Presently

It has been impressed upon me recently, in many different ways, the importance of living in the present. You may be thinking to yourself, or even saying it out loud to your computer screen, "Duh." But if you really stop to think about it, how many of us live in the present, in the here and now? I know that I don't. Throughout my life there has always been that element of "If I can only..." When I was a child it was "If I can only get to high school, then I'll be able to do lots of cool things." When I got to high school, it became "If I can only get to graduation, and I'll be in college and out of this high school dramafest." In college, it became "If I can only get through with school, and start my career" or "If I can only meet the right guy, and have my perfect dream life." Who knows what it will morph into after college. Maybe you have the opposite problem, like I had a few years ago. It was all about the past--"If it could only be like it was when..." My point is this-how often do you pass by opportunities today because you're looking too far ahead or too far behind to see them? There is absolutely nothing that we can do to change the past or to predict the future, but we can change the present. Look for the blessings that God gives you today. Look for opportunities that God provides for you today. Thank God for simple things in a day, like sunshine, a breeze, or a kind word from a friend. Live for today. Make changes today. Be thankful for today. Remember the past, plan for the future, and live in the present.

Today I was walking on the drill field, and heard someone yelling. It was a guy standing on the retaining wall that circles the flag pole in the middle of the drill field. He was yelling at the top of his lungs. I rolled my eyes as I passed by, thinking to myself, "Cool weather is coming and bringing the crazies with it." Every year, different people go to the middle of the drill field and "preach" aka yell Jesus at people. Even the Christians I know think they're crazy and annoying. But as I walked by, I began to listen to what he was saying. I couldn't hear every word, but from what I did hear, I didn't disagree with what the guy was saying-or rather, yelling. He was saying that God gave up his only son, just so you can go to heaven, that God loves you, and desires that none should perish (quoting scripture). I realized that I didn't disagree with his message, just his method of delivery. I walked by fellow classmates and heard this phrase several times: "And then I heard 'Jesus'..." Basically what they were saying was that they stopped to listen, or they were curious about what all the commotion was, until they heard him say 'Jesus.' After that, they discounted him as another religious nut who was condemning people to hell. I started thinking about that phrase "And then I heard 'Jesus.'" Instead of yelling "Jesus loves you!" in people's faces, what if we lived "Jesus loves you"? What if our kindness, love, and humility showed the love of Christ to everyone we come across day-to-day? Would they instead say "And then I saw Jesus..." or "And then I experienced Jesus..."? How would the rest of their sentence-the rest of their lives-change? If people could see Jesus in us, instead of just hear it, how many more lives would be touched? True witnessing to me is not walking up to some random person walking down the side walk and telling them in rapid fire mode "God loves you and he sent Jesus to die for you so you can live forever and ever with him in heaven and have a more fulfilling and wonderful life do you want to receive Jesus in your heart right now I can pray with you and you can know for sure that you're going to heaven if you died at this very moment!" How effective is that? I would freak out if someone did that to me, and I'm a Christian! True witnessing to me is going out of your way to demonstrate love to the people you are around, developing relationships, and showing how Christ has made you different. How are you going to show Christ's love to someone today? How am I going to show Christ's love to someone today?