Called to this...

'The more I get to know Jesus, the more trouble He seems to get me into.'

We as Christians, as followers, were not put on this earth to take the easy way out. I want to do that all the time. I see something and I don't want to say or do what God has put in my heart to do. I was thinking about my past blogs and standing strong in my faith. Reflecting on this, I was terrified to go and talk to that girl in math class, but Jesus wouldn't leave me alone. I wanted to stay in my seat slouched over my work and ignore Him.

Christians are not called to be cool. We are called to be extraordinary.

I was looked at in every negative way, because I was doing something that isn't seen a lot in my school. These people want to beat you down, to take you from God, because they do not understand this Light and how followers of Christ can love one another without a question.

 'They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.'                                                                                                        ---Psalm 129:2 

Jesus holds our victory, He holds all the cards. We must not choose the safe route, we must follow Him.

'The God I have come to know, a God who is not safe, but a God who is good.'

 I was thinking about Jane and Finch today. I want to go back there. I know it could be dangerous, but I will go there with Jesus. The Scripture says that we must not fear the things which can destroy the body, but we are to fear that which can destroy the soul. (Matt. 10:28)

'I have come to see that we Christians are not called to safety, but we are promised that God will be with us when we are in danger, and there is no better place to be than in the hands of God.'

Shane Clayborne says, 'perhaps the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is in safety and comfort!' When I was looking at all my socks before I wrote about them, I was envisioning how this could play out. That maybe I could do something at school to raise the questions of why I was doing it, to explain and bring awareness to the seriousness of poverty. To put myself on the spot in front of my pears and stubble over every word, so that my brothers and sisters would have their voices heard by many.

'Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension in-compatible with society.'                ---French theologian, Jacques Ellul

I am also dealing with a lot of hatred being tossed around about different cultures and their beliefs...but then I thought of another thing I heard, 'but you are our brother, and we will take care of you. We take care of everyone - Christians, Muslim, Iraqi, American....It doesn't matter, we are all human beings. We are all sisters and brothers.' I have it set in my head that these are people, plain and simple. People that have just heard a different interpretation of God. Me also! Like the story of The 'Tower of Babel', everyone had the same language at one point, but then God introduced different languages. So like that, they had slightly different ways of explaining things and maybe the same God which I love and follow, is in each of the other religions out there, but just in a different form because of evolution.
And trying to explain this and how I feel is difficult because I often think of others and their reactions, but to the ones that hate the words we all speak and hate us, I remember that they hated Jesus first and He has overcome the world. (John 15:18) So remember that God gave us these tongues so that we could speak and do His great work!

'Live real good, and get beat up real bad. Dance until they kill you, and then WE'LL dance some more.'

 YOU WALK IN HIS GLORY, YOU ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD JUST LIKE HE IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. (John 17) 

'He is with you, in you, beside you, ahead of you.'