Topics

This is a list of topics I could write about Biblically

-wandering eyes
-illegal downloads
-speeding
-swearing
-watching rated movies
-the amount of “stuff” to do while dating before marriage
-patience (esp in stores)
-helping others with the door
-saying hello to people
-friendly to everyone
-going beyond yourself
-reaching for serious potential
-don’t go idle
-video games

more to come

Ps – I’m back.

Prayer in Public

Matthew 6:5-6 talks about prayer and how it should be done ONLY in private, etc. That’s great, except for the fact that people now push people down saying that public prayer, say in a church, is offensive and unbiblical. This is one of those passages where you’d think the Bible was contradicting itself while we try to line up bible culture time to this time right now today and our culture.

I don’t think the verses were to be taken quite literally. I think what the writer was saying was that our prayer time must not just be all public prayer. It’s really not for people to see us praying. Prayer is actually a conversation with God and as such, prayer is between yourself and God. It’s really nobody else’s business to know all about your relationship with God, but really only for them to look from the outside in on your heart motives and your walk with God.

The problem I’ve been having of lately is that since I’ve not been doing public prayer at all, fearing being prideful and possibly arrogant, I’ve dropped off on prayer also for personal time. My relationship with God is dwindling slowly. And as I realize this, I’ve sent word to some friends to help get me up out of this whole- that seems no way out.

Most of the time I observe things in everyday life. I observe and learn, observe and learn. Lately I’ve observed how easy it is actually to become a bible enthusiast and not to actually have a current up-to-date relationship with God. It’s really easy.

My challenge to anyone who reads this (AND TO MYSELF RIGHT NOW) is to keep a current up-to-date relationship with God and start that kindling so it turns into a fire that never stops burning. Fire is a symbol currently of the intensity of my relationship with God. It feels, currently, like a little candle. I know exactly what Jesus said “when you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains.” Right now I’d say my faith is smaller than a mustard seed and is shrinking… Time to kick up the reception between God and I.

If you currently are struggling like I am, tremendously, just start talking to God. I know it’s not easy to do… I’m finding out this very moment how I’m going to start talking to God and just what to say. Most of the time I’d say that music is a form of talking to God through thankfulness.

I’m glad to be back on wordpress. Hit me up if you wanna: facebook.com/lifeforgiven

We are crap- period

Seems lik ean awkward sentence don’t it? We are crap. We are crap. We are crap. Man, it just sounds like I’m super depressed and have no intention accept to say that the human race sucks.

But that’s not what I want to say at all.

I haven’t been on wordpress in a while. I just had decided I was going to use my xanga.com/lifeforgiven06 blog as my only blog to let people in on life. But it’s not like that with xanga. I write simple quick quirks to let people know whats going on with life, do some kind of evangelism, and leave it at that. Somedays I show my frustrations about stuff, but nothing too major I guess.

Here at wordpress I teach. Now it isn’t teaching like I teach in a classroom, but just a small blog among many other blogs. This blog I want to be geared toward evangelism, but I also want it to encourage someone when life is crappy. Hence the title of this blog.

Life does suck sometimes. Rejection sucks. Weather sometimes sucks. But what sucks the most is not having purpose. Now when things suck, I tend to turn around in the direction I’m going. I tend to bottle up inside my apt not giving anyone a glimpse of the struggles I’m going through. It’s really a deadening thing. I think the greatest thing I need to keep in mind when things suck is that God does not. In James chapter 1 and 2 it talks about trials. Ya’ll know what trials are so I don’t have to speak to you like second graders. God does not suck because he puts us through these trials to teach us to trust him more… and more… and more. Can we ever “over-trust” God? Answer: not really. As long as we’re in our human skin, we will distrust naturally more than we will trust… hence growth and trials. Because of this natural-ness in our human-ness, we will never “over-trust” God. If we think that we are starting to, we’ll automatically start “sinning” to not be? But in reality, when we start thinking we are, we are, in fact, failing at trusting God. Get it?

So back to this having purpose. I know we’ve all heard it before, but let me get real with you. Atheists need to know something: they have no hope at all. It’s depressing living off of facts which haven’t been able to be proved. When you live for your Creator, God, you live with purpose. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be become a great evangelist like Billy Graham or Mark Driscoll. If everyone were to become a great evangelist, we’d not have a proportionate body in Christ. It’d be so focused on selfish and competition. But I can say when you live for your Creator, God, you have purpose. That purpose might be something that seems boring like “worshiping God”, but I want to tell you something: it’s amazing.

Don’t try to be something or someone, period. Be a worshiper. You might be thinking: how in the heck do I be a worshiper? (more to come)

Stop!

That’s a note to myself. Let me explain.

I look at what I can’t do alot. I look at what position I’m not in. I look at what I don’t have. I look at where I need to push push push myself to be a better person.

But where am I pulling myself if I’m always pushing myself. I’m hurting myself! I’m physically whipped, mentally drained, and emotionally pulled all over the place. I try to be a better man.

I say that I will always step myself up a notch, but am I going too far? My friends and family say you have to stop being hard on yourself. I always say that being hard on myself pushes myself forward. I don’t like to stop. I don’t like to be still.

But what does God say? “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) God tells me what I should do.

Am I throwing opportunities out the window all over the place when I tell others and myself to push forward? I can actually cause some bad to come out of good.

I focus so much on the push forward that I lose sight of what I NEED to do. Simple tasks such as socializing, self preparation, school work, job necessities, and food intake become second… to last place as far as things I need to do.

What happens when I don’t do these things? Socially, I suffer insecurity because people don’t know me. I’m not on campus so nobody really knows me. Self preparing, I lack getting simple tasks done like failing to do laundry to get clean clothes. In school work, I’m always behind and always practically begging my teachers to give me lots and lots of grace toward assignments. My job has shown me tons of grace and mercy towards me. There’s been several times where I’ve been late, a couple times I didn’t even show up, and times where I’ve left without doing my job completely. Finally, my food intake suffers. I believe chores has to go along with food intake because food intake is a chore to me. I have to plan out my meals and when I’m going to eat. Should be easy right? Wrong. I forget to plan and forget to eat. I suffer from sickness all the time because I’m either not eating or I have too much sweets because sweets are easier.

So there’s my stop. That’s why I write this. I have to stop focusing on the push and actually live. I’m also discouraged in terms of getting myself in situations that cause emotional tugs and such. One way to stop that? Get busy with DOING life… not thinking or over analyzing things all the time.

So Dan, shut up, move forward doing life.

The Randition of Paul…

As I’m reading this book for my class, One Untimely Born, the author, Robert L. Cate, does an excellent job researching the life of Paul. I think God knew long before Paul was even born that Paul was gonna learn to be a Jew, Roman, and know Greek so he could speak in ways that ALL could understand. To me, that’s pretty awesome.

The life of Paul is very much not like a simple bedtime story. For those who want to read about Paul, please get this book. There are so many situations and facts and presentations just within the first couple of chapters that LOCK IN and LINK TOGETHER Paul and what he says with his letters. It’s really cool.

God made Paul smart so God could use Paul (even after Paul persecuted Christians for a living)… weird how that all works together, BUT it fits together with no jumbled up pieces.

People think the Bible is so complex. I believe the Bible, knowing and understanding the Bible, is the beginning of all knowledge. If you know the Bible, you know how to live basically. It’s the guidebook. But all too often I get people who don’t even want to look at a Bible or anything like that. They’d rather dis the Bible completely and to me, as much as that is sad, it’s their choice.

I think it’s the responsibility of the Christian man and woman to spread the Bible to people. Somehow we need to push our beliefs on people… in a way that’s respectful, humbling, but yet firm and strong in relating. It’s our job to spread this word, but how can we do that right here in this culture right now? How about we start with a prayer? Then after a prayer, start a small group. Spread it to others. They spread it to others and the hands helping for the Kingdom of God will grow and grow. We need these hands.

Humbly Annoyed

So here I am sitting on my couch. I already know the answers to questions that I ask myself and people around me. I already know how to go through the processes of friendship. I already know what it takes for commitment in friendships/relationships. I know what to do. I know how to do it. So whats the problem?

I’m talking about relationships. I have gone down the road far too long with relationship after relationship with girl after girl. I’m not saying I had a long line of girls that I’ve dated. The line is probably much shorter than many people I know. What I’m saying is that I’ve been done with that road for a while now. Yet I still continue to try and go down that road time and time again.

God has closed that road. He has put a sign on that road and said the bridge up ahead is out, you better not take this way. Why don’t I listen. I know the bridge is out. I know that way is not possible, but yet I still tried to go down that road this summer. I’ve royally screwed up in the summer. Went into something of a “relationship” with a girl from my work just to feel something, but nothing. It was that same feeling I got after trying to be with someone who I wasn’t supposed to be with. There was a lack of commitment because God hadn’t given a clear yes. Most of the times the only thing clear was the no. I just didn’t listen too well. I used people. They might not have used me, but I used them. They understand it. They have forgiven me and I try not to go down that road again.

I hang out with friends of the opposite sex only to a certain point knowing that if I continue to hang out with them that eventually I’ll find a stupid way to get around the word “friendship” to “maybe I wanna give this a shot” to “we’re just playing around” to “it’s complicated” to “ok- now we’re just using each other.” The reason it happens in that order is because of what has happened all my life. My family line is made up of people who just got together to play around and then eventually just linked together because of either circumstances or need. I’m no exception! My family line is made up of drunks, rapists, and some other stuff that I just don’t want to get into. I hate it! Can I say that? I’m not exactly proud of this name I carry. It doesn’t say “hey I’m a guy from a great family so my values/ things I were taught were awesome.”

I’m not saying my Mom didn’t do an excellent job in my family. That’s just the point. My Mom took us kids aside, got us in church, and raised us with the church. She knew our whole family line sucked. She knew what the outcome was if we continued down that road. She didn’t want it. So she tried and continues to try to keep us on the right and moving in the forward direction. So that’s where I stand. That’s where my good morals come from. That’s where “Bible College” came from. That’s where all that comes from. But there’s still some crap and it’s not my Mom’s fault. It’s just life. I do just get annoyed with it.

And that right is mine. I also believe I have somewhat of a right to be humbly annoyed. I humble myself alot. I do it to people, to myself, to the school, to my friends, to my family, to people I don’t even know at all. I do it because it works. Not only does it work, but it brings hope to my life and the lives involved. Jesus knew that very well when he humbled himself to mankind for death on a cross. Why I’m humbly annoyed is hard to explain so let me throw it out there for you.

I’m humble to my position in life, yet annoyed with things right now. I want to be humble, am humble, but yet annoyed at the same time. This doesn’t just pertain to relationships or lack of them, but to life in general. Do I have a right to say so? I have an excellent job making minimum wage and couldn’t be happier that I even have a job considering my situation. People around me get raises, but I don’t because of maybe a lack of commitment… due to medical stuff.

So that’s the answer. I’m humbly annoyed because of my medical stuff. I’m happy with it. Trust me I’m not extatic, but I’m happy that’s all it is. It could be different and thus I take pride in my condition because God has me here for a reason. I could be in a different spot. I could be dating, have a car, great grades, a better paying job, more awake to do the things I need/want to do, etc. These are all things I could be having/doing if I didn’t have my medical. What I’m saying is that I’m alright that it wasn’t so, but I’m also sad. Sadness deep inside my core is yearning to launch out one of these nights just to grieve for all the crap in life. Under the circumstances I should/could have been these things, but God changed that through a situation in life that I can never change. It was out of my control. There was no way to get around it. There is blame that’s been said, but we’re all human. I forgive the ones to blame for the situation in my life because I, too, am human and make stupid mistakes. God’s got me here, humbled, and I continue to seek him.

I wrote this note because many things are happening at Davis College this year. It’s probably the same like every year, but it just hits me harder it seems this year. People have “hooked up” and that lonliness inching aching feeling is starting to set in. People are getting those great grades and the lack of them on my part is killing me slowly. I took pride in my work and now I have nothing much to take pride in, but for whatever progress I make, I am thankful not prideful. People have those cars and I lack one that I desperately soon need for work. They don’t have a job, responsibility, or structure, but have a car. That’s annoying to me. People have money and I always need that money to humbly pay back those that have given who also are in need. Those are friends that I’m in debt to. They love me unconditionally.

I’m not asking “where’s God?” I know where Elohim is. He is right here. He is in this room. He is sitting next to me. He’s outside looking through the window. Comprehensively, he’s everywhere. God has very much control of my life and I’m not mad at him for making it the way it is. I’m humbled. I don’t want control of my life because I know the direction I’ll take it will eventually destroy everything about me and around me. I wait for him. He has said yes to Davis College, yes to working for a nice company making minimum wage, yes to having an apartment to share, yes to the food I have, yes to the friends I’m with, yes to alot of things I can never understand. I do not want to go without him because he directs my paths. He turns my roads. He builds my bridges. He sets me the direction I need to go. He gives me the freedom to choose it.

I’m humbly annoyed because I fear others have not found it. My heart with a passion goes out to them because they are the ones lost. They know destruction lies ahead, but continue to walk. Maybe they prepare the way ahead. Maybe they throw up their shields of wealth, power, love, control, strength, etc. They don’t know what will happen, but I do. They eventually fall, weak, unstable, and scared. They will be lost because their strength, their sheild, their protection wasn’t everlasting. It was only conditional. It didn’t solve their problems, but hid them from humanity. Their protection has withered away. The devil, the evil powers can attack full strength on them. They will be destroyed forever with no pass go’s, no new starts, no “please give me a chance”‘s. I see that. It says that in the Bible. Are you in for God, protector, sustainer, deliverer OR are you out for nothing but destruction and “it’s over.”

Let your yes be yes and your no be no. -Matthew 5:37

My thoughts from the Election Night ’08

Last night I was watching the elections on ABC at my apt and I was watching as the results came in. I wasn’t upset that McCain wasn’t winning even though I personally have my vote for him if it counted. I was pleased that our country was at least in agreement to disagree on things. The speech that McCain did was absolutely awesome. It was humbling. He was stepping down and he was encouraging his followers to do the same. He wouldn’t let the chant to continue on for him, but was humbling to lead his followers to follow the one the COUNTRY chose. He also took the blame for him not winning. I believe that was the right thing to do as a leader and the position he was in, although others feel it wasn’t his place to take the blame. I am actually encouraged by the humbling experience by McCain and his character. Although that man didn’t receive the presidency, we definitely need more people like him who are willing to back down when they know they aren’t the guy for the job. I believe it was also an act of God that McCain was humble. God does these particular things in life because he wants us to come to him more. Whether or not McCain didn’t get the presidency because as believers in God and his son Jesus Christ we’ve slacked off on praying, God had this happen and in the end… it’s alright. Would our prayers have changed the position of the election or not… I can’t say now, but when I get to heaven I’m sure it’ll be a question I’ll ask. And because our prayers or lack of prayers didn’t get McCain the presidency may go to show that, as Christians, we’re getting closer to the finish line. That race that Paul and the other disciples talk about in the Bible is this race we’re in right now… the goal of reaching others for Christ and finally going home to live for our true purpose. I’m humbled in that respect.

I wouldn’t say our country is going to hell or even that Obama is the anti-Christ. I would say that we’re struggling and God has answered prayers… whether it’s a yes for us or a no for us… he answered them. As Christian bro’s and sis’s we just got to keep moving forward and accept that this is whats happened. How to move forward is to allow the leadership of Obama to take presidency and us being humble to that fact and submitting to it also.

I’m not even going to get into details of how Obama could be the anti-Christ and I don’t know why I’ve told a few people how I thought he was. Obama has some pretty cool goals right now too and yes there is some crap smooshed in between them, he may just be another man willing to lead our country. Some assume he’s the anti-Christ, but what evidence do we have? The goal for world peace? A nation becoming the strongest power in the world? Or the hope that he portrays? There’s nothing as Christians we can do, but to pray for God to continue to lead us and reach out to others also. There is probably more than a slight evidence that Obama “could be” the anti-Christ… but we have no idea. We really don’t. So until then we just keep moving forward, praying, hoping, growing, and humbling ourselves to those God put above us.

As for a man with integrity, my vote with a passion goes to McCain. He’s a leader I would like to mold into more. So in ending, pray for strength, courage, power, love, intense devotion, etc because God has spoken and he has given us the freedom. We chose. We still gotta seek him especially now.

Persecution…

Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 4:05 PM

Subject: [OARBC E-Minute] Missions Under Fire

Jean Beckley, a retired Missionary with Evangelical Baptist Missions, passes this along. 

PLEASE PRAY!  This is a request for prayer for YWAM (Youth With a Mission) missionaries and their churches in Orissa, India. The request came from Mabel Hurst, an associate of HCJB Global. Please read and make this a matter of urgent prayer. Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India.  We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the  most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats  and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage…. And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media…. Let me explain…. A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and ’reconverting’ people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend.  Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up…’Kill the Christians!’ And the horror began…. In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ. Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa… they are right in the middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and ‘finish the job.’ Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road…. even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind.   Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: ‘We stay with our kids…. we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.’ More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen.  This will continue for another 10 days…. supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times. Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children.   Orissa will be saved… that is our heart’s cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission. What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa.   Blessings, Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2 MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines

What the crap is Christianity about and why is it so lame?

(Maybe lame to you, but not to me!)
I can do all things through Christ who gives me the Strength to do them. That’s all it takes to get strength to do anything. All you gotta do is believe Christ gives you that strength through trusting in him. I know what you’re thinking though… “how in the world can I trust in someone/something I can’t see.” And “what makes christianity different from a cult.” Yeah good questions. Answer to all those: FAITH. You have faith and believe in someone you can’t see, but have faith and a solid hope that it did actually happen, he did actually die on a cross.

You then have questions like “how will you know you’re a christian and how can you find out you’re truly a Christian?” That’s something I can’t explain too easily but let me throw some stuff out there. You will know you’re a christian when you feel God working in your life. Those times where you think it’s impossible to do something, and then you were able to do it. Or those times in life where something happens that beyond any doubt, it was Christ working in you. Those are the times that God is at work in your life. The time that you become a christian is when you have faith, trust, hope and understanding that God and his sending Jesus Christ to the earth to show us how to live, die for us, get us a ticket to pure joy, living the right way righteously, and giving us the capability to even be able to be in connection to God… that’s when you become a christian.

That’s all it takes. So then you ask questions like “there’s gotta be a catch right?” My answer to that is: no. No catch at all. It’s all purely simple. It’s just a matter of you actually doing it. It may cause you to think outside of your box. It may cause you to be uncomfortable, but if you wanna be in communication with your creator then there you go. That’s all it takes.

You may also have questions like “how do I pray then and who to?” My answer: pray by just talking to God. It may seem like you’re talking to nobody at all at first. That’s because you just don’t exactly believe and have faith that God and him sending his son to die is real. It’s ok. I think every single person who is a christian has gone through this. It’s normal. But here’s the point. The point is to keep praying. Keep talking to God through any kind of method you think: writing, reading, eating, thinking, talking, etc. God does listen to you. If you think he isn’t listening then tell me why you think that. It’s probably because of the stuff in your life and/or the stuff in other peoples lives… I know this too. I got friends and family who think God doesn’t listen when something goes wrong or not their way at all. All I can say is continue to pray, even if you think nobody is listening, God is listening and he will answer.

Then you ask “how will God answer?” He answers through anything happening in our lives. Look at the facts. Something goes wrong in life: cause and effect. But when you add God in the picture, it not only shows a direction in which God wants you to go, but a purpose for why you’re going in that direction. God answers through the Bible also. The Bible has tons of answers to pretty much alot of our problems. All you gotta do is open it up, pray for God to show something, anything to you, and start reading. God is the one who opens up your mind, getting you to think outside the box, outside of yourself, and into a more and more whole picture. I 100% believe that if you’re in the Bible truly reading it trying to understand it, then God is gonna open your mind to more and more stuff in the Bible that will help you figure out stuff/problems in your life. Just be in prayer/talk to God about it.

Then you’ll probably ask the questions everyone ask: why. Why does God allow bad stuff to happen to people? Why does God not just save us in the beginning of time and let us in heaven? Why is there so much work to this christianity thing?

Ok why. God allows bad stuff to happen to people to teach all kinds of things. Think of God as you think of a parent and child. God is the father and the child is us. He teaches patience, understanding, expanding the mind, trusting him more, etc. He didn’t save us in the beginning because he knew before he even created us with freedom that naturally we’d be rebellious. We wouldn’t want to be with him. We’d want to be free. And since we were just created, having minds of a baby, we weren’t smart enough to be wise about stuff in our lives, hence the reason God is the father, to teach us whats right and whats not. All wrong things do lead to destruction in the end. So my philosophy is to just stay clear of most of the crap… but sometimes that’s impossible and that’s what defines us as humans, incapable of not sinning. You see, if God allowed into heaven ahead of time, we’d rebel our way to destruction and God hates evil. He can’t stand sin. He can’t be near. Nothing that’s rebellious or destructive will ever be near him. Because he loves us so much, he disciplines us to protect us in the end from becoming crap.

There’s so much work to this christianity thing because we’re naturally sinful people who naturally habitually sin and do stupid stuff. None of us are incapable of sinning. We’re all sinful people and naturally and habitually sin and head towards destruction. The work is attempting and sometimes successfully for a little time staying away from sin. It’s never a day without sin. We work at attempting to keep away from doing crap habitually.

Then you ask a question like “can’t I just not work on it, and sin, but still believe in God and his son Jesus dying on the cross? Good question. You can try, but will be unsuccessful in the end if you’re truly a Christian believer who believes that Jesus Christ died on the cross. Those that currently are not working on it, sin, and still believe, are gonna get their whatever in heaven. What I mean by whatever is God will judge us in the end. When you die, God will judge you on everything you did in your life. He will sit you on a bench of some sort and go through your life. He will tell you where you were wrong, where you were right, where you were being carried, etc. He will then reward you for the areas you committed to living better and away from destruction. He will also do some sort of discipline in the end of what you didn’t do right. It’s sounds harsh? It’s not really that harsh because during that time you’re getting judged, you will already realize how awesome God is and his mercy on our lives.

You might say that’s crap. Or yeah right? Did you know that was our true purpose on earth to begin with? Our true purpose started where Adam and Eve were created. We were created to worship God and to enjoy him. This is best shown through him providing for us and us being thankful for that. You see, in the garden of Eden, God supplied Adam and Eve with everything they ever needed or wanted. Period. Now we have to work for everything. Sucks eh? Yeah that’s because of sin that came about during that time of Adam and Eve.

Some of you might say: “this is bullcrap.” Yeah I thought so too. But now I don’t. I used to think life was all about work. Work work work work work. I was wrong. It’s about love, relationships, family, etc. It’s about the stuff we have already. But where did all this love originate from? What is my true purpose within this love relationship settings? It’s to be thankful for what God provides already. That’s our purpose. That’s what it means to ENJOY God. How do you enjoy gifts your parents give you? You use them, etc. Same thing with God. He gave us life. We enjoy that life through thankfulness. Make sense?

So what would be your next question be? Would it be… what makes this different from a cult? A cult is believing in something that is not satisfactory eternally. Christianity, or better known as “God sending Jesus to earth to show us how to live and be in connection to God,” is different from a cult. It’s believing in something satisfactory eternally. We’re talking about finding your purpose within a world completely lost. You ever watch the matrix? You ever see that part where Neo has to choose whether or not he has to take the red pill or the blue pill? That rabbit hole they talk about in that scene is Christianity. It’s seeing battles you couldn’t see with the naked eye. Those battles, whether or not with flying ninja crap, are spiritual battles. The evil wins then destruction occurs and you don’t live. The good wins and you got hope, purpose, and a future set. You exist for more than nothing. A cult leads to destruction in the end. Christianity, if you’re a real christian, leads to eternal purpose, hope, and a future set, existing for more than nothing.

I probably lost you back somewhere along in this super long note that was supposed to be a normal blog entry, but eh it’s God working through me. My goal is to show everyone they have purpose in this world. There’s more to life than what they do now, those that don’t believe in Christ, or have backed away from believing and living for that. I hope I was able to release some questions built up about this whole christianity thing you been thinking about.

That’s why I say I struggle with things. Struggling is fighting against doing something for myself that will lead to destruction in the end. We all struggle.

Do you wanna talk about it some more or ask questions? Just comment this if you want. I’ll try to clear it up a little. Help you mull through this. The word mulling I got from a cow. A cow has three stomachs. A cow chews up this crap and it goes through the first stomach mulches up, then up to the cows mouth again for more chewing, then down to the second stomach and more mulching, and up again… in the end it’s called mulling. When we mull through a question it means to chew up the question in our heads, talk about it, then chew on it some more. Really it’s like bouncing ideas off each other. So if you wanna talk about it or ask questions comment if you wanna.

Do you want to become familiar with God and know him personally. We now know that this is only possible through God sending his son to die here on earth on a cross. Our sins, past, present, and future, all died there too. We have communication and connection to God now. Here’s what I have done that helps me know God personally:

“God, I didn’t know some of this stuff that’s written here. I know now you created me originally with a purpose of loving you through thankfulness. I know that I’m a sinner because of what happened back in Bible times with Adam and Eve. I understand a little about your son who you sent to this earth to die for my sins/problems. I know that he showed us humans how to live on this earth through his own life living here. I know that he sacrificed himself on a cross, taking our sins with him there, the sins and him both dying on the cross there just so you and I could have communication and connection. Thank you for what you’ve done. I hope that I can learn more about this. Please open up my eyes more so I can figure out why things happened the way they do. Show me purpose in my life now. Thank you again for helping me realize this stuff right here. Amen.”

Forget me not, O Lord

The phrase that must be on the tip of our prayerful tongue is this: “Forget me not, O Lord”.

Why? Let me illustrate:

The bright lights of happiness distract me from you: forget me not, O Lord

The schemes of the enemy are just around the corner: forget me not, O Lord

The sorrow of circumstances tempts me to complain: forget me not, O Lord

The pangs of guilt convince me that I cannot be forgiven: forget me not, O Lord

When my faith is strong I may presume overconfidence, when my faith is weak I may overlook Your strength: forget me not, O Lord

-unknown