Desire

Our will is driven by our desire, our desires are what we make choices by. If I desire to get my work done more than to hang out with people, then though I wish to hang out, I am going to go do my work. Now for us Christians, we have been freed from slavery to sin, and now we sit in the middle, to sin or not to sin. Here is where we act, Taste and see that the Lord is good, then follow Him with your whole heart.

Our motivation to follow God does not come from within ourselves, it springs from God Himself. Our desire springs from our memory of how good God has been in the past. I want to say something here, see if you can follow... I don't know if this is completely orthodox, so with a grain of salt...

Lets read James 1:14,15. " But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Now we are tempted when drawn away from life around us, lured, and enticed, and this is done by our own desire. Desire is what drives our will. Then when we decide to act out on our desire, we sin. Sin is not the action, it's the reason for the action.

Now if we act according to our desires, how do we change those desires? I have two answers...

Mat 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Rom 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

These are my answers, first, to change our our desires, our affections of the heart, we have to move our treasure, and transform our minds. This boils down to one thing, for our treasures are our desires. But what we buy into, that becomes our treasure. Mat 6:20 "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." We act this out, we lay up treasure... So how do we do this?

In this world, our desires, our wants, are constantly being conformed to the world. This is done by simply being around other people, they rub off on us, their desires become our desires, what they value becomes our value, so be careful who you hang out with... Now this is the answer, BE TRANSFORMED. In essence, be conformed to God, not the world. And we do this by RENEWING OUR MINDS, but in what Paul? Where do we renew our minds? Well it's simple deduction, it's communication. And God primarily communicates to us by His word. Paul is simply urging us to put some effort into changing what influences us.

Now how do we desire to change? How do we find the motivation to sit down and read a book? Who other people claim has changed their lives, but if it hasn't drastically changed our own lives, we find little motivation to read it. I propose that this is the story of our lives, most Christians really struggle with this, finding the drive to read and pray. So we say, "if God did something great in our lives, we would live such pure lives it would shame ourselves"... The basic foundation of this statement is motivation, we are saying that if God did something, we would be motivated to follow so much better. So pray for joy, pray for Gods joy to be poured into your life, believe the psalmist, TASTE and SEE that the Lord is good. Christ found his motivation in the joy "that was set before Him". But don't sit there waiting for God to pour into your life, take faith, believe God will speak into your life, and then read His word, expecting to find something that revolutionizes your life. Take Ps 1...

but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

Now we see that the reason this man delights in the law(word) of God, is because he meditates on it. Day and night...

we can know this because, the tree is drinking who's water? Gods water or the worlds water? It's obvious that this illustration sets down for us the order, the man first reads, and then by drinking, by renewing his mind, his SOUL delights in the law.

I pray you will find this true, read the word, and wait for God to transform it. Then, obedience and delight will take flight, your desires will be changed, and temptation will not appear as convincing as it used to be, because its promises are no longer gold but silver, second best at best... Take this hymn to heart, "and the things of earth will grow strangely dim."

Do we believe that God is the most desirable being in the universe? Then why does Bryce Lechelt struggle so much with treasuring Christ above all things?

When Abortion Collides with Totalitarianism

When Abortion Collides with Totalitarianism

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Here is an interesting article by Albert Mohler who is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. This is also an excellent blog to keep up to date on, very interesting to read these articles.

Atonement and propitiation.

Lets think about the atoning sacrifice for a second. If it is true that Christ died for all men, then Christ's sacrifice, doesn't save anyone at all, it simply is not able to by the demonstration that people who Christ died for are in Hell as well as heaven. Atonement means the remission of sins, and the reconciliation of man to God. Thats what Christ's sacrifice did. Remission is the cancelation of a debt, so we are not sinful anymore, and the reconciliation part is the reunion or bringing together. Does Christ actually do this for all men? Is it possible that this is true... I Don't think Christ did this for all men, just by implication. 

On to propitiation.

In Christian theology, propitiation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, by which He fulfills the wrath of God (both an emotional response of anger and a moral response of indignation), and conciliates Him who would otherwise be offended by our sin and would demand that we pay the penalty for it. The concept of propitiation is associated in some Christian theological systems with indemnity, imputed righteousness, and substitutionary atonement.

So in 1 John 2:2 
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 
And Again
1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Can we really conclude that Christ is the propitiation for the whole world? Christ's death imputed righteousness onto us, we are no longer sinful in Gods eyes. So we are thus left with two options, either universalism, or Gods sovereign choice in who to save or who to not save.
Perhaps the speaker, John, is talking to the Jews and telling them that they are no longer the only ones chosen for salvation but also the gentiles, or maybe it is the spanning of salvation into different countries and cultures. 
I think Mathew Henry says it well:
not only for the past, or us present believers, but for the sins of all who shall hereafter believe on him or come to God through him. The extent and intent of the Mediator's death reach to all tribes, nations, and countries. As he is the only, so he is the universal atonement and propitiation for all that are saved and brought home to God, and to his favour and forgiveness.

Taking into Account the speaker is John, he has made it very clear in John 6:39; 17:9-10, that only those the the Father gives Him are Christ's. 

Double post, for when one won't do.

The eternally frustrated God, who wishes that all would come to Him, but knows won't. If He's wishes it, but can't have it, thats got to be frustrating...

If we look at the world around us and contrast it with the fires of hell that the world deserves, we can see a huge show of Gods grace in daily life. For we see that every breath we take is an act of grace of God, we might have a much more grand sense of who God is. For we all deserve death the moment we sinned, yet here we are Breathing.. Here's the kicker, we were sinning when we were conceived. He gives it to all!

Stubborn to Move

In the arms of my lover I rest.
Safe and secure I rest today
I have found significance.

My mind wrapped up in you.
Yet you find it better to love
and not think about those things.

Though I sit here wishing to know
why you love me the way that you do.
Sit down and help me understand.

Beckon me, beckon me to sit with you
to be with you and know you
to love you and follow you.

But here I still sit
waiting for you to sit down
and explain to me why you love.

Like the Israelites I sit and wait,
like Icarus I fly to high,
missing the point of life.

Right in front of my eyes.

The Spirit

O how we chant
how we follow the law
to every letter, syllable.

We are the collective
a depressed collective
a legalistic collective.

We do not think
we thought
we blend.

But the joy of the Lord

We are not afraid
we sing and we shout
we are humble but bold
we are not deadly similar
we are an exciting community
we are shouts of joy and songs or praise
we are a fire, bright, alive, and contagious.

Now

to be read quickly, aloud with intensity.

Come away
with me, lets go
adventure awaits
God is coming
to journey with us
to be filled with joy
and answer His call.

Take care
take care to hear
don't miss it
don't sleep through it
wake, wake up
He is here, now
come, come away.

Enter the gates
into His citadel
lets go now, today
fly and leap together
into His presence.
Away from this mirth
through the gates
into His embrace.

We are going now
up to His house
do not stay
do not stray
He is coming
and we are going
let us fly away.

Come now, go now
away to that place
don't forget where
you are going
and where you came.
Go now to His place
now to His presence.

Don't look, not away
keep your focus
keep your fervor
follow in trust
look on in earnest
never forget where
you go, and came from
go now, follow now.

Sleeping Rain Drops

The thoughts in my head
slowly, fading away into the night.
My desires are becoming foggy.
My eyes are closing.

A slow musical piece
dripping in the background.
A slow pitter patter
on the window.
It is calling me to bed
waiting patiently for me to surrender
to it's deep soothingly mysterious calls.
To bed, to sleep, to bed, to sleep, bed, sleep.

The lights are dimly glowing
street lights casting through the shades.
Sitting with your friends
deep into the night
making quiet conversations
love and fantasy intertwine to transcending tales.

The rain is starting to fall now
it begins with a drip and a tap
on the window it makes those sounds.
Quiet at first, but turning into a droll
until so quietly absorbed
the conversation fails into a contented silence.

The thoughts are there
the words are lost
to those drips and drops that coax
the soul to quietness.
Thoughts of trust, love, beauty and hope
the silent words persist in their minds

till sleep takes them.

The power of words

The power of words.

He who controls the past controls the present.

In the middle east there is a museum that disproves the holocaust.

People say and write that Christ didn't die on the cross, nor did He rise from the dead.


If I can control the past, then I can say and prove anything I wish, I can say the Jews were never in the middle east, I can say Hitler was a reformer who was right in his thinking because I want him to be right.

The book 1984 is a perfect example of this. Those who haven't read it probably should.


In this day and age comic books are becoming literature, why, because it is written down... In our politically correct new age thinking, what I have written is literature. If it is literature I can then quote it in a thesis statement and use it to no end to prove anything I wish. Of course this is ridiculing our post modern age, but there are serious flaws in it. The problem is that I can quote and use anything said by anyone to prove anything. I write a book about Christ and how he lived in a place and married a person, millions read it, and people believe it. Problems with this is that the book I wrote was completely fictional, and if the doubting people actually took the time to research all the facts used in it they would come to realize that the book is seriously flawed, mainly with its proofs. The reality is that the book being fictional was sold as fact and scientific, and the people selling it knew that it was fictional, but they aren't interested in being correct, they were interested in making a mess in the Christian world, and they were allowed to because of this stupid politically correct world of ours.

Giving Up On Love

Lately I have been thinking about love and how it seems I'm not getting any. Not to say I am not, but as Erwin McManus says "When you give up on love, everything else seems to go with it, joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion, they're all interconnected". Over the last few days it seemed like I gave up on love myself. I would look into my heart and see absolutely nothing, blank.
A dark and empty void.

Today I wrote this in my journal.

I say I love, but my heart is
a devious thing, it plans evil
and works toward getting its
own ends. Alone it would
kill itself, but people do
surround it and it sets
itself upon them
working to kill
all who do
not go
with
it.

To end it now, would cause God less pain, and by doing that would I, could I, be accepted into His Kingdom? No of course not, it is pure foolishness to think this way because we don't understand the huge limitless love that God has for us, I wonder how much pain he feels when we believe that He does not love us because we hurt Him so much. "It may be hard to accept, but you are the object of God's love"E M.

Amazing to think of all the pain we cause God, yet He still loves us. Is it not a strange mystery, to hate God, who loves you dearly, who died for us, and who carries on into eternity with those who would love Him and follow Him. To the place He has created for us. Strange is it not?

Yet here I sit, following Him
to that strange land.

Whom have I but you?

Whom have I but you?

Whom have I but you?

Though the mountains fall,
they fall into the sea.

Whom have I but you?

Camrose

I had an interesting thing today while driving.
I was driving towards Camrose and I wouldn't call it an urge, but I didn't really have any natural desire to keep myself alive (you know that natural instinct they call self preservation) well, for a few minutes I didn't have that and I started thinking about heaven, and what it will be like and what an awesome thing it would be if I was there right now. It was cool, until I thought that God probably wouldn't condone me driving into a semi. So I didn't, needless to say. The coolest thing however is that when I was thinking about being dead, I couldn't imagine it, I couldn't grasp not existing. Yes, it was weird to have absolutely no point of reference concerning a certain thing, feeling or experience. Very strange. However I must say that not being restrained by our instinct to preserve ourselves is quite freeing, but I wouldn't like to feel it too often. Of course I'm not suicidal, I just ponder things and try to experience what they might be like without actually doing it. You know, pondering, wondering...

wondering

Often I wonder about love, many have said love is the one thing that can not be understood, yet I feel as if we refuse to understand it, not that we can't.
I say we can, we can understand love to such a degree, as to shrug it off and leave it for the birds.
That would be my scientific side talking, yes we know it's chemicals, and it's great for health.

Yet, I say we can never understand love, because Love is an attribute of God, and people can never fully understand God, not in this life, so it seems as if we are at a loss. 1 Corinthians 13 is fantastic in telling what love is. Yet we still struggle with this idea of love.
Is love that fuzzy feeling newlyweds have?
or the love of a father or mother to their son or daughter?
is it the love of a brother?
or the love of a grandma?
is it the feeling when children delight us in being good?
or the feeling we have for the boy in grade 9?
is it the feelings we have for God?
if all these things are love, then Love must be pretty broad, and if love is pretty broad then it is probably pretty specifically a general feeling we have for people if we get to know them. I would hazard a guess that if people would know each other more then there would be more love.
I wonder if love is not only for God, and then there is a special trickle down effect, of loving Gods creation, and people love other people the most because we are all the crown of Gods creations and the only beings on this planet made in His image.

Still what really is love?
Honestly can anyone know?

Temptation

Do you hear that?
deep in our minds he speaks
Can you hear him?
whispering on the wind


Shh, can you hear him?
As clear as the dawn
he is in my mind
Satan is tempting us


It is quiet tonight
perhaps he is gone
but I lay my head
in on the breeze they come


Floating in my mind
rationalized reasonableness
a twist here, there
melting into transparent


He is in my mind
enticed, a cool breeze
action, dawn turned red
the sky set ablaze in fire


Turn away from it
intensity of the Son
my own heart turned away
to death and decay


he is in my mind
do you hear that?
Satan is tempting us
he is in my mind

dream

I had a dream this morning, and rarely do I dream to such and extent and then remember the whole thing. I kind of think it is God talking to me but I'm not what He is saying to me yet.

It was set in the tropics, on an island, and it is kind of magical, many of these things I left out because they are irrelevant and probably a cause of my personality. There are three friends, they are all like brothers and sisters together. Two guys and a girl. I'll name them Fred, Gena, and Dave. Both Fred and Dave like Gena, and Gena knows this, in fact Fred knew this too. However they, Fred and Gena, kept this quiet and Dave never knew. Dave finds out later... Fred and Gena start to meet together alone during the early mornings and late nights, and it was always at this special tree that hung over the ocean, very beautiful. One night the two of them are having a good time talking and the like, and Fred pulls out a beautiful ring made of silver and having emeralds set in it, in rings. So it looked like a ring which had a small tower likeness on top of it, and that tiny tower, which was very short, had a roof like a Muslim mosque and that roof also was like a very small ring itself. Now this whole ring was set with circles of emeralds around it. With the giving of that ring Fred Promises to never stop loving Gena. Now Fred and Gena had both very rich and powerful fathers, and neither liked the idea of those two being in love, because parents find it very easy to read their children. So the two fathers rip the tree out of the ground and let it fall into the ocean, yet the tree never lost its leaves and shone in the water from the sun light, a problem with this was that Gena hid the ring in that tree. The next night Fred and Gena plan to leave, Fred's father has just found the ring missing and is furious, while Gena's father is planning on sending her away. Thus Fred and Gena leave for a few years, leaving Dave with the realization that Gena loved Fred, and that Fred also loved Gena, He is terribly distraught and driven into a terrible state of lonlyness. A few years later Fred and Gena return to their island home without the letting other people know. Gena always wanting to come back home and see her father again, and Fred planning on getting the ring back to Gena, although he had made a replacement ring which wasn't at all nice. The two were sitting by the ocean right in front of the fallen tree and Fred knowing it was time asked for the ring back, Gena looked astonished at him yet he gave no explanation to it, Fred just asked for the ring again, so Gena gave it to him. In a few moments there was a huge wave and it poured right over Gena and Fred. Gena was just as astonished to find that in her hand was a ring which she had long forgotten and with that ring came memories, memories from long ago. She was overwhelmed, so much in fact that Gena turned around and saw, Dave, a much older Dave to be exact. He said that he had to talk to her and about something serious. Dave told Gena that he loved her, and that He could not be without her, though many years had passed he had never forgotten her and had loved no one else since. Needless to say Gena ran away.

That was when I woke up, and I knew I fit in that story, I think I'm Fred, because I saw things sometimes from his perspective, literally. What I don't know is where Gena ran off. What happened next, and what I'm supposed to get out of this. Yet I do know that even after years it was extremely difficult for her to make a choice between the two.

I often wonder about hearts and how they can get mixed up in things and how we can get hurt so easily by trivial things. We need to be careful where we put our hearts and what we do with them. I have been a slave to the idea of love, to the desire to be in love for a long time, I can hardly remember a moment that I did not have a crush on someone. And these were not small either often lasting for years, many years.
I think I can conclude that I really do believe that God talks to us in many ways, sometimes strange ways too.

songs are more then poetry, so much more.

You know what amazes me, the way a lot of bands that would be regarded as being bad or indecent come out with some really amazing things.  One of the best examples of this to me right now is Evanescence, they really come out with thought provoking and challenging lyrics for a lot of their songs.

One good example of this is the song which deals with the guilt of blaming yourself for the pain of separation for a loved one.  It is amazing how artists can be so frank with feelings and emotions.  Songs really can open the door into the workings or a human mind and how we work through things, both the right and wrong ways.

"Lacrymosa"

Out on your own,
Cold and alone again.
Can this be what you really wanted, baby?

Blame it on me,
Set your guilt free.
Nothing can hold you back now.

Now that you're gone,
I feel like myself again.
Grieving the things I can't repair and willing...

To let you blame it on me,
And set your guilt free.
I don't want to hold you back now love.

I can't change who I am.
Not this time, I won't lie to keep you near me.
And in this short life, there's no time to waste on giving up.
My love wasn't enough.

And you can blame it on me,
Just set your guilt free, honey.
I don't want to hold you back now love.

I often find it scary how people can let go of things, and others they can't.  It has been often recorded that a couple who have lived together for most of their lives will sometimes die within a few weeks of each other, the human heart dies along with the one it loves.  A human is more then blood and flesh, we are connected on a deeper way than anything else in this universe, a way that nothing can ever compare too.  In thinking this, who can ever tell how much pain a person goes through when their lover has lost their love for them and they are left alone for years, tormented, living yet dead at the same time.

"My Immortal"

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

[Chorus:]
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

[Chorus]

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along

Thailand short report

Well It has been a very long time since I have said anything, you might have just assumed that I had fallen off the side of the planet...

Well if the world was flat then you would have been correct.

Yes I was on the dark side of the planet, the crazy side, the side that just seems to be upside down in many aspects of all and everything...  Interested?

Well in a short, fast 15 seconds, I went Prayer walking in Laos, spent a day in the shady border of Thailand and Burma, taught English to children, visited many missionary's, went to Bangkok, the beach and spent a many number of hours cramped between awesome Asians.  Yah there was a lot of time spent in traffic, mostly because the max speed you can go on the roads is about 60 (mostly because either the roads are too curvy or I don't know), and there was a lot of distance between all the places that we went to.

We did five weeks of stuff in three, but it was awesome.

After all that the group leaders left for home and the rest of us stayed for an extra 4 weeks of vacation/heavy duty traveling.  We first stayed at the beach for a few extra days and then headed to Bangkok by plane.  After that we headed to the capitol of Cambodia for a few days, and then up to Angkor Wat, which is a wonder of the world and is really a spread out complex of temples built at different times.  From there we flew to Singapore and spent a few days there shopping but not buying because everything was fairly expensive.  From there we went into Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur and stayed for a few days, going to malls and events and buying things from both malls and markets.  Then we went back to Singapore for a few more days to await our flights back to Bangkok.  When we were in Bangkok we only had a weekend left and we spent the time hanging out in malls and shopping in Giant markets and buying lots of stuff.  After that we hopped back on planes to Canada.  It was really sweet.

So that's basically my short report on the trip.  I have plenty of stories but there are too many to tell.  Besides this is getting long already.

In all, it was awesome and very worth the time and money spent for the memories and perspective opening experiences.

Thailand

Well it has been a while hasn't it?

I have some interesting news about myself, I think it's rather awesome.
I'm in Thailand right now and it's pretty sweet.
I went on a mission trip with Mount Carmel, and that has now ended, but a few others and I have decided to stay a bit longer for a relaxing holiday. Which has been great, but I'm a little burned by the sun right now, we spent yesterday on the beach. Today might be movie day because it'll be dark and cool in our rooms.
We plan on going to see Cambodia and Vietnam in the next few weeks and then back to Bangkok for our departing flights. But you never know about plans here our visas for vietnam might not work out.

Thats why I havn't been e-mailing or anything like that recently.

book review

Hey everyone, guess what.

Harry Potter rules, and I don't care what they say.

I just finished reading the last book last week and decided that it's amazing!

It's just really good writing and a great story, sure it's dark so maybe tiny kids shouldn't read it... but it's a classic and always will be.  I encourage reading the books for enjoyment.

create

You know what I find most interesting thing about creation?  I think it has to be the idea of actually creating something.

When God created something, that's just it, he made something from scratch, without any reference point at all.  It's insane.  Humans are very limited when it comes to creating things.  First there is the limitation of creating matter, hardest of all to do and easiest to prove.  Next we have the creation of non matter, like an invention or an idea.  We are unable to do that as well.  Can you actually think of a new color without mixing others?  Can we come up with the wheel without first seeing the rock roll down the hill.  Can you invent something without borrowing ideas from other things.  No, it's simply impossible.  We as humans are not able to create anything at all, we can invent, we can build upon, we can form theory's by throwing facts and hypothesis together, but only God can create.  The human race's knowledge is based upon building on facts, which have been proven.  

Perhaps this might have all sounded crazy, but look into it yourself, can you actually create something without borrowing an idea from something else?

In light of that I think we owe God our humbleness.

lonliness, despair, and humanity.

It is an interesting thing, to be left alone for a time, and too much time alone can kill a person.

I have been alone for a few days now, and it has been terrible for me.

I have nothing to do, all the things I found enjoyment in I now detest and find boring.

I don't know what to do with myself.  I am lonely.  I know I will get through this, but it is so hard to just be here and be alone.

Man is not meant to be alone, I can now feel this to the core of myself.  There is so much truth in this statement that it is scary.

Yet, when people are in this house, I find no trouble in not paying attention to them and doing my own thing.  I am not bored and I do not feel lonely.  Just knowing that someone is here in case I need them is a huge thing.  I wonder if it would be better for man to have an enemy instead of being bored, which would be worse?

I think that being completely alone would be worse, you would probably end up killing yourself, or becoming so enveloped and in twined within yourself that to meet someone would be terrible and you might become completely insane because of it.

Why does being around people keep up sane and help us to feel more complete, even if they don't talk to us much.  What is it?

I would venture to say that being in a community is the most important need a human has.  And if this is true then why?  Why can't we be true hermits, sure there are hermits, but even they have to be in contact with other people at times.

Yet I see this whole thing as a complete indication to the human soul.  Without a purpose we have nothing to stay alive, and it is these people who kill themselves.  Suicide normally is a reflection of despair, lack of purpose, and a lack of love (in their perspective).  Without purpose we are nothing.  Yet animals tend to not share this trait.  Yet more, being alone can be communicated by others to us, it is as easy as telling someone that they are not worth your time, separating them into a different class, maybe your the only one in that class...  Maybe your the only one who truly doesn't fit in, and maybe your being told to leave forever.  

To be separated, is death, and that may not mean death of a body, it is death of a soul, and then the body follows suit.  It is true that a mans body withers away when the person inside loses all motivation to live any more.

The homeless people that we see today have no purpose, and we wonder why they do not, it is because we do not see them, we walk by without even looking.

Young Will in grade seven committed suicide because people hated him, Mary did because no one wanted to even look into her eyes.  If only we looked at what our actions really could do to others before we made them.