Hearing the Same Thing Constanly? God Might Be Telling You Something

     Have you ever heard the same message over and over and wondered "Is God trying to tell me something?"  The truth is that when you recognize this, He usually is!  My personal experience with this has been very interesting.  I've gone through a LOT of, well, "taxing" events lately.  While I had a lot of fun with my teammates and did the best I could, we wrapped up our basketball season with a losing record.  This required a ton of patience from all of us to power through it.  I had also caved and got an iPad 2 about a month and a half ago from Amazon.com.  Two weeks later, it never shipped.  I contacted the customer service, and go figure, I got ripped off.  They then proceeded to tell me that it will be at least two more weeks before I would get reimbursed.  You know what I needed in all of this? Patience.  God has clearly been teaching me patience by putting me in situations where I would have to exercise it.  And I believe He is still teaching me.  The thing is, now that I have recognized this, I can know that these things are happening for a reason.  So while I continue to wait for my iPad, (which I still haven't gotten), I will be doing my best to exercise patience.  Try recognizing what God is teaching you in your life, and it will be easier to endure the circumstances.

Worldview

     I've  been hearing a lot about worldview lately and how it is 'how you perceive religion'.  But it got me thinking: shouldn't your worldview impact every area of your life, not just your view of religion?  When you think about it, your worldview isn't just how you view religion, but rather how you filter the world, (hence worldview), to match your beliefs based upon your religion.  For example, let's say all my friends are going to go see the new hit movie The Woman In Black, and I want to go see it as well.  If I'm careful and discerning about the things of this world as the Bible says I should be, I'll filter it through the Bible.  Often times I'll ask questions like "Is this worthy of my time?  My money?  What is the message being portrayed?  Is it made in excellence?"  And the biggest question of all: "How will this affect my actions and thoughts afterwards?"  I consider that the biggest question because any and all media will either provoke our sinful nature to pursue the junk we should avoid, or it will encourage the qualities God wants to see in our lives: kindness, courage, compassion, faithfulness, etc.  For me personally, I have noticed that the sins don't come WHILE I'm watching/listening/playing the ungodly media, they come AFTER.  This is because these things encourage my sin nature to do what feels good, whether I realize it or not.  The opposite happens when I put godly things in my head, and trust me, God honors these wise decisions.   

Backpacks For the Homeless: Success!!

Hey everybody!  Just wanted to let you know that the backpack drive a couple of months ago was a success!  I collected 44 backpacks in one week at my school, and half of them were filled with water bottles, deodorant, and other things of that nature.  I donated them to Union Gospel Mission where they will be distributed to the homeless men and women in downtown Fort Worth.  Backpacks were the number one items requested by homeless people in a survey conducted in downtown Fort Worth, and I'm so happy that we could bless these people in such a huge way.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this a success and donated!!