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MinorElite
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Name: Jack
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
Birthday: 6/22/1987
Gender: Male
Interests: Computers, writing, movies/film making, all things military, all things sci-fi, especially Star Trek (We Will Return!!!), and all things fantasy (LOTR,etc), all things illegal, all useful skills.
Expertise: Trench digging, guerilla warfare, nuclear holocaust survival, efficiency
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  JWP37504
MSN: MinorElite@hotmail.com
Member Since:
5/17/2005
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| It's an upsetting thing to discover what you're supposed to do with your life, for what if you should fail? If any other endeavor is pursued, failure can at least be defended by the knowledge that it wasn't what you were supposed to do. But if you know what you're supposed to do, what you were made for, what you were designed for, what you were supposed to do with the gifts given to you, and if you should fail at that, what then? Shalom. | | |
| So I was introducing myself to a group of Thai students today, and I told them I was from Iowa. Half the Americans I've met don't know where that is, so I don't expect much over here. One of the pointed to me excitedly. "Slipknot!" Great. Thanks guys. So much. Shalom.
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| Today I was reading Ezekiel chapters 3 and 4, and I must say, it was a chaotic experience. First, I read verses 5 and 6 of chapter three, where God says that Ezekiel wasn't called to a strange people of a hard language, and I'm thinking, yeah!, this must be talking to me. Then I read verse 24, where the spirit tells Ezekiel to shut himself up in his house and not to talk to anyone. Definitely talking to me there.
But I kept reading into chapter 4 and things began to get a little weird. Building a replica of a city under siege? Sounds like fun. Laying on your side for weeks and weeks? Maybe not so much. Then I started reading what he was supposed to eat during this period. God's gracious compromise comes in verses 12 - 15: instead of human poo, he only has to eat cow poo. Maybe this isn't speaking to me after all.
There are times in life when things, situations, people don't make sense. It feels like we're being called in a certain direction, but the path between where we are and where we are being called to is clouded and, honestly, can look impossible. Sometimes I set out on a course and look back at the end of it and think that it must've been the wrong course, because I can't see any fruit. I get frustrated, because I feel like I have wasted my time or my resources ( college student, remember?) on what must've been the wrong course. But sometimes God doesn't call us to the successful course.
It reminds me of something Kacey mentioned a couple nights ago: how do you measure success? To me, success would mean living in a huge house, having millions of dollars that I could spend making indie films, and winning lots of Oscars. Respect, power, influence, cash - that's my measure. But then she asked, would I consider myself successful if I didn't have those things, if I had a family and was a good husband and father and made enough to support that family? And yeah, from a different angle, I guess I'd consider that success too.
Sometimes our definition of success or effectiveness comes from our own perceptions of how things should be. But look at Ezekiel. God called him to do some crazy, messed-up stuff that didn't make any sense, and actually told him at the beginning "Oh yeah, and by the way, they're going to totally reject you." Could anything be more demoralizing? I have the audacity to gripe about my so-called "suffering" just because my body reacts poorly to Thai food or because it's hot or smelly or dirty or crowded or whatever. But here's Ezekiel, called to eat COW POO knowing it won't do any good, and he does it anyway.
Lord, give me a faith like that, to trust you when the path before me doesn't make sense. Teach me to place following you above my own measure of success. Shalom.
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| I have seen Transformers. Prepare yourself for an adrenaline rush. Shalom.
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| Two thoughts:
It is a terrifying thing to discover that God will not strike you dead when you sin.
The task set before us only seems impossible if we neglect the power of God.
Shalom.
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