A couple of things to remember

As I was reading in Hebrews chapter 13 this morning there were a couple of things that really stuck out to me. The passage was titled "Concluding Exhortations," and there were bits and pieces out of that scripture that stuck out to me and I felt led to encourage you with.

There are 8 little bits of instruction/reminders that I pulled out of Hebrews 13 and I am going to touch on all 8.

1. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters

No matter what the circumstances are we should always keep on loving each other. The greatest commandment is to love one another and that is what pleases God. When things are going well, love one another, when things aren't, love one another. Love all the time. One thing that I have found is that when you love, it becomes contagious. When I see people loving on other people, it makes me want to love on other people.

2. Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers

This can be a little difficult. Sometimes it is easy to just blow off strangers because they're different than we are. But have you have tried being hospitable towards someone you don't know? Or look at it this way, has a stranger ever showed you hospitality? I think of the mission trips I have been on. Whatever country I have been in, strangers from that country have willingly invited me into their homes. It's just how life is for them. I don't know why that is such a difficult concept to accept in America, but when hospitality is shown towards strangers, amazing things can happen. I think that we automatically assume that strangers are totally different than us and we don't want anything to do with them. Well I will tell you this, there is no such thing as a stranger. We are all children of God.

3. Remember those who are in prison

Now this one is a little difficult for me to expand on. I can't say that I know many people who are in prison, but when you think about it, there are hundred and thousands of prisoners all over the world. We can't just forget about them and think that they are irrelevant to everything. Sure, some prisoners have done some very bad things, but they can be forgiven and they have an equal opportunity to come to Christ just like you and me. I know that there are prison ministries out there and maybe you might be called to do that someday.

4. Remember those who have mistreated you

This is an important one. When you are mistreated it can become easy to hold grudges. It's easy to blow off someone once they mistreat you. You think to yourself that you do not want any part of them because the way that they mistreated you. That is what Satan wants you to do. Don't forget about anyone who has mistreated you. Always try to remember them because they might just be struggling with something that caused them to act the way that they did. Remember that someday every knee will bow before the Lord.

5. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure

I am not an expert about marriage...obviously. Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure. I don't know what that means for you, but for me it means waiting till marriage. It also means adds an importance to what marriage is and the things that you can do when you become married.

6. Be in love with what you have

This really spoke to me. I was really encouraged by this. As I have grown a little bit older, I have come to realize that I really don't need many things. I need my bible, my journal, and my computer so that I can write. I also need some workout clothes, basketball shoes, and clothes. Then of course some food and water. Don't get me wrong, there are still things I want, but I understand what I actually need. What I need on a daily basis is time with God. That is something that I have everyday and I am absolutely in love with God. This is funny, but I don't really have many nice dress clothes because it is hard to find stuff that fits well for me, I don't have much but I love what I have. (maybe a dumb example) Being a college student, you usually don't have much food. But when I do have food in the room, I really love what I have. I also love what I have when it comes to relationships with people. Nothing beats that, besides a relationship with Christ of course. So I encourage you, be in love with what you have. Sit down and really think about. I am sure that you can come up with so many things that you are happy with in your life. Sometimes you have to really sit back and think in order to remember some of the ways in which God has blessed you.

7. Remember your leaders 

Remember the people who pour into your life. Parents, teachers, professors, coaches, mentors, friends, you name it. I know for me, I would not be where I am today without the people who have been right by my side to encourage me. I can't stress enough the important of surrounding yourself with people who will hold you accountable and help strengthen your relationship with Christ. If you can begin to from those types of relationships and connections at a young age, you will be so much further ahead in life than so many people. If you are looking for someone to hold you accountable and someone to have a Christ centered friendship with reach out! Reach out to me, or reach out to people who you know have Christ as #1 in your life. Over the past couple of weeks mentors who I really look up to have told me how they wish that when they were my age they started developing Christ centered friendships. I remember those things because of the love and respect I have for my leaders. Never forget about the people who helped get you where you are today. Remembering your leaders is very important in this life.

8. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings

I can't stress the importance of this enough. The world wants you to live one way and God wants you to live another. There are so many things out there in the life that seem to be right. Our culture is a culture that wants you to experience immediate satisfaction in anything that you do. Our culture is very centered around pleasure. Remember that things under the sun are meaningless. Everything under the sun will not last forever. What lies above the sun is what will last forever. Stay true to the word of God. That is the truth. Part of the reason I started this blog was because I got into the word on a daily basis and over the summer I learned amazing things every single day I opened my bible. I didn't want to keep it all to myself. I wanted to share it with as many people as I could. Please my friends, don't forget the important of getting into the word. It will change your life. It will also help you distinguish the things that come from God and the things that are of this world.

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I want to close with a prayer.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing is will, and may he work in us what us pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21) 

Challenge for the week

There is something that I want to encourage you with this week. I am sure that there are some things that each and every one of you are gifted with. We all have our own gifts and talents so don't try to tell me that you don't have any gifts or that you can't think of what yours are. 

At LifeWorks yesterday, Justin Maust stressed the importance of using your gifts to further the kingdom of God every single day. After a powerful worship experience yesterday, he got up on stage and explained how powerful it is when people use their gifts to glorify God and to further the kingdom. He used the worship team as an example. The worship team members have all been blessed with special talents and abilities when it comes to music and when they use those gifts and talents to lead the congregation in worship every Sunday it is so powerful. Singing worship songs at church is usually 20-30 minutes/week. How great of an impact does the 20-30 minutes have on your week? Or even think about the hour and half you spend at church on Sunday, you can impact so many people from just that short hour and a half. That is what happens when people use their gifts to glorify God. It furthers the kingdom. I know for me, in the past, when I was just a 'Sunday Christian,' hearing some worship music was all I needed to hear in order to experience Christ's love. That is something so small!

If you have a gift of encouragement, use that gift to encourage somebody this week. 

If you have the gift of service, serve somebody this week.

If you have the gift of teaching, teach somebody this week,

If you have the gift of giving, give this week.

If you have the gift of leadership, lead as God would.

If you have the gift of mercy, show someone mercy this week.

If you don't know what your spiritual gift is, think about something you are really good at. If you are really good at something you most likely are gifted in that area. 

So whatever your gift may be or whatever you are really good at, use that this week to serve God and to serve others. That is how the world will change. The world will change when we as Christians use our gifts to glorify God every day. It is amazing what can happen when you do that. 

For me, I think my gift is encouragement. Every day when I get a chance to blog or a chance to interact with someone, I try the very best I can to encourage them. I know that God is pleased when I do that. When I use my gift, I experience a certain feeling of fulfillment that I really cannot put into words. My prayer and hope for you is that you can experience that feeling of fulfillment that comes when you use your gifts and talents to glorify God and further the kingdom of heaven. 

So, this week. Are you going to accept the challenge of using your gifts? I hope that you do. 

I hope this week turns into a couple of weeks, then a month, then a couple of months then a year. I hope this becomes a habit for you. Once this becomes a habit for you, your life will change. 

I played college golf

First I wasn't to apologize for a two day hiatus without a blog post. I was super busy. I am super sad that I had to go two days in a row without posting. I think that was the first time that has ever happened for me.

So you are probably wondering why this post is titled "I played college golf," when most of you know that I play college basketball. Well, it is because I played college golf...this weekend...for Bethel's Golf Team. (that is why I haven't posted in two days)

I won't get into why I had to play, it's a long story. But yes, I played in a college golf tournament this weekend and I was absolutely horrible.

I am not much of a golfer. I have played probably 5 times in my life and only once in the last two years. I played once last July with my brother...and that was it. Up until this weekend of course. 

I was told back at the end of February by my basketball coach that I was going to have to play in a gold tournament. I was like okay! There is no way you are being serious, but I will do! Well he was serious. 

Up until last weekend, I hadn't heard anything from my coach about golf or the golf coach. I was approached by Bethel's AD and he told me I had to get a hold of the golf coach. I panicked. I thought it was all a big joke, but now my nightmare was finally becoming a reality. I got an email back from the golf coach on Tuesday and he informed me that we were going to shoot a practice round on Thursday and then have a 36 hole tournament on Friday and Saturday. 

Mind you, I don't have golf pants, golf shoes, a golf hat, or even my own clubs. Luckily my dad had a set that I was able to use. So I had to borrow everything that I wore the last three days of golf. Which was fine by me. 

On Wednesday, I made it a priority for me to get to the driving range so I wouldn't entirely humiliate myself. I left after class around 3 and got there around 3:45 and hit balls for the next hour and half. It was terrible. I found out that I could not drive to safe my life. Every single time I tried, I shanked it. I think I could've drove further with my putter. I didn't think the driving range was going to be very busy, but it was packed. I found a nice little corner where I thought nobody would really see me. It was perfect. The people around me left, so I had about 30 minutes with nobody around me, and it was just what I hopped for. Finally, nobody to watch me shank balls. That fun quickly ended when the Notre Dame women's golf team came up besides me and started hitting balls. My fun quickly ended when I whiffed the ball 3 times in a row. I figured that it was now probably a good time to go work on my putting skills. That ended up working a little better. Overall, my experience at the range on Wednesday was average. 

Thursday came around and it was time to have a practice round. I was so nervous for this. This was the first time that my teammates for only a couple of days were going to experience how bad I was. The practice round was a little rough. It was a beautiful day, but very windy. I didn't even keep score. I couldn't believe how tiring golf was. We finished up our 9th hole and I thought we were done but the coach informed us that we were playing 18. I was exhausted. There were not too many highlights from the practice round. It was fairly chill since it was only practice. The funniest part about the practice round is that on one of the holes, I teed off with my iron (which I did for my entire golf career) and the ball only went up the where the girls tee off from. So I took the short walk up to my ball, and I took a tee out of my pocket, teed it up and swung away. I quickly found out that was illegal to do. After about a 6 hour practice round, I drove back to Bethel, got to my room, took off most of my gold clothes and I laid only the floor for like 15 minutes because I was so tried. One of the things that the practice round taught me is that I was worse than I thought I was. I am terrible, but I did have sone nice puts, nice hits and a coupe of lost golf balls.

Friday. Tournament day. I woke up so nervous. I left Bethel around 7:45 and needed to get to the course around 8:15 for range practice. I was shaking all morning. The one thing that I was more nervous for than anything was who I was going to be paired up with for the tournament. I was afraid that I would be put with super good golfers who were going to be so sick and tired of me because I didn't really know what I was doing. Lucky, I was with another Bethel golfer (Zach) and a Grace golfer (Isaiah) and a Judson golfer (Rob). I was one of the first people out on the range Friday morning and it was an absolutely beautiful and perfect day outside. I hit some balls and tried to get rid of all there nerves that I had. Even though I have played golf 5-10 times in my life, I still had some expectations for myself. I am competitive so I didn't want to be too terrible. I cared and I wanted to do the best that I could. Most importantly I wanted to have fun. My golf coach told me to have the most fun that I possibly can. Tee time on Friday was at 10 so teams started to pour in. There were 28 teams at this tournament. Which is huge. About 10 till 10 Zach and I walked over to the first hole because that is where we got to start. The walk from the range to the first hole had me more nervous than so many basketball games. Which I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. I was scared. I was finally going to see who else we got to golf with. We get to the hole and meet Isaiah and Rob. Within two minutes were laughing and having a good time. I was so thankful that God put us four together. I was able to explain to them that I wasn't very good and they were understanding and assured me to just have fun. That was our goal for the four of us, to have fun the entire time. On Friday we golfed 26 holes because on Saturday it was supposed to storm so we got in as many holes as we could. We golfed non-stop from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. 9 hours of golf!!! We had a great time all of Friday. I learned a lot about the guys I was with and we were having a blast. My goal for each hole was 8 strokes or less and that only happened a couple of times. My worst hole was hole 9. Both times we played that hole I shot a 16. I shanked my ball into the woods every single time. It was rough. Throughout the entire day I was so thankful for the patience that those three guys showed me. Along with their parents as well and my mom and girlfriend. I am so thankful that my mom and Jennifer came to watch me play. It meant so much. 

Some of you are probably wondering what my score for the first 18 was. It was terrible. Let's just say I doubled par and then added a couple of more strokes. Par was 72. It was bad. But I had a great time.

Saturday. Now on Saturday it was supposed to rain and storm the entire day. Everybody thought that they tournament was going to be cancelled on Saturday...but it wasn't. I for one, definitely hoped that it would. My bed in my room is right by the window and I can't tell you how many times I looked out my window Friday night to see if it was storming. It was! Every time it was pouring down rain. I thought for sure it would get cancelled. So I got dressed, and walked to my car in the pouring rain, and then drove 35 minutes, in the pouring rain. I forgot to mention, it was super windy and 40 degrees. My shoes were not waterproof and my meet were soaked by the time we even started. Everybody was upset that we had to golf because of how bad the weather was. I was soaked and freezing literally the entire day. Tee time was at 9 so not only was it cold, rainy, and windy, it was still a little dark. I was nervous again because I am not a good golfer when it's sunny and 70 degrees how am I supposed to improve when it's 40 and pouring down rain. We got the hole 9 and I decided to tee off first. I usually teed of first because there was no way that I could hit it far enough to mess up with group who was ahead of us. So I teed off, and shanked it. Straight into the woods. So I did a drop and I went to smash it again. Only this time, as I hit the ball, it rocketed off the rock that said "Hole 9, Par 5," and it bounced back behind me and into the woods behind where we had teed off. I started yesterday with a whopping 16. Then it only got worse. The rain picked up and the wind picked up. I don't think I have ever shivered as much as I did yesterday. I had no idea what to wear golfing when the weather was like that! I was miserable and so was everyone else. Everyone struggled yesterday, although still doing way better than I did. All day yesterday the guys were patient with me and that meant so much to me. God took care of my biggest fear. I would be lying if I said that when we reached the 18th hole that it was one of the greatest feelings ever. I was so excited to be done. The 18th hole was almost by best of the tournament. I was set up to get a par, but then I putted into the water, and then back down the hill and ended up with a 9. My score was also really bad yesterday too. 

It was one stroke worse then the first round of 18. Let's just say my score for the 36 holes was the same as the woman's team of Taylor golfers combined. 

Overall I had a great experience and had a lot of fun doing it. But now to be a little more serious, I think God used that golf experience to work in my life so that I can be more patience with people who are not as good at some of the things that I am and to be patience with the people who are different than me. Zach, Isaiah, and Rob showed me so much more patience then I deserved. I had never competed in a golf tournament in all of my life and that is totally different then them and they still showed me love. I was taught that I need to be patience with so many more people. They made the experience fun. I tried to have the best attitude I could, but without them being patience I don't think I would've had as much fun. They were all so encouraging to me the entire time too. I literally am awful and they kept telling me that I was fine and they reminded me to have fun. I am so thankful for those three guys. We had such a good time. I think that God also used it to remind me how much I love basketball. I've struggled with my love for the game the past couple of months and I definitely felt God telling me to not take something for granted that I am good at. 

I hope that you were encouraged about patience and I also hope you got a good laugh out of what I had to say.

Don't ever be afraid to try something new or something that you are not good at. You might miss out on God teaching you something new.

With that being said, I would also like to retire from college golf. I think my golf career began and ended with the blink of an eye. 

God Bless!

We're not so big after all

I encourage you to watch this video when you have the chance. It's long...around 42 minutes but it is absolutely amazing. When I was watching it tonight at LifeWorks, I could not wrap my mind around the power of God. He is truly so awesome.

This video is POWERFUL.

Indescribable: encountering the glory of God in the beauty of the universe

Why so serious?

Does it ever seem like Christians take everything to serious? I think that we do sometimes, I know that sometimes I take church too serious as well. I think a reason Christians take things serious is because we care what people think about us. I would've loved to say that we sometimes care what people think about us, but it seems like we always do.

Why so serious? I have been waiting to post about this since Friday after the Rend Collective concert. Yes, I can do another post about the way that the concert affected me. That is how impactful of a concert it really was.

During one of their songs during the concert, all of the lights shut off for a brief second and when the lights came back on, everyone from the band had a giant panda head on. I had never been so confused. I was confused, but it was so fun! Seeing all of the members of the band jumping and dancing around with panda heads on brought me and the audience so much joy.

At the end of the song, the leader singer addressed the audience. He said "you are all probably wondering about the pandas." Then the audience laughed and he said, "folks, seriousness is not a fruit of the spirit."

Then it hit me! Once I really thought about that, it seems like the way Christians often live is way to serious.

I encourage you to have fun with your life. Be out-going. Have fun at church! Have fun gathering with all sorts of people. Life is way to awesome to be serious all of the time.

In case you were wondering what the fruits of the spirit are, it is found in Galations 5:22-23.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law."

Sometime in the near future, I would love to get more in depth with this, so you hopefully have an idea of what is to come.

Christ's Blood

I feel like Christ's blood is one of the most important not talked about topics in the bible. This mooring I went to share a little bit about the importance of Christ's blood. This won't be a long post, I hope to make it as simple as I possibly can for you. 

The blood of Christ refers to the physical blood that Christ shed when He died on the cross for our sins.

I could really go in depth about Christ's blood but I only want to scratch some of the surface for you. 

I didn't understand the importance of Christ's blood until I was a junior in high school. I had heard it being talked about but never really applied it to my life up onto that point. I remember the first time Chris't blood was talked about around me. I was going to this bible study and the leader and host of it would always pray for things to be healed by the blood of Jesus. He would also say a prayer of thanks for the blood of Jesus as well. 

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands that is to say, is not part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanity them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:11-14) 

There are two things here in these verses that really stick out to me. 

1.The only way that Christ could enter the Most Holy Place was through his blood because through his blood He obtained eternal redemption. 

2. God's blood cleanses our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! God's blood is the reason why we are able to serve the living God. If it wasn't for Christ's blood we wouldn't even be here. We also wouldn't be able to serve the kingdom of God.

If there is one truth more than another that Satan would oppose, it is the truth of 1 Peter 1:19, that we were bought by the precious blood of Christ. If there is one more subject that he would like to turn our minds away from, it is this. Satan tells us that we can be saved by reformation, by good deeds. He tells us that we can be saved by doing our best. 

But all the ay though the New Testament we did the the only way to God is a blood-marked way-the precious blood of Christ!  

Look at this text from the Old Testament: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11) What does this mean? It means that when Jesus Christ came into this world and lived and loved and suffered, when His heart broke on Calvary's cross and the blood poured from His veins, He was laying down His life for you and for me. 

No matter who you are, He is able to save you. Do not resist Him. Do not reject His precious blood. There is just one thing between you and judgment, and that one thing is the precious blood of Christ. Please do not treat it carelessly. 

Divine Perspective

Recently, I have not read "Living on The Ragged Edge," in probably a month. I have gotten away from it because I have been so busy with things that I just decided that I didn't really have time to read it. 

This evening, I got back into it. I was at a rough spot mentally and when you experience something that you struggle with like that you will do whatever it takes to find wisdom in some Godly material. 

God works in some pretty awesome ways and he put some wisdom right on the pages for me. 

When King Solomon was writing Ecclesiastes he wrote that Wisdom provides our lives with divine perspective." We are first invited to "consider the work of God," then we are given several occasions when that will provide us that perspective we need.

- "For who is able to straighten what He [God] has bent?"

The Lord our God is ultimately in control. Theologians call this divine sovereignty. Ultimately, it has become a point of argumentation rather than our personal ally. God is in charge, meaning if He has "straightened" something, it's wasted effort to try to bend it. This divine perspective is designed to replace resistance with relief. 

Next, is what I am super excited to encourage you with.

- "In the day of prosperity be happy!"

Times are good? Great! Or, in today's vernacular, "Enjoy!" There is no reasons whatsoever to allow guilt to rob you of the joy that should accompany prosperous times. Divine perspective frees us to be happy. 

- "But in the day of adversity consider-God has made the one as well as the other."

Again, this divine perspective wisdom brings reminds me that the Lord God is just as involved and caring during adversity as during prosperity. The Hebrew term translated "consider" suggests the idea "to examine for the purpose of evaluating." In the hard times-when the bottom drops out, enduring days of financial reversal, or severe domestic conflicts-wisdom allows us to examine, to evaluate with incredible objectivity. 

In the days of prosperity be happy,

But in the day of adversity consider-

God has made the one as well as the other.

What an incredible perspective that is. God has made each and every day as good at the other. So regardless if you had the best day ever and it seemed like everything went your way or if you had a terrible day where things didn't go your way at all, each day was created by God as well as the other. Just having that perspective in your mind can change everything. Every single day that we are alive is a blessing and I think that sometimes our days are based on if it was a good day or a bad day. Sure, some days seem terrible, but someone out there always has it worse than you. Some times you'll have the best day ever and I am sure that there are people out there who had a better day than you. Every single day is a gift of God and He created them as well as the other. Life is good.

God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. He won't reveal the future, which is why the next phrase reads, "So that man may not discover anything that will be after him."

God's ultimate design is nothing short of perfect. He's got a plan, but without operating on the basis of His wisdom, we'll panic and run or we'll stubbornly resit His way. 

There are two final concluding thoughts: 

Regarding decisions - we dare not make a major decision without asking for the wisdom of God. Since wisdom is His speciality, His unique gift for us, it's imperative that we seek it prior to every major decisions. 

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

Regarding vision - we cannot see the whole picture without drawing upon the wisdom of God. 

I want to close with this. 

"We have not even begun to live if we lack the wisdom God wants to give to us. That wisdom is ours, simply for the asking, and it brings us into a whole new and exciting world!