AaronPlaat.com – Currently Remodeling!

It was time for a fresh, clean look to this website. So, I decided it was fine time to do a website remodeling job. Unfortunately, it takes second seat to any client work I have, so it’s being done in my spare time. However, stay posted for new content, design, and functionality like never seen before!

That being said, it’s time for a good blog.

That being said, go somewhere else to read something good.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the role of Faith in my life. Every one of us has a great journey to travel; this journey being life, of course. And I’ve come to realize that each and every one of us has a different path to travel; my path is not the same as yours, yours not the same as mine, and theirs quite different from both of ours. Conformity gets quite old after some time, leading to the revelation that these differences in our paths are really something quite beautiful. Life is beautiful, with its’ intricacies, complexities, absurdities, and lunacies.

In times of disaster, when it would be smart and sensible to panic, I cannot help but wonder what G-d thinks when looking down at us created beings. “Ye of little faith” Christ told the disciples. We easily laugh at them for falling asleep when Christ asked them to stay alert. However, how often have we fallen asleep in our lives? By falling asleep, I mean falling short of the expectations and commandments that have been laid out for us to follow. Each and every one of us, if we look deep inside of our hearts, will have to acknowledge the fact that we are very imperfect beings. The more we accept this fact, the more we can come to fully appreciate the idea behind salvation and forgiveness.

At our core, none of us are deserving – in the least – of salvation or even the opportunity to connect with our Creator. In this respect, it’s as if a mud-covered tramp were to traverse through an elite interior design store, with the Owner graciously offering the tramp to sit, enjoy, and feast on all of the interior amenities. The tramp cannot help but feel a sense of shame as he/she treks mud, filth, and grime all over the clean, untarnished furniture. Perhaps the tramp allows themselves to have a seat, only to feel a sense of shame at getting thumbprints on the fine white italian leather. The Owner pries further “Come, you must see the other rooms I have for you…” as you rise up from the chair, you see your footsteps trampling dirt all over a $42,000 imported carpet. You cannot take another step. As you go to leave, the Owner meets you in your tracks, telling you it is ok to stay and enjoy the furniture.

With every step, we must feel a renewed sense of shock that we truly cannot do anything to somehow deserve this great gift. Were we to somehow become comfortable in this store, we would get a chip on our shoulder that whispers lies to us that we are somehow more entitled to roam this store than any other bum on the street. And, when the Owner tells us to bring our friends in to enjoy the store, we can become secretly selective in who we choose to join us, rather than openly offering this free gift to others.

Thus is our relationship with the Creator. It has been said that everything we have in our lives is the Creator’s gift to us, and everything we become in our life is our offering to Him.

Thinking about this, I am deeply humbled at the free extension of love that has been offered from our Creator. When I think of all of the broken elements of my own life, I wonder why the Creator would have made somebody like me. Personally, this has been where my greatest leap of faith has been; freely enjoying, rather than trying to figure our why, the fact that I have been created, designed, and lovingly crafted into a Son of G-d.

Come in. The store is wonderful.