Back to the Essence Part 2

So, If we are going to throw our lives headlong into God's hands, it might be suggested that we had better know what we're doing.
I had been thinking what an ultimate risk it is to do it. When you come down to the crunch, It's you giving your life up for somone you really havn't completely figured out yet. But I think now that it would be better defined as the "Ultimate Trust".
It is this reason that I believe discipleship or some knowledge of God is reasonably proper for somone before they take this leap. (Lest, dare I say it, their relationship be shallow or rediculous.) Yet, there is most certainly a feeling of risk within trust.
This Jumping in Ultimate trust is a thrill I've experienced 100% unfailable thus far. Plus, it's one crazy ride.

Back to the essence Part 2.2
I guess that last part is unnecessary reason again, since I feel that part of trust is letting go of what I know to be shurefire in a physical sense. The difference is not acting on account of what I know about life, but what I know about God. Life could be any mixture of wonderful and horrific occurances, but the point is that this reality shouldn't really matter. The focus needs to come off of me and on to him. I can't be the receiver in a one way love relationship! I like what Paul says as a statement of response to Jesus' act of love in Philippians 3. Paul presses "on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."(NIV)

In Matthew 10:39 Jesus says the following:
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. "(NIV)
(It's this emptying of myself that I've found myself facing. I must find my life by losing it. I must trust in God and face his definition of "life".)

a short interlude in memory

Up 'till even now I've had a sense of pride in my old Panasonic Discman. It's had it's stories of when it should have up and died and the headphones I got with it originally are now worn and beaten and just recently began to break down more considerably. This diskman has been to Britan, Ukraine, The Philippines if not Mexico as well. It had served many purposes, most recently as a study aid to me at college. When everyone else have been walking around with thier MP3 players and ear buds they sometimes stop to chuckle at my tenancy toward an older unit. But I have endured their false scorn to the force that this diskman that had brought me this far would continue to bear my use. It has been thrashed and bashed and used and abused for a number of years and even as i went out the door tonight I took the chance to speak on such once again.
I had just brutally dropped my Diskman (Perhaps I should name him something at this point, like Brutalis or Ol' Faithful) on the floor again. Checking it for damage it appeared to be working fine and I took the opportunity to share with my room mate the fortitude of my unit. And as I walked out the door I stated something to the effect of "It'll be used 'till the day it dies." Final last words.

Yes, as much as a sorrowful and ironic twist this is, I must share that no sooner had I begun to walk away that I realized that the old standby was not functioning and that a small piece in it's spinning mechanism had broken use.

The Old Standby is no more.
(Save a nearly functional piece of equipment that could yet be proved as value as a coffee cup holder, laser pointer etc. )

But it is nice to have a piece of equiptment that lasts.

Where do I go from here? Into the market for an MP3 player. Hopefully one that can live up to the name "reliable".

Anyone have one for sale?

Back to the Essence Part 1

I have been implored to post somthing- so here's what I hope to be the beginning of a short series that was sticking in my mind lately:

It seems that I came to the reality that God had a plan to use my passions for his purposes. Then it seems that I started to call the passions my own and make "my" plans, because God wanted it for me. Subtle shift perhaps- maybe not even a big deal. However, once and a while somthing throws your perspective back into place. Do you ever have those moments? Mine came when somone else's life flew out of the influence of my hands.
Life as we know it in the physical, hangs by little more than a beating heart and functioning brain- both of which can stop in an instance given the proper inclination. Yet we live on and call our lives our own. Untill we are reminded that we are but man.
So I was taken back to the essence. Back to the place where I sing songs about giving my heart, my life, and my dreams to God and meant it. Because despite what God wants to do with my life, be it coherent with my will or not, the essence of the matter is that I give it to him first and formost.
It's a surrendering that I'm willing to watch the outcome of: I commit my life to you.