Realizations of Life and Death

Tonight, a good friend of mine is walking in the trials of the facts of Life and Death. I will not expand on that events of tonight but I will attempt to express the thoughts, however confusing they are, in this writing. I have been praying for hours and still I am confused but all I know is that Death is a very very real thing, the fact of death is overlooked almost every hour of my day. If I actually believed that when people who do not know Christ die the are forever separated from him, then I think I would act differently. If I actually understood the bible and the facts that are within then I would treat those around me differently. I have a feeling I would not worry about school, relationships, my future, money, ect. If I even partially understood the fact that billions of people who die that never even heard the saving name of Jesus. How can I be so selfish to draw back from conversations with international students and refrain from expressing how much Jesus has made my life new! How can I settle for simply a good worship service when I know that my fellow students are going back into countries that missionaries die to enter.

My attempt in processing all of this through on paper is not to guilt myself into loving people for Christ, but rather revealing the Full truth of the Gospel that Christ in his amazing love came to eradicate death! The kingdom of heaven has no death, no decay, no murder, no disease! We have been praying for a whole bunch of years for "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven", but do we live as if we desire to see the truths of heaven become the truths of Earth. The devil has come to kill, steal and destroy but God came to earth in flesh to bring life and life at its fullest! Why do I live in such a way that proves that I do not actually believe what I just wrote? Why does the church play around with services and programs when its purpose is to be the catalyst by which the life of Christ is spread, where it advances fully in the power of the Holy Spirit to force out all death! It seems like tonight I have more questions than answers therefore I will take more time with the Father to ask what truth he desires to speak into an otherwise bleak night!

People are dying and we are simply watching!

Massive Truth that I have been meditation on the last few weeks...

Matt 6:33 - Seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness and all else will be added!

I do not understand much but all I know is my Savior and learning day by day what it looks like to walk with him!

Paul Shackelford

-Written on Nexus 7, please excuse everything that doesn't make sense-

Rise Again - Needtobreathe

I have been reading a book about the arts and Christians role in creating culture. Steve Turner, the author, asserts a major critique that modern Christian art does not speak about real life. The art created does not sound genuine or have any ties to real life that people outside the faith can connect with. While reading the book I listened through this album and I think that this song does a great job of breaking the mold. The members of Needtobreathe are all outspoken followers of Jesus but very little of the art that they produce mentions Jesus or Christianity at all. Instead they craft creative music, written from places of pain and joy. "Rise Again" steps through pain that occurs in life as we see relationships stretched and torn. The bitterness of broken hearts and friendships is then contrasted with the truth that we will get up from this pain and rise again. "I can see us moving on, I can feel that coming on strong", the joy that comes after the

Twenty-Four - Jess Ray

Lately I have been listening to lots of music and podcasts while working and biking to work. I was feeling a need for some new music so I turned to NoiseTrade to check out some new artists. My favorite thus far is Jess Ray because of the honest lyrics, tastefully simple musicality and overall enjoyable listening environment. While on my flight back to Atlanta I was struck by this song at first because of the drums that propel this song behind the walking guitar. If I were to add drums to a track like this it would have been done in a very similar manner. Once I got past the drums I was awe struck by the simple power of these lyrics, take a read below and follow the link to her blog to listen. To me it was not written for an outward expression of hope or encouragement but rather as a inward proclamation to the soul. As the psalmist often choose to sing, this song speaks inward in a call to stand up and be reminded of truth all to often forgotten. As I gear up for the star

Alleluia - Jesus Culture with Martin Smith

Once again worship last night was Glorious! Had a great day just chilling with my SDP folks from last summer, went up the river and just talked about the past season of life and where the Lord is leading us into. Exciting and scary stuff but it was great to be back with some awesome people who speak some potent truth. Last night during worship was one of many firsts... For the first time in a long time I actually stood while I sang, for the first time in a long time I was singing from a place of Joy, for the first time in a long time I did not care how I worshiped my Lord I just worshiped. Well its not like these things have not happened ever in my life, but I just felt so much peace during worship. So I decided to throw the song that we just repeated for a long while up here, mainly cause I did not know the name so I was looking it up and now I am pumped, gotta buy this album! All the angels cry out, Holy is the Lord God All the earth replies, Holy are You Thi

Letters from Lilongwe

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