well everyone (all four of you),
i'm transitioning to tumblr. There are a number of reasons for this, and i assuhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifre you one of them isn't to prove myself wrong (see a previous post discussing the ultimate merits of blogspot). i honestly just wanted something more simple, so that whatever i posted was a bit naked, if you will--forced to stand on its own merits and not hide behind unnecessary color. Also, i've gotten to a point where i like to post shorter things, and tumblr is a more conducive medium for that.
You'll find a link to this page at the bottom of my tumblr account should you ever wish to peruse the archive of my musings. i'm sure i'll be doing the same.
goodbye.
this will take you there
8/23/11
4/26/11
dependence day.
Patrick Henry's words ("Give me liberty, or give me death"), while having been for the most part of my life something I was proud to think of, have started to taste sour. Don't you see that we have become slaves to that liberty? We would trade true Life for it, dying for that which will kill us slowly anyway by means of the hyper-individualism that plagues us as a result. We're going about it all backwards. Instead, in the reality of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we find Jesus saying, "Take my liberty, give me death, so that Life may result."
3/27/11
everything sad will come untrue
i am at a place in life where it seems as if i lack the energy to write anything thought-provoking, but that's okay, i suppose.
In reading through the gospels over the last several weeks, i have been struck by a good many things regarding the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, but what has been most vivid is that Jesus was so immeasurably concerned with the well-being of people. It's one of those things that i've known in my head for long time, but i don't know, here it is. Somehow new.
We spend so much of our lives, whether in word or thought or deed, in some sort of introspective quicksand. We may even do something for someone else, but all the while we think, "But how does this make me look?" We spend time on facebook looking for good profile pictures. Of ourselves. We spend significant time every week looking at mirrors that reflect what we hope is an attractive self. We spend the weeks looking forward to a weekend that we hope brings relaxation, to ourselves. We write on blogs or in songs or we paint pictures or take pictures or make things or remake things, all the while hoping the artistic product will somehow reflect positively on the creator. i am only being honest. i see it everywhere. i see it in my own life. As a Christian, you can do "Christian" things that are received well by other Christians, all the while under the guise of "glorifying God with your gifts." But stop. i mean really stop and ask yourself this tough question: do you do what you do for you? or do you do it for the Creator? If no one else in the world could see what you do everyday, would you still do it? Because everything points back to Him eventually. He gets to have a capital C. He has overcome the world. He stood up in the temple and read a prophecy about Himself from Isaiah, sat down, said "Today this has been fulfilled in your presence," and that was His sermon. And it was better than any sermon you'll ever hear.
Do you see where i'm going with this? If Jesus be God, and if He is the Creator and Sustainer and the Reconciler of all things, and if His ministry consisted of putting sinful people and their best interests before His own life, then how arrogant are we to be so mindful of ourselves? There are people hurting in this world with a deep pain that we will never experience, and yet we think to ourselves that no one has it worse than us. There are people who must work multiple jobs to just put food on the table and a roof overhead for their families, and yet we complain and mourn the fact that we must work "long hours" and that nobody else really knows what it's like to go through "busy season." We choose to remain hurt in relationships because we like to play the victim rather than being a vehicle of reconciliation. We actually in some sick, disgusting way look forward to people hurting us so that we can hold it against them in the future. i do these things. i am selfish and petty and proud.
But Jesus is alive, though once dead. And He spurs us on, toward others. You see, you and i cannot effect change in ourselves, by ourselves. God changes us when we love Him and when we take His Love to the people around us. So let us stop being so self-focused, and let us decrease in every way. Let us subordinate our very selves to the King who would die a sinner's death on a rugged cross so that you and i might be counted righteous.
In reading through the gospels over the last several weeks, i have been struck by a good many things regarding the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, but what has been most vivid is that Jesus was so immeasurably concerned with the well-being of people. It's one of those things that i've known in my head for long time, but i don't know, here it is. Somehow new.
We spend so much of our lives, whether in word or thought or deed, in some sort of introspective quicksand. We may even do something for someone else, but all the while we think, "But how does this make me look?" We spend time on facebook looking for good profile pictures. Of ourselves. We spend significant time every week looking at mirrors that reflect what we hope is an attractive self. We spend the weeks looking forward to a weekend that we hope brings relaxation, to ourselves. We write on blogs or in songs or we paint pictures or take pictures or make things or remake things, all the while hoping the artistic product will somehow reflect positively on the creator. i am only being honest. i see it everywhere. i see it in my own life. As a Christian, you can do "Christian" things that are received well by other Christians, all the while under the guise of "glorifying God with your gifts." But stop. i mean really stop and ask yourself this tough question: do you do what you do for you? or do you do it for the Creator? If no one else in the world could see what you do everyday, would you still do it? Because everything points back to Him eventually. He gets to have a capital C. He has overcome the world. He stood up in the temple and read a prophecy about Himself from Isaiah, sat down, said "Today this has been fulfilled in your presence," and that was His sermon. And it was better than any sermon you'll ever hear.
Do you see where i'm going with this? If Jesus be God, and if He is the Creator and Sustainer and the Reconciler of all things, and if His ministry consisted of putting sinful people and their best interests before His own life, then how arrogant are we to be so mindful of ourselves? There are people hurting in this world with a deep pain that we will never experience, and yet we think to ourselves that no one has it worse than us. There are people who must work multiple jobs to just put food on the table and a roof overhead for their families, and yet we complain and mourn the fact that we must work "long hours" and that nobody else really knows what it's like to go through "busy season." We choose to remain hurt in relationships because we like to play the victim rather than being a vehicle of reconciliation. We actually in some sick, disgusting way look forward to people hurting us so that we can hold it against them in the future. i do these things. i am selfish and petty and proud.
But Jesus is alive, though once dead. And He spurs us on, toward others. You see, you and i cannot effect change in ourselves, by ourselves. God changes us when we love Him and when we take His Love to the people around us. So let us stop being so self-focused, and let us decrease in every way. Let us subordinate our very selves to the King who would die a sinner's death on a rugged cross so that you and i might be counted righteous.
1/18/11
my Hope is built on nothing less.
How in the world i got to be an accountant, i'll never know. And i expect that as dry as accounting is to most everyone, even my knowing wouldn't constitute desire on your part for me to share. Yet, all the same, here i am in Raleigh, North Carolina, a real-live accountant.
It has been interesting already to realize so vividly that the reason God wants us to work hard in the classroom is not so we necessarily gain a bunch of knowledge, but so we gain wisdom and understanding about how to learn. i'm relatively certain that i will use almost none of the knowledge i have gained in the last 3.5 years during my time in Raleigh, but i am already certain that my ability to learn will be put to the test every single day. In college, learning is not required for passing grades or even decent grades. People know how to work the systems in which they find themselves.
Enough of my soapbox.
i do really enjoy tax, though.
i absolutely loathe not seeing my best friend.
The question that most nags at my heart is, "How will i find the time to grow closer to Jesus, and further from myself? And if i cannot find it, how will i cultivate it?" The question in itself shows how much i need Him, if i am worried about when i will speak with Him and listen in return. It scares me to think of how often Jesus is not as important to me as He ought to be. It scares me that i sometimes treat Him more like a cousin that i talk to on facebook every now and then, rather than El Shaddai, God Almighty.
It has been interesting already to realize so vividly that the reason God wants us to work hard in the classroom is not so we necessarily gain a bunch of knowledge, but so we gain wisdom and understanding about how to learn. i'm relatively certain that i will use almost none of the knowledge i have gained in the last 3.5 years during my time in Raleigh, but i am already certain that my ability to learn will be put to the test every single day. In college, learning is not required for passing grades or even decent grades. People know how to work the systems in which they find themselves.
Enough of my soapbox.
i do really enjoy tax, though.
i absolutely loathe not seeing my best friend.
The question that most nags at my heart is, "How will i find the time to grow closer to Jesus, and further from myself? And if i cannot find it, how will i cultivate it?" The question in itself shows how much i need Him, if i am worried about when i will speak with Him and listen in return. It scares me to think of how often Jesus is not as important to me as He ought to be. It scares me that i sometimes treat Him more like a cousin that i talk to on facebook every now and then, rather than El Shaddai, God Almighty.
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