Grace: No Excuses

I was reading chapter 15 in the book of First Corinthians this morning and found verses 9-10 to stick out a bit:

"For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." (1 Cor. 15:9-10 NASB)

 This is Paul speaking, and he essentially sums up something incredibly powerful. Paul was a murderer of Christians. A murderer! However, while on the way to Damascus, Paul (known as Saul at the time) encountered the all-consuming glory of Christ and was forever changed (Acts 9). In a moment, Saul the murderer became Paul the Apostle and started proclaiming the truth of Christ like nobody's business.

Because of his blood-stained past, Paul realized that he did not deserve the new life that he was given in Christ. He knew that he was inadequate. But what Paul chose to hold onto was the grace of God. By God's grace, Paul became an amazing force for advancing the kingdom, needless to say he also became one of the most talked about figures in the Bible overall. Paul recognized that despite his dark past, the grace of God made him into a new person: a person who could shed the past and make a positive, spirit-led difference in the present and future.

The grace of God is truly an amazing and beautiful thing. Without it, we would be eternally doomed. With it, we can accept what Christ has done for us, allow Him to transform our lives, and serve others as He served others. If the grace of God could transform the murderous Saul into the Apostle Paul, who is responsible for over half of the New Testament, we have no excuses when it comes to whether or not that same grace can transform us in the present day.

Do not underestimate the grace of God. As humans, I understand that it can be rather difficult at times to think about how God could extend such grace to wretches such as us. But let's face it: if God could turn a Christian-killer into one of the most successful disciple-makers of all time, what can't God do with you? We need to embrace the grace of God and allow it to truly transform us. If we genuinely allowed God to pour out His grace and mercy on us, just think of what He could accomplish through us. The thought is simply exhilarating! Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39) and He is just waiting to extend His grace to us. Accept that grace today, live in the glory of His presence, and watch as He takes you down a road of authentic satisfaction that is devoid of regret. His grace is enough, and we owe it to ourselves to take God up on such an invaluable gift.

Go West, Young Zach

{ Allow me to apologize in advance, this is going to be a little lengthy like last time, but it is an all encompassing summary of a fantastic trip! Enjoy! }

In my last post, I quickly mentioned that I was composing it in a van on the way to Wheaton College and Chicago. As I write this one, I am in the van on the way back to school. Lots of fun things happened in between, and I would love to share!

For Fall Break, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a Student Government benchmarking trip to Wheaton College with three of my six fellow cabinet members. Additionally, we were able to experience the awesomeness of Chicago, but more on that in a bit.

This was my first time in another time zone, and it has also been the farthest west I have ever been. So, it was kind of a big deal! And, I loved every second of it. It was truly an amazing trip, and I would go so far as to say it was my favorite fall break in my four years of college.

Upon arriving at Wheaton, we were instantly greeted by a phenomenal group of people who were in Wheaton’s student government (SG), and they treated us to deep dish pizza (so good!) at a local pizza shop. In following, we gathered back at the SG office in Wheaton with their student government as well as some SG representatives from Taylor University in Indiana. We all bonded very quickly and discussed each of our respective SG structures on a high level. After that, I got to experience a bit of Wheaton apartment life with my campus host who was one of the executive vice presidents on Wheaton’s SG.

On Thursday, my fellow cabinet members and I met with our respective counterparts from Wheaton and Taylor and were able to get a little deeper into discussion about how our roles work at our respective institutions. It was truly a valuable learning experience, and it would be fair to say that we have a bunch of ideas to bring back with us to possibly shape or enhance the way we do things within our SG.

Our time with each other’s SG took most of the day, and it was most definitely a great experience. In the late afternoon, my group headed into Chicago with the end goal of seeing the Blue Man Group. Upon arriving in the city via the Metra (train), we had dinner at Boston Blackie’s, which is rather ironic since we were in Chicago... Needless to say, I enjoyed an absolutely phenomenal Boston Blackie’s burger and probably the best glass of raspberry iced tea that I have ever had. Post-dinner, we did a little walking and then finally gave up, hailed a taxi, and traveled up to the Briar Street Theatre where we saw the Blue Man Group. Our SG president was able to get us third row seats in the poncho section (if you have ever seen the Blue Man Group or heard about it, you’ll know exactly why we needed ponchos), but luckily we were not in the splash-zone. The show that the group put on was rather well done, and pretty funny at times. I really did not know what to expect, but I would definitely recommend going to see the group at least once to anybody; it is quite the experience.

On Friday, our group spent the morning visiting different places on Wheaton’s campus, particularly the Marion E. Wade Center. If you do not know the importance of this building and are a fan of C.S. Lewis, you definitely need to look into this and make every attempt to visit it. Various things of Lewis’ are on display at the Wade Center, particularly a desk he used, a pipe, a pen, and, most importantly, the wardrobe that helped to inspire The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! I was quite proud to get a picture next to that wardrobe. All of the items on display at the Wade Center were pretty legit, and I am more than happy for having the opportunity to have witnessed it all. The remainder of the morning involved seeing an excavated mastodon at the Wheaton Science Center, seeing the Billy Graham Center, and taking many pictures of the magnificent architecture and landscape of Wheaton College.

In the afternoon, we went back into Chicago with the primary goal of ascending the Sears Tower (now professionally known as the Willis Tower, but, apparently, native Chicagoans are a bit hostile toward this new name) and looking out over the city of the Skydeck. I have never ridden in a faster elevator, and words cannot adequately describe the beauty of the views we had from the tower. It was beyond exhilarating. We could see for miles, and it was simply stunning. Many pictures were taken (obviously), and we even got to stand on one of the glass ledges that protrudes from the tower for quite the [slightly intimidating] view. There is nothing quite like standing on glass and seeing the city directly below your feet. It was quite the mind-blowing experience.

After our experience in the tower, we explored Millennium Park which included seeing The Bean and The Great Lawn. We ended up eating dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on the Navy Pier, which was a fantastic choice. After walking around a little bit after dinner on the Pier, we took the subway back to the Metra station and left Chicago for the last time for our trip. It was indeed a bittersweet moment, but I suppose all good things come to an end eventually...

Overall, this trip to Wheaton College and Chicago was quite spectacular. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go, and I would certainly love to go back at some point. I feel as if I like cities more and more with every time I go into one. There’s just something about the general atmosphere and culture that is so invigoratingly awesome; honestly I do not know if I can quite put my finger on it, but I really do enjoy the urban culture. I will miss Chicago in the meantime, but I am definitely satisfied with how this fall break panned out.

Apparently AWOL

Remember how I may have mentioned about being able to post a little more regularly? Yeah...that fantastic idea was only that: an idea. I clearly did not realize that the combination of keeping up with coursework and my duties as the Student Government Vice President of Finance would be more than enough to keep me busy. But as I sit in a van on the way to Wheaton College and Chicago (more on that in one of my next posts!), I can finally give some sort of an account of the last month or so. It has been exciting, to say the least.

I moved back into school early at the end of August due to being directly involved in Student Government Association (SGA), and we were quickly plunged into a leadership retreat with all student leaders on campus. It was truly a very beneficial and encouraging weekend, and the bonding that took place with my fellow SGA cabinet members was absolutely incredible. We became rather good friends very quickly, and that bonding/development only got better as we left the retreat and entered into our training week. Training week was time-intensive, but it was truly an invigorating experience. As a cabinet, we developed a set of genuine, ambitious goals for the academic year and also grew even closer as we began to fall into the responsibilities of our individual roles. Needless to say, I am more than excited to see the progression and completion of our goals.

Classes started the following week, and after having gotten used to just working on SGA things, it was a bit weird falling back into the swing of the normal college life. Luckily, none of my classes have required crazy amounts of work for the first month. I say this because for SGA, beginning to mid-September is budgeting season for the fall semester. As the VP of Finance, that involves balancing and approving a budget for 40+ student organizations. It was indeed no small task, and it was especially challenging to keep up with the budgeting in the midst of taking care of routine job tasks and keeping up with the homework that I had (which was mostly reading and small-ish assignments). 

After almost three weeks of one-on-one meetings with clubs, figuring out how and where to cut, and standing before Senate to find a way to cover a $10k deficit to balance the budget and then approve the balanced budget, I can say that I am definitely relieved but also very thankful for what was ultimately a character-building experience. I am thankful for several people who helped out during the process, but I have to thank God the most. Without trusting in Him to make everything come together, I literally would have gone insane. Frankly, with everything that was at stake responsibility-wise, I probably should have been more frazzled than I was. But the Lord ultimately pulled me through it, and he placed key people in my life through which to encourage me and spur me on.

Through the whole budgeting experience, I learned a lot about patience, time management, and not being afraid to seek help. I also have gained quite the appreciation for high-level finance positions in the business world. Managing money for a large organization or large set of organizations is not easy, especially when you need to cut certain things for the sake of budget-balance and do not want to completely crush someone’s dreams. Additionally, I have gained a bit of experience in decision-making and general organization. While the job can be a little stressful at times, I am more than thankful for the practical experience I am gaining and for a platform on which to use the organizational and technical skills that God as given me.

Now that budgeting is over, my role as VP of Finance has become mostly that of routine operations. These tasks mostly involve purchase approvals, cash advances, bookkeeping, and answering any questions that clubs may have about their funds or anything financially related within the realm of SGA. I also have the opportunity to work on various goals (previously mentioned earlier in this post) for SGA that I will expand upon more in the future.

If you are still reading at this point, either you are bored or you actually kind of care about what I have to say, even though it is more of a personal recap than anything thought-provoking. If you fit the latter, thank you so much for your support!! It has been a very fast and busy month, but I have really experienced much personal and spiritual growth while immersed in a business kind of atmosphere.

I am so thankful for where God has taken me this past month, and there is so much more I could say (especially outside of SGA things). But this post has gone on quite long enough already, so you’ll just have to wait until next time.

There and Back Again

Tonight is my last summer night as an undergraduate college student. Wow. Where did the time go? On one hand, I am extremely excited to move back in to school tomorrow. I will get to be with my friends out there again, I will get to take some meaningful major-specific classes, and I will get to begin my endeavor as the Student Body Vice President of Finance. It's shaping up to be a great year; I can feel it in my bones. On the other hand, it is a bit surreal. In seemingly no time at all, another summer has come and gone faster than ever before. It is almost a little impossible to believe that it is yet again that time of year.

This summer was definitely a great one. I had some great times with my family, my friends, and my church family. Work was even pretty awesome this summer. Actually, I would go so far as to say that this summer was my favorite summer of work yet. And, in the last month to month and a half, I feel as if my relationship with the Lord has taken off in a fantastic way like never before, and I hope that the fire keeps burning. It is a truly exciting time right now, and I am more than optimistic about where my God and King plans to take me in the upcoming weeks, not to mention the upcoming months.

As my last year of college (possibly ever) begins tomorrow, I am looking forward to growing with the Lord in ways that I have not yet been able to grow. I am looking forward to living with some of my best friends and growing with them throughout our last year of school together. I am also looking forward to leaving a positive, lasting impact on my school through serving in student government. Lastly, I am looking forward to further developing into an individual who can be hired in today's workforce who displays proven character, integrity, honesty, and a willingness to work diligently.

Tonight marks the beginning of the final stretch of an important chapter in my life. I hope and pray that I savor every day of it. It is going to be a fun ride, and I am ready to strap in and take off. I plan on posting to this blog a little more regularly in the coming weeks to expound upon what God has filled my life with, but only time will tell if that will actually happen (seeing as my track record for consistent posting falls along the lines of "meh"). Nevertheless, I am ready to run the race marked out for me, and I know that God will be with me every step of the way.

An Appearance on 'Scattered Wits'

Today is an exciting day. Yes, it's Friday (and lunch time), and while that is a happy thought, it is not the reason for my exuberant delight. Today, I was published on another blog!! Writing career, here I come! Well, perhaps not, but still. Very recently, I was granted the awesome privilege of writing a guest post for my good friend, Laura, on her book blog: Scattered Wits. Today (a little over an hour ago, in fact) was publishing day. I would say that merits some celebration!

This post contains my thoughts on J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. In my humble opinion, it was a great book. But, if you want to know more about what I thought of it, you'll have to go read the post. And please do!! I would also encourage you to check out some of (if not all of) Laura's previous posts. She is an avid reader and has a myriad of things to say about what she reads, all of which are quite interesting to say the least.

I know I have told her this several times now, but I would just like to say thanks again, Laura, for allowing me to write this guest post. It was truly a fun and thought-provoking experience, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Again, please go check it out! Here's the link again in case you somehow did not click any of the three links above: http://scattered-wits.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-casual-vacancy.html

Time

I was driving home from work a day or two ago and this thought occurred to me: it's the middle of July!! Holy wow, when did that happen?!? Honestly, it feels like the last time I checked, it was the middle of May. Talk about a wake-up call.

As I reflect on that thought, a few more percolate within me. Time goes relatively fast, and our time on this earth is relatively short, all things considered. So if you put two and two together, you will probably find that life, more or less, happens in the blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. Knowing that, how are we spending our time? Are we working so much that we neglect our family and friends? Are we going home after a day of work and sucking in a few hours too many of television? Are we actually trying to develop relationships with the people who mean the most to us? Are we refusing to start/continue something that could be beneficial in some way because we always seem to be lacking (or think we are lacking) enough time?

Every now and then, I am reminded in one way or another that time is precious. And, personally, it seems that with every passing day time is flying by faster and faster (so yes, I can begin to relate to the folks who are more advanced in years, compared to myself, who always say that time progresses more quickly as you get older). The beginning of this week has served as my latest reminder. So now I pose the question: how am I spending my time? Am I wasting it away on the temporal, or am I developing myself constructively and loving those around me? Am I actively pursuing a loving relationship with my Lord and Saviour? Am I spending valuable time with my family? Am I developing healthy relationships with the friends I care for the most? Am I being a good neighbor to all those with whom I come in contact? Am I preparing myself professionally for the impending phase of life after college (which, for me, starts next May)? The list of questions could go on and on...

How do you spend your time? The things we give our time to say a lot about us. Perhaps we all just need to take a step back for a minute and re-evaluate ourselves and how we apportion our time. I am more than sure that every one of us has at least some room for improvement.

Everything as Planned

If you know me somewhat, you should probably know that I am a fairly musical person. I not only enjoy listening to a lot of music, but I can also play a few instruments (if we have been acquainted at some point and somehow you did not come to know this, I apologize most sincerely for not sharing this with you, and we should probably grab coffee or something). That being said, I am pretty open to various types of music. I enjoy some more than others, and definitely am not a fan of yet still others.

Two genres of music that I have really enjoyed listening to in recent years are symphonic metal and melodic metalcore. I only listen to a few bands that fit within these genres, but I thoroughly enjoy the music put out by those bands. Just to quickly summarize, symphonic metal typically features an operatic female voice and combines orchestral-style music with harder rock/metal styles. Melodic metalcore also includes elements of obvious hard rock/metal styles (awesome electric guitars, double-bass drumming, etc.) as well as 'melodic' elements of keyboards, synthesizers, and sometimes orchestra-like sounds/instruments. It also features clean vocals (normal singing, if you will) and unclean vocals (probably known to most of you as 'screaming' or 'growling'). Perhaps that last bit causes you to question the validity of the genre actually being 'music.' That's alright. I can see your argument, but I hope that we can agree to disagree on that issue. I like it, and that's all that matters.

Recently, I have been listening to an album from a melodic metalcore band called We Came As Romans (WCAR). I first started listening to them during my freshmen year of college, and have since really come to enjoy their style. The band is all about loving other people. On their website, guitarist Joshua Moore says, "Love doesn't have an argument; everyone wants to love and be loved. We decided if we were going to be a band, we needed to have meaning behind it. And I don't think there is any greater meaning than to keep on spreading the idea and concept of love." That hit home with me, and has given me a new appreciation for their lyrics. Their latest album, Understanding What We've Grown to Be, deals largely with life's struggles and the many challenges we face. As I was listening through the album on the way to work in recent weeks, the second song, Everything as Planned, struck a chord within me that I just could not leave untouched.

Feel free to read through the full lyrics for this song, but, generally speaking, Everything as Planned talks about how we try to plan out our lives but find that, often, life does not go how we originally intended. It speaks of laying awake at night wondering how things would have went if they went according to plan. The song also speaks of how the songwriter learned that without properly taking care of himself, he could never truly take care of anyone else.

The writer of this song conveys that he has "built and rebuilt" the bed that he lays in at night, but always ends up "restless in the same place." I saw this as representing life in the way that sometimes, we try to do things one way, but then things happen another way, and we feel lost and confused because things have not gone our way. We find ourselves in a place of not knowing which way to go.

I am not completely sure of the direction that WCAR was trying to take with this song, but the lyrics hit me in such a way that simply has to ring true for many people. We try to live our lives out according to some plan. But, so many times, we have no control over what happens. We lose a job, lose a loved one, create an awkward relationship...the list goes on. As a result, we sometimes return back to square one and attempt to rebuild, but we end up "restless in the same place" time after time because we truly do not have ultimate control. That is why full surrender to the Lord is so important. As humans, our plans will fail at some point. Guaranteed. That is why surrendering and trusting fully in the Lord to guide you through the ups and downs of life is so crucial.

Additionally, during the course of our lives we may feel the need to help and care for others along the way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but if we are not nurturing ourselves in such a way that brings us closer to the Lord and keeps us healthy, spiritually and physically, we will never be able to truly care for the other people in our lives in the most effective way possible.

If we lay in bed at night and simply mope about how everything would be if it would just go as we planned, we are in for a miserable and draining life. Get closer with the Lord: read your Bible, get on your knees and pray, worship him through song...whatever it takes. He will lead you through anything and will never leave nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He also knows everything about your life (Psalm 139:16). Let the plan to Him, and live as He wants you to live. You will have no need to vacillate in a pit of worry, and you will be able to be a better blessing to others.

Another Year Gone

Wow. Where in the world did the last eight and a half months go? It feels like I only just started my freshman year of college, and now I'm suddenly done with my junior year. I'm certainly starting to understand the whole phenomenon of time going faster as you get older. Soon enough, next May in fact, I'm actually going to have to be ready to, as the saying goes, "enter the real world." Holy wow. I have certainly known that the day would come, but I cannot quite say I envisioned it approaching like a thief in the night.

While, at times, time may go a little faster than I would like it to, I can honestly say that, in retrospect, this year has probably been my best year of college so far. That is a fairly large statement, especially since my freshmen year was simply awesome. However, this year was definitely a winner in many respects. I had some pretty decent classes, made several new friends, deepened relationships with current friends, and was able to further cultivate my relationship with God. Concerning the latter, I am definitely a long way from home, but since He refuses to give up on me, I have every reason to keep on chugging along. God is great. Amen.

So college... Yes, apparently I finished my junior year of college. But wow, what a year. I could not have asked for better bonding times with my friends or for better educational experiences. I had a lot of fun and learned a ton. I would have to say that my work on the Intelligent Water Management System project, which I mentioned in Possible, Not Easy, was by far the most applicable learning experience of my academic career. I was able to apply and further learn major-related concepts on a real world problem and also picked up some intrinsic lessons along the way, particularly that of project management. I am privileged to be able to work on it again in the upcoming year as well. Though at times the work could be discouraging, it was and will continue to be completely worth it in the end.

I also joined my school's 'Student Senate' in February, which later evolved into a run for one of the cabinet positions of our student government association for the upcoming year: Vice President of Finance. As a Business Information Systems major, what on earth possessed me to do that? Well, I think the desire to be further involved in my school coupled with the desire to gain some practical business-y experience with which to widen my horizons drove a good portion of that decision. I ended up running uncontested; ergo, I got the job without a problem (which can probably be both a blessing and a curse...I'll be optimistic and lean more towards blessing). While I know it will definitely be a lot of work, I look forward to serving my school in the various ways that this position will provide. I am also eager to see how I can apply my major to this position. The nature of VP of Finance is not necessarily that of technology, hence the name; however, I strongly believe that there is a huge opportunity to bring my knowledge, abilities, and previous experiences to the table in order to enhance the duties of the position as well as contribute to the overall improvement of the student experience at my school. Needless to say, I am definitely looking forward to taking on this role in late August.

This past school year was definitely a great one, but I am also quite content with it being summer now. I started work again last Wednesday, so I did not really give myself much time off. But that is okay, because it was fully my choice to do so. And, before I forget to mention it, I GET TO ATTEND MY HOME CHURCH FOR MORE THAN ONE OR TWO CONSECUTIVE SUNDAYS AT A TIME!!!! Yes, if you could not tell, that does rather excite me. I love, love, love my church family, and look forward to seeing where God takes us in the coming months. Also, I hope to maintain some kind of regularity in writing posts. So keep checking, and please feel free to share or leave comments! I certainly would not mind a little bit of healthy conversation.

American Noise

My apologies for making those of you who read my blog (thanks, by the way!) wait almost an entire month for another post.  I hate to make excuses, but with the second half of April turning into crunch time for my classes, I needed to set some priorities.  But, now that I'm practically done with finals (I only have one left), I can begin to write again.  And it's definitely good to be back.

About a month ago, Skillet released another single, entitled American Noise, from its upcoming album, Rise, set to be released on June 25th. I had purchased Sick Of It, the first single from the album that was released the week before American Noise, in a heartbeat. When I saw (to my surprise) that a second single was released, I could not help myself: I bought it without question. Skillet is such a great band; definitely check them out if you have never heard any of their music. And, of course, I was not disappointed with both of these singles.

Compared to the driving rock of Sick Of It, American Noise has more of a ballad-esque type of feel (well, kind of... feel free to disagree or perhaps offer a better description). However, Skillet has done some songs like this before (e.g. Yours to Hold, Lucy, etc.) and has always done them well in my humble opinion. After listening to the song for the first time (in which I generally am listening for overall musicality), I caught just enough of the words to say, "hey, wait a second, I need to listen to that again." After listening to it that second time, I discovered that which caused me to immediately play it again: the message of the song more than adequately describes our lives as Americans.

There is so much noise that goes on in and around our lives. Sometimes, it overpowers that which matters most. I am sure that if you are reading this, the “normal” everyday hustle and bustle of life is more than enough to distract us from more important things. Whether we find ourselves in busy hallways or on gridlocked highways, talking to clients on the phone all day, fighting a disease, writing multiple papers with little time to spare, trying to stay on top of the bills, or buying into the many advertisements around us that say we need this or that, we are constantly surrounded by noise that can keep us from spending extremely valuable time with those we love. Obviously this list is not exhaustive, but let’s face it: our American culture is full of a myriad of distractions that can cause us to forget what really matters and become lost in an ocean of all kinds of noise.

In the busyness of everyday life, it is absolutely necessary to sometimes just take a step back and breathe.  Rather than just living in the noise and attempting to barely survive, we need to refuse to be caught up in the craziness.  In the midst of all the noise, there is a desperate need for love.  We need to be the people that lift up our voices, radiate love, and cut through the American noise.  We cannot afford to simply exist in the cacophonous hurricane of life.  It's time to step out of the confusion and make a difference.  Just think: what can you do to show love to those around you in the chaos of everyday life?  It does not have to be radical.  It can be as simple as having a conversation with someone and genuinely listening to them.  Just be there for someone.  Do not let the American noise shut you up; there is more to this life than simply living hidden in the shadow of everyday life.

Possible, Not Easy

Wow, it has almost been a month since my last post. My apologies, but I have an entirely good reason for putting off this post for so long.  With the exception of this week (thus far), much of my time has been spent working on a project for my Database Applications course.

On a high level, this project, the Intelligent Water Management System project (or simply IWMS), is a three-year contracted project for World Vision through my school. The basic end goal of the project is to create a web application that receives data from water pumps in Africa and allows it to be displayed and worked with in a sensible fashion. I could definitely go into more details, but that is not my purpose for today.

My class and my major's capstone course (which I will be taking next spring) started working on the IWMS project in February and are to have a primitive version of the application working by the end of the semester this May. Two Saturdays ago until the following Tuesday, I personally put in somewhere between 10-20 hours on a database-related issue for the application. Needless to say, it was a very tiring few days. In the end, the issue was resolved and other tasks were subsequently accomplished. However, the road to the end of the problem was very discouraging.

That Saturday night/Sunday morning and Sunday night/Monday morning (each night/early morning ending at about 1:30am) felt like absolute wastes of time and that I was getting nowhere. In retrospect, the 5-6 hours spent across those two days did result in a little bit of progress, but it was not until I decided to get help the following Monday afternoon from my professor that things turned around for the better. After visiting my professor, we worked out a solution in about 20 minutes that I was trying to accomplish for the previous 5-6 hours. While this was indeed a huge relief, I was a little disappointed in the seemingly unnecessary extra amount of time I put into this task.

Later that week, a great friend of mine (who was my freshman roommate, is my current RA, and will be one of my future apartment-mates next year) was talking about how he is seeing God move in regards to his duties as the Student Body Chaplain next year. He said something that gave me a fresh perspective on life: "Faith makes life possible, not easy." While my situation was not directly a faith-based battle, I earnestly believe that the entirety of it all demonstrates faith in the Christian life rather well. I struggled for a relatively long time on a particular issue, but it was not until I surrendered to the reception of help that I ultimately achieved victory. The end goal that I was trying to accomplish was indeed possible, but it was definitely not easy. However, it seemed impossible until I reached for something beyond my own strength and abilities.

In our daily life, we will face many difficult situations. As believers and followers of Christ, we have the opportunity to put our faith in a God who never fails, who will never leave us or forsake us, and who is always looking out for us. In the midst of our difficulties, we need to remember to have faith in Him who makes our life possible. Faith will not necessarily make our circumstances easier, but we can rest in God's omnipotence and omniscience and know that He will make our lives possible and that He will lead us through it all.

God cares about every detail of our lives (Luke 12:7); no matter what kind of a situation you face, bring it to God and have faith that He will lead you through the mess. He is faithful and true, and He will never let you down. Time spans may differ, but God will ultimately guide you to the end, every single time.

In Times of Hardship

Let's face it: this life is not a cakewalk. Some days are easier than others, of course, but there are always the inevitably tougher periods of time that have the potential to drain all traces of life out of you. Sometimes we are faced with extremely busy schedules where it seems as if we will never finish the never-ending task list on time. Other times we find ourselves in the midst of drastic life changes that have seemingly spawned from nowhere. Then there are the times when we experience tragedy and heartbreak and struggle miserably to try to put the pieces back together. The last of these three things can be especially difficult if they happen to come to mind in later years around the time of the original incident; experiencing even a little bit of the original sorrow is never enjoyable.

Through experiencing all of these things myself at one time or another, or by experiencing them with someone else, I have learned two very important lessons. The first is that no matter what happens, God will never forsake us and is always ready to receive us in a loving embrace to take away the pain, the fear, the worry... Christ dying for us proved the ultimate, unconditional love He has for us, and He desires for us to lean on Him and to take His yoke upon us. Christ offers us rest, comfort, peace, and everlasting love in all situations we experience. By placing our full trust in the Savior of the world, we can know that everything will turn out okay, even if current circumstances seem to suggest otherwise.

The second lesson I learned is that in addition to trusting in God, it is highly beneficial to have friends and family that you can turn to at any time for help and encouragement, no matter the experience. Suffering hardship alone is possibly the most difficult way to live through that tough time. Having a fellow human being that you can turn to can be a huge source of comfort. Being a shoulder to cry on or simply being a voice to talk things out can go a long way. Even answering your phone just for the sake of answering it so that the person on the other end can feel some kind of comfort in their distress through the mere sound of your voice can be more than enough in that moment. We were created to live relationally: we need to have each other's backs no matter what the situation. One simple expression of love, compassion, and care at a particular moment during a rough experience can make all the difference in a person's life.

There are many times in this life when we will feel weak and weighed down by the burdens that we face. It is important to remember, however, that Christ has you covered at all times. I really like the way the bridge of Elevation Worship's Give Me Faith puts it:

I may be weak, but Your Spirit's strong in me
My flesh may fail, but my God You never will

No matter what we are facing, we can always count on God to pull us through. It is also incredibly helpful to have trustworthy friends who are willing to encourage you, suffer along aside of you, and pick you up when you fall. The power of love can go a long way. Do not choose to suffer alone: rest in the love of Christ and be thankful for the friends and family in your life who will not abandon you when you need their company the most.

Reactions

Where in the world did spring break go!?!? It is truly amazing how fast that week can (and did) go by without noticing it. I suppose it was not all a blur, but wow. I am very thankful for the time I got spend with my family and friends. I even got a little homework done, but only what I absolutely needed to do; after all, it was spring break, meaning I had the right to be a little lazy...right? Of course! One of my favorite moments was right at beginning of break when I made a surprise visit to a friend of mine at work near the end of her shift. It was definitely a surprise, and it was simply great to visit and catch up. While it was a late night, it was totally worth it. There is nothing quite like the company of great friends, especially when they least expect it.

In this past week, certain thoughts had come to the forefront of my mind and decided to re-introduce a mental struggle of sorts. Generally, I tend to go a little crazy when there is a lot on my plate and simply do nothing because I cannot decided what to do first because everything seems to be equally trying to gain my attention. In regards to this past week, a particular circumstance (which, truth be told, was rather trivial) was just owning my thoughts and keeping me from being myself. I did not have a good reason to let this particular issue control my actions, but alas, that is exactly what happened. When you let some of the smaller things in this life overpower that which is more important, you will quickly find that you will not be as satisfied or content as you really should.

Somewhere in the middle of that mental battle, however, I was having a conversation with my Dad when he said something that I will not soon easily forget: "You cannot change the way things happen, but you can control how you react to them." Unfortunately, I forget the overall context of the conversation (but I do know it had nothing to do with that which I had been struggling), but that is besides the point. What my Dad said hit me right between the eyes; not only was this applicable to my current situation, but it is applicable to daily life in general. This life principle is truly a gem, and it is another reason why I cannot express how grateful I am for my Dad.

Life will constantly throw a myriad of circumstances our way, good and bad, and we will ultimately have little to no control over how those things come to pass. However, the way we choose to handle those circumstances can make all the difference in our lives. We can choose to wallow in a state of misery or perpetually complain about the undesirable situations. But will that get us anywhere? More than likely, no, it will not. The desirable experiences of this life are always easy to live out, but it tends to be the undesirable experiences that reveal our true colors. If we can be mature enough, strong enough, and faithful enough to react to any and all circumstances with a heart of purity and the desire to grow into the people God calls us to become, imagine how different the world could be.

The Power of Pride

So, I'm not sure if this is going to become a habit or not, but it seems as if my post ideas are stemming from situations that I find myself in on Monday nights. This is an interesting development indeed, but I suppose I will take what I have and make something out of it.

I was driving out to my young adults group last night, and about ten minutes into the trip I found myself behind a truck for a brief moment which had the following bumper sticker affixed to it:

The Power of Pride. This sticker is clearly conveying a sense of pride in our great nation and the power of having such pride. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it does bring up a rather interesting matter. No, I am not about to bash the USA or tell you that being proud of your country is a terrible thing (truth be told, I feel quite blessed to live in the USA and do my best not to take what I have as a result of living here for granted). What I would like to bring to the table is geared more towards the essence of pride in and of itself. Actually, I probably will not mention the USA much, if at all, for the remainder of this post; the bumper sticker just happened to trigger a posting obligation within me.

Pride is something that affects us all. In fact, it would be fair to say that pride itself is the root of many of the wrongs that we commit in this life. C.S. Lewis writes on the very matter in his essay, The Great Sin, which can be found within his work called Mere Christianity. I would strongly encourage you to read this essay; it should only take you five to ten minutes and I personally guarantee that it will be well worth your time.

Pride, as Lewis puts it, "is essentially competitive. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man." The source of much conflict in this world, past and present, can easily be traced back to pride and the unhealthy desire to simply be better at something for the sake of being better. Take a moment to reflect on your own life right now: are you pursuing something just so that you can place yourself higher on the chart when compared to your peers?

Now I should mention (as Lewis also does) that pride in the sense of finding pleasure in being praised or being "proud of" someone is not the evil Pride.  Taking delight in being recognized for something is not a bad thing until you begin to place yourself upon a pedestal and begin to have thoughts along the lines of "What a great person I must be to have done _____." Being proud of someone is, perhaps, better expressed as having admiration or regard for someone because of something they have done. As long as one does not go so far as to sinfully idolize the person of admiration, the problem of Pride will not be an issue.

Ultimately, we must be wary of Pride in our lives and how we let it affect us. It can create animosity between people as well as between people and God. As I said a moment ago, think about your life and how you may be letting Pride take the wheel. Perhaps you think you are not prideful: I beg to differ. As Lewis so adequately puts it, "If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed." I know I struggle with Pride in my own life. How we choose to act on such feelings and impulses will make the difference. By first recognizing that we are prideful will bring us quite closer to achieving some level of humility. I would argue that life is much better lived in loving community with others, so why try to always be fighting to be on top of everyone else? Obviously there is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve different things in this life, but a motive check would not hurt.

I feel as if I should address the bumper sticker. To be honest, the sticker basically only served as a jump-start to the content about which I would be blogging and I really had no intentions of writing much about the sticker itself. However, I think it deserves a little bit of attention (which could very well adequately conclude my thoughts): being proud of one's country is not a bad thing in any way. The question is whether or not that admiration is leading towards rash, ill-conceived competitive action. If that is the case, beware of Pride. As the Proverb goes, "Pride comes before the fall" (my paraphrase). You are not the only human being on this earth: while it is okay to look out for yourself, your time would be better spent looking out for others above yourself. Living a life of neighborly love will always be more rewarding than only living for yourself and letting your Pride corruptively and selfishly dictate your every move.

Making a Difference

Allow me to preface what I am about to say by officially welcoming myself to the blogging world. Yay!! *Confetti* *Other Random Party Effects* This is definitely something new for me, unless, of course, you count micro-blogging via Twitter. By the way, follow me: @zkantner. Anyway...

As I was saying, blogging is basically a new concept for me, but I feel rather inclined to give it a go. Why, you may ask? Two reasons. The first is simply that I want to express some of my thoughts in writing, cacophonous as they may end up being. Writing is a primary form of communication, the quality of which seems to be running down the drain at an exponentially increasing rate among people my age and younger. I want to further develop my personal writing technique and hopefully stir up some healthy conversation at the same time. The second reason is more or less a child of the first: I think about/read about/hear about various different things every week, and I feel as if I just do not give some of a majority of those things a fighting chance outside of a short one to two minute conversation with a friend or two. Do I expect everyone and their mother to read and respond to what I have to say? Of course not, but there is nothing wrong with at least putting some thoughts out there for anyone who cares to take a look. So, here's to a new experience with endless possibilities!

Last night I attended a short chapel for the Collaboratory at school. This particular chapel is a weekly occurrence which takes place before the various Collab groups go their separate ways and work on various projects that have worldwide impact (such as projects with World Vision). This particular chapel featured Dr. Michael Zigarelli, a professor of leadership and strategy. I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of having him for a class yet, but I will at some point next year (and I am genuinely excited for when that opportunity finally arrives).

Dr. Zigarelli spoke to us of an event that happened back in 1999 when he used to work at Fairfield University in Connecticut. One day he noticed that when his young son went out to get the paper, he stood at the end of the driveway staring into the sky at some unknown yet captivating sight. Dr. Zigarelli figured he might as well have a look since his son, at this age, would only pay attention to Barney and related TV shows for the same span of time that he spent staring into the sky on this morning. It turns out that the boy was looking at three news helicopters hovering not to far out in the distance behind their house. Later that day, Dr. Zigarelli learned that these helicopters were hovering above a scene where, hours before in the dead of night, a single mother and her four sons were killed by an Amtrak train. The mother was running across the tracks to retrieve her youngest son when the horrific incident occurred.

After recalling the incident, Dr. Zigarelli went on to mention that this woman, Julia Toledo de Urgiles, happened to be a custodian at Fairfield University, the very same place where he worked. She happened to be struggling to pay for everything. She was only making minimum wage and was attempting to support four children as a single mother. Dr. Zigarelli and Julia never had contact with one another, but Julia represented a type of person that many of us tend to ignore or may even be ourselves. She was invisible. She was one of the people that many of us today simply overlook. There are just some people with whom we do not concern ourselves. It is a downright regrettable truth. We live our lives, interact with those we know, and try our best to stay out of everyone else's business. But when we step back and take a minute to examine the situation, there are many invisible people, like Julia and her children, who are very real people with very real lives and very real problems. And like the rest of us, they deserve the same love and respect that we give our friends.

In the words of Dr. Zigarelli, "In Jesus Christ, there are no invisible people." Everyone in this world longs to be loved, cared about, listened to. What if we actually took the time to give someone else a little bit of our time? What if we chose to dwell with those who, in our selfish and corrupted mindsets, appear to be below us when really they are people just like us? What if we gave that person across the coffee shop a chance to feel like a real human being? What if we actually loved people the way Jesus taught us to love? I think the world would be a very different and more likable place.

"Making a difference begins with one person at a time. Making a difference begins with one conversation at a time." These words from Dr. Zigarelli struck me at the core last night. If someone had taken the time to get to know Julia, maybe offer her some help, would her situation have been any different? We will never know, but I would go out on a limb to say that circumstances would most definitely have been different.  It is time we all reconsidered how we go about our daily lives.  For all we know, one conversation could make a world of difference in someone's life.  If we are so busy that we cannot find even a few minutes to engage in someone else's life to make them feel like they matter, then our priorities are way out of order.


Romans 12:9-13