Spirit, take me Up in arms with You

In the middle of Winter Quarter of my freshman year..I can't remember exactly when... but there was a time when I could (I'm nearly certain) see God weaving together a bunch of events in my life to get a certain message across to me. While I was going through that, I wanted to write a facebook note about it.. but laziness won and ate up that.. so I'm gonna share it here instead. I also can't remember the exact sequence of events, but i'll try my best to recall correctly.


Anyways, the adults in Cumberland were going through a book called "The Unexpected Adventure", which was an awesome book which gave practical perspectives on how to share your faith with others. I haven't been able to finish it yet, but while I was going through it, I definitely felt the tug on my heart to go share Christ with people at UCSD, specifically my with my 4 (yes, f-o-u-r x]) roommates. To live my faith out-loud in a sense. What the book said was that, if our lives are centered around making Jesus famous, by an internal drive to tell people about Jesus, our lives would never be boring. In fact, it would be the complete opposite: an unexpected adventure. A life on the edge for Jesus (cheesy, but seriously, that's what I felt haha.)

It was during this time that I rediscovered this song, "24" by Switchfoot. And boy, did this song mean a lot for me.



I'm singing, Spirit, take me up in arms with You..
and You're raising the dead in me.
oOo, I am the second man now.

Gah, there's really so much to say about this song.. (like the connection between this song and the story in Genesis of Jacob wrestling God in the desert, and also the fact that the writer of this song wrote this song in light of his 24th birthday.) BUT I'll attempt to stay ontrack, haha. I felt that this song, especially the chorus, is an honest plea to God for Him to take us with Him on this amazing adventure He has in store for us! Asking Him to use us in spite of our blahness. Ultimately, it's also asking God to put us in our place. When God touched Jacob's hip-bone, it crippled Jacob, showing him that he is not First anymore, but that God is. The first step in this great life with the adventure of telling people about Jesus is understanding that we are the "second man", while Jesus is the First. Our wants, desires, needs, all come second to His glory.

Finally, also as I was going through this book, my dorm-floor one night was having a showing of the movie "Up" by Pixar. And if ya'll know me, I LOVE to analyze the heck out of books, music, movies, etc. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, go watch it!! It's pretty awesome. Skip to the next paragraph if you fall under said catagory, because there shall be spoilers involved in this one X].) Now, for those of you who have seen it, check this out :]. The entire movie revolves around the concept of living for Adventure. One recurring phrase written all over the place (the blimp, the book, and more) is "The Spirit of Adventure". Take a look at the two main old-men characters, Carl Fredrickson (the good guy) and Charles Muntz: both have gone through many adventures in their life, have also experienced a lot of pain, and both are somewhat unable to let go of their past adventures. Mr.Fredrickson can't see the blessing of his new friends, and Muntz is obsessed with reclaiming his old glory and can't let go, like the bones in his blimp. A defining moment in the plot is when Mr.Fredrickson, after reading his wife's message to "go have his own adventures", throws out everything in his beloved house in order to save Russel.


This is where I gotta be honest. I'm sad and embarrassed that I've let this vision die. While going through this book, I boldly prayed that God would somehow have my roommates and I pray to Him together at least once in my freshman year. This unfortunately didn't happen. And honestly, I can't say that I gave it my all. I let it die, after being scared 'back into my hole'. But that offer for the Spirit to take me up in arms with Him still tastes so good.

Please pray for me to seek once again to have this passion for spreading Jesus's name, and patience for these passions to stir again. Also, I invite any of you who (so awesomely) read this far to keep me accountable. Ask me about it. Talk to me about it. It's gonna hurt if I can't look at you in the face and honestly say I've done something about it, but I think it's supposed to hurt like that. But I think maybe God showed me that "Up" movie to remind me to let go of the past and look forward, to the other great adventures God has in store.
I'm not copping out..
..not copping out..
and You're raising the dead in me

[i always feel the need to thank whoever reads this far, so THANK YOU =]. God bless!]