Switching Blogs

Hey, I've moved blogs to itstartswithonestep.blogspot.com

It's also listed on my profile if you want to check it out!

Thanks

Put on your Glasses

Today in English class I put on my glasses for the first time in a long time. Wow. It was like watching HD television for the first time. That's when it hit me.

I didn't realize how ugly the world was without glasses. I didn't realize how ugly the world was without God. And honestly, I forgot.

I got used to the world without glasses.. without God. If you don't wear your glasses everyonce in a while, you become content with the ordinary. If you don't spend time with God everyonce in a while, you become content with your ordinary sinful life.

Put on your glasses. Read the Bible today.

I'm Back

God wins. I figured out why I haven't wrote on here since September. Why I haven't read my bible consistently since summer. Why I haven't met with my pastor since summer. Why I haven't been able to pray like I want to. Why I have to dust off all the Christian books that have made such a huge impact on my life. Why I have an entry in my journal my pastor gave me to "keep myself accountable," only about once a month since the beginning of school.

Last Monday, I spoke at FCA. I summed up love. And I said that God doesn't want to restrain us with rules. God doesn't want to hold us back with rules. That's why God gave us the New Testament. That's why God gave His only perfect son, Jesus Christ. God doesn't want us to follow the rules in order to love. God wants us to love. Period. If we love, everything falls into place. God doesn't want us to operate out of guilt. God doesn't want us to operate because we have to operate that way.

Today, last years FCA sponsor spoke. She said God doesn't want us to live by rules, God wants us to love. She talked about how great God's love is for us.

A couple days ago, I read my good friend Zac's blog, takingheart4heovercame.blogspot.com, check it out. He talked about God's awesome love for us.

I watched a video today, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYWGmGc6-kQ. Rob Bell said, "There's nothing you can do that will seperate you from God's love, nothing."

That's when I remembered. Two days ago I picked up a book I haven't read in a while. Crazy Love by Francis Chan. He quoted the greatest commandment in the Bible, "love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind." Then he said this, "The results are intimate prayer and study of His word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love."

So... the point. My relationship with God plummetted since summer and I haven't been able to stop it. It's because this summer, I became President of FCA. I HAD to read the bible. I HAD to have awesome prayers every night. I HAD to be an awesome person. I HAD to spread His word. I HAD to write on my blog. I HAD to write in my journal.

I didn't truly love God anymore. I feared God, but not in the way we're supposed to. The few things I did, was completely out of guilt, because I had to do it. But I couldn't fix it. Until I heard Rob's words today, "There's nothing you can do to seperate yourself from God's love. Nothing."

So, it ends today. I love God. I WANT to know God. I WANT to spend time with God.

I love God. And you should too.

Christian Bumper Stickers

My friends and I were talking about crazy drivers the other day. Bethany said, "You know what upsets me, when I see a car with a Christian bumper sticker getting road rage. Aren't you supposed to be a Christian?"

I honestly think there would be twice the number of Christian bumper stickers if people weren't scared of not living up to a Christian reputation on the roads. In the same way, I believe there would be twice the number of Christian's in the world if people weren't scared of not living up to a Christian reputation.

We don't have to be perfect, awesome, law-abiding citizens before the journey with God. Making the journey with God is what makes us perfect. As Christian's, we should be known as humble, not perfect. We should be known as those that believe alone we are an imperfect nothing, there's only one way to change that, with Jesus.

God doesn't expect us to be perfect. Psalm 18:30, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him."

God's way is flawless. It is perfect. It's so perfect that if we gives our lives to Him, He is a shield for our imperfections. Wow.

So if you ever hear that excuse from your friend's again, remind them, we don't have to be perfect or worthy of a relationship with God, a relationship with God makes us worthy.

Make the Step

As you read, remember one of my favorite quotes by Dave Matthews, "To change the world, it starts with one step, however small the first step is hardest of all."

What's ten dollars mean to Bill Gates? He couldn't care less.
What's ten dollars mean to a homeless man? Survival for another week.

What's one step to someone who has walked a couple miles every day of their life? Nothing.
What's one step mean to someone who has been paralyzed all their life? It's life changing.
What about one step to a baby who hasn't taken his first step? It's just the beginning.

Now back to Dave's quote. Do you think the first step to the paralyzed man, or the baby, is the hardest of all? Of course, they haven't taken a step in a long time, if ever before.

Just like the first steps of walking, the first steps of faith are going to be the hardest also. What's that first step?

My good friend that just went off to college, Daniel Lipford, would always say "Take the first step, God will take the other 99."

The first step to faith is letting God in, God will do the rest. Make the choice, make the step.

Why can't we Love?

God's greatest commandment is to love Him and love others. We just can't seem to grasp that concept. Before we can grasp it, we must acknowledge why we won't grasp it.

There's two disadvantages to loving others that I can think of.

-If we love others we don't have as much love to give to ourselves.

God loves us enough, we don't need to love ourselves.

-To love like God's asks us is very strange to earthly standards.

Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We shouldn't worry about conforming to earthly standards, let's conform to God's standards.

Make the choice. Love.

Keep it Simple

I love playing soccer and I love watching football. I've done both nonstop since I was about 4 years old. Unfortunately, it wasn't until now I learned the best lesson you can learn from either.

Simple always works best.

The best quarterbacks know how to make the simple throw consistently, four yards every play will get a touchdown.

The best soccer players know how to make the simple pass consistently, a bunch of simple passes linked together will usually get you behind the defense and into goal.

Yet, for some reason, we think the best way to have an awesome relationship with God is doing something crazy to give your life over to Him. In reality, the best relationships with God come from doing the simple things consistently.

Look at it this way. You're standing on one side of the gym, what's the quickest way to get to the other side? In the time you'd figure out a way to fly across the gym, fifty simple steps would have gotten you to the other side a week ago.

What are those simple steps? They will look different for each one of us. Maybe it's a couple minutes diving into the bible. Maybe the bible doesn't do much for you, try a Christian book. Maybe you need to set aside a certain part of the day as God time, could be before you go to bed, like me. Or you could do it when you wake up, like many of my friends do because they say it sets them in God-mode for the rest of the day.

Make the choice, take the simple steps to a better relationship with God.