This is a poem that I rediscovered. I wrote this when I was a junior in high school for an English Lit. class. Hope you like it.
My God
Oh God, the God of Moses
How powerful You are.
You have created all
And see everything from a-far.
Oh God, the God of David
You are ever present
You give comfort from pain
And Your peace is never spent.
Oh God, my God
You are my mighty savior.
I was lost and you saved me
Never to see hells door.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Fire
Most of you people who know me probably know that I like fire. Not in some crazy burn-everything-in-sight-pro like, but I enjoy making fires and watching them, and burning different things to see what burns better, faster, and things like that.
Well anyway, lately I've been thinking about how fire is often used as an analogy for the passion we have for God. And the more think of it, the more I like it. I'm just going to talk about fire for a bit here and I want you to try and see how they compare to the Christian life.
When starting a fire, an outside flame or spark has to introduced in order to start a fire. A bunch of sticks and kindling (probably) isn't going to just burst into flames. Also when starting a fire, it's easier to start with kindling and small branches rather than starting with a whole log.
Three essentials to any fire are: heat, oxygen, and fuel. If one of these is missing, then there is no fire.
When you have a fire going, you must keep adding more fuel if you don't want your fire to go out. But on the flip side, you don't want to add more fuel than the fire can take and smoother the fire.
Also a fire is only useful if someone is there to use it (duh).
Well, I think you get the gist of what I'm hitting at. Maybe.
But one more thing I want to point out. Christian culture is also whining about "where has the passion gone? where if the fire that we used to have?" Well, I would like to ask them when was the last time they feed the flames? How can you expect a fire to keep burning when you don't putting any more fuel on it?
Anyway, that's all I've got to say for now.
Well anyway, lately I've been thinking about how fire is often used as an analogy for the passion we have for God. And the more think of it, the more I like it. I'm just going to talk about fire for a bit here and I want you to try and see how they compare to the Christian life.
When starting a fire, an outside flame or spark has to introduced in order to start a fire. A bunch of sticks and kindling (probably) isn't going to just burst into flames. Also when starting a fire, it's easier to start with kindling and small branches rather than starting with a whole log.
Three essentials to any fire are: heat, oxygen, and fuel. If one of these is missing, then there is no fire.
When you have a fire going, you must keep adding more fuel if you don't want your fire to go out. But on the flip side, you don't want to add more fuel than the fire can take and smoother the fire.
Also a fire is only useful if someone is there to use it (duh).
Well, I think you get the gist of what I'm hitting at. Maybe.
But one more thing I want to point out. Christian culture is also whining about "where has the passion gone? where if the fire that we used to have?" Well, I would like to ask them when was the last time they feed the flames? How can you expect a fire to keep burning when you don't putting any more fuel on it?
Anyway, that's all I've got to say for now.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The more excellent way...
I've been hearing a lot about Christianity lately. About what it is what it isn't and what it should be. Different things we as Christians should be doing, should be acting like. I've been hearing words like FAITH, Just, Grace, Mercy, Courage, Bold, Kindness. I've heard of Destiny, HOPE, Passion, Eternal Life, Humility, Glory, Sacrifice, Offering, and Victory. People talk of Trust, Responsibility, Salvation, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, Promises, Covenants, and of the Law. But I wonder if you notice whats missing from these lists. Do you see it? Because just as it's missing from these lists, so I think it is missing in our lives. It is the greatest commandment given by God Himself! and yet we miss it, we lack it in our lives. How can we skip over this?
If you haven't figured it out yet, I'll help you out.
Matt. 22:37-40 'And He said to them, "You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
John 3:16 'For God so LOVED the world...'
I Tim. 1:5 'The aim of our charge is LOVE that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.'
I Corinthians 13:13 'So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.'
The Bible puts this huge emphasis on love, but we never seem to talk about, to study it, to understand what it truly means to love in the way that God calls use to.
You have heard of loving your enemy, but when was the last time that you actually DID it? Are you prepared to Love? Tell me, if someone were to kill your family, could you love them? because that what God is calling use to do when He tells use to love our enemies. Because guess what? We killed His Son and HE STILL LOVES US. He LET us kill His SON that we, his enemies, might LOVE Him back! Love is radical. Love isn't easy. We throw the word Love around like it was a penny. Its easy to give up a penny. You leave them laying around all over the place. But what if we treated love like a million dollars? Would you still give it as freely?
And Love is not this mushy push over 'I'm going to hug everyone' crap. Love is fierce. Love has power. Love is powerful. But we have have forgotten what it is. Ha, we haven't forgotten, we've just ignored it. How could we forget it when the greatest example is the Defining thing in our lives: JESUS. We just choose not to look at it, not to notice it, because then we would be responsible to DO something with it!
We have this misconception about love that it's about us, about making ourselves feel good, feel better about our selves. Love is the opposite! Love is about others, it's about sacrificing our selves, giving of our selves that others might be benefited. And we have something that can benefit the world, the nations, more than anything else: the LOVE OF A SAVIOR!
Love also has to be willing to do the hard things. The things that no one wants to do, but must be. I like the analigie of a dieing horse. A horse is dieing and you know that it will probably die. So are you going to let it suffer for a while as it slow dies, or can you muster up the love to kill it quickly? Sounds harsh, but sometimes love is. Again, Love isn't about us feeling good.
So, do you think you're brave enough to love? Do you have enough faith and trust that God will give you the strength to love? Is your hope great enough to move you to love?
If you haven't figured it out yet, I'll help you out.
Matt. 22:37-40 'And He said to them, "You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
John 3:16 'For God so LOVED the world...'
I Tim. 1:5 'The aim of our charge is LOVE that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.'
I Corinthians 13:13 'So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.'
The Bible puts this huge emphasis on love, but we never seem to talk about, to study it, to understand what it truly means to love in the way that God calls use to.
You have heard of loving your enemy, but when was the last time that you actually DID it? Are you prepared to Love? Tell me, if someone were to kill your family, could you love them? because that what God is calling use to do when He tells use to love our enemies. Because guess what? We killed His Son and HE STILL LOVES US. He LET us kill His SON that we, his enemies, might LOVE Him back! Love is radical. Love isn't easy. We throw the word Love around like it was a penny. Its easy to give up a penny. You leave them laying around all over the place. But what if we treated love like a million dollars? Would you still give it as freely?
And Love is not this mushy push over 'I'm going to hug everyone' crap. Love is fierce. Love has power. Love is powerful. But we have have forgotten what it is. Ha, we haven't forgotten, we've just ignored it. How could we forget it when the greatest example is the Defining thing in our lives: JESUS. We just choose not to look at it, not to notice it, because then we would be responsible to DO something with it!
We have this misconception about love that it's about us, about making ourselves feel good, feel better about our selves. Love is the opposite! Love is about others, it's about sacrificing our selves, giving of our selves that others might be benefited. And we have something that can benefit the world, the nations, more than anything else: the LOVE OF A SAVIOR!
Love also has to be willing to do the hard things. The things that no one wants to do, but must be. I like the analigie of a dieing horse. A horse is dieing and you know that it will probably die. So are you going to let it suffer for a while as it slow dies, or can you muster up the love to kill it quickly? Sounds harsh, but sometimes love is. Again, Love isn't about us feeling good.
So, do you think you're brave enough to love? Do you have enough faith and trust that God will give you the strength to love? Is your hope great enough to move you to love?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Go
"And He said to them, 'Go...'"
Mark 16:15
Lately I've been having a hard time figuring out what to do with my life. I've been trying to find something to do that 'feels right' or that I think will be the best use of my life. I've looked into things and backed out, I've started applications and never finished them, and I've sent out just as many trying to keep options open. But my problem is, that I need to make a choice. I need to stop being afraid that I'll make a wrong decision and trust that God will take care of me and that His will will be done in me (because it will anyway).
The reference that I started this post with has been very convicting to me over the past couple of days. Jesus tells his disciples to go out into the world. He doesn't tell them to sit around and weigh there options or to wait for that one job or activity that 'feels' right. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't take time to understand what we're doing or that we should go charging into something without really knowing what we're doing. What I am saying is that we, as the body of Christ, need to stop worrying about how things are going to work out. We need to stop relying on ourselves to work things out and we need to put our trust in our Father, Master, Lord and Savior. He has a plan for us and no matter what happens He is in control.
"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them..."
Mark 16:20
In Christ
Mark 16:15
Lately I've been having a hard time figuring out what to do with my life. I've been trying to find something to do that 'feels right' or that I think will be the best use of my life. I've looked into things and backed out, I've started applications and never finished them, and I've sent out just as many trying to keep options open. But my problem is, that I need to make a choice. I need to stop being afraid that I'll make a wrong decision and trust that God will take care of me and that His will will be done in me (because it will anyway).
The reference that I started this post with has been very convicting to me over the past couple of days. Jesus tells his disciples to go out into the world. He doesn't tell them to sit around and weigh there options or to wait for that one job or activity that 'feels' right. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't take time to understand what we're doing or that we should go charging into something without really knowing what we're doing. What I am saying is that we, as the body of Christ, need to stop worrying about how things are going to work out. We need to stop relying on ourselves to work things out and we need to put our trust in our Father, Master, Lord and Savior. He has a plan for us and no matter what happens He is in control.
"And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them..."
Mark 16:20
In Christ
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Biblically, Christ Centered Christianity
The root word of Christianity is Christ. It's funny how often we as a people forget this. You'd think it'd be something obvious and would not need to be mentioned. I guess not.
This whole post-modern/emergent movement is very interesting to me. The movement is trying so hard to move away from modernism that it's forgetting to recognize truth. It's trading one problem for another. Modernism was truth without conviction and Post-modernism is conviction without truth. Now why can't we mix the two? Why can't we have truth and conviction?
Now truth has become somewhat of a joke in this age. Apparently it's relative. Apparently we can all make our own truth, and that seems to be okay with everyone. Does anyone besides me see how stupid that is? If each one of us truly believed that, this world would be one incredibly messed up place (more so than it already is). What if my truth was killing people as a sport was a good idea and your truth was everyone can make there own truth? You would be forced to agree with me that I was right to go about killing people all I wanted because truth is relative!
No one really believes that! When people tell me truth is relative I almost laugh. Because as soon as there truth is threatened, they suddenly have a definite idea of what right and wrong is, and therefore have defined truth. For example, if I believe stealing is okay if I'm poor, that sounds like an alright thing. We might think "Oh, it's okay, he's just doing what he has to to survive." But when someone robs THEIR house, stealing suddenly becomes absolutely wrong, and they want their stuff back.
See, God has put the truth in all of us. It's stronger in some and easier for others to notice, but everyone knows.
So, what does that all have to do with post-modernism? Well, the emergent church is sacrificing the truth for relativism. The Bible is becoming just a good book filled with good stories and Christ is becoming a Hippie who loves everybody and just throws flowers at people.
The title of this is Biblically, Christ Centered Christianity. I believe Christianity without a correct view of Christ is not Christianity at all, and I believe that the only way to truly understand Christ is through Gods Word, the Bible.
We need Christ to be the center of our lives, and we need the Bible to know who He is. Do not reject truth for your own beliefs. Shape your believes around the truth.
This whole post-modern/emergent movement is very interesting to me. The movement is trying so hard to move away from modernism that it's forgetting to recognize truth. It's trading one problem for another. Modernism was truth without conviction and Post-modernism is conviction without truth. Now why can't we mix the two? Why can't we have truth and conviction?
Now truth has become somewhat of a joke in this age. Apparently it's relative. Apparently we can all make our own truth, and that seems to be okay with everyone. Does anyone besides me see how stupid that is? If each one of us truly believed that, this world would be one incredibly messed up place (more so than it already is). What if my truth was killing people as a sport was a good idea and your truth was everyone can make there own truth? You would be forced to agree with me that I was right to go about killing people all I wanted because truth is relative!
No one really believes that! When people tell me truth is relative I almost laugh. Because as soon as there truth is threatened, they suddenly have a definite idea of what right and wrong is, and therefore have defined truth. For example, if I believe stealing is okay if I'm poor, that sounds like an alright thing. We might think "Oh, it's okay, he's just doing what he has to to survive." But when someone robs THEIR house, stealing suddenly becomes absolutely wrong, and they want their stuff back.
See, God has put the truth in all of us. It's stronger in some and easier for others to notice, but everyone knows.
So, what does that all have to do with post-modernism? Well, the emergent church is sacrificing the truth for relativism. The Bible is becoming just a good book filled with good stories and Christ is becoming a Hippie who loves everybody and just throws flowers at people.
The title of this is Biblically, Christ Centered Christianity. I believe Christianity without a correct view of Christ is not Christianity at all, and I believe that the only way to truly understand Christ is through Gods Word, the Bible.
We need Christ to be the center of our lives, and we need the Bible to know who He is. Do not reject truth for your own beliefs. Shape your believes around the truth.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Reasons
I am starting this blog not so that I can talk about my life or my opinions; but because I want to be able to share what God is teaching me and what I am learning from Him. I want this to be something where others might be able to learn from what God has done in me and also something where I can learn from others.
I hope that God will challenge you through what you read here, and I hope He challenges me as well.
I hope that God will challenge you through what you read here, and I hope He challenges me as well.
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