Bias in Life...

I read an interesting article yesterday about media bias and censorship in the upcoming election. It talked about how the media only chooses certain events to show and how it moulds its coverage to fit their views...

Do we as Christians take parts of the Bible and just ignore it or "interpret" it the way we see fit?
Examples:

1. Do we ignore the fact that God ordered the Israelites to wipe out entire populations? Geonocide? How does this affect our definition of love?
   
2. Read Numbers chp 31
3. What about Salvation? How do works play into it? Should we "work" out our salvation?
   
4. Corinthians is filled with verses dealing with women, have we changed that for a reason?
   
5. Jesus came with a radically different plan, are we really radically different?
6. Is it actually noticable to others? All the time?
   

Soccer

This is going to be completely about soccer...

Tuesday we had our first Independent game, and it was against CCF. We lost 4-1 which was pretty bad. I didn't play well and felt like I let people down, especially my center mid partner. Needless to say, Thursday was better. Our Co-Rec team beat the Field-Matheson-Perry team 2-0 and I scored a goal. The funny thing is, being a freshman, I almost played on it. Later that night I found out that my highschool soccer team was going to be in the state championship. That game was tonight. We lost... again. Like last year when I played, we lost to Stratford and there were several questionable refereeing decisions. But it felt weird watching, I wanted them to win, but I didn't want them to be better than us last year. Yes they played a much easier schedule and the competition was less, but I was jealous... of a highschool soccer team, that ended up not winning... It feels shameful thinking these thoughts...

Bringing Alabama to ATL

Having been inspired by working in Alabama, I want to do something in ATL. God does too, and I think everyone on the trip knows this. So i googled and came up with a couple sites that are a good starting point for helping those in need:

Crossroads Community
Atlanta Urban Ministry

I don't know how this will work with city groups, and other things at the BCM, but here's the vision:

Christians from GA Tech (Baptists, Presbyterians, EVERYONE) coming together in teams based on what gifts God has given them, serving with local churches. Together, everyone impacting Tech, churches, and Atlanta.

College students don't have money, but we can volunteer our weekends and maybe even some weekdays to help. Churches have the resources to support volunteers, but maybe not the manpower to create a large enough impact. But together? It could be huge... or it could just fade...

How big can this get? How big is God?

Birmingham... Quickly...

Birmingham was awesome. The first day (Saturday) we painted two people's houses, and Chris and I fixed one lady's computer. Then we ate greek food and went to Five Points. There we walked around to talk to some homeless people. My group initially had a difficult finding people to talk to, but I think this was part of God's plan. After walking around with no luck, we went to this fountain (with running water, unlike ATL) and sat down. Less than 5 minutes later, a man sat down on a little wall by a church across from us. We went over and talked to him for the rest of the time we were there. He recently got out of a maximum security prison and was living in a halfway house. I don't know how much we helped, but i feel like we mattered. I know we were there for a purpose and I pray for him daily.

Sunday we went to David Platt's church, Brook Hills. His sermon was on the rich young ruler. It was an great sermon and completely biblical and I agreed with every part of it. However, I don't know if it's his style or that I didn't go to Confluence, but I haven't seen anything really special about him. It just seemed like everyone except me was obsessed with him on our trip, and I felt a little awkward. Anyways, after church, we planned a church service for "people living in some apartments." What we weren't told (at least I wasn't) is that these people were patients waiting for organ donors living in UAB apartments. The idea was to "preach about joy" and to inspire these people. I've never felt so humbled in my entire life. They weren't feeling down, they didn't curse God and they certainly didn't act like people low on joy. If anything, by the end of the "service" I felt like I was being preached to by a bunch of people who seemingly had no reason to be happy. They were so thankful for us, for getting organs, for the community there, for churches donating supplies and for a cheap place to stay. They literally lived each day as if it could be their last. And I don't...

Monday we either painted or fixed up a soup kitchen. I stayed and fixed up the soup kitchen at Urban Ministries (the ministry we partnered with for the painting). Just working there in this little church in the heart of Birmingham was eye opening. These people receive no recognition or fame for their work. They've got every excuse to be lazy and just "bury their treasure." But they have used what God has given them and used it to completely bless the entire community. I think Mark put it best when he called the people he saw at Catalyst "superstars" but he described
Michael as a "hero."

Do we want to be superstars or heroes?

after painting, we ate bbq and went back to atlanta
the end.

Alabama Love

At exactly 8:11p.m. tomorrow (Friday) I will join about 17 other people on a trip to the great state of Alabama. It's technically a "mission trip." I cringe when I hear that phrase. We sometimes stuff missions into a box. A box we pull out from time to time, depending on when our church's next trip is. But honestly, missions is so much more... It's not something you have to go and do... you don't have to go paint someone's house, or serve in a soup kitchen. You don't even have to go visit the homeless or bring the message to an apartment complex... though that's what we're doing this weekend.

All we need to do is love...

We don't have to go somewhere like Alabama, or the ghetto... For most of us in college it's in our dorm rooms, it's on our halls and in our dorms... People needing love... that's our mission.

Do we really love our neighbor as ourself? (Luke 10:27)

Do we love the weird kids, the whiz kids, the smelly kids, the fat kids, the short kids, retarded kids, the foreign kids?

Do we as Christians love the rejected?

Loving the unlovable...

wrapped up

Comfort's a pretty hard word to define. On the surface the definition "giving hope and strength" seems to cover the bases... or does it? What if it means something more to us, to Christians? Does God just give us "hope and strength," or is it something deeper, more intimate? These are pretty tough questions, but I believe comfort for Christians is so much more personal and naked. Maybe there's a second element, maybe our comfort comes with peace. Peace... Comfort... hand in hand, working together, as one. God wrapping us in his love. Like water in a pool, but closer, more intimate, covering me, covering us. He shows us Himself, and that He's in control (Is. 14:24-27). Completely... As Christians our peace with God gives us comfort and our comfort from God gives us peace. He is peace (Is. 9:6) and comfort (Jn. 14:16). And He's here. For us.

The Holy Spirit is the pool surrounding us, everywhere. We come to God with our burdens and distractions and we expect a quick fix. We get more... God doesn't magically "fix" it, He fixes US... A part of us that's broken, not something WE think is broken, but something HE knows is broken. Its up to us to humble ourselves and trust God even though we don't want to.

Big Trucks

Today reminded me of a certain Nooma video entitled "Luggage." Though the point i'll make isn't the point of the video, it hit home today. This woman realizes at the end of the video that she needs to go forgive, and she gets in her car. She is doing everything right as far as going to see the person and her mindset of forgiveness. It's all biblical, it's all right... And then... at the very end, a huge truck from nowhere brutally rams her and her car. It pushes them both away, leaving nothing. Nothing... a word that means insignificant, empty, alone, useless... Sometimes when we are living for God and on a spiritual "high," we are blindsided by something. A thing you never see coming. It usually doesn't seem too big on the outside, but it attacks just the right spot, our vulnerable spot. This kind of attack happened today. To me. Without going into too much detail because this is extremely personal, it is tough. A relationship is strained, I am affected. I can do nothing except watch. Accepting it, understanding it, dealing with it... It may not change my life forever, but it will for a long time.

First Post

Being a Georgia Tech student and combining language and technology, I thought creating a blog would be a good idea. So I created one. I don't know how often I'll post, who will read it, or if anyone will care. However, to me blogging seems like a good way to organize your thoughts and experiences, regardless of audience. Here I go...