Lil' Man on Campus: TGIF: What to do when life backfires.

Life has a way of backfiring on us sometimes. You plan your day, your meals, your activities, your life. But before you realize that everything isn't working according to plan....POW! Life backfires, and the exhaust of life's misfortunes cover you in it's thick black, billowing cloud of misfortune, discontent, and when the dust clears, the only thing that is left is a melancholic shell of your former happy and exuberant self.

So what do you do when that happens? I mean prayer is the practical answer. That's great. But often times, I'm afraid that as Christians, we get too caught up in the mysticism of God. We have to prove to the world that our God is not some mere lofty idea that was conjured up thousands of years ago as a coping mechanism. We must prove that the God we serve is a practical-the advice and instruction in the Bible still works.

Recently, I was talking to someone, and the conversation was very...very straightfoward. Neither one of us pulled any punches. Well, when one of my secrets came up, the person totally changed on me. The person said that they would never speak to me again. And they were serious! I was so hurt. You try to be someone's friend and the minute they see weakness, they forget all about you being a minister, a child of God, a good friend. All they see is your own frailty. POW! Life just backfired, buddy! And you're left trying to pick up the pieces of your heart. So, what do you do now?

Well, you either get bitter or get better. Those are your only two options folks. As soldiers in the army of God, it's either adapt or become obselete.

2 Timothy 2
4No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

entangle:
To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl.
To complicate; confuse.

So you see, once you get too comfortable in this life, your going to end up with a life that's more complicated than what it should be, and you'll just end up confused. POW!

The moral of the story is, than you can only do so much. You can only control the variables in your life that God has given you charge over. And because there are so many more variables than you can control, you have to learn do adpat to life's POWs! And become better as a result of them. Don't wallow in self-pity! Always choose(the conscious effort-you'll see that one a lot around here)to become better. Or else, you'll just become bitter. That is a bad choice.

Hebrew 12
15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Always look diligently for ways to become better and adapt, lest any man fail of the grace of God. Amplifed says that you look out for others(and yourself) and make sure they don't fall back and fails to be secure in God's grace. I submit to you, that if you don't adapt to the disappointment that this will cause in your life, YOU will become bitter. It

will cause trouble in your life. And you and those you "infect" will become defiled as well. And guess what. Defiled people weren't allowed to worship. They were quarantined. They had to wash for several days before they could be rendered ceremonially clean.

That's too much extra work. Just live through life.

That's all for today. I hope that helps.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

TIMES OF REFRESHING

Shalom Fellowship International Church

3991 14th Ave

Detroit, MI 48208

313-831-LOVE

Nightly Service Times: 7:30pm

"I'll be there. So should you!"

I'll be preaching Sunday, October 23, 2005 at 2:00pm

New Beginnings Christian Ministries

Warren, MI

Call 313-207-2332 for more info.