Light up the Darkness

!!!WARNING!!! this post contains spoilers for the movie I Am Legend- do not read if you have not seen the movie and are intending to


I am legend is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. It only confirmed my belief that Will Smith can make any movie worth seeing. For a large portion of the movie, Smith is acting alone on screen. You may think that this sounds boring, but wow, Will does an incredible job and I was glued to the screen. This guy is a stud. There is absolutley no other actor who could have made this movie work. As far as the movie goes it was a good plot with some undertoning meaningful threads. About my only critique was that Will's character gets angry at one point in the movie because he beleive's every person has died because of a virus. In his outburst he claims that there is no God. However, in other parts of the movie he admits that the virus is "our fault, not God's". At the end of the movie there are slight undertones suggesting that God orchestrated the survival of humanity.
It was incredible how Will portrayed what it would do to a human to have no contact with another human. It was eeire to see him inhabit a ghost town, which was New York City. Will draws you in and makes you feel as if the situations that he is going through are real. From the days of the Fresh Prince of Bel- Air till I Am Legend, he has proven that he is one of the best actors ever. Because of his incredible talent and the fact that he is my favorite actor, I will go see any movie that he does. Even if the movie looks like it would be stupid, he is the only guy that could make it work.
At the end of the movie Will's character, Robert Neville, end's up killing himself in order to save the human race. From the time the virus first started hitting, when billions of people were still alive, until the end of the movie, he is constantly trying to save the human race. He commits his life to it. To me, this paints a great picture. Christ gave His life in order to save the human race. That's not a film script, that's truth. Our lives should be dedicated to furthering Christ's kingdom and saving the human race. Christ has already made the way, we just have to spread the word. Christ's blood saved us. Interestingly enough, blood is what saves the human race in the Smith flick as well. Anyway, its so good I have already seen it twice and would gladly see it again. GO SEE I AM LEGEND!!!

Comfortably Numb

There are things that Christians, including myself, need to wake up about. We get into what some refer to as "the motions" and we like it. We can come to church, throw some spare change into the plate, stay awake the entire service, and then head home to our comfortable lives. We start focusing on this and that and we fail to realize that we are slowly slipping into a stagnate existence. When we are walking with the Lord sometimes things get uncomfortable. He pushes and prods, pulls and tugs, until we are unsatisfied with the way we are living, or the way that things are being done, to the point that we make a stand for Him. I don't think that Jesus was ever comfortable unless you change the view of human comfort. He was urgently seeking to further His kingdom and make a way for us to have an eternal relationship with Him. He spread His message night and day. Sometimes it was popular, other times not so popular. That had nothing to do with His sense of urgency. He lived as God when it was comfortable and uncomfortable.
Have you ever been numb? I mean really numb. One day I was outside when it was freezing cold and I couldn't feel my hands. I thought I noticed blood on something but I didn't know where it was coming from. I brushed it off and kept doing whatever it was that I was doin. I kept noticing more and more fresh blood until I realized that my hand was bleeding. My hand was so numb that I never felt to wound or the blood coming out of my hand. When we go through our daily activities and lose sight of living everyday for Christ we become numb. Our life starts to bleed from every different area and we don't even realize it. We don't understand what is wrong. Sin slowly creeps into our lives and chills us until we become so numb we don' realize the death that it ultimately brings. In the Christian life we are supposed to not only be uncomfortable (in a sense, don't take that out of context) we are supposed to be completely alive, not numb. Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." We have a comfortably numb self. We slip through life chasing after meaningless things, relationships, or ideals and we can't feel it when everything starts bleeding. When we cry out to God and confess Him as our Savior, Galatians says that we crucify that part of us with Christ. Christ lives in us. What a powerful statement. You, brother or sister in Christ, have Christ living in you. Live in a manner worthy of your calling. Did you catch the word "life/live" in that verse? I don't understand why we settle for numbness when Christ desires for us to live a true life. A life that is so uncomfortable that it causes us to do things that echo through the halls of eternity. The power of Christ has called you into a life that is free from the chains of sin. You are so blessed. Do not be comfortable in those blessings. Rather, remember your calling. How would your life change today if you truly believed that Christ is living in you?

Whatcha been doin??

May you be reminded of the greatness of the God of the universe. Whether you are going through good or bad times, may His presence reign in your life. During the past few days I have been reminded of these things. As I was going through daily activities, the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear and said,"I'm here." I headed out to do some hiking the other day. I had just finished a final, it was 70 degrees, and I wanted to clear my mind. I was supposed to be studying for a final so, of course, me and my roommate headed out to raven's run. Nothing special about this place, but it's close. As we walked along, I was enjoying different parts of nature and just being in God's creation. I made a comment to Brian, my roomate, "This is so much better than sitting on the couch and watching tv." It was great. We then proceeded to make our way down to a lookout over the kentucky river. As I stood there and saw the muddy river and the trees that stood there naked, I saw beauty. You may not have seen it on first glance, but it was there. Awhile later, I got to experience the personal aspect of our triune God. A friend was going through the day when I got word from a friend that a family member had been injured. Being the good christian boy that I am, I shot out the automatic response of I'll pray for you. Now I had to stop myself because I hate telling people that and then not praying for them. It seems like its the thing that you are supposed to say but not necessarily meant by everyone who says it. Its amazing the power we have in prayer. If I was not able to pray, what would I be able to say to people. I hope that things turn out better? I'll keep you in my thoughts? Well, thats really nice of you, but it doesn't do a cotton pickin thing. Instead God has allowed us to have direct access to his ear. I'm sorry that your loved one has had some physical problems. I am going to make sure that I ask to God of the universe and time itself if He would help that person. That's awesome. It will never cease to amaze me how big our God is, how small we are, and that HE CARES FOR US. May you be reminded of the greatness of God.

Things you're not suppossed to talk about

So, in my twenty years on this ball of ground and water that we call earth, I have learned that there are two things that you aren't "supposed" to talk about. Those things of course being religion and politics. Well I have talked about religion on this blog, so I view it as one down, one to go. The 2008 election will be the first time that I vote for the president of the United States. I just missed it, because of my age, the last go round. Identifying with conservative values and political ideals I find myself in the vast minority in the college atmosphere. However, this should give you peace of mind when you are in the minority on such issues in this atmosphere. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard evolution or encountered a liberal I would immediately drop out of school, use some of my money to buy food for the world, thus solving world hunger, and then burn money for fun until I died. There would still be left over money to provide for the whole braswell clan until the end of time. So, though I am probably considered a closed minded right wing extremist to most of the people that I encounter in my current environment, I am a conservative. Therefore, I absolutely do not want to see hilary clinton become president. That being said, I am not too thrilled with the republican frontrunners. I don't believe Giuliani or Romney. They are typical slickster politicians. Every other word out of Giuliani's mouth is New York and Romney will not answer a question with a straightforward answer. I am supporting Mike Huckabee. Before you say that I am just jumping on the bandwagon of the recent "Huckaboom", I have been a Huckabee supporter for awhile. I have been in favor of him and am pleased to see his recent surge in the polls. They dont let him talk much in the republican debates, but when he does talk I think he gives the clearest/best answers of anyone.I don't know everything about the guy so I may not support him later, but as of right now, I like what I am hearing and am supporting him. He is the strongest Christian running. When asked about whether or not the candidates believed every word of the Bible, Giuliani and Romney flopped. Huckabee gave a great answer and was clear that he believed the whole Bible. He also says that he wants to get rid of the IRS and put the 'fair- tax' in place. I don't know a lot about the fair tax, or how realistic it is to think he is going to bring down the IRS, but from the things I have heard it sounds like a good idea. I definitely like his thinking though as far as getting rid of the IRS. To me he seems like a good candidate. He doesn't have a lot of money or organization right now, but hopefully with his recent surge in the polls, those things will take care of themselves. He is the frontrunner in Iowa right now. I don't know if he actually has a chance to win the nomination, though I hope he will, but winning Iowa wouldn't hurt anything. Plus, he is endorsed by Chuck Norris.

I'm glad we lost.... What?!

First, it gives me great pain to write this blog. That being said, I have loved uk football this year. It was great to finally get excited about something that I was apart of. College football is one of the greatest things to watch on television, but when you're college is in the mix of things, it is so much better. The problem is, we are no longer a factor. Our team thought the season was a sprint, not a marathon and we paid for it dearly. Yes, you read the title right, I'm glad, in a weird way, that we ended up losing down the stretch. Now, before you tar and feather me, I was one of the most committed UK football fans this season. I went to every home game except the florida atlantic game because family was in town. However, even in that game I was constantly texting my friends who were at the game to get updates. Those were back in the good ol' days when Andre' Woodson was the frontrunner in the heisman race. Not only was I a committed home fan, but hobbs, tolliver, and I drove down to south carolina for the big thursday night game on espn. We were still undefeated up until that point. Though we lost that game, along with a lot of money and pride, we were still committed. That was a crazy trip by the way, you should ask me about it sometime. I loved the wildcats. I was out on the field hitting Andre's shoulder pads when they beat Satan's team, Louisville that is not to be confused with Tennessee. I rushed the field when we beat LSU. I even have some grass from the field in a bag to prove it. What a great start to the season. We were 6-1, and as high as 7th in the nation with Woodson leading the way as a Heisman candidate. After beating Lsu, college gameday and the florida gators came to town. I was stoked out of my mind. Once again, myself and a few of my crazy friends proved our fanhood by camping out in front of Willy T. I was one of the first people in line and got front row Gameday. I recorded it on tv and replayed it to see that I got on espn all day. We headed over to Commonwealth only to see us barely loose to the hated Gators. If you remember correctly we were an onside kick away from winning that game. Things were good. We were 6-2 and headed into what was supposed to be an easier part of our schedule. As you all know we finished our season an abysmal 1-4 making our overall record 7-5. Oh by the way, the once 7th ranked wildcats ended up with the same record as last year and are headed back the Music City Bowl.
All that to say that I am glad that all this happened. The degree of failure might have been a little much, but with the crazy way that things turned out in the bsc this year, uk could easily be in a bsc game. Anyway, after the season took a dramatic turn for the worse, I found an empty feeling inside of me that took the place of the joy that was once there. You see I was living for Saturdays. I would think about the upcoming game all week. Pouring over stats, news articles, anything I could find about UK football or about the team that they were playing next. My priorities had gotten way out of wack. It had become my vine, my source of life. John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." When I woke up in the mornings I was thinking about uk football. In my conversations throughout the day I was talking about uk football. If you would have asked me I would have automatically answered, "oh yea, Christ is my vine." If you looked at my thoughts and actions though, you could clearly see that I was trying to get my source of life from elsewhere. You see, every person is MADE for a purpose. Every person has a specific and a general purpose. I can't tell you what your specific purpose is, but I do know that your general purpose is to glorify God and to get your source of life from Him. When we try to replace that #1 spot in our lives with something, or someone, else, we don't function properly. We aren't going to be satisfied because we are not getting life where we are supposed to be getting it from. For example, I love coca- cola, also known as sweet nectar from the gods. However, my body is designed in such a way that it demands water in order to function properly. If all I did was drink coke and no water, I would be in the hospital fast. Is it okay to drink coke? Well, yea, as long as I'm getting my physical source of life from water. Is it okay to enjoy and participate in fill in the blank (for me it was uk football)? Well, yea, as long as I am getting my true source of life from Christ. Abide in Christ and bear much fruit. This is the way you were designed to function. That is, you were designed to thrive on a personal relationship with the eternal creator of the universe.

Spare Change

So, as I said in my las post, I went to the UK basketball game on tuesday night. The game was definitely sub par because of the performance not the company. Anyway, I have decided that we are just having bad luck and things would be better if Jasper and Meeks were not injured. I digress. I had parked my car over on second street which is a short walk from the civic center. If you know anything about downtown, second street has a lot of big,old homes. The homes are beautiful, but sometimes there are some shady characters over in that area of town. The further and further you go down second street, and just that area in general, the worse and worse it is to be a person who belongs to the white middle class. As I was walking to my car a man approached me and asked me for some money. I'm gonna finish the story in a second but we need some background first. From almost the time I was born until about the second grade I lived right outside of Nawleans (that's New Orleans). On frequent occassions my family would drive over lake ponchartrain into downtown. We encountered several homeless people and I remember my parents giving me money and telling me to go give it to the homeless person and tell them "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you". However, this was under the safety of crowded areas and my parents watchful eyes. For the most part I grew up with white middle class people. I do not think this is bad or good, it's just how it was. I was not used to poverty and neediness. God blessed my life and put me in a loving Chrisian home where I didn't have to worry about anything. Because of all this, I grew up being uncomfortable around poverty stricken and homeless people. I didn't want people to stop me and ask me for money. I could always just wipe it out of my mind by saying "There just gonna use it to get hopped up on drugs and alchohol anyway". That's just classic. As I have gotten older, my perspectives have started to change on this. Now, back to tuesday night after the game. So, this guy asks me for money after a story that doesn't make a whole lot of since. He was acting like he had just come off of some kind of buzz. I stood there and listened to him and then gave him a few dollars and went on. I should have done more. I should have tried to talk to him about the Lord. You see, God has blessed me. I need to help other people that are in need. I have no idea what that guy used my money for. I hope he used it for food or he used it for what he told me he needed it for. What if he didn't? What if he went straight to a liquor store or to a dealer? Well, that's not my responsibility. That's his. Jesus gave us an example and told us to help those that are in need. Why do you think that God has blessed you? He has given you blessings not because you are loved more than others, but because He wants you to use those blessing to reach and help others. Love people with the love of Jesus. Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." I don't know who that guy was. Was he an angel? Probably not. Was I an angel to him? I sure hope so.


soon to come: i'm almost ready to talk about uk football-- i havne't been able to talk about it because of some "misfortune" at the end of the season. my readers will be the first to hear my take on a roller coaster season

Random thoughts

1. I have a new name for my blog. Taylor informed me that I had the same title as Justin Sok and the same Bible verse as the blog description. I did not know that i did that at all. I have seen Justin's blog before. I guess it was one of those sub- conscious things because I had no idea. Thanks t-flow and thanks to Justin Sok for not suing me for copyright infringement

2. I went to the Kentucky Basketball game tonight with Sarah. It was her first time going to Rupp Arena to see uk play. If anyone has not experienced this, please let me know and I will try and get you a ticket. Everyone should see UK play in Rupp. We had a great time even thought the game was awful. We won yes, but this was Stony Brook people. They have not won a game this year. This team probably about peed their pants when they stepped onto our floor. We show some promising signs, but if we can't learn to take care of business and grow up fast, it might be a long year. I do think we will be awake when UNC comes to town this weekend. I can't wait to see Patterson and Hansborough go at it. We have got to get him the ball more. I think he scored 17 or 19 tonight, but they almost never gave him the ball in the post. He shoulda had about 30. He has got to be our MVP if we want to have a solid year. Unfortunately, this may be his only year at UK. In other uk basketball news, kerry benson left the team. Does anyone care???

3. I have a 15 page paper due tomorrow in my upper division communication class, affectionately known as cohort. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I can't wait for this semester to be over. I don't care if I ever remember one thing from these cohort classes. I just don't want to ever have to experience anything like these classes ever again. It has been misery, but after this semester it should get a lot better so.... woohooo

4. Rocky Top will be played over and over again in Hell!!!!!!!

Thankfulness and Turkey: Good combination

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I hope everyone has taken some time today to stop, really stop, and think about some things they are truly thankful for. Here's a list of things that I am thankful for, in no particular order.

1. My family- It's pretty rare for the wayne braswell clan to get together at the same time. We are all under the same roof this weekend and it is a true blessing. I love all my siblings and my parents are great godly examples for me. Truly a blessing

2. Football- What would thanksgiving be without a little (or a lot) of football. Even if there are games between teams that I don't care about, I have to watch football on thanksgiving day. The sport is incredible to watch, especially college football, and its just a good bonding time. I am actually watching some as I type this post.

3. Turkey- I think that this is something that MOST of us (not naming any names) are thankful for on this day. Not just the turkey but the whole meal in general. I would love to high five whoever first had the idea to eat a ton of incredible food at the same time and make it a yearly tradition. Good call nameless legend.

4. I could go on but all of these things I am thankful for, and the ones that I have not mentioned, can be summed up by saying that I am truly thankful to God. Hebrews 12:28 says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,". We should be thankful to God because He is the giver of all good things. He gave us His Son Jesus Christ who died for us so that we could live eternally with Him. This is not something that we somehow deserve, but He did it for us because He loves us. He has blessed me, and you, in so many ways.

I hope that everyone had a great thanksgiving. Spend time with the ones you love, eat lots of turkey, and watch some football. Take time to really be thankful because, think about it, is there anything that you have that you inherently deserve? Really? Thank you Lord.

Are You Alive?? really...

Stephen, are you crazy? Of course I am alive. I have a pulse, I'm breathing, heck I'm reading the words on the screen right now. Some of you may have stopped reading by now because, thus far, this post seems pointless and you already know the answer to the question that I have posed in the title, but for those of you who are still intrigued, or bored..... Philippians 1:21 "For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain." Are you alive? You see I want to challenge your definition of what life, or 'to live, really means. We think that is we are up, moving and experiencing our day that we are experiencing what life is. However, this is not what living is or means. The Bible says that to live is Christ. To live means to be following Christ in all that we do and serving Him for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom. Some people stay on this earth for 60, 70, maybe even 100 years and never... not once... experience life.
One of the things that I do not understand, if we are defining terms as I have defined them, is why non- believers say they don't want to follow Christ. You may hear, "I want to experience life. If I start following Christ, it's just going to be rule after rule after rule." Maybe you have heard them say that they will have plenty of time for Christ later after they have sowed their wild oats and really experienced life. Since when did life mean going out and doing whatever your flesh is driving you to do? You see I think when people give these responses and have these attitudes towards Christ they are experiencing life but death. Let's say I have a cell phone that is broken, some of you know my luck with cell phones, or one that is simply not charged. Is it really a phone? Well, no it's not. If it can't make calls and serve is function as a phone then it is a plastic case made up of different parts that is in the shape of a phone. If people are not defining life through the lens of Christ then are they alive? No, they are just flesh and blood who are literally death walking. Jesus created you to experience life and life to the fullest. Some of you may have never truly lived, or have lost sight of what it means to truly lived, despite having a pulse for x number of years. Jesus has a plan for your life. You are not some mistake that was pointlessly set loose in this world to aimlessly wonder with no rhyme or reason. Step into the marvelous light and live today. Tell Jesus that you belong to Him and that you are not the definer of life. He is. He has defined life as living in Him. Some may think, "I don't follow Christ and I'm just fine." Give life a try. Once you have truly lived you will never want to go back to the death that so many enjoy walking around in on a daily basis.

"Awake sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you."
Ephesians 5:14

True Love

Note: don't read this post unless you watch the video



No matter what, Christ loves us. He has loved us from the beginning. His word says that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. Did you get that? WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS. There is truly no greater love than this. He has a good and perfect plan for our lives. Just follow Him. Trust Him completely.


I Corinthians 13:4-8a

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.