A Struggle.

Things are great. I have the best friend/brother in the world. I have the best family of Christians in the world. I have an amazing collection of books. I go to an amazing school full of amazing people. I have 2 amazing little sisters. I have an amazing aunt who is there for me 24/7. I have an incredible MacBook Pro. I have a ton of DVD's. I have a cool phone. I have a place to sleep at night. I have nice clothes. I live in an amazing country. I have God's Word. God's Son died for me. I am alive.

And I take every single one of these things for granted every day.



How often do we thank God for the things that He has given to us? How often do I? Not enough. How often do you? Only you and God can know that. But I ask you (along with myself), why do we fail to thank Him for everything that he so graciously gives us? The Bible says that God knows how to give good gifts. In fact, Jesus says that we humans know how to give good gifts. And we are evil. So, how much more amazing are the gifts that our Heavenly Father gives us than the ones we give? I am so ashamed with myself when I stop to think about this. I mean, I have caught myself praying to God over and over for something really important, and when I get what I asked for..I fail to thank Him. How must He feel? What if you were to give me something right now, that you put your whole heart into and I just failed to acknowledge the fact that you gave it to me? How hurt would you be? Well kids, that's exactly how God feels. I know it sounds like I'm being preachy right now, and that's because I am. But I am preaching to myself. This is something that I struggle with.

Here's one. How often do we truly thank God for sending His Son to die for us? Sure, we put it at the end of our prayers like we do "amen". But when was the last time you truly, from the bottom of your heart, thanked God for sending His son, blameless and beautiful, to preach to us, give us the New Covenant, and to die for us? When was the last time I did? I couldn't tell you. But you can be guaranteed that's what I am doing this very instant as I write this, and I hope you do the same.

 Jesus. Do you know what His name means? It's the same name as Joshua. It means "Yahweh saves". Yahweh. Saves. Yahweh being the proper name of God. What an amazing thought. And Jesus..Ἰησοῦς..יְהוֹשֻׁעַ..came to this earth to die for me. For you. Died the most brutal and humiliating death anyone at the time could have endured. Died so that our sins that were separating us from God could be put on that cross and done away with. I'm not here to upset anyone with the graphic nature of what I'm saying, rather I want to call our attention to what God gave us and how we (me included) overlook this beautiful and amazing sacrifice that was given to us, freely!

And yes. Our sins have now been taken away from us. The old law has been fulfilled. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." [Colossians 2:13-15] Wow. Let those words just sink in. Our sin was taken away. The curtain has been torn in two. Now there's an interesting thought: the curtain. I never really understood this until a couple of years ago. The curtain that was torn was the curtain that was separating the Holy of Holies (the inner chamber of the Temple where God made contact with His people) from the rest of the Temple. This means that when Jesus died and took on our sins, that God, being restrained to that small room in the Holy of Holies was now able to live in a new Temple. Us. Pretty amazing stuff. Again I ask you. When was the last time you thanked God for sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins?


Guys..let's be more thankful. And rather than talking about how bad our day was, or how frustrating life is, or slandering one another, let's thank God for giving us a day, for blessing us with a life, and for putting wonderful and beautiful people in our lives! Thank God for everything He's done in your life and everything He's blessed you with! Tell the ones you love that you do indeed love them, and pray for them and tell them your praying for them and thank them for everything that they have done for you! And thank God for putting them in your life! And let them know that you are thanking God for them! It really does mean a lot when you hear this from someone you love. Let's be more thankful. This is something that I am definitely going to be working on. I hope you'll do the same.

Thank you for the cross Lord!
Thank you for the price You paid!
Bearing all my sin and shame,
In love You came
And gave amazing grace.
Thank you for this love Lord!
Thank you for the nail pierced hands!
Washed me in Your cleansing flow,
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace!

Worthy is the Lamb!
Seated on the throne.
Crown You now with many crowns!
You reign victorious!
High and lifted up,
Jesus Son of God.
The Darling of Heaven crucified,
Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthy is the Lamb!

 

A Lesson I Need to Learn; A Sermon I Preach to Myself

How often do we find ourselves in situations that are not exactly what we would have chosen? And how often do we complain about those situations to our friends and family? I suppose the better question would be, how much do we LOVE complaining about our situations to our friends and family? If you're anything like me..you probably complain and whine about how bad life is a lot. But how often do we fall to our knees and bring it before our Father in heaven through prayer? If you're anything like me, not enough.

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

We love to sing these words during worship. Yet how many times do we heed the words being sung by us and by our brothers and sisters around us? Yes. Things may be rough. Situations may be dire. But things aren't as bad as they seem. Christ has overcome the world! Whatever the situation may be, it will resolve itself! God promises us that! So, if we believe that, why do we still complain as if things couldn't get any worse?

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

We take out our frustration at the world on our loved ones. We treat them like they are the cause of our pain and our struggles. When what we need to do, is to step back and realize that maybe they are there for our help. They are there to help us. God has put them in our life to help us carry our burden. But instead of humbly accepting the help, we spit in their face. And we complain about how hard our life is. And we talk about how life isn't fair. What, I ask, is not fair about the life we have? The life that God Himself gave us. The Lord giveth and taketh away, yet I will say, BLESSED be Your Name. Things are tough. When a soldier is given an order, do you think that he complains about it? Or if he is in the middle of the unforgiving desert that he talks to his fellow soldiers about how terrible it is for him to be there? Absolutely not! Because his fellow soldier is right there in the same desert. We are soldiers of Christ, called to action. We are at war. Things are never going to be easy. The sonner we learn to accept this fact and move on, the better.

Yet there is hope!

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Yes, of course we are at war, but we are in a war that has already been won! We know the outcome! We know where we are headed, and what Christ has prepared for us! Sure things are hard, but rejoice!! Paul says in his letter to the Romans that "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be reveal in us." [Romans 8:18] Be encouraged, fellow soldiers in Christ! Yes! Things are hard, but just think of the reward! Eternity in heaven! Think about that for a minute.





No really THINK about it.




Eternity.




In heaven.





Amazing isn't it? Well, at least it is for me. Forever with the people that I love the most, and most importantly, with our Father. So..what are we really gaining by telling our neighbor how bad our life is? Or by even THINKING about how bad our life is! What have we gained? Well. We have discouraged whoever it is we told, and we have also discouraged ourselves. Rather than talking about how terrible things are, why not just say how amazing our life is? We are going to heaven, kids. Heaven.


No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

My life is amazing. I am going to heaven. I am loved by my Father, and I love you. My life is amazing.

Some Things I Have Been Thinking About.

If you know me at all, you will know that I am a follower of Christ. And I am proud of it. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. And yet...the past year has been exceptionally difficult for me. I dealt with many things that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. And in the midst of it all, I am ashamed to say that instead of growing closer to God, I fell away. I stopped praying, I stopped reading the Word, and I even began to doubt God's existence. I was NEVER an atheist, and I never doubted God to the point of rejecting Him.

Or had I?

I mean...God is supposed to be my anchor. The one I cling to in the storm. And I know, I KNOW that He will get me through anything. So what had happened? Was it because of school? I was very busy. Was it because I was dealing with so much? Because I was. Was it all of these things? Of course I would tell my best friend that over and over. I had told him that my faith was weak because of all the terrible things I was having to go through. I was trying to convince myself more so than him. Honestly...it should never have mattered what I was going through. I should never have lost sight of who was holding me in the dark. Who was giving me shelter against the storm under His wings. Yet..why had I focused on the storm rather than on the loving grip He had me in? He was whispering to me that everything was ok. Yet here I was...kicking and screaming about the rain and wind in my face. I was wondering why I was getting wet and tossed by the sea..when all I had to do was step back and see that He had me all along. I was crying out to my best friend that things were so hard...he did his absolute best to understand, but how could he? He understood that his Father also had him in His arms. Sometimes we just need to stop focusing on the storm, and focus on the one who has us in His grip whispering to us the whole time that everything is going to be ok. Everything is going to be ok. 

God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
 though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.
                         Selah

 The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
                         Selah

  “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”   The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
                         Selah

-From Psalm 46

 It took me several months until I came to my senses. When I did, I broke down in tears and cried for a good 15 minutes. Sometimes tears are the best healers. After I came to this realization, I was ready to move forward. And that is where I am now. Moving forward. I know that He has me. That everything will be ok. There may be a storm going on around me, but God is in control. And I have no excuse for falling away again. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes and says so beautifully that "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." [1 Corinthians 10:13] So according to this, I now have no excuse. Whatever life throws at me, I know that I will be able to overcome it. I am no longer a slave to sin or this world. And if I fall, it is because of my own weakness. But I know that if I do, that Jesus will be right there, waiting for me to come back to Him again. 

Hide me now, 

Under your wings. 

Cover me 

Within Your mighty hands.
 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar, 

I will soar with You, above the storm! 

Father, You are king over the flood. 

I will be still and know You are God!
 

Find rest my soul, in Christ alone. 

Know His power, in quietness and trust.

Some things I am currently obsessing over! (Not for the faint of heart..Here there be terrors!)

CURRENT OBSESSION #1

 This book...this book. Wow. So..I have been a Stephen King fan since my freshman year of high school when I read Desperation. It scared me a WHOLE lot, while at the same time giving me something I had never experienced: a truly amazing work of fiction that I voluntarily read other than Harry Potter. It was also probably the first time I encountered the realm of "adult" fiction. Cussing, violence..and yes..some rather graphic scenes of the sexual nature. Now please don't get me wrong here! I DO NOT read books for those types of things. Quite honestly, it doesn't affect me. And, being a Christian, yes, it does bother me to a certain degree..but I am reading fiction. And King's stories are never propelled by sex or violence, rather his stories are propelled by his stories! So. There. A lot of rambling to get to my point...I am reading IT and it is TRULY terrifying. Never before have I read a book that has scared me so much! As I read it, even if something scary isn't happening, I feel this overwhelming sense of danger, evil and foreboding. And I love it! See, I love being scared. And this book does WONDERS for that love of mine. I literally could not go into the kitchen the other night because I was pretty sure Pennywise the Dancing Clown was going to be crouching right around the corner with a handful of balloons for me. 

(The book is about these kids who battle this evil, inter-dimensional being known only as It, and it primarily takes the form of a killer clown.) I am only about 180 pages in, and it is just SO GOOD! If you are looking for a good scare and/or a good read (not to mention a LONG read..it's a good 1000+ pages long) I STRONGLY recommend this book!

CURRENT OBSESSION #2

This guy:

Again, something entirely too creepy. But something entirely too good!! One of my best friends and I stumbled across this YouTube channel called Marble Hornets. We began to watch these strange, short videos called "Entries" that were about this college film student who suddenly stopped work on his current film project called Marble Hornets. The entries are uploaded by the student's friend and colleague. As we watch, we discover that he stopped work because he said that he could no longer deal with the conditions that he was working under. We then begin to watch with horror as he is being stalked/haunted by this faceless, long limbed entity, known as The Operator. Well..it is basically an urban legend known as The Slender Man. This man who has no face and has unnaturally long arms, stalks his victims (usually children or college age kids) and drives them insane with paranoia. Along with the occasional coughing fits and other odd symptoms. If you are looking for a good scare, along with a wonderful and ENGAGING story, go check out Marble Hornets on YouTube and begin watching with the Introduction. There are currently 44 entries, with more to come in the future. 

CURRENT OBSESSION #3

 The past two obsessions of mine are by products of this last current obsession: being scared. My friend that I discovered Marble Hornets with and I are both currently obsessed with this, and are always trying to find ways to creep each other out!! At church camp, I drew the Operator Symbol from Marble Hornets (it's that circle with the X through it) on her bunk bed without her knowing, and she FREAKED OUT! It was SO funny! (If you watch the videos, you'll understand why it scared her so much.) And as the week progressed, I began to add more. She finally discovered that it was me, and we had a huge laugh over it! Just this past weekend, I went to a lock in at her church, and she tried to scare me with a BEAUTIFUL life size cut out of Slendy. It was REALLY creepy, but looked so good!! It was ruined when someone came up to me and said they saw it in her apartment, and then someone else told me they also saw it in her apartment and in the church nursery. I confronted Janae about it and all she could do was laugh!!  She had made it in hopes that I would stumble upon it and be scared out of my mind. Wish I would have been...Oh well, c'est la vie. I did get to keep it and I plan on hanging it up in my dorm room! It really is an awesome picture! 

Well! Those are the things that I am currently obsessing over! Hope I didn't disturb anyone too bad..haha! 

 

Well! Here goes!

First, a few explanations:

1. The URL. humusicnerd. The HU stands for Harding University. Represent.

 It's a bison. We are the Bisons. It can be plural if it's proper. So SHUT UP!

  

   2. The Description. What about it?! 

     3. Me. I'm funny. And I like music. And it's late. And I'm tired. And there is a pretty good chance that I will delete this post in the morning when my temporary leave of my senses is temporarily over...(What?!)

     5. I don't really like the number four...

     6. I do really like music.

     7. I have a better best friend than you do. Unless said best friend is reading this..in which case...I'm now confused. Coulda, gooda, shoulda, woulda.

     8. I am very much a Christian. I am NOT ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

     9. Slendy is gonna get you.

     10. I'm kinda done here...what a lame first blog...