A Day in Zambia!

In my first blog post ever I talk about Jerry. Jerry is our sponsored child who lives in Zambia! Chris and I hope to someday be able to go an visit Jerry, we are in the process of saving up to do so, in the meantime, I had asked what a normal day in Jerry's life looked like. Today, we heard back!!! Here is a day in the life of our precious 9 year old:

"Wakes up at 5 in the morning to do his family devotion with his family for 30 minutes. from 5.30 to 10 a.m he helps his mama clean around, bathes and has his breakfast, does his personal devotion and does his home work not forgetting playing with his house neighbors Samuel and Kauya from house 4. He prepares to go to school at 11 a.m till 12 when he has his lunch and goes to school. He comes back at 4 p.m. Goes for the village (all the MFH houses) prayers at 5 p.m for 30 minutes. He has his supper at 6 p.m and has family devotion at 7 p.m. Gets to bed at 8 p.m"

Wow! Even though Chris and I cannot be there with Jerry, it sure is amazing to read what he is up to!

Do You Know Him?

When I first began my journey as a Christian, I started my religion as a rule-follower. Viewing Christianity was more like viewing a rule book. There were the Do's and the Don'ts of Christianity. I knew the line and I knew what was crossing it. After awhile, this became exhausting. I was ALWAYS messing up. I spent more time asking for forgiveness and beating myself up over my mess-ups than actually enjoying my religion and finding God's will for myself. When you spend your time feeling like all you do is mess up, you become exhausted and defeated. Is this what following God is? Are we suppose to feel discouraged daily?

It took me a few years to realize that being a Christian is not so much about tip-toeing and making sure you do not cross a line as much as it is suppose to be about having a relationship with our Father. Truth is, us as a human race cannot follow rules. As Romans 3:23 tells us, we are all sinners. And God knows this. God understands this fact about us that He ended up sending His ONLY son to die for us so that He could cover our sins. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit" 1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV). Jesus died so that we could be closer to God. As long as we are covered in sin, we could not have a relationship with God. Isaiah 59:2 explains this when it says "But your iniquities have separated you from your God;" (NKJV). Sin gets in the way of us having a relationship with God. Before Jesus, as he hung on the cross, even cries out to God, saying " 'Eli Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, ' My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" (Matt. 27:46, NKJV). God could not even have a relationship with Jesus, His only son. At this point, as Jesus was carrying the sins of the world (John 1:29), Jesus died so that we could have a relationship with our Father, His Father.

Webster defines relationship as "the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship". For a further definition on relation, Webster defines it as "an aspect or quality (as resemblance) that connects two or more things or parts as being or belonging or working together or as being of the same kind". We are told in the Bible that we are created in the "likeness of God" Genisis 5:1, NKJV. God created us in His image (Gen. 1:27), I don't think we could get any closer to having a relation with God than being like Him. God did not have to create us in His image, He did not have to make us anything like Him. The fact that God wanted us to be in His image, and then sent His son to die for us, that sends us a clear message that God wants to know us. He wants a relationship with us. If this was not so, we would not be called "Children of God" (Rom. 8:16). What child doesn't want a relationship with their father? And what Father does not want a relationship with their child? 

If God did not want a relationship with us, He would not ask us to pray (Matt. 6:6-8), call upon Him (Psalms 145:18), ask for forgiveness (Matt. 6:12) and give thanks to Him (1 Cor. 16:8). God would not ask these things of us, He would not ask us to communicate with Him, if He did not want a relationship with us. God wants us to reach out to Him, to need Him, and to talk to Him. How can we not have a relationship yet do all of these things? How can we do these things and not think that He wants a relationship with us?

Once I discovered that Jesus dying for my sins not only gave me a second chance at life (Ephesians 4:22-24), but also a chance to be able to have a relationship with the one true God, my whole faith changed.

When you obey your parents because you have to, you follow the rules because it's an obligation. Yet, if you have a relationship with your parents, you are more willing to obey or to try to please them because there is a connection there. There is a bond that means more than just boundaries of how you should and should not act. You want to please. That is how it is when you have a relationship with God. Once I realized that God wanted a relationship with me, it became less about what I could and could not do, and more about me wanting to please Him.

God wants to know us. The question is are you ready to know Him?

I Am A Sinner

My biggest concern when I realized that I wanted to use my blog to spread the love of God, was that people would be more annoyed than feel excitement and wonder for our Lord. This was a concern because I did not want people to think, "here's another hypocrite", or that I am uptight, too preachy, judgmental, etc. I understand that this can be the outlook on some Christians these days. In order for my goal and purpose to be achieved through blogging, and for you as readers to enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it, I feel like I need to take a step back and say, yes, I am a sinner. I have fallen and sinned. In fact, that's a daily event for me. I do not think that I am better than anyone else. I sure do not have room to speak when it comes to avoiding sin. Sin is not just a past tense verb for me, but a present and future. So, when I write, know that if anything, it is either experience talking or a hope that someday I will master a few skills and be a little bit better at avoiding sin. Truth is, I will sin. I will mess up. Paul tells us in Romans that we can expect to sin, "For I know that in me (that is my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" Romans 7:18-20, NKJV. Not only do I know that I am a sinner, even when I do not want to, but God does too. "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:2,3 NKJV (emphasis added). The word all applies to me.  It is for that purpose that God sent Jesus. "He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public--to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured" Romans 3:24-25, MSG. 

So know, that I write not because I think I am better or more knowledgeable  it is because I am just like every other human being here. 

The only person who was ever able to live the life we do and approach his death without sin, was Jesus. "...because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" 1 Peter 2:21-22, ESV. Just because He is Jesus, does not mean he had an easier life than us and succeeded in not sinning, for we are told "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet  without sin" Hebrews 4:15. Not only from Hebrews are we reassured that Jesus was tested just like we ARE, but he sympathizes with us. Jesus knows what we are going through. The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes Sympathy as "the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another". Jesus, shares our feelings when we are tempted. When sin is after us, Jesus knows what we are going through because he has been in our shoes. Jesus, however, is the only person that can defeat sin, if we could, we would not need Jesus. If we could, why would we strive to worship and follow God? Merriam-Webster dictionary describes a god as being "the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe". If we could achieve what God and Jesus did, we would all be gods. But we are not. We are not capable of Jesus. That is why we are to strive to follow Jesus' example, and when we fall short, we are to repent to a sympathizing Lord who forgives us (Acts 3:19).

My point is not to point fingers and condemn. My point is to say everything I write, applies to ME as well. I am guilty. I have a constant line of prayer open with my sympathizing Lord, asking his forgiveness for when I fall short. I just ask that my fellow brothers, sisters, and those throughout the world join me in finding the comfort Jesus has to give us when we sin (Psalms 147:5). My life journey is not one that I set apart from others. It is not one that I think is holier or better. It is one that is to be joined with yours, for I am not better, I am human. I am a sinner. I am a child of God (John 1:12).