Been quite busy with stuff, I got to go snowboarding again yesterday and teach Tayler how to snowboard, she got it really quick (pissed me off...jk). My first day, and from what I hear, most peoples first day is usually bad, but she was cruising down the mountain, almost never fell, only a couple times.
God has been really testing my faith and trust in him the last few days, I'm really getting to a point where I can't even think without talking to Him first. It's what I've been wanting...to be utterly bent on God, literally making him the air I breathe. It so much harder than I thought, it makes me feel almost like a retard, I can't do anything without having God pushing me along...I know it's a good thing, it hard cause it's a different feeling.
There is a story I once heard of a young man who went to a wise spiritual leader and asked, "I want to know God like you do. Can you teach me?"
"To know god as I do you'll have to follow me," the leader said as he walked toward the sandy shore of the sea.
The teacher then had the young apprentice follow him out intil they were chest deep in the water. Suddenly, he grabbed the boy and helped his head under the water.
At first the boy thought, This is strange, but I'll go along with it. Then, as his oxygen supply began to thin, he struggled a bit, trying to communicate to the sage that it was time to come up--yet the sage held him firm. Struggle turned to panic and the apprentice kicked and thrashed and finally broke free.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he shouted at the wise man he once admired.
"When you want god as desperately as you wanted air, you will know him as I do." came the unruffled reply.
(Plastic Jesus, pg.135)
This story really hit me and it really made me want God to be the air I breathe. He can do so many amazing things, the lovely part of it is that He does it His way. I think of my way or a bad way or something, and He does it completely different and makes you joyful, I don't know how He does it, but I love it and love Him.
But, yeah...that's been my life the last few days, lots of contemplating.
Peace
This is
- Andrew Burcham
- Phoenix, Arizona, United States
- ...Nothing too special here...I love God...Love what Jesus did for us...Love ALL my family...Love ALL my friends...Love hockey...and here are some versus that I love... Galatians 1:10..1 Thessalonians 2:12..James 1:2-4..Philippians 2:3-4..Philippians 3:13..Philippians 4:13..Colossians 4:5..Job 42:1-2..Jeremiah 1:6-7
3 comments:
Wow. That's an awesome anecdote! Thanks for sharing it.
And you're definitely not a retard (how un-PC!)... I think you're just about where we're all supposed to be, even though for my part I often fancy I can handle the day-to-day stuff and leave the big stuff for God. I know, how stupid is that? But like I told you on the phone earlier, those times are when we get the self-sufficiency knocked right out of us. Two quotes for you, and believe it or not, only ONE of them is C.S. Lewis. ;-)
1. Lewis ends his poem As the Ruin Falls with the simple statement, "The pains You give me are more precious than all other gains." I think you are learning what he meant.
2. The last verse of an old song by Leon Patillo called I Surrender:
Sometimes it's hard to belong to Thee
But here I am, Lord, on my bended knee
For the highest place on earth
Is still at Your feet.
I'm praying for you, and delighted beyond all description that you "can't think without talking to Him first." Would that we all (myself included!) felt that way more often.
God bless you bro, and hang in there! In my experience, God doesn't take people on wild rides like the one you're on unless He really wants to shake your world and do something amazing.
Because He lives!
Tedd
That's some heavy stuff Andrew. You amaze me with your faith and eagerness to know our Lord so well. What an inspiration!
Hang in there. Like Ted said, He will do something amazing!
By the way, I love the two quotes Ted posted. Who knew I'd learn so much from reading the blogs of others?
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