That TV Show Ending...

     I'm going to begin this post with a metaphorical blunt knife, I love movies and TV. I do. It offers a sort of adventure that we can't really get in our every day lives. We like to live vicariously through these fictional characters. It's fun! TV shows end though. They all seem to end the same way, the characters go their own way, new things happen in their lives and it cuts out with some touching (in the case of sitcoms) or bombastic (in the case of some action/scifi stuff) music. It leaves us to assume that their lives ended the same as ours. When you get down to it, their lives in the show all lead up to this ending. The whole timeline of the show, especially in the case of action/science fiction shows, is leading up to the end and how the whole conflict will be resolved--granted, this rule doesn't always apply to sitcoms until the final season.
     This is where I run into a problem. As actual people, our lives don't really lead up until the end. We basically live day-by-day, sometimes looking and planning into the future. I just finished Battlestar Galactica, a show about this group of humans who loose their planets (this takes place in an alternate universe) and go on the search for Earth, the "lost colony." Obviously, conflicts arise throughout the course of the show, but ultimately the show is leading up until the end when they finally get to stop their search and settle on a new planet (you'll have to watch for yourself to find out where...).
     How do we compensate then? We don't really get a clean ending like a TV show. Our lives go and go and go, all the way up until we die. We don't suddenly start hearing music and everything goes black and credits role with our parents and friends names and such that interacted with us in our lives. NO! We have to keep on rolling along. We don't continuously think about the end though, that's the thing. We live day by day, not really sure of what the end will look like for us, and usually we are too preoccupied living LIFE to stop and think about it; I know that is certainly the case for me. So, what do we do then? The BIG adventure won't usually happen at the end for most of us, it'll happen over the course of our lives, so what do we do? We live life! Have fun while you can. Go on an adventure, whatever that may look like for you. No, this is not a list of things you should do before you get married or a list of dumb things all having to do with that so wrong of phrases "YOLO." This is a calling for you to go out and make your dreams come true. Go have an adventure! Climb through the mountains, travel the Amazon Rainforest, road trip across the US! Do something you've always wanted to because, remember, the adventure isn't at the end, it's happening RIGHT NOW.

The Church as the Body of Christ.

       Traditionally in western, protestant Christian society we usually think of the church as the body of Christ, am I correct? Saying this, what happens when the church, the body of Christ, fulfill the calling? What happens when the church, the body of Christ, bickers among themselves for power? What happens when trivial issues move people from the purpose of the church, the body of Christ?
     Anatomically, when part of our body no longer serves the purpose it is intended to serve, we can consider ourselves disabled, even if it is only slightly so. If not, for the purpose of this argument we can. When a part of our literal, physical bodies do not work, we suffer (if only slightly) in our daily life from it. If we lose a toe, our balance suffers, if we lose a sense, any number of things can happen, if we lose a finger, we struggle to find new ways to hold things we thought easy. We couldn't even comprehend the loss of an entire limb....You understand my point however, that if a working part of our body suddenly stops working or disappears, it throws off the entire body.
     Now, I want you to apply everything you've just read about our physical bodies to the church, the working body of Christ. Let's start small first: a single church, say an Evangelical church who prides themselves on putting the congregation as the head of leadership, having a board only to organize everything for the congregation. If the board loses touch with why they are there and want power, then the congregation becomes frustrated because their rights are being violated. Soon a war has begun. It has become disabled because the leadership does things behind the back of the congregation, and won't give the power back to the congregation. The church now suffers and cannot function as a part of the body because it's purpose is clouded by the trivial arguments.
     The sign of a flourishing body is its growth and learning capabilities, grouped into this category is the churches youth group if there is one, so this is what I will speak on. The ultimate purpose of a youth group is to nurture children of Christ so that they may go out into the world and fulfill their God given purpose in the world with His grace and will. An eventual effect of this is that the kids, while attending the church feed back into the church, spreading Gods energy and youth throughout the church. A flourishing youth group is a sign of a flourishing church. A flourishing youth group can breathe life into even the most stagnating church. If the children of Christ are ready to go out and do his work, they can energize the body and help the church group. Our youth are our future and our present. They will grow up to do great things, but only if we focus on them now and build them into humble servants of Christ.

     Thank you to those of you who made it through this post for listening to my rant. I just really wish to emphasize the importance of building our generations youth and helping them to become healthy servants of Christ.

It's Not About Me.

     Being saved isn't easy, and having not been saved even a full two years has proved to have its' struggles as well. Lately I have been realizing that there is one very specific lesson that I must learn before I can move on: humility. Now, so I do not sound like a sob story, this is not a lesson that is specific to myself, it is one everyone struggles with, I just need to learn.
     Being a music student in college, I am eager to try my hand at a number a facits within my field, my most resent endeavor being song writing. I've written songs before, but when I realized that I was trying to write Christians songs for self-glorification...well, passing over the total conundrum of that, it was a block. Recently I have sat down and tried to write music and haven't been able to, everything escapes me.
     I think the thing I and so many other struggle with is the idea that nothing we do is for ourselves. It's a hard idea to swallow that no matter how hard believers work, we don't do it for ourselves. We are in service to Gods' glory. Our sweat, blood, and tears are for Him. It's hard, it really is. How do you get over the fact that when you work you should take no props from it? We did it, why don't we get anything from it? Well, we do get something from it. Jesus' sermon on the mount tells us not to store up our Earthly treasures but to store up our Heavenly treasures in our one true God. No, we don't get immediate satisfaction, but we are rewarded through His mercy and love for us. We are rewarded by the thought that no matter our follies and failures, GOD, the savior of all humanity, is up there smiling down upon us waiting for the day that we stand HUMBLED before Him in His infinite glory. Guys, it's not about what we do for Him, it's about what He did for us. Guys! It's not about what we do. PERIOD. No matter what we do, it should be only to glorify HIM. If you fail, do you expect praise? We all fail, He is the forgiving teacher. When we fall, He is the father who scoops us from the ground. When we break and lay motionless on the ground weeping, He sits on the ground next to us, looks deep into our eyes with a gaze that penetrates the deepest parts of our being and whispers, "I love you, I will NEVER leave your side."
     Guys! It's not about us, it's about Him!

Through Christ "we are free to struggle, we are not struggling to be free."

The Struggle - Tenth Avenue North