Sometimes you just need a break

Good evening, lovely blog readers. First off, let me just thank you all for continuing to read my ridiculous compilation of random thoughts. I’m so blessed to have so many people who like to read my writing, and I’m thankful to be able to share my point of view with so many different people.

You may have noticed in the last few days there haven’t been as many posts as normal. Before anyone started worrying, I wanted to just let everyone know that I missed a few days due to some unplanned things that happened. And I just haven’t been able to get that momentum back (hey, I’m being honest here).

So I’ve decided for the next few weeks to take a bit of a hiatus. I’ll do my best to get some blog posts out, but taking a break is sometimes good for us. And, frankly, I could really use the next few weeks to work solely on New Name: The Destiny Trilogy Part Three. I’ve got 75,000 words left to write on it, and I really want it done before the end of the month. I managed to crank out 11,000 words today, so if I can get to similar daily word counts in the next week or so, I can definitely make it. But that means I need to devote all my brain power to getting that done.

I’m hoping you all will forgive the absence. There’s tons of stuff to read on here, and I just put in a search feature. So search for your favorite Bible verse or topic, and I bet I have a blog post about it. And I’ll be back regularly in a few weeks, and I’ll probably be in a much less stressed frame of mind.

Blessings to you all. Thanks again for all your love and support and encouragement. 

Life is a series of delayed consequences

There’s one bathroom in my 100-year-old house. It has a shower, a sink, a toilet, and a linen cabinet, but it’s very small. Basically a little closet off the kitchen. And I’ve been shaving my legs in this bathroom for over 20 years without any trouble. Granted, it usually requires you to be a bit of a contortionist. But without going into any more detail, let’s just say that a few evenings ago I did something uncharacteristically clumsy.

Basically, I fell. I bruised my arm and one of my legs pretty good. I decorated a hip and my tailbone with bruises too. Oh, and the most important part, I smacked the back of my head on the door of the linen cabinet. The knot that swelled on the back of my head was the most impressive thing I’ve felt before. It was the size of my palm.

Head injuries can be a bit scary, but this wasn’t the first time I’d tried to crack my head open (probably won’t be the last either). I still called my mom to make sure I didn’t need to do anything else other than stay awake for a little while and dump ice all over my head.

The funny thing? It didn’t really hurt. Granted, it felt like one of the old cartoons, where Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote got whacked on the noggin and grew a lump tall enough to throw horseshoes at. But it didn’t hurt. I mean, it felt bruised and swollen, but that was it. I had always expected getting banged on the head would hurt a lot.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]I had always expected getting banged on the head would hurt a lot.[/su_pullquote]

After talking to my mom, we decided to leave it alone and see how I was doing in the morning. She planned to call me halfway through the night to make sure I could wake up. And then my roomie came back out for the night too, just to check on me. Because, see, the thing about head injuries is that the real problems don’t always show up immediately. Sometimes the problems don’t show up until later, and by then you’re in big trouble.

I think it’s interesting because head injuries aren’t the only issues we face that have delayed consequences. Actually, living life is a series of delayed consequences.

Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, isn’t the best source for wisdom, but he’s right in what he says in Job 4:8. “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.” That old adage about reaping what you sow? Delayed consequences. Who you hurt today could hurt you tomorrow. That law you break today might come back to haunt you next week.

Tomorrow’s results depend on today’s actions. But it isn’t always a case of today and tomorrow. Sometimes it’s today and next year. Sometimes it’s today and ten years from now. Or even a lifetime from now. But consequences always roll around, and they will be the results of your actions, bigger and louder than what you started with.

Maybe I smacked my head on a linen cabinet on Sunday, but Monday morning I had more bruises than I did on Sunday. And Tuesday morning I had more sore muscles than I did Sunday. One action. More than one consequence. So don’t you want to make sure your one action is a good action?

[su_pullquote]Everything we do has a reaction, and it’s not equal and opposite. It’s the same and greater. It just doesn’t happen right away.[/su_pullquote]

Always remember that the things you choose to do never result in nothing. Everything we do has a reaction, and it’s not equal and opposite. It’s the same and greater. It just doesn’t happen right away.

So if you’ve done good things, hang in there. Keep waiting for your harvest of good to roll around. And if you’ve done bad things, keep praying, and God will help you get through the consequences. You’ll still have to face them, but you have someone to call for help.

You don’t have to agree with each other to listen

I watched an episode of a television show the other night where God played a character on screen. Immediately, I knew I probably wasn’t going to agree with it. And I was right. God was portrayed as an absentee parent who had given up on His children and needed a pep talk, basically.

Needless to say, it made me pretty angry. But I kept watching. And the more I watched, the sadder I became. Because is that how people really see God? Is that the lie people have bought about Him? What a hopeless existence if our Creator gives up on us, if our God struggles with the same things we struggle with.

I watched the whole episode, and I disagreed with everything. But I finished it, and I gained some really interesting insight into how the writers of the show see God. And it gave me the opportunity to really question what I believe and why I believe it.

Yet last week I encountered someone who wouldn’t even finish my novel because he disagreed with something I had written. Which is perfectly fine. People are free to like or dislike what I write, but how can you give an honest review about a story without actually reading it?

Christians are expected to lay down and hang our heads. Oh, no! Our beliefs made someone angry! Alas! But what about when people of other faiths make a Christian angry? How is a Christian supposed to react when that happens?

Ask the culture, and they’ll say we’re too sensitive. Aren’t you supposed to show grace and forgive and let it go? Ask a Christian, and they’ll tell you that you shouldn’t have been reading/watching it anyway.

So which is it? Let it go or bury your head in the sand?

I say neither.

Instead, seek to understand it.

I love Proverbs because it’s so full of good advice, and Proverbs 18:2 is a classic example. “Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.”

Too many times we stop reading a story or stop watching a show because we disagree with it. But stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and you can’t always judge the end by the way the story begins. How can you understand a story before you finish it? How can you even know you’ll disagree with it if you don’t even know what happens in the end?

It’s a very personal thing. We all have to make our decision about where (and how) we’re going to stand. And if a book or movie or TV show contains things that you believe will damage you, you should definitely stop. But that line is different for every person.

People really hate Christians now. Openly. That’s new in my lifetime. And, yes, I’m generalizing. Because I have many many friends who don’t believe the same way I do, and I love them, and they love me. But others decide that I’m an idiot without even knowing me. Others decide to hate me and they haven’t even spoken to me.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]Since when do we have to agree with each other to be kind to each other?[/su_pullquote]

Since when do we have to agree with each other to be kind to each other, to be civil with each other? I know we get passionate about what we believe, but hatred never solves disagreements. And insults rarely make you sound smarter.

I know where I stand. I stand with Jesus Christ. He is my everything, and the Bible is His Word that tells me how to live. But that’s my choice. That’s my life.

You can stand wherever you want. It’s your choice, and I respect that whole-heartedly. You can write what you want. You can tell whatever story you want to tell. You can believe whatever you want to believe, and I won’t tune out. I won’t shut the TV off or stop reading your book or close my ears to your voice. It matters to you, so it matters to me. I may disagree with you, but I’ll still listen.

And all I ask for in return is the same consideration.

God is who He is regardless of where we are

I love the idea of spontaneity. I love being free. But spontaneity can be scary sometimes, especially if you’re someone who likes stability and control and predictability. And it’s nice because God is a God of order. God doesn’t do chaos. You can trust that God will alway be who He is, where He is, everywhere, all the time.

But because God is always in one place, does that mean we have to be too?

One of the things I’m learning about God is that even though I may move around, He moves with me. God is the only person in the entire history of the universe who can both stay here and go with me at the same time. So when God says clearly, GO!, you don’t have to go alone.

Like the Bible says in Deuteronomy 31:8, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Maybe your situation has been the same for a while. Maybe your life is stagnant. Maybe it’s comfortable, but nobody plants a flower and expects it to stay a seed. Even if it stays in one place, it’s still growing. It grows up into the unknown. It grows down into the unknown. But all the time, it stays rooted in one place, even though it’s ever-expanding.

[su_pullquote]We’re rooted in truth that can move with us.[/su_pullquote]

I think that’s how our lives are supposed to be. We’re rooted in God. We have our foundation in His truth, His love, His presence, His Word. But that doesn’t mean we stop expanding our horizons. It doesn’t mean we can’t just drop everything and push out into the world, because unlike a tree, we’re not rooted in place. We’re rooted in truth that can move with us.

So where is God telling you to go today? Are you scared? Are you uncertain? Are you reluctant because it sounds crazy?

Ask yourself, who matters more, your peers or your God? Because if God is telling you to go do something, you’d better go do it, regardless of what people think. If you know it’s from God, don’t hesitate. Just go. Just do it.

God will never tell you to do something that goes against His Word. He’ll never contradict Himself. He’ll never tell you to behave in a manner that isn’t consistent with His teachings. So if what He’s telling you meets those criteria, what are you waiting for?

Don’t worry if it sounds crazy. Don’t worry if it feels responsible (you performance-driven perfectionists, you). Don’t worry period.

Because God is constant, we don’t have to stay still. God is who He is regardless of where we are, and that won’t change no matter where you go.

The moments that tell you who you trust

Throughout my childhood, many of my heroes always talked about how God had directed their lives, and that sounded so fantastical to me. So as I grew, part of me expected God to show up in my life with a big flashing arrow to point me down the right roads. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed when He didn’t.

I’ve been a grownup person for a while now. It’s hard to remember when I still don’t like wearing shoes and would gladly eat ice cream for dinner. I’m not sure when I made the transition from child to grownup, but there were no trumpets sounding, no confetti falling, no awards handed out. Suddenly I had responsibilities and budgets to manage and meals to prepare and deadlines to meet.

Fast forward ten years or so, and I’m still waiting for the heavens to open up and point me in the right direction. God has never popped up in front of me and thundered directions or commands audibly. He has never appeared to me on a grilled cheese sandwich or a ceiling tile.

When the time came for me to make a choice about my life, I tried to make the best choice I could. I used Bible verses. I used what I knew about God. I listened to counsel from godly people. And I moved forward trusting that God would hold me up, regardless of how I felt about the entire situation.

Sometimes that led me into uncomfortable situations. Sometimes that led me into a lot of stress and responsibility. And every time my life would hit a new, frustrating low, I’d feel peace because I trusted Him to work things out. And every time, He did. I didn’t get to hear angels sing when I made a decision. Actually, most of the time, I felt worse after I made a decision, but I’d cling to the hope that I’d made my choice because I did it for God’s glory. And every time, life would just work out. Not the same day. Not the same week. Sometimes not even the same month. But always eventually.

[su_pullquote]That’s not an accident. That’s a miracle.[/su_pullquote]

From my first job out of college to my last “real” job to where I am now working for myself, His fingerprints are everywhere. I can trace the path of my life back from childhood to where I am now. I can map every bump, every pit, every road block, and I can tell you how what I learned as a result got me where I am today. That’s not an accident. That’s a miracle.

No, God didn’t show up in flashy display of power and majesty, but He did show up. God has always been with me, every moment of every day, but He hasn’t always been obvious because I haven’t always been looking for Him. And that’s the key I think we forget sometimes.

We expect God to bend over backward to get our attention. We look for signs and wonders in the sky to prove to us that He exists, when the very fact that we do exist should be wonder enough.

The Bible says over and over again that we’re supposed to trust God, but how many of us really do it? How many of us even try? Psalm 37:3-7 tells us, “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” It’s not easy to live this way. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. But God wouldn’t have told us to do it if it weren’t important.

Trusting yourself has limits, because you are limited. Trusting God is terrifying because He is limitless in every sense of the word. But when you put your whole trust in Him, He can take you where He wants you to go. He can do impossible things through you, but you have to trust Him. You have to turn your will over to Him. You have to turn your plans over to Him.

Sometimes you’ll feel stuck. Sometimes you’ll despair. Sometimes it will feel like nothing in your life is going right. Those are the moments that tell you who you trust.