So Much School Work, So Little Motivation

Fellow Readers,

Looking back on previous posts, I will refrain from my self-made cliche of "it's been so long since my last post. How are yall?" Instead...Hey everyone! An extended length of time has passed since my previous entry of words onto this here World Wide Web.  How has my audience been? In all seriousness, it really has been an incredibly long time since my last post.  School has been in full session for a couple of months now and it is brutal.  It seems to me this year has been rough on everybody so far.  The teachers must have convened over the summer and made a pact to give many more tests and readings than before.  This is no joke people!  However, it is going pretty well until this point.  I am currently passing all of my classes, so all is good on the home front.  Speaking of the home front, my dad is now currently residing in Peoria, Arizona! He was unemployed from April 3 of this year until the middle of July.  God is the only reason we made it through that time and we are so thankful for Him and providing dad with a job.  Mother, although, is still at home in Hendersonville.  Needless-to-say she misses him.  We all miss him.  But, that is where God is using him right now and we must fully trust in His plan for our family.  I would like to thank everyone who prayed for him to find a job.  Anywho, he tries to come home once-a-month to visit with everybody, plane tickets aren't too cheap ya know.  The anecdote part is quite short today ladies and gentlemen.  Please forgive me of my lack of a whimsical tale today. I know all of yall just live to hear my stories, but I'm just really excited to get to my message!
The Message:
I am going a couple of directions with this message. First off, I've been talking with or have heard from a few people about the mistakes they have made in their pasts or what have you and how it is eating at them.  We've all made mistakes. We all will continue to make mistakes. That's who we are. Our hearts are of sin. We are sinners. But, we are forgiven. Christ died for us. We are redeemed through Him. What does this mean for us? It means that nothing we have done matters. The past is the past, and it is not held against us. If we do not let it go, or think we don't deserve Jesus or that we have to compensate for our wrongs, then what did Jesus die for? His death was enough. It was enough. To cover all of our sins, past, present, and future. There are no exceptions. His grace is enough. 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is next? Trust in Him! Give it to Him! All of it, good, bad, all to Him. Psalms 34:17-19 Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to Him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles. The Lord is close to those whose heart is breaking; He rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles - he has them, too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one. 
Secondly, we should pray that God reveals our sin to us. Pray that He would open your eyes to the darkest parts of your hearts to see how dirty we really are. Why? So that in doing so, it would truly open our eyes and hearts to see how amazing amd sustaining His grace is. How powerful it is that He would forgive us for everything we have done. He loves us no matter what. I love that song by Sidewalk Prophets, "You Love Me Anyway." Its message is so powerful, and so simple-He loves us no matter what. "I am Judas's kiss, but You love me anyway.  I am the man who yelled out from the crowd, for Your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaken ground and I turned away with a smile on my face, with this sin in my heart tried to bury your grace...but You love me anyway..." How great is that? Those are arguably the worst acts we could have done, yet He loves us still! He loves us! We need to humble ourselves, then, knowing that He will love us anyways. Far too often, I find myself thinking of just the obvious sins in my life and how much worse other people are than me. But as I have prayed that He lightens the dark of my heart so I can see how screwed up I really am, I've become so much more aware of my sins and truly have to give thanks to God for sending His son to die for us, for me, so that I can be forgiven. If I am honest with myself, I am dirty. I lie, I cheat, I'm an adulterer, I degrade women, I strive for women, I am a hypocrite, I judge others for their sins over mine, I pursue God half-heartedly at best, I talk the talk but don't walk the walk, I love to sin. I am a sinner. But, His grace is enough. I encourage everyone to search the depths of your hearts. It sucks to think of it, but then it's so rewarding and fulfilling when you then think of how great it is that we are forgiven for every bit of it and that our Father loves us anyways. He loves us so much, He sent His only son to die for us. That's a crap ton of love. I mean, that is a lot of love! So trust in Him and seek him! Thank you all for reading.
Signing off. 

"I Grew Up On VCR's. That Was My Time."

Fellow Readers,

Oh how it has been a while...Last post was in February! I cannot believe how the time has flown.  For those of you who are seasoned readers of mine, you know I like to catch you all up on anything exciting or weird that has gone on in my life since the last post.  I feel like it is safe to say that five months of catching up would just be ridiculous.  So, I will just talk a little about Father's Day and maybe a couple of big things that have happened.  Okay.  One thing I talked about last time was unsuccessfully breaking into a pool on campus after hours.  Well, we eventually did it!  It was magical.  We swam for a little bit, and even ended up with a canoe in it!  Totally worth it.  Another exciting thing to happen, is that my sister and I signed our lease on the apartment we will be living in next semester at school! I have also decided that I am switching my major from Math Teacher to either a History Teacher or a guidance counselor.  I can't decide yet. Other than that, I can't think of anything else worth mentioning that would keep you all on the edge of your seats here.  On to Father's Day.  If you are reading this and are, or have been, or are in the process of becoming a father, Happy Father's Day! I apologize for my tardiness.  Anyways, we celebrated our Pops by making him a feast of a breakfast filled with, not one, but two types of pancakes; french toast; bacon; sausage; eggs; and biscuits.  Mm mmm...it was so good.  Afterwards, we ventured into our past through home videos. This was not a planned event, nor even really related to Father's Day.  The truth is, we just recently acquired a VCR/DVD/Recorder/Copier machine from a grand of a yard sale.  After about a decade since our last one, we were extremely excited to be able to watch any of our plentiful, and dusty, VHS's-including home videos.   The adventure started two nights ago in the middle of the night with my sisters and me.  We were so pumped about our freshly purchased "time machine," so we decided we should hook it up and get the movies going.  Well, like I mentioned, it has been a while... We tried, for two hours, hooking that thing up.  We googled manuals for it and everything, but we just couldn't get the picture to work.  We must have had nine different combinations of cables and hook-ups before we gave up-completely deflated.  So then came yesterday, and Father.  We grudgingly explained our failures to him and he chuckled a little bit and said, "Let me look at it."  We laughed at that.  This is a guy who never follows any instructions, thinks he can fix everything, rarely fixes anything, and who's last resort is the ever-so-popular beating method-as if hitting the contraption will fix it.  So, he messes with it, and after a few minutes, has a video running in it and a picture on the screen.  We were flabbergasted.  Astonished, we tried to figure out how on Earth he got it so quickly, after our combined efforts on a piece of technology so simple compared to what we have nowadays failed.  And his response, "I know VCR's, man.  I grew up on VCR's.  That was my time.  Ever since '82."  He was thinking one thing...."Winning!!"  We were happy for him, though, and even happier for some home movies! We went from the marriage of the parentals, all the way up til about the time we reached that age where just watching us run around the back yard is exciting and new enough to want to capture it on film.  It was awesome.  We were all such dorks back then-and still are.  It ended up being one of the best Father's Days of recent memory.

Message:
After watching those videos yesterday, it just really made me think about family and friends, and how blessed I am to have such great people in my life and to have the opportunity to spend time with them whenever I want.  Looking back at our childhood(and I had known this already), our family was not made of money.  But, our parents worked hard for everything they got and gave everything they had and then some, to lavish us with presents and make us happy.  It made me so happy to look back and really understand how willing they were to sacrifice and how much they did.  It made me proud to call them my parents-not that I wasn't proud before, it just refreshed my mind about it.  "Where are you going with this Andrew?...." My point is:  seeing how happy it made me to see how happy and willing they were to sacrifice and just give and love us, made me think about how much Jesus loves us, and how much he sacrificed for us, and how willing he was through all of it.  And it just made me even happier and more excited, and brought me to tears.  To that point, how happy does it make you to think about that?  With it just being Father's Day, think about how much you love your dad and everything he gave you and how much he has loved you.  Now how much greater is that feeling to know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us even more, and sacrifices and gives us even more?!!  I urge you to just take time and think about that and just say thanks to our Father.  Thank you for reading.  Signing off.

"Quick, Youtube How to Pick a Lock With a Bobby Pin." "Have You Seen the Ultimate Dog Teaser Video?"

Fellow readers,

Howdy! How has everyone been?  I hope everybody is doing well in school right now-if you are in school.  If you are not in school, then I also hope that your lives are going well...as well.  How am I doing?(I know you guys were dying to ask me that.) Just as I typed that, I found out that a pillow works just as well as one of those laptop desk thingies.  To answer your inquiry, I am doing very well.  Thank you for asking.  A lot has happened since we last parted.  One unusual, yet good, thing that happened-I read a book!  "Wow, that's good Andrew.  We are so proud of you for being able to read." Sadly, that is what a lot of people who know me well thought when I mentioned this to them.  I believe my mom even said, "What is that, like the first book you've ever read?"  Close! It is no surprise to those who know me, I do not like to read.  And yes, I have read more than just that one book.  However, you can probably count on one hand the books I have read for pleasure, not for school(which I never read any of those anyways...oh the joys of the American school system, that you could be saved by an easy standardized test and pass your English classes without ever reading the books mandated and stressed throughout the semester.).  But, the book is, Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working, by Craig Groeschel.  Long story short, quote-unquote, normal, in today's society is premarital sex, partying, drinking, POLO by Ralph Lauren, iPads, texting, etc., etc., etc.  The  list goes on and on and on.  But it very rarely includes: spending time with family, taking the time to study your Bible, praying, loving strangers, serving others, not being afraid to share your religion, saying, "no" to your friends when you feel like you shouldn't be doing what they want you to(could be anything, even saying no to dinner with them if you are trying to save money for stuff).  I will hold the list at that.  These things, when people see them, are weird.  Anyways, the book just talks about how we get caught "following the beaten path," rather than full-force, seeking God's face and living a life for him.  It is very well-written and funny, so I definitely encourage it.  And I mean, if I read it for fun, anyone should be able to enjoy it. Moving on.  So far this semester I have: attempted breaking and entering on campus to try to sneak into the pool after hours(probably shouldn't admit to that online, but I never actually did it so does that mean free from charges? I had accomplices!), went ghost-hunting in Monterey, TN, skipped my Friday class every Friday so far, made a putt-putt hole in my dorm room and later won the putt-putt game, stayed up countless times till at least three or four A.M. and then drug myself to class that day, got my fingers printed and a background check done-completely unrelated to the before-mentioned B&E, and that's just the beginning! For the rest of February I have Valentine's Day, two Math tests, The NEEDTOBREATHE concert, my girlfriend's play(she is a thespian), and helping lead a new campus ministry called Manna that starts up the 10th.  I'm so excited and anxious for what God has in store for me this semester and am so blessed already! So that about wraps it up for the catch-up session.  Now time for the message.
Message:
I already touched a little bit, while talking about the book, about not conforming to what is the standard in today's world.  That's what inspired the title of this blog.  We need to be the generation that cares more about our life with Christ, than what is "in."  But, that is not my message today.  My message today is just a simple one.  I was studying my Bible today and read about the crucifixion of Jesus.  This just really resonated with my this time while reading it, because of how much my relationship has grown with Him recently.  It almost brought me to tears reading it.  How they traded him for a criminal, with no reasoning other than His example made them feel bad about how they were living their lives.  How they flogged Him and mocked Him, and were just incredibly and inconceivably cruel to Him.  And He did it all for us! He endured it all for us!! So that we could be saved! So we could live a life worth living! How could you not just want to do everything you can to please someone who would do that for you?  So, if you find yourself questioning, like I have myself before, "Why should I try so hard to live a 'good' Christian life? I know I'm saved." or "I'll do that, even though I know it's wrong, and will just ask for forgiveness afterwards. We are forgiven for our sins right?"  The answer is simple: we are saved by His blood and forgiven for all our sins before we even commit them; but, why not do everything we possibly can to please someone who loves us so much?  It becomes less of a burden, or task, when we realize how much He sacrificed and how much He loves us, and it becomes more and more of us showing how much we love Him!! Thank you all for reading, and I hope this will inspire you guys to become weird!
Signing off.

A New Year, Some New Jeer!

Fellow readers,

I hope everyone had a great and safe Christmas and New Years!  It's not too late to say that is it?  We aren't all the way through January yet.  I'm going with yes.  But, oh man, how January has flown by already! How have you all been?  I had a very wonderful Christmas break filled with lots of family time, friends time, and even some time with my girlfriend.  You read that correct ladies, I am now taken-you will have to look elsewhere(I say that as if there are lots of ladies who read this blog just dying to date me....).  I kid though, but I am super pumped about it! Um, let's see here...what has happened since we last left off.  Well, in my last post, I accidentally left out a shout out to my cousin and his wife.  My cousin graduated from his basic training for the Air Force in December and now currently resides in California with his wife, going to school out there for his job in the Air Force.  We are all SUPER proud of you Adam!  I can't wait until the time arises when we can sit down and have a cigar together again.  What else?  Well, classes have now started back up.  I have three math classes this semester, one being Calculus 3 which is all online.  There was no specification that this class would be online.  Some of you all might be wondering, "Is that a bad thing?" My answer, yes.  Since we are dealing with math here, I will give you an equation which exemplifies why this is a bad thing:  lazy student who never does homework + class which is nothing but homework taken for a grade = BAD!!  The worst part of it is I have to teach it to myself by reading the textbook.  It is going to be a very tough task this semester.  Some better news:  I started a Bible study in my dorm with my RA and neighbor.  The inauguration of said Bible study was thursday night.  It consisted of my RA and myself.  Yeah, the neighbor bailed for to see a movie playing at one of the campus ministries.  We forgave him, however.  But, it was good! I am so stoked for what God has in store for us this semester and for everything He is already moving in us!
The Message:
Thursday night, at our previously mentioned Bible study, we went over 1 Corinthians 13-"Love is patient. Love is kind..."  Love. Love is a very important subject to talk about.  Jesus says we should love everyone as our brother or sister, no matter what they have done or done to us.  That is a huge thing! According to that, we must love every person who has ever wronged us, ever come in contact with us.  How many of you all struggle with this?  I know I struggle with this.  I know when I see someone who is doing bad things, or just acting immature or anything like that, my first thought is not, "I love you."  That is what is so amazing about God.  He loves us no matter what we do.  No matter what.  That is just awesome to think about.  There is nothing you can do to make God say, "That was it man, I just don't love you anymore."  Isn't that great? Does this mean you should just do whatever you want and feel right about it, because you know He loves you no matter what?  No, it does not. I was reading out of a book yesterday(yes, I was reading.  I know that is shocking to some people who know me well), called, Love Out Loud, by Joyce Meyer. It said, "God's plan is so simple...He said to receive and give love, to abide(live, dwell, and remain) in it, and make the pursuit of it your lifetime goal.  As we do this God is pleased, we have more joy than we can imagine, and we are a success because we live to help others."  As Christians, our main focus is living a life pleasing to God.  Well that right there is a good start!  He wants us to love everyone.  So, what is stopping us?  That is a question I will be trying to answer this whole semester in our Bible study.  I think everyone should stop and think about that for a second. Thanks for reading
Signing off