An Unconventional Christianity

I believe in an unconventional Christianity when it comes to "God's will." I say unconventional, because every time I talk about my view to someone, they say, "Woah... I didn't think about it like that." Basically, it's like this:

You can't do God's will on your own. You are his vessel. The potter's clay doesn't up and make itself a pot on its own with directions from the potter. That's ridiculous! The potter forms the pot all by himself while the clay is soft and yields to his hands.

Yield. The word is more than the traffic sign in intersections. It's the motto we must live by.

But what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Well... nothing. But it has a lot to do with discovering God's will for your life. Christians that I know spend a lot of time being anxious about discovering this "will" and then they can live the rest of their lives doing that will.

I've come to believe that you don't need to know the full plan. You don't need to spend your time worrying and losing your focus ("Maybe He wants me to do this with my life. Maybe it's this. God, tell me what You want me to do! Please? Why aren't you telling me? Are you even there? Have you abandoned me?"). You might think that's a little extreme, but I've heard many people come to the conclusion that God didn't care about them anymore. Not overnight, but over years.

So... What do we do about it? Should we just abandon faith entirely? No! Don't do that!

Take each moment by itself and keep your heart and mind yielding to the potter's hands. You don't know if you'll get zapped by lightning, hit by a meteor, or attacked by zombies in the next five minutes, so don't worry about it. Let Him worry about it. He knows all about your life, and if he cares for each sparrow, doesn't he like the masterpiece of his creation just a little bit more?

He loves you. He took all your sins and died for you.You trust Him for eternal life. You can trust Him for life in this world.

Here's your new motto: Pray, praise, and rely on HIM alone. (And remind me and all your brothers and sisters to do so, too.)

This Time of the Year

There's something about an Autumn day. Stiff maple leaves cover the sidewalks and blow around in the wind. I never step on them. I kick them and watch them fly through the air. Then the wind freezes your nose and ears and you come inside for a cup of tea or hot chocolate and read a book. That's the life right there. For me, at any rate. My darling brothers would say that "the life" is an endless stream of Mountain Dew and something on the X-Box, but that's why I am writing this post instead of them.

It's nice to enjoy a moment or two of God's creation between writing term papers, studying for midterms, working a part-time job, and cleaning your bedroom (Guess which one usually gets forgotten. Yeah.). He really likes it when you look at what He made and say, "Wow!" I know He likes this, because if He wanted us to take it for granted, he would have made everything in some ugly, dull color. Or not let us see at all. I look out my window and see hills covered with evergreen trees, orange maples, a red house... Colors everywhere!

You know why He gave us these colors? For us to enjoy. Why does He want us to enjoy so much? Because we are His children. So next time you open your eyes, look at the colors around you and thank Earth's Painter for everything you can see.

Aaaah... Twilight.

On Friday, I gave Twilight a try. The book, not the movie. I have several reactions to the first hundred pages, which I struggled to get through and scrapped the book after that.

Reaction #1: From a writer's standpoint, the voice Stephanie Meyers uses is passive. (Example: "He was looking at her." vs. the active voice - "He looked at her.") That all but drove me insane. Not completely, but it came thisclose. I toyed with the idea of counting how many times the word "was" occurred on each page. This gave me a thumb-down right off the bat.

Reaction #2: High school romantic drama. Need I say more? *gags*

Reaction #3: I fail to see how great the "hero" of this story is if he's stalking the heroine. Yes, I said stalking.

Reaction #4: Aren't vampires evil? The whole story had a darkness shadowing it, which, I think, is a main draw.

Reaction #5: Well... At least she had a Chevy truck... (I'm stretching for a good point to mention)

My vote on this book is for you to pass on it. Go find something better to read. It won't be that difficult.

Are you alive?

After reading the title, you are probably thinking that of course you are alive! You're breathing, looking at your computer screen, and possibly munching on some delicious snack (that I'm jealous of, btw... it's lunchtime...). "Yes," you assure me. "I'm alive."

But is that all?

What are you living for? Is life only about breathing, eating, sleeping, and texting? If you think it's not, then what are you doing about it? Where does your passion lie?

I believe that many people squelch this passion. I can see it in their eyes. They're living, but their soul is covered with a dark shadow. Their conversation may be deep and thought-provoking, but it's empty. Like a chocolate Kinder egg you break open and find to be empty. It is possible to be alive and still be dead.

Even Christians can be like this. They lose the passion. They become luke-warm and start to believe the lies of Satan without knowing it. We generally refer to this as "back-sliding," or reverting to the way we were before we were made clean.

I would like to challenge you to be alive right now. Pick up the Armor of God and remember who you are and who He is. Live every day, hour, minute, and thought for Him. Open yourself up to hearing His calling. That is, in one sentence, what I am getting at. Being alive does not necessarily mean to go off tomorrow and climb a mountain, swim across the ocean, or do something else that is amazing. It means to be attentive to the Lord's voice.

If you already got this memo a while ago, it doesn't hurt to be reminded. And pray for someone in your life who needs to come alive.

Be pro-life, and I don't just mean in the abortion argument. :-)

Welcome to all!

Greetings and welcome to my blog!

My goal for this site is to discuss an array of topics... some to make you think, and some of them will probably make you laugh. :-) Above all, my hope is to inspire you in your walk with Christ.

I invite you to join me, and if you have any comments, concerns, criticisms, or commiserations, please share them!