His Own Purpose

"But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace." (2 Timothy 1:8b-9a.)

It's been interesting these past couple of weeks. I feel a bit split between Davis, Berkeley, and Alameda. Unlike before I don't have one place which is mainly "home"... I kind of have three homes. It's good in some ways, but I miss the old days when I come back home to Dwight or Dana house and just hang out with my peers again, and always have people to talk to and eat with.

But why have I been called to this life? Is it because I've done something bad and am punished for it, or is it because I am particularly awesome or specially qualified? Neither. It's because of God's own purpose and grace. My duty now is to be faithful where I am at now, at this peculiar juncture that God has called me to be at. And what does being faithful entail for me now?

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2)

I think this is my primary duty right now; equipping the youth and the youth group staff so that they can in turn minister to others. To preach to the whole group is good; but the particular need is for those with open ears to hear these words. I see my job as one of equipping and training and building up. Along those lines, I'm glad to have the opportunity to teach Course 101 right now.

There are many different skills that are useful for ministry, and most of them I don't have or am not very good at. To love people concretely requires some skills; but I'm not particularly good at cooking, I'm not particularly generous with my time or money, I'm not particularly good at keeping things clean... though I'm trying to work on these things, slowly. Also, I'm not musical at all, and I'm not good at photoshop and making things like picture frames or writing cards. One of my few strengths is teaching, and so teaching Course 101 is one of the best ways that I can serve the youth.

On another note, I did the salt water flush today per Ben's recommendation. It was fun insofar as it was novel, but the drinking of the salt water and the leaving of the salt water were both not very fun. Oh yeah, another random thing. I'm working at this civil engineering firm, and yesterday my coworker was explaining to me some of the construction work that's being done and he mentioned the base and superstructure and I just thought "Marx!" Haha, silly education.