I would like to begin this blog with a headline I just read:
"A tiny Connecticut community in Fairfield County is dealing with a football pornography scandal after it was discovered that a freshman football coach was providing code access to a pornographic website for his players."
This is what our world is coming to.
All guys struggle with it. More girls then we think struggle with it too. But porn is just an outflow of an inward problem. And that problem is simple in saying yet difficult in thought - We don't believe God is God.
"Your actions speak louder than your words." I have heard people say this over and over to me throughout my life. I am sure you have heard the same. People say this so often that I believe it would be safe to say that it is a true statement. Well, if we believe this statement true then lets look at our actions...
1. Let's take the high school football coach from above giving his students access codes to porn sites. Men today have become so weak, feeble, pretty boys, soft, childish, and womanlike (of no offense to women) that we want to stay kids our whole lives. Men want to be given everything yet earn nothing. That is one of the fundamental reasons men turn to porn. We want the love of a woman but are too lazy, ignorant, and stupid to pursue a girl so we turn to the one thing that is instant and will not tell us no. Our standards for being a man are crap.
2. Penn State coach is a child molester. The need for fulfilling our lust is so strong that we will do anything to help that fantasy or longing be completed. The coach molested young kids who were interested in the program and used his status to keep them quite. He got what he wanted without any regard for the pain of those around him. His lust was the driving force in his life. Besides the exact act of molesting children lust drives most of our lives.
3. The United States is the leading producer and provider of pornography in the WORLD. People want it so America produces it and makes a lot of money from it. It is funny that something that is so looked down upon, spoken about so little in the Christian Church today, and held to such a "hush hush" within households is the leading product produced in the US. Before food, drink, clothing, houses, and anything else you could think of porn is number one. Upon hearing this reality, it can bring two different reactions. The first is the thought of how many people you know that have looked at and continue to look at porn. You begin to add this figure up in your head and it overwhelms you to such a degree that you without a doubt believe the statement is true. The second is the outright denial in it. "America is God founded and God centered," you could be thinking in your close minded "churchy" mind. But let's look at some facts before you go off into your Southern Baptist Church circles gossiping about how everyone looks at porn and it all stems from the fact that they weren't beat enough as a child.
Do people produce products to make money? Yes.
Do you produce more products when more people want them? Yes.
If the product you produced didn't make money would you be in business? No.
Then how can you explain to me the fact that there are constantly more porn sites being created daily. If people didn't want them then these sites wouldn't be in business. But guess what, business is booming.
These are just a couple of examples of what our actions are pointing to. We the people want porn, want premarital sex, want lust, and want our fantasies to be fulfilled. We want to be led by our desires because our desires produce immediate feelings of pleasure. We want pleasure and we want it now. But here is where everything gets turned on its head. God doesn't work on our time. God's idea of pleasure is different from ours. God wants us to be fulfilled by Him, not to be led by our desires for fulfillment. But we don't believe these truths. We don't believe God is God. If we did we wouldn't be where we are now. Again, you could have two types of reactions to this reality and if you are the reaction of quick denial answer me this.
Don't your actions speak louder than your words?
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
I Am Terrified
I just recently went back and reread most of my last blog I posted on July 22 and it made me realize how terrified I am of life right now...
Terrified because I don't know where I will be in six months. I am not sure what I will be doing, where I will be living, or who I will know. Those simple facts terrify me. But with that terror comes the hands of true freedom. I have no strings. No promises to keep. No emotions to hurt with my leaving. No person or persons to stick around for due to the fear of losing their friendship. I am free to move and be where ever I need to be.
Please do not misconstrue my last statements to mean that I have no friends or no one that I will miss because that is as far from the truth as possible. I will miss playing open mic nights with my best man Dan Breazelle, jamming on the guitar and piano with Zach Miller, driving a standard with Michael Plette, playing ultimate with Craig Turner and Andy Pendergrass, riding bikes with Dylan Jason and Stephen Mire, playing Munchkin with Dave Awalt, and living in the Brotel with my boys Emile Frey and Logan Dugard. I love these guys. They are my friends. I would do anything for them and they me. I will miss them dearly if I am to move away in six months or so, but I believe they would want me to and wouldn't have it any other way. I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
I would also like to add a side-note that I am crying right now thinking back over so many fond memories with those guys. So many laughs, tears, scares, and nights that we wish we could forget. Memories...
I feel that they best way to describe the emotions I am feeling right now is the breath directly before a cry of pure joy. You are overwhelmed with emotion, you feel your eyes watering, you are constantly pulling up memories of happiness, you begin to get short of breath, and then it hits you like cold water suddenly thrown on your back. You heave one long-lasting breath in hopes to try and suppress the feelings that are taking over your entire self right now, but you are useless against it and you begin to pull in quick attempts to find your breath. Tears begin to flow and you finally surrender to it. You cry long and you cry hard. You aren't worried with whats happening around you or who is watching. You are experiencing pure joy and you don't care who knows it.
We have all had this experience so everyone can understand where I am right now. To quote my last blog I am about to begin "breathing deep." Because a life full of short breaths is one not worth living. But with deep breaths comes the terrifying feeling of not knowing what is coming around the corner.
I hope everyone has just realized the circular relationship occurring here. It's amazing.
I would like to end this post with a passage that has been spoken true in my life over the past few months. Paul has just finished speaking on the salvation of Christ and how glorious it is and then says this, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love." - 1 Peter 1:6-8.
This is the God I praise.
Terrified because I don't know where I will be in six months. I am not sure what I will be doing, where I will be living, or who I will know. Those simple facts terrify me. But with that terror comes the hands of true freedom. I have no strings. No promises to keep. No emotions to hurt with my leaving. No person or persons to stick around for due to the fear of losing their friendship. I am free to move and be where ever I need to be.
Please do not misconstrue my last statements to mean that I have no friends or no one that I will miss because that is as far from the truth as possible. I will miss playing open mic nights with my best man Dan Breazelle, jamming on the guitar and piano with Zach Miller, driving a standard with Michael Plette, playing ultimate with Craig Turner and Andy Pendergrass, riding bikes with Dylan Jason and Stephen Mire, playing Munchkin with Dave Awalt, and living in the Brotel with my boys Emile Frey and Logan Dugard. I love these guys. They are my friends. I would do anything for them and they me. I will miss them dearly if I am to move away in six months or so, but I believe they would want me to and wouldn't have it any other way. I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
I would also like to add a side-note that I am crying right now thinking back over so many fond memories with those guys. So many laughs, tears, scares, and nights that we wish we could forget. Memories...
I feel that they best way to describe the emotions I am feeling right now is the breath directly before a cry of pure joy. You are overwhelmed with emotion, you feel your eyes watering, you are constantly pulling up memories of happiness, you begin to get short of breath, and then it hits you like cold water suddenly thrown on your back. You heave one long-lasting breath in hopes to try and suppress the feelings that are taking over your entire self right now, but you are useless against it and you begin to pull in quick attempts to find your breath. Tears begin to flow and you finally surrender to it. You cry long and you cry hard. You aren't worried with whats happening around you or who is watching. You are experiencing pure joy and you don't care who knows it.
We have all had this experience so everyone can understand where I am right now. To quote my last blog I am about to begin "breathing deep." Because a life full of short breaths is one not worth living. But with deep breaths comes the terrifying feeling of not knowing what is coming around the corner.
I hope everyone has just realized the circular relationship occurring here. It's amazing.
I would like to end this post with a passage that has been spoken true in my life over the past few months. Paul has just finished speaking on the salvation of Christ and how glorious it is and then says this, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love." - 1 Peter 1:6-8.
This is the God I praise.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Live
Life is changing and I feel the pull to become thinner and thinner in order to please as many people as possible. I have work beginning soon, not college work, but real big-boy type work. I have to move cities, I have to study for this darn Physics Praxis I am taking tomorrow, I need to train. I need to do a lot of things over the next couple of days and weeks that sometimes it becomes overwhelming. And frustrating. Life is meant to be lived simply and without rush, because with rush comes the opportunity to miss something and I don't want to miss anything. I want to live in every moment because moments are all we have. We are not promised tomorrow, but we are constantly being blessed with this breath. One after the other is a blessing that needs to be exploited.
I see the lives of Andy Pendergrass and Michael Plette and I am honestly jealous. What living they are doing! What stories they are writing! What breaths they are exploiting! Life is meant to be lived not completed. Yet so often we are constantly caught up in the rat race of life only to live in hopes of the vacation week three weeks from now, so that we can get a break from the mundane blitz of life. However, through that we end up coasting through three weeks being nothing more than an object taking up space.
Useless is another way to say it.
But I don't want to be useless. I would rather die then be useless. To look back on weeks of ones life and have nothing to show for it is the lowest a life can get. I don't want that. I hate that thought. Just writing about it now makes me burn with anger. I like the feeling. I believe Jesus has blessed me with that feeling of hate for laziness and meaninglessness. I am thankful for that. It is a freeing feeling. One that makes you feel alive; its crazy how Christ can do that.
I understand that this blog is not a long one; I don't feel like it needs to be. There is no deep thought in it, just a passion that I hope you can see. A passion to live. May you too find this passion, because through this you are able to fulfill the greatest calling. Living this passion for Him.
I would like to end this blog with some praise and encouragement for a couple of guys that I mentioned earlier. Andy and Michael I encourage you two to continue living with the passion I see in both of you now. Continue to strive for more than the average and the mundane, but for everything out of every moment. Above all - die to self. He is all, be amazed by Him today. I love you boys. It has been an honor to see you live life.
I see the lives of Andy Pendergrass and Michael Plette and I am honestly jealous. What living they are doing! What stories they are writing! What breaths they are exploiting! Life is meant to be lived not completed. Yet so often we are constantly caught up in the rat race of life only to live in hopes of the vacation week three weeks from now, so that we can get a break from the mundane blitz of life. However, through that we end up coasting through three weeks being nothing more than an object taking up space.
Useless is another way to say it.
But I don't want to be useless. I would rather die then be useless. To look back on weeks of ones life and have nothing to show for it is the lowest a life can get. I don't want that. I hate that thought. Just writing about it now makes me burn with anger. I like the feeling. I believe Jesus has blessed me with that feeling of hate for laziness and meaninglessness. I am thankful for that. It is a freeing feeling. One that makes you feel alive; its crazy how Christ can do that.
I understand that this blog is not a long one; I don't feel like it needs to be. There is no deep thought in it, just a passion that I hope you can see. A passion to live. May you too find this passion, because through this you are able to fulfill the greatest calling. Living this passion for Him.
I would like to end this blog with some praise and encouragement for a couple of guys that I mentioned earlier. Andy and Michael I encourage you two to continue living with the passion I see in both of you now. Continue to strive for more than the average and the mundane, but for everything out of every moment. Above all - die to self. He is all, be amazed by Him today. I love you boys. It has been an honor to see you live life.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Passionate
Today I will have a very short and concise blog. There will be no drawn out stories or witty comments just a thought that has been running through my head for a few days.
Having a passion for something.
As I sit here watching Braveheart I see a man who was passionate about the freedom of his country of Scotland. He was passionate to such a degree that his life was made naught. He considered the freedom of his people the most important mission of his life and he ultimately died for that mission. What made him a person worth following? What set him apart from any of the other Scotsman of the day? It was his passion.
Think of the great rulers throughout time. Adolf Hitler, Ganges Kan, Winston Churchill, Napoleon, or even Mussolini. Whether these rulers were followers of Christ or not was irrelevant. They all had passion; however misled, it was still there. The ultimate picture of a passion was Christ. He was passionate about the Father and every morsel of His body pointed toward seeing the Father glorified.
You can see this passion in one of Christ's last days, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." What passion! What utter determination! What a man! This segways directly into what I want to talk about next. The fruits of a passionate life.
A passion brings forth an utmost confidence. This confidence brings makes leaders and these leaders make followers that are willing to do anything for that passion. Again look at any of the leaders and you will find that this is true for all of their lives.
I want this passion for my life. This type of passion inspires and I want to show them my inspiration. I want to be able to say as Christ said, "...Your will be done."
May you too seek this passion because this world is lacking in passionate people. And with passionate people comes passionate generations. That is my desire, that a passionate generation may be sparked for the glory of the King.
Having a passion for something.
As I sit here watching Braveheart I see a man who was passionate about the freedom of his country of Scotland. He was passionate to such a degree that his life was made naught. He considered the freedom of his people the most important mission of his life and he ultimately died for that mission. What made him a person worth following? What set him apart from any of the other Scotsman of the day? It was his passion.
Think of the great rulers throughout time. Adolf Hitler, Ganges Kan, Winston Churchill, Napoleon, or even Mussolini. Whether these rulers were followers of Christ or not was irrelevant. They all had passion; however misled, it was still there. The ultimate picture of a passion was Christ. He was passionate about the Father and every morsel of His body pointed toward seeing the Father glorified.
You can see this passion in one of Christ's last days, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." What passion! What utter determination! What a man! This segways directly into what I want to talk about next. The fruits of a passionate life.
A passion brings forth an utmost confidence. This confidence brings makes leaders and these leaders make followers that are willing to do anything for that passion. Again look at any of the leaders and you will find that this is true for all of their lives.
I want this passion for my life. This type of passion inspires and I want to show them my inspiration. I want to be able to say as Christ said, "...Your will be done."
May you too seek this passion because this world is lacking in passionate people. And with passionate people comes passionate generations. That is my desire, that a passionate generation may be sparked for the glory of the King.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Another Time Spent
"Christ" was all I could muster to speak this morning as I sat in Crescent City Coffee looking around wondering what was weighing so heavily on my heart. It was Him. He, the Creator God, the Almighty, the Beginning and End, the Alpha and Omega, Love, the fullness of Joy, the all surpassing Peace, and beyond all Patience, the greatest Kindness, and highest Goodness, the only One that is always Faithful, the One showing the purest gentleness, and the One never losing Self Control. This beyond unsatisfactory list of attributes of Him is just an overflow of what He is doing in my life right now. I call it - The Overwhelming. Or I should just call it an answer to prayer...
Over the past last few years I have been praying for God to overwhelm me. To consume me like in Hebrews 12:29 - "For our God is a consuming fire." And now He is answering that prayer. Through pain, disbelief, anger, chastisement, and obedience He is overwhelming me and I am amazed by it.
I would like to take the time now to tell a story of how this overwhelming has taken the form in the sovereignty of God. But to do this I will need to take it back a couple of years, around 5, and set up this amazing series of events in order for you to understand how absolutely incredible this is. Also I would love, you the reader, to see how God had a disgusting situation work perfectly into The Overwhelming that is happening now.
We begin our story in the summer of 2007 on a church van with some 15 youth headed to Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina for a Student Life Mission Camp. Everyone in the van is excited because we get to be away from parents for a week, act crazy without anyone judging us, and hit on hot Christian girls without any regard. At least that last one was something I was looking forward to. We arrive to the sound of college age Student Life workers yelling at us about how excited they are to see us and how happy they are we are here. I return the favor by saying that I am happy to be here but I am not sure if I am happy to see them because I have never met them before. Why would I be happy to see someone I have never met or spoken of before, it just doesn't make sense. Anyway, that night we all file in to the big auditorium and our speaker takes the stage. He opens with this line, which on looking back at the situation may have been one of the most sovereign events to ever happen to me, "Hi my name is David Nasser, I know I am not the speaker ya'll were supposed to have but that guy had some stuff come up so he will not be with you."
Let me dissect this statement for you. Our speaker for the camp was supposed to be another pastor that was apparently pretty ligit. I forget his name, but that is irrelevant. What is important was that he was caught in an extramarital affair that had his ministry ripped to shreds and needless to say all his speaking arrangements at camps throughout the summer were cancelled. Now I was left with some guy named David Nasser whom I, nor my paster who was with us, had ever heard of, so we were apprehensive at best. Now I return to the story.
David Nasser ended up being one of the best speakers I have ever heard in my life. He was funny, sarcastic, blunt, and scripturally based. He was also a writer. A Call to Die was the name of his book. It was a 40 day fast from the most important thing in your life that was holding you back from Christ. Whether that be TV, the computer, sports, nothing was out of play. Needless to say, as a 17 year old male, the computer and TV were my two biggest distractions from Christ. So upon leaving the camp I made a decision that has changed my life forever; I started the fast. 40 days without TV and computer were going to be tough, but I believed I could do it and I was determined to finish. The only problem was that the day after I returned from my youth trip I would be embarking on a 30 something day baseball trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida. Which would be consisted on watching TV and looking at the computer everyday in the hotels we would be staying in. So I couldn't have asked for a tougher time to begin this fast.
This is where everything gets crazy. I played on a summer league baseball team called the Louisiana Allstars. We were a group of guys from around Louisiana or the surrounding states that traveled around the nation playing in baseball tournaments. The crazyness is there were actually two travel teams for the Allstars, the A and the B team. During this summer, which was my senior summer, I was on the A team. And although both teams were under the same name, we rarely ever hung out with anyone from the B team or vic-versa. This could probably be attributed to the fact that we always played at different times during tournaments so we were always leaving as the B team was finishing a game or the other way around. Well, one day during a tournament in Atlanta both teams were in the hotel sitting and waiting for our games later in the afternoon. While we were waiting I was out in the hallway reading the Word and studying the book A Call to Die when a guy from the B team walked by and we began to talk about what I was reading.
He explained to me that he was a Christian too and was struggling to stay in the Word while we were on these long road trips around many guys who didn't care about Christianity at all. This interested me because it was right where I was in my life with Christianity and baseball. This sparked an immediate friendship between us and we began to hang out day in and day out when we could to talk about our lives, what we struggled with, and where our lives were heading. This friendship is what I wanted to ultimately discuss today. Had God not been perfectly sovereign then I would have never been at that Student Life camp with a speaker who wasn't supposed to be there in order to begin a fast that I could not have ever heard of in order to sit in a hallway reading, which doesn't make sense in order to meet this guy who I would have never met otherwise. The importance of these moments is that this relationship and friendship I developed with this guy has shaped me and defined me in some of the most important decisions in my life. He has been with me in through pain and failure and sorrow and happiness and I with him. In less than five years he has gone from a person I played baseball against once to my dearest friend. And the best part about it is that God's sovereignty is all over it. Like David and Jonathan's relationship. Now to end all of the mystery to who this is I will tell you. It is Dan Breazeale. And no matter how long I have known this guy I still don't know how to spell his last name.
To end this blog on something only he and I will know, "You may not have changed me for the better, but because I knew you I have been changed."
Over the past last few years I have been praying for God to overwhelm me. To consume me like in Hebrews 12:29 - "For our God is a consuming fire." And now He is answering that prayer. Through pain, disbelief, anger, chastisement, and obedience He is overwhelming me and I am amazed by it.
I would like to take the time now to tell a story of how this overwhelming has taken the form in the sovereignty of God. But to do this I will need to take it back a couple of years, around 5, and set up this amazing series of events in order for you to understand how absolutely incredible this is. Also I would love, you the reader, to see how God had a disgusting situation work perfectly into The Overwhelming that is happening now.
We begin our story in the summer of 2007 on a church van with some 15 youth headed to Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina for a Student Life Mission Camp. Everyone in the van is excited because we get to be away from parents for a week, act crazy without anyone judging us, and hit on hot Christian girls without any regard. At least that last one was something I was looking forward to. We arrive to the sound of college age Student Life workers yelling at us about how excited they are to see us and how happy they are we are here. I return the favor by saying that I am happy to be here but I am not sure if I am happy to see them because I have never met them before. Why would I be happy to see someone I have never met or spoken of before, it just doesn't make sense. Anyway, that night we all file in to the big auditorium and our speaker takes the stage. He opens with this line, which on looking back at the situation may have been one of the most sovereign events to ever happen to me, "Hi my name is David Nasser, I know I am not the speaker ya'll were supposed to have but that guy had some stuff come up so he will not be with you."
Let me dissect this statement for you. Our speaker for the camp was supposed to be another pastor that was apparently pretty ligit. I forget his name, but that is irrelevant. What is important was that he was caught in an extramarital affair that had his ministry ripped to shreds and needless to say all his speaking arrangements at camps throughout the summer were cancelled. Now I was left with some guy named David Nasser whom I, nor my paster who was with us, had ever heard of, so we were apprehensive at best. Now I return to the story.
David Nasser ended up being one of the best speakers I have ever heard in my life. He was funny, sarcastic, blunt, and scripturally based. He was also a writer. A Call to Die was the name of his book. It was a 40 day fast from the most important thing in your life that was holding you back from Christ. Whether that be TV, the computer, sports, nothing was out of play. Needless to say, as a 17 year old male, the computer and TV were my two biggest distractions from Christ. So upon leaving the camp I made a decision that has changed my life forever; I started the fast. 40 days without TV and computer were going to be tough, but I believed I could do it and I was determined to finish. The only problem was that the day after I returned from my youth trip I would be embarking on a 30 something day baseball trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida. Which would be consisted on watching TV and looking at the computer everyday in the hotels we would be staying in. So I couldn't have asked for a tougher time to begin this fast.
This is where everything gets crazy. I played on a summer league baseball team called the Louisiana Allstars. We were a group of guys from around Louisiana or the surrounding states that traveled around the nation playing in baseball tournaments. The crazyness is there were actually two travel teams for the Allstars, the A and the B team. During this summer, which was my senior summer, I was on the A team. And although both teams were under the same name, we rarely ever hung out with anyone from the B team or vic-versa. This could probably be attributed to the fact that we always played at different times during tournaments so we were always leaving as the B team was finishing a game or the other way around. Well, one day during a tournament in Atlanta both teams were in the hotel sitting and waiting for our games later in the afternoon. While we were waiting I was out in the hallway reading the Word and studying the book A Call to Die when a guy from the B team walked by and we began to talk about what I was reading.
He explained to me that he was a Christian too and was struggling to stay in the Word while we were on these long road trips around many guys who didn't care about Christianity at all. This interested me because it was right where I was in my life with Christianity and baseball. This sparked an immediate friendship between us and we began to hang out day in and day out when we could to talk about our lives, what we struggled with, and where our lives were heading. This friendship is what I wanted to ultimately discuss today. Had God not been perfectly sovereign then I would have never been at that Student Life camp with a speaker who wasn't supposed to be there in order to begin a fast that I could not have ever heard of in order to sit in a hallway reading, which doesn't make sense in order to meet this guy who I would have never met otherwise. The importance of these moments is that this relationship and friendship I developed with this guy has shaped me and defined me in some of the most important decisions in my life. He has been with me in through pain and failure and sorrow and happiness and I with him. In less than five years he has gone from a person I played baseball against once to my dearest friend. And the best part about it is that God's sovereignty is all over it. Like David and Jonathan's relationship. Now to end all of the mystery to who this is I will tell you. It is Dan Breazeale. And no matter how long I have known this guy I still don't know how to spell his last name.
To end this blog on something only he and I will know, "You may not have changed me for the better, but because I knew you I have been changed."
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Why Can't It Just Be Easy?
On Saturday, May 21st stuff got done. I graduated college. Maybe not in the traditional sense by walking up and getting a diploma from Danny Reneau, but from walking to the graduation office in the back of the registrars office and asking Sheila for it. I finished my first Ironman. In a time of 13:19. That was the hardest 13 hours of my life. And I realized I needed Him again. So let's go through these monumental moments and discuss them.
Throughout the past two weeks I have been struggling with this boring streak going on in my life right now. Mainly through my ministry of Christ. I have been so caught up in the school and training aspects of my life that I have almost forgotten the Word, His grace, Him. I mean I think about Him daily, and pray, but I haven't been constantly spending quality time with the Father lately. And that within itself has been killing me. David describes it pretty well in Psalms.
"You do not delight in sacrifice, but in a broken and contrite heart." Psalms 51. I was brining Christ my "sacrifices" but He has always wanted my heart. I was trying to bring Him the correct actions and lifestyle that a supposed "Christian" has but it was just leading to a non-fulfilling life because He was not at the center of my focus. My actions were. Well yesterday, I realized what needed to change. My focus and my desire. He must be my desire and my focus. Again David with the awesome quote.
"My desire...that I may behold Your beauty." Psalms 14. David had the heart of the matter correct. That the focus of my life, my desire, must be on Him and His beauty. If I can get this then everything else falls into to place. However, this is no easy task. As John Piper says, "Make war." Make war with my body, my mind, my desires and turn them to Him. No where in the Psalms does David ever say that it would be easy, he just said that he would do it. I am no different, war must ensue in order for Christ to be glorified.
Graduation. Three hours of the most boring activity in the world only to have your name called for three seconds and to walk across the stage and be given an empty certificate holder. That was not for me. Like I said before, I simply walked to the Graduation Office and asked for mine. Sheila, the secretary, got up walked to the counter, found my degree and holder, and then handed it to me. It was a beautiful thing. No pictures. No yelling friends or family (not that I am saying I don't like that). No tears from Sheila. Just me and my diploma. It felt good. To hold my college career in my hand and know that all four years of my life at Tech have been completed just for this piece of paper was an interesting feeling. And let us not look the past the fact again that it felt good as hell to know that I was done with college. Done with those dumb tests and homework. Just plain done.
Ironman. If anyone does not know what an Ironman is, it is a type of triathlon. The longest to be exact. Meaning I swim for a while, then bike for a while, then run a little ways. The exact distances are a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run (a marathon). Needless to say, this was one long day. On graduation day while everyone was walking across the stage and receiving their diplomas I was on some mile of the marathon running until I couldn't feel my legs. Now don't let this sound like it was an all together bad idea to do this. I really enjoyed it. Hearing the guy at the finish line yell, "Ruffus Darden you are an Ironman." Was amazing. And it felt good to not have to run anymore. But to me this was definitely the way to finish college because at the end of the day I wasn't just a college graduate. I was an Ironman college graduate. And triggas that sounds awesome.
Throughout the past two weeks I have been struggling with this boring streak going on in my life right now. Mainly through my ministry of Christ. I have been so caught up in the school and training aspects of my life that I have almost forgotten the Word, His grace, Him. I mean I think about Him daily, and pray, but I haven't been constantly spending quality time with the Father lately. And that within itself has been killing me. David describes it pretty well in Psalms.
"You do not delight in sacrifice, but in a broken and contrite heart." Psalms 51. I was brining Christ my "sacrifices" but He has always wanted my heart. I was trying to bring Him the correct actions and lifestyle that a supposed "Christian" has but it was just leading to a non-fulfilling life because He was not at the center of my focus. My actions were. Well yesterday, I realized what needed to change. My focus and my desire. He must be my desire and my focus. Again David with the awesome quote.
"My desire...that I may behold Your beauty." Psalms 14. David had the heart of the matter correct. That the focus of my life, my desire, must be on Him and His beauty. If I can get this then everything else falls into to place. However, this is no easy task. As John Piper says, "Make war." Make war with my body, my mind, my desires and turn them to Him. No where in the Psalms does David ever say that it would be easy, he just said that he would do it. I am no different, war must ensue in order for Christ to be glorified.
Graduation. Three hours of the most boring activity in the world only to have your name called for three seconds and to walk across the stage and be given an empty certificate holder. That was not for me. Like I said before, I simply walked to the Graduation Office and asked for mine. Sheila, the secretary, got up walked to the counter, found my degree and holder, and then handed it to me. It was a beautiful thing. No pictures. No yelling friends or family (not that I am saying I don't like that). No tears from Sheila. Just me and my diploma. It felt good. To hold my college career in my hand and know that all four years of my life at Tech have been completed just for this piece of paper was an interesting feeling. And let us not look the past the fact again that it felt good as hell to know that I was done with college. Done with those dumb tests and homework. Just plain done.
Ironman. If anyone does not know what an Ironman is, it is a type of triathlon. The longest to be exact. Meaning I swim for a while, then bike for a while, then run a little ways. The exact distances are a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run (a marathon). Needless to say, this was one long day. On graduation day while everyone was walking across the stage and receiving their diplomas I was on some mile of the marathon running until I couldn't feel my legs. Now don't let this sound like it was an all together bad idea to do this. I really enjoyed it. Hearing the guy at the finish line yell, "Ruffus Darden you are an Ironman." Was amazing. And it felt good to not have to run anymore. But to me this was definitely the way to finish college because at the end of the day I wasn't just a college graduate. I was an Ironman college graduate. And triggas that sounds awesome.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thoughts About the Past Week
Whenever I heard that Bin Laden had been killed by American forces the other night I immediately began to think of funny tweets I could write about it that would have plenty of whit and be quite hilarious. Here are those thoughts:
So Bin Laden is dead, now we can focus of the growing bison populations in the Dakotas.
Bin Laden is gone, now America can work on more important things.......personal spacecrafts.
So apparently Fox found Bin Laden's driver license and his actual name is Usama.....Suprise! And he is also a donor....so he does have a heart.
A black girl told me in class today, "Osama be dead!"
A girl also looked at me and said, "Wait who Osama!"
So Bin Laden is dead, apparently he accidentally turned on the tracking on his twitter.
I had many more thoughts but I am not going to list them all now. If you have any good ones, please tell me. I would love to hear them.
Second thing I would like to discuss today is that I just finished my last test of my college career. I am done. Finished. Finito. No more. On my way for the long haul. At the end of my rope. About to jump off the cliff. Digging my grave. Wait...I'm not about to die. That really got out of hand fast.
I am not sure what I will do with all of this freedom now. I mean I still have to student teach for another couple of weeks but besides that I am doing nothing in relation to school. No more classes. No more homework. No more tests. No more idiotic teachers telling me to do meaningless and pointless work. No more standing in line at Chick-fil-a for almost 30 minutes after my 12:15 class when everyone and half of China is in the student center. No more idiotic freshman not knowing what they want whenever they order or to say "Chic wit cheese" instead of taking a million years to say "I want a number one with cheese and no pickles please."
Gah I disdain idiotic freshman.
No more midnight to two a.m. study sessions in Tolliver or at Crescent City. No more trying to find a parking spot in the parking from hell that is Louisiana Tech parking. No more getting dumb parking tickets in the Hutchison dorm parking lot at 4:15 in the afternoon. No more terrible bands for the Spring Concert. No more of those stupid women Nike workout shorts that every girl in the world seems to have. No more $300 dollar textbooks that the professor says to buy that I use once to answer one question but can now not return for full price because he said that I would use it the whole quarter but didn't until the last week. The liar. No more ALEKS. No more Moodle. No more Tech internet that takes more time to load than most iPhones. No more $12 dollar pasta bowls and three dollar small coffees.
If you didn't notice: Tech is raping you with its prices for food. Just food for thought.
The last thing I would like to discuss is something I saw the other day on a girl that really bothered me.
Promise rings
Firstly, I would like to say that the overall premise and idea of a promise ring is a noble one. Keeping oneself until marriage is awesome and completely biblical. I am doing to same thing (except without that dumb ring). However, by wearing a promise ring you are not only doing a dumb thing of having a physical show of something that is a matter of the heart but you are also turning away many good guys who may want to talk to you. If in the morning you don't notice what finger you are putting your promise ring on, it is the same finger your hopefully future wedding ring goes on.
Well let us just think about something for a second....if you put a ring on your wedding finger that is not a wedding band than how the heck is any guy out there supposed to know that you are not engaged! And in turn not talk to you because they think that you are already taken. That is just ridiculous to think that some guy, that isn't totally worthless, will disrespect the ring on your finger in such a way and just talk to you even with a ring on your finger. If a guy is respectable then he will respect that ring and not try to just chat with you...
Sometimes I feel like what I say is such common knowledge that no one seems to care about.
Anyway these are just a few things that were on my mind this week. If there is anything else you would like my opinion on just tell me and I will write about it.
So Bin Laden is dead, now we can focus of the growing bison populations in the Dakotas.
Bin Laden is gone, now America can work on more important things.......personal spacecrafts.
So apparently Fox found Bin Laden's driver license and his actual name is Usama.....Suprise! And he is also a donor....so he does have a heart.
A black girl told me in class today, "Osama be dead!"
A girl also looked at me and said, "Wait who Osama!"
So Bin Laden is dead, apparently he accidentally turned on the tracking on his twitter.
I had many more thoughts but I am not going to list them all now. If you have any good ones, please tell me. I would love to hear them.
Second thing I would like to discuss today is that I just finished my last test of my college career. I am done. Finished. Finito. No more. On my way for the long haul. At the end of my rope. About to jump off the cliff. Digging my grave. Wait...I'm not about to die. That really got out of hand fast.
I am not sure what I will do with all of this freedom now. I mean I still have to student teach for another couple of weeks but besides that I am doing nothing in relation to school. No more classes. No more homework. No more tests. No more idiotic teachers telling me to do meaningless and pointless work. No more standing in line at Chick-fil-a for almost 30 minutes after my 12:15 class when everyone and half of China is in the student center. No more idiotic freshman not knowing what they want whenever they order or to say "Chic wit cheese" instead of taking a million years to say "I want a number one with cheese and no pickles please."
Gah I disdain idiotic freshman.
No more midnight to two a.m. study sessions in Tolliver or at Crescent City. No more trying to find a parking spot in the parking from hell that is Louisiana Tech parking. No more getting dumb parking tickets in the Hutchison dorm parking lot at 4:15 in the afternoon. No more terrible bands for the Spring Concert. No more of those stupid women Nike workout shorts that every girl in the world seems to have. No more $300 dollar textbooks that the professor says to buy that I use once to answer one question but can now not return for full price because he said that I would use it the whole quarter but didn't until the last week. The liar. No more ALEKS. No more Moodle. No more Tech internet that takes more time to load than most iPhones. No more $12 dollar pasta bowls and three dollar small coffees.
If you didn't notice: Tech is raping you with its prices for food. Just food for thought.
The last thing I would like to discuss is something I saw the other day on a girl that really bothered me.
Promise rings
Firstly, I would like to say that the overall premise and idea of a promise ring is a noble one. Keeping oneself until marriage is awesome and completely biblical. I am doing to same thing (except without that dumb ring). However, by wearing a promise ring you are not only doing a dumb thing of having a physical show of something that is a matter of the heart but you are also turning away many good guys who may want to talk to you. If in the morning you don't notice what finger you are putting your promise ring on, it is the same finger your hopefully future wedding ring goes on.
Well let us just think about something for a second....if you put a ring on your wedding finger that is not a wedding band than how the heck is any guy out there supposed to know that you are not engaged! And in turn not talk to you because they think that you are already taken. That is just ridiculous to think that some guy, that isn't totally worthless, will disrespect the ring on your finger in such a way and just talk to you even with a ring on your finger. If a guy is respectable then he will respect that ring and not try to just chat with you...
Sometimes I feel like what I say is such common knowledge that no one seems to care about.
Anyway these are just a few things that were on my mind this week. If there is anything else you would like my opinion on just tell me and I will write about it.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mockery
So I was discussing with some people the other day of what a true gangster was. Immediately they jumped to rappers and how they are so "gangster" because they have guns, "sling the rock", smoke weed, lived in a tough part of town, and/or had rough parents. What makes them even more gangster is if they kill people. The more people they kill then the more gangster they are because that shows that they don't put up with anybody's bull crap. Lil' Wayne, Lil' Boosie, 50 cent, Eminem, and all those other ridiculous name that start with lil, fat, shortie, etc. were all examples of gangsters. A girl said, "Lil Boosie is a real thug cuz (that is how she said because) he straight up killed those people." So I responded with, "Sure, he is a real thug who is about to be put to death at age 30ish because he is so thug."
What a thug-gangster, dead at 30. He is livin' the baller life.
(Side note: Apparently Lil' Boosie was convicted with being behind six murders and is now facing the death penalty in the state of Louisiana.)
What people define as a gangster just irritates me. The more they kill they badder they are. If that is true then Adolf Hitler, Stalin, and Ghangas Khan are the most "gangster" people who have ever lived, but I don't hear people mentioning them in the average "Who is the baddest gangster ever" talk. I mean Adolf Hitler killed almost anyone he came in contact with, that pretty much makes him the most "gangster" person ever.
I also want to talk about what people are wearing right now. These necklaces with crosses on them. Earrings with crosses on them. Rings with crosses on them. It seems that the cross has become one of the most popular jewelry products ever invented.
Are you freaking kidding me!
The cross that was a fearful symbol for thousands of years to all those who looked upon it is now our jewelry market, ridiculous. I heard a lady the other day talking about a necklace or a bracelet with the nails from the crucifixion on them. She described them as "precious" and "cute" looking.
I almost puked.
To me the nails and the cross bring a sick feeling to my stomach. I almost block it out because of the pain it inflicts. Every time I see it reenacted I flinch at the sound because I can almost feel the person's pain who is being nailed to the cross. I believe that is how it should be. Christ died a death that should make us queasy to discuss. Look at what the thought of it did to Him. He began to sweat blood and felt to the "point of death." The cross to Him was no jewelry piece. It was fate. It was death --- and it was life. To Him the victory far outweighed the pain.
I am so thankful that He is so much more of a man then I could ever be.
So you might be thinking right now, "Frank, how did you go from rappers to the crucifixion in such an effortless motion?" Well, the answer to that question is just flat out talent.
You are welcome for showing you how to make it look so easy.
But seriously one could be thinking, "How did you go from rappers to the cross?" Well, rappers are always wearing those stupid big crosses on their necks with the diamonds in them making them look all "pimped out." So once I was talking about rappers I began to think of the 24 karat crosses they are bringing around and that got me on the ridiculous jewelry we are wearing nowadays.
Lastly, I want to make a blanket statement that if you are one of those people who wears a cross around your neck everyday or has a piece of jewelry with a cross on it and you are offended by what I have said thus far and are thinking, "Well he doesn't know me, how dare he say I don't know what the cross means or meant to Christ!" I am not saying that you don't know the meaning behind the cross, but that you should be reminded of why you are wearing that cross around your wrist or neck everyday and it should bring the somber and amazing thought of Christ fresh to your brain. If you are one of those who wear the cross for the "looking good" aspect, go read Matthew about the crucifixion. I hope it blows you away.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A Couple of Nonsense
So there are a couple of things that I would like to discuss today that are just some really aggravating me right now. The first is the phenomenon in the music world right now. Ke$ha is a huge success, Mumford and Sons are slowly becoming a household name, and people like Rebecca Black are being allowed to release music.
What the crap is going on.
Ke$ha, the Black Eyed Peas, any rap being released right now is all just sucking. All there is now is a good hook, an okay beat, and a below average to terrible singer who just happens to be hot enough to "overcome" the no-talent obstacle. Are people too scared to tell them that their music is awful and that in most countries they would be shot for what they are putting out? Because I say that all the time. I will actually say it right now.
Their music is awful. There I said it. I'm glad someone could finally do it.
But whatever happened to good bands that put out good music that were mainstream. N'SYNC is a good example. And if you say that N'SYNC was an awful band I'm am sure that somewhere in your house your mother has pictures of you dancing to "Bye, bye, bye" or singing "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You". So shut it. Another example I will give you is Creed's first album. I know what you all might be thinking now...
"Creed, really Frank, that's thick!" Thick guys, really. (Shout out to Dave Awalt for that joke.)
But seriously we were all singing "I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking..." in his deep Kermit the Frog voice. Those were good times and good bands. The next thing is this ridiculous Rebecca Black "phenomenon" (as MSN is calling it) going around right now. Her song is like the movie "The Ring." Once you watch it you may die in seven days. And I digress....
Lastly, Mumford and Sons becoming a well known band because of the Grammys. I absolutely disdain people who ask me after watching the Grammys, "Have you ever heard of Mumford and Sons?"
I just want to punch them in the face after that.
Of course I have heard of Mumford and Sons! Are they not good music? If you listen to good music, meaning anything not falling into the paragraphs above, I most likely listen to it. So if you feel the necessity to ask me if I have heard of a good band, don't. Keep your question to yourself and go revamp your bejeweled Ipod with good music.
What the crap is going on.
Ke$ha, the Black Eyed Peas, any rap being released right now is all just sucking. All there is now is a good hook, an okay beat, and a below average to terrible singer who just happens to be hot enough to "overcome" the no-talent obstacle. Are people too scared to tell them that their music is awful and that in most countries they would be shot for what they are putting out? Because I say that all the time. I will actually say it right now.
Their music is awful. There I said it. I'm glad someone could finally do it.
But whatever happened to good bands that put out good music that were mainstream. N'SYNC is a good example. And if you say that N'SYNC was an awful band I'm am sure that somewhere in your house your mother has pictures of you dancing to "Bye, bye, bye" or singing "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You". So shut it. Another example I will give you is Creed's first album. I know what you all might be thinking now...
"Creed, really Frank, that's thick!" Thick guys, really. (Shout out to Dave Awalt for that joke.)
But seriously we were all singing "I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking..." in his deep Kermit the Frog voice. Those were good times and good bands. The next thing is this ridiculous Rebecca Black "phenomenon" (as MSN is calling it) going around right now. Her song is like the movie "The Ring." Once you watch it you may die in seven days. And I digress....
Lastly, Mumford and Sons becoming a well known band because of the Grammys. I absolutely disdain people who ask me after watching the Grammys, "Have you ever heard of Mumford and Sons?"
I just want to punch them in the face after that.
Of course I have heard of Mumford and Sons! Are they not good music? If you listen to good music, meaning anything not falling into the paragraphs above, I most likely listen to it. So if you feel the necessity to ask me if I have heard of a good band, don't. Keep your question to yourself and go revamp your bejeweled Ipod with good music.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The Experiment
I would like to share a story about what happened to me the other night. I was over at a friends apartment with a group of around twelve and we were all just sitting around having a casual drink. Well we decided to play a game the name and rules of which are irrelevant. The only part important about this game was that I ended up having a partner, which we called our date, and whatever happened to that date happened to me. If you know the name of this game congratulations. So I had to now make sure that two people in this game didn't suck so that we would win because me begin Mr. Competitive does not lose. Ever. So we are playing and having a good time and then all of the sudden my date decides to have another date, making us a freakin triple date. Well, I decide to start kidding around with her about making us a tripod and she just did not think that I was funny. Her and her friends just started looking at me like I was a jerk.
Real quick lets rewind for a second and tell you a little nugget about me, I love sarcasm. Some say that if sarcasm was a love language it would be mine. Well people who do not understand sarcasm and that I am the most sarcastic person I know besides Dave Awalt (name drop, you're welcome) see me as a jerk.
Therefore, she and her friends saw me as a jerk even though it was hilarious to everyone else around them. Well, in this awkward moment of them staring at me like I was the Devil in carnet I began to think about why I was not funny to them. This thought process led me to this experiment:
Over the last year or so I have began to notice a trend, people being called funny who are in no way funny. I will give you an example - Matthew McConaughey. That should require no explanation but for those of us that are a tad on the slow side let me explain. If the shirtless wonder himself were to walk into any college classroom or business in Ruston and say anything remotely close to a joke people would immediately laugh because it was Mr. Shirtless saying it. He truly wouldn't have to do anything but speak and people would probably laugh. Why, because its him saying it? Yes, that is the answer to the question. Simply because a half-naked, ignorant actor said something automatically makes it funny.
That just pisses me off.
So I began to wonder, what makes someone funny? Is it their physical looks or appearance like Mr. Shirtless mentioned earlier, or is it the way they deliver their jokes like a Jim Carrey, or could it be a sexual attraction between two people like we have all gone through. Maybe its a girl that you thought was smokin hot or a guy that looked super cute, but we all thought to ourselves, "Okay I'm just going to laugh at her (ladies insert his) jokes so that maybe she'll stick around a little bit longer and I can get some make-out action tonight." We are all looking out for the old number one (ourselves) whenever we do this. However, we end up doing harm to the other girl or guy by giving them a false sense of being funny all because we wanted a little tongue. This leads me to a similar thought from before.
That just pisses me off.
So, I am going to begin an experiment that tests these certain things about being funny. As I proceed through this experiment I will update everyone with the hard facts of what it takes to truly be a man or woman of funnyness.
I just made up a word for this experiment. Funnyness.
Overall, I hope this experiment leads me into new light about life, love, and happiness, but I'm sure it will just end up with me pissing people off as I point out why they are laughing at certain jokes. Which I am fine with. Either way I will be blogging about something.
Real quick lets rewind for a second and tell you a little nugget about me, I love sarcasm. Some say that if sarcasm was a love language it would be mine. Well people who do not understand sarcasm and that I am the most sarcastic person I know besides Dave Awalt (name drop, you're welcome) see me as a jerk.
Therefore, she and her friends saw me as a jerk even though it was hilarious to everyone else around them. Well, in this awkward moment of them staring at me like I was the Devil in carnet I began to think about why I was not funny to them. This thought process led me to this experiment:
Over the last year or so I have began to notice a trend, people being called funny who are in no way funny. I will give you an example - Matthew McConaughey. That should require no explanation but for those of us that are a tad on the slow side let me explain. If the shirtless wonder himself were to walk into any college classroom or business in Ruston and say anything remotely close to a joke people would immediately laugh because it was Mr. Shirtless saying it. He truly wouldn't have to do anything but speak and people would probably laugh. Why, because its him saying it? Yes, that is the answer to the question. Simply because a half-naked, ignorant actor said something automatically makes it funny.
That just pisses me off.
So I began to wonder, what makes someone funny? Is it their physical looks or appearance like Mr. Shirtless mentioned earlier, or is it the way they deliver their jokes like a Jim Carrey, or could it be a sexual attraction between two people like we have all gone through. Maybe its a girl that you thought was smokin hot or a guy that looked super cute, but we all thought to ourselves, "Okay I'm just going to laugh at her (ladies insert his) jokes so that maybe she'll stick around a little bit longer and I can get some make-out action tonight." We are all looking out for the old number one (ourselves) whenever we do this. However, we end up doing harm to the other girl or guy by giving them a false sense of being funny all because we wanted a little tongue. This leads me to a similar thought from before.
That just pisses me off.
So, I am going to begin an experiment that tests these certain things about being funny. As I proceed through this experiment I will update everyone with the hard facts of what it takes to truly be a man or woman of funnyness.
I just made up a word for this experiment. Funnyness.
Overall, I hope this experiment leads me into new light about life, love, and happiness, but I'm sure it will just end up with me pissing people off as I point out why they are laughing at certain jokes. Which I am fine with. Either way I will be blogging about something.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Noticeable Difference
So tomorrow March 2nd I begin student teaching at Ruston High School for my final quarter at Louisiana Tech University. I am excited, scared, nervous, and extremely ready to graduate...but there is something else. I walked out of after my final last Wednesday and thought to myself, "Wow, that was the last time I will be doing that...ever." I mean don't get my wrong, I will take more tests. I will be a teacher it comes with the job. But I will never be in a college classroom again taking a test with 50 other people going through their college experience. It was an unnerving feeling to tell you the truth. A feeling like graduating high school but this time that feeling was on crack cocaine, because there wasn't a safety net of more school that was going to catch me. All that I have left now is - life - and that to me feels like free fall.
No more big college classrooms, lunch in Tolliver, sitting at the red tables in the bright sunlight of a nice spring day (even though those days seem to be few and far between here), and no more casually sleeping in until 8 or 9 depending on how late I got to bed the night before. As Pampers says, "I'm a big kid now!" I now have to be up around 6 and get ready to begin a fun filled day with hundreds of students who do not want to be at school and really don't care what I have to say for the most part.
Sounds depressing once you think about it.
But I will enjoy this last quarter as a Tech student and embrace all it has to offer. Because as of now, I have around 100 students (5 classes, 20 students each class, you do the math) who cannot run away from me no matter what they think of my teaching and that to me is a pretty solid mission field. I will be their light in the darkness, their safety when all fails, their rock in times of trouble...WOW what am I saying...sorry I got off on a Batman speech rant right there. Any who. God has given me a great mission field for my final months in school and I am thankful for it.
Life is noticeably different (you like how I put the title of the blog in here, you're welcome) now and I am ready for the adventures ahead.
No more big college classrooms, lunch in Tolliver, sitting at the red tables in the bright sunlight of a nice spring day (even though those days seem to be few and far between here), and no more casually sleeping in until 8 or 9 depending on how late I got to bed the night before. As Pampers says, "I'm a big kid now!" I now have to be up around 6 and get ready to begin a fun filled day with hundreds of students who do not want to be at school and really don't care what I have to say for the most part.
Sounds depressing once you think about it.
But I will enjoy this last quarter as a Tech student and embrace all it has to offer. Because as of now, I have around 100 students (5 classes, 20 students each class, you do the math) who cannot run away from me no matter what they think of my teaching and that to me is a pretty solid mission field. I will be their light in the darkness, their safety when all fails, their rock in times of trouble...WOW what am I saying...sorry I got off on a Batman speech rant right there. Any who. God has given me a great mission field for my final months in school and I am thankful for it.
Life is noticeably different (you like how I put the title of the blog in here, you're welcome) now and I am ready for the adventures ahead.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Stop Me if I'm Lying
I sit here in an empty house as my two roommates Emile Frey and Logan Dugard begin their trek around the globe to an unreached people group in India with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a mission. They are living out the call of Christ in Acts 1:8 when He tells us to go to the "ends of the earth." I am immensely proud of them both. Their journey has been one of hardship and amazing beauty.
I wish to give you a glimpse into this journey.
Around October of last year the news was brought to them of a possible mission trip being taken by Crossroads church to India. For ten days a group of normal men and women would be going to unreached parts of India to share a message that was essential to their lives. Christ. They both liked the idea and began to ponder over the possibility of them actually going. Well this pondering turned into action as they began to attend the India meetings discussing what the trip was about and how it would look. Except there were a few problems.
Going to another country for upwards of double digit days is quite expensive and college students aren't known for their abundance of money. But this was not to stop them.
They began to write letters. Hundreds of letters asking for help in raising money. Unknowing if people would give or not but just simply trusting that the Lord would somehow produce money where it seemed money could not be produced. People donated that had never met Logan or Emile but believed that what they were doing was to the benefit of the Kingdom. It was a beautiful picture of miracles happening day in and day out.
Secondly, there were medical issues, logistics, and training times that go into trips like this. Much time has to be invested in going to the doctor, in planning what to bring, and in learning about the culture. They invested this time and more. They read, watched, learned, and trained so that they would be as prepared as possible when the time came.
Lastly, there was the simple problem of not becoming overwhelmed. Looking at all the issues of this trip by themselves can overtake anyone with a feeling of inadequacy and the inability to complete them. To see how short they are on money with a payment due in two days, to fill out medical form after medical form until they didn't even realize what they were writing, or to constantly be reading and attending meetings even when they had school work due. These are the things often overlooked in trips like this, but are often the most likely cause of someone not following through and completing the mission. Emile and Logan showed amazing resilience in this area and I admire them for it.
Their ability to leap when they could see no end in sight is an amazing testament to me. To trust in all times, to persevere, to obtain the goal no matter what the cost, this astounds me. And this is what God calls us to.
Stop me if I'm lying here.
God calls us to jump in the pitch black of our lives and to believe that He not only knows what is ahead, but where we will land. Every step is planned, calculated, and sovereignly chosen to bring Christ glory. Do you take the steps willingly like Emile and Logan did and are doing? Do I take those steps willingly? I pray we do.
I am so proud of the men and women leaving their homes, comfort, and families in order to be uncomfortable for the Gospel. That action in itself is showing Christ. When someone is willing to step out of their lives in order for others to know what life is all about is when people become truly changed because they see how real the Gospel and the God of the universe is. And that my friends is a beautiful thing.
I wish to give you a glimpse into this journey.
Around October of last year the news was brought to them of a possible mission trip being taken by Crossroads church to India. For ten days a group of normal men and women would be going to unreached parts of India to share a message that was essential to their lives. Christ. They both liked the idea and began to ponder over the possibility of them actually going. Well this pondering turned into action as they began to attend the India meetings discussing what the trip was about and how it would look. Except there were a few problems.
Going to another country for upwards of double digit days is quite expensive and college students aren't known for their abundance of money. But this was not to stop them.
They began to write letters. Hundreds of letters asking for help in raising money. Unknowing if people would give or not but just simply trusting that the Lord would somehow produce money where it seemed money could not be produced. People donated that had never met Logan or Emile but believed that what they were doing was to the benefit of the Kingdom. It was a beautiful picture of miracles happening day in and day out.
Secondly, there were medical issues, logistics, and training times that go into trips like this. Much time has to be invested in going to the doctor, in planning what to bring, and in learning about the culture. They invested this time and more. They read, watched, learned, and trained so that they would be as prepared as possible when the time came.
Lastly, there was the simple problem of not becoming overwhelmed. Looking at all the issues of this trip by themselves can overtake anyone with a feeling of inadequacy and the inability to complete them. To see how short they are on money with a payment due in two days, to fill out medical form after medical form until they didn't even realize what they were writing, or to constantly be reading and attending meetings even when they had school work due. These are the things often overlooked in trips like this, but are often the most likely cause of someone not following through and completing the mission. Emile and Logan showed amazing resilience in this area and I admire them for it.
Their ability to leap when they could see no end in sight is an amazing testament to me. To trust in all times, to persevere, to obtain the goal no matter what the cost, this astounds me. And this is what God calls us to.
Stop me if I'm lying here.
God calls us to jump in the pitch black of our lives and to believe that He not only knows what is ahead, but where we will land. Every step is planned, calculated, and sovereignly chosen to bring Christ glory. Do you take the steps willingly like Emile and Logan did and are doing? Do I take those steps willingly? I pray we do.
I am so proud of the men and women leaving their homes, comfort, and families in order to be uncomfortable for the Gospel. That action in itself is showing Christ. When someone is willing to step out of their lives in order for others to know what life is all about is when people become truly changed because they see how real the Gospel and the God of the universe is. And that my friends is a beautiful thing.
Monday, February 21, 2011
A Serious Moment
Today I have been challenged with a fact that I have not seen in the same light for many days now. It is a simple yet profound truth which affects every aspect of our lives: how we talk, how we act, what we watch, what we read, what we seek, and how we seek it.
God loves me.
Astounding.
The God of the universe, creation, all that is, will ever be, and ever was, the King sitting on the throne of Heaven, the Lord over all humanity...loves me. The impact of this truth is more then just a simple emotion, it is an action, He pursues me, He wants me, He longs to love and know me. I bring nothing to the table but a broken sinner deserving of hell to the highest degree. I don't offer more glory, more love, more mercy, more grace. He supplies it all and then some. Apart from Him and I nothing more than a man sinking in his own sin. Yet, He chooses to save me.
I find myself most days not even noticing a glimpse of this love. I see the beautiful world around me and shrug it off like it is normal. Like everything that is happening is happening because it is supposed to happen. No cause. No reason. Just happening. Yet, Romans 8:28 states that the world is groaning in anticipation for the coming King to reign again. The world is alive because of its hope for the second coming of the King. That is the best purpose I have ever seen.
So, a question that has been bothering me is, "How can I sit and look at a world that groans for the Father all around me and yet live as though the world exists for my pleasure and my wants?" I know in my head that I am supposed to be groaning for the second coming, however my actions do not seem to point in that direction. As Brennan Manning says in The Ragamuffin Gospel:
"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games..."
I believe that He is the all-forgiving Savior but my actions show doubt. I hope is His coming and yet I get discouraged by His timing. These are just a few examples of these truths in my life. There are many more. This leads me to think of one of my hopes in college. I wished that at the end of my tenure at Louisiana Tech I would leave and have people only know me as the guy who loved the Lord and loved others. Now it seems that Facebook is what people know me for, or sports, or playing music. I am not saying that these things are bad, but when a professing Christian is known for things over the Lord something is wrong.
Something must change.
My view of this monumentally earth shattering belief that can change an entire world. His love. I wish to consume myself with it, to breath it, to drink and eat of it, to wash in it, to love through it. I want God to blow me away with His love because His love is existence. He exists to be glorified. I glorify Him through His love. Its a beautiful existence and it is an existence He wishes everyone to have, we just have to realize it because in the end this simple statement is where everything began and where everything ends.
God loves me.
God loves me.
Astounding.
The God of the universe, creation, all that is, will ever be, and ever was, the King sitting on the throne of Heaven, the Lord over all humanity...loves me. The impact of this truth is more then just a simple emotion, it is an action, He pursues me, He wants me, He longs to love and know me. I bring nothing to the table but a broken sinner deserving of hell to the highest degree. I don't offer more glory, more love, more mercy, more grace. He supplies it all and then some. Apart from Him and I nothing more than a man sinking in his own sin. Yet, He chooses to save me.
I find myself most days not even noticing a glimpse of this love. I see the beautiful world around me and shrug it off like it is normal. Like everything that is happening is happening because it is supposed to happen. No cause. No reason. Just happening. Yet, Romans 8:28 states that the world is groaning in anticipation for the coming King to reign again. The world is alive because of its hope for the second coming of the King. That is the best purpose I have ever seen.
So, a question that has been bothering me is, "How can I sit and look at a world that groans for the Father all around me and yet live as though the world exists for my pleasure and my wants?" I know in my head that I am supposed to be groaning for the second coming, however my actions do not seem to point in that direction. As Brennan Manning says in The Ragamuffin Gospel:
"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games..."
I believe that He is the all-forgiving Savior but my actions show doubt. I hope is His coming and yet I get discouraged by His timing. These are just a few examples of these truths in my life. There are many more. This leads me to think of one of my hopes in college. I wished that at the end of my tenure at Louisiana Tech I would leave and have people only know me as the guy who loved the Lord and loved others. Now it seems that Facebook is what people know me for, or sports, or playing music. I am not saying that these things are bad, but when a professing Christian is known for things over the Lord something is wrong.
Something must change.
My view of this monumentally earth shattering belief that can change an entire world. His love. I wish to consume myself with it, to breath it, to drink and eat of it, to wash in it, to love through it. I want God to blow me away with His love because His love is existence. He exists to be glorified. I glorify Him through His love. Its a beautiful existence and it is an existence He wishes everyone to have, we just have to realize it because in the end this simple statement is where everything began and where everything ends.
God loves me.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Positive or Negative
Throughout life people always consider themselves to be one of two things: a positive person or a negative person. AKA: optimist or pessimist. Well I am here today to discuss what I am, the third choice...a realist.
People often mistake me as a negative person when I tell them candidly that they will most likely not complete a certain assignment or be able to perform a certain task. Let me give you an example...
Me and three of my friends are at a football field and we are kicking field goals for kick and giggles (thats a pun) and one of my friends decides to try and kick a 30 yard field goal. Well this friend is not the most athletic person and spends a lot of time playing Call of Duty and such so I say to him, "Chances are you are going to miss this. You are probably going to be short 5 or 10 yards." Well my three friends immediately start harping on me about how I am always so negative and should be more positive and supportive. So to appease them I say, "Ok. Don't suck." Because if they don't suck and miss the field goal then everyone will be happy.
I might as well interject for a moment that I could have said that a little differently and I admit that. I could have said, "Do well." But let's be honest, if they are doing well then they aren't sucking and if they aren't sucking then they are doing well so they are both equally good statements. Apples and oranges you know.
Well, once the harping was over my friend eventually kicked the football and missed. Coincidentally he was short 5 or 10 yards...who would have thunk it? So, let me ask you, was I negative or just real? I believed he could do it because I never said he couldn't, but I knew that statistically speaking he was going to suck really bad and miss it. I have a belief, it just based on realistic life.
Or we could look at that my first original comment should have beefed him up to make him kick the ball harder to prove me wrong. I was playing the "I'm going to say something to make you really mad to make you play better" card that some coaches do. Call me Bob Knight from now on. Except with no thrown furniture. Life can be seen through many different eyes but I just choose the most logical.
This makes me think of a serious thought.
Faith
Someone could read this and say, "Hey how do you believe in Jesus if you only look at things realistically, because realism leads to science and science can't work with Jesus?"
First off I would like to say that this is possibly one of the dumbest questions ever asked because science alone points to Christ 100% of the time. Secondly, to look at the questions through my eyes of realism we must ask ourselves what the statistics of God are. Well, He is right...always. He is wrong...never. Statistics show God as the logical choice not the other way around. The faith aspect comes not in mere belief but in the control. I know God is real, but to let Him control my entire being a life, my circumstance, my finances, my relationships...that is faith.
(Thought of people reading this..."Wow this blog really got serious quick. He was all humorous in his other blogs but now he is all mister serious guy...")
Well have no fear because I am stepping of the box that holds soap now.
In the end people are either Positive or Negative...well, I am neither.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
First Five
So I am graduating college in around three months and I am no closer to finding a job than I was fours years ago wonderfully thinking, "Yay I'm about to graduate high school and be in college, gah I have so much life in front of me..."
idiot
If I would have known that college would go faster than a blink of an eye then I would have been planning way in advance. But who knew? Besides every college grad and parent in the world that kept telling me that since I got in college, nobody. Oh well, who's counting? Besides all the seniors in college across the nation that are in the same boat I am, nobody. Whatever, who cares? Besides my immediate family, everybody important to me, all my close friends, and that blind kid Jeff Pardue that told me in eleventh grade to be President for him, nobody.
Sorry to let you down Jeffy but that just isn't going to happen.
I am now having to make a decision that will not just effect one year or the next couple of years of my life, but the first five years coming out of college. It is terrifying, yet so exciting. Its one of those paradoxes. Jesus used a lot of paradoxes.
OH he had to throw down the Jesus card in there somewhere!
Yes, I did. I was raised baptist. Southern baptist by a southern baptist women. And momma didn't raise no sinner!
Any who, back to college. I have heard throughout my life that high school are the funnest years of your life. Those people didn't go to college because they are a thousand times better than high school. So, I wonder how exciting these next couple of years will be. More exciting? Less exciting? Probably more.
Well, I may not know what the final step is but I am fully loving this step I'm in right now and I will live it to its all out. Enjoy your time, go outside and throw a frisbi or something. It's much too beautiful to just sit inside and type on a computer....hypocrite.
idiot
If I would have known that college would go faster than a blink of an eye then I would have been planning way in advance. But who knew? Besides every college grad and parent in the world that kept telling me that since I got in college, nobody. Oh well, who's counting? Besides all the seniors in college across the nation that are in the same boat I am, nobody. Whatever, who cares? Besides my immediate family, everybody important to me, all my close friends, and that blind kid Jeff Pardue that told me in eleventh grade to be President for him, nobody.
Sorry to let you down Jeffy but that just isn't going to happen.
I am now having to make a decision that will not just effect one year or the next couple of years of my life, but the first five years coming out of college. It is terrifying, yet so exciting. Its one of those paradoxes. Jesus used a lot of paradoxes.
OH he had to throw down the Jesus card in there somewhere!
Yes, I did. I was raised baptist. Southern baptist by a southern baptist women. And momma didn't raise no sinner!
Any who, back to college. I have heard throughout my life that high school are the funnest years of your life. Those people didn't go to college because they are a thousand times better than high school. So, I wonder how exciting these next couple of years will be. More exciting? Less exciting? Probably more.
Well, I may not know what the final step is but I am fully loving this step I'm in right now and I will live it to its all out. Enjoy your time, go outside and throw a frisbi or something. It's much too beautiful to just sit inside and type on a computer....hypocrite.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Devil Named Facebook
I guess I should begin with telling everyone that this is my first blog but that is irrelevant due to the severity of this next subject:
Facebook
Recently I have made some mistakes with this social network. Adding then deleting. Deleting then adding. And for this, I am sorry. I should not have messed with the friendships on the world of Facebook. It was unwarranted and unnecessary. I should have probably never added you in the first place and I would not be in this situation. However, here I am and there is nothing that I can do to change it. So I write this to discuss the reasoning behind my actions.
It all begins with the high school Frank who spent much to much time on Facebook, an absurd amount to be exact. Well one day my freshman year in college I changed that and just deactivated my account. Cold turkey I quit. Quite a freeing experience to say the least. So for a little over two years I lived without the weight of Facebook; loving every minute of it. Well, transition to the summer before my senior year (this past summer to be exact) and there is me creating a new Facebook for myself but this time with rules. Rules that I wish to follow to the best of my ability so to keep the high school Frank from ever returning.
Here are the rules:
1. Add people from past summer camps and past summer baseball teams. I don't see these people all the time so Facebook is a good place to keep up with some of them.
2. Add groups that are necessary. For example: the BCM, FCA, etc. This is the most efficient way to tell people updates and such.
3. Add people from my community groups.
4. Only add people not in the three above categories if I have to contact them and it is the only way. But once I contact them and figure out that I can see them throughout the day without Facebook then I will most likely delete them. It is not that I don't care for them but I would much rather hang out with them in real life than on Facebook. Plain and simple.
If one were to run through my friends right now you would see that these rules are for the most part held true. I understand that these rules may not be accepted by all but to me they must be and will always be my standards. I hope this answers some questions about my Facebook life to some and if it doesn't then tell me (not on Facebook most likely) and I will hopefully answer your question.
Lastly, if you are just now realizing that I have a Facebook and are now opening a new tab to try and become my friend. Stop. Close that tab. And walk away from the computer.
Recently I have made some mistakes with this social network. Adding then deleting. Deleting then adding. And for this, I am sorry. I should not have messed with the friendships on the world of Facebook. It was unwarranted and unnecessary. I should have probably never added you in the first place and I would not be in this situation. However, here I am and there is nothing that I can do to change it. So I write this to discuss the reasoning behind my actions.
It all begins with the high school Frank who spent much to much time on Facebook, an absurd amount to be exact. Well one day my freshman year in college I changed that and just deactivated my account. Cold turkey I quit. Quite a freeing experience to say the least. So for a little over two years I lived without the weight of Facebook; loving every minute of it. Well, transition to the summer before my senior year (this past summer to be exact) and there is me creating a new Facebook for myself but this time with rules. Rules that I wish to follow to the best of my ability so to keep the high school Frank from ever returning.
Here are the rules:
1. Add people from past summer camps and past summer baseball teams. I don't see these people all the time so Facebook is a good place to keep up with some of them.
2. Add groups that are necessary. For example: the BCM, FCA, etc. This is the most efficient way to tell people updates and such.
3. Add people from my community groups.
4. Only add people not in the three above categories if I have to contact them and it is the only way. But once I contact them and figure out that I can see them throughout the day without Facebook then I will most likely delete them. It is not that I don't care for them but I would much rather hang out with them in real life than on Facebook. Plain and simple.
If one were to run through my friends right now you would see that these rules are for the most part held true. I understand that these rules may not be accepted by all but to me they must be and will always be my standards. I hope this answers some questions about my Facebook life to some and if it doesn't then tell me (not on Facebook most likely) and I will hopefully answer your question.
Lastly, if you are just now realizing that I have a Facebook and are now opening a new tab to try and become my friend. Stop. Close that tab. And walk away from the computer.
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