The Fire without the Doctor

My house burned on the Day of the Doctor...and he was not around.  There was no blue box.  No "whirr-wrrrr" of a time machine that is bigger on the inside than the outside.  All 13 of him were busy moving a planet.  Gandalf didn't come.  I hear he was on a journey with or preparing for a journey with a hobbit named Bilbo.  Thor didn't come because he was fighting dark elves.   I do not know where Superman, Luke Skywalker, or Chuck were.

I do know that he Lord God was with us.  I won't tell you how it started, but the flames went right between my Dad's legs as he was running out of the room it started in.  NOT A SINGLE BIT of his jeans was burned.  God was with us.  He protected us. 

"To You, Lord I call; you are my rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.  For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to that pit.  Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place....Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy" Psalm 28

 

Hey guys.

Last week I saw Gravity at the theater with my brother.  This film is about astronauts trying to make it back to Earth after their shuttle was to damaged to use, and essentially destroyed.  What got me is the amount of knowledge they had to use.  They had to know about space stations and escape pods they were not supposed to go to on that mission.

Life is the same way.  We need a lot of information.  We need to know how to tie our shoe laces.  How to cook or fix food.  How to get from place A to place B.  Most importantly, we need to know the Bible.

I have found myself in times of spiritual warfare when I only made it out because of the Word of God and because of some training from a teacher.  The Psalms talk about the Bible being a light unto our path.  What do you need to learn? 

Tennant, Smith and the Transfiguration

Greetings in Christ.

Are you excited about this weekends 50th anniversary of DOCTOR WHO??!!!!!

I am!  I am excited to see the 10th and 11th Doctors together and to find out more about John Hurts character, "The War Doctor".  This will be interesting seeing the 3 discuss, argue, and have adventure.  I am looking forward to see what they do with Rose Tyler, as it seams from the trailer has something more going for her on than just another journey in the Tardis.  Will Bad Wolf come back?

Now as we get excited about this combination of characters and actors, imagine how Peter, James, and John felt when they and Jesus reached the top of the mountain for the Transfiguration.  He had done so many miracles for them, and to be sure they didn't even realize how much he had yet to accomplish!  But then, he became as bright as the sun in front of them and was immediately joined by Moses and Elijah, two of their other heroes!  Then, a "bright cloud" surrounded them and a voice from this cloud spoke of love for Jesus and commanded that they listen to Him.  In their culture that meant not just hearing, but obeying.  

Peter wanted to do something of a service for them by building shelters for them.  I love that his first thought with them there was one of service.  It is such a far cry from our culture which would be screaming and pushing for autographs. 

We know that they talked with Jesus as they came down the mountain, but I wonder if, before that, there was some silence.  They had heard a voice from God the Father that came from a bright cloud surrounding them, met two of their heroes from scriptures and history, and seen their master Transfigured with blinding light.  I am amazed that Peter was able to speak out in the middle of all this to suggest building a shelter!  I mean, yeah, just meeting Moses and Elijah might not have taken a persons breath away, but the cloud, Jesus becoming light, the voice of the Father.  This was a lot to take in!

In the middle of our excitement about Christmas gifts coming, the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, the future possibilities of Star Wars Episode 7, Avengers: The Age of Ultron, Batman/Superman film, many video games and board games and conventions, let us keep our focus on our Christ as if He is always Transfiguring before us.  In awe and service let us trust in Him.  

A couple quick things:  If you haven't read the story of the Transfiguration in a while I encourage you to open your Bible up to Matthew 17 and do so.   Secondly, remember that I extended the deadline for the King David stories.  Email me your story about King David meeting a fictional character with no more than 1,000 words by December 1st.  My email is ericanderson25@gmail.com.

Greetings.

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I meant to and when I had ideas I was focused on other things.  GRRRR.

I also need to apologize for not getting out reminders for the King David Story Challenge.  So far no entries have been submitted.  Therefore I'll be postponing the deadline until December 1st to give it another chance.

This month is such an exciting time to be a nerd!  We have Thor:The Dark World starting in theaters this weekend.  In a couple weeks we have both the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who and the release of Catching Fire.  We just had the release in theaters of Enders Game.  Video gamers are getting excited about BlizzCon this weekend.

I have been reading James a lot lately.  My church is going through a series on it and we are reading a chapter a day from it through the series.  This way we will read James 7 times along with hearing on it at church and talking about it at small group.

I think it is easy for me as a nerd to get caught up in exciting nerd stuff, but keeping caught up in the Word is far more powerful.  Fortunately the Bible is full of things we nerds can appreciate: the logic of Paul, the Poetry of the Psalms, the adventure of Genesis and Joshua, the battles of the Old Testament, the Imagery and mystery of Revelation and Daniel. 

I would like to hear from my audience.  What movies/video games/board games are you anticipating?  What Bible verses are you stuck on and frustrated with?  What is a challenge for you?

Comment on here or on the Facebook page/posts.

King David Story Challenge

Hi there adventurers and honest seekers.

How is your day going?  Mine is going fine.  What is your favorite adventure story from the Bible?  There are quite a few to choose from.  Paul's travels and David's battles and Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem.  Plus so many more!

I like David's stories a lot.  David did not do everything right.  He faltered in sin many times, but he was open to admitting his sins when confronted about them.  He also fought many battles, showed mercy to King Saul (even when Saul did not deserve it), and he also wrote many Psalms that expressed his frustration and joy and have helped many millions more express both joy and anger, along with other emotions.

So here is my challenge to you.  Write a short story of an interaction between King David and a fictional character from one of your favorite franchises.  I warn you that the fictional franchises I know best are Stargate, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Marvel and DC.  I do know a fair amount of Star Trek knowledge as well but I have never watched DS-9.

Please limit the stories to 1,000 words or less.  The due date for this challenge will be November 8th.

The story I like the most that can help us discuss life issues and does a good job representing both characters will get published on this blog as a "Guest Entry".

Email your story to me: ericanderson25@gmail.com

Belief and Trouble

Belief is a common theme in fantasy and fairy tales.  This has been especially true in the more recent episodes of Once Upon a Time (and yes, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland).

It would seem that the island of Neverland is run by belief.  When the crew had captured a mermaid in the season premiere, there was a storm which was fueled by their own arguing as the realm of Neverland responded to them.  Then a week ago, it would seem that all of Mr. Gold's experience for that episode was being sharpened and run through his belief (or lack thereof) in his own nature.  In the Wonderland premiere, or particularly in the flashbacks of that episode, we learn that many of Alice's decisions as she grew up were based on convincing her dad of something she believed and he did not.

The central line of Wonderland's premiere episode was "When you love someone you don't need proof to believe them."  (Not sure if this is fully accurate quote, but it is close).

We all face trouble, don't we?  In American religion we love to think that God doesn't want us to have any hardship or trouble.  That his plan is all comfort and "happiness."  Let us separate the words of happiness and joy.  Happiness in America is based on your situation.  It is based on what is going on around you and receiving the weather or the items or the people you want around you.  The Biblical Principal of joy is based on Christ and the fact that we have Him, not the situation we find ourselves in.  We are actually told by James to have joy even in great difficulty.  Why does He teach this?   

When we know that we have God watching over us, we don't need to worry about our situation.  As our love for Him grows, we don't need the miracles to convince us that He is still there.  His presence becomes the guide in our difficulties and our belief in Him is more powerful than our desires for comfort or worldly items.  He does often still do miracles.  They might be small, medium, or sometimes He even does a huge one, but He still asks that we believe.

While watching Once Upon a Time, you may notice that they don't have easy lives.  I mean, when your son/grandson gets kidnapped by bunch of kids with swords or your town is almost destroyed by people set out on revenge or when you find out you have been living a lie because of a curse.  Does this sound like an easy life?  

After all this, Snow White and Prince Charming still believe that all will turn out alright, even while still looking for Henry.  When Emma is angry and argues with them about this, they simply say, "We HAVE to believe."  After all they had been through, they had to believe in themselves and each other.  There was no other choice.

Now imagine all that the prophets and leaders of God went though in the Old Testament.  Read Hebrews 11, where you find a list about the trials faced.  They faced war, imprisonment, disease, even death.  But Hebrews 11 is not about what they faced, although that is in there.  It is about their faith. 

After all we, the combined followers of Christ throughout time and space, have been through, we have no other choice than to believe...even to believe with joy.  You see, God uses these difficulties.  He uses them to build character and hope in us. 

"Not only so but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."  Romans 5:3-4  

Will you believe?  In the middle of fear and frustration and pain.  In the middle of the good things and the horror of life.  If you believe, you will go on a wonderful adventure, but it will be dangerous.  God will take you through difficulty and shape you into a person of character and hope, but only if you BELIEVE.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:11-13

Scriptures to Read: Hebrews 11, James 1, Philippians 4:2-20

   

Pre HD Hobbies vs. HD Future

Hey guys.

So I watched episode 2 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tuesday after going swing dancing.  What an amazing ride it is starting out as.  I will say that with the final scene after the final commercial break they set a really high standard.  I have to say that I am really excited about this show and about Thor:The Dark World.  But that excitement made me think about something important.

We like our hobbies a lot, don't we?  I get really excited about board games, movies, and television shows.  I also really enjoy swing dancing.  We all have something that gets us excited.  But here is the crazy part about life:

What we have here is nothing compared with eternity:  Just consider the descriptions of the Throne room in scripture: 

 "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke."  Isaiah 6:1-4

"At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.  And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.  A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.  Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones and seated on them were twenty-four elders.  They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.  From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.  Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing.  These are the seven spirits of God.  Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal." Revelation 4:2-6

Can you imagine how we will feel when we see the throne room of God?  Scared, excited, flabbergasted, unworthy, confused, joyful.  It would seem with these descriptions that God doesn't like to keep his throne room the same at all times.  Paul speaks of heaven as being indescribable:

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.  Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.  And I know that this man-whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows--was caught up to paradise.  He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."  2 Corinthians 12:2-4

We get so excited by earthly things, and that isn't bad.  We do need things to keep our minds and bodies active.  But this is not the highest definition experience.  In Romans Paul says that all of creation is groaning for redemption.  Revelation 21:1 says that we will experience a new heaven and a new earth. 

Now, this man that was caught up to Heaven (some think it was Paul himself) could not tell us all he had experienced because it wasn't his place to tell us.  Have you ever been so excited about a birthday gift or a Christmas gift you were giving that you were going crazy waiting for the person to receive it?  I wonder if that is how God feels sometimes.  What if the reason Paul could not tell us everything was that it was to be saved for when we see eternity for ourselves?

Spiritual Warfare

Hey there warriors and skeptics alike.  Personally I don't like horror flicks like "The Exorcism".  Firstly, I don't enjoy that sort of thing.  Next, I think that one of the reasons people don't take the spiritual realm seriously is that these movies try to make it into entertainment.  Also, I don't want spiritual warfare to be made into entertainment.  I've been in some spiritual battles myself and it is not fun nor is it something to glorify.  D&D by itself doesn't bug me because it is fictional and not related to horror, although I do feel that it could be twisted by evil.  Any hobby can be twisted, although it might be different forms for different hobbies.  I don't play it because I'm not a big RPG guy and if I did play an RPG it would probably be Star Wars or Stargate. 

Spiritual warfare is a topic that tends to be viewed from a lot of different thought points and paradigms.  Some talk about it so much that it seems to permeate every day of their lives and you have to wonder why they take every bad weather situation as an attack by demons.  Then there are those, even in Christendom,  who believe that the spiritual realm is nonexistent.  They try to explain everything with "facts" and "reason" but they are not truly objective as they count out the spiritual realm altogether.

Some say that science has explained away all spiritual.  Now, somethings that used to be viewed as mystery have been explained by science, but not all, and a lot of spiritual warfare is still unexplained.  We still have cases of illness and healing that Doctors can not explain.  In the New Testament, I feel like they did a very good job of differentiating between illness and spiritual possession/oppression.  The gospels will mention times when Jesus cast out spirits, but also times when he healed illnesses.  These were different to them and they should be different to us as well.

I have had times when I saw black forms over my bed at night and had to order them to leave by the guidance/power of the Holy Spirit.  This darkness was different from the normal darkness in that it had a form.  Normal darkness has no form, just the absence of light.

I remember a day in my Discipleship Training School in Slovakia when we were talking about spiritual warfare, and in particular the aspect of "deliverance ministry" or essentially performing exorcisms.  I had slept really well the night before, but in class, with no reason, I started passing out.  I went up to my room knowing something was odd to get some rest.  We all knew there was something strange about my sleepiness so our school leader came up to my room to check on me and asked me to come down.  I did and a friend of mine who was also the leader of YWAM Slovakia started praying and dealing with it.  Now, I'm not convinced that this was a situation of possession, but I do think it was a situation of spiritual oppression.  Something spiritual was cleaving to me.  We agreed that it might be related to rejection.  After telling it to manifest and then telling it to get out (plus a LOT of burping on my part), something did change about me.  It wasn't psychological, emotional or physical; but it did lead to better emotional health.  It became less frequent for rejection by women to haunt me and I found it easier to be at peace or content about this issue.


These are a couple of my experiences with spiritual warfare.  I also have a few things for you to think about:

1.  Have your Bible ready.  I remember a 2-hour long spiritual battle I had one night.  One of the reasons I made it through was reading scripture over myself out loud.  This wasn't "magical" or "the Force" it was simply the fact that God's Word has power in all realms.  

2.  Don't let the enemy impress you or scare you.  The enemy can't do anything compared with what God can do.  He created ALL of existence!  If you have Him, how can anything else hurt you?  Romans 8:31 "What then shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?"

3.  Things like sin and, yes, exploring the occult, even through Ouija boards or similar spirit boards, can allow more points for the enemy to attack you or to oppress you.  One thing I learned in my training is that spirits like to specialize in certain issues and make it more difficult for you to draw near to God in those particular aspects of life.

4.  Remember, Jesus already took the biggest step to help you by dying on the cross to take the punishment for your sins so you can be closer to God.  He has help available for you, if you ask.  That is all you have to do, is admit you need help and ask Him for it.

5.  PRAY!  

MOST OF ALL: Don't focus to much on the power that Christ provides in a way that is proud or haughty. Luke 10:20: "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that you names are written in heaven."  In other words, spiritual warfare is necessary, but not something to celebrate.  It is not as impressive as being able to know God!

Loss of Powers

Last night I watched some "Heroes" episodes including "The Eclipse, Part 1".  In this episode all the characters with powers lose them.  Hiro can no longer teleport or pause time.  Matt can no longer hear thoughts.  Sylar loses his hunger and can no longer push items with his mind or use any of his abilities.  All the powers are gone.

In the Body of Christ we have what we call "Spiritual Gifts".  But let's be honest about this, shall we?  They are indeed super powers.  1 Corinthians 12 tells us that they come from the Holy Spirit and are assigned according to His purposes and pleasure.  They include powers to work miracles, heal, powers of knowledge, wisdom, distinguishing between spirits.  Paul lists many things but does not say that his list is exhaustive.

This begs a question, though.  If you were to lose your spiritual gift.  If God took away the Spirit-powered abilities that help you with your mission for Him, how would you feel?  Would you be ok with that?  Is JESUS HIMSELF enough for you?

While Matt struggles with his goal, Hiro says that this is part of the heroes journey.  That a hero must learn to live without powers and to complete his mission with whatever he has aside from them.  IF God chose to test you this way, would you be ok with it?  Would you press on or give up?  Do you even know what your powers are?  If not, pray about it and ask people who know you well what they think your gifts/powers are.

Jesus once said that we should not celebrate that we have powers, but that we should celebrate that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We should celebrate Jesus, not our abilities. 

Monsters, Giant Mechs, and Respect

Greetings Explorers and Skeptics alike.

I hope you have had a great week.  Two days ago I FINALLYYYY got to see Pacific Rim.  IT WAS AMAZING!  I had so much fun and it was such a great combination of monsters, giant mechs, creativity, freshness, and even some thought provoking points.  Yes, I am about to talk about something in the movie.  There is a bit of a spoiler here.

There was a moment when Becket is about to go to train/meet his new partner.  Mako is in the hallway with him and had received orders from Stacker not to come along.  Becket is frustrated and says "You don't have to live in constant obedience to him" (not an exact quote, but very close).

Her response is amazing.  "It's not obedience, it's respect."  (I believe that that is an exact quote).

I remember a guy who was attending a church I went to who was upset about the idea of following Christ because he felt that we were all "puppets" and nothing more.  Although he did attend church and Bible study for many months, I am unsure if he was really looking for Christ or if he was just looking for a club to belong to.  If you are outside the church, try to look out from our perspective.  Put on our shoes for a minute.  We may seem to be puppets, but we are far more to Christ than that.  He died for us.  Would you die just to have puppets?

We live for Him out of respect for Him.  In John 14:23 Jesus said "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him and we will come and make our home with him."    Jesus said this after being asked why he was only showing himself to a few and not to all.  Essentially he wants us to participate with Him in showing himself to all.  So he doesn't expect blind obedience merely because we have to, but because we want to cooperate with Him.  2 Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."  He isn't up there like a puppet master, but like a captain training a new crew for a voyage.  Watching to see who is really lining up with His goals and his direction. Observing who wants a job or who wants to be part of His team...His family.

Stacker did give Mako the opportunity eventually.  Even though he had reasons not to.  Sometimes we feel like puppets.  But this is not the case.  Sometimes God is just waiting for when we are ready or for other movements to happen on the game board of life. Our patience in waiting will one day be rewarded, but we are not to move on our own without His direction. 

I have not really introduced myself well yet, so here's a go at it.  My name is Eric Anderson and I am 31 years old.  I enjoy board games such as Twilight Imperium, Settlers of Catan, Munchkin Quest, etc. and collectible miniature games such as Monsterpocalypse, Heroscape and Star Wars Miniatures.  My favorite 3 science fiction franchises are (in no particular order) Star Wars, Doctor Who and Stargate.  I have a bachelors degree in Biblical Studies and Christian Education from the Fort Wayne Campus of Taylor University. 

My life adventures have taken me to China, the Middle East, and much of Europe as well as a few parts of the eastern US.  (Yes, I really do need to get out west more!) 

My reading so far this summer has included: Unnamed by Christ Travis,Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders as well as Avengers Vs X-Men, part of Avengers Plus X-Men, and both volumes of JLA:Age of Wonders.

As a teenager I loved Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you, wherever you go."  This verse was very helpful to me in the times of feeling alone.

I do not understand why God does things the way He does or where our free will ends and His Decisions begin, but I trust Him.  I find that He walks with me through difficulty and although He doesn't always give me what I want, He always provides what I need and he answers my prayers, even if it means saying "no" or "not yet". 

 

Xavier and Solitude

So in Episode 1 of Nerd Chapel on YouTube, I taught on Psalm 4 and mentioned that solitude is a major facet of Xavier.  You can watch the video here.  I mentioned the end of X-Men:First Class and how Magneto's anger had pulled him away from Xavier and the effect it had on mutant kind.

Now think about how Professor X handled things.  When Moira tried to shoot Magneto, because he was threatening both the American and Soviet fleets, Magneto blocked the bullets.  In  that moment he was filled with anger toward mankind for the way they treated mutants, especially after both fleets had fired on the beach they were on.  One of the bullets that Magneto deflected in his anger hit Xavier.  Thus he would end up in a wheel chair for his whole life.

Now Xavier could have taken control of everyone around and coordinated their abilities to attack Magneto and maybe overpowered him.  Then he could have kept all of the group together.  Instead, he let Magneto leave with those who wanted to follow him.  Now, maybe some of the others were angry also, but they were not letting that fuel them.  They didn't want to hurt mankind, but to protect people of all kinds and use their powers for good.

Xavier was at peace, even after being shot.  He wasn't allowing himself to be driven by anger.  When the fleets fired on the mutants, Professor X wanted Magneto to deflect the attack, but not to harm the navies.  He didn't want mankind to have more reason to fear mutants.  He didn't respond to any attack with anger.  Xavier does care about self defense, but he hates harming others.

The second section of the book "Reaching Out" by Henri J. M. Nouwen talks about moving from hostility to hospitality.  He discusses a rich view of hospitality as allowing "gifts" to be shared between host and guest (in this context stranger) as equals.  You see we have this idea in our modern culture that people are out to get us.  Now that is sometimes the case, but most often they are not.  We end up building problems that would not be there originally and we miss out on joys.  Think about it.  If Abraham had not welcomed the 3 strangers (Genesis 18), would he have been blessed by God (who was one of the 3 strangers) with the joys of his son Isaac?  If the two men on the road to Emmaus had not welcomed a stranger to walk with them, they might not have experienced his explanations of recent events and the realization that he was their Risen Savior, Jesus (Luke 24).  Then, if we can get amazing gifts from strangers by being hospitable, how much more can we get from our close friends and family?

What does Jesus teach us?  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  Jesus wants reconciliation, not war.  Do you need to take some steps to deal with anger better?  Anger is not always bad.  There is even a form of anger we often call righteous indignation that is good.  But we are warned in Psalm 4, "In your anger do not sin." You can start by asking Jesus for help and confessing the ways you've sinned in anger.  Maybe you need to find someone to talk to about your anger. 

Treasure Quest of a Different Kind

Greetings and welcome to the blogosphere portion of Nerd Chapel. 

Today I challenge you to consider a favorite of Nerds everywhere: treasure.  We have movies, video games, television shows, and even table-top games that are focused around it.

Beyond that, we have our own treasures in the shapes of collections.  Whether your collection includes books, blue-rays, miniatures, comic books, or what have you, there are always lots of treasures out there in nerd culture.  Jesus talked about treasure.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be."  Matthew 6:19-21

I have a nice collection of the game "Star Wars Miniatures" by Wizards of the Coast.  But you know what?  Some of  my "minies" are tired.  They aren't damaged much, but they aren't quite in as good of shape as they once were.  Treasures in heaven don't get old like that.  But how do you build up these treasures?

Three ways come to mind for me:

Service:  How can you help out in your community?  How you spend your time does show a piece of your treasure.  I am on the tech team for my church.  Also, look for small ways to help out around you.  I go swing dancing from time to time, and a couple of times when we were outside, I was able to help move some things off the dance floor and help set up the donation tent. 

Sharing Truth:  Look for natural ways to share Jesus in conversation.  I was flying back from China one time and was in the Hong Kong airport.  I came across a booth where they were looking for feedback.  In the conversation I went to pull something out of my bag to show the college kids working the booth.  In the process, I pulled out my Bible to get at it.  They saw my Bible, and started asking me questions.  One of them asked "So, why do you believe in this?"  I couldn't ask for a more natural or open door than that!  So, I simply shared how Jesus had walked with me through difficulty. 

Generosity:  What are your financial priorities?  Giving is important.  In fact, if we don't give, we are actually robbing God.  Read Malachi 3:6-12.  Start by giving to your local church and spread from there to supporting trustworthy mercy/justice organizations and/or missionaries.  Maybe you can help a friend a little bit?

I challenge you to go on a treasure hunt of a different kind.  Hunt out opportunities to build treasures in Heaven, where it will last for eternity.  All 3 of these ways are important, but I encourage you also to be generous relationally.  Look for people who need friends around and just be there for them.