Back to School

Last week I moved back up to school with the intention of continuing to write semi-consistently. I knew that I wouldn't be able to write every day, but I was hoping for every other day or every third day. Boy, have I been wrong. After moving back in, a whirlwind of activity came up around me and now it has been over a week since I last wrote. This is ridiculous.

Not only that, but when I do find those brief moments where I could write, I don't know what to say. Donald Miller recently posted a blog about that: what to do when the well runs dry. That's what I feel like, that I have nothing good to say. I know God is teaching me things still, but they are harder to see amidst all the craziness of being back to school, with class, homework (yes, I'm doing homework. Who would've thought?), AGO, and CRU. Throw in wanting to see everyone again and catch up, My day gets booked up pretty quickly. But alas, I think one of the ways I can get out of this writers block is if I start writing. Therefore, I'm going to start talking about what has been happening in my life and what God has been teaching me, and we'll see where it goes.

First of all, I cannot believe I'm a senior. I can't believe that I have been at USC for three whole years now. It seems like yesterday I was just moving in to my dorm getting ready for band camp. People always say make the most of college because it goes by too quickly, and oh man how true that is. I think every year of your life it feels like it goes quicker. I'm really hoping against that because if that's true my life is gonna be a complete blur after 30.

It's weird for me to think that I'm the oldest person on campus. That my fellow seniors and I are the ones freshman look up to and think are ancient. Am I living the life I want to show the freshman? Honestly, I don't think so. My friend showed me a blog recently about how we can't store up "spirituality" and then coast for a while. No, it is a constant thing we need to do. We must pursue God every day. And it'll make life better. I know this last week my brief quiet times are some of the best times of my day. They are like God is saying "Nick, come to me and unwind. Let's get you refreshed." There is no one or nothing else that can refresh me like God can, and that is awesome.

That being said, I want more of that. I want more time with God, whether it be in quiet time, reading books, talking to friends, or meeting in a small group. I think why I loved this summer so much is the fact that nearly every time I talked to a friend, God was brought up. It's weird. I feel like God kind of goes out the window when we get back to school and are all together again. So for those of you who are at school, let's change that. We all talk about how we miss the community when we're not at school, but where is the true community AT school? Maybe this is just me, so if it is, just tell me to open my eyes and look around. But if you semi feel this way too, let's do something about it.

Since when did this become "community"and replace real interaction?

Ok, change of topic. last week at Reality LA, there was a guest pastor (whose name I forgot) spoke about peace. There were a couple of points that I really liked. First, he talked about a relational peace, and cites John 14:27:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Then the pastor said something that I had been thinking about recently but couldn't say so eloquently. He said: "we often come to Jesus for the blessings and not for Jesus himself."

Bam!

I wish he had pulled an Emeril and yelled BAM after that line. It is so choice. How often do we come to Jesus with a list of to-dos for Him right before bed? How often do we just sit, reflect on who He is, and let Him talk for a while?

Touche God.

I know where I am in that spectrum. I almost always just go with requests. I know this year I'm going to have a easy time getting stressed out. Maybe instead of going to God and asking to remove the stress once it comes, continually spend time with Him and let Him transform me. That way a) I get to spend time with my creator and b) there's a good chance I won't get stressed. That's a win-win.

Well I think that's enough random thoughts for now. Hopefully this weekend I can pump out a few more posts (and you can keep me accountable to that). But before I'm out, let me ask you this: how have you been doing back at school? What things have you been learning? And if you are able to, let's talk about this in person.

Psalm 73

I have been off with my blogging lately. I haven't blogged in a long time, and last time I did, it just didn't feel right. I don't know what's up with me. Maybe God is using this time to teach me things and transform me from the inside out, so I'm not to the "out" part yet and I need to spend more time on the consuming from the inside part.

Even so, I love sharing things with all of you, so I figured I would share a Psalm that a friend showed me a few weeks ago. It's choice, and I definitely had it apply to me a couple of times since then. I am so glad God knows what I'm going to need and prepares it for me. It's like He loves me more than I can ever imagine. Oh wait, He DOES love me truly unconditionally. He's awesome!

With that, here is what I want to share with you. Psalm 73. Boom.

Be sure to take note of verses 1-3, 13-14, and then 21-28. Ahh so good. Maybe I'll write about it a little later.

Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;

I had nearly lost my foothold.

³ For I envied the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ They have no struggles;

their bodies are healthy and strong.

⁵ They are free from the burdens common to man;

they are not plagued by human ills.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;

they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷ From their callous hearts comes iniquity;

the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.

⁸ They scoff, and speak with malice;

in their arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹ Their mouths lay claim to heaven,

and their tongues take possession of the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance.

¹¹ They say, "How can God know?

Does the Most High have knowledge?"

¹² This is what the wicked are like—

always carefree, they increase in wealth.

¹³ Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;

in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴ All day long I have been plagued;

I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak thus,"

I would have betrayed your children.

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,

it was oppressive to me

¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

¹⁸ Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

¹⁹ How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

²⁰ As a dream when one awakes,

so when you arise, O Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

²¹ When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

²² I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

²⁷ Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸ But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds.

Ok I can't help it, I want to talk about this.

First, in verses 1-3, Asaph (the writer I assume) talks about nearly falling to envy of the wicked. I totally know that feeling. It's difficult sometimes seeing people who are clearly not following Christ being so prosperous and successful. It makes we want to ask God "Why do you let them become successful but you ask me to give up everything to You and potentially lose my life in a jungle in Africa?" This doesn't seem like a good trade-off.

Then he goes through and lists how arrogant the wicked are, and how they seemingly get away with anything they want.

¹³ Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;

in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴ All day long I have been plagued;

I have been punished every morning.

I'll be honest, there have been times in my life where I feel like I'm doing this "God thing" in vain. But (this may get controversial) God isn't proclaiming a prosperity gospel. He's preaching a gospel of "give me your entire self and you're life will be better than anything you could imagine." Maybe not better in the world's standard, but in light of eternity, you know, the part that matters, it is way better. That's what the problem is. Once we become Christians and dedicate our lives to the Lord, we are still stuck in this world until we go to heaven. And the problem with that is this world and the eternal/spiritual world cannot be compared. One is full of sin and destruction and one is perfect. I need to stop comparing my life with God with the lives of people who are not with God. I need to focus on my life and walk with the Lord.

Now that doesn't mean that I shouldn't actively pursue the lives of others and share the good news with them. Instead, I shouldn't get jealous of what other people are experiencing but find joy in the Lord.

Then comes verse 17. wow. It's the epiphany verse. Verse 16 puts it in context.

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this,

it was oppressive to me

¹⁷ till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

Once I put this life in context of being with God, everything makes sense. He is my portion and my pride. Everything I count as loss. It's like God is saying "once you really turn to me, all that other stuff that was making you jealous is nothing compared to my glory." God is good. He is better than anything and everything this world has to offer, which is all stuff God created and we ruined.

Like verses 23 and 24 say, God is always with us, right at our side, giving us counsel, waiting to take us into His glory.

Seriously verses 25-26 are just so perfect, and reading them makes me believe them even more and get excited about God. This is random, but don't you just love when God gives you that inexpressible joy that you know comes from nothing but Him. Yeah, definitely experiencing that right now and it's great.

I feel like all of the being "off" I experienced the last couple of days has evaporated, just going through this psalm slowly. He is my portion forever. Earth has nothing I desire besides Him. Praise the Lord!

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Thanks for reading these posts and encouraging me to keep writing. You are all such a blessing to me and I am so thankful for having all of you in my life. A lot of my spiritual growth this summer stemmed from this blog, and conversations around these topics. Thank you.

Everything is fleeting

Last week, I was blessed with the opportunity to drive to Texas and visit 2 friends who are now living out there, which is also why there have been no posts for a while...my bad. I absolutely loved Texas, which completely surprised me. But what I enjoyed even more was getting to spend quality time with some of my closest friends. Needless to say it was a great week, from going to the best waterpark in the country to running across Texas stadium in the rain (epic, I know).

Imagine being in the center in the pouring rain

However, throughout the week, I did not have a lot of Christ-focused conversations like I have been having this summer. Not to say we just talked about bad things all the time, but rather we just didn't bring up Christ a lot. I've never noticed that before. The idea that everything is fleeting doesn't really connect to that, but it totally did in my head, so I am going to talk about it.

I've come to realize that even though I claim to place all my trust in the Lord, I totally don't. I put trust in friends, in money, in my accomplishments, in my skills, in my surroundings. Why do I do this? I know everything else is fleeting. I think sometimes its easier to put trust in things we see. But as Hebrews 11:1 tells us,

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I don't know about you, but I definitely need to work on my faith. I can't physically see God, but I know He's there. Sometimes I wonder if God made it this way so we have to rely on Him even more and can't even use our physical senses to experience Him. I feel like I'm going on a tangent here. Back to why I thought of this.

It's so easy to put our trust in things we see, but those things won't last. I was talking to a friend recently about this, and how even the things we hold most dear will pass away.The idea of friendships fleeting hit me this last week. I can hope for all my friendships from childhood and then from college will last forever, but inevitably, they won't. I mean, I'm not even done with college and I have fleeting friendships! If my hope is in those relationships, I'm going to be hurting a lot. But if I'm trusting in the Lord, I can rely on my rock, my Savior. Not to say that losing friends can suck a little, but God will bring us through it.

Here is a verse to bring home a point.

⁶ A voice says, "Cry out."

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

"All men are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the LORD blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:6-8

When the perfection of God is merely blown on us, we wither. And if we are God's most proud creation, imagine what everything else does when He blows on it. He needs to be the solid rock we stand on. We need to go through life knowing that things might be good, but that they won't last.

This even goes so far to include mission work. As of right now I planning on being a full-time missionary, so this hit home for me. It may seem like mission work isn't fleeting because it's pleasing to God. False. We won't be ministering to people in Heaven, or at least I don't think so. Ergo, mission work is fleeting. I think I need to tell myself over and over that everything is fleeting, except God.

I've noticed that in college it is very easy to rely on everything else beside God. You have a steady place to live, friends around you 24/7, a set schedule, great community, etc. Yet when you graduate, you notice how quickly all that stuff fades away. I haven't graduated yet, but I know people who have/are experiencing this. It's a growing process for sure, but wouldn't it be nicer to trust in the Lord when things are good and going well?

Unfortunately, that rarely happens because we are so quick to attribute success and enjoyment to things other than God. Then when the storm comes, we turn to Him. I don't know if it's our culture or our ridiculous excess of wealth, but something makes it easier for us to tune out God.

My prayer right now is that I can trust solely in Him, and that I can take everything else for what it is; fleeting. I want God to be my rock and my salvation. I think Psalm 62 says it best (Scripture usually says it best...It is the word of God)

¹ My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

² He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Does your soul find rest in God alone? Is He your rock and your salvation?

I should clarify. I don't mean to say ignore everything else in your life except God. You can enjoy friends and family and success and all that jazz, just don't put your faith and hope in it. You have to remember that it can all go away, and if it did you'd be fine because you had placed all your trust in the Lord. A good question to ask yourself is how would you react to losing your closest friends or your job or your skills? Would it ruin you or could you move on?

Well, Hello Hurricane

A couple of days ago (the day of my rant post actually), I was driving home from work and listening to Switchfoot's Hello Hurricane album again, naturally. "Hello Hurricane" came on and I started singing it out loud. As I was singing it, I started just getting super joyful and praising God. It hit me how applicable the words were with what I was going through and where a lot of my friends were/are. It was a cool little culmination for me of what God had been teaching me for a few days. He's cool like that. Listen to the song and read the lyrics before I go on:

I've been watching the skies

They've been turning blood red

Not a doubt in my mind anymore

There's a storm up ahead

Hello hurricane, you're not enough

Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love

I've got doors and windows boarded up

All your dead end fury is not enough

You can't silence my love, my love

Every thing I have I count as loss

Everything I have is stripped away

Before I started building I counted up these costs

There's nothing left for you to take away

Hello hurricane, you're not enough

Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love

I've got doors and windows boarded up

All your dead end fury is not enough

You can't silence my love, yeah my love

I'm a fighter fighting for control

I'm a fighter fighting for my soul

Everything inside of me surrenders

You can't silence my love

You can't silence my love, yeah

Hello hurricane, you're not enough

Hello hurricane, you can't silence my love

I've got doors and windows boarded up

All your dead end fury is not enough

You can't silence my love

So yeah, it's a pretty sweet song. He starts out by acknowledging a storm coming. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should all expect storms to come. Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:12:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

That's pretty clear. Jon Foreman admits the storm is coming; he can see all the signs of it. However, like "Free", he doesn't dwell on the problem or the storm. He turns the glory to Jesus Christ. Hello Hurricane, you're not enough--Hello Hurricane, you can't silence my love. He's saying nothing that is thrown at him can separate him from the love of God. That's a cool thought. Imagine seeing a hurricane plow towards your house, and you sit there saying "hello hurricane, you're not enough. There's nothing that you can do that can ruin me. Try and tear down my house. I still have Jesus. Take the life of my family. Still have Jesus. Take MY life. Still have Jesus." I know that would be really difficult to say, but the fact is we STILL have Jesus. He's never going to leave us.

Also, I like how he says "hello hurricane." It's like he's just chatting with a neighbor. "Well hello there hurricane, nice to see you coming. Oh, I'm not scared of you." It's almost as if he's trivializing the danger, but in fact he's just relying on Christ. Sorry I'm kind of mixing metaphors and stuff. Whatever.

In another sidenote, for those of us in California where hurricanes aren't quite as frequent, the metaphor may be better suited to be "hello fire" or "hello mudslide." I know those don't quite mesh with the rhythm of the song, but think about it in light of the metaphor.

I think the next stanza in the song its the coolest to me. Everything I have I count as loss--Everything I have is stripped away-- Before I started building I counted up these costs--There's nothing left for you to take away. Nothing here matters except Christ, and nothing can take that away. It's like he's telling the hurricane to bring it on because it means he'll have to rely on God more. I was talking to a friend recently about how suffering sucks, but it brings us closer to Christ, which makes us wonder if we should want suffering. Trust me, I never thought I would be thinking about wanting suffering, but I was/am. I mean it does bring us closer to the Father. It's a weird thing to think about. What do you think?

Another cool part of that stanza is counting the cost. When we accept Christ, we must count the cost of following Him. That relationship isn't a one time, easy trip thing. It's a lifelong commitment where we give everything up for Him. You better count the cost. If we count the cost of buying some random thing at the mall, why don't we count the cost of a life transformation in Christ. Not counting the cost is just plain stupid.

Finally, he says I'm a fighter fighting for control--I'm a fighter fighting for my soul. This isn't an easy battle. It's not like our sin nature is just going to up and quit when we give our lives to Christ. We must fight for control and fight for our souls. Thank the Lord we have Him on our side so we can't lose, but we still have to fight. It may feel like you may lose battles, and you may lose battles with sin. But that doesn't mean the war is lost. Everything inside of my surrenders. The great thing is that we are fighting our own sin nature, so we can, in essence, force our sin natures to surrender. Force it to give up. Let it get beat down and killed by the awesome power of the Lord. It needs to die so that we can be fully reborn in Christ.

I know I'm a nerd, but I love Harry Potter books, and so I'm going to make an analogy. Our life is like that of a phoenix. Think of Fawkes. We must blow up and die in a fire, turn in to ash, and let our new souls rise out of the ashes. It's also cool how Fawkes does work and saves Harry and others many times throughout the books (Jesus reference anyone? Dies for us? Boom. Harry Potter isn't satanic!)

Yeah, I really like this song now too. It's amazing how once God reveals Himself in something I experience, I like it a lot more. It's probably because He is that AWESOME. So when the storms come, just say "hello _(problem here)____, you're not enough. You can't silence my love." I can't remember for the life of me where I heard this (I think Gen actually. Fantastic man of God) but someone once said "Live like Jesus is the only thing that matters." That is so true, especially because He is the only thing that matters.

I'm leaving for Texas in about 20 minutes (Woo 22 hour car ride!...) so I may or may not be writing many posts for the next week or so. It'll be a good time for me to focus on my relationship with Him and not so much how I can share it with people (no offense). Maybe I'll do a post on Texas. Perchance. I encourage you to spend time with God so that you can honestly say to the storms "you can't silence my love."

Getting Candid with Candide

Yesterday I was debating what I should blog about and whether or not I should even blog. A friend of mine was giving me different ideas, and I liked them all, but I just wasn't feeling the whole blogging thing. I just finished reading Candide, by Voltaire, and so I thought it would be an opportune time to just be candid. So here you go, this is me being completely candid and writing about whatever comes to my mind. Enjoy!

I didn't like Candide as much as I thought I did when I read it in high school. Back then, I remember Candide being a legitimately funny, sarcastic book. I never thought people born before 1900 could be funny. Turns out they could be. Well fast forward 4 years, and I'm just don't think it's as funny anymore. It is super tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic, which I usually laugh at, but the themes they make jokes about just aren't as funny. Basically this guy named Candide goes through life thinking everything is for the best, but continually finds himself in terrible situations, and hears stories of people in horrible situations. Seriously, some of the stories are gruesome and Voltaire just makes a joke about it. As I was reading Candide and realizing this lack of laughter from the "humor," I remembered a recent Stuff Christians Like blog. It was called "Suddenly realizing you're more conservative than you used to be."

That is totally me. I used to laugh at everything, at anyone's expense, but now I actually get convicted about what is appropriate funny and what's not. For instance, I've seen Blazing Saddles legitimately 20 times, and can quote nearly the entire movie. I used to say it was my favorite movie, but I watched it recently and was offended and disgusted by it. It kind of made me sad that my favorite movie was no longer very funny (don't get me wrong, there are still funny parts that are appropriate enough) but I was also glad that God was convicting me and my mind was responding. It's easy to feel like you are constantly facing an uphill battle with no end in sight, so it's great when you notice changes. They are just another one of God's many blessings.

I made one of my summer goals to purify my movie and music choices, and apparently God is doing that in my life. I'm stoked that it's happening, but now I just need to learn how to interact in those regards with people who don't have the same views with me on "inappropriate" media. It'll be a challenge, but that's why I rely on God and not my own strength. My own strength would get really frustrated and judge them probably.

So all in all, I guess I have to say I was disappointed with Candide and would no longer recommend it to people. That's rare for me. Keep in mind that if I ever don't recommend a book to you, it's probably a really terrible book. But, I did like the cover of the book; it was covered in comics.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I was at action sports conferences and trade shows, and it wiped me out, both physically and spiritually. I had been on a spiritual high the last couple weeks, learning a ton about God and watching friends experience the same thing. Then the conferences hit, and I got slammed. The action sports world is all about drinking, smoking, cussing, and objectifying women. I think I had forgotten about the real world that's all around us when I was in my little happy Christian bubble. Well that bubble popped real quick on Tuesday, and I felt like I was out to dry.

the last 2 days I felt so distant from God, and it was bumming me out. I was dry and not connecting with God at all. This was why I didn't want to blog, why I didn't want to read Case for Christ (my next book I'm reading), Why I just wanted to sit around.

Fortunately, God is awesome and is always by our side, even if we don't think He is. Everything I DID look at was pointing me straight back to Him. Friends were writing about brokenness in blogs, my bible reading was about being broken, every blog I read was about being broken, tweets about being broken, it was ridiculous. How could I be so oblivious to all of it?

That's when it hit me. That's when I remembered that God is always by my side, that He loves me unconditionally, that He wants what's best for me, and that He will never leave me or forsake me. Even if I think I'm in a complete desert with God, He's actually right next to me.

I know that even though I recognize that now, and it has pulled me out of that dry spell, I will probably forget it quickly if I don't dwell on the Lord all the time.

In this time of spiritual dryness, God was also bringing up sins in my life that I need to work out, especially with my pride and selfishness. I was disgusted with myself more than I was with the junk around me at the action sports trade show. I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but if you ask God to do a work in you, don't be surprised when he does, and don't be surprised if it hurts. Your sinful nature doesn't want to die, and will put up a fight. Turn to God, and He'll get you through it.

Today I started following a CS Lewis daily quotes twitter and got really excited (told you this would be a random blog).

Also, these last few days made my post college life more and less confusing. It is less confusing because I really don't see myself as a missionary (we're all called to be missionaries, in whatever field we choose) in the action sports industry, at least the part of the industry I saw this summer. It's more confusing though because God has given me a passion for surfing and snowboarding and a skill in video editing, but I don't see how they can be used to glorify Him with me as a missionary there. Alas, that is why I'm not worrying about post-World Race until after I go on the World Race. If you don't know what it is, check it out here and talk to me about it, please! I love talking about the race and the awesome things that happen on it.

I'm going to Texas in 2 days and I can't wait. I've heard Austin is a beautiful city, so I'm looking forward to that. What I'm not looking forward to is the 21+ hour car ride...

I will be seeing a lot of this come Saturday...

Welp, I think that's everything I want to talk about right now. That was me getting candid with Candide, among other things.

Forgotten God

Back by popular demand, and by popular demand I mean 1 person, I'm writing another blog on a book! Woo!

Francis Chan has written several books, with his first and most popular being Crazy Love. I really liked it, so I was excited to pick up his next book, Forgotten God. I don't know if it was when I read it or what, but Forgotten God just didn't hook me like Crazy Love did. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading this book, I just wasn't as captivated by it.

I think a big reason some people aren't a huge fan of Chan's writing is that he asks a lot of questions to get you to think, and then tells you to put the book down and think about it. It's good, but different than most other writers. I enjoy getting the tough questions thrown at me. Instead of just speed reading through a book, it's good to get reminded to stop and think about what you're reading. Ok, enough about style and whatnot, time for content.

The full title is Forgotten God: reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit. In case you were wondering, the forgotten God he's talking about is the Holy Spirit. Right from the beginning, Chan points out that we have come to neglect the Holy Spirit, and by we I mean the church as a whole. There are people who are completely in tune with the Holy Spirit, but for the most part the church has neglected it.

The Holy Spirit was sent by God to dwell in us. Sweet right? Well not only that, but He also IS God. That means we have the God of the universe dwelling inside of us. When I see that truth, I ask myself why I ever have doubt as to what God can do through me. It also is a good reminder of Philippians 4:13, which says:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Next, Chan gives some reasons why there may be neglect for the Holy Spirit, the biggest being fear. What if He doesn't come through? I don't want to lose my faith in Him. Maybe we should pray for His promises and not that new car we want. Here's a good quote:

It really comes down to trust. Do you trust God that when He says no or "not in this way" to you, you still believe He is good and doing what is best?

On the flip side, are we fearful of what He WILL do if we ask for the Holy Spirit? I've touched on this before, but it requires complete sacrifice because God can and will ask you for anything and everything. This process will not be easy or painless, but it will allow God to make you into the person you were created to be. I really like how Chan uses a Narnia reference to this, specifically the transformation of Eustace from dragon back to boy.

For those of you who have never read the Chronicles of Narnia, I strongly encourage you to read them. They are a great image of Jesus in a fantasy novel. But this scene is a boy who became a dragon and tries to peel his skin off to become a boy again, but he is unable (he's trying to do it by his own strength). Then Aslan comes (the Christ figure in the book) and tells the boy that He can do it for him, but it will hurt. The lion (Aslan is a lion) then uses his claws to cut deep into the dragon in order to shed his "sinful" outer skin and become a boy again. It is an extremely painful process (getting your skin ripped off can't be enjoyable) but it makes the boy what he's supposed to be--a boy--and it is done only through the power of Christ.

I got reminded of this quote from Forgotten God off a friend's blog. It's choice (both her blog and this quote).

What if you could hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and He asked you to literally give everything you owned…I don’t know about you, but that challenges me like crazy. I say I want to give it all to God, to truly submit myself to the leading of the Holy Spirit. But I won’t lie; sometimes the reality of what that means leaves me wanting to hold back a little. These are the things on this earth that I really enjoy, like surfing, golfing, eating out, and laughing with friends. I know what you’re thinking: that those things are not sinful. And you are right. But that doesn’t mean the Spirit will not lead me to forgo those things occasionally or maybe even permanently for His purposes and the glory of the Father.

While that is semi-terrifying, it's also good to remember that God never means to torture us. Instead, He is always doing it for our good, even if we can't see it at the time. And just to clarify, I can say that like I would be fine if God told me to give everything up for Him, but I wouldn't be. It would be a huge challenge for me, but that's why I'm imperfect and God is perfect. That's why my dragon claws won't cleanse me, but his claws will. It may hurt, but it is so much better after.

Next Chan talks about pursuing this relationship with the right heart. Do you want to perform miracles or gain attention for yourself? Or do you want to use the Holy Spirit like a magic wand and use it when you need it, not when God wants to work? These are all questions you must work through and make sure that the passion for the Holy Spirit is genuine. I know that last question gets me sometimes. There are definitely times I forget that the Holy Spirit is God just as much as God is, and that He dwells in me. Who am I to tell God when to do work?

On the other hand, when we are desiring a real relationship with the Holy Spirit, distractions may come. Two that Chan brings up are comfort and volume. I have been learning a lot lately that Christ comes through the most when He's a necessity. It's easy to forget about Him when I have a car, plenty of money, and a bed pretty much anywhere I go. What would happen if I was held hostage for sharing my faith? Would I trust in the Lord or just freak out?

Also, our lives have become a multitasking machine. Like Chan says, it's difficult to focus on one thing or one person at a time. This has in turn affected our relationship with Christ because we can't just spend time with the Lord without our computers open, cell phones at our side, friends yelling down the hall (at least in my house). I encourage you to spend your next quiet time with no distractions. Turn the cell phone off, close your computer, and find a quiet place to be with the Lord. I know it makes my quiet times better when I remove all the distractions.

This idea came up in My Utmost for His Highest a few days ago. Chambers says:

Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child--a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows.

I love how God connects everything you're learning about Him. Isn't He awesome?

The last point I want to make from this book is the idea of God's will for you life. It is often people's excuse that they are "waiting to hear God's will for their lives." I know I used to do this often, and I still do. It's easy to worry about the future and ask God to show you His will. But remember, He also says not to worry about tomorrow in Luke 12:22-34. I like how Chan says not to ask for God's will for 10 years from now, or a year, or even next month. Instead, ask how you can serve Him now. That's a scary though, I know. I'm a total planner so not having my life planned out is a little scary. But I know that God has a great plan for me, and He will reveal it to me when the time is right. For instance, I am planning (God willing) on going on the World Race after I graduate. After that, I have absolutely no plans because I figure if I make them, there's a good chance God will change them. Why worry?

I like this book, and like pretty much every other book I talk about, I encourage you to read it. I'll let you be the judge on his style, but don't let that distract you from what he's saying about the Holy Spirit. There are some great nuggets in this book. And in true Francis Chan style, I'll close with this: I encourage you to stop and think about who the Holy Spirit is to you. Is He your magic wand or is He your supernatural counselor? Are you willing to lay down your life for Him? Close your computer, turn off your cell phone, and spend some time reflecting about all of this with the Lord.

In a completely unrelated side-note, I read this quote in this book and knew I needed to share it. You'll know why....

It is truly awesome (I try not to overuse that term, but believe it fits here) when a miracle takes place--when you experience something that couldn't happen by natural means.

Come set me free

I think it's appropriate that I write about Switchfoot songs considering the title of my blog is Meant to Live, arguably Switchfoot's most popular song. There is meaning in that song title, but that's for another time (hopefully soon). Today I want to share my thoughts on the song "Free," off of the Hello Hurricane album. Before I get going, here's the song and lyrics:

I've got my back against the wall

But I still hear the blue sky call

The chains that hold me back inside

Are the prisons of my mind

Free,

Come set me free

Down on my knees

I still believe you can

Save me from me

Come set me free

Come set me free

Inside this shell

There's a prison cell

I try to live the light of day

Why would I do what I hate

But when I try to reach above

I only hurt the ones I love

There's a hole in the neighborhood

Where the shadows fall

There's a hole in my heart but my hope

Is not in me at all

I had a dream that my chains were broken

Broken, broken, broken open

I'll be honest. When I was planning on doing another Switchfoot song tonight, I wasn't sure which one I wanted to do. I like all of the songs off the new album, but I wasn't positive on the meaning on most of them. So I looked up the lyrics, and when I read these I was blown away by how obvious it was that this is a song to God.

Right away, he talks about the depravity of his situation. The chains that hold me back inside are the prisons of my mind. He doesn't try and sugarcoat it or put the blame on anyone else. He is trapped in prisons in his mind, just like the rest of us. I don't know about you, but I know for me a majority of my struggles are in my mind. It's fairly easy to be a "good" person by the world's standards and not sin publicly. However, while I may have a smile on my face, I may be judging the person I'm talking to. Prison in my mind. Or I may think to highly of myself or too lowly of myself. Prison in my mind. This list can go on and on, but I'll stop now. I think you get the picture.

What's great though is that Jon doesn't dwell on his depravity. He turns straight to God. Free, come set me free--down on my knees--I still believe you can save me from me. We can't do this on our own. We can't free ourselves from prisons in our minds. We need God. Praise God that He loves us so much that He gave up His son to die for us. It's in Christ's resurrection that we can come to God and ask Him to set us free. And the best part about it? He is ready and willing. All He wants us to do is sincerely ask. I say sincerely because we can't just say "God, free me. Do a work in my life." once and go on living life like nothing happened, expecting Him to change us. We must respond to the love He shows us, however that may look to you. There isn't a one track, 4 step process to becoming purified. God works in each person's life differently.

What Christ does ask for though, is our whole life. Not Sundays, not my language, not my "bad influences." No. He wants our entire lives. I think Jesus said it best:

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:38

Compared to our love for Christ, our love towards our family and friends looks like hate. Not only that, but we must lose our lives here in order to gain life with the Father. Now that is giving up your entire life.

The second verse goes through more problems with ourselves and our sad attempts at fixing it without Christ. For instance. I try to live the light of day--Why would I do what I hate--But when I try to reach above--I only hurt the ones I love. When we trying to do things on our own, we're only hurting ourselves and the people we love. Let's let God do it; He always seems to do it right. Always.

One last line talks about chains being broken. Again, the word of the Lord says it better than I could ever try. This is the Lord talking about what kind of work He will do when we fast the right way:

Is this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6

Jon nailed it when he wrote that we cages and prison cells in our hearts. He also nailed it by going to God to be set free. It's cool how music can be made to honor God, and it's not a slow, soft melody. As you heard above, this song is more of a traditional rock song, as opposed to "Enough to Let Me Go."

Well that's all I got on that song. What are your thoughts on "Free"?

On a completely unrelated note, I'll leave you with a AW Tozer quote I saw on twitter (follow him at @TozerAW):

If what we believe doesn't make God more real to us, if it doesn't make us more Christlike, of what value is it? -AW Tozer