Lessons from Swing Dancing: Relying on God's Strength

Last week some friends and I went to Sundance Steakhouse and Saloon (we just call it Sundance) to do some country swing and line dancing. It was the first time I had gone since my freshman year. I'm a big fan of the line dancing, but not so much of the swing. Why? Because I stink at it. Why? Well, given that I am not very coordinated to begin with, I also lack the ability to trust the man I'm with. There are two reasons to this, and as I was walking to campus this morning, I connected these two reasons with two difficulties in the Christian life.

Reason #1: His Strength, My Weight

Swing Dancing 
I am insecure about my weight and as a result, I hesitate when a man tries to dip me. He will tell me to trust him, and I always tell him that I do -- I know he is strong enough to hold me, to dip me, and to lift me back up. I am not doubting his strength. I am self-conscious of my weight. Therefore, I am really only doubting his estimation of my weight and his ability to handle it once he realizes how heavy I am to dip... As I say those words, I am dismayed to realize that I, in fact, do not trust him.

The Christian Life
I am plagued by my sin daily and as a result, I have a hard time accepting God's grace. He will tell me to trust Him, and I often tell Him that I do -- I know He is strong enough to hold me, to catch me and to lift me back up. I don't doubt God's strength; I don't doubt the reach of His hand to save me. But I am so very aware of the weight of my sin, the extremity and frequency of it. Therefore, I am really only doubting His estimation of my sin, His ability to see the depth and width of it, and His willingness to extend grace to me when He realizes how much I sin... Can you see how my insecurities and doubts are really my inability to trust God?

Reason #2: Loose Arms, Firm Hands

Swing Dancing
I don't know how to let a man lead me when we are dancing. He will tell me that my arms are too tense -- I need to "loosen up." So I hold out my arms like they are rubber. He does one spin, and my hands slip out of his. He will tell me, "Grasp my hands firmly." So I do. But then my arms become stiff again. "Loosen up!" How does one do both? For some reason, my body can't comprehend loose arms but firm hands.

The Christian Life
I don't know how to let God lead me out of addiction. He will tell me to rely on His strength -- I need to surrender to Him. So I stop trying to figure things out, I stop focusing so hard on not sinning, I stop worrying about it so much, and I start praying more. Temptation rears its ugly head again and again, and I sin over and over again. But it's okay, I reason -- I'm living by His grace and I'm praying. People will tell me, "Well, you can't just do nothing. Take steps to overcome your addiction." So I make plans, I make promises to not sin (which I break), I keep track of the last time I sinned, and I punish myself when I do sin. Temptation shows up again and again, and I sin over and over again. My hands have slipped out of His, and I've lost sight of His grace. How does one surrender to God without doing nothing but wait around for Him to change him or her?

Conclusion

So where's the balance in all of this? What does it look like to rely on God's strength -- to trust in His strength without letting my insecurity get in the way, and to utilize His strength without expecting Him to do everything for me? Edwin Crozier wrote two blogs that, in my opinion, really answer this question. Take the time to read them -- and don't roll your eyes and say that you already do everything he's saying and it isn't working for you. Ask God to open your heart and show you how to rely on His strength, even if it's just one small step you could take right now.

5 Ways to Rely on God's Strength to Beat Your Giants

5 More Ways to Rely on God's Strength to Beat Your Giants

Photo source.

Yellow Cars and Golden Opportunities.

If you were at Rolland Moore park yesterday, you might have heard several shouts of "Yellow car!" and multiple slaps. That's because my friend Nicole and I spent two and a half hours lying out on the grass, catching up and working on Bible study. We could see the road from where we were lying, so we played the Yellow Car game -- everytime a yellow car passes by, the first person to see it and shout, "Yellow car!" gets to slap the other person.

Now before you tell us how childish this game is, you have to at least try it. You will see how addicting it can be. As a result, while Nicole focused on her Bible study (satisfied with how many times she had slapped me, because she's better than me at this game), I stared at the road for about 20 minutes, ocassionally looking at my Bible study but being way too distracted because I just had to see a yellow car. I even prayed for this yellow car.

After cheating a couple times (slapping Nicole when I saw a yellow bus or a yellow motorcycle), I finally gave up and said aloud, "Fine, God - I give up! I'll focus on Bible study now!" I kid you not, just a second later, as Nicole was laughing at my exclamation, a yellow car pulled around the corner. I quickly yelled, "Yellow car!" and slapped Nicole, causing us both to double over laughing about how God has such a sense of humor. As soon as I had surrendered the game and decided to focus on God, He gave me the yellow car I had been asking for.

Now, I could turn this into a lesson about how God gives us the desires of our hearts if we delight in Him (Psalm 37:4), but using this yellow car game analogy would be a little ridiculous. But one thing I told Nicole after our laughter subsided was this:

I was so intent on seeing a yellow car that I literally stared at the road for 20 minutes, eyes darting back and forth at each passing car, jumping at every hint of yellow I saw. I was so attentive, so determined, and so excited...

If I had half the amount of attention, determination and excitement to see opportunities in my life to serve God, to share Him with others, to love people, how much more effective would I be? How much more effective would we all be?

Here's a good blog on making the most of every opportunity. Looking for these opportunities is something I want to give more attention to, more determination to and more excitement to. And if I happen to see a yellow car on the way, even better!

Photo source.

I Like Someone... Now What Exactly Am I Supposed To Do With My Heart?

"Guard your heart."

It is a cliche piece of advice to give when someone has a romantic interest. But what does it mean? This article delves into this concept, and I think it has the very general idea correct -- fully entrust your heart to God and don't try to "guard your heart" by running from relationships. However, I don't agree with the author's interpretation of the phrase or her reference to Mark 12:30-31.

Here's one way to look at the phrase "Guard your heart" (which quotes Proverbs 4:23): It could mean less of keeping your heart closed and not letting anyone in, and more of being mindful of your heart, of its emotions, of its deceptions -- as if it were a prisoner under watch (as the NASB version says, "Watch over your heart with all diligence," diligence having a connotation of a prison guard, according to BlueLetterBible.com.)

But with the following clause that says, "for from it flow the springs of life," the heart seems to be regarded more positively than a deceptive prisoner. With that in mind, it sounds like this verse could be saying that you are to be mindful of your heart and do your best to watch over it, take care of it and keep its "springs of life" from being polluted by the world.

Does that mean we are to guard it on our own by shutting people out? I don't believe so. The best way to keep anything or anyone from being polluted by the world is to keep oneself rooted in the Word, which is basically what the article is saying. So yes, we are to give our hearts fully to God and love Him wholeheartedly -- and allow the love He has for us and the love we develop for Him to influence our love for others.

However, I do think that caution is required. Our hearts are deceitful above all things after all, and we have the tendency to get caught up in emotions, misunderstand physical touch or verbal (or text messaging) communication, and have unhealthy expectations of broken people.

The author uses Jesus' wholehearted and risk-taking love for the Father as an example, but I don't think it's necessarily fitting, because Jesus is perfect, and the Father is perfect. They (God) are love, and real risk wasn't involved in that case. Yes, Jesus felt abandoned by the Father when He hung on the cross dying, and some could say He took a risk in loving and obeying His Father, but because He and the Father are one, I don't think it's the same risk involved as the risk we have the choice to take in human relationships.

God takes a risk everyday in loving us broken people, because we can and we do hurt Him. But He doesn't have the need to guard His heart because He's God, and He's perfect -- and He won't let His emotions "get the better" of Him, He won't make a mistake, He won't have unhealthy expectations of people, etc. But we as humans have this need to guard our hearts, because we can make those mistakes.

That is why I believe the cliche "Guard your heart" has a place in relationship advice -- because it is God's Word and it points back to the God who gives us the diligence to guard our hearts while also guarding it for us, if we let Him.

Photo source.

Freaking Out and Fellowship.

I bought 120 stamps the other day (that's not cheap, folks) to mail out fundraising letters for my summer mission trip to the Philippines. As I was at the cashier's, he asked me, "Are you graduating?" I replied that I was, and he congratulated me. But it wasn't until I had my stamps in hand and was walking out of King Sooper's that I realized why he had mentioned graduation. A college student buying six books of stamps = graduation announcements. Yikes.

That means I'm graduating soon (two months to be exact) and I have yet to think about announcements, regalia, grad parties, and whatever else comes with this momentous occasion. I am now finally beginning to freak out.

People have been asking me left and right how I feel about graduation coming up so soon, and everytime they ask, I respond that I'm doing okay, that I'm excited and it's really not that big of a deal. But now that it's coming up, it's finally beginning to sink in.

My close friends are all juniors and sophomores, so it's easy for me to lose sight of graduation because it's not common conversation. We're not on the same page academically anymore because I'm the only one in my circle of friends wrestling with this thought of moving on. It's easy to feel lost, frustrated and alone when you're not surrounded by people who are going through the same experiences with you, who are there to encourage you and support you, because they themselves need the same encouragement and support.

I've realized the same thing about Christian fellowship. If you don't constantly surround yourself with others who are going through similar experiences with you -- similar hardships, similar doubts, similar struggles -- you're going to get lost. RELEVANT Magazine posted an article that investigates this topic on a deeper level. I recommend checking it out.

Don't let yourself become lost. Find people who are also freaking out about similar things, and then keep each other accountable to trust God with those things.

Nonprofits, Joseph Kony and the Body.

I don't know much, but I have a few things I would like to say.

Invisible Children has received a lot of support, and a lot of criticism. One critique is that they spend more money traveling and creating promotional materials than they do on providing immediate aid to central Africa. With the launch of the Kony 2012 campaign yesterday, critics are arguing that this kind of campaign is not beneficial to the issue at hand, at least not at the stage it is at currently.

I don't know what the best strategy is. I don't think anyone does. But I do believe that God has given us talents for a reason, and He has placed in us certain passions. And with these different gifts and wirings, we can work together to do something noble. As Christians, we are all different parts of one Body. As people, we are all different inhabitants of this world, still working together because we know we were created for something and Someone bigger than us. And we know we were created for good -- and we can't do it alone.

Yesterday I had a short conversation with some of my housemates about TOMS. From what I understood, the critique was that the nonprofit manufactures the shoes in other countries, such as China, when they could be making them in the countries of need, therefore providing jobs and community sustainability. TOMS is simply dropping shoes off and not doing enough to help the community support itself.

That's probably true. But in the same way that we as people are different parts of one Body, of one world, and all contribute differently, can TOMS also be one part of the cause? Some nonprofits are situated within the country of need, and work directly with the community to create sustainability. Can TOMS be the part that provides the aid?

Likewise, can Invisible Children be one part of the cause? Can we decide for ourselves what organizations we want to directly support and get involved with, and spend more time doing so rather than looking for the flaws in other organizations? Can you let Invisible Children use its gifts and passions to engage people and create awareness of the situation, and let other organizations use its gifts and passions to provide direct aid?

Can we let Invisible Children be the mouth of the cause's body and other nonprofits be the hands and feet?

Whether you support Invisible Children or not, you can support the cause and tell people who Joseph Kony is -- and let others decide for themselves how they want to get involved. If you live in Fort Collins, here's one way you can help.

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.