"I will make your paths straight"

I'm running down the path all excited to see what is coming up, I see in the distance the peak of the mountain begin to grow. Every step I take the mountain gets larger, larger, and even larger. I say to myself, "I'm so excited to see what this mountain is! It's soo cool!!"

As I continue running the path, I can now see the details of the mountain. The rock formations, the trees, even a waterfall coming from the top of the mountain. It was absolutely beautiful!! I look even harder and there I see something I did not expect... another path? No wait... two other paths. All leading in different directions on that mountain.

My running has now died down to a slow jog, I look at the three paths on the mountain and begin to wonder, "Which path am I to take?" This question keeps on coming into my mind as I get closer and closer to the mountain.

In no time at all, I can already see the base of the mountain. The path that I am now walking on, I can see the three branches at the base of the mountain. I continue walking still thinking, "Which path am I going to take?" It wasn't until long that I was stopped at the base of the mountain looking at the three paths.

I look at each path and where each of them leads in the mountain. I can't even distinguish where each of them goes. The once beautiful mountain has now become a very large obstacle. I start to think. This is the first time where I actually had a chance to stop and think. Painful memories and emotions start to come into my mind and heart. Most of them were things of the past that I thought I was over. I begin thinking back to when I thought everything was great and I was running down the path. Why was I running in the first place?

My mind is now swarmed with these painful thoughts and emotions. I don't know how to feel or act. I just want it all to go away. I look at the three different paths and it only makes things worse. I'm so confused, so lost. I feel so helpless and alone. Why am I alone? Isn't God with me... wait a minute... where's God? Wasn't he walking with me down this path? Where is He now?

Then hit me... running... I soon realized, that I went ahead of God. I was so excited to see what happens next that I forgot... forgot that God was walking with me. I rushed ahead of Him and now, I am facing this mountain on my own. Facing the three paths in front of me. Facing all these thoughts and emotions. All alone...

I stand there, alone, wondering what I am to do. Still thinking constantly. Then a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked to see who it was, it was God!! He caught up with me! He tells me, "Be patient my child. Trust in me with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all you ways acknowledge me, and I will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6)." After he said that, I looked back and the mountain I was facing had vanished. The three paths that stood before were straight and I could see where they lead to. The thoughts that were troubling me were now put to rest.

I realize now, that I am on God's Timing, not mine.

God vs. Money - The Eternal Battle!!

In society today, most of us are taught from birth that we need to do well in school so we can get a higher education all for the purpose of getting a good job and making lots of money and living a nice and comfortable life. Advertising tells us that we need to have materialistic things such as nice cars, the newest fashions, and the coolest toys to be happy.

However, in reality, once we get these things, we will always want more. We will always want the next best thing and all for what? Image? Satisfaction? Is it all worth it? Will we ever be satisfied?

Now what does the Bible say about money? It clearly says in 1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

It is so easy to view Money as an idol. Since money is practically what we need to survive. It is so easy to always want and desire it. If we had to compare our relationship with Money with our relationship with God... Again, I think most of us can say that we're treating God pretty badly right now in comparison to how much we value Money.

Also, in Matthew 6:19-24

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

I want to bring attention the bold text. The first one "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where is your treasure? Where is your focus? Is the thing you treasure the most your relationship with God or is it your bi-weekly paycheque? It's a tough question and I'm sure if we all had to answer that honestly, we would probably say it's the money. Myself included.

I want to bring forth a couple of core beliefs from my Sunday School from our section on Simplicity.

A. To believe that everything that we have is a gift from God - even our wage which we "earn".

Now we are taught to give approximately 10% of our wage in tithing. However, if you think about it, how did you come by that job in the first place? Where did that money come from? Was it not a gift from God? Isn't it true that EVERYTHING that you own is really God's and that He can choose when, where, and how to give it away?

C. To have our stuff available to others; willing to share, and even give away.

This is one that has really hit me hard. God has been really pressing on my heart to give what little I have away. As a student, I don't have very much money but I keep on reading this and I realize... it's not my money to begin with... If God wants to give it away to someone, I should be quick to do so.

This is my thoughts on the passage. Our earthly things, we need to be detached enough from them that if/when God calls us to give it away, we would be willing to give it freely.

I also want to bring attention to the second bold text, "You cannot serve both God and Money." I think that answers the question, "Is it possible to serve both God and Money?" Just like it mentions in 1 Timothy 6:10. Need I say more?

These are my thoughts on money and God. I really believe that God blesses us with money. Did he not bless Solomon with riches beyond his wildest dreams? 1 Timothy 6:10 says that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil..." Money itself is not evil, it is how we ourselves perceive it. If we begin to start loving money then it will corrupt us and lead us astray, "Either he will hate the one and love the other..." However, if we are responsible with it and remember that it is but a gift from God, then I really believe that we CAN live with both God and money.

GOD ALWAYS BEING NUMBER ONE IN OUR LIVES

God Bless you all!!

Cut it Off!!

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

Mark 9:43-45


What does it really mean to "cut it off"? In this passage, they use the hand and the foot (and the eye if you read later). How important are the hands and the feet to us? If we were to lose our hand, our whole life will change. The same goes for one of our feet. We would be crippled and be confined to a wheelchair or crutches for life.

If something causes you to sin, you must cut it off. Even if it means that it will change your life. Let me share with you a few of my personal experiences with this.

The two biggest things that really cause me to sin are lust and pride along with many others too. If I could say what the source of what was causing me to sin lust wise, it would have been my laptop. I spent most of my days on my laptop and in turn, allowed myself to have more time to be tempted. Every single time, I thought it could summon up my own will power to control myself but I failed every time. I knew I needed to get rid of my laptop but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was so dependent on it, until it died on me. Through God's Mercy, my laptop stopped working and I couldn't get it back even under warranty. The funny thing is, I wasn't really all that sad about it. My friend was able to help me back up my harddrive and actually, my 4th Year Project was all backed up too. So in reality, it didn't impact me at all.

After my laptop died on me, my life literally changed. I never spent nearly as much time on the computer and I felt that those lustful desires weren't as frequent. That was one of the things I needed to cut off. I'm not saying that I am perfect, heck, I still fall into that temptation quite a bit actually. However, it was one of the things that I NEEDED to stop using because it was causing me to sin.

Another situation is to do with pride. The biggest thing I took pride in was my reputation in Judo. For those who don't know me, I did Judo for 12 years and have my black belt. The reputation that I established myself around Saskatchewan and even in some parts in Canada as a model athlete and fairly good coach. So I had a lot of respect.

Well, it soon went to my head. I took pride in it and it actually became and idol to me. God spent 2 years breaking me out of Judo. He knew the only way to break me out of Judo was to make it so I didn't have enough time to do it. He did that. Both in Calgary and over this summer. It wasn't until this summer that I decided that enough was enough. Right there and then, I retired from Judo. Twelve years of my life, the the central foundation that I built for myself in Judo was literally torn down and my life was changed. Judo was causing me to sin and I needed to cut it off. Actually now, my mind is so clear because now I can rebuild that central foundation based on God. That was the HUGE plus side of it all.

I tell you now, pride, is and will always be an issue for me. Right now, I am constantly trying to keep myself humble so I won't be prideful. Actually, even now, with the amount of time I spend on the computer, I am actually boarderline cutting the internet off from my life. Doing that would definitely change my life and I am very hesitant to do it. Lets hope that by reducing the time I spend on the computer will help with that.

So what am I trying to say in this? If something is causing you to sin, you have to "cut it off". It may seem like it is impossible but, I tell you now, nothing is more liberating than just letting it go. Just from experience, God will most likely press on your heart to let something go if it has been causing you to sin.

Personally, I think this all links to Simplicity. Cutting it off makes life so simple because that is where we really begin to place our trust in God (I'll discuss more of that in future posts). Do you trust God enough to take care of you?

I will leave you with one more question. Is money causing you to sin? This is one of the things God has been really hitting me with and I will do another post in the near future.

God Bless you all!!