Prayers

Father God,

Thank you for this year.

For the exciting new developments, for the tragedies, and for the "little" events that will play big parts in our futures.

Thank you for Abby and her place in my life...now and in the coming year.

Thank you for my family and their support in a time where I don't know what I'll be doing tomorrow, much less a month or a year from now.

Thank you for the avalanche of blessings we receive and take for granted every day.

When we wake up and feel the brisk morning air, may we remember those who slept in the cold with no shelter from the winds.

When we sit down to a warm meal, may we remember those with nothing to eat.

When we complain on the way to our jobs, may we remember those who lack work and the feeling of self-worth that can come from being wanted.

When we look at our presents from Christmas and disdainfully dismiss some of them, may we remember those who woke up to an empty tree.

Give us the love to treat others as You have called us to treat them, and the grace to try again when we inevitably fail.  Allow us to remember Your Son and the sacrifices He made so that we may have this life of freedom from sin and death.  

In Jesus name, we lift 2009 up to You--

Amen. 

Joyeux Noel

That last post stunk. This one is better, because they aren't my words.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:8-11

Happy Holidays guys.

Fin.

Took my only two finals today for the semester...which means I'm free!

It's incredible how bogged down we can be with life, even if it's all good-natured and well-intended.  I got busy with friends and jobs and weddings and whatnot and forgot all about that little school thing I had going on...which led to quite the feeling of dismay during my Greek final.  I may be done with Greek, but I fear it's not done with me.  That sucker may haunt me for a while.

Anyone reading back on this, I encourage you to prioritize your life and learn to be happy with those choices.  If you choose work over school, you have to deal with those consequences.  But I will give you a small hint:

God is first. Always. No doubt about it. 

Let Jesus be your alpha and omega. 

(And there's the greek again. Drat.)

"Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last."  Isaiah 48:12

Glass to the Arson

"...and we are, we are, we are the arsons/who start all of your fires..." --Anberlin, Glass to the Arson

I talked with Mandy today about the differences between New Testament and Old Testament imagery.  The NT talks a lot about death and life and being washed clean...all fairly common images in today's society.  We have become so desensitized to the horrors of the world that death does not shock us like it should.  

The OT, however, uses awesome images like a Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel) gaining flesh and muscle and coming back to life or a plague of locusts devouring everything in its sight (Joel).  If we imagined sin as something that literally consumed us, bit by agonizing bit, screaming for help that won't come, until we are left dead, how real would it be for us then? The God of the OT doesn't play around.

Which leads me to arson.

We sometimes think of our conversion as a happy time, with wet hair and hugs and someone taking us to lunch afterwards, if we're really lucky.  John the Baptizer comments that he baptizes with water, but there is one coming who will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit.  What if when we accepted that Spirit, the holy tongues of fire descended and we burst into a righteous flame, like the burning bush, aglow with the love and grace and awesome power of our God?  Maybe then we would get it...the importance of life and the devastation of sin.  

I want to be an arsonist for God, lighting the world on fire with the Divine Spark until we are all a mighty conflagration, consuming everyone we come in contact with in the warmth of His love.

Got a match?

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."  Deuteronomy 4:24

The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

What a ridiculous game.

However, I can honestly say that I haven't met anyone who is anywhere close to as good at it as I am. Sad, but true...I dominate that ridiculous game.  For some reason, God gave me the ability to recall actors and actresses from movies that I haven't ever seen.  It's a nice party trick and conversation starter, and it also leads to me being in anguish because I know who starred in movies from 15 years ago but I can't remember Greek vocabulary from 15 minutes ago. But that is neither here nor there.

The coolest thing about the human body to me has always been how it all works together.  The heart and spleen and liver and fingernails all work together to keep us healthy and keep everything regulated the way it needs to be.  There is a reason we refer to the church as the body of Christ...we all need to work together.

Today I got a Facebook message from my sister's roommate, who's best friend's sister is interviewing at the same Optometry school that Abby is at.  Yes...read that again.  My sister's (Jenna)  roommate's (Hilary) best friend's (Audrey) sister is wanting to get in touch with my fianceé. I was amazed as I watched Abby spring into action; her willingness to help Emily (the aforementioned interviewee) without even knowing her (or Audrey or even Hilary) is so indicative of how we all should act as Christians.  The 1st century church combined their resources to live in community, helping one another because they believed in love.

So yeah, I can remember weird things about movies. Big whoop.

I hope I never forget that I'm surrounded by love...try that for a conversation starter sometime.

"In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." Romans 12:5-6

Thankful

So I had a really weird realization the other day...

I'm about to partake in Thanksgiving with my family and MY FUTURE IN-LAWS.

Whoa.

I have a fianceé, a job, a wonderful set of friends in Abilene, I'm over halfway done with my graduate degree, and I'm getting to do what I want with my life.  I have the resources and time to do what I want as a hobby (cook) and the great blessing to get to do what I want for my profession (work with youth).  So for this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for new, fun, and exciting reasons.

Pretty sweet eh?

Psalm 34:8--Taste and see that the LORD is good!

Shut Down

"Uh..."

That was a brief recap of the last 72 hours for me, intellectually speaking.  There wasn't necessarily any drool, but you get the mental image: I was totally that guy.  You know what I'm talking about...the freshman who has stayed up until 5 am playing video games and then "shows up" to his 8 am, if only in body but not mind.  

All of us at ACU have the same problem.  We go from the first day of school until Halloween without a day off, but then its a day off, three weeks, Thanksgiving, a week, finals, and then we're done for the semester.  So we are all mentally beaten down, and then they start taunting us with holidays and days off!  What up with that?

So I have one real paper left...a discussion of human nature.  And I'm trying to write about how the body relates to our relationships and the restoration of those relationships.  And my body is not connecting with my mind...it doesn't feel restored...and I'm not sure what to do with that. So yes, I've shut down.  And I desperately need restoration. Hopefully in my study I'll find the answer.

Motivation

It's funny...no one knows this thing even exists, so in theory I can write whatever I want and not have to worry about repercussions.  AWESOME.

Anyways...I got a job last weekend.  Sort of.  I'm going to be the full-time intern in residence at Grace Crossing: A Community Church of Christ, but I've only been unofficially officially offered the position.  There are still beaucoup de details to hammer out, but needless to say, I am WICKED excited about it.  I needed a job, preferably in youth ministry, in the Houston area, and God provided.  So thanks God.

There's a problem though...I still have over a semester of school left to take care of before I move down there.  So my passion, youth, has to wait while I learn about Systematic Theology, Church History, Greek, the Skills of Preaching, and Backgrounds of the New Testament.  Not that any of those is inherently problematic or bad; on the contrary, I love my classes.  It's that I desperately want to be with the kids...to hang out, mold them, and provide guidance.  I want to do what I feel God has called me to do, I have the opportunity, and the only thing in the way is the one thing I can't really control: time.  

I am woefully undermotivated right now.  I can't bring myself to read, finish my papers, or anything, because my heart longs to be in The Woodlands with my future.  As I less than eloquently state on my Facebook, it's hard to see the future when the present keeps poking me in the eyes. 

So here's hoping that something picks up...gotta deal with the life I have before I can have fun planning the life I want.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will rise up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."   Isaiah 40:30-31

Lift me up God...let me fly.

3...2...1...

This is the inspiration for my blog title...it's an article I wrote for my first internship at Legacy CoC.  It was originally written during the middle of the summer, but I think it's applicable regardless of time of year.

Sometimes it feels like Atlas got bored, looked around for a replacement, and dumped the world on our shoulders when we weren't looking.  Stress from jobs, friends, family, pressures from school or work...they all come crashing down upon us and seemingly bury us alive, where we can’t see the light of day or get out. 

There’s a story in 1 Kings 18 that encourages me when I’m so beaten down.  Elijah got in a duel with the prophets of Baal, and they each set up an altar with a bull to be sacrificed.  Then, they waited to see if Baal would burn up his altar or if God would burn up His.  After Baal’s prophets failed (miserably and humorously), Elijah raised the stakes by having the people around him fill four large jugs with water and smother his altar.  He did this not once, not twice, but three times.  I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to light wet wood, but it is unpleasant and frustrating beyond belief.  There was so much water, the trench around the altar became a moat, holding all the run-off. 

Elijah then prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:36-37) 

“Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:38) 

Even when we feel like the fire in us, the Holy Spirit, has been snuffed out by the weight of the world and the pressures and stress we face, we have a God that longs to shine through the darkness.  If we turn to Him and pray, we will achieve what we thought was impossible. 

Ignition.