Thanks 2/9/10

Here are five things that I thank God for today.
1. The rain, we need it and it is cool to listen to
2. The walk I got to take where God humbled me and showed me a of his glory
3. For speaking to me through his word in Philippians 3
4. For getting to go bowling with my roommates and have good conversation
5. Thank you Lord for giving me a possible job a tutoring office

Philippians 3:12

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."

I need to press on and not be discouraged. I hope that all things would become clearer as I seek God and start putting his truth in place, above all other things. I want to be a man that can take hold of the kingdom of God and seek after him with all that I am. Not that I will neglect my friends, family, work or school, but that I will be focused on patterning my life after Jesus and anyone else that are approved workmen of Christ. To God be the glory and honor and praise forever, Amen.

Thinking on Higher Thoughts

Here's a verse I memorized today:
Philippians 4:8 "Finally, my Brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy to be praised, dwell on these things."

God is showing me just how much my thought life is critical to how I act and what I desire. If I fill my mind with things that are the antithesis of what is good, then obviously I cannot expect good to result. I must stand for what is right and filter out the garbage that most media saturates my mind with. As Phil. 4:8 says I need to keep my mind on God’s word and what is worthy of praise. The one thing that has brought me much peace is that I can hand my worries over to God, which was a helpful thing one should know in keeping at peace in such a high stress and fast moving world. In order to keep my mind re-focused on God at the beginning and end of each day I want to attempt with God's help to write out a single verse from my Bible reading at the beginning of each day to meditate on and hopefully memorize. Secondly I want to look back on each day giving five points of praise and thanksgiving to God no matter how difficult the day may have been. So here I go:
1. I am thankful for God speaking to me through the book Good to Great
2. I praise and thank God for the 99/100 on my P. Chem Test
3. I thank God for Kellie with all of her love and kindness, as well as her encouragement and friendship.
4. I thank God for helping me during my Thermo Test today
5. I praise God for helping me put the finishing touches on my first music album

Fasting

Every year my church goes through a period of prayer and fasting. It usually lasts about three weeks, but it can go longer or shorter depending on the person and if they are searching for an answer that they hope to be answered before they stop fasting. Most people think of fasting and they cringe, and as a kid it was a time I did not particularly look forward to. I remember that I had no more snack time and that we wouldn't watch programs on the television for a time. I have come to learn that fasting is not merely giving up food, but it can be anything that one thinks distracts them from God and vying for their attention, which in turn affects the amount of time they spend with God. This year, for example, I am giving up two meals a day(from a typical three), soda, video games, T.V., movies, Facebook, youTube, and other distracting websites. Even though I have only been fasting a week, I can really notice a difference in my thought life and my priorities. The only things I worry about doing is spending time in God's word and doing my disciplines: such as college work, working out, devotions, and music practice. Fasting however is not a time for one to show off to everyone how devout they are or how close to God they are. Jesus instructed his disciples to be quite different. "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:16-18) Basically we should not be lording it over others that we are fasting, because it is something that is intimate between us and God. The only other person that might care to know that you are fasting is someone that is your authority, such as a father or mentor that you are under. Or in this case the whole church is fasting, so everyone expects me to fast, but it is ultimately between me and God what I fast and if I keep my promise to follow through with it. Another really good chapter to read is Isaiah 58, which a word that God brought to Israel about true fasting. in verse 6 he makes it clear what he expects, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"(Isaiah 58:6-7)God promises to bring his healing ad answer our cries for help when we do these things. Maybe instead of saving your money on meals because you aren't eating as much or not at all, give your extra food or money to the poor and hungry. Instead of spending hours in front of the T.V. screen, maybe we can be talking with our family about the grace of God and his gift of Jesus. Instead of spending hours on social network sites and reading our friends statuses and writing lol at everything, we could be checking the status of our community and meeting the needs of so many lost, naked, and hungry people. I am so convicting myself here, but I am gonna write it anyway. What if instead of spending hours worrying about our needs, we look to God as our provider, healer, and lover of who we are. I need help, I cannot make it on my own, I am desperate for more of Jesus in my life, I am in urgent care to receive the healing of my fractured heart, I thirst for the deliverance and freedom to live wholly for Him. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) He who has hears, let him hear

A Man?

What is it that makes a man a man? Is it his measure of confidence? Is it how much weight he can bench press? Maybe it is how much money he has? Could it be how many women he has slept with? Or even having a girlfriend at all? Does it coincide with how large his genitalia are? Or is it something much more than these? Perhaps a measure of a man can be found by going back to who made man in the first place. God made man in his image and man was made to be in the wild. I have been reading a book called Wild at Heart by John Eldridge. It has really changed my perspective on what men are called to be. Especially for a lot of Christian men, because to be honest it seems many of us are bored and for lack of a better word, womanish. It seems most men in the church have lost their will to fight back, to explore, to be adventurous, to stand for himself and his family, to share without fear of what others think about him. Being a man is about being able to fight for what is right, being able to live on the edge of death, being able to fight for his woman and the beauty that she has to unveil to the world. He is the rock of the family, the provider, the defender, and the adventurer. He is dangerous and that is what makes his strength so scary. That is why our culture has tried to strip men of everything that makes them men. Probably the biggest problem with men is they do not know who they are in God. They get their identity from all the things that cannot fulfill them: women, money, power, prestige, work, or just being nice. You ever met a "nice" guy that looked like he was enjoying life? They are like a neutered dog, they have no spark, no danger, no strength. What I mean by strength is being able to eat their fear for breakfast and face something new everyday with great abandon and excitement. To adventure out from their preconceived comfort zones. As Eldridge describes, the world of todays men are like lions that can be found at a zoo. They are completely lifeless and are caged up. They are stripped of everything that makes them the predator of the plains. They are in effect bored.I hope God can continue to work in me to help me regain my strength in a world that is trying to emasculate me and put me in my place. I want to be wild, to be dangerous, to be someone that can stand for what is right, when everyone else shoots me down or wants to play it safe. That is my prayer.

Solitude

Well this week is Fall Break for Georgia Tech. I go to go help out clearing some land of fallen trees this weekend. It was pretty fun and exciting. I was around a lot of people. Then when I cam back to my dorm, everyone is gone. And my phone actually died recently as well. I tried messaging a couple of my friends, but none of them responded, until finally tonight I found someone to talk to. Being alone is something that I seem to desire a lot because I usually do not get a lot of time to myself. Now that I actually have time to myself I am almost at a loss as to what to do. It is interesting how my mind automatically thinks of things I can do to distract myself. You know, watch a movie, play a video game, facebook, pandora, reading. But today when I finally realized that this was time that I could spend alone with God. It is the perfect opportunity. Here I was finding distractions, when that was all they were;distractions from God. I started praying and playing my guitar, and I just felt a warmth and peace I have not had in a while. Bible reading went great today, and I just feel altogether rejuvenated. I wish I had realized it sooner, that I had a wonderful opportunity before me. I am not sure when I will have this much time to just do whatever I want, but it is a rare occurrence. If only I had my own wilderness I could go to and spend time with God, but for now my room will do.

Friendships

Well it has been a good while since I have written, not that anyone would really care since no has actually read any of my posts, but whatever. I have been back in Georgia for a good three months now, and fairly well into my fall semester of Sophomore year at Georgia Tech. I also have gotten my very own guitar recently, as well as my share of the flu as it seems most people are getting. Some things have not changed too much and that is the dynamics of Friendships. It seems my ability to comprehend why people do certain things slips further and further away as I look at relationships that I see between people. I sometimes don't even know what I am doing half the time either though, so I guess friendships tend to just be interesting phenomena best left to observe and learn from. The Bible definitely provides some good insight into relationships. I always thought it interesting when looking at the relationship of David and Johnathan. David said of Johnathan after he had died that, "Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of a women." Keep in mind he was not saying anything sexual or referencing that friendship is greater than marital love, but here are two men of the Lord that love each other so much that they literally gave their lives for each other. Johnathan's father wanted to kill David, but Johnathan helped him escape on several occasions and even faced his father on several occasions in defense of David. When I look at my life I have to ask myself if I have someone like Johnathan in my life, cuz man they would have to be the one person that I could trust with my life to be my friend even in the worst. For myself I know who my Johnathan would be and honestly I could be content if he was my only friend. I enjoy having lots of friends, but on looking at how many "friends" I have on facebook I can't really think of anyone I talk to more regularly than this person. Having someone you can relate to and share anything with is such a blessing. Even if you had all the friends in the world with no deep fellowship with any of them, I would rather just have one good friend. For some in the Bible though God was the only friend they had. People like Jeremiah or Elijah were shunned by their people. They relied on God for everything. It was because no one around them shared the same fervor for the Lord that they stood singularly at God's side. I think having someone to share that experience of God in my life with is such a blessing and has brought me closer in my relationship with God. Which is the most important relationship of them all.