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.