The I Don't Get It Series

Not many kids take their time and really think. I mean think about!

A lot of kids want to be entertained. Well, Donnie just wanted to think.

Thats all he ever did that poor guy!! His mind would race and race, and everyone knew it when it did.

"Oh, we lost Donnie again." - That's what they would say alright.

You see Donnie was a dreamer. A dreamer.

And you see Donnie never got anywhere.

So kids the moral of the story is:

Don't sniff glue.

...And Kiss A Lot!!

"Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss." - 2 Corinthians 13:11-12

I realize taking Biblical text out of its context is dangerous; here Paul is concluding his message to the Corinthian Church and is talking to the body as a whole.

But what a great couple verses for marriage!

1. Rejoice: wow, how draining is a negative relationship! Always complaining and being annoyed with every little thing! ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER! Come on this world is way to cruel for the person you live with to be your constant nag and annoyance!!

2. Restoration: wow, why not try to be reconciled to each other! NOT saying sorry is PRIDEFUL! Admit your mistake, or hey even better admit your wrong (even though your not)!

3. Comfort: wow, be nice to each other! Dont be a selfish prick and not want closeness! DONT BE INDIVIDUALISTIC! Be close to other, cuddle on the couch, hold hands, DO THINGS TOGETHER.

4. Peace: wow, who wants to live with someone that has no peace in their hearts!?? NO WAY! Aim for peace and gentleness, dont try to start petty selfish fights! GIVE ME A BREAK THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO END!

5. God of love: If God created love; why not pursue Him? WOW NOW THERE'S A THOUGHT!

6. He will be with you: wow, realize that God IS in the midst of you both. HIS PRESENCE WILL HEAL ANY RELATIONSHIP AND SUSTAIN IT TO THE END!

7. Kiss...you can figure this one out: LETS HOPE SO! KISS EVERYDAY! AND KISS A LOT!

His Alone

The error we must be aware of in marriage is thus: making the marriage the end in itself. If our desire is merely to have a good marriage...I doubt that will ever occur.

Take for example: I want to be nice. Well I try to be nice, however I am not so nice as I had hoped I would be. I made being nice the end in itself.

I want to memorize verses. Well I try and memorize a passage, and then try and try some more, and meanwhile I forget that the verses point to Jesus. I made memorizing the end in itself.

I want to pray better. Well I start to pray and utilize different psalms and phrases from the men of the Bible, meanwhile I forget I am suppossed to come as a child and the Lord already knows what I am going to ask or say. I made praying the end in itself.

Are these good things?

Yes. No doubt.

But, when you make a good thing the end in itself, it can be very bad indeed.

Only God is Good. Jesus said that Himself.

When we make Christ Jesus our First and Only gaze...we can boldy say:


'By His wounds I am  healed...'

Think about that for a bit...doesnt seem like the initial response...but remember:

 His alone...

Foundations

In any structural construction, you must lay a solid foundation. The same goes with any personal relationship, there must be a solid foundation.

Through the weeks and months of courtship with Ashley I know I have said countless prayers for our marriage and us individually. The Foundation has been laid.

Now in the first couple years of marriage, we shall see how the foundation is finished...

What is amazing is now, we get to pray together. As we put Christ at the center of our relationship, all else will flow naturally from the One True Source.

We are meant to grow!! We must never forget that as a couple...

Unconditional love, joint prayer, and forgiving hearts is a potent recipe for this cruel world....the devil will most definitely try to  'kill, steal, and destroy' our marriage....

Therefore, we must look to the Victor for our strength and ever present help in the times of trouble...

We must run this race with perserverance...because 'in this life YOU WILL have tribulation'....

It all goes back to the Foundation. Where have you laid yours and what kind of ground do you stand on?

In marriage, the 'floods WILL COME'...but whoever built their relationship on God...will stand and last...

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,'

and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me

and hears my words and does them,

I will show you what he is like:

he is like a man building a house,

who dug deep and laid the foundation

on the rock.

And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house

and could not shake it,

because it had been well built.

But the one who hears and does not do them

is like a man who built a house on the ground

without a foundation.

When the stream broke against it,

immediately it fell,

and the ruin

of that house

was

great."

Luke 6:46-49

God gives us grace to start building anywhere and at any place in our lives...repent and begin laying a firm foundation...On the Rock our God.

Until...

The air of the world, is set upon advancement. Is it not? We go from one fad to the next, advancing our way to newer and better things. If it was "cool" 10 years ago, fancy it ever selling now for $20 at the local pawn store. Looking back at our ancestors, how could we ever remotely think they even existed without a cell phone?


The air of progress, ironically though is an illusion of progress. We think we are better today, than we were yesterday, and tomorrow will be even better. Yet, we haven't changed much at all.


How so do you say? Well, on the grounds of what really matters in this life. First, however before I go any further (if you will), I want to make two solid foundational points:


1. Something went terribly wrong after The Fall (Genesis 3-4)
2. BUT in the beginning: Everything was Perfect (Genesis 1-2)


Now the reason, I gave you #1 before #2, is because it is hard for man to humble himself enough to this fact: Man is not the center of the universe


Another reason, I gave you #1 before #2, is because it is hard for man to realize that he was formed from Something outside of his own control: Man has a Creator


And yet again (pardon my forgetfulness), I gave you #1 before #2, because if we actually read these first 4 chapters of Genesis, we can agree: Man messed it all up


And from the result of one man' sin: You have the decay of the world ever since & (please don't miss this next point) man's attempt to fix this problem ever since.


You ask how so?


Well, advancement...I could list all the organizations, all the regimes, all the social networks, all the do it yourself syndromes, all the therapy, and the list goes on and on and on.


BUT the problem is ironically enough: Man cannot fix his problem: the problem of sin.


Man sinned and left the Perfect. A Perfect God in every since. Now the imperfections of man, have been haunting him ever since. The loneliness. The independence. The cravings for more...


So what are we to do?


Isn't this question that can and can only result? What are we to do?

Well, here is the missing piece if you will. Say that same Perfect God had a Son. And He was Perfect too. And He was sent down from The Perfectness of God (we call it Heaven). And He lived a sinless life. And He was the Messiah of the promised Holy Scriptures from old (through the holy prophets). And He was the Perfect Atonement for our sin and sinful nature. And He was crucified. ‘For only through the shedding of blood, sin is atoned for.” And He was buried for 3 days. And then He rose again. And His Spirit was manifested to His followers on earth. And His Spirit has been spreading ever since…

Would you believe that? Could you believe that?

A Perfect God, who casts out us sinners, and then sends His own Son to die for our sins? Would this be fair?

Fair? If that was even the question: weren’t we wrong in the first place anyways…?

And still we can reject the Truth can we not?

We can still try and try and try and try and try and try and try and try to fix our own problem. For it is a problem. If we existed because we were created by Someone. Than wouldn’t the only way to fix our problem is to go back to our creation? To the Creator>?

Ah but here is man’s problem: Pride. ‘For they loved the creature, rather than the Creator’. Man is still trying to fix his/her own problem. But it is in vain; for it is, as we have said: Impossible.

And from this Pride: we become our own little gods; independent; creating more problems and more problems than we had before. IF we can fix it outside God we think, than we must make it grand. And the illusion is that it works, but reality sits down with us over time and we look back and realize that we have just created more of a mess than when we first initially set out to fix.

Man cannot fix sin. We cannot. We cannot. We cannot. We cannot.

Ah but we try and try and try and try and try.

Meanwhile, our progress has never been progress. We are still eating rotten apples, until we let God feed us. ‘I am the True Food.’ ‘I am the Living Bread’. ‘I am Living Water’.

And yet we try and try and try and try to drink and eat elsewhere.

All the while, that nasty devil is trying ‘to kill, steal , and destroy us’.

No wonder, we are desperate for a Savior.

No wonder, we must give up, and let God reign in us.

No wonder, we will never rest outside of Him.

No wonder, our hearts need Jesus.

No wonder.

We shall always wander, until we find our True Home.

"For he satisfies the longing soul, and

the hungry soul he fills with good things."

Psalm 107:9

What It's All About...

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this:

that one had died for all, therefore all have died;

and he died for all, that those who live

might no longer live for themselves

but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

From now on, therefore we regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh,

we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away;

behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ

reconciled us to himself and gave us

the ministry of reconciliation;

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them,

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,

God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin

who knew no sin,

so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

"Marriage"

Well we are just under the 3 month mark of our wedding and I added some more "marriage stuff" to my previous collection of qoutes by Mike Mason in his book The Mystery of Marriage. Hope you enjoy; good stuff.


"Even when we do catch a glimpse of love, it is still miles ahead of us. It's because love, true love, sets people free to be whoever they are. But a thirty-year-old man is like a densely populated city: Nothing new can be built, in its heart, without something else being torn down. So I began to be demolished. That is one of the chief characteristics of love: It asks for everything. Not just for a little bit, or a whole lot, but for everything. And herein lies the battle. It is always some version of this tension between the needs for dependence and for independence, between the urge toward loving cooperation and the opposite urge toward detachment, privacy, self-sufficiency. No one has ever been married without being surprised, and usually alarmed,  at the sheer intensity of this invasion. For we are opaque, solid creatures; we resist being transparent. And yet this is what love asks for: transparency. For that is what love does: It brings people out into the light, no matter how painful that transition might prove to be. Love aims at revelation, at a clarifying and defining of our true natures. For suddenly there is so much to see! So much is revealed when two people dare to stand in the radiance of one another's love. Marriage is a choosing of the closeness of God, in the form of a close relationship with another person. It is a deliberate choosing of closeness over distance, of companionship over detachment, of relationship over isolation, of love over apathy, of life over death. It forever admonishes us that there is no such thing as life apart from relationship, which is to say, no life apart from the sharing of ourselves with another. Man was not to be an isolated creature, nor a whole horde of isolated creatures, but rather "one flesh". Like God Himself, then, marriage comes with a built-in abhorrence of self-centeredness. It attacks people's vanity and lonely pride in a way few other things can, tirelessly exposing the necessity of giving and sharing, the absurdity of blame. Angering, humiliating, melting, chastening, purifying, it touches us where we hurt most, in the place of our lovelessness. Dragging us into lifelong encounters that at times may be full of boredom, tension, unpleasantness, or grief, marriage challenges us to abandon everything for the sake of love. For this is just the sort of thing love loves to do. It loves to back us into a corner. It loves to rip out our independence like a rug from under our feet, and then stand back and watch what we will do. For love demands wholehearted commitment; it is never satisfied with just a little bit of a person's heart. For love is like death: What it wants is all of us. For marriage is a wild frontier, the most free and raw and unpredictable of all human associations, it is the outer space of society. And so the godless flee from marriage in droves. They flee in the sense of this: It is a vocation to total abandonment. Naturally those who stubbornly refuse to believe this will fail to experience the reality of it. But when they do love, that love becomes a fire that has the power to enkindle all around them. A fiery covenant. Far from being trapped, we are actually set free. If a couple were to seek the Lord with their whole will, rejoice in Christian fellowship, and spend time both alone and together in heartfelt prayer and study of the Scriptures, they would soon find their love life with a rich glow, finally ablaze. For only through wholeness of dedication can human life begin to approach holiness. From now on, the greatest part of all the "giving in" and "letting go" we must do in life will be done within the context of our marriage, as we surrender not only to the Lord but to our human partner, and as we are called on to let go not only of all the worldliness we ourselves cling to but of everything that clings to the other as well, every fleshy desire, every weakness, every sin. If it is hard to accept our own imperfection, then it is harder still to accept imperfection in another. Marriage reduces all decisions to one, one simple decision that must be made over and over, and there are no results more particular or far-reaching or catastrophic than the results of that initial and ongoing decision to invite one other person to interfere permanently in our lives. To love is to submit, and to submit is to love. Love asks: Can you love another person enough that you will consent to becoming like them? But before love can really begin to be love, it must face and forgive the very worst in the person loved. A Christian finds the strength to forgive. True submission is humility acquired on behalf of another. We must forgive, or in short, be destroyed. For when we forgive the unforgivable...we see Christ. And who He really is. And what He really meant by His death.Two mysteries that will help any marriage: One is shared prayer, and the other is unconditional love. Either we suffocate under all that is unbeautiful, unsuprising, unspectacular, ungraceful in our lives, or else we learn here and now to breathe the air of grace. In marriage, to put this thought into our homely language, we learn how to appreciate one another, to see one another as precious. We learn to love."

- Mike Mason (a rendition of the book)

"Surgical"

If maybe over the course of this blogging, I could stand back and read all these blogs from a whole (and the reader as well) maybe I (and you) could see what I am getting at. If you could take the whole work of a man, I doubt it would take long to find out what he is all about. Or what he loves and admires, dislikes and likes, and if he lets you in a bit further...what he believes.

I think one word would sum up this blog so far: Surgical.

Surgical as in that some of these blogs aren't easy to write or easy to understand, or easy to implement. Implement being another fancy word for practice or "doing". If anyone would think that somehow I can practice all that I write with ease, they don't know me very well. Or rather, they haven't spent enough time with me. Or rather, we have not gone any deeper than the epidermal layer of life. Or rather, I haven't let them know me.

Surgical is the word.

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:12-13)

Answer: Women

It is hard being a man.

Anybody know why men die before women?

I do.

Answer: Women.

Nah (although Ashley thought that was funny/cute), its because men don't take the time to step back and be still. A "BE STILL PILL". It comes not though in a multitude of post it notes, or simple positive thinking phrases such as ITS GOING TO BE OKAY. Nah I think it comes right from the Word of God. I mean I can sit here and open my budget and grab my calculator and input numbers and formulas all day. Or sit down and stare at my calendar and plan out the month. Or keep annoying everyone asking them if everything is going to be okay. Or just try to make more money. Or just open up a bottle of Jack Daniels and drown my worries. Nah that will kill a man fast.

So here is to finally resting in the Lord. And taking His Sovereignty not just as another theological doctrine but as a reality. 

Psalm 103

"Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast

love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness 

and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to 

Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love 

toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, 

and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is 

from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant 

and remember to do his commandments.

The Lord established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his word,

obeying the voice of his word!

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers,

who do his will!

Bless the Lord, all his works, 

in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

The Disease of Universalism

 Universalism: the belief that all religions are correct and true.

I believe that Universalism is completely, fundamentally, functionally, and utterly demolished by the Words of Jesus Christ:

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, "Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." ....Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" (John 14:1-10)

A Further Dissection

I want to further dissect this question: "Can I lose my salvation?"

The question is false in itself. For it asks the wrong question. If a man can lose his salvation wouldn't it thus require by some means that he/she is obtaining it? Think about that for a second. IF you could lose your salvation; then somehow you are obtaining it...

And this is so contrary to Jesus.

When we come to know the power of the Atonement. We will understand this: "What can wash away my sins? NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS."

Do you see the error in "losing my salvation"? Without Jesus we would have no salvation. Worthy of repeat: Without Jesus we would have no salvation...

Why? Because we could not live the life He lived; we could not die the Death he died; and we could not Resurrect the life He Resurrected. Do you realize that you are utterly lost without Jesus? Do you realize that as a Christian you are utterly dependent upon Jesus?

And this is where the Blood of Christ satisfies God. God is satisfied when he looks upon me, for I am covered by the Blood of the Lamb. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sins. And His Blood is Perfect. ONLY that Blood saves.

Therefore on the Day of Judgement my God can look upon me and be satisfied. For I am covered by the Blood. Covered and Cleansed.

Now can I lose the covering of the Blood of Christ? GOD FORBID! Again how on earth are you obtaining that covering?????

You Know

Two grave mistakes a man can consist of: Trying to change someone; and Trying to change himself.
One has grafted an idol that will never live up, rather comfort, his desires of what they "should be". And One has the constant error of checking one's "spiritual pulse".

"Son of man, can these bones live?"

And I answered,

"O Lord God, you know."

Ezekiel 37:3-4

Letters from Lewis: Q/A (4)

Question (4): 'How do I become more 'like Christ'? In other words, what do I do in order to change?'

C.S. - "It is not mere improvement but Transformation...as long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about yourself altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange?

Give up yourself,

and you will find your real self.

Lose your life and you will save it.

Submit to death, death of your ambitions

and favorite wishes every day and

death of your whole body in the end:

submit with every fiber of your being,

and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing.

Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours.

Nothing in you

that has not died

will ever be raised from the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find only

hatred,

loneliness,

despair,

rage,

ruin,

and decay.

But look for Christ and you will find Him,

and with Him everything else thrown in."

Letters from Lewis: Q&A (2)/(3)

Question (2): 'Why do you believe in Christianity?'

C.S. - "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

Question (3): 'Can we lose our salvation'?

This question can be answered in the light of Psalm 32:

"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the 

Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones

wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy 

upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the

heat of summer. 

I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions 

to the Lord,"

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin..."

Through the Cross we have forgiveness only. It is nothing of our own doing, rather nothing of our own "covering", for Christ did it once and for all. He is our salvation, He alone is worthy and perfect to forgive sin itself. We confess our sins through the divine reality 'we are dead to sin and alive to God'. We have confession because in the flesh we ultimately are imperfect humans asking for a perfect Mediator to 'wash us whiter than snow'. IF Jesus was not the 'I am' we are all most to be pitied. IF Jesus did not rise again we men and women are to be pitied. IF Jesus did not 'become our sin' we are already disillusioned. IF Jesus did not conquer death, we have a false Hope. BUT He did...therefore Rejoice knowing you have been saved alone by His doing, rather His "covering" of sins. You have been sealed with 'the promised Holy Spirit' and He alone holds you on His Hand of Salvation. 'Fret not it tends to lead only to evil.'

Letters from Lewis: Q&A (1)

Question (1): 'What are we to make of Christ (Jesus)?'

C.S. - "There is no question of what we can make of Him, it is entirely a question of what He intends to make us. You must accept or reject the story. The things He says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Others say, 'This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go.' but He says, 'I am the Truth, and the Way, and the Life'. He says, 'No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved.' He says, 'If you are ashamed of Me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I also will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from Me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut if off. If you put yourself first you will be last. Come to Me everyone who is carrying a heavy load, I will set that right. Your sins, all of them, are wiped out, I can do that. I am Re-birth, I am Life. Eat me, drink me, I am your Food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.' That is the issue."

"Costly Grace"

"For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." - Romans 5:19

Sin is distortion;

Sin is perversion;

Sin is deception;

Sin is evil;

Sin is disobedience

When Christ calleth a man he bids him come and die; to come and live and be whole again. The man follows leaving his old life behind. This new Life is his Center. The Source for all his pleasure and worth. But this man must obey the call; he must leave the boat. This man must obey because he who loves obeys; and he who obeys loves. This man is obedient because he believes; he believes because he is obedient. Jesus is the Answer. Without Him we have a crippled hollow religion. Without Him we have nothing. To follow the Word of God is to obey the Word of God. It is fire to the soul. Freedom from the world. Letting go of control; letting go of all selfish desires; letting go of all pride; letting go all to see God simple in his all. That is surrender. Letting go simply all to see God simply in His all. Its to follow, "I am coming Your way". Its answering the call "Come to me". That we may Live; that we may have Life; thay we may be full of joy everlasting. For there is only One thing that matters; and its Him. It will always be Him. The Lord always redirects our hearts back; and its Him. One must obey to follow; to leave it all behind, a total abandonment. It is not something that is easy; nor is it burdensome. That is the beauty of following Christ. When we resist; it is very heavy. When we say "Yes Lord Yes Lord" it is light; gloriously light! It is this personal relationship; this eternal covenant that is established. This fellowship with the Son of God. That alone transforms you. That alone gives your life purpose. That alone gives your life meaning. That alone is your Rock. For "I will never leave you nor forsake you"; therefore we can have peace with God, therefore we not only walk to God; we run to God! "Lord I am coming Your way!" "Lord I am coming Your way!" For this life has left me dry! It has left me empty! It hasn't fullfilled! And you leave me speechless. You leave me with Life. "Yes Lord Yes Lord; I am coming Your way!". But not only that; he that obeys overcomes. Only the man who can overcome this life is the man that has faith in the Son who overcame this world. He is the Overcomer. And he who rests in the victory already given to him by the Lord overcomes. For the devil is a liar. He can only speak lies; that toothless lion! He is out to kill steal and destroy. But I recall this to mind "For he is greater in you than he that is in the world." Therefore the victory has been won; the battle ended, the war eternally sealed as "Victory!". Yes to follow the Lord is glorious light. What He wants is all of you. Not fragments. But the whole. All of the heart! All of the mind! All of the soul! All of the strength! It is a vocation of total abandonment; to become totally His. He will be your Refuge; He will be your Fortress. But not only on Sunday morn; we must not just give him Sunday morn! We must give him our lives! We must give him all of us! For then and only then shall we declare that sacred word with power: "Hallelujah!" Lord give us ears to hear. And eyes to see. And hearts to understand. In Your Holy Name I pray Amen.

Have you forgotten?

How can one totally abandon everything for the sake of the gospel?

And yet still how can anyone around him follow his lead?

What does it all mean?

What does it all mean?

Thats the question and the answer I seek

How do you die daily?

In a world that cries for attention of your soul

It cries "No me me me!"

I want you! Whether the Lord simply says

"Follow me";

Which road shall we choose?

For there are only two;

Which one shall you become?

We become something eventually...

The Lord beckons "NO COME TO ME!"

"For there is your purpose and your place

Have you forgotten?"

But how do I lead?

"Follow me"

"Follow me"

"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality."

- Romans 2:6-11

 

A Biological Review

This summer I shall finally be graduated. I say 'finally' because we are all to aware of the fact, I have been in college for 5 plus years. (Please keep the snickering down; hmm a Snickers sounds good). I was driving back from the library today, and I want to address some reflections I have had over the years about my experience as an under-graduate biology major. Here's the deal: I go to Hardin-Simmons University "An education enlightened by faith". And here's the other deal: not once (in the span of countless hours, labs, tests, online assignments) did we mention God. One teacher I recall only have a slight faith, but unfortunately and sadly enough that was all. So what am I trying to reflect on: well maybe this it...

I wish (and maybe this is where it all comes together for me) we were taught to reflect on the God behind plants. The God behind genes. The God behind the stars. The God behind physics. The God behind the Laws of Thermodynamics. The God behind cellular organelles. The God behind bio informatics. The God behind phylum and kingdom. The God behind the heart. The God behind the brain. The God behind advanced exons and introns. The God behind duck-billed platypus and cheetah. The God behind inter-specific competition behind species. The God behind Mendel's Laws. The God behind the law of gravity and force. The God behind it all...

Anyways... No more labs ever again! No more Genetics and Chemistry and Physics! GAH YA'LL WERE BRUTALLY HARD

Now here's a quote I have been thinking on:

"The moment we do so we can see that every Christian who comes to a university must at all times face a question...he must ask himself how it is right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing to Heaven or to hell to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology." - C.S. Lewis

WOW. However, here is my conclusion: if God didn't allow me to go to college, I would have never gone off to Kamp and met and fell in love with Ashley Hart.

My final conclusion is thus: even with all the advances in science, all the advances in technology...we are still all desperate for a Savior. I mean come on look around, have we progressed? Have we gotten any more closer to love, joy, and peace without God? We will continue to build, continue to "advance", and continue to fill this gaping hole in our lives. But NOTHING, and seriously I mean nothing (I have experience) will fill that hole in this world EXCEPT Jesus Christ.

 Look around have we solved the world with politics? Have we obtained "world peace". Come on seriously; no man-made intervention is going to work! That is why the Lord is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. There is non-other like Him! And until we realize this, we are all grasping after the wind!! ITS ALL FLEETING! OUR CAREERS, OUR MONEY, OUR TOYS they are all FLEETING! BUT AH NOT OUR SOULS...

The sad thing is eternal life is free. And I guess its time for me to get off the pulpit, but seriously why would we desire temporal joy that is fleeting over eternal joy which lasts forever. Ah the decay of sin. I am gonna leave with this quote:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." - C.S. Lewis

Have a good week ya'll.

Your Beautiful: A Remix of One Thing

To will One thing: that God becomes the ever-present Object of our affection, time, and love. The Centricity of our being. To will One thing: that He becomes the Center of my life. The Source of all my joy, all my peace, all my hope, all my love, all my faith, all my security.

"One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that I will seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of

The Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the

Lord

and to inquire in his temple."

- David (Psalm 27:4)



If the opposition be in the form of distraction, then my view of the beauty of God is too low. If my sole focus on life be ever changing, then my view of the beauty of God is too low. If I be more interested in my worldly rights (which I have not), then my view of the beauty of God is too low. How may I 'lift my eyes', when they are too low? How may I 'lift my eyes', when they are set on the visible? How may I 'lift my eyes', when they love the world? How may I 'lift my eyes' when my eyes have no knowledge? If I be on the throne, my view of the beauty of God is too low. If my eyes cannot be lifted above my ugliness (that is my sin), how shall they ever cleave unto Beauty? The question that proceeds is thus: Do I Know the Lord as beautiful?

The Beauty of God has no worthy comparison. This is the battle we fight: " We awaken to a world at war for the allegiance of our minds and the affections of our souls. The winner will be whoever can persuade us that he will bring greatest and most soul-satisfying joy." - Sam Storms



Those Whom find Jesus as Victor can now sing:

Your my One thing that I live for;

'to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord'.

Your the One thing that I long for;

'to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord'.

"My fingers hurt...oh yeah well your back is gonna hurt because you just pulled landscaping duty" - Happy Gilmore

I'm sitting in my office room all bundled up, I look like a cross breed between a monk and an Eskimo. My fingers are very sensitive to the cold, if if gets below 60 they tend to freeze and go numb. I want to share something I read the other day, I think it sums up what I believe to be the very purpose, the One thing, we all are designed to live for.

"Father in heaven! What is a man without Thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know Thee! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know Thee: Thee the One, who are one thing and who are all! So may Thou give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may Thou grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, Thou that giveth both the beginning and the completion, may Thou early, at the dawn of the day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may Thou give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing." - Soren Kierkegarrd

I wrote at one time...'The only thing that matters in this life, is the One seated on the throne.' I would like to add...

'This One, He must become your very center. Your very Source. With every fiber of your existence love Him. Worship Him with expression, not tradition. Sing to Him a new song! For crying out loud dance for Him! Shout for Him! He will be your only true comfort, your only true worth, your only true value, your only true joy, your only true happiness, your only true friend. Express it! 'With all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength'. Express it! Are these just mere words on a page? No they are a life-style! Is our God just a mere far distant Creator Whom we worship? God forbid! He is so personal, He has 'formed my inward parts' He has 'knitted me together' He knows 'every word before its on my tongue'. For crying out loud 'He lives in me!' That changes you. That changes people. That changes things around you. It is not merely reading and learning. It is living and living abundantly! The Lord always redirects our hearts back to the focus and purpose of our lives. And its Him. We will go through dry spells, doubts, and confusion. But ah the Lord is not the Lord of confusion but of peace! He will bring us back. He will light yet again another fire! He shall let it burn bright for its season, then for eternity! Yes this light shall shine bright, for it is full of light! Let no man, let no distracting nation, tame and shade. Yes Lord ,Yes Yes Lord Amen!'

And now my hands have gone in a state of hypo-thermia! So I got a lil excited today...who cares?! Btw I think our engagment pictures will be coming out in 3-4 weeks...So yeah be looking for those. And our good looks...well ok Ashley's!

Desire

"You can never really know the Scriptures

until you're willing to be changed by them."

- Brother Yun



Never the Same

"Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain."

Psalm 127:1

I just woke up from a nap. Not a good dream. Hell is a place where bad dreams, rather nightmares, you never wake up from. Heaven will be more real than earth. I had to write a poem from this dream from the ever increasing awareness of this theme: "Man is always trying to justify their existence"



I am no longer bound

By my performances on the mound

Chained by wins and losses

By making happy all the bosses

I went up the ladder

Thinking once I got to the top

The world would never stop

I sat down on my chair

Yet I was still empty and full of despair

My life was a party full of decay

Trying to feed my justification every day

But nothing worked; no nothing worked

All was vanity and false sanity

Just a mere feeling of inconsequentiality

But in came Jesus.

And I have never been the same

No; I have never been the same



Oh Nelly

With engagement pictures on the horizon, I went today and got a fresh cut for $10.00. They have got to get steamed towels! Men love steamed towels. Ask around. Seriously do it. Men love steamed towels. We like to have heat pressed against our faces. Its scientific.

So I have been eating better. My best form of exercise right now is Ping Pong on Wii Sports Resort! Man I am straight wrecking shop (or pong?). I am on level 1300 something; this grandma Nelly is my toughest opponent, she shows no mercy and has great touch. One day Nelly...one day.

Of course I have been running; but only for about 7 minutes. Its tough to run any longer, you just get bored with it. I used to run about 3 miles without stopping, but I also played college baseball. Now its tough to push myself, I mean don't get me wrong engagement pictures are important. But when do you need stamina taking a picture? (I can't wait to give my "Magnum Face". I have been perfecting it. Watch for it when it comes out in May/June)

To shave or not to shave that is the question. I think shave. However, I don't want to look like a teenager getting married, this seems to happen when I shave. My mom thinks I look better. But Ashley likes a little "scruff". If I had any say in the matter I would grow a full on beard. Dye it blue. And then go streaking. (Guys come on I am just kidding; of course I want to look like an Abercrombie Model. Maybe Hollister. But they're not as perfected in the "Magnum Face". Maybe even Armani.)

I can't wait to go home after genetics and get my pong on. Then get my genetics on. But all day long be gettin my praise on. Puttin dat love on. Peace homes.

Forgiven

We cannot begin to love ourself, until we have forgiven ourself.

We cannot forgive, until we realize we have already been Forgiven.



"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." - Ephesians 1:7



Dandruff

Well, just sitting here writing. I like to always start out stating the obvious. You atleast can follow along that far, and then maybe by the end not stratch your head AS much. But I think my head is a bit numb from all the stratching I've already done in this life. Some things just don't make sense. Maybe they never will. By the time your done with college, you have done so much stratching you have formed dandruff. But like any good dandruff it takes a brushing off and a conditioning on.

Now Ashley likes hair. To do cool designs, and look up new ones. I just mostly wear a hat. Backwards. New Era. Baseball guy. You probably can spot most baseball players by the way they wear their hats. Used to be spitting...well nevermind that still exists.

Again just being random. Most people in my life have stated "You are the most random person I have ever met". My trademark back in middle school though earned me the nickname, "Pooter". My how I have evolved!

But those who are close to me know better than that. I am still much the same little boy I once was. Maybe even working my way back to that 15 year old heart.

Geniune Love is what this world needs. Its sad the way we love and treat our pets. So kind and tenderhearted. And its sad the way we love and treat people. So judgemental and cruel.

People are tough to love though. Complicated. Sinful.

But love we must. The hermit heart is lonely. It must open up. True Love suffers. Isn't this what we do when we "get dirty" and love people? We almost suffer? What divine portrayal of a Loving/Suffering Savior.

But only can we begin to love; when we accept love. When we can love ourselves for who we truly are. If we cannot love ourselves...how shall we love someone else?

But truly, we can only begin to love. Because He first loved us....

Love ya'll.

BEEP

I put the wrong soap in the dish-washer. It made a mess. It overflowed bubbles. Bubbles! I played around in them and then mopped them up; then re-ran it again and it did the same thing. But now my tile floor is really clean.

There is a smoke detector located in my kitchen. Who would do that? So I tried to turn it off, took out the battery and it still does this every 20 seconds BEEP thing.

I go into the bathroom; and my toilet handle doesnt work. The thing attached to the chain broke off; yeah so I gotta manually lift up the top of the toilet and stick my hand in there and pull the chain to flush the thing. I'm thinking Super Glue.

You can't run the microwave, fan, kitchen light, dish-washer, and window air units at the same time. It will blow a fuse. Atleast an Abilenian House.

Well I think thats it. I guess there are things in life you just can't do anything about. Just out of your control. Huh, good life lesson from the "House of Horrors". (and by horrors i mean the ever depressing BEEP thing)

Pray for my sanity this week.

Saturday

Happy Birthday to my friend Wade Woytek, he is officially turning 3 years old (in doggie years).

"Go outside praise the God who mapped the stars out in the sky"

                                                                - Robbie Seay Band

Go for a walk with the person you love.

Or cuddle on the couch.

 Either way do some lovin today.

Life is too short...mmmk?

Have a great Saturday.

A Fun Thought

"What a face is, or can be: a clear image of the soul. A perfectly naked, honest portrait of the inner person."

- Mike Mason: The Blue Umbrella



A fun thought: 'There will be no Facebook, Blogging, or TV in Heaven...'

No "screen watching" sermons from another city.

No we shall be forever in personal interaction; we shall rather be eternally before our God & our brothers/sisters; eternally connected by love.

May we ought to get ready? Ready to love?

The "younger generations" will suffer most from technology (not that in itself it is evil by any means); for it shows up as a formal invitation to ignore your family. A formal invitation to become more self-centered. A formal invitation for self-entertainment. But most important: An invitation to self-detachment.

It will be vital for the Church to stand. Not against technology. But rather for personal human interaction: Genuine Love.

It will be interesting to see how many robots we have cloned by giving 7-year old's I-Phones...

Just a cute rhyme: Have a good Thursday peeps.

Gray Hair and a Good Smile

This blog post is mostly just a personal reflection. Here's to being vulnerable. (Cheers)

It is grave error to try and change someone. I might go as far to call it sin. When you try to be grand for Christ, you actually do not act very grand at all. You have this picuture of the man you want to be in your head, but he isn't you at all. You have mental pictures of gray hair and a good smile with loving arms. But all in all, you aren't really looking at yourself. Not into you. And that is a grave mistake as well. For you miss the essence of the gospel, "Christ in you."

Two things He has told: "Take up your cross" and "Pray"

Again, it is a grave error to try and change someone. Let Him do that. You just follow...

Alive

Well, I woke real early this morning (5:55 a.m.) got a sausage,egg, and cheese kolache at Abilene Doughnuts, (they usually do a good job) and got to school and did a "cram session" of government. Now I am just taking a break in the library...Some people take naps; I write.

It has been a busy past 4 days; a bunch of genetics, coupled with basketball & government. But I am looking forward to reaping what I have sown (though you never know how you might actually do, actually "remember"; the teacher could devise a "tricky test",and most importantly and most frustrating: the teacher could implement different diction than the book or possibly even her notes on the test).

Thought of the day:

 "One Day...we shall finally be home."

Don't ever forget that. Cherish it. Live by it. Because it's your Hope...and without Hope, we have nothing to live for.

Have a great day! (Don't be afraid to just rest and repeat over and over and over and over again the name Jesus...ah it brings joy.) K BYE!

Its 10:14 a.m. in the morning...(I couldn't think of a title)

Dude that title doesn't even make sense! No wait it does: its Monday!

Well, its a cloudy day, and I should be studying government. But, I really don't care for politics and government. I haven't even voted before. (Ashley hasn't either, I guess we just haven't matured enough, we would rather get on my roof and look at the stars and dream of better days Somewhere else). So yeah, not motivated.

That's what I like about Ashley. We can relate to each other. By just wanting to never work, and go on vacations, and just not really enjoy things like "higher education". (Haha. we are not lazy people, that may be one assumption, but I think it really is just a craving for a Better Place) Why am I telling this: I really don't know. Again I think I am just avoiding this thing called "studying". Anybody teach it in high school? No. Oh but your going to have to learn it in college when your 18! That's smart. Haha. Oh well, its all good baby.

Again I find myself rambling: but Blogging is legal in all 50 states (sorry Puerto Rico, we holdin you out dawg)

Here is the thought for the day I guess: What I really hate most in this life, is the pharisical heart. The irony of religion is that you are supposed to be Free (well in the good news of Jesus) but the thing is; there is this thing called "the yeast of the Pharisee" and it goes undected in a good many hearts of men at one time who were in love with the Lord, and then its poison got to them. I think that happened to me a bit last semester. I found something inside me, not being able to love. Its hard to explain; but I texted it to Ashley one day
   
                                                   ..."what I hated most, I was becoming"...

And thats when I realized I was treading upon dark spiritual pride waters...and through a lot (I mean months) of cleansing, I feel so much more better. Ah its like a huge weight is off my shoulders. And still though this "yeast" beckons me to eat it; that's why a secular man can actually be closer to Christ than a regular Church goer. A lame man more healed than a preacher. A rebel child than a "good child". Its this paradox created by the seed of evil. Spiritual Pride. Phariseeism. Anyways, it goes undected until one day...you realize it has consumed you. But again when and how long will it take "for a good look in the ole reality mirror"? A look into Jesus?

Here maybe is a passage that helps (I really hope it does; because there is alot of Truth here, something we need right now in the Church)

"It is not hard to spot guilt-ridden faith, for it is full of anxiety, full of nagging, worries about "finding God's will," or "loving one's neighbor," "grieving the Spirit," or "taking the gospel to the ends of the earth." This faith is endlessly and neurotically preoccupied with its own performance, with its own power and holiness or lack thereof. Always it has an eye on the heavenly box office, the celestial ratings. A bad rating will cause it not to love more, but to try harder; not to fix its eyes on Jesus, but to examine itself more feverishly. Worst of all, such hypersensitive egocentricity always spills over into an authoritative, judgemental attitude toward others. This is the hypocrisy that Jesus called the "yeast of the Pharisees". (Luke 12:1) - Mike Mason

Nice Men or Zealous Men?

It would seem the Lord is "pounding" this concept into me: therefore how can I not share?

The Lord is a Jealous God; Zealous for His Name. There is no distinction between these two verses: "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." (Deut. 4:24) & "Zeal for your house will consume me." (John 2:17)

Now the Lord's jealousy is righteous. Righteous indignation. How could a perfect God not hate that which is evil? He would no longer be a God full of mercy and steadfast love. How could a just Judge not rule with jealousy for His people? For make no error; there is a vast distinction from the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.

The theory of Nice Men (although we do become quite more joyful) falls short, in the turning of tables, and the "hot wrath" of His righteous indignation. If all Christ is after in us is niceness(again not the means to an end)...then He probably wouldn't have died a brutal death upon a cross. The cost of discipleship isn't cheap grace (holla at ya boi Dietrich Bonhoeffer) but rather a grace that realizes, this walk is more than "being a good Christian"; it is total abandonment unto the King. Being zealous for His Name. Being "like Christ" in all His totality.

I want to share something from Bishop J.C. Ryle (found in Knowing God by J.I. Packer): for this is what the Lord is after, remember He wants all of us:

"Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature-which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted-but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called 'zealous men'...A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies-whether he has health, or whether he has sickness-whether he is rich, or whether he is poor-whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offence-whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish-whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise-whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame-for all this zealous man cares is nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God's glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it-he is content. He feels, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him. Such a one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray...If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill. If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of 'zeal' in religion."

Lord give us grace. Costly grace. That dear grace that bled for us. Not for us to sit back, but rather to follow. And come and die. So that we may finally, truly Live. Amen.

Stay warm! My fingers are numb in this March Madness of cold weather! (go VCU)

Over the Sun

Here is a song that has been on replay today: (ever have a song that you just want to re-play over and over again?)

Over The Sun

Sitting around the fireplace with a friend who's been through it all.
Solomon, wisest one, tell me what you have found under the sun. Under the sun?
He answered...

Get over, get over, get over

the sun. Get over, get over, get over the sun
Where life is hidden.

Then he put on a somber face.
Talked about how the rich man will waste, away in the ground where the poor man is found.
Painted up like a clown under the sun. Under the sun
He answered...

Get over, get over, get over

the sun. Get over, get over, get over the sun

Where life is hidden.

Son, soon you'll be done.
A life spent on some shiny god who leaves you empty.

Get over, get over, get over the sun. Get over, get over, get over the sun

Where life is hidden

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15-17)

Have a great saturday!

Anybody else put body lotion on their face?

Well just writing here in the library, its Friday, a nice beautiful morning...the HSU pond is spraying its green algae mist out the window, and kids who look like they are in high school are passing by. (That's what happens when you have been in college too long, the freshmen on campus look like 12 year old's). Yesterday I had to dress up and look professional for my senior seminar presentation, and I think it just made me look even older. Although last year I was using this "healing lotion" for your legs (that's what the commercial used it on), but rather I used it on my face. I figured if they put a lot of power into the lotion for the legs, then your face probably could benefit as well. It did get the bags out of my eyes. But yeah that's what happens when your growing older, (haha I am only 23) growing more into that old man body.

Last night I finished Mike Mason's The Mystery of Marriage 20th Anniversary book: um yeah, amazing. It took me awhile due to the fact it requires a dictionary for almost every sentence, and the fact that this isn't just "old knowledge". I would read a page, put it down, stare off into the abyss, and then pick it back up and do the same sequence over and over again. One of the deepest, most spiritual satisfying books I have ever read, hands down a close second or third place to C.S Lewis' Mere Christianity. I highly recommend the book, to anyone not looking for another "how to" book, but rather a "why?" or "how come". It basically draws you into these mystical deep mediations on this vastly populated (yet mostly diluted and polluted) concept of marriage. But again you will need a dictionary. Unless you read on a scholarly level, forgive me. Here are some of my favorite qoutes/passages, I am going to try to make a rendition of them: hope you enjoy:

"It's because love, true love, sets people free to be whoever they are. But a thirty-year-old man is like a densely populated city: Nothing new can be built, in its heart, without something else being torn down. So I began to be demolished. That is one of the chief characteristics of love: It asks for everything. Not just for a little bit, or a whole lot, but for everything. And herein lies the battle. It is always some version of this tension between the needs for dependence and for independence, between the urge toward loving cooperation and the opposite urge toward detachment, privacy, self-sufficiency. No one has ever been married without being surprised, and usually alarmed,  at the sheer intensity of this invasion. For we are opaque, solid creatures; we resist being transparent. And yet this is what love asks for: transparency. For that is what love does: It brings people out into the light, no matter how painful that transition might prove to be. Love aims at revelation, at a clarifying and defining of our true natures. For suddenly there is so much to see! So much is revealed when two people dare to stand in the radiance of one another's love. Marriage is a choosing of the closeness of God, in the form of a close relationship with another person. It is a deliberate choosing of closeness over distance, of companionship over detachment, of relationship over isolation, of love over apathy, of life over death. It forever admonishes us that there is no such thing as life apart from relationship, which is to say, no life apart from the sharing of ourselves with another. Man was not to be an isolated creature, nor a whole horde of isolated creatures, but rather "one flesh". Like God Himself, then, marriage comes with a built-in abhorrence of self-centeredness. It attacks people's vanity and lonely pride in a way few other things can, tirelessly exposing the necessity of giving and sharing, the absurdity of blame. Angering, humiliating, melting, chastening, purifying, it touches us where we hurt most, in the place of our lovelessness. Dragging us into lifelong encounters that at times may be full of boredom, tension, unpleasantness, or grief, marriage challenges us to abandon everything for the sake of love. For this is just the sort of thing love loves to do. It loves to back us into a corner. It loves to rip out our independence like a rug from under our feet, and then stand back and watch what we will do. For love is like death: What it wants is all of us. For marriage is a wild frontier, the most free and raw and unpredictable of all human associations, it is the outer space of society. And so the godless flee from marriage in droves. They flee in the sense of this: It is a vocation to total abandonment. Naturally those who stubbornly refuse to believe this will fail to experience the reality of it. But when they do love, that love becomes a fire that has the power to enkindle all around them. A fiery covenant. Far from being trapped, we are actually set free. If a couple were to seek the Lord with their whole will, rejoice in Christian fellowship, and spend time both alone and together in heartfelt prayer and study of the Scriptures, they would soon find their love life with a rich glow, finally ablaze. For only through wholeness of dedication can human life begin to approach holiness. From now on, the greatest part of all the "giving in" and "letting go" we must do in life will be done within the context of our marriage, as we surrender not only to the Lord but to our human partner, and as we are called on to let go not only of all the worldliness we ourselves cling to but of everything that clings to the other as well, every fleshy desire, every weakness, every sin. If it is hard to accept our own imperfection, then it is harder still to accept imperfection in another. Marriage reduces all decisions to one, one simple decision that must be made over and over, and there are no results more particular or far-reaching or catastrophic than the results of that initial and ongoing decision to invite one other person to interfere permanently in our lives. To love is to submit, and to submit is to love. Love asks: Can you love another person enough that you will consent to becoming like them? But before love can really begin to be love, it must face and forgive the very worst in the person loved. A Christian finds the strength to forgive. True submission is humility acquired on behalf of another. We must forgive, or in short, be destroyed. For when we forgive the unforgivable...we see Christ. And who He really is. And what He really meant by His death. Two mysteries that will help any marriage: One is shared prayer, and the other is unconditional love. Either we suffocate under all that is unbeautiful, unsuprising, unspectacular, ungraceful in our lives, or else we learn here and now to breathe the air of grace. In marriage, to put this thought into our homely language, we learn how to appreciate one another, to see one another as precious. We learn to love."

- Mike Mason (a rendition of the book)

Being One

Oh you know just sitting around on the futon (is that how you spell it?) thinking about marriage. Thinking about this mysterious thing called oneness.

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and unashamed." (Genesis 2:24-25).

What's interesting to note is this first piece "therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother". Is there not a better defnintion for "being engaged" than this? Is not this the process? Separation from the parents? Leaving something old...to begin something new?

There is great parallel here to understanding our "new life" in Christ. "For the old is gone; behold the new has come".

The second piece "hold fast to his wife"; is this not in the vows? "To have and to hold?" This seems actually maybe to be the full sum of them. "Through the thick and thin, through the sun and through the darkness, and through death do us part...I will always hold you.

The third piece "and they shall become one flesh" is OH so divine. Is this not what takes place when we accept Christ to come live in us by faith? We become One. "The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one... (John 17:22-24)" What Christ did on the cross for us, through his atoning blood, and what He did for us by His resurrection was bringing us INTO COVENANT. HOLY COVENANT. A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP. Is this not a grand picture for marriage??

The fourth piece "and the man and his wife were both naked and unashamed." LOOK HERE! NO GUILT! Is this not what Jesus did on the cross? Did He not take away ALL our sin by His blood? Did He not remove all the guilt? And therefore seeing us completely forgiven, He can see us completely "blameless, and without spot"??!! "For there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

LET FREEDOM RING! Because it is a flat lie that marriage "ties you down" and is "all ball and chain"

Hope everybody has a good weekend! Eat your veggies!

"Clicking Moments"

I had a "clicking" moment last night. (wait a mintue buddy, I thought you had "defining moments"?)

Those moments where you have "known about" something (in this case Someone) for years, or perhaps a lifetime, but then in a moment, like a twinkling of an eye...it becomes Real.

It is as years of knowing, become mere puddles and sprinkles in the rush of the flood. For there is a vast difference between "knowing about" and believing. Too mysteriously vast, to Understand before It comes fluttering in. When a page is no longer sight, but Life. As if something (in this case Someone) has been standing near all along (and you think you know), yet just now you feel Its' breath. As if something (in this case Someone) has been guiding you all along (and you think you know), yet just now you see Its' path.

No longer functional, but personal. No longer truncated, but fully restored. When the moment summons "Do Not Speak" for it is Indescribable. Then...the words of Job ring true.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."

(Job 42:5)

Ya Know

Here is a record of my last 3 meals:

1. Greek Salad
2. Turkey Burger with low fat peach dessert and low fat potato salad
3. Simple and Fit IHOP dish

Previously, though...I was a "struggala"

Ashley has been shedding pounds trying to get ready for the wedding (and honey-moon..O la la). And I think she has been just giving them to me...

At first I was like going along with her diet, ya know, trying to eat what she did...but that didn't last. I started running, and walking...but that didn't last. I even started to lift some hand weights and bought zumba on the Wii...but still it didnt last! So, I have (secretly) been doing the Weight Watchers diet with her...(ok not like to the T, but definitely the last 3 meals been eating like a pro).

I think I will see how it goes...ya know starving yourself with little mini portions of food. Ya know eating ridiculous amounts of vegtables (zero points baby!) and fruit (zero again baby!) Ya know eating a bunch of black bean products (dietary fiber baby!) and be on that "John" more. Ya know drinking gallons of water and not eating anymore M&M's. (The pretzel ones...)  Ya know start doing some abs and pushups...(I look like Gumby...a lil skinny armed punk!) Ya know some "Throw on some Richard Simmons" "Dust off that Cindy Crawford VHS" ya know "Buy the BOW-FLEX". Ya know maybe enroll "In Some YOGA" ya know "PALATES"...ya know maybe some "Stomach Tying" "Tummy Tuckin" "PILL Poppin" "SUBSCRIPTION TO MEN'S HEALTH"...ya know maybe even, "The John Daly Diet: popcorn and whiskey". (And I think cigarettes too?)

I gotta look good too (she lookin fine)...ya know?

The "Dialogue Card"

Like a scrambled egg, my mind is beautifully active. When I have no idea what to write about. It is because I have too much to write about.

I was watching the Bachelor with Ashley. Brad is such a loser. Anyways, I like Emily. She seems real, at least she admits she has insecurity issues, which we can relate too. At least she asks hard questions, and wants to really know who this guy really is. Can we relate to Brad? (What a loser) Well somehow I think I can...

Brad excels in this thing I have just made up called the "Dialogue Card". He is really bad at dialogue. Terrible. If he didn't have a 12-pack (abs) and live downtown Austin making the "big bucks" this guy would probably not be on the show. Sorry Brad.

Brad really enjoys "simple phrases", "I love you's", "your a great woman" (my favorite) and "you get a lil bad with the good, and a lil good with the bad" (I still dont know what that means?)...but I can't be all that mad with Brad, I really can't condemn the man...because I do the same.

With God.

Going through the motions, there will never be any real dialogue. Never be really any real growth. Never be any authenticity of confession. Never be any real Transformation. Just a watered down, and polluted religion. Full of wordless words. No real praise. No real prayer. No real relationship. No real love.

Ah Brad...thanks buddy. (But your still a loser)

Man's Greatest Test

Today...we go to register for the wedding.

At one time, shopping was like a great punch in the stomach, like a great nagging fly. At one time it was a great torment. I have seen Transformation.

Today, I embark on this journey, knowing obstacles and opposition will stand in my way. But I can stand firm, knowing I have been through the fire, I have been refined. THE MALL IS A GREAT FURNACE. MAN'S GREATEST TEST.

IKEA.
DILLARDS.
CRATE & BARREL.
AND MORE...

LETS BURN BABY.

A Hall Pass?

I remember the days when a "Hall Pass" was something you took with you while you went to the bathroom during Elementary School...(the teachers made you at-least, and that thing got funky smelly and nasty by the end of the year).

Now suppossedly (thanks to Hollywood) a "Hall Pass" is a ticket to a free week, or weekend, off from marriage...which includes, sleeping with other people, partying, and being reckless and "free".


Dear (idiots who in ACTUAL REALITY ATTEMPT THIS),

Have fun.

Signing the Divorce Papers...

Sincerely,

         Holy Matrimony.

Every Morning

In one day, one long moment...Job lost everything. But yet, "he tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped." (Job 1:20)

And there are days when I wake up, barely even utter a song, or skim over a verse before I am out the door...

This brought me to write a poem in the light of these two verses..."and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings...continually". (Job 1:5)



Every morning we should be on our knees

Prostrate before the True King;

Indeed the flesh is weak,

But don’t we know we are free?

Free to sing,

Not merely just driving down the street.

Have we become accustomed to looking at projectors and screens?

Replacing Him for these?

Do our souls just want to be

Another replay on a hit-single CD?

Every morning we should be on our knees

Heads bowed before the True King.