Living By a Standard

So, I’m back. I was so amazed at how many people looked at my last post! To be completely honest I didn’t think that many people would look at it. I was picturing my Mom and Dad raving on and on about it and being the only people that saw it… I hope and pray that God has shown up in your lives since the last time I posted. God has shown up in my life in many many ways and I’ve got a lot to write about and give thanks for so I think you should all lean in and listen because what God is doing is pretty incredible.

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog is so that it will be established before this summer. I have the incredibly awesome opportunity to be an intern at El Ayudante in Nicaragua this summer. I’m literally forgetting about things I have to do in my daily life because I’ve been thinking about it so much. I’ve been praying constantly for God to show up and pave the road for me this summer. There will be HUGE things done this summer and I can’t wait to write them all down and soak everything I can in.

The reason why I mentioned that is because, like I said, I’m forgetting to do things because I’ve been thinking about it so much. One of those “things” that I kind of tend to forget about is school. I’ve been struggling a bunch with school ever since I got to college and once I got involved with Young Life it made it even harder to do well in school. I never really understood why it was harder to study when I made the transition from the big time partier to a more Christ filled person. You’d think that it would be the opposite right? Like, I don’t go out or drink like every day anymore so I should study. The thing is, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit ( /refilled with the Holy Spirit after drifting away) I came into the realization that my life is meant to be so much more than a freaking test or homework assignment. My life is God’s primarily, the people with whom I share it with secondly, and then my own. 

I know what you’re thinking. Ok Bradley this is real good excuse for you to fail all of your tests and not study and be able to blame it on something good. ATTENTION: I don’t think it is right to not try hard (Colossians 3:23). I fully believe that school and other things besides ministry (work, play, etc.) are important and I think that it is right to work hard because that glorifies the One who gave us those gifts. 

God created us all so differently and Jesus came and died for every different person. Some people are a lot better at hanging out with high school kids than taking test (MEEEE). If I’m being honest, I’m totally cool with that. I have the assurance of Christ that I am smart and that I am worthy of what He has in store for me. I don’t need to have the assurance of anything else besides that to be joyful and grateful. I watch some of my friends and people I don’t know feel miserable and waste great opportunities because they are working so hard to please a teacher or their parents by getting that “A”. I don’t think that it’s unfaithful to work really hard. I’m not going to claim to be the best studier or study a ton, but I think that the amount of work I put into school isn’t too little. On one hand, I don’t have a 4.0 by any means but on the other hand, I get to spend a ton of time with high school kids, college kids, and adults all going through life and I get to help people and be helped by people everyday. 

I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible where it says, “Thou shall make all A’s”. God calls us all to work hard at what we’re doing and to bring glory to Him over everything. This is such a difficult concept for us to grab in our culture today. Our culture tells us, especially as students that the only way to be successful in the world to make an A on that Bio test, or to really write a great paper. Our culture tells us that success in school is the only way to get a good job. Our culture tells us that a good job is the only way to be happy. These are great big lies. God calls us to be obedient and to abide in Him to find joy. Joy trumps happiness everyday of the week and God provides for those who trust in Him. Jesus told us to look at the flowers in all their beauty, how much more important are we to Him? How much more will God give to us if we just trust in Him and measure ourselves on His scale?

All this being said, go and work hard my friends! Work hard for the kingdom always glorifying God. If that is killin it at school, then make a 4.0. If it’s being an average student and still working hard at it, then work hard and make C’s! I want to encourage all of us to be ever mindful of God’s scale and measure ourselves on it only. Remember that you are different and have different strengths than everyone else. Above all, we are all the heirs to the throne of God and we can take faith in that and hold ourselves to that standard!

Much Love,

Bradley 

Shout out to Vince and Dixon because they asked for it.

Why I’m Here

A good friend of mine Chase Garrett, recently made his first post on his blog (you can read his blog at chasegarrett.wordpress.com and you probably should). I normally despise writing but I figured I might follow suit and try it out. 

So, why am I doing this? Funny you asked, I don’t claim to be a writer at all but I do claim to be a normal dude going through life. I have a lot of great things that happen to me everyday and I’m not worthy of any of them. This world that we all live in isn’t really ours if you think about it. God created a perfect place for us to live and we kinda screwed it up. That being said, I feel as if our life experiences aren’t ours to keep to ourselves. We owe them all the Man upstairs and I think that it is only right to be able share the things that happen to us. I don’t want to say that I’ll inspire anyone or that I’m even capable of inspiring anyone. 

I am inspired everyday by people doing awesome stuff. I would like to think that there are people out there that could learn from me and some of the things I’ve done right, but mostly by the stuff I haven’t done right. We are made to live in community with other folks. This is key in our development as men and women. I think that the best kind of community (and the one that God tells us to live in) is a community of people that love Jesus and try to be obedient to all the stuff that He says. 

I am blessed to have a community like this and I want to give a shout out to all the people that are in that group. I have an amazing family that I am best friends with and love dearly. I’ve been able to follow Christ with a group of Young Life leaders that constantly build up, strengthen, and inspire me. These people, especially my team at the one and only Clarke Central High School, are the people I count on everyday. I am a part of a great fraternity where some of my best friendships have been found. I have a very special person that I count on as much, if not more than anyone else as well. She has been my rock for the past three and a half years and I am blessed to do life with her. So thank you Kathryn Spencer for being that one person that I am able to make a love triangle with God. 

As far as my life goes, I consider myself a servant of Christ that is just like the next guy. I struggle with the same stuff that everyone else does. I consider myself this over anything else that I may be. I happen to be a student unfortunately fortunately. I do a lot of things but what I AM is God’s creation and I try to live my life like that instead of what the world my classify me as. 

If people read this, I hope you view me God views me, not how the world views me. Enjoy my posts, or don’t, that’s fine, too. 

Much Love,

Bradley Carr

P.S. I will make grammatical, spelling, and many other errors. So go ahead and look past those.