Why It Matters

I wasn't satisfied with my last post. I felt that it didn't convey what I wanted it to. In response, I felt a follow-up would be in order. I want to briefly explain why it even matters.

God created everything. The creation story can be found in the book of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. God creates man in His image. Perfect. However, God gave man freewill to either love and obey, or sin and reject. Man chose to sin.

We, every last one of us, has sinned. We all sin frequently, if we're honest with ourselves. Therefore, we all need a Saviour to come restore us to our Creator God. We cannot do this alone. No one can live perfectly, that is, without sinning, which creates a schism between God , who loves and cares for His creation, and mankind. God is just, and must punish sins, so He sent His Son, who is really a part of Him, to the earth. His Son is Jesus, the Christ. Jesus came into this world, born of a virgin, and He did what no one else could: He lived a sinless life. He lived perfectly and He died for sinners. God poured out His wrath on Jesus, who takes the place of sinners when it's time for Judgement. 

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:22-26

Christ offers more than just the forgiveness of sins. A lot more. He offers us eternal life. If we give our lives to God and follow Him, though we will die, we will live forever in His kingdom. We will experience the fullness of life, how it was supposed to be. On that day there will be no more suffering, pain, or death. All will be made new and perfect.  This is what Christ offers everyone. All we have to do is accept Him.

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."-  John 5:24

There are, however, consequences for sin. The wages of sin is death. Outside of Christ there is only death. Instead of being raised to eternal life in the Spirit, those who harden their hearts to Christ experience death in it's truest sense. Much like eternal life is often referred to as heaven, eternal condemnation is often referred to as hell. It is described as a place of fire and gnashing of teeth. It is pain and it is suffering. 

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."  - Mark 16:16

That's why it matters. There's more than this life. So much more. 

What we do on this earth right now matters. Not only for ourselves, but for others. 

~So

Don't Make My Mistakes

It's Memorial Day, so what would be more appropriate than a memorial blog? This isn't going to be easy for me to write, so it may seem mediocre compared to my typical postings, but we'll see.

I believe that there are valuable lessons to be learned from every situation in life. Or death.

My friend Rachel died this past January. She had rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of cancer. She and I were really close in junior high, but after I got expelled, we didn't talk as much. It was September of 2007 when she was diagnosed. It's funny, your natural reaction to hearing that someone has cancer is to think that they could die, but I never would have thought in a million years that I'd be standing over Rachel's grave. She was only 17.

Rachel died pretty suddenly. She was responding well to treatment, and I grew less and less worried about her all the time. When I left for Germany on January 1st, she was fine. I got back on the 10th or the 11th, and heard that she was having a hard time with treatment, and that she wasn't doing well. I attempted to contact her that week, but couldn't get ahold of her. She died the 18th. 

I couldn't believe it. It happened so fast. She was gone. My biggest regret throughout this whole situation is that I didn't see or talk to her more, and that when I did, I didn't really bring up God. I said I was praying for her, but that's about it. Now, it's not my place to judge a person's salvation, but I knew Rachel wasn't living in the manner of a Christian. Maybe she was just having a rough spot in her faith, I don't know. What I do know is that I never confronted her. I never made the effort to get out of my comfort zone to talk to her about the only thing that really matters.

Basically, what I hoped to get out of this post is to encourage believers to share their faith with people. You never know what will happen. Life is short, and anyone can die at any moment. Don't wait until it's too late to confront someone. You'll hate your life. It won't be easy, but if you call yourself someone's friend, and don't confront them when they aren't living the way they should be, what kind of friend are you really? There are people in your life who may call themselves Christians, but don't act like it. Confront them. There are those who openly deny God. Confront them.

And by "confront" I'd like to qualify that I mean it in the most gentle and sensitive way possible. It doesn't have to be an intervention. Just talk to the person openly. Be humble and caring. Tell them of the hope you have, and explain why all people need this hope. Don't let yourself be put into the position I'm in: standing above a grave, wondering why you didn't share with her, and if she truly knew Christ. 

Take example from the Ezekiel 33. We are all watchmen. Why would you not warn others? Why would you not give them hope and everlasting life?

~So

We Can All Learn From Communists

Karl Marx once said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses."

And, believe it or not, I agree.

What Marx meant by this is that religion is something people look to to make themselves feel better. They have a religion to comfort themselves when someone dies or something goes wrong. Religion is a way of lying to make oneself feel good about his choices, past, and future.

Most Christians find this quote offensive. "Religion is truth" they say. Not true.

Religion isn't what's important. Faith is what really matters. Anyone can label themselves with a religion, such as Christianity, but faith is the important part. You can call yourself a Christian, but if you don't have faith that Jesus is the Christ, Son of God, and all that that implies, it doesn't really mean anything. Many people turn to Christianity, but do not really believe these things. They want the label for one reason or another. The label doesn't matter. Catholic, Presbyterian, Non-Denominational, whatever. What matters is being part of the Body of Christ.

I could start calling myself a genius, but that wouldn't make it true. I could say my hair is blonde, but that doesn't change the reality. Truth and Faith come only from Christ Jesus, and our relationship and response to Him are what actually matters.

Don't let religion be your opiate. Make sure you really believe what you claim, then take action and live your life for your real beliefs. To call yourself a Christian and not be changed isn't Truth, and it is not honouring to God.

~So

Why Ethiopia Has a Whole New Meaning for Me

Today, I just want to share with you all a short story. Actually, the story is quite long, but the fact of the matter is I've not left this seat since six o' clock because I've been working on my big senior paper. (I'm done!!!)

Today, my dear friends, the Semlows, left for Ethiopia. They're finally going to get the three beautiful children that they're adopting. They've been on this journey for over a year now, and it's been a roller coaster! There have been numerous occasions where they were on the verge of traveling to get these kids, but something's gotten in the way. It's been hard. Really hard.

Today, however, is God's time for them to travel. One thing I've learned the past two years is that God's timing is perfect. More perfect than we can ever imagine. I won't get into it much tonight for the aforementioned reason, but I want you all to know that. 

GOD'S TIMING IS PERFECT. ALWAYS.

Tonight, I praise God for his faithfulness and timing.  I hope that if there's anything you get out of this blog, it's that God is faithful, and his timing is perfect. Always.

I have so many stories to share with you about these topics.

Please just think about that for a while until I have time to write more elaborately. 

~So

Are We That Blind?

  I felt compelled to write this one day, so I did and stuck it in a note on my facebook. It got a lot of positive feedback. I hope it challenges you to love one another.

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." - 1 John 4:19-21

The other day, I was in the passenger seat of our car running errands with my mom. We were at the stoplight on Airport and G.E. going west, and I happened to look out my window. In the car next to me was a teenage girl and her mom. They were both upset. I tried not to look, but I couldn't help it. The girl was close to my age, maybe 15 to 18 years old. She was crying. Hard. The mom was more angry than upset. She rolled her eyes and shook her head a lot. The girl was a gorgeous blonde; I bet she could pull off a fake smile really well, and no one would ever know. She tried to wipe her tears on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. It was raining. 
I wanted to go over to her and hug her; let her know that I love her, even though I don't know her. Her mother said something that really hurt her, I could read her lips as she said, "I know, okay?" I thought of all the times in my life I'd said the exact same thing. How many times my own mother or someone else I cared about had said something blatant and hurtful to me where the only answer I could muster was, "I know." There is so much meaning in those little words. 
I didn't know what the fight was about, I didn't even know if it was a fight at all. It sure looked like one. Perhaps she had gotten caught drinking. Maybe her grandfather died, or her boyfriend broke up with her. She could have gotten pregnant. She could have gotten raped. Dozens of possibilities popped into my head. Maybe her friend had cancer. Maybe her parents were getting divorced. The amazing thing was that it didn't matter. It didn't matter what happened; what mattered was that she was upset. She was hurting. Deeply. The source of the pain could have seemed small or large depending on who was looking at it, but that didn't change the fact that she was hurting. She felt pain and it was real.
How many times a day do we see someone without even thinking about what could be going on in his or her life? How many times do we walk right past someone without realizing that that person is a child of God? Do we even realize when people are quieter than usual? Do we connect people's actions with their emotions? Sure, we're busy, but no one is too busy to notice when someone else is hurting. People are hurting everywhere every day. We don't see when people are upset because we don't want to; if we're honest without ourselves, we don't really care. We think, "Oh, he's fine." or, "She just wants attention." How do we know? He could be suicidal, and she could be abused. We don't know because we don't try to find out, and we don't try to find out because we don't really care. We're so self-absorbed that we don't even consider other people's problems. 
People are reaching out for help and love all the time, even, if not especially, the ones who reject it. People may seem like they don't want to talk or want help, but a lot of the time, they really just want to know that someone cares. It's not hard to show someone that you care, really. It doesn't take a lot, so why don't we love people the way that we should? People will try to hide their pain, but what they need is someone to love them. What if you were that person who's hurting? Wouldn't you want someone to help and love you? Many times we forget that people are all children of God and are longing to belong. We forget that the pain is real. We ignore it. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away, it makes it worse. 
I could throw all kinds of statistics at you, like every 1 in 4 people has been abused, or 60% of people polled have admitted to trying to kill themselves at one time, but would they really do any good? People aren't statistics. People are real, and so is the pain they feel. You don't know what a person has gone through, or what they're going through right now, and the fact of the matter is that you might never know. You'll never know because most of the time you don't care. People are crying out for deliverance and love. How long will we ignore them?

"Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." -Unknown

~So