New Computer, New Thoughts

  i'm not sure if any other members of the reckless raging guild have heard Green Day's "longview" lately, but thanks to xm radio, i still get to hear it. the pre-chorus goes like this: "where is my motivation, i've got no motivation, i have no motivation". the words resonate with me perhaps too easily. here i am, this week i have worked what will be 25-30 hours tomorrow, i've seen O'Tiel and the Peacemakers play, gone to the mountains and shared the gospel with my buddy. i bought a computer and started to write a paper that will be 8 pages or so. It seems like i have plenty of motivation and yet so often i have felt a lack of drive, a lack of motivation to pursue Jesus with all my heart mind and soul. 

       why is it that we are so quick to forget how sweet our Lord is? why do we continue to seek after things that will simply not satisfy, however good they may be? there is the obvious answer that is total depravity, but i want something more. i want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering to do whatever it takes to know him and be conformed to his image. 

       but its so difficult when there are tables to wait on that are simply jerks. it becomes difficult when the bills need to be paid and the truck needs work done on it and the motherboard fries in my computer. i don't know guys, but i'm beginning to see that there is something more than having this feeling constantly present inside of me- an affectual awareness of the presence of Christ. 

could it be that the real life of a Christian is that ability to exist in everyday life as one of his people who are living life the way they are supposed to? i'm writing about Ephesians 4:1-6 right now- Paul's plea to them to walk worthy of their calling- is he telling them to stop screwing up? nope. is he telling them to moderate their lives? not really. is he telling them to change their evil ways (baby)? um...no. according to Paul, living worthy of the calling of God in Christ means that we are to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. simply, we are to love one another. could it be that we have over-complicated the gospel?

living in our world, we need to understand that our lives can be radically kingdom-focused and firmly planted in the real world. there will be times that we feel it. there will be times that we don't. the truth of the gospel, thank God, is not dependent upon how we feel that day. whatever our circumstances, motivation or no, lets at least get motivated to talk with and listen to our God and to talk with and listen to each other. sometimes there is little else we can do. 

Love You guys.

Casey