Serving God

A Christmas Story

2009-12-09T10:09:00.004-05:00

We all know on Christmas day the infamous 24 hour marathon of “A Christmas story” envelops our lives for at least one run through if not more. The question I pose is has Christmas become more about materialistic gains than about the greatest gift in human history?

I need to give credit where credit is due and this blog idea comes from a dear friend and brother, Scott Hackett. With that in mind let me set the stage. Recently Scott and I helped facilitate a 24 hour “rock-a-thon” in the youth zone at Macedonia United Methodist Church. Throughout the day we had three bible study sessions, one after lunch, after dinner and at four in the morning. Throughout the bible study Scott posed the question “why do we give gifts at Christmas?” I thought about this all day because no one had ever posed that question to me before. I knew it had something to do with the birth of Jesus but I was not completely sure until further investigation. More on the bible study later.

For those who do not know me I work in the dreaded retail business and this time of year for me is quite depressing when it comes to the tactics that most retailers, mine included, use to push sales. They say it is the holiday season and people will want to buy gifts for their family and friends. This got me thinking, how do materialistic gifts like Xbox360, Playstation3, movies, money etc. make people happy? One solution I came up with was perhaps, the surprise that someone would take the time and effort to spend a great deal of money on me or whoever in order to make me or whomever “feel” good? Or perhaps it is entitlement, because most of my generation has been brought up understanding that when Christmas comes around we get what we want; therefore we are entitled those things. The truth of the matter is, both postulations are correct, but for the wrong reasons.

We live in a society where the true meaning of Christmas is being smothered by “politically correctness” and as a result when you go and buy gifts the clerks say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, this boils my blood! Awhile back Pastor Joe Rossi talked about Christmas and how everything revolved around the birth of Jesus and even the secular businesses could not deny that; however, nowadays Jesus has been replaced by the lust to have mundane items like a video game system, thus the meaning of Christmas has deteriorated into a day of gift exchange without knowing the true meaning.

Returning to the rock-a-thon bible study and the question Scott inquired about. The answer can be found in the gospels, particularly in Luke. Let’s dive into a few passages:

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12 NIV).

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2 26-32 NIV).

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too (Luke 2 34-35 NIV).

What do all of these passages have in common? They all talk about Jesus, the Son of God. Why would God send His only Son to live among sinners? Well, in a word, love. He loves us so much that He would send his only Son to show us how we need to be. As a result of Jesus’ teachings we crucified Him, God’s only Son paid for our sins on the cross with His blood. What I came up with throughout this bible study is that Christmas is all about God’s love for us. He gave us the ultimate gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. So to answer the question Scott asked, we give gifts because the ultimate gift was given to us. Unfortunately too many people in this country have forgotten about that gift and worry more about whether they have enough money to buy all the gifts for their family and friends and therefore have morphed Christmas into a day of palpable gift giving. What people do not realize is that we can give gifts that do not cost money, but are worth a heck of a lot more than what those materialistic gifts would cost. I am talking about the gift of time or agapé love. In my estimation those are worth more and communicate what Christmas is truly about!

Thanks for tuning in this week!
Your brother in Christ,
Ryan

Holy U turn: A walk to Emmaus

2009-12-08T20:03:00.002-05:00

Holy U turn: A walk to Emmaus
Greetings brothers and sisters! I finally have some time to blog and gets some of my thoughts down on paper. Last weekend I participated in “The walk to Emmaus” which could not have come at a better time! I learned quite a bit in that experience. It is a three day event which starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday. Last Thursday my pastor took me out to dinner to get me ready for the weekend. I had a lot of butterflies going into the weekend seeing as I could not have a cell phone or wrist watch. We were all on “God’s time” which was really quite relaxing.

Thursday night when we got to the facility where “The walk to Emmaus” was to take place I met so many people who had done the walk before me and all they could say was “it only gets better!” I thought to myself “sure sure there has to be some sort of catch or something”. The events started out normally, I met my roommates and we did introductions. After introductions we went to the chapel and had a service followed by a movie that I cannot for the life of me remember the title but it dealt with the last supper. As soon as the movie ended I felt a “warm and tingly” sensation near my heart. (More on that latter). Next I went to my room and started reading the gospel of Luke in Spanish. I eventually fell asleep but only for a short nap because after what seemed to be an hour I awoke and decided to go for a run and I think it was near 1am but I am not sure. So I went running while talking to God in Spanish silently in my head. We talked about a lot but one of those things was “original sin” something I had struggled to come to terms with. We debated for the duration of my run and even when we had returned to the lodge. I stayed up for what seemed to me as 2-3 reading the word and praying and came to the conclusion that I cannot continue debating God and I fell to my knees and asked for HIS forgiveness and the flame in my heart lit up some more.

Friday came and I awoke before all the pilgrims and we went to breakfast. The hospitality by all the supporting cast, table leaders and assistant table leaders was simply awesome. When I got my food they took my tray and carried it to my table, they did this for every meal all weekend which to me was awkward in the sense that I would rather be the one carrying the food for someone else so this was a different feeling to say the least! So they day began with a pre-meal blessing and a post and that pattern would follow for all meals throughout the weekend. After the meal we went to the conference room to start the first of 15 talks or chats if you will. The topic all weekend for the most part was “Grace”. After every chat we had to do something artistic to demonstrate what we had learned. There were two chats that stuck with me, the first which was titled “Priorities” and another that talked about agape. The priorities one stuck because my table did a skit and for the most part it was funny but it gets you thinking. I played a materialistic teenager who wanted an iphone more than anything in the world. There was only one problem, my priorities which sadly the teen I was portraying did not put God first and that was the lesson of the priorities chat. God must be a priority! The second started to shake the foundation of what I thought was God’s love. The speaker read a letter from an inmate and it said something to the effect that he was praying for us last weekend and that he loved us. I do not know what it was about that message that got me to break down but it did. I thought it was coincidental but after the chat we went and received more agape from people we did not know. The stone wall I thought was God’s love had some large gashes in it because I cried like a baby not knowing who these people were and the fact they told me they loved me in addition to God loving me just blew me away!!

On Saturday I once again was the first up and I did my normal morning ritual which was running and reading the word. The day proceeded similarly to the day before. We had the next five talks and proceeded with our artistic representations of what was said. After the sometime we had the opportunity to go back to our rooms and lone behold more agape but this time it was different, a lot of the letters asked “have you seen Jesus yet?” and I thought “how can you see Jesus in a physical way? This has to be symbolic to some degree right?” So I read all the agape and let those questions stew in my head all day and I tried to see Jesus I even fooled myself into thinking I actually saw HIM but when one of the musicians had asked me I described what I had believed, or so I thought, to be Jesus and he told me “keep looking you will know when you see HIM!” Day turned to night really quick and before I knew it darkness had engulfed the mountain and dinner was being served. After we filled our stomachs we went and sang for about 30 minutes.

Sunday had come really fast and I could hardly believe I only had one day left on the mountain! I thought “this is the peak it cannot get any better!” Boy o boy were the pilgrims and I in for something rather special son Sunday. For the most part the day started as the two prior did. We had chapel every morning and prayed. One of my prayers was I do not want to leave I am at peace on the mountain and would rather not go back to the pain and difficulties life had in store for me. We finished the last five talks and everyone seems to be doing really well! We were told that another chapel service was going to be held so we all gathered in the chapel. This was no ordinary chapel service they got us all pumped up and ready to go, and as soon as everyone had taken their seats they passed out envelopes. It was more agape but this time it was agape from loved one and people you knew. I kid you not it was like running full speed into a brick wall. I balled and balled and balled my eyes out while reading every letter! My heart was overfilled with joy and was feeling God’s love to an unimaginable degree!! I even tried to hide my emotion by putting the shades on but I fooled no one, and I was told it is ok to cry; in fact, it’s a good thing. After the agape the afternoon wrapped up quickly and we had our ceremony where every pilgrim received a cross that had been prayed for all weekend by the community of prayer’s. All this emotion in such a small amount of time I didn’t know how to process it and am still having a bit of a problem but day by day I am getting more of an idea on how to process what I have learned through this experience!

So with all that in mind, how does it change who I am and what I want to do? On Monday I could feel something happening inside of me I did not know what it was but nevertheless it was something! I would not realize until Tuesday what that something was. That something was God trying to talk to me and get my attention. The means he used were my Spanish professors. I received a paper back and was told I totally misinterpreted the meaning of the poem and needed to rewrite my literary analysis. Normally, something like that would not bother me; however, this was the second occurrence in three papers for the same professor in the same semesters despite two different classes with him! The drive home was rather pensive and I was thinking, has there been a good amount of time at George Mason where I have been happy? What do I want to do with a Masters in Spanish? The answer to the first question is, no there has not been an experience where I have been truly happy. I tend to think my learning disability has hindered my ability to excel in the program. With regard to the second question a lot of people have asked me what I want to do with my Spanish and in all honesty I do not know. I know I want to teach and make a difference in someone’s life. The truth of the matter is that originally I wanted to be a special education teacher with a concentration in learning disabilities in K-12. I failed to acquire the score needed for Virginia and got prideful. I said “well I will just do something else”. And so I did but I feel like I made a huge mistake.

Why would I want to be a special education teacher? Well first of all not many people know that I went through the special education system when I was in school so I could be an example to those who are struggling, I can show them they can succeed and that having a learning disability is not a bad thing. I can empathize with them and feel their pain because I have been there and know what they are going through. When I first started school I could not cross my left arm to my right side. I hated all sorts of textures especially plato and potato chips. I could not draw a square, someone could draw one on a piece of paper and I could not emulate that. The teacher would have to take my hand and move it in the shape of a square. I could not grip a pencil and write well. I had reading comprehension problems; in fact, I was several levels behind my class in reading but as soon as I started to understand words my level soared way above my class. In math I was several levels behind my class. The only way I could do basic math was visually with my fingers. When I went to St. Mary’s catholic school as a kindergartner my teachers wanted to hold me back because they thought I was lazy and immature but the fact of the matter was I had a lot of learning disabilities. Needless to say I transferred schools and was enrolled in special education where I had teachers who tailored a program that was for me. Despite all the obstacles, I have overcome all of that and gone on to achieve a Bachelors degree in a foreign language and even start a graduate program in the same foreign language. Another advantage would be I could help Hispanics who have learning disabilities because I can bridge the communication gap and help in that way. I truly believe that God is trying to get me to go in the special education direction because there has to be a reason that I am having so much hardship in my current program and the more I pray about it the more it makes sense to me to go back to JMU and undertake special education! God has opened my heart and it is listening and as much as I want to finish Spanish just for the sake of finishing is not the right way to go because it is all about HIS want and my heart is telling me HE is trying to dissuade me from finishing here. I believe that I have experienced what I have up to this point in my life for a reason and I have learned Spanish for a reason. My heart jumps for joy every time I think about being a special education teacher! That has to mean something so I think I will pursue that path. Some may think this is a dumb move or a lack of faith but honestly there are those I can influence and help more in special education than in Spanish. If I were to teach a class room full of people who want to learn Spanish I would not have the ability to work one on one with students struggling in the same capacity as I would as a special education teacher. The walk to Emmaus has truly opened me up to listen to God and has reignited that fire I once had in my heart and I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to walk!

Thanks for listening

Your servant in Christ,

Ryan

You are important!

2009-09-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what the world would be like without you? I do, sometimes I think the world would be better without me? I was listening to the radio this morning and someone had mentioned the same inquiry that I have and they had a really awesome answer that I wanted to share. They said, “we are very important, we don’t know how many lives we touch”, which got me to think how many lives do I touch? Well, I know for sure my family, which is a given, people at the church, the youth there, my classmates, my coworkers, my roommates, and much more. Where am I going with this? Well as Christians we touch a lot of lives without knowing it! We lead people to Christ and change their lives forever! This radio message gave me a new perspective on life and knowing it is not just about me, it is about the Lord first and foremost but it is about how the Lord uses us to do his work. In my experience I am not completely sure how I am doing that? I can take an educated guess, but we as Christians know we are meant for something special but do not know because God only gives us enough information to keep us guessing. Going back to my educated guess, I can only postulate that I am here to bridge the communication gap because God has given me the gift of language. What are you meant to do? It is an interesting thing to think about is it not? I think that a lot of Christians want to know what they are meant for but do not so they are constantly thinking about it, as we all should, but we need to act upon what we are thinking! God has put us all here for a reason, we all have our individual missions in life and to answer the question I posed earlier I do believe I have a huge impact on the lives around me and it creates is so much pressure to come through for those people! Knowing that God is with me all things are possible! I want to challenge all of you to just step back and ask yourselves this week, “who do I impact? Do I really make that much of a difference?” I can guarantee that you will find that you do touch many lives and do more than you know!

Your humble servant,

Ryan

Burning alive

2009-09-26T09:42:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder what it would be like to be “burned alive?” Now that I have your attention, I can tell you that when I say “burned alive” I am talking about the spiritual “burning alive”. Not too long ago, I was on my way to George Mason and was listening to the radio and something struck me, I am not sure what but something told me I needed to write something about this “burning” feeling that I had at the moment. So, I let this idea stew for a few days and it is still there strong as ever! Being “burned alive” in a spiritual sense is one of the greatest things that can happen to anyone because they want to have a relationship with God, which is awesome! I am writing this blog to let everyone know I am “burning alive” and wanted to express some of my feelings and or experiences. It is a privilege to serve God even though it is a rocky road. I understand that and accept that. I feel that being tested and keeping your composure during those times of tribulation make you stronger, but in the sense of spiritual strength it makes you even stronger because your faith grows. The world we live in today is far from perfect and I notice a lot of people putting their faith in an artificial gods like: the stock market, gas prices and the economy. What do all three of these have in common? They all deal with money and just this last summer (it feels like autumn now!) I learned an important lesson about keeping my faith about such artificial things. I was on vacation with my parents stressing out about financial aid because my GPA was just under the requirements, so I thought, and my loans had not gone through yet and I was in a state of mental chaos. One day I was just getting ready to shave and for some unknown reason I was led to my knees, I could not stop myself from going to my knees, and this chilling feeling came over me and a loving yet authoritative voice began to speak to me. It said “stop worrying, you have put great faith in ME all summer, it will be ok I promise”. This voice was God speaking to me through the Holy Spirit. This is just one of many experiences that led me to believe that God, The Father, does exists and I need to keep doing what I have been doing, keeping the faith no matter the peril, no matter the circumstances even though as I said earlier it can be difficult to do and it is easy to go to a fictitious god like logic and reason alone. The truth is logic and reason cannot solve the problem because they are the easy way out and the only truth that matters is that we are here because God needs us to be here and needs us to have faith. Showing faith is our way of expressing our love for Our Father!

Your humble servant,

Ryan