Sunday, August 31, 2008
Appologies....
Sorry about the 2 week absence! Schedule has been crazy at work and I was on a week vacation to Cape Hatteras! There will be regular blogs starting tomorrow!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Proverbs 11:14
Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ephesians 4:26-27
"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."
Monday, August 11, 2008
Soul Cravings
The following is a paraphrased excerpt from "Soul Cravings" by Erwin McManus. This one is a little long!The best that I can tell, no matter how power full it feels, the staying power of love isn't that high a percentage.
The intensity of love seems to have no bearing on its resilience. If anything, the more you love someone, the more capacity you have to hate him or her. And why, by the way, does it seem like half the time you didn't even know you were in love till you lost it? Is heartbreak the only way to know it's the real deal? After all, the only people who can hurt you deeply are the ones you allow to get deep inside your soul. This is what makes love so dangerous. The more that you love someone, the more a person can hurt you. When you give your heart away to someone, you entrust it to that persons care. Your beloved can pretty much do whatever him or her wants with it. You are vulnerable and defenseless. Isn't love grand? No wonder we are all searching for it.
No, lets rethink that.
Given all the problems love can create, why do we keep longing for it? How many thousands of years will it take for us to learn? How many Romeos and Juliet's need to lie dead on the floor before we are willing to give up this addiction? I know that Romeo and Juliet are not real, but is love? If evolution is our preferred understanding of the human story, why can we not evolve ourselves out of this primal Achilles' heel we know and love?And don't give me this thing about the propagation of the species. Love isn't necessary for reproduction - just sex is. All you need is attraction, not emotion... If intimacy is only about attraction, we could just keep lust and dispense of love.
How in this post-information age, in the era of the technological revolution, we still need something as primitive as love? No matter how many time we fail at love or how many times love fails us, we plow ahead. Even the scars of love rarely stop us from risking at love.
Strange as it seems, in the midst of our most painful memories, we find our most treasured ones. If you had the chance to erase all the memories of your greatest love to free of the pain of losing it, would you? I wouldn't. I don't think that many of us would.
We are addicted to love, and it's our of control. We would give anything and everything to find it. Here is where is start to draw a theory. There is more going on here than meets the eye. It's as if we have been purposefully designed with at factory defect that keeps us searching for love. It seems humiliating to say it, but we need to be loved. I need to be loved. If you try to ignore it, if you think that you can live your life without love, you are in the worst shape the the person who's desperate to find it. "To give up on love is to choose a life that is less human. To give up on love is to give up on life."
When you give up on love, everything else seems to go with it- joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion, they are all connected. But you might wonder to yourself; What if I never find love? After all, you can't be held responsible if you never searched for love, risked in love, even fought for love, and yet have always found it unrequited. When love does not come to you, it breaks you heart. One thing stranger than our need to be loved is our need to love, which leads me to ask "Are we designed for love?"
There was a monologue from the movie "Thin Red Line" that talked about the nature of love.
"My dear wife, you get something twisted out of your insides by all this blood, filth and noise. I wanna stay changeless for you. I wanna come back to you the man I was before. How do we get to the other shores? To those blue hills? Love. Where does it come from? Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out, conquer it. I was a prisoner. You set me free." What is this love? Where does it come from? Why are we so affected by is presence and its absence?
We can not live unaffected by love. We are most alive when we find it, most devastated when we lose it, most empty when we give up on it, most inhumane when we betray it, and most passionate when we pursue it. The human story seems more driven by the insanity of love than the survival of the fittest.
Can you be honest enough to admit how love pulls you, woos you, eludes you, torments you - sometimes all in the same day? You were created for relationship. This is and always be the core of your being. All of us have a need to belong, and all of us are on a search for intimacy. No matter how many things about us are different, in this we are all the same - we crave love. It is as if we are all searching for a love we have lost. Or perhaps more strangely we are searching for a love we have never known but somehow sense is awaiting us.
The most powerful evidence that our souls crave God is that within us is a longing for love. We are all connected by a thin red line.
No, lets rethink that.
Given all the problems love can create, why do we keep longing for it? How many thousands of years will it take for us to learn? How many Romeos and Juliet's need to lie dead on the floor before we are willing to give up this addiction? I know that Romeo and Juliet are not real, but is love? If evolution is our preferred understanding of the human story, why can we not evolve ourselves out of this primal Achilles' heel we know and love?And don't give me this thing about the propagation of the species. Love isn't necessary for reproduction - just sex is. All you need is attraction, not emotion... If intimacy is only about attraction, we could just keep lust and dispense of love.
How in this post-information age, in the era of the technological revolution, we still need something as primitive as love? No matter how many time we fail at love or how many times love fails us, we plow ahead. Even the scars of love rarely stop us from risking at love.
Strange as it seems, in the midst of our most painful memories, we find our most treasured ones. If you had the chance to erase all the memories of your greatest love to free of the pain of losing it, would you? I wouldn't. I don't think that many of us would.
We are addicted to love, and it's our of control. We would give anything and everything to find it. Here is where is start to draw a theory. There is more going on here than meets the eye. It's as if we have been purposefully designed with at factory defect that keeps us searching for love. It seems humiliating to say it, but we need to be loved. I need to be loved. If you try to ignore it, if you think that you can live your life without love, you are in the worst shape the the person who's desperate to find it. "To give up on love is to choose a life that is less human. To give up on love is to give up on life."
When you give up on love, everything else seems to go with it- joy, hope, forgiveness, compassion, they are all connected. But you might wonder to yourself; What if I never find love? After all, you can't be held responsible if you never searched for love, risked in love, even fought for love, and yet have always found it unrequited. When love does not come to you, it breaks you heart. One thing stranger than our need to be loved is our need to love, which leads me to ask "Are we designed for love?"
There was a monologue from the movie "Thin Red Line" that talked about the nature of love.
"My dear wife, you get something twisted out of your insides by all this blood, filth and noise. I wanna stay changeless for you. I wanna come back to you the man I was before. How do we get to the other shores? To those blue hills? Love. Where does it come from? Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out, conquer it. I was a prisoner. You set me free." What is this love? Where does it come from? Why are we so affected by is presence and its absence?
We can not live unaffected by love. We are most alive when we find it, most devastated when we lose it, most empty when we give up on it, most inhumane when we betray it, and most passionate when we pursue it. The human story seems more driven by the insanity of love than the survival of the fittest.
Can you be honest enough to admit how love pulls you, woos you, eludes you, torments you - sometimes all in the same day? You were created for relationship. This is and always be the core of your being. All of us have a need to belong, and all of us are on a search for intimacy. No matter how many things about us are different, in this we are all the same - we crave love. It is as if we are all searching for a love we have lost. Or perhaps more strangely we are searching for a love we have never known but somehow sense is awaiting us.
The most powerful evidence that our souls crave God is that within us is a longing for love. We are all connected by a thin red line.
Take a little time...
I had the opprotunity today to work 0ut with one of my students and it got me thinking. What if we all just took a little time out of our day and spend it with the young people of today? I really do think that it would make a huge difference in the lives of our students... to show that someone cares...to show that someone loves them no matter what. I challenge the adults reading this. Take time for the next generation. They are the future, but they will not have a future if they are not surrounded by the right kind of people. You may be saying "Jon... when do I have time to hang out with teenagers?"
Well here is the answer to your question..."Whenever you can!". You do not have to go to an amusment park or a zoo to be a positive influence in their lives! Take them to the gym, invite them over for dinner, ask them to tag along on a family trip to the beach! You will find that you can minister to them throughout by just asking them to tag along in while doing your daily tasks. Don't leave them behind...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
C-KID
Continue to pray for all of those attending Centri-Kid this week! Remember to pray for the staffers as well!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Crazy Thoughts....
Just a little randomness to add to your day!
Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs.
Do Siamese twins pay for one ticket or two tickets when they go to movies and concerts?
Why are they called 'Jolly Ranchers'? Who said that the ranchers were jolly?
Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?
Can a short person "talk down" to a taller person?
If a bald person works as a chef at a restaurant, do they have to wear a hairnet?
If milk goes bad if not refrigerated, does it go bad if the cow isn't refrigerated?
How fast do hotcakes sell?
Do prison buses have emergency exits?
Do astronauts change their clocks when they move over different time zones in space?
Can you cry under water?
Why Does Pluto Live in a dog house, eat dog food, etc. but Goofy, who is also a dog, lives in a condo and drives a car?
If you blew a bubble in space would it pop?
Are children who use sign language allowed to talk with their mouth full?
Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs.
Do Siamese twins pay for one ticket or two tickets when they go to movies and concerts?
Why are they called 'Jolly Ranchers'? Who said that the ranchers were jolly?
Why does caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing?
Can a short person "talk down" to a taller person?
If a bald person works as a chef at a restaurant, do they have to wear a hairnet?
If milk goes bad if not refrigerated, does it go bad if the cow isn't refrigerated?
How fast do hotcakes sell?
Do prison buses have emergency exits?
Do astronauts change their clocks when they move over different time zones in space?
Can you cry under water?
Why Does Pluto Live in a dog house, eat dog food, etc. but Goofy, who is also a dog, lives in a condo and drives a car?
If you blew a bubble in space would it pop?
Are children who use sign language allowed to talk with their mouth full?
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Personnal Shout Out!
I have wanted to give a quick shout out to some people in my life....just a way to say thanks!Mom and Dad- Bryan and I owe you everything. Your toughness and strong hand when we were acting out has made us into the men we are today. Not an easy task. We love you both very much.
Big Brother- We have not always seen eye to eye on almost anything, but I know that I can always turn to you in my time of need. You are the best big brother anyone can ask for. Love ya bro.
Students of Sunrise - You are all the reason that I am still in Virginia. You are an amazing group of young people and the future is bright for all of you. Remember that sometimes our lives don't make any sense at all; and it can be hard at times but remember that I love all of you and you can come to me for anything!
Nethery's - You guys are awesome! Thank you for adopting me into your family and helping me grow as a person and spiritually. If only you were not from Texas!
Bryan and Kevin - You two are my safety net. Every time that I fall down, you both have been there to pick me up. You are a true friends. Bryan- I am honored that you have made me Alex's Godfather. Love you man! Kevin - Thru all that you have been thru, you continue to inspire me. You have the world ahead of you, and remember that you are never alone!
Goober - Thank you for everything! In the short time that I have known you, you have become a pillar for me to lean on. You just need to stop being so ghetto! LOL!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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