Does God care about my black socks?

A few years back I was in a discussion with a friend of mine that was new to the faith about what in life God really cares about. She asked my opinion and I said I didn't believe that God gave us specific guidance on everything...like what color socks to wear. She said she needed to believe that he cared about even the minutia.

This question's been bopping around my head ever since and I just received some clarity on it...or at least some clarity on my misdirection on the answer.

The sock example...I was rating things big to small...as if God cared about huge things, but not little...kind of like what we human-folk do. But sometimes...I've gotten guidance on little things that seemed little to me, but made all the difference in the purpose he has for me, and put way too much effort (physical, mental, spiritual) into big things (that would be home ownership recently...I don't know how many times he told me not to worry about it and that I can make a decision on my own...it took me forever to really accept that.)

This walk is nothing like I thought it would be. It's much more amazing.

An atheist gave me something to think about...

This is a video of Penn Jillette (of the comedic duo Penn and Teller) discussing a man that gave him a Bible. What he says at 3:00 really got me thinking...you HAVE to love people to genuinely witness to them. There simply are no other options. No other paths. No other reasons. Not guilt. Not fear. Not peer pressure. Not habit. Not ego. I Corinthians 13 really does lay it all out.




I also found it compelling that he noticed that the man genuinely cared (people can tell whether you're talking to them, or at them), that the man was sane (they know that too) and that the man was paying attention to who he was (again...to, not at). I don't believe that you have to know someone to witness to them, but it seems to be a frequent component. This man didn't know Penn Jillette personally, but he knew his work and enjoyed it.

I...am in the lives of the people I am for a reason.

Make that Change

This blog has been quite a bit harder to maintain than my others. I can just put what I want over there, but this one...different ballgame. I feel like there's more to take into consideration.

I was sitting at my desk yesterday at work, thinking back on who I was when I started working. There's no way I would have thought I'd still be with the same company 7 years later, and yet, I am. Same job, same living situation, same church...and yet things seem so different. I've changed a lot as a person, as a friend, in my walk with God, financially, as an employee, physically...just all around. Looking back on the process of change that God's been working me through, I'm coming to have better perspective on the need for patience in the Christian life. 

Patience isn't just waiting on God to bring you something or do something. Sure, sometimes it is, but, at least in my life, it's most frequently been following patiently as God walks me through a process of personal change and improvement. I've underestimated how long it takes to make real, lasting change in a human life, and especially in mine.


II Corinthians 3
    1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like
some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You
yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by
everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of
our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living
God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.


I've also underestimated how personal change and growth...even salvation are. The letter that has been written to us...the letter that we are is custom made for our lives and for the part God has designed us to play in this world.