Love

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength," Mark 12:30.

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself," verse 31.

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,[...]" Matt. 5:44.

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34-35.

Do I love like that? Would I lay down my life for my friends, do I love my enemies? Do you?

Be honest. Do alarms go off in your head when you read this?

We live in a world where men's hearts are growing colder and colder. Where they seek to satisfy their every lust. When they have done so, they attempt to convince themselves and others around them that they did nothing wrong.

Yet, Jesus' disciples are supposed to be the exact opposite. Their hearts ought to grow softer. They are called to love in such a way that is contrary to the rest of the world. Fish swimming upstream so to speak.

What frightens me the most is that many who claim to follow Jesus seem to be heading the wrong way. We bicker and argue amongst ourselves, believing that being right is of the utmost importance. Preferring one another? Who ever thought of such a preposterous idea?

How did this happen. When did I blink? Who threw the water on the fire? Maybe it's just me. Maybe everyone else is surrounded by the "I'll take a bullet for you" love. Or maybe others are seeing it too.

If your seeing what I am seeing, then let's be the burr under the saddle. Let's start loving one another. Forget the rest, we'll deal with that later.

Would I die for my friends? Would I die for the Haitians? For Obama? For my Step Father*?

Would you?



Note: Sorry for the long delay between posts.

*In case anyone was confused, I was adopted. My step father is not the father I currently live with.

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Quarter Grades

I had originally planned on making this post a post in which I proudly told the world my wonderful grades. My plans have changed. Here are my grades:

Principles of PC Operating System: A
Programming Data Structures: A-
Micro-Computer Applications: D
Textbook Reading: F

How did I get the D and the F?

My textbook reading class was all online, and in truth, it was really easy. Unfortunately, I had miscalculated the date of the final. Instead of the final being during finals week, the final was during the weekend prior. Because I missed the announcement, I failed the final and the class. Fortunately, the class was only worth one credit. The only reason why I took the class was to meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid. I didn't want to fail this class, but considering it was only 1/12 of my GPA, it was easy to cope with.

The real problem came with the D. This class took up 1/4th of of my GPA. I have failed a lot of classes before this (read my first blog post), but this was the one that got to me the most. The reason was simple: I had already expected to fail all of those other classes. This class was the exact opposite. I had expected to receive an A, but got a D instead.

Throughout the whole quarter, I had excelled in this class. In fact, for the most part I worked as the unofficial TA. This class covered how to use Word, Excel, and Explorer, programs that I was already proficient with. Since this class was a prerequisite though, I still needed to take the class.

So how in the world did I get a D? On the day of the final, the teacher gave us a few projects. When we finished, we had to save our projects to a flash drive and give the flash drive to the teacher to copy to his computer. I did just that, except somehow he never got my final.

When he was copying my folder that had both my homework and final in  it, another student struck up a conversation with him. As I watched the teacher, he half-attentively deleted a file. I watched him do it, however, I didn't think he had deleted one of my files. After all, he knew what he was doing, right?

Later on, after I discovered I had failed the class. I emailed the teacher and discovered that he never got my final. I looked on my flash drive so that I could email the file to him again, and discovered it wasn't there. I never delete any school work, so it confused me to say the least. I grabbed a free data recovery program off of cnet.com and ran it on my flash drive and found the final. After some thought, put the dots together and realized that my teacher had indeed deleted my final.

The most unfortunate problem of this whole ordeal is that I cannot convince my teacher that he made a mistake, especially with no proof.

Don't get me wrong, I am not attempting to point the finger at my teacher in an attempt to absolve blame from myself. I've failed a lot of classes, so I would have no problem if I had been the guilty party.

Since I have had a difficult time convincing my teacher, I went to plan B: I prayed. God never fixed the problem. The result was a long, frustrating conversation with him. I know he loves me, and that he can do anything, but that was exactly why I was frustrated. I knew he could fix my grade, but he remained silent.

Like I said, it was a long conversation with God. It lasted about two or three days. For your sake though, I'll just tell you what God revealed to me.

The truth of the matter is that he created me and died for me. Eventually, I will join him in his new creation, and no more tears will be shed. Because of that, even if he doesn't answer any of my prayers, or ignores me for the rest of my life (which he wouldn't do) he would still be worthy of praise.

The question he wants to know is: will I praise him?

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Thanksgiving Origins

My Grandfather read an article around the Thanksgiving table. Here is the following link: The Great Thansgiving Hoax by Richard J. Maybury.

Just some of my thoughts:

First off, I find it intriguing that American schools have failed to teach these facts. I was not home schooled my whole life. I grew up in and out of foster care until I was adopted at the age of 13 (another topic, at another time). My teachers always told me that thanksgiving was the result of the pilgrims thanking the Indians for help. My father has mentioned that the socialists claimed they would destroy America without ever firing a gun. It appears that they weren't bluffing. As long as socialists control schooling and media, they have us.


Another thought provoking concept was that of the commerce of Jamestown. John Smith had momentarily left Jamestown in an exploration, leaving Matthew Scrivener in Charge. When he returned, he discovered that Jamestown's farming commerce was less than satisfactory. In 1608, he was elected president of the local council ending the Common Store System through the philosophy of this verse: "For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either" (NASB).

Thirdly, American's remain ignorant of our holiday origins. I am not discouraging celebration of such holiday's, but it's good to know how some of our common traditions came into fruition. For example, Christmas was a festival dedicated to the Sun god coming back into power. Easter originated as the festival for Ishtar. So if any of you are wary of partaking in pagan holiday's, consider doing some research. Maybe in a few weeks I'll help you all out and post an article describing in more detail the traditions of Christmas.


Nevertheless, give thanks to God, and thank you for reading.

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Truth

John 8:31-36:

 "So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, "If you continue in my word, {then} you are truly disciples of mine: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

They answered him "We are Abrahams descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

"The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

"So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed." (NASB)

Often times, when I, or someone else I know quotes this scripture, we only quote the last part of the first paragraph "and you shall know the truth[...]." On occasion, I may even hear "So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Rarely do I hear the surrounding verses. The consequence is that we Christians miss an important concept.


Read the above verse again. Notice the prerequisite for truth? Jesus said that if you continue in his word (the definition of being his disciple), then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

My original thought was that he was referring to salvation. Notice however, that he was talking to those who already believed him. He was referring not to salvation, but to discipleship. Perhaps they are one and the same, but I don't think so.

What is it that the truth sets us free from? Sin. Conversely, deception entangles us in it. Have you noticed that whenever Satan tempted someone, he used deception. He told Eve a lie to get her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He told Jesus lies and even twisted scripture in an attempt to get Jesus to sin. Satan's best (perhaps only) tool is deception. We sin when we believe in his lies, but if we know the truth, how can Satan deceive us? He can't.

Unfortunately, we humans are quite fallible, better yet, gullible. The prince of this world is spoon feeding the earth with his lies. The result is that although truth may be staring us right in the face, we don't see it. The Pharisees in Jesus' time are a good example

But don't think that deception has escaped us Christians. It becomes clear that Christians are being deceived when we face so many contrasting beliefs. The Bible never contradicts itself, yet we Christians argue about doctrine and claim that our beliefs come from the same source. If the Bible does not contradict, then the only conclusion left is that someone is being deceived. Of course, as long as we believe in Jesus Christ and his salvation, whatever else I believe isn't important, Right?

Wrong! To the contrary, a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Gal. 5.9). In today's society I hear the phrase "everyone is entitled to there own opinion," but let me steal a quote from Relient K "Opinions are immunity to be told your wrong." We cannot let deception go by for the sake of escaping arguments. Search the scriptures. Find out if your beliefs are founded in God's Word, just be careful not to twist scripture to fit your beliefs. Instead, take the Bible at face value. If you have to work to make something fit, then perhaps it shouldn't fit at all.

Furthermore, do not be quick to assume that you have escaped Satan's schemes.  Regardless of who told you and how long you have believed what you have believed, it is always possible that you have accepted a lie. Even I, high and mighty I, :), have been deceived.

So, God, where have I been deceived? May your truth set me free.

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College Failure

Thursday morning I heard some excellent news. However, before I tell you exactly what the news is, I find the need to give a little bit of a backdrop. No worries though, it shouldn't take long (unless you're a slow reader, in which case it's your own fault :) ).

In the fall of 2006 (at the age of 16) I began a chapter in my life called college. This was made possible by Washington State's Running Start Program. The program gave me and other juniors in high school the opportunity to take college courses as a substitute for high school classes. This program is intended to give high school students the opportunity to graduate high school with their associate's degree.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that fall quarter didn't turn out quite as well as I expected.  I didn't pass my Spanish class. The second quarter didn't fare any better. The third quarter? I failed two classes.  The result of that spring quarter was a suspension from the fall quarter.

Fast forward to today. I have already been suspended for my failing GPA two (or is it three) times. I changed degrees in 2008, and due to finances, had to skip both the spring and summer quarter of 2009.  The consequence of my failures: a two year degree has quickly turned into a five year Associates.

Pretty sad isn't it? And here I was talking about good news? Don't worry, I'm getting there.

How is it that I ended up failing so many classes? I'm by no means stupid (please don't proofread this essay), and yet I have a GPA barely above 2.0.

This is typically where people start blaming their parents, teachers, the public school system (before my homeschooling experience of course), and tragic life circumstances. Although I have had a difficult childhood, I won't pull that wild card. The truth of the matter is: one of the greatest shortcomings I possess is self-discipline. Every common good habit from brushing and flossing twice a day to doing homework, I seem to lack. It is the number one thing I can't stand about myself, but a flaw that I apparently don't try hard enough to change.  I know everyone possess their own distinct flaws, but sometimes my flaws seem more pronounced than others. The bottom line of this rabbit trail is that the bulk of the blame falls on me.  Anyway, without further adieu, the good news.

Currently I am passing all of my classes. In fact, I believe that if I tried hard enough, I can get a 4.0 this quarter.  Of course, with 3 more weeks to go, I can still fail all of my classes as well, but let's not be pessimistic.  This quarter is the first college quarter that, up to the 7th week, I have had A's and B's in all of my classes.  The good news doesn't end here.

I was having a conversation with one of my peers in my programming class, and in lieu of the talk, discovered that I can easily switch my degree to a transferable degree.  Let me explain in a little more detail.

Previously, I did not want a transfer degree. The reason was bundled up into one word: Spanish.  I have tried to learn Spanish and have failed, only to pass the second time taking the class. I merely repeated the cycle in Spanish 102.  I don't want to fail the third Spanish class. I already know that I would be a fish out of water. Unfortunately, learning a second language is a requirement for many of the transfer degrees that are offered at LCC, and I don't have the guts to take Spanish again.

The above conversation with my peer helped me discover that not only does this transfer degree require no second language, but also that the only difference between the non-transfer and transferable degree is that the first requires a minimum of Math 99, whereas the second requires a minimum of Math 107.  I have already taken Math 113.  I've gone beyond both of them.  And to think that all this time I was selling myself short.

When I was thirteen, I never thought I would make it to college.  When I started college, I never thought I would get a Bachelor's Degree. Now, for the first time in my life, I have started to consider that possibility.

I would say that that qualifies for good news.

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