Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
Last night my brother David, our church's teaching pastor talked about this verse as we as a community of faith prepare ourselves for Easter. During the message that David brought this verse kept replaying in my mind, and it really struck me because in this moment at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, who knows fully well what his purpose is comes to His Father and pleads with him to see if there is another way to absolve the world of its sins.
Jesus is scared.
Jesus, the savior of the world, our redeemer is scared. He is pleading for another way for this to be done.
Jesus is Fully God and Fully Man, that is the essence of his existence. That he is God and Man in the same body. We should take comfort in the fact that Jesus faced every trial that we will ever face. Why should that comfort us? Because Jesus knows what it means to be scared, to be hurting, to be loved, to be disappointed. He can relate. He understands. He gets it.
Im going to let that sink in…..let it marinate….
Following while Confused.
So, here in the last couple of weeks I have been hit with a thought that is disturbing at the same very humbling. As I follow Jesus through my life and learn of his teachings, I find myself confused with a paradoxical and unreasonable being that is God. Now, that statement in and of itself may confuse you, but just think about it for a minute. How reasonable is our faith? It's not a reasonable notion, but somehow in the inner core of being of who we are tells us that its a part of us. Take the word faith. It means to believe in things that you cannot see or touch, which is not a reasonable thought.
Even in the scriptures it says that people saw Jesus and still didnt believe….and today I believe in Jesus but I cant see him. Or can I?
Seeing the confusion yet?
Im learning that not understanding everything is an ok notion to have. There are some things that we will never understand about God, creation, Jesus, and etc. But God tells us that the only thing that matters really is Love your neighbor as yourself and Love the Lord your God with your heart, mind, and soul. So, really its all about love. Who knew the Beatles were theologians when they sang, "All you need is Love?"
At the inner core of every human being is God. You are made in God's image which means that if God is Love then you are Love. The Greatest Commandment of loving your neighbor and loving God is just God saying be yourself, be who I created you to be. Be Love.
That is a humbling and awesome feeling. Be Love. So its ok to be follow while your confused, just be love.
Love is.
So, its been like five years since I blogged last and man a lot has been happening in my life here lately. So, first of all lets talk First Mansfield Students. I am very proud to say that I am a student ministry intern for the most amazing church in the universe! First United Methodist Church Mansfield and man its been such a blessing doing ministry with a good friend of mine, Johnny Brower. The church has been going great!
Just recently we were so blessed to have the amazing organization, Invisible Children come and give us a personal screening of their new film, "Jump First, Fear Later," and I have to say that it didnt disappoint, it was amazing, very eye opening and made me realize a couple of things, but one question came to my mind that night. And its been nagging at my me.
"What is a Christian to do with such horrible injustice? "
This question has been tearing at me for a couple of weeks now and I have one answer.
Love
Is Love really enough?
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
and wait for it….
8Love never fails.
Yeah its enough…
My Cup Overflows
Disclaimer: this blog entry is completely random and very jumbled together. It has not theme except for my cup overflows. You'll see..
Have you ever been just living your life just normal and then out of nowhere God just surprises you with….umm…EVERYTHING!?
Just recently I have been helping out a lot at my church with the Student Ministries program, Junior High-College age and God has really spoken to my heart throughout. I have always believed in God but I am approaching a new development in my faith.
God believes in me.
Yes I know that sounds like a duh statement, but seriously think about that. God believes in me? Are you friggin kidding me?
The creator of the friggin universe believes in me and has a plan for my life, and it surpasses any miniscule plan that i have for my life.
This new development completely boggles my mind and im still floored by it.
Praise God for his blessings of grace that is given to us freely. I feel so useless sometimes when it comes to witnessing and be a christian, but i think that's the point we see ourselves as who we think we are.
We dont realize that there is a part of us that is extraordinary!
What does it mean to be created in God's image?
My Cup Overflows with the blessings that God has revealed to me. I dont even know where to begin to understand why God has spoken to me like this lately, but there is one thing that I know. I cant get enough of Him!
Im at worship and a desperate part of my heart cries out for the worship to continue! I dont want it to stop! I want to scream and shout because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and I want more and more and more!
Praise God!
Freedom from Oppression – Thoughts from ” Jesus Wants to Save Christians “
"It's as if God is saying, 'The thing that has happened to you – go make it happen for others. The freedom from oppression that you are now experiencing – help others experience that same freedom. The grace that has been extended to you when you were at your lowest – extend it to others. In the same way that I heard your cry, go and hear the cry of others and act on their behalf."
"God measures their faith by how they treat the widows, orphans, strangers – the weak – among them. God's desire is that they would bring exodus to the weak, in the same way that God brought them exodus in their weakness."
So, I started reading this book this week and Ive read only 40-something pages and I'm already blown away. Rob Bell is one the world's most influential pastors and leaders in the community of Christ and it never ceases to amaze me how he brings the word of God to life.
This particular passage is following Rob talking about God telling the Israelites about the Ten Commandments. Rob is explaining how important the Ten Commandments are to the Israelites of that day and the Christians and followers of God today. As I was reading this last night a couple of feelings and thoughts just struck me.
This is everything that God is, his entire being, why he loves us and why he needs a body. God cares like no one in the history of the world that he created could ever fathom to care. He is a God who hears, who cares, loves, delivers, and the list goes on and on. This is the calling of all believers around the world to help the helpless. At the exact time that I was thinking about helping the helpless I had a disturbing thought. Most people in the world don't know that God is calling us to help the helpless because 40% of people between the age of 16 and 29 view Christians, followers of Jesus as hypocritical, judgmental, and everything that Jesus isn't.
As you can see these thoughts collided with each other. Major Collision.
"God's desire is that they would bring exodus to the weak, in the same way that God brought them exodus in their weakness."
You can go one or two ways when following Jesus, you can either follow his desire or run from it, it seems that 40% of America thinks that we have run from it. You can choose to do what you want with this information that I have presented to you, but as for me I intend to learn more about God's desire for my life.