This is a example of my kind of humor!
Oh look at the kitty! (Make the window larger when you open it)
Month: April 2003
How am I really doing? I’m sick and tired of being tired, not motivated, being lazy at work, feeling like I could be doing something so much more. I’m basically disappointed in my self. I’m always feeling like I need to have a deep conversation with someone, really discuss something, either politics, spiritually, culturally, family life, or biblically. It seems like when I’m in the mood to talk about this kind of stuff, either no one is around, or no one else wants to. I really enjoy talking, and communicating with others on things like this, I love coffee shops, and I love just going out, sitting on the waterfront, and either worshipping, or talking about life. I really want to know about people, why they believe what they believe, how their life and experiences have formed those ideas, and why they will or won’t listen and consider changing their ideas. I think a lot of people just don’t like opening up like that, I know I never use to, now it’s all I want to do. I want to know, I don’t want to be biased. I know I will always be bias, but I want to at least understand, and know why I believe what I believe. Right now I know I believe what I believe because I’ve simply followed what I read in the bible, and what Jesus asked us to be, and it has changed my life, it’s been a long four years. I’ve made many mistakes, and I have been on both sides of the fence, and I will remain on this side, hopefully further and further away from the other, but still understanding. I know I tend to write in a strong, sometimes condeming voice, this is not where my heart is, and those who know me personally know this. I am working on changing my written voice, up until last November I never really ever wrote, so this is all new to me. Go ahead, hit me.
I don’t need to write to you about the Christian love that should be shown among God’s people. For God himself has taught you to love one another. Indeed, your love is already strong toward all the Christians in all of Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we beg you to love them more and more. This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before. As a result, people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others to meet your financial needs.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from any Christian who lives in idleness and doesn’t follow the tradition of hard work we gave you. For you know that you ought to follow our example. We were never lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn’t that we didn’t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Whoever does not work should not eat.”
Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and wasting time meddling in other people’s business. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we appeal to such people–no, we command them: Settle down and get to work. Earn your own living. And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.
Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. Don’t think of them as enemies, but speak to them as you would to a Christian who needs to be warned.
In the first paragraph (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12) Paul is writing to the Christians in Thessalonica about Love and Hard work, or the lack of being lazy. Paul tells them to love even more, even though they already have a strong love of their fellow Christians. Their ambition should be to live a quite life, minding their own business, and working with their hands (working hard- Greek culture looked down on manual labor). So, Paul is telling me, I need to live a quite life? Mind my own business? And work hard? Well, that’s a little crazy sounding. I need to go to work on time, work hard, do the projects quickly, do the maintenance, even though I hate doing it, and not complain? But then he continues? As a result of those things, those who do not follow the Lord (I say follow, because even though some may believe, they don’t follow) will give you their respect, and you will not need to depend (some Christians in Thessalonica had turned to handouts) on them or others for your financial needs. This is how Paul instructs them to love more, so we as spiritual descendents of the Thessalonians should also follow what Paul asked them to do. Love more, work harder, and be respected.
Paragraph two, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. Paul is writing back to the Thessalonians, he is concerned to hear that some of the Christians have become “idle”, and are messing around in other people’s business; he commands them to get to work, earn their own living. Then he goes even deeper, stay away from those brothers and sisters who refuse to work hard and stay out of others business, so they will feel ashamed of what they have done (or not done in this case). But do not treat them as an enemy, but talk to them, and speak to them as a warning.
Work hard, do not get into other people’s business, this is how to show MORE love. But when another Christian is not doing their part in work, or is messing around in someone else’s life, stay away from them, do not treat them as an enemy, but let them know they do not deserve respect. With that, pray they will know why they are not receiving your praises, do not disrespect them, do not expect them to just understand. Talk to them directly and not others, most likely there is more to the story then meets the eye. I think a lot of people just look down on those who do not work hard, but they never speak to them, Paul commands us to speak to them, as a warning, but I believe this is out of love not hate for the person. Let them know what comes of those who depend on others (handouts) to make their living. God does not honor this, it is not a sin, but is not honored.
God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ–everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. God’s purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. And now you also have 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. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called “the uncircumcised ones” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.
For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
You see God has always wanted us to be with him. Humans have always been a little fickle, for the most part; we need good solid tangible evidence before we drop all doubt. So, God sent us just that right when we needed it. He came as Jesus, in a human body, which was just as stinky, easily broken, easily got sick, just like you and me. You may think that us as modern humans need even more evidence then the people of biblical times, but you know what, God sent his son just as needed, at the exact time. Before Christ, people kept turning away from God, so he would give them a little curse here, a little storm there, maybe flood the planet. People would remember for a while, then they would turn away again. So, God sent his Son as he had always planned, to take away our sins, to make us free, and to unify us all, as a HUMAN race. I didn’t put the scripture marks in the above paragraphs because I wanted you to read it, not just skim over it, but read it. God came as Jesus at the time he did, for his good pleasure (Ephesians 1:9). We have all now heard the good news, the truth, the life of Jesus Christ, god chose each and every one of us to be his (1:11, 13, 14).
The first paragraph is Ephesians 1:9-14. It reminds us that God picked us from the very beginning to be his, but he wants us to know the truth first, and to choose him. When we make that decision (1:13) he gives us his Holy Spirit as he promised (1:14).
The second paragraph is Ephesians 2:11-18. There Paul is reminding the Gentiles (the non-Jews) that they were once separated from the people of God, they did not know the truth. The law separated them from knowing him. But because of Jesus Christ, they (the Gentiles) now know God, because of what Jesus has done; he has brought the peace between Jews and non-Jews alike.
All of human kind is essentially united because of Christ. The only separation should be between those who know Christ and those who do not, and we who do, should do all we can to live as a light and to serve those who don’t. Sacrifice our lives to God, so we can serve those who do not know Christ.
We are all now citizens of God’s kingdom, of his people (2:19). The third paragraph is Ephesians 2:19-22. The house of the Lord is ours, and the corner stone is Jesus Christ. We the people are all equal, we have been carefully joined together, and have become a holy temple for the Lord (2:21).
My main point is this; when you look at the world, what do you see? What nations are “great”? What have they been essentially built upon? What is wrong with those nations? What has crept into their foundations to cause these walls to crack? Thank God the church has nothing to do with physical buildings, it is with people who want to know God directly and want to follow Jesus.
Case point (this applies to other nations as well) The United States (for the most part) was created on Christian values, God honoring values. The United Kingdom turned around and became a Christian Nation Update 4/12 12:50pm after making very bad decisions in the name of Christianity (as pointed out by an anon commenter), what makes these nations, to this point (I do have some doubt as to how long they can stay this way), “great”? I believe is because they are using Christian ethics, which are slowly being depleted and changed to “let people live as they want”, but I do believe that the Christian values is what makes them great. But I also believe because we were also founded on the idea of freedom, we have grown stronger by embracing other’s ideas, this sounds contradictory. But what did Christ do, he united, the Gentiles and the Jews. Christ can unite anything; I believe the United States and the United Kingdom are the biggest examples of uniting in the world. Each of those nations have people from all over the world, who have come together to seek common freedom, which is only possible do to our core values. Just a thought; we must unite, in the church, as a nation, as a world of believers, so we can serve against evil.
My next topic of choice… Unity
Oh, and by the way… Who was in my bedroom at 11:23am today? What on earth did you point my web cam at?
Qualifying thoughts…
I may not be going to a university, I may not be a bible scholar, or even a bible student and I may not be certified, approved, or seen as someone who can interpret the bible; but I know what I feel in my spirit is real, I know when things feel wrong I need to investigate those feelings, I know when things feel right I need to investigate them too. There has been much going on in my life, both personally and in the world. I know I have biases, everyone does. But is there something which nullifies those biases? Is there some reason to think that just because I have a bias everything I say is nullified? I sure hope not, look past those biases, whatever you may think they are. Do my biases hurt others? I hope not, I would never want that. Do my biases hurt my self, maybe, but I would never want that either. You see, I too am striving to become a better person. Now just because my guide to that is a “just a book” which was written thousands of years ago, over a thousand to two-thousand year period doesn’t invalidate what I think.
The majority of the western world uses the guides of Aristotle, Homer, and other ancient philosophers. They too believed in God(s), what makes them more valid? So, you say truth is relative? If truth is relative then what is right and wrong? Are they relative too? My point I’m trying to make is, unless your value system is based on something absolute, never changing, always the same, you will never have complete satisfaction in life. Now how can I say this? I can say this because I was once with out an absolute value system, I once thought truth was relative, even sometimes right and wrong.
E.G. I use to think abortion was okay if a woman was raped, and become pregnant because of the rape, now I don’t think any abortion is right, because even though a horrible thing happened to this women, there is still a living human inside of you, it’s not “part of your body”, the baby may be in your body, the child may depend on your body, but how can you call it “part” of your body, as if it had no soul, as if it was not living? Instead of abortion centers, we should have pregnancy centers, and instead of making pregnancy a burden in society we should emphasize the beauty of life! Of course coming from a man, you might be thinking, what the heck does this kid think he’s talking about, as if he would ever know? Well, you know what, your right I wouldn’t, but I know I’ve seen the hurt which women who have had abortions go through, they are constantly reminded of what they did. There is nothing we can do to bring back that child, but we can bring back her hope, and she can be forgiven. So, what’s relative to the child who will be killed if this woman gets no other option? We should provide all the help we can to women who become pregnant in bad circumstances (and of course good ones), we should support them, we should care for them and their child, but most of all we should provide the spiritual support every person on this planet needs.
Update 4/10/03 3:50pm As I was discussing this topic with a friend last night, we discussed only one situation in which, if I come to it, would require huge amounts of prayer and wise counsel. The situation? If my wife (or the mother) was in danger of losing her life, and the child would also. But if the child had a better chance of living, as horrible as this may sound, I would rather have the child be born, at the risk of losing my wife… of course, this would depend on prayer and what God spoke to us at the moment. Add one more thought, I don’t expect pre-Christians to be as convicted as myself, in this, or in anything else, I don’t even expect any Christian to be, but I do believe that God does not give us any thing we can not handle. He only gives us what we can handle. Just some food for thought.
You see, I believe that humans are made of a body, soul and spirit. We must keep care of all three; we must provide and support other’s bodies, souls and spirits. You know what motivates me to write all of this? Love. Love is the hope which compels me to do everything I do. But I am only human; I fail miserably every day to show the love I have from the one God I worship. But I know I am loved, because I have chosen to seek God, because I have accepted (in faith and w/o direct evidence) that Jesus Christ is the son of God and came to show us the way, and if we follow him, we will forever be with God.
Maybe this sounds all touch-feely to you, maybe it’s a pat “Christian” or “religious” answer. I’m not a scientist; I can’t give you scientific reasons to believe, but I can tell you I live my life for a purpose. Look at it this way; if God doesn’t exist, but you live for him as written in the bible, then you live your life with a purpose. If he does exist and you don’t live for him, then you lose everything. If God doesn’t exist, and you don’t live for him, you don’t lose anything. If God exist and you live for him, you gain everything.
And now time for a little slide show, well at least as best you can do on a free blog.
Click on a picture to see a larger one
The kitties, the one on the left is mine, Athena, the one on the right, Evil Mouse.
Agent Smith at the cabin on spring break.
Face’s girlfriend at the cabin on spring break.
This is the beginning of our trek to see Switchfoot!
Drummer boy and Curly cue as we were waiting to get into the show!
Luggie waiting to get in… hmm… what’s going on in her head?
Your humble blogger… yikes.
Us, we keep on waiting….
Missions girl and Drummer boy, getting a little crazy out there in the cold…
Let the show begin!
Hi Missions girl… I think… somewhere down there…
Alright, that’s what i’m talking about.
Jon, wow, your amazing.
We want more.
Peek-a-boo.
Sing into your guitar Jon! Do it!
Ahh… pure excitement.
I don’t know what Jesus would do here, but I sure hope he was rocking out here!
More Jon.
And even more Jon… singing, playing, awesome.
Spirit take me up in arms with you!
Holy Spirit?
Now, that’s what i’m talkin’ about!
Alright, and he said let their be light!
And there they all are, i’m behind the camera… good for me.
And now, presenting to you, CRU peeps on a see-saw @ Alki Beach
Me and Coffee girl @ Alki Beach
Me, Coffee Girl, and my cohort in crime.
And look at us… Alki Beach is awesome. Seattle is suppose to be behind us, but it didn’t take very well.
That’s us, again, self timer on camera didn’t allow us time to get centered on the frame.
Ahh, that’s better. Who took out Seattle?
Hey there…
Now, what’s that you say?
Just who are you looking at with that thing?
Well, I’ve had a great couple of week, but gotta get back to saving the world. See you all soon.
Be prepared for eye candy…
Hello my name is Travis Mielonen, and i’ve chosen three pieces by John Forman: We were meant to Live, This is your Life, and Dare you to move. The theme of these pieces? Life has a purpose.
We were meant to Live: Jon Foreman of Switchfoot
Fumbling his confidence
And wond’ring why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he’s meant for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we’ve been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we’re bent and broken, broken
We want more than this world’s got to offer
We want more than this world’s got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live
We were meant to live
This is your life: Jon Foreman of Switchfoot
Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you’ve broken
Don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you’ve got now
Yes, and today is all you’ll ever have
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose
Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose
And you had everything to lose
Dare you to move: Jon Foreman of Switchfoot
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone’s here
Everyone’s here
Everybody’s watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next
What happens next
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
What you just read is my Oral Interpretation for my public speaking class… I speak either on Tuesday or Thursday this week, gotta practice! We are supose to “internalize” the pieces not memorize them, but since these are some of my favorite songs right now, that shouldn’t be too hard.
I’m a sinner
I’m a drop-out (you know how many classes i’ve dropped!), a loser (I really suck at playing cards…), a lier (sometimes this really causes a lot of problems), a perverted sexual guy (come on guys, you know it), an emotional freak (so i’m a little on the sensitive side, and speak before thinking sometimes), and most of all, a follower of Christ. While he didn’t have any of these problems, he was tempted, but he over came, and I can too (just not on the first try, but maybe you can). I have been set free of the bondage of sin! We all have/can when we follow Christ. I love the book of Mathew, it’s convicting, but very useful in making me repent and change my ways. Amen.