What In the World...
Friends,
The world of material possessions has been a rollercoaster ride in my life through this past month. The beginning of the month offered the crashing of my computer as I was in class. With Katie and I being in school, the computer was kind of a big deal. Also, over Easter weekend while we were at my parents house in Iowa, our Jeep was jacked/stolen if you will. Not cool. It sounds bad, but let me offer a word of hope, that it was not until these possessions were taken out of my hands that I realized the power of the Kingdom and the kindness of God.
By being at a loss in a few aspects in my life this past month, I was able to see the kingdom of God come through the woodwork (sidenote: the interesting thing about woodwork is that every house has it and it is rarely noticed). My computer crashes and at the drop of a hat my brother comes to recover my hard drive (good thing it didn't go too). He ministered to me by his compassion...compassion....compassion....compassion. Thankfully, Katie and I were able to swing buying a new computer since mine was quite old, but it was a large financial decision. Stress. The fun part of this story however is the departing of our sweet Jeep, Betsy Jr. Stolen over Easter weekend no less, but Katie and I somehow felt strangely calm. It could be prefaced by noting that God has taken care of us this past year as we have made new school committments, new jobs, new city, new marriage...things like that. God has been nothing but faithful. The good thing about God's faithfulness is that we witness it through the kingdom, and the kingdom is manifest in kingdom builders...us/you/me. Our car is stolen, get on the phone, start the notification which leads into prayer chain, two days later police recover the vehicle, go to view the car with insurance adjuster, we are going to get more out of this deal than we even thought possible. For What? To buy more stuff...
The beauty that this past month's experiences have taught me is that my stuff is never my stuff, it is always a gift from God. My possessions aren't my own because it has nothing to do with my drive, my demeanor, personality, skills, talents, and dreams....but rather they are a gift that I receive as a blessing. Word of caution though is that blessings turn to curses as soon as you become attached/dependent. I thought we had to have two cars to commute to all of our places of responsibility and interest, and the fact of the matter is that two cars are a convenience and going down to one car is an inconvenience, not a curse.
The faithfulness of God cannot be measured by what I possess but rather by the way he possesses/fills/transforms/renews/changes my life. Grace and Peace. Till next time....
The world of material possessions has been a rollercoaster ride in my life through this past month. The beginning of the month offered the crashing of my computer as I was in class. With Katie and I being in school, the computer was kind of a big deal. Also, over Easter weekend while we were at my parents house in Iowa, our Jeep was jacked/stolen if you will. Not cool. It sounds bad, but let me offer a word of hope, that it was not until these possessions were taken out of my hands that I realized the power of the Kingdom and the kindness of God.
By being at a loss in a few aspects in my life this past month, I was able to see the kingdom of God come through the woodwork (sidenote: the interesting thing about woodwork is that every house has it and it is rarely noticed). My computer crashes and at the drop of a hat my brother comes to recover my hard drive (good thing it didn't go too). He ministered to me by his compassion...compassion....compassion....compassion. Thankfully, Katie and I were able to swing buying a new computer since mine was quite old, but it was a large financial decision. Stress. The fun part of this story however is the departing of our sweet Jeep, Betsy Jr. Stolen over Easter weekend no less, but Katie and I somehow felt strangely calm. It could be prefaced by noting that God has taken care of us this past year as we have made new school committments, new jobs, new city, new marriage...things like that. God has been nothing but faithful. The good thing about God's faithfulness is that we witness it through the kingdom, and the kingdom is manifest in kingdom builders...us/you/me. Our car is stolen, get on the phone, start the notification which leads into prayer chain, two days later police recover the vehicle, go to view the car with insurance adjuster, we are going to get more out of this deal than we even thought possible. For What? To buy more stuff...
The beauty that this past month's experiences have taught me is that my stuff is never my stuff, it is always a gift from God. My possessions aren't my own because it has nothing to do with my drive, my demeanor, personality, skills, talents, and dreams....but rather they are a gift that I receive as a blessing. Word of caution though is that blessings turn to curses as soon as you become attached/dependent. I thought we had to have two cars to commute to all of our places of responsibility and interest, and the fact of the matter is that two cars are a convenience and going down to one car is an inconvenience, not a curse.
The faithfulness of God cannot be measured by what I possess but rather by the way he possesses/fills/transforms/renews/changes my life. Grace and Peace. Till next time....
posted by Levi at
12:54 PM
1 Comments:
good thoughts my friend. it's rare to hear someone that is truly at a point of understanding in their relationship to possessions. something i certainly need to understand more deeply. thanks for the wisdom bro!
-dave-
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