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SwinginBrownSuga
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Name: Marc
Gender: Male
Interests: God, swing dancing, playing guitar, anime
Expertise: sleeping, saving lives, moving people, bumming around
Occupation: Professional student
Industry: student, medicine
Message: message me
AIM:  SwinginBrownSuga
Member Since:
7/8/2006
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| So today I went to the "hill" to work out. I call it the "hill" because its special, its a 100 foot high sand dune at about a 45 degree incline. Its for playing and working out. There is a park at the bottom of it for kids to play and a set of stairs to the left so you don't have to actually brave the sand to get to the top. I did 10 trips, up and down today in the afternoon in 1 hr and 30 minutes. It was crazy, the most I've done is 5 times. I have to say though, I had help. I was really aiming for 5 and this is where the story gets interesting and where today's word comes in.
A couple things. I think one of the reasons I like the hill is because there is a lot of discipline involved in doing it. Its not just discipline but its discipline in the things you do everyday. One of those things that that I focused on today was my breathing. Everyone breaths and its so easy to take it for granted, but when you are exhausting yourself physically, controlling breathing becomes sooo important and, if done correctly, it aids in whatever you are doing. The tendency is to start breathing quicker and more shallow but quick shallow breaths don't really move air well. In fact, its called hyperventilation and you end up taxing your body even more without really getting any benefit at all. People actually can pass out from it because not enough oxygen gets in. So I focused on taking deep breaths and it really helped.
So on that 5th trip, on the way down, I noticed 2 kids also coming down and were slipping a bit from the sand. So I gave them some advice on how to not slip too much. At the bottom I rested and stretched a bit and during that time the 2 kids reached the bottom. The father was there as was encouraging (parakaleo) the son to do another trip up. He kept saying, "I did it 10 times in the morning and 10 times earlier." So the son started up again. After stretching and resting for about a minute, I started back up too. I had done 5...that was my goal, so whatever I could do afterwards was extra. As I was walking up, I passed the son and overheard him say, "10 times in the morning and 10 times earlier." and he kept going. In my head I kept thinking, "Wow. He really wants to imitate his father his father." and I thought this was a great example of how we as God's children want to imitate and please our Father too, how Jesus wanted to please and obey his Father and endured the cross. The son was willing to do it again to imitate the father with his exact words of his dad on his lips.
So I finished the hill the 6th time and figured I out to go for one more to match up Heidi (She did it 7 times last time she was at the hill.) and after that, why not go one better since I felt I had enough strength to do it. So I'm @ 8 times now. The dad saw I had talked with his son earlier and started telling me, "You can't just stop now. I did this 10 times in the morning and 10 times earlier. You gotta do one more." Haha, now I was getting the encouragement (parakaleo). So I figured I still had some strength in me, so I went for one more. I was tired and started feeling it a lot. My breathing definitely got heavier, but I did it. So now I'm @ 9 times.
After getting to the bottom and resting a bit, the son finished the hill and again the dad was encouraging (parakaleo) him to do one more. He was trying to get someone to do it with his son and finally got to me saying, "See, he'll do it with you." The idea of parakaleo was still fresh in my mind, so I figured I'd do it. I walked with the son up the hill, gave him some advice on breathing and pacing. I asked him why he was exercising and he explained he was training for middle school football. I stayed along side with him until we got all the way to the top. At the top he raised his arms in triumph and looked down at his dad. His dad pumped his fists too. After that we went down the hill. It was good...he did well. So I got to do a little parakaleo too.
The reason why I focus on this word is the meaning it has and its not just encourage. Its exhorting and admonishing, its teaching and urging. It also means to comfort. It also means to come along side. The word picture is that someone comes and helps you with your load or helps you carry a heavy burden. I saw almost all of this today on that hill. The father was parakaleo-ing the son and even me encouraging him to push harder, exhorting him to be better by setting a standard of himself, urging him to do it again. And even though he wasn't on the hill doing it with him I know that the father was there at the bottom doing all that to help his son achieve his goal to play football.
It was pretty kewl to see.
So do you have anyone parakaleo-ing you? In school? In work? More importantly in walking in Christ?
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. - Hebrews 3:12-13
This word assumes relationships. It assumes that that person has enough access to your life and access to you to ask some probing questions regarding your choices and how they relate to your conviction and commitment to follow God. Its personal and requires vulnerability but helps you see when you might be going astray when you don't notice it yourself. The author of Hebrews gives a reason why we should have relationships like this: so that we don't get hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Its so easy to look at someone's life and situation and think, "Well you should do this." Yet when it comes to our own decisions, we can easily misstep out of God's path through self-deception and rationalizing. Just as we have insight into other people's situations, other people also have that same insight into our situations. But are we gonna benefit from it?
So what?
Are you longing to imitate your heavenly Father?
Does anyone have permission to ask deep questions about your walk?
I got a lot of this from a sermon off of Northpoint from Andy Stanley. Here's the link if you wanna listen. Scroll down and listen to "Missing Ingredient".
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| Man. It has been a while since I posted. Maybe is because I was swamped with a lot of things. This semester has definitely been harder than the other two and I'm not really sure why. Maybe its cuz I'm just not working as hard and blaming it on other things like teachers or other circumstances. I definitely know my walk hasn't been as good lately. Usually I have something to share and then I post. I think that not reading in the Word adds to slacking off in studying. I really loose focus on God and make it all about me and my ability which isn't that great to begin with. I'm slowly getting back to that.
Anyhow a couple things since last post. Went on a cruise. I have pics. So do a lot of other people. I had a great time. I felt "loose" for those who know.  Got to see some things about how poverty penetrates Mexico and its not even the worse parts, its one of the tourist resort attraction places and still you see poverty and kids trying to sell trinkets to make money. Albeit, maybe because it attracts tourists could be a reason why poorer people go there to beg. I met a girl who lindyhopped on the cruise. That was awesome. I got to dance and I was on a cruise. How much better can you get? A cruise just for lindyhopping with live bands and 1000's of dancers with really good food and huge huge floors? Ok...so you can get better, maybe I'll organize that and make lots of money and have a lot of fun. 
Umm...ok....sharing time. Ok...so I just saw Spiderman 3. I know, it came out a WHILE ago. I went to see it @ a $2 movie theater in La Mirada. Despite being warned that the quality is definitely less (we actually had some sound trouble in the middle of the movie...it went away though) I still enjoyed it. I have really enjoyed the Spiderman trilogy. I don't know if I like this one the best though although Venom pummeling Spiderman was a lot of fun to watch. The movie had Sam Raimi's touch in it. Some parts were really cheesy but funny. Interjections of jokes within dramatic scenes was fun. (JJ paying $100 for a camera with no film during the fight.) I had a blast when evil Peter Parker was dancing in the street being completely arrogant and conceited, continuing the Peter Parker motif of shots of him within a normal city surrounding. (Remember in Spiderman 2 when he looses his powers and stumbles cuz his vision isn't corrected anymore?) Just thinking about it now, I think maybe they were trying to get at the idea that how you see yourself and your choices affect everyday things like walking down the street. Theme? Ok...too analytical there. I really liked though the scene in the jazz club where evil Peter dances around the club and with Gwen. Completely arrogant and over-the-top Sam Raimi style but a lot of fun. You gotta think though...this is the same guy who made Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. If you didn't enjoy those shows, you probably didn't enjoy the movie. Plus, Bruce Campbell was awesome. I also really enjoyed evil Peter as well as evil Harry Osborne. Both their dialogues and scheming and their fight scenes were awesome.
Ok, despite all that, a running theme was forgiveness within the movie. Revenge was all over the place showing how satisfying such it can feel good yet do nothing to alleviate pain and, not surprisingly, usually leads to more pain. The choice to forgive was the moral and a good message to get across. As I was walking to my car and while driving home, the ending struck me. In the end...OK DISCLAIMER - IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED SPIDERMAN 3 YET AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING, DON'T READ THE REST OF IT. That being said...I'm continuing. In the end, Brock dies trying to continue being Venom. If he reunited with the symbiote and became Venom again he could hold onto power and would have continued to exact revenge on Spiderman. Ok no real issue there, revenge is bad. The second antagonist in the story is the Sandman who apparently killed Ben Parker. Peter decides to get revenge by trying to kill him. In the end, the Sandman apologizes to Peter saying that it was an accident and that he never really meant to kill Ben Parker. The Sandman says he just want him to understand and doesn't necessarily want his forgiveness. Peter forgives him and he vanishes in a cloud of sand.
So...I kept thinking to myself. Ok. Peter finally decides to forgive the Sandman for killing his Uncle Ben. But its forgiveness that most people understand and its a form of forgiveness that is palatable to the world. See, Peter understood the Sandman's reasons and the Sandman was remorseful for his actions, only then Peter forgave him. I keep thinking, how does God seek to forgive then. God sought to forgive even before we were sorry. God took that first step in forgiveness by giving his son for us. It makes sense for someone to forgive when the other person is remorseful, but what does it look like when we as Christians forgive those who still hate us, those who don't give a second thought to the people they hurt? Doesn't that look extraordinary? Jesus is the perfect example of this. While he was still hanging on the cross, the ones who handed him over to be crucified were hurling insults at him. Yet he was praying, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do."
Romans 5:8 - God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were still sinners everyone. While we were still opposed to God, while we still broke his heart, while we still rebelled, Christ died for us. We weren't even thinking of turning around, yet God sought us through his son. That love, that seeking, thats extraordinary pursuit is one which the world looks at and doesn't fully understand because it doesn't seem rationale.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16
God took the first step. Have you recognized it? Or do you still think that sin is something made up? Do you still continue believing that sin isn't a problem or that you have no one to answer to? We all have things we have done that we aren't proud of, made choices that have hurt others. Even so, God already made a step in your direction and is looking for you. Will you turn around?
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| Ok...so I listened to this sermon in January and I'm really not surprised I didn't write on it because I remember the verse and translation used. This sermon made such an impression on my because I unwittingly applied it in past situations and it was very cool seeing where it is in the Bible. I'm only gona focus on one part of the sermon. If you wanna check out the sermon before reading this and get the real thing: http://www.722.org/video/currentseries.html (Sermon title: Total Exposure.)
The passaged focused on was Ephesians 5:8-13 (TNIV)
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
The verse starts off with this comparison and contrast of light and dark, using them to describe a state of being. Before knowing Christ was darkness, but now those who know Christ are light. He then, in the next sentence, exhorts them using the imperative verb form to live according to their status: as light. In parenthesis, Paul explains the fruit of living as children of light, giving a rubric of what that will look like. (Caveat: The deeds do not define who you are, but are a result of your status. Faith before deeds ) In the next sentence Paul states not to indulge in the "deeds of darkness" the deeds that were of your former self but does not stop there; he says, "expose them." Its interesting because 1st he says do not have anything to do with them then turns it around and says to expose them. The focus of the passage off the group of individuals doesn't change though. So even though you aren't supposed to indulge in them, when you see it in your life, expose those deeds. The next sentence is interesting because it asserts that there is shame associated with sin or deads of darkness and with speaking about them. It almost looks like a contrast with the previous verse, "to expose them", providing a reason why we don't expose them. However verse 13 wraps it all up giving a reason to come out with sin. Everything exposed (the things you come out with, the sin that you hide, once brought out) becomes visible. That makes sense, when you shine a light on something, you can see it, its visible. AND everything that is illuminated (everything that can be seen or is visible) becomes a light. The deeds done in darkness that have light shown on them become light. How does that work? When you struggle with something you feel the shame and condemnation with knowing what you are doing. Your conscious pulls at you telling you you are doing something wrong, yet you hide it because you fear what people think of you. However, once you expose that, once you tell someone what you are struggling with it becomes a light to others. Yes, you'll feel some shame initially, but something else results: People won't feel alone thinking they are the only one who is struggling with that particular sin or issue. As you expose it to the light, you become a beacon for others to come out of hiding. Isn't that crazy? God using our sin to spread his message of redemption?
I have to admit that this process isn't easy because we are so convinced we must control other people's perception of us. Part of that control is hiding the undesirable parts of ourselves, the sin and corruption. But Paul says putting it out there is the best thing you can do. When you do that, you break the power of image control that you are so desperately trying to hold on to and become open. Its easier to admit some sins rather than others because some sins make us look good still. Pride is a good one, because there is a redeeming quality in our eyes about people asking to be stripped of pride and to be humble. But there are other sins that are so hard to admit because there isn't very much to be proud of: lust and sexual immorality are 2 of the biggest. When you admit, "I struggle with lust or sexual immorality." there really isn't a feasible upside on the PR (public relations) front. But as you admit that, it frees others to open up as well. I guess one of the crux of doing this is trust in the group of people you come out to. If there isn't a sense of trust and acceptance within the group you expose yourself to, you'll never feel safe enough to come to that point. And even if there is a group that you find with that kind of dynamic, it will still be tough to admit those sins that you hide so feverishly. The thing is though, if you don't expose or talk about those sins, you'll continue to feel the shame of knowing you are sinning as well as not allowing God to use you as a light for someone else.
Here are some questions.
Do you know what your "deeds of darkness" are?
Do you have a group of people like that around you, people who you trust enough to talk about your sin with especially the ones that don't make you look "spiritual"?
Oh yea...so umm...do you know what Ovaltine is? I wanna see who knows what I'm talking about.
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| So these 2 weeks have been interesting as God has been teaching me a lot.
Retreat was very very good.
Messages: Quality
Bonding: Definitely
Accountability: Definitely came away with some of that.
One of the things that I've been thinking about is reading Scripture more for seeing God's design and purpose rather than just the physical details and descriptions. The details are important but more important is what is God doing or trying to convey within certain passages. It really came out when I was with my small group and we were discussing Noah, the ark, and such. We got into a discussion about the ark itself, its dimensions, its capacity but I felt myself kinda zoning out because I kept thinking: "Is this really important? Would the underlying truth be that God provided the details, the specs to accomplish this near impossible and completely absurd task in a time where rain didn't exist?" This also can translate into everyday experiences, "What is God trying to get across through my circumstances? That he is faithful, that my own works upon my own power don't amount to much? I recently read Rachel's post about relationships and subways. I thought it was awesome, God using something so everyday and almost mundane to teach her about relationships. I definitely want to have more of that perspective because it transforms the way I see everyday events, and even more circumstances I'd rather not have because of the pain they bring.
One of the things I've been learning that God laid out for me this week is listening rather than speaking. I know that posting a xanga is more speaking that listening but bear with me. I know what God did this week was break a pride I have about knowing what to say or having the right thing to say. It comes from me thinking I'm a pretty smart guy. Here's my logic: I'm a pretty smart guy, I should have the answers. If I have the answers, I should tell others. This week I was talking with a friend and I tried to use a particular situation to illustrate a point I had made earlier. In doing so, I touched a nerve with something that she shared with me and I really hurt her all in trying to make a point, to try to "teach" her. Man, was I so dumb...because I wasn't listening to the pretext or assumptions of my "lesson". I was pretty broken up about how careless I was for the rest of the week. Even then, God is good and knows that I needed restoration. I ended up talking to her later on and she forgave me. I really needed to know that she forgave me.
Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. He who answers before listening-that is his folly and his shame. Proverbs 18:12-13 Before there was Alicia Keys, the was Lauryn Hill. Ex-factor. So OG.  | | |
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