How is it that I have grown up in the bible belt half my lifetime, but I have felt more challenged in my faith the past couple months than I have my entire life. Serving in Houston is a new adventure everyday. Saturday we got the opportunity to visit a Muslim Mosque, Buddhist temple, and Hindu temple. It was probably one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. Knowing that they were so close to Christianity in some aspects and so far off in others, broke me. My biggest conviction was how can those religions have dedicated prayer times at least five times a day and as Christians we struggle to have an actual conversation with God at night or in the morning? We thought that after a day like this, it was probably the best to watch the movie Insanity of God, a movie about people laying down their lives for Christ. The line that really spoke to me was, "if you are a follower of Christ, you must be willing to lay down the life of your own, your wife, and children." I know as Christians we can so easily proclaim in a worship song that we surrender all to him, but do you really?

"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." John 15:20

Are you really willing to lay down your life for the Lord? Are you willing to take that calling to serve the Lord if you knew everyone would hate you? Thoughts running through my mind had filled me with so much conviction. I remember learning about the Columbine shooting when I was younger and wondering if in a moment like that would I choose? Would I get caught up in the fact that I have a whole life ahead me and that mine had just begun, or proclaim my faith with no shame and know that God has provided me with this life. Your worldly desires so easily get in the way sometimes, but what we need to realize is that Jesus dying for our sins was worth it and even if he took everything that we define as "ours" that we will still be happy because the Lord is the one who provided us with those blessings.

The movie mentioned how in China they count how qualified you are as a missionary depending on the amount of times you have been in jail. That they literally consider jail time as a time of seminary. This blew my mind. Would I be willing to leave my family behind and go serve in a country that I know I could potentially spend my life in jail for my faith? What we so easily forget is the Lord is so faithful and during those times in prison the Lord is still at work if not more than normal because all we have to cling onto is our faith.

Did you know that you can so easily be born a Christian and die in the church, but never shared the gospel with anyone? Just because you sit in the garage does not make you a car, just like going to church does not make you a Christian. God called us to go make disciples of the World, that doesn't always mean in places we are comfortable. If Christianity was about being comfortable, then great things would never be accomplished because a lot insight from the Lord comes in our darkest moments. I guess what I am trying to say is, as a Christian you have to stop living in your little bubble and be willing to do what God has really called us to do. Stop letting your Worldly desires of comfort and being in control stop you from following God's calling.