Okay, okay....so my friend prompts me that it's been awhile since I blogged....Where did April go??? Well, come to think of it, where did May go?
Life just moves on, keeps going....whether or not we want it to.
So, I will blog about some thoughts I have had about the events of the last few months.
Let's start with Easter. Do you know the story of Easter? My 4 year old does. No, not the Easter bunny...the resurrection of Jesus...
It blows my mind that there are people who have never heard the story of Jesus. There are people whow have had no idea who He is, what He did, and the stories of the Bible. Now while I am certainly no Bible scholar, I did grow up Catholic and for that I am thankful. My Mom drug us (and literally sometimes it was a chore I'm sure) to church every week. We also went to catechism on Wednesday nights. While I am sure I groaned about it at the time, I am happy that I grew up knowing Jesus. And maybe we weren't as devout as some, but it was enough for us.
I no longer practice catholicism. It's just not for me. Some of my friends and many of my family still do though. I have nothing against it because I am firm believer that it doesn't matter how you worship, as long as you realize there is ONE God above, and we are all serving him.
During my college years, I dabbled in church. I went here and there, but nothing real regular. When I was looking for my soul mate, it was important to me that he be a Christian (and he was). We did get baptized together in 2002 - as he had never been.
Now Todd didn't grown up really in the church. His Mom or Grandparents took him occasionally, but it was not regular. No one had ever stopped to talk to him about it, until he had a couple of great paramedic partners that set him straight. Todd believed (as many do), that by doing good things, that would get him to heaven. And yes, while those things are important, they don't reserve our spot in heaven. It is only through believing in Him and making him your Saviour, that you are saved.
Now I have believed this as long as I can remember...Which brings me back to my original point...it baffles me that people grow up not knowing this, not hearing this, not having access to this information. However, I don't feel it my calling to preach on the pulpit, I would love it if all had access to this information.
It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized how important my personal relationship with Jesus is. Not that it is just something you do on Sunday, or do before eating, but that you can talk to him anytime, anywhere, and that little voice in your head telling your heart what to do, why that's the holy spirit talking to you....Now how could I have grown up and not felt this personal relationship to Him, I don't know, I guess I wasn't ready yet, not mature enough yet. But the saying is true, the more you know, the more you want to know - the more you seek out that relationship. And all those things happening that fall into place, well, that is Jesus' timing.
Well then why the tragedy? Why the suffering? I believe someday we shall see the purpose in everything, but I think the answers are so complex that we cannot even comprehend it with our human minds. This is the reason that we are not always meant to know why some things occur. Although our human mind feels that 80 or 85 is the age we should go to heaven, sometimes our duties here on earth are done before that.
Now, I'm not going to start a Holy war here - that is not my intention. Each person has a right to their own beliefs (Yeah America ). What I simply want to do is just get some of these thoughts out of my head :) and give people something to think about . Who/where is that person in your life, that you may come across every day, who doesn't know Jesus...is there anything you can do to help them know Jesus? I know there are many things I can do, and I will try to do better every day. I thank Him every day when I wake up, for giving me another 24 hours to get it right.
And I will leave you skeptics with this final thought. One of my absolute favorite sayings...
"IT WILL COST YOU NOTHING TO BELIEVE...AND EVERYTHING NOT TO..."
Phillipians 4:13 " I can do all things in Christ, who gives me strength."
