If The World Hates You, Remember That It Hated Me First

Yesterday I made a comment on a post by Dr. Tony Evans. See the image below.

First, I love Dr. Tony Evans, if you don’t follow him on social media, I highly recommend it. He is an amazing teacher of The Word and a man that is filled with God’s Love and Wisdom.

My response to his great post was that in total agreement, but the harsh reality is that people that choose not to believe in God and His Word, will just ignore this and anything else that we try and teach that comes from Him.

I’ve experienced people calling me names, calling me stupid or lost, a sheep simply because I believe in God and know that He is my source of peace. Although I don’t mind being called a sheep in this particular sense and I know that He is my Shepherd. It can be tiring and disheartening at times, especially when it comes from those who are closer friends and family.

This morning I woke up to read my Bible and I was reading John 15 when I came up on this passage: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? A slave is not greater than the master. Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they listened to me, they would listen to you.” John 15:18-20

Jesus is talking to his disciples here. Basically He’s telling them the world and the people that conform to this world will hate them. They will hate you, if you are a disciple of Christ. You are no longer a part of this world, and they will hate you for it. If they hated God, what makes you think they’re not going to hate you?

The pushback, the name-calling, the hate…it’s all because you are no longer a part of what they hold on to. You have a different source of TRUTH, LOVE and PEACE…and they will hate you for it.

So remember when you hear those things, when you are being persecuted on any level because you are speaking and teaching God’s Word, they don’t get you because they don’t get Him. They hate you because they hate Him.

Not From Here Nor There

When I first started this blog a while back it was supposed to be sort of comical and have comic strips, etc. Well, it’s obvious that I didn’t go that route. I have found myself writing about life and current events (when I do actually write on here). So I thought I would change the name to something a little less silly.

Not from here nor there comes from a saying I learned as a kid, “ni de aquí ni de allá.” The first time I heard of that term was from a Mexican Movie starring Maria Elna Velasco. The movie was basically her in the United States causing mischief and having agents after her, wanting to send her back. She’s here to earn money but realizes that she’s trapped in a world that is not of her own.

It’s crazy that at one part of my life, I felt that way as well. Being a first-generation Mexican-American… American-Mexican… or however you want to put it, there were some challenges I faced growing up. When I was younger I would see those here in the United States that would look at me as if I wasn’t from here. We would hear the slurs, the names, etc. And I know most people’s thoughts automatically go to “white people”, but that wasn’t the case for us. It was a mixture of people that showed those colors. So naturally you tend to side or retreat back to what you know and that’s my Mexican side. But as I grew older, I began to see the other side (pun intended) of how they viewed me as well. My first job had me interacting with quite a few people that were of Mexican origin and well, they often called me a sell-out, or told me that I wasn’t Mexican enough or even at all. I’d hear the term Pocho a lot. These are the kind of things that could give someone an identity crisis.

Another reason for the name change was because I have found myself often at the middle ground of arguments or social policies or debates. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to listen more. I hear both sides to an argument or view and a lot of times, I find myself agreeing with certain parts of both sides. There is usually, if not always, a middle ground to everything but we’re just so absorbed in ourselves, our lives, our feelings, our perspective that we don’t even bother to get the other side a thought. I’ve been guilty of that in the past. I was so focused on “winning” an argument, I didn’t even bother to listen. What’s crazy is that often both sides look at me like I’m crazy because I don’t pick a side. When all I’m wondering is why can’t we just meet in the middle.

Anyway, not that anyone probably cares, but there you have it, the name change. I hope you all are doing okay and staying safe other there during these odd times.

I Got You

The other day Eli was trying to do something with one of his toys and I knew he wasn’t going to be able to do it so I offered to help him. “No, I do it, daddy. I do it.” So I smiled and said, “Okay, let me know when you’re ready for me to help you.”

And so a few minutes later he came to me, frustrated, crying and ready to just give up on it. “Hey, look at me. I got you, okay? I can do this.” So I helped him out and off he went with his toy, happy and playing.

This morning that scene played out in my head again during a conversation with God. And it reminded me of all the times I wanted to do things on my own. How I thought I could do it all by myself. I can imagine God smiling down on me saying, “Okay, let Me know when you’re ready for me to help you.”

And just like Eli, I would come to Him frustrated, crying and ready to just give up. And that’s when He says to me, “Hey, look at Me. I got you. I can do this.”

Of course, I was in tears driving in, like most days I connect with Him. I love that through parenting He reminds of His love and patience with me.

Designed & Created

I had a random thought this morning as I was driving in. I saw this office building and I thought, “I wonder how hard it would be for me to convince someone that this building was not designed or created but it just came to be?” That after millions or billions of years this building just came to be. The support beams, the walls the roof it all just came together on its own after years and years. That every electrical wire within its walls just happened. That all the plumbing that runs under the building and up into it, just came into existence with no outside help. That the layout of the building, where certain rooms and offices were just randomly decided to appear on their own.

Do you think I could convince someone of that, or do you think they would call me crazy for thinking that such a complex structure could just come into existence without someone designing it or without someone building it?

So it makes me wonder how anyone could think that the most complex system ever known to man, could have just happened. I’m talking about the human body. That over billions of years we just appeared and evolved. With all of the microsystems happening within each of us they can just say, “it just happened and we have evolved to this over time.” We don’t even fully understand our minds and how they fully function yet.

I know people have the absolute right to believe in what they want to, just as am I. I guess I am just constantly in awe of how our bodies work and how nature works and I have a hard time believing that it just came to be out of chance. We have eleven systems in play inside of us at all times. Each one of these systems is vital to our survival and each one of the systems is absolutely amazing to study and see what it does. And I’ve only read about a fraction of them.

When I stop and look at things in detail it just makes me believe more and more that we were beautifully and amazingly designed and created. And that is just the human body. Just one species here on this amazing planet. That one alone would be impossible to just happen by chance and evolution in my eyes. I don’t care how many years go by. Don’t even get me started on all of the interdependent systems that are happening on Earth.

Anyway, I just had to write this down as it was really hitting me all the way into work this morning. I hope you all are having a great day/week. And if you’re not, I pray that it gets better for you!

Child of ProLife

I know this subject matter has been BIG on the news and social media. Everyone has their beliefs, their convictions and thoughts on the matter. I could sit here and write a novel on it all from my thoughts and beliefs as well. But to be honest, I’m not sure it would do much good with the way people handle other’s beliefs and opinions nowadays.

But I am ProLife and here’s one major reason why I am. When my mother was pregnant with me she didn’t know and was still taking contraceptives. When she finally found out, the doctor told her because of that I could be born with defects and that she should have me aborted. My mother didn’t even hesitate and declined. She said, “however God gives me this child, I will love it.” And so she did. And here I am 37 plus years later writing this. So I can’t point fingers and say, “you’re horrible for feeling that way” or “how dare you be for abortion”. I think there are things happening and that has happened in our lives that really shape how and who we are and the things we stand for. But what I can say is how absolutely grateful I am that my mother chose NOT to abort that little baby growing inside of her. That she gave me a chance and she gave me that love even before I took my first breath.

And now I even have two of my own. Two crazy little boys that I wouldn’t trade for ANYTHING in this world! This love that I have for them and the moments that I have come to cherish with my family was only possible because of that one decision she made many years ago.

Thank you, momma.