|
Mr_Fuzzz
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: John
Birthday: 7/19/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: learning, reading, Japan in general, music, travel, etc.
Expertise: to quote the band Anathallo: "what i was beginning to see, was that the key problem in my own life, was not that i don't love Him enough. it was that i don't understand how much that He loves me."
Occupation: cashier, among other things
Industry: retail
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
11/8/2004
|
|
| Time for a new feature in my blog: Rehash Of The Week! I'll take an old post by me, and, well, rehash it.
Sin is just not the breaking of an abstract law, but the violation of a person. The person of God.
~Ravi Zacharias
i think if we get this idea in our hearts, it would be much harder for us to fall into sin. the idea that sin is violating God, almost like we are (and please pardon the crass phrase) raping Him. does He wince each time we fail to uphold His law?
| | |
| Time for a new feature in my blog: Rehash Of The Week! I'll take an old post by me and, well, rehash it.
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS
Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating
heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on
the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits
and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They
never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it
change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why
are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I
do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife. Am I going to be called
before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I
just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to
be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was
Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call
those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel
threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are:
Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry
Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready
to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are
all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It
doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a
key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a
crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards
away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't
think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I
think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed
around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America
is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution,
and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that
we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God
as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came
from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes
we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is
not intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended to get you
thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane
Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?"
(regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and
insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by
this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out
of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our
lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed
out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection
if we demand He leave us alone?" In light of recent events...terrorists
attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray
O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she
didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said
you better not read the Bible in school . The Bible says thou shalt not
kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we
said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children
when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped
and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we
said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no
conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't
bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it
out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the
world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say,
but question what the Bible says. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and
obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion
of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Funny how we can be
more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks
of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard
it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought
process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is
in.
| | |
| where is everyone? where did you go?
| | |
| These words may seem to splatter across the page in disconnected phrases and sporadic notations, I will hope that they join around one central theme. And if not, please forgive me. Once again, remember, untethered thoughts at work.
Have you ever been somewhere that was so dark, that it seems to swallow your only source of light? At that point, you begin to see things in a different way. Take the Tree that you would never notice during day. It now looms over top of you, as if to say, "Look at Me! Why can't you see me during the day?" He would continue, "Why, in the middle of the hottest day, can't you thank Me for My shade? Or for that matter, why can't you thank Me for the Fruit of My Labor, that you so carelessly kick across that dirt road?"
What would you say to that Tree? How would you respond? Maybe you would respond like this, "But Tree, I never asked you to shade me. The Fruit, that You so earnestly want me to see, does not look good to partake of."
"And yet I will still do it," He replies, "Nor will I stop. Even when you kick my Fruit across the road, covering it with filth. Why? Because that's why I am here. To tell you, and all others that pass along this path, to take of this Fruit, and see that It is good."
It's at this point that you have a great decision before you. To reject this Fruit, and continue on this journey, alone. Or do you take the Fruit, and taste of it? That choice with forever change your view of this world forever we live in. Take my advice, and taste that bittersweet Fruit. See the world for what it is, a dark, dirty, disgusting place. And remember the Tree and His words, "Look at Me!"
| | |
| As i stare into the Tennessee moon and listen to the sounds of of
friends splash in the pool, i can seemingly only think of how blesses
everyone. However, that's not the only thought that crosses my mind.
It screams in my head, "How fleeting is this life!"
Even though He is
so wonderful to us, the verse (don't worry i am paraphrasing) that says "forsake everything and follow Me" is constantly running through my mind at the moment. This is what would be mission statement, for ironically what I know my place is. Missions. That verse is shaky ground, even for seasoned believers. Just to surrender everything that we hold dear. It only strengthens my resolve to enter the mission field. To quote a friend "to learn a language and just drop me in a jungle somewhere." The more i sit here, the more that burns deeply. A few of you know what i am feeling. My mind is almost made up for me.
Now, I just have to wait for God's timing in it all. I need to delve deeper into the Word. Learn from the saints, past and present, the qualities that i need. The tenacity of Wesley and Judson. The wisdom of Luther and Lewis. The heart of Tamasculus and Studd. My job now is to wait and learn...
If you have any questions, hopefully this section will answer them. Like who is he talking about, that kind of thing. So here we go:
The title of this is "A 3 Receipt Essay", because it was originally strewn across actual receipts. Three to be exact. i thought it would be clever to call it that, seeing as how my strength was 3-point essays in school. They were just thoughts scribbled on them. I made them coherent when i converted them to here.
The scripture i paraphrased was from Matthew 19:21.
The people that i refer to, if you haven't figured them out, are: John Wesley, best known for starting the Methodist movement, but we are told that he preached over 40,000 sermons. Traveled 250,000 miles by horseback. And was still preaching 14 times a week in his eighties.
Adoniram Judson, best known for translating the Bible into Burmese. While in the Burmese mission field, he had his first wife die (she also translated the Bible into Thai), remarried only to have that wife die, then his three children also died. Yet he persevered. On a side note, you should check out his story, it is fascinating.
Martin Luther, separated from the Catholic church to create Protestant church. And is known for his 95 thesis.
C.S. Lewis, not much is needed to be said about him. If you know him, you know what i mean.
Tamasculus, man i hope i spelled it right. Long story short, he was a monk living near Rome, went to Rome(through the leading of the Lord), ended up going to a gladiatoral match. Disgusted by the display, he interupted the match by running on the field screaming "In the name of Christ, stop this!", where he was murdered by one of the gladiators, and from that point on no gladiator matches were ever held again.
C.T. Studd, started the Heart of Africa mission, later became WEC international, left his wife to preach the gospel in the Congo basin, and if my memory serves me, he only saw his wife approximately two weeks out of the last 30 years of his life (give or take ten years). His heart is forever linked to African mission work.
Grace and Mercy,
john
| | |
|
|
