Little bit of life....

So this summer has been ridiculously busy for me. Mostly with work and making plans for the future.

HERE ARE SOME OF THOSE PLANS:
I am currently in the middle of taking a CNA certification class that will allow me to begin working in a hospital as a patient care technician. In about one week I will also begin taking classes to fill out the prerequisite requirements for admission into the nursing program. At the moment my plan is to complete that program and then go on to Med school. That is a lot of school! While I am confident that this is the direction that I want to go, life has a way of shaping things sometimes. So for now, one step at a time.

On a different thought. I have also been preparing all summer to start my own company. This has primarily been researching the legal stuff regarding business structure, tax codes, etc... I am really excited about this. I should be ready to start it up in september. Keep me in your prayers cause this will likely be a wild ride.

And now for something completely different. I am working on writing a book. This has been a dream of mine for a while and over the last month and a half I have start collecting my notes and organizing my ideas. I suspect this will be a long process and likely be one of the back burner things on my mind during the school year.However it is something I am intent on doing.

This is the first entry in the school year's blog. My hope is to update this at least once a week with progress on the above mentinoed activities and thoughts about everything else. Thanks for reading this and please keep me accountable to writing once a week. Also let me know if you like what you read as I am working on ideas for a book. Love ya'll

The Conservative nature of Freedom

It has been entirely to long since I have written. As a result my mind is full of thoughts and ideas to share. I recently finished the book, " Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin. Brilliant book, well deserving of its place on the New York times best seller list. The man has methodically examined the nature of Conservatism verses Liberalism in regards to government. One of the best thoughts he conveys in his book is the idea that conservatives live by a creed, "Live and let live." Freedom is a responsibility that is to heavy for most people, especially those who do not think through there actions. The freedom shared by citizens of this great country allows for heinous manipulation by those who rather than embrace their freedoms chose to seek power instead. They seek to limit the freedoms of others so that they can be powerful. Rather than work for their rewards. They demand others work for it and give it to them. They demand socialized health care. Welfare/Food for all without working for it or contributing to the program. There is no motivation to. This does not sound like live and let live. Rather it sounds like, " Leech and let die." Which would you choose?

Leadership and Life

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately. It is complex, multifaceted, and tough. On the other hand it is also extremely essential and practical. So perhaps a series of discussions on this topic will emerge.

I was reading a verse today in 2 Timothy about life. The reference was 2 Timothy 2:4. " No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him." The emphasis is mine on everyday life. This led me to a series of thoughts.

How often are we entangled in everyday life? If you are like me the answer is "All the time. Hello!!! Its my life." And maybe thats a fair thought but its not what we are told to do.

Do you remember yoda? If you have seen the more recent star wars movies you will remember seeing this little green guy in the midst of a huge battle just walking along. He is not worried at all about the explosions all around or the blaster fire or even the enemies. He is focused on the big picture. There is a battle raging and he is focused on the strategy and how to win the whole battle not just his "everyday life."

We should be like Yoda more often. Philosophy aside. His attitude reflects that of Christ when he says in Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" We should be more focused on Christ and His big picture than our own little area. A result of looking up at the big picture will be that our own little area is put in proper perspective, and often the way through is easier to see when we have the right perspective.

Spiritual Wrestling

November 13th, 2008

Spiritual Growth is an interesting process of building and breaking. God is the potter and we are the clay. the funny thing about this is that often our lives take a shape in one stage then without explanation or warning God removes or reshapes us. Some times on such a level that we are crumpled back into a lump of unformed clay. The attributes we have learned are like color or textures that are still in the lump but our form is changed so that our purpose is more fully realized.

Because of our sinful human nature we feel this process like a wrestling match between God and ourselves. Obviously he would win. but he allows us to struggle against Him to strengthen our understanding of who he is. There is another kind of wrestling that occurs in our souls and minds. This is the struggle that the bible talks about in Philippians 2:12. Working out your faith is not an easy process it requires asking hard questions in the realm of theoretical and practical. It means coming to an answer about the problem of pain.(Read C.S. Lewis "The Problem of Pain") It means having an answer to someone asking you, "so my grandfather lived in india and never heard of Christ, are you telling me he is in hell?" These are hard questions that few people think about enough.

I challenge you my family of believers. Work out your faith with fear and trembling. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks. But above all live out your faith, DO NOT SHAME THE NAME OF CHRIST BY YOUR ACTIONS.

The Fall of Democracy

"So this is how democracy ends... With thunderous applause."

The first black man in American history has won the white house. While there maybe a certain amount of pride that we can take in this accomplishment there are many concerns. Not at all because he is black. But rather because of what his world view is. Socialism. It is a great idea but only in a perfect world. Anyone who has lived longer than a minute could attest that the world is not perfect. In a imperfect world the examples of socialism are all disastrous. I know I will be thought of as a conspiracy theorist. Democracy is standing on the edge of a knife. There are only a few things that would need to happen that would lead to a dictatorship. For example an attack on America by Russia or another power. With legislation in effect that allows the president to assume a military state under FEMA. With him as the supreme commander. Then it is a rather quick decay into tyranny. Read Plato's Republic. It contains an insightful look into the decay of government into tyranny. I hope that we don't see that in our country.

The New Phase

So this is the first entry in a new phase of my blog. Many of you are my friends and we it is hard to find time to call everyone so this is my attempt to continually update you on my life. God is working some amazing things into and through my life. Enjoy reading and praise God.

October 30, 2008

Thursday, I am almost done with a long weekend and week. I just started a new job at Salt Grass Steak house and the train ran all weekend long. Followed by a serious mid term in greek on Tuesday and a paper for baptist history class on Wednesday. I trained more that night and now it seems like it will slow down a little. My life is always busy. Someone once told me I was the busiest person who does nothing. While the nothing part isn't true I am extremely busy. I am leading a small group of men that are in their twenties. This week a new guy came. I am extremely excited about this group, God is going to work in some amazing ways as we explore what it means to be a Godly man.

November 13, 2008

Thursday again, and here I am waiting for my greek class to start. The job at Salt Grass is going well. Registration for classes in the spring is about to start so i will be planning the next few months soon. I hosted a "Dinners for Six" last week. That is a dinner with five strangers from church with the purpose of building new relationships. It went really well. I met some new people and we had some great conversations about mens and womens roles (which is what our church has been studying). Soul care for kids is also going really well. This is a divorce recovery class for kids that are between 1st and 6th grade. These kids are so amazing and so very hurt by the selfishness of their parents. Please pray that God heals their hearts.

Why Are Men So Angry?

There is a disturbing truth out there in the world, that is that men are angry. There are thousands of surface reasons. Some jerk cuts us off in traffic, some jerk at work took the last of the coffee, our wives are not happy with us, we are constantly pressed to meet deadlines, we work harder and harder but we never seem to get ahead, etc... All of these reasons seem to me to be surface reasons rather than the deep issue.

Pride. Pride is at the heart of the issue. there is a story about the creation of the world in the bible in which God creates everything and man. A series of events and the man sins against God. He puts himself on the throne of worship rather than God so God curses the man and woman. The man will forever have to work for his life. It will never be easy. The world will forever fight him. There will be pressure, there will be expectations, there will be pain all for very little reward. This sounds like the world we are currently in.

Enter the character of God. He is good, loving, JUST, merciful, powerful, etc... This creates a certain conflict in the minds of most men. We feel in some way wronged that we are held accountable for the sin of our fore father. Truth be told we are just as guilty and choose to sin just as Adam did. But our pride doesn't let us believe that we are guilty. So we find ourselves in conflict and as a result angry. We feel wronged that life is hard. That we never catch a break. Or that we can't get ahead. Furthermore God might slight us in this regard but we need not accept it from others of our own race. So some one cutting us off on the road is unacceptable and somebody in our office being a jerk is enough to push us over the edge. We are seriously close to the abyss of rage.

There is very little besides submission and obedience to the will of God that is capable of quelling our anger. In other words dying to self is the only way that we can square with the truth of our situation. Dying to self is impossible without the grace of God which again is a seeming consequence. You might ask yourself why would i submit to a God who does these things to me? And this is where faith comes in. Do you believe he is God? If you do then he is allowed to do whatever brings glory to himself. This is what is consistent with His Character.

This is something that must be wrestled through. It will define what a man thinks of himself and the world around
him. So men think about it and wrestle through it. God is waiting for you to come to Him with these thoughts, with the anger, with the hurt, with everything you are. when you come to Him you will find yourself being transformed. Into the man you will want to be. I look forward to seeing what you become.