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?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, June 9, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Battle
I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Phil 3:8
Life is a battle. Muffled between our tire tread lives an inconspicuous matter of battling blood. So many of us do not see the matter. So many of us don't look to gauge the depth of tread. We simply waste our time and effort on existing beyond the tread of life. A tread which has divided this world since the Garden.
What would happen if we picked teams? No team captains. No all stars. No "ghost runners." This is not a normal pick-up game. These teams are life teams.
Since the moment the devil stuck his head into the world, we were given a choice. A choice that deems to setup two teams: truth vs. lies. The battle between truth and falsehood. One stands for life, but the other mirrors the choice of death itself.
As Christians, do we think of life as a continuing battle between truth and lies? Are we fighting for the truth? Are we daily fighting a battle, not against people, but against the evil which continues to lurk in the falsehood of this world? We live in a Cosmic Battle (described by Dr. Del Tackett in "The Truth Project"). So many people chase after lies. Alcohol, Sex, Drugs, Entertainment, Night Clubs, Big Trucks, Fast Cars, "the image", Celebs, and several other amenities that amount to idols. In short, millions of people chase LIES: the enemy component to the battle. Do we cringe to see the enemy win soles over? Do we hate to see more people continually find themselves drafted, or swallowed, by the evil falsehood of this world?
For me, the worst is seeing a brother in christ (from the truth army) fold and become part of the falsehood.
Are we fighting? Do we stand for what we believe? Do we pray for God's word to be spread? Do we find enough faith in Jesus Christ to stand firm and be glad in KNOWING Christ Jesus our Lord? We know Him! Rejoice and be glad because we know Him!
So many people do not know Him. They live a world of lies and falsehood. They do not understand the Falsehood army leads to death. They do not understand how the evil in this world leads to division, miscommunication, and jealousy instead of unity, communication, and roles provided by the truth found in God. Falsehood leads to disorder and death in this life. I pray they will understand the beauty of truth which leads to peace in todays life.
I also pray we will fight. May we love people but hate evil. May we daily put on our Armor of God (Eph 6) so that we may take a stand against the devil's schemes. May we further understand how to consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of KNOWing Christ Jesus our Lord. Do people understand what to lose and what there is to gain?
Life is a battle. Muffled between our tire tread lives an inconspicuous matter of battling blood. So many of us do not see the matter. So many of us don't look to gauge the depth of tread. We simply waste our time and effort on existing beyond the tread of life. A tread which has divided this world since the Garden.
What would happen if we picked teams? No team captains. No all stars. No "ghost runners." This is not a normal pick-up game. These teams are life teams.
Since the moment the devil stuck his head into the world, we were given a choice. A choice that deems to setup two teams: truth vs. lies. The battle between truth and falsehood. One stands for life, but the other mirrors the choice of death itself.
As Christians, do we think of life as a continuing battle between truth and lies? Are we fighting for the truth? Are we daily fighting a battle, not against people, but against the evil which continues to lurk in the falsehood of this world? We live in a Cosmic Battle (described by Dr. Del Tackett in "The Truth Project"). So many people chase after lies. Alcohol, Sex, Drugs, Entertainment, Night Clubs, Big Trucks, Fast Cars, "the image", Celebs, and several other amenities that amount to idols. In short, millions of people chase LIES: the enemy component to the battle. Do we cringe to see the enemy win soles over? Do we hate to see more people continually find themselves drafted, or swallowed, by the evil falsehood of this world?
For me, the worst is seeing a brother in christ (from the truth army) fold and become part of the falsehood.
Are we fighting? Do we stand for what we believe? Do we pray for God's word to be spread? Do we find enough faith in Jesus Christ to stand firm and be glad in KNOWING Christ Jesus our Lord? We know Him! Rejoice and be glad because we know Him!
So many people do not know Him. They live a world of lies and falsehood. They do not understand the Falsehood army leads to death. They do not understand how the evil in this world leads to division, miscommunication, and jealousy instead of unity, communication, and roles provided by the truth found in God. Falsehood leads to disorder and death in this life. I pray they will understand the beauty of truth which leads to peace in todays life.
I also pray we will fight. May we love people but hate evil. May we daily put on our Armor of God (Eph 6) so that we may take a stand against the devil's schemes. May we further understand how to consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of KNOWing Christ Jesus our Lord. Do people understand what to lose and what there is to gain?
Friday, May 9, 2008
Static Routine . . .
What happens when our pattern is stopped?
Please allow me to start by declaring our life is a routine. For those in the workforce, we wake up and go to sleep in a daily motion of wake-read-eat-work-sleep. For those in school, we wake up and go to sleep in a daily motion of wake-read-class-chill-(study)-sleep. Everything we follow has a pattern because we were raised in a society of pattern. As a baby we were rigid and forced into a pattern of sleeping and eating. Was this the first pattern? And does this sole beginning to pattern own our lives?
Please allow me to remove you from a pattern. But wait, how can we ever remove ourselves from a pattern when even an unmethodical, haphazard, lifestyle is a pattern itself? Yet by only removing yourself from a normal pattern, do you believe you will be disoriented? adrift? lost?
Please allow me to digress and depart for the remaining time. So many times in my life I devour a topic too deep beyond what my mind can perceive, but within the midst of my mystery my thoughts are absorbed into a christ-centered weight.
In terms of patterns, please help me understand the outcome of a child learning the pattern of Christ before food and sleep. Is this concept so foreign as to only occur in times previous to Adam & Eve? Today we sin. Today children are born into a world of sin, but could there every be a christian so in-tune with God that he/she could look before the Garden of Eden? Their thoughts and patterns would abstain from a human mind born into a world, lifestyle, of sin. I believe this Christian would have been found before Adam and Eve because, before eating of the apple, God did not strap them to a routine such as eat-sleep. But today we are unable to escape this sinful world strapped by a routine of eat-sleep.
We need food like crops need the rain. We depend on food and nutrition to step forward in life, and we also cling to sleep because our bodies depend on resting our nervous system. In the depth of our sinful ways, we need God.
This whole story concludes. Through our life today, and in our daily pattern, we need God. Please do not worry about your routine, yet know the necessity of having God in your life. Through God we can be born again. We can live a life in the world but not of the world. So strap onto Him. Dig deep to run closer to Him in your life. Never want food or sleep more than God.
Please allow me to start by declaring our life is a routine. For those in the workforce, we wake up and go to sleep in a daily motion of wake-read-eat-work-sleep. For those in school, we wake up and go to sleep in a daily motion of wake-read-class-chill-(study)-sleep. Everything we follow has a pattern because we were raised in a society of pattern. As a baby we were rigid and forced into a pattern of sleeping and eating. Was this the first pattern? And does this sole beginning to pattern own our lives?
Please allow me to remove you from a pattern. But wait, how can we ever remove ourselves from a pattern when even an unmethodical, haphazard, lifestyle is a pattern itself? Yet by only removing yourself from a normal pattern, do you believe you will be disoriented? adrift? lost?
Please allow me to digress and depart for the remaining time. So many times in my life I devour a topic too deep beyond what my mind can perceive, but within the midst of my mystery my thoughts are absorbed into a christ-centered weight.
In terms of patterns, please help me understand the outcome of a child learning the pattern of Christ before food and sleep. Is this concept so foreign as to only occur in times previous to Adam & Eve? Today we sin. Today children are born into a world of sin, but could there every be a christian so in-tune with God that he/she could look before the Garden of Eden? Their thoughts and patterns would abstain from a human mind born into a world, lifestyle, of sin. I believe this Christian would have been found before Adam and Eve because, before eating of the apple, God did not strap them to a routine such as eat-sleep. But today we are unable to escape this sinful world strapped by a routine of eat-sleep.
We need food like crops need the rain. We depend on food and nutrition to step forward in life, and we also cling to sleep because our bodies depend on resting our nervous system. In the depth of our sinful ways, we need God.
This whole story concludes. Through our life today, and in our daily pattern, we need God. Please do not worry about your routine, yet know the necessity of having God in your life. Through God we can be born again. We can live a life in the world but not of the world. So strap onto Him. Dig deep to run closer to Him in your life. Never want food or sleep more than God.
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