Stuff

A few thoughts that have been rolling around my head.

Contentment vs. Complacency.

It's not what you are doing, but what you are not doing.

That's about it. Keeping these things in mind in the months to come may aid in some upcoming decisions.

One Thousand

Today marks the one-thousandth day since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget that defined the spending boundaries for our nation. The Republican-controlled House has passed a budget, which was ridiculed by Senate Democrats that did not propose any alternative.

This is outright irresponsible. Stockholders of any publicly-traded company would be infuriated if their company would not define a budget, show spending plans, how those plans would impact them financially, etc. Stockholders of said company would promptly sell all shares in the company and abandon any interest in it; they would have zero confidence in the leaders of that company to meet any performance goals, and without a budget, why should they? A budget provides accountability; without a budget there is no accountability for leadership to be held to.

During this 1,000 days the debt ceiling has been raised multiple times (to over $15 trillion currently), so it's obvious that we are hemorrhaging money through excessive spending. We have some of the highest taxes in the world, so more taxes is not the answer. We need a budget to enforce financial accountability. Nobody can afford to spend with no limits, which is exactly what we're doing. We need to vote out EVERYBODY in the Senate and replace them with representatives that will be accountable to a budget and to those that put them in place. There has to be an end to this foolishness.

"Obama Prays for Solution to Debt Crisis."

First, read this: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/07/21/obama-prays-for-solution-to-debt-crisis

I really appreciate the fact that Obama is praying for a solution to the debt problem, I truly do. I hope that his motives are pure in seeking a solution that doesn't cut aid that our government gives to those who need it most. However, we also have to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with, as we are commanded multiple times throughout scripture, being wise with national finances, instead of becoming "slaves" to those we borrow from (Prov. 22:7). In light of the multiple stories of our welfare system being abused and defrauded by thousands daily, it's really hard for me to connect our welfare system to wise financial management.

I believe the best approach to this problem is to go ahead and make the cuts. Place a call on churches nationwide to reach out to their communities to do what God has already called them to do. Churches need to dump the building programs, extraneous projects and expenditures, and, well...be the church (Matthew 25:35-40):

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

James 1:27:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

John 13

Interesting stuff in this chapter.

John 13:3 & 4
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

The use of the word "so" here is very interesting. "So" is a word that indicates a logical conclusion to a circumstance. For example, "I was hungry, so I ate." "I wanted a good job, so I went to college." "I needed to lose weight, so I started dieting." The circumstance presented in these verses and the conclusion doesn't make sense to me. Jesus has all power, came from God and is returning to God, and is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3), so he washed His disciples' feet. I'll have to let this marinate in my head a while.

John 13:25 - 29
Leaning back against Jesus, [John] asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor.

This is the "last supper." Jesus has announced one of His disciples will betray him. John, leaning on Jesus, asks Him, "who is it?" It doesn't say it in the scripture, but it seems to me that Jesus whispered his reply to John; nobody else could hear Him. "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." If all of the disciples had heard this, there would not have been any question of what Judas was leaving to do. Instead they assumed he was going to buy more food for the meal, or give to someone in need. So why did Jesus tell John and none of the other disciples?

John 11

A couple of things stand out to me here.

John 11:32 - 36
Jesus knows our hurt. The weeping of Mary and the friends and family gathered so moved Jesus that He was overcome with emotion as well. It was evident to people that He loved Lazarus and his family. Even though He has the power to fix all things and make them better, He still understands where we are now.

John 11:4, 15, 40
Jesus is very adamant about giving glory to God. Even though it would cause great hardship and pain for the people involved, He ensured that His actions pointed to God and displayed His power.

John 11:21, 32, 39
God has a plan. Although it might not fit our expectations or our own timeline, He is orchestrating everything to reflect His glory. It's our job to participate with Him in His plan and ensure He is glorified through us.

John 9

Just read John 9 this morning. It's a great story illustrating how God follows through on His promises and His plans. It reminds me of Phillipians 1:6, which states that God is going to complete the good work He began in you.

In summary, a man was born blind. The disciples ask Jesus who screwed up and sinned to cause him to be blind. Jesus tells them nobody sinned, that He was born blind so that God's power and glory could be revealed in him. Jesus heals the man by putting mud in his eyes and asking him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man does so, and can see for the first time.

This occurred on a Sabbath, so the religious leaders wanted to know who healed the man; whoever healed him clearly worked on the Sabbath and should be punished. They questioned the man repeatedly about who healed him, even asking his parents if he really was blind. Ultimately, the man started preaching TO the religious leaders, even before he fully understands who Jesus is. This excites me because this man, who was a nobody, a blind beggar, a member of society that nobody really wanted to deal with, stood before the leaders and proclaimed Jesus to them. From zero to hero, in a sense.

The religious leaders kick him out, Jesus finds the man and tells the man who He is, and the man worships Jesus.

This whole story began with Jesus telling His disciples that the man was blind so that He could be glorified. Look what happened. Jesus began a good work in this man when he was born blind, and was indeed faithful to complete that good work. It's pretty awesome.

The other thing I noted was the man's parents' reaction to the religuous leaders. Verse 22 says "His parents...were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue."

This still happens today. If someone decides they are going to follow the call of God on their life rather than please the religious establishment (pleasing people), that person sometimes faces severe ostracism from those in the establishment. It has happened to myself and my whole family at various times. Sometimes we have to be bold to follow Christ, even within the church. We have to put His word and His calling on our life first, before anything else. In that way He will complete that good work within you.

Loving others

Loving others is hard. There are so many different people that can get on your last nerve and push you over the edge, but this isn't what God has called us to. God has called us to patience, to understanding, to love. I try my best to avoid disparaging others, but it still happens, especially when I'm driving. For example, if someone pulls out in front of me and cuts me off, my first instinctive reaction is to mutter something about how dumb they are, etc. This is the incorrect way to handle it. Man was created in God's image. You were created in God's image. I was created in God's image. The guy that pulled out in front of me on the road was created in God's image. God loves all; He offers forgiveness and redemption to all. If I am a follower if Christ, I will understand this love and forgiveness that God offers to everyone, and try to align my life, thoughts, and actions along with what God intends. That means I don't call the bad driver stupid. I recognize that person is someone that is loved by God, and for me to disparage Him is to be in direct contradiction with God's love for that person. Matthew 18:23 - 35 clearly illustrates this. Who are we to condemn others, hold grudges against others, think bad of others when we have already been forgiven of what we have done against God?

I don't always abide by this. I'm still learning, still disciplining myself. But I truly believe that we are in the wrong when we say bad things about another person who is created in God's image.

Salsa Recipe v. 2.0

After more experiments and trial and error, I've revamped my salsa recipe slightly. Here it is in all of it's glory.

Stewed tomatoes (I prefer Great Value Sliced Stewed Tomatoes)
Onion
Garlic cloves (could probably do powder but cloves give a better flavor and better texture)
Cilantro
Celery
Green Bell Pepper
Jalepenos - whole pickled or fresh (whole pickled jalepenos have a better flavor than regular sliced pickled jalapenos)
Lime
Lemon
Cumin
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Vinegar
Guajillo chiles (may also be called cascabel chiles)
Ancho chiles

Optional: hot chile peppers such as pequin chiles, japones chiles, etc. I prefer pequin chiles.

You can find guajillo and ancho chiles at Walmart in the hispanic aisle. They should be dehydrated.

The ratios I think I go with are as follows - for two cans of stewed tomatoes, you should probably use one medium-sized onion, one bell pepper, one celery stalk, one large garlic clove, one jalepeno (whole, fresh or pickled), two guajillo chiles, one ancho chile. You should add your hot chiles to taste. I honestly have no clue how much cilantro or spices I use. 1/3 juice of a lemon and 1/3 juice of a lime should be used for about two cans.

1. Strain the stewed tomatoes the best you can - the less liquid you have in them, the less runny your salsa will be.
2. Mince up your onion, garlic, cilantro, celery, bell pepper, and jalapenos.
3. Chop up your chiles as fine as you can or chop them up into chunks and run them through a small blender until you get them to a fine powder-like consistency.
4. Throw your tomatoes and your chopped ingredients into the blender and blend it up until it gets to a consistency you like. Just be sure you don't accidentally make a salsa smoothie.
5. Dump the contents of the blender into a pan. Put the pan on an oven burner UNCOVERED and set it between low and medium. The goal of heating the salsa is to release the flavors of the vegetables and allow them to mingle with the spices, and to allow excess liquid to cook out of the salsa.
6. Sprinkle your cumin, chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt over the salsa in the pan. Starting out I would just lightly sprinkle the whole surface of the salsa with your spices. As the salsa cooks and the flavors combine, add more spices to taste (if necessary).
7. Add a small splash of vinegar.
8. Add lime juice and lemon juice.
9. Stir the salsa periodically. Ultimately what you want is the salsa to VERY slightly simmer. If it gets too hot it will start shooting everywhere.
10. Taste-test the salsa as it cooks to make sure it's turning out as you want. If it needs anything, now is your time to add it.
11. Allow the salsa to simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring it periodically. I will usually let mine go 45 minutes to an hour, but that's when I make a big batch.
12. Dump the salsa from the pan into a container and put it in the refridgerator. It's pretty much done at this point. You can enjoy it warm or let cool off in the refridgerator.

WARNING!!! It is incredibly easy to over-do the garlic, lime juice, and/or lemon juice. If you're unsure about how much to use, use less rather than more. I would also go lighter on the salt than you would the rest of the spices. Salt can easily cover the flavors of the vegetables and the spices.

Once you're done with all of this, if you're feeling adventurous you could throw in some corn and/or black beans with the salsa, that might be good.

Rest

Matthew 11:28 - 30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

There are a couple of meanings I get from this. One of the first things that come to mind is the context of the law of Moses, the law that Israel was under prior to Christ's coming. The law was a burdensome thing, a huge list of do's and don'ts that haunted every single person. Nobody could completely and consistently satisfy all of the requirements of the law. Nobody could say that they were 100% right with God. Jesus came and fulfilled the law; whereas the law showed us our depravity, Jesus showed us the way to sanctification. We are no longer weary under the burden of the law that shows us our sin; we have rest through Jesus' sacrifice.

"Take my yoke upon you..." If we look at Jesus' life, we consistently see him doing two things: staying in relationship with the Father and fulfilling the will of the Father. Jesus accomplished these two things by staying in submission to the will of the Father. I've heard it said that "Jesus is ultimately responsible for your relationship with God." There's nothing we can do on our own to grow closer to God or to justify ourselves in His sight; all we can do is be in relationship with Him and live a life submitted to Him. Through this we allow Him to make the relationship stronger, to direct us where He wants us to go. We take it out of our hands and put it into His, where it belongs. We don't have to worry about fulfilling a law or doing all sorts of works to make God accept us. God has already accepted us through Jesus' sacrifice. We have to accept that there is nothing of our own we can offer that will cause God to accept us other than what was already done for us, outside of our own power.

"I am gentle and humble in heart." God's goal isn't to plow over your will so that His be done. He wants you to be willfully surrendered to Him so that He can accomplish His will. He wants us to participate in what He's doing so that we in our submission to Him can work with Him towards what He is fulfilling.

"You WILL find rest for your souls." We were created to be in relationship with Him, coming along side Him and being in His presence. There is no greater peace than being with Him.

"My yoke is easy and my burden is light." We don't have the responsibility for making our relationship with Him work. We simply obey and He makes the relationship work and come alive. Once we can lay down our pride and our will and accept His, He works to accomplish what He wants through you.

Man's Insignificance?

Today a friend of mine on Facebook pointed out that today was Benjamin Franklin's birthday as well as being Martin Luther King, Jr. day, and wondered why we don't celebrate Benjamin Franklin as we do Martin Luther King, Jr. One person commented that Benjamin Franklin was (my paraphrasing) a womanizer and alcoholic so he wasn't really "deserving" of his own day, America's founding fathers were simply in the right place at the right time so they didn't really deserve our respect, and the comments went on and on from there. Essentially this person's platform was that man is flawed and thus undeserving of respect/admiration/honor, and only God is deserving of our respect/admiration/honor for the outcomes He brings about through us.

In my opinion, this is a very flawed point of view. If this was the case, if man and his actions are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, God wouldn't have put a single person's name in the Bible. God called Abraham His friend, called David a man after His own heart, calls us His sons and daughters; He loves us and doesn't want to devalue or marginalize what we have done for Him. For example, in the parable of the talents, the servants that did well were told to "enter into the joy of your Lord" - God is joyful when we are obedient to Him. I believe there's a big difference between respect/honor/admiration and worship. I don't hold Franklin, any of the forefathers, great spiritual leaders, or anyone in a place of worship. I might hold them in high regard for their accomplishments, but I would never worship them.

I believe God created a place for honor in our humanity. He said we will be given crowns in heaven (that we will cast at His feet). He instructs us to honor our father and mother and to respect the elderly. He killed 42 children with bears for making fun of Elijah. But as the example of Nebuchadnezzar and the golden idol show, man is not to be worshiped; that is a place reserved for God. So although man is flawed, I believe there is absolutely no issue with holding a person in a place of admiration for whatever reason you think them to be worthy, but when it comes to worship, our ultimate love, devotion, and praise belong to Jesus. Thoughts?

[NOTE] I can throw in some Bible verses to back up my statements, but I'm about to go to bed, so I'll add them later if someone needs to see them.

Final Goodbye

Blue,
I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you passed away. I'm sorry you had to go the way you did. You were a great friend to me for years. You were a beautiful cat. It saddens me to think that your beauty is now being hidden under the ground for nobody else to see. There won't be any more pictures, any more tail flaps, shoulder rides, hugs, pets, nothing. I'm having a hard time dealing with that. I've cried for almost two days now. Even though you were "just" an animal, you were a big part of my life and meant a lot to me, even though I've been mostly away from you for five years now. I'll always remember you and you will continue to be a part of my life in memories and pictures. I don't know if God has a place in heaven for pets, but if He does, you surely belong there. I thank God that He brought you into my family and that we had so many years together as friends. I love you and I miss you buddy. Goodbye friend.

Quickie

Reading Eugene Peterson...the below is lightly paraphrased:
"We don't get Jesus on our terms. Jesus and the salvation He embodies are not consumer items. Jesus provides both context and content for our salvation. None of us provides the content for our own salvation; it is given to us. Jesus gives it to us."

This reminded me of Ephesians 2:8 & 9:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast.

There's a lot of thoughts you can derive from this. I need to go to bed so I won't go any deeper. Something good to think about though.

Resolutions

For some reason the first thing that popped in my head when I typed that title was The Supertones' song "Resolution". Classic. You might be able to hear it here. Or just Google "oc supertones resolution" it and it should be the first thing that pops up.

I've never really been one to make New Year's resolutions, my opinion has always been that they're just a silly tradition that everyone talks about but nobody really follows through with. At this time in my life, however, I do recognize that there are deficiencies to address and opportunities to take advantage of, and I haven't been doing that. It's way too easy to get lulled into the rhythm of wake-work-wind down-sleep-repeat x 5, weekend, start all over again. Following this pattern of the ordinary isn't going to get me anywhere except for where I am now. If I don't fix what's broken and seize what's possible, I'll be looking back 30/40/50 years down the road thinking, "what if..." I need to make the most of life now because zoning out in the ordinary/comfortable is going to be the death of me. Here we are:

1. Spend time daily in prayer/reading scripture.
I fail hard at this right now. Throughout this past year I've gone through phases where I do spend that time daily, at least reading. I reap the benefits of a sense of greater closeness with God, more joy, more peace, more love for other people, more patience...everything you can imagine that's good. But then distractions get ahold of me and I start to fulfill what the carnal self desires instead of what the spirit desires, and I am soon back where I began. I need God in my life daily, so I will start waking up at 5:30 every morning to spend at least 30 minutes reading/praying/meditating.

2. Lose weight by eating healther and working out.
From 15 - 25 I weighed about 185 pounds. Ever since cancer struck, I have been gaining fairly quickly. In the year that's passed since my last treatment I've put at least 40 pounds on. My plan is to work out at least 3 times a week, for at least 15 minutes or until I'm winded and have a sweat going.

3. Play more guitar.
I haven't played a whole lot of guitar lately at all. I still have the skills, I just don't use them. It's hard to have a desire to play when you don't have people/a band to play with. I can at least start thinking up music and recording that. I'd like to spend time at least once weekly playing. If a need arises at church for a guitarist, then that's great, but regardless of that, I need to play and continue to develop my talent. Even though I'm not what I would call "good", and probably won't ever be a Paul Gilbert or John Petrucci, there's still an expressiveness that comes with playing that makes me feel better.

4. Develop at least one Android application.
My dream is to develop THE killer Android app that everyone buys, make tons of money off of it, pay everything off here then move down to the Caribbean. The whole Caribbean thing is kind of a joke, but it would indeed be nice to have another source of income. If I have the time and talent available to do it, why not do it? Not only could this have financial benefits, but learning benefits as well. There is a book called "Hello Android" that goes through all of the basics of Android development to provide a foundation to start from. I already have a foundation in Java, so if I can also get the Android foundation built, I'm good to go. As soon as I get a copy of that book (will check the bookstore this week), I'll start on this.

5. Contribute to open source.
I've been using and loving Ubuntu for over four years now, and I've always wanted to contribute by writing some code, but didn't know where to get in at. I now have an idea for something I can contribute. I frequently find myself needing to resize pictures to a smaller size, but I've never had a really good tool to do this. I'd like to write something in Java that accepts one or more pictures, offer multiple options for how to do the resize, and spit out the resized files. Although I'm more of a C/Perl guy at heart, Java would ensure maximum cross-platform compatibility between Linux, Windows, and Mac (IF Jobs doesn't get his way and kills off Java on the Mac platform). Hopefully I can get started on this soon. I just need to find out if there are any good image manipulation libraries in Java, and if not, how to start writing them myself.

6. Veg less, learn more, do more.
This ties in strongly to all of the previous points. Many days I come home from work not feeling like doing anything, so...I don't do anything. This stops now. I will FORCE myself to do something. I can't let opportunities slip by or problems fester while I get my "wind-down time" every night. It's just being lazy. Sure, I need down time once in a while, but not every night.

So that pretty much sums it all up. For me, this won't be a walk in the park. It will require a fundamental change of life, of mind, and of will. It will be hard. But pushing forward through the difficulty to be a better person will be well worth it. I'm hoping that in 2012 I can look back at this post and check each piece off, reflect on how it has shaped me into who I am a year later, and what new challenges/goals are out there that I can strive for in another new year.

Love and Forgiveness

A lot of times I forget how extremely vital love and forgiveness are to the core of who God wants me to be as a Christian.  It's so natural, so human to think negatively about others that don't quite fit into our world view, either through their behavior, their personality, the color of their skin, idiosyncrasies, etc.  Take it a step further - think of someone that cuts you off while driving, that pushes you out of the way at the store, that you find out has been disparaging your reputation by spreading rumors and untruths.  It hurts, and naturally, we want to get even - to let them feel the full expression of what we consider to be the recompense of our pain.  Many times that translates into a grudge, bitterness, or unforgiveness.  We think we have to keep that hurt alive in our hearts and minds to keep ourselves from being hurt again by that person, but it only hurts us more.  The fact of the matter is, people are going to hurt us.  We're going to hurt people.  We're going to mess up because we are corrupted, we are far from perfect.  God calls us to His perfection (Matthew 5:48), however, so we are compelled to forsake what is natural to our corrupted nature and live into His calling with the grace He has given us (II Peter 1:3).

There are a few scriptures that really stand out to me about this topic.

Matthew 5:23, 24
"...if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God."

God won't accept what we bring to offer Him if we're not right with someone.  If we come to Him offering our worship, our service, our time, etc., but we're not right with somebody, He will not receive it.  He wants His church to live in unity, but we can't do that if we have grudges against other people or if they have grudges against us.  We have to be willing to lay down our pride and our rights and humble ourselves and make things right with whoever we have harmed or who has harmed us.  Psalm 51:17 speaks to how God will not refuse someone with a contrite (humble) heart.  If we are living in a state of humility we won't hesitate to make things right with someone we may be at odds with.

Matthew 18:23-35
"...the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so the king ordered that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. But the man fell down before the king and begged him, 'Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then the king was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. 'Be patient and I will pay it,' he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full. When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him what had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny. That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters in your heart."

The message here is simple.  God cannot tolerate unforgiveness.  He has forgiven us a lifetime of sin, yet we'll explode in rage if someone cuts us off in traffic and makes us a few minutes late.  What can someone possibly do to us that can overshadow the amount of forgiveness God has shown toward us?

I've heard this explained another way that I feel really puts things in perspective.  Genesis explains to us that man was created in God's image.  So whenever we get mad at that person in traffic, we look with disgust at an individual that's not like us, we grumble against someone that's not living up to our expectations, we are marginalizing His creation that He loves.  If we are pursuing after God, we cannot ignore those that He loves.

I John 4:20
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

This further illustrates the point above that we cannot forsake people and love God.  God's Word says we are a liar if we say we love Him but do not love another person.  We have to love as Jesus loves - unconditionally, without holding back, without a grudge.  I have to check myself on this daily.  I'm still working on this but hopefully I can keep this at the forefront of my heart and mind and truly show people love.

A few months ago I had a falling out with someone I was friends with for many years.  We came to a disagreement on a number of things, and ended up even attacking each other personally.  After some of the lessons above, I realized I had to make this right, and I did.  It involved casting off pride and humbling myself, which is hard.  To me, the initial thought of getting rid of pride hurts, as if I'm giving up a piece of myself.  The reality is that there's freedom there.  There's freedom when you're not holding that grudge, when that bitterness is gone, when you can draw near to God and He draws near to you because you don't have anything against a brother or sister.

This is what I challenge you (and myself) to do daily.  Check yourself.  Did you marginalize someone else because they disrupted you in some way or another?  Is there a past hurt that needs to be resolved?  Is there pride that needs to be forsaken to make things right with a brother or sister?  Are you willing to enter into a deeper relationship with God?  Or do you want to hold on to your pride that will get you nowhere in the immediate or in the eternal?

Colossians 1:9

Colossians 1:7 & 8
"You learned it from Epaphras..." "It" in this context refers to the gospel. These two verses speak about Epaphras, who is considered at length at this website: http://thebible.net/modules.php?name=Read&itemid=8&cat=5
I won't go any more into these verses since this covers it pretty well.

Colossians 1:9
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

This verse sheds a little more light onto what we saw in verse 3. Verse 3 showed us that Paul prayed for the Church. Verse 9 goes into more detail about how he prays:
- "Since the day we heard about you..." This implies an immediacy to Paul's prayers for the Colossian church. He didn't make a note of them on his prayer list and prayed for them when he got around to it. His prayers were immediate.
- "...we have not stopped praying for you..." Paul's prayers were persistent. Just as Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:17, "pray without ceasing", here we see evidence of that. Praying without ceasing is not simple repetition (Matthew 6:7); rather it is an open stream of communication between yourself and God. You bring EVERYTHING to Him, and He speaks back to you. Prayer is not just us talking TO God, it's talking WITH God. It is enormously difficult to constantly maintain a state of prayer where we can really stay in tune with God when we're at work, at home, running errands, etc. Paul would not ask us to do this if it were not possible. I think one of the keys is simply to draw near to Him.
- "...asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will..." Paul's prayers were specific; they spoke to a need. He knew what the Colossians would need to continue to grow. When we come to God with a request for a person or a situation, we must be able to speak to the specific need that we see. As we draw closer to Him and acquire His insight, we will be more able to speak directly to those needs.

"...to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
To know God's will we have to be actively participating with Him, drawing nearer to Him, to really understand what He has planned for us. I believe some people will live life as they want, not in submission or obedience, with the thought that "as soon as God tells me what to do, I'll go for Him." If we're not staying in tune with Him, we are going to mis out on what He has called us to. We have to be listening intently to hear.

I'm tired. Bed time.

Colossians 1:3-6

Colossians 1:3-6
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.

A few things stand out to me here.
"We always thank God..when we pray for you..."
Paul exhibited a consistent pattern of prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17), staying in supplication for fellow believers. This is challenging to me because many times when I pray I'm focused on myself or those immediately connected to me. Paul prayed for believers all over the world; he prayed for the entire church. I don't know what exactly he prayed for when he prayed for them. That might be something I find elsewhere. Praying for the church would be a very good habit to get into. We can see the in-fighting that occurs within the church among demoninations, churches, Christians, etc. - none of which is becoming to followers of Christ. If we pray for each other we are exhibiting love and concern for one another. If we have love and concern for one another, we have unity. As Jesus said, "By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35). I guess that ultimately this becomes a lesson that we NEED to love one another to be the people Jesus called us to be. Love is not something that comes naturally of our carnal selves. Love comes from a relationship with the Father. Relationship is achieved through prayer to the Father. This reminds me of 2 Peter 1:3: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." God gives us what we need to have love for one another through Him, and only through Him. This shows how dependent we must be on God for the success of our Christian walk; it is accomplished through relationship with Him.


"...because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus..."
Paul said he is thankful for their faith. I've never thought of thanking God for another person's faith. I think in our human minds we get accustomed to the whole story of sacrifice and forgiveness and become desensitized/numb to it. We have to be constantly reminded of how great it is that we have this gift; that we, as sinful men who have shunned God, can simply take what He has freely offered, and become His sons and daughters that He loves. To keep the wonder alive, we have to stay focused on Jesus: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2).

"...and of the love you have for all the saints..."
The Colossian church was doing it right. They had love for each other. So much love that Paul had HEARD of it from other people. When was the last time we heard this about ANY body of believers?? In today's society we are overly self-centered. We follow this lifestyle of self-dependence rather than interdependence on each other. This causes us to strive to get ours first, and if there's nothing leftover, too bad. This goes in direct contradition to Phillipians 2:3 & 4: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." There is no way that the Colossians could have been self-centered (as we are in our society) and still have gained this reputation of loving each other. What kind of change can we bring about in ourselves and in our churches to gain this kind of reputation and fulfill what Jesus said in John 13:35?

"...the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven..."
This goes back to earlier where we see a sort of fulfillment of 2 Peter 1:3. Our love for one another springs from a relationship with Jesus. We HAVE to have this RELATIONSHIP.

Colossians 1:6
"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth."
If the previous focus was on prayer, the focus here is on the gospel, i.e., the Word of God. The gospel was bearing fruit and growing because people were living it. It wasn't something they passively read or studied then continued in their normal life. It was something that when they heard or read it, it kicked off a deeper yearning for more. It triggered something in their spirit that caused them to realize that they needed God. They started living the gospel, they made it integral to their lives, and it brought about massive change in their hearts, minds, and actions. It was transformational (Romans 12:2). I think another piece of what brought about such a powerful transformation in their lives is they saw how people like Paul were living it, how the Word shined through in their lives. They realized that they needed it in their lives by seeing it active in others. How is the Word active in our lives? Is it integral? How are we living it?
Another thing I noticed at this point was that the KJV says "knew" instead of "understood." Of course if we look back at Genesis, we see that Adam "knew" his wife. In essense, this is indicative of a very intimate familiarity. After some studying, I found that "knew/understood" in this verse is interpreted from the Greek word "ἐπιγινώσκω" - "epiginōskō". It means "to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, to know accurately, know well". The word epiginosko is rooted in "γινώσκω" - "ginōskō", which is more suggestive of the intimate sense of understanding or knowing. So what we can draw from all of this is that the Colossians were intimately familiar with "God's grace in all its truth", i.e., the gospel, which is the Word. We know that the Word was something that was central to their lives and was something of utmost importance to them; they loved it.

John 13:8

"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

The context of the portion of the verse above is Jesus's response to Peter when Peter had initially attempted to dissuade Jesus from washing his feet. I think there's a bigger meaning to this little response, though.

To me this points to the total surrender that is required to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. We can acknowledge his Lordship mentally, but what are we actually doing about it? Is our life reflecting the fact that we are not our own, that we were bought with a price (I Cor. 6:19 - 20)? What evidence in our life shows that we have denied ourselves, taken up our cross, and are following him (Mark 8:34, 35)?

The other thing this makes me think of is the transformational process that takes place when we truly make Him our Lord. Romans 12:2 says to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of our mind. Titus 3:5 says the Holy Spirit washes us and renews us. How is this transformation evident in our lives? Is our daily prayer for him to change us, to create in us a new heart (Psalm 51:10)?

Keep in mind the intent of this is to check myself. If these reflections can help convict someone else and change a life, then awesome.

Another visit...

It's 1 am. I have to leave for Arkansas tomorrow morning, hopefully before lunch. I've been here since July 3. This is probably the longest time I've spent at home since I moved to Arkansas 4 years ago.

I honestly don't want to leave. Being here is like heaven to me, here in the house that I grew up in with my parents, brother, grandparents, friends, family, etc. Essentially, my roots. Nearly every good memory in the first 22 years of my life took place here. When I'm here I feel such a deeper connection to those memories, the people, everything. Every time I have to leave it's as if all of those roots are being ripped up, like my heart is being torn out of my chest. As I sit here, memory after memory passes through my mind, and each one brings a new wave of sobs.

There's no way this is the way it's supposed to be. I know God didn't intend for us to leave our families hundreds of miles away so we can provide for ourselves. Adam and Eve screwed it up with sin, but us humans weren't content to leave it at that. We have progressed deeper and deeper into depravity, selfishness and greed, sacrificing our families to the point that now it's normal and expected that a child leave his/her parents way behind as they progress in the world.

Don't get me wrong, I have a great life in Arkansas. I just don't have any solid roots there like I have here, and sometimes that gets really difficult for me.

Salsa recipe

After studying the salsa at Maria's and a few practice rounds, I think I've come up with a pretty darn good salsa recipe. I put in the ingredients kind of by feel, so I don't have any measurements here...just use common cooking sense and it will be good :)

The salsa takes all of the following:
Stewed tomatoes (Great Value stewed tomatoes from Walmart work great)
Onion
Garlic
Cilantro
Celery
Bell Pepper
Cumin
Paprika
Pickled Jalepenos
Vinegar
Salt
Lime

Strain the stewed tomatoes the best you can - the less liquid you have in them, the better. Mince up your onion, garlic, cilantro, celery, and bell pepper as fine as you can. The total of your bell pepper, celery, and garlic should be less than the total of your onion. Bell pepper and celery are mainly for color and texture, so keep that in mind - don't want to over-do it or you might get weird flavors. You want a light sprinking of salt, cumin, and paprika. It's easy to over-do the salt. Put in just a dash of vinegar to get a little extra tang. It's easy to over-do the lime too. You might want to go with the juice of about 1/3 of a lime for every two cans of tomatoes. Get all of the ingredients listed above together in a blender, then blend it slowly. Don't do it too long because you don't want a salsa smoothie. At this point I put the salsa in a pan to simmer for a while to help soften up the onion, bell pepper, and celery and get the flavors to mix, but this part may not be necessary.

Once you're done with all of this, if you're feeling adventurous you could throw in some corn and/or beans to add to the mix.

Put it in the refrigerator for a while to cool down, then you're ready for chips and salsa.

Common sense about immigration

Got this email from my grandma...