I have three bands I consider to be my favorites. At any given time, one will replace the other as my all time favorite. Nirvana, Jimmy Eat World, and The Doors. Lately, my favorite has been The Doors. I watched a documentary about the band the other day called “When You’re Strange”. I think that’s what caused my Doors kick.

I grew up listening to them. My brother was a big fan of The Doors… And since every younger brother wants to be like his older brother, I thought The Doors were awesome because he thought they were. When I got a little older, I started to understand why exactly they rock so hard.

You obviously can’t make it in a band unless you’re talented. Ray Manzarek played the electric organ, and he was awesome at it. Not many other bands, even in the late 60′s – early 70′s, would have dared to try that. Robby Krieger was the guitarist. He had such a natural talent for it, that you couldn’t even guess he only started playing electric guitar six months prior to the start of The Doors. He had a unique way of playing too because he learned guitar by playing the classical guitar. He never used a pic. It was all finger-pic work. John Denzmore was a certified jazz drummer. He used this method in The Doors. This was a new step in Rock ‘n Roll because Jazz doesn’t typically work well with Blues. The Doors had such a unique blend, though, that they were able to make it work.

But the real talent came from Jim Morrison, the lead singer. Every good band has a good front man. In The Doors case, their lead singer was legendary. Jim Morrison was full of mystery. He had the equation right- the perfect amount of genius, the perfect amount of arrogance, the perfect amount of rebellion, the perfect balance of introversion and extroversion, and the perfect amount of charisma.

But there was more to Jim Morrison. He was deep. He was a philosopher and a poet, a crooner, and as I’ve said before, very much a genius in his own respect. He had an IQ of 149. His father even said of Jim, “My son had a unique genius which he expressed without compromise.” As an example of an expression of his genius, here is one of his poems.

Sadly, a rock star of this caliber is bound to die quickly. Rock stars, the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin who came before him died at the age of 27. Jim Morrison joined them at the same age, not even a year later… a little more than 20 years after Jim’s death, Kurt Cobain followed. This is now known as “the 27 club”. This is a result of living such a fast and reckless life. What a waste of great talent.

Even more importantly, what a waste of such an awesome beard!

What an awesome beard… and yes… I am jealous.

Please answer, if you feel like you should.

How is it with your soul?

I had a professor in college. His name is Dr. Wes Gerig. He taught at my school for 51 years (until the school eventually closed). When I was in school, he was 83 years old.

When he was 3 years old, he was hit by a car. The physicians thought he was going to die. When the doctors saw he was getting better, they knew he could live a long life, but he’d be mentally retarded and would never be able to walk again. But he got better. And he grew in knowledge and wisdom. His leg was crushed… and I mean crushed. But… he could walk with a cane. This man eventually went on to get his PhD and became a professor at my school…

Now again, he was 83 years old when I was attending school. He walked with a limp… a big limp because his left leg was not strong enough to keep him up. As he’d take a step with his left leg, he’d shrink down about a foot. He kind of had an up and down motion as he’d limp along. Before class, we’d always knew he was coming because we heard his cane clicking in the hall (the length was adjustable, so his cane clicked when he walked.) We would hear “clickclick clickclick clickclick”… that would go on for 5 minutes as he was walking down the hall from his office to the classroom. This is what this man did every day, multiple times.

It was a sad sight to watch him scoot and drag down the hallway. But he smiled, regardless. We all wanted to get him a hoveround or some other type of electric scooter… but he was too proud. He loved teaching so much that he didn’t care if he had to struggle down the hallway to teach his class. He believed that it was his lot in life to deal with his crippled leg. Yet, through all of this, he was in class every morning… and in the 50+ years he was teaching, he only took one sick day… and that was because he had surgery to get his gallbladder removed. That was when I was in school.

Eventually, he caved and accepted an electric scooter. He knew it was for the best because… well… he was just an old, crippled man.

Now, he never wanted to retire. He didn’t feel like it was right and he felt like it would be unhealthy for him to slow down.

The truth is, keeping active is the secret to staying young. My old professor is now around 86 and he just put out a new book called, “The Core of Christian Love”. Not many 86 year-olds will do that.

Did the American Soldier do the right thing?

I read a blog by Greg Boyd called, “The ‘Heresy’ of Failing to Love”. It can be read by clicking the link I provided. Towards the end of the blog, he paraphrased 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 by saying “Correct doctrine – love = worthless noise”. I resonate with this. Paul goes on to say that love is above and beyond all else we can do and be. Greater than hope. Even greater than faith. Later, in the letter, Paul tells that all we do must be done in love. Peter also agrees. He says that above all, we need to love one another. John would agree with Paul and Peter, adding, “We love because He first loved us.”

All throughout the new testament, we are commanded to love. Love our God. Love our neighbors as ourselves. Love our brothers and sisters. Love our enemies. Yes. Our enemies. And it is this idea of love that Christians these days tend to lack.

We make excuses, sure… but there is no good excuse for our lack of love, is there?

I find it funny how we say we “love” Christ, but Jesus tells us that if we “love” him, we will keep his commandments. What are his commandments, though? Well, the two greatest ones- “Love the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Yes, these are the two greatest commandments. And in case you are wondering who your neighbor might be, Jesus told the story of ‘The Good Samaritan’. In this story, Jesus shows that loving our neighbor doesn’t just mean loving those around us, but loving our enemies as well.

Ahh… This goes deep, doesn’t it? This Jesus guy is a bold fella, isn’t he? Who is really brave enough to follow this guy? Seriously… If this man were walking the earth today, making these audacious claims he’s made, we’d surely have him locked up. Love our enemies? Turn our cheeks when we are struck? If you eat my flesh, you’ll live forever. I am water, and if you drink me, you’ll never thirst again? We have to be born a second time? The first will be last and the last will be first? I was there in the beginning with God? I AM God?

But it’s easy to believe these claims two millennia later, isn’t it? No… Not really… We trick ourselves into thinking we believe these claims. For the most part, This is why we rely on faith. There aren’t many Christians who actually believe the uncomfortable teachings of Christ. We often pretend we follow him though. And as I’ve said earlier, when we don’t, we make excuses… but our excuses are often lacking… don’t you think? Imagine how uncomfortable we’d be walking with him in his time. And we are expected to follow him today? We can’t even love properly.

Yet, these claims are what made Jesus unique. These claims, along with the miracles he preformed showed everyone he was something else… but His love he showed those he came across gained him his followers. It is the love of God that attracts; and the love of God is shown to us in grace.

So, now for the challenge. Do you believe Jesus? If you believe Jesus, you love him. But do you love him? If you love him, you will keep his commandments. Do you keep his commandments? If you keep his commandments, you love. You love God. You love your church. You love your neighbors. You love your family. You love your friends. You love your pets. You love your Earth. You love your enemies. Because above all else, we love.

Good things have been happening in my life lately. I feel so blessed.

I’m starting school back up in the fall.

I may end up with a job as the campus minister at Wright State University.

I’m quitting one of my jobs next week. I put in my two weeks notice last Thursday. It’s really been affecting my attitude and I’m looking forward to getting more sleep.

When I quit my job, I’ll be taking up swimming at the YMCA. I’m going to get in shape this year.

My wife’s grandma is buying us a car here in a couple weeks. This is great because Tesia and I need to be in two places at once sometimes.

The pastor who put together the campus ministry position asked me if I’d like to be considered for their youth ministry position at their church as well.

So far, God’s been great. The question is, will I still see his greatness when things aren’t so good for me?

I find that when things aren’t going as planned, it’s easier to pay attention to God. Only, we have the tendency to blame God when things don’t go our way… I do believe that going through these times helps us to turn to God though. It’s funny how even good things can get in the way of our priorities. In any case, I thank God who gives us all good things, and who is there with us in the bad things!

This is a subject that’s close to my heart. A couple years ago, I worked at “Movie Gallery”. I worked there for five years. It used to be the second biggest video store chain- that is, even owning all the “Hollywood Video” and “Game Crazy” stores. Movie Gallery was a great place to work at. I got to watch all the free movies I wanted. It was awesome. I’d go into work, and come back with a new movie I wanted to see. Then, I got to tell people what I thought about it. That’s the life!

Unfortunately, Netflix and Redbox came around, and when they did, they tore Movie Gallery apart in competition. Before I knew it, Movie Gallery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (I believe this was do to the purchase of the Hollywood Video and Game Crazy stores). Months and months passed. The economy took a nosedive. We got a letter from the owners of our building, letting us know that our lease was up the next month and that there would be an increase in rent if we were to continue to have our business there. My manager claimed that she pleaded with the owner and she pleaded with the higher managers, but to no avail. The Movie Gallery in my hometown would be shutting its doors at the end of the next month. Of course, our district and regional managers told us that the reason was due to the increase in rent… but deep down, the employers knew that it was because of Netflix and Redbox. Before I knew it, I heard that Movie Gallery was filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and would be closing all of the stores down.

Then, not even a year ago, Blockbuster announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It too, would be closing down many of its stores. Of course, in April, Dish Network bought out Blockbuster, and now they plan on keeping 600 of their stores open (Blockbuster used to have well over 4,000 stores). Netflix and Redbox have proven to be an unstoppable force that could tear down, even Blockbuster. And thus is the story of capitalism.

My wife and I decided to jump on the Netflix bandwagon. We were able to rent one movie at a time, which they would send to our house, and we could stream a large list of movies to our computer, our Wii, and our IPods anytime we’d like. It only cost us $8.99 a month. That sounded like a deal to me. However, last week, Netflix announced that they were increasing the price to rent. It would now cost us around $15.00 to have the same plan, so we made the decision to downgrade. We are now only able to stream movies for $7.99 a month. This is ok, because we didn’t have them send us too many movies anyway, so we are actually saving a dollar a month! That comes out to a whopping $12.00 a year!

Today, I came across this picture:

Very well done, very clever, but all I could think about is, “What did you expect would happen?” Netflix nearly singlehandedly whipped out Blockbuster- the largest movie rental chain. This is what happens when companies put their competitors out to the curb. They hike their prices! And thus is the story of capitalism. It’s the monetary system we use, and this is one of the downfalls we have to deal with.

I choose not to complain… just downgrade. After all, that’s business.

Unlike a lot of Christians online, I don’t believe in getting nasty and resorting to name-calling when I’m challenged by a non-believer. I try to show Christ’s love in all I do, and that includes debates.

The truth is, I’m not interested in debates. I’m not much of an apologist. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t prove the existence of God, and there is a reason for that. What is spiritual can not be seen, but only witnessed. I do believe that what is metaphysical can cross into the physical, and this is what we call “a miracle”. It’s a miracle because it’s out of the ordinary- out side of the physical world that see, feel, and know. So proving the existence of God will come to a moot conclusion. Now, I’ve witnessed enough to know that the God I worship is the One and True God. But I won’t force others to believe it. The awesome thing about God is that, he is forcing no one to believe. He let’s us draw our own conclusions. This freewill he’s given us really expresses how much he loves us- that he won’t force his creation to love him, but to make their own decisions.

Despite the fact that I don’t like to get into debates or arguments, often times, I am looped in because someone has a question for me, so I answer it. That leads to another question and another question, then come accusations. Half the time when this happens, misunderstandings and false conclusions arise. This is why I choose to try to stay out of debates because there comes a time when it has to stop because neither party understands each other, nor wants to in most situations. This is a big problem online.

Recently, this happened to me. I went back and forth with a certain Xangan (whom, out of respect, I will not name), and I got to the point where I just wanted to stop the argument. I knew he wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. After he wrote a lengthy essay on why I was wrong about my point (by the way, I was defending something I don’t necessarily agree with, just a theory I enjoy), I respectfully turned down my chance to respond- because I knew I’d prove nothing to this individual. He didn’t want to learn. He was more interested in trying to trap me… and I don’t appreciate this kind of conversation… When a person has this mindset, the argument to be given will always fall on deaf ears.

After kindly and gently responding, I thought that would be the end. However, he came back a few days later to say I just quit the debate because I had nothing else to say… that I knew I was wrong and didn’t want to admit it (keep in mind, the subject was about something I didn’t really agree with to begin with).

It is this very idea that keeps arguments going. People are afraid that someone will respond with a “You just know I’m right, so you don’t want to answer!”

I want everyone to know that I love answering your questions… if they are genuine, I’d love to answer from my point of view. But if arguing is on your agenda, you’ve come to the wrong place. My blog is a peaceful environment. When I visit other blogs, I’d like to respond in calm, gentle way. I’m not into finger-pointing. I’m not into name calling. I’m not into arguing. I’m into the love of Christ, whether you believe in Him or not.

Lastly, I love you! Peace to you. Thanks for reading

There is so much we don’t know about Christianity. It’s good to make hypotheses and theories on how things work, but when we try to turn our hypotheses and theories into doctrine, we forget the way in which God works: mysterious ways. We have to allow there to be an element of mystery to our faith because we simply don’t have a full revelation of God. I stand firm in the idea that one day, it will all be clearer for us. For the time being though, I’d refer to just talk about Jesus’ love and sacrifice.

I do enjoy the multiple theories out there though. One of my favorites involves the way look at Jesus’ sacrifice, and why God required a blood sacrifice to begin with.

Remembering the story of Adam and Eve, we know that they disobeyed God and “fell” into sin and death. God cursed the serpent who tempted Eve, He cursed Eve who tempted Adam, but He didn’t curse Adam. Instead, He cursed the ground (Adam’s punishment was to work the cursed ground). This is significant because we read in the story that human kind was created from the ground, which God originally declared to be good. Now, it’s cursed.

Now God knew that Adam and Eve were ashamed of being naked so he provided them with clothes made from skin. This was probably the first death and the first sacrifice made in the Bible- Except, God made this sacrifice for man.

Moving on to Cain and Abel, most of know what happens in the story. This story shows how evil humanity became and how quickly it became evil. Cain and Abel made offerings to the LORD, and the LORD accepted Abel’s and not Cain’s. No one knows why, for sure, but there are many theories here that we won’t get into now. Anyway, Cain became jealous and killed Abel. God came to Cain and said, “Where is your brother, Abel?”
Cain said, “How should I know? Am I my brother’s keeper?” (The answer to that question is “Yes” [Rd. Matthew 25:31-46]).
God saw Abel lying dead in the field and said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”
He then sent Cain away from the land, but let’s get back to that. “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” In many cultures, especially in archaic cultures, blood was sacred. This idea is no exception to ancient Judaism. This blood seems to have life. This is a theme, even in Christianity- the blood holds life. Without blood, we are nothing. This sacred substance spilled on the ground in the first murder. A man killed another man out of jealousy. Now, this sacred blood had spilled on the ground, which God had cursed. When the blood touched the cursed ground, the blood itself became cursed. This became a poison for all of humanity. Now that a man’s blood was cursed, we are all cursed before God. We are impure… and God requires purity before we can go before Him.

Now, God requires a blood sacrifice. People slaughtered animals for purity, but it was only temporary. They had to do this again and again…. the problem was, even the blood of the most perfect lamb in the flock wasn’t pure enough. God decided that He would come to earth to take matters into his own hands. He became the perfect lamb to be slaughtered and sacrificed, so that we can be pure before him.

A man’s blood was spilled by a sinner, and we became cursed in the name of pride and jealousy. God’s blood was spilled by sinners, and now, we are able to become pure before God, in the name of grace and forgiveness. Christ’s blood is the medicine we need to cure ourselves from this deadly disease. This sin. This curse.

I find this theory to be very fascinating. We often look at the story of Cain and Abel as just a story of how bad we’ve fallen… but look at how well it ties into the story of our salvation!

He’s a good boy!