My Life Aps-Part 1

So Andy Stanley started a new series at church on Sunday called Life Aps. It's shaping up to be a pretty good series. I think it will be very informative. The premise is to discuss, and help apply five things that God calls us as Christians to do while here on earth. His plan is to discuss these over the next six weeks, with this first part being the introduction.

He opened the series by stating that the Ten Commandments were meant for the nation of Israel(people who had a relationship with God) not everyone. He then spoke about how the worst thing we as Christians can do is to judge the "outsiders" Those who are not in relationship. In fact, he went as far as to say that was what turned alot of folks off of religion. Never thought about it, but it makes sense.

James 1:22-24 says this:

"Do not mearly listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like"

He went on to say that we do this. All the time. I am terribly guilty of this. I go to church, but rarely apply what I've learned. Wow, that sounds worse than it did in my head. Its true though. He challenged us to care more about what our "Spiritual mirror" looks like, than our "physical mirror" He said he bet the world would be a different place if all people thought about that every time they looked in the mirror. Then Challenged us to do so this week.

So I must say. I watched it yesterday, so I am only accountable for today, but I still failed miserably! It might have had the fact that I had a pretty important interview this morning, and I needed to look good...er, better than I already do, regardless, here's hoping tomorrow will be better.

My Vent

I sit here thinking of what to blog about. It has been a while no doubt, so I figure I could write about something.

I have recently had a run in with some fellow Georgia Tech fans on Stingtalk.com. This has unfortunately led me to the decision to no longer post there. I am trying to not even look there, but it feels like an accident that you drive by--you cant help but look. I like to interact with folks that have the same likes as I. This was a place where I could do this, in the comfort of my own home.

However, recently, the likes of the "nerds" that inhabit it seem it is better to condemn my spelling, and grammar, instead of giving their insight on a thread that I reply to or start. I understand. My grammar/spelling is not perfect. I know this. I'm sure they're many spelling/grammatical errors in this blog alone. I understand the need to be concerned about such things--say in a resume, or even a school paper. As my readers though, you are interested in what I have to say, and couldn't give a crap about my lack of spelling or grammar. I mean seriously, it is an Internet message board. Blog in this case. Just sayin...

My no substitute

In this day in age, people look to save money anyway they can. They have to. Recently, so have I. Certain things are no big deal to substitute, in fact certain things "store brand"are in fact BETTER than the "name brands". We will start with the things where there is no difference really, except for the price.

VS.

Now see, there is really no difference between these 2-except for the price. "Big K" is a good $2.00 cheaper than plain Coke. I dunno about you, but I'll put that $2.00 towards something that DOES matter, thank you very much. Others in this category include:

• Cheese


• Bread

Next, believe it or not, somethings "store brand" are BETTER, than the name brand:

VS.

Believe it or not, I actually PREFER the Kroger brand milk, and it is a good $3.00-$4.00 cheaper!!

With that $5.00-$6.00 savings...it gives me the money to buy the IMPORTANT name brand things for which there is no substitute!

My Accountability

Webster Defines Accountability as:

The quality or state of being accountable; A willingness, or obligation to accept responsibility; To account for ones actions.


Being accountable for others is one thing, for yourself, another. I can very easily call someone up in the morning, and tell them "Hey, don't forget to do your daily bible study." Then, when it comes time for me to do it. I make up excuses. "I'll just go back to bed for a little bit. Ill get up in an hour and do it then." Well, if you're anything like me--an hour becomes three, then you wake up because you re-iterate to yourself that you have to do what you told yourself you would three hours ago. "A willingness to accept responsibility" why is it so easy to accept responsibility for someone Else's actions(or lack there of) but not your own? Good question. This is why it's a good idea to have an accountability partner, as well as be one. So with this I ask. What do you need to be held accountable for in your life? For me are as fallows:

1. Daily reading- Opening my bible EVERYDAY, and actually trying to dissect the word for what God has planned for me that day, then applying it.
2. Working out- Going to the gym on a regular basis. Walking. Any kind of physical activity that will get me in shape.
3. Being the person God intends me to be- Bottom line. Don't do anything God would be ashamed of me doing. Two guys I know put it into perspective as to what I mean by this.

- "If you wouldn't say it to your grandmother, you probably shouldn't say it"

- " If someone were to take a picture of what you were doing, and put it up on facebook. Would you be okay with your grandmother seeing it?"

Not to take the WWJD lightly, but for this sort of falls into that same likeness. For those of you that wish--change it to the above: "WWGT" (what would Grandma think?)

What do YOU need to be held accountable for? Want some help??

My Trust issue

**note, the passages quoted in this blog are from the "Message" bible**

So, it's 1am and I am up typing a blog. I just needed to share what I just witnessed. For those of you expecting the next words to be "a car wreck" "a baby being born" "the fall of the Berlin wall"--well, I hate to disapoint, but its not any of those. "Disapoint" may not be the word I would use though. For what I just witnessed, is more amazing to me PERSONALLY than ANY of those EVER could be. I was doing my reading for my small group tomorow night. (nothing like the last minute I know): Romans 4. TRUSTING God. Now, I dont know about any of my readers, but trusting God(as much as I hate to say it) is one thing I have the HARDEST time doing. So im writting in my notes. First Note:

Trust in God with EVERYTHING. He apriciates this.

I then proceed to write down the fallowing questions. You know, as somthing I could ask my small group tomorow:

• How many of yall do that 100% of the time?(hopefully im not the only one who does'nt)
• How can we get better at trusting God
• How do we know when its God wanting us to do somthing, rather than ourselves?

So I write those down, and keep reading. A few lines in(and im taking just the part that stood out to me the most)--

"Trust not having a say in it"-Romans 4:6-9.

I think that pretty much took care of question 2 eh? Yeah, wait it gets better. I keep reading.

"the fullfillment of Gods promise depends entirely on trusting God, and his way,
and then simply embraceing him, and what he does"-Romans 4:16.

Well, there you go. That was pretty hit me in the mouth, to the point
there. The question is now--what will I take from
this?
Will I learn from it, or will I keep having the
same
trust issues I
have with God. Time will tell.

God Bless.

My enlightenment

Okay, so as promised here is my first blog in quite a while. I know I said I was going to update regularly, but I dunno, my life is just not that interesting. I did have quite the religion discussion with a coworker the other day though, and it sparked my thoughts, and more interest so I have done some research on one of the discussed topics, so I figured I would enlighten everyone here with my thoughts as well.

I am very curious as to why the Jewish faith does not believe in Jesus as the son of God. I always have been, even before my newly found interest in learning about my creator, and Savior. Growing up I would ask this to friends and family, only then I would just take what they would say, and let it sit in the back of my mind, and not really dissect it. not so much the case these days. All aboard, its gonna be a bumpy ride....

Like I said I have had many discussions so I apologize in advance if this seems to not really have a format to it(I seem to put that disclaimer on all my posts), So here are reasons Jewish friends, colleagues, and strangers I meet on the street(That's a joke) give me for not believing in the new testament.

• "It just doesn't fit together"-Uh really? Have you read the same first 4 books that I have? If you have, you'd see the same story being told from 4 different accounts. Seems pretty "Fit" if you ask me.


• "Well yeah, but the story has been passed down, and passed down, and passed down, and changed to and from MANY different languages-SOMETHING was bound to get lost in the translation."-it all happened to get lost in the SAME translation though? not likely.


• "Jesus does not fulfill the prophecies mentioned in the old testament" -all of them...perhaps not, or maybe he did and they just "Got lost in the translation" like you said. but he did in fact fulfill a lot of them. Don't believe me?-just take a look at Matthew 2;6 and then Micah 5;1-2. Another? you ask. Sure, how about Matthew 21;5 compared to Zechariah 9;9-those look pretty fulfilled if you ask me, and that is just the beginning of my comparisons, as I started with Matthew and am SURE I will find more as I read the other 3 books.


• "Well, they aren't word for word"-maybe not, but close enough.


• "some of the wording back then could be seen as something else then what its seen for. i.e. "Virgin" means "young" not the "virgin" we see it as today.-okay, but the fact of the matter is, Mary was a "Virgin" in the sense that we see today, at least as far as SHE was concerned. (see Luke 1;34)

So that's that. Another thing I don't quite understand is-If Jews do not believe that Jesus is the son of God, then shouldn't we still be living by the teachings of the old testament? thus the whole sacrificial lamb stuff??

*I would like to say that I am not trying to bash the Jewish beliefs here-these are just my thoughts-post discussions i have had with a few select people. Now, if any others of the Jewish faith would care to enlighten me on this, and would be open to me perhaps asking more questions. Please post a reply.

My Acknowledgment

I'm not really sure what made me think to type this.  I'm not even 100% if this is even going to make sense to anyone other than me, but I will give it a shot.

In Matthew 6:2-3 Jesus says:

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue's and in the streets to be honored by men, I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

When I read this I strive to do things not for my, or other humans satisfaction, but for Gods.  It is very hard to do.  You want that NOW acknowledgement.  If you give to a charity through Publix or some other organization you want your name to be written on that little glove, or train or whatever they use to acknowledge your good deed-right??  Sure, we all do.  Its the same thing that causes us to get upset when we let someone over into our lane, and they don't wave to us in thanks.  We want our good deeds ACKNOWLEDGED.  Do you see a key word in this blog?  ACKNOWLEDGE

ac·knowl·edge 

Pronunciation:

\ik-ˈnä-lij, ak-\

Function:

transitive verb

Inflected Form(s):

ac·knowl·edged; ac·knowl·edg·ing

Etymology:

ac- (as in accord) + knowledge

Date:

15th century

1: to recognize the rights, authority, or status of2: to disclose knowledge of or agreement with3 a: to express gratitude or obligation for <acknowledge a gift> b: to take notice of acknowledge my greeting> c: to make known the receipt of <acknowledge a letter>4: to recognize as genuine or valid <acknowledge a debt>
I used to feel this way-occasionally I still do.  like I said-everyone wants their acknowledgement but would you prefer the acknowledgement of humans here on earth- or your father in Heaven.  I think I will take the later.  
It is very hard though because every time you give to a charity-they want to acknowledge you.  Some may in fact tell you its impossible not to have any acknowledgement. I disagree.  there are plenty of ways to do it secretly.
Funny that I am blogging about this now.  I was just watching the real world(Yes, I actually watch it :-P) and one of the roommates gave another $15,000 so that she could stay in Brooklyn. would he have done this had no one else known?  If he was not on TV??  
Something to think about.....

My Great God!

Today I had quite the experience.  A friend of mine, confided in me, and told me about a situation that was deeply troubling her.  God has shown his light through me enough to have her come to me and ask ME for advice, and my opinion.  What a great feeling that was.  When she initally told me what happened, I had no idea how to respond, how to comfort her, or even if I should.  

Then out of nowhere I started talking.  Making sense.  This may sound strange, but looking back on it, it seems like God was telling my friend what he wanted her to hear, through me.  I have heard about this happening, but never witnessed it.  Yet alone had it happen through me.  

I really think I helped her.  It was an amazing feeling.  How great is our God?!

My Lent offering

So tomorrow is the beginning of lent. Every year I give up Coke. for 40 days. Then after the end of the 40 days, I jump RIGHT back into it.
This year I want to be different-I want to seriously cut back on my coke consumption. It should be interesting to see how much I save when I'm not buying 5-10 C Cokes everyday.
That's where the tough part comes in. I am going off cold turkey! The caffeine headaches are going to be a huge test to my strength and will.
I will plan to make a weekly comment to update my progress. So Wednesday of next week look for an update to how I am doing with my "No caffeine lent offering" Please pray for me that the transition is smooth, the headaches are few, and the offering is permanent.

My Girlfriends new dog

Her name is Lola.  Not a trans"gender", we just like the name.  She is a Yr 1/2, Beagle/Spaniel mix, and is awesome.  She weighs about 21 lbs, and looks like a Retriever/Lab puppy, but is in fact fully grown. 

   We have gotten through the first weekend with her.  She has pooped twice, and only peed about 4 times-one of which was in my parents house!  LOLA!  That was her first really big mishap.  She has actually been very good this weekend other than that.   This morning was probably the most eventful day with her new family.  She and I got up this morning, and walked around the lake down by the house.  I think it was a good mile walk, maybe more.  when we got about 3/4 of the way around we crossed a bridge that took us out to a little island in the lake, and were VERY close to the ducks, and geese.  Lola, being part beagle-LOVED this!  She would watch them swim, watch them fly, then when they came in for a landing close to where we were she watched them the entire way.  It was a hilarious sight!  

   When Charity got home from school we took her to the vet, and scoped it out(Charity seemed to like them.  Lola on the other hand...not a fan of them sticking things up her butt)  and the vet answered any questions we had.  She was very helpful, and we're very grateful.  

   Since we were so close to my folks house, we decided to go show her off.  and like Charity's family, and our friends yesterday, they LOVED her!  This is where the "Infamous" pee incident happened.  LOLA!  After all that commotion, we went outside, and Lola, for the first time since we've had her, got to run free outside.  she LOVED it!  I think she must have sniffed every inch of the back yard.  We got a small Nerf football from downstairs and played fetch.  GOOD TIMES!!!!!  The cats(and by CATS of course I mean Kit) however were NOT amused by her visit.    All in all, a great first weekend with the new dog!