Nebuchadnezzar's an Idiot

So Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. As a response, Nebuchadnezzar "fell prostrate before Daniel" and proclaimed, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries."

Next, the king makes an image of gold "ninety feet high and nine feet wide." He declares that as soon as anyone hears any kind of music, they "must fall down and worship the image of gold" that he set up. Daniel's friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to worship his idol and are promptly thrown into a fire so hot that the men who threw them in burned to death. By God's power, they three friends remain un-barbequed.

The king then cries out, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." He makes a decree "that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble."

ok... (and that's just the first three chapters)

to be continued

Yup. Whether all seems right or a preserved piranha eats your peeps, life will just keep swimming.

En Gedi

Oasis. I've got one. It's safe. It's comfortable. It's "mine."

It currently happens to be the bottom of a dorm bunk bed with a memory foam mattress pad and pillow, down comforter, one of those beady squishy pillows, two other pillows, a sheet which turns my bottom bunk into a tent of sorts, and a stuffed rhino from the Kohl's Cares for Kids shelf named Gustav. There's a bendy blue lamp clipped to the wooden headboard, a turtle-shaped snowflake above the headboard, some bars from the bed above me which are utilized for flipping myself, a red radiator to the left that makes loud metallic clanging noises when it turns on (and gets WAY too hot), really ugly drapes also to the left, and finally...a shelf with my camera and a big red cowbell that says "Bell Diablo" at the end.

I wonder though, what's En Gedi going to look like when I'm an adult? Will I have my own house with a wife and kids? Will I live in a small one bedroom apartment with leaky pipes and no wireless? How about a house with 5 other guys? Africa? Where will my place of comfort be?

Honestly, I really like that first option. I'm willing to do whatever God says, but I do daydream of a time when I can love my wife as Christ loves the church and invest in my children with all the wisdom and energy our Father invests into us.

I don't know what the fates have prepared for me... but, are we there yet?

Acting on AIDS

Describe your desire to be involved in Acting on AIDS
A wise man once told a Foellinger Hall full of students, “When you hear what He says, do what He says.” Although I can’t say I have an ignited heart drenched in kerosene for this club and what it stands for, I can say that I feel a certain steady nudge towards becoming more involved. Since praying specifically for “eyes that might see and ears that might hear” the past couple weeks, I have discerned (hopefully correctly) that the certain steady nudge is from God. Well, I heard it; I better do what it says.

Describe your beliefs in reference to Acting on AIDS
Our God cares about us more than a human mind could ever fathom. Jesus took upon Himself all suffering, all injustice, so that we might have a chance to encounter God’s love. Although death has been conquered, the Kingdom of God has not yet become fully realized. This earth is still broken, and it is our privilege as Christ followers to do something about it. Acting on AIDS does something about it.

Describe why your specific skills might be helpful in the position you wish to attain
I have no special skills that might be helpful as Advocacy Chair. I do, however, have the God-given ability to read, speak, and love people. There is also in me a great desire to learn and serve. I offer all I am to Christ and am ready to follow Him in His work through Acting on AIDS.

instead of a show - jon foreman

swing

sometimes life throws an unexpected twist at you. maybe you even saw it coming... but the twist still isn't good. David cries out in Psalm 22 Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus echoes this prayer while he is being tortured to death for sins he did not commit.

so how do we respond? when all in our world is just... painful. what do we do? well very frequently, we sit. we're "waiting on the world to change" (as John Mayer melodically shares with us). and it's comfy - especially in our affluent culture where generic La-Z-Boy's are almost ubiquitous. and yes, a time of mourning and lamenting is always appropriate. if we don't take that time, we never give God the opportunity to heal us.

but what if we keep sitting? how many times does God need to "heal" us before we realize He wants us to get moving?

i think that there always comes a point in time when we must trade in our couch for a swing. when the time to grieve is over and the time to move has arrived. it's hard to trade seats. it's hard to go from a safe, comfy seat that requires nothing of us to a dangerous, dirty, rubber seat that won't function unless we put some work into it. it's hard, but it's worth it. it's actually fairly simple (stand up, go outside, take a walk, find a swing, sit, move your legs back and forth), but not easy.

so why swing? because the easy, comfortable life is never worth living - all things worth having require work. because a little bit of turbulence in our lives makes us stronger. because the longer we stay inside, the less of an impact we can make on this world. do you think you're suffering needlessly? take what you learn and DO something with it.

why swing? because sometimes when you swing, you get to say "i'm happy."

anyway, swings are more fun :-p

all creation cries...

resurrection. forest fires, butterflies, and magnolias all seem to die, only to come back again.

some trees grow to a certain height at which lightning strikes and causes destruction. but if there was never the fire, the seeds would never have the chance to grow (for many reasons i won't get into here).

caterpillars go from a moving being into one who cocoons up and seems dead... for a while. magically (and majestically), a triumphant and beautiful butterfly springs out of this dead shell and flies freely (something the caterpillar never got to do). 

magnolias look ugly for 11 months out of the year. seriously, they're these decrepid looking branches sticking out of the ground. but without disappointing, every year they bless us with their hot to soft pink flowers. i look at the magnolia flowers and i see jesus.

now, please don't take this to mean i think the lifecycle of a magnolia tree is a perfect metaphor for christ's death and resurrection. my only point (a simple point) is that if you look at creation, you will see it screaming RESURRECTION. it's as if all these little things are hinting at jesus. God's creation is a tiny glimpse of what His Kingdom is like. it's... kind of awesome.