My Sitcom Ending.

     As I finish watching all eight (let's not acknowledge the ninth) seasons of Scrubs I find myself thinking about my life and sitcoms. Every sitcom ends the same, doesn't it? There's one final problem that needs overcoming, everyones lives settle into anew, and the characters move on, allowing the audience to image what might happen next. There are very few shows that leave me thinking at the end, but Scrubs is one of them. You come into the show with most of the group not knowing one another, they form a strong bond, go through turmoil, then move on. Isn't this what we all want?
     We go through our lives, building relationships and watching our lives move from one event to another, but we don't have the same ending, do we? We would love that ending where everything settles down and the audience can just image the end, but we don't get it.
     The basis of a sitcom is a half hour segment into the lives of some fictional characters as they go through a time in their lives worth watching. They grow, then move on. In this half hour, we are thrown through emotional loops. We laugh, we cry, we sit on the edge of our seats. Some people say not to measure ourselves up to tv shows as not to measure ourselves up to the unrealistic, but there is a certain measure to which I believe you can.
     I propose living our lives as if it were in half hour segments. Live each moment packed with as much excitement for life as possible. No, it's not safe to measure ourselves up to some of the romantic relationships or problem solutions, but to live life with the idea that each half hour is just as important as the last is very important. I love sitcoms because they are loose hearted segments of time where you get a view of an obviously simpler life.
     When they end it's always a sad ordeal though because it's usually an attempt at tear jerking as well as the end of an era. I would like a sitcom ending for my life. I would like to get to a point in my life where ending an era becomes that big of a deal. A point in my life where my relationships are strong enough that it hurts to leave. But...we cannot all have that kind of ending. It's not always possible. It is possible if you live by loving people, as if every moment matters, and don't worry about the little things. We all want our sitcom ending.


P.S. If you didn't get it, the title of this post is an allusion to how every Scrubs episode is named.

Where Have The Years Gone?

     As I sit here, bored, on my winter break away from college I find myself reminiscing about the years that have passed me by. It seems like only yesterday I was the chubby nerdy kid, freaking out about going from 8th grade to being a freshman in high school. I had the first girlfriend I had ever had, I had a strong group of friends who were big into music like me, and I was terrified about changing in the locker room at school. So much has changed.
     I wasn't really a Christian then, and it showed. I was angry with everyone at home, always looking for an argument, and everywhere else I was simply stubborn--that though has carried through the years. But as the years continued I found God and so on...
     I've been looking though old photos, reliving memories of years past and it has kind of been driving me insane to be honest. I look at photos of friends I don't keep in contact with anymore and friends I do. I see how much people have changed. I have friends who went from being that oddball Emo kid to one of the most popular kids by the end of school. Friends whose only difference from then to now is how long their hair cut is. I have friends I used to count among some of my closest, but choices we made on just what classes to take brought us apart. Then I have friends I still love from school, and those who I have made this year that I hope never to grow from.
     It's weird looking back at change, but you never quite realize where you are now without looking at where you've been. We all go through so much in our lives, but we rarely stop to look at the change, choosing to just continue on our own paths. I understand that there is no point in living in the past, however, there is a lot to be gained from taking a moment now and again to look back and see how you've grown. I encourage you to do so. Look back. Not for long, just to see how the road looks behind you.

The Prophets Foretell.

      I'm sorry I didn't get around to writing this yesterday, my family was hosting an advent party thing for church and I was helping to host. So let us just get right into it...

     I wanted to go through what is said about Jesus before His actual birth and what that means. Now, I won't spend this time going through every old testament prophets depiction of Jesus, in fact, one of the stories isn't even a prophet, but the tale is prophetic. Here I will be going in order, starting with the tale of Abrahams "sacrifice" of Isaac on the mountain, what the prophet Isaiah says about Jesus in Isaiah 53, then John the Baptist.
     As you probably know, the story of Abraham and Isaac isn't exactly one of prophecy, but it does allude in nearly all of its elements to the loving Jesus we know. The story of Gods telling Abraham to sacrifice His only son with Rachel on the mountain starts in Genesis 22 when God tells Abraham to prove his loyalty to Him by taking his son to the land of Moriah and sacrificing Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain. Abraham, being a loyal servant of God, took his soon, a couple men, and a donkey to the location God had told him. Upon arriving, his son says, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."
     When they arrived at the exact location, Abraham and Isaac built the wood alter, then Abraham bound Isaac and laid him upon the alter. He then reached out and took the knife to sacrifice his son. The angel of the Lord called out just then, "Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." When Abraham lifted his eyes and turned, there was a Ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham took the Ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering to the Lord.
      God will always provide if we are loyal to Him. God calls us to follow Him no matter what. This thought horrifies us though because the world we live in tells us that we need to carve our own future, be a leader not a follower. The things is though that God has a path laid out for His world, He, in His infinite glory simply allows us to choose our own way within it, knowing exactly what we'll do. Our life is for naught though if we don't become followers of God, our life on that path ends in fire.
     If we become followers of God though, He will provide the lamb for slaughter. We will go through difficult times of doubt and tribulation just as Abraham must have after being told to sacrifice his son, but ultimately if we just believe in Gods unending grace and love for us, he will provide what we cannot.
     Tying it back to Christ, the Ram for sacrifice is the provision that we cannot bring: Jesus. Unless we lived perfect lives, we would die in agony, however God provided His one and only begotten son so that we may live for eternity in His kingdom. Look at the relationship between Abraham, Isaac, and the Sacrifice. Abraham was willing to sacrifice (for the purposes of this) his only son for God. But God would need Isaac, so He provided another.

     Isaiah 53.

Who has believed our message

 and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot 

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

  he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

 the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested;

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

 and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

     Isaiah 53 details the life and purpose of Christ. He grew up just like us, he bore no resemblance of majesty that we should pay attention to Him for He had nothing physically to desire from Him. Jesus would be despised and rejected, we as men would not like Him. He would bare our sins and grief, however we would despise His very name. He would bare our sins and grief, His hands pierced for our transgressions, "crushed for our iniquities; ...with His woulds we are healed." We, Gods sheep, gone astray, Jesus had our iniquity laid upon His shoulders. 

     Christ would not complain about His uncalled for punishment, He would not raise a hand. He would remain silent. He would do nothing to harm any living being, however He would be punished for the transgressions of all of mankind past, present, and future. This was Gods will done. 

     John the Baptist, though born only shortly before Jesus, was the final prophet to foretell His coming. In the Gospel of Matthew we see the testament of how John the Baptist would prepare the way for Christ. John the Baptist would proclaim the coming of one to save mankind whilst baptizing those who came to be dipped into the water of Gods forgiving love. He told the audiences, "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" John the Baptist was the one called by the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'" 

     One day Jesus would arrive at the river to be baptized by John the Baptist. He asked John to baptize Him also. John hesitated saying, "'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus simply answered, "'Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'" John the Baptist baptized Jesus and upon Jesus resurfacing the heavens were opened to Him, the spirit of God descending on Him. A voice from Heaven spoke, "'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'" 

     John the Baptist was the final piece to the puzzle that was the birth of Christ, our savior. Abraham and Isaac alluded to it, Isaiah prophesied it to the world, and John the Baptist proclaimed it to any and all that would hear it. The world would despise the truth, and some still do, but the truth would save us all. 

A Prayer:

Father, 

     You sent your one and only son to save us. No beauty upon Him drew us to Him, only the words that commanded joyful loyalty to Your glory. Lord, You saw fit to save us by sacrificing Your wonderful lamb and for that we are thankful. Everyday our transgressions are just nails in His hands, but He doesn't complain, but takes it with loving pain, knowing that His deed would save us. We love you, Lord. We give ourselves to You. 

Santa, Fairytales, and Faith.

     The older I get the more complicated life seems to get. I bet you experience this too, these moments of build up when you have so many things going on that we are fooled into thinking that even our faith is complicated. This happens especially when you go to church or attend a bible school. You're told time and time again about the complex natures of God, and as you grow older and--hopefully--wiser, you begin to delve deeper into the scriptures, looking closer at things.
     Owe to the fact that we all tend to live at least partially complicated lives of our own we will try and complicate things by ourselves. We will, if you haven't already, experience that moment where you blow something so far out of proportion that it becomes far more complicated that it needs to be. I don't know why we do this, but you have to admit that's it's very ridiculous. We are often caught red-handed, complaining about our seemingly difficult lives, though we complicate them ourselves.
     Now, as we grow older and get spoon-fed these tales of evolution and aliens, we get this mindset where we think we ought to see proof that something exists before we believe it. This becomes a problem when we come to faith in our savior. We can't see God physically, and unless we receive a divine message from Him of some sort, we most likely will not see Him while on Earth. However, faith isn't something we have by sight. John 20:29 says, "...'because you have seen me, you believe; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'" Jesus teaches us here that we ought to simply believe in Him without having first seen Him.
     Do you remember what it was like to be a child? That childhood simplicity is truly a gift from God. The feeling of joy you felt as your parents told you about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The mystery of the those nursery rhymes. The awe of finding out about Jesus in sunday school. Children take things as they are because they don't know any better, but it's something beautiful. We ought to think simpler in times of faith. You see, faith isn't complicated, God is, but faith is not complicated in the slightest. God loves each and every one of us and wants us to love Him back. He will show Himself to us when we believe.
     With belief comes beauty. When you let go and simply believe you see things you wouldn't before. The trick is to not complicate Gods creation. The beauty of a bee flying over a patch of flowers, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, even the simple act of walking onto the porch in the morning. The world is full of too much complication on its own, Jesus offers us simplicity. Take His hand and He will calm the stormy seas with naught but three little words: "I love you."

The Human Trihead...or not.

     Earlier tonight, a couple friends and I were having a discussion on bodily lust and an idea, a simple thought occurred to me. As you know, we as Gods creation were made in His glorious image. However, the question we fail to ask ourselves is: how far does God stretch His image to create us?
     I suggest that even we are made in multiple parts. Just as we think of God in His trihead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), I wonder if we are made the same. We are made of flesh, a body that has its own desires and wishes. Our bodies crave for nourishment, they crave for contact, they desire of their own accord without, out of our control. However, we are not defined by what our body wants. We are made with a consciousness, a spirit made to love and be loved by our creator. When we die, our fleshly body stays here on Earth, but our souls make the journey to Heaven to be greeted by Jesus.
     It is my developing belief that we may in fact be made in two parts, our bodies and our soul. Our soul connects to Jesus and allows us to control our actions. Our soul and consciousness are the tether we harness to our bodies so we don't end up as sex-crazed savages, living only by bodily whim. Our God given souls make us different from one another, they tell us that there is more that just the savage desires we are plagued with.
     It is only yet an idea, not based in scripture quite yet, but I shall be looking far more intently into the subject. Feel free to tell me what you think and comment any ideas or anything! Thanks!

Christmas Devo!

Hey guys!

     I'm writing this to you to tell you that this year, the week of Christmas (December 23-December 29), I shall be writing a Christmas Devo! I'm super excited, it's going to be awesome. The topics we shall be covering are...

Sunday December 23: The Prophets Foretell (what the Prophets say about Jesus)

Monday December 24: Advent (looking forward to Christ)

Tuesday December 25: The Coming of a King (Jesus birth)

Wednesday December 26: The Love of a King (the Gospel of Jesus and His love for us)

Thursday December 27: The Application of Love (the sacrifice Christ made for us/the great commission)

Friday December 28: Why was Christ sent? (why did God give up His only son?)

Saturday December 29: The Second Coming (us looking forward to Christ coming again)

Thanks guys!

Messages from the Flock: A Final Word.

Hey guys!

     Thank you guys so much for reading my blog this month, and to those of you who posted, thank you all that much more. It was really inspiring to see the numbers go up as people read about their peers trials and tribulations with God as well as the blessings. Lives were effected this month. I hope that this becomes a yearly event that keeps growing in interest until the numbers are off the charts as people read about the work God is doing with His flock. Guys, we are His children, we are His sheep and He our shepherd. We are His flock. Let God lead you, let Him speak truth into your lives. We aren't leaders, success is nothing without Jesus. Let His light shine and guide you. 

     And lastly I would like to add, live loved. Jesus loves all of us as a Father loves His children. So, in this Christmas season, remember that even though you may not have the money for gifts or may not have a loving family to spend the season with, just know that Jesus loves you. 

Live Loved, 

Josh (Nintendawg)