When Push Comes to Shove...

I had a GREAT Christmas and I hope everyone else did as well! I got a TON of iTunes gift-cards so now I can start getting music again (recently deleted 90% of my music). I decided to download all the worship music I like off of 104.7 the fish and from Northpoint/Buckhead Church. Its time I listened to positive music instead of the filth and garbage I've been shoving in my ears since I was a teen. Its been putting me in a much better mood actually, and the funny thing is now that I look back at my old old livejournal I'm noticing that I posted all the songs I was listening to at the time. And no big surprise, its all super depressing, negative, angry, and moody rock. Go figure...Jesus was right about how what goes into your ears and eyes affect your heart. DUH

Anyhow, there was a reason besides the update that I wanted to make this blog. I read something in the Bible that really impacted me recently. I found this verse because I was listening to Francis Chan on YouTube....who is AMAZING by the way. If you haven't heard him go listen to him. I read one of his books for my small group which is how I heard of him in the first place. If you looked up the last guy I mentioned (Doug Batchelor) and compared them, I'd say Doug is an incredible Teacher while Francis is a man COMPLETELY in love with God. Its very refreshing to hear him speak. But anyhow, one of his messages was just so powerful to me. Its about how when we choose Jesus, we die to the world. And that its a great trade, not something we should ever feel sorrowful for or that we got the short end of the stick. And that's what brought me to this verse....

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33)

I read this and I asked myself, would I stand before everyone I know and proclaim that Jesus is Lord? Really really, when push comes to shove, would I stand up for him? Well when I get to heaven I want...no I NEED him to stand up for me! I won't be able to speak in the presence of God the Father, his glory will be too much. I need Jesus to stand by me and acknowledge me then. There have been sooo many time in my life where I've 'pulled a Peter" and denied him. I either downplayed my faith, or shut up when I could have stood up for him. Well I felt a burning desire to stand up for him in front of my peers so I decided to post it on my facebook status. Goes to every person I know (for the most part).

But the hard part of doing this is that I knew when it came down to it that I would lose a lot of "worldy credibility" for doing this. I knew I might lose friends. I knew I'd be looked on as a moron. I mean who believes the Bible in this day and age of Ipods and cellphones? With all this science and technology...who actually for real believes the old stuff that the Bible says is actually true? I do.

And then I found this verse....

"If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." (1 Peter 4:14)

So really every-time I'm put down in this world because of the name of Jesus I'm BLESSED! That's FRICKEN awesome! Because I'm absolutely sure that the overwhelming majority of the world will "insult" me because of my belief. Now this is God promising....and I love God's promises because they are rock solid; that I'll be blessed because of it! Amazing! I hope that many more insults come my way because of Christ so I am even more blessed!

Too Much Nog

Santa turns into Satan by moving one letter over...
Learned that the other day, heh. Christmas time is here and I just love it. I remember lots of previous Christmases where I just didn't "feel it". But this year I really do and its very nice. My family just had our Christmas Eve tradition of having take-out chinese food for dinner. Don't laugh, its a tradition we've done since I was a baby...not an afterthought. Christmas Eve just wouldn't be the same without Lo mein...

Meanwhile I'm super stuffed, had an entire thing of cookies after dinner and tomorrow should be a food festival to give even Thanksgiving a run for its money! Huge lunch with Dad and the fam then over to Mom's for the famous Prime Rib Dinner that Tom makes once a year...eggnog...pumpkin pie...haystack cookies. I'm gonna be enormous at this rate. Its scary what two days of just being a complete glutton will do to your body, I feel super bloated. Gonna hit the gym hard for sure after this.

Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to mention tonight in my blog. I've noticed a pattern this week, especially today. People are either in a super good mood or bad mood. There's no real in between. For example, the lady at the store was super happy and joyful...the lady at church giving out hot chocolate was a complete grumpy grinch... I guess the holidays really press people in one direction or another. And I'm sure the people in lousy moods are super annoyed at all us happy people. Too bad =) Jesus died for me, so I get to be happy. Those are the rules.

Oh and one more thing...have people COMPLETELY forgotten how to drive all the sudden? Have they had too much eggnog today or WHAT? I almost got hit like seven times today because everyone is all over the road. I think people on holidays turn their brains off sometimes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Very Odd

So I was just thinking about some stuff the other day... We all grew up in a world where technology is normal. I remember growing up and my parents getting their first computer. They had no idea how to use it or set it up. So as an eight year old I figured it out, set it up, and even connected our printer to it. I think we can all relate to how quickly we all figure out new technology....email...cell phones...text messaging...facebook...google...ect. But here is the thought that grabbed my attention....

Does anyone else think its odd....VERY odd that for thousands and thousands of years civilizations had nearly the same technology and then very recently (I'd say probably starting in the Industrial Revolution) we have this EXPLOSION of knowledge and advancements in technology? The problem with grasping this is that its so normal to us. We can't imagine a world without our cell phones. But if we are objective and take a step back and look at human history its extremely odd.

Now I know there are a few exceptions to this....like how ancient Egyptians built the pyramids or how the Mayans had a super understanding of stars and calendars and such....but you have to admit that a pyramid....while really advanced, has absolutely NOTHING on an iPad....like not even close. Do we think its because our generation, or the past few generations of human beings are just SUPER smart? That all of the sudden we became brilliant? How arrogant. I've read a few books by guys written a century or more ago and they were just as smart as we are, in fact sometimes they seem smarter. We can't attest it to that in my opinion. I mean, if you were put on an island and started a new civilization, could you even come close to making an iphone? How about a microwave? How about a car? Sure if someone had the knowledge to make these things beforehand and was put on an island they might do pretty well or come close with enough time, resources, and man power....But what about YOU? Someone without the current knowledge of how these things work? From scratch....it wouldn't happen. That's what I'm getting at. Where did this sudden knowledge come from? Seriously.

Galileo was brilliant. No laptops from him. I'm sure there were even smarter guys back in the time of Egypt...Babylon...the Aztecs...the Mayans... And this idea that science just keeps "building on itself" and that eventually it reaches laptops and stuff isn't really sound because it was pretty much the same for thousands and thousands of years. Otherwise there should have been a slow increase. We should have had cars hundreds of years before streaming HD movies on mobile devices. In ancient Mesopotamia they used animals for travel. Thousands of years later early Americans .... used horses for travel. THE SAME. Sure there were a few differences in agriculture or whatnot but basically the SAME OLD TECHNOLOGY. Then suddenly in the span of a little more than only 100 or so years we have super sonic jets, atomic bombs, global instant communication, space travel, microwaves, ect ect..... Does no one else find this Extremely odd??? What the heck is going on here!

People have NOT gotten suddenly smarter in the last few hundred years, I guarantee you that. So how is this mega explosion of knowledge and technology happening?? Seriously, ask yourself that. And its not slowing down, technology is progressing at a TREMENDOUSLY rapid pace. I predict in thirty years we will have technology that my generation couldn't even have fathomed...when we are getting close to retirement with college aged kids and all that....we won't even believe it ourselves. And our kids will think it normal. Well STEP BACK, because its not normal!

....its just that everyone who could have told us this isn't normal is dead. Those previous generations who lived their entire lives without any major jumps in any technology whatsoever are not around to say....hey guys, this is NOT NORMAL. And maybe our kids won't even believe us either. "Son, you take for granted that you can stream your college lectures wirelessly into your brain, I used to have to go to class and hear people explain it to me in words and take notes with a pen and paper."

Whats the answer? Here is my opinion:

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. (Daniel 12:4)

Who's Yo Daddy?!

I learned something today that is very uplifting. And while I knew this before, I never grasped it until now. In the Bible, it says how Jesus has invited us, through his sacrifice, to call God our Father....

This is commonly known. But the word used for Father might not be...

"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." (Galatians 4:6)

The hebrew4christians.com glossary defines the Aramaic word "Abba" as:

(AHB-bah) Aramaic. n. Abba. "Daddy," "dear Father," "papa"; a term of endearment for one's father (Mark 14:26; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Abba is a more intimate expression than the normal Hebrew word for "father" (av).

So what this means is that the Bible invites Christians to basically use a term more like Dad or Daddy than Father...which is more formal in contemporary English. So I've taken this to heart and it has really seemed to change my perspective when I pray. Try it out...say "Dad" when you pray...there's a huge level of intimacy with God that comes when you use the current form of "Abba" like Jesus told us to. I think that this was intentional and I will continue to use it in my prayer life.

....however I realize I might get some strange looks if I ever use this term when I pray out loud in front of others.

God? Oh yeah, that's my DAD!

God's Promises

Instead of writing an article I want to post this video, because in it the guy explains what I wrote about in my previous blog Jesus Do You Pinky Promise?

I believe that he is completely right!

Christian Faith Healing: Claim God's Promises - The most amazing bloopers are here

Addicted

Is it possible to be addicted to energy?

I've noticed that there seems to be a very strong correlation to my mood and my energy levels. For example, back in high school I was pretty often depressed. I wasn't very active. I didn't exercise much...mainly playing computer games. In college I was pretty much the opposite, very happy. I played basketball everyday, I'd exercise and workout. I wouldn't go one day without some form of physical exertion. And as any doctor can tell you, exercising and being active actually does give you more energy.

When I worked at Mattress Firm I never had time to do anything physical, but I would constantly take caffeine...whether redbulls...coffee...pills, whatever I could get. And I was a pretty happy guy.

Well the past two weeks I haven't exercised much and I hadn't taken ANY caffeine and I'd been feeling kind of down. Then this morning (the reason I had this realization) I had a big dose of caffeine and I feel energized and much much better. I have tons of energy and I feel like my normal self....

So am I addicted to energy?

Hidden Fees

So I find this pretty ridiculous... I went over to the new(ish) gym by my house called "Just Fitness". I was very interested because its much closer to me than LA Fitness and advertisements said only $10 a month with no hidden fees...wow great! Sign me up!

Or so I thought...
I walked in and got the tour, nice enough place-they even have a cardio/movie theater in there. So the guy sits me down to go thru his little sales pitch routine which I was a bit annoyed at...was just thinking SIGN ME UP. Then he goes over the HIDDEN FEES.

Ahem, hidden fees. Didn't the ad say no hidden fees? Well there was a 199 enrollment fee that had been conveniently "marked down" to 99. Listen bud, I was in retail sales, I know how this works. Then he tells me there is an annual "maintenance fee" of $50. .... I asked maintenance of what and he goes, "well of the gym of course". Riiiight. You know what, just call it what it is, a hidden fee. Do these marketing departments think that we're all just idiots?

Oh no sir, that's not a hidden fee, its just a fee that you didn't know about. Oh ok, in that case I'm ok with it...as long as its not one of those HIDDEN fees.... pffft. Lame!