Ma-Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIlkX87FolQ

I absolutely love this song, the lyrics hold such truth.

Now Hollywood wants to make you think they know what love is.
But I'm a tell you what true love is.
Love is not what you see in the movies.
Its not the ecstasy, its not what you see in that scene
you know what I mean? I'm telling you right now, true love is sacrifice.
Love is thinking about others before you think about yourself
Love is selfless not selfish. Love is God and God is love.
Love is when you lay down your life for another
Whether for your brother, your mother, your father or your sister
Its even laying down your life for your enemies,
That's unthinkable, but think about that
Love is true
Think.

Chorus
I'll put you in front of me
So everybody can see
My love, this is my love
I know that I'll be alright
As long as you are my guide
My love, this is my love

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast
It is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs
You see love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, it always perseveres
Love never fails. Love is everlasting
Its eternal, it goes on and on, it goes beyond time
Love is the only thing that will last when you die
But ask the question why? Do you have love?

Chorus
I'll put you in front of me
So everybody can see
My love, this is my love
I know that I'll be alright
As long as you are my guide
My love, this is my love

There is no greater love than this than he who lays down his life for his friends
Now are you willing to lay down your life for your friends?
You're probably willing to lay down your life for your mother
your father, or your best friends
But are you willing to lay down your life for even those that hate you?
I'm going to tell you who did that
The definition of love is Jesus Christ. He is love
The nails in his hands, the thorns in his brow
Hanging on a cross for your sin my sins
That is love he died for you and me while we still hated him
That is love
God is true love, and if you don't know this love
Now is the time to know, perfect love

Chorus
I'll put you in front of me
So everybody can see
My love, this is my love
I know that I'll be alright
As long as you are my guide
My love, this is my love
(repeat)

Wake Up.

Awaken soldier, awaken from your slumber, for there is a battle in our midst; the battle of the ages. Many a people are not aware, many desire to pay no heed to, but all have been set amongst the bloody battlefield despite their desires. Take up your armor, take up your shield, take up your sword, for a decision is to be made.

Contemplate every hurt contained within your life; your alcoholic father who strikes you, the pervasive depression continually haunting you, the termination of your mother’s life due to cancer, the malicious words of a spiteful peer, the boyfriend you gave your everything just for a broken heart in return, the belief that you are not good enough, pretty enough, perfect enough, all the times you have been rejected... We all have hurt that slowly accumulates over our lives, after all, we live in a fallen, broken, hurtful place; a battlefield. We are all injured by our adversary. He is not a strong opponent, he is not brave, but he is strategic. Very strategic. He is the utter definition of pride and self-love despite his disgusting self. He is so in love with his vileness that he hates everything and everyone else. He loathes us so much that he throws every weapon he has at us; alcoholic and abusive family members, haunting thoughts, cancer which overcomes someone well before they should be taken, wicked words, brokenness, untruthful beliefs, rejection, any weapon he possibly can to wound us, to hurt us, to break us down limb by limb. He utterly hates us. He is a very deceiving and manipulative foe, constantly morphing reality and playing mind games with our emotions. Instead of fighting him, he causes us to grow bitter towards reality and truth, instead of taking up our arms, he convinces us to give up the fight and instead of healing our wounds, he makes us believe it would be easier to simply hide them. Slowly we drift toward the wrong side of the battle without realizing it. We involve ourselves with alcoholism, lust, pride, materialism, people pleasing, drug abuse, love of idols, love of this world, of this battlefield… While we are trying to numb the hurt of the battle we are actually contributing to our adversary’s army, for numbness is what it feeds off of. Putting us to sleep is the ultimate numbness and ultimately his final goal for us. For that is when we become completely unaware of reality, that is when we are addicted to the morphine of this life that continually feeds his army, that is when we are no longer a threat, we are deactivated, unimportant, stomped out, shut down… We must realize that the things of this world that make us feel “better” or make us forget about our hurt are actually the very things feeding the same force which brought about the pain in the first place. It is a vicious circle that will continue to rotate unless we realize that it is going on, stand up, and fight it. There is a battle going on in this world. There is a good side and an evil side.  By caving to alcoholism you are contributing to the alcoholic abusive father, by shooting that drug you are contributing to the disease of cancer, by gossiping we are contributing to the same force which made your boyfriend break your heart; it is all interconnected, and we must realize this fact of life if we want the evil to eventually be stomped out. Essentially, by resisting to talk ill of a peer you are fighting cancer, by not going out partying you are fighting against alcoholic and abusive parenting, by cutting out lust from your life you are fighting suicidal feelings, for you are no longer feeding the army of evil but fighting against it, which means you are fighting against every evil that could be found on this earth, this battlefield…

So awaken soldier, awaken from your slumber, for there is a battle in our midst; the battle of the ages. Do not remain unaware, do not ignore, for you have been set amongst the bloody battlefield despite your desires. Now take up your armor, take up your shield, take up your sword, for there is a decision to be made… Now are you going to fight for evil or for good? Will you feed the army of evil or fight it? Will you continue to slumber? Or will you WAKE UP?

We are all going to die.

I really don’t want my life to be a waste. Let me re-phrase that: I am terrified to waste my life away. I was listening to Misty Edward’s speak at the Fascinate Conference via live stream and she really got me thinking. She really stressed the simple yet startling fact that we are all going to die. It’s actually a terrifying thought to think about. Often times we forget that death is inevitable and not too far off in the horizon. It is a chilling thought to think that one day, the day we die, we will be face to face with the awesome, fearsome, powerful, fiery, fierce, justice-seeking, sin-hating creator of the enormous universe we live in. We will stand before him, or probably be face down before him, beholding all of his beauty, and only in that moment will we realize just how much glory we were passing up for the wasteful sins we committed. Oh, how much regret I feel will immediately grip me for even the smallest of sins I participated in. There have been several times in life where I thought to myself “Why am I a Christian? Why do I do what I do? I mean, the bible is boring, praying seems to be getting me nowhere, I’m tired of waking up early for church on my weekend off, Christian radio stations play the same lame, cheesy songs way more times than I’d ever want to hear them… Why am I doing this to myself?” I look at worldly things and think to myself “Now that looks way more fun, way more interesting, way more thrilling, look at how much fun they are having, why don’t I do that?” How foolish I am… First of all, God, the bible, the church; it’s the greatest adventure one could ever go on. How do I not find the amazing stories in the bible interesting? God created the world out of nothing, healed the blind, made the lame walk, calmed terrible storms, and walked on water. Now how in the world can I find that not interesting??? And how can talking to the creator of the universe not get me anywhere? If you were good friends with a movie star, they would most likely lend you money, get you into movie premiers, etc. because they have power and authority, and think of how much more power and authority the God of the universe has? He only wants the best for you. And why would I rather sleep than spend time in God’s presence? His awesome, beautiful, grace-filled presence that I don’t even deserve. And Why would I not want to carry on the amazing worship that has been passed down through generations and will continue on for eternity? I should be grateful that such an awesome God would want to spare his time to be with me. I cannot comprehend why I find the things of this world so enticing. The people of the world are WASTING their lives; wasting it away on alcohol, on drugs, on gluttony, on selfishness, on money… When one enters into God’s presence after they die all the time they spent drinking, all the time they spent playing video games, all the time they spent earning money, will be completely wiped away, unimportant, wasted; completely wasted… How agonizingly embarrassing would it be to be in front of this amazing God and have your whole life burnt away and realizing you have nothing to give him… Please don’t let that be me God. Please show me just how awesome you are, and forgive me for the times I doubt your splendor or take it for granted. I beg you to guide me onto the right path so that when I meet you one day I can have the pleasure of seeing you with arms wide open, grinning proudly, with a glow in your eyes and the soothing yet powerful words of your mouth saying “Well done, good and faithful servant…” Amen.

Love is patient, love is kind.....

1 Corinthians 13:4-7


“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

This is probably one of the most well known verses in the bible, known by both Christians and non-Christians alike. I think a lot of the time this verse does not receive as much emotional weight as it deserves. I mean, I think everyone I know, including myself, automatically thinks of a romantic sort of love when they think of this verse. We imagine a man and a woman standing at an alter staring googly-eyed into each other’s faces as a priest recites these words just minutes before the two lovers are joined as one and prance off merrily to begin their fairytale life together. Though I do believe this verse is relevant to married couples, I think that it has a much bigger meaning before that. 1 John 4:16 states that “God IS love.” This brings a whole new meaning to this verse to me, personally. It shows me JUST HOW AWESOME God is. Since God IS love, I like to replace the word “love” with the word “God”. So, GOD is patient, GOD is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. He is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. How comforting does that verse become when we stop focusing it so much on earthly love, but on who God really is??? I mean, think about it. HE IS THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. Yet he doesn’t boast? He is not proud? How crazy is that. And I am simply one measly little person in this entire universe who he could snuff out at any second with one wisp of his hand, I am so thankful that despite how much pain I probably put God through as I sin and mess up time after time, he is not easily angered and that he keeps no records of my wrongs and that he continues to protect me, to trust me, and to have hope in me. Then the greatest promise of the whole verse: he always perseveres. God will persevere over my troubles, over this world, over sin, and ultimately over Satan. What an amazing concept.

Ironic.

I find it ironic how easy it is to talk when filled with alcohol, yet how difficult it is to talk when filled with the holy spirit. I find it ironic how nobody gives suspicious looks to people as they show up to a party, as if they do not belong or are outcasts, yet when they show up at a church they get ostrasized. I find it ironic how alcoholics can stick together through the hardest of times, yet Christians flee from a sinner going through a rough patch. It actually really isn't ironic at all, it's disasterous how people can feel more comfortable at a party than at a church event...

Abortion.

Abortion makes me so mad.


I just do not understand how the concept cannot upset people. The sheer numbers alone; Every MINUTE about 80 abortions take place. That adds up to 4,792 an HOUR, 115,000 a DAY, and 42,000,000 a YEAR. And NINETY-THREE PERCENT of those babies are being disposed of simply due to being “unwanted” or “inconvenient”. How heart breaking are those statistics—SERIOUSLY? I wrote the following little poem thing on abortion; I hope one day I will be able to see an end to it.

“One by one,
Two by two,
Three by three,
How easily one could have been me.
Hundreds a day,
Thousands a month,
Millions a year,
But for them, few shed but a tear.
We live our lives,
We walk our walks,
We run our race,
But their pain we fail to embrace.
They don’t have a chance,
They don’t have a choice,
All because they don’t yet have a voice.
They could be brothers,
They could be sisters,
They could be husbands,
They could be wives,
But we tend to neglect all these people’s future lives,
Let’s wear the band; Let’s take a stand.
Let’s protest the knife; Let’s save a life.
Let’s wear the tape; So not one more child life will escape.”

(Statistics were taken from http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html)