True Love

I've heard about it...but how do you know if you have it yourself? It's something the Hollywood producers monopolize, but what really is it? All I've seen it as is really just a feeling when you see the person for the first time and you're like, "Ahhh...she's the one," or he, whatever. If that's what it really is, then I don't have it. But even now I think I can see what it really is, possibly, and any feedback on this would be well taken because I am by no means a great bastion of truth.

Some say that, "Love is blind." I have a friend that truly believes it is blind, and I have to disagree with it, though for his sake I backed out of the argument. I do think that a love based on feelings is blind, because the two of you are only in it for one thing: to be physical and to have physical needs met. But I don't think true love is blind. I think true love is fulfilling to your soul and that it in many ways helps you see more than you would without it.

First off, what is love? I mean "love," what is it? Dictionary defines it as, "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." Though it does have quite a few more definitions, I think I'd rather sum it all up with this one (for the sake of not distracting people with lewd definitions). So it's just a feeling. Love by all outside appearance is just a feeling. So based on that definition I would say yes, love is blind.

True love...that's something else entirely. My definition of true love is viewing my love through the eyes of God and what His will is for "our" lives. I say "our" lives because when you are in a "relationship" the idea (all kidding aside) is really only for one end. It's to answer the question of, "Am I compatible with this person for a lifelong relationship." True love is viewing your love through eyes of glory to God. I'm still looking at God first, something I've sometimes let slip because I let my view get blocked. :) But God is always supposed to be first in life, and this can also be applied to love.

My relationship with my girlfriend started one month before I left for VA. That doesn't sound like a lot of time to be a couple. I'm going to be gone for one year, possibly more, visiting only about three to four weeks out of all that time. That's sounding not that much fun. I don't particularly relish the idea of going through it, but I know it is God that wants us to, so I follow Him and press on. For my next step in life, after I've lived in VA for a year, will be from God, and I don't know yet if I'll move back to MI yet or not. I have to follow God.

True Love is about following God, and putting Him before a relationship. Some people don't realize how passionate and romantic God is to us, I can think of some passages in Isaiah that can communicate passion. Song of Solomon some people could say is a love letter to the church...I think that's stretching it for why the author wrote it, but it is still a good representation of how God views His church. Following God does not ultimately mean that you have to abandon passion in your life. It's embracing a pure kind of passion, one that you don't have to be ashamed of and that you know will be blessed.

A true relationship with God will help with a true relationship with a person. True love for God, is a good place to start with true love for that special someone. I know that sacrifice and a long time of being away from my girlfriend is right up in front of me. I'm going to have to do it, perhaps even again and again in my future. But so long as I follow God, I have no doubt that our love will be the truest seen in a whole generation.

In summary: Love can be blind, if it is based on emotion. If you base your love on a true relationship with God and a seeking after Him, it just follows that your love will be founded in strength and it will be a true love.

The Faithfulness of God

I’ve been in VA now for about four days, and my greatest feeling over the whole thing is how much I’ve been missing home. But I’ve also had a great deal of peace from God as to the wisdom of my decision. And I guess that’s what I want to talk about this time is about God’s faithfulness to us. Though it may be quite an old subject I doubt very much that we know how faithful God is to us even when we think He’s abandoned us.

I’ve told some people where I’ll be working over here, but perhaps not everyone knows what exactly will be my job description. Starting hopefully this Monday I will be driving an Ice Cream truck, complete with six annoying songs to attract little kids ready to pay $3 for a Popsicle. I actually think it’s a pretty crazy idea that a business like that even works, but it does and that is what God has provided as work for me right now. But…because of who I am, I’ve already been looking for a fallback and I know that out on the coast (aka Virginia Beach) their season is just starting to get warmed up and they’ll be looking for summer help here very soon. So…both ways, I know I’m covered.

But I think I’ll stick with the former thing for now just in this conversation, and perhaps even a job. I think it is a very good example of how God is like to us. I called over here with the intentions of working at a place similar to what I’d worked before only perhaps finding something that would tip. So after calling and finding out that there were in fact a couple options I thought it was amazing that God had provided. But the options that were before was: a sushi bar, a landscape business, and a construction business. Out of the three the former two were what I was goin’ for. I’m not much at construction though I’ve done it with my dad for about three to four years. So long story short they came down to this one job with the ice cream guy. Not exactly, or at all, what I was thinking of doing. But I’d asked God to provide and He did.

I hadn’t asked Him to provide a job that would fit my ego, or would make me feel big and tough or even that would strain me physically. I asked that He would work it out for me to come here if it was His will. Thus far He has done just that. I have all the options that I need to survive. But what is the most profitable happens to also be a job I’d have never thought of doing had I stayed in MI. But does that matter? What did I ask for from God? And where did He direct me?

I honestly came here with visions of grandeur, of some great life that I was about to embark on. But coming here thus far it seems to be more along the lines of how I lived at home, except my back pocket is way more empty. I actually had wanted to start working today or yesterday, but God made it so I wouldn’t start until Monday. Now I could ask God why He did that and say that He doesn’t really care about me because I’d like to see a little more inflow. But instead I decided not to worry about it and instead let Him worry about the details. As soon as I did that I found my worries go away.

A strange result has come about since then, I’ve had probably about three free meals jump up out of nowhere just because I was willing to relax about stuff and go along with other people for the ride. I also got to go see 10,000 BC on someone else’s dime (who would have it no other way no matter what we said) and I had a great time. I played checkers with my full mind on the game (which was a wild game with this guy from Africa who played like each King moved like a Bishop that jumped) and I wasn’t worried at all. I’m still not. God has gone before me here and I know it.

It’s because I’m convinced He is faithful to us. I know that even though things on the surface may look bad, and though the storm looks really nasty, you forget what the rain can do. Without rain nothing would grow, and without the darkness the light wouldn’t look so good. Without testing we would all be weak. Without heavy burdens from time to time we would all be flabby. God is faithful…but it’s only in ways that He knows is perfect for us. All we see is the surface, but indeed what He does for us cannot be anything but the best even though we may disagree.

God is like the ultimate love to us. He wants was is best for us. For some reason we can hear that, but as soon as something bad happens we blame it on God. If anything bad happens it was because we decided something against God, or whoever did something bad to you decided something against God. Say someone dies. A good friend of yours. Would you blame God, or ask him why He did this? You may, but in the end you’ll find that glory came to Him through the death all the same. Life is about glory to God. Death is not something to fear when all you live for is glory to God.

Anyway…my story here is just beginning and already I’ve seen a great deal of God working for me. I hope that throughout my time here I might be able to shed as much light into other people’s lives as much as He’s shed into mine.

He is faithful to us, if anything we are not being faithful to Him.

Waiting for the One

A knight in shining armor. What is that a picture of? I keep a picture in my room of a knight going out to battle with the other men, but just as he's passing the gate a maiden ties on a red scarf to the knight's left arm. Underneath the picture it reads, "A battle to fight...An adventure to live...A beauty to rescue..." It's always inspired me. Unfortunately I think more of the beauty to rescue than the other two. Maybe it's because the picture depicts the beauty and only hints at the other two.

Regardless, this knight in shining armor is going out to risk his life in battle, potentially to never come back, and all he goes out with is the symbol of this woman's love. Only a promise that when he returns she will be waiting.

Sure, that was back then. The rules have changed a little bit since 500 years ago, I know. But we still us that old phrase, "knight in shining armor." Yet these so called "knights" have become scarce, and the definition of "shining" has become so gray that a lot more worthless men now fit it. I count myself as shining only because of how I view the road to marriage. It's not about getting all you can and then see if the girl likes you enough to live life together. It's about waiting even after the woman has tied her symbol to you before you appear in battle.

I really look down on men who are just in a relationship for the take. Sure it's fun, but when it's all over you leave a path of destruction maybe not as much in your life, but the woman has lost her symbol and now stands in shame. I've been in a position before where it hasn't worked out and I didn't get physical. I was still crushed and didn't want to do anything for about six months. I was devastated. I felt like I had fallen off my horse and that no maiden would ever wish to tie herself to me again.

I thank God that it wasn't to be. I began getting to know another maiden, and she's turned out to be who I am with now. But we went through a period where we didn't think that we could make it together. In that time I began to be the knight that didn't care. I would spend time with others and simply be friends with as many as I could, because of the hurt and void that was left in me. But at this point where I am back with this beautiful maid again, standing before that adventure to live, all I wish that could've been different is that I had stuck to that "beauty" even though she was undefined.

The word "wait" is more or less taboo in this society. Patience is frowned upon more than uplifted. But if you want God's best for the rest of your life, wait for the right one. God has the two of you set apart right now, but in His infinite wisdom and good timing He will bring you together when it is the right time. But if you don't wait, and I don't say this without God, that knight will pass you by and continue onward without you. I know because I would have done the same to mine if she had backslid a great way. God has made each person for one person, the face doesn't matter as much as who this person is inside.

The word "beautiful" to me means "pretty on the inside as well as the outside." When you say something is pretty it's more like "yeah it looks good." When you say it's "beautiful" you mean it has a radiance from the inside that magnifies the beauty of the outside. That's what I have. I've waited for her, I didn't get physical with anyone until I met her. For those who already have been physical I would encourage you to just step away from anybody of the opposite sex and get closer to God. He never had anything but the best in mind for you, and doing a lifelong thing without God is something that will hurt. God isn't against you, He isn't even for waiting. He is about each thing in its time. He created man and woman not to wait but to go all the way. That's why He cautions us to keep things for its time.

In summary I guess all I can say is, by seeking God you will find the perfect one He has set for you. By choosing Him He will give to you the perfect life. My mom always used to tell me that the way to look for the "one" God has for me is to "run as hard as you can after God, then when you get to that place where you feel as if it's time to start looking, look around and see who's running just as hard towards God with you."

I hope my relationship with Caitlin can become something inspirational to other people. I've come a long way, some times I went along without God. But I can readily tell you, that when I decided to go my own way those were the times that I've found coming back to me. They've not held any good thing for me. But each time that I've gone after God and His will, I can never regret the things done or said, and I count myself as the most blessed man to be given this relationship with Caitlin. I followed God and He's given me the best, all I can say is do what I've done, it really isn't all that bad once you get to the end. :-)