Seeking God in the City

Last week I drove back to my home in Morgantown, Pennsylvania where I reunited with my friends, my family, and my girlfriend. My part time job at Jimmy John's was gracious enough to allow me a week off even on relatively short notice. My girlfriend insists that I procrastinate about the craziest things. Those including getting off for work, going to the doctor over something that is little, or even looking into the future with school or ministry. She is probably right, as I do wait until the last moment to do a lot of things, usually because they are filled with emotion or because I have a hard time moving on when I know that the times ahead will be tough. Anyways she is a great balance to my short comings. Anyways the week away from Detroit was a blessing. I was able to connect with my family, especially my younger brother Daniel. I also spent a morning with my Dad. I missed my alarm at 7 because I had set it for the pm instead of am, but we were still able to salvage breakfast and the morning once he reminded me with a phone call that I was supposed to meet him 20 minutes ago. I was wonderful seeing Samantha again, but we had some bumps during the time. We talked a lot about our future, and what God is calling both of us to pursue. She some hard questions about where I saw myself in a few years, and it was difficult because I'm just not sure, but whatever I'm doing I want to be doing it with Samantha. I tried to convey my thoughts that if we were both following the will of God then we were spiritually compatible. And even though we are separated right now, that true love will be there when the time is right to be with each other again. I hope I was able to indicate how much she means to me, and I hope she was encouraged through my visit regardless of what may have been on her heart. But it ended on a good note and it hurt to say goodbye as always.

Anyways with my girlfriend's zeal to see if we are being called to be liked minded and in one purpose and me wanting to give her an answer that would satisfy, I came back to Detroit determined to spiritually expand myself. I spent the first night back involved in the Word a lot, focusing on II Peter chapter 1. In this epistle, Peter tackles the question of making one's calling and election sure. In verse 5 through verse 8, he writes, that we should "...make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." So I have discovered the key to not being left in the dark. That doesn't mean everything will be completely revealed, but it does mean that I will have something to walk towards. Anyways, by having those things, you are actively seeking God and living for him. Afterwards I began reading Leviticus and praying that God would light a lamp for me because I was seeking. Then I remembered what Jesus had said about seeking God. He said seek God and he pray to him, and he will give you all the desires of your heart. Suddenly I had a vision reflecting on what the desires of my heart were. I saw myself doing community ministries and starting my own family. Hopefully that's something Sam is being led too as well.

Today was even more God inspired then last night. During my readings about offerings, eating clean animals and the rules and regulations for people with diseases, I started to ask myself what the significance of all of it was. Well the most obvious is that it is in the bible. But those decrees don't apply today, because these were the laws of God, given to Moses, written by God inspired Moses. And when Jesus came he made new covenant, an everlasting one that abolished the old law. It says in proverbs that the law of the lord is perfect in convicting the soul. The law shows you your sin, but it was Jesus who offered the answer. I made a list of reasons of why Leviticus is significant even though I have only read up to Chapter 17 at this moment. First off, if I look back at how we got to Leviticus, we have to go back to Exodus, and then Genesis. Genesis shows us the beginnings, proving the existence of God and the purposefulness of creation. Genesis also shows how rejecting God causes hardships. But even though man rejected God, he never rejected his creation. Genesis outlines that God had a plan to redeem his children, and that plan goes all the way to Jesus. Exodus shows us his mercy and grace. He freed the Hebrew's from their slavery and saved them from the army, provided for them in the wilderness and eventually set up a covenant with them as he began developing Israel into a nation. In Leviticus as in later chapters of Exodus, God has specific guidelines for the Israelites to follow. About how to build the transportable temple, or how to do specific offerings. He is setting Israel apart as a nation and teaching them how to be a holy nation, one that has God as the foundation. And the reason is because Leviticus tells us that God is Holy. Another important aspect of this book is that there is no forgiveness of sins without bloodshed. Being one of the priest (Aaron and his sons) was probably a very demanding profession. Doing offerings all the time, doing them in complete accordance with God's law(God kills two of Aaron's son for messing up and taking the holy rules lightly in front of God Almighty) and having to basically slaughter animals all the time. The point being that even reading tedious regulations of the bible is still valid.

Later during the day Michael had looked up a church that had sunday night services for young adults. Even though it was all the way in Troy, Michigan (about 20 miles away) we wanted to see what it was all about. So we went and I had a very good time. Probably over 300 young adults there, we started off with worship and then had a small message. The message was very inspiring in my opinion. Cliff, the leader, talked us through the prophet Haggai. After the temple of Solomon had been destroyed the community of Israel tried rebuilding it but were stopped by force eventually. 16 years later, Haggai appears and tells the people to start rebuilding. Many of them were waiting for God to do some miraculous sign or just didn't want to try because there was no way it could be at its former glory. But God wanted the temple rebuild so he sent Haggai to tell the people to move forward and let God care about where that leads the people. The LORD says, "I am with you...Do not fear." Then he ended with Isaiah 26:8. "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you". Cliff said that waiting on God doesn't mean stopping it. It means to continue to walk in his ways. I was very inspired afterwards, wanting to stop waiting by doing nothing, and start waiting by walking forward towards God. After it was over, we got acquainted with some of the people there, and had fellowship for over an hour. Hopefully God will continue to speak to me during this week. I feel very inspired to look at my possible future. Perhaps vocational or bible school, maybe just spiritual training. But I don't want to feel like I'm stopping right now.