His Love for Us

I have to tell you that it never ceases to amaze me how much He loves us. True, the whole "common" Christian thing to do is to quote John 3:16. But how many of us let that scripture sink in to our very thought process and let it stew for a minute? I never honestly did till about a few minutes ago.

This scripture not only is the core of the Christian ideology, but it has also become a verse used to reach out to people. I know plenty of non believers that can even recite the lines! For awhile it wasn't hard to find someone holding a sign at some sports event that read in painted lettering "John 3:16" high above his head with one of those multi-colored wig on his head. Erg. Let's look at it, even though you have probably already read it before on your own, in Sunday school, or with a friend.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The first concept that jumps from the verse is the word LOVE. I think that as people of Christ we tend to look too far ahead of ourselves. I mean really the first part illustrates tons more than we give it credit. He loves us (the world= His image=humans) therefore, he sacrificed (quite literally) the human version of Himself so that we could chill with Him forever.

I like that word love though. It has a good ring to it. If God loves us so much that he would suffer, bleed, become broken, and die for us how come we find it so easy to negate Him? I mean, Christ is the alternative to permanent death, He is eternal life. It's a matter of either/or situations with God in this verse.

Either: He doesn't love us, and so He doesn't send Christ to die so we can accept Him into our lives and live forever.

Or: He loves us without abandon, sending Christ to die so we can be forgiven of our sins and live in Heaven Forever.

Nice concept eh?

So next time you see someone who is quoting this scripture or is holding the sign at a sporting event, realize that he is just hoping you see it this way: It's all about love to God, and it seems that the guy that's holding the sign is trying to say the same thing.

And I love you too.

Remember that Christ's sacrifice was just as much for you as the most holy person you can think of. Never second best yourself...He doesn't.

Summer Reading List

OK, so I have a list of five books I'll be reading this summer:

1. Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand
2. Infinite Jest: David Foster Wallace
3. Netherland: Joseph O'Neill
4. Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck
5. Not Future Without Forgiveness: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

when I finish these books, I'll write thoughts and reviews about them. If you wanna follow along with what I'm reading, I'll be starting this list as soon as I'm done with "For Whom the Bell Tolls". If you would like to follow me as I read that, I'm only 100 pages in it and I LOVE the dialogue. Hemingway at his best.

What do you think? Should I change the order, remove/add another book?

Kim Walker

So Liz has been getting me into Kim Walker. Whenever I hear her, I think of when Liz said: "It's always very beautiful when you see someone do what God intended them to do". Well, she is definitely one of those people. I know the song is long, but take 10 minutes and praise God by listening to this song by clicking here. You'll thank me later...I promise. This song is beautiful.

My List of Dream Jobs

It's never been about the good things in life that we learn from. For some odd reason God likes to take the bad and show us as His children lessons we can take from them. It is pretty cool to see these types of situations evolve in front of my eyes. You may be going through one of these God-ordained learning period, or at least know somebody who is going through one.

The best part about them is that if the person involved perseveres, the become a better person.

I've been happy to walk in what God wants me to do, and to be blatantly honest, I have learned tons from Him in the past six months. Seriously! My life has gone in a completely different direction than I had intended it. I wanted to go to Grad school and become a professor of English, I wanted to live in South Carolina with Liz (ignoring the frustrations that pre-marital cohabitation would bring), I wanted to get Magna cum Laude, and I wanted it all to happen because it was what I wanted, not what HE had planned for me.

The best advice I think that I could ever give any of my friends, family, or my future children is that be prepared to ride a windy roller coaster if you ask God to take the reins in your life, even though it will be the best decision of your life.

Me and my selfish ambitions landed me flat on my face after years of a huge tug-of-war with God. I forgot who I was in His eyes, and lost sight of the big picture. Turns out, not only does He know the right fit for me, he knows perfect planning and a way to get me there.

I now will be helping Liz go through Grad School and then we're gonna head back to Chesapeake for Law School at Regent University. I know that I have already talked about it previously, but I wanted to have people think about this for a second. Sure, I'm not living technically in the South for two years (which is a bummer because I like an occasional sweet tea and fried chicken), but it works the best way possible. I get to have a small hiatus and calm a Grad-School-stressed Liz, we get to go back home (which will help if we get pregnant, fall on hard times, need family around), and I get to help people. He even provided me a way to stay in Richmond till the wedding so Liz and I can still fight for our purity and make it worthwhile. But the getting to help others is the coolest part of the whole deal. Everyone that knows anything about me knows that I can take a cool idea and turn it into a dream job. I, in fact, to this day have gone through at least 5 well thought out career paths:
1- Military
2- Firefighter
3- History teacher
4- Police officer
5- Male Nurse
And now I can peg English Professor up there, because it isn't going to happen and it doesn't bother me. But did you notice a trend in all of my desired jobs? They all involved protecting or helping another fellow human. I guess if you asked me what I want to do for a living it would have to be "help others". I never really thought about that till just now, but it is what Christ commands us to do. I'm glad that my heart rings true to God's voice.

While the situation has become frustrating at times (such as living in Maryland, possibly working for Starbucks for another two years); one where I never know what treat is waiting just on the other side, I can tell you this: giving God the keys to the Porsche has been the BEST idea I have ever had.

[sidebar] It's my Birthday today! I'm now 23, and still kicking! To celebrate, Liz will hopefully have planned something cool to do, and I'm gonna watch Star Wars IV: A New Hope in Ryan Gibbons' backyard with some of my buds! I love life, and God makes it more vibrant!

School Update

Wow! Another day, yet somehow another amazing time to reflect on the past few months.

It seems that I will get so close to Magna Cum Laude, yet not reach it that it's irritating. I needed three A's and two B's at least to get it, and this semester seems to be turning into a 2 A and 3 B situation. Where does that leave me? With a 3.589! Why wouldn't they round up that to a 3.6 so I can say I graduated with Magna cum Laude honors? Sheesh!

I am determined to not let this bother me though. I'm still graduating with an A average and I get the satisfaction of knowing that this is enough to satisfy everything else! Plus, I know that I'll do so well on the LSAT, that Regent Law will be begging for me to grace them with my presence at their university.

I hope that God will help me through all of this though. I am trying to keep optimistic when it feels like I'm just being a bit too hard on myself. I just wish that I could've gotten that Magna cum Laude, instead of just cum Laude. That's life though...

Roommates & Graduation

I love my roommates. Quite honestly, as much as I am excited about being married, it's going to be hard to part with them. My old roomie, was a pretty cool guy: extremely nice, kept to himself, and shared the same sense of humor.

However, Matt and Adam have been a great transition to marriage. They encourage me to do things with "the guys", that will be even harder when I live with Liz. Example: countless hours spent playing a game where you place bouncy balls in a small bowl filled with water. Seriously, it was the most fun I've had. A woman would never find that fun. No doubt it would be considered a waste of time. Us guys are easily entertained.

But it wasn't just the enjoyable hours of weird games that makes them fun. It was the male bonding that I've longed to have since I've moved to Richmond. These guys are great ears when all I needed was someone to listen. They were so willing to let me borrow anything, and quick to hang out. We pray together and laugh over the weirdest things. This year has been exactly what I've needed. I don't doubt that when I come to Richmond while Liz is working on exams, I'll be crashing on their couch. When we get older, our kids will fight/play with each other.

I am officially done with Undergrad! I'm still going through this weird surreal moment where I can't believe that I am allowed to read whatever I want. Unfortunately, what I want to read is Hemingway. I guess I didn't get enough of him in class. Oh well...

Getting there, and Enjoying It!

Well, most of the objectives are finally completed. I have to say that I am quite pleased on the outcome of those grueling nights at the library. My thesis is sound, well documented (18 sources for a 16 pager!) and a bit on the sarcastic side, which is totally my voice.

While I am starting to get excited about school coming to an end for me (at least till Law School), it shocks me at how bittersweet this all feels. I thought that after I ended college that rainbows would open, and I would end up being more and more relaxed about life. Boy, was I wrong. I have begun to notice that the real world is still moving while I take a pause to admire it. Life is quite beautiful at the moment though. I have much to look forward to in my future, and I'm getting married to the perfect woman. She continually encourages me through her wisdom and grace, it's hard to think that God gave her to me...I am extremely thankful for that.

I've begun to listen to God more and more. Each day I have noticed that I spend tons of time with the big dude, and it feels like being with my best friend. I love how cool he can be to me! While my loan repayment schedule will activate in December, I know God will help me out in every way possible because of my tithing and because of His love for me. I definitely have faith like a sparrow, and even though I may be joked on it, I stand on Christ's red lettering.

I'm beginning to see my future plans unravel and make sense. Sure, it sounded like I was just trying to grab onto a ledge when I mentioned Law School, but I was serious. I never doubted that I didn't get into a Grad School this year for a reason. One of the reasons had to be because He saw something more, and didn't want me to waste my time. I feel that Law is becoming more and more a reality. The rough sketched plan is as follows:

I will follow Liz to her Grad School and help by working my butt off for the both of us. Once she's done (in two years time), I want to move back to Chesapeake and pursue Law at Regent University. Their Law Program isn't too bad, and I like the way they do their classes: the last ten minutes are devoted to group prayer, biblical applications to the material lectured, & an obvious Christian ethical approach to Law. All of which are going to be needed once I start on this venture. I want to keep my eyes on Him and praise Him while I pursue this career...It's important. Plus, if Liz and I decide to have a kid, want to go visit friends in Richmond, or just want to be close to our families, this becomes logical and practical. I LOVE this idea so much it makes my head spin every which way. I really think that this is what's going to happen simply because I get extremely excited over all of the facets that make sense over this.

But don't think that I'm just going to try to fly on by the next two years. Oh no, if God has a place for me somewhere else, or I get an awesome job, I'm mature enough in the spirit to just move with how the spirit is guiding me.

I just love to dream, and this is one COOL dream!