Have you ever caught yourself wanting to ask God what in the world He was thinking giving you a task to do? I can’t say that I have ever asked it that way, it seems wrong to phrase it like that, but I’ve wondered something along those lines. There have been a few times that I wasn’t far from saying, “God, You have to be crazy for wanting me to do this.” He doesn’t make mistakes, so obviously the problem is with me, not Him. Some people chalk it up to needing to learn from the experience. While I don’t disagree, I think we use that as a cop out.

I have a lot to learn, both spiritually and professionally, but it doesn’t seem as easy as I think it should be. In school, the teachers would tell you what you needed to know. I did my best to memorize it and give the correct answers on the test. Learning to be like Christ isn’t like that. Head knowledge must be converted to heart knowledge, or it is just a bunch of trivia that you can use to sound smart. We need wisdom, we need God’s wisdom. I heard it put this way one time, “wisdom is knowledge put to work.” God gives us plenty of ways to learn about and know Him. What do we do with that knowledge? For that matter, what do we do with those opportunities?

The idea that following Christ would be easy didn’t come around until well after He ascended back into Heaven. He never said it, I have never seen that in any of the New Testament books, so why do we think that? Why do I expect to just naturally understand what the Bible says?

As Christians, we can expect hard times, but you have to admit, the retirement plan is awesome.

I’ve also been busy with some projects and things I said I would do.

THB will be back humming along before you know it.

I read a quote that sums up how we can feel as we get older, “Oh how daily life is.” All these hopes can get lost, or worse, squashed. I didn’t become a superhero, but I’d look terrible in spandex. I tried raking in the dough, but it is better if you bake it and eat it. At this time, I will not address the third dream.

What does that mean? Have I failed? It feels like that sometimes, but I know better. It isn’t that I didn’t achieve what I planned, I didn’t plan what I achieved. So I’m not where I thought I’d be. Perhaps I should look at it as I’m where I need to be, at this point.

When we start to question why God did this or that to us, I think we should stop at look at where we’re at. Yes, it might not be where we need to be, but wouldn’t it be more likely that we did it? If I was told the paint was wet, who’s fault is it that I touched it?

However, maybe we are where we need to be. It isn’t that we have strayed off course, it’s that God put us back on the right course.

I, for one, do not need to be the last word on everything. I know far too little. Thankfully, God is all-knowing (omniscient for the scholarly people) and is more than capable of showing us the right way, once we stop pushing our agenda and earnestly seek His will.

Take any moderate to severe problem, like a job interview. Hopefully, the first thing you do is pray and ask for God’s guidance and wisdom. That is a great place to start, and it would be even better if we would leave it at God’s feet. However, we often pick the problem up again and commence worrying more.

Maybe we think God needs a little help with this particular problem, or He isn’t moving as fast or in the way we think He should. Maybe He tells us something we don’t want to hear. No matter the reason we mess with the problem again, we need to put it down. 1 Peter 5:6-9 talks about depending on God. Verse 7 says to cast all your cares on Him. Many other passages say the same thing. Jesus said that anybody who was weak and burdened down could come to Him for rest. It doesn’t matter how big the problem is, God can handle it. You’re going to have to let go long enough for Him to act, though.

We do the same when it comes to God. We get a taste of His goodness, but then reject it because of the inconvenience we will suffer. We know that God will expect us to do His will, and we don’t want that “burden.”

Therefore, we will talk about how good He is only to disavow Him in our daily lives. I am not immune to this problem, I am guilty of doing this more times than I want to admit. When we do that, what does it say about our beliefs?

What if you watched a movie and threw it away, or drove a car and junked it? Can you imagine waiting for a gift for months, using it one, and then setting it out at the curb? That’s pretty crazy. Yet, we do it more often that we might think.

How many times have you asked (or pleaded) for God to move in your life on something particular, and then ask for a second option when He does? Or, you ask for forgiveness just so that you can do the same thing over again? Putting it that way, we throw away quite a few good gifts during our lives.

It’s something to think about anyway.

With that in mind, why are we so quick to try to do things ourselves after experiencing that peace? Why do we think we know more than God?

Of course, the same concept applies to most people when it comes to addressing a problem. We’ll be among the first to talk about the problem, but one of the last to step up and act.

I still dream of being out in front, and catch myself trying to worm my way there. When all is said and done, I don’t truly want there. My ego thinks it would be good, but I know that I wouldn’t make it. If you are pursuing me to be a leader, you are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Have you ever thought about how much time we spend on wanting to be more important? How we struggle to get our names on other people’s tongues? Those desires are sometimes bolstered by noble ideas, we want to improve society (that’s the favorite one) or some other good thing. That doesn’t negate the selfishness, though.

I know that I have made a generalization, but most of the people who would get upset are the ones that my statement applies to. I’d like to be part of the group that would read that and check their attitude. Many of my noble causes have some selfish root.