Francis Chan.

Clickeh

Watch/Listen to Living to Display the Gospel. Found this through another blog, but after watching I had to share.

Conversation.

Some Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on my door last week. Before I knew what was happening we were in the living room talking about the disciples, the bible and San Diego. Nothing strengthens your knowledge and understanding of your faith more than having to explain it to another person.

Glorify God.

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." -Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire)

Wild Bees!

Readers, it's not every day that I wake to surprises, but today is one of those days. As I write these words, there is a multitude of buzzing, bzzing, bees making sweet sweet honey in my backyard. They've taken up shop right in the back of the old shed that sits in the forest of weeds. I've already ran outside, investigated the whole situation and have come back unscathed and pleased.

Last night I was reading a novel called, “The Poisonwood Bible.” It's a fiction about a missionary family that goes to Africa to preach the gospel. In one of the chapters there is mention of an African who harvests honey from the wild bees. Lighting a torch he raises the smoky fire around the hive and the smoke drives the bees out. The temptation to give this a try over the weekend is strong. The thought of eating fresh honey seems marvelous, but my roommate thinks it's downright foolish. Not only do angry bees sting, but the honeycomb outcome could be a failure. Bees are prone to all kinds of parasites, and if they become infected the honey can be bad. I'm still uncertain if the risk is worth it, but if the weekend becomes dull I might just go for it.

I will have to think this one over a sandwich of peanut butter, honey and banana

Prophets: God's Mediators/God's Crazies

Ezekiel is weird, like really really weird. Reading about him is captivating, but let's be honest if there was a guy walking around San Diego baking biscuits on a pile of burning shit to symbolize a famine, all the while claiming that it was God who told him to do this I'd be skeptical. Not only would I be skeptical, I'd think the guy was ape-crazy or into hardcore drugs. Man, the bible is strange. God told Ezekiel to do that. To eat bread that was baked on a fire of dried dung to symbolize a famine that is associated with a siege. Granted it was a method of trying to tell Jerusalem what was going to go on, but still it's weird. Weird. weird.

The church I go to has been going through this whole series on risk, taking risks. They want people to mentally grasp the power of the resurrection. The resurrection is powerful, it's huge. It's the pivotal point of Christianity where we get a glimpse of God's plan for mankind's restoration. Everyone nods their head in church when asked if they believe in the resurrection. But why don't we show it? If we believe that a man was resurrected, that he died and then rose again because he wasn't just a man, he was a God man. Than why don't we act like it? Why don't we tell more people about it? I talk more about the newest episode of The Office than about God. I talk more about gas prices and their effect on me, than Christ and his influence on my life. And you want to know why we don't talk about God with others, it's because we are scared. We're scared that people will think we are weird, we're scared that people will be skeptical of what we believe. Something is wrong when we would rather be comfortable around people than share something that has eternal consequence.

This whole situation is more ironic because we've all heard this rant before. We read or hear or think it and become convicted. Mentally we tell ourselves that we need to change, but we don't because we are pussies. That's the truth.

What is good.

a long drive with a friend.

santa cruz surf.

exploring a castle.

hanging out at the laboratory with doc and hazel.

Picture of my Food on a blog. LOL!

Yes Mother, I know how to cook. Well, sort of. This is a called the "Fiery Breathe of Oscar." Starting with a chunk of frozen hamburger and ending in a mixture of the forgotten foods from the pantry, it ended up making a decent meal. It almost reminded me of a home cooked meal that my mom made, if she had forgotten to cook the rice.

In other news, I started schoolery online. Not only do I feel myself getting smarter, but I am getting brighter. Not the smart definition of bright, more of the sunshine bright. I've started radiating much like how a heater puts off heat or a microwave throws out waves. This new phenomenon probably has a lot to do with the fact that I got scorched by the sun over the past few weekends.

Besides the brightness, school is well. I take three classes every eight weeks. Right now I'm nearly halfway done with a basic accounting, biblical studies, and theology 101 course. courses. Accounting is what it sounds like. Boring as hell. The theology and bible class are awesome though. It's weird to see that even though I've been in the Church my whole life I'm still being taught absolutely new things when it comes to the bible. Right now, I'm blazing through the old testament with my textbook at hand as it helps commentate and explain passages and narrations. The first time I read through the whole old testament was a few years ago. I would compare my first reading like watching a few random episodes of LOST. You get a story here and there, you kind of understand what's going on, but you are missing a lot. This second rereading is like watching seasons 1-5 back to back. You still get all the little stories, but now they aren't just random stories, they are all connected. You've got all these weird characters, bogus laws, and crazy nations living life and although at first you think they are totally unrelated, through time you realize each story is bound together in one giant story that has no ending, just many epic climaxes. I like it.