Sometimes We Need Our Eyes Checked

Hallo, my name is indigo Montoya! You Killed my Father! Prepare to Die!!! lol I love The Princess Bride. Anywho, I Guess I've got a few things on my mind that I'd like to share.

First off, the other day I got some new glasses! (finally!! I'd had my old ones since the end of 10th grade of high school!) Well needless to say I had my eyes checked and I need my prescription strengthened just a tad. Once I put on my new glasses, I couldn't believe the difference the small correction made. I could see better! (not that my old prescription was that horrible but it was a nice upgrade). I've been thinking a lot about this as it applies to my spiritual life. You may be thinking what the heck does getting new glasses have to do with your spiritual life, I'm happy to explain what I mean :).

As Christians we are called to live life missionaly. In order to do this we have to be able to SEE in order to FEEL something in order to ACT. Sometimes we pray for God to give us his eyes, to let us see the hurts and pains and even joys in this world. As we petition for this God begins to open our eyes and we start seeing where people are at, to really feel for them, to ask ourselves "hmm I wonder what this person's story is". But sometimes this can become tiresome and very sad because there is so much hurt in this world. It can be easy to turn out heads or shut our eyes. Our "eyesight" becomes fuzzy.

We need to get our eyes checked and get a new prescription from the big guy upstairs. We are meant to see the suffering in the world, and in seeing that suffering we are called to Love as Jesus loved, to do what we can, when we can, the best we can. Jesus intentionally interacted with the suffering, showing his ultimate love and compassion. He then made the ultimate sacrifice by enduring the crucifixion, his death on the cross the payment for our sins so that ALL may be forgiven and spend eternity in Paradise with Him. We need to show that same compassion, and in order to do that we need to have our "eye prescriptions" up to date and be intentionally seeing the world through God's eyes!

Another thing I've been thinking about is this next year at Scholastica. Since I've been elected to be one of the co-presidents next year it's been a time of preparation. I've been trying to be organized and responsible about planning our new student out reach. Well yesterday at Rock Hill, we continued the "church on fire" series in the book of Acts. (side note, I'm absolutely loving this series, I'm learning so much about living missionally like Paul).

To give you a little background, last week we went over the part where Paul finally gets to Ephesus (the place he really wanted to get to) and Paul realizes he can't stay. He leaves Priscella and Aquila (the tent makers Paul is living and working with in missions) behind. This week Apollos comes into Ephesus after Paul has left. Apollos is from Alexandria and he comes in and teaches what John the Baptist was preaching and a little about Jesus.

The thing is, Apollos doesn't know everything he needs to know about Jesus, he doesn't have the full picture (but what he did know he was preaching accurately). So Priscilla and Aquila, Paul's dos amigos(they weren't Spanish though =P ) pull Apollos aside and give him the full picture. He then moves on to another city, I believe Corinth...let me check *switches windows* Yep it was Corinth. He fit well in Corinth and he helped those who had already been saved by grace.

Now, the thing about Apollos that got me was that he was "eloquent" and had "fervor". During the service we broke down the words. "eloquent' really means that he used great emotion. He could convey the feeling he was trying to get across to a particular audience and it was a powerful attribution to what he was sharing. It moved People. What really got me was "fervor".

We usually think of "fervor" as just a passion, which in itself is an okay description. But to be more accurate, "fervor" means a boiling over. He was so full of the Knowledge and passion for God and His word that it just boiled over out of him. He could not contain it! How awesome is that! This really hit home for me. This past year God has been moving in me and I think (hope) he has begun to instill in me this sense of fervor. I want nothing more than to boil over for God!!

This was very encouraging because as one of the Christian leaders on my campus this is what I need for preparation. All (all, haha) I need to do is convey with genuine emotion what God has done, in the world and in my life, and to fill myself so completely with God and His word that I can't contain it! Let it boil over! AHHH!! Its so exciting! That is what helps people! I wish so bad to be the person that Jesus was, to have the boldness and Perseverance of Paul, to be so willing to learn and have the fervor and eloquence of Apollos!

Yet I fail so easily. I get lazy in my seeking of the Lord. I know I don't read the Bible as much as I would like or as much as I should, which is dumb because when I do read it, it just makes me feel so great! Gah! Blast these stupid, sinful, human tendencies!!!!

What does help is music. I love music, just listening to the amazing gift God has given, to be able to create something so beautiful with just a voice and some weird contraption of metal, wood, and/or string! Probably my favorite thing to do is to blast some christian music in the car and blare it out at the top of my lungs (when I'm alone haha, i won't subject you to my probably obnoxious singing if you hitch a ride with me :P) or just listen to someone live and see their passion and love soaring out in song!

Praise God for this wonderful gift! But don't let pretty tunes and catchy rhythms take away the meaning, I often get caught up in the musicality and forget to really listen to and process the lyrics. When I pay better attention it makes me think and truely get the most out of the music. =]

Okay I think I've rambled enough, hopefully I've said something of value haha.

In the words of Red Green, Keep your stick on the Ice, we're all in this together! =D

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God Bless!