The, 'Normal' Life

Oh my gosh! He's writing again! Something tragic must have happened in his life - like the death of a hamster or a tragic loss of his crops. Yeah, no. Tanjida just gave me a kick in the butt to write again =D So thanks, Tanji! You da' bess!

I've been saved for a month a day and a year and if I wanted to psych some people out I could tell them how many hours. Minutes? Brother please, let's not get crazy. But for as long as I've been saved I've always had this one question - how can I do anything but serve God?

Now before you start biting your nails and thinking, 'Oh man, this kid's a religious fanatic! Flee, flee for your lives!' Please, stay 'till the end of the next paragraph at least. 

1 Cor. 10:31 - For all that you do, do for the glory of God. 

Well I'm sitting on the toilet (not currently, and I know you were thinking I was)...how does that work out? I'm pretty sure after dropping a heavy duty, bean burrito mixture that I'm not really living up to that verses standards - as anyone downwind of my bathroom could tell you.
What about watching a show like The Walking Dead on a Sunday night, and though I'm sure God probably the idea of a zombie apocalypse (Isiah 26:19-20), the show isn't exactly umm...what are the words I'm looking for? Oh yeah, Godly and uplifting - though Hershel did pick up a Bible a few times so I'm hoping that'll counts as a few points towards me.
What about traveling without the purpose of hunting out tribal villages to share down God's word? Will I ever get to go to New Zealand to see the hobbitsis??
Heck, even reading a book like Percy Jackson! Greek mythology and fiction?? Double time waster.  

Well I remember sitting at one of the tables of this Mexican restaurant during my college groups Tuesday night men's bible study. Fresh corn chips, home made salsa and unlimited refills - and I didn't even have to pay! Normally I was pretty into our discussions but that night I wasn't really feeling it.
It had just finished down pouring on the tools I'd forgotten to cover in the back of my truck bed and I was having trouble concentrating on the lesson. I was at the point where I was supposed to pick out a career for my life. Supposed to be a big deal or something. I absolutely loved to work with my hands so the choice was pretty clear to me; get a trade!
But yet - but yet I was saved. I mean all the signs were pointing towards going into Air Conditioning. I had so many connections in that line of work, it was scientific and fun and good work with, ahem, good pay but how could I do that when the world needed preachers or full time missionaries? Look at Paul! Dude didn't even get married, just decided to write like half of the books of the New Testament and become the most successful theologian/evangelist this side of the galaxy. How could I just concentrate on my life? On getting a wife and kids and a normal job? How could I do anything but sun-up to sun-down serve God and where could a normal life fit in that? Depressing, right? That seemed worse than my 7 year old fear of heaven being 24/7 church listening to the preacher talk. 

Needless to say, and that's why I'm going to say it anyhow, I was feeling a little woozy. I imagine Alice feeling the same way at the Mad Hatter's Table - okay, I don't really get how I imagine that but it's still working for me. I'll leave you to tie in the symbolism. Anyhow It was question that everyone else had seemed to answer in their life without a problem and they all seemed happy with their choices. So what was I doing wrong? The way I saw it, you've gotta be all or nothing. Working out, you either had to run until you saw black spots or do a Netflix binge complete with unlimited cream soda and Doritos. No middle ground! Die or diet! No guts no glory! No socks no shoes! Read a book over the span of three weeks? Brother please! 46 hours straight until I'd powered through that sucker!

...God or life. There was no middle ground. Sadly that's the way I saw it. 

Thank Heavens I wasn't dumb enough to stop there! See there's this cool thing called proper application and it can screw your life over worse than having to work a weekend shift during Christmas when your favorite cousins are in from Florida, you know, the ones who actually know how to buy a good present! Apparently I wasn't using this application tool properly. There should be an app for that. 

That night after the Bible study, after I had finished bemoaning the drenching of my precious Echo weed whacker (After much rehabilitation, a through cleaning and few good meals of gasoline and 2 cycle oil I'm happy to say he's doing much better.)  I decided to ask one of my friends/mentors about it. Good choice.

So I let out my heart felt spiel, expecting to hear all the answers I'd already come to - I was going to have to devote my life to wearing beige cargo pants, a wide brimmed shade hat, some kind of Jesus shirt and be preaching to ant eaters in the wilds of some country I couldn't pronounce. His answer - the Air Conditioning world needs missionaries too. 

The heavens had opened! God's cornucopia of wisdom and amazingness had just poured down on me. Choirs of angels sang and beams of heavenly light poured down on me! Kind of - if Angels were hissing alley cats dueling over the trash and beams of light were after shower mists. 

It's pretty simple and I still had more questions on the subject but it was the start I needed.

I had a co-worker who wasn't saved. I tried to share but he was pretty much turned off to it all. Not hostile but not interested. And then things started happening. His mom, wheelchair bound and homeless mind you, began to prostitute herself. His girlfriend had just left him because of a black out rage and he hated his job. Shrinks, hypnotists, 12 step programs - he was willing to try anything for an answer. His friends could only offer him a beer and say sorry but I'd been put in a position to share with this dude and If not for being in that position I never would have had a chance to. That jumps into my next point. 

See, now look at 1 Cor. 10:31 again. In all you do, do for the glory of God. While a bathroom disaster might not please God (or any of his senses) what if I thank God while I'm on the, umm, facilites for the sewage system, the people that work it or, heck, even the water to take the sewage away. The money we have to pay for the right to use the facilities or just the fact that I can go to the bathroom on my own! 

The meaning of Glory is to give praise to someone for something and while it's pretty much impossible to plan your whole life so it will give you the maximum opportunity to praise God (though that's not a bad thing) I look at the verse like this - in whatever you find yourself doing, give the maximum amount of praise to God for it!
If you're feeling called to be a missionary then heck, go for it! That's awesome! But something I learned pretty early on, if your heart isn't in it, you shouldn't be either because, in the words of the 70's generation, you'll be giving off the wrong vibes, dude. Now that doesn't mean that when something gets uncomfortable you're allowed to run away, arms flailing and that whole deal. God sometimes calls us to do things that make us sick to our stomachs but it's still something he's called us to do.
But how to know if it's something he's called you to do? Well since God is, well, God he has his ways of making it pretty obvious what he wants us to do. Sorta like getting swallowed by a giant fish or being blinded with beams of light and having donkeys talk to you or having pillars of fire lead you across the desert and stuff - believe you me, whether he wants you to get married or preach, he gets his point across. Just saying that if we don't see God pushing us towards something and we don't want to go their our self, why go?

See life was given for us to serve (Ephesians 2:10) and when that's being done we have the freedom to enjoy ourselves. Why would God give us marriage (women could just have been built to self-fertilize) or beautiful scenery or the capacity to laugh and feel love? Because God created us in his own image (Genesis 1:27) and God loved, he cried, he created, He was angry. 

He felt and we feel. I don't need a verse to prove that to you. 

As long as we're following Christ, giving praise to him in every situation in life whether or not it's to people with bones sticking through their noses or to sweaty blue collar workers or traveling to cool places or simply watching a sick zombie show to just unwind (as much as you can on the edge of your seat) then I take my hat off to you.
We were built to give God glory, so give it to him. No matter how bad it gets there's always something to say thank you for (James 1:2) but no one says that we have to go 24/7 Bible study beast mode. If you try then believe me, you'll burn out. 

When you're pumping iron you'll reach a point to where if you don't stop you literally start to do more damage to your body than good. Muscles eat themselves, your brain can begin to shut down and you'll internally explode! Okay, maybe not the last one but the message is clear - you'll burn out. It's the same with God's word. We need a time of rest. God took a breather to show all the lame people that won't take a break that we need to seriously chill out. Now check this -  Joshua 1:8 says that the word of God should constantly be on your lips, on your mind day and night. Even though we're not at a Bible study or evangelizing, our minds should be on God, giving him thanks for this and that. It makes everything about us better. Believe me, remembering God when you're about to blow your top over your sister drinking your protein shake, it'll calm you down right quick.

So all in all it doesn't matter the occupation - fight hard when the fight is needed, work hard when there's work to be done. Serve when service is needed. Rest when the time calls for it and follow your heart and God's word.

Thanks for reading!

Any comments or questions or stuff? Just comment or question or stuff. 

Have a blessed one!

In His name, Parker.