Craiger's Chronicles

My Take on the Prodigal Son

2011-10-20T00:23:00.002-04:00

I had an assignment for one of my classes. I had to write a paper, but the paper had to be in a sermon format.

This is what I came up with.

The sermon format is the reason for the different style. Check it out, I hope you can take something away from it and I'd like to know what you think about it.

As a note, two writers, Keller and Bock really influenced my thinking on this topic.

Student Ministry Sermon on the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)

11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons.12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them.13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.15 So he went and hired himself out tot one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'t 22 But the father said to his servants,t 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" -Luke 15:11-32 (ESV)

Today, we are going to explore the story known as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” It is a parable told by Jesus in the book of Luke. It is a famous passage, many of you have probably heard the name “Prodigal Son” before but it is more accurate to go along with some versions of the Bible that call this the “Parable of the Two Sons” because this story has many facets. Let’s look at the first part of the story, read through verses 11 to 16.

Now like most young people we see today that come into a lot of money very quickly, the youngest son blew his wealth. This translation says he squandered his wealth on “reckless living.” If you look into some other translations you can infer that the young man spent his money on women, partying, and every form of excess you can imagine. He set out to enjoy every worldly indulgence he could think of and lived it up for a time.

Eventually he uses up all of his money, and the story says that there was a famine so people were in dire straights. It was hard to find work and food. In a way it is similar to today. The economy is doing poorly, so a lot of people are having a hard time finding work. It just makes for a lot of people scraping by.

I like to picture this young man growing up wealthy in his father’s home, not having to work for much and generally living a life of luxury. Now he is working as a farmhand tending and feeding the pigs!

Things are bad for the youngest son. He is living in the dirty pig sty, knee deep in the pigs’ waste. He is in need. He is hungry. In fact, he is so hungry, Jesus says he starts looking longingly at the slop that he is giving to the pigs.

Hold on. Do you know what pigs eat? Have you ever been on a farm and seen what farmers feed their pigs? Pigs are known to eat anything. I mean anything. Farmers regularly feed their pigs all the scraps that the people and other animals on the farm wouldn’t eat. They throw it in a big tub and mix it all up and make this foul smelling slop of leftover scraps. That was appetizing to this guy.

Let’s keep going, look with me at the next few verses. Read verses 17 to 24.

The young man knows he is in squalor, and remembers his fathers house. He looks at his life and knows that his father’s servants live better than he is living now. He has no hope to be treated as his father’s son again. He doesn’t think there is anyway that his father would accept him into the home and make him heir of the estate again, he just wants a job. He hopes that he can crawl on his hands and knees, beg his father for forgiveness, and work for him. He knows he hurt his father, dishonored him, and insulted him. The son is just hoping that his father is compassionate enough to let him go work in the field.

So the man swallows his pride and heads back to his father’s house, with his speech prepared on how he will ask for forgiveness. But something astounding happens. The father sees him coming while he was still far away. The father was looking and waiting for his son. Quickly, the father runs out to his son. He embraces his son and the son tells his father that he’s not worthy of this warm welcome. The father responds by calling his servants to immediately adorn the son with a robe, ring, and shoes. This signifies that the father is reinstating the son as his heir, bringing him back into the home. The father is giving the son back his full status as son. The father doesn’t make the son pay. He doesn’t make the son beg. The father immediately accepts him and rejoices. He throws a party to celebrate the son’s return.

At this point it is important to clarify who the people in this story are. Jesus is telling this story and makes it clear that the father is God and the youngest son represents all of us sinners in the world. This story explains some huge points about God’s relationship toward those that turn away from Him.

I’ve done this in my life. I have told God that I didn’t want Him around, just give me what’s mine and let me live my life. I’ve said, “I don’t need you, God.” There are many stories of us running away in our own way. Squandering all the blessings that God has given us on our selfish desires. How many of your friends don’t want anything to do with God and try to find joy in partying, drugs, sex?

It is so natural for us to do this. We want God to give us what we think we deserve, and we chase after everything we think will make us happy. We fulfill every desire in us, just consuming what feels good. Its called hedonism, we just keep chasing after pleasure not withholding from anything.

You and I, we end up just like the prodigal son. We use up all we have in the pursuit of pleasure and end up broke, sad, empty, lonely, and miserable. When I see this, I just think of rock stars. Do you ever watch those shows on VH1 about big time rock stars? The ones about how after they’ve become rich and famous, their lives spiral out of control. Why is that so common? Why does that seem to happen to so many people that look like they have everything that should make them happy?

Its because this selfish pleasure is not enough. Addiction can pounce on you and get a hold of you quick. You can end up like the prodigal son, scarred from doing nothing but serving yourself, and worse off than before.

The youngest son reaches rock bottom and remembers his father. It takes courage what he did. It takes courage for us to do the same. But when you are in that place, when you are sitting in the pig pen like the son, you realize you don’t have any other choice.

The youngest son returns to his father to beg for forgiveness. When we turn to God and ask for forgiveness, He treats us the same way that the father in this parable does. He runs to us! He embraces us! He accepts us before we can even say a word.

I love that phrase in verse 20, “while he was a long way off.” God will accept you even if you are a long way off. You don’t have to have your life in order. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be clean. You don’t have to be living right before you come to Him. Come to Him as you are and He will accept you.

God rejoices when we return to Him. He celebrates in heaven, and He immediately restores us as His children. Romans 8 says that when we turn to the Lord, He makes us coheirs with Christ. We are His children like Christ is His son. It is an amazing and hopeful promise. When we repent, God says we are alive again in Christ, no longer dead in sin. No longer lost in the world, we are found in Him.

What’s interesting is there is still another part to this parable. It deals with the older son. Let’s finish up this parable. Read with me verses 25 to 32.

The older brother hears the commotion while he is out working in the field. When he finds out there is a celebration for his brother’s return he gets mad. He refuses to join the party. The father comes out to him and asks his son what’s wrong. The son responds by saying that he is angry at the father. The son says that he has worked hard for his father and has been perfect but the father doesn’t ever celebrate him and give him the party he desires. The father is surprised and says “all that is mine is yours.” The father then invites the son to celebrate with the family.

Why is this part in here? Why didn’t Jesus leave this part out? He could have had this great story about forgiveness and now he soured it with this jealous older brother. Well the reason is interesting. If you look back in Luke, you see that Jesus was not telling this story to sinners or common people that were thought of as unholy. Jesus was talking to the church people of the time. He was talking to the Pharisees. These guys were super holy, they lived the law to perfection, their job was to be holy.

They are the older brother in this story, the religious people. And guess what, if you are here in church today, you might be the older brother in this story. I know this hits me hard. I’ve always been a pretty good kid, grown up in the church and did the right things. Jesus knows people like me and warns us of what can happen.

It is easy for us religious people to follow the commandments like the older brother and expect things in return. We go to church, we do what we’re supposed to do, we sing the right songs, we say the right things, and we get self righteous. We think we’re so good that we deserve our father’s inheritance. We think we deserve the grace that God has given us. And when we pray to Him, asking for our “young goat,” and He doesn’t give them to us, we get angry. Sometimes we look across the row and see the Lord giving that thing we want to a “sinner!” We get even more mad. The Lord should give that to us! We deserve it!

Jesus is reminding us we don’t deserve anything. No one deserves anything from the Father. We are all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. Nobody is good enough, follows the law well enough, lives a good enough life to earn anything from God. When we think we do, we let that self righteous seep into our lives. Soon, we think we don’t need a savior either.

That in itself is sin. This parable is reminding us that we are all sinners. For some of us our sin is expressed in our selfish lifestyles, our empty pleasure seeking. For others, our sin is expressed in our self righteousness and our legalism. But the beauty of this story is that God wants us both to come to the party. God will accept all of us if we turn to Him. He will throw a robe around our shoulders and welcome us back into His presence. He is a God of forgiveness, mercy, grace, and compassion

It's Not My Fault

2011-04-11T01:19:00.002-04:00

I was hanging out with some guys today and we were talking about the importance of accepting responsibility for your actions. That's what a REAL man does. One of the points was that we need to own up to our mistakes and simply say "I'm sorry" and "I was wrong."

One of the guys talked about how he was learning to say "I'm sorry" more. He even said that he was apologizing at times when he didn't think he was wrong.

This got me thinking. I think this is a huge life lesson that he mentioned when we were hanging out. How many times in our life do we refuse to accept responsiblity for mistakes? How many times in our life do we refuse to apologize to people because we think that they are wrong? We say, "I don't need to apologize, he needs to apologize."

There's a couple of important things to remember here. I know that many times in my life I look back on a past argument or spat where I thought I was in the right, and then I realize I still helped create the mess. Sure, maybe you didn't make the mistake that made you two come to blows, but I bet you didn't react perfectly, or say the perfect things. Normally there is something you contributed to the problem that you could own up to.

While that is true, the point that really got me thinking is about those times where you absolutely did not cause the problem. You are in a fight with someone and 100 out of 100 strangers would not blame you for the fight. If any outsider looked into the situation they would say you are right and he or she is wrong. The only problem with this is none of that matters. Not if the person you are arguing with thinks you are wrong.

When you are in this situation you are faced with a difficult choice. You can either grit your teeth and apologize to the person for hurting them, even though it was there fault. Or you can sit on your pride and refuse to reconcile.

Really, it is a choice between your own pride or this relationship.

Oh man, so often I choose my pride.

It doesn't make sense to me. So many times I wish I had swallowed my pride, apologized to a person, even though I didn't think I did anything wrong, and salvage that relationship.

It's just hard to do.

So my question to you, is who do you need to apologize to? Even if you think they are to blame, are you willing to swallow your pride, accept that blame, and salvage that relationship?

The Right Way

2010-11-16T00:45:00.003-05:00

I have to admit, I am a little concerned with this new trend going around in the Christian book community. Some of the hot new books being sold are calling us to remember God as a righteous judge. They claim that the church has focused too much on God's love, but ignored his justice. And there is some superiority around these "real" Christians, that have read the books, and know God's full character.

While I agree that Health and Wealth sermons are not biblical. I agree that Jesus does not call us to a life of comfort. I agree that Jesus calls us to surrender everything to Him. I do not agree with diminishing the importance of love in God's character just to prove a point.

Believe me. I get it. It is easy to attack the mega churches out there. They are a mile wide and an inch deep. They are doing it all wrong. Where's the growth? These are all valid points.

But at least they are doing something. No church is perfect. I've been in both scenarios, the mega church, seeker friendly, looking for people who don't know about God. And I've been to small churches, with spiritual people, moved by the Holy Spirit, and focused on growing deeper in the Word. If you are waiting for me to jump on one, I'm not going to.

Both are great. But neither are perfect.

They both serve a unique purpose. Both types of church provide something to people in different stages of their walk with God.

It is also popular for well intentioned ministers and deep thinkers to attack those in the church who provide a "salvation prayer." A "magical prayer" that gets people in to heaven.

Yes! We all agree that trusting Christ is more than a prayer. It is surrendering your life. But isn't praying to God, and telling him that you are putting your faith in him, part of the whole believe in your heart, confess with your mouth passage in the Bible? At least a prayer is a start. It may not be the perfect tiny package of Christianity all in one small prayer, but it is leading people down a road to Christ.

I don't want to come across as favoring one side or the other. Nothing makes me angrier than watching a pastor of a huge church on TV preach and seemingly shrink away from mentioning the existence of sin or sacrifice. And I get mad when I see small churches that haven't grown for years, sitting in their pews, tithing, but not getting their hands dirty, doing the work of God in the world.

I'm sorry if this angered you. But in some ways, I hope it got you thinking. There is no one right way to do church. Quit thinking your way is superior. You do church your way because that is how you feel comfortable, or that is how God called you to do it. That is great! But that doesn't mean it is the way everyone is supposed to do church. Christ is for everyone. But there are different churches for different people.

Let's try and find the middle road between the Health and Wealth Gospel, and Hell Fire and Brimstone Preaching.

God is love. God is righteous. But let's not diminish one to exalt the other.

The Way I See It

2010-07-08T01:41:00.002-04:00

This may not be theologically perfect, there may be holes in my logic. But this is just the simple way I understand the story of redemption, the way I understand our relationship with God and his son Jesus Christ.

God made Adam and Eve in His own image, and they lived with God in the Garden of Eden.

Then, in an act of rebellion against God, they ate the forbidden fruit and Sin entered the world.

This sin has become known as “human nature.” It is original sin. Meaning we are all born into sin, simply because we are human. Furthermore, we sin on a daily basis due to our flawed human ways.

But God still loves us. He wants to be with us. He created us.

However, God is also completely holy, which means he is without sin. And God is just, meaning that all of our sins must be paid for. And the price of sin is death.

In the Old Testament, the way that people asked God for forgiveness was through sacrifices of livestock or grain.

We as a people needed an acceptable sacrifice, to reconcile with God.

God knew that no person was perfect and holy enough to be an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of the world, so He sent His own Son to Earth.

Jesus Christ walked the Earth, fully human and fully God, and lived a perfect and blameless life.

When He died on the cross, He had done nothing that demanded judgement. God took all the punishment for the sins that we as humans have committed and poured out His righteous wrath on His blameless Son.

In that way, our sins were paid for.

Christ rose again, and ascended to heaven.

He paid the price for our sins as humans.

Because our sins were paid for, God in His infinite Holiness and Righteousness is able to live with us once again.

If we put our faith in what Christ did on the cross. If we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Christ died for our sins, paid our price so that we could be with God, after our lives have ended, and we are being judged for our sin, God won’t see our faults and imperfections.

Instead, when He looks at us, He will see Jesus, and His perfect sacrifice.

So, because of Christ’s death on the cross, we can spend eternity with God.

Seasons of Life

2010-05-27T00:23:00.003-04:00

My mom always hated that saying: "Seasons of Life." She always thought that life didn't have seasons, it was just life. The older I get the more I understand that saying.

Being home for the summer, I'm beginning to realize that I'm moving on to a new "season." People that I used to be very close to have moved away, or we've simply grown apart. I used to be naive in thinking that I would always keep in touch with my close friends from high school, or all of my close friends at church, or the mentors or teachers that I knew.

I still try. But its a losing battle. People go on with their lives with or without you. There are no malicious reasons for the ending of those relationships, just life. We've drifted away.

Its pretty sad. I've learned that some of the people I thought I would always be close to, I haven't kept in touch with. Sure, we might meet up for lunch over summer once or twice, go back to school and that will be it. The cool thing is, I'm beginning to accept it.

My perspective has changed. Instead of mourning over the past, I'm embracing the present. I'm enjoying the good times I'm having now, with the people in my life, and knowing that it won't last forever. I remember hearing someone say once that the temporal nature of things, is what makes them beautiful. I'm finally understanding that.

These moments now will become memories. Sure, that sounds like a Kenny Chesney song, but there's some truth to it. I appreciate the people close to me right now. I remember my past friendships and good times I had very fondly. And I am accepting that we'll never get those times back again.

But you know what? There's no gap in my memories. At one time I was doing the things I am remembering now, and while those were happening, I had fond memories of a previous time.

I guess the point is to enjoy what is happening right now in your life. Don't get so caught up in what happened, or what is yet to happen. Enjoy your loved ones now. The people in your life who are here with you right now. People will always move, get involved in other things, drift away. Don't fight it. You can't stop it. It is bigger than you. Enjoy the people you are with now, and accept that they won't be here forever. Don't be sad. If they never left, these times would never be remembered.

In Weakness, There is Strength

2010-01-17T20:27:00.001-05:00

Whenever I bump into someone on the street, or try to get a waiter’s attention at a restaurant, I normally start with “sorry.”

It’s a small word, but it causes a lot of controversy. Numerous times in my life I have had complete strangers tell me I shouldn’t say sorry, because people will think I did something wrong, people will blame me for things, and it is a sign of weakness.

What?

All because I said, “Sorry to interrupt, could I get a glass of water?”
To me, it’s the same thing as “excuse me” or “pardon.” But I choose to say "sorry."

There are people who live their life never saying sorry. They are consumed with being right, being without blame, and oozing strength.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with those things, they are dangerous ways to act. They can lead to inflated sense of self, and conceal low self-esteems and bruised egos.

Usually, the people who can’t say sorry are the weakest.

We all have weaknesses, and we have all heard the saying nobody’s perfect. However, for some reason, a lot of us are afraid to show other people that we’re not perfect. We cover up our shortcomings and hide our insecurities, hoping everyone will think we are strong, we are perfect.

Everyone knows you are not perfect. Weakness is not something to be ashamed of. In fact, the Bible talks a lot about the weak.

“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” -Ezekiel 34:16 (NLT)

“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.” -1 Corinthians 4:10

The Bible doesn’t talk about weakness as a bad thing; instead, the Bible states that there is something to gain in weakness. It is something everyone experiences.

When we are weak, Christ is strong. It is in our weakness that we can recognize Christ’s strength. Moreover, because of our weakness will Christ strengthen us.

We shouldn’t hide our weakness and insecurities with clothes, or cars, or muscle milk. We should unveil our weakness, so that Christ will strengthen us. Then we can actually do something. Instead of being weak, and talking about how strong we are, we should show our weakness, garner the true strength of Christ, and use that strength to help people.

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” –Romans 15:1-2 (NLT)

“To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.” -1 Corinthians 9:22

As I said, we are all weak. So what do we do when Christ strengthens us? We don’t flaunt our strength to make us feel good and feed our egos; we use that strength to build up our neighbors. We use our newfound strength to help the people around us.

When we puff out our chests and talk about how strong we are, we can’t connect with the weak. Paul said he became weak to win the weak. We should share our weakness; let people know that we have been there. That’s how you help people, you get on their level. You don’t rub it in their face that they’re weak and that you are strong. You share your similar story, you connect with them. You get down and help them up.

Our weakness helps us understand our problems, God’s strength, and other people. When we’ve hit rock bottom, we have to rely on the strength of God to bring us up. After that experience, we can turn and help others who are at rock bottom.

It’s like what Rocky said when describing why he loves Adrian, “I got gaps. She’s got gaps. We fill each other’s gaps.”

So just like Rocky and Adrian, God will fill our gaps.

Don’t be afraid to show your weaknesses. Let people know, that’s the only way they can help you. They have probably been there too. And when Christ strengthens you, you can turn around and help others who are right where you were.

So don’t be afraid of someone thinking you’re weak for saying “sorry.” That person is probably just afraid you will find out how weak they are.

Its really none of my business.

2009-11-12T22:31:00.002-05:00

Do you ever watch an old scary movie? One you have seen before. You watch the character push open the old creaky door, walk down the dark hallway. Tip toe across the floor... and BAM! The killer jumps out.

The whole time you're watching this happen you are screaming at the TV "Don't go down there! What are you doing? The killer is around the corner!"

But the person in the TV can't hear your warning. Sometimes people in our lives are doing the same thing, walking down a dangerous path, but we decide to stay quiet.

A few weeks ago, I was at church and Andy Stanley preached about judging people. The first week of the series he talked to Christians and talked about how it was wrong to judge people outside the church because they didn't agree to the same code of laws that we did. We are supposed to love on those people. I talked about something similar a few weeks ago in "Sinners Like Us."

Anyways, the next lesson was on judging people close to us. Are we supposed to judge anyone? How do we approach people? He then brought up the point that when we see someone doing something wrong and it elicits a response from us, check our motives, figure out what's in us that is causing us to react to someone else's behavior that way.

Finally, he talked about judging people we are close to. If someone we love is going down the wrong path and making a stupid choice, and we know it is a dumb choice, and we are confident that we are upset for the right reasons, it is our job to step in.

Basically, many of us stand behind the statement, "I don't want to judge." Or "I'll just stay out of that, they didn't ask me for my opinion." I'll just "love" on that person and let them go their own way. THAT'S NOT LOVE!

Sometimes love isn't easy, it is not always the warm and fuzzy support, just encouraging people and let them go along as they please. Sometimes love calls us to get involved with people, help them, and step in when they are doing something stupid.

It is a lot easier for us to just stand back when we see a friend making a poor life choice, ruining a relationship, pushing away a family member, than to step in and get messy in their life.

"If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back." -Matthew 18:15 NLT

Did you catch that first part? Some translations don't include "against you." If another believer sins, we are supposed to confront them.

Believe me, no one likes confrontation, I regularly avoid it at all cost. I don't like drama, I don't like to rock the boat, I like to be liked. The truth is, that is not always the Godly thing to do.

There are times when a fellow believer, someone we know and love, someone we are close to, is making a mistake, and we have two choices, step in, or watch it happen and say "I don't want to judge, I'm not here to make their decisions."

We have to step in. I know its not a warm and fuzzy lesson, "Just love people." Yes, just love people, but sometimes loving people means we confront those we love when they are making a stupid mistake.

This is weighing on my heart because I know this happens in my life all the time. I see someone doing something stupid, going down a path I've been down. I remember how much it hurt me and how I wished someone would have stopped me, but I don't do anything and say to myself, "It's none of my business."

It is my business. If it is someone I love and they are making a huge mistake, if I don't step in, who will?

As followers of Christ, we need to help each other, help other believers, help our family, don't judge those outside your circle of relationship, outside your influence. Don't run up to people on the street doing drugs and yell at them, that is not what Jesus is saying.

But those people in your circle of friends. Those people close to you, that you truly love, that you respect, that you don't want to make the same mistake you did, that is who you step in and deal with.

If one of your closest friends is destroying his family, talk to him!

If someone in your family is making a terrible decision, get messy, get in their lives, try to stop them!

Stop letting people ruin their lives around you while you just "stick to your own business."

You have a responsibility to help the ones you love, its not always easy, but if you don't help them, who will?

Quit Thinking Ahead

2009-10-25T01:57:00.003-04:00

The future is looming. Are you planning for it? Do you have every step plotted out on your route to success?

People are consumed by their goals. They are driven beyond belief. Always pushing for the next level, the next promotion, the next goal. People know where they want to go, they know how they want to get there, and they know how long it should take them.

Everyone I talk to here at school tells me their master plan. They talk about things like finishing their degree in engineering, or biology, or English, then going to graduate school, medical school, or business school.

They have their life mapped out, every step of the way, how they think it should go. But they're missing where they are now. Look around you, look at the life you are living. Look at how blessed you are to be at school, your biggest worries are what books you have to read, or what you are going to do with your degree.

The point is, don't get too caught up in the future that you miss the present. Sure, it is great to have goals. We all have things we strive for, we want to reach the top of the mountain, but what happens if we get there and we're not fulfilled? We have nothing to cherish because we ran through the journey as fast as we could.

You are where you are right now for a reason. You are part of a bigger plan, and doing your part just by living your life to the best of your abilities right where you are. God has a purpose for you, and has led you to where you are. Make an impact, right here, right now, quit putting it off.

There are a lot of things to enjoy about your life right now. Search for them, recognize them, and cherish them. Things will change, for the better, maybe for the worse, but they won't be the same. Some things you love won't be here a year from now, you'll be somewhere else, people will move on to different things, there will be new things to cherish, just enjoy what you can about where you are. Slow down a little bit. By all means, work towards your goals, but don't get too bogged down with busyness that you miss all the great things going on around you.

Also, be flexible. The Bible talks over and over again about how we can make plans but the Lord will determine our steps. Things will change, your perfect plan might not work out the way you set it up, but that doesn't mean you failed, or its wrong. Be careful not to look at your plans as the only path for your life. Do not put your goals for the future above following God's will. Because when God places you somewhere you are supposed to be, somewhere where you are meant to do something amazing, you might miss it sulking over your lost plans.

Enjoy where you are and be open about all the possibilities God has for you in the future.

"'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."- Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

We're Both Weak

2009-10-23T14:50:00.003-04:00

You know your strengths and your weaknesses better than anybody. You know what you can handle and what you can't. There are some things that come easy to you, that are no big deal, and there are some things that are harder for others.

It is very easy to lose sight of the fact that some things are not a problem for you, but are HUGE obstacles for others.

Everyone remembers having a bad math teacher in middle school or high school. One that would put a problem up on the board, look at it for a minute, come up with the answer in their head, and write it down. Obviously, you couldn't do the same, and couldn't figure out how the teacher solved the problem. Then, they would give you an F when you couldn't figure out the same problem on the test. You would get mad at the teacher for not explaining the process, they would get mad at you for not grasping it.

Your teacher didn't understand that they were strong in an area, that you were weak in. They didn't realize learning that theory came much easier to them than you.

When we fail to realize that some things are harder or easier for others, we can end up labeling that person, or worse, hurting that person because of our lack of understanding.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians:

"But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble." - 1 Corinthians 8:9

Paul is saying that those things that you think are no big deal, might be a big deal to someone else.

If you think that having a drink now and then is alright, but someone else believes that it is wrong, or maybe they are recovering from a problem brought on by alcohol, don't drink in front of them.

I see this a lot in college, some people can handle going certain places and parties, where others go to those same places and parties and get messed up, they fall to that temptation.

Many times we get so caught up in our strengths, that we think others can handle the same things we can. All it takes is one time for the sides to be reversed, and we quickly realize how that is not the case.

Don't lead others into temptation, even if it may not be a problem for you.

If you struggle with some form of sin, and have ever been brought into a situation by a friend where that sin is just pulling you in while your friend seems not to be affected, you know how horrible that can be.

You feel weak and confused. You think, "What's wrong with him, how come he doesn't struggle with this?" Or you think, "What's wrong with me, how come I am not strong enough to handle this?"

It is better to run from temptation than to try and be "brave" and stand up to it. Don't make it easier for you to fall. And don't make it easier for your friends to fall.

I know a lot of Christians who go to parties, get wasted, and regret it. When I ask them about it, they say, "Someone's got to be a Christian at those parties." And I want to say, "Not you!" If you struggle with something, don't put yourself in that position under the guise of being a light in a dark situation. Run from that temptation! Let someone else be a Christian at that party, someone that doesn't struggle with parties as much as you.

Same goes for bringing a Christian friend to those parties. Maybe you can handle it, but they can't, so don't bring them.

Paul continues to say, "And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ." - 1 Corinthians 8:12

Be sensitive to what others are struggling with and don't lead them like a sheep to the slaughter. Stay away from those temptations for them. Be strong for them, but understand their weakness, because you have your weaknesses too.

If they feel weird about doing something, eating something, drinking something, watching something, or listening to something that you don't have a problem with, don't pressure them to do it.

If you are forcing someone to go against their conscience, you are going against Christ.

"When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some." -1 Corinthians 9:22

Understanding someone's weaknesses, and struggles, and seeing what they see, and helping them through those problems, will grow you closer together. It will make your relationship with them stronger. And through relationship, people come to Christ.

Sinners Like Us

2009-09-16T23:10:00.004-04:00

"1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" -Romans 2:1-4 (NLT)

If you read Romans 1 you see Paul discuss some sins that people had been doing. He lists their shameful acts. He says they were doing every sort of "wickedness." Going on about how it is wrong. When you're reading it, it is easy to start thinking that you are better than them, and condemn these wicked people in your mind for their transgressions. It is like Paul knows what you are thinking and at the beginning of Romans 2 says this. He basically flips it on you.

I focus so much time and effort into improving myself, trying to live up to God's standards, follow the Bible's example, etc. That when I see other people who genuinely don't care about what the Bible says I have a natural response to look down on them. I can easily think of myself as better than them, since at least I'm not committing those sins.

But I'm not better than them. And neither are you. We all sin. The wages of sin is death, we are all guilty of sin. The standard Jesus set was perfection and we all fall short of that. Whether we fall short of it by an inch or a mile doesn't matter, we are all in the same boat: sinners in need of a savior. Through accepting Christ's sacrifice, we are forgiven by God. We must ingrain it in our heads that we earned nothing. God owed us nothing. It is through God's grace that we are saved.

On paper, I know it is easy to agree with that, yet how quickly we forget that we have done nothing to earn God's love, when we see someone doing something we know is wrong. We immediately think of how we wouldn't do that, how we're better than that. We're NOT.

Think of yourself. How you used to be, when you were in their shoes. When you knew no better. What did you need at that moment, condemnation or love? We are all sinners, we have all been there. Be careful not to get too full of yourself just because you found Jesus. He has been there the whole time, He was waiting for you, just like He is waiting for them now.

Remember, God loves them just as much as He loves us. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more or less. He already loves us unconditionally and more than we can imagine. This scripture talks of God's kindness with us, He is patient with us when we sin.

We must remember that if God is patient with us, we must be patient with others. Do not judge them, do not look down on someone, do not condemn someone if you think they are doing wrong. See them as Christ would see them, with compassion.

We love Him because He first loved us.

So we have to love on others, no matter how close or far away they are from God. You're not better than anyone just because you're a Christian. God loves them just as much as He loves us. So love them, too.

The Impact of the Example of Forgiveness

2009-09-10T01:15:00.003-04:00

Tonight, I was reading through 1 John mostly by chance. The one theme that really caught my heart today, and normally does catch my heart when reading this book, is that true Christians love their brothers and sisters in the faith.

"If anyone claims, 'I am living in the light,' but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness." 1 John 2:9 NLT

That just always talks about grudges to me. A few years ago, I really struggled with grudges. I had a lot of friends, didn't have any enemies (which is no small feat in high school.) But I had a hard time forgiving the few people that hurt me.

I held it in, and when I thought about what they did or how they treated me, it made me angry. I tried to keep it in, so rarely would I confront those people about their supposed wrongs. But it did seep out. Those people could tell something was different between us, which made it worse, we excluded each other from things and generally disintegrated our friendships.

In one particular occasion, it got to the point that I didn't even know what one person had done to me. Why we were fighting, and why I was so mad at them and waiting for an apology. Eventually, God convicted me that I was holding these grudges. One of the best messages I have heard, from various sources is that forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you.

Forgiveness is not for that person that hurt you. You can hold a grudge, it will tear you apart, but that person will keep on living life. Waiting for them to say "I'm sorry" could be a long long time. If that anger festers in your heart, it will just burn you, not the other person.

So let go of it. Forgive that person. Let go of the anger. Let go of the thought of revenge. Let go of the thought that that person owes you something. Let go, move on. Lift that weight off of yourself. Go to God, ask for strength.

Eventually, I was able to do just that. Forgive those people of what they did to me. It took some time, and those relationships aren't the same as they were before, but I have been able to re forge those friendships and make matters a lot better between myself and these people. One instance, I even apologized to the other person for holding a grudge against them. They were shocked, but it went a long way to restoring our friendship. I tell you what, it is a lot better on the other side, and in the years since, my heart feels lighter.

I think I have blogged about that in the past, so what I really wanted to share was in verse 10.

"Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble." 1 John 2:10 NLT

God is saying that loving others is what shows that you are close to Him. More than that, your grudges aren't between just you and the person who hurt you, you are an example for other believers.

If you refuse to forgive someone, that can cause others to stumble. They may hold grudges too. Think of the impact it would cause, if a chain of people rejected forgiveness. There would be anger and bitterness in everyone's heart. There would be certain people you couldn't bring up around other people, there would be lives changed for the worse.

However, if you set an example and forgive those who have hurt you, who have wronged you, it may convince others to do the same. Those people will then experience the joy that comes from forgiveness and salvaged relationships.

We owe each other forgiveness. We have committed far greater trespasses against God than anyone has against us, yet God forgave us. Who are we to say that we can't forgive?

It is because of forgiveness that we are saved. It is because of forgiveness that we can live in love, joy, and relationship with God.

Forgiveness is central to who we are as people. It is a big idea, with big implications.

If we forgive each other, lives will be changed in the same way that God's forgiveness towards us has already changed our lives.

Preparation

2009-09-10T01:04:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody, I have a couple things on my mind, so I will break this up into two posts so it will be easier to read.

The first thing is that yesterday, while I was on campus reading at a picnic table, this kid walked up to me and asked me if I knew Joseph Smith had a vision, I said I did, but didn't know much about it.

This young man, no older than 17 or 18, then went on to profess his faith to me. He was a Mormon and said that proselytizing is what he did all day.

I told him he had a lot of courage to go around and openly talk to people about his faith, but I didn't agree with him that the Church of Latter Day Saints was the way to God.

He was well prepared and argued every point I brought up. I told him I didn't think Jesus walked in America after the resurrection, I didn't believe there was a complement to the Bible, and I didn't believe in Joseph Smith's "vision" that the Mormon Church was the only church with true authority from God.

I tried to express to Him what I believed and why I believed it. What it really came down to was that I believe the Bible is the true word of God by faith, and he believed that the Book of Mormon was the word of God also, by faith.

The hard thing was, he said he believed in the Bible. Everything I believed in, he believed in too. I then asked what is the point of Mormonism and he said that you had to be baptized in the Mormon Church to be saved. First off, I don't think you have to be baptized to be saved, and I don't think it has to be in any specific church.

I guess what I am getting at, is that it is hard to witness to someone who is part of the Church of Latter Day Saints. We both believe Jesus is the Savior and both believe in His resurrection. The biggest differences I could see (excluding that whole polygamy thing) was they follow the Book of Mormon, and believe in that whole baptism under authority deal.

I wish I would have been more prepared as to why I see holes in their faith, by Scripture. So now I'm going to look and search for the major differences between Christianity and Mormonism. I was just wondering what you readers out there know about Mormonism, or any tips on how you talk to them.

Yo

2009-08-31T18:37:00.002-04:00

Hey there everybody. Just filling you in on what's been going on. I am back up in Gainesville, on week 2 of my second year. Things are going great. I am now living off campus in an apartment with two of my friends from Campus Crusade. Shannon has transferred up here, and she is living in the same apartment complex. I have never eaten better at college than I have with Shannon here. I have gone from frozen corn dogs to Chicken Alfredo. It is great to have her up here, and my classes are going well so far. We are just getting started, but I am getting a handle on my classes, I'm sure in a couple more weeks I will be past the learning curve. I only have to go to campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I am taking a few classes online. It is definitely keeping me busy, but its great being up here, the change of scenery, and the change of atmosphere. The other thing coming up is football season. Only a few days away, I am stoked! I'm hoping for a Gators repeat and the Dolphins to make the playoffs.

So in summation, I'm going to be pretty busy the next few weeks, I will try to keep you updated, and whenever I am inspired, I promise to blog about it.

See you soon.

What's the point?

2009-08-08T01:32:00.002-04:00

I just finished up at a leadership conference and I was reading through Acts tonight and this scripture caught my eye:

"We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus." -Acts 15:11

This got me thinking along the lines of what Tim Keller was talking about at the conference.

He talked about the story of the prodigal son (funny how that keeps popping up) from the perspective of the older brother.

Basically, the way this all came together in my head was that it is very easy to lose sight of this verse, and this verse's meaning when we get deeply involved in ministry.

We are saved by the UNDESERVED grace of Jesus.

Many times Christ followers will start to "work for God" and volunteer at their local church.

I want to go on record and say that I personally think that is the best way to connect with people in a church.

But as always, we have to be careful.

Anyways, a person starts volunteering at a church, or is on staff, and soon gains responsibilities and jobs.

They have a list of tasks that they want to get done every weekend, and get done with excellence. This is anyone from a person who hands out bulletins to the lead pastor.

We all start to get into this cycle of trying to constantly improve work. We spend more and more time on how to do a better job, instead of spending that time with God.

We start to pour all of our effort and time into our ministry under the banner of "God's Calling", and in a twisted way, we start to worship the ministry and not our God who is behind it.

We become so focused on our work that we put it up on a pedestal. We begin to prioritize our work for God above our relationship with God. We worship our work, worship those who excel in the area of our ministry, worship the strategy behind an effective ministry like ours, we begin to worship ourselves for our accomplishments in our ministry.

In a short matter of time, we have convinced ourselves that our work for God is more important than God. In a sense, our ministry is more vital to us than God's grace.

If we're not careful we may begin to think that our work is critical to how God views us, forgetting how He loves complete failures and successful people.

If that happens, we will be under constant pressure to please God through our work.

If we are trying to work hard enough for God to love us, then we in essence are trying to WORK for our SALVATION.

We put ourselves in this pressure cooker to live up to God's perfect standards and actually get lost in our work, instead of getting lost in our God and his salvation through grace.

We are saved by the undeserved grace of Jesus Christ.

Plain and simple.

We don't deserve. Never can, never will. No matter how hard we work, we will never be good enough for God's standards.

Yet through His love, and His son's death on a cross, God gives us His saving grace as a free gift that is unearned and undeserved.

It is not we do. It is what Jesus has done.

We can't forget that.

You're ministry is important to God. You are changing lives!

Just be careful that your ministry doesn't become a matter of eternal life or death to you.

Yes, you should focus on your work. But focus more on emulating the spirit of God through your work, and your work will take care of itself.

Going on in my Head

2009-08-04T00:07:00.003-04:00

Have you ever experienced a time where God seems to be telling you or a group the same thing? Everyone keeps coming across similar scriptures, all the preachers are teaching about the same idea?

Its pretty cool how things align like that sometimes.

This week, the story of the prodigal son seems to be everywhere I turn. You can find it in Luke 15.

To be honest, I am kind of at a loss of why this scripture keeps popping up in my life.

It is a great metaphor. A boy asks for his inheritance while his father is still alive, runs off and blows it. He does everything he thinks he wants to do but ends up broke and alone. He's living in a pig pen and realizes even his father's servants lived better back home. He swallows his pride and decides to go home and ask his father to at least accept him as a servant. Except, when he arrives home, he finds his father filled with joy at his return, and they enjoy a great feast.

Simply put, we are the prodigal son, God is our father.

We may run from Him, do everything He warned us not to do, we may end up living in the pig pen, we may be ashamed to turn back to Him. But He is anxiously awaiting our return.

God loves us.

No doubt, it is a great passage, but I had to think through how this applies to me right now.

Then I remembered that I had been praying for some encouragement. Nothing was really wrong, but I was just getting worn out, seemingly beaten down and tired. I could see some evidence of weariness in my relationship with God and prayed for Him to give me a little boost. Kind of a Red Bull for my soul.

I'm now realizing that this is one of the most joyful scriptures there is in the Bible. The more I meditate on it, the happier I become.

This passage is telling me that I can never screw up too much for God. The mistakes I've made are in the past. He loves me and just wants me to be with Him.

Yes, there are many other attributes of God, but what sticks out through this story is His love.

To me, the unending love of God is something that we can never think about enough.

If we don't focus on God's love, we end up like the prodigal son's older brother. Focused only on his father's wealth, and his financial loss. If we become the older brother, we miss the celebration, and the joy of God's love, just like he missed the point of the feast.

So I've decided that this lesson is a rather simple one: go back sooner to God, don't wallow in self pity, bask in His love and mercy, be more thankful for His grace, and rejoice!

Talking It Out

2009-07-21T00:43:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine pointed out some scripture she was reading, it sounded like it had really grabbed a hold of her heart, so I read it over tonight.

The passage was Ephesians 4, Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and basically telling them what's up.

He starts right off the bat telling us how to act with each other, always be humble, patient and gentle, bind yourselves together with peace, overlook each others faults with love.

That struck a chord right away. I don't know about you, but if you hang around a church or a ministry long enough, you will see relationships ruined by it. If you hang around really long, it can make you question if there is a way to do ministry with people without eventually destroying your relationship with them.

Paul tells us how to do it right here. He basically says to put yourself to the side. Be gentle, humble, patient. Don't get heated with the people you are doing life with. Work with them and their faults, overlook their faults with love, because that is what Christ did with us.

Paul is the man at bringing everything back to Christ.

He tells us its simple, not easy, but simple, if we constantly focus on Christ and try to emulate Him in everything we do, we won't have relationship problems.

The only reason that doesn't work is that pride, anger, jealousy, and frustration get in the way. It is a lot easier to tear someone down and blame them for bringing down your ministry than to listen to what Paul says in the next paragraph and build up leaders.

Paul keeps referring to unity in the body, telling us that we need to speak truth in love, like Christ, and depend on each other, help each other grow, and the body will benefit.

The Bible tells us how to confront people without causing a quarrel. This half of the chapter is a guideline to me for handling how you talk to people, whether it be at work, church, or school.

Paul tells us to first be humble and gentle. Meaning don't come in arrogant and hostile, thinking your idea is the only idea, you have the best solution and everyone should agree with you. You're just going to come across as a jerk. Be humble and gentle, listen to others, take in their point of view.

He next says to overlook each others faults out of love, because that is what Christ did for us. We don't need to point out every little thing that irritates you about a person. There are times when people need to be confronted, but the Bible says to "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binging yourselves together with peace." Eph. 4:3

That sounds to me like you shouldn't rock the boat unless you really really have to. Strive to keep the peace, and overlooking some faults with love is how we do that.

Finally, it says that we need to work together. We are dependent on each other. No one can do everything perfectly, we need each other to maximize our potential. We have to depend on the other parts of the body.

That takes a lot as well. Sometimes that means you have to step aside, out of the limelight, and let someone who is better than you perform some duty. I know that can be hard. But how are we supposed to work together so well?

Paul says we have to remember that Christ is the head of the church. He is also the head of our lives. If we can look to Him, and remember what he did for us, remember that we are brothers and sisters of Christ, we're all on the same team, it should make it a little easier for us to work together.

This way, in verse 16 it says, "As each part does its own work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

Remember love, guys.

If you approach people with humility and love, those tough conversations will go a lot smoother.

Deception

2009-07-17T01:05:00.003-04:00

I was on Facebook earlier today and a guy I know posted a link to a couple videos on Youtube. They were of this crazy preacher talking about God's "drunken glory." The guy was on stage, intoxicated, and rambling nonsense about "sexual worship" and throwing in a lot of mystic terms from various religions.

He had a packed house!

What gives me a heavy heart is that next to that video were dozens of links to other crazy "preachers" and nut job "prophets." The list went on and on.

It made me think of how many people were out there following these men, falsely thinking they were seeing God through ridiculous acts and heresy, like a "healer" beat a crippled woman with a baseball bat because "the Holy Spirit said it would heal her."

The Bible speaks a lot about false prophets in books like 1 John and 2 Peter.

It's scary! They loosely tie in parts of scripture to back what they are saying and babble on about nonsense that the people in the pews accepted as fact. I had to watch one guy for over 5 minutes before I was sure he was a phony. I can see how people can believe them!

These people are good at what they do.

The Bible talks about how those who are teachers will be held to a higher standard. I believe this is because many things teachers say will be accepted as fact by the congregation. Just like a lot of the people in those chairs assumed what this man was saying was rooted in scripture or backed up somewhere, when in all reality, it was coming from his warped mind.

It is a scary thing. Everyone out there who follows Christ, or at least has some common sense must guard themselves from these people. The Bible tells us they are out for money, greed, and sexual desires.

People abusing the Word of God and the natural respect people have for it, for their own twisted desires makes me physically sick to my stomach.

It is our responsibility as the body of Christ, especially those called to teach, to follow God's will and work for His glory.

If we're not the ones out there telling people truthfully about Christ, these whack jobs will be there to lead them down a dark path.

My heart breaks for those people, I'm sorry that it takes something being thrown in my face for me to really get fired up about it. This happens everyday and I don't give it a second thought until now. We must constantly remember that there are billions of people out there that are lost, hurting, and broken.

We have the one thing that everyone needs, Jesus Christ. Yet far too often we are more concerned with what we're having for dinner, where we are going to spend our money, or what we're going to wear tomorrow. We put ourselves in a church bubble and hang out with only church people. That is great, the Bible says we need fellowship and that will lead to spiritual growth. But never forget the main reason you are here is to glorify God by spreading His message to those around you.

Jesus came to save the sinners, that's why He hung out with them.

If we don't love on those around us and try to be an example of Christ to them, then those crazy deceivers will lure them in with false hope and false teachings, which will ultimately lead to Hell.

It is our duty to know the truth, and share the truth.

Separation

2009-07-06T23:51:00.003-04:00

Today is one of those days where I feel like my prayers are hitting the ceiling. Like I can't get through to God. My mind won't focus, I have to fight distractions and discouragement. There is no major crisis or disaster I am dealing with, something just isn't right.

I think days like this are caused by disobedience. When I finally realize that something is wrong, something is different, hopefully it gets through to me that something needs to be fixed.

Times like this, I'm forced to think back through the last day or two. I have to check my actions, my pride, and my motives. I'm not sure if this is how it works in your life, but this is how it goes in mine.

My disobedience is sin. The ironic thing is God is just giving me what I thought I wanted. When we sin, we are declaring our independence from God. Most times "independence" is seen as a good thing, in this case it is not. We are saying we don't need to depend on God. I got it, I'm good, thanks for the help, I'll take it from here God. It is a dumb move, but when we sin that is what we do. God loves us and wants us to have our best life, we disagree, we think we know what's best, we declare it with sin, and are basically saying we know better than God.

So I think these nights when I feel distant from God are a result of previous sin. God is saying you wanted to be out on your own, here is a little taste. I know He would never let me go, the Bible says He never loses one of His flock.

Sin gets into our hearts, it hardens our hearts from God. In Philippians, Paul says we should have tender hearts like Christ. Sin does the opposite. It hardens our hearts, pulls us from God, makes us more defensive to His message and His call. That is why it is so hard for people far from God to come to Him.

So what do we do? We have to give it all up to Him. Repent, confess, apologize, whatever you want to call it. We have to go back to Christ. Make things right, ask for His boundless grace, and as Paul says, REJOICE when He forgives us!

Hectic

2009-06-30T10:52:00.002-04:00

It has been busy these past few weeks. Working at FRC has kept me going in all directions. I just finished up two weeks of High School and Middle School summer camp. I was a team leader. It was a tough camp, especially the first week. I had the flu and a crazy high fever but was out there playing the games with the students so it made everything worse. I pulled through and our team came in second.

That weekend in between camps, I rushed to the doctor, got some medicine and tried to recover for the next week. Luckily the worst was behind me when the next camp started, and I was able to be there the whole time, fully engaged, not laying down sick. Things went well, the camp was pretty hardcore, kids ran a few miles one night, had to climb over a 12 ft. wall, and kayak through a canal, but we all got through it. I was able to see two of the boys on my team come to know Christ, which was amazing. Our team came in first that week, so we went home with bragging rights.

We turned right around this past weekend and had an event called Beach Baptism. We all went down to Hollywood beach and baptized over 300 people! Hallelujah! It was an awesome experience. I had been working with our team on this event for a few months now and was happy to see all that planning pay off. Things went buttery smooth, no major problems come to mind. Well... except the rain. But the weather lightened up when it was time for the concert afterwards and spirits were high the whole time. All in all, it has been a successful few weeks.

Now that I am back, I will get back to posting the nonsense that runs through my head. I missed you guys, hope you have a great 4th of July planned.

Tips

2009-05-20T23:48:00.003-04:00

I believe the church should always be focused on Jesus and the will of God first and foremost. Whatever threatens that, or anyone who doesn't recognize that Jesus is the heart of the church, should not be involved.

Churches can do great things through acts of love. These are some ideas on how to operate through love.

Vision Through Spiritual Growth
- Leaders are placed in ministry by the hand of God. That is something leaders must constantly remember. Through personal spiritual growth, God equips them with the vision to lead their ministry. I think the closer they are to God, the more obedient they are to Him, the more insight He will bless them with. When leaders are enveloped in the Word, and spending consistent time seeking God's will, He will bless them with a direction and ideas for their ministry. This is where the ideas come from that draw people to church. It is not about drawing people to a church. It is about God using the church to draw people to Him.

Leadership Through Humility and Compassion
- I think those are the two most important qualities a leader can have. Humility and compassion are keys to great leadership. Some argue that pure bravado, authority, and dominance show a strong leader. I argue that a broken person can be a great leader. A leader must be humble enough to accept his/her own weaknesses, to recognize when he/she needs help in certain areas. A leader has to fight pride and know when God has blessed them with something great, and an idea is not about making themselves great. When we are humble and move out of the way, we stop trying to focus the spotlight on ourselves, God can shine through. A leader must also have compassion. Through compassion a leader can understand people, their point of view, their pain, their mindset, and a leader can connect to people. Establishing that connection is what causes people to follow a leader. King David didn't force anyone to follow him in the caves, they did it by choice. People just want someone to care about them, try to understand them, and not expect anything out of force. People don't want to follow out of fear, authority, or lack of power. That's not a choice, that's forced. True leadership is through humility, and followers come through compassion.

Team-Building Through Encouragement
- Once the vision is cast, it is likely that the leader can't carry it out by themselves. They need a team, a team is raised up through encouragement. You need to build up future leaders. Recognize their strengths, where they excel, where they succeed and ask them to join your team. You need to let them know your admiration and respect of their gifts. Its crucial for a leader to step aside and let a team member shine when God has blessed them in an area more than the leader. The leader isn't supposed to be the best at everything, they are the person God put there to build a team. To find the people that are the best at one thing, and bring them together. So the team can be full of encouraged people, who are passionate about what they are doing, and confident they can succeed and their leader supports them. That's a good team.

Poor Blake Griffin

2009-05-20T11:13:00.003-04:00

As the Los Angeles Lakers were taking game 1 from the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, and trying for their 15th NBA championship, the Los Angeles Clippers secured the number one pick in this year's NBA draft. Once again, signaling the end to a disappointing season, and the beginning of another.

These two teams may share the same arena, but they couldn't be further apart.

NBA Championships:
Lakers- 14
Clippers- 0

Conference Titles:
Lakers- 29
Clippers- 0

Division Titles:
Lakers- 30
Clippers- 0

The Lakers even have cooler fans, Jack Nicholson comes to every game and sits courtside. All the Clippers have is Billy Crystal.

Poor Blake Griffin, the forward from Oklahoma is the likely No. 1 pick. I bet this is what he looked like after he found out the Clippers got the first pick.

College Food

2009-05-07T18:30:00.003-04:00

Corn dogs were a staple of my diet at college. I elected not to get the meal plan, and in an effort to save money I bought food every week at Publix, stored it in my mini fridge and microwaved it up. Yum!

Needless to say, my menu options were limited and corn dogs and chicken nuggets get old after a while. Even when I tried to eat healthy, there are only so many turkey sandwiches I can eat.

Don't get the wrong impression, I made it work, and it wasn't horrible. Sometimes I supplemented my diet with some Chili's or Chik-fil-a, but I actually craved vegetables by the end of the semester.

So, its great to be home and enjoying my mom's cooking. I had some barbecue chicken, broccoli, and potatoes for dinner tonight. Sure, it took longer than 30 seconds to cook, and it didn't come on a stick, but it was good.

Psalms 51

2009-04-27T23:32:00.002-04:00

We have all been there. We feel ashamed, guilty, with sorrow heavy in your heart. You just want that joy back, that fire in your heart that only God can give.

This prayer reminds us that God is love, He wants to forgive us, He wants to give us that joy in our hearts, He wants to hear our praises.

This is King David's prayer of forgiveness after he sleeps with Bathsheba and sends her husband to the front lines to die. Maybe you haven't done anything that terrible, but all sin breaks us nonetheless. This prayer really meets me at the point of repentance.

Psalms 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.[a]
5 For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb,[b]
teaching me wisdom even there.

7 Purify me from my sins,[c] and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—
now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit[d] from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels,
and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;
then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that my mouth may praise you.

16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

Earth Hour

2009-04-23T13:41:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was Earth Day, and there was this international campaign going around called Earth Hour. The idea was for everybody to turn their lights off for an hour and give the Earth a rest. Check out some of the pictures.

This is Rome before:

This is Rome during Earth Hour:

Hong Kong before:

Hong Kong during Earth Hour:

Malaysia before:

Malaysia during Earth Hour:

New York City before:

New York City during Earth Hour:

I guess NYC didn't really get the memo.

Give Up

2009-04-20T01:26:00.002-04:00

I've had a few things laid on my heart this past week, and to be honest with you, I'm not sure how they are connected. So excuse this post if it seems like a jumble of ideas, but I have to share this stuff.

"He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less." -John 3:30

That is one of my girlfriend's favorite verses, and it is a great verse.

It simply states our goal as followers of Christ.

It has to become all about Him.

This simple principle is so hard to live by, for me. It's MY life, MY future, MY plans. It's ironic that I have no trouble trusting God with something as big as eternity, but I struggle to trust Him with my finances, my classes, my job, and my future.

We worry about these things because it's all about us, we're worried about how we're going to handle these problems that life presents.

The truth is, we can't handle everything. We sure try, but it comes out worse than if we would have let God handle it.

You have to keep coming back to John 3:30, "He MUST become more and more, and I MUST become less and less."

This isn't a suggestion.

Look at the language, this is urgent.

The Bible says that when we are weak, He is strong.

Over and over and over again the Bible tells us to let go.

Trust God with all aspects of your life.

Don't let worrying rot you away.

Give it to God.

Let Him become more and more in your life.

I don't know what that means to you, what areas in your life that you're telling God, "I got this."

I know its not an easy thing to do, and you don't want to trust God with certain things because you just don't see how He can fix it.

All I can say is that we also see in the Bible that insight follows obedience.

Most of us want it the other way around.

God, you show me how You are going to help me, and I will give this problem up to you.

God wants us to go out on faith, give up ourselves to Him, our problems and worries, and on the other side of obedience, after you have let God do his thing, we will understand.

"He MUST become more and more, and I MUST become less and less."

My Jesus

2009-04-11T01:40:00.001-04:00

He died for me.

Paid my eternal debt.

Died so I can truly live.

He died on the cross for you too.

Salvation is calling.

The Glory of it All

2009-04-08T15:21:00.002-04:00

I bought David Crowder's album Remedy a few months ago. It was one of the best buys I have ever made, it's full of great worship songs, but the one that really clicks with me is "The Glory of if All."

There is one part in that song that says:

"After all is lost,
find Him there.
After night,
dawn is there.
After all
falls apart,
He repairs."

It hits home every time. It constantly reminds me that no matter how many times I screw up, no matter how broken I am, no matter how many times I succumb to sin. He is there, and He is ready to forgive.

We can always go back to God.

If I was a Baptist preacher, I would say that deserves an Amen!

Passion

2009-04-06T23:32:00.002-04:00

Many of my friends are really involved in clubs and various extra curricular activities. Most of them are great causes, they feed the hungry, and help the poor.

I always ask myself what drives these people. Sure, there is an innate sense to do good and to make a difference and the friends they have made.

At the core of the issue, I think that these clubs and activities give them a taste of passion. They ignite a spark in their heart that hints at a need they never felt. It gives them a taste of that drive that is within them. That drive that wants to change the world, shake the planet, and save people.

Sure, guilt, and the awareness of people's needs can make you support a cause. But neither of those have the effect of unleashing that passion.

I think the only thing that satisfies that passion, hunger, and drive is Christ. I think that is the calling we all have within us.

Everyone wants to make a difference, we just spend most of our time finding out how.

I feel a burden when I talk to my friends and their causes, I know the causes are good, but Christ's call for our lives is much more.

I think of what these people could accomplish if their hearts were ignited for Christ.

If they were living for the King and armed with the knowledge and message that could truly change the world.

Imagine the difference that would make.

I guess that's my call, to show these kids that Christ is calling them.

To show them that passion that Christ gives.

To help that fire grow and make a Kingdom difference.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need." -Luke 12:31

Freshman Life

2009-03-26T01:11:00.004-04:00

The end is in sight.

I'm almost done with my first year of college. It has gone by pretty fast, though moving up here seems like a long time ago. I feel like I have changed a lot and grown up as well. From little things to big things, I've learned how to semi successfully do loads of laundry and I've also learned a lot about real world financial operations(even less fun than laundry.)

I'm thankful that God led me to Gainesville, I love the city and am now a huge supporter of going away to school, I recommend it to everyone.

However, not everything is easy. You really have to stay disciplined to succeed when you are on your own. You're going to make mistakes, luckily I've been able to get through my first year without any major ones.

If I had to give people some tips about college I would say to get organized and plan a lot more.

Try to relax and not freak out about college, you can handle it if you work at it.

For us Christians, it is brave to avoid sin, and foolish to put yourself in bad situations and try and "stand up" to temptation. The flesh fails you.

Definitely stick to your beliefs. I've seen too many people compromise what they stand for, and end up losing themselves in the process. This has drastic effects.

All in all, it has been a great year so far, I just have to wrap up this last month and a half and finish strong. I look forward to being home soon, but won't mind coming back.

Love

2009-03-18T23:32:00.003-04:00

I think Christianity gets over complicated very often. People need things to talk about and they focus on rules and religion, while missing the simple truth.

I was reading 1 John, and the thought that comes through over and over is to love one another.

That's it.

Just how all sin comes from pride, all righteousness comes from love.

I'm not saying loving one another is always easy, but it is what we must do.

"But anyone who hates a brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness." - 1 John 2:11

With that scripture, I challenge you to love those around you, and I also challenge you to forgive.

It's not hard to love people, it's hard to forgive people that hurt you. Those are the people that are hard to love.

God says to let those grudges go.

Forgive those people of what they did to you.

Holding on to grudges and fantasies of revenge only strengthens that person's hold on you and your life. It only makes the hurt worse, and pulls you both farther away.

The scriptures say to put away your hate, to forgive one another, and love one another.

If you continue to hate, you're still walking in darkness.

If you have someone in your life that you need to forgive, that you need to love, I pray that you have the courage to walk in the light and start loving that person.

Hurdles

2009-03-09T02:22:00.002-04:00

Life hurts, it beats you down and wears you out.

There are times when I am exhausted.

I feel like I can't battle sin anymore.

I just don't understand why a loving God would make it so hard for me to follow Him.

I try and do what's right but still do what's wrong.

My flesh leads me to temptations I can't withstand.

I am weak.

It's times like this when this verse hits home.

"Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
-2 Corinthians 12:7-10

You see, Paul's been there.

He knows what I'm going through. He was a better Christian than me and even he still had sin he had to battle. It's not about being perfect, I just can't do that. I try my hardest, but I still screw up. But it is in my weaknesses, my failures, my defeats, my brokenness, when He is strong.

Maybe that's why I write at a time like this, fresh from battle with sin, in my moments of weakness is when God will use this.

But I tell you, in our defeats, we find victory in him.

When all is lost, He is there.

Through Him, we can overcome.

These sound like cliches until you've been there. God has lifted my spirits and delivered me from my shame and hurt.

He can do the same from you.

Only God can heal a broken home, stop an addiction, or simply give you the strength to go on.

Life is hard, I screw up.

All I know is life is better with Jesus than without.

It breaks my heart to see people going through pain without God. I firmly believe that is one reason why God puts hurdles in our paths. So we can experience them, and overcome. Once you've been there, you can reach out and help someone who is there now.

Only those who have been through divorce can truly understand the hurt of someone going through divorce.

Only those who have overcome addiction can relate to others trapped in the bondage of addiction.

God gives us the strength, when we are weak, to pull through problems, reach out to others, and in the end glorify Him.

There are other forces at work, causing pain and sorrow, we come across those people in our lives everyday, coworkers, classmates, spouses, family. God doesn't make us immune to these problems, God gives us the strength to deal with them, and come out on top, victorious.

That way we can go into a broken world and show them that there is a way out of the pain.

That way is Jesus.

Gifts

2009-02-23T12:25:00.002-05:00

"To whom much is given, much is expected." -Luke 12:48

Spiderman says this in different words, "with great power, comes great responsibility."

It is all the same thing.

All of us are given gifts, things are bestowed upon us that we don't deserve.

We are born into privileged circumstances, or have certain skills and talents that come naturally.

In all cases it is our duty to use those gifts to give back to the world.

If you are wealthy, it is your duty to give monetarily to causes in need.

If you are famous, it is your duty to use your influence to do what is right.

I think that is one responsibility we all have. We all must use our influence to do what is right.

I know it is easy to say these things as a college kid with nothing to really sacrifice.

I am searching.

I am looking and learning for my gifts and how to use them.

I think that's something we should all try to attain.

We all have gifts, and though they are blessings, they come with burdens.

The burden is to use these gifts for the better of all people.

If we all used our gifts for more than ourselves, if we also used them for others, the world would be a better place.

It is a slow change, but changing the culture of the world is one person, one day, at a time.

So I encourage you to start today.

We all have special gifts.

What are yours?

How do you use them?

How can you use them for others?

I'll be exploring the same questions, and looking for the same answers as you.

It's a journey, but with a great goal in mind.

Quick Note

2009-02-19T12:22:00.002-05:00

I'm coming up on a rough few weeks. I just took a test, have a quiz in my next class, and a test in the following class. And a paper over the weekend. This is a long day, and I will be glad when its over.

So I'm busy, but I'm sure you are too.

These next three weeks are going to be tough, but then I have spring break, and then it is only a month until summer. And things should be a little more spaced out during that time.

So I can't quite see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I do know that I've been driving through the tunnel for a while and it should be ending soon. Does that make sense?

Later.

P.S.- Check out this scary quote I came across:

“Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism”
Karl Marx from “Das Kapital”
1867

Untitled

2009-02-16T23:21:00.004-05:00

Hey.

I don't know how to start this blog really. I feel a little boastful to talk about this. And it is a little emotional, but I hope it helps someone.

I love this time of night. My room mate is out, I have the dorm to myself. Having this time has really made it easy for me to have a better quiet time.

Tonight is just one of those nights. Where God is drawing me close to Him. I have no idea why.

I know I don't deserve it.

It is one of those nights when I can physically feel His presence. It is a chilling yet comforting sensation. I just feel happy. I guess the biblical word would be joyful.

He is reminding me of other times when I felt close to Him, friends that were there with me, and great times of worship.

There are many nights when I feel alone and like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. But it's great to have a night like this where I feel close to Him.

These times really intrigue me. I have no idea why some nights I feel like this, and other nights I don't. I don't really understand how it works. There is no formula, or ritual to invoke this. I just appreciate them when they come along.

I don't know if you guys ever physically feel something when you're praying, worshiping, reading your bible, or anything. Whatever it is, I want to know what it's like for you. How does it feel?

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T13:15:00.002-05:00

Guys, remember to get your gifts. You only have one day left. It's bad news, if you think that Valentine's Day isn't a big deal and you're partner will understand if you don't get her anything. BAD MOVE! Go get something. I'll wait...

Back?

Good.

Well for V-Day, Shannon came up to Gainesville. We are going to have a picnic on the lake and rent a canoe, and go out on the water for a bit. Then we're going to check out this nature trail because Shannon thinks we will see a bison.

We'll go out to dinner tonight to miss the crowds, and it should be a great weekend.

Right now we are celebrating by doing laundry!

Well, I'm doing laundry and she's taking a nap.

Fair enough, they are my clothes.

But anyways, I digress.

Happy Valentine's Day.

My Favorite Verse

2009-01-28T23:32:00.002-05:00

So I've been thinking about the future a lot lately.

I've been thinking about what I am going to do.

I feel like I was called into the ministry about last summer. I prayed hard for a purpose, for what God had in mind for me. After months of pleading with Him, He finally gave me the nudge that I was going to be a pastor.

So that's what I took. I am really excited about this calling, but with it comes a lot of nerves. The bible says that teachers will be judged more harshly. It is a lot of responsibility, speaking on behalf of God to people, one I don't take lightly. I also feel that if I'm going to be a spiritual leader, I have to get my spiritual game tight. This can sometimes intensify my guilt when I stumble over certain sins that I find hard to overcome. But these are thoughts for another blog.

This blog, like this country, is about money.

I've always been blessed that school comes easy to me, and with a lot of schooling comes a lot of opportunities. Sometimes these can be tempting. Not in a bad way, but a way that takes my focus from God.

For instance, I should get my degree, go fully into ministry, do His work, and be satisfied. But the human flesh is greedy. So instead, I could change my major, do something like law school, get out and make bank.

This doesn't pull on me from a pure greed stand point. I've never been about making the most money. This pulls on me because of all the things that having money opens up. I could buy a house, start a family, create a comfortable situation for those around me. It would also set up my family for the next generation. To take the opportunities my parents sacrificed for and make something, to see the Stephens' family go from lower class to upper class in two generations would be a something to be proud of.

None of that is bad, but I don't feel that is God's plan for me.

I've been tempted, thought about giving in. I thought of pursuing the big bucks so I could live the good life.

But God keeps steering me back to the verse He laid on my heart years ago.

Matthew 16:26
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? And what can one man gain in exchange for his soul?"

To me, that sums it up.

I want God over the world.

He thankfully keeps reminding me of that.

I want to fill my soul instead of chasing riches.

I've reaffirmed that I'm going to go down the path of ministry. I feel led there right now, things might change, but that is not up to me. I've decided to keep going down this path as long as God is leading me there.

Sure, there is money I'm missing out on, and it isn't a surefire corporate ladder. But I will be feeding my soul. If people don't think that is a smart choice, then that is a small sacrifice I'll have to make for Him. But if God takes care of the birds in the trees, won't He look after us that much more?

My Previous Blog

2009-01-19T22:49:00.001-05:00

My last blog generated some feedback with a difference of opinion.

Check out the comment section.

I'd like to hear from you too.

The Benefits of Atheism?

2009-01-18T18:39:00.002-05:00

Simply put, what are the benefits of atheism?

You live your life with no one watching out for you, no one caring about you, no one making you part of their plan.

Then you die, and that's it?

That's all there is?

Can someone explain to me why anyone would be an atheist?

I understand some people have hang ups about the church, or about certain things that have been done under the banner of "religion," but what does atheism have to offer?

If you look at your life on a singular, personal level, I just don't see the benefit.

I know many atheists that say they are too rational to believe in God, too logical to believe in the hocus pocus of religion.

You are too rational to avoid universal evidence that puts doubts in all of our beliefs?

So you stick to your atheist guns?

Why?

Why would you turn away from a loving, caring God that wants the best for you, that accepts everyone, that is the definition of love?

What is so alluring about atheism, and why would you try to convince me to change my ways?

Why would you try to make me give up my faith in a better world and loving God and join the ranks of an atheist and believe in nothing?

If this is it, and there is nothing more to live for, why would I want to be a part of that?

I just don't see the upside of atheism or the downside of believing in God.

Maybe I just don't have enough faith to be an atheist.

The Cry of the Oppressed

2009-01-11T20:09:00.002-05:00

I've been reading this book by Rob Bell called Jesus Came to Save Christians, and it talks a lot about how when people are desperate and cry out, God hears them. He hears the cry of the oppressed. The book looks at Israel, when they were in slavery in Egypt and cried out to God, he sent Moses and delivered them. When they reached the promised land, and set up shop they got fat and happy. They were prosperous as God said, but the people and Solomon got, as my dad says, "too big for their britches." They forgot God, they began building a vast military, enslaving people to build temples to God. They had it all wrong, so God sent Babylon in to take them over. When were they delivered from Babylon? When they were oppressed and cried out.

It is easy to make the analogy to crying out in our everyday life. When we have God and have nothing else, we cry out to Him out of pure desperation. He delivers. It is not that we have to be desperate it's just that we have to know we need Him, and a lot of times we don't realize that until we are desperate.

I'm going to take another step and saying that our churches need to cry out. When church leaders aren't disturbed about the pain in the world. When people forget about the oppressed, when they don't think of helping the sick and needy, I argue they lose passion and drive. Being a pastor just becomes a job. I pray church leaders remember God's original call to them. They remember when He drew them to the ministry. They remember the people they wanted to help, the difference they wanted to make in the world. When a church is desperate to breakthrough, make an impact, and change the world you can tell. When it is about more than self help, balancing your check book, losing weight, and making life easier, it works. When the church is about helping the poor, needy, oppressed, hungry, and spiritually forsaken it is at its best. When a church collectively cries out for God to use them, He will deliver.

Spring Semester

2009-01-11T19:13:00.002-05:00

Last week, I made it back up to Gainesville for the Spring Semester. By the end of my two week break I was actually missing school a little. Not for the classwork but for the atmosphere, the people, being out on my own, and the sleep. After two weeks of constant visiting and just busyness, I missed all the sleep I get here. At this point, I couldn't imagine going to school anywhere else, and really like it. If Shannon was up here with me, and I found an awesome church, there would be nothing keeping me away from this town.

Plus, the Gators just won the National Championship in football, so I feel privileged to be going to the only school that could have that celebration this year. It was insanity up here, celebrations in the streets just turned into huge mosh pits, but it was a lot of fun. It's good for my degree, because admission standards keep getting higher with every National Championship. Sad, but true.

I went to church today and was not impressed by anything it really had to offer and decided that I'm not going to settle just because I'm worried people will think I'm picky. I hope to find a place where I can get something out of going to that church, even if that something is that the church is reaching a lot of people. I wasn't even getting that today. So, I'm still on the hunt for a place where God is visibly at work and I can join in. It is hard moving from a church where I was actively involved and made a lot of close friendships to a new place with new people. But I haven't lost hope.

I guess that's all that is going on. My classes are okay. As good as they can be, and don't look to be too rough. My schedule is great, with a lot of down time. That is awesome.

I'm about to have a floor meeting, so I'm out. I have something else to post on afterwards.

Unimaginable

2008-12-23T02:02:00.003-05:00

My mind keeps wandering back to God's grace. I don't know what He wants me to think about or for me to say, but I keep thinking about it. I think it is the most powerful force in the world. Whenever I concentrate on the magnitude of His grace, mercy, or sacrifice, and start to barely grasp the cusp of any of those qualities, I am overwhelmed with emotion. It truly is too much to bear and that's why God doesn't place it all on our hearts. Which leads me to our burdens that Christ bears for us, and paid for on the cross. The magnitude of the entire wrath of God, paying for all sin everywhere. Is far too much for any normal person to bear. There is no way for me to begin to describe how much all of this is. Yet Christ did it for all of us, even for people who wouldn't give Him the time of day.

I guess this is the purpose of this post. All the qualities of God, are truly unimaginable to man. His holiness, His glory, His love is more than we can even think of. It is amazing and ever deserving of praise. That is what I try to focus on during Christmas. If you are having trouble with the distractions of the holidays, slow down and focus on one simple aspect of Christ. Whether it be His sacrifice, His grace, or His love. Plead with God, ask Him to show you how it feels. When He gives you a taste you will be overcome with emotion. How can I not live for someone who loves me so much and has sacrificed for me so much? I owe it to Him and His everlasting love to serve Him.

I know none of that is scientific evidence. I know none of that is hard fact. But I know in my heart what I feel. Sure that's nothing solid to go off of. But if you don't know Jesus, why not take that chance? All I know is that life is hard, and we all have our problems. Life is definitely better with Christ, than without Him. If you don't know God, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I urge you, investigate Christ's claims. See what this whole God thing is all about. It is Christmas after all. Seek Him and He will reveal himself to you. Just give it a shot, I know in my heart you won't come out for the worse.

Winter Break

2008-12-20T12:35:00.002-05:00

I'm finally done with classes for the semester. I started the Christmas celebration by driving down to Shannon's dad's house. All the kids are here, and it's been fun to hang out with everyone. We all went to Disney last night for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas. It was pretty cool, not that crowded and not that hot. The girls got a new video camera, which I used to document our travels. I'll try to get a video up later.

We head home on Sunday. I will be sitting in my dad's blue chair doing as little as possible. Come visit if you like, but it's going to be hard to get me out of that chair.

Finals

2008-12-07T19:09:00.003-05:00

Finals are coming up during the next couple of weeks. I've spent all day studying, and its been as fun as it sounds. I keep telling myself its almost Christmas break! Alright, I have to get back to it.

The Gift Revolution part 2

2008-12-05T13:55:00.002-05:00

I'm continuing the Revolution!

Craig, 18, Gainesville, US

I was going to the bookstore today to pick up a study guide for one of my classes. This is a big class, with several hundred students in it, and this is the best study guide. Plus, with finals next week, these things are flying off the shelf. So I picked two up, and when I went to pay, I asked the cashier if she would do me a favor and give one of the study guides I just paid for and a TGR card to the next person looking to buy that study guide. She was a little confused at first and asked, "You want to give one away?" I told her I did, and then she went on about how nice that was. I told her I was just trying to make the world a better place and to check out the website. I hope this helps someone in my class and they pass it on.

Strength in Numbers

2008-12-05T00:10:00.002-05:00

So, I was reading today and came across a lot of verses that seemed to be pointing me in one direction. I read in Proverbs 4:23, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." It got me thinking of the whole garbage in, garbage out philosophy. That if you take junk into your life, you're going to spit it back out. This could be with the music you listen to, TV you watch, or the company you keep. I love praise music and there is a lot of far out stuff on TV, however, I don't think that is an excuse for us Christians to make ourselves a little wholesome bubble and only listen to Christian radio and watch the 700 Club. We need to stay in touch with the world, to stay in touch with reality, so that we can be relevant to non believers. I do think this verse hits home when applying it to the company you keep. If you bring the wrong people close to your heart there is no describing the depths of the pain you could encounter. Its really making me long for a strong body of believers up here. I know they are here, I just haven't found them yet.

It frustrates me, because I know I could be doing so much more for Christ if I had a support group behind me. I know that I don't need one, I know that I can do all things through Him, but one of my human weaknesses is that by myself I can be timid. Sure to some I seem like an extrovert, but in a campus of 50,000 strangers, some extremely far from God, I can get intimidated. It's almost laughable how little I talk about God or church up here, whereas this summer I was talking to strangers about church on a street corner in Lima. Just because I had some people with me doing the same thing.

I do not think life is meant to be done alone. Even the Bible talks about strength in numbers, comparing people to a rope. I believe that is what the heart of the church is. A group of people trying to live for God, together. We can accomplish so much more as a team than as an individual. We are all members of one body, and Paul stresses that we go towards the kingdom of heaven in unity.

I think sometimes we forget about what we're here for and what the church is for. Sometimes we make it about deep theological insight, or a self help service. Neither is bad, but its not Jesus. I think believers grow in their spiritual walk and forget what drew them in to begin with, Jesus. We think we need a bigger building, more lights, louder music, we forget that we need to rely on Jesus. I think this is a huge cause of people getting too big for themselves in ministries or other positions. When it becomes more about how well you preached, how well you sang, how well you played guitar, and less about Jesus, we're doing something wrong.

I know I'm rambling, but I guess all I'm saying is that we need to work together. Believers need to join together as much as they can, they need to put away personal aims, glory, and accolades, and look to the Father for direction. Sure one person can make a difference, but the whole body of Christ going in one direction, for one purpose, in Holy Unity? That's what changes the world.

The Gift Revolution

2008-12-03T22:04:00.002-05:00

If you haven't been up on the Gift Revolution. Get on it! I started one today in Gainesville and posted about it on the website: thegiftrevolution.com

We're trying to change the world. Go check out the site and see some of the cool stories, I'll post my entry here as well.

Craig, 18, Gainesville, US

I walked into the dining hall today on campus and paid for my meal. I also told the lady working the register that I wanted to pay for the next person in line and handed her a Gift Revolution Card. She was confused and almost looked concerned, like I was crazy. She eventually came around and agreed. I went to get some food, and I was with my room mate. He asked me what that was all about, and I told him about thegiftrevolution.com. On top of that, the lady from the register came over and also wanted to know why I did that. I was able to tell her about our church, and she invited me to her church up here. I told her I would visit sometime, and for her to check out thegiftrevolution.com. It's crazy how such a simple act of kindness can stir up so much attention.

back home from the down home

2008-12-03T11:06:00.002-05:00

i drove back up to gainesville monday. luckily missing most of the holiday traffic, the day before. thanksgiving was great. as a broke college student, there are very few things that make me more excited than lots of free food. so i pigged out on turkey and hung out with my family all weekend. i spent a lot of time with shannon, and watched her sing at theRUSH. she has some serious talent, i know i'm biased, but still. after thanksgiving, our family turns right around in support of the next holiday. we went out and got our christmas tree, and decked out the house in lights. its fun for the first 10 minutes, then you just kind of want to be done. but it looks good. but like i said, i drove up to g ville the next day, and had classes all tuesday. now is my day off, and i'm studying for finals coming up. its weird to think that my first college semester is already in the books, and how i'm so used to this lifestyle after a few months. its really not too bad, and its only going to get better. thats about all thats going on in my life. i plan to update on a random topic sometime later this week, if i get around to it. thanks for reading.

things going on in my head

2008-11-21T01:18:00.003-05:00

hey everybody, i was just reading, and had some things running through my head

- if you know God, do you think about how lucky you are to have been called by Him, to Him? without Him initiating this loving relationship and calling you at one point or another, you would still be out there, lost, and searching.

- are you like me? do you wish sometimes you could just say, "hey God run my life." or at least have the strength/focus/intelligence to rely on God 24/7?

- i was reading in 2 Samuel about the amazing friendship between david and jonathan. i was wondering why this isn't brought up more when people are looking at how to deal with relationships. especially when people aren't sure of what to aim for in a friendship. this is an amazing example of genuine love, care, and self sacrifice for a true friend. go check it out.

- one of my prayer requests is that i can find where God is at work up here. where he is really present and growing a community of Christians. i want to find that place and join them.

- sometimes i can beat myself up over past mistakes, feeling distant to God, feeling like i don't pray enough, read my Bible enough, and the like. but what i have to remind myself is that God doesn't love me any less because of these things. His love for me can not change, and that it is always a joyous occasion when i go to Him. He knows i am imperfect, but still He has given everything to me in our relationship. He knows i deserve nothing but through his amazing grace i have everything. i think if i could fully grasp that. how much God has given me, how much He has done for me, how much He loves me, i would be closer to Him than ever imaginable. i encourage everyone out there to stop thinking that is impossible. go try and attain that. focus on His love, His grace, His eternal giving. and when you think you've thought about it too much, think about it more. there is no way it won't have a positive impact on you.

anyways... that's what's going on in my head.

judas iscariot's death

2008-11-13T00:29:00.002-05:00

here's something cool i learned about recently. i had a question regarding exactly how judas iscariot (the dude who betrayed Jesus) died. in the book of matthew it says he hung himself, in acts it said his guts spilled out. so i took the question to my cousin who just graduated seminary. here is his answer:

Luke's account of Peter's speech in Acts should be seen as supplementary to Matthew's account and not contradictory. As you have noted, Matthew records that Judas returned the money to the chief priests and then went and hung himself. In Acts, Luke records Peter's message with Judas as the buyer of the field. Remember in Matthew that the chief priests would not accept the money and put it in the temple, so the money still belonged in Judas's name. They used Judas' money to buy the field, so indirectly Judas is the buyer of the field.

Luke leaves out the phrase that he hung himself and only mentions that he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and his intestines spilled out. We deduce from what we know in Matthew (that he hung himself) that the falling headlong was a result of being hung - either the rope broke from the weight of the hanging or someone cut it down. Also deduced is that Judas died on the field that the chief priests brought, and the people hearing about Judas gross death referred to it as field of blood (according to Luke's account). From Matthew's perspective, it was called field of blood because it was purchased with blood money.
Conclusion: Matthew's and Luke's account are not contradictory, but rather supplementary - we get a fuller picture when both are placed side by side.

cb

i thought that was a convincing answer. plus, hes a pretty smart guy.

veterans day

2008-11-13T00:19:00.002-05:00

hey everybody, sorry i haven't updated in quite a while. i guess i could tell you all i've been busy with other stuff, or just haven't found the time. but to be honest, nothing that interesting has happened to me. i've spent the last month up in gainesville, and haven't seen shannon in that span. most of my time up here goes to class, homework, the gym, then doing a whole lot of nothing. school stuff is good though, i was able to get ahead since i didn't have anything to distract me, and i'm pulling pretty good grades, so that's the plus. my pitiful loneliness is the downside. i'm just kidding, its not that bad.

anyway, to the better. with veteran's day and my awesome schedule, i ended up with a 6 day weekend. i used this to travel. i went home and visited with the family. the babies are getting bigger everyday, they make a lot more noise and laugh a lot more so that's cool. my sister is in the process for some big positive transitions, so thats good. and my parents are the same as they've been for the past 30 years.

i also got the chance to go see shannon, which is always a blast. long distance relationships are hard. but i have learned to really enjoy my time with her because of our situation. we did a whole lot of nothing this weekend. we hung out, watched tv, she did some homework, we went to church, and just relaxed. it was great to recharge and just be with her. i love her company and miss her as a friend, and as my girlfriend. but God has a bigger plan in the end, and this is just a step.

so that's whats been going on in my life if you were wondering, i'll try to put something deep up in a little bit.

thanks for reading.

college food

2008-10-28T20:46:00.001-04:00

i love college, but one thing i'm not too fond of is the small menu i'm currently living off of. my choices each meal consist of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, turkey sandwich, mac and cheese, or chicken noodle soup. anybody have any suggestions for some good college foods?

thoughts running through my head

2008-10-27T02:32:00.002-04:00

i can't sleep tonight.

shannon visited this weekend, she left this afternoon. those are always the hardest days. long distance relationships are hard, i can't say otherwise. i feel like i get updates on her life throughout the day, not like i'm doing life with her.

i have this drifting feeling today, kind of empty, almost anchor-less. probably from being sad about shannon leaving.

there is always a chance for joy, and when these days come, and i actually remember to go to God, i always feel closer to Him than before.

so in a way these days are good.

i'm in awe about how much life experiences teach you about yourself, God, and faith. i feel like new ways to connect to Christ are opened every day if you are willing to look.

this day has seemed hectic and sad, but since i quit trying to sleep, i feel peaceful and happier.

i'm not sure this post has a point, but i'm also not sure that's a bad thing.

i was reminded again today, the direct link between consistency in my quiet time and how that leads to good things happening. why don't i put the ball in God's hands more?

i'm also pretty sure people busier with jobs and stuff don't have this much time to think. again, i don't know if thats such a good thing.

i like to think a lot of people think about the same problems and dilemmas as i do, but just don't post it on the internet.

i'm constantly impatient when it comes to waiting for God's plans to be revealed, and to wait on His perfect timing.

i believe that true humility is hard to grasp and that my search for it falls short for different reasons all because i don't depend on God enough to achieve it. the danger is that i think pride is the root of every other sin.

i've been thinking a lot about influence lately, how i've been shaped, and how i can shape other people positively.

i want to help someone, even when i did today, it turned into personal pride. i long to be a servant God will use to glorify His name through, yet i worry i'll try to steal the thunder.

i'm truly falling in love with the consistent peace in my heart, only experienced through saving grace.

i think this post is, once again, more for me than anyone else, but i thank you who give me some of your time and read it.

heat

2008-10-22T23:56:00.003-04:00

is anybody else excited for the NBA season? this year is gonna be crazy. i'm a heat fan and nobody has any idea of how they're gonna do. dwayne wade is back in top shape, after the olympics he's roling, marion will be a good stat guy, and beasley is crazy talented and could be rookie of the year. the thing is we could still miss the playoffs. thats just nuts. thats what i love about the NBA, one player can change a whole team like no other sport.

we were the worst team in the league last year, and now we're two players away from a championship. all we need is a center and a point guard. maybe we can ship marion for a stud at one of those positions, and fill in a different swing man for marion. he's old, and we need more talent to build with. thats the thing, we have three great forwards, but a lot of people say point guard and center are the most important positions on the court. the celtics didn't have a true point guard or center last year, and they won it all. but then again KG is dominant enough to make up for a lack of center. we'll see, i'm just excited that we're building and contending again.

d wade is back to superstar form, beasley can be a beast, marion is talent we have the ability to make some moves, and some money to get a couple players in the off season. i'm telling you, next year we could be back.

understanding sin

2008-10-20T19:58:00.002-04:00

Today I was reading about Paul's take on sin. The concept is so huge, that it's hard to wrap my head around. Praise the Lord, that we are free from sin, and that sin's power is broken once we are joined with Christ.

The hard part to get is that although we are free from sin, and it doesn't control us, as humans we still have a sinful nature. Due to this sinful nature, we do what is wrong. This is really depressing, because even when I want to do right, my flesh is pulling me to do what is wrong. The way I have broken it down is that my skin always wants to do wrong, even though I am no longer forced to do wrong. Because of Jesus, I have another option which wasn't there before, the option to do right. The power of God is able to break the chains of sin, but the reason I keep sinning and giving into my flesh is because I don't call on God enough. The reason I don't call on God enough is because of my sinful desires.

It is comforting to read what Paul says about this in Romans, he says that sin uses the law to put evil desires in us. Once we know what is right, sin then uses that to tempt us to do what we now know is wrong. I know its confusing, but try and bear with me. Paul says that since he knows what he is doing is wrong, it shows that he agrees that the law is good, and that he is not the one doing what is wrong, it is the sin within him.

This doesn't mean we can just accept the fact that we're going to sin and do it without thought. We must fight it, go to God more, and break these chains. That is the only way to get closer to God. God uses people that are close to Him to do amazing things.

I know this is a confusing subject, and I know this blog is probably more for me than anyone else, and probably very hard to understand due to me writing in circles. But I felt like God shed a little light on the subject for me, and that I should share. Who knows, maybe this will help somebody.

home and back again

2008-10-14T00:27:00.002-04:00

so i went home this weekend. i dipped earlier than expected because i had mid terms, so a couple of classes were canceled. i went down and surprised shannon, it was pretty good, i got her to go outside expecting to see a comet, but instead she got me. so i just sat in her dorm for a couple of days while she went to class, and then we went home on thursday night. it was fun, but definitely busier being home than in gainesville. i got to hang out with my family, and my little nieces. i was surprised how big they'd gotten since i left, especially kayla's head (its ginormous). i hung out at church a lot, got to see theRUSH and help out. i even saw sawgrass youth doing theRUSH and it looked good. the kids seemed excited and going to one service has definitely created a lot of energy. i left today, which is always a horrible day. leaving day is emotional and generally sad. but i made the long drive back up to school and realized how different it is.

its weird, i feel at home in gainesville, relaxed and adjusted. but its still not home. i guess it never will be. going home this weekend wore me out more than if i would have stayed up here. but there was a lot of positives from going home. looking back this weekend wasn't as "easy" as i thought it would be. i was busy, had to see a lot of people, experienced a few changes, and had some hard conversations. but i think i'm the better for it. me and shannon really grew closer this trip and had some important conversations. stuff that we'll both have to adjust to, but will make us stronger. life is full of adjustment. its not always easy, but we can always rely on God to ease our burdens. i'm trying to stay focused on Him, i know i say that a lot. but i feel like every day you have to renew yourself and refocus on where He is at work. i'm starting to ramble, time for me to get off.

this is life huh?

2008-09-29T01:14:00.003-04:00

today was a great day despite the gators loss. simple and enjoyable. i woke up and went to church, and realized i found my church all along. i just happened to go to it first. but i went back today and realized how much i liked it. that just started it off. i made some friends, real Godly kids who are in the same position as me. wanting to get plugged in, figuring stuff out. i came back and caught up on some much needed sleep then kept hammering away at school. (i aced two tests this week! ballin') things are going good right now and i'm just trying to soak it all in. the pinnacle moment was when i was walking back to my dorm and looking up at the huge oaks shading me, the tall brick buildings, and i realized this is what its like to be on your own. trust me, thats a very cool moment.

i constantly find myself just thanking God for everything that is going right right now. sure, things aren't perfect. but i'm trying not to dwell on whats wrong. phillippians 4:6 states "worry about nothing, pray about everything." it sounds impossible, but i'm gonna try. if we constantly rejoice in Him, it has to evoke a response of love in our hearts right? it sounds right to me. i'm gonna give it a shot.

things are going good so far. i have another two tests in these next two weeks, then i'm going to come home for a few days. i'm looking forward to that, it will be cool to see whats changed in the couple months i've been gone. i can't wait to see shannon again, my family, my nieces. look me up when i visit.

dolphins win!

2008-09-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

the dolphins just beat the new england patriots. not by a little. not by a fluke play. they just came in, played smashmouth football, and beat em soundly. its not often that you can be excited to be a dolphins fan, but today is one of those days. go dolphins! woo!

Still Unemployed

2008-09-18T16:42:00.001-04:00

so i got replies back from all the churches i sent my resume to, to be a youth pastor. all of them said they had filled the position, one said they filled the position only a few weeks ago. but i am not depressed or saddened about it in any way. i put it all in God's hands. i was really nervous about applying, and the possibilities of what would happen, and how it would affect me. but i figured it was my job to apply, and God's job to put me where He wants me. i feel like a burden was lifted, because now i dont have to choose to take a job or not, or where to go, or what my hours will be like, or if i can handle it with school, or if i will be able to go back home. now i'm looking for a place where i can intern or just volunteer. there are plenty of places up here where i can make an impact. and a lot of places that could use some new thought and vision about how to bring kids to His Kingdom. but i see it as God telling me to stay focused on school, and that i need to learn more skills before i can serve Him and create the best ministry He can make through me. so the search continues...

another tuesday

2008-09-16T21:23:00.002-04:00

so i'm now entering the long haul of school. for the next month and a half i will be up in G'ville with no trips to see shannon, and no trips home or anything. everything is good, school is manageable at the moment. and i'm really zoning in on my stuff to do. i'm excited about the possible ministry opportunities and in a way, planting my roots in gainesville. we'll see how it goes. i'm just praying that God puts me in the right place. if i get one of those jobs as a pastor then i will have to stay up here year round, and i was looking forward to some easy BCC credits, and learning some skills (specifically tech, lights, and slides) at FRC over the summer. but its not in my hands, so we'll see what happens. keep praying for me, wisdom, faith, and direction. i love all you guys, and i'm looking at coming home late october-early november. see you then!

faith and politics

2008-09-10T22:37:00.001-04:00

i just watched a little bit of Rick Warren's civil forum, where he got both Barack Obama and John McCain to come and sit down with him at his church. he asked some pointed questions and they both gave good answers. it was an interesting piece and it shed some light on where these candidates stand on faith charged issues. i encourage you to check out before you vote.

drain

2008-09-09T09:53:00.002-04:00

so i just got back from math class, which was a struggle, because last night i couldn't sleep at all. i tossed and turned til about 4 in the morning. i had a lot of things running through my head, i dont want to sound all super holy, but i had a lot of ministry ideas in mind. i was getting excited about the possibilities of it all. hopefully God will provide a place that i can pour out into, soon. i can't wait to be part of a ministry again and watch it grow. right now, i have a little time for a short nap before history, so i should capitalize on it.

sunday

2008-09-07T15:21:00.002-04:00

so today i got up to go to church. i was trying a new one, still looking for one that fits. anyways, i go out to my truck and find some hot dog buns and burger wrappers left on my hood. i guess with the game yesterday, some people in the parking lot decided to take advantage of my truck as a party spot. i was a little upset, but theres nothing i can do about it now. so i clean off the hood and head off to church. i drive out to this little town north of gainesville and go to this old baptist church. it was good, there is a large congregation and what they're doing there is clearly working for some people. but it wasn't for me. i was a little disappointed, but that's life. next week i continue my quest to find a church. i was walking out to the parking lot and when i got up to my truck, i saw an old lady look at it and shake her head in disgust. i was a little confused, i didn't know why my unassuming truck would offend this lady. well, i put the truck in reverse and when i turned around to look out the back window, i saw a mountain of beer cans in the bed of my truck! i guess those people decided to use my bed as a trash can and i completely missed it when i was cleaning up. at that point, there was nothing i could do but laugh.

preach social change

2008-09-03T22:03:00.002-04:00

i just got back from an FCA meeting, its a christian group on campus. and the preacher mentioned this phrase, "preach social change"

i got to thinking about how important this is. if we preach social change. if we use the Word of God and preach about Him for social change toward His will. if people grasped that, if we all were centered in His will, if we were doing what he said we ought to. how amazing would that be?

it is such a big concept that i think a lot of preachers don't like to focus on such large and abstract ideals. don't get me wrong, the focused sermons on specific ways to improve your life are invaluable to me. but i think that we always need to take a look at the big picture and reenergize each other, the congregation, and the global church, and remind everyone what we're striving for. heaven on earth.

if we live the life that God wants us to, and we do what He has in mind for us, if we can affect the little bit of world around us. then, people around you can affect the world around them, and so on. this leads to a revolution in thinking, and global attitude.

its an amazing thought that we have the key to change the world, but we can't seem to do it yet. we have to buy in to the philosophy and strive to reach perfection.

yes, we are human and will come across failures, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. changing the world is a long process, but a million mile journey starts with a single, first step.

if we can start an altruistic revolution, we can radically change the world toward God's original design, and trust me when i say that world would be a better place.

i hate tuesdays.

2008-09-02T13:48:00.003-04:00

so today is my full day, i have 6 hours of class spread out across the day from 8 am to 8 pm. i only have one more 3 hr block left so thats good. i think i made my mac and cheese wrong and made myself sick. :) this college life is no joke, doing homework and trying not to screw up laundry. by the way, why was everything wrinkled when i was done?? but thats a side note. things are looking up. this is my only bad day of the week and its almost over. my dad, some of my friends, and a bunch of people from church come up this weekend to watch the UF-UM game, i'm pretty stoked for that. it should be a massacre but you never know how those games turn out. i think a lot of people are overlooking miami's speed and athleticism. but i hope we put up 50 points on them. anyways, i should get going, i have to get some stuff done before psych class. thanks for checking in on me, readers.

first week

2008-08-29T07:57:00.002-04:00

the first week of college is almost done, i have one more class this morning and then its the weekend, woo hoo! it wasn't too bad, but the first week is always the easiest. i'm going to have a whole lot more homework than i did in high school, so i'm not too stoked about that. i just feel like i should be studying all the time. its been fun being out on my own. although its not fun to miss dinner and not have a kitchen to go make something. i'm feeling a lot of nerves and pressure to do well, so i feel really guilty about not getting around to my online class this first week. i just have to stay focused and on top of the ball, and i'll be good to go. i miss shannon, and my neices a lot too. but i'll see them all soon enough.

move in

2008-08-23T13:45:00.002-04:00

i'm a college man now.

i went up to Florida Gulf Coast University on thursday and moved shannon and sam into their dorms. her place is pretty nice, shes smart so shes in the ritzy honors dorm. it was pouring rain the whole day and sucked to move in in it, but what can you do. once she was all settled in, we went out to dinner, came back to her dorm and watched a movie.

the next day, i got up early said goodbye to shannon and hauled through a tropical storm up to gainesville. i beat my parents here by an hour and a half so for a while i was just chillin in my dorm in wet clothes. but they came soon enough, and i moved in. it only ended up taking about 20 minutes. my room still kind of reminds me of a jail cell, but the more i'm in it, the better it gets.

its hard to leave family and friends, and most of all shannon, but i keep telling myself that i'm going to the best school in florida, and its going to pay off in the future. its tough, but it has to be done. transition always gets easier with time, so i'm still getting settled in. i have to find my classes and get my books, and as soon as i get a routine, i'll be golden.

plus... FGCU is only like three hours away. :)

big time

2008-08-20T20:08:00.002-04:00

last night i took shannon out for her birthday and our anniversary (its the same day.) i wanted to make it special so i decided to take her someplace nice. with a lot of recommendations, i decided on the capital grille at the galleria. it was really fancy, they have different types of water and a little brush to wipe away the crumbs after each course. it was really good, i had the best steak i've ever had and shannon got roasted chicken. they even brought out a slice of chocolate cheesecake because it was her birthday. it was a great time, i'd never been anywhere that fancy. it schools her last birthday when i took her to olive garden, in my defense we had just started dating. :) i'm glad everything turned out well and the hurricane left in time for our date.

children

2008-08-19T02:48:00.003-04:00

i've heard a lot of stories about miraculous things happening to small children, babies, and infants. i know 3 right off the top of my head. one of them is the story of my neice. i have two neices, they're twins. well one of them, braelyn, was diagnosed with this genetic disorder. you could see this mass on the back of her neck on pictures from the sonograms. well, my family prayed that she would be healed. the doctor advised my sister to abort the pregnancy and try again. she adamantly refused. well it turned out, through many faithful prayers (thanks to the great people at FRC Sawgrass) that the disorder was gone. there was no trace of it, and now braelyn is perfectly healthy.

we were all thankful, but i always felt that God would come through during that ordeal. i don't know why, but it seems i have a lot more faith in miracles when it involves babies.

anyways, i tell you that story to tell you this story. i came across a verse that shed a little light on the subject. Psalms 8:2 says, "You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you."

i just thought that was pretty cool.

soldier

2008-08-18T03:24:00.002-04:00

well, my brother in law drew goes off to OCS, in about 2 hours. he'll be in georgia for a few months in a basic training type environment. its sad to see him go, but i'm pretty sure God made him to be a soldier. if you've ever met the guy you know that's true. its hard to sacrifice spending time with his wife and daughters, but they believe this is a step he needs to take for a better life in the future. i'm gonna miss him, but i'm proud of him.

shanshan

2008-08-16T00:01:00.001-04:00

happy birthday and anniversary, shannon!

update

2008-08-09T02:06:00.002-04:00

everything has been pretty smooth this past week. i'm free from my job at publix! woot woot! the plan is to focus on getting good grades my first semester in college while searching for a church, and then try to work at a church around there.

i have put off getting ready for school. so far i have my sheets in the corner of the dining room, and thats it. i'm getting excited to move away, a chance for me to grow up. but its scary too, i cant help but think about how it would be different if i would have decided to go to UM. i think i made the right choice though.

i havent been doing much of anything, but have managed to be distracted from doing anything important. i have to finish a few chores over here cause im house sitting, and i need to do some stuff for this weekend at church. oh well, i guess that's what saturday is for.

things are going good for now, it might be a little dull, but dull is good, that means that nothing bad is happening either. praise the LORD!

Football is back!

2008-08-04T01:34:00.002-04:00

the hall of fame game was on today. it is the first preseason game, and the first pro football game of the season. even if it was only an exhibtion game and the starters only played a few snaps, i was still excited.

sweet spot

2008-07-31T00:37:00.002-04:00

the plan was to come on here and share something deep and insightful, but i guess i just wasn't in the right mindset. i was feeling a little down, not a lot, but a little. and i was reading the word and just thinking who am i to advise anyone else? who am i to analyze scripture, to teach at church, to do anything like that? i realize i am nobody, but its God through me who does these things. just saying things like that gives me a big head, its so hard to find humility. i really am trying. i'm starting to think how people in important positions must feel. they have to deal with their own sense of inadequacy, yet try and fight off pride in the same moment. its not logical on paper until you've felt it. i guess its impossible to be in that sweet spot everyday, but i'm gonna try. not that i do anything important yet, but i have some plans. this whole life thing takes time to build and get right i guess. hmm... maybe i was in the right mindset to get a little deep.

voice of the heisman

2008-07-27T21:40:00.002-04:00

hate all you want on my gators, but you have to love an athlete humble enough to know that there are things much bigger than football. one who uses his platform as a football star to tell people about Christ. check out this article about Tim Tebow at the SEC Media Day. That's why this guy is my favorite player, plus the 40+ touchdowns last year.

Florida’s Tim Tebow hopes to use football as a platform for philanthropy
By Joseph Goodman / McClatchy Newspapers
Thursday, July 24, 2008

HOOVER, Ala. - It was a bizarre beginning to the Southeastern Conference Media Days on Wednesday. There was a football player at the dais - perhaps the best in the country - and there were football writers in the audience, but the topic of football seemed like a footnote.

Then Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, told hundreds of sports reporters that football isn’t that important.

"I want to do everything in my power that football gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good, because that’s going to mean so much more when it’s all said and done than just playing football and winning championships," Tebow said.

Yet another group converted. College football is a religion in the Deep South, but when Tebow shows up for the season’s kickoff party, the whole thing turns into a tent revival.

"I can take what I do in playing football as a game and change people’s lives with it," Tebow said. "That’s why football is such a great game. That’s kind of why I do the things, preaching in prisons, doing those different things, trying to take advantage of that platform that God has blessed me with."

Tebow spoke to media from around the country for about 25 minutes Wednesday. Unlike every other player from every other school who attended the first day of SEC Media Days, Tebow addressed the media from the area reserved for head coaches. Reporters asked about Tebow’s stardom and missionary work more than the Gators’ spread offense or chances of winning a national championship.

Tebow made headlines this offseason with mission trips to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand. He also spoke at prisons and preached at churches. Tebow’s father, Bob, is a missionary.

"Sometimes my biggest message to other athletes is, ’Yeah, we know you’re great in football, but take that greatness, your platform, use it to influence other people,’ " Tebow said. "That’s much more important than football."

Peru

2008-07-26T01:56:00.004-04:00

i'm just warning you all i'm writing this post at 3 in the morning. so please excuse the poor vocabulary, lack of wit, and overuse of the word awesome.

well everybody, i made it back home from peru. the trip was amazing, and everything about it was awesome. it was pretty awesome.

the first day we got in we went outside this english institute and started handing out keychains for frc lima. we were timid at first but picked up speed and started conecting with people. this lady me and keith talked to actually showed up that weekend!

after speaking broken spanish to complete strangers for a few hours we went to this mall in peru. the place was pretty big and i ate a nasty hamburger from this fast food resteraunt called Bembos.

the next day we got up and went to a local orphanage that our church has connected with. the kids there were so happy to see us. we fed them chicken and fries. then i played soccer with some of the boys and played hide and seek, well really just chased, the little girls throughout the orphanage. we spent all day there, and afterwards cleaned up at the hotel. from there, we went to the rd., the frc lima student ministry. christian translated the lesson for us, and a few of the kids even got to play two worship songs. overall, i was impressed by the energy and pimpin set up at the jazz club. after that we all went and ate at the hottest papa johns in the world.

i got up to do set up, just like every sunday, only this time for frc lima. it was much quicker than sawgrass. then i helped out on the first impression team and greeted people as they came into the theatre. i used my awesome spanish vocabulary as i told everyone that came in "hola, como estas?" that night, we went out to larco mar, which is this beautiful outdoor mall on the water.

monday, we went to the david wilkerson school. it is a scholarship driven school with kids from poor areas. it was amazing to see the joy in the kids' faces when we gave them a simple goody bag full of candy and pencils. pencils! they loved them. i visited three classrooms and met two 6th grade boys who chatted up a storm with me. they talked about everything from wwe wrestling to what love is like. i missed most of the song and dance numbers the kids put on because those two boys were talking to me. but connecting with those kids was probably my favorite part. it was so cool to see how interested they were. from there, we went back to the street corner to hand out keychains. that time, we hit the ground running and handed out keychains left and right. we were really on our game. that is until we got kicked out by a cop who i gave a keychain to. he said we didn't have a permit and all this junk and asked us to leave. the Lord had His hand on it though, the two officers were christians and polite about the ordeal and our seem didn't seem downtrodden, they seemed strengthened if anything. i think we were happy for all the people we were able to connect with in such a short time. blessed are those who are persecuted in His name.

tuesday, we went to a shanty town on the outskirts of lima. it was called apachacutec. all the people out there lived in shacks with dirt floors. it was such a dirty place and amazing that it was home to so many. the place seemed hopeless, i just couldn't see a way for people to get out. im sure most people born there, probably die there. but they were so happy with nothing. we brought them lunch and a few toys and toiletries, they were so thankful and so content. we got to meet the pastor and give him some things too. poverty is just evident from sin, i mean whats worse, that or living in america so lost in our possessions that we miss God? some of those people were truly dependent on Him and it was evident.

wednesday was our last day, we spent time going to the inca market and i bought some gifts for my family. then we went on a little tour of peru and saw the country. after getting something to eat and a shower it was time to head to the airport. i slept most of the way home but was sorry to leave. overall, it was a great experience.

what ill take away most from the trip was not just the typical. although i did feel more grateful for all of my blessings and opportunities, i felt reaffirmed that i need to live for Him. that God is the sole provider of happiness and joy. that we are meant to live for Him. that doing His will is the reason i am on this earth. i want to make a difference and make this world a better place, and the only way i know how is through the love of Christ. so i pray i take this with me and continue to focus on Him throughout my life, because to me, thats the only way to have a life worth spent.

(not all the pics are up yet, ill try to put some more in when i get them)

Peru

2008-07-17T01:12:00.002-04:00

i'm leaving for Peru tomorrow. keep me in your prayers. i'm excited, and a little worried. i'm praying that i grow closer to God during this trip. it should be awesome.

FGCU Orientation

2008-07-12T01:43:00.002-04:00

So me and Scott (my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend) drove up to Florida Gulf Coast University today early in the morning. I was running off of 2 hours of sleep. The girls were at their orientation and we wanted to surprise them. Well, in our infinite wisdom and lack of math skills, we got there about 2 hours before we wanted to. So we killed time and wandered the campus. It was pretty nice, but tiny compared to UF. Anyways, we end up waiting to surprise them outside the wrong door and completely miss them as they go to breakfast. Luckily we were able to catch them on the way out, and it kind of worked.

The rest of the day was very laid back, we explored the bustling city of Fort Myers, checked out their various gated retirement communities, and enjoyed a sub sandwich from the gas station. All in all, it was a good day.

School is coming soon and it is pretty intimidating. I feel like I haven't even had time to think of my trip to Peru in 5 days. I got to get on that.

Yeah... that's that. I figured you might enjoy a little update on my life, use it as a break from thinking about your life. That's what these blogs are for, killing time, and taking your mind off things.

Maybe to keep you more entertained, I'll give you nice picture to look at too. Hold on... let me find one on the internet...

Ah... here we go, some big mountain in Colorado.

Relaxing, awe inspiring, and makes you think of the glory of God. Overall, a pretty good picture.

UF Preview

2008-07-09T01:57:00.002-04:00

hey guys i just got back from University of Florida orientation. i've decided to major in history, because it has a lot of freedom and only a few absolutely required classes. because i want to go into the ministry as soon as possible, and figure that i need some sort of college degree to get hired by a church, i put myself on the fast track since i already have a lot of credits that go towards the history major. wow, i'm tired and can't write anything but run on sentences, and i'm going to college! well, the whole process was very drawn out and full of many many presentations that didn't seem that important to me. but i got done all the things i had to get done so i'm pretty much set for college. i have to work out a couple kinks in my schedule but it should all be good.

don't get me wrong, i'm not exactly expecting perfectly smooth sailing, but i'm trying to make the transition as easy as possible. you see, this is a big step for me, as with anyone, but i'm still a little nervous, though not as much as before. see i was debating whether i should go to college at all or jump right into the ministry. both sides have arguments to support them, but right now i feel as if i should at least give college a shot. if God calls me into the ministry before that, i'm down. its hard to know whether i'm doing this whole college thing because myself, my family, and society wants me to, or if that is God's will. i've had contradicting advice on which is my best plan, but ultimately its up to God.

i just pray i'm making the right choice and not choosing the world over God.

who knew wanting a college degree might pull me away from God?

i was about to go into detail about the pros and cons, and my philosophy on what either choice means, but it is too much to write at 2 am and i have to work tomorrow.

just pray that i have wisdom and am going where God wants me.

thanks to everyone who reads this/prays for me.

i need guidance...

camp part 2

2008-06-29T14:15:00.002-04:00

hey guys,

i just got back from high school camp a couple of days ago. it was busy. we would go to breakfast, morning session, games, lunch, jump rope, dinner, night session, games, bed. yeah... we jumped a lot of rope. for over 5 1/2 hours we tried to get all 96 people through without screwing up. it was hard, but in the end it was justified. i wish we would have more FRC only time and games because Scot really pushed us. it was cool to watch some kids grow emotionally, spiritually, and as a team. one cool moment was when God laid it on my heart to pray for a certain person who normally doesn't come to mind right when i bow my head. sure enough after about 5 minutes, they got up and grabbed a rock which symbolized theyre commitment to follow Christ. it was cool how prayer was answered right there. it was definitely worth it, so anyone on the fence, please trust me, and go!

camp

2008-06-21T16:11:00.002-04:00

i just got back from middle school camp. it was a long drive, but well worth it. the kids were pushed to their limits in all the games and had fight through their want to quit. the sessions were entertaining, and had some real thought provoking moments. we even had about 10 kids get baptized. overall, i think it went great. it was definitely something to build on.

i came home and found out that my sister had some complications and was in the hospital. it was much more serious than i was led to believe, but kelly is alright now. that was a scary moment for all of us. i donated some blood for her, and went to visit her in the hospital. she seems to be a little better, but is still weak, and should be in there until at least monday.

it has been an extremely stressful week with kelly's complications, having to watch the babies, big decisions weighing me down, and having no sleep through it all. now i'm turning around and going to high school camp. just keep me and my family in your prayers. thank you.

balance

2008-06-12T01:12:00.003-04:00

i've been reading "The Barbarian Way" lately and it has peaked my interest. it raised a question in my head though. how is a church supposed to keep the raw, powerful, all consuming call to sacrifice everything for Christ, yet still stay relevant and seem welcoming to seekers?

one side enables personal spiritual growth, while the other raises numbers to the kingdom. its a delicate balance and definitely hard to find.

random acts of kindness

2008-06-10T01:58:00.002-04:00

I just went on youtube, and on the featured videos section, which is sort of like the front page or cover for those non youtube users (though you probably wouldn't be reading a blog, so i'm not quite sure why i'm typing this, but i digress) 8 out of the 12 videos were about random acts of kindness or making the world a better place.

that's very encouraging. the world tries to crush every group's aspirations for positive change with loads of negativity. it is uplifting to see a glimmer of optimism somewhere.

i'll risk being thought of as naive and say, sometimes i think that this generation may be able to change the world for the better. they may have really taken hold to this belief that they can make a difference. we might even be witnessing the beginning of an altruistic culture. that would be pretty cool.

Senior Night

2008-06-09T20:38:00.002-04:00

senior night was this past saturday at church. basically, senior night is when all of the graduating seniors are recognized/honored. the band is full of seniors, the speaker is a senior, they have a slideshow. its like a big celebration service.

shannon led three of the songs with the other seniors tyler, cat, shane, brian, and grace filling out the band. they did awesome.

then they had the slideshow and showed everyone's baby pictures.

then i got the chance to do the teaching. i settled on three points to grow closer to God in the future, serving, leading, and obeying. I was nervous at first because the place was packed with high schoolers, their families, and their friends. all in all, it turned out well.

it was an honor to get the chance to speak and i just want to say thanks to everyone who came out and supported us.

Its a Girl! x 2

2008-05-31T05:40:00.003-04:00

today i was closing, and after work i stopped by my buddy's birthday party. except, i had to rush out because i got a call from my mom saying my sister was in labor. so i rushed home and from there went to the hospital.

we chilled in the lobby for a few minutes until drew came and took us past the locked door, into the back area (i don't know what its called, i'm not up on hospital lingo, maybe i should watch greys anatomy).

then, the doctors did the c section on kelly around 3 am, and pulled out the babies. Kayla Mackenzie Robinson (formerly known as Alpha or baby A) and Braelyn Elizabeth Robinson (Bravo or baby B) both came out at about 5 lbs each.

i caught a glimpse of them as they were rolled out to the NIQUE (once again, i don't know how to spell this stuff). drew went with them to name them and get their identification straight.

then i got a chance to see kelly for a second but she was out of it. after that i got kicked back out to the lobby. so i killed the time by trying to chat with the spanish speaking security guard, it was kind of hard cause he spoke very little english and i speak very little spanish and he was distracted by one of those crazy spanish shows with a lady in a short skirt and a guy with a lot of whistles... but im getting off topic.

drew came back out and pulled in my dad to go see the babies (my mom was with kelly) then eventually i got to go see kelly. apparently only grandparents get to go visit the premie babies. but after the drugs hit kel, and she rambled on about red gatorade, she eventually fell asleep and we left.

now i'm home writing this blog... sorry if it was wordy, i'm a little tired and a little excited.

but praise the Lord, i got two neices.

this past weekend

2008-05-29T19:40:00.003-04:00

this past weekend at church, i got the opportunity to preach at the 4 middle school services. jesse taught the high school service (it was a straight sawgrass takeover).

it was a lot of fun. the first service was really short because i wasn't sure about how much time everything would take. apparently, i severely overestimated my material, so i was up and down in probably 10 minutes. but for the sunday services, i threw in a story about my spoiled rotten sister (shes not really that bad) and it turned into a 10-15 minute sermon.

the kids seemed relatively interested, at least as interested as middle schoolers could be. all in all, i got over my nerves, and it turned out pretty good. i get the chance to do it again, in a couple weeks. i'll only be doing the high school service, but its good that now i'm more comfortable, i should be able to speak better. glory to God.

the lesson was on gratitude, and i feel real privileged that God put me in the position to be able to speak these two weekends. it was a lot of fun, but it is a struggle to stay humble and not make preaching about me or my own ego. i'm sure real pastors know this much more than i do.

but still, i feel blessed that God gave me that desire and opportunity, so in a way, i learned more about gratitude than i thought i would. (doesn't that sound like a cheesy line from the end of an episode of Full House, cue the sappy piano.)

anyways, i figured i'd upload the outline of my teaching if you were interested.

p.s.- all of the spaces and blank lines are for you Matt.

GRATITUDE MATTERS

Luke 17:11-19

Gratitude MATTERS because it shows humility.
“True humility and fear of the LORD leads to riches, honor, and a long life.” – Proverbs 22:4

Gratitude MATTERS because it shows dependence on God.
“How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”- Galatians 3:3

Gratitude MATTERS because it leads to success.
“Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful…” -Deuteronomy 8:18

lesson

2008-05-23T02:15:00.002-04:00

i'm editing the lesson for this weekend a little bit before i go to sleep. i'm teaching the middle school services at cooper city this weekend. so i need all your prayers, so i don't get up there and fall on my face and make a fool out of myself... actually, that might get their attention...

p.s.- i have one more day of high school left.

hanging onto history

2008-05-05T16:40:00.000-04:00

this is the year we become relevant again!

joke

2008-05-04T00:10:00.002-04:00

here's a cheesy joke i heard and have since been spreading around for pure pity laughter:

why did the mayonnaise blush?

because it saw the salad dressing.

BAM!
i guarantee if you tell that to your boss, you'll get a raise. no doubt about it.

late knight out

2008-04-29T22:48:00.003-04:00

so today i got the chance to go to the silver knights award ceremony. its some community service/academic thing put on by the miami herald. anyways, i came home empty handed. the girl that won in my category discovered some peptide in poisonous sea snails that helped people with pain disorders... yeah. i actually didn't pull off a consolation paper because the lady passing them out didn't think i was a nominee based on my casual attire (since when was a dress shirt, jeans, and a pair of nikes not acceptable?) regardless, it was pretty neat seeing all of those overachievers in one place. you can tell those kids are going to go places. it got me thinking about leadership and the importance of drive and passion.

i think that leadership is a gift, but we can also work on it. sometimes it can also feel like a switch that is turned on. i know i am perfectly content to just sit back and watch the action unfold, but if i see a group in need of leadership and realize that i won't be stepping on any toes, i'll come in and "flip the switch" and take control. i think many people assume that they are too shy to be a leader, or that they don't have that gift. i think that enough drive or passion can make you a great leader, even if you are a natural introvert. many times, people just need someone with some direction or goal in mind. i'm sure that sometime in your life, you will have to come out of your comfort zone and lead out on something. i challenge anyone out there who is maybe quiet or shy to find their voice and step in the next time they sense they have an opportunity to lead. remember, moses couldn't even speak in public, he had to go through his brother aaron, but he turned out to be a pretty good leader. one day, you'll have to lead, you might as well start now. the younger the better, especially if you are a student. i know many places in student ministry that need leadership with the exit of the graduating class. that just means more opportunities for you to step up and leave a mark.

Summer Camp

2008-04-24T15:01:00.002-04:00

school is almost done and summer is just around the corner. i'm getting pretty stoked about summer camp, as a senior, this will sadly be my last camp, but it looks to be amazing. it's called The Way and is going to be awesome. we're gonna go up to north florida and some big bands and speakers will be there, plus a ton of games and time to hang out with everybody. if you are in student ministry and are debating going to camp, i encourage you to go. it is the best thing we do at FRC, and you will definitely come back changed. it is an amazing spiritual experience, i pray that you just give it a shot if you're doubting it. i will personally take responsibility for your time, if you go and dont have a blast, i will wash your car or something. just give it a chance.

i also am planning to go to middle school camp, which is called Leave Nothing, as a leader. the same goes for this, it is a great way to grow spiritually and make some true friends and accountability partners. so parents, don't be alarmed, you're kids will be well supervised by all of the adult leaders and they'll have a lot of fun. camp is amazing because you get to see kids lives completely changed for Christ. they come back on fire for God and many students turn into leaders right in front of our eyes at camp.

go check out flamingoroadchurch.com for more info. register online, and you can pay there too.

donkey basketball

2008-04-13T23:20:00.002-04:00

i came across this clip and thought that it might help Pastor Troy and Pastor Matt feel more at home:

soapbox reminder

2008-04-13T23:08:00.003-04:00

hey guys, just one quick thing to help you through your week:

it is in our weakness, that God is strong. Paul begged God to take away this sin that had a grip on his life, that he struggled with daily, and failed constantly at conquering, and God wouldn't take it away. why? so that Paul would depend on God. it forced Paul to come to grips with his own weakness and rely on the Lord. in Romans, Paul says we are a slave to the sin that corrupts us, and the only way to break that bondage is to rely on Jesus.

don't know why, but i felt like i should share that.

potential

2008-03-31T01:08:00.003-04:00

today was a little crazy at sawgrass because we were missing most of the set up team and our campus pastor, but by the grace of God everything went rather smooth. it was a good day. i got to drive the generator today, and backed it into the church almost as good as jenn (way way better than matt).

student ministry was awesome. we had some new leaders really step up, abel took a break from teaching and let jesse lead and he did a great job talking about discipline. basically saying that God disciplines us because He loves us, and because we are disciplined by the Father, we know we are His children. he also had a cool video clip that i'm going to try to find (and learn how to put videos in my blog, that one computer science class i took in freshman year really isn't holding up). then, scott really ran with the discussion time. it was cool to see, all in all.

i really want to go rent this movie now. it is a cool clip and as jesse said, it has a lot of teaching in it. he mentioned the coach's discipline was able to correct brock's thinking. another cool thing i saw was how the coach gave brock that blindfold, this made sure that brock didn't limit himself or doubt his own potential. it made him rely solely on his coach. i think God does that to us sometimes, we don't get to see the whole picture, because He knows that we'll doubt our abilities and what He can do through us. so God gives us a little at a time "20 more steps... 10 more steps..." and by trusting Him, and through His encouragement and empowerment, we are able to do much more than we ever imagined. you might have heard a phrase thrown around, "reaching our God potential." and while our church can definitely help, no one can make us reach our God potential more than the Father Himself.

so, thats a little late night mind dump i thought yall might enjoy. i have to go get some sleep though, its spring break, i gotta hit the beach tomorrow. God bless.

baseball

2008-03-18T22:44:00.002-04:00

we are about a month away from the start of baseball season. i know a lot of people complain that its too boring to watch, but with no football, college basketball winding down, and an irrelevant Miami Heat, what else am i supposed to? if you really get into the strategy of the game i'm sure you could at least make it through 2 or 3 innings before flipping over to TBS and watching a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond.

well, i'm excited. my beloved Boston Red Sox are going for back to back world series. and even though our pitching staff is shattered because beckett is having back problems, dice-k's wife is having a baby, and schilling is hurt and putting on weight so he is starting to resemble john travolta (wild hogs travolta, not face off travolta) i still think we have a shot at winning it all again. even if we don't, at least it will give me an excuse to watch tv all saturday afternoon and put off mowing the lawn.

ego

2008-03-10T23:59:00.002-04:00

this week in the small group i lead, we were able to touch on humility and how to stay humble. when i posed the question, how do you stay humble? i got the automatic church responses: pray, read your bible, go to church. all are right, and great answers, but i was trying to put it on a more practical level. the only advice that i could come up with, or i should say God let me think up, was to check your motives. if you get a chance to exhibit one of your gifts or talents, slow down and check your motives before you do it. say you play in a worship band and you get a chance to play on a big stage. check your motives. think about why you want to do it. if you want to do it for your own pride, just to get up and show off just to show everyone how awesome you are, God isn't probably going to bless that. but if you approach it humbly, slow down, and focus on doing it for God, focus on playing for Him as worship and an expression of using your talents for His will, then He will definitely bless that. its real easy to do things for our own greedy egos and we just need to slow down and look at the big picture. do it all for Him. i personally know that is far easier said than done, but i truly believe if we do give it all to Him, we'll be better for it. i don't know, thats just my two cents.

the cure

2008-03-06T12:46:00.004-05:00

have you ever had trouble sleeping? i have, and thought i tried everything. i've tried drinking a glass of milk, to counting sheep, to staring at my ceiling with intense focus trying to will myself to sleep. (that last one may have actually made it harder to sleep) but I, my friends, have found the cure. 2 cures actually. if you want to fall asleep, make yourself a stack of pancakes, or waffles if no pancakes are available, preferably of the chocolate chip variety, get some butter or margarine on that bad boy, and pour syrup until all the little squares in the eggo are overflowing. dig in and welcome the slumber. logically, there should be a sugar rush, but i think because of the pancake/waffle's heavenly goodness, you just get sleepy. i just downed a short stack of eggo waffles following this recipe, and i'm ready to take a nap. in fact, i have some free time in my schedule, that's what i'll go do. aurrevoire. (that may not be how you spell it, what do i know? i'm not French.)

soul harvest

2008-03-04T19:09:00.001-05:00

here's a number for you: compared to last year's attendance of the same date, last weekend, sawgrass student ministry has increased 900%. yes. 900%. that's what i'm talking about. praise the LORD!

life's not a popularity contest

2008-03-02T22:27:00.003-05:00

today at church, we had a chance to talk about the influence of friends and the importance of hanging out with the right crowd. it is common sense that if you hang around foolish people, stupid stuff happens to you. but one of my kids brought up a very valid point. he said he'd rather hang out with the foolish kids at lunch, than eat lunch by himself. now, this is from the middle school perspective, but if you look at it in a bigger way, then it may be easier to see where he is coming from. a lot of people make poor decisions in who they are around just because they don't want to be alone. we all strive for acceptance, its a fact whether you admit it or not. everyone is seeking approval, everyone likes to be liked. but we have to be careful about who we surround ourselves with. when we become obsessed with popular opinion or worry about our own image, we become completely self centered. this becomes a root from which many problems grow. the main flaw in this way of thinking is that it keeps us from being God centered. you see, as Christians, we don't need to be concerned about popular opinion or image at all. we have the love of the Savior and the ultimate approval from the Almighty. we don't need to live for anyone but for Him. this is an important message in the middle school and high school crowd. school is harsh and if you're not careful, life can become about popularity and soon you will start conforming to the crowd and being who they want you to be. this is the opposite of happiness. you're going to be miserable if you go down that road. its simple, if you want true happiness, live for God. if you make your life God centered, all of the other pieces will fall in place. maybe not how you planned it, but how He planned it. seek Him and all of your other concerns will be satisfied. i promise you that if you truly seek His will, that your life will be much better than you could have ever personally dreamed. one of my favorite verses to comfort me when i'm crippled by indecision, worry, or fear is "'For I know the plans i have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." -Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

dolphins

2008-03-01T16:57:00.003-05:00

i would like to remind everyone that we are about a month away from the NFL draft. i hope everyone is prepared (bust out the lawn chairs and coolers in the living room). in case you haven't heard, the dolphins have the number one pick in the draft. this is due to our less than stellar 1-15 season. but lets keep it on the positive. the number one pick! woo! a chance to rebuild your team. a chance to find the perfect cornerstone of the franchise. the one guy to build a dynasty around. someone to carry the team and franchise on his back all the way to the superbowl. too bad this draft doesn't have anybody like that. it looks like if the dolphins don't trade away the pick we'll either go with QB Matt Ryan from Boston College, OT Jake Long from Michigan, or DE Chris Long from Virginia. they all might be solid players, but i don't see any of them as franchise players. ryan is overrated, chris long has weak run defense, and jake long is the safe pick with a low ceiling. so, even though the dolphins have the first pick in the draft and have the rights to choose any college football player in the entire world, i still have no hope for next season... welcome to miami.

hormonal ranting

2008-03-01T16:50:00.002-05:00

my sister is currently pregnant with twins and she is staying with us this weekend because her husband is out of town for some national guard competition. it has been quite interesting watching the family interact with her hormonal ranting. as of right now she is complaining about the lack of "cute maternity clothes." this is after she just scarfed down 19 mini pancakes. so a word of advice for everyone out there, avoid pregnant women at all costs... all the time.