I cannot be the perfect witness

I cannot be the perfect witness to my family or friends. It's not about what I do. Our salvation comes from the grace of God. In the same way, the salvation of my family and friends can only come from the grace of God. It would be an even greater example of the power of God, as well as a humbling experience for myself, when I mess up and somehow people around me are still able to know Jesus. 

If I judge my fellow brothers and sisters for being poor examples of Christians, I am only downplaying who God is and I'd be limiting Him to the ability of man. But God is above all men and far more powerful. My judging does not only stem from the the inability to see the plank in my own eye, but also from my misunderstanding, of God. 

"But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just." - Romans 3:5-8

Your Opinion?

I can't sleep. So going along with getting ready for this upcoming semester and the rest of my life, I has a questions for yinz. 

Do you think it is necessary to physically attend church every week? Why or why not? I am not looking for comments on the technicalities of the question. I just want your honest opinion on whatever you think I mean by this question. *I will not be making any decisions, such as whether or not I should attend church at all, based on your responses. That would be silly.

My thoughts...

In Pittsburgh - I tried attending Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community every week because I believed that God wanted me to invest time in certain people's lives over there. Community at Hot Metal is also strongly emphasized and I really liked that and wanted to be a part of it. And I also got free breakfast and lunch. 

In New York - I try to attend Grace Faith Church every week because, as a result of some immature decisions in high school, the friends I have at GFC are almost the only community I have in New York. 

I seem to be attending church because of the community I find in both HMBFC and GFC. I am still struggling with the amount of time I should be investing within a fellowship or a community at a local church. This struggle is more difficult in college, where my circle of friends is no longer limited to the people at the church I attend. 

I'm going to go make chai now.

Not ready to go back

There has been so much going on this summer and if it's one thing I've done in past summers that I haven't done this summer is think about the upcoming year. I always looked forward to returning back to Pittsburgh. This summer, I feel so indifferent. I haven't thought or prayed about my involvement with campus ministries since I had to back in May. I have to think hard about what I had decided (if I had decided) on, as far as my involvement in anything on campus goes. I do not like to plan for things that are at least a month into the future. I try my best to keep my Google Calendar in the "Week" - "2 Weeks" tab. I got a fortune today from a cookie that read, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Silly fortunes. Seriously though, senior year (what?!??!?!?!) is right in front of me and I still cannot see it.

God, I could use some discernment.