Why Me?

Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them.

—Deuteronomy 4:37

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

 —1 Corinthians 1:27

It is easy to fall into the error of trying to find selfish reasons for why God choose you. But that goes against the whole point of choosing. It can't be anything you've done or will do. Thus when you look at Christians around the world, you'll find a few common characteristics, and a lot of variety. I'll leave the specifics to you. Because most of the attributes you'll find, such as sanctification, are a consequence, not cause, of God's choosing. I think the two verses above perfectly sum up the traits which remain. God chooses the lowly, not for anything in themselves, but for the sake of their forefathers and for His own name's sake.

One thing we can learn from this is how important relationships (see yesterday's post) are for us and for God.

Life is like a Game of Chess

An edifact from back when I was fascinated by the game of chess (probably 12th grade):

Life is like a game of chess:
You can’t see more than a couple steps ahead,
You can’t foresee all contingencies/possibilities,
You don’t know what others are planning on doing, and
You make mistakes and you can’t take them back.

God sees everything – past present, and future,
He knows all the possibilities,
He even knows what you are going to do, and
He never makes mistakes.
God is the better chess player – don't you want Him on your side?

Marionettes

Often I feel that life is perpetual dance to which my feet are enslaved but from which my mind is completely detached. I am compelled forward on a course as immutable as unknowable. It happens on a time that my path crosses that of another, and we each linger, momentarily diverted. But my mind can never conceive nor compass their ways, nor teach them to my feet, and neither can it communicate my ways to them, not knowing them itself. And so we pass on, each along our own course, whatever that may be. Must this always be so?