Sweet Song
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Thanks to my friend Nate's Dad and the youth group worship team at my church back home. I bring you this awesome song.
Let's Workout!
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Sometimes I try to use the process of sanctification to justify my reason to workout and/or participate physical activities. The verse I like to use is 1 Corinthians 6:19 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is in us, and our body is kind of like a temple that hosts it. If this is confusing I like compare it to the place called "Holy of Holies" in the Old Testament. Of course we as sinful mortals are definitely not cool enough for a direct comparison with that place, but the analogy helps somewhat.
My rationale behind said justification is that: if our body is a temple, then we should make the temple pretty awesome. I mean, it IS used to host God, and I don't think He would be very happy if we had the choice to offer Him a good temple and we are giving Him a shoddy one. With this thought in mind, let me remind you that there is no excuse for being overweight, or worse--obese. I'm not saying that it's not cool to be fat, I AM saying that the side effects that comes with being fat are not cool. If a person can be fat and not have heart problems/diabetes/sleep apnea/high cholesterol then I would definitely say being fat is pretty awesome. That is not the case though. An unhealthy body equals a shoddy temple, at least that's what I think.
I think I also need to note in this post that there's a fine line between staying in good shape for Jesus and getting ripped so you can attract the opposite gender's attention. Personally I think I'm crossing that line a bit. I am by no means "jacked" looking, I'm just saying that my mindset is a bit off. Is it so wrong to attract mates though? I mean, I do wanna get married, and I don't think my future wife would enjoy dating and marrying a fat bum. I guess there's a fine line there too. This would go back to my What We Do, Why We Do post.
Anyways, I'm done ranting about that topic. Sorry if anyone finds this post offensive. But seriously, you know what's right and wrong. If you don't do it for God (But you should!) there's still all the shallow and vain reasons in the world for you to not be overweight.
My rationale behind said justification is that: if our body is a temple, then we should make the temple pretty awesome. I mean, it IS used to host God, and I don't think He would be very happy if we had the choice to offer Him a good temple and we are giving Him a shoddy one. With this thought in mind, let me remind you that there is no excuse for being overweight, or worse--obese. I'm not saying that it's not cool to be fat, I AM saying that the side effects that comes with being fat are not cool. If a person can be fat and not have heart problems/diabetes/sleep apnea/high cholesterol then I would definitely say being fat is pretty awesome. That is not the case though. An unhealthy body equals a shoddy temple, at least that's what I think.
I think I also need to note in this post that there's a fine line between staying in good shape for Jesus and getting ripped so you can attract the opposite gender's attention. Personally I think I'm crossing that line a bit. I am by no means "jacked" looking, I'm just saying that my mindset is a bit off. Is it so wrong to attract mates though? I mean, I do wanna get married, and I don't think my future wife would enjoy dating and marrying a fat bum. I guess there's a fine line there too. This would go back to my What We Do, Why We Do post.
Anyways, I'm done ranting about that topic. Sorry if anyone finds this post offensive. But seriously, you know what's right and wrong. If you don't do it for God (But you should!) there's still all the shallow and vain reasons in the world for you to not be overweight.
Finding Our Comfort Zone
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Home has always been the comfort zone for me. During my early years in high school, when some things happened to not go right, I retreated to my house. My house was quiet, a big ranch with just my mom and I. My friend Nate's house should be noted as well. We were and are best friends. His family generously shared their house with me, and on the weekends their house was also my comfort zone. When I came to Christ midway through my Junior year, I came to find church as my place of comfort. After school I would go there just to hang out and relax. Sometimes I did more meaningful things. And it was great.
Of course though, a person's comfort zone can be mental as well. I was comfortable with my own atheist/agnostic beliefs until I was bombarded with Christianity. After I became a follower of Christ, my comfort zone became having God as a personal figure, afraid to share Him with anyone. Even fellow brothers and sisters, sometimes.
Coming to college forced me out of my comfort zone. I knew it would be difficult, but I made myself do it. I felt that it was something I needed to do. A couple months into college life has slowly assimilated me into the sharing-the-gospel-and-fighting-for-God mode. This was a great thing and I felt I've grown so much after a mere two months. Riding on this new feeling, I returned home for fall break last weekend.
Back to the old comfort zone? No.
The break was great. I saw most of my friends, got in a good spiritual talk with my friend Mike, and also saw some of my friends fall into sin. Some of them just fell into a mud puddle, but some of them seemed as if they fell into sinking sand. It was only two months! Man did people change. Fortunately, my home didn't change much. I felt as though everything would just go smoothly. Nice home visit and then back to school again. No way though. God would never have my life go smoothly like that! And that's probably a good thing.
After the semi-rough home visit, I returned to Case very much unsettled. No more comfort zone for me. Every day I wonder what the heck I'm doing here in college. Without a place of comfort I felt I almost had no direction in life. Rabbits have their holes, horses have their stalls, and humans most definitely have their homes. Every day people go out, do their stuff, and at night there's a place for them to return to. May I draw a connection between myself and refugees in third world countries? I feel I don't have the right. But I think at least the mentality is similar here.
I guess the realization I came to tonight would revolve around Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The Christians out in the religiously suppressed countries are crying out the Lord's Name and suffering for it. Where is their comfort zone? I have it much better than they do.
I thank God for helping me catch a glimpse of what true faith is like. Tonight I'll look to God as my place of peace and refuge.
My comfort zone is the position of my head when I bow to Him in prayer.
My comfort zone is in the air where my hands are held up high to lift Him in praise.
Of course though, a person's comfort zone can be mental as well. I was comfortable with my own atheist/agnostic beliefs until I was bombarded with Christianity. After I became a follower of Christ, my comfort zone became having God as a personal figure, afraid to share Him with anyone. Even fellow brothers and sisters, sometimes.
Coming to college forced me out of my comfort zone. I knew it would be difficult, but I made myself do it. I felt that it was something I needed to do. A couple months into college life has slowly assimilated me into the sharing-the-gospel-and-fighting-for-God mode. This was a great thing and I felt I've grown so much after a mere two months. Riding on this new feeling, I returned home for fall break last weekend.
Back to the old comfort zone? No.
The break was great. I saw most of my friends, got in a good spiritual talk with my friend Mike, and also saw some of my friends fall into sin. Some of them just fell into a mud puddle, but some of them seemed as if they fell into sinking sand. It was only two months! Man did people change. Fortunately, my home didn't change much. I felt as though everything would just go smoothly. Nice home visit and then back to school again. No way though. God would never have my life go smoothly like that! And that's probably a good thing.
After the semi-rough home visit, I returned to Case very much unsettled. No more comfort zone for me. Every day I wonder what the heck I'm doing here in college. Without a place of comfort I felt I almost had no direction in life. Rabbits have their holes, horses have their stalls, and humans most definitely have their homes. Every day people go out, do their stuff, and at night there's a place for them to return to. May I draw a connection between myself and refugees in third world countries? I feel I don't have the right. But I think at least the mentality is similar here.
I guess the realization I came to tonight would revolve around Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The Christians out in the religiously suppressed countries are crying out the Lord's Name and suffering for it. Where is their comfort zone? I have it much better than they do.
I thank God for helping me catch a glimpse of what true faith is like. Tonight I'll look to God as my place of peace and refuge.
My comfort zone is the position of my head when I bow to Him in prayer.
My comfort zone is in the air where my hands are held up high to lift Him in praise.
What about secrets?
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Recently in one of my classes here at Case we discussed secrets.
Are secrets good or bad? At first I believed secrets are a bad thing. As my teacher suggested, secrets can only exist if there is a community, where people are hiding things/information from one another (bad thing). He also goes to say that if you were the only person on earth, there would be no more secrets, because you then would have no one to hide anything from. I agree with him to a certain degree.
I thought that in an ideal community there would be no secrets, everyone can and would willing share their thoughts with one another. Because, I mean, if you're holding something in your heart it'll eventually bog you down, making you depressed or something. Also, in the grand scheme of things, you cannot hide anything from God. All the "secrets" you think you have He knows about.
With the idea of an ideal community in mind, I thought of the trinity. The trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all in one. Being in a community of three is a characteristic of God. As we are made in the image of God, shouldn't we all at some point strive for that characteristic? Having a holy community among the believers? Well, okay then. I thought in God's perfect community there are no secrets, seeing how the three separate "Parts" are actually the same. It's like two person sharing the exact same brain. The two persons are different appearance-wise, but they have the same "container" for thoughts. So how can you NOT share what's in the container if you're both using it?
I just read a passage that may refute this train of thought I had. Matthew 24:36: "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." WAIT. I believe this passage concerns the date and time of rapture, but that's not the point. This verse seemed to me as if the Father is withholding something from the Son, even though they are the same person. Could this be considered a secret? That the Father knows something that not even the Son knows? Before one goes on thinking too much about this, I want to make one thing clear, the clause "nor the Son" is omitted in some version, such as the KJV. Still though, is this a lie that certain editors put into the scripture then? Or does the Father really have something that the Son doesn't know about? I think this is a very curious case. Maybe someone would have answer out there. Please enlighten me if you know.
Are secrets good or bad? At first I believed secrets are a bad thing. As my teacher suggested, secrets can only exist if there is a community, where people are hiding things/information from one another (bad thing). He also goes to say that if you were the only person on earth, there would be no more secrets, because you then would have no one to hide anything from. I agree with him to a certain degree.
I thought that in an ideal community there would be no secrets, everyone can and would willing share their thoughts with one another. Because, I mean, if you're holding something in your heart it'll eventually bog you down, making you depressed or something. Also, in the grand scheme of things, you cannot hide anything from God. All the "secrets" you think you have He knows about.
With the idea of an ideal community in mind, I thought of the trinity. The trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all in one. Being in a community of three is a characteristic of God. As we are made in the image of God, shouldn't we all at some point strive for that characteristic? Having a holy community among the believers? Well, okay then. I thought in God's perfect community there are no secrets, seeing how the three separate "Parts" are actually the same. It's like two person sharing the exact same brain. The two persons are different appearance-wise, but they have the same "container" for thoughts. So how can you NOT share what's in the container if you're both using it?
I just read a passage that may refute this train of thought I had. Matthew 24:36: "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." WAIT. I believe this passage concerns the date and time of rapture, but that's not the point. This verse seemed to me as if the Father is withholding something from the Son, even though they are the same person. Could this be considered a secret? That the Father knows something that not even the Son knows? Before one goes on thinking too much about this, I want to make one thing clear, the clause "nor the Son" is omitted in some version, such as the KJV. Still though, is this a lie that certain editors put into the scripture then? Or does the Father really have something that the Son doesn't know about? I think this is a very curious case. Maybe someone would have answer out there. Please enlighten me if you know.
What We Do, Why We Do
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Acts 16:16-18 has made me think a lot about myself lately. Especially with myself in relation to the world. The said verses goes:
"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
In this verse a fortune teller lady was possessed by some evil spirit and made her able to "tell fortunes" and what not. She went around saying Paul and the other disciples were "servants of the most high God." While this statement was true, Paul still turned around and cast the spirit away. Think about this, the spirit in the women wasn't lying, so why was it cast out?
Things may appear to be righteous in the world and be for a good cause, but we must discern which ones are for the glory of God and which ones are for self-righteousness and vain glory. The lady in Acts deceived others by telling "fortunes" while saying the disciples were the servants of God. So, one thing the damsel said was true, but the source of that truth was corrupted because the source (evil spirit) also made her deceive other people. There are similar situations like that in the world today. Some people work for and give to charity (the action performed). A few of these people do it out of the goodness of their heart, some for the glory of God, and some just wanna get famous (the source of the action).
Let's evaluate ourselves today. I know some of the things I like to do are for myself to look good and God doesn't appreciate it. Even though I know this, I lie to myself sometimes (don't do this) and say it's actually good work and for the glory of God. And think about this as you go on to do daily things as well. Are we holding the door for that person because of the Holy Spirit working in us, or is it because that person happens to be a hot girl/guy and we want to look good? Thin line, isn't it? Just one wrong turn and we're looking at hell instead of heaven.
"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
In this verse a fortune teller lady was possessed by some evil spirit and made her able to "tell fortunes" and what not. She went around saying Paul and the other disciples were "servants of the most high God." While this statement was true, Paul still turned around and cast the spirit away. Think about this, the spirit in the women wasn't lying, so why was it cast out?
Things may appear to be righteous in the world and be for a good cause, but we must discern which ones are for the glory of God and which ones are for self-righteousness and vain glory. The lady in Acts deceived others by telling "fortunes" while saying the disciples were the servants of God. So, one thing the damsel said was true, but the source of that truth was corrupted because the source (evil spirit) also made her deceive other people. There are similar situations like that in the world today. Some people work for and give to charity (the action performed). A few of these people do it out of the goodness of their heart, some for the glory of God, and some just wanna get famous (the source of the action).
Let's evaluate ourselves today. I know some of the things I like to do are for myself to look good and God doesn't appreciate it. Even though I know this, I lie to myself sometimes (don't do this) and say it's actually good work and for the glory of God. And think about this as you go on to do daily things as well. Are we holding the door for that person because of the Holy Spirit working in us, or is it because that person happens to be a hot girl/guy and we want to look good? Thin line, isn't it? Just one wrong turn and we're looking at hell instead of heaven.
Take it slow
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Today I was at a certain place with a friend who lives in the same dorm as me. He got caught up in something the last minute so I left before him. A few moments later he caught up to me and said: "Wow, I caught up to you. I dunno, I think I'm a fast walker." That may be it, but I told him instead I told him I was a slow walker instead. This is true. To strengthen my argument I said to him: "Yeah, when I go to class I usually leave half an hour before hand." This may or may not surprise you, but it should (haha). Most people from my dorm, when they leave for class, usually leaves 15 minutes before hand. That just goes to show you how slow I walk.
I never thought much about this "thing" I did (walking slow). But my friend suggested that it could be an allegory to enjoying life, taking it slow. I found his insight interesting because I did enjoy life and like to take things slow. As I thought more about it, something sunk into me. Should we all take things slow and enjoy life? Everywhere I go I see people walking fast and trying to get things done ASAP. And I suppose this principle applies to studying for tests, as well. Why struggle to try and cram information the night before? Studies show that it doesn't work well and people are probably aware of that. Might as well just go to bed instead of studying.
James 4:14 says: "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." This verse rings true for everyone. Our lives are so short in comparison to the grand scheme of things. Sure, the average human life span has increased over the years, but how much is 70, 80 years when compared to the history of the universe? Very small. And that's not even taking into consideration eternity. God is eternity, and eternity existed before time began and will continue after time stops. I think vapor is an overstatement to be honest.
So why ARE we hurrying? We should slow down, enjoy the beautiful Earth that God has created and humans have ruined. I'd say everyone should walk slower, maybe then we'll start to notice things that we haven't gotten the chance to see before because we've been walking so fast. Now as I say this, I don't imply that we should slack off. Sloth is a sin and slowing down our lifestyle doesn't necessarily make us less efficient. The span of our life has already been pre-determined by God, as wel as the works He wants us to do. We're only going to get as much done as He wants us to in this life time. If you get all the things done too early He might take you away earlier than you expect!
I never thought much about this "thing" I did (walking slow). But my friend suggested that it could be an allegory to enjoying life, taking it slow. I found his insight interesting because I did enjoy life and like to take things slow. As I thought more about it, something sunk into me. Should we all take things slow and enjoy life? Everywhere I go I see people walking fast and trying to get things done ASAP. And I suppose this principle applies to studying for tests, as well. Why struggle to try and cram information the night before? Studies show that it doesn't work well and people are probably aware of that. Might as well just go to bed instead of studying.
James 4:14 says: "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." This verse rings true for everyone. Our lives are so short in comparison to the grand scheme of things. Sure, the average human life span has increased over the years, but how much is 70, 80 years when compared to the history of the universe? Very small. And that's not even taking into consideration eternity. God is eternity, and eternity existed before time began and will continue after time stops. I think vapor is an overstatement to be honest.
So why ARE we hurrying? We should slow down, enjoy the beautiful Earth that God has created and humans have ruined. I'd say everyone should walk slower, maybe then we'll start to notice things that we haven't gotten the chance to see before because we've been walking so fast. Now as I say this, I don't imply that we should slack off. Sloth is a sin and slowing down our lifestyle doesn't necessarily make us less efficient. The span of our life has already been pre-determined by God, as wel as the works He wants us to do. We're only going to get as much done as He wants us to in this life time. If you get all the things done too early He might take you away earlier than you expect!
What is a "storm"?
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I thought I should explain what the name of my blog means before posting anything else.
"Storm" is a very broad term for me. I consider most events that occur in my life to be a "storm." It can be argued that most things are not significant enough to be called a "storm," but I feel that all events, if not a challenge, can still be tested and evaluated through "bible goggles." If looked at that that, I'd say a lot more things in life becomes storms. Maybe even your whole life will be a storm (I mean, as humans, we constantly fall for sin, yet we ARE constantly challenged to live in a more Godly-manner).
"Storm" is a very broad term for me. I consider most events that occur in my life to be a "storm." It can be argued that most things are not significant enough to be called a "storm," but I feel that all events, if not a challenge, can still be tested and evaluated through "bible goggles." If looked at that that, I'd say a lot more things in life becomes storms. Maybe even your whole life will be a storm (I mean, as humans, we constantly fall for sin, yet we ARE constantly challenged to live in a more Godly-manner).