remember that...

...one time when Christians followed Jesus? 

today.

so i watched the nooma video "today" last night with the college community group. rob bell's point was that we need to focus on today and let the past be the past. not to continue to grieve or live in the past, but move on. i would have to say that if i was to put myself in the camp of living in the past it would be the nostalgia of the past. i do look into the past quite a bit. i remember how life was when my parents were together. i remember the summers of my youth. i remember how life was when i didn't have a job. i remember laughing with my friends. I remember places, smells, colors, people, songs and so on. they're both beautiful yet not there anymore. I agree with rob, that we need to move on. but we would not be who we are if we did not have those past experiences. they define us. they help us be who are. the good and the bad. but moving on is the fruit from which those experiences have generated from within. move on indeed.

sweet video from eric wareheim.

sweet video from the eric of Tim and Eric's awesome show - great job!

truly beautiful.

And I’m trying to make you sing
From inside where you believe
Like it’s something that you need
Like it means everything

And I’m trying to make you feel that
This is for real, that life is happening
That it means everything
I’m just trying to make you sing.

"The Lark Ascending Or (Perhaps More Acurately, I'm Trying to Make You Sing"

David Crowder

hmm...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

we do, we don't.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

we suck. period.

but now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. there is no difference...

...and are justified freely by his grace though the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

we used to suck. period.

sucking sucks us down, losing the hope for a life.

desire for hope.

the picture of allowing the Kingdom of God to be living and active sets a hope within me that we can truly be as Israel was for the world in bringing people out of exile and back to God. Jesus reigning as King sets the tone in the way we should live, not as ones raising our swords, or turning to government or tucking our tails in between our legs and running back to exile but of love and mercy and justice. Though this is not the end to which our hope is set upon because He has already risen. He reigns as King in Heaven and soon will restore Earth as it is there.

Peter says that we shouldn't be surprised when we face the trials that will come our way. This desire is not one that many agree with as they are blinded by that which they are blinded by. Just as the desire to be loved... "Do we reach for nothing in life because our reaching opens us up to tragedy? Because of it's vulnerable nature, desire begins to feel like our worst enemy." (from the Journey of Desire) I do believe we choose our own battles. Do we always choose the battles that we will always win? What makes the ones we choose to fight, even though the odds are against, worth fighting? Is it all in vain, knowing that we will fail?

When Jesus said "repent and believe" it was not as we think of today. N.T. Wright says that Jesus wasn't necessarily challenging people to give up sinning and have a religious conversion experience. He was telling his hearers to give up their agendas and to trust him for his way of being Israel, his way of bringing the kingdom, his kingdom-agenda. Jesus wants our whole life. He wants us to align our importance to what's most important. Is it worth it? If we truly listen to and follow where the Spirit is leading, does it mean we should be scared of tragedy? Does this sway our desire to being not as challenging or simple enough that it becomes comfortable.

This extends itself.

Choosing love will open spaces of immense beauty and joy for you, but you will be hurt. You already know this. You have retreated from love countless times in your life because of it. We all have. We have been and will be hurt by the loss of loved ones, by what they have done to us and we to them. Even in the bliss of love there is a certain exquisite pain: the pain of too much beauty, of overwhelming magnificence. Further, no matter how perfect a love may be, it is nevere really satisfied... In both joy and pain, love is boundless. (The Awakened Heart)

Will our desire leave us empty or disappointed?

Do our desires set us up for failure?

Even in the pursuit of "God's Will," are we led to complacency?