Crazy Love

So, I was VERY fortunate enough to read this amazing book called Crazy Love. =]I borrowed it from my friend and wasn't able to mark it up, so I put sticky notes in the spots that I liked...which happened to be a lot. =] So I thought I would share my thoughts with whoever wanted to know them.

1. Page 42 "Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?...life is all about God and not about me at all." I always struggle with this. There are many times where I make excuses thinking that God wouldn't care if I did this or that, or God's too busy for me right now so I'm too busy for him. And quite frankly I don't want to live like that anymore.

2. Page 46. "You never know When God is going to take your life. At that moment, there is nothing you can do about it. Are you ready?" Am I ready? Of course I'm not ready. Sure, I'm ready to go party it up with Jesus but there is still so much I want to do and see and there are people out there I haven't met, many people who I haven't told that they mean a ton to me. But, what am I waiting for? If God decides my life is over tomorrow, I've wasted an entire day not doing those things, and not doing what God wants me to do, spread his love. I have GOT to get on this.

3. Page 69. "Lukewarm people tend to chose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; They care more about what people think of their actions then what God thinks of their hearts and lives" Oh my goodness did that one ever hit hard. I've always tried to fit in, tried to be friends with everyone, and see how much I can get away with and still feel like I'm right with God. Yeah, well, that needs to end...it needs to end now. It needed to end a long time ago. I need to stop trying to fit in and only care about what God thinks of me, cause quite honestly if people don't like me for who I am and for following God, well that's their own problem.

4. Page 95. "If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream." Isn't that the truth? I have experienced this many times in my own life. As hard as it is to swim upstream, being swept down it is so much worse. I'm doing my best to keep my focus on God and live everyday for Him.

5. Page 97. "Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?" I have parts of my heart "blocked" off, too afraid to let anyone in to them, even God. Yup, that's going to change too. It will take time, but I'm willing to let God have everything in my life. I'm ready to show His love to everyone I encounter. I'm ready and wanting to do this.

6. Page 106. "Life isn't perfect when you follow Christ wholeheartedly ; you will have troubles Jesus says-it is pretty much guaranteed." This is something that didn't really surprise me at first, but I had to read it twice in order to get the full affect. I think this is something a lot of people don't understand. Life will always bring up troubles, but it's how you act on them and how you get through them that make them better then not relying on Christ.

7. Page 166. "Remember those retreat highs followed by the inevitable lull? Or the excitement you felt on your first mission trip but forgot shortly once returning home? Memories are wonderful, but do you live differently because of them?" If someone were to come and ask me that question right now, I would say no, I don't. I have every intention to but then "life gets busy" and I it never turns out the way I plan. If I lived differently after every Sno camp, or every Beaver Creek, or every influential Bible study I may have been able to touch more lives then I have. Not living out what God has called me to live out is not something I'm happy about. But I have to move on and do better the next time. I need to live out what I continue to learn each and every day and touch as many lives as I can.

8. Page 170. "We never grow closer to God when we just live life; it takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness." That's exactly what I've been doing, just living life and doing little things here and there to get closer to God. I pay far more attention to my friendships then I do with my relationship with God and in reality I need to pay far more attention to my relationship with God. I know I'm not the only one that does this, in fact, I know we have all sat there and were like "I'm too tired to read my Bible or to pray I'll do it tomorrow." or "I'm going to do this and then read my Bible" and really reading our Bible never happens. Now I'm not saying reading your Bible is the only way to grow closer to God, because it's most definitely not the only way, but it does help a ton.

Now, this isn't everything I learned from this book. There was so much more I had marked down and I would LOVE to sit down and have a conversation about this book with anyone who like to. Since reading this book I have gone out and bought my copy so I can read it again, learn new things, and mark it up the way I want. I would highly recommend reading this book if you have not already.

Funerals

So this past Saturday I attended my papa's funeral. It was really sad and I cried a lot which was really weird because I hate crying in front of people and haven't cried in front of anyone since Charlie's funeral. But anyway, it got me thinking about who would be at my funeral if I died tomorrow. I've always thought about it but due to this past funeral it's stuck out even more. I would want to know the lives I touched, if any at all, and what people had to say about me. I'm sure I'm probably not the only one to ever think about this, but I really have been wondering lately. Am I any good on this Earth?

Home vs. School

So this past weekend I headed home for a concert at church. Not gonna lie...it was the weirdest feeling. I felt like I didn't belong at all. Everything seems so different now. Everyone has moved on and made new friendships and started new things in their lives, while I was hoping to come back to the same old Waukesha that was relatively close to the way I left it. However, as I was home I realized that my life is no longer there and it's up here in EC. It makes me ponder the question...is it really worth it to come home? Am I always going to get the awkward feeling, am I always going to feel like no one really cares that I'm back?