“If Home is Where the Heart is, Then My Home is Where You Are”

I’ve hit the point where Dickson just isn’t home anymore.  I guess this happens to most people at some point in their lives.   They go off to college, start a new life, and suddenly they have a new home.  It seems like it’s just been an accelerated path with me though.  My mom moved 40 minutes out of the city to a town that doesn’t even get cable, all of my friends from the last class are in college now, I don’t have a car so I’m stuck in Murfreesboro most of the time, and now I have my own apartment there.  It seems my life has completely moved on and away from Dickson County.  I’m finally facing the reality that I’m growing up and in this moment I don’t know how to feel.  I can drive around town and think of all the memories that were made, I can go to all my old hangout spots, I can go back and visit the school, but all those things do are make me realize how far away I am from this place.  Dickson was my life for the past 10 years or so and to realize that it really doesn’t mean much to me anymore is so strange.

Really, the only thing that has me coming back at all is the people.  Sure, my friends get me to come down, but they could just as easily come to Murfreesboro or I to them.  Some of the people who have influenced me most are still here, though and they’re here to stay.  Honestly, It’s mostly just my church family that brings me back at all.  I often don’t realize how big of an impact my church has been on me until I walk through the doors on Sunday morning.  I can go all weekend feeling like I don’t really belong here, but that group of people instantly make me feel like I’ve never left.

So I’ve got this feeling of never leaving home in a town where I don’t feel like I belong anymore.

The truth is, Murfreesboro may be my home right now, but I still can’t shake the feeling that something just isn’t right.  Something just makes it not completely “home.”  Maybe it’s because I can’t just drive through the country, maybe it’s that lack of small town community, or maybe it’s because of that church that still desperately feels like home.

For now I’m in the in-between.  I’ve really struggled with wanting to know what’s next.  So easily I can come to God and just ask, “What do you have for me?” “What are you waiting for?” “When will I truly feel like I’m completely home?”  But then I realize that what I’m really asking is, “When will I be comfortable?”

I think I’m scared that if I don’t know what’s next I won’t be able to prepare for it.

So I think to myself, “You are God and I’m not.”

When I sit and just think about that statement, I realize how God has brought me to this very point with a specific path.  We left Kansas when I was pretty young so we could become closer to my grandfather before he passed.  I left Dickson to go to college at MTSU in chase of the recording industry.  It was put on my heart this year to change majors and pursue ministry, which could potentially allow me to leave another home multiple more times.

In all this I just realized why I want to be in ministry.

No mater where I end up,

It is home.

 

 

(Title quote by Relient K)

Charleston, SC Summer Project!

I’m leaving in four days.  Four more day’s and I’ll be gone for South Carolina till August.  You may ask, “Why will you be gone until August?!” which is a valid question if I haven’t already told you.  In any case, I guess I’ll tell you anyway!

Monday I’ll be leaving for Charleston, South Carolina for a little thing called Summer Project.  Summer project is somewhat of a mission project sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ that has been described as a “Spiritual Greenhouse.”  I’ll be living with about 60 other college students who I will get to know better over the summer.  These projects are designated toward college kids and everyone knows college kids are broke!   While we’re down there we will all have jobs which will be one of our main ministry fields.  While we are down there we will be doing a myriad of things.  From bible studies to group meetings to ministry training, we will certainly stay busy!  We will even have the opportunity to go out on the beach and share our faith every week!

As exciting as all of that is, though, it comes at a price!  I’ve been in the process of raising about 3,500$ to go on this trip!  Currently I’m about a third of the way there.  I’ve been in the process of forming ministry partners over the past couple of months to help raise the funds to be able to make it to Charleston.  If you would like more information on how to become a ministry partner and help support me in my trip to Charleston you can send me an email at elilongwell@gmail.com.

Most importanly, I need your support through prayer.  The bible says, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” -Matthew 18:19-20  I have faith that God will follow through on this, but I will still need your support and prayer!

The response and support I have received from all of my friends and family so far has been amazing.  I am so thankful to have all of you who support me everyday in my life.  You all truly mean the world to me!

I Struggle Pt. 2

Here I am.  Elijah Longwell, a different man than I was before.

A little over a year ago I started this blog.  Sure, I started strong, but I feel as if after a while I gave up.  Well, here I am.

When I sat down and opened up my computer I remembered something.  A simple phrase popped into my head.  ”Irrevocable Identity.”  Instantly I thought back to a year ago when I started this blog.  A year ago I was a senior in high school just about to graduate.  I was on top of the world and had all of these ideas about what the next couple years would be like.  I had all the right intentions, but I had no idea what was in store for me.  I look back now and I see a different life.

This past year has grown me in lots of different ways.  Some good, some bad.  I’ve had a lot of good experiences, but also a lot of bad.  I’ve met a lot of people.  Some have helped keep me on a straight path, others have pulled me off of it.  A lot of decisions were made, some were productive and some were destructive.  I don’t regret any of the bad things simply because through them I have learned so much.  I am still learning more about myself, this life, and most importantly my Savior, Jesus Christ.

The truth is before making the transition out into the real world I wasn’t prepared to deal with most of the things that this world was ready to throw at me.  Over the course of the last 12 months I’ve hit spiritual lows that I never thought i’d reach, but I always made sure that no one knew.  Doubt consumed me.  Keeping to myself was one of the worst mistakes I made.  Even before that I had a horrible time struggling (and still do) with how turned off so many people were to God.  College is a different world.  People come from all over the world with thousands of different beliefs and ideas.  I still have trouble with the idea that some are so turned off by our God.

Here’s the thing.  One year later and I still stand by my statement.  ”To me, identity consists of my relationship to my everlasting God, and it is unchangeable, it is certain, and it is Irrevocable!” - Irrevocable Identity’s meaning. (To me at least) I still believe with all my heart that through God I am the same person as I was a year ago.  I have gone through personal trials and tribulations, but on the other side of the tunnel I am the same (if not stronger) man through Christ as I was before.  On the outside, I have changed.  At points I may have thought that I changed in the inside also, but in the end I am a Christian and that will never change.

I would be lying to say that I don’t struggle with anything.  I do.  My struggles are nowhere near over, but I do have hope and forgiveness.  I have friends who support me.  I have a loving God who paid the ultimate price for me.  Those are the things that make a difference.  Without those things, without those people, without my God I am lost.  With him I am found.

The phrase, “There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.” has never meant more to me than now.  One of my favorite bands Anberlin recently released an album titled “Dark is the way, Light is the place.”  When that and the thought of the light at the end of the tunnel came together I realized that while we are to be lights of God, we must go through the darkness to get to the ultimate light.  We all have to go through our darkness, but in the end we will come out into the light and it will be a light like no other!

I guess i’m kind of jumping around a bit, but i’m really just writing my thoughts as they come to me. (I encourage everyone to try it too!  Maybe not in public like this, but even private writing helps things!)

I started this post with a passage in Romans in mind.  In Romans 7 Paul discusses struggling with sin.  Starting at verse 14;

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

-Romans 7:14-25 (NIV)

This passage really spoke to me.  To think that my struggles are nothing new, that people have struggled with the same sins I have for thousands of years is a pretty crazy idea.  Verse 15 and 21-25 really stand out to me.  This connection to life is amazing.  I have the exact same responses, “I know this is sinful so why do I keep doing it?!”  ”I want to do good instead of commit sin, so why do I keep doing wrong?!”  This book we have is more than a book.  It is a life, and it is the word.  The one thing I never realized until I read this passage is how real it is.  Maybe I’m reading the text out of context, I don’t know, all I know is I try to read contextually.  Even if it is though, I have no doubt that God uses his word to impact each and everyone of us differently.  I’m so glad I’m finally diving into it for real.

Again, I’m all over the place tonight, but it’s all good. =)  I’ve found my way back to the light and that’s all that really matters.  This website is an extension of myself.  I use it to talk about God and my experiences both good and bad.  I may not be very consistant with posting, but I try.  Hopefully this time I can actually begin writing, but  I make no promises.

Anyways, thank you for reading. =)

Love,

Elijah Longwell

-

“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” -Frederick Douglass

I Struggle

I struggle with money. I specifically struggle with people who have more money than I.

I struggle with love.  I’m sad without it.

I struggle with image.  I’m afraid of what people think.

I struggle with friendships.  Sometimes I just want love.

I struggle with finding God.  I wish I felt more in tune and close.

I struggle with closeness.  Friendship is bad enough.  Without love, it’s doubtful I’ll reveal my secrets.

I struggle with relationships.  I can’t wait until the day I’m married.  I truly look forward to that day.  The day’s until, though, I dread.

I struggle with inadequacy.  Being surrounded by so many talented people makes me feel so small.

I struggle with confidence.  I just don’t seem good enough.

I struggle with being a Christian.  Sometimes it seems like I just can’t get things right.

I struggle with giving God control.

I struggle with honesty.  That’s the sole reason I made myself write this.

 

Excuse me for venting, but I needed to tell someone.  I struggle with so many things every day.  I’ve realized how much I’ve learned to dislike my self so easily. I’ve finally began to learn that God can change that.  Still, I pray I don’t forget.

I don’t say this to make myself sound terrible and pitiful, I say this as an acknowledgment that I am trying to change.  Being honest is the first step, so I’m trying it.

I think I’m going to use this blog to try to help.

Consider this a new kick off.

 

On a more positive note, I’m thankful for so much in this life.  I know I’m truly blessed with the people God surrounds me with. My family, friends, and even some of my teachers have been so encouraging to me.  But most of all, I wish I could let everyone at Crosspoint know how much I love and cherish them.  There are far too many to count, but you guys have literally changed my life.  I honestly don’t know where I’d be without you.  I would certainly not be here.  Seeing everyone there is the best part of my week and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  Doug, John, Jeffery, Liz; You guy’s specifically have ment so much to me recently.  Thank you. =)

Honesty works both ways you know!

So yet again.  Consider this a kick off!

This night

Remember when I talked about community?  Well, I wanted to come here to MTSU in hopes of finding that amazing community.  These first few day’s have been rough on that side of things, though.  I’ve been here for almost a week now and really haven’t met many new people.  My roommate is awesome and i’m so blessed to have someone I can get along with and enjoy being around but one person doesn’t make up that community.  Now, if you know me at all, you know i’m not a social person.  More than likely, if I don’t know you and i’m not in a comfortable environment I won’t say the first word.  I love to talk if you come to me, but I’m just not the initiator.  With that in mind, these last few days have been pretty lonely for me.  I miss everyone.  I really do.  The sense of home has just been ripped right out of me and flipped upside-down.  At the same time, I love it here.

I’ve been thinking about this whole loneliness thing though.  I was so worried about it staying like this.  I just wouldn’t be able to let that happen, yet i felt like i couldn’t do much about it.  Here I sit now, though, with a whole new perspective.

I had thought and prayed about this problem for the past few days now.  While sitting around a couple of hours ago I had this urge to just go outside and play guitar.  Unfortunately, there was loud music blasting outside of our dorm for an event that was going on.  Finally I decided to just get away from the music and find a place to sit and play.  There was this whole awkward walk while I looked around for somewhere to sit.  I would overhear someone say something like, “what’s up with that guy with the guitar?” or something to that effect.  I almost just turned back, too.  Finally though, I decided to plop down in the big circle surrounded by  some of the more popular buildings on campus (the library, business and aerospace, and mass com buildings).  I sat there and quietly played some music.  Nothing loud, no singing, just playing softly.  Eventually I played a song just a tad louder and a guy came over and told me that he raps and is doing some recording and would like me to collaborate with him.  That was awesome.  After we talked and he left, some girls (who were foreign exchange student’s and awesome) asked me to play another song.  I did and talked to them for a bit.  Then, another guy came up and talked to us.  Eventually the girls left and i got to talk to this guy.

I’m so glad I did too.

This guy is such an inspiration to me.  I don’t know why, but something about him was different.  We got to talking and we got into faith and it was just amazing to hear what he had to say.  He was so encouraging, it was just amazing.  He had this amazing story about how he almost died, woke up from a comma, and praises God every second now for it.  After a while though some other people came up and he got me to play for them.  They asked if i’d be back and I said i would thursday (as did someone else earlier).

Eventually we started walking back and then ended up sitting somewhere else talking while he waited for a call.  I showed him ‘How he loves us’ and then we ended up singing ‘Lord I Lift Your Name On High,’ when a girl a while away yelled, “play Sanctuary.”  We got the two girls to come over to tell us what that was, and then we sang it.

I ended up talking to one of the girls till almost midnight.  We got into religion and I still just feel like I missed an opportunity.  You see, one of her parent’s is Christian and the other is Pagen.  She believes a mixture of both.  While I tried to talk to her about what I believed in hopes of her understanding, it really didn’t do much.  Though, we still continued conversing.

I’m a bit discouraged, though.  For the first time in my life I was really put in this situation and I just didn’t know what to do.  I found it hard to figure out what to say.  I feel like there is this part of me missing from my faith.  It’s like this whole defense section is missing.  I’m still confused about what to do.  I just need to learn.. Idk.

Overal though, this night has just been a blessing.  I prayed for community and I have no doubt that this was God’s way of showing me that there is hope.  That I shouldn’t give up.  I do, however still pray that I can learn to defend myself, defend my religion, defend my God.

I’m still praying and i’ll never stop.

The Call for Community

If you don’t know already, I’m leaving for MTSU on Friday.  These past few day’s have been pretty hectic.  Goodbye’s aren’t easy.  I’ve gotten a big taste of that.  It tastes bad, btw.

So, tonight was my last night at church.  It crushed me, too.  My church is this amazing community that is always there and never fails for me.  I’ve come to realize that it’s one of the most important parts of my life.  Now I have to let it go.  Well, the people.  The church will always be a part of my life.  Still, It’s tough.  Really tough.

Tonight we continued talking about community.  It’s really started to get me thinking though.

Community is a big deal.  Like, it really needs to happen.  Sure, you can get through life without it, but you miss all of the good stuff.  All of the important stuff.

Our pastor has been talking about “the space between” a lot over the past few weeks.  It’s the space in a persons life between their salvation and the promise of eternal life.  There’s just all this extra time that we’ve been handed.  Yes, if you’re a Christian you’re promised eternal life, but there’s just way to much at stake with everyone else to be wasting that time in between being average and doing nothing.

Let’s see what Community means according to Dictionary.com

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

2. a locality inhabited by such a group.

3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the ): the business community; the community of scholars.

4. a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage: the community of Western Europe.

5. Ecclesiastical . a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.

6. Ecology . an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.

7. joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.: community of property.

8. similar character; agreement; identity: community of interests.

9. the community, the public; society: the needs of the community.

A bunch of those come close to community but never really hit the nail on the head.  You know what they’re missing?  Trust.

You can’t have community without trust, it just doesn’t work.

Pete Wilson has a great way of putting it in his blog post Artificial Harmony.

…if you’ve surrounded yourself with community that won’t speak truth to you then you don’t really have community as much as you have a gathering of convenient relationships.

That’s about as real as it gets.  Truth is the piece that keeps community together.

Our church belives that true transformation comes from real, true community.  I totally agree with that.  You can’t grow by keeping everything supressed inside.  In a true community trust is so strong that there is no problem of judgment or secrets or all of those silly things.  It’s a place where you can be real and everyone can be real back to you.  Community is no new thing either.  It’s been around forever, literally.

Here’s an example:

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

We as believers have been a part of community for forever and now is no time to stop.  Even Jesus surrounded himself with community.  He found himself with a bunch of guys who shared everything and traveled and lived together.  Shouldn’t we be like Jesus too?

As I was saying before, I’m leaving for college on Friday.  My prayer is that I can use the amazing opportunity for community that God has given me to it’s full potential.  I know there is so much to be learned over the course of the next few year’s and I hope I can share that time with other people.

-

²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

Lost with You

People need people.

Well, that’s what I got from it at least.

If you don’t know what the above image is from, where have you been the past six years?  In all seriousness though, i’m sure you didn’t get through last Sunday without at least hearing mention of the series finale of LOST.  Yup, the SERIES finale.  I’m sure some of you are thinking “good riddance” and I guess that’s cool if you really didn’t like it, but personally, I loved it.  It was that one television staple in my week that I never missed.  I’ve got to say, I’ll be missing it too.

(Tread wearily LOST fans. Spoilers will not be excluded.)

Anyway, as I mentioned before, last Sunday held what we had all been waiting for:  the whopping two hour series finale of LOST.  Now, if you don’t watch the show you may be wondering if I have any point to make.  Yes.  As a matter of fact, I do.

The series as a whole has always been filled with religious undertones.  Heck, undertones may even be a little lax.  From the beginning science and faith have butted heads many times.  I’m glad to say that I took a very religious and powerful meaning from the ending.

For those of you who don’t even know what i’m talking about, LOST is about a group of plane-wrecked survivors trying to make a life of their situation and eventually try to make it back home.  There’s a smoke monster, a secret group called the Dharma Initiative, time travel, polar bears, and even giant bodiless Egyptian statues.  Confused yet?  Good, go watch it and find out the details with that stuff.  The cool thing though, is that none of that really matters.  Let me explain..

In this final season we have been introduced to scenes called “flash sideways’.”  In the end, they became sort of a “purgatory”  or an in-between of life and death.  Basically, all of the members met in this purgatory before they moved on together.

It’s really a touching scene.  This is about the point everyone started to cry, by the way.  But really, Jack’s dad makes a great point when he says “The most important part of your life is the time you spent with these people.  Nobody does it alone, Jack.  You needed all of them, and they needed you.”

That scene really just left me contempt with the show.  It doesn’t matter what happened to Hurley and Ben or if Lapidus actually got the last few of them home.  It doesn’t matter at all.  ”It’s not about the destination.  It’s about the journey.”  All the mysteries on the island don’t matter.  Heck, the island itself doesn’t matter.  What does matter though are the lives of the characters on the island.  The relationships they formed, the bonds they’ve created, that’s what it’s all about.

This ending struck a direct parallel with something my pastor was talking about a few weeks ago.  I remember him talking about how with Christ, yeah, the birth and the death are important, but what about all of the stuff in between?  We tend to forget about all of it even though it is just as important.  He went on to compare it to our own lives.  Just like we just learned from Lost,  the people you spend time with and the relationships you form are just as important as all the other stuff.

We can’t make it through life without people.

“28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”

-Mark 12:28-31

In short: Love God and Love People.

I’d say that fits pretty well.  We are commanded to love and live in community with our neighbor.  It’s that very community that makes or breaks how we spend our life.  Do you want to be at the end of the tunnel thinking, “man.. I wish I had someone here with me” or do you want to be surrounded by people who truly love you?  Of course you want to be surrounded by your loved ones.

The community we begin to make as a child will continue to push on until we let it die.  I know it’s a bit depressing, but we’ll all die eventually.  The question is, do you want to live your life with people and true community or be the one who sit’s on the sidelines?

It’s not about how you die.  It’s not about when you die.  It’s all about the memories you’ve made and the relationships that have blossomed along the way.

Is My God In Your Action Flick?!

I am ecstatic about this movie.

“But Elijah, this film is rated R! It contains violence! It even has crude language! =O Why would you condone this?!”

Good point. Allow me to elaborate.

First of all.. the trailer kind of focuses more on the action side of the movie, which I guess is kind of good. But i’ll focus on why in a bit. If you didn’t get it from the trailer, it’s set in a post apocalyptic where nothing is how it used to be. People fight over the simplest things (water, soap, food), things we take for granted. Eli (Denzel Washington) is heading west on a quest to protect a book that he has in his possession. Guess what the book is!? Yeah, I know, the trailer gives it away. It is, in fact, The Bible.

“=O *shock and awe* The Bible in a secular movie?! It must be blasphemy!”

No, no it’s not.

I absolutely loved “The Book of Eli”! It was so inspiring to me! Maybe it won’t be like this for everyone, but it really made me think about things. It really hit hard on the subject of faith and trusting in God (among other things). There are just so many opportunities in the film for Eli to stray from the beaten path, yet he doesn’t. He is tempted by things such as lust and hatred but does not partake. No matter what, the character trusts in God completely and doesn’t give up.

“But.. wait.. It’s rated R!”

Yeah, so was “The Passion Of The Christ.” A simple letter doesn’t make a movie evil. While it’s a great guideline for parents, to me it’s all about your maturity level. If you can take the violence and language and not let it invade you, then by all means, see the movie. If you can’t, then don’t. It’s that simple. But still, it’s definitely not for the children.

“But there’s violence! And what about the language!? Surely no good could come from this!”

Oh, come on! The Bible is filled with stories of horrendous violence and gore! It also contains it’s fair share of cursing! Does that mean the Bible is bad? No, of course not! The thing is, the Bible uses these things in ways that better us. Here, J.D. Walters explains it better than I can.

“Skeptics’ reaction to the Bible very often… resembles very much the reaction Christian ratings groups have to ‘unwholesome’ movies. How can the Bible be the sublime Word of God, they ask, when it has such unwholesome content as adultery, war, torture, cursing and plague?… The Bible features such content because it is God’s message to a fallen world. The only reason it is relevant to so many people is that it rings true to our experience. A G-rated Bible is a Bible that cannot speak to fallen man where he is. No one could take it seriously if it laid out a drama in which nothing bad ever happens to good people, everyone always makes the right choices and God never has to judge those who disobey Him. Like the best movies with explicit content, the Bible tells the truth about the world, but thankfully it also offers hope for a better one even as it takes this one absolutely seriously.”

That was taken from his article “A CleanFlix World?” which I encourage you to check out.

Just as J.D. Walters stated, the violence, sex, and coarse language is in the Bible for a reason:  So we can relate it to the real world.  The truth is, we do live in a fallen world and there is no reason to sugar coat what’s really out there.

“Ok, but how is it good that the trailer focuses so much on the other stuff?”

Good question!  This movie isn’t for Christians, it’s for the nonbelievers!  Let me put it this way, If “The Book Of Eli” were a lovey dovy, in your face, give me a hug, movie with the same concept, it just wouldn’t be seen outside of the Christian community.  That’s what I think is so awesome!  It can appeal to nonbelievers and have such a deep meaning at the same time!

In just over a week the film has grossed $38,437,553.  In a worst case scenario where everyone saw it at a non matinée time at about ten dollars a ticket (slightly above the average), about 3,847,755 people have seen it.  To some it may have just been another action flick.  Those people probably left no different than they came in.  No more evil, no less.  Yet, just think.. If this movie left just one person thinking about God, if it only brought one person to ask that one Christian guy at work, who is always bugging him about his faith, a question that could spark a whole new life, would it not be worth it?  I bet it left MORE than one person wondering what it’s all about.

As far as i’m concerned, “The Book Of Eli” is one of the most productive secular films I’ve ever seen.  There is potential for so much good to come out of this movie during times when films are filled with such horrendous waste.  I encourage you to go see the film.  I challenge you to bring along a friend who may not know Christ.  It may be just “another action flick” to that person, but there’s always that chance that it could spark something that could change his or her life!

Remember, God does move in mysterious ways!

My First Salad

I ate a salad today.

It was my first salad ever.

It was quite delicious.

Man, I hate when this happens. There’s always something like this that I will deny, deny, deny untill for some reason I decide to give in and try.  It seems like the things I oppose the most are the things I end up loving the most.  Today it was a salad (which tasted like a Big Mac! =D). At one point it actually was a Big Mac!  There was the rollercoaster. The diving board and water side also come to mind.  Even a snickers bar.

Things may seem hard, but they turn out easy and enjoyable.  I’ve proven that to myself at least.  Think about some areas in our own lives where we may fall short yet have ultimate potential if we would just try.  The first thing that comes to my mind is outreach.  There are so many opportunities in my life to share love with non believers but more often than not I fail.  I have a feeling that once I break out and really try, I will truly see change and it will make me want to strive harder than ever.

Just as I now yearn for a salad, perhaps I could also yearn more to reach out to people.  But what will it take?

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)

How about just showing love to all men?  No matter the reaction, as 1 Peter 3:9 states, repay evil with blessing.  Just be nice, no matter the situation!

See, the one thing I’ve learned is that we can’t just throw scripture at people and tell them they’re wrong.  If we really want to change peoples life, we have to show them that we’re really all about this awesome God of which we speak of.  When we can truly show a non believer our ways, then he will follow.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The Lord tells us that he will give us strength in these matters if we trust in him,  so why don’t we?

We have so much of an opportunity to change the world.  So.. Why don’t we?

You tell me.

(Also, If you have something that you were determined to hate but now love, leave me a comment!  I’d love to hear about it!)

You Are What You Speak

(At some point I will be revisiting this topic seeing as how i’ve changed my views on the subject.  This is not a current reflection of what I believe about the subject)

 

This post has really challenged me.  I went into it looking to prove a point, cursing is bad.  I came out with so much more of an understanding than before.  I am so surprised with what I’ve learned.  I’d love to share with you!

First off, let me just throw this out there.  We as Christ followers are called to live a Christ like life, are we not?  The word tells us to “Be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1).  Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you think Christ would use profain and vulgar speech?  Of course not.  But, it seems to most people that’s just not enough.  I think I’ll go more in depth.

Ephesians 4:29 states “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Words are such powerful tools.  Just think, God created this world, this universe, this body with what?  Words.  So, if our words are so powerful, why do we cast them around so carelessly?

Let’s say you are talking to a non believer.  While conversing you let a curse word slip.  Unless you momentarily apologize, the nonbeliever will cast you off as a hypocrite.  It will be extremely hard to convince someone to follow Christ when they think you don’t even believe in what you speak, won’t it?  We are called to live as an example of Christ, to share his love, and to bring others to his love.  Mahatma Ghandi once said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”  I think it is time that we start acting like true Christians instead of talking about it!

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise an cursing.  My brothers, this shall not be.  Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”  (James 3:9-12)

Get that?  The concept that is.  James compares our mouth to a spring.  He says that both praise and curse comes out of our mouth.  He then asks if fresh and salt water can both flow from a single spring.  Of course they can’t, so why should both praise and curse come fourth from our mouth?

You may argue that cursing is simply the thing people do today.  You may even say that to effectively reach someone you must be able to have them to relate to them.  You would want them to be able to understand you.  I’ve heard this argument before and I can simply disprove it with one verse.  ”Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)  We don’t have to give in to worldly ideas to spread our message.  In fact, I think it only hinders us.

Further into that, Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  Let me see here..  all nine of the fruits of the Spirit are instantly torn down by profaneness.  I find no coincidence in that at all.  In fact, the one that really stands out to me is self-control.  In Matthew 15:11 Jesus tells us that “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ”  I know we all think of using course words, the thing that separates us, though, is that we have enough self-control to hold them in.

Ok.  So I hope I’ve proved my point.  Now, let’s see if we can really find out what cursing is.

As Timothy S. Morton found in his article “Christian Cussing? Cussing Swearing and Profanity; A Matter of Opinion?” here are a few definitions.

The definitions below are from Websters 1828 dictionary except where noted.

 

First look at “swear, “

 

SWEAR, v.i. pret. swore. [Eng. veer; L. assevero.]

1. To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed.

4. To be profane; to practice profaneness.

 

An “oath” is much the same,

 

OATH, n.

A solemn affirmation or declaration, made with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. The appeal to God in an oath, implies that the person imprecates his vengeance and renounces his favor if the declaration is false, or if the declaration is a promise, the person invokes the vengeance of God if he should fail to fulfill it. A false oath is called perjury.

 

To be “profane” means,

 

PROFA’NE, a. [L. profanus; pro and fanum, a temple.]

1. Irreverent to any thing sacred; applied to persons. A man is profane when he takes the name of God in vain, or treats sacred things with abuse and irreverence.

2. Irreverent; proceeding from a contempt of sacred things, or implying it; as profane words or language; profane swearing.

 

“Curse” or the modern “cuss” means,

 

CURSE, v.t. pret. and pp. cursed or curst.

1. To utter a wish of evil against one; to imprecate evil upon; to call for mischief or injury to fall upon; to execrate.

CURSE, n.

1. Malediction; the expression of a wish of evil to another.

2. Imprecation of evil.

 

And “vulgar” is defined as,

 

VULGAR , a.

1. Pertaining to the common unlettered people; as vulgar life.

2. Used or practiced by common people; as vulgar sports.

6. Mean; rustic; rude; low; unrefined; as vulgar ninds; vulgar manners.

 

Thus there are different types of “cussing.” One can be profane and take the name of the Lord in vain, he can swear or make a foolish oath in anger or sport, or he can use vulgar and base terms and expressions.

Now, before I move on, I think all Christians can agree in the severity of saying the Lords name in vein.  But I just want to make sure that’s clear.  ”You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”  (Exodus 20:7)  There it is, one of the Ten Commandments!

 

Alright, now here is some of the information I was very surprised to find.  It turns out that many of the simple phrases that we use in everyday talk come from curses to God.  The origins of some of these phrases just blew me away!  (note that this is also borrowed from the previous article)

• Begorrah = By God
• Bejabbers = By Jesus
• Bleeding heck = Bloody Hell
• Blimey = Blind me
• Blinking heck = Bloody Hell
• Bloody = By Our Lady
• By George = By God
• By golly = By God’s body
• By gosh = By God
• By gum = By God
• By Jove = By God
• Cheese n’ Rice = Jesus Christ
• Chrissakes = For Christ’s sake
• Christmas = Christ
• Cor blimey = God blind me
• Crikey = Christ
• Criminy = Christ
• Cripes = Christ
• Crivvens = Christ defend us
• Dad gum = God d–n
• Dagnammit = Damnation, God d–n it
• Dagnabbit = Damnation, God d–n it
• Dang = Damn
• Dangnabbit = Damnation, God d–n it
• Dangnation = Damnation
• Darn = Damn
• Darnation = Damnation
• Doggone = God d–n or Dog on it
• Drat = God rot it
• Egad = A God
• For crying out loud = For Christ’s sake
• Gadzooks = God’s hooks (referring to the nails in Jesus on the cross)
• Gat Dangit = God d–n it
• G.D. (pronounced “jee dee”) = God d–n
• Gee = Jesus or Jerusalem
• Gee whizz = Jesus
• Gee willikers = Jesus or Jerusalem
• Gorblimey = God blind me
• Good grief = Good God
• Goodness gracious = Good God
• Gosh = God
• Gosh darned = God d–ned
• Heck = Hell
• Jason Crisp = Jesus Christ
• Jebus = Jesus
• Jeepers Creepers = Jesus Christ
• Jeez = Jesus
• Jeezy Creezy = Jesus Christ
• Jehoshaphat = Jesus
• Jesus wept = Jesus Christ
• Jiminy Christmas = Jesus Christ
• Jiminy Cricket = Jesus Christ
• Judas Priest = Jesus Christ
• Jumping Jehoshaphat = Jumping Jesus
• My goodness = My God
• Sacré bleu = “sacred blue” = Sang de Dieu (“God’s blood”)
• Sam Hill = Hell
• Suffering succotash = Suffering Saviour
• Tarnation = Damnation
• Yumping Yiminy = Jumping Jesus
• Zounds or ‘Swounds = God’s wounds

 

Now were you aware of any of that?  I sure wasn’t.  I’ll continue on with this concept with a piece of an article by James L. Melton entitled “Christian Cursing.”

You say, “Well, my word! I wouldn’t take God’s name in vain!” You just did! John 1:1 says that “the Word” was GOD! Satan tricked you, didn’t he? You need to CONFESS to God that you’ve been taking His name in vain, and you need to REPENT of this sin!“Well, my goodness!”, you say. If you are saved then your “goodness” is none other than God Himself (Psalm 144:2). You just took His name in vain again. You have no goodness of your own (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:23; Psa. 39:5), so “my goodness” is a reference to God!

“Good grief! I had no idea!” There you go again! Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with GRIEF (Isa. 53:3). His grief was “good” grief because He bore your sins. You should show more reverence and respect for your Saviour and quit throwing God’s word around too loosely.

“For crying out loud! Can’t I say anything?” How about reading your Bible for a change?! Matthew 27:46 says that when your Saviour was suffering on the cross He “cried with a loud voice.” What’s your logic in using such speech? Could it be that Satan is just having a good laugh at your ignorance and disrespect of God’s word?

“Well, geeeeeeee!” Did you say “G”, as in “GOD”? Yes, you certainly did! You’ve also said “Gosh” and “Good Golly”! You’ve also said “Jeepers Creepers” when you really wanted to say “Jesus Christ” (JC!). You’ve also played around with the letters “G” and “D” together. You said “dad gum” and “dog gone” when you really wanted to say “God” and then follow with the word “damn”. Think about it, Christian! Is God pleased with this kind of speech?

I use some of these “Minced Oaths” quite often and never even realized what they mean.  It’s something i’ll have to work on and I’ll encourage you to also.

Still, there are words like shoot, crap, shucks, freakin’, fudge, frick, and so on and so forth.  Surely those words are not bad, right?  Wrong.  The above words I stated, along with many more, are just a convenient disguise to certain four letter words that we all know.  They mean the exact same thing, don’t they?  The truth is that it all lies in where your heart is.  In Luke 6:45 we are told that “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”  So we will speak what flows from the heart, don’t let it be evil!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life!” (Proverbs 4:23)

So guard your heart, hold your tongue, and let not evil come from your mouth; for so has God, and it is he and no one else whom our actions shall mimic.