Ponder this

Ok so I recently have just got this real vision of God and realization that God is love. So now I am going to re-write a famous chapter in the bible with that in mind.

1st Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not God, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not God, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not God, I gain nothing.
God is patient, God is kind, He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrong. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always preservers.
God never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: Faith, hope and God. But the greatest of these is God.

On the Fence

Ok so God and the Devil are neighbor's. But of course I do not mean neighbor's in old times where there wasn't really boundaries or fences. No they are and always were neighbor's like today. You put up your fence and what ever is in your yard is yours. You get mad when your neighbor goes into your yard. Now in God's yard well it is a fantasy land basically you got everything. You got a pool, hot tub, trampoline, and a big area to play sports and have fun. Best of all God's yard is well groomed no weeds and a flower garden to die for. In the Devils yard you have a pool but it's broke and empty, the lawn is full of those spiky weeds, and the grass is brown and dyeing, the flower garden is a pile of rot and the place is infested with bugs. Yet some how the Devil gets word out that his yard is such a great place to be and when your in he keeps you in through lies and trickery. Knowing all this you would think the choice us pretty simple yet I find myself on the fence. With God what you see is what you get and there are no lies. God is love and thru God you can change lives and it is amazing. Yet some how the lies of the Devil keep me wondering. I see his yard I feel the pain of his spiky lawn but his lies keep me wondering what is in his house. Maybe there I will find something. In his house there are no rules but there is no safety net either. He has girls and promises fun but look at his yard can his house really be much better. I realized this today that I am sitting here on the fence when it is so obvious where I should be. And if I stay here on the fence for too long I may find out too late that the Devil owns it.

Or maybe it is the opposite way around the Devil has this beautiful yard, a big pool, hot tub, and whatever else and God has a yard overgrown with weeds. And maybe that is why I am on the fence because I think I should be where the yard is good but when you get into the house you'll realize you were wrong. God took is his money and put it into his house and inside you have everything. The Devil spent his time on the yard so that you wouldn't care if the inside of his house is rotten and falling apart. But hey sooner or later it's going to snow and when it does who is better off. Either way I know where I should be but it's tough. (especially with hate guy trying to pull the moves) My advice for you is to let God/love guide our ways. Meditate daily on love and don't fall to the Devils lies.

Control

Emotions are such a big thing. I just got home from deeper but on my way home I had to ask a friend if we were still friends. You see I almost lost hope, but for some reason she decided to offer me a ride on Friday. I am involved with a youth group on Fridays with her and so she told me that we were getting better. She said that there were still some things that she couldn't tell me but other then that we were good. Now to understand my response I think that you might need to know the nature of this friendship. It was a very intimate thing there was a level of trust which I have only met with her and we both shared very real but very secret parts of our lives. So when this friendship was damaged I felt a great loss. Anyway I told her I don't think it would every be ok because there is a part of me that will always be discontent but I have learnt to ignore that dicontentment. As long as I ignore it I can at least have fun when she is around. The conversation went on a bit about how I dealt with my discontent and I then said I have to deal with it that way because if I continue with trying to understand it or to get her to open up to me again it will only make things worse. I then gave the example of the conversation because I think it did not go well I expressed my concern that she would let another mutual friend of ours know and then that friend would become mad at me even more so than she already is. Anyway the point I am trying to make here is that I have this emotion of discontent or maybe even bitterness in me that I am wrestling with and it sometimes overflows into my conversation with my friends. I never wanted that conversation to go bad and I never wanted to harm any of my relationships but because I let that emotion fester I made some bad choices. We see the opposite of this all the time in Christianity. God is love and when people know God they know love. If you think about it and meditate on it then it will be hard put to keep it from affecting the way you live. I need to take my own advise because so often I find myself thinking about the bad. Thinking why does it happen to me and trying to justify it or saying it is my fault and trying to fix it. But I tell you when you respond in kind it only makes things worse. And it is times when something happens like your friend decides to hate you that you need to have love/God because then you'll respond in love instead of in bitterness or anger. And as hard as it can be to accept something and just show love that is the only way it will ever be repaired. For anyone who is like me and sometimes finds it hard to find love in those times. Here is how you do it. JESUS, he died for us if that isn't enough love found then maybe you don't understand what it means.

M180 impact

Oh I can't wait but it's a surprise so you'll have to wait. Anyway just went to Kindersly and seeing as this is sorta a journal I thought I would put it in here. Got there on Saturday and came back on Sunday. Saturday was cool because it was a youth night and at least we had some kids show out. I never go to these expecting to not hear the word or learn from it. Anyway Pastor Jason had some good teaching and then we spent the night at Pastor Kelly's. Nice place. Sunday I took up the preschool class and made a new friend. Those are always the worst because it makes it that much harder when you leave. Kids are so cute. I hope we go back anyway I am tired now so I will catch you all later.

D Grace

Grace, as mortals we find it so hard to do in action. We can so easily say you are forgiven and then we still hold the grudge. Sometimes we get caught up in what the world is telling us. That of course I also struggle in so hey your not in the boat all alone. But what I have to wonder is why do we get caught up on it? God created us and we practically disowned him yet he gave us grace. So why would you with hold grace. Like seriously God gave his son for you and then someone says you look fat so you hate them forever? I just don't see the sense in that.

Money for the Brain

Hey everyone!! Well here is my little anecdote for the day. I spend my Wednesday evenings at a youth group called Blaze, which I must admit is nothing like I expected it to be. However, this Wednesday Greg (the main leader of Blaze this year) spoke about taking God seriously. As I listened to him I couldn't help but realize that what he had to say held a certain truth and value. Some of you may have heard this analogy already but it is one he used and I like it. "So Jesus is either a liar, lunatic, or Lord. But if Jesus is a liar he is first of all the best liar in all the world and second of all very stupid. He managed to convince thousands of people that he was telling the truth and is still believed 2000 years later. Now he is incredibly stupid because he died for a cause that he knew was a lie. So if he wasn't lying and was just crazy a lot of the stuff he spoke about could be passed off as "whatever that man was just crazy." But most religions will attest to the fact that Jesus was a great teacher. If a man were crazy then he would not be able to pass as a great teacher. So if he is not lying and was not crazy then he must be Lord." Greg also added to this that if Jesus was Lord then everything he said was truth and if everything he said was truth then that makes him want to aspire to be like Christ. And to be honest if you know that Jesus is Lord and have read any of the Gospels how can you not want to be a better person. Greg finished by saying if you go home tonight and you don't think about this at all you are only harming yourself but if you go home and you think about it or read the Gospels it will totally ruin your life as you know it. I have to agree with Greg as I just finished reading John and there was so much in there that made me look at myself. I think I could honestly say it almost disgusts me at how unchrist like I am. Christians now a days they think well being a Christian (which means little Christ) is easy and if you just do a little of what Jesus did you're ok. Now that is fine I think myself that if you are at all like Jesus you are doing better than most of the worlds population but if you think that and you stop at helping a few people here or there saying "I don't have to do more" you are only lying to yourself and I would almost go as far to say that you do not truly believe in what Jesus teaches. If you don't want to go further and stay at a certain point well can you honestly say your a Christian or have you just gotten good at fakin it. Christianity should be always on going. You should never stop and say oh I'm doing enough because until you die for every single person on earth and every single person who is going to be on earth you can not be like Christ. God will accept you for who you are as long as you truly believe that Jesus is Lord and he died for us but well I can not accept me. And I tell you the truth if you honestly believe that Jesus is Lord and read the Gospels well then I doubt you will be able to accept yourself either. This one is a tough one. I will tell you I myself have problems with going foward but the best way is to start in God's word.

Time

As I was driving home tonight I got to thinking. This is the Thanksgiving holiday and I have so much to be thankful for yet to take the time is too much to ask. Then I had to wonder what exactly is time. You see in today's society I used to think it revolved around money but money revolves around time. The world has gone and gotten itself into a hurry and the label of there new (I will go so far as to say) god is time. People say oh I don't have time for this or I don't have time for that. The companies that hire you pay by the hour or if they pay salary they demand a specific amount of hours be put in. You see time is such a misconstrued concept. I do not like this new label for the worlds fetish. You see the world has imprinted this concept that time is a resource that can be used to achieve so much or so little and that time is expendable. I have to disagree though. I believe God has given us a purpose to be in this world and well to be frank it seems a waste to spend the time given to us debating whether or not we have the time to do this or that or how much 6 hours of time is worth. We get so caught up in wondering if we have the time that by the time we have decide we do not have the time we could have already finished what we thought we never had the time to do. So next time you wonder if you actually have the time to call an old friend or write a letter to your mom. Just do it. If that doesn't get you here is a brain twista: Next time you wonder if you have the time to do this or that you should wonder if you have the time to wonder about if you have the time to do this or that. Time will never stop so take action rather than debate on which action you have time to take action on. The Lord never put us here so that we could spend our time wondering if we have the time to do what he has already set for us to do.

Ok so I read through this and I just wonder if anyone has an answer to this rebuttal?

So if the Lord is omnipotent and has given us the time to do what he has already set for us to do then would he not have set time for us to debate the time of which he has set?

Reality TV

What does it all mean!!?
Hey guess what if you haven't realize you are on a reality based t.v. show. They are watching you every minute of the day. Of course it's edited before it is shown to the general public. In knowing all this you now know that one day you will see the Producer and you should try to make him look good. You should also realize that no matter what happens the Producer is in control and you can come to no harm through his plans. He has created the Set and has hired all the actors. Now just so you are aware there is a jealous former co-producer who's main goal is to destroy the beautiful film. You see he left our Producer's side to be on his own, thinking he could create a wonderful master piece but all that he could write was horror. So now he tries to pollute the populace of the reality show. Many fall to his deceptive lies and they are lost. But the Producer is a merciful man and forgives any who may fall into the snares of his opposition. And the day we meet the Producer will be a glorious day. As for now I choose to follow the Producer.

Sand lot Tyranny

K here's a bizarre thought.

The bell rang. Charales was the first to the door and ran to the sand lot. He loved the Sand lot especially the castle right in the middle of it because he always loved to be in command. Charales was amusingly enough fairly popular. And so he would go and claim the castle and then let all his friends in. Today though he had a new idea to gain control. He decided that he would let anyone one in who could recite the Lord's prayer. His two closest friends came and he asked them to recite the prayer. They did and so he let them in then he stated to them that anyone could come in but only if the were able to recite the prayer. He than delegated to them to keep guard of the entry. Very soon the rest of the kids came and they all wanted to enter. So the ones that could recite the prayer we admitted. Very soon all the Kids that had wanted to be in the castle were in except, in Charales' eyes, losers. So He called upon his group of friends and told the two gate watchers to allow no one out. Pretty soon he was making rules for his, as he considered them, citizens to abide by. One kid decided to ignore Charales so he punched the kid hard in the gut and no one did anything because he three muscular friends surrounding him. He then delegated them to go throughout his citizens and harm the ones that did not follow his every word. He called these three his guru's which he secretly thought of as a secret police. Fairly soon a lot of kids were keeling over in pain because they refused to give up a tenth of there luncheon. Pretty soon he was demanding that they give an offering for offending God. So he called for the smallest of the kids then tore the kid's shirt off and started to beat him then threw him over the edge. Pretty soon all the kids wanted to leave but could not get out for the fact that he had two gate guards and three Guru's stopping them from going over the edge. This went on for about another 10 minutes when one of the larger so called citizens decided to rally a group. They formed and soon there was a large mob like group following this man. The three Guru's tried to stop them but in that force the mob had the power. And the three Kids who had inflicted so much pain upon the citizens were beat 2 times as hard. Then they were thrown over the edge. The mod then turned on Charales and he was scared. He ran and hid in the far room because this castle had three sections. The mob however followed him and forced entry. They then brutally beat him and threw him out.

The moral of this story is that you should never act out in tyranny even Christian tyranny is wrong.

Why I ride my Bike

I wonder... riding a bicycle... is it really that much fun? Let's see-- when you rotate these pedals... the chain transmits the leverage to the sprocket and axle at the rear of the bike. And... squeezing this brake lever...causes these pads to make contact with the wheel, converting angular momentum to heat. No shock absorbers, but in their place, air-bladder tires and a spring suspention for the seat. Hmmm. Extreme simplicity, yet strangely logical. But I was merely examining a technological artifact. On a bicycle you converse with the wind. Sometimes swirling about you, sometimes slapping placidly by. As you pass from the warm sun into the cool shade... you can feel the very density of the air change. The flow of green leaves, the sky and the clouds, enfolding you in the world around you... all a dialogue that begins with the powers of your own body. Some people may hate bicycles because it hurts when you crash. But bikes are fun because they can crash! The thrill is keeping something under control when it wants to wipe out. It's amazing. So much speed, just from my own legs. The scenery rushing by in a blur... but the wind feels so soft and gentle. You know... maybe bicycles are kinda fun! I guess that is all I have to say. Good Day.

The newest of the new

Ok, so we all go through some tough times and right now I'm at one of those spots. Well of course being the way I am, I just want to fix things and I always seem to try to do it myself. You see I have a natural talent for such moments. However this time my talent fails me. There are certain character flaws that have come to my attention which really can be concerning. But of course no one wants to hear what they did wrong and what they could have done better so naturally I ignored it. Anyway to make a long story short I have taken some time in the past week to sit and read my bible. Now I don't say this to make myself sound better or honor myself but only to say this; oddly enough a book, which to some people is just a story and to others is a waste of time, can if we give it the opportunity help us. Now I am not saying there was a "conversion over night" reaction when I started to read but it helped to slowly shift even the oldest of mind sets. It is crazy for me to even grasp what I am saying and I admit that one man's testimony is never valid that is why I urge you to test for yourself the validity of my statements. You see I like to try to fix things from the side lines. For example I will bring into light a recent argument of mine with a friend. Shayla (to keep confidentiality the name has been changed) and I suddenly hit a bump in the road of our friendship. I, being stubborn, demanded that my friend bend to my wishes. Of course as the fight prolonged I began to see the true roots of our transgressions towards each other and decided I would try to repair our friendship. I began to take various methods in trying to sway Shayla into hanging out with "the group." To my dismay they always seemed to fail. I will admit that as my trials kept failing my frustration rose. I began to get angry with Shayla for not making time though I never actually took direct action. I would apologize for being stubborn and if it was thought that I was being rude in anyway but I was still frustrated. It is amazing what some people think an apology means. Shayla would take my apology and assume that everything was alright but she still refused to make time. You see she thought that if she made time I would then demand to talk about our argument and I admit at first that is what I wanted. However as time progressed I only want to be in her company without the judgmental attitude. You see I am as guilty as she in this but she assumes that I am mad or that I want to talk about our argument and then makes assessments of my behavior with that thought in mind. I however was and am not mad most of the time so her assessments being based on that criteria were and are false. It makes for a very stressing time. Now we stand at I have said my apologies but do not want to get into another situation where I feel I am being judged. I will admit that I do not know were to go but all I know is that every time I read my Bible I feel at ease and I am never mad after. So basically I can't do this on my own I tried and failed but when I go to God it helps so moral of the story is try it, it will help.