What am I doing for God?

Well gang, this post isn't exactly about my trip but it is something that has been on my heart for the past few days. I don't exactly how this is going to come out, but I figured blogging about it would help me get it straight in my head if nothing else.  As I have been going day to day doing this and that living the typical college kid summer the question that has been lingering in my head is, what am I doing for God?  Or in other words God is asking me, "Lawson, what are you doing for Me?"

When I go about this question I always want to answer it on a long term scale.  "Well God last semester I did this, and last summer I did that."  And I'm not saying that our long term answers to this question are wrong answers at all.  But, what if God is not asking about the big tasks we have accomplished and seem to remember on a long term scale.  What if he is asking "what are you doing for Me, NOW?" When the day is over and I have time to relax and think about it, I find it hard to come up with things I did for God.  Sure I can say "well God, I talked to you this morning, and I read some of your Word," but is that enough?  Is having a two minute conversation and spending ten minutes in the Word enough time out of our 24 hour day to spend with our creator?  I just can not find a peace in justifying that is enough.

I want to get to the point in my life where I approach each moment asking myself how I can glorify my creator in whatever it is I am about to do.  Whether that is playing golf, going to work, or even sitting at home on facebook.  I want to find a way to glorify God while doing it.  I think we are satisfied when we convince ourselves that whatever it is we are doing that "isn't a bad thing," is pleasing to the Lord.  This may or may not be true.  There are plenty of things out there that we do everyday that are not "bad things" by the world's standards, that in no way bring glory to God.

A verse of scripture that has been on my mind the past month or so is John 3:30. It says "He must increase, but I must decrease."  This is what I want to model my life after.  It will not be easy, and at times it may not be fun.  But, the blessings that come in the long run will be so amazing.  I want to challenge myself as well as anyone reading this to approach everything you do asking yourself how you can decrease while increasing your Savior.

In Him,
  Lawson Albey

We can pray

Well I have had a blog for about a week now and I am already on another post so it looks like it may not be a bust! The main question I have been wondering about this whole blogging thing is what on earth am I supposed to blog about? As I have been thinking about this I finally came to the conclusion that nothing needed to be forced and I will know when something happens that I should blog about. This is one of those times...

As you all know, from my first post, I will be spending about a month in Romania with Bro Dave Manary and his family. I told you all how extremely excited I am about this opportunity that the Lord has presented to me and how ready I am to get there and get my hands dirty! Those are the things that were on my mind when I created this blog, I wanted to be able to share what the Lord was doing over there with friends and family back home. While that was my intention this post is not exactly that and not exactly the happiest post either.

I have recently been informed that Bro Dave's father has become very sick. I have not spoken to Dave personally so the only information I have is what Dave has put on facebook. Yesterday he said...

"Update on Dad: In addition to the tumor on his left kidney, he has some stones in his right kidney, two masses in his left lung, gallstones, the tumor has grown "into his bladder." I do not know if that means it entered or is pushing against the bladder. In any case, please pray."

As you can see this is a very hard time for the Manary family and I think as a body of Christ it is our responsibility to lift them up during this time. The least we can do is pray. Prayer is a powerful thing that as many of you know has extremely powerful results. No, we may not always receive the result we hope to but during those times we cling to Christ and he carries us through life because we know that His will was done.

Since then Dave has posted that his dad is off of the pain medication and his blood pressure is back to normal. But, he asked that we pray for his kidney levels to rise enough for the doctors to do a color contrast test to find the extent of the tumors growth. We can do that. 


This is just another example of something bad happening to a good person. When these things come up we cannot help but ask, "Why?" This concept has been on my mind this week and I found a passage in Isiah that I will leave you with that clears up that why question.


Isiah 55 says this." 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

In Him,
 Lawson Albey

Experiment

Well, I haven't blogged since the good ole days back in middle school when Xanga was the coolest thing since sliced bread, but I thought it was time I give it one more shot.  The main reason I am starting this blog is so that the folks that know about my summer trip to Romania can keep up with what is going on over there when I get there and how the Lord is working in the lives of the Manary family and all the people that they have the opportunity to share the love of Christ with.

There are two possible outcomes to how this blog could go.  One being that I keep it updated once I leave and it works as planned, and the other being that I just get lazy and do not make time for what I have called "silly blogging" for the past couple years.  But, I am willing to give it a shot and I hope to stick with it at least until I return home from Romania. 

For those of you that do not know I am leaving June 20 for Romania. I will be spending about 5 weeks there with missionary Dave Manary and his awesome family.  My one request is that you keep me in your prayers starting now as I prepare spiritually as well as financially for this trip that the Lord has set before me. I know that he has had this planned for much longer than I will ever know, and I want nothing more than to follow what he has in store for me. Thank you all for the amazing loving support!

In Him,
  Lawson Albey