He must become greater; I must become less.

I'm listening to a sermon on Luke 19:11-26- the parable of the minas. In one part of the sermon, my pastor says, "We must receive the Gospel not as consumers, but as investors. The Gospel is not like some lavish meal that you get and just enjoy and savor. The Gospel is not like some ticket to Heaven that you just take and put in your pocket and walk around thankful because you know it's there...

We receive the Gospel that the Gospel might be put to work in our own lives, that God through it might transform us more and more into the image of his Son...

So pull us away from all our allegiances from so-called gods, so that the truth of God's unconditional, undeserved, unasked for, unmerited love can work to enable us to increasingly love others apart from what they can give to us!"

So many times, we all take the Gospel for granted and just use it to simply get through life. We are comforted by it; it brings us joy; it makes us feel good to know our Creator. All of these things are certainly good, but the entire Bible calls for us to do something more with this gift we are given.

Just as the master gives each of his servants the same amount of money and tells them to "do business" while he is gone, God gives each of us his Gospel, and during our lives we are to do the Kingdom's business. This requires action and change in our lives. I have been struggling with this myself lately, and God is slowly making it clear to me what I must change in order to continue following him. Throughout the Bible, God constantly tests and tries his followers, making them more humble with every turn. He is not an easy master, but he is a wise one, one who knows our full potential and what parts of ourselves we must part with to achieve it. Those who don't know him could never understand why this is an attractive way to live, but the evidence that it is lies in the legacies of those who have followed his calling to abandon their pride.

A really good speech

I know not everyone agrees with President Obama on everything, but I just watched this speech and I thought I would share it. He is speaking at graduation at Notre Dame, a Catholic school, so he talks a lot about God and even shares his testimony. It's a side of Obama people don't focus on a lot... I thought it was very interesting. He and I share common beliefs about cooperation between groups who disagree. It gets good around the 10 minute mark.

Watch it here.

Sitting at home alone... peaceful moments.

I'm home. I left all my jeans in Auburn. Maybe I will finally have tan legs?

Almost done with HP 7. It's so intense... hard for me to put it down! I love reading so much, and I can't wait to catch up on my long list of books to read this summer and in the fall. Because I'm an RA next year, I can't work at the pharmacy in the fall, giving me (hopefully) loads of extra time to just hang out, read, and do whatever. I am actively remembering that wasting time is one of my biggest talents, and I'm praying that I use next semester as a gift. Whether it's reading, writing, taking pictures, learning to play guitar, or poring over my Bible and praying, I want to always be doing something constructive in the fall. Facebook is not constructive; sleeping is not constructive... my two biggest vices. I want the fall to be a semester to remember. I will not remember anything if I facebook and sleep my way through it.

I'm super excited about this summer, being an RA, and finally getting to take real journalism classes. As of now, however, I must remember that God sometimes uses the moments we are not excited about (aka the next two weeks) the most. We miss so many opportunities to share, love and serve because we are blindly eager for the obvious. God is well-known for his subtleties. I think he is very wise. If we only fulfilled his will in those grand, overseas mission trip sort of moments, we would think we are able to predict him, which is obviously not the case. Just as he came on a donkey rather than a stallion, in a stable rather than a palace, so he often comes at humble moments in our lives rather than grandeur ones. He always leaves me scratching my head, wondering.

Unrelated verse I read last night: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5