CollegeLife

This week we talked about if there has ever been anyone who had the right to say, “God has left me!” it was Joseph.  He was favored by his dad (not his fault), had dreams that were given by God (not his fault), and told his brothers about those dreams (maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but still).  So because of this his brothers strip him, sell him into slavery, his boss gets wealthy because of HIS faithfulness, he’s thrown into prison for being faithful to God and not sleeping with Potiphar’s wife, he interprets some other dreams for the cupbearer and the baker and to wrap it up- he’s forgotten by the cupbearer!

If we were writing a “Way I see it” for Joseph we would have to say something like “The Way I see it…”

- God has forgotten me

- God has abandoned me

- God doesn’t care about me

But all we know about Joseph was God was with him!?  Just read the story- Genesis 37-40. God is constantly with Joseph? It doesn’t sound like a story we would write, but it says that God was WITH Him.

Joseph is the ultimate example that really the way we see things doesn’t really matter, because God might be up to something behind the scenes that we can’t even imagine.  A story much bigger than us, a story much grander than us, a story that in the midst of it we don’t understand but in the end we see it’s a God size story.  So what would our lives look like if we really believed that God was with us?  How would it change our circumstances to believe that in the midst of it all, God was there? How would this change, “the way I see it?”

This week at CollegeLife week talked about how whether we like it or not our circumstances have a huge impact on us.  One person doesn’t show up at a movie, he/she doesn’t call back, you get a raise…all these little changes in circumstance can have a huge impact on us.

The problem comes when we take this idea of the power of circumstance and apply it to God! We start thinking things like, “Dad got cancer, God must be mad” “I got a raise God must really love me” “I passed without studying, Thanks God!”

The truth is our circumstances cannot have an impact on our view of God, rather our view of God should have a complete impact on our circumstances.  Just look over Psalm 13 and look at how in the midst of a crazy life David says he can “trust” in the Lord. Wow.

 So we’re putting it to the test THIS Saturday.  UT vs. FL!  We’ll be watching the UT Game on the huge screen in the high school room at church.  So bring a friend, wear some orange and be ready to have a great time.  The game starts at 3:30pm so feel free to get there a little early for pregame and we’ll have snacks and drinks. Here’s your ticket, you’re invited to a great day of football.

 See you Saturday and Sunday!

So Labor Day is over, the fireworks have exploded and it’s back to the grind.  Don’t forget that CollegeLife is back this Sunday @ 7pm at Greenbrier.

We are starting a new series entitled, The Way I See It (based off of the Starbucks cups). We are going to talk about how our circumstances often affect our faith and skew our view. See you there.