One Nation. One Body. One Church

Happily Holidays Everyone!

Before I begin on today's post, I would like to remind you, as I try to often do, that these are merely my words. I pray that God uses them for His purposes, but that is up to Him. When Martin Luther was told to deny his writings, he told the judges this: "I am but a man and I can err, only let my errors be proven by Scripture and I will revoke my work and throw my books into the fire." Martin Luther was a humble man, and willing to be corrected. He also happens to be one of my biggest Spiritual heroes, and I long to be like him in so many ways. This is one specific area. As I've said before, this site is much like a journal. Many of these things I have not researched adequately, but I do try to share the truths that I do find in my journey with Christ. My hope for you, is that you search the Scriptures for yourselves that you might decide whether my words (and hopefully ultimately God's words) are true. With that said, I will begin.

  

Thanksgiving aka National Diversity Day

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I hope this one proves better than all the others before. I hope the turkey tastes better, the temperature is nicer, the families are closer, and the Cowboys lose. :)
Today I thought I'd put a little twist on this post and not make it a cliche Thanksgiving post.

For those of you who know me best, I'm not much one for promoting diversity or worrying much about it at all. This is funny considering I chose to go to college in Los Angeles, the melting pot of the world, and the college itself (Biola University) is a huge promoter of diversity. But today I'm going to make up for my past "ignorance"(as my roommate calls it) and focus on this most intriguing topic.

Taking My Own Advice

Well, this blog certainly (for the most part at least) has turned out to be mostly my own journal read

by a few people instead of the daily blog I once hoped for. I'm afraid I'm quite too undisciplined to keep this up anymore than I have. For that, I am sorry. Hopefully, for those of you who do still keep up with my sporadic posts, you are blessed by them. However, I'm afraid that today isn't really much of a post either, but more of a journal entry. 

The Forgotten Act of Being Still

Hey World,

So I got to thinking (rare), and I think I'm going to start a little mini (redundant) series called
"The Forgotten Acts." It's kinda catchy and maybe it will keep me more faithful to posting.
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Well today's forgotten act is the act of "being still." No I'm not talking about sitting somewhere
quietly while not doing anything. Then again. Maybe I am.
"But how can you be serious James! Nobody just sits around under a tree quietly anymore!"
No. No they do not.

The Forgotten Acts Of Worship

Hey World,

This past weekend I had the privilege of housing my uncle at my dorm room for the night. We had a great time staying up til 1 drinking coffee and talking about all that's right and wrong in the world. One subject we touched on especially hit me, and I wanted to share it with you. It is....you guessed it. The forgotten acts of worship. 

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Now most of you that read this are church-going Christians. I don't actually know that...it's just an assumption since this blog is mostly about my faith. So, the act of worship is not a foreign word to you (the word "foreign by the way does not follow the i before e rule because it does not have the ay sound like in neighbor...that ones for free).

Moments Weren't Meant to Last

The definition of "moment" is "a very brief period of time."
That's not exactly a very long time. They say life is full of moments, and they are right.
And at the same time they are 100% wrong. Is life full of moments? You betcha. That is...
in a literal way, life has lots of very brief periods of time. But life is not full of the moments
that we try so dearly to hold on to.

You know what I'm talking about. That moment you watch the girl you could spend forever with as she picks flowers. The moment you are at the very top of the Mount Everest of your faith. That moment you are laughing so hard with your friend you can't breathe. Those moments.
Those very brief periods of time. Life is not full of those. They are rare. Valuable. Precious.

Two days ago I stood in the airport saying goodbye to my dad, mom, and sister. We prayed. I hugged my dad and then mom. And then I looked at my 16 year old sister who was trying to smile away the tears streaming down her cheek.

Moment.

That was a moment. The rare kind. The precious kind. Maybe not the kind you like or expect. But the kind that mean the most. My Rachel and I are so close. Best friends. We were both pretty busy this summer, but we made the most of the time together. We had a lot of great times. Times we laughed our heads off and couldn't even remember why. But those weren't moments. We've been doing that for 16 years.

But as I stood in that airport and tried to be the tough older brother holding back the tears, a moment happened. All of summer. All of our lives were wrapped into that one moment. I was leaving for college in California, 1,966 miles away, and a guy that never cries was fighting like everything to hold back a flood of tears.

So what's the point?

Hold on to those moments? No. In fact, don't. Relish every second of the moment, but don't try to hold on. Because a moment is brief. Very brief. If you try to hold on you will be disappointed. But thank God for every second of that moment. Because brief as they may be...they will happen. And that moment is a glimpse into eternity.

A Song I Wrote Based on 2 Corinthians 5

V1
I think I see a storm coming ahead
These heavy winds are too much for this tent
They're taking me to a faraway land
A beautiful place that isn't built by hands

My body's groaning like a man lost at sea
This naked body is shivering, freezing
Mortality will be swallowed by life
And this Spirit is gonna be my eyes
-
CH
I'm almost home, the place where I belong
I'm almost home, and I'm hearing the sweetest song
I'm almost there, singing right along
And I swear, I'll be singing loud and strong
-
V2
Picking up my bow and taking my aim
Whether present or gone, I'm shooting the same
The archers lining up as they wait for the judge
I tried to my best, but it still wasn't much

I'm not gonna boast in things I've done
But you are free to tell them what we've won
It's not up to me, my body's compelled
What can I do when even the dead can't be held
-
Bridge
For we walk by faith and not by sight
And I see just fine when I am blind
I am confident, ready to leave this place
To be held so tightly in the arms of grace