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.