Mustard Seed What?

My Thoughts On Matters of Faith...

Today I attended a talk about Faith, Hope and Love.  The speaker gave a lot of really great points on all three, but I was concerned about the Faith point and had some questions about it...What is faith really...can we measure faith or get a grasp on what it really is? 

I began questioning these things particularly for a friend who's going through a rough time. What does it mean when we are holding onto faith but it doesn't seem like we are "clearing" the rough situation that we are in right now? The speaker pointed out that sometimes God allows us to go through these rough patches in life in order to be brought to a higher understanding and knowledge of what faith is. But because of our situation we are so bogged down in the here and now. He compared it to Peter walking on water. Peter had enough faith to get out of the boat and walk on water, but he faltered. In this, Christ was able to raise him up to a greater faith by picking him up. In my mind, another analogy could be like water-skiing. You get dragged through the water so much when you first learn, but once you are up, it is a beautiful thing. You are raised higher because you had to be dragged through the water first, but if you didn't allow yourself to go through that pain (and for us beginners, it's painful!), you wouldn't ever know what it's like to feel the exhilaration of standing up. 

I also asked about the scripture about the faith of a mustard seed...what's that all about? I was thinking that when Christ said, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains..." how can you measure faith? It's not really a thing to be measured, but it was explained to me in a way that was understandable: The mustard seed is just the example of how with our small amount of faith, the Lord can do big things. It's really our faith going up to the Lord and him taking it and making it whole and creating something beautiful...what a great concept! Those are my profound words of the evening...

On Community...

Just kidding...I guess a lot has been going on in my life lately. I gave a talk to almost 100 college students last night on community. Not a particular community, just community in general...living life in a community, what that means. I have some expanded thoughts on this so I thought I would share them here...20 minutes is just too little time to go into all the details of how I got to that 20 minute talk. :)

In a community, you are identifying yourself as part of a group, but also creating a way of life together. I identify myself as a part of University Christian Outreach, but also I have found a way of community through my church and other organizations. I find community life among my co-workers. We are all aiming at one thing - growing in relationship with Jesus Christ and leading others to know him. Our sense of community is tight because of that...and we just get along really well because of it all. 

Why do we need community in our lives? Well, it provides a place where we can grow and be stretched. We need accountability (I know some people hate this word, but it's true) and a place to be able to grow, share, open ourselves up to being vulnerable. I have a philosophy that you don't ever really get to know someone fully until you have experienced or shared a difficulty in your life with them. I'm not saying we should be weeping and pouring our hearts out inappropriately (in fact, I ask you to refrain from that), but be open to the Holy Spirit working in your life to find places to share with people. 

I realized through a talk I listened to recently that we aren't vulnerable...or we tend to shy away from it because of the fall. It makes sense doesn't it? We can't reveal our life to others comfortably because the only place we were able to do this was in the Garden of Eden. So revealing all is out of the question...and the only person who really knows all and will one day show all is the Lord, Jesus Christ. We won't ever be able to share everything we've ever experienced with anyone because we don't have the capacity for it. But Jesus does. He know and wants us to share with him...He himself is a community with the Father and the Spirit! Whoa. God in the Trinity is our only reason for being here on earth. God could have stopped at Adam and thought, "You know what? I think I'm just gonna give this a test run. If he does horribly, we'll start over." But he didn't. He went on to create Eve and thus make a community at the very beginning of Creation. We are so blessed now because of it!

Another reason for us to consider finding community within our lives is that we, as human beings, learn best when we can and are challenged by people who are different from us!! We need people who are different and challenging to us because it helps us to grow and learn how to relate to many different types of people. It gives us greater opportunities to love our neighbors (and sometimes our enemies). Take hold of these moments! 

Real Christian Men/Women call each other onto greater holiness best through community.  I would encourage any of you reading to consider the way that society...especially media entices us to be independent. Why? What's the point and how is that going to help? "oh, I'm hurting, so I'm going to isolate myself even more...harden myself to any possibility of intimacy in friendships or relationships..." BAD IDEA PANTS!!! What's up with all this. If we were made to be independent, God wouldn't have made the other 7 Billion people who are living on this planet!! Go out, find some good friends, and get to know people!! 

Maybe more on this topic later...

Onto other things... 

Last weekend I was joined by 130+ college students and UCO staff in Hillsdale, MI for our annual Fan Into Flame retreat. Basically a Life in the Spirit Seminar condensed into a weekend, it made for a great time of prayer and seeing the Lord work. It was absolutely lovely and very restful. I didn't lose my voice at the retreat...as I have on many others. 

After the FIF, I went to South Haven, MI with a group of friends and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with a bonfire and s'mores and a watching of the Disney hit, Beauty and the Beast. It's amazing that the movie that scared me so much as a child still  scares me, not the part with the wolves, but the part where the Beast is transformed into the prince...how did they get that animation out of the Beast? How did they pick those features? Keep him as the Beast please!!! He looked better that way!  We also were able to enjoy a walk down by the lighthouse and a great 2nd Disney movie, 101 Dalmatians. I approve of the animation in this movie...especially Anita. She had some stellar outfits that I wish I had in my wardrobe! 10 points for great outfits!

Michigan plays MSU this weekend. I am praying that with my faith and MSU's wonderful record so far, we can squish the Maize & Blue into something green. :) 

I spent part of the day at Borders bookstore. It's amazing how places like that can suck me in...I love books!! It was a wonderful afternoon though, just being able to learn about how many books on faith are available and just how much I don't know. I am looking for a really great daily devotional with some meat to it, so if anyone has suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. I bought a good looking book about Women of the Bible and am looking forward to going through that in the next few weeks.

Finally, I just need to share that my play list right now is awesome. It has a beautiful combination of Ingrid Michaelson, Erin McCarley, Audrey Assad (I'm addicted to her music right now!), James Morrison, Regina Spektor and more...it's a really good playlist. :) If you haven't heard it, listen to Ingrid Michaelson's single: Parachute. I guess Ingrid wrote it and Cheryl Cole performed it first, but then Ingrid decided to bring it back for herself. It's funky and I love it!

Whew! Peace Out!