Hope is not a feeling, but a person. Hope came down to save us.

http://vimeo.com/107938492

There is only one person in this world you absolutely need to preach the Gospel to. Yourself. Because what is the point if you point others to salvation, but you yourself get lost alone the way?

Preach the Gospel to yourself everyday. Make it real in your life everyday.

http://unapproachablelight.tumblr.com/post/100647453025/2-peter-1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/micah-j-murray/why-i-cant-say-love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin-anymore_b_4521519.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-robertson/just-because-he-breathes-learning-to-truly-love-our-gay-son_b_3478971.html

Both of these articles are moving, and both of them are twisting scripture and God's nature (and our nature) a little bit. I disagree with them theologically, but in all honesty, if I were to face these people in person or have this happen to myself, I really really would be at a lost for words. I would do my best not be a "I told you so" or a "this is what the Bible says" Christian. I would do my best to sympathize. I don't really know what to do.

I try to remind myself:

It is not about how we were created perfect, and then sin came and ruin that perfect image in us. That puts the blame on the sin itself and somehow we were just innocent bystanders who got splashed by the mud. We need to remember that we are the rebels. We waged a war against God. We made Satan our father (John 8:44, in context extrapolated to all sinners). We are what the Bible calls "wicked" people. Over and over again in scripture. That is why when we come to have Christ in our lives, it is an act of redemption and repentance, a confession of sins. We realize who we are, wicked rebellious people like the Israelites, and we come before God in absolute humility since He has already paid the cost to take us back and bring us under His care again (prodigal son). To live a life worthy of the Cross is to live a life of repentance (Acts 26:20/Matt 3:8). Our sins were only forgiven once, by Christ on the Cross, so this isn't a daily penance but a daily reminder of the fact that our sins were already forgiven.

There are Christians who struggle with the lust of their sexual desires, both gay and non-gay, who are pushed daily to fall and be broken before God, to rely on His strength and love to make it through the day. They do not allow their sexual tendencies to become their identity. They realize they fall short and realize even more than the average Christian how much they need grace. Through this struggle they actually come closer to God by their humility. They are worthy of His calling. As their brother, I should be proud of them, and glorify my God.

Even as I write this, I feel like an unloving hypocrite. The question that pops up in me is "if I truly loved these people as God loves these people, what is the correct action I should do?" The parents asked the same question and followed the path that God needs to be their son's identity, that their son needs God more than anything else and He is worth it more than anything else. They lost their son and now have many regrets and grief. Just me writing this on my on blog makes me feel shameful for using them as an example. Didn't they trust in God enough? Are they now not trusting God when they said they ought to let God take control of the situation? Were they not allowing God to take control, following God's Word? Or were they not in their actions or heart? Were they at fault, and was their wish that they just acted out of love instead of following scripture was actually wrestling control from God instead of giving it to God? Were the parents really not loving their son, as they concluded? Their prayer requests reflected how much they wanted their son to encounter and love God, which shifted from earlier prayer requests of their son not doing certain things. Was it just too late?

Is it incorrect to say we are all sinners, rebellious and hateful of God? I know I am, and God had to take almost everything away from me to get me to realize that. I have to remember I was deserving of Hell and only Christ's death and resurrection can save me. I need to preach the Gospel to myself everyday, come to God in humility everyday, live a life in keeping with repentance everyday. If we truly loved our brothers and sisters, and also unbelievers, wouldn't we do our best to point them to the only thing that matters, the only thing in this world that can give life and fill the emptiness in us? And if we act or do anything that shifts that focus onto anything else (most likely themselves, that they are good and they are okay and their identities are not idols), then aren't we actually doing harm to them? The gravest of harms?

I want to say that our sin should not be our idols, that the boy should not have tied his sexual orientation to his (self) identity. His parents tried so hard to do it, and failed. I am sure many others wrestle with this too. Are self and sexuality truly inseparable? Is it by God's grace alone that this boy and others can transform their identity as sinners to sons and daughters of God? If it is, was there anything the parents did or did not do that could have saved their son?

I know these things above and ask the right questions. But seriously, if I were to go up to that couple who just lost their son and said any of these things, I would feel so unloving and so rude and so legalistic and so pathetic.

Sigh...wrestle. No answers.

Reminds me of this post

Truth before wisdom.

Wisdom before knowledge.

Knowledge before experience.

Experience before emotion.
Love covers all.

"He Will Carry Me"

I call, You hear me
I've lost it all
And it's more than I can bear
I feel so empty

You're strong
I'm weary
I'm holdin' on
But I feel like givin' in
But still You're with me

[chorus:]
And even though I'm walkin' through
The valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I've been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will
Ever need
And He will carry me

I know I'm broken
But You alone
Can mend this heart of mine
You're always with me

[chorus]

And even though I feel so lonely
Like I've never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said you'd see me through
The storm

Of all the songs I listened to on the way and back from apple picking, this one seemingly stood out to me. I have heard it many times before, and it's not actually one of my favorite worship songs, but yesterday it resonated in me.

I don't think I am lonely right now. At least not in the same way I was in undergrad or earlier. I have a strong local Body, I am serving that Body with a joyful heart. I am content with what God has given me. I know (but could always sink deeper and be reminded daily) God is enough for me. I don't know, did this song bring up the past in a way? Did it make me think of what I've been through? Yes, God never said it was going to be easy. Through the Holy Spirit, He leads us into trials, temptations, tribulations, persecution, pain, and suffering. I actually have a theory where one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to play the bad cop, putting us under pressure so that we call out to God the Father, who then comes and comforts us and creates that path out from under the boulder. This is just a theory, but see Jesus (Matt 4), Peter and John (Acts 4), and Paul (Acts 20).

It is at our emptiest when we are humiliated enough to call out to God. Sometimes, especially in my case, God has to break us down completely to get us to trust in Him, for it is when we are weak when He is strong.

One of the fears I have for events like apple picking is that the people who don't go regret not going, and those who went regret going. Even if someone spent 95% of the time there happy, but experienced 5% of the time in deep loneliness, then that loneliness overshadows the happy times. Maybe only 1% of the time is needed to turn what was a fun and enjoyable time into a depressing memory. Such is human nature. Such is how I've been in the past. He will carry me.

To be a leader means learning how to love your (leadership) team. Only when you do that can your team learn to love the fellowship/community it serves. But before you can learn how to love your team you must learn how to love God, because He is the source of all your love. Learning how to love God only comes from surrendering yourself to Him and acknowledging He is good beyond belief.

"Unfortunately, today, doctrine won out over pastoral need. It is disappointing that those who recognized the need for a more inclusive Church were defeated."

I feel like...this is an example of the self-centeredness of the world, where our needs are greater than God's needs (as stated in doctrine). God is for God and everything else is also for God. The Bible is a story about God, and the kingdom is going to be about God as well. We cannot change the fact that there are things God does that are not going to conform to the humanly worldview. I don't think I've met a single person who is going to like every single thing in the Bible, but we accept them all as truth because it is God's very breath. We cannot pick and choose.

No, doctrine does not give life, only the Gospel does. But we need it to understand who God is, to follow Jesus, and to live a life worthy of the Kingdom. 

“Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God—experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map. You see, what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, but nothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it. In fact, that is just why a vague religion—all about feeling God in nature, and so on—is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work: like watching the waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland by studying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going to sea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map.” - C.S. Lewis

Take Heart

Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”

So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

Evangelism isn't as much about telling people about God, but about living a life that makes other people say, 'I want to live life like you'

A youth knelt down to pray and said, “God, I can sing so well I wish to sing for you. I can dance so well, I wish to dance for you. I can play music so well, I wish to play for you. I can think so well, I wish to invent for you. There are so much I can do for you. Please use all my giftings for your purpose and glory. I want to give you my best. God answered, “My child, thank you for willingly offering all your gifts to me. But those are not your best. Your best is your LIFE. Will you surrender your LIFE to me. When I have your LIFE, I have everything. I am interested in who you are not what you have. "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." Eleanor Powell

  

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve-- I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do better things-- I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy-- I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men-- I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life-- I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for--but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all people, most richly blessed! - A Christian Confederate Soldier's Prayer

“The Christian way is different: harder and easier. Give me All. Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.” - C.S. Lewis

 

Preach the Gospel to yourself

Preach the Gospel to yourself everyday, because you need to. How can you preach the Gospel to others if you don't believe it yourself?

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” - C.S. Lewis

1 Corinthians 9:27
No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

God is writing a KICK-ASS story in me (for His own glory). All I have to do is believe (given to me by His mercy).

(There I made it theologically correct lol)

I have never met a man that makes me want to love Jesus more...................well this is new

This is what a girl after God's heart should say when they meet the man God has planned for her (but hopefully for men of God in her life before this too...maybe her earthly father and also her pastor and genuine brothers in Christ in her life)

The depth of One Piece strikes again with chapter 762.

Lost in Translation: Amber Lead and Toxic Waste

Hello everyone, voxanimus here. This week's One Piece was rather sui generis as far as One Piece chapters go, and I thought I'd write up a little blurb explaining, at least in part, the references and allusions Oda-sensei was making, some of which are not immediately apparent to non-Japanese audiences. (Of course, the real reason I'm writing this is that dino has done more than a few of these sort of things by now and I can't let myself be bested by the likes of him.)

First, though, I'd like to discuss the name of the "amber lead" substance introduced in the chapter. I was rather conflicted on how to translate this. The Japanese word used by Oda is 珀鉛, one that, as far as I know, does not exist anywhere else in Japanese literature. It is not a known Japanese word and has only really been used this one time in One Piece. The first kanji in the word means "amber," as in crystalline tree sap. The second kanji is a common one and means "lead," as in the poisonous heavy metal. The problem is that the kanji for "amber" contains the radical 白, which means white, an obvious nod to the actual whiteness of the substance. Translating 珀 into English as amber causes it to lose that nuance. Secondly, the pronunciation of 珀鉛 is hakuen (はくえん), which is actually a real Japanese word when written with different kanji (白煙) one that means "white smoke." Again, this is a reference to the whiteness of the substance and the whitening it causes in those poisoned by it. Ultimately, I was unable to find a word that could capture both the "amber" and the "white" nuances simultaneously and resorted to a literal translation, along with the resolution to explain the subtleties of the name separately.

Alright, let's move on to the actual content of the chapter. I—and, looking at the comments, several of our readers—was taken quite aback by the graphic, frankly gory content of this week's chapter. This is not the first time Oda-sensei has given a central character a tragic past but it is perhaps the first time he has done so so gruesomely.  His reasoning behind this grisly portrayal is, however, probably more understandable once one realizes the references underlying it.
Characters and entities in the world of One Piece are often purposefully juxtaposed against one another by Oda-sensei in an effort to critique or call to attention aspects of the real world. The Tenryuubito are a classic example of the ills of a class system and feudalism; the World Government is the archetypical example of a despotic military tyrant, etc. Despite the seemingly childish superficial appearance of the manga, One Piece is surprisingly mature in the themes and motifs it chooses to tackle. This week's chapter brought to light a similar theme, one I daresay is close to the heart of many Japanese.

First, a little historical background. Compared to the rest of the world, Japan's industrial revolution came very late and very rushed. The Tokugawa Shogunate, a feudal government complete with daimyo and shogun and samurai, continued uninterrupted from the early 1600s up until several years after the arrival of Commodore Perry's Black Ships in 1853. Japan only began its Industrial Revolution in 1870; most of the world's nations had finished theirs by 1820. Japanese conquests of Northern Asia including China and Russia in the early 1900s further increased the need for modern technology and the industrial infrastructure required to produce it. Japan was able to meet this demand, but at significant cost.

Pollution, particularly from mining operations, went virtually unchecked as the need for metal for the production of weaponry was paramount. Cadmium runoff from the mines contaminated nearby rivers, and water from the rivers was used to irrigate nearby rice fields. The rice absorbed the heavy metal and it began to accumulate in and poison the people that were eating it. Two of the most prominent symptoms of cadmium poisoning are calcium depletion, which causes softening of the bones—so much so that the entire body begins to hurt—and anemia, which causes paleness of the skin because of lack of blood. The pain all over the body was severe enough that cadmium poisoning was named "itai-itai byou" (イタイイタイ病) in Japanese, which literally translates to "ow-ow disease."
At this point this should all sound rather familiar. It's no coincidence that the genesis and symptoms of amber lead poisoning in One Piece pretty much exactly mirror those of the real-life cadmium poisoning that occurred in Japan in the early 20th century. I cannot be certain, but I would venture a fair guess that this historical incident was what Oda-sensei was referencing in this week's chapter. In fact, itai-itai disease is just one of the Four Big Pollution Diseases (四大公害病, yondai kougaibyou) that plagued Japan in the first half of the twentieth century as a result of mismanagement of toxic industrial waste. The first, itai-itai disease, predates the other three, which occurred in the late 50s and early 60s, by 40 or so years. Those interested in reading further should check out the Wikipedia article on the topic.

Well, that ended up being less of a blurb and more of an essay, so for those of you that have made it this far, I thank you for your patience. Feel free to ask any questions you may have on this issue or other things relating to One Piece and its translation in the comments, I'll be around to answer them. Also, if you liked this, and would be interested in reading more blog posts like it, do let me know.

- voxanimus


http://mangastream.com/blog/57

Ministry is a Gift from God

2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart

Taking from my devotion and an earlier post, I am going to reiterate this. Our ministry is a gift from God. What that means is we do not do it to please God, nor do we do it to try to work ourselves into God's good side. We definitely shouldn't use our ministry to elevate ourselves in man's eyes, as some pastors and preachers are prone to doing these days (as the flock, we should not idolize pastors/preachers but instead realize their ministry is a gift from God and given by God to teach us His Truth and to glorify Him).

 A reminder: what God gives, He has every right to take away. That includes ministry. Sometimes He will close the door to a certain ministry, whether it is missions or reaching out to a specific person or teaching within a local church. God can take it away at His choosing. But as the verse says, don't lose heart, God has a plan and when He closes a door He will open another somewhere else. Also don't lose heart when God takes someone away from this earth even as he/she was about to complete a certain ministry. This is all in God's plan, and to be honest, the best for that person as well. So instead of mourning for someone's death, we should be rejoicing as mentioned in Ecclesiastes 7.

1 John 2:15-17 AMP

¹⁵ Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

¹⁷ And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.