Blind to Blessings

Have you ever met someone who had worse luck than the kid you grew up with who's mom made him tuck his shirt into his gym shorts every day for school? I have, and man has he had a rough couple of months. Among other things, he's been a victim of a hit and run, had his car damaged by the people who fixed it after the hit and run, had his dog run away and had his couch torn to shreds by his other dog- all in the span of just a couple of months. It's as if life just isn't going well for him lately, and I honestly feel really bad for the guy; however, his perspective on the whole thing has really changed my heart toward this kind of bad luck.

As someone who recently hasn't had the best of luck himself, I've gotten to watch this guy go from one rough circumstance to another with about as positive as an attitude as one can have when stuff goes as wrong as it has for him. Heck, even just today he displayed a great deal of patience as he was running late to meet me for coffee because He almost ran out of gas on the way there. After he finally got to the coffee shop, he walked by me, set his books down gently, smiled at me and said, 'I'm good. I promise.' And somehow, the genuine look and patience on his face made me believe him, while I know that if I had been in the same situation, I would've been anxious, overwhelmed and probably kind of angry.

As we got to talking about his morning thus far, as well as all the other instances of 'bad luck' we'd both been having lately, we both took some time to reflect on what had been going on in our lives. After we'd finished up, he said something really interesting to me after I'd asked him what he was thinking about. In a short, simple way, he just said, "Sometimes, I think we're just blind to our blessings."

I don't think he could've been more right.

It's easy to, in the middle of 'bad luck,' look at all the negatives in life and miss all the positives. It's easy to look past all the normal, 'good things' in life that we so often look past as blessings because their normal and even easier to see the rare occasions of bad luck as hell on earth. We react terrible when something throws a hiccup in our day to day routine, yet we're quick to forget to give thanks for all the things that go right.

In the midst of 'bad luck,' look at the good luck that the day has brought. Don't be blind to your blessings, but be thankful you're free to live, free to breathe and have free access to lay beneath trees that provide shade on those beautiful, sunny days.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Don't be blind to your blessings. 

The Hidden Blessing of Job

I remember the first time I heard the term 'prosperity Gospel.' Honestly, I had no idea what it really meant, but it sounded good. After all, 'prosperity' is a good word, and so is 'Gospel,' so surely combining the two would be a good thing, right?

Wrong.

Now, I know what prosperity Gospel means, and I know that it's founded on the idea that with more faith, positive speech and tithing, one's material wealth will increase. It' essentially the belief that God's will is to financially bless His people, and frankly, when I read the Bible, I don't see this belief holding much of any validity.

I just finished up reading the book of Job. For those of you who don't know, Job was a guy in the Old Testament of the Bible who was considered to be the most righteous man on the earth. God saw him as this, and God knew that whatever happened to him, he wouldn't curse God's name. Then, the devil challenged this belief God had and struck Job with all of these plagues and terrible things, all of which God gave the devil permission to do, as long as he didn't kill Job. Job receives all of these plagues, but he never once curses God, even after his wife tells him to. He and his friends spend about 20 chapters discussing the 'why' of what's happening, but not once does Job curse his God.

Throughout the dialogue of Job and his friend's discussion, you get a glimpse into what Job's life looked like and how he lived. He lived a life of blessing, but even more than that, he really did live a life of righteousness. He fed and clothed the poor with his own sheep and food, he was a father to the fatherless and cared for widows, and he even made a covenant with his eyes to never look lustfully at another woman besides his wife. He truly lived righteously, but even yet, that did not stop the hard things from happening to him in his life.

It's hard to argue that anyone has ever lived as righteously as Job did but lost as much as Job lost. He lost all his sons and daughters, all of his livestock, all his servants and was even inflicted with lots of physical pain and sickness. He was truly tested, and that didn't look anything like 'prosperity Gospel.' It looked like the opposite. No matter how much faith, positive speech and tithing he participated in, he still was pushed to the limits here on earth. Blessings weren't given to him; they were taken away; however, I don't think anyone has ever been more blessed by God than how Job was treated.

God saw Job so righteous that God tested him to the most extreme of human circumstances in his day and time. God knew Job's heart so well that He knew that Job would not break. God knew where Job's treasure really was. He knew it wasn't in his stuff, wasn't in his family and wasn't in his health, but that his treasure was truly with God in Heaven. 

I can only pray that one day God sees me in the light that He saw Job- that He sees me as righteous enough to take everything I may hold dear to me away from me in order to prove that my heart really is with Him no matter what. That's my prayer.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Blessing doesn't always look like 'being blessed;' sometimes it looks like suffering.

If There Were 100 People in the World . . .

Most jobs don't require you to work until 11 p.m. on Sunday nights; however, most jobs don't get you into free concerts at the same time. 

Tonight is one of those nights; it's a night I'm scheduled to work until 11, and it's also an event night. Tonight's event: a TobyMac concert. 

It's not like I can just sit back, walk into the concert and enjoy it the entire time. I have to sneak in every now and again on breaks and catch bits and pieces. Tonight, I managed to slip in at just the right time. It wasn't the time the headlining artist was on stage; instead, it was the time of intermission in which they had a guest speaker share a quick message. His message was simple and what I needed to hear, and his message was something like this:

There are 7.3 billion people in the world.

If you were to take those 7.3 billion people in the world and shrink them down to a perspective size of 100 people, this is what it would look like:

Only 7 people would have college degrees, 48 people would live on less the $2 a day, 23 people would not have shelter, and 50 people wouldn't have a reliable food source (15 people would be overweight from too much food).

I'm not sure how totally accurate these facts and figures were, and he shared more than I did here, with a little more 'umph' behind them, but it made me realize a few things about myself:

I hate that I'm one of the ones at the front of the line.

I hate that I'm one of the seven with a college degree, one of the 52 people living on more than $2 a day, one of the 77 with shelter and one of the 50 with plenty of food. 

I don't hate it because I have these things; these are definitely all blessings and definitely good things. What I hate is wondering why I got chosen to have them and how they make me numb to the other half of the world. Why not someone else? I'm not that deserving. What difference is there really between myself and one of the refugees trying to get into this country other than that I was born here? I didn't do anything to deserve all that I have, and he/she didn't do anything to deserve all they're having to go through. It makes me sick to my stomach. I want to be grateful for all I have, and I truly am, but I find it hard to grateful sometimes when I think about those who haven't been given much of anything, not even a smile passing by on the street. 

God has taught me a lot, not just tonight, but over this past year. Tonight was just a reminder. I don't want to be comfortable anymore, I don't want to accumulate 'stuff,' and I don't want to build a kingdom here. This world is not my home, and I think I'm finally realizing how homesick I am. I'm realizing how much my heart hurts for the people in the '100' who live completely banking their life on Eternity's Promises, for the people who pray, "give us this day our daily bread," because that's their only hope for any bread at all. 

As for me, it's time to live accordingly. 

Out of the '100,' which one are you?

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: "Still looking for a home in a world where I belong. . . "