Shake it off

Matthew 19

“Then who in the world can be saved?
Jesus looked at them intently and said,
“Humanly speaking, it is impossible.
But with God everything is possible.”
Matthew 19:26

This is right after the man asked God how to get into heaven. When Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and follow him, the man was extremely sad because that is much to sell. We do this often, this thing where we have to know the limits. We have to know the measures. We have to know the guidelines. If I do this much, what does that get me? So often, we are missing the point.

We cannot be perfect. We cannot live this life being flawless. There is no way that we can. And yet, that is what we are supposed to strive for. We are supposed to live our lives in a model after Christ Jesus. That is the simplest way to put it. Following God and loving others and living a life that loves those around us, that is what we are supposed to do it.

Looking at this verse though, we see that there is no way that we can do this on our own. We cannot follow God on our own. We cannot strive for perfection on our own. We need a higher up. We need someone who is much stronger than us. We need someone who is perfect to make up for all of our imperfections. The truth is that we cannot live this life on our own. We cannot do things on our own. We need God because it is with God that everything is possible. Without God and without his perfect love and power, we are absolutely nothing.

LA: Real Day 5

We spent pretty much all day at Fuller. It was quite the party. By that I mean that we went to the library and worked on homework most of the day. It was not too bad, I got my mind thinking about the more in depths of what I am going to write my paper on. Not only that, but got some real sources down for at least one box of it. There’s a start.

At lunch, we talked with some of the admission people. It was good to talk to one of the admission reps who understands going to do ministry before actually going back to school. We talked a little bit about that and what it looks like, so that was good. She really encouraged me to do that. She also was good at targeting what I am most interested in, urban ministry. It was good to talk through that with her as well. Basically, it was not a total waste to talk to her.

This was pretty much the extent of my day until I went out later with Megan. We got some dinner, chilled, and really talked through some things. It was good to talk to her and relax with her and to get some pretty big stuff off my chest. It did not feel like big stuff at the time, but now that I look back, I see that it was bigger than I was making it out to be. She helps me so much to sort out truth from lies because she speaks truth into my life. It is so awesome to see how God uses both of us in each other’s lives. I love it, I love talking to her. Basically, I am sorting through what it means for me to be passionate about things. I am sorting through what it means to have the Spirit lead my life. I am sorting through what it means to step out on that ledge when it seems like there is no one behind me. I am sorting through what it means to care about people and have a passion for people when it hurts the most to do so.

I see people and I have this deep love and deep passion for them. I cannot help it, I cannot help but care for their well being. And sometimes that is a really frustrating thing because I do not get the same support from people around us. They do not always understand why I care so much about people, but I do. I cannot help but to care about them and love them. Even if it is someone who I cannot stand, if they are in deep trouble and deep hurt, then I feel a push for me to go and be by their side. I can’t stop myself. That is when I feel no support. I feel people not being by my side.