Friendship

As I was taking a very brief walk today, my thoughts were focused on friendship.  Not on any one person in particular.  More so, in fact, that I have hardly had contact at all with anybody of late; nor that I mind the simple reality of this fact.

Along this track of thoughts in regards to friendship, my mind was contemplating communication and the... pursuance...of both friends, and loved ones.  Romantically speaking, to show that you are interested in someone means that you (hopefully the male) pursues the female, showing her your interest in something possibly deeper than friendship.  The same holds true on a friendship level.  To show that you want to keep a friendship, strengthen its bonds, lengthen its time, one friend (or both) pursue the other.  They call, write, e-socialize, hang out, etc.

This led me to think about our relationship with God.  While we pursue Him to know Him on a deeper, more intimate level, He was pursuing us, even before we had an established relationship with Him.  The physical, earthly aspect of this is a male pursing a female.  Subtly at first, and then as time goes on, in a more bold, obvious manner, he makes his intentions clear.  Likewise, the female has the option of choosing to encourage the pursuer because she is interested as well; or, she makes her disinterest clear and stops him from furthering his intentions.  So it is with us when we discover God's pursuit of our own selves.

Back to the aspect of friendship.  There was a point in time where I would get upset and disappointed if my friends did not make an effort to keep in touch with me, if they did not pursue me.  As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words."  I thought it to be obvious that they clearly did not want to keep in touch nor continue a friendship because they hardly ever (if never) got in touch with me.  However, that was before I grew up...and realized what a true friend should be like.

A friend, who genuinely cares for the people that they know - whether it be lifelong friends, good friends, or even acquaintances - will do just about anything for those people.  In retrospect, a good Christian friend should always have the intent of pointing their friends to Christ.  This means encouraging them, holding them accountable, loving them despite their faults, praying for them, and so much more.  This also means constant pursuing of those people.

As I was remembering the fact that I am who I am, and to be a true, genuine friend to the people that I know, and I should be constantly striving to point them to Christ, it was the pursuing part that hit me.  If I want to be a good friend and to show the people that I know that I sincerely care for them, than I should be pursing them all the time, despite whether or not they respond to me.  Christian or not, lifelong friend or acquaintance, to be to the people in my life as Jesus is to me, means pursing them no matter what.  On or off days, good times or bad, tired or awake, strong or weak, I need to be pursing the people in my life like Christ pursues me.

Why?

Because I want to be able to show them the love that I know God has given me, as well as the love that He has for them.  

That unending, unconditional, sacrificial Love.

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

 - Jeremiah 29.13

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

 - John 15.13

The Verge of Tears

There are so many words that I could use to express how I'm feeling at this moment. So many, in fact, that my mind is overwhelmed at the prospect of them. I attended that Wycliff dinner because I felt God telling me to; if only because of my commitment to obey Him and work on my relationship with my mom and because she wanted me to be there.

At this point in time, I still don't know what my future entails. But I do know that it is in God's hands - and the peace that comes with that knowledge is incredible. I love it.

Something happened at that banquet. I don't know what it is, if it was just the amazement of hearing the work that's happening in the world to further the gospel, or if I caught a glimpse of what my Father might possibly have in store for me. Either way, it happened.

Again, I felt things tugging at my heart that I don't know if they're from God or not. But they very well could be. Three different times tonight I found myself on the verge of tears. Each of those times was when they were showing videos of people who have worked in the field of Bible translation and even of the people who have been affected by it. I don't know why or how I was affected by that, but I was. And almost crying was the affect of what I saw. Not in a sad, disheartened manner, mind you, but in a way that I can't quite describe, for I myself do not know why I reacted that way.

Another time I found myself on the verge of tears when the guest speaker, Brad, was talking. Again, I am not sure of the reason or cause for the reaction. I suppose part of it was because just being able to hear about what God is doing, how He is working through the lives of those who heed His call, and the goodness of His Being.

And yet another cause of tears. While talking with an elderly gentleman who attended the banquet after, when he was speaking to my dad and I about his involvement in YWAM, I was reminded randomly of God's grace in my life. Not reminded of one specific event or circumstance, but just His grace in general. More tears.

I don't think I've been on the verge of tears that many times in such a short amount of time for a long number of years. But I can tell you that God was doing something. He was speaking to my heart in a way that I do not yet understand. And even more so, because even though I do not feel a call to missions in my life, I felt as if I were being tugged in that direction tonight. Randomly, and out of the blue. I was reminded again of my passion for languages (especially French), for experiencing people and their cultures by being right in the middle everything, and even of this odd, heart-sickness that I feel when I think of India and the darkness in that land...and wanting to change it.

God is doing incredible, wonderful, amazing things in my life. And being just a human, I have no idea the extent of what His will, His purpose, and His plan for my life is. Then again, I don't need to know. And if I do, then He will reveal that to me in His timing. But being able to serve Him where I am at right now, to stay in His will and this season that He has me in, to give Him the pen of my life, be fully surrendered in every and all areas, and let Him have complete control is so wonderful. Letting Him pour into me so that I may pour into others. Even when I'm at my weakest point or am unfaithful to Him, He still chooses to use me to influence the lives of those around me and the words that I speak to encourage them. It is such a humbling thing, and something that I am grateful for.

I love my Father. I love how He loves me and speaks to me when I need it most, and even when I don't think I need it. I love how He ministers to my heart is the smallest of ways. I love that I have the privilege to serve and love Him, and the honour of being loved by Him. I am so excited for my future. Even though I don't know what's in store, He does...and that's enough for me.

(09.04.2011)

"Let This Mind Be In You Which Was Also In Christ Jesus"

This is just one of those nights where I have nothing much to do, and I feel inspired to write something. I’m always inspired to write, and it’s mainly caused by the things that go on in my life and the lives of those around me. But, I am always wanting to write something that will change somebody somewhere. Maybe put a little hope in their hopeless lives. Bring a little sunshine to them on an otherwise dismal day.

In reading Philippians today with my Aunt, I came across the passage in Chapter 2. Verses 5, 7, and 8 state: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus...[who] made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men and being found in appearance of a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

I have been dealing a lot lately, with trying to be Christ-like and deal with the issues in my own life that I know need work. Pride is a definite issue – and it seems to be the most currently pressing one. As I was exercising during my Tuesday morning run, I was really seeking God and asking Him to purge my heart from all pride; to take me through the fire if necessary.

I had to ask myself ‘Am I really willing to go through something like getting a mangled face in an accident and to live looking like that for the rest of my life in order to get rid of my pride?’ As I asked myself this, I took the consideration in very carefully. It wasn’t just some “oh, that’s never going to happen” kind of question. Rather, it’s one that is a possibility – however unlikely – and I needed to face it. The answer, by the way, happens to be yes.

Back to those verses. Part of striving to be Christ-like means to have the mind of Christ; which as Christians is something we already have, because of our commitment to Christ. But we have to strive to keep the mind of Christ.

Jesus gave up His reputation for everything. He was a servant to all. “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death.”

Pride reaches so many areas in my life – and it ties right in there with selfishness. I want to be willing to lose a reputation that was non-existent in the first place with people that I meet and be unashamed to share the love of Christ with them. I want to reach a higher level in servant-hood and to rejoice every time I have the opportunity to be a servant. I want to be so humble that I would be willing to die for what I believe in without giving it a second guess.

I still have a long way to go. And God still has a lot to work on within me. By His grace though, I will stay flexible and willing to let Him complete His work in me. And through His faithfulness, it’ll be accomplished.


"Holy God, take my heart. Purge with flame and truth. A holy heart is all I want, that I may dwell with You."

Whom Does the Church Attract?

I recently took up the continuance of reading a book that I started a while ago.  It’s titled Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller.  The section that I opened up to held very good points (as does the whole book), but this particular section spoke to me.  He writes:


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Reading through the Gospels was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.  I know how strange it sounds to say it, but Jesus saved my faith.  Several years ago I was getting to the point that the enormous entangling religion of Christianity, with its many divisions, its multiple theologies, its fondness for war rhetoric, and its quirky, lumbering personality, was such a nuisance I hardly wanted anything to do with it.

But then I saw this very beautiful film about Martin Luther, a German monk who started the Reformation, and before he started the Reformation, when he had yet to read a copy of the Bible, he used to pace around in his room and beg God to forgive him.  He would beat himself up and argue with Satan and basically act pretty screwed up, but then later, when he was able to read a copy of the Bible himself, he realized that all his redemption came through Christ, that what he really needed to do was place all his love and faith in Christ and Christ would take care of everything because Christ loved Him.

This meant a great deal to me because there are, honestly, about a million ways Christians worship and about that many ways different groups say a person becomes a Christian.  Trusting Christ, really placing my faith in Him the way Martin Luther did, seemed quite meaningful and simple.  It also seemed relational, not formulaic, and as I have said, my gut tells me the key to life is relational, not propositional.

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The first thing that hit me when I started reading through the Gospels was the thought that Jesus had come to earth in the first place.  Like the alien, He had it good where He was but He sacrificed it all and became a man.  I suspect our mental pictures of God in heaven, of what Jesus looked like and His general composition, are not very accurate.  My guess is He was quite amazing in His previous state, that He was quite happy, always surrounded by beings who loved Him, always feeling the fulfillment that an intimacy with His Father would give Him, always having God’s glory shining through Him, sitting on a throne in a place of honor.  The mystery of what Christ was before He was human is one of the greatest mysteries of all time, and one that will not be solved until we have new bodies, new eyes, new hearts, new minds, and strong souls with which to engage any place near Him.  To exchange heaven for a place, and to exchange eternity for time, was an act of humility I don’t think any of us can understand.

I was reading Brian Greene’s book The Elegant Universe, in which the Columbia professor talks about potentials of the super-string theory.  It is a very fancy book, but I was struck at one point when Greene indicated the possibility that multiple dimensions may be laid out against each other as slices of a loaf of bread or tissues in a great brain.  And while distantly scientific (strings are too small to actually see and prove scientifically and have been seen only through mathematical formula), the theory had me pondering about the greatness, or should I say the otherness, of God.  I began to wonder how odd it would be if we existed in the mind of God, as Brian Greene, perhaps unknowingly, suggests.  I am not saying I believe this is true, but something as radical as this, as foreign to our minds, certainly may be.  And out of this other place, this other existence, Christ stepped to inhabit ours.

If you believe Jesus was God, and He came to earth to walk among us, the first thing you start considering is that He might actually care.  Why else would something so great become something so small?  He didn’t close Himself off in a neighborhood with the Trinity; He actually left His neighborhood and moved into ours, like a very wealthy and powerful man moving to the slums of Chicago or Houston or Calcutta, living on the streets as a peasant.

I started thinking about the idea my friend at the Bible College suggested about how, if God is a perfect and loving Being, the most selfless thing He could do would be to create other beings to enjoy Him.  And then I started thinking that if those creatures fell away from Him, the most selfless thing a perfect and loving Being could do would be to go and get them, to try to save them from the death that would take place in His absence.

That said, if Christ was who He said He was, and He represents an existence, a community, and an economy that are better than ours, and it is important that I ‘believe in Him,’ what is He like?

As I read the Gospels and other books about Jesus, I started a little list of personality traits and beliefs I thought were interesting.

HE BELIEVED ALL PEOPLE WERE EQUAL

In reading the Gospels of the Bible, I discovered that the personality of Christ was such that people who were pagans, cultists, money-mongers, broken, and diseased felt comfortable in His presence.  All this goes back to the idea of the lifeboat and how Jesus, outside that system, wouldn’t believe one person was any better than another.  Apparently this counterintuitive belief system was obvious in the character of Christ.  In the Gospels, Jesus is always surrounded by the poor, by the marginalized.  And, adversely, He is often opposed by the powerful.  Not all the powerful, but those who oppose Him are almost always the people who are ahead in the lifeboat.  In this way, Jesus disrupted the system by which people were gaining their false redemption.

Phillip Yancey, a writer I admire a great deal, taught a class at his church in Chicago about Jesus.  He reflects on what he discovered about Jesus in his book The Jesus I Never Knew:

‘The more unsavory the characters, the more at east they seemed to feel around Jesus.  People like these found Jesus appealing: a Samaritan social outcast, a military officer of the tyrant Herod, a quisling tax collector, a recent hostess to seven demons.

In contrast, Jesus got a chilly response from more respectable types.  Pious Pharisees thought him uncouth and worldly, a rich young ruler walked away shaking his head, and even the open-minded Nicodemus sought a meeting under the cover of darkness.

I [Yancy] remarked to the class how strange this pattern seemed, since the Christian church now attracts respectable types who closely resemble the people most suspicious of Jesus on earth.  What has happened to reverse the pattern of Jesus’ day?  Why don’t sinners like being around us?’

This makes a great deal of sense if you think about it, because Jesus was offering redemption through a relationship with Himself, and for those who were already being redeemed by a jury of their peers, people like politicians or wealthy people or powerful religious leaders, the redemption Jesus offered must have felt like a step down; but for those who had nothing, for those who were being threatened in the lifeboat, Jesus offered everything.  In fact, at one point Christ says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  He says that a man like this will have trouble seeing the beauty of Christ on his own, and that he will need God’s help. (See Luke 18L25-27.)”



I was sitting in church the other day thinking about this passage; more specifically, about the words Miller quoted by Yancy.  What most struck me were Yancy’s questions…”What has happened to reverse the pattern of Jesus’ day?  Why don’t sinners like being around us?”  These questions are great ones to ponder, reflect upon in our own lives, and commence deep thinking.  I can’t say I know the answer, but I want to try and find out.  Even more importantly, I want to reverse it.

If anything, our churches should be more, radical, so to speak, to attract the everyday people; the lost ones, the hurt ones, the abused ones, the searching ones…everyone who needs to know how much God loves them.  I want to see if we can strive towards bringing in those who really and truly need God.  Those who already acknowledge Him and are aware of His existence, know what is right and what they need to do.  The choice is theirs.

We need to bring in those who don’t know our real God, don’t know His love for them, how much He gave up…just for them.  As Christians, we should be encouraging and loving the ones that everyone else condemns.  Bringing in to church the ones who need to hear about God…not the ones who already know about Him.  Bring in the unlovable…not the respected.  Bring in the poor…not the rich.  Bring in the broken…not the healed.  Bring in the hated…not the loved.

Our goal should be to be examples of Christ and love everyone, despite of our own feelings.  If Christ would love them, we need to love them.  And since Christ loves everyone, we need to love everyone.

This is just something to keep in mind as you live your daily lives.  Try to come out of your shell and reach out to those whom you would not normally reach out to.

The King

The weariness he felt crushed him like never before.  It took all of the strength within him to rise for this one last and final meeting with the King.  The King who had been his friend and comrade throughout the years.  As with any friendship of course, there had been a time when they did not know each other.  That is to say, when he did not know the King, but the King had known him.  One day though, it all changed.  He had come to a turning point in his life, and he had the choice to go two ways.  Follow the pretender who only spent time with him when he had money and friends in high places; or to follow the King who had seen him at his worst and still loved him.  He had chosen the King.

They had had their shares of struggles.  There had been times when he had denied his friendship with the King, or had even turned away from Him.  But when he had gotten hurt or was broken down, the King was right there in front of him, willing to pick him up and care for him until his strength returned.

The King had gone through everything with him.  Through all the horrors and pains of life.  When his first wife-to-be had run away with another man a few days before their wedding.  When his oldest son had almost died in a freak accident (the end result being that his son turned his life around).  When his mother was on her deathbed and told the family of her unknown past.  When his wife had died due to an unknown disease early on.  Everything.

The Kind had gone through everything with him.  Through all the joys and excitements of life.  When he finally met the women of his dreams and they wed each other.  The times when he drove his wife to the hospital to give birth to their children.  When his daughter went on her first date.  When his son got his license.  When his dad had finally acknowledged the existence of the King.  When his son married his long-time sweetheart.  When his daughter’s child had been stillborn, but miraculously came to life.  Everything.

He told the King everything.  He went to Him with his frustrations of the workplace.  He vented out his anger to the King, at a quiet place in the woods by his house.  He thanked the King for the blessing of his family and all the good things that were in his life.  He trusted the King with his life.  When hard times came along, he knew that is was all a part of the King’s greater plan for his life.  When he had to make hard decisions at points in his life, He always sought out the King for advice, and waited until He told him what the right thing to do was.

The final meeting with his King had come.  What a joyous meeting it would be.  He loved the King with all his heart and he knew the King loved him more than he could ever imagine.  This meeting would signify the end of his life on earth, and then the King would finally take him home to be with Him.  He didn’t want anyone to be sad, for he had been waiting for that moment his entire time of knowing the King.  A light shone up above him.  At that moment, he knew the time had come.  The King smiled a loving, caring smile upon meeting his eyes.  “It’s time” he whispered.  The man nodded.  He closed his eyes for a second, and upon opening them again…he was home.

Jewish Customs

As Christians we all have our “religious” symbols as does any other religion (though ought not to be a religion, but rather a relationship). There's the cross, halos, of Christ in various settings - one being amongst a flock of sheep with a lamb on His shoulders. In the Hebrew culture, they have many interesting customs. As my sister just spent five weeks in Israel, I was able to learn some of them. One such custom has to do with the Shepherd and His sheep.

As we all know, springtime is the time when life comes. This is obviously true with a flock of sheep. Lambs are born in the springtime. Sometimes there is a little lamb who will run away from the flock. Because the Shepherd cares for all of his flock, he will retrieve the little lamb and bring it back to its family. But because this little lamb is a wanderer, it will continue to wander off from the flock into the dangers of the wilderness. It may get away with this several times. Each time, thanks to the watchful eye of the Shepherd, the lamb is returned to the safety of the flock. However, if this continues to happen, the Shepherd will take disciplinary action solely for the sake of the lamb's well-being.

To make it remember that wandering away is the wrong thing to do, the Shepherd will break one of its legs. He will then bandage it up to let it heal properly. However, because it cannot walk from the broken leg, the Shepherd will keep it on His shoulders over the period of time it takes for the leg to heal. As this process is happening, He will hand feed it and care for it very tenderly. As is often the case when one individual tenderly nurtures another for any length of time, a special kind of bonding will occur. When the lamb's leg is finally healed its lesson is learned, and as a result, it will never stray away from the flock again. And ultimately, because of its bond to its Master, it will always trail very closely behind Him, following Him wherever He goes.

There is an object lesson to be learned here. My sister did a very good job of it when talking in our church this last Sunday about her trip. The same is with us and our Savior. His love is such a strong one; indeed the strongest kind of love, that He will go to great lengths just to earn our love. There are those who profess to have the faith of Christianity, but their words and actions say otherwise. Our heavenly Father wants our love, and our all.

It seems as if, should we profess our faith in Him, that we would give Him our all, putting Him first in every area of our lives; alas, this is not so with the majority of believers. Since He is One of a jealous nature, He will do what is necessary to keep those who wander, from wandering. If we let Him, He will break us down until we have nothing left to rely on but Him. Such is His jealousy, His love, His earnest desire to grow closer to us, and we to Him.

I pray for you all to not be broken before you are drawn to Him, because such a path is not an easy one. Rather, go to Him with all your earnest desires, fears, hopes, supplications, sins, and put Him first in your life; for when you do so, everything else in your life will fall into place (Romans 8:28).

My love to you all.

- Aimee

Lamb of God

“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.  To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. - Revelations 1:4-6

John greeted the Church as many of the disciples did back in biblical times.  He wished them grace and peace, all in the name of Jesus Christ.  He also makes an interesting point.  Because Jesus loved us (and still does of course), He sacrificed Himself for us.  In that process, our sins were washed with His blood, which was clean.

Now, before I go any further, I want to take a look into why Jesus was called the Lamb of God (John 1:29 – “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Often times when Christians hear the term “Lamb of God” we think of a cuddly baby lamb – a nice image, no?  But in actuality, when John called Jesus the Lamb of God in front of the crowd, the image was not a pleasant one.  Let’s look into how lambs were regarded during the Biblical times.

These days lambs are either pets or are used for food.  But their purpose served differently back in the biblical times, both Old and New Testament.  This next bit of info I got from a devotional called “Praying the Names of Jesus” (I recommend it by the way).  I’ll just paraphrase what the author wrote about.

In the Old and New Testament, the sacrificial system provided a way for God’s people to approach Him.  As an animal was offered, its blood was shed and its flesh was then burned at the altar.  If an animal was completely consumed by the fire, the sacrifice was called a “holocaust.”  If only a part of the animal was burned, it was considered as a “peace offering.”  The peace offering was intended to restore communion with God.

The people who offered sacrifices understood that the animal being sacrificed was a symbolic representation of themselves and their desire to offer their own lives to God.  The sacrificial system was actually a way that the Hebrew Scriptures represents God’s way of instructing us about what it means to approach a holy God.

The lamb was actually the principal animal of sacrifice.  Two were offered each day – one in the morning and one in the evening.  On the Sabbath, the offering was doubled.  Lambs (or other animals) were also sacrificed on the first day of the new month.  They were also sacrificed on such feasts as Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonements, and Tabernacles.  They were also sacrificed in cleansing ceremonies after a woman gave birth and after the healing of a leper.

To the Jews, the lamb represented two things.  Innocence and gentleness.  The sacrifice of a lamb was meant to represent the purity of intention of the person or people who offered it.  Therefore, they had to be without physical blemishes.

The phrase “Lamb of God” is only found in John’s Gospel, though Jesus is often referred to as “the Lamb” in the book of Revelation.  It is there where he is portrayed as the Lamb who, though slain, yet lives and reigns victorious.

Let’s take a look at John.  He was the son of a priest.  That means that he knew and was familiar with the sacrificial system.  He knew the horrors of the sacrifices – the blood, the bleating, the odor of burning animal flesh mixed with incense.  So why then, with the images that “the lamb” conjured up in the people’s minds, did John use the phrase “Lamb of God?”

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the ultimate sacrifice.  He was innocent and without sin.  He was everybody’s lamb.  He died for us so that our sins would be permanently taken care of, and because He loves us.

Back to the verses in Revelations.  Jesus, who was pure and loved us more than we could ever imagine, died for us.  He washed our sins with His blood.  After His sacrifice, we were then made kings and priests in the kingdom of God.  We are all stewards, and have responsibility to be witnesses for Him through both our words and actions.  This brings me to my next verse.

“For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a love of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” - Titus 1:7-9

We are called kings, bishops, and priests.  We have a responsibility to be a light amongst those in the dark.  It is true that because we are humans, we cannot be perfect.  Nevertheless, we must strive for perfection.  We must strive to be like Jesus.  I love this set of verses, because it tells us what we should be doing.

I tend to not talk as much as other people, but rather observe my surroundings – both places and people.  I’ve noticed that there are many people who seem to think that they are Christians.  However, so often their words and actions show otherwise.  I think that we, as Christians, are somewhat lost with what we should say, in how we should act, things that we tend to do on a daily basis, and decisions that we make.

As my dad once said, “How much are [you] willing to give up in order to have a better relationship with God?”  He makes a very good point.  Christians have allowed themselves to lower their standards for their life styles.

So often we allow profanities to escape from our lips.  So often we will watch movies with profane words, sex scenes, or violence in them.  So often we will listen to music by secular bands that may be good or not, depending on the lyrics.  So often we will find ourselves in compromising situations due to the people that we hang out with.

R. A. Torrey once said that “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully committed to Him.”

I can’t say that I know how you should act.  All I know is how the Bible tells us how to act.  But maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe most Christians are fine with where they are at in their relationship with God.  Maybe they don’t want to grow closer to Him.  Maybe they don’t care how powerful their words and actions can be to both Christians and non-Christians.

All I know is that I want an amazing relationship with God.  I am willing to give up things if that means growing closer to Him.  As I have realized before though, I know that I would not be so willing to do something dangerous or heroic if He asked me to.  I only hope that I will one day be in the place where I would be willing to give up my life for a complete stranger if it means that my sacrifice would show them God’s love.