Uphill...not fun

Today as I furiously pedaled my bike uphill I was reminded of something I learned while in Lebanon. Lebanon is pretty mountainous. And most beautiful sites were up on a mountain. Well there are two ways that we went up the mountain, walking and in a car. Either was was awful!!! If we walked, it was so burdensome and we complained the whole way. And in the car, it grunted and pushed the whole way up. And we had to turn off the ac so the car had enough power to make it.

That is when it hit me ( and it has occurred to me many more times since, like today) that we all want to be at the top of the hill/mountain, but no one wants to work for it. And this is more than just the physical hill, although it is true. In life, we want success without doing anything for it. We even expect it. But that isn't right. And although going downhill is easy, no one likes to be in the valley. There is no view there. I don't think I need to keep drawing out what I mean, although I will go into the spiritual part now:

Romans 8:16-17 talks about recieveing the promised glory of God through Jesus. And it is as beautiful thing. But there is a sort of catch and I would paraphrase, but Paul says it so well:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

"Provided we suffer with him." Yeah, we're heirs of the living God and co-heirs with his only Son, but we gotta suffer. This is the highest mountain. And it isn't easy. We don't just coast through. We gotta suffer. Why? "In order that we may also be glorified with him." That is our goal, and his promise to us: glorification. Paul continues to say that our current suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. Our uphill climb is going to look like nothing compared to the glory that God will give us. The view from the top will prove to be worth it.

So if you are suffering or if life is just tough right now and you feel like you are getting somewhere, but there has to be an easier way, stay strong. God is going to pull you through b/c he said he would. He is faithful and the climb is worth it.

The wonder of the Bible

Cameron (A&M Navigators Director) and myself have been working on coming up with/writing a Bible study the past two days. And it has been a great experience. It is so amazing to get to study the Bible in such a way as to help others study the Bible. It is different than simply studying the Bible for your own benefit, you actually have to make sense of your thoughts and figure out how to get others to come to the same conclusion. It is also different than simply teaching, b/c you need to cultivate an answer, not just give them one.

We spent most of today looking up cross references in the Old Testament and designing questions. You wanna know what I learned? The Old Testament is so awesome! And Jesus mentions it a lot more than us Gentile Americans (and Lebanese) realize. AND it references Jesus more than we realize as well. Read John 10, about the Good Shepherd, then go and read Ezekiel 34. Then come back and tell me how far away your socks were blown off to. :)

Jesus is simply amazing. And I am slowly realizing that the more we learn and desire to learn about him, the more in awe we become. And more we realize that we know him so little. Keep seeking the Lord and he WILL reveal himself to you (it's a promise).

serge