Ideas

i've been trying very earnestly to live by the motto that i should treat everyone with compassion and respect because you never know what personal battle they may be fighting.

i remember in my freshman year in philosophy class we talked about nonviolence and in this discussion we talked about the Third Way. the way not of violence, but neither of way of submission. rather - the Third Way. a way to act in a situation without both violence and submission.

for instance, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek when we are struck at. but think about the dynamics of this. if someone initially hits you they will use their right hand and slap your left cheek. if you turn the other cheek - a person would no longer be able to slap you but instead would have to punch you - a completely different strike to a person.

i know i'm doing this explanation no good but i have very little memory of it. i'll go back later and find the text and insert it in here for those reading. what i'm saying essentially is that we all should take on an attitude similar to this one.

and it won't be easy.

because we all know that loving a person is so much harder than hating a person.

but what God has required of us isn't expected to be easy. so i will put my best foot forward and show the world the love that God has shown me.

i haven't been to church in awhile. i must admit.

but it's not because i don't want face God. it's not because i've done something terribly wrong or committed an unforgivable sin in the eyes of my fellow Christians.

simply - i miss the church at my school.

i miss the Christians my age facing the same world that i am.

i miss the community.

i miss how politics hasn't made its way into our church.

i miss the sermons that are short, sweet, and yet altogether meaningful and applicable to me and my life.

i miss my support group.

i miss my bible study of eager followers - ready to learn and easy to forgive.

and of course all this makes me start contrasting and comparing chapel at school and church at home. one of the first things that differs is at school we take no offering. and this started to bother me a little bit.

yeah, we're all "poor college students" barely able to pay for our private college tuition BUT many of us give a tithe at home - so why not at school?

i thought about it some more and realized that by the end of the year i usually have spare change from late night Tbell runs and unspent laundry money lying around. why couldn't i donate that spare change - despite how little it is - and do something good with it?

and if i have spare change then its only likely to reason that others do as well.

AND then what if we took all that spare change and gave it back to the poor - just like the offering is supposed to be used for.

not to knock on churches, but many of them use the money for the church and only give a sparse amount to the poor. that's not how it was meant to be used.

and what better way to use our college change that crops up?

the schools already paying for the chapel. that's taken care of.

anyway that's something i plan on talking to my Religious Life Team about once we have retreat. that and many more ideas.

i want to do a faith and christian wall. where we write the word FAITH in bold and CHRISTIAN across the top of a long piece of paper and leave markers out.

the idea would for people to write down their definition or whatever may come to mind in relation to the word. it would be an interesting study.

also, i would like to bring back the overused WWJD bracelets. i want us to all seriously consider the bracelets as we go through what can be a tempting world that twenty somethings live in. a revolution of WWJD. how very interesting would that be?

nonetheless, with all this positive there comes to mind some negative thoughts as well. such as, if paradise wasn't enough for Adam and Eve how will the paradise the Lord gives us be enough to satisfy us in the end? aren't we destined to fail him again, even after his return?

i hope not. i sincerely hope not. because all i want is to please my God.

and mostly i rely on Proverbs 3:5 to help me through this, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding."

that's what i intend to do.

i trust You Lord. forever. sometimes i will stumble, sometimes i will fall. but for You i will live this life as best as i can. Lord you've given me so much to be thankful for in this life. you've blessed those around me and i want to learn to love you and accept both the good and the bad that you bring to me in this life Lord. my complete trust lies with you Lord.

tomorrow i fly out to Memphis to visit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. i pray that i can be used to do good for this wonderful place. pray for my safe trip and pray that my prayers will come true in regards to doing something good.