This came across my head recently:
In programming, if you want to compare the values of two different things to see if they true or false, you can use what's called "Boolean operators" in programming. They consist of AND (&&), OR ( || ) , and NOT (!) as a modifier. Lately I've had some trouble getting past some programming problems because logical operators can be a hassle to work around, especially the && operator.
Usually boolean operators are found within if-else statements. It works the same way you would think: IF this is true, then do these things. ELSE, do these things. To determine which statements get executed, you use boolean operators.
For instance (in pseudocode):
IF the sky is blue
it is a sunny day;
ELSE
it is a rainy day.
If we look up and see that the sky is blue, it is most likely a sunny day, no? Else, that is to say, if the sky is NOT blue, then it is probably raining.
Well sometimes you want to combine two different tests:
IF the sky is blue AND there are no clouds
it is a good day
ELSE
it is not a good day
If the sky is blue and there are no clouds, I would consider it a good day. Or else it would be a bad day.
Now the trick with the boolean operator AND is that for it to be a good day, BOTH tests must pass: the sky must be blue AND there must be no clouds. If any of them are false, then it is not a good day.
Also, another kink with AND. It tests the arguments in order, so it will check if the sky is blue FIRST, then it will check if there are no clouds. So if the first test fails, then it automatically skips to the ELSE w/o having to test if the sky is blue.
I was thinking how this pattern is like our salvation. Let's say that we think we are saved. Of course, we learn from the Bible that by grace and faith alone are we justified, and that our good works is a product of our faith in Jesus. But during our struggles and inner conflicts with sin, how do we know if we are genuine Christians or not? That's a natural question to ask yourself.
I put that question in the form of an if-else statement, and it actually fit quite nicely. If we have faith in Jesus' death and resurrection and our faith produces good works, then we are mostly likely genuine Christians. If not, then we are not genuine Christians.
Faith is followed by works. If any of these is false, then our ELSE statement gets executed, and we conclude we are not genuine Christians.
Interestingly though, but shouldn't come to a surprise, the order of which faith and works is evaluated is the same way the boolean operators in an if-else statement are evaluated.
This is the way the evaluation is:
IF we have faith in God AND our faith produces good works...
we are genuine Christians
Let's suppose we have faith in God, but our good works fails the test, then the statement that we are genuine Christians is not true, because BOTH faith and works must be there.
Now let's say we have good works, but we DON'T have faith in God. Earlier I said that the first check will get evaluated first, and if it fails, the whole statement fails by default. If in our lives our faith fails to meet the test, then we automatically are not genuine Christians. It doesn't matter if you have good works; a lot of unbelieving people in this world have good works, but because they are without God, they are not Christians.
This is a call for us to check our own spiritual walks more closely to determine if we pass this if-else statement. If we have faith and no works, then a reminder that James tells us that faith without works is dead. You have faith in God, but do not carry out His will, and therefore that's just like not believing Him in the first place. Because God has put you here on a mission to save souls, and not trying to accomplish that is rejection of His purpose for you. We are called to work out our salvation.
On the flip side, if you don't have faith to begin with, then this is a call to repentance, to realize your depravity before a holy God, and to come before Him with humility and brokenness so that He may reconcile you to Him. Your works isn't good enough to be reconciled to God. Isaiah 64:6 says, "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." It's not enough. We must have faith.
For those who know people in these situations, that's what accountability and evangelism is for; surely these are the will of God.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Recursion and Faith
When I was at Glendale, my programming teacher did spend a little time in recursion. In programming, recursive algorithms involve method calls to itself, basically creating a chain of method calls until the it accomplishes its tasks. My teacher at Glendale was not fond of recursion, because as someone who worked/works on video games, recursion uses up a lot of memory...and you don't want a lot of memory being taken up in games. So she never emphasized using it.
However my programming teacher this semester at CSUN loves recursion. The idea behind it is simple: you break down a difficult problem into smaller, easier problems. But if you actually run through the code step by step, there are a lot of things going on and lots of things to keep track of.
My teacher assures us that recursion is easy to understand, because all you have to do is have "faith" in it. As long as you understand the general big picture you want to accomplish and code to that end, just have "faith" that it'll work. He said it's way to difficult to try to understand what is happening behind the scenes in recursion, but says that we need to have faith and trust that everything will work out. If recursive algorithms are basically method calls to itself, creating a chain, questions like "When do recursive algorithms end if it just keeps looping into itself?" arise. Again, our professor says to not worry so much about what's going on, but have faith that it will work.
I actually have quite a chuckle every time he talks about recursion like this; I think it's pretty funny when he says to put "faith" in recursion, to put faith into something that is so visually hard to understand. But I thought that it sounded a lot like our faith as Christians.
Faith is a tremendous component in our walks. There are a lot of unknowns we recognize as we continue in our walks. We may pray things to God for Him to answer for us, but we're not even sure if it's in His will to answer it now, at a later time, or answer it at all. We don't know how God works, and at times it is really frustrating because the question arises, "How do we know God is there at all?" even "If God works." If you're a Christian, you've definitely struggled with that in your hearts; I definitely have.
But that's just a reminder of what faith is. The writer of Hebrews tells us "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of the things not seen." (Heb. 11:1 - ESV) Faith will only exist in our hearts if we undoubtedly know that God is there. If our faith in Him slips, so does our recognition of His presence. But the very essence of faith is what the author of Hebrews describes, the assurance of the things hoped for, of the things unseen. Even if we don't know how God is working, we do know he does work, because we've seen Him work throughout the ages, and His character never changes.
I may not know how what goes behind the scenes in recursion; having faith in it is pretty difficult because it's difficult to visualize what's going on. But I know it does work, why? Because I've seen the end result, and it proves to me that it does work. God shows us His works all the time, through answered and unanswered prayers. Most importantly, you've seen Him transform your own life.
So even if we don't know how He works, just look at the finished result. That's proof enough, and reason enough to continue to have faith.
However my programming teacher this semester at CSUN loves recursion. The idea behind it is simple: you break down a difficult problem into smaller, easier problems. But if you actually run through the code step by step, there are a lot of things going on and lots of things to keep track of.
My teacher assures us that recursion is easy to understand, because all you have to do is have "faith" in it. As long as you understand the general big picture you want to accomplish and code to that end, just have "faith" that it'll work. He said it's way to difficult to try to understand what is happening behind the scenes in recursion, but says that we need to have faith and trust that everything will work out. If recursive algorithms are basically method calls to itself, creating a chain, questions like "When do recursive algorithms end if it just keeps looping into itself?" arise. Again, our professor says to not worry so much about what's going on, but have faith that it will work.
I actually have quite a chuckle every time he talks about recursion like this; I think it's pretty funny when he says to put "faith" in recursion, to put faith into something that is so visually hard to understand. But I thought that it sounded a lot like our faith as Christians.
Faith is a tremendous component in our walks. There are a lot of unknowns we recognize as we continue in our walks. We may pray things to God for Him to answer for us, but we're not even sure if it's in His will to answer it now, at a later time, or answer it at all. We don't know how God works, and at times it is really frustrating because the question arises, "How do we know God is there at all?" even "If God works." If you're a Christian, you've definitely struggled with that in your hearts; I definitely have.
But that's just a reminder of what faith is. The writer of Hebrews tells us "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of the things not seen." (Heb. 11:1 - ESV) Faith will only exist in our hearts if we undoubtedly know that God is there. If our faith in Him slips, so does our recognition of His presence. But the very essence of faith is what the author of Hebrews describes, the assurance of the things hoped for, of the things unseen. Even if we don't know how God is working, we do know he does work, because we've seen Him work throughout the ages, and His character never changes.
I may not know how what goes behind the scenes in recursion; having faith in it is pretty difficult because it's difficult to visualize what's going on. But I know it does work, why? Because I've seen the end result, and it proves to me that it does work. God shows us His works all the time, through answered and unanswered prayers. Most importantly, you've seen Him transform your own life.
So even if we don't know how He works, just look at the finished result. That's proof enough, and reason enough to continue to have faith.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
System.out.println("Hello World!");
I haven't programmed in Java in maybe 3 or 4 semesters. My data structures class isn't about Java programming, but Java is the language of choice to implement our programs. I feel so far behind because I don't remember a lot of it.
Oh the troubles of forgetfulness, haha. I can't even remember how to do copy constructors or what they are used for. Oh well, that's what the internet is for.
class Riel
{
private String height;
private int weight_pounds;
public Riel() //default constructor
{
height = "5'7"";
weight_pounds = 120;
}
public Riel(String new_height)
{
height = new_height;
weight_pounds = 120;
}
public Riel(int new_weight)
{
weight_pounds = new_weight;
height = "5'7"";
}
public Riel(int new_weight, String new_height)
{
weight_pounds = new_weight;
height = new_height;
}
public int getWeight()
{
return weight_pounds;
}
public String getHeight()
{
return height;
}
}
//main function
import java.util.*;
public class RielisCoolium
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
Riel info = new Riel();
String choice;
boolean coolness;
System.out.println("Riel's height is " + info.getHeight());
System.out.println("Riel's weight is " + info.getWeight());
System.out.println("Is Riel cool?");
choice = keyboard.nextLine();
if (choice == "Yes" || "yes")
{
coolness = true;
}
else if (choice == "No" || "no")
{
coolness = false;
}
else
{
System.out.println("You have entered an incorrect response. Please go away.");
}
}
}
//end
Oh the troubles of forgetfulness, haha. I can't even remember how to do copy constructors or what they are used for. Oh well, that's what the internet is for.
class Riel
{
private String height;
private int weight_pounds;
public Riel() //default constructor
{
height = "5'7"";
weight_pounds = 120;
}
public Riel(String new_height)
{
height = new_height;
weight_pounds = 120;
}
public Riel(int new_weight)
{
weight_pounds = new_weight;
height = "5'7"";
}
public Riel(int new_weight, String new_height)
{
weight_pounds = new_weight;
height = new_height;
}
public int getWeight()
{
return weight_pounds;
}
public String getHeight()
{
return height;
}
}
//main function
import java.util.*;
public class RielisCoolium
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
Riel info = new Riel();
String choice;
boolean coolness;
System.out.println("Riel's height is " + info.getHeight());
System.out.println("Riel's weight is " + info.getWeight());
System.out.println("Is Riel cool?");
choice = keyboard.nextLine();
if (choice == "Yes" || "yes")
{
coolness = true;
}
else if (choice == "No" || "no")
{
coolness = false;
}
else
{
System.out.println("You have entered an incorrect response. Please go away.");
}
}
}
//end
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Through the Fire and Flames
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
-James 1:2-4
He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
-Deuteronomy 32:10
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
-Psalm 147:3
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
-Romans 8:28
...Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
-2 Corinthians 4:16-18
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
-1 Peter 1:6-7
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 3:13-14
For to this you have been called, 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. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
-1 Peter 2:21-24
What sweet words.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Jesus, Thank You
Me playing "Jesus, Thank You." I'm not that great, you can hear me mess up, especially in the beginning.
But we have so much to be thankful for. Most of us have wonderful family and friends, have been given blessings and opportunities, food and shelter.
But above all, the one thing we should be extremely thankful for is our salvation and eternal security in Him.
Thank you Jesus for your blood, thank you for bringing in a wretch like me to Your side. Thank you for the work on the cross. Thank you for showing mercy on a sinner like me. Thank you for calling me your son.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Serving in Sojourners
In the beginning, my main role in serving our Sojourners College Group was handling all the tech and web related matters: cleaning up our Google Group, emails, Facebook, and website. I was also given the opportunity to record Thursday Night and Sunday School sermons using a very simple voice recorder. Quality wasn't that clean because you could hear a lot of background noise, but it did the job, so I didn't complain. I would upload those messages on our website, and send an email via Google Group notifying everyone that the sermons were up. In the beginning, this is what I did, and all I did.
The rest of what was needed to be done was delegated to people who had experience and knowledge in that area, mostly in the field of planning events, which is pretty big and important to us.
I kept doing what I was doing because it was my responsibility and there was joy in doing this for our ministry, but somewhere down the line I sort of got discouraged in it. My contribution to the ministry felt so small; most of the time I felt like I was in the background, which technically I was. It wasn't that I wanted attention or credit, but it just felt like I wasn't doing much. Everyone else had the important responsibilities of event planning and other stuff like that, and I was just...there.
Sometime during this funk, my ex-discipler and I were going over this book called "Disciplines of a Godly Man," and I think it was in the chapter about "Ministry" that I learned about the disciple Andrew. Andrew is the brother of Peter, who we know was very outspoken, spoke before he thought, and pretty much had his foot in his mouth during the time Jesus was on Earth. But he ended up being a powerful preacher and had such a natural gift in it. However his brother, Andrew, was the type that just fell in the background during the ministry. The author of the book actually calls him "Average Andrew."
But that in no way discouraged him from serving Jesus. Though he did not have the inherent abilities that his brother Peter had, his attitude in serving Jesus in his own capacity was what really shone brightly. Yes, most of what Andrew did WAS in the background, but this did not stop him from having an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus.
Andrew is, in fact, the disciple Philip came to see first when two gentiles asked him if he could take them to meet Jesus. Knowing that Andrew did have that sort of relationship with Jesus where he could just easily go up to Him and ask Him anything.
His faith in Jesus was something to match also. In John's account in feeding the five thousand, we see a snippet of his faith. Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed the crowd. Philip, who was very diligent when it came to numbers, already knew they couldn't afford to feed that many people. He says in John 6:7, " 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.' " Two hundred denarii, or 8 months worth of the disciples' wages, was still not able to feed five thousand men, not including the women and children, even if each of them received a small portion of bread!
But in the next verse, we see Andrew act. "One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?' " Of course five loaves and 2 small sardines couldn't fill twenty thousand people (men, women, and children)! And yet, that did not stop him from bringing the boy to Jesus. Instinctively he knew Jesus could work with it; he probably didn't know how He could, but somewhere, deep down inside, he knew Jesus could feed them all with only these seven items, even if he didn't consciously knew it himself. He could have easily left the kid, told him to save it for his own family, and just eat. But he brought the little boy to Jesus, because he had a feeling Jesus could do something about it.
God used the example of Andrew to encourage me in my own ministry and faith, and is continually using him as an example as I meditate on what I learned in John MacArthur's book "Twelve Ordinary Men."
Two important things I learned:
1)Attitude: It doesn't matter how big or small your contribution is to your ministry, the fact that you are serving the Lord makes any role important. What you do is serving the saints, your fellow brothers and sisters, and pointing them to the example of Jesus who also served us on the cross. There is no "big" or "small" when it comes to serving, because in the end we are all aiming for the same goal, and that is our spiritual worship to God and glorifying His name.
2)Faith: Even if what you do contribute is still "small" in a relativistic sense, God can use even the smallest things to their fullest potential. Take a look at the mustard seed - it is the smallest seed out of all seeds, but it grows to be one of the tallest shrubs on earth, growing to about 10 feet tall! Jesus uses this as a parable to talk about the kingdom of God. Through one believer, the power of the gospel can have such a tremendous effect once it reaches the hearts of other people. Through that small seedling of faith Andrew displayed, five loaves and 2 fish became twelve baskets of excess food after feeding the twenty thousand. And through the "small" job of emails and recordings, God can use that to further His own kingdom also.
Thankfully, I now also serve by doing worship on Thursday nights. Every two weeks or so, I get the opportunity to co-lead worship with our worship leader by playing guitar.
Big or small, the Lord is using all my gifts for His glory, and I have no problem with that.
When asked, "Do people even listen to the sermons you record?" I respond by saying, "Hey, at least the resource is available. That's the most important thing."
The rest of what was needed to be done was delegated to people who had experience and knowledge in that area, mostly in the field of planning events, which is pretty big and important to us.
I kept doing what I was doing because it was my responsibility and there was joy in doing this for our ministry, but somewhere down the line I sort of got discouraged in it. My contribution to the ministry felt so small; most of the time I felt like I was in the background, which technically I was. It wasn't that I wanted attention or credit, but it just felt like I wasn't doing much. Everyone else had the important responsibilities of event planning and other stuff like that, and I was just...there.
Sometime during this funk, my ex-discipler and I were going over this book called "Disciplines of a Godly Man," and I think it was in the chapter about "Ministry" that I learned about the disciple Andrew. Andrew is the brother of Peter, who we know was very outspoken, spoke before he thought, and pretty much had his foot in his mouth during the time Jesus was on Earth. But he ended up being a powerful preacher and had such a natural gift in it. However his brother, Andrew, was the type that just fell in the background during the ministry. The author of the book actually calls him "Average Andrew."
But that in no way discouraged him from serving Jesus. Though he did not have the inherent abilities that his brother Peter had, his attitude in serving Jesus in his own capacity was what really shone brightly. Yes, most of what Andrew did WAS in the background, but this did not stop him from having an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus.
Andrew is, in fact, the disciple Philip came to see first when two gentiles asked him if he could take them to meet Jesus. Knowing that Andrew did have that sort of relationship with Jesus where he could just easily go up to Him and ask Him anything.
His faith in Jesus was something to match also. In John's account in feeding the five thousand, we see a snippet of his faith. Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed the crowd. Philip, who was very diligent when it came to numbers, already knew they couldn't afford to feed that many people. He says in John 6:7, " 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.' " Two hundred denarii, or 8 months worth of the disciples' wages, was still not able to feed five thousand men, not including the women and children, even if each of them received a small portion of bread!
But in the next verse, we see Andrew act. "One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?' " Of course five loaves and 2 small sardines couldn't fill twenty thousand people (men, women, and children)! And yet, that did not stop him from bringing the boy to Jesus. Instinctively he knew Jesus could work with it; he probably didn't know how He could, but somewhere, deep down inside, he knew Jesus could feed them all with only these seven items, even if he didn't consciously knew it himself. He could have easily left the kid, told him to save it for his own family, and just eat. But he brought the little boy to Jesus, because he had a feeling Jesus could do something about it.
God used the example of Andrew to encourage me in my own ministry and faith, and is continually using him as an example as I meditate on what I learned in John MacArthur's book "Twelve Ordinary Men."
Two important things I learned:
1)Attitude: It doesn't matter how big or small your contribution is to your ministry, the fact that you are serving the Lord makes any role important. What you do is serving the saints, your fellow brothers and sisters, and pointing them to the example of Jesus who also served us on the cross. There is no "big" or "small" when it comes to serving, because in the end we are all aiming for the same goal, and that is our spiritual worship to God and glorifying His name.
2)Faith: Even if what you do contribute is still "small" in a relativistic sense, God can use even the smallest things to their fullest potential. Take a look at the mustard seed - it is the smallest seed out of all seeds, but it grows to be one of the tallest shrubs on earth, growing to about 10 feet tall! Jesus uses this as a parable to talk about the kingdom of God. Through one believer, the power of the gospel can have such a tremendous effect once it reaches the hearts of other people. Through that small seedling of faith Andrew displayed, five loaves and 2 fish became twelve baskets of excess food after feeding the twenty thousand. And through the "small" job of emails and recordings, God can use that to further His own kingdom also.
Thankfully, I now also serve by doing worship on Thursday nights. Every two weeks or so, I get the opportunity to co-lead worship with our worship leader by playing guitar.
Big or small, the Lord is using all my gifts for His glory, and I have no problem with that.
When asked, "Do people even listen to the sermons you record?" I respond by saying, "Hey, at least the resource is available. That's the most important thing."
Sunday, July 31, 2011
VBS: A Reflection
My church, CCAC, just finished producing our 5th vacation bible school production today, and it was my first time being a leader in one. Over the month of July, I gave myself to serving these kids in a capacity I'm really not used to, which is why I hardly made plans with other people. I've never had any experience with children before and I was so unsure of a lot of things. "Will these kids like me?" "Will I be a good example to them?" "How do I discipline them?" At the end of the day, the reason why I chose to do vacation bible school was this: my spiritual sanctification.
Quite an odd thing to say, but then again maybe it's exactly the right thing to say. For a while now I've been struggling with the concept of "love"; not romantic love, mind you, but a genuine love for other people. If I were to be completely honest with myself, I see so many flaws in that part of my life. But I didn't want to leave it like that, so I prayed about what I should do, and the Lord led me to youth ministry, the best place to test out your "love" for other people.
Kids are hard to deal with, they're rambunctious, they're crazy, you name it. But if I wanted to know how to truly love people, the way Christ loved us, then I had to put my love to the test, against a demographic that can be hard to love.
Now, I'm not saying I hated children before, but more like tolerated.
But I wanted to love like Jesus did, a love that was sacrificial and selfless. The Holy Spirit led me to youth ministry, specifically our church's middle school group: Mustard Seed which I started going to about 2 months ago. But I want to talk about what I learned in my pursuit of godly love as I served in vacation bible school.
I generally had a positive attitude towards kids, so there was little hesitation when I decided to do VBS, but as the weeks rolled in and it was getting closer, I just had this feeling of dread in my heart; dread and doubt. No idea what to expect because I've never worked with children before, and I'd only been doing Mustard Seed for about a month. I came in green, very green. And yet the workings of the Holy Spirit had already begun because I was, at the same time, really excited.
My kids were incredible, all 9 of them. I don't know what it was but I instantly connected with all of them. I found it incredibly easy to just chat with them and hang out, running around and playing with them, and just talking to them. I laughed with them, smiled with them, played with them, and all that. By the second week, I was eager for Monday and Thursday to come; I couldn't wait to see my kids! Had I found what it meant to love? (at least little kids)
But I thought it was still a bit too shallow, Jesus didn't love us by hanging out. Jesus loved us by serving us. We see in John 13, He and the disciples enter into the house where they were going to take the Passover, and Jesus bends over to wash the disciples' feet, a job reserved for the servants of the house. But Jesus says to Peter, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter . . . If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." (13:7-8) Jesus used this act as symbolism to show us how He would eventually serve us to the greatest potential, by shedding His own blood so that we may be cleansed and purified of our tainted sins.
Hereafter, I did not hesitate to serve my kids, even with simple things: getting them water, helping them with the crafts, cheering them on, getting them excited about VBS, and even joyfully doing some extra work with our Spirit Team. I did not hesitate to get to know them and to pray for them. And, as the Lord was opening my heart, I did not hesitate to love them.
But the ultimate way you can show love to another human being is to introduce the gospel to them, and on one Thursday night, we had the opportunity to do so. One of our church members faithfully shared the gospel during our 15 minute bible time, and each team was given about 30 minutes to talk about it afterwards. I was really looking forward to this. The gospel is the greatest gift to give to the unbelieving and to those whose faith is shaky.
Well, too keep a long story short. I'll just say this: in the end, I can truly say that I love the kids I had this past VBS and I'll really really miss them, I even miss them a lot right now. I even grew to love some of the other kids too not in our group, I find myself really excited to see them. I'm not saying my love is perfect and complete now, far from it. I still have a lot to learn about patience, leadership, and gentleness, other ways love can be showed to kids. But, the Lord has started a good work in my heart, and He will see it through to completion.
I now move back to Mustard Seed, where I pray that the love that the Lord has showed me, and the love that the Lord has taught me to demonstrate, I can truly love those kids in Mustard Seed, even the especially hard ones (which I've encountered already).
What is it about kids that teaches you about love? Jesus, teaching His disciples, takes a child in His arms, said to them, " 'Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.' " Loving a child, who back in those days were seen to be pretty much bottom level in the social strata (easily servants, sex slaves, etc) shows your knowledge of how Jesus loved you, who was at the bottom of the spiritual, heavenly strata also.
For these kids, I want to be an example of love, of Christ's love that He showed to us on the cross. I want them to look at me and see Jesus's love in me. I want them to have a love that demonstrates that they have not been conformed to this world's definition of love, but have been transformed by the renewing of their minds by Christ's blood, so that they may prove that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
For these kids, I want to be an example of love, of Christ's love that He showed to us on the cross. I want them to look at me and see Jesus's love in me. I want them to have a love that demonstrates that they have not been conformed to this world's definition of love, but have been transformed by the renewing of their minds by Christ's blood, so that they may prove that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
We love others because Christ first loved us (John 15:12). What other reason is there to love someone else?
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