We Will Overcome

I Jn 5:1-4
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the {child} born of Him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith.(NAS)

These verses are full of encouragement. Believers can stand firm in the knowledge that God can help them keep His commandments to give glory to God. Keeping His commands is an outward sign that we love and fear God. Through faith, nothing in this world can overcome the children of God.

Thanks for Thanks

Due to a combination of circumstances, I've missed a couple days. Friday, I was away from my computer (at a friend's house) and Saturday our dial-up internet was on the fritz again (if only we could get high-speed).

Today in church, the message was about what it means to worship. We talked about God's side of worship. One of the points was that without God's gift of salvation, we wouldn't even be worthy of worshiping him, so we should really be thankful just that we can be thankful, if for no other reason, and there are many other reasons.

In Sunday school, we've been watching a video interpretation of Matthew along with reading straight from the Bible. What is cool about this video is that it uses the Bible as the script. All the dialogue and narration is straight out of Matthew. Today, this video sparked a conversation: did Jesus joke around when he was on earth? Did he smile a lot? Did he laugh? This conversation originated from a scene in the video where Jesus dropped a banana peel on one of the disciple's heads. Just one of those things to think about. We came to the conclusion that since Jesus was made like us in every way except for sin, that he probably did have fun and joke around. It really shows that when Jesus was on earth, he was fully man and fully God.

Need endurance

For Christmas, one of my gifts was a small RC helicopter to fly in the house. After two 6 minute flights and the 30 minute waits to let the battery cool and then charge again, I was actually able to make it fly. After many flights, I am now finally able to control the flight a little bit. It has taken a lot of patience and determination.

Lately, these qualities have been slipping out of my spiritual life again. It says in the Bible that we are to continue in the Word of God. I keep reading, but sometimes I hit this point where it just becomes a habit and loses any real meaning. I need some prayer to have the patience and endurance to continue in the Word. So, feel free to send some prayer my way, because like I said, I can use it.

Future Christmas

I have to admit, I have been jealous. Whenever I see friends that have large families that they can spend the holidays with, it makes me wish that I had more family close enough to spend the holidays with. Now don't get me wrong, I love all of the family I do have, but I normally don't get to spend any holidays with them, because they are too far away. Spending Christmas with my parents, sister, and nephew is terrific, but I've only experienced a holiday with a large family when I was very young, before I moved to Washington.

That is why when I grow up and have a family of my own, I think that I would like to move back to Washington so that my kids could have the Christmas with their grandparents and parents and maybe even cousins that I have only had when I was too young to remember. Perhaps this seems a little corny, but that's okay with me.

Merry Christmas!

I know I'm about a half an hour late, but I was watching a movie with my nephew. Today was a pretty good Christmas. The gifts: a finger puppet, clothes, coins, a prediction of the next presidential election (long story), some music, an RC helicopter, and of course the bass from a few days ago. Although I have to clarify that the gifts are not what made today great. It was really nice to hear my nephew say he really liked the toy spy binoculars I got him, and that was after he had gotten a Nintendo DS. He also told me today that I was definitely on the nice list. It was good to spend the day with what little family I have in Washington.

It's also nice to remember what the day is really all about. It has become a tradition now. It has happened for the second year in a row, and I think it's going to stick. We have decided to remember the true meaning of Christmas by having a birthday cake for Jesus. I know that it's not a super-original idea, but I kinda like it. It's a way to keep the focus on the reason for the season, so to speak.

Oh, so merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve

Today, I had to wear slacks and a button-up shirt again. This seems to be a developing pattern. We had our Christmas Eve service at church this evening. There was a dulcimer, a saxophone, three keyboards, three guitarists, a bass, and a piano. There was quite a variety. It was nice to see and take part in a Christmas service where the focus was Jesus. It was also kind of scary to sing and play in front of people at the same time. The service started out with our hopeless, sinful state, and developed as hope was revealed in Jesus. At the end we sang Joy to the World.

Last Minute Stand-In

Today I didn't plan on playing during Church. Sometimes, however, God has things planned differently. Our bass player ended up being unable to show up today, so I filled in. I was the only one on stage in jeans because I didn't think I was going to be on stage today, and I hadn't practiced any of the songs on the bass. It could have been a complete disaster, but when we are weak, God uses us. I was able to get through both services, even with or possibly through my weaknesses and difficulties.

2 Cor 12:10
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (NAS)

Need More Hangers

With a new addition to the collection, we are running out of space in the office/music room. It's time we got another guitar hanger.

Today for Christmas, my dad took me to pick out a bass guitar. It was a decision between a black Yamaha and a blue Squire. The blue bass won because it had better tuning mechanisms and it was blue. Just one more guitar in the collection, and probably the last for a while. Next: a banjo.

Another movie

Here is another verse showing how God has no equal:

Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the LORD.
(NAS)


Today, I went and saw Alvin and The Chipmunks with my nephew and mom. It was a pretty good movie. Again, it wasn't quite what I expected, but it was funny. It also had a pretty good plotline for being a movie about singing rodents.

Joseph's Uncle

Today, I saw a rather entertaining Christmas program. I must admit, I am rather biased.

It was my 8 year old nephew's school Christmas program, and he was excited about it.
Why was he more excited about the Christmas program than Christmas break? I think it may have something to do with the fact that he got to be Joseph in the nativity. All I know is that when I was his age, that would have been a good reason for me not to look forward to the event. In any case, he did a good job (again, biased opinion) even if he didn't have any lines to remember. By the way, Christmas break also started for him today. Now we're all free.

Disclaimer:
Sorry for sort of copying subject material, fellow blogger. You know who you are...

The Light trumps all

I John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.(NAS)

There are many ways in which the metaphor of God being light can be taken, but the most recent idea that I have found in this verse is this: when you shine a flashlight on a shadow, the light overwhelms the darkness, not the other way around. God, in His holiness, is infinitely more powerful than anything evil. In many religious beliefs and cultures, the common belief is held that good and evil are equal, or that Satan is the opposite of God. God has no equal opposite. There is nothing that stands up when compared to God's holiness. The darkness melts in the presence of the light. End of story.

What happened on Christmas...

I Jn 1:1-3
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.(NAS)

We don't always take the time to consider just what happened on that first Christmas day. But we definitely should. Jesus, the Son of God, but also God in the flesh, and eternal life manifested, came to dwell among us. He became human. He did all of this so that we could have fellowship with the father through His redeeming blood. Jesus is eternal life because it is only through Him that we can dwell eternally with Him. There is so much more to Christmas than we sometimes think about, and to find the joy to be found in Christmas, we need to think on these things not only during the Christmas season, but all throughout the year. That's what Christmas is. Think about it, tell people about it, and we will see change.

lunch and a show

Today, I saw I Am Legend with a few friends. It was different than I expected it to be. I think it was better than I expected. Really, I don't know what I expected out of it, but what I got wasn't quite it. It was an okay movie, but it was a little slow moving. I don't want to say too much about the movie because I think it was worth seeing and wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone.



I also learned a lesson today: sometimes less is more. Before the movie, I ate at the Panda Express in the mall. Everyone else got a rice bowl, but I decided to get a two entree plate. It turned out to be a little too much after a McDonalds breakfast just an hour earlier, and the brocolli beef was less than amazing, having brocolli chunks too large and beef too small and not very good quality. The orange chicken was okay, but I've definitely had better. The chow mein was good.

A Step Toward Christmas

I think today was another major step toward Christmas. Tonight at church we had a Christmas program where we sang Christmas carols all evening. We also got some history about the origins of the Christmas carols we sang. It was pretty interesting.

The message in church today felt like it was tailored just for me. It was a pretty amazing message, and just what I needed. The title of the message was "The Joy of Christmas," so I was surprised when Pastor Dan told us to turn to John 15:4-11.

But it all made sense as he elaborated that the basis for the joy of Christmas was that we are given the opportunity to bear fruit for Jesus, the true vine. This gives Him glory and in turn joy, and we have joy because of making God happy. The way we keep this joy year-round (which we should) is by abiding in Jesus, abiding in His Words, and remaining in His Love. We cannot bear fruit unless we abide in Jesus and think about Him. If we abide in His word, we will better know the will of God, and if we obey His commandments, we will abide in His love. All of these lead to joy as well as other rewards. The big part that hit me was that in order to abide in Jesus and have this joy, we have to keep pursuing that goal. It doesn't just happen.

Missed Again

Last night, I missed a post for the second time. It's not really that big of a deal to me, but it's still worth mentioning why. Last night the plan was to watch the Bourne trilogy. You know, the movies where the main character is Jason Bourne, an ex-spy/soldier/assassin/etc. who lost his memory.



That was the plan. Instead, me and a few friends watched one of the Bourne movies (the third one), ate pizza, ate candy, drank mountain dew, and played pc games on the vast network of computers in my friend's house. I was actually kind of glad we didn't stick to the plan.



Oh, and we also listened to some strange, funny, unusual music. I don't remember what it was called and can't find the words to describe it, though, so that's as far as I'm going.

Oops

Tonight at youth group, one of the more embarrassing things that can happen to a musician happened to me. We were in the middle of playing a song when the duct tape strap holding up the bass guitar I was playing snapped. Fortunately, the guitar didn't drop on my foot or the ground because I caught it. Unfortunately, I couldn't play through the rest of that song because I had to regroup, and when I finally did play, I was sitting down and stepped on the cord, pulling it out of the bass. I think this experience is comparable to having your pants fall down, only slightly less embarrassing.
From this experience I've learned that although a duct tape guitar strap sounds like a good idea and could be short term, it will eventually snap, so be ready. Perhaps it's better to spend the five to ten dollars for a nylon guitar strap.

the fellowship of His sufferings

Phil 3:8-10
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from {the} Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith,10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;(NAS)

In these verses, Paul speaks of how our focus should be no on earthly things, but on Christ. Our goal should be to better know Jesus, His resurrection, and His suffering. Many times we don't quite understand this last one. Paul says to know the fellowship of His sufferings. The Greek word translated fellowship means partnership or participation. Not only are we to have a saving belief and understanding in the suffering of Christ, but we will suffer for Him. In my life, I have found that when I go through trials, that is when I draw the closest to God.

That was the majority of our lesson at youth group tonight. It was a good message, but I wasn't listening as well as I should have been, so when I got home, I decided to go through it again. Maybe I should make a habit out of doing that anyway. I think when we go through something more than once, we learn it much better.

Switch up

Tonight, I think something different is going to happen. I think you as the readers are going to write for once. This is mostly because I have nothing to write about. So, go ahead. Post a comment about whatever you want (within reason).
I need a break, so it's your turn.

Freedom!

Today, I concluded my quarter at running start by acing my math final. Ok, so I probably didn't ace it. I think I did pretty good, though. But in any case, I am free of school until January!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep myself from being bored to death for the next three weeks. {snicker} I think I'll manage.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy freedom.

Some Proverbial Advice

Here are some verses from Proverbs that I've been "collecting" for a while. They are interresting to think about.


Prov 10:17
17 He is {on} the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who forsakes reproof goes astray.
(NAS)

Prov 20:5
5 A plan in the heart of a man is {like} deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out.
(NAS)

Prov 20:9
9 Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"?
(NAS)

Prov 20:24
24 Man's steps are {ordained} by the LORD, how then can man understand his way?
(NAS)

Prov 25:27
27 It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glory to search out one's own glory.
(NAS)

Tomorrow It Ends!

Tomorrow my first quarter at South Puget Sound Community College will be concluded with a math final. After that, I won't have to go back to school until January. Today I got all of my drawings back from art 120. I guess I did and learned more in that class than I'd realized. Apparently, one of my drawings was selected to be part of the student work gallery on display in June at the college.

Today, I started my Christmas shopping. I almost finished it, too. For obvious reasons, no more details will be given relating to this topic.

Repeated Message

I was slightly surprized today to realize that the verses I had posted last night were the focus of our Sunday School lesson today. I thought that was pretty cool. It seems that whenever something is especially important in the Bible, it is repeated. Maybe God is trying to get a message to me.
He's got me right where he wants me: ready to listen.
It also seems like I've gotten some repeat messages about being carefull when judging others or arguing with them. I think it may have to do with a recent situation I went through. Fortunately, everything has been cleared up now in that department.
Found in the same chapter as "Ask and it will be given to you..." is this:

Matt 7:1-5
1 "Do not judge lest you be judged.2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.3 "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.(NAS)

I have a feeling that at some point each one of us has been guilty of being the man with the log in his eye. That being the case, it doesn't make it any more right. We need to be carefull when judging that we are not using unrealistic standards and make sure that we are in a right relationship with God.

Ask, and it shall be given...

Tonight, I've decided to let the Word of God speak for itself, so here it is:

Matt 7:7-11
7 "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.9 "Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?10 "Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!(NAS)

Glad About Grace

I am so thankful that it is not about me or my cleverness. In short, I'm glad of this because I fall so short of where I should or even could be. I try to do the best I can, but I even come up short on doing my best sometimes.
In my own power, I am nothing.
We as Christians are not told to go unto the world and argue people to Christ. We are simply told to go and tell the truth and then let the Holy Spirit do the convincing. I believe that is part of what this verse is saying:

1 Cor 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.(NAS)


If we are bringing people into the church simply by being clever or using our whits, then the true gospel has been neglected.
We are not saved by our own works or by other's works, but only by the grace of God giving us the faith to believe in the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

What I'm trying to say is that the best approach to evangelism is to tell the truth of the gospel, pray, and be ready to give an account. That's all we can do, and that's what we're called to do. We don't have to be clever, and it's a good thing, too.

To Count All But Rubbish

Today at youth group we were reading out of Philippians 3:1-8. In this passage, Paul is talking about the Jesuits who spread the teaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation. These people that put the emphasis of salvation on man's works instead of God's were dealt with very harshly by Paul. He even goes so far as to compare them to dogs. Paul then goes on to share all of his earthly accomplishments, but instead of boasting in them, he says that he counts them all as nothing when compared with the grace of Christ:



Phil 3:88 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,(NAS)



The application from this lesson: first, we need to be very wary of any teaching that puts the emphasis on what we can do to bring ourselves salvation. Second, the goal we should press toward is to be so amazed by God's grace that it's what our entire lives are about. The emphasis of our lives needs to move away from the things of this world and toward heavenly things.
How do we do this?
We get to know God better through studying the Bible and praying.

Very, Very Close to the End Now

As of today, I have practically finished two of my classes for this quarter. I turned in my portfolios for writing and for art today, and all I have to do now is show up friday and monday to get them back. The only major thing i have left to do is a quiz and then a final in my math class. Freedom is so close I can taste it.

Before, I posted about God's holiness and I talked about the other side of salvation, the side where God brought us salvation to bring himself glory. I said that everything was not about us. I think what I was saying came across okay, but I feel like I need to clarify just in case. The other aspect of salvation is found in John 3:16:
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.(NAS)"
God did send Jesus because He loved us as well as to bring glory to himself, (in fact, I would argue that the two are connected in some way) but I was just pointing out another aspect of salvation that we don't often think about.

Back To Normal ... Almost

Today, things started returning to normal. The flooding receded enough that I got to school without incident. The part that wasn't normal was that after I had gotten to school, I saw a sign that said my math class, the only class I had today, was cancelled. After studying for an hour, I went to Dennys with my dad for some breakfast. It had been quite a long time since I'd had an omelete.

We also went to Petco for a little bit today. After looking at all the fish, birds, and reptiles, I was once again inspired to buy a pet. It still hasn't happened yet, but who knows what the future may hold. What I can say is that it won't be one of the 1500 dollar birds that we saw today. Oh, and it won't be a snake, because my mom would not be very appreciative of such an animal. It also won't be a dog, a cat, or any other animal with substantial fur, as my nephew is allergic to these animals. If it ever happens, I'm pretty much limited to a lizard or a fish, the later being boring and the former being expensive to buy and care for if you want one worth having. I'd like to get a Uromastyx, a type of vegetarian lizard, but I'm not sure if that will ever happen.

Some Crazy Weather and Something to Think About

These last few days have revealed one of the stranger weather systems I've ever seen. It started with snow on Saturday, then it started raining later that day. Saturday night, it started snowing again. Sunday morning, a little more snow was encountered, shortly followed by more rain, causing a lot of slush on the ground. Today, things got really crazy when it started raining early this morning. The last I heard, there was 9 inches of rain in Bremerton and it was still coming down. The fact that we broke a record for rainfall in Washington state says it all. My mom and I had to go out in our back yard with a shovel and pick to dig a drainage ditch to save our house from certain doom (little exaggeration). Needless to say, with puddles the size of your average lake sitting on the roads, I didn't make it to school today.


Recently I came across this verse:
I Jn 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake.(NAS)
I find this verse very interesting , because it emphasizes that God has forgiven our sins to glorify His name. We've been made pure in His sight so we can worship Him. It's definitely something to think about.

Gloomy Day

Nast night, it snowed. This morning, it snowed. This afternoon, it rained. Unfortunately and fortunately, the winter wonderland that was our front yard has turned into a slushy mess. Unfortunately, because it's always fun when it snows and if for some reason it gets cold again, all that slush will be ice. Fortunately, because I have a few major assignments due tomorrow for school.

Today, I did a drawing assignment. I had to draw 14 pictures of a person. I drew my mom. It was a little bit awkward, and I don't know why, but it turned out okay.

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL!!

Lagging Behind

For the first time, I've missed a post. I was at the guy's all-nighter with my youth group, so I didn't have access to my computer, and I wasn't about to bring my laptop when we were playing flashlight tag and shooting each other with nerf guns. We also watched Master and Commander. I'd forgotten how good of a movie that was. It had a good mix of action, duty, and just a twist of humor to balance it out. We also ate at Taco Bell. Then we all slept in the same building. That may have been a bad idea, but it worked out okay.

We had fun, ate food, drank lots of soda, and we even slept a little bit. (three hours)

Tonight I'm going to have to grab a little bit more sleep than usual, as I am a little bit behind in that department.