Long Distance Relationships and Jesus

     For the last three years, my fiancé and I have had the opportunity to enjoy the ups and downs of a long distance relationship. Since the moment we agreed to be exclusive with each other in this romantic, emotion-filled relationship, we knew long distance was waiting for us in the future because of our career choices. We had to make a decision at a very premature stage of our relationship. To pursue this adventure or not. We decided to commit to each other and to move on. A few months after, we found ourselves a few thousand miles away from each other with the ocean in between us. Being away from the person you are in a relationship with raises a whole new set of challenges that we just weren't ready for. Going through this experience, we learned things that helped us stay afloat during this time, but they also taught me a lot about how Jesus relates to us.

   In one way or another, every Christian is in a long distance relationship with Jesus. Sometimes we struggle to keep the fire burning and compromise our relationship with Him to follow something or someone else who promises love and comfort for us today. But deep within our hearts, we know that those affairs are only a fantasy and that only God's love can quench our thirst to be loved. How can we keep our relationship with Jesus alive? There are three important tips I learned from my long distance relationship that can make a difference in your relationship with Jesus. They sure did in mine! Here they are:

1. Start the day with her, end the day with her.

   It did not take long for us to realize that in order to keep things going we needed to start the day together and finish it together. When everything else fails, we have something to look forward to. Every morning, we talk about our plans for the day, and every night, we talked about how much we accomplished. This allows Betsy (my fiancé) to give me her input on things before they actually happen and to hold me accountable at the end of the day. We practice this both ways, and it has really made a difference in our relationship.

   Imagine what practicing this can do for you relationship with Jesus—making Him the first one with whom you share your plans every day. If you are someone who does it on a regular basis, then you know the value of practicing this. If you don't, then think for a second how different your day could have been if you would have made Jesus part of it this morning. One of my favorite Bible verses says: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11, ESV). God has great plans for your life. I don't know the plans you have for you, but I know this: God's plans are better. Tap into His plan and purpose for your life every morning and every night! Let Jesus be who wakes you up and lays you down.

2. Make her part of your world

   Living in two completely different worlds is very difficult. Different people, different setting, different culture! You name it! Before we realized it, our "worlds" had pulled us apart from each other. We became so consumed by everything around us that we got absorbed by it and separated from one another. It wasn't long before the only conversations we had were those in the morning and those before going to bed. Even then, those conversations were short and dry. We were falling apart. Until one day we decided to make "us" part of our world. That meant small calls here and there, in between classes, and during lunch breaks. Even though I looked silly to some of my friends because of how many little phone calls I made a day, it saved our relationship.

   Jesus doesn't want to give you a blueprint of how your life needs to be every morning; He wants to be a part of it every day. He wants to come into your world and be close and intimate with you. Regardless of where we are or how far we feel, He pursues us desperately. The question is: Are we getting so absorbed by this world that we forget about our Savior? The Bible says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20, ESV). Think about the fact that the Almighty God, the One who created everything we know and see with the breath of His mouth, clears His schedule for you every day, regardless of whether you meet with Him or not. Let Him in! Remember that Jesus Christ gave His life so that you and I can live. Make Him your world.

3. Never lose sight of her love

   Like every other couple in the world, Betsy and I sometimes fight. This is especially difficult over the phone. If your significant other is getting mad over something insignificant, the problem can sometimes be fixed with a hug or a little kiss on the forehead. Well, guess what? You can't hug people over the phone. So every argument had the potential of becoming a big issue. Sometimes, out of frustration mostly, I run the risk of fostering thoughts in my mind that undermine her love towards me. So I often need to remind myself how much she loves me and how she shows me in many other different ways her love for me every day. This is the solution for every bump we have along the road.

   Regardless of what your situation is today, remember one thing: Jesus loves you. Yes, life can get rough sometimes! Yes, things can often be more complicated than we wish they were! But that does not change how much He loves you one bit! I often hear people saying stuff like: "I am mad at God because of _______!" Really? Can you imagine if God actually got mad at you every time you walk away from the cross, where He laid His life for you? Instead, He chooses to love you despite of your shortcomings! When things get rough, don't lose sight of His love for you! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16, ESV).

photo credit: SPIngram via photopin cc

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Vomit-Green

I am eating a Peanut-Butter and Jelly Sandwich right now and it is glorious, made even more so by the Black Raspberry and Blackberry Jelly that is inside. When I was a 1^st Grader I always wanted, or rather, I needed my mom to pack a PB&J sandwich in my lunch. Every. Day.  One time she didn’t, opting instead for the much inferior Tuna Salad sandwich. She happened to be volunteering at the school and was nearby. I went in and asked her why she didn’t make me a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich! I wasn’t throwing a fit or anything, it simply crushed my young spirit that I didn’t get to eat a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich that day. I remember tears filling my eyes at the realization. I liked Tuna, but PB&J was PB&J, and Tuna was not PB&J. PB&J is what I had been wishing for all morning. I was weird.

            This odd sentimentality didn’t limit itself to PB&J Sandwiches. You see I grew in a 70s
era double-wide mobile home. On its own it would’ve been a trash heap, but due to the work and expert care of my mother it always had grace and charm. However, my mother’s expert care could do nothing about its vomit-green carpet. It was disgusting. No one knew what the previous occupants had done in the house but all of their wonderful residue resided safely in its confines. For years my parents lived with it awaiting the day that they could afford a change.  Finally the day arrived, the carpet guys came, the vomit-green carpet was torn out, and new carpet and linoleum was installed. The process took a few days. One night I remember walking outside to where the old, vomit-green carpet was and crying. I was really gonna miss that old carpet with who-knows-what living inside it. My parents came out and saw that I was crying and when I told them why, they took me into my bedroom and showed me where a patch of the old green stuff was, right inside my closet. Evidently that satisfied me.  I was a strange little boy. I think Jesus is just as strange.

This has been a crazy week with ups and downs, victories and defeats. Yet here we are, minutes from closing the Sabbath, from starting a brand new week.  As the second hand draws us closer to its end, think about this. You and I are the vomit-green carpet. So often we made the stupid choice and each time we got a stain and turned a little further from God. Pretty soon we were worn and toxic. But the good news is that Jesus didn’t just stand there looking on, not even with tears in his eyes. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) When I realize that the maker of stars and galaxies and all things bright and beautiful, came to this world to save us I am overcome. All the time I have wasted, all the mistakes I have knowingly made, when the king of all gave up everything for me. How could he care for this vomit-green mess of a person? But he does and even though it doesn't make sense that he would rescue us he did because God is very definite in his opinions, and when saw that you were lost he saved you, even though he has a Universe. He likes the Universe, but you are you, and the Universe is not you. You are what God is wishing for.

 You see God is weird. A little sentimental. He’s just crazy enough to love a strange little kid like me, and strong enough to save a vomit-green world.

Photo Credit:

http://www.bbb.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1.png

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When Mountains Explode...

            On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted. Located in South-Western Washington State, St. Helens had been seen as one of the most beautiful and peaceful sights in the Pacific Northwest. The mountain is one of several large volcanic peaks that make up the Cascade Range. Other prominent peaks include Mt. Rainier near Seattle, Mt. Hood near Portland, Oregon, and Mt. Shasta in Northern California. At its base was a picturesque lake where visitors camped and fished. The mountain was taken for granted, a landmark for people seeking escape from the constant buzz of city-life. It took but a moment for this vision of splendor to erupt in ash and magma.             

            For two months, geologists had known something was coming. Small earthquakes, a visible bulge on the surface of the mountain, and other anomalies hinted at the power stirring beneath the earth. Yet the fury of the final eruption astonished everyone.

The picture of Mt. St. Helens Eruption I remember
from my parents coffee table book.

            Throughout the spring as the mountain had been rumbling, the snow that clung to its sides had been slowly melting, continuing a cycle as old as Creation. The melting snow seeped into the earth. On May 18, as the pressure of the white-hot magma bulged upward an earthquake suddenly occurred and the spring-soft face of the mountain gave way. One of history’s largest landslides released two hundred years’ worth of volcanic pressure and sent a molten cloud of steam, ash, and magma rocketing across the countryside at nearly the speed of sound. It leveled everything in its path and radically changed the landscape. What had once been a peaceful recreational area at the base of a beautiful peak became a post-apocalyptic wasteland in minutes. Trees were leveled for miles, then stripped of all foliage even further away. Pieces of heavy machinery were tossed into the air like children’s toys. The beauty, stability, and majesty of the mountain was destroyed.

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To Trust or Not To Trust?

photo credit: Oberazzi via photopin cc

If we are honest with ourselves, trusting God is probably one of the most difficult things for us human beings to do consistently. It is so easy to trust God when things are totally out of our control, when all human resources have been exhausted. Only then is when we cry out to the Lord, “Help me!” Most of the time we only do this to make sure we have someone to blame, other than ourselves, when things don't go as we plan. Interestingly enough, as humans, we have been doing this since the very beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned and the Lord exposed their sin, the words of Adam were: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3: 12, ESV) The default response of men after sin is to blame someone else for his mistakes. But all of that happened because they decided to put their trust on themselves and their desires, rather than on God and His commands.

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