Restoration :)

So I'm in a very contemplative mood right now....don't know why, maybe it's my choice of music this morning or my state of existence at the moment. Nevertheless, right now I choose to skip out on exercise physiology class and just write.

So I've been thinking a lot about the past and how I ended up here, how we all ended up to where we are now. Have you ever heard the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" ? Well, I think that saying accurately describes this world and every life in it. We are always changing, our situations in life are always changing, our thoughts are always changing...which is why things are the same with change. Change is constantly among us, which is why it is the norm in life. Think about it, when your life feels stagnant, how much more do you desire that change? We don't know what to do with complacency because it's not normal in our lives to stay in the same place, the same state for more than a brief period. At the same time, however, the thought of change scares the crap out of us, especially when we finally find a place that we actually want to stay.

So, I want to propose a different word for change, one which seems to have a more positive connotation to it. The word is: TRANSITION. Change comes with that negative connotation of fear, whereas a transition implies that you will be better as a result of you changing circumstances. Life's transitions are what keep me going (see James 1 or Romans 5 or Hebrews 12 for my reasons). I know that each transition in my life, however hard it may be, is for the development of my character.

I attended a worship service to kick of 24-hour prayer at ASU and a line in one of the songs was "You are my restoration". "You" being Jesus, if you didn't know. And overcome my a moment of shear happiness and realization, I fell to my seat just laughing. Yeah I know, not your usual response during worship, but it's totally justifiable. Consider this analogy (oh how I love analogies!):

In exercise physiology (yes even though I am missing class today, I can make it up with this analogy), I learned about the role of satellite cells in the muscle. See, when we excercise (mainly strength training and lifting weights) there are little tears that occur within the muscle. These tears are necessary for muscle hypertrophy (aka bigger biceps). This accounts for part of the soreness you feel after working out. Now, here is where the satellite cells come in, they are the cells that go to the tears in the muscle and restore them to health. Do you get where I'm going with this now? JESUS is our SATELLITE CELL! How cool is that?

So in life, we break. We fall down as we work so hard to get through life. But you know what? Jesus comes in to restore those tears we accumulate along the way. The beauty of satellite cells is that they not only restore you, but your muscle grows because of it. Therefore, though the soreness may suck, you get the desired result afterwards. Yeah, our struggles in life may suck, but we grow from that transition and will ultimately be so much better off because of it.

So work out today, literally or figuratively, and let our satellite restore you through your transition, whatever it may be at the moment in your life.

Finally, let's open ourselves up for restoration not only in our own bodies, but in the body of Christ as well. Let us unite through Christ and not let turmoil tear us apart. That is all for now. I just want to encourage you to accept restoration through your current transitions in life.

Peace :)