daily thoughts and ramblings...

All right. This is my attempt to do some kind of regular posting and update to the blog. That sounds great until you realize how random I truly am. Without enormous thought and editing, these written thoughts and musings will be as random as the actual "thought" thoughts. (Is that the right way to say that?) See, I told you so. I'm not promising a daily post, but at least three times a week.

Well...here goes. Raining. That's what it has been doing in Louisville since I woke up at eight this morning. This constant, steady, cold rain that soaks you to the bone within minutes of being in it. Walking to and from work and to and from class, I've decided I am tired of being wet. My hair looks horrible and flat like a wet dog (no comments from the peanut gallery), my shirt looks like a dalmation with spots all over it, and my shoes are leaking from a deep puddle I stepped in.

I really shouldn't complain since this reminds me of my real home...Scotland. The land of rain and sheep. Perhaps this is God's way of preparing me for a mission in Scotland or somewhere else in the United Kingdom. Or perhaps I am too dumb to use an umbrella and watch where I am stepping. Either, I think, are possible, although the latter seems to be the most likely.

--mike

Late night update!!! The original post was done around 6PM. This update is somewhere around two in the morning.

God is definately a lover of irony! Right after this post, I left for our college/career small group. On the way there, we stopped to help a lady whose van had dropped its transmission. Guess what? Raining, just as you guessed. I looked like a rat in the sewer, except my nails are shorter. When I get back, one of my residents at Boyce College calls me and informs me he and another resident were in an accident. I shuffled over to the scene and stood out there for over an hour in...you guessed it...the rain.

I think I might be over-spiritualizing this, but could we say that adversity (such as the rain) helps to prepare us for what God has and even helps to shape us into the person God wants us to be? I think so. Our trials and adversities help to shape us into the image of Christ. Our faith would rarely grow without a challenge. Rarely would we, being independent people, be clinging to our God without trials.

So, take heart! Just like Romans 8:28-29 says, God does work all things out according to His will which is to conform us to the image of Christ. That means God uses the good, the bad and the ugly (and believe me, life is full of all three. Just go to the mall sometime!) to make us more like Jesus Christ, our Savior.

--mike (again)