These last three posts have been some of my notes on Facebook. I will probably be posting stuff there first, since that is where more people will actually read it. However I really like the blog idea and so every once in awhile I still want to just write random things here that might not be on Facebook. Right now I want to write two different things called “Does God really Satisfy?” and “A look at the matchless glory of our Creator, what is true worship?”.

My thoughts are a blur as I try to pen the the feelings and ideas swirling through my spirit. These are some of my recent thoughts and some of things that God has been teaching me.

One thing I learned at Street Invaders that God has used to give me more freedom and teach me to live life a lot more naturally is that mistakes are ok. I gave myself permission to make mistakes. For so long I held too high of a standard so that I couldn’t really take risks and grow because I wasn’t willing to be able to make mistakes. And I’m not talking about moral failure but just not being worried about making a fool of myself or falling flat on my face. So I share what I’m feeling more often give advice that I know could easily be flawed but is what I’m feeling right now. And I say things more often that I think could be really funny but have no idea how they will be taken. But the most significant difference is in the way I approach God. I still come with reverence and a heart of worship but I don’t feel the need to always come the same way or do the thing that worked before. I can be more real and not worry as much about offending him. I can step out and pray radical things, can step out in faith and not worry so much if I’m sure he will catch me. Because even if he doesn’t come through in the way that I expect or hope I know that he is still good and that he will work it all out in the end.

Love Freely
The thing about love is that everyone who is human deserves to be loved because they were created in God’s image. I was talking with Victor Thomas a couple of weeks ago and he probably knows about half of the people at the U of R (a school of about 7,000 students) and he remembers their names. I asked him how he could do it and that is what he said. “You know God created each one of them in his image and so they are intricately important and valuable to him and thus to me as well. I just connect something interesting about them with their name.” When I heard that it totally just blew me away with the heart of God. If he took the time to number and remember every hair on our heads can we not at least make a committed effort to really care about people and learn their names and what they tell us about them? I want to live and love freely, even to those who will never love back.

“Trust God, he called me and I didn’t follow. Trust God.” That’s what a man said to me after I preached in Kindersley. He wouldn’t let go of my hand as we were shaking hands he really wanted to emphasize this above anything he could say. He chose the way of comfortability and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I was shook by the importance of his request, and the urgency with which he spoke to me. No matter how big my dreams for my future are, if they are from God I need to just trust him and step out to fulfill those dreams.

Never Compare, Comparison is the heartmother of envy, discontentment and distrust. It’s a weird way of saying it, but I am so inclined to look at my life and progress and compare with others around Paul says in 2 Cor 10:12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves… when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”
When I look at others my focus leaves Jesus and I feel inadequate I see the strengths of others and feel lesser or I see the weaknesses and become proudful.

When I look to Jesus, I see all that I need.

Be natural, be yourself.
God created me exactly as he wanted me to be and in so many ways these last few years I feel like I have been trying to be a different person. Specifically, I feel that God created me to be one who just loves and enjoys life. I’m not someone that dominates situations or the man of God who just comes in knowing what to say and how to lead each situation. Sometimes I’ve felt a pressure to become that, but I just need to live as I really am. That way more and more people will naturally be freed from the weight of perceptions and allow themselves to live who they really are as well.

But in the end the biggest thing that he has been teaching me is just how ridiculously good he is. Even in situations where it doesn’t look like God is good, it seems more like he’s being a jerk. When I still trust him and love him he shows his true character in beautiful ways that I wouldn’t have expected. I can’t let my theology be determined by the experiences in my life but only by his word.