Knowing the Unknown

Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father,15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; {and} that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.(NAS)

I just find it mind boggling that through the power of Christ in us, believers are gifted with knowledge of something that is beyond knowledge. The human mind can't comprehend Christ's love, but through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, that love is revealed to us. That's pretty cool as far as I'm concerned.

Blood, Sweat, and Dirt

What do tents, hamburgers, battery chargers, a bloody lip, and thousands of plastic bb's have in common? All of the above were present at the two day overnight airsoft game that I went to on Friday. When you take an airsoft bb to the lip, you get the added bonus of spitting up a little blood. Then you get to spend day two completely drained because someone in the next tent from you was singing an operatic version of the Veggie-Tales theme song (thanks Nathan) at sometime past midnight (I think). I came home bruised, hungry, tired, caked with dirt, and a little sore. Overall, the event was a blast, and I can't wait 'till the next two day game. Hopefully my days of borrowing other's airsoft guns will be over by then.

Victory!

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.(NAS)

The message Sunday was from this passage. The main point was that we can have victory over temptation, and how. There were three main points:

-The temptations we face are common (we aren't alone).
-God won't let us be tempted beyond what we can handle (He only gives us what we're ready for).
-God always provides a way of escape.

If we keep these three things in mind and truly believe them, the chances of beating temptation will definitely go up.

Sealed

Eph 1:13-14
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of {God's own} possession, to the praise of His glory.(NAS)

The promise found in this passage is amazing. Upon believing in the gospel of Christ, we are sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit. The Greek word used for sealed here means "to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation...(Strong's Greek/Hebrew Dictionary)". We are His. He has put His "royal stamp" on us. On top of that, we are promised an inheritance. The Holy Spirit seals us in Christ and guarantees that coming inheritance. The word translated "pledge" roughly means an advance payment for security purposes. To my limited understanding, it's sort of like collateral, but a little different. The most amazing thing is that the purpose of the inheritance we are promised from God is for God's glory. This works with all of God's gifts. He gives us salvation, we share it with others and point them to Him. He gives us righteousness, we live in a manner that glorifies Him. Our spiritual gifts are definitely intended for His service. etc, etc.

Pictures...

Up until recently, I've never really done anything with photography. On a recent camping trip, my dad brought two cameras, so I took the spare and... here's what happened.

Granted, my dad came back later and took better pictures of the same eagle in the same tree, but it was still great. I took other pictures as well, but as long as it took me to upload this one, the others will have to wait.

Back Home

Last night we got back from the mission trip to Puyallup. We reached a lot of kids with the gospel (the final number might have been around 80). God changed a lot of the plans for the week (our concert was cancelled, moved, and almost cancelled again because the generator wouldn't start). In the end, His plans worked out better than ours. Not only did we reach others, but God caused growth in our group and I think we all know each other a little bit better after the week. It was a great opportunity, and I hope to do it again next year.

Happy 4th of July!

Today was a little bit of an unusual fourth of July. I spent the night last night at a friend's house, my mom has left for Connecticutt for a few days, and my dad was at work. I went to a lake party with my church and went kayaking in the nice, choppy/windy weather on the lake. My dad came to the party later and we left before the fireworks. It was a "no fireworks" fourth of July, but that's okay, because we got enough at the baseball game last night.

Full Speed Ahead

My slow paced, relaxing summer has become a thing of the past. The camping trip was a nice break, but on the return, it was off to worship practice, mission trip meeting, and lawn mowing job. Tomorrow we're going to a Raniers baseball game. That should be fun.