So, I was just fishing through some of my fellow racers blogs. If you’re not reading them, you should be. They’re all learning some pretty amazing things. Especially my old team… NESSA… woohoo! And my new team… Lo-zeo-nessa. All the people I named in my last blog.
But it got me to thinking. What am I learning right now. Well, check Rusty’s blog for learning contentment in every situation (Scott and I have been reading Phillippians this week). And this is only for a week… PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS EVERY DAY, I’m just here for a week. Ugh, I hate when entitlement rears it’s ugly head (in me). In Leah’s blog, she wrote about the stats here in the Phillippines. There are between 60-70% of the population of the Phillippines living under the poverty level, and 30% of those are in the Metro Manila area. Scott and I are currently living in one of the 400 slum communities in Metro Manila. My last blog on privacy was more for me. It showcases how entitled to privacy I am. How shaped by American values I am. It sucks. But it’s reality. And I have let go. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t let go, if I hadn’t trusted God with my welfare, with my life, with my future.
Living in the slums is just more proof that God loves me. Not because I’m better off than these people. But that God cares so much about me to have me experience this. That He wants my heart to break for the poor, for the fatherless, for the injustice of it all. He wants all of us to see this. He wants to take of my blinders to what’s happening, and He wants to do the same with you. Part of seeing how much God loves you is allowing Him to initiate you. Let Him rip you from your comfort and break your heart, just so that you recognize how much you need Him, and then dream BIG, listen to His voice (since He’s the giver of dreams), and then follow Him (go for those dreams). That’s what we’ve been learning this whole year, and it’s a little scary (when you look at it through the lens of the world).
Discipleship. It can only take place in a heart that is ready. We’ve all been called to discipleship, but few will take the road that leads to suffering, to failure, but also to LIFE ABUNDANTLY!
This year I’ve found myself reading the much of the Old Testament. Starting in Joshua to currently 2nd Chronicles (mix in some Esther and Job too). If I’ve learned anything from reading the history of Israel. It’s that the kings who feared the Lord saved the people because the Lord protected them. The moment a king stepped outside of the Lord’s provision (the times that they forgot who God was, and worshipped other gods), calamity, chaos, and captivity, came upon Israel (I mean, God had a plan all along for a Savior, but Israel was a little short sighted).
So, what’s the point? Well, when it comes to discipleship, there’s a huge element of risk. Stepping out of what looks secure or safe, and jumping off a cliff into the unknown of what God holds for us. Well, I said in an earlier blog, that if we fear God, we’ll have nothing else to fear. We can read what happened to Israel when they stopped fearing God; they came out from under His protection. They chose to do life on their own, and they didn’t do it too well. Well, when we fear God, we choose to live under His care, under His protection, and His will for our lives. What better place to be? So discipleship isn’t so scary after all, especially when you know that if God is for you, who can be against you?
