Beautiful Christian Friendship

(L to R: David Gardner, Spencer Ross, Paul Delgado)

One of the things I'd like to do with my blog is take pictures from my personal collection that make me grateful for experiences, friendships, or edification. This picture makes me smile. Three good friends were extremely happy.

March 7, 2009. Spencer and Kandice Ross's wedding day. There were beautiful flower arrangements and details that had taken months to plan for and hours of delicate work to actually set up. While everything there was appealing to the eye, the great memories are being there with friends. I'm sure if Spencer or Kandice were to write about their wedding they would say something similar, but I'll leave that story for his blog. As a spectator, it was great to be there in the audience supporting friends on their special day. The reception was awesome. So many people were there, so many laughs, and many memories were made. We had a great day making new friendships and building on old ones.

How could that day apply much wider to our Christian walk?

On the day of judgment we will individually, "...appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Corinthians 5:10) What I do with my life will be judged by the Father on the Day of Judgment. It is imperative for Christians to study, act upon, and share the Word of God (Ezra 7:10), thus while we may be judged individually, Christianity naturally leads to friendships and teamwork.

Friendships can help or hurt our Christian walk. Solomon wrote, "One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray" (Proverbs 12:26) and "whoever walks with the wise becomes wise but the companion of fools will suffer harm" (Proverbs 13:20). Paul was very clear when he wrote, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad Company corrupts good morals.' " (1 Corinthians 15:33)
We as Christians should surround ourselves with people who want us to go to Heaven. Though Christian fellowship great memories can be made, friendships can be solidified, and new friendships can be made at activities. The circle of friends we have should desire us to go to Heaven as much as they do.
Have you reached out in Christian friendship lately? You could be a help to others, but also be a help to yourself!

Crying At Night

My life changed completely at 7:28 PM on July 27, 2010. My darling wife gave birth to our beautiful daughter… Sleep hasn’t been the same since. In her first few nights of being at home, not being used to having a baby, it seemed all we heard were screams. Darling wife and I were taking turns rocking her, changing her, and feeding her in hopes for her to get to sleep.

Even though our daughter had only been introduced to the outside world for a few days, we diligently tried to figure what she wanted when she cried. She didn't want for much, but she had needs. Those needs caused her to cry. As she grew, her cries started to sound different and sometimes we were able to guess what was making her cry.

Babies have needs just like adults do. Since babies lack the ability to verbalize their needs they have to passionately, vocally violate their surroundings for survival. I can’t help but compare this to prayer, even though God doesn’t have to guess what we are crying for.

That sweet baby has turned into a beautiful little girl. She still cries, but we are able to meet her needs and weigh her wants. Even if she wants to drive the car, she's not ready yet. There are countless situations of things she would like to do and we see if those would be good for her. She has needs and we meet those.

While sometimes I have trouble finding the words, God hears my cry and comforts me. While I understand that I can do the basic things that our daughter needed to survive (diaper change, feed, cuddle, swaddle, comfort) God has to deal with our more complex thoughts. God loves and cares for me and hears my prayers… but if they are not in accordance with His Will, they aren’t going to be answered the way I think I want… and I need to understand that. “No” is loving too and a perfectly acceptable answer from our heavenly Father.

It seems that most people have a view of prayer that portrays the almighty Creator of the universe as a vending machine. They pray, He’s naturally supposed to say yes. Right? If God doesn’t deliver, it’s His fault. This faulty view of prayer can hinder the rich relationship that we are able to have with God. There are many things that we pray for that we just don't need or are just completely irrational. It would make no sense for me to ask for a pony when I live on the 8th floor of a downtown Dallas apartment. Prayers for flight, super powers, or winning decisions for my favorite sports team fall in that realm, as well.

I can’t help but look back to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 2. King Nebuchadnezzar gave them the choice of bowing down to him or being thrown in the fire. Their response was simple, “No.” These three knew there would be ramifications for their decision. They knew they were going to be thrown in the fiery furnace or would face disappointing God. They chose God. Their answer caused Nebuchadnezzar's anger to rage. His wrath led him to turn up the heat, thereby killing some of his own soldiers (Daniel 3:22). The three were thrown in… and they survived and were protected by someone who looked like a “son of the gods” (Daniel 3:25). Their protection is a great story and shows the power of God… but their attitudes are what has me intrigued.

They knew they were going into the fire. But their attitude was more along the lines of: We believe in God, if the King throws us in the fire and God protects us that’s great, but if we burn up and we die, we think He knows best. We will not bow down to you (Nebudhadnezzar). If we approached the heavenly Father in that fashion, with His will first, we would see the great things that we could do as Christians. Regardless of the earthly consequences, we must stand strong for God in accordance with His will, not our own.

How great would it be if we had this attitude when we went to God in prayer: Answer my prayer according to Your Will. I will only bow down before God.

We can always tend to be selfish if we allow ourselves, but it is imperative that we train ourselves to hold to this mindset to meet our needs. Much like a crying baby that grows, they learn to verbalize what they truly need not just their wants. The Christian needs to stop crying like a baby and learn to approach God in a mature fashion. Our God is an awesome God, even when I don’t get my way.