I'm Sorry But It's A Must...

I wish I knew words enough to describe the phenomena in which I was just enticed to. FRINGE! Killer butterflies, hallucinations, accessing a dead mans memory, dead man killing a real living person, and hypnosis are all crazy reasons of saying that I love this show. J.J. Abrams has done it again. LOST, FRINGE, and now STAR TREK. He is a genious.

Ok enough of me sounding like I am advertising (although I would highly suggest you watch the both of these shows) cause I am obviously speaking to deaf ears. I just wish there was someone that I could talk to and share a common love with these shows. You all simply have NO IDEA.

January 21...

Call it an obsession, call it true love, call it whatever you like. My point is on January 21 the whole world is going to be turned upside down with the return of televisions best show.

LOST

I watched the beauty's watch the fire
and the fire burn the beauty in their eyes.
-The Manchester Orchestra

I think that quote pretty much wraps up everything there is to know about the show. Well, not really actually, philosophically speaking though. Expect the unexpected. And definitely don't get to invested with your likings of a character. Oh my gosh I can't wait.

Back to Faith...

Ok so I am so excited right now. Lately I have been stressing so much about the finances of my trip to Peru. I raised 20 dollars right off the bat but since have not raised anything. So I was pretty stressed. To the point of not even checking to see if any more donations had come in. So at the beginning of last week, upon reading a post from a fellow team member, I was convicted to hand it over to God. Like I should have done all along. I have been praying daily that He'll just take the stress away from me and do what He will with it. I decided to give it a couple of days before I checked again. So tonight I got up the courage to check my support status. Another donation came in. Yup, that's right. It is like it is God's way of telling me that I just have to have faith. Thank you father!!!

Talk Show???

Okay this isn't going to be one of those real long, random post. Well, Random yeah, but not long.

I was just watching a preview for an upcoming Dr. Phil show. The episode is going to be about a sex cult. One of those typical shows when this millionaire has regular people on his show, and these people spill their guts about all of their problems and all of the world get to see your miserable life broadcasted on our television ......... you get the idea.

It struck me that we live in a country where people can make money off of your problems. Is that right? I don't know, I'm done now.

Hands Down...

Commodus: Rise. Rise.

[Maximus stands up, clenching an arrow head in his right hand]

Commodus: Your fame is well deserved, Spaniard. I don't think there's ever been a gladiator to match you. As for this young man, he insists you are Hector reborn. Or was it Hercules? Why doesn't the hero reveal himself and tell us all your real name? You do have a name.

Maximus: My name is Gladiator.

[turns away from Commodus]

Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.

Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus]

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

[Commodus trembles in disbelief]

Ok so pretty much that is the best part in the whole movie. Hands down... Russell Crowe!!! That is all I have to say about this subject.

"Oh Boy..."

Are we really this far in deep? Are we really at this point in our lives, again? It seems that the only good Darin did for us was to keep us from tearing each others heads off (not really all he did for us.) Really, a mediator? Have we really come to this, again, must I ask? Competition, rivalries, cliques, gossiping...? All these things seem to be exactly who we have become as a youth group. They describe it pretty well anyways. We are divided. Again. It seems like it took a huge event to break us from this past; reoccurring form of life. Is it true? Is all a youth minister good for is to mediate. To make us one. It is sickening that we put this drama on a youth pastors life at the job, life I guess would be just as true. Do we as brothers and sisters really need to deprave our lives at the church to the pulp, with all of this crap. From the outside it looks like a youth group that not even I want to attend. Maybe that is being a bit dramatic.

We are cliquish but we are all guilty. For one to accuse another of being a clique is just simply a condescending hypocrite. Which must I say, once again, we are all, in fact, guilty of it. I ask again, is a youth minister simply put in place to mediate. To bring together and unite. Is that it? I want so much more from the youth group that I attend, that I commune with, that I share with, and that I call my brothers and sisters, than to be just simply united. Someone once had the same vision that I sit here and write about. And he achieved it, he made it happen so to say. He didn't just sit back and see what arose from it. He dove in. He challenged, he walked his talk and talked his walk. If that makes any since. Are we so different as to hate.

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is, time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.

-Romans 13:11-12

The day is coming, soon, that we will be judged according to what we have done here on earth. (Not to say that actions get us to heaven.) For what we BELIEVED in. For what we LIVED our lives for, apart from all of this bickering and fighting and so on and and so on towards one another. I don't want to be stuck in this rut of judging, or hate, or opposition. I could go on.

Wow, a lot of that was dramatic. I apologize. I guess this is just another one of those random posts in which I rant and complain and offer up no solution. Like I said... OH Boy!!!

Dear Wormwood...

"... The reason is this. To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about HIs love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth." Here is my favorite part. "He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself-creatures whose life, on its miniatures scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in; He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other things into himself; the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct."

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

I think it doesn't get any better than that. A demon admitting the truth about this spiritual warfare of life. It is clear that he knows what God wants but for some reason or another wants the opposite. He admits that God wants sons while "the father below" wants cattle that can become food.

When the Sinner Meets the Savior...

It was just a normal school night, dinnertime, and the table was being set. I am but an only child living with my mom for my father died years ago, before I was born. My mother told me that we were going to be having company over tonight and that I should set the table for three. I was weary at first because I was shy and didn't talk much, and wasn't to fond of the idea of having to eat with someone I have never met. But, I still set the table for three, unaware of who the guest was that will be dining with tonight.

My mind began to wonder who my mom had met this time. Was it someone from work, from the store, some guy she met at my soccer game. I was unsure until I remembered how much time she had been spending at the some place called church. It was unsettling with me, the thought of having some crazy Christian man dating my mother. Who knows what he will convince her to think. Well okay, it sounded better than her dating some of the guys she had seen, I didn't think it could get much worse after that round with the guy she met on the street.

My life after school consisted of a few things. Soccer practice at 3:00. Piano practice at 4:00 only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Any other day I just hung out with Jared, my friend of 8 years. Every night though I was always home by 5:30 in which I would spend the rest of my time up until supper doing homework and catching up on the latest of the happenings in our small town on the local news. I thought it was striking that my mother had not began to bake supper as it was nearing 6:30, the time in which we usually dined.

My mother opened the bread drawer and pulled out a new loaf of bread, tossed it to me and told me to set it on the table. I did so only to return to the kitchen to see my mother open a brand new bottle of wine. I was beginning to wonder what kind of meal she had in mind. She went into the dining room and sat down at the table only to peer at me with the kind of look that I took as, “Well, aren't you going to sit down too?”

I sat down and asked my mother, “Are we not going to wait for our company to show up?”

She looked up at me and said, “He is already here son.”

“Mom are you going mad” I asked

At that time she bent over and pulled from under her chair a book. A really big book. She opened it to a page around half way through. By this time I was lost, we are having supper (bread and wine) with a man that is not even here, and my mom is planning on reading to me from a book that I have never seen before starting from the middle? Like I said I was lost.

“Son have you ever wondered why we are put on this earth?” She asked in a soft, questioning tone. “Have you ever asked yourself, 'isn't there more to this life than just going through the motions,' have you son?”

“Mom, what are you trying to say?”

“I am saying that there is more to this life than all what is seen, the unseen is what I am getting at.” She was getting excited now. “Something worth living for!”

“I guess it has crossed my mind a few times.”

“Then if there is any question left in your mind, then hear this story.”

That night she read to me the story of Jesus. All the way from the beginning, his birth, all the way to his death, his death on the cross. After hearing how emotional my mother was about this story I knew that it was not just another story. It was history, the present, and the future. It all made sense to me. From that day on I made the choice to follow Jesus. I am still learning from him everyday. I am seeing that I am not just a sinner. I am a friend, a child, the bride of Christ.

Revelation Perhaps...

So often lately I have found myself complaining about the church and how much I think that the leadership has gone bad. I rant and complain but never offer up a solution. Well I was reading today and came across this. It explains everything oh so clearly to me. I hope it speaks to you as well.

"... Each Revolutionary consents to be personally responsible for his or her spiritual state-whether that's growth or stagnation. Complaints about the pastor, church staff, programs, or other obstacles disappear from the conversation: the onus is now on the believer to put up or shut up. The failure to develop a robust spiritual life becomes the responsibility of the person God intended: you.

This shifting of responsibility will affect all dimensions of spirituality. Besides personal growth, believers will bear the obligation for performing acts of community service, promoting the gospel, growing their family in faith maturity, worshipping God regularly, developing intimacy with God, understanding and applying the content of the Scriptures, representing the Kingdom in all walks of life, investing every resource they manage for holy outcomes, and being connected to a community of God-loving people. No more waiting for others to do the job; every Revolutionary must handle the duty TO BE the Church with dedication and excellence."
-Revolution, George Barna

I think it is funny how stupid I act and how God responds by slapping me on the head and says "Kid, this is how you are suppose to do things, you were WRONG!" I love it!!!

Peru Blog...

Ok so it is starting to get exciting. For the last couple of weeks Me and Drew have been the only ones on our Peru Blog page. But now there are more people joining the trip and are sharing more of their story. It is really exciting and I urge you to get on and read about the trip and the people that I will be going with. Sorry, this whole idea came so suddenly upon seeing my own link to the page on this blog. I just thought I would let you know that you can check it out. It will keep you posted with what is going on with me and my team members. OH my gosh I am so excited!!!

Go to my links and click the one that says Peru Blog Page. Once you are there you will a page of information about the trip. On the left side there is a section named "blog contributors" there you will find my posts along with Drew's and the rest of my team's.

Saved By Grace...

"The Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than a 'sinner saved by grace.' You are a lot more than that. You are a new creation in Christ. The New Testament calls you a saint, a holy one, a son of God."

A new soul, a princess, The Kings son, a prince, a child of God, worthy, hopeful, in love, a fire burning within,...

I listed some things that I think I am to God. Only because of what Jesus did for us. What else do you think He calls you other than a "sinner saved by grace?"