It's finally happened! My house is officially sold.
The 15 month ordeal came to and end on Friday the 21st. We closed on our house so I am now free to chase after my heart and move to Louisiana. In LA I currently hope to get back into management in the hotel industry. This being said if I have learned anything I know that God doesn't always line his plans with your own. So I plan to try and keep an open mind so that I can freely consider other opportunities in other industries.
I would like to thank all of those whose thoughts and prayers have been with me throughout this period. It has been a year full of ups and downs and I can see many things that have changed in my life because of it. Mainly I have learned a lesson that can be summed up into one word, Faith.
Now its on to the next step....moving and job hunting, wish me luck and a prayer would be great too.
Good weekend for friends and family, Bad weekend for football.
Georgia Tech Looses, as do the Panthers, Oh Well.
Family wins by having a great weekend together.
This last weekend my family got together in Atlanta, GA to have a weekend together and go to see the Tech game. The game turned out to be one of the most atrocious games I have ever seen. However I did get to see the fam. and more importantly for me I got to see Kristin.
Not much to say about the weekend other than the fact that it was a great time of catching up, and I learned even more as to just how much I can't wait to move to Louisiana.
I believe we all agree that baptism is an essential process in the Christian faith. This past Sunday I attended church with a friend of mine. This was a small upstart church in Charlotte, but has many other campuses across the world called CityChurch. This particular week there were two baptisms, in a little kiddy pool because they had nothing else. This shows the Christian drive to complete this sacrament by whatever means possible.
The pastor of the church went on later in the service to talk about this drive. He told of a few different ways that this is done in other cultures. Some were a little far fetched but who knows if you have no other way you may need to come up with ideas like these someday.
In Afghanistan, where it is literally a death sentence to be baptised as a Christian, there have been videos coming out where 3 or 4 guys are obviously hiding in somebody's garden around an animal trough. They are intently looking around to make sure no one sees them and one will jump in and they will all cheer. This sounds pretty intense to me.
In Siberia all they have is snow and iced over lakes. They will cut a hole in the ice and lower you into the water. and pull you back out again. This could be why there is a low conversion rate there.
In parts of India where there is not much water they will dig a grave, line the bottom with white sheets. The one getting baptised will be laid in the grave and covered with another white sheet. A small amount of water will be sprinkled on top of the sheet, and it will then be whipped off of the person. The person will then climb out of the grave. This was my favorite example that was given.
To me this proves that it is not a case of how much water is used, or how it is accomplished. I believe that God is looking more at the heart, how the decision was made, and the fact that it is a public affirmation of faith. This is what the Bible talks about, remember all of the passages, where it says that Jesus knew what they were truly thinking because he could read what was in their heart.
Here is the second part of the message. Keep the same energy of faith that you had right after you gave your life to Christ. This video shows a great example of that energy.
This is my first attempt at a blog post, I hope you enjoy it and maybe find some insight to me and my thoughts. Let me know what you think.
Yesterday I got to fly with my friend and longtime student, Bob Altizer. Bob is a wonderful man of God and a great friend who always seems to have some insight. We hadn't flown together in quite a while and I was happy to hear that he was chosen to attend a John Eldredge conference a couple of weeks ago. For those who haven't read his book Wild at Heart I highly recommend it whether or not you are male or female.
Bob told me something that he took away from the conference and it really struck a tone with me. He said that you have to get away from living a "sin management" lifestyle. In other words you must stop admonishing yourself for your sins and accept the fact that you have faults and move on with your life. Now don't get me wrong I am not saying to sin and not be sorry, exactly the opposite. You must ask forgiveness and forget it. That's what God does. The Bible says that if you repent that you will be forgiven and your slate wiped clean. Notice the word, repent. To me this means to admit, forget, but strive to not partake again. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but you must try. We can't live a perfect life and God knows this. That's the whole reason he sent Jesus to us, isn't it.
This hit me head on. It is exactly what I have been doing, living a "sin management" life. Thinking that God is mad at me for something and that I must watch myself so hard that the biggest disappointment is that God has is watching me be so worried that I am not doing what he put me on this earth for: to live a life and enjoy it. I can't imagine what it would be like to stand before Jesus and not be able to tell him of the joys I have had in life because I was too busy tip-toeing through life, and couldn't actually enjoy it.
I think he would tell me that I really didn't understand the 3 servants and the Talents. That it can be applied to life as well as money or faith. That we have all been given the gift of life and that God expects us to invest it in a worth while manner. He gave us the passions and skills that we have, for a reason. He wants us to use them and find Joy in him and life.
