the gentle left hand curve

The other curve

2011-03-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

Go to lefthandcurve.wordpress.com for my latest.

They Thought They Were Right

2009-11-09T13:48:00.004-05:00

I have been out of school for 2 years now, so my educational life has come to a stand still, at least as far as the classroom is concerned. I am a working man, I have a wonderful job, and finally am doing something that makes me happy. So there are times when I sit around and think, man I have done well, and must be at some superior level of education and knowledge, however, this isn't true. I believe the age old adage that "the more you learn the less you know" is now more true than ever.
Let me explain by starting over. When in school you are forced to read a lot of books that you might not otherwise have read. Sometimes the books in school are pleasant surprises, but for the most part they are dry and academic, and it makes it hard to pick up a book for enjoyment. So now that I am out of school I will pick up books and listen to audio books for pleasure, and to my chagrin, my own personal education. I get recommended books all the time to read and so I try to plow through them as best I can. Right now I have at least 4 books on the go, and I times I can have up to 8. All told this year I have read or listened to somewhere in the neighbourhood of a 16 books, not huge, but not nothing. All this is to say I am no more smart than when I started. I may have acquired some knowledge, in fact I know I have, but I still don't feel I am more learned now than I was before.
Many times in my life I have encountered people who thought they were the be all and end all of worldly knowledge and wisdom. (At times this person was even myself.) And what I have come to realize is that it is one of the worst sins to think like that. God never intended for us to find all the answers, but neither did he intend for us to stop trying. That is why I think human achievements are amazing and something to be marveled at, but not because we did those things, but because we tapped into the creativity God gave us to do those things. I wish I could look through history and show you that the people who thought they had the answers were stricken of this notion, however often times when someone seems so sure of something others will blindly follow, enabling the oft wrong thoughts. People who blindly follow anything should really step back and examine themselves and ask what it is they have devoted themselves too. I don't think God expects us to blindly follow him, that's why he has been revealed to each of us. The greatest testament to this is the people who follow Christ in spirit and in truth.
There is something so powerful about a person who actually follows Christ with their whole life, and it is something that I am really trying to explore in myself. What does it actually mean to follow this first century Jew who managed to actually change the world. This guy said and did some things that when you really get into it, were so far out there, so beyond comprehension that I am surprised he made to the age of 33. He made some bold claims, perhaps his boldest in my mind was "I am the way, the truth and the life..." I can't even imagine what people thought when they heard this. It sends chills down my spine just thinking about it. And to really dissect it would take pages, but let me focus on "the truth" part of it. He claimed to not only have the answers, but be the answers. Think about that. Would you blindly follow that? I hope not, I hope you would read about him, and learn what else he said and did. Find out if he lived that way, or was it a lie.
Too often we say that you just need to follow Christ, believe in your heart, and have faith. But do we ever tell people who Jesus was and is? Of course you need to believe in your heart, but you also need to believe in your mind, ask yourself "does this make sense?" I would love to see everyone come to see this God man Jesus in this way, where he isn't just words on a page, but is answers to questions, is a living breathing human being that said some of the most powerful sentences ever constructed that we take for granted. Ask yourself, do I know Jesus?
I think it's funny that we call him Jesus Christ, as if Christ is his last name. It was a title, Christos from the Greek, or the Hebrew Messiah (don't know the Hebrew true spelling, sorry.) This meant anointed one, or one with a blessing from above. It comes from the Hebrew tradition of appointing their king by anointing his head with oil. The idea is that it is a blessing from above. So think about it like this, Jesus the blessed one of God, or Jesus king with authority from heaven. This guy has been attributed the power from God to save his people. His words then have been regarded as holy truth, and rightly so, but I think because of that we gloss over them and don't actually realize what he was saying. What kind of king says the things he said, read it for yourself. I challenge you, and myself for that matter, to read his words, and if you trust them to actually live them out.

Merry Easter?

2009-04-12T21:21:00.002-04:00

I think Easter needs a saying. Christmas has a bajillion greetings, Happy Holidays, Season's Tidings, Merry Christmas, the list goes on. Easter, however does not have, or to the best of my knowledge that greeting. One thing it does have I guess within the Christian circle is the traditional "He is risen" "He is risen indeed" call and response. And don't get me wrong, that is awesome, but I think we can do better. This is my challenge to myself, and my reading public to come up with an appropriate Easter greeting. I don't like Happy Easter, and I think that there must be better words to express the weight of this holiday. To me it is more important than Christmas. So again, I am putting it out there, let's come up with something far more classy and worthy of the day. Maybe it could be like, "Happy Resurrecton celebration." Well ok that was lame, but you get the idea. The sacrifice of Christ is a lot more important and special and it shouldn't be just a cliche kind of day. Does anyone know why they call it Good Friday anymore? I do, but I am not going to get into that rant now. Anyways it should not just be about chocolate and bunnies. What can we add or take away from this holiday to make it slghtly better and more meaningful? And maybe I am being stupid, maybe for Christians it doesn't matter, maybe we already understand. Maybe I am just complaning for the sake of complaining. Whatever it doesn't matter, I just want a better slogan.

Sacred Sadness?

2009-04-08T21:02:00.003-04:00

Something that I have been learning lately has a lot to do with emotions. I think while I was in India, and as well as now that I am back God has been teaching me what it means to have human emotion. I know that sounds like a robotic statement, so for the record I do have emotions. What I am saying though, is that I think that we as humans forget that we have a full range of emotions. Sometimes as Christians we think that we should be happy all the time, and that so-called joy needs to exude from us at every moment. But I want to begin here with that word JOY. I have a good friend with the middle name joy, and we got into a good discussion about what that word actually means. Joy, or what we as Christians use the word for comes from the Greek word Chara, (χαρά) say it like you have a hairball stuck in your throat. The true definition of that word is calm delight. I will say it again for emphasis, calm delight. It is not happy go lucky, but rather calm and delighting in God for what he has done for you. Joy, in my opinion can be happy, but happy isn't joy. Happiness comes from external things and is temporary, for example I got a cheque from the government so I am happy. Joy comes from God and is internal and eternal, for example God has given me good parents, therefore I rejoice in that. By the way to rejoice is to take joy in. So when we have joy we are calmly delighting in the Lord, in our full range of human emotions.
Now onto those pesky emotions. God, showed it best, he showed us the full range of emotions, anger, sadness, happiness, jealousy etc... Now I heard someone say, jealousy? Yes even jealousy, like a good father who has lost his daughter to a horrible man, he jealously wants her back. Anger, in a righteous and calm way is right. Happiness, in a calm way is right. It is not about the emotion that you have, but how you react when the emotion rears its head. Anger is not wrong, when it is directed at injustice, in fact I think it is one of the most necessary human emotions. For example when I went to India I said to someone, "If being here doesn't make you angry about human suffering, I don't know what will." Anger can often drive us to do great things. And when you do get angry and people see you react with no hostility, but rather a calm delight, I think that is a great testimony. God never intended us to hide our emotions behind a wall. He never had to teach us how to be happy, or how to laugh, those things come to us easily. He did need to show us how to get angry, and how to cry.

So it snowed.

2009-04-06T16:51:00.002-04:00

So it snowed. I have decided I hate snow. I am not a very good Canadian, mostly because I can't skate well, and am not terribly fond of the white stuff. It got me to thinking though, I love it in India where it is exceptionally hot all year round. Even there winters, if you can call them that, are not too cold. A winter jacket is an unheard of device. I would like to say I am going to move out of here and never experience the joy of shovelling the drive way, but I know it may still be a year or two yet before I can make that guarantee. What it did make me think though, is that I think God can using something like snow in April to remind me that I have a desire to get out and see the world, or just India. I like it when the most inane thing makes you stop and go huh. But huh in the isn't that curious kind of way, not the I didn't understand that kind of way. God can use the most curious things to make us think about our life, and our mission. I guess it is hard to tell other people to find there snow, there silly little thing, but what I would say is pay attention. Romans tells us that creation screams out God's name. It is all about paying attention to the world around you. You can't be like a horse with blinders on, I say open up your eyes and appreciate what is going on around you. You never know what you will see and what it will remind you of.

An excuse, not a reason

2009-04-04T10:32:00.002-04:00

So, ummm ya I decided to start writing blogs again, for what reason I am not sure. I made a promise to a friend, you know who you are, and so I need to fulfil that duty. But maybe the question should be, why did I stop. I think I have an adequate excuse. I am too happy. There it is, I said it. I have found that I write best when I am depressed. I had a friend in a band once tell me he wrote all his best songs when he was depressed about girls. I am beginning to believe that is true. For some reason, when I am down in the dumps, and what my friends call Mr. Melancholy, I seem to write more better. See when I am happy I use poor grammar like more better, it just isn't right. However, I think when I am happy, or at least in a better state of mind I am just not focused on the poetic words of my down state of mind, I am not striving for the meaning to my sadness. So now that I am in what I would consider a better state off mind, I need to actually think about things I want to write about. I actually have to work at arriving at some topic and think about reasons and logic and form an opinion and blah blah blah. It really takes some of the fun out of it. I do love writing though, and I am glad to have a venue to do it. I think though that due to the busy-ness of life that it won't be an everyday event, rather something I do when inspired by God, or life, and I know that the world must hear this urgent news of mine. So have no fear, I am here to share.

Fresh Aesthetics

2008-08-31T14:09:00.001-04:00

Passion

2008-05-31T22:50:00.003-04:00

I was thinking of Passion today, and what I am passionate about. I was watching Darfur Now, a phenomenal movie about the war in Darfur. Whether it is a genocide or not is a moot point, but what is important is the passion that people have to see change. In the movie they talk about an American guy who took a social class in his college about Rwanda and it opened his eyes to the suffering of people and he discovered the pain of the people in Darfur. He took action and the culmination of that was that he got a law put into effect that would divest California from Darfur, so that America was taking a step toward stopping the atrocities there. For him this was and is his passion. I looked up to etymology of the word passion and I was not surprised to find it comes from Christ and His work on the cross. Apparently His suffering is what brought that word into origin. Passion is a word fraught with suffering for something you believe in so much you are willing to die for it. I think as a Christ follower I need to be that passionate about the gospel. But what else? What else causes me to make my spirit stir within? Like when Paul saw the idols in Athens in Acts 17. For me there are a few things, the plight of youth at home and abroad, and my work in India. They both cause me to believe that is what I am passionate about. Youth can be marginalized sometimes so much that they get overlooked. But in Africa youth are forced to arms to fight for something they don't believe in. In India the young women are forced into prostitution or marriage in order to lose a financial burden. The boys are forced to work from a young age and get married so they are out of their parents house. In China young women are cast aside for men who are seen as stronger and more capable. Here in Canada, youth are seen as irresponsible and disrespectful and are given no respect. These things cause my spirit to stir, the question is, how to change it? I am not sure entirely. This is a blog of questions, not answers.

More to it then that.

2008-05-30T23:18:00.002-04:00

I love how when we glance at the simple things in life there is always more to it then that. My dad tonight was sitting down in the family room trying to figure out his new toy, a big screen tv. Trying to get all the cables, and HDMI, and Blueray, and blah blah put together without too much headache. But the first struggle is the packaging on the cables, and that little red tool you see on tv does not work so easily. Then you gotta hook em all up in the right place. It gives me a headache thinking about it. In some ways I think people look at being a Christ Follower like that. We advertise ourselves as a simple answer, but we complicate so much of our faith. It gives me headache thinking about systematic theology, high Christology, Nomism, Gnosticisim, blah blah blah. It is important don't get me wrong, but it is not necessary for faith. To me I think faith is the courage to wake up every morning and say I am going to fight for what I believe in my heart. And faith is being certain of what we hope for. Charles Price spoke at my church this weekend and mentioned that faith is only as strong as the object that we put it in. So faith in God can only be strong if God is strong. And He is! That is the exciting part, that God is worth putting our faith in. The gospel is simple, so simple a child could understand. Simplicity in some ways should mark our lives. Obedience to God should make our lives so easy and simple to live. It is often us though that mess it up with our sinful carnal desires. The flesh, that Paul warns us about so much is so dangerous. Our desires to fulfil our most base pleasures is often our weakest point of attack for the evil one. And I am not just talking about lust, I mean money, food, ego, all the things that make us separate ourselves from God. No, Christ never wanted us to complicate things, he made it simple, Love God, Love Man. Once we accept His free gift of grace, life should become simple, Love God, Love Man, there is no more to it than that.

Can't Complain

2008-05-28T21:51:00.002-04:00

You know what I realized about my life... I can't complain. I got it pretty good I think, despite certain things here and there, God has been pretty good to me. I am very thankful that it is that way. I don't think I have a huge right to gripe about things going wrong in my life. All I need to do is remind myself of some of the things I have seen in my travels to know that I got it good. I was thinking about this today at lunch. I was fasting today so I decided to take a walk around Stouffville and enjoy some of the new neighbourhoods and listen to my iPod. It was enjoyable. The pastor I was listening to on my iPod was talking about the crucifixion. He commented when that when people say, "Jesus died for my sins, I'll do whatever the hell I want." They must not really know what Jesus did for them. He talked in detail about how brutal it really was. So that got me to thinking that I don't have a lot to complain about in my life. I will probably never be subjected to the same things Christ was. I have loving friends and family, and generally I don't think my so called enemies want me dead. I hope. I make some money and try to be a good steward, key word try, very hard! You know, I guess you could call it joy, I have joy in my life and where I am at. I thank God for it, for it can only come from Him! So I can't complain.

Title vs. Testimony

2008-05-24T23:27:00.002-04:00

I was listening to Life 100.3 the other day and I forget what speaker was on, but he was talking about this principle of title vs. testimony. Also listening to Phil Callaway tonight at my churches grand opening confirmed it in my mind. He said, "Don't make your pastor have to lie about you at your funeral." The idea is, that when you die and someone is speaking about you. 9 times out of 10 they will refer to you in some way by your testimony, not the title you had. Perhaps while you are living you will get mentioned by the letters behind your name, but when people remember you they don't say James Brooks phd mba ba blah blah blah. It is more like James Brooks, he did something really great let me tell you about it... I think to me that is what I want to live for, not for man's praise, but rather because I would like my legacy to be something that makes people say that was a life that served God with every breath. It is not an excuse to slack and not earn those titles, they are great achievements, but what are you gonna do with the title. We had Lieutenant General of Ontario the Right Honourable David Onley. That is a heck of a title. But what he does with it is even more amazing. A genuine Christian man who champions the rights of the disabled. He visits churches and speaks with people in a genuine way. He has a testimony people will remember. I pray that everyone lives in such a way, in order to hear on that glorious day, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Stuff I Like

2008-05-15T23:03:00.002-04:00

You know it is not that often that I come on here and talk about things I like, so here it is, the official I like that list.

1. Movies
I don't just like them, I love them. It is really more of an obsession. I have like 4 movie sites I check daily for info. I watch trailers and read all the latest gossip. And I simply love watching them. It is an escape for me, it is my place or time when I just forget for 2 hours. It is not a social mechanism for me. I would rather have an empty theatre to myself and just watch in complete silence. I cannot stand it when people even shuffle their feet, it drives me up the wall. But a good movie, I can watch it over and over again, and I have accumulated a rather large DVD collection. I am proud of it.

2. Books
And I mean good books. A good novel sucks me away from everything, I pretty much put my life on hold til I am done it. That was especially true with Harry Potter. One of my fave authors is Jeffrey Archer. He can write a good story. They just suck me right in, I dunno how he does it. I am reading a biography of Lincoln right now, it is pretty cool.

3. Writing
I for sure actually want to finish and publish a book one day. I have one I work on every now and then, but I have not worked on it months, I dunno why. But I love to write. I think though, the more I write, the more I want to write a great piece of fiction. Something that tells a little but about me through the characters and plot, but is set in a world different from our own. That is my desire anyways.

4. Chilling
I love hanging with my close friends. Nothing gives me more joy in life, except God, then just being with my friends. Dale, my best bud and I don't have schedules that line up to well, so we try and make time, once a month to have a night where we just chill, watch TV, catch up, whatever, but it is so fulfilling. My other friends, like Ben, Alex, and Paul, we play video games or do guy stuff it is great. To me it is one of the things that I think represents heaven in some small way. Just being with people.

5. Travel
Perhaps it was that I travelled a lot when I was younger, or that I am just born with it, but I love to get out and see the world. I have a long list of places to see before I die, and I just desire to see this grand world that God created, there is so much, and so little time. I wish there was no such thing as money sometimes, just so that I could hop on a plane and go and visit and do things. Along with that though, of recent I have a desire to see and help people in other parts of the world. More specifically India. But perhaps without my travel bug I would never have gone there in the first place.

6. Serving
You may laugh, but I do like to help people. I generally will hand out my car on a whim, or lend a DVD without a second thought. I am often the go to guy with the cell phone and when something is going down that night. I just like people to feel secure. When I was in India I loved feeding people, and often would skip my own meal just to be sure they had eaten. It wasn't a pride thing, it was just a desire to see them full. I want to start volunteering at the Scott Mission downtown, one night a week to just feed people. It is so simple, but when done with Christ's love it is so powerful. I was going to wait to see if I got another job, but who knows when that will happen, so I am going to send in an application for volunteer work.

I think that is it for the most part. I like a lot of things, but this short list covers a lot of it. I hope you enjoyed and it inspires you to find the things you like, and that bring you joy.

A good day

2008-05-12T19:29:00.003-04:00

Oh boy! Today I had the day off of work, so what did I do, nothing! Ok, I vacuumed the rec room, and tidied it a little, but other than that I got to relax. I did want to go to the zoo, but that is another story for another day. It makes me think though of the Bible, oddly enough, and the sabbath. Today was my sabbath! I got do no work, and just be myself, with myself. I know so many people that don't get to take a sabbath anymore. The more I think about it though, the more I realize we need it. God created it for a reason. Rest I believe is an essential of life, it is just like oxygen and water. If people don't just relax every now and then they become hollow shells. There is no desire to do anything, you don't want to help with anything and you don't feel like do anything to fix the problem. I say relax, observe a time of reflection. Be with God for a day. It doesn't mean just sitting at home doing nothing though, go do something, go for a walk, enjoy nature, take in a movie. Do what makes you feel good for a day, something that requires no worry or anxiousness. Escape! Today was a good day. I hope everyone has a good day, some day, one day.

James in Real Life

2008-05-10T00:56:00.003-04:00

I just watched the movie, Dan in Real Life. It was awesome, I love dramadies like that. But it made me think, what is it about the "real life" movie that attracts me, or the general viewing public. Other movies in this genre like, Life as a House, or In Good Company are so good. They all try to portray the real life situations in some sort of dramatic way. I think the reason we like them so much is because we like to think we aren't so removed from the world. We like to know that someone else goes through the same thing we do. It is like when you are in a conversation and someone says I flip the pillow to get to the cold side, and you say I do that too! All the sudden you realize that person is not so normal, just like you. We all have little quirks that we think we must be the only that does that, but truth be told, there is not much new under the sun. Like did you ever eat dunkaroos? Did you eat all the cookies first and them load up on the last one, and did you save a round one for the last to optimize the dunk? Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Have you ever sat in your room and listened to a song you told everyone was lame, but only because they would think you were lame if you listened to it? Well the truth is, we all share things in this world. But we all have things that make us special and set apart. God made us unique, and sometimes the ideas and contributions we bring to this world are the evidence of that. But God also designed us to be with each other, He designed us to relate, I think that is God's image upon us. Relationship, God is the best picture of that. So when it comes to real life, I like to think that we are all just trying to find the thing that ties us together. In those movies, often times it is LOVE. They make it something it isn't, but they are right in a way. God is love, and God ties us all together. We are all His unique children, tied together and united in love for one another.

Esther

2008-05-08T22:47:00.002-04:00

I have been hearing a lot about Esther lately. I am not entirely sure whether it is God, or coincidence. Or is there coincidence with God? Another question better answered another time. Regardless, this chick has come up a number of times, and quite frankly she is amazing. She helped to save the Jews from complete and utter destruction in the land of Babylon. It is no small feat, accompanied with her uncle Mordecai they were able to open the king's eyes to the deceit of Haman. The one verse however that stands out to me the most is, Esther 4:14 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"" The "for such a time as this" statement catches me, and I love it. I imagine God saying it to me all the times I am curious about where I am at in life. I ask, "God why am I here?" and God simply replies, "I have brought you here for such a time as this." It is a comfort, and there is also a warning I wish not to dwell on, that God will raise someone else up if we don't listen to His voice. God puts us in a place and time, we need to be patient and understanding, we need to follow and to listen. We have all been brought to a time and place, for a reason, and to fully know why we just need to listen to His voice in our life. Exactly like I just wrote about in my last post, we need to read and pray, read and pray!

Search Kindly

2008-05-07T20:28:00.002-04:00

I came across this cool website, and I wanna do my part to promote it. It is called Search Kindly and it is a search engine like Google, except 100% of their profits from ads goes to charities. This month it is Compassion International. I think this is an awesome idea, and all it takes is people like us to use it. We can do much sometimes without doing much. I just hope people don't use this as a cop-out to say they are doing something for the world. This is just a way to support something good, rather than something commercial. Anyways check it out, it is a great thing.

Darkest Hour

2008-05-06T21:27:00.003-04:00

Ok the title is a little downer, but I was thinking how in our darkest hours we tend to just go off the deep end. We do everything wrong, and all the while know we are doing it. Like me for instance, I am very frustrated with things in my life, but instead of trying to fix it, I self destruct and try and make it worse. I realized though, thanks to my friend that God never leaves us, and He isn't playing eternal puppet master. He pursues us, and chases us, it only takes us turning around and listening to him. It sounds so easy, just turn around stupid I yell, just turn around, but it is as though I am watching myself from some distant vantage point, watching myself make all the same mistakes. I like it when I can pull myself back, into my head, and enjoy God speaking into me. What does it take, how can I do it? How can you do it? I think the first and foremost thing is being honest with yourself, saying I may never fully defeat this, but God can. It will be a temptation, it will be a sin that haunts me forever, there is no magic erase button. BUT, God does erase knowledge of it from his mind, for now, forever. Another thing I heard recently that stuck with me is, there is nothing I can do to earn God's pleasure, He was pleased with me the day I decided to trust in His son. There is nothing I can do! It is such a relief. What do I do then, how do I James Brooks, or you the reader turn around and look God in the face. I think it is so simple, two easy steps. Read and Pray! Read the bible and pray, and be honest with God. He doesn't like liars. It is just that simple.

What Happened?

2008-05-04T22:00:00.002-04:00

What happened? I was watching an ASPCA commercial tonight, and it is one of those commercials where they show you abused pets and get you to donate money. It makes you so sad to see them, a little bijou with one eye, or a lab with three legs. Makes me wanna go and get all the pets and help them out, you know? But then I was thinking about those world vision commercials or, something like that, where they do the same thing. They show you orphans, or starving children to try and evoke a response. The funny thing is, I think the ASPCA commercial evokes more of a response. Maybe it is just me, maybe not. But I also think of people who protest movies because it shows an animal dying. When was the last time you protested a movie because a human died. I think we have become a little desensitized to human suffering. We think how it doesn't affect us, so who cares. Or perhaps we think I just can't do anything, so why try. Or even we like to think it can't be real, because I have never seen it. I know when I was young, and unaware I used to think it was exaggerated. But after travelling the world a little, I realize it is greatly under-stated. It is so much worse than any of us could ever imagine. The stats are too great to think about, for example right now as many as two million children are trapped in forced prostitution. Have you ever seen a commercial trying to stop that? Well it isn't that I don't love animals, but I choose to focus on humans. I want to love them the way God does, and try to help and free as many as I can. I hope we never become too blind to it, though I think it is happening. I pray that justice will become something that drives this current generation of youth into action.

Super

2008-05-01T21:53:00.002-04:00

With the slew of Super Hero movies coming out this summer it has made me think what power would I most enjoy if I only had one. It is a question that plagues most males I think, we often wonder, or sometimes believe we actually have a super power we just need to find it. I wonder if it is like Superman where he needed to grow into his, or if it is like Spiderman where we need a radioactive incident to spark the power. Anyways, what power would I have? I think it comes down to two that I need to decide between. Either super strength or flight. I usually lean toward flight because I have always wanted to soar and see the world in that way. How cool would it be to just glide and be free in the sky. It is the same reason that skydiving is at the top of my list of things to do before I die. When I am in a plane I love to go to the back and look out the window on the door. But then I think of being uber strong. That would be awesome at parties. I could be like, "I bet I can lift that couch with the four ladies on it... with one hand." And make a lot of money when I actually do it. Or I could get a job as delivery man, but I don't drive I walk with whatever it is on my back. I think though when it comes down to it, flight would be my power of choice. It is just too tempting an offer to give up, though no one has offered it to me. If you ever have the urge to pray for a super power for me, you now know which one to pray for.

Headache

2008-04-30T23:32:00.002-04:00

Today I tried to fast, it is one of my initiatives to try and invest myself in everything that I am doing. Now I know you are not supposed to tell people when you fast, or make groaning and what not, so the reason I am telling you, is cause I failed. I failed bad, I had McDonalds for crying out loud. It isn't like I failed into a salad! I am happy cause I made it to about 20 hours, which is I guess a victory having never fasted before. It is a discipline I am trying to get into my life. At about 1 o'clock though I got this massive headache, it plagues me to this minute. I can't rid myself of it. I thought maybe it was the food, so I ate. I thought maybe it was caffeine so I drank coffee. I thought maybe it was fresh air, so I got out. Yet none of these worked. It is a deeper problem. I dunno what. But after having a discussion with a friend today I realized this is so much like life. We have headaches, but we often try to treat the pain and not the problem. We try many things, none of which work. When in fact often times the simple solution is the best. In life we try to treat actions and not problems. For example, if I murder someone the action is wrong, but it is the motive behind it that caused it. The motive is what needs to be taken away, the heart is what matters. When I have a headache, I can try to solve the immediate problem, but it doesn't explain or figure out what caused it in the first place. We often times try to use band-aids, like blame, justification, or denial. None of these fix the problem, they just try to fix the action. Jesus told us if you hate a man in your heart it is as bad as killing him. He knew that we had to attack what the core belief was, the heart of the matter. So when faced with actions in your life that displease you, don't try to eliminate the action, but eliminate the motive, the problem that causes the action. Try to remove the headaches before it even starts.

My Other Family

2008-04-29T18:39:00.005-04:00

Someone out there asked me, selfishly, to write a blog about them. I decided that despite this vain attempt to see their name in my blog, I would write this blog. I have decided to expand it beyond just this one person and to include my other family, the Shaw's. When I was in India I had the amazing opportunity to stay with them in their house in Salt Lake. The patriarch of this little Canindian family is Stewart, or Stew to those he likes. His "Passion for Souls" is what led him to Kolkata. He also wrote a song by that name. He has a heart for the kids who live homeless on the rail tracks at Howrah. The kids often times collect dozens of water bottles in order to earn a few rupees to get food, but more often drugs. Their drug of choice, glue, that they sniff in order to get a high in order to escape their depressing and inexplicably horrible lives. Stew has seen something special in these kids, knowing their plight and knowing that all it will take is the love of Christ to change that situation. He goes there and prays with them, and cleans them, and feeds them, all pointing to that love that will set them free from the bondage that has enslaved them for so long. He leaned over to me on the first day I was there and said, "I'll take care of you." Those calming words assured that this man knew something I didn't. His burden is heavy, but he relies on Christ every day to carry it. The matriarch of the family is Monique, or Mo, just to me, and mom to others. Her heart belongs to the women who have been dragged or forced into the sex industry. She wanders into their tiny domains of the lowest in human wanton desire and tells them they can be freed. These women, who support their families with this illicit industry, are searching for some way to free themselves, but often times so caught up in the brothel life that the chains go deeper then the surface. Mo will hold hands, and wipe tears, and she will do it forever I think, or at least until every last woman has heard and believed in the good news of Jesus Christ. The progeny in this amazing family are Ben, Tim and Hope. Ben and Tim are wild ruffians who don't see their parents decision to live in India as something to complain about, or be infuriated with, but rather even they see it as a missions opportunity. Neither has plans to move back west, but rather to stay in the East. Both would love to see a Christian skateboard park, and well the first skateboard park brought to Kolkata. Ben the eldest is about to graduate, and plans on going to University, perhaps in Thailand. He reminds me much of myself, and so I hope he does extremely well. Tim, is the one with the insatiable appetite for mischief. He loves video games, and skating. He also knows how to get along in that world, and I would trust him with my life in the middle of any Indian city. Hope, what a name. She has a heart bigger than most I have ever seen. She would rather play with little Indian babies then braid hair, or paint her nails. Mo told me if I were ten years younger she would want me to marry her. Hope will be a wonderful girl when she gets older, finding every opportunity to befriend whoever she comes across. The parents never forced their kids into this lifestyle, but rather set up an example of how to live according to God's word. I trust that all three will grow to impact God's Kingdom in very significant ways. But I cannot forget the adopted child of the Shaw family, and Mo's second favourite person besides myself. Rebekah, or Bekah to most. She is my newest friend in life. Hailing from Kansas City Missouri. She felt the call for India when she was 8 I believe, and she knew she would be there one day. We met through Facebook, that marvel of social networking. She told me she would be living with the Shaw's, and that I could send some stuff along with her. From there we have become friends, having never actually met formally. Her heart belongs to the kids at Howrah as well. Along with Stew they have acquired a new building to do the feeding program from, and to teach the love of Jesus out of. Bekah often tells stories of walking down the street and finding every opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. She is very expressive, and writes the longest e-mails I have ever read. She sees Christ in everything, and I admire her faith in such a dark city. She amazes me, and I look forward to the day when we can actually meet.
This is my other family.

Compassion

2008-04-27T22:56:00.002-04:00

I recently decided to sponsor a child in India through the company called Compassion. I am kind of excited about this. I was challenged by a good friend that I wasn't doing anything for India, well I said I was praying, but there is more I could be doing. I am not a rich man, but I do try to give. So I am going to give in a small way through this kid. All I know is that his name is Stanly, well he has a longer name, but that is all I can remember. I have not received my sponsor package yet. He lives in India, and if I recall he is 6 years old. It is really heartbreaking to go on their website, because beside some kids is a heart, and that means that they have been waiting for 6 months or more for a sponsor! Well I am so happy to be doing this, and I can't wait to write letters and what not. Perhaps one day I will even get to visit with him. I suggest if you are thinking of helping the world in some small way, this is a great way to start. As for my India plans, I have more. I am taking every other tithe and giving it to the Shaw's ministry. Now you may say, James why write that on here? Well good question, this is my way of actually making sure I do it. I am lazy, not gonna lie, but if I tell the world my plans, it gives me so much more drive. Well that is it for now, I must apologize, I have lacked in blogging lately, I will try and get back on it!

Sick

2008-04-25T09:42:00.003-04:00

Sing a Song

2008-04-16T19:31:00.002-04:00

I was listening to something today that talked about past Hymn writers and their impact on the Christian world. It highlighted 3 in specific, and I wanted to mention them on here, I thought it was very cool. The thing we forget is that Hymn's were scandalous around the time they were coming out. People were not used to that new kind of music, with its rhythms and what not. When Martin Luther posted his 95 theses he broke from the established church and their traditions. So what did he do, he wrote some new music. Hymns. One of his most famous was "A mighty fortress is our God." This song among others, is one that helped set apart what we now call the reform movement. Without that we wouldn't have the freedoms we expect in the church today. Now the protestant movement may have been inevitable, but it is interesting to note that music did play a role in that. Going ahead a couple hundred years we jump to a man named Philip Bliss. He was a big writer of hymns in the 19th century. He worked with Dwight L Moody at points and was a touring concert performer, making as much as $100 a show. That was in 1864. His songs were very powerful for the time, but tragedy struck and he and his wife were killed in a train accident. When they recovered his trunk they found the last hymn he wrote called "My Redeemer." Now considered one of the greatest hymns ever, it was played in his honour at Moody's evangelistic meetings. He was also responsible for some others songs you might know, like "Hallelujah! What a Saviour", and the tune to "It is Well With My Soul." We then jump ahead to the turn of the 20th century and meet one of the most prolific song writers of all time, a blind woman by the name of Franny Crosby. She is credited with over 8,000 distinct songs! That is simply amazing, considering she was blind the whole time writing them. Often called the happiest creature on the Earth she held a very wonderful view on life. She said she was blessed for being born blind because, "the first thing I will ever see is Jesus' face when I get to heaven." Now that is an incredible way to look at life. She also said she wrote them so unbelievers would read or listen to them, becuase they were far more likely to read a song then listen to a sermon. Her most famous hymn is "Blessed Assurance" and also one of my personal favourites. There are many many writers here I didn't credit, but the list is long and wonderful. The point though was not to dwell on those songs, but rather to look at them and how they impacted their cultures, and how our songs of today should impact ours. We need not think hymns are old and outdated, but we also shouldn't think they are the only way. In their heyday they were just as controversial as our modern worship. What song is it today that makes your heart jump, or your legs weak. What makes you want to sing for all the joy in the world? Remember those people who came before as we look to our future, they were bold in standing up for their faith and their worship, so to let us be.

In the Face

2008-04-15T23:37:00.003-04:00

Sometimes when I am confronted with the bad side of human nature it causes a peculiar reaction in me. It makes me want to do extra good, not to be holier than thou, but to say, look this is how we should act. We shouldn't be mean or jerks to each other there needs to be love. When confronted with depravity, it makes me want to shine all the brighter. I guess that is Jesus in me. I think in times of extreme adversity is when He shone the brightest, or at least that is how I picture I Him. Think about when He was facing pilot and he asked Him about being King of the Jews. Jesus turns to Him after being scorned and flogged and goes on to tell him that God is in control of all things, even pilot. That is amazing. Jesus could stand up til the last moment. When Jesus was confronted by the pharisees and they tried to trap Him, He would have these amazing answers. The "He who is without sin casts the first stone" comment is sheer brilliance. Jesus knew how to pull it off, because He wrote the law. So when I am in the face of evil, depravity, or just plain jerkishness I am going to attempt to shine bright and show how Christ would react in the same situation.

Brett Ullman

2008-04-11T00:00:00.004-04:00

I was just at youth tonite and heard a great speaker named Brett Ullman. He is truly amazing and very humble, so he probably wouldn't appreciate me bragging about him. But as the apostle Paul says, I will boast on others behalf. Anyways if you have never heard him speak, and you have the opportunity please take it. He has an amazing knowledge and insight into our culture and society. Check out his website, I have it linked over on the side somewhere.

No Jacket!

2008-04-08T16:52:00.003-04:00

I rejoiced today as it hit a high of 20 and I realized that I can put away my winter jacket for a good 7 months, or hopefully more. Ahhh, Spring. It seems to trying to make up for the crap of a winter we had. So far the past 2 weeks have been amazing, and I hope it stays that way.

Die fer

2008-04-07T22:12:00.003-04:00

What are you willing to die for? That question was asked of me not too long ago. Not in the sense of actually dying, but more in the sense of, what will you argue to the grave. What is it that you are so passionate about that you would go to the grave for it. I often think of what would you cause a church split over. When I was younger I would have argued anything I had a mild opinion on into the ground, but as I have aged and matured (ha) I have found that there is less things worth arguing about. I always think of the Bible verses about "do not quarrel amongst yourselves..." and so on. I used to have meaningless debates, and I have been taught since that people don't like it when you stuff things down their throat, even if you are right. There must be some things that are worth dying for, like the core doctrine of our faith. Things like Jesus being the son of God, God being sovereign in our lives, and the truth of the word. Things like free will, while important are not worth dying over, or church splitting over. I am anti-denomination because for the most part they were formed over these minor squabbles, not core doctrine. So the question must always be asked when an argument is formed, are you willing to die for this. Are you willing to cause rifts in friendship, church splits, or hurt feelings for your opinion. Cause lets face it, we don't know everything. For example for me, I have opinions on tongues some stronger than others, and I know people who hold the opposite, or different view but I would never say they are wrong and I am right. The only time I would is if they or I were against the scriptures. The scriptures are the wight against which everything should be measured. The list of things I am willing to die for grows increasingly smaller, each day as God tells me, "It's ok, it's not that important."

Why I Love India

2008-04-02T22:03:00.002-04:00

I have been challenged of late why I want to go to India. This challenge is not of my own doing, but in large part comes from the men I consider my wise counsel. I thought I could explain myself to them in words, but I couldn't, so I am explaining in writing. I consider myself a better writer than communicator sometimes, so here goes.

Often times I catch myself thinking about India and my experience there and I have to stop myself from shedding a tear wherever I am. I will often talk about it and refer to it, but it is never the painful memories. It is often the things like food, or the grand things I did. I have realized though that I often don't talk about the conversations I had, or the moments I shared with people. The things that would show my passions. The reason I never talk about these is twofold. One I thought people just didn't care what I had to say. There is some truth to this. Most people don't really care what I did while I was there, and there are a few that genuinely do care, and do deserve to know. I think in my ignorance I assumed the worst of some people that I shouldn't have. Also I don't talk about it because it actually makes me sad and angry and happy all at the same time. I don't like talking about those things because I don't like being vulnerable. I pretend to be open sometimes, with things I have determined are ok to see, but often times other things are strictly off limits, and seeing me emotionally affected by a country half way around the world was off limits. All that is to say that I found something there. It was purpose. God has never been so clear to me in all my life. I have flippantly said that I feel like I have no purpose or need in Stouffville, and I apologize for that. I have a lot to do here and a lot that needs my 100% attention right now. But I cannot deny the small voice that is calling me back to India. Whether I am going there for years, or a year, I need to go back. There was something so powerful about those kids, who have all the smiles in the world with no possessions and no home even. All they have is each other, fellowship amongst themselves. I want to go back and work with them, and help them try to get off the street and working for God's kingdom within Kolkata. As a great man said once, "Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before anyone has heard it once." (Oswald Smith) I remember one day sitting out on the street with them and them wanting me to jump rope with them. I wasn't very good, in fact I sucked. Hannah was way better than I. But the smiles they held on their faces, and the joy that that simple activity brought to them was amazing. I have always loved working with kids and teaching them but also playing with them. That is probably why I worked at a camp for 8 summers. I am following my passions and they are leading me back there. When I was there God allowed us to see so much hurt and despair, but he also allowed us to see the immense hope that only He can bring. The only way that will happen is when His people become His hands and feet. Kolkata is one of the most under-missioned cities in India. There are very few workers there compared to other parts of the world. I feel that God has called me there as His hands for a while, if only to hug or give a cool glass of water, I want to be able to do that for Him. I believe I saw this vision while I was there, of a revolutionized Kalighat (the brothel district next to the temple). We were having an amazing prayer session one day in the Coffee house and we all just felt that God was going to destroy the temple and claim that part of the city as His. It was amazing because it is the most damaged, but that is where God wants to be. He will make it into Jesughat (Jesus area) I am sure. We prayed that so much and for so long and God spoke to myself, and everyone present that it was close, that we just needed to be patient, and keep working. That is when I realized the full truth behind the statement, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." God was telling me that He needed me to work there, to help Him bring down the cult of Kali, as ridiculous as that sounds I believe it with all my heart. But I also firmly believe that there is so much to do here on the home front, but for me there is a greater need overseas. My wise counsel is right, in that I shouldn't focus so much on that goal that I sacrifice my work here, but I can never forget my passion to go. I am working toward getting the things done that need to be done in order to go, but I am also going to give my all, my 100% at everything that is here for me. I will constantly strive to listen for God's voice, in the way I did in Kolkata, in all that I try to do and accomplish.

Arthurs

2008-04-02T21:52:00.002-04:00

I have recently fallen in love with Arthur's Fruit Smoothie drinks. They are so good, and full of goodness. Check them out if you have never heard of them. Click Here!
I am really excited to start drinking Goji Plus, it has some classic Indian fruit in it. If it is from India I am willing to try it out. On a sidenote I had a microwaveable Butter Chicken dinner from M&M meats and it was decent.

Don't Be Henry

2008-03-29T16:49:00.002-04:00

That is my new slogan in life. You are probably wondering, "Who is Henry?" and "Why aren't you going to be like him?" Well I will answer the first question... first. Henry is Henry the 8th, the infamous king of England way back yonder. Many of you would know him because he either divorced or killed most of his wives. My philosophy is not tied to his matrimonial dysfunction, but rather the reason he got himself into those messes, misplaced passion. Dude had a serious problem with lust. Any historian will tell you he also wanted a male heir and was willing to do whatever it took. The fact is he did have some male heirs, but he kept on divorcing and decapitating. The guy was just never happy with what he had. So maybe you see why I don't wanna be like him. I would never want my misplaced passion to rule me like that. I want to be singularly focused on God and the passion He gives me. Sometimes I let my desires get away with me, and then I realize I am so far away from God that I can't distinguish between the passion he has given me and the ones I made up. It is only through getting back into the word and in prayer that we come to know what true passion is. I heard this today, "First love God, then do whatever you want." The meaning is when we love God and get to know Him, our passions lie with his and thus we can do whatever we want. Have you ever thought of it like that? It is compelling. So just remember, don't be Henry, don't let misplaced passion rule you.

Walking Confessional Booths

2008-03-28T21:23:00.003-04:00

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16 Most people who grew up in the church are probably very familiar with this. My youth pastor, Jay, spoke on the topic of confession last night at youth. It struck a chord with me, and I wanted to elaborate on a point, I think. He talked about how we as the church are giving some power to forgive people, on behalf of God. This is where the Roman Catholics get their idea of the confessional booth from. And as Jay said, we protestants overreacted and have become very private. As always with God the answer lies somewhere in the middle. We owe it to each other to listen to each other and not turn a deaf ear, or overreact to what they tell us. I think in some way that is why blogs are so popular, because people can come on here and confess anything without the worry of rejection. Part of me wants to come on here and confess, but that is artificial. God designed us to be walking confessional booths the ability to listen without prejudice. Jay again used a great man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a source of knowledge. Listen to this, "The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them." Those are wise words. Listen, listen, listen. God designed us to be with each other. The funny part is that it should not be a true confessional booth, it isn't one sided. They need to be two-sided conversations. In the book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller recounts a time when he was in University and he set a confessional booth for non-believers to sit in, but the catch was he would confess to them. Tell them all the things Christians have done wrong over the years and apologize for it. How relieving is it when you tell someone a deep dark secret sin, and they lean into you as say, "I have been there, let me tell you about it..." Knowing we aren't alone is what makes us strive for God, becuase designed us to be together. Never did he say in your solitude by yourself I am there, He is, but He said "where two or more are gathered in My name there I am also." God is with us everywhere, but He wants us together, united, strong in one purpose. The only way to achieve that is to be real with each other, to be open, to be vulnerable. Sometimes we need to be willing to be hurt in order to be strong.

Hehehe

2008-03-27T23:17:00.001-04:00

Resuming

2008-03-27T12:18:00.002-04:00

So I have put my resume out there once again. I hate doing that, and I hate job interviews, I imagine it is similar to a bad blind date. One person is there to judge the other one. You get all dressed up, you try and think of some funny things to say to be witty. You think of some clever answers to the standar questions like, "so what do you like to do?" or "what are your strengths as a person?" The interviewer may have a backup phone call if he doesn't like you that "he needs to take" so "he'll be in touch". You walk away feeling really good, like it could be a lifetime thing, or really defeated, like it was the biggest waste of time and money. Money becuase you probably bought a new tie for the occasion. And in my case it is even more weird, it is like my mom set me up on this, cause she got me the applications. Anyways I am nervous about what may or may not happen. Anyways in both cases, date or interview, it is all a gamble and about first impressions. So I need to make sure to brush and shave that day. Also I just need to trust God that it will all work out in the end.

What I Think

2008-03-24T22:02:00.002-04:00

In my perusing of the world wide web today I stumbled across a youtube video called the greatest optical illusion ever. This guy made this video proving that God is the greatest illusion ever. He has a website called godisimaginary.com. I don't recommend you visit it, unless you want a challenge to think about. He is a smart guy and he uses the Bible and other sources to "prove" his points. I flipped through some of his 50 proofs and I was shocked at some of the points he made. I was also shocked to see that I agreed with some. Now I need to say I do believe God is real, not imaginary, so let me give you an example. He was talking about churches and he put on an article or something from a church about their expansion. They commented that "God had richly blessed them with a huge facility, soccer fields, gyms, etc..." This guy goes on to comment, why is God's blessing going there and not to the thousands of starving kids, and being equally distributed. I think this guy makes a solid point, why do we build this huge monstrosities of buildings, and keep the blessings to ourselves. If we are God's hands we need to hand things out. I am not saying we shouldn't build buildings, not at all, God works in our local communities through them.
Another point this guy made, that really got me, and almost made me angry, was that prayer does not work. He said all answered prayer is coincidence. This is really naive, but his point was that God answers prayer in three ways, "yes", "no", and "wait", and logically you can't lose with those answers. You could say a mug answers prayers based on those conditions. He says if you get a cheque in the mail, or whatever it is just coincidence. What this guy fails to comprehend is that God works through people, in the natural world to get His will done. When it comes to healing miracles a scientist looks for the rational natural answer, and so should the Christian, but we should also realize that is how God works. And yes from time to time it is unexplainable. But created this world not to completely ignore it, He works in it and through it. Through the people and the creation. If you look at everything as coincidence then of course it looks like there is no God. God works in the simple things, the mundane things, the fantastic things, the wonderful things, and everything. Don't write Him off cause it looks like a coincidence, thank God for everything, because it is all a gift.

In The Middle

2008-03-22T21:31:00.002-04:00

"...then I put on the third one, it was good. I think it looks great, you know what I mean?" Have you ever walked in on the middle of a conversation, and have no idea what the person is talking about. I could have been talking about putting on a third coat of paint, or trying on three pairs of pants. Whatever it is I think it is always hard to understand and not appreciate what the person was trying to say. I wonder if that is how unbelievers feel about church when they walk in for the firs time, like they have walked in on the middle of a conversation. They walk into our buildings and hear a lot of things, but it comes across as the end of a sentence rather then the beginning. They hear a bunch of advice and dos and don'ts but don't know why they are hearing them. They make educated guesses, saying we use God to appease our moral bend, or we need a crutch to get through the day. Either could be assumed easily, just as you could assume a number of things based on my sentence above. I think it always needs to be clear what we are saying and why, to avoid confusion. There will always be people who don't understand, but imagine how much better the message would get across if we didn't always assume people knew the beginning of the sentence.

The Passion of Easter

2008-03-20T23:05:00.002-04:00

Easter is an amazing time of the year. I was asked today by a coworker, "Why should anyone worship God, why can't anybody do their own thing?" He also made some comment in the direction of God is just a crutch. I replied with something like, "Having a relationship with God is not an obligation, it should be as natural as breathing. You do it because you want to, because He created the universe." I thought this was a good reply, but, I know there was more I could say, especially as we approach Easter. It has got me thinking about Christ and the sacrifice He made. My mind always wanders to John 15:13, "There is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Christ was making an obvious reference to himself here, and that is amazing, cause it is so deep. What more could you do? How could you express your love any better than that? It has got me thinking about one of my favourite songs, Saviour King by Hillsong. Some of the most striking lyrics ever are in that song. It says "You asked your Son, to carry this, the heavy cross, our weight of sin." How true that is. He carried our sin, on that wooden cross. So my answer to that question, could have been so more full. Why do we worship God, because we are so full of sin and darkness that we need Him, we need Him to come in and fill us with His goodness. I am not familiar with any person who thinks man is good. It is so obvious when you look at us that there is something fundamentally wrong. You need only look at the 20th century for proof, the bloodiest century of all. WWII alone saw over 60 million deaths. The crisis in Rwanda, the genocide in Darfur, the apartheid in South Africa, the list goes on. Man has something wrong, what is the answer. Christ! Can it be that easy. I think Christians have given Christ a bad reputation over the years, and they will have a lot to answer for one day, but they are not Christ. Only He can change us, and show us the way, it is when people choose to ignore that they run into trouble. It is not something to force on people, or make them do, it is a decision that becomes something so powerful that you can only but give into it. The Holy Spirit works in peoples hearts, through Christ and His sacrifice that day. He was right when He said, It is finished. No more should sin stand in our way, it is only because people ignore Him and what He did that it still hinders our lives. You can drive yourself crazy though asking the question why don't people understand, but I choose not to. You need to learn to take it one soul at a time. Have passion as Christ had passion, have love like he had love. I think my goal, my passion, is to do what He asked of us, Go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples...

Bubble Wrap

2008-03-20T10:52:00.002-04:00

Where does bubble wrap come from? I have a plethora of it at work and no idea where it all comes from, where is this bubble wrap factory? It is one of those great mysteries of life. But seriously who doesn't love popping bubble wrap? There is a website that you can go to, to pop bubble wrap. It is not really that exciting, but if you really like it then check it out. Anyways, Bubble wrap if fun, but I am still confused by it. Where does one buy bubble wrap? All these questions.

Psalm it up

2008-03-19T21:49:00.002-04:00

I have taken it upon myself to memorize Psalm 119. Why you ask, well let me tell you. You may think, James you're crazy for starting with the longest chapter in the Bible, and that's where I say HA, this isn't the first chapter I have memorized. I have committed to memory 1 Corinthians 13, and the 23rd Psalm as well. But the reason I chose Psalm 119 is, because it is, I believe, one of if not the most beautiful single chapter in the Bible. That is a lofty claim I know, but let's just look at the part I have started with, Aleph and Beth. (For those of you who don't know, 119 is a Hebrew acrostic poem where each line in each stanza begins with the letter of that specific letter of the alphabet that it is under)

1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.

2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.

3 They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.

4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.

5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!

6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.

7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.

8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.

10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.

11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

12 Praise be to you, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.

13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.

14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.

15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.

16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.

This is so beautiful, and amazingly written. Just within those 16 verses the author tells us how to keep our ways pure and to live for God. The part I have in my head so far is verses 1 - 3, and I enjoy reading it because it is such great verse to have in my head any time I head into a situation where I know I will be tempted. Anyways as it says in verse 11, I and we need to hide God's word in our heart so that it comes out of us as natural as breathing. It needs to be so deep in there that you can't help but use it in every day conversation. Echoing Paul in the New Testament, the word is so useful for teaching, and rebuking, and correcting. The word is USEFUL.

Listening

2008-03-17T19:02:00.002-04:00

I hate it when you can't listen to God. For whatever reason, it might be a distraction or a major sin in your life, but sometimes all you hear is silence. Most of the time I find it is when I am most removed from my personal devotions. I have come to realize how important it is to have a consistent devotional life in order to be able to see fruit and remove yourself from sin. We all work from the inside out. When scientists work on a robot they begin on the skeleton and the brain, not the skin or outside panels. It just doesn't work that way. We need to remember God works on us in that way too, when we hear silence it is because our heart inside is closed, and thus our outside doesn't reflect the person we are supposed to be. I always pray that God will just change me and make me the guy He wants me to be. But I need to listen, and make sure I am trying to be with God as much as possible.

Slice

2008-03-17T01:15:00.002-04:00

I was talking to a friend today and she posed the question to me "What is the thing you most love to do in the world?" All the questions previous to this I hummed and hawed, it would take me a while to spit out an answer. But for this one, I knew what it was right away. I immediately think of going up to a cottage with friends in the summer. We go for greasy breakfasts, pitch tents, float on the lake, get a tan, bbq dinner, skinny dip.... sometimes....most of the time, star gaze, and just have an all around awesome day or two. There are few moments that I could honestly say that I cherish more than these. For me it is a little slice of heaven. I honestly think when we come to be with God 24/7 in His presence, it will be a little like those moments in our life. The moments when you completely forget about pain in the world, you forget about hunger, and you forget about tomorrow, cause it is all about today and today has to offer. It is an amazing feeling. I do believe God has left us little pictures, little windows into what life with Him will be like. I like to think we will just chill with God, take Him in all the time, and enjoy His presence but not by being lame, but just being with Him. Life with God will be good and perfect, so if you find those moments in your life where you can only just sit back in a chair and smile, and not because of a joke, but because everything around is at peace, then you have found your slice.

People are Silly

2008-03-12T21:11:00.002-04:00

We live in a culture where nothing is sacred anymore, and secrets are few and far between. When I was working in the car business I found out that you don't so much need to sell a car anymore, you sell yourself, this is because the customer can find out every detail about the car, your competitors cars, and even the cost of the car! We couldn't really hide anything, and I am not about lying believe me, but as a salesman likes to be in the know. In fact my manager was so aware of this mindset he would tell people the cost, and then just sell them himself and why he needs to make a little bit of money. It worked too. Newspapers and TV tell us every aspect of any celebrities personal life. You can find out a lot about people from their various blogs, and facebooks, and myspaces, and whatever it is they choose to show you of themselves. Anyways, we don't cherish anything anymore. Immediate gratification will always win out over long-term gratification. But then I hear on the radio about 15 people who have either gone blind or permanently damaged their sight in order to gaze into the sun and find the Virgin Mary. Or as many of us remember a crowd of people drink special kool-aid because a man convinced them they would go to some paradise. Why would they do this? I think because we live in a society where nothing is held sacred people who have no spiritual life need to seek out something beyond themselves. We are constantly seeking some kind of holiness or something to tell us there is a reason for living. People are silly enough to damage their sight to do this. How fortunate is it that Christ never asked us to do permanent damage to ourselves in order to receive His Spirit. And after you have received it you are willing to thank Him by giving of yourself wholly to Him. That means such rich blessings to us and our lives, so we don't need to stare at the sun, we just need to thank the Son.

Old Testament Reflections

2008-03-08T21:36:00.002-05:00

"On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the LORD's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the LORD's command they encamped, and at the LORD's command they set out. They obeyed the LORD's order, in accordance with his command through Moses." Numbers 9:15-23
I read, or listened to this passage the other day. I found it quite amazing. It just shows how God doesn't change, just His methods do. Here He is leading the camp by His cloud that will stay and go, seemingly whenever He pleases. God asked them to trust Him in that He knew when to set out and when to stay. If they were forced to be out there for 40 years you might think God would have let them just stay in one place until they were ready to go. But then you realize they would have become complacent in life. Then perhaps He should have had a schedule, or moved once a month. But no, God is not that way, He is not predictable, He knows better than that. Maybe God was sparing them from a sand storm, maybe He knew where water was, maybe He knew how to avoid enemies. I am glad though that it is a mystery as to why he would stay a month some places, or a day in others. It is just like in our life. God doesn't like us to become complacent or predictable. Also we will never know why God pauses us sometimes, or why other times he keeps us on the move. But what we can and do know is that God has our best interests at heart, even if our final destination is at the end of a 40 year desert wandering.

Movie

2008-03-06T09:48:00.004-05:00

I am really looking forward to some movies coming out this year. I think between Indiana Jones and Batman it is going to be a sweet year! I also would like to recommend some other movies for you to keep an eye out for though.
1. Hancock - Will Smith is my hero, and so it is fitting he be in movie about being a hero. This movie is about a down and out super hero (Will Smith) as he tries to regain favour with the public. Trailer
2. Tropic Thunder - I haven't heard much of this movie, so here is a promising synopsis. In the action-comedy Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller plays pampered action superstar Tugg Speedman, who is cast in the biggest, most expensive war movie ever produced. He sets out to Southeast Asia with a "Who's Who" of celebrity co-stars. They include Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an intense, three-time Oscar-winning actor; Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), star of the popular gross-out comedy franchise "The Fatties"; multi-platinum hiphop-star-turned-entrepreneur-turned-actor Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson); and first-timer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel). Soon after the production begins the actors are thrown into a real-life situation and are forced to become the fighting unit they're portraying, in order to find a way out of the jungle in one piece.
3. Watchmen - Although this doesn't come out for a whole year, I was just looking at some pictures of it, and they made me drool, so I thought it deserved mention. It is based on the arguably best graphic novel of all time written by Alan Moore. It is based on a group of retired super heroes trying to solve the murder of one of their own. I highly recommend you read it if you haven't.
4. Prince Caspian - based on the beloved C.S. Lewis book of the same name. Need I say more? Trailer
5. X-Files 2 - I never watched the TV show, but I enjoyed the first movie, and this one is supposed to be stand alone anyways. Also I love a good sci-fi movie. It however does not have a trailer yet.
6. Get Smart - this one is getting flack because it is a remake of a classic TV show. I think though with Steve Carrel they have found a worthy replacement for Don Adams. I approve, so don't let it go bad! Trailer
7. The Happening - the new M. Night movie, I am not even going to attempt spelling his last name. This is about an epidemic where people just start killing themselves, the trailer looks awesome. I personally like his movies, and what he does, and yes not all are great, but I think they are decent. Trailer
8. The Forbidden Kingdom - a new Jackie Chan movie! How could this go wrong? Need I remind you of the Tuxedo, Rush Hour 3, Around the World in 80 days... Anyways I actually have a good feeling about this one. I think with the combo of him, Jet Li and some random white guy it could be good. It takes place in historic China, and the random white guy somehow gets transported there and needs to save the day. So it could just be a remake of Ninja Turtles 3. Trailer
9. Iron Man - I like comic book movies, and I like to pretend certain ones were never made. This one looks good, with a capital G. Robert Downey Jr. Frig this will be awesome. If you haven't seen the newest trailer, you must. Trailer
10. You Don't Mess with the Zohan - I am normally not a big fan of Adam Sandler, but I think he may have struck gold here with his ex-mossad hair stylist. I think the only struggle for this movie will to not be a cheap Zoolander rip off. Trailer
11. Leather Heads - I don't know why this movie isn't receiving more or better press, to me it looks great. It is a movie with George Clooney, and Jim from the office. They play two guys in the pioneering days of football when they only wore leather helmets. Hence the name. I think it could be good. And seriously, other than possibly Ocean's 12, has George ever made a bad movie. Trailer

Well that is it for now. Those are movies I would love to see. Check them out, let me know what you think.

Are you happy?

2008-03-05T20:36:00.003-05:00

I was looking, the other day, at an itinerary for a conference that some people at my company were going to attend. The last thing on the list was a Happy Hour from 3 to 4 o'clock. Now I dunno if this implies that the conference was so boring that they needed an hour to make these people happy again, or that booze is the only way to make people happy. I am going with the latter. Anyways I think there is a stigma in our society that alcohol is what makes you happy, and free, and have the ability to have fun. This is not a rant about alcohol, but rather that elusive happiness it is supposed to bring.
I was listening to my pastor on Sunday, and in his last point he said something along the lines of, "If you really want to have joy in life, you need to be in Christ." And that is one of those things that everyone nods at, and perhaps there was an amen or two, but when you think about it the implications are huge. I believe in all my heart he was right, true joy in life is found in God. I think there is a lot of evidence for this in our society. Things like the book, "The Secret" which should be called "The Secret to Happiness", or the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". Everyone is looking for that something that makes them happy. This could also be the reason drinking is always pictured as the party maker. I want to go out on a limb and say all those things are lies from hell.
Yes happiness is elusive and hard to find. But I think that is because it is only found in one place, and I dare say I know the answer to that secret. Ok I already said it, but we need to be in God. I think in some ways Christians do have the most fun, and it is because we don't need to create with artificial stimulants. I am very biased however. So let's get back to what JOY means. In the Greek it literally means, "calm delight". I think to take calm delight in things is such a cool way to describe it. No craziness. That does come and is a lot of fun, but that is all it is, fun. Fun is temporary, joy is forever. If you can take joy in all the things that you encounter in life, even the bad, you will be happy. If you can always smile, and see the glass as half full, you will be happy. If you love God and know He has the best for you, and take joy in that, you will be happy!

Miracle in the new day

2008-03-03T21:47:00.003-05:00

Modern day miracles. I was faced the other day with this notion, and whether they exist or not. And I am not talking about the miracle of life, or anything like that. I am talking about the hard core, blind seeing, mute speaking, lepers healed, dead raised kind of miracles. Although there was this great line in Bruce Almighty that spoke to this. "Parting a soup is not a miracle, Bruce. It's a magic trick. A single mom who's working two jobs, and still finds time to take her son to soccer practice, that's a miracle. A teenager who says "no" to drugs and "yes" to an education, that's a miracle." And in some ways it is true. But Jesus did perform miracles, and they were not simple magic tricks, and He told us he passed that power onto us, to perform signs and wonders. However, it seems lost on us, is it just that we don't "see" them, or is it that don't happen anymore. Paul told us in Corinthians 13 that things will pass away. When I was in India I heard stories of the Shaman and Guru's performing "miracles", and they will make things appear, and basically show signs for money. It reminds me of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts. He did those things for his glory. But we today don't preform miracles, or at least not in North America. I think in North America even if someone were to perform a miracle, science would try and explain it away, or that person would be cast out from regular society. There is just to much stopping the realness of a genuine miracle. (By the way I think Benny Hin is a phony.) I think miracles do exist, and can, and we need to believe they can.
I would like to believe that we could pray to see something happen, and see it happen there before our eyes. Is it that we lack the faith to do, or is that God is working in different ways in our sceptical age. Doctors and health professionals may be a channel for God to work through. But then every now and then you hear about a tumour disappearing, or an illness passing unexpectedly. You probably can all think of someone who has had that happen to them. So I think they do happen, every day, all around us. I think it is us though, we lack the power, we have lost the confidence in God. I need a miracle in my life. I want to go back to India in 2010, but I have a substantial financial debt in the way. I need a money miracle, and I know that only God can do that. But I will admit that sometimes I get scared and think that I will just end up staying in Canada, and giving up on my dreams. But I know that is a lie, a dirty lie. God will do what He wants to do, and how He needs to do it, and when He needs to do it.

Happy Leap Day

2008-02-29T11:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Leap Day. I still don't really get it, but oh well...

My name

2008-02-27T19:34:00.002-05:00

So I was made aware of what my name means. It comes from the Greek name Jacob, which I guess comes from the Hebrew name Jacob. Regardless it comes from Jacob. On a side note I found out the word irregardless is not a word at all, or just a word that means regardless, which is stupid. Anyways my name comes from Jacob. I was hoping it would have some sacred meaning like, mighty warrior, God made him strong, or Handsome dashing and smooth with the ladies. Yet, it means none of those, it means "follower of the heal". That's it. Apparently, because Jacob was born after Esau and he came out holding onto the heal. "After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them." Genesis 25:26. Also there is apparently a sub-message that implies he will be deceitful. Jacob, as you may know, goes onto to deceive his father out of his brothers inheritance. I feel kind of ripped off, and I am not sure who to blame, my parents for naming me that, or Rebekah for naming her son that. So I have decided James will now mean, Handsome, dashing and smooth with the ladies.

Hehehe

2008-02-25T22:53:00.002-05:00

One Question

2008-02-24T00:25:00.002-05:00

What one question would you ask God if you had the opportunity? Imagine you got a letter in the mail, and it said come to this building with a question to ask God. When you get there, there is a huge line and you begin to peek at other peoples questions that they have written down. I think there would be philosophical wienies out there who would say, "why?" and that would be it. But I think that is a cop-out, you couldn't think of anything original. Then I was thinking you could ask "Why did you choose me?" But that seems a little I feel sorry for myself so I need significance. But at the same time what better place to find it. I still think there would be a better question though. Maybe you are just curious about something so you would say, "why did you make zebra's have stripes, were you just joking around?" Or you could ask God one of those stupid theological questions that we always argue about but know we will never find an answer too like, "What is it, free will or predestination?" I still don't think that is how I would go about it. There might be people out there who had something in their life that made them shout at the heaven's and ask "why God, why?" like the passing of a loved one, or some emotional break down in their life. But that is too circumstantial. For me, if it was one question, it might be something like, "How do I thank you?" To me that would answer all my life's question, in one. To answer that I think God would have to tell me all the things in my life that I would have to do in order to properly thank Him for the ultimate gift. Maybe I am over-analyzing it, as I usually do. For now I will be content with not knowing, and just waiting till I get to heaven to know the rest.

Whirly Ball

2008-02-23T11:02:00.003-05:00

Wow, I had a lot of fun last night playing Whirly Ball. For anyone who does not know this game they need to check it out here. It is so much fun. Words fail to express how fun it is. Anyways I may be writing this to all my friends who know what it is, but for anyone who is just browsing, and in need of a great time for them self and 9 friends check this out. The best way to describe it is, lacrosse mixed with bumper cars, and who doesn't love bumper cars, I mean really. Except maybe Laura Heywood who injured herself on the car, but we are not sure how. It was like a one in a million chance... ya anyways check it out!

Freedom

2008-02-21T22:53:00.003-05:00

When you think of the word slave what image is conjured in your mind? Do you think of the plight of the African Americans a couple hundred years ago, and the oppression and torment they faced. Do you think of Britney Spears and the stupid lude song of hers, I am a slave 4 U. Perhaps you might think of a butler, like Geoffrey on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure we need to re-think what it means to be a slave. I am going to go out on a limb and say in this world we are all slaves to something. Whether you are consumed by money, or alcohol, or pornography, or some drug, we are all slaves to something. Time is another thing that a lot of us are slaves to, some more than others. To some that ticking clock is a slave driver telling them when and where to be. I don't think there is a person out there who lives for nothing, and has no master. Even people who love science can be a slave to that. In other words we all have a master that defines who we are how we conduct ourselves.

What I am trying to say is, what are you a slave too?

What comes to my mind instantly is the verse in Luke, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." 6:13. What Jesus is trying to say is that it is impossible to be devoted to two things. Even in your own life, God aside, you could not be controlled by multiple things, especially ones that are polar opposites. God and Money are quite far apart. Not to say that money is evil, but rather the love of money is evil. If our masters define and control us, who or what do you want to be defined by. In my life I would love to be defined by Christ, and controlled by his love and will in my life. His purposes for me are good, although I do not always see it. In some ways to achieve true freedom you need to know what controls you and defines you and in that you will be free. So I say, don't be controlled by something that does not appreciate you, but be controlled by something that loves you and wants you to be truly free.

They still love me...

2008-02-20T19:55:00.001-05:00

This is a video that a new friend of mine took in India for me, to show me that the kids still love me.

Escher

2008-02-19T22:43:00.003-05:00

This guy knows how to draw a picture. I am sure you are familiar with the stairs pic here, but I also have some of my other faves by him.

Lent

2008-02-19T22:05:00.004-05:00

Lent started a week and a bit ago, well I guess two weeks ago. I have never been a lent man, and to tell the truth I am not entirely sure what lent means. However, I decided to myself, "self, I wanna give up something for lent this year." So thinking to myself, what is it that I love with all my heart and want to slowly back out of my life. And it came to me, my dear Coca-cola, the true nectar of the gods. I am sure on Mount Olympus they had a fountain of wine, and coke. Jesus himself, I am sure would have turned the water into coke, but it hadn't been invented yet. Anyways, coke is what I have decided to give up for lent, and I guess it is not really my biggest struggle in life, there are always other larger things, but this is not a confessional booth. But here is my theory, sit back this is gonna be goooood. Giving up the little things in life, like a favourite drink, or TV for a bit is a gateway to helping you give up the major addictions. We all know and can undoubtedly think of what those ''majors'' are in our own lives. But gaining that small will power from giving up the little things gains the momentum to give up the big things. It is like any project in your life, it gets done one little bit at a time. I dunno I wish I had a better example. I think my brain is fried right now, work is a little slow and mundane, and I think my brain shuts down in the winter. Anyways coke is one thing I cherish, I cannot explain it, I will have(had) two or three a day. It is no easy chore to give it up, especially when you go to Costco with your mom and she buys a 36 pack of Coke. It was torture.... I am weak I know. But I think it is therapeutic, and in some ways God likes it when we abstain from things. Fasting is a fundamental discipline of being a Christ follower. I try to fast every now and then, but it is hard too, I think I can go 24hrs or more without food, but then the first wiff of fries, and I am done. God works in our lives though when we give things up, because we are then dependent on him for satisfaction. Stewart, the guy I worked with in India told me he fasted for like 38 days, and said it was one of the most amazing things he ever did. He said he saw God in such a new and amazing way. I would like to build up to that, build up the will power to go a long time. It all starts with the little things, like giving up coke for month, or 40 days.

Cars...

2008-02-18T16:09:00.002-05:00

I just attended the 2008 Toronto Automotive Show, and man I have to say several droplets of drool most certainly fell from my mouth to the ground. It is amazing, because I try to remove myself from the materialism of cars. I am trying to do it with a lot of things, my biggest struggle is electronics, but that is another story. Anyways the guy, and I mean the "guy" in the most stereotypical sense of the word, is just is guy heaven. Like there were Aston Martins, Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, Bentley's, BMW's and the list goes on. All these companies are showing their most powerful machine. Some of these things had upwards of 500hp. Oh man it was cool, and the idea of sitting behind the wheel of some of those and feeling the raw power propel me down the road, that would be sick. I am content though with my little G5, it is a sweet little car, and I love the stick. Anyways I have no religious application, other than I needed to admit my sins of coveting. Oh, and if you like cars, go it is worth it, there is some sweetness there.

In Dreams...

2008-02-15T15:16:00.002-05:00

I was having a convo with some friends a couple days ago about dreams. We talked about how sometimes you have really realistic dreams, and other times they make no sense at all. Sometimes you will remember it forever, and other times it is gone by the time you wake up. I can still remember a dream I had when I was 8, well actually it was 3 dreams, and they were nightmares, I had them all in the same night no less. Anyways last nite I was dreaming and I thought that would be great to write about. At the time I thought I should write that down, cause I will probably not remember come morning, turns out I was right. I can't remember for the life of me what it was that I thought was so inspirational at the time. I remember something along the lines of m giving a speech to some kids, it went something like this, "If you come to me I will feed you, but you will still hunger, I will give you shelter, but you may still get wet, I will give you water, but you may still thirst. If you come to me, I will show you God the Father and His Son Christ through whom we receive strength and all we need, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen." I dunno it was pretty good, at the time I think it was better. I dunno if God still uses dreams like He did back in the day of Daniel and Joseph, but I think in some ways He can still inspire us through them. I am not saying that particular dream was all that, but I am not going to dismiss an inspirational dream, cause who knows, God works in mysterious ways.

Sickness

2008-02-14T15:59:00.002-05:00

I have felt a little under the weather the past few days, and especially today. I hat being sick, and I am hating this winter, so I just want Spring to come! I guess part of the problem for me is working in a store with chemicals. I am surprised I don't get sick more often. Anyways I don't have anything important to write, or monumental thought. I would like something though, I am not sure how many people may or may not read all my blogs, but if you do, and you like em, leave me a comment. I would be really encouraging, and also may lead to some furthers ideas and posts.
Thanks

Fresh Lime

2008-02-12T22:02:00.002-05:00

I dunno why but as I was thinking of India I had a strong craving for one of their more traditional drinks. But I didn't know how to make it. So I found a recipe, and all of you should try it, it is friggin awesome. I loved it while we were there.

2 tbsp. simple syrup (made by first boiling
together equal parts sugar and water,
then letting it cool)
1 1⁄2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
(regular supermarket limes—a k a persian
limes—are the best ones to use)
3⁄4 cup soda water
Lime slice

1. Fill a glass with ice cubes, then add simple syrup and lime juice. Add soda water. Stir well, then serve garnished with a lime slice, if you like.

Step of Faith

2008-02-12T18:47:00.000-05:00

I think everyone remembers the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indy is doing the three tasks in order to get to the Holy Grail. (Which coincidently is apparently in Spain, at a church my sister could have paid to see) But Indy gets to a giant chasm and his little cheat sheet tells him he needs to step out in faith onto that little bridge that is matched to the wall on the other side. Anyways I love that scene and I think everyone has used it from time to time to show how we all need to step out in faith even though we can't see the outcomes of our actions. I think of Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It is the do not see part that is the huge part of it. I am at the point in my life where I have talked about things long enough, and I have read the little cheat sheet enough times to know that I need to actually just step out. So here goes, my goal is to be back in India in the year 2010. I guess the problem is that I have an enormous student debt cause of Tyndale, joy of all joys. Anyways I need to pay that sucker off before I go back to India. My theory is that I made the debt so I pay it off, I wouldn't want to have supporters doing it for me. So that is I guess my first step out. Anyways, I dunno what else to do just yet, other than fantasize about going back.

888

2008-02-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

I was surfing some blogs and came across this challenge that I think I might take on, it is called 888, and the basic idea is to read 8 books in 8 categories in 2008. You can have 8 overlaps (books that fall into more than 1 category) and you get to choose the categories and books. SO that makes a total of 56 books if you use all 8 overlaps. I just need to think of 8 categories and 56 books, shouldn't be too hard. I will post it up here when I finish it.

21st Century Man

2008-02-11T12:09:00.000-05:00

Well I decided to step into the 21st Century today and step out of the 90's I was living in. I have, on the advice of a friend, subscribed to several RSS feeds which will keep me up to date on world news. Also I am trying to figure out how to make my blog available on an RSS feed, not to sure bout that yet. I think it is pretty cool thing, it constantly updates me on the world and what is going on without me having to annoyingly jump from website to website. Ahhhh, convenience. So I am now in the 21st century, I think, I am probably still behind but that's ok it always fun to find out how I can make my life that much more convenient and accessible. I suggest to anyone that wants to be in the know on world news to look into this RSS thing, it is quite amazing.

My Favourtie Painting

2008-02-07T23:15:00.000-05:00

It is so captivating...

My words

2008-02-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

This another of those rare times when I will admit I used to be a jerk about something. When Eugene Peterson came out with The Message I was a little offended. I thought how dare he, but then I was more offended that people started to substitute it for their Bible. I think now I like the idea of The Message, but to me it is not the Bible, it is an interpretation of the Bible and a take on its thoughts. So to Eugene I publicly apologize, but to everyone else, you should still use a real Bible for some things. The Message is great for personal study. So I decided to see how I liked rewriting the Bible. So I started with Psalm 23, and then went onto 1 Cor 13. I want to show you what I wrote and I hope you tell me what you think. Oh and I am going to show you 1 Cor 13 first.

"If I could talk to all men in the tongues of heaven and earth, but I don't love them, I am only a hollow noise or an annoying sound. If I could posses the gift of preaching the truth of the times and could see through all mysteries and understand everything, but don't love, then I am worthless. If I give all I own to charity, and give my life to physical persecution, but don't do it with love, what good have I done?
Love will always wait, love thinks of others. It is not jealous of others, and it doesn't have an ego and so it is not proud. It is never rude and does not serve me. It is very slow to anger and it has no lasting memory of things gone wrong. Love does not enjoy evil, but rather it takes great joy in the truth. It always shields us, always trusts, always hopes, and always sees things through to the end.
Love will never give up. But where men preach the truth, it will end; where they speak in tongues they will stop; where there is divine understanding, it will fade away. For now we know a little and preach what we know, but when Christ returns the old imperfect world will cease to be. When I was young, I talked like it, I thought like it, I even reasoned like it. When I grew into a man I put my younger ways behind me. Now it is as if we are looking in a dimly lit mirror; in the time to come we will see Christ perfectly. Now I understand a small amount; then I shall fully understand as Christ understands me.
And now the three things that remain are: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of all these things is love." 1 Cor 13 JSV (James Standard Version)

Hurricane Force Winds

2008-02-05T22:03:00.000-05:00

So I was watching this show on the Discovery Channel, and these guys were testing carbon fibre as a hurricane measure for houses. Anyways they built a little shed and were throwing all sorts of harsh winds at it. But the house stood up under it, it wasn't until they pulled out this massive pitching machine, it looked like a rocket launcher, and launched baseballs at the wall with a disgusting amount of speed. These balls punched holes in the walls. I guess they were to simulate debris that hurricanes would toss around. When these holes were in the walls, the building only took a matter of minutes to come down. I thought, gee this could be a good application for life. If we are inside the building, and its walls are our defences so to speak , and hurricane force winds are the things that knock us down like the devil, then there is a really cool way to look at this. We can build up some serious walls, that are built well and would never come down under most circumstances. The debris are those little things entirely unrelated to the winds. The devil will often toss things at us to punch holes into us, so that that hurricane wind can get in and tear us open from the inside out. I think that is also why God prefers to work from the inside out, he strengthens the inside so that when the debris comes we will have built up such a wall that it cannot pierce all the way to the inside. Sometimes we get dented, or bruised, but it is nothing that can't be fixed. My point is this, often it is one thing that makes us fall, it is a sum of things, all added together to rip us apart. I think the devil often attacks our securities first in order to take away our insecurities. Imagine having nothing left to lean on, no walls left. I am not saying be a defencive person, but Paul does tell us to have a shield of faith and to stand our ground. But as a good friend of mine said last nite any good defence is a great offence. We need to repel the devils schemes by making sure he can't take anything away from us. Make sure that Christ has our walls firmly in place. Something tells me that man-made walls just aren't good enough.

Double Dipping

2008-02-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

One of my friends recently proved me wrong when it comes to double dipping. There was some sort of scientific article that proved me wrong. I always thought that double dipping was an illusion. But I would now like to publicly proclaim I was wrong and so is double dipping. Apparently it can transfer up to 10,000 bacteria into said dip, and it is similar to kissing everyone in the room. Now that may not sound bad, but think about this. What if your grandmother is in the room. Now will you double dip you sicko. If you feel a chip needs a second coating, please rotate! I am a mild germaphobe, so please no more double dipping.

Outside

2008-02-03T00:06:00.000-05:00

I like to think that I am the kind of guy suited for life outside of Canada. I have been to a few places across this wonderful world, and it only makes me wanna see more. I have a travel bug, as well as a missional one. The missionary life kind of suits me. Helping people, being God's hands and feet to people who need to see some love. The problem is I often get very focused on what is going outside these nations walls, that I neglect what is going on inside. My good friend often reminds me, and others that missions don't begin "over there" but rather begin "in here". This country is amazing, and has provided us with so many freedoms, perhaps too many. But it is growing increasingly hostile, and less accepting of Christian values. I really don't blame people who look at Christians and see us as a bunch of intolerant, hating, self-righteous bigots. Our brothers and sisters have done a bad job of portraying us in the media. I don't mean to go on a rant about how North Americans hate Christians, but what I do want to say is, there is a lot to do here. I for one am guilty of pining for the time when I get to do real work outside, but I need to realize the real work begins inside. And so it is in our lives. If you want to be an outward expressive Christ Follower, then you need to be an inward committed Christ Follower. It is true that it is harder to preach to your neighbours than it is to complete strangers. But that is no excuse to not preach Christ. It should be a lifestyle, where all our actions are demonstrating Christ-likeness, and that will only happen when we believe it deep in our hearts. So we can only go to India and preach Christ when we believe and preach it back home. At least I think so!

Power

2008-02-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

My laptops power cord is on its last legs. It took me a half hour today to get it to register on the laptop in order to take charge. I was trying to put off buying a new one, as it costs $100. But I had too, if I want my laptop in the future. For now, until it comes in the mail, my compy is relegated to the basement and it is not going to move lest the power cord stop giving power. It makes me realize how dependent we are on this miracle of electricity. I am now in full awareness that it would be hard, nay impossible, for me to go 24 hrs without some use of electricity. I think I am going to make it my goal this summer to go on a camping trip and try and not use any electricity, whether it be radio or flashlight. Just thought I would let the world know that. But I challenge anyone to try and live without a dependency for one day.

Procrastination

2008-01-30T21:50:00.001-05:00

Prayer

2008-01-30T21:34:00.000-05:00

This summer I was fortunate to hear a good lesson on prayer from a good friend. It was not exactly revelatory, but it was insightful. The idea that we talked about was based on the good book, "The Celebration of Discipline." The idea is that all day is in act of prayer. Prayer is not a single act before you go to bed, or before dinner. I find myself praying at the stupidest moments, like that my pay cheque will be slightly bigger than I hope. I think when you begin to pray all day you realize how active God is in your life. The hard part is, I guess, prayer becomes or can become undervalued. It loses its beauty and significance if you do it 24/7, or it can. The struggle is to keep God involved in every day activities, to communicate with Him whenever something arises, big or small. God does care about what is happening, and wants to hear from us. Imagine how close you and your best friend would be if you were together all the time, communicating all the time. Well, ok, imagine your best friend is a perfect all-mighty being as well. My struggle right now is to make sure that in everything I go to the Lord first and foremost. Prayer should be simple, it is just a conversation. I challenge anyone to just have a conversation with God this week, it may not be 24/7, but try and sit and talk with him for a while, or just listen. I am not perfect, and don't have this down myself, and I may never in my entire life. But I think it would be amazing to talk to God so much that we just radiate because of it.

Providence

2008-01-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Providence, is something as a cynic and sceptic that I should not buy into, however, I do, and badly. For those of you who are unsure, providence is that idea that things line up in a certain way by, as it if it were all ordained to happen just so. It could also be called, serendipity, signs from above, or my personal favourite God-incidences. As a follower of Christ I do believe that He intervenes in life to show us a thing or two. The problem is, just how much does this happen? When I was younger I believed in it so much that I would make "deals" with God. I am ashamed to admit this, but, I would for example sit by the side of the road and say, "God if three red cars pass by in 10 minutes, then..." and what I was stressing or worrying about, more often than not it was girls. Now I know this is wrong, but I still to this day have the urge to figure out God's will through the signs in the skies. Can God speak to us through the mundane? I think the answer has to be yes. I think about Elijah in the mountain cave, and God spoke to him through the gentle whisper. Can God speak to us through the unconventional? I think He can, but here is where the problem lies. I was thinking about my life the other night, and my lack of finances. That following day I recalled my Bingo tickets from my mom from Christmas. I cashed them in and got another one, it was actually my grandmothers, and she told me to get another ticket. I went onto my scratching, and lo and behold I won $50. Now is this God telling me he will provide for me, or is it me thinking I need money, oh ya my Bingo ticket? I don't really have an answer to that, and that is why I would say that is just life. I think when it is God's will in your life, you just know. It is an indescribable feeling. In a way providence, or just the things that happen could fall into three categories. 1. God 2. Life 3. Evil one. I think the Devil does in some ways fake providence to get us thinking ill of God or our fellow man even. Friends and family can often be one of the best sources of discerning God's will for our lives. I don't really have a magical solution the problem I have presented, but I think there are some simple rules. God won't be totally incomprehensible to us, He knows us and He knows how we think, and He can appeal to us in our own way. Also God won't be tested, so don't ask for the sign as to which restaurant to pick, that is putting God to the test, to respond to you silly plea. God will respond to our earnest pleas in a way that may not always satisfy us. I think often we think providence is the pleasing answers to life's questions. But God will not always give us the answer we want. Providence does exist, but I think when the good things happen to us we need to thank God for blessings. What we don't need to do is think that every little thing, and every little oddity is a sign from God about our life and future.

Try it

2008-01-28T22:32:00.001-05:00

Bio

2008-01-28T22:16:00.001-05:00

I think I need to write about me. I wanna tell the inter net world who I am. I am a University grad working for a pool company trying to pay off my debts. Tyndale was/is an expensive school and it has put me badly in the hole. Working for Toyota also did nothing to help the financial situation. But my parents have been good to me, perhaps too good. God has also been showing me so many new things and encouraging me to become what I was always meant to be. I am not entirely sure what that is, but to me it doesn't feel to far away. Not that I am someone else now, but I have the feeling I am the brink of becoming something more. I love working at the church with the youth and in college and careers, and my youth pastor has me working on some things that are really cool. I am trying to write a book, but it is going very slowly. I want to be done by October. I want to get published. I want to go back to India, because I believe God has called me there for a term. I want to pay off my debt first though because I don't want other people paying my debts. I love God and He loves me, and I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I am excited and getting more joyful all the time. Living for Christ, because He died for me.

Perfection in This Life

2008-01-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

I was listening to a podcast today in which this verse was quoted, "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James 3:1-2. It struck me, because I have always wondered is it possible for man to be perfect in this world, or will it only come in the next. We know Christ our ultimate example of what it is to be man was perfect, but He was also God. He was the God-man, sounds like a good super hero name. Anyways, we who have fallen from grace are utterly and wholly depraved. It sometimes seems like there is no hope for us. You need only watch the news and see the crimes and injustices. Even the Christians get in on it, for a prime example google Westboro Baptist Church. You do however see sometimes the good that we can do, but for the most part it is the bad. But my point still is, can we achieve perfection? James goes on to tell us when our speech and body are in check then you are perfect. This makes me think of Paul in his speech about doing what he doesn't want to do, and not doing what he wants to do and so on, but this is before he has the Spirit, when the Spirit is upon him God's desires become his desires. It is quite confusing, but so poignant. Yet even after the Spirit comes upon us we still sin because our depraved mind still struggles to keep itself remembered. We still yell at each other, hit each other, watch the wrong things, do the wrong things, the list goes on. The more I think about it, the more it seems an impossibly task. Yet every day it seems to get a little better, and dare I say, a little easier. But you take 3 steps forward, and 2 back. Progress is slow, but it comes and it is worth it when it does. When you embrace God and His plan for your life it seems that He molds you and conforms you to His will. And every day I think, if you try, you get a little closer to perfection. To be honest I am not sure if we can get to 100% perfection, but to think that I could get remotely close will keep me trying.

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Who Am I?

2008-01-25T09:49:00.000-05:00

Well, that title makes this sound like it is going to be some melancholy rant about my life, and how I am struggling to discover myself. And in truth I am a very melancholy person by nature, however, I do believe that my melancholy ways are behind me., at least for a short while. No, this title represents my past few months, and the one thing that I keep hear popping up over and over again. It is the one topic, "to serve God you need to know yourself." I always think to myself, I don't really know where I fit. I have always felt an odd man out as I have been sure who I am. But recently I have felt the importance of trying to see what my so called destiny is. Where do my passions lie, where do I do my best work, when do I get driven? All these are vital questions to answering the big question. Here is where I assure you this is not a melancholy piece., because I discovered I may never know the complete answers to these questions, and that is cool with me. I know that I like to write, and I know that I retain information well, so how can I do this for Jesus. Hey! Maybe I could write for Jesus. It is really simplistic when you think about it, I think we all know what makes us happy, and what drives us to get up in the morning. What is that you wanted to be when you were a kid? I had a new career idea every year, I wanted to be a rock star, but found out I have absolutely no musical talent. I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to be an astronaut, a cop, a teacher, and more. I think one thing you can pull out of my goals is that I wanted to be around people more or less. I never said I wanted to be an actuary or chartered accountant, I like being around people. Some of these things I could and may still do, that is another thing I have discovered about myself, I hate monotony. I think if anything I will be the guy who travels around taking on different jobs in different parts of the world. Or at least I would love to do that. That is the other thing I have dreams. And my biggest one is to see the wide world, the parts they don't show you on TV. I also love to help people, at least sometime, I struggle with saying no, I don't like letting people down. I feel like the favour guy. So who am I, I am the guy who loves to write, and travel, and help people out, and and array of other things. But the most important thing about me is, I am a child of God, and above all things, that defines me the most. One of the youth in my youth group last night used this famous quote, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called." Right now I am being equipped, ready to see where I am to go next.

Stranger Than Fiction

2008-01-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased this movie, which I really like. I think it is possibly my fave Will Farrell movie, but that is just me. It is more of a dark comedy slash drama. Anyways, this movie along with the Truman Show are two of my favourite movies purely because of the one unique concept that they share. That is the idea that they are not necessarily in control of their own destiny. Harold Crick, in Stranger Than Fiction, is a plain man with no real ambition in life. But as soon as he finds out that someone is controlling him, he begins to change and break from his routine. He falls for a girl who is his complete and total opposite. There is one point where Dustin Hoffman's character remarks to him something to the effect of, "unless you take control of your own destiny, the plot of the book will." Anyways, the point is that Harold must escape his ultimate destiny which is death. Again, Dustin Hoffman remarks how we all die, it is just a matter of how. In the Truman Show, Jim Carrey plays a man trapped in an eternal TV show. The problem with this movie is that it makes you paranoid, or it could be just me. I walk away thinking, "am I living in a show, are all my friends actors." But then I realize I would probably have more luck with the ladies if I was a famous TV star. Anyways this TV show he lives in plans everything for him, but they also see everything he does. I begin to wonder what it would be like if someone saw everything I did, day in and day out. Would I begin to feel violated, or would I begin to act better so that I wasn't seen in a bad way? It is hard to say, but I do know that there is someone watching us, and that I don't feel violated by it, in fact it comforts me to know I am never alone. Harold Crick doesn't like the idea that this person controls his life, but he does know that the voice is right. I know I wouldn't like my every move dictated, despite the accuracy.
God in a way is like the eternal director of life. There is the famous Shakespeare quote "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances," The idea is that things in this world sometimes seem so ordered, that perhaps there is some order to it. People come and go, and things happen, and God is in it all. The question is, how much is He in it. My youth pastor tried to explain predestination and free will with the youth, it went well, but it was short and there is so much to the argument. My personal opinion, and following in the play idea, is that God the director says to us, "Here is the script. I want you to improvise the lines here, do whatever feels natural to you, but follow the idea of the script, and here please please follow the lines to the T. And if you mess up it's ok, just don't give up, keep going, I am here to tell you your next line." I am being very simplistic, but the idea is there. God is our director on this stage play of life. I don't intend to spell out my theology on predestination and free will, but I think there has to be some balance of both. God usually lies somewhere in the middle of extremes when it comes to these theological discussions.
My point is this, there is someone listening to us and watching us, and sometimes giving us our next line. It is not something to tie us down or hold us back, it does not control our destiny, rather it frees us to create a new destiny. I don't think God wants to dictate to us, rather I think He just wants to define us , and He does want to give us the option to choose. Choosing to love, is better than being told to love. We are not robots, we are actors with a great sense of improvisation.

Where I Stand

2008-01-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

I dunno why, but I find myself taking a vested interest in the American election coming this fall. I think this may be one of the few times I will ever support a liberal candidate, but as a friend of mine said, it is American liberal, which is far different from our Canadian liberalism. Yet the more I investigate and look into it I find that Barack Obama is, to put it in slang terms, the man. I think this will be an historic term for the next president to grace the oval office. Much like the war in Vietnam this Iraq war has become contentious and frankly irresponsible. I watched the Democratic debate on CNN this morning and I was very intrigued. There was one question especially that I felt was poignant and well-timed it was, "Do you want to win the war, or end the war in Iraq?" The three in the debate, Clinton, Obama, and Edwards all are in favour of ending. I think in ending it diplomatically and forcing Iraq to take charge, it may also be winning the war. Only time will tell. The thing that I like most about Obama though is not his policies, which are good, or his stance on things, which aren't bad either, but it is his willingness to be open and honest. At least he appears to be amazingly candid, and he will not make himself out to be a perfect man, but an honest one. This is what I like about him, and I think it is also what will win people to his camp. He is slightly ahead right now, and I hope he pulls it out. That is my two cents on the American political situation, perhaps one day I will care enough about our Canadian one to write something.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

2008-01-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

I have been spending my devotional time in Luke recently, and I felt like I wanted to share something that I been taught. Jesus is a tough dude! Well, ok, this is not a novel idea, but still I tend to revert to this idea that Jesus was a lovey dovey kind of guy. Make no mistake He was a loving man, but he also took no crap from nobody. Here is a prime example, "If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." Luke 9:5 In this passage Jesus is sending out His 12 disciples, He tells them how to act when they come to towns. Here He is saying that if a town won't listen to you turn your back on them. This doesn't sound like the Jesus I was taught about in Sunday School. In part I am glad that as a Christ follower I don't need to take the abuse I could receive in part of my faith. It is not permission to be a jerk, but it is permission to stand up for yourself. Think about all the times that Jesus said something that He knew the pharisees would detest. There is also this one that always gets me in a different way, "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." Luke 12:51-53 Jesus wants all of us and He says do whatever it takes to serve Me, if it means forsaking your own father and mother than do it. I always thought it odd too, because I have 5 members in my family. Not saying that my family is divided, but it raises the point, what am I willing to leave and forget in order to serve Jesus better. Jesus would take no for an answer, but He also let us know it is at our own peril. Jesus was one tough dude, He isn't soft, and He knew how to deal with people and problems. There is a lot I know I can learn from His example, perhaps that is why we call Him the teacher.

The agony of defeat

2008-01-20T22:33:00.001-05:00

Well, I just finished watching my beloved Green Bay packers lose to the cursed New York Giants. I have never been a huge sports man, but I have been an ardent supporter of the Pack for many years now, often at the ridicule of my friends. However, this year when it seemed they could go all the way, I was right there applauding their victory. But now that it is over I am left to simmer in my own tears. Perhaps because my sports knowledge is not at the level it should be, I am not in agony over this defeat, but it makes me think what it would be like if I felt invested in the team. What if I loved them so much that their loss is my loss, and their victory is my victory. Now, I am going to compare that to God, yes that's right I am turning the Green Bay loss into my spiritual victory. Every cloud has a silver lining. God loves us so much, and He invests so much time and effort into us, think how it must feel when we fail. But then on the flip side, think how happy He is when we succeed. I think about how God involves us in all His plans, and He was doing it right from the beginning. He told Adam to populate the Earth, He made Noah build the ark, He made Abraham the father of a nation, He brought that nation to the promised land. The only thing God couldn't get man to do was save himself. He had to do that Himself. But still today, God is asking us to do His work here, He could do it better but He wants our help. So when He invests so much time and love into us, imagine how He feels when we let Him down, but here is the good part. He doesn't hold it against us, in fact He is so forgiving that He might ask us to do it again, or He will get us doing something else. He will pour into us until we succeed, and get better. It is always a learning curve with God, but He is always willing to teach. To quote the famous philosopher Alfred from Batman Begins, "Why do we fall Master Bruce?" "In order to pick ourselves back up." comes the reply from Bruce Wayne. The other thing with God is, that when we do fail, or fall, He is right there to help us up and teach us how to avoid that pitfall again. God will provide all we ever need in order to succeed, and to make Him happy. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." James 1:17-18. We are God's firstfruits, the best He has to offer, I suggest we live like it, but don't be afraid to fail, it is after all how we learn.

This is Love

2008-01-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

Now this man knows what love is. Read this story here. This man carved a 6,000 step path out of the mountain side for his wife. It took him somewhere around 50 years to complete. It was so his wife could get into town. Anyways, there love was forbidden in communist China and they fled into the mountains and lived happily ever after, it truly is amazing.

7 Laws of Spiritual Success

2008-01-17T22:55:00.000-05:00

I skimmed this article today about the 7 laws of spiritual success. A few preconceived ideas came to my mind when I read the title. I first thought, spiritual, that must mean something to do with religion and/or God. Also laws, that made me think of truths of life. Here are the 7 laws, minus their explanations.

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality
2. The Law of Giving
3. The Law of Cause and Effect
4. The Law of Least Effort
5. The Law of Intention and Desire
6. The Law of Detachment
7. The Law of Purpose in Life

upon first glance they seem innocent enough, and possibly even legitimate laws of success. Now I do think in order to have a good understanding you need to read the whole thing and their explanations. But let me try and spare you some trouble. The first thing I noticed was, and that told me where this article was going was that Deepak Chopra was the inspiration. For those of you that don't know he is an Indian doctor who is in large part a big inspiration for the New Age movement. What I think most people don't know about the New Age movement is that it is really Hinduism repackaged as a new thing for North America. It is basically like when a company puts a new package on their old tired product. Anyways, needless to say, New Age isn't new.

The second thing I noticed was that when the applications of all the laws was written, it was all about the almighty "I". For example, the third law's application is, "‘Whenever I make a choice, I will ask myself two questions: “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?” and “Will this choice bring fulfillment and happiness to me and also to those who are affected by this choice?”" This article wants ultimate happiness for ourselves. Now don't get me wrong I am not against happiness by any means, but not as a ultimate goal for why I do things. I do things because it will make God happy, which in turn makes me happy. And that brings me to my other point. Spiritual laws are not spiritual if there is no mention of the Spirit. I am going to speak from my strict Christian lenses here, and why not that is my life. But the Spirit is God, and vice versa, so you can't have spiritual laws that do not even bother to mention God. We are not the Spirit, and thus these laws would be better titled "7 laws of human success." These laws have nothing to do with the Spirit, they are about me and my internal feeling for myself.

In some ways they are actually good laws, but in other ways they are straight from the Devil. Happiness is cool with me, and doing good to others is cool with me, and all these other things are more or less cool with me, other than maybe the karma related one. The problem is why is this author writing these things, what is his aim. He is trying to achieve a higher consciousness and elevated wisdom. Also a little material wealth and physical happiness wouldn't be bad either. This is where the evil one gets us, he makes us think it is all about us, not about God. He perverts things that would be good, and puts a little slant on it, making us gods in our own right. And isn't that how he started, convincing Eve she could be like God. When we focus all efforts on making our lives all about us, that is all we will end up with, ourselves. When we focus all our efforts on making our lives about God, we will end up with God and His love, love for us, and for our neighbours. God would prefer that we abide by his Spiritual laws, which are easy and there is only two of them. Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength, and mind. And Love your neighbour as yourself. In these two things you will find "Spiritual success".

Sari Bari

2008-01-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

I have put some of my fave charities on the side bar, <------ over that way. Sari Bari is the one I want to highlight today. I bought two blankets from them for my mom and sis for Christmas. They came in good time, well actually they didn't get them till after Christmas, but still. They are wonderful and they come with a little story about what they are. And they are blankets made by women that have come out of the brothel system in Kolkata. The key is that the women are basically sponsored by this program so that they can survive without having to sell themselves. They also get taught about Jesus and good living. Also this website has links to numerous other social justice websites. If you have the time check it out, it is worth it.

Movies of the month

2008-01-16T21:13:00.001-05:00

I am really looking forward to this movie.

And this one, however this is a few months away...

When in doubt

2008-01-16T20:59:00.001-05:00

It has been a while since I posted, but I have decided if I am to be a serious writer, I best get on it. Anyhoo, I can't think of anything to write about, but when in doubt write about someone else. That someone else is none other than Erwin McManus. I love this guy and what he does. For those of you that don't know he started the church Mosaic. This church is cool, and what makes it really cool is the whole idea of the mosaic. The idea that people of a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds can come together, it truly is a picture of Christ. What makes it even better, in my humble opinion is that he doesn't cast out those seen as the traditionalists, the "yuppie" Christians. Some of these new emerging churches tend to be exclusive to the more underground and contemporary, but Mosaic hits at everyone, and welcomes everyone in. It is all said in their about section on their website. "We are a community of followers of Jesus Christ, committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope. The name of our community comes from the diversity of our members and from the symbolism of a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God. We welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. Come to Mosaic, and discover how all the pieces can fit together!"
Erwin also has a podcast, in which he speaks with such passion and determination you would swear he is speaking directly to you. But again with some of these emerging churches they tend to lose truth over the sake of the Spirit. Jesus himself said we would worship in spirit and in truth, John 4. Erwin, though, opens the Bible every time, and is not afraid to say the hard thing. He does not shy away from truth, but comes through with cutting compassion in the end. He truly is an anointed worker of God. In some ways I think we should all aspire to a level where we see the body of Christ in every man and woman that sits in the pew. I am not saying this guy is perfect, but he is worth checking out. Listen to his podcast, read his books, and see how God has blessed his ministry.

Desmas

2007-12-02T22:21:00.000-05:00

I am not sure how I got here, but I guess I deserve it. My life was never one about ease or safety. I was born sometime ago, to tell you the truth I don’t know how old I am. The night I was born there was a bright star in the sky, my mom told me I was special. My dad owned an Inn, in a little down you might have heard of it, Bethlehem. My mom told me she would never forget that night because a pregnant Nazerene woman came to the Inn with her husband, they wanted a room, but we were full. Anyways I was born that night. The Inn didn’t last for long, one night some soldiers came to town and were killing all the little boys, my mom hid me. I somehow survived, I don’t really know how, but the soldiers also burned down the Inn. My dad never forgave me; he said it was my fault. He would hit me, and blame me for anything that went wrong. He said God was punishing us for hiding me from the soldiers. One night when he got drunk he tried to kill me, so I ran away, that’s when I met Gesmas. Oh my name is Desmas, sorry, that was rude of me. Gesmas I guess you could say was my partner in crime. The first time I stole to eat it was because I was hungry and felt I could go longer without food. I never learned how to do anything that could make me money, so I learned how to steal and I was good at that. At first it was food, and clothing. But then Gesmas and I started to steal things we could sell, like cattle and sheep. We made good money. The first time we got caught and I hit a man more times then I needed too, was a day I will never forget. I never found out if he was ok, but he saw us grabbing some bread, it was stupid of me. But I couldn’t let him talk; I don’t think he’ll talk ever again. I remember one day when I was walking through the country side I saw a Man standing on a hill. He was speaking to a crowd, something about the Kingdom of Heaven, and God being our Father. Father what is that anyways, mine was never there and I had never really given a second thought to God in heaven. He was saying it was about loving God and your neighbour, it wasn’t about the rules or laws. Later I heard this guy called Himself the Messiah, I remember that from my childhood, He is supposed to save us. Gesmas never put much stock in God and religion, I always thought there must be something to it. Gesmas told me we make our own fate, and we are all responsible for what happens to us. I lived by that philosophy, because it was really all I knew. I knew what our history told us. Our people put a lot of faith in a God, that He brought us to this land, and would deliver us again from these pesky Romans. It finally came, the day we stole something we could never give back, a life. The job would have been our last; it would have made us enough money to retire. We were going to steal some fine robes from some Pharisee. It was going well until his son walked in; we were told no one was going to be there. Gesmas took matters into his own hands. He strangled the kid, and I can still remember the look in the boy’s eyes. It pierced me, I broke down, and I could never forget it. He couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. We were arrested within days; there was no one who would hide us. Since we committed the crime together we were tried together and sentenced to be crucified together. My legs became weak when we were told, I almost threw up. You always see the guys up there on the Hill but never think it will be you. They have done things that were unforgivable; we just stole things, things no one would miss. We waited in jail for a few days, and then the night before our sentence was to be carried out they arrested another man. I could hear them whipping him from my cell window; he didn’t scream or make a sound. Later I heard the crowds shouting “Crucify him, crucify him!” What did this Man do to deserve this? The sun rose, my body was losing control. The thought of crucifixion was enough to make any man cry. They brought us the cross beam of the cross, and told us to carry it down the road towards Golgotha. The other man was ahead of us, He struggled, and He barely looked human. They got another man to carry His. We got there and I was nailed to the cross. It was pain like I had never felt before. When we were put in place I could see the whole city, and I could see the crowd gathered before us. I had never seen a crowd this large at a crucifixion before. They didn’t seem to care about Gesmas or I, no, they seemed more focused on the guy in the middle. Some called him names, said if He was God to bring Himself down. Some said He was Elijah or Moses. Some were crying, one woman there in particular, I think was His mom, she could hardly lift her head. That’s when Gesmas started to jeer and call names. It was painful enough to breath let alone talk; I was surprised he even bothered. That’s when I decided to look this Guy in the eyes. It was Him, the guy from the hill, the Messiah! There was something inside me that told me this Guy was the real deal. When I looked into his beaten and torn face I was overcome, and I felt I had to do something. I decided to speak, I looked at Gesmas, my friend for as long as I could remember. He had been there for me when no one else had, but this was something he should not have done. I told him to shut it, and I said that this Man was God. We deserved our punishment, we did things wrong. But this Man, the Christ, He was perfect, He committed no crime. I said this all to Gesmas. Then it happened, the greatest moment of my life. He looked me in the eyes, deep into my eyes. He gaze was so penetrating I could see all the sins in my life, all the wrongs I had done, but it was as though they didn’t matter. I could see the eyes of the boy we killed, but they to began to fade. Jesus looked at me and said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” He said with me, I Desmas was going to be in paradise with Him. I felt so good at the worst time in my life. I wanted to shout with joy while tears of pain rolled down my cheek. How could I deserve such a fate, I led a life that was horrible and full of wrongs. I did one right thing, one… I believed. Then He said his last words and died. My time was shortly to come, and I would be with Him, can you imagine, being with Jesus in heaven, death could not have come soon enough.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...

2007-11-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have recently found that my life is full of things to be happy about. Yet sometimes I find I am always dragging myself down. I dunno why, it must be the work of the devil in my life. I have a mission, I think, to see some change brought to Springvale (my church) and to my life. I have seen the sorrow in the world, and I have nothing to complain about. There are people this night without food or safe water, there are people with not a shirt to their name. There are people dying, so that we can have a Nike shoe. I think we have been blessed beyond all measure in North America, and it is time we started making sure we give back. But what I am learning is, it is not comfortable, it is not cheap, and it is not always fun. If you want to make a difference, then great, but make sure you are ready. As a friend of mine said to me the other night, being a missionary isn't going overseas, it is about doing your part right here at home. It means contributing to a charity, giving to the poor, buying clothes that are made buy companies that pay fair wages. The list goes on... and you will become overwhelmed if you look at the whole thing. So start small, and start within reason. Donate you clothes you haven't worn in six months to a charity, give some money to a charity, donate some time to a homeless center. I don't care what you do, but I think God does. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;" Isaiah 61:1 and also in Matthew when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, and the goats did not help the widows, the poor, and least of these. Maybe this is a lot of talk, maybe you feel my burden. I hope it is the latter.

I'm not a Christian

2007-10-31T22:21:00.000-04:00

I just read an article on cnn.com and it had this to say. "A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality." As well it said this later on. " Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."" I was greatly angered when I read this. It is such a shame that Christians in this world have resorted to this. I think if the actually read the book they are protesting to save they would realize how ignorant they are. I mean, of course there are things in this world we don't like, and that especially God doesn't like, but it doesn't mean we protest things, and rally against them. In this manner too, this is extremism, and what I hope is a rare example. Yet this is all that makes the front pages of our papers, and I guess that is the way it will be. They don't see the times when all the youth go and rake lawns for the elderly, or the times when the church helps in the community. God asked us not to make others angry by our actions, but to allow our actions to show love. When a soldier, who dies defending the country they live in, they should grieve with and pray for that family. We should be the first to console, and the last to discriminate. As far as homosexuality is concerned, I don't care what your views are, everyone needs to know God's love. They don't need to see our downcast gaze, or our condescending view. I think we could really give back to this world, and help them see that all Christians aren't just Christians, but rather we are Christ followers. This is why I am not a Christian, I don't associate myself with this radical world, but I follow Christ's example, and live up to his love.

If I could ... Would you?

2007-10-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

I was taught recently in my new profession that in order to make a sale we need to use the simple phrase "If I could ... would you?" For example, if I could get you one hundred dollars off would you buy this car? Most times it works, cause everyone loves a deal. It works for me because then I get a deal and I am doing well at my job. However, another man who trained us is a radically different kind of salesman, he teaches us how to make friends instead of customers. He gets us to find out 4 things about the customer, work, love, live and do. What do they do for work, who do they love, where do they live, and what do they do for fun. I like his style, and the way he does business. He wants us to approach it in a friendly non-intrusive kind of way. I think it is the same in the Christian world, we often think the best way to win someone over is, "If I could prove to you Jesus exists, or if I could prove to you God is good, would you become a Christian?" This sounds reasonable, but often times makes the other person feel like you are trying to sell them on Jesus. Christ never wanted us to be His salesman, He wanted us to love Him. The best way to bring others to Jesus is to be in Love with Him, and hopefully others will see that. We need to become friends with people, and so they can respect us and trust us. There is a thing in the sales business called rapport, this is the good relationship you build with the customer. It is the trust, and reputation that you deserve based on how you act and carry on. The same goes in Christianity, if we act like idiots, and don't deserve trust then we won't get it, and they won't believe us when we say "Jesus is the way." What we need are Christians who are willing to be people, and willing to make friends with everyone in order to let them know the good news. We don't do it to sell Jesus, rather we do it because we love Jesus, and He loves us.

Justice for the Masses

2007-10-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

I recently went to the Change Conference held in Toronto at the Queensway Cathedral. My favorite speaker of the day had to be Mike Yonkoski, hands down. He is known for his book, "Under the Overpass." in which he documents his journey as a homeless man for 5 months in 6 cities. The challenge that I received from him was not to give away all I posses to the poor, and not to move to the jungles of Africa, but rather he challenged me to radically rethink what it means to be a Christian. I was always familiar with the verse in Matthew about God separating the goats from the sheep, and him saying "what you did for the least of these, you did also unto to Me." I always thought I had done my part, by giving away my old clothes to some society, and by going on the occasional missions trip. However things that I had never considered before in my life were the clothes that I am wearing were more than likely stitched by some small child in the factories in developing countries. Also I never considered that as a Christian I should try and support more, the organizations that spread the gospel as well as help and give aid. I had always been a fan of product (red), and those little boxes to donate money in Tim Hortons, but now I want to turn my focus on other organizations. Not that ever donating money or time to those less fortunate is bad, no it is a good thing, but I think there is better. When two organizations do the same thing, but one is focused on Christ, that is where I want to turn my attention. The more I look into the more I am in awe of all of them that I had no idea about. My challenge to anyone who reads this is to not think that they need to change their life, but rather to think about all the things you consume, and wear, and encounter and think about how subtly you are affecting the least of these, those who are less fortunate. I am trying in my life to take baby steps towards making a small difference whatever that may be, or look like.

It's all Greek to me

2007-10-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

I have a nerdy streak in me that loves to know the etymology of words. And last year I was able to take a Greek class at school, and I really loved it, because it gave me an understanding of the words that Paul, and the apostles wrote in the New Testament. So I think I may try and impart some of this Greek knowledge to you, if you care. I wanna share some of my favorite Greek words, and what they mean. Hopefully this will not be in a nerdy school teacher way, but in a trendy hip teacher kind of way. My first favorite word is, well word. λόγος. This can be pronounced Logos (law-gaws). This literally translated is word, but its application is far more vast then that. Its most famous use is in John 1, when he says in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And we translate it with the capital 'W' because this is a clear reference to Christ. He is the divine word, he is all knowledge and through him we have knowledge. λόγος is where we get our word Logic from. Logic is reasonable and sound judgment, it is not based on whims and fancy. So when I think of λόγος and Jesus, I think of something that is based on sound judgment, not feelings and emotions. Although there is a lot of that involved, don't get me wrong. Jesus is a sure thing, a rock, we don't need to doubt his knowledge of us and his wisdom of this world. I think this one simple word logos gives me a lot of hope. It is also related to the words ἀπολογία, which is pronounced Apolgoia (Apoh-Lo-geeah), and where we get apologetics from. Apo is the prefix which means out of, and using logos, it means out of logic. When we defend our faith, it is out of our logic, out of our knowledge of Christ. It is pretty cool, or at least I think so. And thus ends our lesson for today, stay tuned for more.

Bigger than this

2007-10-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

Is life a bunch of random events with comings and goings that neither instruct nor challenge, that culminates in an unset future with no guarantees of anything else? I hope not, it seems as though that that is the way a lot of us live. I hope life is a set of preordained circumstances that help to guide us without always revealing the grand purpose, but bringing us one step closer to the finality of it all that is set and unmovable. Perhaps that is a melodramatic view of life, but I think it is exciting knowing that there is something bigger than us out there. My biggest proof in God lies in the fact that I can't live knowing that there is no purpose. There must be purpose to life, and there must be something bigger than this. Life is simple, I think, you live for one thing, one goal. For me that is worship God with my life. In everything I do I want it to be a pleasing sight. I don't pressure others to see my point of view, but I don't want to hide it either. There is something bigger and better, I am sure.

The weight of good

2007-09-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

Life is simple, I think. I don't think we were ever intended to make things so complicated and obscure. If all life is on this mortal coil, is to live and die, then what point is there in doing any thing for anyone else. We can say it is the decent thing to do, but really when there is no consequence, there is no reason. I enjoy the fact that I have something to live for beyond life. It gives me reason to be something more. I gives me hope that all the good I do is not in vain. I am not good because it is the noble thing to do, I am good because I am attempting to repay the biggest debt I owe. Jesus died so that I would have something to live for. He died so that you would have something to live for. My mission now is to pass along that simple message. It is so simple, so easy. I am not good, I try to be good. I try so that I might become good, and if I can become good then I in some small way begin to repay that debt. The weight of the word good has been lost on us. None is good but God, Jesus tells us. However, in English we have good, better, and best. But good, in the true sense means perfection. Holiness and righteousness should all be good. It is simple, I think. It can appear complicated, but it is simple, make it simple.

Shleep

2007-09-18T23:15:00.000-04:00

I was unemployed for a couple of weeks and the great advantage to that was all the sleep I was able to catch up on, and possibly bank for the future. Sleep is one of those amazing things as humans that we are unable to explain. I took a psych class this year and learned that scientists are not fully aware of what the benefits of sleep are. They know that it helps us to restore some brain activity or to help us store memories. However, I think sleep is a little piece of what makes us happy, unless of course it is a nightmare. But why is that we yearn to remember our dreams, and we are frustrated when we can't. I think it is cause we know that it was a good world we made up. Why is it that so many cliches are to do with our dreams, like, "In your wildest dreams...". Maybe I talk silly talk, but I think in a way we imagine the world the way we would like it to be in our sleep, but kind of done through eyes of events we have already seen and done or are excited about. I can remember times when I was so thrilled to do something, and I would dream about it. I have always wanted to write a book that takes place in our dreams, maybe I need to copyright my ideas before I put it in a public forum. Anyways I think I may do it one day. God has blessed us with this unique thing called sleep, that helps to rejuvenate us and to help us imagine in some small that world we are striving to get to. So the next time you are rudely awoken from a dream at a moment when it was just about to get good, remember it is just a foretaste of what we can imagine heaven to be.

Late night with James Brooks

2007-09-13T01:42:00.000-04:00

I never saw myself as a public speaker or much of a communicator in general, but the more I have grown the more I realize I am moving in that direction. The very fact that I blog and pretend to write books means I think I have something worth hearing. I stay up late at night these days, thinking and praying, and I know there are things in this life that I want to do, but how do I get to them. I want to go back to India, but I have a massive debt standing between me and that goal. I would kind of like to be a teacher but again I resolved not to go back to school til a good chunk of that debt is gone. My words I think could be powerful if honed and sharpened, perhaps I will write a book, and it will sell. Will it take me to India, will it take me beyond India. I want to experience certain things in life, and I feel so constricted right now. I just want to breathe. I just want to focus. I just want to be able to accomplish something and then look back and say "hey, job well done." You know unemployment is one of the greatest faith testers there is, and what's worse is unemployment with a car and school debt. I am not trying to write a woe is me tale, I am just trying to write about me. Maybe that is what I am doing wrong, too much me. I need some God time, and I think He knows it too. I have spent countless hours on the couch, when I could be writing, or reading, or looking for a job. There in lies the problem. Well pray for me, pray that I get my sorry butt out there, pray that I find a decent job, and pray that I accomplish something. And I will try and pray the same for you, when you ask me.

Woopdeedoo

2007-09-06T00:08:00.000-04:00

Being still on the job hunt gives me a lot of time to sit at home and think about life, the universe, and everything. I really should be out there pounding the pavement, and looking for a job, but I am lazy I guess, and have no real desire to get a job, other than I would love to be back in India, in under 4 years. Well this task is no easy one I assure you. I think it is impossible quite frankly, and am loathe to admit that sometimes I wonder if I will ever go back. I felt such a calling of purpose, and identity when I was there. I was in God's work, doing what he wants me to do. Yet, here I am back in Canada, with a student debt bigger than the debt of some small countries. I need a job to pay it off and take me back to Asia. Only one thing can do it, and that is the power of God. I guess it really comes down to, do I have the faith to say, "if you want me back there, then help me do it." It means will power, it means self-control, and it means denial. God says woopdeedoo to our small problems. He has it in control, he knows what will get us to point B. I need to lay back and accept that I have a purpose, and that I can't thwart that. God is in control, of you, and me, and it is up to us to accept that or not. So it is not about letting the job come to me, but it is about letting God bring me to the job, and knowing it will be the right one, for right now. I pray that it happens, (and soon).

Life on the lighter side

2007-09-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

"Welcome back to world of blogging." I said to myself. I am now done school and moving on with life. I need something to take my mind off of the fact that I don't have a job now. I am glad that I am now no longer needing to expend my brain muscles on text books and papers. I am glad that I can use my brain for my own academic pleasures. Like writing the books I always wanted to write, reading the books I always wanted to read, and learning the things I actually want to learn. Life is beginning so they say, well I say, "when?" I love now being in charge of things, but scared that I can now fail. It is good to know that my existence now depends on the choices I make. I want to make life a little lighter. I think it doesn't need to be so weighty, why should it always be do or die? I am hoping to make things a little more simple these days. Have a nice 9 to 5, and steady pay. Go home read a book, write a little, chill with those that I love the most. Sounds good to me. Something tells me it won't happen that way. Life has a way of throwing you a curve ball when you expect a fastball. Right now I don't know what to expect. I am on God's good humour. I am hoping that He will show me the right way. I hope to be able to write on here a lot more, as a good theraputic outlet of my thoughts. Check in with ya later.

The ever lite

2007-02-26T12:56:00.000-05:00

Somewhere in the darkest recess of a child's imagination there exists a land. Oligos is its name, and its people are Oligians. They live just like we do, and exist in the years before the death of imagination. In their town there is a hole in the ground called the Naos where the young men and women go every year and find their way to the ever lite. When they return those who found it display it proudly upon their right hand. Some however do not find it, and they can only see a dim lite eminating from the hands of those who did. Timei was a young man approaching his time to enter the Naos. He was uncertain whether he would find the ever lite or not. His dad had, and his mom had not. His father sat him aside one day and said, "Son, have no fear, for if you have faith that you will find it, then you will." He smiled and hugged his son. Timei made his way to the entrance, and with others his age they entered the Naos. It was a puzzling maze of endless tunnels. Timei sat down and thought of what his father said. Watching the others wander around with no idea of where to look. He got up and faced three tunnels, each no more revealing than the other. When he thought he heard singing. The first lite had been found, and a young man ran by with a smile and a dim lite on his hand. Timei knew to follow the tunnel he had come from. He heard the singing again, it was getting louder as he kept going, a voice called out. "Over hear Timei, over here to get the lite." No one was supposed to talk in the Naos, he wondered who the young fool was. He turned a corner and was blinded by a lite so bright. He removed his shoes and walked forward. "Well done, Timei, I knew you would find me." The lite said to him. "I did not know a voice you had. Tell me, how do I recieve the lite from you." And at that moment a lite fluttered out and began to swirl around him. He reached out and it landed on his right hand. He felt warm inside and began to sing in his heart. When he noticed the lite was three. He looked forward and questioned, "Why is the lite divided into three?" The lite in turn said, "Well done Timei, the last to ask that was your father. I am three but come from one lite. Behind this wall are three holes with which my light comes through." With that Timei had to run out of the cave, lite on hand. His father was there, his lite even brighter now. "I did it father, I did it." His dad looked down with pride and said, "I never doubted."

Tis the season

2006-12-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, Christmas! I love it, and I assume it is the best time of the year. Regardless of what is going wrong in my life, or even what is going right, it seems to fall by the wayside in comparison to this lovely season. When you really think about, celebrating the day our saviour was born is pretty sweet. I love hanging out with my family and giving them presents. However I hate buying them, but I love giving them. I don't wanna get all deep today, I just want to encourage everyone to have a wonderful Christmas, enjoy the break we have been given. I can't wait for the annual Christmas parties, the New Year's get togethers, the Christmas eve candle light service, and the FOOD. So hav a good one, enjoy the time. And I'll see ya in the new year.

11:11

2006-12-12T15:21:00.000-05:00

On this the occasion of my 1111 visitor, I have decided to write a blog about my favorite time of the day. 11:11, it is a grand time. As many of you know a time to make a wish. I found out some rules about making the wish.
1. Must make the wish during the minute.
2. Can only look at the clock once, cannot look back until 11:12 or later.
3. If you do see 11:11 more than once the wish becomes void.
4. Do not tell anyone about your wish, if you do it will not happen.
5. Only make ONE wish.
But since I do not believe in making wishes I take this time to be a little selfish and tell God what I wish could happen in my life. I think it is fun because then it gives me a chance to say, "God, I wish I could have..." And then I wait and see if that is indeed in His will to give to me. As simple as that. 11:11 is just a time, and a wish is just a wish. But it is fun every now and then to not take life as seriously and to sit back and say, I wish. So go ahead make a wish, just remember who makes your wishes come true.

The weight of being worth it

2006-12-09T08:24:00.000-05:00

When I get in certain moods all I can do is write. Sometimes I write about my frustrations, well ok most of the time I write about my frustrations. I dunno if that is always fair, to me and the people involved, I guess maybe that is why I write in a round about way. And sometimes I just want to scream that this is my problem, world take notice. It bugs me so much to think that words have so much power, but it also brings me extreme delight. I can sit here and write something, and to me it is the greatest thing I have written, but to someone else they may have seen me being an idiot or just trying to hurt them. Believe me when I say that I never intend to hurt anyone with my words, and if I did God forgive me. But right now as I sit here in the early morning, after an otherwise uneventful night, I begin to think of the day ahead, what trials, what mystery will it bring to my life. Will it be a day that God has decided to rain down blessings, or will it be a day of trial. I pray for the former, and fear the latter. I want to have some blessings, I guess you could say that is my prayer for the day. Trials are good I guess, because they teach us things, but I feel as though this week has been trial enough. But when I say that word enough I realize that is my human understanding of the word, and enough is not always enough with God. I realize that in the past few months I have been a speeding bullet headed towards God thinking that nothing could go wrong, life seemed in order. But when life suddenly is going in a different direction than you and you realize I am still headed in the same direction, but no one else is, it is a lonely feeling. I think thats when God wants to step in and say, "Here I AM" So God if anything has shown me that it is him who is the center of my meager existence, and that anything else is not. I want it to be worth all this fuss one day, I want to look back at these blogs and laugh at myself. But for now I am humbly learning that I need to be with God. And these past few months have been some of the most spiritual of my life, I have a new appreciation for the Lord. I don't look at him as a subject in school, but rather an intimate being with whom I have been called to dwell. He is just answering that and saying, prove it. For everything else shall pass away. There are so many things I long to say and yell about, go on rants, but all that will do is show me jumping to conclusions and probably being wrong. I know that if I trust in God, things may not go the way I want them to, but they will go the way he wants them to.