Romans 12: 1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I
plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you*.
Let them be a living and Holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable*. This
is truly the way to worship Him*.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
I've found my way to study...
For years I've not really known how to study the bible, finally I've found it. It suits me beings that it's highly analytical and I hope to glean as much as possible from the bible now. So here's what I've done thus far...
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Loneliness
So lately God's shown me that it's alright to start praying for a
wife... Which is actually a really hard concept for me. I have a hard time
praying for God to give me anything, though I know many, many, many people pray
that God show them their future spouse. So I know it shouldn't be such a
difficult thing for me to do, but it is.
Recently I spent a
couple weeks alone in Moab, UT. I needed some time to get away from life and
spend a good chunk of time alone in virtual isolation. I discovered Moab as a
mountain biking mecca and God even showed me that that was the correct thing to
do (What's the likelihood of asking God whether going biking in Moab for a
couple weeks was the right thing to do then immediately reading the words
Benjamin, Moab, and Jeremiah--the name of my bike--on the same page of the
bible?). So I went.
Essentially I drove
to Moab, camped out, woke up in the morning, ate breakfast while staring at the
amazing La Sal mountains, spent a couple hours journaling, went biking all day,
came back, ate supper while staring at the mountains again, then slept and
repeated. For two weeks.
It was insanely
freeing, definitely the best biking I've ever done, and some of the best alone
time I can imagine. Essentially I was in isolation for two weeks.
Yet while I knew I
needed renewal and could easily get overwhelmed by the awesomeness of biking in
Utah, I knew God brought me there for a reason: I needed to learn something.
After 10 days of
being alone in the desert, I suddenly could feel it. I became the most lonely
I've ever been. I began praying for God to give me strength to finish the trip
without going crazy from loneliness—but my losing strength was God's plan.
Everyone needs their strength to fail at some point to realize they've been
hard-headed. I'd been trying to make it on my own for too long. I didn't think
I really needed anything or anyone. Obviously this isn't true. God made people
to love.
After fighting my loneliness for a while, I finally realized this
was my lesson. It’s pretty obvious when, at the height of your pained praying
you get the message “It’s no good to be alone.” And by “at the height” I mean
instantly after a specific prayer, that Brandon Heath song pops on. Not only
that, but after praying this, the chorus came on to tell me “it’s no good to be
alone.” So I finally got the message. Course I didn’t exactly give in easily, I’m
just too stubborn. It took another random song after that along with a couple
more specifically answered prayers for me to realize that maybe God actually wants me to pray for a wife…
One way or another, I’ve started.
However, as one of my brothers has often told me, he realized when
he started praying for his wife, as he prayed for a woman that was loyal,
faithful, etc, he needed to embody the qualities a woman would also pray for.
So I’ve also been especially introspective lately—yes for those of
you that know me well, I’ve become even MORE introspective.
The primary reason I mention this is because I’ve been working a
lot on regaining the faith I once had. Not to say that I’ve lost faith, it’s
simply gotten stale and stagnated.
But God always helps when you ask.
I realized a
couple weeks ago that my faith has always been the strongest when I’m also
reading any sort of Christian based book—fiction or non-fiction. And since
sometime in the spring, I’ve been thinking I should re-read the Left Behind
series, so about a week and a half ago I finally started again. The first week
I only read it for an hour or so at a time… but suddenly last Thursday I got
majorly into it and read for hours and hours late into the night. Obviously
this has been what I needed.
Even on duty today I read the second book for those four hours.
Right at the end of the book Buck and Cloe were exchanging their “I
love you’s” and I’m not ashamed to say I was struck jealous. And right then I
hear the words “I’m on my way back home…” Immediately my mind goes to the
reminder that I need to get my faith to return to “home.” I need to return home
to God… And then I look at what the song is… “Lonely People.”
Some messages are almost too overwhelming.
I know I should have patience because if God put it in my heart to
pray for a wife, He’s going to allow it to happen. I just wish it would happen
sooner rather than later.
Suddenly my mind just returned to the thought I’ve had as my
banner on my phone since I can remember… “God Provides.”
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Too many thoughts...
I am yet again ashamed.
A thought passed through which led me to Matthew 3:4 which simply says, "Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey."
Now get this picture in your head. John, one of the great people of the New Testament, lived in the desert preaching. He was a rather scraggly guy from living in the desert, he apparently had nothing to even clothe himself with asside from what was in the desert, aka camels. So he made hiimself a garment to cover himself with camel's hair and a belt. And it says "his food was locusts and wild honey," not to be confused with say, that he ATE locusts and wild honey. The difference lies in the continuity. He didn't eat them once or twice, that's simply WHAT he ate, period. Could you survive by CHOOSING to live in the desert and only eat locusts and wild honey? I mean really, would you EVER eat essentially, very large grasshoppers? And what else? Oh, honey. Not only that, but wild honey. And where does honey come from? Bees. Lots and lots of bees. And John certainly didn't have any fancy net to drape over his head and thick clothes to keep from getting stung. He wore as they say, A garment of camel's hair. Not exactly sufficient to keep the bees out. So half his diet came from a rather hazardous task of retrieving honey from bees.
Now also, many say that John had dreadlocks. Kind of a weird thing, but yes. Dreadlocks are what happens to hair when it's left uncared for for a LONG period of time. So we've got this crazy dude with dreads living in the desert, eating bugs and stealing from bees and wearing some form of clothing made of camel's hair.
This is what it means to follow Christ. This guy didn't even HAVE Christ to follow! He was preparing the Way.
Would you eat bugs and get stung by bees and live in a desert for Christ? The next time you look in the mirror picture this scraggly, disgusting, content, hopeful saint. What did he have that you don't? How was this man content in the desert with nothing? Why do we still seek contentment in other things? Lord give us John's fiery passion for You.
A thought passed through which led me to Matthew 3:4 which simply says, "Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey."
Now get this picture in your head. John, one of the great people of the New Testament, lived in the desert preaching. He was a rather scraggly guy from living in the desert, he apparently had nothing to even clothe himself with asside from what was in the desert, aka camels. So he made hiimself a garment to cover himself with camel's hair and a belt. And it says "his food was locusts and wild honey," not to be confused with say, that he ATE locusts and wild honey. The difference lies in the continuity. He didn't eat them once or twice, that's simply WHAT he ate, period. Could you survive by CHOOSING to live in the desert and only eat locusts and wild honey? I mean really, would you EVER eat essentially, very large grasshoppers? And what else? Oh, honey. Not only that, but wild honey. And where does honey come from? Bees. Lots and lots of bees. And John certainly didn't have any fancy net to drape over his head and thick clothes to keep from getting stung. He wore as they say, A garment of camel's hair. Not exactly sufficient to keep the bees out. So half his diet came from a rather hazardous task of retrieving honey from bees.
Now also, many say that John had dreadlocks. Kind of a weird thing, but yes. Dreadlocks are what happens to hair when it's left uncared for for a LONG period of time. So we've got this crazy dude with dreads living in the desert, eating bugs and stealing from bees and wearing some form of clothing made of camel's hair.
This is what it means to follow Christ. This guy didn't even HAVE Christ to follow! He was preparing the Way.
Would you eat bugs and get stung by bees and live in a desert for Christ? The next time you look in the mirror picture this scraggly, disgusting, content, hopeful saint. What did he have that you don't? How was this man content in the desert with nothing? Why do we still seek contentment in other things? Lord give us John's fiery passion for You.
Passage of the (whatever time period)
1 Corinthians 13:1-2
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be
nothing
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be
nothing
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ben Vs. God
Soooo...... been awhile. Just decided that this guy needs to restart blogging.
Seems fitting that this blog seems to be restarting as I finally make it past Africa. Such an odd thing... The space between my last blog and now seems to have just been emptiness. Right up till last week, I've simply been struggling with making it past Africa and, as God's told me, to "give up the dream of Africa" (His words, not mine). And finally this last week I think I gave up fighting Him with that. Painful, but I need to. He may or may not bring it back in my life, but for now, obviously He doesn't want it to be. So yeah. I'm no longer going to dream of running off to Africa, at least that's the idea. What truly is life about anyways? Is it about going to Africa, aka doing what I want to do, or following God's will? Despite what I'd thought, it's very likely that what started as following God's will and even loving what I was told, turned into simply wanting to do what I wanted to do. BUT, I'm finally coming to terms with this at last. I don't know as that it's been difficult giving up my dream of Africa so much as simply having to give up a dream to be replaced with nothing: giving up my ultimate direction. Though, one logically knows that following God's will is one's general purpose, as a human being, it's difficult to live without specific purpose.
Last week I was "randomly" given a passage which has at last encouraged me enough to do what I've been told, or at least start to:
Isaiah 43:18-19
"But forget all that--it is NOTHING compared to what I Am going to do! For I am about to do a BRAND-NEW thing! See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come Home. I will create rivers in the desert."
At last, I've been given a brand-new thing. Though I do not yet see it, He's giving me a pathway: I will be satiated within my desert at last.
Seems fitting that this blog seems to be restarting as I finally make it past Africa. Such an odd thing... The space between my last blog and now seems to have just been emptiness. Right up till last week, I've simply been struggling with making it past Africa and, as God's told me, to "give up the dream of Africa" (His words, not mine). And finally this last week I think I gave up fighting Him with that. Painful, but I need to. He may or may not bring it back in my life, but for now, obviously He doesn't want it to be. So yeah. I'm no longer going to dream of running off to Africa, at least that's the idea. What truly is life about anyways? Is it about going to Africa, aka doing what I want to do, or following God's will? Despite what I'd thought, it's very likely that what started as following God's will and even loving what I was told, turned into simply wanting to do what I wanted to do. BUT, I'm finally coming to terms with this at last. I don't know as that it's been difficult giving up my dream of Africa so much as simply having to give up a dream to be replaced with nothing: giving up my ultimate direction. Though, one logically knows that following God's will is one's general purpose, as a human being, it's difficult to live without specific purpose.
Last week I was "randomly" given a passage which has at last encouraged me enough to do what I've been told, or at least start to:
Isaiah 43:18-19
"But forget all that--it is NOTHING compared to what I Am going to do! For I am about to do a BRAND-NEW thing! See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come Home. I will create rivers in the desert."
At last, I've been given a brand-new thing. Though I do not yet see it, He's giving me a pathway: I will be satiated within my desert at last.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Post-post-trip
Hello again. I don’t know how many people will actually end up reading this, but I’ve been meaning to do a final blog on my Africa trip but apparently it took moving on to my next stage of life to do…
In short, Africa was awesome. I’m sure you’ve all gotten that impression from my blogs, but I just wanted to mention that this trip was definitely the best 2 months of my life so far. So thank you SOOOO much everyone that supported me on this trip! I’ve said it so much already, but I’ve been positively OVERWHELMED with how much all around support I’ve gotten. It’s been very humbling knowing how many people I represented because of how much support ya’ll have given me. I honestly can’t say thank you enough, so THANK YOU!
Furthermore, people always ask about transitioning back to life here and all that… and honestly, it’s not been too hard, it’s just different. I certainly see things from a different perspective, but I’d like to think that just allows me to pick up the good things and leave behind the bad of BOTH cultures.
Yup. I dunno how much more there really is to say, but once again THANK YOU!
P.s. I may continue a blog of some sort on my experience here as a Christian college student trying to stay strong in a very secular college… It’s been interesting, but I LOVE Spearfish. It’s GORGEOUS!
P.p.s. THANK YOU
In short, Africa was awesome. I’m sure you’ve all gotten that impression from my blogs, but I just wanted to mention that this trip was definitely the best 2 months of my life so far. So thank you SOOOO much everyone that supported me on this trip! I’ve said it so much already, but I’ve been positively OVERWHELMED with how much all around support I’ve gotten. It’s been very humbling knowing how many people I represented because of how much support ya’ll have given me. I honestly can’t say thank you enough, so THANK YOU!
Furthermore, people always ask about transitioning back to life here and all that… and honestly, it’s not been too hard, it’s just different. I certainly see things from a different perspective, but I’d like to think that just allows me to pick up the good things and leave behind the bad of BOTH cultures.
Yup. I dunno how much more there really is to say, but once again THANK YOU!
P.s. I may continue a blog of some sort on my experience here as a Christian college student trying to stay strong in a very secular college… It’s been interesting, but I LOVE Spearfish. It’s GORGEOUS!
P.p.s. THANK YOU
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