dare you to move

So I got this idea from the song Dare You to Move - Switchfoot. As christians we forget that we hold the truth. That we have the answer, the key to all the hurt and all the problems in the world. So why keep it locked up inside? Someone obviously shared it with you.

Would it, could it, should it really be that hard. To move from a place of isolation, where you hold a secret tightly in; into the light of the day where there are people lost in their acts of negation. Your caught up in yourself, why move and stress. What a mess, I must confess. It's too hard to move! Or so you say. How is it that we find ourselves locked in our own pride. The pride of our own popularity and social status. A hollywood elite wanna be. Fine, sit there in your knowledge and "truth". A modern pharisee. You stay in your little clique, basking in the light of your own self righteouness. Careful, you might get a righteous sun burn. Break out of this place that you find yourself. Unleash yourself. Don't confine yourself within the boundaries of your safety. Expand it. Come one, I dare you to move!

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." -Matthew 5:14-16

death is only a continuation of life

So in this past week two people that I know died. While they were both very old, it just didn't seem right for them to die. They were both very different people, from very different world's. Each with a totally different path than the other. One commited his total life to God, and the other was a lawyer for many years and to be honest I don't know what her relationship with God was like. Although I know she did believe in him and go to church up until she was physically unable to go. So, here's to them.

The meaning behind a moment. The essence in a day. How can you measure what a single day is worth? For one day, no matter how similar, is never equal to the other. In one day, how strange, a life can be made. In one day, how tragic, a life can be broken. Deals sealed, plans made, love fulfilled, heart's broken. In one day a life, a new life, is made. Created from the passion of two lovers. In one day a life, a classic old life, is lost. Lost from the face of history forevermore. Part of a fabric, a network of an interweaving divine design.

"There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot..." -Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

RIP Aunt Harriet and Mr.Hann

...your sin will stain the rug

So, this blog isn't gonna be as artistic as most of my blogs are. It's actually more of a rant. So I was talking to two of my best friends tonight, one of them is with their family down in New Orleans and she said that she visited the St. Louis Cathedral while she was there. Well, for one, I'm not Catholic. I don't know how a Catholic Church works, and to be honest I don't really care to. No offense to anyone whose Catholic. It just seems very don't come as you are, your sin might stain the carpet. But anyways, she said that there was a guy near the altar and he must of touched it or whatever and the Priest came storming out really really mad, and kicked the guy out.

And you know, that really bugs me. Instead of caring about that guy, and his soul, the Priest was too busy caring about his job of keeping the altar so pristine, clean and lovely. So many churches, no matter what the denomination, are like that. They care too much about the man made traditions. It makes me wonder if we are reading the same Bible sometimes! Didn't Jesus warn the Pharisee's and the Sanhedrin about that very thing?! So, instead of learning from Jesus many of us simply repeat the mistakes of those that Jesus openly MOCKED. I don't know about you but I don't want to be mocked by the son of God. And it's not just a Catholic problem, by any stretch of the imagination. A friend of mine on a Choir trip, who wasn't raised Baptist, was standing in the pulpit and he was gotten onto by our choir teacher who just so happens to be Baptist. Apparently the pulpit is considered sacred and Holy in the Baptist church.

How is it that we assign certain items that Jesus never mentioned in the Bible to such holy places in our minds? If you look up pulpit on dictionary.com you'll find that it means: a platform or raised structure in the church. Exactly! In the church. Not part of the church. Which is, for you bible scholars out there, the Body of Christ. Now I'm not saying we should disrespect the furnishings in a church and treat them as common. But when we start to put the furniture and all the furnishings of a church above saving a life, and when we start making people feel bad because they are "unclean" that's when, in my opinion, we start sinning! You know... I'm afraid a lot of people/churches wouldn't except Jesus today. The blood and dirt that were on his feet might stain the carpet.

...tornado

So, the way I got the idea for this poem is really really random. I was watching Roseanne, which I hardly ever to never do, and they were in an episode where this huge tornado was hitting Lanford. Then my mind started to think about a tornado and I linked it to how being saved can at times mess you up and change you. Just like a tornado.

You take me. From the safety of this meadow; the tranquility of this valley. You pick me up like a tornado. Raw, and powerful. You mess me up. Change me, turn me upside down and around. You break me. From this state of hurt, you take me. From my problems, you pick me up and deliver me. You change what I want, messing up my selfish dreams. You put me on a path of righteousness; and you tell me that I am loved. You turned me around from my state of self decay. You're beyond my control, and I could never thank you enough.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

...sparrow

So, today has been a really hard day for some people here at home. Some people's lives have totally been changed. At First Baptist Shreveport a bus carrying 23 people on a youth trip flipped when the driver lost control. One is dead and several others in critical care. While we ask ourselves why all I can think of is that our God is the God who provides. The God who gives and who takes away, and no matter the season may his name be lifted high.

My heart is full, it seems to be breaking. It is being pushed and prodded in it's aching state. I feel alone as if my world is folding in on me. "God where were you when my heart was breaking"? I ask so foolishly. He answers: " I was there picking up the pieces and forming it again for my glory." Then I ask again of the almighty: "God where were you when my world was folding in on me?" He answers: "I was your Atlas, holding you up above the storm." And then I stopped in my sorrow and sadness. I heard a small coo and I looked up and saw a sparrow. As it fell from his flight, I saw a tear fall from heaven. "How much more do I love you than a sparrow?" "You may not of noticed it, or even of been able to at the time. But I was that small voice inside urging you to go on! When you were crying, I was the strength inside letting you know that the sun comes in the morning. And when this storm enveloped you like grave clothes, I was the one who brought you the sun. And when you're hurting know this: no matter what the time, no matter when the hour; hold tight to me for I am your strong tower." Then I rose up from my sullen state, and while the pain was not gone I proclaimed to the Lord. "You are my shelter from my storm, you are the urge in me to go on. You are my King. So I will praise you when I dance, and I will praise you when I fall. You are my redeemer. For there is none like you. I am worth more to you than the sparrow's that you see fall. And I know that you are there to catch me when I stumble. May your name, my God, in the good and the bad forever be praised.

"...Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." -Matthew 10:28-31

*Dedicated to First Baptist of Shreveport. Our God is an awesome God, he reigns, from Heaven above with wisdom, power, and love our God is an awesome God.*

...fragile

So, I was basically being my nerdy history buff self earlier today. I was looking at something that was talking about the Chernobyl disaster. It must of been so very weird for the people of that city and Prypiat to be able to understand or grasp what it was that had just happened. Something that immense completely changing their lives forever. It made me think about this very true statement: "life is fragile". So since life is fragile, very mortal, why do we treat it so carelessly and why do we not do what we know we are supposed to? When one single moment could make all the difference!

Soft and dear. Light and calm. Changing ever so slowly, to be put out at an instance. Though it's existence itself may endure the tests of time, it's immediate time on this earth is short. Coming and going with the seasons. Like a grain of sand blown in the wind. It can either be placed down softly and sweetly. Or thrown and destroyed by it's surroundings. There is but one thing we are assured of. This moment here and now is lasting, for now. Don't let it be blown away, to have never even affected a single soul.

"... 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 this royal position for such a time as this?" -Esther 4:14

...critics

So, you know... movie critics really, really annoy me. They always have the stupidest critiques. Like, when a movie is actually really really good they always find some randomly horrible flaw. But what I find amusing is that even through their horrible critiques people still flock to the movies to find out for themselves rather or not they like a movie and never form their opinions on these overly paid, pompous, wind bags!! So, why is it that as Christians we always take the criticism of others, especially non-Christians, to heart? We become scared to say what we believe because of a negative word by someone else. Which in my opinion, is totally bogus.

Never. That's something I would never do. Wait, you think my opinion is wrong? Well then you must be true. Even though you are lost. Your opinion must be true. I have the truth, you have a warped theory. Obviously you must be right, ignorance is correct after all. Never should I believe what I know to be true once someone disagrees with me. How dare I be politically incorrect, even if it means abandoning my beliefs. Ha! How selfish of me.

*For those of you who haven't guessed yet, that was sarcasm!!*

...lukewarm

So we went to the homeless shelter today for AIM Bossier. And while I know there are indeed people who are where they are because of the simple fact that life sucks, so many people are there because of a severe case of apathy. They could very easily go out and get a job, and while they don't go out and sabotage their chances of getting one, they also don't go out and look actively for a job. This can apply to us spiritually so much. We stay in our own "Jesus Bubble". Thinking that: hey, it's good enough that I myself am saved, if no one else is then well there are missionaries for that sort of thing. The point of it is though, that you might be the only "Jesus" that, that person ever sees.

You have the world, the secret to it's mysteries all within. But you don't let it out. You know the answer to pain and suffering in the chronicles of your mind. But you close it up tight. You know that you were called to be set apart, a light in this dark dying world. But you hide your light with a bushel; afraid at the snide remarks of the lost. So what shall you say when that day comes and you have to explain yourself? How shall you explain yourself in that case? For your excuses don't work with the one who made the rules himself. Perhaps it would be better for you to be totally cold and unknowing, than to know and not share the truth.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth!" -Revelation 3:15-16

...homeless

So today was the first day of AIM Bossier and it makes you realize how truly blessed we are each and every day to just have the utter basics. The things that we take for granted today, not because of any fault of our own *that we realize at least*, but simply because it is that needed in our everyday lives. Such as water, heat in the winter, clothes, or even food. They're things that we don't miss until they are gone. But take a look at the streets of any downtown in any city across America and somewhere you will find the homeless. Rather it's out in plain sight or hidden behind a pretty façade, it's still there. Even in this city of Shreveport-Bossier it's still there. But so often we mark them off under our own kind of caste system as the untouchables. Yet, these are the people that Jesus loved and hung around. These people the drunks, the stoners, the hookers, and pimps. He chose to be around them. Why? Because they were the ones who needed him the most. So who are we to say that we cannot talk to a homeless person -a possible lost soul- when Jesus loved them?

To be at home when you are nowhere certain, whenever you are there with no one certain. And yet, I am home. I don't really know this place that I find myself. For, what is home really? You can live somewhere, be at your house, but not be at home. My home is where memories and love are. Not that romantic fickle kind, but true; brother, sister, mother, daughter, father kind of love. The kind of love that makes me feel home is the love that caused one man to die. I didn't ask, nor did anyone else ask for him to. But he gave it all for the love to make us be at home. So that, on that day, our last graduation day. We can walk out of the grungy doors of this decaying house. This sad excuse for an abode. We can walk in through pearly gates. Into our real home. Around strangers from the same Father. Around friends we've never met. and siblings that we never even knew that we had.

"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am..." -John 14:2-3

...vapor

At school one day during 5th hour English III we had to pick a random word. I picked the word vapor. Our teacher then instructed us to write a poem about that word that we picked... This was my poem.

Temporary, lasting for a mere moment; Only to vanish behind crashing waves. What impact exists from it? Were you substantial to a life? We are as such, you know. Produced by the crashing of a wave, Or the short aroma of spring, before vanishing into eternity. Will we be a mute vapor? Un-sensed or felt by society? Or will we be that vapor that lasts, That carries on, albeit in memory only. Like the dash on a sarcophagi, Who else, except ourselves and the almighty, Shall know what was there. Temporary, lasting for a mere moment. Only to vanish behind crashing waves.

"...But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind..." - James 1:6

...i'm nobody

So, obviously this poem is not mine. I'm afraid I'm not quite that talented, haha. But I feel like it should be my first post on here for one reason or another. So without further ado the poem I'm Nobody! Who are You? by Emily Dickinson.

"I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us - don't tell! They'd banish us, you know!

How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog! To tell one's name the livelong day, To an admiring bog!"