Just keep swimming

One of my favorite funny movies to watch is Finding Nemo.  In Finding Nemo, Marlin who is Nemo's son goes searching for Nemo who was kidnapped.  In their journey Marlin gets down and depressed, Dory who is helping Marlin find Nemo tells him, "Hey there Mr. Grumpy Gills, When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do?"  She goes on to tell him, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming.  What do we do?  We swim, swim."

Everytime I hear that it reminds of a true story I once read about Florence Chadwick.  In 1952 she attempted to swim the chilly ocean waters between Catalina Island and the California shore.  She swam through foggy weather and choppy seas for fifteen hours.  Her muscles began to cramp, and her resolve weakened.  She begged to be taken out of the water, but her mother, riding in a boat alongside, urged her not to give up.  She kept trying but grew exhausted and stopped swimming.  Aids lifted her out of the water and into the boat.  They paddled a few more mintues, the mist broke, and she discovered that the shore was less than a half mile away. 

Sounds like life sometimes don't it.  Seems like we do all we can to stay afloat, we keep swimming and swimming through storms, rough waves, foggy weather, and choppy seas but the shore seems so far away and we just can't see it.  But I love the way Apostle Paul tells us to just keep swimming in Philippians 3:12-14, "I do not mean that I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine. Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his.  Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is ahead, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above."

Paul tells us to continue trying to reach the shore, because Christ wants us to.  Our heavenly father wants us to keep trying to reach the goal, reach the shore no matter what may come our way in life.  Thru storms, thru choppy seas, rough waves, foggy weather, when life doesn't make sense and its hard and tough, we are told too just keep swimming.  How do we keep swimming when we get tired like Florence Chadwick and just want to give up, take advice from King David, a man after God's own heart, in 1 Samuel 30:6, "David found strength in the Lord his God."  Find strength in God when we get tired and just want to give up and not continue swimming.  Take advice from Dory, Marlin's friend in Finding Nemo, When life gets you down do you know what you've gotta do, just keep swimming just keep swimming because your shore awaits you.  Don't be fooled by the fog of what you maybe going thru in life, the finish line, your shore is only a few strokes away.

Only if

Last season during the razorbacks run to the bcs sugar bowl I found myself several times wishing I knew the outcome of the game before it ended so I wouldn't have to sit here worring if the outcome was gonna be good or bad.  Man it would have made the afternoon so much easier knowing the outcome and not stressing out so much if they were gonna win or lose.  Take that a little deeper and apply life to that, what if you knew the outcome of whatever you may face in life, wouldn't it make life easier so then you wouldn't worry so much and you have peace about it, and if wasn't gonna turn out the way you hoped atleast you could prepare for it.  You maybe saying Robert where are you going with this. 

One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is Habakku 3:17-19, "Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation!  The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk and make progress upon my high places!  Lately life for me has been a up and down battle worrying and struggling all the time not knowing several times if I was going to make.  I heard a song today of my Ipod on the way home from that sums up my life the past couple of months called After The World by Disciple.  Starts off by saying, "You break the glass, try to hide your face.  Recorded lines that just will not erase and buried in your loss of innocence you wonder if you'll find it again." 

There have been several days that I have been worried about things I would be facing in life, frustrated and just don't understand and when I look in the mirror I just wanted to punch it so I couldnt see myself.  I know I shouldn't think this way but I would look at people and say they are doing so well and here I am struggling to make it from day to day, what I am doing wrong.  I found myself at times saying, "God its me Robert here I am have you forgot about me, I'm still here right here needing your help, anytime soon would be great."  But thats when I hear that voice that speaks peace and comfort in life and says, "Robert its me God I'm still here I havent forgotten about you, I have never left you or forsaken you and never will." 

The second part of that song from Disciple sums it all up, "Was I there for the worst of all your pain?  And was I there when your blue skies ran away?  Was I there when the rains were flooding you off your feet?  Those were My tears falling down for you, falling down for you I'm the One that you've been looking for I'm the One that you've been waiting for I've had My eyes on you ever since you were born I will love you after the rain falls down I will love you after the sun goes out I'll have My eyes on you after the world is no more.  Did I arrange the light of your first day?  Did I create the rhythm your heart makes?  Could you believe when your candle starts to fade?  I want to be the One that you believe could take it all away, take your heart away."

No matter what we may face in life or go thru, if we will just trust in the lord with all our heart, dont trust in our own abilities but trust in God then he will direct our paths.  Even when things are happening if life that we don't understand, when we have bills due that we are having a hard time paying, when we are hurting scared and confused and just flat out don't understand take a lesson from Habakku, trust God and rejoice in him.

Don't Worry Be Happy

I came across a intresting scripture the other day, one I have actually never read before or if I have read it never really paid any attention to it.  "He who sits on the throne laughs," Psalms 2:4  This scripture caught my eye and all day I was pondering on it.  Imagine God up there on his throne laughing, you maybe asking yourself but God why are you laughing I am down struggling everyday life is hard everyday and yet while I am struggling your laughing, dont make any sense right?  But dig deeper into it, God knows the final outcome God knows how its all gonna play out and the end result, so why shouldn't he laugh.  God is not mad, not worried about the economy, God is full of joy and laughing, so why are we not doing the same thing.  In Psalm 37 it says, "He can see the destruction of the enemy coming." 

In other words God laughs is because he knows the end of the story and the final outcome.  Imagine watching the Super Bowl when you already know the outcome. You already know who is going to win. No matter how far behind the winning team falls, no matter how bad it looks for them, you wouldn’t get upset. You wouldn’t be worried. Why? Because you’ve got inside information. You know the final outcome. That’s what God is saying to us today. When it gets tough and things don’t look like they’re going to work out, we know that with God we are on the winning team! Today, you can laugh with Him knowing that He has favor, strength and victory in store for your future!  Today know that you are the victor and not the victim and that he is enlarging the place of your tent today as the bible says.  So today laugh a little, smile a little, and dont worry but be happy because the destruction of the enemy is coming soon.