French Toasted...

Today was my second to last day of “home visit”... It’s been a complicated journey. On one hand, I definitely enjoy being around my family and A2 has some of the best food in the world (Shout out to BEEZY’S... BEST FRENCH TOAST EVER!!!). But at the same point and time, I’m here to help a good friend grieve the loss of his mother... How do you celebrate mother’s day when your brother is still writhing from the pain of losing his own? Yeah... complicated would be an understatement.

I could try to make some weak spiritual metaphor about how French Toast relates to justification or imputation (she imputed the goodness of the french toast and the whipped cream covers it like a...) but I’ll spare you from the half hearted metaphor.

Instead, I’d rather focus on pleasure for a moment. Many times, although I fear it is far too seldom, people talk about how God purposes our pain. They talk about how God uses our pain to point us back to him in some form or fashion. I agree and believe that is definite and certain truth. Christ promised that we’d suffer and we should count it as an honor (Paul did...). But God also created us with a desire to experience pleasure and every once and awhile we get a chance to cherish that moment. As I slowly chewed the baked blackberries that were delicately placed inside the moist toast and licked the plate clean of lemon flavored whipped cream... I thought to myself, man this is good. In moments such as that, we should take the time to enjoy the Earth that God created for us to enjoy.

John Piper states over and over again in his book Desiring God “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” Now don’t take this out of context and go off the deep end trying and experiencing the depths of lust. No, the pleasures God has laid up for us transcend anything the world could offer. But that being said, he made this Earth and declared that at one point in time it was good. For some reason He has not destroyed it to this point. In glorifying Him, let’s enjoy Him, be pleased with Him, and enjoy the things that He’s created as a demonstration of His infinite glory.

As I’ve said far too many times this week with far too much seriousness: Thank you Lord for allowing me to live in a time period of frozen coffee, MP3 players, acoustic guitars, and Beezy’s. And thank you most of all for giving me the grace to enjoy them with you.

As always: Grace and peace...

Hail to the Victors

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

For the past two weeks I've been struggling. I've constantly felt like a failure and, despite what I knew about God and his promises, saw my life going contrary to the vision that God has instilled in me. Life was hard and I was struggling to believe that God was with me. Each night I read in my bible to be strong and courageous and that God was with me wherever I went but I started to think that this "wherever" didn't quite include KLCP.

The University of Michigan fight song states: hail to the victors valiant, hail to the conquering heroes, hail hail to Michigan the champions of the world. Last night I was praying and a thought hit my mind and took it over: Christ defeated death and I already have the victory. There is no battle left to fight except that in my mind and I now refuse to start believing the failure I see over the victory God has promised me. It's one thing to read God's word and know the battle he fights for you (almost every Psalm and the entire new testament) it's another thing to know in your heart that it's the truth and stand on it in the face of defeat.

Truthfully, almost every problem that we as believers face comes down to faith. That's why the bible tells us that the righteous shall live by faith. God has made a habit of being faithful so much so that it has become an inherit part of his nature. In order for him to be unfaithful, he would have to deny his very existence. It is our job to stand on his word and believe that he will do every single thing that he has said he will do. Faith has to become more than just a part of our vocabulary, but a genetic trait. We have to carry it around with us and know that any struggle we go through in this life is really just a struggle to believe the truth that God has promised. I refuse to let this world taint the blessing of life. God gave us life and told us to stay clothed in peace and joy. In order to truly have joy and truly be at peace, we must know that the battle is over. God has already won. The victory is ours by the grace of God and if God be for us, if God has promised us all power and victor, then know that you're a conquering hero, a champion over this world.