Vander's Thoughts

Vander's Thoughts

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Trash

Thursday is trash day. Every Wednesday night we have to take our garbage and refuse that we have collected throughout the week and bring it to the curb, so that I t can be picked up and trucked to a far away place where we no longer have to deal with it any more. But we always have trash.

We are always creating trash. Open something new and you instantly have trash. Something gets old and it turns into trash. You can even turn something perfectly fine into trash when you drop it or forget that it’s on the roof of your car (another story).

Trash is a burden. No one likes trash day. No one likes taking out the trash. No one likes the smell of trash. I bet the Trashman doesn’t even like trash!

It’s interesting that when someone makes a mess of their physical body, we say they’re “Trashed”. And the same is true when we make a mess of our lives, we “Trash” it.

God didn’t make trash when he made us and He never intended us to become trash, but we sure do create a lot of trash with our lives in terms of outcomes. There are trashed relationships, trashed marriages, trashed brain cells, trashed lives all because we didn’t take out the trash in our lives in the first place. Unless we let God work in our lives and help us deal with the trash, all we will do is trash our lives and make a bigger mess.

When God works in our lives look at what the bible says will happen…

“(He) will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned.” Matthew 3:11 (The Message)

I know it’s not fun, but in life everyday is trash day. Deal with it.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Floaters

This past week we took a little adventure and went floating down a local river. I can honestly say I have a new favorite way to relax. There is nothing like letting the current of a river pull you along at an undetermined course and once in awhile surprise you with a rapid.

Floating is a cool thing but it is also one of those words we often associate with laziness or having no direction in life. Which makes me realize that there really are two ways to look at floating, I can go floating and do nothing or I can go floating and do something. I know it sounds contradictory, but let me explain.

Floating in a river i have the benefit of being pulled in the direction that the river determines. The river is flowing in one direction and I can know where I am headed even though I don’t necessarily know will happen on my way. It is my responsibility to pay attention to the current and what is happening around me so I don’t get into a bad situation. If I don’t position myself correctly on the river I might flip my tube or worse pop it.

It is the same reality in life when trusting God’s plan for our lives. God has a plan for our lives that carries us along like a river. The more I trust His overall plan for my life I can navigate the ripples of life and adjust my course in an enjoyable manner. If I were to ignore the sovereignty of God over my life I can get caught in unsuspecting torrents and not know what to do thus flipping my world upside down. I can float trusting God and use the instincts and wisdom to guide me or I can float aimlessly in life and see what happens and then blame him when I don't like the outcome.

The bible speaks of two types of floaters in this world, the one who trusts and rests in God and the other who ignores and fights Him. I like the first type of floater because the way I see it, I can both rest and live in Him. I think I'll continue to float like this because it just seems much more enjoyable this way.