Life isn't fair... and that's beautiful

This morning's devotion was about how though God has superhero-like powers, his are tempered by love and mercy. He doesn't simply give people their comeuppance; he has mercy on them and doesn't give them what they deserve.

How many times have we complained about the fact that life isn't fair? I know personally that I complain about it a lot. But why is it only a complaint when we're holding the short end of the stick? Why do we not complain when something benefits us and isn't fair to someone else? It's because we're inherently selfish.

But really, we should be aware of the fact that nothing in this world is fair. If we lived in a fair world, we would all be destined to live apart from God forever. But because God loved us so much, he decided to look past what we deserved and instead give us a gift that we had no way of repaying. How is that at all "fair"? We don't deserve this gift of eternal life, and if God was completely powerful and just without love and mercy, we wouldn't have gotten this gift.

No, we don't consider the fact that what God did for us goes against the "fairness" we so desperately long for in this world. We don't realize that we shouldn't want the world to be fair, because if God and the whole world were perfectly fair, there would be no point to living. We would be separated from God for all eternity because a just god without mercy cannot bear to look upon the unjust. It was that mercy and love that caused God to send his son to make us just. Titus 3:5-7 says "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

There's a quote that I love from the Relient K song "Be My Escape." It says "The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." Grace is the catalyst for the greatest change the world knows. It makes an unjust world just. It enables millions of people to change from sinners to saints. It is truly a game-changer.

Recap of the summer (since I'm a horrible blogger)

I'm sitting here all alone in a dorm room (well, at least it's a nice one!), reflecting on what happened this summer and what is to come this year.

First things first: in case you haven't noticed, I'm horrible at keeping this blog up to date. That said, I hope to update this more often. We'll see if that actually happens. It probably won't.

Anyways, moving on. I didn't go to Kenya this summer. I know- lame. I didn't go to Italy either- double lame. I didn't even get a job, unless you count two weekends of housesitting!

Honestly, I'm quite disgusted with the way I spent my summer. I realize now how big of a mistake I made not in going to Kenya. That is truly where my heart lies, at least at this point. I keep checking the Global Aid Network site to see if they have a trip there next summer, but so far, no luck. I made a deal with God that the next missions/Christian aid trip I found for the summer would be the one I apply for, and the only trip GAiN has to Kenya next year is the same time as the beginning of the semester. There's no way I can go on that trip and still go to school, and my parents won't let me take a semester off (especially since it'll be my senior year!).

I don't know what to do. I keep praying that GAiN opens another trip to Kenya or reschedules this one. I really want to go to Kenya, and I've been thinking about taking a year off after graduation before I go to grad school to join GAiN around the world. I don't know what that would look like, but I'm keeping it in mind.

I've fallen in love with the culture of and people of Kenya. I guess I have to thank Robin Jones Gunn for that... her book Coming Attractions started this whole thing. :)

Wow. That's a heavy post. Even though this is short, I'm going to end it here and explore the dorm some more (since I really have nothing else to do at the moment). Hopefully, I'll post more soon!