break from studying.

for lack of time for a full post, here is something to hold your interest when a study break is necessary. but do not fear, a post will come soon.

worst music video of all time?

and after that

cutest eating contest of all time?

whoa...finally posted...

Well another summer come and gone and classes have begun. first week completed and 29 weeks of classes remain (not including finals week).
ups and downs for sure. praises for getting a killer job at nordy's and succeeding in it. downs with....well you guys know (relationship problems) haha.

Another up was that I was blessed to be able travel the world, or a little section of it this summer...yes im talkin about Italy. Amazing.

It was super interesting to see ruins that dated all the way back to the time of Jesus. it felt like being there in a way. the architecture was amazing, its hard to believe it only took 8 years for the Colosseum to be built without modern tools or cranes. it was built 80 years after Jesus died, and as you walk in you can hear the sounds of the crowds just like the games are still going on...i wanted to jump into the middle of the arena and act out a scene from gladiator...Russell Crowe style!!

I enjoyed walking around on the cobblestone streets of rome seeing a different culture and lifestyle take place. best part about the culture was the siesta which was observed everyday from 1-around 4 pm. not to mention the food was pretty bomb to (not in rome, everywhere else).

We did some hiking along a row of these coastal towns called the Chinque-terre and was able to see the Mediterranean, so blue and beautiful. Interesting history of these towns, they were all isolated and weren't able for the children to meet potential partners so they build these trails/roads from town to town so that the kids could meet up on the paths and fall in love...or something like that. All along the trails there are pad locks placed by tourists that 'fell in love' on these paths. I had no such luck in meeting an Italian dream boat but i did break a pretty good sweat from the heat.

So much more to tell about this trip but ill save it for our next skype session, otherwise this post would be super long and boring (it already is boring).

Finally I've been reading a book called: Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman for our house bible study and ive got to say...as a non reader...this book is pretty stinkin good. only a chapter or two into it but its a call out for sure. the whole premise of the book is asking are you a FOLLOWER of Jesus or are you a FAN of Jesus. My favorite part or sentences from the book so far is this: "The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren't actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close it requires anything from them." That really makes me think. This is going to be a good call out for myself and hopefully more guys in the house. Please be praying for us! Can't wait to learn more by reading this book and hopefully I am called to reform in areas of my life so that I can be a true FOLLOWER of Jesus Christ.

hellbound?

okok my brain is mush. but i tried writing down initial thoughts in my journal so hopefully this is a little bit more organized and succinct.  but i just got back from a movie in downtown pasadena and sat through an hour and a half of a cinematic package of theological banter about hell.  now i'm going to give some points that the movie made and ask a bunch of questions because i think this should be a discussion! the main reason i think this should be a discussion is because i had never had one about this subject.  for me at least, it felt almost taboo.  and of course it wasn't but it was just never spoken of.  so this was super cool to hear multiple positions and them each be supported by people who actually believe them rather than a professor who is just listing various theories.  but here goes nothing!

the two main theories discussed in the movie were the classical view of an eternal, punishing hell that contains people sent there because they did not accept Christ's offer of being the way, the truth, and the life.  the universal view contains a temporal hell.  there are some various offshoots in terms of the length and condition of that hell and even who goes there which i'll bring up but that's the main tenant.

i really don't have a great way to discuss the rest of the movie so i'm gonna do a good ole bullet point approach to some of the takeaways i had.  not necessarily things i agreed with and not necessarily did i disagree with them either. just thought provoking stuff.
  ps i'm going to say "i" instead of "we" because i'll own up to what i'm saying but feel free to include yourself in what i say if it applies

• i take on assumptions that are given to me as dogmatic or factual.  obviously, hell was one of those things where i was never given an alternative to the classic view. 
• if i believe that God seeks to be one with His creation and is also all-powerful, then why would there be a permanent hell?  if there is a permanent hell then there are two options, either God is not powerful enough to save everyone and see His will come to fruition or God does not want to save His creation.  He may have a select group who He called (called calvinism and commonly held belief by pastors such as mark driscoll) and only they will be saved.  how is this loving and also how does this fulfill His desire to be one with His creation?
• a common argument for a permanent, punishing hell is the identification of evil people such as hitler.  surely hitler cannot be strolling in the pearly gates with me on the day of judgement.  but if i do this, i condemn hitler ourselves and deny him Christ's grace that i turn around and expect to be bestowed upon me.  who made me the judge?
• could the eschatology of hell and heaven have arisen from the human view of justice which primarily comes out of retribution?  i want evil done to those who did evil so i impose hell on the text to satisfy my human desire for retribution.  i sure hope that my view of justice is not the same as Christ's view of justice.  and if it isn't the same, who am i to define what His view is? could it not supersede my understanding?
• universalists have never proposed the lack of hell, only the lack of a permanent, suffering hell.  when we pass through the refining fire (1 Cor 3:11-5) the wheat will be burned off to allow the silver, gold and precious stones to remain.  could that maybe indicate that we all pass through "hell" and have our sin burned away so that only our Christ-like attributes remain?  this may mean that hell lasts longer for the hitlers of the world while mother theresa just dips her little toe in but could we all experience it?  
• "hell is a human desire. i would suggest that Christ ethics supersede human ethics"
• "we don't read the bible as it is, we read the bible as we are" ~ thomas talbott
• "if we really believed in hell, we wouldn't be in college, we would be like schindler from schindler's list, trying to sell his ring just to save one person.  maybe the westboro baptist church contains the only people who actually believe in hell" 
• and finally, if we hold a universalist eschatology, what does that mean for the great commission? for evangelism?

that's all i got. let the discussion begin between each of us, and our respective friends at school. by no means do we have to get all heated about this, for none of us have the answer.  but honest, fair and civil discourse can do nothing but improve our theology and our view of the great God we serve and strive to love. 

what's your "train"?

pretty simple, poking around donald miller's blog as usual and stumbled upon a little link to this website here.  so if it is good enough for donald miller, it's good enough for me. so i read it and it was really neat because i think that it is easy to be apathetic.  at the very least our culture doesn't necessarily encourage us to be all out gung-ho for things. we gotta be cool, calm and collected. but i think that God created us to be wildly passionate, do things on an impulse, live life without caring what others think.  i think God created us to be screaming at trains, having others stare at us for knowing what a "snc52" is.

also, i can see nathan bofto being that guy.

happenings.

man-o-man. it's been awhile so this will be a biggie. got my journal by my side to recount it all so grab a glass of ice cold squirt and sit down.

reading the post of the woman from the theater that cully threw up was so encouraging. because so often we hold to a prosperity gospel that God is good only when He allows good in our life. but more and more lately i want struggles. i don't want things to be easy. i want God to trust me with difficulties, tough stuff not because i can handle it. that is precisely why i want them, because i want to rely on God, pray to Him, lean on Him. and that woman was a real life example of what it meant to lean into the everlasting arms of our Savior.

in the car heading back to school, i had tons of time to think. that may even be an understatement. and as i reflected over the summer, i was so thankful for it. i got fun, got work, and got to be home. but honestly, i didnt feel as if i was as intentional about my relationship with my Savior as i could have been. i say this because of thoughts that elicited from a young life kid's reaction to hearing about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. when asked why she was crying, she said, "i just don't know why i am not constantly thinking about what He did." so simple yet so eloquent. because if we believe in the sacrifice and the fact that Jesus gave his life, why should we not give our thoughts and actions?

and camp. whew! it has been "over" for 5 days and i'm still recovering. we had the same four guys from last year, gus / dane / kurt / chad + jacob / joseph / connor. so 7 soon-to-be juniors hanging out.  the camp speaker's name was ken tankersley so everyone just called him tank. and he did such a great job making Jesus relatable, the gospel applicable, and life with Christ realistic. in his words, "we talked about life, we talked about God and we talked about life with God."  it was just so great hearing open and honest conversation from the guys about the different aspects of the gospel and Jesus' story.  even guys who didn't really want anything to do with the gospel said they enjoyed being able to be perfectly themselves at camp without having to pretend to be somebody else to please others.  and that was awesome. getting to see guys who never are in the same social circle back home hang out, enjoy each other and learn about one another's lives.

one of the cooler stories that tank outlined from the gospel was the story of the rich young ruler in mark 10.  i think i appreciated it even more when paired with the gospel. i'll get to why in a bit. but tank laid out that the rich young ruler came up and understood all the rules and regulations. he had kept the commandments and followed the 613 prohibitions from the torah. but when he came to Jesus, he was hoping he could add another title to his name.  he wanted to become the rich young religious ruler. he wanted to keep the three other things that defined him but add onto his life. i can so often relate to desiring to add God onto my life instead of making Him my life. and that is how it related to the talk about the crucifixion.  because when Jesus died for me, it was like a proposal for new and full life. it is easy to say "yes" but another thing completely to commit.  i could say "yes" and change my relationship status on facebook but it won't matter until i change my lifestyle to reflect my commitment.

finally, jonah werner did music for the camp and he was the same guy who did music for my work crew session.  it was so much fun hearing his music once again and his amazing story telling. he continually pointed his stories towards the message of the gospel and i loved it. it made me hope that whatever profession i choose / chooses me, that i can use it to the same effect.  if you don't have his music, lemme know. because it's good.

and being back has been interesting because i'm pretty much alone without people at apu being here. summer classes are over, r.a.'s are on training, most researchers went home for the month and it's just me. in my super hot apartment because the a/c is broken. today it was 93 degrees. in. my. apartment. but it has been nice to walk with the young life guys through navigating home life after camp. because as great as camp is, it is mostly a glimpse of what life can be like it you allow it. camp represents the highs in home life while you still eventually come down (law of undulation - thank you westerberg).

so as disjointed as this was, that has been a mere glimpse of the past few weeks.

Open Letter

brothas! dude's had to share this song. Probably one of the best i've ever heard. Yeah i said it. One of the best I've ever heard.....


 It tells the story of letters that this artist (KB) has received from fans asking for prayer. The first one tells of a woman and her struggles and the next verse (my favorite) tells of a man and his temptations that I can relate to. 


The other featured artist (Trip Lee) responds with a prayer of his own to God on their behalf. Just a beautiful picture of people coming and praying for their brothers and sisters in Christ. It just goes to show you that we as Christians have struggles. I'm realizing that more and more every day as God reveals to me some of my own. It is becoming clear how desperately broken I am and utterly dependent on God I really am.

For me this song really puts it into words how HARD it is to be a Christian/stay pure in this world. And how life is a battlefield and we gotta make some WAR! 

Read the lyrics as you listen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=widSI1aQN8s

Midnight Movie Madness

So the other night Austin, Chloe and i went to "The Dark Knight Rises"...first off it was epic and my first midnight showing ever (made it even cooler to me). Then i heard about the shooting the next morning, shocking, sad, confusing, and angering.

I was browsing the internet machine and discovered this article due to the never-failing share button on @facebook...but i was glad because this article really portrays a godly viewpoint on the past situation: check it out vvvvv

http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/