Hey all,
With Lost back this season, I thought it would be a good time to look at this article from pluggedinonline.com. I liked it and it gave something to think about so if you watch Lost, you'll think it's probably pretty cool, if not well you'll like it anyway.
Lost Dads
Your plane crashes on an island. You're chased by a polar bear, haunted by a smoke monster and at war with an indigenous population. You're hurt. Scared. Lost.
Times like these might make many of us wish to be children again and long for our fathers—for someone to teach us how to survive, to frighten away all the bogeymen, to tell us why we must push the button every 108 minutes. To assure us everything's going to be OK.
Unless, of course, your father beat you. Or betrayed you. Or ran a crime syndicate. Or stole one of your kidneys.
Suddenly, those polar bears don't look so bad.
Who's Your Daddy?
Feb. 2 marks the beginning of the sixth and final season for ABC's landmark sci-fi drama Lost—much to the delight ("It's here!") and chagrin ("It's almost over!") of TV geeks everywhere. The labyrinthine program has become a byword for obsessive television viewing. Its creators have manufactured a bewildering mythology—so bewildering that after five seasons viewers aren't completely sure what the island even is. (Theories range from Eden to Limbo to a rejiggered Island of Misfit Toys.) Lost is a potpourri of engrossing characters, literary references, time-travel tropes and thought-provoking musings about the interplay of religion and science, of fate and free will, of good and evil and the gray in between.
But at its core, Lost is really about a subject near and dear to Plugged In's core: family. Strip away all the white rabbits and mysterious hatches, and you're left with an island full of sons and daughters, lost and hurting because their relationships with their parents—particularly their fathers—aren't all they should be.
"I think father issues are very much a part of the show," Lost producer Carlton Cuse said at Comic-Con 2006, according to Lostpedia. "Dramatically, that is something that we deal with extensively. And if you look at the characters on the show, a lot of the characters have 'daddy issues.'"
Where's Your Daddy?
Take Jack, the island's mostly heroic doctor. He spent much of his life trying to please his demanding surgeon dad, but he only succeeded in making Pops proud when Jack got him fired for being drunk on the job. Jack's father was so proud, in fact, that he flew to Australia, went on a massive bender and died—and now haunts both Jack and the island with frightening regularity.
Then there's Kate, Lost's pretty escaped felon. What did she do, you ask? Well, she killed her abusive, alcoholic father shortly after he made sexual advances on her.
Sawyer, the island's long-haired, nickname-spewing con man, watched his father kill himself after shooting Sawyer's mom. The trauma was so great that, instead of emulating his father, he followed the footsteps of the confidence man who slept with his mom, stole the family money and instigated his father's suicide.
But John Locke, perhaps, takes the cake in terms of father issues. Though he now strides around the island like a long-prophesied savior, Locke grew up never knowing his father. When Locke reached middle age, a man claiming to be his father steps into his life and tells him he's dying—unless he gets a kidney from someone. When Locke volunteers to donate his, "Pops" takes the kidney and runs, so to speak. Locke is abandoned yet again.
"You needed a father figure and I needed a kidney, and that's what happened," the man tells Locke. "Get over it. And John, don't come back. You're not wanted."
Locke comes back anyway—and for his trouble gets pushed out a seventh story window.
The list goes on, too. Ben and his abusive father. Sun and her domineering father. Claire doesn't even know her father (but we do). It's enough to make you wonder … are Lost's creators in need of some serious counseling?
Does Your Daddy Matter?
"Ironically, I had a fairly awesome (if not slightly complicated) relationship with my father," writer and producer Damon Lindelof tells Entertainment Weekly. "I suppose the fact that he died shortly before we began writing Lost had a great impact on where my head was at the time, but he was an amazing guy who is pretty much responsible for my love of all things storytelling-related. He never even tried to steal my kidney.
"That being said," Lindelof goes on, "I think, mythically speaking, all great heroes have massive daddy issues. Hercules. Oedipus, Luke Skywalker. Indiana Jones. Spider-Man. It all comes with the territory. We dig flawed characters on Lost, and a large part of being flawed is the emotional damage inflicted on you by your folks."
He's right, you know. Biblical characters have had some rocky times with their dads, too. Isaac was nearly sacrificed by his. Jacob and Esau had a pretty complex relation with theirs. Joseph's pop doted—perhaps too much—creating its own set of problems. And that's just Genesis.
Its flawed characters make Lost quite uncomfortable to watch at times. In addition to the typical problematic content we'd point out reviewing Lost—the violence, the swearing, the sexuality—viewers are confronted by lots of murky morality and very, very bad role models. Everyone on the island does things they regret (or should).
But the script, more often than not, suggests that their strengths and weaknesses are the product of how they were raised. And, so, all that negativity evokes a very positive—biblical—theme: That what you do as a parent matters. In a time when more and more children are raised in single-parent households, and in an environment where the role of a father in his children's lives is often minimized, Lost tells us something very true and very important: If fathers aren't around, or they're not paying attention, their children pay the price.
That echoes Scripture. Regarding idols, God told the Israelites in Exodus 20:5, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." The fathers of Jack, John, Sawyer and Kate didn't bow down to graven images, as the Bible puts it, but they sure erected their own personal idols to worship. And we sure see how their sin is passed down. It's a vicious cycle—one that God understands and takes care to warn us about.
Why? Because fathers are central to His plans. The most critical moment in Christianity, after all, involves the Father, the Son and the most revolutionary sacrifice ever. And fractious fatherly relationships can pull lots of threads out of the spiritual tapestry we're all part of.
"In my opinion there are only two important themes [in Lost]," writes Entertainment Weekly blogger Jeff Jensen: "1. Science vs. Religion (or Reason vs. Faith); and 2. The Failure of the Father Figure." Jensen argues that many characters—Jack, Locke and others—are themselves surrogate father figures for the island's frequently disoriented inhabitants, and I buy it. Jack and Locke, in the midst of their own quests for purpose and redemption, must also help lead and guide the islanders who follow them. (It's no accident, I think, that Jack's last name is "Shephard.") And there's a sense that, if they somehow succeed—if they do what they're "meant" to do—the sins and scars their fathers etched on their souls, along with those of their own making, will be somehow wiped clean.
These sins are not necessarily forgiven, mind you, in the Christian sense. Rather, the show simply acknowledges that families—as messy as they can be—are critical components of who and what we are. And it also suggests that, even if our childhoods weren't perfect, we have it within our power to do better, to be better.
"Lost … isn't about burying the past," writes Jensen, "but finding the grace to live with it."
Friday, February 5, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Looking Back
Things in life are crazy right now, and I know that I need to give an update.
This here is a flashback, to the summer before I met Donna. I had a write a testimony for my Spiritual Formation class, so here is the rough draft. I so much enjoyed writing it that I decided before I went back and focused so much on the grammar, which would get annoying, to just post this right now. Let it encourage you, like recounting it encouraged me.
An Example Of God’s Provision
It was In England that I met my wife and God really began to give me direction to where He wanted me to go with my life. However, I almost wasn’t able to go there, and had it not been for the grace of God I would not have been able to meet my wonderful wife Donna.
See, I was living in Germany at the time, with my family near a military base, it was the summer before my last semester of bible college, and I was really counting down the days until I could go back to England to graduate. That summer was hard on me, being in a military community, all my Christian friends that I had the summer before had moved away, and the church that my family was going to lacked any kind of depth in it’s sermon content. So needless to say, I was very excited to back to good old York England for my last semester.
About a month before I was to head over there, I received an e-mail that essentially said that due to various new visa restrictions, I had to go to an English Embassy and get a student visa, or I would not be able to go to the school that semester. So with my plane ticket already paid for, and my heart longing to be back in the UK, my Dad and I started the process of making an appointment to going to the nearest English Embassy, which was about 200 miles away from where I was living.
Now the appointments booked fast, but I was blessed enough to find one that was a week and a half before I had to leave, so we got all my information together, and we headed to Muchengladbach, to get a visa stamped into my passport. After driving about 3.5 hours we finally arrived at the embassy, so my Dad and I got in line and waited. Right before it was my turn I was told to get my passport ready, so I look in the folder, and to my horror, it wasn’t in there. I quickly ran back to the van, and it was not to be found. Without my passport, there was nothing that I could do so I sadly, and fearfully, (knowing that my Mom was going to have a cow) went back to the house, and found the passport on the ground there, it had apparently fallen out of the folder when we were walking to the van.
At this point, I was crushed, I could have sworn that the Lord wanted me in England, I felt the call, and I knew. Yet at this point, I had no idea how I was going to get in. My Mom came up with a bunch of plans, saying how I could go to the Bible college in Germany for the last semester and things like that, but my heart longed for England.
So at this point my Mom said, “Aaron look at it this way, you already bought your plane ticket, just get on the plane and if God wants you to go to York, you’ll get in no problem, and if He does not want you in York, well you shouldn’t be there anyway.”
She had a good point, I mean what could I lose, except possibly an opportunity to see God completely circumvent a legal system in order to get His will done in my life. So, that week my parents drove me to the airport, and after praying for the Lord’s will to be done, I departed from them and got on the plane.
On the way there I was nervous, what if I had to get sent back, would I have to pay for that myself? Would they interrogate me? Strip search me? The possibilities were endless, and so was my imagination. But about half way there, I started to feel peace with my decision. Somehow I knew that I was doing what He wanted of me, and so that caused me to relax, because I knew that if I was in His will, He was the one who would take care of it.
So I sat back, and talked to the man next to me, who was apparently a language expert, and after telling him I was going to the Bible College in York, he started grilling me on my knowledge of the beauty of the Hebrew language, (a topic I still honestly know little or nothing about sadly) but needless to say, that conversation was probably a bit one-sided.
Now upon arriving in England my heart started beating fast, my brow became sweaty, this was the moment of truth. A part of my half expected a security team to meet me at the door of the plane, and by force lead me away. But there was no security, only a surprisingly genuinely nice flight attendant who had displayed much patience during the flight.
After getting off the plane, I went to customs, and upon looking at my passport, the man asked me with furrowed eyebrows “Why are you here in England?” I briefly explained to him how I was going to be going to the Bible College in York, and with that he stamped my passport and let me through. At that point overwhelming joy overtook my heart, while I was not technically allowed to set foot in the UK, God had somehow allowed me in.
I was light as a feather, as I sang praises to God all the way to baggage claim! It is that semester that the Lord taught me much about leadership, and also allowed me to meet the woman that I had been waiting for all my life. But it all came back to God through His divine power, providing for me a way to get into England.
This here is a flashback, to the summer before I met Donna. I had a write a testimony for my Spiritual Formation class, so here is the rough draft. I so much enjoyed writing it that I decided before I went back and focused so much on the grammar, which would get annoying, to just post this right now. Let it encourage you, like recounting it encouraged me.
An Example Of God’s Provision
It was In England that I met my wife and God really began to give me direction to where He wanted me to go with my life. However, I almost wasn’t able to go there, and had it not been for the grace of God I would not have been able to meet my wonderful wife Donna.
See, I was living in Germany at the time, with my family near a military base, it was the summer before my last semester of bible college, and I was really counting down the days until I could go back to England to graduate. That summer was hard on me, being in a military community, all my Christian friends that I had the summer before had moved away, and the church that my family was going to lacked any kind of depth in it’s sermon content. So needless to say, I was very excited to back to good old York England for my last semester.
About a month before I was to head over there, I received an e-mail that essentially said that due to various new visa restrictions, I had to go to an English Embassy and get a student visa, or I would not be able to go to the school that semester. So with my plane ticket already paid for, and my heart longing to be back in the UK, my Dad and I started the process of making an appointment to going to the nearest English Embassy, which was about 200 miles away from where I was living.
Now the appointments booked fast, but I was blessed enough to find one that was a week and a half before I had to leave, so we got all my information together, and we headed to Muchengladbach, to get a visa stamped into my passport. After driving about 3.5 hours we finally arrived at the embassy, so my Dad and I got in line and waited. Right before it was my turn I was told to get my passport ready, so I look in the folder, and to my horror, it wasn’t in there. I quickly ran back to the van, and it was not to be found. Without my passport, there was nothing that I could do so I sadly, and fearfully, (knowing that my Mom was going to have a cow) went back to the house, and found the passport on the ground there, it had apparently fallen out of the folder when we were walking to the van.
At this point, I was crushed, I could have sworn that the Lord wanted me in England, I felt the call, and I knew. Yet at this point, I had no idea how I was going to get in. My Mom came up with a bunch of plans, saying how I could go to the Bible college in Germany for the last semester and things like that, but my heart longed for England.
So at this point my Mom said, “Aaron look at it this way, you already bought your plane ticket, just get on the plane and if God wants you to go to York, you’ll get in no problem, and if He does not want you in York, well you shouldn’t be there anyway.”
She had a good point, I mean what could I lose, except possibly an opportunity to see God completely circumvent a legal system in order to get His will done in my life. So, that week my parents drove me to the airport, and after praying for the Lord’s will to be done, I departed from them and got on the plane.
On the way there I was nervous, what if I had to get sent back, would I have to pay for that myself? Would they interrogate me? Strip search me? The possibilities were endless, and so was my imagination. But about half way there, I started to feel peace with my decision. Somehow I knew that I was doing what He wanted of me, and so that caused me to relax, because I knew that if I was in His will, He was the one who would take care of it.
So I sat back, and talked to the man next to me, who was apparently a language expert, and after telling him I was going to the Bible College in York, he started grilling me on my knowledge of the beauty of the Hebrew language, (a topic I still honestly know little or nothing about sadly) but needless to say, that conversation was probably a bit one-sided.
Now upon arriving in England my heart started beating fast, my brow became sweaty, this was the moment of truth. A part of my half expected a security team to meet me at the door of the plane, and by force lead me away. But there was no security, only a surprisingly genuinely nice flight attendant who had displayed much patience during the flight.
After getting off the plane, I went to customs, and upon looking at my passport, the man asked me with furrowed eyebrows “Why are you here in England?” I briefly explained to him how I was going to be going to the Bible College in York, and with that he stamped my passport and let me through. At that point overwhelming joy overtook my heart, while I was not technically allowed to set foot in the UK, God had somehow allowed me in.
I was light as a feather, as I sang praises to God all the way to baggage claim! It is that semester that the Lord taught me much about leadership, and also allowed me to meet the woman that I had been waiting for all my life. But it all came back to God through His divine power, providing for me a way to get into England.
Monday, December 28, 2009
My Christmas
This past Friday Donna and I celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple, and we did so at her parents house. We got there on Wednesday night, and met our friends at Bret and Heather's place, and we had a good time just catching up with our friends. We got back to Donna's folks house quite late and pretty much just immediately went to sleep.
The next day was Christmas Eve, and we spent most of that day playing on her parents Wii, and then went to church that night. While we loved seeing all the people we knew there, and were happy to be back at good old Pathways, a part of me couldn't help but miss going to the church that we are going to currently here in Buena Park. I just feel a connection there, and I'm pretty sure that Donna feels the same way.
Anyway, after church we came home, and just sat on the couches and hung out until about 10, and as the tradition went there in the Blaisdell House we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol, though some of us watched more than others (a.k.a. Donna fell asleep within the first 20 minutes.
Now as an outsider being brought in, Christmas is definately a different thing there. With my family we sleep in, and then open a few gifts in the morning. And then open more gifts in the afternoon and then some in the evening. We spread things out. This is completely different from Donna's tradition. There, everyone gets awakened at an early hour (7am) by Donna, and then once everyone comes in the living room they all open up all their presents at once.
Now there is something to be said for both traditions (except maybe the getting up at 7 part) it is on one hand nice to spread the gifts out throughout the entire day, but on the other hand it is also nice to just get it all out in the open so that you can have the whole day to use what you got, so neither is better... but I lean towards wanting to do it the way that I have always done it (doing it that way for 24 previous Christmas's made me biased)
As for the gift getting department, I really made out like a bandit, everyone did so well this year. I got pretty much everything that I wanted, and more (J and Les got us a Wii! Yipee)
That afternoon, I got to have a nice chat with my family over skype (that is an amazing program) and then Donna, Jo, Chris, and I beat the Raving Rabbid's game on their parents Wii.
Later that afternoon we had a huge ham dinner which I think my waist might be feeling now. It was delicious. I pretty much immediately after dinner fell into a Christmas dinner coma, and slept for about an hour while most of the others watched a movie.
That night, Donna and I went over to Brock's and then carpooled over to the movie theater to see Sherlock Holmes. Let me tell you that movie was fantastic. I loved pretty much everything about it and I honestly would recommend it to pretty much anyone.
We came home the next morning, and had to get back to the daily grind of work. It's nice though having the break from class. While I enjoy it a lot, it is nice not having to go to school every single morning.
Yesterday, the 27th of December, Donna and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary. We did so by going to work, and then when I got home cleaning our apartment, and then cooking Donna dinner, quickly followed by both of us going to bed at around 9:30 and sleeping till almost 10 the next morning... Exciting stuff I'm sure.
Anyway, with the New Year coming up this Friday, I guess I should start reflecting on my year, a year in review, if you will. With everything that has gone on for me, and for Donna, it would be good to look back.
Anyway I hope everyone's Christmas was amazing! and that as we continue to ponder God's remedy for our failings, that we would truly continue, not in the "Spirit of Christmas" whatever that is, but instead we would continue in God's Spirit, allowing Him to lead our lives so that we too can express the love and generosity that God first expressed to us first in a manger and ultimately though Calvary.
The next day was Christmas Eve, and we spent most of that day playing on her parents Wii, and then went to church that night. While we loved seeing all the people we knew there, and were happy to be back at good old Pathways, a part of me couldn't help but miss going to the church that we are going to currently here in Buena Park. I just feel a connection there, and I'm pretty sure that Donna feels the same way.
Anyway, after church we came home, and just sat on the couches and hung out until about 10, and as the tradition went there in the Blaisdell House we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol, though some of us watched more than others (a.k.a. Donna fell asleep within the first 20 minutes.
Now as an outsider being brought in, Christmas is definately a different thing there. With my family we sleep in, and then open a few gifts in the morning. And then open more gifts in the afternoon and then some in the evening. We spread things out. This is completely different from Donna's tradition. There, everyone gets awakened at an early hour (7am) by Donna, and then once everyone comes in the living room they all open up all their presents at once.
Now there is something to be said for both traditions (except maybe the getting up at 7 part) it is on one hand nice to spread the gifts out throughout the entire day, but on the other hand it is also nice to just get it all out in the open so that you can have the whole day to use what you got, so neither is better... but I lean towards wanting to do it the way that I have always done it (doing it that way for 24 previous Christmas's made me biased)
As for the gift getting department, I really made out like a bandit, everyone did so well this year. I got pretty much everything that I wanted, and more (J and Les got us a Wii! Yipee)
That afternoon, I got to have a nice chat with my family over skype (that is an amazing program) and then Donna, Jo, Chris, and I beat the Raving Rabbid's game on their parents Wii.
Later that afternoon we had a huge ham dinner which I think my waist might be feeling now. It was delicious. I pretty much immediately after dinner fell into a Christmas dinner coma, and slept for about an hour while most of the others watched a movie.
That night, Donna and I went over to Brock's and then carpooled over to the movie theater to see Sherlock Holmes. Let me tell you that movie was fantastic. I loved pretty much everything about it and I honestly would recommend it to pretty much anyone.
We came home the next morning, and had to get back to the daily grind of work. It's nice though having the break from class. While I enjoy it a lot, it is nice not having to go to school every single morning.
Yesterday, the 27th of December, Donna and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary. We did so by going to work, and then when I got home cleaning our apartment, and then cooking Donna dinner, quickly followed by both of us going to bed at around 9:30 and sleeping till almost 10 the next morning... Exciting stuff I'm sure.
Anyway, with the New Year coming up this Friday, I guess I should start reflecting on my year, a year in review, if you will. With everything that has gone on for me, and for Donna, it would be good to look back.
Anyway I hope everyone's Christmas was amazing! and that as we continue to ponder God's remedy for our failings, that we would truly continue, not in the "Spirit of Christmas" whatever that is, but instead we would continue in God's Spirit, allowing Him to lead our lives so that we too can express the love and generosity that God first expressed to us first in a manger and ultimately though Calvary.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Money
Money is probably the number 1 thing that I worry about. I know that I am to be anxious for nothing, but I find that there are definitely times when I cant help but begin to worry about our financial situation. Last night I was laying in bed a bit worried about our finances, and when I fell asleep I had a dream. I was at my house in Ga, and I only had a roll of penny's to my name. I complained how I didn't have enough money for anything, and out of frustration, I grabbed one of the penny's, and threw it at the wall, and when it bounced back it was a nickel. I threw it again and it came back as a dime, and then a quarter, a 50 cent piece, and then finally one of those gold dollars. And it was then that I realized that God was providing for me, there were scoffers saying that somehow the money was already up there and I was just knocking it loose, and that it wasn't a miracle, but I knew that it was, that He was changing my meager circumstances and transform it into something great. It was later this morning that I was reminded of the story in Matthew 17 in which Jesus told Peter to go fish, and when he caught the fish it was the exact amount that he and Jesus needed to pay their taxes, and it caused me to both realize that our God is very good to us, and that if God Is more than able to provide. If He can cause a fish to swallow enough for the taxes for the both of them, the He is more than able to provide for our meager existence. Our God is good!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
And then it gets rough.
Anyway, so I have a new layout, I got tired of my old one, and I figured it was time for a change... I hope you like it, I know I do.
So this week has been hard. On Saturday night I got sick, and I got worse. On Monday I went to class, and I was so sick that I went home after my first class and slept, but because it was my second day, I still went to work. And then on Wednesday Donna caught my illness. My mom thinks it was the swine flu, but because I didn't grow a curly tail, and have an intense desire to roll in the mud (at least any more than usual) I think it might have just been the regular flu. I'm finally feeling not dead, and I think Donna is feeling much better as well.
Yesterday, when driving to class, my car started to sputter, and eventually died. Praise the Lord that it died right by a mechanic, which was also in walking distance from where I live, so I was able to drop it off there and walk home. Long story short, it cost 425 to repair and it still needs more maintenance done to it, but it at least drives...
So, all that to say that this week was rough. But God was good, and kept us alive and going, even when in my tiredness and frustration, I began to doubt Him. Thank you Lord for providing for us, and keeping us safe. Please continue to do so.
Anyway, something else I noticed is that I lack discipline. Especially when it comes to the areas of daily devotion and prayer . Now I know that this is something a lot of people struggle with, but I'm seeing all the more now how much I NEED it. While this is of course obvious to any believer, it has really been hitting me hard lately.
It all started the other day when Donna was at Starbucks, and, long story short a man walked by her and and said "I just wanted to say, that I felt lead to tell you that God cherishes His time with you." When she told me that story, I could just hear God say to me, "I cherish my time with you too." And I realized that I do not spend enough time with Him.
Now you'd think that that would have changed my heart and I am now spending hours upon hours with Him. But the truth is, while for that day, things may have been better, I got preoccupied with other things, and next thing you know I realize that I have not spent time with God in over a week. Sure I go to class and learn about the Word, sure I may go to church and worship and hear a good sermon, but how much time have I spent before the Throne of Grace myself? Little.
And when I do come to Him it's usually because I have a problem, or because I feel guilted into it. And I hate that.
Yet this has been a consistent pattern in my life...
Now, I'm not entirely sure how, but this has got to change. Because God is way too important not to be the number 1 priority in my life.
So this week has been hard. On Saturday night I got sick, and I got worse. On Monday I went to class, and I was so sick that I went home after my first class and slept, but because it was my second day, I still went to work. And then on Wednesday Donna caught my illness. My mom thinks it was the swine flu, but because I didn't grow a curly tail, and have an intense desire to roll in the mud (at least any more than usual) I think it might have just been the regular flu. I'm finally feeling not dead, and I think Donna is feeling much better as well.
Yesterday, when driving to class, my car started to sputter, and eventually died. Praise the Lord that it died right by a mechanic, which was also in walking distance from where I live, so I was able to drop it off there and walk home. Long story short, it cost 425 to repair and it still needs more maintenance done to it, but it at least drives...
So, all that to say that this week was rough. But God was good, and kept us alive and going, even when in my tiredness and frustration, I began to doubt Him. Thank you Lord for providing for us, and keeping us safe. Please continue to do so.
Anyway, something else I noticed is that I lack discipline. Especially when it comes to the areas of daily devotion and prayer . Now I know that this is something a lot of people struggle with, but I'm seeing all the more now how much I NEED it. While this is of course obvious to any believer, it has really been hitting me hard lately.
It all started the other day when Donna was at Starbucks, and, long story short a man walked by her and and said "I just wanted to say, that I felt lead to tell you that God cherishes His time with you." When she told me that story, I could just hear God say to me, "I cherish my time with you too." And I realized that I do not spend enough time with Him.
Now you'd think that that would have changed my heart and I am now spending hours upon hours with Him. But the truth is, while for that day, things may have been better, I got preoccupied with other things, and next thing you know I realize that I have not spent time with God in over a week. Sure I go to class and learn about the Word, sure I may go to church and worship and hear a good sermon, but how much time have I spent before the Throne of Grace myself? Little.
And when I do come to Him it's usually because I have a problem, or because I feel guilted into it. And I hate that.
Yet this has been a consistent pattern in my life...
Now, I'm not entirely sure how, but this has got to change. Because God is way too important not to be the number 1 priority in my life.
Friday, October 16, 2009
My life, or something like it.
Well, I know it has been a while since I last updated this thing, and that's just because life has become really busy as of late, which kind of stinks, because it causes me to realize just undisciplined I am. It also makes me feel frazzled.
To start off the apartment is cool, and it is really finally starting to feel like home. We have pretty much got everything put away, which is nice. We just need to figure out what to put on the walls and we'll be completely here. I gave my Dad the virtual tour via skype, it's nice here.
School is alright, the classes are alright, but I've found this past week at least, that I really had the wrong motivation when it came to homework, I've been doing it just to get it done, but not with the type of introspective thought that should be going into it. Plus, I've found that I'm trying to just show everyone how smart I am. Which sadly is working, people have been complimenting me on it, but that's just a pride issue. I should be there to learn not to show off. On the bright side since I recognized these things I can change.
I will say though that it has been good. The teachers really love Jesus, and I can tell that through talking to them, and seeing them, and I know that there is a lot that I can learn from them.
The latest news, I got a job at a comic book store! It was cool, I had been looking around for a job, and I asked the guy if they were hiring and he said that he was quitting within the next week, and told me to turn in an application, so I went and applied on Wednesday and the owner told me that while that store wasn't hiring, the other one he owed down the road was. So after a 30 minute interview about which comics I read, and how reliable I am, I got the job provided I could find the other store.
So I did and I the people there were really awesome. I've only been there for a little while, but I think I'll be liking it.
So, anyway, if you are reading this, I probably miss you. I hope that things are going well.
2 weeks till my birthday!
-Aaron
To start off the apartment is cool, and it is really finally starting to feel like home. We have pretty much got everything put away, which is nice. We just need to figure out what to put on the walls and we'll be completely here. I gave my Dad the virtual tour via skype, it's nice here.
School is alright, the classes are alright, but I've found this past week at least, that I really had the wrong motivation when it came to homework, I've been doing it just to get it done, but not with the type of introspective thought that should be going into it. Plus, I've found that I'm trying to just show everyone how smart I am. Which sadly is working, people have been complimenting me on it, but that's just a pride issue. I should be there to learn not to show off. On the bright side since I recognized these things I can change.
I will say though that it has been good. The teachers really love Jesus, and I can tell that through talking to them, and seeing them, and I know that there is a lot that I can learn from them.
The latest news, I got a job at a comic book store! It was cool, I had been looking around for a job, and I asked the guy if they were hiring and he said that he was quitting within the next week, and told me to turn in an application, so I went and applied on Wednesday and the owner told me that while that store wasn't hiring, the other one he owed down the road was. So after a 30 minute interview about which comics I read, and how reliable I am, I got the job provided I could find the other store.
So I did and I the people there were really awesome. I've only been there for a little while, but I think I'll be liking it.
So, anyway, if you are reading this, I probably miss you. I hope that things are going well.
2 weeks till my birthday!
-Aaron
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Quick update
Hey all,
I was reading my past blog, and I realized that that was probably a bad one to have as the last blog up at the time. While it was an honest representation of what I was feeling at that time... I'm doing better.
Anyway, I will hopefully have a new post up soon, I've been super busy with school, being married, and life. But expect a new post soon.
Aaron
I was reading my past blog, and I realized that that was probably a bad one to have as the last blog up at the time. While it was an honest representation of what I was feeling at that time... I'm doing better.
Anyway, I will hopefully have a new post up soon, I've been super busy with school, being married, and life. But expect a new post soon.
Aaron
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