Suffering

I'm sitting here in Houston, TX ... a little ways from where I would call home.  It will probably take you all to find this blog as I'm sure you stopped following it long ago when you realized I wasn't updating it every week.  Oh well ... as we all know, this is more of a "hey, I'm just going to throw all my thoughts out onto the table and you can take it or leave it ..."

The last little while has been a trying time.  It has taken everything that I once held onto, everything that I once thought life was and could be, everything that I wanted to become and put it under a microscope.  There has been some remodeling happening in the life of Andrew.  Some much needed gutting and rebuilding.  I feel tired when I write this, but it's not something that night sleep will really fix (proven by a great sleep last night!  Praise the Lord for that!).  What's happening to you Andrew? you ask?  well, let me start by saying this ... the negative vibe that could be taken from the beginning of this post is not a true vibe.  I'm not trying to portray that at all.  Instead, the working of God is not easy ... and this is what I find myself in the center of.

If you've tracked with my previous blogs, or if you've ever had a sit down deep conversation with me about where I really see myself heading in life and what dreams and passions arise within me, you'd know that I have always carried a real heart for music ministry.  Worship leadership, specifically.  And how that has never been something on a small scale.  God has placed and developed a deep desire to be used on a global scale to "make Him famous" on a global scale.  In my eyes and heart, I feel like God has focused this even more (even though a global perspective doesn't sound too focused in its simplicity) to young adults across this world!  To College and University aged students.  You read through words like "Make Him Famous" and you see that age range and with a little research you could easily see that this sounds, well, identical to the mission statement of one of the biggest "worship movements" in the contemporary music world today, The Passion Movement.  I've always appreciated Louie Giglio's words and challenges.  But, I've lately come across a couple of his sermons that have quite seriously changed my life.  That, however, is not blog material.  Not tonight at least ... we'll see.  If you want to know ... call me or something.

What I do want to talk about tonight though is how I've really come to terms with something of the Christian life.  Maybe it has been in front of my eyes this whole time, maybe it's something that you're sitting there thinking, "uhh, of COURSE Andrew" ... regardless, it's what I've been dealing with lately.  

Suffering.

No, I'm not going to go into a long drawn out description of "oh woe is me".  Not at all.  In fact, I've started to come to terms with something different.  "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds ..." (James 1) How can someone take joy in suffering?

Does anyone remember the story of how a friend of mine told me that this coming year was going to be a year of suffering but it was one that was exactly where God wanted me to be," BEFORE he knew what I was doing or how I was feeling about it??  Well, if not, then that happened.  There have been some times over the last number of months where I have thought, I'm not doing any good here, in fact, it's just setting me up for more failure ... I want out!!

But, as I started off by saying, God has been doing some renovating ...

When we're in the hardest times of life, there really appear to be no answers.  I'm not going to sit here and say that all of this stuff happens in life, "but I've got the answer for it all."  So many people go to church and expect the pastor to finish up the sermon on trials and suffering with a nice story that makes everyone feel like any second, their problems will just disappear.  YES, we have been given authority in the Name of Jesus Christ to overcome all pain, suffering and fear or ANY trial in life, but sometimes God has something else in mind.  If we are to claim that there is no place for any of these things in the Christian walk, I believe we're fooling ourselves.  The Cross itself is proof of this.  Jesus cried out and begged that if there was another way around the cross, He'd take it.  Instead, less than a day later, he was hanging by nails through his shattered bones, flesh and muscles with blood dripping down his face while people stood there and watched.  One can only think they were thinking 'this is the guy who told us all of these great things to come.  The one who told us the He was the Christ!  He can't be if He's dying like THIS!  This all must have been a lie!'  People turning away at the foot of the cross thinking that what they were looking at was the end.  'If this is all there is then count me out.'  The picture of the cross, at the TIME of the cross, was a horrible thing.  Not just the brutality of how it was all done, but the fact that there's this guy who claimed he was the world's saviour hanging on it.  Put yourself into their shoes for a second and try to think like them!!  Wouldn't YOU start to question everything?!  I know I would.  I didn't know at the time that 3 days later I'd be looking at him again ... alive.  At the TIME ... this was probably the WORST case scenario possible.  EVERYTHING is brought into question ... the life, teaching and now the death of Jesus.  But fast forward now a couple thousand years.  Look at the cross.  With everything in context (with all knowledge of who we have been revealed God to be through the Word of God) ... is that cross the same thing it was on the day of His death?  I know I'm not fooling myself when I say the cross of Jesus Christ (despite it's brutality and suffering) is the most beautiful event and picture in all of time.  Why?  because it brings hope!

(2 Corinthians 3 - Paraphrased)

Through the Cross of Jesus Christ has removed the veil from the holy of holies so that WE individuals can have the opportunity to Shine with His light wherever we are ... whatever we do.

What can I say to someone who has lost a friend in a car accident ... or to someone who's parents are separating because they can't separate their financial struggles with their relations with each other ... or to someone who struggles with specific attacks of the devil towards certain areas of their life over and over and over and over again!!  Ya, there is authority in the name of Jesus to overcome all sin and evil!  Amena (Amen) to that.  But, what about those times that it doesn't just go away?  Does God ever say, "you'll have a smooth sailing life?"  no.  In fact, He promises the opposite.  "In this life, YOU    WILL   HAVE   TROUBLE!!"  Why have so many people overlooked this passage?  Why do so many people assume that as soon as strife comes their way, "I'M OUT!".  Maybe that's the whole Matthew 7:13-14 thing (look it up).  God never promises that it will be smooth but He HAS promised one thing ... and to Christians, this should be SO much greater than a life that is predictable and not opposed ... Strength.  Renewed strength.  So much so that you will feel as though you are being lifted over through these struggles and trials of life on wings like eagles.  That you can RUN and not grow tired ... that you can press on through the trials and not faint!  

Think with me for a second.  Am I the only one finding it hard to think of a time in life where a Life altering / changing event happened when I was completely satisfied or content on the top of the world?!   But then think about those times where your life has been completely turned around.  Were the surroundings of those times testing?  God has the ability to take the WORST of situations and take them and turn them into something beautiful and far more 'impactful' on us and the rest of the world than we even know.  Let's go back to the cross.  Worst case scenario turned into one of the most beautiful things of all time.  

If God can do that with the cross ... do you think He can do something with what you're dealing with?  ... the answer may feel like a no.  And that's understandable.  Sometimes life just feels like that.  Sometimes there aren't words to express to a friend or even to yourself.

So where do we go?  what does all of this mean?  Well, I didn't answer any questions about suffering.  But I do want to say one thing about it.  This whole post can be summed up in this...

Christianity is not for the perfect.  It's not for the powerful and strong in the world's eyes.  The body of Christ is made complete with the broken and hurting children of God who continue to look to the Cross of Jesus Christ for hope and purpose regardless of what it is that they come up against ... no matter how much it hurts.  In raw despair, the cross is where hope is found.  

... and that's all we have to know for now ...