I had such a great time leading worship this morning...something about it just helps lift my spirits. I have a hard time explaining what happens but I just feel at home. My wife brought it home with a great message; that really excites me too is coupling (pun intended) in ministry. I just had a great time.
Listening to: Come all you weary - Thrice
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Way too long
Hello, it has been way too long since I have posted. I think that is the only time when I post, when I haven't done it for like two years. So anyways I have been doing great, living in Gilbert AZ now with my lovely wife. We actually just got back from Vegas, which is probably one of my favorite places to go. It's nice to pretend for a week that you are a star and that's how I feel in Vegas. I am now going to start working on getting a nursing degree and hopefully I will be getting a promotion at my current job. Good times...well I will say it again, I hope to be posting a lot more on here. It's funny I walk through the day and have a thought, and go man that would be cool to write about and I never do. Hopefully I will write down those thoughts.
Peace
Peace
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
New Post Finally
It has been I think close to a year sense I have blogged here...So I thought I would just keep it simple. Recently I have been addicted to reading leadership books, so I am going to use this space to talk about that and I guess anything else I want to talk about okay.....
I just recently finished John C. Maxwell's book 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership. What a great book chocked full of wisdom. The book is nothing special and any person with a sixth grade vocabulary could read it but the amount of simplistic wisdom it innumerable. I learned so much and I hope by me reflecting on the current books I am reading, more information will move beyond becoming information; into things that I actually use. Well that is it, love you take it sleazy and I will hopefully see you soon.
I just recently finished John C. Maxwell's book 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership. What a great book chocked full of wisdom. The book is nothing special and any person with a sixth grade vocabulary could read it but the amount of simplistic wisdom it innumerable. I learned so much and I hope by me reflecting on the current books I am reading, more information will move beyond becoming information; into things that I actually use. Well that is it, love you take it sleazy and I will hopefully see you soon.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Stream of Consciousness
I found this on my computer and thought I would share it.
An Interacting God
Sometimes I wish God interacted with us like he did in Isaiah’s day. God was to be feared and his actions were known to be his actions. Now it seems that everything is so ambiguous. “Is God doing this or is this just happening?” is a question I have asked myself often. If only God would show himself as he did with the prophets of Baal and Elijah. No one would doubt, no one would question but we would be loyal followers to a God who supernaturally interacted with his creation.
Sometimes I understand the reasons why the Jews created idols, and I do today. The almost impossible task of having a relationship with something that is not physical is strange; a relationship with the invisible seems to go against every human notion. To be distanced from touch and sound of our creator is empty sometimes. God speak and speak loudly. What holds you back, is it my faith, my lack of trust, my rebellious heart?
Sin is the exact distance between me and my creator. Sin is a manifestation of a rebellion that has been going on since the beginning of time. Sin is developed in a person when he forgets to trust in the invisible and trusts in the visible, the unreachable for the reachable. Sin is developed in my heart when I welcome the idols of the flesh into my home.
What is this all about? I cannot stand it; the feeling of regret and distance that one feels when sin is chosen over the creator is almost unbearable. But what can I do, can I renounce my rebellious ways and look forward to Jesus; to the perfect. No my life is sin; the fact that I live is sin. I have been broken from the day I was born. Born to a broken and imperfect family that has someway or another broken and unperfected me.
Does this mean it is their entire fault that I sin? Well yes and no. Created life now equals sin. I have no ability to become perfect because of the fact that this world is imperfect. But I cannot allow myself to be corrupted of this notion that people are perfect, let me explain.
I have been taught from a young, whether audibly or otherwise, that my parents are perfect. Everything was hidden from me, the dismantling of everything I knew to be stable came as a surprise. A divorce happened right under my nose and I couldn’t smell a thing. I use to think this was the correct way of dealing with things. “Hide all from your children; let them believe that you are perfect,” is what I would think. This way of thinking did not work well with me and my experience in my family. I never knew a thing about my parents having troubles and contemplating divorce, I never knew that they perhaps I would be eating TV dinners with my single dad in a two bedroom apartment. I believed, as every ignorant person would, that I had been a part of a perfect American family. The definition of a perfect American family has since been redefined but at the time it meant that my family was together. Now I believe the definition is, if you have enough money to keep up with the times, is your house bigger than you can handle, and do you drive a car that gets 3 miles to the gallon. But at one point I believed that my family was perfect. Little did I know?
Of course I have become more cynical than I was as a child. Now I believe, I would never say this out loud, that the perfect American family does not fight and gets along in every manner. This is unattainable and just inconsistent with my understanding of humanity. I have believed for some time that perfect life is perfect life; basically that two being opposites, male and female, would complement each other perfectly. Like a human jigsaw puzzle, I would be missing that middle piece that just connected the whole picture together. My counterpart, I believed at least, would be able to be fit perfectly into that slot. Instead the picture is realistically the same but that space in my puzzle has gotten banged up and ripped so now the puzzle piece of my partner has to be forced into the space or doesn’t fit properly. I remember days of being young and trying to force that one piece, that most obviously had no reason being in a particular spot, trying to make it fit in anyway I could. This is my reality with relationships today.
The nice thing about relationships though, is that through them you can began to repair those corroded edges, a process called sanctification or being made into the image of Christ. Through correct relationships I am banged and bruised and broken but I come back looking different. I remember when I broke my knee cap, darn did it hurt. But when you break your bones they grow back 110% stronger than before. This is a correct relationship, I am broken and beat but yet I am corrected and made into the image of Christ. You know the crux is though in relationship you have two sinful people, so sometimes you are broken and bruised and beat just for the sake of being broken and bruised and beat.
Of course there are great and grand moments also but it is interesting to think about these times of brokenness. Yes I am to be perfected in relationships but I am also terribly scared and stained from relationships. We are beings who were created for perfection so we will always struggle with the notion of perfection.
An Interacting God
Sometimes I wish God interacted with us like he did in Isaiah’s day. God was to be feared and his actions were known to be his actions. Now it seems that everything is so ambiguous. “Is God doing this or is this just happening?” is a question I have asked myself often. If only God would show himself as he did with the prophets of Baal and Elijah. No one would doubt, no one would question but we would be loyal followers to a God who supernaturally interacted with his creation.
Sometimes I understand the reasons why the Jews created idols, and I do today. The almost impossible task of having a relationship with something that is not physical is strange; a relationship with the invisible seems to go against every human notion. To be distanced from touch and sound of our creator is empty sometimes. God speak and speak loudly. What holds you back, is it my faith, my lack of trust, my rebellious heart?
Sin is the exact distance between me and my creator. Sin is a manifestation of a rebellion that has been going on since the beginning of time. Sin is developed in a person when he forgets to trust in the invisible and trusts in the visible, the unreachable for the reachable. Sin is developed in my heart when I welcome the idols of the flesh into my home.
What is this all about? I cannot stand it; the feeling of regret and distance that one feels when sin is chosen over the creator is almost unbearable. But what can I do, can I renounce my rebellious ways and look forward to Jesus; to the perfect. No my life is sin; the fact that I live is sin. I have been broken from the day I was born. Born to a broken and imperfect family that has someway or another broken and unperfected me.
Does this mean it is their entire fault that I sin? Well yes and no. Created life now equals sin. I have no ability to become perfect because of the fact that this world is imperfect. But I cannot allow myself to be corrupted of this notion that people are perfect, let me explain.
I have been taught from a young, whether audibly or otherwise, that my parents are perfect. Everything was hidden from me, the dismantling of everything I knew to be stable came as a surprise. A divorce happened right under my nose and I couldn’t smell a thing. I use to think this was the correct way of dealing with things. “Hide all from your children; let them believe that you are perfect,” is what I would think. This way of thinking did not work well with me and my experience in my family. I never knew a thing about my parents having troubles and contemplating divorce, I never knew that they perhaps I would be eating TV dinners with my single dad in a two bedroom apartment. I believed, as every ignorant person would, that I had been a part of a perfect American family. The definition of a perfect American family has since been redefined but at the time it meant that my family was together. Now I believe the definition is, if you have enough money to keep up with the times, is your house bigger than you can handle, and do you drive a car that gets 3 miles to the gallon. But at one point I believed that my family was perfect. Little did I know?
Of course I have become more cynical than I was as a child. Now I believe, I would never say this out loud, that the perfect American family does not fight and gets along in every manner. This is unattainable and just inconsistent with my understanding of humanity. I have believed for some time that perfect life is perfect life; basically that two being opposites, male and female, would complement each other perfectly. Like a human jigsaw puzzle, I would be missing that middle piece that just connected the whole picture together. My counterpart, I believed at least, would be able to be fit perfectly into that slot. Instead the picture is realistically the same but that space in my puzzle has gotten banged up and ripped so now the puzzle piece of my partner has to be forced into the space or doesn’t fit properly. I remember days of being young and trying to force that one piece, that most obviously had no reason being in a particular spot, trying to make it fit in anyway I could. This is my reality with relationships today.
The nice thing about relationships though, is that through them you can began to repair those corroded edges, a process called sanctification or being made into the image of Christ. Through correct relationships I am banged and bruised and broken but I come back looking different. I remember when I broke my knee cap, darn did it hurt. But when you break your bones they grow back 110% stronger than before. This is a correct relationship, I am broken and beat but yet I am corrected and made into the image of Christ. You know the crux is though in relationship you have two sinful people, so sometimes you are broken and bruised and beat just for the sake of being broken and bruised and beat.
Of course there are great and grand moments also but it is interesting to think about these times of brokenness. Yes I am to be perfected in relationships but I am also terribly scared and stained from relationships. We are beings who were created for perfection so we will always struggle with the notion of perfection.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Start it off with a bang
This is my goal with this blog, that it would become a place where I can honestly share my opinions. I hope to be as honest as I am in my mind and to bring some good debate or thought provoking comments. I really just want a space where I can express myself, so may I use this in that way. Peace!
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