The Love of Life

Life.

The very concept of the word conjures up many images for people. Most people think of life as they know it. For me, that would be, up at 6, off to work by 6:45...ish, get to work at 7:30, slave all morning until noonish, lunch for an hour, back to work at 1:00, slave some more, leave for home at 5:00, get home and crash at 5:45. Repeat every M-F. Yup. Other people think of the beautiful miracle that happens in a mother's womb (some at conception, others think it happens much later and they can't decide when). This beautiful miracle has resulted in the 6,952,803,255 people in the world, today. And, no, I didn't just type that number by random. There are almost 7 billion people in the world.

But then there is another crowd. There are people that when you say, "Life," they instantly think of Eternal Life with God the Father. And that is something even more beautiful than life in the womb. And when I think of the love that the Father has for us to grant us that Life, despite our faults and blemishes, it kinda makes my heart skip a beat.

:)

Is there anyone still out there?

So...wow. It has been for-freaking-ever since I updated my blog. I suppose, it was because I didn't really have time. I was too busy with my job, my life, and just trying to stay insane...er...sane...I think. Anyway, I hope you aren't one of those that sits at the computer frantically pressing F5 on the keyboard waiting for and update from me, because this is the first time I've really had a chance to do this.

Well, now that I've gotten this far, I suppose I should tell you what's up. A lot, is the answer. After a summer of getting really close to God and listening to the sermons of Bro. Rick Green, I feel like I have a purpose in life again. I feel like, that through my life, I can witness to others the love of Jesus Christ. Sure, others might say, "You have so much life ahead of you. Get your degree and get a high-paying job so you can make lotsa moneez and have a happy life!" I hate to disappoint, but money is not all life is about. Sure, you need money to survive in this cruel world but God has shown time and time again that He will provide for His Own.

I have two years of college left. During this time, I must keep my grades and keep my scholarship and not get kicked out of my dorm by not fulfilling the Henderson State University Honors College requirements. Suddenly, none of this matters to me. It's all material and means nothing. In the big picture, it all means nothing. Yes, I was smart, but can I outsmart the God who created me? Sure I made lotsa moneez, but am I richer than the God who uses the ever-valuable gold as common pavement? Yeah, I live in a nice dorm, but is my dwelling better than the mansion in Heaven that He has prepared for me? No, no, no, in that order. I felt at one point in time I had a calling to make a lot of money through a well-paying job and donate all the exceeds to missions. Now, I realize that the way I am to support missions is to be the missionary myself. I'm not called to sit on my hands and throw money at God's people, I'm called to go out there with them and fight alongside them for the Glory of God. And there is no better place to start being a witness for God than right here, right now, at Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, 71999.

Many people refer to there time in college as the time when they really found themselves. I didn't just find myself, I found who I truly am: God's Servant. And as such it is my duty to ask you, "Do you know my Jesus? 'Cause if you don't then you are really missing out in life." All the fun stuff in life, the romance, the relationships, dare I say it...the one night stands, the parties, hanging out with friends, etc. will only leave you wanting for more. But a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ will fill your soul and leave you satisfied with life and wanting for more of Him and Eternal Life.

Could you please join me?

Getting down but not dirty

You know what got me down today?

I was tired of waiting. For what? Well, everything. I was tired of waiting for school to be out, tired of waiting for God to send the perfect someone to complete my earthly life, tired of waiting for Jesus to come back...tired of being awake to the fact that I was tired of the other things. How depressing!

Then a dear friend pointed out that perhaps this was God testing me and trying help me see that He is all I need to be happy. I got to thinking. When I become happy in Him, it is then that I can afford to have things on this earth that would increase my happiness. However, without happiness in God, it only becomes a selfish happiness. This kind of happiness will die with whatever it is attached to. However, if I have true happiness in God, then if anything in this world will bring happiness, it will only increase my happiness in God instead of being selfish and of this world. Just thinking about it made me happy.

Then a verse came to mind. Hebrews 11:1 is one of my favorite verses and is underlined in my Bible. It reads,

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The only thing I really hope for is a greater love for God. God is love and if I hope for love of God, then I must conclude that I have faith in God. If I have faith in God, he will provide everything I need and not what I want. Sure I want to be happy in this life, but only true happiness comes from the Father. Anything else is selfish and must be put aside.

Yeah, my day got better.

Wait a second, I got that on wrong.

Ever been sitting down or taking a walk, or anything else you do on a regular basis and suddenly realized that you had it wrong? I'm not talking about trivial things such as what kind of car to buy or any other material things. No, I'm talking about life-changing decisions, a caliber so huge that one misstep could send your whole life in a downward, one-way spiral.

Well, I won't go into much details, but I was there recently.

Sometimes, people can say mean and hurtful things and others can just be generally annoying. A combination of the two in one person is a recipe for disaster. Add in that a person who has anger management problems and you get one person who does just what they please, and me sitting in the corner fuming.

And the process continues. Irritation turns into anger, which turns into words, which turns into full blown hatred. Hatred for a person who never did anything but be themselves and try to live life. Just like I'm trying to do. But as a Christian, I'm not called to hate. I'm called to love, as a dear friend was good enough to point out. So, now I'm trying to undo everything I've done to myself by hating this person.

I can't do it alone. Please pray.

Whew...welcome back? Oh dear....

So, I noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while...been really busy with college and trying to make grades that will keep my scholarship. Harder than I thought, it is.

But anyway, what I wanted to say here is that something that really ticks me off (here we go again...sigh) is people who get all uptight about an issue that doesn't really matter. They whine and complain until people finally give up and let them win and then they still whine and complain, expecting us to do more, to give more, to bend the rules more, to bow at their feet and proclaim them the gods of the earth. Heh, if I know my fellow humans, they still wouldn't be happy with that.

I guess I wonder why people can't be more content with what they have. Matthew 6:26 has been accused of saying,

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Verse 34 concludes with this message:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

I read this and said, "Wow!" THIS is why people complain all the time. They are constantly worried about tomorrow or what's going to happen here or there or where..whatever. If people are so focus on themselves so much that they can't even see the blessings in front of them, then they are going to complain. I'm not predicting this, I'm stating it as a fact.

And speaking of facts, people who get into silly arguments about nothing often times do so because they don't know the facts of their subject. Have you ever noticed that? Both side think they are right, which automatically makes them both wrong. Funny how that works.

And another thing, I have heard rumors that the world will "end" when the Mayan calendar runs out. Guess what? When your calendar runs out, you. Make. A. New. One........*gasp* Whaddya know? So, peace out and see ya in 2013??? (Yeah, there's a Bible verse for this one, too. I'm just too lazy to put it up. Try Ecclesiastes 9:12)

Lol.

Bumper Sticker Christianity

Ever been behind a vehicle in traffic that had a really catchy saying pasted all over the back of it? Perhaps you've seen something like, "My child is an honor roll student at Such-and-such School." One that really got me was one that said, in extremely tiny print, "If you can read this, you are following too close." However, one that really bugged me was a license plate that read, "GODB4US"

"Why," you may ask. Well, the reasons are simple and few. First, the idea that you can shrink the importance of a simple prayer, "God, be for us," onto something as small as a license plate number is preposterous. I mean, shouldn't our prayers, however simple they may be, be held in higher reverence? Furthermore, having such a license plate has the potential to decrease the feeling of need to actually spend time in prayer. We may be tempted to think, "Oh, I've got the license plate, I'm covered." Wrong. Prayer should be holy and should actually consist of time spent communicating with a omnipotent God who loves His people very much.

Second, anyone can have such a license plate. And if you think about it, we can go as far as to say that most people who would even dare to have such a symbol on their vehicles are Christians. (I say this from the perspective of one offended by such a symbol, not that I really am.) So, if this is true than any person who has such a symbol is claiming to be a Christian. Yes, this is a really far stretch to imagine but what I'm getting at is based off this and the passage found in 1 John 1.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not live by the truth.

Now I'm not saying that the person who had that license plate was lying or making God out to be a liar, I'm just saying that we must be careful that if we have such symbols, we should make sure that our lives match up with what we claim or we have the potential of making God out to be a liar. This applies to any and every form of this. Including bumper stickers. People are watching us. What will we show them?

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the matter.

Please comment and lemme know what you think.

IM vs. real conversation

In today's society, there is a huge dependence on technology to aid us in our daily lives. Most people would not even consider life without such means like cell phones, PDAs, computers, any form of music player, etc.. We have become so dependent on technology that we sometimes cannot live without it. An example of this, and I am preaching to myself, is Instant Messaging or IM'ing.

I would consider myself to be very technologically savvy. I am a Computer Scientist, after all. Technology bows before my hands and fingers as I type away at a keyboard, programming a computer or just having fun typing these blogs. I pretty much live on facebook. When I want to talk to someone, I either send him/her a text message with my phone or get on facebook and start a conversation using the Chat utility. More and more I find myself constantly typing away while others are socializing out in the real world.

This constant usage of technology hinders real conversation, I think. It is very simple to type a message and then say, "Oops, that's not what I meant," erase part of it and retype it before sending. It does not require the person typing to think about the conversation at hand. Furthermore emotions cannot be convey properly in an IM conversation b/c the other person cannot see the facial expressions of the other party; save those cute little emoticons, there is no form of emotion in any IM conversation. Second, it does not require either party to actually make an effort to concentrate on the conversation b/c one may browse the web or do other tasks while IM'ing. This, I must say is very convenient, but in reality hinders the conversation when neither party actually puts effort into the conversation. IM'ing, in a way, destroys relationships rather than aiding in the building of them, the ultimate goal of conversation.

So, what am I saying? I don't know. I am just making a declaration of my intent to stop IM'ing as much and start having a real conversation with the people I know and love.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the matter.