What is the Gospel?

As Christians, we spend heaps of time (or at least we should!) talking about the gospel. We "share" it with people, we "preach" it, we try to "live it out" and we state it as a huge aspect of our faith.

But, by a show of hands, how many of you can actually give a good definition of the gospel?

I'm guessing most of you either laughed or quizically raised your hand then kind of hesitated and put it back down before continuing to read. It's unfortunate, but a lot of people throw the phrase around without having a really good grasp of what it actually means. Before I continue, I'd like to mention that I am not claiming to have the answer- this is a question I myself have pondered for the last couple of years, trying to get a better understanding of it.

I think my favorite description of the gospel comes from Romans. Paul's letter to the Romans is really brilliant in that, for the most part, it is his way of introducing himself, his ministry and his Jesus to them, and so a lot of it is very straightforward, linear thinking that almost reads like a pamphlet or an essay!

Let's take a quick look at Romans 5:12-21. (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


A little wordy, but I think it gets the point across. The basic message of the gospel is, as far as I can tell:

God created everything and everyone, and we are accountable to Him as our Judge. We turned against Him in one way or another, and our sins deserve just punishment. However, Jesus acts as advocate and offers freedom from sin and grace from judgement. This is dependent, however, on our active participation through repentance and worship.

So, basically: God loves you, but also judges you. You messed up, but Jesus will defend your case if you agree to turn around and get back on the right track and love Him.

So there you go, that is, to the best of my current ability, my definition of the gospel! I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

The Bible in a Year: Week 4

Sorry I'm a little late on this one! (What else is new though)

Joseph's Coat by Diego Velazquez

So last week I probably talked at least a bit about Joseph, and how amazing his grace toward his brothers was, but today I'd really like to talk about that a little more. I think there's two things that stood out exceptionally for me about that: The first, is the way he responded to his brothers when they came to visit him; the second is how God was at work through it all.

We first really meet Joseph in kind of lousy circumstances- his brothers hate him, he has a vision of them bowing down to him, and he gets a really nice coat and they trash it and sell him into slavery. He gets carted off to Egypt and has more cool dreams, this time the Pharaoh gets involved, and there's so much potential for terrible things to happen. Instead, he spends a bit of time in jail then becomes incredibly valuable in Pharaoh's eyes and gains his favor. God takes Joseph from this awful situation and moulds it into something brilliant, but it gets better. When all of Egypt is thrown into famine and drought, Joseph is able to store up a ton of extra supplies that last for the seven years until that gets sorted out, and his brothers come by to ask for his help. He weeps at the sight of them and is so filled with emotion when they bring his brother Benjamin with them, and he utters some words to them that are just so insightful and actually really important for us to remember in our everyday lives. When he tells them he's their abandoned brother, they freak out and are worried he's going to enact some kind of terrible revenge on them, but instead, he basically tells them, "Look around bro- God took that crappy situation and turned it into something totally amazing! I'm here with Pharaoh, blessing you guys, and we're reunited, and all this because you tried to screw me over! I don't hate you guys for that- I now know that God was at work through this from the very beginning!"

Not only did Joseph show his brothers grace, but he also acknowledged that God was doing cool things in him the whole time! And He was providing so much for Joseph and his brothers and the Egyptians by being faithful even through the famine. This was a very helpful reminder for me over the weekend. I was worried about my financial situation (debt, debt, debt!) and was starting to lose faith in God's ability to provide for me- then someone blessed me ridiculously with a big cheque to pay off school and driving lessons! God is good :)

So let's raise a glass to Joseph- a good reminder to us that we should keep short accounts, trust in God's provision and give Him glory where glory is due!

Hardcore Brokenness: Mending Relationships

So, as promised, here is the post that was supposed to go up yesterday! Sorry that took so long, it's been a really crazy week.

Before starting, I'd like to establish that in this post, the word 'relationship' will be used in the general context of any type of social connection between two people, not in any way specifically referring to romance or dating or anything of the like, but also not excluding them.

I think it's safe to say that a lot of the things we perceive as negative in our lives come from the drama of damaged relationships. We all have them- those friends who things just never seem right with, the parents we blame for everything that's wrong, the loved ones we grow apart from- but what we don't seem to realize is that our relationships matter a lot!

I often find myself getting frustrated with people, or feeling disconnected from friends and family, and dismiss it until it becomes a real problem. If we do this and allow our problems to get bigger and bigger before dealing with them, they become unbearable and even more harm is done. We need to be able to identify when a relationship is failing and bring it up, as uncomfortable as that may be, so that measures can be taken to save it. I'm not even going to claim that this is a biblical principle- it just makes good sense. Humans are social creatures, we're hard-wired to care about each other (which is kind of beautiful, if you ask me), so it makes a lot of sense that we should strive to have right and functional relationships with as many people as possible.

But how can we do this?


One thing I've realized about my own approach to relationships is that I try to be intentional with them. If it's a relationship that I really feel the need to nurture and grow in, I will intentionally make time for that person as much as I'm able- but only if they are willing to do the same. I also tend to ignore small things that bother me, even if they get repeated on a regular basis, because we have to endure one another out of love, right?

If your enduring of someone begins to put a serious strain on your relationship with that person, it is okay to tell them that! You can be incredibly loving and unconditional with that love, but if you really care about the health of the relationship, you should be willing to risk it by bringing up the things that are harder to talk about. Sometimes people just don't realize they're driving you crazy until you tell them. Now, all that's to say it's not really okay to attack them with it- if you have an issue with someone it's very important to be tactful in the way that you deal with it, especially if you value the relationship at all.

But what if someone tries to do that with you, and fails to be tactful?


This is something that has come up for me a number of times. A really close friend of mine has always been really reliable when it comes to calling me out on things I'm doing that aren't Christlike. I appreciate that a lot because I would have made even more bad decisions without his guidance there. He always lacked tact though, and that put a bit of a strain on our relationship for a long time, because any time he would call me out on these things, I would feel hurt and attacked despite also knowing he was right and going to apply the changes. I think in these situations, it's important to do two things: First, to call them out on their tactlessness, and thank them for the advice; and Second, to keep short accounts with them.

This is a principle that Jesus taught, of turning the other cheek and being quick to forgive and whatnot. He at one point warns us that if we have a problem with our brother we should drop everything and go deal with it before making our sacrifices in worship to the Lord. I think this is a super important thing to apply to our lives, and is something I need to get a lot better at.

So, if you're reading this and you have a problem with me and want to mend our relationship- talk to me! :)

Tune in next Wednesday (for real this time) for the next post in this series! And don't forget to check back on Monday for an update about my New Year's Resolution ;)

Cheers,

Hardcore Brokenness: Foreword

So last Wednesday I announced that every Wednesday for the next little while I will be doing a post about the ways that God is at work in all of our hearts to deal with our brokenness and build our character, so that we can be better disciples and better witnesses to His glory and to the Gospel of His son, Jesus Christ. This week, I’m going to go a little deeper into exactly what this series is going to look like, and outline some of my goals and plans for the time to come. Starting next week, you can expect to have a sort of devotional-style post put up every Wednesday before 11PM ET (Montreal time). I wish I could be more specific about what time it will go up, but that will massively depend on how busy I am on a given Wednesday and on how many posts I back up in the queue for the weeks ahead. If you plan to read them every week as part of your devotionals, which I hope you will, then you should probably aim to read them on Thursdays, or late Wednesday night. Before I begin, I’d like to also state that I plan on doing another weekly update, probably on Sunday or Monday, about my New Year’s Resolution, reading through the Bible in a year with the ESV’s “Every Day in the Word” reading plan. This will look a little different from the Wednesday devotionals in that it will be more of a reflection on what in particular stood out for me that particular week, and will likely be less thematic.

So, let’s get down to business! A quick disclaimer: This post will likely be full of Christianese. Most of my posts will be less so than this ;)

As stated above, this post is mostly going to outline the goals and plan for my series titled “Hardcore Brokenness” which will start for real next Wednesday, the 18th of January.

As Christians, we are called to make better disciples of ourselves through the studying of God’s word and through our interaction, be it service or otherwise, with the rest of His Body. We also know, however, that God wants us to change our hearts for Him. He wants us to constantly be renewed by the power of His Spirit, and to ask for His help in doing so. We acknowledge that we are imperfect beings, and that God does not expect us to change ourselves for Him, but THROUGH Him, specifically, through His son, Jesus Christ. If we forget, for even a moment, that Christ’s sacrifice is what gives us life and worth, and try to change ourselves apart from that, it will mean nothing. Therefore through this series I plan to constantly keep you turning your eyes back to the Lord in all things. In all matters of the heart, I pray that He would be our main focus and our guide to dealing with the brokenness within us.
My goal here will be to address the issues of character that are clear in my own life, and, through Scripture, to encourage readers (and myself, in the process) to bring such things to God and lay them down at His feet in full submission to Him. My hope is that lives will be touched through this, that hearts will be broken and that God will use this as a way to start dealing with the things that His people are too proud or broken to have started working through before.
Over the next couple of months (I say couple of months rather presumptuously; I have no idea how long this series will go on for) I will be posting one devotional-style post per week, and would love to have feedback and encouragement through prayers and comments. I will also have a few guest writers at some point, which promises to be an interesting addition to this series.

I think that’s about all I have to say as an introduction to the series. I am excited to think that the Lord will use this to change people, even if those people are just me and the four or five people who actually read this blog regularly. I wish I could post this right now, instead of having to wait until I find free Wifi somewhere, but alas, I am currently typing this in a word document because the Café I’m in has the gall to charge money for their Wifi. At least the muffin was tasty.

Yours in Christ,

Tom

Bury the Hatchet

Hey guys,

This has been a dark week for me- coming to terms with the fact that there's a lot of stuff in my life that is broken and uncomfortable, a lot of things I'm not okay with as much as I thought I was, and a lot of things that I just need to get over. Needless to say, God's at work here.

In Matthew, Jesus tells us, "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny." Essentially, the idea he's trying to get across here is that we need to keep short accounts with people. If someone wrongs us, we need to be very quick to forgive and reconcile that relationship. And vice versa. And if that's hard to do, which it often is, we need to make that effort regardless and try to fix things.

In a lot of churches, there is a time of 'passing the peace' that happens before the giving of Communion. This part of the service, though often just coming off as a time to greet your brothers and sisters with a few words of well-wishing, is actually traditionally meant as a time to go and do what Jesus tells us in the passage above. The idea is that you're supposed to leave your offering, go fix whatever's wrong in your relationships with people, then come back and with a light heart give your all to God.

So I know what my prayers will be this week- that God helps me to get over and reconcile my broken relationships, so I can more effectively and wholly love His people.

Amen!

The Bible in a Year: My New Year's Resolution

Hey people,

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post! Things have been busy the last couple of weeks and I haven't had a chance to just sit down and write for a little while. I guess that happens toward the end of the semester, though I can't really blame school, since I'm in a pretty easy program with minimal amounts of work and no final exams. But I digress!

I've been thinking a lot recently about the whole idea of a "New Year's Resolution." It's a strange concept to me, because it seems like there's two schools of thought about it: The first is that you use it to make yourself feel good for a couple of weeks, then fail to take it seriously and say "Oh well, next year." The second is that you use it as an excuse to do things you should be doing anyway. In the past, I've tried to get on board with the idea of giving something up or trying to do something new every year. I'm not sure if I'm inherently bad at that kind of intentionality or if I just didn't ever actually care.

This year, Keith suggested that the men of Emmaus Anglican Church commit to reading the Bible in a year. I've tried to do this in the past but went about it without a plan or any accountability, and usually just tried to go from start to finish. I think as great as Genesis is, trying to read like five chapters of it a night tends to get old really quickly, and starts to feel like a chore. So I never really got past a week or two of reading. This time around I'll be using the ESV Bible in a year daily plan, meeting up once a month with Keith and the others, and fully committing to it.

I think there's a definite value to this exercise. Reading Scriptures in this way is a great way to saturate our minds with the Word of God, and having a good knowledge of this stuff is important for all believers, especially those involved in ministry. So I'm pretty excited! And I want to encourage any readers out there to check out the ESV (that's English Standard Version) website and look into doing the same!

Yours in Christ,

Tom

Quick Note on Redemption

So this morning, I decided to sit in on a Youth Sunday School class being taught by Josiah Henderson and we had a brief discussion at one point during his lesson about redemption. I have been meditating a bit on this today so I thought I should write up a post about it!

Sometimes, I feel like the word 'redemption' is very Christianese. We throw the word around all the time, because it is a bit part of our belief! The Gospel is the good news that Christ died to redeem us! But what I find fascinating about this word is that, at least in English, it seems to have two meanings.

To redeem is to:
1. Claim something or cash it in for its value (such as points or a lottery ticket)
2. Restore something to its full value.

What I think is especially neat about this is that both of these apply to the redemption we talk about when we're talking about the Gospel! Our redemption through Christ is, quite literally, a restoration of full value and God's way of claiming us as His beloved chosen ones! I think that's amazing.

That's kind of all I've got to say about this right now! Just a quick thought haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about this! Leave a comment! :)

Ave Maria

Hey guys,

So this morning I was listening to Ave Maria on Josh Groban's "Noel" album. Super amazing, obviously. But it got me thinking about the lyrics. I don't speak Latin, but I understand some of the words in there, and was reflecting on them this morning before the service at Emmaus. Words that pop up in there, apart from the titular 'Hail Mary,' are gratia, dominus and benedictus. Gratia is a word that provides the root for English words like grace and gratitude. Dominus tends to refer to someone in authority, a position or power (such as a Lord or clergyman). Benedictus has to do with blessings. After googling the meaning of the lyrics, I realized this song is, in some part, a prayer thanking God for the blessing and grace He poured out over Mary.

That being said, it was a really neat parallel when Keith Ganzer started his sermon this morning, found here on the Emmaus website, and, continuing his series on the Gospel of Luke, talked about the passage where Mary learns of her pregnancy. Sort of the main point of his sermon was focused around the fact that Mary was probably like 12 years old, and had such an incredible faith and commitment to God's will for her life. He emphasized the fact that it's really unfortunate that in this day and age, people seem to take a stance when it comes to young people that none of them are mature, that none of them can have truly strong relationships with God, and that none of them can commit their lives to Him until they're much older. And he used this message as a way of encouraging our congregation to encourage the kids and teens to step out in their faith and give themselves to God in powerful ways. We're obviously not asking them to get pregnant with His incarnate Son or anything, since Mary did that already, but we're asking them to show that same kind of faith and devotion.

So, while meditating on this sermon, I realized just how powerful this message is to anyone involved in Youth & Childrens' ministries. Sometimes- and I'm willing to admit I often fall into this- it's too easy to expect little of young people, because we live in a society where we don't trust them to drive a car until they're a certain age, and sometimes we don't even trust them to work until they're "old enough." But one thing we can't allow ourselves to fall into is the thought that because somebody is young, they aren't capable of committing their lives to the Lord. And it seems ridiculous to me that I would have trouble with this myself, given that I'm a pretty decent example of one of those young people who *does* sacrifice themself for His Kingdom.

So, I pray for myself, and for other youth ministers, that we would be able to encourage our students to be more like Mary in their selfless faith and willingness to commit to God's cause. I also pray that we wouldn't be blind to the truth that they're capable of this!

So, thank you, Mary, for being such a poignant reminder that young people are capable of demonstrating fantastic faith in huge situations.

Prayerfully yours,

Tom

A Guest Post from Carl Jones!

Hey guys,

So, those of you who are regular readers know that a little while ago I wrote a guest post for my friend Carl's blog! Tonight (or today, depending on what time zone you're in, word to my international followers) we have the pleasure of receiving a guest post in return! Carl is American, which is pretty cool, and it's my understanding that they have some kind of strange ritual this time of year that we Canadians celebrate in October. Thanksgiving! My favorite mostly-secular holiday ever. Anyways, this isn't my post, it's Carl's! So I'll stop talking now, and let's just jump right to it! :)

When Tom asked me to write a guest post for him about "American Thanksgiving," I admit the sound of those words hit me a bit funny.  I know that Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier- in fact I just saw an episode of How I Met Your Mother in which the very Canadian character of Robin comments that Thanksgiving in November just seems odd.  But truth be told I never really think of Thanksgiving as "our" holiday.  I know the history of it all- the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sitting down over a feast to celebrate surviving another year.  I, like so many others, will enjoy sitting down today with family and friends for a feast- and I will eat way too much.  There will be parades and football games to watch, and there will be the realization that the Christmas season is now officially here.   I realize that many USAmericans (technically, Canadians are Americans too.  So are Central & South Americans. I'm just saying...) manage to turn most every holiday into an excuse for patriotism, but I do not think of Thanksgiving as a day that belongs to God and country.  It simply belongs to God.  It is a day to give thanks for the many blessings in each of our lives, even in times when we do not feel as blessed as we might hope.  

I have always used a very simple exercise to help keep me focused on the meaning of this day, and I thought I would share it with you all today.  We used to sing a song at camp and youth group that went like this:

"Thank you, my LORD for the day, 

Thank you my LORD for they day.

"Cause you've given me your Son 

and you know I've just begun,

Thank you my LORD for the day."

We would sing those words over and over again, but each time through we would ask for suggestions on words to substitute for the words, "the day."  For instance, we might substitute "friends" or "turkey" or "family."  The list of things we were thankful for was usually endless. Each year on Thanksgiving I use this song as my morning devotion, taking time to list many of the things I am thankful for.  Taking time to thank God for our blessings is at the very heart of this day, whether you live here in Tampa, Florida or you live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  Today, even more than usual, we should remember the words of the psalmist in Psalm 118 when he tells us that "this is the day that LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Live today in God's glory, filled with the love and grace of Jesus Christ, and no matter where you are or what you are doing it will be Thanksgiving Day!  Be blessed!

Because of Jesus

Carl Jones

http://youthguy07.blogspot.com

How Great the Pain of Searing Loss

I was reading through Job earlier before I fell asleep (it's been a long week, give me a break) and stumbled onto a passage near the beginning that really spoke to me, so I thought I should share a bit.


Job Loses His Property and Children

 
13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 14and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 when the Sabeans[c] raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from across[d] the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:

      “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
      And naked shall I return there.
      The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
      Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

How amazing is that? In the midst of all this bad news, crappy thing after crappy thing, Job broke down, but instead of whining and complaining and blaming God for all of it, he mourned healthily and in a way that glorified the Lord! That takes such a crazy amount of faith and character- to acknowledge that something sucks and is hurting you, but to praise the Lord in spite of that and not jump to the conclusion that He doesn't love you or something. I see that happen too often, people losing their faith and hope in Him because something horrible happened and blaming Him for their suffering. But suffering doesn't come from the Lord, instead, through Jesus we have freedom and salvation from that suffering, redemption and a knowledge that there's so much more.

So if you're feeling hurt or upset or are grieving or mourning, take some time to praise God and keep your heart in a good place! Also, today is Comment Day, so leave a comment! Would love to hear from you! Am also totally ready for the disappointment of seeing no comments on this post, haha. Prove me wrong!

Blog Challenge #4: Father Abraham had many sons...

Hey guys,

So this is the last week of the October Blog Challenge (obviously) and the theme for this week is to write about the character in the Bible we feel we relate to and why. I had a lot of trouble with this one because I feel like the answer changes from week to week, depending on what I'm going through or how I'm feeling. But today I was reading the story of Abram and Sarai and something resonated a little bit, so I thought I'd write about that.

In Genesis we read about Abraham, that amazing mystical man who God promised a son and an amazing amount of descendants, but had to wait until way later in life to have that promise fulfilled. Before his name was changed, he was even so desperate (or, arguably, his wife was so desperate) to have kids that he slept with his servant Hagar and had a son through her first! And then, into his old age, God gave him a new identity, a greater promise that not only would he have kids but he would be the ancestor of many nations, and a son to fulfill that! Talk about your amazing covenant!

I think I feel like I can relate with Abram/Abraham at least a little in some ways. I kind of feel like I've been waiting a really long time for some of the things that the Lord has promised me, and I've even made some kind of crazy irrational decisions along the way trying to hurry that along, but He uses those things to help me grow and his promise doesn't become any less true no matter how many times I screw up! Pretty incredible to know that God does come through with His promises, even if it takes a lifetime to realize fully the glory behind that!

That's all I've got to say about that for today. Stay tuned next month as I participate in another one of these weekly blog challenges (not because I feel the need to be challenged, but because it's nice having the extra push to make sure I write something every week!

Blog Challenge #2: Why Jesus?

It's week 2 of the October Blog Challenge. Last week I re-posted my testimony, and this week I've been asked to write about why I chose Jesus instead of Allah or Buddha or Mohammed or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Now, I cringed a little when I saw that this was the theme for this week. I could take this as an opportunity to rip on everyone else's beliefs, but I'm not a huge jerk so I'm not going to do that! Instead I'm going to talk about the reasons I think Jesus is amazing, and kind of leave out the comparativeness that could easily come out of this.

Firstly, Jesus teaches us how to love! He's literally a living example of the Love of God. He was sent down to earth so that a God who's so huge and powerful could show us how much He loves us and show us how we're supposed to love one another! Similarly, and I know this will sound a little sick until I explain it, I think it's so amazing that He suffered! Not because people suffering is a good thing, but because His suffering is a reminder that God is vulnerable and uses that to relate to us on a more intimate and incredible level!

Honestly, I think it's all about the love! Part of me wishes I had more to say about this, but I really don't feel like I need to say anything more to justify this! And, probably, if I have a moment where I feel convicted to share some insights into how amazing Jesus is, they'll get their own blog post in due time ;)

Thanksgiving

Victor the 30lb Thanksgiving Behemoth. R.I.P.

So today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada (don't ask me why) and I just realized I've barely posted anything yet this month! So I guess I'll write a post about Thanksgiving! Smart!

Every year at the beginning of October I tell myself that I should seriously get into the habit of being thankful all year round. I mean, the Scriptures pretty clearly tell us that it's a good thing, right? 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says we should "Rejoice Always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (NKJV).

I think it's really just too easy to get caught up in the things that are hard in life. This has been a difficult thanksgiving weekend for me because I had a really hard month in September, dealing with some really challenging faith issues and facing some disappointments that were really painful for me emotionally and spiritually. While I'm feeling better every day about that stuff, I still feel kind of weighed down by it, and I think that's totally okay. We need time to grieve the things we lose, but that doesn't mean we should dwell on them either. We need to find that balance between "oh, this sucks and I'm bummed" and "I have hope for tomorrow because Jesus is so amazing." It's not to say that we need to completely ignore the things that are hurting us, but we should definitely not allow them to bring us down to a point of hopelessness and depression.

This year, I'm thankful for so many things! Thankful for the way God is constantly working in me and through me. Thankful for the changes in my heart and my mind that His word is opening up to me. Thankful for the amazing ministries I'm involved with and all the lovely people they include. Thankful for meaningful relationships with friends and family, and for the love of God that lives within me and makes me a light in this world. And most of all, thankful for His perfect sacrifice and the huge implications that has on my life and the lives of everyone on this beautiful, messed-up planet we call home! :)

Blessings,

Worship Hangover

Last night, I got together with a bunch of friends in the Plateau for a worship night, and in the midst of praising God through song, one of the other guys there opens up the Scriptures to 1 Corinthians 13 and starts reading to the group, but in a different context:

"Jesus suffers long and is kind; Jesus does not envy; Jesus does not parade himself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek his own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never fails."

Obviously, the difference here from the original text is that he replaced "love" with "Jesus." Makes sense, when you think about it in the context of "God is love, whoever does not know Him does not know love." It was at that moment that I just felt the overwhelming sense of God's presence in the room. He used my buddy Nathan to reveal himself to us in a new way!

This morning, I woke up with a massive, pounding headache, feeling really exhausted and just generally physically unpleasant. I started chatting with Nathan on facebook, and his first words were "Hey man, how are you doing? Feeling hungover from last night's amazing worship?" I'm paraphrasing a little, but before I even mentioned that I was feeling crappy, he totally pinpointed it- I had such an amazing time soaking in God's presence last night that I woke up this morning with a splitting headache! I had a Worship Hangover. And you know what they say is the best cure for a hangover- drinking more! Of course, in this context, the best cure for a hangover is spending MORE time worshipping God! So I grabbed my guitar, and just spent some time praising Him for His glory.

I guess what I'm trying to get across here is that I really need to get into the habit of waking up and worshipping God first thing in the morning, because right now I feel fantastic and so full of His love! Super excited about proclaiming His glory and just want to encourage all of you to do the same! Take some time today to sit down and pray with Him, thanking Him for how amazing He is and giving the day to Him!

Blessings,

Tom

God Provides

So a couple of weeks ago my bank account reached $0.13.
No big deal, people (especially students) hit 0 all the time, right?
It's not so bad running out of money, it's just a temporary thing, right?
Not if you're unemployed.

I started panicking, worrying that I wouldn't be able to afford my books for school, and a little upset that I wouldn't be able to go out for lunch/dinner as often as I like to (although that I would have gotten over, obviously).

Then somebody awesome who cares about me a lot gave me a little money toward my books, to start me off. I felt so blessed and so loved, and it was awesome receiving this kind of gift! But I was still worried because school books are never cheap, and the money was about half as much as my books had cost me last semester. So I thought to myself, well, "this is an amazing blessing, but God, please provide for me, let me work really hard this week to make the rest of the money to pay for my books." I started just trusting that God would provide for me enough money to cover books.

Something I was reminded of recently is that God exceeds our expectations.

I worked with my mom, ripping up carpets, on tuesday, and made fifty dollars. I went busking friday morning and my partner and I made fifty dollars in an hour and change. Then I got hired to work part-time for a carpet cleaning company.

When time came to buy my books, I was amazed- most of my courses this semester don't have a booklist, and a couple of the books I *do* need are books I already own from other semesters! I stepped into the bookstore with my money in my pocket, and the total price was outstanding-

$40.95.

That's right. I paid next to nothing for books this semester, and all of the extra money I made this week was such a blessing! God provided for me even more than I asked Him to! He gave me enough money to buy lunches, dinners, etc, not just for myself, and to treat myself to some special stuff- like a new game of Dutch Blitz :) And I managed to save a fair chunk of what I made this week as well, to put toward my driving lessons.

God exceeded my expectations, and provided so incredibly!

And now I have a job (sort of) and I'll be tutoring and babysitting again soon. I'll be making enough money to pay for guitar lessons with a professional jazz guitarist, and to save up for things I'll need later on :)

Shoutout to @sharingwithchu, a good friend of mine who sent out a newsletter this week on the theme of God exceeding expectations, and reminded me through that about how amazing His blessings are.