Are you keeping an open mind?

I recently went on retreat with a bunch of teenage girls. If you've ever been around teenagers they are an interesting group. Not quite adults but not quite children. They are trying to figure out their place in life but still holding onto things that they have been taught. They are not ready to let go of what they know yet they are ready to get out into the world. They want to go explore but they don't want to let go of that safety net. Teenagers are an interesting bunch to spend extended time with... While the retreat itself was an experience, it was the events leading up to the trip that stick out the most. 

Leading up to the trip, the girls kept asking questions. What did the place look like? What will we be doing? How long will it take to get there? The adults answered as well as they could to the best of their ability. We collectively looked things up because I had never been and didn't know what to tell them, but still couldn't find much about where we were going. In the midst of all of this, God drops on my spirit the story of Nicodemus. I racked my brain trying to figure out why that particular story but could not receive a revelation. The revelation came one day while walking around the camp ground. 

Nicodemus went to see Jesus to talk with him. He did it at night when it was quiet. He did it at night when Jesus was away from the crowds. He went to talk to Jesus while no one else was around. It was just him and Jesus. Nicodemus, who had been studying the word since he was a boy, could not grasp certain concepts that Jesus was saying. Even though he could not grasp the concept he kept asking questions. He tried to gain understanding. He appeared willing to let go of what he had been taught all of his religious life and embrace Jesus for who he is.

What sticks out the most about this conversation is that Jesus says to him "If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe  if I tell you of heavenly things?" Jesus and his Disciples were walking around preaching. They were performing miracles, yet people still did not believe - they did not want to believe. 

The reason this sticks out to me is it makes me wonder how many of us have gotten so caught up in our own understanding of things that we fail to see things for what they really are or what they could be. How many of us have been so caught up in how things are that we do not leave room for God to expose us to that which is actual truth. How many of us have seen God move yet still want to stay stuck in our indoctrination - in the way things have always been. 

What I took from the retreat as it correlates to the story of Nicodemus is that we must take the time to get Jesus in the quiet, away from the crowds and have a conversation with him. We must also be open to what God has put right in front of our faces. We can not say that we are followers of God and stay so stuck in tradition and our own thoughts that we do not see what he is doing right in front of us. We cannot be like Nicodemus and the people of Jesus' time, who saw miracles performed, who heard Jesus and the Disciples talk about Heaven and everlasting life yet, because Jesus and his disciples did not fit their expectations, they refused to receive the revelation. How can we expect God to meet us where we need to be met if we keep ourselves firmly routed in how we were taught to read and interpret scripture. By correlation, how can we expect to reach others if we only look at things through the prism that is our own belief system?

My prayer for you is let God come into your life in such a way that he washed you clean. Let God come into your life in such a way that he stirps you of all indoctrination and leaves you only with him. I pray that you make time for quite places and midnight conversations with God. Lastly, I pray that you have an encounter with God that there is no way that you would be able to deny that it is Him.

After the Storm

Times have not been the brightest lately. Things have been a bit dark. The world around us has been in a dark place. Some places are still experiencing their storm. Some places are still waiting for the sun to come out. There are people still waiting for things to get better. There are people waiting for their personal life to get better. There are people waiting for their finances to get better. Heck, there are people waiting for their governments to get better. Myself is included in this group. 

In times of trouble, I think of rainy days. Rainy days remind me that as the sky darkens and the sunlight hides behind the clouds, it is only temporary. The sun only hides for so long before it comes back out. Even rainy nights give way to sunny days. It is these days where God shows us that there are going to be moments in life where the darkness comes out of nowhere - one moment it is sunny and in the blink of an eye it will be dark and stormy. He shows us that these days are needed because it is in these moments that we cannot see. Because we cannot see, we no longer rely on ourselves but on Him. It is during rainy days that we slow down a bit. We learn to trust because we cannot see. We learn to trust him. It is during rainy days that he can get our attention the most. 

He doesn't want us to stop moving forward during the storm. He doesn't use rainy days to cripple us, but instead to remind us that we are his. He also uses rainy days to clear our perspective on things. When it's always sunny, you never take the time to stop and reflect on things. Human nature is that when things are good, we maintain the status quo. However, human nature, when it storms, is reflection, It is introspection. I wonder what has God been trying to get us to see that he had to bring us some rainy days? 

My prayer for you is to use the rainy days to take the time to see where in your life you have just been maintaining the status quo. I know for me I am realizing that I had stopped dreaming. I stopped looking outside the box. I even created a smaller one than the one that was there originally. God reminded me who I am and why I am. He also reminded me that no one can do what I do. This is not to be conceited, but more so that I have a specific purpose, a job to do that is my mission from him. 

My prayer for you is to use rainy days to find out what areas God is trying to get your attention. There is a reason for the shake-up in your life. What it is? That is a conversation between you and Him. 

Lastly, my prayer for you is to remember that when things get the darkest there will always be light around the corner.

Don't give up hope and don't stop moving forward.