Monday, June 19, 2006

A God to Call Father

My thoughts as of recently turn towards life and the unknown, because so much of life is an unknown for me. There is only one conclusion that I reached that we are blessed with a God, who desires us to call Him Father, daily He proves Himself worthy of being called Father. He provides for the needs of each of us. He tells us shortly after teaching us to pray, I will address this shortly, Christ tells us that we cannot serve to masters God and money (cf. Mt. 6:24). Then He tells us a strange thing, "And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin" (Doyue-Remes, Mt. 6:28). What is our Lord getting at? It is something that is hard for most in this age of money and materialism, do not rely on money for your daily bread. You must work to earn it, but do not be ruled by money or worry about it. Look to the flowers and the birds they have all that they need, not toiling for more, they are provided for by God. Christ is telling us to rely on God as the birds, flowers and as a small child would look to their father. God gives those who rely on Him all that they need for their daily needs, yet He still wants us to tell Him our needs in prayer. Our needs not just our wants. We are told to pray for our daily bread (cf. Mt. 6:11).

In the beginning of that prayer we are told to call God, not the creator or Christ's Father, but Our Father. Not only is God the loving Father who guides the life of Christ through the world to the end of His divine plan, He is also inviting us into His family. Christ is the first of many bretheren, since it is through Christ that we are adopted into His family. We are to come to know God as Father and trust in Him for our needs. He is in control of the lives of all who will let go of themselves and pick up the cross daily following Christ always. There will be trials and difficulties, because the evil one wants us to turn away from our Father and become as the prodical son when he leaves his Father's house to live in a strange land. These are not new ideas. There is a question of why are there so few priests, religious and young believers who are faithful without end when in the early Church there were many teen martyrs. A large part of it is in the early Church, the saints looked them straight in the eyes and proclaimed Christ. We need to get back to that and the frist step must be with ourselves. We must come to call God Father and truly proclaim that Jesus is Lord over the entirity of our lives! As a good Father God allows us to suffer some, not because he does not care, but rather because He loves us. Fatherly love is hard love, a love that is willing to let their children learn some lessons for themselves......I hope this rambling makes sense. I'll stop for now.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Without a map

This post will mainly be something that has been on my mind of late. I'm pretty sure that it has been on other people's mind as well. The question of: "What to do with my life and where to go?" I would like to share some of my thoughts on this matter with everyone, because I have a feeling that I have been at this junction more than others I know. It is part of life to travel down a path not knowing where it leads. We do not have a plain and simple map that we can look at as we would look at a road map to plan a road trip. We cannot see how the different events are connect as long as we are in time. When we are in eternity we will be able to look at the path we walked in life and see the beautiful plan God laid out for us. But for now we do not have a map, but we have something much more important, we have a compass to guide us. This may seem odd but none the less true. I don't know how many people who read this have ever had to navigate by compass, so I will share alittle of what it is like. A compass gives a bearing to guide you through a dark wood or across a plain without regards to what obsticles are in the way. The bearing is a guide to an end and will not give us the middle path of the journey. Sometimes we will have to diverage from the path we were on due to a river or a cliff that we need to get around, but still we have the bearing to follow. The questions that remain are: what is the compass and what is the end which we are being guided to.

The later of these questions is quite simple we are being guided to Heaven and life with the Triune God. That is the intended end of every single human life. We are to be there with Him, but how do we get there. Now that is the annoying part for us. On our own it is impossible, but God in His infinite wisdom has given us a guide, a bearing to follow. The compass for each person has a name, the name above all other names, Jesus Christ. The only way to know where we need to go in life is to know the one guide we have through life. Know Jesus and you will come to know where you need to go. It will not be obvious at all. But walk the path that has been set before you in faith and in communion with Christ. Do this and you will always find that you are exactly where you need to be each day of your life. This may seem good in theory or else just make no sense at all. But it is very practical in reality. When you take your eyes off of Jesus is when you will get lost. I know that more than I would care to admit, but none the less it is true. In my life it is when I have lost sight of Christ that I have been lost. We will have times that we feel lost when we are following Christ, but if we are still following the path He has put before us and have not stopped looking to Him than we are not really lost. The only One who really should be in control of your life is in control of your life. It is a time to learn to trust and have faith in Him. Remeber that Jesus is Lord over our lives. Live that simple phrase and you will always have a bearing in your life and a compass to lead you.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful to someone out there. I felt that I need to write it. Any questions?