Trials: Perspective and Purpose

So I went to church this morning and the sermon was amazing so I thought I would share some of the notes I took from it. It really applied to what I have been going through.

The correct response to a trial is joy. Whenever we get to trials in life our perspective tends to shrine. We forget how BIG God i. We forget that He holds His children in his hands. That he will take care of our every need and that he knows how we will make it through the trial. He is not going to abandon us. The only way that we will feel abandoned is if we turn our back on God. Whether we walk through trials with our without God is our choice. This decision will determine the outcome of the trial, the feelings we will have during this trial, and whether we "win" or "lose."
We are not told that we MIGHT face trials or IF we face trials. It says WHEN. WHEN we face trials. We can't live life without expecting there to be hard times. Their will be. It's a promise.
Determine what your focus should be and what your perspective should be. Keep your focus and perspective right and it will e much easier to make it through the trial. Our outlook on the trial determines the outcome. Trials are not meant to break us. They are meant to make us stronger by testing our faith. The testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance in turn allows us to develop into more mature Christians, mature and complete. It's very easy to trust God when things are going well. It gets difficult when things are bad.
The pastor asked a question at the beginning of the sermon-Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
The meaning of this question:
To begin with a carrot is strong, durable, and not easily broken. But place this in boiling water for a little while and it becomes weak and soft. This symbolizes someone who begins a trial strong, but allows the trial to get to them and eventually are worn done by it.
The egg has a thin but hard outer shell, but liquid inside. When it is placed in boiling water it gets hard on the inside. It symbolizes someone who goes into a trial weak, but by the time their faith has finished being tested they have become a stronger person.
The coffee bean starts out being strong, not easily broken, and has a good smell. When you place it in boiling water, it retains its aroma, is left with a good taste, and you can still pick out the coffee bean and it will still be hard and durable. This is a picture of someone who starts off well, but finishes even stronger.
Now the application is to determine whether the trials are going to cause us to be a coffee bean, an egg, or a carrot. Am I going to get stronger and better or am I going to allow myself to wilt?
God can bless us even in the midst of life's trials if we will only let him. The only correct response to trials is joy.

Sermon was by Mark Tanious, Asst. Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Bowie.

Don't Have Time for This

I really don't have time to blog right now, but it's been so long since I've given any sort of update. I'm alive though it doesn't always doing it. I am currently in the process of learning how hard it is to be a full-time student, work full-time, and try to maintain any part of a social life. What's killing me is the homework. My schedule consists of getting up at around 6 on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays to be at class at 8. I have class until 10 on Mondays and Wednesdays and 1 on Fridays. I usually start work at around 3 everyday. The time in between is filled with down time, errands, or homework...and lunch of course. I get off of work at 10:30 every night and am usually up doing homework until at least midnight usually later. And it's still not getting all done. All the estuff I have to turn in is getting done, but the stuff like reading is hard to fit in. Tuesdays are my good day-no class at all....so hopefully I can start sleeping in and getting some homework done before work. Thursdays are my hardest days-I have to be up before 5 so I can be an hour away at 6 for ROTC which lasts until 11 and then work at 3 and then homework for Friday. But enough of the complaining...that's not what this blog is for...
I get to go to Texas this weekend. I was going to Dallas, but after careful though decided it would be wiser to go to Big Spring where my grandparents reside. The purpose of this trip: to get my driver's license. Finally I will be a fully licensed Texas driver. Well if everything goes right. Hopefully it does, especially considering my record with trying to get driver's licenses.
The exciting part of this trip is that it will be the first time I have flown by myself. I am very excited.
In other news, I think I finally found a church to attend. I had been going to a church before I went away to college, but I didn't feel like that is where I was meant to be. My friend Kayla from Chick-fil-a introduced me to her church, and I've loved it. I still miss my church in Dallas but this one is great too. I've been twice and the worship music has been awesome and the sermons are great and deep. The pastors there seem to go straight from the Bible finding the topic in a passage of verses instead of starting with a topic and finding verses to fit their topic. It's my favorite type of preaching. I'm excited about hopefully getting more involved in the church in the next few months.
But anyways I should go....especially since I shouldn't really be blogging right now anyways.

While You Were Sleeping

This is going to be a long post. Just a warning...but it is something that I really want to blog about so I hope you read it.

At the Christmas Eve Service at Faith Community Church, two young men performed the following song-While You Were Sleeping. It is a song by Casting Crowns that like a lot of their songs has very powerful potential. I'm posting the lyrics below.

"While You Were Sleeping"

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

So reading through this in the beginning you get the idea that it is one of those great heart wrenching Christmas songs about Bethlehem and what could have been different on the night that Christ was born. And you might think, well that's great but has no relevance to me. But this simply isn't the case. You get to the end and everything-the whole message of the song-coms to light.
We are blessed to live in America. Don't get me wrong by this post. We are truly blessed to live here. But America isn't what it used to be. A nation that was once founded on Christian principles is now allowing same sex marriage, abortion, and other practices that should cause the human race to blush. As a nation, sometimes we are more worried about saving the whales than saving the human race. I'm not talking simply salvation in a spiritual nature although that could definitely apply, but the nation is not doing everything that it could to reduce poverty or end the murders that happen in our city streets everyday. Honestly I really don't have an answer to how end these problems much like many of the other people in the nation. I wish I did. But I think there is something that could be done. And I definitely am going to keep my ears, eyes, and mind open for solutions. But back to the song.
To the spiritual-Do we realize that Jesus could come back at any moment? The Bible says that Jesus would come back like a thief in the night. Yet, I know I for one live like every day is just another day for work to pile up, days filled with frustration, happiness. Lately, I've been trying to live my life so that it would have more of an impact on those around me. But I'm still not doing all that I could do. Are the Christians like me going to be caught sleeping-living life for our own pleasure and unconcerned with the fact that once Jesus does come back there are going to be thousands of people-many of whom we will know doomed to destruction.
More has to be done. We must impact our world for Christ. I'm still working on an overall plan. But you know what, our action -whatever it is-doesn't have to be big. It just has to be what God wants, and it has to make a difference. You don't have to save the world all at once. Just focus on one person at a time. That's all it takes. So I'm sorry for the long post, but this is something I really have felt God has been speaking to me about lately.

Mega Churches and 5-Alarm

So today has been a little on the bold side for me.  I went to a mega-church today, and I had the 5-alarm burger at Red Robin.  Now neither one of those are too extreme, but i'm proud of myself for both of them...lol.  

About the church...

I went to Gateway Church today.  My friend Elizabeth goes there and so I went with her.  She carpools with about 15-30 other people.  Today they had 18 so the rides up there and back are a lot of fun. The church is about 30-45 minutes away from campus so unfortunately it's not that close.  I really liked the church...it was awesome.  Music was awesome.  Sermon was wonderful.  The pastor preaches in biblical, applicable, funny way.  So I loved it.  The only bad part is because we go with so many people.  Whatever the group's plan for lunch is...that's what my plans for lunch are.  They go somewhere after church every sunday and spend about $10 a meal.  Sorry but that's not in my budget.  I could drive myself, but then I'm spending 30-45 minutes worth of gas doubled.  So I don't think I'm going to go there.  However, I will probably go there this coming Sunday because a guy from campus that I know will be playing in the worship band and he invited me to go on Sunday. But anyways, the church has two campuses...they watch a live feed at the other one.  They also broadcast their services online.  Between the two campuses they have 10 weekend services.  They also have 16,000 people.  So this is huge.  They are about to build a whole new main campus too.  And to think that 8 years ago the church started in somebody's living room with 30 people.  God is at work!

5-Alarm Burger-DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!  We went to Red Robin for lunch after church.  They have so many options for meals there.  It is insane.  There were several things that looked delicious on the menu.  But I finally decided on the 5-Alarm burger. This burger comes with seasoned meat, jalapenos, tomatos, lettuce, chipotle mayo (my new favorite thing EVER), tangy salsa, and pepperjack cheese (another new favorite).  This burger is amazing!!!!!  My mouth was on fire!  And oh my gosh, the fries at Red Robin are amazing.  Especially when you add the Red Robin seasoning to them.  MMM.... And Liz got a oreo shake and she didn't want all of it so she shared with me.  BEST shake I have ever had!!!!  Red Robin=YUM!!!!

But now, unfortunately it's back to the mundane.  Homework and sleep to get ready for the third week of school.  It's going by really fast.   

Oh, and last night I went to a coffeehouse in downtown dallas called Opening Bell with Liz to hear a girl from school sing.  She was amazing. And I got a strawberry smoothie since I absolutely cannot seem to stand the taste of coffee unless it is in a Coffee-caramel milkshake from Chick-fil-a.  So i stuck with my smoothie.  I  loved the atmosphere of the coffee shop.  Unfortunately it itself wasn't in the best area.  We passed a BIG party on the way there and we explored the building a little and almost accidently walked into a bar.  Oopsss....but it was a great night!  However I was trying to take pictures of the Dallas skyline from the parking lot and this guy that worked in the building told me i couldn't and that if anyone caught me they could fine me a lot of money.  There were no signs posted so that was a little frustrated.  I offered to delete them, but he said it would be alright....just to keep it in mind next time.  Then I went to Liz's townhouse and chilled and watched a movie with her.  Fun. Fun. Fun.