Freedom vs. Slavery

So school's been in swing for a week now and i think that its going to be a real busy year, but based on what has happened so far and the people i've already met, i know its going to be nuts.

An issue that I've been commonly thinking about on and off for about a month now is the concept of freedom vs. slavery. These are two very hot topics, especially from the context of American history. What's the first thing you think of when you hear these two words? I'll make a few assumptions that probably represent how a majority of people perceive slavery and freedom.

Let's start with the idea of slavery. Think of the emotions that you feel when you hear that word. What images cloud your mind when you think of slavery? If you're like most Americans, you think of black people being kidnapped and forced to work on plantations, being whipped and beaten, and having to put up with awful living conditions. Most people, and even myself in the past, consider slavery as an oppressive force where people are made to work against their will. In pre-civil war times, African Americans where viewed as property and not people. I am glad American slavery is now abolished, although some of it still happens in the sex trafficking trade. Overall, slavery holds a very negative connation about post-modern Americans.

Freedom, on the other hand, is generally held as the opposite of slavery. While in slavery your rights are taken away and you can't control the decisions of your future, free people are thought to be able to do whatever their heart desires, to go wherever they ordain in life. In America, we have freedom of speech, religion, freedom to work where we want, and live in a decent house if we want to. I love these freedoms and this blog itself is a manifestation of those very freedoms I am very thankful for. People who experience freedom tell other to 'follow their hearts' and 'do what feels right'. We all love freedom here in America and it's something that we love to boast about.

So with that do you have cozy images of waving flags and following your life's amitions? Well I'm here to kind of shoot that down and say that no one is free and everyone is in slavery, which may not always be a bad thing. Also, that everyone experiences true worship whether they follow a god or not. I'm saying these things are true of everyone. I'm saying that in your life, you will choose to serve something, whether you realize it or not. You might serve money and commit your life to finding the best possible job to make the most money. You may serve your impulsive passions and chase after women (or men, ladies), nice cars, fast rides, and just having a good time. Maybe you just want to make a difference in the world. Others will commit their everyday to following a god or God and make His purposes their purposes. So I want you to ask yourself

Why do you do what you do?

Why are you here? What is your ultimate goal? When will you finally be happy? These are important questions for any 20-someone to ask themself. I've thought long and hard about these questions, and I'm pretty sure I know why I'm here. You see, in the Bible, it says there are two things that you can live to please: the flesh and the Spirit (God). "For those who lives according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who lives according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit" (Rm. 8:5).

The Bible stresses repeatedly in the New Testament that there are only ways to live: satisfying the flesh, and satisfying the Spirit of God. And the satisfying of the flesh breaks down into several different compartments, whether that's materialism, lust, impulsiveness, the priority of security. Sometimes pleasing the flesh can actually sound like a good goal to have, like "My family is the most important thing to me" or "I just want to do what I want in life". And while loving and providing for a family is pleasing to God, others will live their life just to live through their children, at the expense of themselves growing spiritually in the Holy Spirit. Others will try and balance Jesus with everything else, and think that they can do whatever they like as long as they make it to a Sunday morning service. Some people obviously are living in the flesh, while others are a little more tricky to find.

In this life, you will serve something. You will have a religion. You will be a slave. The only thing you can decide for yourself is what you will serve and who will be your god. I once was a slave to my flesh. Before I started living by the Holy Spirit, I was a guy ruled only by my emotions and momentary passions. At any point of my whole life from when I was a kid to about a year ago, I was a remarkably materialistic person. In elementary school, it was action figures and trading cards that sapped my time, energy and money. In middle and high school, it was video games. I'd feel trapped to spend 4+ hours a day advancing in some worthless game, only to turn it off and return to the real world. Sometimes I even felt like I didn't really want to play, but for some strange reason, I had to play. That is slavery. After video games, it was DVDs. That was where my money went. I had no self control, and was a slave once again to my flesh.

I can think of endless examples of slavery to the flesh growing up, and after it all, I now say that I deeply regret spending so much time and money on things that will someday burn. Slave is an excellent word to describe how I felt. At times, yes, it was thrilling, but absolutely enslaving. When I encountered the Spirit last year, I was made free in the cross. I never thought that Christ could set me free from almost 20 years of materialistic addiction, but I was. I am today a former materialist. And that is true freedom. Freedom to not have feel trapped into sinning and breaking God's commands. Freedom knowing that things I do today and tomorrow will last for eternity, the time and money that I spent is sowing into people and relationships rather than myself. How can you not want that kind of freedom?

And it goes farther than just materialism. I was also once a vessel to a very impure mind. Anytime temptation strolled toward me, I couldn't resist looking at something I shouldn't and letting my mind run rampant. Believe when I say it was far beyond awful, it was revolting. I didn't even stand a chance. My mind was a haven for sexual thought and disgusting desires, but during high school, I finally stood up and excepted the Spirit, and took my stand. And since then, no better word can I think of than freedom. I slip here and there, but the Lord has given me a great sense of purity in the last 4-5 years that I am eternally thankful for.

It's freedom to no be defeated, freedom to not have to live as the world does.

The freedom of not having to worry about death.

In reverse to being a slave to sin, the Bible says we can actually be slaves of righteousness. Answer me this: when is slavery actually a good thing? When we have a good master. In the Biblical times, slavery could actually make a difference in a poor person's life. People with no means of living would offer themselves to wealthy land owners and request that they are given food and shelter in exchange for doing whatever that master asked. This was Biblical slavery, where slavery was a last resort for the poor to be taken care of. You see we view so many things from a post-modern American perspective when we declare that "slavery is ultimately wrong." I disagree, but would abject that slavery to an oppressive master is wrong. In the case of life in the Spirit, slavery is paradoxically freedom.

We are slaves in the sense that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us and informs us of the will of God. When we disobey or ignore that call, we feel conviction. We trade in our earthly plans for a plan not written by hands. The code within us that says that we can become God is obsolete, and this is called dying to ourselves. We our now slaves to righteousness, committing our lives to everything God would call us to do. This is freedom from sin and enslavement to righteousness.

So I'll just end here with another passage from Romans chapter 6, which perfectly describes everything I've just said.

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This is True life, this is the gospel.

Hopefully this post inspires you to live as a slave to righteousness and freedom from sin and death. thanks for reading- Chris

Haiti

As many of you know, I’ve decided to go on a trip to Haiti this winter break with some other friends to assist in the earthquake relief effort. Me and Jason Carlson are still trying to work out details as fast as we can so we can promote the trip more effectively. Basically what we want to do is go down there for around 10 days and do a variety of rubble-clearing, construction, visit orphanages, prayer walk, etc. Overall I think it will be a life-changing trip for all of us.

But the main question I've been getting is why I want to go. And that answer is a lot bigger than "I want to help the Haitians". I've noticed in American culture this year that supporting Haiti relief efforts is almost kind of the cool thing to do. I mean look at how many celebrities are supporting the efforts, and honestly it probably great PR and a great way to pick up more fans. Not saying that's why they're doing it, but you do look like a nice, charitable person if you support Haiti.

Since last fall, the Holy Spirit has been growing in me a desire to rescue people around the world that are victims of injustices and physical challenges. A lot of this came through the Spirit's working through the teachings of Francis Chan, such as his messages and Crazy Love. It wasn't so much that he was good at convincing to emphasize a certain good deed, but rather that he simply drew out what the Bible already says on the matter that I've been so ignorant of for the better part of my life. Here's a couple problems I see with how American Christians think regarding this issue-

1. I think as American Christians, we're really good at talking. Just look at how many ways we have to communicate without actually being physically present with people. Its astonishing. In the church buildings, we like to talk a lot as well. We listen to at least one sermon every week, often more, we have small groups, prayer groups, Bible studies, we get together for coffee. In these settings we often entertain a multitude of wishful thinking. Maybe we talk about how we're so stuck in certain sin and all we want is a way out. We make committments to start fresh and live life different (This time I promise, is the last time! Ya, how many times have you heard that?). We say, "I really want to get really good at the guitar. No, this summer I'm gonna do it." See what I mean? We really do a lot of talking. And when it comes to helping the poor, its no different.

Last night I watched Hotel Rwanda, a movie about the 1993 racial genocide of the Tutsi's in Rwanda. During a conversation between the main character and a UN peacekeeper, the main character, Paul, stresses the need to have the monstrosities shot on film so the whole world could see. He asks the the UN officer, "Well, after the Americans watch what has happened here, they will have no choice but to help, right?" And the officer replies by saying "Actually they'll probably look at it and say, 'Oh my God that's horrible', and go back to eating their dinner." I don't want to be that guy. With so much talking we do, I want to just get up and do something that counts, not just give up a few bucks and move on.

I don't want to be like Peter- who talked a little bit too much at times. He promised Jesus he would never leave Him, no matter what happened. He talked like that even when Jesus said, No, you will deny me. I don't want to talk big and then deny Jesus now that I've got a shot at this.

2. The second mistake we make- we believe that some people are 'called' to have a heart for the poor. That's not true at all, every man and woman under the banner of Christ should have an immense heart for the poor and abused, because that is God's heart. Just read the Bible for once, it's all over the place. Want to read a great example of doing rather than talking? Read Isaiah 58. Now some people are called to make the life's work about helping the poor, others not, but this should be a frontline concern of every Christian. It's like saying, "I think God is calling me to be a patient person." Every Christian should strive to be more patient, simply because God is patient.

With that being said, I have felt a strong call on my life to make it about helping people oppressed and afflicted. I mean when are we more like Jesus than when we are rescuing people? Isn't that what He did for us? What a beautiful model that is- that we can represent a part of what Christ did for us by rescuing the poor. You guys, this has to be what we are about. We give fairly well when disaster is on the front pages, but give it a few months and everyone forgets and moves on. We're so attached to this idea that out of all we make, we keep 90% while we give God 10%. You guys, I think God meant that we give the top 10% of what we have, not the leftovers. David once said that he never wants to give a sacrifice that costs him nothing. May we live with the same heart.

I'm going to Haiti this winter break because I am tired of talking, I am ready to get in there and spread the gospel of Jesus through good deeds. I feel like I may do this kind of thing my whole life, and this is my first taste of it. I want to be there in the rubble and see and taste and hear the sounds of the broken world, and I want to experience it for all it's worth. I want to rep Christ in the way lay down my life, I want to be a part of God's story in Haiti. I know all of this has happened for a reason. Haiti has the reputation for of a wicked nation- I know like New Orleans, God is doing something beautiful in rebuilding the nation. And I get to be a part of that? What a rush! This is what I have to do, this is right.

So please, help us however you can by praying intently for us, supporting us financially (opportunities will come), and who knows maybe I just convinced you to come with us. I thank all of you who have realized God's heart for the broken and are doing something that counts.

- Chris

How God Reveals His Divine Character Through His Creation: Earth's Oceans

So this is my third blog since I've been doing this, and well I guess I've not been very consistent, and who knows, I may be the only one who reads this. If so, cool I guess.

Let me first say that I am starting a new project that is gonna kill when it is done. KILL. (Figuratively, that is.) Can't say anything about it, but it will be revealed around the end of the year. I can say that it is bringing me closer to God and it will all of you too. And it will be big. This won't be another one of those things that you start and never finish, no, this will be completed, and if you knew what it was, you'd understand why.

Second, I will also say that I am really wanting to go somewhere where God's beauty through creation is displayed on more epic proportions. In general, I have been blown away by God's creation like never before this year. Summit was a big push in that direction, and Party of the Galaxy helped spurn that as well. Something I love to do is just stop life in all directions and just watch. To stop thinking about what I'm doing, what I've done, and what I'm going to do, people, and activities and just watch life outside myself unfold before my eyes, namely, in nature. If you're like me, then you get this real nostalgic feeling every time you go on a hike, kind of like you're coming home after being away your whole life. Like you used to be one with the landscape of the trees, waters, and wind, but you left and now you're coming back after an eternity. And I'm not trying to be all New-agey "spiritual" on you, because I believe this feeling comes from our origins as man living in the garden of Eden, naked and innocent in nature. but then we sinned and fell short of perfection in nature, and when we return it's like going home again.

I want to move to somewhere on the west coast so bad, at least for a short season of my life. If you haven't been somewhere like California, Oregon, Washington, British Colombia, or Alaska, I pity you. I really do. My favorite part of America, hands down. I love the warmness, the palm trees, the mountains, and the rain, but one of my favorite things ever is the sea. Few things have I seen with more beauty, but also scares me to death. Even over mountains, the sea makes me feel incredibly, incredibly small. I mean, what can you do against all that water and might? What can you do to stop the shifting of the tide? What creature is larger than a whale? What expanse is deeper than the deep Atlantic rifts? We've only explored 5% of the body of water that covers 75% of the earth. Who knows what mysteries lie in the deep, dark places of the ocean.

Against the power of the ocean there is now hope for a man. As you sink deeper towards the floor, the pressure crushes your body. While the seas themselves extinguish the life of a man, it gives life to millions of species. From the shores, beaches and reefs teeming with bizarre and colorful kinds of swimming creature to the barren reaches unknown to all perception, life inhabits the seas. I love sitting by the sea and watching the ever-changing waves, smelling the bitter air and listening to the pendelumnic crashes, but being actually in the open ocean scares me to death! There's no way of knowing what's under you. How terrifying is that. When I went on my youth group's trips to Vancouver and an island off the coast of British Colombia, we used to jump off of this rock into the sea where sea lions often poked their head up. Below us, dark waters. For goodness sakes, what if one of them started acting hostile! In the long and short of it, the mystery of the sea both enchants me and terrifies me.

A lot like my view of God. God isn't like a kiddy pool where the water is clean and shallow, and you can have fun and be safe. You can't see shore to shore with God. He is a mystery. And because of the terrifying mystery that he is, I love Him for that. He is bigger than even the seas we know. His understanding is deeper than the largest trench. He is more consistent than the tide. His wrath makes a violent tsunami seem like a bubble bath. He has removed removed our transgressions as far as the East is from the West. Whatever I begin to feel around the ocean, I know God is greater in every way. Don't ever let anyone convince you that our God is a nice, friendly, cute little God that you can manipulate by saying just the right words. Because He is more uncontrollable than the tidal wave, and with the breath of His nostrils, He parted the Red Sea. It wasn't even straining for Him. Fear Him greatly. But let that fear of mystery drive you to love Him, for He is worthy to be lifting up by every tongue and every people. Amen.

"You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea"- Micah 7:19

Moving from Idleness to an Passionate Display of the Glory of Our LORD (Resting Well)

To define someone's personality, we commonly use the words introvert and extrovert, pertaining to where one get's there source of energy. Of course, the introvert builds energy from withdrawing and having precious alone time, while the extrovert gains energy by conversation and relationships. There is no superior option of the two, and generally all people would agree that both people time and alone time is necessary to a certain degree. In other words, introverts can still love to be around people, and extroverts can still love time alone to think. The issue that divides them, however, is how they gain energy.

Well with this you may begin to analyze your one self and try to decide from where you get your energy, and you're not alone if you have. I've been an introvert my whole life. Part of this I do believe is the way that God on high has wired me, according to the plan He has for my life and the spiritual gifts He intends to bless me with. But much of it has also developed, by me, over time due to experience and environment. As a small child, I enjoyed it when my parents sent me to my room when I was in trouble, because that meant that I could go play with my toys. I loved to build things out of Legos, and when I did I was creator and the boss, and could do things my own way. After moving to a large public school in the 3rd grade, that individualistic personality began to really flourish as I was excluded from the cliques of the popular kids at lunch tables and recess, and was usually left to play by myself in the sand. I can still name all the real friends I had 3rd- 7th grade on one hand, and that drove me deep into introversion. I've never been good in social settings since, and this is largely why. Even though I began to make friends in high school, those wounds have never healed.

And so I would typically be classified as an introvert, and I can maintain that- I'm the kind of guy that could, if given the opportunity, sit down and play a video game for 10 hours. And I have. I could watch multiple movies in the dark all by myself. I prefer working alone rather than in groups, at least if my primary objective is to work quickly. And I love sitting with a friend but not saying anything at all. In short, man-to-man relationship does not drive my life.

On the flip side, I struggle greatly in large group settings. I have a small personality, and that very easily is drowned out by big personalities. I find myself worn out after spending large amounts of time with people, and am often intimidated by certain character types. I find myself "making myself" hang out with people. (Not that I don't enjoy it, but there are several times where I must work hard, and I very commonly label this as selfishness.)

Recharging for me used to be doing what I want to do, meaning watching a movie, surfing the web, lounging and listening to music, etc. But there has been a major shift in my personality since I have began really following Christ (I usually place that shift during fall of 2009). I used call myself an introvert. But now I realize that I am neither an introvert nor extrovert.

I have found that the singular source of all my energy comes directly from God in heaven, and any other source of energy merely amounts to frustration. I used to be able to spend an hour on the internet and be okay with it. But now I can't live with myself. The place where I have discovered true, complete regeneration is not in the hands of people, or me, but in the union, favor, and presence of the Lord Jesus. This year, scripture has come alive to me like never before, prayer has become a privilege, and worship has become a true celebration to me. I'll spend up to 6 hours in one day doing a combination of reading my Bible, thinking and meditating on the Lord, enjoying Him, treasuring Him and listening to others who feel the same through the way of podcast. Whether that's in a quiet place in my room or in a food court, it's all the same- when I'm dwelling completely on my Lord, I find my only sense of home. I've dispensed with the "quiet time" label and just made it an all-day endeavor.

Therefore, I can't stand to have time to myself anymore. Time spent without the authority of a holy God is always a waste. This seems like an incredibly bold statement to make, because we begin to think of all the ways that we are guilty of violating this already today, if not in the last hour. I'm guilty of it today, and I confess that before you and the Lord. But something in me tells me this is true, and not only true, but possible to live out. One might tell me, "well you can't always be thinking about God, always be in prayer, always be serving. You need to take a break every once and a while." Yes you need to take a break, if God alone is not your source of energy. We make it sound like making much of Christ consumes our energy, and it can, but I'd argue that even all of our rest should be done under the authority of the cross, that being satisfied in Christ should be central even in our down time.

I did something new last fall and started to really observe the Sabbath. After Brian Sturm mentioned it at a Life Group leader meeting, I decided to take it more seriously. I committed to consecrating Sundays by withdrawing and spending my time a variety of ways, that could include taking a nap, watching a sermon, reading a God-centered book, reading scripture, journaling, or spending intention time with one friend. I stayed away from schoolwork if possible, computer and any other forms of entertainment. It was a discipline, but I soon found it to be not only easy but incredibly refreshing and entirely important. I soon started to wonder: What would my life look like if I cut out the crap, and made every moment about the glory of our LORD?

This is the opposite of waste. Since then, I feel uneasy about doing so many of the things I used to love: watching movies or TV by myself, web-surfing for pleasure, listening to man-centered music, etc. I hope you're not thinking, oh no, Chris Presnell is here telling me that all those things are sinful and we should stop all together. Please don't see me as try to tear down and incorrectly judge, but rather my goal is to build up the church and possibly restore it to great joy and glory.

Here's the deal, guys: we sit around the TV way too much, even together. There are times and places for enjoying each other by laughing together and watching a great movie, but think about our lives if whenever a group of sold-out believers got together, we spent an hour in prayer, watched a sermon and talked about it, spoke into each other's lives, or even went out an made an impact in our fallen world! Imagine the satisfaction we'd have, the peace we'd have with our father, and the sheer power of that determinism! And that was the spirit behind Party of the Galaxy last Thurday- to make much of the name of Jesus.

Because haven't the best times of your life when you just knew with all of your heart and being, that you were doing the will of God? The motto of John Piper and Christian hedonism, which I adhere to my own life is that

Christ is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

If Jesus was with us in body, how would we spend our free time together? I urge every brother and sister reading this, we were made for more than spending fun time with each other. We were made to be a church, a body, a unit, and a powerful unit at that. I feel like we're great at being good friends to each other for the most part. We spend a lot of time with each other. And there are great things that go on among us for the kingdom, but just imagine if instead of watching a movies together, we did something of eternal value!

Here's deal- I don't want to get to heaven and imagine all that could have been done for the Kingdom of God when I instead chose to satisfy myself. And this does mean overcoming my own introversion. Man-centered ideology would say, "Well that's who are you are! You can't and shouldn't change it." No. I believe that are good things about being highly contemplative, reserved, and a listener. But I absolutely need to overcome this way of letting me decide how I spend my time, if I spend my free time the way I want to, it would surely destroy both my faith and me. I have to work hard to overcome my selfishness and be bold in the world. Just because I love spending time to "myself", doesn't mean it i don't need to commit myself to building up the church and making Christ's name known among all peoples. That's the problem. People leave spreading the name of Christ to people that are "comfortable" with that. That is a sin. All believers are called to be bold in the face of a rebellious culture and make much of the name of Christ, no matter your personality. And that goes for me too.

I don't want to waste my life! How rich of a life that would be, to know at the end of each day that you spent every minute of that day glorifying a kingdom that lasts! Friends, I urge you to assess how you spend your time-

How does what you're doing show that you treasure the name of Christ?

Ask yourself this throughout your days. Don't hear me saying you can't do things that don't directly and verbally say the glory of Christ, because again its all a heart issue. However, watching a movie is not fellowship. And I bring this up because I wasted so much of today and hate myself for it. I pray that we accept God's leading to make excellent use of all of our time here on earth.

AWAKENING!

I used to think that growing as a Christian meant that every once and a while, I would step back and look at what isn't perfect in my life, and have a series of little tweaks to make my person more good. I knew that being perfect wasn't an option, but I could make some little changes every now and then to make myself more agreeable to be around, and more like what a Christian should be. This kind of thinking was safe, and it was comfortable. This may be how you think, and I wouldn't say that it's entire wrong, there definitely is an element of small changes in the Christian lifestyle. So with that, consider this from Isaiah 55-

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (v. 8,9)

When I discovered that the theme of the Passion 2010 conference was Awakening, I honestly felt a little bit dissappointed. Why? Well, awakening was for the non-believer, the one who is lukewarm and need to wake up to a bigger story, that is God's. And that's great! But for me, I felt like I had already had that awakening, and I didn't a "big emotional earthquake" in my life. I was already a Christian! Hence, I thought that Awakening was for the one not walking with God, and to be honest, it sounded like one of those cliche Christiany words that is always thrown around a conference.

But obviously, I went anyways and was open to whatever Passion had in store for me. A good attitude for any conference. So pretty soon I realized God wanted to awaken me to, well, the idea of awakening!

Here's the deal- I don't ever want to stop growing as a Christian. Gordon Macdonald said at Summit that the average male Christian stops growing in their mid 50's. Well, I can tell you that will never happen to me. Here's why- look up to the verse from Isaiah 55 if don't remember. Do you see what that says? It recently hit me that the author of that verse was not an unbeliever, or even unrighteous man, but a prophet of GOD. He was Isaiah for crying out loud! He wrote a 66 chapter book of Bible on prophecy! He got to see God on His throne and was appointed, by God, to prophecy to a sinful people. And still God says, Isaiah, I am still so, so very far above you in every way. Your thoughts, your actions, still are so far from me. This is Isaiah we're talking about! So what about me? The more I look at my life and then look at God, seating high above on His throne, reigning and ruling, with seraphim angels covering themselves and screaming out His holyness, I see that I too am very, very, very, very...far from the ways of God.

And I can't "get" there by a series of little tweaks and adjustments that don't any courage to admit, no, I need to be AWAKENED, every single day! Corinthians says we should be "transformed" by the "renewal" of your minds. Not just once, but all the time, as an act of worship, because we say God, I need to be shaken to line up closer to your character, this makes much of God. That is saying, God, no matter what I do, I'm not even close to being onthe same level as You!

Now also realize this: I'm not saying that we shouldn't give credit to what God has already done in us, because let's face it, for those of us who have allowed the Holy Spirit, we know the people we used to be. I was an apathetic, silent, cowardly, weak sort of person who stayed indoors all day chasing after things that don't matter. And now I am a son of the living God, a new person, baptized, living for something greater than this earth. But part of having the Holy Spirit in us is that He convicts of our sin and shows us how to reflect God better in our lives, and that is a scary but worhtwhile endeavor. You need to be woken up every day to God's story, His plan for who you are, and all that He is! Don't waste a day!

La primer

Welp here's a blog post! Who knows how long I'll do this, I guess there's really no way of knowing if people look at this, but you know what, here goes nothing. I'll probably do this even though no one probably looks at it or cares that I have a blog, i guess that's ok. But i guess if you're reading this then you found it. So thank you.

About the title of this blog, __//oceanic nebular!//__ , don't search for a deep philosophical meaning, it has no meaning. Some things in life don't need to have a point, they just are really cool.

I guess the real purpose of doing something like this is to make much of our creator, our God almighty. I try to only do things that say that I treasure Him above all else and I love His people, so that's why I'm doing this, because the internet is where the people spend their time and I want to exploit that for higher purposes (and this goes for anything, Facebook, twitter, etc.) I never do them because I am just bored and need to fill time, or I think I'm some superstar that people are drooling to obsess over in their dark dorm rooms, no, I'm really not anything except for what I have in Christ, which is not my own. So there you have it.