Hit the nail on the head...

What is the problem with America today?  It is amazing to me that if you ask 10 different people this question you will get a variety of answers.  From the extreme leftists to the extreme rightists answer will include government, politics, economy, religion, conservatism, liberalism, education...  on and on the reasons will emerge.

But I ask myself, what is the problem today, and I realize that it is much the same as it was in the perfect garden of Eden.

Man, myself included, chooses to look at their own mistakes, failures, shortcomings, sin, and attempts to find reasons why they are not to be blamed for it.  We want people to recognize us as something that at our core none of us is.  We long to be esteemed by others as blameless (or at least limited in our scope of error).  Yeah, we will all recognize ourselves as not perfect, but at least better than most.

Here is where the truth must set in, and where the glory of the Gospel is so beautiful.  I am neither blameless, nor perfect.  I am completely guilty.  Within the lowest parts of my heart is the capacity to do atrocious things.  And, to be honest, at the highest levels of my heart, I am still messed up in the way that I think and believe.  I am by nature selfish. I care about me more than anyone or anything else.  I don't want to, but it is my natural bent.

But that is why the Gospel is so amazing.  What human, if given the understanding of not only the private thoughts and actions of anyone else and given the scope of the capacities that lies within the heart of another person, would choose to sacrifice themselves daily in the place of another?  Yet God, who knows me inside and out, sees the private actions, hears the private thoughts, chooses to love me unconditionally, completely and sacrificially.  My actions of defiance, my thoughts of selfishness, my rebellion of heart are seen clearly - even before I engage in them, and is responded to by a loving, forgiving God.

What is the problem with America today?  We need to see ourselves as God does and recognize our need for Him.  Then we need to see others in light of who we truly are and love them as Christ loved us.  This will end the blame game, because I am as much at fault as anyone else.

If Christ, who is God, could leave heaven and walk alongside the broken, the fallen, the sinner, and love them by humbling Himself and dying on the cross for us, how much more do we need to humble our arrogant and selfish hearts and sacrifice ourselves, our popularity, our attention, our affection from others, etc. for the sake of making His name great.

I need to work on this today.

Finally sitting down to write

Over the past 4 weeks, I have thought numerous times of thoughts that I would like to record.  The amazing thing is it seems time just won't sit still long enough to get them written down.  What I think I need is a straight to text recorder on my computer so I can just speak what I am thinking and it will blog for me.  Well, I'm not getting one of those soon, so I guess I still have to type.

A new year has started, and what a start it is going to be.  From February 18th - April 28th, I have 4 missions trips, and apparently a spring break getaway with the family.  Yes, in just 10 weeks, I will be gone for 5 of them.  Out of 70 days, I will be out of the country for 33.  Almost half of that time.  My head is spinning with the preparation for all of these trips, and occasionally I find myself thinking about one team while preparing for another.

Don't worry about me though, I thrive on this.  My co-worker said it to me just the other day, "You love it when it is like this."  And he was right.  I enjoy the busyness.  I enjoy the multiplicity of jobs and thoughts.  I enjoy the deadline.

However in all of this, I need to make certain that my focus remains fixed.  It is easy in the busyness of life to get so concentrated on the work that needs to be done to forget about time with God, time with friends, sharing truth with people, keeping "the main thing the main thing".  In other words, not loosing sight that I am still to be making disciples and glorifying God in the process.

So whether you hate busyness or love busyness, we all struggle with times that are overwhelming.  Keep the focus of serving God and loving people, and help others to do so as well.  I can use a reminder pretty regularly.