Currently Listening Songs By Rich Mullins alrightokuhhuhamen see related

Why do we care what others think?  The way we dress, the way we act, and everything in-between is determined by the people that we are around at the time.  I will dress a different way at the beginning of the day if I know that I will or will not see a specific person.  I do this because I care for this person and care about what he or she thinks of me (By the way, there is no specific person, but I am speaking in generalities.   This person could be different every day).  This is something that is not inherently wrong or bad, but it becomes your life and decisions are based on what this person or persons think. 

As Christians, we are called to be set apart.  Why do we have to listen to the world, groups of people around us, and even our friends as to what we wear and how we act?  Just be you!  I like the Audio Adrenaline song “Go and Be”.  The chorus says, “Go and be nothing less than you ’cause you begin in Him he’ll show you who you need to be.”

I cannot wait until I am old and I do not care what other people think of me.  I want to just go and be who God wants me to be. 

“I am who I am, not who you think I should be. For me to succumb to the expectations of this world would be to suppress the expectations of my Creator.”  ~Daniel Bond (my best friend)

Currently Reading My Utmost for His Highest: Updated Promotional (My Utmost for His Highest) By Oswald Chambers see related

What is the big deal about everyone being so happy?  I know a whole dump truck load of people that always want me to be happy 24:7.  They will tell me that I am no fun when I am not happy, and they want me to get happy.  Now, I am not a particularly grumpy and non-happy person, but I simply have times when I am not so happy. 

Sadly I often fall prey to the mentality of always wanting my friends to be happy.  Until yesterday I would always get agitated by those who complained about my occasional lack of happiness, and I would turn right around and complain about someone else’s lack of happiness.  Yesterday in Bible study, I realized that God does not promise us happiness.  Being in His will is not always something that is happy to us.  This might blow your mind…or maybe it will confer your own experience, but I have found that the times that I have experienced the most spiritual growth is when I have been unhappy, even down right depressed. 

Of course, this does not just give me or you the permission to be in terrible moods all the time, yet it does have some implications for how we should act.  The next time your friend is going through a rough time when he or she is not happy, consider that maybe God is teaching them a lesson  through that rough time.  Don’t just allow your friends to always be grumpy and depressed, but realize that maybe God does not want them to be happy at that point in time. 

I hope I have not confused people.  I hope I have not made people unhappy.  I am just speaking my mind, and I wish that I could realize how God  works through tough situations instead of getting mad or frustrated.  Maybe instead of changing our attitude toward each other, maybe we should just change our attitude toward God.  Then maybe our attitudes toward everyone else will change for the good of all. 

7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

1 Corinthians 6:7

Wow!  Why not rather be wronged?  If only we all had this attitude, everyone would be able to tell that we were different from the world.  WOW!

Currently Listening Speak By Jimmy Needham lost at sea ( so could you take me by the hand and lead me to the dryer land so I could finaly breath again instead of sinkin like a stone) see related

We have all heard the saying “Be in the world, but not of the world.”  This of course is speaking to Christians.  This saying even appears in the New Testament.  The idea is that as Christians we should engage the world and essentially be a light in the dark world in which we live, yet at the same time we must guard ourselves from being corrupted by the world.  Often times Christians speak to this by saying “Make sure you are not corrupted by the world’s influence.”  People seem to have the right idea, yet I see a Christian culture now that ignores this entire saying.  Instead of only following the first part of this saying, people are completely withdrawing themselves from the world all together.  Therefore, the great commission is lost.  I see people one LeTourneau’s campus that are so inwardly focused that they are not in the world at all.  LeTourneau has become a “holy huddle” of 1200 students.   They are neither living in the world, nor are they living of the world.  Well of course it is hard to live out of the world and be completely corrupted by it; although, it does happen.  Quite frankly I am disgusted that it has become like this.  I see Christians at public schools that are going out and making a difference in their community, and they are growing because of it.  I envy them in a way, yet they also envy me.  They say things like, “You get to take Bible and ministry classes.  You are so blessed.”  Really there are positives and negatives on both sides. 

I want to make clear that I am not getting on to those who are not always spending their time on campus in their little “holy huddle.”  I am just stating that as a whole LeTourneau’s student body is doing a poor job of being in the world but not of it.  In fact, they are often not even in the world, yet they are still corrupted by it.  What is the point of being a Christian if you are like this? 

I encourage all of you who read this to really consider if you are just hanging with your friends where it is safe or are you engaging the culture in an active way.  I am not just talking to those of us in Christian schools either.  If you are at a public school you can also seclude yourself so much that you are not even in the world even though it is speaking to you every day.  This does not just go for college students either.  The same goes for high school and junior high. 

What are you in the world?  Are you of the world?  Do you even have non-Christian friends?

 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

Brave is simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them; glory and danger alike not withstanding, go out to meet it.     ~Leopold

Who really knows what is before them?  Too many times we don't even have a clue about what is before us.  We can't, or wont, or choose not to look at what is about to hit us right in the face.  We(humans)are so blind, and selfish.

This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.  ~Jeremiah 17:5

Currently Listening The Everglow By Mae Someone Elses Arms see related

Its been a while Mr. Xanga.

Semester over!  Nathan relieved!  As & Bs!

I miss everyone.  Will you come and see me?

I love friends and I miss them. 

Call Me!  I'm serious!  Call Me!

Let's play disc golf

Love must be without hypocrisy.  Detest evil; cling to what is good.  ~Romans 12:9