How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realise just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

-David Crowder Band

That song, How He Loves Us, is one of my favorite songs, and I literally sing at the top of my lungs when this song comes on the radio, or even right now when I am writing this post. The reason this song really plucks at my heartstrings is that it is sooooooo amazing how much God actually loves us and cares for our well-being.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The most famous verse of the bible right there, by far, because that verse shows just How He Loves Us. Lets break it down, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son".....What exactly does that mean? Well, I think of it as God loved US, you and I, SOOOOOO much that he SACRIFICED his Son, Jesus Christ, but to do what? The other half of the verse says, "....that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have ETERNAL life." That half says in my view that if we fully believe in God and in Christ we will have eternal life, or everlasting life. In other words, we will be GLORIFIED in the kingdom of heaven. Now put that together. God loved US SOOOOOOOOO much that he SACRIFICED his Son to SAVE us from our sins and to be GLORIFIED in the kingdom of heaven.
Think back to the song, How He Loves Us by The David Crowder Band. The song tells us of how much God actually loves and will continue to love us. It tells us that God's LOVE is unimaginable. It is beyond comprehesion. If we tried to comprehend how much he actually loves us, our minds would not be able to grasp on to it. God loves US soooooo much that he let his Son die for our Sins to be washed away, and for us to be glorified in heaven alongside them.

And O how He loves us
Oh, O how He loves us
How He loves us all

He most definitely loves us all indeed!

-Amen

Be like Your Rabbi....

Today, I was leading a Sunday School type thing we call 7-up at my church (7th grade and up, hence the name), and we pulled out a video from the Nooma series by Rob Bell (check it out) and popped it in. This video was about being Jesus' disciples and to be like Christ Jesus. Well in the video, Rob tells about Rabbi's and their disciples. He says that the disciples that the Rabbis chose were the cream of the crop, with the same ideals and visions about God as they did. He also goes on to state that if a Jewish man (we would call them young men like the ages 15-20) was working as a fishermen or any other job they were not considered "worthy" to be a disciple of any Rabbi. This next part is what really hit me. When Jesus chose his disciples, if you remember correctly, they all were working men, none of which were accepted by other Rabbis to be their disciples. None of them made the cut. So, think about that. Jesus selected everyday men and women to be his followers. To pick up their crosses daily and to be like Christ Jesus. That is kind of amazing to think about, that Jesus selected basically the B-squad of followers, the everyday people, the middle class of the faith to trust in them that they would spread his word and alter history forever by continuing Jesus' work.

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus."

- Philippians 2:5 (NIV)

This verse was our theme verse for my church's last trip to the Youth Gathering in New Orleans, and the theme that was decided to go along with that was "Think. Act. Be.........like Jesus," which is exactly what Rob Bell was saying in that video I was talking about earlier. To be like Christ Jesus, to be like your Rabbi. Now, if you all haven't inferred this already our Rabbi is no other than our Savior, Jesus. He selected people just like you and me, of the same age to drop what the work they were doing and follow him, to be his disciples. This may feel like I'm pounding this point into your heads, but it is worth repeating. The disciples were the same as us, ages 15-20 and were not the most faithful people in the world, even they had their flaws. The bible says that when Jesus and Peter were walking on the water that Peter began to sink. When he cried for help, Jesus asked him, "Why do you doubt?" He wasn't asking why Peter doubted Jesus. He asked why Peter doubted himself as a disciple, a follower of Christ.

Jesus didn't select the "all-stars" or the "superstars" of faith, he selected people from all demographics and told them to "come and follow me." I mean, Matthew was a tax-collector, basically what the IRS is today, and Peter was a fishermen. Now, think of yourself, we are also disciples of Christ in the here and now. We the new followers of Christ are his disciples, we are here to emanate God and to be like Christ Jesus. I ask myself how can I do this? But then I think back to the disciples, those 12 that dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. I then know that it is most definitely possible to be in the same mind and heart of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ.

Hierarchy...

When you think about a hierarchy, what is the first that you think of? For me, I think of what in the world a hierarchy is in the first place. Well, the dictionary definition that fits what I'm talking about is "any system of persons or things ranked one above the other." Now bring that definition back to our faith. Normally, you would think God is number one in our hierarchy of the Trinity followed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God is all powerful, all knowing, and in everything, but in the book that I have been literally glued to, "The Shack," says something that totally makes sense to me when you break it down, but when I first read it, it sounded confusing and encrypted. Well, here is my interpretation of it. The book tells us that God is not at the hierarchy of the Trinity, but he IS the Trinity. He is fully himself as God, fully himself as a human other wise known as Jesus, and fully himself as a spirit or the Holy Spirit. He intended for there to be NO hierarchies, NO laws, and for us to govern ourselves WITH Him, with the guidance and nurturing of Him. The book also goes on to say that when God created us He intended to have us to be in the Trinity alongside the others, to be in that close-knit relationship that they share, and that when temptation brought us into sin that we kind of broke off and became independent, which humans still want to this day, to be independent. BUT, that is not what God wants for us, he wants us to be in that close-knit, loving, and trusting relationship with God. So, basically what you are saying Tyler is that it all revolves around the relationship you have with God? Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. If we have that one-on-one loving and trusting relationship with Him then we will all be more likely to spread that LOVE and RESPECT to others, making the hierarchies and laws we have in place pointless and bringing us back to our Almighty and Merciful God.

Did that make any sense at all? ha ha

The Show Goes On

"So no matter what been through, no matter what you into
No matter what you see when you look outside your window
Brown grass or green grass, picket fence or barbed wire
Never ever put them down, you just lift your arms higher
Raise 'em 'til your arms tired, let 'em know you here
That you struggling, survivin', that you gon' persevere"
       --Lupe Fiasco "Show Goes On"

Ok, so Tyler took a big leap on here with his personal faith walk, and it inspired me to do the same.  More specifically, the major moments of mine.

The thing that I believe shaped me the most, positively and negatively, happened to me in kindergarten, and is really hard for me to talk about. Up to this point I've only told a very small group of people.

For those of you who don't know, the house I've lived in since I was one is about 3 and a half blocks from school, so I've always walked.  Starting sometime in the winter of my kindergarten year, a kid started bullying me as a walked back to my house after school. He lived another two blocks or so past my house. I went to the catholic school, so I had a 6 minute head start until the public school was released, but he had a bicycle and would always catch up to me. He told me he was a senior, and that he was just short for his age, and I believed him.  Looking back now, he was probably in 4th grade.

Regardless, a kindergartener is the bottom of the food chain, so I didn't have a chance. It started with him calling me names, and pushing me, sometimes hitting me. Eventually, it elevated to a point where he would make me go into a driveway of an elderly neighbor nearby and drop my pants.  Then he would call me names and finally leave me alone so that I could go home. It was so embarrassing. I felt like I had no control over the situation, and he had threatened to hurt me if I told anyone, so I never told a soul until last year.

Eventually it stopped, and I started walking to and from school with a friend that lived nearby.

It's because of this that I have trouble trusting people, until I know them better. It's hard for me to open up, especially about how I feel, because at that point I learned that hiding my emotions got me through..

But like I said earlier, I also was affected positively by this. Being put through that has made me want to have a positive impact on the younger people around me. I still remember that time, and because of it I now do everything I can to leave a good impression on some of the younger kids at my school. It has also taught me to be not only a good listener, but to read between the lines when someone is upset, because maybe if I had someone like that it could have been put to a stop earlier.

The final thing that this taught me was forgiveness. Even though I still haven't fully forgiven that person, I have started to.

Jump ahead to my freshman year in high school. Our school isn't exactly bad, but then (and now) there was some immoral activity going on at parties. Towards the end of freshman year, I was getting invited to these parties, but I chose not to go to them if I knew there was alcohol there. However, as summer got underway, I was at some parties with friends who began suggesting that I start going to those parties. I was very close to going down the wrong path when an older friend suggested I go to TEC.

Both of my sister's had been involved, so I figured, "Why not, I don't have any other plans."  This decision ended up being a major life changer. Even though I had been raised in a fully catholic, church-every-sunday family, and had attended catholic school, my faith had never really developed.

Now to wrap it up.  "Why include the quote in the beginning?", you may ask.

I believe that who we are is based on the trials we go through, and that perseverance is one of the best qualities a person can have. My trials helped mold me into the person God intended me to be. It's easy to look at the bad things, and forget that the good things happened. When I look back at my life, I know I was blessed, despite the few bad things. I'm at a point in my faith where I feel comfortable moving on to the next part of my life, because I know God will watch out for me, and that the trials I face will only help me grow stronger.

My Walk....

So....lately I have been thinking about my Walk with Christ....I don't know why I have been thinking about it and dwelling on my past because I know God wants me to live in the present and not to worry about my past endeavors, but I can't help but look back at my Walk.
My Walk begins at the age of 5....now I only have scattered memories from this time, but here is what my Mom has filled me in with now so that I can understand a little better. My younger brother, who was 2 at this time, was diagnosed with leukemia. What is leukemia? Well it is basically where cancer cells in your blood are then attacked by the body's immune system making it weaker against minor sicknesses and ailments. OK...enough background on that. So, at the age of 5 my life was completely upside down. I felt like my parents abandoned me and my youngest brother, just a baby at the time, and were always gone to Minneapolis for doctor appointments and spinal taps etc....etc. But, during this time I stayed at my grandma's house. This is where my faith really began. She always talked about God's will and every night that we stayed there, me and her would pray right before bed to thank God for what we have and then asked him to heal my brother of that retched disease. The praying and all the support paid off, as he was healed of the disease!

Jeremiah 29:11 (one of my favorite verses) states: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This verse speaks about trusting the LORD for his plans are only good for you, even though we don't believe this statement at times and ask Why do these bad things happen to good people? Well, there is not a clear cut answer I can give you guys about why these things happen.....but I can tell you that in my personal experience God pulls you from the darkness that you are in and brings you back into the light because these things that happen to you are only made to help you succeed in life, not to bring you down.

In my life, the darkness that fell over me was tremendous after my brother was fully recovered. I was now in 4th grade and I my appetite began to increase. I grew in weight from average healthy weight, to an unhealthy weight. As a result of my weight gain, I became the "pick on kid," or the kid that everyone loved to make fun of. I mean I was called names all through those years, I even got the nickname "Rhino" because I would get SO angry with the name calling and would charge at the person out of pure frustration. These anger issues at school then became the same with my parents, and my mom especially.

This time was the time in my life that I hate to remember, when ever I think about the things I did, I cringe and sometimes sob in regret. This is even hard to tell you guys about as it still plucks at my heartstrings, but I ,as a 4th going into 5th grader, beat my mother. She would tell me to do something and boooom explosion and I would hit her.......I hit my own mother. The one person I could confide in and I hit her.....this continues to linger in my mind thinking that I could do such a thing. I did indeed work this stuff out with some deep and even drastic counseling, but during all of this my family and I grew farther and farther and farther away from God. We were not committing ourselves fully to the LORD like it tells us to do in Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." My family and I didn't go to church, we didn't go to Sunday school. I only went to release time on Wednesdays because I liked the shortened classes and the cool little reward field trips we used to do. Even after the miracle of my brother, we didn't even legitly talk about God in our household.

Fast forward, 7th grade confirmation starts God starts working through my youth director and starts reeling me back into him. At first I resisted, then as I started to understand God and the story of Jesus, I began to feel myself starting to change from a depressed and saddened kid to a flower blossom ready to emerge.

Fast forward again, 2 years later, 9th grade......I start feeling the presence of God in me.....I feel his arms helping me support my burdens and my stressers. This whole movement of feelings toward God really came to a head when I went through TEC. Now I this is not a promotion to those reading this, but my faith was brought into a whole new dimension!

Anyway fast forward again, to present day. My faith is in full bloom! The flower that was just a bud at the beginning of my 7th grade year is now at the point to where I feel that my relationship with God is as strong as ever. Let me end this post with this, Jesus died on the cross so that I and all of us can be forgiven for our sins and our transgressions. Now, I tell you that I now am a full follower of Christ, do I make hypocritical mistakes? Yes. Do I know that I am totally forgiven for these mistakes I have made in my past? Most definitely. Now think to your Walks....are their some things you regret? don't like? resent?.....I'm sure you do, but now think of the same Walk Jesus took so that our sins could be forgiven. Pretty amazing to think that one man would knowingly sacrifice himself to have our transgressions and sins washed clean wouldn't you say?

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9

Post-post-Valentine's Day

As you all know, tomorrow is post-post Valentine's Day (two days after).  My pencil buddy, Jeremy, suggested that we celebrate it by wearing red. 

I know Tyler just went over how pointless Valentine's day is, and I agree.  However, I will be celebrating post-post Valentine's day, and invite you all to do the same, because hey, why not have multiple celebrations of the "Day of Love?"

Along those same lines, Merry 52nd day after Christmas!!

Valentine's Day....

Valentine's Day. A holiday of LOVE all about LOVE wouldn't you say? The one day where everyone gets all mushy gushy and ishy squishy valentines from certain people, and boyfriends feel obligated to get their girlfriends chocolate, flowers, cheesy cards, or even bring them out on a fancy date to their favorite restaurant. Now, this holiday sometimes makes me cringe, walking down the hallway at school and seeing all these people PDAing in the hallways, and all that jazz that comes with Valentine's Day. I used to love this holiday back in elementary school, having parties and getting a whole bunch of candy from your classmate, but that totally changes when you get into middle and into high school.
This holiday to me is one of the most over commercialized, over hyped holidays that we have here in America. My personal thinking behind this is that shouldn't we as followers of Christ love our fellow man as ourselves everyday. Aren't we called to do this? To spread God's everlasting AGAPE love to everyone and last person we see?
It tells us this in John 13:34-35...."A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" That verse speaks to every each one of us, saying that we should love each other as much as He the LORD has loved us. Now I know that this is maybe one of the hardest things for us as followers of Christ to do, but when we Love each other and respect one another we are spreading God's AGAPE love. There's that AGAPE again, some may not know what that is so here is a short definition. AGAPE is the love that we spread from each other to one another, not romantic love, or a light hearted "Bro.....I love you man." It is a whole hearted love that we have and spread throughout our communities and to our families.
So think of Valentine's Day and the happiness people have when they get a surprise bundle of roses or go on a fancy dancy date. Wouldn't our relationships with God, and with others around us be better if we treated all with the up most AGAPE love and respect? I myself am going to go forth and treat everyday like Valentine's Day, not handing out cheesy cards everyday, but showing love and respect to my family, my friends, my enemies, my peers, and to my God.