PhoeniXtreme86 on Revelife

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Tuesday, 09 June 2009

Currently
Kari Jobe
By Kari Jobe
Revelation Song
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The journey begins

Well...I graduated from college. Well, sorta. I still have my internship to complete this summer, but THANK GOD that I am finished with papers, projects, homework, class etc...right now I am just working. And working a lot. I just went from working 40 something hours in 2 weeks to 70 something. I have officially begun the journey to Israel

I have so much other stuff to pay for though. My internship is costing me $720 out of pocket, the car I am 'renting' this summer is $625 (but it is paid off), and my rent for the house im staying at this summer is going to be around $450. After all that is paid, I can start saving up for my plane ticket....I have to admit, its making me put a lot of faith in God cause I KNOW that I can't do this without him.

I'm scared. My planning period extends to August. What if I can't afford a ticket by then? I have to give the car back and move out of the house I'll be staying at (or pay another month's rent). I don't know how I will get back and forth to work to make money to save up, etc. This is what goes through my head day in and day out. What if...?

Right now, I am staying at a friend's house. I've been at friends houses for the past 2 and a half weeks. I hate being homeless. I would love to unpack my stuff and quit feeling like I'm a burden. This is sooo frustrating!!!

On a better note, I am now the youth pastor of my church. Last Sunday was our first get together and one student came. I was sooo happy with that!! I really didn't think any one would be able to come. Some had notified me that they wanted to be a part of it, but were going to be out of town that day. One was sooo much better than none. This week though, I am working on Sunday morning and I'm trying to get out of it for a couple of hours so I can go. We'll see how that turns out.

I know that I will be torn when I have to leave. I already love those kids so much!! But I know that the Lord has called me to this. So until then, I will just enjoy being with them and watching them grow. And hopefully, I can find someone to keep the group alive after I leave.

Sunday, 03 May 2009

This never gets old....

You KNOW this is funny...even though it might have a few vulgarities in it....and racist comments.....its still funny....

Wednesday, 04 March 2009

Currently
You Can Hold Me Down
By William Tell
Young at Heart
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The Crystal that never sleeps....

Man, I am TIRED. All those who have been to college or are in college KNOW what I'm talking about. Papers, presentations, homework, stuDYING,
class, homework, papers, and then jobs to boot. And I have TWO!!! And I am tired. Exhausted. Languid. I KNOW I'm not the only one that has ever been reading like the person in the pic and just fall asleep....or crouched over on homework that is unfinished. Or spending all day working on a blog integrating faith, learning and technology for a class.....

Speaking of, here's where we get to integration. Dealing with REST!! Even God had a break. And on the seventh day, He rested. God took a day off so what in the WORLD are WE thinking- that we don't have to? I'm working 8 days straight this week and I'm on day 6 and about to DIE. My job is on top of school by the way....

Science even confirms this!! I know I read somewhere, but am unable to find it at this very moment, that the body needs a day out of the week to recuperate. A day of rest. Whether this day is Sat, Sun, Wed, or Thur- humans need a day of rest. The Sabbath is set aside for God in worship- but pastors and others have to work on Sundays- the 'ox is in the gully' as my cousin says. Its become one of my favorite phrases when I have to work on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to do what you gotta do.

So, why have we not learned this lesson? After sickness, fatigue, poor grades, I still have yet to learn, that maybe I just need to take a day off now and then. Like a WHOLE day off. I don't need to kill myself to get everything done. Even if everything seems to be due at the same time!!

Thursday, 26 February 2009

Currently
Everything You Want
By Vertical Horizon
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Climbing the Tower of Babel on a Space Shuttle

Does anyone remember the Tower of Babel? And the fact that God stopped the people from building it "into the heavens"? There are 2 reasons for this, one being that the people were prideful and they wanted to receive glory. Yes, I'm sure by building a staircase to heaven that would be possible, even without the omniscience, omnipotence, absence of sin, and all the other attributes God has that man cannot, of course they would be glorified if they could just...get...high...enough (I realize the pun here and chuckle). Two- God was doing what was best for the people, for if they only knew about atmospheric pressures and science of breathing, etc..they would realize they would not survive beyond a certain height.

Wikipedia has a great deal of information about it. Wikipedia has a great deal of information about everything, but anyways...since those ancient times, we humans have come a long way (in some ways, in others not so much). We still obviously have this obsession with pride and glory. Especially in this age of technology, its like we are saying to God- Look what WE can do. And God probably sits back and is like...ok...let me see you create a universe...or better yet, do whatever you are doing without ME.

So here's the stuff to munch on. Space exploration, aircraft, telescopes, skyscrapers.....what about all these? Space shuttles obviously go beyond where the Tower could have been built up to. Airplanes too. Telescopes can look into the galaxy, and maybe even galaxies beyond this one. Skyscrapers could be our modern day "Towers".

So where exactly "is" God? Heaven? "The heavens?" God created everything into existence, so the confounds of the created does not hold Him. But in Scripture, Jesus ascended into heaven (Luke 24) (and I'm sure somewhere it says something about clouds- Acts maybe?). Ascended where?

So is heaven a physical place? Like the sun? Source of all Light? I mean...science has proven that sunlight makes us "happy." Or maybe I'm stretching a little...or is Heaven a distant galaxy that no matter how much technology improves, we will never find it? Or could Heaven be an invisible, spiritual realm that we are walking among and only catch glimpses of it with the paranormal? Or could the spiritual realm be in space?

In CS Lewis' book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep is allowed to travel to "Aslan's land" via boat. Wouldn't it be nice if we could via Space Shuttle and just bypass that whole death stage?

Friday, 20 February 2009

Currently
Book of Common Prayer Red
By Bcp7230
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27 grams and the body and soul....

In my Christian Doctrine class, we have been talking about sanctification, the body and soul and the afterlife, and paradise and hell (which I will write about in another blog) and its really got my wheels turning.

There are all these different ideas about what happens to the soul after death. Daniel 12 talks a lot about death in the context of "sleeping" and that some will wake to everlasting life and some to shame and contempt at the end of days. Then you have 2 Corinthians 5:8 telling us that when we are separated from our body, we are present with the Lord. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom and the rich man is in Hades. Jesus tells the one thief on the cross alongside him that he will be with Christ in paradise TODAY. Is there a way to reconcile this?

Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Mass. conducted an experiment with dying patients to test the theory of 21 grams. You can even look it up on Snopes. The theory is that at the moment of death, human beings lose 21 grams of weight. Dr. MacDougall even weighed animals at their moment of death and they did not lose any weight. There are a few flaws to this experiment. The experiments occurred in the early 1900s, science was not as advanced as it is now, he didn't have a lot of test subjects, and his records were not consistent. But he was convinced that the human body lost 21 grams of unidentifiable substance at death. I'm surprised these experiments have not been repeated in a larger scale, especially with the movie that came out based on Dr. MacDougall's theory, 21 Grams.

But anyways, science has explained how the body functions, what it is made up of, etc. Our thoughts are electrical nerves bouncing through tissues in our brain. Science can even tell us what part of the brains control what. Do our minds, thoughts, memories "travel" with us when we go to heaven (or hell, for that matter)?

I've heard some theories talk about how the body is divided into a physical body, mind and soul. Heres a website that kinda describes that division, but I don't really know if I can believe it...its still interesting to look at though.

So, here is how I come to terms with it all in light of my faith. And I'm sure this is a stream of theology somewhere. I do believe that the soul and body are separated at death. The body is sent to the ground (or burnt, preserved for medical purposes, cryogenically frozen, or maybe even stuffed for those weirdos out there) where it "rests" until the end of age. The soul is sent somewhere, but I'm not sure where-this issue will be brought up in another blog as well. The "mind" persay- I don't know. Haven't quite figured it out yet. Will be still be the same "people" we were on Earth in Heaven? With the same characteristics, personality, mindset? Or is Heaven something that is so far beyond our human imagination that it will be like something entirely different? Guess we will all solve this mystery someday!