I wen't on a missions trip last week- God met me, finished stretching me, and showed me his love :)
Here's a worship song that i just loved:
Peace be with You.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
A Poor Replica
So when i created this blog earlier on this year i was in a pouring season of my life. However right now God has been filling me up; teaching me, stretching me, testing me, helping me grow. Because of that i haven't had much to say really- there has not been anything on my heart really to share. God has even silenced my teaching spirit for a while to allow me to listen to him better. I can understand that, so I am continuing to seek him while he humbles me.
However there is one thing that has been on my mind as of late- not really inspired by anything i read in scripture during my devotions but on my plane ride over to Hawaii last week.
As we began our first of many flights over to Maui, our pilot shared a very interesting- and eye opening- piece of knowledge with us: The airplane we were flying in took 3 miles a gallon. Of course, as an environmental policy specialization (my major is International Relations) I almost had a heart attack- i had read somewhere about the importance of only taking vacations accessible by car, but i didn't realize the amount of gas wasted with just ONE plane ride!!! (though this is an entirely different topic...). After i recovered somewhat from that first shock (and after vowing to never ride an airplane again if i could) I started thinking about what God meant when he said we were creating in his own image.
I know as Christians we tend to emphasize how much we do not matter compared to God and how insignificant we are when compared to time, but I think we sometimes need to realize that we are God's greatest works! Though we were created lower than the angels, we were made in the image of God. Think about all the achievements man has made- we can advance in technology, we can create, we can build upon our knowledge, we can love and hate, we are capable of compassion in one instance and malice in another, we can choose to be or do or say or not choose at all. We imitate the characteristics that God has but yet, we don't imitate him well.
Take this plane for example- It resembles and was inspired by the bird of the air. Man said 'I want to fly' and found a way to. However can the airplane fly like the bird? No it does a terrible job imitating the bird God had created- It's clunky and big, it's heavy, it uses/wastes TONS of resources just to get it off the ground, it's loud, it's expensive, and takes a lot of maintenance.
It's like we're poorly made replicas of God. If your a little kid like i still am, you may remember that classic spongebob episode where spongebob and Patrick stumble upon the magic pencil and decide to make a poorly drawn doodle of spongebob. The doodle made a poorly drawn pineapple house along with poorly drown furniture, yard, everything. At the end of the episode the doodle says 'no. Me spongebob, you doodle.' In short the created wanted to replace the creator. (I can't believe i just tied in spongebob to God...wow...)
It is in this praise in humanity- the complexity of man- that fools us into believing that we can control the things that we cannot. I think we, as humans, suffer from a big fish in small pond complex. Compared to all the things in this world, we are the most advance, promising, and intellectually sound. There is nothing that lives and grows on this earth that even comes close to meeting our potential. However, if you put that big fish in the ocean- it soon finds out that compared to the real players out there- it's not that great, it's not that advance or all knowing. When we encounter the holiness and sheer power of God himself, we realize how insignificant and how flawed we are. We understand our place and realize how much of a poor doodle we are compared to the creator himself. That is why one says Nothing Can Compare to Our God!
All that we are, that this world universally deems as good, is a direct reflection of God. our love for each other reflects how God IS love- he makes up all the forms of love we see on this earth. Creativity and creation reflects God's ability to create (the earth, the stars, the Galaxy, heaven, the angels, ourselves, etc.). Our advancement in knowledge and understanding is a reflection of God's knowledge of everything and anything! In fact all knowledge comes from God. The emotions that we feel all come from God- Joy, Peace, pleasure, satisfaction, even hurt, pain, anger, heartbroken-ness. It is not that God is made in the image of us, but-again- we are made in the image of God.
Then why then, one might ask, is there hate, prejudice, guilt, and yes pain, hurt, heartbroken-ness- all thing you wouldn't expect God to be. Why is it that the good in us coexists with the bad? That is simply because of the sin in us. God did not create us with the bad, but we introduced it in our lives- it's a perversion of our spirit- i heard it explained not too long ago as a 'spiritual illness.' All men have the capability and will to do good because of the Godly reflection we have within us, however we all have a tendency to do evil because of the disease we have inherited from our ancestors before us.
So in the end i wonder how can we have this attitude? How can proclaim ourselves righteous and Godly if we cannot even fill the shoes of God? It's like a five year old deciding he wants to switch places with his parents. I've met a lot of people who tell me what they believe happen when they die or tell me nothing happens when they die- i cannot help but say, what does it matter what you 'believe' or 'think' may happen when you die? You (which really means we) do not have any control over the afterlife of yourself or others just like you do not have any control over what the weather is tomorrow, whether you may die tomorrow in a freak accident, or whether the world is going to end with a big fire explosion from the core. What is it that makes us think we can decide our life (or lack of life) after death when sometimes we cannot even control what's going to happen to us tomorrow? Someone has to be wrong and I know that it isn't me (i remember going into this subject in a post on Jabberwocky. If you are interested just click on the link- it's not that long ^_^)
I am done- hopefully that made sense (like i said i'm in a period of filling so i don't really trust my writing skills at the moment). I will put up some pictures from the trip next time : )
Peace Be with You
However there is one thing that has been on my mind as of late- not really inspired by anything i read in scripture during my devotions but on my plane ride over to Hawaii last week.
As we began our first of many flights over to Maui, our pilot shared a very interesting- and eye opening- piece of knowledge with us: The airplane we were flying in took 3 miles a gallon. Of course, as an environmental policy specialization (my major is International Relations) I almost had a heart attack- i had read somewhere about the importance of only taking vacations accessible by car, but i didn't realize the amount of gas wasted with just ONE plane ride!!! (though this is an entirely different topic...). After i recovered somewhat from that first shock (and after vowing to never ride an airplane again if i could) I started thinking about what God meant when he said we were creating in his own image.
I know as Christians we tend to emphasize how much we do not matter compared to God and how insignificant we are when compared to time, but I think we sometimes need to realize that we are God's greatest works! Though we were created lower than the angels, we were made in the image of God. Think about all the achievements man has made- we can advance in technology, we can create, we can build upon our knowledge, we can love and hate, we are capable of compassion in one instance and malice in another, we can choose to be or do or say or not choose at all. We imitate the characteristics that God has but yet, we don't imitate him well.
Take this plane for example- It resembles and was inspired by the bird of the air. Man said 'I want to fly' and found a way to. However can the airplane fly like the bird? No it does a terrible job imitating the bird God had created- It's clunky and big, it's heavy, it uses/wastes TONS of resources just to get it off the ground, it's loud, it's expensive, and takes a lot of maintenance.
It's like we're poorly made replicas of God. If your a little kid like i still am, you may remember that classic spongebob episode where spongebob and Patrick stumble upon the magic pencil and decide to make a poorly drawn doodle of spongebob. The doodle made a poorly drawn pineapple house along with poorly drown furniture, yard, everything. At the end of the episode the doodle says 'no. Me spongebob, you doodle.' In short the created wanted to replace the creator. (I can't believe i just tied in spongebob to God...wow...)
It is in this praise in humanity- the complexity of man- that fools us into believing that we can control the things that we cannot. I think we, as humans, suffer from a big fish in small pond complex. Compared to all the things in this world, we are the most advance, promising, and intellectually sound. There is nothing that lives and grows on this earth that even comes close to meeting our potential. However, if you put that big fish in the ocean- it soon finds out that compared to the real players out there- it's not that great, it's not that advance or all knowing. When we encounter the holiness and sheer power of God himself, we realize how insignificant and how flawed we are. We understand our place and realize how much of a poor doodle we are compared to the creator himself. That is why one says Nothing Can Compare to Our God!
All that we are, that this world universally deems as good, is a direct reflection of God. our love for each other reflects how God IS love- he makes up all the forms of love we see on this earth. Creativity and creation reflects God's ability to create (the earth, the stars, the Galaxy, heaven, the angels, ourselves, etc.). Our advancement in knowledge and understanding is a reflection of God's knowledge of everything and anything! In fact all knowledge comes from God. The emotions that we feel all come from God- Joy, Peace, pleasure, satisfaction, even hurt, pain, anger, heartbroken-ness. It is not that God is made in the image of us, but-again- we are made in the image of God.
Then why then, one might ask, is there hate, prejudice, guilt, and yes pain, hurt, heartbroken-ness- all thing you wouldn't expect God to be. Why is it that the good in us coexists with the bad? That is simply because of the sin in us. God did not create us with the bad, but we introduced it in our lives- it's a perversion of our spirit- i heard it explained not too long ago as a 'spiritual illness.' All men have the capability and will to do good because of the Godly reflection we have within us, however we all have a tendency to do evil because of the disease we have inherited from our ancestors before us.
So in the end i wonder how can we have this attitude? How can proclaim ourselves righteous and Godly if we cannot even fill the shoes of God? It's like a five year old deciding he wants to switch places with his parents. I've met a lot of people who tell me what they believe happen when they die or tell me nothing happens when they die- i cannot help but say, what does it matter what you 'believe' or 'think' may happen when you die? You (which really means we) do not have any control over the afterlife of yourself or others just like you do not have any control over what the weather is tomorrow, whether you may die tomorrow in a freak accident, or whether the world is going to end with a big fire explosion from the core. What is it that makes us think we can decide our life (or lack of life) after death when sometimes we cannot even control what's going to happen to us tomorrow? Someone has to be wrong and I know that it isn't me (i remember going into this subject in a post on Jabberwocky. If you are interested just click on the link- it's not that long ^_^)
Peace Be with You
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