My Original Plan

So, I have realized that I am yet to meet my full intentions of this blog. My intent was to give you all an insight into things that cross my mind and what I ponder on from a day to day basis. This weekend has given me that time to think about some things and made me realize what my faults are. For instance, I've learned that I devote a lot of time to college football on Saturdays. Probably much more time than usual. In fact, I probably start this time consuming process sometime around the Friday night before.  

Why this is? I'm not sure. I noticed this when I was asked if I was going to attend an event being hosted by a friend Saturday night where my second family* would be attending. Surprisingly, I found it take a great deal for me to commit to going to this event instead of watching football with my roommate. The sad part is that I could not have cared less who was playing that night I just wanted to watch football. After pondering the idea of enjoying the company of my friends or watching football I finally settled on getting out of the house for the first time on Saturday and going. As it turned out I had a blast. I also found out that my good friend Daniel Watson was in town and had gone to this event as well.  I would have been HIGHLY disappointed in myself had I not gone being that today would have been the only day I really would have gotten to spend time with him. I say all of this because I have wondered lately why people, myself included, put so much heart into something that doesn't even know or even care that they exist? I'm specifically talking about college football fans, but this can relate to fans of any sport for that matter.

Each week we dress up in our favorite team colors, cheer, yell, and proclaim to have the best team in the nation yet get nothing in return. It has even gone to such extremes that people have started fights and wasted loads of money to show that they are THE #1 FAN. If I don't show up to or watch a game will not the same result occur? It blows my mind that fans week in and week out can allow their moods and lives to be gauged on a game that is ultimately not that vital to their lives. Fandom is a one-way relationship. Now sure, sports are fun to watch and if you are an athlete or coach can be a great career. However, from a fan perspective we cannot allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in sports that we lose sight of what is truly important in life.  

What if we took the passion we have for our sports teams and applied that to God? How much more committed would we be? How much more effective could we be in the world?  Being that I live in Tallahassee, Florida and am constantly surrounded by things colored garnet and gold daily, I tend to notice every once in awhile I will see something out of the norm. Orange and Blue. Two colors no Seminole fan enjoys seeing in their homeland.  As I see these Gator fans I often take note of their pride and how they get treated by Seminole fans here in Tallahassee.  While some are more gentle than others, I often wonder about those getting treated poorly and how they parallel to Jesus and his relationship with the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Now I understand that I am probably getting negative responses already just by putting Jesus and Florida Gator fans in the same sentence.  I urge you to just hear me out. If it helps, turn the situation to a Seminole fan in Gainesville for this relationship can go both ways. We(Seminoles) persecute the enemy(Gators) with our words and gestures, and all for what? Possibly because the enemy beat us last year, or even worse, we were taught no different but to hate the enemy? The Pharisees and Sadducees hated Jesus because they were threatened by Him and didn't know any better but to hate Him. Are we no different? 

My main point here does nothing with football, but is to open our eyes to the fact that we may possibly approach our enemies with love and sincerity. Jesus calls us to "Love thy neighbor as thyself" all to often we either fail at showing this or believe it only applies to our "Christian neighbors". Unbelievers have often rejected the church all to often due to the fact that we do not appear sincere, and even hypocritical. Does this sound familiar? The Pharisees themselves were often condemned by Jesus for being hypocritical and focusing too much on the nature of the law rather than loving and accepting those who have fallen and helping them through their struggles. I feel if we approach unbelievers with a humble mind and heart, letting them know that we are in fact no greater than they are, unbelievers will begin to see us for who we truly are. Humble servants of our King, Jesus Christ, and that we have such a contagious love for Christ that we cannot help but to love and show concern for those around us who are struggling with the very issues we ourselves face. 

Romans 15:1-2

"1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."

With Much Love,

Dave

*college group/AFC at Meridian Woods Church Of Christ

My Wish

Ok, so to start off I would just like to say that today was possibly one of the greatest days I've had in a really long time.  At some point in my life I realized that music is a huge passion in my life and so naturally listening to it moves me very much so. So in order to help you all understand exactly how good my day was I attempted to find a song that could express just what I've felt ALL DAY today.  After a long hard search I stumbled across Rascal Flatts' "My Wish".  I was surprised when I found this to fit my amazing day so well due to the fact that I don't really listen to country to often and haven't heard this song for a really long time.  Here is a quick summary of my day, at work we had our audit, which was stressful but we not only passed but passed with the highest score in the Tallahassee Region so far.  After work, I then attended Bible Study where we continued our study of Acts, and today we spoke about the latter part of Acts 9 and began Acts 10.  I specifically enjoyed the story of the centurion being visited by the angel and then Peter being visited by the same angel as the angel told him to go with the centurion's men that he sent(in order to preach to the Gentiles, which Peter was not aware of this purpose).  The main reason I enjoyed this so much was because it brought to light how often those who were raised in the church, like myself, tend to have a harder time trusting in God and His Will rather than those who didn't grow up in church but later found Christ through friends or family or even just a simple revelation of living for a higher power.  I know, I know, it doesn't sound very good to those of us who grew up in a Christian household.  However, my point is that we can learn so much from those who have not taken for granted this new life they have miraculously found.  God shows NO favoritism. He loves us ALL the same. We are constantly intimidated by those who ask us for money, try and wage religious "knowledge wars" with us, or simply just let those who reject God's Word to discourage us.  In the New Testament, Jesus gave us two commandments, to "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, soul and strength. And the second is like it, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Tonight my eyes were opened at the fact of how much I truly love my Christian family. Tonight I found myself asking people in "my second family"(aka my Christian family at Meridian Woods Church of Christ, take note for later references) questions concerning things that I know mean alot to them but I have never really spoken to them before because I felt that if they want to talk to me about it they'll come to me. NO. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS EXAMPLE. I have realized that by asking this question, not only do you provide yourself with an opportunity to help someone you care about but you also let them know that you truly care about them and the problems that they are dealing with in their personal lives. Now if somehow I can figure out how to apply this to those who are outside of the realm of my second family, i.e. coworkers, old friends with whom I have lost touch, etc.  My own personal opinion in Christ's second commandment He gives us is that, if we love everyone as we do ourselves and then they will have no choice but to see God in our lives. Whether or not these people to choose to follow Him is up to them.  We as Christians just have to remember to not let those who choose to continue their lives without Christ discourage us and keep in mind that they are not rejecting us but God. Who knows? God's plan may have been for us to just simply love them?  Just because God provides us with opportunities to reach out doesn't necessarily mean someone else won't bring them to Christ.  I love you all very much and I am praying for  you all continuously.  It's sad that it has taken me this long to really reach a point in my life where I really feel true love with a group I have been a part of for so long beyond a simple "Hello, How are you?" Not that I didn't and don't love those in the past, but at that point in my spiritual path I was a much more selfish person.  I encourage you all if you haven't already, dig deeper into people's lives.  What you find may just not only make your day but you could also make someone else's.


"My Wish" Lyrics, by Rascal Flatts http://www.metrolyrics.com/my-wish-lyrics-rascal-flatts.html


Game Over

Hidden Blessings

Ok, so I'm really excited about this because I've never really blogged before so hopefully I can keep this up. I realized a few things today that has really encouraged me to maintain committed to doing God's work. Lately I've been able to spend a lot of my time with my fairly new friend and brother in Christ, Kyle Dixon. This man is so encouraging to me and constantly keeping me in check. I picked him up from work today to come over and hangout and watch hockey, baseball, and do whatever; and as soon as he gets in the car the first thing he tells me is, "Sorry I took so long I was giving Adam's(our campus minister) number to a couple girls at work so they can come to church." Needless to say, I was very impressed as I continue to struggle with reaching out to my coworkers. I also managed to have a fairly relieving day at work despite the fact that we received news that we are having an audit tomorrow, which our bosses have been really stressing over for about the past 3 months. So, as the day ended I found myself feeling confident about the audit and looking forward to not having to deal with my bosses being as stressed anymore. I'm really looking forward to seeing how God works in my life through those around me and hope to be a leader and encouragement to them as well. Alright, well as far as that goes, I'm gonna hit the sack so I can gear up for what I expect to be a hectic day tomorrow but I have a good feeling about it.