Pornography is a Catchy Title

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? 

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.