How did Jesus travel?

John 4:3-6a "When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well."

He sat down.
Next thing you know the people from the local town are urging him to stay because they believe.

It was just a rest stop. The disciple would go grab some food from the local McDonald's and Jesus would take a break and rest his feet.

I've experienced this. A long day of travel and we're tired so we stop someplace to grab some food and catch our breath. In our case we heap our backpacks in a pile and then one person stays to watch well everyone else grabs food. It's similar. Kinda.

Two differences:
1. Jesus starts up a conversation with the person he shouldn't even give a second glance.
In contrast, we're so tired we scrupulously avoid eye contact with every single person who might feel the urge to start a conversation.

2. Jesus ends up proving his point to, like, a whole village, giving them living water, and being offered        a place to stay for as long as he wants.
We end up with, well, a couple cheeseburgers and maybe some free wifi.

It isn't like Jesus was just wandering around aimlessly, he had a clear destination: Galilee.
For Christ, the stops along the journey were as important as reaching the end of his journey.
A necessary stop for food was an opportunity to live out his calling.

I don't think it should be any different for us. Whether we're at a physical or hypothetical rest stop we can't make the end of the journey more important than the stops along the way.

Okay, so it's way harder said than done*, but I think the first step to changing my actions just might be becoming aware that my actions are not righteous.

(Here is how the rest of it goes! http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4%3A1-42&version=NIV)

*pretty sure that isn't how it goes... or what I meant to say. If it was actually harder said than done that would be quite beneficial... I take this as more proof that I should return to an English speaking country asap... or in 17 days? or maybe I should just edit?... nah.

Just Another Valentines Day: LOVE!

Happy Valentines Day!

I know, I would appear to be into super cliche blog subjects. In fact, I was sitting here trying to write a sarcastic tweet about the bountiful-ness of Valentine blogs when I thought to myself, hmmm, I could add my own thoughts to this word dump. They might not be brilliant, but then, not many of the things I've read today have been. Here goes:

I read a lot of blogs today. They all had some advice to give. Most of this advice can be summed up in this: If you have a significant other, good for you, if you don't, use this day to pamper yourself.

You don't have to tell me to love myself.
You don't have to tell me to buy myself chocolate.

I already do those things.
I already put myself first.

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't think buying myself chocolate is going to solve any problems.

You see, whether my self-esteem is low or high, I don't have to put an effort into putting myself first.

Problems (sins) don't bloom because we're so busy loving others, but they definitely grow because we're so busy loving ourselves.

'Me-Thinking' and the 'Do what makes you happy' philosophy are exactly what will occur if I choose to love myself in the way you're suggesting. It might be okay for one February 14th, but if I'm honest, there is no way that it will just stop after one day. These things are satisfying and enjoyable... at least for a little while, but they wont last.

Sex-trafficking.
Abortion.
Divorce.

So many forms of brokenness occur as the result of us loving only ourselves and forgetting that we need to love others.

I was talking with a friend last week and made the comment that when I look back on the past couple years I can see that many of my decisions were made because I thought they would make me happy. This was not a positive realization for me so her reaction took me by surprise. She congratulated me. Yeah, way to go me, give a big ol cheer for selfishness.

No. Guys, we seriously need to stop acting like selfishness is a good thing.

It's not okay.

Singleness is not an excuse.

Happy Valentines Day!

The Disposable Camera Challenge

 The Challenge:

1. Avoid using my digital camera.

2. Stop posting photos on fb/twitter.

3. Use only disposable/film cameras for 365 days.

4. Do not develop any film until the end of the year.

The Reasons:

1. I really have no reason to share photos of my life… other than to make my life look great, which is clearly a terrible reason for me to be sharing photos.

2. I love photography but it looses it appeal when other people’s opinions matter.

3. How fun would it be to end the year with a years worth of photos that you’ve never seen?!

4. My camera just happened to break a few months ago and I don’t really want to get a new camera until I can get an upgrade :)

5. I’ve got a memory (and the internet) so I want to avoid Eiffel-tower-syndrome and stick to taking photos of experiences that mean something to me. (I don’t actually know if Eiffel-tower-syndrome is a thing, but chya know the whole tourist walking down the street with a camera in front of their face the entire time thing.)

The Motivation:

A really stimulating conversation with a friend... I can't actually remember exactly what we said, I just know it was a great conversation :)