Jesus Wrecked my Life

While this statement may seem a bit harsh and even sometimes disturbing, it is very true (keep reading).

My life before I came to the Philippines was a breeze. I was a zombie of sorts. I would wake up the same time every morning and either go to school or go to work; in a truck mind you. I would be in class all day or at work and have a normal redundant day. I would go home to eat dinner where either one of two things would happen. I would eat the dinner that my mom had already cooked or I would go out to eat, two very simple things. Then at the end of the day I would either watch tv, hang out with friends or head home. That would be followed by a warm shower, clean clothes (cleaned by my loving mother), and then off to bed to perform every single thing the next day.

My religion if that is what you like to call it, was worthless, even the week before I came to the Philippines. Sure I would sprinkle some David Crowder in my truck during the day and maybe read a chapter in Psalms all while dozing off to bed. I would attend my church Christ Fellowship on a lovely Tuesday night in Bowling Green(which is led by several amazing men who love the Lord with their whole heart and where the people of the church actually live for Christ and share in each others burdens together as one body and where a member is not judged by his social status or his attire or even if he has alcohol on his breath or if he may have slept downtown the night before and where the one and only Father is worshiped and glorified by his people and where His name is made famous in the downtown area and throughout Bowling Green(christfellowshipbg.blogspot.com)and this is a plug not because someone told me to but because this is the image of the church in Acts and because the church needs to start acting like the church, and they do that there). So who am I to say that I worshiped the Lord in Bowling Green at all? Sure I would sprinkle in some God like He was some pepper I was going to put on the green beans my mom had made. Why? Where did I go wrong? The God who made me was being treated like He was an episode on tv or a book I could just read and feel convicted of or a song I could listen to and feel warm inside. Wow, I had never been more wrong about something in my life.

I am currently sitting in a dark outdoor church in the middle of a rural Philippines baragauy (city). I am 12,000 miles from home. From my mom, from my dad, from my brother, and from my friends, oh how I miss you all; from Jan to Jt, from Mike to Tim, from Hootie to Monkey, and from Sassy to Lance.

I have been on a plane for over 24 hours. I have been on ferries. I have been on jeepneys (google it). I have been on motorcycles with four people. I have swam. I have walked miles upon miles. I have slept in churches. I have slept on grass. I have slept in tents. I have slept in more tents. I have slept on school desks. I have slept on boats. I have eaten rice and more rice. I have eaten corn beef. I have eaten coconuts. I have eaten squid. I have eaten plants from outside. I have made my own meals. I have jumped off of many cliffs into water. I have jumped in puddles. I have sat and enjoyed sunsets. I have laid down and enjoyed the stars. I have raked with brooms. I have showered outside with a bucket and a scoop and cold water every day. I have urinated in lots of places. I have pooped at very inconvenient times. I have climbed mountains to meet people and enjoy sunsets. I have dined with a homeless man. I have been asked to shower with a homosexual man of which I declined but did sit and enjoy conversation with. I have played with thousands of kids. I have been called Joe or Bob more than I could ever imagine. I have fallen in love with a boy that I cant understand and whom cant understand me. I have eaten with him. I have shot slingshots with him. I will cry with him soon. I have loaded up a backpack of clothes and basketballs and toothbrushes to give to him. I have preached a sermon. I have been terrified to preach a sermon. I have become a Philipino chef. I have been on the beach. I have been in the forest. I have been sick. I have been exhausted. I have had diarrhea. I have been constipated from too much rice. I have danced with high school students. I have shared bible studies. I have shared my testimony. I have developed a new testimony. I have been overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of the Lord. I have worshiped the God of the world not just the God of America. I have adored the God of the homeless not just the God of the wealthy. I have fed the hungry. I have clothed the naked. I have loved the God of the prostitutes not just the virgins. I have worshiped at a Catholic Church. I have believed in a God of all people. I have been afraid. I have been homesick. I have been miserable. I have been frustrated. I have cried in the internet cafes multiple times. I have seen Jesus in the eyes of children, the homeless, the homosexual, the corrupt, the rich, the poor, the hungry, the homesick, my team, and myself.

Truly meeting Jesus has truly wrecked my life, and I will never be the same again.

In Luke 15:2 it says, And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man (Jesus) receives sinners and eats with them.

In Luke 7:34 it says, The Son of Man (Jesus) has come eating and drinking, and you say, Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!

Jesus was persecuted and belittled by those around Him because He didn’t always hang out with the people who thought they were most Godly. People confused Him for a glutton and a drunkard because He was with sinners and people suffering more than with anyone else. He opened his arms and hugged the little children. He opened his doors and housed the homeless. He walked and dined with the sinners of the world.

And we think that we have it together living our God sprinkled lives. How wrong were we?

Why is it that we treat God like a side of mashed potatoes in our main course of living a worldy life? Are we really that blind?

As Christians (or at least titled that) we live our live as far from the live that Jesus as we can. We want to be comfortable and complacent. And we have our cute little words about how we are saved and about how we do our good deed for the day. We sing worship songs to God on Sunday but forget Him on Monday. We welcome our friends to church but wont ask the people we don’t know. We watch the homeless man over the bridge of I-65 sit and beg for food. We watch as the woman struggles to work at the strip club and pay her bills at the same time. We wont sit by the homeless man at church because he smells too bad to suffer sitting by him for an hour and a half. We are too scared to walked up front and bow down at the alter because of what other people may think or say. Let me tell you my friends, I don’t care what people think. If you care what people think then you will spend you life never having fun, letting go, and always worrying who is watching. And we even worry what people think at church? Wow. I hope that when the rapture happens someday that maybe it happens to be on a Sunday, and the people who just attend church as a social gathering or because they have to (not me I am saved by His grace alone) are sitting around and looking at each other wondering why they are still there. I know that seems morbid and awful but it is the truth. Just because you go to church and do your good deeds doesn’t save you. The local church needs to do a lot of searching inwardly and focusing on becoming the church. And if you are at church and you are spreading lies and gossiping then you have more self searching work to do that outward watching to do. Local churches, not the church¸ is full of deceitful people but also very full of beautiful people. So be aware, and be alive.

Let Jesus wreck your life. It will take you to places and let you experience life in the way God meant for it to be experienced. Put all you faith in Him. Not just figurative faith, but faith that He will provide for you. He has provided me meals here when I thought I wasn’t going to eat. He has provided me a place to lay my head when I thought I had none. Jesus Christ owns my life because I owe it all to Him. Not just my spare time. Not just when I can fit Him in. Walk with Him. Take Him to Wal-Mart with you. Take Him to the ballpark with you. Take Him to the Philippines. Take Him to Tennessee. Take Him to college. Take him to work selling used cars and insurance. Wherever you go in life, take Him with you. I know first hand that Jesus loves a good adventure.

Jesus wrecked my life. Let Him wreck yours.

a sweet old lady...