Our God is Indescribable

Well guys, I am terrible at keeping goals.  My goal for this blog was to have an article typed every 2-3 days.  As you can see, my last blog post was on May 31and today is June 14.  I'm only about 11 days late.  No big.  Hopefully this won't be a trend.  I've been interviewing for jobs and traveling all over the state of Virginia the past 2 weeks so I feel like I have a pretty good excuse for the delay.  After today I should be able to form some sort of routine that allows me to churn out new posts at the pace at which I want.

I want to comment on something before I get to the serious discussion.  I met Lynsey's father about 2 weeks ago.  I must admit that it was one of the most nerve racking experiences of my life.  I love Lynsey and intend to marry her someday, but her father was a major sticking point for her.  She made it clear that if her father disapproved of me then we would have problems.  No pressure right? Thankfully, Mr. Bob Koles made it much easier on me by being a genuine man who simply wanted to get to know some things about me.  Since he showed me this kindness, I answered his questions honestly and genuinely.  During the conversation I'm sure Mr. Koles was staring across the table and thinking, "What is this loser doing with my daughter? She is far too good for him."  While this is definitely true, he approved enough to give us blessing. I assume this because Lynsey hasn't ended it yet. I hope that I am not wrong.  My suggestion to all of you would be suitors of wonderful women is to apply the same tactic: just be honest and genuine.  It goes a long way.

Now for the meaty stuff. Prior to the fatherly encounter, Lynsey and I were hanging out at her apartment.  We decided to watch a DVD, The Invention of Lying. Though the main plot was a standard romance story, the movie brought about some disturbing realizations for me. If you haven't seen it then I won't bore you with an entire synopsis.  The part I desire to focus on starts about halfway through the movie.  Ricky Gervais' character, MarkBellison, lives in a world where no one lies.  In fact, this world doesn't even have the words "truth" or "lie" in their lexicon.  Everyone says the truth instinctively.  Because of this, all statements are accepted as truth.  Here lies the problem: Mark Bellison figures out how to lie.  The first lie is small, but as with most sin it begins to snowball down the side of a mountain inciting a proverbial avalanche.  At first his lies cause good things to happen to him. He makes millions of dollars, he finds new friends, he seems to be attracting the girl of his dream, and he acquires a decent amount of fame.

The movie changes completely once Mark's mother experiences a heart attack.  Mark finds his mother laying on her deathbed dealing with a massive amount of pain and anxiety. Her primary fear is the afterlife.  He consoles her by telling her that death doesn't bring darkness, but eternal joy.  She will see all of her friends and family, live in a big mansion, and reside in her favorite place in the world.  As she passes away, the doctors and nurses overhear Mark's story and perceive him as some sort of prophet.  This is because no one knows what a lie is so Mark must be telling the truth.  When he returns home, the masses are beating down his door demanding to know more about the afterlife.

He slaves through the night and comes up with some stipulations that happen to count to ten.  He even jokingly puts them on "tablets" (2 pizza boxes).  When he steps outside, he tells the world that there is a "man in the sky" who controls everything.  There is an afterlife where everyone is happy and can do whatever they want.  If you do 3 bad things, however, you will not get to enjoy this afterlife.  The people are initially mad because this "man in the sky" causes all the bad stuff, but they then realize he causes all the good stuff too.  The bare bones definition they came up with is this: The man in the sky is "a good guy who is kind of a prick."

I cannot begin to describe to you how much this disturbed me.  I sought out some movie reviews to discover how well this movie was received.  Among the reviews I found out that this movie was intentionally atheistic.  Gervais wrote an atheistic comedy marketed as a romantic comedy to soften the blow.  I began to get angry at the blatant attack on my Lord and Savior, but I realized that at one time my view of God was somewhat similar.  I didn't understand how majestic and wonderful the Lord almighty is.  I was a sinner and blinded by my own sin  My fear is that many Christians find themselves, even unintentionally, equating Gercais' god with their own.   

If find yourself in this predicament, you should check out two videos by Louie Giglio: Indescribable and Laminin. Just search "Louie Giglio Indescribable" and "Louie Giglio Laminin" on YouTube and both should come up with no problem.  Indescribable is broken up into 5 parts so make sure to take note of that.  It requires about an hour of your time to watch these two videos but I promise it will be worth your while.

After you watch those videos, I challenge you to reevaluate your view on God.  You may already have this high view of the Lord, and I pray that this is so.  If not then you need to reflect on His glory. He is not some deistic deity who sits aloof on His heavenly throne.  He is a majestic and mighty God who created the entire universe with His voice...this about that...HIS VOICE.  Despite this amazing power, He sought and still seeks to have a personal relationship with His creation, especially us as humans. Even in light of His majesty, He stepped out of heaven and experienced the shame of the cross, bore our sins, and died so that we may have life.  These two beings are inseparable. They coexist as Father and Son in holy communion with the Holy Spirit.  I do not understand it but I believe it because creation and His word declare it to be so.  He is judge but also mediator.  He is wrathful but also merciful.  He hates the wicked but loves the righteous.  It is impossible to understand the vastness of our God. He is simply too great, but I hope that those videos and this post give you a small indication that God is not "a good guy who is kind of a prick." He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  He is the "I AM" and always will be. Amen.

Chasing Daylight

For most of my life I lived in West Tennessee.  I traveled here or there, but I mostly lived within a 60 mile stretch of land for 23 years.  Last Monday I traveled on a Greyhound bus to Lynchburg, Virginia.  The main reason for this visit is to see my girlfriend, Lynsey Koles, for the summer.  We have been dating for almost six months now, but, prior to this week, we have only seen each other for maybe a month of total days.  The goals of being here are to work, get acclimated to Lynchburg, and to spend as much time with her as possible before I move back to Jackson, TN in August. The culmination of our plans finds me permanently moving here after my final semester at Union University in the Fall.  I say all of this because it was the first time in a long time that I actually "did something."

When I arrived in Lynchburg, Lynsey pressed me for several days to start reading a book called Chasing Daylight.  She explained how powerful it would be for me to read at this point in my life.  Though I did not doubt her insight (she is right way too often...), I put it off for another day until 2 days ago.  As in most cases, she was right.  This book is radically changing my way of thinking about God's plan for me.

Upon reading through this book (I am about halfway through it right now), I realized how much apathy and complacency have ruled my life.  The author, Erwin Raphael McManus, used many of God's greatest heroes of the faith (Abraham, Moses, Jonathan, Jeremiah, Hezekiah, Joshua, Gideon, the Israelites, etc) to show how much God can do through those who simply obey His calling.  They took initiative and aggressively followed God in obedience.  Moses stepped out in faith and God performed miraculous things through him because of his faith.  Jonathan and Gideon were able to conquer great armies due to their faith in God's sovereignty.  Jeremiah cursed God at times but inevitably realized that this life wasn't what mattered.  These men had their faults and made their fair share of mistakes; however, they knew that God had given them a command that they followed it.  They took advantage of the "divine moments" presented before them.

McManus also mentioned one of Jesus' parables in Matthew 25:14-30.  In this parable Jesus explained how a master was leaving on a trip.  He gave 5 talents to one slave, 2 to another, and 1 to the last.  Upon returning from his trip, the slaves with 5 and 2 talents doubled their talents and the master rejoiced.  The last slave simply buried his lone talent due to his fear of failure.  I feel like this man.  I have sat on my talents given to me by the Lord too many times.  I fear that many of us struggle with this as well.

I'm writing this blog post in hopes of inspiring someone as I have been inspired.  I had several options before me for this summer.  I inevitably chose the path that led to Lynchburg because God opened a door (He provided a car that I didn't have at the time).  I did not have anything else nailed down at the time, but God doesn't always provide us with a blueprint.  We oftentimes have little to no information. The Lord simply tells us to go and it is our responsibility to obey.  As we obey more often, he will entrust us with other "talents" with which to use for His glory.

I first want to recommend that you read this book, Chasing Daylight.  It will inspire you to follow the Lord more passionately and will give you perspective on God's daily calling for us.  My second proposition is to not sit on your talents. Many times God has revealed to Christians things that need to be done.  Instead of taking up the burden and pursuing the need, people wait for someone else to do it.  Sometimes this is done out of laziness but other times it is done out of fear.  This fear of failure or disapproval paralyzes people.  It paralyzed me for a long time. You can be sure that if you are growing closer to the Lord then your passions will line up with His passions.  His spirit will be moving you to action.  There should be no fear in following your passions if you are close with the Lord.  Since you are close to God, they will not be your passions, but His.

This is why I started writing this blog.  I love writing.  I have written hundreds of pages over the course of my time at Union University and enjoyed most of it; however,  I don't know how much good I've done with this ability in the past.  I simply turned in assignments.  I know that I'm not the best writer, but I hope that the Lord can use this blog to further His kingdom as I reflect on Him.  I know that this is a small beginning, but as I see more opportunities the Lord has presented, I pray I take up the call and follow passionately.  I hope this was helpful and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.  I pray the Lord blesses you and that this blog finds you well.  Thank you for reading.

Edit: You also need to check out this video interview of John Piper and Rick Warren.  I thought it was amazing.  Great theological discussion between two very prominent evangelicals.  http://blog.pastors.com/piperinterview/

Something New

Hey guys, if you're reading this then I welcome you to my blog.  It's the first of many posts that will deal with a variety of topics.  I will mostly be dealing with Christian topics ranging from what the Lord is doing in my life to my take on some of the latest Christian works.  I will also provide my take on current issues, music, sports, and anything else that comes within the scope of my radar.  I will also give personal life updates when I believe they are particularly interesting.  I'm sure there will be the occasional random blog as well.

I truly hope that you enjoy reading these posts.  The goal isn't some arrogant pursuit of notoriety.  The goal is to be a positive and entertaining voice from a Christian worldview.  This is a fun hobby that may progress to something else or it may not.  Regardless, I hope that you find it informative, truthful, and insightful.  Feel free to shoot me an email at any time to ask me questions or offer a different side of a topic. I pray this finds you well and that the Lord blesses and leads you.  Thank you for reading.