The Black Spot

Though not perhaps the most well known of all literary devices (possibly more popular thanks to Disney), The Black Spot represents, in most cases, a curse, an imperfection, or some sort of other ill will.

As I was working on a drawing I am doing, sitting with my daughter as she colored on her dry erase easel, somehow or another a little black dot from one of her markers made it onto my very carefully planned and worked pencil drawing.  It's obvious.  It's gaping.  It's a black spot.  And, it's beautiful.  Because, it reminds me that God - a much better creator than I - knows about each and every one of the black spots in His creation.  That's what we call Sin.

I plan on using all of the capacities I have as an artist to make the black spot go away.  Most likely, nobody but me will know it was even there, once I'm finished.  But - the spot happened.  The great healer - Jesus Christ - came to get rid of all of the black spots in the creation of His Father, and our Father.  Most of the black spots we have, He knows about, but His eraser - the Son, got rid of them for us so that we can be with Him again.

I'm thankful for the reminder that even black spots are an integral part of creation.  They can be managed, they can be dealt with appropriately.  But, only through the great eraser that is Jesus, can they be erased and forgiven.  I'm still learning how to draw around black spots.  And, I'm still learning how to accept forgiveness for my sin.  But, through Him, we are all forgiven.

Amen.

God Trusts Us

Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.” (Luke 16:10)

God implicitly trusts us with many responsibilities as we live out our mortal lives.  Some of them will be obvious to us, such as parenthood, careers, friendships, all stemming from some of the most important relationships we have.  However, sometimes we have to remember that He trusts us with all kinds of things, even the not-so-obvious ones.

The best example I have of this right now comes from my workplace.  We just recently stared down the throat of a lion, and the lion decided it was better just to leave us alone.  Working in the  software industry, sometimes we come across "show stopping" changes, sometimes they are bugs, sometimes they are software features that "got missed".  Our project is 1 week away from being production ready.  A show stopper showed up at our doorstep earlier this week.  God trusted me to handle this issue with integrity and dignity, hopefully I made him proud.  We've decided on a 2 step process.  We'll put in a quick fix now, and then follow up with a more in depth solution once our original solution is successfully seated in our production environment.

I slipped up a little bit while dealing with this show stopper, because I forgot to open my ears and shut my mouth.  God helped me get through the whole situation, though - and gave me the strength, courage, and wisdom to keep the team members I'm leading from having to deal with significant overtime and / or a missed deadline.  I also thank God that the project manager on the project helped us to mitigate any major scope explosions, as it could have easily turned into that.

Compared to dealing with a family health situation, dealing with a conundrum at work is simply one more test that God trusted me to pass.  Dealing with the family health thing was a little bit anxiety riddled, too - but it is now behind us as well, and His strength did not fail to see us through it.

I'm sure there's lots of little things I don't know about that God trusts me with. Thank God for His trust in all things.

God is in Boston

Something really bad just happened.  Be warned, some of the imagery on that link is a bit graphic, so don't go there if you've got a weak stomach.  For those who have not yet heard, an apparent act of terrorism has taken place in Boston, taking place during the Boston Marathon.

My prayers go out to those that were injured, those that were witnesses, emergency responders, and everyone else that will have direct or indirect involvement with regard to this tragedy.  Our government once again needs God's direction to know how to react to the situation appropriately.  Family needs God's hand to talk to their loved ones, and mourn losses, appropriately.  At a moment like this, I hope that our nation turns to God.  For, I know He is present and working hard in this aftermath, even if right now the situation seems the worst of cruelties.

On a more specific and intimate level to my life, I can speak of a near tragedy that turned into a miracle.  I eat lunch with a student every week at a nearby elementary school.  He got really sick at the beginning of this year, badly enough to get airlifted by helicopter to a specialty hospital.  His road to recovery will take time, but God has His hand in the recovery.  For, even though he got so sick, he also got some desperately needed attention in the form of one-on-one education.  In the three months between the time I last saw him before he got sick, and the first time I saw him after his illness, his academic ability increased significantly.  Some people call that a silver lining.  I call it God.  While it may seem silly to point out an event specific to my life during a national tragedy, I find it a compelling story similar enough in nature to this one to remind everyone God can do work here.

I know God is present to make this kind of things, and many other miraculous ones, come out of such a horrendous event.  I do not wish to downplay the tragedy that the massacre certainly was, and is.  However, I do hope everyone remembers, God is present, there, too.  Take a moment to pray for the victims, whether directly or indirectly impacted.  And, remember, we're all people - and all of us hurt when something this terrible happens.  Now is not a time for hate to blossom, but instead to remember to find a way to love.

Eat Your Donut

This story about faith certainly warrants being retold.

http://www.thylacineslair.com/MindRetreat/Donuts.htm

Have you eaten your donut yet?

Why Ask Why?

Because.  God has given each of us inquisitiveness and curiosity. Why is the universe so massive a place?  Why do some parents bury children, and some children bury parents?  Why does everything start at the level of the atom?  In general, questions like these can only be answered in one way - God's way.  So, God wants us to ask why.  All the time, in fact.  If we don't ask why, we don't build our relationships with God.  Asking why isn't a matter of questioning God, though.  You should ask God why He expects you to do something.  You shouldn't tell God you won't do it because you disagree with Him.

If you are unsure as to why God has something in mind for you, though - don't always wait for the answer to the question Why.  For, sometimes the answer comes in fulfilling the purpose in the first place, and by asking why we misplace the trust that God has placed within us.  And, sometimes God wishes to test our loyalty to Him, by not giving us the reason why right away.  So far, one way or another, I always learn the "why" of the "what" that God asks of me.  Though, sometimes it doesn't happen for many weeks or months later.

We have an awesome God that does awesome things.  Some of the things God does are so involved and intricately planned that there's no way we can see why he did them.  However, in asking why, we can do a little bit of a better job to understand Him.  Just remember that, in the end, the first reason to do anything is to glorify Him.  That's the best answer to "Why" - because He desires it from you.

Live Like You Were Dying

He replied, "What is impossible for people is possible with God."

— Luke 18:27, New Living Translation

While I was getting my daughter ready for bed, tucking her in, I was saying a prayer of gratitude for the day and for God bringing this child into my life. The song attached to this post came on her radio, albeit quietly, as we like to have good music on in the background to help cover up some of the other ambient noises that come with living on a busy street. Seeing as this song was playing as I was praying in gratitude, it gave me pause to think about what it really means to live like you are dying.

Even as you take the time to read what I've written here, your mortal life is closer to over. You are closer to dying from this mortal life, just by a few moments. We are all dying, at least in the physical mortal sense on this planet. However, that's not something to fear. It's something to find great joy in, for the end of mortality means the beginning of eternity. So, the best thing to remember is that we all have a purpose that our creator designed us for. We all have a reason for being mortally alive - so we should all treat each moment as a last moment before death. Or, at least do our best to do so anyway - I know I'm not great at it sometimes.

What are some of the things that I can do to live this way. Well, the first thing I'm going to do is ask God what I can do in His name. After that, I imagine everything else will continue to fall into place as it has now that I have found faith. A dying person (someone that has a terminal diagnosis) might take time to do things on their "bucket list." It's probably best to decide what's on God's bucket list for your life, and then do those things now. Don't wait. Turn around, and go do them. My kid gives me plenty of opportunities to do mine. Everyone has been given this life to prove their worthy of God's trust. So, let's prove Him right.  Let's do the impossible, made possible by living for God first.  Then just maybe instead of living like we are dying, we will die knowing we had done our best living.

Not Knowing What God Wants

I find my self in a bit of a frustrating situation tonight, and I know God expects us to get frustrated sometimes,so I've decided to share it with others.  I was at a restaurant today for lunch with my fellowship-at-work group.  We had a wonderful conversation, primarily revolving around God and His work in our lives.  The food was very good and fairly priced.  The dining experience and the company are not what frustrated me.  I'll get to the blessing of my frustration in just a minute - I do want to say thank you to God first because He truly has blessed the life I live.

My frustration stems from the waitress that we had.  She did an excellent job at her job, and I left her a fair tip because of it.  What I find frustrating is something I saw tattooed on her arm, "La vida es dolor" (Life is Pain).  Yes - we were eating Mexican today.  I'm not sure why God put this young woman in front of me.  My fear is that if I were to return to that place to do His work, she would think of me as some bible thumper and not really hear what I was trying to offer to her.  Even worse, I fear that I could take something so ordinary as a tattoo and turn it into an escalated situation where one isn't warranted.  This is what frustrates me about the situation.  God expected me to meet this young woman today.  He's placed a Mexican contractor in my team so that I can get better at Spanish.  Otherwise, I never would have had a remote understanding of this young woman's tattoo.  He wanted me to meet this lady today, I've asked Him why, and so far I have not heard a response.  I realize that He has a lesson, a test, and an assignment in this for me - I'm just a little stuck as to what that might be exactly.  I suppose I could bring His word to her, but if she's not ready to hear it, I don't know that it would do anything more than upset her to hear it.

I plan on bringing this up with my fellowship group on Monday - I'm heading out of town tomorrow before lunch.  However, as I sit and consider this situation, I really do feel like I am being asked to do something about it - perhaps all of us who met her today are.  Yet, I'm at a loss as to exactly what, and when.  Thank God for this test, for I am sure it is because He trusts me that He brought it to me.  Truly quite a blessing indeed, but God trusts me more than I feel like I'm equipped to handle at the moment.

Feel free to include your ideas, if you wish - because I, for one, am stuck.  As I pray about this situation more and come to taking action on it of some kind, I will be certain to journal about how it transpired.

Thank God for this day, and for the wonderful puzzles he presents to me in each one of them.