Never Stop Learning

When others ask me some of the things that I learned spending a year in China, I have found one of my answers being: "I learned how to love learning wherever I'm at, there is always something to learn". And I LOVE this answer, because this year, I've been given no choice but to learn! Consequently, I have come to LOVE learning.

Since being home, He has emphasized several things to me. I'm currently reading through the New Testament one chapter a day as a "New Testament Challenge" initiated by one of my favorite authors Karen Kingsbury. And in my daily reading time, a consistent theme keeps cropping up. The theme capsulated in this verse: "But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few will ever find it" (Matthew 7:14). This theme came up in the parables of Matthew 13. The parable of the sower, for example, emphasizes this very point... check it out, "

18“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Wow! Now if that doesn't strike the fear of God in you, I'm not quite sure what will! Then later in the chapter you have this:  37He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear The difference between the wheat and the weeds is hardly noticeable. Amazing. And then Jesus proceeds to share about the parables of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl. In these two parables, Jesus shows that when a person truly sees Jesus Christ and Kingdom of Heaven for what it really is, there are no earthly riches comparable, and thus the earthly riches are simply given away because they pale in comparison to true riches of the Glorious Kingdom. I personally love this parable right now, because I've never quite caught this. I should count my faith and my redemption so so precious to me that simply nothing on earth will ever hold any weight to me- "I will count it all as loss" because I know the joy that is before me. When I have this joy at what's before me, I "throw off all that entangles me". I CHOOSE to give up any and every earthly treasure! When we do this with joy, wow, that's incredible faith in finding His beautiful grace! May we continue to pursue hard after Christ! He's a good Dad, and we'll never be in want or ever regret it! Stay the course my friends... it's about joy in perseverance, not satisfying the temporal.