on faith and God centered attitudes.

The Story Teen Edition Chapter 16

Two interwoven stories taking place:
Hezekiah and Isaiah

Hezekiah:
Israel again turns to false idols and away from God. As a result, the Israelites are exiled to Assyria. The nation of Judah, however, remains faithful and King Hezekiah leads them in the way of the Lord.

Ch. 16 video

What stands out to you about the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrians?
How does Hezekiah respond to the threats against Jerusalem?

King Hezekiah faced and incredible threat as the Assyrian army stood at his doorstep. Regardless, he remained faithful (not and easy task) and brought the matter directly to God in prayer.

How hard is it for us to have this kind of faith?

2 Kings 19:14-19

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

How does Hezekiah approach God?

Hezekiah comes humbly before God acknowledging who God is and what He is capable of. He then asks God to deliver His people and make clear "to all the kingdoms of the earth...that you alone, Lord, are God". His prayer is not out of fear nor is it for the sake of self-preservation. Rather he asks that God would reveal and glorify Himself.

What is a time when you have felt opposition?
How should we approach God when we face opposition?
Is it easy to have this attitude?



Isaiah:
Isaiah was a well established prophet of God by the time Hezekiah became King. The Lord spoke through him numerous times (the book of Isaiah...). It's important to note that while Isaiah played a major role in the story of Hezekiah and the Assyrians, his ministry went far beyond that one instance. In fact large portion of Isaiah's prophesies directly foretold the coming of Christ

The Story Pages 228-230
Isaiah says many things about the Savior that is to come. Throw out some descriptions about this Savior that stand out to you.

Take some time and pray in gratitude for God's provision of all that was prophesied.

on traveling.

I'm always tempted to say that everybody should travel at some point. But I'm not entirely sure that's true. I've done a small bit of traveling and reaped the benefits, but I'm not positive its for everyone. One glance at twitter, facebook, or any of the other social media giants, however, and it would seem like everybody and their uncle is out traveling the world, putting pins in maps and collecting stories to tell when they get back. But that doesn't seem to be the case in real life. Which begs an interesting question, why are so few people doing it, if so many have the desire?
There are a plethora of typical response that I would expect to hear, and I could rant for days on how little money you need, how little time it takes, how easy it is to get started, and how "real life" will be here when you get back. But I'll save my breath, as I don't expect to really be changing anybody's minds. Which is fine. Maybe instead of traveling the world, people should simply crawl out of their comfort zones. For me, that meant living in Spain. For others that could mean something completely different. The point here is that comfort and growth are rarely, if ever, experienced together. We should always be growing. Always learning.
I have a friend who has a habit of asking odd questions to people he is just meeting. He will delve very quickly below the surface and ask about a persons dreams, aspirations, and passions. He'll dig around to discover who they are in ways that make may people very uncomfortable. One question that he is particularly fond of is "what is your greatest fear?". I Once asked him the same question and his response fascinated me.

"My greatest fear is that I will one day stop growing"

It was interesting to me, because I believe if we're honest with ourselves, many of us have the opposite fear. We are scared to grow. Change intimidates us. It makes us uncomfortable. It's why I always order the same thing at taco bell and it's why graduating high school and moving out is hard. But as hard as it is, crawling outside of our beloved comfort zones is not only good for you, it's necessary.
When I was in Rome I met an Australian guy named Van who was staying in the same hostel as I was. We ended up spending a decent amount of time hanging out and swapping stories about our travels. We had come from very different backgrounds and from, quite literally, opposite sides of earth. Regardless, we found that there were some aspects to our travels that were strikingly similar. Namely the plane ticket. That first big step. Buying the first plane ticket was one of the most nerve racking things we'd had to do. After that, we were committed. Things never really got easy, but the hardest part of the whole trip was that initial step where we had to actually step outside of the experiences we had been imagining and planning and go live them. We left our comfort zones thousands of miles away and the things that seemed scary and strange simply became the next adventure.
For me in particular, I had numerous instances in which I seemed to be knee deep in it with no idea how to get out. But those are the very same instances that I would point to as being not only the most fun and memorable, but the situations that I learned the most from. I developed confidence to handle whatever life would throw at me. I worked through problems, I learned to rely on myself when I had to and to seek help when I needed it, I discovered how to communicate without a common language, I made friends in all corners of the globe, I found out what my faith looks like when I'm alone, and I collected a hand full of memories that I wouldn't trade for the world.
So yes, traveling holds incredible value as a life experience. But not everybody will have the means or the desire to share these types of experiences. And that's okay. But if it's not traveling, make sure it's something else. Whoever you are, wherever your life is headed, make sure you're uncomfortable with it. Don't be afraid of growth, be afraid of a dormant life. Because a dormant life is a wasted life. If we aren't growing in ourselves, and most importantly growing in our faith and our savior, then what are we really doing with our lives?

on why Batman should have died.

        In anticipation of the large amount of writing that the upcoming three part blog is going to take, I'm keeping this week's post short, simple, and a little bit ranty.

SPOILER ALERT:
If you haven't seen all three movies in the Dark Night trilogy:

1) What are you doing with your life?

2)Don't read this blog.

Okay so that's fair warning. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about my favorite movie trilogy of all the movie trilogies, and we all know there are plenty of those out there.
The Dark Knight movies stand out for a number of reasons. First and foremost because, let's be honest, everything to do with Batman up until the release of "Batman Begins" was pitiful. There simply was no good Batman movie. Batman Begins changed that, and "The Dark Knight Rises" gave us the epic conclusion we all wanted.......almost.
The story goes like this: Following the disappearance of the Batman, and the death of Gotham's beloved DA, a villain by the name of Bane enters the scene and prepares to bring the city to it's knees as it rips itself apart. He effectively separates the city from the rest of the world and removes any comfort that society, order, and a government body might bring. This new "lord of the flies" society does exactly as Bane planned and begins to tear itself to pieces, all the while under threat of a nuclear bomb.
Inevitably, Batman swoops in to save the day and restore hope to a city that seems to have none. As the story comes to a head Bruce Wayne is forced to make a difficult choice. The nuclear bomb that has been roaming around the city is set to go off and has to dealt with, however the auto-pilot on his ship doesn't work and Wayne has no choice but to pilot the ship himself, and thereby ensure his own doom. It's tragic, ironic, and the perfect conclusion to the epic trilogy.
Except Bruce Wayne lives. Somehow, unbeknownst to anyone else, the auto-pilot had actually been repaired and somewhere along the line Bruce jumped out of the ship and escaped before the bomb exploded. I hate it, and I whole-heartedly believe he should have died. Let me explain.
At the heart of the story we have a group of people who, by their own wrongdoing, are trapped in a world of corruption with no hope of escape and no hope of survival. They are doomed and there is nothing they can do about it. Then, a man who seems to do nothing but selflessly give to these corrupt people, gives them a way out. Even though he fights the evil that suppresses them, gives them a shot at redemption, and ultimately sacrifices himself for their sake. He takes on himself the fate that had been given to those who, if we're being honest, probably deserved it.
Sound familiar? It should. Up until the very end, this story is the gospel. But then we find out that the masked hero really didn't sacrifice himself. He put his ship on auto-pilot and ran away with catwoman. It's an ending that is only made right with the revelation that Robin was in the movie the whole time. An ALMOST perfect trilogy that was tragically ruined by our ridiculous need to have the happiest ending possible.

on doubting.

       This is a big issue for Christians, and as an aspiring youth pastor I find the idea of doubting and dealing with doubts to be a topic of monumental importance. Is it okay to have doubts? What's the difference between doubt and disbelief? Is doubt sinful? Is disbelief?
At first these questions seem simple. I could spit out a half a dozen surface level answers and explanations that would satisfy these questions, at least to some degree. But honestly I think it's far more important to address the assumptions behind the questions. As I've talked about in previous posts, I firmly believe that all questions come from somewhere. They reveal a persons heart and open a door, behind which lie a thousand more questions. For more about my thoughts and opinions on questions check out the blog post I did several weeks back :

http://whatsaaronthinking.blogspot.com/2014/10/on-being-clueless.html

For now though, I want to talk about where I believe these questions about doubting come from. I'll ease into the whole assuming things business with a simple one: People ask the question "is it okay to have doubts" because they have doubts. I think we can all agree that's a pretty safe bet. But it's also absolutely crucial to this conversation, because it means the person asking isn't interested in a yes or no. They could care less about a simple answer. What they are really after is practicality. In other words, they want to know if doubting is wrong how can we put an end to it? Alternatively, if doubting is not wrong, what do we do with our doubts? It's here that we typically have to stop and define doubt.
We would talk about how there is an important line between doubt and disbelief and that doubt stems from a lack understanding and disbelief stems from a lack of faith. I don't disagree with this. What I disagree with is the idea that there is a clearly defined line, because in my experience that line can be incredibly difficult to find and even more difficult to stay on one side of.
Rather than talk about definitions, lines, and straight foreword answers, I would like to talk about hearts. Specifically, the heart of the doubter. More important than an individuals doubts, or lack thereof, is that person's heart, and how it reflects their knowledge of Christ. In a book I was recently reading, Austin Fischer makes a comment on the starting point of theology that I think also very well sums up the way any Christian should approach the inevitability of doubts. He says this:

"Who is God? How do you know? From the Christian perspective these are the questions of human existence. All other questions asked and answers given ultimately bend back toward these, for in every answer to every question there is the implicit claim 'This is who God is and this is how I know'. And so who is God and how do you know?"

I've recently had the pleasure of watching a few of my best friends grow into some of the most loving and spiritually mature people I've ever met. I couldn't possibly be more proud of the Godly women they have become. They are by no means perfect and the circumstances that have forced this growth upon them have been sudden and tragic to say the least. Nonetheless, they have endured and I have seen Christ shine through their lives and in their stories. The reason, I firmly believe, is that they have answered those two questions in their hearts. Has it made their struggles easy? No. Has doing so wiped away any of their hardships? Most certainly not. Have they experienced doubt in one form or another along the way? More than likely yes.
What it has done, however, is given them a foundation. Amidst the tears, the anger, the confusion, there is always one constant: This is who my God is, and this is how I know. It's not a solution or the answer to all your questions, but instead a starting point.
So to those battling doubts, or guilt over having them, I would say this: Who is God? How do you know? Build your foundation, a starting point onto which you can always fall back when your own understanding fails. Answer that, then go out and struggle through the rest of your questions in search of Him, but always have your heart set on who you know Him to be, and how you know.

For me, my starting point will always be the God on the cross. That is who I know God is.

Hebrews 1:1-3:

"1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."