Last week was VBS. I love VBS, I loved it as a kid and can still remember many of the songs I learned there. I went straight from participating in VBS to being a helper. This year when I got back to Buffalo My mother informed me that she would be the leader and was wondering if I would help. Of course I said yes and all last week I teased my hair to make it stand straight, and played the part of a nutty professor.
The kids learned things like: Jesus gives us the power to be thankful, the power to be helpful, the power to be brave, the power to live forever, and the power to tell others about Jesus. They walked on water (well it was really corn starch but hey it was fun) we made a big bubble using dry ice, and they learned that God loves them.
Since we live in an age where numbers count here are our states:
we had 145 kids come through our doors, and we had 31 kids make commitments to Christ!
We were not ready for any new conversions, and were we just hoping to get our numbers back up to 70 (the amount of kids at VBS had dwindled in the past years to barley 50). We had to make runs for extra snacks, and stuff like that.
For me personally the most memorable part of VBS would be that when I was leading music the pre-k kids fell in love with me, I even had someone say i should go into elementary Education (fat chance). But somewhere in the midst of leading music and having fun with these kids, i think I saw it, the kingdom of God. These kids are loved by God, and in some small way God used me to let them know. To me that is just plan cool.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Numbers 14:18
The Lord is slow to anger and rich in unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion.
is it not wonderful that the Lord is slow to anger? with how often everyone fails, everyone falls it is good to know that God's anger is slow in coming. he is not like the powerful Zeus who stands with a lightning bolt in hand waiting for us to fail so he can practice his aim. rather his loving patients holds back his justice, wraith, and anger.
if not for his merciful love we would all be with out a hope or prayer. for we don't deserve God's love, rather because of our sin we deserve his justice and his anger. unlike the other gods who see for our attention and worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is a God who is first love. His will is that all might be saved, and none will parish.
is it not wonderful that the Lord is slow to anger? with how often everyone fails, everyone falls it is good to know that God's anger is slow in coming. he is not like the powerful Zeus who stands with a lightning bolt in hand waiting for us to fail so he can practice his aim. rather his loving patients holds back his justice, wraith, and anger.
if not for his merciful love we would all be with out a hope or prayer. for we don't deserve God's love, rather because of our sin we deserve his justice and his anger. unlike the other gods who see for our attention and worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is a God who is first love. His will is that all might be saved, and none will parish.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
...but then I got high
Living at home with no job has given me much time to read, catch up on a few TV shows, and have serious thoughts. Today I am filled with serious thoughts, all of which revolve around a sacrament of the Rastafarian religion, marijuana.
The last year I have come in contact with several people who smoke this weed, and recently I found out that my own brother also likes to smoke dope. I have heard all kinds of arguments about how this drug is harmless. cigarettes do more damage then smoking pot, its non habit forming, a cup of coffee is more damaging to the system then pot, you can drive stoned and you aren't as dangerous as if you were driving drunk.
I have always felt and believed that smoking pot is wrong. But I can not deny the excuses that i have listed above, nor the medicinal uses that marijuana has, and there is no verse in the bible that says taking drugs is bad. So why fight it, how could it be wrong? It is illegal yes but so what?
So this is where I started today with my serious thoughts. which led me to the bible and i thought about what the bible says about drinking. there are several times when the bible talks about the dangers of being drunk.
Proverbs 23 is the wise teachers description of a drunk, "Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has blood shot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns trying out new drinks. don't let the sparkle and smooth taste of wine deceive you. For in the end it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like a viper. You will see hallucinations. and you will say crazy things. You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. And you will say, 'they hit me, but I didn't feel it. I didn't even know it when they beat me up, when will I wake up so I can have another drink?'"
What does that have to do with pot? Being drunk creates a fake world, one where things don't hurt so much, a fake euphoria. Being high does the same thing. It may not be as dangerous, it may not be as numbing, and it may not have the after effects of being drunk. But from all that I have heard from people who smoke it pot creates a brave new world to replace the real world.
A brave new world... that took my serious thoughts to another place, a book I read under that tittle. in the world of this book people are made not born; conditioned not taught; designed not created; and replace the mixture of need, gift, and appreciative love for only need love. Most of all the people of this Brave New World are all duped up on a drug called Soma. which gives the people a state of happiness that is more then what is experienced during sex with no side effects. No drunken stupor, no visits to the vomitoriam, no come down, and no hangover. It also helps the government control the people better.
Everything about soma is fake, it is an escape because no one should ever feel sad, or board, or even depressed. is marijuana that different?
Here is where my serious thoughts led me. Marijuana, despite the pain killing qualities, and lack of negative side effects, offers very little good. The world it gives is fake, and therefore becomes an escape from reality. Weather to actually escape from something or to just take a little vacation, it is still an escape and still fake. If we are so caught up in our own little fake realities how can we ever be used the way that God has planned to use us in the real one?
The last year I have come in contact with several people who smoke this weed, and recently I found out that my own brother also likes to smoke dope. I have heard all kinds of arguments about how this drug is harmless. cigarettes do more damage then smoking pot, its non habit forming, a cup of coffee is more damaging to the system then pot, you can drive stoned and you aren't as dangerous as if you were driving drunk.
I have always felt and believed that smoking pot is wrong. But I can not deny the excuses that i have listed above, nor the medicinal uses that marijuana has, and there is no verse in the bible that says taking drugs is bad. So why fight it, how could it be wrong? It is illegal yes but so what?
So this is where I started today with my serious thoughts. which led me to the bible and i thought about what the bible says about drinking. there are several times when the bible talks about the dangers of being drunk.
Proverbs 23 is the wise teachers description of a drunk, "Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has blood shot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns trying out new drinks. don't let the sparkle and smooth taste of wine deceive you. For in the end it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like a viper. You will see hallucinations. and you will say crazy things. You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. And you will say, 'they hit me, but I didn't feel it. I didn't even know it when they beat me up, when will I wake up so I can have another drink?'"
What does that have to do with pot? Being drunk creates a fake world, one where things don't hurt so much, a fake euphoria. Being high does the same thing. It may not be as dangerous, it may not be as numbing, and it may not have the after effects of being drunk. But from all that I have heard from people who smoke it pot creates a brave new world to replace the real world.
A brave new world... that took my serious thoughts to another place, a book I read under that tittle. in the world of this book people are made not born; conditioned not taught; designed not created; and replace the mixture of need, gift, and appreciative love for only need love. Most of all the people of this Brave New World are all duped up on a drug called Soma. which gives the people a state of happiness that is more then what is experienced during sex with no side effects. No drunken stupor, no visits to the vomitoriam, no come down, and no hangover. It also helps the government control the people better.
Everything about soma is fake, it is an escape because no one should ever feel sad, or board, or even depressed. is marijuana that different?
Here is where my serious thoughts led me. Marijuana, despite the pain killing qualities, and lack of negative side effects, offers very little good. The world it gives is fake, and therefore becomes an escape from reality. Weather to actually escape from something or to just take a little vacation, it is still an escape and still fake. If we are so caught up in our own little fake realities how can we ever be used the way that God has planned to use us in the real one?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Leviticus 21:8
I the Lord am Holy and I Make you Holy.
sin separates us form God. God made us to be the object of his love and affection. When sin separated us from his love he knew that something had to be done to restore that relationship. He is holy and we are not, nothing we can do will make us holy. So God makes us holy. It is not what we do, but what God does for us.
sin separates us form God. God made us to be the object of his love and affection. When sin separated us from his love he knew that something had to be done to restore that relationship. He is holy and we are not, nothing we can do will make us holy. So God makes us holy. It is not what we do, but what God does for us.
Friday, July 11, 2008
story is back
okay i don't know how many people actually read my story blog, but as of tonight it is back in action. grant it it took me all day to get it ready but it is up. so head on over and click the link called The curse of the Sea, or if you are a new reader click here for the begining of the story.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
quick update
I am back in buffalo. and it is weird being back. i mean it wont be for long, but it is strange moving back in with the family after being on my own for a year.
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