A Moment of Thought

I feel like I am not having any meaningful social interactions with people. Everyone is busy with finals but it is more than that. I just feel like the conversations I have and the interactions I have are friendly, but shallow and superficial. I wonder if other people are feeling this way or if it is just me? I have found myself feeling blah and not as upbeat or normal as usual. Hopefully tomorrow goes better and isn’t such a drag. It could just be the weather too! It is grey out, cold but no snow. The worst kind of weather. That is just a preface for tonight and if you read this, could you be praying for me? That I do have meaningful interactions with people!

I have had many thoughts about what to write in this post, and some last for a while, while others are gone in a few minutes. What should I write about next? I usually don’t know what to write until something hits me. So I have been waiting for that stroke of motivation and genius to come, but it hasn’t! I realized that maybe I need to just start writing and what needs to come out will come! That is the plan anyways. I guess I’ll talk about something that happened, and then pose a question and something that I have been struggling with dealing with.

Last Friday I was invited to go to a party. I knew that there was going to be drinking and that the people there were going to be underage. I have been to parties with these people before and I don’t see any of them often anymore. Everyone has gone off to different colleges and all that. I guess we grew up.  I was torn on if I should go to this party or not. I wasn't going to drink at all, so I wasn't worried about that. I just didn’t know if I should go. Without knowing what to do and what the right thing was I probably should have chosen to stay home. That is not what I did. I went to this party. At first I felt awkward and out of place, there were not many people who were not drinking. While I was there, someone came up to me and asked how the pray group that I started on campus was going! I talked with him for a while about how great it was and how much I loved being involved with that. One of the greatest blessings in my life.  About an hour later I ended up talking to another friend of mine about God, Christianity, and what that is supposed to look like. This friend of mine is a proclaimed agnostic, and so just talking with her for a long time was really great. Something that I really enjoyed doing. I don’t think I converted her or anything like that, but maybe I planted a seed for someone else down the road to grow. As I left that party I realized a couple things. First, God doesn’t stay away from trouble when he sees it, and he doesn’t call us to do that either. Second, that whether I was supposed to go to that party in the first place was irrelevant once I was there. God could use me in any situation, and in any circumstance. Praise God for the fact that even when we don’t always do the best thing, he can turn it into something good.

And now for the question/struggle in my life! How are we as Christians supposed to criticize our fellow believers? If I see someone acting in a way that I do not think is right, what am I supposed to do? Do I confront them and risk looking hypocritical and judgmental? Is that what we should do? What does being salt and light in the world look like? Should I say “hey man I don’t think that is a smart idea” and leave it at that? How strong should you be with people? Also, who knows if my views are right? How can I know? These are just some of the questions I ask myself and the things that I deal with when trying to be the man that God has called me to be. I want to do right and what he wants me to do, but I often don’t know what that is. Any ideas are welcome!

God work in and through me. 

Amen.