Rain

I love the rain. I really do. I think it's one of the most wonderful things God can use to accent a day. There's a giddy sort of joy that wells up inside of me, and as I walk through it, I can't help but to smile. I remember in high school, me and a few friends would just stand in the rain. While everyone was huddled indoors, we would just stand there, with no umbrellas, smiling to each other, as if we had this great little secret that no one else understood.


Rain got a bad rep somehow. People step in puddles, get wet and get perturbed. You won't find a sad moment or funeral scene in a movie that isn't accompanied by the ever convenient rainstorm. This image we've come to associate as tears falling from the sky as the heavenly hosts weep. Rain becomes that gloomy symbol for all things depressing and down right emo.

That's not the rain I know. The rain I know is a blessing. The rain I know is a gift. It seems all over-dramatic, I know, especially to anyone who harbors animosity towards rain. But that's how I feel.

Ever notice how everything is cleaner after a rain? The air tastes fresher and you can see further out into the horizon. The leaves on the trees just shine, and the greens that adorn each bit of flora is that much more vibrant. The sun shines clearer, and the blue of the sky is deeper and more... well blue! It's as if God touches up creation every now and then, and in those times when you don't notice it's beauty as much, you're given the treat of rediscovering something wonderful.

Best of all, the rain changes me. I always watch the clouds recede feeling better, and closer to God. Just as in a mass when a priest would sprinkle the congregation with holy water, I imagine as if God Himself is sending out His holy water over me. As if in a baptism, I imagine the rain falling on my head, my heart, and my soul. It washes away my sin and shortcomings. It consecrates my life once more for God.

The rain becomes God's way of reminding me, "I have forgiven you because I love you, now go out to love as I did."

In Christ,

Daniel

By Our Love

Tonight was another night of conviction.

I wish to express, above all other virtues, love to those around me. To love my brothers and sisters as Christ loved me.

So to hear once more the various thoughts most people have at the word 'Christian', it became another night of conviction. After being reminded of all the popular perceptions and common experiences, it became another night of conviction.

I paused to think, is there something I'm missing? Is it more than just hypocrites carrying false labels of faith? Of all the genuine, loving followers of Christ has that not been enough to make an impact on all these negative views?

When we live out our love to our neighbors, could it be they just don't make the connection to Jesus?

I wonder, how often the unusual kindness or love or generosity of a Christian is just attributed to the Christian, and not to Christ. Amidst a humanist society where we expect man alone to triumph in life without the interference of a transcendental being, how often does God's work get mistaken for man's victory of independence without God?

A woman gives a homeless man a meal, and a passerby says to themselves, "My what a virtuous woman!" Which is a fine statement on it's own, but unfortunately denies any possibility of another source of that virtue other than the work of her own will!

They will know we are Christians by our love.

When we are surrounded by a world view that denies the possibility of God, how could they see the love that comes from Him?

It's something I"m still struggling with. I don't want to walk around all day wearing a shirt that says, "I'm only nice to you because of Jesus". That's not really the best way of saying it.

I believe God is the source of all good things. Whenever I do anything nice, it was not of my own work. Also, if I ever see a non-Christian doing good work, I rejoice that God is doing good things through people who may not even realize it.

It makes me think though, that if someone where to truly know we are Christians by our love, our love would have to be so out of the ordinary, so unlike any human love, that people could not possibly confuse it with that of just some nice guy.

As much as I love nice guys.

It does however, set the bar pretty high on our definition of what it means to love one another.


Yours In Christ,

Just Another Jesus Freak

Perfect Melody

In music, there is always a little dissonance.

It's those couple of notes that just sound unhappy, and bring tension to an otherwise soothing song. Some of the most beautiful music ever composed is filled with dissonance, and could never be written without it. If you ask composers why music needs moments when a harmony is simply unpleasant to the ear, they will tell you it's there so it can resolve. A chord that is wondrous and emotionally uplifting to hear could barely offer such an experience unless it is lifting you up out of the dissonance before it. It becomes that much more worthwhile.

In life, there is always a little dissonance.

We can all agree with that. Every time we encounter those unhappy and tense moments in life, it becomes so much harder to see God's plan for it all. Why did I have to fall? Why did I have to say that? Why did my wallet happen to get stolen? What sort of spiritual good is to be brought about by it all?

Let's take the most perfect song, the most perfect melody, ever to grace the earth: Jesus' life. Imagine He had a full orchestral score going behind him the whole time, what would it sound like? Just think of all the dissonance that would pound in your ears with every step He took as He carried the cross, and just think how marvelous the chord would sound when He came out of the tomb. I tell you that chord would not sound nearly as sweet as it does if there had not been all that dissonance.

Now image the melody that makes up your life. Yes, you get your own personal theme song. For every dissonant point where we stumble, doubt, cry out, cave in, break down, and get torn up, God, our great composer, will resolve it. When the pain passes by and the soothing melodies of His blessings flow through, we appreciate it that much more. Better still, we are promised a finale that will be beyond anything we can imagine. An eternal chord of grandeur that cannot fade.

In Christ,

Just another Jesus Freak

Every New Day

I pray that anything I post up here will be a blessing somehow.

It couldn't be done without God. What with the plank in my eye and the fifty different yokes He's trying to get off my back.

Time will tell if this desire to write is God given or simply a worldly desire. I've taken the first step, let's see if the lamp by my feet moves with me.

It's my intense desire to be that 'new man' CS Lewis wrote about. I do not simply wish to be a 'nice' man, or some guy writing nice stuff without having the truly transforming touch God can bring. Of course, I'm still being transformed, little by little. Hopefully, this blog can be something new among the millions of voices on the internet, little by little.

In Christ,

Just another Jesus Freak