How Many?

How many times have we sinned? Is it safe to say we're in the hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands,millions? When I thought about this question the other night I thought about how many times my Savior has forgiven me, now in Matthew 18:22 He says "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." For those of you who don't feel like doing that in your head (me) that's 490 times. Isn't it safe to say that He has forgiven us more than that and obviously even more. And while His forgiveness never ends there is a point where He says OK come on, I've forgiven you for this same sin thousands of times its time you gave it up and followed Me. And at some point we all need to do that. Not to say that we can be perfect and never sin but we can choose to do a lot better, if its not for Santa than for Him right? Like I said in my last blog I think we make the path too narrow. We can make this easier and He will be willing to forgive us of everything if we try. And that trying is really worth it when it gets us to Heaven.

Why is the path so Narrow?

The passage Matthew 7:13-14 we are talking about can be found at http://bit.ly/14g32H and the blog post in question http://bit.ly/8K2ZCi So back when I did my Sermon on the Mount blog, the one about the narrow and the wide gates was one of the last I did. So when I was showing this blog to a teacher at Uplift a discussion question we got into was why was the gate so narrow? Why is it so hard to get to God, and I could be wrong but I think the answer is simply that it isn't. I mean God never says it'll be easy but it doesn't have to be that hard. I think we lower the expectations of what we can actually accomplish. A video done by Rob Bell talks about how when Jesus tells Peter to step out onto the water not only is the passage about Peter's faith in the Christ but his faith in himself that he can do as his Rabbi does. Video from Rob Bell here http://bit.ly/nSOGw So what I am thinking is we are making the gate and path narrower than we have to. I think we can accomplish more easier and than Christ does have a deep faith in us that we can albeit with His help on the cross. Because it can't be that hard when you think about it to think about all that He has done for us and simply follow the commands so that we can enjoy eternity with Him instead of eternal torture with Satan.

Who Knew

Who knew the Bible wasn't already in chronological order? Cause I didn't, I mean I know the gospels are the same stories but that's about it. When I figured out we were doing Project 4:4 at my church next year, aka reading the Bible chronologically in a year I was like wait it isn't already. So I went and looked it up and apparently the book of Job is smack dab in the middle of Genesis and the Kings and Chronicles down there are all mixed up, you begin to get a Star Wars vibe. So I don't know why it wasn't already written chronologically but its cool that I'll get to read it that way now. I mean God helped man put it together so I guess it doesn't matter much but I'm sure this will offer new insights. So anyway sorry I didn't blog yesterday I wasn't at the house all day. Other than that I'm done I was kinda rushing today as well but at least I got something out and it does pertain to what I'll be blogging about all next year so cya later.

Music

So like most of you I'm sure I am always listening to music. But this summer I realized just how small my repertoire of music listening really was and I set out to change that. So starting with what I knew I liked and with help from Pandora I pushed out and found tons of new artist and songs and prior to previous belief I learned I like SOMETHING in every kind of music. I also learned to enjoy some heavier and more mellow stuff at the same time. As well as going a little more mainstream and going more abstract. So it was a good summer of music for me and has continued into school. Some new favorites include Weezer, The Killers, Coldplay, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kid Cudi. So that's just a little bit of what I have really grown to love lately. Its really cool all the different things people do with music and how much they influence each other and sounds alike and go together when at first you wouldn't think they do. But really most everyone can turn on their ipod or pandora or just their favorite radio station and listen to music for hours because I do it daily. So everyone enjoy. P.S. in case you couldn't tell by the pic Green Day has been my fav band since 6th grade

HEATH!

While it has nothing to do with Christmas I have vowed to post and I do love me some Steelers. So today while I was watching the Steelers division playoff from 06 in which we beat the Colts on the road, please note we went from wildcard to superbowl on the road every game and won becoming the only team to do so and gaining our 5th superbowl in the process, we would get our 6th in superbowl 43 thereby getting the most superbowl's of any other NFL team...just saying. Anyway I realized something that I really love about Steelers fans and that's how loud they are and how many people they bring to every game, we are almost the home team everywhere we go. Our tight end Heath Miller is a hoss and its great to hear the crowd every time he makes a catch to rumble out HEATH!! It adds to the effect and I just had to think how that dude has to feel having that many people say his name, it really must push you to excel. Anyway I love the Steelers and they are the best team ever despite their rebuilding year this year. Also many thanks to Makennah my wonderful girlfriend for the Polamalu jersey for Christmas, who is also like the best defensive player ever.

'Twas the Dark Knight before Christmas

Well it's Christmas eve guys but it doesn't really feel like it to me so I hope you are faring better. We are watching A Christmas Story at 7 so hopefully that will help out. And maybe just maybe this year I will be able to sleep on Christmas eve. Anyway, this great video http://bit.ly/eBkIf incorporates Christmas and Batman and since Batman is my favorite super hero, I was pleased. So just a little about Christmas and Batman. First Batman is totally the best super hero, he is amazing without super powers and in case you were wondering whenever Superman and Batman fight Batman always wins ( http://bit.ly/kQebo see the last paragraph of plot summary), so take that man of steel fans. Also this video so accurately portrays him but hey can you blame him, he spent most of his Christmas's alone with a butler. Secondly Christmas is awesome and I hope we all at least take a second to realize what its really about cause its amazing what our Savior did for us. Anyway Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

It's begining to look a lot like April

Well Little Rock friends our city has delivered again and its raining Christmas eve and I wouldn't be surprised if it rained through to tomorrow. But as I asked God last night why o why can't we have snow, He showed me a headline on the news about all the snow that other places such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, North and South Dakota. What He said was see the weather I'm creating to give other people their white Christmas is giving you rain, but don't be surprised you know how it is in Arkansas. So if you want snow you're just going to have to move people cause all we get is ice.

The U...Already Know

I recently watched one of ESPN's 30 for 30 films "The U" and it just makes me love college football all the more. The Miami teams from 83-92 dominated in college football, winning 4 national championship with 3 different coaches. The whole thing was amazing, the recruiting premise they got all these players on was they went into the ghettos and slums and pulled out the kids that had been playing since they were 7 against each other and put them all into Miami. It took them out of tough situations and gave them an opportunity for education. It gave them something that they succeeded in that brought the crime ridden streets of Miami together. Despite there awful on and off the field antics they were having fun and they had the right to declare themselves as the best. They were discriminated against because of race a lot of the time and were scolded for running up the score but when Notre Dame, Nebraska, or Oklahoma did it, it was OK. The thing was they weren't the right team doing it. They received money from some famous people sure but it was for food and things they needed. The bottom line was they put the University on the map and gave them money and a huge increase in admissions. While the teams that played against them found it downright disrespectful, I loved watching these guys kill teams and at the same time they were saved from awful situations. Check out the video guys http://bit.ly/7fcnmL

TV

OK well now that I am actually writing again and making the commitment to post every day in preparation for posting daily for bible reading next year, here we go again. I know that I'm very late on the whole having 50 TV shows trend but this past TV season I found tons of shows that ended up on my weekly record and watch list. However half way through the season I stripped it down to what I really watch, House, Lie to Me, and Glee. I have always loved House and his humor but I liked the older seasons better that focused more on the medicine and the patient. Lie to Me is simple and funny and keeps me entertained enough to come back weekly. And Glee was so amazing that it had me singing all the songs and left me with my mouth open at most commercials. But now that all those are on break I just realized that's about all I watch on TV, despite the occasional Phineas and Ferb episode I don't turn on my awesome '36 inch in my room often. However I have recorded at least 10 movies so far this holiday season so I haven't been let down yet. And lets not forget that sometime soon some bowls have to come on between some other team besides Small town high v. I don't care State right?

Extra, Extra! Read all about me!

So my last blog post was August 16th and I don't think anyone noticed the absence of my ramblings anyways. See with me blogging comes in burst of inspiration that will last 2 or 3 months tops so what we are coming up on now is simply the want to write something and getting in the mood for my wait for it....year long blog on our churches Project 4:4 read the bible in a year thing. So here is to hoping that all goes well. Well anyways here is a little update on my life from August 16th to now.
August 19th I started school, 9th grade at the historic Central High School (http://bit.ly/xXYe)
August 26th I started going out with Makennah :)
I went to several CAC football games but none for my home school tigers as we are on our infamous 21 game losing streak
I saw many movies including the Blindside and Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D
I watched Arkansas football on a projector and made a record of 24 tweets during the Ark v. LSU game
I discovered I have several friends from Uplift I now text daily
I discovered the wonders of Pandora radio and itunes
I realized my school and its students are awful and our generation is sad
I found out I never go home Sundays but instead float from family to family
I decided if I don't become a youth minister I will be a college football coach
Jordan got me tickets to the Liberty Bowl to see the Hogs
Realized you have to wrap your girlfriends Christmas present even if it got shipped in a nice little box
Realized I still need to get and ship several Christmas presents (as of right now)
Started blogging again (right now)

So that's about it, wasn't that so interesting, I'm already 1/8th through highschool, isn't that insane, if my mom let it sink in she would cry. Well Christmas is 4 days away and Uplift 170 some odd number so bring it on 2010, I'm ready