Got troubles?

Oh yes! ;)

One thing for sure about this life is that we can expect to have troubles.

Another thing for sure is that God will help see us thru our troubles!

Over the weekend wife and I had another fight... Typically we get into disagreement on money issues, but this time it's not.

Anyway, our personality is really very different. Our opinions and values can often differ quite a bit. I'm not sure why this is, but all I know is that if we can really learn to become 'one flesh', we can be really wonderful!

Why? Because there are qualities which I lack, I know my wife is full of those things... and I also know that there are qualities which I have full of..., she in a way kinda lack...

I'm more 'gracious'... and she's more disciplined with 'truth'. Of course as we join together, we're not really suppose to compromise each other to become 50% gracious and 50% truthiness as if we're Buddhists... Jesus Christ our Lord is FULL of both grace and truth. These 2 things may seem contradictory... just as Jesus is both fully God and fully man... But how can God be like mortal man? How can mortal man be like God?

Well, I don't have answers to all the questions, all I know is that Jesus is physically human and spiritually God. All I know is that he's the most gracious person ever... and he is also THE TRUTH! In Micah 6:8, God wants us to act justly(in the truth), to love mercy(be graceful), but most importantly, we ought to humble ourselves to follow God.

Yes, even God knows that we can't act as justly as Jesus... nor can we be as gracious as Jesus..., but we can still try! God did promise us that we will eventually be holy just as our Father in Heaven is holy. Just because we can't acieve it now... just because we can't have it now, it doesn't mean we ought to just forget about it and give up.

We ought to keep at it... keep on trying... if we mess up, that's okay, we repent... and we try again! If we are truly humblying ourselves to follow God, there ought to be evidence of improvements! Even if the improvements are slow, so what? It's the improvements that counts. Turtles can still win races! And if we happen to be the rabbits, of course we shouldn't be so careless as to end up losing the race! ;)

We are all rabbits... AND turtles in various areas of our lives. It's important that we don't only "race" based on how the other racers are doing. If rabbit was only concerned with running the fastest race he can... trying to top his prior personal best... there's no way he could lose to that turtle! And as long as the turtle has tried his best, he also should be proud of himself even if he came in dead last relative to others...

When we're much better than everyone else, it's easy to be prideful... as long as we remain humble and just try to beat ourselves... and improve... How can we ever lose?

Pastor Jim continued on the series of worshipping God. There's no other way other than to just follow Him humbly... That means even when we don't feel like acting justly, we have to ignore that feeling. Even if we don't feel like being merciful..., we had to make sure if that's really what our Lord wants?

This is the only way we can get thru our troubles. This is how Job and Joseph and many other godly men got thru their troubles.

As humans, we inevitably screw up. Of course we should not use that as an excuse to continue to screw up..., but it's important to not lose hope for our future because God can always help us thru our troubles. Abraham has screwed up. Sarah has screwed up. Hagar has screwed up..., but by continue to obey God the best they know how, God was able to bless all of them eventually nonetheless. Things can only get better if we don't lose faith, hope and love for God and for each other.

My marriage won't be easy. I know that before I asked my wife out. I found out about more troubles as we dated... and as went thru marriage counceling with Pastor Su... Yeah, just like the song wife wrote for COG... except I can take out the word 'world' and change it to 'marriage'... ;)

I could clearly hear God telling me... in this "marriage", I'll have trouble. In Him, I'll have peace! God gave me clear sign to go for it... God was also pretty fair in warning me with all the potential problems ahead of time... so if I want to back down..., I could. Surely God doesn't want me to blame Him later on for forcing me into a marriage! ;) This is the choice I made... as long as I stay committed to Him and to my wife, I can overcome all odds! If God is with me, what can be against me?

Troubles are only temporary, God is forever. Plus, God can use troubles to help me become a better man... to become more like Him... In a way, we really need to learn from little pets. They do indeed end up becoming very similar to their owners! ;)

(Gen 13-15)