Styrofoam Cups and Puzzles

Have you ever felt like a styrofoam cup--a styrofoam cup full of Jesus? I have. Bare with me here as I attempt to explain my wild comparison. There are situations and people in life that can sometimes poke holes in your spiritual life (aka your cup), causing Jesus to be drained out of you. There are also people and situations which make you feel as if the holes have been repaired and you are filling back up again. While the getting filled part sounds a whole lot better than the being drained part, think of it this way--while you are being drained, Jesus is pouring out of you onto others (I think that there is a parable about this in the Bible except talking about water jugs and cracks and my Bible is in my car because I'm about to leave to go to Ignite; anywho, if someone reading this knows what I am talking about, feel free to comment). At the time, these draining sessions can seem like they are not from God--but trust is an absolute must when you feel spiritually drained. Trust that Jesus will fill you back up. To be filled back up though, you have to be willing to pour yourself into His Word and commit yourself to Jesus loving fellowship. Today at lunch was one such example.
After church I had the blessed opportunity to go to lunch with several wonderful people that share my passion for youth ministry. We had an absolute blast joking around and getting serious about our relationships with God. It was so encouraging and amazing to experience exactly what Perry talked about today in his sermon about running the Christian marathon. Companionship is essential to repairing and refilling your spiritual styrofoam cup. Funny how this ties into a conversation I was having with my friend Jeremy last night about relationships. At the time I thought that the conversation only related to romantic relationships, but it can apply to platonic relationships as well. People in relationships are like pieces of a puzzle. You see some pieces stuck together that don't quite fit like they should but they belong to the same puzzle creating a picture somewhat like that of Picasso with the picture distorted and out of whack; or you see two pieces that fit together, but are meant to make up two different puzzles with a big picture that is totally different like putting the Little Mermaid in the Star Wars special addition puzzle. Lastly, there are people that fit together perfectly with their big picture being that of the glory of Christ. How awesome would it be if we chose to glorify God with all our relationships? Sure, the pieces may start off looking like mismatches, but imagine if we poured out our cups so that Jesus may change those puzzle pieces and through us change the big picture of that relationship to His glory. That being said, in dating relationships I don't agree with Christians pairing with non-Christians (it's not biased, it's Biblical-2 Corinthians 6:14) but I do believe that we are called to meet people where they are and create relationships that will glorify God and show the love of Jesus so that we can make His name famous. Whew...I will get off my soap box now! I'm out like Ferris Bueller on his day off.