Ever thought how nice it would be to have a one line question to ask a close friend on a calm rainy day?  Not like we have any calm rainy days around here in saint louis -  Maybe for the fact to stimulate your mind or sounds smart or the big one – to grow in your relationship with that other person by discussing deeper topics other than how’s work?  I long for this every day and wanted to share something with you.

In the last month I’ve had numerous conversations with good friends, this time instigated by yours truly, about something that has been on my mind, a lot lately.  Let’s say it simply intrigues me to the ultimate and back.  Like a package of oreos, i can’t let a package of oreos just sit there and go untouched, and most the time, I have to eat the entire package!  So this intrigues me like a new package of oreos…

Notable: This would be most effective if you only read and processed one section at a time (they’re short and few).  I know it would be very tempting and easy to read the entire post or none of it but I challenge you to take a moment or a few moments throughout the next week and read bits of this post.  See what may happens.

I hope this post will be as intriguing to you as 20 hopeful oreos!  I would even go as far as recommend you to read the first section and walk away from this post so you can think about it and come back for the next section.

Let Us Begin! – I would really appreciate an email or text or comment if you wish about this cause I’m crazy curious about it.

Section 1

do not read section 2 until you’ve fully thought about this.  It may come as a shock to you for how short and initially comical it may seem to you:

If you were present and some random guy / girl walked up to your mother and punched her out, what would you do?

[ truly think about what you would do]

Section 2

Now that you’ve thought about it a bit and hopefully have an answer, do you think that’s right?  Meaning do you think it’s humane or based upon social standard or is it the culturally common thing to do?

Section 3

What do you think Jesus would do?  Was your answer anywhere close to what Jesus would do?  If not then why, if so then why did you not answer with a more cultural answer and why do you think the cultural answer, or in other words, the immediate instinctive answer is so barbaric?

There are SO many things and ideas that can spawn off of where we are now, when do you think anger is an OK emotion, do you think it’s right to allow someone else to control your emotions, if God created anger for a purpose what is that purpose and how do we control ourselves to using anger for only what it is designed for?  I could write pages of things we could talk spawning from where we are on a conversation topic level!

I encourage you to bring this up to a close friend.  When discussing this, it IS very important to pause and talk about each section naturally like it’s not a process.  Reason I say close friend is because I think this is something that could open up a very deep conversation to allow quite a bit of growth between two people.  It allows a lot of inward thinking and reflection which I think is a great way to grow.  One of my deep desires is to grow in my relationships with other people through Christ and his word.  Need I say more?  I love how simple this is too!

I was driving home today and there was a huge storm all around me, lightning everywhere, very intense lightning, but it was not raining or windy around me.  It reminded me of where I am at in life right now, this insane storm around me changing every second of the day, yet I still had strength, courage and guidance.  God has put his hand in my life and I have seen it more magnified in the past week and a half then ever.  It’s amazing how safe we are in his hands and how trust is so very hard sometimes, yet has such an overwhelming return.  God is awesome!

Lately I’ve been feeling like things have been crashing down all around me.  Yet, at the same time I feel I have been settling it all in better position than they were before, protected.  Life moves so very fast that once you stop and look at everything going on around you, you realize that this is beyond you, something bigger is in the works and helping you through it all.

In the last week and a half I was in an accident where my car was totaled, I’ve made an offer on my first house, I’ve been given the opportunity to fly up to Penn State for a 3rd interview on site for a fantastic job and I’ve met a girl beyond my dreams.  All of this while I was sick and feeling physically terrible.

No one was sent to the hospital from the accident, thank God.  I don’t have a bruise on my body, not even an ache from the accident, yet looking at my car it seems I should be paralyzed or not even breathing.  Insurance is working beautifully and my loan is taken care of.  This has created an opportunity to buy a better car for less than my previous loan balance.

My housing search and pre approval went flawlessly and I found a house I am absolutely in love with, perfect location, perfect potential, perfect timing.

If I wrote a profile of the company I would like to work for, the company for this job has hit all points.  If I get this job, I would be programming from home for an increase in pay, for a company I absolutely love in a great team environment.

I thank God for protecting me and giving me strength to push forward through all this, and knowing he has plan for all of this makes me feel at peace.