A darkness is spreading...

“Our father brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” More than 150 years on from Abraham Lincoln’s now immortal Gettysburg Address, America has witnessed countless people dedicated to that proposition. But in the nation that gave rise to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harvey Milk, and modern incarnations like Janet Mock or Laverne Cox, tensions are rising as our country experiences wave after wave of open and flagrant acts of injustice and violence. 

On Saturday morning, a heavily armed man burst in on a Jewish religious ceremony and killed 11 people before telling a law enforcement officer "I just want to kill Jews.” The mass shooting at this Pittsburgh synagogue, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history, represents a direct challenge to America's core values — that people of any race or religion are created by our Father in Heaven with the same basic and equal rights. This cannot continue in this great country we call home! Yet it has been, and I fear, will continue to be a threat to the foundational virtues of the United States of America, a fact that we, as the rising generation, need to thoughtful of.

This hateful attack wasn’t the only scare America has received recently. Numerous pipe bombs were also sent out to prominent democrats, leading to a nationwide manhunt for the man responsible. Two of the packages with explosive devices were addressed to the CNN New York bureau. Other targets of this vicious act of hate include Joe Biden, Rep. Maxine Waters, Robert De Niro, Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Tom Steyer. Three new suspected bombs were apprehended Friday morning in Florida, New York and California. The packages were nearly identical -- six inch PVC pipes with wires, stuffed inside a bubble-wrap lined manila envelope. Six American flag stamps were affixed to each envelope with the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office. Officials suggest that there may be more such bombs in transit, waiting to fulfill their dark purpose. 

These, along with the, 6,121 instances of hate crime in the United States, and their 7,615 victims of persecution in 2016, show that we, as the rising leaders of this great country, must not be caught unawares. The world is changing before our eyes. Wars rage and hate persists, and as such we must be vigilant. We, the christian youth of America, must heed the call of the Holy Spirt, and go out into this dark world and share the light of Christ Jesus. Now, more than ever, our world needs hope, and Only God can give it to them. 

Chivalry is dead/ singleness is a blessing

In the culture we now live in, it's pretty sad that chivalry seems to be completely dead. Dating is done, right? Seriously, who goes on dates anymore? It's all about getting a number or snapchat and seeing how far you can get with whatever girl you find yourself around. I think its a tragedy most single guy’s don’t actually take a girl out to have any real conversation anymore.

If you take a girl out and try to show her you're more than some guy looking to just get in her bed, odds are, you're going to surprise her. Now, I may be old fashioned, but a nice dinner is worth the money to get to actually know someone.

As a guy on a student budget it can be difficult doing the whole "real dates" thing. Stuff costs money. What's the real difference though? Treat the both of you to a nice meal or have some kind of interaction outside of phones. 

The more I look around me these days, the less I see guys treating women the way that they should have been raised to. What happened to paying for dinner and dates? What happened to getting her chair for her and holding the door? Where did we lose that touch of chivalry? When did it become the norm to just text or snapchat a girl, and expect her to cater to your every whim?

I think we've lost our ability to communicate. We don't take the time to actually get to know someone anymore. This is why we see marriages and relationships in general failing at a 50% rate. Men no longer feel the need to get flowers, chocolates, etc...and if we do, we come off as stage-five wack-jobs and cligy weirdos.

If he takes you out to a nice dinner, it's because he’s a nice guy, and is looking forward to spending time with you somewhere other than your phone. Men are getting away with putting in bare minimum effort and receiving surface level relationships or hooking up on a whim.

Yet, even outside or the relationship pool, we, as men, have forgotten our place. For a lot of guys, dating has become a recreational sport, a game of comparing scores and numbers, instead of enjoying your company and making memories that will last a lifetime. C.S. Lewis said, “God would not have anyone waiting unless he saw it was good for them to wait." You're not waiting on accident. Your singleness is not God’s way of depriving you; it’s God’s way of changing you. 

As a single person you probably a lot of free time. At the moment, more than you will have in any other season of your life. The last thing you should do with it is waste it. Instead, use it wisely by spending intentional time in Scripture and prayer, serving your Church and community, growing in your career, learning new trades, reading books, building healthy friendships, and potentially serving in missions fields. Grow in your faith, work on making yourself the best you you can be for “Mrs Right.” God will do the rest.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1)

We forget this often and often we need to be reminded of it daily. God knows exactly what he’s doing. In fact, the desire to be intimate is not at all incidental. Our God already knows the future of our lives. He is working to have all things in your life come to be good and to His glory. His timing is always perfect. We need to trust in God’s providence. We need to trust that his purposes will come to pass in our lives.

“those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Ps 9:10)

Thriving in that time of singleness happens by fixing our eyes on the One who has no sin. Look at Jesus as your source of joy, hope, purpose, and meaning. He is the only one who can give you what you really need.

These periods of singleness might be a waiting season, but it doesn’t need to be a wasted season. I wish I had figured this out sooner! I wish I had not wasted years trying to find my joy and purpose in someone who I just couldn’t seem to please! Many singles are discouraged and despondent, but guys (and girls I suppose, this advice on singleness carries into the feminine realm as well), don't have to be that way. There is so much joy, wisdom, treasure, memories, and experiences to be experienced while you can. So don’t waste this time, use it well for what will last!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecc. 3:11)

Tragic

Its so sad to wake up almost every morning nowadays and read about another shooting, another terrorist attack, and another life needlessly taken. Where is the love?!?! Love thy neighbor as thyself!!! We spend so much time worrying about OUR agenda and OUR pride and OUR hate that we forget to love someone else for who they are, whether we agree with them or not! Having differing opinions is fine! If we all just agreed on everything then how boring and meaningless would that be? We can disagree without shooting each other. We can Love each other without nasty tweets and racist slurs. A person is a person is a person. I am trying (and would encourage you as well) to adopt the "hate the sin not the sinner" mentality (or the "hate what made them this way, not they who are this way") We are supposed to be a lighthouse for those lost souls. Instead, most of us just kick them further down the rabbit hole...

WAR ROOM MOVIE YALLLLLL

If you haven't seen the movie, "War Room"... YOU NEED TO WATCH IT!!! lol It really shows God's glory (even if the movie is fiction...) You can truly find God anywhere! He gives us the strength to carry on.

We and the Trees

We and the trees are alike, don't you agree? 

We and the trees grow, 

Sway in the breeze

We both have our roots, 

We and the trees.

Do we not too fear the winter?

Don't we and the trees?

Fear that the cold will expose our branches for all people to see?

Others seem evergreen whilst we shiver in the cold winter breeze. 

Without leaves to protect us from their gaze, both we and the trees.

We stand together, as a forest, we and the trees, 

barren for all to see 

stuck out here in the cold winter breeze, 

we and the trees!

Exposed, we, as the forest, stand together  in the cold winter breeze. 

We, who await the promise of spring. 

Hopeful that it's warmth will bring back the cover of leaves, for both we and the trees.

Static Faith

Do you ever feel like you just can’t seem to move forward with your faith, you’re stuck, like you’re a slave?

Do you ever feel like you are walking in the right direction yet you have no conviction to go beyond that?

Do you ever feel like you’re simply acting out of static faith?

You go to church on Sunday and on Wednesday, every so often read your bible and pray, but something just doesn’t feel quite right; you feel like you are stopping short of God’s sight.

You feel as though you’re stuck in limbo, stopped at the gate, trapped in the monotony of routine faith,

caught by the regularity of your Christianity

Your eyes look and your ears listen to our universal Christian calling, but do you really see and do you really hear what it means to really be Christian.

The words you read and the things you say shouldn’t be hollow and grey…but they are. Your faith is static.

It’s dull instead of emphatic. You know what’s right, but do you actively strive to right the wrongs you see? Hurricanes lash and earthquakes crash yet you sit and wait.

You wonder, “Why doesn’t someone help them to alleviate?” That someone could be you, should be you. While wars rage and people hate (do you seek out either resolutions or solutions to the pain? No, because your faith is static,

whilst sin wreaks havoc, you sit still in your armchair seeking God nowhere. You read the news while your relationship with Christ is simply set to cruise.

My people, do not simply listen but hear. Do not simply read the word but let your heart be spurred. Do not deceive yourselves into thinking your voice cannot be heard.

Do what the word says and don’t be static. Be a pragmatic. Go out, pray with the masses, show them your passions.

Engage in the community and seize the opportunity.

To share the gospel, to be an apostle.

To invite the love of Jesus Christ into your heart and not to quit.

To make him a part of your life, instead of apart from it.

Go out and eradicate static faith.

Truth

Truth outside of God is a never ending journey, a ravenous hunger, a diseased corpse stumbling farther and farther from our grasp, we run towards it like a groom to his bride, yet when we lift her veil we see nothing inside. We preach philanthropy yet act on greed. We lust for something to give us purpose, we are parched of hope and claw at the dirt for something to quench it. Like a knight marching into battle, yet our armor is forged from the fires of delusion. Our search for meaning, for truth, is noble and yet unoriginal to our species. Since the dawn of man, we have thrown ourselves into the ocean strapped to an anchor of longing and told the world we could swim. So they are forced to watch as we sink lower and lower until we vanish from sight, choking on our egos, and grasping at a phantom vision of what we thought truth whist our obsession, like a tender dove, flutters quickly away, and perches itself on mans shoulder, waiting to drive him mad another day.

But if we search for truth IN God, we find a much brighter future. We find forever loving story, a satisfying feast, a victorious savior marching closer and closer, welcoming us into his open arms, and if we run towards him, like a groom to his bride, then, when we lift her veil, we see grace abounding. We will preach philanthropy and act on love. We may lust for something to give us purpose, and we may feel parched of hope and claw at the dirt for something to quench it. But, if we seek His holy council, we will go forward, like a knight marching into battle, with armor forged from the fires of Hope and Salvation. Our search for meaning, for truth, is concluded at the foot of the cross, where the savior of man threw himself into the ocean strapped to an anchor weighed down by our sins as the world told him he couldn’t swim. But soon they were witnesses to the greatest miracle of all, as he cut the anchor away, and let it lower and lower until it vanished from sight, choking our transgressions, and giving us at a lifelong vision of what we now know truth is, and our new selves, like tender doves, flutter away from the dark, and we perch ourselves onto his shoulder, waiting for him to drive us home one day.

Discipline

"The grass isn't greener on the other side, its greener where you water it."- Wild Habits, Tara Mackey

A light shines in the dark

“Why

Why do they do it.

Why do they do hit.

Why do they throw me around like this.

Why.

Why do they say it.

Why do they yell and curse and spit.

Is it something I said?

Is it something I did?

What have I done to deserve this?

Inside and out

I'm broken, bruised, beaten, and bombarded

By pain

By a thought

Every word hits like a shot.

Alone.

Left alone

Left alone to suffer

Alone to cry

Their happiness is hurt, but why?

I don't deserve this.

My floor is stained with tears, 

My thoughts by nostalgia of days when I was wanted, when I wasn't consumed by fears.

I want to fight them, I want to scream,

I want to make them hurt like they hurt me!

I want to pull out my hair, I want to run

I want to somehow not care

I hate that they hate me

Yet I can't help but agree...

Do I matter? 

Does anybody care?

It's not fair

So do I dare?

Dare to care?

To open up, to share?

No

No one will stop

Nothing will change

I can't stop these thoughts in my brain.

Maybe I do deserve this...

What's the point

Why try

Their inquiries are hollow, worthless, and dry

I don't belong

I'm not welcome anymore

I can't even get up off of the floor

They say I'm crazy

That I'm weird

That I don't belong here

Of course I am

Of course I don't

I could protest

But I won't

Nothing matters

I can't get away

My own inadequacy haunts me every day

There's no way out...

I can't go on...

I do deserve this…”

Think twice about what you say, or what you don’t, go out of your way to include the outsider, make sure to say something, anything, from a “good morning, how are ya?” To “hey man praying for ya.” You never know the impact of what you say, after all, the heart is the only muscle in the body that can be uplifted or crushed with a single word. A little kindness can go a long way, it can even save lives. I can personally attest to (as well as thank) many people giving me kind words, loving hugs, and meaningful prayers. Things will always be bad, but its only in the darkness that you can truly appreciate the splendor if His light. If you are reading this and think no one understands, or cares, you aren’t alone. I have been through Hell and back, and here I stand. If you truly want to change your situation, things can and will get better. Suicide isn’t an answer to a problem, it merely transfers and multiplies the pain you feel onto the shoulders of all who love and care for you. 1-800-273-8255

The Beauty of Creation

As i look around, I begin to tremble, then cry.                

For i see beauty on the ground and in the sky.          

I see it as the morning dew sets upon my lawn.                

I see it as I watch a toddler, so young and sweet, begin to yawn.    

It is there as the sparrow perches and prepares

To bless my ears with his melodies, relieving me of cares

Every hour, every minute, and every second, in each you can find it

This element, this aspect, this beautiful and distinct touch

So I sit

And I listen

So I sit

And I watch

I decide that this, this feeling, this overwhelming compassion,

This mark, this delightful part of our world

That this peace and power comes from He

From He who designed it all, 

From He who grew the grass and stood the trees up tall, 

From He who put, above my head, the sky, and who put the sun, moon and stars so high,

And I know that my Father, my Creator, my Messiah, my Redeemer, and Friend

Put that same beauty in me, and will take care of it until my end

Here goes nothing

Alright, I have never done anything like this before but I feel like God is calling me to share the many blessing I have been given with anyone and everyone around me. This blog will basically just be random things that happen I am thankful for, where I see God, or maybe just random bits of poetry or quotes I write or find. So here goes nothing! Lets see where He takes us!