Prize31

September 3, 2010

Nothing New Under the Sun by Rachel Larsen

“There is nothing new under the sun” Ecclesiastes 1:9

I work at a restaurant called Café J here in Lubbock. In so many ways I feel God has placed me there to invest in the lives of the people who work there. So many are broken, discouraged, and hopeless in this world and I believe God has asked me to play a part in their recovery.

One day I was having a conversation with one of our waiters. He is living paycheck to paycheck, and paying the consequences of his younger
years as a drug addict. My heart goes out to him, and he really humbles me. But on this particular day, he was discussing the problems he faces today, and how there is never an end to the tragedies befalling him. While he was talking I remembered a time when I had felt the same way, I wasn’t making many friends in college, I had just lost two grandparents within a month, had a friend in ICUand my parents were on the brink of divorce. So I explained to him how I believe that each season of our lives is to help us grow and learn, That we are molding ourselves through trials to become strong people in the end.

Because really, don’t our difficult seasons turn us to God?

When is it that we pray until our knees hurt and rely solely on God for our answers? When we’re waiting in the emergency room, or just had our hearts broken, or when all our brilliant plans go out the window and our world has crashed down around us. We don’t just bow our heads and walk to church…we RUN.

Run straight to the only light in the darkness. We run to Him because we know that He will always love us and can help us through the fog.

When I was in a similar situation as my fellow waiter, I had felt hopeless. One thing after another kept hitting me and breaking me down…or so I thought. It seemed every day brought new problems and I was in the habit of throwing myself pity parties daily. Finally, my fiancé called me on it. He told me that I shouldn’t be thinking of how all these things were happening to me, but that maybe God was working on my soul through these trials. And he was right. With every situation, I learned to become more patient, more compassionate, and in a way, every trial I encountered was preparing me for the next. I realized that we are really at our best when in the midst of tribulation because we are not slacking in our walks with Christ, we look to Him for the best comfort and healing.

It is easy for me to say this now, that I can look back and see how the problems I faced brought me closer to God. But I know that it’s not easy when in the midst of turmoil. Even now, I constantly am reading Ecclesiastes to pinpoint which season I think I’m in. Am I scattering seeds? Am I uprooting? It is much more difficult for me to see the positive in the season I’m in now…sometimes it seems so routine that I feel like I’m just waiting for something to happen. At least I can be confident that there is nothing new under the sun, and God will prepare me and give me strength for every trial I take on.

“a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and at time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time tobuild, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Ecclesiastes 3:2-4

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What place would you like to visit? Machu Picchu, as soon as I saw it on the travel channel it has been beckoning me, I can’t wait to climb it!

What is your favorite book? Gone With the Wind, only if you include the sequel, Scarlett, I like happy endings

What is on your shelves? I read about a book every week, so plenty, I just finished The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, it was good!

September 2, 2010

Distance

“The seasons on Earth are caused by the tilt of the Earth’s axis – they are NOT caused by the differences in the distance from the sun throughout the year.” source

So we’ve learned in the above astronomy lesson:

Warm summer months are not brought on because the earth is close to the sun.

Cold winter months are not brought on because the earth is far from the sun.

But because our mind always goes to the simplest explanation, kids generally make this their first guess when learning about seasons. Why does it get cold? Why does it get hot? They guess that it’s because the earth is closer to or further from our heat source, the sun. But that assumption is wrong.

Can the astute student guess where this science lesson is going?

As we live in Christ, we all go through seasons.

And because our minds always go to the simplest explanation, we generally assume that the season we’re in is directly related to how close we are to the Son. Why do we hurt? Why do we experience pain? Trials and pain must be caused when we are far from the Son, and joy and goodness are always found when we are close to the Son – But that assumption is wrong.

It’s a forfeit Christianity that tells us “All will be well, and life will be good, if I just love Jesus enough. And if all is not well, and all is not good, I must work harder to love him more.”

Reading God’s word, I am being reassured that I can be loving Him, following Him, pleasing Him, and still heartache will come. Pain happens, and the winter seasons of life come; it doesn’t always mean I’m far from the Son. (And as a side note, when we see hurting people, we must not assume they are far from the Son either.)

When life is hard, don’t heap guilt on yourself on top of the pain you’re feeling — “My faith must not be strong enough…..I must need to work harder to please Him…..” He is there. He loves you. I hear His voice especially loudly in the winter seasons, because in times of suffering He lovingly reveals my areas of weakness, pride, and wrong attitudes that need to be pruned away. His Holy Spirit speaks and works at all times, in all seasons. In the winter seasons, rest in Him and find peace in His word. It affirms that He is there with you in the pain.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

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BLOGGER ID QUESTIONS

1. Really? A blog post including astronomy references? I took an astronomy class in college in order to meet one of my science requirements. It got me out of taking Chemistry , but it required WAY more math skills than I had, and was among the hardest classes of my college career!

2. What college did you go to? Northeastern State University in beautiful Tahlequah, OK. NSU is 5 minutes from the Illinois River, where we spent lots of time camping and canoeing. Jonathan and I met lifelong friends there. I got my Masters degree in Communication Disorders at The University of Texas at Dallas. No rivers to float there, or camp fires surrounded by guitar playing friends, (there was mostly just lots of hard work) so thoughts of UTD don’t bring the same warm fuzzies.

3. So do you use your degrees? Enough to help pay my student loans! I work 2 days a week as a Speech-Language Pathologist for the Early Childhood Intervention Program. I work with babies age birth to three, who have a language disorder or feeding impairment. I love it.

Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK

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September 1, 2010

The List & The Single Girl by Jennifer Riley

I’ll never forget the talk that Neil Clark Warren gave my single’s class one Sunday. He challenged us to make a list of the characteristics we desired in a spouse. During this exercise we were allowed to list everything we could think of, cull it down to 21 and ultimately reach the final list of 10 must-have characteristics.

I took this exercise to heart. I worked and worked on my list. For three weeks, I edited and revised and finally came up with my must-have list.

It was about a year later that I met someone who had every characteristic on my list–every single one. We met at a group trip to a Star’s game and began dating shortly after. We had so much in common. We bought season tickets to the Star’s and Dallas Summer Musicals together. We volunteered for causes on the second Saturday of each month. We liked the same movies, restaurants, books and considered hitting golf balls or dancing a fun night on the town. We went to our respective BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) groups on Tuesdays. He was handy to fix things when they broke, had survived major adversity in his life and was going somewhere professionally. He was sold out to God. He topped out the characteristics on the list. Every. Single. One.

We made it through Summer Musicals, but if you know anything about hockey, then you know that it’s a long season. About two months into the season, things began to go a little flat. I can’t explain exactly why, but despite all that we had in common, there was not that spark you would hope to have with a mate. I prayed: “God, please help us. We are so compatible. Remember the LIST?”

That relationship didn’t work out and I didn’t understand why. That’s because during my single season, God showed me first hand my ways were not His ways. The list I made was good for my current circumstances, but would not translate into a marriage meant to go the distance.

Seasons are when God uses us to prepare for the bigger picture in life. I consider my single season one of my happiest and God used those ten years to prepare me to be a better wife, mother, friend, ministry leader and professional. Even though I kept calling uncle, God kept on working. Refining. Growing. Maturing.

I never made another must-have list again. It’s a good thing, because when I met my husband Chris he met only three of those must-haves. By the time I met him I knew full-well that my ways were not God’s ways. I am so grateful!

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What happened to the hockey tickets? Interestingly enough this is one of the first questions people ask when I tell them this story. By January, we had dinner and delegated the tickets to a draft. I had a good time the rest of the season taking my friends to the games.

What happened to the guy? When we broke up, he reconnected with his high school sweetheart. I believe they have five kids and live on a farm. (If you know me well, you know that God knew what was best–cue Garth Brook’s Unanswered Prayers.)

Are you against lists? I currently have a list for this morning, this afternoon, this week, this month and working on a master list to the end of the year. Not against lists. Just learned they are better suited for tasks rather than finding a spouse.

What’s my favorite season? Fall. I love the change in the landscape. I hate being too hot or too cold. I love the crispness in the air in the mornings and evenings and the pleasant afternoons.

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