The 100 Hurts

The 100 Hurts

I'm sure you've met them. In fact, we all pass them on the side of the street. You may even know their names. You might even be one. I know I am. We are the hurting.

(The following was written by me a couple of days ago. I didn't initially write it to be seen by others, but I hope that some of you out there may be encouraged or helped by what I've been thinking).

I am a compassionate person. God has seen me fit to feel the pain I see in other people's lives. On a daily basis I hear the sorrow in people's voices, the pain in their eyes, and the regret lived out in their day to day lives. The conversations I have with people that have been treated like trash compel me to DO something. I want to fix it all, to make it all better. I end up bearing the pain of a hundred hurts on my back. Is this right? Is this ok?

My job, first and foremost, is twofold: 1) Live to God's glory. 2) Love my wife with all that I am and have. EVERYTHING else comes second. My career comes second. The Bible studies I lead come second. Myspace comes second. Even watching SportCenter comes second. If I have not made the daily choices to honor God, and if I have not done all I can to make sure that Allie feels safe and loved, then nothing else matters.

It is God's job to heal the sick, comfort the hurting, and find the lost. He's been doing it a lot longer than I have and He's a lot better at it than I am. Through Jesus Christ, God bears the pain of millions of hurts on His back and He can actually do something to help them. I can't. True, God may use me to say a kind word or be a quiet ear to listen, but ultimately I can't heal. That's not what I was made to do. I was designed to 1) be loved by God, and 2) defend my family from the crap of the world. It's comforting to know and trust that when I concentrate my efforts, energy, and emotions on those two things, God will see me fit to use me.

Literacy

I have been thinking a lot about literacy lately. Not in the sense of reading literacy, the way the word is traditionally used, but in a broader sense of competency. It all came about when I discovered a website titled: www.360financialliteracy.org It caused me to stop and think: this is a really well titled website. If you think about it, most people can read, but they are financially illiterate. We are not taught in school about finanial management and many of us were not taught by our parents either. OR, what our parents taught us verbally did not match their actions, so the words lost relevance. My parents taught me the basics about savings and credit cards, but I never received any training on the post college life financial management skills. That knowledge has come from frustration, messing up, more frustration, then seeking the knowledge for myself so that I could stay afloat on my own apart from my parents. Why isn't this a college course? They made us take all sorts of other mandatory crap that I haven't used whatsoever, but finances, not even mentioned.

As I think more and more about literacy, I realize that we are illiterate about a lot of necessary things. We were never really taught about our bodies for example. Yes, they covered the basics in sex ed in middle school, but as I have been married, I have realized that there are a ton of things that I don't know or understand about my body that would be useful to know. We aren't really taught well how our male and female bodies function and what they need from us. Nutrition is another category that comes to mind. Again, we are taught the basics, but not really what we need to know. All I can do now is learn it for myself and pass that knowledge on to my kids so that they don't end up in the same boat. It leaves me wondering - what did I learn in school and what was the point? It is a little disconcerting to have spent ages 5 to 23 in school and to be on the other side of it all wondering why I wasn't taught some of the most basic and yet useful life survival things like finances, nutrition, and the deal with the female body. It leaves me feeling like school was a lot of wasted time. After all those years of study, I don't feel more capable to function in the adult world, but less. Does anyone else have this sense?

Explanation . . .

Some of you may be wondering, why Tootsie Rolls, Snowshoes, and Grace? The Tootsie Rolls came from the back of Chris' jeep. We don't know how long they were there, but we enjoyed eating them over this fall and winter. OK, so that is random.

The Snowshoes and Grace are tied together. Chris and I ended up learning a lot about grace and patience through, well, the process of receiving several pairs of snowshoes as wedding gifts this fall. We received 2-3 of most things we registered for in fact. It seems that when you ask God for something, he doesn't just answer, but he answers in abundance. It seems lavish to us, but in reality it is only a small glimpse of how BIG God's love for us is. It is so big I can't even comprehend it.

Through these four months of being newlyweds, Chris and I have been able to feel the love and grace of God in such tangible ways as Chris finding yet another wedding gift check in the back of his car the other day, or me getting a small bonus at work that helped us break even this month. God is good. He confuses me quite a bit of the time, but he is good. His grace is apparent to us daily and we are certain we could not live without it. It is everything and makes everything we do possible. Pretty cool.

First Random Thoughts

Well, as the title of this blog suggests, it's going to be a bit random. Life seems to be a bit random, I think. I know that it's not random for God, but it definitely feels haphazard sometimes.

So, that's what this blog will be – the simple ponderings of a life loved by God. I hope that in some way you are encouraged, challenged, or entertained. If you have input, advice, or just want to tell me that I'm crazy, go right ahead.