A Waste of Time

This blinking cursor deal is killing me! I read a magazine called Colide about media in the church and the different types of outreach taking place through media. I hope that one day i can be a part of something that will be written about in a magazine like this. I was reading about a church that has hired a "Internet Outreach pastor" very interesting. I believe the world is moving more and more towards using the internet as a medium of communication, news, and socializtion. I am very excited to hear about christians utilizing the internet as a medium to fellowship and to witness. Reading that article also made me want to write more on my own blog, and start reading others. However, in my experience of reading a couple of friends blogs which I have subscribed to, that the longer and more frequent the blog the less likely I am to read it, so while I'd like to write more I hesitate because I dont want to write excessively and bore people. This entry is a good example of a waste of your time.

Blue Like Jazz

I have been realizing lately how depraved the world is, how really in trouble it is. The book Blue Like Jazz changed my perspective on this. Donald Miller describes the world as a gaping bleeding wound that I as a Christian should be holding my hands up against trying to bring hope to a hopelessly broken place. I feel like Christianity is too often misrepresented by Christians. Instead of loving the people who live different lifestyles, and embracing people who lead immoral lives, Christians discriminate, and judge those people. If a gay couple walked into my church, I think my church would be ashamed of them, would avoid them, and ultimately they would leave. I know I would not be the one to welcome them into our sanctuary… but I should be. Jesus would sit down next to them and tell them he cared for them and he would want to know them and for them to know him; holding his hands against the wound of the world in their lives. One of the oldest and most intense actions in the world, Love, is seen as a revolutionary idea, when it is the thing we were supposed to be doing from the very start. Donald Miller describes the central message of Christianity as this:
“The message is that man sinned against God and God gave the world over to man, and that if somebody wanted to be rescued out of that, if somebody for instance finds it all very empty, that Christ will rescue them if they want; that if they ask for forgiveness for being a part of that rebellion then God will forgive them.”

This is what God has taught me in the past few weeks:
The world is full of sin so “Do not love the world nor the things in this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also it lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” (1John3:15)
But love the people who are afflicted by the world; “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep yourself unstained by the world.” (James1:26)
Basically God wants me to Love more, and represent him better, and that he wants me to bring the message of Christ to the wounded.

Whats Next

I've been trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. The beginning of this school year had good hopes for me, but not being in school has proven to be harder than being there ever was. I'm afraid of getting older, Really I have everything I ever wanted right now, except time. I just want to stop here and enjoy everything and everyone that God has put in my life. I love my friends and being able to hang out with them, but if God points my life in a different direction will I still be able to hold on to those friendships? When I eventually move away I know I'll make new friends and have relationships that I cant compare to anything else, but I'm happy with the friends that I have. I'm scared of leaving them and/or not being able to hang out with them.
Another big issue that I've been struggling with is that I want to make a difference in the lives of people who don't have the freedoms and privileges I enjoy, and I know God has put that desire in me for a reason, and I try to be like him and treat everyone like he would want me too, but I want to make more of a difference than being a "good friend". Sometimes I feel like I should be doing something about RIGHT NOW but with so much else going on in life there's no way I could go off to another country to do something about it. God has also given me a passion for music, and I would rather sit and listen to music all day than do anything else. What I struggle with is how I can use my passion for music with my desire to help the needy, and on top of that moving away from my friendships to do it.