i think too much. i drink water regularly. i'm far from perfect. my cup overflows on this website on somewhat of a regular basis and it's a lot of mumbling. just give it a chance. maybe you'll laugh or cry.
before you read watch this video. it's strange, but the lights out made me think. ha, what a surprise. anyway, i've been thinking a lot about perspective lately. our perspective on life. our perspective on God. our perspective on what we have to do. our perspective on everything. and i'm not sure about you, but i feel like i have rather rigid perspectives on things. i think that i should do certain things and that that's what should be done then, but really shouldn't we focus less on our rigid and constricted views for everything. so my words of wisdom for today are just to look at things with an open mind. look using a panoramic view. be open to the good. and the bad.
so i recently watched Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie and it made me think about the story of Jonah. so here is the link to watch the movie and here's a selection from the first chapter of Jonah :
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
this is the part of the story that i want to focus on. this is the part that makes me think the most.
in this story we have jonah and in this story jonah is one of the biggest prophets of the time. he is popular and when he has something to say everyone drops what they're doing. he has total respect of the people and when he speaks they believe (and it is) coming directly from the Lord. so one time God tells jonah that he needs him to go to nineveh. during this time nineveh is the bottom of the bottom. it's horrible. the city is full of greedy people that don't know right from wrong. anyway, jonah is like yeah right.. i would go anywhere but there.. i can't save those people they're horrible people. God insist that jonah make the journey, but the next day jonah heads out of town to tarshish. (the opposite direction of nineveh) and from there we all know the story.
but in this story jonah is a big part of the faith of the people at the time. they believe what he said to be the word of God. and jonah was a leader for God and a follower of God. he was a prophet because he had a sound relationship with God. but this great relationship failed when jonah didn't want to go to nineveh. for lack of a better term, jonah "rocked the boat" on the great relationship he and God had because he was afraid. he didn't want to waste his time on people he felt we're already a lost cause.
this story makes me reflect on this weekends youth leaders conference. we talked a lot about "servant leadership" and i think that jonah's story is a story of a leader who was afraid to be a servant leader. see jonah was happy in the town he was in. he was even comfortable leaving and going to anywhere in israel. but was afraid and unwilling to travel to nineveh. jonah was afraid to do "God's dirty work" he didn't want to travel to tell people unwilling to listen that they would perish.
i believe that God often puts our faith to very similar tests. tests of servant leadership. God knows when we are faithfully following him and he knows when he can test us. so he sends test to check our faith. in these tests he has a do things outside of our comfort zone. maybe it's that feeling you get inside that says you should go talk to them. or maybe it's a call to stay in the kitchen a scrub a pot.
now those examples aren't examples exactly like jonah's but they are still a call to something that we are uncomfortable with and a call to be something bigger than ourselves.
so maybe the next time you'll think twice about that person you thought was a lost cause. jonah thought nineveh was a lost cause yet the city changed their ways and turned to the Lord. the story of jonah tells all about grace, mercy, and forgiveness, but i think that the bigger lesson is in his leadership.
we can be comfortable in our own leadership positions, but we need to comfortable anywhere. God calls us to be more than leaders. he calls us to servant leadership. it's a big concept but if you can grasp it and, more importantly, but it in to practice you'll be a better person. God is calling you to go sit at the other table in the cafeteria. he is calling you the kid sitting by himself. but the question is how will you respond?
will you be jonah? will you turn and run the other way in fear or will you willingly accept the challenge? will you be a servant leader for God? the choices are yours. do what you please, but just remember you could end up inside a fish for three days!
go attack your nineveh! much love and peace, dmaloney
accidents. we're usually afraid when we hear that. accidents. scary. our accidents usually are mistake-based. right? like this:
just a little bit of a problem.
but do we ever think of happy accidents. accidents that help us. or change us for the better. or do you not believe in accidents. i have my own personal opinions about predestination and free-will. and my own beliefs are what i like to call a multiple choice test. and this is one of the things that i love about the united methodist church. i'm not forced into believing. i'm allow to make my own decisions about faith that can be scary. but in the end i believe that when we push ourselves to decide on our beliefs about life. and a whole long list of things. we strength our faith. we become better 'evangelists'. when you finish reading this you'll understand the whole 'multiple choice test' and why i believe that. but i think that if you asked a person who practices under a denomination with forced beliefs their responses would be different. when we can decide things for ourselves we become incapable of just about everything.
but now back to the 'multiple choice test' concept. i believe in the idea that God has a set plan for us. but in a different way than predestination. see i believe that God has allowed us the freedom (or free-will) to pick the options set for us. and the different ways have different plans. i'm still deciding on the path that i'll take, but i'm pretty sure that God has the options set. and none of them lead to failure. my life is in his best interest. and i'd like to think that i've put him in mine too.
quote of the day:
'whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.'
this came up in bing images when i typed in nj hspa. haha! hspas are finally over. and i'm relieved. i'm pretty sure that i've mentioned how much i despise standardized testing. and after 3 days i was done. and i'm done complaining now.
as i was watching the baby office tonight i was thinking about the gift of children. it's scary and i think that even though the office demonstrates the beginning of parenthood in a fun and laughing matter that it was really true. and after the office was the premiere of the marriage ref. now, i don't know if you're think what i am but does that even make sense.
welcome to the world baby. then bam why do you keep your ex-husband prosthesis in the closet? hmm. what are our priorities? what do we as americans value? do we value the birth of a child and the beginning of a new life or others problems?
this:
or this:
are there more shows on television about suffering and pain or about love and new life?
we need to refocus our views. focus on the joys of life. maybe watching suffering keeps us from realizing our own problems, but let's enjoy life. have fun. laugh and celebrate the day that new life enters your family.
tuesday is a crazy day for me so today's post is light-hearted and just a plain old blog post. on tuesdays i get up nice and early like i do every school day. and then after school i have lessons for concert band. then i go from school to jackson liberty where i have my sat tutoring session for one hour and then i finally come home. it probably doesn't sound like a lot to most of you, but for me it's a pretty busy day, and sometimes this day can sour the rest of my week. the extra homework that i ignored on monday. the fact that my wednesday is even busier. and the fact that it is only tuesday, makes the week seem only that much longer. maybe my sour attitude culminates from everything that i've already mentioned, or maybe it's just the sats. the sats are the worst thing i've ever done. and that's tuesday. i don't have any inspirtation other than to find the day you can't stand and look at it in a new perspective.
quote of the day:
'in the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.' -albert einstein
joke/ fun fact of the day:
every day more moneyis printed for monopoly than the u.s. treasury.
photo of the day:
so take a look at things with a new perspective. much love and peace, dmaloney
