We didn't start the fire

but now we've got to fight it....or go down in flames.

Loving Fathers

Mark Driscoll's facebook update last night:

"My 6 yr old girl sat on my lap for dinner, snuggled, held my hand continually, prayed for me, & ensured her photos were on my phone before my flight. Daughters are amazing."

Chauvinism much?

So, my prof in developmental psyc showed us this book today. It's one of those things that it's so bad, it's funny.

Here's the book online.

You should go read it. It won't even take 5 minutes.

"Sooner or later, Daddy and I will find out..."

This phrase emerged from the archives of my brain tonight. It was often said to us as kids: partly to convince my brother and I to tell our parents the truth, and partly to get us to behave (whether they were looking or not.)

But I made a realization tonight: that's not true. They don't always find out. They don't always know.

And I knew this, of course, but I never really made all of the connections. And part of me was a little sad, to be quite honest. How much better it would be-- I thought-- if they DID know. Then perhaps we'd be compelled to behave...or at least tell the truth. Because our parents would know about it.

And then I realized something:
We do have a Parent who knows what we do. God didn't reveal Himself to us as Father for no reason. He indeed knows all that we do.

And yet...are we any more well-behaved because of it?

From my community service paper

"People won’t listen to you unless they respect you. And they won’t respect you unless you respect them."

I wrote it, then read it and was really please with what I saw. Praise God for insight! :-D

Sorrowful yet always rejoicing

Lately I've been feeling the weight of the fallenness of this world: neglect, death, sin, suffering, disease, unfaithfulness, sorrow, pride, mistruths, abuse....the list goes on and on.

My heart is heavy with these things, in myself and those I love.

But His Word is good and true. And so I am sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

I'm only one person

And one person can't have good solid deep conversations with 30 people. It just doesn't work like that. I want people to know that I'm there for them. But I can't be there for everyone.

It just doesn't work.

Not a big deal

"Nothing happened. Well....not nothing. But not....well you know what I mean" -Bob

"Well. Not really... Okay so to be tremendously blunt, so that I see what you're saying... you made out with her but didn't sleep with her?" -Me

"Yeh. Pretty much. So it's not a big deal." -Bob (who, you may have guessed, isn't actually Bob. his name's not important for this.)

It's.
No.
Big.
Deal.

It's no big deal??

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I remember when 'sleepovers' were a bunch of girls getting together on someone's birthday. You ate tons of food, talked a lot, and watched movies.

Such is not the way of things anymore. People frequently don't return to their own rooms on a nightly basis. But that doesn't mean they're sleeping on the floor in another building. Or that they've stayed up all night talking.

But its no big deal.

------

My girlfriend is somewhere else entirely, so I can take advantage of this girl who's naive enough to think that I'm just in this for friendship. And I'm going to see if I can have this girl here, and my girlfriend at the same time. The girlfriend doesn't need to know about this girl. I can pull it off.

It's no big deal.

-Jim

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Him- I have a close friend. She's pretty nice, and we get along pretty well. We got to the same church, have a lot of similar interests.

Her- But he won't date me. He says I'm "crazy" just b/c I have ADD and depression.

Him- Yeh, it's no big deal.

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Yes, the Bible says that homosexuality is wrong. But its not in the red letters. So it's not a big deal.

------

I can't even comment on these, I'm so frustrated. I had to just get them out of my head before I got too upset.

It is a big deal.

Lord, please help them to see that. Help your children to show them that.

Why?

Why do I spend so much energy in mixing with the freshmen? Why do I break my shell of introversion and start a conversation when I'd just as soon sit in silence? Why bother? Why try?

Because I was first loved by Someone who didn't have to do what He did for me.

Christ didn't have to die on the cross to bring us closer to God. God didn't have to send Him to do so. But He did. And in so doing showed us love.

And sometimes freshmen, I think, know what it means to be unloved more than most people our age. They're in a new place, with new people, and they haven't found people who care enough to love them.

Without love, life is not much fun to live. It's kind of a drag to look around a room full of people and think "Wow, no one in here cares enough about me to even say hi."

Why?

Because someone else did it for me, and in so doing pointed to the One who loves more than we can ever imagine.

That's why.

A lament

I had a disturbing conversation with a friend today. He was talking about his ex-girlfriend, and how things had been since the two of them broke up at the end of last semester.

The conversation, in paraphrase:
Yeh, after we broke up she started dating another guy. And after 3 months of dating him she says she loves him just as much as she loved me before. Which tells me one thing: she never really loved me as much as she thought she did. And the thing is, she said she's breaking up with him before she comes back to school because she doesn't think she'll be able to stay faithful to him...

What?!?!

again, i say

WHAT?!?!!??!?!?

Does the word "love" mean nothing these days? I mean honestly! How can you say that you love someone, but not enough to be faithful to them? Isn't that contrary to what it means to love someone??

*sigh*

Oh college. Here I am. Back for another fun-filled year. By God's grace, I'm getting to see this friend that I was talking to make some serious changes in his life. Turning towards God after years of being an atheist.

I pray that God continues to make such changes in people. That more may come to know Him every day.