Not religious or christian

I have been in church my whole life. I have been around the most religious and best christians this world has to offer. Here's the thing... I'm ready to leave all that. Doing things just because it seems like what I'm supposed to do is not what I have been called to do. All I want to do is follow Jesus. I want to forget every assumption I have about how life is supposed to be and the way that this whole Christian thing is supposed to work. The more and more I look at scripture the more and more it seems as is if this whole American Christianity thing is not at all what Jesus had in mind. There have been a lot of things that have been done in the name of christianity, and are being done, that I'm not sure Jesus would have any part of. I've have decided that I am going to go back through some of the gospels. To those of us who have spent are lives in church this may sound boring, routine, typical, etc. We have been told so many things about what Jesus did and what He stood for and the message He was trying to bring. I think we sometimes get fed things from different biases. If you go back and look at the things that Jesus said we see that there are some things that people are focusing more than other truths that Jesus gave us. It's like we pick and choose which things we want to apply to our lives. So, I'm wanting to just go back to the red letters and take it straight up. I believe what Jesus said and believe He still has things to say today. I want to do what He said to do no matter if other people do or not. If the church and christians aren't measuring up then I'm not gonna follow them. Jesus is the ultimate standard (g-burg '08)
Last weekend I went with my church's high and middle school group to a retreat in Gatlinburg. It was a really great trip and hopefully the students listened to what the speakers had to say. I had already had this conviction about goin back to the red letters but one of the speakers made it even more simple and apparent what I needed to do. He was saying that we have become obsessed with the "thriller testimonies". The ones were drug dealers and pimps turn their lives over to Christ because God stopped them on their way to burn down a church. Those are cool and are a testament to the changing love that He offers. We miss the beauty of the testimonies of those who say that they gave their life to Christ at an early age and have been trying to live for Him ever since. Thats it pure and simple. I have given my life to Christ and want to live for Him.
In Matthew 8:38 Jesus says, "and anyone who does no take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." This is what we are called to do if we say that we want to follow Christ. He says that if we do not give up our whole lives and follow Him that we aren't worthy of Him. This doesn't mean praying a prayer or walking an aisle and suddenly you are a follower of Jesus. It means daily giving your life up to Him. Are you living a life that is worthy of the calling that Jesus has on your life? To take up your whole life and let Him transform it means knowing what He says in His word and following it daily. I have given my life to Christ and I desire to follow Him everyday.

Things that get me hype

Some of my posts have been pretty heavy. So, ima try and search for a good balance and try to lighten things up sometimes. I'm gonna put down a few things here that get me hyped and would love to know what hypes you up. Maybe we got some similarities. These are definitely not in any order and by no means an exhaustive list

1. I get hyped about Jesus Christ. I know I said I was gonna try and keep this on the lighter side but I gotta put this on the list. Having the opportunity to get to know an infinite God who loves and cares for you is an awesome thing to live for. You should check out His book sometime. It's a page turner.

2. A good movie is always a plus. I love when a movie has a lot of hype and lives up to it. A few that I would recommend are Dan in Real Life, Gladiator, The Bourne Movies, School of Rock, Hoosiers, Stomp the Yard, I Am Legend, and I could go on

3. College football and basketball. Sheesh have I spent some time, money, blood, sweat, and tears on this. I am a huge UK fan and always love the SEC whoopin up on the big- ten, which is becoming a given every year but never gets old.

4. A fresh new pair of basketball shoes. Look, when you open up that box and have them kicks on ya feet, you feel like MJ no matter how you play. Some of my favorite times were pickin out a new pair every year in high school.

5. Playin a round of golf with my boys. Ain't nothing like goin out with some buddies on a warm day and chasing that little white ball around. You start out with the best of intentions, but by the time you've hit the turn you are throwin the score card away. It makes me want to curse more than anything else in the world but its one of my favorite things to do. That don't make much sense but neither does paying hundreds of dollars for the whole experience either

6. The future. I love it when there is something coming up in my life and I have been waiting for it. When that day or events gets there it is awesome. The next thing I got coming is a trip to Washington D.C. for the Passion conference. I have heard a lot about this conference over the years but have never been. I hear there are gonna be some solid speakers. I'm hyped about being encouraged and challenged to grow in my faith.

7. A good book. This may not be the most popular one but let me explain. I have never been a huge reader. When I start reading a book and can't put it down, I'm pumped about it. It takes a lot for me to get excited about reading.

8. LOST. This is one of the greatest tv shows of all time. I have seen every episode and can't wait to see the 2 hour season premier that comes on next thursday january, 31. It's gonna be awesome. If you have not seen this show I highly recommend renting the first 3 seasons and skipping class for the next week and watch it straight through. This way you can catch up and understand the season premier. Yea, it's that good.

9. Music that reps Christ like the 116 clique. I love how they rhyme for Christ and every word they say is glorifying to Him. I just got Trip Lee's cd and it' s great. He doesn't waste words on jokes or something that would make him popular; he just straight rips it and packs gospel into all his tracks. And yes, ima stop this list on 9

Like a box of chocolates

I have been having some difficult things happening in my life. Nothing too serious, so please don't start jumping to conclusions, but there are questions in my life that I want answers too. To be broad, I have been lacking direction in my life and things haven't necessarily been working out like I had hoped. This is nothing new I know, but at this time in my life, when I am supposed to be preparing for my future, I was expecting to have a few more answers. I am a man who desires a passion so I can go at it with everything that I have. I have been trying to figure some things out on my own. Considerations have been made about my major, social life, directions, etc. Nothing seems to be working. I have admittedly been frustrated and often discouraged. The feeling is that every day that goes by is a waste if it lacks direction. I was hit by a verse in scripture the other day that reminded my of why scripture is often referred too as a sword. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." There are so many things that I have been wanting. I am not talking about physical things that you can buy on a shelf, but rather what can be summed up as peace of mind about a plethora of obstacles. This verse talks about us getting our hearts desires when we are following Christ. I'm not talking about getting bling, money, and fame. When we are delighting in Christ we become more and more like Him. He molds us into what He wants us to be and gives us the desire to follow Him passionately. When I focus on Christ and putting Him first in everything I am doing, He will show me the direction I need to go. When I am trying to fix things and understand why certain things have happened on my own, it always ends in frustration and more questions than answers. I should be committing my ways to the Lord and He will give me the desires of my heart because He will have shaped my heart into what He wants it to be.
On a broader spectrum, I have been keeping up with politics and more specifically the presidential race. I don't understand why we think that politics are going to fix things. People are so focused on choosing the right candidate on the democrat and republican side in hopes that they will be elected and save the country from going down the drain. We try to "delight" ourselves in many things other than Christ and we still think that it is going to work. Politics are not going to fix this country world. The thing that is going to change this world is a bunch of people who are delighting in the Lord and seeking to live as Christ intended us to live. He will give us what we want when we allow Him to change our wants into something that will glorify Him. Does He do this just because He is God and can force us to do things. NO!! He knows that this is the only way that we are going to be happy. We can try anything in the world but He knows that the only way we are going to find what we are looking for is to delight ourselves in Him. So, He tells us these things in His word to show us how we can find what we are looking for. The answer is Jesus.

Struggles

I know that it has been too long since I last posted. I took a break partly because of the holidays. I thought that people would be out of their normal routine, so they would probably not have time for the blogosphere. I confess however that I have also been lacking in inspiration. I have signed in to my account several times and even started writing different post, but hit various brick walls along the way. However, there have been some things that have been troubling me that I want you to chew on.

James 2:1-4 says, "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say,'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man,'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?" I would like to say that I hope that you question the church. Before you that off as heresy out of ignorance, read on. There are some things you should question in order to say that it is blatanlty wrong and in order to refute it. When your science teacher, collegue, or as sad as it might be, a fellow christian tells you that evolution is real, you should question that in order to refute and destroy it. However, there are some things, like the church that you should question in order to improve it, make it better, and ultimately bring in closer to what Christ envisioned the church to be. Some great christians in the past have questioned the church and made it better. One easy example is that of Martin Luther. I will not get into everything here but the church at his time was definitely doing things that weren't scripturally founded. He questioned those things and helped to change those things in order to better align with scripture.
Think about the church that you attend. If you do not attend church I want you to think about what your perception of the church is. How does your church measure up in applying this passage in James? If you asked one in church about whether they show favoritism, whether it be racially or economically, everyone would probably answer no. This answer given compared to the actual diversity of people may not match up. My fear is that we do not apply this passage in James very well. How would people react if someone that was in worn out clothes and had an interesting aroma came in? I'm not sure. I think people would be receptive on the outside but I wonder how uncomfortable it would be on the inside. Jesus spent His time with these type people. He loved them and didn't reject them because of what they had done or the state that they were in but rather showed them a new way; the way. I look at American Christianity and am worried about its correlation with scripture. It seems to safe, to clean, and too exclusive. These are just a few questions and thoughts I have been having. I want Christ to be the center of all. I want his bride to be exactly how He envisioned it to be. I want to truly understand what it means to live like Christ.