The Glory of It All...

For some of us, there is a mysterious, unexpected sinking feeling when we encounter discipline, discouragement, fear, injustice, pain....For some of us, there is a bittersweet numbness after so many falls and failures....

For some of us, the uneasy feeling creeps down our arms and spreads through our fingers, pressing our hearts to beat faster and faster....the cool relief of sweat forms drops on our already damp foreheads... Is there more to this life than disappointment? Is there more to this heart than fear?

For some of us, we just stand and watch; "oh that doesn't happen to me much" "oh that person can handle it" "oh it's not my business" "oh my life isn't like that" "oh im glad it's not me"....

but HOW? How can we just stand watch when so many of us are beginning to fall apart? How can we, as brothers and sisters, leave another brother or sister to suffer? to feel uneasy? secluded? burdened?

There is much more to this life, brothers and sisters, much much more than ourselves....a sister who thinks she is overweight because some kids cracked a joke or two and later stops eating altogether...a brother bullied by his peers and later secludes himself into a lonely, miserable, jealous isolation...

Maybe you are the hurt, the lost, the hopeless, the burdened, the waiting...

Brothers and Sisters, our father, our savior, our ever present God gives hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak, company to the lonely, freedom to the burdened, peace to the restless, the overwhelming satisfaction to the waiting....this is the glory of it all...the gift of a savior...not only a life...but hope, dreams, a friend, laughter, patience, understanding...he did not stop giving after showing that sacrificial love on that tree...He only begins to give...

Maybe you are those who watch..the bystanders of people in this world, your borthers and sisters, who think about suicide or apathy toward life everyday....anyone can become comfortable with a blessed life...friends, a good and caring family, an amazing youth group, loving mentors....who can complain with a life like that? In the Bible, God speaks through a parable, saying "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" -Luke 12:48....."Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" -Matthew 29:40

So act, brothers and sisters, God has given you a conviction before you were even in your mother's womb...a pastor once told me that our blessings are like wine pouring into a glass cup...once you are full...will you not lett it overflow? No, let it overflow and fill the cups of those around you...for God's gifts to us are prayers answered...no heavenly music will play while it is being answered...a simple smile or a helping hand answers the prayers of so many around us...because the glory of it all....the answered prayers, spontaneous outbreaks of the ever so contagious smiles, a life saved, strength to face another day...comes from God, and as devoted children, we, too, must keep the "spirit of giving" alive in our day-to-day lives...so, act...there are so many people who need our hope, our savior...so many....one life saved is another celebration in heaven....

Psalm 31

In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.

Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.

I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the Lord.

I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends— those who see me on the street flee from me.

I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.

Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.

Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.

Praise be to the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.

In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.

Love the Lord, all his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31