OneCoolGrandpa.Life

"Get behind me Satan!"

2008-01-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

Mark 8:31-33

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

This passage stood out to me in my reading today. I thought of the overlooked temptations of Chtist. What really grabbed my attention was a sentence in my study Bible: "Satan now is at work in Jesus' own disciples, not only in Judas, but even in Peter, whose intervention would have annulled the plan of redemption and accomplished Satan's goal."

I think we often forget about the humanness of Christ. How hard would this have been. Peter, one if Christ's closest friends and disciples, who was like family to Jesus, was pleading with Him to not die. This undoubtedly was hurting Christ deep. Christ, however, seeing Satan at work nipped it in the bud and commanded him to stop tempting Him.

New Stuff

2008-01-02T15:54:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I was just going to take a moment to talk about my Christmas. It went well, it was just my family and I at our house. As usual we got up early, at about 6:30. Mom made cinnamon rolls and "pigs in a blanket." Dad read the nativity story and then we prayed. After that we opened presents.

I got a lot of nice things, my parents were generous. Among my most used gifts are a new GPS device, a learning French game for the Nintendo DS, and last but not least, a Nokia N800 internet tablet, which I am actually using to write this blog post. That last gift was a little unexpected, but I've been using it like crazy around the house. It's nice to have the internet in you pocket.

Other gifts I liked were two Bibles, one in Spanish and one in French, clothes, "Trauma Center" DS and Wii games, a new house for my fish, a series of books by J. R. R. Tolkien, and... I think that's about it. Ok, I'll write more later!

Matthew 28

2007-12-24T14:04:00.001-05:00

I read Matthew 28 today, and this one section really stood out to me:

11While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13and said, "Tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

I think this section really illustrates that even if people have clear evidence of Truth, some will still hold on to their disbelief. This is after Jesus was raised from the dead and the angel rolled away the stone. The soldiers saw with their own eyes what had happened. The Jewish leaders had an eye-witness account right their in front of them that Christ was raised, and yet they still did not trust Him as God's Son. When witnessing, even when you present a completely clear, logical explanation of the Gospel, some, and I dare say many, will not believe because they choose not to believe.

Jesus's Prayer

2007-12-24T13:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have two things today. I'll write the other in the next post, but for now, I'd like to talk a moment on Jesus's prayer in Gethsemane. It's in Matthew 26:

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." 37And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." 39And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." 40And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." 43And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."

This has always been a special passage to me. I think it really shows Jesus's humanness, and shows us clearly how we're supposed to respond during trials. He tells His disciples to pray so that they "may not enter into temptation." They had gone through a long day, and they were doing what probably any of us would do to regain our strength: sleep. Jesus didn't sleep, however. Even though He had gone through a long day already, and He knew the next day would be the hardest of His life, He didn't sleep, but spent the night in prayer.

I think you can see his strength building as He prays. Compare the two segments of His prayer that we have: The first:

"My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

And the second:

"My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."

There's a subtle, but I think important difference. They are essentially saying the same thing, but the in first statement, Christ is asking that He in some way be allowed not to have to endure the torment of the next day. The second statement is saying "Your sill be done, even though this cannot pass unless I do it." Just look at the core sentences if you take the grammatically "extra" words out:

First: "My Father... let this cup pass from me."
Second: "My Father... your will be done."

When we need our strength the most, we need to look to God in prayer. He is the source of all of our strength.

Matthew 25

2007-12-18T11:36:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, it's been a while. School's been out for about a week and a half now, but my girlfriend's been down for a week, then I got my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday, so because of that I haven't written in here since school let out. One of my favorite things to do in here was to write a little about my devotions, so I'm going to start doing that again.

The chapter I read today was Matthew 25.

It's divided up into three sections: The Parable of the Ten Virgins, the Parable of the Talents, and the Final Judgment. A little background here: Christ has been in the temple preaching and teaching after being received into Jerusalem by placing palm branches at his feet while he rides in on a donkey (to fulfill Zachariah 9:9). Lawyers, Pharisees, and Sadducees all come and ask him questions in succession, and Christ blows them out of the water to the point where no one "dare[d] to ask him any more questions" (Matt 22:46). In chapter 23 He rips into the scribes and pharisees and exposes them before the crowd as the hypocrites they are. Christ then foretells the destruction of the temple and the end of the age in chapter 24.

At the end of chapter 24 Christ says that no one, including himself, knows the hour of His return
except the Father. Chapter 25 is mostly parables about how we should be in waiting for His return. The section that stood out to me the most was the first section on the ten virgins. Basically, 10 maidens are waiting for the bridegroom to appear so they would be allowed to go to the wedding feast. 5 were alert and were smart enough to carry enough oil with them so their lamps would be lit throughout the night. The other 5 not only didn't have enough oil, but fell asleep while waiting. They had to go get more oil, and in that time the bridegroom came and took the 5 wise virgins with him, and when they other 5 finally came back, it was too late and they had to stay outside in the darkness. My study Bible has a couple sentences that really stood out to me: "The delay of Christ's return distinguishes the wise from the foolish. Being ready mean being prepared for a long delay; short-lived zeal is inadequate."

We should be prepared to wait a while for the Lord's return. It has already been about 2,000 years since he left, but we still do not know the day or the hour. We should constantly be preparing our lives and growing in Him. Yes, in one sense, we should be living each day as it could be our last, we should be witnessing and pointing each other to Christ, but in the other sense, we need to planning our lives for Him.

Ok, that's all for today. Hopefully write more soon.

Photo Meme

2007-12-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

I got this idea from my mom... so I'm doing it. You go through the topics and search your answers in Google Image Search, and post a photo from the search from the first page of results. Sound interesting? Let's go!

Age at next birthday: 21

Place I'd like to travel: Hyderabad, Andrah Pradesh, India

Favorite Place: San Francisco

Favorite Things: Sorry... don't have a favorite "thing"

Favorite Food: Lately it's been Indian food

Favorite Color: Blue

Nicknames: HarperNo idea who this guy is... but he kept popping up in the image results

Birthplace: Greenville, SC

And that's it! Feel free to play along too!

Take control of your computer

2007-11-02T21:29:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to write about a couple cool programs I really like and use frequently:

First, ObjectBar

That's the bar on the top of the screen. This is part of the StarDock suite of programs. If you have ever seen a mac, this does the same thing that their little bar does. You can just drag and drop applications or files to the bar, and it will automatically make a nice little shortcut for you on the bar. It makes my life a whole lot more efficient because I can open any of my frequently used applications instantly because they're right there. This program is free... but the full featured version cost some.

2. Second, Rainlendar

That's the calendar/todo list that you see there. This program is incredible. It just sits on your desktop, and can be brought up whenever you want. It can import the ical calendar format, so you can import Google Calendar or Outlook calendars.

3. Third, Stickies

I really like this program. It's the brown transparent note right in front of me. This program basically just opens up sticky notes on your computer. I know a lot of new operating systems can do this by themselves, but XP can't, and this is a great little tool to get them. Also, you can set the opacity of the note to completely opaque to almost i

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2007-11-01T11:28:00.001-05:00

Barge must be slow on business

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2007-10-28T14:02:00.001-05:00

Inter-racial santa's at cracker barrel!

Been a while

2007-09-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

Hey, I don't have a lot of time, but I haven't posted on here in a while, so I am now. Life's good, This semester's been awesome so far. Mittu and I have finally officially started dating. :-) All my classes are good, I had to drop Logic due to time constraints, but that's OK. In no particular order: I'm taking French, Spanish, Biblical Church Ministry, Oral Communications for the Professions, Christian Family Forum, and Abnormal Psychology. Society's still awesome. I'm excited about it this semester, we seem to have a strong spiritual focus. Jeremiah Barba is doing a great job being president, I must say. Ok, I gtg, need to grab a quick lunch before I go on extension. See y'all.

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2007-09-28T11:42:00.001-05:00

Nu delt game 3: peanut-butter and cheese puffs

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2007-09-28T11:40:00.001-05:00

Nu delt game 2: inflate-a-glove

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2007-09-28T10:22:00.001-05:00

Nu delt update: freshman baby bottle chugging contest

Photo Hunt "Colors" numbah 2--Braves Game

2007-05-26T14:51:00.001-05:00

Ok, as promised, I'm replacing that cell phone picture with some nicer ones from my digital camera. We went to a Braves game yesterday, and it was their "armed forces day" or something, so throughout the game native Atlantians in the armed forces would give their shout out on the big screen TV in the back of the field from wherever they're stationed. Also, at the very beginning of the game, they pulled out this flag:

And then there was a cool helicopter fly-over:

I figured these could work because of the honoring of the "National Colors."

Photo Hunt "Colors" numbah 1--Snowcone Business

2007-05-26T09:36:00.001-05:00

This is my hand after a normal day at work... That blue stuff there is blueberry syrup. Yay snowcones!!

Photo Hunt--theme "Cooked/Cooking"

2007-05-19T21:35:00.001-05:00

This is for the photo hunt thing... The theme is cooking, so this works, right? We were bored at lunch one time, so we made David holding Goliath's head after their battle! Cool, no?

Photo Hunt--Theme "five"

2007-05-13T18:45:00.000-05:00

I know, it isn't 5 kids if you look closely, but I drove all the way out there to take the picture, I had to put it up!

Last Post

2007-05-13T07:25:00.000-05:00

Ignore the last post, I joined this group that does a "photohunt" every few days, and to join I had to add the Blogroll (list of everyone else who's signed up). Btw, sorry for not posting a photo for yesterday, I had a really cool idea... The theme was "five" and there are these statues downtown of a bunch of kids saluting a flag.... I thought there were five kids, but there were six. I might still post the photo, it's a cool statue, but we'll see...

Beginning of summer

2007-05-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

Yeah, summer's been relaxing so far... though I'm ready to finally do something. I'm gonna work tomorrow (yay snowcone selling!). I'm leaving for camp June 2, so pray for me if yall could!

The last day of school was awesome. I saw Mittu again and hung out with her pretty much all day, that was a blast. We went to a graduation party for a friend of hers, and surprisingly I knew a bunch of random people there... Then we went downtown Greenville, then my house for dinner, then out for ice-cream with my brothers, then downtown Greenville again.

So far since then all I've done is play Lord of the Rings Online (I know, I'm a nerd) and stuff on the Wii... fun stuff. So yeah, I hope yall are having a more productive summer than mine so far! :-)

Lately

2007-04-17T22:05:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time, and I probably won't write much here, but life's been good. I'm about to finish up my second year of college, woot. I can't believe how fast it's gone by. All my classes look good... my worst class is Philosophy of Education... I won't go into details about it, but it's hard. I'm expecting to pass it though.

This summer I'm heading out to the grand state of California for the 3 summer of working at Castlepoint Ministries. I'm excited, it should be a blast. Be praying for us, we'll need it. Lots of work, you're dead tired, screaming campers are climbing all over you, but it's awesome.

Chapel has been incredible the past couple days. A man who was in a wheelchair and his wife gave their testimonies. He was in a car accident a few years back, and became paralyzed. Just seeing their faith and complete dependence and joy in God was incredible, and hearing story after story of God's provision was really encouraging. I think it was really good timing too... I don't know if the administration meant to do this or not by bringing that speaker in, but recently a student at BJ was in a bad car wreck in which he lost his arm. His faith has been incredible too, I've heard story after story of him witnessing to the doctors and being perfectly ok with what God let come into his life. Even still, I know a number of students were... pained by what happened to him. I think these couple of chapels really helped with that and pushed the student body to focus completely on God.

Well, not as short as I thought it would be, but I'm taking my leave now. I will catch all of you all later.

Girlfriend

2007-02-07T23:23:00.000-05:00

As of last night, I officially have a girlfriend! She's an awesome girl, cares about God, super friendly, great personality... She's sitting out this semester (that picture is actually from the last day I saw her......), which is sad cause I won't get to see her till May when she visits for graduation, but it's ok. She's where God wants her. Quickie version of the story, we've known each other since towards the beginning of last semester, and we started getting close around the last half of the semester. Over Christmas break we called a lot, and we've gotten super close since then. Saturday we talked about going into a relationship, but we decided to take a few days to really think and pray about it. The next few times we talked she would ask me some important questions on her mind, I'd answer them. Last night we talked and made it official! Not the most romantic rendition of the story, I know, but I don't want to put up all of my personal information on the web! You understand, I'm sure, if you want to know more, ask me in person!

As of Late...

2007-02-02T20:40:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so, the other day... well, a week ago, I went to the library to study for a few hours, and when I came home there was this little white box in front of our tv... and my brother and dad had little white remote/controllers in their hands... and they were trying to set up the internet on our new Nintendo Wii! Yeah, it pretty much is the bombdiggidy (spelling?). It comes with Wii Sports, which is awesome. It has tennis, bowling, golf, baseball, boxing... We've played that like non stop since we've gotten the machine. We've rented Excite Truck, which my brothers are out buying right now. My favorite game so far I think is Trauma Center: Second Opinion (pictured above). In that game you play an aspiring surgeon... quite fun.

Something else sweet happened recently... as in, today. My society (Nu Delta Chi Vikings) at BJ won their first round of schol bowl (a nice little battle of the brains type dealio). We played against the Zoe Alethea Wildcats, and beat them a sound 515 to 55.... Yeah, we were happy, lol.

One more thing, something I never thought Bob Jones would ever do.... They're showing a movie, the disney version of the Chronicles of Narnia in Straton Hall. Sweet, no?

Well, I just heard my brothers return, so I think I'm going to go say hi...

This Semester

2007-01-27T00:26:00.000-05:00

Well, this semester's been busy. It's not been impossible, yet, but still busy. I'm loving all of my classes (even my literature class... dude, what's gotten into me?). Mi favorito es probablemente... Practice of Counseling... o Experimental Psychology... o Life and Ministry of Paul... me gusta todos! Spanish is a little bit harder this semester, but I think that's mainly because I had years of it in high school, but not since the 10th grade, so last semester was Elementary Spanish 1 which covered pretty much everything I had learned in high school... it was a nice review. This semester, however, is a little harder because it's dealing with stuff I've never learned before. My hardest class is probably Philosophy of Education. First day, she tells us that 2/3 of the class are grad students... not a good thing to hear as a sophomore... I think I'll be ok in it, lots of prayer and lots of work, and I should be good.

Socially, life's going well. No girlfriend yet... we're staying friends for now, we have our reasons. I have lots of friends to hang out with, eat with, go to the games with, etc. I've been meeting new people in my classes, so yeah, not missing out on too much right now. Chapel's lately have been really good. We had Ran (Ron?) Hummel from the Wilds come down and preach a couple days. Before and after those messages, Dr. Steve preached, both of them spoke on Psalm 119, different exact passages, I think, but they talked about the Word and how important it should be to our daily lives, how much it affects us.

Anywho, I think I'm gonna head to bed, I just wanted to write a little while waiting for some CD's to finish importing into my computer. Adios, hasta luego!

Updates

2007-01-26T23:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm again hoping to get back in the blogging scene. I've kinda split up my interests in writing here, the links are on the right. We've got "Life," "Christ," "Tech," and "Mobile." Life's for just every day stuff and goings on in my life. Christ is devotional thoughts and the like. Tech... I'm not a geek, I promise! I just have a... casual interest in technology. And Mobile is just if I want to post something random I see or something from the road, it goes there. We'll see if I keep up with this stuff this time, hopefully I will. Anywho, catch yall later.

Been a While

2006-12-17T15:35:00.001-05:00

Been a while

Hey yall, it's been a while. This semester has been insanely busy, but good. I'm glad it's over with and I have this break, I've been like dead tired since summer, and I'm looking forward to next semester.... though I'm going to be taking 19 credits... that's going to be a blast, lol.

This semester's been incredible though. I've grown a lot. I guess the biggest lesson I learned this semester was that every dicision we make needs to be made for God. I mean, every decision we make we should be thinking "what decision here best glorifies God." Obviously, I don't think that way near as much as I should, but I'm trying to make it a habit.

Just so yall know, I'm going to try to start writing my... devotional thought in here again. (I don't think i like that word... devotions... i need to figure out what to call those) Let me just put this out there, if yall ever have any prayer requests or anything, let me know and I'll be sure to keep them in mind. Ok, catch yall later.

John 4

2006-08-14T09:31:00.000-05:00

Hey yall, sorry it's been a while... honestly, i was just lazy... :-P Anywho, I'm reading through John, and today I read chapter 4. The first part is about the woman at the well. I love how Jesus in the conversation gets her curious to what on earth He's talking about, talking about living water and never thirsting again.. then reveals that He is the Christ. There's a lot of obvious application we can take from this passage, about how Christ is our water, how "the fields are white for harvest" as it says in verse 35, etc, but something a little different stuck out to me. When Jesus first spoke to the woman, she was surprised, because in verse 9 it says "for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Jesus didn't care about the prejudice of the day, He just witnessed to the woman because she was a human in need of Him. Not only that stood out, but the Samaritan's reaction to Him is interesting. The Samaritans, once they realized who He was, wanted Him to stay. Verse 40 says "So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days." They didn't even care that He was Jewish, they knew He was the savior, and just accepted Him.

I know that Christians often... label people as they're witnessing. They're like, "oh, he can't get saved, he's too far gone," or like Jonah, they rebel against God because they don't like the people God wants them to go to. Racism usually isn't a part of it anymore, but it can still be a problem. It's usually cutural, like, people on visitation will go to the richer or nicer communities, but not the ghettos, they visit marketplaces or places where the "nicer" people are, but won't go to the malls where the teens w/ piercings and tatoos go. When I went to california for a couple summers, the most common reaction i got was, "wow.... california.... good luck out there... with all the fruits and nuts." like they couldn't be saved or it was a lost cost or something. Don't be like that yall, people are people, they all have the same need.

Ecclesiastes 4

2006-07-30T08:03:00.000-05:00

Verses 9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I really like this passage. It's so true, if you have good, strong friendships, you will be better off than others who don't. Both physically, when you fall, they'll lift you up, etc, but I think we can also take this passage spiritually too. If there's something you're struggling w/, tell one of your trusted friends, if you're confused about something in life, ask someone for advice, if you're at a low point, feeling beaten down w/ the things of life, go to a good friend, they'll encourage you. Now, there's a lot of rabbit trails we can go down here, like make sure your friends are good friends and will accually benefit you, make sure you're the type of person people can go to, etc, but I just want to leave it where it is right now... there's a lot of value in having good friends.

Ecclesiastes 2

2006-07-29T07:47:00.000-05:00

I love the book of Ecclesiastes, but I'm not sure why.. I think I just like following the thought pattern of the writer, cause a lot of it I can see right where the guy's coming from and can see what he's saying. Today a couple verses stuck out to me, 24-26:

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Most of Ecclesiates is about how everything in life is so vain, but this is one of the few, but important parts where it talks about something in life that has value and worth. It's true, there's nothing more satisfying than to work, and enjoy the fruits of your labor, but that enjoyment, according to these verses, can only come to those who know and please God.

Proverbs 25:4

2006-07-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

First of all, for those of you who are curious, my birthday was great! My biggest present was an Ipod, which i've been listening to ever since, lol. We have some CD's of dramatic productions of the Chronicles of Narnia, which i've been listening to a lot lately, and which is kinda where today's blog is coming from.

In the story that i'm listening to now, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", there's a boy named Eustice. He is on a ship that is journeying to the end of the world to explore. Well, everyone hates this boy, he's selfish, arogant, annoying, prideful, etc. They reach an island, and all get off to rest, and to get out of work, Eustice wanders off while no one is watching him. Through some magic and his selfishness, he is accidentally turned into a dragon! He finds himself lonely, he can't talk to anyone, he looks like a monster. The rest of the crew figure out who he is, and he becomes a great help to them, bringing them food, wood to repair the ship, warmth on cold nights, etc. His spirit is changed and he becomes a humble, helpful boy. Well, he comes to the realization that he can't go with the rest of the crew because of his size and weight, and to make it easier on the others, he leaves to the other side of the island without telling anyone. After a while, Asland, the great lion comes to him and tells him he needs to wash in a nearby pool. Before he goes in, Asland tells him he needs to undress. Eustice figures out he means for him to shed his skin like a snake. He does so, but his skin is still hard and scaley. He tries again and again, but every layer of skin that comes off, it's still hard underneath. Asland tells him he needs his help, then Asland drives his paw deep into his skin and peals off a layer thicker than any of the layers that came off before. Finally, Eustice's skin is smooth and tender, and then Asland allows him to enter the pool. When he does, he becomes a boy again, and can go on with the others on their voyage.

A children's story, i know, but there is some truth in there... Proverbs 25:4 says:

Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel.

The picture of a smith purifying a precious metal is used a lot in scripture. Often we, before God will use us, need to be purified. The things we hold on to and put before God must be taken out of our lives. The hardships and trials we all face are neccissary for our growth as Christians. We need to look at the hard situations of life, and look to God, and learn from them and grow.

John 13

2006-07-21T07:43:00.000-05:00

First off, sorry for not putting up one yesturday, I woke up late, had to go in to work early, and didn't get home till about 9:30 that night, so I was kinda tired... Anywho, the other day we were watching tv and just kinda flipping through channels, and we came accross a gospel movie. I think it was called "The Gospel of John", but i'm not sure.. It seemed to be pretty accurate from the part that i saw. Well, the scene of Jesus washing the disciples feet really stuck out to me, so that's what this is about.

The passage for it is John 13:1-17. I was thinking about it, and I started to realize, this was the last time He had all of his disciples together in an environment where they were all ears to Him before He died, so this was probably something really important to Christ that He wanted to make sure His disciples got. The lesson He wanted to teach was for His followers to above all us, love one another, no matter who you are and who they are. Christ in verses 12-16 says:

"Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed you feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, Truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him."

and later on during the night in verses 34-35 he says:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

We really need to take this to heart, it seems that a lot of Christian circles have forgotten this commandment. I know that some people are irritating, some people wrong you, some people aren't likeable at all, but who cares? If they are your spiritual brother or sister, love them. This has always been something that's really bugged me, and I've been guilty of it too, but the amount of cutting down and gossip and.. junk that goes on in churches, in Christian schools and organization is unbelievable. Why do we, as family in Christ, do that? Love one another, build eachother up, if someone needs encouragement, give it to them, if someone is struggling w/ something.. physically, emotionally, financially, w/e, help them, if someone is going down the wrong path and is turning away from God, then in love, try to bring them back. As Jesus said, this is how people know that we are His disciples, that we are true Christians.

Psalm 67

2006-07-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

This psalm has a lot to do with the righteous prospering and the how the wicked will eventually fall. My favorite two verse are familiar ones, verses 23-24:

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
When he delights in his way,

Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
For the LORD upholds his hand.

It's awesome to know that whatever we do, if we are following God, He'll direct us. We don't have to worry about what we're doing or whether it's the right decision, because if we have a relationship w/ Him, He'll make sure we make the right one.

I love the next verse too, though i think this is one of the few times i like the KJV version better, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down" (i think that's right). If we fall, it is not for good, God will raise us up again, He is always there for us, and that's a great comfort.

Proverbs 18

2006-07-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hey yall, today is Proverbs 18. This passage has a lot to do w/ the mouth, speech in general, etc. I count 9 verses throughout the passage about lips, tongues, speech, mouths, etc. The one that stuck out to me the most was verse 8:

A fool's lips walk into a fight,

and his mouth invites a beating.

This just made me laugh, cause there are a few people that I instantly thought of when I read this. I think we're all guilty of this at some point or another, and some more than others. We need to control our tongues, watch what we say, that theme is riddled throughout proverbs and other parts of the Bible, this is just one verse out of many that point out the consequences of being stupid w/ your tongue.

Psalm 66

2006-07-17T07:39:00.000-05:00

This Psalm is awesome.. the whole thing just praises God for what He's done and how He's answered prayer. I like the last 3 verses:

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened,
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!

It's a warning to us, David was able to praise God for everything He has done, because he obeyed God, so God answered his prayers. We cannot hide iniquity in us, we can't harbor sin in our lives. That one little thing we don't want to let go will destroy our relationship w/ God, He is holy, and cannot except anything from us but perfection. Now, obviously, we can't do that, live perfectly... not on our own, we need to trust Christ to help us live our lives in an acceptable way, just as we trusted Him w/ our salvation.

Proverbs 15:22

2006-07-16T16:06:00.000-05:00

Hey yall, sorry I haven't been on in a couple days, thursday and friday i went in to work early, so i didn't have time in the morning to go online, and saturday i just forgot... (Sorry!)

Anywho, today is just on one verse, Proverbs 15:22

"Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed."

This stuck out to me because i often don't get counsel w/ something i do. I'm the type where i have to do something myself, i hate getting advice, i hate asking for it... which is a bad thing, and i am learning to open up to people, but it's still a problem in my life. Looking back, it's accually why i failed En 102 the first time... i wouldn't ever go to my teacher to ask about my paper. This verse is pretty straight-forward, and not much is needed to explain, seek good advice, and succeed, don't and fail.

P.S... btw, i'm posting the same blogs on myspace, and often i forget to do it here, so if you look here and don't see one for the day, check out me on myspace.

Psalm 63

2006-07-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna go ahead and put most of the psalm in here:

(v 1-8)

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

My soul thirsts for you;

My flesh faints for you,

As in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

Beholding your power and glory.

Because you steadfast love is better than life,

My lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

In your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

And my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

When I remember you upon my bed,

And meditate on you in the watches of the night;

For you have been my help,

And in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul clings to you;

Your right hand upholds me.

I love this psalm. David wrote it when he was in the wilderness, which puts the first part in perspective… I love the language in here, it shows how much David truly loved God and was a man after God's heart. I know when I use/think phrases like "My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you" and when I "meditate in the watches of the night" on somebody, it's usually a girl. Are we so in love with God that it's natural to just think about him when we're in bed? That's how our love for Him should be, where we just think about Him, and our flesh literally faints for Him.

July 9--Psalm 61

2006-07-09T16:05:00.000-05:00

Hey yall! I think I might accually put this blog thing to some use now... I've been trying to keep up w/ this like, 'devotions journal' to 1, help me keep up w/ my Bible reading, and 2, to help me make sure i accually try to learn from what i'm reading. Well, i figured, why not share what I write? So, i'm gonna try to start doing that, it's usually just a little something i found in what i read and i comment on it, nothing big or drastic. Be sure to leave your own comments or shoot me an email about it! It'll be cool to hear back from yall, to hear your persepective on the passage. Well, here's todays:

(Btw, if anyone cares, my Bible is an ESV (English Standard Version))

Psalm 61

This Psalm is another of David's Psalms of worship and crying out to God. It sounds like this one was written during David's time as king of Israel, but I'm not sure when exactly. I just noticed something in verses 4. It says:

"Let me dwell in your tent forever!

Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah"

Usually I hear this in the KJV which I think says "Let me dwell in thine house forever." When I read the word "tent" I started thinking, why did he use that word? Right before this verse it talks about God being "a strong tower against the enemy," and I thought it was odd to go from a strong tower to a tent. Well, I remembered that the word "tabernacle" means "tent." The tabernacle was where God came and visited Israel, it was where He dwelled in the nation, and that was where people had to go to commune and talk w/ God.

The next phrase talks about being under the shelter of God's wings. Usually people take this verse and think of a bird taking her young under her wing a very peaceful and picturesque picture... but I don't think that's quite what David was going for here. If you keep the Tabernacle idea in mind what in the tabernacle had wings? In the Holy of Holy's was the Ark of the Covenant, which had two angels, cherubim, on top who were facing each other. Their wings went above the ark and met in the middle.

I think what David was saying here was he wanted to be as close to God as possible. He didn't want to just be in the tabernacle, but he wanted to be in the Holy of Holy's. He wanted to be in the very spot where God sat.

It's obvious what we can take from this. Do we have the same love of God that David had? When we're going through hard times, as David apparently was when he wrote this, who do we look to? What do we want for comfort? Do we cry out to God Almighty, our friend and protector? I know that for me, when I'm going through something rough, I don't usually go to my knees to pray first. I usually pull out my cell and flip through the phone book to find someone to listen to my problems. If no one can talk, I just sit and think by myself. It's not till later usually that it dawns on me, it's like "oh yeah, God's there for me.." I know I need to turn to Him first. He wants a relationship w/ us, He wants to be a part of our lives, and a big part of that is trusting Him w/ all of our problems throughout life.

Future work

2006-05-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

i may have a pretty nice high paying summer job by the next summer or two... that may include me moving by myself... Well, a little background info, I've worked selling snowballs, instead of having a shop my boss has two vehicles, a van and a truck w/ a trailer that he goes around to daycares, schools, sporting events, big party events, etc, and sets up and sells them. Well, i went down to charleston this weekend, and i kept thinking, you know, if my boss set up a shop down here on the beach, he'd probably make a decent sum...

Well, i mentioned it to him, and he sounded interested with the idea. We were thinking get a van or a truck or something, get permission from whoever we need to get permission from, and set up right there on a busy part of the beach. Not sure if that's allowed or how feasible that is, but if that couldn't work, you could set up a shop near the beach and still be plenty busy. Anywho, i could move down to wherever (we were thinking charleston, myrtle beach, maybe even miami... i'd prefer charleston, i know some people down there), and take this thing and run w/ it. If everything went well and i got lucky, we're looking at some serious dough here... well more than enough to pay back everything in probably just one summer, sustain me while i'm there, pay for college (and probably seminary), and save a lot for when i get out of college. This would be stinking awesome! I'd live near a bunch of friends, live near the beach, have pretty much my own business, be totally debt free getting out of college, and have enough to start a comfortable life when i get out! If any of yall who live near the beach of any ideas, suggestions, w/e, tell me, granted... this is all very preliminary and may not even ever happen, but, if this possibility follows through, it'd be incredible!

Trip to Charleston

2006-05-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

Well, i went down to Charleston this weekend, it was awesome! I went to go visit my best friend, Emily. I went down saturday morning, got there around... 9:00 if i remember correctly. Around 10:00 me, her, and a friend of her's, Mike went down to the beach. We went to lunch at... oh stink, what's it called, Joe's Crab Shack? It was the first seafood i had in a while... actually, i think the leftovers are still in Em's fridge... sorry about that.

After that we walked around the shops in the area for a while, then off to a party for a guy named Shep. That's a nickname, not sure what is real name is... lol. I met a bunch of people from Em's college and career group, it was fun. I played badmitton w/ some of the guys, and we ate dinner then had a bonfire.

The next day we went to church, which was a lot of fun. It was cool, cause it's my pastor's old church, so i met some people through knowing him. Afterwards me and em went home, and went to get sushi! First time i had ever had it... it was wierd, but good.

Monday we went to the beach again. It was me, em, mike, and a couple other girls from her group, Sarah and Cathy (i got all the names right, right?). We stayed there for a while, had lunch, then left. I was about to leave for home, and Em was going to work, and the others were going to a party, so me and Em were in my car, and the others were in another.... and.... on our way.... i knew i was low on gas, and the meter said that i had another 30 miles left, but it lied. I ran out on the interstate and pulled over. We called Mike and he brought me a couple gallons and it got me to the next gas station.

Well, I took Em home, she took a shower and i got ready to go, and I took her to work, and we took a while and said goodbye. I'm gonna miss her, but we'll hopefully see eachother again sometime this summer. It was cool to meet everyone, and if any of yall read this, can't wait to see yall again!

Pictures and MySpace

2006-05-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

I've had a myspace for a lil while, so I put a link up to it. Also, I just discovered Shutterfly so I put some pictures up on that, check them out if ya want.

24

2006-05-15T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I just got somewhat caught up on 24. Fun show... very fast pace, the type where you feel like you're about to have a heart attack every minute of the entire hour. Currently, as far as I can tell, good ol' Kiefer (Jack Bouer) over there in the picture is trying to prove the current president assassinated the previous president as well as some other bad stuff. Jack hijacked a plane in order to find some evidence, a tape recording of a convo the pres. had with some terrorist dude, and after landing the plane got it to CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit). Some guy named Miles wanted to go ruin every thing so he contacted the president and apparantly tried to erase the tape. That's where we left off, and the next episode is about to come on in like a minute (9:20 EST).

As for my life right now, today I went in for jury duty! Woot! I didn't get selected for today's jury, but tomorrow I go in again and may be selcted for a different trial. It was kinda boring, but it was ok. I can't tell yall about the trial itself, but this is how the system is set up. You go in, you, and about 150-200 other people who were called in, and you wait and wait and wait and finally after they make sure everyone's paperwork is right, they take everyone into the courtroom. In the courtroom they ask you a bunch of questions making sure everyone is qualified. If they ask a question that applies to you, you either stand up as they ask it, or if you're embarrassed about it you wait till the end and talk to the judge privately. After the disqualified people leave, the judge then spends about 3 hours asking questions, again to which you stand up to, but these are questions like "do you know the defendants?" "Do you know the lawyers" etc, then asking about obscure relations to various parts and people of the trial, and everyone who does have a relation stands up, then the judge goes one by one to everyone who has stood up and asks for their name, juror number, and if that relation will affect their judgement. Sounds like fun, no? Today wasn't as bad as it could have been, though. I met a girl in the parking garage, and we were both like, "are you going to jury duty? Do you have any idea where the court building is?" We walked around for a bit, then found it, and we hung out during the day. We kept each other company and ate lunch together and all that fun stuff. We'll probably see each other again tomorrow, so it'll be nice to have somebody to keep me awake again, yay.

Well, 24 is capturing my attention again, so I'm outta here!

The Bunny

2006-05-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, I figure I'll combine some of my favorite things for this post.... easter bunnies, guitars, and dorm life! So... did anyone else see this thingamujigger? Quick story for yall who didn't: After prayer group, I was getting ready for work, and all of a sudden Zah Roche's at my door getting all like "LOOK, A EASTER BUNNY!" and me and my roomates just stare at him like he's an idiot. He keeps on yelling, and we look, and sure enough, a guy dressed as an easter bunny is walking around the hall.
Well... just as we starting watchin him, out of almost every room in the hall come guys wielding tennis rackets, base ball bats, golf clubs, chairs, w/e and start chasing the bunny down the stairs! It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life! I heard from other guys who live on second floor that they thought it was the oddest thing, they look out their door, and they see a 6 ft 2 in bunny running full sprint with a herd of about 15 guys chasing him going "ooga ooga ooga". Well, in the end, they caught him, and beat him til his head popped off... Just for you outside the bubble, this isn't... too commonplace in BJ... **cough cough**

First Day

2006-05-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Just testing this blogger thing out. Not quite sure what all I'll put into it... like if I'll use it for a diary for all the world to see, or if I'll accually put something meaningful in here... we'll see.