2000 Hits!

         Greetings to the loyal readers of this blog that I have out there.  I want to say thank you so much for reading this, for tolerating my lack of dedication, and hopefully understanding everything I type.  I have now had 2000 page hits on my blog which is just amazing to me.  I give the glory to God and hope His Word is being heard through this page.  I have to write a sermon next week so I will put that up once I am done with it.  I also have to write a paper on what Christmas actually means according to Luke so I will put that up too once I get it back and its graded as acceptable.  So I am going to try to get more blogs up here for you guys because it is obviously worth my time to keep this going for you the readers.
        I mainly wanted to just say thank you, but while I am here I will include a quick thought for the day.  Today I had an extremely difficult experience.  I cannot discuss the details because of pastoral confidentiality, but just wanted to share some thoughts.  He is a dorm student and as dorm counselor part of my job is being there for guys needing to talk.  More than that though he is a friend of mine and I could tell something wasn't right today.  I could tell something was just a little off about him, and I started being my usual smart alec self. However, very quickly I realized that it wasn't anything little that was bugging him so I just told him I could use a hug and he gave me one.  Later when I was talking to him through texting I offered to talk to him if he wanted and so he came down and talked to me.  The opening line he told me hit me hard enough to almost knock me off my seat.  If he hadn't been so serious and almost in tears immediately I would have thought he was trying to pull a cruel prank on me.  It just reminded me that part of pastoral care is hearing people say things that you never could have guessed they were going to tell you.  Now before I go any further, please trust me when I say that this guy is going to be OK, has a better grasp on this issue than I would expect, and it is something that in due time will help not hinder his ministry.  As awful as it seems to say that this terrible experience he is struggling through will help his ministry, it's true.  In fact, he told me a story about how it has already helped him hugely once in his life and he isn't even in the ministry yet.  It's just hard though how these difficult things ht you when you are not ready for them.  Chris, Stein, and I were just talking today about how at times personal devotions, prayer-life, or even going to church or chapel seems like a chore or hassle.  We find a million excuses to distance ourselves from God.  However, the good Lord drags us along and eventually gets us back on track.  The only problem is once He gets us up and going, we take off running and think were doing fine.  Then we run out of gas and collapse and just want to lay there.  Then the good Lord drags us along again and the cycle starts all over.  We admitted that when our relationship with God seems to be in the right place, every other relationship seems to be so much easier and go smoother.  However, when things start going too well, we give ourselves the credit and this is when we take off running and don't pace ourselves.  I will admit I haven't been "running" on my devotional life lately.  I spend quite a bit of time in prayer every day, but Scripture tends to fall into homework instead of just devotions.  The point I am making is that just when I start thinking life is so good as a Christian, I hear this guy in my room doing everything he can to hold back the tears as he is telling me his struggles.  Talk about knocking me flat on the ground with no energy to move.  I was going along good and this hit me out of left field.  The hope I have is that God will pick me up from this and drag me along again until life is back to seeming good and easy again.  Even more importantly I pray he will pick this guy up and help him get back on the track.  However, it is a constant reminder that while the Lord gives us daily blessings we do not deserve, we still live in a sinful world.  Galatians 1:4.  Jesus rescued us from this present evil age.  He has rescued us through His death and resurrection.  However, we still live in this present evil world.  We live under this constant tension of the righteousness of God versus the evil of the sinful world.  It is not until the final day, when Jesus comes back that that tension ends.  Then the rescued creation will be the only world we know.  The righteousness will be the thing we know.  No longer sinners in a evil present age, but righteous children of God in a perfect new creation.  God gives us His Spirit to drag us along, to remind us that we are rescued even though we continue to live in this present evil age.  And the devil uses this present evil age to try to turn us against that rescue, against the Spirit who is guiding us.  However, that is why we need to make sure our relationship with Him is as strong as it can be.  We need to make sure we are spending time in prayer, time in devotions in Scripture, and time humbling ourselves.  The good days are all because of Him, nothing we do.  However, even on the worst days, He is still in control and still has the power through His Spirit to pick us up and keep us going.  I know you can't pray for this guy by name or situation, but I think if you pray for him, God knows who you mean.  Stay strong in the faith, stay strong in your personal relationship with Him, give all glory to Him, and then when the hard days hit, trust in Him alone to pick you up and keep you going.  All Praise be to Him who gives His strength to help us weak sinners get back up and stand in the righteousness of His Son.  All Praise be to Him who picked Himself up and walked out of the grave to be our rescue even in this present evil world.  All Praise be to Him who will come back to pick us up on that final day as His children perfect and righteous in His new creation.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
I beg Your mercy that as You are all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present, You will know this student's struggle, You will give him the strength to make it through this, and You will be with him as he continues through this issue.  We also pray that You would be with us to know our struggles, give us the strength to make it through, and be with us until You return to call us by name.  We also pray that You give us Your Spirit to guide us and keep us on track no matter what the devil or this world throws at us.  We pray all this trusting in the name of the one who rescued us and is our life and salvation, Jesus Christ.  Amen.