MY BLOG POSTS
Beware of Bandwagon Christianity
No, this isn’t the diet I was crazy about, but it IS all natural!
Most of you reading this are like me – you’ve spent a lot of time on a Bandwagon. If there’s a new fad, a new saying, an “it” fashion, you are all over it. We’re all guilty of it. I’ve been around long enough to see everyone I know – myself included – fall victim to one Bandwagon scheme…or a hundred.
That crazy diet that makes you sick to your stomach, causes your hair to fall out and your breath to stink? Yes, that one. It was THE health craze. Those fabulous purses that cost three times more than the no-name brand and fall apart just as quickly? HAD to have it. And let’s not eve
n go into the shoes. Who cares if they’re ridiculously uncomfortable and you have to fracture your pinkie toe to get into them? That pointy toe, stiletto heel is worth it all, baby!
We can get really passionate about our phases – I was into a diet about 10 years back that was I SURE was “the” answer for all people everywhere. I told my friends and family about it, met with others doing the same thing. I was all in on that Bandwagon….for about a year. Now, I forget what was so great about it. It was just a diet! Silly me.
The problem comes, though, when our faith becomes just another “phase” – a Bandwagon we jump on because our friends are doing it or we had an experience at camp or we went through a difficult time and promised God if He got us through it, we’d serve Him. When we seek after Jesus the same way we’re seeking after those pointy-toe boots or that all-natural diet, He eventually gets “old”. We burn out and move on to another phase.
God did not send His only Son to die on our behalf and offer us eternal life so that we could have an “experience.” The Christ-life should never be the equivalent of the latest shoe, diet, or fancy purse. It is a lifetime commitment to the One who created us, has plans for us, is FAR superior to us in every way. Living for Christ means that we daily offer Him our wholehearted worship and devotion. We aren’t in it for what we get out of it, and we’re not in it because “everybody else is doing it”. We are in it because we recognize that we are made in the image of a holy, awesome God, a God worth telling people about, worth devoting our lives to.
We need to get off of “Bandwagon Christianity”, own our faith, and live it out every day — no matter the cost.
Get Your Head in the Game
Most of you reading this are now humming that song from “High School Musical” – and hating me for getting it stuck in your head. Sorry about that. But there’s some truth to that ridiculously repetitive ditty. Troy needed to be reminded that, if he wanted to win that all-important basketball game, he’d better focus on that and not on the cute newcomer, Gabriella.
He recognized that if he were to allow his mind to drift off the court, he would let his team down and, possibly, lose the game. So he sang and danced (WITH a basketball! Impressive, you have to admit…) a reminder. Side note: all lessons in life should be accompanied by singing and dancing. How much more enjoyable would that be??
We are all busy, with days that seem to go on forever and calendars that have no white spaces in them for months on end. Because of that, it is easy to spend every day thinking about the next day, or the day after that. Sometimes they’re happy thoughts (we get a day off in three weeks!); sometimes they’re stressful (I have to take the SAT next month!); sometimes our thoughts focus on people (will he ask me to Homecoming?) But whatever they are, if those thoughts dominate our minds, we miss out on the most important day: TODAY.
There’s a great line from “The Music Man”, where Harold turns to Marion and says, “You pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find you’re left with nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.” Side note: musicals are far more profound than people give them credit for.
When our heads are focused on tomorrow, we lose out on the joy of today. We don’t listen when people are talking because we are thinking/worrying about what we need to do later. We miss out on opportunities to minister, to deepen friendships, to encourage, to grow because our heads aren’t in “the game”. We get to the end of our calendar and we find that, though every square was filled, our souls are empty.
So plan for tomorrow, but LIVE today. Don’t just seek God’s will for your future, seek Him for your next hour, and the hour after that. You are in the game right now! Every “play” is important and deserving of your full attention.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~Mt. 6:34
On Subtweets and Snapchats
I know today’s teens get a tough rap, but I happen to think you are pretty spectacular. You guys have been thrown a lot of curve balls – the ultra-protection that comes from living more of your lives post 9/11 than pre-9/11; the constant influx of new technologies; the increased pressure to get better grades, take harder classes, pass more tests…Being a teen today takes far more work than it did back when I was that age.
But here’s what we had that some of this generation is missing: in-the-same-room communication. While texting and Snap chatting and Tweeting are fine – in the right context – none of that substitutes plain, old-fashioned talking.
In the wrong context, texting, Snap chatting, and Tweeting can actually keep us from having healthy relationships. Subtweeting ( indirectly tweeting something -usually negative – about someone without mentioning his/her name), for instance, can be terri
bly damaging. Instead of going directly to someone who has upset you, you subtweet their offense (“I hate when it people take credit for my ideas in Student Council!”). This is gossip and it’s cowardly. Just tell that person – in person – he/she upset you by taking credit for your ideas.
Texting too often replaces important, beneficial, face-to-face interaction, also…like getting to know new friends or potential boyfriends. You can only know so much about a person through words on a screen, or even pictures for that matter. You need to see them, hear them, watch them around others. Nothing can replace that.
I don’t think technology is bad – I happen to be pretty crazy about my iPhone! But I do think that technology is a supplement, not a replacement – like Sparksnotes to an actual novel. Don’t miss out on the joy of really getting to know people; don’t allow yourself the easy way out when it’s time to confront, either.
Enjoy being teens in the twenty-teens, but go old school with your relationships.
Finding God in “The Small Stuff”
I don’t know about you, but when it comes to “The Will of God”, I tend to think of the “big” stuff: choosing a career, getting married, having kids….that kind of thing. But the older I get, the more I realize that it is just as important to seek God in the small stuff as it with the biggies.
Our wedding day: May 18, 1996
Because here’s the deal: even the “big stuff” gets small. My wedding day, while amazing, was just a day. Thousands of days have passed since then. On my wedding day, I said “I will” to “for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health”. But every one of those thousands of days since, I have had to make the choice, with God’s help, to live those vows out.
Me HUGELY pregnant with my second child (December 2000)
Having kids wasn’t exactly a choice I made – God knew we were ready to be parents about 9 months before we did. But it was still pretty huge (as was I!). But having my first child was, again, just a day: a painful, exhilarating, life-changing day, sure. But that day was followed by thousands more days that were far more ordinary, messy, and challenging. Days when I had the choice to be the mom called me to be or to throw in the towel and give up.
I could go on (becoming missionaries; getting books published; teaching…), but you get the idea. The big events in life are just moments – moments that are built on the smaller events. And it’s in the small things – in everything – that we need to seek God’s will.
The “who will I marry?” question isn’t nearly as important as the “what do You want me to do today?” question. I met Dave because I followed God’s leading to study His word, to work at a camp, to be the best counselor I could be while working at that camp. It was my day-in-day-out actions that impressed by future husband. Not just my pretty face :). And those of you reading this who want to marry a man who loves Jesus with all his heart? You need to be doing the same — daily seeking what God wants you to do, in the little things.
So let go of the big stuff that consumes your thoughts and ask God to help you obey Him in the small stuff: reading your Bible, encouraging someone who is hurt, waking up for church tomorrow instead of sleeping in, finishing your homework on time…
The big stuff will come. And it will go. The small stuff is always here. So seek God’s will in everything – especially the small stuff!