Sin

I was getting breakfast with a friend who's really intelligent, and kind of new to the idea's of Christianity. He asked the question "Doesn't it kind of seem like a big excuse, i mean Christ dying for your sins so you're no longer responsible"

The answer is no.

Even though our sins are forgiven, they have very real and devastating consequences. They hurt us and the ones that we love. Sin must be nipped at the bud, and stopped at its earliest sign before it can corrupt. As the Lord said to Cain "Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

So often, I personally have a very complacent attitude towards sin in my own life. I've seen the very real effects of sin not stopped, and the gospel takes on new meaning for me when it warns so strictly of the consequences of sin.

God hates sin. If we are to Love God, we must hate sin to. We should grieve sin in our world, but more importantly we should grieve sin in our Church. It is important however, that we Love sinners, for we all have fallen short of the Glory.

Caught Sleeping

This past weekend there was an attack by Satan, and i was cought sleeping.

It reminds me of a couple things. We need to be intentional about EVERYTHING we do. We need to hold each other accountable, and constantly be looking out for the spiritual needs of each other and our churches.

Christ's bride isn't you, its the church. Our spiritually isn't individualistic, its corporate.

attacks can come at any time, so be ready.

One of my fav. poems

One of my favorite poems is "As I walked out one evening" by W.H. Auden. On first reading the poem, it sounds pretty depressing, but my favorite thing about the poem is the realization that humanly we can't love as well as we think we can. But, we do the best we can. here's my favorite part:

O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.

-mike

Christany Jargon and Beauty in small things

My buddy kyle called me out/encouraged me to a)post on my blog more and b) keep up with the photo a day thing, which i started gun-ho last week with one photo and then abandoned. The biggest problem is sometimes I can't wrap my mind around how to capture all the beauty I see, but kyle encouraged saying thats the trick of the whole thing, you've just gotta take some extra time and try. With that being said, there's two more photos up on the photo-a day site.

This weekend has been beautiful. The leaves are all in full gold and red splendor. I Had a great time yesterday biking some of the magnolia trails with a study group of guys. Except a day-ending injury for Andrew, it was a fantastic ride. "The enchanted forest" is one of my favorite little sections of trail up there now.

Church was really good today, Kirk had a great sermon. He talked about how even little things are Holy to God. It made me think a little of the photo-a day project. He encouraged us to take some extra time and enjoy life, enjoy a cup a coffee or your lunch, or a glass of wine. He also really encouraged us to read and know scripture, so we can really tell when people say things when they're true. the whole sermon was based off of Jemimah 29. If you want to listen to it, you can on the church's website.

He also said something about false prophecy that made me think a little bit. I might go on a rabbit trail here, so bear with me... or don't, whatever. All the time people are talking like "God told me to do this" and "I felt like the spirit was leading me to do this." I don't want to say the spirit doesn't move in us and God doesn't speak to us, but I do feel like we should take extreme caution saying God told us something, and its not just what we want, or what we thought. Sometimes i think of the commandment in exodus 20:7 "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Sometimes I wonder if when we use God's name, if we're not using it to empower our words or choices instead of really glorifying Him. Or maybe we just want to sound "holier." Anyhow, thats that thought, now on cyberspace. Be careful when using christiany jargon.

"whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 cor 10:31

Photo-a-day

My friend Matt had a great idea to take a photo a day and post it online. The idea is simple, just take a photo a day. The exercise is to help you think "how can i capture this beauty, share it with others." Some people are incredibly gifted at this, I haven't thought seriously about photography since high school. I'm hoping I get some good pictures. Anyhow... My photo-a-day album is going to be online Here.

I'm also going to put a little sideshow on my webpage (which needs updating).

Also, Because I'm such a super-amateur at photography, I'd really appreciate comments on photos, what you like, what you didn't like, what I could do better (either in taking the photo, or post processing). I have a copy of Photoshop at school, so i might try to get into that a little bit...
peace!
mike

Photo Download

I made it back safely!

i just uploaded pictures HERE:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286988&id=12702301&l=3ce8604ed5

sorry, i did not do a fantastic job of taking lots of pictures!
-mike

Last day

Today was our last day in Rome. If you find a restaurant you like, I highly reccomend returning. Todays lunch and dinner we returned to some of our favorite spots and got the VIP treatment. We spent most of the day running around town picking up souvineers and shopping which was a fun experience. I went into Armani and prada for the first time in my life and looked at some 1500$ driving shoes... Hmmm. Anyhow, Rome has been great but I'm excited to be returning home. Se everybody soon!
-mike