Redesigns & Revelations

To those searching,

My blog desperately needed to be redesigned

Yes, sadly it was true. My blog needed a drastic makeover, and not just any easy facelift, but it needed to be completely rethought and redone.

Before I go further it would be best to let you into my thought process. For a long time now I knew something was wrong with my blogs, but because I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reasons for my uneasiness, I decided to sweep it back under the rug. However about a month ago, I went to a middle school camp as an intern for my church. The week was focused on the theme of Redesigned. Now being a college student who is majoring in Religion, I thought that this was incredibly simple, incredibly cheesy, and well incredibly stupid. Now being a college student I also thought that everyone had the right to know just how dumb I thought this topic to be. It was sometime during my week of “playful bantering” that I realized…

We as people (myself included being a massive understatement) think that we are more important than we truly are.

Now if this would have been a post months ago I would have taken probably 14 paragraphs to back up my claim, but seeing as my blogs have been reinvented I only ask that you search your hearts  and I believe you will find this to be 100% true. What other reason would I brutally chastise the hard work of others unless that I thought the theme was beneath me or that I could do better? But that’s when reality and revelation sank in. What right do I have to assume that I could do better?

 This realization unlocked my frustrations and uneasiness with my blog and answered why I allowed myself to be carried so far away by apathy. I, thinking that I was more important than I truly was, was too concerned with the number of people reading my blog, too focused on my vocabulary, and too preoccupied thinking that everyone should care enough to read what I had to say. Those who have read my previous writings are far too familiar with my 1,000+ word blogs that overflowed with unnecessary vocabulary and complexity. Instead of saying what I wanted to say in just enough words to say it, I would go on and on like the song “it’s a small world.” In the words of Thoreau, I needed to “simplify simplify”

Because of my week at middle school camp, I knew what I needed to do in order to start blogging again. That meant no more novels, no more unnecessary complexity, no words that you needed a dictionary to understand, and no more fluff. From now on I’m letting my yes be yes and my no be no (Matt 5:37). If according to 2 Cor 5:17 I am a new creation made after the image of Christ, then I at least could recognize that by myself I can do nothing (John 15:5) and that by my own will my blog is nothing but another website.

If you catch or have caught yourself being impressed by something you’ve done, the money you have, or the education you’ve received. Stop and remember…

God’s done more, has more, and is far more than anything we can ever be.

And it is only because He allows us to be redesigned that we can ever shine light

Don’t let us deserve the title “Generation Me.”

Merely,

Chris Gerac

“You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14, NIV
"For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Galatians 6:3, NASB

Jumper Cables & Poured Salt

To those searching,

It has been a really long time since I’ve last blogged… almost 8 months to be honest. I regret to admit it, but the reason for the long lapse has nothing to do with busyness, but all to do with laziness. Yep, that’s right; I was bitten by the often poisonous apathy bug. Merriam-Webster defines apathy as a “lack of interest or concern,” but from my experience, I would define it as nothing short of a black hole. Those that have experienced Apathy know too well the emotional drain that it takes out of you. Like poison ivy, apathy starts small, but before you can blink twice it has spread to all areas of your life… emotionally…physically…mentally…spiritually.

Let’s flash back to October 20^th, 2010. The day burning under the son was born. That night I sat at my desk excited over the fact of starting something that was my own, something that could make others think, and something that could glorify God. I looked forward to writing and longed for the moment when an idea would come into focus. Simply put, I loved writing.

Now let’s flash forward to the present. Somewhere between January 13^th the last day I posted an update, till now, August 2^nd I strayed off the beaten path. Somewhere along the road from January till today I lost my mojo, my fire, my passion. Some would call it writers block; I would call it excuses. Truth be told, my heart was hardened.

In the words of Revelation 2:4 I had “forsaken the love [I] had at first”. When I came across these words from Jesus, who said this to the once devoted church of Ephesus, it was like pouring salt into an open cut. These words struck me at my core. I had forsaken the love I had at first. What I once longed for had become a burden, an obligation, a crushing weight. What had happened to me? When did I let Apathy get such a hold on me?

You see I write this to encourage the ones who have felt complacent, jaded, or hopeless. I too have experienced the silent killer of apathy, and it is from these experiences that I desperately urge you to find a spark that will burn down the walls you’ve placed around your heart.  Do whatever you have to do. Go outside and clothe yourself with the sounds of birds singing and crickets chirping. Turn your phone off and take time to reflect upon the conditions and anxieties of your life. Scream your frustrations to the upper reaches of heaven. I repeat… do what you have to do. If you roll over to apathy you will find yourself backsliding down a steep, snowy slope.

Find the salt and pour it in your life. Jump start your heart.

Don’t be like me.

Don’t spend  8 months in complacency.

Don’t forsake your love.

Merely,

Chris Gerac

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22,      NIV

G3: God as a vending machine

Have you ever been to a vending machine? I’m going to go ahead and assume that 99.9% of the people in America have approached that transparent plastic and salivated over one of the tasty treats that lay inside. I bring up vending machines because quite frankly that’s what’s been on my mind. Just a few minutes ago I sat in my newly discovered, favorite quiet spot: the kitchen. I don’t really know about other colleges, but here at Baylor, our residential kitchens are some of the only silent places- not to mention the chairs are like soft, fluffy clouds. It is in these chairs that I retire to read every day, and it was in these chairs that a certain box of Mike and Ike’s caught my eye. There they were, smiling smugly at me safe behind their Plexiglas fortress. Over the next couple of minutes my eyes kept reverting back to that darn green box. To say I wanted them would be an understatement. It was in this constant state of staring eagle-eyed that I came to a revelation.

Many of us have our God as a vending machine.

We often pick and choose qualities of God that we would like to believe. For example, many people see God as a loving God, but often overlook His desires for justice or His burning hatred of sin. Just like I focused in on those Mike and Ike’s, it seems that Christians today spend much of their time harping solely on those aspects of God that they themselves want to consider. In this narrowed mindedness, we begin to blur, fudge, and pervert the image of God. Just look around at the portrayals of Jesus throughout your city. Within a few blocks I guarantee you will find a multitude of different opinions, depictions, and interpretations of the qualities that God possesses. When we have people picking and choosing a God catered to their taste-buds, we effectively lose sight of the bigger picture. To honor the ancient adage, we effectively “can’t see the forest for the trees.” By spotlighting chosen characteristics of Christ, we become lost looking at the proverbial trees, all the while missing that we’re in a forest.

Instead of looking at aspects of God or facets of Christianity, I encourage you to take a step back and examine it in its entirety. You might just find that instead of just a box of Mike and Ike’s, you have an entire treasure of tasty treats.