Thank You For the Cross

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldyYOaWVL9Q

I really like this song and i find it appropriate for this day of Easter. It's hard sometimes to remember the true meaning of this day with society shoving these ideas of their own in our heads. This song is awesome cause it brings me back to the true meaning of today and reminds me of what our entire religion is based on. Jesus' resurrection!
I hope you guys enjoy this song and remember the true meaning of this day. HE IS RISEN!

crucifixion.

hey guys one of my teachers gave this lecture last year in my biology class and it was really moving and even more so as we approach good friday. so take a peak and hopefully it put's Christ's sacrifice into perspective for us.

http://www.apu.edu/articles/15657/

ps. i have never understood why it is called "good" friday when it was anything but. easter sunday might be considered "good" but i don't get the friday part. (this is a welcome invitation for someone to tell me why...)
pps. part of the reason why this lecture was so good was because dr. shrier is a 50+ year old woman with m.s. who can barely walk without a cane and never really shows any emotion in class. all year she was monotone, stoic and never smiled much. but when she came to the end of her lecture she asked the question that ends this article and she started crying in front of the whole class. i told a friend about it after and they said she has been giving that same lecture for 28 years and cries every time.

video

this is a great reminder. not to mention that the guy has sick dreads. food for thought?

Not sure what to title this...

Do you ever go number #1 and then realize you really just had to go numero dos?

I hate that. especially when you realize after you've washed the hands. I usually just skip the hand washing part the second time around..........just kidding :)

Blessed

After the day has ended I will have successfully gone just about 24 hours without anything covering my feet, trying to raise awareness for poverty in Africa (TOMS shoes). I was easy for me, the weather was nice and the ground was warm and smoothly paved. Now that I look back on this experience that I have done the past few years I notice how extremely blessed I am.
I just went one pretty easy day without shoes, but people all over, in Africa and many other countries, go everyday without shoes. I don't know why I was put in this country and blessed by a family that could afford to buy me many pairs of shoes over the years.
Not only have I been blessed with shoes and clothing, but with friends and parents who love the Lord and try to make me the best person I can be for God and for others and you guys. I'm working with Walt my house manager right now on how to become a godly man in every aspect of life.
I want to be able to be proud of who I am and how I treat others, and the affects on peoples lives I've had.
You guys have helped me become a better man, I have been blessed to know you guys and grow alongside you. I look up to both of you guys, the character you guys have is inspiring and I respect that in both of you guys.

Get out of the mud.

well since I haven't posted in a good long while.... I guess this had better be profound..... ok, maybe not....but it's me being honest with myself after hearing a sermon from our lead paster Matt Chandler at the Village Church today.

One word: Convicting

Let's start with this shall we?

"I am far more wicked than I think I am and He is far more gracious than I think He is."

Habakkuk 3:2-4 -

"LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. (Selah) His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden."

These three verses give us a two different pictures of God.

1. What God can do. (vs 2)

2. Who God is. (vs 3-4)

The easy one for me to think about is 'what God can do'. Well God can do a lot. He can create, he can bring people from death to life, he can heal the sick, give the blind sight, open a door for you when you're wondering which way to turn, and make some sweet french toast (just speculating.....can't wait to dig into some in Heaven, and I'm pretty sure chef ramsey got no crap to say about that) It's pretty easy to see what God can DO, basically because I want God to DO things for me. Such as, 'Lord, give me a good practice today so the coaches can see what I can do. Lord, surround me with Godly people at SMU. Father, show me how I can be a better boy-toy.' why deny it? :)

The sorry thing is, is that I'm satisfied with it. I'm satisfied with where I'm at. But this is only half of it. The other part is to marvel at who God is. That in itself is desiring God. That's not going after what he can give me; that's having my focus on nothing else, but Him. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else.

Our boy C.S. Lewis gives the perfect picture of who I am when he talks about us as a whole:

"It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased"

I just don't get it. Really? Stephen, come on. The best I can offer myself is poop compared to what God's got. My longing must be for God, not what He can do. All things that don't point me there to Christ are just dead and deformed. He can give me/us sooooooo much more. Why don't I want it?

Here comes the convicting part. Ok, goodie Stephen, you think your pretty hot stuff don't you? Yeah, I do. Why don't I pray? Why don't I dive into the Word? Simply put: I don't need to. At least I think I don't. Is there some life-threatening disease hanging over me? No. Are my parents getting a divorce? No. What's there to cause me to run to God? Why should I? I'm doing fine on my own.

Mud puddles. I'm doing fine in my mud puddles.

I just don't know what I'm missing..... Jesus is better than long-life, safety, getting playing time, having a beautiful wife.

If I'm spending 4 hours a day busting my butt for football just to play in mud puddles, why can't I take that same tenacity towards longing for God and start doing something that's really worth the effort? Why don't I pursue until my guts spill out?

Abba Father, my desire is for you. I don't want to miss out anymore.