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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| drought.
did you guys know that Governor Schwarzenegger (is that how you spell it?)
has declared California to be in a drought?
yep. California is officially suffering from a drought.
this website provides tips on how to save water:
http://boxer.senate.gov/features/water/
this is my personal favorite:
http://www.h2ouse.org/tour/index.cfm
even if you're not interested in conserving water (which you should be!!)
check it out, the website looks cool.
what exactly is a drought?
it is a "period of dry weather" or an "extended shortage."
maybe you are experiencing your own drought.
maybe it's more evident than the one California is in.
maybe it's been for a long time.
maybe it's recent.
sometimes it feels like God isn't listening, like He's not there.
our prayers remained unanswered and our hearts still troubled.
we feel like we're giving and giving, but we're not receiving.
we think we're listening, our ears are open, but we hear nothing.
our lives remain the same, our situations do not change.
but God hears you. yeah, He hears you.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness." (2 Peter 3:9a)
we cry and whine and complain about how nothing is happening,
how nothing is changing in our lives, how nothing seems real anymore.
but He didn't forget about us. the verse from 2 Peter speaks for itself.
ok real quick. if God would send His one and only Son,
whom He loves so so much, to be a sacrifice for sucky people like us...
if God would turn His back on Jesus as He hung on the cross...
if God would allow the mocking, the flogging, the crucifixion...
what in the world makes you think He'll forget about you now??
anyways... here's a question.
if everything went right, would you praise God?
would you remember to glorify Him in everything?
if all your prayers were answered and lives changed,
would you still earnestly seek after God?
here's another question.
if nothing went right, if none of your prayers were answered,
if no lives were changed, if situations remained the same,
would you give up on God? or would you praise Him, even in your drought?
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines;
though the labor of the olive may fail,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
and there be no herd in the stalls---
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17-18
what are we seeking, God or His gifts?
why does it matter that we are not receiving
what we think we deserve?
we have God's salvation and redemption,
what more do we need?
in the midst of your drought, the california one or your personal one,
rejoice in the Lord and find your joy in Him, the God of your salvation.
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| Save the Rainforest.
growing up as a Christian, i thought "saving the world" only meant one thing.
then i realized there are two definitions, but still one meaning.
it's kind of lame when people pick and choose what to
know and what to ignore. it's all or nothing.
and since we're not oblivious to our sinful nature, to our
saving grace, to our hopeful eternity...
why should we forget about everything else?
but anyways, what is the second definition of "saving the world?"
saving the environment, duh.
you know, the world may be given over to sin and destruction
but this is still God's creation. and i'm not about to ditch it.
if i were to ditch anything that's given over to sin and death,
i would ditch you. i would have to ditch me.
but we don't turn away from each other. we run to each other.
we need to stop acting like this doesn't concern us.
we actually need to wake up and get it together.
it's not long before the world comes to and end
whether we kill it or Jesus comes back.
this is my Father's world and i'm going to live like it is.
on that note, i'm going to brazil this summer.
you know how people say "save the rainforest"
well what exactly does that mean? the trees? the animals?
who thinks about the people right? we should.
the people need just as much saving, if not more, than
the trees and the animals and the rivers and whatever is out there.
so what's that one meaning to these two definitions?
giving the glory to God. as life is. when we help bring people
to know Christ, we bring God the glory He deserves.
when we help save the environment, we do the same thing.
people see that we don't just care about what we want to care about
we care about everything because God cares about everything.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when
they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds
and glorify God on the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:12
save His rainforest.
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| direction.
the other day i was in my friend's car.
we were on our way to eat dinner.
and i discovered that he is horrible with directions.
it's not his fault or anything, it just happened that way.
at one point in the car ride, we found ourselves in the left turn lane.
the problem was, we just had to go straight.
how are we going to go straight, if we're in the left turn lane?
and we were already late to dinner.
so what did we do? how did we get out of this pickle?
well, personally i didn't do anything except tell him
"hey we're in the wrong lane"
my friend, already decided what to do, just went straight.
hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right?
this is a lot like our lives.
we go about minding our own business, doing our own thing
and then we find ourselves in the wrong lane, so to speak.
we don't know what we;'re going with our lives
well at least i don't know what i'm doing.
God wants us to go straight. He tells us to go straight.
but we're not listening... nor are we trying to hear Him.
too many times i find myself in the left turn lane.
i need to try harder. be more alert. be more willing.
be more desperate for God.
i once was lost, but now am found.
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| a lesson in history.
the other day, george and thomas taught me something huge.
george was disciplined and thomas was intellectual.
george was definitely not as "smart" as thomas
but thomas was nowhere near as disciplined.
thomas jefferson, in his intellect, constantly tried to justify everything.
he used his thoughts and words to explain slavery and whatever.
he thought he could, and tried to, justify everything by overthinking.
george washington, however, didn't overthink anything.
to him it was black and white, yes and no. very simple.
he disagreed with slavery, so he freed all his slaves.
(the only founding father to, by the way)
i am a thomas. i live my life thinking, overthinking, and then thinking again.
i try to find reason in what i do... to the point i justify myself.
there are times when i know that i'm gossiping,
but i say naah, (insert lame excuse)
and then i brush it off and pretend that it's not gossip.
in a sense we're all like thomas (jefferson in this case).
we try to justify all our actions, especially our sins, to fit what WE think.
we forget to look at God and His truth. we make up our own truth.
we mold whatever to fit into our lives.
but it doesn't work that way.
it's like trying to put the square block into the triangle shaped hole.
we should try to be more like george. we need more georges.
things should be clear to us. black. white. yes. no. sin. not sin.
and how do these things become clear?
by grounding ourselves in the Word and in Jesus.
we need to get rid of all the gray areas in our lives
because that's where sin is the most rampant.
we don't know if it is or isn't sin, so we just pretend it's not
and then fall into a big fat trap of sin.
ultimately we should try to be like Jesus. that is our goal in life.
everything else, everything else, is simply the means.
fight the good fight.
  
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| a scary thought.
when we live our lives mindlessly, meaning
without really thinking about what's going on,
it's scary, even frightening, what happens to us.
we don't consciously fight temptation,
we ignore the fact that the devil is always prowling,
we decide the world is better,
we choose to stop running the race,
we are inadequately equipped,
we fall down and think it's better down there,
we see someone struggling and walk around him/her,
we allow sin to penetrate into our lives.
worst of all, we forget God.
why did i label this entry, a scary thought?
because when we forget God, that is not a deliberate action.
we don't wake up one morning and say:
"ok God, today, I'm not going to think about You."
actually, it's an inaction. we forget about our Creator
because we don't do anything.
we choose not to think about God.
we don't think about Him when we sin.
we don't even remind oursevles about the sacrifice Jesus made for us.
we just don't care.
let's not give the devil an opportunity to take us down.
we need each other, we need righteousness, we need God.
let's start caring now.
let's think about God now.
let's remember now.
let's wage war now.
let's eradicate sin now.
and forever.
   
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