Living in the Present

I live with my fingers on my phone. My eyes occasionally leave its illuminated screen. I look at those who are angry and respond to them by giving them some credence. I remember the situations that are terrible. I think of the future as some large black hole that must be jumped into.

But I want to see that change. I want to live in the present.

I'm tired of every situation being an Instagram post; every funny moment is to be posted to Facebook; every situation happening in my life is a possible like on a social network.

I want to remember the good times. I want to see the beauty and just marvel at the greatness of God.

I want to be able to laugh and not feel that this is some sort of moment that needs to be broadcast to my acquaintances who I have the pleasure of friending on Facebook.

I want a simple life. A life where God is very real. A life that is not consumed by a fanatic desire for fame, money, sex, pride, and that assortment of sins that calls out to the heart of man.

Life is so beautiful with Christ. When he is a very evident part of my observance of the past, a living in the present, and the plans of my future, life is good.

When I abandon him for my attempts at fame, a fill of lustful desires, and a prideful heart, life becomes a turbulent pool of living hell.

And yet, the fool's burnt and bandaged fingers go wobbling back to the fire. The dog returns to his vomit. And I turn my eyes back towards hell.

"O God, do not be far me;
O my God, make haste to help me!"

Normal

Hard hearts are normal. Sexual deviance is normal. Anger is normal. Men with no ambition is normal. Women with a proud look is normal.

But why?

Sin is filling a normal man's heart.

His heart is corrupt. He is out for himself.

Life is about him and only him.

And yet. Although this is normal, we hate it.

Nobody loves being lied to.

No one loves being stolen from.

No one loves someone screaming in anger.

Men were made perfect. And yet we fell.

Normal is full of filth. And a pride for our filth.

Christ came to this earth. And he has restored a normal man.

And made him special.

Special in His eyes.

And that which is normal is shown to be what it really is.

There is a new normal.

A beautiful normal.

One that is filled with peace. Joy. Humility.

And the greatest of these is love.

Get Less Selfish; More Satisfied

Contentment. Needed. Always.

It's interesting how if you just settle down and accept what God gives you, you can all of a sudden see His plan. You see His work. Yes, it might not be the most pretty to you. It may not be your "perfect" plan. But generally your perfect just messes everything up anyways.

Be satisfied in Christ. Then go do things.

Because then, when you do fail.

It won't hurt so much.

Christ doesn't fail.

Never.

Life is an Adventure

Staring up into the stars, wrapped in a sleeping bag while wondering at the glory of God, and knowing many of those you love are on the other side of the hemisphere is a feeling that brings a warm and yet cold feeling into my heart.

I feel the warmth of knowing that God really does care. This is a place where you can drive all day and see a couple cars the entire day. You know that if you break down, you're going to be stuck, and probably for a very long time.

But you realize that as you lay there under the stars, it feels clean. You're not watching the billboards and banner ads of seducing women flash by your eyes all day. You're not hearing the swearing and cursing God day after day. It's just you laying and staring at the beauty that God has made. You see the windswept plains with new eyes. The relativity of our world begins to disappear from before your eyes. And God is revealed in a more real sense.

I feel that travel will open one's eyes up to what you believe and what it really all means. It gives you the opportunity to see other cultures. People who grow up in a different area are made just as much in the image of God, but they see life from another angle. Maybe these people have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel. Maybe they haven't been exposed to the sensuality of the West's entertainment (And the more I travel, the more I realize that there are very few).

At the same, I feel the cold in my heart. There's a feeling where a part of the heart is missing. You begin to miss your family. You miss the laughter, you miss the idiosyncrasies, and you miss the love. You miss sitting by the warm and crackling fire. You miss cleaning your room. (Yeah, it's kind of weird) You miss your friends. You miss work. And you begin to get a taste of how blessed you really are.

And yet, when you get home you miss staring up into those twinkling stars and the simplicity of it all. Your challenges are different at home vs in the middle of nowhere. One is not necessarily worse than the other, but for me one is definitely easier than the other.

But life is an adventure. And I love it.

I love these verses from Philippians 4.

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Life is Rough

Life is hard. Life isn't nice to you. Maybe your flesh will ruin you. Maybe your enemies will ruin you. Maybe your friends will ruin you. But just remember, Christ is who we look to for salvation. Not others. Just Christ. Don't let other men's examples be the reason you look to Christ. The reason you look to Christ is because you need Him. You need him because you are weak. Other men are weak. But Christ is strong.

Planned Parenthood and the Abortion Holocaust

There is nothing different about the offering up of children to the god of self in an abortion clinic when compared to the pagans who plunged knives into the breasts of young children on top of giant altars in Central America. Call a spade a spade.

Contentment

This life is short. It seems like I've just blinked and surprise, surprise I'm 22.

God has put me where I am in life. He made me who I am. I have a distinct personality, I have a sin nature (man's own doing.. >_<), I have distinct characteristics, distinct facial features, and so on and so on.

But here's the point. God made you. God gave you commands in His word.

Go do them.

Don't live with a wish to be something else; be someone else. Go take dominion. God commanded it.

But don't forget. Obey His laws and things will go well with you. Obey the words that He has for you in His Word.

Be content with those things.

The temptation is to want to be god. Don't give in to that. Don't allow your lusts to consume you. God is God. You're not.

*back to work.... zzzz*

Live with Hope

In a day and age where journalism is driven by the almighty dollar, we see a lot of depressing stuff. Depressing, sexual, and shocking stories drive page views; page views means more ads which means more money. So simple.

I've noticed the longer I keep my eyeballs focused on all these sites, they begin to affect me. A haze begins to crowd out the beauty and life all around me. It's like a drain is being installed in my bathtub of happiness and it lets it all out while replacing it with black water. Not cool.

God is good. People are naturally evil. I have a bit of experience with angry people. As long as you tell them things that make them happy and rub their tummies, all is good. But tell them they are a sinner and need to repent, boy you have released a demon. (In many ways, I think this is a good way you can tell a Christian from a non-Christian; how they respond to your pointing to their wicked hearts.)

But does a natural tendency towards evil in others need to cause us to lose hope? NO! Why?

Christ.

That's about it.

When you read a horrifying news story, just remember.

This is why Christ came.

This is why blood was spilled on the cross.

This is how these wicked men who may have raped a woman, or murdered their grandfather will be released from this evil.

And that is why we live with hope, faith, and repentance.

Open Your Eyes

Seriously. Get it out of your life. I've been getting to see more and more how evil seeds planted in people's lives begin to turn them into the monsters that they are today. They let their sin grow and now they can no longer see right from wrong. They wander around blindly screaming at God.

I am thankful for the mercy God has had on me. Otherwise, that is who I would become.

Hated

The world will hate you if you love Christ. As humans we are naturally evil. Our thoughts turn towards evil. It is only because of the Spirit working in us that we aren't blaspheming God and rejecting His law, as well. Instead of cursing the darkness of this world, instead dwell in the beauty of Christ. Don't worry if they hate you because you love God and His laws. You're on the right side.

Sin Hurts

Ugh, I hate my sin. Hate it. Sin in any form is such a disgusting bondage. I push back from it, and then dawdle along for awhile and bam, I'm down for the count again. <.<

Today I'm thankful for the blood of Christ. Pretty much where I'm sitting right now. Hope you all are doing well. Only thought for today is trust in Christ, otherwise you're hosed.

Don't Let Evil Ruin Your Day

Just because the internet is full of people who hate God, hate life, and hate all things bright and beautiful does not mean you should worry about them. God is a just God. He takes care of the righteous. None of you will be hurt by these people beyond what God allows. Just remember that today. God loves His people. He takes care of his people. 

If you are ever discouraged read Matthew 10. It is such a blessing to me when the evil that seeps through the internet or sins are hailed as righteous begin to discourage me.

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." ~ Matthew 10:28-31

Internet

The Internet is a place for people with zero courage and those with lots of courage to both be placed on the same field and then run amok. W000t!!!!! One thing I've noticed, those who are the loudest on the Internet are generally the quietest in real life. Please try to shoot for reality when you are interacting with others on the web. Don't build a false picture of who you are. Sure, you don't necessarily have to reveal every aspect about yourself. But don't lie.

Are You a Dreamer?

As a child, I was a dreamer. Spent hours upon hours in my imagination. I really thought I could do anything or be anybody. But I've begun to learn that there is a huge gap between dreamer and visionary. Those who dream never get anywhere. Those who have vision get places. The difference is that the dreamer can't see the journey. He can't see the steps that need to be taken to arrive at his/her destination. He can see the end, but he doesn't see the dragon, the six henchmen, and the evil witch standing in his way. The dreamer will then dawdle toward his dream, but once he sees that first henchman he quickly turns around and runs back to his dreams. The visionary is different. He's the one who sees what he wants, plans out and asks others what the journey looks like, and then jumps off the metaphorical cliff. He fights through the battles of life, he pushes hard when he needs to, and he will eventually arrive at his destination.

So which are you? Are you made of the stuff that gets things done? Are you willing to go through a ton of misery and exhaustion in order to find and experience your dreams? I hope so. Lets turn from dreamers into visionaries. It won't be immediate, but it's worth it.

Cut Out the Bad

Temptations are different for everyone. This is one of the reason a fundamentalistic legalism doesn't work. One thing may be sinful for one person and not for another person. When we put people into a box, such as Never Ever watch movies, we aren't able to understand how one person can be perfectly okay with watching movies, yet another person can't. Temptations are those things that grab us and lead us towards sin. Maybe watching movies is a temptation that leads you towards being lazy, or lustful, or wanting to escape reality, etc. But for the other guy, it's a good thing that helps him relax and enjoy God's earth more.

The point is, find what's bad in your life. Find where the temptations lie, and to the best of the ability cut them out.

Now that you have all this extra time, go fill that time with good things. Good books, memorization, godly fellowship, prayer, etc.

What you feed will grow. What you starve will die.

Tattoos: Turning Towards Paganism

I was browsing the news, of which most of it wasn't news worthy. :-/ But an interesting statistic popped up, more women have tattoos than men. There's a bunch of different polls, but of those tattooed, 59% of them are women. 23% - 19%. I was wondering why this was. Why do more women have tattoos than guys? At one point in time, tattoos were worn by sailors, military, bikers, and before that pagan tribes. 

So why this change? 

I went browsing through a bunch of the pro-women tattoo blogs to see what their methodology was. And words that kept popping up were, "empowered" "identification""self-presentation" "fulfilling expression of self" "Make sure You love it""Because friends do it"

I think the reason more women have tattoos than men is two fold. Number one, 68% see tattoos as beautiful, i.e. hearts/angels/etc. But the biggest reason being the fact they do it with a friend, 40%. Those stats add up.

Generally women aren't the ones getting tattoos of skulls, death, grim reaper, etc. tattooed all over them. It's fuzzy bunnies, some seashore where they grew up, a flower, etc. Of course everyone who gets a tattoo has a different reason for the thing. But that's beside the point.

The real question I have to ask is, are tattoos a legitimate form of memorial, or self-presentation, or religious affiliation, or art? I like to run and exercise, so I did a marathon. Many people seem to get a tattoo put on their bodies identifying that fact. I didn't. I may have a sticker for my laptop, or a bumper sticker for my car. The question is, why? Ultimately, with tattoos the question is, who do you identify with? Is it you? Is it your grandpa? Is it an idea? Is it the Lord? 

Tattoos are not Biblical. Tattoos have their roots in paganism. The culture of tattooing actually came from the pagans. Sailors would bring back Polynesians and other heavily tattooed people to the Western countries, and that's how tattooing really got its start. At that time, Christianity was not based on Scriptural thought. People didn't really give a rip about what God had to say. They were in the time of the "Enlightenment." It was part of the love of the "Noble Savage" The thought that these people were unadulterated by modern life. Such a perverted ideology..

Is there anything about tattoos that are redemptive? The Bible does actually spend one verse talking about tattoos, Lev. 19:28 (which "surprisingly", in the specific context is talking about the Israelites being commanded in the differentiating of themselves from the pagans - refer back to previous paragraph) "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD." Pretty cut and dry. Two statements. One, do not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead. Two, nor prints any marks upon you. And then, "I am the Lord." Matthew Henry's commentary on this chapter/verse is insightful. He also spends some time on the moral vs ceremonial aspects of the law, and how it is treated in this chapter.

In some ways, I see Christian tattoos similar to the offering that Cain and Abel both gave to God. Abel brought what God desired. Cain did not. What sacrifice does God desire? 

And I'll finish this with my strongest argument, would you put a bumper sticker on a Bugatti? Didn't think so.

AHHHH! Busy...

Hey Guys,

Yep, it's a letter. That's how bad this has gotten. No blogging going down here... :-/ This will have to be fast, because I have to get up in about 6 hours. Gym.. Zzzzz. But here's a couple things God has been teaching me.

When you're young, working 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week is not bad. In fact, in order for you to get to the point that you're able to work 8 hours a day and make a decent living, you have to do this. At my current level of skills, in order for me to get done what someone else, who has been in the field for 10 years, gets done, I have to work 30% longer and harder. In other words, find a field where a great opportunity is there for you, then go work 10-12 hours a day for 3 years. Ta-da, you're good to go.

I am terrible at communication. Even though I've always thought I'm good at it. But, if you are terrible at communicating, go do it. It's great fun. :-D

Also, love God, love others. Hate the world, flesh, and devil. Don't dwell on the evil in your life, dwell on the good He is working into you.

Love,
Daniel

Falling. Falling. Falling.

God is good. God works all things out for good. I have begun to tell myself this more and more often as I've grown older this past year. It seems that in some ways, I'm always crying out to God for help. And when I'm not crying out to Him, I'm falling on my face. It seems that whenever I'm not dealing with the sin of pride, I'm dealing with lust, and when I'm not dealing with lust, it's laziness, when it's not laziness, it's worry, etc. But then I wake up and look back at a year ago. And I see growth. I see that God has given me relief in areas of sin in my life. I'm spending more time with God. I'm studying His Word more. I'm falling into sin less often. I'm depending on myself less and my faith is growing. But that sin is still there. And that's why we need the Lord. We are not perfect. But Christ is. We can look to Him as the propitiation for our sin. What we need is faith. A faith that He will deliver us. A faith that He is enough. We aren't. God is good.

One really encouraging passage I read recently, in regards to temptation, is this quick snippet from Thomas Watson's book "All Things for Good"

"Question. But sometimes Satan foils a child of God. How does this work for good?

Answer. I grant that, through the suspension of divine grace, and the fury of a temptation, a saint may be overcome; yet this foiling by a temptation shall be overruled for good. By this foil God makes way for the augmentation of grace. Peter was tempted to self-confidence, he presumed upon his own strength; and when he would needs stand alone, Christ let him fall. But this wrought for his good, it cost him many a tear. ‘He went out, and wept bitterly’ (Matthew 26:75). And now he grows more modest. He durst not say he loved Christ more than the other apostles. ‘Lovest thou me more than these?’ (John 21:15). He durst not say so, his fall broke the neck of his pride. The foiling by a temptation causes more circumspection and watchfulness in a child of God. Though Satan did before decoy him into sin, yet for the future he will be the more cautious. He will have a care of coming within the lion’s chain any more. He is more shy and fearful of the occasions of sin. He never goes out without his spiritual armour, and he girds on his armour by prayer. He knows he walks on slippery ground, therefore he looks wisely to his steps. He keeps close sentinel in his soul, and when he spies the devil coming, he stands to his arms, and displays the skill of faith (Ephesians 6:16). This is all the hurt the devil does. When he foils a saint by temptation, he cures him of his careless neglect; he makes him watch and pray more. When wild beasts get over the hedge and hurt the corn, a man will make his fence the stronger: so, when the devil gets over the hedge by a temptation, a Christian will be sure to mend his fence; he will become more fearful of sin, and careful of duty. Thus the being worsted by temptation works for good.

Objection. But if being foiled works for good, this may make Christians careless whether they are overcome by temptations or no.

Answer. There is a great deal of difference between falling into a temptation, and running into a temptation. The falling into a temptation shall work for good, not the running into it. He that falls into a river is capable of help and pity, but he that desperately turns into it is guilty of his own death. It is madness running into a lion’s den. He that runs himself into a temptation is like Saul, who fell upon his own sword.

From all that has been said, see how God disappoints the old serpent, making his temptations turn to the good of His people. Surely if the devil knew how much benefit accrues to the saints by temptation, he would forbear to tempt. Luther once said, ‘There are three things make a Christian - prayer, meditation, and temptation.’ The apostle Paul, in his voyage to Rome, met with a contrary wind (Acts 27:4). So the wind of temptation is a contrary wind to that of the Spirit; but God makes use of this cross-wind, to blow the saints to heaven."

 

In God

In a sense, the majority of people want peace. People long to be at white beaches, peaceful valleys, and cozy cottages. They want to have amazing relationships. They want to laugh and talk with friends and family. But we aren't going to have peace unless we go to God. Unless our identity is in God, we are going to be fretful, proud, and have no peace. No relationship however amazing it is will be without rocks and storms. There won't be a home where things don't rot and break. There won't be a beach where sharp rocks and booming storms won't come. All relationships will end at some point, because death will come to every one of us someday. 

But there is hope. There is perfect peace and that is in God. A promise of glory and perfect redemption. All my junk can be taken from me and I can be living in a gulag prison camp, but God will sustain. God promises that "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." I have fallen many times to temptation. Too many times to number. And in some ways, it's easy to get discouraged. It's easy to give up. It's easy to become the man who gave into temptation and gave the flesh what it wants. But that will never bring us peace. There will never be peace when we are taking our sin and putting it first.

Let us put our faith in God. Run towards the cross. 

Give and Take

Relationships are about give and take. Take comes naturally. Give not quite so much. Giving to others takes effort. It's sacrificing without an expectation for a return. In your relationships, are you in them because it's about you? Or is it about loving others, just as Christ loved you?

And that's all I have... I haven't slept much the past couple of days. Work deadlines..

Destroying Life

Life is beautiful. Abortion, day-after pills, and anything that attempts to destroy a baby are horrid things. I got to spend the day with a bunch of people, and some of those people are little. They are still learning to talk, or how to catch a ball, or maybe even learning how to read. Each of these little souls are a beautiful thing and we need to see them this way. I'm sick and tired of people who spend all their time pursuing money, cars, guns, and in general material objects. These people may get married, but it's so they can lower their taxes, sleep together, and in general serve themselves like fat kings and queens on high altars.

Life is about others.

Life is not about you.

Christ called you to serve. If serving involves taking care of widows and orphans in Uganda, great! If it involves writing books to encourage others, great! If it involves raising children and discipling them, great! If it involves you getting home from a looonnngggg 8 hour workday and then proceeding to complain about your job, opening a beer, and lounging on the couch while drooling on yourself while watching the four episodes of the Bachelorette that you missed because you were gossiping with your friends, then that is terrible.

Take some time and evaluate. What is your life about? Is it about serving yourself, or serving others? Are you willing to destroy another human's life, so you can watch your tv show in peace? Whether that human life is twenty-five years old, or in the womb for twenty-five days?

I'm going to eat ice cream and consider this question now.. XP

Life is Too Short

To be about yourself. If someone hurts you, ow. I'm sorry. But we can't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. There are millions of babies that are being killed right now. There are others who need a hug and some prayer. There is a friend who needs to have coffee with you. There are about 7 billion people out there and more and more of them are becoming lost in this ever more and more lonely and hateful world. Use the gifts that God has given you to minister to others. Get them some coffee and then sit down and talk about the freedom Christ has given you in Him.

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." ~ Luke 16:10

May we be faithful. Not unjust.

Mortal

We're all weak. We all could easily die in a car accident, or a disease could destroy our bodies, or maybe we develop a blood clot. The thing is, mortality is something that people either ignore or fear if they don't have faith in God. It's either drowning oneself in media, alcohol, women, or power or it's living every day in a fear that may bring one to worship death, which may be expressed in demon worship, forms of tattoos, etc.

As a Christian, you have no reason to fear your mortality. You don't need to drown your thoughts out at the local bar. Mortality only gives way to immortality. Time may end for us in this life, but it goes on with great joy after we pass over the river. In this mortal life, we can rejoice in the troubles and trials because we know that we serve a good God who has promised much better things than even the good gifts he gives us on this earth.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ~ Matthew 10:28

Life is a Bowl of

Strawberries. :-D

It seems that life is always handing you strawberries. They could be mushy. They could be sweet. They could be sour. They might be perfect. They may have mold on them. They may be tiny. They may be large.

But, they're all strawberries. ^_^ And that's pretty neat.

Stop, Pray, Love

We all get temptations. Some are harder for us to avoid than others. The key with temptations is stop, pray, love God. Most of the time, when we are dealing with temptations and fall into them, we are wandering. Wandering in our thoughts, not thinking critically, etc. The key with a temptation is to deal with it. Don't continue to wander towards it. Identify it. Pray about it. Then deal with it. Joseph identified that Potiphar's wife was seducing him. He immediately left. This is very important. Don't hang around a situation where you feel tempted. Whether it's lust, or anger, or envy, being unloving, or laziness, etc. If your brain is going towards a place it shouldn't be, take out the Word and meditate on it. You have to control your mind. You have to control your body. Proverbs says "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." This is so true. 

Self-control is extremely difficult. But with the Lord's help, and if you aren't constantly putting yourself in situations where self-control is harder then it should be, you will grow more self-controlled. Self-control is a character trait that we all need to work on.

Love

Love is about others. It's not about you. Until you love someone because it's about them and not about your own desires and feelings, it's not love. Of course, it's never going to be perfect. But, yeah.. Something I'm working on.

Why Feminism is so Destructive - Rant Thursday

Feminism. I hate it. I really do. Not because I hate the people who subscribe to such a belief. But I hate the idea of it. Feminism is in many ways a spawn of the sins of our day. Women no longer have any respect for their husbands. If you're a dude who wants to get something done in life. Do not marry someone who calls herself a feminist. She will tear you down so hard, and trust me, you will hate life. These men (which I've noticed more men are angry feminists than women) and women who buy into the ideas of equality of roles for men and women are number one, fools. They don't live in the real world. I spend a good amount of my time managing projects, managing people/relationships/etc. If there's one thing I've learned, there needs to be a manager in any relationship. There needs to be someone saying, let's go here. Let's go there. Of course, you're a team. You have to work hard to keep unity. Which means you don't treat your team members like trash. But you need a leader, you need vision!

Feminists have this fallacious idea that when men get married, they are looking for a toy. A real life woman who acts like a porn doll. Are you kidding me?! Any man worth his salt wants to marry someone who will be a good team member. A good support. If you've ever played LoL you'll understand this. There are two roles that reign in bottom lane. One is adc (attack damage carry). The other support. Adc = builds damage. Support = keeps adc alive and gives adc kills. Can either one survive without the other? No. Do they play different roles? Yes. Is one more important than the other? No.

Still not convinced, 100 games of adc, 100 games of support for you. Then come back to me. :-)

On a more serious note, feminism undermines the very roles that were established by God. That's why if someone were to come to me and say, well you just need a manager in a relationship, the woman can be the manager. Were you born blind sir? What kind of ideology do you subscribe to? The Bible from the very beginning, clearly demonstrated the roles of man and woman. If you don't believe in the Bible, I don't understand why we are even talking about this issue. You have a more basic problem.

In the garden, the curses that were given by God equaled that (Matthew Henry quote) "If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom and love; if the woman had not sinned, she would always have obeyed with humility and meekness."

When a woman begins to complain about how her husband is not ruling with wisdom and love, do not say that her option is to become proud and rule over her husband. Do two sins make a right? No! Also, if your wife is proud and wants to rule over you, does that mean a man should not rule with wisdom and love? No.

Feminism is destructive because it gives men and women license to their sinful natures. Our sinful natures should be smacked across the face, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Not given license to live by immoralistic ideologies created by angry and proud men and women.

I pray the Lord blesses me with a wife someday, I'm not sure who would like me, with rants like these... ;-P. But I want someone I can spend time with. Someone who is my best friend. We can talk about our dreams and vision for our lives. I can, Lord willing, lead her and help her grow her gifts and talents God has given her. I can pray for her and wash her with the Word. She can follow my imperfect leading with imperfect humility, and we can be a team that takes on many battles together. But also, we can enjoy the good times, and watch our children grow up. We will disappoint each other. I will be tempted to be angry, unloving, or not lead. She will tempted to be unloving and unsubmissive as well. But through God's grace, we will come out on the other side of the river, bloody and bruised. But redeemed by the blood of Christ.

And that is a much more beautiful image than any of the trash the quiverful complainers post.

And thus ends my epic rant. w00t. lol.

Live in Unity

One balance that as Christians, we have to balance involves cliffs. Number one, if someone else is jumping off a theological cliff, a moral cliff, basically any cliff that involves sin, unity is not jumping over that cliff with them. Also, unity is not you jumping off a cliff and wondering why no one else is jumping off with you. Unity would be seeing someone jumping over a cliff, and tell them "Nuh, uh dude. Not cool bro. You jump over cliff. You die. ..."

Also, if the cliff is only six inches tall, it's okay to continue to hold their hand. But if it's a 100 foot cliff, sometimes you have to let them go. :-(

Opens My Eyes

There are times when I feel God's hand reach into my life more than he does at any other time. Those moments, when you aren't struggling to focus when you're doing your morning devotions, or pray without other images or ideas flash into your head, are so beautiful. A peace from God. I pray God gives me more of these moments. Moments to think on how good and wonderful he is in my day to day life. The feeling that I can sit in His lap and see His amazing work around me. But at the same time, the ability to go out in the battlefield and take on the enemies of the world, flesh, and the devil. However, I don't do it alone. And I can't do it alone. God is good.

Confess Your Sins

I live in a bedroom. And in that bedroom there is a bed. And too often, under that bed there grows a disgusting pile of dirty clothes, worn out socks, tattered books, happy dust bunnies, and the occasional used plate. ... At some point, this combination of items begins to have more and more negative consequences on the entire state of the room. The room slowly begins to smell like sewage lite, the contents under the bed slowly begin to grow legs and scoot their way out from under the bed, and my entire family decide to put a radioactive sign on my bedroom door.

In many ways, this relates to our lives in a very real sense. It's very easy to take a sin, and stuff it under the bed for no one else to see. You pretend that it's okay to put this sin under the bed. Thoughts begin to flash through your mind. It's just one little sin.. It's too much work to confess this sin.. It's going to hurt my reputation.. I want to just savor this sin a little more later..

And ever so slowly, these sins begin to pile up. And maybe those around you haven't noticed, yet.. But the pile that started as one little dirty sin, eventually grows to this enormous toxic waste heap. And in some sense, you can't tell. It's similar to when you walk into someone's house that has some sort of odd odor. Initially, you perceive the odor, and it may be pungent. But as time goes on, your senses accept this to be a new state of normal. It doesn't smell to you. But as soon as someone else comes close to you. Immediately, they can tell that your life reeks.

But what do we do? Start confessing sin. Start taking that dirty underwear, those food crusted plates, and begin to take them out and deal with them. Get a mentor, or someone who is willing to wade into the filth and help you clean up. You may not know how. You may have no idea how to clean this stuff up. But through God's grace, as you reach under that bed and feel the morass of filth, you will begin to pull out pieces and expel them from your life. And your room will start to smell less rancid. Your life will be filled with mercy, as Proverbs 28:13 says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."

And remember, this doesn't happen without the mercy and faithfulness of God. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God is faithful to forgive. He will cleanse. 

Making Us New

As Christians, God is making beautiful things out of the dust. We are dry bones. And God breathes life into those dry bones. And he will continue to make us new. We are complete in Christ and in Him, we are beautiful. Otherwise, we are cracked and dry bones. Quite the image. 0.o

We Are Weak: But He is Strong

We as humans are weak, fallible, finite beings. It's easy to forget that. I know, when you're down in the dumps after you made a mistake or fell for a temptation, you definitely feel the weight of your finite and fallible self. But when life is going "good" and you're on top of the world with work, relationships, fun, etc, that's generally when we forget our true reality. But we can't forget. We can't forget our situation. We are nothing without God. We need Him all the time. 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ~ Philippians 4:13

Hard to Love: Easy to Find Joy

In many ways, those who are closest to us are the hardest to love. We see their faults. We wade through their sins. We see the acne, the bad hair days, and the cranky attitudes. But at the same time, those who are closest to us bring us great joy. We can share our thoughts with them, our hopes, and dreams. We face life looking together. We know they'll be there when life hits the fan. People bring joy. Big families are, much of the time, full of energy and life. You will have hard times, but you'll always have joyful times to.

Be there for your friends and family in the tough times. And enjoy the great ones with them too. ^_^

Caring

One of the fruits of the spirit is kindness. Kindness to those who are easy to love and those who aren't. Kindness when we don't feel like it. Kindness when we've had a bad day. Kindness is such a beautiful character trait. Let's all be more kind and loving as life hands us bigger and bigger reasons not to be kind and loving. :-)

How Do I Do This?

I think many times, when we sit down to a new job, or a new hobby, we wonder exactly how to get started. How do we do the best job possible? Then, we'll go find some books, or maybe watch a couple Youtube videos, and then get started. What I find interesting is that many of us do take the time to look at the books, but after the books it's still hard to getttt movvviiinggg. For instance, there are certain professions, such as sales where sure, you can get a few tips and tricks from the pros but it comes down to your ability to get past your fear. Your fear of men, your fear of being wrong, your fear of "looking stupid" are all fears that many of us may play with in our minds, from time to time. Yes, knowledge is extremely crucial, but we also need the courage and character to work out that knowledge in our daily lives. :-)

Tempted

All our lives, we will be tempted. Tempted by some sort of sin. Whether it be pride, lust, envy, hatred, etc, we will have moments in our lives where we will be tempted. Maybe it will be our flesh, or maybe it will be others who tempt us. But the question isn't, will you be tempted. The question is, what will you do when that temptation presents itself. Will you give in? Or will you run to Christ? Really, those are the only two answers. Maybe we will run from one sin, into another. But that's just giving in. Turn to Christ. He will help you. He will deliver you. You may feel that you fall over and over. But get back up. Take that next step. Stay on that narrow road. Don't fall asleep. Just Do Not Stop. Don't Stop Fighting! This is not a road that is filled with flowers and soft moss. It's a road filled with bandits, rocks, thorns, thistles, and critics.

Love you all. Have a great Thursday. ^_^

And I do apologize, I haven't been posting every day. I do try to, but sometimes I forget or as in the last couple times, I wrote up a really long post and then decided against posting it.. And the offer still stands, if you can catch me the day after I miss a post, I'll mail you something. My e-mail is in my profile. ;-P

Humility

It seems that many of my sins end up stemming from pride. I haven't struggled with sin for all of 10 minutes. YES!!!!!! Let's have a party. And, pride shows up. And then fall into more sins.

Humility is of utmost importance. Keep God in perspective. God is infinite, we are tiny, finite creatures. We fail all the time. God doesn't. Stay humble. Stay on your knees. Love God. Love others. Serve others. When others are first, and you are second you won't have time to get proud. If you're always looking for ways to serve others, why would you serve yourself with a little pride?

And, I will probably go fall on my face once again tomorrow. But Lord willing, I will obey Him better than I did today.

God Cares for You

Everyone will let you down. They won't be perfect. But God doesn't. He is always perfect. Rest in that hope tonight. :-) Have a wonderful Sunday!

Think Big: Think Today

It's easy to get burned out, especially if you're always thinking someday. Someday this, someday that. When you look at how many millions of steps it is going to take to get there, oftentimes those tasks will seem completely overwhelming. However, if you can break it down and make it a bunch of mini journeys it becomes much more doable. If you can break it down from 5 years, to 3 years, to 1 year, to 6 months, to 1 month, to 1 week, to today, all of a sudden you're good to go. ^_^ You know what you're doing today. You know that it's going to be taking you toward where you want to be in 5 years, but at the same time it's easy to accomplish today.

Trash in Your Life

I run this stretch of road next to the highway 2-3 days per week. There are all these little pieces of trash that have been there for 1-2 years. The disgusting towel, the sock, the piece of packaging, the broken beer bottle, all make up a part of this assortment of oddities that litter the side of the road. In many ways, I think we all have these little pieces of trash in our lives. The things that are small, but that over time just become part of the scenery. We get used to them. They make the place feel like home to us. But they're still disgusting and make the roadside look like a dump. Oftentimes, in our lives there are sins that are this very thing. Maybe they're small, maybe they've just become part of our daily lives, but they still need to be cleaned up.

Take a look at your life. What needs to be cleaned up and tossed into a garbage bag? And don't worry. There will always be pieces of trash. Just keep that garbage bag open, and keep up the good work. ^_^

And, I'm going to go get a garbage bag on my next run and start cleaning up the road I run on..

No Perfection Here

Most people I've met who have apostatized from the faith have told me that the reason they apostatized was because of all the hypocrisy in the church. It's the living a lie, that they hate. So they left. But no Christian is ever going to be perfect. They will always fall. But I think the important thing to remember is that, a Christian is one who sins, but repents and confesses their sins. It's no longer swept under the carpet. It's not kept hidden from others, because of a sense of shame and a wanton lust to continue living in that sin, it is confessed and repented of. We see this repentance in David's Psalm 51, after Nathan the prophet reproved him for his sin. 

First, David cries out to God with a heart that needs God's grace and compassion. He asks that the Lord wash him of His sin. We need to remember that we have no part in this washing. We can't wash ourselves. It always reminds me of when Eustace, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is turned into a dragon and attempts to scratch all his scales off. It's useless. But then Aslan offers to tear the scales off, and he rips them off. 

"The very first tear he made it was so deep that I thought it had gone right in to my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know—if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh, but it is such fun to see it coming away. He peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt—and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been… and then I saw why, I’d turned into a boy again."

Remember, all our sins are just against the Lord. David says, "Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge." In a sense, when all the hullabaloo that goes on in the large sectors of the world about our complete moral breakdown is brought up, we just need to remember that these sins are against God. He is the only one that we have sinned against, because it's His law that matters. When we hide our sins under the carpet, or "in the closet" it doesn't matter. God sees everything. And His opinion is the only one that matters. That's why scouring God's Word is so earnestly important. We need to find that which is evil in His sight in our lives and expel it. Praying on your knees and with hope in the grace of God like David does in this prayer is so needed. Going to hear the preaching of the Word and the encouragement of the saints is of utmost importance. We are weak, but through God and the means that He has given us, we are strong.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." ~ Philippians 4:13

Leadership

Most people feel lost at times. They feel discouraged, insecure, and unfriendly. If you have these feelings, don't worry everyone does at times. We need to take a stand and be leaders. Encourage others. Make them feel appreciated. Be friendly to them. Bring the Word to them. Pray for them. Be a good friend and leader.

What is Good?

I was reading in Micah today and was convicted by a passage that asked the question, "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God?"

"Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, calves a year old?"

"Lots of stuff, my first born?"

It's easy to ask this question in many different ways. Those who struggle with ways of atoning like cutting, sacrificing their first born to pagan gods, etc. are asking this question. They are trying to atone for their sin in ways that are sins in God's eyes.

So what is the answer? "He has shown you, O man, what is good;"

"And what does the Lord require of You"

"But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God"

There it is. God is our gracious Lord. The only thing that we must leave behind is our sin and love Him as penitent sinners, in dependence on the atoning work of Christ. And I pray that I will love the Lord more, day by day, and study His law, that I may be better equipped to humbly obey Him more, do justly, and love mercy.

Dripping Faucet of the Internet

What is this dripping faucet of the internet?

Women who are treating the internet as they do their home.

Yep, that's about it. These women who at one time influenced their three lady friends and the dude who married them have been released into the wilds of the worldwide web. These women have blogs, comment on other blogs, treat their FB friends to their lives, and make me want to go to their house and cut their internet line so they can go back to driving their husband insane instead of the rest of the world.

In a sense, the internet is like a house. And these women roam around it and drive everyone around them, except for the other psychos, insane. It would be better to live in the wilderness, than with these crazy ladies.

Women who are quarrelsome, nagging, and angry are not beautiful. Even though their profile picture may be, avoid them with a ten foot pole.

Which is hard to do on the internet.

And don't let me forget guys. Guys are a little different, they tend to not be as emotional. They're just always angry. Or rude. Here's how you can differentiate a guy and a girl on the internet, if you're not sure.

"@$*(%&@($*%&@#(*&@#(*&$@#($*&" - Guy

"You are an idiot, because etc. etc. etc." - girl

"Your grammar is terrible, therefore I win" - Everybody

;-P Yay for over generalizing. XD

Consumed by Selfishness

If I had to describe Americans with one word, I'd easily use the word SELFISH. The men and women in America are probably the most selfish and proud people in the world. Part of it is being the richest country in the world, but the majority of it, is because of their rejection of God. Ultimately, God is the father of love and sacrifice. When you reject that, you are rejecting self-sacrificing love.

Men and women struggle with selfishness and pride in different areas, but in America it's all across the board. As I perceive it, men spend all their time making a conquest of women (probably mostly in porn, because a real woman would be too much work), not committing to marriage, getting drunk, playing hours upon hours of video games, encouraging their wives/girlfriends to have abortions so they don't have to care for a child, and clicking the up channel button on the television. Women are selfish in other ways: all about me time, chic-flick time, never wanting their house to get dirty, aborting their children (i.e. 70% of down syndrome babies.), birth control, and always needing their happiness to stem from their relationships or stuff they get, etc.

Sure, some of these examples can be interchanged, but I've noticed men are more lazy in their selfishness. Women tend to still get things done, but it's all about them. In a sense, men are more nihilistic and women are more materialistic. However, both sexes are all about themselves. Sure, they manifest themselves in different ways. But the question is, in what areas are you selfish? Where in your life is it all about you? Are you going to be cranky if you don't get your cup of coffee in the morning? Speaking of which, I NEED COFFEEE!!!!!

>_<

Let me just wrap this up with a passage that convicted me this morning.

"In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." ~ 1 John 3:10-24

Let us remember that we should love our brother. Love those who you meet. Love those who hate you. And even though you love them, they will hate you. Just like Cain who murdered his brother because of the very fact that his works were evil and Abel's were righteous. No one who is righteous will ever be truly loved by the world, because in some ways I believe it opens up their eyes to who they are, but rather than wanting change, they become angry and kill their brother, just like Cain.

How about seeing our brother in need? Do we have spare funds to help him? I.e. www.littletait.com -- Here's a good opportunity. ^_^


Our lives need to be about service. It's not about a bunch of words and unbiblical encouraging, it's about showing our love in what we do, and the truth. 

Whatever our little god is, replace it with God and His commandments. And when we abide in Christ, he will abide in us. And that's amazing!

Friendships in Christ

Our love for Christ must reach beyond ourselves and those who are beautiful in our eyes. We are all attracted to certain people, whether they are beautiful, funny, interesting, etc. but what love is, is reaching out and loving those who aren't easy for us to love. Everyone likes to interact with people who jive with them, but how about those that are hard to love? The next door neighbor lady who is always grumpy, the guy who never has a kind word to say, or how about the girl who is more often than not depressed, these are all people that may not be easy for us to become friends with, but why?

If our goals in friendship are self focused, which I have to admit I am guilty of :-(, then ultimately we will never be able to have friends who we don't jive with, or who we feel uncomfortable around. But why do you feel comfortable? Is it because your friendships have no depth? Is it because you aren't encouraging your friends towards Christ? 

When our mission in life is to encourage others to love God more, then having friendships with those who are not our "groupies" will not be a problem. When friendship is no longer purely about us, then our ability to reach out and disciple will grow. Jesus ate with all types. He ate with publicans and sinners. Our God is a God who reaches out to those who are hurting and heals them. May we follow his example in our daily lives all the more. 

Care

Caring for another means loving God more than them. Caring for your parents, siblings, church friends, is about putting Christ at the head of every one of those friendships. If your friendship doesn't depend on the other person serving you and making you perfectly happy, then friendships can go long term. Remember, all people are sinners. ALL people are sinners. They will always fail you at some point. They will always say the wrong thing, do the wrong things, and generally not keep you completely happy (which is probably a good thing, hopefully they're exhorting you towards Him). You will disagree. You will have fights. But if Christ is the anchor in your friendships, then you won't be running off and pouting in your corner all the time.

Disingenuous Christian

I read a post by a musician awhile ago, about how Christians aren't being real, specifically in the music industry. The post really spoke to me as something I've been convicted of, in my life. That feeling of being disingenuous. I don't want to be the person who is hypocritical and disingenuous. I want to be passionate about God and show it. When I struggle with sin, I don't want to sweep it under a rug. I want to confess my sins and cry out to God for more mercy and grace. I don't want to live in a fear of men. God is the only one to fear, and He doesn't take kindly to this hypocrisy. I think my fear of man, and the hypocrisy has come in alot of ways from my disregard of God's word. The words of one of our elders has been very helpful to me. He told me, "Pray for a passion for God and His Word." You can't replace something with nothing. You can't replace your passion for tv shows, video games, etc with nothing. And that's where in many ways I feel that element in my life has really been missing. I've always asked the Lord to help me put off sins, but not really cried out for more passion for Him. And I pray that God continues to give me more and more passion for Him my entire life. We must in a very genuine way put off our old man, and put on the new man. It won't be perfect, and we will fall. But the gift of repentance from God and His forgiveness is an amazing healing for those wounds. Be encouraged. :-) I pray we will all be more passionate for Him as the years go by.

"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." ~ Romans 13:11-14

Simplicity is Beautiful

In a very real sense, one of the most beautiful things about Christianity is the very beauty of simplicity. Being able to sum up the gospel into one phrase, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." That's the beauty of the gospel. When you ask an unbeliever how they determine their ethics, they'll hammer around the issue and they have no real answer. It's complicated. It's full of holes. Ask a Christian, and you get, I love God and His word, he determines my ethics. Again, simple and beautiful. Yes, there are elements of Christianity that are complex. But that's the beauty of it. Simple to explain, and yet complex. It's like design. Creating a product that is beautiful and simple but with lots of texture and intricacies. We all hate products that are complex and difficult to understand from the outset. And this is how humanist forms of thought are. They are complex and utterly miserable to listen to. They are complicated and confusing. They change every 15 years. God doesn't change. The ethics that he gave us in His word don't change. He is immovable. He keeps His word. And we can rest in Him.

Internet Wars

One day, I sat browsing the web of the world.

A great naval battle in many ways.

The two sides flags unfurled;

And the guns were ablaze.

One side was led by a demon,

Flushed with pride and wrath,

Their mouths filled with the saltiness of seamen.

They screamed like they had no other path.

One could feel the contrast.

Pride and wrath for one.

The others commanded by another at the mast.

They were lead by the Son.

Full of glory he stood before them.

Hands pierced and blood flowing from the stripes on his back.

Leading in humility and grace none worthy to touch his hem.

The other side could do nothing but throw hopeless flack.

More Love, Lord

I pray God gives me more love for Him.
At times I feel beaten down and grim.
And yet, he's called me to love others.
But I continue to just follow my druthers.

I pray that God takes away the words not spoken in love
And gives me a heart that they are a part of.
That I will give up my lusts, my selfishness, my pride,
And replace with a heart of service that in my daily life is applied.

I pray I give up my life,
Love my wife,
Disciple those that I touch,
And Love my God so very much.

Serving

I like to see people laugh. I like to see how they respond to different situations. But something I'm feeling that I need to learn more and more is how to serve them. How can I pray for them? How can I encourage them today? How can I do a better job iron sharpening iron?

Edification When You Mean It

It's easy to waste time. Especially in conversation. I'm working on moving my speech towards edifying topics. But at the same time, it is hard to edify when you aren't living in an edifying manner. And in many cases you should just avoid being fake in this area. Being fake is hypocrisy. When I talk to someone who obviously isn't passionate about what they say I don't really appreciate talking to them. Edification needs passion. A passion for the Word. A passion for what God is doing in your life. Passion.

Time Reveals

I've asked myself where are people going? Where will they be in 20 years? Or how about me? Where will you be in 20 years? What trajectory are we on? What direction are we headed?

Time is the ultimate revealer. They reveal the fruit of ideas, labor, direction.

Give Willingly

We are all given life. We are given the ability to breath. Many of us can see, feel, taste, hear, and smell. We have nice cushy lives here in America. We can sit in front of a warm fire and toast marshmallows. We can fly around the country and even the world. We have so much. We have been given much. Are you able to give it up for Christ? Are you willing to love those who are the unlovable? Give our stuff to those who need it more than us?

Narrowing Applications

How often do we try to legislate others over things that are Christian liberty? How often are we critical of someone who does things differently than we do? Is there anything wrong with someone wearing a skirt that's an inch shorter than yours? Is there anything wrong with someone puffing on a pipe? Is there anything wrong with a different approach to relationships? Is there anything wrong with someone who gives more hugs? Is there something wrong with someone who wears plaid on plaid? ;-P

Yes, there are certain things the Word of God legislates against. I.e. Fornication, adultery, murder, homosexuality, stealing, etc. etc. Is your little application one of those things?

If you're not careful you'll turn into Mayor Bloomberg, and start legislating how large of sugary drinks people can buy. Are we making mountains out of molehills? Let's try to make mountains out of mountains and understand what are molehills and treat them as such..

Time is Short

In some ways, I feel that life goes by ever so quickly. Weeks turn into months, months turn into years, and then eventually we pass away. I think living with a perspective that time is short, and we should use it wisely is important. We should live as if this is our last day, and at the same time that we are going to live for another hundred years.

Life is Beautiful

God has given us others. God has given us cute fuzzy puppies. God has given us beautiful mountains and oceans. Focus on the beautiful things. God is good.

Only Christian When it Fits?

I recently saw an internet meme that said, "I don't always read the Bible but when I do... I only read the parts I like. Christian-Lite Mostly Jesus Christ, without the evil stuff." First thought, exactly. It seems that too many "Christians" today buy into this load of baloney. First of all, they never read the Bible. Secondly, they do only read the parts they like. They really don't like the major prophets. They like about 2/3 of the New Testament. This is really sad. Treating Christ's work as a way to make lots of money, and please yourself is horrible. The message of the prosperity gospel is evil. Christianity is about loving God. Glorifying God. Laying down one's life. And if we do love Christ, we will love His Word and all that he has to say in it. Creating a religion that has a Jesus that is not the true Jesus is absolutely horrible. We need to be satisfied with Christ, always. When Christ says don't fornicate. We need to be satisfied. When he says, give up all you have for me, we can be satisfied because we still have Christ. When we are burned at the stake, whether it be on the internet or in real life, are we going to give up our Lord?

Read the whole Bible. The whole Word of God is given to us to satisfy us. And when we ignore parts of the Scripture, we are not going to be balanced. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It's all Scripture. Not the part that makes us feel happy in our sin. Not the part that demands us to give up all but the sin that we love more than life itself. All Scripture.

I watched this video in the middle of writing this, and I definitely appreciated Piper's words on the prosperity gospel.

Mentors

In an age where different generations have completely different music, movies, clothing, culture, etc, we are hurting. Each generation is in a sense wanting to cut itself out of the rock. And people keep making the same mistakes over and over. That's where I see mentorship really solving many of those problems. All people need good input in their lives. I have seen too many people, myself included, wander after the fools. Whether it be ungodly peers, television shows, games, movies, reddit, forums, music, etc, there are plenty of fools we can wander after. But young people especially need good input and wise men/women in their lives. If you're going to avoid the pitfalls of life, whether it be failing in your job, failing at staying pure, falling into drugs, etc, you're going to need good mentors in your life. You may need a business mentor, a spiritual advisor, or a combination. Timothy needed Paul in his life. Would Timothy have been where he was at such a young age without Paul's mentorship? Unlikely. 

Go find a mentor. It's not hard. You just have to be committed to being willing to learn and invest in the relationship. If you've spent most of your life being told what to do by your parents or teachers you're going to need to get a little initiative in life. You have to be the one pursuing the mentors. There are many lazy people in the world, and a mentor doesn't want to waste their time. So you need to be serious about it. Set up breakfast meetings, take notes, and act on what they say. Don't waste their time, because in so doing you will waste your time. 

What Do I Say?

Times have changed. Before the internet, much of the marketing was spent trying to appeal and change everyone. The venues to market were where everyone was. Radio and television were consumed by all, through the 4-5 channels they had.

But it's different today, in the age of the internet people are becoming more and more cliquish. Mass marketing doesn't really work. People only know how to interact with those who are like them. The term is referred to as: cyberbalkanization. We are becoming lazy, because we are allowing ourselves just to hang out with those we agree with.

Because of this, I feel that many people no longer know how to interact with those who disagree with them. Having the ability to turn off the internet browser, and ignore the other party who disagrees with ones opinion is creating people who no longer can disagree with others, in a reasonable fashion. Odd, I know. But it makes for an interesting time.

This brings to mind the question, what do we say to those who disagree with us? Should we spend time with them? Great question. Well, here's my opinion. Sure, spend some time with them. But don't allow them to run you over. I feel that Christians do this all the timeeeee. They go on the internet. They say something counter cultural. They have a troll show up. They then freak out and run away/change their opinion. 

Don't do this. Welcome to the internet. Some people are jerks. It's a fact. Share your opinion. Learn from others, who are wise souls.. Don't become one who is affected by cyberbalkanization. People will always disagree. Don't be proud with your opinion. But stick by your guns. Especially when you're just being attacked by an internet troll.

Ultimate Standard When Debating

As a Christian, my ultimate standard is the Bible. If we didn't have the Bible, we wouldn't have a source for ethics. We wouldn't have a reason to believe one thing over another. We would become like the majority of blogs on the internet. They certainly spout a lot of words, but it's mostly inept rhetoric. The one who wins is the one who can slam the other person with sarcasm and better grammar. ;-P

For instance, I find it interesting when people argue against sexual sin with warnings about STDs, financial hurt, blah, blah. Who cares. Has this form of education moved us in a good direction? Uhhh, no. Lol. Really, the only reason to avoid sexual sin, stealing, murder, rape, etc, is because God said they were wrong. Would I be against them if I didn't have an ultimate standard? Ultimately, no. Especially if they helped me. 

I've learned over time to just ignore those who spout rhetoric. Words are cheap. Everyone thinks they're right. But if they have nothing to back it up, shut it down. A serial killer feels that he's doing a good thing when he's killing and raping women. The Christian heading to church on a Sunday has some reason. A homosexual says his lifestyle is all on the up and up. The man who avoids fornication and porn has a standard. The kid in church living with his gf is feeling good. And most will be sure to let you know. But what's their justification? What makes them right? What makes the other guy wrong? We all need an ultimate standard. Personal experience is not an ultimate standard.. Or public opinion.

When it comes down to it, get down to a person's ultimate standard, as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you'll waste time. 

And also, what is your ultimate standard? The personal story you recently read? The song you're listening to at the moment? Do you use your ultimate standard when you write? Or have you bought into the lie that personal experience and witty words are the standard?

And also, be loving. Why must you win a war of words? Are you loving the homosexual that you're debating? Or are your words just clanging cymbals and sounding brass?

Prayer for Deliverance and the Good Things in Life

One thing that's come home to me these past few months is how much we need prayer. And on top of prayer that God deliver us from the temptations of our flesh, world, and the devil, we also need to pray that God gives us hearts that desire the good things. The cry in Psalm 51 should be on our hearts. The Psalmist acknowledges his sin, then cries out that God purge him with hyssop. He cries out that he can hear joy and gladness. And in verse 10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Pray that God not only removes the burden of your sin from you, but that he gives you desires for great and beautiful things. That's been my prayer more and more in my daily life.

The cry that the Psalmist gives about being able to hear joy and gladness really spoke to me. One way you can tell when you are around Christians is they are joyful and glad. I've spent most of my life in the church. But I've spent enough time around others to know that this is so true. Being around those who love Christ are incredibly refreshing to be around. They are those who you can tell have truly been washed with hyssop. They are those who have been freed from sin by the power of Christ's blood!

I thank the Lord for His healing and immeasurable mercies. 

See you all on Monday. ^_^

Moral Anarchy

Last night I went and saw Zero Dark Thirty. I enjoyed the film. The realism in the constant swearing, and torture was a major turn off. But if we're talking purely story, sure I was intrigued. To make the summary real short. The story of how they catch USL (Usama Bin Laden).

One question I came away with is, what is good and what is evil? People seemed to get real angry about the explosion of the two Towers on 9/11. And yet these same people are okay with killing millions of babies. It's frightening to say the least. Homosexuality is now PC, and next year what will it be? Rape and murder? Sacrificing old people and two year olds to Molek?

Either God's law reigns or there will be moral anarchy. So far, moral anarchy is winning, and ruining our country, sadly.

Recognition Comes From Him

Are you driven by the desire to have fame? Is being put on a pedestal and being admired by fellow men important to you? I hope not. In John 15:18, Jesus says "“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." When we strive to become loved by those who do not love the Lord, we will more often than not deny Christ. Just as Peter did when he was asked by those standing around the fire when his Lord was arrested, we will often fall into this trap. 

Instead, let us remember Psalm 62:5 "My expectation is from Him." This Psalm should be our cry and our desire. God is your rock and your salvation. People are fickle. They may love you one day, and curse you the next. But God's mercy is immeasurable, as Psalm 5 says. He gives great promises. And you know, maybe you won't receive the recognition you deserve in this life. Maybe those who hate God and His people will ruin your reputation. But God will uphold your reputation, if not in this life, definitely the next. 

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." ~ Deuteronomy 31:6 Now that's a promise I can hold to.

Edification Every Day

Hey everybody, I'm back. I know I've been gone for awhile, but I needed to have some time to readjust my priorities. But I'm here to stay, at least for a time. Yay! I've been convicted that I need to study the Word more. I spend too much time on studying business and marketing. And I'm learning that business is really kind of unimportant when I take a look at what life is really about. Life isn't about money. It's about loving and bringing honor and glory to God. Sure, money is fun to make and important because providing for your family is demanded. But providing isn't just about money, the area of spiritual providing is also extremely valuable. This is an area the is contrasted between glory and hell. Pretty eye opening. 0.0

And I noticed that in 2011, when I wrote the blog every day I was much more motivated to search out issues and spend more time in the Word, which ultimately meant more edification in my daily speech to people in the real world. Which as a side note is where we should spend most of our time. I want to talk about that later.

Anyways, I'm going to shoot for being consistent in posting till August 31st. The rule is, 6 days a week. I'm not going to be posting on Sundays. Mon.-Sat. And if anyone catches me not having posted by midnight PST. I'll send you some gift. ^_^ Maybe it'll be a bunch of old socks, but you never know. ;-) I have an e-mail on my profile page for those of you who want to win free gifts. XD I'm sure I'll miss a few.

Ttyl.

Helping Others

People need to understand one thing when they want to make money. Whether you're shooting for the steady paycheck, or the freelancers life, you must understand that you are here on this earth to take dominion and you are helping others take dominion.

Too many people want things handed to them. As children many of us were raised with the idea that we deserve things. We grow up being fed, clothed, housed, and loved, all for free. We were taught stuff in school, that our parents paid for. We went to college, which our parents again paid for. And then we wake up the day after school, with our diploma in hand and the first thought is, now who is going to hand me a job? And then the brutal reality of life hits us. No one is going to hand you a job. (Except the Federal government may hand you a food stamp card, tract housing, etc.... Which somebody else paid for, ugh.. But that's a different discussion.)

Ultimately, we must learn to help others. Our goal, in whatever business we are in is to provide value to others. If I told someone I would give them $100, and then they only have to give me $20 for that $100, they would do that all day long. In the same way, when looking to work and provide for one's own household, we do the same thing. Take a look at your skills and abilities, see where there is a need for that skill, and then go make a job for yourself. Go to a company and tell them that these are your skills, this is where they need help, and you can help them fulfill this need. Maybe even offer to do it for free at first, and then just take a cut of the profit you bring in. I don't understand people who are all about the money. Find something you love, and cut a job out of the rock for yourself. Stop putting yourself into a box..

As a Christian, this principle should be very easy to understand and work towards. We are put on this earth, and told to love and serve others. We can do this in business. If your goal is to help others become more successful, we will definitely find a place in the macro market to use our gifts and abilities God has given us.

Ethics of Your Own Volition

Americans are full of themselves. In a study done by OECD, Pisa, they found that, to make it easy, while Americans are uneducated, yet they believe themselves to be hot stuff. Best in the world, in fact. However, this just isn't true. Americans are falling behind, quite quickly in fact, in both Science and Math. But I really don't care about this fact. I've come to find Americans are just as full of themselves in regards to ethics and epistemology. They literally know nothing about ethics and epistemology and yet at the same time are more than happy to educate you on them.. I.e. reddit.. >_< They have no reason for what they do. They have no hope. And yet, you couldn't find someone more convinced that they're right. There are generally two types of people who are going to come against Christians who have any sort of Biblical basis for their epistemology and ethics.

Number one, there are the general homosexual and feminist crowd. This is the far left five percent. Typically, their arguments involve screaming, anger, and other illogical ramblings. The majority have barely evolved past four letter words. There's the occasional smarty who really has no basis for speaking, but they try to sound smart. They occasionally misquote the Bible, and tell you about how they were a Christian at one time. This group has nothing to say, and are really just angry at you for rejecting their evil lifestyles. 

The group that truly saddens me though, is Christians who perceive themselves to be helping out mankind. They say they love God, and yet at the same time hate 80% of what he says. And it's not really hate, because Christians love others. By loving them, they mean sending them on their merry way to hell. The road to hell has always been paved with plenty of good intentions. They're more than happy to join forces with those who hate God and scream with the best of them at Christians who want to see any change.

Ultimately, they don't want change. They may not like what they're seeing in the general culture, and yet have not woken up to the realization that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.

We need change. 42% of children are born without fathers. How does no one understand this? And I'm sure this statistic would be in the 60s-75%s if abortion wasn't doing it's best to lower that statistic. How can half of marriages ending in divorce be okay? How can 95%+ of Americans fornicating be a good thing? Millions of babies die every year, due to selfishness and hatred. These statistics are growing, and they aren't slowing down. Is this the country you want to see? 

This is a country that was once great. It had strong Christian roots, with Christians that wouldn't give in to a little persecution. They fought hard to make this country free. They had many Christian fundamentals. It was built on the backs of thousands of pastors who were martyred. They believed in a Christian ethic that is determined by the Word of God. But now, we are no longer Christian. We are now the liberal west. Countries like Russia now look at us with disgust and say, we must reject your liberalism if we will survive as a country.

We have built a country with almost no character. The middle class is being eliminated. Sexuality is almost completely ruined. And yet Christians can barely see beyond the end of their own nose.

Wake up. Smell the blood. It's not pretty.

But what's the solution?

Love God. And obey His commandments. Simple.

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." ~ John 14:21

We have his commandments. They're in that book called the Bible. Study them. And stop listening to the world. Stop reading the Aristotle's, Plato's, and other geniuses who hated God. Study the Word of God. That's where it's at.

Straight and Narrow

I've taken up off-road biking for the last six months. And as it grows colder, more snow and ice accumulate on the trail, and they are always more than willing to encourage me to get to know the ground more intimately.

As time goes on, I have begun to learn several things about biking.

Number one, look exactly where you want to go. You don't look at the rock in the middle of the trail. You don't look over the cliff on your right. You look exactly where you want to be, and amazingly that's where you go.

Secondly, you have to have a certain amount of courage and healthy fear at the same time. If you're scared, you'll end up going extremely slow and not making it up the hills where you need speed. But, if you're too impetuous and don't know how to slow down when you should, you'll take quite a number of tumbles.

Number three, focus. If you don't stay focused, you'll eventually make a mistake and pay dearly for it with a couple scrapes and bruises.

While I was biking this last week, I was kind of hit by the thought of how much like life, biking really is. If you spend all your time studying the cliff, or watching every rock you could hit, you will eventually fall. You will at some point shoot out off that cliff. When people spend most of their week focused on secular philosophers, ideas, music, and not on God, eventually they will end up jumping off the narrow trail and over these cliffs. Sure, if you spend a small amount of time looking out over the cliff, you'll be fine. I can occasionally dart my eyes off the trail and take in the scenery. But unless I'm looking at the trail, I'm not going to be on it for much longer.

Where our soul longs to be, that's where we will go. Whether it be for good or evil.

Also, life is about courage. Being courageous when we fail. Brushing ourselves off after we take a little tumble in life. Get back on your bike and start again. You learned a lesson. But never quit. You have to balance caution and courage all your life. Knowing when to push hard, and knowing when to slow down. (Not something I'm good at..)

Lastly, focus. Life is a long journey. Biking is only an hour or two. Life is 80+ years. Staying focused on that narrow trail is going to be hard. People will try to distract you. Deep drop offs will be on both sides of you at times. Sometimes, you'll dart through meadows. Other times, you'll be going through difficult boulder fields. But, if you don't focus inevitably you'll be cleaning gravel out of your skin, nursing a broken leg, or cleaning off someone else's street pizza.

Thankfully, we aren't in this alone. God is right there. He is our strength. When we fail, he is there. When we think we got it, and then promptly fall on our faces, he's there. He is our place of safety. We have no need to fear the world, the scrapes, the broken legs, and death. What a truly remarkable feeling.

I love Psalm 18, specifically the 2nd verse. The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.