Coming up

I just thought i would blog again, get these fingers typing about something up on this website. Any who, this Monday that is Coming up as we all know is labor day. I am so thrilled and excited for it because it is another day for Wake Church.

What is Wake Church, it is a time where people get together talk about God and his word real early in the morning (6:30) and then go wake-boarding afterwords. It is so much fun.

So in light of all this, i think you should totally come, if you want to, just reply to this before Monday and we will connect.

Also, if you are thinking of coming, we will be reading Psalms 23. Yes, very befitting of the day... we know.

Any who, i will totally write more on this topic latron.

Deuces

Killin me softly

No, the title of this post is not the lyrics to the song "killing me softly."

Any way's what i mean by this title is that procrastination is killing me softly. It is something i hate and that i now i need to manage better but it is soooo tough for me to do. I think i procrastinate for fear of commitment or i just get anxious and want to push the inevitable away. The strange thing is that by doing this whole push-back thing i get hurt. Doing this whole procrastinating thing brings death, fear, anxieties. You know these words don't seem like ones that should be involved with anyones life... especially a person who follows after Christ, yet they are... and it is ok.

It is ok to experience these emotions but the way they are brought on is the problem. The reason why i experience emotions like fear and anxiety is because i hold off on doing almost everything and it kills me. I sometimes get emails from individuals and i don't open them for maybe a couple of days avoiding the inevitable message that has already been sent and even maybe hoping for a reply.

I think procrastination is one of the things a greatly dislike about myself and i am glad that i can have some help from Lindsay (my girlfriend) in this area but it is something i know that I have to work through. I know God has more for me then anxieties and fears. I know that there is no need to be rushed and so panicky just waiting and wondering how things are going to come along for my class schedule this semester or i realize that i don't have to redo things if i completed them proficiently and on time with the first go around.

Procrastination is a killa and it adds un-needed stress. This is also the point in the blog where i could make some super spiritual comment or tie in some scripture but... it aint going to go down like that. I just want to share my experience and shed some light on this silent creeper, this slow sulking shadow that adds just enough darkness to start blotting out Christ and adding to His light and easy yoke. Run from the shadow's of procrastination and find your freedom in the pastures that Christ has promised. All of that may be a little more work but it adds endurance which eventually leads to hope which Christ has lavishly poured out unto us in his love. Romans 5: 3-5

Mario Party

I just thought i would let the world know that i love Mario Party 8 for the Wii. It is a great game of bonding and it keeps you from getting hurt like in the Nintendo 64's version of Mario Party.

Examples.

You would think their would be some cool story being my stigmata but their isn't. I was playing against Lindsay Carol Stroud aka My girlfriend = the woman i am madly in love with... that is right, i said it... MADLY IN LOVE WITH.

So any who, i was playing and there was a game where you had to spin the joystick as quick as possible and so i just went crazy and spun with the center of my hand for thirty seconds strait and after it was all done i looked down and noticed that my hand was blistered and in just a smidgen of pain.

All of this to say that i did dominate her that game and i was the SUPERSTAR!

Bread

Daily Bread.

These words are pretty simple, yet have so much meaning to them. On there own they are pretty useless but when you combine them with something so infinite, something so powerful, something so... beautiful and mighty, these words bring life, hope, peace, and joy. These words, Daily Bread bring money, shelter, full, quenched. These words are... really incomprehensible and the only reason why is because they are what our heavenly father provides us.

For a long while now, probably since around the beginning of the year, my mindset on prayer has drastically changed. As my views on prayers changed i started praying in a different way and something i usually do is pray the Lords prayer in the morning... you know start my day off with a little scripture, truth, life.

So for those of you who may not know what the "Lords Prayer" is... here it is, from Matthew 6: 9-13

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Honestly, until recently, which is after many months of saying this scripture over, something dawned on me... "Give us this day our daily bread." This verse hit me so hard and it makes me smile even now as i read it. God is in control. God has everything and can give everything. God wants us to ask him for what we need that day. This verse is us saying, "God i don't know what today has in store for me but i know that i need you and i want you to provide for me the food that i will need to survive, the shelter i will need to survive, the clothes i need for today, the money for the things i need, God please give me LIFE."

These verses our so amazing. I stinking love them and the life and the joy and the everything that they bring. It is such a comfort knowing that God will give me what i need for that day. God has this amazing journey for me... for each one of us and i am just hoping and praying that i will continue to have the faith and trust in him to provide what i need. I mean what a relief that is, to know that what i need: shelter, food, money, clothes is provided for by my heavenly father who has everything.

So know that God desires to provide for us so that we can bring him glory. He isn't providing the winning lottery number but he is providing the money for groceries and food and shelter. He isn't providing all of the items we have in our house but he is providing the essential things we need to survive day to day. He provides the heat in the cold and the cold in the heat. He provides us with life abundantly instead of the death that we bring upon ourself. God is a provider, but within that we must realize it isn't easy, it may not seem perfect and it may seem scary, but it is always good and for his purpose and glory.

He provides for us our what we need. He provides for his glory.

Daily Bread.

So Games

So i just thought i would put up a random blog as i wait for William Gregory Britt III is setting up some stuff on his phone. And the blog consists of this. I love Call of Duty: World at War. I mean it is one fantastic game and i especially love killing zombies and all of the fun levels offered. If you have a PS3 or that other lame system X-box whatever or a Wii, then you should probably get it.

I mean it is a great bonding time with friends plus a really great game with good graphics. I mean you should totally check it out and buy one at your nearest retail store.

I know i know

It has been like a year since i have last blogged but i just wanted to let everyone know that it is going down in China town... and i will start blogging every so often. I mean God is doing some pretty cool and amazing things in my life and i just want to share them, not that i am anything special but i think i have a story to tell and a few people who would like to hear about it.

Rest

Last night was an interesting night for me, in driving home from my friends i was just overcome with this somber mood.  I think it is God really pre-paring my heart for missions in the future, but i don't know.

I also got a text from someone incredibly important to me and in essence it was one that she was asking for prayer.

I think both these things made me realize that all we need is God's love, and that God is love.  That concept is something that we all forget and overlook though.  So on the way home i was listening to this band called Parachute that i just discovered on iTunes.  The song was She Is Love.  I don't know there meaning behind it, or if it has some super hidden cool story, but what i did was changed the words to HE is love, and HE is all i need. Basically wherever she was sung, i put HE or GOD.  The song is amazing, and last night as i heated up some sausage links and poured a glass of milk i just went on my back porch and rested in the beauty of the night.  

I am still feeling this somber or thought provoking mood.  I don't know where i am going or headed but what i do know is that God is love and he is all we need.

Solo

Last Sunday, aka Mothers Day, i saw a movie with my mom and brother called the soloist.  I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was great.  Not to spoil anything about it, but at one point Jamie Foxx's character ends up going to this community center Called LAMP Community.  This community is right in the middle of the slums, the projects, the worst of the worst of Los Angeles full of the poor, brokenhearted, lost, confused, mentally ill.

My thought during this movie was that our world is so broken, not just because there are people homeless and hurting, but because there is just so much hurt and pain going on around us.  I don't think i could comprehend how much struggles and troubles there really are.

As i was thinking about this fact that our world is broken i thought, "i can do nothing about it."  You may be saying Paul that isn't true, you can do plenty of things to change the world around you and i would only partially agree.  I am not saying that i have nothing to give, because i have tons of shirts and jeans and other items.  I am not saying that i have nothing to offer, i am just saying that on my own i am nothing and without God's grace and love i can give nothing with meaning.  Only by God loving me can i truly love others.  

This movie just re-confirms my call to missions and i love that.  I can't wait to see how God will use me to help the brokenhearted, lost, and confused.  I can't wait to see how i am changed.  I can't wait to really see the world as He really sees the world. 

I am nothing and have nothing to give, but because of God, i can change the world.  Because of the passion he has put in my life, i can help others and be a part of the joy that is around me... meaning that even though people have nothing, they still have joy, they still dance and sing, which is another scene that you will see in the movie.  

One thing i have learned and what i will end with is this. Just because they are poor and homeless, doesn't mean people who are poor, hurt, mentally ill have no joy or anything to live for.  There is joy in all situations and i want to be a part of it, or unveil peoples eyes to it.

Will you join me?

A Reply to The Matt Scott ladies and gentleman.

So my friends blog is being a little sketchy so this post is actually a reply to his Post... Make Sense?  

OK!

Before you read my reply, read his post, it is very very.... You guessed it... interesting. 

Matt Scott's Post: Conversing With The Other

Enjoy

Matt, is interesting to hear you say that you struggled to listen and hear what others say. Well only sort of now that i really think about it. One reason being the fact that your wife loves you for being so open to hear her thoughts and opinions on things as you grow together. But i also understand how you could consider yourself struggling with that with the desire to question everything (most everything) and not just listen.  

But it is fun and actually really cool for me to hear you are a part of a group, a cohort as you put it, of diverse people with multiple views. Excited and wish i had something of the sort. (Hint hint) i mean i would just like to visit, but that is off point.  

What i am trying to say is that i am sure you could realize at times it is hard for me to just listen. Just listen and not offer advice or thoughts or whatever i feel i should, but then i just rest and am still and God has grown me in that. One last thing, just a thought, bullet point number two seems contradictory to itself and the blog. Maybe i am just putting a different light on it. But... lets discuss.

Freedom

Freedom isn't really free, ever heard of those cheesy quotes.  I mean sure they could be true and some would say they are but lets be honest... free or not, we really don't live with freedom.

Christian or not, we really don't live in freedom.

American or not, we really don't live in freedom.

This thought of what if i really lived in the freedom that i was given has hit me hard.  I find myself falling into the same traps, snares, (sins) over and over again.  I find myself putting back on chains and shackles that really have no locks to hold me down.  I find myself reverting back to my old self, to my old ways when there is so much joy and brightness ahead of me.  I find myself living in slavery.

It seems kinda funny that most people that get the taste of freedom never want to go back to slavery, but over time they slowly realize that with slavery their was guarantees of what was going to happen and what you could expect.  They realize that with some forms of slavery there is comfort and short term pleasure.

Now don't hear me saying that slavery is good and people loved and African Americans should still be picking cotton because that is not what i am saying at all.

If you look in the old testament, when freedom got tuff, the Israelites complained and wanted the comfort and guarantees of slavery.  If you looked at anyone around you, even after they escaped from their addictions or corrupted actions, you still find them struggling not to turn back to their old self and go into the sureness of their highs and problems.

Slavery is an evil demonic thing.  Slavery goes beyond the physical and goes into the spiritual realm.  Slavery goes beyond what we can see and into the human psyche.  Slavery corrupts and makes you see roses when really it is all thorns.  Slavery makes you smell fresh Krispy Kreme Donuts when really it is a vile putrid rotting carcass.  Slavery makes you see beauty instead of the pain, hurt, guilt, remorse that really comes with it.  Slavery is corrupting and easy while freedom is life giving yet so hard.

Slavery... Freedom...

Which are you living in?

How different would we be if we really lived in freedom, if we let love when out.  I keep falling back into slavery, but in all honesty... I AM FREE!  I WANT TO LIVE IN THIS FREEDOM! I WANT TO BE FREE, and yet i am... but still live in chains that i put over myself.

Do you want to be different?  Do you want to live in the freedom that Christ died for.  Heck if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, do you just want to escape from the pain that these short term pleasures bring you.  Do you want to live in the freedom that each one of us is given, or in the slavery that has been taken away from us.

Slavery it goes beyond the physical, i hope you realize that, and i hope you choose freedom, but don't just say it... act it out.  Lets see if we can hold each other to this freedom.  Ehhh, sound good?