Respect

I have to a confession and God has already dealt with me about it. There are times when my respect for other people's feelings and women has been very low. When I struggled with pornography, it was degrading to women and I still remember the punishment that was poured out on me by my mother but I know it was in love and too make me understand that it is not just the act of looking at it that is bad but what it represents as a whole. An industry to make money off of people who are willing to basically commit adultery on film. I have looked at some girls in ways that I should never have and I have hung out with girls just because I thought they were good looking. Yeah maybe in some ways you would call me shallow and in most cases I would deserve it. Problem is most guys are like this and most are unwilling to admit it. I am not saying I am better than them but I think if guys would recognize a problem and address it, then we could begin to scale back the issue in our world. Women are precious gifts from God and they should be treated as such. Just because you are married does not mean that you wife immediately becomes an object because God says its okay to engage in a physical manner with her. God still has standards on fun but it is not because he wants to be mean, it is because there is a sacred aspect to the act and God wants to keep it holy but also make it enjoyable. Men, just because you do not do anything with a woman before marriage does not make you guilt free. Looking and SPEAKING about women in a derogatory manner is just as bad as the real thing because it is going through your head and you are telling others what your thoughts are. For goodness sake, have some manners and address a girl using ma'am, pull her chair out for her, open the car door, open the restaurant/building door. Talk to her like a human being and not just as someone who you "deserve" to be with. In actuality we all deserve to be alone but because of the compassion of God, we have been given companionship to build each other up and be rooted in love. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Another thing I am guilty of is not fulfilling promises, especially to girls. Men, if you tell a girl you will do something or will not do anything to harm her spiritually or physically, then you better follow through. Trust is one of the toughest things that humans can do for one another and when you lay out empty promises then you are just hurting yourself and the person you were committed to. First, you lose your integrity and trust because nobody can believe the things you say and they will think you are classless because you just do not know how to back the things you say you will do. Secondly, the other party gets hurt because typically your promise was something that would build strength and foundation in the relationship and now you have completely ruined it. Lastly, the other person either finds out that this is the way you are and accepts it, thus lowering their standards or they have to lose someone they possibly love because they have to stand up for their themselves and say they are not going to go through the same old stuff again. Unfortunately the case falls in the first category in which the standards are lowered and then another promise is made and it falls through, thus creating an endless cycle of "victory", defeat, and pain. "It is better not to vow than to make a vow an not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, ' my vow was a mistake.' Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God." Ecclesiastes 5:5-7. Can I take back all the pain that I have caused myself and others? No, can I ask forgiveness? Yes! I will make the necessary steps to make changes and get better but in the meantime I can only do my best to be respectful and gain the trust of others by taking care of all my business.

I hope you all had a great day and that you enjoy reading this. God is doing some amazing things in my final weeks here in Georgia and I am very excited about it. Please keep praying for me.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Pushing

The Lord has been dealing with me lately and he has given me some great people to talk to. My roommate next year is going to be the best one I have had yet. Not only do we play baseball together but we can sit for hours and talk about many different things even theological topics. I am growing each day and seeing exactly what God has planned for me. I have found that I am much better at helping others than I am at helping myself. For some reason I can give advice and make people see things differently but I cannot seem to see things differently for myself ever. If someone wants me to try and help them fix their problems, I can assess the situation and give them pretty good advice, I cannot say I am always right but I try to give people a new perspective on what they are going through. I have no formal biblical training so to speak but I try to find anything that I can use to help people in their time of need. Of course I would never be able to do it without God and I know that he gives me the words to speak to people and part of that is seen based on what I write here. I get people who thank me for what I do for them but to be honest it is not from me and it is not all that great. Basic biblical verses are all it takes to understand certain situations and how to deal with them. When times get tough, these are the times we especially need to go to God. We cannot just discern things through prayer because we do not always hear the voice of God. We need to be in the word and we need to listen to what he has to say to us so that we can figure things out. Turn off the noise of life and just begin to take in what God has for you. Do not give into the pressure anymore, do not settle for not knowing what to do and just walking blindly into something without having faith. Trust God and let him lead your steps throughout life, he will not disappoint you if you continue to follow him.

Psalm 86:1-4 states, "Hear O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul." Sometimes I feel like I just cannot hold onto things long enough or I chase after the wrong things. Usually I am left feeling like things could have worked out more in my favor but I know that I have a tendency to force things and I end up screwing them up. I know I need patience in most situations but I feel like I have to push to get things done or it will never happen. However, God is so amazing at making me feel better when I go through a rough time and I am usually left with a sense of growth after coming through an uncertain time. I am glad that God has blessed me with being able to talk to people and be very transparent but there are times in which I feel that ends up hurting me more. I do not doubt God's plan and the characteristics he has given me though so I will just do my best to trust that it is a positive thing in my life and that he will continue to be my strength throughout the process. True character comes out when nobody is watching and when you are alone for the summer and cannot get a break, your response should be the number one thing that you look at. Do not condemn yourself by making a mistake because you are upset things did not work your way, instead work towards God with every passing moment and turn the focus on him and what he can do for you. God is prepared to hear your call to him when you are unsure of what to do and he is always willing to assist. We need to always be prepared to receive. I think the number one reason we miss things from God is because we are too preoccupied with other things and then we complain that he did not hear us. The truth is that we just left the gift unopened on the table and did not even recognize it was there.

I hope that everyone had a great day and that God is continuing to do great things in each and everyone of you. Please continue to pray that my last month here goes well and that God really speaks and prepares me for the upcoming year.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Losing

We spend most of our lives chasing things that will never be in our grasp. We try to attain this special status and our goal is to have everything we ever wanted. The only problem with that is that we tend to have the perfect life and we expect everything to work out right then and there. The truth is that we can never have everything fall according to planned and sometimes it leads to disappointment. In some cases it may seem like you just found what you wanted and everything is going great and then suddenly you lose any type of hold that you had on it. We find ourselves losing stuff more often than not in life and letting go even after a short time can be a very tough thing to do. As a baseball player, I know that my goal for my team is to win a championship every year. Some years this seems perfectly reasonable and other years we would be crazy to think this way. If we lose a ton at the beginning of the year, our chances of even making the playoffs become slim and disappointment can come early and we know for a fact that we cannot make it to the postseason. Other years it comes down to the last game of the year to decide. Sometimes the pain of defeat is much better being felt early in the year because to have come so far and to fail sometimes causes more pain than just losing early. Same goes for the playoffs, when a team loses in the first round it is crushing but if you lose in the championship, you knew that it was definitely within your reach and it just slipped out. In life we deal with new situations everyday and sometimes it is hard to let people go or we fail to live out our life for Christ one day. The more and more you do something, the more painful it is to let go of it but there is peace and comfort. The pain is temporary and in the end you will be stronger because of it. You cannot let the status dictate the overall mood of your life. The effectiveness of a situation needs to be limited to minor jumps in emotion because whether it is a positive or a negative, it may only be temporary and it can quickly change. Celebrate the good times and know that the pain will not last forever.

Yesterday in church we talked about forgiveness in the story about Joseph but I think that we can gain another thing from this story. No matter what happened to Joseph, he remained faithful and he never let his circumstances get the best of him. He was favored and the shortly after he was cast out by his brothers and sold into slavery. Then when in Potiphar's house he felt like he was well taken care of and that he could not be in a better situation and then he was accused of adultery and put in prison. While in prison he had hope that he would be released by then the servant forgot about him only to later remember him and have him freed. Then after that, Joseph had to deal with his brothers coming back and asking forgiveness and putting him in a tight spot because of how they had treated him and seeing that his brother's truly did love him but they were just jealous of him. As you can see, Joseph had people come in and out of his life and his status changed quite a bit in just a short period of time. Thorough it all, he kept a good heart and it all worked out in the end. I feel like a lot of times I get too confident or too overjoyed by a situation and when it backfires then I really feel like the disappointment is all a result of me making it more than it really was. God has given me opportunities recently and I feel like some doors have closed but I am truly thankful for what he is doing and I know that if it is his will, it will all work out in my favor for the end. With a new school year coming up, I know I am going to meet new people and I will see old friends and with some of them there are things to talk about and with others we will have our conversations throughout the year and we will have things to deal with. Just try your best to understand the situation and not carry it out of context.

PLease keep praying for me and I will pray for all of you. I hope that God is moving in and around you. Keep seeking him with all you have.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson