Go! Tell it on the Mountain: Upraised

Hello Friends! 

I am super excited to start this new project series where I can very spontaneously and compulsively share things that get my mind cells all worked up. Unlike my other blogs, this will hopefully just be a place where I can share my awe and wonder with you all without the pressure of formalizing thoughts or spelling. The hope for this series is for it to be a place where 1) I can spill and share some of the crazies that happen in my brain and 2) for all of you to pick at my brain... literally? 

The series is called "Go! Tell it on the Mountain" because that is literally how I feel when I have these epiphanies. I just want to tell the entire world because I am super excited and this stuff will (hopefully but not literally) blow your brains out!  I cannot promise it will be short, but I can promise that I will be random and maybe tangential. ANYWAY! READY! SET! GO! Entry #1...

Upraised

The worst human condition... LONELINESS! OKAY! I know, let me explain 

1) It is not good for man to be alone- whether or not you are religious, community is sooo sooo important and plays a ginormous role in shaping who you are. 

2) It is not only a scary thing to be physically alone (like last person on the earth kind-of alone), emotionally alone (like being surrounded by many people but still feeling alone), but also spiritually alone. 

3) What does it mean to be spiritually alone? The way that I am using this phrase here is the idea of God letting human beings loose to do whatever they please... 

"Yet for all this, his anger was not turned away, his hand is still upraised"-- Isaiah 5:25 

I read this verse and here was my line of thought. 

A) <-- changing things up a bit.... 

A) Why did God keep his hands upraised? 

B) Is He getting ready to strike again? That would be scary... 

C) Phone a friend... Google... 

D) WOAH! *insert image of a person who has had enough with all the crazy shenanigans of this world (injustice, violence, destruction), putting his hands up and slowly backing away... 

E) The worst of all human conditions is not just our sinful nature and our natural compulsion to do what is destructive and evil, but when given the choice, to choose to do what is destructive and evil. The worst of all human conditions is when we are left to do what we each see fit and claim authority and control over things we do not have. The worst of all human conditions is one without a God who is Just; who is the Creator, and who is Good. The worst of all human conditions is one without God...

So when God upraised his hands and left Israel to their own ways, Israel led themselves into their own end and destruction... This is beyond scary! 

In a world that pushes people to be "individuals" and "independent", the understanding of being in community is lost. Community with others is unnecessary and being in communion with God is annoying and restricting. Being dependent is the ultimate sin and shame of our society today... 

But, it is not good for mankind to be alone... 

***Insert Tangent*** Credits to RHET 160/167

Companion: Com (With) + pan (Bread).... LITERALLY SOMEONE YOU BREAK BREAD WITH... ***Insert mind being blown***

Charlie 

Look! And You Will See (Spring 2016 Reflection)

Philippians 3:8 

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.

The world is an attractive place. If you imagine it being an endless buffet. You can have whatever you like whenever you like, granted you have the money to get in, in the first place. But like any buffet, you cannot have both quantity and quality. So you are left stuffing yourself with garbage food until you physically cannot move. Then you leave. Then you come back the next day, spending more money, more time, more energy to try to satisfy all of your cravings that day. Today I will have the steak; tomorrow, we go for the lobster. Next thing you know you are left trying to finish a checklist of things that will never end. The only certain thing is that if you continue on this never ending cycle, you will die... heartburn, heart attack, heart failure... it is a heart problem. My heart was so easily swayed this past semester. I wanted to do a lot of things; I sought after the good of this world. I sought out worldly comfort and worldly treasures. I wanted time and energy stuffing myself with garbage. I came out of everyday feeling shameful and disgusting. But I kept going back for more... there was no end and next thing I knew, I was seeking for the end so that I could find a purpose. But there was no end found for the endless buffet that the world offered. There was no end but the end itself.

Now imagine that you are dining at a three michelin star restaurant. Everything is beautiful. The table is set, and you are brought to your seat. The course is whatever the chef is making and you know it is going to be great. The first course comes; everything about it is decadent. The flavors all worked, everything was in harmony. It was as quality as quality can get. Then the next dish comes out, then the next, and so until until you get to the last course. Then you finish. You wait for the check but the waiter comes back and tells you the meal was on the house. Everything was paid for. You leave the place full, satisfied, and your whole understanding of food changes. As the saying goes, "you can never looks at it the same way ever again." Something changes. Everything changes.

Unlike the buffet, you can't go back to the three-michelin star restaurant whenever you want. It was a once and a life time experience. There is not enough money in the world to go back. It was finished. It was done. There is nothing better. The entire experience was something different; I did not get to order what I wanted, I trusted the palette of the chef. There was not an endless amount of food to my disposal; it was just the right amount. There was a beginning, middle, and end; it made sense. The chef was in charge the entire time and I did nothing to deserve any of the food. The chef worked and I just partook in his creation. The check was paid for by the chef himself... THAT is beyond my comprehension.

But when tomorrow comes, what will you choose? I chose to go back to the buffet. I chose to revert back to my old "eating" habits. I fought people in line for food that I knew wasn't even that good. I went back over and over again. I chose to ignore. I chose to forget. I paid for second best.  I paid for trash. I paid for things I knew will never satisfy. Little did I know that satisfaction was already attained. I was searching for something I already had.

I was greedy for more. I was discontent with the best. I wanted more even though there is nothing better. I chose to turn away from what I knew was best. I chose to run to what I knew was trash and hoped that I would find something greater there. But there is nothing the world could offer that is better than Christ himself.

I was looking to the world. I was looking for satisfaction in this world. I chose to ignore that God is good. I chose to forget the grace he has shown. I took for granted the price he paid. I looked to the world for something only God could satisfy and I was angry when the world left me shameful and disgusting.

I did not understand for the longest time why the world was so appealing to me. I never understood why I kept going back to a place that I knew offered nothing. I told myself I had a heart problem. I told myself that I could fix it if I just stopped going back to the world. Never once did I think to go get help. I thought if I just stopped, it would heal on its own and get better. Never once did I think that maybe exercising would be good. Never once did I think that I need to be healed.

The lyrics of this song struck me as so truthful to the situation that I was in. In the constant struggle between the things of this world and the plan that God has for me, I found myself asking why I desired the things of this world so much. Why was the world so appealing to me when I obviously know that God is better? Then I realized, I was looking at it wrong.

I was looking at the world and seeing it for all the potential and trash that it was. I was never satisfied but I kept searching for satisfaction. Even when I was frustrated, I questioned why it was so. Not once did I think to turn away. I looked to solutions in the world and even when I was disgusted and ashamed, I was looking at the world. Maybe tomorrow, they will have something better. What I didn't realize was that I needed to change where I was looking. Imagine again being in the three-michelin star restaurant. When you are there, nothing else compares. You forget all the garbage food from everywhere else you've been to. Everything else just doesn't matter anymore. All you see and all you experience is what is in front of you. So if I am looking and worrying about the things of this world, then that is all I get... literally... all of its trash, all of its unsatisfying-ness, everything! I get all of the garbage of the world. BUT! If I am looking at God and what he did on that cross, what he has done, is doing and will continue to do... everything else just fades. All that matters is what God is doing and how he is working. My desire would not be for the things of this world but for the things of God, his plan for me. Like lyrics say, the things of this world WILL grow strangely dim... because the focus is not on the world; our eyes are focused on our God and Savior. There is no healing that the world can offer. There is no desire that God cannot satisfy. But the question is no longer why the world is so appealing but rather... where are you looking? 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace

Charlie