“I’m Not Alright”

I’m back with yet another song. For some reason I just feel that God speaks to me through random Youtube videos, and frankly it is really cool.

For some reason, one of the biggest things about Christianity, and often the hardest, is admitting that you aren’t perfect. That you are broken, and you don’t have it all together, and, as the song put, you are not alright. It’s hard to admit, but it really is true. None of us are perfect. We all have crap in our lives that we aren’t comfortable bringing to the limelight, and we are all messed up in some way or another.

All to often, its easy to forget that. Well, actually, it is never really easy to forget it, it is just hard to admit it. You can see signs of your brokenness everyday, and you are constantly reminded of it. Whether it is treating the guy in the next car like crap as you cut in front of him, or forgetting to tell your spouse that you love them. We are constantly reminded of it, over and over, everyday. And the problem isn’t remembering the fact that we are broken, the problem is admitting it.

Most of us don’t like the thought that we don’t have it all together. We try to put a mask on for everyone around us and pretend like everything is fine, that we don’t have problems. And it becomes easier, as everyone else around you does the same thing. They put on a happy face and go around during the day acting like they have everything figured out.

Not only do we hide it from each other, eventually we try to hide it from ourselves. We actually begin to believe the lie that we have it all together. Eventually we just get so caught up in the idea that we aren’t broken, that we don’t have problem that we can’t handle, we start to believe it. We start to believe that we can depend on ourselves, and that because we have it all together, we don’t need anyone else. Maybe, just maybe, we even believe we don’t need God.

And what happens when problems finally rear their ugly heads? We don’t have anyone to turn to, because we’ve forgotten, or pushed away, or ignored the only one that can truly help us.

I pray that you would realize that just like the rest of the world, you and I have problems. We have things we can’t handle, we come upon situations we don’t know what to do with, and we have things that can trouble us to no end. I pray that you would realize that we’re broken inside, all of use. And that’s why we need God.

Winter Day

You know, I love romance comedy movies. They always start with two people who barely know each other, then they date, fall in love, and get married. Somewhere during that process things start to get awkward. One of them gets cold feet, or there is a development in the plot that puts them at a place where they can’t get married.

We”ll, at some point of the movie, they solve their problem, and end up getting married. Then, right near the end of the movie, there is a scene as the newly weds are enjoying their life married. They either ride from the church is a limo, or dance, or are even right in the middle of kissing at the altar.

Whatever that moment is, it always has music, an upbeat tune, or some sort of happy theme. It is always there and it lets you leave the movie feeling great. The Parent Trap’s last scene is set to “An Everlasting Love”, and plays with pictures of the cruise that the wedding was held on. There are numerous examples of this, and it always gives you that great feeling.

Christmas  is a lot like this. Just near the end of the year, you are filled with songs that  make you feel great. Whether it is ‘We Need a Little Christmas’, ‘I need a Silent Night’, ‘Happy Birthday Jesus’, or ‘Oh Holy Night’, all of them just make you feel so great.

The fact is, Christmas is a very great part of the year. The theme of Christmas just fills hearts with hope and joy about life. And my problem is, I don’t want it to end. Just like a movie, the song ends, and real life comes back to haunt you. There is work to be done, school to go to, family must go home, and life has to start up again.

I don’t think it should end.

Now, I’m not saying that people should put out lights all year, and should sing Christmas carols. But I do believe that the spirit of Christmas, that Christ was born that would eventually save humanity, can be kept alive all year round. I believe that the joy from knowing the Christ was born, and has saved us, can continue throughout the entire year.

I hope that this year, you make a commitment to remember Christ, and what he did for us. Remember his birth, his death, and remember what they truly mean: That now you can have a relationship with Christ.

And what happens when you keep that spirit alive all year? Well, the songs just keep on playing.

“In every season, You are still God, I have a reason…”

I just hit upon this cool Youtube video I found after my church’s Christmas kids program. One of the songs in the worship before all the kids came on to do a play, our leader sung “Desert Song”, which can be found sung by Hillsong online. I felt a need to listen to the song online, and came up with this little gem.

Brooke Fraser (Maybe?), was pregnant a few weeks before recording an album and went into labor at 23 weeks. After constant praying, the premature baby did not make it. Here she talks about going through that, and trusting that God can continue to provide for her, and that he is still in control.

I think that it is a really powerful message, that God is always in control. No matter what you are going through, there is always someone bigger than you that can take care of it. In Matthew 11:30, Jesus tells his disciples to follow him:

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light

No matter what, God can take of what ever you are going through. He created the world, and controls all the happens. He says that he will not give you something that you cannot handle, and that he will always be there when you need him.

In whatever you are going through, I sincerely hope that you will give it to God, and trust him and know that he is in control, and ready to bear the burden of any troubles in your life. Our Highchool pastor recently said that an important point to living for God is to let God handle the burdens in your life, so you can help others. And I think that the first step to living that out is to give your burdens to God, and to trust that he is going to be able to handle them 100%.

God Bless You, and may he take all of your burdens from you.

“This world of sin and woe”

“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.” – Winston Churchill

I was recently reading quotations for a class of mine. We had to pick an inspirational quote. I really don’t write quotes down, so I browsed online for quotes. This one really hit my eye.

“This World of sin and woe.”

It is kind of crazy to think about it. A world full of sin and woe. Job lived in an extreme world of woe. In Job 1:13-18, Job is quickly stripped of all his property. From the mouths of 4 messengers came more bad news than most of us probably have experienced our entire life. The first passage reads:

“13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” - (Job 1:13-15 NIV)

For a little backstory, Job was a very well of man in the land of Uz. In Job 1:8, God calls Job  ”blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil”. 

“He feared God and shunned evil”. 

That right there is VERY hard to do. Not only did Job probably have many things to worry about given all his property, he also had seven sons, and three daughters. Through all of these things that in the modern day would probably have us give in to the pressure of the world, he is called upright, blameless, and fearful of God, by God. 

In Job 1:6-12, God and Satan talk. 

“One day the angels ^[a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan ^[b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” 
      Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

 9 ”Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 ”Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” 
      Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” – (Job 1:6-12 NIV)

 

In God’s eyes, Job is a man who fears him, and has enough faith, that he will let Satan test him. In the next few passages, it tells about how Job loses his oxen and donkeys, his sheep, his camels, and his sons and daughters. Like I said, probably more bad news than most of us will ever hear in our lifetime. But through all this destruction that he hears about, he doesn’t yell and complain. Instead Job gets up, tore his robe, shaved his head, and began to worship God:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, 
       and naked I will depart. 
       The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 
       may the name of the LORD be praised.” – (Job 1:20)

I think this truely shows a man whos entire life, his kids, his sheep, and his servants, have been devastated. Yet, the last verse in Job, Job 1:22 is:

“22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing”

Through these first trials, Job never sinned out of anger. That right there is truely remarkable. The fact that most of his life is crumpled into tiny peices, Job still stayed faithful to God. Not only did he stay faithful to God, Job realised that God did not do anything wrong. 

Tying this back to the main point, both Job way back then, and We, now, live in a world that is filled with woe. Thousands of people live with absolutly nothing, and many others lose things close to them. But the fact is that God will never give you more than you can handle. Through all of the woes of this world of sin and woe, you will never have too much on your plate. 

“The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” – Unknown

Welcome

“If any place will not welcome you and the people refuse to listen to you, when you leave, shake its dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” (Mark 6:11 ISV)

Welcome to my blog. I am a teenage technical savy student. I’ve been using computers my entire life and have used that in order to help many places including my church. I am a Protestant Christian in San Diego. I do the audio/video stuff for my church, mainly the High School Ministry.

Background

I began blogging about technology in 2007, and have shifted back and forth between different blogs for awhile since. Now I have made my permanent residence at http://chacha102.com, where I blog about things like Technology. If you are also into that, please go take a look.

I am also very into Social Media. This is also cool because most of my church uses Facebook, and my pastors use Twitter. I do however, extremely out tweet them on Twitter, and have probably gotten myself unfollowed, due to all my tweeting. You can find all of those social media links at the bottom of my page.

So what is this about?

This blog is about sharing things that really I think God has put on my heart to talk about. It is a very religious blog, so go elsewhere if you feel akward about talking religiously.

I hope you enjoy it. I will probably begin my next postings sometime this week, but it will probably become a weekly blog. Hope you enjoy it!