The title of this was almost "Come Strong"
Then I realized that I couldn't come if that was the case.
So I'm coming as I am to this blog- eating frito lay BBQ sunflower seeds and drinking a vanilla coke, while my wife drives us home from Lake Charles in the Tahoe. Mellowed out in "Desert Song" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
And if it wasn't for the fact that I know Josh Garmon, Daniel Shaw, Stephanie Dugard, and a FEW others; I would say that there is nothing good in central Louisiana.
Back to my title.
As much as I want my wife and the people close to me to think that I am a strong person, if I'm honest with myself- I can't think of myself as strong.
Fears, responsibilities, relationships, and the future are just a few things on a long list of things that make me feel weak just thinking about them.
I believe that we all have things that make weaklings out of us, and I also believe that the things that potentially make us weak are the things that drive us for most of our lives.
I think that I would be able to live a much more meaningful life if I ran to God in prayer and praise as soon as I start to feel weakened by stressors.
Comfort and renewed strength are things that I've felt when I've run to God in the weakest moments of my life. However, I always try to be strong myself before I take my weakness to God.
He tells us to come to Him as we are. I am certainly glad for that because I usually come to Him weak, arrogant, stubborn, and close-minded.
A friend recently challenged me to not ask God for anything in prayer, but to instead only thank God for what he has already done for me and what He will do for me.
This has revolutionized the way I spend time with God. Sometimes I can't even say anything to God because I'm so used to only asking Him for things - even things like wisdom, open doors, and to see His will. Now I thank Him for what wisdom He has given me, the opportunities that each day holds, and that He cares about what I do with my life.
I've become much more aware and thankful for where I am in life. I've also realized how ungrateful I actually am and our culture is.
I encourage you to try this.
AND
I hope that when you are weak, tired, arrogant, selfish, or whatever else you are; you will come to God just like that. Because the only requirement He has is that you Come and Believe.
He's waiting to scoop you up out of whatever it is that has your soul in a bind.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Regrets and Other Thoughts
First off, I want to apologize for the lack of transitions in this blog. This is the result of some reflecting I did on Sunday afternoon. I really just wrote what I was thinking, so it's more of a stream of consciousness than most of my other posts. Even though I do think that many of my posts have some of that feel to them.
I don't buy into the whole, "I have no regrets" idea. I do wish that I hadn't done a lot of things that I've done. Yes, the case can be made that I wouldn't be who I am today without those things. To that I say, I'd rather be someone who hasn't hurt people in the ways that I have and lead people to do things they had no business doing. I also would rather not have to live with the memories of these things.
I am thankful that Jesus stepped in to take God's punishment for me. Talk about unfair though. God erases evil without erasing people. All because of what Jesus did for humankind. The day that Jesus Christ died is the most important day in human history.
At times when I think about the way I am, my thoughts float between how I don't like the way I am and that God made me like this so there must be a reason I'm like this.
There are also sometimes when memories that I don't often think about invade my thoughts. Random things that I will not forget, but I don't necessarily know what the memories of those experiences mean. Like today in church I started thinking about Sigma Nu pledge retreat. "I will cling to the old rugged cross" made me think of clinging to the tree in the middle of the rocky island in Lake Ouachita, and how I would have rather that trip never happened. I appreciate the active member being nice to me and offering me a sip of whiskey and coke while I was being hazed, but I wish that he would have instead told me that I didn't have to do all that nonsense and it would be a lot easier if I just told the people hazing me to go drown themselves.
MAN, God really scooped me up out of that stuff.
I don't buy into the whole, "I have no regrets" idea. I do wish that I hadn't done a lot of things that I've done. Yes, the case can be made that I wouldn't be who I am today without those things. To that I say, I'd rather be someone who hasn't hurt people in the ways that I have and lead people to do things they had no business doing. I also would rather not have to live with the memories of these things.
I am thankful that Jesus stepped in to take God's punishment for me. Talk about unfair though. God erases evil without erasing people. All because of what Jesus did for humankind. The day that Jesus Christ died is the most important day in human history.
At times when I think about the way I am, my thoughts float between how I don't like the way I am and that God made me like this so there must be a reason I'm like this.
There are also sometimes when memories that I don't often think about invade my thoughts. Random things that I will not forget, but I don't necessarily know what the memories of those experiences mean. Like today in church I started thinking about Sigma Nu pledge retreat. "I will cling to the old rugged cross" made me think of clinging to the tree in the middle of the rocky island in Lake Ouachita, and how I would have rather that trip never happened. I appreciate the active member being nice to me and offering me a sip of whiskey and coke while I was being hazed, but I wish that he would have instead told me that I didn't have to do all that nonsense and it would be a lot easier if I just told the people hazing me to go drown themselves.
MAN, God really scooped me up out of that stuff.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Back like Tiger?
I haven't blogged in quite awhile.
I'm sorry
because a lot of yall told me to keep blogging.
I've been busy, and I've been lazy. I do not aim for either of those to be a habit, but I have a feeling that busy will be habitual.
Oh well.
So what's been on my mind?
Well, awhile back I was wanting to blog about pop music. So I'll give you a brief run-down of what I was thinking:
J-Lo's song "on the floor" sounds like her best attempt at her version of a Ke$ha song.
Katy Perry is crazy popular right now but she won't be remembered for long because she has zero songs that are actually about something. She just sings words, no meanings. Yes, I know all pop music can be described this way, but it seems like the artists that are remembered are the ones who had at least one song that was about something.
I started reminiscing about pop a little, and I decided that I miss the days that the charts were always full of Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado, No Doubt, Mariah Carey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and Ludacris. (may all of your radio smashes be happy in their retirement)
I know some of those artists are still found in the charts these days but not like they used to be.
Oh yeah, and Usher used to be so much better than he is now.
(random theory- the train that goes thru Ruston is the Hogwart's Express)
My wife and I went down to Mexico for our Honeymoon a week or two ago. I highly recommend all-inclusive resorts. - especially Excellence Playa Mujeres. Forgive me if I do not go into details of our honeymoon, as those are quite private.
I'll just say that my wife looked so sexy in the two new bikinis that I bought her, that I thought a few times that some people were acting like they were taking pictures of the resort's lush scenery so that they could secretly take pictures of the super-model that was laying next to the guy reading Harry Potter.
Tiger Woods played well yesterday. So people(me) actually cared about golf for a moment. The great debate of whether or not Tiger will win another Major tournament continues to rage on. People keep saying that Tiger is back, or Tiger will never be back. I don't know if he's back, but I do know that I like golf if he does well. If he's stinking it up, I'm about as interested in golf as I am following celebs on Twitter, or watching Cake Boss, or drinking motor oil.
that all for now
I'm sorry
because a lot of yall told me to keep blogging.
I've been busy, and I've been lazy. I do not aim for either of those to be a habit, but I have a feeling that busy will be habitual.
Oh well.
So what's been on my mind?
Well, awhile back I was wanting to blog about pop music. So I'll give you a brief run-down of what I was thinking:
J-Lo's song "on the floor" sounds like her best attempt at her version of a Ke$ha song.
Katy Perry is crazy popular right now but she won't be remembered for long because she has zero songs that are actually about something. She just sings words, no meanings. Yes, I know all pop music can be described this way, but it seems like the artists that are remembered are the ones who had at least one song that was about something.
I started reminiscing about pop a little, and I decided that I miss the days that the charts were always full of Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado, No Doubt, Mariah Carey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and Ludacris. (may all of your radio smashes be happy in their retirement)
I know some of those artists are still found in the charts these days but not like they used to be.
Oh yeah, and Usher used to be so much better than he is now.
(random theory- the train that goes thru Ruston is the Hogwart's Express)
My wife and I went down to Mexico for our Honeymoon a week or two ago. I highly recommend all-inclusive resorts. - especially Excellence Playa Mujeres. Forgive me if I do not go into details of our honeymoon, as those are quite private.
I'll just say that my wife looked so sexy in the two new bikinis that I bought her, that I thought a few times that some people were acting like they were taking pictures of the resort's lush scenery so that they could secretly take pictures of the super-model that was laying next to the guy reading Harry Potter.
Tiger Woods played well yesterday. So people(me) actually cared about golf for a moment. The great debate of whether or not Tiger will win another Major tournament continues to rage on. People keep saying that Tiger is back, or Tiger will never be back. I don't know if he's back, but I do know that I like golf if he does well. If he's stinking it up, I'm about as interested in golf as I am following celebs on Twitter, or watching Cake Boss, or drinking motor oil.
that all for now
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Be Loved?
You know, never does the Bible tell us to "be loved by other people."
it tells us to love the Lord and love our neighbor. In the words of one of my mentors, "love up and love out."
Man the Bible tells us that God loves us. So why are we running around looking for love from other people? We think that His love isn't enough. If we believe the Bible, then looking for love elsewhere is a contradiction.
We are supposed to be love to other people. That takes some personal sacrifice because a lot of times people are hard to love.
We are Christ's people to love. He sacrificed His life for us because He loves us, and believe me His love is way more than enough...
There was a time in my life that I really relied on the love that one particular person had for me. This person would do anything for me. It really became unhealthy because they would idolize me, and I would idolize everything that I could get out of that person.
I was really focused on manipulating the relationship so that I could gain whatever I wanted out of it, and man I looked like the happiest most fortunate dude on the block. That was just a facade though because on the real I was never satisfied --always looking for the next thing that I wanted.
The Lord ended up showing me that I was being a huge jerk. He made it clear that I needed to stop all the nonsense and get myself focused on Him only. That can sound like a noble calling or revelation, but I was anything but noble. I did not want to give in to God's will at all. It took me months to work up the courage to make this decision that would shift my life completely into an unknown place, and I was mostly scared that I would be lonely.
I remember praying over and over again for wisdom to know if I really had to stop that relationship in order to do God's will, and then I prayed for strength to go through with it. I remember pleading with God to comfort me, be there for me, and not leave me hanging in the aftermath.
He was there for everything I needed Him for and more. Man He just scooped me up, and to be honest I've never felt like He let go of me since. I know He's got me. (I've felt distant a times, but never felt let-go-of or not-loved)
After experiencing His love and being focused on only needing Him, I can firmly tell you that there is nothing else you need as far as being loved.
And He totally showed me so much grace because He blessed me with another chance with someone else who made my wildest dreams seem tame.
You see it really is true that when we mess up it's because we are living like we need God and _____(something else) to be happy, satisfied, or complete.
It's God and nothing else.
Faith that God is enough.
FAITH
OBEDIENCE
GOD.
alot of you are living with things or people that you need to give up --and you know you need to give them up, but you're scared.
i know you are because i've been there, and i was scared. I know it's not easy (i don't want to sound like a prick).
but i promise you that it's worth it to give them up. He says that whoever loses their life for Him, will find life.
lose your life and start over. it's better when it's His way.
it tells us to love the Lord and love our neighbor. In the words of one of my mentors, "love up and love out."
Man the Bible tells us that God loves us. So why are we running around looking for love from other people? We think that His love isn't enough. If we believe the Bible, then looking for love elsewhere is a contradiction.
We are supposed to be love to other people. That takes some personal sacrifice because a lot of times people are hard to love.
We are Christ's people to love. He sacrificed His life for us because He loves us, and believe me His love is way more than enough...
There was a time in my life that I really relied on the love that one particular person had for me. This person would do anything for me. It really became unhealthy because they would idolize me, and I would idolize everything that I could get out of that person.
I was really focused on manipulating the relationship so that I could gain whatever I wanted out of it, and man I looked like the happiest most fortunate dude on the block. That was just a facade though because on the real I was never satisfied --always looking for the next thing that I wanted.
The Lord ended up showing me that I was being a huge jerk. He made it clear that I needed to stop all the nonsense and get myself focused on Him only. That can sound like a noble calling or revelation, but I was anything but noble. I did not want to give in to God's will at all. It took me months to work up the courage to make this decision that would shift my life completely into an unknown place, and I was mostly scared that I would be lonely.
I remember praying over and over again for wisdom to know if I really had to stop that relationship in order to do God's will, and then I prayed for strength to go through with it. I remember pleading with God to comfort me, be there for me, and not leave me hanging in the aftermath.
He was there for everything I needed Him for and more. Man He just scooped me up, and to be honest I've never felt like He let go of me since. I know He's got me. (I've felt distant a times, but never felt let-go-of or not-loved)
After experiencing His love and being focused on only needing Him, I can firmly tell you that there is nothing else you need as far as being loved.
And He totally showed me so much grace because He blessed me with another chance with someone else who made my wildest dreams seem tame.
You see it really is true that when we mess up it's because we are living like we need God and _____(something else) to be happy, satisfied, or complete.
It's God and nothing else.
Faith that God is enough.
FAITH
OBEDIENCE
GOD.
alot of you are living with things or people that you need to give up --and you know you need to give them up, but you're scared.
i know you are because i've been there, and i was scared. I know it's not easy (i don't want to sound like a prick).
but i promise you that it's worth it to give them up. He says that whoever loses their life for Him, will find life.
lose your life and start over. it's better when it's His way.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Who am I?
My life has drastically changed over the course of 1 week. I'll give you a time line of how it went down:
Tuesday. February 22, 2011: Completed my coursework to receive a degree from Louisiana Tech in Family and Child Studies, and interviewed for a job at Dillard's.
Wednesday. February 23, 2011: Job hunted.
Thursday. February 24,2011: Met my oldest brother's girlfriend for the first time and got to see my friend Mary who came in from Juneau, AK.
Friday. February 25, 2011: Set up chairs and tables for Saturday, and went to my rehearsal dinner at Squire Creek. I spent most of Friday surrounded by my brothers, all 10 of them.
Saturday. February 26, 2011: Became the husband of Polly Thomas Pendergrass.
Sunday and Monday. February 27 and 28, 2011: HONEYMOON. new orleans. *Adult rated content*
Tuesday. March 1, 2011: Became the proud uncle of Luke Tyrus Pendergrass at 5:21pm.
This morning I was thinking about who I am in relation to other people. Here's where this train of thought lead: Who am I?
I am Andrew Mark Pendergrass.
Husband of Polly Thomas Pendergrass
Son of Tyrus Lamar Pendergrass and Patricia McKinney Pendergrass.
Son-in-law of Tom Thomas and Barbara Thomas
Grandson of Tyrus and Darlene Pendergrass and Joanne and George McKinney.
Grandson-in-law of Mom and Pop Bond and Pa Joe and Granny.
Brother of Tristan Pendergrass, Jeremy Pendergrass, Christian Dunn, Elzie Hollins, Craig Turner, Nathan Welch, Michael Plette, Steele Shippy, Tyler Wallace, and Matthew Cassity. (and yes, we all look alike)
Brother-in-law of Seth, Kristen, Scott, and Phoebe Thomas, and Emery Pendergrass
Uncle of Seth Aubrey Thomas Jr. and Luke Tyrus Pendergrass.
Big Brother of Sutton Davison, Kyle Johnson, Young William Stagg, Steven Turner, Josh Garmon, Kevin Prater, Daniel Shaw, and Matt Nelson.
Body Guard of Chris Hanchey
Member (not technically) of Crossroads Church
As I type this I just got a job. So ...Employee of Squire Creek (for the third time).
Resident of 109 S. Sparta in Ruston, LA
Future resident of Juneau, Alaska and Branson, Missouri (not at the same time).
my life has truly truly been blessed by God. I would without a doubt never have been born if it were not for Him working in my Dad's life. So since I absolutely owe my very own existence to Him....
I ask the question again, Who am I?
A debtor of God?
No, my debt was paid with Jesus Christ's blood.
Who am I?
I am a Slave of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday. February 22, 2011: Completed my coursework to receive a degree from Louisiana Tech in Family and Child Studies, and interviewed for a job at Dillard's.
Wednesday. February 23, 2011: Job hunted.
Thursday. February 24,2011: Met my oldest brother's girlfriend for the first time and got to see my friend Mary who came in from Juneau, AK.
Friday. February 25, 2011: Set up chairs and tables for Saturday, and went to my rehearsal dinner at Squire Creek. I spent most of Friday surrounded by my brothers, all 10 of them.
Saturday. February 26, 2011: Became the husband of Polly Thomas Pendergrass.
Sunday and Monday. February 27 and 28, 2011: HONEYMOON. new orleans. *Adult rated content*
Tuesday. March 1, 2011: Became the proud uncle of Luke Tyrus Pendergrass at 5:21pm.
This morning I was thinking about who I am in relation to other people. Here's where this train of thought lead: Who am I?
I am Andrew Mark Pendergrass.
Husband of Polly Thomas Pendergrass
Son of Tyrus Lamar Pendergrass and Patricia McKinney Pendergrass.
Son-in-law of Tom Thomas and Barbara Thomas
Grandson of Tyrus and Darlene Pendergrass and Joanne and George McKinney.
Grandson-in-law of Mom and Pop Bond and Pa Joe and Granny.
Brother of Tristan Pendergrass, Jeremy Pendergrass, Christian Dunn, Elzie Hollins, Craig Turner, Nathan Welch, Michael Plette, Steele Shippy, Tyler Wallace, and Matthew Cassity. (and yes, we all look alike)
Brother-in-law of Seth, Kristen, Scott, and Phoebe Thomas, and Emery Pendergrass
Uncle of Seth Aubrey Thomas Jr. and Luke Tyrus Pendergrass.
Big Brother of Sutton Davison, Kyle Johnson, Young William Stagg, Steven Turner, Josh Garmon, Kevin Prater, Daniel Shaw, and Matt Nelson.
Body Guard of Chris Hanchey
Member (not technically) of Crossroads Church
As I type this I just got a job. So ...Employee of Squire Creek (for the third time).
Resident of 109 S. Sparta in Ruston, LA
Future resident of Juneau, Alaska and Branson, Missouri (not at the same time).
my life has truly truly been blessed by God. I would without a doubt never have been born if it were not for Him working in my Dad's life. So since I absolutely owe my very own existence to Him....
I ask the question again, Who am I?
A debtor of God?
No, my debt was paid with Jesus Christ's blood.
Who am I?
I am a Slave of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Bike Wreck
Today (technically yesterday because I'm posting after midnight) was my last day as a college student.
I'm not going to trip. It feels good. Really good.
I will wake up tomorrow with NOTHING hanging over my head that I have to get done for a deadline. With that in mind, journey with me as I flashback to something that happened today that caused something to physically hang over my head. Nothing epic, just an occurrence.
So I finished my last final (Parenting class) today at 1:30. I felt confident going into taking the exam. Partly because I actually studied a tad the night before rather than waiting until that morning to start studying, but mostly because I had a greasy good lunch at Popeye's (I ordered and paid for that 3 strip combo w red beans and rice, but I got that 5 strip combo with red beans).
Ate it all without even using a napkin. That takes skill people.
Ok. Lunch had nothing to do with me feeling confident, and to be honest I didn't even feel any more confident than I would any other time. I kinda just wanted to add Popeye's in to this blog.
After my test I was walking tall tho. I mounted my trusty stallion (Felt X-City hollerrrrr) outside the doors of Carson Taylor Hall (CTH on your printable class schedule) and rode out like a boss.
Now here's where it all starts to go wrong. I took an abnormal route to get home because I wanted to go around a hill and some construction. On my way into the quad, I tried to yank my front tire up on a curb so I could make the transition from road sharer to pedestrian. Well I didn't quite get my front tire up high enough so it completely stops against the curb. I normally don't ride slow, and today was no exception. So my momentum was carrying me forward at let's say 10mph.
Ok so my body is still going 10mph, but my bike is going 0mph. So naturally my body lunges forward over the handelbars, and my feet are in toe clip pedals so the back of the bike follows me.
FREEZE
See this frozen state of Andrew Mark Pendergrass. Louisiana Tech Alum with the world ahead of him. With hands stretched out in front of his body, only the front bike tire on the ground, facing the ground, sunglasses sliding off of his face, top of his backpack looking like it's stuck to the back of his head.
And just in that moment. My feet come out of the pedals and secure on the pavement, and my left hand catches my Oakleys that have flown from my face.
Saved by instincts. All the decisions that my body made to save myself from face planting on pavement at 10mph were made in fractions of a second.
So with my backpack on my head and my rear bike wheel still spinning in the air behind me. I act like nothing crazy happened, and just mount back up and ride on home.
These bodies that we have are crazy complex. We've been blessed to have highly functioning vessels to control. It's like God knew that we would unknowingly put our lives at risk, and He gave our bodies built in emergency response systems to save us from harm. Shoot, my body even reacted to catch my sunglasses. Take care of your body. Because you never know when you'll need it to take care of you.
Cars are now coming equipped with instinctive emergency response technology. Good job human race. It only took you thousands of years to create something that God created by breathing air into some arranged sand particles.
Mad props to you automobile engineers tho. Best creation mimicking God since Hair Club.
I'm not going to trip. It feels good. Really good.
I will wake up tomorrow with NOTHING hanging over my head that I have to get done for a deadline. With that in mind, journey with me as I flashback to something that happened today that caused something to physically hang over my head. Nothing epic, just an occurrence.
So I finished my last final (Parenting class) today at 1:30. I felt confident going into taking the exam. Partly because I actually studied a tad the night before rather than waiting until that morning to start studying, but mostly because I had a greasy good lunch at Popeye's (I ordered and paid for that 3 strip combo w red beans and rice, but I got that 5 strip combo with red beans).
Ate it all without even using a napkin. That takes skill people.
Ok. Lunch had nothing to do with me feeling confident, and to be honest I didn't even feel any more confident than I would any other time. I kinda just wanted to add Popeye's in to this blog.
After my test I was walking tall tho. I mounted my trusty stallion (Felt X-City hollerrrrr) outside the doors of Carson Taylor Hall (CTH on your printable class schedule) and rode out like a boss.
Now here's where it all starts to go wrong. I took an abnormal route to get home because I wanted to go around a hill and some construction. On my way into the quad, I tried to yank my front tire up on a curb so I could make the transition from road sharer to pedestrian. Well I didn't quite get my front tire up high enough so it completely stops against the curb. I normally don't ride slow, and today was no exception. So my momentum was carrying me forward at let's say 10mph.
Ok so my body is still going 10mph, but my bike is going 0mph. So naturally my body lunges forward over the handelbars, and my feet are in toe clip pedals so the back of the bike follows me.
FREEZE
See this frozen state of Andrew Mark Pendergrass. Louisiana Tech Alum with the world ahead of him. With hands stretched out in front of his body, only the front bike tire on the ground, facing the ground, sunglasses sliding off of his face, top of his backpack looking like it's stuck to the back of his head.
And just in that moment. My feet come out of the pedals and secure on the pavement, and my left hand catches my Oakleys that have flown from my face.
Saved by instincts. All the decisions that my body made to save myself from face planting on pavement at 10mph were made in fractions of a second.
So with my backpack on my head and my rear bike wheel still spinning in the air behind me. I act like nothing crazy happened, and just mount back up and ride on home.
These bodies that we have are crazy complex. We've been blessed to have highly functioning vessels to control. It's like God knew that we would unknowingly put our lives at risk, and He gave our bodies built in emergency response systems to save us from harm. Shoot, my body even reacted to catch my sunglasses. Take care of your body. Because you never know when you'll need it to take care of you.
Cars are now coming equipped with instinctive emergency response technology. Good job human race. It only took you thousands of years to create something that God created by breathing air into some arranged sand particles.
Mad props to you automobile engineers tho. Best creation mimicking God since Hair Club.
Monday, February 21, 2011
I Can't Take Back the
3.5 pages and 2 tests...
then a vast expanse of no-homeworkness will sprawl out before me.
and I will give a head nod to that expanse
and it will wave back at me and say, "Hello. welcome to your life. I've been waiting to meet you since the first day you stepped into that Kindergarten classroom at Mt. Olive Christian School in Athens."
I'll smile and offer up a snort of a laugh and say, "Sweet liberation." While I remember (with a grimace) that there was a chicken house next to Mt. Olive Christian School in Athens, and it smelled like chicken death and chicken booboo every day (which made going out to the playground for recess bittersweet to say the least).
These last 4.5 years of life that I've spent at Louisiana Tech have been very shaping for the play-dough that is my life. I say "play-dough" instead of "clay" because clay is formed in shapes that are meant to harden, while play-dough is molded and then remolded throughout its lifetime. Also, play-dough is salty. Yes, I'm going to the Bible with this one.
This is an excerpt from an instance when Jesus was surrounded by a crowd, and in an attempt to spit some wisdom to his close disciples. He retreats up a mountainside with his boys, and He just starts teaching them. These particular nuggets of knowledge are called "The Beatitudes." After, he finishes the Beatitudes is when I picture him maybe standing up with a really serious look, and like a coach giving a half-time speech. He looks his disciples in their eyes and says with a sense of urgency:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Matthew 5:13
You might be reading this, and you grew up going to church with your parents. Maybe you didn't go to church much, but you know what all this Bible stuff is generally about. Maybe, you enjoyed going to church for awhile, and then it just became dull compared to other things that you could spend your time doing. You might think that since you haven't been to church in awhile, you'd rather ignore spirituality because you'd rather do that than have to make changes and put in work to get your life right. You don't want to be salty because being salty is a responsibility. You don't want to put forth the effort to be salty.
To you I say this: I've been thrown out and trampled underfoot before. I had lost my saltiness. I didn't take seriously the responsibility I had to be salt and light to the world.
oh what? you think that sounds cheesy? Ok, I'll deal with you and your cynicism in a moment.
So I was completely irrelevant as a disciple of Christ for a long while. To be honest, being a disciple of Christ was not even a thought for me. Why? Because I cared way more about me and what I was doing/saying/wearing/listening to/driving than I cared about other people and what God could have used me to do if I was paying attention to him.
So why was that so bad?
Because I treated some people really poorly, and I was a bad influence on several people. Also, I came to realize that that long period of my life that I spent as a selfish punk, is time that I will never get back to do things for the Kingdom.
Once you begin to make a positive impact on the world, you get addicted to it. At least, I have. Please don't think that I'm being self-righteous here. I have no grounds to be self-righteous because I didn't willingly become salty. God shook the saltiness into me (like a salt shaker). At least, he shook a bunch of the unsalty things out of my life.
It is such a picture of the grace that he came to give when he takes a person who is being selfish and uses them for the Kingdom. I really didn't have a say in the matter when it happened to me. He took me from death to life.
It's like He watched me be thrown out and trampled on, and finally He couldn't take it anymore so He snatched me up and used me to get some things done for Him. That experience was so unbelievably fulfilling that I want more responsibility. I am begging to have more responsibilities to further the Kingdom.
It's safe to say that I'm passionate about my God. I think you would be too.
So now for you cynics of Christianity, and you people who read this and think condescending thoughts.
I don't give a rip about your cynicism and snarkiness.
I WILL NEVER APOLOGIZE OR TEMPER MY COMMENTS ABOUT MY FAITH IN ORDER TO KEEP YOU INTERESTED.
I encourage you to get up off the ground and stop being trampled on.
then a vast expanse of no-homeworkness will sprawl out before me.
and I will give a head nod to that expanse
and it will wave back at me and say, "Hello. welcome to your life. I've been waiting to meet you since the first day you stepped into that Kindergarten classroom at Mt. Olive Christian School in Athens."
I'll smile and offer up a snort of a laugh and say, "Sweet liberation." While I remember (with a grimace) that there was a chicken house next to Mt. Olive Christian School in Athens, and it smelled like chicken death and chicken booboo every day (which made going out to the playground for recess bittersweet to say the least).
These last 4.5 years of life that I've spent at Louisiana Tech have been very shaping for the play-dough that is my life. I say "play-dough" instead of "clay" because clay is formed in shapes that are meant to harden, while play-dough is molded and then remolded throughout its lifetime. Also, play-dough is salty. Yes, I'm going to the Bible with this one.
This is an excerpt from an instance when Jesus was surrounded by a crowd, and in an attempt to spit some wisdom to his close disciples. He retreats up a mountainside with his boys, and He just starts teaching them. These particular nuggets of knowledge are called "The Beatitudes." After, he finishes the Beatitudes is when I picture him maybe standing up with a really serious look, and like a coach giving a half-time speech. He looks his disciples in their eyes and says with a sense of urgency:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Matthew 5:13
You might be reading this, and you grew up going to church with your parents. Maybe you didn't go to church much, but you know what all this Bible stuff is generally about. Maybe, you enjoyed going to church for awhile, and then it just became dull compared to other things that you could spend your time doing. You might think that since you haven't been to church in awhile, you'd rather ignore spirituality because you'd rather do that than have to make changes and put in work to get your life right. You don't want to be salty because being salty is a responsibility. You don't want to put forth the effort to be salty.
To you I say this: I've been thrown out and trampled underfoot before. I had lost my saltiness. I didn't take seriously the responsibility I had to be salt and light to the world.
oh what? you think that sounds cheesy? Ok, I'll deal with you and your cynicism in a moment.
So I was completely irrelevant as a disciple of Christ for a long while. To be honest, being a disciple of Christ was not even a thought for me. Why? Because I cared way more about me and what I was doing/saying/wearing/listening to/driving than I cared about other people and what God could have used me to do if I was paying attention to him.
So why was that so bad?
Because I treated some people really poorly, and I was a bad influence on several people. Also, I came to realize that that long period of my life that I spent as a selfish punk, is time that I will never get back to do things for the Kingdom.
Once you begin to make a positive impact on the world, you get addicted to it. At least, I have. Please don't think that I'm being self-righteous here. I have no grounds to be self-righteous because I didn't willingly become salty. God shook the saltiness into me (like a salt shaker). At least, he shook a bunch of the unsalty things out of my life.
It is such a picture of the grace that he came to give when he takes a person who is being selfish and uses them for the Kingdom. I really didn't have a say in the matter when it happened to me. He took me from death to life.
It's like He watched me be thrown out and trampled on, and finally He couldn't take it anymore so He snatched me up and used me to get some things done for Him. That experience was so unbelievably fulfilling that I want more responsibility. I am begging to have more responsibilities to further the Kingdom.
It's safe to say that I'm passionate about my God. I think you would be too.
So now for you cynics of Christianity, and you people who read this and think condescending thoughts.
I don't give a rip about your cynicism and snarkiness.
I WILL NEVER APOLOGIZE OR TEMPER MY COMMENTS ABOUT MY FAITH IN ORDER TO KEEP YOU INTERESTED.
I encourage you to get up off the ground and stop being trampled on.
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