Let Our Worship Burn for the World to See

I just finished watching the Pursuit of Happyness. I enjoyed that movie a lot and felt really involved and attached to the main character. At the end of the movie I felt like.... different... kind of like... the things that I thought were important were not so important.

For instance, I've been single for 21 years and having a girlfriend is something that I think (sometimes more than I should....) and worry about. But after the movie I didn't care. I didn't care about the NBA Finals, I didn't care about being better at basketball (I've obsessed over it this summer, I played until 1 am last night in my driveway), I didn't care about the Mets playing the Phillies, and I didn't care about the many summer plans I have with my friends. I just kept thinking about.... other people who less fortunate than me.

In fact after the movie I went to my local groccery store to pick up a midnight snack and I saw this mexican worker walking on the side of the road and it was 12 am and I was so close to picking him up and driving him home and talking to him about things. I started to think about how blessed I am, of how God has truly overflowed my life with riches and luxaries.

Then I started to think about the main character: Chris Gardner. The man is simply inspiring. His love, dedication, and hardwork has got him so far. He is definately extraordinary; I mean they made a movie about him, how can he not be extraordinary?! The scene I remembered and loved the most was when they were playing basketball and he told his son not to get his hopes up about being an NBA player because it's nearly impossible and his son was hurt by his father's comments. Then his father went on to tell his son to not let anyone take away his dreams. That if he wants to be someone he should strive for it no matter what people tell him.

Then I started to think again (hahaha this movie made me think a lot....) I am going to be an educator. I will have the oppurtunity to change childrens' lives. Help them, encourage them, and root for them to be whoever and whatever they want to be no matter what. And then I started to think again, why do I have to be someone ordinary? Why do I have to be someone who just wakes up and goes to work everyday and just fade into the background?

I'm not saying I want to be rich, honestly being rich is not really appealing to me. But what I am saying is that there were plenty of inspiring people who did amazing things. They are recognized by people and we studied about them in our history classes. People like Martain Luther King Jr, Mother Teresea, Harriet Tubman, and others. Now my question is what makes them so different from me? We breath the same air, we eat 3 times a day, we feel pain, we feel joy, we have dreams and aspirations. There was nothing about them that makes them so much more different than me. If anything I can probably school all of them in basketball.

So why can't I be someone who does something to change this world? Why do I have to settle to be someone who just fades into the background? This is something that I have thought about before the movie but after watching the movie has inspired me. Maybe it was God talking to me but I said to myself why can't I be someone that all people will know because of my service to this world? Why can't I be someone who does something that brings God's peace and love to this world in such a profound way that it impacts my generation and generations to come?

And the answer is that there is none. There is no reason why I can't be someone like that. This one pastor said, "Just be on fire for God! Because when you are on fire for God people just stand back and watch..." One of my favorite praise songs is Not to Us and my favorite line in that song is "Let our worship burn for the world to see!" That's what I want to be. In fact that's what I am going to be.

I am going to be someone so on fire for God and His work through my career as an educator that people will just stand back and watch. And I pray that through my good works and sacrifices to God people will praise Him. That's what I am going to be, someone who does not just change lives, but someone who changes this generation! Someone who people will remember for doing great, awesome, and profound things for generations to come! And in the midst of all the acclaim I will lift God so high so that all those people can see of how great my God is!

I hope that's all of our prayers. That we can be people who are on fire and the world just steps back and watches us burn and in the midst of all this we can lift the name of Jesus so high that the world can see His amazing love.

"All that I am, all that I have, all my regrets, all my acclaim the joy and the pain I am making them Yours. Lord I offer my life to You everything I've been through use it for Your glory. Lord I offer my days to You, lifting my praise to You as a pleasing sacrifice. Lord I offer You my life."