love from 1st Corinthians 13 is really helping me to understand what is being said here in that I should be patient with my wife, kind to her, not envious, not boastful towards her, not proud to her, not rude to her, not self seeking, not easily angered, not keeping record of her wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting her, always trusting her, always hoping for her, always perseveres with her, and never failing her.

It's really beautiful, isn't it? And after all, why shouldn't it be beautiful, since my wife is that way already?