Who whacked Bigbird?

When I was a child, my mom used to warn me about drinking chocolate milk. Apparently, whenever someone in her family would drink chocolate milk, they would get a nose bleed. Therefore, whenever we ate at a restaurant, I had to get white milk, lest I get a nose bleed. Even at the age of four, I thought that her fear was ridiculous. Why would chocolate milk give me a nose bleed? It did not make sense to me then, and it does not make sense to me now.

Anyways. When I was young, I went to my aunts' houses for individual weeks at a time. They lived in Altoona, so I did not get to see them often. When I was there, they enjoyed spoiling me (who doesn't?). One time in particular, I was four years old, and I was spending the week at my aunt Jackie's house. One of my other aunts, Jeanie (Meme), owned a restaurant called Chilcoats (man I hope I spelled that right). My aunt Jackie decided to take us to Chilcoats for dinner. My mom was not there, so of course I ordered chocolate milk with my meal. Aunt Jackie thought nothing of it. It was so good. The brown concoction bubbled as I blew through the straw. It was the most indulgent experience I had experienced up until that point in my life.

Later that night, it was bedtime. I clutched hard onto my stuffed Bigbird who was my companion through all my nights. I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was confused if I was dreaming, or really seeing what I was seeing. Bigbird's throat was covered in blood. In fact, his whole body was stained with blood. As I looked around, the area all around me was covered in blood. I thought that someone killed Bigbird! I was so scared.

My mom picked me up that morning. I told her what happened, and she gave me a haughty eye. She asked me, "Did you drink chocolate milk?" I tucked my head in my chest, for I knew I had been defeated.

Momma's got a lot of wisdom that you should listen to. You may not understand why she tells you not to do things, but in the end, it does not matter. Momma knows best. Obey her, or you might wake up thinking, "Who whacked Bigbird?"

The motivation of Islam

This week at LBC, we have a had a chapel speaker who has told us a lot about Islam. Normally I do not go to chapel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I could not miss this opportunity. I always find other religions intriguing. Not that I want to convert to them, but I like to know what they believe. It is interesting to know how the enemy has deceived the hearts of mankind.

Most people know the five pillars of Islam: the creed, alms giving, Hajj (journey to Mecca), fasting, and praying towards Mecca. The last one is the one I want to focus on.

Muslims pray five times a day. If they are in a Muslim country, they hear the call to prayer whenever it is time to pray. When I heard about their dedication, at first I was impressed with how zealous they are. They have it worked out that they will pray anywhere on a moment's notice. I thought to myself, "I don't think Christians even pray twice a day." I heard people asking, "If we have a greater motivation to pray, then why don't we?"

After thinking about it, I think I might disagree with the premise. I actually think Muslims as unsaved people have a more pressing motivation to pray. One reason is simply fear. The punishment for missing one prayer is 10,000 years in Hell before going to Paradise. What would your friends say if you openly disobeyed? Everyone would know that you obviously don't fear Allah, which is foolishness.

The second reason is spiritual dissatisfaction. Imagine a life that after every time you prayed, you did not feel the Holy Spirit answering your prayer. You felt like every time you prayed, you were praying to nothing. I think that a Muslim rigorously prays in hope that they will feel a spiritual satisfaction, for we understand that every person is lacking God and seeking his power to complete us. We would call that satisfaction a closeness to God, but according to the Muslim faith, Allah is not personal. He is a divine judge; not a Father Who loves you.

When you and I pray, we can have the assurance that God will satisfy us spiritually every time if we are worshiping in spirit and in truth. Satan has blinded the people of the world, and it is only through the power of the gospel that the scales will fall off. Let us march into this world holding the Word and the love of God as our divine weapons. Give the gospel. Destroy the enemy's hold. Let Jesus Christ reign.

Science vs. Christianity.... ?

Why do we as Christians feel that our fight is against science? Sure, they believe in old earth, we believe in young earth. That much is true, but that does not justify our hatred for scientific endeavors. If anything, science should be celebrated in the Christian world.

How many of you remember the periodic table of elements? Like me, you probably remember that it existed, but not much more than that. What I can remember is that each element had its own functions. When it comes down to it (as in the nitty-gritty functions of atoms), we know that God gave them their own functions. It is truly amazing.

Think of Noah's rainbow. When God said the rainbow was a promise, do you think that it came down from Heaven and angels were holding it up? Of course not. God had never sent rain before, but since the creation of the world he gave the properties to rain molecules and light molecules to create a rainbow. It's truly astounding.

When Jesus walked through the wall, he had a body. That means he supernaturally shifted the atoms in his body to miss all the atoms in wall.

Though I find botany truly boring, it definitely shows the true attention to detail our Father in Heaven meticulously holds to. From the parts of a cell to photosynthesis, God created it all. He planned it all from the beginning.

Finally, the human body is truly a work of a creative, scientific God. Every detail is met. We know this because if someone's body is not quite up to snuff, we call him handicapped.

Let us not fool ourselves with "Well the scientists say... so we know the truth must be opposite." Enjoy science. God created a world to observe.

And the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Proof for the supernatural

There are many experiences from HACC that have made a lasting impression on me. One such impression happened during my philosophy class. One of the students said that scientists are now saying that there are multiple dimensions to this world, or at least, more than previously thought. I brought this point up with my mentor at the time, Mike Pierce, and after humbly telling me we sense four dimensions instead of three (I described the world as having three dimensions), he told me that scientists have been thinking that for a while.

I could never really wrap my mind around this. I was completely bent out of shape trying to figure out how can there be more than 4 dimensions. Where do they fit?

This information came up again last semester in my life of Christ class. The professor said that scientists say that there are ten dimensions, and that whatever created them had to be outside of all of them.

Well I knew this was helping the argument for God, but I still could not wrap my mind around another 6 dimensions to this natural world.

After much contemplation, I think I have figured out where they fit. Think of a three dimensional box. You can measure the height, width, and depth. Now pinpoint a specific point inside the box. Remember high school math class? Go up 3, right 2, and in 4. Confused? Sorry. Not confused? Keep going.

Now zoom into that spot. When you zoomed in a million times, you will notice that spot is its own block with its own height, width, and depth. Do the same process a few more times. The tiny box you are now looking at is the natural world. It has space. But in order for anything to happen, there needs to be time, the fourth dimension. This dimension is the width of the box bigger than the natural world's block. The height is the spiritual realm. The other dimensions? I am not sure. But at least you now know how to measure them. Each set of three dimensions is its own box inside another box.

Would not anything outside of the natural world be scientifically classified as supernatural?

N'aked

Have you ever read the story of the fall of man, and wondered why Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness? I have. But now I think I understand just why they were so ashamed of their newly realized nudity. Just keep in mind, I am only twenty years old, unmarried, and not even done with college. I could possibly be wrong.

Imagine a marriage that everything is out in the open. The trust between the two people is unparalleled. Whenever there is a temptation, the other knows about it. They feel complete intimacy every moment of every day, with no fear of ever getting hurt. Sound like your marriage? I did not think so. But this is what Adam and Eve had. They had the perfect marriage, because there was no sin to corrupt it.

Think a moment about your own marriage, and if you are not married, then just pretend. You have seen your spouse naked before, and it is no big thing. It is expected. There are moments of complete intimacy which nudity... kind of plays a big part. As a couple gets older, they start to loose their sense of personal boundaries and just do not care if their spouse sees them get out of the shower. But I do not care if they have been married fifty years, if the wife steps out to the kitchen, and her man is cooking eggs... au natural... she will be slightly shocked at this unexpected view. It is not a common place for a person to be open.

Now with that understanding, put yourself into the shoes of Adam and Eve. They had complete intimacy all the time, but when sin came, a whole new sense of distrust blew up within them. It was not the nakedness that was sin, it was the sin that made them embarrassed about their nakedness.

As a married couple grows closer to God, and further away from sin, their trust in each other will blossom, and they can feel loved and trusting to each other.

Religion is not a dirty word

"It is not religion, it is a relationship." How many times have you heard this? To some extant, it is very true. Christianity is not based on a set of rules and practices to become "good." Christianity is about having a loving relationship with the Father. But does that mean that the very idea of associating Christianity and religion is wrong?

I have been thinking about this topic for some time now. Ever since I heard WJTL's war-cry when I was fourteen ("Visit notreligion.com"), I was an avid believer in crucifying the religion label on Christianity.

Just over two years ago, I read something in James that really changed my perspective. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27)." God himself talks about religion, and not in a negative light either. He paints religion as a wholesome practice that comes out of the relationship.

So let us connect the dots. We as Christians have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship reveals itself through our lives by religion. The religion is an overflow, an uncontrollable act of obedience and duty that envelops our entire lives. It in no way implies the idea of "going through the motions." The religion is the obedience to God's law, and we cannot help but obey it religiously.

Psalm 119:34 says, "Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart." David was a man after God's own heart. He had a true relationship with Yahweh, and because he loved God, he religiously followed Him.

Let us be the same way. Yes, we know it is about a relationship, but let us not be afraid to say that Christianity is our religion. It is not a dirty word.

Making Ripples

When I was a child, I loved the beach. I loved building sand castles, looking for seashells, and eating all sorts of junk food out of a paper bag for lunch. Though it was a dreamland for me, there was one aspect that I did not care for--the ocean. My mom or dad would hold my hand as we would walk to the shoreline. We would stand where the sand began to feel wet, and wait for the water to wash up on our feet. When the ebb and flow of the great sea would blanket my feet, I would jump back with a yelp because the freezing temperatures were too much to take for a young boy like me. As I would look out into the distance, I saw large, mighty waves pummeling people who did not stand a chance against it. That was all I needed to see. I was done. I then would run back to the higher, dry part of the beach and continue constructing my sandcastle.

No castle was complete without a mote. So, my dad would get a bucket of water, and we would fill in the ditch we had just dug with water. Now this water was much different then the water I had just witnessed a few minutes ago. This water was calm, and even boring. Just to see the water move a little bit, I would put my finger in it, and watch the ripples form, with the epicenter being at my finger. Even when I pulled my finger out, the ripples continued from the same spot. those ripples did not scare me. For the most part, I expected them, and with great joy.

In the world today, we have the chance to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. But we have to understand, people are scared away by the waves. If all we are doing is pummeling them over and over again without gentleness or compassion, they will be terrified and run back to the beach to play with their sandcastles.

In my workplace, I have tried to make ripples. I cannot let the spiritual waters become stagnant, so I put my finger in to disturb the water slightly. The people see the ripples, and begin to investigate their origin. This is when they will seek God by asking me questions, and I can give them the honest truth with compassion and love.

We are not called to scare anyone away. We are called to make disciples and baptize, and that is only done by making ripples in the world.