One of the Surrendering Branches

Surrendering...

Do you ever feel like it is soooo hard to surrender? 

I don't mean giving up little bits and pieces of something. Not just handing over a portion of something. By surrender I mean giving up everything.

This week I have been dealing with possibly the hardest situation in my entire life. I have always felt before that I was pretty good at giving God my "full" trust. I felt like I was fully surrendered to God and that no matter what happened, that God would have control...

This week I have been stretched beyond belief. 

I am broken. I am beaten. I am destroyed.

I...have...nothing...left...to...give...

It is in this complete brokenness and desperation that I find myself seeing why God wants our full surrender, and also why it is so important to surrender fully to God. 

I am inadequate and have nothing left to give, and it is because of this that I can now rely on God's strength. It is because of this that I can now rely fully on God's wisdom. It is because of this that I can rely fully on God's love. 

I...have...nothing...left...to...give...

...I surrender...

One of the NOT SO conservative branches

Here is a doozy.

The other day I went out for lunch with two of my co-workers.

I was sitting and enjoying my burger and fries, like any normal person would, and listening to a co-worker tell about a previous job he had. He worked in the government, so alot of the lunch chat was about politics. This co-worker is not a "Christian", and does not regularly attend church. He knows who I am, and what I believe, and seems to have no problem with any of it, but doesn't have a claim to it himself. As the conversation was getting into the whole Conservative vs. Liberal debate (not political party names), as these type of things tend to head towards...

My co-worker made one of the most profound statements that I think alot of us Christians need to hear and think about thoroughly....

Here is pretty much what he said...

"What is up with you Christians being so conservative? I don't know much about this stuff, but the little I do know is that this Jesus was NOT conservative!"

...thoughts?...