A new journal is one of the most exciting things that comes my way in this life. Today is the day I find another to add to the collection of tattered covers stored in some leather knapsack, their pages bleeding secrets and stories of the past.
If everything had gone as planned today, I would currently be sipping a chai tea latte at a lovely used bookstore, creasing the binding of my newly discovered treasure and, in my not-so-lovely handwriting, telling Dear Diary what I've been learning lately. What I learned long ago is that I can only plan that things will not go as planned. I say that with a smile on my face and a cup of peppermint passion fruit tea by my side.
You see, my sister Raina lives in Manhattan; I'm in New York for Christmas this year. Last night, as Raina and I spent ninety agonizing minutes in a room 103* fahrenheit, we were reminded that you suffer in the hot yoga studio so you don't have to suffer in the real world. Upon our arrival at home, we watched the news, indulging on slices of pineapple and chips with guacamole. Soon after, I went to bed. Sorry to inform you, but I did not shower after my body sweat liters of impurities.. how pleasant. I slept great, started the day with green tea and some B-12, planned to do some shopping before meeting Raina for a late lunch, and jumped in the shower I had so looked forward to. I did not plan on the water being cold. I shut off the dial and waited, freezing, for a minute or two. Trying and failing with this method twice, I put on a second kettle of water for a second cup of tea.
A cold shower really isn't the end of the world. Depending on where in the world you actually are, cold showers can even be a God send. Last summer in Thailand, for example, Raina Leigh and myself spent a day rock climbing in the scorching heat. The view was worth the work out, but the ants that somehow got inside our clothes were not warmly received. Never in my life has a cold shower been more appropriate. These ants were vicious; over the course of fifteen minutes, I was attacked three times. The ants got on my towel and my t-shirt. Three separate rinses under the cold water and I was a pitiful mess, itching to the point of tears; no wonder Raina couldn't help but laugh, I can't help but laugh now myself- nasty old ants. However, as I have previously mentioned, at this moment in time I am not in Thailand but in New York City, an area amid the handful of states to accumulate over two feet of snow just a few days ago. How does a hot shower sound to you now?
Perhaps I've been stranded in this 2010 East Coast Blizzard too long, but I've been using a website called http://www.stumbleupon.com/ ... I'm a fan. A web user creates a log in, selecting topics that grab their interest, while other users submit approved websites to be shuffled into topic categories. Many times have I criticized the role that technology plays in this modern age, but I am learning that, as with all things: because something is abused does not mean it is abused by all. The internet has the capability to do magnificent things, not simply fill your brain with silly yet entertaining youtube videos and facebook notifications.
The internet not only has the capability to do so, but it is succeeding in connecting people from diverse cultures and backgrounds with one another. The website I 'stumbledupon' greatly changed my perspective on more that just one concept. The most significant effect on me came from the website http://www.droppingknowledge.org. A conference was held in Berlin nearly five years ago to ask 112 appointed speakers from countries across the globe one hundred questions. Answers were recorded, leaving the world with 112,000 answers and opinions to learn from. I took the time to click through a few, and am so impressed with the desire these people have to unite humanity everywhere. A statement I heard earlier has been echoing inside the walls of my mind: "The time of competition is gone, the time for cooperation has come."
While waiting for the hot water in the shower, I was thinking to myself, self, the time will come when you no longer complain that the water to shower in is cold, but weep because there is no water to drink. How blessed am I, as a resident of the United States, that this idea seems unrealistic and ridiculous? Hundreds of people die from the lack of clean water. Daily.
Today I read the twenty-first chapter of Revelation for my devotions. It begins, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:1-4)
We use words like experience God and friend of God, but, as musician Misty Edwards has said, I'm not sure we really know what we're talking about. God gave us this planet, and whether you stand for science or under the banner of His love, know that this earth will soon pass away. We have teams and panels formed across the world to inform people everywhere about global warming, sustainability, world order; as a Christian, I would love to be a part of a different revival. I want to be captured by the call of God. Isn't it amazing that all the ministry that we do, and all the tapes that are sent out, and all the Christian music that's produced, and all the buildings that are built; the fact of the matter is our nation continues to free-fall into hell tonight. Only when the church is captured by the call of God and the glory and the fire of His presence is resident in them will we see our nation changed.
John Wesley said, "What one generation tolerates, the next one will embrace." It is evident that in the last several decades, a lot has changed. Here are some stark realities of our present culture and our present generation. We live in a time where sin is not simply permitted, it's promoted. The divorce rate in America and even in Europe has doubled over the last fifty years. The number of babies being born to unmarried parents has sextupled in the last fifty years in our nation. The rate of violent crimes such as rape, incest, molestation, and murder has quadrupled in the last fifty years. The suicide rate among teenagers has tripled in the last fifty years. The illegal drug rate has skyrocketed in America to a multibillion dollar industry annually.
Despite the fact that America claims to have the highest number of professing Christians in the industrialized world,
we have the highest percentage of single parent families in the world
we have the highest abortion rate in the world
we have the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the world
we have the highest teenage birthrate in the world
we have the highest rate of teenage drug use in the world.
Three and a half centuries ago our forefathers landed upon the shores of this nation and made covenant with God. They declared in the Mayflower Compact that they would be His people and that this land would be a light for the nations. In 1837 John Quincy Adams stood and said, "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." Proverbs 22:28 says, "Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set." Society today has tried to tell our generation that we have no Christian heritage in this nation, but there is overwhelming evidence throughout history that we are the heirs to a great Christian heritage in America. If there is no Christian heritage in our nation why then during the great awakening did the motto of our nation become "One nation under God", why then during the revolution did the cry arise, "No king but King Jesus!"
I hope it is obvious to all who find and read this at some point in time, I believe in God Almighty and am awestruck with His magnificence. I trust the Uncreated One. I believe He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I cannot begin to wrap my brain around His plan, but I am honored to give my life back to whatever purpose He designed for me. I know that the Bible is His word. I like to think of it as our how-to... life's little manual. Everything we need to know is in that book. My question is sometimes, are we aware of what we've lost? See, it's one thing to lose something and know you've lost it, but I think it's probably one of the most insidious things of the enemy to come into the midst of a life, a generation, a nation, a city; and steal something while one is unaware that it's gone. If you look back to Genesis, we'll meet Adam, the first man God ever created. I've heard a lot of things said about what Adam lost; I've heard ideas of what Adam and Eve lost in their marriage. What did Adam really lose when he sinned? He lost his father. God came after him, but still, he lost a father. If there was anyone who was acutely aware of what he had lost, it was Adam. Now, we've got thousands of years removing us from the moment God gave time "it's"name, do we know what we've really lost? Are we even aware of what we've lost?
I can't begin to understand what we've lost. I don't know how valuable it is, I can't fathom how deep it goes, we don't understand the repercussions. What do I know of Holy? The revelation God gives to us as our Father is unimaginable. When Adam sinned, a veil was placed over his life, and he was cut off from revelation. A cloud of darkness came over his head, and what the Bible means by darkness, it means ignorance. The seven openings in the head which let Adam see, smell, taste, speak, and listen to God were cut off, veiled. Now he has no connection to his father, his father was the source of his revelation, and he can no longer easily receive information from his father by revelation. Corinthians talks about how the enemy has veiled the mind. The Father cannot reveal to Adam who he was and who he is and what he meant him to do. So now because he doesn't live by revelation, he lives by his senses. What he can touch; he lives his life by what he feels and what he stumbles into with his feet. Man started living by emotions because he has no revelation, because he lost his father, because only his father could reveal to him who he was.
In Matthew 24:35-37, Jesus states, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
We look back to the days of Noah and know it was a dark time of blatant sin and disregard for the laws of the Lord. Sadly, I believe we live in a world where we are so programmed to lust and desire after materialistic ideals and worldly concepts that we're blinded by what we think persecution looks like. Everything around us challenges God. We have become robotic in what is socially acceptable and politically correct so that the gun pointed to our souls screaming, "DENOUNCE CHRIST" is in our own hand. Lord, have mercy. There is something wrong. Yes, God is doing beautiful things, and God is blessing, and God is pouring out. But the reality is also that the enemy, the devil Satan, is destroying life after life after life after life.
Jesus is worthy of the reward of His suffering. He came by His own will to give His life as a sacrifice, dying a brutal death on a cross as an innocent man. He rose after three days and He is alive. He invites us to accept this gift. Receive the knowledge that God is drawing a people to Himself. Luke 9:23-27 "And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."
Science tells us we in a race against time with melting glaciers, that coastal nations will at some point be wiped out and eventually, that we are headed towards yet another ice age. There is an island of trash the size of the state of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. Millions of tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air everyday. I heard a question about global warming.. what are you doing to heal the earth?
The Bible tells us that an antichrist will reveal himself to the world as we near the end of the age, there will be a great falling away from God, and eventually a requirement will be made to take the mark of the beast to be allowed to buy and sell. As the fragrance and the flower are one, so must you and your creator become, friends. The wrath of God against the world's sin is mighty, but trust that He is mighty to save. The book of The Revelation goes into in depth detail of what the end of the world looks like. Glory to God, it also describes to us the phenomenal new heaven and earth we have to look forward to.
I took a cold shower today, met my sister Raina for lunch and ran a few errands. I suppose somewhere deep inside me I subconsciously expected to forget about my grand plan to buy a new journal. As absent minded as I am, I suppose that's another plan I can always plan to plan on. As I head to bed, hours too late, I can only laugh to myself as I realize my day long mind exercise was sparked by just two minutes of waiting on a cold shower. I can't express my happiness in saying, Lord, I trust this cold shower was a God send, thanks for leaving out the ants.
Dear Diary, tomorrow is the day I find another journal to add to the collection of tattered covers stored in some leather knapsack, their pages bleeding secrets and stories of the past.
While waiting for the hot water in the shower, I was thinking to myself, self, the time will come when you no longer complain that the water to shower in is cold, but weep because there is no water to drink. How blessed am I, as a resident of the United States, that this idea seems unrealistic and ridiculous? Hundreds of people die from the lack of clean water. Daily.
Today I read the twenty-first chapter of Revelation for my devotions. It begins, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:1-4)
We use words like experience God and friend of God, but, as musician Misty Edwards has said, I'm not sure we really know what we're talking about. God gave us this planet, and whether you stand for science or under the banner of His love, know that this earth will soon pass away. We have teams and panels formed across the world to inform people everywhere about global warming, sustainability, world order; as a Christian, I would love to be a part of a different revival. I want to be captured by the call of God. Isn't it amazing that all the ministry that we do, and all the tapes that are sent out, and all the Christian music that's produced, and all the buildings that are built; the fact of the matter is our nation continues to free-fall into hell tonight. Only when the church is captured by the call of God and the glory and the fire of His presence is resident in them will we see our nation changed.
John Wesley said, "What one generation tolerates, the next one will embrace." It is evident that in the last several decades, a lot has changed. Here are some stark realities of our present culture and our present generation. We live in a time where sin is not simply permitted, it's promoted. The divorce rate in America and even in Europe has doubled over the last fifty years. The number of babies being born to unmarried parents has sextupled in the last fifty years in our nation. The rate of violent crimes such as rape, incest, molestation, and murder has quadrupled in the last fifty years. The suicide rate among teenagers has tripled in the last fifty years. The illegal drug rate has skyrocketed in America to a multibillion dollar industry annually.
Despite the fact that America claims to have the highest number of professing Christians in the industrialized world,
we have the highest percentage of single parent families in the world
we have the highest abortion rate in the world
we have the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the world
we have the highest teenage birthrate in the world
we have the highest rate of teenage drug use in the world.
Three and a half centuries ago our forefathers landed upon the shores of this nation and made covenant with God. They declared in the Mayflower Compact that they would be His people and that this land would be a light for the nations. In 1837 John Quincy Adams stood and said, "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." Proverbs 22:28 says, "Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set." Society today has tried to tell our generation that we have no Christian heritage in this nation, but there is overwhelming evidence throughout history that we are the heirs to a great Christian heritage in America. If there is no Christian heritage in our nation why then during the great awakening did the motto of our nation become "One nation under God", why then during the revolution did the cry arise, "No king but King Jesus!"
I hope it is obvious to all who find and read this at some point in time, I believe in God Almighty and am awestruck with His magnificence. I trust the Uncreated One. I believe He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I cannot begin to wrap my brain around His plan, but I am honored to give my life back to whatever purpose He designed for me. I know that the Bible is His word. I like to think of it as our how-to... life's little manual. Everything we need to know is in that book. My question is sometimes, are we aware of what we've lost? See, it's one thing to lose something and know you've lost it, but I think it's probably one of the most insidious things of the enemy to come into the midst of a life, a generation, a nation, a city; and steal something while one is unaware that it's gone. If you look back to Genesis, we'll meet Adam, the first man God ever created. I've heard a lot of things said about what Adam lost; I've heard ideas of what Adam and Eve lost in their marriage. What did Adam really lose when he sinned? He lost his father. God came after him, but still, he lost a father. If there was anyone who was acutely aware of what he had lost, it was Adam. Now, we've got thousands of years removing us from the moment God gave time "it's"name, do we know what we've really lost? Are we even aware of what we've lost?
I can't begin to understand what we've lost. I don't know how valuable it is, I can't fathom how deep it goes, we don't understand the repercussions. What do I know of Holy? The revelation God gives to us as our Father is unimaginable. When Adam sinned, a veil was placed over his life, and he was cut off from revelation. A cloud of darkness came over his head, and what the Bible means by darkness, it means ignorance. The seven openings in the head which let Adam see, smell, taste, speak, and listen to God were cut off, veiled. Now he has no connection to his father, his father was the source of his revelation, and he can no longer easily receive information from his father by revelation. Corinthians talks about how the enemy has veiled the mind. The Father cannot reveal to Adam who he was and who he is and what he meant him to do. So now because he doesn't live by revelation, he lives by his senses. What he can touch; he lives his life by what he feels and what he stumbles into with his feet. Man started living by emotions because he has no revelation, because he lost his father, because only his father could reveal to him who he was.
In Matthew 24:35-37, Jesus states, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
We look back to the days of Noah and know it was a dark time of blatant sin and disregard for the laws of the Lord. Sadly, I believe we live in a world where we are so programmed to lust and desire after materialistic ideals and worldly concepts that we're blinded by what we think persecution looks like. Everything around us challenges God. We have become robotic in what is socially acceptable and politically correct so that the gun pointed to our souls screaming, "DENOUNCE CHRIST" is in our own hand. Lord, have mercy. There is something wrong. Yes, God is doing beautiful things, and God is blessing, and God is pouring out. But the reality is also that the enemy, the devil Satan, is destroying life after life after life after life.
Jesus is worthy of the reward of His suffering. He came by His own will to give His life as a sacrifice, dying a brutal death on a cross as an innocent man. He rose after three days and He is alive. He invites us to accept this gift. Receive the knowledge that God is drawing a people to Himself. Luke 9:23-27 "And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."
Science tells us we in a race against time with melting glaciers, that coastal nations will at some point be wiped out and eventually, that we are headed towards yet another ice age. There is an island of trash the size of the state of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. Millions of tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air everyday. I heard a question about global warming.. what are you doing to heal the earth?
The Bible tells us that an antichrist will reveal himself to the world as we near the end of the age, there will be a great falling away from God, and eventually a requirement will be made to take the mark of the beast to be allowed to buy and sell. As the fragrance and the flower are one, so must you and your creator become, friends. The wrath of God against the world's sin is mighty, but trust that He is mighty to save. The book of The Revelation goes into in depth detail of what the end of the world looks like. Glory to God, it also describes to us the phenomenal new heaven and earth we have to look forward to.
I took a cold shower today, met my sister Raina for lunch and ran a few errands. I suppose somewhere deep inside me I subconsciously expected to forget about my grand plan to buy a new journal. As absent minded as I am, I suppose that's another plan I can always plan to plan on. As I head to bed, hours too late, I can only laugh to myself as I realize my day long mind exercise was sparked by just two minutes of waiting on a cold shower. I can't express my happiness in saying, Lord, I trust this cold shower was a God send, thanks for leaving out the ants.
Dear Diary, tomorrow is the day I find another journal to add to the collection of tattered covers stored in some leather knapsack, their pages bleeding secrets and stories of the past.
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