Winter Cleaning

Instead of enjoying a long 3 day weekend, I decided to be productive and clean my house in irvine. I had goals to clean up my entire room, vacuum it and the stairs, clean the sinks and shower, clean up downstairs, and most importantly clean under the stairs.

If you've been to 17 Ash Tree Ln. you know how dirty it is under the stairs. It's because the front door opens right to the stairs so a lot of dust just collects under the stairs.  So while I was cleaning I had this epiphany. What I really love is experiencing or learning something new about God in really ordinary routine things.  God is in everyday experiences that everyone has and will experience, just by living their lives.  It reminds me of this one book I remember I came across, God is in the Small Things. (I have never read it though).

So what I came across was this, that as I am on my knees using paper towels and a bottle of Clorox to wipe down under the stairs, I cannot feel anything but extreme levels of disgust. "Yo, this is freakin' gross."  White paper towels turn black in one wipe with a bunch of furry gunk. I pile up all of the dirt into one small area and right in the middle is a penny. At first I thought that it was way too dirty to even have worth, but then I realized with today's economy, every cent counts. Maybe this penny will go towards the Kingdom of God somehow. Anyways, this is where I realized even a possibility of a holy God to be in front of such dirty sin.  How disgusted would He feel, how uncomfortable would it be. My simple task of wiping dirt already gets me to say, "Yo, I ain't down for this mess." But it is partially MY mess.  So then what does the holy God do? He cleans the mess up, as disgusted as He is. He humbles himself and does it with the right heart. So many times I would come back to a completely messed up room after I cleaned it up realizing that I need to pick up after people again and think, "WHAT THE FREAK!? ARE YOU SERIOUS? THIS AIN'T MY MESS MAN." It was never His mess to begin with. It was always ours, yet He did it ALL and we contributed nothing. 

Every now and then I am reminded that when we say, "Jesus died on the cross for everyone's sin, even mine," we must not overlook the faces in the crowd that were mocking Him, condemning Him, shouting, "Crucify, Crucify Him!" For those are OUR faces. Yes it was 33 AD, yes it was the Jews of the time in Israel, and yes you weren't there yet, BUT you and I put Him there. Get your act together and let Him clean your life up, cuz this mess is spiritual, its far bigger and deeper than you think, truthfully it's like you're bringing a toothbrush to a landfill.  Wrap your mind around that!

Page Turnin'

Well, today was the last part of my CSET, assuming that I pass it.  I didn't get to blog for over a week or so because I have been really diligently uncovering US History.  200+ years under 10 days.  I used to think it was unbelievably boring in high school, especially the Civil War. As I went through 600 pages of that history text book, the pages just kept on turning. It was a lot more interesting and alive seeing how each event has shaped the country we live in today.  What a fool I was in high school. I hope to make sure there are not any more of junior year little "me"s going through my class if and when I teach them.  I also feel like people must be informed of America's past politics so that they do not make assumptions that Democrats were always for progressiveness and liberal views, while Republicans were conservatives and business only.  This land was made for you and me.....

Anywho, I realized as I was going through that history text book and an AP supplementary review guide, I would take my breaks reading this new book I got, Letters from a Skeptic.  This has been a real enjoyment to read about a critically atheist father writing letters with difficult theological questions to his son who has PhD in Theology. Their relationship is genuinely loving despite the arguments being tossed back and forth.

This morning when I was doing devotionals I was reading a verse from Jeremiah and the word INQUIRE just really hit me hard. It was a real moment that the Word of God spoke to me.  I feel like society's number one question these days is "What can I get out of it?" There ALWAYS has to be something tangible that is rewarded to them for their effort.  No one wants to hear, "Can't you just do it for the sake of doing it?!?!?" We are all greedy, self-interested beings. College students surfing the web in class, ignoring the lecturer, thinking, "What can I buy to fill my life today?" "Is there something new I can ACQUIRE today that will satisfy me?" Now let's go to ACQUIRING salvation. "What do I need to DO to GET to heaven?" John 17:3- "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."  In all our attempts to ACQUIRE that one thing we desire most, may it even be the intangibles, LOVE, PEACE, JOY, or HOPE, we have to KNOW that these things are not gained by man, but given by God.  As one INQUIRES the LORD, He will provide all things needed. Ask and you shall receive, SEEK and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.

This is the miracle of God, that He could touch one's life and change his or her outlook of life. That they would have the right perspective of INQUIRING instead of ACQUIRING. By inquiring, comes acquiring more than one could ever ask for. Trust in the Lord, in ALL your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him.  All means ALL. All in All.

10:02

For a few weeks now I have been setting alarms on my phone for 10:02 AM and PM. I forgot what brought me to remembrance of what Jaeson Ma and Caleb did @ UCLA, but I gave it a shot.  10:02 is based off of the verse Luke 10:2 --

"And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  (ESV)

At first it was a little difficult to pray for laborers in general because it's such a broad prayer.  But a few days later, I began to realize that there is a lack of laborers where I am at in the morning and at night.  So wherever I happen to be at that time I would pray for that specific location's laborers.  Sometimes I would be at work, church, home, or with friends, in all cases there has been a need for more laborers for His kingdom.  This is also a good way to keep myself accountable to my ministry. How can I ask for others to serve if I am not myself? So yes, let us continually reflect and ask ourselves what am I doing for His kingdom? I see that this really is a dark world the more I am in the light.  His words are true, plentiful and few, HERE I AM SEND ME!

O yeah, I was just watching the news of Israel bombing Palestinian rockets and artillery because they are firing at Israeli civilians. It's crazy to know that we are living in the End Times. TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED, DO NOT SLEEP FOR HE IS SOON TO RETURN! This is something I read in my devotionals today-

42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

--Matthew 24: 42-51

That's that, let it be TRUE.