"Attitudes are contagious.. is yours worth catching?"
This question posed to me by a pastor in the Philippines has been resounding in my head ever since. If my attitude was a contagious disease that would spread through city to city, state to state and country to county.. would that be a good thing? Or would this world have some serious issues on its hands. Some days here on the race I have to admit.. the world would be in shambles if that were to really come to fruition.
Being on this journey has been the most challenging events of my life. Hands down. You see… here, I can't run away from my problems or challenges like I have been for most of my life. There is nowhere to run when you're on the world race. It's community life every day.. every moment. So I'm forced to confront every situation that might seem difficult to me and learn to walk in the Spirit in that moment. And that is what God has been teaching me. He has been teaching me that life in the Spirit is not primarily a life of spectacular events. Life in the Spirit is taken place in very mundane activities, in the normalcy of day to day life. But what the Spirit of God wants to do is teach me to obey in every moment. When I learn to obey Christ in every moment.. to love my neighbor in a moment when it seems absolutely impossible, to serve others when every fiber of my lazy, self-indulging being is telling me not to.. it's God's proof to me that I'm learning to allow the Spirit to foster His life in me. And that is what I want more than anything from these 11 months. I want to become so Christlike that my deepest desires, my deepest longings and deepest attitudes are that of His. If we actually learn to do this as his disciples, it will have huge implications for our lives. That means that my deepest desires would be to see Yahweh glorified above anything else in this world, it'd mean that my deepest and most true attitude will be to love in whatever situation I'm in. God came to earth.. and He washed feet. That is how He decided to display His power to the world. Serving others first is what the Kingdom of God is all about.
We spent the whole last month at a boys home that housed 16 former street boys. The fact that these boys were living at CG (Children's Garden) showed that their home situation was not a good one.. or just non-existent. I want to tell you guys about one of those boys I got the privilege of living with. His name is Gio. Gio is 17 years old and has been living at Children's Garden for over 3 years. His story is complex, filled with pain and hurt.. but you could never tell by observing his attitude. Every morning as I woke up with a groggy and impatient attitude Gio would burst into the kitchen and yell, with his filipino accent, "Good morneeeng!! Smile! Be happy!" He was hilarious. He would be radiating with so much joy that you couldn't help but smile back. Gio's past is rough. He's been hurt by people in his life in ways that I probably won't ever experience and he's seen things that I hope to never have to see. From this point of view he had absolutely no reason to wake up with a smile on his face. Life dealt him a bad card so he had an excuse to hate God and everyone around him right? Not for Gio. He had something that the whole world is looking for, whether they are a Wall Street banker or a basket weaver in Somalia. He had joy. Notice I didn't say happiness. Happiness can be taken away in a second with one situation that doesn't go your way. But true joy from the Lord can't be robbed from you. It is something that permeates your soul because you have beheld the love of God in the face of Christ. And this was the story of Gio. I could go on and on about how Gio filled the room with joy, how he changed the whole atmosphere with his presence and how he brought the best out of people because he knew how to love. But my point is.. Gio chose to rejoice in his circumstance. He didn't see a single family member during Christmas time but he said he was so thankful to be with us. He chose to rejoice in every moment because He knew God was the one giving him strength to simply choose.
When we choose to see our lives through the lens of complaining, we're actually agreeing with what the enemy would have to say about the quality of our lives. We have to fight living our lives under this cloud of negativity and victimization because we will become unable to celebrate the goodness of God if we don't. We're not slaves to our circumstances or personalties and they don't tell us how much joy we have. If we were slaves to our attitudes God wouldn't tell us to change them. And if we were slaves to our circumstances God wouldn't tell us to overcome them. The realization of God's love for us in Christ is the only thing that should dictate our joy. When we place our faith in Christ we become children of God, transferred from darkness into His marvelous light. THIS IS THE NEW REALITY WE LIVE IN! My generation loves being "real" these days. But if "being real" means complaining about everything, always being angry and not ever giving anyone a chance.. we desperately need a new reality.
This is the name of my new team. New Reality. We are realizing these days we have a choice to rejoice or complain, it is that simple. Our decision will dictate how our day goes, how our month goes, how our race goes, and ultimately how our lives go. And it is the same with all of you back in the states. You can choose to bring the blessing of God to everyone around you by rejoicing in Christ, or you can choose to not. Changes are happening on this race but God isn't. He's the same in every moment.. and He is calling us to do the same with rejoicing and being joyful in every circumstance. Rejoice.. it's a command and it requires you obey it. So go and obey.. the Spirit will show you His power then.
Joe
