Hey guys.  I hope you all are doing well.  Those of you who are done with school, I hope you are enjoying the start to your summer.  And those of you like myself who are still studying, persevere ’til the end.  It’s not too far.

I decided that I wanted to post the poetry I was assigned to write in my Intro to Creative Writing class.  We were assigned to write 3-5 poems of any kind.  Here are mine.  Enjoy!

Skorts

Janie worked as a manager-clerk

In a clothing store with a customer-quirk.

This store clothed not just humans,

But animals too,

Talk about Christmastime being a zoo.

One day, Janie,

A girl of only 14,

Saw a sight she had surely never seen.

In came a tigress, on its hind legs,

Wearing a perfume smelling of eggs.

“I’m Betty,” she announced, “Betty the Blue.”

Janie, amazed at the feline’s hair-doo,

Said, “Excuse me.  But why are you blue?”

“You see,” Betty began, “I got it dyed at the hair salon

Down on the corner of 1^st and Vaughn.”

“But I was wondering,” she continued to say,

“Do you have any skorts on sale today?”

“Skorts!?” Janie exclaimed. “Well I’ve never heard of such things!”

“Well, they’re popular in spring:  half skirt and half short,

I’m surprised you’ve never heard of the sort!

They come in all colors:  purple, white, red and green,

And my personal favorite, dark-denim-blue-jean.”

“Wow!” Janie said, “Those are unique!

I think I’ll order some later this week!

I’ll order grass skorts and jean skorts

Long skorts and short skorts,

Oh how I’ll order skorts of all sorts!”

Betty chimed in, “Order right now!  Or tomorrow the latest!

Then, in this town, your store’ll be greatest!”

So Janie did as Betty commanded.

She called the skort makers and firmly demanded,

“I want green skorts, white skorts, and skorts of all sizes!

I want skorts for any event that arises!

And so, a few days later,

Waltzing out of the elevator,

Came the deliveryman.

Janie’s skorts had finally arrived!

And ever since then, her store has thrived.

If it weren’t for that blue cat,

Who knows where Janie’s store would be at?

—————————————————————-

To Be a Disciple

Rugged was the cross on which He died,

So that we may live this glorious day

To proclaim that he’s the only way.

Loud the pleas on the cross he cried,

Many the things at his feet we lay,

“Holy, holy holy” we humbly say.

Christ leads us, in him we abide.

We follow as sheep; we do not stray,

For he paid a price we cannot pay.

—————————————————————-

Goodbye

He waves goodbye as he walks backward toward the plane.

His boots squeak, his rifle clanks.

“It’s hot over there, stay hydrated!”

“I will. I love you mom!”

“I’ll miss you baby!”

The sniper didn’t.

—————————————————————-

I’m a Writer

I write prose.

I’m not an artist.

I’m a writer.

Poetry is a painting.

I’m colorblind.

Poetry is a beautiful sketch.

I can’t draw.

My left hand smears ink or lead.

I’m a writer,

Not an artist,

Not a poet.

—————————————————————-

No Match for Death

A car passes.

There goes another.

I wonder if anyone is going to stop and help.

I am dizzy because of the heat, or maybe it’s the blood loss.

I can’t be sure.

The blood flowing out of my head cools me.
My sweat burns.

I try to pry the door open,

But I am too weak.

“I’m coming!” I scream.

She turns her head to look at me,

She is calm.

Death has arrived in this heap of metal

That was once my car.

I am no match for death.

She is no longer mine.

She is His.

————————

I hope you guys enjoyed my poems!  I will be posting a more insightful post in the next week or so, I promise.

-Chris

Howdy!  I hope everyone is doing well. It’s springtime and everything is awesome.  I write to you tonight, on Sunday, April 18th.  School is winding up so that it can wind down in about two weeks.  I am having a couple of my busiest weeks these next two weeks, but I’m ready, BRING ‘EM ON!  Five weeks until finals week.  I’m ready to duke it out with the last month of my freshman year of college.  It’s so funny how fast it’s gone.  I remember thinking last year about how I was going to think it was weird to be in college, but it has felt just as natural as any other transition in my life.  It’s another one of those things that you psych yourself up for, only to forget how big of a deal it is when you get caught up in all that goes on.  You never really have time to stop and think, “Wow, I’m in college.”  That is, you don’t really have time unless you write about it like I am currently.  I love just being able to write without really having a topic to write about.  I love conversing with WordPress as if it’s a friend I haven’t talked to in months.  I am just writing without anything in particular in mind.  I have found that whenever I actually try to think about something to write, I don’t write.  So tonight, I just decided to sit down and start typing.  I have some free time and figured, “Hey, what the heck, let’s just sit down, and write.”  I say “let’s” subconsciously because I probably have some kind of split-personality thing going on, or I may just not know how to write correctly.  Or maybe it’s a stylistic thing… I dunno.

I am excited for summer.  Yet, I am apprehensive about it all the same.  Last summer was a summer that will take a while to top, so, while this one may be bittersweet, I still want to enjoy it as much as possible.  I just wanna lay under the stars, and praise God for his creation that is so fearfully and wonderfully made, then go lay under the glow-in-the-dark stars in my room as I fall asleep.  I wanna drive through Fort Wayne with my window down blaring Hot Air Balloon as if nothing matters.  I wanna play frisbee until my feet fall off.  I wanna read books in the hot sun until I fall asleep.  I wanna sit on the front porch, eat strawberries and watermelon and enjoy the summer air, all while not caring that mosquitoes are using me as the local watering hole.  I wanna go on walks while just thinking about Christ and the love he has for me, regardless of my faults.  I am excited for summer.  Yeah, I’m excited.  Just listening to Strawberry Avalanche right now by Owl City is making me remember warm air, the smell of pizza that was constantly on my clothing, and awesome summer nights.  I want it all back… and it’s all only five-ish weeks away.  So close.

This summer, I will be working at B. Antonio’s pizza like I have the past couple of years.  In addition to that, I will be a teacher’s assistant in a summer school for about a month.  I can’t wait to work with kids all day, it’s gunna be awesome, yet extremely tiring all the same.

I have plenty of summer reading ahead of me.  I have recently completed Forgotten God by Francis Chan, and am currently working More than a Carpenter by Josh and Sean McDowell and Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper.  For this summer, I have a number of books by Pastor Mark Driscoll to read:  The Radical Reformission, Vintage Jesus, and Doctrine.  I can’t wait to get them started, sooo ready.

(Ah, Bird and the Worm… such a good one, a very summery song… For all my pals who live in the oceans and the seas… with friends like these, well, who needs enemies!?)

I think I want to show you guys an excerpt from my newest assignment in my Intro to Creative Writing class.  Here is the first page-ish.  If you wanna read the rest of it, feel free to message me on Facebook, and we can talk.

Loss

I am the most selfish, proud person I know, and you can’t take that away from me.  It’s my natural, sinful nature.  I would like to say I cannot help it, but that would be a cop-out, true as it may be.  I cannot help it, but my pursuit of Christ can.  Never can I use my inability to change my life as a legitimate reason for not changing.  Thinking I could change my life on my own would be proud, but using my depravity as an excuse is selfish.

Escaping the life-sucking tsunami of selfishness and pride that devours even the most devout is difficult.  It is nearly a Catch-22.  One who is selfish and proud does not recognize his selfishness, primarily due to his pride.  He would never recognize the problem on his own, and he is often too proud to seek wise counsel.  Not to mention that, even after being counseled by the wise, he would be too proud and selfish to acknowledge his mistake and change his ways for the sake of others.

“What is the point of worrying about something that is possibly impossible to solve?”  one may ask.  To him I would reply, “The problems that often seem the most difficult to solve are the ones that have the deepest roots in our lives, and cause the most trouble in our pursuit of Christ.”  I spend so much time trying to prevent myself from acting sinfully.  I keep cursing to a minimum, I try not to worship anyone or thing instead of God, I try to love my neighbor as myself.  But the more I keep trying, the more I keep failing.  And the more I keep failing, the more I keep shaking my fist at God for making me rely on him for my sanctification, as if I think I have the authority to make myself more holy.  I am a bad person, and my Savior is the only good thing about me.

———–

That’s the beginning of my creative non-fiction piece for my Creative Writing class.  I like it, it was good to write.  I am currently working on our next assignment, a poetry project.  We have to write about five pages of poems.  I am making progress.  It’s due in about two weeks.

DUDE!  GUESS WHAT!!! I’m playing TENNIS now!  I LOVE IT!  I used to play a super long time ago, but I just kinda stopped.  I started playing about a week ago and I realized I’m not horrible at it.  I think playing ping pong helps me out some.  I bought my own racquet and I am looking for someone to play in the summer!  Contact me on FB to play!  I really wanna play a lot this summer!  :)

I should probably bring this post to a close, as it is getting rather long.  A couple of prayer requests:  please pray that I continually look for ways to love others better.  I am not awesome at loving everyone.  So please pray that I see people as Christ sees them and that I love them accordingly.  Secondly, please pray that despite the busyness of the next two weeks, I continue to pursue Christ more than I pursue my school work.  Please let me know if there is any way I can pray for any of you.  Thanks guys.  I love you all.  And for those of you at home, see you in a few weeks.  I miss you guys.

-Chris

Hey guys.  This is a fictional story I wrote for my Intro. to Creative Writing class.  It is titled, “Peanut Butter Sandwiches.”  I hope everyone is well.  Enjoy the story!

-Chris

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Week 1- Monday, April 5

“Did your mom finally tell you?”  Josh asked.

“Yeah, she did,” Timmy answered.

“Mine too, she said it’s some kind of,” he paused, sighing, “growth on his brain.” Josh’s mouth dried up as he uttered the diagnosis.  They found it about five weeks ago when he went to the doctor for a really bad headache.”

“Yep…” replied Timmy.  “It’s some kinda thing that ended in –oma.”

Josh continued talking in a hushed tone.  “Do ya think…” he began, “he’ll get to miss school?”

“Probably.  It’s not like the sniffles or a tummy ache, it doesn’t just go away.”

“I know,” whispered Josh, “but he was supposed to win the science fair this year.”

“I’m not sure he’s gonna have much time to do all of the work for it,” Timmy sighed, “unless the doctors in the hospital can help him out.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“People would probably call him a cheater if he did that though.”

“Probably, but he never cheats.  He’s too smart to have to cheat off of anybody.”

“Yeah, he’s never cheated on his homework.”

“Ya know, I never thought about it, but maybe that growth on his brain is what makes him so smart,” Josh said.

“Probably not,” Timmy said.  “I dunno how something could make you smart and make you sick at the same time.”

“That’s true, but ya never know.”

“Ya, I dunno, you might be right.”

“You don’t think he’ll get held back, do ya?  He has missed five weeks of school already.”

“I sure hope not, I can’t imagine going to middle school without him.”

“Me neither.”

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll get held back though, he’s smart enough to make up his work.”

“Yeah…  Ew, my peanut butter sandwich is kinda soggy today, the rain got my bag all wet,” Josh said.

“Mine too.  Too bad he’s sick, I’m sure he would let us share with him.”

“Yeah, and his mom makes the best peanut butter sandwiches!  Ya think he can eat peanut butter sandwiches in the hospital?”

“Maybe, I dunno.”

“I really miss him already, Timmy. I hope he gets better soon.”

“Me too.”

“That’s the bell.  Time to go.  I’ll see ya later.”

“See ya Josh.”

Week 2- Monday, April 12

“Last night was the first time I have ever been to a hospital,” Josh said.

“I went once because my grandpa was in the hospital because he got in a car accident.”

“It was kinda neat.”

“Yeah.  The doctors and nurses were really nice.”

“He didn’t look too bad!”

“Yeah, he’s kinda starting to get bald though,” Timmy pointed out.

“You’re right, but he’s still not as bald as my dad, and my dad feels fine!”

“He is getting bald because of the medicine, not because he’s getting old…”

“Right, well if the medicine makes him bald, it must be working!  …Right?”

“Hopefully.  He seemed pretty healthy last night, except for being really tired and all.”

“Yeah, they said the medicine makes him really tired too.  How can a medicine do so many bad things to you, Timmy?”

“I’m not sure, but the doctors probably know what they’re doing.”

“You’re right.  I’m sure they do.  They’re even smarter than he is.”

“I heard some of the girls in our class are going to make him a card and have the whole class sign it,” Timmy said.

“Really?  Who?”

“Abby, Meghan, and Kristen.”

“I think Kristen likes him,” Josh giggled.

“I think so too.”

“She would always share her lunch with him if he forgot his peanut butter sandwich.”
“Yeah, she would give him whatever he wanted.”

“Well, time for recess.  I will meet ya out there.”

“Okay, see ya in a few.”

Week 3- Monday, April 19

“Baseball season is starting soon!” Josh exclaimed.

“I know it is!  I’m super excited!”

“Your dad is coaching again this year, right?”

“Oh yeah, he is coaching again.  He has some good ideas for our team, too.”

“Awesome, I’m so excited!”

“Yeah, we should have a great team this year.  Well, we will if our shortstop feels better soon.”

“I can’t believe he’s still out of school,” Josh said.

“Yeah, well what he’s got doesn’t heal very quickly.  It takes a lot of time.”

“I know, I just hope he feels better soon so he can play ball this year.  He is our best hitter and our starting shortstop!”

“I know, I know.  We can figure it out without him, though.”

“I hope so.  Man I miss him.”

“Me too.  My mom said the hospital costs are starting to become a problem for his family.  She has been making them dinner every night the past week.”

“I wonder,” Josh began, “I wonder if we could go around and collect change to give to his family.”

“We won’t get enough money to cover the costs.”

“We don’t have to pay it all, Timmy!  Every little bit would help them out!”

“Okay, I guess you’re right.  I don’t even know how we would do it, though.  Do you think anyone would give us any money?”

“Oh yeah they would!  Everyone loves him.  He’s so nice and he always helps people when they need it.”  Josh sniffed as tears began to run down his cheeks.  “He helps people with homework, shares his lunch with people when they forget theirs,” he wiped his nose and continued, “compliments people when they look nice, helps them with…” He began to sob.

“Shh…shh…  It’ll be okay”

“I know…I just…I miss him…so much.”

“Me too, he’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about it.  It’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Ugh, I can’t even finish my sandwich,” Josh said.

“That’s all right.  Just calm down and don’t worry about him.  He will be fine.  Let’s start thinking of ways we can raise money for him.”

“Okay.  Whatever you say.”

Week 4- Monday, April 26

“It was so good to go to the hospital again last night,” Josh whispered as a teacher stared at him sternly for talking of the sickness.

“I know,” Timmy replied.  “His family was so happy to see how much money we collected!”

“I can’t believe we collected forty-two dollars and twenty-three cents!  I wasn’t expecting to get that much!”

“Me neither.  I’m really glad you decided to do the fundraiser.”

“I never knew how much money kids carried around in their pockets during the school day.  No wonder that bully Bucky Fanton gets new Nerf guns all the time!”

“I have a feeling, after seeing him last night, that we may have our shortstop back in time for baseball season,” Timmy said.

“I think so too!  He looked really good.  His mom said that his medicine was working and that he would be home within the next few days.  She said he should be back to school next week!”

“I hope so.  That would be awesome!  He would be back in time for baseball season.  And he wouldn’t get held back!”

“We will be able to go to middle school together!”

“Next week, we’ll all be eating our peanut butter sandwiches together!”  Josh exclaimed.

“You boys need to quiet down,” barked Mrs. Chang, the boys’ teacher.

“Sorry,” the boys whispered in unison.

“I can’t wait for him to be back next week,” Josh whispered.

“It’s gunna be awesome, we can be the Three Musketeers again!”

“All for one, one for all!”

“Shhhhh,” hissed Mrs. Chang.

“Sorry!”  they said.

Week 5- Monday, May 3

“I’ve never seen my dad cry before,” Josh said as he wiped his own tears away.

“My mom never wears black.”

“I can’t believe this, we were all supposed to be at school today.”

“I know, Josh.”

“I mean he got better!  He wasn’t sick anymore!  How could this have happened?”

“I dunno.”

“Everyone else survived!  Why couldn’t he?”

“Sometimes things just happen that way.”

“All of the airbags went off except his.  I just don’t understand.”

“They got hit on his side of the car.  I’m not sure an airbag would have even helped.  I mean the car was smashed.”

“All of these people, they really loved him.”

“We all did.”

“I think I’m gonna have to play shortstop this year.  I don’t think I can replace him, though.”

“No one could ever replace him.”

“Nope, no one.”

“Being here at his house just makes me miss him even more.”

“Me too.”

“It’s weird eating his mom’s peanut butter sandwiches without him around.”

“He’s really gonna miss those I bet.”

“I bet.”

I don’t have a lot to say, but I just wanted to post something so here is a brief little update on what I’ve been up to lately.

I suppose I can start off by talking about the small group I started a few weeks ago here at school.  It has been an AWESOME small group.  We have been meeting every Thursday night for the past few weeks in the top of Zondervan Library.  The ten-or-so of us meet in a large study room and study God’s Word together.  We have been watching videos and listening to sermons of Matt Chandler and discussing topics he speaks on in his sermons.  We have had some very insightful, lengthy, and rewarding discussions about various topics.  It has been a great time to learn more about how to better pursue Christ and further His kingdom.  It is going very well and I can’t wait to see how it can improve and continue to help all of us grow in the coming school year.

Yesterday, I found out that I was chosen to be one of Samuel Morris Hall’s two Discipleship Coordinators for the next school year.  As a Discipleship Coordinator, I will be discipling the Sammy DAs (Discipleship Assistants) so that they may better disciple the men in our dorm.  I am very excited to have the opportunity to be a DC of Sammy and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do there next year.

I don’t have anything profound to post today.  I am kinda distracted by basketball and the beautiful weather, I’m not focused enough to write a good, insightful blog post.  But I just wanted to give you guys an update of what I’ve been up to the past couple of weeks.  Hopefully I can make a few good posts over Spring Break.

I get to come home on Wednesday for Spring Break!  I can’t wait!

Happy March 20th!

-Chris

The Testimony of a Faithful Teacher (1:12-17)
Paul reveals several essential qualities to be found in the Christian, which the leader/teacher must exemplify.

Dependance on Christ (1:12) • Strength for Christian life and ministry come from Christ. Paul’s life and ministry was marked by the manifestation of spiritual “power”. His work brought results, but does not credit seminary education, up-to-date methods or personal charisma, but credits and thanks Christ for empowering him.

• Paul’s ministry was sustained by and originated in Christ. We who would share Paul’s goals and vision for life and ministry must also share his complete dependance on Christ.
Experience of God’s Grace and Mercy (1:13-14)
• Paul was fully aware of the change in direction that the grace of God brought to his life. He was saved. The outpouring of grace from the Lord produced in him faith and love- that is genuine spiritual life.

• Paul’s references  to faith and love and to his prior condition of ignorance and unbelief are again directed at the false teachers.
Committed to the Gospel and God’s plan of Salvation (1:15-16)
• At the center of his plan is the Gospel message. Paul was fully convinced of it’s reliability. This is God’s plan: salvation is linked solely to Christ and the message about him. Commitment to anything but the apostolic gospel is heresy

. • God redemptive plan is imperturbable, as Paul’s own experience taught him. It reaches to the depths of depravity. Paul’s self-confessed pre Christian history ( as the worst of sinners [v. 15], a reference to his persecution of Christians) made him, ironically, the perfect illustration of the effectiveness of the gospel, the boundless grace of God and the inexhaustible Patience of Christ.

• The readers are reminded that salvation requires “belief” in Christ. Further more, Paul’s language (believe on him) indicates that he means personal faith in Christ, not simply adherence to a dogma.

• The ultimate goal of the plan of salvation is eternal life. Paul’s connection of ideas makes it clear that the believer’s personal faith in Christ is the necessary stepping stone to the ultimate goal of eternal life.

• Most of us would be reluctant to do what Paul has done here. Humility aside, each Christian’s spiritual history is filled poignant reminders of God’s grace and mercy. While it will not do to live in the past, from time to time we must take our bearings from it as we move forward on a path that may not be clear. Paul knew in his heart and was fully convinced that this message was true. And it is essential that every Christian share this conviction borne out of experience. We must remember, however, that this proof cannot be based solely on a mystical encounter with God: it must be backed up by a changed life (v.14) Could the false teachers with their version  of the gospel make the same claims as Paul? No! God’s salvation plan is linked solely to the Christian gospel. It requires faith and produces a new manner of life.

Testimony leads to worship (1:17)
• Paul could not reflect on God’s grace in his life and the promise of the eternal life without being moved to worship.

• Verse 17 takes the form of a doxology. It imparts a powerful vision of majesty of God. King eternal ascribes to God’s absolute sovereignty over all the ages. Immortal  recalls  Romans 1:23, where God is contrasted with images with images of mortal humans and animals. By nature God lives eternally: death is foreign to him. He is also invisible. For sinful human to see God is to bring death. Finally, God is “one”, the only God, a thought that returns to the commandment, the starting point of the Christian faith.

soo…

War.. a topic that is controversial, very controversial! And is a discussion i had with my dad tonight! which i am very happy to say was a good one and not a heated argument! =) always makes me happy to not fight!

but i would just like to share my stance on this subject with you and would love to have discussion about it if you like!!

For me, as a Jesus follower, as someone who pursues a Christ-like life, who wants to do what Jesus does, i do not want to raise a gun up, aim at a man(who just might be an evil person, who maybe has killed someone or hundreds of people) and shoot him dead. i don’t believe it is my purpose, as it shouldn’t be any Christians purpose, to put myself in that position, join the ranks and stop an evil man with a bomb or a bullet. that is just not what we are called too! i don’t think that’s what any Christian should be called too!

Why would God call a Christian to pick up a weapon, fly an airplane and drop a bomb on someone to kill them because we don’t see eye to eye on faith or on a nations “interest”? if we are called to be set aside, to be different than the world, to live in but not be of the world then why would we join an army, just like any other army in the world, to rid of people who don’t agree with us and/or our nations interests?

War is a protest, a violent protest. War is saying we don’t agree with what you are doing so we are going to make you listen by bombing your country’s individuals, most likely killing babies, children, mothers, donkeys, sheep, dogs and cats that are too close to the bad guys who lives we are trying to end all because his brother killed my cousin first. eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth… life for a life.

My dad made a very good point today in our conversation, on a business trip he was having lunch with a Muslim man. they were eating and exchanging conversations about political and religious views in an easy going conversation. Then across the room a Jewish man got in line at the cafeteria, my dad had no clue the man was Jewish. He said the Muslim man’s attitude and whole body language changed and asked him “is everything okay?”.  The Muslim man replied, “that man over  there is Jewish and disgusts me!” my dad asked why it discussed him and the Muslim man replied “because he isn’t human.”….. (on a side note, that statement shocks me that in 2010, people still believe some people aren’t human). but as my dad and the Muslim left the cafeteria and were about to head there separate ways my dad asked the man ”whether your religon  or my religion is right, should we kill each other because the other is wrong, don’t you think that our God can take care of who dies?” The point being, if Jesus called us to live a life like he lived, to love our enemies, to do good to those who hurt us, who persecute us, who murder us because our faith or our values don’t line up… should we pick up a weapon then point it at the human who has a different opinion and shoot them?

For us a Christians in a worldly nation, America.. we have the choice, war or the good fight? We have been set aside, to be an example to those who don’t know about what love is, what forgiveness is, what sacrificereally is.. we have been called to fight the evil in the man, not the man himself. to fight the evil that wants to take the 5 year old kid who has been raped and beaten by his dad and turn him into a murder.. we are to fight the evil that tells a man to go blow himself up.. we are called to go be disciples of all nations, to spread light in a dark evil world. killing a man will not save him from hell.. it sends him there that much quicker… i pledge my allegiance to a higher power, not of this world, i will not back a nation who puts people in power in other countries to kill people for our “nations interest”. i am in this world, but not of it. i will not participate or support anything that kills another human being.

i am not bashing American soldiers in this blog.. i am not saying Christians who have fought in these last to wars or any wars are any worse than i am.. we are all brothers and sisters and we need to say what we believe, what we feel is right. just because you fight in a war and have to kill someone doesn’t mean you are going to hell. i want to share how i feel and how i am personally convicted. i am convicted to share this belief of mine, it is different than my parents and a whole ton of people i share the same faith with, it may be different than yours! i just think there is a better way to help the world, a better, cleaner fight to be fought.

 Satan wants war, he wants to fill hell up with as many souls as he can, and as Jesus followers what would happen if we laid our weapons down and said “I’m not going to send you to hell, i will not send you to a place of eternal torture, i will speak love into your soul, into your life.”  a non-violent protest against human violence.. Love is a protest, a protest against war.

Revenge – Jon Foreman

this is a song about revenge.. look at it through the point of view by the man who hung next to Jesus on the cross who said “remember me Lord when you enter your kingdom” listen to what he says revenge is..who took revenge for us so we wouldn’t have too..

God Bless

-mike

Through prayer and meditation lately I have discovered a truth that has been long hidden in my heart from fear of animosity. Now I come to stand my ground for the Lord that has saved my life.

Church culture.

Church culture spews nothing more than a gospel that saves once and leaves many hanging dry for an eternity in Hell. You are not saved by a prayer you pray. You are not saved by a confession you make to others. You are saved through faith by grace. I say this not to scare you but to heed you to examine yourself and see if you are in the faith.

I am not saying you must work your way to Heaven, for all works are as filthy rags. I am not saying you must profess a new prayer everyday in order to be saved. I am saying that your life should be nothing less than abundant evidence that the temple of the Holy Spirit is your body.

I have been thinking a lot about reckless abandon for Christ and how the “radicals” went about it. I like their style. Taking all things that hinder them from the Lord and giving it up.. not in the way of the monks.. but by actively pursuing Christ and leaving all else behind. I want to be radical for Christ. I want to share love through my actions and my words so that only the testimony of Christ can be proclaimed through my life.

As of today I proclaim my undying love for Him who loved me first. I want to live a life that is purely unmistakable for Him who sent me to live a testimony into a dying world. I want to sing a song that glorifies His name and give with hands covered in His grace. I want to be lower than the lowest and exalted with the redeemed.

I want nothing more than to live for God with more than words but to love deeply, adore greatly, and worship fully.

“God, I pray Thee,
light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee.
Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine.
I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”

Today began as a depressing Saturday filled with homework that I must get done today in order to focus whole-heartedly tomorrow on studying for a Biblical Literature test that I will be taking on Monday.  That thing is gunna kick my butt and stand over me and insult me in English, Hebrew, and Greek.  Studying with this very-real outcome imminent is not going to be fun tomorrow, but I’ll make due!

This is going to be a very long post I imagine, as I am sitting in the Student Union here at Taylor University with nothing in particular to write about, but simply the purpose of writing for writing’s sake.  There will most likely be nothing profound, but simply thoughts or ideas that come to my head as I write. Feel free to stop reading whenever you’d like!

This “writing fever” began today when I was doing the assigned reading for my Intro. to Creative Writing class.  I was assigned to read about the impact image and voice have on the art of creative writing.  I think this creative writing class is the only class in which I have ever enjoyed the textbook reading.  I am most definitely keeping that textbook.  I almost enjoy reading about writing as I enjoy writing itself.  But anyway, reading all of that about image and voice really inspired me to write today, not to incorporate those two things necessarily, but just to write in general.  (It didn’t help that I was listening to Michael Bublé while I was reading about writing.  And Michael Bublé’s relationship with my writing goes alllllllll the way back to my first ever blog post on any site, seen here.  Apparently I was listening to his cover of “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

While I was reading about writing, I was thinking (how about all of those -INGs there?), “Maybe I should back up all of my blog posts in case either of the web sites they are hosted on get shut down one day…”  So, this afternoon, I decided to start all the way back at that first blog post back in my sophomore year of high school on LiveJournal, and copy and paste every blog post I have ever written into many, many Microsoft Word documents and keep them all in a nifty little folder called, “Writings.”  So now, after browsing through all of my old blog posts, starting over three years ago, I now I have all of them on file, should anything happen to the sites they are hosted on.

This venture through time was incredible.  I loved going back through and reading all of my blog posts starting on December 29, 2006.  As much as I love writing here for Fall Write in Love (thanks again Ross and Scotty), and as much as it has done for me, nothing I write will ever top my old posts from my ChefSnackyCakes days.  I love reading those posts and the comments attached to them more than anything I have ever written.  I was spiritually young, and physically young, but I love the random thoughts, and the analogies in particular, I used to post for a max of three readers and now seeing that, at last check, the FWIL Facebook group is up to 1,044 members is crazy.  Reading all of those old posts, up to the present, made me remember, wonder, and chuckle about the things I have experienced the past three years.  It allowed me to see how much I have learned and how much I have changed both in knowledge and writing style.  It was really cool.  The days when I wrote of comparing Jesus to a meningitis shot and choosing him in kickball were good ones, and I miss them dearly.

When I sat down here, about 10 minutes ago, to write about this fun time I had today, one phrase came to mind as the title, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”  I wasn’t sure why that thought first came to mind, but it actually works quite well with my thoughts on this journey through time I have had today.  Reading those old posts allowed me to see the places I’ve went, and what I’ve done with my time here spent!   (Sorry, getting in that Dr. Seuss mode… I think I’m going to start writing some Seuss-esque stuff, it’s a real joy).  I noticed something very extraordinary (meaning odd, not awesome) in looking through my blogs.  The last post I posted to LiveJournal was October 20, 2007, and my first post on FWIL was on June 5, 2008.  That means, that after October 20th, I didn’t blog at all my junior year of high school.  I found that very interesting, and I’m not quite sure why I never did.  I was probably so busy with work and school.  But it was surprising to say the least.

I think I’m going to start writing my first lengthy work.  I love all of this blog posting and will most certainly continue, but I want to start writing a story.  A really long, drawn out story in which I can use vivid images, unique voice, and of course, my favorite, a lot of analogies.  This story will be told from the first person point of view of the main character.  I already have the content of the story in my head, in my memories.  I will take these experiences and memories and retell them in a creative way with characters and a lot of creativity.  I’m really excited to begin thinking of the ways I can present this narrative.  I’m not sure when I will start writing it, but it will be my summer project.  I will probably start it before then, and I am already beginning to assign characters and think of writing styles.

I won’t let you-who-has-courageously-read-this-post-all-the-way-down-to-here walk away empty-handed after reading all of this!  I am willing to share an interesting thing I learned in my Biblical Literature class on Friday!

On Friday, in Bib Lit, we were learning about various geographical and archeological themes in the Old Testament that all deal with the idea of literary competency.  Literary competency is basically knowing the context (time, geography, culture, language, etc) in which the literature you are studying was written.  So, Dr. Smith got on the topic of YHWH (Yahweh).  Dr. Smith taught us that יהוה (YHWH) was written in the OT as God’s name, as my name is Chris.  However, the Hebrew scribes didn’t use vowels, so that Hebrew is YHWH.  Well, the folks reading this OT in Hebrew were taught to not say YHWH or יהוה at all because they were not to say it in vain, so they figure they may as well just cut it out completely.  So they started using the word “Adonai” (אֲדֹנָי) which means “lord” or “master.”  This word did not exclusively mean God, but any lord or master.  So, because YHWH (יהוה) was too sacred, and because Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) was too vague, they took consonants from the word YHWH and the vowels from the word Adonai, and combined them to make the word “Jehovah” (יְהֹוָה).  This word was to be meant for reading purposes only, so that the readers of the OT knew what was being written.  It was never meant to be vocalized as Jehovah.  So really, the word Jehovah, is a non-sensical term.  Now, obviously, we aren’t going to rip our clothes and pray for forgiveness anytime we sing some old hymn with the word Jehovah in it — it’s not heretical or anything.  It just wasn’t meant to be used in the vocalized form.  I found that rather interesting!

Oh, the places you’ll go!  :)  It’s amazing where God takes us, how he gets us there, and what we do about it.  I really hate ending this post, but I leave you with one of my favorite excerpts of the great Dr. Seuss in his poem/story, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

Have a good day.  Be well.  Pursue Christ.

-Chris

Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.

Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.