The Date Game or "It's Complicated"

Sorry that this is long, but it's pretty important stuff. Feel free to drop your perspective.
OK, I talk to people about this a lot. This is my perspective on relationships. I myself have never been in a relationship, so some may think my opinion is uninformed. Nonetheless, here's my opinion and personal philosophy.
Marriage is a union ordained by God. According to tradition (call me old fashioned), a relationship is meant to prepare two people for marriage. It's nothing to be toyed with. Most of this sounds like "duh!" stuff, but too many people treat it like a game.
Too many people just jump into relationships. They're caught up in the "I think I like you and you think you like me! That means something!" and go head first into dating. This results in not learning enough about them until it's too late. Then, you're not happy with who you've got and you decide you don't like them anymore.
Others still treat others like a game. They toy with hearts because it's fun to flirt with multiple people. However, you need to consider the other person's feelings. Do they know you aren't taking it seriously? If neither of you are, why call it a relationship? If one is serious about it, then they'll end up heartbroken once they realize the other didn't mean it.
A relationship is meant to prepare for marriage. Otherwise, it's meaningless to go into one. When you're considering beginning a relationship, ask yourself, "can I imagine myself marrying this person?" because if not, you're dating someone else's future spouse. Preemptive adultery much?
Some people can say, "but Caleb, dating now gives us practice for the future and helps us know what we want in the opposite sex!" Is there anything more degrading than hearing that you're nothing but a practice run? A failed attempt? A free trial? If you don't know what you want before you start a relationship, why did you even start it? That's why I think it's a smart idea to just be close/best friends with someone so you can build on your friendship knowing the person well and knowing whether or not they're God's plan for you. Sort out your mind before you hand out your heart (ooh, a catchphrase!)
Then there's the issue of everyone else. This is my area of expertise, since I'm the outside observer of relationships. There's a middle ground in how much attention you give to your other and how much to everybody around you. If you commit too much to your other, then you tend to lose all the other friendships. Now, for some, this is ok, because all you need is your special someone. But what about them? Maybe they would still like to be your friend. Oh well.
If you spend too much time with everyone else and not your other, you need to consider who you're actually dating. You've made a commitment to someone and although leaving everyone else is wrong, so is giving no more attention to whom you've committed yourself.
All this being said, it's clear that a relationships should not be taken lightly. Why does it have to be so complicated before starting a good relationship? Because that's the way you get it right. God wants us to know these things and commit to doing it right so that our relationships will prosper. When they die out, it hurts Him. He wants us to do well with others, which is why we ought to get it all down.
Now, for those of you wondering why my relationship status is "complicated", this is why. I know for a fact I can't get all these things right yet. I don't want to hurt myself or someone else by starting before I'm ready. That is why it's complicated. I'm avoiding a relationship or even "liking" someone until I know it's the right time. I try not to "like" people, but if I do, I'm still waiting until I know it's time. When is that? That's up to God.
Don't understand/agree? That's ok. It's complicated.

Purified in the Storm

Looking through the Psalms recently and this one caught my eye. Psalms 66. I'll go through it bit by bit...

8: "Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9: Who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip."

This part is rather obvious. We're to rejoice in the Lord always, for He is good and never lets go of us during the good or the bad. He keeps us alive and fills our every need. He keeps us steadfast and sturdy in our faith when we depend and obey Him. However, here's where it gets interesting...

9: "For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried."

For anyone who doesn't know, silver is refined or "tried" by sitting in a white-hot fire for extended amounts of time. It's being seared away and everything is being burnt off of it. I'll visit this aspect later.

10: "You brought us into the net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;"

God promised the exact opposite of a light load or an easy life. We are to pick up our crosses DAILY. Christ was scourged, clubbed, mocked, and beaten before he had to drag his 100 pound cross through the streets of Jerusalem before he was hung from it. Anything but a light load. God calls us to live this sort of life daily. We are gonna be mocked and outcast, but we should rejoice for that?

12: "you let men ride over our heads;"

We'll be taken advantage of. People are going to use and abuse us. It's a part of life. Even more with Christians because the world is against us. No, it's not paranoia. It's either the way of Christ or the way of the world and the way of the world involves riding over the heads of Christians...

12: "we went through fire and through water;"

In fire, you burn. It hurts. In water, you struggle and drown. In the movie, The Prestige, they say drowning is agony. We will struggle, be hurt, agonize, and be tested all throughout our lives on earth.

Cheerful, eh? But here's the clincher!!

12: "yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance."

When we're being trampled, burned, beaten, drowned, scourged, mocked, used and hated by the world, God makes a way out for us to last it. God loves us and won't just abandon us to the earth. He sustains us and saves us from it.
Moreover, in the end, we are made more Christlike.
When refining silver, all the bad stuff on the outside it burnt away, much like sticking with God in the hard times strips away all our sin and inhibitions. When is silver finished refining, you ask? When the craftsman sees his face in it. When God is finished trying and testing us, we reflect His glory and righteousness to the world.
Finally. Got takes us into a place of abundance. Whether it be a better situation on earth or with Him in Heaven, we can look forward to living a better life, knowing we've done the Lord's service. God makes us pure by exposing us to the storms and trials of life.

In my opinion, that's worth rejoicing and singing blessings to God.

Pig Pen

So I have recently been thinking about Pig Pen. Not only is he one of my favorites from the Peanuts gang, but he's also my namesake from my mission trip to Mexico (best spring break ever). Because he's my namesake, I thought I'd consider in what ways I'm like him (aside from kicking up dirt at a water park).

Pig Pen is a person who is looked down upon and rejected because of his outward appearance and little concern for hygiene. Allow me to recite a passage from Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown...

[Frieda] "You're an absolute mess! Just look at yourself!"
[Pig] ~looks into mirror~ "On the contrary. I didn't think I looked that good."

Pig Pen is someone who doesn't see much of himself outwardly, but doesn't let it bother him or keep him from being himself. Even if people berate him and avoid him because of his appearance, he doesn't let himself be defined by other people.

This is the type of person I want to be (just without the cloud of dust). I don't want to let the crowd choose who I am or how I look/behave. I don' think it's a good thing for anyone to do. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen when people tell you that something you're doing is wrong or that you might want to consider changing something.
Be defined by who God made you to be. The outside shouldn't be you. If anything, your outward appearance and behavior should reflect your love and obedience to God. Let yourself be defined by what He made you to be. Not by the Friedas of the world.

THAT is the Pig Pen I want to be. I'll still shower though, so rest easy

One more on the bandwagon

Time for my brain to hit the internet. My intentions of saying so much to so many shall begin by blogging so little to so few. It's a start!!