Revolution Reality

I know I've posted on this in another post recently.  I guess recent events (this week) may have caused me to think over it again.  So often I think life (here on earth) will last forever – 60 years does sound a ways away — but it doesn't.  Just yesterday our dog that we had for a good while (between 6 and 8 years I believe) died.  Her life span was cut almost in half of what the normal lifespan is — she was in great health.  Just tonight someone drowned.  He had a wife with a first child on the way.  Not sure I knew him, but I know who his wife is.  It's such a sad story.  In just an moment his life was gone.  More than half of his life — gone.  There's a million different possibilities that could be speculated against as to why either event happened or what could have been done to avoid it — these won't bring either back though.

So many people waste their lives away with nothing that will last past the grave.  I spend so much time into things that will one day pass away (and so often — before my life time).  Perhaps nothing will come out of this and it'll be life as normal for most people — but maybe, just maybe, it'll open a few eyes to see that life is but a vapor.  Here today, gone tomorrow – fleeting.  Maybe this will wake someone up, though, for them to see that every second here on Earth is valuable and we should spend it for the service of God.  There may not be another chance tomorrow.

I hope I can catch some sleep now …

I've been listening to some of theMill's podcast (finally updated college age student services from New Life Church).  I've listened to "Living in a Fog" (Aaron Stern) and "Under Cover" (John Bevere) … all I can say is it's some of the best teaching.  It goes parallel to a few things currently going on (indirectly?) in my life.  These are teachings that I want to never forget. 

Both are on judgement.  John Bevere talks more of a leadership figures.  I've been thinking a lot about it (I listened to that one first a few days ago).  There's countless times each day I can judge people's motives, actions, and thoughts.  However, I want to live in a fog.  As long as I'm not in a leadership role over someone, I'm not going to judge them.  I've been just thinking over the recent past and how I have judged leaders in authority over me or those who aren't and that I have no business judging anyway.

Examples.

John Bevere gave a good example of how when President Clinton was elected, he says he was "depressed for about 3 days".  On the third day God let him know that authorities are appointed by God.  Here's where the fear of the Lord comes in.  David was under the authority of Saul.  He had times he could have killed him.  Did he?  Nope.  David killed the person who boasted about killing Saul.

We really shouldn't have an opinion on all that we do.

Aaron Stern gave three questions that we should ask ourselves about what we know or observe about someone else:

1. Is it my business?  For example, you know something about your sister.  Do you have a close enough relationship with that person?
2. Is it my role? For example, you're a leader and you have a role to deal with situations under your leadership.
3. Have you been invited?  For example, you're a leader over one area of a company and your boss asks what you think about how another area of the company is doing (this is ONLY because you were invited).

If you answer no about any three of them … it's none of your business.

Another example: the New Orleans mayor.  Does any of those three apply to me?  Nope.  Reading the one from earlier though — he was appointed by God.  If I criticise him, I'm in a sense telling God I know better.  I can't judge him, nor am I.  That's who God placed in leadership there.

God is the only just judge.  I just don't want to care about what other people are doing.  It's absolutely none of my business.  Until the day that I die, I hope and pray I'll never forget these two teachings.

It's late.  I can't convey my thoughts well.  If things don't make since, there's an easy way to fix that — listen to the two messages I posted (go to "Subscribe" in iTunes so that you can download them fully).

Tonight while I was praying, I had this thought come to my mind … We, as Americans, watch a lot of TV, movies, whatever. I've pretty much resigned myself from almost all forms of media (big reason is that I do not really have the time). Here's an analogy (I think that's what it is) — if you have someone you care for very (very!) deeply and you see them hurt, what would your reaction be? The first thing that comes to my mind is how a man is (or should be) protective of his wife. If someone calls her an ugly name (or they disrespect her and/or her name) for most guys they would be very displeased (aka: very angry!). So here's the analogy — so very often we're doing the same thing to God! So often we go and do things that disrespects Him and His name. Instead of being angry about it, we just sit by and are basically saying, "Oh well, that's just how the culture is". That's how the culture is, perhaps. That's NOT how we, as Christians should live though. We're not supposed to be of the world. We're called to be what the world calls radical. Am I saying live in ignorance to the world around you? No. Just because you've not watched a movie, DOES NOT make you ignorant (maybe "deprived of culture"). If you're called to the media industry — great. Do what God has called you to do, BUT make sure you help build HIS Kingdom not your kingdom (because it will fade away — you're going to die!). When you stand before God — would you have a life without any lasting stain or blemish (sure, there's sins — but we're supposed to be trying to become like Christ!).

This can be taken further too. Even with video games. I spent 30+ hours over a 30 day period (maybe it was closer to 15 days). That, truely, was a total waste of time. I got temporary joy and fulfilment out of it. It's not badin moderation (an hour or two every week or two, perhaps?). If that's someone's ministry and it's fruitful and is what God called them to do, then that's great (this is NOT an excuse for going and playing a game though, if that's an excuse it's no more than foolishness and God can see right through it). So many times, I went and played that game hour upon hour when I could have done ANYTHINGbetter than that. There's a world out there going to hell. Plain. Harsh. Truth. I was literally spending hour upon hour doing that when I could have been praying for those people (intersession). They NEED Christ! That's all I want. Until my entire city is shouting "The Stand" from the rooftops — I can't give up. We can't give up. That's the plain simple truth. If it means giving up everything we have, we've got to do it. There may not be much time left. In an split second we could be wiped off the face of the earth and put into eternity. One blink of an eye. Eternity. Stroke. Car wreck. Gunshot. Sudden unexplained death. An instant. What will people remember you by? Will they be able to say, "S/he was the one who was radical for God. They did nothing else but stay in constant worship and prayer"? "Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away." (Psalm 144:4) A shadow that passes away. Just a shadow. In the span of time (speculating it's around 8,000 years), our lives (speculating we'll live to be 80 years) accounts for about 1% of the entire timespan of all life. One percent. And for a lot of us, we won't live as long as 80 years. A lot less than 1% of the entire span of earth life time. In a moment — gone.

The truth is — if I don't do what He has called me to do (if it's just to pray), God will find someone else to do it. God found someone else to lead His people when King Saul disobeyed God (countless times). God came to the little nobody — the man after God's own heart — David — to lead his people. The linage of Saul was severed. David was a nobody, the least of his family, yet through his linage came Jesus.
Something to think about …

"The Stand", Hillsong United: United We Stand:

You stood before creation
Eternity in Your hand
You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
And carried the cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand
So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart oh God
Completely to You

So I'll walk upon salvation Your spirit alive in me
This life to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand
So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart oh God
Completely to You

I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I'll stand
My soul Lord to You surrender it
all I am is Yours

I want to credit this blog with the lyrics.

Also, I wanted to add this: "Eternity", Misty Edwards

Eternity's eternal song, is calling me,
Is drawing me away, it's calling me away

All flesh is grass, fading away.
Only You last, only You remain the same,
You never change.
Holy, holy, holy, You are fairer than then sons of men

Surely man is like the flower of the field,
And life is but a vapor, at best but a vapor.
Surely man is like a flower of the field,
And the fragrance but a vapor, at best but a vapor.

But you O God, are better than a thousand blooms.
Hallelujah Amen!

Ah, longer than I wanted this to be, and later than I wanted to go …

On Friday I painted. Needless to say, my room is very different. I got a bluish paint. Since I had to move just about everything in my room around, I decided to also rearrange my room. I changed where my bed and chair is. I now have more room (or it seems that way, not sure if I really do). Here are some pictures of the "new look":

I like the paint color. I wasn't that sure I would like it as much as I do.

Last week, I went to a movie with my brother and two cousins. We saw Ice Age 2. It was pretty good. It was the first movie I've saw in theaters since Narnia back in January. I'm positive I've not missed much with staying at home (and not going to movies). So far the only other movie I'd like to see this year is Cars. From the previews I've saw, there's really not much coming out of Hollywood worth spending the time to watch (much less the money). I try to support the movies that are actually okay and would like to see more of, though.

The parents got Narnia on Tuesday. I watched it again (it was either the fourth or fifth time). Why can't authors make a story thatgood anymore? Narnia and Lord of the Rings have been the best movies of my lifetime — hands down. The funny thing is, out of all the movies nominated for "best picture" last year, Narnia got more money than all of them (and wasn't even nominated). Something to think about. It was the first movie I've ever seen that still had a slightly-crowded theater — a month after it's release.

Jumping subjects: complaining is bad. Over the past few weeks, I've observed several people complain over just anything. From the stupid little things (ie: food) to the big things (ie: cars). Oddly enough, my Bible reading went through Numbers. The Israelites complained to the Lord about their hardships after the Lord had brought them out of Egypt. Because of this Numbers says, "his [The Lords] anger blazed against them" (Numbers 11:1). The Lord burned the outside of the camp because of their complaining (until Moses prayed to the Lord for it to stop). Later they complained about the manna that God was providing them. So, in Numbers 11:18-20the Lord said to Moses to tell the people that He would give them meat to eat for an entire month — until they were very sick of it. They didn't put their trust in God. They were, in essence, telling God that they knew better, when in reality God knew that they were better off trusting in Him (and that he would provide for them). They weren't thankful for what God had done for them. This makes me wonder: how many times do I complain instead of just being thankful for what God has given to me. Throughout the book of Numbers the Israelites stop trusting in God. How many times do I stop trusting God? God told the Israelites the land of Canaan was theirs, yet only two of the twelve scouts that went to the land trusted that God had given it to them and they, through the help of God, could conquer it.

God has given us things (food, places to live, families, etc) — but so many times, we aren't thankful and do not trustGod's leading in our life. I think that the way we can trust God more is to pray and fast. By reading and praying the Word. I believe can help us trust God more. Looking back at what God has already done for us can help us look forward to what more God wants to give us, and to trust in Him. When we're depressed about something, perhaps if we THANKGod for what he has already done for us, instead of complaining to Him about where we are, we'll learn to trust Him more. When we trust Him, then He'll be able to lead and guide us to where He wants us to go.

A few more tidbits before I go …

I added the podcasts that I recommend (and listen to), to the side of my blog now. I recommend everyone to listen to them. I got the older CD by Misty Edwards, "Eternity". It's good, and I recommend it (it's on my recommended list for a reason). Also, I recommend the new Passion album, "Everything Glorious".

… and now I must go.

I’ve not really posted much about what’s going on with me lately, so here I go I ’spose.

School is actually kind of lame (and getting lamer by the day).  Essays, I’m okay with — as long as it’s not about literature.  That’s some of the lamest stuff I’ve ever heard of.  Just something I’ll have to try to manage to get through.  I’ve always been a B student in English, but this class may push me to a C.  Hopefully not, but I don’t know.  The two classes I enjoy are on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, which is Economics and “the computer class” (that’s boring as I know most of it, it’s in front of a computer though … so, not all bad, GMail with GTalk is great for that class).

E-Blah has been going pretty good the past month.  I’ve started working on version 9.75 (don’t ever ask me how I’ve numbered E-Blah, as I still don’t know).  There’s a lot of new things that I’ve implemented just over the past six months that from version 9.2 to 9.75 makes it feel almost like a brand new system.  I just enjoy seeing people get it and see that what they’ve wanted all this time is finally there.  The moderator team there has been pretty stable as well, those are some of the best support guys any company could ever have (anyone who’s got support from them can atest to it).

MinistryTalk.com lately all I’ve been working on with MinistryTalk.com is the Church Broadcast (or “sermon”) section.  I’ve added several new features with a few more planned in the next few days.  I’m actually hoping that we can expand and grow and offer a few more services for churches and other Christians “areas of interest” (whatever that’s supposed to mean).  Either way, hopefully Tim and I can get something going that pumps it up from being “just a sermon site”.  Ah, and I’m hoping to allow a few more churches to join in the next few days (with the approval of the server admin — Tim).

Church is going great.  More and more things are coming in and it’s just awesome.  The projector is now working, which is what I like to do.  I’ve been spending several hours lately trying to find some things to make things better software wise.  Overflow (band is coming from Wetumpka) is Saturday and prayer walk is Sunday at 10am.  The sad thing is, I’ll have to cut both events short as my sister is in the city wide pagent and on Sunday morning my other church is going to need me (my mom said).  I’ll probably get to stay at Overflow for an hour or two, and then I’ll probably get to go to the first 45 minutes of the prayer walk … at least I’m hoping.  Now I just need to figure out which one I’m more ready to go to (hmmm) …

There’s other things I could talk about, but none of it’s that important.  I’ve not been as focused on many other things here lately.  I guess something that does deserve mention, I’ve gotton back into playing Enemy Territory (the free multiplayer FPS World War II game).  Now it’s an “older” game, so I can max out all the settings with my computer and it has no slow downs.  There’s still hundreds of users playing the game too, that’s what makes it all the more great (and it’s free).  That and Age of Empires III are the only games I have installed (I believe).  Both are relatively clean games, so that’s a plus with me now (actually, I wouldn’t mind burning a few of my old games).

With the Bible on Radio podcasts, I’ve been going through the book of Numbers.  I’ve really enjoyed a lot of it (minus the parts I skip — the census numbers, for instance).  There’s a lot of good teaching in Numbers though.  A lot of good discussion topics too!

I’m going to start building people up and encouraging them more.  I think sometimes we can have friends that are really close, but yet we also pull them down sometimes by joking with them (when it may be something they can’t handle).  A good example is, for instance, joking with a friend about their weight.  The person could be skinny as a stick (and even if they aren’t), but saying they “really big” may not exactly be helping them.  I think it’s based on the person though, too.  Some people take things in stride, while some people wallow in them and believe everything and take it to heart.  Other times, I think that some of the words are friends say are taken the wrong way (especially if that person is going through depression or feeling worthless).  Point being, we should all be encouragers.

In other posts I’ve discussed removing certain things from my life (mainly being television). Over the past weeks I’ve also got rid of other things, such as certain websites that I went to. Some of these websites were really cool and at the time I enjoyed them. Now that I’ve left them though, I’ve not missed one of them.

MySpace was one of the sites that I removed from my favorites. I also deleted my entire account there. Honestly, it was a spur of the moment thing. I was actually in the bed already and just felt like the site wasn’t really helping my walk with Christ (possibly hurting it — this doesn’t count all the filth on the site), so I got up and thought about it for maybe two minutes and then deleted it. The website asked me if I was sure probably three times, so I had three chances to back out. I deleted my account there about a month and a half ago (I believe), and honestly I’ve not thought much more about it. I had a two or three people ask me if I deleted my account, but other than that I’ve not thought nothing of it. This weekend, a family member commented on my removing my account. This person wasn’t on my list or anything, they had just been watching it (or so I guess haha). I’m happy because it confirmed that it was right to delete it. The only social site I am a member of now is Facebook — and I don’t spend near as much time on it as I did MySpace, plus it’s cleaner and a little more mature.

I’ve since cleaned out my music and got rid of anything that wasn’t Christian. Some CD’s weren’t music, but I believe I broke over 25 to 50 CD’s this year. I’ve deleted other things that I’ve kind of held on to also, such as chat logs that are years old (really, I didn’t need them either). I’ve deleted all my chat logs since about a few weeks ago (that were modified) and I got rid of all the huge logs. I’ve done a lot of house cleaning and reorganization (I like to be organized though).

Eventful. Different. I enjoy randomness and change. I ate my first meal today at McDonalds (Spicy Premium Chicken Sandwich) — it was okay. Two o’clock I went to the church — I helped install the projector screen and I moved the microphone to the back where the computer is (so we can record the messages to the computer). I came home and my dad fixed something up that we never had before — it was good, filled me up. They left and gave Jenna some at work (or that’s what they said they were doing). While they were gone I got a call saying someone we know, his dad committed suicide. I guess I’ve never thought I’d know anyone in this time period who’d do that. I suppose I was wrong. It’s just so sad. One shot is really two shots. You’re not just killing your body, but you’re pushing yourself into eternity in an instant. I’ve just been hoping and praying the family gets over this easily and that as much evil the enemy meant to come of this, much more good will come out of it. To say the least, today has been a very different day (on many fronts, I suppose).

My church is having a get-together tomorrow night. Play games and socialize. I guess there’s not much to say until after the event though … I do like hanging out with the church family though, great fun!

My Glorious is one of my favorite worship songs. I bought the “Our Love is Loud” Passion CD from iTunes since they were two dollars off. Overall, that has been the best Passion CD ever released, in my opinion. Speaking of Passion, Passion 07 registrations starts next week (well, they’ll sell out within a few hours, I’d guess). It says the official site will be up next week. They will probably do a few awesome videos that make me want to go even more … maybe I’ll get to go this year.

Common sense. You know it’s going “out of style” when you do a search for it and you see ads on how to get “common sense” on eBay. For those that have no clue what common sense is, read this nice definition. It’s true that I don’t have common sense on everything (no one really does). I mean, if I worked on cars since I was a kid, sure I’d have “car common sense” and be able to diagnose problems better than someone who spent four years in college learning all about how to fix it. It’s the same way with everything, though. It’s bad, really bad, when someone who has eight years of book sense think they know all about something yet don’t know anything about how to actually diagnose a problem. Sure, there is always a ten-step manual that can be followed, but honestly, it could be something not even listed and someone with common sense would pick it up first — not the one with a ten-step program on how to diagnose the problem. I guess I’m just posting this to say that, in college, try to get lots of hands on experience with what you’re learning (real world, not lab experience). It’ll help in the long run. It’ll be bad the day jobs start requiring common sense and college education is just a “want” (not required). If I ever started a business I’d like to do a common sense test … college is good and dandy, but I’d want people with sense for the job.

Respect. Youth. It bothers me deeply when I see an adult (obviously greater than 25 to 30 years) does not respect youth and younger adults. Some just think they’re better or know it all. Others just want someone to beat down, so they find someone who doesn’t matter: youth. I don’t know everything. An adult who’s 98 doesn’t know everything. Would these people ever send Timothy out today? Or would he have to go to college before he could be any help to Paul? Paul obviously thought very highly of Timothy (or else he wouldn’t be referenced so often by Paul, nor help Paul in writing and sending the letters to the church’s). 1 Corinthians 16:10 says tells the church of Corinth to “treat him [Timothy] with respect”. Now, am I against adults? Of course not. I normally get out of situations where adults think they’re better than youth. Youth are told to respect those in authority (which is good), but those in authority need to also show respect.

Men in the church. The other day when coming home from school, I was listening to the radio and they were talking about why, there aren’t as many men in the church. They made the argument that one reason is that church is seen as a feminine thing and, for the most part, only tailors to the females. They brought out and excellent example of how there was once a church with a prayer room that was decorated with ribbons and such. The church wanted to reach more guys, so they asked them to come in and completely remodel the room. What they did was remodeled the room with items such as Celtic shields and the like. When I think of the remodel, it can have a deeper meaning and actually be exactly what a prayer room should be for — spiritual warfare. Finally, after the remodel, the guys were more “at home”, but the females loved it so much they couldn’t even stay away. There were many other examples too, but this was the one I liked a lot.