Understanding

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

 - Mark 8:14-21

(14) Jesus' friends had forgotten to bring bread. To them, this was a vital mistake with immediate consequences. (15) Jesus, never worrying about the physical world, uses the topic of bread to remind them about spiritual bread and the dangers of untruthful teaching. (16) His friends, worrying about the physical world, assume Jesus is talking about them forgetting the bread. We have a misunderstanding. The irony is that Jesus' friends are worried about food when He had just fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread leaving seven basketfuls of bread left over, and not too long before that, Jesus had fed five thousand with five loaves of bread leaving with twelve basketfuls left over. Not having enough of anything has never been a problem to Jesus, especially food. Jesus follows the model of the ravens when it comes to food - doing nothing to prepare for it but knowing it will be provided. (19-20) Jesus responds to this assumption by asking them to recite how much was left over each time he fed thousands with a small amount of bread. It's interesting when Jesus asks questions, He always knows the answer, but humbles Himself by still asking, knowing that questions have power and test us. Jesus knows their hearts and tells them what they need to hear.

(18) Jesus says some interesting things like do you have eyes and do not see and do you have ears and do not hear?

Directly before this, Jesus comes across a man by the Sea of Galilee that was deaf and could hardly talk. Jesus took Him aside and told him "Be opened." And the man could hear and speak. Now what is the difference between this man deaf man and Jesus' friends that think they dropped the ball because they forgot the bread? Nothing.

Directly after this, Jesus goes by Bethsaida and sees a blind man who he leads outside of his village by the hand. He goes and touches him twice and now the man can see clearly. Now what is the difference between this blind man and Jesus's friends? Nothing.

They both have the ability to understand, but do not (21). However, after they are healed and are with Jesus, it is not like they see everything the way it actually is either. It's more of them walking the wrong way and being turned around - they are not where they need to be, but at least they are walking the right way. 

Some interesting points are posed by this story. 

• Just because we are following Jesus and with Him does not mean that we will understand what He is saying and doing. However, this does not mean that we do not have the ability to find understanding, because we do and we should seek it. 
• Remembering what Jesus had done and who He is creates a foundation that builds on itself. Everything He tells us should be taken into account based on who He is and what He has done (in scripture and in our lives personally and others). 
• Jesus reminds His friends that they are all blind, deaf, and have hardened hearts. That's not always the easiest thing to say. However, for them to move forward, they need to know this. He leaves them with a harsh question about them still not understanding when it has been spelled out so clearly. This reminds us that for us to move forward, we're always going to have to become aware of something that holds us back. A good friend will point this out to us, but we must be ready to hear it and able to overcome the initial offense and self-justification that comes with criticism. 
• Jesus stays with them after He gives them bad news about themselves. In fact, He never leaves them. The only time He is apart from His friends is when they leave Him. 
• The physical world is nothing to be concerned about and is only a distraction to reality. 
• Jesus is the same person He was yesterday, He is today, and will be tomorrow. He is the perfect picture of integrity and consistency. We, however, are not. Sometimes we think He changes His attitude towards us, but if the previous sentence is true, then that would be easily explained by our perspective, not His. 

Some questions to think on.

• If Jesus can multiply His friends' scraps to provide for thousands, can He not do the same for us?
• What is He doing in my life right now that I don't understand? Am I seeking understanding?
• Since Jesus tells me I am blind and deaf, do I assume that I might be missing certain things in my life that are vitally important?
• What have I seen Jesus do and how can I remind myself of it?
• Which world am I caught up in? If my physical needs were taken away, or even threatened to be, what would my response be? 
• What do I worry about? What does this tell me about myself? 

Jesus, what You have done is an overflow of who You are in your life on this Earth and on mine. May I never forget that and always seek understanding. Tell me what I need to hear even if I do not want to hear it. Shape me by following you and being with you, just like you did your friends on Earth. Speak and let me hear. Touch me and let me see. Give me life. In choosing you, overwhelm me with the truth that you chose me and that has changed everything. 

Cora

My dog’s name is Cora. Cora is crazy. She was named after the Spanish word corazón which means heart. Cora has way too much energy, is always dirty, and smells bad. I can’t walk past her without being jumped on. Actually, I can’t get within a 50 foot radius of her without getting jumped on. It’s becoming harder and harder for me to get away from her. When I go to take walks she follows me. When I try to keep her in the house so she can’t follow me she still finds a way back to me. When I go out a door I have to physically push her away in order to stop her from following me and then she usually fights her way through. I have to sprint to my car to make it there before she does. I practice my juke and spin moves, trying to avoid her dirty paws from making contact with my clean clothes. So, as you can tell, this isn’t the most desirable dog for someone trying to relax and enjoy the holidays. However, Jesus has been working on my heart a lot lately and has revealed to me some things through Cora. One day, after I'd spent a great deal of time trying to get her to leave me alone, I looked at her running towards me and could not stop smiling. I realized something.

Cora is God’s pursuit of my heart.

Love. When I am broken, alone, and running, God’s Love is relentlessly chasing me – telling me who I am, how much I mean to Him, and inviting me to come home.

Grace. When I am ashamed, frustrated, and hopeless, when I think that there’s no way God could look past everything I've done, am doing, or have thought about doing, God’s Grace runs to me wherever I go – letting me know that I am righteous, blameless, washed clean and delighted in.

Peace. When I am stressed, overwhelmed, and have way too much on my plate, God’s Peace follows me out the door and shows me that I am utterly restless until I rest in Him.

Wisdom. When I think I’m clean, have it all together, and am fine on my own, God’s Wisdom leaps on me before I can make the first move – showing me how desperately in need of a savior I am.

Friendship. When people let me down, God’s Friendship looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and invites me to spend time with Him – assuring me He will never leave me.

And when I think I could not be more annoyed by this stupid dog, God shows me all of this through her. God takes bad people, good people, annoying dogs, and everything in between and uses it to show just how beautiful He is. When we open up our heart, mind, spirit, life, and imagination to all God is doing He promises to accomplish immeasurably more than anything we could ask or imagine. 

High School

High school kind of sucks, right? While it can be a lot of work sometimes, in no way am I referring to high school in the academic sense. No, I'm talking about socially. High school is essentially one big race. A continuous marathon that can be ran throughout a whole lifetime. It's exhausting, is it not? There's always pressure. In high school, our identity defines us. We strive to be the smartest, fittest, most successful, best looking, funniest, and coolest. We compete over who can get the most girls, or who can be liked by the most people, or who can be the best Christian. We want to be the person that tries the most, or the person that tries the least. We want to be the person that does the craziest things or the person who does the most drugs. We want to be the good kid that stays away from everything. The list goes on and on but I hope you're starting to get the central theme. High school is about being someone you're not. It's about trying. Trying to be something or trying to act like you're not even trying. I think we are all victims of this. Going into high school I always wanted to be the nice guy who had a girlfriend. I constantly thought to myself "once I have a girlfriend, everything in my life will be a lot better." Well, it's four years later now, and I have still yet to have a girlfriend. However, everything in my life is better than I could have ever imagined. And not better in the sense that I am always happy, but better in the sense that I am living passionately and purposefully. You see, after constant heartbreak and disappointment, I finally realized something about myself. I was in a never ending race. Having a girlfriend would not bring fulfillment to my life. I soon realized that nothing on this earth would bring fulfillment to my life.

The fulfillment I found came through someone named Jesus. Now, this name comes with a lot of connotations but how about just forgetting all of them for a second. Jesus was basically a really righteous dude who lived 2,000-ish years ago. He was a rabbi but said a lot of things that aggravated a lot of the religious leaders in His time. This was interesting because Jesus was said to be the prophesied messiah. The really cool thing about Jesus is that He, Son of God, came to the world for the sick and the sinners, not the religious people. Jesus came for people that were broken - the triers. Jesus hung out with a lot of messed up people but called them His brothers and sisters. When He met them He didn't ask them to say a prayer or go to church with Him, He just said, "follow me." Jesus eventually ended up having a lot of adventures with the people that followed Him and changed their lives forever. The reason Jesus had such an impact is that He lived differently then any other person. Jesus was never about trying to be something He was not. Jesus was about trusting in who God knew He was. Trying didn't matter to Jesus and since Jesus was also God this becomes even more intriguing. God doesn't care about trying, but about trusting.

Now it's been more or less than a couple years since I've actually started following Jesus but these years have easily been the best of my life. Starting to follow Jesus has been kind of similar to a blind person that receives sight later on in his life. Before, I was able to operate but I was constantly held back by fear. Fear of not being good enough, loneliness, failure, etc. But now, it's like there's a whole new world out there. Now that I can see, life is actually pretty dang wonderful. My identity no longer defines me. Jesus defines me. And as my old identity disappears, so does the pressure that came along with it.

So, back to the high school thing. Once I realized that I was in this race, I became set free. Although I'll be graduating in a couple weeks, high school can be amazing. It's all about finding purpose and passion while you're there. No one wants to go to college still being stuck in the haze of high school. My prayer to you, fellow high-schoolers, is for you to try to realize this as soon as possible. This world will always let you down and it will never satisfy you. Thank God there's something more.

Much love,
Raven

One

Dear Christians,

With all this debate going on over marriage equality, I think there are some things we must not be ignorant of. First and foremost, we are called to unity not uniformity. Every person is different, therefore every person has different beliefs. In addition, no one is God. And it is impossible to completely understand God, therefore, when we're dealing with God, there is always the possibility that we have absolutely no idea what we're talking about.

On that note, let's say there's someone named Bob. Bob attends church every week and calls himself a Christian. Bill, Bob's co-worker, is not a Christian and isn't really sure what being a christian really means. Bob is the only person Bill knows that is a Christian, therefore his only example of what Christ is like. Now, this is just an illustration but is extremely relevant to today. Let's say Bob himself really hates mailmen. Bob's dog was ran over by a mailman when he was 10 years old, without any consolation from the mailman. Bob has always had this grudge against mailmen. So, Bob acts accordingly and is very rude to all mailmen, even the one that comes into his office. Bill notices this and connects it with his Christian faith. He thinks to himself, "Hm, Christians must hate mailmen." Now, this is an unfair connection since most Christians do not hate mailmen. However, Bob is Bill's only example of a Christian, therefore, his only example of what Christ is like. If you have not caught on yet, we're Bob. Everything we do is a chance to show people who do not know Jesus what He is like. So, we should probably be kind of careful about what we say and do.

While a friendly discussion is never a bad thing, there are definitely limits, especially when Bill is present. We must always be respectful of others beliefs and never see anyone as an enemy. We must avoid talking about Christians as "us" and everyone else as "them." We're all in this together. We should know that as Christians, we are called to love God and people above everything. We must remember that love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. And if we are not loving people with what we are saying and doing, we are not representing Christ. We often think our opinions are completely right, everyone who has a particular opinion usually does. But before we voice that opinion, we must be sure we are doing it for good (so everyone will agree with you isn't good). Keep in mind, most people are not going to change their minds over one comment. Most people have probably heard pretty much all of the counter-arguments to their opinion, so is it really necessary that you voice your opinion?

If we are hurting people with our actions then we must stop what we are doing. Remember this when you're thinking about posting that Facebook comment or tweeting that tweet. We are not going to become unified by getting into arguments 24/7 and hurting the people around us. We are going to be unified by learning to see the beauty in everyone's opinions. Nobody is the same, and that's a wonderful thing. If what you're going to say is going to hurt anyone, don't. They should know we are Christians by our love, not by our opinion on marriage equality. Build people up with your words instead of taring them down. Spread love, spread goodness, spread Jesus (not your opinion). 

Thanks for reading. Much love. 

Thanks

Life is a gift. This simple but powerful statement is something we take for granted every single day. It is far too easy to get used to our present situations and see our lives relative to the image we have of the people around us. The challenge is seeing every day as a blessing. Truly, I know life can get hard. I've had great days and terrible days in my lifetime. Something I can always be thankful for, though, is that the great days completely outnumber the bad ones. But, when they are happening, the bad days seem endless. They seem like nothing could ever change. Well, that's wrong. Face it, we're all drama queens. We often exaggerate the bad and underestimate the good. Life really is a beautiful thing, especially for people as fortunate as me. The thing is, we see things relatively. For instance, say today is the best day of your life and no other day could be nearly as great. Then, obviously, tomorrow can't be the best day ever. However, is that any reason not to see tomorrow as a gift? 

Just the fact that there is a tomorrow is a gift in itself. If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, your wallet, and some spare change you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture, or the horrible pangs of starvation you are luckier than 500 million people alive and suffering. If you can read this message you are more fortunate than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read it at all. Now, given this perspective, don't our days actually seem pretty great? Is it not amazing that you can actually read this on the internet? You see, when we start each day expressing thankfulness for everything we have, things start to change. Maybe the fact that you got a bad grade on a test or that the person you like doesn't like you back isn't really that big of a deal.

What we need is to teach ourselves and each other thankfulness. If you start to think about it, life is beautiful. We're alive and we have everything going for us. So, now it's time to live like this is true. Go tell someone you love them. Give a hug. Go outside. Fly a kite. Don't let that that person get to you. Smile. Do the happy dance. Give someone a compliment. Live life like it's a gift. Share the gift with others. You were put here for a reason. You were made with this great love that overpowers anything and everything. What we don't realize is that we're given this great love as a gift everyday and we forget about it. There's this fire inside us, all the time, that we smother with our failures and burdens. But today, let that fire burn. Let this fire burn up everything that's holding us back. Take a chance. Let this love control your life and see what happens. Count your blessings and carry a heavy heart. 

Love you all, thanks again for reading.

All You Need Is

Since God is constantly making me new, why do I continue to hold on to my past? The thing is, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I am living in the present I always become aware of all of the grudges I keep holding in the back of my head. I think about my friends. I'm guilty of seeing my friends in two categories, likes and dislikes. Often, I find myself judging people to the extent of saying, "I really like this person, but if they did this or stopped doing this...I'd probably like them more." Sometimes I need wake up calls. We all need wake up calls. I need to realize I'm not as important as I think I am. God doesn't love me for the person I'm striving to be, he loves me for who I am. When I love people conditionally, or try to shape people into the person I want them to be, I'm taking advantage of God. I'm creating a double standard. I get this beautiful love as a free gift from God and I take it and keep it to myself. Then, I give others this love that really isn't love at all. If love has any type of conditions to it, then it isn't. Now, as humans, it's nearly impossible to constantly give out this true love, but would it hurt to try? Because, that's something this world desperately needs. Failures. People who try their best, only seeing the best possibilities, and get back up every time they fall. People who don't stop believing in their potential.

So, take tomorrow. You could think about your friend as someone who has good things and bad things about them. Or, you could thank God for all of the good things about them and love them anyways. Love them even if they lose some of this good - or all of it for that matter. Love like God does. Love without judgment. Love without categorizing people's goods vs. bads. Then, accept love. People so often get in the rhythm of pouring themselves out to others and rejecting it when they do the same. Love works both ways. Take a second  and think about how blessed you are to have the people in your life right now who love you as much as they do. I know when I think about this, giving love back becomes a whole lot easier, not just to the people that love me, but to everyone else. So, my challenge to you is to judge yourself, for a change. Look for this holy love in your heart, find out where love is missing, and fill the void. Give love. Receive love. Repeat. Thanks for reading. I love you.

Sharptop

So, this weekend, about 400 of my closest friends and I embarked on a journey by the name of Sharptop Cove. Sharptop is a weekend-long YoungLife camp. The headline to Sharptop is that it is "the best weekend of your life" which is an extremely bold statement that is completely ridiculous, but what is even more ridiculous is the fact that it is true. Sharptop is an unforgettable experience that everyone should have - an experience everyone needs to have. 

I'm sure most of you, as well as myself, have experienced a sadness and longing to go back just hours after being home. Instead of sadness I think the question we need to ask is: how do we bring Sharptop back home? To answer this, we must first figure out what exactly made Sharptop so great. It's really not complicated. Sharptop just gives you this feeling. A feeling that says it's okay to be yourself. A feeling that brings out the best in us. A feeling that the place you are in right now feels like home. 

The thing is, when you're on top of a mountain isolated from society, you kind of don't care about anything besides what is currently going on. Everyone is fully engaged in the present moment and can't think about anything but each other. We become a community. We become a family. We learn to lean on each other and we learn how to bring the best out in each other. And when we do this, we open up this void. A void only God can fill. You see, when it's just us and God we don't have to worry about anything else. Sharptop lets us be ourselves, naturally. We don't have to depend on other things to have a good time. Drinking, smoking, and drugs become a thing of the past. We get to make our own fun with each other, not worrying about anything else. Life becomes simpler. Life becomes easier. And love becomes apparent, everywhere.

Now, how do we recreate this? Well, first we embrace the moment. We appreciate the people we are with and focus on them. We pretend our phones don't exist and block out distractions. We become open to talking about what is on our hearts, not what we think is appropriate to talk about. In fact, we learn to only talk about what is on our hearts. We give hugs. We treat each other like family, because we are family. We don't leave anybody out because the feeling at Sharptop is not something that can be contained, it's infectious - it has to spread. We see ourselves and each other as new creations. We focus on the here and now and not the past. We don't judge because we are all family. We learn to be our goofy selves and not worry about judgment. We forget about hatred. We become slaves to love. And finally, we let this great power of love overcome all the brokenness in our lives. We let ourselves be transformed by this love that has brought us all together. We let in Jesus and let out everything else. We make every day the best day of our lives.

We keep calm and Sharptop.