War and Wisdom

There are times when I believe war (domestic or foreign) begins with miscommunication or misunderstanding or both. This is not to discount human depravity, but to account for the fact many times we assume evil for good and vice versa. Adam assumed Eve’s gift of a fruit to be good and Peter assumed the Roman’s arrest of Christ to be evil. Both assumptions led to drastic actions that altered the lives of many people. In our broken minds, we assume knowledge to be the foundation of an action, only to realize this world was not even founded by knowledge. We assume the people before us that we can see, touch, taste, feel, hear can be known, but can change to unknown thus altering the way we communicate and understand. For it is the peacemaker that understands this and can gain everyone as an ally instead of an adversary.

May my eyes be opened to see this.


Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore get wisdom and with thy getting, get understanding. (Prov. 4:7)

EMINEM - LOSE YOURSELF (CHIPMUNK)

The Gospel

“…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing…” Col. 1:4-5

As I read this passage as a “mature” Christian, who is knowledgeable and well trained in Christian doctrine, once again I stumble across the word “gospel” and move on. I can easily explain it and share about it, but seldom ponder it. Today I had a chance to ponder it and it reminded me of my ignorance as well as my salvation by Jesus.

As the cliché goes, the gospel is “the good news”. It is that which the good Christian tells others if he or she is doing their “job” as a Christian. One may explain it by the Roman Road, or 4 Spiritual Laws or many other charts. As I sit and ponder this, I think it is more than a process to infinite afterlife with Christ. The gospel, as we know, is a story. It is the full story of Christ which ends with the phrases, “it is finished” and “He is risen.” This is not a story of glamour and love depicted in this world, but it is a story of real glamour and love. Like soldiers in a battle far from the main fronts receiving word that the war is over, so too is the individual who hears of the gospel and believes. The striving can cease. The worry can be nullified. The fear of death can subside. It is finished.

This does not mean the Christian simply lays around and “does nothing”. There is a rest, but also a work. Many modern people—including Christians—cringe at the word “work”. Yet, according to scriptures, work occurred before the fall (did not Adam have a job?) and is to be done (“work out your salvation”). This is not a work to gain anything, but simply to let something out. Those who believe in this so called “good news” do not have anything to gain or lose. One cannot grasp the love God has for them and therefore cannot do anything to receive more or less of this love. Those who believe in this “good news” let out what has happened.

This letting out is a tricky thing. It may come out broken as the embodiment of the individual begins to walk this new way. It may come out morally perfect. Yet, the expression of this “news” does not define the individual, but what that individual believes. As this new life emerges from a dead body (but physically living), this “good news” slowly transforms this body into a well oiled instrument, tuned to the Creator’s music. As Paul further writes in Colossians, in the same chapter, the goal of the person who believes the “good news” does not become morally perfect in everything, but attains “all steadfastness and patience” (Col. 1:11).

I have received the “good news” today. It is finished. He is risen.

Oasis - The Shock Of The Lightning

Finally, they are making great music again.

Mission

"Once you have a mission," (Shai)Agassi told me over dinner one night last winter, "you can't go back to having a job."

//http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi

Engaged

On Friday, October 10, I became engaged to an amazing woman named Courtney Odom.

What If

After a dismal debate between two candidates, who do not have original thoughts, politics has never looked more disconnected. In a world where budgets are too large and spending is too great, both candidates support increases of deficits or spending while painting a picture that we as a country can “eat our cake too”. We cannot have everything.

In a country “for the people, by the people”, we have been given two choices that are similar. We have slowly become numb of the reason why we vote, why we should care about Washington and what the words “economy”, “Capitalism” and “government” really mean.

This is not recent, but a gradual decline of rational thinking by the public. We cannot afford to allow this to go on and wait for others to change the economy, government and the likes. Change does not happen at an executive level: it is local. It is made of similar minded people, choosing to be bold.

What if Americans simply expressed their view that two candidates are not good enough? It doesn’t have to be a violent protest or carry an angry demeanor, but simply casting a vote for an independent party representative. What if Americans wanted to explore and experiment other economic systems (there is more than Imperialistic-Capitalism and Socialism)? What if the public began choosing their own means, not changing currency, but using other items of currency or bartering?

What if the public began to use their minds and gifts instead of buy or rely on the gifts of the few, rich talented ones?