Where is your refuge?

My morning routine [usually] looks very similar on a day-to-day basis, even on the weekends. Part of that routine involves some time in the Word. One particular resource I use during this time is the InTouch Ministries Daily Devotions, which I receive in magazine form. Last Monday's subject was Encouragement in Every Season, and the associated Scripture was Psalm 62:5-8. The devotional from Dr. Stanley focused on how God is faithful, He will do exactly what He says, He is more than adequate to meet our every need, He is always with us...you know, some fairly standard truths. One particular quote I found helpful, right at the very end of the devotional, was this:

“Difficulties may cause us to question God’s dependability. But if we’ll place our trust in our omniscient, omnipotent Father, we can begin each morning with a fresh sense of His faithfulness, which will carry us through the day."

I believe I have experienced enough life to know that to be true for myself. If I may, though, I want to speak to the passage of Scripture itself in the way that it came off to me when I read it. For reference, here it is:

⁵ My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
⁸ Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.            Selah.        (Psalm 62:5-8 NASB)

David starts this Psalm in the first verse by making a statement: "My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation." I find it interesting how in verse 5, as we see above, that he seems to be reminding himself that yes, indeed, you need to wait for God: He is where your hope comes from. It's probably fair to say that we need to remind ourselves of this regularly. I know I do. It is all too easy to get caught up in the things of the world. It is too easy to feel hopeless today. Not to sound cliché, but all you have to do is turn on the news. Remembering that God is our hope, that He is our stronghold, that in Him, we cannot be shaken...remembering this is paramount to surviving, especially from a mental standpoint.

What really grabbed my attention, though, was verses 7 and 8. "My refuge is in God." What is a refuge? According to Merriam-Webster, it is... 

1. shelter or protection from danger or distress
2. a place that provides shelter or protection
3. something to which one has recourse in difficulty 

God is our Creator. He knows all things. He is everywhere at once. He is all-powerful. He is so many things, and He is also our shelter from danger. He is our protector. He is our source of help in times of difficulty. When trouble comes, we can run to Him. No matter what. He is always waiting for us with open arms. We see this time and again in Scripture. Even if we are responsible for our own trouble, He still will be there for us when we decide to come home to Him. Just read the parable of the prodigal son. God's love for us is unconditional: it doesn't matter what we've done or what we're facing. We can always find refuge in Him. But if you're anything like me, you tend to forget this, often times in moments when you need God the most. And then you choose to run to someone else, or something else. Only God can fully satisfy. Plus, finding genuine refuge in Him doesn't have the possibility of further negative outcomes. Depending on what you substitute for God, you can all too easily find yourself in a cycle of unnecessary misery.

God calls to us to pour out our hearts to Him. Only He knows us well enough to take our outpourings and cause us to see ourselves for who we really are, which is who He says we are. At the end of the day, what God thinks of you is all that matters. Why wouldn't we want to run to Him for refuge in times of hardship? He is omni-everything-good. So why do we choose to take refuge elsewhere? I cannot answer that question for everybody. Some days, I don't think I could even answer that for myself. I don't want to simplify it by saying "we're human," though that is, naturally, true. One of the most frustrating things in life has got to be knowing what you should do, but not doing it (or knowing what you should not do, but doing that anyway). We think that doing what feels good for a moment will be enough to numb the pain. But it never is. We need a God who heals us, a God who sees us exactly for who we are and knows exactly how to care for us. He can certainly work through other people to help us, but if we're not doing our part of actually seeking Him, we're going to miss out on His best for us. We may even go down a path we never intended to walk.

When you find yourself in times of trouble, seek refuge: seek God. I promise you that running to anything else will only leave you wanting.

What Love is This?

If you were not already aware, we are currently in the midst of Holy Week. Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday, two days from now is Good Friday, and it all concludes with Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday, whichever one you prefer). At this time of year, we are reminded of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, made on the cross for us at Calvary. Because of Christ's death, we are given the opportunity to repent, believe that He is the Son of God who died for our sins on that cross, and confess Him as Savior and Lord. That gift of love grants us access to an eternity with God. Eternity! We could not achieve that any other way, and had it not been for the love that Christ put on display by offering Himself in our place, we would be hopeless.

That kind of love is simply unfathomable, or it is, at least, to me. It is truly an extravagant love. Now, the stereotypical Easter story is definitely enough to bring you to your knees or even to a place of weeping. This year, more specifically this morning, I found myself on the edge of tears not with the story of the cross, but with the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, found in John 11:1-46.

I was simply blown away by the pure love and compassion that Jesus displayed throughout this whole ordeal. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha, and in verse 5 it is made clear to us that Jesus loved each of them. Through an informant, Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick. Being God, Jesus knows the outcome of this as soon as he hears this news (well, actually even before that, but that is beside the point). He tells His disciples immediately that the sickness will not end in death, but rather it will result in the glorification of God. Jesus then purposely waits two more days, and then moves out with his disciples after telling them that Lazarus has "fallen asleep." The man was, in fact, dead, but as far as God was concerned, this was only temporary (hence the choice to describe the situation as having fallen asleep.).

Jesus eventually arrives in Bethany and is greeted by Martha, who was probably either crying or had been crying. Who can blame her? What she says first makes sense: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (verse 21). What she says next is truly astounding: "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You" (verse 22). In the following verses, Christ tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again and that He (Jesus) is the resurrection and the life, and that any who believe in Him will live even if they die. Martha tells Jesus she believes this, and then sends for Mary.

Mary enters the scene visibly weeping, and tells Jesus that had He been there, her brother would not have died. In verse 33, we are told, due to her weeping and those who came to support her who were also weeping, that Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and was troubled." This is, for the first time in my various times of reading this passage, where I started to really have trouble holding it together. Jesus asks where they have laid Lazarus, to which He is told "Lord, come and see." This is then followed by the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept" (verse 35). As simple as this verse is, these two words are packed with an incredible amount of love and emotion. In times previous, I read over this without so much as a blink. This morning, I stopped in my literary tracks. "See how He loved Him" was what was said immediately following this moment. I think what really gets me about this is that before arriving at the scene, Jesus knew Lazarus was dead. Nothing changed. He knew everything about the situation. Yet in the presence of His people...in the presence of those who were hurting...Christ hurt with them. 

The love that Jesus displayed in this moment is, in my mind, arguably one of the best moments outside of the cross that illustrates just how much God loves His people. He loves us enough to hurt with us...to weep with us. He was deeply moved then, and I believe without a doubt that He still becomes deeply moved when He sees some of the directions that our lives take. Yet through it all, He boundlessly loves us. This limitless love was truly on display in the sacrifice He made for us on the cross, but at the moment I find it difficult to simply comprehend the love He displayed in John 11:33-35. I just cannot get past "Jesus wept." This extremely real love makes Jesus that much more relatable to us as humans.

What love is this? What kind of love does God have for us that He would be moved enough to weep when He knew that He would ultimately raise Lazarus from the dead and all would be well? It is by far an undeserved and indescribable love. It is the same love with which Christ went to the cross to bear each and every one of our sins. Christ died to make a way for us to eternally know God because He loved us too much to leave us with no way out of eternal separation from Him.

The love of Jesus in the story of Lazarus is simply too beautiful to breeze past. Take a moment to absorb that story. I challenge you, in the midst of the Holy Week story, to not let passages like this one pass you by. It is in moments like those where we can sometimes most tangibly feel the love of God. The moments when we hurt, when we fear, when we feel alone, when we feel hopeless... Jesus loves us too much to let us go through this life without a loving friend. He can be our Lord and Savior, but sometimes the mere fact that He can also be our loving friend to be there when we need Him most can be enough to satiate our souls.

Take a moment to ponder these thoughts, and while you do, perhaps listen to What Love is This by Kari Jobe in the background. Meditate on and drink in the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.

Choose Your Voice

There are many voices, thoughts, ideas, concepts, and views that are constantly clamoring for our attention. Perhaps it feels as if there are so many, that we simply slip into one or several of them and choose not to think or speak for ourselves.

Admittedly, that is definitely the easy way out. Why exert any effort to make a name for yourself? Why try to fight the machine? Just sit back and conform to the patterns around you, and everything will be fine. Right?

No. Absolutely not. We do not exist for mechanical uniformity. Each and every one of us has a voice, and we have a right to use it. Before we get carried away with my thought process, let's make one thing clear: making your voice heard can be a wonderful thing, but I would strongly advise doing so in a manner that is both intelligent and respectful. Otherwise, you will come across as incompetent, belligerent, shallow, or a combination of the three.

One of my favorite bands is We Came As Romans, whom I have blogged about before. The chorus of one of their songs contains lyrics that are as follow:

No one is born the king of silence / So choose your voice / Just speak up, don't back down / Don't wear that crown / Let your voice scream out / Don't let it hold you down / Be true to who you are

As a whole, 'The King of Silence' talks about how the world is full of selfishness and may not always be with you, but those are not excuses for us to take a backseat and not take a stand. Sometimes, we need to be the voice in the wilderness. Sometimes, in the midst of all that is wrong or uncomfortable, we need to be the ones to speak out against the dismal status quo. Sometimes, we need to put our fear behind us and power forward to a better set of circumstances.

I am not for a second saying that making your voice heard is easy, because for some, it just is not natural to take on that role. But we need to overcome that fear. You and I each have a voice that is meant to be heard. Again, we must do so responsibly, but it is within our power to speak up and be true to who we are. This is especially true when it comes to being in situations in which something is morally wrong. Never compromise your character: don't be the king (or queen) of silence. Speak up with excellence and care, and do not settle for mediocrity or complacency.

Useless for the Manure Pile

Okay, so assuming you read the title of this post, you are most likely curious enough to actually read this and are probably thinking one of the following thoughts:

• Did I actually read that correctly? (Yes, yes you did)
• It's not often that I see the word "manure," especially on the Web...
• What on God's green earth is this guy going to talk about?

Needless to say, I would agree that Useless for the Manure Pile is a very strange title indeed. However, there is a small chance that you may know what I am referencing. This phrase comes out of Luke 14:34-35, which reads:

"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (NASB)

The greater context of this passage (verses 25-35) is where Jesus is describing how we need to carry our own cross and be willing to give up anything and everything for Him in order to be his disciple. Then we get to the salt metaphor. Essentially, what Jesus is saying here is that we are either wholly His, or we are not: there appears to be no middle ground. We are either salty and thusly effective in our daily walk of discipleship, or we are tasteless salt, which is absolutely worthless. And by worthless, I mean not even worthy of a stinking pile of manure. If you are not even worthy of being chucked into a pile of excremental fertilizer, that would put you pretty low on the totem pole.

I read this passage earlier today, and it served as a wakeup call. I pray it does for you as well. If we fail to completely give ourselves to Jesus, are we giving Him anything at all? It would seem that we cannot effectively only give a part of us to Him; it has to be everything. I will be the first one to tell you that doing so is certainly not easy, but the calling to be Christ's disciple is a calling to something greater than ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to fully serve the God who died for us simply because He loved us. If what we are currently giving Him is not even fit for the manure pile, it's probably time to make a change.

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.