I have always had a really hard time picking an all-time favorite verse, chapter, or book of the Bible. I feel like they are almost always changing based on what I am studying and learning. Sure, I’ll often go back to certain verses during different situations, but I wouldn’t necessarily call them an “all time favorite” or a “life verse” as some refer to them as. However, I did say almost because there has been one exception to this predicament, I have found myself in and it is that 1 Corinthians 13 may just be my favorite chapter of the Bible. It has become one of those passages that I learn so much from each time I study it. Perhaps I will find a new favorite chapter tomorrow but alas, for now, this may just be my favorite…

I have often referred to this chapter of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church as “The Love” chapter or possibly more accurately headed by my ESV Bible as, “The Way of Love” chapter. In this chapter Paul is describing what love, as Christians, should look like. In context, Paul is reminding the church what they should be known for to outsiders, rather than what they had begun being known for. They are reminded that Jesus teaches believers in John 13:34-35 that all Christians should be famous for their love for each other, yet when Paul looked at the church of Corinth, I don’t think that is what he saw. I think that the “American Church,” and many churches in general, have a few parallels to the church of Corinth at the time of Paul’s letter. One of these parallels is that we have long lost our notoriety for being people who show the love of Jesus. I think if Paul were writing this letter today, he may have sent it to more than just the church of Corinth. I believe this because at some point, we as a body of Christ have started to become famous to public eye for being judgmental, for being exclusive, for not being loving toward each other.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I do not want to accuse any particular church or person for not being loving. However, my recent study for this chapter prompted me to share my thoughts and hopes for future related to these thirteen verses. Now, one much smarter than I could probably spend dozens, if not hundreds of pages on this one chapter. However, I will do my best to stay concise as I talk about a few key points of this chapter.

To begin, As mentioned above, Paul is writing to the church of Corinth to help a divided people battling immortality, idolatry, and theological confusion. He encourages the church to repent of their quarrels amongst each other and to become united as a a true dwelling place for God’s Spirit, as well as a faithful body that would work to advance the Gospel. In the chapter 13 of the letter, Paul is moving on from his previous point about Spiritual gifts to how Christians should love. Paul begins by poetically repeating the fact that without love, he is nothing. Love is taught numerous times as one of, if not the most, important parts of our faith. Paul says he could literally understand everything; he could have all faith, so much to remove mountains, but if he does not have love, he is nothing and he has gained nothing. This reflects God’s own character quite well because one of His greatest characteristics is His unchanging, unwavering, infallible love for His Son. This love was so overflowing that He created all of us to be His children so that He could share that same love with us. Paul cements early in the chapter that love is extremely important and that we should probably pay more attention to it if we want to be more like our Father in Heaven.

Paul takes the next few verses to describe what love, as Christians, should look like. Recall these recognizable verses:

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” –  1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Paul spends the second part of this chapter telling us exactly what love is and what it should look like in our daily lives. It is blatantly laid out what our love should look like. Love is so much more than what our world describes it as. It is so much more than a hormonal or instinctual response. Love is all those things Paul describes and more. It is not an emotion but an action. It is something that takes constant work. You don’t find love and then decide you can quit searching; you have to constantly work at it. I am not married so I can’t speak to this firsthand but if I ask anyone of my married friends, I can be sure that they will tell me marriage isn’t the finish line, it is just the beginning of the second leg of the race. Loving one another is hard but being known, being famous for your love for others is even harder. Paul finishes the chapter by listing all the things that will pass and fade away. “Prophecies will pass away, tongues will cease, knowledge will leave, and the partial will pass away when the perfect comes.”

Paul ends by mentioning Faith, Hope, and Love. Now, if Paul were a middle-aged mother, I would bet that he probably would’ve hung these words over his kitchen window instead of “live, laugh, love.” If Paul had a slogan, these three words would have definitely been in it. Paul used these words as the themes of most of his ministry so when he places seniority on one of them at the end of this chapter it is something quite special. Paul ends the chapter by writing, “but the greatest of these is love” solidifying the importance and priority love should have in our lives.

This chapter encouraged me and convicted me because I was reminded that we have such an amazing God that gave us such a unique and special ability to love. At the same time, I was also convicted because I have often found myself thinking I was showing the love of Jesus when truly wasn’t. As a new year has begun, I want to go into it differently so that when I look at 2021 at the end, I recognize a change. I want to be a Christian that isn’t instantly thought of as judgmental as soon as I talk about my beliefs. I want to be someone who is known for having the love of Christ. I want the way I love people to reflect the way the Lord loves us. I also want to encourage the people and the churches around me to be the same. I want to see the Christian faith be famous again for love. I want to be part of the reason someone loves Jesus, not hates Christians. Let’s make each other famous for love. Let’s make out universities, our jobs, our hobbies famous for love. In everything we do this year, let’s become famous for loving the way our Father in Heaven loves us.

Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.

Bob Goff

Uncertainty is something that has been quite the topic in our world recently, but it is also something we can deal with every day. Whether it is something seemingly small like what will arrive in the mail later in the day or something larger like how a worldwide pandemic that will shape the rest of the week, month, semester, or years to come. This uncertainty can certainly cause many different reactions from people. This serious time that is requiring serious action has got me thinking about how people will respond when they are faced with that tasteless, odorless, senseless thing called, uncertainty.

God does not give us all of the answers because to be honest, why would we need to trust Him with anything if we already knew all of the answers? Sometimes the only thing that you can guarantee in a situation is that it will continue to remain uncertain but if you are prepared accordingly this should not be a time to panic. Graphics or illustrations are something I normally do not do when I write but I feel as though this may be more beneficial and less exhaustive than me trying to explain my thoughts simply through words.

When faced with uncertainty we have very limited options with what we can do and how we can react. In the X axis of this graph, you have those who are underprepared and those who are overprepared. In the Y axis, you have the range of response emotions from totally panicked to completely calm.

The first example is the person who is the panicked and underprepared one. The classic “deer in headlights.” You recognize that there is a problem and should probably do something, but you are too scared to actually take any action that you often fail in solving your problem when faced with uncertainty.

The bottom left are the people who are underprepared and calm. In a time like this, you may find yourself in this situation. You may have possibly become desensitized to the media that when a real crisis happens you don’t believe it. You may even trust the wrong sources entirely but regardless; it is not a great place to be. It is not a good place to be because when you are not thinking critically when it is really important to take action it is either too late or you fail to do so. This also results in failure.

The top right is the lethal combination of panic and over preparedness. These are the people who go out and buy a year-long supply of toilet paper. The problem with this person is that when you clear out all of the canned goods and hand sanitizer you aren’t helping anyone but yourself. It is both selfish and short sighted. These people are so panicked that they aren’t rational enough to prepare mindfully and even though they can sit on their own throne of toilet paper, they often fail as well.

The last person in the lower right is really where you want to be. You are cautious and have taken the necessary steps to prepare. You even enough toilet paper that will last you a more reasonable amount of time and you are not hoarding gallons of hand sanitizer. You remain calm knowing that you have done everything you possibly can. Although, there is still caution that must be taken because even if you are calm you can still be over prepared which is where the law of diminishing returns comes into play.

The Law of Diminishing returns basically says this: The more you prepare the better you will be able to tackle whatever problem you are facing up until a point where those benefits begin to diminish and then flatline. Continuing to prepare beyond this has diminishing returns. At this point you are just wasting your time and it could crash even further when people’s opinion of you changes because you hoarded all of the toilet paper during your panicked effort to build the the biggest bathroom tissue throne.

The best thing about finding your sweet spot on the axis of uncertainty is that it is a lesson that can be applied to really any major project in your life. This comes from doing four simple things.

1. Do enough research to make an informed decision.
2. Take effective action without overdoing it.
3. Stay calm knowing you did all you could.
4. Adjust your approach as new information comes out.

An example of a way you can apply this to one point of uncertainty in your life is your retirement plan. If you apply this to your retirement plan and investments it can give you some peace of mind when there are a lot of highs and lows and when it is so volatile like our current situation. With something like this, you have to look at the long term. You can update the balance every year based on your return just to make sure it isn’t swaying too far into bonds or stocks and it is balanced to match the risk you are willing to tolerate but other than that you leave it alone. You do not touch that money. Through good times and bad. Now, I know it is hard to not want to check it constantly to see if you have lost anything or if you gained anything but the fact of the matter is, with the current market, it is going to do that a lot and it really isn’t beneficial to panic about a large drop when you will not be touching it for the next thirty years at least anyways. There is no need to panic when you focus on knowing that you are in it for the long run. If you have done the research, you know that the average return is at least 10% so you know your money will be safe, therefore you should focus on big picture of staying calm and knowing you have done everything you can. You can wait until you make your yearly changes to adjust your plan based on any new information you learn throughout the year.

If you look at everything in life, we are only guaranteed a certain amount of certainty. God is not going to reveal His plan to us because if He did, why would we need to put our trust in Him? Think of an event or a project in your life like a bucket. You can fill that bucket with planning and research. You can weigh the risks and the pros and cons. You can plan and take every action preparing for as many contingencies as you feel comfortable preparing for. There is, however, only so much you can do. This is the point where you need to embrace uncertainty. This is the unplannable area. It is the rain delay, a car accident, or who knows, maybe even a global pandemic. You do the best you can and know everything else is out of your control. There are thousands of different areas in our lives where we have to embrace uncertainty. There will always be things outside of our control, but we can have hope and trust in God’s sovereign plan for our lives.

The sooner that we can get used to the fact that there are so many things in life that we cannot control the sooner we can adjust, adapt, and change our plans accordingly. No matter what happens in your life you always have a choice in how you react and how you respond to the world. At a time like this, I understand it is difficult to not get anxious and sometimes even panicked but as we head into even more uncertain times let’s do our best to remember that we have a Creator that is still in control and still has a plan for our lives that surpasses all of our understanding. It can be very easy to forget that Paul commands us in Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always. This is a time of great uncertainty and of widespread panic, but I encourage you to remember who has the whole world in His hands. I encourage you to cast your fears and anxieties on the Lord and to know that He is the almighty protector of our hearts and minds. When we go into times of uncertainty the correct way in our lives, we can be calm and relaxed knowing that we have prepared all that we can beforehand, and that God has the uncertainty under control.

Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

Why are you going to college instead of just going into the mission field now?

This question is something I contemplated for quite some time while I struggled with a lot of doubt during my first semester at Cedarville University. There are many ways I could answer this question, but I will try to find a balance of being thorough while staying concise. The best and most concise way I can think to explain this question is in the form of an airplane metaphor. If we think of our careers as an airplane flying in the sky, then the plane landing could be considered retirement and the plane taking off could be considered training for that career. A plane that is not thoroughly inspected and fueled before lifting off can be a serious problem later in the flight, so it is important to take the proper time to go through those checks and fueling process. Like this stage in an airplane’s flight, I am in a similar situation right now. Although I do not necessarily need a college degree to go into missions there are, however, a few different reasons as to why I am pursuing a degree before my plane takes off.

For some background about the degrees I am pursuing and why I chose Cedarville University to pursue them…

I have chosen to pursue a degree in Marketing with a focus in both digital and social media marketing as well as business management. I chose a degree in business because I believe that many missions organizations often fail, not because they have a lack of missionaries who are doctors and psychologists and engineers, but because they have no one who knows how to run a business. I want to be able to be a helpful asset to the mission field, so I want to make sure I am well equipped to be able to help the organization grow for the advancement of the Gospel. I chose to major in Marketing specifically because it is a need I have observed in AMG’s organization as well as it is a branch of business that I have always been interested in as many of you who know, I have quite the interest in Photography, videography, and building my own businesses.

The choice to attend Cedarville was not one that was made on a whim. It was made with a significant amount of prayer and the seeking of wise council. I chose Cedarville for a couple of reasons. The first reason, the Bible minor. Every student who attends Cedarville graduates with the Bible minor. It consists of five classes including Bible and the Gospel, Old Testimate, New Testimate, Theology 1, and Theology 2. This reason was one of the primary reasons I chose Cedarville because I wanted not only a Christ centered approach to the curriculum of the entire list of courses, but I also wanted to be able to take Bible classes in a hope to build my knowledge of the Bible and to better equip myself for the mission field in Guatemala or wherever else the Lord may lead me on His path. The second reason I chose Cedarville was simply the culture and community of the campus. As some of you may remember, I worked at Lake Ann Camp between my sophomore and Junior year of Highschool. While I was there, I had the opportunity to interact with many Cedarville students and I left that summer a little in awe. I was intrigued by the godly men that Cedarville was producing which drew me to their campus in hopes to become like those godly men I witnessed during my summer at camp.

I am attending Cedarville to help better prepare me for a life in the mission field furthering the advancement of the ministries of the Gospel. I hope to enter the mission field better equipped and prepared through these next few years of growth in the lives of my maturity and spirituality.

Although I do not know God’s plan for my life, I believe He has illuminated a small portion of my path by pointing me toward missions internationally and specifically with Guatemala in a long-term full-time service after college. I want to be a wise and well-equipped tool for the advancement of the Gospel, and I want to do all I can to be prepared for what the Lord is planning ahead of me on my path. The best way for me to do that right now is to attend Cedarville to sharpen my tools and add new ones to belt so that I can be as equipped and prepared as possible for a long-term position in international missions.

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

Psalm 119:105

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” ~ Isaac Newton

When I take the time to reflect on my life I see that I’ve built far more walls than bridges. I like to hide my emotion and my feelings behind a wall. I find myself putting up walls often, even with the people who are closest to me. I don’t like to share my feelings with other people.  I tend to think of my wall as a one way mirror. I am usually more than happy to listen to people in my life. I like to be able to try to help them anyway I can but when it comes to me doing the sharing I don’t. I cover my emotion with jokes and trying to make others laugh and feel good even when I don’t always. I wouldn’t say I’m heavily depressed or sad or anything like that. I have my own struggles just like everyone else has I just don’t like opening up about them. I tend to bottle things up instead until I’m put into the position where I feel comfortable enough to share something which isn’t often.

I don’t want to say I live in a place with only walls though. When I reflect on my life I do find some bridges. There are the bridges that were built long ago and used to be strong and beautiful for a period of time. Now when I look at them I see a decaying bridge that hasn’t been walked across in a while. They bring happy memories and make me miss those connections that will never be forgotten. I also see the remains of the bridges that weren’t good for me. Those can bring some harder memories. I look at most of those and see that even when the bridge was in it’s prime it was still made with a weak connection and I don’t know a lot about bridges but I know if they don’t have a solid connection they will fail when any weight is put on them. Although I wouldn’t necessarily want to revisit those bridges, I try to not regret those them  because I know God put them in my life for a reason and I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. 

I take a look past those old, decaying bridges. I look past the unsafe bridges and the ones I’ve burned. I see a different kind of bridge. These are large, sturdy bridges. They have thick cabling and huge towers the size of skyscrapers giving them the strongest connections. Most are only a couple of years old and one or two are even newer but when I take the time to look at these bridges and these connections, it reminds me of how truly blessed I am to have them. That’s why I get confused when I struggle to open up to even my strongest bridge. 

I’m challenging myself during this current season of my life to be more open. I’m challenging myself to put up less walls and build more bridges and find common ground with people. I know there are many like me that would rather build a wall than be vulnerable and put in the extra work to craft a bridge so I encourage everyone to do this challenge with me.

I feel that we are called not to put up walls to protect ourselves but we are called to build bridges to reach others.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

     Seasons come and go in our lives. Things change, our environment changes, the people we spend our time with changes, and our habits and interests change. We might have a season full of relaxation and tranquility and we might have a season filled with pressures that we may think are too much to handle.  We have seasons of doubt and worry and we have seasons of confidence and trust. In all of this change throughout the seasons in our lives we have one thing that is constant. God is our constant throughout all of our seasons in life.

     The New Year brought on a new season in my life. I ended December of last year finished with my senior year of high school. Starting a new year without school was a blessing but it also brought on a struggle that I was not aware of until recently. Without the responsibility of school to take up the majority of the day I looked for other ways to fill my schedule when I wasn’t working. Short of realizing it at the time, I was saying yes to too many things. I took on too many projects and agreed to hang out with friends too often which left me exhausted and yearning for relaxation. I was trying to balance too many things on my plate. In an effort to try and decrease the load, I tried to set unhealthy and unrealistic deadlines for my projects and goals. Creating these deadlines set me up for failure as I was greeted with weariness and disappointment when the deadlines would come and go without my projects being completed. I slowly came to realize how unhealthy this was for me and I started to push back my deadlines or not set them at all. I still was having a bigger issue that I was neglecting to address. I was slowly decreasing what was already on my plate but I was not paying attention to what I was putting on it. I was still saying yes and agreeing to things, adding them to my plate quicker than I was taking other things off. I was stuck in a perpetual state of doing too much without the time to do everything I needed to do. I eventually came to the realization that I needed to start saying no to things but that was not as easy as it sounded.

     When you get an idea in your head that excites you, I mean really excites you it is hard not to obsess over it. You start thinking of all of the ways you can make this idea into a reality. The very last thing that comes into my head is the thought of, “maybe I should say no to this idea because I have too much going on right now.” I get ideas like this all the time. For me it can be as simple as getting a meal with friends or as big as creating the biggest string art I’ve ever made. Once I get something in my head that excites me, it is very hard for me to focus on anything else until it is carried out. It used to be almost impossible for me to even entertain the idea of saying no to something that I was excited about. As I was working on lightening my load I realized that saying no was something I would have to start doing. I decided that I was going to start saying no to anything and everything extra that was outside of my regular schedule so that I could clear off my plate but it was very difficult for me. Saying yes is an automatic response for me. I say yes before I take the time to think it over. A few times without thinking, I would automatically say yes to something and then remember later that I should’ve said no to it. I slowly began to have less and less on my plate but there was one thing that was still eating up too much of my time. Although I was doing fewer projects I found myself spending more time mindlessly browsing social media so I decided I needed to stop.

     At the end of January, I decided to say no to the majority of my personal social media for good. I deleted all of my accounts except for Facebook. This started as a thirty day challenge in the beginning of January but after those thirty days were up I didn’t find myself having a desire to reinstall or create new accounts for my previously deleted social media. I found myself spending significantly less time on my phone which allowed me to focus on other more important things during the day. Although social media can be good, for me personally, I found that I was experiencing more downsides than upsides to having multiple accounts over an array of social media apps and deleting them was actually far easier than I thought it was going to be. I have really enjoyed not having those accounts anymore and as of now I’m not planning on getting them back.

     The end of March has brought on the end of a season in my life, a season of significant mental and spiritual growth that forced me to rely on God in my weariness and stress. It can be easy to say, “Once I’m through this month or season of my life things will be easier or I’ll be less busy.” I find myself thinking too much about the future when I am in a season of stress and growth. It can be hard to focus on the present season when I am weary and longing for a change. It can also be very easy to focus on the negative things that happened throughout a season in our lives. Although the Lord has blessed me in many ways, I haven’t really mentioned anything that went well or that I accomplished besides some habit changes until now. In March I finished the largest string art that I have ever created and relaunched my string art business. Although I said no to taking new orders until the first of May I received amazing feedback from people and potential customers during the relaunch. I have continued to enjoy my job at Target and was cross trained to electronics this year giving me more knowledge of the store which has added a fun, new challenge at work. I also spent time during this season photographing some portraits of my friends and taking my first real product photos of the Starbucks string art that we hung in our store. I’ve enjoyed slowly increasing my photography knowledge and experience during this past season. Overall, this past season of my life was a pretty jam-packed three months filled with lots of challenges as well as lots of rewards.

     Last week marked the start of a new season for me. A new hobby came with this new season. This new hobby is disc golf. Disc golf means more to me than throwing a few frisbees around with friends. For me, disc golf sparks competitiveness. It sparks joy as the disc leaves your fingertips and you watch it soar toward the basket. It sparks laughter from your friends when your release that disc and it soars into the river to sink to the bottom and be possibly lost forever. Disc golf sparks good conversation and fellowship with old friends and new ones that you pick up along the way. Disc golf sparks great opportunities for photography. Disc golf is a way to get outside and enjoy God’s beautiful creation and then also to question why He decided to plant a tree right in the path of your flying disc. Simply put, disc golf to me, is not just golf with frisbees; it is a new season in my life.

I don’t know what my future holds but I do know who holds my future.

~Tim Tebow