Living as a Disciple in the City of Sodom

Let Me Ponder this for a Moment

2011-07-18T22:49:00.002-04:00

So, hello everyone.

Yes I still exist, its amazing, isn't it? Haha, anyway yeah, I finally got a summer job (albeit for only half the summer) lifeguarding at the Spring Valley YMCA. I enjoy it for the most part, and I am getting pretty good hours so far (32 last week and >22 this week) which is very good.

Anyway, outside of that, I went on vacation to Disney World with my dad sister and aunt about 3 weeks ago, which was fun. We also got to visit my Mummum and Poppop Neil which was nice.

The rest of my summer has mostly been spent just relaxing. Next friday I'm going down to spend the day with my AWESOME girlfriend, Natalie.

That's about as caught up about my life as you need to be. Now onto the meet of this post. I would like to focus on wisdom in this post.

Wisdom is always an interesting topic. Its very highly valued in the bible (mentioned numerous times in both testaments) and also (most of the time) by the world. Wisdom is also what cemented Solomon as one of the premier kings of the bible. In fact, he is likely the second most highly regarded king, second only to his father David (his wealth and power actually exceeded that of David). However, Solomon did not have to end up this way. He attained his notoriety in one specific incident detailed in 1 Kings (Chapter 3). One night Solomon went to a local place of worship (the most important one in Israel) and made a very large (1,000) burnt offering to the Lord. That night, as he lay sleeping, the Lord appeared to Solomon and asked him "What do you want? Ask and I will give it to you." Solomon could have asked for many things, such as long life, a prosperous reign, power, victory over his enemies, etc but he did not. Solomon was smart enough to know that with only one of those things he would likely not receive any of the others. So what did he do? He asked for wisdom. This is how it went.

7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

By asking for this one thing, Solomon also gained everything else he could have asked for. It is incredible what Solomon receives in addition to his wisdom (and partially because of it). Solomon became the premier king of Israel.

Despite how great all of that is I want to more closely examine Solomon's speech before asking for wisdom. More specifically what he viewed as his greatest problem. Solomon states that he is like a small child, basically saying that he feels lost and he is worried that he is not ready for ruling over such a numerous people. This is a legitimate concern that Solomon raises that must be addressed. Instead of taking the easy route and simply asking God to address his concern, he asks for something that will allow him to fix the issue alongside of God. God is extremely pleased and grants Solomon so much more than what he asked for.

After reading this about 3 days ago I was struck by something in this. Perhaps we should model our prayers and requests to god after Solomon's I thought to myself. Perhaps next time I needs God's help with something instead of asking him to fix it I should instead ask for his wisdom and guidance in resolving the problem myself.

I would like to challenge the two of you who read this to try this the next time you come before God with an issue. Instead of asking God to fix whatever issue you may have, ask him to give you the wisdom, guidance and strength to resolve the issue with his help. I will be.

Anyway, this was a really long post for a really short challenge, but I feel like if we attempt it, we might find that we are much closer to God and our problems resolve much faster (note that I am saying that God cannot resolve our problems).

Well, I hope this makes sense.

Until next time,

Godspeed

The Stream

2011-04-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

The gentle tinkle of water falling over moss covered rocks tickles my ear. I glance down at the babbling brook I have stumbled upon and smile. The beauty is brilliant. The sun flashes off the small waves, shooting light in every which way like small shards of glass. Patterns dance into and out of focus on the bed of the stream. I can smell the dampness and woods all around me. I breathe in deeply and smile to myself, it is perfect. In that moment I decide I have to follow this busy brook as it bubbles and bounces from rock to rock. I start off taking a leisurely stroll along the edge marveling at every sharp turn that it makes.

As I continue down the stream it gets more and more difficult to follow. I begin to encounter prickly thorn bushes and gnarled roots reach from the ground as if to trip me. Sometimes the path gets so difficult that I am forced to leave the streams edge. At first I don't notice it getting farther and farther from me. Eventually I do though and I anxiously make my way back. I want to follow the stream for as long as possible just to be near its beauty and serenity.

The path of the stream seemingly follows no logic as it meanders along the forest floor, and yet I sense that in reality everything it does makes perfect sense. This logic is just beyond my grasp and it frustrates me. Eventually I give up and notice that I have strayed from the stream again because of the difficulty of the path. There are thorn bushes everywhere and rocks are strewn along the bank of the little stream. I fight my way back and continue to press on. I can tell that very few people have ever walked this far before.

The growing difficulty feeds my desire to follow the stream farther and farther. The smell of unpolluted air drags my nose onwards and the sound continues to ease my burdened ears. The temperature is just right easing my passage slightly and what a relief it is, for the path is now nearly untraversable. I am constantly being forced fromt he side of the stream and it worries me.

Finally I come to a clearing and look around. I am surrounded by the beauty of nature. I take a moment to relax and enjoy the peaceful place I have discovered. I marvel at the small plants growing in the shade of the huge trees. Everywhere there is life. Things are beginning to sprout new growth after the test of winter. I marvel at the wonder of nature and all its beauty and smile. Unfortunately my watch reminds me it is time to head back. I slowly scan where I am one last time, sigh, and turn to begin the treck back.

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I had the idea to write this while I was walking down a stream (imagine that). I just felt in awe of the beauty that God had made in nature. It was a very relaxing experience. I would really have liked to write this as a poem, but a poet I am not, so I chose to use very poetic prose instead (thus the large descriptions). As with most of what I write there is a hidden meaning in this piece. If anyone figures it out they get a cookie (if I don't eat it first)

Until next time,

Godspeed

Written on my heart

2011-03-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

Hey all, so its been forever since I’ve written anything on here and I felt like I should write something, but first let me give a quick update. Just so everyone knows, I made it to Florida (for those of you who don’t know the cru band is playing at Big-Break which is a conference held in Panama city, Florida). The view from our hotel is great and I’ll post pictures later. We play for the first time tonight. Anyway, that’s about all for now. Hopefully I’ll get some recordings so you guys can hear.& Here’s what I wanted to write about.

So today I was having my morning Jesus time when I came across the passage Psalm 40:8. It reads, “I desire to do your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.” This got me to wondering, what exactly does it mean to have God’s law and word written (or contained) in our hearts.& This imagery about the law and God’s word comes up a few other times throughout the bible as well, so it must be important (I don’t have internet as I am writing this otherwise I would look the passages up). Anyway, after thinking about it for a while (aka meditating on it) I decided that, at least to me (and God seemed perfectly fine with it as well), it means that we need to love what God love and hate what God hates.

Now that seems fairly simple but there are a few things that should be noted, mostly about the hate. First let me say that this is an individual idea. In that I mean that I should love what God loves (such as the poor, everyone, myself, good works, the planet, ect.) and I should hate what God hates (i.e. sin, not helping the poor, ect.). I feel as if I am still being slightly confusing, so let me try again. When I am doing good or see someone else doing good, I should have joy well up inside of me.

The same goes for when I break or see the law being broken. I should feel disgust and hatred, maybe even fear. This especially holds true when we are committing the acts. Part of the reason I think that many people have one sin they struggle with for all time is because they know that its not good, but they don’t despise it like God does. The only reason they know that what they are doing is bad is because God’s law tells them that it is bad. They don’t have an internal dislike of what they are doing, therefore it is extremely hard for them to stop. This holds true for when we witness someone else breaking the law, however we need to be careful. We should not like it when we someone committing a sin; however, we must still love that person, even more than someone who is not living in God’s law. They need our help (either so that they can learn the law and about God, or so that if they need support [as in they already believe in God but are slipping up] we can give it to them). Basically I am saying that we should hate the act that the person is doing, but we cannot judge them (which is part of the law).

Anyway, those were just some of my thoughts on that verse, and since I haven’t written anything in a while I thought it would be good to post on here. One last thing, if everyone could just keep myself and the band in their prayers this week, and just ask that we could effectively lead worship for this conference that would be great.

Until next time,
Godspeed.

An update

2011-02-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

I figured I should probably write an update for this since I haven't in absolutely forever so here goes.

First I just want to point out that I have the most awesome girlfriend this world has ever known.

Second I want to say that school is going pretty well. Most of my classes are much easier than I once thought.

Third we've created a myspace page with live recordings from Thursday nights at Cru (I play the drums) you can find it a www.myspace.com/wvucruband .

Fourth, I'm kinda hyper right now, yay for going to the gym.

Fifth, I've been going to the gym regularly now (with the exception of last week).

Sixth, for those of you who haven't seen me since last summer, I lost weight so i'm skinnier than I was.

Seventh, umm my grandma and mom and dad are all awesome people.

Eighth I love my brother and sister.

Tenth, wait, were did nine go.......

Nine, God is an Awesome God http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLHNNyWlTio

Eleventh, I'm gonna stop now

So until next time, which will hopefully be a lot sooner than last time,
Godspeed

Night

2011-01-07T02:12:00.000-05:00

What is it about the night that causes us to lower our guards?
Why is it that we feel so vulnerable it the darkness?
Is it because we lose other senses?
Perhaps its because we are often left to our own thought.
Often I feel it is because we are creatures who need the light and therefore want companionship to make it through the dark.
Maybe its because we lower our guards because there is only us and those we invite to share in the night with us.
Maybe its because thats when the devil attacks us the most.

I don't know which of these answers or questions is true, all that I know is that the soul is vulnerable at night and desires company.

It leads us to talk about things we would never talk about in the light of day.

Hey, maybe its because we want to hide what might come out, and what better place to do it than in the darkness.

So nope, this is nothing like i normally write but then again what i normally write is written during the day. I don't really mean anything to come of this post, its just really my thoughts as they flowed out of my head. And if anyone is worried about me for something (i don't know why this post would make you worry but just in case) don't, there's no reason to worry. Heck, i'm not even worried about anything myself right now.

Anyway,
Until Next Time,
Godspeed

Christmas story (according to matthew)

2010-12-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

^{Matthew 1:8-2:12}
⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Them

2010-12-23T00:13:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of them?

No? Well thats surprising. You should have.

Are you sure you haven't heard of them?

I'm quite certain you know who they are, you just don't realize it.

Maybe if I tell you a story you'll remember.

You say you don't have time for a story?

Nonsense, it won't take but a minute.

Alright, I won't keep you long I promise.

Just for ease of telling this tale I'll refer to them as a male and a female but the gender has nothing to do with it o.k.?

Good, here we go.

He was walking down Luke street on April 15, troubling himself with the path the world was choosing. He passed many people and knew all of them by name. Many smiled and waved at him, calling out hello. Many more shouted insults at him and made obscene gestures. The largest group of all however was those who ignored them.

As he continued down the street suddenly he noticed her sitting at a coffee shop. She was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. She walked with the grace of a queen and acted in a like-wise fashion. She was perfect in his eyes and he immediately knew he had to have her. Unfortunately she was one of the ones who was ignoring him. He bided his time and decided to wait.

The next day he noticed her again, this time as she walked by him. He smiled and said hello but she just brushed on by. Again he let her go, knowing his time would come.

They passed on the next day as well, but this time he bumped into her causing her to drop the stack of papers she was carrying. Sheepishly he helped her to pick them up while apologizing profusely. She told him to pay better attention next time, turned and walked off.

They continued to pass each other day after day and she continued to ignore him as best as she could. Never once did he grow disheartened though. He even began writing a book just for her so that he could give it to her. He knew that his time would come.

One day while passing her, he noticed she was crying. He stopped and asked her why. She shouted at him to leave her alone. Her grandfather had just died and she wanted nothing to do with him. He responded that he could help her. She got up, slapped him and left.

For a long time he let her be. Allowed her to calm herself and deal with her grief however she felt was best. Then he decided the time had come to make another attempt. This time things went differently. He found her sitting on a bench sniffling again, on the brink of tears. He asked what was wrong and she said she was lonely and that she was glad he had come. She began to pour out how she had been thinking about him and how she had talked to her friends who knew him and how everyone had said that they should get to know each other. He just sat there smiling knowing he had finally won.

They talked for a long time and she apologized for all that she had done to him. She admitted that she was originally scared of him and what he might think of her. He said it was ok, most people were. She admitted how much she disliked herself. He assured her she was perfect. She said he was to good for her. He said that was nonsense. At the end of their talk he asked her if she would marry him. She was surprised at how sudden it was but she agreed.

Shortly after this conversation the couple got married. Her closest friends were there and cheered wildly for her. The ceremony was short and simple but forever locked them together. At the wedding he gave her the book and told that if she ever felt he was not with her she could go to the book to find him. She placed the book in her bag promising to remember it.

After the wedding they went on a very long honey moon. They were madly in love with each other. Never once did they fight. It was the most romantic of times. They wondered how they had ever existed without each other. As the romance continued she began to rely more and more on him filling her heart with everything that he was. She even began to read the book he had written for her, at times pouring herself into with a vigor she didn't even replicate in her studies. They also talked almost constantly during this honeymoon and the talks were always good.

Unfortunately this unbelievable love was not to last forever. Shortly after their honeymoon her mother died of cancer. She took it very hard. He tried to comfort her but she wanted nothing to do with him. She even stopped reading the book he had written for her, even though she loved it so much. She began to ignore him again and he just gave her time and space. Eventually as her wounds healed she returned to him apologizing again.

She decided to invite him to move into her house so that they could live together forever. She lived on a unique road. It was the first one to ever be named John street. Their house was the fourth one down the street but was number 8 for some reason.

After buying the house they again experienced a time of great joy where they couldn't get enough of each other. They would talk day and night and never got angry with each other. She also resumed reading the book he had given her, digging deeper and deeper into the layers it offered.

Again this was not to last. One day she lost her job and blamed it on him. She shouted horrible things at him and forced him out of the house. He was very sad and hoped dreadfully that she would allow him to return.

Three days later he returned to the house and knocked quietly. She threw the door wide open begging him to come back and live with her again. He smiled and stepped inside. She said that she was horribly sorry and begged for his forgiveness. He forgave her immediately. She said she was worried he would never return. He reminded her that as long as she had his book he would always be with her.

For a long time they continued to experience their ups and downs. Whenever something happened to her she would blame it on him and kick him out for a few days but when he would come back she would allow him home. One day he found the door locked. He looked in the window and saw her with another man. He banged on the door but she ignored him. He sat on the steps and cried for a long time. Eventually the man she was with ran from the home and she stepped out and immediately began begging for forgiveness. He forgave her immediately.

Their relationship was horribly strained. He would catch her cheating on him many more times. She would blame him for things many more times. However, he always loved her and that never changed. Whenever she allowed him to come back he was very excited.

Eventually the relationship began to even out. When something bad happened to her she would go to him for support instead of blaming him. He found her cheating on him less and less. There love also became less passionate but much more mature. In fact they loved each other more at this point than they had ever loved each other. Durring this time she began to uncover the secrets hidden in his book both by asking him and through discovering them for herself. This brought endless joy to the couple.

They grew old together that odd couple. Never once did his love for her falter. And never once did she fully kick him out of the house. A greater love was never to be found.

So, that about wraps up my story.

Haha, thanks, I like it too. Do you know who they are?

See I told you that you would know.

Alright, you can get going now, I hope you enjoyed my tale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone. Thanks for reading this. I know the style isn't the greatest but I really think that this does a great job of fulfilling its purpose. Its a love story. The greatest love story ever told. If anyone can't figure out what this is about go ahead and send me a message on facebook. There are quite a few hidden things throughout the story, so keep your eye open for them.

Until next time,
Godspeed.

That was fun

2010-12-20T01:47:00.000-05:00

So tonight (well last night since its 1:30 am) I got to go back to my high school youth group to play and hang out like old times (it was supposed to be a reunion night). I had a really fun time getting to play with my good friend Taylor again, along with Brad and getting to play with a new guy (well I've played with him before and he certainly isn't new to the music business... but anyway i digress). It was a blast and everything went really well. I also got to bust out my drumset which is always a fun occasion.

Anyway as Taylor and I were off playing ping pong and then waiting for the service to start we noticed that the room was absolutely packed which was something we were not expecting at all. I'm guessing there was probably between 60 and 70 people there, and maybe even 80. For comparison when Taylor and I left this summer we were averaging about 30-40 on a good night. I'm really happy that my youth group is growing again.

So part of the reason that I was so surprised to have discovered the large number of people there was that I honestly thought that the youth group needed to be restarted. It had gone through an immense amount of change in the last two years, numbers where declining and the last vestige of what was once the core of the youth group was graduating. I honestly could not see the youth group surviving the way that it was going but somehow it did.

I think that somehow is Adam Flora. This is probably news to Adam but I've never really gotten along with him. Its not that I didn't like him or think he was a great person, its just that he rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. I guess our personalities didn't mix well. However, after seeing what he has done with the youth group in the short time taylor and i have been away (along with the really surprising organization which is partially thanks to Andy) and a very nice conversation between myself, taylor, adam and jeff, i feel like things have changed drastically and so has Adam.

Perhaps the best indicator that Adam has changed is the way he was talking about leadership and about his own past mistakes. To me this wasn't Adam, however when he started talking about service leadership and how he had been trying to apply it in his own life my perception changed. I never used to enjoy talking to him, again i'm not entirely sure why, but this conversation was actually really good. (It was still tough to get a word in but hey, not everyone is perfect ;)

Once again I'm really happy for what has happened to my youth group and for how much Adam has matured into a good leader and a good youth pastor. This is something that i didn't expect happening for at least another year however I am very happy it has happened a lot sooner.

P.S. I've learned that writing at 1:30am doesn't always make sense, however the general jist of this is a compliment to Adam so if anything seems contradictory to that it just because i'm tired while i'm writing this.

We

2010-12-17T00:58:00.000-05:00

We ask
We think
We do
We blame

We ask why
We ask how
We ask did it have to
We ask will it last forever

We think too much
We think too little
We think if only
We think please stop

We toss
We turn
We hide
We shudder

We blame ourselves
We blame God
We blame the world
We blame another

But

Never once do we think ahead
Never once do we think back
Never once do we stop the thunder
Never once do we enlist another

yep poetry isn't for me but i was in a weird mood and felt like i had to write something and this is what came out... it honestly doesn't make sense, even to me very much, so yeah, it'll just kind of float away forever

Really?

2010-12-13T22:50:00.000-05:00

So I'm a huge Philly sports fan (well in the sports that I actually care about) and therefore one of the main things I do when I'm bored is peruse the various sporting websites looking for information about the Phillies and Flyers. Well I was making my mandatory 20th round today (since its essentially an off day with nothing to do) not expecting anything new to be there when all of a sudden I noticed this http://www.csnphilly.com/12/13/10/Phillies-among-three-finalists-to-land-C/landing_phillies.html?blockID=372509&feedID=704

I just figured it was some kind of cruel joke but decided to read it. Apparently the Phillies really are in the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes. I was pretty much amazed at this considering the Phillies were seemingly content to go into next season with what they had (and they would still be the favorites to win the nl, at least in my opinion). That would be a legendary rotation and would easily make the Phillies the favorite for both this year and next year.

Anyway, now that I'm done salivating over that piece of information here's what I actually want to talk about.

Professional sports are ridiculous with the money they give to everyone. Even the managers make upwards of 200,000 a year (more if you're on a really good team) I mean honestly these people do not deserve this obscene amount of money. What do they do that makes them worth so much? Do they change the way we view the world (nope, and the normal salary for a physicist is around 100,000) do they attempt to cure the world of disease? Nope (salaries right around 100,000 again, maybe a little higher) How about fight and die to protect our freedom? Nope. Do they put out fires? Nope?

Now don't get me wrong, some of these people do great things with their money (take jamie moyer) but many just stash it away in material wealth. What if instead of paying these players millions of dollars to play children's games they started paying to help the world. What if instead of spending millions on stadiums they spent millions on homeless shelters. What if instead of spending millions on equipment and specialized trainers they spent millions developing new technologies to help the sick.

What about a small step. What if the fans refused to watch until owners start putting a spot for charity work into their budgets.... and make it at least 10% of the overall salary. That would equate to about 15 million dollars from the phillies, and over 20 million from the red socks and yankees..... so almost 70 million a year from just three teams in just one sport.

Hey, this won't happen but I'm an idealist. Imagine how much better the world would be if this were to happen. Maybe people would actually be able to eat enough to keep from dying....

I feel sorry for all of those players who stockpile their cash.

I'll say it again--it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"

Matthew 19:24

A quick thought

2010-11-22T23:17:00.000-05:00

Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, I began to think about how nothing in life is truly free. When something in life is advertised as buy one get one free you are really just buying 2 items at half price each. When someone writes please take me on something, you have to spend your time transporting it back to your house. When a friend gives something to you, you had to put time into developing that relationship to the point where the friend is willing to give something to you. I mean, to some extent everything in this world costs at least a little bit. However, there is one thing that is free, and it is the greatest thing anywhere. It is God's love, which he freely gives to everyone, whether they believe in him or not. God's love is the only "truly unconditional" thing that is offered in our lives. God loves everyone no matter what they do. Isn't it just incredible to think that where absolutely nothing is truly free, the greatest thing we could be offered is absolutely free. Hey, we don't even deserve it and its still free.... Our God truly is an awesome god.

Tossed by the Wind

2010-11-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year I was given a verse that was supposed to be picked specifically for me. It was Ephesians 4:14-16 which reads:

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

To be entirely honest with you I had no clue what the heck this verse meant, and had no clue what it was supposed to mean to me outside of the fact that it speaks of love. In fact, to this very day I am still not entirely sure what all of this verse means or why it was picked for me. I do think that I have some understanding of it now especially the first two verses.

Verses 14 and 15 are fairly clear I feel. It actually plays on an idea from a book I had to read over the summer for college, which is horribly ironic because much of the book attacked the idea of faith. In this book the author, Carl Sagan, makes a constantly repeated (quite unnecessarily I might add) to humanity to think critically about what they are told and to not just accept things. This is a very important idea and one that really all should practice. People these days are cunning, they can quote things to make them say anything. For instance, did you know that the bible says "So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work." (Ecclesiastes 2:24). Essentially we are being told that we are to only worry about eating and drinking (which likely is referring to alcohol) all our days. This verse is essentially confirming that the way college students live (well the vast majority of them) is the correct way to live.

What I didn't tell you is that verse 24 continues on to say "Then I realized that this pleasure is from the hand of God" which drastically changes the entire meaning of the verse. It shifts from live without a care to enjoy life because God has given you many great things, and in verse twenty five the transformation is complete. It states "For who can enjoy anything apart from Him" demonstrating that we still need to remain true to God and continue our relationship with him in order for eating and drinking to be beneficial (which could provide an extraordinary solution to the average college kid's life.... but that's for another time...).

Anyway, now that I proved a point, here's how I would carry out practicing this idea of skeptical thinking.

Make sure they give you a bible verse to back it up

If they do not then its very likely that they don't actually know what they are talking about however you should still go to step 3 just to make sure that God was using someone who is new in the faith and not entirely familiar with his word yet.

If they do go and check out the verses that they used.

Make sure they gave you the full verse and check out the surrounding context of the verse. Does the verse still have the same meaning the speaker (or writer, or whoever) gave it when its placed with its neighboring scripture? If the verse doesn't mean the same thing and is an integral part of their argument then you should really start to question whether the speaker was being truthful however if its only a minor basis for their argument then you should still check out step three.

Finally, (and you really ought to do this first most of the time but oh well) look for yourself

Go to the bible, do your own research, pray about it. Ask and you will receive. I am quite confident that if you come and really search for the truth God will reveal it to you. This is a bit tedious but can really help you ensure that what you are being taught is true.

So that is my personal method for checking the validity of something that I don't think is true, however I must caution you that there is a difference between feeling that something isn't true and not wanting something to be true. Not only can others deceive you into doing things that you shouldn't, you can also deceive yourself into not doing things that you should. Remember, check all the verses, and the context of each verse, not just the verses that make what you want to be true true,

Finally, on to the last verse. I'm entirely sure what this is supposed to mean, perhaps God is planning on using it for something in my future but anyway all that I can get from it (and in this case the surrounding context isn't much help either) is that the church is referenced as the body before with Jesus the head of the church. Therefore the verse is saying that when the members of the church act in love the body of Christ will grow and spread, which I whole heartedly agree with however for some reason I still feel as if there is something more to it. I just have no clue what it is at this moment.

Until next time,
Godspeed

p.s. for anyone who is interested I posted videos of the cru worship band from last week, you can find them on my youtube profile at http://www.youtube.com/user/aliounis?feature=mhsn

Darkness

2010-10-30T23:41:00.000-04:00

Hey all, like I said i'm trying to get back into writing this story i started forever ago. I'm just gonna repost everything here since its been so long, but I am excluding chapter two right now, which is where I want to tell the story through Susan's point of view but realized that i have no clue how to think like a girl, lol, go figure. Anyway, for those of you who have read parts of this before read through again because I've done a lot of editing and changed some parts. I'm also thinking of changing the pastor scene to something else because I am beginning to have a different idea for some of the development of the story, but for now it's going to stay as it is until I think more about this other potential track.

Anyway, here you go.

btw, I really want comments and ideas, it would make my life a lot easier, and good ones, no just good job or interesting.

Intro

Darkness. An absolute void where not one ray of light penetrated. A darkness that deprives the mind not only of sight, but also of thought. That’s all there was when I first opened my eyes. At least, I thought I had opened them, but I couldn’t be sure. As I slowly began to think again I noticed the cool, hard, smooth surface plastered to my face. It almost felt like marble, but it was even smoother than it should have been. I slowly slid my hands under my shoulders and tried to push myself up. Before I was even to my hands and knees I fell back down. It felt as if I hadn’t moved in weeks. Slowly reaching outwards I tried to create a mental map of my immediate surroundings. To my right was a wall, to my left, more of the cold hard floor. The wall felt as if it was standard dry wall, painted with really cheap paint.

Chapter 1

“You’ve really got to stop this…” my wife sighed, “every time you go out, you come home with numerous injuries and an excuse that doesn’t fit.”

“I told you, it was just a little mix up at work,” I shot back as I removed the ice from my eye and winced as she began trying to clean the gash on my leg.

“Just a little mix up?! Jesus, Mark! You look as if you just got discharged from World War III. How can you call that a little mix up? And what I really want to know is how does your work cause you to get into fights? You’re a freaking cashier at Walmart. There is absolutely no reason why you should be getting into physical altercations.”

“Look, Susan, I already told you, some guy was trying to steal a camera and I chased him down. He didn’t like that and thus this happened. How was I supposed to know he had a knife?”

“Why didn’t you just call the police?”

“I did!”

“Oh, and I assume that they saw you and said ‘you look ok to me, you can go home now’ because you look just marvelous,” Susan replied. I could sense the doubt in her voice; it was always there, ever since the first incident. I wanted so bad to tell her what really was happening, that I really wasn’t a cashier at Walmart. It hurt me so much to have to lie to her like this, but I couldn’t tell. I never could. It was for her own good. If only she knew…

“I really don’t know how much more I can take of this Mark.”

“Please, just trust me,” I said as I looked into her eyes willing her to understand that I had no choice in the matter. Her eyes were mesmerizing; they could freeze over the Amazon River with their glare and melt the ice caps with their affectionate glances. Those eyes were just the tip of the beauty that was my wife. A beauty she was, the most beautiful person in the world as far as I was concerned. She had long black hair that fell to her shoulders. She had a face that everyone could love and a body that could turn heads.

The physical appearance only scratched the surface though. Susan was the most loving and caring person anyone could find anywhere on this planet. Even when she was upset or angry she still had your best interests at heart. I was so happy that we were together, in fact, I can say with certainty that it is impossible for any man to be happier with his spouse.

She shook her head and began to stand.

“Look, I told you what happened. I’m sorry if you don’t believe me but that’s what happened,” I blurted out. Oh how it pained me to have to lie to her like this. The words of my high school physics teacher briefly flashed through my mind. “Never keep a secret from your spouse. It is not a good idea.” Ack! I agreed so much with this statement, but he had never been in this situation, that much is for sure.

“Humph!” Susan replied as she stood and walked out of the kitchen. Our relationship was on its brink and nothing I could do could save it. The only reason why we were still together was for the children, and even that was beginning to lose its purpose. The children were the love of both our lives. Few people could experience the same joy I could just by hanging out with those kids. There was Joey the cowboy, and the princess Shannon. They were the pride of my life and I would do anything for them.

I decided that sitting around the house wishing things were different wasn’t helping anyone so I hopped in my 2000 Honda CR-V and shot out into the street. I had absolutely no clue where I was going, just that I needed to get out and clear my head a little. I hated it when Susan and I fought and tried to avoid fights at all costs. The times when we did fight, which was becoming more and more frequent, I usually ended up here, behind the wheel of my reliable old CR-V. That car probably shared more moments with me than anything else in my life. It was my place to escape to, my safe house.

I started to reflect back on the last few years. My marriage had taken a turn for the worse shortly after that one fateful night. That one night is where all of this trouble began, where my life changed forever, for the better or worst. That night and that man, that man who first intro….

“HONNNNKKKK!!!!” My thoughts were interrupted by an angry driver behind me. I had been day dreaming at a stop light again. I quickly started through the intersection and turned off into the next driveway I saw as the other car sped around me. I began to look around and tried to figure out just where I had taken myself this time. I quickly came to realize that I was in the neighborhood where my good friend John lived. John also happened to be my pastor. I decided to drop by and see if he was around. It always helped me to talk to him.

John was a very ecstatic and energetic man. He was also very simple. He lived in a small rural house that was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. It had plain white siding and very standard looking windows. The steps leading up to the front door, which was some faded and dirtied color that I think used to be blue but now looked off-white, were made of concrete and had cracks where they met.

“Ding-Dong” the doorbell sounded. It was the most standard sound for a doorbell, and it fit John perfectly.

“Mark!” John exclaimed as he threw wide the door. We embraced and then I was whisked inside. “How have you been? Ohh I see you have been having more adventures, you must tell me everything. We haven’t talked since Sunday, where have you been?” John asked as he ushered me into his giant overstuffed armchair that had was now under stuffed.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” I replied as I fiddled with a piece of the now almost nonexistent stuffing I had noticed sticking out of one of the seams.

“Yeah, whatever. All that bologna about ‘it’s top secret’ and ‘No one can know.’ I don’t believe any of it…” John said with a grin and a wink. I forced a half smile in return. “So how’s things between you and God?” John continued as he grabbed a chair from his kitchen table.

“O.K.” I replied.

“Been watching anything you shouldn’t?”

“Nope.”

As John continued through the standard accountability questions I began to dread more and more the last question he would ask. It was always a sore spot in our meetings. Then it arrived.

“Been reading your bible?” John asked with raised eyebrows.

“Ahem… Well… Umm…. No not really,” I conceded.

“Oh really? And why is that?”

“You know why!” This conversation had occurred so many times before that I had lost count. John just sat staring at me waiting for my answer. I sat there and glared back. The tension in the room was beginning to increase rapidly. Finally I gave in.

“I haven’t had time with work,” I grunted.

“So you’ve told me… Is that really a good answer?”

“It is the answer, what can I do to fix it? Nothing!”

“So you are trying to tell me that your job is more important than God?”

“No! That’s…”

“Ohh but it is. You are placing your mysterious job in front of something God wants you to do. You are stating that God is less important than your work.”

“What the heck am I supposed to do? I have a wife and three kids that I need to support. I can’t just quit!”

“Ahh, your wife, that would be why you are really here today, isn’t it. You are not just taking from God; you are taking away from her because you are never around, never tell her anything, and are always storming off.” John had this uncanny ability to know just why people came to him and a sometimes annoying habit of jumping from topic to topic. “I’m worried Mark,” John continued after a pause, “I have a feeling that your world is about to be rocked more than you can imagine. God is going to try and get your attention if you don’t change and you will not like it.”

A break in the conversation occurred. I contemplated what John had just told me. Eventually I decided to play it off as him just worrying about me.

“So will I be seeing you this Sunday morning? Mitchell is leading an awesome worship set,” John started again.

“If everything goes as planned I’ll be there.”

“That’s good, I think you’ll find something in the sermon as well.”

“Oh really? What’s it about?”

“Come on Sunday and you’ll find out.”

“You can be so difficult, you know that?”

John just flashed that smile of his and replied, “I try my best.” At this we both shared a good laugh. “Hey, have you eaten yet? Where are my manners, I have a guest and still haven’t offered him any food,” John suddenly exclaimed.

“Actually, I am pretty hungry. I haven’t eaten since last night, but I really must be going. I think I’ll just pick up something on the way home.”

“Oh nonsense! You will stay and eat with me unless you can provide a real excuse, I’m making pierogis,” John said almost teasingly.

“No fair, you know I can’t resist you’re homemade pierogis,” I laughed out.

“Good, good. Make yourself at home, they’ll be done shortly.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thanks for dinner John!” I called over my shoulder as I went to start my car.

“Oh, anytime Mark, you know you’re always welcome here.” He called back. “Read your bible, and come to church on Sunday!”

“I’ll do my best,” I shouted back as I began to close the door.

“No more ex…:” was all that I could hear as the door closed. I just smiled and waved and then turned to back out the driveway. When I was on the road I waved once more to John and began to pull away. In the corner of my rearview mirror I watched as John slowly shook his head and returned inside. I knew he was very worried about me but he could never understand fully what I had to do and why I had to do it. Heck, I barely understood most of it. I just knew that if I didn’t “HONKKKK!!!!”

I had been day dreaming at a red light again apparently. I glanced in my rearview and went to wave an apology when I noticed…..

“Already? There can’t be something else already. No, it just can’t be!” was all I could think. “HONKKK!!!!” He was impatient this time, which wasn’t good. Not good at all.

I swung off into the side street hoping that I was mistaken, hoping to God that the black Mercedes behind me was just some especially restless driver who wanted to get going. As soon as he turned into the street I knew that my hope was unfulfilled. He pulled in front of me and opened the door.

Chapter 2

To be written later....

Chapter 3

“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock”

Time was counting down and the obscenely loud clock in the otherwise penetrating silence continuously reminded me of this. Suddenly I heard a loud snore coming from the bedroom right above my head and knew it was time to go.

I quickly began to creep up the stairs staying towards the outside so as to keep them from creaking. I had no clue why all my objectives had to be in older houses but it always made things a lot more difficult. At the top of the stairs I quickly slipped around the left corner of the walls into the small blind spot missed by the security camera that was supposedly situated directly above my head right now, or at least so I was told. I stole a quick glance above me to confirm and sure enough there was the camera pointing down the hall.

I reached up a very carefully stuck a small receiver onto the back of the camera. “It’s a go Mingus,” I quietly whispered into the mic tucked onto the collar of my shirt.

“You’re good in three…. two…. You’ve got 30 seconds, go!” crackled in through my ear piece.

I sure hoped this man was right, heck, I didn’t even have a clue where or who Mingus was. Every member of the team was hidden from all others, and the team was always different. No one even knew the overall mission except for whoever was in charge. I had no clue what was going on, though I had a hunch that each and every “objective” I received was just a small part of some overall project. About the only thing I knew was that about one year ago a man came up to me and told me that if I wanted to keep my wife and children from harm, and pay off those debts that I needed to do everything he said.

“What the …. are you doing, …. down to … seconds, get a move on … gonna blow it!“ crackled through my earpiece. Dang it, I had lost focus again. I always had to make things difficult on myself. I quickly moved down the hallway as silently as possible “6 … 4 …” came through again and I broke into a sprint. Silence was no longer the utmost priority. “2 … 1” and I was through the door trying to breathe as quietly as possible. I knew that from this point forward I was on my own, Mingus was probably quickly packing up and getting ready to leave already, his part of the mission was done. All I had to do was grab some small ring that whoever was sleeping in front of me kept on their bed stand. All I was told was that it’s made out of pure gold so it will feel very heavy for its size and could be easily misshapen.

I silently crept towards the table and grabbed the ring which was placed on one of those fake fingers you see in jewelry stores. I then slid over to the window and searched to make sure that there were no security devices. I was in luck, and slowly slid open the window and stuck my head outside. I knew that there should be a camera directly below me and “mew.”

What was that? I quickly scanned the room, saw nothing and figured it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I returned to canvassing the ground below me. There was another blind spot at the corner directly to my left and then a small area where I could run until I was in bushes and home-free. I leaned out a little farther to look and see if there was anyway to get over to where I needed to but had to quickly stop to wipe my nose on my sleeve. No need to leave DNA. I once again leaned out when I felt something brush against my leg and heard “mew” once again.

I immediately knew I was in deep trouble. I looked down and there was a cat between my legs. I immediately felt a sneeze coming on (I was horribly allergic to cats). Grabbing my nose I frantically began my search trying to use my mind to keep the sneeze at bay. It was no use and I let out a muffled sneeze. The man in the bed rolled over, grunted, and resumed snoring. Praising my good fortunes I quickly reached out and grabbed the hand hold I had seen and began to ease myself out of the window when I again felt something hit my leg, except this time it wasn’t the cat. I turned and watched as the vase that was sitting next to the window began to wobble and finally fell to the floor with a crash.

“Ahh, wha…, who’s there!” exclaimed the man as he hurriedly sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes.

It was go time. I flung myself from the window and aimed for the pool that was two stories below me hoping that it was a very deep one. I landed feet first and plunged under and hit the bottom hard. I felt a sharp pain flare up the side of my leg but still managed to push myself back to the surface. I swam to the edge with the sound of the alarm going off behind me. As I pulled myself I got up and limped as fast as I could towards the bushes directly in front of me. I heard shouts and saw lights sweeping back and forth from behind me. Finally I reached the bushes and jumped up onto the fence and began climbing.

“Hey stop!” I heard followed by a loud boom of a gun-shot. I was in trouble. These people meant business. I hurried up the fence and dropped down on to the other side, collapsing in a heap as I landed on my bad leg. I quickly rolled into the next row of bushes and then crept off on hands and Knees as best as I could manage, having to take cover about every five minutes as they canvassed the area searching for me. Finally after about an hour they stopped searching and I was able to make it to the road where I hopped into the Beemer that had been given to me to use and sped off to the drop off location.

No clue where this is going

2010-10-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

So I'm bored and my roommate is in bed trying to sleep before me for the first time all year. i have no clue what i'm going to write about so i guess we'll see where this ends up. Just so y'all know, I've resumed trying to write that story i started about a year ago. Actually just gave up on writing more for the night because I've realized that i have no clue how girls think, and thus either have to change how i'm going to develop the plot or find a girl who wants to help me.

Anyway, I really enjoy writing this blog, but am totally out of ideas on what to write about. I tried doing a study on revelation but having to write about it just takes all the fun out.. (I have half of the post I was writing about chapter 1 done and saved as a draft... I started it about a week ago, lol) So, if anyone has any ideas on what to write about, give 'em to me, I'd love to hear about em.

Lets see... well I guess I'll just turn this into an update post. Morgantown is wild tonight because we managed to lose our homecoming game (they would've been wild if we won too but thats a different story) I actually think that there was just a fight outside my window. Outside of that, this place really is pretty awesome looking in the fall. I'm not normally one who enjoys the changing colors of the leaves, its just another season, but hear, it just created "kodak picture spot" after "kodak picture spot" (thats from the little signs in amusement parks that tell you to take a picture here because its awesome, lol). I wish I had the time to walk around and take a picture of everything but unfortunately i'm too busy and i forgot the charger to my camera at home (twice).

Keeping up with the add of this post, I'm really enjoying being in the cru band. Its a lot of fun, and they still want me to play loud (and even ask for me in the monitors at times... lol). In fact, I play so loud here I go through at least a pair of sticks a week (two this past week) which is not necessarily a good thing since sticks have become so expensive. I've also gotten them to play a jordan howerton band song this week, which should rock, haha.

Speaking of music, I just want to say that i'm gonna miss jazz band this year. It was a ton of fun last year and i think that everyone would agree. I also would like to extend a congrats to SFHS on winning chapter three championships last night (about three hours ago I think).

Neither the yankees or phillies are in the WS just like I predicted before the lcs started.

I'm going to see the Pitt Symphony Orchestra today, which is awesome, and am going to play for a church right before that (which is in about 8 hours).

Classes are still going well, I got a 91 on my History test, and have scheduled classes for next semester.

Well, since i have to be up in 7 hours I guess i should be gettin to sleep. I can't wait to see everyone from home over thanksgiving break.

God speed,
Andrew Liounis

Pride

2010-09-19T23:06:00.000-04:00

In the bible nothing is more difficult to understand than the stance on pride. Absolutely everyone has experienced pride in their lives. I mean, there is probably no one who could honestly say that at no point in their life have they thought to at least themselves, that was really good, and I did it. This is extremely troubling because in the bible being prideful about oneself is essentially prohibited. Take for instance just this small sampling of verses talking about pride.

Proverbs 16:18-19 (18) Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (19) Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.

Proverbs 8:13 (13) To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Psalm 10:4 (4) In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

1 Corinthians 4:7 (7) For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

I mean, there's some pretty strong language in there. Its clearly obvious the pride does not sit well with God, and is in fact the reason the Lucifer was cast from Heaven to the earth and reduced to the devil. That's really troubling, considering the fact that none of us have lived a life without pride, and almost everyone continues to feel proud at various times throughout their life. There is seemingly no way to stop it either. I mean how can you change something that is seemingly at the very essence of what makes us human. ITo be proud we are told is a good thing according to popular culture and by the government (And I'm proud to be an American....).

I asked this question to Brendon Foulke a while ago (he's a pretty awesome guy, so if you ever meet him get to know him) and he responded with this:

"well its not that pride is bad all the time, to be prideful in your band is perfectly ok, but to take that pride and let it go to your head, where you make it bigger than it should be that is when it gets into being a problem.
and you should take pride in your work, because if you didnt take pride in your work, you probably would never really want to put your heart in it. The bible also says that you need to put your heart into what you do, and to do everything you do with all your heart. So i think that pride in a good way is ok, but when you let it get to your head and you start acting like you are hot stuff, thats when it becomes a sin. So ya be proud and prideful in your band, just dont let it get in between you and God, and your witness to other people."

I think thats a pretty good response and can really pretty much help anyone out there struggling with pride, however, I recently decided to dig deeper. i definitely agree with Brendon, some forms of pride are good, and we should always "take pride in our work" because we want it to be the best it can be. However, that pride can't be coming from the typical perspective. We need to take pride in our work so that it can better glorify God. I determined that from 2 Corinthians 10:13 (13) We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you.

I also came up with one more conclusion on pride. For pride about a talent we have, or perhaps something we own (aka materialism), or a child of yours (i obviously do not have a child yet), or anything else similar to those we must again redirect it to God, because guess what, God allowed whatever it was to happen, or gave you the talent, or made it possible for you to give birth. This idea is reflected in the verse 1 Corinthian 4:7 (7) For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

So, in conclusion, next time you feel pride coming on, remember A) to make sure that by doing whatever it is you're doing is glorifying God and if it is then take pride in what you are doing to better glorify Him (and if its not, well then you probably shouldn't be doing it anyway and you almost certainly shouldn't be proud of whatever it is), and B) remember that whatever it is you are proud of was given to you from God. Oh, and one more thing, being proud of God is never a bad thing ;).

Until next time,
Godspeed

PS: for my first conclusion bringing glory to God can occur in many different ways, a lot that you wouldn't think of. For instance playing a sport could be used to bring glory to God (you are one of his creations) or playing an instrument, or writing, or dancing, or almost anything.

Who Would've Thunk It

2010-09-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

At the urging of taylor i have decided to post this. For once I'm not really lookin for comments, this is what it is. Just a warning this is extremely long, like a 10-20 minute read long so, good luck

Written 9/10/10

Hey everyone, its been such a long time since I've used this. I really doubt I'm going to post regularly anymore so the two of you out there that enjoyed reading this, sorry but I just don't have a lot to say anymore. Anyway, there are a lot of things I would like to talk about in this post. (Note, this is a much more personal post than what y'all are used to, so if you don't really know me a lot might not make sense, plus its really really long).

First up let me detail a little of what happened in the long time since I last posted.

I moved. Thats right, I no longer reside in Oaks, now my mom lives in Limerick and my dad lives in Royersford.

I was successful with my staying off of the computer and only began using it again around the start of August. It was a good experience and helped me achieve much of what I wanted to but not all of it. If you want to know more you can talk to me in person some time and I'd be glad to share.

I went to the outer banks with my best friends from high school and had an awesome time. (there's a lot of pictures of sunsets on my facebook page from there, haha, ask papa todd about that if you know him)

Finally I've moved into college and been here for about 3 weeks

That final point brings me to the next section. I currently can't believe where I'm at with my faith right now. Those of you who know me and know the reputation WVU has might be thinking that I'm in a world of doubt, however that couldn't be more wrong. And honestly that fact surprises me a lot. Right before leaving for college I was in a horrible place spiritually. I honestly felt like I was going to lose my fait within the first month of school here at WVU. I doubted that God even existed, the first time I can say that in my life. It was bad, and to make matters worse the summer reading book I was frantically reading was very anti-god for most of it and made some convincing arguments (though now I realize none had any facts to back them up, only emotional appeal).

Honestly I had been that way for some time, perhaps even before PCTC. Thats one of the main reasons I wanted to go to PCTC, was to try and rejuvenate my faith enough to make it to CIY where I could fully recharge (I know I sound exactly like what the CIY speakers and Brendo, Matt, and Adam always talk about avoiding but I was desperate). PCTC came and went and really didn't do a lot for me, though it did make me think that the bible study we were starting with John Noonan would actually help a lot with my declining faith as well.

Unfortunately the bible study fell apart so I began to hold on until CIY rolled around. During this time I had to fill out a ton of crap for college and somehow managed to forget to pick a date for my orientation. Luckily I could still sign up, but there was a major problem. The only available orientation session was on the Monday that CIY started. There was no way around it so I had to sign up for that date. Eventually my parents agreed to let me go to CIY after the orientation session (we hadn't picked how yet but we had options).

So anyway, I was stoked because it was getting close to CIY then one day while having our Jesus time for student band Scott (or Adam?) came in and said that they had some news to tell us. When my friend Taylor asked if it was good or bad, we got a "it depends" which of course is never good. I figured that someone was leaving again to go to another church. Taylor guessed that CIY was cancelled. He was closer. CIY was being moved to a later date and a closer location because the church couldn't afford to send us out to michigan where we planned to go.

Personally I thought that it sucked because I was really looking forward to the band that was going to be at michigan but overall I still knew it would be awesome no matter where we went. Then things started to happen. No one was going to CIY (that I knew). Not a single one of my close friends wanted to go. I don't know why, you'll have to ask them (though I suspect it was because they were really upset with the ministry for reasons I'll never understand). Now I had a major decision to make. I couldn't decide whether to go to CIY or not. To me CIY was about the worship and fellowship and if you take away the fellowship then even the worship leaves a sour taste. I mean, I would have known almost no one. Eventually I decided that with no one going (not even Scrussle (who had a semi-legitimate excuse) or Noonan (who had a legitimate excuse) were going) it would not be able to have the same effect it normally would so i begrudgingly decided to not go.

At this point I was really worried, my faith was disappearing more every day, I was in the midst of a move that saw me leave the only house I had memories in (that I actually lived in), and I was having being buffeted by all of the crap I had to do for college. I also began to realize at this time that my closest friends and I were not as close as we all liked to think. Don't get me wrong, we all loved each other (in a platonic way) and any one of us would do something for anyone else, but that deep relationship was missing. The one where absolutely nothing is hidden between people. This type of relationship was almost entirely missing from our group.

So anyway there I was, feeling alone, loosing my faith (which is the foundation for my morals) and going to one of the biggest party schools the world has to offer. I was dreadfully afraid that WVU would be the end of my belief in God and even got to a point where I accepted it and, dare I say it, looked forward to no longer having such a strict moral code to adhere to. Those moments, leading up to the day I left where the absolute closest I've ever been to becoming an atheist.

Anyway, I got here to WVU and figured that I would hold on as best I could and as long as I could to the one thing that most defined my life up to this point. I didn't expect to last long but I figured I'd give it a try. On the third day we were there (or something like that) the school had a picnic dinner for freshman.

At the dinner some of the groups on campus set up booths that you could visit. I was wandering around looking at the booths (looking for the frisbee team) when I saw something called CRU (Campus Crusades for Christ). I figured I would go check out what it was because not much else was happening and I found out that they were a Christian group that met on thursday nights. I asked one of the people at the booth what they normally did and they said that they normally had some worship then a lesson and then some more worship. It sounded a lot like what we did at Riot before moving to the warehouse so I figured I would check it out to see if I would like it. As I continued wandering I came up to another group called MCM (Mountain Campus Ministries) who gave me a free chicken sandwhich card from chick-fil-a (of course :D). I asked them what they were normally like and got pretty much the same description as from CRU (except they met tuesdays). I figured I would go check them out as well and maybe decide between the two and see if either was worth my time (remember I am still on the brink of giving up my faith at this point).

Well I went to MCM first (because tuesday comes before thursday) and met some really cool people. There were about 15 people or so and it reminded me of when we used to meet in the office at CCV. Everyone there was very accepting and it was kind of refreshing to experience such a small group again after so long. Anyway I went back to my dorm that night and figured I would wait until thursday to decide. (I'm pretty sure that all of the people at MCM thought I would never come back, and for a little bit I'll admit that I let at least Shane believe that).

Anyway, on thursday I went to CRU and was pretty surprised, they had like 300 people there (or so I'm told, and it looked like it) and had a live band just like at CCV. I had a lot of fun and even talked to the worship leader about joining the band even though I hadn't fully decided if I was going to come.

Anyway on that Friday I figured I would go to both for a while. And here's where the title of this post comes from. Somehow, during all the courses, and all the homework, and everything else that a freshman has to deal with I noticed that I wasn't as worried that my faith wasn't going to collapse anymore. Then I got thrown into the worship band at CRU because they didn't have a drummer for the next week, and at the first practice I had a lot of fun and felt close to God again for the first time in forever. Now I'm at a place in my faith where I haven't been in nearly two years, and feel as close to God as I ever had. I'm also playing at CRU again next week which will be a lot of fun again (especially since they have a drum shield and let me play as loud as I want :D(I even got told to play louder at times... I can't remember the last time I've been told that for a worship band)).

So, who would've thunk it. I came to one of the biggest party schools on this planet with my fait in shambles and now somehow its better than its ever been before. Go figure, I guess man truly never will understand the ways of God.

Anyway, this is a pretty personal post, as I'm sure y'all could tell. And I am planning on doing one like I used to in the near future just for my buddy Talon but haven't decided what it'll be about yet.

So until next time,

Godspeed

Diving In, Unplugged - Post #1

2010-03-19T14:54:00.006-04:00

From Andrew:

So yeah, I lied and suck at following through. Not at the overall theme of what I'm doing, but at writing a weekly thinger like I said I would. So here's my first one, almost three weeks in. First, thanks to Matt who is going to be typing these up and posting them for me (when I ever get them done Xp).

Any way, into the good stuff. Staying off the computer has been easier than anticipated. I have only had to use it once for school. The hardest parts of my plan have been sticking to working out and reading the Bible. Working out isn't difficult because I'm motivated, it's more of a lack of time. I've also hurt my knee from running (well I don't know if its hurt or if it just hurts, so I'm gonna try using a knee brace). The Bible reading has been is more of a lack of motivation. I've been doing it at 10:30, but a lot of times I start watching a show at 10, and hate having to leave it. I also don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it, so that makes it even harder. Anyways, that's about everything for now.

In other news, I think I am going to West Virginia University this fall. Thats about all the other news I can thing of so I'll leave it at that.

Until next time, Godspeed.

Diving in Unplugged

2010-02-28T17:11:00.000-05:00

Alright everyone, here’s the plan.

I’ve decided that I spend entirely way too much time on the computer. Basically whenever I’m not doing something I am on the computer. So I’ve decided that it’s time to change that. Here’s how it’s gonna happen. Starting tomorrow, the first of March, I’m giving up my computer (figuratively). I will not allow myself to use it for one month. When that month is done I will re-evaluate and decide on my plan for the next month. Here are the rules:

I will not use the computer and will leave it turned off and in its bag behind the chair I sit in.
Unfortunately due to the fact that I am in high school and am in the process of getting ready for college I may need to use a computer to write papers and or do research. This will be acceptable only if I cannot do what I need to in school.

a. Should this be necessary I will only use the internet for research, and will not go on any other sites, such as facebook or myspace or anything else.

b. I will also allow myself to update my ipod once a month from my computer, preferably during one of the times when I have to use it to type up a paper.

I will not be allowed to access the internet on my phone, except to check my email once every other day

a. Again this is because I am applying to college and need to be able to keep in touch with them

I will occasionally use my phone to update this blog with a short blurb about how things are going (through a text message)

a. About 3 times a week hopefully

I will not be able to use the instant messenger on my phone (but I can still text)

So with my stoppage of computer use I will have a lot more free time. In order to deal with that, and the boredom associated with it I will

· Read the bible/pray nightly for at least 30 minutes

· Do my homework even if it is not required

· Practice for at least 30 mins (if I get home before my siblings are in bed)

· Begin working out and getting in shape

Should I still have more free time I will

· Start reading more, I’ve gotten away from it a lot because I’ve been on the computer

· Watch a little tv (no more than 2 hours a day, unless of course the flyers or Phillies are playing)

· Play video games (again not for more than an hour or so)

Already then, here’s how this is all gonna work. I’m going to separate the necessary things for my computer. The actual computer will be in its bag behind my chair. The battery will be in my room somewhere and I’ll put the charge cord in the basement somewhere so that I can’t just grab it and start it up without thinking. I am also going to have my small group (which will be starting on tuesday!!!!) hold me accountable to everything I’ve laid out here. They will ask me at least once a week at small group (and if they remember in person) If I’ve kept up with it (which I plan too). At the end of the month I will re-evaluate and adjust any of the rules, and any of the ways that I will be using my free time.

This is gonna be difficult but it should be fun to see how much I am changed by this and how much I will grow in my relationship with God. If anyone has any suggestions of what to read or changes I should make send me a text. If you don’t have my number but are my facebook friend it should be on there. So goodbye cyberspace!

Another note, I'm changing the name of the blog to Diving in, Unplugged because that will now be its primary purpose. It will be a place where any updates about this I have will be sent. I am contemplating writing a review once a week on paper and then at the end of the month typing it up (or maybe giving someone else access to the blog and let them type it up). So you guys won't have to hear about how I feel that love is the foundation for living anymore ;)

Sappy moment for the year.

2010-02-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

So everyone, this is my sappy moment for the year.

Tomorrow is Worship Night at CCV. The band has been practicing quite literally for months. the techies (mainly matt) have been preparing nearly as long. Tomorrow night everything we've worked for comes to fruition. While I was downstairs repacking my drums after my final alone run-through I had my songs blasting through my ipod singing out of key and just being happy. Tomorrow is going to be great no matter what happens.

this is especially for the band and tech members.

We all have reason to be angry/anxious going into tomorrow. For some we're feeling that way because of worship night and everything that is happening and has happened. I'll admit I was very angry at some of the practices because I felt like not everyone was pulling their own weight. but honestly, how can we be angry? We're getting together to worship the most kind and loving God. We're not here for personal gains, to make ourself seem bigger than we are. And I think thats why some of us have gotten angry (myself included). I really think that we made this more about ourselves than we should have, I know I did. But I realized that this isn't about me, its not about us in the band, its not about the tech team, is not about CCV, its not even about the people who will be attending. This night is all about God and how amazing he is. As I let go my anger built up over the last few weeks I started really getting into my music. I sang (out of key) hummed, air drummed, and smiled. I felt the same excitement that I get right before I leave for CIY. thats what we all need to feel. That excitement that we are allowed to sing/play/do lights/run sound/do whatever it is for such an amazing God. Even if no one shows up tomorrow there should still be so much energy that the walls fall down (figuratively) because there will still be at least 12 of us worshiping the God that we all love. some of you may say that we're not the ones worshiping but we are. God has given each and everyone of us these gifts so that we can praise His name for ever.

Guys, tomorrows gonna be awesome!!!!!!!!

Faith like a child

2010-02-11T22:44:00.002-05:00

So yeah, i haven't posted in ages.... and i'm gonna try and start blogging again but i can't promise anything. Life has been and will continue to be crazy with college and school. However, with two massive snowstorms in less than a week resulting in no school the past two days and off tomorrow for in-service I'm pretty bored and had an idea of something to write about. Today I was outside playing in the snow, making snowmen, having snowball fights, and of course sledding. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of my childhood when snow was awesome not because we could get out from school but because it was so much fun to play in. This reminded me of a verse, Matthew 18.3. Thats right, for those of you who know the bible well this is the faith like a child verse.

Then he said, "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now what did God(Jesus) mean by this? Well the first part is simple, turn from your sins, always a good thing to do. The become as little children is a little more difficult. i see two possible explanations that are similar but have slightly different meanings. The first is that He wants us to have the faith of children. If you've ever talked to a child you know what this faith is. Anything someone they respect tells them must be true. They full heartedly believe what it is that they are told is true. Warning if you have younger children make sure they aren't reading anymore.

Take Santa for example. We tell children that he flies around the world delivering presents to every good boy and girl and they believe it until they are told otherwise by someone they respect just as much as the person who first told them. This is a great example of unquestioning belief that Jesus could be talking about. However I don't feel as if this fits really well. Two mentors of mine have actually encouraged questioning your faith. They say that this makes it your own and strengthens your faith so that even in the bad times you'll still have it. I happen to agree with both of these people, and though i can't think of any verses backing this up I feel that God feels the same way.

The only other explanation I can come up with then is that God intends for us to love him like a child. (yeah, here I go again about the love thing). Working with three year olds every other Sunday morning gives me a first hand look at the love of a child. The kids always want to talk about their parents, and how great they are, and when their parents come to pick them up they leap up and run to them because they can't wait to tell them about their day. I think that this is what Jesus means with his child analogy. He wants us to love him like children love their parents. He wants us to talk about him to everyone. He wants us to run towards him. He wants us to yell when we realize hes always with us. I believe that this is the love that God envisions us having for him, and in turn i believe that this is the love that he has for us (well he's the parent who loves his child).

Anyway, as you could probably tell i'm just as unorganized as ever. Anyway, here's to hoping that I keep on posting this time, even if the odds are against me.

btw, everyone should check out the Live. Loud. album from the Jordan Howerton Band. It quite literally is just as good as, if not better than, the albums that brewster, tomlin, and crowder put out.

Until next time,

live like a child

Stage Fright

2009-09-14T22:23:00.002-04:00

What is it about the stage that scares some people to death? Is it the fact that you become part of the center of attention? Is it the fact that everything you do comes under the scrutiny of many more people than normal? Maybe its the fact that we don't trust ourselves. To be honest with you, I have no clue why people are so scared. I could care less if I'm up on stage. When I am on stage, I'm crazy, I have fun, and if people think I'm weird, well good, I am...

The real reason for the post is that I love to drum. When I'm up there I have fun, I don't care what other people think. Again, why is drumming so much fun, I don't know, it just is. It makes me really happy. To be honest there's no reason why it should. I mean, you're beating a bunch of round things, two year olds do that (granted, without the intensity I do). There's just something about it thats appealing. To be able to play the drums is an awesome experience.

James 1:22-27

2009-09-12T21:15:00.001-04:00

Here's some interesting (self explanatory) verses from the book of James that kind of fall along my line of thinking.

Enjoy

²² But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

²⁶ If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. ²⁷ Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

The Mentalist

2009-09-10T22:52:00.002-04:00

If you haven't seen CBS's new show The Mentalist then you're missing out. Its really awesome, especially the main character Jane. He's some sort of super genius who solves crimes. Jane is just different. People notice that about him. In fact there is no doubt that he is undeniably different, and better than most people. Thats what we as Christians need to be. We need to be so different from the normal people in this world that we stand out. We need to live our lives so devoted to God that people can't help but notice that we have something they don't.

Another interesting thing about Jane that applies to Christianity is that he can become whatever is needed using his smarts. We also need to be able to do that. Paul became what the people who he was trying to convert needed him to be.

Anyway, that was just another brief one. Eventually I will try to get back to longer stuff and to writing more of my book.

Another Update

2009-09-09T22:18:00.003-04:00

Alright, here's another update on my life.

First, I've started College applications. I'm pretty sure I'm applying to Carnegie Mellon, University of Pitt, Elon, WVU, Grove City, Messiah, and possibly (depending on the price of applying) John's Hopkins or Princeton, just to see if I can get in.

Second, I've been reading a magazine in the library called Scientific America (or science something it says Origins on the front). Its really interesting (though I don't agree with everything, especially the part about the origins of the Universe) and if you go to Spring-ford I would recomend it.

Finally, I've noticed something. High school seems to be the time when people really make their faith their own. I know a lot of people who are "active" Christians who don't go to my church. Before high school I couldn't really say that. The oposite is also true however, I know a lot more full blown aetheists now as well. Once again, just something I noticed.

In closing, to all my friends worrying about college, or other stuff, a quick verse for you.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

Matthew 6:34

btw, to those of you who read this as a facebook note, this comes from my blog drummingandrew.blogspot.com, and I would greatly appreciate it if you went there to read it, or leave a comment here, just so I know how many people actually read what I write.

Get off the couch and get in the game

2009-09-06T11:40:00.004-04:00

Recently while on facebook I saw that a friend of mine had become a fan of Christianity. I too clicked become a fan. Something struck me then, perhaps this is why Christianity has become stagnant. Too many people are too busy being fans. They want to sit on the sideline and cheer it on. They have good intentions but really don't do anything for their "team." For Christianity to help this world in the way it should, we need more than a small group of people everyone else cheers on. We need everyone to get involved in some way or another. As Christians we need to "get off the couch and get in the game" as one commercial fondly tells us. We need to be the players in this game, we need to be the team.

Anyway, that was just some quick thoughts. It wasn't the best post i've done but I definitely think it has some good points.

100

2009-09-04T23:23:00.002-04:00

so yeah, this is my 100th post. Yay... haha

If you're ever bored and want something to think about (well a lot of things) read a chapter of Proverbs. every verse has something to offer. Here's a chapter i read this morning.

Proverbs 18
1 Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense.
2 Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.
3 Doing wrong leads to disgrace, and scandalous behavior brings contempt.
4 Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.
5 It is not right to acquit the guilty or deny justice to the innocent.
6 Fools’ words get them into constant quarrels; they are asking for a beating.
7 The mouths of fools are their ruin; they trap themselves with their lips.
8 Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.
9 A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.
10 The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.
11 The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.
12 Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor.
13 Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.
14 The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?
15 Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.
16 Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people!
17 The first to speak in court sounds right— until the cross-examination begins.
18 Flipping a coin[a] can end arguments; it settles disputes between powerful opponents.
19 An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.
20 Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction.
21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
22 The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.
23 The poor plead for mercy; the rich answer with insults.
24 There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

Tomorrow

2009-09-02T21:53:00.003-04:00

Hey all,
Tomorrow the Spring-Ford High School Marching Band is having their preview night along with the middle school at the football field. It starts around 6ish. the High school should have all of their 48 pages of drill for the opener prepared (the largest we've had for an opener). Come on out and see us perform

My Bucket list

2009-09-01T21:49:00.001-04:00

A list of things I want to do before I die.

Go sky-diving

Go diving

Go on multiple out of country mission trips

Attend a Flyers and Phillies playoff game

Go rock climbing on actual rocks (not in a rock gym)

Learn how to surf

See our church's campus completed

Play on a large scale stage with a rock band (will already be doing it with our wind ensemble :) )

Get married and have children

Thats about all I can think of right now, anything you'd like to do? leave a comment

Whats up

2009-08-31T22:01:00.002-04:00

Hey again, I thought I'd just give a brief update. My computer is still dead so its still gonna be a while before I get back to regular posts.

In other news school started again today, and it felt odly similar to last year. Thats probably because the order of my schedule, and many of the teachers are the same. I have 15 study halls first semester but only 1 second, which stinks... I was hoping they could split my dc stuff but nope. Ohh well, at least this half of the year will go easy.

I also think I've decided to just go with engineering as a major, because if I decide its not for me I've been told its easier to switch from it than it is to switch to it. Now for college searching and applications, good thing I have lots of study halls with Ms. Demeno.

One good thing about this year is that i know quite a few people in every class despite the fact that many of them are smaller than normal. Jared (and matt) is in my gym class, so get ready to be dominated for ultimate frisbee.

Anyway, I'll leave off there, talk to you all later.

Just so you know

2009-08-24T20:59:00.000-04:00

My hard drive had decided to terminate its own life again..... thus I am computerless and probably will be for a while. That means I'll be doing little posting because the only workable computer left in our house is my mom's and she uses it quite often.

Pray that my hard drive goes straight to hard drive hell....

until next time

always say hi to passing monkeys

I lied

2009-08-20T14:02:00.002-04:00

So I lied. Last night I said i wouldn't be doing anything with that story for a while. You know what happened, this morning, after being awakened by a coworker because my boss never gave him the key, I decided to work on it for a little. Here it is.

“Ahh, your wife, that would be why you are really here today, isn’t it. You are not just taking from God; you are taking away from her because you are never around, never tell her anything, and are always storming off.” John had this uncanny ability to know just why people came to him. “I’m worried Mark,” John continued after a pause, “I have a feeling that your world is about to be rocked more than you can imagine. God is going to try and get your attention if you don’t change and you will not like it.”

A break in the conversation occurred. I contemplated what John had just told me. Eventually I decided to play it off as him just worrying about me.

“So will I be seeing you this Sunday morning? Bob is leading an awesome worship set,” John started again.

“If everything goes as planned I’ll be there.”

“That’s good, I think you’ll find something in the sermon as well.”

“Oh really? What’s it about?”

“Come on Sunday and you’ll find out.”

“You can be so difficult, you know that?”

“Actually, I am pretty hungry. I haven’t eaten since last night, but I really must be going. I think I’ll just pick up something on the way home.”

“Oh nonsense! You will stay and eat with me unless you can provide a real excuse, I’m making pierogis,” John said almost teasingly.

“No fair, you know I can’t resist you’re homemade pierogis,” I laughed out.

“Good, good. Make yourself at home, they’ll be done shortly.”

It's been a while

2009-08-19T23:57:00.003-04:00

Just like the title says, its been a while since I last posted anything original, so lets start all over. Hey, I'm Andrew. I play the drums and somewhat the tuba. I love to hang out with my friends, and believe in God. My favorite sports to watch are hockey and baseball, my favorite sports to play are ultimate frisbee and soccer. I am going to be a senior at Spring-ford High School and still have no idea where I'm going to college or what I'm going for. I have some of the best friedns this worlds got to offer and have had a pretty good life up to this point...

Alright, now that you know what there is to know about me let me figure out what this post is about. Lets see, I'm going to the beach tomorrow, which is Friday since its now past 12. This is the first time I will be going to the beach since I was a really little kid, like before I remember anything, so for all practical purposes its my first time.. I'm going with my friends and family, and it should be a blast.

Music wise I just got done with a concert where I had to fill in for my brother on the drums because he broke his collar bone. It went fairly well and I had a solo in it... though I feel bad for Scott because of how loud I was playing throughout. Tuba is going fairly well as is marching band (well about as well as that can go). I'm still just biding my time till concert band. I'm actually in the process of trying to get together a band, hopefully one that will actually start this time.

Lets see, ahh yes, the story I started writing... Yeah, about that, I kinda forgot about it, this summer seems to have flown by, but I still plan on continuing it... perhaps after marching band season when I'll have some free time. So thats about it for writing.

Ahh, last Sunday I went to my first real concert. It was amazing, my friends and I headed to New Jersey to see Creed at the PNC Bank Arts Center. It was awesome, we were the seventh row back. The music was so loud, and the lights and pyrotechnics were awesome. I was totally unprepared for everything. It was a really great time. Also found some time to talk some baseball with Josh Rizzuto on the way home. Thats always a good time.

I've been slowly trying to rework myself into serving at RIOT and IMPACT again after not doing it for a while. Its difficult cause there isn't much left to do anymore, but hopefully as our church recovers financially from having built the student center we will once again get some of the stuff thats been broken lost or stolen.

I finished reading the New Testament early this summer. Actually I'd been pretty much done for a long time but for some reason I kept putting off reading Revelation even though it's one of my favorite books. I haven't read much of anything in a while. I'm waiting for the new Ted Dekker book to come out (this October I believe) and also plan on starting the Old Testament in the near future.

I have become the "fire master" for my friends... looks like being an eagle scout actually does something for you, haha.

To be honest, I don't know what I've done this summer. I haven't played a lot of video games, haven't read much, haven't done a ton outside. I have hung out with friends on nearly a weekly basis but outside of that not much else.

Ohh yeah, one final thing, I got a job right at the end of last school year. I now work at Providence School of Music and Wi-fi Cafe. Stop in sometime, I'd love to make a drink for you.

Alright, now that you pretty much know my entire summer I'll leave you alone. Congrats if you actually made it this far. My next post will be a lot shorter and will probably be more along the lines of what I used to write about. Here's a little gift for you, it's the verse of the day from biblegateway.com!!!

“I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”- Psalm 16:8

Another fwd from Grandma

2009-08-04T21:29:00.002-04:00

This is about the best thing I've ever read as an explanation. We all wonder many many many times over WHY?

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake."

"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers.
"Yuck" says her daughter.
"How about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Mom!"
"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"
"Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! "

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you.. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

I would also like to add that sugar could be used as well, it tastes really good (the good moments in your life) but too much can actually make you sick (age old proverb)

Escape

2009-07-23T22:11:00.002-04:00

I wrote this during one of the quiet times at escape, just though I'd share.

As I sit here trying to talk to God, i am struck by something. In front of me is a grand old tree, probably one of the oldest in the forest. It is as big around as any I have ever seen. I cannot even reach my arms halfway around it, it is so wide. There is a sad truth to this mighty giant though; it has fallen down. It does not look like its end was pretty. the break is terribly jagged and a large piece nearly twice my height still juts skyward. The wood is bent and twisted. The rest of the tree is slowly decauing, returning to the ground that gave it life.

There is one good thing to come from the demise of this mighty tree though. New life is already springing from the ground in the space vacated by the giant tree, life that never would have survived with that large old tree there blocking the light. This new life has been given a chance to become nearly as great as the old tree that has fallen. Though it will never reach the grandeur that was the mighty tree it will get much closer now that it has room to grow and sunlight to feed it.

While recounting this scene another story runs in my head, the story of our savior, who was the greatest of them all. He too was met with a horrible end, all so that we, small and meek compared to Him, could have new life and a chance to live much longer than if He had lived. His demise was brutal as well, very brutal, but He was even able to conquer death and returned to his fater, where he will lovingly watch as we do our best to follow him. Though we will never reach his glory, His sacrifice allows us to get much closer to reaching that glory, just like the old tree in the forest

Some more

2009-06-29T22:56:00.001-04:00

here's some more of that book I'm kind of working on.

“Mark!” John exclaimed as he threw wide the door. We embraced and then I was whisked inside. “How have you been? Oh, I see you have been having more adventures, you must tell me everything. We haven’t talked since Sunday, where have you been?”

John was a very ecstatic and energetic man. He was also very simple. He lived in a small rural house that was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. His car was a ’95 Camry that was outdated before he bought it. Everything John owned was simple and functional.

John was the kind of person that was impossible to hate. He always had a smile on his face and genuinely cared for people. He also had that kind of air about him that said that it was ok to tell him anything you wanted to. If you were in his presence a feeling that everything would eventually work out came over you. Instinctively you knew that he would listen to anything and everything you could tell him, and non e of it would be heard by another soul. John was just that kind of person.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” I replied.

“O.K.” I replied.

“Been watching anything you shouldn’t?”

“Nope.”

As John continued through the standard accountability questions I began to dread more and more the last question he would ask. It was always a sore spot in our meetings. Then it arrived.

“Been reading your bible?” John asked with raised eyebrows.

“Ahem… Well… Umm…. No not really,” I conceded.

“Oh really? And why is that?”

“I haven’t had time with work,” I grunted.

“So you’ve told me… Is that really a good answer?”

“It is the answer, what can I do to fix it? Nothing!”

“So you are trying to tell me that your job is more important than God?”

“No! That’s…”

“Ohh but it is. You are placing your mysterious job in front of something God wants you to do. You are stating that God is less important than your work.”

“What the heck am I supposed to do? I have a wife and three kids that I need to support. I can’t just quit!”

“Ahh, your wife, that would be why you are really here today, isn’t it. You are not just taking from God; you are taking away from her because you are never around, never tell her anything, and are always storming off.” John had this uncanny ability to know just why people came to him. “I’m worried Mark,” John continued after a pause, “I have a feeling that your world is about to be rocked more than you can imagine. God is going to try and get your attention if you don’t change and you will not like it.”

A break in the conversation occurred. I contemplated what John had just told me. Eventually I decided to play it off as him just worrying about me.

Ready to Fly

2009-06-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

drummers

2009-06-02T21:39:00.002-04:00

Hey, I'm finally doing a post on the address of this blog. Anyway, here goes.

People say drummers are a little weird in the head. Well hey, as far as I'm concerned, its true. If you ask any of my friends, family, or anyone who has ever played with me they'll tell you its true too. I'm one weird guy. But what makes us drummers weird? I'm not entirely certain. Perhaps its because we choose to submit ourselves to endless loud noise that often results in ringing ears. Maybe its because we play an instrument where its likely that daily you will smash your fingers. Maybe its because when some of us play (me especially) we pant as if we've just run a marathon because we've thrown ourselves into the music so much. Maybe, just maybe, its because drummers just need to be crazy. We have some many things to worry about all at once. You have to have all four limbs going at the same time, in time with each other. You have to have a metronome (device that makes annoying beaps in order to keep you in time) going constantly while you play. You have to use your fingers in conjuntion with your wrists, in conjuntion with your forearms, in conjunction with your upperarms, in conjunction with your shoulders, and they all have to work together smoothly. You have to be able to do different things with each limb all at the same time. you also have to pay attention to the music during all of this. Then theres the drummers who sing while they play, that something I'll never have the mind power to do. its extremely difficult even just to say yes or no, let alone singing lines in tune. Drumming is such a complex art that you have to be a little crazy in order to do it. Its also extremely fun.

Anyway, that was pretty poorly written and a little pointless but ohh well.

facebook

2009-06-01T20:31:00.002-04:00

Alright, so imagine that your facebook homepage is your life. Its filled with lots of stuff and is constantly being updated. However, very little of that stuff is actually important. The quizzes like "see who you would be in another life" and "which jonas brother are you" are just worthless and taking up space. Then you have the updates from the pages that you have added. More useless stuff taking up more space. If you're like me you try to hide all of this stuff so that you see whats actually important, like your friends statuses. Unfortunately thats all we're really doing, hiding them. They're still there, we just don't always see them. Then you have the few useless things that you miss, and sit there visibly clutterring up your life. We may not notice them but they're still there.

So whats the point, we need to find a way to truly get rid of all the crap in our lives that doesn't matter so that we can better focus on what is important, God, friends, and family. How do we do this? I don't know, its different for everyone. But I think that if we can pull it off, our lives will be much better, and much more fufilling.

ummm yeah

2009-05-31T21:52:00.003-04:00

So I have no clue where this blog is going to go but hey lets see what happens.

I love ice cream. When we have ice cream in the house I'll have some every night until its gone. Its like clock work, just as i begin to settle into my chair for the night to do some talking and tv watching I always make a trip to the freezer to check for some ice cream. I love every single kind and take at least three scoops a night. I never feel guilty about any of this, but some people might. Thats how I would view sins if I felt guilty about ice cream. They're the little things in life that we try to convince ourselfs won't do us any real harm, but we know that they do. Despite the fact that we know what we are doing is wrong, and is hurting us, we just can't stop. Its like an addicition. Every day (or week, or month, or year) like clockwork we do the same thing over again, and then immediately regret it. We ask God for forgiveness and then and do it again. Se struggle but never win the fight. We're never going to stop eating ice cream (sinning) if we don't first ask God for help, and then ask someone we look up to for help. We can't do this life thing alone, and we weren't meant to, that's why God made man AND woman. We were meant to be social creatures and we were meant to rely on others' strength because ours is not enough by it self.

So yeah, I wanted to talk about ice cream and it turned into accountability, but hey, what can I say, other than I love ice cream! (the real stuff, not the metaphor)

a trip down memory lane

2009-05-29T21:44:00.002-04:00

So tonight was the Band banquet, where everyone gets their class awards and we all get recognized, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, afterwards there is always a dance. Needless to say the songs are never really that good and the lighting is pretty bad so its not that great of an experience. Due to this fact, my two friends and I decided to go play on the play ground. It was the most fun I've had in a while. We went on the swings, we found a ball and played four square with 3 people... We invented our own game. It was just like we were in elementary school again. Those were the good days when school was easy, homework took 20 minutes at the max, and all you had to care about was having fun. Once again let me tell you that that was a lot of fun, and it also did a good job of taking my mind off of school and band and all that stuff. So, next time you feel overwhelmed why not take a trip down memory lane and play on a playground. Remember, you're never to old to have fun.

Contemplations

2009-05-28T22:47:00.003-04:00

So my junior year is coming to a close and lets just say it was a little crazy. I had my toughest schedule to date, and became even more involved in band (if thats possible). I've started looking at colleges and have changed my potential career close to five times now. I believe I'm currently settled on engineering, and maybe double majoring in physics, but for all I know that plan could change tomorrow.

There have also been numerous other changes. One of these is that for marching band next year I will be playing the Tuba, not the drums. People have told me I'm crazy, and maybe I am, but I have my reasons, and I am excited to try something new so.

I also started a book this winter. I published the first few pages in the last post and will be continuing it this summer. In response to that, no I am not going to be writer, I just figured I'd give it a try and see what happens.

Well, thats all for now, I'll catch you all next time.

howdy

2009-05-25T19:00:00.003-04:00

So I'm looking to try and start blogging again but don't really have anything to write about right now, so here you go. This is a story that I started to write in the winter and am looking to continue this summer maybe. Anyway, this is like the first chapter of so i guess, if you have any comments go ahead and leave them please ^.^

Intro

Darkness. An absolute void where not one ray of light penetrated. A darkness that deprives the mind not only of sight, but also thought. That’s all there was when I first opened my eyes. At least, I thought I had opened them, but I couldn’t be sure. As I slowly began to think again I noticed the cool, hard, smooth surface plastered to my face. It almost felt like marble, but it was even smoother than it should have been. I slowly slid my hands under my shoulders and tried to push myself up. Before I was even to my hands and knees I fell back down. It felt as if I hadn’t moved in weeks. Slowly reaching outwards I tried to create a mental map of my immediate surroundings. To my right was a wall, to my left, more of the cold hard floor. The wall felt as if it was standard dry wall, painted with really cheap paint.

I tried to get up again but soon gave this up as a fruitless labor. As I lay there panting I soon realized that I had no clue who I was, nor where I was. As you can imagine, this was not a pleasant feeling. I raced through my mind trying to find answers to what my past held in it. Nothing was there. It was if I was searching through a room darker than the one I was in searching for a contact that had fallen out. I grew frustrated. “What is going on?!?!” I shouted. Only the echo of my voice answered. I could feel my heart rate quickening and panic setting in. Not a shred of my identity remained. I had no clue how old I was, if I had any family, why I was in this god forsaken place. Wait, one glimmer of hope, one thing that I did know. I knew that I knew that there was a God. It was the only thing that I could feel. I threw myself into this. It became my identity. I knew nothing, nothing except the fact that I had a God who loved me dearly. Thinking back on that horrible moment in my life, that one idea is probably the only reason I didn’t go insane. God saves in many ways.

Chapter 1

“You’ve really got to stop this…” my wife sighed, “every time you go out you come home with numerous injuries and an excuse that doesn’t fit.”

“I told you, it was just a little mix up at work,” I shot back as I removed the ice from my eye and winced as she began trying to clean the gash on my leg.

“Just a little mix up?! Jesus, Mark! You look as if you just got discharged from World War III. How can you call that a little mix up? And what I really want to know is how does your work cause you to get into fights? You’re a freaking cashier at Walmart. There is absolutely no reason why you should be getting into physical altercations.”

“Look, Susan, I already told you, some guy was trying to steal a camera and I chased him down. He didn’t like that and thus this happened. How was I supposed to know he had a knife?”

“Why didn’t you just call the police?”

“I did!”

“Oh, and I assume that they saw you and said ‘you look ok to me, you can go home now’ because you look just marvelous,” Susan replied. I could sense the doubt in her voice; it was always there, ever since the first incident. I wanted so bad to tell her what really was happening, that I really wasn’t a cashier at Walmart. I t hurt me so much to have to lie to her like this, but I couldn’t tell. I never could. It was for her own good. If only she knew…

I looked into her eyes willing her to understand that I had no choice in the matter. Her eyes were mesmerizing; they could freeze over the Amazon River with their glare and melt the ice caps with their affectionate glances. Those eyes were just the tip of the beauty that was my wife. A beauty she was, the most beautiful person in the world as far as I was concerned. She had long black hair that fell to her shoulders. She had a face that everyone could love and a body that could turn heads.

“Look, I told you what happened. I’m sorry if you don’t believe me but that’s what happened,” I finally replied. Oh how it pained me to have to lie to her like this. The words of my high school physics teacher briefly flashed through my mind. “Never keep a secret from your spouse. It is not a good idea.” Ack! I agreed so much with this statement, but he had never been in this situation, that much is for sure.

“Humph!” Susan replied as she stood and walked out of the kitchen. Our relationship was on its brink and nothing I could do could save it. The only reason why we were still together was for the children, and even that was beginning to lose its grip. Oh the precious children. They were the love of my life. Few people could experience the same joy I could just by hanging out with those kids. There was the cowboy Joey, and the princess Shannon. They were the pride of my life and I would do anything for them.

I decided that sitting around the house wasn’t helping anyone so I hopped in my 2000 Honda CR-V and shot out into the street. I had absolutely no clue where I was going, just that I needed to get out and clear my head a little. I hated it when Susan and I fought and tried to avoid them at all costs. The times when we did fight, which was becoming more and more frequent, I usually ended up here, behind the wheel of my reliable mode CR-V. That car probably shared more moments with me than anything else in my life. It was my place to escape to, my safe house.

“Ding-Dong” the doorbell sounded. It was the most standard sound for a doorbell, and it fit John perfectly.

“Mark!” John exclaimed as he threw wide the door. We embraced and then I was whisked inside. “How have you been? Ohh I see you have been having more adventures, you must tell me everything. We haven’t talked since Sunday, where have you been?”

Mark was a very ecstatic and energetic man. He was also very simple. He lived in a small rural house that was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. His car was a ’95 Camry that was outdated before he bought it. Everything Mark owned was simple and functional.

Mark was the kind of person that was impossible to hate. He always had a smile on his face and genuinely cared for people. Mark also had that kind of air about him that said that it was ok to tell him anything you wanted to.

Chow

2009-05-05T22:30:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone

Its been a while due to many reasons and its gonna be a little longer. I have an AP test tomorrow and one next week so don't expect to see anything until after that.

Until next time satisfy yourself with a song.

Livin' on the Edge

Aerosmith

image of the invisible

2009-04-01T20:17:00.000-04:00

We're more than carbon and chemicals
We are the image of the invisible
Free will is ours and we can't let go
We are the image of the invisible
We can't allow this, the quiet cull
We are the image of the invisible
So we sing out this, our canticle
We are the image of the invisible

[Chorus:]
We all were lost now we are found
No one can stop us or slow us down
We are the named and we are known
We know that we'll never walk alone

We're more than static and dial tone
We are the image of the invisible
We're emblematic of the unknown
We are the image of the invisible
So raise the banner, bend back your bows
We are the image of the invisible
Remove the cancer, take back your souls
We are the image of the invisible

[Chorus]

Though all the world may hate us, we are named
The shadow overtake us, we are known

We're more than carbon and chemicals
Free will is ours and we can't let go
We are the image of the invisible
We're more than carbon and chemicals
We are the image of the invisible
Free will is ours and we can't let go
We are the image of the invisible
We can't allow this, the quiet cull
We are the image of the invisible
So we sing out this, our canticle
We are the image of the invisible

[Chorus x2]

Raise up the banner, bend back your bows
Remove the cancer, take back your souls

Praise You in this Storm

2009-03-30T19:06:00.001-04:00

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

face down

2009-03-25T21:51:00.002-04:00

Hey girl you know you drive me crazy
One look puts the rhythm in my hand
Still I'll never understand why you hang around
I see what's going down

Cover up with make up in the mirror
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you

Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect
Every action in this world will bear a consequence
If you wait around forever you will surely drown
I see what's going down

I see the way you go and say you're right again,
Say you're right again,
Heed my lecture

Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found

Face down in the dirt!
She said "This doesn't hurt!"
She said "I finally had enough!"

Face down in the dirt!
She said "This doesn't hurt!"
She said "I finally had enough!"

(Screaming)
One day she will tell you that she has had enough
It's coming round again

Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found

Do you feel like a man
When you push her around?
Do you feel better now, as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found

Face down in the dirt!
She said "This doesn't hurt!"
She said "I finally had enough!"

prayer and "What if his people prayed"

2009-03-25T21:04:00.002-04:00

Prayer is an intricate part of the bible. One search through the NIV brought up 155 times where the word prayer is mentioned. The word "pray" brought up 365 results. Prayer is our way of connecting with God. It is how we talk to him and let him know that we acknowledge His presence. It is one of the most powerful tools we have as Christians and one of the best.

So just what does the bible say about prayer. Well it obviously says many things, but surprisingly enough there aren't any real directions for prayer until the New Testament. Matthew 6:5 is one of the first times Jesus addresses the topic of prayer. He commanded "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." So Jesus is not telling us that we can't pray publicly, however, He is saying that our reason for prayer should be to talk to Him, not to look good. Jesus continues with His lesson on prayer from Matthew 6:5-9. These verses continue to make note that it is better to pray in private where you can be sure that you are not praying to look good.

The next time Jesus mentions prayer is in Matthew 21:22. This verse says 21Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Jesus is telling us that prayer works, and that God always answers prayers. It does not guarantee that we will like how God answer but He will answer them. Another thing those two verses state is that faith can move mountains, which shows just how small our faith really is (please note that this shouldn't be translated literally, it is figurative speech).

Another thing we are taught that prayer can do for us is to cast out demons. In Mark 9:28-30 28After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" 29He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.[a]" 30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were. We can tell from this verse that prayer is a tool that can be used to cast out demons.

Another interesting thing said about prayer is that it is mentioned repeatedly that we should devote ourselves to prayer. Paul says this in Colossians 4:2 and numerous other times. James also tells us in chapter 5 that we should "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

So just in review here is what I covered.
Prayer is/can do all of the following:

useful, when combined with faith anything can be done

drive out demons

ease sickness (there are numerous accounts of praying for healing in the new church, and Jesus himself prayed to heal people from time to time)

something that we should devote ourselves to

finally we reviewed that prayer is powerful if you have faith and are saved.

prayer is not:

to be used for fame

to be a bunch of random babbling (continue reading all the verses I mentioned even if I didn't post them)

I hope that this proved helpful to anyone who was looking to find out what prayer is

What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captive free
And not let satan have one more

What if the Church, for heaven's sake
Finally stepped up to the plate
Took a stand upon God's promise
And stormed hell's rusty gates

Chorus I:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His faith, yeah
And turn from their old ways

And what would happen if we prayed
For those raised up to lead the way
Then maybe kids in school could pray
And unborn children see light of day

What if the life that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus
Stopped asking Oprah what to do

Chorus I:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face yeah
And turn from their own way
Chorus II:
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear, yeah
If only we would pray

Bridge:
If My people call by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray
If My people call by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray

Choruses:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face, yeah
And turn from their old ways
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear yeaah
If only we would pray

tomorrow

2009-03-24T22:37:00.002-04:00

thanks to jeff i finally have a new idea for a post, check back tomorrow night for my post on prayer

2009-03-24T20:47:00.002-04:00

Haha, I could see myself playing drums for this band and getting into just like he does.

I lie here paralytic
Inside this soul
Screaming for you till my throat is numb
I wanna break out I need a way out
I don’t believe that it’s gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I’m suffocating

Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I’ve died

Rebirthing now
I wanna live for love wanna live for you and me
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow
Rebirthing now
I Wanna live my life wanna give you everything
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow

I lie here lifeless
In this cocoon
Shedding my skin cause
I’m ready to
I wanna break out
I found a way out
I don’t believe that it’s gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I’m suffocating

Bridge:
Tell me when I’m gonna live again
Tell me when I’m gonna breathe you in
Tell me when I’m gonna feel inside
Tell me when I’m gonna feel alive

Tell me when I’m gonna live again
Tell me when this fear will end
Tell me when I’m gonna feel inside
Tell me when I’ll feel alive

My Own Prison

2009-03-23T19:28:00.001-04:00

A court is in session, a verdict is in
No appeal on the docket today
Just my own sin
The walls are cold and pale
The cage made of steel
Screams fill the room
Alone I drop and kneel
Silence now the sound
My breath the only motion around
Demons cluttering around
My face showing no emotion
Shackled by my sentence
Expecting no return
Here there is no penance
My skin begins to burn

(And I said oh) So I held my head up high
Hiding hate that burns inside
Which only fuels their selfish pride
(And I said oh) We're all held captive
Out from the sun
A sun that shines on only some
We the meek are all in one

I hear a thunder in the distance
See a vision of a cross
I feel the pain that was given
On that sad day of loss
A lion roars in the darkness
Only he holds the key
A light to free me from my burden
And grant me life eternally

Should have been dead
On a Sunday morning
Banging my head
No time for mourning
Ain't got no time

(And I said oh) So I held my head up high
Hiding hate that burns inside
Which only fuels their selfish pride
(And I said oh) We're all held captive
Out from the sun
A sun that shines on only some
We the meek are all in one

[Guitar break]

I cry out to God
Seeking only his decision
Gabriel stands and confirms
I've created my own prison
I cry out to God
Seeking only his decision
Gabriel stands and confirms
I've created my own prison

(And I said oh) So I held my head up high
Hiding hate that burns inside
Which only fuels their selfish pride
(And I said oh) We're all held captive
Out from the sun
A sun that shines on only some
We the meek are all in one

(And I said oh) So I held my head up high
Hiding hate that burns inside
Which only fuels their selfish pride
(And I said oh) We're all held captive
Out from the sun
A sun that shines on only some
We the meek are all in one

Should've been dead on a Sunday morning
banging my head
No time for mourning
Ain't got no time

Philosophia

2009-03-22T21:05:00.001-04:00

Philosophia
When we’re young we set our hearts upon some beautiful idea
Maybe something from a holy book or French philosophia
Upon the thoughts of better men than us we swear by and decree a
Perfect way to end the war of ways the only way to be a…

Work of art, oh to be a work of art

But in time a thought comes tugging on the sleeve edge of our minds
Perhaps no perfect way exists at all, just many different kinds
Oh but if it’s just a thing of taste then everything unwinds
For without an absolute how can the absolute define…

A work of art, oh to be a work of art

You Are Mine

2009-03-21T18:28:00.001-04:00

It doesn’t take much
For my heart to break
And you have done it
For what’s seems the millionth time

Whenever I hear
Of your saving grace
And how you gave your life
In exchange for mine

Sometimes I wonder why you even love me
And why you ever chose to call me child
Then I remember
It’s by your sacrifice
I can say that
I am yours and you are mine

It doesn’t take much
For me to shed a tear
And you have done so many things
To make me cry
Whenever I think
Of all that I’ve done wrong
And everything that you have done
To make it right

It doesn’t take much
For my heart to break
And you have done it
For what’s seems the millionth time

It is well

2009-03-20T15:13:00.002-04:00

These guys are freaking awesome, they know how to get a crowd into it and they can play like there's no tomorrow

I can't find the lyrics so you'll just have to watch the video, sorry. They are pretty similar to the hymn so if you know that then you get the general point.

Voice of Truth

2009-03-19T22:58:00.001-04:00

Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand

But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
you'll never win."

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Oh, what I would do
to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant
with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound
of a thousand warriors
shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out
my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
time and time again
"Boy you'll never win,
you'll never win."

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

But the stone was just the right size
to put the giant on the ground
and the waves they don't seem so high
from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
singing over me

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says "do not be afraid"
And the voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the voice of truth
I will listen and believe
'Cause Jesus you are the voice of truth
And I will listen to you.. oh you are

Caught in the middle

2009-03-18T20:49:00.002-04:00

Recently on my way home from band practice the song "Somewhere in the Middle" came on my ipod. I was sitting there, listening to the lyrics, singin along when I knew them in my out of key voice :), and admiring the violin work that makes Casting Crowns Casting Crowns. All of a sudden I realized what they were saying. As American Christians we are caught in the middle. We believe, but we don't practice. We preach but we don't follow. We talk the walk, but don't walk the talk. Then another revelation hit me (or it might have been the chicken I ate, which was very good anyways) Pastor Brian had talked about this on Sunday. For those of you who weren't able to attend Sunday morning at CCV we pretty much had a come to Jesus sermon, where Brian acknowledged how he felt he failed in leading CCV and told us about changes to come. First of all, my hats of to Brian, I really think that he said something that's needed to be said for a long time. I'm looking forward to what is going to happen to our church in the near future. Anyway, back to my original topic. In his sermon Pastor Brian made a comment that, we're in the middle in our faith (again, i could be wrong but i don't think i am). If I am right he then proceeded to state that this is really the worst place for a Christian to be if they're complacent. I believe it is, I mean, if you're in the middle, then you believe but you don't live. I believe that a sin committed in ignorance of the law is not as bad as a sin committed with full knowledge of the law. So my question is this, are you caught in the middle? I hope that if you are you will try to move on to become a fully devoted follower of Christ. I just want to say sorry for my rambling method in this post but ohh well.

Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle

Love is Not a Fight

2009-03-17T21:43:00.002-04:00

The song of the day is...... Love is Not a Fight by Warren Barfield

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we answer in
And then commit to never leave

Lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter in the raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave, may God send His angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing of us
But demand we give our all

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for

Amazing Because It Is

2009-03-17T20:00:00.003-04:00

The song of the day is........... Amazing Because It Is by The Almost

I was so scared of everything you put in front of me
I've been arching every part of me
Just to see
See
Why you need me to be
The boy you need me to be

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost
And now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

I just wanna see

I'm the type of person who lets fear drive
I'm the type of guy who lets it drive
Cause I'm addicted, I'm needy,
I'm lost without you
I need you
I name you

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (amazing grace)
How sweet the sound (how sweet)
That saved a wretch like me (that saved a wretch like me)
I once was lost
But now I'm found (you know I'm found)
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (you're amazing)
How sweet the sound (you're amazing)
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost (it feels so bad when you're lost and alone)
But now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

thoughts

2009-03-16T18:39:00.002-04:00

Today I wore the prolife shirt I bought at PCTC for the first time. I found it interesting how many people actually noticed it, and here I thought that few people payed attention to shirts. Anyway the responses ranged from "Oh..." to "Why?" to "Hey, I like your shirt, where'd you get it?" It amazed me how varied the responses where, but one thing I noticed is that the younger the person the more likely for the response to be negative. Does that hold true for most young people? I don't know, but as far as my experience today went it did.

Grace Like Rain

2009-03-16T18:30:00.003-04:00

Today my song is Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see so clearly

Chorus:
Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Chorus

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing Your praise
Than when we first begun

Chorus

The World Is Alive

2009-03-15T11:00:00.003-04:00

The World Is Alive

Casting Crowns

Looking out from His throne, the Father of light and of men
Chose to make Himself known and show us the way back to Him
Speaking wisdom and truth into the hearts of peasants and kings
He began to unveil the Word that would change the course of all things

With eyes wide open, all would see

The Word is alive
And it cuts like a sword through the darkness
With a message of life to the hopeless and afraid
Breathing life into all who believe
The Word is alive
And the world and its glories will fade
But His truth, it will not pass away
It remains yesterday and forever the same
The Word is alive

Simple strokes on a page
Eternity's secrets revealed, carried on from age to age
It speaks Truth to us even still
And as the rain falls from Heaven, feeds the earth before it returns
Lord, let Your Word fall on us and bring forth the fruit You deserve

With eyes wide open, let us see

The Word is alive
His Word is alive

English

2009-03-14T22:57:00.002-04:00

Despite the fact that English is my least favorite subject, especially when you have to take tests, I found something interesting about our test on friday. On the test the essay question asked about deformed consciences and the influences that created the deformed conscience. It finnished with "Are these influences still around in the world today?" I found that part really interesting and my response went something like this:

There are many influences that lead to deformed consciences in the world today. In fact, almost everyone comes into contact with them. I am even willing to go as far as to say that nearly everyone has a deformed conscience. Look at all the hypocrites in the world. Look at all the people who are willing to take a life before it even has a chance to start out, people who condone responding to death with death, people who murder, people who rape, people who spread fire. Look at the people who hoard tons of money while their nextdoor neighbor starves to death because they can't afford food. More people than not these days break the one vow that is supposede to last a lifetime. Look at all of the rape in the world. Look at all the violence. Few people can claim to have a true conscience anymore.

There is hope however. There is a growing number of people who don't want to be hypocrites anymore. A spreading number of people who actually believe in what they believe. An expanding mass of people who are willing to "walk the talk." These people can change the world and they will. So there is hope, because remember that "these three remain; Faith, Hope, and Love, and the greatest of these is love."

That is similar to what I and I thought it was interesting.

Flood

2009-03-14T22:43:00.000-04:00

Thanks Jeff,

Rain, rain on my face

It hasnt stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud

Chorus:

But if I cant swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up - when Im falling
Lift me up - Im weak and Im dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - keep me from drowning again

Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, Im losing control
Dark sky all around
I cant feel my feet touching the ground

[chorus]

Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me

[chorus]

Lift me up - when Im falling
Lift me up - Im weak and Im dying
Lift me up - I need you to hold me
Lift me up - keep me from drowning again

Slow Fade

2009-03-13T20:05:00.005-04:00

So I'm gonna try something new. Everyday I'm going to pick a song I like, put the video up and give you the lyrics. In addition about every other day I will also be adding some real thoughts and posts. So here goes. Btw there's a video at the bottom of the lead singer giving a mini sermon on the song. I would suggest watching it to. He makes some interesting points.

Slow Fade

Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see

I also found this video, it describes the meaning behind the song

nervousness

2009-03-12T20:09:00.002-04:00

Here's another blog where I'm going to be pretty much thinking out loud. My question is this, why do people get nervous about talking/doing things in front of others. Is it because they are worried of belittling themselves by doing something stupid? Are they afraid they will let someone down. Do they not like the attention? So many questions and so few answers. Well not really I guess. Everyone has their own fears depending on their situation. For instance, if you are with a performing ensemble you may be afraid you will let others down. If you're doing an individual thing then you may be concerned that you will will destroy your public image. That i don't like to much. Perhaps we should be afraid of not getting our point across, but being afraid of destroying your image isn't a good thing. I think its kind of disapointing that we are so focused on ourself that we worry not about our message but about our image. Maybe its just me though, w/e.

In order to make this post less of a waste I'll put up another song, the lyrics are on the video, pay special attention to the spoken part.

Generativity

2009-03-10T21:53:00.002-04:00

As many of you know I am a big proponent of helping the poor and those less fortunate than us. My reasoning behind this is first; I like to help people, and second; the bible advocates it to the extreme. Well it turns out helping other people is also endorsed by modern science. George Valliant conducted a thirty year study of 95 highly intelligent men. After the experiment was finished Valliant compared the thirty most successful and thirty least successful men. One major thing was found in the successful men that wasn't found in the unsuccessful men, generativity. Generativity is the essence of giving back to society, through community service or helping others. The experiment demonstrated that this is a good predictor of how successful a person's life was. So, perhaps the bible knows what its talking about and you can fare better if you follow its teachings as it suggests.

Wa Wa Wa

2009-03-08T21:23:00.002-04:00

This might get me in trouble, but so be it. In this post I'm going to tackle one of my pet peeves, Complaining.

Complaining is something that often gets on my nerves. Perhaps its because I'm naive and look for the best in things, or perhaps its just not who I am, but when I hear people complaining it makes me want to leave the room. I don't have a problem with a thing here or there, I do that occasionally as well, but when there is chronic occurrences of whining about similar topics I begin to lose it. Here's the main problem I have; people will complain day and night but they will never try to fix it. All I want to say is "Fine, you found a problem with something, go and try to get it fixed then." I don't even want to hear that you can't, that "I'm only a teenager" or "They'll never listen" or "what can I do?" Guess what all those problems occur because you allow yourself to think them. If you would actually try to do something you might just find out that they're all imaginary. Also, even if at first you fail, then try try again. It really works, believe me.

The reason why I hate complaints so much is that personally I feel its a form of elitism. If you're saying that one way is wrong then you are saying that you could do it better. Well that's great, then come share your expertise with us... No one ever does come forwards though do they? Nope, they would rather mope around and whine about this or whine about that and never do a thing to fix it.

Once again, I'm not saying that every little complaint drives me off of my rocker. I too will say "aw man, that's a really dumb rule," or "Gee, that probably should have been done like this" but I don't bring it up time and time again.

I guess that this was just me letting out some thoughts, and for those of you who would say "well look here, he's complaining too, isn't he?" I answer back "Yes, I am complaining, but here's two things to keep in mind. First you will probably never hear me speak of this again. Second, I am doing something about this complaint by writing this blog, so back off." Anyway, I hope I didn't offend anyone too much.

Until next time,

Godspeed.

My Jesus

2009-03-07T16:58:00.004-05:00

I want to be like my Jesus. Do you?

My Jesus

~Todd Agnew~

Which Jesus do you follow?

Which Jesus do you serve?

 If Ephesians says to imitate Christ

Then why do you look so much like the world?

Cause my Jesus bled and died

 He spent His time with thieves and liars

 He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant

 So which one do you want to be?

 Blessed are the poor in spirit

Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land

 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness

Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins

He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars

He loved the poor and accosted the rich

So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow

This picture of the American dream

 If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion

 Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins

 But the Word says He was battered and scarred

Or did you miss that part

 Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

Cause my Jesus bled and died

He spent His time with thieves and the least of these

 He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable

So which one do you want to be?

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church

 The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet

 But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud

I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd

And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus!

I want to be like my Jesus!

Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus

You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity

 I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus

Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me

Can I be like You Jesus?

I want to be like my Jesus

What I've learned

2009-03-05T22:01:00.003-05:00

I think If I had to pick the one most important thing I've learned this year it would be this. Mistrust. You can't trust anything you see, no matter how replicable it may seem you always have to question. I'm not talking about people here incase you weren't sure. I'm talking about information. Everything these days seems to have a twist. Even "cold hard science" isn't as reputable as it may have you believe. For instance, did you know that many people question the reputability of carbon-14 dating? Or how about the fact that science talks about theories as if they will never be disproved? Even in the field of psychology facts can be misleading. Most research is done through surveys, but you have to question many things just to make sure the survey actually has weight. For instance, I could give a survey about a new car asking customer's satisfaction and get outstanding results. It would appear as if I had the best car in the world, but just who did I ask? If I only asked employees of my company then you, as the consumer, may start to have some doubts about just how good the car actually is. Even the news can be biased. So much these days is uncertain, its no wonder my generation supposedly is the generation of an identity crisis. The world is not always as it appears.

Talitha Koum

2009-03-04T21:54:00.002-05:00

Today I would like to look at Mark Chapter five and throw some questions out there. For those of you two lazy to look it up, Mark 5 has three main stories in it. The first is the story of the man possed by a demon called Legion. Legion got its name because it was composed of many demons. Anyway, the story goes that Jesus tells Legion to leave the man. Legion pleads with Jesus and finally asks to be allowed to enter the herd of pigs near by. The pigs all run into the lake and kill themselves, the farmers return to town and tell their story, Jesus is turned away from the crowd, and the man cured by Jesus is turned back to his town. So what is the purpose of this story? Jesus doesn't get angry at the town like He tells His disciples to do when they are rejected. In fact, Jesus turns away the man that he healed so that he can try to bring the good news to the town. Why is this town so different? Another thing, Jesus gave into the demon and allowed it to go into the herd of pigs. Why is this? I have a theory for this one. I feel that Jesus here is trying to demonstrate His teaching of love your enemies, but that theory could be wrong.

The next story in Mark is of a lady who suffered constant bleeding for twelve years. She spent everything she had on doctors but none could heal her. Word of Jesus reached her ear and she decided to give things one last go. Following Jesus throw the crowd she managed to touch the hem of His cloak. It was recorded that "immediately He felt the healing power go out of Him" and he turned around to see who had touched him. "Who touched my robe?" He demanded. Now I;m not sure how He said it but Jesus almost sounded angry, at least how I am reading it. Then the woman steps forward, with a very sorrowful look on her face I can imagine, and says I did it. Immediately Jesus seems to have mood swing, and says "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over." Once again we are left with some questions. What is the significance of this passage? Well for that we can see that faith is really all that it takes, and this passage does a good job of describing that. Why was Jesus so angry (or at least so it seemed to me, and i could be completely wrong) that someone had touched the hem of his cloak?

The final story in this chapter is about the little girl of a leader of a synagogue. The girl was horribly sick and the father came to Jesus asking him to save her. On route to the father's home the child dies, but Jesus ends up saving her. Yadda yadda yadda, the moral is never give up hope. My real question is in the way that Jesus tells the daughter to awaken. "Talitha koum" he said, which is arabic for "little girl, get up." Why did Jesus use that phrase, in that language. As far as I am concerned it is the only time the bible records a specific phrase Jesus used. So what is so special about it?

I posed a lot of questions in this post and not a lot of answers. If you have an answer to any of these I ask that you could impart your knowledge to me. I would like to know.

Until next time

Godspeed

The Sabath

2009-03-03T20:38:00.003-05:00

Pastor Brian spoke about this in the last get out of debt series we had. He made a point that Chick-Fil-A seems to be doing very well as a business, even in this tough economic time, but it doesn't open on Sundays. Anyway, now that you know all that heres what I'm really planning on talking about.

In Mark Chapter 2 Jesus Speaks on the Sabath. What happens is the disciples pick some grain to eat while walking through the field. The Pharisees see this and make note of it to Jesus. "Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting on the Sabath?" they said. Jesus came back with a story about David from the old testament which does a good job of getting the disciples off the hook. However, its what is written afterwards that I find most interesting. To conclude the chapter, Mark records Jesus as saying, "The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of the people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath." That's very interesting wouldn't you say. Pretty much Jesus is saying, "Look, the sabbath wasn't made to be a challenge for you. Meeting the requirements of the Sabbath wasn't the purpose. The purpose is that humans have the best life we they take a day off." We as humans need a Sabbath. We need to take a break or else we will be burnt out. God is pretty intelligent, He doesn't just make rules because He wants to make us struggle, He makes them because He knows that they will help us. I'm willing to bet that we can apply this logic to the law as well. The law wasn't created to make us struggle, it was created because humans need something to guide them, or else we would spend our lives doing a lot of junk that was not beneficial to ourselves.

So, in conclusion, trust God. He knows what He is talking about. Give yourself a day off, even if you feel you can't afford it.

Thoughts

2009-03-02T19:09:00.004-05:00

First of all I would like to apologize for not posting at all for a long while. I kept meaning to but never got to it.

Second I would like to reflect on PCTC a little. For those of you who don't know CCV's student ministries recently attended the Pennsylvania Christian Teen Conference held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was a great trip, with truly inspirational speakers. The theme for the weekend was John 6.66 Don't Leave and it was focused on many things in Christianity. Another awesome fact was that we got to see Matt Silver, who was our youth pastor for a long time. It was great getting to see him and getting caught up.

Finally on to the true topic of this post.

Remember the story when Jesus calmed the seas? If you don't you can go look it up, its found in Mark, chapter 4, verses 35-41. Pretty much the disciples and Jesus were in a boat when a massive storm hit. Jesus was asleep and the disciples got really afraid. They new that at any second the storm could capsize the boat leaving them all dead. So they all ran to Jesus and shouted "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?" I can imagine the fear on their faces as the waves washed over the boat. Jesus was their only chance. And he delivered. Yes, Jesus quieted the waves and the wind. However two things can be taken out of this.

In the final verse it is stated that "The disciples were absolutely terrified. 'Who is this man?' They asked each other. 'Even the wind and waves obey him!'" Were not the disciples the ones who awakened Jesus hoping he could save them? I mean, why were they so scared, they asked him to save them so they must have expected something would've happened. Then again, maybe they didn't. Maybe like most people they didn't really trust Jesus. Maybe when they took their problem to God they didn't actually expect something to happen (just a note: I don't think that they had realized that Jesus was the Son of God yet so technically they might not have known that they were taking their problem to God yet). Thats actually not too hard to believe. Most people these days don't expect God to respond to their problems, but every time they bring it to Him, He does. Even if we don't realize it, or don't expect it God always responds to our problems in some way. That is the first thing we can take out of this story.

The second thing that we can get from this comes not from the disciple's fear, but from Jesus' anger. When awakened Jesus was a little grumpy (and i would be to). He got up and calmed the storm with vicious commands. "Silence! Be Still!" He told it. Then Jesus turned to the disciples. "Why were you afraid? Do you still ahve no faith?" He asked them. That was pretty much Jesus saying, "You woke me up for this???" Did the disciples really expect God to just let Jesus be killed by the storm? I mean come on, even if they didn't know He was the Son of God they stil must have realized He was special. He made a living performing miracles. If I was Jesus I would've been like, "Come on people, do you have gray matter between your ears?!" Honestly though, if I was in the same spot as the disciples I would have done the same thing. See the disciples were human, just like us, and just like us, they can't comprehend that God has a plan for us, and even though the present may seem horrible, dark or scary, the result is a triumph. We really don't have a complete trust in God. Its almost impossible, but we should still try.

So I guess the overall topic of this post is that as humans, our trust for God is not nearly where it should be. I think that we should make it our foremost goal to increase our trust in God to the point we truly believe that He has a plan for us.

Until Next time,

Godspeed

The best hot coccoa ever

2009-02-09T20:20:00.002-05:00

So i figured that i'd take a break from writing about religion for a little to tell you about one of my favorit pass-times, drinking hot chocolate. This is my favorite recipe for it

alright, you have to buy land o lakes triple chocolate (it might be called chocolate lovers too, i can't remember) it comes in a green pouch, but anyway. Then you take you water and heat it up, while its heating you put the coccoa into a normal sized coffee cup, like the church gives out for free. (see "my addiction" album for cup size) Then you put in a decent sized scoop of french vanilla ice cream. After the water is done heating you poor it in till the cup is three quarters filled and stir till all the ice cream is melted. then fill the cup up to almost the top and check the temp. If you want it cooler you can put a little more ice cream in. If you want it warmer you can throw it in the microwave for like 3 seconds

I swear that this is the best hot chocolate you will ever have

check it out

2009-02-08T21:47:00.001-05:00

http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html

The Parable of the Three Servants

2009-02-06T22:08:00.003-05:00

Right now you may be saying, "its alread well documented what this parable means, why bring it up. It is an allegory for using spritual gifts, not much else to see." That is where I say stop and then say this:

I propose another purrpose for this Parable. What if instead of viewing the bags of silver as metaphors for spiritual gifts, we looked at them as metaphors for the word of God. So how bout it, that could work too couldn't it. Lets look at it more indepth. In the parable one servant was given 5 bags, one was given 2, and another was given one. The servant with five bags invested it and earned five more bags. The servant with two bags earned two more by doing something (we aren't told what). The servant who was given only one bag burried it in the ground. Lets look at the allegorical sense of each servant now. The servant with five bags is someone who becomes a minister, or some other career where they spread the good news for a living. Since they are always using the Gospel they have the best grip, and because their primary focus is bringing to Jesus they will win many converts. The person with two bags is a person who knows Jesus, and is always willing to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen, but their career does not directly involve evangelizing. They are the scientists, and accountants, and athletes, and musicians, and everyone else who has a belief in God. Because they are not always using the Gospel their grasp of it is not as strong as their pastor (in most cases) and because they do not devote all of their time to making disciples of Christ they have less of a pay off. Those two positions are where most people fit in. The final servant did something horrible. He was afraid. He hid the gift he was told about. He was perhaps afraid people would prove that his newfound faith wasn't real. He hid this faith and ended up losing it anyway. Thats the one place we as disciples of Christ do not want to be. We have to be willing to spread our faith no matter what we do if the opportunity arises.

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver^[a] to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!^[b]’

22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Well, its been a while and i'm obviously out of practice. sorry bout the lack of clarity, but i think you will all be able to get the general meaning.

Until next time

Godspeed

HAHA!

2009-02-02T20:43:00.002-05:00

Finally I can get back to posting, I was really starting to miss it, but i took the full month off like i said. Unfortunately i won't get to anything tonight, but expect to start seeing new things very soon!! to all of those who visited during the long break, thanks for continuing to check ^.^

By The way, for those of you out there who enjoy concert music the spring-ford full concert band will be giving a free concert this saturday at the Spring-Ford Ninth Grade Center. The music is what will be performed by the Spring-Ford wind ensemble, which has been picked as on the two best bands in the state of pennsylvania, at the PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association) this coming spring. More info can be found on www.sfgrmu.org

hmmm

2009-01-05T21:35:00.002-05:00

Hey all

sorry bout the long time no post, however its going to be a lot longer. I'm working on some stuff right now, and just overly busy, so I probably won't begin posting again for at least another month. The good thing is that by then i should be entirely done with the new testament and should have a lot of new ideas. hopefully.

Well anyway, in my absence I hope God takes you to great places

Until next time,

God Speed

The Death Penalty

2008-12-30T09:35:00.004-05:00

Here's ten reasons why i don't believe in the death penalty

"rational"

1. how does becoming a killer to punnish a killer make any sense. Here's an interesting thought on this one. If I bump into someone by accident, and they pay me back by bumping into me on purpose i'll probably get angry. If i get angry then i'll do something worse to get that person back. then that person will do something to get me back. You see, its an endless cycle and the attacks just get worse and worse. Here's another example, take the israeli palestinian conflict. Israel attacks palestine. Palestine attacks israel back with more fire power. Israel attacks Palestine with the most firepower yet. What do we get left with, a problem that keeps on growing, and a bunch of dead people and morning families. Seems like a good idea to me... When you respond to violence with violence you become just like the agressor, and then things escalate.

2. The person to be killed has a family too. Why should we create two struggling families. How does that help the original

3. We already see how well the threat of the death penalty keeps people from commiting crimes. I mean look at the news, its all happy isn't, no crimes here...

4.What if all the person needed was love, and we go an kill them, thats humane, ain't it.

5. Finally I just don't think anyone deserves to die, no matter what they've done.

"religious"

6. That person deserves a chance at redemption

7. We're all sinners, some people just commit different sins. by imposing a death penalty we are taking the power out of God's hands and deciding what sins are worst in his eyes for Him.

8. How can we expect people to not kill when the entire culture they live in thrives around killing

9. Our saviour was the one who said "Father, please forgive them for they know not what they do" wasn't he.

10. finally, What ever happened to turning the other cheek, or giving the coat along with the shirt?

HEY

2008-12-25T10:53:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone, let me know what you all got.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

The Christmas Story

Luke 1

Introduction

1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled^[a] among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

8Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

11Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.^[b]16Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

18Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

19The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

21Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

23When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[c] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God."

38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary's Song

46And Mary said:
   "My soul glorifies the Lord
    47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
      of the humble state of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
    49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
      holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
      he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
      but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
      remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
      even as he said to our fathers."

56Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

57When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."

61They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

62Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." 64Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

Zechariah's Song

67His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
      because he has come and has redeemed his people.
69He has raised up a horn^[d] of salvation for us
      in the house of his servant David
70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71salvation from our enemies
      and from the hand of all who hate us—
72to show mercy to our fathers
      and to remember his holy covenant,
73the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
      and to enable us to serve him without fear
75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
      for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77to give his people the knowledge of salvation
      through the forgiveness of their sins,
78because of the tender mercy of our God,
      by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79to shine on those living in darkness
      and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the path of peace."

80And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

21On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

22When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"^[b]), 24and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."^[c]

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
      you now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
    31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
      and for glory to your people Israel."

33The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

36There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.^[e] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

39When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

NIV

Who is most important in the Christmas Story

2008-12-21T14:51:00.002-05:00

Today, I helped serve with the three and four year olds. The lesson was on the Christmas story, big surprise. At the end the kids were asked who was most important in the story. The answer they all gave, which was correct was Jesus, but is it really correct? Yeah Jesus is pretty huge, but i think the unsung heros of the Christmas story are the sheperds. The sheperds really were the first disciples. They were the first ones to stop what they were doing to come see Jesus. After seeing him they went and told everyone, which is a major part of what Jesus teaches us to do as Disciples. The Sheperds spread the news without being told to as well, and seeing as many people don't do that now even though they are told to, that was pretty big.

So, when you read the Christmas story to, think about it. Yeah, Jesus is huge, but so were the Sheperds, or should I say the first disciples.

My Attack of Christianity Part III

2008-12-12T22:17:00.002-05:00

The Commision

So I've been telling you all about what we're not supposed to be doing, or what we've misinterpretted right? Well here is what the bible says we should do.

First and foremost, we are called to be lovers to the world. Notice the bolded to, it doesn't say of, it says to. If you have any questions about loving the world you can see most of my previous posts, its kind of a favorite topic of mine <:). The second thing we are called to do is to spread the good News. This seems like a simple task, but it is actually quite difficult, because everything we say is constantly under attack, and we have to be quick on our feet. Finally we are told to be spots of light in this dark world.

So what exactly does it mean to be a light to this dark world (the other two are either self explanitory or are tackled in other posts). Well it means quite a few things. Most people know the song/psalm (i think its in psalms) about God that goes something like "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Well this is what we are called to do too. You may be saying "Huh? i thought that was talking about God?" Yes it was, but remember also that we are the body of Christ so it falls onto our laps as well, We nee to lead people to God and continue to help them until they are ready to lead others. The next thing this means is that we are called to be moral towers to the world. We need to hold ourselces to a higher standard, and though we will not meet it, that standard has to be perfection. We have to strive to be like Christ in all we do, even if we are destined to not achieve that, it has to be our goal. The final thing being a light to the world means that we have to be different. People should notice that we are different. And they will dislike us for it (buy a copy of "the irresistible revolution" to see a further description of why they will dislike us).

So we're told to spread the Good News, be a light to the world, and do both of those in unconditional love. Sounds simple, but its not. Its going to take a lot of work, and a lot of pain to do it. But we have an all powerful and loving God on our side so, it can't be too bad.

Sorry about the lack of organization. If you have any ideas for what i should do for the conclusion to this series let me know. Please, i have no idea where i'm taking this to.

Until next time

God Speed

A break

2008-12-09T18:40:00.002-05:00

While i continue compiling the next part of the current series "My Attack of Christianity" here is a quick break

News...

Our Pastor; Brian Jones is resuming blogging. I really excited because i really enjoyed his previous posts before he stopped. He is actually going to be writing three blogs. You can find out more at his main site, brianjones.com. check it out

Upcoming posts...

After i finnish my current series I'm thinking about actually doing a blog on drumming since that is the address of the blog. After that I will be mostly returning to my random ways. However i am slowly trying to get an outreach ministry started in our youth group, so once that gets started a lot of posts will be about it.

Finally

I want to thank everyone who checks this blog where i present my ramblings

God Speed

My Attack of Christianity Part II

2008-12-05T23:06:00.002-05:00

The Verse

There is one verse that almost everyone has memorized, christian and non-christians alike. That verse, as I'm sure you have guessed by now, is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." This verse (along with a few others that say the same thing) is the foundation of most peoples faith. That's a good thing, it should be the foundation of your faith. Its what this is all about.

By now you're probably wondering what I'm talking about. Didn't I just say in my last post that there was one poorly misinterpreted verse that has created this pseudo-Christianity. Yes I did, and let me tell you what I mean. Yes this verse should be the center of your faith, but only if you truly understand it. You may be saying, "truly understand it? it seems pretty simple to me" and that is where you are wrong. Look at the verse more closely, specifically the words belief and Him. The Greek word for belief is pisteuō. This is a Greek verb that translates as "to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in." So belief right? (you're probably still thinking that you're just wasting your time by reading this but you're not I promise) yeah, seems like the definition of belief to me. So lets look at the second word I brought up, Him. For this we need not look at the Greek but who "Him" is referring to. I'm sure you all know the answer to that question, Jesus Christ, the son of God. (Now you're really thinking "way to go captain obvious") Here's my question for you, just who was(is) Jesus. The son of God? Check! A revolutionary? Check! A radical? Check! A poor person? In the worldly sense of the word, check! A saviour? Check. A man who hung out with the outcasts, the lepers, the possessed, and the despised? Check! A lover? Check! The only perfect person ever? Check! A teacher? Check! All right, all right, you've got the point. this was(and still is) one freaking awesome guy/son of God. But i want you to think about everything I've said now. The translation of pisteuō, being "to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in. and the description of Him being all that it is. Pay close attention to the place confidence in. So we are told that by placing confidence in Christ, and by the transitive property, placing confidence in all that Christ was and is we are given salvation. I don't know about you people, but when i place confidence in something it means I do it. It means I think it will work. (now you're thinking that i might not be so crazy after all)

What all that rambling was about is that, yes all that we need is belief in Christ in order to obtain salvation, but we have greatly misunderstood that belief as Christians. Belief is not just something we do with our minds and hearts, its something we do with our body as well. It is us showing just how much belief we have by our actions, not to please God and earn ourselves better spots in heaven, but because by truly believing in Christ we have gained His heart, and His compassions, and His love, and we want to share that with everyone.

Well once again thanks for reading my post. If you haven't checked out the first one scroll down (if your not on my blog go to drummingandrew.blogspot.com). Just a few more posts to go and you'll all be rid of me for a few days ;). Its time we start living out our faith. BTW I apologise for the font issues, blogger went nuts and i didn't have the energy to fiddle with it.

Up next: The Commission (which probably should have been the first post but ohh well)

(i got my greek from blueletterbible.org and my translation from studylight.org)

My Attack of Christianity Part 1 American Dream

2008-12-03T22:16:00.004-05:00

This will be probably a four or five part installment. Yes I am still a christian. Yes I am being a hypocrite but I am slowly trying to change that. Here Goes!!!

Sorry Richie Rich

Christianity today has become something unrecognizable. If the early church were here we wouldn't even be considered pretend Christians. If Paul were here there would be about thirty books of "To the Church in its current state" and each independent letter would be detailing worse things than are detailed in all of Paul's letters combined. If Jesus were here in the flesh I imagine we would see Him weep (I imagine He is weeping right now). Mainstream Christianity has strayed so far from the truth that even the world knows there is something wrong with it (just ask the atheists). The foundation of today's Christianity is one of belief. It is that all that is needed to make someone a disciple of Christ is belief in Christ. Well guess what people... That's not all we need. This idea came from one poorly interpreted verse (to be discussed later). There are enough other verses in the bible that say that action is required in addition to belief. (warning, this is about to get dangerous) Here's a news flash everyone, you all already know this but choose to ignore it. Here's what we are truly called to do as Christians. First we cannot be rich in the worldly sense of the world. There are so many verses and stories that state this fact that I won't bother recanting any here (if you're looking for some try opening your bible and reading any gospel or letter...). I lied, here are three. The book of James in the fifth chapter tells the rich to "weep and groan with anguish" for their "wealth is rotting away" and "the treasure (they) have accumulated will stand as evidence against (them) on the day of Judgement." In the book of Luke, in the 16th chapter, Jesus says "use you worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then when your earthly possessions are gone they will welcome you to an eternal home." Jesus goes on to tell the parable of a rich man and Lazarus (look it up on your own Luke 16.19-31). Early in Luke Jesus says "You cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own!" and "Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own" (13.3 and 12.15 respectively). As you can see Jesus did not like wealth at all. Everyone knows where He says "it is easier for an elephant (or some animal of the sort) to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven" (i don't remember the specific verse right now so if you find it let me know). So part of being a christian is not having wealth, and i guess not being American, seeing as capitalism is all about getting as much as you can. So how many did i offend there, well guess what, there are no sorrys anymore. There have been enough sorrys and enough masking of the truth to last a long time. Its time that the Church became a living being again, "picked up and dusted off their sword) and started emulating Christ in their lives.

Are you not offended enough yet? OK stick around for the next installments then come talk to me.

I'm not trying to offend people, its just that from experience i know that when peoples beliefs are attacked they get defensive.

Up next "The Verse"

2008-11-26T20:35:00.001-05:00

I will be spending the rest of thanksgiving break in hollywood with the band. I apologize for not posting in a while, and it will be a while longer. I'll be back on wednesday so until then...

Peace

NICE

2008-11-15T18:12:00.004-05:00

Yeahhhhhhhhhh boiiiiiiiiiii

can you say three peat

thats right, Spring-Ford is once again ACC's champs