Things I have learned this Christmas Break, so far:
1) There is no greater relationship a person can have on earth than that with family.
2) Santa Claus isn't real.
3) Young married couples are very hospitable, but very nauseating using terms of endearment for each other like "Big Daddy" and "Sexy Momma" in front of everyone. (I love you James!)
4) You know you are getting older when your best Christmas present isn't a toy. (depressing)
5) A dog really is a man's best friend. They are always by your side even though you've already fed them...unlike Satan's creation the cat.
6) Apparently, I am going to live in Topeka for the rest of my life. (I took a quiz at www.findyourspot.com...Its pretty fun, you should try it!)
7) Ted Dekker is an amazing author...read him!
8) Losing to your Mom in picking who wins the NCAA football bowl games is very humbling....and embarrassing.
9) Boredom is an ever-present enemy waiting to take hold of you!
10) God is very patient.
Now I will admit that most of these things are pretty shallow but a couple of them have some depth to them. For instance, number nine is very true and real! Boredom is the best word to describe my Christmas break. Basically my days consist of waking up, watching college football, and reading. Here and There I have gotten out of the house to play some basketball or hang out at someone's house, but mostly it is just being by myself at home.
I just looked up boredom in my Macmillan Dictionary for Children and it says that it is the condition of being tired or restless by being uninteresting and dull. Someone once said that "Boredom is the deadliest poison." I could not agree with this statement more. Having been gulping this poison down for about 2 weeks now, I realized it is my own fault. How can I become "tired or restless" with this life God has given me. Of course there will be moments when we feel bored with things in this life, but we should NEVER be bored with our God-given lives. How can something as beautiful as life be considered "uninteresting and dull?" If we are dying from boredom, it is our own fault. There are many things we can do to make our lives full of purpose and anti-boredom. Instead of trying to entertain ourselves, we should strive to entertain others. This can come in many forms, but i think the best thing we can do is just to give other people our attention and focus by listening and talking to them. If we are bored with our own lives, then why not take the focus off of our own lives and try to dive into someone else's life? It sounds like a great cure to boredom to me, so lets stop drinking that deadly poison called boredom and live life!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Falling Bricks
Wow! I am hurting big time. I just got home from playing basketball at the church, and my knees are killing me! I had ACL surgery on my left knee about four years, but instead of fixing my ACL I think they just replaced my entire knee with one from a seventy-year-old. However, I can't blame my poor shooting tonight on my knee...that blame will go to the slippery gym floor. You could say i threw up a couple of "bricks." (I think thats gangster for a bad shot, but I will ask Jim later)
In life there are people you love, people you hate, and people you just put up with because you have to. Open Gym for Basketball at my church brings in a plethora of people. There are fifty-year-old man and there are teenagers. There are preachers and there are people who just got out of prison. There are Black people and White people. There are people easy to love and there are people how make it hard for you to like them. All of these people come together every Monday at Town and Country Christian Church to play basketball.
There are two particular people that play basketball who would be in the "people who make it hard for you to like them" category. All they do is whine about how they always get fouled, but they never foul anyone. Every time they get the ball, they either shoot it, or they drive to the basketball screaming "FOUL!" as they are going up to shoot. Tonight was particularly bad and annoying for these two guys. I finally had enough and whispered to a guy who used to be an elder, "I really don't like these guys." He replied with a quick, "Yea, me neither." As I walked to the other end of the court, it hit me like God had dropped a brick out of heaven to hit me right on my ignorant big head. These guys don't know Christ, and they are going to hell if they don't know Jesus. Open Gym on Monday night is not for me to come work on my jump shot and run up and down the court. It is a ministry to get them in the church, and then to bring them to Christ somehow.
Ironically, earlier today before basketball I went to lunch with David, Jim and one of my friends from K-State Rachel. We went to Subway, and all of us men got a 5 Dollar Foot long (I love those commercials)! Rachel wussed out and got a 6 inch, but I'm not holding that against her. Anyways, we sat in Subway for about 40 more minutes discussing discipleship and evangelism. It was an awesome conversation and great encouragement. Someone brought up the point that it isn't right how some people evangelize. Some people come off as door-to-door salesman trying to "sell" Jesus. Their motives are selfish and ignorant. They try to bring people to Christ because they feel like if they don't, God will strike them down with leprosy or something. We all came to the conclusion that loving God and loving people should be the only reason we try to evangelize. If we are not loving people, we become salespeople who try to sell a Savior.
How come I had a great discussion with my friends about loving people and bringing them to Christ, and then turn around six hours later talk about how I hate two guys who might be going to Hell because I am too lazy and apathetic to show them Jesus? I have no clue, but I am thankful that God had a brick handy to wake me up from my stupidity.
In life there are people you love, people you hate, and people you just put up with because you have to. Open Gym for Basketball at my church brings in a plethora of people. There are fifty-year-old man and there are teenagers. There are preachers and there are people who just got out of prison. There are Black people and White people. There are people easy to love and there are people how make it hard for you to like them. All of these people come together every Monday at Town and Country Christian Church to play basketball.
There are two particular people that play basketball who would be in the "people who make it hard for you to like them" category. All they do is whine about how they always get fouled, but they never foul anyone. Every time they get the ball, they either shoot it, or they drive to the basketball screaming "FOUL!" as they are going up to shoot. Tonight was particularly bad and annoying for these two guys. I finally had enough and whispered to a guy who used to be an elder, "I really don't like these guys." He replied with a quick, "Yea, me neither." As I walked to the other end of the court, it hit me like God had dropped a brick out of heaven to hit me right on my ignorant big head. These guys don't know Christ, and they are going to hell if they don't know Jesus. Open Gym on Monday night is not for me to come work on my jump shot and run up and down the court. It is a ministry to get them in the church, and then to bring them to Christ somehow.
Ironically, earlier today before basketball I went to lunch with David, Jim and one of my friends from K-State Rachel. We went to Subway, and all of us men got a 5 Dollar Foot long (I love those commercials)! Rachel wussed out and got a 6 inch, but I'm not holding that against her. Anyways, we sat in Subway for about 40 more minutes discussing discipleship and evangelism. It was an awesome conversation and great encouragement. Someone brought up the point that it isn't right how some people evangelize. Some people come off as door-to-door salesman trying to "sell" Jesus. Their motives are selfish and ignorant. They try to bring people to Christ because they feel like if they don't, God will strike them down with leprosy or something. We all came to the conclusion that loving God and loving people should be the only reason we try to evangelize. If we are not loving people, we become salespeople who try to sell a Savior.
How come I had a great discussion with my friends about loving people and bringing them to Christ, and then turn around six hours later talk about how I hate two guys who might be going to Hell because I am too lazy and apathetic to show them Jesus? I have no clue, but I am thankful that God had a brick handy to wake me up from my stupidity.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Hope Not Fatalism
I love my brothers! I can't think of anything better in life than staying up until one in the morning laughing, talking, and dancing with Jim and Sam. I don't know what I would do without them here. I would probably go crazy from boredom, and I would just end up hanging out with David all the time...So I just wanted to let you know how thankful I am for my bros!
Lately, I have been reading a book by Ted Dekker called Blink. It is a very good fiction book that intertwines the life of a Saudi Princess and a genius named Seth Border. I don't want to give too much of the book away because I recommend that you read it, but something from the book has really stuck out to me. The plot deals a lot with the future and the character's choices to change the future.
This idea of changing our future made me start thinking about how some people have a fatalistic view of their future. They believe that no matter what they do, their future is set in stone. I, for one, was once guilty of this way of thought. When I was younger I remember settling into the belief that I was a sinner and there was no changing it. I knew that a guy named Jesus with a last name Christ died for me and my sins, but I thought to myself, "Hey, I am a sinner and will always be a sinner. I shouldn't have to change anything because there is no use." O, how ignorant I was!
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:17, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation the old has gone, the new has come!" God is love, and love does not force the issue of love. Therefore, God does not force us to love him. He gives us a choice. We have a choice to love God and become a new creation. If we choose God, our outlook on the future changes. We are no longer stuck in a cemented future mixed with agony and death.
So, can the future change with the choices made by an individual? Yes! So I encourage you to choose to become a new creation in Christ, and your future will be full of hope not fatalism.
Lately, I have been reading a book by Ted Dekker called Blink. It is a very good fiction book that intertwines the life of a Saudi Princess and a genius named Seth Border. I don't want to give too much of the book away because I recommend that you read it, but something from the book has really stuck out to me. The plot deals a lot with the future and the character's choices to change the future.
This idea of changing our future made me start thinking about how some people have a fatalistic view of their future. They believe that no matter what they do, their future is set in stone. I, for one, was once guilty of this way of thought. When I was younger I remember settling into the belief that I was a sinner and there was no changing it. I knew that a guy named Jesus with a last name Christ died for me and my sins, but I thought to myself, "Hey, I am a sinner and will always be a sinner. I shouldn't have to change anything because there is no use." O, how ignorant I was!
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:17, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation the old has gone, the new has come!" God is love, and love does not force the issue of love. Therefore, God does not force us to love him. He gives us a choice. We have a choice to love God and become a new creation. If we choose God, our outlook on the future changes. We are no longer stuck in a cemented future mixed with agony and death.
So, can the future change with the choices made by an individual? Yes! So I encourage you to choose to become a new creation in Christ, and your future will be full of hope not fatalism.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Hindsight Only Favors Good Vision
Its that time of the year! Everyone is happy and excited about the Christmas season. People are buying gifts for their loved ones, and humming their favorite Christmas songs as they walk from class to class. Overall, its a very joyous time for people!
I want to be completely honest with you guys. It really hasn't been all that joyous for me lately. For those of you that know me best, I haven't been myself. I have been thinking about a lot of things, and I guess I just don't know how to express them. Confusion would probably best describe what I am thinking. I thought I had my whole life planned out. Everything I thought was going to happen is not going to happen. Things are going to be different.
Today, I was coming back from church with my two favorite people, David and Jim, and we were talking about what we were going to do this Winter Break. When asked if we were going to do something in particular, David laughingly quoted James 4 when he writes,
I want to be completely honest with you guys. It really hasn't been all that joyous for me lately. For those of you that know me best, I haven't been myself. I have been thinking about a lot of things, and I guess I just don't know how to express them. Confusion would probably best describe what I am thinking. I thought I had my whole life planned out. Everything I thought was going to happen is not going to happen. Things are going to be different.
Today, I was coming back from church with my two favorite people, David and Jim, and we were talking about what we were going to do this Winter Break. When asked if we were going to do something in particular, David laughingly quoted James 4 when he writes,
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
This got me thinking about what I have been doing lately. I have basically told God, okay this is what I am doing and when I am going to do it. Fortunately, God decided to shake up my life and plans. I am hurting now, because I decided to follow my own plans without pursuing his will.
The Classic Crime has a song that says, "Hindsight only favors good vision." I have had many people tell me that things are going to get better, but they are not in my spot. However, it is hard for me to see things getting better anytime soon...I don't have good vision right now.
Good vision is God's vision. Things ARE going to get better, if i pursue God's will for my life. I am trying to get better at this, and I am thankful for God's reminder. Through this rough time in my life, I am striving to come out with God's vision, not my own.
The Classic Crime has a song that says, "Hindsight only favors good vision." I have had many people tell me that things are going to get better, but they are not in my spot. However, it is hard for me to see things getting better anytime soon...I don't have good vision right now.
Good vision is God's vision. Things ARE going to get better, if i pursue God's will for my life. I am trying to get better at this, and I am thankful for God's reminder. Through this rough time in my life, I am striving to come out with God's vision, not my own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)