New Kind of Monster

Found on Hanging10withBosco.com

Hello friendlies,
In order for this short post to make sense, you have to see this YouTube video (F-bomb alert)! 

1. Spoken word is awesome (watch the video if you STILL haven't).

2. This particular video reminded me, as a Christian, I try and have this look, this image going for me -
*Pumpkin: the well rounded Christian, not too obnoxious, not too bland, just right.
*Fairy: the Christian doing the most good
*Turtle: the Christian no one hates
*M 'n' M: the Christian that's got it ALL going on 

The super chill, holy, Jesus-filled, walking the straight and narrow. Christian.

But, there's a lot of darkness inside that I don't want others to see, the freak show underneath:
(enter OLD creature Ife)

 "....all that I am don't fit prettily into polyester and spandex [i.e. Los 10 Commandments for me]. I'd much rather be a Sasquatch, Godzilla, King Kong, Loch Ness goblin, ghoul, a zombie with no conscious [ . . . ] I'd much rather be vampire. My reflection disappearing every time I looked in the mirror so I wouldn't have to worry about flaws that stare blankly back at me."

Pause. Stop and Consider

2 Corinthians 5:17, the Bible

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: 

The old has gone, the new is here!"

"On a bad day, I'm human." My organs fail, my flaws shine bright like a diamond, I feel uncomfortable in my own skin. On a good day, I become like the vampire-don't see my flaws, I'm like the mummy-dead to me, and I'm like the boogeyman-the devil's worst nightmare. My flaws are thrown so far away from me, my old rebellious, enslaved self is dead and buried and I become a new kind of threat.

Not out of my own power, but of a power that resides in me (that I call Jesus power) and can shine through when I'm not trying to control. So, yes. I choose to be monster, a new kind of monster.

Pause.

2 Corinthians 5:17

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: 

The old has gone, the new is here!"

"I've heard that some of the most beautiful women are the craziest ones."

*Side Note: Props to the ladies on the video. All the quoted parts not cited are their words, not mine.*

Love: Unfailing

Well, good morning partner. Howdy there?

At 45 degrees the next morning, the snow was all gone. No trace.

         The snow fell to the Earth quite heavily the other day and after running into CC, we concluded that this was perfect weather for sledding. We borrowed some food trays from our favorite cafeteria on the North Side and hurriedly made our way to the slopes. We fell, tumbled, face planted, rolled and got back up many times that evening. And on our way out, a young woman, fully covered with appropriate snow gear, walks by and says "Howdy?" At least that's what I thought she said. In all actuality, she was inquiring of our experience: "How was it?" Though my response was "Hi!", it made sense to me when two of my friends respond with a "It was great!". I caught the mistake later.


             It seems that there are many times in our lives that we  hear the wrong things and this in turn affects our actions and what we do/say. After reading Psalm 13:1-6, I realized I haven't been fully comprehending what God wants from me. He says "Love me." I love and love and love until I pass out and can't get out of bed for the morning church service. The feelings of guilt start to pile up even further as I spend less and less time with Him in regular devotion in the morning. I shake my head and let it hang in embarrassment at my lack of dedication.

           Although God deeply desires that I love Him with ALL that I have, He knows that there is no way that I'll ever love Him fully and perfectly. "But I trust in your unfailing love..." That word 'unfailing' can only be applied to Him.

He says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matt 22:37) I heard "If you can't love me perfectly, you are a failure."

        But what He's really say is "There is no on righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10) but "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) In my imperfect ways, God is perfect.

In my unfaithful ways, God is faithful. He never fails. 

        So, the more I listen to God, the more I realize, sometimes I just miss what He's saying and that makes all the difference. Now, I don't have to beat myself up when I don't do things perfectly, but simply trust in Him to get me to where He wants be to be and know that He's still working on me and will continue to until the end of time. That is my forever (unfailing) Love. <--A great song!

Until next time with much love, peace and unfailing grease,


Ife 'Quipayan' S.

Me, myself and I

"I........." How many times a day do we start our sentences with 'I' or construct strings of sentences with the word 'I' in it? It's hard to avoid it, I know. It's important that we use 'I' for several reasons such as giving someone your point of view or sharing the most riveting experience of something that happened to you. Then there are situations when we insert the 'I' unnecessarily. Someone is talking about their day (because you asked) and they pause for two seconds and you pick up where they left off. Observe:

You: Hey, Julie! How are you?
Julie: Great, fam. I just ran into my ex-boyfriend and he's not angry with me anymore. I was going to uh (pause)
You: Wait. What?! He said what? If I were you, I would have walked away right there. You know it wasn't your fault, so why does he think he has to forgive you?!Who does he think he is? I wish my ex-boyfriend would come up to me and say he's not mad. Let him be mad. I don't care!
Julie: (pause)......it's not about you.

This situation happened to me once. Really humbling and kinda awkward. My friend was right. It wasn't about me. Nor did he ask for my input. He was simply telling me a story that all I needed to do was listen.

(See how many times 'I' has been used by me?)

I'm trying to learn to think less of myself. Especially as a Christian. 2 Corinthians 2: 1-5 touches on the fact that what we have to say does not compare with what God has to say. The more we think that we are providing the greatest information or even good information, we should check ourselves. What is God saying? Seriously...

"When I came to you, brothers, I didn't no come with eloquence or superiors wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God." vs. 1 --Paul is saying that what he brought to the table, is nothing. He had to eloquence or superior wisdom. But what he testified to was what made the difference. When we start testifying about ourselves and looking inwardly, we can truly bring the Kingdom and look outwardly.

Take a step back. Read 1Cor. 2 for yourself. Recognize it's not about 'I'. Speak words that testify to God's person. 


Much love, peace, and outward-looking grease,
           Ife 'Quipayan' S. 


P.S. It's reading week and exams officially start on Thursday, but I have one everyday this week. Great. Only God can take me through....I should really stop focusing on what I can do and look to what God is capable of doing. Looking outward.