Words of Wisdom

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe."
-Abraham Lincoln

HTL: The Generous Mr. Lovewell

Well, there is not a single line in this song that I couldn't write an entire post about. This song is so incredible that I just want you to listen to the entire song, please! Listen to the words, then think: are you a Mr. Lovewell? Listen to the song here.

Running in Your Walk

I was having a conversation through Facebook with one of my good friends in my youth group. We were talking about how much we had matured in our walk with Christ in the past year. She said something that was really cool. That was "...It reminds me that I have I have not walked, I have ran through my walk." Referring to her walk with God, of course. I began to wonder whether I was running or walking. I decided that what I should be doing is sprinting, not walking or running, sprinting. Why not? When you want to get somewhere fast you sprint, don't you? I know you drive most places, but in a race you want to go as fast as you possibly can. And, no, your walk with God is not a race, but I want to mature as fast as I can, so I'll be more willing to sacrifice all I have for Him. So, are you sprinting on your walk with God?

Plato and The Cave

Plato was a very wise man. He had a philosophy. In your life you were standing in a cave, behind you there was a fire. You see, on the wall, shadows bouncing around. You don't know what is making the shadows, they are just there. Take from this what you will, but he is saying that there is something greater that is making your life, or the shadows in this case. Until someone stands up and turns around, no one knows why the shadows are there. We as Christians should be the ones to stand up and see what is making the shadows. You don's see everything from God's perspective. He sees everything that's happening. You must step back and see the big picture before you start with the "my life sucks" and "why would God do this to me if he loves me?" Just take the time to get up and see what is making the shadow before you make any assumptions.

The way I said this may be a little confusing because I combined a few ideas. I have done this on purpose, I want you to think, not me just tell you something. We don't have enough thinking today. With all the technology now, you could live a regular life without thinking any. It's sad.

God's Plan

For those of you that live in middle Tennessee, you know of the storms and floods that took place on May 1st 2010. As you can see, I am posting this on May 1st, so the worst may still be yet to come. I don't know how many lives were lost, and many more may be lost as the day goes on, but most of us act as if God just felt mean today and decided to kill a few people. NO!!! That is not how life works! God has a plan. Every single event that takes place, in your life or someone else's, is all part of a master plan. If you lose your car to floods or a wreck, it's part of God's plan. If you lose you house in a tornado, that's part of God's plan. If you lose your ENTIRE family, that, too, is part of God's plan!

"No! That can't be! Logan is just making this up!" Nope, EVERYTHING that happens is part of God's master plan! I know it's hard to believe for some of you, but it is true.

Maybe no one really close to you has died, maybe you haven't been through hard times, so you can pretty easily say "I know it's all God's plan." But just wait. Most likely, you will face hard times in your life. Just see what you think then. "My God wouldn't do this to me! I thought He loved me!" He does, more then you can imagine. It's hard for us to see the big picture, but there is one, and it's absolutely phenomenal.

I've been referring to bad things that happen, and not to turn from God or get angry with Him, but what about the good times? Most of us will turn to God in our times of need, but what about when things are going great? Do you thank God for your life? A lot of us couldn't say that we do. Why is that?

"Oh, but God is there to help me, I don't need Him now, I can do it alone for now cause everything's going great! I'll pray and go to church when I need some help." Now, you may not say it or think it exactly that way, but that is your general idea. It's so easy for us to turn to God in our time of need, but somewhere in there we get the idea that we can get through life on our own as long as things are going well.

So, do you look to God all the time or only in your time of need, and in hard times do you look at the big picture or the troubles taking place now?

Just Something Interesting- A Steve Jobs Quote

In 2005 Steve Jobs gave a speech at a college commencement. I was reading this speech and one paragraph really stuck with me, and I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did:

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

Hope this will impact you as much as it does to me.

Our Lives in His Hands

I was having a conversation over Facebook with a good friend in my youth group, and we got to talking about why everyone cares so much about what other people think. We both said that we thought the fear of other's judgments was the main thing keeping us from handing ourselves completely over to God. I brought up how stupid the things are that people do just to fit in! Why do we care how many friends we have, or what group of people we hang out in? I sent her a message saying:

"It's pretty dumb if you think about it. Why should we care what other people think? Why can't we all just realize that the judgment from earthly beings is nothing compared to how God sees you? It's so hard to comprehend how large God is, and I think that was His intention. If we all understood His magnificence then so many more people would be on their hands and knees before Him, but He wants us to make the decision ourselves, that we are willing to sacrifice everything we have for Him, even if we can't begin to imagine His holiness. People are destroying their own lives every day just so they can be part of a certain group! People do the stupidest things just to get their classmates to like them! It's crazy!"

She replied with:

"It is crazy. And the more time that passes the more I'm starting to see how stupid it is to want to give my life for earthly things and I'm starting to just let go of everything and give it to God. I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands."

That last line, "I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands.", stuck to my mind after I read it.

We rely so much on other people and earthly items to keep us safe when the safest place is in His hands. Is your life in his hands or wandering and lost in earthly bonds?