Daily Archives: January 27, 2012

I just found a bunch of posts on my Blackberry that I had begun and left there, I just cleaned out those drafts and posted a few of them below… you may have noticed that I am back to blogging… i wonder how long it will last…

To leave comfort is to grow. To give up control is to grow in faith. To be placed out of the expected is to grow. When we lose control of our direction and give it to others we learn to grow in dependence on that which is not ourselves. For those of us who are independent and self reliant, to allow others to be in control is a hard thing. But it is a good thing. To sit back and let others lead, and allow them to make mistakes is to trust. Even if that trust is misplaced and momentary mistakes are made, in the grand scheme of things our long term growth is more important and thus the experience is valuable. To trust and to follow Jesus is simultaneously wonderful and frightening.
Oh my dear loving and great God, I am glad to place myself in your hands. I know that your hand is before us and on us. I believe you can keep me on the course of life. You are greater than circumstances and the too frequent bad decisions that put us there. You are great and I place my trust in you for this day. Thank you.

Why are our hearts hardened toward those we don’t like or are different from ourselves?

We all want to be forgiven, so why is it, too often, so hard to forgive?

Several years ago while preparing to train a team of adolescents to serve on a mission trip with Christian Educators Outreach in Hungary, a friend told me about two ‘rules’ she had learned in training to serve in Africa. The first rule I boiled down (because I try to boil everything down to the simplest term possible and then expand when necessary) to this: No Expectations. This has become known in my circles (often in a derogatory sense) as rule 1. One young man said that it doesn’t apply to God. Maybe. I say maybe because we can and should biblically expect much from God. Scripture is packed with His promises. These we can expect. But rule 1 is not really about God. Its about humans, and culture, and the things in this life where other people make decisions and do things which are up to them. So, the point of rule 1 among us humans is this: I should not expect you to do what I want. Further, when I am traveling abroad on mission in cultures different than my own, I should not expect things like food that’s tastes the way I like it or comes in quantities that I get in America. It means I should not expect ice or free refills or hot showers or even a toilet seat. When I am abroad, I should go with an open mind.
Indeed I would suggest that if I travel my path with limited expectations, I can more easily cultivate a heart of gratitude rather than one of grumbling. to approach life with lowered expectations on my fellow humans will afford me the pleasure of more pleasant surprises for which I may be thankful, rather than the whining that I (we) are so often prone to feel and then demonstrate through griping.
This does not mean we don’t stop having any expectations on people totally, it just means that when I’m in someone else’s context, I adapt to their culture in areas of what I want.