Trials aren't Evil

"It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." ~ Jeremiah 36:3 (ESV) 

Gods treatment of the Israelites in Jeremiah was not to ultimately destroy them (Jeremiah 33:4-9; 32:42; 30:10-11....). He was jealous of the affections of His people. He wanted them to come back to Him so that He could have a relationship with the people He chose for Himself. Take for instance the story of Haggai. He married a prostitute and he kept bringing her back after she would give herself to other men because he was showing the Israelites how God kept bringing them back after they would give themselves to other gods. He wants His people to be with Him as a husband wants his wife to be with him. Trials are just one of the things that He uses and from personal experience I can tell you that it is always worth it.

I was diagnosed with cancer at 16 and went through chemotherapy for 10 months. In the process God used intense pain, weakness, sickness and emotional breaking points to bring me closer to Him. He created within me a trust that nothing can ever break. He did this through days where I would be laying on the floor with no energy to have emotions and I would tell God "If you want me to wake up tomorrow you're going to have to do it for me because I don't think I have the strength." He would wake me up every time but He left me in the trial because He wasn't done completing His good work in me yet.Through that He taught me that He would always give me the strength that I needed to wake up the next day to do what He had called me to do even if it meant staying in a life of hardship.  He also did it through days where no human, no matter how close they were to me, could comfort me or convince me of anything about God. He would prove Himself faithful every time I would ask Him to. He replaced my desire for comfort and health for a desire to always rely upon Him even if it meant that I would be close to dying every day. Facing death became worth it to me as long as I could know Him better.

Trials aren't evil and when God's chosen are going through them, they are never intended to destroy. They are a tool that God uses to show His faithfulness to His people. He shows His intense love through the times where we have to seek Him because everything else is falling. So the next time a trial comes your way take the time to thank God that He loves you enough to think you worthy to suffer for Him. Ask Him to teach you what you need to learn and rest in the fact that He won't desert those He loved enough to send His Son to die. Take joy in your trial.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." ~ James 1:2-4 (NIV)

Israel's Only Savior

43  But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

3  For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

4  Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

5  Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

6  I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my 

daughters from the end of the earth,

7  everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.” ~ Isaiah 43:1-7 (ESV  http://www.esvbible.org/Isaiah+43/) 

9 Months away....

The thing that makes me sick to my stomach every time; a clean and organized room. Weird I know but it reminds me of moving and leaving everything that I know behind. I don't like change: drastic change. Normally I can talk myself out of the sick feeling but not this time. Because this time I'm actually moving. I'm moving across the world for 9 months.

It's crazy thinking that in 6 days I will be in a different country where they speak a different language and live a different lifestyle. It will be weird not having my brothers having contests to see who's the strongest or just being weird. It will be weird not being able to have late night theological discussions with my dad and late night talks with my mom. Everything is late-night.... must be a night owl... :)

I've noticed myself slowly shutting out things like wanting to see my horse because I know that it's easier to start now than wait till the day I can't just drive 10 minutes and see her. I'll miss staying out crazy late with my friends from church on Saturday night and then having to get up crazy early the next morning to help out in J12. I'll miss doing life with the people I have grown to care for and have grown up caring for, for 9 months. I know 9 months isn't that long and that at the end of my time in Sweden I'll miss all the people and the routines that will become a apart of my everyday life there. I know all of this but it still doesn't change that I will miss home.

I trust God and I know that He wouldn't ask me to travel across the world if He didn't have a reason. I truly am excited to go, I'm just not excited to leave all the people and the animals that I care for behind... It will be so amazing being in a different country. Being able to see how big God's creation is and how amazing it is to be a part of a family that reaches across the entire world (probably one of the coolest things about being a Christian is that no matter where I go I will always have God in common with someone). I'm excited to meet other people who love God just like me and to see Him from their perspective. To be honest though, I'm super excited that they have cold winters and love hockey just like here :)

So in 6 days I will be in another time zone but God is faithful and it will be an amazing time :)

The Moment Never Dies

With eyes closed

And heart open

Dancing till the muscles tire

Singing till the voice grows hoarse

Opening your eyes

And suddenly saddened

That heaven is not where you are

Knowing this moment will pass

Praise God for Your faithfulness

Heaven is our home

Where dancing never ceases

And singing never dies and voices don't grow hoarse

The moment never dies.

I am not someone who is spontaneous. I think through everything as much as I can before I do anything in regards to it. When I am spontaneous I regret my decisions, so I hate it. This makes me seem very serious, which I am. Right now I am on a very thin line between running back to being super shielded with my parents and going to complete other way and relaxing my convictions and my standards. I am terrified about being so close to either side and not knowing what I want to do. Part of me wants to run back to the safety of my parents and their friends yet I can't. I will never be able to stand up for my morals at bible school if I can't while I'm still at home and only see the people a few days a week. The verse in 1Peter about God slowing trials and temptations into our lives to make our faith secure is definitely what I feel is going on right now. I don't know what to do yet I feel God pushing me forward farther into this confusion so that I may be able to stand tall for Him while I'm at bible school. It's so stressful being on the tight-rope. At the same time I know I'm not going to fall because God holds my heart and He will never let me fall. I am not doing any of this on my own. The last fee weeks of my life have been completely survived because He has been leading me and holding me up.

I know that God is all I need and I feel no conviction in my heart that tells me that I am lying to myself. I have been in my bible more that I have been and more seriously than I have ever been. It is directly affecting my life. I wake up and I feel that I need to read the Bible or else I will drown in all that is happening I my life. God's is definitely my life line but why do I feel as if I am walking on my own? I am in this weird state of knowing I'm not doing any of this on my own yet feeling like I am doing it all on my own with God watching to see how I will do. I wonder if this is how Job felt. 

I'm having to rely on God for everything, my confidence, my guidance, my road map (literally), my protection, my wisdom, my healing, my everything. Seriously, if I didn't have Him right now I would be drowning yet I feel secure and confident enough because I feel God holding me up in a eyre strange way. I see His hand in every day and every time I am around people from church. He is opening me up before the church and it terrifies me. I have become so good at hiding who I am to certain people but He giving me no chance to allow that to happen. It is absolutely terrifying and humbling. 

I have asked for God to use me for a very long time and now that He is I am left not knowing what to do but hold onto Him. This, I guess, is a very good place to be and it's where He uses us it's just not what I thought it would be. If this is how the missionaries feel all the time it's no wonder they all died of some stomach issue. It feels as if I am growing ulcers as a full time job. I've never been so nervous yet so peaceful at the same time before. I am totally out of my comfort zone and I have to clue what to do. I don't even know where to begin. I have no idea where God is taking or where He is going to have me tomorrow. Lately most of the time I don't even know where to drive yet He tells me and it has a theme. What it means I am still unsure. It seems as if that's where God wants me; not knowing where He is taking me, being completely pulled out of my comfort zone yet never being taken somewhere wrong. 

If this is what following God and going where He leads all the time feels like I like it yet hate and fear it at the same time and equally. It is so confusing yet I am good. 

It feels like I am just along for the ride and the ride is a roller coaster. My stomach feels like I'm on a roller coaster too. I love it all though. I am so confused right now. I feel like one giant anonmoly. I thirst and hunger for wisdom and I feel as if I should be at the church all the time. I've never been like this before. 

Grace

      For as along as I can remember I have seen everything in a sort of black and white way due to having the spiritual gift of perception. I struggled with putting the Grace of Christ with the black and white view of sin He that He also showed. Everything that people did, said and enjoyed was analyzed and stored in either the "white" or "black" section; there was no grey area. This has left me with few close friends growing up and even fewer friends my age. I know lots of people but I only have a few friends who I truly open up to and even now the closet one to my age is 3 and half years older than me. I was like a rock with all these sharp edges that only those with tough skin could handle. 

      Since I was not allowing God to file the rough edges of my gift He was forced to take drastic measures; I was allowed to get cancer. This forced me to get rid of the "I need to do everything for myself because if others do it for me I am not being a servant but a burden" and "I have to tell everyone what they are doing wrong so they don't end up in hell" mindsets. He forced me to learn the true meaning of Grace and how it meshes with my black and white view.

     Being so sick that people had to spoon feed me, carry me everywhere and read my Bible to me first of all smashed most of my pride to smithereens, forced me to lean on God for Grace, and to spend pretty much all my lucid time in prayer. I could see everyone around me struggling yet I was powerless to do anything to lessen the burden that I had become, so I prayed. God brought two amazing friends into my life who have put up with me and have had the patience to let God teach me, through them, what grace looks like. He broke my habit of speaking first and praying later and gave me a habit of praying first and speaking rarely. It has made being around people easier and my life more joyful.

      Now when I meet someone and their sin stares me right in the face I no longer write them off as someone I can't be around (out of fear that I would start doing the same thing) but I am more open to get to know them and see why they are doing what they do and then pray that God would free them from such things. He has given me the heart of Grace while strengthening my black and white perspective ( still no grey area). It has take two painful years spiritually, emotionally and physically to get this and I hope that anyone reading this who is the same would learn faster and without the hardships that I did.

      "The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace (God’s favor and blessing) be with you. Amen (so be it)." 2 Timothy 4:22

Perfection or Enjoyment

It's amazing how much of a failure I feel that I am when I think that I have to do everything myself: Things ranging from designing our barn to my devotions. I put so much pressure on myself to do it all perfectly that I forget to enjoy it and serve those around me.

Today I went to ride my horse Jesse and I went in thinking that I would tell the trainer that I wanted to bring her home to our new farm because I was ready and it cost too much, but in all honesty the reason I wanted to was because I had allowed myself to take the pressure and responsibility of training her completely upon my shoulders. I forgot that it was God's responsibility and that He knows exactly what her and I need. I no longer trusted anyone else with her training and then I allowed the money factor blind me to my true motives.

Also I forgot that God promised that He would supply the funds that I need to go to Sweden and that I could enjoy my horse and the training and lessons her and I receive where she is at. I have been allowing the fear of not having enough for Sweden to consume me and cause me to hoard all my money. This has lead to a ginourmous stressful burden to fall onto my shoulders and cause me to think of what money I had constantly instead if God and how He always provides. Stress is very emotionally and physically draining.

All this applying of pressure left me emotionally wasted and spent. Fighting for sleep but never wining it.  So much so that today almost got ruined by it when the day was actually one of the best I have had in a long time. My ride on Jesse was the best I have ever had in the whole time I've ridden horses (in my memory at least) and the visit to our new farm to check it out without its blanket of snow showed us how faithful God is! There is much less work and much more room than any of us thought possible. Also the young horse at work got better from his cold today as well! So despite my emotional exhaustion I choose to say and know that today was truly an amazing day :)

God showed me today that when I remember to smell the beautiful flowers that He has planted to show His love for me, my days are much more enjoyable. Jesus took on the pressure to be perfect in everything so that those who choose to live in Him can be free from such pressures. We must remember this when Satan tries to convince us that it is our responsibility to be perfect. We just need to live in His love (includes His will)  for us and He will provide everything

Handing over the Reins

Over the past few days God has been destroying my pride. A pride that leads me to believe that I can get myself out of a mess if I use enough Bible verses and believe hard enough. But that truth is, I can't. Shocking!

I don't know how many times I have been told, and that I have convinced myself, that it is my job to clean my heart out and to use the Word of God to do it. It leaves me exhausted, frustrated and grumpy with those around me. Not exactly the shining light I want to be, but once again that statement and desire comes from a heart of pride as well (more on that later). You see, when we try to clean ourselves out we are no longer looking to Jesus to be our sanctifier and redeemer, we are looking to ourselves. We are no longer laying ourselves at His feet. Just like the Pharisees.

The Pharisees obeyed that law to a "T" but they were doing it all on their own. The pride that causes this mindset also causes us to judge those around us by thinking, "If I can do that, why can't they? They just need to work harder and read that Bible more or come to church more etc." While reading the Bible and going to church are good things, they can destroy us if we are doing them for the wrong reasons. The Bible shows us the character of Christ and how HE desires to shape us. Our time in the Word of God should be to learn more about the Christ we are following, not a self-help manual to become the perfect Christian.

God uses my weak flesh to show me how powerless I am against it on my own. He allows lustful temptations to enter my head (something I struggle with) in order to grow my dependancy on His power and redeeming grace. I fight and fight the fantasies that I entertain in my head with Bible verses and lots of prayers but all of that is me trying to clean my own heart out. My prayers would be along the line of "God give me the strength to overcome this" and not asking God to overcome them for me. In Psalm 51 David realizes that God only is the One who can clean his heart of the murder and adultery that he committed

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" Psalm 51:10 (NASB)

he knew he couldn't do it himself. God alone can take captive the thoughts that defy Him in our heads, we just need to be broken for them.

"[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), " (Emphasis added) 2 Corinthians 10:5 (AMP)

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17 (NASB)

Noah

This past Friday I went to see the movie Noah and like many people I had heard the many critics about the movie. To be honest there were times in the movie where I really wanted to be really angry but, to put it clearly, God said under no circumstances was I allowed to be. He told me to wait and to trust Him. So I did and  when I got home I opened up the Bible to Genesis 6 where the story of Noah begins. After reading the Biblical story of Noah along with the first 5 chapters of Genesis I began to see how God refused to let an atheist make the "most unbiblical biblical movie". God's true nature was resembled throughout the entire movie in many different ways. It became a parable full of parables. It is like reading a C. S. Lewis book, it takes pondering for hours to actually understand what's being said.

So remember when watching the movie be slow to get angry, quick to listen and measure all that you hear against the Word of God. Let God speak to you and show you His power and how He can use an atheist to share His story and His character with the whole world. 

This is a really good point on the movie as well.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andrewheard.tv%2F2014%2F03%2F28%2Fa-pastors-perspective-on-the-noah-movie%2F&h=iAQEsKBE5&enc=AZPDwOijbIF3blBLwnC_u955pjx27yiI7s78v9HtDwNHUwDchA9h7nF5CIj23CxV16z1bGqcXRC1Pd7GikY1ejTssPxidsWUA2sF-E6QVF780RVofSW_-CXsew5PsEimAk6D_iLxVgsnLG2Ywux6lW4L&s=1

Seeking Justice

 "He has told you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

    and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

 "For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people." 

Esther 10:3 

We are told to seek justice, but I always had a hard time with balancing justice and revenge. I would ask God how I was supposed to seek it without it being about retribution or vengeance. Recently He has begun to reveal to me what He meant when He gave that command.

He wants us to do justice for others and not ourselves. For those who live around us and across the globe. He places a burden on our hearts to right the wrongs being done to fellow believers and non-believers in order that we may seek to bring justice. Just as Mordecai did in Esther we are to do today "he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people".  We are to seek that the oppression be lifted off the backs of those around us. We are to seek for the salvation of the souls of those we come in contact with. We are to seek that the hungry be made full with food and Christ (this includes the monetarily rich people). We are to care for the widows and the orphans... (Isaiah 58) There are many ways that the church can do such things.

 These can be done through prayer if you are someone who God brings to their knees in prayer, giving finically to Christian organizations or missionaries that are seeking to eradicate any type of oppression if your gift is generosity, volunteer your time if God has given you the gifting to fight for justice on the front lines, seeking God in faith if faith is your gift, and so many more. People will try to tell you that you have to do every single one of these yourself but God made each person in the church to be an extension of each other which allows us to focus solely on the gift God gave us without the pressure of having to do it all. If we all do our part, whether it be bringing awareness to the issues, supporting them in prayer/financial means.... so much can be done for the kingdom of God.

Fearing God

"27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. 28 Make supplication to the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease and there will be hail no longer, that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they ripen late.) 33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the Lord; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses." Exodus 9:27-35 NASB 

Repentance not driven by fear of the Holy God is not true repentance. The fear of God keeps our feet on the straight and narrow because it leads us to Him, the only One who can truly save us. It shows us that we are unable to justify ourselves."But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22)

When we don't Fear God.

Why is fear rarely present in our hearts when we talk about God? Why do we no longer tremble at the sound of His name? Why are we unable as a church today to understand how against sin God is? Why does our sin no longer leave us begging for God's mercy? I believe it is because we have had the message "God is Love" without the message "God is Holy and demands that we be Holy as well". We are no longer told that God means what He says in verses like "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alphand the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the Rnd. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves to practise falsehood. (Revelation 22:12-15)", "so because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold I will spit you from My mouth (Revelation )", "and if anyone takes away from the words of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the Holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:19)" 

Fear of God

Read Exodus 9:27-35

"But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear The Lord God." Exodus 9:30

In this passage the 8th plague is currently besieging Egypt and destroying their crops and flooding the land with water (vs 33) and Pharaoh finally humbled himself and repented of his sins before Moses, and declared that the Iraelites could go from the land. But Pharaoh did not do this out of fear of God but out of the desperate want to rid his land and life of the trial. More often than not this is also our reason for repenting and humbling ourselves before the Creator of the World. This motivation is not the type that leads you to surrendering your life completely and unreservedly to Him. This motivation leads only to a works and result based relationship with Him that fades away once the trial is lifted and the result is received. 

God does lift our trials when we humbly repent even when it is not lead by the Fear of God so that He may show the world that everything in it is His (vs 29). But just as Pharaoh, when the trial ends we will turn back to our ways, hardening our hearts towards the God who alone can alone redeem us (vs 34). For example having gone through cancer God has allowed me to see intimately how people deal with tragedies. For many God is just a crutch to get through the hard times and then He is put in the storage room for the next time that they need His help to move the where they want to go.

"3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying,“Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”... 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, somea hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”' (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23) 
Having read this many times I always thought that it only meant that when hardships such as sickness, death, tragedy or persecution comes, in regards to preaching and living out the Word of God, come people fall away. I never thought that He could also be meaning that when life is "good" people forget their need of the Gospel and turn back to their own ways. In this passage the thorns can be the pleasures of this world; the birds can be the cute guy/girl, new phone, party with the cool kids or the dream career happening; the rocky places can be the same. Anything that draws us away from that initial conversion is what Jesus is talking about and they tend to be in the good times more that the bad. 
Recently there have been disastrous tornados, school shootings and so on and despite what many people think it has drawn people towards God more than it has driven people away. People fall away and stop seeking God direction when life goes back to normal. This is because they did not truly fear God, they just sought Him for comfort and not salvation, guidance and not lordship. Just as Pharaoh, they wanted God to take the trial away yet they weren't ever willing to fear Hod and take Him at His word. 

Fairy tales: the reflection of Christ

Just ask anyone on the street or even in your church if fairy tales exist and they'll probably say no. We are told by the world that it is unrealistic to think that any guy would take a girl back time after time. We are told that happy endings where our Prince Charming comes to save us from the evil dragon and then we live happily-ever-after with no hardships don't really happen because for one, dragons don't exsist. But what if I told you that the reason why when girls watch these types of movies are drawn to them and for even a short tiny second have hope that it might actually exist somewhere is because our Saviour made us to desire this.

I have grown up with 3 brothers and have been told by them, my father and their friends that girls shouldn't watch chick flicks because they place an unrealistic expectation inside our heads of how guys should behave. That this a lie straight from the pit of Hell. Guys know they'll never be able to attain this "perfect standard" and so they say nobody can do it, that it should never be brought up again, but Jesus did meet it and continues to meet it everyday. You see He is an even greater and purer version of the men we see portrayed in these movies because He is the one our soul longs for (song of Solomon 3:4). He is the fairy tale that we long for. 

Throughout the Old Testament we are shown of God's undying love for His very unfaithful wife, Israel (which happens to be us). No matter what she did to Him, whether it be worshiping other Gods, mocking His name, trusting in others for salvation or even pleasure, He always took her back. In books like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea and many others we are told of God's undying love for His people. He always took them back when they called upon His name. Everything He did was to show them that He was and is the only one who can satisfy our longings. He promises us happily-ever-after.

Many times in the New Testament we are told that we are the bride of Christ awaiting the day that He comes back to take us to the wedding feast and that then He will slay the dragon which terrorizes us day and night (read Revelation). The tiny ounce of hope that sparks inside our hearts when we watch these movies is that hope that Christ has set in our hearts. The hope that we are told about by the apostles and prophets in the Word of God. The hope of happily-ever-after and a guy who never abandons us no matter what. 

Men will always fall short of the standard that fairy tale movies give and that's okay because it's not for them to attain, but for Christ. So the next time you watch a chick flick where the guy takes the girl back or slays a dragon or two, it's okay to dream about it as long as we remember that the man we should be dreaming about it waiting in heaven for the okay to come and rescue us from this dark dungeon.