issues

Interesting things have been happening in my life recently.  Certain themes seem to be always coming up over and over again, and I think God is trying to prepare me for some things. Firstly, ever since I’ve started work at Blockbuster, an issue that comes up often is that of dealing with people with other backgrounds: whether it be religous, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

Homosexuality has been the biggest thing, since my boss is gay. I love the guy; I think hes a great person, he’s funny (a little graphic and crude), he’s honest and has a great amazing heart. My question is…is that wrong? I know you hear the sayings “hate the sin, love the sinner”, but then people tell me thats just religious jargon. While looking at the life of Jesus, it was apparent that someones sin did not effect him from loving them. The story of the adulterous woman is one that comes to mind (John 8:1-11). The woman, brought to Jesus because she was caught in adultry, is about to be stoned. Jesus, obviously not going to allow the woman to be stoned, tells the men “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (NIV). They all drop their stones, and then leave. Then Jesus tells them that since none there could condemn her, neither does He. He then tells her to leave her life of sin. But Jesus showed compassion on her; I believe he loved her. So where is the line? SHould I merely be aquaintences with my boss? Can I be his friend and not agree with his lifestyle either? He is no more of a sinner than I am! I’m just a guilty for thinking about a woman lustfully if she is not my wife then he is for thinking about a man lustfully. I’ve also, unfortunately and fortunately, have been exposed to numerous movies that deal with homosexuality; the most poignant being The Dying Gaul with Peter Saarsgard. As well, I had a 4 hour converation with my friend (ex-girlfriend) Nichole on the phone, and we talked extensively about my views of homosexuality, why I don’t agree with it, and so on…SO it seems God is perhaps refining me in that area…but I’m confused still…how do I act with those that are of that disposition??

Secondly, another issue is relationships. If you are to read my blogs, this theme comes up alot. Although recently, I’ve managed to FINALLY hand it over to God (Still have NO IDEA how I did or what that means) and am awaiting Him to take of that area in my life. But still, with friends of mine getting engaged, getting married, and more of the like…it’s starting to be a prominent issue…

I still need to wait on God to answer WHY these issues are becoming prominent, but hopefully these instances will help refine me and my beliefs more and help me rectify them with scripture.

well i guess this is growing up (c)

funny…i was in my class last week, pastoral care and procedure, and i was sitting there…and we were giving little stories about ourselves as introduction to the course, just a little discourse on who we were and stuff….and I was thinking about what i should say, and then when it came, in my thought process, to my age…i drew a blank…i couldn’t remember how old I was….

im 21…just turned dec 7th

21

me

im scared….

i think its definately safe to say that i am actually scared of growing up. i know i am growing up, ive been doing it for a while, but now its hit me…im 21…not 19, or even 20, but 21….im into the 20’s now…

how long before i get into my last line of employment? how much longer till i get married? till i have a wife? till i have kids? till my brother and sister get married? till my little bro goes to college……till my parents die?

and what if i fail? what if i make the wrong career path? what if i get hurt? what if i marry the wrong person? i guess i could drown myself with every query i have…but in the end, these are the things that start to happen when you reach this age…its funny, cause life doesn’t get easier when you grow us, contrary to what you believe as a kid…life gets more complex, more things bother you, more things in general…

friends are getting married, grandparents are dying…i dont want my grandparents to die, i dont want all my friends to get married and vanish…sure they are only physical (in opposed to spiritual) relationships, but still…they are important…

i dunno…no point to this

God Bless You…(or else)

What’s wrong with people today? Have we lost all sense of decency? Have we lost all ability to function acceptably in society? Have we gone bonkers?

I was at work today, my boss (who is gay, and proud) sneezes. One of the guys who works there just automatically says “God bless you..” and my boss STARES him down!!!

“Oh, we don’t say that here…”  “Why not?” “Cause, I don’t believe in God. It makes me angry..”

Wow……

I love it how a nice, polite, and very sociable statement can now infuriate people to the point of telling someone off because they say “God bless you…” This got me thinking. It actually got me angry. My boss started complaining about how we shouldn’t wear crosses…meanwhile I’m wearing a little dog tag that says “Jesus” and has a picture of a cross on it, and as well I have a bracelet that has like 10 different names for Jesus on it…

Here’s the kicker…I don’t wear it to make a point (like pride bracelets). I don’t wear my cross so people can ask me if I am Christian (like pride bracelets).  I wear it because it’s important to me. Just like how saying “God bless you” upsets YOU, when you tell me NOT to say God bless you it offends ME. Sure, I know that my boss doesn’t believe in God. Fine, but I will quit before I take off my bracelets…because they aren’t about him. It’s not to be inconsiderate, or make a stand (like pride bracelets) but a reminder to me that I am a Christian and that in every situation I need to be Christ-like (note CHRISTian). Like Dane Cook says, “What else should I say to an atheiest when he sneezes?” “ACHOO” “Uh, nothing happens when you die!?”

Get OVER yourselves! I have JUST as much as a right to say “God bless you” and “Merry Christmas” as you do to be an atheist or be gay. Why is it that we tolerate so much God and Jesus bashing (people telling us to show our faith up our asses, that God doesn’t exist, get Him out of our schools)?? How come when I am at work and my gay boss whine’s and complains about Christianity, or Catholicism, or God and, instead of crying about it or telling him to stop talking to me about this stuff cause it offends me, I politely listen and have a humane and civilized conversation with him?? How come I can do that, but as soon as I mention that I believe sex has a purpose and marriage is sacred, and therefore that is why I don’t agree with homosexuality or pre-marital sex, my boss gives me the hand and tells me that he can’t talk to me about this…

Why am I the one, because I am Christian, who is being narrow minded and prejudiced and uncivilized, when I do EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING TO ME????WHY???AND I HAVE A GOOD ARGUMENT UNLIKE “Oh God doesn’t exist because it’s rationally unlikely, and Christians hate gay people and think they are all going to hell and are terrible people…”

I mean….seriously????

SOMEONE please explain this to me…PLEASE!!! And I don’t want a debate about God vs. No God…I want an educated, intelligent, and polite person to kindly just speak nicely to me and help me understand the other side…because I find I am getting bitter and I don’t want to be a bitter and one-minded Christian…

Tristan and Isolde

Just in class, sitting here being bored…thought I would update people.

Saw Tristian and Isolde, and really got me thinking. A story like Romeo and Juliet, cept older, in where at the end the guy duys because of their love. Got me thinking about love, relationships, and stuff like that…

Being at tyndale, i see alot of relationships happening. My two roomates have relationships, and so a theme has been developing this year in my heat….relationships. At times it seems like an awesome thing, companionship, love, fidelity, intimacy, and someone that likes you and wants to be there for you…but at the same time I think of stories like Tristan and Isolde, and I look at MY past and every reltionship I have been in has ended in shambles….it kinda makes me loose hope…and loose a desire for a relationship. I guess to some of my friends, they question why I am still single…

I guess its because whenever I find someone that I like, i falter because I don’t know if they would be worth ending in tragedy…not to say that it would, but what if it did? would she be worth that…and when I find a girl that IS worth it I panic, and I break up with them…

So is it worth it? I dunno…did Tristan think Isolde was worth it at the end, when he was dying….I would think so…but it was more like SHE was worth it, and no matter how much I think someone is worth it, girls these days seem to always manage to do retarted things to make me feel otherwise about them…

AH well…blah blah blah rob

comments anyone?

Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold

Wow, incredible day yesterday….
I woke up, started reading some of the good book, and then something caught my eye. I was reading in 2 Timothy, and I came upon Chapter 2 verses 20-21.
This is what it says,

“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (NIV)

This hit me for some reason, and I wasn’t sure at first, but it became more clear to me as the morning progressed. I wasn’t sure exactly what this perticular passage was trying to get at, so I called my dad to talk to him. Turns out he had been doing a study with my Mom and Brother and they were dealing with this verse. Apparently, some people take this verse in the context of the church, and how there are bad people or people of “wood and clay” that don’t exactly build the church up right. Another way to interpret this could be to take it in the context of ourselves. Inside of us we have articles of gold and silver, perhaps things such as honesty, love, pure mind, being humble; the wood and clay articles could be like dishonesty, lies, deciept, slander, cheating. That was what I interpreted this scripture to mean as well…
But then an epiphany.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 with me,

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

This really hit me and I saw the comparison in both of these, and how they seem to be a continutation of thought. Perhaps these wood and clay articles that we have in our home are our deeds, and our home is our christian walk. When we come to the judgement seat, the Corinthians quote above says our works will be tested with fire. So if our house has articles of wood and clay, they will be burned to a crisp, and only those that are silver and gold will be left; the silver and gold articles being our good deeds. Our faith saves us, faith in Jesus, but our works will be what we are judged by. This really struck me, but then this is the kicker. 1 Corinthians talks about how your house must be built on the correct foundation – on Jesus. If you are not build on the correct foundation, your house cannot stand. So let’s say that you live a life full of good deeds, but your house is not built on the foundation of Jesus…I think what Corinthians hint’s at is that those works will not matter.

We need to build our house, our lives and our works, on the foundation of Jesus Christ. If we do not seek him out in every area, his will for who we should be, what we should do (employment), who we should date, what we should say, then we are not building our house in his foundation.

This stuck me and very valuable and very uplifting at this time of my life. I have been having trouble with being hurt by a girl and having to see her with a guy I know isn’t exactly right for her (and others I know feel the same way), and wondering why God is letting me suffer these feelings I have been dealing with. I’m talking about feeling nautious whenever I see them, being angry, not wanting to even talk to her, kinda ignoring her, brushing her off when she talks to me, and all of this was steming from these very hurt feelings I had. I like her, and she said she liked me, then, without hesitation, did a 180 and (as much as she can after knowing her for a short while) broke my heart. But these reactions I was having to her, anger, frustration, pain, are all articles of wood and clay. SHE herself is an article of wood and clay because I beleive God closed that door for me so that I would stay on the path he is taking me. If I wander off that path and am not seeking HIS will and HIS desire for me, and for what girl I like, then I am not bulding my house in HIS foundation…which is hard to hear sometimes when you like someone…

Sometimes there are doors God opens, and then there are trap-doors. God tries to lead us away from the trap doors, but it always requires us to seek him out in prayer, study, church, and other people, so that we are able to see the trap door for what it is…I don’t want to be single forever, frig im 21 years old and all my friends are talking about marriage and stuff…they all have girlfriends, and here I am…I can’t even like a girl and have it last for more a than a week without having her dance all over me and throw me to the lions…it’s very depressing sometimes lol to say the least…

But I take strength in knowing that, even though I may scream and cry at God for, what it seems to be, Him putting me in these situations and making me feel this pain…I got my foot caught in the trap door…He pulled me out in time of course, and it hurt (I’ve got a bruise lol) but He was there and He never left me, even when I was at the peak of my frustration and pain…and even when I was about to step in!

But God answeres, God responds, and God cannot desert us…

And, ironically, here is a passage right before the one I quotes above, in 2 Timothy…

“Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.”

May you be encouraged, and make Jesus your only foundation, and may you strive for articles of silver and gold…so that when they are tested by flame, only those of silver and gold remain…

I am in “love”….again…

Answer to your first question – no I am not in “love” again, nor do I beleive I really ever have been. This blog is not about me.
Answer to your second question – I am putting “love” in quotation marks because I am showing that I am referring to the “love” that most people commonly refer to these days.
Answer to your third question – Yes, you will probably be offended by this if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and you have been dating less than a year…actually it could even be more than that….

OK….I will try to be a nice as possible…but PLEASE, DONT shrug this off your shoulders.

what…..the…..HELL….is the matter with girls and guys these days…..????

WHY does everybody FEEL the need to assume they are in “love” because they have found a great girl/guy that is “perfect” for them? Am I the only one who has noticed this???
Everywhere you go, you see people after 3 week, 3 months, 3 days, saying they love their boyfriend(mostly girls) and they mean the world to them and they are the best thing that ever happened to them…I don’t want to turn this into a “matter of time” chart of how long it takes to fall in “love”….but COME ON! Do you really think that “love” is something you can manipulate to box, package, and put a nice little bow on to guarantee some sort of commitment out of your relationship? Do you think if “love” suddenly pop’s into your relationship vocabulary that all of a sudden you 2 are “meant” for eachother and therefore either able to have sex, get married, buy promise rings, or make plans for babies and pick their names????

Since when was “love” so easily categorized, found, manageable, tangible, and holdable? Do you have ANY idea of what love is (speaking to you people in relationships that are fairly new and you say you “love” your boyfriend/girlfriend)????

Are you that naive that you think “love” just happens when you find yourself comfortable enough to say “i love you” without creeping out your partner?

There is a definition of love in the Bible that everyone knows…the whole “Love never fails, it is not jealous, easily angered…” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). I think this gives an accurate description of God’s LOVE…the true LOVE that I WONT put in quotations because THAT is the LOVE we need to start desiring.

You know how many times I have said “i love you” to a girlfriend and thought I meant it…but then a few years later have a conversation with a friend and help her/him through a tough time, and feel so close and so in tune with them and their life, and a desire to stop them from feeling any sort of pain, and willinng to give anything for them to be happy, and then realize that I really never knew what “love” was….or I thought I knew, but it never was LOVE. I’ve had to make hard decisions in relationships, with girls, with friends, and had to let them go, or do something, because I knew what God intended for them wasn’t what I wanted to happen…and at that point realized that selflessness and being “not self-seeking” and “being patient” were on that list of what LOVE was….a “love” that I thought only happened with a girl that I thought was hot, who was a great christian, and who made me feel good when we were together…sound familiar anyone???

What I’m saying is this…I don’t doubt that you “love” your boyfriend, or your girlfriend…but what I am saying is this…if your “love” is real LOVE, but your unable to reconsile the differences between your “love” and the LOVE in 1 Corinthains, then maybe your “love” is the cheap fast food “love” that we all, unfortunately, only know…
If your undying commitment to this person is easily swayed by another attractive male/female, or your commitment depends on your moods, or anything that contradicts 1 Corinthains 13:4-9….then maybe you need to start taking “love” out of your vocabulary and save it for God…let HIM teach you a thing or 2 about love, let your FRIEND who have never lied to you, when are loving, or even harsh, when you need them to be, who aren’t afraid of saying the harsh realities of life…let them help you decide what “love” is….
If your boyfriend has become your life, if all you do is class, boyfriend, class, boyfriend, class, food, boyfriend during food, class, msn with boyfriend….then I think somethings not right…perhaps you are putting your trust, your hope, and your faith in a man you “love” and not the One who is LOVE…it’s ok to be in a relationship, it’s ok to be in LOVE, but it’s not ok to become that relationship…that’s what marriage is for, and marriage isn’t for those who have no concept of LOVE.

“God is LOVE, whoever lives in LOVE lives in God and also in Him.” (1 John 4:16)

Jacob loved Rachel, and it says that Jacob worked 7 years for Laban so he could have Rachel as a wife, but to him it seemed like 7 days because of his LOVE for her. (Genesis 29:20) Is your “love” Jacob’s LOVE, or is it the cheap fastfood self-esteem boosting “love” that means nothing?