Zac's Site

So... I messed up.

In lots of ways.

But specifically, I messed up yesterday, I. Didn't. BLOG! :O

The funny thing is, I messed up in a bunch of other areas. My messing up affected my Bible reading, my exercising, my preparing for Wednesday.

I think it's easier to keep messing up once you start, (the reverse is also true, it's easier to keep to the goal when you've got momentum.)

Momentum is good... negative momentum, not so good.

Watch it, it'll start out slow, but it'll just keep getting faster and faster until you spin out of control!

I just wanted to say: Good habits are hard to make.

And good friends are hard to find. (I'd actually go as far as to say that good friends are hard to make, considering the time and effort involved in making a friend into a good friend, but I don't want to get all rowdy and reinvent the wheel today.)

Blogging every day has been killing me. I'm trying to make a whole lot of good habits form, and it's killing me. 

I went to the gym for 4 days straight, waking up too early and going to bed too late (all in the name of blogging and getting ready for church and all that fun stuff.)  

I have too many things going on, and this whole lack of sleep culminated in me sleeping a ton on the weekend, and still feeling tired.

And this week isn't looking much better.

Good habits are hard to make... but they're worth it.  Just make sure that you take it at your own pace (or maybe a little bit higher than your own pace, since going at your own pace got you into this mess in the first place!)

You want to make good habits. You don't want your habits to break you.

Question: Any good habits that you need to make/are trying to make?

I'm trying to avoid posting lots of "personal" posts, at least the journal/diary-type posts. However, I also want to blog everyday, so that presents a conundrum because a) it's late, b) I'm tired and c) I don't know what else to write about.

All week I live in Villa Madero, and that's where I work and serve and play. However, on the weekend, I go to this bigger town called Tacambaro, where I help at the church there.

It's really been a blessing to me; I get to work with your and play the bass guitar, but I also get to stay with this incredible family. The parents are about the age of my parents, and their three daughters are all younger than my youngest brother, Spencer. I've been staying with them every weekend (Saturday-Monday) for quite a while now, probably for 4 months. It's weird, because I suddenly have three more sisters, who are all much younger than my sisters.  

It's not bad though, it's probably the one thing that I've missed most in the last couple of years. It's so nice to be away from home, and yet have another home where they love you and treat you like a son and a brother.

I take the youngest (Daniella, but they call her Danny) to her Kindergarden every Monday morning, and I fight with the oldest (Martha) as if she were mini-Kenzie!  I don't think you really realize how much you need/miss your family until you're part of someone else's.

And it's not just them; the entire church here takes care of me. Monday mornings I go with another couple to their breakfast shop (not sure what to call it, definitely not a restaraunt, it's more low-key,) and they give me breakfast before I go back to Villa!  It's really incredible how these people have accepted the crazy foreigner as part of their family.

I think part of it is because we're all family in Christ, which is an awesome thought because that means, theoretically (because, sadly, for a lot of people it's not a reality,) that we should have a family that loves us wherever there's a church! And part of it is definitely the Mexican culture, which might be messed up in some ways; but, as far as priorities are concerned, definitely has their family in right place! 

I really hope every who reads this has a family-away-from-your-own-family, and that you're enjoying the family you DO have!

Yesterday, I said that “If you aren't spending time with God in private places, your service to Him is worthless in public places”

Let’s assume that you’re good with God, and He’s calling you to serve.

Where should you serve, and in what capacity?

First of all, as Christians, we all have some overarching “ministries,” (areas where we can serve God.)

1. Love God, love others. (The Greatest Commandment: Matthew 22:36-40)
2.  Share God’s love, teach others, and send them out (The Great Commandment: Matthew 28:19-20)
3. Be God’s ambassadors (Ministry of Reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21) 
4. Be PURE! (1 Thess. 4:3-10)

But what did God design you to do?

There’s lots of way to get ideas (examine your life: what do you like to do, where do you enjoy being the most, what natural talents do you have, etc.)

However, the absolute BEST way to find your ministry (other than praying,) is just to get out and serve! Commit yourself to serve in a ministry for a pre-determined amount of time. Don’t make it too short, you won’t get a full of picture of what it’s like to be in that ministry, but don’t make it too long either (you don’t want to be stuck somewhere that you don’t enjoy being!)

God DOES have a plan for you, He has plans for your future, plans to prosper you! So get off your butt and start looking for the future that He has for you!

(Can't believe it's been 6 days since the blog-a-day challenge started! Click on the link to see what everyone else is writing!)

I'm teaching on this in about 18 hours, so you guys are lucky enough to read this before anyone else hears it! (You don't get to hear my melodious voice or see my beautiful face, but too bad!)

I mostly want to focus on one point: We're called to serve God, NOT the church.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't serve in your local church (PLEASE serve in your church!) It means that you shouldn't serve in the church at the expense of God, or thinking that loving God is the same as serving!

So many people are horrible at God's math. They think "Serve in church = Love God."

It doesn't!

It should read "Love God = Love God."

There's no substitute. We think that we're in a relationship with God when we're serving, but that might be when we're farthest away from Him!  If you aren't spending time with God in private places, your service to Him is worthless in public places.

Your service should flow from your love of God, NOT from your attempts to earn God's love.

(Part two will be out tomorrow morning.)

-Blogaday

//Slight spoilers regarding the movie 127 Hours//

This is going to hurt (me.)

Just watched 127 Hours again... that movie is the best R-rated Christian movie EVER... even if it's not actually a christian movie (see my Grandma's post here so that you won't judge me!) 

I was seriously moved to tears watching it. I'm going to ruin the movie for you, but it's (based on a true story) all about this guy who gets his hand pinned, and he ends up cutting it off.

Ow. That must have hurt (him.)

I love it. I love how real it is; how much pain he goes through, how hard it is. And it reminds me of our walk with God.

We love it when it's fun, when it's easy, when you pray and BAM your prayer is answered. But we don't love it when there's pain; we don't love it when God is calling us to cut something off.

Ow. This is going to hurt (us.)

At the end of the movie, after graphically and painfully cutting off the lower part of his arm, he looks numbly at the piece of his arm still pinned under the rock. 

"Did that really just happen? Did I really just become free?"

He probably thought that, but he didn't have a lot to celebrate. He still had to make the long walk home, and all he had was a stump of an arm to show for his freedom.  He finally makes it, but only after finally recognizing his need for others (the entire movie highlights the fact that he, as the selfish jerk we all are, neglected to tell ANYONE where he was going, because he thought he could do everything by himself.)

He stumbles upon a random family, and they help bring him to safety.

This true story screams "Prodigal Son" to me. The prodigal son leaves home, thinking he was self-sufficient... and ends up eating the left-overs of the food given to the pigs. So he starts running home.

He had lost everything, much like Aron from 127 Hours. The prodigal son had to leave everything behind, including his pride, and return to home in shame and failure... "I messed up. I failed. I thought I could... but I couldn't. I'll give you what's left, if you still want me."

Aron has to cut off his own arm, because "if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:30)

After he cuts his arm off, it doesn't get magically better. It just hurts. And he was still alone.

But then he started moving.

He left his arm behind, and started running towards healing.

And what I love is that he finds other people. There were people that just happened to be there, in order to help him and save him.

Cut it off, run, and find others. If you're missing an arm, it's all the more reason to ask others for help.

I don't know what you're struggling with, but...

Cut it off.
Run for help.
Find others who will help you.

God will be with you every step of the way, but you need to take the first step in order to cut it off and find healing.

"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.  The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.  It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.  It isn't a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for." -- Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays (emphasis mine.)

(Awesome photo from Paul Simpson)

Sometimes, I feel that I've forgotten how to dream; I feel that I've become accustomed to the status quo. And that bugs me.

Sometimes, I feel that dreams are selfish, it's all about what I want.

But then I remember: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." -- Psalm 37:4

God isn't trying to ruin your life, He wants to give you the desires of your heart! (This also means that He'll mold your heart to be more like His, so that you'll desire what He desires, but that's for another post.)

God knows what you desire, and He wants it to happen... perhaps not the way that YOU want it to happen, but He does want it to happen.

I was listening about a very famous dreamer today, and a couple quick thoughts came to my mind.

• 1. Don't be a punk about your dreams. It'll tick people off.
• 2. Don't tell your dreams to people who hate you, or who want to see you fail. They'll do everything possible stop you. Confide in a few people, perhaps just one person, then shut up!
• 3. There WILL be "hiccups." Things WON'T always go the way you plan.
• 4. God is with you. He's preparing you, getting you ready for a dream bigger than you could possibly imagine.

You figure out which dreamer I'm talking about? Why yes, it IS Joseph. (Genesis 37 and onwards.)

Joseph had a dream. He dreamed that He'd be huge. But he was a punk about it, and bragged about it to his brothers, who already didn't like him. (He just ignored thoughts #1 and #2)  Then, he was sold into slavery, and accused of raping an official's wife in Egypt (That's what we like to call a "hiccup.") But, the good news is that God was with him. (#4) He was preparing Joseph for something much bigger than being famous; He was preparing Joseph to be the saviour of not only his family, not only his country, but quite possibly the entire known world.

The tragedies involved in living out your dream may be great, but the tragedy of never having a dream will always be greater.

-Check out BlogADay!

This is going to be a short post (yes, you're welcome!)  It's just a quick thought that came to me as I was showering, and it's really too cool to not share.

As the majority of you (I hope all of you!) know, I'm currently a missionary in Michoacán.  I've learned some pretty cool tricks in order to save money (luck you, you'll get to learn this trick as well!)

Houses need paint. Paint is expensive. This presents a conundrum to the savvy missionary. However, a cheap work-around to get high-quality, but still cheap, paint is to go to Home Depot, or some place where they mix paint, and buy the reject paint. 

Reject paint: The paint that's not bought when some picky house owner doesn't like the shade of salmon his paint is. (Also, salmon is really just orangey-pink, stop calling it salmon!)

Anyways, well 5 gallons of paint were bought (Dark grey, black, orangey-pink, pinkish orangey-pink, and mustard yellow.)

Obviously they wouldn't look well on their own, so we decided to mix them all, and use whatever color came out. (Yeah, I was worried too. I made sure to test a tiny bit of each color first to see how it'd turn out.)

It was incredible! It turned into the perfect shade of grey that looked GREAT with the other colors of the house (dark red and beige.)

You could say "how lucky!" but I'm sure God had something to do with it.  So often we think that God only cares about the big stuff, that He's only looking at your salvation, and not your bank account (or living room, in this case.) God sees, and cares, about every aspect of your life! He even reads all of your blogs!

Trust God today. Trust that He's with you, that He loves you, and that He's watching over you, even when it's something seemingly inconsequential, like interior decorating.

Check out what my friends are posting at BlogADay!

(Today is the first day of the "BlogADay" challenge! I'm really excited to be blogging every day for the next 21 days... if you're interested in blogging, read this blog, and go to BlogADay.collected.info to see what the other Blog-A-Day-ers are up to!)

Ok, so when the Bible says that it's useful for correction, does that mean it's also useful for correcting fictional TV characters?

Because, I've got to admit, I love House, but I think he's in need of correction, I might be ready to replace him. I might have a new favorite in the "Super-observant, sarcastic, life-saving people" category.  His name is Patrick Jane... and he's got a really nice smile.

Back on topic, I've been watching a new show called "The Mentalist" and have noticed that there are a lot of similarities between Mr. Jane and Dr. House.  But the one thing that Patrick has that House doesn't is love.  

The more I watch The Mentalist, the more I notice that Patrick really cares about people, which just highlights the fact to me that House really DOESN'T care about people.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  -- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 

Now, don't get me wrong, I love House.  He has two traits/flaws that I admire greatly (sarcasm, and a general jerkiness, which just so happen to be two of my love languages.) But it gets old. Without love, it's meaningless.

Patrick Jane is different. He can be sarcastic, he can be a jerk (I've only seen a few episodes, so I might be wrong here about my assessment regarding Patrick,) but he genuinely cares about people. 

At the end of the day, what matters most is the love.

At the end of my life, I hope that what people remember the most about me ISN'T my sarcasm (which I hope to never use on someone if it isn't based somewhere, somehow in love,) but rather my love be the thing most remembered.

I can be a missionary, sharing God's light in a dark place, but without love, it's meaningless.

I can be a creative blogger, bringing startling insight to the people who read my blogs (just remove 99% of the words, that 1% that's hidden is really deep!) But if I don't love, it's meaningless!

I can do anything I want, but without love, it'll all just be meaningless in the end.

Patrick Jane, I admire the love you share for others... House, I hope you learn to love one of these days.

Question: Are you loving people? How, and where?