Life Changes

For the past year I have been experiencing bad stomach pains which had recently gotten worse. Coming home from the doctor's office, I had with me a capsule of pills and a large list of lifestyle changes prescribed by the doctor. Among them included, cutting back on caffeine, carbonated drinks, high fat foods, citrus foods, excessive amounts of vitamin C, and most importantly STRESS.

Eager to reduce my stomach discomfort, I set to work making these very specific lifestyle changes. I was tired of pain being an everyday occurrence in my life. Despite my good intentions, I failed miserably. The bad habits I had learned became so much apart of my life that within hours of my new commitment, I was already wanting to cheat. Less than 24 hours later, I had withdrawal symptoms like no other: Splitting headache, fatigue, hunger, dizziness, and my stomach still hurt. The headache became so bad, I cheated on my new diet. I couldn't go on without the things I was used too.

I think coming to know Christ can be quite like this experience. We develop bad habits in our life that consume our decisions and lifestyle. Pretty soon, we are living in pain but do nothing because of our unwillingness and fear to change. We learn to ignore and block out the pain sensors that tell us that something is not right. When we finally can't handle the pain in our lives anymore, we turn to Christ.

In His word, He gives us clear guidelines and lifestyle changes. He teaches things like love our enemies, sell our stuff and give to the poor, pray for the people who hurt us, and trust Him and not ourselves. These things can cause hurt the first time around (maybe even the 10th time around). Sometimes our old life sounds easier and more convenient than these changes Jesus wants us to make. So many times we are tempted to go back to doing things our own way and "cheating".

Lifestyle changes are never fun. When we let our habits define who we are then we start to become our habits. Getting rid of our bad habits our painful but nothing compares to the end result. What if we made Jesus our habit? What would our lives look like?

TJ's friend

Yes, besides the wacko foodies that come into Trader Joe's a few times a day, we have a friend who visits us nightly. Actually, he's not really a friend. He acts more like the annoying brother-in-law who sits on your couch, watches your TV, and eats all your food. Except you never see him but always end up cleaning up after him.

Ok, our "friend" is a rat. He's been around almost a year but still hasn't been caught. Not only is he smart, he's huge. I haven't seen him, but I have seen His footprints...on the sticky pads that Clark left down to catch him! Now either the sticky pads aren't that sticky, or this is one Samson-sized rat.

His appetite's been getting bigger lately too. Instead of chewing up one loaf of bread a night, he's been going through two. As much as he is part of this store, I really don't look forward to the day when I meet him face to face.

Exciting News

So, I just got an email from lifeway. I have been asked to write a weeks worth of devotionals for their teen magazine. I'm really excited. This would be my first real writing job. The only trick is finding time to write the assignment.

I'm back...sort of

It's been almost a month since we sent our computer in to get fixed. It's back now so I can finally check email and such out of the comfort of my own home. The reason I say "sort of" for being back is that I feel like I haven't been home in a while. I have been working two jobs and any moment to sleep is fully taken advantage of. It's been good though. Working at Baskin Robbins is a lot of fun. I might want to open up a ice cream shop someday. I was thinking like a ice cream/coffee shop. That would be awesome.

Work has been interesting. I have gotten myself into quite a few religious conversations recently. Not bad (I hope). They weren't debates on who is right and who is wrong. They were more of discussions on what we believe. I tried my best to speak truth and love without being judgemental but that in and of itself is very hard. I think my main question to God right now is, "Was that conversation honoring to You?" I can sit here and say all the things I said right but what I really want to know is what I did not say. Was I too tolerant of the other person's beliefs? Was I too passive? Did my thoughts and opinions come out in a way that distorted the others view on Christianity? I wish God could give us an evaluation form at the end of each day. Maybe I should tell him to email it to me...I got a computer now.