The Barbarian Way

One of my favorite books is The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. So many good quotes in this book it's overwhelming. He explains how the life of a Christian should be barbaric or be lived at a barbaric point of view. We as Christians are described as aliens because our way of living is unheard of. The way we give. The way we talk. The way we live. It's different. McManus explains this throughout the book providing examples throughout scripture and Jesus's teachings.

"God's will for us is less about our comfort than it is about our contribution. God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance." Brilliant right? When we decide to become followers, we decide to leave our lives of comfort. We model our lives after the life of Jesus and his did not scream "comftorable". And I love the way he explains that God wouldn't choose safety for us at the cost of significance. Where would we be if people played it safe? I realize that sounds incredibly "original" but that doesn't make it any less true. Who wants to play it safe when you can have an adventure. That's the call of a disciple! "To be filled with the Spirit of God is to be filled with dreams and visions that are too compelling to ignore."

Ok here's a scenario. You're at your local Walmart and you hear of a person asking for money so they can get a ride home (feel free to input a different means of them asking for money). You decide you're going to help them out. So, you give them a $20. Nay, you're feeling generous. You give them $30. They thank you and they use it for its intended purpose.

Now, same scenario, different outcome. Instead of giving them $30, you take out your wallet/clip/treasure chest, or whatever the heck you keep your presidents in, and give them everything. Yeah, that's what I said. EVERYTHING. For sake of argument lets throw out some real numbers....$160. Not cheap but ultimately not a lot either. Whichever way you look at it, quite a bit of money given the circumstance. And all you say is, "Here, get yourself a ride home and use the rest to bless someone with." or something of the sort. That'd be ridiculous would it not? In fact, that'd be barbaric. But my how that person would think about that afterwards.

That's what I'm talking about. To live a life of a radical. A Barbarian. To live a life of adventure and excitement for our Christ is a life worth living. For "to live is Christ and to die is gain." And I know, would it be comftorable? Probably not. Would it be safe? Not always. But the fact you're living your life as a disciple...

what a rush.

Apealing? Maybe not to some. But I say bring it on.

Someone Get Me Some Miracle Grow

I feel myself growing, and I love it.

I love being pushed to exceed expectations.
I love being pulled into something to make me a better person.

I feel myself growing, and I love it.

Overload

Ever have those days where, for some reason, you feel overwhelmed at how many thoughts you have? Or even what they're about? It's the same amount, or same kind, of thoughts that keep you lying awake at night because for some reason...
You
Just
Can't
Shake
Them.

Today's one of those days.

My mind is racing with so many questions and thoughts and worries that I just don't know where to start or even what to do with them. Worst part is that there's no reason I should be thinking about these things let alone worried about them. And as if to cause a chain reaction, these days tend to make me a little depressed and impatient. I feel it's a test God is giving me to test my patience and faith so that I may be given the chance to perservere and grow. I believe that when you ask God for things, more specifically qualities, he gives you the opportunity to work on those qualities. Which makes sense giving the fact I've been praying for a patient heart. With circumstances like these, it's always helpful to have someone to talk to. Let me rephrase that, someone you trust that you can talk to.
Someone wise.
Somone who listens.
Someone you trust will look at you the same after the conversation. People like this are hard to find. It seems that you have to go to certain people with different subjects to avoid arguments, cynicism, or bad advice because of today's society. For instance, you don't go to a prideful person when dealing with a humble subject/situation. All your doing is creating problems. And if you don't have somone to go to, you end up fighting with yourself. You wrestle with your own struggles behind closed doors and begin to become unhealthy
Physically
Emotionally
And spiritually.
The background on my phone definitely helps though. "...present your requests to God. And the peace of God....will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Mostly when times like these strike, I pick up my acoustic and play til my fingers bleed (not literally obviously) but currently, while I'm writing this, I am at work. Which ultimately doesn't help matters but since I need the money complaining does me no good. Kind of a "get over it" attitude, if you will. I realize this comes off as a pessimistic post but, as much as it pains me to admit this, blogging helps with struggles since it's now "out in the open".

30 Favorite Things to Do

A list of 30 favorite things to do:

1) Relax
2) Watch good movies
3) Play Call of Duty
4) Read a good book
5) Go camping
6) Campfires and roasting over campfires
7) Campfire talks
8) Deep talks/Spiritual talks
9) Teaching
10) Designing
11) Filming
12) Basketball
13) Ultimate Frisbee
14) People watching
15) Working out
16) Meditating
17) Naps
18) Window shopping
19) Hanging out with friends
20) Road trips
21) Rollercoasters
22) Amusement parks
23) LIVE football games
24) Random nice gestures
25) Pranks
26) Walks
27) Tennis
28) Mini Golf
29) Sledding
30) Cliff Jumping

10 Year Plan

At one point in anyone's life, they're bound to be asked, or think about, they're 10 year plan. What they'll be doing, if they'll be married, if so will they have kids and how many, where they're living...so on and so forth. Sometimes when I think about it, I'd like to skip all the stuff in between and jump straight into 10 years from now. Immediately be in my career, have a wife, kids, house, etc. But then again you learn a lot from going through the "in-betweens". Our experience through certain situations we go through and encounter is what grows us and makes us more mature and wise. So I actually can wait and somewhat look forward to what I will experience between then and now. Plus, time travel is impossible until Doc Brown shares the intelligence of the flux compasitor with the rest of mankind. So, ultimately, I don't really have a choice.

But that's neither here nor there. In 10 years, I'll nearly be 31 years old. Ooooo.....reality check. By that time I hope to have a wife, 2 or MAYBE 3 kids (depending on when I get married and the opinions/decisions of my wife that will surely be overriden by mine), a house for sure (don't like the idea of throwing my money away on an apartment), and a steady career in videography and design. As far as where I'm living, kind of undecided. Someone explained to me that they'd like to live in a small town that's about 30 minutes away from a big city. Immediately I loved that idea. I'm pretty simplistic, for the most part, and would like to live fairly simple without the chaos of a big city but have the leisure of multiple stores/restaurants/services at my fingertips. I also want to have plenty of "playtime" with my family. Nothing like creating memories by having barbecues, playing baseball, running through sprinklers, or anything else you can do in your backyard or at your house.

All in all, really nothing that exciting. Pretty basic answer for a basic question. However a satisfied life for a simplistic person.

My Buried Life

Before I go into this post, I love how they named that show "The Buried Life". I love that it has a double meaning where on one side they're describing your deepest desires of what you want to do before you die, where as the other side is describing death and how most lives are buried after they pass on. Gotta love subtleties.

Anyways, the term "bucket list" has come up in conversation a lot lately making me think about mine. I have never made a bucket list, per se, but I have always kept in mind what I would like to do before I kick the can. As I began thinking about it, there is only 1 thing I'd really like to do before I die.

Before I expose that however, let me build a foundation. I love helping people. Let me be more specific. I love helping people with they're dreams. If I ever get the chance to hear someone say, "I'd like to...." and you can fill in the blank, I get inspired. I guess you could somehow relate it to the movie Hitch but obviously replace "girls" with "dreams". I start researching, looking for anything and anybody I can find to help out. Typically I can setup a good structure for that person to go off of and they can go from there. Cause ultimately they're gonna have to follow through with it. I get a kind of rush from helping them out because I know that this could potentially be the start of something awesome for that person.

With all this in mind, the only thing on my bucket list is helping her out with hers. "Her" being my wife if that came across confusing. You could say the pressure's on because on anybody else's list you can accomplish some while not accomplishing others. So really, you still get some satisfaction in crossing something out. However, on mine, it's a pass or fail. But I'm fine with that. I want to help her live the most amazing life possible so she can look back with no regrets knowing she tried to live life to the fullest. I realize this sounds really un-satisfying for some and maybe even "chick-flick" but nothing could be more satisfying. For me anyways.

And I know what you're thinking. "What if she doesn't have a bucket list?" ....Well....I guess I'll start with skydiving.