Adolescent Atheist

I am a baseball coach. A very good one...i think. I have a lot to learn. Honestly, instructing high school boys about the game of baseball is fun, tiresome, and rewarding. Being a former high-school baseball player it is awkward being on the coaching side of the game, but i immediately recognize the tremendous amount of influence that i have. I have the power to: make the guys run all practice, to work on their pitching form, to change the way that they think about the game of baseball. They are starting to think like i think. Work hard, fundamentals, work as a team, go full-speed, etc.
Knowing all this, one athlete told me something that i want to change. He saw the "reject religion, embrace Jesus," shirt that i was wearing and formally proclaimed to the whole team and myself that he didn't believe in God, heaven, hell, or anything of that nature. A fifteen-year-old-atheist. He's not even old enough to drive let alone his adolescence, practical (or walking) philosophy. The question that he arose which comes from even the oldest and intellectually savvy philospher is one of the problem of evil. He seemed dogmatic, even for a teenager.
So, what happens? Does the teenager learn about hell, heaven, God, Jesus from his stinkin' baseball coach? Use the influence that God has given to you, remember what is most important, and love people.

Serve Swerve

Serving. It is something that is much larger than what you're thinking. The side that we think of is, the one that involves hard work. The one that requires time, energy, money, and maybe some of your image. Don't look at this side. Look at the other side. It is the side that makes a difference. The side that God wants you to look at. It is the side that opens up the eyes of the one that you are serving. It makes them say, "...why did you do that?" It makes them wonder, "that person is different, that is cool!" I got a compliment the other day after serving a friend, he said, "you are my savior." I figure I be Jesus to him first before I introduce to him the true Savior. The one that saved me and that compels me to serve others...because He did not come to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Serving is intentional. Jesus did this. Lets take the serve swerve, no random acts of kindness, but kindness that is done with a purpose to point to Jesus. Get into the swerve and let your life be infused with this mindset and joy.

Devils listen to people

“Then Jesus called the crowd to Him, along with His disciples.  He said, “If people want to follow Me, they must give up the things they want.  They must be willing even to give up their lives to follow Me.  Those who want to save their lives will give up true life.  But those who give up their lives for Me and for the Good News will have true life.  It is worthless to have the whole world if they lose their souls.  They could never pay enough to buy back their souls.  The people who live now are living in a sinful and evil time.  If people are ashamed of Me and My teaching, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes with His Father’s glory and with the holy angels.”  -- Mark 8:34-38

 

What does something look like if they are described as devilish?  Are they a shade of red, do they exhibit pointy facial hair, or do they carry a pitch fork?  We all have notions of how a devil should look like, but we should ask the better questions, what is the mindset of the devil?  How he thinks is how he is going to try and make things look.  What is he trying to do?  For actions speak louder than words. 

            In the passage we see a response from Jesus after He asked his disciples, specifically Peter, who He was.  The disciples gave the various answers and then Jesus turned and pointed the question to Peter, who answered marvelously…in the Father’s own words.  Proceeding this breathtaking event Jesus proceeded to talk about His betrayal, suffering, death, and resurrection and immediately Peter tried to prevent it. Jesus then proceeded to rebuke Satan and said, “you don’t care about the things of God, but only about things people think are important.” 

            So, taking this at face value we can see that being devilish is actually thinking like a human.  This is kinda scary.  Now, even though Satan wanted Jesus out of the way he was encouraging Peter to think and eventually say that in order to make himself better Jesus needed to be alive.  Peter was thinking selfishly and was confused, at what God wanted for godly gain and what he wanted for personal gain.  Satan actually listens to people and wants to do things that sinful humans want to do.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, talks about this in his epistle explaining what true wisdom is, where it comes from, and what it does.  For those who are thinking worldly are thinking devilishly…to sound more harshly…demonically. 

            What is the result of this spiritual bashing?  Can we prevent ourselves from thinking worldly, or demonically?  The answer is yes, Philippians 4:8, think on these things, think on the goodness of God, think on the promises of God, think on none other than the very words of God.  That is what Peter did when he answered Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  For flesh and blood did not reveal this, but our Father in heaven spoke it to Peter and he listened. 

            Jesus gives us the ultimate call, to give ourselves up, to give our lives to Him.  The beginning passage tells us of the cost, the value, and the results.  It will cost us our lives to follow Jesus, following Jesus has more value than owning this whole world, and it will all be worth it because Jesus has won, and we will sing and shout the victory.  All of this is the result of listening to Jesus and not listening to the worldly/demonic voice.  We are to look through the lens of Jesus and look for what God wants for us, we are too see through the windows that bring the colors of God in our lives.  

Sensible God

Sensible God

There is a God.  

He created the universe.  He is big enough to orchestrate everything in this universe, from the flight of the bumblebee to the dances of sugar-plum fairies.  He has the power over all things, has knowledge over all things, and has presence over all things.  He is infinite, just looking at the universe we see its vastness and the measurements that cannot be calculated.  A light year is the distance it takes light to travel in a vacuum in one julian year, and astronomers have used a gigalight-year abbreviated "GLY" used to measure supergalatic structures and quasars.  There is only one abbreviation that is suitable, "OMG." Oh, my God is the only response that is applicable for a situation called this universe.  All this, all this beauty, all this complexity, all this grandeur, all this for Him.   

There is a God who empathizes.  

Amid all this creation.  Despite all the reasons for attention this God empathizes with people.  He choses to focus on people.  People are feeble.  We are not the biggest, most powerful, and sometimes the smartest.  In fact, we are not lovable at all, we have rebelled against God by sinning against Him.  We have all given Him "the bird" at one time or another.  This is reason enough for us to be the most despised of all creation, but He empathizes with us.  The way that we empathize with others is if we experience things, with ours senses, the things they experience.  How could someone empathize with me?  If they saw the stars in the sky,  if they heard the crickets make annoying sounds, if they smelled the flowers that i love to smell, if they tasted the savory plums gush with flavor, and embrace in the hugs from my fiancee.  Someone must go through it.         

There is a God who has come.  

This is the answer to all our questions.  God has come to be with us.  Jesus has come down and taken on the human form to go through the things that we have gone through.  He experienced weakness, limitedness, hunger, temptation, pain, opposition, loved-ones dying, frustration, anger, suffering, persecution, and even death.  He "senses us," because Jesus has come.  God is mindful of us, He hears us (even when we pray all the time), He sees us (when we want God to see what we are doing for Him),  He even smells us (when we are being presented as a holy sacrifice), He tastes (he experienced what we experience) , he touches us (with His holiness, love, etc.).  

So, He is a sensible God.  He senses us, and is mindful of us.  Since He is sensible He is aware that we need salvation, life, holiness, love, and a relationship.  God has come to give us all of this.         

Doxology Folly

Build & Battle

A bit weird.  The first blog that I have ever done.  To be honest I have scratched my head until I have gone bald to think about what I should say in the first blog.  I feel as if this is going to set precedence in what I am going to do in the future, so I better do it right!  Going with the title of my blog, "Don't say nothin'...won't be nothin'," was an easy title to pick.  In order to influence people one must do something, and blogging is something that I can do that will hopefully influence people. 

Now, as far as influencing people, I am not speaking of making little mes running around, Lord knows we need that.  I hope to battle and build.  I hope to build up and be built up by those who love Jesus and want to see the truth realized by others.  Also, I want to battle with those who are opposed to the truth.  Now, everyone close to me knows that I will lose an argument to a gnat, so I am not wanting to win an argument.  I want people to see the truth because it has radically changed my life, even to the point that I am getting involved with this blog. 

So, here I am, wanting to open up a conversation about anything and I'm ready to explain the reason of the hope that is within me.