I caught something on the History channel the other night… it was called “102 Minutes That Changed America”. It was about what happened on September 11th, 2001.

As I was watching it, I was moved to tears. There was an evolution of emotions. Seeing people’s reactions to the fire coming from the first tower raised a ton of questions… “What happened here?”, “Is this some sort of accident?”

There were people jumping out of the building left and right, unable to handle a number of different things… Too much smoke… too much heat… not being able to handle that their fate was no longer in their hands… This was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen…

Then the second plane hit the other tower… Right then, people began to realize that this was no accident… This was somehow planned… This was terrorism… People were angry. The responses I heard the most were either, “Oh my God.” or something along the lines of, “We need to return fire.”

As I was watching, I saw thousands of New York City citizens running frantically. They were running towards ground zero and away from ground zero- it was chaos, but it seemed that the police handled things very well. People who were recording the event from their homes weren’t sure if they should stay where they were or if they should vacate their building. I saw the mass hysteria and the bitterness and the depression of the people. Many citizens were interviewed and a lot of them reported having friends in the World Trade Center- hoping and praying they were ok.

A little while later in the video, I heard the worried voice of a fire fighter on another fire fighter’s radio. He was checking all the corners of a room for people who needed help out of the WTC. His voice sounded horrified… as if he knew what was about to happen- and not even a minute later, his tower came falling down.

This was a moment that changed our history- and you can see the change being effected immediately on the video.

Then the second tower fell, and their was silence.

As smoke, debris, and ashes filled the streets, one of the people documenting what was happening began filming a pigeon which had just landed on the sidewalk. I assume the pigeon was wondering what made today so different than any other day.  Why was everything so quiet? Why are so many people running? Where is all this mess coming from? After all, the pigeon doesn’t need to worry about other pigeons blowing up it’s nest. It typically doesn’t need to worry about smoke and fire consuming the trees. It doesn’t need to worry about retaliation. It just does what it does… it searches the streets of New York City for food. And it carries the food back to it’s nest, it sleeps, and that is its day.

And we often say that what happened on September 11th 2001 was inhumane… I don’t know if that’s the right word… I mean, I don’t see pigeons bombing pigeons. Or lemurs bombing coyotes or whatever… It wasn’t right, it wasn’t just, and it wasn’t Godly… that much we can be sure about… but from the beginning of time, human kind has done very “inhumane” things… and only the culture in which we live, can determine whether or not our inhumane acts are justifiable.

We are so stupid sometimes…

We are so small… and we don’t even realize it… We are so small. Think about how big our world is. Then compare it Jupiter. Then compare it to the sun. Then compare it to our entire universe. We are not big at all. We are dust in the wind- and sometimes, we must be humbled. We are smart… but yet, how much we know certainly has nothing to say about how wise we actually are…  most of the time, we’re not wise at all.

I mean… what gives anyone the right to say who is deserving of life and who isn’t? What right do we have to play God? What right do we have to say what justice is? What gives us the right to attack those who don’t agree with our way of life? And what gives us the right to retaliate? This is the nature of all that is inhumane… It is humane to love our enemies. It is humane to pray for those who persecute us. It is humane to leave justice in the hands of our Creator- but not to play God. Not to attack in hopes to harm, kill, or destroy. Not to retaliate.

I was asked to write something for our Christmas Eve service. The theme is Jesus as the light of the world. All input would be great!

In the beginning was the Word,  and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Then, God, through His Word, created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was formless and empty. Darkness covered the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

God said, “Let there be Light” and there was light. He saw the light and said that it – is – good. Then, God separated the light from the darkness.

Through the Word, God created everything. And without the Word, nothing was made that has been made. Everything He made, God said was good. Everything was perfect. He created a man named Adam and from the rib of Adam, He created a woman named Eve. He created them in His image, made to be pure and without sin, yet with the ability to choose to do right or to do wrong. He placed the man and the woman in the garden called Eden and said, “You can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or you will die.”

The devil, representing all darkness, came to Eve disguised as a serpent. He convinced her that God lied to her about the fruit on that tree. He said, “You won’t die if you eat it! Your eyes will be open and you will know the things that God knows! Eat the fruit.” So Eve ate it and she gave some to her husband, Adam. Adam ate the fruit and just as God had said, death entered the world.

Sin and death had entered the world, separating human kind from God, but in the Word, there was life. And that life is the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, but the darkness could not understand that light.

God had a plan to connect with human kind again. He would send His Son, who would die by crucifixion, so that we may be forgiven for our sins… so that light can overpower the darkness:

The people walking in the darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. For unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this!

He is the firstborn Son of God, born to a young virgin in the town of Bethlehem. And He will be called Immanuel- God with us.

God sent ahead of the Word, a man to testify to that light that was coming. This man was called John the Baptizer. He himself was not the light, but he came as a witness to the light so that all men might believe. The true light that gives light of all men, women, and children will be coming into the World.

The Word was in the world, and even though he was the world’s creator, they did not recognize Him as God. They rejected Him. But to those who did not reject Him, and to those who believed in His name, He gave right to be called children of God. Children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God!

One night, more than two thousand years ago, the Word became flesh, born in a stable in the town of Bethlehem. And he lived with us, as a man, yet He was God. We have seen His glory; the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, born of grace and truth. This was Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The light of the world.

 Tiger Woods decided to quit golf, indefinitely, in hopes to try and save his marriage.

At least 11 women have admitted to having sex with Tiger Woods. I really hope and pray that he can save his marriage. One thing is for certain, Tiger, just like any one of us, needs forgiveness… and not only from his wife (which is totally her choice!). Our culture really looks up to him… and just like any human being, he made terrible choices and horrible mistakes. But one thing we need to remember is that he is still a person… not a monster. And he really does have a heart.

It seems to me that Tiger is really trying to set things right again (no one backs out of a multimillion dollar career for anything not worth it!). Quitting Golf to focus on what really matters in life sure speaks for itself.

Do you think Tiger Woods did the right thing by quitting?

Shalom.

In the beginning, there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

There was a time when the winter solstice was on December 25th. This was a time where the Romans (and many other pagans) celebrated the beginning of longer days with light. Christianity recognized an allegory between this pagan time of festivities and the True Light coming to earth. So because the light came to earth, Christianity adopted this holiday, calling it Christmas, literally meaning “Christ’s Mass”. They called it “Christ’s Mass” because they figured the most important part of celebrating Jesus’ birth was to attend mass and enjoy the Lord’s supper with the other believers. The first recorded use of this term, we know of is in CE 1038.

So we celebrate Christmas near the winter solstice to celebrate the Light coming to earth. So why was Jesus “the Light?” Well, light is pure. Light separates the darkness. Darkness… it really isn’t anything… it isn’t tangible. It is simply the absence of light. And in this dark world, although the light was there, the darkness couldn’t understand it… So God chose a young woman named Mary to carry Him into the world, so we could see the light- so we could know who God is- so we could finally connect with God again. However, Mary was a virgin and not yet married. But an angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. Then she will become pregnant, and give birth to a son that will be called the Son of God.

But this “Son of God” is God incarnate, because He was there in the beginning, with God.

God saw our brokenness. He saw mankind in the darkness and He heard mankind’s cry. He always has… And because our God is a loving God… and because our God is a just God, he prepared a way for salvation, through His Son, Jesus Christ- through Himself- the Light of men- the Light of the World.

Through God- Through God limiting himself, becoming man, we can now recognize the Light. We are able to attain salvation, if we believe in His name. And to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God– not born of flesh, natural descent, nor a man’s decision, nor a husband’s will, but born of spirit– born of God.

Brothers and sisters– You are not mere men and women. You have the Holy Spirit living in you. You are a new creation; a citizen of heaven. You are a child of God… because you’ve seen the Light of men… Now you’ve received the perfect gift: the gift of and from Christ.

When I think of the elements in pop culture that helped to shape my childhood, I get really excited. The late 80′s and early 90′s were great times for movies and Saturday morning cartoons. I’ve been feeling very nostalgic lately, so I’ve decided that I would like to share some of my more prominent memories of pop culture from when I was very very young.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This was a group of giant mutant turtles that were ninjas. I guess they were teenagers too… Anyway, the group consisted of Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo (all, obviously, named after a famous artist). They were mentored and instructed by an old rat named Splinter.

And of course they had villains. These include BeBop, Rocksteady, Krang, and their arch nemesis, Shredder.

(Bebop and Rocksteady)

(Krang and Shredder)

Honestly, I don’t know how the turtles got to be so awesome… The idea of giant fighting turtles seems kind of ridiculous. All I know is that my older brother had just about every ninja turtle action figure and I was envious, even though I had a few myself (including a robot version of the turtles!).

Slaughter

This was a hairband from the early 90′s… I don’t think anyone even remembers who they are, but they had a few singles which include Up All Night and Fly to the Angels. As lame as the band might be now, my mom liked them, back in the day… and to me they were pretty awesome. Even though they may not be know anymore, I believe the band deserves some credit… the lead singer (Mark Slaughter) has a range from a C2 to D6… and there aren’t many who can sing like him (Check them out on YouTube!)

Ghostbusters

Anyone in their early to late 20′s would agree that these guys played a huge part in their young life. As for me and my brothers, we were obsessed. We had the movies, we had the toys, and we watched their cartoon, “The Real Ghostbuster” as often as we could. My favorite was Ray Stantz… the one who was kind of nerdy, while my younger brother’s was Egon Spengler… the one who was kind of nerdy. As I got older, however, I began to appreciate the “comic relief” (strange to say, for a movie that is designed to be a comedy) of Peter Venkman. I’m still not a huge fan of Winston Zeddemore because he had such a small role in the movie. Of course, now that I’m older, I see the need for his character (being the token black guy). The commentary on the DVD actually states that Winston was designed to be the smartest and more experienced ghost buster, due to his multiple PhD’s and the time he spent as a marine. I wish the movie would have brought that out a little more.

(From left to right) Winston, Peter, Slimer, Ray (kneeling), Egon, and Janine 

Beetlejuice

This is still one of my favorite movies. I’ve come to realize that there isn’t much that Michael Keaton and Tim Burton could do wrong. To top it off,  this is another triple threat- I had the movie, the toys, and watched the cartoon frequently. Every now and then I think about watching it as a kid… and how much adult humor was actually put in to that movie that I just didn’t understand at the time… and maybe that’s why I still love it… because it’s a great film for all ages.

And last, but not least———

The California Raisins

A.C., Stretch, BeBop, and Red 

I had both movies that came out, and I even had a few toys. I’ve heard that they used to have a cartoon show too. Unfortunately, I don’t remember. If you have never witnessed the awesomeness of the California Raisins, click here.

Do you remember any of these? What makes you nostalgic?

To me, the church is ________________________.

Feel free to fill it in. I just want to see what kind of responses I get.

Shalom.

This Tuesday will mark 1 year since my grandpa died… and I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately, so it’s been kind of hard. And this is something that’s to be expected… I mean, everyone knows somebody who’s passed on, and it’s never easy. Still, the fact that my grandpa died so close to Thanksgiving makes the season, that’s supposed to be a joyous time of food and festivities, sort of depressing. Like I said though, we all go through this… and if you haven’t, one day, you will have to. It’s one of those depressing facts of life.

There are a lot of those… depressing facts of life… There’s an old adage that says, “There’s nothing certain in this world but death and taxes”… but I would add that we can also be certain that we will go through pain, heartache, heartbreak, depression, and plain ol’ bad times. Don’t let that get you down though… we are guaranteed great times too… and some days are much better than others, but you never feel more alone then the times you struggle… that’s been the case in my life, anyway.

Well… it’s easy to blame God during hard times… especially when you feel alone. I think it’s because we are taught that God is always there for us whenever we need him… and that’s absolutely true, but sometimes it’s hard for us to tell that he’s there. I’ll be the first to admit it… there have been times when things just weren’t going how I’d planned them to go and I did nothing more than fall my knees and start pointing my finger at God…

I’ll never forget the time my girlfriend of almost 5 years broke up with me for another guy… I’ve never felt a pain like that in my life… And I let that affect every area in my life… I ended up quitting my job because I just couldn’t deal with more pressure… I started doing poorly in school… because I would stay up all night on my knees pointing my finger at God…

“… I tried so hard for you, God… and this is what I get in return?”

I just wanted to give up on God… I wanted to get out… but for some reason, I knew I had to do something…

I started reading Job… it’s a book about a man who went through terrible terrible things… more than I can bear… and through it all, he praised God’s name… It got difficult for him… I mean, Job was a rich man. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants… and he lost them all… but when his seven sons and three daughters were all killed, he said in mourning and in worship, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away! Blessed be the name of the LORD!”

… How could God let these horrible things happen to a person? And still this man praises God? It just doesn’t make sense…

But it was then that I heard God speak…
“Jimmy, “He said “You asked why you are going through this hard time… Now, I will answer you…”
I didn’t get a verbal answer. Nothing was explained to me… but everything made sense… because instead explaining why He had me go through my hard time, he gave me wisdom… and a great heart… and a better understanding of what it meant to serve him… And for the first time in my life… I realized that life isn’t about me… I’m here simply to worship God…

Sometimes, God doesn’t give us clear answers for why we go through our times of trial… Like Job… He left Job with more questions than answers… but the questions themselves were good enough answers for Job. At the end of the story, we see Job asking God why He let all of those things happen… God did not answer… instead, He asked Job a series of questions… causing Job to see how small he really is in reality… and because of that, Job saw how BIG God is.

Really, that’s what happened with me. God showed me that the things I deal with may seem important to me… but really… God’s plan is so much bigger than all of my problems… and in order for me to see that, He had to remove the things that stood in my way… even if it caused me heartache for that moment… because He knew that eventually, I would understand the greater good.

Now, I am marrying that girl who broke up with me. Sometimes, things don’t work out like that… sometimes hearts remain broken. Sometimes parents stay divorced. Sometimes people die… One thing we can be sure of though is this: through it all, good and bad, God has a plan for you. We may not live comfortably all the time, but with God’s help, you can overcome anything… and one day, your story of how God helped you get over your hump could help another person get over theirs’.

I have some questions for you, regarding faith. What does it mean to have faith? How far does your faith go? Does it stop at any closed door? Or does it find away around the door so that it can grow deeper?

These questions bring up a bible verse- Mark 2:1-12

“When Jesus again entered his hometown of Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

I love this story of Jesus. First of all, it shows how deeply Jesus loves us. He showed the paralyzed man lying on the mat forgiveness…. offering him compassion and love… Jesus didn’t ask who this man was, where he came from, what this man had done wrong… or anything like that. He didn’t want or need to know those things… he just knew he had a sinner laying before him who needed help… so he forgave the man’s sins… and when that wasn’t enough, and the crowd was bothered by what Jesus said, He told this paralyzed man to get up …and go home… and he did!

That is amazing in and of itself. But what I find the most intriguing is the faith of the people who brought the man to Jesus.

We see a group of men, four of which are carrying the paralytic, trying to find a way to get to Jesus. And these men weren’t stupid. They heard about the things Jesus had already done… and they wanted Jesus to heal their friend. But they came across an obstacle. The entire house was full… and even the doorway was blocked by all of these people who wanted to see Jesus. Again, these men weren’t stupid. They knew that Jesus was someone special… and they wouldn’t let this obstacle get in between them and Jesus. So what did they do? They carried their friend up to the top of the house, tore a hole in the roof, and lowered him in… right where Jesus was teaching.

… I told you these men weren’t stupid.

When Jesus saw this great amount of faith… When He saw that they would think outside the box and try to overcome any obstacle just to see Him, He looked at the paralytic and said, “Son, your sins are forgiven!”

And this wasn’t enough… Jesus had a point to prove… so He told the man to get up and go home!

And the paralytic man didn’t have to do anything for this… His friends did it all for him… because they would look past anything in the way to see Jesus… because they really believed the things they heard about Him.

And this is why I love this story. It makes me think about my faith… would I overcome any obstacle just to see Jesus? Would you?

Would you really tear a hole in the roof to see Him? Or would you stop at the door with the rest of the crowd… hoping that Jesus would eventually walk past you? Would you settle for the latter because it’s easier? Or would you want to follow Jesus so much that you would do absolutely anything… and I mean ANYTHING to get close to Him?

We can get close to Jesus. But we have to be determined. We have to be loyal and faithful… and sometimes, that requires us to think outside the box… sometimes, it requires us to tear open roofs.

What obstacles stand between you and Christ? How can we overcome these obstacles?

It’s November already… I can’t believe it. This means a few things.

1st- It’s going to get really cold. Cold weather annoys me… much like people who put clothes on their dogs….

And what is worse than cold weather and dogs wearing clothes?
… When people dress there dogs in cold weather… ugh

Anyway,

2nd- November 24th will mark the 1 year anniversary of the death of my grandpa. Nothing too exciting there… I just think it’s interesting that it still seems like I can go over to my grandma’s and see my grandpa sitting in his favorite chair in the corner of the living room… but I suppose this will go away in time. I sure do miss him though.

3rd- It’s the 6th annual “National Don’t Pick on Travis Month”.

You may know Travis as Crevis05 here on Xanga… Well, when we were in high school, I picked on him a lot (It’s cool… we’re cousins… so it was done in love). He decided to set up an annual month in which we would raise awareness of Travis harassment. So far, this yearly event has been successful and the important issue of Travis harassment is now no longer much of an issue at all! We still celebrate this month to honor Travis… and because history has a tendancy to repeat itself, it’s good to have a refresher. I think we will make t-shirts next year.

4th- Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks! I wanted to take this time to say what I am thankful for

A.) A beautiful fiance and a great family. I have a really close family. And I am happy that come March 13th, Tesia will finally be joining the family, as I too, become a part of her family.

B.) God… because he gave me all I have. And honestly, he offers a hope that nothing else in life can ensure.

C.) Xanga (This is my way of brown-nosing the xanga community)

D.) The Cohen Brothers- because they make great movies

E.) The fact that nobody is talking about the Kanye/Taylor incident anymore. I’m just happy it lived it’s course… Of course, I brought it back up again…
… It just won’t go away, will it?

What are you thankful for?

Keeping a close eye on Jesus, the Pharisees sent spies who pretended to be honest.They hoped to catch Jesus in something He said, so that they might hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus knew what they were really doing and He said to them, “Show me a denarius. Who’s portrait is on it? Who’s inscription is this?”

“Caesar’s” they replied.

Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.

Luke 20:20-25

This passage of the bible is normally read when we talk about paying our taxes… And it’s true… this verse does tell us that the government has the right to tax us… in fact, it isn’t our money. If it is due to Caesar, then it obviously belongs to Caesar… but we often look over “give to God what is God’s.”

Let’s face it… it’s much easier to skip out on our offerings to the church than it is to skip out on our taxes. Yet, according to what Jesus is telling us in the scripture I read, it is just as important to give to God as it is to give to the government. If you aren’t giving God what is his, you are stealing.

But what is it that belongs to God that we must give Him?

Well, we have a few things.

1.) First, time.
This goes much deeper than spending an hour at church on Sundays and a couple hours at church on Wednesdays… Our time is God’s time… and it’s important to our spiritual growth to remember this. There isn’t a second of the day where we aren’t to be ministers. At all times, we are representing Christ. So what you do with your time can either improve or damage the image of Christ within you. That is why we stay aware of our surroundings and aware of the things that consume our time that aren’t godly. So we give God our time.

2.) We must also give service through our talents, gifts, and abilities.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians that our body is made up of many parts. Likewise, the body of Christ (or the Church) is made up of many parts. Each part has a duty to perform. If it doesn’t perform it’s duty, it’s useless. But you are part of the body of Christ and you are not useless. So if you are an eye, you must see. If you are an ear, you must hear. If you are good at praying, you must pray. If you have a word from God, you must speak. You are needed in the church, whether you think you are or not. The church needs you… just like the body needs lungs.
Someone once told me about an experience she had at church where the pastor said, “If you are here and you aren’t doing anything in the church, then you need to leave.” And it’s important to understand this because the church doesn’t work unless everybody uses the gifts in which God gave them to help the body of Christ preform its daily duties.

3.) Prayer is also something we give to God.
Only prayer isn’t for God. It’s for us… the church.
Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and you will succeed.” Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be open to you.” God wants our plans to succeed if they are in His will. So tell God about your plans… keep his will central to them, and see how your plans will turn out. If your church has a vision, pray that God will work with that in a way that glorifies Him. Let me tell you something… prayer works… and God will not tear down anything that will build His kingdom.

4.) Money is another big gift that we can give to God.
Be certain that God doesn’t need our money to do big things! Nevertheless, it is good to give to your church in a time in need… in fact, Paul tells us that when we do give, we are to give cheerfully, generously, and regularly. The money that we give to the church is used for many good causes. Keeping this in mind, giving should not be burdensome, but it should be a sacrifice, keeping in mind all He’s done for us.

It is clear in scripture, that we are to give to God what is already His. I’ve listed many ways we can give back to God. As Christians, it isn’t our duty, but it is our joy that we should give graciously back to God in the many ways we are able. After all, think of what He has given to you!

In what ways do you give back to God?