Fellow Readers,
Hello again. I am going to try something different with this post. Instead of my usual rambling on about pointless stuff that most of y'all probably do not care about, I am just going to start with what I am calling, "the meat" of the post. After all, the meat is what I write these things for anyhow. I just like to fluff it up with a little anecdote or whatnot. I do feel like not all of those stories are completely pointless. But, I could understand how most of you would just get tired of reading them. I mean, sometimes I just go on, and on, and on, seemingly never ending, and I am sure that leaves you screaming in your mind, "JUST GET TO THE POINT ALREADY!" And I respect that. Which is why this time, I have decided not to babble.
So, with all of that being said, here we go.
When I was talking to my girlfriend (Yes, you read that correctly. I currently just started a relationship with someone. Things are going pretty well so far. Thanks for asking.) about things we both are struggling with, the common theme that kept coming up was intentionality. What do I mean by this? Well, I think as human beings, we need to be intentional in our actions and how we treat people. Let me unpack that even further. We often times have feelings about people (i.e. what they mean to us, or how they have impacted our lives, etc.) and we never tell them those feelings. A lot of times, we think they will always be around, and then by some horrific event (usually death) they are gone and we do not get the chance to tell them what they meant to us. I think (and this definitely applies to me here) a lot of the reasons why we do not tell people those things are because of how society has molded us. Guys, we are not supposed to share feelings like or else we will come off as a "sissy" or any other slur that means we are not manly. Why?? Wouldn't you want to know if you made an impact on someone's life? Wouldn't you want to know that someone loves you? Wouldn't you want to know that all of your effort you have been putting into a relationship with someone hasn't been for not? I know I would want to know those things. So, why don't we tell people those things when we are feeling them? I love this example from the book, Tuesdays With Morrie. It is a fantastic book. If you ever get the chance to read it, I highly encourage you to. Anyway, in the book, Morrie is dying from ALS. So, he decided he wanted to have a "living funeral." What he wanted was to have a funeral while he was still alive. His reasoning was because at funerals, often times every person that speaks about the late whomever, has nothing but delightful things to say. So, he wanted to have a "funeral" for him, that he could attend so he could hear all of the good things people had to say about him. I think that is an awesome idea! We too often wait until someone dies to talk about how much they impacted our lives and how much they meant to us. How much better would things be if we lived life with this living funeral concept? What if we didn't wait until someone was out of our lives to tell them how much we enjoyed having them in our lives? I just think that would be awesome.
Another way we can be intentional in our lives is in our conversations with people, especially when we are first meeting someone. I know I get caught asking the same questions every time I meet someone new, most likely not even listening for their answers, just waiting until I can get the last question on my list out, and then somehow end the conversation. That is not right. That is not respecting that person at all, nor is it showing them love. But, I do it so frequently. Another example is if I see somebody I know somewhere, but I do not really want to talk to them, so I kind of duck-and-cover, or go out of my way to hopefully not be seen by them so I don't have to talk to them. Granted, I am not saying you have to go up to every person you see that you know and strike up a conversation with them, but don't go out of your way to avoid them. Just keep going how you are going, and if they happen to stop you and want to talk (and you have the time to talk) then talk with them. Be polite. You don't know what could be going on in their lives, or how much they just want to talk to someone. You literally could make someone's day by just talking to them. It is that simple.
Being intentional in our relationships is such an easy concept, but can be so hard to grasp. Whether it is society telling us not to, or our minds, we spend a lot of time in our relationships not being purposeful. If someone has impacted your life, tell them. Tell the people you love that you love them. Strike up a conversation with someone, and actually care about their response. Listen to them.
As always, thank you all again for reading.
Signing off.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
What Does Chevy Chase Have to Do with My Faith?
Fellow Readers,
Daylight savings time approaches! My excitement may elude some of you all, but I am stoked for more daylight. There is so much more time for activities (my little take on a well-known quote from the movie, Stepbrothers, for those of you who are fans of Will Ferrell, or John C. Riley, whatever floats your boat). I hope you all have been well (even though I have no idea who "you all" are. Nevertheless, why would I hope you all have not been doing well? I am not that self-centered, depending on who you ask I suppose, though). For all of my Tennessee Tech peeps, and any other Tennessee Board of Regents students, Spring Break is just about upon us. Who is excited for that? I know I am much looking forward to it. Anybody have any good plans? I believe I will be doing next to nothing all spring break, which compared to my semester so far...okay, that pretty much compares accordingly with the rest of my semester. I feel like I have not had a very tough workload all year (I am not trying to brag about it; it probably is more of my inability to devote really any emotional energy toward my current school work, resulting in this illusion of "no" school work. Do not fret though-especially you, mom, if you are reading-I do make sure I get my work done when it is do. I just find myself sort of coasting on through). In other news, which may be shocking to some of you (hopefully not too shocking), I have sort of, kind of, maybe have started seeing someone.*The sound of tears hitting the floor from the general female population* Let us not get ahead of ourselves, however, it has just been a couple of dates. I am enjoying it so far, though. It took a little time to dust off the good ole book of moves entitled, Andrew: Gentleman (should be called, Andrew: Full of Himself), but it is just like riding a bike-you never forget it. I am looking forward to discovering where this relationship can go.
After my previous post, 20 students, including myself, from our RUF group at Tech joined hundreds of other RUF-ers at RUF Winter Conference in Jasper, GA. It was a totally awesome weekend filled with fellowship and worship. The experience with Winter Conference, as well as within the small group I am leading, and also including just what I have experienced in my time being a part of RUF, has made me realize how important Community is (I am not referring to the NBC comedy series, Community). I have come to understand as a believer, we need community. We need a community of believers that know what struggles we face on a daily basis. We need people we can share our struggles with and can work through them together. We need a group of believers that put each other before themselves and will do anything to help each other when anyone is down. We need to love each other (for our purpose here, by "each other" I am referring to the believers we talk with and share community with, but in the grand scheme of things, we need to love EVERYONE, believer or not, we are called to love). What I have gained from my small group: I have a group of guys, struggling with the same things I am, wanting to chase after God, and just guys whose company I just enjoy. Our relationships have grown so much since starting the small group. This may be hard to understand, but having that closeness with those guys, makes it easy to confess my sins and struggles. I want them to know how I think I have failed. Why? Why would I want these guys who seemingly like me and are friends with me, to know I suck? That is the beauty of Community: knowing that each person also sucks just as much as you, makes it easier to accept your "suckage" and figure out where to go next. I recently talked with someone who told me they do not know if they know what love is, or if they do, they do not really feel it. Well, I would say that having a community of believers surrounding you and sharing with you your doubts and struggles and sins, certainly is love. Loving someone is not doing anything you can to make them happy. No, love is doing and/or giving someone what they NEED. *Example: if I liked a girl and told my friend all about her and how much I like her, then he talks to that girl and asks her about me, and she tells him that I am an idiot and she would never date me, how would my friend show love to me? What would make me happy, of course, would be for him to encourage me to continue pursuing her and never telling me what she said. What would be loving me would be him saying, "Andrew, she thinks you are stupid. You do not have a chance with her. But, hey, I love you, man." We should not lie to each other to avoid heartache, but rather, we should be there to help each other THROUGH the heartache. That is love.* For any of those reading who feel like they are alone, or feel un-loved, I encourage you to get into a church somewhere. If you already do go to church somewhere, I encourage you to get more involved: join a small group or Bible study. Get with people who know what you are going through in your daily struggle to live a faithful life. How could all of our lives not be improved if we surround ourselves with people who love us? That is all I have for now folks. Thank you for reading.
Signing off.
Daylight savings time approaches! My excitement may elude some of you all, but I am stoked for more daylight. There is so much more time for activities (my little take on a well-known quote from the movie, Stepbrothers, for those of you who are fans of Will Ferrell, or John C. Riley, whatever floats your boat). I hope you all have been well (even though I have no idea who "you all" are. Nevertheless, why would I hope you all have not been doing well? I am not that self-centered, depending on who you ask I suppose, though). For all of my Tennessee Tech peeps, and any other Tennessee Board of Regents students, Spring Break is just about upon us. Who is excited for that? I know I am much looking forward to it. Anybody have any good plans? I believe I will be doing next to nothing all spring break, which compared to my semester so far...okay, that pretty much compares accordingly with the rest of my semester. I feel like I have not had a very tough workload all year (I am not trying to brag about it; it probably is more of my inability to devote really any emotional energy toward my current school work, resulting in this illusion of "no" school work. Do not fret though-especially you, mom, if you are reading-I do make sure I get my work done when it is do. I just find myself sort of coasting on through). In other news, which may be shocking to some of you (hopefully not too shocking), I have sort of, kind of, maybe have started seeing someone.*The sound of tears hitting the floor from the general female population* Let us not get ahead of ourselves, however, it has just been a couple of dates. I am enjoying it so far, though. It took a little time to dust off the good ole book of moves entitled, Andrew: Gentleman (should be called, Andrew: Full of Himself), but it is just like riding a bike-you never forget it. I am looking forward to discovering where this relationship can go.
After my previous post, 20 students, including myself, from our RUF group at Tech joined hundreds of other RUF-ers at RUF Winter Conference in Jasper, GA. It was a totally awesome weekend filled with fellowship and worship. The experience with Winter Conference, as well as within the small group I am leading, and also including just what I have experienced in my time being a part of RUF, has made me realize how important Community is (I am not referring to the NBC comedy series, Community). I have come to understand as a believer, we need community. We need a community of believers that know what struggles we face on a daily basis. We need people we can share our struggles with and can work through them together. We need a group of believers that put each other before themselves and will do anything to help each other when anyone is down. We need to love each other (for our purpose here, by "each other" I am referring to the believers we talk with and share community with, but in the grand scheme of things, we need to love EVERYONE, believer or not, we are called to love). What I have gained from my small group: I have a group of guys, struggling with the same things I am, wanting to chase after God, and just guys whose company I just enjoy. Our relationships have grown so much since starting the small group. This may be hard to understand, but having that closeness with those guys, makes it easy to confess my sins and struggles. I want them to know how I think I have failed. Why? Why would I want these guys who seemingly like me and are friends with me, to know I suck? That is the beauty of Community: knowing that each person also sucks just as much as you, makes it easier to accept your "suckage" and figure out where to go next. I recently talked with someone who told me they do not know if they know what love is, or if they do, they do not really feel it. Well, I would say that having a community of believers surrounding you and sharing with you your doubts and struggles and sins, certainly is love. Loving someone is not doing anything you can to make them happy. No, love is doing and/or giving someone what they NEED. *Example: if I liked a girl and told my friend all about her and how much I like her, then he talks to that girl and asks her about me, and she tells him that I am an idiot and she would never date me, how would my friend show love to me? What would make me happy, of course, would be for him to encourage me to continue pursuing her and never telling me what she said. What would be loving me would be him saying, "Andrew, she thinks you are stupid. You do not have a chance with her. But, hey, I love you, man." We should not lie to each other to avoid heartache, but rather, we should be there to help each other THROUGH the heartache. That is love.* For any of those reading who feel like they are alone, or feel un-loved, I encourage you to get into a church somewhere. If you already do go to church somewhere, I encourage you to get more involved: join a small group or Bible study. Get with people who know what you are going through in your daily struggle to live a faithful life. How could all of our lives not be improved if we surround ourselves with people who love us? That is all I have for now folks. Thank you for reading.
Signing off.
Friday, February 14, 2014
"All the Single Ladies. All the Single Ladies." All the Single...Me
Fellow Readers,
Hello again. I hope all is well. I have a feeling this will be a pretty quick post. Especially because I have a class in a short while. Why do I always write after 2:00 AM? Who am I kidding, though? When has anything I have talked about ever been "quick?" Just look at the amount of rhetorical questions I pose: they could amount to at least 25% of my posts, I am sure. Anyways, I just wanted to talk about relationships and whatnot. I have recently seen numerous blog posts about marriage and such, whether it being married, getting engaged, or single and looking (probably looking harder than one should). So, why not join the exhausted list of relationship posts, right? I like to attempt to stay hip, you know. I have to try to appeal to the younger audience every-now-and-then. So let us get at it, then. Relationships. More specifically, romantic relationships.
Webster defines a relationship as the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other. For our purposes, obviously, we will use people. I have nothing against organizations. I just do not think they will tie into what we have got going on here. Webster decides to further his definition by stating a relationship is also an emotional and sexual association between two people. Okay Noah (Webster's first name, for those who do not know him personally), way to make things awkward. I for sure know that using organizations in this example would not be appropriate. We are dealing with an entirely different situation when we talk about the sexual associations between two or more organizations, which may or may not be illegal. At any rate, moving on. Let me see if I can find my point in all of this verbiage. Romantic relationships are a huge deal in our every day lives, regardless of your age (assuming you are old enough to know what romance is. I will not put an actual age on that, because it differs from person-to-person). So, let us dig deeper into those definitions. Beginning with the second (because, why not? Starting with the first thing in a series is so mainstream), relationships have a ton to do with emotions, and in today's society, sex is also big. What kind of emotions are you sharing, or would share (I would never leave out my fellow single homies), with your romantic partner? Hopefully, all of them. If you are not, I would question the validity of your relationship with that person. A relationship can never be just happy all of the time and butterflies and unicorns and what have you. It is just impossible to do. There are just going to be those days, or that one thing you disagree on, etc. Conversely, a relationship will never last if all you share are poor emotions. What would be the point? However, a relationship that shares the good and the bad, and still want nothing else in this world but you partner, that could work. (DISCLAIMER: I do not consider myself a relationship guru: this whole post is just what I personally think. Take it as you will.) I will save the sex part for later. Moving on to the first definition-a relationship is the way two people regard and behave towards each other. How do you behave towards your partner? How do you regard your partner? Do you try to control them, or do you trust them? Do you value and cherish your partner, realizing by some incredible force you have managed to find this partner, or do you halfheartedly sit back "knowing" you have your partner locked down, putting in no effort? Relationships take constant work and a constant expression of how much you care about your partner and how thankful you are for them. We are in no way owed a romantic partner, so do not act like you are done when you have yours. Never stop pursuing your partner.
Now, the moment you all have been waiting for: Sex. For most of you reading this, you know that I am a Christian. Therefore, I choose to follow what the Bible says about sex: it is a no-go outside of marriage. I do not think that is limited to Christians, nor am I condemning anyone who claims to be a Christian and has had premarital sex. That is not the point. The point is why I think we should follow that rule. There is no doubt sex is an amazing thing to be shared with your partner. The Bible, therefore God, calls us to have sex (Gen. 1:28- be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it. *rough paraphrase* Prov. 5: 18-19-Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. *Yep, the Bible indeed says that). The thing He also calls us to do, is to only have sex with our husband or wife, leaving sex outside of marriage as adulteress behavior, thus a sexual sin. That is a red flag for me when I think about sex. Do not do it outside of marriage. For those who do not claim to be Christian, and Christians as well; why should we wait until marriage to have sex? I like to believe there is a sense of pride to be had, if you can tell your new husband or wife that you waited for them; you valued them so much that you preserved yourself for them; you wanted to share the most intimate thing two people can share with only them. That is something special, and sadly all too forgotten in the world we live in today.
So, where do we go from here? For those who are currently in a romantic relationship: love your partner. Do not take them for granted. If you are a guy, act as if you are still trying to muster up that courage to ask her out; do not stop pursuing her; still try to come up with those creative dates that are going to sweep her off of her feet. Women: pursue your man. Knock him off his guard; you take him out on a date; do not stop being that girl who made him feel fuzzy on the inside. Couples: wait for each other; remain abstinent. Christian couples: center your relationship on Jesus. Dig in His word together; pray together; push each other closer to Him. If you do so, you will find that you are not perfect for your partner and they are not perfect for you, but Jesus is perfect for both of you and the perfect example of what love is.
For all my single friends, what is next? Do not get desperate. I know there is this strong desire inside of you to find a partner, trust me. But, you have to be patient. Still try (a relationship is not just going to happen out of no where), but do not force yourself to like someone just because you think they may like you. Take the time to get to know other people. Christian single peeps: take this time to build your relationship with Jesus. Dig in His word; pray; pursue the Lord. Plan those cheesy, creative dates with the Big Guy upstairs. FYI: no one will love you more, so why not spend time with that relationship? Prepare your heart for your future partner. Remain abstinent.
If you have stuck with me 'til now, thank you for reading. I told ya I was kidding myself when I thought this could be quick. Again, I will say I am no expert in relationships. I hope this post will challenge you to evaluate how you are working in your relationships. I hope this post can help you grow. I apologize if I offended anyone. I know sex can be a very touchy, tabooish topic. If you did feel convicted by some of this stuff, I encourage you to not run away from it, but to flat out throw it out into the open. Face it. Pray about it. Feel free to contact me about anything. I am not without sin. Let's share our struggles people! Also, feel free to challenge anything I put in here. I would love to hear people's opinions on this stuff.
Thanks for reading.
Signing off.
Hello again. I hope all is well. I have a feeling this will be a pretty quick post. Especially because I have a class in a short while. Why do I always write after 2:00 AM? Who am I kidding, though? When has anything I have talked about ever been "quick?" Just look at the amount of rhetorical questions I pose: they could amount to at least 25% of my posts, I am sure. Anyways, I just wanted to talk about relationships and whatnot. I have recently seen numerous blog posts about marriage and such, whether it being married, getting engaged, or single and looking (probably looking harder than one should). So, why not join the exhausted list of relationship posts, right? I like to attempt to stay hip, you know. I have to try to appeal to the younger audience every-now-and-then. So let us get at it, then. Relationships. More specifically, romantic relationships.
Webster defines a relationship as the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other. For our purposes, obviously, we will use people. I have nothing against organizations. I just do not think they will tie into what we have got going on here. Webster decides to further his definition by stating a relationship is also an emotional and sexual association between two people. Okay Noah (Webster's first name, for those who do not know him personally), way to make things awkward. I for sure know that using organizations in this example would not be appropriate. We are dealing with an entirely different situation when we talk about the sexual associations between two or more organizations, which may or may not be illegal. At any rate, moving on. Let me see if I can find my point in all of this verbiage. Romantic relationships are a huge deal in our every day lives, regardless of your age (assuming you are old enough to know what romance is. I will not put an actual age on that, because it differs from person-to-person). So, let us dig deeper into those definitions. Beginning with the second (because, why not? Starting with the first thing in a series is so mainstream), relationships have a ton to do with emotions, and in today's society, sex is also big. What kind of emotions are you sharing, or would share (I would never leave out my fellow single homies), with your romantic partner? Hopefully, all of them. If you are not, I would question the validity of your relationship with that person. A relationship can never be just happy all of the time and butterflies and unicorns and what have you. It is just impossible to do. There are just going to be those days, or that one thing you disagree on, etc. Conversely, a relationship will never last if all you share are poor emotions. What would be the point? However, a relationship that shares the good and the bad, and still want nothing else in this world but you partner, that could work. (DISCLAIMER: I do not consider myself a relationship guru: this whole post is just what I personally think. Take it as you will.) I will save the sex part for later. Moving on to the first definition-a relationship is the way two people regard and behave towards each other. How do you behave towards your partner? How do you regard your partner? Do you try to control them, or do you trust them? Do you value and cherish your partner, realizing by some incredible force you have managed to find this partner, or do you halfheartedly sit back "knowing" you have your partner locked down, putting in no effort? Relationships take constant work and a constant expression of how much you care about your partner and how thankful you are for them. We are in no way owed a romantic partner, so do not act like you are done when you have yours. Never stop pursuing your partner.
Now, the moment you all have been waiting for: Sex. For most of you reading this, you know that I am a Christian. Therefore, I choose to follow what the Bible says about sex: it is a no-go outside of marriage. I do not think that is limited to Christians, nor am I condemning anyone who claims to be a Christian and has had premarital sex. That is not the point. The point is why I think we should follow that rule. There is no doubt sex is an amazing thing to be shared with your partner. The Bible, therefore God, calls us to have sex (Gen. 1:28- be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it. *rough paraphrase* Prov. 5: 18-19-Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. *Yep, the Bible indeed says that). The thing He also calls us to do, is to only have sex with our husband or wife, leaving sex outside of marriage as adulteress behavior, thus a sexual sin. That is a red flag for me when I think about sex. Do not do it outside of marriage. For those who do not claim to be Christian, and Christians as well; why should we wait until marriage to have sex? I like to believe there is a sense of pride to be had, if you can tell your new husband or wife that you waited for them; you valued them so much that you preserved yourself for them; you wanted to share the most intimate thing two people can share with only them. That is something special, and sadly all too forgotten in the world we live in today.
So, where do we go from here? For those who are currently in a romantic relationship: love your partner. Do not take them for granted. If you are a guy, act as if you are still trying to muster up that courage to ask her out; do not stop pursuing her; still try to come up with those creative dates that are going to sweep her off of her feet. Women: pursue your man. Knock him off his guard; you take him out on a date; do not stop being that girl who made him feel fuzzy on the inside. Couples: wait for each other; remain abstinent. Christian couples: center your relationship on Jesus. Dig in His word together; pray together; push each other closer to Him. If you do so, you will find that you are not perfect for your partner and they are not perfect for you, but Jesus is perfect for both of you and the perfect example of what love is.
For all my single friends, what is next? Do not get desperate. I know there is this strong desire inside of you to find a partner, trust me. But, you have to be patient. Still try (a relationship is not just going to happen out of no where), but do not force yourself to like someone just because you think they may like you. Take the time to get to know other people. Christian single peeps: take this time to build your relationship with Jesus. Dig in His word; pray; pursue the Lord. Plan those cheesy, creative dates with the Big Guy upstairs. FYI: no one will love you more, so why not spend time with that relationship? Prepare your heart for your future partner. Remain abstinent.
If you have stuck with me 'til now, thank you for reading. I told ya I was kidding myself when I thought this could be quick. Again, I will say I am no expert in relationships. I hope this post will challenge you to evaluate how you are working in your relationships. I hope this post can help you grow. I apologize if I offended anyone. I know sex can be a very touchy, tabooish topic. If you did feel convicted by some of this stuff, I encourage you to not run away from it, but to flat out throw it out into the open. Face it. Pray about it. Feel free to contact me about anything. I am not without sin. Let's share our struggles people! Also, feel free to challenge anything I put in here. I would love to hear people's opinions on this stuff.
Thanks for reading.
Signing off.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
"Honesty Hour" Revisited
Fellow Readers,
Hello again. I hope everyone is doing well. For most of you (assuming most of you are college students, no reason, just assuming), school has started back and is running strong. It is about that time for tests to start rolling in. For that, I say, "Good luck." I also say, "Thank you," because you have taken the time away from your studies to take a little glance at my blog here. Thank you, as well, to everyone else who is taking the time to detach from your busy day to read my post. It really does mean a lot for all of you guys to support me like that. So, thanks again alls yous guys (my feeble attempt at some obscure, northernish accent, maybe that of a Michagonian? I doubt that is what they call themselves...). For any of you who care-also, any of you who do not care, because let's face the facts here: my blog, you are reading it, you must read what I put down, hence no control on your part other than not reading, please stay on board, don't leave, I will not put anything too uninteresting in here, I am really just rambling at this point to extend what I am calling, "the world's longest interjection of a sentence set off by hyphens," okay, I will continue, no more of this, I promise, at least for this sentence-so far, my semester is starting off pretty strongly. The workload in my classes is pretty minimal so far. Tonight, was the first time I have worked all semester, so I have had a lot of free time on my hands-which has its pros and cons (no further elaboration, you will just have to determine for yourself how not working can have its pros and cons). In that free time, I often go and work out with a good friend of mine. It has been good so far; we just started an actual regimen outside of just our usual cardiovascular workout. Needless to say, we are both pretty sore. But, it is going to pay off in dividends in a little while. Also, in a few hours I will be headed off to North Carolina with a few friends for a day of skiing. I know, I am up pretty late considering we are leaving Cooke-vegas at 4:45 in the A-M, but I am just not tired. It will be my first adventure at skiing, so hopefully I do not just fall all day. Wish me luck! That pretty much catches you all up on what has gone down this semester so far: just hanging out with friends, going to class (on most days...), not working too much, working out a little bit, pretty much just the usual.
Now, we shall move onto the "revisitaion" of my previous post. I last left off in a pretty darkish time. A quick synopsis: I demeaned women, lacked some spiritual food, was going through the motions, sucked. Yep, that pretty much sums that up well. "Andrew, how have you used that last post a.k.a. confession to move forward?" I am glad you asked that question. Quickly, "thank you," again, is in order for all of you who offered words of encouragement, prayers, or both, for me. It was really humbling to see others sharing in my struggles. I have to be honest, it did take a while for me to do anything with that last post. I spent the entirety of my Christmas break not changing anything in my life. It actually somewhat worsened, since I was not going to RUF anymore while we were out of school. That pretty much guaranteed I was not getting fed spiritually. However, right before school started back up, coinciding with the loads of effervescent people making New Year's Resolutions, I decided it was time to stop wallowing in my own self-pity and start to work on me. The first step-stop doing things for me. What? Working on me by not doing things for me? That was a hard concept to follow, but, it was simple: The reason I was wallowing, was because I was selfish and was tied to my own desires. The solution was to attempt to tie myself to the Lord's desires. So, I embarked on, what the Christian radio stations are calling, a New Year's Revolution. Unlike the radio stations suggest, I was not just choosing to listen to only Christian music for 30 days, but instead, recommitting myself to the Lord. My first step was to repent of my sin. The most important part of that step was to consciously accept that what Jesus did on the cross was ENOUGH. I did not have to feel terrible about all of the crap I did, because He paid the ultimate price so that I may be clean. What I have realized more recently, as recent as today actually, is when I wallow in my sin, feeling depressed, afraid to even pray because I know I have disappointed Him, I actually am saying I do not think what You did was enough, I do not trust Your grace atones. That is crazy! Why would I be hiding my face from Him, when I should be running towards Him crying out to Him to take charge in my life?! Now, I have to take the time here to add in that realization does not mean that I or anyone else should just freely sin and have no care about it, because we are covered. That is not what I am saying at all. However, we do not have to sink into a depression about it either, but repent and rejoice in the fact that His grace is strong enough to wash us clean. The second step of my revolution was to get fed. Not food fed, although that is also important, but, spiritually fed. I needed to get into His word. This took a little time to get into, but I can now say that I am striving to stay in the word and really study it, not just read it. I am currently working through Acts, 1 John, and Romans. Those all are part of various Bible studies I am participating in. Being in the word is already paying off. Through His word, He is shining His light on all the dark and filth in my heart, and I am beginning to look at everything I do differently. I am starting to realize more sin in my life and things I need to work on that I never used to think about. One important thing He is showing me is I do not just need to focus on the "Do Not's" checklist, but I also need to spend time on the "Do's" checklist. What I mean is: I do not only need to think about what I should not do or act like (i.e. sin), but I need to also focus on what He has called us to do (i.e. evangelize and just love each other). I often find myself mentally going through the "Do Not's" checklist throughout the day, but never considering that "Do's" checklist. What would our days look like when we started focusing on the do's as well? It is pretty encouraging to think about. The final step in my revolution is to become active, not just go through the motions. I need to be a seller too, not just a consumer. I often find myself riding shotgun in my spiritual life, rather than grabbing the wheel and pressing on the gas. "Andrew, please stop the metaphors and tell us what you mean." Okay, okay. Hold your horses. I will "flesh that out." (I love you Jeff.) What I am trying to say here is this: For me, I spent a lot of the last six months or so just living passively in the religious world. I went to RUF, listened to the message (sometimes), but never applied it to my life. I heard messages either through friends, various social media outlets, or Christian radio (remember, I was not reading my Bible), but I never would "pick it up, and run with it." The change has to be active. When I read His word, I need to take the time to think why He is revealing it to me at this time, and how it applies to my spiritual growth and life. If I do that, I allow His truth to change my heart and show me how to walk-the-walk. All I can do now is stick to the plan, and allow Him to overflow my heart. I have a lot of room to grow.
This post was in no way an attempt to boast. I still struggle with many of the same things I struggled with stated in my last post. Thankfully, I now know I do not have to shame myself and hide from the Lord. His grace is way more than enough, and way more than I deserve. For that, I give Him praise and just say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I hope this post can be encouraging to you all and if any of you want to talk about anything, you are always free to hit me up on that Facebook (or Twitter I suppose, it is just so hard with 140 characters, and no one ever uses DM do they? Let's be real.). Seriously though, I totally would love to talk with anyone about any of this kind of stuff, or anything else. Thank you all so much for reading.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." -1 John 2:1-2
Signing off.
Hello again. I hope everyone is doing well. For most of you (assuming most of you are college students, no reason, just assuming), school has started back and is running strong. It is about that time for tests to start rolling in. For that, I say, "Good luck." I also say, "Thank you," because you have taken the time away from your studies to take a little glance at my blog here. Thank you, as well, to everyone else who is taking the time to detach from your busy day to read my post. It really does mean a lot for all of you guys to support me like that. So, thanks again alls yous guys (my feeble attempt at some obscure, northernish accent, maybe that of a Michagonian? I doubt that is what they call themselves...). For any of you who care-also, any of you who do not care, because let's face the facts here: my blog, you are reading it, you must read what I put down, hence no control on your part other than not reading, please stay on board, don't leave, I will not put anything too uninteresting in here, I am really just rambling at this point to extend what I am calling, "the world's longest interjection of a sentence set off by hyphens," okay, I will continue, no more of this, I promise, at least for this sentence-so far, my semester is starting off pretty strongly. The workload in my classes is pretty minimal so far. Tonight, was the first time I have worked all semester, so I have had a lot of free time on my hands-which has its pros and cons (no further elaboration, you will just have to determine for yourself how not working can have its pros and cons). In that free time, I often go and work out with a good friend of mine. It has been good so far; we just started an actual regimen outside of just our usual cardiovascular workout. Needless to say, we are both pretty sore. But, it is going to pay off in dividends in a little while. Also, in a few hours I will be headed off to North Carolina with a few friends for a day of skiing. I know, I am up pretty late considering we are leaving Cooke-vegas at 4:45 in the A-M, but I am just not tired. It will be my first adventure at skiing, so hopefully I do not just fall all day. Wish me luck! That pretty much catches you all up on what has gone down this semester so far: just hanging out with friends, going to class (on most days...), not working too much, working out a little bit, pretty much just the usual.
Now, we shall move onto the "revisitaion" of my previous post. I last left off in a pretty darkish time. A quick synopsis: I demeaned women, lacked some spiritual food, was going through the motions, sucked. Yep, that pretty much sums that up well. "Andrew, how have you used that last post a.k.a. confession to move forward?" I am glad you asked that question. Quickly, "thank you," again, is in order for all of you who offered words of encouragement, prayers, or both, for me. It was really humbling to see others sharing in my struggles. I have to be honest, it did take a while for me to do anything with that last post. I spent the entirety of my Christmas break not changing anything in my life. It actually somewhat worsened, since I was not going to RUF anymore while we were out of school. That pretty much guaranteed I was not getting fed spiritually. However, right before school started back up, coinciding with the loads of effervescent people making New Year's Resolutions, I decided it was time to stop wallowing in my own self-pity and start to work on me. The first step-stop doing things for me. What? Working on me by not doing things for me? That was a hard concept to follow, but, it was simple: The reason I was wallowing, was because I was selfish and was tied to my own desires. The solution was to attempt to tie myself to the Lord's desires. So, I embarked on, what the Christian radio stations are calling, a New Year's Revolution. Unlike the radio stations suggest, I was not just choosing to listen to only Christian music for 30 days, but instead, recommitting myself to the Lord. My first step was to repent of my sin. The most important part of that step was to consciously accept that what Jesus did on the cross was ENOUGH. I did not have to feel terrible about all of the crap I did, because He paid the ultimate price so that I may be clean. What I have realized more recently, as recent as today actually, is when I wallow in my sin, feeling depressed, afraid to even pray because I know I have disappointed Him, I actually am saying I do not think what You did was enough, I do not trust Your grace atones. That is crazy! Why would I be hiding my face from Him, when I should be running towards Him crying out to Him to take charge in my life?! Now, I have to take the time here to add in that realization does not mean that I or anyone else should just freely sin and have no care about it, because we are covered. That is not what I am saying at all. However, we do not have to sink into a depression about it either, but repent and rejoice in the fact that His grace is strong enough to wash us clean. The second step of my revolution was to get fed. Not food fed, although that is also important, but, spiritually fed. I needed to get into His word. This took a little time to get into, but I can now say that I am striving to stay in the word and really study it, not just read it. I am currently working through Acts, 1 John, and Romans. Those all are part of various Bible studies I am participating in. Being in the word is already paying off. Through His word, He is shining His light on all the dark and filth in my heart, and I am beginning to look at everything I do differently. I am starting to realize more sin in my life and things I need to work on that I never used to think about. One important thing He is showing me is I do not just need to focus on the "Do Not's" checklist, but I also need to spend time on the "Do's" checklist. What I mean is: I do not only need to think about what I should not do or act like (i.e. sin), but I need to also focus on what He has called us to do (i.e. evangelize and just love each other). I often find myself mentally going through the "Do Not's" checklist throughout the day, but never considering that "Do's" checklist. What would our days look like when we started focusing on the do's as well? It is pretty encouraging to think about. The final step in my revolution is to become active, not just go through the motions. I need to be a seller too, not just a consumer. I often find myself riding shotgun in my spiritual life, rather than grabbing the wheel and pressing on the gas. "Andrew, please stop the metaphors and tell us what you mean." Okay, okay. Hold your horses. I will "flesh that out." (I love you Jeff.) What I am trying to say here is this: For me, I spent a lot of the last six months or so just living passively in the religious world. I went to RUF, listened to the message (sometimes), but never applied it to my life. I heard messages either through friends, various social media outlets, or Christian radio (remember, I was not reading my Bible), but I never would "pick it up, and run with it." The change has to be active. When I read His word, I need to take the time to think why He is revealing it to me at this time, and how it applies to my spiritual growth and life. If I do that, I allow His truth to change my heart and show me how to walk-the-walk. All I can do now is stick to the plan, and allow Him to overflow my heart. I have a lot of room to grow.
This post was in no way an attempt to boast. I still struggle with many of the same things I struggled with stated in my last post. Thankfully, I now know I do not have to shame myself and hide from the Lord. His grace is way more than enough, and way more than I deserve. For that, I give Him praise and just say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I hope this post can be encouraging to you all and if any of you want to talk about anything, you are always free to hit me up on that Facebook (or Twitter I suppose, it is just so hard with 140 characters, and no one ever uses DM do they? Let's be real.). Seriously though, I totally would love to talk with anyone about any of this kind of stuff, or anything else. Thank you all so much for reading.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." -1 John 2:1-2
Signing off.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Honesty Hour
Fellow Readers,
If this is your first time stumbling onto my little blog thingy here, then I welcome you. If this is not your first time, then welcome back. As those of you who read my last post, you will know that it has been over a year since I last banged out one of these entries. You may be thinking to yourselves (or to anyone else with you, I don not know who is around you presently, nor have the jurisdiction to disallow you to think aloud with them upon your pondering), "Why has it been so long? Why is he posting now? Why hasn't he kept up with this blog more often? Why does he think I have so many questions?" Well friends (and those of you I have never met), the answer to those questions is simple: I am not who I was back then. What? Yes, I am still Andrew, and I still have the same wonderful writing style (and the same arrogance), but something has changed: Back then, one could have met me and felt there was something different about me. One might have thought there was something there they wanted, something more in life. That something, actually someone, was Jesus. No, I have not stopped believing in Him, nor has He left me. But something has changed. If I am entirely honest with you all, as well as I myself, I find I am not pursuing Him as I should be. Well, pretty much not pursuing Him in general. Wow, that sounds crazy, but I am forced to agree with it. It is embarassing actually. For those of you who know me personally, know that I am a Christian and, in general, want to live a life according to His word. However, my life does not reflect that. I am faking out my life to resemble what living my life in accordance with Him would look like. I go to a campus ministry every week; I pray when I wake up, before I eat, before I go to bed, and whenever for whatever in between; I do not curse or cuss; I do not go party and get drunk or have sex or any of the sort; I even have been co-leading a Bible study. Some of you may think, "Gee Andrew, that sounds good to me. Maybe you are just being hard on yourself. We all go through down times in our faith, it will be okay." Well, let me digress a little bit here.
The campus ministry:
I attend Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) here at good ole Tennessee Tech every Wednesday night. I love this ministry and the impact it has had in my college career. I have met so many truly amazing people because of RUF. I can go on and on about what RUF has done for me and my experiences in it. Nevertheless, it seems like this semester I have been fronting myself with this facade of a "good" Christian. Honestly, I go there out of routine now more so than for the teaching. I go there to hang out with people before and after. I go there so people know I believe. But, for some reason I do not pay attention to the message. It is like I am out to eat, but only eat the free chips or rolls and then hit up the dessert at the end, but don't have any entree.
The praying:
It is true that I pray all of those times I mentioned previously, but often times I find them to be empty banter. What do I mean? Well, at night before I go to bed, I often find myself in this routine of a prayer that I do just because I feel like I should. It is usually a half-hearted checklist of points I need to hit in the prayer. I even just wonder off in my thoughts for minutes at a time, completely tabling my prayers for careless thought about trivial things. This all may sound extreme to be hard on myself
about this, but it's just another example of how I continually put myself first.
The extra-curriculars:
Like I said a little higher up on the page, I do not do those things that could lead to trouble. Even so, I may not physically be undressing women, but I do plenty of that with my eye-OFTEN. It is rare for a pretty girl to walk by and me not give her the "once-over." I also gander at pornography (there, I said it. I contemplated putting that in here for a while, but it is "Honesty Hour," and if I am to humble myself, I cannot leave out things just because I am afraid of what people might think.) off-and-on. What I want in life, above almost everything else, is to find my clichéd "soul mate." Yet, I cannot respect her, or women in general, to stop gazing on them inappropriately. I cannot respect them enough for that. I am sorry women, you deserve way more than that. You all are the most beautiful things God put on this earth and we men are lucky to have you here.
The Bible study:
When the semester began, our campus minister asked a few of us to lead Bible study small groups this semester. I immediately accepted and was ecstatic, because I had not been reading my Bible and thought it would force me to read it. I mean, how can you lead a Bible study and not read at least the passages you will be covering, right? Well, too often I find myself not reading until the day of, or just not reading at all. At the study, I would just sit like those who weren't leading it and leave it all to my co-leader. Nothing to harp on there.
So, the reason I have not kept up with this blog is because if I got on here to give some sort of message, I would be a hypocrite because I would not be walking the perverbial walk that coincides with that talk. My hopes, I suppose, are through this, if anyone is feeling these same sort of things can feel free to talk to me. I can obviously relate. Also, by putting this out there on the interweb, I can start making changes in my life. They always say admitting the problem is the first step. I just admitted those problems to the whole world, so maybe that will encourage me. I hope I did not offend anyone with this post or come off as trying to point a spotlight on me, or as any sort of formal invitation to a pitty party hosted by yours truly. By lighting the darkness in my heart can only reveal the true sin within, while also illuminating how much grace has truly atoned. Thank you all so much
for reading.
Signing off.
If this is your first time stumbling onto my little blog thingy here, then I welcome you. If this is not your first time, then welcome back. As those of you who read my last post, you will know that it has been over a year since I last banged out one of these entries. You may be thinking to yourselves (or to anyone else with you, I don not know who is around you presently, nor have the jurisdiction to disallow you to think aloud with them upon your pondering), "Why has it been so long? Why is he posting now? Why hasn't he kept up with this blog more often? Why does he think I have so many questions?" Well friends (and those of you I have never met), the answer to those questions is simple: I am not who I was back then. What? Yes, I am still Andrew, and I still have the same wonderful writing style (and the same arrogance), but something has changed: Back then, one could have met me and felt there was something different about me. One might have thought there was something there they wanted, something more in life. That something, actually someone, was Jesus. No, I have not stopped believing in Him, nor has He left me. But something has changed. If I am entirely honest with you all, as well as I myself, I find I am not pursuing Him as I should be. Well, pretty much not pursuing Him in general. Wow, that sounds crazy, but I am forced to agree with it. It is embarassing actually. For those of you who know me personally, know that I am a Christian and, in general, want to live a life according to His word. However, my life does not reflect that. I am faking out my life to resemble what living my life in accordance with Him would look like. I go to a campus ministry every week; I pray when I wake up, before I eat, before I go to bed, and whenever for whatever in between; I do not curse or cuss; I do not go party and get drunk or have sex or any of the sort; I even have been co-leading a Bible study. Some of you may think, "Gee Andrew, that sounds good to me. Maybe you are just being hard on yourself. We all go through down times in our faith, it will be okay." Well, let me digress a little bit here.
The campus ministry:
I attend Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) here at good ole Tennessee Tech every Wednesday night. I love this ministry and the impact it has had in my college career. I have met so many truly amazing people because of RUF. I can go on and on about what RUF has done for me and my experiences in it. Nevertheless, it seems like this semester I have been fronting myself with this facade of a "good" Christian. Honestly, I go there out of routine now more so than for the teaching. I go there to hang out with people before and after. I go there so people know I believe. But, for some reason I do not pay attention to the message. It is like I am out to eat, but only eat the free chips or rolls and then hit up the dessert at the end, but don't have any entree.
The praying:
It is true that I pray all of those times I mentioned previously, but often times I find them to be empty banter. What do I mean? Well, at night before I go to bed, I often find myself in this routine of a prayer that I do just because I feel like I should. It is usually a half-hearted checklist of points I need to hit in the prayer. I even just wonder off in my thoughts for minutes at a time, completely tabling my prayers for careless thought about trivial things. This all may sound extreme to be hard on myself
about this, but it's just another example of how I continually put myself first.
The extra-curriculars:
Like I said a little higher up on the page, I do not do those things that could lead to trouble. Even so, I may not physically be undressing women, but I do plenty of that with my eye-OFTEN. It is rare for a pretty girl to walk by and me not give her the "once-over." I also gander at pornography (there, I said it. I contemplated putting that in here for a while, but it is "Honesty Hour," and if I am to humble myself, I cannot leave out things just because I am afraid of what people might think.) off-and-on. What I want in life, above almost everything else, is to find my clichéd "soul mate." Yet, I cannot respect her, or women in general, to stop gazing on them inappropriately. I cannot respect them enough for that. I am sorry women, you deserve way more than that. You all are the most beautiful things God put on this earth and we men are lucky to have you here.
The Bible study:
When the semester began, our campus minister asked a few of us to lead Bible study small groups this semester. I immediately accepted and was ecstatic, because I had not been reading my Bible and thought it would force me to read it. I mean, how can you lead a Bible study and not read at least the passages you will be covering, right? Well, too often I find myself not reading until the day of, or just not reading at all. At the study, I would just sit like those who weren't leading it and leave it all to my co-leader. Nothing to harp on there.
So, the reason I have not kept up with this blog is because if I got on here to give some sort of message, I would be a hypocrite because I would not be walking the perverbial walk that coincides with that talk. My hopes, I suppose, are through this, if anyone is feeling these same sort of things can feel free to talk to me. I can obviously relate. Also, by putting this out there on the interweb, I can start making changes in my life. They always say admitting the problem is the first step. I just admitted those problems to the whole world, so maybe that will encourage me. I hope I did not offend anyone with this post or come off as trying to point a spotlight on me, or as any sort of formal invitation to a pitty party hosted by yours truly. By lighting the darkness in my heart can only reveal the true sin within, while also illuminating how much grace has truly atoned. Thank you all so much
for reading.
Signing off.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, June 18, 2012
"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.
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.
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