So I know this really cool guy...

God is really cool. Like, seriously. And He really doesn't get a lot of credit for it.

You know what I think sometimes we forget? We forget that God isn't like us. Ha. That's a wonderful thing.

What I mean by that is, God isn't as fickle as people are. He's not going to abandon us for others. He doesn't play favorites. He won't love us one day and ignore us the next. He's never going to pull the rug out from under us or throw us under the bus, if you will.

You probably already knew all those things. I did too. But sometimes that doesn't really play out in our lives. My question: if we know that God is all these amazing things, why don't we trust Him more?

Okay. If you're anything like me, at this point, in the back of your mind, you're like, "Psh. I trust Him. Maybe other people have trouble with that..but not me."

I get that, because that's what I would normally say. But we have to wrap our minds around the fact that every time we worry, we're not trusting God. And I mean every time.

George Whitefield once wrote, "I fear upon examination, we should find that most of you have not so much faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the devil himself. I am persuaded that the devil believes more of the Bible than we do. He believes the divinity of Jesus Christ...nay, he believes and trembles, and that is more than thousands among us do."

Does that stand out to you as much as it does to me? The devil trembles. And he doesn't even like Jesus. Jesus isn't even on Satan's side. So how much more should we tremble when we think of His power, and even better...His providence?

The truth is, God wants to (and does) take care of us a lot more than we let Him, or expect Him to. In every circumstance, He will provide. A lot of times, we say that God is interested in the small things just as much as the big things...but we don't realize how small. Seriously. He cares about every single, tiny detail in our lives, and if we just trust Him with it, He'll take care of everything. Trust me, when you're worrying about something, it's a lot easier to give it to Him than worrying about it yourself.

In the end, God does a lot more than we give Him credit for. But you know what's great? He loves doing it. He truly loves taking care of His kids. And that makes Him pretty cool.

Secret Agents pt. 2

So...secret agents. I wrote a post on it a few weeks ago (keep scrolling down to read it), but God put it on my heart again today, with a slightly different perspective.

Jeremiah 9:3 says, "Lies, not truth, have grown strong in the land. They go from one evil thing to another. 'They do not know who I am', says the Lord." Uh, was this written in 2011? Because this definitely sounds like our culture today. I am no exception to this verse. I was reading it today and realized that this definitely can (and sometimes does) apply to me. But again, I ask...is that "secret agent behavior"? Am I just blending into the world, not making any effort to be different?

The truth is, the world has a lot of dirt and grime and slime in it. And whenever we sin, we're just adding to that. Obviously, I know who God is. You know who God is. But if we act like we don't...well, what's the point of knowing who He is, then?

Lukewarm Christianity is rampant today. As in, today, July 8th, 2011. And it was yesterday. And it has been for a long time. But that's really, really not how it's supposed to be. Colossians 3:16 tells us to "let the message of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives." God isn't just supposed to be a piece of our lives. He and His message are supposed to fill our lives, every area. Completely. This isn't about being cool, or looking good. Honestly, sometimes it does make you look cooler to act like you don't care, or to go along with what the world is doing. But that's not what it's about.

God doesn't call us to look good or be cool. If anything, He calls us to be weird, and look different. At least, to the world's eyes. To His eyes, though, we are pleasing, and beautiful, when we follow Him.

Seriously, I'm tired of being an undercover agent. I don't want to keep pretending I don't know who Jesus is. I'm turning in my badge. Will you join me?

Joyjoyjoy

So, this was a Buzz post, and I did warn you that it may turn into a blog post in the near future. Well..here it is. This is something I've been thinking about for a while...basically, a very substantial reason (for me, at least) to always have joy, no matter what else is happening. Let's talk about it.

First, I want to distinguish between two very similar things, in order to clarify: joy and happiness. As one of my friends pointed out..how is it possible to have joy all the time, even when something really tragic happens? That's where these definitions are helpful.

I define happiness as sort of a surface-level emotion. You can be happy for one moment, but if something bad happens, it can change, and you can be sad. Etc.

On the other hand, in my mind, joy is deeper than that. It's more than a quickly-changing emotion. It's an underlying reason to be thankful. A reason to live, maybe?

Okay. That was helpful. I like definitions.

The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to "be joyful always." In order to be joyful always, we need something to be joyful about, right? Right. And in order to to be joyful always, that thing we're joyful about needs to be always there, right? Right. Okay.

When I really think about it, God is the only thing that is always there and will never disappear. More specifically, His two biggest blessings: love and salvation.

It's so crazy to think that the Creator of the universe, the King of the world, and the One who knows your every awful thought and secret sin...loves you. He doesn't just tolerate you. Doesn't just kind of like you. He loves you. Seriously, you have no idea. Think about the person you love most in the world, and multiply that by a hundred. He's crazy about you. So, that's reason enough to be joyful. But God is so cool, He throws in another reason...

It Is Well With My Soul is one of my favorite hymns. I normally don't like hymns, actually, but I love this one. One of the verses reads,

"My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Anddd that pretty much sums up the point about salvation. Just like you have no idea how much God loves you, you probably don't have any idea how many times you've sinned..or are going to continue to sin. But you know what? All of them were nailed to the cross right next to the God who loves you.

And that's a reason to be joyful.

Most cliche post ever.

It's funny how God takes things that I thought I knew, and teaches them to me in a whole new way. He teaches me things when I'm least expecting it, and somehow, it's completely new to me, even though I may have heard it all my life.

Where does beauty come from? The good Christian answer is beauty comes from the heart. Beauty is only skin deep. Blah blah blahhh.

As a girl, sometimes I fail to believe that. Or, even if I do, I'm like..why can't I be beautiful inside and outside?

(This is not going to be a post about me and how I worry about my appearance. Just bear with me.)

So yesterday, I was thinking about that, and God told me something: beauty comes from the heart. ...Okay, I knew that. But for some reason it felt really new to me. And so then today, out of no where, He says..."there's a big difference between looking beautiful and being beautiful."

Maybe you already knew that. But for me, it was really, really new. The statement can be applied in a couple different ways, but how I think of it is this: Someone can look beautiful on the outside, but you know, that doesn't really make them beautiful. You just look good. But what God said was true. Beauty comes from the heart. You are beautiful (or not) because of your heart.

You know what's ironic? I think worrying about outward appearance is one of the things that makes a heart sort of disfigured. I never want to say someone's heart is "ugly", but some things that can hinder beauty (maybe?) are jealousy, pride, anger, selfishness, etc. I would categorize worrying too much about what you look like under selfishness.

Obviously, everyone has some of these. You are never going to be perfect, and you'll always deal with sin. But that's not to say you can never have a beautiful heart. Why?

Well, here's the good news: Jesus specializes in beauty. He has the MOST beautiful heart. I believe that he enjoys taking sinful, grimy things, and making them beautiful. All we have to do is ask.

Honestly, I want to look beautiful. But even more, I want to be beautiful. And, luckily, I don't need eyeliner, a flat iron, or designer clothes for that. I just need Him.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." - Psalm 51:10

I've always wanted to be a secret agent!

Seriously. When I was anywhere from 7-12 years old, my friends and I would always pretend to be spies...usually spying on my parents (never letting them see us, of course) and writing down "clues" in a secret language in our notebooks, then running back to our secret hideout (usually a closet) and discuss what we observed.

That dream has passed, and I've moved on to different things. I still think it would be cool to work for the FBI though.

But do I already?

Obvious answer: no.

Surprising answer: Sometimes I act like it.

But not for the federal government. Nope, I'm undercover for Jesus!

Seriously, Katie?

...Yes. It's a new idea that God revealed to me that I am so ashamed of. I think I, and a lot of other Christians, act like I'm an undercover agent for Jesus much of the time. My real identity is Katie, the Jesus-follower, but aside from revealing my true self at Secret Agent HQ (church), I'm undercover, trying to blend in with the world, and hoping they all think I'm normal, making great efforts not to reveal my true identity.

Okay, obviously, it's not that drastic. I don't intentionally try to hide the fact that I'm a Christian or purposely blend in with the world. But I think we get on the verge of that sometimes.

The truth is, we were never, ever, ever meant to be undercover for Jesus. We are meant to be obvious, conspicuous, totally noticeable flames in a world of darkness. We were not made to blend in with the darkness. The world is full of grimy, ungodly things: do we really even want to be like it?....I don't. And truthfully, I don't think the world needs anymore grime and slime in it. It needs light. We are the light.

We only have one chance to live in this world, with the people around us, in the situations we're in. So I propose that we shine as hard as we can. Take risks, Jesus is worth it. (They say that faith is spelled R-I-S-K.) Live out LOUD. We have so much freedom given to us by God and our country, and I think we need to take advantage of it. Don't be a secret agent.

I liked Lady Gaga better when she just danced.

And when she was the paparazzi. And even when she was kinda busy and couldn't talk on the telephone.

Okay, you know I don't normally write about current issues like this, but I have to get all my thoughts out about this crazy, talented, creative, powerful woman. Forbes magazine just named her most influential celebrity in the world. So we have to ask the obvious: What influence is she having on us?

If you keep up with pop culture at all, you know that Lady Gaga is getting really creepy lately. Random horns growing out of her body while she sings about being in love with Judas? Mmm, no thanks, I'm good.

This is just my personal opinion, but this girl has changed a lot since she first came on the scene, and it's gotten weirder, darker, and more infused with twisted spirituality. I was okay with Just Dance, and even Telephone. But I think it started going downhill with Bad Romance and that whole "era" - when "art" started becoming eery and non-human. And so now we're here and she's the most influential celebrity in the world with her new single telling us that we were born the way we are - whatever that may be at the moment.

At this point, Lady Gaga is mixing feel-good messages with twisted religion. The feel-good message in Born This Way is, obviously, accepting yourself; knowing that you don't need to change anything about yourself. However, the song literally says "No matter gay, straight or bi/Lesbian, transgendered life/… I'm on the right track, baby/I was born to be brave". Um, seriously? Talk about an era of tolerance. Obviously, blatant sin like that is not something to be accepted, etc. "Brave" does not mean living in sin. You are not "brave" just because you go against what's right.

But besides that, I just find it kind of twisted that Lady Gaga mentions Jesus in so many of her songs. But she's not blaspheming. She talks about praying, and serving Him, but the blatant truth is that you cannot serve two gods. Jesus said that you can't serve both God and money, and I think it applies to other things as well. You can't serve both God and your own fleshy desires.

Those are the problems. But I think the reality is, she's saying that:

1. You were made to be just the way you are, whether you're living in sin or not.
2. Yeah, of course I can serve Jesus and sleep with a bunch of people!

So, in the end, I liked Lady Gaga before she got really popular. When she..just danced.

It's good that I don't always get what I want.

Seriously. If I always got what I wanted, and didn't get what I didn't want, out of everyday life, I would never get anything done. I would never meet new people, never reach out to anyone else. I would never take any risks or be challenged in any way.

It's the same with little things in life as well as the big things. If you asked me at any given time if I wanted some ice cream, I would probably say yes. But, if I wanted ice cream all the time, and got it every single time I wanted it, I wouldn't be very healthy. On the other hand, 2 years ago, I didn't want to leave the church we were currently attending. We did though, and the new church is where I met my best friends. If I wasn't forced to do that, because I didn't want to, I would never have met these people who have blessed my life so much.

Life isn't always fair. We don't always get what we want, or what we feel we deserve. But God isn't as interested in what we want, as what we need. I need to not have ice cream everyday, and I needed to come to Calvary to meet these people. Because the thing is, we can't look very far beyond ourselves. But God can. He sees the huge, entire, complete picture, in which you and I are just a small part of. Whether God is interested in our wants or needs, He's definitely interested in our greater good, and sometimes that means giving us what we need, even if it's painful, rather than what we want.