"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have
shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
Hebrews 6:10
It's time to take a step back. Recently, I have been writing about graduations, adventures in the woods and linking up questions about myself. I will continue to do that, however, I am taking a moment to return to the foundation of this blog: encouraging others in their Christian walk.
As Hebrews says above in today's verse, God is not unjust. What's even cooler, is that He is incredibly Just! He always does the fair thing, the right thing, the loving thing and always forgets about those things that we do wrong or with bad intentions. He doesn't hold grudges, jealousy or hate for us despite our sinful ways.
He is perfect.
I tend to get caught up in sinful things, we all do. Sometimes it's just the easiest thing to do in a situation, sometimes it's a conscious decision. These past few weeks at work have been a back and forth roller coaster when a certain co worker comes up in conversation. She is new and is learning the ropes. The rest of the supervisor team has known each other for at least a few years, if not more and it has to be hard for her to step into that group and not feel a little awkward. It's easy for the rest of us to scrutinize and comment on the work she does and the person she is because she is an outsider. I do it.
There is a fine line between offering constructive criticism and gossip. I am guilty of both. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt but I will say that there has been a lot that she just hasn't done right in the position so far and some of the criticism is justified for her growth and knowledge. But the important thing is that we keep in mind her growth and success, not her failures and troubles.
God sent Jesus so that we could see a human in which to strive for. He wants us to become like Jesus. He didn't say, "become like Me!" We would have no idea where to start becoming an all encompassing being whom we are not even sure what He looks like. But, He put Himself in Jesus and said "Follow Me." And that was something we could do.
Jesus forgives. There is no doubt about that. It doesn't matter the sin we commit, He forgives us. And we need to strive to forgive those around us and build them up. That's what He wants from us.
Showing posts with label Hebrews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hebrews. Show all posts
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
My Past Weak
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will
snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and
the Father are one.” John 10:28-30
This blog is a long time coming (at least a few days). I have recently started back full time at Forest Highlands Golf Club (FH). A private, seasonal community of two top golf courses in the state and nation. I work as a Recreation Supervisor in a recreation department that oversees every recreational activitiy for every age group as well as two pools, four parks, a fitness center and classes and a poolside snack bar amongst a plethora of other small things. Because of our seasonal nature, we gear up for a chaotic few summer months during this time of the year. I have been doing this work for seven of the last eight years of my life and mostly enjoy it. I also am a youth leader at Peace Lutheran Church as another part time gig that I have been doing for the past four years.
As a part time youth leader that is year round, I only work 10-15 hours per week. When I started back full time at FH, my hours per week went from 10-15 to 50-55 over seven days per week. Needless to say, it is taking some getting used to again. Hence, the lack of blog posting this past week despite a huge amount of things to write about.
I decided that instead of writing separately about each event that happened this week, I would try to sum it all up in a general posting about my thoughts.
Cassie alerted me to the Boston bombings on Monday soon after they began reporting and I have been glued to the TV all week. When the fertilizer plant in Texas exploded, that added to my perceived necessity to stay in contact with all breaking news every moment of every day. I could say that it is not good for us, as humans, to stay so connected to all forms of media when bad things (or good, for that matter) occur in our world. But, I'm not going to say that because I truly believe the opposite.
We witnessed a brand new form of crime fighting this week. We saw "crowd fighting." (I am trademarking that phrase, so don't try to steal it *wink*) What do I mean by that? I mean we saw people come together through photos, videos, twitter, facebook, etc. to stop those individuals who are to blame for so much destruction this week. It was similar to crowd sourcing or crowd funding in that people, mostly unknown to each other, come together to help promote or fund a cause. The police used the public and the availability of cameras in phones, video, tweets, and social media to track down the suspects.
It seemed like a brand new way of crime fighting that I have never seen before. Sure, police have used the public's help in the past, but certainly not to the extent that we saw last week.
We realized that despite the evil of a few individuals, human nature is still inherently good. Through tragedy, we see the resiliency and love for our fellow man rise to the top of all other emotion.
President Obama stated this week in his address after the capture of the remaining suspect, "The world has witnessed one sure and steadfast truth: Americans refuse to be terrorized." And I would like to broaden that to "Humans refuse to be terrorized."
I obviously chose this quote because of Obama's use of "Sure and Steadfast" and the relation to my blog. It rings just as much truth in his quote as it does in the bible. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast." Hebrews 6:19
Those words mean that this truth, this hope that we have is unwavering, will be there forever, cannot be shaken. And we can debate the words of Obama, we cannot debate the words of God and the hope he has given us. That hope is exactly why we can still believe in the good in every human people being more powerful and resilient than a few of God's children choosing the wrong path.
This blog is a long time coming (at least a few days). I have recently started back full time at Forest Highlands Golf Club (FH). A private, seasonal community of two top golf courses in the state and nation. I work as a Recreation Supervisor in a recreation department that oversees every recreational activitiy for every age group as well as two pools, four parks, a fitness center and classes and a poolside snack bar amongst a plethora of other small things. Because of our seasonal nature, we gear up for a chaotic few summer months during this time of the year. I have been doing this work for seven of the last eight years of my life and mostly enjoy it. I also am a youth leader at Peace Lutheran Church as another part time gig that I have been doing for the past four years.
As a part time youth leader that is year round, I only work 10-15 hours per week. When I started back full time at FH, my hours per week went from 10-15 to 50-55 over seven days per week. Needless to say, it is taking some getting used to again. Hence, the lack of blog posting this past week despite a huge amount of things to write about.
I decided that instead of writing separately about each event that happened this week, I would try to sum it all up in a general posting about my thoughts.
Cassie alerted me to the Boston bombings on Monday soon after they began reporting and I have been glued to the TV all week. When the fertilizer plant in Texas exploded, that added to my perceived necessity to stay in contact with all breaking news every moment of every day. I could say that it is not good for us, as humans, to stay so connected to all forms of media when bad things (or good, for that matter) occur in our world. But, I'm not going to say that because I truly believe the opposite.
We witnessed a brand new form of crime fighting this week. We saw "crowd fighting." (I am trademarking that phrase, so don't try to steal it *wink*) What do I mean by that? I mean we saw people come together through photos, videos, twitter, facebook, etc. to stop those individuals who are to blame for so much destruction this week. It was similar to crowd sourcing or crowd funding in that people, mostly unknown to each other, come together to help promote or fund a cause. The police used the public and the availability of cameras in phones, video, tweets, and social media to track down the suspects.
It seemed like a brand new way of crime fighting that I have never seen before. Sure, police have used the public's help in the past, but certainly not to the extent that we saw last week.
We realized that despite the evil of a few individuals, human nature is still inherently good. Through tragedy, we see the resiliency and love for our fellow man rise to the top of all other emotion.
President Obama stated this week in his address after the capture of the remaining suspect, "The world has witnessed one sure and steadfast truth: Americans refuse to be terrorized." And I would like to broaden that to "Humans refuse to be terrorized."
I obviously chose this quote because of Obama's use of "Sure and Steadfast" and the relation to my blog. It rings just as much truth in his quote as it does in the bible. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast." Hebrews 6:19
Those words mean that this truth, this hope that we have is unwavering, will be there forever, cannot be shaken. And we can debate the words of Obama, we cannot debate the words of God and the hope he has given us. That hope is exactly why we can still believe in the good in every human people being more powerful and resilient than a few of God's children choosing the wrong path.