Alter Call

Its always interesting when pastors make alter calls.  I didn't realize that alter calls were relatively new things.  I guess in the church I have grown up in we do an altar call every Sunday; encouraging people to come up to the front so that pastors can pray for you.  I think that these things can be good.  Sometimes you are just in a place in your life where you need prayer and you are afraid to ask one of your friends to pray for you or just want more people praying for you.  I think the moment you choose to accept Christ is a moment where you want prayer and guidance by another Christian in your life and a pastor at your church is a good person to ask.  However, I do not think this is necessary.  Someone could accept Christ in a parking lot, or a bus station or anywhere. It doesn't have to happen in a church building. You don't have to walk the aisle at your church for your relationship with God to officially start. I take it as a way to show others of your commitment to follow God.  I was kind of shocked to read that pastors rate their affectiveness by how many people walk the aisle after their sermon.  That is rediculous.  The kind of sermon any pastor preaches doesn't even come from the pastor, it comes from God.  It doesn't take a long, fancy, eloquite sermon to evoke the love of God in an unbeliever's heart.  In conclusion, I think that altar calls are okay but not necessary.

Grilled Cheesus

It's always interesting to learn about other people's worldviews.  It seems like most television producers do not have a Christian view point.  I wonder why they feel the need to poke fun at our religion?  I was not here Friday when we watched the beginning of the Glee episode in class, but it didn't take long to see that the makers of this show were probably not Christians. I think the writers steriotyped the Christian religion.  I wonder if all non believers think that all chruch services are like that.  Old people are all up and dancin and shoutin and the choir is goin nuts.  I know that it really doesn't matter what music you listen to in chruch, but if non believers think that church is just a bunch of old people and gosple music it might make them not want to go and hear the good news of Jesus.  They dramatized praying a little bit I think, but praying is good and everyone should do it.  I think it showed how a lot of people might feel about being alone. I think a lot of unbelievers feel the same as Fin when he realized that the Idol he was praying to was not real.  He felt empty and alone and like he was searching for something.  Although this show had an overall negative perspective on Christianity, I think it had some good points.

Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-16 talks about being the light of the world and salt of the earth.  It gives the analagy that salt is useful for alot of things; but if it no longer has saltiness then it is not even fit for the manure pile!  We are the light of the world and if we have Him in us we should be so bright that everyone can see that we are Christians and desire to be them as well.  When we do this we bring glory to God.  We need to make sure we are making ourselves useful to God, so that we can stay salty.  We also need to shine so bright that it is as impossible as not to see a bright light in a dark room as impossible as it is for others to not see our love for Christ. 

Halloween

I find this fascinating.  Our preacher preached the same message at our church Sunday and I really liked it.  I have always carved a jack-o-lantern, dressed up and gone trick-or-treating.  I love the spooky things and the candy.  I never stopped to think that this holiday might have a past.  I think it's great that the church tried to make an influence on the old Celtic holiday.  They took "festival of the dead" and turned it into a festival celebrating and remembering the Saints that have died.  I think if kids use this holiday to go around as a fun night of gathering candy, it is perfectly fine.  Of course there is going to be some devil worship going on, but isn't there every night and we just don't think about it.  What surprised me the most about this article was how Christmas has been manipulated.  I did not know that it came from the ancient German holiday of Yule.  I always just thought it was in celebration of Jesus' birth.  If even Christmas has a pagan holiday as it's background,  I think it is ridiculous to not be able to celebrate Halloween.

Special Olympics Bowling

Today we went bowling with adults with special needs.  I had a fun time and I think the olympians did also.  I was in a group with 4 men:  Brett Davis, Eddie L., Jay Barker, and Loren B.   They were not the best bowlers in the world but Brett did better than I normally do.  These men were pretty silent and Jay couldn't talk.  It was very rewarding to see the smiles on their faces when they hi-fived me after getting a rare strike or spare.  Sometimes it was frustrating when they took forever trying to pick a ball or when they threw the ball so slowly that it felt like it took an hour for it to finally make it to the end of the gutter.  I then realized how gifted with patients the coaches and helpers must be.  If I was getting annoyed after only 2 hours I can only imagine what it would be like to spend a whole day having to walk them through the most basic activities.  There was a man on the lane next to me named Weslie.  He could not stop talking about his choo-choo train that was black and gray (today).  He was going to ride home on it at 1:30 and he kept asking Carolyn and I "Will you come with me next time"?  One thing I noticed about him was that he always had a smile on his face.  It is kind of hard to believe how if you were mentally handicapped and everyone treated you so differently you could be happy at all times.  The bowler's coach told me that Weslie and Jay( the one who liked to try my patience in picking out a ball) pretty much lived life in their own little worlds.  They don't really know whats going on around them.  Every time it was Jay's turn he would get up and walk to the ball return and just stand there and rock himself and he would forget what he was there to do, he had a hard time putting his fingers in the ball and he would turn around immediately after releasing the ball and never see how many pins he knocked down or anything.  I feel sorry for him and wonder why God made people like that.  What is going on inside their heads that they don't know how to do anything?  I also feel bad that he must not know anything besides what his nurse tells him and then he can only remember for a short time.  It is hard not to treat people differently when they are mute, walk very slowly, and show no emotion.  There was another man in Carolyn's lane that was named Raymond.  He had his own bowing shoes and brought his own ball.  It was sad to see that he only got to use his ball a few times because other people in his lane and mine were using it.  Also in Carolyn's lane was a man named Billy.  Almost every time he bowled he got a gutter ball, but he would clap and get all happy anyway.  If I gutterballed it I would be very angry.  His joy must have come from God.  One of the highlights of the day was when he gutterballed it actually.  His gutterball was so weak that it didn't even make it to the end of the lane. I tried to knock it down the gutter with another ball but mine got stuck instead.  The next bowler knocked down alot of pins as a result of the ball bouncing from the ball stuck in the gutter back into the lane and Weslie actually got a strike knocked off the ball backboard!  I had a really fun time and I hope we gave the special olympians a day they will never forget :)

Spiritual Emphasis Week

     I really enjoyed having Andy Braner in Chapel this week.  Unfortunately I only got to here him speak three of the six messages:( but my favorite message was the one about relationships.  I really liked how he used songs we all know and love to show us how we behave. 
     It is typical of a relationship to start off lovey dovey and romantic.  You love the person just the way they are and you tell them every day.  You are really cute with each other and it is just fun to be together.
     The next step is obsession.  You end up staying up til 2 in the morning texting your lover and maby even lose some of your other friends.  You might  feel like your living a Teenage Dream, but it definately goes down hill from here.  You become so obsessed that you feel like you have to be with the person no matter what.  This is where the relationship becomes a not so positive thing to be involved in. 
     It might be time for you to take a break from each other.  You are spending an extremely large amount of tiem together and its getting old, but without them you feel so empty inside without them and they are like your drug.  You just can't get off of them and you feel like they are your disease.
      Then comes abuse.  You need them and it doesn't matter how tired they are of you, or you are of them, or what they do to you, you will just keep running back to them because you love them too much to handle it. This relationship is definately not glorifying to God.
       We as Christians need to make sure that our relationships are pleasing and honoring in God's sight.  If we get too attached to a person that we don't have time to focus on God or his plans for our lives we could miss out on something big.   

Friends

Friends are a major part of my life right now.  I would normally say oh a good quality in a friend is that they are nice to me, but really my friends and I are pretty mean to each other.  My friends need to be able to kid around with me.  They need to be funny and listen to me because I like to vent with my friends.  I think it is important to have a lot of close friends so that when you are mad at one you can go to another and not be lonely.  Ha is that kinda bad to say?  I think that it is true that it is important for them to be Christian so that they can build you up and pray for you when you need someone.  I also think that in order to be close friends you must hang out and spend a lot of time together, and that is why I don't have many friends that go to other schools.  I have some friends from other schools, but we don't share the closeness I have with my friends at OBA.  Most of my friends play the same sports as me and we spend a lot of time doing extracurricular activities together.  Being able to talk freely to them about anything and sharing your thoughts with them is really important in a friendship.  One thing I need to work on in being a good friend is not to take sarcastic comments too literally. My friends and I like to use sarcasm, but sometimes I let it go too far.  In conclusion, everyone's friends are different because everyone is different, but we should just rely on God that he will give us the people we need in our lives to be our friends.

Racism

Did you know that everybody on Earth is only .2% different in their genetic makeup?  Its true. Whites, blacks, and middle-blacks are so similar, really the only thing that separates us is the amount of melanin in our skin. It is sad to see that people in our society are so prejudiced toward people who are so much like themselves.  It is terrifying to see that Charles Darwin has had just as much or more impact on the way we view people of different skin color than the God who created us does.  Darwin taught, in his book "Origin of the Species," that the black people group was formed from the dumbest monkey, the ape, that Middle-black peoples came from the smaller, and smarter relative, the orangutan, while whites evolved from the smartest; the chimpanzee.  Whites think that they are better than blacks and blacks think they are better than whites.  We can't even worship together.  The Bible says that one day everyone of all people groups will worship God together and we won't even be able to tell the difference because we are all one in Christ. God made us all in his image and he hates that we act so rudely to our own brothers and sisters. 

Slow Dancin' in a Burnin Room

I liked the song "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room."  It was kind of a slow song and not really the type of music I usually listen to.  It was really deep and kind of depressing.  I take it as a song about a couple about to divorce.  Their relationship is going down hill quickly and they can't do anything about it and it feels like they are slow dancing in a burning room.  I don't think this is a song that you should listen to all the time.  If all you do is sit around listening to sad, depressing songs about love that didn't work out you probably won't be the friendliest person around and you might get wrong opinions about what love is really about.  I think that listening to this song would be good for a rainy day or when you're just in a mood.  It has a good tune and is kinda catchy, but it isn't really a song to crank up and dance to.

Characteristics of My Future Spouse

I think the most important characteristic of my future spouse would be that he is a Christian.  The Bible says do not be unequally yoked and I think that it very important to have a partner who will build you up in your relationship with God and not tear you down.  Another important characteristic would be honesty.  If I can't be honest with the man I am married to then I would rather not be married at all.  I would also like him to be funny and nice and be good looking, but I think that the most important characteristics can be found on the inside. 

Gendercide Issue

   Gendercide is a serious issue.  It is where a large group of people get together and decide to kill a whole gender of people.  It is occurring in many third-world countries today.  In countries like China and India female babies are not worth as much as male babies.  The mothers are very poor and decide to kill their baby girls rather than raise them.  In some countries there is a limit to the number of babies a household can have and so they kill the females and hope for a male baby next time.  The story of the mother who threw her newborn baby girl out in the pig's slop was especially disturbing to me.
   Every life is precious and is created in God's image (Genesis 1:27).  The bible also tells us not to murder in Exodus 20:13. 
   Gendercide is very offensive to God because he created everyone equally and with his own perfect touch.  It hurts God's feelings when we treat certain people lower than others.