I Know What's Gonna Happen

When I started to watch Boy Meets World, I was already watching season 2 of Girl Meets World. So when Cory and Topanga broke up, I knew that eventually they had to get back together. When Shawn ran away, or when Shawn and Cory fought, I knew that their friendship would last. It was little things like this, that when the show first aired, viewers didn't know what was going to happen unless they were to watch the episodes that follow. As a viewer who has watched Girl Meets World, there were insights that I knew that the characters didn't. I was looking in to their world, and I already know what was going to happen, and I could see the bigger picture, when the characters couldn't.

The same thing happens between us and God. We are the characters, and we can't see the bigger picture of what is happening, and we can't see that every thing is going to be okay. God on the other hand, is looking down from above, and while he see each individual struggle we go through, he also sees how this fits in the bigger picture. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." When ever we are in a struggle, and we can't see the other side, know that God has a plan for this that is good. God can see the bigger picture, and while life may seem like a downer now, in the grand scheme of things, it will all work out. We just have to trust God in his plan, for he is the one that can see the plan laid out, while we only get pieces. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for knowing my life and knowing how everything is going to fit together. When I go through the storms in my life, help me to lean on you and your understanding that you already see how it will all play out. Amen. 


NOTE: There will not be a post next Wednesday, and the explanation for that will come in Saturday's post. 

Family

Sorry that I didn't post on Saturday. My family came up for the weekend to visit, and I was so preoccupied with them, that I didn't have time to write a blog. But it does lead in nicely to what I plan to talk about today.

In Boy Meets World, a huge part of the show is this idea of family. Family is some place that you can turn to in times of need. They are a safe place for you to turn to. The show also talks about how family is more than just blood. Shawn Hunter was always a part of Cory Matthews family even through they weren't related by blood. The Matthews cared for Shawn, gave him a place to stay in times of need, and they were always there for him to protect him. Family is there for you in times of need.

The same concept can be applied to our Christian family. As Christians, we are not related by blood. However, the Christian family is there for you in times of need. The family is there to "encourage one another and build one another up." (1 Thessalonians 5:11) In Ecclesiastics 4:9 it talks about how 2 are better than one. There is someone there to support and encourage you. The Christian family is all about being there for one another.

Also as a part of this family, you have a father in heaven you will always love you. He will listen to you, and will be there right beside you the whole step of the way. Even if your earthly father may have failed you, God is there to be your father. He wants to love you, and he wants to call you his child, and bring you into this amazing family that will encourage you. Family, isn't always about blood, but it is about being there for one another.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for adopting me into your family. Help me to encourage my brothers and sisters, and help me to receive encouragement as well. Thank you for your fatherly love and always being there no matter how far I try to run away. Amen.

The Constant In The Changing

In season five and in the last season of Boy Meets World, there are similar episodes that deal with change. This change can be from high school going to college, or it is going from you home state to a totally new place. I both of these episodes Cory Matthews freaked out. He doesn’t like change and it is very clear. He wants everything to stay the same. He wants to keep his group of friends together. He wants to know that he will have some place to turn to when things get hard. He doesn’t like the unknown, or what the future may hold.

This is also true for many of us. Change can be scary, whether it is from one job to another, between high school, and college, or it could be a big move all together. And when things change, we feel like we lose control, so we freak in an effort to keep what control we have left. In this time of change, we want something constant. Something that won’t change no matter what.

And luckly there is someone out there who won’t change no matter what. His name is God, and he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. (Hebrews 13:8) God gave us his Word to turn to in times of trouble, his Word that will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8) The Lord does not change, no matter what the situation is going on down on Earth. (Malachi 3:6) You can feel like you are losing control but God still has your life in his hands, and he is still in control. So in those times of change, don’t freak out like Cory does in the show, trying his best to keep everything that way it is. Instead, let the chaos happen, knowing that God is in control, and that no matter what his love is never going to change.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being constant and never changing. I pray that as my life may change that I can turn to you for structure and not try to fix everything on my own. I know that you have my life in your hands. Thank you for watching over me. Amen. 

It's All About Friends

Lose One Friend,
Lose All Friends,
Lose Yourself.

This quote is from Eric Matthews and it was used in both Boy and Girl Meets World. One thing that is key in both shows is the power of friendship. This particular quote was used in both series when the friends were in conflict, and this quote was used to show how losing one friends can greatly impact you. As people, we change into the people around us, they help shape who we are. But when you lose that friend, you lose a part of who you are. The Bible talks about iron sharpening iron, but when you lose one of the two irons, the other one just goes very dull. Keeping the friends you do have is important.
Now since this quote came up in conflict, I think it is very important to understand how to approach conflict. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." If you are angry or bitter, you aren't going to be so willing to listen and to work things through. But when you let kindness and forgiveness in, then progress can be made.
Also it is important to keep this between you and that person. Matthew 18:15 says, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." The conflict is between you and your friends, but when you gossip about it, then you get more people involved who do not necessarily need to be involved. You can have someone who is neutral in the conflict help mediate, but you don't need a conflict with 10, 20 or 100 people.
The last, and probably the most important thing is forgiveness. To move on from this conflict, how ever it is resolved, you need to forgive the other person of what they did. It is important to try and keep you friends with you to help build you up even if you are going through a conflict. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for your forgiveness. I pray I can forgive the people who I have been in conflict with. I pray that I can find true friends who will help me grow, and that I will work to keep them around and not let them just drift away. Thank you Lord for all the friends in  my life. Amen.

Where You Running?

My favorite character on Boy Meets World is Shawn Hunter, because in a weird way I can relate. Not because I was abandoned by my parents, or I was dirt poor, but because so often I wanted to run away. If you have even watched a little bit of Boy Meets World, you probably saw an episode where Shawn tried to run away. He never felt satisfied, or loved, or cared about where he was, even though he had Cory, and the Matthews, and Turner, and Feeny. Shawn even ran away during college, where he traveled for some time. But the thing is that he always came back home, because he never found what he was looking for when he ran away, and by running away it didn’t solve his problems.

Trust me, running away doesn’t solve anything. Ever since 6^th grade, I had a folder and money stashed in my closet under my yearbooks, of a plan to run away. I thought about it so much, but I was to chicken to ever leave.  So I did the next best thing, I let my mind run free, while my body stayed at home. I would dream up all of my problems being solved. 

The thing is that when problems do arise, God doesn’t want us to run away from him, but he wants us to run to him. Psalms 31:1-5 says,

I run to you, God; I run for dear life.
    Don’t let me down!
    Take me seriously this time!
Get down on my level and listen,
    and please—no procrastination!
Your granite cave a hiding place,
    your high cliff aerie a place of safety.

You’re my cave to hide in,
    my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
    be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
    I want to hide in you.
I’ve put my life in your hands.
    You won’t drop me,
    you’ll never let me down.

God wants us to run to him, so he can be your leader or guide. He wants you to run to him give us a place to hide, and he wants to free us from the traps that ensnare us. He won’t drop you. He won’t let you down. People and even you will continuously let yourself down, and there are times when we feel like we want to run and hide. But God doesn’t want us to hide from him. If we are running, we should be running to God. I know that I touched on calling out to God last week, but we have in our heads that God is distant, or he is too big, or that we are unworthy of God’s time. I want to make sure that you and I understand that God wants to love on you, and he does without you knowing or asking. But imagine what he can do if you give yourself over to God. Someone so strong that he can carry you through the valleys, and celebrate with you on your mountain tops. God wants us to run after him, not run away. He already knows all about you, but he is waiting for you to tell him, so that you are spending time with him. Stop where you are right now, and run to God, he is waiting.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray that as I walk through life, that I will run to you and not away. Thank you for always being there for me, allowing me a safe place through the storm. Lord, you are so much more powerful than anything I am going through, and I need you in my life. I love you so much God. Amen. 

City Slackers

So this post is also going to focus on a particular episode, “City Slackers.” A brief summary of the episode is that Cory and Shawn sneak away to Mr. Feeny’s cabin in the mountains, but they are busted by  Mr. Feeny. While they are there, Shawn and Cory learn a little more about their teacher, Mr. Feeny.

Now if you know the show then you know that Cory and Shawn aren’t big on school. Shawn was studying history in the beginning of the episode, but his history book was still unopened in the original wrapper. Shawn and Cory rarely actually read anything that they are suppose to for class. Then when the boys are in the mountains with Feeny, there is a conversation between Feeny and Shawn, where Feeny shows his extensive knowledge on Shawn, and Shawn knows nothing about Feeny. So later that night Shawn actually opens a book, and reads it and this is a dialogue between Cory and Shawn while Shawn is reading.

“Cory: What are you doing?

Shawn: I’m reading.

Cory: No really what are you doing?

Shawn: This book that Feeny was looking at it’s like some kinda of diary.

Cory: Shawn your reading Feeny’s diary. Are you nuts? Are we in it?

Shawn: He just knew so much about me that I just wanted to find out some stuff about him.”

As Shawn and Cory are reading Feeny’s diary, they find out that the watch that those two dropped down the drain earlier that day was Feeny’s anniversary watch that he got from his wife, when she was alive. Knowing this, Shawn and Cory go digging in a septic tank for that watch. When the boys present the watch to Feeny, this is the conversation between Shawn and Feeny.

“Feeny: Never thought I’ll see this again.

Shawn: We figured it meant a lot to you being your anniversary watch and all.

Feeny: You read a book Mr. Hunter.

Shawn: Guess I did.

Feeny: Well, good for you!”

Now how does this relate to our faith? Well just like at school with all the textbooks, there are lots of books that can help us with our faith. There are devotionals, fictional stories, non-fiction stories, and so on. But when it comes to know exactly who God is, there is only one book that is going to tell you about who God is. I mean God knows all about you, and for most of us, we only scratch the surface in knowing who God is. God knows your hopes and fears, your desires, your likes and dislikes, you strength and weaknesses. But if we were to ask how much we know about God, we would come up empty.

When we read this book from God, the Bible, we start to see what’s important to him. To Feeny that watch was important. To God it might be helping a neighbor, or giving to the poor, or going on a mission trip. Just by finding out just a little more about who God is, might move us to act on what is important to God. That is when real change starts to happen. Sure there are other books out there that you can read about God, but the only book from God himself is the Bible and that is the best place for us to begin to know God.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your word. I pray that I can find joy in reading it, and joy in finding out more about you. Thank you for knowing so much about me, and I want to know more about you. Thank you for the Bible. Amen. 

Cult Fiction

The first thing that I want to talk about is my favorite Boy Meets World episode, “Cult Fiction.” I first saw this episode at three in the morning, while both my roommates were at home over Labor Day weekend. By the end of the episode, I was crying my eyes out. There is one scene at the end that got me, and every time I watch that scene it still gets me. Not only do I feel sorry for Shawn Hunter, but I can relate to what he was going through, and what he says actually speaks to me.

Before I go into great details about that scene, I need to explain the episode. “Cult Fiction” is in the fourth season, and the episode focuses on Shawn Hunter. Now for those of you who don’t know, Shawn comes from a messed up background. He lives in a trailer park, his mom left him in middle school, and his dad left to go chase after his mom, leaving Shawn in the care of the Matthews. But during that time, Shawn was finding it difficult to stay there because they had such different ways of living that Shawn eventually ends up staying at Johnathan Turner’s house, who was a teacher of Shawn. Mr. Turner and Shawn became super close, and Mr. Turner cared for Shawn like a son.

The episode starts off with Turner asking Shawn what his plans for college were, because at this point Shawn was about to be a senior. Shawn blows him off, and after Turner leaves a classmate comes in to comfort Shawn, siding with Shawn in what went down between him and Turner. She leads him to “The Center” where he meets Mr. Mac, and Shawn is convinced that this is the place for him. The thing is that, as an audience member, we can obviously tell that this is bogus, and when we hear Shawn talk about joining "The Center", all his answers are scripted and his words are fake. But he feels like he is finally being filled by this place, and no matter how much the people who care for him protest, he still goes to “The Center” because he doesn’t want to feel empty anymore. At the end of the episode, Mr. Turner gets in a motorcycle accident and is in the hospital. Mr. Feeney and the Matthews go to the hospital, and Shawn shows up later with Mr. Mac.

Now all of us have felt empty at one point in our lives. We have all tried to fill the emptiness in many ways. It could be being the best in athletics, or the smartest in school. It could be trying to win the approval of your parents. It could be the most popular in school, or be known as the class clown.

Take some time to think of one thing that you try to use to fill yourself up with, and write it down. For me I rely on my grades to fill me, and when I don’t get the grade I want, I feel let down. And when things seem to be breaking in relationships between my friends or family, my grades don’t encourage me then. They leave me feeling high and dry.

Shawn tried to fill this emptiness, but when push came to shove, The Center, couldn’t help him with Mr. Turner being in the hospital. Cory and Topanga left Shawn alone in hospital room where Mr. Turner was. Alone in the room, what Shawn says next is my favorite, and it is what gets me every time. Below I have typed Shawn's monologue while he is in the hospital room.

“John how could you be in here. How could you screwed up on your bike. I have never seen you screw up on anything. I’m the screw up remember. Come on you remember.

Don’t do this to me John I don’t do alone to good. Look I know you’re in there, but it’s like you’re not really here. You’re not talking but I know you’re here. So I’m just gonna talk and you can listen.

John even when I was at the center. It was all the things you taught that made me wonder of it was the right place for me or not. But you didn’t teach me enough. You and Cory, and my parents, and the Matthews, and the handful of people who really care about me. So don’t blow me off John! Don’t blow me off God!

I never asked you for anything and I never wanted to come to you like this, but don’t take Turner away from me. He’s not done yelling at me yet.

God you’re not talking but I know you’re here. So I’m gonna talk and you can listen. God I don’t want to be empty inside anymore.”

This scene is so powerful in my opinion. The audience knows Shawn as being this confident, cool guy and watching him completely fall apart is powerful. But another thing that makes this powerful is the fact that he cries out to God. This is so powerful, because this wouldn’t be deemed a “Christian” show, but we have one of the main characters reach his breaking point and crying out to God. So than why do many Christians find is shameful to fall apart and cry out to God. Psalms 18:6 says, “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Shawn was in distress, and he cried out to God, and he asked God not to take Turner away. God heard both of these request and answered them. Turner survived the crash, and he made a full recovery. God also heard Shawn’s cry to not be empty, and he filled him up. Shawn then went back to the waiting room, and Mr. Mac suggested that Shawn go back to the center, and Shawn agreed so that he can get his belongings and stay with the Matthews. When Mr. Mac try to refute, what Shawn responds with is amazing.

“You know I see you right in front of me and I hear what you have to say and it’s nothing. And if I was an empty person who didn’t have anything to believe in then I might go with you because that would be easy. Well I’m done with easy. I’m done with empty. I’m done with you.”

In this episode we see Shawn go from being empty and broken, to being filled with God. His life didn’t get any better, but he knew he wasn’t alone, and he was filled with something that could sustain him. He wasn’t going to take the easy way out, and he was going to work to be filled.

Now earlier, I asked you to think of something that you use to try to fill complete. If you think about, is that thing really making you feel complete, or is it leaving you empty when life gets hard. Are you just trying to take the easy way out, and bouncing back and forth between things that temporarily fill you up. Are you in a season of life, where everything is spinning out of control, and you feel so alone and empty? Then stop what you are doing and cry out to God. As I finished that episode at three in the morning, I dropped on my knees and cried out to God, I let everything that I have been keeping to myself out. And for the first time in a while, I didn’t feel empty, or just a wandering soul. God is there and he is waiting to hear you cry out to him. Don’t be ashamed of it, just go for it. Then afterwards when you feel filled by the Spirit, you can then turn to the things that have been leaving you empty and you can say, “Well I’m done with easy. I’m done with empty. I’m done with you.”

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for always being there and hearing my prayers. I know I chase after things in this world in hope that they will fill me, but they don’t. Only you can fill me. So Lord please fill me up right now because I am done with being empty inside. I know that you are good, and that you are there, and that you have a plan for my life. Lord I trust you, I follow you no matter how hard it is. I don’t want to take the easy way out, for it just leaves me empty. Thank you for filling me up with your love in every season Lord. Amen. 

Brand New Series

I am starting a new series for the month of October. I am basing this series of the TV show Boy Meets World. For those who don't know, Boy Meets World is a show from the 90's about three friends growing up, and making their way in the world.
For many of you who knew about Boy Meets World, then you know about the series that Disney is doing as a sequel called Girl Meets World. I, seeing how I was born towards the end of the 90's, knew Girl Meets World before Boy Meets World. However, for this series I am going to focus just on the first of the two, seeing how that chapter of the story is finished. I will talk about the sequel, but my primary focus will be on Boy Meets World.
If you haven't watch either shows, I suggest that you to watch a couple of episodes for they are both good in their own ways. I pray that you will join me as I walk through this show, and discover how their lessons can be applied in our lives to reflect God's glory.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the entertainment that you give us. I pray that you help us to take this entertainment and use this for your glory. Amen.