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Just a thought.

So on my walk, I've been reading the book of Numbers. Trekking through the wilderness with the groaning, moaning Israelites and witnessing every miracle God performs for His people. The other morning, as I sat down with my breakfast ;) I read Numbers 14. The setting takes place in Kadesh in the Desert of Paran where all Israel camped awaiting the return of their spies who had gotten the unimaginable chance of a lifetime to see the land that God was planning and willing to give to His people. Now usually, people are so excited to get a "First Look" at anything. Be it a movie or a car or a new item in technology like let's say the Iphone 5! :p Whatever it may be, you get my point. People die to get a first look or first touch or first taste at something before the rest of the world has done it. There is some kind of thrill that comes along with being the only person to ever see it before any other has laid their eyes on it. But what I saw here, when the spies returned, was nothing like the anticipated thrill I was yearning for. Trust me, I was excited to see how these chosen men would go and see the lovely land of Canaan and bring back the amazing report of how excited they were-It was The promised land after-all! But no. Numbers 13: 32 says: "And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored." Wha? Come on guys! This is the land GOD is giving you! It's like taking a present that President Obama gave you and badmouthing it right in front of him! In the midst of my utter disappointment at how the Isrealites acted, in chapter 14, I found God's reaction. Num 14:36 ^"So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— ³⁷ these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. ³⁸ Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived."

WOW. I mean yeah. God must have felt terribly hurt by those bad reports those men brought back to the Israelites. Those men turned the whole community sour against God by just word of mouth. The only two who did no such thing were Joshua and Caleb.

Then a thought struck me. I saw myself standing amongst the community of Israel. Then a more vivid image-I saw myself as one of those who brought back a bad report.

I didn't like the feeling I had in my gut now. I know God was speaking to me. There are so many times where I can recount me thinking and even speaking badly of something. Something I didn't like about someone or a situation that God gave me that I didn't like. I wondered if God feels the same kind of hurt He felt in that wilderness with the Israelites when hurtful things come out of my mouth. How could I say that I didn't like what God created? How could I complain to God that one of his creations were something less than perfect? How could I DARE try to doubt God? No, I didn't want to grieve God. I wanted to see myself standing right next to Joshua and Caleb. Seeing what God gave them and having the faith to say, Yes! Even though the land has people living in it, God said He would give us this land, and I know He'll stand true to His word. They never spoke a bad word about what God created for them, showed them, and ultimately gave them.

It was really an eye opener at how seriously God takes what His people say. Be it about His creations or what He gives them. It really challenged me to watch everything I say this week.I don't want to be a moaning, groaning Israelite. I want to be an encouraging Joshua. A person careful about what he speaks like Caleb.

Just some verses to help me this week with my challenge.
James 3: 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
James 3: 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Back to breakfast.

It's official. Summer 2011 has officially started at the Jerry George household. (Jerry George household..It sounded nice okay?) Between all the sleeping in and the endless staring matches between my grandma and I, I've come back to that one thing that I wrote about before-breaakkfasttt! The other day, my niece and I went to BJ's. (a bulk grocery store) As I pushed the cart around and selectively placed items inside, I picked up some mascarpone cheese. Only, this cheese came in a packet of 3 cases. Long story short, I bought 3 cases of mascarpone cheese for absolutely no good reason and now I'm stuck wondering what on earth to make with all this cheese! But never fear, breakfast is here! Remember my toast and honey breakfast? Well noww, its toast, honey AND mascarpone! sighh I'm going to be sweating cheese by the end of the month.

But s'all good. Cause' summer's here! :)

The Samaritan Woman

Last night, I had the awesome opportunity to get together with a couple friends and have a study on a passage of scripture. Each person came prepared to the study by reading the chosen passage fully and in detail. Unfortunately, I didn't do my homework. i hadn't even looked at the passage once before going. I was even contemplating the idea of not going. I hadn't gone for weeks to the study and for some reason last night, I felt that I just had to go. I felt that if I did not go, I would be missing out on something great- something valuable that I could use in my daily walk. Boy was I glad I went!

If the title hadn't given it away to you yet, the passage we focused on was John 4 verse 4-42, the account of the Samaritan Woman. As usual we started off with the first verse in the passage-verse 4. Little did we know that by this little verse is where we would stay for the next hour. At the end of the study, I was simply amazed. I have no other words to describe how amazing it was just to see how much I learned from this one teeny tiny so often overlooked verse.

John 4:4 you ready for it? Here it is:

4."And He had to pass through Samaria."

"What?" you say. "You spent one hour, on...THAT?" Trust me, if I were reading by myself I definitely would not have spent an hour on that verse. I would have looked right past it and ran straight to the part where He met the lady. Each person present at the study brought different truths to the table that they gained during their personal study. Here is a compilation of all the wonderful lessons I was glad I didn't miss out on.

The first observation is that Jesus Had to pass through Samaria. That tiny word- Had, gives a world of meaning to that sentence. Jesus was on his way to Galilee and just like today, there are more than one ways to reach a certain area. Normally, Jews would travel on another road with the sole purpose of avoiding Samaria. The Samaritans..they were, well...Samaritans. Ew, filthy, wicked, immoral. The very name-Samaria means "Watchtower", or "Guardianship". And the place where Jesus went, Sychar, well that means "Drunken". The Jews wouldn't dare think of associate with a Samaritan let alone travel through their country. It was a preposterous notion! So what do we see our Lord doing and why is He doing this strange thing? You can see here that He's going against the norm. Think about it, when wasn't He doing a strange thing like going against all preconceived notions of how things were supposed to be done? But why exactly would he take the road through Samaria? The answer is quite extraordinary- For one soul. Yes, for ONE SOUL. 

Jesus had a purpose in mind for taking the road that He did. Jesus was willing to break any barrier be it racial, traditional or cultural all for the sake of one soul. He is God. He knew what the circumstance would be. He knew that the Samaritan woman would come to draw water at that exact well, at that exact time. And He knew that through her, the message about the Messiah could be spread to others in that town just like her.

 

Like Jesus, do we ever pay attention to our circumstances and with perspective? Let me expand on that statement. Jesus knew the circumstance right? He knew what was going to happen and what was happening. And we already stated that He had a purpose in doing what He did- to spread the good news and ultimately bring glory to God. Although we don't know what will happen, we know what's happening. In daily encounters or conversations, God could be lining one up for you in your circumstance but we may not have the right perspective to handle it in the right way. So a heart that might be open to receiving the Gospel would be left out in the cold world while we fail to realize our circumstance with the right perspective. (I hope you have understood that I'm talking about sharing Christ to others) Jesus did exactly that with the Samaritan woman. 

But many times its so hard for us to talk to others about Christ. We already touched upon the fact that Christ was willing to break any barrier (racial, cultural or traditional) for the sake of one soul. What we must realize is that when God looks at people, He doesn't see a person. He sees a SOUL. That one's lost, that one's mine, that soul is saved, that soul is perishing. When Christ saw that woman at the well, He saw a perishing soul. What's more? When He saw that perishing soul, He didn't rush up to her exclaiming, "I am the Christ!! Believe in me and be saved!!" No, our Lord asked her for a sip of water. In our day to day life, if we're looking to share Christ with others, we can't expect to share Christ with that person and nothing else. We must see the soul but at the same time, love the person. Most people won't even accept a cup of water from a stranger let alone someone who is known to be immoral. It's amazing that Christ is willing to sit, talk, share a cup of water with her. He showed his love to her before explaining who He was. If we have any hope of bringing souls to Christ, we must also show Christ-like love to them. 

Christ had the wisdom to speak to her. He knew exactly what to say to her, something familiar to her of-course. The mountain where she worshiped is a well known topic to her. He didn't talk about far fetched things that would be hard for her to understand. When talking to people about Christ, we must try to talk in a way that the hearer will understand. 

Christ came to Samaria. Christ met her where she was at, even though the hour was late and He didn't expect her to come in search for Him.When sharing the Gospel with others, don't expect a homerun every time. You may be one piece on that person's journey. But hey, remember that you're being used-and God will honor you for that desire to be used. 

So some take home challenges I got from this:

Christ took the path through Samaria for a reason. Even though it was uncomfortable and out of the norm, He took it. My prayer should be to be comfortable with uncomfortableness. 

Christ had the wisdom to deal with people and the right words to say. I can get that same wisdom as long as I'm in the book and out of the picture.

Christ knew the circumstance and handled it with perspective. I should pray and actively look for the circumstance (opportunities to share) and have the right perspective (I may not get a home-run but I'll still be in the game).

I don't know whose reading this, but whatever I just wrote, hopefully it encourages you as much as it is encouraging me. I hope that by writing this post, I can look back at this throughout the week and remind myself of all the great truths I learned last night from this one tiny verse. I don't wanna be 90% interpretation, 10% observation and 0% application. If you remember me after reading, please say a prayer that I can actually use this in my day to day life. Also, I want to add that none of what I wrote above were my ideas or what I came up with. Let me remind you, I've read that one verse plenty of times before and never have I spent an hour dwelling or meditating on that verse. This is simply what the Spirit revealed to the people at the study last night. It's truly a blessing from God to be surrounded with and learn from people who are actively seeking the heart of God. Last night showed me exactly how much juice can be squeezed from one verse and trust me there was more to be squeezed. It's truly is a testament to how rich the word of God is.

My Life: An Update

I'm sitting. It's late Thursday night, early Friday morning..however you want to look at it. Couldn't sleep. Serves me right for drinking two glasses full of iced coffee. I finally got the right ratio of coffee, milk, ice and sugar that suits my taste. There's thunder outside. I can hear the rain against my window pane. If I leave my room, I'll hear the rain hitting the roof. It's pouring outside. Drip..drip..drip..splash...swoosh...THUNDER. Cue lightening. aaand now the rain just increased from a full out monsoon to even fuller outier monsoon. I lit a candle. Never buy the aroma therapy candles from bath and body works-the "scent" doesn't linger nor fill the air. Thunder. The rain has let off a bit now.

About two weeks ago, Saturday morning, while studying for a micro exam, I decided to take a break. I flipped on the TV and a golf tournament was on. Before giving in to my natural instinct to flip the channel and never return to CBS 3, I stopped to watch. Guess what, I actually enjoyed it! Now I wasn't sure if I had become delirious after studying for hours (ok fine, an hour) so I decided I would watch the following week-which I did. I enjoyed that game also! I think I have a new found appreciation for the game. I can honestly say that I hope golf is on this Saturday. aaand that's just a tid bit of what's been happening in my life recently. More posts to come!

How to read the Bible and How to eat an Orange

Ever since I could remember, I've always been taught to read the Bible. Every morning, I would get asked whether or not I read the Bible before I started my day. I found myself reading the Bible just so I could say that I read it. Recently, I was conversing with a friend about reading the Bible. We both came to the agreement that while we were always taught to read the Bible, we were never taught how exactly to read the Word of God. I found myself reading the Bible like a leisurely reading book- admiring the amazing stories and nodding my head at the truths I found. It wasn't until I started regularly attending a bible study that I learned how exactly I should be reading the bible. One friend of mine described reading the Word of God as peeling an orange. Stay with me here, I know it sounds crazy, but the analogy works here.

"What is the proper way to eat an orange?

A wise old man from Florida once said the only way to eat an orange was to cut a hole through the top of the orange. Once the top part of the orange had a hole in it, you had to squeeze or suck all the juice out of the orange. Once the orange had been drained of all its juice, then the orange can be peeled and the actual fruit can be eaten.

Just like the proper peeling of this orange, the Bible has to be properly peeled in order to get the most juice out. If the Word of God is being read or studied, one must try to squeeze the juice out of each and every single verse, not quickly try to peel it apart. The verses must be savored, each sip of the juice must be enjoyed thoroughly and to its fullest. Then one can move on to further peel back all its goodness and digest the fruit of the matter."

When I heard this I thought, wow how true! Each verse has so many nuggets of gold within it that to simply skim through a verse doesn't allow one to squeeze all the juice out of it. What's amazing is that no matter how many times you sit down to eat this orange, it will never ever run out of juice! Praise God for His ability to reveal something new to us each time we sit down to read a verse no matter if it is the 50th time reading that same verse. 

Thank you Lord, for providing us with an instruction manual for life and the instructions for how to read the manual itself.

Psalm 119:105-
Your word is a lamp to my feet 
And a light to my path.

How to Slay Sin, Part 4

How to Slay Sin, Part 4