Lessons Pt 1

God is building my confidence. He is building my confidence in Him and in myself. Have you ever read You are Special by Max Lucado? It is a great little story about these little wooden “wimmicks” who give stars to the other wimmicks if they deem them special and dots to the wimmicks they don’t see as being so great. Punnichelo only ever gets dots, but one day meets Lucia, who has no stars or dots. The stars and dots just won’t stick to her. Punnichello wants to be like Lucia, so he asks how she does it. Lucia replies, “I go see Eli everyday.” Punichello goes to see Eli in His workshop. Eli is the creator of the wimmicks, and tells Punichello just how special he is and how much He cares for Punichello, because He made him and if he comes to see Him everyday he will soon be like Lucia and understand why. On Punichello’s way out as he pondered the validity of what was just said, one dot fall to the floor and rolls away.

My dots are falling off and it is to the praise of God’s magnificent glory. Today I witnessed to a man and his son on the train home from Canterbury. This is the first time in my life, that I have started a conversation with a perfect stranger and shared the gospel. It was not too long ago that, that would have been a lot less likely to have happened. Though, the enemy tried to plant doubt I was not moved. Jesus Christ is the only way to the father. God sent His only son to fulfill the law, die on a cross, and be raised from the dead three days later. It is the confession of sin and belief in Jesus Christ that brings us to salvation. That, my friends, is something to get excited about.

Captivating, by John and Stasi Elderidge, the book I am reading now, is talking about how God wants to be chased after, just like I want to be chased after. He wants me to come to His workshop to see Him everyday. He wants me to pursue Him. God has been teaching me to chase after him whole-heartedly. To spend all my time thinking not just about what He would have me do, but just spend my time thinking about Him. To do things, purely because it pleases Him. My analogy is girly, but totally applicable.

A girl has just had a great conversation with a very attractive guy. He talked about golf and how he likes Pepsi more than Coke. All of a sudden she is golfing and drinking Pepsi, even though she doesn’t consider G.O.L.F. an actual sport, and despite the fact that she is a die-hard coke fan, and absolutely despises the way Pepsi has this weird flavor that lays on her teeth after she drinks it. People do stuff like this so they can have something in common and we do things purely because he or she talked about it for half a second.

This goes back to what God was beginning to teach me about obedience at the end of this past term. I find myself starting to do things that are against the rules, but I know no one enforces that rule, and I have done this plenty before, and its no big deal, but for some reason I can’t bring myself to do whatever it was again. For instance I put my trainers (tennis shoes) on to go to work, because I don’t particularly love wearing my Danskos. However, in order to leave the house I had to walk all the way back upstairs, change shoes, and then go. I felt dumb for changing my shoes, but I can tell you I felt proud to wear my Danskos that day. I guess what I am saying is God is teaching me how to love him.