A Bucket of Rocks

   In an email my Iron Sister sent me the other day, she compared  God's "light, love, and presence" to water going into a bucket of rocks. This struck me and I decided I wanted to expand on it!  
   The bucket represents our lives and the rocks are the things we fill it with. We can carefully fill our lives with as many beautiful rocks the will fit but we will never be completely full. There will always be little gaps creating a longing in us to fill them and we search desperately for a rock that will fit into the space perfectly or try to reorganize our lives to close the countless gaps. However, despite the pains we go to to fill gaps, filling one, often creates another. The only thing that can truly fill us is water (aka God's life, love, and presence which equates to Jesus who is the living water!) Water can find all the gaps and will fill them completely. There is an endless supply of water as well, God never withholds Himself from us!
   The water also overflows out of our bucket, something rocks can't do. And when it overflows, it fills the buckets of those around us. Once they are full, they can start overflowing onto those around them and the cycle of God's love continues!
   After a while the water will wear down the rocks in us so that we are less full of earthly things and more full of God. Every now and then we throw in another rock (sin), but God continues to supply His living water whenever we ask(and occasionally when we don't!) 
   The only thing that can cut off this constant flow of water is us. But when we ask, God will always be willing to fill us up again. Thank you God for filling our buckets in a way so that we are satisfied and can satisfy others!

Get Blown Away by God

   On my mission trip, one of the things that the speaker talked about was getting blown away by God. The Bible stories are incredible events that truly happened yet we often have heard them so much we don't care. Someone could come up to me and say "God used Moses to part the Red Sea!!!" And I would think, "I know." But if I was fishing in a tiny pond and some person comes and puts their stick in the mud and the pond splits, the bottom bone dry, I would freak out! When I read about Mary, a virgin, getting pregnant, I don't have to stop and reread that part, to think about it. But, should someone in today's world claim to be virgin and pregnant I would never believe them, that's too wild of a claim. But, God caused it to happen in Mary!
   There are even stories I wouldn't originally think of as miracles but are. Take Noah's Ark for example, I don't think it is scientifically possible for it to rain on the entire earth at once for 40 days, but it did. I'm surprised when it rains off and on for a week and  I often compare 'The Great Flood' to the 2 feet of water kind we get today. Or how Noah must of been feeling in the dark nasty boat to how I feel staring out the window of my house or car during a thunderstorm. I simply don't understand the greatness of events such as these, so I try to take them down a notch. By subconsciously doing this, I miss the breathtaking reality of all the God has done and can do.
   When I look at the Bible stories in this way it's easier to get blown away by God, but I still cannot comprehend the magnitude in these displays of power and love. I doubt that on this earth I will ever be fully able to, but, with God's help, I can try!

Our Influence

   One day on my mission trip I was doing my TAG time (time alone with God) and praying about what I was reading. Eventually I got to where I was journal praying about the day in general. It was normal stuff like getting along, working hard, influencing others when something made me reread that last line I wrote. "Help what I do to influence others." And I realized that although I'd like to think that if people where more like me, they'd be more like God, that is far from true. I sin way to much to be praying that I will influence others, what I need to be praying is that God will influence others using me! A world of Caroline's would not be a good world! So, I decided to pray, "when I'm enough like you, help me influence others." But that is wrong too because I will never be God caliber. When a person could be influenced by someone as amazing as God, why would I want to influence them instead? Now I pray, "God, YOU influence others through me." And I think that prayer makes quite a bit more since! :)

Serving God?

   In the work world, when an employee constantly messes up, they're fired. If they quit with a slam of the door, in the face of a boss who has always been kind to them, they won't be asked to return. We humans in the work world know that this is only natural. The employee may need the money they got payed, but if they do something like that, they don't deserve the job. I cannot express to you how grateful I am that God is not a human in the work world!
   God is our boss. He pays us with love, joy, peace, and more. In fact, our paychecks are ridiculous! Any time we ask for a raise or bonus He willingly supplies it, or something better. Not only that, as His employees, we mess up all the time! We deserve to get fired each and every day, but He never fires us because He knows we need our pay, which only He can supply. We only lose our job with Him when we walk away. When we slam the door in His face and quit. But despite our bad behavior, God continues to offer us our job back, in hopes we will come back to Him. Thank you God!

Cliche to Extraordinary

   For the past week, I've been in San Antonio on a mission trip. My group and I roofed and I had an amazing time! But on the first day, God jolted me into the reality of what I was doing. 

   At the beginning of each chapel service, there are two journal question. On Sunday night, before I even knew what I'd be doing, the question on the screen read, 'Why did you come to Blue Print?' (Blue Print was the ministry we worked from.) That question really struck me and my answer hit home. My honest answer was 1) My Youth group was going and I like to be involved in my church and 2) I like helping people.

   This answer may seem fine but it isn't. I should have gone on the trip with a mindset of serving God, not staying plugged in with church. And while it's good that I like helping people, I can't truly serve people unless my goal is to serve God.

   I'm so grateful to God for bringing me to the realization that I should be there to serve Him! It's all in His timing and I'm so thankful His timing was before I started working. And while I wish I could say I went with the right mindset, I'm extremely thankful I can say that the mindset I aimed for was serving God while I worked. I'm extremely thankful that God spun the trip so I could see that my cliche "help people" mindset should be a "serving God" mindset. And the simple fact that God lets us serve Him is extraordinary! Never again will I let myself turn something as extraordinary as a mission trip into ordinary and cliche! Thank you God! :)

Jesus is Tempted

   4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up,lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

   
   I've always thought of this story with the mindset of 'Jesus went into the desert to fast and Satan showed up.' But what the Bible actually says is, 'Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.' This really struck me as my iron sister read it aloud, the verse makes it seem like the point of Jesus going to wilderness wasn't to fast but to be tempted. Weird! But, when you think a lot about it, it makes sense. 
   As God's followers we are called into certain situations we know will be hard, situations where we know we will be tempted. These situations seem like they are solely to be helping others but could being tempted be the point of a calling into "our wilderness?"
   I know that God chooses each one of us for a certain job in His plan. When we go on mission trips, we often get more than we are giving but we still think the point is helping others. One of God's points is probably to help us. When we are tempted we grow. Jesus was a great example of how the only way to resist and grow is with God.  When we are tempted and forced to rely on Him, we become stronger. 
   So, if you are ever stuck in a hard spot and get mad at God because following Him was how you got there, remember that the point depends on perspective and from His perspective, the reason for it all may be your growth!