Journal #2 Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount) NKJV

Sorry for the short break, a few things came up so I didn't get on here. Anyway, here's my ramblings for today.

As I continue my trek through the New Testament, along came the Sermon on the Mount. After reading it, I realized I had read every part of it, but today was the first time that I have read through the entire section at once. If you mentioned the bits and pieces that are scattered throughout the passage, most people who have been around church for any amount of time have heard some of them. Things such as gouging out your eye, or cutting off your hand. Don't worry, store up treasures and heaven away from the moths. The speck vs. the plank, don't judge, and so on and so forth. All of these parts could easily be sermon serious by themselves. But all together, they create the greatest handbook for Christ-like living ever compiled. Multiple parts have been extremely helpful throughout times in my life especially chapter 6:25-34 commonly known as the do not worry section. I'm a chronic worrier, and it is a good place to re-visit and focus on what God has said about that.

Anywho, this time in all the awesome nuggets of awesomeness that is found in this section, what really stuck out was Matthew 6:22-23. The version I use titled this sub-section "The Lamp of the Body." It calls the eye the "lamp" of the body. This means that through the eyes are what really lead to the heart. Our minds are wonderful things, and the gateway to the mind is the eyes. We see tons of things everyday and are constantly logging them in our memories for later. Now this can be perfectly fine. Like verse 22b says, if your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. This is when we are glorifying God with what we watch and not filling our minds with crap. On the flip side, when we do the reverse, the opposite happens. We can easily fill our minds with nastiness and that will get shoved back deep into our brains and be horribly disgusting to Christ. Verse 23 says that when the eyes are bad, the whole body is full of darkness. It then goes on and states how great that darkness is. Once we get on a path of darkness, it's a slippery slope. One thing leads to another, and before ya know it, we're deep in a hole of yuck.

God, I pray that You will keep me determined to follow You with reckless abandon. That I would put each and every thing that You said in the Sermon on the Mount to practice. Especially what I put inside my head by what I watch. I know that has been a struggle for me most of my life. But You are beyond powerful. You have more than enough strength to help me defeat this evil. I pray that You would continue to brightly shine before me along The Way and use me as you see fit. I love You Lord; You are awesome, powerful, merciful, and loving.

Daily Journal #1 Matthew 1-4

Another one of the things I was convicted of during camp was at one point the speaker was like, for any Christian of 3+ years, reading the whole New Testament isn't that hard. I was like, wow. I've been a Christian for over 10 years and I haven't even come close. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna read the whole New Testament, and you get to come along for the ride. So here we go.

Matthew 1 is a big genealogy lesson. The whole Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob and all that stuff. As I read through this, I noticed that it mentioned guys who had their sons through various women, but it didn't do that for all the guys. Then it came to, "David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." (Matt. 1:6b) I was like, why didn't it say Bathsheba? It also mentioned Tamar and Rahab. It was an odd thing I had never thought of/realized. After reading the study notes, it said that Tamar was involved in a scandal w/ Judah. Rahab was a Canaanite harlot from Jericho. And Bathsheba was from the situation when David had Uriah killed so he could be w/ her. Even w/ all of these sins and horrible situations, they are still the direct line of Christ. Even from a flawed family line, Jesus still came through all of this. God showed that He can defeat anything that happens. Being a flawed human, I can easily butcher God's plan. But it's not really like that. God's plan isn't based on my performance. If I mess up, God's not like, "Crap, Nick screwed up. WHAT AM I GONNA DO?" His plan moves on regardless of what I do.

God, I pray right now that You can continue to get through my thick skull and show me Your path. I want to stay on the Narrow Way. Even through my mistakes, please use me as You see fit.

Back from Camp '08 and a new calling

Hey everyone, it's Nick. I'm back from Student Life Camp '08 and some things are gonna change. The theme of camp was THE WAY. "The Way" being one of the paths that we choose in life, the Narrow Way. Life on the Narrow Way is what Christ has called us to live. While up on Lookout Mtn. in Georgia, God convicted me on many things that I have either been doing or not been doing in my life recently. Mostly this was a wake-up call to my lack of reading Scripture and non-consistent prayer life. Here I am a leader, and I don't read much more than one maybe two times through the lesson we teach each week. Plus, I don't pray near enough. Coming home, I've heard God's called, and I plan on changing that fact. I am determined to read each day and pray as well. This blog will also become my journal. Each day I will add my journaling notes from what I read that day.

On another note, I felt God calling me to sponsor a child from Compassion. For $32 a month, a child will receive food, health, schooling, and even more importantly they learn about Christ. These are kids fro mall around the world who may be orphaned, very much under the poverty line, special needs, infected w/ disease, or any combination of all of these. So I have heard this call and "adopted" Karla Merari Valencia Camacho from Mexico. She's 4 years old, and as you can see from the picture, she's adorable. So that's what came out of camp. I'll be back later with my journal notes for today.



Later days.

When the heck is spring?????

Alright, I'm gonna go on the record and say that I'm tired of winter. I just want this stupid whatever weather to stop. This is ridiculous. Sunday was almost 80, 2 days later 6+ inches of snow. That's just not right. I mean, personally, I don't like hot weather cuz' ya sweat all the time, but seriously, I just want some warm weather. I want shorts again. That's all I ask. Oh and a million dollars. But thats another story for another day. Well, that's all. I'm out.
Later

Next episode: $1 million.....how to spend it......

SNOW DAYYYYY!!!!!!!

So today started with a little bit of history. The third snow day in SCCC history. It only took 8+ inches to get us there, but hey, who's complaining. I just thought I'd let you know that it's cold, snowy, and above all, AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LATER

January 23rd......Already????

I guess it is. First day of new classes started yesterday, and let me tell ya. I guess just being on break really broke my rhythm down. Yesterday was sooooo long. I mean, yeah, only 2 classes and they didn't start until 10 and 11:30 respectively. But come on, add in going to work and having a headache, that equals an uber long day. So, it'll take some time to adjust, but we'll see. I've wanted to go back for a while. I was getting to the point where I was bored and needed something to do. I'm sure I'll dread saying that in about 3-4 weeks, but oh well. Things are basically the same. Same job, same people, same activities other than the coat drive my youth group is doing this Friday night. (more on that later) Anyway, for now, that's enough of the musings of this confused, college mind. I'm out, LATER

LOST.......and still not found.

Most of you who know me, you know that ever since I started watching LOST, I've been hooked. I'm here to tell you that it just gets better and better. I've just about finished up season 2 and I'm stoked. It is one of the best written shows I've ever seen. The way it intertwines every story and detail. Season 4 starts on January 31. My goal is to finish seasons 2 & 3 by that time. Hopefully I can get there in time. Well that's all I got right now. I'm out, Later.

This is for good.

It's been WAYYYY too long since I last updated this thing. I know I've said that before, but it's true this time. I'd kept away from it for so long since no one read it. But that doesn't matter. This is for my thoughts, my ideas. This is where they go to get out of my head. "Putting them on paper" if you will. But man, it was August of 2007 last time I was here. So much has happened since then, where to begin? Well, let's start with school.

For those who know/knew me for any length of time, knew that up until school started in late August, I wanted to become a history teacher. Camp last year changed that real quick. Camp had a different feel this time. Being the oldest guy in youth group, I was the only senior graduating this year. So this was my last camp as a student which gave it a new dynamic just like the past year had been. A year of lasts, if that makes sense. Even with all that, God really laid on my heart 2 words. Ministry and youth. I had been so caught up in everything, that I had been so scared of the future. I didn't know what was coming, and that scared me to death. I had even thought about not registering for classes and working for a year. But God said, "No, do it this way." That week God showed me what HE wanted. Not what I wanted. God showed me a lot about me doing what HE wants. Not my plan. But anyway, through that, I knew at that moment that God was calling me into ministry. More specifically, youth ministry. That changed so much for me. Now, I'm going to St. Charles Community College. I'll be going there for 2 years to get my associates degree and then transferring to Lindenwood University to major in youth ministry.

Next I'll go over what's gone on with youth group. As I said before, I was the only student to graduate. So I went from being "big brother" to now a teacher. Cuz that's actually what I had decided to do. I'm actually now an intern with my youth group, me and a couple other kids I go to school with. It's been a really cool thing just getting to be part of that.

Now on to girls. Always a fun topic. Hee hee. All was quiet on that front until right around See You At The Pole last September. I was wanting to hang out with the guys I teach at church. But they are all home-schooled or go to a private school so that wouldn't work. So on a whim, I went to Zumwalt West's gathering cuz a bunch of my friends go there. Well, I went and met up with my sister Kasey and her best friend Angi. And after everything, Angi ended up inviting me to her softball game the next day. Anyway, LOOONNNNGGG story short, we ended up going out. However, I hadn't really thought things through. Being an intern with my church brought about some rules that I hadn't really thought about. Since I was now basically on staff with my youth pastor, me dating a girl of student age would be like if any of our other teachers were dating them, someone much older like in their 30's+ and that wouldn't work at all. So I had to break the news to her that it came down to 2 options. Date her and not teach for a year until she graduated, or teach and ask her to wait a year to date. Either way was going to be extremely hard. I had to step back and really pray about what God was calling me to. That weekend some college kids and seniors at our church went to the PASSION Conference in Chicago. God was completely there that weekend and showed me some stuff about myself and laid on my heart that I needed to teach. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to tell someone. When I told her, I totally expected for her to drop it and for it to be completely over. Not so much. God had complete control over this whole thing, and had been talking to her. He had been telling her that this was something I had to do and that it was going to be ok. So after all that has happened, (A lot has been omitted. If you want the full story, ask me) we are waiting to date until after she has graduated. God has brought an amazing girl into my life and I am so thankful for that.

Oh yeah, now time for some basic stuff. I quit my job with Hibbett Sporting Goods. Another one of those things that God was showing me that I need to change. Cuz it was my plan not HIS. I am now working at Family Christian Bookstore for 4 months now and it's been awesome. I love working there. The atmosphere is so much more positive than at Hibbett. The people aren't fake and it's just overall better. I've also bought a car during this time. It's a '94 white Ford Explorer. Not exactly a flashy car, but it gets me from point A to point B and is handy when we've needed to haul a lot of stuff.

Other than all this stuff, things have stayed about the same. So that's all that's happened in the time between posts. Lot's o' stuff, I know. But the posts won't be quite so long now that I've caught up and will continue to do so from now on. Well, I'm out. See ya and w00t.