Uplifting Spirits

It's been too long since I posted last. I figured I should definitely fix that. And since I'm sitting in the library working on boring Computer Graphics homework, I figured it's a good time ;)

God has been teaching me some cool things here lately, and giving me a "second wind" to really finish out this semester strong. Here lately I've felt like I haven't been very productive spiritually. I set for myself several goals this semester to help myself become more of a man of God, and I feel like I have had a hard time with pretty much all of it. I think that's just it though. My effort just doesn't cut it.

Last night in core we talked about the Holy Spirit. We read Romans 8, and I think it hit me then. I was trying to accomplish the Holy Spirit's work in my life myself, rather than relying on him to accomplish his work. Here's an excerpt:

"The mind of sinful man^[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind^[f] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

It's pretty clear that the sinful nature cannot please God, only the Spirit can. And that spirit leads to, rather, IS life and peace. I often don't feel very peaceful. I feel like I don't measure up, I don't amount to much. I need to rely on the spirit to energize me, to help me. He should be living IN me, and working through me. Here's another excerpt:

"9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."

It's pretty plain there. I need to develop self control so the sinful nature doesn't reign in me. But self control is a fruit of the Spirit. It all points back to him and his work in me. Jesus said he had to leave so the counselor would come. That counselor is who changes us and guides us.

Galatians 5 says

" 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

Again, it's the spirits work in us that produces those things, not us. I've heard this all before, but it's so easy to forget for some reason. I needed a refresher. I think I got it. God is good.

First Game Night, and Interview

Well Jesse and I's first game night was basically awesome! People came out, and I think it was fun. ABF Swing was amazing too!

I also had my first interview with Aaron Knoles which was really cool. We had some breakfast at Atlanta Bread Company and I grilled him with questions about ministry, life after college, ministry after college, decisions to make now to help me be where I want to be later, etc. Good discussion. I'm looking forward to my next one!

Short post, I know, but I'm in class and probably should be paying attention or something ;)

Game Night

Jesse and I are planning on having our first game night on February 23 at 8:00PM which sadly will have some overlap with the ABF swing dancing event, but so is life.

we will be playing Halo 3 (hopefully) so we need xbox 360s from people, as well as smash brothers melee on gamecube. We hope to have at least 2 copies of each. We will be in the galaxy rooms and will have pizza. And it will be awesome.

Sick and Interviews

Well, I've finally gotten over my sickness, mostly, which is good. I was one of the lucky ones to come home from camp sick enough to keep me from school and work for a few days, but I think I'm on the climb now, and am feeling pretty good. I'm hoping I'll be able to play soccer tomorrow and not be too badly effected. Jesse is sick as well, so we haven't made any progress on our thing sadly.

As for Ministry Interviews, I'd like to interview the following people:

1. Ronnie
2. Aaron Knoles
3. Phil Martin
4. Pastor Wayne Spears from back home

I'm looking forward to all of these!

Update on Project

At the SOF meeting today I asked delvora(SP?) about the ability to reserve classrooms and we can do that no problem, however, we aren't allowed to bring food into them. So we'll (jesse and I) need to decide whether we want to do a classroom or another room. At camp we can talk about it and line more of the details out and come back ready for butt kicking :)

Outreach Proposal

My initial idea for an outreach project was to have some kind of LAN party thing where we can invite people to play their favorite game, etc, and perhaps do this monthly or so. However, I quickly realized that getting enough computers, equipment, etc, would be an issue and asking people to bring their own computer would vastly limit who could come. I also realized that allowing people to bring and play whatever games they wanted would turn into several mini games going on, alot of headache with finding people to play games with that want to play the same game, much piracy, and just wouldn't be a great experience.

So I came to the conclusion that perhaps doing a video game competition of some kind where we pick the game and invite people to come play would be better. I then noticed that Jesse had the same idea (actually Chris Seiler told me that Jesse had the same idea). So either we could work on it together to help minimize the cost and effort, or I could move to a different project. I just think given the type of people we have here at UTD, this really is a great option. The goal would be to meet people and build friendships that would last outside of the even, not attempting to destroy all opposition and make everyone feel like little girls. Basically, we shouldn't approach the competition with a competitive mindset.

I'd like for the events to be Alpha Beta Fun events. We could have pizza, drinks, etc as well. Any feedback would be great!

Thoughts on Readings

First Post!

I figured I should write thought provoking for my first blog post so here goes.

In our leader meetings, we are discussing a book called The Jesus I never knew by Philip Yancey (good book btw). While reading a chapter titled "Temptation: Showdown in the Desert" something that was said really stood out to me. While there is several things to be learned from this chapter, what struck me the most was a discussion about the weakness of Satan's method. At the end of Acts 2, we see a picture of the early church in action:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

- Acts 2:42-47

Here we see people who do whatever it takes to help each other out and make sure everyone is cared for, had enough to eat, was seen as equal, etc. And people were added to their number daily. It's a brilliant and powerful way to live.

Many years later, Karl Marx tried pushing these same ideas in the form of Communism. Everyone is equal and has the same amount of food and resources. All things are communal. However it fell apart. Why?

From the book:

The editors marked wistfully that Christianity and communism have many of the same ideals: equality, sharing, justice, and racial harmony. Yet they had to admit the Marxist pursuit of that vision had produced the worst nightmares the world has ever seen. Why?

"We don't know how to motivate people to show compassion," said the editor-in-chief. "We tried raising money for the children of Chernobyl, but the average Russian citizen would rather spend his money on drink. How do you reform and motivate people? How do you get them to be good?"

The Author goes on to say that guns and bullwhips don't create morality, but rather "produce defiant subjects and tyrannical rulers who lose their moral core. ... Goodness cannot be imposed externally, from the top down; it must grow internally, from the bottom up."

He basically concludes by saying that the answer is that love can conquer the human heart and is the only answer. Although Satan wished to tempt Jesus to become a ruler and and awe people into belief and overcome evil with power, Jesus ultimately chose Love as his tool.

That was the problem with Communism. In practice, it was a coercive technique that tried to force people to be moral, to the point of death.

I could say more but I'm not a good writer and it's late and I'm tired. My biggest take-away from all of this is that Love is really the answer to humanities problems, and perfect Love only comes from God which was displayed in Christ.

Comments are more than welcome!