Don't Be A Hippo.

No, I'm not going to dedicate an entire post to talking about hippos. Sorry.

"Hippo", however, is sometimes short for "hypocrite", and that's a much more interesting topic.

I was reading John Calvin's book, The Institutes of Christian Religion, and this caught my attention: (Which is rare because in general, I don't find this book extremely interesting..)

"...to speak of those who want to be called Christians, although they have nothing of Christ's but his name and sign. How dare they claim his sacred name?...They are guilty of falsely pretending a knowledge of Christ, despite the eloquence with which they talk of the Gospel. Doctrine is not a matter of talk but life."

I think sometimes we forget that being a Christian is more than praying everyday and going to church. If we do that, and talk about Christianity..but then live for ourselves the rest of the time, what kind of Christians are we? What kind of name are we giving Christ?...Not a good one.

You know "All talk and no game"? It's like...let's say there's a person who talks and talks about water-skiing. They talk about how much they love to water ski, they buy all the equipment for it, and they talk about how great they are at it. But when they go out and actually do it, they really stink. It's sort of like that for Christians. No matter how much I talk about Christ, or how many Bibles I buy, or whatever, if I'm not actually living a Christian life, then there's no impact.

I know it's hard, and everyone messes up, but I think it would be really cool if more Christians actually lived...Christian. Let's try not to contradict our talk and our claims of Christianity by living for ourselves, because that's hypocritical.

...Let's not be hippos.

What-everrr.

Life has its ups, life has its dips, good thing we have potato chips!

...Okay, maybe not. But it's true. Life has both ups and downs. And the downs have a tendency to get me really down.

It happened again. Something in my day didn't go my way, and because of that, I'm grumpy all day.

Is that a good habit?

No.

So what is?

I think we should have a "whatever" mindset, particularly for the small things. If one of my plans falls through, should I get all mad about it and let it completely ruin my day? No. That's where the "whatever" comes in...Okay, so that happened. Whatever. I have more time to do other things now. See? Whatever! I think if I, especially, learned to accept things as they come..I would be all-around happier, and probably more productive.

The other day, I was thinking about the phrase, "Go with the flow." I like that phrase. Not for any particularly deep philosophical reason, I've just always liked it..probably because it rhymes. But I have a habit of putting things into pictures, or relating things to experiences I've had. So, with that in mind, "going with the flow" makes me think of one time, when my family went to Hawaii, and my dad and I were pretty far out in the water, just floating, and rolling with the waves. When a wave rolled through, it was fun, and easy to roll with it until it faded out. If I tried to fight it, I would end up getting water up my nose, and would usually end up getting carried with it anyways. The point is, obviously...that it's kind of easier to go with the flow.

I think it was C.S. Lewis who said "Some people say to God, 'Let Your will be done.' and others say 'Oh alright, have it Your way.'" Either way, we're going to end up rolling with the wave. So when bad things come our way, it may be easier to accept them with a little grace.. "Whatever You want, God. Let Your will be done."

The Beauty of Him

God is really beautiful. And he's so good. Psalm 104 just really sticks out to me...he is so good. :)

Psalm 104

¹ Let all that I am praise the Lord.

O Lord my God, how great you are!
You are robed with honor and majesty.
² You are dressed in a robe of light.
You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
³ you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.
You make the clouds your chariot;
you ride upon the wings of the wind.
⁴ The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.

⁵ You placed the world on its foundation
so it would never be moved.
⁶ You clothed the earth with floods of water,
water that covered even the mountains.
⁷ At your command, the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.
⁸ Mountains rose and valleys sank
to the levels you decreed.
⁹ Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,
so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You make springs pour water into the ravines,
so streams gush down from the mountains.
¹¹ They provide water for all the animals,
and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds nest beside the streams
and sing among the branches of the trees.
¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
¹⁴ You cause grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth—
¹⁵ wine to make them glad,
olive oil to soothe their skin,
and bread to give them strength.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well cared for—
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests,
and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.
¹⁸ High in the mountains live the wild goats,
and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to set.
²⁰ You send the darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals prowl about.
²¹ Then the young lions roar for their prey,
stalking the food provided by God.
²² At dawn they slink back
into their dens to rest.
²³ Then people go off to their work,
where they labor until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the ocean, vast and wide,
teeming with life of every kind,
both large and small.
²⁶ See the ships sailing along,
and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷ They all depend on you
to give them food as they need it.
²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they are richly satisfied.
²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.
When you take away their breath,
they die and turn again to dust.
³⁰ When you give them your breath, life is created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!
The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!
³² The earth trembles at his glance;
the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;
let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!