something that has been bothering me.

Let me preface this post by saying I am in no way claiming I don’t do this, because I am just as guilty as the next person but, Something has really been eating at me lately and I just have to write it to get it out of my head. Why does it seem when people have problems (myself included) tend to automatically blame God for everything? It just seems I keep hearing that more and more lately and it just makes me upset. I know this isn’t anything new but why is it so easy? I have come to the conclusion that we live in a society where people don’t take any responsibility for themselves. It seems like when things go wrong we tend to go straight to who can we blame mode and more often than not we blame God. But why? That seems to be my prevailing question…WHY. I think it’s because God isn’t physically standing here to deny that claim. So it makes us feel better to just say it’s God’s fault then go on with our lives like nothing ever happened. The sad thing is when we do this our attitude towards God starts to change. I know when I have been in those times I start to question Gods love for me. I start thinking “well If God loves me why are all of these problems happening? Why doesn’t he answer my prayers when I ask for help?” I start to get this anger towards God, It’s usually at that point God slaps me in the head and says..”lets take a look down memory lane shall we? Let’s look all the problems you had and how I helped you out.” I am humbled real fast. God always helps, maybe not in your way but in his. We can’t control him or how he helps us, and it’s the stupidest thing for us to think we can. Believing in in God is NOT an if then statement. If you saying things like “If God loves me then” you are totally not getting God’s unconditional love. If you are saying things like “If God exists then…..” you are totally missing the message of the bible. Believing in God is a yes or no thing, either you do or you don’t . There is no middle ground. I revelation 3: 15-16 God says I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You have to make a choice either follow him or not. Get off the fence. Stop blaming God for the problems in your life. Take responsibility and stop thinking this world owes you something…because it doesn’t. Be an adult, be a child of God and live like one. Trust me I will be taking my own advice. It will be hard but I know God can help me through it.

Later daters.

Jumbled thoughts/

I'm sitting here looking forward to next week, looking forward to Christmas. That one time of year that you have looked forward to since you were a child, and I couldn't help thinking that Christmas just isn't what it used to be. I remember going to bed on Christmas eve and having trouble sleeping because I was so excited to see what I was going to get, Waking up mom and dad at the crack of dawn so we could get started. The crazyness of ripping open presents and yes the disappointment of mom wrapping socks and underwear. I remember sitting in the living room with my Mom,Dad, and Brother just enjoying time together as a family. Im 28 now and I find myself wondering where did those feelings go? I feel guilty when I do get that rush because I know now it is for all the wrong reasons. Not to long ago My friend Paul and his wonderful wife Amy told me a story about how Amy would steal baby Jesus from the nativity scene because Jesus hadn't come yet (read the whole story here

That Story has set with me ever since. So many times at Christmas we here the saying Jesus is the reason for the season and I think back to what it must have been like in Bethlehem on that day. I mean life was normal people were going on about there daily lives, working wondering what was for dinner, and in all of that there were two people who's lives were about to change. The reason for the season was born that night in Bethlehem. There was no fanfare, there was no hallelujah chorus, there was just Mom and Joseph, and baby Jesus. At that moment God's plan was in full force. God knew why the reason was sent.

It's so easy to just focus on Jesus' birth this time of year but really we need to look at the whole picture. Yes God's plan was put into motion that night and a most blessed gift was given to us. But Jesus' birth would mean nothing without the death,Burial, and Resurrection.

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT! So as you move about the next week going from one celebration to the next remember the full aspect of what Christ's birth entails.

(sorry for how sporadic this was)

Update

So I have been told it has been awhile since I have updated my blog…So I figured I would try and update it just to make some people happy. Well since the last time I updated this lets see……hmmmm Oh yeah we moved. We went from the nice peaceful country to the somewhat noisy city. I really miss the country but I don’t miss the house that much. I look at where Brooke and I are today and I have to say I think we are truly blessed. The more I think about it the more I think we went about this the right way. Brooke and I started out our marriage by living in Gardner, it was nice only being 10 minutes away form Olathe and from Church and from our friends. But then Brooke dropped the bombshell on me. She told me that the family that was renting her grandma’s old house was going to be moving out and that her grandma had offered to let us rent it out for a freaking steal. Well even at the rent she was going to charge us I was not happy about moving all the way down to Princeton. I didn’t think we could afford the gas of driving back and forth as much as we would be and I sure as heck didn’t want to move from all of my friends. But I did it…I wasn’t happy but I did it. Flash forward 7 years, I can’t believe we have lived down here this long, and I absolutely LOVE IT!! I told Brooke the other day that I NEVER want to move back to the city again. Ottawa is a nice town and I am finding out that it is pretty quite. All In all I am happy…Brooke is happy and things are really going good for us. We are now living next to our friends Carrie and Charlie in which we are VERY VERY much excited about. I am thinking that Charlie and I are going to have some movie/documentary marathons coming up. Well that’s all I can think of right now….

If you don't think this is funny

the there is something wrong.

Me lately

You can listen to this song at the bottom of this post

There are things that I'll never understand / The road I've walked that has made me who I am (Romans 8:28) / Reminiscing with the picture on the wall again / Reminding me just how far away I've been
I'm looking to lay my burdens down / They're something I can't carry anymore (Matthew 11:28) / I'm longing to lay my body down / Beside still waters and find rest for my soul (Psalm 23:2-3)
My knees are weak and my mind is tired (Hebrews 12:12-13) / I've followed every dream of every liar / If there's a place that you've prepared for me that I belong (John 14:2-3) / Then let these dry bones arise to live and breathe your song (Ezekiel 37:5)
What once was dead has now come alive (Ephesians 2:1-5)


This song has really touched me lately, I find myself listening to it over and over I decided to post these lyrics along the verse references because I think it’s better that way. I keep thinking about all things of that have gone on in my life that have made me who I am, and it always seems I get brought back to this point of realization of how far away from God I really am sometimes. I count how many times I feel like my mind is tired from following everything I have heard. I so desperately want to lay my burdens down but it’s so hard. I know I need to lean on God more but I find it more and more difficult each day. I feel like I am constantly fighting off temptations and instead of running to God I try to fend them off myself and ultimately wind up failing every time. One verse that helps me in hard times is more of a prayer. It’s psalm 25 1-5……


1[a] To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
2 in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse.
4 Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
5 guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

Ok that is my soapbox for today. I hope whoever reads this has a good day!

This pretty much sums it up

This reminds me of me and my friend Scott

Scott would be the nicely dressed up on and I would be the other guy..It think it's pretty dead on.

I know WAY to many people like this...

what I think

Well I have a lot on my mind so here goes one of my rants. And If I offend someone I'm sorry but this is how I feel. There have been a few things going on lately that have really got me thinking . Why is it that Christians are always labeled by the secular world as hypocrites? It seems that when something goes wrong or someone makes a decision that isn’t right and a Christian tries to help they automatically get called a hypocrite? I think to answer this question we need to look at the church as a whole and put ourselves in the shoes of the secular world. If you step back and look at the church as a whole we can easily find the answer. We have so many people in this world walking around professing to be Christians and then completely deny their faith by the way they act. I mean when you have some one like Pastor Jeremiah Wright saying things like “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”.
How is the world not going to see this a hypocritical? I mean everything he says he veils in Christianity and makes it look like that’s what all Christians think. There are many other examples of “popular” preachers that give Christians a bad name. Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson just to name a couple. But I think we need to look a little closer to home, and look at the individual parts of the church that make the body.
I was raised in church my entire life. I accepted the Lord as my savior when I was 8 years old. I didn’t quite fully understand the full meaning of being a Christian but I knew I sinned and I need to be forgiven. My walk with the Lord was strong for the next 3 or 4 years, then I hit Jr. High. I still had all of the same friends that I had in grade school but things were different. I realized I was using bad language more and not praying as much as I used to and as I entered high school things only got worse. I drank quite a bit in high school and then I got into pornography. Things at that point were just about as bad as they could be, until my friend Paul got interested in church. I took him on a friend day and a few months later Paul gave his life to Christ. The next few months were hard for me because Paul changed, I didn’t have my drinking buddy anymore. And not to mention Paul already knew the bible better then I did, this pushed me back to God faster then anything else could have. I started to change and low and behold my witness started to come back.
That is just a part of my testimony. There is a lot more I could say but I just can’t type it all. But the reason I put that in there is because in all things I want to be transparent. I think that is where the problem lies in the local churches. There is no transparency in most churches, and this is where the hypocrite word comes in. I think people come in off the streets who have never been to church before want to know that the people who are teaching them are real. Not just the teachers but the Media guy, the praise and worship leader, the deacons and elders and the list goes on. The last thing you want to happen is for someone to come to church for the first time and say..WOW that person goes to church? I saw them the other day doing this and this, or I saw some pictures of them on the internet that looked they weren’t Christians at all. I am guilty of this. Sometimes I do things that I know aren’t pleasing to God. But I know in my heart I need to change. I don’t want anyone to call me a hypocrite. It’s hard to live a blameless life but as someone who holds a position in the church I feel I owe that to God. So before the next time you go and do something or say something you know is wrong..think about it and ask yourself , Is this bringing glory to the throne of God? Trust me, it will humble you real fast. It did me.

PSA

Because I'm a man , when I lock my keys in the car, I will fiddle with a coat hanger long after hypothermia has set in.Calling AAA is not an option. I WILL win.

Because I'm a man , when the car isn't running very well,I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know whatI'm looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, 'I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start.' We will then drink a couple of beers and break wind, as a form of holy communion.

Because I'm a man , when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me tenderly while I lie in bed and moan. You're a woman. You never get as sick as I do, so for you, this is no problem.

Because I'm a man , I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like beer, milk or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic items like 'cumin' or 'tofu.' For all I know, these are the same thing.

Because I'm a man , when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

Because I'm a man , I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it.....though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator..... ( applies to engineers mainly ).

Because I'm a man , there is no need to ask me what I'm thinking about. The true answer is always either sex, cars, sex, sports or sex. I have to make up something else when you ask, so don't ask.

Because I'm a man , I do not want to visit your mother, or have your mother come visit us, or talk to her when she calls, or think about her any more than I have to. Whatever you got her for Mother's Day is okay; I don't need to see it. And don't forget to pick up something for my mother, too.

Because I'm a man , you don't have to ask me if I liked the movie Chances are, if you're crying at the end of it, I didn't ...and if you are feeling amorous afterwards....then I will certainly at least remember the name and recommend it to others.

Because I'm a man , I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it, looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

Because I'm a man , and this is, after all, the year 2008, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the vacuuming, and the dishes, and I'll do the rest...... Like wandering around in the garden with a beer wondering what to do. This has been a public service message for women to better understand men

I'm Back

WOW it has almost been a month since I have posted on here! Things have been really crazy lately. But I’m back (I think). Lets see since that last time I posted I have started school. This has been a culture shock for me. I feel old when I’m there. I mean the boy’s are smart mouths and the girls…PUT SOME CLOTHES ON..It’s called modesty and you should try it. This is the part that makes me feel old.I was sitting in class the other day and one the kids asked my professor a smart mouthed question, I had to fight the urge to turn around and tell him to shut up and that people were trying to learn in here. Could it be, that I am turning into an adult finally? Next to the professor I am the oldest person in the class. Oh well, I am only going back for me and my family, not for them. As far as the rest of my life is concerned everything is well. I FINALLY get a month off of running the projector at church(thank you Elizabeth). We are staying with my Mother and Father in law this week because some people decided to dig a ten foot trench all the way around our house. Now I understand they need to fix the foundation but after last night’s rain I’m guessing we now have a moat, anyone have any extra alligator’s or piranha’s I could have? Well there is a great deal more and maybe I will have some time to post more tomorrow but as for now I am off to see how I did on my first math test.

Truth

The following I think is how most people treat Jesus, myself included. We use him when we want him and throw him away. This song really shook me and if you get the chance look it up on youtube or any other site. The name if the song is Wedding Dress and Derek Webb sings it.

if you could love me as a wife and for my wedding gift, your life should that be all i’ll ever need or is there more i’m looking for and should i read between the linesand look for blessings in disguise to make me handsome, rich, and wise is that really what you want

i am a whore i do confess but i put you on just like a wedding dress and i run down the aisle i’m a prodigal with no way home but i put you on just like a ring of gold and i run down the aisle to you

so could you love this bastard child though i don’t trust you to provide with one hand in a pot of gold and with the other in your side i am so easily satisfied by the call of lovers less wild that i would take a little cash over your very flesh and blood

because money cannot buy a husband’s jealous eye when you have knowingly deceived his wife

Thankful!

I am so thankful I have a wife who understands what it means to be a Godly woman.

Me, Myself and Others

I have been rather observant of other people lately and I am starting to really not get excited about what I see. I try very hard not to be a judgmental person because I know I have done things that I’m not proud of, but it’s hard to see what’s going on around me and not feel….well flat out repulsed.

In my younger life I was a drinker. I could drink just about anyone under the table. It wasn’t a rare occurrence to see me with a giant bottle of Jack in one hand and a bottle of Rum in the other. I would go to parties and have a good time and get drunk. I would act like I was 5 years old again without a care in the world. At this point in my life I had completely lost my focus on God. I figured I would go out and do all of this stuff now so I wouldn’t miss out on what I perceived to be anything “fun”. But something happened. I grew up! I met my wife Brooke in the fall of 1999. I was just starting to get out of the drinking scene and trying to be an adult. She was (and still is) the best thing that has ever happened to me. As we dated I started to notice my thinking was changing. I didn’t see going out and getting drunk as a fun thing to do anymore. I was amazed, I didn’t think that could ever happen.

Flash forward a few years to..well…today. I look back at that part of my life and I don’t regret it. It’s amazing how God has used that as a witnessing tool to help show His glory.
But here is what has been getting to me lately. I have been around many people lately who are my age and are still acting like they are 18. I mean the other night I had a beer, I drank it in like 3 seconds and it tasted awesome, but I didn’t go over board. I started thinking this week about what the bible says about being a stumbling block to others and these are the verses that touched me.

1 Corinthians 8:9
9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Romans 14:13
13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.

This really hit me hard, here I am professing to be a Christian and I still act the way I did when I was 17. I know changes need to be made, I do NOT want to be a stumbling block for other Christians or Non-Christians for that matter. I serve in our church, and I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize that. I believe when you are put in a position of serving the church you should have some humility and be able to conduct yourself in a Christ like manner. So I am going to work on myself. Will I give up having a beer every once in awhile? No! I am just not going to be stupid about it. I will also work on my mouth . I say some pretty crude things sometimes and I’m often baited into it by other people as well. I am working on that to. I’m sorry this is so random but hey..it’s me.

Just how I feel Today

I was sure by now That You would have reached down And wiped our tears away Stepped in and saved the day But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining
As the thunder rolls I barely hear Your whisper through the rain "I'm with you" And as Your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise the God who gives And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm And I will lift my hands For You are who You are No matter where I am Every tear I've cried You hold in Your hand You never left my side And though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind You heard my cry You raised me up again My strength is almost gone How can I carry on If I can't find You
As the thunder rolls I barely hear You whisper through the rain "I'm with you" And as Your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise the God who gives And takes away
I lift my eyes unto the hills Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord The Maker of Heaven and Earth

ABC's

I stole this from That Guy.

A is for age. I'm 27 going on 13
B is for Burger of Choice. Five Guys double bacon cheeseburger.
C is for Car. 1991 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight...Pimp this suckas .
D is for daughters. I love my little girl!
E is for essential item you use every day. My liver...I think it is a very under loved organ.
F is for favorite tv show. How I met you mother
G is for groceries. BACON WRAPPED SCALLOPS...YUM
H is for how often you embarrass yourself. Not Much anymore, I don't really care what other people think about me.
I is for ice cream. Moose Tracks.
J is for juice. Does Lemonade count as Juice?
K is for kids. 1 Girl, Glenna.
L is for Lipstick. I find that a deep red really looks good on m...wait never mind .
M is for Mexican food. Jose Peppers is the freakin awesome .
N is for number of piercings. I used to have one but I accidently ripped it out of my ear and haven't gotten another one. .
O is for Optometry. I wear glasses...dang it.
P is for People You Were With Today. Richard and Terry.
Q is for Quiet Time. I just sleep...Ilike sleepy.
R is for Biggest Regret. Meeting Amy....OR 99.9% of the crap I did in high school
S is for sports you play. Football and BaseBall
T is for tattoo. I want one REAL bad
U is for what is unique about you. I give really good advice.
V is for Vegetables you Love. Corn...only because you rent it...
W is for Worst Habit. talking loudly!
X is for number of x rays. To many to count....Stupid football.
Y is for Yummy Food you ate today. Cheez it's and sugar free applesauce!
Z is for Zodiac. Capricorn but I don't belive in all that crap.

Wordless Wednesday: My Angels

Wordless Wednesday: You're Special

Wordless Wednesday

53

no form of majesty..nothing we should desire...despised,rejected,suffering,carried our disease,wounded for our sins….wounded for our sins..all have gone astray…turned our own way…the Lord gave to Him…iniquity of us all.oppressed,afflicted,lamb to the slaughter,justice perverted,wounded for our sins….wounded for our sins,all have gone astray,turned our own way,the Lord gave to Him..iniquity of us all…offering for sin..He bore your sin…His life poured our…Messiah came and died…through His life…He defeated death

Copyright DeadnowRise 2008.