"We've got people trapped in sins, but because they don't feel the power to get free, they want you to change the rules. 'Because I can't get free, I want you to change the rules so I can feel justified in the sin I plan on staying in.'"
- Sean Smith, "Prophetic Evangelism"
Thoughts?
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
At a Loss for Words...
I know this does very little in the grand scheme with the small base of people that read this blog but I had to share this because I was infuriated and literally started to cry when I read this...
Read this. This is what it has become. These are the kind of people we are. No excuses.
Unbelievable
Read the whole article...
Read this. This is what it has become. These are the kind of people we are. No excuses.
Unbelievable
Read the whole article...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
I'm convinced....
...that Stacie Orrico (There's got to be more to life than temporary highs) and Switchfoot (meant to live for so much more) were onto something...
...that if you don't have a holy discontent for more of Him in your life, you need to be closer to the Lord...
...that being a genuine follower of Christ has nothing to do with forwarding e-mails about United States legislation or ones that state you don't care about the Lord if you don't forward them, or passing around rumors of political candidates, or wearing a christian-ese shirt in a public place (which many are even afraid to do that), or having a jesus phish on your car....
...that the real life we should be living has miracles happening downtown in large cities with whoever is around watching, and us slipping into the crowd before any credit can be given...
...that we are called to so much more than 9-5...
...that our fears really DO control us, and we are just afraid to admit that...
...that we have an idea of how we should be, but it is so contrary to most anyone we know who calls themselves a christian, so we stay how we are, solidifying a boring, powerless life...
...that true love is more powerful than any other weapon...
...that is we only had control of our tongues, and asked the Lord how we should respond to situations or comments, the world would look completely different...
...that church every sunday morning, wednesday night, and the occasional sunday night service should make up about 3% of our attempting christ wanna be lives...
...that if you are unwilling to ever push yourself in any area (mainly physically, emotionally, and spiritually) it will be hard for the Lord to use you for anything substantial...
...that money, cars, shopping, shoes, teeth whiteners, socks, the morning after thanksgiving, movies, and a lot more things are just simply meaningless, but as it is, they control our lives...
...that even a one day trip in another culture that lives far below your standard of living, would be far more than life-altering...
...that Satan's #1 tool in the United States is putting blinders to either side of our eyes, making us have spiritual tunnel vision and never seeing the whole picture...
...that in most people of the age of 50, you will find a story of a dream birthed in them at a young age that they never pursued and regreat greatly, but still watch younger generations repeat the same mistakes...
...that if we even began to understand the importance of the calling that we have been given, we would live completely different..
...that the evidence of our total ignorance is our lives themselves...
...that if you don't have a holy discontent for more of Him in your life, you need to be closer to the Lord...
...that being a genuine follower of Christ has nothing to do with forwarding e-mails about United States legislation or ones that state you don't care about the Lord if you don't forward them, or passing around rumors of political candidates, or wearing a christian-ese shirt in a public place (which many are even afraid to do that), or having a jesus phish on your car....
...that the real life we should be living has miracles happening downtown in large cities with whoever is around watching, and us slipping into the crowd before any credit can be given...
...that we are called to so much more than 9-5...
...that our fears really DO control us, and we are just afraid to admit that...
...that we have an idea of how we should be, but it is so contrary to most anyone we know who calls themselves a christian, so we stay how we are, solidifying a boring, powerless life...
...that true love is more powerful than any other weapon...
...that is we only had control of our tongues, and asked the Lord how we should respond to situations or comments, the world would look completely different...
...that church every sunday morning, wednesday night, and the occasional sunday night service should make up about 3% of our attempting christ wanna be lives...
...that if you are unwilling to ever push yourself in any area (mainly physically, emotionally, and spiritually) it will be hard for the Lord to use you for anything substantial...
...that money, cars, shopping, shoes, teeth whiteners, socks, the morning after thanksgiving, movies, and a lot more things are just simply meaningless, but as it is, they control our lives...
...that even a one day trip in another culture that lives far below your standard of living, would be far more than life-altering...
...that Satan's #1 tool in the United States is putting blinders to either side of our eyes, making us have spiritual tunnel vision and never seeing the whole picture...
...that in most people of the age of 50, you will find a story of a dream birthed in them at a young age that they never pursued and regreat greatly, but still watch younger generations repeat the same mistakes...
...that if we even began to understand the importance of the calling that we have been given, we would live completely different..
...that the evidence of our total ignorance is our lives themselves...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Abortion: Perhaps a Different View
I just finished reading a book, at 3AM this morning, that detailed a view of abortion that I had not thought of yet and I am interested in your thoughts...
History:
- 1492 and on - The early settlers of what would become the USA, weren't necessarily born killers. As time went on, however, especially in the 1800's, the decision to take all of the land that the continent could provide from Native Americans by slaughter and government lies supported the notion that NA were not really people. Therefore, there land could be taken, but even more sad, we could exterminate hundreds of thousands of them.....
- 1800's and early 1900's: African Americans. Brought over on boats with unbelievably inhumane conditions (do some research on it), and then thrown into slavery. As if the slavery wasn't bad enough, murdering at will and killing for fun became common practice for this race. How did it happen? The American public was convinced that they were animals and not really people. This supported the idea that anything could be done to them without guilt. All men were created equal, but not the dark skinned ones....
- 1930's, 40's: German citizens were not inherently mindless killers and filled with hatred toward the Jews. Hitler successfully used the public to help exterminate Jews by convincing the citizens that they were not really people, therefore they could be eradicated.
- 1973 to present: Despite the fact that a child was born 21 weeks after gestation (9.5 inches long, and just about 10 ounces) and survived to be a healthy fully formed baby, despite the fact that we now have video evidence of a "fetus" reacting to the pain of being covered with acid and being ripped out of a womb, despite the millions of cases of women emotionally collapsing post-aborting, despite the fact that some killers of pregnant moms are charged with double murders, the current attitude of the American public is that pregnancy is a choice and those things growing inside of mothers are fetuses and not people. Amazing how we know that they are already people, but still pretend otherwise. We are being convinced that they are not people! Just like the other mass murders! And in the world right now, every minute 89 babies are aborted. I am not even getting into moral issues here...just talking straight philosophy. Anyone else see the enormous disconnect?
Dehumanizing people groups give us full rights to do what we want...
My own thoughts: I am pro-choice in the sense that...isn't it ones choice to get into bed with someone they don't want to have a child with...sorry if this is too blatantly honest, but can't people just stinkin' keep their pants on? Sheesh....
History:
- 1492 and on - The early settlers of what would become the USA, weren't necessarily born killers. As time went on, however, especially in the 1800's, the decision to take all of the land that the continent could provide from Native Americans by slaughter and government lies supported the notion that NA were not really people. Therefore, there land could be taken, but even more sad, we could exterminate hundreds of thousands of them.....
- 1800's and early 1900's: African Americans. Brought over on boats with unbelievably inhumane conditions (do some research on it), and then thrown into slavery. As if the slavery wasn't bad enough, murdering at will and killing for fun became common practice for this race. How did it happen? The American public was convinced that they were animals and not really people. This supported the idea that anything could be done to them without guilt. All men were created equal, but not the dark skinned ones....
- 1930's, 40's: German citizens were not inherently mindless killers and filled with hatred toward the Jews. Hitler successfully used the public to help exterminate Jews by convincing the citizens that they were not really people, therefore they could be eradicated.
- 1973 to present: Despite the fact that a child was born 21 weeks after gestation (9.5 inches long, and just about 10 ounces) and survived to be a healthy fully formed baby, despite the fact that we now have video evidence of a "fetus" reacting to the pain of being covered with acid and being ripped out of a womb, despite the millions of cases of women emotionally collapsing post-aborting, despite the fact that some killers of pregnant moms are charged with double murders, the current attitude of the American public is that pregnancy is a choice and those things growing inside of mothers are fetuses and not people. Amazing how we know that they are already people, but still pretend otherwise. We are being convinced that they are not people! Just like the other mass murders! And in the world right now, every minute 89 babies are aborted. I am not even getting into moral issues here...just talking straight philosophy. Anyone else see the enormous disconnect?
Dehumanizing people groups give us full rights to do what we want...
My own thoughts: I am pro-choice in the sense that...isn't it ones choice to get into bed with someone they don't want to have a child with...sorry if this is too blatantly honest, but can't people just stinkin' keep their pants on? Sheesh....
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Back to quotes...
Here is a quote from a really good article I read recently...
When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Thoughts?
When the church takes a stance that emphasizes political activism and social moralizing, it always diverts energy and resources away from evangelization. Such an antagonistic position toward the established secular culture invariably leads believers to feel hostile not only to unsaved government leaders with whom they disagree, but also antagonistic toward the unsaved residents of that culture—neighbors and fellow citizens they ought to love, pray for, and share the gospel with. To me it is unthinkable that we become enemies of the very people we seek to win to Christ, our potential brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Thoughts?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
At a Recent Barack Obama Event
I have to admit, my first thought was total sarcasm...
"Really? you really think this is representing Christ?"
My second thought was just pure frustration, bordering on anger....
Your thoughts?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Nature (Humanity) vs. Nuture (Gospel)
I know I promised to bring information from other sources, but I have been thinking a lot about this, and I am curious of your thoughts on the matter.
Fact #1: Our human nature teaches us to care about ourselves and serve ourselves in any way possible. Not to say that sometimes we in our human nature reach out to another human being to offer assistance especially in times of extreme need (natural disasters. family losses, etc.)
Fact #2: The Nuture, what we can be trained to follow is the Nature of Christ, which is a complete oxymoron to the way of the world. There are countless scripture about not conforming to the way of the world. In my personal opinion, in the top 5 ways that we act like Christ and not the world, is the fact that we should be more concerned about our brother than ourselves. That is true humility, true love, true sacrifice, etc.
Now, here is my question. We know that Fact #1 is bad and Fact #2 is what we should strive to be.
Why do so many of our lives look so much like a polar opposite to Christ and worse than that, if we were to be confronted about it, we have what we think is a strong defense for our actions...
i.e.:
- shopping for ourselves all the time
- gossiping about others knowing it is wrong
- just being a jerk, making people not want to be in your company
- always telling stories about how great we are
- never talking about Christ's life or the things He has done in our life
- thinking that being born in a certain country makes us entitled to certain rights and freedoms, forgetting that human being just like us are daily suffering and we just don't care
this list could go on forever...
Disclaimer: I am NOT saying I am perfect, but can SOMEONE shed some light on this please?
Fact #1: Our human nature teaches us to care about ourselves and serve ourselves in any way possible. Not to say that sometimes we in our human nature reach out to another human being to offer assistance especially in times of extreme need (natural disasters. family losses, etc.)
Fact #2: The Nuture, what we can be trained to follow is the Nature of Christ, which is a complete oxymoron to the way of the world. There are countless scripture about not conforming to the way of the world. In my personal opinion, in the top 5 ways that we act like Christ and not the world, is the fact that we should be more concerned about our brother than ourselves. That is true humility, true love, true sacrifice, etc.
Now, here is my question. We know that Fact #1 is bad and Fact #2 is what we should strive to be.
Why do so many of our lives look so much like a polar opposite to Christ and worse than that, if we were to be confronted about it, we have what we think is a strong defense for our actions...
i.e.:
- shopping for ourselves all the time
- gossiping about others knowing it is wrong
- just being a jerk, making people not want to be in your company
- always telling stories about how great we are
- never talking about Christ's life or the things He has done in our life
- thinking that being born in a certain country makes us entitled to certain rights and freedoms, forgetting that human being just like us are daily suffering and we just don't care
this list could go on forever...
Disclaimer: I am NOT saying I am perfect, but can SOMEONE shed some light on this please?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
I'm back on 9.11
$600,000 was given to FEMA who used the money to research what happened on 9.11 that allowed the towers to fall, etc.
$40,000,000 was given to the investigation of former president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's relationship.
Really? Unbelievable.
$40,000,000 was given to the investigation of former president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's relationship.
Really? Unbelievable.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Holidays
A challenge:
Without researching, tell me what you know about the real lives of the people we have "holidays" for in the US...
- St. Nicholas
- St. Patrick
- St. Valentine
Without researching, tell me what you know about the real lives of the people we have "holidays" for in the US...
- St. Nicholas
- St. Patrick
- St. Valentine
Monday, July 14, 2008
Are these the words of my Jesus?
Recently, McDonald's, took an unashamed stance in favor of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) community. I know that for some of the people reading this, it may stir up something in you to want to fight for morality. I challenge you though. Before you get riled up about it, read some of these comments, and then please comment on my blog and reassure me that there words are similar to what Jesus would say to the people of McDonald's if he were to make a statement.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Porn and Economic Stimulus
This is a little out of my ordinary posts, but I found it very intriguing and very disappointing. Looks like all that money was put to good use...or not.
According to Kirk Mishkin, Head Research Consultant for AIMRCo, "Many of the sites we surveyed have reported 20-30% growth in membership rates since mid-May when the checks were first sent out, and typically the summer is a slow period for this market."
(referring to internet porn sites, and the check being the economic stimulus checks from the gov.)
Another random and equally saddening fact: Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography
According to Kirk Mishkin, Head Research Consultant for AIMRCo, "Many of the sites we surveyed have reported 20-30% growth in membership rates since mid-May when the checks were first sent out, and typically the summer is a slow period for this market."
(referring to internet porn sites, and the check being the economic stimulus checks from the gov.)
Another random and equally saddening fact: Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography
Monday, June 30, 2008
Quote Blog #1
To which do we pledge allegiance? Surely, one of them must have the wrong idea of how to move history. Can a servant serve two masters? To say that we must kill our enemies and join the project to "rid the world of evil" is to call Jesus unrealistic. And that is possibly desirable for many; surely his ideas do not resonate with any common wisdom. But can you call Jesus the Son of God and also say, "He just doesn't understand the world today"? How ironic is it to see a bumper sticker that says, "Jesus is the answer-but not in the real world." Remember, Jesus' followers were burned alive, beheaded, or fed to lions. They knew evil and the "real world." They would meet it face to face. If there was anyone who tried to deal with evildoers and terrorists, it was certainly first-century Christians.
- Shane Claiborne, Jesus For President
My thoughts: self-explanatory...thoughts?
- Shane Claiborne, Jesus For President
My thoughts: self-explanatory...thoughts?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Intense Sermon
This sermon is intense...it is kind of long, but I REALLY want to know your thoughts...especially about the first 15 minutes of the video...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
New Blog Format
Hey All,
I can't write this in stone, but I think I have decided to change the format of this blog. I would like to post a quote and a few thoughts of mine and then get your reaction. I am just tired of listening to myself rant on ignorance and emotion, but I do read a decent amount and feel that many things I read are provocative and discussion starting. So, I know not many people read this, but hang on...it may get intense...I would absolutely love your thoughts!
Blessings!
I can't write this in stone, but I think I have decided to change the format of this blog. I would like to post a quote and a few thoughts of mine and then get your reaction. I am just tired of listening to myself rant on ignorance and emotion, but I do read a decent amount and feel that many things I read are provocative and discussion starting. So, I know not many people read this, but hang on...it may get intense...I would absolutely love your thoughts!
Blessings!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Anonymous
I recently finished a book entitled Anonymous by Alicia Britt Chole. The subtitle is "Jesus' hidden years and yours" and it is basically about the in-between stages of life that we go through where we feel we aren't being used for the kingdom to the best of our abilities, or even some times like no one notices or cares how much we are capable of.Here are some quotable quotes from the book I wanted to share:
"Have you ever felt hidden? If so, you are in Excellent Company. The most influential life in all of history spent 90 percent of his days submerged in the unseen. During three mostly undocumented, undecorated decades, Father God empowered him to live an authoritative, obedient life and die and eternally fruitful death."
"'I want to walk like Jesus walked and live like Jesus lived!' is generally not equated in our hearts with, 'I want to live 90 percent of my life in absolute obscurity!'. No. Our desire to 'be like Jesus' contains several exemption clauses, not the least of which are Jesus' hidden years, desert experiences, temptations, tortures, and crucifixion. We will pass on those, thank you. What we are most definitiely interested in, however is Jesus' character and authority. How we long to see his character and authority transform this broken world through our lives!"
And I just really like this story: :-)
"I leave then with a shot story that came to me years ago about a young boy obviously destined for greatness.
Whenever I am disappointed with me spot in life, I stop and think about the little boy who was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. The boy rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. 'Guess what, mom,' he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me: 'I've been chosen to clap and cheer.'"
If any of these quotes meant anything to you, I would definitely recommend the book. Reading it really helped me in this season of my life, and taught me to be obedient in all I do, and trust and KNOW that the Lord is not only planning my steps, but that he is building me into who I need to be for the rest of my time on this earth....
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