overproportioNATE

27. That's not old, right? What I want in the next year: Write a complete short story. Write a lot during the summertime, maybe down at camp. Play Tennis, Croquet, and Ride Bike with friends. Spend more time doing, and less time talking. I want to use fewer words to say more. I want to have more, deeper conversations. I want to have a clearer picture for my 28th year. I want to get a different vehicle. I need to be a better friend. I need to love my wife more and more.

Hurting someone else. I've seen it, even today. It is the worst that this world has to offer.

The world you want. It's my favorite song Switchfoot's new album, simply asking if this is the world we want. The bridge goes on to say that whatever we do is our religion. Every breath. It puts a lot of weight on the everyday. I like that a lot. Because I feel like a common belief is in "someday". Someday I will do more, someday when I have the money to do it, when I have the time, when I have someone to do it with. How we say things matters, but also how we say it. Jon writes that we "have to look like what we believe". We also believe that so long as we aren't doing something terrible, we are therefor good. And while it is good, obviously, to keep from doing wrong. To be content with that is a huge problem.

"I don't care what you do, so long as you have a reason for doing it." I can see the positive, and negative side of a statement like that. When looking at another person's life, it is just that, their life. We must each be allowed to make decisions, a heavily influenced decision isn't nearly as much of a decision. Heavily influenced decisions are much more likely to be reversed later, cause tension, and may not be in line with the person "making the decision" at all. But on the other hand, to say "I don't care" about almost anything is a troublesome prospect. It should almost always be phrased differently. Indifference is a disaster of a mindset.

Who do you work for? That's the question that He asked me last summer. And when God asks you a question, it is challenging, and engaging, but it is also reassuring and incredibly beneficial. I am such a doormat style guy. I will do my best to please people, and in that may, image matters way too much to me. But I don't work for people, I don't work to satisfy their wants. I work to satisfy the One that created them. I get so caught up in this, and God was so clearly calling me out of it. I think that it's only a difficult issue because there is some overlap. We love God by loving others. And serve God by serving others. But our intent comes in to play, and stands as the difference. Are we serving others for the purpose of serving God, or are we serving others to gain something for ourselves? Also, I've really gotten into the habit of using one word titles for my posts, sorry about that.

On self-governance It's really the best that man has to offer. A government lead by the already-powerful. My main beef with it, honestly, isn't going to be over how bad it is. Where I take offense is not as much on rogue judged, attorneys that do what they can to keep themselves in business, unregulated rulers and kings. I take offense at the people that put their trust in it. We act like we could have a government that would be in line with the God that we serve. That has simply never happened, and never will. Why would the government support traditional marriage? Explain to me the secular horse in the race? When has a government ever put the lives of the voiceless before the wants of the powerfully vocal? Why does your faith rest on it? And why does it need to? And why are you bothered right now by it at all? The powerful can only reign well when they are perfect, lacking selfishness, without self-serving. So, yeah, not going to happen here. We need to get over it.

I've had doubts about anything and everything. My whole life I've defended the idea of being able to live a "normal" American life, while still being a follower of Christ. Can I hold onto everything "mine", while still giving all that is required. I think Paul would scoff at me. He would see my life as a waste of time. I've got "my" bank account, and all these things that God can't touch. So am I saying I need to give it all away? Am I saying that I need to capsize my own boat? Maybe. But will one man doing that really change anything? Maybe. I read an article about a man from Canada that won $40 million in the lottery, and gave it all to cancer research, as his wife had died of cancer 2 years prior. He was so affected that he wanted to help save others, to keep them from the suffering that he was going through. So. Maybe.