Courage in the face of the.. Itsy Bitsy Spider?

It seems as if courage is a trait more abundant in the younger years.  Before reality fully hits them and they still have their innocence.  Today I was patiently helping Jordan with her reading homework, when Sydney runs in wearing my dads shoes and holding a broom.  "Will you kill a spider for me?!" Her frightened facial expression gave me a heads up before anything came out of her mouth.  "Sydney I'm sure you're fully capable of killing that spider, how big is it?".  With hand signals, she showed me exactly how big the spider was.  Or at least, how big she wanted me to think it was.
"Sydney, you can kill that by yourself."  "No, I don't want to" "Sydney, with living in the country comes, being able to kill bugs." Or rather.. 'Arachnids'. "Will you please do it for me!!?".  Jordan, my 6 year old sister, obviously got tired of the persistent arguing and said, "I'll do it!!".  She stood up, grabbed another pair of my dad's shoes and shuffled from the room.  She's not really a big fan of spiders either but she walked confidently forward to the place where the spider was presumed to be.  She stopped, crossed her arms,  and said, "where is it?". By this point, Sydney was on the table pointing to where it was. Let's just say, we had to squint to see that thing.  Jordan raised the shoe in battle position and charged!! Just killing this spider obviously didn't suffice for this 6 year old.  She didn't stop until she had completely mutilated it.  

When we are younger, we're almost fearless. As we get older we are exposed to more and more of the world causing us to become more afraid.  I watched Jordan smash that spider with every inch of strength she possessed.  She seemed fearless.  As she gets older, she will take in more of the world, giving her more things to fear.  While killing a spider is a measly example of courage for some, it was a moment of panic for Sydney and moment of courage for Jordan.  As she gets older, there will be more things that will cause her to fear. I pray she will approach them with the same attitude of fearless innocence, and a mindset that will empower her to conquer the world.

The only difference is, when we get older we become more aware, this makes us more or less afraid depending on the attitude we possess.  If you let the world scare you, it will.  But if you choose to enter this world like it's the spider and you're carrying a shoe, there is almost nothing that can stop you.  Let God be your shoe.  With God, what do we possibly have to fear?  Yes, as humans we will still become afraid at times, but there is a difference between being afraid and being in constant fear.  Remember, there is a God who is watching out for you no matter what!  You can feel safe and secure because he loves you too much and he will never present you with something you can't handle.  Be strong! And be fearless in the Lord!

There's a first time for everything

I was excited when my mom informed me last night that our Friday trip to Six Flags was being moved to today.  I haven't been to the park in about a year (Due to a then 4 year old who wouldn't find following me around all day, roller coaster after roller coaster, appealing). So this was great!  There is something about roller coasters.  I love them!  What can I say?  My soon to be 12 year old sister, on the other hand, does not.  Until today, she had been fine with the "little coasters".  Much to my dismay, this choice often left me riding alone.  But today, my friends, was the day, she had dared herself to ride at least one scary roller coaster.  She even posted it on Skype with hopes that her buddies would keep her accountable.  After about the first 30 minutes of being there we located the roller coaster of choice, the Boomerang!  We got in line (A long line at that, no thanks to spring break) and waited until it was our turn.  After about 25 minutes in that dreadful line, we crossed a certain point and I took it upon myself to inform my sister that now.. there was no turning back.  She was getting on the roller coaster if I had to drag her kicking and screaming.  She gave me an amused smile and the wait continued.  Finally! It was our turn.  While most people prefer the front of the ride, I raced to the back.  (If you've ever seen the Boomerang, you'll understand)  The back gets the highest drop, and you know what this means.. more drop- more butterflies!

Well,  human emotions can change in an instant!  We were buckled in and the sloped ascension began!  On the way up I made sure to remind the happy go lucky 11 year old next to me that the drop was steep.  (Just to make sure she was prepared) And she just smiled in bliss. "Oh boy" I thought, "She has no idea".  We soon reached the top and without warning.. It dropped!  Well, her smile vanished and was instead replaced with continuous screams of "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" throughout the entire minute long ride. While she continued to scream I just smiled, but not with a look of  I told you so!  Because frankly, I didn't really tell her so. I rode with a look of contentment.  After a few turns, being dangled upside down and riding backwards, the ride came to an abrupt halt.  All three of us exited and headed out, occaisonally stealing glances at the poor people still waiting in line and deciding whether or not the ride was actually worth the wait.  We concluded that yes, it was.  Sydney turns to me, hugs me and says "Thank you Conner, I love you!".  Remember what I said about human emotions and their capacity to change quickly?  All in about five minutes, Sydney goes from hating me to loving me.  Awhhh! Well I guess that's what amusement parks are for! Right?  And like I said, There's a first time for everything.

Why do things like this happen?

Yesterday morning I was enjoying my daily, "read current event articles and drink coffee" time when I came across an article concerning Japan.  By the time I had gotten through the article and examined all the attached pictures; my heart was heavy.  My heart grieved for those over seas trapped in these abysmal circumstances; men, woman and children.  Water engulfed houses and buildings, debris and parts of random objects flowed through the streets in murky water.  As of right now, the situation looks hopeless.  The economy they had spent forever building, crumbled again in seconds with no guarantee it would ever be the same again. 

Which prodded me to ask the appropriate question, why do things like this happen?  Why does God allow such things to happen?  I think the fact that 'God is in charge' sometimes slips our minds.  We can't think of any reason this would happen, but God knows exactly why this would happen.  And although this is hard for us to understand,  we have to be faithful and trust in Him.  Do you think Job, from the Bible, asked this question when everything he knew was taken away from him? Yes.  Do you think it was hard for him to understand why God would allow these things to happen? Probably.  But did Job ever lose faith?  Never. Job never lost faith in God's overall magnificent plan. 

While we must send out prayers to those in Japan throughout these terrible circumstances, we also need to trust; trust that God knows exactly what he's doing.

{The Great American Sophism}

Sophism- A fallacious argument, esp. one used deliberately to deceive. 

As Americans, and also as humans I think we can find many things that fit perfectly with this definition.  But when I ran across this definition there was really only one thing that came to mind.  The great American lie: That we are not good enough.  Although, it's not always openly voiced, we can't deny.. it's seen everywhere.  Don't believe me?  Go stand in line at any grocery store and read the front cover of every magazine.  They will often say things like, "Do this for amazing hair"  or "10 ways to get your best body for summer." This not enough?  Flip through a few pages and you'll find articles on how to make yourself better, get more attention from guys, or step by step instructions to improve your love life.  The reality is, we're not good enough for the world.  In fact, we will never be good enough for the world.  And trying to keep up with it's constant trends will help you achieve nothing but emotional exhaustion, and often times; low self esteem.  The more you try to please everyone, the more you (without realizing it) degrade your self esteem, until you are doing nothing but hiding behind a plastic smile.  The sooner we realize that our identity comes from God and God alone, the better. 

For a few long agonizing years I tried desperately to improve myself in the eyes of others.  I wasn't free, I was being held captive to what the world thought about me, and I found my self esteem slowly withering away.  Until, I could find nothing nice to say about myself at all.  I would be a different person around different people, depending on who I was talking too.  And I hid behind a smile, in fact I became very good at.  No one ever suspected a thing, but I could feel everything.  It was emotionally straining.  Till I realized something, It was one of those Aha! moments.  Basically, why do I seek to please a world that I'm never going to be good enough for, when I already have a God who has told me exactly who I am in his eyes.

{Psalm 139}

When you accept Christ you are given a NEW identity.  Something that won't change.  No matter how much the world changes. What He thinks about us won't change.  And that is a promise.

You are more than the choices that you've made.
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes.
You are more than the problems you create.
You are more.
You've been remade.

This is not about what you've done..
but what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been..
but where your brokenness brings you to.
This is not about what you feel.. 
but what he felt to forgive you. 
And what he felt to make you loved.

{You Are More- Tenth Avenue North}