Dare to be Helpless?

SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S EXPERIENCE:
• Take away a tool that you depend on. Some options include: pens, pencils, paper, internet search engines, your cell phone or its apps, text messaging, your car, public transportation, your computer, etc.
• Go without a coat or something else that keeps you physically protected.
• Write some of your computer passwords on a sheet of paper and give copies to some trusted friends. Throughout the week, think about what would happen if they actually used your passwords and saw your entire life without filters.
• Each day, commit to telling a stranger (which also means you must meet a stranger) or a different friend a secret about your life.

You can come up with your own experience, but the common theme of all our acts is that they make us feel vulnerable – something Rebecca feels everyday. And as we go through our “helpless” experiences, let us remember that Jesus, Son of God, selflessly became man and experienced vulnerability in order to restore our relationship with God.

Thanks for taking on this experience of helplessness in observance of Lent 2011.

--Written by Laura Dassama

Laura Dassama is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. She serves as lead of the Intercessory Prayer Team at Harvest Global Mission Church, and she is a food enthusiast.

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Above is a conclusion to a story in which you can find when you click on the web address.

I think I'm going to try and do at least three things or maybe come up with my own. Who knows, but the one on telling a stranger about your secret kind of strikes me as the best challenge yet! I think I will try it out, haha. 

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OH, STORY TIME!! :D

It was funny how I FINALLY recalled my conversation with my friend, Alice, about a simple story of a man being healed nearby the open bath house. I recall that he was laying on a movable board and he pushes himself in order to get around. When Jesus saw him and approached him, He blessed the man by allowing him to walk. Jesus essentially told the man to stand up and walk! So he did, and that was just it! There was nothing more about how he struggled or if he fell or anything of that sort, because it was a miracle. When I read it for the first time, I remember being very gullible, saying that he was probably lazy, and I felt like somehow the story was meant for me to read and really relate to. I don't know what was going inside of my head at the time, but I thought that through the Bible, you could relate your life with it; guess I was a bit too far off at the time. I judged the man and said that he was lazy because he didn't try hard enough during his years of living, so now here comes Jesus telling him to stand up and walk already--so that he could finally move on with his life and be able to use the resources around him more freely. In reality, at the time of my reading it, I was the one who was and felt lazy. I was the one who felt crippled, and who needed someone to tell me that I should get up and walk--or rather, choose to do (YEAH, as in JUST DO!). I didn't understand the story because I assumed too much, but seriously, it was hard for me to understand what I was reading in the first place. I tried my best, but I'm thankful that I inquired about it and openly discussed it with Alice. She corrected me and helped me to see what the story is actually saying. I'm glad. I guess when I need help and really want to get back on my feet, this will be the story that comes to mind. Sometimes I feel like we need others to smack us in the face (hmm, not literally..but then again.. :P) in order to wake us up from the despair in which we live in. Most of the time, we don't see any other ways to live but merely use the familiarity of our old habits and surrounding environment to continue on with our life. I hope you that if it is you who are in need of that voice of encouragement to shock or awaken you, then don't hesitate to find it within you. It's there. I just know it! Seek it so that you can restore your inner psyche. :)