It poured harder than it had ever poured before. The storm was unbearable. The long black locks of his curly hair were dripping wet and were no longer curly. His skin had the growth of a week on it turning his normally beautiful skin into patchy garden through which the tears fell. His head lay in a puddle on his pillow. His body curled up and shaking. In his hands he held clenching a jewel worth the world to him.
He had been so tough his whole life. He was massive, toning his body everyday. He had experience the pain of tattoos covering his back and biceps. He had even experienced the emotional pain of loosing friends to car crashes, drug, and the military.
When they met he thought she was perfect. The complexion of her skin as smooth as silk was perfect, not too pale, but not too dark. Her hair was the color of the sands and the beach and it hung loosely in front of her face cover one of her eyes until he hand brushed it away revealing a pair of eyes as blue as brightest oceans rimmed in the darkest regions of space. Upon her nose were sprinkled the lightest of freckles that seemed they would fly off if she sneezed. The smile on her face was like a knife slashing at his heart. As she sat there reading she bit her lower lip while still always maintaining that breathtaking smile.
Their love was perfect in every way. They were the true Romeo and Juliets of society. They were always abounding in love for each other; doing everything they could to have the best for the other.
This was his first night without her. He lay there questioning God, why? He didn’t know if he would make it through the night. He prayed prayers of anger and of questions. The life of his soul had been taken.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Deer in the Headlights
I was recently talking with a friends of mine who is on a mission trip in New Orleans and he was telling me how he felt so unmotivated because of the sheer fact there is so much work to be done and he doesn't know where to start.
Sometimes we have the best intentions of doing things but we stand there like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to do so we get hit and unmotivated and never start.
Right now, as this is being read, a child has died from malnutrition, someone was murdered, raped, a child was abused mentally, physically, and sexually, girls are sold as sex slaves, HIV killed another victim, a child's life is torn apart by divorce, the pornography industry continues to make its billions of dollars, millions on child pornography and violating women in ways that disgust me to think about, a mother throws away her baby as if it is trash, people are tortured and brutally killed for their beliefs.
This is a disturbing thing to think but it is all real. I sit here using wireless Internet on a $2500 laptop while the world around me is in such need. One billion people on earth live on or less than $1 per day while we can work and make $6 per hour for flipping burgers. Where are we to draw the line at living a happy and full life and becoming victims of a massive consumer society?
To look at these problems seems overwhelming and too big to tackle, and if we do nothing then they won't be tackled. If we just stopped staring into the headlights and moved into action we could make the world a better place. If we band together to make this world a better place and stop giving thousands of our dollars a year to the consumer society and give them to people who actually need them we could transform the world.
The problems are all over the world, even in the utopia we call America. I hope it disgusts you when you go over the list of problems I presented and makes you cringe when you think of those things happening to little innocent children. For a small sacrifice of our personal paradise we can help others around the world to know what it is to be loved and have someone reach out to them as they lay naked in the dirty streets and help give them something they have never had, love.
Bread for the World is a very good organization that you should check out and pray about supporting.
Sometimes we have the best intentions of doing things but we stand there like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to do so we get hit and unmotivated and never start.
Right now, as this is being read, a child has died from malnutrition, someone was murdered, raped, a child was abused mentally, physically, and sexually, girls are sold as sex slaves, HIV killed another victim, a child's life is torn apart by divorce, the pornography industry continues to make its billions of dollars, millions on child pornography and violating women in ways that disgust me to think about, a mother throws away her baby as if it is trash, people are tortured and brutally killed for their beliefs.
This is a disturbing thing to think but it is all real. I sit here using wireless Internet on a $2500 laptop while the world around me is in such need. One billion people on earth live on or less than $1 per day while we can work and make $6 per hour for flipping burgers. Where are we to draw the line at living a happy and full life and becoming victims of a massive consumer society?
To look at these problems seems overwhelming and too big to tackle, and if we do nothing then they won't be tackled. If we just stopped staring into the headlights and moved into action we could make the world a better place. If we band together to make this world a better place and stop giving thousands of our dollars a year to the consumer society and give them to people who actually need them we could transform the world.
The problems are all over the world, even in the utopia we call America. I hope it disgusts you when you go over the list of problems I presented and makes you cringe when you think of those things happening to little innocent children. For a small sacrifice of our personal paradise we can help others around the world to know what it is to be loved and have someone reach out to them as they lay naked in the dirty streets and help give them something they have never had, love.
Bread for the World is a very good organization that you should check out and pray about supporting.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Luke 23:27
This has been on my mind and Spurgeon said it for me years ago.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/morneve.d0409am.html
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/morneve.d0409am.html
One little girl...
Today before church started I was asked to help serve communion and the offering. So when the time can I went to my respective spot and started passing the plates down the aisle. It didn't take me long to realize this one very special person who was sitting on the end of the row that was close to me.
She was the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. Maybe around 5 or 6 years old. She had a face that shone like sunshine. She just looked up at me with the cutest grin that just made my heart melt. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit and smile back at her with a big smile. She was all dressed up for Easter with her little dress and hat on, she was adorable.
Seeing her and just smiling at her made me remember my days of working with toddlers and how precious they are. How innocent they are. They are a reflection of God. So cute and wonderful. So delicate.
I have always wanted a little girl, but after today I want one of my children to be a girl even more. The bad part will probably be that I will spoil her more than I should, a daddy's girl ha ha.
She was the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. Maybe around 5 or 6 years old. She had a face that shone like sunshine. She just looked up at me with the cutest grin that just made my heart melt. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit and smile back at her with a big smile. She was all dressed up for Easter with her little dress and hat on, she was adorable.
Seeing her and just smiling at her made me remember my days of working with toddlers and how precious they are. How innocent they are. They are a reflection of God. So cute and wonderful. So delicate.
I have always wanted a little girl, but after today I want one of my children to be a girl even more. The bad part will probably be that I will spoil her more than I should, a daddy's girl ha ha.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Love, Is It the Movement?
for about an hour now i have been sitting here at my computer listening to music and just reading some people's blogs. the topic of love came up in one particular blog and i was completely fascinated by this entry. the response to this entry by the readers really opened up my mind and began to tear at what i thought about love.
many people want to find love in their life, that "love of their life." that is the most important thing to a young adolescent person it seems. couples, no matter what age, often say that they are in love whether the have been together weeks or years. a young man named andrew made the statement that often times we mistake love for comfort. we are with someone so long or just feel comfortable around them so quickly that we think that it is love when it is really just comfort with that person. i agree with andrew here. i know that i myself have fallen into the trap of comfort, if you will.
the blog i read the original post from was that of stephen christian in which he says that before we go off pursuing mr. or mrs. right that we must first become a mr. or mrs. right our self. we ought to know what kind of spouse and partner that we want to be before we look for the one that is right for us, and in many cases that i know of personally this may take years to finally complete. God blessed the world through a man that i believe has made a HUGE impact on many peoples lives including my own, C. S. Lewis. lewis once said "The more we let God take over, the more truly ourselves we become-because he made us." i think the lewis hit the nail right on the head here when he says this, this is becoming the "right" person.
have you ever seen a person so desperate for love they would do anything yet they hated them self? how can a person love another human being and say they will respect and care for them when they don't even do the same things for them self. mr right will never be achieved by someone who hates them self. which will also make mrs right very hard to find and keep.
drawing near to God and loving God is a great step in loving one's self and becoming the person they truly are to their full potential. God pours out his love waiting for us to accept it and love him back.
before you can fall in love with your soul-mate you must first love the world. by world i don't mean the secular world of hollywood and things in the world, but rather the people in the world. loving the world is a critical step to unlocking one's own heart and reaching their full potential. Mr. John Andrew Holmes said "there is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." nothing makes me better than the person next to me, not my job, car, relationships, talents, nothing. success is not measured by whether or not you become ceo of a company but rather it should be measured by that joy and happiness that one finds in their career and work. stephen used the illustration of a young boy in India who was shining shoes with his father and said that is what he was going to do when he grew up. that boy was a success already at the age of 10. he loved what he did and did it to the bets of his abilities. some would say that stephen was more successful than this boy since he was an excelling musician but he wasn't, they were both equal, both happy and joyful in what they did. if we are no better than anyone else in the world, what keeps us from loving them? why keep putting them down and trying to rule over them? they go through the same struggles that we do and want to love and acceptance just like us. why should we shun them?
after we have found our self, our self in God, and we have love for the world in heart then we are ready and able to find that mr or mrs right. now don't get me wrong, there are other ways to go about this for different people and many may disagree with me about this but i believe that this process of self-renewal is the key to love.
many people profess love with their mouths but never act on their own words. Christians in particular are getting bad about this, not every single one but rather many people who call them selves Christian. Louis Nizer said "true religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess."
don't say love, live love.
many people want to find love in their life, that "love of their life." that is the most important thing to a young adolescent person it seems. couples, no matter what age, often say that they are in love whether the have been together weeks or years. a young man named andrew made the statement that often times we mistake love for comfort. we are with someone so long or just feel comfortable around them so quickly that we think that it is love when it is really just comfort with that person. i agree with andrew here. i know that i myself have fallen into the trap of comfort, if you will.
the blog i read the original post from was that of stephen christian in which he says that before we go off pursuing mr. or mrs. right that we must first become a mr. or mrs. right our self. we ought to know what kind of spouse and partner that we want to be before we look for the one that is right for us, and in many cases that i know of personally this may take years to finally complete. God blessed the world through a man that i believe has made a HUGE impact on many peoples lives including my own, C. S. Lewis. lewis once said "The more we let God take over, the more truly ourselves we become-because he made us." i think the lewis hit the nail right on the head here when he says this, this is becoming the "right" person.
have you ever seen a person so desperate for love they would do anything yet they hated them self? how can a person love another human being and say they will respect and care for them when they don't even do the same things for them self. mr right will never be achieved by someone who hates them self. which will also make mrs right very hard to find and keep.
drawing near to God and loving God is a great step in loving one's self and becoming the person they truly are to their full potential. God pours out his love waiting for us to accept it and love him back.
before you can fall in love with your soul-mate you must first love the world. by world i don't mean the secular world of hollywood and things in the world, but rather the people in the world. loving the world is a critical step to unlocking one's own heart and reaching their full potential. Mr. John Andrew Holmes said "there is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." nothing makes me better than the person next to me, not my job, car, relationships, talents, nothing. success is not measured by whether or not you become ceo of a company but rather it should be measured by that joy and happiness that one finds in their career and work. stephen used the illustration of a young boy in India who was shining shoes with his father and said that is what he was going to do when he grew up. that boy was a success already at the age of 10. he loved what he did and did it to the bets of his abilities. some would say that stephen was more successful than this boy since he was an excelling musician but he wasn't, they were both equal, both happy and joyful in what they did. if we are no better than anyone else in the world, what keeps us from loving them? why keep putting them down and trying to rule over them? they go through the same struggles that we do and want to love and acceptance just like us. why should we shun them?
after we have found our self, our self in God, and we have love for the world in heart then we are ready and able to find that mr or mrs right. now don't get me wrong, there are other ways to go about this for different people and many may disagree with me about this but i believe that this process of self-renewal is the key to love.
many people profess love with their mouths but never act on their own words. Christians in particular are getting bad about this, not every single one but rather many people who call them selves Christian. Louis Nizer said "true religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess."
don't say love, live love.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Great Day
So, ironically, I did not hear the words "April Fools!" once today and I thought that was great.
But on to the real reason I write.
Today church (Crossing Christian Church) was just amazing. I thought it was one of the best services I have seen. The musical was phenomenal. The message was great. I had a few things just hit me the night before when I was watching the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven that made things at church come home. What man is a man that does not make the world a better place? What we have we should use to help others and is of no real value to use, you know stuff I already knew, just re-emphasized. Church was just all around good.
Then when I got home I walked around our land for about an hour taking pictures and just loving God, which was incredible. Then most of the family (sisters, brothers, aunts & uncles, grandparents) came over and we had a huge cookout and just chilled together.
Then Adam and Ashley came over and we went fishing and caught tons of fish and just had a good ole time. Now Chase, Holman, and I are going to watch Children of Men. Today has just been an incredible Sunday. Pity I must return to the world of banking tomorrow.
God's glory is revealed on beautiful days like these.
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