facecreep

I don’t really care about blogging etiquite. Who is to tell me how to write? Didn’t they do that back when I thought pencil boxes were the coolest thing ever? I’ll just write as it comes out of my mind – sometimes with wrong punctuation or grammar… or not capitalized. If you’re OCD on that stuff…. eat your HeART out.

Most of the reason I am writing is because I was on facebook. I looked down to the right corner where the chat thing is, and saw the number 70. not the notifications, but my “friends” who were online. Granted, I’m pretty pouplar and I have many leather bound books, but that number surprised me. Thought it was unnaturally high. From there I clicked to expand it and see who was on. I’m avoiding work, obviously (since the next 4 days are going to be INSANE) so I felt like talking. Scanned the entire list and realized I didn’t want to talk to any of those people. None out of 70. What are they on my friends list for then? Don’t you talk to friends? And be honest, cause I will. I’d rather look at what they post sometimes rather than talk to them. Which I’m sure you do to me every once in a while as well. Big whoop. It’s what we get with technology. “I’d rather text than talk.” Void of emotion, you don’t have to get wrapped up in people knowing that you know others business. There’s no other party involved when you’re creeping a page. If it was a phone call, you and the other person would know the shared information. But I guess if the person posts the information on facebook, its intended for it to be creeped upon.

Which was the point I made to myself. I’ve made it ok for people to creep. I’m a creep-enabler. Weird. I find it funny that people I’m friends with on facebook really have no idea what’s going on with my life unless the pictures or my status’ tell the story. Or if they read into what’s posted correctly. But mostly, they have no idea. That’s all I really had. I was just laughing about it to myself… pondering WHY IN THE WORLD I’m on this thing thats considered a “social network” when I don’t socialize with anyone. They need to make a new name for this genre of websites. Creeptastic.

pretty deep

for getting hit in the head as many times as he did… troy aikman.. author of “hummina hummina” hit it right on the head.

(no pun intended)

“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.”

I am seein this illustrated first hand… it’s making me think twice about how I carry myself. Thanks, Troy. I needed this… you can find God in EVERYTHING.

slumdog mill and Jesus

just finished watching slumdog millionare… and didn’t really know what to expect. the reviews were all over the place from the people i know. “it’s good.” “sad” “inspiring” “i fell asleep” “i didn’t care for it” “the chick was hot”… obviously descriptive, not. so i sat down with an open mind. not just to the movie itself, but to what could possibly be the direction Ed Noble would go on sunday with the kick off of God at the Movies at Journey Community Church.

I’m not the biggest fan of chick flicks, but this was a whole new definition to knight in shining armor. one that i can totally roll with. not because its dramatic or anything gross or morbid, but because you saw his devotion. it wasn’t stereotypical chick flick where the dude is chasing after the girl because his one night stand left him wishing it was lasting, or an arranged marriage that wasn’t to the “knight” or the damsel in distress’ liking… he knew her as a child, he fought for her, he returned for her, he volunteered his life for her, he worked for her, his mind was always on her, and deepest of all he waited for her.

Throughout the movie, he asked about her – even when a slumgirl, (a nobody to everyone else but him) from his youth was the last thing you’d expect to be on his mind when his life was in danger… but yet, she was. she was always on his mind. everything he did had her in mind. how to find her, how to see her, how to show her he was still waiting for her… I don’t know the direct quote, but he says he will wait for her at the train station at 5pm everyday until she comes. as this is coming out of my fingers, all I can see is the love story we have a chance to live with Jesus.

Check out the reversion. if you don’t see it now, try this…

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“but because you saw His undefiled devotion. it wasn’t stereotypical chick flick where the dude is chasing after the girl because his one night stand left him wishing it was lasting, or an arranged marriage that wasn’t to the “knight” or the damsel in distress’ liking… He knew her as a child, He fought for her, He volunteered his life for her, He worked for her, He returned for her, His mind was always on her, and deepest of all He waited for her.

Throughout the movie, He asked about her – even a “nobody” from his youth was the last thing you’d expect to be on His mind when His life was in danger… but yet, she was. she was always on His mind. everything He did had her in mind. how to find her, how to save her, how to show her He was still waiting for her… I don’t know the direct quote, but He says He will wait for her at the train station at 5pm everyday until she comes.

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Maybe that’s a little clearer with the verses linked – the most dominant theme i saw was the devotion in jamal for latika. the same pure devotion Jesus has for you, except i haven’t seen a movie made that depicts that emotional bond without the carnalized human aspect coming into the picture… distorting the incomparable and pure love… (it’s illustrated hugely in song of solomon). though most people read that book as a passionate love story between a man and a woman, some churches even see it as vulgar – it’s a passionate story of God’s love for His bride, the church.  the church isn’t just the corporate body… it’s YOU. He’s passionately in love with YOU.

that passionate love goes another direction..like when latika realizes/responds to jamal’s patient love for her by showing up at the train station, Jesus is ‘chillin at the station’ waiting for you to respond to that invitation to accept His love for you. trippy part is just like jamal, ‘before 5′, He is chasing after you, finding where He can meet you where you are…pursuing you to let you know that He is at the train station waiting for you… just waiting… till the day when you show up.

now thats value! innately we desire to be sought after… we desire to be waited for… because that says “you’re valued” like nothing else in this world…do we not realize that were starring in our very own, personally designed love story, with the Creator of the universe? where we are being sought after and waited for?

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its an abrupt ending because thats how the reality of His love for you is going to hit you. spiritual spontenaity… the proof that there is a living heart inside. //signsoflife//

a life changing revelation

dumping out my wallet leaves me staring at evidence of my identity on the floor. license. credit card. debit card. school id. health insurance card. car insurance. fitness club membership. library card. AAA card…my initial thought is, “the only thing that makes them identity is my name..it’s just my name, big whoop.”

these days, people can do a lot with just your name. praise it, defame it, abuse it, steal it…  your name is a big deal.

in the real world, when someone steals your identity, they take it without you knowing it. …intending to strip it of its integrity, value and uniqueness. if they’re successful, it becomes a lifeless “it”. No distinguishing characteristics. Nothing more than a limp form in the perpetrators hands, ready to receive the breath of counterfeit. that breath deceives the rest of the world.. they’ll never know who you were or who you were created by.

ever thought about what identity theft looks like spiritually? Hauntingly similar, with a kicker.

isaiah 43:1 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.

He not only formed you, He ransomed you (The price or payment demanded or paid for such release), and called you by name. your OWN name. “by name“, to me, says ‘your name’ distinguished you from the others..(+personality and stuff that makes you, you- He designed that too.). why would He give you your own name, then make you like someone else? <insert snowflake analogy for cheese point>  psalm 139 says He knit us together in our mother’s womb, with a future and a hope! knitting is a pretty intricately detailed/time consuming process last time i checked. David didn’t say He put us together like papier-mache – all sloppy and random, while saying “whatever happens happens.” there was a ton of thought that went into this! i’m thinkin God wouldn’t have spent so long and planned so far ahead for your life if He didn’t have any expectations for you.

He actually has plans of prosperity for me? yep, that’s what He said. but what becomes of the original path of prosperity He designed for your identity is no longer found in Him, but forefeited to what you do, who you love, or to your past? say hello to spiritual identity theft.

hello spiritual identity theft. when he (the devil) steals your spiritual identity,  he takes it without you knowing it. …intending to strip it of its integrity, value and uniqueness. It becomes a lifeless “it”. No distinguishing characteristics. Nothing more than a limp form in the perpetrators hands, ready to receive the breath of counterfeit. that breath deceives the rest of the world from ever knowing who you were, even Who created you.

sound familiar? welcome to the enemy’s plan of attack. paul tells us to not be ignorant of the devils schemes. it’s what he does. he masks himself things that absorb your time, thoughts, life…

SIT (spiritual identity theft) has a low jack, unlike ‘real world’ identity theft. prayer :) God’s all about us having no other gods before Him… if we ask Him what’s up with our identity – He’ll be more than faithful to point out identity thieves :)

Forerunner Music

go here for free ihop worship music. Forerunner Media Group

response

The recent “career move” has prompted me to start thinking of how in the world I got to this point… with soccer re-entering after I was pretty sure I was done. That got me thinking about coaches, words that have been said to me, things that came to pass, things that didn’t that I wish had… you know. You just start trailing off into, “remember when…”

Soccer for me began in the end of 1997. The very first time I set foot on a field… I still ran like a gymnast, pointed toes and all. (since the previous 8 years were spent in a gym flipping around) The first coach I had was… well, rec league calibur, at best. Needless to say, I didn’t  really know what was going on other than I just got talked down to a lot. That cycle went on for a while – then this man Dan Lovin entered. In SoCal AYSO there was this thing called Spring Select, which was basically you could pick whoever you wanted, make a team and go compete. Cyclones was a team that was already in the works. They were considered to be the top of that level at the time. Dan gave me a chance. I don’t even really remember how it all went down – all I know is that he said yes and I got to play.

I found out yesterday that Dan had passed away in a tragic car accident in February. When I left CA for school in 2003, I had heard he was still battling colon cancer.. through the soccer community grapevine. That cancer usually keeps is prisoners, so figured it was a matter of time.

Anyways, the whole reason I am even bothering to write this is because the news that he died hit me unusually hard. His daughter was on the Cyclone team, and it was by me randomly stumbling across her facebook page and seeing the remarks from friends about her father’s death…  and my heart dropped. Somehow when my brain registered that he was gone, it was as if his name came up in the databse of my mind and under it all that he had done, in note form, all in my hand writing. Most likely signifying no one else would have known the impact he made… it was notes from my mind…

he was the starting block. his words were the ones that allowed me to enter the baby steps of what would lead to my future. 4 years in high school, 4 years in college.. then coaching? I don’t know if he knew the Lord or not… maybe that’s what cranked my heart so bad…just got me thinkin… and in a thankful spirit for the people of any type that God places in my life…

have you thought about who God used as the catalyst to get you to where you are today?

that change i mentioned

so maybe i didn’t mention a change… but now i am. there’s a big change on the horizon. and when i mean big i mean like big. it will make a few happy, make a few cry, leave a few stuned, and increase the usage of cell minutes.

Best thing is… God has both my hands like a little kid learning to walk..and He’s a pretty good Daddy.

stay tuned.

sores have got to suck

Some kinda journey this has been. Holidays, family, sickness, kleenex, ice cream, waiting, suphedirine, not being able to walk, being carried, winning soccer games, laughing, snow, rain, computer deciding it doesnt want to cooperate on any level except itunes, restlessness, situations less than ideal…and the list goes on. Be quick to dwell on the negatives? Nah, a guest last night steered me away from that, thankfully. I was re-introduced to Job.

Obedience makes life tough sometimes, sometimes it makes it awesome. But in my friend Job’s case… being a sore filled piece of exposed meat, is less than awesome. Makes my situation(s) synonomous to floating on clouds and eating bon-bons. Then to further end the pity party, the weakest I’ve felt, in ability/physically/emotionally and all that…This guy Job, can barely breathe..yet, still he utters with no anger, “

23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,

24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,

26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,

27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.

28 And he said to man,
‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

Job is a covenant man (gotta love those guys.). He knows His covenant God sees where he is at. He understands there is a time where this testing will end. He understands that the imparted wisdom will have been tested, approved and ready to share at the end. But the point that speaks loudest to me is He continues to speak the Word.

the Word will get you through.

So what did I learn through all of  this? double entendres are awesome. Bible and the Word himself. This may reflect what I’m going through, but we’ve all got our own mess, self created or tests… that we can learn from Job through. There’s an end, there’s a Helper, and there’s a goodie bag for you to take with you. Hang in there, the goodie bag is worth it.

perverse generation full circle

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:38-41

7 year old’s who has 2 women for grandparents as sees it as normal. humor/lifestyle taking the very action the Bible has said are forbidden acts. compromise. letting lust fuel you. they need light. break the monotony. you do have a voice. breakthru.

expelled_horton

It was one of those nights that redbox seemed to be the best option. Rainy day, somewhat sleepy… redbox. Don’t questionthelogic if you haven’t experienced that process hah. Little did I know that my “sleepy night” would become a 4+hour treadmill session for my brain.

I watched Expelled first… if you haven’t seen it, I would recommend it. It is a documentary – which, I love. Might be the fact that I enjoy that type of photography/fact finding/unveiling questioning… the type of questions that breakdown even the most planted of athiests. Richard Dawkins.. the dudes a trip. In the interviews you could see the narrow thinking by looking in his eyes. Not to mention he began to manifest in a few instances ha! I’m not writing this as really a “review” of any sorts.. but to kind of formulate for myself what in the world I spent 2 hours watching.

For the sake of the documentary, getting people to think and question was its motive. Understandable. I also realize that one of the biggest issues people have with “intelligent design” is the fact that it becomes a “religious debate”. I don’t have an issue with that because I obviously believe God created the heavens and the earth.. but even then, the leading darwinian advocates lack of foundation on “how it all began”…says ID has answer for the most basic of question: How did it all begin? Even they can’t deny that there was a GREATER being that had to have created the first reproducing molecule/cell… but one option they choose to believe is alien life forms “seeded” life into this planet? How much more faith does that take?! I also see that Expelled’s purpose was not to pump up ID (intelligent design), but was multifaceted.

Some rather compelling points were made… i’m only going to say a few…

1. To show how freedom of speech and freedom of thinking do not exist in the scientific area in America. Educational (which shapes mindsets) foundation is evolution, not the dictionary definition (a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state : growth), but specifically Darwin’s definition, evolution influenced by Natural Selection. People who don’t necessarily have a “religious” reason for entertaining ID, have been fired around the country? Just for mentioning it? Is the concept of a Higher Power that threatening? – to warrant a “must eliminate” attitude?

2. To show the roots and shoots of Darwinian thinking.. 1859… to 1900’s..Nazism is practically bound to the utopian/survival of the fittest mentality. Creating the superior race, killing off anything/anyone considered inferior by race, etc/with defect, natural or inflicted. It’s the basis of Eugenics – which beats VERY close to my heart. Margret Sanger, Planned Parenthood (Panera is good.. its firewalled this site)… a “better humanity”? Whats worse, is they see it as doing the world “good”, when it’s evil in every form. It assumes that life and death are soley natural processes…it completely strips value from life. Pretty simply put in Exodus 20: 13, “Thou shalt not murder.” But if you don’t believe in God… or in ethics whatsoever.. I guess that wouldn’t be worth a can of beans to you… until you’re the one put in that place..but then again, you see no intrinsic value in life – so death wouldn’t be a problem.Or consider…

2 Samuel 14:14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Even if you didn’t believe in God, would not someone who offers life be more intriguing than one who promises death? It’s what we’ve become..a culture consumed with death- fascinated by death…Twisted.

3. The wall between God and science. The world saying they can’t coexist… they haven’t realized that they are encountering God through science… consider the stars…

Seeing these interviews Ben Stein conducted… pained my heart. One, because these are the voices of reason in our universities, influential institutions, media, courts… ALL facets of life. How great the cry for mercy has to be! The closing remarks from Stein in the movie were almost on point… I see it as a fight through prayer – which yields the effective strategies of the Holy Spirit… but regardless…

“The wall cannot withstand freedom (Ronald Reagen, fall of the Berlin wall)… Truth crushed earth will rise again. Because no lie can live forever. Some of you may pay a heavy price for speaking out. You may even lose your job. I guarantee you’ll get hate email; but if you don’t get involved, will anyone be left to carry on this struggle?”

Horton Hears a Who!| This movie was PACKED with Holy Spirit. I haven’t read the book, the Dr. Seuss original, but it is the fight for life in the womb. I laughed that God had paired them together for my “rainy night” movie night… not exactly the type of sappy love story/laughable movies duo I was looking for. It illustrated the entire struggle… I don’t feel led to really go into this one…but it’s the children who will hear the voices. It’s the children who break the silence. I believe it begins with my generation. Just as past generations, this generation is being told to form unwaivering opinions based on what the media puts forth… a “two” sided, yet, horribly lopsided representation of the whole truth.

Congressman Mark Souder, of Indiana said it best in the movie Expelled, “The tendency of the media is to side with the establishment because they inherently agree with the establishment… Therefore the public understanding never increases.”

This tells me that global change happens in through reversal in the established systems where mindsets are being formed… Hmmm… The Holy Spirit in the media… Hmm… will it be met with resistance? Without question… but there is a time where the lies end, and the truth begins… is that an infiltration of what already exists? or is that a counter to what already exists…

does change happen from the outside in? or the inside out? The question then becomes, who will be willing to be a voice in an atmosphere designed to choke out the breath of counter-culture?

the voice you have, you have only because heaven saw fit to give it to you. and He wouldn’t give it if He wasn’t going to back it with the Authority of Heaven…

Speak UP