Give It Away

Yesterday on a flight from Texas to Utah I finally reached first class status on an airline. Yahoo! As we were walking onto the plane I didn't know what kind of luxuries were ahead or how much of a difference there was between us and other passengers.

Settling into a bigger seat with more leg room, most would think that this was going to be one of the best flights of my life thus far.
Truth was it was awful From the moment the first class passengers were welcomed onto the plane, I was unsettled.

love Jesus.

Why were we treated so differently, we did nothing to deserve it. As everyone else was patiently awaiting the drink cart with complimentary soft drinks to come around-we were offered warm towels, a full breakfast, and a continuous questioning of our comfort.

Finally arriving, I was so grateful just to get off the plane.

Why was this luxury so hard for me to accept, why didn't I just enjoy it?

Those who love pleasure become poor; wine and luxury are not the way to riches. ~Proverbs 21:17

I am no different than anyone else on the plane, and it broke my heart that those I was surrounded by felt their contentment was based off of them getting the beverage they thirst for or if the airline had the fresh fruit they were craving for breakfast.

In first class we were getting anything and everything that we needed. Here in the United States in particular in comparison to other parts of the World we have access to nearly everything that we could ever imagine needing or desiring...including the gospel, a church to go to, fellow believers to worship with, worship music, and bibles in our native tongue.

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. ~Matthew 18:20

The lifestyle that I've been blessed with has left me longing for very little, which makes it that much harder to fathom people in this world who are living off of $2 dollars a day (I go through this much at a single vending machine stop) or of people who go to bed each night having no idea where there next meal comes from. But even more crazy is to think there are people in this world who haven't even been given the opportunity to reject the Gospel.

Millions of people have NEVER
EVEN HAD THE CHANCE TO REJECT JESUS CHRIST.

On the plane I was only rejecting a first class seat, but at least I had the opportunity to turn it down. Wanting nothing more than to give it to someone else, I spent the majority of the flight in prayer with a growing burden for those people in this world who have so little.

Granted, we are a giving society. I read in an article "A Nation of Givers" that we as a society can take comfort in the amount that we do give. In 2008 it was an estimated $307.65 billion. According to statistics that's 7x a much as the Germans and 14x as much as the Italians-even more comfort in how much we give.

Yet, monetary giving doesn't even hold a candle to the real gift that we should be trying to give. Maybe you're not giving up a first class plane ticket or going overseas for a missions trip, but what can we be doing to move the Gospel forward throughout the world?

Are we doing everything that we possibly can to give the Gospel away?
In our actions? In our words? With our Money? In prayer?

Don't store your treasure here on earth, where they can be eaten by
moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. ~Matthew 6:19

When Plans Change

The final session of any state convention is the one

session that I wish would go perfect. No flaws in videos or music, retiring addresses delivered in pure elegance, and everyone would leave living out their dream as newly elected state officers.

Truth though....they don't go perfect. They can't go perfect. And just as no state convention can go perfect, neither can any of our lives.

But when I finally realized that it was me who had to change this mindset of perfection, me who had to be humbled, and my plans that needed to be ruined-my life hasn't changed drastically and hasn't looked the same since. And for that i'll eternally be grateful.

When i had to finally look in the mirror it was after one of the biggest failures of my entire life. (it definitely wasn't the first, nor will it be the last.) I had crawled off the airplane-more or less a crop duster- at the Manhattan Airport preparing to return to the life as a college student that I had dreamed I would leave behind. National FFA Convention had just concluded the day before and my name had not been called as a newly-elected national officer.

What I thought had been God's plan didn't turn out quite as I had thought. My plans were ruined.

I'm not sure if I've ever gone through quite the amount of humiliation as I did over those next few months. And even now, as i'm able to live out this dream a year later, i find the embarrassment still creeping its way into my thoughts. My mind could only wonder what people thought of me, how disappointed they were, and how my reputation had been affected.

My plans were ruined.

I knew God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit before I ran for national office-but never had my life been so flipped turned, upside down when my will didn't align with God's will. I thought I was following His plan, being faithful, and chasing Him, but still His sovereign will was greater than mine. My plans were ruined.

When most people refer to their plans as ruined it's a negative thing. Check out this definition: RUIN is a state of complete destruction, decay, collapse, or loss. However, my plans being ruined was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. (Yes, you read that right.)

At the time I was like any other person who had failed, i didn't understand. And to an extent, i didn't want to understand, because then the reality that it was me who had to change would have to set in. Granted, it was tough, it still is tough. But i'm a different person, and i pray a different person for good.

i love Jesus.

This personal example of my plans being ruined is really important for me to share because over the last couple of weeks I 've watched as new state officer teams are elected across the nation. And just as joyous as those victories of being elected are--my heart breaks for those left in the stands. The last session of any convention is the most challenging for me because I've been there, on both sides of the equation.

i love Jesus.

To anyone who has lost, to everyone who has failed, and to the one's still trying to understand why a 'good' God would allow something that causes pain---know that we can TRUST Him!

Don't be afraid, he said, for you are deeply loved by God. Be at peace; take
heart and be strong! ~Daniel 10:19

We can TRUST Him because He is sovereign. He has a plan at work for our life far greater than our mere human brains can figure out, and He is using our struggle to ruin our plans to only bring us closer to Him.

And being closer to Him is the closest
thing to pure joy we can ever know.

To those who are having to seek a new dream, know that you're being prayed for. And in His time, you'll understand too.

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. ~Ecclesiastes 3:1