I Miss my Bible

I recently left home for school and I won’t be able to go back for two weeks. This is a major bummer, not only because I miss my fiancée very much, but because I left my Bible in an unknown location in my home town. It could be in numerous places, and I’ve been known to lose Bibles in the past. Which I suppose aren’t the worst things to lose because, assuming that someone finds it, that person is getting a Bible full of underlining and notes taken by yours truly. However, not having my own Bible makes writing blogs and preparing for Bible Studies a lot tougher. It also makes sitting in my room with nothing to do a lot more boring.

This predicament I am in right now got me thinking about the importance of reading your Bible, because without it I do feel sort of less connected with God. His word is a way he speaks to us and tells us what we need to hear, that’s why we call it the Living Word of God. You can read the entire Bible 500 times (which would be crazy) and you’d still get something new out of it the next day when you open it up for your daily devotional.

I can remember the first time I realized I needed to read my Bible. I was very young and I thought I knew everything (I’m very bad with matching stories to the exact time in life when it occurred, but given the circumstances I was probably in Jr. High). I got into a debate with a much smarter girl in my class on whether or not Jesus is the Way. I was completely owning her in the debate all the way up until the very end when she said “Have you even read the whole Bible?!” I lost the debate right there and then. How could I truly argue the legitimacy of the Bible when I don’t even know what it says?

So this is what I did, I began doing daily devotionals and marking everything as a read it. Another little handy thing I did was put the Bible on the back of my toilet and read every time I spent time there doing you-know-what. And with those two combined I was able to read the entire Bible within a year and less than a week after I was finished I was in another debate with another girl (I really used to enjoy a good debate, I was raised in a Baptist Church after all..) and she asked me the same thing and I was able to answer confidently that I have read the entire Bible and I do know what it says. Needless to say that was a very exciting moment for me and she did eventually end up coming to know Christ. Amen!

I could go on and on about reasons to read your Bible, but I know people’s blog reading spans are attention rather short and I’m probably already exceeding yours so if you want to hear more about why you should read your Bible please just ask me! Also if you have and questions about where you should start in the Bible don’t hesitate to ask!

Just a Thought by Hannah Shu

Hannah Sent this to a group of people including myself and I thought it was great so I asked her if it was okay if I could post this on here. I also asked her and a number of people if they'd be willing to write more things like this for Fighting The Cynic, so if you have any ideas or things you want to share about let me know via facebook!

I was just thinking... does Facebook make you less of a Christian? Think about it - what do your status' consist of? Song lyrics and whining about how you need this or want that. Or does it make you more of a Christian where you thank God for the day He gave you or the funniest thing He presented in your life that day. Personally, I think about what I put as my status - if it measures up to everyone else's status for the day - which is not how I am at all. Who cares if God's name appears at the top of my page? I should be proud, but in reality I'm more worried about what everyone else thinks; even though they know I'm a "christian." And it's not just Facebook - it's everyday life, simply put. The people I hang out with, go to dinner with, talk to... they're not Christians and I should see to it that I try my hardest to present God to them, but do I? Do you? I don't mean be as blunt as to say, "Hey, become a Christian or else you'll go to Hell." No, I'm just saying be the example, the Christian, you are proclaiming to be.

Otherwise we're no better than the christian extremists and hypocrites who are so far from the truth it's more tragic than anything. I know this probably sounds so old and repetitive, like, "Be the God-warrior God called you to be" and whatnot, but I don't mean it like that. It's just that ever since I moved away from home and into a dorm with four other girls who do not share my faith, and have no other friends (sad, but true) it's been harder than when I was in high school.

So, just know that if it's hard for you, too, that you're definitely not alone and I'm sure it would not bother anyone of us (Christians) to just say, "Hey, how's it going?" and mean it. Because that's what we really need... support that we feel is real. Okay, now I feel like Rob the Ramblin' man... seriously, though, don't hesitate to talk to another one of us if you're having even a rough hour. A simple, "Pray for me" could suffice (trust me, it takes a load off your back). I guess the point of this was to say that it's okay to take that "leap of faith" whether it be on Facebook or just saying, "Hey, how's it going?" to a friend - we all need encouragement and sometimes it's hard to find it. Okay... thanks for reading this, guys. -Hannah Shu

Irrational Anxieties

Who of you by worrying can add a single day to his life? Matthew 6:27

People spend so much of their time worrying they forget all of the blessings God has poured into their lives. Even as I write this I am being distracted by random worries in my life and it’s making writing this blog last for at least an hour, when it would only take me maybe 15 minutes if I’d just focus.

How often do we lay awake in bed worrying about something we can’t control, and then it turns out to be just fine? I had a serious problem with this when I was younger to the point that I would miss entire nights of sleep because I was worried about something that might happen the next day. This kind of worry plagued me for years until one small little gesture from my Mom ended it almost entirely, and still continues to help me to this day. My mother sat me down and walked me through the past few months and all the things I laid awake in bed worrying about and she pointed out how no matter how bad those things seemed at the time everything worked out for the best. (Without any training in the field of Psychology, I swear she’s still a better Psychologist than me)

She then handed me one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. All it was was a little framed sign that said “Dear Isaiah, I have everything under control. Love, Jesus” Every night I would start to worry I would simply look at that sign and know that everything would be just fine.

Truth is my worry was simply a lack of faith in God. I was bold enough to unconsciously tell myself that my problems were too big for God to handle.

I’m here today to let you know that your problems are nothing compared to the God who created this entire Universe, the God who created everyone of us and knows us better than we know ourselves. He intimately loves us individually and knows what’s best for us in the long run.

I’m glad God doesn’t let everything go by our plans, because then we can’t take credit for it. If everything went the way we wanted it to we might be tempted to take pride in it as if we made it happen, so when God changes our plans unexpectedly just let that be a little reminder as to who is in control.

We have also been given this little tool called prayer. Jesus told us in Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

A friend of mine today pointed out to me that when one of our plans doesn't go the way we expected our first instinct is to think or worry about it. Thinking isn’t necessarily bad but, what our first reaction should be is to lift our problem up to God.

We’ve been giving an amazingly powerful tool and we should use it. God doesn’t want us to pray because it helps Him in anyway.. He’s God.. He doesn’t need help. He wants us to pray because it’s good for us.

So as you go about your days and you plans fail over and over again, just simply praise God that you aren’t in control and He is. Then lift your problems up to Him because He can handle them.