Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

I blogged about this movie a while back and it is finally out in theaters. I wasn't expecting it to come to college station but after seeing it I understand why it was probably a prime target audience . Expelled was witty, grave, and very enlightening. I have already seen it once and plan to see it again, I would encourage anyone to go see this film. So go see it!

rebel without a cause.

When I was in New Orleans over Spring Break we had devotionals a few of the mornings from a student at the seminary where we were staying and he talked out of Matthew 9 & 10 every time. The primary realization/conviction I took away from the messages was from 9:37, a verse I'm sure most have heard a few times,

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."

Whenever I read this verse before I always applied it to my life as, okay you need to be telling people about Christ, period. It was always convicting and now even more so. I was completely ignoring the first part of the verse and only looking at the part that applied to me. Jesus is not saying in this verse, "Not enough people are proclaiming me so get over yourself and just do it." as I had always thought. This verse is saying that not only are you called to tell people about Christ (we should all desire that anyway if we really love people the way that we say we do, do we really care about where people are spending eternity? I would hope so.) but that there are plenty (an entire ready harvest) of people who are completely ready to receive Christ all you have to do is share! It's not just about me not doing what I'm supposed to, it's saying that Christ has already prepared the way! He's not sending us out into a fallow field and telling us to pick a bounty of wheat, He's showing us the abundant bounty and saying, "Just go get it!" Meanwhile I'm just standing at the edge of the field equipped with my wheat-picking sack, just staring at all the wheat.

I really wish I would get over myself and just start sharing. Writing this makes me feel disgusting.

However I am glad that I am still being convicted of this all the time, maybe one day I will finally quit being rebellious in this area and I can allow the Lord to refine me in others. blah.

coincidentally..

an article came out from Relevant today that communicates exactly and more clearly and with a much better analogy what I was trying to explain in my post from yesterday. good stuff.

and then I remembered I had a blog...

I feel like I've been moving at breakneck speed over the last few weeks and this week has been a welcomed slow down. Kind of like shifting the riding lawnmower from rabbit to turtle. We never had a riding lawnmower but my sister and I would always play on them in the stores when my parents were looking at something else. I wonder if riding lawnmower manufacturer's thought people with yards big enough to need a riding lawnmower could only comprehend pictures? Always the rabbit and the turtle.

Anyway. The past few weeks I've been steadily filling out and submitting application after application to school districts in Austin, Houston, & Dallas in hopes of one day in the near future becoming employed. The education career fair was monday and it went well, I wasn't sure what to expect because my advisor had prepared us all for the best of all possible worlds scenario and that being actually getting an interview and a job. Well in reality, not so much. No one was interviewing, at least not at the high school level, but I did get to find out valuable information about each districts hiring process, etc. Unfortunately my position is one of the latter ones districts usually hire for so it looks like its going to be a long waiting process. oh patience, please let me embrace you.

Its hard to believe I only have 2 more weeks of regular classes left. 2 weeks! A little hard for me to grasp right now.

I will finish my observation hours next week and I'm starting to substitute tomorrow, I'll get to do this twice a week from now on in my attempt to save up some extra money.

Last nite we concluded our semester long study of 1 & 2 Peter in hope group. The last two verses are these:

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

The theme of what Peter writes about in his two letters is living your life according to the Word and to the standard which Christ has called us. Mr. Hutton asked us last nite why we are called to live like this, why do we not for instance live like the man from Romans asked about and sin more abundantly so that grace may ever more abound? It is easy to answer, well Christ has called us to live that way so we should. period. I am okay with that answer because I desire to submit and obey the Lord that is all I need. But to someone who doesn't understand submission to the Lord why else should they change their life for the sake of Christ?

I think its like this: Imagine an adult who cannot read. It would be a safe assumption to say that they would have a hard time in life. I think that would probably be an understatement but nevertheless, life would not be easy not knowing how to read. Then one day someone taught that person how to read and all of a sudden the world became so much more friendly and open and that person's life was instantly enriched. Granted knowing how to read would also instantly make your life more complex and you would immediately become aware of consequences you did not know about before but it is definitely in that person's best interest to be literate, the cost is worth it.

Living your life for Christ is the same way. You follow Christ and live according to his word because it enriches your life, you attain life to the fullest, despite the seemingly legalistic "commands". I want to be commanded because it is better than my own free thinking. Light years better by infinity. I think being God requires God to be looking out for himself, for his own interest, for #1, but his own interest is in looking out for #4,936,295,371! for me! What is there to lose? Nothing! Sometimes I forget how good I've got it.

Then I read an article like this at work and start to cry. Then I remember.