Say the Words...

How many different people did you see today? Whether you saw a huge crowd gathered at some large event or whether you stayed at home and only saw one or two family members, chances are pretty good that you saw some other human beings besides yourself in the past 24 hours. Of the people you saw, how many of them are important to you? How many have been a part of your life or influenced the person that you are today? How many of them do you love? Perhaps an even better question now that you're thinking about it is this: how many of them have you told that they are special to you or that you love them? If you don't tell them, they may not know.

Here is the reasoning behind this post. I just watched a slideshow of old photos of my family and friends from the past 15 years - talk about nostalgia! It reminded me of the great times we have all had together. It brought to mind the things I have learned. It saddened me to think of the things I have missed in the lives of people who mean so much to me during my time away from home for school. I hate missing piano recitals, weddings, holiday dinners, family outings, and so much more that goes on in my absence. It is saddening to think of people who choose work over family and spend their lives traveling to cool places, making a big paycheck, or gaining notoriety and fame all at the expense of their family. I grieve for the children and the wives who have to learn to live on their own because of their workaholic father or husband. It breaks my heart to see people neglected, mistreated, or ignored by those that they love. I have made mistakes, wasted time, and missed many chances to be at important events, to say a kind word, or to simply spend time with someone that I care about to prove their importance to me. That is unfortunate, but the future isn't always dictated by the past. My failures should only motivate me to not fail in the same way again. As they say, live and learn.

Why are we here on this earth? It has to go beyond ourselves. There must be more to this life than meeting our fleshly desires, catering to our selfishness, and trying to be the person who ends up dying with the most toys. I believe that our purpose is ultimately to bring glory to our Creator, but I think that one of the most important ways to do that is to be a blessing to other people. God created man in his own image, and He cares deeply about all of us. How can we mistreat another human being, and then expect to live a life that glorifies God? It doesn't work that way. There's a song by The Afters that says, "this is what we're here for; to show the world how You love it." If we are to demonstrate the love of God to the world, what better place to start than with your family and friends? It should be fairly easy to love them compared to a complete stranger that you know nothing about and with whom you have never spent any time.

This, then, is my proposal. As my fortune cookie from a few weeks ago said, "Let someone know how special they are to you." I grew up listening to a song by Paul Overstreet that said, "What's going without saying should be said." We may think we've made something evident (like our love) to someone through our actions or hints over the years, but we shouldn't assume such things. It's too important to overlook because of assumptions. Tell your family and friends how much they mean to you. Tell a stranger how much they mean to Jesus. Our lives are full of people. We need to stop letting those people walk through our lives untouched by us. One kind word, one selfless deed and you could make a lifelong impact on somebody. Just do it.

"Say the words, say the words, say 'I love you.' Say the words I long to hear..." -DC Talk

Surrender

I am helpless. Seriously, what can I actually do in my own strength? My very life, breath, and ability to do anything at all comes from God. Without God I am nothing - quite literally. In the end, I can't fight hard enough to win the battle. I can't work hard enough to achieve salvation, to accomplish goals, or to fulfill a calling. I can't think hard enough to come up with all of the answers. Yes, I can still do my best at fighting, working, and thinking but it all eventually comes down to God choosing to make my efforts actually be successful, my circumstances to actually work out, or my brain to actually decipher an acceptable answer. I can do nothing on my own simply because God is in control of everything. I rely wholly on His strength.

Have you ever been worried, scared, or stressed? We all have. Was there anything you could actually do to take away your feelings at that moment and attain peace? For me, whenever I find myself worrying or stressing about something, it is much more effective to simply quit. Quit worrying. Don't give in to fear. Let go of the doubts that are plaguing you and taking you captive. In the words of Jesus to His disciples in the midst of a storm on the Lake of Galilee, "Where is your faith?" I can, should, and must trust God with my life - both the seemingly small details and the overwhelmingly massive situations. He is big and strong. He's got it all under control. As my pastor said in church today, "We worry because we are not resting in the sovereignty and providence of God." We simply need to cease striving and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). 

At the current moment in my life a lot of unknowns exist. I don't know what I'm going to do about this, that, and the other problem that is popping up in front of me. Daily issues and future questions both seem to stare me in the face all of the time and demand answers that I can't give. The who, what, why, and where of life often confuse and baffle our finite minds, but we don't have to worry about them. God is in control. He is the good shepherd and will take care of His sheep. There's a good analogy - sheep. Can a flock of sheep control the food they have around them to eat, the weather they have over their heads, or the animals that try to attack them? No. Will worrying about it help? Again, the answer is clearly no. The shepherd controls what food they have by leading them to green pastures. The shepherd protects them from bad weather by building a place of shelter for them. It is the shepherd who also protects them from the beasts of prey that would love to devour the helpless sheep if they just had a chance. What then is the job of the sheep themselves? Surely they have to do something. The role of the sheep is to seek out the shepherd and learn to hear and recognize his voice. It is to follow and obey the shepherd's lead. It is to trust that the loving shepherd knows what is best for his flock and to surrender any worry, fear, or stress in exchange for trust and faith. 

As the old hymn says so well, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." I choose to lay my burdens at the foot of Jesus. I choose to wait for God to answer my questions in His own time. I choose to surrender my will to the King of kings and The Lord of lords, because I can trust Him. There's no better way to win the battle than to surrender.

"Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's." - 2 Chronicles 20:15

Overhaul

Sometimes our hearts need an overhaul. Like the compressor section on this turbine engine, we need to be taken apart piece by piece and examined carefully for defects, inconsistencies, missing parts, and overall condition. It takes a lot of time and work to remove the outer protective layer that often shields us from deep introspection that can threaten our security. We like who we are enough to be comfortable not digging down deep and looking for the root causes of problems or the motives behind what we're doing in and with our lives. 

Axial Flow Compressor

Sometimes when we initially look at our hearts we think the same sort of things that might have crossed your mind looking at this picture. Questions like How does all of this work? What are all of these little pieces here for and do they really make a difference? What is this supposed to look like when it's in perfect condition? What we have been taught to do in school to answer our questions is look in the manufacturer's manual. In it we can find a description of proper operation, pictures of how it should look, and ways to fix problems that we see during the inspection process. If we keep developing the analogy, the manual we read to find out about our hearts is the Bible. God is our maker, and He knows how we work, how we should be, and what we need to fix our problems. It's all in His book! 

Just like this axial compressor, we were each created on purpose for a purpose. We will each need different components in our makeup to accomplish what it is that God has for us. No heart is quite the same, but that is how it should be. The compressor is only one part of the engine. Each one of us is just a single part of the church as a whole. We are meant to complement each other with our differences and all work together for the greater good and glory of the kingdom of Christ. 

The internal workings of our hearts are what drive us, guide us, and allow us to fulfill our purpose. It's important to keep them in good working order. Is it time for an overhaul?


"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." - Proverbs 4:23

Safe and Easy

Music is a powerful medium. Whether it's the catchy beat or the perfect harmony of a song that gets your attention, nearly everyone likes to hear some good music. It's just enjoyable. Personally, I love songs that are musically catchy but still have powerful lyrics that speak truth. There's a time for songs that worship God by proclaiming His goodness and glory. There's a time for songs that remind us about what's important in life and how much hurt there is in the world. And, there's even a time for songs that are simply for enjoyment and our listening pleasure. Whatever songs we listen to, however, they absolutely do have an effect on us by changing our attitudes, influencing our beliefs, or flooding us with certain emotions.

A song that I heard for the first time a few days ago that really prompted me to think is called "It's Good (Love's Not Safe)" by the Christian music group Sidewalk Prophets. It starts off talking about the fact that love isn't always safe and easy but that it's still good regardless. The bridge says,

     "Anything good in life's gonna take a sacrifice,
     Don't let up when it's tough, don't ever give up the fight,
     Everything you need in life was given by His sacrifice,
     I will give it all to You, I will give it all to Christ"

Then it ends by changing the word love to He, since God is love, and it ends by proclaiming that "He's not safe" and "He's not easy, but He's good." It struck me as odd at first that they would say that God isn't safe or easy. It's so common and popular today to talk about God's goodness and grace that we sometimes forget about the hardships, trials, and persecution that Jesus said would accompany His followers through their lives. Following Christ isn't safe. We have to be completely vulnerable and open before Him. Following Christ isn't easy. We have to die to our selves, take up our crosses, and resist the world and the devil constantly.

In C.S. Lewis's great series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the lion Aslan is used to symbolize God. At one point in the first book of the series one of the characters says this about Aslan the lion: "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." Obviously, we can see how an actual lion wouldn't be considered safe. They are wild at heart and innate killers. While I don't think classifying God as wild is appropriate, He is ferociously against sin by His very nature. It's not safe to be an unrepentant sinner, because God hates sin. His good side comes out, though, when He extends His grace and mercy to us and offers us salvation and forgiveness from our sins. He is kind and forgiving, but He is also just and holy in a perfectly balanced way.

What I believe about all of this, then, is that while it does take sacrifice to follow Jesus and it does take us out of our comfort zone to be Christians, the alternative is much less safe. True, we might have an easier time on earth in some ways if we follow the ways of the world, but that wide path is not safe when it comes to eternity. It's much easier to go through a few storms and a little persecution from man while we're on earth than to spend eternity separated from God and suffering the consequences for our sin. The true safety and security that we have comes from our faith in God's ultimate goodness towards those who have become His children and have received salvation. We're not safe only in the sense that we have to surrender control, and as control freaks, that makes us feel insecure. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, so we are ultimately safe in Christ.

This whole concept applies to human-to-human love as well, not just between us and God. It's not safe for us to love another person. Think about it. If you really love someone, there is a personal attachment to them on at least the most basic of levels. You can love little African children and then be filled with extreme sorrow when you see them hungry, sick, and alone. You can love a close friend enough to open up to them and share who you are as a person, only to have your trust betrayed and to be left with deep hurt from the betrayal. There are different levels to what we generically call love, and the deeper the level of love, the less safe it is. It isn't always easy to love either. When we think of the part of love that involves sacrifice, commitment, and making hard, selfless choices, it's evident that love isn't an easy thing to do in those instances. In the end, though, love is good. It is good to risk for love. It is good to be hurt because you love. It is good to do difficult things out of love. All of this can make the love that much deeper, stronger, and more meaningful. Ultimately, living a safe and easy life is selfish. We were called to more than that. Follow the example of Christ. Love God and love others. It's not easy, but it's good.

Fear and Faith

The following is an excerpt from the book Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis. The book is about a girl who leaves her home and family in Tennessee to follow the Lord's call to Uganda. I've only read a little less than half of the story so far, but I definitely recommend it. This section stuck out to me as I was reading through another chapter of it today:

"How often, as human beings, we are crippled by our fears. We are afraid of change, of loss, of being hurt. We cling so tightly to what we have because we are afraid of what would happen if we didn't have these things anymore. . . I had recently been back to the States and seen and realized this fear. A very real fear that if we gave everything away, we wouldn't have enough for ourselves. Back in my new home I saw the consequences: children starving to death, sleeping under rags and in chicken feces, withering away from disease. In our fear, even many of us who claimed to believe in Christ were failing to do what He said for the least of His people.

"Fear. It's part of human nature, but it's not something we got from God. Second Timothy 1:7 says: 'For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.' When I imagine God creating each one of us and planting a purpose deep in our hearts, I never imagine that purpose being mediocrity. While the Bible doesn't tell every person on earth specifically what his or her life's calling will be, it does include a lot of general direction. . . mediocrity and abundance aren't there. However, mediocrity and abundance, comfort, and ease, do seem to be safe choices for many people, myself included. In stark contrast, leaving our possessions, following Jesus when we don't have a well-defined plan, and entertaining strangers-well, that does sound a little scary. But what if, just beyond that risk, just beyond the fear is a life better than anything we have ever imagined: life to the fullest."

 There are lots of things in our lives and our futures that could easily scare us if we aren't careful. Fear of the unknown is a big one for many of us. Fear of failure, fear of change, fear of missing God's will, and other individual fears can creep into our minds and influence our views and decisions about life in a negative way. It's much easier to read "do not be afraid, nor be dismayed" from Joshua 1:9 than to obey it. The end of the verse, however, is the key phrase that shows us how it is possible for us to overcome all of our fears. "For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." When we give in to fear, it is because of our human limitations and frailties. What we lack in the midst of our fear is sufficient faith. God will never leave nor forsake His children. This promise doesn't guarantee us immunity from pain, failure, change, or battles, but it does remind us that whatever happens we have our Shepherd right beside us. He will pick us up, heal us, lead us, fight for us, and ultimately bring us into His presence for eternity.

Just think, what would you do right now if all of your fears were suddenly gone? What is fear holding you back from accomplishing or pursuing? It is so crippling to live in fear. It holds us in the middle of mediocrity, where we are most comfortable but perhaps least effective. I believe God gave us life, both physically and spiritually, for His glory. We can glorify Him by obeying Him. John 14:15 says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." If we love Him, we will obey Him. If we obey Him, we will glorify Him. Here are a few of the ways that the Bible gives us to show obedience:

1. Go and sell your possessions and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21).

2.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19).

3. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). 

4. Treat 'the least of these' as you would treat Jesus Himself (Matthew 25:40). 

5. Visit orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27). 

There are plenty more commands in there, but I just picked out a few that seem to especially apply to those individuals God calls to places like Uganda or Botswana. I may not write a book like Katie Davis did, but I hope to be glorifying to God by obeying His commands and His call and stepping out in faith despite any fears that try to hold me back.

http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Botswana Bound

Over a year ago, I began the process of applying for a pilot position with Flying Mission Services (FMS) in Botswana, Africa. I knew about the organization through a friend and former Liberty flight instructor who had left to go fly for them a year or two before. Scrolling through Facebook posts one day, I noticed that FMS was in need of pilots for their single-engine aircraft program, and I already met the minimum requirements. That intrigued me. Most missions groups wanted pilots with at least 50 hours of time in high performance aircraft, but I didn't have that or have any way to get it. Here was a group that would take me with what experience I had and work with it. I liked that. So, I emailed in my resume and began to dialogue via the internet with their human resources department. In the midst of this, I was given the opportunity to go through Liberty University's Aviation Maintenance Technician School and decided to pursue my aircraft mechanic certificates through Liberty's one-year intensive program before leaving to go anywhere.

Since last August, I have been studying airplane systems and components like it was my job - the only difference is that I'm having to pay money for this job instead of getting paid for it. I'm more than halfway through the program and can honestly say that I am very glad that God led me to stay in Lynchburg for awhile longer and go through all of this extra schooling. I was initially dreading having to be in class eight hours a day, five days a week for an entire year, but the Lord has shown Himself strong on my behalf and turned my poor attitude around. Not only have I had the great blessing to learn a ton of material about aviation, but I have met and become friends with a lot of great people that God has used in my life already. It has been a great experience so far. By the middle of August, it will be over. I will have both my Airframe and Powerplant ratings on my Mechanic certificate and will be able to legally work on aircraft and their engines if the opportunity presents itself.

So now, with the end of school in sight, I have recently been back in contact with Flying Mission Services and within the past two weeks have done a phone interview, sent in my application form, and been offered a pilot position with them. My official start date is September 5th of this year! There are lots of question to ask, details to confirm, things to arrange, and so on, but I am very excited to be finally setting out from the school environment (even though learning continues through our lives) and heading into the "real world" where I can apply the things I've been learning for so many years. I know that it's going to be a great journey because I have seen God's hand working and moving to bring me here. If He is in it, then it will go beyond all that I could ever dream or imagine. The journey continues!

FMS Website

What's in a Name?

When thinking about what to name this blog, I wanted to come up with something catchy and creative. Rhyming words might do the trick. Or perhaps alliteration would provide more possibilities. Then, of course, there was also the matter of the name actually making sense and having some sort of reasoning behind it. That further complicated the issue. After much deep thought (3 or 4 minutes, I guess) I decided to call it The Journey Journals. It is somewhat catchy and perhaps even a little creative, but most important of all, it has meaning to it. Let me explain.

I believe that life is a journey. It begins at conception and continues on until our physical bodies give out and we die. On our tombstone it may be only represented by a little dash in between the years of our birth and death, but that little dash can contain a lot of time, trials, tries, and triumphs. Looking up quotes about journeying, I fond one accredited to George Whitefield.

"Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you."

I don't think that means we should rush through life and never stop to smell the flowers, as they say. In regards to the Christian life, however, it can be a warning to us to never stop pressing "on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" as Philippians 3:14 says. In other words, never be content with where you are spiritually. Always be striving to become more Christ-like. Neither coasting nor being lukewarm in your faith are acceptable options if our hearts are truly the Lord's. The journey is hard - nobody denies that. We often struggle and feel alone, yet Psalm 46:1 reminds us that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Hence, while the journey is no walk in the park, we are led "beside still waters" by our Good Shepherd.

While we're on this journey, it can be of great benefit to continually track our current location. Not only does this keep us on the narrow path we are called to follow, but it also gives us a way to learn from past mistakes, rejoice over progress made, and keep a history of God's faithfulness in our lives. Journaling can be a personal means of communing with the Spirit, it can serve as a way of remembering where we've come from, and it can also be a way of sharing our life journey and testimony with other people. That's predominately what this blog has been created to do. As I progress down the pathway of life on this journey of faith, I will post updates on here of happenings along the way. More to come soon...