"Awake, O Sleeper" and Other Stories That Have Changed My Life

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NLT)

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."

I just found these verses today, but these are literally the words that God has been whispering to me the past 3 or 4 months. What has happened to our radical, revolutionary, upside-down faith? Why have we stomped all over the amazing gift of salvation that God has given us over and over again by following our own desires instead of being followers of Christ? What does the rest of Ephesians say?

Ephesians 5:10-14 (NLT)

"Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, 'Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.'"

"Awake, O sleeper"...such a revolutionary statement. This isn't just a call for people who are not followers of Christ, it's a call for the church! Wake up from you slumber followers of Christ! We are not called to be asleep or dead, but rather we are called to be awake and alive. Once we are awake and alive, once the fire and passion of life through Christ has stirred inside of us, then Christ gives us light. Light to guide our paths, light to expose the darkness in ourselves and in others; this light is from the flame, the Holy Spirit from within us telling us, beckoning us to go out and BE God's love to the people around us. Awake, O sleeper!

This story has changed my way of thinking and I want to share it with you now:

Two guys are talking to each other and one of them says he has a question for God. He wants to ask God why he allows all of this poverty and war and suffering to exist in the world. And his friend says, "Well why don't you ask him?" The guy shakes his head and says he is scared to ask God. When his friend asks why he mutters, "I'm scared God will ask me the same question." Over and over when I ask God why all these injustices are allowed to exist in the world I can feel the Spirit whisper to me, "You tell me why we allow this to happen. You are my body my hands and my feet."

Untitled

Dear God,

I need you right now.

From Nate

Take All Of Me

This song is exactly where I'm at right now...in the craziest of ways. It's called "Take All Of Me" by the Freshwind Band. Here's the lyrics, or at least I think these are the lyrics (I had to type them all out):

TAKE ALL OF ME

All I want is you

You've heard the tears I've cried

So sick of all the things

That keep me from your sight

I just want to feel you closer

Desire of my heart

The choices I've been making

Are tearing us apart

So before I come undone

So before I come undone

Take all of me

Take all of me

Take all of me

Take all of me

'Til there's nothing left but you

Certain in your mercy

Surrounded by your praise

I'm wondering what to give you

But all I have is me

So Lord here I come undone

So Lord here I come undone

Take all of me

Take all of me

Take all of me

Take all of me

'Til there's nothing left but you

This Is My Desire: Consume Me Like A Fire

I just started reading the book of Matthew. I know all of the gospels are similar in that they all tell the story of Jesus but not all of them have the same stories and they all have different writing styles. I was reading about how Jesus just started his ministry...craziest thing. We hear about his birth and a little about his childhood and then BAM! All of a sudden Jesus is almost 30 or already 30 or so and he's ready to start his ministry. I wonder what Jesus was doing during his teen years, and during his 20s. Like that will be a question I will have for God when I get to heaven. Haha! But anyways, so Jesus gets baptized by John the Baptist...blah, blah, blah. And then Jesus gets led away into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. So Jesus gets in to the desert and he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights and THEN the devil comes to tempt him. First the devil tempts him with the idea of food. He tells Jesus that since he's God he can turn the stones into bread. And Jesus says back to him that humans don't live on food alone, but that they do (and should) live on EVERY word that comes out of the mouth of God. This is interesting...I've never really thought of this passage as saying those words. Most pastors try to relate that statement to just what's written in the Bible. And I think they are right, the Bible is definitely made up of words that come from the mouth of God, but I don't think we should limit it to that. God still speaks to us in very real ways today, whether we get a sign or we feel God is speaking to us in our hearts, or even, but extremely rare, we hear an audible voice. So anyways this next part is interesting to me. It says that the devil took Jesus and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. Some versions say that the devil took Jesus and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. This is how awesome Jesus is...he let the devil tell him where to go and what to do and he still resisted the temptation of the devil. That's so opposite of us as humans. When WE let the devil tell us where to go and what to do we end up giving into the temptation...maybe because we figure, "Hey, we're already here, I've practically committed the sin already, may as well just do it" or whatever other reason we come up with. So the devil tempts Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple with a straight-up weak temptation. He told Jesus that if he was really Jesus, if he was really the son of God then he would be able to throw himself off the top of the temple and the angels would save him from getting hurt. Jesus just has a few words to say this time, "It is written, do not tempt the Lord thy God." And then for the last temptation the devil takes Jesus to this super high mountain and he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (as if Jesus, who was there and helped create the world and is 100% God, didn't know that these kingdoms were there). The devil tempted Jesus by saying "all these kingdoms that you see here can be yours Jesus, if you bow down and worship me." Two things wrong with this statement: (1) God would never bow down to the devil, and (2) if Jesus would have bowed down to the devil he would have actually had to have given ownership of those kingdoms to the devil. See God already owned these kingdoms. They are his, not the devil's. The devil had no right to give them away. So if Jesus would have bowed down to the devil then he would have actually given up his ownership of everything. I like to think that Jesus gets pissed off here and yells his response back to the devil. He says, "Go Satan! For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." After this, the devil leaves and Jesus is ministered to by the angels. What I take away from this passage of scripture is that Jesus resisted the devil's temptation's by quoting scripture. I think this gives us all the more reason to be in the Bible so that we know how to combat temptations when they come up. This is just another way in which I would like to be like Jesus. This is my desire, Lord: consume me like a fire.

Tired

I feel like I'm always tired. It's almost getting to the point where it's a constant thing. I'm actually a little worried about it. But I'm super annoyed by it...more than anything. I wish I had more energy.

Me on most days

And so then because I'm super tired I try to find ways to make myself more energetic. That usually consists of me buying a Mountain Dew, or Vault, or a Monster of some kind...usually one of the bigger sized bottles or cans...something like this.

Just hook it up to an I.V., that way it'll go straight into my veins...thanks.

But maybe I'm so tired because I stay up so late at night and my sleep times are irregular. I mean if I honestly look at my sleep schedule it's alllllllways different. Some days I go to bed at 1 AM and some days I got to bed at 5 AM. And then I wake up whenever I want...usually. Can anyone else relate to this picture?

It's a rough life, but someone's gotta protect the apartment from creepers...why not the insomniac?

I don't know if I have insomnia...hopefully not. Alright well I'm too tired to write anymore. Peace!

The Journey Begins

I believe God has revealed to me a new stage in my life that is to come. I'm not sure when it will happen, or how it will happen, or what I will be doing when it happens. All I know is where. I'm not going to write where it's at on here for a few of reasons: (1) I can't even go there yet because I have a 12 month lease on my apartment, (2) I want to make sure that this is where God wants me (I've been praying that God would open the doors that he wants me to walk through, and close the doors that he doesn't want me to go through, and also that he would continue to make it crystal clear where he wants me to be at and what he wants me to do), and (3) if this is where God wants me to go, then I am definitely not prepared yet for this place; but I do however think that God has already started preparing me for this place. Either way I would greatly appreciate your prayers for this. I want to be sure this is where God wants me, and I want to be sure that I am ready for it. I'll keep you guys up to date! :)

Awkward?

So some times in a conversation there is an awkward moment or awkward silence. What are we supposed to do in those moments? According to UrbanDictionary.com we should make "awkward" hand gestures. The first one that is recommended is the "Awkward Turtle." Here is what UrbanDictionary.com says "When you're in an awkward moment, place your hands on top of each other, and spin your thumbs forward. Thus creating the creature know as awkward turtle." And what does this "Awkward Turtle" look like?

Oh yeah, let's make an awkward situation more
awkward by making a turtle out of your hands...

If we want a more accurate picture of how to do the "Awkward Turtle" it would look something like this...

AWKWARD!

Another one, which is less popular, is the "Awkward Turkey." It looks a little something like this...

These are probably the coolest people I've ever seen...they know exactly what to do in an awkward silence or awkward moment

in a conversation. They were actually in the middle of an awkward moment when this picture was taken...probably...

One awkward hand gesture that is not as well known, but is by far my most favorite, is called the "Awkward Palm Tree." Unfortunately I couldn't find a bigger picture of it than the one I'm about to show you...but you get the idea.

And if you shake your arms while doing the "Awkward Palm Tree" you

you would begin to perform the "Awkward Palm Tree in Awkward Hurricane."

If you want to use any of these during an awkward moment in any conversation AND make yourself look like an idiot, by all means, use these awkward hand gestures to point out the already awkward situation.

That being said, I really enjoy the "Awkward Palm Tree" cause it is freakin' hilarious and it's even greater while in the middle of an "Awkward Hurricane."

If you have any other suggestions for lame, hilarious, or awkward hand gestures, please post them here.