I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
 I only know at his right hand                                                                                                                       Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
 For Him to be my Savior


That He would leave His place on high

And come for sinful man to die
 You count it strange, so once did I
 Before I knew my Savior


My Savior loves, my Savior lives
        My Savior's always there for me
          My God he was, my God he is
            My God he's always gonna be


Yes, living, dying; let me bring
   My strength, my solace from this spring
   That He who lives to be my King
   Once died to be my Savior

                             That He would leave his place on high
                           And come for sinful man to die
                                  You count it strange, so once did I
                   Before I knew my Savior

oh man

   So i definately havent written in a while but i want to more often... Today was swell, we start the missions conference today and i guess im pretty excited about it!  So since ive been back i keep hearing people asking me what i got out of my quiet time and its weird.  I'll be 100 percent honest and say i am pretty tired of people trying to impress other people with what they "got from their quiet time."  Not that i dont like hearing what God has to do in peoples lives... but its really frustrating that people have this idea that their quiet time equals their spiritual wellbeing... and when people tell me what they got for their application, often it has absolutely nothing to do with what that passage was talking about.  its kinda weird and it bothers me, it shouldnt but it does.  IDK i just think that some parts of the bible arent meant to be used in such short segments... maybe some parts of the bible are a story and the story overall is what applies to our lives, not that the little parts of the story each have direct application to our live.  If the passage is just telling a part of the story, like how solomon built the temple... then maybe we shouldnt try to look for hidden messages in the story maybe its just trying to show how God worked and solomons life.. something ive been thinking about ... well missions conference time, gtg peace

John

Currently Reading Searching for God Knows What By Donald Miller see related

FLORIDA!!!!!!!

answers

Today is swell... i still feel a little off.  I haven't really been "on" since ive got here though.  I am just really confused right now.  No outside circumstance that is causing it.  I just have been questioning everything lately.  I feel like my whole life is a question without answers.  This class we are taking is not bad but its over today.  It actually made me think a little bit... which is more than i can say for most of our classes.  One thing i dont like is the term "fundamentalist," or even the thought of being labeled that.  That term is too often associated with closed mindedness, hate, and intolerance.  I didnt think i was going to agree with alot of what he was going to say, but surprisingly i did.  I think the whole Homesexual thing is a difficult issue to understand.  I feel like christians have taken it way too far.  I really dont think its our right to be constantly in there face about the fact that it is sin.  Now let me back track and say that i used to be extreme the other way.  I could not even be near a homesexual because it made me completely uncomfortable... it still does.  I would go up to somebody if i knew they were that way and tell them that they were wrong and that they are living in sin.  This was nowhere near the right aproach.  Homesexuals are people in need of love just like everybody else.  Nobody is going to listen to you if the only thing you do is condemn them. Now I have no problem in saying that homesexuality is wrong, i also believe that they are not going to listen to why we think that way until we show them God's love.  Love is our best witnessing tool... Love is our most powerful weapon.  We are supposed to love EVERYONE, this includes people who are living in sin.  Thats what makes it possible to share our faith with people.  I have been changing my mind about alot of things lately and frankly i find myself being fed up with christianity as it is today.  Its too much a "religion." like something we do but dont really know why.  LoL dont get me wrong, I am a christian.  I just see how Christians put so much emphasis on things that arent even important, stuff that is tradition and yet almost made to be biblical.  We stretch the scriptures to fit our traditions or our beliefs, when we should be using the scriptures to figure out WHAT we believe.  I still love WOL and i do feel that my time here is beneficial, but at the same time im learning to figure things out on my own instead of just sitting back and accepting everything because thats what somebody said.  WOL does do alot of things right, but there are alot of areas that they fail in as well... Well time for dinner

John

thinking...

Today the only thing i have done so far is read.  I have been reading a book that has challenged the way i view God and my relationship with him.  It has been awesome but kinda scarry at the same time cuz i see where i am and where i should be.  One part of the book says this: 

        " I think one of the problems we have is that we want God to make sense.  He doesn't.  He will make no more sense to me than I will make sense to an ant."

This really made me think because i have been talking to alot of different people lately about alot of things that i will never understand like election and irresistable/resistable grace.  And then i suddenly realized that it doesnt matter.  Who are we to figure out God's mind.  It would be like an ant trying to figure us out... its impossible.  We in our finite minds cant comprehend who God truly is and why He does some of the things he does.  I realize there are some things that we do know, and that leads me to my next point:

                    If it isnt spelled out specifically in the bible than it isnt meant for us to know.  God isnt in the business of trying to trick us or make us solve some kind of big mystery.  I believe that when the bible was inspired and written... it was made to be easy to understand.  We shouldnt read into what the bible is telling us, by taking certain scriptures and using them out of context.  We should except the facts that are spelled out for us and if the bible stops there than so should we...  We will never fully understand God untill we get to heaven, until then we should stop trying to make our own god and put words in his mouth that he never said.  Just thought alot today.....