Showing love

People have approached me and told me that they really enjoy my blog posts. Each time, they made my day. I guess we are not always fully aware at how massive the internet is and the impact it has. Even when you can't see, people will be reading your blog. No pressure hehehe. I just laugh because it's always been the people I've least expected that come to my blog to read my posts. Feel free to comment and show some love on here :-)

I've met some really amazing people through this blog: missionaries, pastor's kids, etc. I've enjoyed connecting with each of you and reading your wonderful posts.

Well, for now I must continue working and preparing for camp coming up next weekend...

Just what the DOctor ordered

A child is sick and showing several alarming symptoms. Worried, the parents rush the child to the nearest hospital. At this point it is still very unsure exactly what the child has. I can't help but picture how many different ways this child can be treated, depending on what the doctor deems suitable.

There are two major branches of medicine (allopathic and osteopathic). An allopathic doctor is an M.D. and an osteopathic doctor is a D.O. In many cases both of these branches may have completely different approaches to treating the same disease.

I want to share with you my passion for the osteopathic approach to medicine. All of this started while observing my grandma's aging process. She takes over 15 different medications a day. The sad part is that she even has to take medications to counteract the side effects of the other medications. I am outraged at the fact that not only does she have to take all these pills, but she has to take them for life. I never agreed with that. What do people in Latin American countries do? I know for a fact they don't live off of pills the way we do here. For example, why is it so easy to prescribe a pill to lower your cholesterol? Wouldn't it be wise to boost your body's own natural mechanisms to combat disease? Wouldn't it be wise to prescribe a healthy diet that will eliminate harmful cholesterol? But being such a microwave culture, we want results quick and easy. We can take a pill to lower cholesterol levels, while continuing to eat junk and not exercising properly. We treat the symptoms, but seldom treat the root of the problem; the self-destructive habits we have that make us prone to so many diseases. I know I don't have much authority in this area. I don't eat healthy most of the time and I almost never exercise, but I have been making changes in this direction.

Sorry if this is too much of an outburst. As you can see, this is a very touchy subject for me. I am zealous about trying to getting people to change their attitudes towards medical care. Less prescription drugs, and more preventive and holistic techniques. True doctors understand how the body functions and can treat illnesses using the God-given resources available within the body itself. God designed us so intricately; and I can't wait to get into med-school and study the human body in more depth.

The Cost of Discipleship (She Smiles, She writes)

Let me start off by giving credit to my friend from She Smiles, She writes. This is a wonderful post that I just had to share.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’;

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples."
Luke 14:28-30;33

The Cost of Discipleship is found in the first 4 books of the NT. Some Bible translations refer to these verses as "Discipleship will be difficult". Huh.

Pretend that you're looking for a job. You heard of this man, Jesus, who goes around healing people, speaking wisdom & saving souls. You hear that you can apply to be one of his disciples and you immediately believe this discipleship position is your dream job. You go online and download the application. The application states that every applicant has to have 2 prerequisites to qualify. 

1.  "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)
   This job requires a certain kind of person, someone who will hate his/her parents, siblings, spouse and children. The word hate in this context is just a Semitic expression for "loving less". If you can love all those people less, then maybe you have a chance. He adds, as if reading the minds of our 'me' generation, "yes, even [hate] your own life". Love yourself less!
   Crazy to think this is just prerequisite #1.
2. The next prerequisite goes along the lines us acquiring and bearing a cross. Imagine you go to a store and you find your own cross with your name on it. Jesus paid it for you, you just need to pick it up and THEN follow him. Trust me, you don't get very far following him without the cross.
   But what does this crucifixion metaphor mean? It means a disciple must die to self-will & embrace God's will, no matter the cost.  If His will means leaving your country to save orphans in Africa, you take up your cross and follow Christ on to Africa. If His will is for you to endure torture, persecution & die a martyr, you bear your cross and follow Christ until your last breath.

Now, if you think you have the prerequisites nailed, you fill the rest of your application. Once you reach the bottom, you notice that there is one last think you need to know before submitting the application: you must know how much this 'job' (more like lifestyle) will cost you.

"Well Savior, what's it going to cost me to call you my teacher, my master, my Lord ?" you ask.
His reply: "Everything. You must renounce to all."

As a potential disciple, you must always first count the cost in order to see if you will persevere in faith. If you're not willing to relinquish everything, you'll end up like the rich young man from Matthew 19. Jesus gave him the opportunity to be one of his close disciples (potential disciple #13). This young man was moral, keeping all the commandments, yet he asked the Lord what he was lacking still. "Renounce to your 'great possessions', give them to the poor and come follow me," Jesus answered (Matt. 19:22). This man could've brought the gospel to Asia, maybe even be the author of many books in the NT! But we will never know because he refused the invitation. And to think it was all because of what he 'owned' (If you're struggling with this, Jesus addressed materialism in Luke 12:13-21 & Luke 9:25). The young man went away sorrowful, probably knowing he would regret that decision.

Or you can be like those that, when they heard the invitation, "left everything & followed him" (Luke 5:11b). The Bible speaks of them as men who will inherit the kingdom of God, not because of them possessing any supernatural ability (they were as faulty as we are) but because they took up their cross and followed Christ.

These 3 conditions make up the commitment of every true follower of Christ. We've been taught to say/repeat a prayer to receive Christ as our Savior that often times don't really affect our everyday lives. We say the prayer and go back to our regular way of living all the while thinking 'we're saved'. The reality is that Christ died to be your Savior AND your Lord. There's a big difference.

I'm a disciple of Christ, a title I wear proudly that comes with desert & stormy seasons, modern-day Pharisees and betrayers, modern-day Judas you must love regardless. This is all part of the cost, to suffer with Christ.
 Yet I wouldn't trade it for the world. I will always love  the intimacy I have at the feet of Jesus more. The cost to know Him and make Him known is worth it.
But what about you? 
If you don't have the discipleship commitment and have called yourself a follower of Christ, renounce to the tittle immediately if you're not willing to bear your cross. You cannot love Him less.

If you want to accept Christ as your Savior AND Lord, run and seek Him as fast as you can! Repent of your erroneous way of living, pick up your cross and follow Him. He is waiting for you as we speak.

"For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Phillippians 1:21

InDesign fun

I just wanted to share a bit of the work I do for the youth group in my church. I run the communications department of the youth ministry, which oversees different ways of keeping our kids up to date with what is going on in the ministry. Part of the communications department is creating a monthly newsletter that is given to the youth. This is October's newsletter.

I welcome tips and suggestions for future newsletters.

Testimony

God spoke this to my heart in a supernatural way today. "There's no test-imony without a test". These past few years have been periods of tests, and then those tests turning into a testimony. I was just never able to appreciate it in that way before. As I was in God's presence today I just broke down and had to give Him thanks for everything that He is doing. I realized that it has been very easy for me to thank God for helping me when I am going through a trial, but I have not been able to thank God for the trial itself. When the rough times in my life are over I breathe a sigh of relief, but as long as I am still in a rough moment, it is sooo hard for me to rest and know that God is in the midst of the storm with me. You would think that after walking with God for so long, this would come easy and natural to me. Not so. I am reminded of the stubborn Israelites. After having seen miracle after miracle, they continuously fell into despair and would want to go running back to Egypt at the slightest opposition they would encounter. I would think, "foolish Israelites." How could they doubt God when He just finished proving to them that He would provide and take care of them? Then I realized that I would fall into the same trap. What I have learned in this is that I cannot depend on past victories or miracles to make it through a current trial that I am going through. I have to seek God and cling to Him knowing that there are new victories and miracles awaiting me as I go through a new trial.

Seeing what my family has been going through and what I have been personally experiencing has taken a  toll on me. I've had to ask God for a new measure of strength and faith. And to my delight, He has given it to me today. For the past couple of weeks God has been putting 2 teenage girls and 2 marriages on my heart very strongly. What God was compelling me to do was to invite the two teenage girls to the youth camp my church is hosting in November, and to pray and fast for two marriages. Today I was able to speak to the parents of the teenage girls, and to my amazement, the parents despite not being Christian, were very enthusiastic about letting their daughters go to camp. Praise God. Now I have to put these girls in prayer and fast for God to use camp weekend to draw them to Him. Today I was also able to speak to my friend, and to my amazement, she is working things out with her husband. They were on the brink of divorce and I was praying and fasting for their marriage to be restored. This deserves another "PRAISE GOD!" So in the midst of a rough season in my life, today was filled with victory and a glimmer of hope.

I just want to leave you with a song from Jesus Culture that is very fitting for everything that God has made more real to me today.