| This weekend I attended a CRU "life opportunities" conference in STL, the purpose of which was to elucidate to us what God's will is for our future. As I've been telling everyone, the experience was quite like trying to drink from Niagara falls . . . pretty overwhelming. After hours of reflection upon it--and I've got many, many more to go--I've realized that I will take a year off after undergrad to do ministry. Furthermore, it struck me how much God has been doing in my life to prepare me to accept a year of missionary work. To be quite honest, I was very frustrated with God that He did not give me direction over which academic degrees to seek a few weeks ago (read my 19 Oct post). Little did I know that by not elucidating any path in regards to obtaining academic degrees, He was freeing me for ministry. I was also quite frustrated that He has not provided me a relationship for some time; now I realize that in keeping me (perpetually) single, He was, again, freeing me up for whatever He would have me do and keeping me focused on Him, as captured by Paul in 1 Cor (yes, I know Paul speaks in reference to marriage in this passage, but the same principle applies):
"I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided."
On the whole, I realized how ridiculously myopic I am, much contrary to the admonition Paul offers later in 2 Cor:
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
God, draw away any distractions that keep me from sharpening my focus on You, and continue to destroy any of my petty desires that do not come from You!
More importantly, over the weekend, I was able to speak to a distraught stepfather. While a group of us went to a restaurant, a man approached us and asked us to pray for his stepson, who had recently become addicted to narcotics, fallen into trouble with the law, and entered rehab. The stepfather is a strong believer and holds to his faith through this time, but he seems at a loss of what to do. His stepson is Cory, who just turned 21. The man's name is Jim. Let us plead to God that He place Cory on firmer ground and give Jim and his family the resolve to overcome this situation.
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