I am up late working on a Psychology paper this evening, listening to some music, and I thought to myself "I have to write."  So I am just gonna wing it tonight.

How's everyone doin? Hopefully well! I've been doin fantastic! School has been crazy, yesterday I had three tests, and a paper.  Lame.  Anyway, the question: is it our job to invest in others came up.  So I ask you, is it our job to invest into other people's lives?  I'm going to stand my ground, and stand on the truth.  But did God invest in you when He created you?  The bible says, before you were born, when you were still in the womb, I knew you."  He had a perfect plan for all of our lives before we could even see light of day.  He was already pulling us to His grace.  How awesome is it to think about that?  Even though our parents love us, it's hard to imagine that they had a perfect plan for our lives huh. 

Investment is more of a business terminology, but I like to think of it as a spiritual commitment.  Investment in someone's life means to show love and compassion for what they are doing daily.  It is on many terms how relationships start, whether it is a dating relationship, a simple friendship, or a marriage, it means that a commitment has been made by at two people to have that specific relationship.  If we didn't spiritually commit to others, God would have no purpose for us.  Why would He have made us brothers and sisters in Christ if His intentions were anything different. 

Since about two o clock on the eighteenth day of August in the year of two thousand eight I chose not to invest in myself.  Yet I chose to spiritually commit to a lifelong relationship with the Lord of everything.  Because Jesus Christ spirtitually as well as physically commited to my sin.  He chose to take my sin, over wealth, riches, the world, and all the power.  If you don't see commitment there, then I think a change of definition is in store. 

I want to continue this, but I'm exhausted.  I will call this part one of this post on Spiritual Commitment.  I'll take the time to study and find some nice scripture to back this.  I hope that you are all doin great! Keep on serving and seeking God's face!

What is Truth???

AND NOW YOU GENTILES HAVE ALSO HEARD THE TRUTH, THE GOOD NEWS THAT GOD SAVES YOU. AND WHEN YOU BELIEVED IN CHRIST, HE IDENTIFIED YOU AS HIS OWN BY GIVING YOU THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHOM HE PROMISED LONG AGO...EPHESIANS 2:13.

TRUTH is something that is extremely vague.  It's something that is very valuable if it's seen in the right ways. TRUTH is TRUTH, what more can  you say about it??  More than a lot of people think.  Truth is not something that's very easy to put a precise definition to.  Dictionary.com states that truth is: a verified or indisputable fact, it's actuality or absolute existence!

Have you ever been thinking about something for a while and all of a sudden this mess of thoughts starts to make a lot more sense now??  There was this underlying thing that is hidden by lies, gossip, or thoughts called TRUTH that no one hardly knows about anymore.  TRUTH is what makes us exist to this day.  It should be what we stand on.  It should be a common ground that we can all come to in times that are hard, on the days that we feel like we're surrounded by complete lies every step we make, every turn we take.  That's where TRUTH comes in. 

Listen, people don't like TRUTH at all.  Most people will be very offended if you tell them the truth.  Like if you tell a friend that she has food in her teeth or her hair is frizzy today they might get a little flustered because you told them TRUTH.  Furthermore, if you get down to the deep deep honest stuff like if you call someone out on something, they can get really upset with you.  Now that's not the most ideal situation for either person.  It can be very frustrating depending on who is being called out.  Is that person going to really freak out or are they going to choose to grow from it?

Now with all of that being said let's think about the opposite of TRUTH.  Lies and deceit surround us every day, every waking moment.  Satan uses these tactics very well to his advantage.  He may very well even use them through us without us even seeing it.  Let's say that you're a christian, and you're trying to help a friend, but you have this thought that God is telling you to steer this person down a path, so you lead them down this path and it just turns out a train wreck...that could have very well been Satan in his evil ways.  A sixteen year old girl is asked out by the senior starting quarterback on the football team.  The girl has deep church roots, but in a way wants to break away and have that sense of freedom to do what she wants.  The girl says yes, and the quarterback invites her to a party.  They attend this hoppin party together, and the girl has her doubts in the back of her mind and in her stomach, but she pushes them away.  It turns out to be one of the worst mistakes that she had made, she got too drunk to remember anything, she was raped by a group of guys from the football team including the quarterback that asked her out.

The key thing about this girls' troubles was the fact that when this young girl was doubting going to a party and going out with the boy, the boy simply told her, "it will be ok, it will be fun!"  That's how it all starts.  With one simple black and white lie.  A lie that caused this young girl emotional and physical trauma for many years of her life.  She was unable to think about going out with a boy for most of her life.  She had emotional trauma from that night all of her life, and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Once again, it all started from that little glaring pest, the lie that she was fed.

Lies are something that can entangle our entire life if we allow it to.  Satan will drive deceitful thoughts and lies into our hearts and minds every day of ones's life if they don't stand on the truth.  Let me tell you a little about TRUTH.

TRUTH was talked about throughout the bible, and it was spread like wildfire. Psalm 25:5 David calls out "Lead me by your TRUTH and teach me; for you are the God who saves me.  All day long I put my hope in you."  TRUTH was hung on a cross to be put to death, but it flies high and mighty still today.  TRUTH is found everywhere.  It's focal point is God's holy and truthful word. 

Let me ask you this....would you rather be that girl that was traumatised for the rest of her life, or the quarterback that repented for putting that girl in that situation on that night.  He turned away from his sin, and stood on the truth.  God promises one thing.  That He will give you a final resting place along side Jesus Christ, the one who did it all for you, He gave you life, He took away your sin, He gave you a path, and now He's wanting to give you a home.  Stand on His TRUTH, TRUTH that can only set you free.  TRUTH that you can believe in for eternity.

1 Timothy 3: 14-16: "I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon so that If I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God.  This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the TRUTH.  Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit.  He was seen by angels and announced to the nations.  He was believed in throughout the world and taken into heaven in glory."

If there's one thing that I hope you get out of this, is the fact that I will always stand on God's TRUTH, and if there is anything wrong with this world, it's that they do the exact opposite and feed off of Lucifer's lies.  And there's only one path to take when you eat from the tree of lies, and that path takes you straight to hell.  That's not my opinion.  Romans 2:8-10 "But God will pour out His anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the TRUTH and instead live lives of wickedness.  There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing evil.  But there will be glory, honor, and peace from God for all who do good."

That's the TRUTH.  Be free from that fire in hell.  Stand on TRUTH.

Until He returns...

God trully wants whats underneath...

Well.  I wrote on facebook that I'd write a blog about Thirty Three Miles' song "underneath" which has a mind blowing message if you'd ask me. 


First of all, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He didn't JUST die on the cross to bear our sins.  I think some have that mindset, where they might think, well He just died on the cross to take away our sins.  WRONG!  THAT IS SOO NOT TRUE!  Think about it in detail.  People say they've actually heard the gospel and know what Jesus did...but they don't even know his real motives. And folks, im not saying that our sins being erased was not one of Jesus' motives, it was just NOT THE ONLY ONE!  And I think all of us at some point get a little wrapped up in that.  But here are a few other things to keep in mind when thinking about the wondrous cross...

1. When Christ was on the cross, HOPE was instilled into His blood, that was shed to save us from our very own damnation.  He offers us a brand new hope that we can not have apart from Him.  John 15:5 says "I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing." 
2. We are called, to "die to self" every single day.  When Christ died on the cross, the bible says, "our old flesh was nailed to the cross" Galatians 2:20-21 says "My old self has been crucified with Christ.  IT is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not treat grace of God as meaningless.  For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die!"  He gives us the opportunity to lay everything at His cross. All of our sin, our junk, our wants, our needs, and our prayers....and our old sinful disgusting flesh.  Ya see, our old sin remains with us still, and God asks us to nail it to the cross piece by piece, flesh by flesh, everyday.  The old is gone, and the new has come.  "We are a new creation in Christ"
3. Jesus set a standard, a way to live, and a culture, that is a command to be separate from the world.  1 John 2:15 says, "Do not love this world nor the things if offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world only offers a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and successes."  We are to live a life, that is apart from the lusts of this world, the pleasures and success of this world.  Jesus lived a life as a poor homeless beaten punished man.  But He created a new life, a new way to live, that is holy and a living sacrifice (Romans 12:2).

Jesus was born, had a great ministry, performed many miracles and casted out many demons.  This world will not be a better place without Him.  He walked 33 miles with a cross on His back, He was completely demolished and punished!


Now for the good stuff!  He also wants you to feel like you can tell him anything.  Like you could be the most comfortable you've ever been in your life.  Now....we all have this stuff down in our hearts, and in our minds that we hide.  We have junk inside of us that can hold us back, keep us from being happy, or even be on the verge of something unhealthy.  I like to call it the stuff that's "underneath."  There is only one way to be completely free from your stuff that is underneath.  And that's through accepting Christ into your very own heart, and giving the underneath to Him.  And the last thing, is the fact that Jesus actually loves that!  He loves it when we bleed a little, and are vulnerable, and show that we love Him and that we don't care about what the world says.  That's part of being separate from this world.


We are all beautiful people, no matter what you believe in.  Whether or not you believe in a God that loves you, whether you look at a person of the opposite sex and drule, or if you respect the opposite sex too much to look at them like a piece of meat.  All of that doesn't matter, because the truth is, God see's our beauty, and He is the one that created us, and chose us over animals, mountains, the beautiful blue sky, and the sun, moon, and stars.  HE CHOSE US TO BE HIS NUMBER ONE.  How awesome is that!?! 


May an all knowing, all loving, all purposeful, all forgiving, all merciful, all graceful God grab a hold of your heart tonight and give you a sense of peace and comfort that you have never known before...and always remember one of the things that God loves the most...and that's....the stuff that you hide....."underneath"

"My chains are gone"

Acts 12

James Is Killed and Peter Is Imprisoned
1 About that time King Herod Agrippa* began to persecute some believers in the church.2 He had the apostle James (John's brother) killed with a sword.3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.*)4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover.5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

Peter's Miraculous Escape from Prison6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate.7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, "Quick! Get up!" And the chains fell off his wrists.8 Then the angel told him, "Get dressed and put on your sandals." And he did. "Now put on your coat and follow me," the angel ordered.
  9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn't realize it was actually happening.10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.
  11 Peter finally came to his senses. "It's really true!" he said. "The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders* had planned to do to me!"
  12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer.13 He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it.14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, "Peter is standing at the door!"
  15 "You're out of your mind!" they said. When she insisted, they decided, "It must be his angel."
  16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. "Tell James and the other brothers what happened," he said. And then he went to another place.
  18 At dawn there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter.19 Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn't be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death. Afterward Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while.
The Death of Herod Agrippa20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod's country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod's personal assistant,21 and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them.22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, "It's the voice of a god, not of a man!"
  23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
  24 Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.
  25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned,* taking John Mark with them.


I was reminded of this passage of scripture in Vacation Bible Study a few nights ago, and while I was listening to the story of how Peter was imprisoned, this analogy came to my thoughts.  Peter went to jail for sharing the gospel, and being a bold christian.  They locked him up in a prison that was in the middle of wall after wall, door after door, like a chamber and he had two guards chained to him, and two more in front of him. 


While I was listening to the rest of the story about how the angel came to release Peter, this is what I was thinking.  Think of yourself as Peter, put yourself in his body in that musty, nasty prison with chains on your arms, and four guards holding you captive.  Now think of it this way, that's all of us!  We're all tied down by chains (our sin) and we're held back by guards (this world's culture, and ways), and there is a God that loves us that wants to set us free just like Peter! 


Jesus Christ loves you, as He does me, and everyone who has ever lived, and ever will live on this earth.  But He gives us the choice to love him back and serve him and as a gift He gives us an eternity spent with Him in heaven when we die.  Opposite of that is eternal damnation to hell. 


Now for some hope! 1John 2:15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  And Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. One more!   Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
So, all we have to do is accept Jesus into our hearts, and turn away from our sinful flesh as much as we can, and we can be free just like Peter!  God is waiting for us to come to Him, and whether or not you believe that, He is drawing us all closer and closer to Him everyday.


May the Lord Jesus open your heart to His word, and to Himself, so that He may use your very life that He gave you to bring Him the glory that He won on the cross! God bless you all :)

A broken concept....

I've been pondering this concept that I read in a book a while back.  Its "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" and in it the author talks about how we shouldn't let our singleness get in the way of making a difference as a christian.  He uses the terms preparing for marriage in several different ways.  Im going to use that message the way that I've been thinking about it! 


I think we all have something that holds us back from experiencing God at an all time high level.  Whether it's something small or big, that's ok.  God understands.  One of my biggest things at a point not too long ago, was the reason that I'm reading I kissed dating goodbye.  I never understood what was happening to me.  I was completely blind to the fact that I was trying to find love in places that I shouldn't be longing for.  Ya see, me wanting to find an awesome girl to share my life with at the wrong time didn't allow me to fully experience what God has for me.


And I think it's safe to say, that we all have something that holds us back.  I read a book about teen expectations in this world.  And it talked about a concept that involved an elephant held down by a small piece of twine.  A piece of twine tieing down an elephant?  That's unheard of.  But maybe we are just like the elephants....they say "we humans, hold so much potential, but we are also held back by twine, we're held back by the lies that this world's culture has"  we are exactly the same as the elephant, holding so much strength, so much power, so much potential.  But we're held back by some sort of lie that we constantly tell ourselves.  For instance, ah, im not good enough for God, or in our minds we have something that we put above God.  In high school mine was definitely sports.  I knew everything about sports, I could tell you any stat, any player's background, anything!  But I knew nothing about God.  And I let myself be blinded by something small like that. 


Do you ever think about how much time we all actually waste on non-important things in life?  We're constantly thinking about that person we're crushing on, or that test that's coming up, or what in the world am I  going to do for my future??  If we would realize that sometimes Satan actually uses an opportunity for God to blind us from what God actually wants us to do, we'd be better off.  Sometimes the enemy uses opportunities to get in the way of what God wants.  When we ponder them all the time, sometimes they can become a distraction.  It's fine to think about things and desire to make a safe and sound decision :) but I hope you see what I'm getting at.

So If you're in a spot where you're just like, I'm not good enough, how can a God love me, where am I going to be for college next fall, why am I not happy, why am I SO depressed?  The answer is in your heart.  Every single one of you has a choice to surrender to His wonderful and merciful love. 

Let me tell you something :) Jesus not only died on the cross to take our junk away, but when He died, He in scripted something in His atoning blood.  And it's called HOPE.  And that's something that this world either has nothing of, or puts it in things that won't last.  Hope is only found in the name of Jesus Christ.  And the things is, it's so easy to love Jesus, the bible says, whoever will confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, will be saved.  Ephesians 2:8 says for it is by grace that you have been saved....(what I remember version) not by works from us, but completely by what God has done for us!  Wow! That's good news at its best :)

No matter what your circumstance in life, Jesus will always be there.  The bible says I (God) will never leave you nor forsake you.  A lot of people may argue that they never feel like God's there, but I guarantee you He is!  You may just not see that He's actually been working all around you, you just haven't noticed.  So the next time you're out for a walk, or you see someone who loves God, pay attention to the nature of God's love and His magnificent creation :)

Matthew 25:13 "So stay awake and be prepared, because you do not know the day or hour of my return"

What a powerful scripture!  To think that the King of Kings is soon to come back, and rescue us from this world, and from our very own sinful disgusting nature, is very refreshing to hear!  Be prepared because we do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will return....whether or not you're a christian I'd like to tell you something that makes a lot of sense to me.  When I was growing up I didn't know a thing about being a christian...but I do know that i was definitely headed down the wrong path. 

To keep his fairly short, my father got really sick, and had seizures on our couch July 27th, 2008, and died three weeks later, Aug. 18th, 2008, but I gave my heart to Jesus Christ the day before dad died.  One of the things that I came to understand right away and ya also hear a lot of Christians and pastor say this.  But what if we're right and you're not?  If we're wrong and there is no God, which I believe with all my heart there is! But if we're wrong, we don't lose anything, we're just awesome people trying to show people love....but on your side if you're wrong, you could be sent straight to hell.  That's not my opinion, that's a biblical principal straight up....harsh reality.

That honestly scared me.  So now my soul will soon be rested in heaven, and we who have Jesus will have our glorified bodies. No more sickness, no sin, just awesome glorified bodies :) so why not just give your heart to the God who created you in the first place.  All He wants is a relationship with you.

Listen, some one's out to get you....Satan has the most evil plan and path for your life.  Jesus Christ has the most perfect path laid out that you could ever imagine.  So let's take the steps we need to in life to prepare ourselves for the Kingdom of heaven!

Matthew 6:33 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all things, and His righteousness, and these things will be added to you"

Ya know it just makes me tear up a little when I hear about the relief efforts that are happening as I type this tonight.  To think that Convoy of Hope, and Samaritans Purse are working their butts off in Joplin, Missouri, where an E-F5 rocked the town and destroyed everything in it's path.  I hear about it every morning on K-Love and it is so inspiring.  And ya know one thing that God reminds me is that Joplin probably is not a town that's lost absolutely everything!  They still have hope!  And we WILL ALWAYS HAVE JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! 

One thing that Convoy of hope, and all of the restoration efforts is they're having a restoration fest in a downtown park, where I'm sure a lot of things will happen.  It's a fund raiser to help set a foundation for the rebuilding efforts.  Their will be an unbelievable amount of talented christian musical talent on stage in town to bring hope to the victims and their families.  The list brings anyone from Write this Down, to Hawk Nelson, to Mandisa, and Mercy Me. I couldn't imagine being in a better environment to find hope.  And I know for a fact that hope Himself, in Jesus Christ, will be in Joplin, Missouri, and will continue to be.

But we've had to rebuild before in this country right?  Think of a similar scenario when Greensburg, Ks. was hit with an F5 and they went green and rebuilt.  The community really came together and it was encouraging to see that unfold!

One things I'm going to do and I'd also encourage you to do is just pray for all the relief efforts and for the Fest itself.  I couldn't hand pick better music ministries than the lineup they have to being some hope and joy to the city and it's broken people.  Let's lift them up tonight, and pray that the good Lord blesses that place and bring healing and comfort to the whole state! God bless all!

Life trully is a highway.....

So on the way home from work today, God was once again doing work! He must really like trying to teach me and show me stuff during car rides lol.

So anyway, please check out the album, highway photos...there are three pictures of highways there, the straight one with trees on both sides, the interstate with exits on both sides, and the night one with cars flying by! These images can very easily depict the paths of our lives...

This is what God reminded me of....we are all driving down our own little paths (or roads), and today while i was on the road he put this analogy in my thoughts. The highway assuming it's straight for the most part is like that path. The shoulders sometimes have rumble bars to keep people awake and on the road. So picture yourself on this straight hightway, if we swerve off to the right and hit that bumpy rumble bar (the rough parts of life) then that is kind of like a worldy, conforming worldview in a way.

Ya see, what God showed me today, is that you can see almost the entire world's cultural view just by drivin on the highway and observing it. If we drive our lives into the rumble bars on purpose, we probably live without Jesus on the throne. If we stay on the road and drive straight and try our best to stay between the lines, and God is on the throne, then Jesus is the focal point of our lives.

Life doesn't always have to be bumpy. If this is you, and you've already hit the rumble bars, and if feels like your headed toward the ditch or cornfield, turn the wheel a little back to the left, and steer towards the one who created your very own highway. He loves you, and if you move over and sit in the passenger's seat, and let Him drive, He will completely bless your life!

Travis

I just wanted to tell you all a little about me.  I grew up in small town Nebraska.  Growing up I was one of the shy kids in my class until about Jr. high.  That's when I really started to become more active in sports and chillin with friends!  I became a christian when I was seventeen, my father died and it killed me, so I gave my life to Jesus Christ, and now to this day, by choice follow Him and serve only Him!  I'm a huge Husker fan! If you're not, check out their tradition, fans, and play on the field!