This is it

So today is Saturday... and Sunday comes afterwards, thank you for that Rebecca Black. Moving on... in an hour, i will be picking up an amazing woman and taking her to meet my parents for the first time and show her my hometown and the memory of the life i have lived there. This shouldn't be a secret to many anymore, but naivety isn't too uncommon these dayssss. I am just so so so thankful and so blessed to have spent so much time with an incredible daughter of the Most High and found constant encouragement from her life and her words. Her actions are a direct reflection of the love of Christ and she shares that with the world. daily. Compassion just flows from her presence because she resides in His. Our God is too good for words. I'd like to keep this concise, so let's just say "we we we, we so excited," eh? Praise the Lord, oh, my soul, Praise the Lord. Take heart, friends, He knows just what you need. He made you. Just let Him have all of you.

Power Outage

..gotten tired of how your blog starts? me flipping too. would you (singular or plural.. whatev) judge me if i stopped doing it? um.. well.. we'll see. power outage. what does this mean? weeeellll, i'm not talking about the second power outage at dbu over spring break. I'm talking about the power outage within the church. it's real. it's prevalent. it's consuming all it comes into contact with. how? we are preaching a false doctrine. hey.. do me a favor. DONT think about a PINK ELEPHANTTTT. whatever you do. do NOT think of a PINK ELEPHANT. think of ANYTHING but a pink elephant. pink. elephant. either you're thinking about a pink elephant, or you're thinking of something completely different because you were told not to think about a pink elephant. problem is, you still have the pink elephant in mind. well, you see, the church is teaching us not to sin. WHAT. no no no no no. how about this.. let's look at what God sees. when you have repented of your sin, and allowed Jesus Christ and the belief in Him that His once-for-all sacrifice was enough for our eternal salvation from a much deserved hell (Romans 6:23), your sin is taken from you. it's washed away. "sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotton Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (Lu..kidding, John 3:16). "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" (Ephesians 1:7). "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 1:7-2:2). Jesus Christ's blood covers His redeemed. completely. There is absolutely NOTHING we can do to change that. NOTHING. God looks at us and sees the blood, not sin. Now i'm going to get a little controversial.. brace yourselves. God isn't concerned with our sin. WHAT?! Ryan, you're gonna lose your salvation AND your cls for saying that! (psych) Hebrews 10:14-17 is proof enough for me. "by a single offering He (Jesus) has perfected for ALL TIME those who are being sanctified. the Holy Spirit bears witness to us that (He, God) will put (His) laws on (our) hearts, and write them on (our) minds." Verse 17 is KEY, though, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds NO MORE." Grace, God's unmerited favor, is poured out upon us. every. single. day. We are unworthy, but praise GOD that we've been MADE worthy "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10). Our sins are atoned for. past, present, AND future. GONE. washed away. God doesn't care about our sin because He doesn't see it; He sees the blood of Jesus. The church has taught that we are to continue to ask for forgiveness of sin when we commit acts of disobedience. Where is this biblically? nowhere to be found. What exactly does "once for all" mean to you? ALL SIN IS ATONED FOR. ALL OF IT. PRAISE GOD. Why sit there and disagree? You're about to learn about the freedom of Christ. Here comes the power ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. I'm about to runnn. okay. i'm back. um.... 
God isn't concerned with our sin, right? What He ISSSS concerned with is our hearts. If He can have our hearts, we won't want to sin. duh. Repentance is a complete 180. It's saying we lived in sin and death and NOW, thanks be to GOD, we're turning towards the Savior and Lord of our lives. Psalm 37:4! "DELIGHT yourself in the LORD," when this is done, "He will give you the desires of your heart." This isn't saying that He'll give you a new car or a sweet house, record deal, job, or wife.. haha.. that's funny, He totally will do that last one, at least, after this next part muahaha, i can't wait to blog about that silliness. What this IS saying is He will replace our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36). He removes the evil through Jesus' sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit moves us to follow His decrees and His law (Ezek. 36). He replaces our desires with His desires. "walk in the light, as He is in the light," right? Then, once we allow God to renovate His new house, He fills it. God will provide the things He wants which is now what we want because He lives in us and as Asaph says in Psalm 73, "there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You." When He is our sufficiency and satisfaction, the blesssings flow. "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him , and He will act. ... Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37: 5, 7). He just wants us. Our focus, our attention, our affection. He's forgiven you, so stop asking for the free gift you've already been given. Now, I'm not saying our desires for our old habits disappears. What I'm saying is we have to stop being so caught up in what's been removed. The debt's been paid. Now we allow the Holy Spirit to remove all the unwanted furniture from His house, so He can make it a home. Jesus was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He lived prayer time to prayer time, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct His ministry. His "ministry" was just His obedience to the Spirit. When we take our focus off of everything but obedience to Him, His power will be restored and the lights of the world will shine as bright as ever. When the church, the bride, decides to get in tune with the Spirit, we will finally find the solution to our problems. We must stop being leeches. We must stop sucking the power out of the Gospel and Cross of Christ. God's grace and forgiveness have NOTHING to do with our performance, so be free from guilt, shame, and bondage. You'll screw up. a lot. so what, get back on the narrow. Live in the Word. Live in prayer. Jesus said His food was to do the will of the One who sent Him and to accomplish His work (John 4:34). "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). We have to EAT THE WORD. It is sustenance. if you haven't been in God's Word all day, you're probably starving. Your spirit is famished. you NEED Him. allow God to be God. Let Jesus' sacrifice be enough. The Holy Spirit will use whatever room you give Him, but, until you allow Homeboy to tear down the walls you've left up in His house, He can't allow His power to flow through you freely. God is bringing a power surge. The voltage of the Holy Spirit is about to raise to unprecedented heights, and I'm just glad He's ruining me to the point seeing Him for who He is. please please please pray, "the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective" (James 5:16, i think?)

Holy Spirit, move mightily in the readers of this post. MIGHTILY. let there be no disagreements, not because of my words, God, but because your Truth sets us free. Let there be freedom from bondage, God. That we would walk in Your Truth, the only Truth, and we WILL witness layers and layers of bondage falling off of us as our old flesh and desires melt away and Your love and power begin to rise in our lives. We're praising and giving You thanks in advance for the work You are going to do and what is already being worked out. Father, You are Holy, and we are thankful for the cross, the blood, and the power of Your name. 

Now, be free.

You're My Escape

..endured something terrible? Gone through hell in your own home? me neither.. but it feels like it. here's the deal, God is always at work, and He's wanting to work in and THROUGH us. we don't want either of those. the bible says so. david said, "i have no good apart from You," referencing the LORD, DUH. No one seeks after God. weird. did you know that colossians says that ALL things were created in, through, and for Christ? #freebie God is working on me like crazy and trying to give me reasons why He wants all of me.. because He knows what's best. Hey, I have something so much greater for you than what you used to love. I love you, I know what's best for you.. I did knit you together in the womb and all. anywho, follow Me. focus on Me. watch me Work. GLADLY. i'm tired of me. i'm tired of old junk. you can have the world, give me JESUS, please! well, after seeking Him and having Him love and burn me more for Him, well... He just blesses me. all i have to say is there's a song.. people sing it to God, but homie wrote it for his wife (so the legend goes). either that or a guy sang it to his wife at their wedding. regardless, here it is:

when i am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
when troubles come and my heart burdened be;
then, i am still and wait here in the silence;
until you come and sit awhile with me.
you raise me up so i can stand on mountains;
you raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
i am strong, when i am on your shoulders;
you raise me up to more than i can be.

this song is truth. whether it's sung to the Most High.. or to His daughter. either way. thank You, and thank you. you know who you are. ladies and gents, one day. that's all.

well.. ps... THANK YOU. for the 23461372478345762nd time. thank you. God is too good, guys. He is too good. Give Him thanks and praise. one, He deserves it. two, He's due it. three, He's worthy (i'm well aware these are similar). four, He asks for it. five, we should constantly want to. if not, read psalm 34 or something. all of them, actually. which brings me to something else! for the rest of my LIFE, i will read 5 psalms and a proverb everyday. i will read through both books at least 12 times a year. crunk, right? one, i will be really familiar with how God was praised by the man after His own heart. two, i will be really familiar with the smartest man who ever lived and who will ever live, so says the Word.. it's questionable because of all the women he had #thatsabadidea, but whatever you gotta do, man. um... thanks again. you're sweet. you're kind. you're gentle. you're patient. you're amazing. HEY, stop reading if this isn't for you! i don't want your judgment! (catch up on your reading! ...ahem) okay, that's all. thanks for stopping by!

"Take Hold, Take Heart, Take Hope"

...read something you wrote in the past and.. received encouragement? me too. I jumped on here to post something kind of upsetting, just not an exciting post. Instead, I read my last post. God's just too good. This life is tough, but shouldn't it be that way? Would we really value what we value if there was nothing to give it the value it has? THAT made sense.. psych. Today in the caf, I saw the advertisement for whatever their little "Spice" thing is? Who knows.. what I DO know is that I had a small realization. Small. This shouldn't be news to you, but something to... think about. What do you think about when you think of the word spice? or spicy? I think of something flavorful. or spirited. or hot. I think of fire.. or jalapenos. Something not cold. well.. sp-ice. you CAN'T spell spice without ice. You don't know fire if you don't know ice. You can't value heat if you don't know cold. What is light without darkness? This is directly reflected to EVERYTHING. Think of Christ. How can we celebrate and find joy in His life, freedom, love, kindness, and favor if we don't know death, bondage, hate, bitterness, and lack. We can't know "mountain tops" without "valleys". In marriage. Passion, liveliness, and fun would have no value without the rough times. right? oh, wait.. none of us are married. cool. But, honestly, i think we can have a little foreknowledge here and see this is the truth. A perfect marriage isn't a marriage that has no problems. A "perfect" marriage is one that gets through problems without losing step. Without slowing down. Jamie Lash said fail forward, right? (don't hate) Well, learn from your mistakes. ps... i SUCK. just a thought. Without struggles and hardships, my wife and I won't be taken to a new level and depth in our relationship. God has to prune us and refine us through fire, so why wouldn't the same happen in marriage? We ARE married to Christ, after all.. duh. satan's a punk. he's a liar. he's a pretender. he's a hater. he's a loser. he's scared of his future so he does everything he can to ruin God's plan. but he can't. it's great, right? just think... the Bible is CONSTANTLY talking about how Christ is Truth and the Spirit leads to all truth and God is loving.. on the flip side.. satan can't possess any trait that a holy God does. He's the father of ALL lies.. there is NO truth in him. he CAN'T love. ever. SO.. he HATES us. hates. despises. abhors. We are the Father's workmanship and creation. He is PLEASED by us. so why would satan just let us be? let it beeee, let it BE! ahem.. sorry.. satan wants us to suffer the same eternal punishment he will. Why would we ever want to participate in that? honestly. does that sound pleasant? um.. no. So lets smile through the ice and be patient for God's passion to be brought back to us but at a whole new level. James said, "count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds," because God is constantly at work in us to shape us exactly how He wants us. Something else to think about. Think of how powerful God's Name is. The OT Jews never even said His name really.. why? well.. research it because there's a lot there BUT we aren't worthy. Imagine this.. when you say JESUS, satan and all his little punk friends MUST FLEE and the gates of hell TREMBLE. Moreover, God said that He places His Word above His own Name. WHAT?! soo.. we're looking at that power being MAGNIFIED in His Book. Why don't we pick it up more? read it more? apply it more? then maybe we would magnify His Name more. Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work". Well.. let's eat, huh? this has gone on for too long but God is super mysterious and super great. Psalm 34. toods.

"We're perfect because we're best friends."

...had a REALLY good day. Before you say yes, it was valentines day. BEFORE you say yes, you MUST be single and.. sitting around doing absolutely nothing. Well, what'll it be? mine is YES. i can't imagine a day being any better than today. ever. well.. there are a few things but... yeah, whatever. I watched such happy people, sad and bitter people, and then STRAIGHT. UP. AWKWARD folks do their things today. it was great. FUNFACT: i've started to play the piano. by that i mean i've played a week. by that i mean i may never know how to play but i watched a video and i can kinda play some of boyce avenue's cover of teenage dream. and sing it. that's another thing i haven't talked about. sooo.. God said.. hey, man, do me a favor. sing. so.. what do i do? i sing. well. why? not because i can sing, but LITERALLY because He spoke it through someone for me to sing within the first three weeks of being at college. my voice has progressively gotten better and i'm so thankful because music is SUCH a passion of mine and being able to.. i dunno.. be apart of that? is just really cool. ps.. life looks good. um.. flowers are awesome and so are notes and letters and stuff. i think today is my favorite college holiday. i can't wait to watch folks again next year, and if i'm participating in the festivities then, something tells me, i'll be doing much of the same.. but with a little charm added in. who knows. He does. He's good, eh? want to have your mind blown? meet Jesus Christ. then serve Him. daily. His plans really are better than anything imaginable. He's ON. POINT. for reals. this was never intended to be a long post. this isn't my favorite favorite.. but it might be one of my favorites. I had the best weekend of my life followed by one of the best days. and tomorrow has all the potential in the world to keep the streak alive... if i can overlook the outcome of my history test. well.. i'll survive. i just want to vent on here.. about SO MUCH. in due time, i guess. If you're still reading or if i'm even preaching to myself, take this small bit of advice. Be. Patient. God operates on a sundial while we operate on a stopwatch. He isn't slow, He's smart. He won't give us something until He knows we can handle it. ps... He knows when we'll be able to handle it before we get there.. He's something else, eh? He's actually SO broad that He created over 10,000 different types of grass, but so narrow that He created Winter Rye that grows GREEN during the winter season. DBU has green grass, supposedly, all year round because of it. either way, that's crunk. Isaiah 55:11. His word doesn't go out and come back empty. It ACCOMPLISHES it's purpose in the perfect timing. He's constantly shaping us like.. i think it's ephesians 2:10 or five 10 says? something like that.. we're Homeboy's workmanship? or craftmanship? either way, He's always disciplining us for our GOOD, that we may share HIS HOLINESS like hebrews 12 says. ps i did a word study on sanctification. TOO CRUNK. He's too big. Yahweh, His real name.. or whatev, means the God that is. He's worthy of praise because He is. boom. "All of my life, in every season, you are still God; I have a reason to sing; I have a reason to worship." Can we please be patient and wait on His timing, guys? He just wants us to focus on today. not tomorrow. not next week, month, or year.. but today. right now.. right now is all you have.. what are you doing with it for Him? LET"S GOOOOOOOOO. as ready as i am for all the plans He's revealed to me to come to fruition, i know that they will be that much sweeter because of the wait. AND He's not done with me, and PRAISE THE LORD for that. i'm NOTHING.. i'll always be nothing.. but i'll be happy to see what happens when He's ready for me to just.. explode or something.. okay.. this is getting weird and has been WAAAAAY too sloppy aka personal and not professional. oh, well. i love you all more than you could know, even if it's just one or two. He loves you greater still. if that didn't make sense then.. He loves you. yup. Have you ever had a fan base grow? that sounded "conceded" (you know who you are and you better have laughed at this). conceited*. well.. it's beautiful to watch, and that's beautiful to me. oh, the favorite favorite. well.. i guess i'll look over these note cards once more.. goodnight, world. God is love, and love is real. Tell someone about Jesus today. He's too cool not to share. that's all.

Long time no post

...gone three weeks without updating your blog? I have, OBVIOUSLY. This isn't going to be a very informational post and it's hardly an update on what's going on with me because there is FAR too much to explain and now is not the time to do so. For all the people that follow this out there, if there are any, take this small bit of advice to heart, much like Proverbs 3:3 says, except I'm not as eternal as God's law.. technically.. whatever, figure it out. DON'T STRESS, DON'T WORRY, and DON'T take your eyes off of Jesus. Why? because He's worthy of it. Beyond that, when you're focusing on Him and not the waves (thanks, Peter, for sucking MISERABLY so I can use you in an illustration) you won't even notice that there's a storm or seas raging at all. Paul said that he learned to rejoice in situations of have and in those of lack. how? He, along with all of those who find their joy in the only true source, can do all things through Christ. Jeremiah 17:7-8 and Colossians 3:1-4 are perfect examples as to how this is possible. oh, and, p.s., if we don't trust in Him, if we doubt or worry, we're making Him a liar. He's promised us EVERYTHING we need. It's Him. Also, Matthew 6:33-34 steps that up. GUYS, we as the church are the BRIDE of Christ. How's your marriage? Do you wake up every morning with the love of your life, or do you wake up with someone new because you're living a life like that of Hosea's wife? How can we not understand the peace and joy that's found in Christ? People might read this and think I'm playing the "holier than thou" card or that I'm talking down to people, but ALL I WANT is for the church to be the CHURCH. I'm losing my mind. Well.. i love you all, but it's nothing in comparison to the love that's found in the shadow of His wings. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. He makes straight the path laid before your feet. I'm running out of words to express what I'm thinking and I'm not proofing this, so.. I hope it didn't go too hard. Oh, well. One final thought, sometimes, bombs fall quietly. That's all.

"New Year, New Beginnings."

...made a New Years' Resolution? I have. Have you ever actually followed through with one? I wish there was a percentage somewhere that showed how many resolutions were actually acted upon. OH, how i wish. why? because it's funny to me. the most popular resolution EVERY SINGLE YEAR is probably to get in shape, eat better, or work out more. stay fit, in other words. my question is, if that's your goal, why wait to fail? if people would decide to start their resolutions three days prior to the new year, maybe they'd actually follow through with it. i'm not sure what resolution is funnier, the one i just stated or Carter Willis saying that his new years' resolution is to get Sara Bareilles to write him a love song. i'm not sure what the deal is. I'm such a negative person when i see people talking about how positive their new year is going to be. Maybe it's the skeptic in me trying to breach the surface. i call it realism. what breaks my heart the most is when people who dig themselves into the deepest ditches during 2010 just assume that because the number at the end of the date they'll write on papers changed, so will their habits, lifestyles, or desires. The literal definition of insanity is doing the same thing OVER AND OVER AGAIN and expecting a different outcome. My definition of ignorance is consistently doing something stupid with a decent outcome and expecting it to stay that way. let's take something horrible for example. drinking while driving. that doesn't always turn out for the worst, right? oh, and it could NEVER happen to me. i could never wreck my car and leave this earth. never. A kid my brother went to high school with just passed away for this exact reasoning. Sad, right? let's try something new: "and endless procession of righteous living, living. instead, let there be a flood of justice." - Jon Foreman. I'm an addict, judge me. Sorry for the dissidence. I'm not always this negative but resolutions and some notion of new beginning due to a date change just... sadden me. To God be the glory in all things, can we reflect it? please? i'm done. i dunno. i'm not happy with this post.. but it's still going to be posted. yikes. that's all.