Dare you to move

This is Mandy hi-jacking the blog for a bit. Today I watched a memorial service for a baby that was 128 days old. Something the pastor said really struck me today. He was talking about how easy it is to tell people to pray about it, put it in God's hand, and trust God when it is not you in the situation. I thought about how many times I have said that to someone without ever really considering how I would react in the same situation. I'd like to say that I would trust God with an unshakable faith.

 But I begin to wonder if I might react like Peter when confronted with reality and fear. Peter. The man who denied Jesus three times when Jesus needed him the most. Peter. The rock of the Church. If that isn't irony, I don't know what is. 1 and 2 Peter are two of my favorite books to read. It's in your face rules to live by. Peter doesn't sugar-coat it.

In 1 Peter 4, Peter pretty tells us that we have spent too much time in a "God-ignorant" life- a life without God.  He includes example of partying night after night and reckless behavior and says that it is time to be done with it for good. He tells us that our old friends don't understand why we aren't joining in with them anymore- and that you are going to be chastised for it. But he also reminds that they are the ones who will be called on the carpet for their own behavior in front of God.

In 1 Peter 5, he tells us that the devil is poised to pounce on us at any minute. What I love most is his reminder that we are not alone in suffering- there are Christians all over the world suffering too, and some of them are suffering worse than we are. And the reminder that God's good plans will be revealed in HIS time.

The book I want to focus on is 2 Peter. He starts out telling us that there will be people who try to pit us against each other. They will be people on a downhill slide into destruction who will take a whole group of mixed up believers, who don't know right from wrong, with them. This makes me think of how Chuck has said that when we all walk through the parish center doors- We are Life Teen. WE have to guard against the people who try to form divisiveness in our group. WE are the ones who must work to end divisions and differences and work to find similarities. Starting with the fact that we are all Catholic Christians.What kind of difference are you going to be? Will you be of the world- just to fit in. Or will you be of Christ and glorify Him in all that you do? So in the words of Switchfoot, "I Dare you to Move". (Click HERE view a video and listen to the song.)