Answer to Prayer

I made a big mistake by quitting my job at CAT before finding a new one. I sorely underestimated how hard it would be to find a new job right after quitting. I've been looking hard for a part time job for a month now and nothing has come up. This has left me hard pressed for money. I am completely out of food in my house, the bills are due in two days, and as of last night I had 13 bucks in my bank account. This has left me unbeleivably stressed out over the whole situation. Last night I finally realized that I needed help. I sat down and prayed and put it in God's hands to help me out. I knew that He is the only way I would be able to get out of this.

Today I woke up in an awesome mood. Really ready to go out and work hard to find a job. I stopped by my grandparents house for lunch and while I was there my grandma told me she put $100 in my account. I was really excited about it and on the way home I stopped by the bank to check how much I had and to my surprise the was just over $700 dollars in there. I haven't asked my grandma about it since, and I'm not sure if she really put 100 in there or if she put more, but somehow, someway, my prayers are answered and this financial burden that has been weighing me down for the last two months has been lifted. I feel so good right now. This will hold me over til school starts and til I'll be able to find a job (hopefully.)

This is just one of the many many times that God has instantly answered my prayers. Its absolutely amazing. There is so much truth in one of my favorite bible verses...

"If you beleive, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
-Matthew 21:22

I hope that this will be a reminder to me to completely rely on God's help more often.

See ya,
Ryan

soap on a rope

The other day I was taking a shower using bar soap for the first time in over a year...normally i just use shower gel. As I was washing my torso, the soap slipped out of my hands and fell toward the ground. Out of pure reflex, I attempted to catch it but instead hit it up and out of the shower, over the shower curtain and rod. The next thing i hear is the sound of it barely hitting the toilet seat and then a sudden SPLASH. I had managed the most improbable shot in the history of mankind. I peeked out of the curtain just to make sure I wasn't dreaming...and sure enough, the soap was sitting at the bottom of the toilet. I finished my shower, got out and dried off, then used the toilet brush to fish out the soap. Thats the end of using bar soap for me.

see ya,
Ryan

Intentions

Last night at Nexus Charlie talked about the tension between our intentions vs. what we actually end up doing. This really hit home for me (and many others I'm sure) because I see it every single day in my life.

I tell myself all the time that I'm going to spend more time with God or do this or do that, and I honestly do fully intend on doing it...but when the time comes for me to do it, I fail. One example of this that I struggle with is tithing. I really really plan on tithing every week when I go to church, but every week I end up making excuses as to why I will wait another week to start.

It makes me feel a little better to know that Paul went through the exact same thing in his relationship with God. He says it perfectly in Romans 7:14-27.

14-16 - I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

17-20 - But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23 - It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24 - I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25 - The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

This is from the Message Bible...I think it puts it most clearly.

See Ya...
Ryan

Catching Up

I realize I haven't written in here for a long time. I'm struggling to find the motivation to do it. Not a whole lot has been going on for me over the last week. Here's a brief summary of the last week of my life.

The Weekend- This weekend Ben left for New York for a month, so I hung out with him and Jenny and Leslie at Old Chicago. It was nice to just sit and chat for a while.

Monday- Monday I get a call early in the morning saying that my friends Kevin and Summer had their baby! Lyza Gray Sletten was born at 7:30 on July 3rd. Jenny called me up and asked if I wanted to go see her, so we went to the hospital and hung out with the Sletten family for a while. I got to hold Lyza when she was less than 8 hours old. It was glorious.

Later in the evening we went to the Rinkenberger's place, which is easily the coolest house I've ever been to, and watched Morton's fireworks and just hung out and swam in the lake and had a ton of fun. Its impossible not to have fun at this house.

The Fourth of July- Me and a big group of friends went down to the riverfront and watched the fireworks. It was a lot of fun.

Tonight- Dan called me and offered to go to the Cheif's game so me and Dan and Jenny and Tara went to the game and went to Joe's Crab Shack afterwards...again, a lot of fun.

I'll try harder to post more often.

See ya,
Ryan