Khaki Pants and Luggage

What a fabulous day I had the other day. The only class I had was choir. And I finished my pinguine animation finally. It turned out alright. I'm not keen on the quality but I may try to change a few things to fix that. Hopefully it'll be on my portfolio site soon.

I was thinking of going to Walmart today because I needed a suitcase for choir tour next week. I forgot to bring some from home. I wasn't sure if I should ask Leah if she needed to go to Walmart because I knew it would probably just be her and I. I didn't exactly want that. But I mentioned that I needed to go and of course she needed to go as well. The time spent was very enjoyable as usual. We ended going to a couple other stores because she needed some khaki pants for choir tour. After a rather long but lovely outing we came back. She then calls me and tells me that her family has some luggage they would be happy to let me borrow. Her family also has several pairs of khaki's that she was unaware of. So pretty much our entire trip was in vain except for a few snacks and the time spent with a good friend.

Aslan is on the Move

What happened today was amazing. Particularly after my post last night. I went to work at 8 this morning. My boss said he was telling his wife about how I may be going to Colorado Springs for an internship and he
once again said that I deserve to get the internship because I am good. And I kid you not, he then said, "I know bad things happen to good people but good things happen to good people too." For a moment I just kind of stood there feeling really weird. Did that just happen? Did he just say that? Once it finally sunk in that he said what he did I kept saying to myself, "no way." And for awhile I couldn't stop smiling. Because as you have read that was exactly the same issue I was talking
about and the same words.

So what does it mean? Was God really talking to me? I believe he was. However I'm unclear as to why. Maybe he was saying, I am not ignorant of both sides of the coin, I know all truth. And he wanted me to know that. But what doesn't make sense is why he wanted me to know that so bad. It seems as if God wanted to tell me something it would be something else. But God's ways are mysterious.

I read Psalm 50 during my quiet time last night. It really came alive to me. It is such a beautiful Psalm. I love this, "For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine." He goes on to say that the wicked make themselves God by making up their own rules. He then tells us to abide by his rules or he will tear us to pieces.

These two things were pretty amazing revelations. Their exact relevance to my life and who exactly they're intended for I don't know. But I am supremely honored that the King of all stopped to speak to me.

Divine Encouragement

Yesterday I was talking with my boss and telling him about my plans for the summer. I told him about possibly going to Colorado Springs for an internship and he said something like, "I hope you get that, you're a good kid you deserve it." It made me think. Do we as humans ever have the right to think we deserve good based on our righteousness? Of course God does not love us to a greater degree because his love is not based on us (that makes me happy by the way). So initially I answered the question with a no. The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked.

But then I realized that the Psalms seems to imply otherwise. There are many times when the Psalms talk about the success of or blessings given to the righteous and the destruction of the wicked. I've heard that the Proverbs are general truths and that they won't necessarily occur in every instance (this is not to detract from the absolute truth of them). I assume this is true with the Psalms. But even if this is the case it would still happen sometimes. In other words, the righteous would be blessed and the wicked will fail sometimes. It certainly seems to imply that our blessings or lack thereof are dependent on our actions at least some of the time.

In typing this out another answer has occurred to me. Perhaps the Psalms are like a good persuasive college essay should be. We are taught in college to write papers which highlight whatever it is you are wanting to convince the audience of, and not to mention that which would detract from your point or put your conclusion in a bad light. Maybe the Psalms are merely saying good happens to good people and bad happens to bad people, without mentioning that in fact bad happens to good people and good happens to bad people.

If this is the case one can't help but ask, how can God be so misleading? It seems as if he is leaving part of the truth out to make a point. Isn't that somehow wrong and therefore go against his perfect nature?

Heaven forbid I and come down with an absolute statement and risk being wrong. I don't care though. This is what I have concluded -- at least temporarily. I don't believe God is being misleading. He is telling us what we need to hear. He is encouraging us. Good things do happen to good people and bad to bad. While this isn't the ultimate reason for being righteous it certainly helps in persuading us to be upright. If he mentioned the other side of the coin he knows we would be discouraged from the righteous path. See, no worries, God knows what he's doing.

Having said that, I will still remember that God's ways are not ours. My mind is extremely constrained.