Your time starts now

This isn't a timed post or anything (but I do want to go to sleep soon...), I just wanted to explore the conversation idea I latched on to my post last week.

Often my blog posts occur from conversations with myself, in my head. It might be a sign of craziness, but it gets me thinking from different viewpoints, smashing around different ideas in my head, tumbling them together until they form some sort of writable clump of information. Often theres a lot of ideas from the bible (from talks and such) that gets mixed in to the bundle which always gives my thoughts some direction on what's right and wrong.

This time, hopefully we can bring that fictional conversation from in my head into real life. Well, online is close enough to real life...

We'll have a bit from the bible to start us off, so God is the centre, and then feel free to comment your thoughts on the passage or any other ways God has made you think the past few weeks. It can be one line, or it could be an essay (maybe not...) but have a go. God is good, so I hope this discussion will work in the first place, and be encouraging to all those who participate.

Here we go!

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:4-5

What are your thoughts? Please take a moment to share, and come back to see what others think!

Give it a go.

Sorry for the lack of input from my side of the conversation this past month. Conversation? Well, I'm trying to make this blog more like a conversation, so if you comment, I'll try my best to respond so it isn't just me sharing my thoughts but everyone giving their two cents and learning from each other.

Anyway, today I thought I could share what I've been up to in the past few weeks.

Three weeks ago, I went on a massive camp with about 130 high schoolers from all over the state. It was my first time going to a non-Christian camp where no one knew I was a Christian. My sister challenged me to make Christ shine in my life so that by the end of the 4 days it would be obvious that I have Jesus in my life.

Sad to say, it didn't go that well to plan. I got so engrossed in the electives, the talks, the fun activities - which were all really good, but God was a no no - that I sort of kept Jesus hidden. Well, for me, it felt like I wasn't smothering him. When people asked why I had lived in Japan for 12 years, I did tell that my parents had been missionaries, but that was only when they asked. If God is meant to be a fire inside me, I was like a refrigerator, keeping the fire cool until someone opened the door.

The next week, I went on a ski trip. I went with a friend who had just recently became a Christian. With some long bus trips and being in the same cabin, I thought I would be courageous enough to talk more about what being a Christian is going to be like and encourage him. However, again, I got so caught up in the skiing that I left the more important things till last where tiredness defeated my will to talk.

Now, a week back into the normal scheme of things, I am still reminiscing the lost chances that I have squandered for my own pleasure instead. I could have started a bible study at the camp and invited people along. I could have read the bible together with my Christian friend. But I didn't.

I don't really have a real positive about this experience yet. It is another one of those situations where I keep getting back up and continuing to strive to be more like Jesus. And next time, hopefully I will just give it a go!