Born

Sitting on the stairs of my church these words were birthed freely from my impregnated thoughts onto paper. The notion has long been dismissed as an excuse. Please have the maturity not to take it that way.

My parents were married in the church I now attend. I was dedicated there. I was baptized there. My first mission trip was sent out from there, my dreams and purpose has been cultivated there. I was born there. I grew up there. I've never known anything else. It's been the biggest part of my life in accordance with my heart, mind, and actions.

I've subconsciously souvenired the memory of an instance that replays itself from time to time in my unfocused mind. The hierarchy of classes for children at my church at the time staired from Pre-church, "Soul" Church, and Kids Church. "Soul Church" was my rank and I was being escorted by my mother from the classroom after service. Undoubtedly playing with my clip-on tie as we walked through the breezeway towards the parking lot. I held a small animated pamphlet detailing basics for a "born-again" life that I never read. "Guess what" I would ask my mother. "What?" she would ask me. "I got saved today," I would answer. Then she would say, "Again?"

While my caring mother remembered an apparent time before, this is my first memory of proclaiming salvation. You can understand that this left a questioning thread in my mind. Had I already made the "life-changing" decision? The thunder was taken from me amidst confusion and shrugging shoulders and the event went from an entire chapter to a mere subscript in the books. And so, I've always been saved.

Recently a missionary spoke at my church and he told the story of a baptism they had in a river. His son who attended, but did not participate was quoted to have said something along the lines of "I want to get baptized-ed, it looks fun." Besides laughter the reply from his father is remembered by me as "There are a few things we have to do first before baptism." I was silently surprised at this. I'm not sure, but could it be that this means his son has not yet prayed the sinner's prayer? Could it mean, that because he does not yet have a full grasp of the situation, that he is not yet making the choice? Could it mean that he is not repeating words that he has no grasp upon in order to give him a little ease from nightmares? Is it possible that under godly influence from his parents and others that he will someday make the desicion to completely turn from sin and dedicate his life to the Lord? I think it's very possible and I think it's honorable.

From experience, that system beats going through life and getting "saved" countless times. The true salvation experience has been lacking in me for sometime. I'll never have that one beautiful, defining, real moment that I turn my life from dedication to sin and follow God with an uncommon fervency.

Abraham Lincoln said this, "It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him." He's right. I've never denied God, so I've never truly felt like one of this world, but I have oft denied his commands. Verses from Jeremiah chapter three verses four and five remark my mental side-thoughts to God during these confused times:

"Yet you say to me, 'Father, you have been my guide since the days of my youth. Surely you won't be angry about such a little thing! Surely you can forget it!' So you talk and you keep right on doing all the evil you can."

And so the ugly cycle will continue until these words from the prophet are relayed to you and you realize your folly.

There are some things you should learn alone. You have to trust God to draw one in with his power and not your own. He can. A forcible entry always does damage. Once again that is not to excuse myself. I am a born-again, saved child of God, and I can make my own decisions. All blame shifts only to myself.

Again, make no mistake, I'm all for instilling children with a firm foundation early on. Without my parents constant preaching of right and wrong and Christ's sacrifice for us, God knows where I would be today. Only would I warn not to hurry them through the most important desicion of their lives.

Dangerous Ground

As soon as you are no longer ignorant of something, you are forced to make a choice.

These words are my own but given, stretched across a page in a notebook that was intended for something entirely unrelated to my periodical meditations. To me, pen and paper are precious instruments of beaching your inspirations onto an anchoring shore.

In reading this you are treading on dangerous ground. You are trapped by a choice. You cannot avoid it. If you discontinue this read you've made the choice to possibly miss out on something vital. As you go through the day you are exposed to choices you cannot possibly get out of. I would ask you to have the courage to make the right one.

Many will say I did not write with tact. Perhaps that I should not have been so straightforward. William Lloyd Garrison holds to my creed in announcing things that are our passion in saying:

“I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hand of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- and I will be heard.”

It's been told to me that people die at such a rate that each time you breath out can represent a death somewhere across the globe. I could never justify my life in the end if I did not fiercely give everything I had towards ensuring that people know just how critical this situation has become. There are one additional quotes I would like to cite before officially saying what I want to say. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this:

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

Certainly if Herr Bonhoeffer could act in the face of being executed I can act in such a free country as this. You see if you see a problem and you decide to simply remain silent and ignore it, you've still made a desicion. If you don't want to think about making a desicion right now, you've jut made a desicion. I'm going to act...

The truth is this: God absolutely did send his son Jesus Christ to this earth. He stayed for 33 years and performed many miraculous signs and he was crucified to take the sins of the world upon himself. He did rise from the grave and he is in heaven right now. You can either choose to accept him or you can choose not to. There is no alternative after you have read this. If you put it out of your head and never think about it again, you have chosen not to. If you take it to heart and you turn away from this perverse world, then you can have a freedom like nothing you've ever experienced and you can have a purpose like no one else can give. When you die you will live for eternity with him in Heaven. It is forever, it is paradise, and it is real. If you choose, and again you will have to, to deny this, not believe this, or curse these truths, when you die you will not spend eternity with him. The ONLY alternative is Hell. It's forever, it is torment, and it is real. For your soul's sake choose love! Choose Christ!

You've crossed dangerous ground. You are either in or out of trouble. My prayers are with you that you make the choice that leads towards Him.

Monumental

A monument: A lasting evidence, reminder, or example of someone or something notable or great. A would add on to Merriam-Webster defining it as a tribute and an honor to someone or something or an idea even, such as liberty. We've honored kings and rulers, presidents and heros, soldiers, martyrs, battles, events. The list goes on and dwindles towards mundane and idolatry at times, other times innocent commemoration and gratitude. Where our glory goes and the effects of these memorials is certainly not my thesis. I've always liked monuments and always will.

We humans can at times be an ungrateful, forgetful, and arrogant people. We may need to dedicate a portion of the emotions we have to something that will always be. We may need to go out of our way to show thanks for an everyday blessing. We may need to give credit where credit is due.

One of many instances in the book of Joshua 4:1-7 is recorded to demonstrate the commemoration of a great deed:

"So Joshua called together the twelve men and told them, "Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder--twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask, 'What do these stones mean to you?' Then you can tell them, 'They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's covenant went across.' These stones will stand as a permanent memorial among the people of Israel."

The toil of these men, in their thanks, would be remembered and passed down from generation to generation all in honor of this miraculous act. And it does not have to be as extravagant as all that. David would often commemorate a work of God with a song such as in Psalms 28:7:

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."

How much could you honor God with something simple? God is pleased with all you do in worship. Draw him a picture, write him a poem, make him something. He's a real God! Make or do something to show others what he has done for you. Monuments tell a story. Be creative, but do something to remind yourself or show others the amazing miracles God does for you in your life everyday. If he's released you from some sort of bondage, do something for him! If he's given you guidance in a dark situation, tell the world!

When God does something Monumental in your life, remember it.

Science

If you are around me enough you will probably hear the mostly startling statement of "I don't believe in science." This IS NOT insinuative of any sort of grudge against the class in school for all it's strain as most suggest. My dissensions are rarely so unfounded. The class did put me to thinking on the subject again, however, and as usual in a critical way. The definition has evolved into a much more realistically enstranged topic, antagonizing its initial purpose of moving closer to the truth. There are three main definitions, please read them carefully because there is something I want you to see:

1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2 a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge
3 a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : natural science

I will now call to attention the method in ordering these alternative definitions. Almost always either the original or generalist definition of the term get the first slot and they continue in descending order. You will also notice that in these definitions they come to have a more material preoccupation as they go, and stray away from the traditional knowledge-thirsty intent.
The biggest problem with science is its disregard for the supernatural. You cannot begin to non-fictionally discover the earth's phenomena with but exclusive research of natural explanations. Nothing is natural. I would wonder as to how one could be so arrogant that they believe they could have a knowledge of every miracle and completely trash all divine control.

Now I know you are all reading and waiting for my comments and disdain for popularly hailed and shunned, evolution. Well put it out of your head, because I will not specifically criticize it. No, I believe I'll stick to science in general. However, I will provide some thought on Mr. Charles Darwin, advocate and more or less founder of the "Evolution Revolution."

Briefly: Grew up in a Unitarian church with his 5 brothers and sisters. After his mother died he attended a boarding school and soon began to apprentice as a doctor with his father. He found these practices not only dull, but distressing and began to slack in this line of work. He learned and excelled in taxidermy, classification of plants, and natural history while in school, but his father soon sent him away to Christ's College, Cambridge due to his negligence in his medical studies. The reason? A bachelor arts degree and the first step in the path to becoming a parson. Yes that's right, our evolution man, hideously disparaged by almost every preacher a gospel man himself. While he was there he was strayed away from his studies by newly discovered hobby of beetle collecting and other sport such as riding and shooting. As finals moved closer however he buckled down to his work. He was intrigued and infatuated by some literature by William Paley, a vigorous advocate and theologian that mainly subjected the existence of God. He did exceptionally well on his exam and continued to study Paley's work embodying many such subjects as divine design in nature. His interest in natural history however led him to abandon his schooling for that famous voyage on the HMS Beagle. While on his voyage he began to theorize about the adaptations and evolvement of species. As he begin to delve more and more into thoughts on involvement, his distinction between human and animal began to slowly become thinner. Besides overwork in his obsessive interests he also began to experience health problems, including stomach pains, vomiting, severe boils, palpitations, trembling and other symptoms none of which the origin was ever discovered, he suffered from these symptoms for the rest of his life. His interests began to rest heavily in the origin of things. When he finally published his work on natural selections controversy and interest exploded. While Darwin mostly sat back and watched his subtle theory explode into hundreds of assumptions and adoptions, his inner circle of friends (Gray, Hooker, Huxley and Lyell) were really the ones to take it in all different directions. Gray and Lyell were for a more faith based portrayal of the theory while Huxley began to "elaborate" in favor of the prescence of the "men from apes" theory in the book (which was not at all in the book) and begin a fierce campaign for science's trump over religion. The whole experience from the time Darwin had returned from his Beagle voyage had left him questioning the Bible as literal truth. He would often quote the Bible on the voyage and sought to tie in the adaptations of species from a pro-creation standpoint. His studies left him doubting. His blossoming thoughts on natural selection began to make divine design seem silly and pointless. To add to his questioning he begin to take notice of all the pain and strife demonstrated in the world's everyday life and thought that someone as good as the Creator he knew would not cause such, and with the death of his daughter Annie his Christian faith began to dwindle. While he never denied the existence of God and clung tightly to the bible as a source of moral law, his strong Christian lifestyle had been crushed by the search for reason. His lust for learning in regard to the natural, and his quest for explanations within human reason brought him further from the truth. His inner war between Christianity and Science gave him (and his wife) severe bouts with depression. In learning more and more about the world his faith was shaken. Our boy Darwin was growing up and leaving his child-like faith behind and with it the eternal truth that he would never get a grasp on again.

I speak to my brothers and sisters in Christ now. What can we hope to gain in pursuing science? Wisdom and true knowledge don't come from this earth or from natural things, but from above. I would venture to say another startling statement. I don't believe a Christian should avidly study science unless they are exceptionally and unshakeably firm in their faith. No if science is taken for what it was meant to be it isn't a bad thing. Not at all and it may be worth your time depending on its source. Why, though, would you intentionally delve so incureably deep into to a realm that will only fill your mind with doubts and harden your heart to the miraculous way of our Lord. Science should be more of a companion to Christianity with no difference in the Word and discovery. The only way you can uncover the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is in checking your hypotheses based on what God's word says. This contemporary science has become a heretical religion instead of a quest for intellectuals. A haven for atheists and the secularly inclined. It breaks my heart to see yet another Enemy infested perversion. Science is like all good things, not wrong unless corrupted.

Also I must point out that as much as science begs to shut down the supernatural as truth, in it's explanations it is ignorant as to just how much it's supporting it. The more statistics and complexities it begins to explain the more it's realized just how impossible it is to be without divine intervention. It hails God's hand, unfortunately with names like "spontaneous," and "chance." It tries to name our physical makeup while it just can't comprehend how astoundingly intricate we our. It blames chemicals and such for our thoughts and perfect revolution and location for the existence of life on earth. Then, I wonder, whom or what does it blame for the chemicals or such a precise location. They can never ever trace it all back to the beginning, because to do that it would have to admit that a never-ending chain of theories strung together loosely with spontaneous happenings would leave them with no end, because the end, people, is God and God defies their creed.

All this said I'm not on the whole against science. Just look once more at the first enumerated definition above, there's as far as it goes for me, and even that has it's limitations. Just look where a "state of knowing" has gotten human beings since that fateful fruit infringement in the garden of Eden. But as for the present day and age, ignorance is not the place to be in order to make a difference and wisdom is God's wish for us. Let's just seek it out in eternal places. Among the everyday miracles of God's creation. In the mysteries of Love that have been put in place everywhere we go waiting to be discovered. In the thrill of the Lord's promise and all the knowledge He would love to give to us. Nothing in this earth can compare to Christ's Love. Now there's something all your theorizing, hypothesizing, and explaining can't get a hold of. How much your Savior loves you. Science will never be supreme, no matter how foolish it attempts to make Christianity look. Our faith and our belief will not waver.

My Essentials

Whatever place you may choose to read, it is always a smart move to take a look in the scriptures each morning before you start the day, if it's just one verse. With this in mind I've compiled so many verses and scripture together to make up my Essentials. The verses I've found so far to best prepare me for the day. This list is not constant, I've added to it several times and plan to continue. Here they are:

1. Ephesians 6:10-20/The armor of God, practical and perfect for the intro to any day. So that you will be able to stand the wiles of the devil.

2. 1 Corinthians 13/To remind me what love truly is, and it's vitality.

3. Jeremiah 29:11/Just in case I get the notion that God is against me or out to get me (my mind can go strange places. He has good thoughts and plans for me.

4. Psalm 139:7-12/This whole chapter sometimes gets my read. Such a great passage. These few verses explode with the omniprescent spirit of God. Inescapable. Love it!

5. Matthew 23:11, 12/Reminds me to participate in the greatest imitation of Christ. Servitude with humility on the side.

6. Romans 8:28/A promise. Everything works for good if we continue to love God and run after His purpose for us.

7. Romans 8:38, 39/My favorite promise from the Lord. It's impossible for us to seperate ourselves from the love of Christ. Nothing can!

8. Romans 12:2/The anti-conformity statement of the day. Be different! We are aliens and this is not our home. Change the culture don't let it change you. We have something to prove.

9. Phillipians 2:14, 15/I really need this one playing over and over in my head all day. Be blameless and shine bright.

10. Matthew 6:9-13/This is definitely one to be practiced everyday. The Lord's Prayer. We cannot up it with our own prayer so each day it should be entreatied to Heaven.

11. Proverb/The Proverbs have the best one month setup. Everyday would be ideal for each one. The Proverbs show you how to be a practically moral person, and give you precious wisdom.

So these are my essentials. Leave take or recommend, but definitely start a set for yourself.