Drawbridge Evangelism

so earlier tonight..or last night considering the time, Mike Pilavachi spoke at the national youth workers convention in cincinnati. One thing he talked about was evangelism, and how many people go about it the wrong way. To sum it up, he said that we, Christians, live in this castle with a drawbridge. We prepare and prepare and prepare for evangelizing. Once we have all of our points laid out..we let the draw bridge down, race out and give people our schpiels, being careful not to catch their contageous heathenistic way of life, bring them back over the bridge pull the bridge up, and disciple the capturees, by teaching them how to not truly help non christians also. and the cycle goes on and on. I thought it was a pretty interesting metaphor..

thinking time

a friend once said, "We justify our existence by doing too much; when we slow down, life happens." wow! what a great quote. That is so true. I often go through my day so fast I dont even think that much, literally, im like a robot going through the motions. many of us are wired that way, we just chug along from one thing to the next. For me the times when I truly sense God are when I take a moment to reflect and take everything in and slow down. so what im thinking about right now is people suffering for God. Ive heard stories of martyrs and also stories about people like Job who have everything taken from them. Id like to share a couple. I once heard a story about a group of missionaries in Korea who were murdered by being run over by a steamroller. While they were laying there, they simply shouted, "Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory." They didnt shout to God to save them. They didnt begin crying. They didnt try to beg the communists to stop. They didnt renounce their beliefs. That is some pretty awesome love that they showed. I was just looking around and found this link about suffering yet still loving God. pretty cool stuff...

don't know what to do with these thoughts...

So Ive been wondering, thinking, questioning. Im just curious what makes the Bible so holy. Some of it was written close to Jesus' day, I know. That is one advantage it has over books written now. But it was written by people, or by God inspiring it through people. Books today are written by people, and im sure god inspires some of them as well. Also, much of the new testament was written by Paul to many of the churches. He was addressing problems that they had at that specific time, granted many of their problems we also share today. But why, or, is it more important to read the Bible than a book written today by somebody addressing a problem that is close to our heart and may have to do more with todays complications? And say I were to only read books today, still trying to grow in my faith, but never actually read the Bible. Is that bad? What is it about the Bible that makes it essential to my life? I would love to hear responses from anyone. If I dont actually, I might be a little dissapointed because my whole goal in doing this is to see how other people view these issues, and maybe to get a little constructive criticism also.

3 straight?

ok, so last week was just pathetic for the bengals! We lost to an 0-4 team!! How that happened, Im not quite sure. It definitely made our loss to the patriots seem not as bad. I do know that we(yes, I did say we, so if you are not a bengals fan leave now...just kidding) need to bring our A game today against the panthers. They started out 0-2, but theyve gone 4-0 with steve smith. Its gonna be tough, but I think Palmer and the johnsons will pull it out!

gosh...

so markus is a flonk! now I have to start writing stuff...dangit!

first blog

Passion-its what ignites our souls. It is what causes us to be unique. It is what excites us and allows us to live beyond the mundane. It is how we describe ourselves to others. Passion is something that I am passionate about, perhaps more than anything else actually. I desire to live a life of purpose and stimulation. I often feel like I am trapped in a cage of apathy and numbness though. It is so easy just to go through the motions and not ask questions. I desire to be real and I believe any person who is a real person-who doesnt live consistent with worldly expectaions, who just lays it all out there and doesnt hide anything, who comes just as they are, who goes against the grain, who seeks to understand before being understood, who seeks advice-these people have acknowledged that they are still searching, and it is perhaps these people that have more passion than anyone else. So While this blog is about me, I would also like it to serve as a reminder to passion and the need for it throughout our daily lives.