STORY BOOKS!

I have to admit that it really does suck when life throws us curves. Like today for instance, it was a pretty decent day. I mean I got most of the things I wanted to get done today done, and life was going pretty well. For those of you who don't know, I am living with my mom while I am on summer break for school. Well today she got home and she had  had a bad day. I mean you would think it was like living out Judith Viorst's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good very bad day!" I guess we all have them.

The thing that really gets me, is not the fact that we have bad days, but the way that we react when either we have, or somone close to us has a "TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY!" I guess the reason this gets me, is because I hear of the way Christians deal with these kinds of days (myself included). It's like any little thing bugs us, and then instead of letting it go, we want to PROVE that what we are saying is right. OR that what we are saying has value! It's almost as if there is this deep desire within us to fight/argue!!

I have never been a huge fan of reading. In fact, I tell people that I hate reading, and only read the stuff I have to like books for classes, devotions, and of course the Bible is on that list too (as if that makes me any more "spiritual"). However, I have started reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. The stuff he is saying in this book is just totally blowing me out of my seat! While I don't know much about the man, I feel like I have a connection with him. He lives in the same city I do (Portland, OR) I attended the church he goes to during the FALL semester, and most of the places he's talking about I have either been to, driven by, or know somone who has been there!

The only reason I bring Donald Miller up, his book "Blue Like Jazz", and all this, is because I feel that what he said to me in this one section of this book really might be the answer to our whole "Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day."

Anyone who has been to church, or grew up in church has heard the pastor say somthing like "Christians, are only human. They are Saved by the Grace of God because He First loved us!" Well BIG DEAL!! How does that help me with my bad day!!!!! Well, the main role of being a Christian is simply to live for God, and to help further His Kindom! Yet How can we do that when we are having a bad day? Donald Miller really answers this. "I will love God because he first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if I cannot accept God's love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him." The only way we can "live for God" or "Further his kindom" is if we love God, obey God, and accept His love!

So the next time you or somone you know and/or love is having a "Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day," chose to love God, obey God, and Accept his love for you, and your life. (I know I sure needed this remider!)