It starts with you

"Never doubt that a small group of people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."              ~Margaret Mead

I was sitting talking with some friends today about the negative effects that we have observed of the Korean educational system.  And, while I think it highly unlikely that any of us could ever change that system in the span of our entire lives, even if we wanted to, it also got me thinking about what exactly it is that does cause big changes in our society and beyond. 

So many people think, "oh, I'm just one person.  I have no influence.  What could I possibly do to affect the entire world?"  But just think, what would happen if everyone adopted that attitude?  Nothing would ever happen.  Why?  Because change starts with us.  More specifically, change starts with me.  It starts with you.  Mother Teresa was only one person.  Steve Jobs was only one person.  Mozart, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Columbus, Helen Keller, Henry Ford...all of them were only one person.  Of course, that goes the opposite way, as well. Hilter and Stalin were individual people, too. 

The point is, "I'm just 1 person" should never be an excuse to not try to make a difference.  God doesn't want us to wait for someone else to move, to wait for someone else to do the dirty work and then just follow along behind, holding onto their coattails.  It starts with you.  Be the change that you want to see in the world.

Acts 12:1-19

¹ It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
 ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
 ⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
 ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
 ¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
 ¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
 ¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
 ¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
 ¹⁸ In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

He's got the whole world in His hands

In the past 3 months I have seen an incredible range of God's creation.  In the past 3 years even more.  I have seen mountains, valleys, and everything in between.  I have witnessed Flamenco dancing in the streets of Spain, hidden beach caves in Portugal, the oppressive luxury of the palace of Versailles, and ancient Korean palaces and fortresses thousands of years old.  I have ridden camels in Morocco, prayed at the top of the Sacre Coeur in Paris, gone skydiving in Costa Rica, and done street ministry in Honduras.  I have met innocent little children, ambitious teenagers, jaded young adults, and wizened old men and women.  I have interacted with dancers, nuns, atheists, street vendors, travelers, entrepreneurs, athletes, and just ordinary citizens from all over the world. 

Now, please don't misunderstand me, my intention is not to brag or to make you jealous or anything of the sort.  But it occurred to me tonight, as I was returning from yet another weekend trip around Korea and thinking about my travels over the past few years, what a truly big world we live in.  Even with all of my traveling, I have only seen a fraction of what this big world of ours has to offer.  And God made all of it.  The things I have seen and done, and millions upon millions of things that I will never get the chance to experience....He made it all. 

Kind of puts the old children's song "He's got the whole world in His hands" into a whole new perspective.

Genesis 1

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
 ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
 ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
 ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
    ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
 ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
 ²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
    ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
 ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
 ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
    ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
    ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Thank Him

Yesterday a student wrote me a note.  In she thanked me for all of the stuff that I do in class, and how I make class fun but yet also actually teach her things.  And then she called me her favorite teacher.  Needless to say, I was absolutely on cloud nine.  The fact that she wrote anything at all was incredible - English does not come easy for these students.  But the fact that she took the time to write so much, and then called me her favorite teacher...words simply cannot describe the joy that I felt at receiving that note. 

I wonder if that's how our Heavenly Father feels when we praise Him, when we thank Him for what He's done for us.  Of course He is far and above more worthy of receiving praise and thanks than I will ever be, no matter how good of a teacher I become.  But so often, He gets far less praise than we do.  But yet he deserves it more than anyone in the world.

The Lord is described in the Bible as both a Father and a Teacher.  I am currently a teacher by profession, but I think of these girls like my children, so I think that I have a bit of an understanding of the pride He feels in us when we please Him.  When these students take the effort to tell me that they notice what I do, and to thank me for it, the feeling is absolutely indescribable.  That's the kind of feeling I want to give to God, too.  So take time to thank God today for all of the wonderful things He has done in your life.  Give Him the joy that He deserves.

Psalm 96

 ¹ Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
² Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
 ⁴ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
 ⁷ Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
 let the sea resound, and all that is in it.¹² Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. ¹³ Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness  and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Parched

Do you ever feel dried up?  Used and spent and completely drained of inspiration?  That's how I feel right now.  Exhaustion, fatigue, and emotions have caught up with me, and have left me wanting to do anything but write this blog.  I feel like I have nothing left to give.  I've talked about all of the verses that I know, shared all of the stories that I have, and given everything I have to give.  I'm finished.

But God isn't.  He still has more to give - He always has more to give.  And He is standing there, just waiting for us to ask Him for it, just waiting for us to trust in His provision.  His Word promises that He will always be there for us, that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that He will never give us more than we can bear.  So if you are parched and thirsty, take heart.  Drink deep of His sustaining water.  He's the one Well that will never run dry.

1 Kings 17:7-16

 ⁷ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
 ¹² “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
 ¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’”
 ¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

Living on a balance beam

I watched an awesome sermon clip yesterday from a man named Francis Chan.  He described the Christian life like a balance beam.  To actually do anything of value on a balance beam, it takes some courage, some guts - and also a whole lot of falls.  But I think that anyone who's watched Olympic gymnastics would agree that seeing the beautiful, finished product - and the beaming gymnast as she stands in front of the judges at the end of her routine - makes all of the work and all of the difficulties worth it.

I think it's true that the Christian life should be like a balance beam, full of tough challenges, but also brilliant triumphs.  But there's a problem with this picture.  So many of us go through life not wanting to be brilliant, but rather to be safe.  We step on the balance beam, and as soon as things get a little shaky, we get down low and wrap the beam in a bear hug to avoid falling.  And it's true, we live a very safe, comfortable life this way.

But eventually, we're going to have to get off of the beam and face the Judge.  And what is He going to say?  Can you picture an Olympic gymnastic getting on the balance beam, lying flat on her stomach and hugging it for a few minutes, and then getting off and asking the judge how she did?  What would he say?  I can guarantee you that he's not going to tell her that she did a good job.

I challenge you to let go of the beam.  Stand up, take a deep breath, and make a leap of faith.  And don't be upset if you fail.  Don't be afraid of failure.  After all, what are failures, except a learning experience to help you to do better next time?

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

¹ Ship your grain across the sea;
   after many days you may receive a return.
² Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
   you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

 ³ If clouds are full of water,
   they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
   in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
⁴ Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
   whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

 ⁵ As you do not know the path of the wind,
   or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
   the Maker of all things.

 ⁶ Sow your seed in the morning,
   and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
   whether this or that,
   or whether both will do equally well.

God's tapestry

One of my favorite movies is Dreamwork's "The Prince of Egypt."  One of the best songs in the whole movie is when Jethro, the high priest of Midian, is talking to Moses about God's ways.  He says that "a single thread in a tapestry, though it's colors brightly shine, can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design."

I feel like a little thread right now.  I was being stretched and pulled in all kinds of unpleasant and difficult directions, and I didn't know why.  It just felt like unnecessary hardship, and I did not like it.  The stress was starting to affect my mood, my health, and my interactions with other people.  But now I'm in a new situation, and God is slowly starting to show me the bigger tapestry.

Have you ever though about how pain helps us appreciate joy all the more?  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no masochist, and I'm certainly not advocating intentionally causing pain.  But truly, without difficulties in our lives, how will we ever know how to truly appreciate the good things?  Without struggling for months through an incredibly difficult homestay situation, I would not appreciate what a good thing I have nearly as much as I do.  You see, it took a change of perspective for me to appreciate what God was doing in my life.

That's the thing about threads.  So often, from the thread's perspective, they don't understand why they're being twisted and pulled and stretched.  But then, once you take a step back and look at the whole picture, you realize that it was necessary to make something beautiful.  Are you being stretched and don't why?  Ask God to show you the tapestry He's making.  I promise you, it's something more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵ Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  

Flat-screen friendships

Facebook says that I have 434 friends.  On my birthday every year, I am inundated with well-wishers.  I hang out regularly with new anchors and TV actors.  Of course, I don't ACTUALLY hang out with them, any more than I actually have over 400 friends.  They are "flat-screen friendships" - a poor substitute, indeed, for the real thing.  Writing "happy birthday" on a friend's facebook wall is not nearly as meaningful as taking that friend out to dinner for their birthday.  "Lol" cannot compare to a deep, hearty laugh over a pithy joke or well-timed comment.  "Praying for you" typed at the end of an email is nowhere near the same thing as bowing your heads and speaking to the Lord together.

It's easier, of course.  It takes no work at all to have a flat-screen relationship.  If someone upsets you, you can simply defriend them or stop following their tweets.  If you don't want to talk to someone, you can just ignore their phone call.  Unpleasant emails can simply not be responded to.  Living in the modern age has made communication - or the lack thereof - nearly effortless.

But Jesus has called us to love each other.  That is, in fact, a result of a spirit-filled person - they show love for the people in their lives, and a willingness to invest in them.  One of the main purposes of the Church, in fact, is to create a sense of community.  Not a community that simply has potlucks and ice cream socials on the weekends after church, and then leaves everyone to fend for themselves during the week; but rather, a community that knows it members intimately - all of their quirks, flaws, and idiosyncrasies - and is willing to love them anyway.

Unfortunately, this type of community is far too rare.  So few of us are willing to stick with it and keep loving, even when things get sticky, messy, and difficult.  But it is so worth it.  True relationships are gritty and hard work - and completely worth it.  True relationships make us grow in ways that we could never do on our own, in our little 2-dimensional world.  Don't settle for a life filled with flat-screened friendships.

1 Peter 1:22, 4:8
22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so the you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.