I don't borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to grey.

The thought began to dawn on me that I was going to graduate soon and the little bubble I currently live in would burst. As a result, I've been budgeting for the past year, vacillating between being a complete miser and behaving like a hip hop mogul "up in da club". Over the past couple of months, I've become increasingly concerned about the number in my bank account. To make matters worse, we've all been watching America basically cover the moon in yogurt and elected officials squabble like a bunch of ill-tempered hens. (While those charlatan turkeys up on the Hill flap their gums, it becomes the citizen's responsibility to be extra careful to make up for the irresponsibility of the state. But I digress.)

I've gotten into the habit of checking my bank account online and I recently opened up a mint.com account which allows me to track my expenditures and project my budget over a more long term scale. This has all been wonderful, except for the fact that I've started to worry. Every time I go out with my friends I think of my pennies dwindling or wake up in a cold sweat, convinced that the government is going to come grubbing after the few refund checks I've gotten from A&M.  What is this madness? Well, I figured it out: I'm hearing money talking. With economic uncertainty swirling as I walk the tightrope of a college budget, I've begun to feel a little panicky.

"He has told you, O Man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

"Aw, how nice." I thought to myself, "That's a verse that would look good on a sign!" I wrapped up my quiet time and went on my merry way. This verse wasn't thought about again until yesterday when I got an email from Student Billing Services demanding requesting my fall tuition payment. I worked myself up into a tizzy and hunched over the computer crunching numbers and silently bidding adieu to a pair of square cat eye sunglasses I had decided to save up for and give myself for Christmas. After I sufficiently wore myself out, I sat back for a quiet minute and remembered that verse. I also thought about Habakkuk: "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no fruit, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will take joy in the God of my salvation." (3:17-18) Basically, "the righteous shall live by his faith." (2:4) Even if the economy implodes, even if I graduate and am thrust into a dismal job market, even if I have to do without: it doesn't matter because God will provide. (Note:  I recognize that my worries are vastly different from millions of people on Earth. I am blessed beyond belief, and I am immensely thankful that I don't have to worry whether or not I will be able to eat. I wouldn't tell someone who is mired in poverty "God will provide!" and bebop away. But that is a whole other blog post...)

How can I be sure of this? How can I be certain that God will make good on His promise? I can be sure because He already has. He showed me yesterday that He takes care of me. I can think of many times, great and small, where God has pulled me through. He's pointed me in different directions, and they've always been better than whatever I could cook up. He's told me to wait and given me things at a time when I was much better prepared for them. I must look back and remember yesterday's provision. When you remember yesterday's provision, you have hope, and this hope is never foolish. "Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off." (Proverbs 23:18) 

Like that old song says, "I don't worry about tomorrow, for I know who holds my hand." Even if the country I love careens towards fiscal and social destruction, I still have hope. I don't live by those worldly standards, I live by my faith. I know God has provided before. Should I have any reason to doubt He will provide again?

Homosexuality is a sin. Period.

"Liberalism embraces the sin that Christ died for, calls on people to accept it, and throws away the need to repent of it. Nothing could be further from the truth of what Jesus taught and died for." -Todd McGeorge


Romans 6:12: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."

There are various places in the Bible where homosexuality is condemned: Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1: 26-28.  Now, there is no doubt that these people are loved by God, and that Jesus died on the cross for them. However, the acceptance of homosexuality is foolish. It is wrong, and like the quote above states, "embraces the sin Christ died for".  I happened upon this video through the blog "Blue Collar Philosophy". I watched it and my heart sank. These people have been deceived into thinking that homosexuality is okay: they have given themselves over to their passions: "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (2 Timothy 4: 3-4) 


This video is an example of just that, and when I watch it, I don't see the 'hope' they are claiming: I see sin. I see destruction and perversion of the Gospel. The other night, one of my fellow RAs said, "You don't support that [homosexuality] do you?" The politically correct and socially acceptable answer came to my mind first: to each his own. However, I knew that answer was the wrong one. I answered him truthfully and said "No, I believe it is wrong." It is high past the time to stand on the truth. True, speaking out against homosexuality will probably gain me many enemies, but how can I stay silent when sin is being paraded as a God-given personality trait? 
Homosexuality is a sin, just like the sins of pride and envy I struggle against everyday. Keep praying, for the enemy is a roaring lion, and a great deceiver, who sometimes shows up in aesthetically appealing media put forth by an Ivy-league school.


The good news in all of this? "Greater is He that is in Me than he that is in the world."  (1 John 4:4)

Jesus said, "Take heart! For I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)  To those that say they can't change, I say no, you can't. But Christ can transform you, just like he did for Christopher Yuan. This video truly speaks of the hope and love of Christ. The Lord has plans for each one of our futures, and He loves us so much He sent His only Son to die for our sins, whether they are homosexuality, lust, or pride. He called us out of darkness, why should we continue to sit in it?