Sift You as Wheat

Process of sifting grain

To those in search of answers for the tough questions, revelation of a distinct purpose, and an all-encompassing Peace: may these words bring you comfort.


  "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I find myself asking that question a lot here lately in my life, as I am sure you have done at some point in your life. In fact, if you are human, have breathe in your lungs, and blood coursing through your veins I am positive you have asked this question. I recently begin to comprehend the depths of that question and feel led to share them with you. 


    I was sitting in Starbucks (like the rest of the world), anxiety would not even begin to describe the level of uneasiness I was feeling. Less than a week prior I was on top of the world: I have great friends, a loving family and a stable job. I was looked at as somewhat of a "sharp guy", as my friend of whom I was waiting to meet, had once called me. But this day was different, I had messed up and had invited that friend to apologize and start the long road back to fixing that relationship. So there I was, sitting in the parking lot 15 minutes early and the storm of all storms was brewing. The wind was wiping, trees bending under the weight. All at once the skies opened up and rain beat down on the roof of my SUV. I had been dreading this meeting all day at work because I knew the awkward tension that would be palpable once we were face to face. A tension that arose because of an unperceived  area of weakness in my life. You see, I had been fed the line that I was this great guy by everyone i knew, family and friends alike. Truth be told, I would like to think I am a "good" person, as I am sure you would like to be thought of as well.  As I ventured into the coffee shop, I did that awkward scan of the room in search of a familiar face as I walked briskly to not look like that creepy guy you catch looking at you. I was apparently there first. So i order a drink and set down. I had that nervous energy building up inside of me that I had to do something to try and restrain my nerves. My leg was bouncing uncontrollably as I tired to read from my Kindle app. I reread the same sentence ten times. I could not focus. I looked up and saw a familiar face.  


   Before I am able to answer the question, "Why do good things happen to bad people", I first must give alleviate some stress you may have. What is the definition of "good", you ask? Many would submit, that being "good" constitutes someone of upstanding virtue, that strives daily to be better than he or she was yesterday. Well lets do this little exercise. This is a self reflection I had to do myself. Have you ever lied? Yes? Then what does that make you? A liar. (these questions sting but are necessary, so please stay with me). Have you ever stole? No? Well did you count your sip stealing at the soda fountain. You know what I'm talking about, like you haven't taken a big gulp, looked around to see if you were clear and topped off again. That's stealing. My sound silly, but that's how it is. One more. Have you ever coveted your friends new 2012 cherry red mustang, with white racing stripes, navigation, all american racing rims, with a 5.0 Liter V6 engine that goes 0 to 60 faster than you can say vroom vroom? No? Neither have I. Of course we all have coveted something someone else has that we don't. So by those standards would you be considered a person of upstanding virtue? A "good" person? Not a chance.


  You see, we ask the question, "why do bad things happen to good people", without being aware that none of us are good. no not one. Our throats are open graves, our tongues practice deceit, our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark our ways. We do not know the way to peace. So how can we, being bad ask a question that does not pertain to us. Yes, you may be a better person than someone who massacre's dozens of people in theater in Aurora, Colorado. But this is not a comparison driven question. It pertains specifically to you. When something bad happens to YOU, its YOUR justice that you are calling into question. You see, you are fallen short of the standard we are called to live by. That standard is Jesus Christ. He came her and was tempted in every way that we are tempted, and he came out unblemished. Never lied, never cussed, never coveted. He is Holy. Set apart. Different from us. Our justice comes in acknowledging that we are fallen and justified by His dying on the cross for our sins. He bridged the gap to us. While we are unworthy, constantly falling short, not naturally "good", sinners- He loves us and bridges that gap. 


  You may be asking yourself, Kyle, how does that answer the question why bad things still happen to those that realize our fallen nature. Why do things still happen. I submit two theories. First, to shake us. Make us aware. Acknowledge God. That's a whole blog in of itself. For some study on your own read: Job, Exodus 7-12, and Revelation. In each account bad things happen to seemingly innocent or "good" people. But Isaiah 55, Says God;s ways and thoughts are higher than our thoughts. For more on that, read my last blog. But the reason and point of your blog is this. It is found in the scripture my friend gave me.

Threshing wheat

  As my friend sat down and we hashed out our problem the storm outside seemingly intensified. The ominous weather was fitting. Lightening peeled across the sky, and thunder rumbled as the power flickered and finally went out. God undoubtedly was trying to get my attention and Satan wanted nothing more than to distract me. He was accomplishing that very well, just as the biggest lightening bolt struck right  in my view out of the window right over my friends shoulder. I instantly thought of Job 32, where God shows His Majesty in directing ever lightening bolt where to go. This one, snapped me back from my drifting conscious, and my friend laid this scripture before me. Luke 22: 31-32, "Simon,  Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." For those that are not familiar with the Bible, Simon is Jesus' closest disciple, or friend if you will. He was looked at by everyone as a "good guy", a "sharp guy". But, less than 25 verses later he denies even knowing Jesus. Not once. Not twice, but three times. There is comfort in these verses however. In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist paints us a startling picture: "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The imagery here, is that of a farmer on his threshing floor. Farmer after harvesting their crops, would lay them out on the threshing floor and have donkeys or horses drag a threshing board that would tear the grain from the stalk and husks. He would then use a winnowing fork and throw the wheat in the air, allowing the wind to carry away the lighter chaff, and the heavy grain would fall the floor. Then comes the process of sifting. If you reach this process there in of itself lies a level of comfort. Jesus calls you grain. You are His, he claims you. You are not the chaff that is blown away. The grain would then be put into a sieve. A type of straining device. Think of gold miners panning for gold. The screen would allow the grain to fall into baskets to be used and the rocks and debris from the threshing floor would remain on the screen. Dear friend, we are just like the wheat.

Refined Gold

   God allows bad things to happen to remove any unwanted or unnecessary debris in our lives. I'm not saying that we don't bring it on ourselves, but He allows us to makes decisions that ultimately strips of some self pride, or our sense of natural born virtuoso. This sifting process is often painful, but we should not resist it. Instead of praying for a lighter load, we should instead pray for a stronger back. Pray for a desire to be closer to Him. Ask Him to take away anything that keeps you from being closer to Him. You undoubtedly have endured many bumps in the road of life. But, being a Christ follower does not mean that there aren't going to be some potholes along the way. In fact, it is actually going to be a hard journey.  I know it has been for me. He are going through a bevy of refining processes that makes us more like Jesus: molding or shaping, (Jeremiah 18), sifting (Luke 22, Amos 9), purging (1 Peter 1:7), and pruning (John 15). Once you have endured your refining, turn and strengthen your brothers that are walking through that storm you just came out of (Luke 22:32).


  Let me leave you with these words as a guide, and may the God of all creation that sustains us and shapes us to be more and more like Him everyday bring you comfort in your most difficult of trials, and bring you out loving mercy and walking ever closer to Him. 


John 15:1-5, "I am  the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself: it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 


In Christ Jesus,
Kyle

Alive and Active. Sharper than a double-edged Sword.

To those in search of answers for the tough questions, revelation of a distinct purpose, and an all-encompassing Peace: may these words bring you comfort.


   I must digress. I have a heavy heart as I slowly peck away at these keys. I have had writers block before, but this is distinct. I am not sure where to begin. This week has been challenging both mentally and physically, but this message has been on my heart for a few months, and this week has cultivated (perhaps blossomed is more suitable) full blown discontentment which has troubled me deeply. This uneasy conscious is primarily rooted in interpersonal relationships I have developed, ones that I have maintained, even if at a distance, and relationships that I long to have. I have had a longing to converse with everyone of those relationships on this message, digest their thoughts and produce this message. I feel as though now, is good as any to reiterate the findings and thoughts I have concluded. I have such a burden for this message I must share- I hope that I do it justice with my feeble attempts to reason with those who consider yourselves logical, critical and theological thinkers. To those that agree with this disposition, may it in turn serve to strengthen your resolve to finish the race or allow it to pick you up, dust yourself off and finish the race set before you. That being stated, I would never consider myself a man of immeasurable knowledge. However, of this I am sure, I have an utmost peace that attests to my assurance in this message. May this message not be ascertained for any glory of my own, but for the purpose of educating many, bring honor to He who alone is worthy, and in a sense bring me a degree of comfort by sharing this heavy laden burden I endure in carrying this message so close to my heart. This message pertains to a question, one that has been posed in many different ways. I have come to call them "If, Then" statements. But they all beg the same question in essence. "If", implies a suspicion in the honesty or in this case the existence of something. "Then", would conclude that "If" the previous statement is true, "Then", the following must statement must correlate. It must correlate to the existence of something in this case. The existence of more. The existence of answers. The existence of the divine. The existence of GOD.


     I do not pretend to be able to answer all of the "If, then" questions, but I would be remiss if I did not not level the playing field. I may not be objective in my opinions on God, but considering I am a man of faith- I have faith you will finish reading in order to hear me plead my case. I would love to, in fact, I long to respond to any of the questions you may raise. But, as I have discerned from relationships with many Agnostic and Atheist acquaintances and even friends (yes, we can still be friends, and in my case family members) you may not call it faith, but you have to trust in the unseen as well. Your trust in the unseen is called theories. Theories are not proven and require you to trust what you have not seen or been able to prove. Faith and theories, at times, are both unseen and unproven. So with that in mind, whether you agree or not, we must begin to look at things that have been proven. I feel a burden for you to know the truth. Let's be practical here. Put aside the hell, fire, and brimstone conversations you have had, put aside the notion that I am trying to "save you", or that you may consider  it is ignorant to believe in such a thing as a greater being. Let your guard down for one second. Let me ask you a a question. Have you ever pondered the expanse of the universe? How infinitesimally minute we are even in or own solar system? The best explanation I have come across is from a sermon series called, "Indescribable" by Louie Giglio. I will try to make this as simple as possible. Space is too enormous to use our earthly measurements, so we use something called a light year (the distance light travels in a year). Light travels 5.8 trillion miles in a year. In case you were wondering, light travels 186,000 miles a second. So lets put things into perspective. The milky way (always reminds me of the candy bar. Guess that's the skinny kid in me) galaxy is 120,000 light years in diameter. Let that sink in. Got it? One-hundred and twenty light years. Now Voyager 1, our fastest space vessel travels at a speed of 39,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it would take Voyager 1-  roughly 16,977 years to travel only one, yes only one, light year. Remember our galaxy is 120,000 light years in diameter. Lets follow the math, don't worry I will do it for you, just pay attention and stay with me. So going the fastest we possibly can, it would take us- Two Billion, Thirty-seven million, two-hundred and forty thousand years to exit the milky way galaxy. Do you know what that means? It's never going to happen.


   You may be asking why any of that is relevant, and I hope you are still with me. God has never asked us to separate religion from Science. That was man's doing. Search the Bible, and you will see God ordained science to declare the riches of His intelligence, and creativity of His design, all for us to discover and marvel at the work that He put into the Universe. The point is that there are billions and billions of galaxies just like ours. How can it be possible that we are here by accident, that something so expansive as the universe came into being by accident? We are not the center of the universe as we seem to attribute ourselves to be, heck we are not even the center of our own galaxy, or solar system. We are tiny. A speck. Nothing. But we are here, on this rock for a reason. We are not the by product of an imbalanced equation balancing itself out. We are an anomaly. We are perfectly positioned. We have a breathable climate. Trees that act in unison as respiration partners with us as they are expelling oxygen for us to breathe, we expel carbon dioxide to keep the cycle going. All of nature has a natural rhythm, a heartbeat, and simultaneous pulse. We have Oceans that do not flood us daily because of the positioning of a moon. A moon that is thousands of miles away. Not too far, but just right. We are not to close to the sun as to burn us like that unlucky worm that ventures out onto asphalt, but just far enough to live comfortably. If we were a result of particles pouncing around, then that begs the question where did the particles come from? Everything in life has a Genesis if you will. This is where you must choose. Two roads diverging in a yellow wood kind of choice. To have faith a divine being came from nothing, or that particles came from nothing. Either way you must accept we are the result of something that we cannot and will not ever fully comprehend. But have you ever wondered if knowing truly makes the situation any better? Does knowing you have cancer make it any easier to believe or handle the stress that lies ahead? The burden of prove may be substantial, but i submit the burden of omniscience would be crushing. Yet, that is what we strive for in accordance to our inquisitive nature. I ask you to reason which is more plausible. Intelligent design, or happenstance, chance, luck, a big boom. I would say there was certainly a  really big bang. A big bang when God spoke. The God of the Universe declares that the Heavens are His throne, the earth is His footstool. The biggest expanses that we will never travel into (even with the Millennium Falcon), are something He sits on and props His feet on. A throne and footstool that He literally willed into being by the simple words of His mouth, that as He spoke light came screaming out of His mouth at 186,000 miles a second. 


   To surmise my message, I have many reasons I know my Redeemer lives, but the one I have briefly stated here is that He is too magnificent for us to try to box Him in with our human minds. He is truly Indescribable, His ways are not our ways, and neither are His thoughts our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways, and thoughts higher than ours. He is enormous. We can not contain Him in our puny religious box, our lavish churches, or whatever feeble humanly attempts we make. How can you look at the Heavens that declare His glory, and the skies that are the work of His hands and not submit that there is something greater than your mind can rationalize away as mere theories or happenstance. For nature pours forth speeches of adoration for Him daily, with the rising of the sun and the setting of the same, yet they use no words. I beg you, humble yourself to a loving God that literally breathes stars like our Sun into existence. He have all turned away and gone astray like sheep and turned to our own logic, but God invites us, implores us, pleads with us, sustains us, carries us, comforts us, sent His son to dies for us- all as a grand gesture of love. He loves you so much that he invites us into a personal relationship where we will be His people and He will be our God. He exists. He desires mercy, not sacrifice. You no longer have to live a performance based life where you are loved for what you accomplish. He just asks that you acknowledge Him. I could continue this dialogue forever expounding on the riches of His glory, but I fear I may lose many or you due to my long winded remarks. In conclusion, I hope for you all to know I pray for you earnestly to let the Holy Spirit impress these truths upon you, and remind you in your times of doubt, and for those that are new to these concepts, I pray for you as well- in order to fully receive these ideas and continue to search for God on your own according to His grace.


    May He who is alone Worthy, and able to reveal the mystery of Glory of His existence to the darkened heart and mind do so in accordance to His will. 


In Christ,
Kyle Worthy

Remember You Have Molded Me Like Clay

To those in search of answers for the tough questions, revelation of a distinct purpose, and an all-encompassing Peace: may these words bring you comfort.

      If you were to take a snapshot of the deepest caverns of the recesses of man's mind, it would most likely surprise many at a similarity they would find in each and every man and woman. Somewhere  tucked away, in the darkest corner, hidden from view, locked away in an impenetrable  safe is a lingering question that we all fear. That fear, is what undoubtedly leads us to put that question so far out of mind that we can blind ourselves to the fact that we want- no need this question to be answered. We had much rather tuck it away and think to ourselves out of sight out of mind. No matter how secure a hold we have on this question, no how many chains we wrap around it, how many doors we hide it behind, it seems to slip out into the forefront of our minds at times and wreaks havoc on our pretense of a controlled life where we have answers to all our questions. That question that ominously lingers, waiting to be answered is one men throughout history undoubtedly have wrestled with. We try to distract ourselves by busying ourselves with trivial tasks, that keep our minds from having what I call unsupervised thinking. When we are not fully engaged in hiding that question, our sub conscious immediately runs to that safe, rips it open and releases that question, and in a sense allowing ourselves to truly meditate on it. We have mentally imprisoned ourselves on a conscious level. We refuse to honestly contemplate the depths of this question: what is man's true meaning? Why are we here? What is our purpose? (Yes, I know that was three questions) First, we must have an accurate definition of the word "meaning". This is the best depiction I have see thus far:


    "Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life. Frankly saw three possible sources for meaning: in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage during difficult times. -Harold S Sunshine, Man's Search for Meaning- Victor Frankly.

   Let me begin, by tackling Franker's first connotation of meaning: doing something significant. This is the step, although being the first of many, I believe many people get trapped in. I myself have spent the majority of my life trying to find meaning in doing this of significance. My motivating factor to do well in school was to be remembered as the successful student, or to succeed in sports to be remembered as a great athlete. Then my desires changed to be remembered on a grandeur scale, I did not want to be forgotten to the pages of history. So I resolved to myself to become a political figure, when my interest in that waned I resolved to myself that if I could not stand the test of time at least my name would. So I took an interest in architecture, like buildings in large cities in Atlanta. I found myself looking at every plaque on the great stone walls seeing these men's names. I then realized that man would built that building would not identify himself as builder, but maybe as a loving husband, or caring father. I had a paradigm shift in my search for meaning, it was no longer in work. While there is nothing wrong with striving for excellence and recognition, at the end close of your life I would venture to say very few people are comforted by the accomplishments. Imagine a wife trying to console her dying husband with this, "Honey, I know your time is soon, but don't worry, remember that spelling bee you won in the third grade?"Now I know that is a silly analogy, but give a moment to think about how silly it is to strive after achievements to define your meaning in life. No seriously do it. As in stop reading for 2 minutes and give some thought to that. Ok, for those of you that contemplated that isn't it almost reliving to know that your meaning is not wrapped up in the achievements of this life? My hope is not that you stop striving but that you have a clearer vantage point on what work is. It simply is that, work. The adage goes: he who does not work, does not eat, and that remains just as prevalent today as it is important. However, I have met so many people (who are good people!), that think their identity is the same as their job description, and it breaks my heart. They do not see they are capable of, and created for so much more.
  
     Our identification with our purpose for being hear on earth to some is not only depicted in their job status, but also encapsulated by their love. But we'll come back that source of meaning. We first must understand our search for meaning by our courage. This source is not as easy for my identify with as work. However, I have heard many first hand accounts of courage in my family. My father was in the First Persian Gulf War, My grandfather in Vietnam, my great grandfather in WWII; so I have been lucky enough to be raised around courageous role models the entirety of my life. But, the source of courage I believe most of us falsely trust in is our feeble attempt to be bold in difficult situations. Yes, being shot at is a difficult situation and I would never want to be there. While hot lead speeding towards us may not be our difficult situation, possibly a failed relationship, a lost loved one, regrets, financial instability- fill in the blank. The point being is our purpose for being here is not identifiable in our temporary troubles. The may leave their marks on us, but they do not, I repeat DO NOT, define us. For those of you who have been told your past mistakes have left you tainted, to those that continually struggle with insecurities, and to those that are currently weathering far bigger storms of this life, you are not meant to find our identity in those. You may be enrolled in Life's school of hard knocks and seem to be taking nothing but Honors courses, but your temporary afflictions are not the reason you have breath in your lungs. You are not roaming the earth to simply make it from one tragedy to the next or one let down to the next. Your courage is admirable, and by all means a fantastic character trait to have. Many do not. Ever seen Wizard of Oz? ( yes, another cheesy reference.) The lion wanted courage from the Wizard, but he truly had it all along. My point is, you have everything you need inside you to carry out your purpose here on earth. Yours just may not be fighting witches and flying monkeys.

     Finally, your source for meaning cannot be found in a person. Many people I come in contact with on a daily basis continually are striving for a relationship or clinging onto one for dear life. As I was writing this, a received a text message from one of my students. They were upset because the summer was coming to a close and they would be going to a different college than their significant other. Now, it is always tough to give relationship advice when it's 2am, it is even more difficult when you are single. But I was able to comfort the student in encouraging them, and reassuring them that identity and purpose is not found in people. They had to fully and firmly believe that their significance as a person was not in the love for that significant other. Love is overcomplicated sometimes. That's why I saved this source for last. While your meaning is not found in love for a spouse, girlfriend, family member, or even complete stranger it is in a sense. Let me be clear here, that statement is not a contradiction within the same sentence. If you have made it this far in my feeble attempt to answer man's Mount Everest in form of a question, then finish the race and hear me out. Our significance here on earth is not found in work, difficult situations, or temporary relationships, but an everlasting relationship. There has been a plan in motion for centuries that have led into the culmination of events that led you to this article today. Whether you are reading this on your iphone, ipad, blackberry, laptop, desktop, or whatever hunk of technology- hear me out. God is the reason and the purpose for you being here on this earth, and the reason that you have come across this blog. My prayer is that last sentence did not lose you. Please, for a few seconds allow any unbelief, or past hurts to be laid aside for a moment, lest you be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. I pray that you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, understand with your heart and turn to God and be healed. He is the reason and purpose man is here. He is our purpose. He created us (Genesis 1:27) for Himself (1 Corinthians 10:26),  He sent Jesus (John 3:16)  to restore us into right relationship with Him, Jesus died on the cross for our sins (1 John 2:2) to bring God Glory (John 12:27-28).

 You see, mans meaning is found when he draws on Christ as the source of his Purpose. (John 15:5)We were created by God for God, and When our love for Him is true it drives us to act differently (Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 1:13 , Colossians 3:17, Philippians 4:8, and then we find our Meaning. My prayer is that you find your eternal meaning today, which far outweighs the temporal meanings we find here on this earth. Fall on his grace and hear Him calling you today. Be ever hearing. Be ever perceiving. Seek the Lord while He is near. May your Spirit be renewed and a new meaning be birthed in you today.

Peace be with you all.

In Christ Jesus,
Kyle Worthy

     




 

Let Us Therefore Strive To Enter Rest

To those in search of answers for the tough questions, revelation of adistinct purpose, and an all-encompassing Peace: may these words bring you comfort.



Karraba is a simple middle aged man, with a simple middle class job. Heworks a 9-5, has a family, enjoys a good conversation, he's just an ordinaryeveryday man. The extraordinary thing about Karraba (besides his name) is hislevel of contentment. I met this man this week, and just cannot shake theimpact he has made on me. Our conversation has consumed my thoughts. I cannothelp but tell people of this magnificent man. He was born into the slums of Kenya along with 10 brothers and his sister. As I talked with this man, he told me of how he vividly remembered having no shoes until he was about 25! I wouldnot consider myself a fashion guru, but I have at least 15 pair in my closetnow, not to mention how many numerous pairs I have outgrown in my lifetime. Karrabawent on to tell me how he desired to come to America to raise a family. As hetold through his bright smile and heavy Kenyan accent, "I did not know howI was to come to live here, I had no money, no passport, I did not know wheremy next meal was coming from. I knew that I had a purpose, I just stayedpatient and here I am today." I could see the passion in his eyes andoverwhelming sense of confidence in his body language. This man truly had cometo the point we all desire, yet never seem to obtain: Contentment. How did heget there you ask? Keep reading.



What astonishes me about a story like Karraba's, is that this man would notbe considered a wealthy man by any means. He has simply found a peace that weall desire to achieve. We all tell ourselves that if we just make it to thenext tax bracket we will be happy, if we just have that car, or thatrelationship we will find our happiness, but based on this story I woulddisagree. I do not believe, and I would venture to say Karraba would agree, thathappiness is not found by comparing up to those with more than us. It is bycomparing down to those less fortunate that us. It is found in the realizationthat you are distinctly different from those around you. Contentment is notblanket state of being that is the same for everyone. Disagree? Think that isonly something poor people say to make themselves feel better? Then stop andmeditate on this thought: Why do we all have different tastes and preferences?If contentment was just an obtainable status that was the same for everyone,wouldn't we all be content to just have a job and a pair of shoes like Karabba?I propose that contentment, is found in the realization of one’s distinctnature, and when that realization is birthed into action, we do what we wereinnately designed to do -clicking on all cylinders we reach our full potentialrooting within us the deepest levels of contentment.



How do we reach that seemingly unobtainable level you ask? That is thequestion that has plagued many for years, some never find resolution and yetothers run full steam ahead and thrive. The key that unlocks those chains thekeep you down is the desire to do so. Don't lose me, yes; what I am saying isthat in order to have contentment you first must want it. Not only want it butstrive for it. Desire it. Need it. Reach a level most will never obtain: angst.If you have agreed or even remotely been interested up until this point I fear Imay lose you at this junction. If you have had any bit of revelation or anyconnection thus far please do not be put off, because you hOave not read thisfar without purpose. Therefore, I would be amiss to fail to mention the root ofthe issue at hand. If I have not been translucent up to this point, let me bevery clear. The issue is a matter of the heart. Contentment is not found inpossessions, as they are fleeting; here today and gone tomorrow. Peace ofknowing what you doing at your job, or in school, or even here on earth is notfound in people, no one is perfect and humans do not stand the test of time, wewill all pass away and be forgotten to the pages of history. True Contentmentis found solely in the fierce desire of repentance of one's heart. I pray that:"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." If thereis any inkling of a connection with this post thus far it is my prayer that youknow the Lord is knocking at your hearts door. Strive after him and you willfind that rest. Karraba told me, "Seek the Lord with all your heart, andhe will guide your paths." His faith in Proverbs 3:5-6 brought him peace.He strived after the Lord, and the Lord revealed his will for Him. He had adistinct purpose to encourage me, and to hopefully touch your heart today. Turnto him and He will give you peace. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call onHim while He is near. God does not want a phony, cold, and performance based religion. That is a fear based behavior modification relationship. He does not desire that. All He asks is that you act justly, love mercy andwalk humbly with Him. I will be praying for all that read this. We are allstriving for something. But may I prose to you, is what your striving fortemporal, or of Eternal significance.

                                                                                             Peace be with you all.
                                                                                             In Christ Jesus.
                                                                                                                      -Kyle