UP a devo

Here is a devotional, using the movie UP as the source material.

1. There are three human characters(Carl, Russel, and Charles) in the movie and they all share something in common, what do you think that is?

2. Yes they are all male, have all been to South America, and have all been in some form of flying machine, but the main thread that ties all these characters together is their past.

3. Tell me about their pasts

a. Carl

b. Russel

c. Charles

4. How are they letting their pasts affect their lives?

a. Carl

b. Russel

c. Charles

5. Is this healthy?

6. Ok now what about you?

7. Read Lev. 19: 27-28

8. To my understanding Cutting your hair, trimming your beard, cutting yourself, or marking yourself, are all signs of mourning. Often times over the dead. In what ways is the past like the dead?

9. Read Matt 8:21-22

10. Ok comparing the past to the dead maybe you don't consider that fair read Isa. 43:18

11. Charles never let go of his past how did that turn out for him?

12. Carl and Russel both had to release their past. When did each break free? Carl specifically had a very dramatic release of his past.

13. How did this play out in their lives?

14. How would this play out in your life?

15. Carl spent a long time living in the past, though Charles spent longer. In a sense he was living dead, and lost a big chunk of his life because of that

16. Are you missing out on your life? Read John 10:9-11

17. Final thoughts?

Follow me

We sang a song in church that spoke to me, I think was the first time I had personally sung this song, but its title is "Follow me" One of it's verses states ""I work so hard for Jesus" I often boast and say "I've sacrificed a lot of things to walk the narrow way, I gave up fame and fortune; I'm worth a lot to Thee""

Because I have sacrificed a lot. I have lost relationships with friends. I've lost relationships with girls, because I refused to compromise my values. I have had people hate me, I have hurt, I have helped those who were hurting. I have carried so many burdens, both mine and those of those around me. My shoulder has always been there for others to lean on. And I wonder when will I get my "due"? When will my life be better? When will I finally get my blessing?

And the song goes on: "And then I hear Him gently say to me, "I left the throne of glory and counted it but loss, My hands were nailed in anger up on a cruel cross.""

I hurt and life isn't fair to me, and people don't treat me as they should, and Gods own people don't treat me as they should. But he paid it all, and His own people didn't treat Him as they should.

The eyes of a chid, as seen by the eyes of an adult.

I really have no idea why I started thinking this, but for some reason I recalled how Christ's sacrifice was explained to me way back in the day. I don't recall exactly how old I was at the time, but I was young enough that my parents considered dwelling on death a touchy subject. This is how it was explained to me: It is like I had done something wrong, and was going to get my butt cracked. Then my mother would be like don't spank him, I will take his punishment.

Honestly it confused me. My mind somehow put together, I had done something wrong, and that mom was going to take the blame. As I was thinking about it, I thought how naive that explanation was, that a spanking hardly compared, but as I started to write out my thoughts I found something to cling to. My confusion as a child. My mother being spanked for me, makes no sense. Yet somehow I take Jesus's sacrifice for granted, Ive heard it a hundred times. And somewhere, in that span of time the "novelty" wore off.

Don't get me wrong I still think it was awesome, and a big deal, and it saved my butt, but I lost my confusion at it not making any sense. It is foolish and dumb, and why would anyone ever do that? (see 1 Cor 1:18-31) That is some seriously potent love. And how much more so now? Now that I have started to understand the magnitude of my transgressions.

Honestly spankings I can handle, I could be cracked all day, and I could live with it. I could be grounded, or scolded, or chastised, or put in time out, and as much as I hate everyone of those things I could deal with it. It would not be an insurmountable task. These are all debts "I" can pay. But my sins? A terribly painful death? The very depths of hell? Every single sin in the world? I can't even begin to cover the cost of my own sins, let alone the worlds. That is a very scary love, that is perfect love.

Somehow the magnitude becomes a little more "relevant" again.

Flyleaf

When I was thinking of my next possible post, I would have assumed this would be what I was going to write on. But this was impact full for me, so I'm going to brag on a band for a bit.

There is a band I listen to called Flyleaf, one of my favorite songs, is written by them it is called Cassie. You can read about how I feel about that in an earlier post. Anyway this cd was their only cd, and has been for a good 4 or more years. Needless to say I was pretty anxiously awaiting new content from them. Then they released their new cd. Now I think its important to note that Flyleaf has a huge secular following, and mostly goes unnoticed by the majority of the Christian market. Though they definitely had religious undertones.

So I listened to their new cd at work, which is where I tend to listen to most of my music, as it provides some much needed background noise, and can build me up through the day. And as I listened hearing the words a bit jarbbled and unsure of their meaning as I was hearing them for the first time, and otherwise distracted by the work I had before me. "I was like wait, they are singing about a bride, but I think they mean the church." And I thought "thats bold of them" most bands from my experience that have a mostly secular following tend to get more wishy washy, not more intense with their faith. So I went about my day not thinking that much more of it.

Then I read who they thanked in the leaflet, its just something I do. artists thank God, or Jesus giving them a brief mention, then going on to all those people they want to thank. But these dedications are soaked in sincere thanks and praise for our creator. Finally I got to reading the actual lyrics :) And I found them completely replaced with a story, a sort of war journal. And in this journal, we are told the story of to waring factions, the Passerby army and the Dread army. It is ruffly like the book Pilgrim's Progress in its symbolism, and it is by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. I would to post an exert

"Many of my soldiers don't know this, but I grew up in the Dread army and was a slave to death as a young man. The Dread army lives in the dark, so that is where I lived when I was with them. I loved the darkness because I could hide my plans there. I never realized that darkness is a deceptive enemy. Everyone in the Dread army is afraid of silence, so they fill every moment with empty, idle words. They all lie, so you can never truly know the genuine identity of a Dread army soldier. One night I was spying on Passerby territory when I was captured and brought before the King of the Passerby army At the foot of His throne, where I laid trembling on the ground, was the most brilliant light I'd ever seen. There was no darkness to hide in, and for the first time I saw all that I really was. The silence in tis place was immense because in the light of the King, there is nothing to say... only things to realize. I had been an enemy to this powerful King all my life and if He had sentenced me to death right there it would have been right... it would have been justice. Amidst these heavy thoughts, I was startled to feel the King's hand under my chin as He leaned down and lifted my face to His own. He spoke with love I've never known before, saying "We only want voluntary allegiance in the Passerby army. If you stay here, you will be changed and it will feel like the old you has died, or... you may remain in the darkness as a slave. Ether way, I love you, my son. You are free to choose."

As I left to go back to the Dread army camp, I questioned everything I'd ever known. I realized in the face of the King's love that all my love was selfish and not really love at all. It was true that the only way for me to be changed would be for the King to kill who I had become, and raise me up to live again, making me new"

As I said the whole thing is very impactful, and the music itself is even more powerful with the story behind it. I'm sure it isn't everyones style of music, But I would encourage you to look up atleast the lyrics (I'm not sure if you can find the story bit online) The cd is called Memento Mori and it is by Flyleaf. These were defently some words that I needed to here.

Music quick

This was a quick lesson i threw together, for my young adults group. It was last minute and i realized i might have to lead the group. Its heavy on the group discussion side. and I think deffently loses something in a solo environment but here it is none the less.

1. Do you have a favorite band?

2. What about a favorite song?

3. Do you think this says anything about you?

If so then what?

4. Has a song ever made you cry?

5. Is a song more or less powerful then the sum of its word? Is there any difference at all?

6. What did Mary do, when she met Elizabeth, after conceiving Jesus?

What did the Israelites do after safely crossing the red sea?

What did David constantly do?

7. What can a song portray?

a. Joy: Luke 2:47-

b. Regret: Psalms 51

c. Pain: Psalms 22

d. Love: Song of Solomon

e. Thanksgiving: Exodus 15

8. Do you think there is any accident so many songs are included in the Bible? (even many of the books are nothing but songs)

9. Any closing thoughts.

Lust

May her breasts satisfy you always.

I imagine that sentence looks rather out of place in a Christian blog, maybe even offensive. I however find it completely legit, also its in the Bible( prov 5:19). Admittedly that not the entire verse. But It is probably one of my favorite verses, partly because most people can't believe its in the Bible. Yeah theres a bunch of other stuff in there you didn't know about ether. But more importantly because i believes that one small sentence contains a ton of information.

You might want to read Proverbs 5 to get this a little more in context.

Firstly "Always" always is a permanent word. The wife of your youth, should be the youth of your old crotchety old man hood. We shouldn't be fickle about who we marry this is a life long deal.

Secondly "Satisfy" You should be content with your wife. You should be happy she is your wife. You should take care of her.

Thirdly "Breasts" For some reason guys like breasts, I'm not going to try and explain that. If you think about it breasts are completely pointless. Yes they feed children, but as far as a husband wife relationship goes they have no purpose. That is if we are taking sex as a method to reproduce. I mean look at animals, have you ever seen a male dog staring longingly at a female dogs breasts, of a bull at a cow? No with them its just sex. And in the same way you wouldn't be drawn to the udders of a cow. But with us humans here is something different, something special. That thing I would say is lust.

So you might be thinking to yourself hold up, whoo lust is bad. And to that I would say no its not.

But Jesus tells us not to lust. Ok lets look at that Matt 5:27-29. Ok you were right, if we look at a woman lustfully we commit adultery with them. So in order to not be adulterous we should avoid looking at women lustfully, unless they are your wife. Wait where did I get that? Ok so if I have sex with a woman I am an adulterer, unless its my wife. I would say the same applies to lust.

And again I will go to proverbs 5 for emphasis. Breasts have no purpose in sex, so wouldn't desiring them be lust. Also we read "Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the public squares?" I read this and when i think of a well I think of deep water. Not only deep water, but this water if not drunken from is in danger of overflowing , overflowing and running out in to the street.

This is an act of love, of passion. Not some fondness we happen to just share for a human we have become a costumed to live with. This is more than procreation, of carrying on the family name. This is desire, and lust.

Civil War

Jon (the youth minister) preached today, and I liked his sermon. It made me think. He talked about how when he went on furlough, that he spent it in a historical area, so he learned about some of the stuff that went on there. Basically it was big in the civil war, I don't remember any of the actual names and such, but it was in Maryland. The south had decided that they had to stop fighting on home turf, and that if they ever wanted England or the north to take them seriously they would have to push the war onto the norther territory. So Lee wrote up his battle plans and sent them to all of his generals, all but one of these plans made it to his generals, the other one however found its way into the hands of a great strategist northern general. Now he knew exactly his enemy's battle plans.

This general was considered one of the best, if not the best at training troops, and getting them ready for war. So the south invaded Maryland, and the north was ready for them, led by one of their best generals, knowing their exact battle plans, and out numbering them 2:1, or 3:1 depending on who you ask. Obviously they were utterly crushed by the northern forces, right? thats what i should say. But they weren't. You see though the northern general knew their exact plans, he believed that the southern forces numbered in the 120 thousands. You see the south was putting all their chips on this fight, a victory wouldn't win just the battle for the north, but the entire war.

But an army who was trained by the best general, and who at many points with a small push forward would have won, yet the general was quoted as saying advancing at this time would not be prudent. He was held back by fear, as a matter of fact he had set a third of his forces to the side, and would not have them fight, because it would have been a bad idea.

In this battle someone died every 2 seconds. It is considered the single most bloody day in our nations history, and no one won. This town in Maryland that was neutral before the battle was still neutral, each side lost many men, and the south eventual retreated. The northern general declared victory, for repelling the southern advance, but when you consider he had many opportunity to win the entire war, well he didn't win anything.

This was compared to us and our spiritual battle. We read in the Bible that Isaiah asks God to open his servants eyes to see the hosts of heaven ready to fight the battle for them. And we think that is a awesome story if only it happened for us. Ignoring the fact that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The enemy army is much to large and we are to small. We know the battle plan, but we hold back because it wouldn't be prudent. We hear, to not go to bed on our anger, confess our sins etc. but we hold back, because now wouldn't be a good time. We know the out come of this war and out of fear, we stretch it on much further than it needs to go. Causing many more hurt feelings, and needless suffering. I thought I was a very impact full point. And of course with my very non linear thinking my mind put the examples into a different light.

You see I personally consider the Civil War the only war that 100% without a doubt the United States lost. Not because I think the south should have won, as you know I'm a Yankee. But because we weren't fighting an enemy we were fighting ourselves, the body of the United States as you will. And a few days ago I was reading about how the Catholic church was trying to usher the Anglican church back into its flock. And it reminded me how much time God's warriors spend fighting themselves. Much like states, the south was fighting for states rights, and how the constitution was drawn up they were absolutely right. The north was fighting to keep the states unified, and they were also absolutely right. But instead of meeting on this, they caused a rift and a huge chunk broke away.

I think in some ways we do the same thing, sometimes we are both right, we just have different ways of achieving the same goal, and instead of admitting to a difference of opinion we split apart. I of course don't think all churches and we shouldn't just except everything, but sometimes we get hung up on some dumb stuff. And wouldn't time be better spent fighting against the forces of the world then among ourselves. Instead we squabble, brother against brother, while the world watches on cheering us on as we do their job for them.

Science

So i'm a scientist, and one of my duties on the job, is to check on chemicals, and if there is a problem discard the chemical. If I don't do this there will be problems later. We have a few different containers each with a different label, in which to put problem chemicals. One of these containers is simply marked unusable. I would say 90% of the chemicals that get thrown in unusable, have the same problem, and that is little flecks of dust floating in it. Which got me to thinking about.

Matt 7:1-5

¹"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

You know, how easy is it to find the faults in others? We find this one little thing, and the same thing or something more goes completely unnoticed in our own lives. Here is a small story for example.

A short while ago I went to a concert with some friends. Two of us rode separately and arrived a bit earlier than the rest, since we purchased the tickets as a group, we had to wait outside until the rest of our party got there. So we sat around and waited. While we waited two relativity attractive girls, asked us if we had tickets, and offered to sell us some extras they had. We politely declined sense we were waiting for ours, and we went back to people watching.

If you didn't know people watching at a concert is quite fun, you see people of all shapes and sizes. Kids with crazy hair, weird trendy outfits. Nerds, preps, whatever it was all there. One group that caught our attention was two or three guys, with long hair, crazy facial hair, ink, leather chains. The whole nine yards. You could tell from looking a these guys, that they rode Harlys, and that they all worked in a shop or a tattoo parlor, because nowhere else would hire them. It was great to see them at a Christian concert because these guys obviously needed it, these were the guys who could really use church in their life.

Then as we watched one of the men said in a loud, disruptive voice. "four free tickets, come on who wants a ticket, free ticket!" And i turned to my friend and said "I love that these are the guys, Christians tend to say are unusable."

We got offered two sets of tickets that day. The first group was very outwardly appealing, and they deliberately seeked us out and offered us the tickets. While the second group was not very visually appealing, was loud, and didn't seek us out. But had I not been a Christian that day, which do you think I would have been more willing to tell me about God? Maybe someone who didn't care who I was they just had a free gift and all I had to do was say "Me, I'll take it." These men didn't need the church, the church needed them. Could it possible be that the agent that God uses to bring you closer to him is a long haired freak, with a scruffy beard?

We get so caught up in who people are and what they have done. Finding all there little specks, and we discard them as unusable. I mean who can't God use? Murders? moses-unusable. Liars? Jacob-unusable. Women who sleep around? Rahab-unusable Mary Magdalene-unusable. Guys who hate the church? Paul-unusable. Young mothers, and their bastard children? Mary-unusable Jesus-unusable.

Isaiah 53:2b-3 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

For every single person you can find me in the Bible, I can give you a perfectly good reason why they "can't" be used for the spreading of the gospel, yes even God's son.

And every time God would prove me wrong.

add nothing

A little while ago i was thinking about how Paul tells us not to add anything to the scriptures. I honestly have no idea why (i was thinking about it, not why Paul says it) The most notable probably being Rev 22:18-19 though in context I think this is just applying to the book of revelations its self, but there are other times when we are told not to add to any rules or laws.

And for some reason I thought of the book I had been reading Pride and prejudice and zombies. The basic point of this book is to take an old story and add in zombies. Now I have never read Pride and prejudice. So this book was at times a bit confusing for me. Obviously I knew anytime it spoke of unmentionables that was added and not Jane Austen's original text. But there were other slight additions, that sounded close enough, but I wasn't quite sure.

Fortunately I have seen the movie, so I sorta knew how the story went, but hey there is only so much a movie can do for a book, even if said movie is 5 hours long. This very absurd situation I found myself in, very much so brought the problem of adding to anything to light. The only version of Pride and prejudice I am familiar with includes flesh hungry monsters. Can you imagine what Something like that would do with scripture? Change a few lines add a little here, subtract a bit there. And presto the next person, having no prior knowledge of these events completely accepts everything you just showed him.

This can even flow into what we say, or how we act. Sure we arn't changing the Bible itself, but how many people do you know that don't read it, or do but only select parts over and over. I personally don't know how many times I have said something and people are shocked that the Bible says it. Or how many people because of repetition believe things like "cleanliness is next to Godliness" is in the Bible (by the way its not)

It just came acrossed as a very real warning to me.

church role

In the church we are taught that the body of Christ has many parts, and each of these parts has quite different functions. Much like our physical body, where hands feel, eyes see. Not everyone can do everything. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about this. And the point is made not all can teach, or minister to the poor or do whatever.

So if one has a role what is that role. Personally I believe there are many different roles to the body of Christ, more than we tend to talk about really. As a conversation went with some people, my parents and I. My parents had expressed the wish to be more active in helping, but sense they couldn't they did what they could which was give financially. And it was mentioned that no that is a very real need, that it was part of the body. To which I replied someone had to be the right cheek of God. I mean its sorta funny but its true.

Anyway the main reason I'm writing this is to put to pen what part of the body I feel I am. The conversation has come up before and as of late I tend to say something like agent of change, or breaker. And I haven't necessarily been able to describe it, but it sorta rung true. I believe I have finally stumbled upon a way to better describe it.

Every now and then when a shepherd is watching his flock, one of the sheep trys to run away. This is a problem, because the sheep can't take care of its self, it will get lost, hurt, or even die if left to its own devices. So the shepherd breaks its legs. He then mends the sheep's legs, and takes care of it. This may sound terrible, and I'm sure the sheep feels that it is, but it is actually for the sheep's good. While the sheep heals the Shepard takes care of it, and the sheep comes to understand that it needs the shepherd in order to survive. And when the sheep's legs are finally mended it doesn't stray again.

Favorite bands that talk to me about God

Ok last part, if you read my posts, you will know what this is.

Five Iron Frenzy: Ska band now defunct. These guys would do incredibly odd things, and sing very strange funny songs, then in the next breath. Sucker punch you with some of the deepest most thought out lyrics you can imagine. The song Dandelions is my all time favorite song, but songs like Every New Day, and Cloudy Day also top the list.

P.O.D. : For a band whose name stands for payable on death, this christian band goes largely un-noticed by the christian community in whole. Honestly these guys used to be my favorite band, I don't listen to them nearly as much as I used to, but I still have enormous respect for them. Why? well for a band who's fan base is mostly secular, they really don't tone down the message in there lyrics at all. 3-4 of their cd titles even having some pretty clear spiritual messages in them. Also this band has been to ozfest, a musical tour started by the self proclaimed "prince of darkness" couple that with their habits of telling their audience about God between songs, and you have a band that deserves some props.

Demon Hunter: A christian metal band, that currently has one of the most well recognized icons in the world of metal. First I give these guys props because they are incredibly talented. Ryan the lead singer not only screams, but can also sing, matter of fact he has a dove award, for some guest vocals he did with Jeremy Camp. As well as providing guest vocals for many other bands. he and his brother (who is also in the band) are also graphic artists providing art for many bands. Ryan is also the art director for solidstate records, and toothandnail. Also when the band relientk needed a new drummer, they snagged Ethen from Demon Hunter. All of that being said, in a style of music that is incredibly dark, and normally rages against God, sometimes even praising satan. Demon Hunter offers a much needed light. If there is one thing this band is not it is quite about their faith. From their name to the name of their latest cd "Storm The Gates Of Hell" their music is dripping with faith, hope and trust in God, to get through a very dark world.

RelientK: RelientK started as a pretty silly band, even now they have a love of puns. But this band has some very deep and heart felt lyrics. Some of the songs I had to listen to repeatedly to get some of the points like "I don't want to be who I am, I just want to be who I Am" if you don't get it read it a few times. Deathbed- a song about a life in ruin turning to God. Songs that are more song than prayer, and clever and deep lyrics. Bring me closer to God.

John Reuben: His music is classified as rap, but it is mostly acoustic, and more song like, and lyrically oriented. As opposed to strait repetition that fuels much of the rap seen. My favorite cd of his is "Boy vr Cynic" which despite Reuben's soft tone the cd is filled with quite a bit of rage. Not the hateful type, but the zealous type. And he doesn't pick sides, he tears into everyone. politicians, religion, musical artists, Hollywood, prescription drugs, even the kids buying his cds. This cd is awesome in the way it forces you to think. Theams like how God came for all of us, not just the well to do, arguing for the sake or arguing, telling people that popularity doesn't make them right etc.. And finaly the last song ending with hope. Did i mention I love this cd.

Switchfoot: I will describe this with a little story. As alot of Christian artists are going main stream, there is alot of worry about them losing their focus. Switchfoot was one of the bands I was worry about this happening to. Then I saw them in concert, I took my brother 6 to go see them in Richamond. Part way through their set it started to storm pretty bad, and they were forced to turn of their equipment for fear of lightning damage. Jon Forman then proceeded to grab an acoustic guitar and wade out into the crowd. where he proceeded to play until the storm let up. Now I couldn't hear a thing from where I was standing, this brought the band very down to earth for me. Also they played one of my favorite songs, from their older cds which lots of bands don't do "Company Car" which is about selling out.

The Almost: Araon Gillespie maybe better know as the drummer for the band "Underoath" started with many people interested in his music. However unlike most guys who decide to do side projects, "The Almost" sounds nothing like "Underoath" and as much as I like "Underoath" thats a great thing. because "The Almost" is really allowing Aaron to minister. And he does it in an incredibly humbled and broken way. Thats why I see God in his music.

David Crowder: David Crowder does not look like the type of guy who would be singing praise songs like he does. However he manages to write songs that are incredibly catching, but praise worthy. and they really hit the nail in the head. Because Jesus there will never, ever be anyone like you.

Favorite songs that talk to me about God

These are some of my personal favorite songs that talk about God. Unlike some of my other posts this is much more personal opinion than something im going to try and back up. Also the variety of the music differs greatly. If you would like to read the lyrics I will try to post links when I can. I don't want to post full lyrics because well it will take up to much room.

Ok I'm not going to try to do a count down list, so the first song that comes to my mind is definitely my favorite. Dandelions, by Five Iron Frenzy: This song speaks to me because it shows God's love for us in an incredibly rateable way, as a mothers love for her son. Personally I don't have any children so the whole parents love thing is mostly lost on me. However I can relate to bringing my mom dandelions, and seeing the look of love on her face when she received them. As I took this common invasive weed, and handed them to her how she saw a great beauty in this gift. Then we see God looking at the offering of our life's to Him. Just weeds, something that's really pretty undesirable, if you look at what the Bible says about the things we do. But then we see how much God wants that filth that is us anyway. As I said for me this analogy just works really well.

My Will Be A Dead Man, Project86: This song talks about killing our will. Like the lyrics say "I'm not talking about killing a man...There's no showdown here besides the one that's erupting inside my head" Which would bring forth the question why would you kill your will? This is something that nobody else does. Mater of fact normally they push their will to the front past everything else. And now we aren't just talking about putting our will aside but about waging a full out war and killing it.

Amazing Because It Is, The Almost: True this is just a rendition of amazing grace (which by the way is one of my favorite church songs) But what make this version stand out, and truly shine for me. Is the fact that when you hear this it sounds incredibly dirty, and broken. Which is sorta how it should sound when your singing something like "That saved a wretch like me" Those aren't strong words, they aren't proud words. They are very humble and broken, admitting how low we are, and yes how amazing it is that God saved a wretch. I had the privilege to see this preformed live, in a group of seen kids. In my own opinion a group of really messed up people, and let me tell you it was awesome.

American Dream, Casting Crowns: I think this song brings up a very real truth, that we all experience in some fashion. Some of us have been the boy in this song, some of us have been the dad, some of us have just seen this destructive cycle in another family. But really when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter one iota what we do here in the end its nothing more than sand, or trash even. Everything we work so hard for one day is just gonna get smashed by the waves. And there are other things like family, and God that are so much more important.

It's a Wonderful Concept Isn't It, Staple: Ok this isn't even a regular song, its the hidden track on one of their albums. This song is lust being called love, and in a culture where this is more and more what relationships look like. The band with lines like "love brought us together, so sex could spend the night" aren't beating around the bush.

Cassie, Flyleaf: This song is about the columbine. As the story goes one of the shooters asked a girl if she believed in God, and if she responded yes he would shoot her. The girl responded yes, and he shot her. I did some reading up on this song a while back, and apparently theres quite a bit of doubt as to if this conversation actually took place. But you know that really doesn't matter the point behind the song is still sound. Most of us go through our life's not standing up for much of anything let alone God, and we have so much less at stake. If it came down to it would you be able to say yes, and in doing so pull that trigger?

When You Were Young, The Killers: To my knowledge this bad has zero religious roots, however this song speaks to me. I see a woman who is looking for the right thing in a man, then ends up throwing it away for a smooth talker who is nothing like what she was looking for, or needed. So she finally settles for a guy who doesn't look a thing like Jesus. To me this is a sorrowful song.

Deathbed, Relientk: Ok this song is a whole ten minutes long, and you know what I don't lose my focus on it one bit, normally songs that long bore me really quickly. This song is about the very rapid destruction of one mans life. From starting to smoke, to having a shotgun wedding, to his wife having an affair, a messy divorce, she takes the kids, he drinks to forget, and after all this hes dieing alone because of cancer. All of these bad decisions, all of this hopelessness. And a decision made one night changed all of that. It didn't take all of his mistakes away, he still dies, but the life he squandered away here, has no affect on the life he steps into at the end of the song.

I have other songs, but these are the big ones I can think of now. One more post and this series is finished up.

Music

This is going to be the first part of three blog posts, I will put the others up when I have time.

For anyone who knows me, you might notice my love for music. And when it comes to music I tend to be incredibly opinionated. Music seems to find a way to take any mood or any situation you might find yourself in, and put it to a beat. For me it makes situations completely relate able, and speaks to the heart. With this being mostly a spiritual thoughts blog, I'm going to be talking about Christian music. Being a Christian is a key characteristic of who I am, so its quite understandable to me why I would turn to this if I am looking for something that speaks to me.

So here we go. Christian music in my humble opinion has two different paths it can go down. Two major focuses, that come second after worshiping our savior. The first of these roles, and perhaps the one most of us tend to be more familiar with, is the strengthening of a believers faith. This music helps build up the believer and bring them into a closer relationship with God. They tend to be lighter in sound, and relatively upbeat. These songs tend to be praise, and are typically what one will hear if he should walk into a church, or turn on a Christian radio station. These songs in general have little to no appealing nature to anyone who isn't already a believer.

Which brings me to role number two. Ministering to unbelievers. This type of music can be less widely excepted by the church. Because it doesn't sound as spiritual in nature. And is generally played by bands more likely to play in a pub, or club, then to play in a church. And are more likely to have people jumping up and down, as opposed to shouting hallelujah. These bands often have songs that don't talk about God at all, but will instead talk about heart break, troubles dancing, whatever. Then have a song that has much more depth to it, if your just willing to listen. Some of these bands ministry might not even be their music, but look at the person standing behind the music. With the music just being the means to get you to do that.

Obviously there is overlap of these two paths, many band do intersect them quite often. But of the bands that label themselves Christian, I think you will find, most walk one of these two roads. Personally my musical preference tends to lean more towards bands that follow the second path. And in the two follow up posts I will shed a little more light onto that I think. One being songs that speak to me, and the next being bands. And of course I will explain why they do so.

Storm

This song is sorta Job esc but sometimes that's just how you feel

As the sky begins to cry

So do I

Here comes the storm

And I'm soaked to the bone

In my heart I know

It rains on the just and unjust alike

But in my selfishness

I see no man more juster than I

And as the sky pours

The lightning strikes

So close that it singes the skin

God don't you see the pain I'm in

Some time these grey clouds

Will have to pass

blue skis, and sunshine

just over the horiz-in

-The Insignificant Other

America the beautiful

So July 4th has come and gone. The 5th was a Sunday so the service I attend had a few "patriotic" songs. One of which was America the Beautiful. The song actually has more than one verse. And the second verse where the first verse says "God shed His grace on the" it instead says "God mend thy every flaw"

Not really going to make any comments, just some food for thought.

Withdraw

Ever since the early church, there has been a group of people, or multiple groups of people even. That decide they must remove themselves from the world around them. Nuns, monks, and we will hear of hermits that shun the world, then there are the people that arn't so withdrawn but wouldn't associate like I used to do. Normally this is done with the very best of intentions in mind. Regardless it is also most often wrong. Finding a quite place an praying, studying alone, taking a brief retreat to rejuvenate, all of these are awesome things. But I think for most of us, at some point in our life it becomes quite tempting to exclude ourselves from the world.

Now most of us wont go so far as moving out into the mountains, away from civilization, but we might fall into the same trap that I fell into. I went to a public school for my high school years, but I was very much not there. Sure I would talk to people, and I was about as social as a timid guy can be, but as soon as I left school that was it. I had zero actual ties with any of those people.

I had friends, they were all Christians, and they went to church, generally with me. But at school I had acquaintances, people I knew, but had no real relationship with. None of them where actually my friends, after all I figured why would I want friends that were headed to hell.

Unfortunately my bad, I have no idea if the people I went to school with saw our "relationship" in quite that light, but that's pretty much how i viewed it. But that's nothing like the picture I see painted in the Bible, and I'm trying to make up for how retarded I was in my zeal for keeping myself holy.

Why? Because the God I know tells me to be in the world, not of it. (On a side note I feel it is worth bringing up, that this exact phrase doesn't appear in the Bible. Yeah I was pretty surprised.) It does say this though

^{John 17:15-17}

¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

We are sorta supposed to participate in things. And the Jesus I know was constantly getting spoken down of because of his pretty constant association with sinners. Just for reference reasons here's one example that I have always liked.

Luke 7: 33-34

³³For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' ³⁴The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."

Now obviously we know Jesus was nether a glutton or a drunkard, the whole being without sin thing, but I'm pretty sure he counted those sinners as his friends. Matter of fact one of those scumbag tax collectors became one of the twelve. And I believe we are expected to act the same way. Why well because of verses like this
1 Peter 2:11-12
¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Not "if" "though" as in its going to happen, in my opinion meaning we are going to be doing things, and associating with people in ways that will open up opportunity's for people to accuse us of things.

Why did Jesus get chastised for working on the Sabbath, because He did. Why did Jesus get associated with tax collectors, sinners, and other unclean people, because He associated with them. Why did Jesus get questioned on "Lord don't you know what this woman has done?", because yes He did know what she had done but He let her touch Him anyway.

The Jesus I know tells me to be like Him. As I said before I got it wrong, I've been making steps to fix that.

Your right, I'm right

So I was reading Romans 14 the other day and here's what it said for your convince (niv)

¹Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. ²One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.³The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. ⁸If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. ¹¹It is written:

" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' " ¹²So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.¹³Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. ¹⁴As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. ¹⁵If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. ¹⁶Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
¹⁹Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
²²So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. ²³But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Now the verse I tend to see get used for this type of point tends to be 1 Corinthians 8, but I think this verse says so much more. Where as 1 Corinthians 8 talks about food sacrificed to idols, this passage talks about food in general, drink, and even theology.

Now don't get me wrong I believe in absolute right, and absolute wrong. However there are somethings where what is right for me is wrong for you, and of course vice versa. Now it says something very important mostly mostly that we shouldn't in these situations tell the others they are wrong. And if its a stumbling block for them to not do it in front of them.

Now on a few things I would consider myself to be the Christian of stronger faith. For this example I will say I think it is ok to eat pork, because I don't actually know any Christians that feel other wise. So I can happily eat my pork, but my brother who is a recent convert from Judaism thinks that this is wrong, guess what we both are right. Which is honestly the part i have the most trouble with. My tendency is to want the weaker Christian to get it through their think skull that ham is ok. And upon finding out I eat ham, his natural tendency is to convince me I'm wrong. Which of course I'm not... but nether is he, because of his conscience.

Next theology. Again I will use another example that doesn't really affect most people. I used to consider crap a bad word. If I were to say it, it would have been a profanity. My friends said it all the time and found nothing wrong, and this is what was weird, I knew at some point I probably wouldn't ether. But at the time I knew I still considered it bad, so it would be a sin to use it, even if I wanted to fit in, but i keep it to myself, and let the others be fine with it. Gradually it became ok for me to say crap. However my mother still thinks of it as a bad word, so out of respect for her I choose not to say it.

I'm sure you can think of many other example, and I know I definitely can, but I wanted to keep away from things that would target actual people I know because as the last point I want to make "²²So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God" To some extent we are to keep our dumb mouths shut. Letting my faith be mine, and letting your faith be yours, without telling each other were wrong, about the petty things. I know its something I have trouble with, maybe not actually attacking them, but wanting to.

Walt is rolling over in his grave (my oppinion of disneys newest princess)

So I went to see "up" the other day, and it was amazing, but that's beside the point. I'm actually planning to talk about the trailers. Namely the trailer for Disney's new movie that's in the works.

Yes folks it seems Disney has found it fit to grace us with another princess movie. Which basically translates into find a story that is so old, its in the public domain now, so we don't have to pay for it.

Which honestly, despite my complaints really doesn't bug me all that much. (It bugs me more that Disney pretty much passes theirs off as the original) Anyway for those of you that don't know the newest princess is going to be the princess from the frog prince story. Now I'm going to sum up the original story real quick.

There is a king and he has several daughters, the youngest of which is a spoiled rotten brat. Shes like twelve or fourteen. One day she was playing with her favorite toy a golden ball, next to a well. She tossed the ball into the air, and instead of catching it dropped it in the well. This made the princess sad. so she cried. So a frog took pity on her. and said princess if i fetch the ball for you will you keep me as your constant companion, sharing the food from your plate, the drink from your cup, and let me sleep on your pillow at night.

Well the princess agreed quickly, because she would do anything to get the ball back. So the frog fetches it for her and comes back. The princess, decides if she runs away the frog wont find her, so she dos. (I'm not even making that up) The frog thinks to himself maybe in her excitement she forgot, so he follows after. and knocks on the castle door. It is now dinner time. The princess answers and slams the door on the frogs face.

The king learns of the princesses promise and makes her honor it, so reluctantly she lets the frog in. The frog follows her to her seat, and says lift me up. the princess wont but the king makes her. then the frog asks for some food, she wont feed him but again the king makes her. Then for something to drink, same thing. Now the frog asks to go to bed, so after being made to she Carry's him off to her room, and puts him on the floor. The frog asks to be put on her pillow. The princess gets mad and throws him at the wall, and he dies. ( I'm serious) Suddenly he turns into a prince, and says thank you princess only you could break that spell. and sense she was so lovely he married her.

So yeah she has well zero redeeming quality's besides her beauty, Personally I would be "hey look at me I'm a handsome prince now, bye." But hey its a German fairy tale they don't make sense. Over time the story has changed obviously and out dropped the golden ball, and the king, and just about everything but a frog asking for a kiss. Which in our version the princess gives him.

So this is the story that Disney is choosing to do, wicked witch check she turns the prince into a frog, beautiful princess check, a victim check the prince is a frog. sounds good, except wait its not the poor little princess that's the victim. I know how about she kisses the frog and turns into a frog herself. and while were at it lets add steamboats, and make the princess African American.

Now Disney has always taken certain liberty's with the story's the adapt into their films, aka the good guys never die, talking animals you know standard Disney stuff. So whats the big deal, they changed the time period, so what really. The princess is black, so we've already had a middle eastern princess whats the big deal. Well for the most part Disney's changes haven't really changed the original story all that much, sure there are some minor tweaks, but the focus of the story is the same. This time its not, the focus of the story rest squarely on the fact she becomes a frog, which is retarded.

Ok I get sticking with the original story, I would be fine with you saying it was true loves first kiss, I would be fine with her having to fall in love with the frog over the course of the movie. But would you turn her into a frog? Now why is this a problem? Well because most people take Disney movies to be the gospel truth on how the story actually went, and Disney encourages that. So now were stuck with a stupid frog princess. ohh and probably 2 or 3 poorly made sequels, blahh.

In God I trust

In the time we live we hear alot about "removing" God from things. The whole people interpreting the separation of God and state the wrong way, like they have been doing for many years now. Things like removing the ten commandments from schools and courts. Taking "under God" out of the national anthem. Taking "In God we trust" off of our currency. And apparently even releasing a new dollar coin with out "In God we trust" emblazoned across the top. 

The blanket response from the church seems to be outrage, protests, or as I've seen many livid emails complaining and arguing for the high importance of keeping God in the center of it all. And after thinking about it, my response is something like: "meh. So what?" Now don't get me wrong, I would consider myself to be a devout Christian. And I think its a shame that less and less people are coming to a relationship with God. But when it comes down to it, I really could care less what the governments official stance on God is, because mine is so much more important. 

Matthew 22:15-22 says:

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" ¹⁸But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, ²⁰and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"²¹"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." ²²When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Basically its all Caesar's money, give him whatever he asks for. And give God what is His. I mean isn't that the issue with us? It is after all the governments money, who cares what inscription they choose to put on it. In all honestly for most of us the only information we pay any attention to on a bill is that number in the corner. "In God we trust" doesn't magically make the user of the bill a christian, in much the same way the absence of it doesn't make one a pagan.  

So my question to you would be does it say "In God I trust" on your forehead? Can people not help but seeing God when they look at you? Because unfortunately "we" no longer trust in God. And to some extent we have no control over that, but we do have control over "I".

Tattoos

This post steams from my desire to have a better answer prepared, when people ask me about my tattoo. It also steams from my annoyance in people assuming that because I'm inked, I must be stupid, have not thought it out, or am a lower class of person. 

First for the longest time I had no desire to have any ink on my body whatsoever. Then I had this design. I liked to draw it on things, and it had deep meaning to me. But I still had no desire to have it branded on to me. Over time I decided if I ever get a tattoo that would be what it would be, but I still didn't think i would ever do it. As time went on I wondered where I would have a tattoo in the off chance I ever got one. Then I decided I was going to get this tattoo, a year latter at 21 I finally did get it. This whole process took me ruffly 5-6 years

Now as a Christian, I realized this was an unacceptable practice in good chunk of the church's eyes. And as a student I recall a teacher quoting a verse telling me not to mark my body. She was at the time telling me I shouldn't write notes on my hands, and while I felt quite confident in the fact that was a mistranslation, I didn't want to anger God because I wanted some ink. 

So I meet with the preacher of my church, and the two of us looked into it. As we found the Bible does mention Tattoos exactly one time. That verse is:

Leviticus 9:28

 ²⁸ " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

Now if you take this just by itself it seems to be a pretty clear cut answer, but theres other stuff written around it. 

²⁶ " 'Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.  " 'Do not practice divination or sorcery. 

²⁷ " 'Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

 ²⁸ " 'Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

 ²⁹ " 'Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

 ³⁰ " 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

 ³¹ " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

 ³² " 'Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.

Basically its a list of old Jewish laws, written for the Jews to be followed by the Jews. You know sorta like circumcision. Don't believe me lets look at some other stuff in that list: No meat with the blood still in it, sorry to everyone who likes rare meat. don't cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. yeah pretty much every guy I know breaks that one. and rise in the presence of the aged, admittedly some people still do that but not many. 

Also from what they paired tattoos with. aka cutting yourself for the dead I personally took it to mean this was a practice to morn the dead. So I figured I was safe. So next I talked it over with my parents, who while admittedly were not thrilled with what I wanted to do, told me that it was my decision, and it wouldn't cause conflicts with my family. So I went to get my tattoo. While there I was informed people can be allergic to the ink they use but this mostly only happens with the red they use. My tattoo for those who don't know has a whole bunch of red in it. So I was highly advised to get just a small amount of red and come back latter if I was fine. Obviously I ignored them. As I said if theres a problem then God didn't want me to have the tattoo.

Now why did I get it in the first place, well a ministry tool. The Image is of a cross in a heart, with the script "how convenient that red is the color of love" What does it mean? Well the color that most of us most associate with love is red. Red roses, red hearts, etc.. I found it quite fitting that red is also the color of blood, which represents life in the Jewish world, which was what was pored out for us on Calvary to cleanse our sins. Blood, that took a whole freaking lot of love. The ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate expression of love was red.  

Ok so does it work? Well I would say yes, you see I didn't know this before, but it seems if one has a tattoo this gives you permission to run up and grab their arm and stare at it. Which I have to admit is a bit odd, but was in a sense what I wanted. You wear a christian shirt and a person will look at it, and either A.) be a christian, so think you are awesome for expressing your faith, or B.) not be a christian so immediately write you off. The conversation never started and the witness you attempted to be pretty much failed. When some one grabs my arm, because they want to see what my tattoo says. This person has just asked me, "What do you feel is so important, that you had to have it permanently attached to your body?" Then I get to tell them, and I didn't have to force the issue, I'm playing on their court so they can't get offended. Sure they might end up shrugging me off, but I got to plant a seed

poem thingy

The truth is 
I didnt know what to say
and i didnt know what to write
the words to express 
things just right. 

Ho do i make a pen
ink a feeling
to express every action
that is breath stealing

and my mind 
its become so one track
books, films, songs, and plays
all remind me of just one fact

and i took me long enough
to figure, even when i used all my might
nothing i would do
would make the words sound just right

because there are some things
words cant express
and all one can hope
is to try his best

-the insignificant other

What do I know about love?

As one gets older I suppose it becomes normal to think more on the subject of love. So I wanted to think about what I actualy knew about what people consider a very tricky subject. Well I guess the best way to know something is to experience it first hand. So I guess the question really how have I seen love. 

One of the ways love is defined is caring for someone more than yourself. I saw this type of love demonstrated by my brother. My brother is only a year and half my junior, and we grew up in a relativly poor family. This being said we had to share most things, be it hand me down clothes, toys, or that last slice of pie or cake. Now when theres only one slice of pie left and two boys that have to eat said pie, the slice must be split in half. 100% of the time your going to magicaly have a bigger "half" or atleast one that appeared bigger. 

Now to keep things fair my mom would always make sure a diffrent one of us did the choosing of their slice everytime, ore the person who cut it had to let the other brother pick first. If we wanted to keep it as honest as possible. Now when it was my turn to pick, I did what any growing boy who liked pie would do. I selected the slice that apeared bigger to me. My brother however, with rare exception, would select the smaller slice. You could even tell him that the other slice was bigger, and he would say I know. 

It wasnt like he didn't like pie, or that I was a particularly mean brother and would beat him up if he picked the better slice. He would simply pick the smaller slice because he wanted me to have the bigger one. Now his gesture wasnt all that huge and it certainly wasnt elaberate, or probly even thought out if I'm honest. But it certainly left a lasting impact. I don't recal what a single one of those treats tasted like, it was much to long ago, but I certainly remeber the love he showed me. 

Another way people describe love is unending. I learned this from my parents.  Most the time when I observe couples that have been married for many years. I see people who have grown fond of each other, they enjoy each others company, and would be lost if the oter wasnt there. But theres no spark no desire, the love is gone and in its place is a fondness that we call love. Not so with my parents.

My mother still calls my father by pet names, they will steal kisses when they think no one is watching and I hear them playfuly teasing each other in ways that are generaly reserved for young couples. The years have taught them how to be serious, but they have also learned how to laugh with and at each other, how to be silly and goofy and keep a old flame alive.

Not to say they havent had ups and downs, as their son ive seen them at all ends of the spectrum, but they work at it. And because of that I see two people that are still increadibly atracted to each other, even though they are both nearing the 50's. To some extent its sorta weird because they are you know my parents, but when it comes down to it I don't see any love life I would rather model mine off of then theirs. 

So when I think about what I know about love I can't help but feel like I know a whole lot about it.