Voting in the upcoming election

Take a look at this post if you are planning on voting in the upcoming election. It’s an eye opener!

http://truthpressed.wordpress.com

The Kingdom?

I can now see that, in this life, there is no certainty that cannot be fraught with doubt, no necessity that cannot be shown unnecessary, and no desire that cannot be lost with time. There is no pursuit in this life that makes our lives worth living, no standard by which we may know that we have succeeded, no love that can fully satisfy our want for such. There are six billion kingdoms being built right now, and all of them will crumble.

But, His love is everlasting and unimaginably deep. He is waiting patiently to say “well done” to those who love Him, to His “good and faithful servants.” He pursues us and desires us, and He is all we need. There is no doubting Him, for we are made in His very image.

It was for a reason that He paid the highest price for us. (The Kingdom) What is our reason for living? (The Kingdom?) Is it the same as His was for dying? (THE KINGDOM). . . .

The Day I Started Loving the Bible More

Some of you may be surprised, most of you not-so-surprised, that I have had ups and downs in my dedication to reading the Word. I think that, for a long time, I saw the Bible as too complex and too intimidating to really get anything from, unless a preacher was dissecting it for me.

Nine days ago on Fall retreat with CRU, something changed in the way I see the Bible. It happened around 4am when everyone else was asleep and I was awake in distress. I had had a hard time that night with some relationships I was trying to cultivate, and seemingly without anyone to call on or anything to turn to at that time, I found myself in the Word. (I mean, it was only appropriate for me to read the Bible spontaneously at a Christian retreat, right?) Well, something happened in those two hours – something clicked. As I read and read, I told myself that I was going to keep reading until I was not angry anymore, and eventually I stopped being angry.

Okay now I know this sounds simple to those of you who are spiritual, but to me this was a breakthrough. The type of peace I got from reading those words was not the same as I would have gotten from a pastor, nor a brother in Christ, nor a girlfriend. It was a radically different experience in which my heart was changed in that moment by the very same Word that had saved me in the first place.

So, all of that to say, if you are having trouble loving the Word, here is my two-step plan:

1) Break out of your comfort zone enough and let go of the reigns of your life long enough for God to put you in a situation where you will be challenged.
2) Turn to the Word for your comfort INSTEAD OF all the things that you normally turn to (your iPod, friends, etc.)

And, you’re done!

Now I know that it may not be as simple for everyone as it was for me, since everyone is different, but I assure you that if you truly are hurting and you turn to the Word in your time of need, you will not be disappointed.

“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
– Isaiah 55:11

How has reading the Bible spoken to you in a time of need recently?
What place does the Word of God have in your life?

Sweet Ice Cream Judgement

Have you ever realized how satisfying it feels to judge someone? OH MAN – it’s like if you took ice cream and pie and fused them into one delicious desert and ate it while simultaneously giving yourself a big pat on the back – man it feels good. It’s also kind of like that feeling you get when you have something that someone else wants and you dangle it above them, just taunting them to the point where they give up, so that you can (with extreme pity) give it to them after the fact (as long as its on your terms)?

See that’s where judgement goes wrong; it says “We are going to do things on my terms.”

As I’ve been getting older, I’ve started to realize that life is not all about winning the argument just so that I can give myself a pat on the back, or about keeping my distance from someone with a problem because I don’t want to get down in the dirt with them. Life is about relationships, and relationships go much better when one person can be wrong without the other person having to be right.

How has judgement affected your relationships lately?

The Do’s and Don’ts of Breaking Up With Your Christian Boyfriend

If it comes to a point where you feel like you are ready to stop dating your guy, then tell him exactly that (because that’s what I would want). Too often when a girl ends a relationships with a guy, she says too much, and those words wind up haunting the guy for years.

The don’ts:

The first thing you never want to say is that you are ending it because you think it is God’s will, because the truth of the matter is that anything we choose to do is God’s will as long as we are doing it in pursuit of a righteous life. (For example, if I say I want to become an astronaut because I feel like it is God’s will, while I know that becoming an astronaut will not glorify God anymore than being a lawyer, then I have shifted my focus from following the Bible to following my feelings, which is a dangerous way to live.) If you choose to use God’s will as an excuse for ending it, you will effectively forever associate God’s will with pain in his mind, and that is not something you want to do.

The second thing you never want to say is that the two of you have to be friends immediately, because it is not always a good idea, and it is not always something he is ready for. Depending on how much tension there was in the relationship, he might take even the best-executed break-up as an insult, so be prepared for him to feel jilted temporarily.

The third thing has two major parts: The first part is to never say how much you still care about him, how you will always cherish him, etc. Becoming reminiscent while telling a guy that you are ready to end the relationship is like telling a waiter that you don’t want any dessert and then having him stand there while you describe how much you enjoy everything on the dessert menu. It makes your decision sound arbitrary and un-solidified, which is not the clear way in which you want to present it. The second part is to never drop the “I know you will find someone else” bomb. The reason why this is a horrible idea is because at least one of you is not going to be ready to think about other people, and he is going to have an especially hard time thinking about you replacing him. It needs to be clear that you simply think the relationship has run its course and that your individual futures are not an issue. The main point in the third thing is that you never want to try to console him, because either he is going to think you are implying he is weak, or he is going to accept your sympathy and spend the next month looking to you for more of that sympathy. He needs to know from the very first moment of the conversation that his confidants need to be his family and his male friends, because they are the only groups who he can confide in without creating unnecessary emotional complications.

The do’s:

Finally… what you should say is that you think the relationship has run its course, that you are sorry (for the situation, not for “hurting him”), and that you know there are people who care about him that will be willing to talk to him about it. If he asks you for any specifics about things that were not right in the relationship or things you did not like about him, feel free to be honest. I mention this, not because I necessarily think you are obligated, but because few guys will accept what you are saying without any justification. The important thing is just to realize that whatever you say should be painting a picture for him of why the two of you are not compatible, not giving him a mental checklist of things he needs to change so that the two of you can start dating again. To some degree, you have to play it by ear, but as long as you avoid being intentionally hurtful, and you don’t tell him more than he wants to know, you will have done your best.

So, I say all of this because, if someone was going to tell me that they were ready to stop dating me, this is how I would want them to tell me. Plus, I am just trying to do my part in protecting guys’ hearts. If I had to guess, I’d say that is what we are both trying to do.