The Wedding

I sit and run. My direction is not straight. My thoughts are skewed. All I see is blood.

My hands are covered in the blood of this man who has been inviting me. His invitation welcomes me to a kingdom, a home, a family, a community, and even a love. Why do we run away from this invitation? He has prepared the meat at the banquet. He has poured the drinks. Everything is ready for a party, but why do I accept every other party invitation except the invitation for God's party?

Late at night I often find myself watching television on the couch. Is this what I live for? How could I ever be a man worthy of sharing the invitation of God's holy feast when I can't clearly see the invitation laid before my own eyes?

God. Please bring your fire. Please. I beg you.

Matt. 22:1-14
Jesus also told them other parables. He said,“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
“The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The//Party

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me; this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring;
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior
-Aaron Shust

No matter where you go, no matter where you move, no matter where you turn, God will always be there for you.

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to have found Christ at the age of eight. I remember my soul aching to run faster towards the eternal life with Jesus Christ, and my thoughts were carried without giving Hell a single opportunity to distract my vision. Now today, I pray my vision is still the same. I pray I will not give the devil a chance to diminish my light/lamp. I want to be the city on the hill where the party doesn't stop. No matter which location my life resides, I know my God is there with me.

Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the lamp wattage you have entrusted me to shine your light and let the whole world see.

Dirty Disciples Feet.

My reading exist in the book of John, yet my mind can't seem to completely fathom the scene of Jesus walking this Earth. I have always understood his role of the Son of God in human flesh, but why do people respond the way John describes?

The people in Galilee do not understand who is the true Christ yet He stands in their doorway performing miracles beyond their what their "pea" minds could imagine. This is the Savior! The living, breathing, God! As I read, I just want to yell and wake these sleeping people. But my thoughts don't stop with the townspeople.

My mind begins to examine the mistakes of the disciples. They don't really see Christ. They walk daily beside the Son of God, but they still makes fools of themselves. They still go against God's word.

My big research question...If we are striving to live a holy, pure, life without Christ on Earth, then why do those who walk with Jesus continue to fall short of living a holy, pure, life? Is it possible for us? How does this connect with God's big plan?

Blessings

My mother recently found an old school project from my 3rd year of elementary school, and the front cover of this project has a list of every student in the class.

O where my life has been.

I praise God today for the many blessings he has brought upon my life. I thank him for the opportunity to know him in an intimate relationship which started after a mid-summer revival. I was eight years old and I knew I did not want to live in the firer sin pit of hell. From summer of 1994 to today, God has brought me along a journey worthy of 10,000 pages, and 95% of those pages would be filled with thanks and praises.

I thank God for my family, and the life-time travel my home has made from Athens, South Memphis, Siloam Springs (AR), and back to East Memphis. I thank God for Ben Rediske, Tyler Dees, James Hughes, Josh Siemens, Mitch Padgett, Matchell Family, Abbott Family, Crandall Family, Hall family, Simkins Family, FBC Siloam Family, Siloam Springs High School family, Memories of Arkansas, I-40 to Memphis, FBC Fisherville Family, Rucker Family, Strong Family, Perkins Family, Cordova High School Family, Jon Brin, Michael Bartemus, Filming sports in high school, blessing of a meteorology major, the short drive to Mississippi State University, MSU BSU Family, Michael Ball, June Scoggins, Taylor Family, Chip Stevens, the Wade Patterson, Big Dave, Paul Cleveland, Remey Graham, Student Life family, Beach Reach Family, Prince Avenue family, JP, University Television Center Family, Chris Coats, Bennie Ashford, the sports video assistant employment, video production experiences, Fox13 family, internship, Joey Sulipeck, Meteorology dept at MSU family, evangelism experiences, lives saved for Christ, Ben Jones, Tyler Sholes, Wes Barnett, Martin Hayes, friends with a passion for spreading God's word, Rusty Whitten, McDaniel Family, Thomas, Simon Bailey, and so so so many more people!

I thank God for the times to be able to dig into his word and find a deeper passion and understand for His renown.

God, thank you so much for your many blessings upon my life. I praise you for the opportunity to be with you in an eternal life. I praise you O Lord!

Vulnerability

We are extremely vulnerable. Does a conscious process exist beyond vulnerability? We will. We are. We exist as intricate creatures of bold self actualization inhabiting a world built for hope.

The detail of our deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, is one testimony to the magnifying greatness of believing in our great God. How can a "goo", a ball of dust, create such humans? The architect of our body can only land a true creator of great power and knowledge. The essence of creation stands with the formation of humans who bleed, cry, hurt, tire, sweat, intoxicate, snarl, burn, and wrinkle. Could the intricate design of our senses allow us to further understand God Almighty? He is bold! He is great! He is strong! He is healthy. He is our architect.

In our world of seeking self gratitude, how long must we go before we understand our insufficient power which cannot control our bleeding, crying, hurting, tiring, sweating, intoxication, snarling, burning, and wrinkling? There must be something more than us. Life is not a box alone. Life is a box with God looking from the outside-in. He created everything in the box. We owe it, our lives, all to Him.

Man thinks he needs himself, but, without hesitation, I pray all of humanity will see the necessity to need God.