Live Today

It’s easy to become so immersed in what you want to do with your life someday that you forget to look right in front of you. One thing about white American culture is that it is future oriented. While that’s great for careers and dollar signs, it can distract us from dying to ourselves and living for God’s glory now. If you’re living for “someday,” may that “someday” be the day that we see our Savior face to face. As a Senior in college, people are constantly asking me what my plans are and what I want to do with my degree. Until recently, I had a pretty simple answer: teach PE and English in a low-income school. Now, the answer doesn’t matter as much to me. I would still love to teach, but more than anything I just want to go where God leads and do what the Spirit convicts me to do. We spend too much time planning and not enough time doing. Live now. As the title of John Piper’s book says (and the title of a song on the new Lecrae CD), don’t waste your life.

Losing for the Cause of the Gospel

I’m a VERY competitive person. I like to win. Even if I’m bad at something, I feel the need to be victorious. I’ll even make sure that kids that I’m babysitting follow Shoots and Ladders rules to a tee (I know, Dave, I know). Sometimes, however, winning truly isn’t the only thing. As I was playing 1 on 1 with a 9th grade guy the other day, I realized that, in this situation, I needed to lose. Part of it may have been my distinct urge to be lazy (or breathe, as the case may be), but most of it was that I needed to be careful. While destroying him at volleyball wasn’t a big deal later, beating him at basketball would have resulted in some ragging from everyone else. Getting beat by a girl isn’t the end of the world, and some guys could use a shot to their pride. However, I felt that I could make a better connection, and possibly a better chance at building a relationship where I can share Christ with him, if he won. Any thoughts?