CHRIST, rhymes, & Life

It was Christmas Eve and a bunch of the family was gathered around eagerly awaiting midnight to open presents. This was the first time we had done this together with our cousins and all, and it was the first time I opened my presents at midnight in a while. I guess the fact that we did secret Santa this year added to the excitement. The tree had so many presents under it, about half of the living room was filled, we could barely wait. Then the time came. We took pictures, then opened the presents one person at a time. It was fun hanging out with everyone, receiving gifts, and watching the people we gave gifts to open theirs. Everyone got spoiled this Christmas, but the next morning it seemed like all the excitement was gone. I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Don't get me wrong, I really like the gifts I got, but I was reminded of how the things of this world do not satisfy. The living room which was filled with presents the night before now seemed empty and I just th...

" So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing... " - Ephesians 6:21 Obviously, I'm not very good at this blogging thing. Plus, I've been pretty busy so it's been hard to find the time to do this. I want to blog more frequently, but at the same time I don't want to just post things just to do it. I want to carefully consider what I write and take the time necessary to do it, since transgression is not lacking where words are many. An idea just popped into my head: for those of you who actually read this, I think it would be cool to do a Q&A, so if you want just comment on this post with questions and I'll do my best to answer it in my next post! Anywho, here's a quick update on what's going on in my life. Thanksgiving yesterday was great! Started off the day playing some flag football. I'm so out of shape but it was fun being able to run around. I spent the rest of the day with family and it was cool hanging out together, wat...

Get's me pumped every time!

" ...to mature manhood... " - Ephesians 4:13 During the month I spent meditating on the book of Ephesians, this phrase stood out to me and has stuck with me. This three word phrase has so much power behind it. Biblical manhood. It's something I am passionate about. I want to be a true man of God and lead others to this by setting an example of what a man should be. About three and a half years into my walk with Christ and I think I'm finally starting to get it. Unfortunately, the presence of true men is weak in today's society and the view of what a man is, is really distorted. It's very evident. Look around and you'll see a bunch of boys. Our culture says do what you want, do whatever makes you feel good, be tough, have sex, build up your reputation, get money, the list goes on and on. Do the very things God hates, and that's what makes you a man. The truth is twisted. " ...they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and ...

 Such a powerful message. I still get chills every time I listen to this. I'll let it speak for itself.

" Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. " - 2 Corinthians 13:5 My first ever blog post is about part of my testimony and this one will be sort of a continuation of that, as I will be sharing what I believe has been crucial to the growth in my walk with God, especially over the past few months. For the longest time in my relationship with Him, I experienced little growth. It was a turning point in my walk when God opened my eyes to see this. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Psalm 51 , where David is just completely real with God. It's so powerful. He humbles himself before God and pours out his heart to Him, confessing his sin and asking for God's mercy and forgiveness. Through his brokenness, he ends up rejoicing in God because he knows His love. David is focused on God and worships Him. This psalm is a beautiful display of what our relationship with God should look like. Looking back, I know throughout most ...

This might be the last post about the trip to India and Ethiopia, for now. If you would like to know more just ask me and I would be glad to share. Our last night in India we shared our highlights and lowlights of the week, so I'm going to share mine for each week right now. India Highlight: My favorite moment from this week from our first day of serving, when we went to visit the home of girls rescued out of the red light district. It was a little awkward at first and for a while I was just off to the side while they were all making their bracelets. But I felt a pull on my heart, God telling me to stop thinking about myself, most of these girls have probably seen so much of males treating women as nothing other than sexual objects, and go love on them because He does. So I jumped into it and it was great. I enjoyed hanging out with a good amount of them, making bracelets, talking with them, learning a bunch of names, and learning some Hindi. What happened next is something I...