Knowledge to action

For too long now, I've embarrassed myself by not knowing God's word.  So I've set out on a journey to know His word so that I can also live what I'm learning (just as Jesus wanted the disciples to do).  There was (and still is) so much of the bible that I didn't (and still don't) understand.  I just started a study on the book of Acts and I'm learning so much!  I'm stoked!  I'm learning how we as followers of Christ are to carry out Jesus' teachings and actions.  I mean, when the disciples were left with the teachings of Christ, they were completely incapable of living them out.  Peter was the so called leader of the pack, and he had denied even knowing Christ.  Luckily, they had the Holy Spirit to guide and empower them.  John MacArthur quotes "There must be an accurate understanding of the content of Christian truth before any ministry can be effective.  Such knowledge is foundational to spiritual power and to fulfilling the church's mission.  The lack of it is insurmountable and devastating to the evangelistic purpose of God."  How can we as believers possibly think that we can reach the entire world without even knowledge of the bible?  At the same time, even if we have the knowledge, what good is it if we don't share it and build disciples as Jesus did?  I think this is one of the best quotes I've ever heard...It's from Charles Spurgeon..."We might preach 'til our tongue rotted, 'til we exhaust our lungs and die-but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit uses the word to convert that soul.  So it is blessed to eat into the very heart of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language and your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you."  Paul was also very adamant about knowing God's word so that we could live like Jesus did. (Col. 1:9-11, 2 Tim. 2:15)  I think this is something that the Holy Spirit has strongly layed on my heart.  I feel like there are too many Christians (including myself) that don't know the scriptures, and therefore can't live the way Jesus did because we don't know what it means to do that.  I encourage every believer to dig deep into God's word, so we can live like Jesus did and change the world.  How can we expect to see change if Christians are completely incompetent of carrying out Christ's teachings because we don't know what they are.

What I'm learning

At lifgroup,  we're reading through the book "crazy love" by Francis Chan.  We're doing a chapter a week, and I'm on the first chapter.  Although I think the book is good, I think I've learned more from the scripture that he references in the book.  The whole first chapter is about being in awe of God.  In the book he tells you to take a minute and read Isaiah 6....so I did.  I feel like after reading Isaiah 6 I've just been wacked over the head with a frying pan.  I now (not fully) understand what worshipping God should be like.  Isaiah 6:2 says: "Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew."   It goes on to describe what Isaiah saw and felt in the throne room of God.  But this verse stuck out to me the most.  Because when John describes basically the same instance, he never describes seeing the face of God.  And the Israelites hid themselves whenever God passed through their camp because they were to afraid to look at Him...They thought they would die if they saw God.  Isaiah does say that he saw the Lord seated on His throne,  but even Isaiah doesn't describe the face of God.  And later in the 6th chapter it talks about God talking to Isaiah, but it says "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying Whom shall i send, and whom will go for Us?"  To me this indicates that Isaiah couldn't see God's face because it says he heard the voice of God.  Maybe Isaiah was laying prostrate at this point??  I thought, what if the reason the Seraphim are covering their faces with wings is because they know they can't look at God.  What if the reason they cover their feet, and use the other two wings to fly is because they know that the very ground beneath them is holy ground and they dare not even step on the same ground that God Himself is on.  I feel like whenever I approach God from now on, I will think about worshiping Him in this way...Unworthy to even be talking to Him or standing in His presence....with unclean lips.  God, forgive me for ever coming to you without reverence! Thank you for cleansing my lips with the burning coal, and taking away my sin!

My ulcer's name is keith

So a few months ago I went to the E.R. because my stomach was killing me and I had a bit of chest pain.  The dr's took ex-rays and couldn't find anything.  The said i most likely had a stomach ulcer.  They told me to go do a follow up visit at a dr. here in town just to get it checked on.  I've put it off for a while now,  and the past two nights I've really been in pain.  I also have some kind of sleeping disorder that i need to get checked out.  I've scheduled an appointment on the 27th.  All this to say,  please pray that I can get some rest!!  I haven't had a good nights sleep in probably a month.  An depending on what your view of a good nights sleep is, maybe a couple of years!  The sleeping disorder (whatever it is) has been going on for about 3 years now. So, just be praying I can get it figured out. In the meantime if you have any suggestions to make ulcers feel better, let me know!

Death Threat??

So yesterday (Saturday), I was at work.  It was a normal day of me receiving boxes in the stockroom (for a while).  My boss was telling me how there was a lady and her autistic son who had come in.  Well, the mother works at Target which is in the same shopping center as where I work.  Basically, while she works, she lets her son wander around all of the  stores in the shopping center.  Keep in mind that he is 24 yrs. old.  My boss had told me that it had gotten to the point to where he was scaring off customers and not letting the employees get their jobs done.  By the time I had gotten to work, the kid had already come in the store 5 times.  Well, I had finished my receiving in the back, so I went to go help out on the sales floor.  He (we never got his name by the way..haha) comes in for a 6th time.  He knows everyone else's names, and naturally, he asks for mine.  I give him my name and he starts asking a dozen other questions such as: "Do you have a wife?".  I told him my wife's name.  Well, I go over to help a woman customer, and he follows me and keeps asking me questions as I'm helping this customer.  Then the customer checks out and leaves.  He starts telling me that I cheat on my wife (very loudy i might add) in front of customers because I was talking to another woman (The customer).  This went on for about 5 minutes.  Then a customer called our store so I was helping the customer find a book. I put the customer on hold for a minute and went to check to see if we had the book on the shelf.  The kid followed me and started kicking my feet trying to trip me.  Then I was headed back to the phone, and he grabbed me by the throat and told me he was going to body slam me.  I told him he was going to have to stop or he would have to leave. He kept calling me mean and started cussing at me in front of customers still saying that I'm cheating on my wife.  Two other employees and I had asked him to leave about five times.  He went and stood by the entrance door saying "I don't have to leave, your boss isn't here!".  Then he said "Zach, I'm gonna blow your head off!!", at which point I went to find the security guy that patrols the shopping center.  I couldn't find him so I came back, and the kid had left.  I start taking the trash to the back, and he walks back in.  I headed back to the stockroom so he wouldn't make another scene.  One of the other employees called the police.  The police came and they caught him down by Target.  The police interviewed me, asked if I wanted to press charges...I said no, and that was pretty much the end of it.  He was told not to come back or he would be put in jail.  The saddest part of this whole story for me is that his mom just lets him roam around while she works.  I felt bad because I know she's probably a single mother and has nothing else to do with him.  Anywho, I thought I'd share this with you since it was one of the most bizarre things that I've ever seen. haha

Can You Guess What the Pictures Are?

By the way, I copied my mom's blog!

My Top 20 albums to date (OLD AND NEW!!)

1. All American Rejects  -  "When the World Comes Down"

2. Coldplay  -  "Viva La Vida or Death and all of his friends"

3. Switchfoot  - "The beautiful letdown,"  "Nothing is Sound," and "Oh! Gravity" I love switchfoot!

4. The Classic Crime -  "The Silver Cord"

5. John Mayer  -  "Continuum"

6. Jon Foreman (Lead singer of Switchfoot has a 4 cd compilation entitled "Summer," "Spring," "Winter," and "Fall."  Love them all!)

7. Skillet  -  "Comatose"

8. Disciple  -  "Scars Remain," and "Southern Hospitality"

9. Brian "Head" Welch (Former guitarist of Korn)  -  "Save Me From Myself"

10. Red  -  "End of Silence"  (and I have a feeling that I'm gonna like their new one!)

11. Lifehouse  -  "Who We Are"

12. DC Talk  -  "Supernatural"

13. Falling Up  -  "Captiva" & "Dawn Escapes"

14. Three Days Grace -  "One-X"

15. The Almost  -  "Southern Weather"

16. Linkin Park  -  "Minutes to Midnight"

17. Angels and Airwaves  -  "We Don't need to Whisper"

18. Fireflight  -  "Unbreakable"

19. Paramore  -  "Riot!"

20. And Last and probably most Controversial     Marilyn Manson  -  "Eat Me, Drink Me" 

 (What can I say... the guy is a genius when it comes to making creative music! Listen to the song "Heart-shaped glasses" to hear what I'm talking about!  Not the lyrics, but the mix of creepy with pop music!)

There you go!  In some way or another, these albums have inspired me.  There are a lot more that I could name including Frank Sinatra "Classic Sinatra,"  Demon Hunter "Summer of Darkness" & "Storm the gates of Hell."  This list started as my top 10, but I realized I love music way too much to narrow it down that much!