Investing

I went to what our church calls a "house party" recently. Basically it's what you go to to get involved in a small group.

One of the things that was mentioned/stressed was the importance of A.commitment to your group and B. Investing your time into their lives.

It made me think alot about investing my time. How important it is for me to invest wisely, and what it actually means to do so. I kind of have been all over the place recently in alot of different areas of my life and I feel I need to hone in on the importance of what it is I'm actually doing down here.

When I think about investing, I guess if I were to answer honestly the idea itself turns me off and I immediately think of a faster, more efficient way to accomplish the same goal. But when it comes down to it, I need to realize there just is no other way sometimes then slowly going through the necessary motions, and investing your time for a greater goal then what would otherwise be accomplished by going the quicker route.

I feel this is especially true for God's plans in your life. He loves to teach me patience, especially the consequences of not having any. Not waiting on him, and investing my trust and time on what He has planned rather then what I do....

I think the idea of investing is pretty unpopular for most. Why wait when you can get what you want NOW? But if you look around, generally in life not waiting is what gets you in the most trouble and is usually the worst product compared to the same thing that takes time to make (Food, relationships, any sort of creation)

I have realized lately that investing my time and trust into what God has planned for me was definitely the wise thing to do. He required some action on my part of course, but also alot of trust in the sense that if I keep looking for the right church He will provide it for me....I dunno, pretty exciting to see that happen TWICE in life now :)

A note to new Christians about investing: I think that, as with any other relationship, it takes investment of time to get to know this awesome savior. I remember how hard it was for me to understand who Christ actually was and not what I heard/assumed about Him. As you draw closer to god, God draws Closer to you. (James 4:8) and in time I got a little clearer picture what Christ-like love looked like in day to day life.

Settling

Been awhile! Life has been rather crazy these past 7 months (I can't believe we're over half way through the year already.) and I finally feel God is settling things in my life....ish.

For starters I am working a new position in my job. Very excited about it! I think that might be a first as far as job things go....I feel much more motivated to have a firm grasp at what I am actually doing. I guess I never realized this until I started the new position.

Me and Jen have found a church we're both pretty excited about as well...Also something I wasn't really expecting. (Which I should know better you would think)

All in all I feel things are coming together quite nicely!

Influences-Music

Part two of my series of influential things. This time around its music.

The question for me on this topic is what do I think about when listening to a song? Unfortunately I can never just listen to music per say, but a song will almost always spur on a thought branch where I end up more thinking to a song that will towards the end become background music.

Depending on the type of music I listen to will influence what I think about, and thought life is essential

Like some sort of weird filing system, I associate events, people, times, places, and seasons of life to music. Heh. A few select people in the world knew me at a time where my music choices were....less then substantiate. I remember in those times how not ok my thought life was.

I think music is one of those things that work both as an influencer and a reflector of what has influenced you in life. As life changes, its interesting to see how my tastes change. Infact, I keep alot of old music around that I never listen to anymore to remind me where I came from, and to laugh at myself....:)

I guess as your goals change as a person, you listen to music that support your thought life and lifestyle....

I love to know what kind of music friends listen to! It's a great indicator of what kind of person they are.

One of the main ways I worship is with music. I believe this is what music was created for, to give praise to God. When church hunting (I am currently in the process of replacing the word "shop" with the word "hunt" to imply manliness) one of the main things I just couldn't overlook was how the worship was. Every church worships God differently, but I'm glad He lead me to one that I really enjoy. Even this blog is named after a song.... permeates everything about me, and influences my thought life, mood, and day.

Thats it I suppose...Till next time!

P.S. Read this its pretty awesome, and written by a key influencer in my life :)