SADness & Truth

American Idols

2012-01-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

American Idol started back up last week, and I have to say, I love that show. It's ridiculous and over hyped, but there is something about it that is incredibly entertaining. It's a mix of the awe of watching a train wreck and the awe of being mesmerized by heart touching, enchanting music, which is a whole other topic I may write about later. One way or another though, for millions of people every week, American Idol is the show to be watching, but it gets me to thinking...

The show is called American IDOL, and in some cases, just IDOL. The contestants are trying to become an idol, to be idolized, and for many Americans, and contestants, the judges are very much idols. You can watch the show and see plenty of people who are more than satisfied to simply meet, touch, hug, or kiss the judges, and they don't even care whether or not they make it through. They were able to have an encounter with their idol, and that is all that mattered to them.

Now, as Christians, we are not to have any idols. We are not to have any other gods before God, and we should not be worshipping and fawning over anything or anyone aside from God. This is easy to preach, and we all "get it" on a spiritual level, I guess. I mean, we don't have big golden calves in our living rooms that we pray to every day, but we still have idols, and for a lot of people, they come in the form of celebrities. So many people love American Idol because we get to be entertained by and "have an encounter" with current celebrities and those who hopefully soon will be. They are, quite literally, our idols.

I am currently reading Crazy Love, and there is a quote in there by John Piper that I find very interesting.

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?”

This is a very pointed question. Is God your idol? He commands us not to have any other gods before Him and to not have any idols ... and it is because He should be our only idol. He should be the one that we fawn over. Just like many contestants on American Idol are completely satisfied to meet their idols in the judging room, even if they don't put them through to Hollywood, and even if they tell the contestant that they cannot sing at all. How many of us are this way with God? Are we thrilled to simply be in His presence? Is it the highlight of our lives to spend 2 minutes before our Lord, regardless of what He says or doesn't say? Is Christ our idol, and could we be satisfied with Him and Him alone or are there so many other idols in our life that we could be satisfied in Heaven without Christ?

(Random photo that I found online.)

S.W.A.T.

2012-01-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Coming up here in a month, my church, X Factor, will be hosting our 2nd annual SWAT Seminar. SWAT stands for Spiritual Warfare & Apologetics Training, and that is exactly what this seminar is. It is a 2 day event to learn about apologetics from all angles and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we profess as Christians (1 Peter 3:15). In case you don't know what apologetics is: Apologetics is simply "a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity"

Last year the sole presenter was Luke McKinnon, the pastor of X Factor, and we looked a lot at intelligent design and woodpeckers. This year, however, we are raising the bar and bringing in some world renowned apologists: J.P. Moreland and Craig Hazen will be presenting along with Luke McKinnon.

The topics for this year's seminar include: Christianity Among the World Religions, Case of the Existence of the Soul, Evidence for the Resurrection, and The Apologetics of C.S. Lewis. So if any of this peaks your interest/curiosity you should come join us.

The seminar will be Feb. 24-25 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, and the cost is only $25!

To register, click here.

Sacrifice

2011-10-06T12:47:00.000-06:00

We have been going through the book Radical at church, and we are now in the last chapter, which is a challenge. The challenge is a one year challenge and includes:

Pray specifically for the entire world. There is a great website: http://www.operationworld.org/, where you can get daily prayer guides for specific countries around the world. It includes specific information and prayer needs for that country, and is a great way to pray for the entire world.

Today's country is Poland http://www.operationworld.org/pola

Read through the entire Bible, cover to cover, every verse. http://www.youversion.com/ has a lot of great reading plans to help with this. You can choose to read straight through, Genesis to Revelation, a historical reading, topical, Chronological, or any of several other plans.
Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose. The whole idea here is to SACRIFICE, not just give the leftovers, but make a real sacrifice to help others. Figure out what you need to live on and donate the rest to a very specific purpose.
Spend your time in another context. In other words, the challenge is to spend at least 2% of your time serving, going somewhere you are not used to or comfortable in to serve others. This may mean volunteering at the local homeless shelter or it may mean traveling across the globe, or both.
Be invloved with an active church, with people dedicated to living life as Christ has told us to live it.

This is the challenge that Manda and I are committing to for the next year, and I must say that my initial reaction to it is that it will be fairly easy. Praying, reading the Bible, being involved with a church, those won't be that hard, and it won't be that bad to donate time and money, right?

Well, turns out it's gonna be harder than I thought because, as I was thinking about what I could sacrifice to donate money to a specific purpose I realized that what I would need to sacrifice is not something I want to get rid of. My phone.

I spend money every month for a data plan on my phone that I use constantly, but in no way, shape, or form need to have. I also realized that I have wanted to sponsor a child through World Vision for quite some time now, but have always said we don't have enough money. The money I spend every month on my data plan will cover most of the cost to sponsor a child every month. So, even though I absolutely do not want to get rid of my smartphone, when I compare having the luxury of immediate internet, social media, and app access to helping provide a child, their family, and their community with basic needs, food, shelter, health, etc... I cannot say that I would rather spend my money on my phone than another human being. So I am giving up my smartphone for a simple, basic phone and will be sponsoring a child.

We have also talked about other ways to sacrifice, including cutting back our Netflix service, cutting back our cable/DVR service, cutting back our eating out, among other things, and we have other things that we would like to do with that money, but we haven't really decided on anything else.

It's pretty crazy though how difficult it is to cut back my service. I went in to T-Mobile yesterday to change out my phone, but I was met with very odd looks when I said I wanted to downgrade my phone, and then I was told I couldn't get a simple basic phone without using my upgrade and paying $50 at the cheapest. It seems strange that I would need to spend almost 3 months of my data plan just to get a simple phone, but I am looking into other options to get a phone right now. I'm pretty sure we are going to sponsor a child soon even if I don't get my phone figured out.

Anyways, this is really long so I'm gonna wrap things up. I'm nervous and excited for how these changes will affect our lives over the next year, but primarily just excited to see how God will work in our lives and the lives of those around us when we choose to live as He has instructed us to live!

8 Mile

2011-08-11T15:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I ran 8.03 miles with M&M. It's the farthest I've ever run by about 1.5 miles. We went up to Tramway and ran from Candelaria to Paseo del Norte and back again. By the end of the run it was very dark, we didn't leave early enough, but the dark, and the cloud cover, and the little bit of rain that we encountered during the run were much more welcome than the blaring sun that has been around during most of the day the last couple weeks.

Anyways, I learned a couple of things while (well actually after) doing that run.

I always swore that I hated and would always hate running, but I'm actually starting to enjoy it, thanks to Manda getting me to go run with her.
I have huge respect for Manda, who has run a Half Marathon. I cannot imagine running another 5 miles on top of what we did last night.
I did not eat anywhere near enough food yesterday.

When we got home from that run I was tired, but I was feeling ok. However, soon after getting home I started feeling nauseous and dizzy. I put the run into my phone and realized that I had burned about 200 more calories during that run than I had consumed all day. That's not a good thing. I proceeded to drink a glass of milk, accompanied by 2 Papa Murphy's chocolate chip cookies, 1 whole peach, and a slice of toast. I think this did the trick because I remember waking up with a bite of toast in my mouth, still holding the rest of the toast near my lips. It was an awkward thing to wake up to.

Anyways, I am quite happy that I completed that run yesterday, but next time I will make sure to eat a whole lot more (have more energy) in preparation for it, and I am not planning on doing anything crazy (like a Half Marathon) until January in DisneyWorld.

*On a side note, Manda is running a Half Marathon this weekend, and she's gonna rock it!

Discipline, Comfort & Love

2011-08-08T08:39:00.000-06:00

Last night was not a good night as far as sleep and Mallory go. She decided that she didn't want to sleep, and Manda and I decided that we were not going to give in to her screaming. It was not fun. We first tried to gently rock/sing her to sleep in her crib, but she would have none of that. She did not want to sleep in her room and let us know with loud banshee shrieks, so we told her she needed to be quite and go to sleep. When she refused, we asked if she wanted us to just leave her in her crib and us go back into our room. She said, "Yes," so we did. I don't think she really knew what she was asking because she continued screaming for about 1.5 hours after that, but eventually, finally, she laid down and went to sleep. It was not fun at all, and I am quite tired today, but it got me thinking about something.

Mallory was, obviously upset, and she was upset at us. However, the initial source of her frustration and anger last night was her failure to obey us. We had every intention and desire to have a pleasant bedtime, putting her to sleep while lovingly rocking her and singing to her. However, she chose, instead to fight and claw and scream, in order to get her way. Ironically, she got what she said she wanted, for us to leave her room. The entire time we were seconds away, watching her in the monitor, making sure she didn't hurt herself, but we allowed her to cry. Even though every fiber of us wanted to just go in, pick her up, love her, comfort her ... we let her cry. We let her cry because we love her, and in the long run it is going to be better for her. When she comes into our room she doesn't sleep well, we don't sleep well, and the next day everyone is a bit crankier, and she tends to get in more trouble. She needs to sleep in her room, and so, even though it was hard. We let her cry.

How often do we do this with God? God has a specific plan for us, and it's great. If we were to follow it and allow Him to do what He has planned we would be blown away by how great it is, but instead of peacefully drifting off to sleep in His arms, to the sound of His voice, we kick and scream and claw and demand our way. We fight tooth and nail to disobey and do what we "know" will be better. Then, when God says, "I want to rock you to sleep peacefully in my arms. Do you want this, or do you want to deny this?" we deny it. We ask/tell Him to leave, and then we are furious that we don't feel Him there. It makes no sense.

However, just like Manda and I never truly left and abandoned Mallory, God never leaves us. He will allow us to go our own way sometime and do what we want, but He is always there, watching us, and His heart is breaking to see the pain we are going through. He is standing there, knowing that if we would just allow Him to take over everything would be so much better, and yet, because He loves us, He is witholding, allowing us to make our own choices, and suffer the consequences, in order that we may learn.

So often we feel like God abandons us and leaves us alone when we are the most upset, but we do not see the big picture, and we forget that we asked Him to leave in the first place. However, even in the midst of our screaming, flailing of legs, and attempts to climb out of our crib, He is always there, loving us, caring about us, and waiting for us to choose to surrender and let Him take over so He can hold us in His arms.

"...I will never leave you nor forsake you." -- Joshua 1:5b

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -- Jeremiah 29:11

In the morning I'm making ... Waffles?

2011-08-06T12:48:00.003-06:00

So this morning Manda and I decided to make some waffles. The only problem was that neither of us really know how to make waffles. So, what was supposed to be 6 waffles turned into this pile of stuff. :)

Big Kid

2011-08-06T02:33:00.005-06:00

This evening I had an incredibly fun time, and it was completely unplanned. We planned to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins at 6:50 with Manda and my families at the Dollar Theater where my sister works. Well, as is normal for us, we showed up at about 6:52, only to discover that the movie was sold out. Who knew the Dollar Theater was so busy? Problem was, Manda and my parents had already bought their tickets, popcorn, and drinks. Meanwhile, M&M, Manda's sister and brother-in-law, our nieces, and I were all out of luck. Anyways, there was another showing at 9:30, so what do we do? We buy/exchange tickets for that one and sit down on the grass to eat popcorn and pass 2.5 hours...

That got boring after about 30 minutes so...we got Starbucks and went to the park. This particular park had a brand new playground. When was the last time you played on a playground? It had been quite a while for me, and I suddenly turned into a little kid, in a big body, which was a problem. There were these rope ladder/web things (picture below), and I thought it would be fun to try and crawl through one of the holes. Well, I got my head through easily, and then my arms and shoulders, with a bit of difficulty, and then I encountered a problem. Evidently, my butt and hips are larger than my shoulders, cause I was firmly stuck, and every attempt to get out only succeeded in almost pulling my pants off.

So there I am, stuck in the playground equipment, when some little girl decides she wants to climb on that rope grid... She lets me know I am in the way, which I assure her that I know. She then tells me to move, and I point out the fact that I am stuck and cannot move. She then scolds me, asks me why I got in there if I couldn't get out, and proceeds to become incredibly annoyed and yell at Manda, TJ, and I as we try, to no avail, to free me.

Finally, I am able to backtrack and corkscrew my self back out, up and over my shoulders again. I was, needless to say, a bit embarrassed, and yet it was so much fun!

The moral of the story...if you ever find yourself needing to waste a couple hours cause your movie was sold out, go play on a playground, get stuck cause you are larger than the average kid, and get scolded by kid who is much younger and smaller than you.

Go be a kid! It's fun!

M&M, Moss and Memorial Day

2011-06-02T14:57:00.000-06:00

This past Monday M&M, my parents, and I all went up to Santa Fe for Memorial Day. This has been a tradition in my family since my dad was a little kid, and while none of my siblings came this year, I really enjoy this annual trip to our state's capital. We always go and visit my grandparent's grave, which is where the tradition started. My dad and his family would go up to when he was a kid, to visit my grandpa's grave, and now that my grandma is buried there as well, we still go to visit her grave and put some over-the-top patriotic bouquet on it, cause that is what she would love.

It's always an interesting experience for me, remembering my grandma, marveling at my family, and examining all the graves of strangers, some of whom lived full lives and fought in many wars for our countries, and others, like the ones I saw this week, lived only a day or less, and died within 24 hours of being born, along with their twin sister.

However, that is not really what I started this blog intending to write about. The other part of our annual Memorial Day trip is that we head up into the mountains, go hiking for a bit, and dam the stream. Now I don't know about all of you, but I get an incredible amount of joy out of damming a stream, river, any sort of moving water! I remember, as a teenager, on several youth camping trips, my friends and I would spend hours moving large rocks and trees across the Pecos river, effectively raising the water level on the top side of the dam.

The stream is a bit smaller up in the Santa Fe mountains, and the team was a bit smaller, just me, while M&M and my parents watched and took pictures, but I had to get Mallory in on the dam building legacy early. :) So I moved rocks, sticks, bark, and yes, trees, and built a dam across that stream, and I probably raised it at least 3 or 4 inches.

All the while Mallory was watching. She was pretty interested at first, venturing to touch the water and throw a few rocks, but then, as I started throwing larger rocks into place, and thereby splashing her, she became less enthusiastic about her strange father out in the middle of the stream.

At one point I grabbed a larger rock, which I was going to set gently into place, but Manda said I should throw it. I warned that there would be a big splash, but she said to go for it, so I did, and what resulted is outlined in the pictures below. A wall of water came splashing over all four of them and left moss covering Manda.

All in all it was a really fun trip, and I was able to carry Mallory over the freshly built dam to the other side of the stream. I can't wait to go back next year. Maybe by that time she will be old enough to help me.

Rejoicing for Death?

2011-05-02T10:19:00.001-06:00

So, Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday. After almost 10 years, the man behind the worst terrorist attack on US soil has not only been captured, but killed. Shot in the head. Dead. He will no longer be masterminding any terrorist plots against anyone, ever again...and America has erupted in joy. If you look at virtually any news source, and especially if you look at Facebook/Twitter, everyone seems to be absolutely elated over this killing. Status messages are filled with exclamation marks, smiley face, and other terms of happiness and joy, and why shouldn't they, right? Justice has been served. A huge enemy of our country is dead. The man responsible for thousands of innocent deaths has finally gone...

However, as I told Manda last night, I cannot find joy in this event. In fact, I find it a bit upsetting that so many people are so happy over this man's death. Now don't get me wrong, I think that he was evil, did evil things, and needed to be stopped. Did he get what he deserved? Probably, yes, but I cannot be happy over the fact that we killed him.

What I cannot stop thinking about is this: Was his life worth less than yours or mine? Was his life less sacred than yours or mine? Did God love him any less than you or I? The answer, I am convinced, is a resounding no. He performed atrocities during his life that set him apart in the views of many, but how many of us have not performed atrocities?

I wonder, how many Christians felt any sorrow over this man's death vs. happiness and joy? Easter was just over a week ago, the day we celebrate the sacrifice that Christ made for us to bring us salvation and free us from our sin and an eternity in Hell. We rejoice over that and talk about how amazing it is that Christ would have come and died if only to save YOU. How often do we really put that statement into practice and belief though? It is great to think that God loves YOU or those YOU love enough to die to save only them, but what about Osama bin Laden? Did God love him enough to suffer and die to save only him? Did God love him enough to suffer and die for him, knowing everything that he would do? Would Christ have taken that bullet to the head to save bin Laden?

It is so easy for us to talk about how much Christ loves and dies for us, knowing everything that we would do, all of the terrible things that we would do in and with our lives.It is easy to think about love and forgiveness and no one being too bad when we are talking about ourselves, our group of friends and family, but it seems that we do not carry this out to those who we do not love or forgive.

That's the beauty of God's love! We cannot possibly understand it! He loves when we hate. He forgives when we hold grudges. His love is absolutely perfect and covers EVERYONE, no matter what they have done or who they are.

So, am I happy that Osama bin Laden is no longer free to move about the world, to plan terrorist attacks, to hurt countless thousands of people? Am I happy that the man responsible for so many innocent deaths has been "brought to justice?" Do I think that he deserved to die? Absolutely. However, I am not happy, and I certainly find no joy in the fact, that a human being who God loves and died for is now, for all we know, sentenced to an eternity in Hell. I simply cannot find joy in that, and the mass jubilation over the killing of a person, regardless of who it is, is upsetting to me.

So chime in. What do you think? Do you agree or do you think I'm crazy? Be honest.

Easter & Good Friday: Death & Resurrection

2011-04-22T11:24:00.000-06:00

Today is Good Friday, and while the traditional events of this day probably took place on Wednesday, not Friday, it does not at all diminish the importance of what this day represents. This is, traditionally, the day that Christ was crucified, taking all of the sins of the world upon Himself and becoming the perfect, spotless sacrifice to pay for the mistakes that each and every one of us has made. I believe that this is why this day is called GOOD Friday, because I can't imagine why else it would be considered good. It represents the day that Christ was tortured and brutally executed, forsaken by God, and became sin. So this gets me thinking...

During this Easter season, our celebration is on Easter, and what it represents. We celebrate the resurrection of Christ, His return to physical life, His defeat of death. This is what the rejoicing is over. So as I think about it, was it His sacrifice that brought us salvation, or His resurrection that brought us salvation?

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states, " ¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."

So this makes a pretty compelling case that our hope and salvation are rooted in Christ's resurrection, without which we would still be in our sins with a futile faith, and this makes sense. This is the argument that I have heard countless times: "Many religious leaders are "good" and many have or would die for their cause, but at the end of the day, they are all still dead and Christ is alive, which is why He is so great and why we can have a confident hope in our salvation."

We celebrate Easter, the resurrection, as the culmination of Christ's gift to us, and believe that it is because He is alive that we have any faith or hope at all. It is all about the resurrection, but...

In Hebrews 9, it states, "14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. ...

"26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."

So wait a minute. This makes a pretty compelling case that our salvation is a direct result of Christ's sacrifice, His shed blood, His death. This is what brings salvation, and without Christ's death we would have no hope of salvation. This also makes sense. The Bible is full of references to Christ being the sacrificial lamb, to forgiveness requiring a perfect sacrifice, to Christ's blood being our means of salvation. Christ even says, in Matthew 26 "²⁸ This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." We even have plenty of hymns, such as "Nothing but the Blood," which imply that nothing, but the blood of Jesus can wash away sin.

So then, which is it? Why does there seem to be such a strong emphasis on both, separately, and, would Christ's perfect sacrifice have been enough to bring us salvation, had He never risen? Could we still celebrate our salvation even if we never celebrated Easter? Would we have a Good Friday holiday alone? Or is the shedding of blood essentially worthless without the resurrection?

Here are my thoughts: Christ's sacrifice, His death on the cross, His shedding of His blood bought us salvation. He paid the ultimate price for the ultimate prize, and through this, you and I now have the opportunity to accept that freedom. Jesus paid the price, with His blood, to buy our freedom, and all we have to do is accept it. It was His death, the death of a spotless lamb, and the shedding of the pure crimson blood that brought us salvation.

Now, what about the resurrection? It is no less important, and here is why. Christ's death brought salvation, but only because He is perfect, spotless, the prophecied Messiah, God. Had He been ANYTHING less than this, His death would have been futile and useless. When Christ rose from the dead, He proved that He was God. Only God has power over death, and Christ's resurrection verified, undeniably, that He was who He said He was. His resurrection gave power to His shed blood. Additionally, it was procephied that the Messiah would rise from the dead. Had Jesus been perfect, and shed His blood, but not risen, it would make God a liar, and leave us hopeless as our hope and faith would be based in a lie.

The way that I see it, Christ's blood, His death, is what made salvation possible for us. However, had Christ not risen from the dead, He would not have been the Messiah, and therefore His death would have been meaningless and completely unable to provide salvation. So the two are joined. Obviously, He had to die for there to be a resurrection, and there had to be a resurrection to give power to His death.

So those are my thoughts, and they are just that, thoughts. If you agree, disagree, have a completely different view, or can more clearly explain my view, please leave a comment. Have a great Easter everyone!

God bless!

The Sting of Death

2010-12-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Manda asked me the other day, "Why do people have to die, and if people have to die, why does it always have to be so painful and miserable?" Her grandma died last night after a several week long battle with all sorts of problems, and it is simultaneously heartbreaking and relieving. We are all relieved that she is no longer suffering, but our hearts are torn in two at our loss, but also at the loss of those around us.

After hearing about her death last night I was incredibly sad and spent a good deal of time in tears, and then I started thinking about death, about the curse, and about the question I mentioned before. So here are my thoughts.

When Adam and Eve first sinned the brought death into this world. What was a perfect creation, full of absolute joy and free from sorrow, suddenly was introduced to a curse that would haunt humanity for the rest of its existence. Where there had previously been eternal, blissful life, tragic, destructive death was thrust into the midst of it all; and we were cursed..."You will certainly die."

Now I have always considered this curse to fall on everyone, but to be on everyone individually. Every one of us will die, it was not meant to be that way, but that is the way it is now, and that is the curse. However, as I was thinking this morning I realized something else. The curse is not just individual. It is a collective curse on humanity. We all feel the sting of death. In fact, there are those who have never died (Enoch & Elijah), but they were still subject to the curse of death.

When someone dies, in many ways, it is hard on those that are left, not the one who died. It is the living who are cursed by and suffer as a result of death. For the one who died, whether it was quick and painless, or drawn out and miserable, death is a completion, a step into what is next, which can be either a return to the glorious paradise we were intended for or a full completion of the curse for all eternity. (Now if someone does not know God and enters death without salvation, the full magnitude of the curse is realized in an eternal death and separation from God. This is far worse than what the living suffer, and it is not God's desire. He "is patient with you, not wanting any to perish...") With that in there, I return to the curse of death on the living. I seemed to realize today how immersive this curse is. It doesn't just cause life to end at some point. It causes sorrow, suffering, depression, confusion, heartache, etc... for those who are left alive. The curse also causes murder, jealousy, adultery, and virtually every other type of evil in the world. The curse of death involved death of our morals and our spirit and our connection with God, and this is the greatest blow. "The sting of death is sin."

So why do people die, and why is it painful and miserable? Because we are cursed. Because we have walked away from God, and this means that absolutely everything in life falls under the curse of death. We are all walking dead.

HOWEVER

If this were the end of this blog I would expect everyone to go away incredibly depressed, but it's not the end. Here is the second part of what I realized this morning.

When Jesus came to this earth and became a human. He willing entered the curse of death. He went from being Life, absolutely, to being subject to death's curse, and He experienced the curse, to its fullest extent. He felt the sorrow and loss associated with those you love dying. "Jesus wept." He felt the individual fulfillment of the curse as He suffered and physically died. He was even separated from God. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He became fully cursed for us, but He then did something so amazing! He conquered the curse! He overcame it! He shattered it against the rocks and offered freedom to us as well!

In the past, when I have read "Death has been swallowed up in victory." - 1 Corinthians 15:54b I have always thought of it in terms of Jesus overcame death and rose from the grave, and because He is alive He is able to offer us salvation. This is absolutely true, but it is so much more! Victory over death was not just victory in that single instance. As I said before, it was victory over the curse completely! "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" - 1 Corinthians 15:55 This does not mean that we will no longer die or that death will no longer be painful for those left alive, but what it does mean is that death does not have to hold us in bondage anymore. While it is still painful, we now have hope and joy that run deeper and stronger than any fear or sorrow that death holds! The sting of death is sin, but death no longer has its stinger. Like a bee that stings and the stinger stays behind and the bee dies, Death had its shot. It stung at what it thought would be its greatest victory, but instead its stinger was left behind and the curse of death was defeated!

"He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face..." - Isaiah 25:8

So we have hope and we have joy in the face of death now! We no longer have to fear it, and while it is hard, and we will miss her grandma, we have that joy that death did not win, and in this passing, her grandma stepped out of the curse and into the paradise of God's presence!

Mallory Punmpkin Pictures

2010-11-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

So I have been really terrible at updating this blog, but I was recently inspired to post more pictures and videos of Mallory, and to just generally update this much more often. So, these pictures are a bit old, but here they are!

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2010-10-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

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Family Photos

2010-09-10T09:59:00.011-06:00

I keep my family on my desk at work, but not with the typical photos. Below are my family photos that I keep on my desk.

1st of all we have Mallory:

These awesome bedazzled animal stickers were my birthday present from Mallory. She picked them out herself and was so excited to give them to me, and they are absolutely amazing! They now adorn my computer screen, but I have a bunch left so I need to figure out what else to put them on! Everytime I look at them they remind me of my beautiful daughter!

Second we have Manda:

About a month or so ago it was insanely crazy busy at work, and I wasn't able to take lunch several days in a row. It was a bit stressful. So Manda went and picked me up lunch, Happy Meals to make me happy, and included with the Happy Meals, of course, were these awesome superhero toys! So now I have Spiderman, Captain America, and the Silver Surfer adorning my desk. Cpt. America throws his shield, it's quite fun to play with! I now look at these, or play with them, and it makes me happy, and reminds me of my incredible wife and all of the amazing things she does!

Finally, my mom:

Now I'm not trying to say this is a representation of my mom... On Father's Day she bought me a Mr. Potato Head, because I was saying how much I love them and wanted one. So now I have a Mr. Potato Head who resides on my desk, and is played with by everyone in the office. My mom also bought me parts for a Mr. Potato Headesque Pirate Pumpkin, they are a bit bigger, but still fit on my Mr. Potato Head as well. So right now I have a Punk Pirate Potato, my mom. :)

MVD :\

2010-09-02T16:57:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I attempted to go re-register my car, which has been expired for over a year. Yes I know. I should have registered my car a year ago when I was supposed to, but it's a whole long convuluted story of why I didn't. Anyways, I finally got everything in place that I needed to register my car so I went over to the MVD for the worst part of the whole process. I had forgotten how much I really despise the MVD. First of all, you have to wait for hours, literally. And why do you have to wait so long? Because there are hundreds of people there and the MVD only decides to open 5 of the 12 windows they have. That makes sense, right? Then, after you wait for over an hour and finally have them call your number, which they tell you when you get a number that they don't call in order, you go up the window, have them ask you what you are there for, and then they tell you to go sit back down and they will call your number again. This will take another hour or more.

It was so frustrating! I spent over an hour there, was late getting back to work, didn't eat lunch, and still wasn't able to get my car registered because I had to go back to work. Then, on top of it all, they close at 4 so there is no way for me to go during the week. I would do it online, but I let it go too long so I can't. Grrr

Anyways, I guess I will attempt this again on Saturday, but until then I will continue to be a driver with expired registration...

Yelp

2010-09-02T13:52:00.001-06:00

I was attempting to add this to my main blog page, and for whatever reason, I cannot seem to figure out how to do it... Does anyone know where to place new HTML in the Blogger HTML editor to get it to show up in the Sidebar?

Recent reviews by Scott D.

What's this?

Goals

2010-07-30T09:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Manda and my 4th Anniversary. We didn't do anything huge or go on some trip across the country as we have done in the past. I took the day off work and we were able to spend the day together, just basically living life. It was great! Last night we got a babysitter for Mallory for a couple of hours, and Manda and I went out to dinner and got to talk for a long time. One of the things that we talked about was what each of our goals are.

Here are some of my goals that I came up with.

Learn Web Design: HTML, Java, Flash, CSS, whatever else. I want to be able to build and design webpages, and do it well.
Write a Book: This has sort of been a goal of mine since I was a little kid. I used to want to be an author. Now, with Manda's encouragement, my goal is simply to write a book. However, to that end, I am curious what type of book you like to read.

What genre?
Fast or slow paced?
What is more important? Plot, Characters, Dialouge, Setting?
What is inticing to you? Give me your thoughts.

Landscape our front/back yard. I have been slowly getting this done, we have planted a peach tree, and Manda bought me a Dogwood tree and Blueberry bush, which I planted yesterday, and we have been working on weeding and getting everything ready. My goal, however, is to have everything set-up, grass seed planted, a few more fruit trees, etc... in our backyard by the end of September. Eventually I want to have sections of bark and plants along the walls, grass and rock in the middle, a nice back porch with ceiling fans and lights and nice area for our grill, garden area for Manda, and I want to fix and make really nice the sandbox for Mallory, and get a swingset for her. After that I want to get the front yard looking really nice, picket fence, grass, bushes, flowers, and probably tear out our "mostly dead" tree and replace it. It's a lot, but I'm really motivated to get it all done and looking great for next summer!
Finish the laundry room project we have been working on for almost a year now. We have hit a setback in that we recently discovered we have a leak, which has resulted in a puddle on the floor with all the recent rain we have received, but I am still set on getting this thing done in the next month, and then finishing up all of the small projects I have left unfinished for the last year and a half.

At the moment that is all of my primary goals, except for one. I have a goal to continue making and reaching for goals, to continue growing and learning and accomplishing things! I will post again when I have met some of these goals, which should hopefully be soon!

A Daddy's Love for His Kid

2010-05-27T20:58:00.001-06:00

As I write this Mallory is sleeping totally peacefully in her bed. She is so amazing and beautiful! I do think, however, that my skin secretes some sort of potion that puts her to sleep because every time I hold her she falls asleep almost instantly.

Anyways, tonight Manda went to Bible Study so Mallory stayed home with me, which was great! This is the first time, I think that I was able to have some just me and her time, not that time with Mommy isn't great as well, but it was nice to be able to spend some time with Mallory since I have to be at work so much and don't get that much time to spend with her. We did some laundry, watched some TV, listened to the radio, talked, and played. I even got some videos of her kicking her ball, which was pretty cool. I will have to put that up later, but it takes too long to upload at the moment.

I am just so amazed at how incredible this little girl is! She is so great, and she is such a perfect example of pure, innocent love and absolute joy! When she smiles you can't help to feel thrilled, and I don't know how anyone could keep from getting the biggest grin on their faces when she looks at you and laughs.

When she cries it is so devestating because all I want to do is make her feel better and bring the smile to her face again. It somehow seems so much more wrong for her to be upset because of the joy that eminates from her most of the time.

I guess I'm just basically saying that I absolutely love this little girl! She lights up my whole world, and I cannot imagine life without her. If she is crying and fussy at 2 in the morning or smiling and laughing in the middle of the afternoon, it doesn't matter. I love her all the same, she's my kid, and I am so amazed to realize that the intense burning love I have for her regardless of the fact that she has pooped in my face and kept me up for the past 3 months is absolutely, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in comparison to the love that God, my daddy, has for me, and has for every one of His kids, which means YOU too. I am blown away by that love!

It is SO Amazing!
Mallory is SO Amazing!
God is SO Incredibly Blow-you-away Awesome!

Goodnight!

Danger

2010-05-10T16:59:00.000-06:00

Welcome back to another edition of SADness & Truth! It's been awhile since the last newsletter, and I hope everyone has been doing great! As it is nearing the end of the school year, and summer is fast approaching, I thought that I would tell you all about something that I used to have a blast doing during the summer as a little kid.

Do you remember Slip n' Slides? Those long pieces of plastic that you cover in water, throw your body on and slide! My brother and I played with those alot as kids. We used to live in a house that had a two leveled front yard with a rock wall, about 3 feet tall, that separated the upper yard from the lower yard. I remember deciding one summer that it would be fun to get 2 Slip n' Slides, have one end at the top of the rock wall and the other pick up 3 feet below in the lower yard. We would take a running start from the top, slide off the wall and, hopefully, continue sliding below. Sometimes it hurt, afterall we were falling on our stomachs from 3 feet up, and we could have potentially hurt ourselves by missing the slide below, sliding into the rocks, or many other things, but it was great and we did it despite the danger.

Similarly, we would often ride our bicycles down the hill in our back yard, off the 4 foot wall and onto the concrete patio below. Oh we set up a ramp of sorts made up of two 4 inch boards, one sticking straight out from the top of the wall and one holding that one up, to make the 4 foot fall a bit better, but it was still ridiculously stupid.

These are just a few of the supid things I did as a kid, but it makes me think about my life as a Christian. I did crazy, dangerous things as a child because I had no fear, and the things I was doing brought me joy and thrill. Our lives as Christians should be the same way. God calls us to do some crazy things, and yes, dangerous things. He never said that following Him would be a walk in the park. He said we would be picking up our cross every day, that we would face persecution and that Satan himself would fight against us.

'Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."' - Matthew 16:24

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me."

- Matthew 24:9

However, despite all of this God also tells us not to be afraid. He tells us to be like little children, having no fear and absolute faith in Him. Christianity is not boring, safe or simple it is dangerous and exciting, but through this we can experience the joy and thrill that comes from the fact that "perfect love drives out fear." So embrace the love, embrace the danger, put your total faith in that perfect love!

Do not be afraid!

Drinking the Water I'm Drowning in

2010-04-27T00:33:00.002-06:00

Ok, so first of all, the title of this post is a bit strange and only loosely has to do with what I'm writing about. Just thought I'd get t out there.

Now, all I really want to say is this:

I have so many thoughts swimming through my mind right now it's crazy! Thoughts of joy, excitement, love, frustration, confusion, fear, sadness...basically I have a rainbow of thoughts running through my mind, and they are on everything from church to youth group to work to family to God...it's hard to contain it all and fall asleep...however, I will be talking about some of these ideas very soon so stay tuned.

That is all for tonight...

Goodnight!

Why must I work?

2010-04-23T23:38:00.001-06:00

So this week was my first full week back at work since Mallory was born, and it was by no means something I was happy about. I slowly went from spending all day every day with my wife and new daughter, to being gone half the day for two weeks, to having to be gone all day long and only see Manda and Mallory for 20 minutes for lunch. :( I really wish that I could have a job that allowed me to work from home, but more about that later. For this blog I simply want to relay an incredibly sweet yet heart wrenching story from earlier this week.

Monday was my first day working full time, and when I got home at 5:30 Manda and I had dinner and I was busy getting everything ready for X-session. At 6:30 it was time for youth, which lasted till around 8. Afterwards, Mallory was quite upset. Manda tried comforting her, feeding her, changing her, the whole 9 yards, but nothing worked. She was holding her when she noticed her little head following me around the room, so she handed her to me. Almost immediately she stopped crying, looked up at me with her big blue eyes, and gave me a huge grin. :-)

You see, my daughter missed me. I had left all day and Mallory missed me after just one day. All she wanted was for her daddy, who had left, to hold her.

I'm sure you can see why this story is sweet. I mean what story that involves grinning, blue eyed baby girls isn't? However, for me it was also quite sad, because I really don't want to have to leave all day and have my daughter miss me. :-/

Bittersweet...

Death

2010-02-17T17:01:00.002-07:00

I haven't written a blog in a while so I decided to jump back in with a light happy blog about death! That was sarcastic in case you couldn't tell. Death is not a light or happy topic, but, at least for me, it is a very intriguing one. A lot of people try to avoid death completely and others seem to embrace it unnaturally, but regardless peoples' reactions to death, the reason behind them is almost always because we are uncomfortable with it.

I've been thinking about death recently due to the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili on his luge training run last Friday. Death seems like it should be the most natural of all life's events, afterall, every single person experiences it at some point, yet, death is strangely unnatural to many people. There is something that just seems wrong or off with death. It does not seem like it should happen, yet there is no way to prevent it. Occasionally death seems a little more normal when someone has lived a long, full, happy life, and they die quickly and peacfully, however, even in those cases, death is surrounded with grief and tragedy, and those left are left with a sense of loss, as if something went awry somehow and a hole is now left. And that is death in its best circumstances. More often than not, death does not come peacefully to those who have lived full lives. It comes suddenly, painfully, shockingly, and to anyone from babies, to children, to young adults, to middle aged people, to the elderly. When death comes unexpectedly and suddenly it leaves more than just grief. It rips the fabric of people's lives apart, bringing grief, tragedy, depression, loss, and hopelessness that leaves a dark void, which can often bring about more death. How can this be natural?

I have seen and experienced death in many different ways, and let me tell you what should NOT happen.

A wife and mother should not have to receive a call telling her that her husband was killed in a car wreck on the way to work. That he will not be coming home, that he he will not see his daughter and son grow up.

Parents should not have to watch their son die of disease and then a few years later receive a call that their daughter was killed in a car wreck.

A son should not have to watch his mother slowly die of cancer, slowly forgetting everything, and becoming unable to even speak, as he cares for her in his home.

Parents should not have to experience the extreme joy of bringing a child into the world, be told everything is great with their baby, and then experience their child's death the next day.

Parents, friends, and girlfriend should not have to receive a call that their son, friend, and boyfriend was riding his motorcycle home and crashed and died.

A mother should not have to watch as her son slowly dies of disease.

These are just a few of the experiences with death that I have personally seen. There are many many more, and every one is tragic. I am left wondering, why, if death is so natural does it seem so wrong. Even many animals recognize a certain problem with death, and we can see elephants mourning when one of them dies. There are many thoughts and ideas and branches that can be taken to look at this topic of death, but I am not going to explore them all here. Death saddens me to no end, especially when it is sudden, and I find myself truly grieving when I hear of people dying, even if I have never heard their name, and when I think about it, I come to the conclussion that death seems so unnatural because it is. We are not meant to die. We were never intended to be mortal, and a part of us, still, is immortal, so when we see death we are disturbed, because it goes against what we were meant to be.

I am going to stop there and not go into anything else as far as why we now die, or what is immortal. I am sure you can guess my thoughts on that, but I am interested to hear what you think. It's a tough topic, and I just sort of threw out some loose ideas here, what are your ideas on either mine, or on death in general? One last question: This blog is entitled SADness and Truth, so death is definitely the sadness, can there be truth and joy discovered within the sadness? I believe that yes there is, but I want to know what you think.

"What's the point of all of this..."

2010-01-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

A question that I have asked in the past, and which many people around me have and are asking in some form is this: "Why go to church?" "What's the point?" and similarly, "What should church be, and what should churches do?" I have been on both sides of this question at different points in my life. I have been hurt by churches and wondered what the point of church is, does it really do any good? I have also been, and currently am, on staff at a church, and I have had a great opportunity to see the benefit that church can bring.

People have all sorts of reasons why they go or don't go to a church. Some people absolutely hate churches and anything that has to do with them. I have seen people become so hurt by and upset with churches that they swear to never go back. I have also seen people who don't go to church because they don't have the time or energy, it's simply another chore for them, and obviously, there are those that don't go because they don't hold religious beliefs.

I have also seen people that go to church because it is a responsibility, something they are expected to do, or something that they grew up with and has become a habit. There are also those that are forced or coerced in some way to go to church and really don't want to be there. And, of course, there are those that go to church because they love it and want to be there to fellowship and worship.

All of this makes me wonder, what should churches be doing, what should their goal and purpose be? Should churches cater to those people who want to be there and ignore those that don't or should they reach out to try and draw in those that don't want to be there and take for granted that those that do will come regardless? Or should there be something between these two?

I have come to realize that church is a very important and essential part of my life, and as I am on staff at my church I want to try and ensure that we are doing everything that we should to ensure that we are reaching people where and how they need to be reached and not hurting or pushing people away, and I do not think that we should ever be content with or "stuck" in how we are doing things, but constantly be striving to make a difference. I also believe that church should not be a place that people merely go to. That's completely useless. It should be a place that people grow in and are changed by. In the movie "To Save A Life" there is a quote:

"What's the point of all of this if you're not gonna let this change you?"

So my question is this: What are you looking for in a church? What would make you want to go to church in the first place? What would make you want to stay at a church? What would change you if you experienced it?

God Bless!

DISCLAIMER

2010-01-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have many flaws and faults, and I always will. I post a lot of stuff on here that could be classified as "sermons" or Bible Studies. They are truths that I have learned and am learning, but they are not my truths. They are God's truths, and they are relevant to anyone and everyone reading them, including me. Please never assume that I write with any intention other than sharing the amazing truths of God, many of which I am still learning and grasping myself. Do not judge the truth or power of the truth based on my imperfections. This blog is called SADness & Truth, and these are contrasting elements. The Truth reveals how sad the SADness is and the SADness reveals how incredibly amazing the Truth is!

God Bless!

Sadness: How can you help?

2010-01-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

For the last several months the SADness part of this has been a story from my life a childhood, and that will continue, but for this month I wanted to look at a different kind of sadness. The world that we live in today is filled with sadness and sorrow. It is easy to see that when something major happens, like the earthquake in Haiti last week. It seems that when there is some major catastrophe in he world everyone's eyes are opened for a minute to see the help that so many need, but once the need is out of the news, off CNN and Facebook, and no longer a trending topic on Twtter we forget about it, but that doesn't mean it's gone. There are people all and us everyday that desperately need our help, and yes, they are in Africa and Haiti and other places like that, but they are also here in Albuquerque, in your neighborhood, at your school or work.

How many of you walk by, talk to, or interact with in some way, people everyday who do not have enough money to pay their bills, who do not have any food to feed their children or themselves, who are living on the street, or who have any of an assortment of other needs, physical, emotional, or spiritual? They are all around us, and often, as people, and even as Christians, we seem to put on blinders, we look directly in front of us and refuse to see the need surrounding us. Either we don't want to believe there are people who have needs, it is upsetting for us to see it so we look away, or we simply do not want to have to sacrifice our time, money, emotional investment to help someone out, especially someone we don't know.

So here is the challenge. As the recent earthquake has opened everyone's eyes to hurting and needy people around the world, keep your eyes opened. Be aware of people you see throughout the day who could use a little help. Be willing to make a sacrifice to show God's love to someone. I asked everyone in X-session this week, "What can you do to help someone else?" And, I ask you the same thing.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." - Luke 12:23

God Bless!