Thoughts of a Servant

I have been completely absent from Reno (my hometown) since 2007, making it almost 3 years since I have been there.  I was looking through some pictures of Reno from some friends on Facebook, and I have to say– it is gorgeous, it is fun, active, and plenty of outdoor opportunities in which I am in love with.  Lots of friends still live there, lots of church family there, but honestly– I don’t think I miss Reno.  For me, Reno was a safe zone– it was where I felt secluded from the world.  I didn’t fear anything, I felt like a big fish.  I felt like I could succeed there.

I don’t really know where I am going with this, it is just something that is evolving in my mind.  Say someone goes abroad to a nation where they don’t know the language…  They don’t have friends.. They don’t have a community / history with the people there.  They look back home and they see comfort, friends, etc.  They look forward to where they are now, and they see a big cultural, mental and maybe even physical battle ahead of them.  It looks like things are going to change, and they have to start their life from scratch.

I can’t help but think about losing myself.  In order to find your purpose and your value, you have to lose yourself.  I know it sounds crazy, but once you get your pride, your possessions, your image out of the way, you will see that you are worth nothing more than the ground you walk on and that you are in need of a Savior.

Russell brought up a point about fasting that should be emphasized.  Fasting from something clears your mind and allows you to see where your heart’s desire is.  Say you fast from food, you begin to see how much of a security it is, and how much you depend on it, and that you might actually be worshiping it.

Well I consider my move from Reno a form fasting.  Since I have been there I have grown to an unbelievable position in my faith after being severely tested, and still have unfathomable lengths to go (along with much tribulation).  But being outside of that position where I felt like I could succeed and into a position where I was the least of many in Los Angeles,  being outside of my zone of similar interests and language and into a melting pot of fascinating multi-cultural exposure, has better equipped me for whatever God has me doing next.

Throughout the Bible we see stories of people having to start over.  Each of the disciples had to drop their families, careers, and community ties upon following Jesus.  Paul had a major restart in life from being a persecutor of Christians to being a beloved follower of Christ.  Noah obviously had the whole world die around him and he had to start over with just his family and a couple of animals.  If you were in any of those situations wouldn’t you think the future is going to be difficult?  But isn’t it so worth it.

Each time we are put out of our comfort zone, or put into a position of fasting, we should act like the dog and the ball.

What kind of love.

Okay, I am a huge dog lover.  If I believed in reincarnation, i’d love to be a dog lol.  But what is it about dogs that keep them so devoted to their owners?  How about passionate about retrieving such an obsolete object like a ball?  Hmm.

Dogs have a unconditional love for their owners… They love them whether they are abusive, non-athletic, brown, black, white, etc.  They also love spending time and just being with you.  And these are the main ingredients for love, and the joy that you feel when you are around them.

Take away the judgement, the sinfulness, the racial boundaries, the copious years of blundering in our life, the obvious obsession for materials and money, and the inability to create time for others, and in fact, we are not much different than dogs.  We DO have the capacity to love unconditionally, but it is clouded with many factors that don’t allow it.  And honestly, its kind of sad.  Look how happy that dog is– thats just a glimpse of the joy that we can have if we are to just love one another.

Another key analogy of dogs is their ability to retrieve a ball and bring it back to the right person.  Lets say that God is the owner, and we are the dog:

(1) He throws the ball, we fetch it and bring it back to another person– how do you think the owner feels?  It would hurt if your dog started worshiping another person (like Buddha, Money, etc.)

(2) He throws the ball, and you come back without the ball?  Certainly disappointed that you didn’t take pride in something that you both owned (ball) and instead want him to still play with you?

(3) Maybe he threw the ball and you came back with a different ball?

But consider this, that ball is our mission– we need to fulfill our mission to go get that ball.  We need to save lives, we need to be out on the mission field, and Jesus is right their watching our every move in contentment as we are in fellowship with the creator.  It is that relationship between master and servant that fosters a healthy mission.

It doesn’t stop there either– EACH time you bring back that ball, you He will throw it out again.  He might throw it in the deepest water you have ever been in, He might throw it over the highest fence you have ever seen, or even further than you can see, but it is indeed your mission to go get that ball and return it to your master.  In doing so, he will be glad that you were an obedient servant and reward you with a juicy, tasty eternal milk bone for his pup.

What kind of love is this?

So I got really bored on the way back from LA.  Riding a bike can be really fun, but on long distances– you see the same thing over and over again– you try speeding up, slowing down, still, the same cars… like the Flintstones scenery.

So naturally, I start thinking about tough questions to ask myself and whatnot.  I came across this analogy:

I found myself trying to drive directly on a line / groove in the road for as long as I could.  Sometimes this line would trick me and I would have to shift my lane position to accommodate the change– sometimes the road would curve and I would be thrown off the trajectory of the line, and sometimes the line would disappear for a bit and I would be left completely oblivious as to where the line would return.

But the one thing I noticed is that I was looking at the wrong part of the line… I was only looking fractions of a second ahead to see where the line would be–  But in fact, I should be looking far into the distance.  If I had been looking at the destination of the line, I would see the line change along with the surroundings and abrupt changes… Even when the line disappears, I wouldn’t lose the direction of the line since I am looking past the broken part.

So applying this to my faith, sometimes I tend to get caught up with the facts, knowledge, learning, etc.  I love to live in the moment but sometimes I follow this moment too closely.  Don’t get me wrong, its important to know where you are at the moment, but we need to have our focus on the eternal offering.  Keeping your eyes looking far ahead at God will make sure that even when life gets tough and the direction is unclear (when the line disappears), you will still know where you are going.  Even when your mission changes abruptly with a job switch, death, or even a relocation, that you will be able to counter that change and still know where you are going.

While staying on the road analogy…

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easyd that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989). Mt 7:13–14.

Consider how many lanes I could have been riding on, how many freeways I could have been on, how many exits I could have taken, but only one way would bring me home.   The road that will bring you home (Heaven) is narrow, and few will find it, but the options to do otherwise (Destruction) are copious in amounts…

This line analogy reminds me of the story of Jesus on the ocean–  The disciples were on the boat with Jesus (Mark 4).  They woke Jesus from his sleep while at see (during a storm).  They were frightened,  ”Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mk 4:38).

Let me pause there, the disciples asked Jesus if He cared…  What a loss of faith?!  But I can definitely relate to it.  I often wonder if Jesus cares, but then he displays his love and immediately I am like the disciples, “They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  Mk 4:41.

In Matthew 14, when Jesus was walking on water, He asked Peter to come to him.  Peter left the boat just fine, he was looking at Jesus and walking on water! But then he started looking around him and got frightened!  Jesus immediately reach out and grabbed him.  Now this is exactly the analogy of the bike on the road following the line– If I had lost focus on the destination of the line, I would have been all over the road trying to find the line.  We lose that focus, but we have to remember that the line is going to disappear, but if we affix our eyes on the destination, then we will not lose direction.

What kind of love is that?!

I did some research on the Qur’an on Sunday because it just fascinated me.  I have had some great conversations with some of my friends that study Islam and its super crazy how similar they are to Christianity.  They have the same stories, Adam Eve, Abraham, Jesus, Crucifixion, etc.

Just a few things that stood out in these stories:

1. In Adam and Eve (Surah 20:120), eve was only introduced as Adam’s wife.  Adam was in fact the one who was seduced, fell, and Allah decided to give him grace.  Eve isn’t mentioned outside of that context, and I am interested to see if that is in fact a cultural effect on the holy writing? Or vice versa.

2. I am trying to find some information on what they refer to as the “People of the Book”… They refer to it in several places in the Qur’an and I don’t know what it means, maybe Book of Life? Maybe the Qur’an itself? Maybe a different one?

3. This is still vague to me, but the Qur’an states that Jesus wasn’t crucified, and he didn’t die.  That he might still be in human form and will reveal himself once again.

4. Surah 3:67. Abraham was not a Jew / nor yet a Christian; / but he was true in Faith, / and bowed (Which is Islam), / and he joined not gods with Allah. (Cf 2:135)

This is something that I admire, they have a full sense of “True Faith” rather than the half sense of “acquiring religion” as their faith.  They are fully devoted as that is their definition of faith.

5. One thing that caught me off guard was the commentator’s note stating that it is believed Christians invented / adopted the structure of Trinity from paganism… I am curious as to where he got that idea, and its worth looking into.

In the end, its really interesting to see the level of similarities in beliefs of Allah and God.  Sure there are the obvious differences, but looking deeper you can see the cultural effects on boundaries and motives between Christian and Islam.

The perspective of Allah, I believe, is more of an impersonal God who punishes, but also gives grace–not necessarily out of love? but more because he can?

This, in my personal opinion, is by far the most organized/structured religion out there.  It just blew me away.  Generally speaking, they must attend meetings at least 5 hours a week in which they will review strategies and techniques on how to convert non-believers.  They will also cover topics from their weekly newsletter (The Watchtower) (over 22,000,000 prints each issue) that cover belief information and whatnot.

This religion has a headquarters in Brooklyn, which districts, branches, circuits, congregations around the world.  They have a Kingdom Hall where the congregation would meet to discuss their newsletter.

They believe that Jesus is Michael the archangel.  When he came to earth he became Jesus, and then went back to being Michael when he was resurrected. The Holy spirit is actually a form of energy, kind of like electricity.

They do believe in the bible, but have interesting takes on the application of the Bible today.

Its heard that they don’t celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc.  This is because they believe it gives the individual too much credit.  For example: people celebrate birthdays, but that kind of praise is only reserved for Jehovah.

One of the scary beliefs that they practice is the fact that there will only be 144,000 people that get to enter heaven.  Only under 9,000 people that will enter heaven are alive today (out of the 6.69 billion people in the world!!!! Thats nearly 0.0000013 × 10^-6 % that will be saved!!!) which kind of puzzles me on why they are witnessing to people…  They believe that the other 135k people are dead right now, and will be resurrected when the time comes.  If you are not one of the 144,000 people– you will just perish, no life after death.

I decided to do some research on Joseph Smith and more on the Mormon concepts.  Here is what I found.  I am completely open to discussion on these as I am just trying to understand the core information:

A few notes on Joseph Smith: He was an imaginative man who often found himself in acts of peep stone gazing (which was apparently illegal) which is how he found the Egyptian documents which would later become the Book of Mormon.  He translated the scrolls using a seer stone.  He believed in polygamy and in fact had over 30 wives.  He revolted against the newspapers in Illinois because of what they had said about Mormonism and got put in jail for robbery and treason– An angry mob broke into the jail and killed him.

The Mormon religion is the Largest and the largest growing religion.  They have 11 million believers and 300k people convert each year.  You can tell because you probably have a missionary next door riding his bike or whatnot.

It is believed that any Mormon believer can become a God by living a good life.  If they are married inside of the LDS church then they will get their own planet.  They also believe that God was a descendant of parent Gods.  God (who has a physical bodily appearance) had physical relations with the Mother God to create spiritual gods.

When a Mormon believer dies they go to either the celestial, terrestrial, or telestial heaven.  Celestial being for the perfect, terrestrial for the so-so, telestial for the worst.

It is believed that Matter is eternal, but god is not–

Something I don’t quite understand is the belief that Mary had physical relations with God which is how she became pregnant with Jesus.  Jesus, before he was born (in what they believe to be the pre-existance) is the brother of Lucifer and a polygamist.

I have been doing some research on different religions…  There is so much out there.  Something for every preference of life.  If you are skinny, there is a religion for that– If you are blond, theres a religion for that– If you believe ketchup is the saving grace of world, there is probably a religion for that as well.

But I have been reading up on the backround of Yoga lately.  And just from my initial readings, if you were to compare it to Christianity, you would just be blown away at how simple Christianity is.  Yoga has several different paths like Raja, Karma, Hatha, Bhakti, etc.  Under each of those, they study different levels and rituals of spiritual bonding between you and the Godhead.  Some of these include Tantras, some of them rituals, etc.  And you can believe in anything you want.

But in Christianity, its basically broken down into the four steps:

1. Creation: God created us and it was Good.

2. The Fall: Man sinned and forever would suffer from eternal damnation

3. Redemption: Jesus died for our sins that we would be reconciled with God and come to Him once again.

4. Restoration: God lives within us, and renewed us and redeems us of all of our transgressions.

Sometimes I wonder if complicated religions become so large and bloated with “todo’s” and “becauses” because they cannot simply explain the phenomenon that happens in this world.  But in reality, there is joy in not being able to explain everything– if we could explain everything, then why would God need to exist?

Russell, my roommate, found a line in this book the other day.  It is a great thought: Isn’t it sufficient enough to say that there is a God because He is a loving, caring, and sorrowful God (who created us in his image),  and that is the reason why we know that pain, and hurtful actions of this world are wrong?

Some people consider me young.  Some consider me naive. And some just think i’m plainly stupid haha.  While some of that might be true, I have put a lot of thought into who I am supposed to be in a relationship (not only with a girl, but with people in general, and more importantly, with God).  I just thought I would jot a few thoughts down on some characteristics per relationship in my eyes.

Often when we think of men, we generally think of them as one of these things (or some combination of them): (1) the cowboy: a man who works all day, parties a bit at night, likes family, likes home-cookin, and loves his truck, (2) the gansta: a man who strives for wealth, cars, money, and the ultimate high within power and satisfaction, (3) the priest: a man who has devoted his life to God and is often considered too religious, or (4)  numb: doesn’t feel pain, sorrow, emotion, and continues on their own path without taking notice to anyone else.

Okay, I stereotyped a few categories– but honestly, can you find a little of yourself in each of those categories?  I think I have gone through all of those stages, and its interesting to see the elements that I use from each category to create my own personality.  But a lot of what I chose from those categories influences how I interact with people and deal with situations.  But as a follower and lover of Jesus, I think there are a few key foundations that really, really move my interaction and perception of people.

A few of these thoughts came from ManCode and Unleashing Courageous Faith.  Two great books I highly recommend reading.

Relationships with People

I have had people tell me that I am extremely quiet.  Thats very true– could part of it be because I am an only child? Perhaps– But I believe it is because I have been in trouble by saying something that I am not supposed to.  I have grown accustomed to listening over speaking.  I was reading Ecclesiastes today and it mentioned a wise man who speaks many words is no longer wise / meaningful.  By that definition, I must be pretty wise if I don’t talk.  I could probably pull off Platonic views by replying with a question all the time.

But honestly, what does it look like to have a man of God in a crowd of people?  For this situation, I would have to say that whatever I do, wherever I go, whenever others see me, they must know that I am a Child of God.  For instance, I think it is okay to go have a beer with the guys.  However, I do not drink in excess– I do not consider it bad to dance Bachata with a girl, but I do not go chasing tail.  We are called to go out into the world, and as Paul puts it, become like them so that you might save one.

Dudes in a Relationship

This one is where I have put much time into discovering what it is I am supposed to be.  A lot of that is because I have grown up with the stereotype that men before me have established.  Men can come off as lazy, ignorant, ruthless, seeming not to care, etc.  And I am sad to say that in my generation,  the “gangsta” stereotype has immersed itself into men my age.  The very honorable principle of chivalry has depleted to a mere subtle request for sex– and women have almost grown to accept that men generally think like this.

This is the reason I spend so much time focusing on my relationships.  I do not want to be anything like they are expecting.  This is not me saying this so I can get laid– I am saying this because I have a great deal of respect for women.  Just as a side note to show you how prominent the “gangsta” persona is: I told a guy at a salsa club that I have a great deal of respect for women– and then he went on this long rant and concluded it by saying (exact words), “You are putting the pussy on the pedestal.”  Women, who have talked with this guy, now expect me to act the same way as him (guilty by association).

In a relationship, a man should be a gentleman– He should care for his girlfriend / wife.  They should each be held accountable for things of sin.  A man should not make finding a woman his mission in life, because he will get bored, and want another girl to spice things up again.    Instead, a man should have a mission of serving others– and the woman can then join in on the mission, and together they will server others as Jesus did,  grow toward one another, learn about each other, and most importantly, grow in Christ.

A man should be strong in faith, slow to anger, a leader when needed, but willing to listen to his girl’s thoughts, dreams, aspirations, and even their dislikes, critiques, sorrows, etc.  He should also be freeform, willing to grow in different directions.

Is this a lot to ask of a guy?  OH YEAH!  But the thing is, we are not perfect– But we should spend our lives trying to live out these expectations.  God knows our heart, he knows that we are not perfect– That is why He sent His own Son Jesus.  Now we must spend our lives living as Jesus did.

Relationship with God

Very important.  Saving the best for last.

God needs to be, needs to be, a man’s foundation.  It is where they will find their strength, their kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  It is also where they will find their Love.  For a man to have strength and a relationship with Christ, is a man that will grow and prosper in things not of this world, but of Love, trust, encouragement, and happiness.

Conclusion

For me, it’s imperative that my life consists of these relational guidelines.  I struggle with it so often, and I am positive that I will struggle with it for the rest of my life. I am also positive that I will mess up, but I just pray that whenever I fall, whenever I stray, whenever I feel lonely– that I put my trust in Jesus, and in that I will find the strength that will support people around me, and in my relationship.

There are two things I think of when I consider death.  One is that the Savior will know us, the other is that he will not know us.  Wow.

If we were to die and go to Heaven, what a glorious site it would be to have the Holy God tell us “Come here my child, I have prepared a place for you.”  And he brings you into glory and rejoicing.  This is where we will get to share the riches of Heaven on Earth and praise God.

The other option is for us to get to Heaven and Jesus says to us, “Im sorry, but I never knew you.”  Where we spent all of our time on earth searching splendor in lust, idolatry, adultery, etc.  Now we will spend eternity in the darkest, coldest, depths of our soul.

Just as a side note… I had a misconception about hell for a while.  I was taught that hell was full of burning and torture and whatnot– But I recently learned what all of that symbolizes rather than a literal sense.  One that spends time in Hell will have something much worse than physical torment and torture…  It will be a place where we will be alone.  It will be a place where we know that God is real, and exists.  It will be a place where the deepest parts of our hearts and soul will want a relationship with God, but will never be able to obtain it because of our disobedience on Earth and our unwillingness to have a relationship with Jesus.  This longing is not just “I want a relationship with God.”  It is a longing where you are parched of thirst for God, where your burning for a relationship with God, where you are utterly desperate for a relationship with God.

I just recently heard this story, a story about two Iranian women being imprisoned at the high court because they would not denounce their Faith in Jesus. They have been in there for seven months now, and their health is failing– but they push on.   These women, by the names of Maryam and Marzieh, “have suffered greatly while in prison, suffering ill health, solitary confinement and interrogations for many hours while blindfolded. (Prayer Int)”  Because of this one crime: They started believing in Christ.

From my understanding, the women are absolutely stunning reflections of Christ.  They have had discussions about faith and handed out nearly ten thousand Bibles underground.

How amazing is that…

They stood before the Judge and had the most amazing conversation:

Mr. Haddad, asked the two women if they were Christians. “We love Jesus,” they replied.  He repeated his question and they said, “Yes, we are Christians.”

Mr. Haddad then said, “You were Muslims and now you have become Christians.”

“We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims,” was their reply.

Mr. Haddad’s questioning continued and he asked them if they regretted becoming Christians, to which they replied, “We have no regrets.”

Then he stated emphatically, “You should renounce your faith verbally and in written form.”  They stood firm and replied, “We will not deny our faith.”

During one tense moment in the questioning, Maryam and Marzieh made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit.  Mr. Haddad told them, “It is impossible for God to speak with humans.”

Marzieh asked him in return, “Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?”

Mr. Haddad then replied, “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.”

Marzieh said, “It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.”

Mr. Haddad told the women to return to prison and think about the options they were given and come back to him when they are ready (to comply). Maryam and Marzieh said, “We have already done our thinking.”

http://www.24-7prayer.com/blog/1069

Join me and thousands of others as we pray for these two amazing messengers in hopes that they will set them free and they can continue to uplift God’s grace in a midst of pain, suffering, and longing in this world.

I just heard a Christian speaker from Iran talk about the amazing things that are happening in Iran.  He said that although the government is against the mentioning of Christianity in any way, shape or form– There is a large revolution underway.  According to him, the Iranian people are more open to hearing God’s word than we are!  Which is completely true–

He told a story of a younger boy who had found the New Testament and was just soaking up every word God had to say to His people.  He loved it, but he was so sad because he couldn’t afford the Old Testament.  He didn’t have access to this book, but all he wanted was to learn everything about this amazing God.  It was so real to him– he would go to bed at night sleeping with his New Testament and wake up in the morning right where he left off.

Again, I will say that we have access to so many Bibles, but we do not have the hunger that this boy had.  Things need to change.  We need to pray for hunger, we need to pray so that we can weep, feel, and long to bring Brothers and Sisters to Christ.