Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

I had a baseball game last night that did not go well for us at all. We lost 8 to 2. The las two weeks have not been good as far as winning goes. We have lost five of our last six games, including the regular season championship. When we got on the bus last night after our game everyone was dead silent. One of our coaches got on the bus and used an event that happened prior to the game. One of our players had said something about the coach not letting them hit before the game and asked if our coaches were trying to lose the game. This particular coach turned this into a huge outrage of anger and frustration with the overall subject of our team being afraid to step up and battle. I find it interesting that we often do the same thing in our community outside of church. When a conversation about our faith rises, we often shy away and change the subject. When we have opportunities to share our faith we become scared. Just like in the last two weeks of baseball. We have had many opportunities to win games, but no one will rise up and do something. Psalms 115:11 says.

All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD! He is your helper; he is your shield.

This verse tells us exactly what we need to hear. God is our helper. He does all of the work. We just have to step to the plate and go for it. God will not let us bail on you, he is not in that business. God protects us, he watches out for us. There is no reason whatsoever to fear any situation here because we have God on our side.

Control: The butt of our existence

Who has ever been so busy they did not know what to do with themselves? I know I am in that situation right now, maybe not as bad as some others, but its pretty bad. Life becomes very difficult when you have to start managing every bit of your time between five-hundred different things. For me, I am juggling school, baseball, work, getting stuff ready for Romania, college stuff, all while trying to have a social life. I have found that it gets very, very easy to let all of these things cloud our vision and take control of our plans for eternity. For those of you that came to church last night, this is very similar to the message Mr. Chan had for us. I took sometime after church last night just to sit outside and look up at the sky and think about all the wonderful, amazing things God does for us. I saw the clouds moving slowly and calmly. I saw the trees blowing in the wind. I heard birds chirping. I felt the wind on my face. I never would have felt all of that if I did not take the time to slow down and just look in awe at what God has created for us. Nothing that I saw heard or felt last night was there on just a whim, God placed everything there at that exact time. The birds did not just fly there, the wind did not just randomly come to Thomasville, NC at that exact moment in time. God put all of that there. He does the same thing for us. Psalm 119:105 says:

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

See, we get so wrapped up in all the things we have to accomplish for this event, that class, this game, that whatever, that we completely forget where we are headed. We get lost in darkness. By listening to God we have a light. Something to help us get through our busy, often confusing times. So take some time to chill out, get away from the busyness of life. Let God take control instead of trying to handle everything all at once.