So I Finally Get It

I was wondering why I was growing so much spiritually. Little did I know, God was prepping my heart for something bigger. He was working for something greater. I've never truly failed at anything before (except maybe relationships haha). Man, I needed this. How does that humble pie taste, Mark?

Well I'm so glad you asked, it tastes great. The bottom line is I'm at peace with it. God must be praised in this situation. I refuse to do anything but run to the cross. You think that you could coast through life without troubles? Ha! How arrogant. The fact that God doesn't just destroy all of us right now is a testament to His love. I choose to boast in my God for everything He is teaching me and doing in my life.
In fact, I will not call this suffering. There are people being persecuted right this second for the faith. This is a little speed bump, and I hope one day I will be refined through being persecuted for His glory.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psalm 27:13-14

What am I going to do? I'm going to rest in God and wait for the Lord.

"Come get me Lord, Please come get me!"

Refuge and Strength

I took Tax Accounting over the spring semester. I worked my butt off and for the first time in my life, I did not receive the grade I needed to pass the class. I received a "D" to be exact. As Lecrae would say, "Breath. Takin'."

I really did work hard, but it just was not enough. What is a guy to do? I showed up for class everyday. I made flashcards. Studied in the library everyday. Talked with the teacher numerous occasions. Participated in class. The nine yards and a bag of chips. The fact of the matter is: I did not get a "C" even though I feel like I knew the material.

What a humbling experience. Funny thing is that God will only be glorified in this situation. He has been prepping my heart for this. I'm starting to memorize Psalm 46.

I'll quote what I know so far.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea..."

Just a nugget there. Hope to have the whole thing down soon.

The Light

About a month ago, I went to Auburn's spring football game. I left really early in the morning. The sun had not even come up yet. As I saw the sun coming up, I was keenly aware of a couple of things. Once I got a picture of the significance of these things as it applies to the gospel, it stirred my affections for Him. First of all, the presence of darkness filled the air. Everything was hidden. I was craving light. Things creep in the dark. Stuff is hidden. Just like in the christian life before we come to Christ. Think John 3:19-20. People love the darkness more than the light. Our deeds are evil. We are sinful. We foolishly think we are hiding our actions from God. We do things because we don't think anyone sees. If some people had their way, the sun would never come up! No one wants to be exposed and face judgment by others. The sun started to hover and slowly to bring night to day. Everything became clear around me. I was able to easily see my surroundings. Once the sun was fully up, there was no need for any of the cheap manmade imitations at lights. This is such a big analogy to tackle. I'm not going to do it justice.

Can you see the sun being the Son of God? Yeah, that's right. The true Light, Jesus! We were in the dark. We were in bad shape, totally depraved. We were hiding in the dark, looking for hope, but never going to find it. Jesus comes as the Light, ultimately dies on the cross for our sins and gives us hope! Before, we didn't have a way to God and were lost in death. The prophets predicted his coming(sun slowly coming up), John the Baptist prepared the way(sun getting higher) and finally Jesus came( sun is high noon). Fully God, fully man, Jesus shatters all of the preconceived notions of what life is about and changes hearts.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

(John 1:1-13 ESV)

Sin will not win. Darkness will not prevail. Even the wages of sin, death, will not stop us. Because of the love God has for us and His predetermined plan to draw people to himself for His glory, we have been changed by His grace! Because Christ did the work and accomplished atonement on the cross, we can have a relationship with God. We can do what God designed us to do: praise and glorify Him. Be encouraged because the Light has come into the world and the darkness has not overcome it! We are Christ's! We no longer live for ourselves, but we live for the sake of His name.

This analogy can be taken several more directions. I'm going to stop there for now.

It's been awhile...

Okay, so it has been over a year since I've posted anything to this blog. A lot of things have changed,  and I have had a lot less free time. One thing has remained though and that is God's faithfulness in sanctifying me.

As of late God has been using scripture, good books, music, long runs, roadtrips, hard days at work, school...(I could go on forever) to renew my mind. Too much has been revealed for me not to share it with people. I don't know if anyone will read my posts and that is okay, but I am going to make an effort to post some of the things I have been meditating about on here.

I've always got my twitter updated and facebook fresh, but those aren't the avenues to share what I've got brewing in my mind. Glory be to God for whatever He works in me. Accountability would be great if I say something that doesn't line up with His word. Feel free to comment or correct!

Account of Creation

So I decided to randomly read through the first two chapters of Genesis and I am thinking how cool it is that the Creator of the everything provided a written account of how He created everything. He provides details (exs. creating man from dust, taking a rib from man to create woman) and talks about the order of creation. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, heck I'm not even enough of a tool to be in the shed period, but I take delight in this portion of scripture. I do not comprehend everything about it. God provides details here in the first two chapters, yet He does not give everything away. For instance, was each day an actual day in the sense of the day we have now, or was a day representative of millions of years? Genesis names the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers which are still in the middle east today. There is an element of mystery here, but at the same time there is an element of tangible fact. Praise God for His word!

Momma Said There'd Be Nights Like This

Okay as most of you know, I am the Pepsi drink machine filler upper at Pace High School. I usually have to fill the machines up late at night at the school because school doesn't get out until 4 and I have some other responsibilities to do before I do the job. Wednesdays are big shipment days, so I usually work past midnight on Wednesday nights after church. My mom has begged me for years telling me that it is creepy up at the school late at night and that weird things happen. From my experience, I would have to agree with her. The janitors are creepy (but nice once you get to know them) and there are many ghostly sounds when you are the only one at the school. By now, I have pretty much gone numb to all of the terror that goes on in an abandoned school at midnight. Or so I thought.....Tonight, a new level of creepiness was achieved.

It had been a long day of school, church, and work and I was making my last round of checkups when I noticed a white car in the back of the school near the 700 building. I'm no Shawn Spencer, but my detective skills starting flickering in my head. Sure enough, the light I had left on in building 700 was no longer on. I was starting to wonder, but I figured I was almost done and that I would fill this last machine up. As I began to unlock the door to building 700, I noticed a black blob hunched over near the boys bathroom. At first, I didn't pay any attention to it (cuz I'm numb to creepiness?No! cuz I was stupid!) but then the black blob stood up and said "oh s@!$" as loud as I have ever heard those two words said before. For some reason, I continued to unlock the door and go inside. It was like those horror movies when the person is about to walk right into the hands of the killer and die and you think to yourself, Don't go there idiot! That's where the killer is!

I don't even turn the lights on, it is just me and this psycho. It turns out the black blob has a pair of car charger cables and a crowbar and he had been trying to bust open the Pepsi machine (and he would have been successful if it wasn't for those kids and their dog, aka ME!) to get change. The dude said "My car just broke down man and I need some change because I don't think I can get back to Pensacola." At this point, I just want to get out of there. I should be thinking, What if this guy has a gun? or Am I going to die? but instead I'm thinking, I can't let this guy ruin the Pepsi machine!

Luckily, my instincts kick in and I say "They emptied the change from this machine today, so there isn't any change in there and I don't have any change on me man, I wish I could help ya." The guy replies," This isn't me man, you know what I mean..." No, I don't know what you mean. It's midnight and you broke into a school to break into a drink machine to get change for who knows what. I said," Yeah I know what ya mean, I wish I could help you, but I don't have my cellphone." The stranger said some expletives and and then started towards the door. He then turned around and went back to the machine and yanked out his tools out of the side of the machine. I slowly unplugged my ipod (Coldplay, how fitting for the occasion ha!) and stood there watching him in disbelief and surveying the damage he had done to the machine. We said our goodbyes and as he left into the dead frigid night, I said, "Best of luck to you man, I'm sorry."

This guy was probably addicted to drugs or alcohol. The stench of his clothes told me as much and it looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks. This man was willing to do a lot to get a few quarters, but what this man really needed was Jesus. How can we get to such a low point and so enslaved to something that we are willing to go this low? I know this man can be delivered, because I have witnessed the power of God in my own life and I know He can transform lives. I was once enslaved to sin, but God made me alive to Himself and now I walk in freedom! I'll probably never see this man again. Will he ever know the hope that is Jesus Christ? Only God knows.

After the man left, I filled the machine up and locked everything up and went home. Tonight was kind of scary, but it was a testimony of God's grace in my life. He showed me mercy in the guy not hurting me. I'm a very blessed man! As it turns out, my mom was right about the school late at night and she is wiser than I ever believed.

Self Denial

"Don't be fooled by the psychobabble that teaches we must first learn to love ourselves in order to become whole. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to love ourselves. We love ourselves too much as it is. In fact, we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt in almost every possible instance. We blame conflicts on others while flattering ourselves for having noble intentions. If we only extended to others the same grace we grant ourselves...what a wonderful world it would be."