12.18.2008



he and i just spent the last half hour sharing journal entries with each other.(no homo)

i'm so glad that i've written in my journal all these years

because now i get to go back and read my entries and see how goofy i was/am .

there are some things that stuck out to me :

there's this one girl's name that remains inscribed over and over again, from 16 to 19, and it's annoying because there will be a time to think of her, and write to her, but then nor now is that time. these years are so peculiar. my mind can be free of that pursuit, and responsibility. i am happy to say that these last three weeks have been [nearly] completely free of any romantic thought. three weeks! [can you believe it?]

there seems to be this pattern on the pages : i love you jesus, followed by "God, forgive me" [repeat and rinse] .

i enjoy my writing more than anyone probably ever will.

“I am enamored of my journal”

-Sir Walter Scott , ditto.

12.15.2008

honesty

Matthew 15:8
‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,And honor Me with their lips,But their heart is far from Me.

I think when we become ‘professional christians’, we find it easier and easier to speak with our mouths what our hearts really don’t believe. Its like we become accustomed to say what we believe God wants to hear, even if we really don’t mean it. This has just been in my heart lately… how we can speak so quickly and try to impress God with our sayings when in reality our hearts are far from what we say. We say we’re ready, when we really aren’t. We say “have your will”, when the truth is we really don’t want his will, we want our will. We say we are His, when our hearts are divided. But our acts only work on an audience. God IS truth, so im starting to think he wants our honesty more than he wants our pick up lines.

Doesn’t the Bible say that if we confess with our mouths what we believe in our hearts, we will be saved? Maybe that’s why we aren’t really free… cause we have confessed what we really haven’t believed.

So I changed my prayer, and I told God the other day “God… help me believe you. Help my unbelief.” … and I meant it… and it felt good. :)

be inspired !



love you guys !

12.11.2008

blah, blah, blah

i have too much time on my hands today. being an outcast gives me this great joy.
anyhow, i was reading a blog tonight that was mostly a complaint sheet listing all the things that annoyed that particular person. so i thought, "hey, almost everything annoys me. why don't i write about some of those things on my blog ?" and then i thought back to myself, and said "maybe because no one reads my blog and it would just be a waste of time".
but i can't go to sleep so here it goes .

here we go, the things that annoy a 19 year old bible college student :

[these are the things i think about]; pray for me .

1. Small talk.
Just get to the point already!

2.Brushing your teeth then drinking orange juice.

3.Cold toilet seat

4. The idea that the world runs on money

5.Wet socks.

6.When people leave time remaining on the microwave and you walk by assuming it's the correct time. happens all the time !

7.Getting out of a warm bed, when your house is freezing.

8.Bad internet connection.

9.When you forget you have headphones in and walk away from what they're plugged into

10.Grocery shopping carts with a bad wheel. i'm a walmart junkie .

11.beyonce's stupid commercials .

12.When someone that gets on your nerves IMs [or facebooks] you.

13. When your ears don't pop correctly and you get this excruciating pain as you descend in altitude on the plane ride.

14. crumbs an my keyboard [ as i type this, there are cracker crumbs on my fingers]
-because i can't stop eating in college .

15. popcorn getting stuck in my teeth .

16. Someone calls you. You miss the call by a second. You immediately call them back. They don't pick up. [ or the fact that i left my phone charger in Miami]

17. messy roommates .

18. when everyone seems to want to talk to me in the morning.

19. people waking me up in class. [ or church ]

20. the word "umm" [ especially in prayers ]

21. really loud praise and worship .

22. the one Asian lady in my class that asks me if i left my feet in Miami" everyday [ because i wear sandals to class and its 10 degrees outside ]

23. snow on my feet.

24. my lazy eye

25. pimples.

26. when you're talking to someone and they keep looking somewhere else .

27. People who tell stories in class that's irrelevant to the discussion. oh, grace.

28. Not remembering your dream from the night before

29. when you "feel" your phone get a text message, only to find that your inbox is empty.

30. Someone standing over my shoulder reading the computer screen. {...}

31. when your butt itches and you have to move around in your seat to scratch it, but it doesn't go away. [ or does that only happen to me? ]

32. People who voted for Obama just because everyone else did.

33. when people are praying for you and their breath smells like crap.

34. the "myspace angle" picture that every 15 yr old girl seems to have .

35. when people critique your posts {...}

36. when you're typing and the cursor moves to another spot

37. Fake laughter.

38. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?"

39. sweaty armpits [ only reason the cold is good ]

40. forwarded emails that say " if you believe in God, pass this on to a million people"

41. dorm mentors who wake me up everyday by pulling my sheets off.

42. old people complaining about young people. [ "back in my days, blah,blah,blah" ]

43. people who always want to DO something when all i want to do is read or watch movies in my pj's.

44. when i ask for a plain McChicken and they screw up my order .

45. having to pee every time i wake up.

46. people making fun of my buddy holly glasses. [ just because they don't have lens]

47. when you feel like sneezing but it won't come out.

48. contagious yawns .

49. when churches try to be hip. [ lights, hip youth pastors, the fact that every worship leader has to dress cool ]

50. long offering speeches .

51. benny hinn.

52. spanish radio.

53. Venezuelan spanish.

54. people telling me to "buckle up" in a car .

55. Waking up for class

56. not being able to sleep at night.

12.09.2008

floating



this morning in class i prayed that i would be able to fly in a hot-air balloon. i've left where i didn't want to be and yet I'm not yet where i want to be and i won't be there for a while . a hot-air balloon ride would be perfect. i must be careful though because the dissatisfied place is a dangerous place. it is where most of humanity hangs, floating. distant from reality . it is of great importance that i touch land and follow the Sovereignty of the season.

i don't want to be floating forever.

12.07.2008



romance and the cold like each other .

"do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready." - Song of Songs .

12.05.2008

i am a mess .
i want to be 12 again and fix what i broke
i want to go back 2 1/2 months and not write that note .
i want to be 16 again .
Jesus feels so distant yet so near to me at this broken place .
someday i will look back and thank myself that i said no to her .
even if i feel like crap at the moment
right ?

12.03.2008

[ashley g.] ART



the last ten days of my life have been fascinating.
i was homeless for two days on the streets of downtown minnesota .
i turned 19 .
i went back to miami for a few days .
i preached a sermon on the love of money wearing glasses with no lens .
went to boca beach in my new jeans. > water was cold, waves were huge .
overdrafted my debit card on cici's pizza
envied Julio Anta's beard .
witnessed an arrest, followed by a brawl between the arrestee and arrestor(s) .
^ on the plane that was supposed to take me back to campus.
> was switched to another plane because of the blood .
arrived to campus at 430am . ( thank you roomie for picking me up so early in the morning)
tons of snow fell from the skies today
^ we responded by having massive snow ball fights/ wrestling matches
and sledding down hills for an hour .

Advent Conspiracy

11.28.2008

Deep cries to deep

The Father to His Son & Daughter
The Lover to the Beloved :

And I long, to cover you with grace
And I long, to anoint your feet with praise
And I long, to see you face to face
Wont you come? Wont you come?

The Beloved responds
The bride is awakened and dawned... and she speaks :

And I long, to feel your warm embrace
And I long, to love and be amazed
And I long, to see you face to face
I will come.... I will come

11.23.2008

on the high mountain we will see that this affliction is light
it is but a wind
passing away
on the valley we question whether eternity took a wrong turn into our city
is our pain ever going to end ?

"For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less."

-paul of tarsus, in his second letter to the corinthian church, THE MESSAGE .
"Get thee up into the high mountain."
Isaiah 40:9

Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the mountain's brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content to wear the miner's garb when they might put on king's robes; tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon. Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul's Husband. Make Him the source, the centre, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. What enchants thee into such folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne? Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!

"When wilt Thou come unto me, Lord?
Oh come, my Lord most dear!
Come near, come nearer, nearer still,
I'm blest when Thou art near."

-charles spurgeon

11.20.2008

'Christianity started in Israel as a movement, then went to Rome and it became an empire, then went to Europe and became a government, then finally it came to America and became an enterprise.'

11.18.2008

"I'm dizzy from the shopping mall
I searched for joy but I bought it all
It doesn't help the hunger pains
And a thirst I'd have to drown first to ever satiate

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
Something's missing
And I don't know what it is
No I don't know what it is
At all

...I can't be sure that this state of mind
Is not of my own design
I wish there was an over-the-counter test for loneliness
For loneliness like this...

....Friends - check
Money - check
Well-slept - check
Opposite sex - check
Guitar - check
Microphone - check
Messages waiting on me when I come home - check

How come everything I think I need
Always comes with batteries?
What do you think it means?..."

-john mayer, something's missing .

"they all cry out for Jesus" .

11.17.2008

Night has found its way here
And all I can hear are memories shrill and clear
Like today man had his way
And stole and what I made
He saw that I was sincere

So use me up, then throw me away
Build your careers and friendships
Quote on Quote and frankly I’m ashamed
That I left my name on her lips
Cause when it ends they’ll swear it is

So I’ll fall asleep and try not to think twice
About all the things that forever
Will kick me down the steps
For being too nice
Cause everyone’s searching for treasure

And they’ll just dig, dig, dig
Until they cant get out
And die in dirty digging for treasure
But as for me I’m giving up and ill take my bow
And focus on my treasure forever
Yes, I know that my treasure is heaven

- bryce avary , rocket summer

to love and love again
to forgive 70 times seven
is a work of Love .
an action taken by one
who knows their treasure is in
a City made by Divine hands
"where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal".

As the Ruin Falls

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.

C S Lewis

11.13.2008

my simple song

all i want to see
is what your eyes delight in
all i want to hear
is the symphony that moves your heart
all i want to know
is the rhythm of your heart beat
cause you are everything to me
and i could spend my days
chasing the wind
and i will find in the end
that all that remains
is what i first started with
and that is your love
so dont let me move away from you
dont let me turn my eyes from you
i want to be overwhelmed
completely compelled
with the sight of your beautiful face.

let me know that you see me
help me believe you've never looked away
cause the knowledge of your love
is all that im needing
and the beauty of your grace
is what I am breathing
and to know that I am yours
will be more than enough today.

11/13/2008

11.12.2008

"God treated Christ as if He were a sinner...
as though He had committed every sin that every person would ever commit ...
[ even though He wasn't a sinner ]
in order that He might treat believers [ even though we're sinful ]
as though we lived the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ. "

-Shai Linne .

this is our 100th post since we started this blog and so i thought i would take this line
TO THANK YOU
for reading our blogs .
and sticking with me
even though my writing
is at best:
GOOFY .
i hope and pray that our writing has in some way shape or form provoked you to love Christ and your neighbor more .

10.28.2008

you have heard it said:

"We are the ones who are right, they are the ones who are wrong. We are the good guys, they are the bad guys. We are honest, they are crooks."

but i tell you this : " no man is good "

we're all sheep .

10.24.2008

free falling

Here I am once again
Mercy is what I know best
They told me we are all prone to fall
So here I am once again
But this time when I fall
I'm going to free fall in love with You

Ecclesiastes 3:11
Yet God has made everything beautiful for
its own time. He has planted eternity in the human
heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope
of God’s work from beginning to end.