Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Pillows

They are everywhere. There are approximately 6 pillows on the king size bed I am currently sleeping on. I cannot figure out what to do with all of them. I first created a small mountain at the headboard of the bed to simulate me just laying at the peak, that didn't work. So now I just have randomly placed them around the top. What in the world. I guess if 3 people were sleeping in this bed and used a few pillows each, maybe the 6 pillows would work out and all would be great.

I'm in Texas right now for work and I can still blog. How great and amazing. It is great being around people and meeting new people. But let me tell ya, walking out the airport into thick Houston heat is a wake up call! It's muy caliente!

A group of us went on a camping trip this past Saturday night. There is so much to be thankful for. God has not only given us life with Him, He also gave us pretty things to look at in our small time we spend here. Yes I just used the word "pretty." I could have used "awesome" but that is a word that should take a break from the Christian lingo, the Lord knows I use it too much. Haha. Anyway. Shooting stars are great, we saw a few of those. Smores are good too. Hotdogs on a stick, well hanger, are great too. Mainly when they are ball park and they plump when you cook them. What a great commercial.

The Lord is so good to us. We should never forget that. He has really done great things.

Until next time, I'll try and figure out how the remote control for the Nintendo 64 is shared by everyone in the hotel. We had a hard time in an apartment of 4 in college. Oh the questions in this life!

Friday, October 15, 2004

I've never been there




Most likley, Jesus never stepped foot in Australia, but people there passionately love and follow Him over 2k years later. Simply amazing.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Value Size Please

We are a spiritually fat people. The United States is one of the most fruitful places to live in the entire world. We have more things here than about anywhere else. We have been a very blessed country.

The church in the US has been feeding people for 100's of years. Every week people flock to church, listen to a sermon, and go home. Most people go to church at least two times a week, the more tradional churches meet on Wed. and Sunday. Imagine all the sermons that go into people's minds on a weekly basis. You have two messages a week times 52 weeks times people living to be around 70-75, that's a lot!

The statistics say that only about 2% of the church actually shares their faith. 2%. This is mind boggling to me. I'm not saying I am free and clear of this, and I have my own struggles in sharing my faith, but I still try. In Blue Like Jazz, the author, Donald Miller talks about a friend of his. His friend told him that the things you do reveal what you really believe. What a simple but profound point. You can say that you believe people w/o Christ are condemned, but if you don't act on what you know, do you really believe it? Belief must come first. If you do not believe, you will never "do." But "doing" must accompany belief. They are partners. You cannot separate the two. We probably know more about the Bible than many Christians around the world because of our resources here, but we fall so far behind in acting them out. What in the world. Are we that self absorbed? Do we really care? If only 2% of the church shares their faith, the answer cannot be 'yes.'

I really like Andew's witness in the beginning of John. As SOON as Andrew heard about Jesus through John, what did he do? He did the hardest thing imaginable to Christians today. He went and told his brother. As SOON as he found out, he went and told his brother. Amazing to me. We can go on mission trips in the middle of Africa, sit in the streets of Atlanta and talk to strangers about Jesus, but we never go tell the most important people in our life. That's selfish, we are selfish, and we need to lose some spiritual weight!

John 1 :40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter[10] ).

I will return the soap box to the closet. DISCLAIMER: This blog was written to me. I'm a fat Christian.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Gosh

I pee all the time now. It's the strangest thing. I really believe that I have become a woman. Well, ok, so not a woman, but maybe I just pee like one, I'm not sure. I can remember on long trips, always making fun of the person who has to stop at every rest area. Now I count the miles and the average distance between rest areas is generally about 40 miles, give or take. I pee at work at least 2 times per hour, maybe more. This should not be. I am a man. Men are not supposed to pee like this. I think I am being punished for all the times I have made a joke of female bladders. God has given me one.

One time, about the 2nd or 3rd time I ever spoke anywhere I think was at Lexington High School. I've never been late for any speaking engagement and I am proud of that. Late for many other things, but not speaking. Well this day, my friend Noel and I hit traffic on the interstate, it was impossible. I was supposed to be at the school at 2:30, I pulled up at 2:35. Never had I been to the school and of course I don't know where anything is. I took off running. I ran into a room of maybe 400-500 kids I would say. It was packed. A lady approached me, asked if my name was Justin, I said yes. She says, if u need some time, go over there, you're up after the skit. I went back in the hall way, just to relax a second and get some water, I don't remember peeing. The skit ends and I go on stage.

What an awesome time it was. I planned something to speak on, but God said scrap that. I ended up talking about honesty and being real with your family and witnessing to them. I'm about to die 3 minutes into the talk. I have to pee so bad. So, being it was an honesty conversation, I confessed that I had to pee very badly. Few chuckles. I gave the talk and was about 3/4 the way done when the bell rings. Now I know what the bell meant when i was in high school. RING RING = freedom. You stop everything and leave school. I was sad that I was not finished and the kids might leave. Well what happens?

THEY TELL ME TO GO PEE! What an amazing time it was. A few of the kids left and many stayed. I had time to run to the bathroom, do my bizzzzznass, and come back and finish the talk. They patiently waited. What a fun day.

So it's been a long time since I sat down to write a blog. The effects of the dog, u know, the orange one are still haunting my life. I figured by keeping a blog up for so long, someone might want to rescue her from her despair of clay the color of Clemson and no shade, ok, maybe not.

On a serious note, I've been learning a lot lately. It seems that God is questioning why I do the things I do. My heart is on the witness stand in more ways than one. I'm learning that many people are genuinely selfish, and I am learning that I can be one of those people.

On a positive note, I met a woman on the side of the road yesterday, she was very funny. She met her husband at seminary, dated 2 months, then got married. Wow. She has been married for many years with lots of kids and a good life. Her name is Cyndi and she liked to talk. It's fun getting advice from a stranger on the side of the road. Like the old commercial for seatbelts, "You can learn a lot from a dummy, buckle up." Well you can learn a lot from strangers, so listen up. Did I just say that? I repent. It's true though. Insight and listening to people who have lived longer than you is deep. Their story has had much more time to mature. Cyndi told me that she would not go back and by my age for anything in the world. Haha. That was comforting. She told me that I was going to face many things in the future. I hope I handle them in a Godly way.

I've had the same sized head since I was born, my body has only somewhat grown into it. And i stress, somewhat.