Tuesday, July 06, 2010

I thought I was going to be single forever!

So I was becoming under the impression (maybe like you were) that I'd be single forever and ever and ever. Luckily, that is not looking like the case. Some of you are probably wondering where on earth she came from and wanting to know more about her and us, so I figured I'd elaborate a little bit more in these areas.


 
This may or may not surprise you but I've known Becka for a couple of years. I met her back at a home bible study that I visited frequently (and eventually taught at a few times). I remember when she walked in the door and I remember a lot about that first night. We hit it off and we hung out together that night (as a group) and talked about Star Wars among other things. A few weeks went by and we started hanging out with each other in groups and talking/texting with each other. We went on a few group dates with friends and we had a blast.  I really enjoyed being with her and she really enjoyed being with me. Unfortunately, some random things happened between us like me being dumb about certain things and her feeling she was too spiritually immature at the time for a relationship so we decided to be friends and actually be friends (instead of that awkward pink elephant in the room to each other).

So for the majority of the past two years (this is my side of the story, ask Becka for hers lol). We have just been friends from a distance and have not had a ton of interaction together except in passing. I wasn't sure but about a year after us not dating I started picking up random signals that she might still like me. She always seemed to give me extra attention when I was around, like on Halloween 2009. On News Years Eve 2009/2010 Becka basically asked me out (to go to a party) but I decided to go to Allison's and hang out there with all my friends from Activate. I stood her up. I felt bad about it back then but I feel really bad about it now, lol. I'm not entirely sure why I was avoiding her, maybe I was too scared to enter into a relationship. (I don't like to enter relationships frequently or frivolously; she has been the only person I've dated ever since I broke up with Anastassia (my last girlfriend) since early 2007.)

So this sneaking suspicion that Becka liked me continued on throughout 2010. Becka had been going out witnessing with the Well group until they disintegrated and were no more. Then Becka started coming on Saturday nights, the nights that I am in charge of. Needless to say, I was suuuuper suspicious of her and her motives. I critiqued her every move and every word to try and discern why she was coming out witnessing with us now. As time went on it became more and more clear that she was coming out for the right reasons and not because of me. She would never give me special attention, she never asked or hinted to be put in my group (I never have), she never arrived early to hang out with me, she always left really soon after the night was over, she never even really talked to me unless I talked to her.

I never really stopped liking her. But the distance we created from 2 years ago made me forget about her and "us." So with her being involved with Saturdays and seeing her sometimes at Day7 made me rethink and start to remember those things again. One Friday after SWAT: Develop went out to LA to invite people to Pastor's Steve's new church I came back to my house where a surprise party was going on for Corey Todd. Becka was there, in fact she was the first person I saw when I came into my house. Should I go to bed since I am tired or should I go back out and socialize with people?

I decided to go back out and I hung out with some of the people at the party. I kind of gravitated towards Becka and a bunch of us were talking about lots of different things. I was enjoying the conversation we all were having, but I was thoroughly enjoying the time I got to spend with Becka. We all talked about all sorts of things and we laughed and had a great time. I went to go show her a video of something we were talking about on my phone and as we all leaned in (I was next to Becka of course) I stopped watching the video and started thinking. I was having an inner monologue moment and I realized that Becka had many of the qualities I was looking for in a future Wife/Mother/Helper. It was like a revelation and my eyes were opened. It was definitely strange.


Since then we have spent a lot of time together catching up on things. It feels like we've just picked up right where we left off. I'm really excited to see how the Lord will use the both of us together and our differing gifts to complement each other and fulfill our ministry.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Last Day of Biblical Preaching Class

So today is the last day of my Biblical Preaching class. It's been fun and I've learned a lot. I'm a little nervous right now, but I know I don't really have a reason to be. Well, except for the fact that I'll be preaching in front of the class for 10 minutes.

It's not that I'm nervous about doing it, its more that I'm anxious and I just want to get it over with. I'm don't like waiting around all day for these sort of things. I'm still not completely done with my sermon either, however I'm done with the 10 minutes that I'll be speaking about during the class. The clock slowly ticks away until 6pm.

Oh and it will be recorded. So that will be fun to compare myself now to the future. Hopefully I don't bomb it today!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Potential Blog Revamp

So perhaps its just the mood that I'm in, but I am really feeling that I want to revamp my blog and change the style and get a picture at the top of my blog. Actually, I just want my blog to be cool like Liz's Blog is!

I like what she's done with her blog and I actually feel like writing stuff. Maybe since things are actually happening in my life or maybe I'm not as boring as I used to be.

I'll sum up some of the things that have been happening to me lately (or are still happening) that have been floating around my mind:
  • Madness of homework at CBU. I have to prepare a sermon to preach in class tomorrow night.
  • Wondering what is the fate of the High School ministry in light of Steve leaving
  • Who am I going to marry?? (lol)
  • Should I look for a new job or wait until after school?
  • Spending almost 2 entire days trying to fix my laptop, reinstalling Windows 7 and reinstalling all the little things that made my laptop unique.
  • Curious who this mysterious formspring girl is? Is it even a girl?
  • How can I continue to grow in my Walk with the Lord?
  • How can I make my blog as cool as Liz's??

So... those are a few things on my mind.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Scoring Points for the Afterlife

This is something that I have been thinking about for a long time. It is something that I frequently encounter on the streets by Christians and non-Christians alike. Personally, I find it frightening that non-Christians think this way and even more frightened that Christians think this way too. What I am talking about is the idea that somehow we can work our way to Heaven. The thought that if we can do enough good things, they will somehow outweigh or cancel out the bad, horrible things that we have done here in our time on Earth.

I generally find that strong, mature Christians do not buy into this as much. However, it needs to be pointed out that this belief is completely false. It does not matter how many good things you do, you are still guilty. I think that part of the reason this is the case is because our culture in inundated with this thinking.

Take a portion from Weird Al's parody "Amish Paradise" for example. Read the lyrics below and you'll see what I mean.
Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lots of butter
Raised the barn on Monday, soon I'll raise another
Think you're really righteous? Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art
I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes wanna be like
On my knees day and night scorin' points for the afterlife

So don't be vain and don't be whiny
Or else, my brother, I might have to get medieval on your hiney
This song (although a parody) is a secular take at Christian life (albeit Amish) and this portion of quoted lyric is an example of how secular non-Christian people view salvation in Christ.

Paul addresses this clearly for us in Ephesians 2:8-9 where he writes, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

When Paul is speaking of works in verse 9 he is specifically talking about the Jewish customs that one performed in service to God. Paul is writing the church at Ephesus so they know that they haven't been enabled to go to Heaven because they have completed certain religious achievements but because Christ's substitutionary death on the cross atoned for their sins. Just like Christ's death atoned for the sins of the Ephesians, it atones for our sins as well, today.

Christ will judge both the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5) and the judgment is based on your standing with Him. Are you reconciled to Him or not? Are you forgiven of your sin or not? Are you adopted by the Father or not? Has your sin been removed from your account or not? Is your rap sheet clean or not?

To continue the thought of being judged consider this: You are standing before Christ, the judge, in His court of law. He has all the evidence you could ever want: eyewitness testimony, pictures, video, audio, he knows your thoughts and your heart while you did everything sinful. There is no question, you are guilty of the sin you have committed. You are about to be sentenced, the gavel is about to be slammed down but you object. You say, "Well, what if I can do more good things that will outweigh all of the crimes that I have been charged with?" Do you realize what you are doing? You are bribing the judge with your "good works."

You cannot bribe the judge (especially a judge who is completely good, righteous, just and will not compromise his ways)! If you bribe the judge it usually means you get thrown into prison quicker! This is all assuming that you could somehow outweigh the bad with good deeds.

This is why non-believers are hopelessly lost. If you are reading this and you aren't a Christian and you have thought this way, you need to realize your error. Your crimes aren't going to be erased because you set out to do "good things," not here on Earth and not later when you will be judged for those things.

So how can you stand before a Holy God and have any hope to enter into Heaven? You have to have your rap sheet wiped clean. You need to have your sins pardoned. You need to take your case to the cross.

God says that he "is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God doesn't want his favorite creation to suffer an eternal death in Hell, separated from Him. He instead wants us to turn away from our sin and turn towards Him. God wants us to stop loving our sin, and start loving Himself. That is what repentance is.

Turn away from what is hindering you from following and loving God supremely and "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

The afterlife isn't based on "points" or a "grade." It is pass or fail.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Book Dilemma





Which book do I read first?

Orthodoxy (Right-Thinking) or How to Read.. (Right-Reading)

PARADOX!!!!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Ultimate NERF Rescue Mission!

A couple of us put this short movie together to get kids excited to bring their NERF guns to camp! I'm excited for camp and I'm excited for part II of this movie! Enjoy!



Watch it Full Screen! :)

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

3 Types of Apologetics

Classical Apologetics
General Characteristics:
- Stresses rational (logical) argumentation for the existence of God.
- It is necessary to demonstrate the existence of God first in order to argue for the resurrection of Jesus (God must exist for miracles to occur).
Adherents: Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, R.C. Sproul, etc.
Scriptural Support: Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Evidential Apologetics
General Characteristics:
- They emphasize giving evidence for the Christian faith whether historical, logical, etc.
- They think miracles do not presuppose God’s existence, but can serve as evidence for His existence.
- Resurrection for example
Adherents: B.B. Warfield, John Warwick Montgomery, Gary Habermas, etc.
Scriptural Support: 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 “For I delivered to you 1as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;”

Presuppositional Apologetics
General Characteristics:
- Emphasizes the importance of presuppositions (things you presuppose to be true) and/or the foundations of one’s thinking.
- Assumes the existence of God and the truth of the Bible.
- They would ask an Atheist for example: “How does your worldview account for logic? How can you make sense out of ethics, the dignity of man?” The Presuppositional approach seeks to uncover one’s presuppositions.
Adherents: John Frame, Greg Bahnsen, Cornelius Van Till, etc.
Scriptural Support: 2 Peter 3:5 “For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water,”

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pro Bull Riding

PBR
Yesterday was my first time at a Professional Bull Riding event. I have to say from what I saw, I liked it and I'd like to go back another time. I wasn't sure what I was going to see, but the Honda Center was packed out with people and bulls!

SWAT got their own section in the nosebleeds. Soon after the PBR name got lit on the ground (which was awesome) Brad and I went outside to help out with tickets and getting people with vouchers separated from regular ticket holders, it was a mess! After that we headed back up and my buddy Josh was there looking discontent. He had some issues with the small seating and the usher people kept moving him around much to his dislike.

Josh ended up going outside to cool down and one of the usher people was nice enough to find an open area for us to sit in another section downstairs. Josh comes inside and we grab some food and go sit in the section assigned to us. To my shagrin we end up in a section right by one of my friends! So we ended up talking for a while and I met their cousin who goes to CBU and is on the wrestling team. Hopefully I'll get to see that guy more.

Afterwords the follow-up was discombobulated. Maybe that was because the headset that I had on never actually worked. The entire night. At least I looked semi important, (just kidding). But the Gospel went out and people responded so our investment into this event was not useless. I'm glad about that.

I was

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Project: Quotations

As I haven't had a real blog in a long time, I figures this would be a good way to accomplish this and celebrate the new year! Yay! Anyways, late 2009 myself and some fellow Bloggers got together and created an entirely new blog.

This new blog is entirely dedicated to providing quotes on a weekly basis that will meet the Christian where they are at or challenge them in their walk. We have all sorts of topics from apologetical, theological and even practical quotes that can help the Christian in their walk. Additionally, we cite all of our sources so if there is a quote or author that you particularly like you can find enough information about the book to acquire it yourself.

You can find that blog over at projectquotations.blogspot.com. We are all thoroughly excited about this project as we use this to equip the body and grow in each of our walks in the Lord.