Hey Guys,
This again is not a blog about any specific events in Bolivia but rather about lessons I have been learning, so there's your warning now you are informed and can decide whether to keep reading or not.
Anyways here goes... So this past month I feel that God has been trying to teach me about possessions. Specifically that possessions in this life are not important. That doesn't mean we can't have possessions, it just means we need to be careful how much value we put in them. And this is how God taught me...
So on my trip to Bolivia I brought down 3 items which I was trying very hard not to get wrecked, these 3 items were the most expensive and therefore in my mind the most important to keep safe. They were my: Ipod, Camera, and Laptop. Then about a month ago my Ipod was stolen, bummer deal. I was disappointed but you know I realized it was just a thing and so I got over it pretty quickly. But apparently I hadn't learned my lesson because yesterday was Children's Day and we had taken about 50 kids from El Jordan to the zoo. So for obvious reasons I took my camera along. So once we got there I pulled it out and started snapping pictures of the kids. The first few turned out fine but then in a matter of about 3 seconds, my camera broke. I don't know how or why, but it did. I took a photo, it was clear everything was good and then I took another one and it was all out of focus. Now I don't know a lot about the inner workings of camera's but from what I can tell the internal focusing mechanism broke. I say this because no matter whether it's on manual or auto focus, the pictures come out blurry, every time. Anyways this really kind of put a bummer on my day and was a lot harder to take than losing my Ipod because now I don't have any way to take photo's of what I'm doing while down here, but oh well though that's life. Luckily Tim, the guy I'm here with, still has a camera so I'm just getting all of his photo's for the rest of the trip.
Anyways that's what's happened lately to my stuff and I think maybe God was telling me that although it's not bad to have these things, we can't put too much value in them because they are earthly and can be gone in an instant. Anyways I think/ hope I learned my lesson and hopefully my laptop wont disappear or get broken because I need it for school next year! Anyways I feel it's a good reminder and we should all once in a while look at our lives and at our possessions and make sure that God is first and that we have our priorities straight. And not only that but even if possessions are not first in our lives, that we don't put to much value in the things of this earth (Matthew 6:19-21).
Well that's all for now, God bless.
Shalom Michael
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Perspective
Hey guys,
So I have been realizing that the length in between posts has been getting consistently longer and I'm sorry about that. So I thought I would just explain a bit of why that is so. When I first got to Bolivia everything was new and exciting so it was easy for me to blog about what was happening. But the longer I am here the more life here seems to be normal. Not in a bad way mind you, so let me explain.
I don't feel like the wonders of life is out of the ordinary anymore, and I think it's the way it should be. God is always working, we just often don't notice Him. Life is fresh and new each day, we often just take it for granted. Love should be the center of our lives everyday, but most of the time we get bogged down with life's worries, struggles and temptations and forget. So be encouraged! Live life the way God intended it, TO THE FULL. If we all put aside what we thought was important and lived more for what God wanted this world would be a different place. If we all looked at the people around us and saw Jesus, no one would feel lonely or left out. And when I say the people around us, I don't just mean our friends and family, I mean everyone. The cashier at the grocery store, the homeless man on the side of the street, that person that hurt you in the past and swore you'd never talk to again, everyone. If we all took a moment to show these people love, I think that maybe, just maybe they would see something different in you and long for what you have. We are supposed to be Jesus' hands and feet, so lets start acting like it. Love everyone, thank God for the small things, step out in faith. I think that if we do that, we will never be disappointed.
That does not mean life wont get hard or that you wont have a bad day. It doesn't mean you wont make mistakes and that you will never feel lonely again. But it does mean that you will have a new meaning in life. The meaning that God intended. He tells us that, "each man's life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:5) and what God wants for this short life is for us to come into relationship with Him. So he made that possible by giving "his one and only Son" (John 3:16) and that son told us what we are to do during out life here on earth, to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). So this is our call to make disciples and our example of how to do that is Jesus. A man who lived a life of love, who gave of himself for others and loved everyone regardless of what others thought. This is our example and although we can never live completely as Jesus did, our goal should be to try.
So go out and love, brighten someones day, love doesn't have to be big, you don't need to travel the globe to serve Jesus and love, just love the people you meet where you are today. And if you are called to go somewhere, listen. Who are we to deny what God asks of us, so take today to make a commitment to change. It wont be instantaneous, and we wont always remember, but should that stop us? No, so go, go and love.
Shalom and Blessings,
Michael
Oh and lots of love
So I have been realizing that the length in between posts has been getting consistently longer and I'm sorry about that. So I thought I would just explain a bit of why that is so. When I first got to Bolivia everything was new and exciting so it was easy for me to blog about what was happening. But the longer I am here the more life here seems to be normal. Not in a bad way mind you, so let me explain.
I don't feel like the wonders of life is out of the ordinary anymore, and I think it's the way it should be. God is always working, we just often don't notice Him. Life is fresh and new each day, we often just take it for granted. Love should be the center of our lives everyday, but most of the time we get bogged down with life's worries, struggles and temptations and forget. So be encouraged! Live life the way God intended it, TO THE FULL. If we all put aside what we thought was important and lived more for what God wanted this world would be a different place. If we all looked at the people around us and saw Jesus, no one would feel lonely or left out. And when I say the people around us, I don't just mean our friends and family, I mean everyone. The cashier at the grocery store, the homeless man on the side of the street, that person that hurt you in the past and swore you'd never talk to again, everyone. If we all took a moment to show these people love, I think that maybe, just maybe they would see something different in you and long for what you have. We are supposed to be Jesus' hands and feet, so lets start acting like it. Love everyone, thank God for the small things, step out in faith. I think that if we do that, we will never be disappointed.
That does not mean life wont get hard or that you wont have a bad day. It doesn't mean you wont make mistakes and that you will never feel lonely again. But it does mean that you will have a new meaning in life. The meaning that God intended. He tells us that, "each man's life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:5) and what God wants for this short life is for us to come into relationship with Him. So he made that possible by giving "his one and only Son" (John 3:16) and that son told us what we are to do during out life here on earth, to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). So this is our call to make disciples and our example of how to do that is Jesus. A man who lived a life of love, who gave of himself for others and loved everyone regardless of what others thought. This is our example and although we can never live completely as Jesus did, our goal should be to try.
So go out and love, brighten someones day, love doesn't have to be big, you don't need to travel the globe to serve Jesus and love, just love the people you meet where you are today. And if you are called to go somewhere, listen. Who are we to deny what God asks of us, so take today to make a commitment to change. It wont be instantaneous, and we wont always remember, but should that stop us? No, so go, go and love.
Shalom and Blessings,
Michael
Oh and lots of love
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