Into a Spacious Place

"You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place." - Ps. 31.8

"He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." - Ps. 18:19

Lately I have been thinking about this "spacious place" Paul writes about in Psalms. What does he mean? What does it look like? I know that Paul went through some significant sufferings when his adversaries were after his life. I wonder if Paul's spacious place was a place that was devoid of all enemies, where he could find complete safety in the arms of God.

Does God have a spacious place set aside for each of us? When I think about this place, I think of the view from a plane's window while traveling at high altitudes. I love to look out and see a bed of clouds that look like gigantic pillows. They are surrounded by absolutely nothing but the empty, spacious blue sky. I think of my spacious place as such a place w/out worries, w/out the pressures of this world, w/out accusations, w/out brokenness.

It helps me sleep at night to close my eyes and put myself in this place. I picture Jesus walking steadily towards me, to meet me in this serenity. Just me and Him. I try my hardest to touch his robe, to sense the power of this friend who desperately wants to meet with me.

I like this spacious place. What is your's?

Richmond...the new Blacksburg?

I am writing this from the career services building on campus in Blacksburg (Virginia Tech). Yesterday evening we had a recruiting social event for my company at Bogen's restaurant. I was a big fan of the free food, but I was much more excited about what was to come afterwards.

At 8:45pm I met up with 12 friends from Homegroup at Macado's, the best restaurant in Bburg. There I was, sitting at a table with some of my closest friends. I almost teared up when I said a prayer before dinner, thanking God for this community of friends. It honestly felt like a glimpse of heaven as I looked around to see these children of God who are head over heals in love with Jesus and with each other. There we were laughing and enjoying each other's company, and I am confident that God had a smile on his face.

Afterwards I went to my buddies Josh, Gary & Joel's place for some no-messin'-around foosball. I was a little nervous as these guys have been playing like woah and I haven't been around a foosball table much since moving to Richmond. But it worked out well; I ended up 5 and 1. I'll take that ;-)

About the title of this blog entry... I'm realizing it's not that it's the town of Blacksburg that makes this place so perfect, it's more of the community I have found here. So many times I find myself longing to be back here and relive everything about VT, but I don't think that's the best move. I'm giving it time, but I am looking forward to finding in Richmond what I have come to love here in Blacksburg. It'll happen, because I think that's how God designed us, to live in community with others. Richmond will some day become the new Blacksburg, straight up.

encouragement lasts

I started playing soccer from day 1 of whatever age you could start playing as a kid. Not to brag, but I was pretty good. Especially during middle school, I called the shots as a sweeper back on defense. I didn't mess around on the field.

Things changed my freshman year. Honestly... I all the sudden sucked at soccer. I got hardly any playing time. I couldn't run for an extended period of time before I lost my breath, unable to exert any more effort. It didn't take much for me to start getting down on myself for my lack of skill.

Then there was this one game. I was a different player out there. I looked up, I communicated with my teammates, I handled the ball well. I knew what I was doing out there on that field. I could tell my teammates were surprised. Who is this kid all the sudden? I was on fire, and I could feel it. Everything clicked. Things were different. After the game no one came up to me and said anything. At that point, I didn't need them to. I was just on a high from the game.

The next day at school, things started to wear off. I was an ordinary, average kid again. I did okay at school, but soccer wasn't my thing anymore. Maybe it was a phase that lasted up til 9th grade. I had no idea what was going to hit me...

My coach was also my math teacher. He came up to me in math class privately and told me, "You looked good out there yesterday."

As I write this the tears begin to flow. What Mr. Stevens said changed my world. Before I was this no-good soccer player with nothing to offer on the field. After he encouraged me, I could have climbed Mt. Everest in less than 40 minutes. Those simple words made such an impact on my life.

Lesson - compliment someone tomorrow. Encourage the mess out of them. Or, as God says, "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:13). Sin has a way of tricking you into believing that you are less than desirable. This is crap, because God has made us because He delights in us. As David would say, "He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me" (Psalm 18:19)

Latin America Festivities

At work today at the cafeteria, there was a group of dancers doing a gig for some Latin American tribute.

The dancing was interesting, but when the one dude spoke at the microphone, he didn't speak a WORD of Latin. What a hoax...

Thanks, you too! Wait...dang it!

This weekend I am going to the Gauley River in WV for a white water rafting trip with my brother and friends for his bachelor party. I just received a call from the rafting organization for a confirmation of the details. Upon the end of the conversation, she says, "have a good trip!"

How do I respond to that? "Thanks, you too!" Haha, I love it! I highly doubt she will be taking a rafting trip herself this weekend. But, what if she is?! How sweet would that be? It would have been the perfect way to respond! Pure genius.

I can think of one more example of this type of conversation. When I bought my car a few years ago, the salesdude said to me, "enjoy your car!" Once again, I responded with "thanks, you too!" Dang it! Instead of saying "you are a moron. You're the one with the car," he simply smiled and we both went our separate ways. In the end it worked out.

If you want to know more about who I am - this is a good chance. Situations like this make me laugh. This type of humor hits my wave length. Because you see my humor is based on waves of laughter. They look like the sin() and cos() waves in trig class. With the cusps and what not.

The Mind...Blows My Mind

Does your mind ever play some serious tricks on you? Do you ever start believing something that your mind completely makes up? Do you know what I am referring to? It's like all the sudden this new thought in your head becomes reality, at least until you realize its absurdity.

Let me give you 2 examples from my world:

1. One night, before tackling an important project at work the next day (deleting and reloading millions of records of data), I started thinking about 2 tasks I needed to complete the next day. They were incredibly important and affected the lives of 2 individuals. This was big! This could make or break my career at Genworth. I remember brushing my teeth and thinking about it. So, it wasn't even a thought that was randomly generated in the middle of the night. Nope, before I even laid down in my bed, there it was out of nothingness. What blew me away was that I was so utterly convinced that this was reality. I had to go into work the next morning to face these tasks. Okay so as I write this... it's not as interesting as it sounds. Dang it! :-P #2 will be better.
2. A couple of nights ago I woke up around 3 in the morning and got so unbelievably excited about that day. It was student teach day! "Reality" for me turned into a situation where I was both working at Genworth and student teaching, depending on the day of the week. Well, it was Wednesday, which meant student teach day. I vividly remember my heart getting fired up for that day. I get to teach! I will never forget this joy. As a follower of Christ, I can be hopeful and expect to someday find a career which ignites a raging fire within my heart, every day I wake up for work.

Jeremiah 29:11 reads, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Although God may see it differently, I see "prospering" as fulfilling God's purpose for me. And if I am to fulfill that purpose, only then will I become fully alive. Until that time, I will wait for the Lord. But, time is never wasted. Everything I do now will somehow be part of the man I am to become later.

Trains + Cows = Happiness

Let me tell you about two things that make me happy. They are completely unrelated things, but that's my style.

1. TRAINS - Last weekend Laura and I went to Brown's Island in Richmond. If you haven't been, you have to go! It's a really chill park that has a bridge with train tracks overhead. Soon after we sat down on the ground to read together, a train started to pass by on the bridge. This unexplained peace came over me. All of my worries of work and life left me, atleast for a little while. The train produced a steady low roar that was soothing to my soul. If that train went by all day long, I would be found w/out wanting.
2. COWS - If you have ever been around the milk section in Kroger, at just the right time, you will know what I am talking about. The other day, again drowning in my worries, I walked by the milk section and suddenly heard a "MOOOOO!" I smiled and couldn't help but laugh. This is why I love Kroger: they play COW SOUNDS near the milk section. With enough effort on my part, someday they will acquiesce and play grape sounds when you pass the wine section. I think you know what I'm talkin' about. That would be sweet.