Thankful

So I had a really weird realization the other day...

I'm about to partake in Thanksgiving with my family and MY FUTURE IN-LAWS.

Whoa.

I have a fianceé, a job, a wonderful set of friends in Abilene, I'm over halfway done with my graduate degree, and I'm getting to do what I want with my life.  I have the resources and time to do what I want as a hobby (cook) and the great blessing to get to do what I want for my profession (work with youth).  So for this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for new, fun, and exciting reasons.

Pretty sweet eh?

Psalm 34:8--Taste and see that the LORD is good!

Shut Down

"Uh..."

That was a brief recap of the last 72 hours for me, intellectually speaking.  There wasn't necessarily any drool, but you get the mental image: I was totally that guy.  You know what I'm talking about...the freshman who has stayed up until 5 am playing video games and then "shows up" to his 8 am, if only in body but not mind.  

All of us at ACU have the same problem.  We go from the first day of school until Halloween without a day off, but then its a day off, three weeks, Thanksgiving, a week, finals, and then we're done for the semester.  So we are all mentally beaten down, and then they start taunting us with holidays and days off!  What up with that?

So I have one real paper left...a discussion of human nature.  And I'm trying to write about how the body relates to our relationships and the restoration of those relationships.  And my body is not connecting with my mind...it doesn't feel restored...and I'm not sure what to do with that. So yes, I've shut down.  And I desperately need restoration. Hopefully in my study I'll find the answer.

Motivation

It's funny...no one knows this thing even exists, so in theory I can write whatever I want and not have to worry about repercussions.  AWESOME.

Anyways...I got a job last weekend.  Sort of.  I'm going to be the full-time intern in residence at Grace Crossing: A Community Church of Christ, but I've only been unofficially officially offered the position.  There are still beaucoup de details to hammer out, but needless to say, I am WICKED excited about it.  I needed a job, preferably in youth ministry, in the Houston area, and God provided.  So thanks God.

There's a problem though...I still have over a semester of school left to take care of before I move down there.  So my passion, youth, has to wait while I learn about Systematic Theology, Church History, Greek, the Skills of Preaching, and Backgrounds of the New Testament.  Not that any of those is inherently problematic or bad; on the contrary, I love my classes.  It's that I desperately want to be with the kids...to hang out, mold them, and provide guidance.  I want to do what I feel God has called me to do, I have the opportunity, and the only thing in the way is the one thing I can't really control: time.  

I am woefully undermotivated right now.  I can't bring myself to read, finish my papers, or anything, because my heart longs to be in The Woodlands with my future.  As I less than eloquently state on my Facebook, it's hard to see the future when the present keeps poking me in the eyes. 

So here's hoping that something picks up...gotta deal with the life I have before I can have fun planning the life I want.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will rise up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."   Isaiah 40:30-31

Lift me up God...let me fly.

3...2...1...

This is the inspiration for my blog title...it's an article I wrote for my first internship at Legacy CoC.  It was originally written during the middle of the summer, but I think it's applicable regardless of time of year.

Sometimes it feels like Atlas got bored, looked around for a replacement, and dumped the world on our shoulders when we weren't looking.  Stress from jobs, friends, family, pressures from school or work...they all come crashing down upon us and seemingly bury us alive, where we can’t see the light of day or get out. 

There’s a story in 1 Kings 18 that encourages me when I’m so beaten down.  Elijah got in a duel with the prophets of Baal, and they each set up an altar with a bull to be sacrificed.  Then, they waited to see if Baal would burn up his altar or if God would burn up His.  After Baal’s prophets failed (miserably and humorously), Elijah raised the stakes by having the people around him fill four large jugs with water and smother his altar.  He did this not once, not twice, but three times.  I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to light wet wood, but it is unpleasant and frustrating beyond belief.  There was so much water, the trench around the altar became a moat, holding all the run-off. 

Elijah then prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36-37) 

“Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:38) 

Even when we feel like the fire in us, the Holy Spirit, has been snuffed out by the weight of the world and the pressures and stress we face, we have a God that longs to shine through the darkness.  If we turn to Him and pray, we will achieve what we thought was impossible. 

Ignition.