"A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense."
-Proverbs 19:11
Last post I talked about things that cause me to be impatient. Recently I have been thinking about why these things bother me so much, and I find that it doesn't really make sense. Most of the issues I have with other people is when they can't do something or they don't put effort into something. While it may seem justifiable to be frustrated when people don't place effort into something, most of the time this bothers me when I am playing sports. If you think about it, sports are supposed to be fun, and a person can put as much effort as they want because they just want to have fun. For me personally, I can't really enjoy myself unless I push myself every game, but other people might have more fun not pushing themselves so much.
As I reflected on these things, it was almost as if I was rebuking myself, or the Holy Spirit rebuking me. I can't let my goals and my desires allow me to get frustrated at other people. At a YDJ (my church college group) meeting, we were talking about how to pray, and we talked about the Lord's prayer. I was reminded of the powerful part of that prayer which reads "Your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven". Romans 8:28 tells us that "we know that God causes all things to work together for good". Even when my will is not being done, I can't get impatient because I know God is working for my good.
Being patient is not an easy task. This is especially true for me because I like to plan things and be in control of things. I'm reminded of a post I wrote very early in my blog, titled "Who control's your life?". In this post I wrote about how no matter how hard we try we cannot control the way our life goes. If we try to hold on to our lives and direct how it goes, we will be extremely disappointed. When I want or need something, I'll try to do whatever I can to get it myself. Only when I realize I cannot do something myself do I turn to prayer. After I pray I expect that God will answer my prayers according to my time, but that is not how God works.
Ecclesiastes 3 says that "there is an appointed time for everything". Not everything I want will happen when I want it to, because it is not the right time. While Jesus was on this Earth, He often told His disciples that it was not His time. Jesus surrendered his plans to God, and knew that God had the best plans for Him. Trusting in God and being patient is a recipe for a fulfilling life. We can't demand that things go our way or happen in our timing because "For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so (God's) ways higher than your ways, and (His) thoughts higher than your thoughts". God has a time for everything, and we have to surrender to His will and trust Him. This certainly is not easy, but if we take time to understand who God is, it will be easier to trust Him.
-Smart
Patience (1)
"Love is patient..."
-1 Corinthians 13:4
I know that I have been talking about sports frequently, but I learn so much about myself through them. I once heard a saying that your character does not show in the good times but the bad. Anyone can be nice when they are going through a good time, but not everyone can be like that when adversity comes. I find that sports is a place I tend to find adversity and difficulty, which is odd because sports are supposed to be fun. While I do enjoy playing sports a lot, I am very competitive and I don't like to lose. I especially do not like to lose when I see that my team is not playing to their full potential.
If you've ever heard my life testimony, you know that in the past I have struggled a lot with anger and impatience. Little things would cause me to get visibly angry and frustrated, and I would often take out my anger on other people or things. However, I thank God that He has helped me become more patient and cool-tempered. Even though I do a much better job with my anger and frustration, especially when it comes to expressing it, I still can become frustrated in difficult times.
As I mentioned previously, sports is a time I get frustrated very easily. This normally happens when I play with people I know, because I expect more from them. I'm the kind of person who gives 100% (or at least 90%) effort every single game, whether it's a pick up game or a tournament. I just like to play hard because doing well is satisfying. During a game, we normally assign people we are supposed to defend. Everyone is responsible for defending one person, and if everyone does their part the team should do pretty well. However, many times I see at least one person not defending their man or not doing their part on the team.
If I see someone on the other team score because they are undefended, normally I am okay with it because I understand that people are not perfect. However, when that same person is undefended many times, that is when I get impatient and sometimes yell at the person responsible. It is very frustrating when I am trying my best to play defense on my assigned person and I see that another person is wide open over and over again. Understandably, people can get angry at me for being so mean to that person, but it is so difficult for me to simply be okay with bad effort.
This is just one example of how things can make me impatient. There are many other things in sports that bother me as well, but now I want to talk about a completely new thing that tests my patience; praise team. As I mentioned in my posts on worship, I can get impatient with others in the praise team. Obviously this is a problem, because you would think I could (and should) control myself when it comes to church matters. As I said before though, I like to do things well, not half-hearted. While this sounds like a good thing, sometimes it causes me to get frustrated at little things that shouldn't bother me so much.
I have been playing instruments for a long time, and not everyone on praise team has had the same experiences with music that I have. Consequently, I notice musical problems that other members don't catch all the time, and I sometimes get irritated and rudely point out mistakes. I find it amazing that nobody really ever yelled back at me, because in hindsight that's probably what I would have done if someone were yelling at me for not doing something I don't even know how to do.
-Smart
-1 Corinthians 13:4
I know that I have been talking about sports frequently, but I learn so much about myself through them. I once heard a saying that your character does not show in the good times but the bad. Anyone can be nice when they are going through a good time, but not everyone can be like that when adversity comes. I find that sports is a place I tend to find adversity and difficulty, which is odd because sports are supposed to be fun. While I do enjoy playing sports a lot, I am very competitive and I don't like to lose. I especially do not like to lose when I see that my team is not playing to their full potential.
If you've ever heard my life testimony, you know that in the past I have struggled a lot with anger and impatience. Little things would cause me to get visibly angry and frustrated, and I would often take out my anger on other people or things. However, I thank God that He has helped me become more patient and cool-tempered. Even though I do a much better job with my anger and frustration, especially when it comes to expressing it, I still can become frustrated in difficult times.
As I mentioned previously, sports is a time I get frustrated very easily. This normally happens when I play with people I know, because I expect more from them. I'm the kind of person who gives 100% (or at least 90%) effort every single game, whether it's a pick up game or a tournament. I just like to play hard because doing well is satisfying. During a game, we normally assign people we are supposed to defend. Everyone is responsible for defending one person, and if everyone does their part the team should do pretty well. However, many times I see at least one person not defending their man or not doing their part on the team.
If I see someone on the other team score because they are undefended, normally I am okay with it because I understand that people are not perfect. However, when that same person is undefended many times, that is when I get impatient and sometimes yell at the person responsible. It is very frustrating when I am trying my best to play defense on my assigned person and I see that another person is wide open over and over again. Understandably, people can get angry at me for being so mean to that person, but it is so difficult for me to simply be okay with bad effort.
This is just one example of how things can make me impatient. There are many other things in sports that bother me as well, but now I want to talk about a completely new thing that tests my patience; praise team. As I mentioned in my posts on worship, I can get impatient with others in the praise team. Obviously this is a problem, because you would think I could (and should) control myself when it comes to church matters. As I said before though, I like to do things well, not half-hearted. While this sounds like a good thing, sometimes it causes me to get frustrated at little things that shouldn't bother me so much.
I have been playing instruments for a long time, and not everyone on praise team has had the same experiences with music that I have. Consequently, I notice musical problems that other members don't catch all the time, and I sometimes get irritated and rudely point out mistakes. I find it amazing that nobody really ever yelled back at me, because in hindsight that's probably what I would have done if someone were yelling at me for not doing something I don't even know how to do.
-Smart
Sovereign
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."
-Proverbs 3:5
Last winter I attended a retreat hosted by my church's college group. The retreat was a great time of relaxing and fellowship with others. That is where I came up with my key verse for the year of 2013. I know that it has been awhile since the retreat, but I was thinking about recently and I now I want to write about it.
During the retreat there were no scheduled events except for meals and some outdoor activities. I enjoyed the freedom to read my Bible, pray, fellowship with others, or simply rest. On the second day we did our outdoor activities which included a low ropes and high ropes challenge. I love doing these types of things because I enjoy doing outdoor things like sports. During the high ropes challenge I saw many people that were scared of the obstacle course and could not complete. One thing I also saw was that people were scared to be lowered down after the course was over.
I always try my best to look like I'm not scared of those kinds of things, but even if I look fine sometimes I too have doubts and fears. Will the rope hold me up? Can I trust the person controlling the rope? These questions come up often when people do obstacle courses like the one I did at this retreat. While the person running the course assures us that it is safe, we still doubt and fear. Why? Shouldn't we know that this person has a lot of experience running these courses? Why can't we trust them?
These fears and doubts in the person telling us to lower ourselves down on the rope come from a lack of trust. We don't fully trust the person or the ropes that are holding us up. This made me think; how do we learn to trust people? The way we learn to trust other people is to know them. If we know that the person controlling the rope is fully capable of bringing us down safely, we can trust them. In other words, we know that they are sovereign in this situation.
Sovereignty is a word that not many people use here in the United States. Sovereignty means the power or authority a person has. When someone is sovereign, it means they have power and control over something. A sovereign is a synonym to a king or a queen, both of which are people in control over a nation. When I think of the word sovereign, the first thing that usually comes my mind is God. He is the only one who is sovereign over everybody and everything. He is in control of every situation in each and every one of our lives.
Why do many people find it hard to trust God then? I believe that it is because people can't see God's sovereignty. When I was up there on the obstacle course, even though I knew I was safe because I had someone who was in control watching me, I still had fear. Fear is a very difficult thing to overcome. However, the Bible claims that "perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)". Also, even though we certainly do not have perfect love, God does. It is not our love that casts out fear, but the love that God has for us. He is in control of everything in our lives, both the good and the bad.
If God is sovereign over our whole lives, why do we have bad times? "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28)". Even in the bad times, God is making it work for our good. How is this so? All thing work together. Although one event may seem bad, later we can see that God used it for our good. He is completely in control even in the bad times in our lives. A parent disciplines his child to teach him something good. Even though the child may not realize why they are going through a bad time, later they will realize that it was for their good. The same is true for us when we have bad times. If we trust in God and we love Him, we know that He causes all things to work together for good. Place your trust in the one who is sovereign over everything- God almighty.
-Smart
-Proverbs 3:5
Last winter I attended a retreat hosted by my church's college group. The retreat was a great time of relaxing and fellowship with others. That is where I came up with my key verse for the year of 2013. I know that it has been awhile since the retreat, but I was thinking about recently and I now I want to write about it.
During the retreat there were no scheduled events except for meals and some outdoor activities. I enjoyed the freedom to read my Bible, pray, fellowship with others, or simply rest. On the second day we did our outdoor activities which included a low ropes and high ropes challenge. I love doing these types of things because I enjoy doing outdoor things like sports. During the high ropes challenge I saw many people that were scared of the obstacle course and could not complete. One thing I also saw was that people were scared to be lowered down after the course was over.
I always try my best to look like I'm not scared of those kinds of things, but even if I look fine sometimes I too have doubts and fears. Will the rope hold me up? Can I trust the person controlling the rope? These questions come up often when people do obstacle courses like the one I did at this retreat. While the person running the course assures us that it is safe, we still doubt and fear. Why? Shouldn't we know that this person has a lot of experience running these courses? Why can't we trust them?
These fears and doubts in the person telling us to lower ourselves down on the rope come from a lack of trust. We don't fully trust the person or the ropes that are holding us up. This made me think; how do we learn to trust people? The way we learn to trust other people is to know them. If we know that the person controlling the rope is fully capable of bringing us down safely, we can trust them. In other words, we know that they are sovereign in this situation.
Sovereignty is a word that not many people use here in the United States. Sovereignty means the power or authority a person has. When someone is sovereign, it means they have power and control over something. A sovereign is a synonym to a king or a queen, both of which are people in control over a nation. When I think of the word sovereign, the first thing that usually comes my mind is God. He is the only one who is sovereign over everybody and everything. He is in control of every situation in each and every one of our lives.
Why do many people find it hard to trust God then? I believe that it is because people can't see God's sovereignty. When I was up there on the obstacle course, even though I knew I was safe because I had someone who was in control watching me, I still had fear. Fear is a very difficult thing to overcome. However, the Bible claims that "perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)". Also, even though we certainly do not have perfect love, God does. It is not our love that casts out fear, but the love that God has for us. He is in control of everything in our lives, both the good and the bad.
If God is sovereign over our whole lives, why do we have bad times? "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28)". Even in the bad times, God is making it work for our good. How is this so? All thing work together. Although one event may seem bad, later we can see that God used it for our good. He is completely in control even in the bad times in our lives. A parent disciplines his child to teach him something good. Even though the child may not realize why they are going through a bad time, later they will realize that it was for their good. The same is true for us when we have bad times. If we trust in God and we love Him, we know that He causes all things to work together for good. Place your trust in the one who is sovereign over everything- God almighty.
-Smart
11 Random Questions
So it has been a while now but here are my answers to the questions on Grace's blog.
- Pancakes or waffles?
I really enjoy both of these foods, but if I had to choose I would go with pancakes. Pancakes with butter and syrup are very good. So are chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream. - What do you do when you get angry or frustrated?
It depends on the situation. If I'm mad at other people, sometimes I yell at them. This happens a lot when I play sports with my friends. If I'm mad at myself or some situation, I grunt, sigh, pull my hair, or get up and do push ups or something similar to calm down. - What is your favorite book?
This is a tough one, but I think I would say "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. I really like theological and logical topics (hence my blog) and the book is full of them. That book changed the way I think about things. - (Can you tell) a funny story?
I can see that Grace must have been running out of questions because this is definitely a cop out question. Anyway, in my freshman year of high school I'm walking around to all my various classrooms. I go to my English classroom to find it full with people already. I wasn't late or anything, so I was a bit confused. I was even more confused later when the teacher asked me if this was the class I was looking for. I said yes, but he continued to question me, knowing that I was a nervous freshman. The who class was laughing at this point, to which I was really embarrassed. I hoped that the whole year would not be like this, and I wished that I could switch teachers. Well as it turns out, somehow my schedule changed and I did get a different teacher at the beginning of the year. This was a huge relief to me.
Come senior year, I'm much more confident and used to high school. I go to all my classes the first day, and I find out that my English teacher is the same one I almost had freshman year. However, I mostly forgot about the incident, until later in the year when it somehow came up in one of our class discussions. I told the class the story above, and the teacher claimed to have no memory of the incident. I insisted that it was okay and I was just a freshman and I now know he was joking, but he apologized to me regardless. We actually had a very good relationship my senior year and his class was actually part of why I started this blog. I respect him a lot and I love his sense of humor because it is similar to mine. - What's your favorite candy or chocolate?
I actually don't like either candy or chocolate that much, and I only eat it around Halloween. I think my favorite is probably Twix, especially the ice cream. I enjoy the cookie and caramel in a Twix bar, and I don't think I like any candy more than Twix. - Do you prefer long or short hair? Why?
I prefer short hair because I am a guy. - What's your favorite hobby?
This is a very tough question for me because I change hobbies a lot (as I discussed in my 11 random facts). I don't know if I like sports or music more, but those are definitely my two favorite hobbies. - What is your favorite thing to do when you hang out with friends?
My favorite thing to do with friends is play sports (which I guess might not be "hanging out"). Other than that I would say I like eating with my friends. Eating brings people together and is a great way to enjoy yourself and relax. - If you didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your life?
I would probably travel to a lot of different places. I like going to new places and seeing how people outside of my area live. I would probably also donate a lot of money to churches and places like Red Cross. - What is one thing not many people know about you?
I thought this was the point of the 11 random facts questions... Well I guess one thing not many people know about me is that I have a birthmark on my wrist. - What was your favorite class that you took?
This is like choosing which vegetable I like the most; it's just choosing the one that's not as bad as the others. I would say my favorite class was definitely band. I never wanted to do band, but my friend convinced me to do it in middle school, so I played. Band has always been my favorite class since then, because it is such a breather from all the other classes I had to take. I also enjoyed my high school physics classes, but not because of the material. My teacher was a phenomenal person and a freak of nature who was a crazy good teacher. Physics is not easy to teach, especially to high school students, but she did it so well. Now that I am taking another physics class in college I can appreciate how well she taught me.
-Smart
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