Good Samaritan of Today

Staring from the inside out we see a 6 year old boy watching his "Daddy" walk out of the front door for the last time because Daddy says "He's had enough and he's probably not his kid anyway..." We see him hide behind a chair while he watches his mom get beat to a bloody pulp by her new "Mr. Right" boyfriend.

Staring from the inside out we see him being shoved off from one relative to another because no one  ..."has enough time or room..." and "...he's not their problem to live with anyway."  Oh and don't forget that time he was 14 and found true love with Sussie Stevens.  She said she wanted to be with him forever and two weeks later started a rumor that she couldn't be with him anymore because he was "gay."

It was only a joke.  He's overreacting.  That's a fake tear drop in his eye.

Or is it?
Are we afraid to try and understand?
Would it take an awkward conversation and holding his hand?

But we have rules to follow and laws to obey;
Surely Jesus wouldn't want us to disobey.

I'll talk to someone about it and we can "deal with him later."  I'll wait for an answer and until then "he'll be okay."

Lost. Lonely. Left to die. That's what's behind the tear drop in the corner of his eye.

Believe it or not Jesus died for him, that filthy piece of trash.
He called him his own and healed every rash.

He showed love and mercy.
Go and do likewise.

Lost Time.

A friend of mine sent me an email sharing their heart. To me it was such a beautiful display of how God is revealing the Gospel to them. Here are a few lines of the email:

"The goal of my time on this earth is to point to Him, to Worship Him, and lead others to Him. The time He has allotted for my life is to be spent for this purpose. Not personal gain, but service to the One who created me, gave me gifts to be used for His glory and purposes, and who gives me the time to do as such."

They went on to say...

"And so tonight He just spoke to me about how since it's HIS time and not mine, it's silly of me to be upset about potential 'lost time.' It wasn't my time to lose, and God's time is NEVER lost."

Time is a curious thing. Sometimes it's comforting, and sometimes it's terrifying. You may have heard it said, "We have all the time in the world..." and in the same stroke of a pen "There is just not enough time in a day..."

Though I've only lived for a short time (approaching 22 years or 192,720 hours [without counting leap years] or however you like to look at time) I have experienced both the "ups" and "downs" of time. It has taken my life prison and has set it free.

Friends, I have come to the conclusion that maybe it's time to put my time in the hands of the One who created time- because lets face it, outside of Him, time is nothing but a race to death. But fear not because the Creator of time has overcome death. It's time to be free.

Childlike Mess

I love eating hot wings for many reasons.  Obviously the taste would be at the forefront of them all, then the ease of accessibility, and then astonishingly enough because of the mess they make.

I don't think any picture could get my point across better than this.  I love eating hot wings because all of the sudden- I become a kid again.  I get down and dirty and become totally engrossed in eating each individual wing.  My face begins to be the masterpiece of this whole experience.  The fortification of my lips gives way to the excess of sauce, my nose begins to run from the fiery aroma, and my cheeks start to feel the tingling of the zesty sauce that's plastered to them.

I love it.  I cannot eat a wing and be mad at the same time, it's sheer bliss.  I know what you're thinking "Travis you're such a weirdo."  Well, definitely Yes, but maybe not because of this secret fixation.  What if when we become like children again, we start to use all of our natural God given senses for everything we come in contact with?  All the sudden we can taste, touch, smell, see, and hear everything we do.  

I think that when Jesus said, "to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become like children again," maybe, just maybe, It could of had something to do with using all of our senses to connect ourselves with Him.  Because let's face it if God is everywhere and in everything then we can't just feel Him, or hear Him, we have to learn how to taste His goodness, see His faithfulness in every part of our lives, and smell the fragrance of His forgiveness and freedom.

Every time I eat a hot wing, I become like a kid again.

Every time I taste, touch, smell, see, and hear God, I become more and more like a kid engrossed in a hot wing.  I become covered by His grace, hope, and love.

Beware the hot sauce is sticky and tends to spread onto everything you touch.

i start to fit in.

My greatest desire should not be to fit in but rather fear that I "fit in".

In a book I'm reading, "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper, he goes on to say:

"I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in.  I start to love what others love.  I start to call earth "home."  Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do.  I begin to forget the war.  {What war you ask? The war for peoples souls.}  I don't think much about people perishing.  Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind.  I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace.  I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do."

*My emphasis added.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.

-John 15:18-19

Later in the book of John, chapter 17, Jesus prays this prayer over His disciples: “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

Sanctified means to be set apart for a sacred purpose.  Once we become a Christ follower, by repenting [i.e. turning away from the idol of ourselves and our selfish desires] this life is no longer our own.  It is now time for Christ to live through us.  He is who we live to serve, not the idols the world puts in front of us, or even more tempting the idol of ourselves.

I stop dreaming about the triumphs of His grace.  I start to fit in.

It seems I soon forget.

He is jealous for me, love like a hurricane and I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.

Set apart for a sacred purpose.  I don't want to start to fit in.

Kylee Ruuuuth

Twenty Four years ago to the day the world was changed forever- for the BETTER.

My earliest/best/hilarious/sad/enlightening/loving/angriest/joyous/hardest/encouraging/life-changing MEMORIES are with her. She is my joy.  She is my life long best friend.  She is my sister.  Happy Birthday Ky.

Biology

The sun is everything to us

You've got the sun, you've got energy

You've got energy, you've got power

Squinting  eyes speak volumes about the brilliance of the sun

The eyelids of my heart are squinting from the brightness of the Son

Nothing to Lose.

In general college students are known to be more passionate about things and pursue reform in various states of affairs.  Is it because they are young and naïve?  Or is it because they have “nothing to lose”.  Some may argue it is a bit of both, which, pending the circumstances, may be the case.  Let’s look on the plane of “having nothing to lose”.  You may have heard many times over “I’m just a poor college student”, which in my experience is very true.  Fact: If you don’t technically have anything, it is impossible to lose anything.  Therefore, materialistically it is true; a college student has “nothing to lose”.  Being in the state of having nothing to lose, naturally you develop a mindset of “having everything to gain”.

Everything can mean a lot of things: For example: It can simply mean “Everything.”  Career. House. Life. Family. Dreams.  None of these things are inherently bad in and of themselves, but, there is always a but…

Philippians 1:27 says “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ...” 

Francis Chan uses a perfect analogy for this: Imagine an old fashion scale that has two baskets on either side of a post with a fulcrum in the middle.  Put the Gospel in one of the baskets and put your life in the other basket and let the scale settle.  Obviously, If we try to uphold the gospel with our flesh and not by the Spirit of Christ then we will fail miserably and the basket with the gospel in it far outweighs our lives and fleshly attempts at being Holy.  But once the gospel truly fills you and your life stands on the truths of the Word, then by His grace, the scale settles evenly.  We are living in light of the gospel.

“OK, cool Travis, get to the point.”

The point is this: The fervor of our youth doesn’t have to fade.  Those things mentioned in the second paragraph aren’t inherently bad until they become the objects of our “everything to gain” instead of it being Christ.  This attitude negates living in a manner worthy of the gospel.  In my life I have seen a tendency to want Christ + something else.  That something else turns into something else + something else which does not equal living in light of the gospel.  Because if I take the gospel seriously we read things like “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and… follow me.”  We see the words “follow me” quite a bit from Jesus, my guess is he doesn’t mean only follow me when it’s convenient for you or you’re in a squeeze.  Or we pray the familiar prayer that Jesus prayed …”give us today our daily bread…”  Living in light of the gospel and this prayer doesn’t mean save up a million dollars for the last ten years of your life so you can “go out with a bang”.  This could mean save money until God leads you across the path of someone or something that needs the financial means you have saved. Or if we look earlier in Matthew Jesus says “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.” 

Yes, I agree it’s crazy to cut off your own hand or foot physically but what about getting rid of other things in our lives that cause us to sin.  All over scripture we have a call to put on the mind of Christ.. Is spending every evening watching a television before we go to bed helping us do that?  Or, would a genuine, deep conversation with a spouse or a friend, uninterrupted by television, be more helpful for us to do that. Possibly, the Lord could help us put on the mind of Christ if we spent that time reading a book of substance.  Don’t get me wrong television is not a sin; this isn’t about television or retirement. This is about the things that aren't considered sins, but don’t push us toward living in light of the gospel.  I am currently trying to walk through what this means in my life and I would also encourage you to as well.

I don’t say these things pointing fingers at anyone but myself.  The Lord is showing me that living in light of the gospel is a higher calling than living in self centered convenience.  I pray that we are continually in prayer for the Spirit to show us what this means.  He is so patient with me.  My heart yearns for Him in my life.  It’s His power.  His grace.  Again, Amazing grace.