Sunday, March 30, 2014

God's Not Dead

It's 2 am and I can't sleep.  Insomnia has become a regular part of my life.  Tonight is different from many of the nights that I have laid in bed in the past year trying to figure out why I can't sleep.  All of those nights were filled with anxiety about why I wasn't sleeping, the endless to-do list that was waiting for me the next day.  How was I supposed to get anything checked off of that to-do list when I hadn't gotten enough sleep?

I don't know about you, but I don't function well when I don't get enough sleep...this is a regular occurrence for me.  And as I get older, the lack of sleep seems to have a greater effect than it did when I was younger.  I'm wondering right now as I type this message how I can even compose a complete sentence when I'm so tired and need to be up in less than 6 hours.  Forget the awake and alert part, that's very rare these days.

So you may be wondering, why is tonight different?  I've already admitted to being tired and wanting to sleep.  I wouldn't say that I'm extremely alert, it's probably not a good time for me to be operating heavy machinery or making any critical decisions.  I do need to be up in less than 6 hours and I still have that endless to-do list.  The difference is that I don't have the anxiety.  For the first time in many months, maybe years, I don't feel the tightness in my chest that indicates the anxiousness that I feel when I think about my overwhelming life.

My family and I went to see the movie, God's Not Dead, today.  This movie is possibly the best modern depiction of the struggle between Atheism and Christianity.  This happens to be a topic that has become very important to me over the past couple of years as my oldest daughter has settled into her teenage years. Young people today, maybe more than ever in human history, are questioning the Christian faith.  I'm not talking about those who weren't exposed to Christianity in their childhood.  I'm talking about the ones raised in Christian church-going families who enter adulthood, decide that they don't believe in God and don't need Him, essentially believing that God is dead.

It seems to me that young people are leaving the church more and more.  I can't recall any statistics at this time of the morning but I can remember my thoughts when I've heard those statistics.  They are staggering and I always think, Wow!  This issue has bounced around in my head for some time and I have come to the conclusion that this age group has become a very important mission field.  We need to find a way to reach these young people and help them find their way back to Jesus!

The movie, God's Not Dead, is a wonderful tool to do just that.  I highly recommend seeing this film whether atheist, agnostic or Christian.  It is very thought provoking, has well thought out reasoning for many of the answers that we have about the evil in our world and was very well done for a low budget film.

I can't help but think that the reason I'm composing a post in this blog at 2 am, that I haven't written in for over a year is because I feel inspired to share a message that is extremely important.  At this very moment, I'm not thinking about my endless to-do list and therefore, have let go of the anxiety.  My purpose is to share God's message of His love and forgiveness.  Nothing else really matters.

I'm sure that I will still feel pressure about deadlines and unwanted burdens.  I'm too realistic to believe that my anxiety has been cured by one film.  But my hope has been renewed and I've found a new desire to share my struggles and triumphs with others so that they may learn from my experiences and in some way can hopefully find some answers for their struggles....or at the very least start thinking about them.

Jesus is my Lord and Savior!  God's Not Dead!

My hope for you is that you come to know His love for you and find strength in Him to face your struggles!

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