Apples and Oranges

But they're both fruits...

I am awful at idiomatic expressions. Seriously. I just create my own idioms: Take a shot in the dark! That’s a whole different ballpark. This is problematic for me since I am a writer. As Ziva of “NCIS” once said, “Ah! American idioms drive me up the hall.”

What’s even more problematic is that my roommate is also awful at idioms. We don’t even pick up on each other’s mistakes anymore. The other night, she tried to explain how two things were the same by saying, “Apples and oranges.”* If I had been present for this conversation, I would have probably nodded my head and gotten on with life. But no. She was with people who actually grasp meanings of expressions. They laughed…a lot.  It’s okay, though. Now Courtney and I both understand how to use the phrase. See below:

You can’t compare the Harry Potter movies to the books! That’s like comparing apples and oranges!

How can you say pens are more useful than scissors? You’re comparing apples and oranges.

*Disclaimer: “Comparing apples and oranges” is not to be confused with the diametric expression “same difference.” Thank you and have a good day.

Are you awaiting some life relevancy? If not, you can stop reading now. If so, here goes.

Christians love to pray that God would reveal to them His will for their lives. I think they really mean “plan,” but they say “will” and it changes everything. Let’s just say, though, comparing God’s will and God’s plan for your life is like comparing apples and oranges. It doesn’t work.

³ God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. ⁴ Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— ⁵ not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. ⁶ Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. ⁷ God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. ⁸ Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 1 Thess. 4:3-8

My Community Group leader shared these verses with us a couple weeks ago, just days after I had to make a decision about my summer plans. His wife laughed as realization ran down my face like a raw egg: earlier that week, I'd sent her an email asking her to pray for guidance as I was seeking God's will for my summer. In Community Group that night, we discussed all that God's will for our lives might entail. Then we talked about how it's different than God's plan for our lives. 

Quick differentiation:

God's will: Be holy! This can involve a lot of different things: i.e. the Great Commission, the Ten Commandments, love your neighbor as yourself. But the idea is that God's will is the same for all believers. It's also immutable and set in stone.

God's plan: This is different for each believer. God's plan for my life might involve overseas missions or going to seminary or working at a summer camp (*cough cough*), whereas His plan for Courtney's life might involve teaching in an innercity school or spending her summer at home. This is usually what Christians want God to reveal to them. We know, because of Jeremiah 29:11, that God's plan for our lives is good, but we want to know what it is going to involve. I think we feel apprehensive about this because it seems easily changed and shifting...

I had a miniature panic attack over spring break when I was deciding between India and Camp Longridge for this summer (which was really like deciding between an apple and orange). I wanted to make the right choice, but I wasn't sure what it was. At some point in the deciding process, though, I realized that I am following God's will for my life...or at least trying my best to do so. I also realized that the Holy Spirit indwells me and acts as my counselor. So even if I wasn't feeling some supernatural conviction, the Holy Spirit was still helping me decide.

Feeling paradoxically empowered and insecure, I made my decision...(drumroll please)...and I'm going to be a counselor at Camp Longridge. God's will would have my go either place and be holy: do good and share with others (Heb. 13:16). God's plan has me ministering to kids and youth at Camp Longridge this summer. I'm excited. Aaaand very ready for the summer to get here already!

(They're kissing.)

1,000 Ways (for Your Summer Plans) to Die

God and I have this little joke these days regarding my summers. It goes something like this: I apply for only one program and tell God to call me there. I explain to Him that the program fits in perfectly with the plan He has for me and even makes His job of planning my future really easy. Months later, He tells me that He is not calling me to follow my plans, and I get a nice little rejection letter from my program of choice. I'm upset--not at Him but at myself--for awhile before I get back up, accept that He has something even better planned for me that He planned out without my feeble attempts to help, and look around like a newly born giraffe for options.

I feel like my promise to go wherever God calls me has become a punch line in my life. I make that promise to God and then inform Him where He's calling me. Then I have to make the promise all over again without attaching any strings. God, I will go wherever You call me...seriously, wherever.

Last year, it was SummerSalt. I prayed that God would call me there, and when He didn't, I ended up in Honduras. (See for how God not only did incredible things last summer in Honduras but is also continuing to use me to serve His people in Honduras.)

This year, it was the Critical Language Scholarship. I applied to study Hindi in Jaipur, India, through a fully government funded program for the entire summer. What could be better than God using the U.S. government to fund a future missionary's studies? Well, apparently something. I don't know what, but there is something better awaiting me. Anyway, I got my rejection email and just didn't understand. I told God that He'd missed His opportunity, that I'd made it so easy for Him and He had let my plans fall flat. Ha. My plans always fall flat. Thank goodness!

My college Sunday School class used to go through passages in the New Testament, always asking three different questions: What does this tell us about God? What does this tell us about Jesus? What does this tell us about the disciples? We usually answered the last question with something along the lines of, "They're dumb." Yes, the disciples had some serious dumb moments. They were walking alongside Jesus and following Him on such a literal level that I often find myself jealous of their position. But they were also human. And as humans, we do dumb things. If you want to argue this statement, let me direct you to that television show "1000 Ways to Die." It so gruesomely screams examples of dumb humans. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Seriously, what was I thinking?

I spent two days after picking myself back up completely set on India. I was going to India, darn it, and I would do something even more incredible. My dad and I had a little reality check moment, though, where I realized options were good. I was so open to options that I even considered applying for a SURF grant in biology to do experiments this summer. The way I saw it, I could be a light shining anywhere and I might as well try something completely new while I was at it. I'm just not very good at shades if gray...there's really no in-between for me. Since I really needed to find an in-between as far as no options versus infinite options go, I settled on applying again to work at a summer camp while also pursuing another route to India.

Camp Longridge: a Christian summer camp for older kids and youth where I would spend a full, intense summer living with and pouring into the campers.

India: an enormous country that has fascinated me for quite some time now where I could do anything a missionary could hook me up with...and maybe then some.

And don't forget to do good and share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Hebrews 13:16

Because I want to do good and share with those in need, I applied for Camp Longridge and requested help from a former Journeyman in India. In the craziest, fastest turn of events I have ever experienced, I got my application and three references in to the good people at Camp Longridge and got the email address of a young missionary in India. Before I knew it, I had an interview with Longridge and had sent an email to this young career M...

...

Sorry. I promise I'm not building suspense just for you. It's for me, too. I don't know how this one ends, yet. Everything happened so quickly once I got the ball rolling, but now I'm waiting. Waiting...and praying...and waiting...and reading Not for Sale...and writing blogposts...and waiting.

And I'm enjoying God's little punch line for the second time regarding my summers: 

"My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

So now regarding the title of this post: "1,000 Ways for (Your Summer Plans) to Die." Just make 1,000 of your own plans and tell God what they are. Yeah. It'll go over really well.

TO BE CONTINUED.