by Sam | Jul 28, 2015 | Reflection
You ever hear a song or come back to a location, and then memories start flooding back? Often times for me, it happens outside of my control. In just a moment, I start reciting and recalling everything from that past season. The sights, the smells, the thoughts, the feelings, and sometimes even the wounds. Recently I had an experience just like that. I found myself in a scenario with someone that triggered old feelings and thoughts that I had about myself. These feelings and thoughts were rooted in lies about my worth and my identity. That I was not worth much and that I will always be that way… In life old thought patterns, beliefs, and feelings do try to crawl back even if you’ve overcome them in the past. They have a way of finding you when you are vulnerable, and they intoxicate you with their familiarity. Thinking those thoughts and believing those things feel familiar. So familiar that they masquerade around like truth. Yet just because it feels true, sounds true, looks true, doesn’t make it truth. That’s the prison of familiarity. Just because it’s what we’ve known most of our lives or because it feels familiar, don’t buy into the lie that it’s true. Lies and thoughts we had about ourselves are like a really old pair of shoes. We become comfortable with them. They’ve been broken in and we have grown accustomed to them as well. We have tons of mileage with them and memories as well. They are familiar. But they just absolutely stink! No going back, just throw them out. You have outgrown them no...
by Sam | Jul 15, 2015 | Guest Blogger, Inspiration, Reflection
The Beauty of Grieving by Catherine Cha One of the most valuable things I learned during my years at Alliance Theological Seminary was the discipline of grieving the seasons of my life. I’ve always been prone to melancholy and nostalgia, but never had words to adequately convey or coherently cry out what I was feeling, and why. I never knew what to do about the pulsating weights that would press on my heart and my gut every now and then. I never knew how to dissolve the lumps that would form at the back of my throat, or reverse the downward trajectory of the corners of my lips on those days when all I wanted to do was pout and whimper. I never knew why everyone around me was so happily looking forward to the next day, the next year, the next step, the next change, and I was the only one looking backwards and longing for what once was and never will be again. I never knew that I could grieve these things – these never-again moments – and give them a proper send-off so that I could say “hello” to the new. Learning to grieve the passing seasons of my life – and thus, strangely, becoming more able to celebrate the wonderful and not-so-wonderful days that were flowing by – has made me more self-aware, and more grateful, having more capacity to honor the One who gives them to me in the first place. June 8, 2015, was the 365th day that my daughter Sasha has been with us. On June 9, 2015, she turned 1 year old,...
by Sam | Jul 7, 2015 | Inspiration, Reflection
There have been moments in my life where I reached out to my friends because I was having a hard time. I needed to be around people who were for me and wanted their company, prayers, and encouragement. Now if I only ever reach out to my friends because I need something from them, that friendship will quickly become one-sided, and ultimately go downhill. Imagine if I call my friends to meet, and yet I only talk about how I don’t sense their closeness as much as I did “last time”. How about if I only ask why they aren’t encouraging me more. Or if all I say to them is how I just want more of their friendship… to their face. Isn’t that weird? That is a sure-fire way to end friendships! Yet so often that’s how we approach and seek God. In healthy relationships I seek out friends simply for the sake of friendship. To meet, to catch-up, and ultimately to just be with them. When it comes to friendship with God, I believe it’s exactly the same. Of course there are times when we seek Him because of a need or a want. I have gone to God to hear His voice, to find His leading, to feel His presence, and to even ask for more of Him. As good as those things are, I ultimately want to seek God to simply be with Him for the sake of being with Him. I don’t need a Word from heaven or direction, I don’t need a feeling or even a sense, as much as I need to just be with Him. I...
