I was saddened earlier this morning when I heard of a newly married couple that after less than a year of marriage are considering divorce. My heart is heavy. I am not married so I will not pretend to understand anything about marriage first hand, but I have spoken with lots of people and observed different couples and I have learned from them that marriage is in no way for the faint at heart, it's a battle field. I think the problem is that so many people see it as a battle against each other instead of as a battle they fight together.
Later I was listening to a few podcast of John and Lisa Bevere (I highly recommend). And during one of the lessons John was talking about his wife and I thought to myself... they got it right. I've never heard them speak badly of each other, don't get me wrong they don't act as if they are perfect by any means but everything they say about each other is said with love and in the correct context. I don't even really remember what he said, all I remember is knowing I can no longer settle of less than a man that will honor me the way he honors his wife. Before you ask, yes I'm prepared to honor the man God has for me in the same manner. It really impressed me to hear a man uplifting his wife so much. I think that's all I really have to say today.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Horror and Shock
For so long now I have been completely content with living in a bubble. You may think how is that even possible these days with so many means of getting information but it's really not that hard. All you have to do is change the channel every time the news come on and never pick up a newspaper and never look at anything news related online. This is all made it very easy a specially the fact that I almost only watch TV online or on our DVR. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I needed to catch up a bit with all that was being said, as far as the Presidential Candidates goes. So I started checking the news updates I get sent to my work email account and since I was already reading them I figured I'd read it all rather than just the campaign stuff. I never thought I was going to find something so outrageous and completely unacceptable, something so horrible that it would shake me to the core. It broke my heart and left me in complete shock. Then I got angry, that it could even be possible, that this was happening. Nothing could have prepared me for what I found.
What I found was a world I didn't want to know existed. A world of pain and suffering and abuse. A world where the strong prey on the weak and the poor. Where the wealthy use their money to make promises, to the poor, of freedom and a better life and of education and happiness but they are empty promises that will never come true. I found a world that allowed you to pick and choose the race, age, gender, and physical features of your own personal slave. Not just someone who works in your field and cleans your house but someone you can rape and abuse daily. For a moment I thought I had traveled through time to another place where this was a social norm but I didn't. I kept thinking, "This must be some sort of nightmare. There's no way, not here in the US." But with much sadness in my heart I had to accept that here, yes even in the Houston area there have been cases of Slavery in the past few years. I still didn't want to believe it was true so I began to dig for more answers and I found more devastating stories and heartbreak but I also found hope.
Hope has several names many of which I do not know, but the one that I first heard of was Shauna Newell a 16 year old (at the time), US citizen who was abducted and raped for days before being found. Before when we (or should I say I) heard of slavery and human trafficking it was always in another country but not here, not in the U.S. WRONG! We were so wrong, I was so wrong. I was wrong to think that the U.S. was exempt from the horrors that plague the world. I was wrong to think that we were the exception, that no one would come and corrupt us, cause they already have. The next name of hope I heard was David Batstone a brave man that, since he first heard of the increasing slave market, has been fighting against the imprisonment of the innocent. He, along with his team for warriors, have begun Not For Sale, a movement of abolitionist (I can't believe I just said that, who would have thought I'd be talking about abolitionist in 2008). They have made great strides to further the knowledge of the general population about slavery and in demanding that brand name companies take a stand and not use slave labor to make the things that you and I use and wear everyday. Next I heard the name Call+Response which is basically composed of artist and activist that are stating that they will not stand for the mistreatment of other human beings. In fact they created a move called "Call+Response" and it's out in theaters now, you can check out the website for locations. The last name I heard so far is MTV Exit a project that was made to bring awareness to all those who will listen. Angelina Jolie has teamed with MTV in this and they are making a huge splash. They are reaching young people that other wise would have probably never known that slavery still exist today. So many adults think that MTV is just garbage but I have seen that they have helped so many good causes and are constantly working to inform people of the truth and that is something we can all aspire to. There are so many many others that are out there fighting for the rights of people everywhere and as much as I'd like to I can not name them all. I can only hope to do as much good in my life time as they have done thus far.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Craziness
Where to begin. As so many others in the Southeast end of Texas my life has been a bit crazy the last few weeks following Hurricane Ike. My family and I were very blessed in that we did not lose anything other than a limbs from our two large trees and shingles from the roof. All of which we took care of the Saturday and Sunday after the storm. The after math in our area was very minimal and as far as I have heard no one in our small town was killed or severely injured, unfortunately I can not so that for our neighbors in Galveston, to whom my heart go out to. I pray that God gives each person the strength they need to deal with what lies before them.
Well, my few crazy weeks have been a direct result of school. Most of which has been from playing catch up after missing a week and some professors being with out electricity for weeks. I still can not understand why it takes a month to catch up with a weeks worth of studies. Of course without knowing it all my professors rescheduled test all into the same week and then they all moved the following test into the same week. So, as soon as I got done with one whirlwind week I had to start getting ready for the next one, which included yesterdays Test in Organizational Behavior and tonight's Test in Business Statistics. It's all craziness. I don't even see my family which I live with for more than a few minutes to say, "Hello, yes I'm still alive and living here." Such is the life of a student.
There is so much I want to write about but I just haven't had a chance yet. I will get back to writing (hopefully often) when the craziness is a bit less crazy. Perhaps I'll even have pictures of everything to help catch the Blog up, not that anyone is reading it, but I like writing it and I guess that's what counts.
Count your Blessing till the next time.
Monday, August 25, 2008
What happened to the freedom in worship?
"Church should be where we feel the freest, instead it's where we feel most restricted."
I was spoke to a friend about Praise and Worship in the church today he stating (along with the above quote) that we are placed in a box, by what other will think of us. My question is: Is it our fault for allowing what other think to effect us so much? As far back as the beginning of time there has been differences in how followers/believers think we should worship God. Cain and Able though differently, yes I do understand the situation was very different but at the same time it was very similar to what we live today. We may not be killing each other physically but in some cases we are killing each other spiritual. Think about it. The Bible clearly states that death and life are in the tongue.
In most cases I hear of we (the church) are causing devision and hurt. One of the biggest problems seems to be the devision between the younger generations and the older ones. The youth of today listens to all sorts of "crazy" music that their grandparents would dream of allowing in the church. Yesterday as I spoke with the same young man whom I quoted he told me that his great grandmother had been asking him when she was going to hear him play. He was very excited when the opportunity came up for the youth band to play for the whole church, which meant his great grandmother and the rest of the family would get to hear him play. As soon as he told her the great news her response was anything but excited, she wasn't sure about it cause they would be loud and play "different" music.
My point is simply to show that with out meaning to we are hurting each other. This friend of mine was sad. He wants nothing more than for the youth to be able to enjoy worship with the older generations and for everyone to see that God can use the youth to reach people and to lead worship as well. Every Sunday the youth are sitting in the main service worshiping with the rest of the congregation. The few times that the youth band is able to play the "adults" or older generations sit back in the chairs, caring way to much about the fact that they don't like any kind of music that isn't a hymnal or made for a choir to sing.
When did the type of music or the musicians become more important that worshiping God? When did it become more important to impress others than to be pleasing to God? Our devision frequently come back to the same problem. The youth of the church must try to break free from the restrictions the adults are placing on them. The same goes for some of the adults, they feel just as out of place and restricted as the youth and more often than not they are our leaders. They are the wonderful people who teach us to be strong and to fight against going with the flow. They are the adults that let us know that it is ok to be different and that God always has a reason for our differences. I thank them from every young person everywhere for helping us over coming the way others see us and teaching us to see ourselves as Christ does.
To be clear: This Blog has nothing to do with the Pastor or Leadership of the church I am speaking about. They are some of the most amazing people I know and none of them could care less what kind of music is played or if any is played at all. They all understand that real worship has nothing to do with music and everything to do with our hearts.
I was spoke to a friend about Praise and Worship in the church today he stating (along with the above quote) that we are placed in a box, by what other will think of us. My question is: Is it our fault for allowing what other think to effect us so much? As far back as the beginning of time there has been differences in how followers/believers think we should worship God. Cain and Able though differently, yes I do understand the situation was very different but at the same time it was very similar to what we live today. We may not be killing each other physically but in some cases we are killing each other spiritual. Think about it. The Bible clearly states that death and life are in the tongue.
In most cases I hear of we (the church) are causing devision and hurt. One of the biggest problems seems to be the devision between the younger generations and the older ones. The youth of today listens to all sorts of "crazy" music that their grandparents would dream of allowing in the church. Yesterday as I spoke with the same young man whom I quoted he told me that his great grandmother had been asking him when she was going to hear him play. He was very excited when the opportunity came up for the youth band to play for the whole church, which meant his great grandmother and the rest of the family would get to hear him play. As soon as he told her the great news her response was anything but excited, she wasn't sure about it cause they would be loud and play "different" music.
My point is simply to show that with out meaning to we are hurting each other. This friend of mine was sad. He wants nothing more than for the youth to be able to enjoy worship with the older generations and for everyone to see that God can use the youth to reach people and to lead worship as well. Every Sunday the youth are sitting in the main service worshiping with the rest of the congregation. The few times that the youth band is able to play the "adults" or older generations sit back in the chairs, caring way to much about the fact that they don't like any kind of music that isn't a hymnal or made for a choir to sing.
When did the type of music or the musicians become more important that worshiping God? When did it become more important to impress others than to be pleasing to God? Our devision frequently come back to the same problem. The youth of the church must try to break free from the restrictions the adults are placing on them. The same goes for some of the adults, they feel just as out of place and restricted as the youth and more often than not they are our leaders. They are the wonderful people who teach us to be strong and to fight against going with the flow. They are the adults that let us know that it is ok to be different and that God always has a reason for our differences. I thank them from every young person everywhere for helping us over coming the way others see us and teaching us to see ourselves as Christ does.
To be clear: This Blog has nothing to do with the Pastor or Leadership of the church I am speaking about. They are some of the most amazing people I know and none of them could care less what kind of music is played or if any is played at all. They all understand that real worship has nothing to do with music and everything to do with our hearts.
Friday, August 22, 2008
When is it not?
"It's not about who's a Christian and who's not."
This is what a friend told me one day when we were talking about our small group of friends. When I heard this I had two thoughts almost immediately. The first was, "Of course not, cause we're all Christians." and then the second hit me, "When is it ever not about who's a Christian and who's not?" So I searched myself for the answer. For one example of just once in my life when everything boiled down to anything other than what people believe. I couldn't even find one case. How could I? What we believe makes us who we are. It dictates our actions and reactions to daily living. For example: A Christian (in theory) would not lie, no matter how convenient it might be or how much easier it would be to deal with a problem. Lieing is not part of their faith or belief system so they would tend not to do so. On the other hand someone that does not have a strong belief in God, or any type of religion for that matter, would not find lieing to be that big of a deal.
So I asked myself, "Why is it that we always run away from talking about anything related to religion or faith?" Why? Cause it's not politically correct. We're all so trapped by what others will think and what's "correct" that we can never be ourselves or really get to know others. We constantly stop the conversations at, "Oh we shouldn't talk about that." or "I'm not trying to change you." or "We can talk about something else.". When did stating what you believe become trying to convert someone else? Why should we even have to state that we're not trying to push our beliefs on others? Shouldn't that just come across in our tone? Shouldn't we be able to speak to people with out being worried about them getting offended or taking it the wrong way. So we're all different and we believe differently, what's the big deal. Why can't we appreciate the differences in each other instead of ignore them. There will always be a difference between Christians and non-Christians but there should never be a difference in the way we treat each other. When did America become the place where the Christians have to hide while everyone else's freedoms are protected. Shouldn't the Christians be just as free? Don't we have the same right to speech and protest and to congregate? Or have things changed so much in this great nation of ours that we can no longer stand up for what we believe in but must watch from the sidelines as all the other beliefs of the world thrive.
This is what a friend told me one day when we were talking about our small group of friends. When I heard this I had two thoughts almost immediately. The first was, "Of course not, cause we're all Christians." and then the second hit me, "When is it ever not about who's a Christian and who's not?" So I searched myself for the answer. For one example of just once in my life when everything boiled down to anything other than what people believe. I couldn't even find one case. How could I? What we believe makes us who we are. It dictates our actions and reactions to daily living. For example: A Christian (in theory) would not lie, no matter how convenient it might be or how much easier it would be to deal with a problem. Lieing is not part of their faith or belief system so they would tend not to do so. On the other hand someone that does not have a strong belief in God, or any type of religion for that matter, would not find lieing to be that big of a deal.
So I asked myself, "Why is it that we always run away from talking about anything related to religion or faith?" Why? Cause it's not politically correct. We're all so trapped by what others will think and what's "correct" that we can never be ourselves or really get to know others. We constantly stop the conversations at, "Oh we shouldn't talk about that." or "I'm not trying to change you." or "We can talk about something else.". When did stating what you believe become trying to convert someone else? Why should we even have to state that we're not trying to push our beliefs on others? Shouldn't that just come across in our tone? Shouldn't we be able to speak to people with out being worried about them getting offended or taking it the wrong way. So we're all different and we believe differently, what's the big deal. Why can't we appreciate the differences in each other instead of ignore them. There will always be a difference between Christians and non-Christians but there should never be a difference in the way we treat each other. When did America become the place where the Christians have to hide while everyone else's freedoms are protected. Shouldn't the Christians be just as free? Don't we have the same right to speech and protest and to congregate? Or have things changed so much in this great nation of ours that we can no longer stand up for what we believe in but must watch from the sidelines as all the other beliefs of the world thrive.
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