JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Hope

Peace on Earth

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In this season of Advent, we are called to live our lives as worship glorifying the Almighty God, in this way we honor the coming of the Christ, ushering in the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth. The first call of man, the first act of worship for which humanity was called was to take care of creation.

Genesis 1:28-31 ESV
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God gave us everything we needed, and in return he wanted us to take care of the creation. During Advent, many of us put up Christmas trees, and under those trees we put the gifts we give to one another. We really want those gifts to be something that our loved ones will want and think they are good. How about we start thinking about how much devastation is caused due to deforestation? How about we look into what we are doing to the gift that God has given to us? Even though we have been given the whole Earth, we must be faithful to God and take care of the gift that we have been given freely. The gifts are very good, much greater than anything we could even think of getting for any of our loved ones. The entirety of creation is much better than an iPad. Unfortunately, I know that I have thought much more about taking care of my iPad or other things than I have thought about taking care of the Earth. Living out our lives in worship, caring for creation, allows us to bring peace to Earth.  

Isaiah 2:4 ESV
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

God calls us toward using the instruments we once used for destruction, but rather to use them to cultivate the resources of the Almighty’s wonderfully good gifts. By doing this, we can be instruments of peace, and further be faithful to the gift, and honor the gift-giver. Peace on Earth is a call to usher in the Kingdom of God by honoring the gift of creation.

JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Ramblings

With A Thankful Heart…

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I may be late to the party here, but I would like to wish all of you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving. Over social media, November has been a month where many have daily listed the things for which you are thankful. This is a great practice, and a good way to focus upon the many blessings in each of our lives. I am thankful for the practice and thankful for so many of my friends that have adopted the practice, which have encouraged me that I need to live a life filled with more gratitude.

So here’s to living life with thankfulness for all the many blessings surrounding me everyday. No matter our lot in life, we have much for which to be thankful. Personally, I have a wife that loves me and chose to walk beside me in the craziness that we call our life. I have four kids that are absolutely amazing and they teach me so much and unconditionally pour out love upon me. I’ve been blessed with a family that is close enough to spend many weekends and vacations enjoying one another. Life has brought me friends from many different walks of life that teach me that no matter how diverse we are we can share our life and find enrichment and growth in one another.

Although there is much that I desire, but there is nothing that I need that I cannot obtain or is not provided to me. I understand that this is not true for everyone in the world, and as we sit down to eat our Thanksgiving meals, or any meal, we need to be mindful that we are blessed. There are many things that we have in abundance, but a majority of the world does not have the same abundant living.

I wish I didn’t need a national holiday to remind me to change my heart, so that I am much more thankful for all that I have been blessed with in life. No matter where life puts me, I need to remember that God has provided for me, and will continue to provide for me. God’s love is forever, and forever God’s love will be with me. Hopefully, I can remember to be thankful, and to live a life filled with gratitude for all that I have been given, and all the reasons I have to be thankful.

Saying, “Thank you,” is a beginning, but living my entire life with a thankful heart is a process, not a once a year celebration.

Thank you Almighty God for giving me Your never ending love.

Psalm 118 ESV
Oh give thanks to the Lord , for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!  
Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”  
Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”  
Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”  
Out of my distress I called on the Lord ; the Lord answered me and set me free.  
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?  
The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.  
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.  It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.  
All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!  They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!  
They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!  I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. 
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. 
Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,  the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”  
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord . 
The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.  
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord . 
This is the gate of the Lord ; the righteous shall enter through it. 
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.  
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 
This is the Lord ’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 
Save us, we pray, O Lord ! O Lord , we pray, give us success!  
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ! We bless you from the house of the Lord . 
The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!  You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.  
Oh give thanks to the Lord , for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

JRMITCH85 Character, Hope, Ramblings

BUT I say to YOU!!!

43″You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 ESV)

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This passage from the Sermon on the Mount gives a new take on love, and a new take on enemies, but even more so a new take on what God requires of us. God’s call to love those around us stretches beyond just the people who are easy to love, but rather love EVERYONE. Love doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t get to determine a person’s worth, God gives them value, we need to love them. Unfortunately, we commoditize love;  when someone gives love, we give love; when we give love, we expect love in return.  This is the way of the world, which is easy… sort of.

In this worldview, a ledger exists. We can examine our lives and determine whether we are in a love debt, or whether we have a love balance in our account. The only problem with this type of world is that we are constantly opening and closing accounts that it could get extremely complicated to figure which accounts are positive and which accounts are negative. In my experience, when paying love forward, and it doesn’t get paid back, those people either become enemies, or even worse they get forgotten. We all have limits with how high we will let our accounts get, and when our accounts get too low sometime shame leads us to running away from them.

God wants more! There are NO LIMITS to God’s love, which we need to emulate. God’s love pours out on everyone. Jesus died to show how far God will go to LOVE!

Tear up the ledgers. Treat everyone like they are family. Let the blessings flow! If you try to live out the love ledger, you don’t understand God’s love, and I venture to say that you are exhausted trying to keep it up. We will never even up the ledger with God, we will always be in debt. Even worse, I have family and friends that I wouldn’t even come close to clearing out my love debt. I am thankful for them, and I am thankful that God has let me pile up this debt without casting me from the bosom of the Almighty. I am not worthy.

However, at the end of this passage that one command trips me up, “BE PERFECT!” Not that God’s love will be withheld for a lack of perfection, but our constant striving must be perfection. Love God with every inch of your being, may you live your life out in worship to God. Love one another to the furthest extent possible. Love as if you are in a love debt to everyone. If you ever get to a point where you stop and think that you have loved enough, love some more. Strive for perfection in the way you love God, strive for perfection in the way you love every person with which you come  in contact! This is Shalom.

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10 ESV)

JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Hope

Ugh

More than once as I have journaled my prayers I have uttered the UGH which has been my way of expressing complete frustration and an inability to put my thoughts into words. Should I feel bad about not being able to articulate my prayers? A quick reading of Psalm 5 reveals that the important act is not the articulation of my prayers, but that in fact that every morning I come to the Lord with my prayer is paramount.

Give ear to my words, O Lord ; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord , in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. (Psalms 5:1-3 ESV)

Additionally, the prayer time is our worship and should be part of our sacrifice to the Lord. This is followed by a time of watching. This is too often the part that I end up skipping. Once I pray, I feel as soon as I am done with all of the elements of my prayer are complete, I am done with the worship time, but rather the prayer and worship need to continue by watching and waiting for the Lord. It isn’t certain that God will always turn the “ugh” into something, but the Holy Spirit will intercede for us. Even though sometimes all I can muster is “ugh”, this can sometimes be used by the Holy Spirit as something that is too deep for any words we could ever muster.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26 ESV)

Even if all I can bring is “ugh”, God wants it, but I am called to more than simply bringing my “ugh” but I also need to sit and wait and watch what the Lord is going to do with my exasperation.

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Hope, Ramblings

Black Friday?

Today there were sales. Today we were all supposed to go out and buy in order to help make sure that people stay employed. Today a lot of money, energy, and other resources were wasted.

Life has conditioned us that we instinctively look in the newspaper on Thursday to find out what big screen television we have to get. Look, even my nine month old daughter thinks that she has to get in on Black Friday.

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The whole concept that we must go out and support the consumer culture is terribly flawed. I wish I were immune from the draw toward the mall and to the stores in search for a couple deals. Unfortunately, I was out there with many of you, and I engaged in our consumer culture and spent resources.

I will not spend time reciting the numerous statistics I saw throughout social media today about the amount of money that is spent this weekend, and the amount of money that is needed to end any number of ailments in the world. It is appalling that so much money is spent on things that are of little to no worth. Last year I hit that point with my kids, we spent and spent and spent, and filled up two car loads of toys for them last year. How many hours were spent by them playing with these toys? Not enough. How much joy did they get out of these gifts? Not enough. How much money did we spend so that they could have a “good” Christmas experience and get lots of toys? Too much.

I don’t think that you are a terrible sinner because you went shopping today. We are all terrible sinners because we give our allegiance to things instead of God. I cannot change your heart, I cannot even change my own heart, but I pray that we allow the Holy Spirit to come in and make our hearts a little less “black” this holiday season, and may we remember that God calls us to give all of our hearts, minds, and souls to the Almighty.

“Thank you Lord for giving us the will to hand over our power to spend to You, so that You may make a difference beyond what we could expect or even imagine.” Amen

JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrate and give thanks for the blessings we have received this past year. I indeed have been blessed this past year. I am thankful for my extended family that have showed me love in my lows and have celebrated my highs and have also been beside me in the in-between times. I wish all of you love and blessings today, and may you be blessed this day wherever you are celebrating.

I am especially thankful for my kids, as they have been the source of some of the greatest joys in my life, and I thank God for each and every one of them.

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Today serves as a great example that Thanksgiving is an important part of our life and relationship with God. As we raise our kids we remind them to say “please” and “thank you” to make sure they have a spirit of thankfulness when people give you something. Our relationship with God is just as important to say “please” when we want something, and “thank you” when God blesses us.

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. (Psalms 69:30, 31 ESV)

In Psalm 69, we are reminded that today we have much to be thankful, and that Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be an elaborate expression, but rather we simply need to raise our voice and sing. So the dinner table may not be the place to sing, but in a Spirit of Thanksgiving, raise your voice and sing to the Lord, with your whole heart, mind, and soul.

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Hope, Ramblings, Uncategorized

Old Familiar Friends and Places


Today and tomorrow are going to be filled with reunions and gatherings throughout the US as the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. For many of us it is a chance to connect with family and friends, and connect back to old places where we have memories both good and bad. Holidays themselves all a call to remember what has happened and to commemorate and/or celebrate something, some one, or some event. For this reason, we see people either looking forward to or dreading this time of year because we cannot escape the signs of the season, and they seem to begin their invasion of our offices, cafes, stores, and neighborhoods earlier each year.

This is also a time of year that we are confronted by the fact that our lives are not static as people are continuously coming into our lives, and leaving our lives. While we may not have to deal with the ebb and flow of people on an everyday basis, it unavoidably confronts us during these gatherings. In some ways this is exciting, like if a new member of the family has been added, such as the birth of a child, (this is my sweet Sophia’s first thanksgiving) or a new marriage. However, some people dread these times, maybe there has been a death, or a divorce, but there is clearly an absence that cannot be ignored.

During this time, we need to remember that no matter the people that come into our lives or leave our lives, God is constant. Take time out of your day today or tomorrow and look at the things that surround us and allow them to be our altars where we remember that God has been with us. The picture above is of the Campanile on the UC Berkeley campus, which reminds me that God is always beside me, even when it gets very dark and I have trouble finding hope. The people of Israel, as they crossed the Jordan, grabbed stones from the dry river bed and placed them on the banks of the Jordan to remind themselves and future generations that God had been there to allow them to enter into the promised land. The history of Israel had many ups and downs, but God never left them, and no matter what, the stones were there to remind them that it was God who led them into the promised land.

I have so many friends that each time we connect I am reminded that God loves me, and that it has been by His grace and mercy that our relationships have grown and flourished even though time, distance, and life have created space between us. So for those of you who I have not seen in a while, I thank God because of you, I thank God that our lives have crossed paths, and I thank God that because of our relationship I have become better than I was before we met.

So to my old familiar friends and places, I am thankful for you!

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Struggle and Structure

Looking through the Psalms we see that Israel and David are often ensnared in struggles against their enemies and against themselves. Sometimes we become our own worst enemy. I know I took the picture below before a game I attended during warmups, but when a team’s season begins to unravel the team often fights against itself. This causes the team to lose more games than they should. We also tend to underperform when we start unraveling. One bad decision leads to another, and this builds upon itself.

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We are creatures that desire structure and consistency. We don’t trust ourselves to operate according to God’s purpose without structure. We have organized ourselves into organizations and churches that we hope will provide us the structure/ theology/ preaching/ group dynamic that we need to keep us within God’s desire for our lives.

The structures we put in place to define our situation, and to make sense of the world we live in often betray us, and take away the freedom that we have been given. Sometimes these structures do not allow us to worship God in a variety of forms, they do not give us the freedom to seek God, to question the things that will help us grow in our faith. In some of these circumstances, we abandon and strike out against what we see as oppression, only to exchange it for another form of oppression. In these cases we either vilify or deify the structure.

All this being said, structure is not bad, but we must be free to challenge the structure at times, when we have come across a situation where structure becomes oppressive, but we also need to be willing to be wrong, and allow the structure to show us where we may be wrong. Understandably, this takes maturity that not all of us may have, but should develop in our relationship with God. This is part of the struggle that we cannot escape or hide from within our structures.

Our God needs to be God, for only God can pull us out from our struggles, and the closer we grow to God the more mature we become in our faith, and the better we are within the structures within which we are organized. Struggle happens, and when it does, let God be our God.

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Ramblings

Pleasant

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Throughout Proverbs we are called to be people that speak pleasant words. However, I would say that if you polled my co-workers, family, and friends, not one would describe my speech using the word “pleasant”. That is clearly problematic.

I suppose I can take solace in the fact that I am not alone. One needs only to turn on the television during this or any election season, and we are inundated with un-pleasant speeches from every direction on the political spectrum. Although, I guess that isn’t much in which to take solace.

As a people we are quick to bring an unpleasant word when we are upset, but in all situations (not just the good times) we are called to be pleasant, to speak pleasant words to those with whom we contact. Our words need to convey grace and spiritual beauty! When we do this we become a sweet taste, and promote health in our relationships.

I commit myself in all I am and do to seeking pleasantness. That the very essence of the Almighty God rub off on all with whom I come in contact. May the grace and mercy, which instruct our desire for pleasant, fill me up with the Lord’s sweetness, and may that ooze from my pores that this define my very being.

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Ramblings

I Can’t Control It All

Today I got on an airplane. It was already almost an hour later than we were supposed to leave, and then just as we were about to leave, the Captain told us that there was a problem that had to be resolved before we could leave. After waiting about twenty minutes on the plane, I decided to call the airline to change my connecting flight because we were going miss the original connecting flight, and I wanted to get a head start on the rush of people that would be trying to book the later connecting flight. However, during my first call, the call disconnected before I could talk to an agent. This happened three times before they fixed the problem and we pushed back from the gate and I had to turn my phone off.

My mind was filled with anxiety. I tried to fall asleep on the flight, but the fear that I wouldn’t be able to make it to my destination kept me awake. As soon as it was okay to pull our phones out, I call the airline, and thankfully get connected to an agent relatively quickly, and as I proceed to describe my situation, she informs me that the airline has already booked me on a later flight.

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I am thankful for that agent, and my anxiety is mostly alleviated, but I still run to talk to a live agent as soon as I got off the plane, and they simply print out my new boarding pass, and all that anxiety was completely unnecessary.

Similarly, I try and control God. I try to handle God, directing my prayers, my devotions, my energy into trying to get God to act and move nature in my favor. However, my connection always seems to get disconnected, and I feel as if I can’t reach the Almighty with my prayers and I get frustrated. However, I need to realize that I cannot control God, I cannot be the Almighty, but rather I need to yield to where God is leading me and stop trying to manipulate the Almighty through my actions, my prayers, or even my “devotions”. This isn’t honest or devoted, but rather God calls us to give up our whole selves to worship and sacrifice(Rom 12:1-2).

We often will find that no matter what we do to try and conform the Almighty to our will, we will fail and find ourselves worrying and getting frustrated by the things we ultimately cannot control. God will surprise us when we finally give up on this, and God takes care of us, and ultimately we will find blessings in areas we do not expect. It may not be exactly what WE thought it would be, but it will bless us beyond measure.

Where are your blessings found? I challenge you as you read this to give up your concept of control, and yield to God in all things, and find out where you will be blessed.