He Cares

How are you?
not just good, I mean how are you really?
The real question is: how's life?

The point is that everyone has struggles.

This past fall, I was a lead in a play. My character was a selfish, confused, ignorant, and strong willed teenage girl who had just lost her father. She struggles throughout the play about God and who He is, if He cares, or if He even exists. At one point in her struggle, she tells the doctor, whom she has grown quite fond of, that "He cares more about the sparrows than He does about us."

At times this may seem very true, but it's not. In Matthew 10:29 we see that we are worth more than many sparrows.

The truth is... He Cares.

Jeremiah 29:11--- For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

One struggle that is very close to me now is about my grandad, Babbo. He was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease in 2004. If you don't know what that is, it is a disease in the brain where neurons become ineffective. It starts by affecting the person's memory and mental complexity, then moves to confusion, and then moves into the muscles. There is no cure and no way to stop it, so basically you watch your family member dying while they are still alive.

If you have ever seen Lonesome Dove, Babbo was almost exactly like the character Gus. He was always strong willed, hardworking, friendly to everyone, and loved cold PBRs. Now, Babbo still remembers my name, but mainly sits at his breakfast table alone staring out the window at a wall all day. He can't remember what he did 20 minutes before or who he ate dinner with once he returns home. And recently he has had a hard time swallowing. He can't eat much and his food has to be mashed up. He struggles to even drink half a beer (which was his favorite).

I know that he is not getting better, but I know God will take care of him and me. I know that this rough experience today will help me with an event I will face tomorrow. It's true that now I don't understand why this has to happen, but I do understand that the outcome will be His perfect will. And there is nothing better than that.

Life

The last night I was in Haiti over Christmas break was New Year's Eve. Father Bruno, the famous Haitian Priest held a service at 11 to usher in the New Year. I just wanted to share a little bit of what he had to say which I hope you will be able to translate to your own lives.

2010 was clearly a bad year for Haiti:
Earthquake- claimed many lives
Hurricane- affected many countries
Cholera- claims many lives every day

We gather because we could have been the people to die.

We all are subject to time. No matter what we do, time moves on, and so must we. Every day we gain more experience to build our lives around, but how do we live?

A person who lives a good life follows God.

If you have understanding, you will see the only thing you need is Him.

Everyday we have the oppertunity to do something new. We are able to start over.

We have to change, and if we are unhappy, we must find the way to Jesus. With Jesus anything is possible. With Jesus we are able to make sense out of our lives.

I hope this inspires you for the new year. I want to leave you with a little quote from one of the hardest working and accomplished men I know. Whenever we would praise him for all the good he had done, he would just give us kind of a puzzled look and say, "No, It's not me, not me at all. It's my Jesus. Without my best friend, Jesus, I could not do anything."