Synthesis - Day 72

There are many reasons that people compromise their beliefs in Christianity. They do it so many people like them. They want fame. They don't want to stand out in the crowd. They want their flesh to feel good. They don't want to be inconvenienced. Etc.

Revelation 3:16 - So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

As we synthesize with the world we will become lukewarm. Trying to be neither hot nor cold is very unwise.. God will spew you out of his mouth.

That doesn't call for us to be unwise and foolish with the words that we say. We are still supposed to deal wisely. But synthesizing isn't an option.

Picture of the day #72: (old, but I deleted all the picture off my camera before I could save one. They were all bad anyways... Slick)

JUST KIDDING - Day 71

Augh!

I say just kidding too much. If I say just kidding/just joking/just lying too much I'll never be taken seriously. Why would anyone ever take me seriously? Words do mean something. If your constant source of words comes from a spirit of joking, where's the edification and how will anyone ever know when you're serious? They'll just assume you're joking. I think more of my words should be more than just blah, blah, blah. And they need more meaning to them.

Picture of the day #71:

Motivation - Day 70

This post has sat on the shelf for almost eleven months, and I finally decided to post it. Lol.

Irony.

Motivation can be a daily struggle. Just to get yourself moving, especially when it's "optional" and difficult. Sure, when you're required to do something it can be easier to get things done.

You can see it in the corporate world vs. entrepreneurial world. You don't have to stay quite as motivated in a corporate job just because things tend to be more structured and you're actually required to show up. While at the same time the entrepreneurial job requires motivation every single day to market, be innovative, etc. Instead of giving yourself 19 coffee breaks a day?

People love to talk about what they're going to do. But getting that motivation to go do it is a whole different story. Words are cheap. Action is much different.

So, why should we be motivated? To glorify God. To serve him to the best of our ability. When you do things for yourself they turn out to be pretty empty. It's like when you're trying to buy a new toy. You build it up in your mind, it may become an obsession and by the time you get it you've wanted it so bad for so long that when you actually get it, it's a letdown. Or you build a vacation up in your mind and then get sick once you get there.. (Nice)

There are many things that will help you with motivation and there are plenty of self help books and such out there. But in the end it's going to be God and His Word that will fulfill you with profits, happiness, peace, love, and maybe even monetary wealth.

And I'm posting this earlier than I normally would because I'm motivated to go to bed.

Picture of the day #70

Balance - Day 69

Much of life's problems come when we have a lack of balance in our lives. We eat too much sugar. We eat too many fruits. We don't discipline enough. We discipline too much. We are too kind. We are too rude. We are too strict, we aren't strict enough.. You get the point.

And people ask how to get balance in their lives. People don't like to be unbalanced and so they go looking for it by talking about karma, doing yoga, and worshiping their ancestors. And in reality it comes down to they want to take a morality system and wisdom and have it balance out their lives. But there is really nothing else compared to the Word of God. If you want balance in your life you'll study God's Word and learn from it.

Life is a balancing act, and honestly it's hard to do anything without looking to God and asking him for wisdom.

Picture of the day #69: (old picture - it makes me laugh)

Sunday Quote - Day 68

Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life. - Alan Lakein

Picture of the day #68:

Life vs. Death - Day 67

Millions of children have been flushed down the tubes of abortion clinics throughout our country. It's funny how people try to cover over it with things like saying it's not life. Then saying that the world's already overpopulated. Pretty soon they're going to be killing the old people. Then, they'll kill people with IQs of less than 80 or at least neuter them. They're going to have ads encouraging parents to neuter their children instead of dogs and cats.. Lol. Maybe that seems like a far out example, but it's not new. They've already done that in America once, who's to say they're not going to do it again.

When your entire worldview is based on selfishness of course this is the way your culture is going to go. Down the drain. No matter what you say is going to convince someone to give up their selfish desires if they're going to be consistent to worshiping themselves.

In Genesis God called Adam to take dominion of the earth. I believe this still applies to us today. And one of the best ways to take dominion is reproducing. You're only going to last 80 years by yourself, but if you have 6 children that's another extension of 60 years. Etc. etc. It's easy to be affected by the culture that says selfishness is the way to happiness. It's a very short minded approach to life and will fail in the end.

Try looking beyond the end of your nose once in awhile.

Picture of the day #67:

How are You - Day 66

Every time we meet someone we ask the question how are you? Do we really mean what we say? Do we actually want to know how they are doing? Or is it just a habit? Are we just talking for talking's sake?

This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. The what's up or how are you question. I've done this before, where I ask how are you and they say terrible and then I say good. Wha?!

Do we mean what we say? Or do we just talk for talking's sake?

Picture of the day #66: (old picture from Sunday, but I wanted to use it. :-( )

Forgiveness - Day 65

This part of forgiveness has been on my heart lately.

When you forgive someone you don't just forgive, you forget too. Because if you have this constant cloud hanging over you remembering everything that this person has done, you'll never truly forgive that person. If you always feel like that person owes you a debt for your forgiveness, you're not going to actually forgive them.

Love and forgiveness require having a short term memory and temporary blindness at times.

Picture of the day #66:

Externals - Day 64

Many people like to reduce life to observing several rules that aren't even put in place by God. But they take the principles that God has made and turn them into a plethora of rules that you must live by. MUST! It can be anything, i.e. teaching your daughters that modesty is wearing long dresses with high necklines and no heels. And maybe there are good reasons for these rules, but if that's all you ever teach in regards to modesty is an external modesty and not one of heart, you're missing the boat. And I can think of plenty other aspects of life that people become externally minded and can become no longer focused on God.

If what we do is to show off how much more godly we are, or if it's to please our cliche around us then you're most likely wasting your time. If your heart is in the right place, the externals follow. If you're a well put together package who knows all the rights and wrongs about things to do, but are empty inside eventually you will crumble to pieces.

Externals are important. I mean, you should teach your children things like manners, modesty, eloquence, God's Word, etc. But if the whole reason you're doing what you're doing is driven by anything but God and a desire to honor God through it, is it not wrong?

I absolutely do many things for externals only. I see it, I don't like it, and I work on changing. Driven by God rather than man or my own fleshly desires.

Thoughts?

P.S. I don't really like exactly how this is written, but I'm tired and must go to bed. So I'm up for correction if need be. Too tired to... Zzzz

:-)

Picture of the day #64: (this picture made me laugh)

Mine - Day 63

"Mine," the child shouted. As he grabbed the toy from his sister. "Mine" he shouted as he grew older and grabbed the video game controller from his brother. "Mine" he screamed at 22 when he pulled the last laptop from the shelf on a black friday sale. "Mine" he said as he interviewed for a job. Mine, mine, mine, me, me, me, blah, blah, etc.

How many times do we think this in our minds? When we are looking up from our books as a snotty little brother asks us for the fifth time to make him lunch, we shout inwardly, "this is my time."

It's so easy to care for ourselves. We want to care for ourselves. We want ourselves to feel good. We want our time. We want to be cared about by others. But this time we have on this earth really isn't ours. God has given us the time we have. God has commanded us to love others as we do ourselves.

Do we do this? It's difficult and I struggle every day with this.

Picture of the day #63: (Blech, bad picture...)

Crusty Christians - Day 62

Talk the talk? Or do you talk your walk? I think there are many Christians who like to talk about ideas. Maybe go out and do some good things, but they're doing it all for themselves.

Why do you do what you do? Is it selfishness? Is it pride? Is it driven by God?

Picture of the day #62:

Sunday Quote - Day 61

Families are the Nurseries of all Societies; and the First combinations of mankind. - Cotton Mather

This is so true. It's important that we have strong families to have a strong society and strong churches.

Vlog - Day 11: Done. They'll be posted publicly soon. :-P

Picture of the day #61:

Leadership - Day 60

Leading is a difficult job. It comes with lots of responsibility and pressure. You could be leading anything from your dog to the entire country of the United States. And the more leadership you have, the more things fall apart when you fail.

I think the single most important aspect of leadership is leading by example. When you show yourself to be hypocritical, you destroy any reason for people to follow you. I mean if you're not doing what you say, then why would they?

Vlog of the day #10: Done. I can't bring myself to make them public yet... <_<

Picture of the day:

:-) - Day 59

Smile.

I find this difficult at times. Forcing myself to smile can be so hard. Especially when I feel depressed or stressed. But I've found if you force yourself to smile, eventually the emotions follow. It's hard to be angry while smiling (unless it's some odd maniacal smile o.0).

Vlog of the day #9: Done (these are going to be posted on dplusts.blogspot.com if anyone's interested in watching them)

Picture of the day #59 (Here it is, not a great picture, but I was just messing around and didn't take it seriously today. Plus I'm too tired to photoshop it. From now on you can expect better pictures. Maybe..) :-)

Atoms - Day 58

We're each made up of many different little atoms. Without these atoms we would be nothing. We can't see these individual elements, but they make up the person. It's just the same with who we are as people. All the little experiences will build you as a person. You may not notice it, but each little thing grows on you. And maybe it makes you a more beautiful person. Or, maybe it just gives you acne...

The music you listen to, the people you hang out with, the people who you look up to, the tv shows you watch, the movies you see, the kinds of conversations you have, the coworkers you have, etc, all of these things shape you. And when you're younger they shape you much more then when you're older.

So be careful when you're young. Remember that Christ is our focus and that will direct your path.

Vlog of the day #8 - Getting better. I'll probably post Friday's Vlog on Saturday. Otherwise I'll send you the link, all three of you. ^_^

Commitment - Day 57

It's tough to commit to things. It's tough to stick with a marriage. It's tough to stick with friendships. It's tough to read God's Word every day. It's tough to work instead of play. It's tough to love others. It's tough to love the Lord and hate the flesh.

Of course, it can be easy at times. But eventually you're going to hit that wall. The one you have to climb over. And it takes commitment.

It takes making that choice to stick through it. Fight through it.

It takes commitment. Something that many of us struggle with. Maybe we're committed to watching tv every night, but are we committed to loving that friend who offended us?

Commitment gets things done. When you grit your teeth and make things happen then things get done.

So as you sit down to work on a project or a tough situation grit your teeth and remember that Christ was so committed to us that he laid down his life for us.

Vlog of the day #7: Done *check* (If you guys want to see these, e-mail me and I'll send you the links. ;-P)

Where to Start - Day 56

I find many people like to talk a lot about their business. They explain to me their plan. They show me what they're going to do. They tell me all about how glorious it is. How they will become great.

But it's an idea. Not anything of actual substance..

Then, a year later I find out they're still working at some store. They still have this glorious plan. But it has faded some. They aren't quite as excited any more and reality has hit them.

I think it's very easy to do. It's easier to get comfortable and go into neutral when you have the opportunity to do so.

Most boys want all the planets to line up, everyone scream at them, and have a volcano blow up at the same time in order to start something. Or, they want to have the best idea and don't want it to fail.

Honestly, the way to become successful is to make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, correct, and try again.

Shut up and work. Don't tell me about these theoretical businesses. Actually go out and build one.

We need less talk and more action. Is this too much to ask?

Mmmm, yes. I'd rather talk about this on my blog... Mucho mas facil.

Tired..

Vlog of the day #6: Yay! You know honestly it's more fun to talk about doing a vlog then actually showing you guys my vlog. Lol. I'll probably start posting them on Friday. But, I'm going to be posting them to a different blog. Because me talking about my day doesn't really fit the context of my posts.

Monday Quote - Day 55

Oh no, I forgot to post a quote yesterday. So here's a quote for today instead.

A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. ~ J. P. Morgan

Vlog of the day #5: - Yay! Well, to be honest it was kind of short. But that's a-okay. Because I'm the only one watching it hahaha.

o.0

Know It All - Day 54

I think the difference between many men who could be called great, and those who actually are is that one is humble and the other isn't. Both of them could be of the same intelligence and passion. Yet God says that he opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Many Christians are proud. I am proud. But if one doesn't change, God will oppose you and me.

Vlog of the day - day 4: This one was better. I'm definitely seeing improvement.

Focus - Day 53

One thing I've noticed that is difficult is focusing on the right things. It's easy to look at the negative aspects of your life. Or it's easy to focus on shallow things. It can be difficult to come face to face with the things that matter most. Because, generally they're the most difficult to address. It's easier to focus on other people's problems because yours are harder to address. Focus. Not easy for anyone.

Vlog of the day - 3: I did it. :-P I'm guessing it'll be another week before I get my style down. And keep it edifying. The first one was pretty much a fail, but they're going to get better fast. Maybe I'll start doing public ones end of next week.

And keep it real mature. Lol, I definitely got a real kick out of a conversation I had recently. :-D (Thanks ^.^)

Life - Day 52

Life is complicated, and that's why I love it. :-)

Lol, I vlogged, but I'm not going to show them until they get better. I'm buying a new Canon 7d so I'll be back to Picture of the Day in a week or so. ;-P

Stage Fright - Day 51

Public speaking is one of the biggest fears that people suffer from. About 75% of people fear public speaking which is supposedly one of the biggest fears. And I sometimes wonder why we fear these things. I think there are several reasons. One being that we fear failure. We don't want to be that one person who can't say one word or umm's and uhhh's their way through a talk. And let me tell you, there are quite a few people who do that.. We may also not want to be vulnerable. We don't want to open ourselves up for criticism. Or, maybe we doubt ourselves. We doubt our ability to do it.

It would seem that many of these problems could be overcome if we just had confidence. But confidence alone doesn't work. You see many people on talent shows who have all the confidence in the world but don't know how to sing, or dance, etc. They aren't willing to see that they are bad. They are to proud to accept any reproof. And they continue to think they're the best in the world. So there's overconfidence and also being under confident.

The key is God confidence. If we're confident in God that he will protect us and help us. We can do a lot without being proud. Instead give the glory to God for bringing us through life.

Loving Life - Day 50

Yay! I've made it to 50 posts! Half a century!

??

While I understand that with much of life it's important to be thoughtful and careful. I think it's also important to be happy and joyful in it. There's something to a joyful sobriety. Being around people who are constantly down in the dumps, discouraged, and stressed is not a very easy environment to grow in.

There's a balance of joy and sobriety and I do believe they can go together.

Psalm 42:4 "I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday."

Happy warriors.

Pictures of the day: (My camera's leaving me, so I shot this, because this idea has been on my mind for a couple weeks.. If you actually want to see more of these they'll be on facebook. <_< )

I love you Abby. :-)

Until They Were Gone - Day 49

I still remember the Adventure in Odyssey about Horatio Spafford. A man who lost basically all his worldly goods in the great Chicago fire and then a couple years later lost all of his children in a boat wreck. Almost like Job.

But this man penned a song that has brought peace and joy to many people after this happened, "It is Well with My Soul."

And every time I hear this song I remember all the things that this man had been through. And I remember that we shouldn't take those in our lives for granted. At any moment God may see fit to take them away from us.

Are you loving those in your life? What if they were taken away from you tomorrow? Have you told them that you love them?

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.

Picture of the day: (more pictures are to come from our photo shoot today - you'll see them tomorrow, here's a preview)

Dreams - Day 48

Every time I watch any interview with some teen pop star or actor they seem to always say something about following your dream or something like that.

And I believe every person has some sort of dream. Some people's are more realistic then others, but I have a couple thoughts on this..

Your dreams should have the right motivations. I think many people want to become singers, actors, etc. because they're driven by the fame, power, and money. Are they actually driven by their own gifts and talents?

It's easy enough to say "follow your dreams." The following part is the difficult part. It takes dedication, hard work, wisdom, and perseverance. I think many people have some sort of idea that their dreams should follow them and don't realize the amount of work you have to put in to follow a so called dream of epic proportions.

So go out there and strive hard in whatever you do. But be wise about it. Don't try to become some world renown singer if you have no ability in that area..

My dream is to go to bed and have a nice dream. We'll see if it happens. I shall go strive.

Picture of the day: (And my camera is going away for a month in a couple days, so I may try switching to a daily vlog for a month instead of the picture. With Europe pictures interspersed from the people taking my camera. :-P )

Quote Sunday - Day 47

Even the hardiest plant will not flourish if left in the cold for ten days out of every eleven. ~ Mencius

lol don't agree with this guy on most things. But I like this quote.

Picture of the day:

Forever - Day 46

I find it so easy to lose perspective. I get wrapped up in my little life very easily. It's easy to become selfish and no longer look at things long term. I see it in people's day to day lives. They're not interested in God. They're not interested in having children. They're interested in themselves and their pleasuring of themselves today.

It's weird. I always think about my funeral when I look at my life. I feel like I either see a mausoleum built with one old man standing in front of it in a black coat. And then a plane flies over and hundred dollar bills float down slowly. Then I look again and see a simple gravestone with old people, younger people, and many children. The difference being how I spent my days in my 20s and 30s. Did I make it my priority to alienate others in hopes of getting ahead, marrying my job, and in theory making it? Or did I get married, have many children, teach my children, and love my friends and family?

Life is short. Just as the flower of the field, we flourish but when the night comes we're gone and remembered no more.

Pslam 103:15-22

As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

And its place remembers it no more.

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting

On those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,

To such as keep His covenant,

And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

The LORD has established His throne in heaven,

And His kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, you His angels,

Who excel in strength, who do His word,

Heeding the voice of His word.

Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,

You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.

Bless the LORD, all His works,

In all places of His dominion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Picture of the day: (old picture)

Peace - Day 45

I like to run. I enjoy running the most at night. There's no cars, no lights except the stars and the moon. I feel peaceful. As I feel the dirt under my feet and look up at the stars, I see the handiwork of God. And seeing that I serve such a magnificent and great God I feel peace.

I'm not a very peaceful person most of the time. I tend to either be stressed or in a state of lethargy. And I think it really comes down to trusting God. Why would we be worried or stressed if we depended upon God?

Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Picture of the day: (I don't necessarily take these, but if you use my camera I might use them. :-P )

Internet Trolls - Day 44

Hahaha, I laugh just thinking of them. I know they're out there. They look like anything from a young adolescent boy up to some homeschool mom. Of course they both use different forms of communication. The teenage boy does it by writing foolish words and you see them all over youtube videos. All the way up to the homeschool mom who uses her blog to hate on/gossip about other people. There honestly isn't much difference between them.

With power comes responsibility. And many people are just not responsible with their words. Either in life or in the internet. I can see the temptation on the internet especially. #1: You have power when you post on the internet. You could have millions of people read your stuff. People like to feel power, and when they post hateful things about specific people they like it. #2 You want people to read your stuff. And people like to read stuff about people and relationships. That's one reason I feel we are such a celebrity age. We don't want real relationships, so we create these celebrities. Every circle has some sort of celebrity. Someone that some elevate and others trash. If you post about specific celebrities you're going to get a certain response. #3: Even if you have some form of showing what your real name is, you have anonymity. No one is going to search you down and actually discuss with you what you posted about them. Besides maybe commenting.. #4: It's much easier to hate on someone you don't know. You can listen to what others say, you can hear what someone says, but unless you actually see their works and their life over a period of time you aren't going to understand where people are going.

Now, this doesn't mean you can't attack someone's idea. But I believe it's important that you keep that person who made the statement in anonymity. Attack the idea, not the person. Often, when you mention someone's name you've attacked the person and are no longer attacking the idea.

Are you loving God and loving others when you post what you post?


Picture of the day:

Pornography Part 2 - Day 43

About 6 months ago I posted a post about pornography. I've had several more thoughts on it since then. (here's the link to my previous post)

One thought, I was recently reading several articles and essays on several serial killerss while researching a post about fathers and their importance (which is still coming) One of the biggest problems that affected serial killers was the lack of fathers and over domineering mothers, but that's for later. Another problem for several of them is that they would start out with pornography and eventually work down to raping and murdering.

I believe many people do not see pornography as that big a deal. When we live in a culture where more then 90% of people have been exposed to it it can become something that is not seen as that big a deal.

But when 50% plus of marriages are ending in divorce and 95%+ of people have committed fornication you can see how our culture are becoming very immoral. Certainly pornography is not the only problem, and maybe it's not even the worst one. But I believe it's still important. Especially to young men.

Since my main audience is homeschool guys, here's my ideas. I think pornography is a large problem for homeschool boys. Number one, they tend to spend a lot of time at home. Two, they tend to spend a lot of time on the computer. These tend to be the main types of boys who fall into it. More children who live in the country struggle with pornography then those who live in the city.

To some extent you will destroy yourself when you look at pornography.

Matthew 5:28 - But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

It's a serious thing. Adultery is a capital crime in the law. Maybe you aren't committing the act. But each step that way is still a sin.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 - Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Just remember that we are here to glorify God.

And don't forget. God is faithful. He will deliver you. But you must endure.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Picture of the day:

A Good Conscience - Day 42

When I've done something wrong and no one knows, that's the time when it seems like my life is the worst. When evil is done and not confessed that's when our hearts hurt. It affects all parts of our lives. I like how Benjamin Franklin put it..

A good conscience is a continual Christmas. ~ Benjamin Franklin

P.S. Sorry my posts lately have been kind of so, so. I'm going to switch to writing in the morning, because I'm too tired when I try to write these at night...

P.S.S. I've made it a full official month, yay! 42/365

Picture of the day: