The Story - Conflict, or You Will Not be Spared Part II, or What Happens When You're Pregnant

Your chase will birth only conflict. You will not be spared. This is how you will be made.

Talking to people is something that is difficult for me. You may think that is ridiculous(if you know me), but people have always sort of freaked me out. I never really know what to say to people, and jokes have always been an easy way out of a situation where I can't find the words. So I became known as funny. I got so good at being known as funny, I came in second place in a stand-up comedy contest. I lost by half a point, (some would say) because of my personality, but second place isn't so bad. Unless the competition only has two contestants. Not so impressive now, eh?

Let me take you back to my senior year, only for a moment I promise. In January of 2007 I began feeling God put the idea on my heart of looking into youth ministry. At that point, I was already accepted into Shippensburg University, all ready to start my computer science degree(which requires other stories). I thought to myself, "This is just a stupid thought; a random firing neurons that seeks to ruin my life. I will never be a youth pastor." I told myself that everyday for a while. I just didn't have what it takes, or that's what I thought.

I won't get crazy with the details, but beginning with those thoughts, God has brought me on an insane journey of difficulty. It has been a journey that brought me into the knowledge of who God really is. It has led me up mountains, into books, and close to people that really love Jesus. Now I call myself one of them. I associate myself with those who are trying to follow Jesus wherever He takes us. Before, I only looked at Jesus through a veil or a window. Now my feet long to fill the prints left by His sandals.

Those who follow Jesus do not and will never live an easy life. The teachings of Jesus stand in stark contrast to the ways of the world, and in our culture it is easier than ever to produce death with our lives. And that's just it. When we encounter conflict on earth, it can produce one of two things. Life or death.

The strange yet fitting metaphor I've found for conflict is pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I am not, nor will I ever (for very good and obvious reasons), be an expert on pregnancy. But I have found that even in scripture, pregnancy and labor and labor pains are made reference to multiple times when there is great conflict. In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus talks of the end times when there will be earthquakes, false prophets, wars, famines, and wickedness - all of which, He says, should be taken as labor pains. A birth is coming. New life is coming.

When we experience conflict, God is giving us a chance to birth new life into our lives. But, like pregnancy, this will be difficult and will hurt. Sometimes it will hurt really badly. If we only press on; if we only continue through the pain can we receive the life.

But what happens when we abuse the potential for life? What happens when we deny and resist what God is doing in our lives? Death. We may not even realize it sometimes. Subtle things we do can impede the ability for that life to come forth, eventually turning it into sin. There are plenty of things one can do during a pregnancy to make the outcome grim. When someone is pregnant, they must be disciplined, so as not to take anything away from the life that is planned.

Our God is a God of life, not death. He is a God of the living. Be assured, God wants for you only to experience life, but He does not bring it to us on a silver platter. God's life must make it's way through a broken world into our broken lives; it's not an easy journey. Like the people of Nazareth, often we expect Jesus to step into our lives, work a few miracles, and make everything nice and peachy. No way. Following Jesus is about as difficult as having a child.

Jesus comes to give life, and not just any old life; life to the full. Don't expect life to the full to come easy. Don't expect life to the full to come strolling into town to fix your life. Expect a road of suffering. Expect a story worth reading. Expect a life without guesswork. Only the assured rock beneath our feet supporting our shaking legs.