"I'll have an order of answers, without the contradictions, please."

A few important things about life;

If someone claims to have the answers, they’re not in the habit of asking themselves real questions.

If someone claims to have unlocked one of the mysteries that has plagued mankind for thousands of years, they probably misunderstood the mystery.

If a store claims that they have the highest quality for the lowest price, its probably because they have a well-deserved reputation for poor quality and high prices.

If a restaurant wants to make you smile, it might be because after eating their food, smiling isn’t the first thing on your mind.

If someone is too eager to be your friend, it is probable they see something in it for themselves.

If someone claims they can give you the world, it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg, and if it doesn’t, it will cost you your soul.

If you want to be rich, you must be willing to be poor, and care for other things more than money.

If you want to be happy, happiness is not the road to being happy.

If you really want to do something, walk away while you can.

If there is ever a choice, the hardest, most uncomfortable, most unnatural thing to do is usually the best.

But we are surprised when being a Christian is hard. When following Christ causes us to do things in ways and at times when we are least accustomed to it, when the best thing for us is the hardest thing to do, and often we cannot do for ourselves, that when we want to gain life we must first lose it. That when we want to have joy and peace and true love, it must be that we stop pursuing joy in what we discern, peace in what we can understand and love in the subtle sentiments of this world. We are surprised when the most important relationship we can enter into, is by far the most difficult, but at the same time one we cannot and would not initiate.

We try and try and try to find away to make it better, to fix ourselves, and to better prepare ourselves, but He says though we must “be better,” “be fixed,” and “be prepared,” if we do it as we can, none of the above will happen. Unfortunately, as often as we are fooled by the subtle inconsistencies of the above, we are often fooled into thinking that our earthly and daily tasks take precedence over the one relationship that is more important than live itself. This is because the Author of this relationship is the Author of life, more directly, the Author of our life, both physical and spiritual, and is the Author who wrote the story of our salvation and then became its chief benefactor, investor, and servant. But the Author of our story has asked for a few minutes to sit and chat with us, so we can understand His purpose, and He can prepare us for the role, and explain its privileges, frustrations, demands and blessings. But we prefer to ask the bystanders, sometimes people who don’t even know the author. We search Google, the world, our minds hearts, feelings and friends, movies and music and books and schools, but when it comes down to it, He sits in the place where all the above do not know and cannot understand, and He waits for our heart. He waits for us to run to His refuge, His salvation, His restoration. “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Great is the Lord, and abundant in power, His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble, but casts down the wicked…..” Psalms 147: 10,11,5,6