He. Is. Enough.

Can't believe its been three months since my last post... needless to say baseball, work, and school have all sucked away at my soul a little... but nonetheless I'm back babay!!!

I'm throwing this out there... but i'm a sinner.... who'da thunk it?!

But seriously, i'm a big sinner. So today as I fell back into one of the many holes the enemy digs in front of me i came face to face with guilt. Guilt that has plagued me every time i begin to backslide into the crater-o-sin. I hate to be cliche... but there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

I grabbed my Bible for a little reading to make myself not feel as bad - which God probably thinks it's funny that i think that "I" can make myself feel better - and flipped to 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

"To keep me from being conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times i pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me."

This. Is. Awesome. HIS grace is made Perfect through weakness. So when we are weak, then He is strong! Paul goes on to say that he will continue to boast gladly about his weaknesses so that Christ's power will rest on Him.... i don't know if you caught that but let's make this personal... HIS power rests on US!

I don't know about you but this pumps me up! To know that even when i screw up, even when i am weak... GOD. IS. STRONG. He is the rock of ages who we stand upon when we can't stand on our own. He is the All Consuming Fire that burns within us and enables us to do things that we on our own could never do!

We need to allow His grace to flow through us so that we are made strong even though it seems impossible. We need to see the glory of God in every weakness that we have because God will save us from every thing that is in front of us.

"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when i am weak, THEN I AM STRONG." 2 Corinthians 12:10

Rain, Rain, Go Away.... wow that was easy

Matthew 8:23. Jesus calms the storm... we all know it. The disciples follow Him out onto a boat to cross a body of water, night falls, a storm to end all storm rages... and yet Jesus is asleep.

This absolutely, unequivocally blows my mind. Jesus... sleeping!?! who'd a thunk it? I guess why i'm taken aback by this is because He's 100% God. but anyways...

This isn't just some cute little story for us to read, hear a sermon on, and completely forget about it. The disciples went and woke up Jesus yelling about the storm and how they were going to sink. Jesus' reply astonishes me: "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"

He then got up from His nap, (again, mind=blown), and rebuked the winds and the waves... i don't know if you caught that so i'll type it again... He rebuked, stopped, calmed, ended the winds and the waves. When the sailors on the boat saw this they were astonished, saying "what kind of man is this? even the winds and the waves listen to Him."

He calmed the storm.... as easy as getting up from His nap. I'm pretty sure my brain would've exploded right then and there... not even gonna lie. So the question is... do you believe that Jesus really did this? or do you just take this story like every other fictitious story you've ever read. As for me, this story is as real as i am. We get so numb to the fact that all of this stuff really happened that we take it for granted and just take it at face value.

I challenge you to stop doing this (me included) and dive into the Word of God. And dive into the stories that are 100% true and see how awesome it is.

They saw Jesus die. They saw Him take His last breath...But Sunday was coming

This past Easter weekend was great! One awesome service led to a great afternoon with my family and now i'm off to write some papers. But just thought i would say a couple things before i went and started to slowly kill my brain.

Jesus was beaten, crucified, killed, and rose again. We can all agree on this.. if not hit me up on my cell or something and we'll get that straight. Anyways, Jesus gave up His life for us. Again, we can all agree on this. But have you ever thought about Him giving up His life?

Surrender: To give oneself up, abandon, or relinquish

Sacrifice: an offering

God put these two words into my head and showed me the difference between them. You see, some people like to say "yea, Jesus surrendered and died to save us."... YOU'RE WRONG. To surrender is to quit, to give up. My Jesus DID NOT give up.

You might be saying "then what the heck did he do?"

My Jesus sacrificed himself for the rest of the world that had come, that was on Earth, and for the future generations on this planet... NOT because he wasn't good enough or because he quit living... He willingly gave up his life. i know, i know... What's the difference?

We all agree that Jesus is God incarnate right? If so, this means that He is fully God and fully human. He DID NOT have to come down to this earth for you and me. He DID NOT have to live a human life and be tempted like we were. He DID NOT have to be betrayed, beaten, spit upon, and crucified. He DID NOT have to die, go to hell, and then come back to life to prove He was God's son.

You see, the difference between the two is that sacrifice requires that you willingly do something. Jesus willingly carried the cross, got nailed to it, and died. FOR US. He willingly died to show that He went to hell, punched satan in the face as He left to show him wassup, and He rose from the dead... to prove the He is God. He is the King of Kings. and He did not quit.

Ho...sa....nn....a?

Easter is almost here! Possibly one of my more favorite holidays because of:

1: Chocolate... nuff said

2: Easter Bunny... oh he's real alright...

3: MORE CHOCOLATE!!!!!

Okay, so besides the fact that you receive tons of chocolate on Easter, that's not the only cool reason to celebrate it. It's a time of happiness and excitement because our Lord and Savior rose from the grave... YES I SAID IT! rose from the grave!

So the question begs to be asked: will we/have we rise/risen "from the grave?" Have we risen out of the ashes and breathed in the breath of life? The breath that our God, greater and higher than any other, healer, creator, friend so lovingly gave us? The logical answer is yes... but sometimes logic fails when it comes to God. He does some absolutely mind-boggling things that we, human beings, can/will never understand this side of eternity.

...Easter. A time that many celebrate with joy.. but not all Easters have been that way. About this time 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ was just days, hours away from being betrayed, tried, beaten, being crucified and mocked for all to see..... ALL FOR US!!!

Just days before, He, Jesus, rode into Jerusalem for the Passover. I love how it is called "The Triumphal Entry." He rode in with everyone shouting at the top of their lungs "HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!!".... little did they know that one week later they would be shouting "CRUCIFY HIM!"

Hosanna is such a great word. I love the song "Hosanna" by Hillsong United. Such a great and powerful song. My favorite line from the song is:

"I see a generation, rising up to take their place, with selfless faith."

This is us.... if we engulf ourselves with the Holy Spirit. If not, we will catch that so cliched "spiritual high" for oh... say, a month. Then.... boom. Right back where we started. Just like the mob that screamed Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! We will scream back "crucify Him" by the way that we(me included) deny Him through our lifestyle.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the time is now! We must be the generation that rises up and becomes the tool that God has intended us to be for His use to lead every nation, tribe, and tongue to His name! We cannot let ourselves be pulled back into the world after we have gotten a glimpse of His eternal glory! We must be in the world, but not of the world. We must rise up to take OUR place through God with selfless faith. With a faith so powerful that it defies all possible logical explanations for the things that we do because of what God tells us to do.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S!! no not the t.v. show...

I can't believe its been over one month since i last blogged. But anyways, tonight I've just got a few things on my mind.

I love my friends.. ALL of them. But sometimes i get really sick of a few of them... especially the ones who never shut up about how good they are at something, or how good they look, or how many girls they can pick up, or how they try to impress everybody... it just gets really old.. really fast. And it's even worse when they act one way around me, my other friends, our minister and everybody else... and then when they get away.. (or so they think) from everybody.. it's completely fine to cut loose and say/do/participate in whatever the heck they want to because they have a "do-whatever-the-heck-i-want-to" attitude.

It gets even better when they go to church, participate in church activities, and even speak/"mentor" the younger kids in the church and when they get in their car to leave church, they take off their church mask and put it in their glove box until the next time they pull into the parking lot or whenever they come in contact with someone from church. Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of it too. But I KNOW that i do it and i make a conscious effort to fix it. But me and God are working on that.

It just irritates the CRAP out of me and all people do is sit back and watch. I know, i know: "Hunter, why don't you say anything?" I'll answer it. I don't know whether i should lay it all out there for them or give them a hug and say it's gonna be alright.. you don't have to play two-face with me or God.. we love you for who you are.. you don't have to impress everybody.

Only thing i can think of is prayer. God works in weird (but good) ways. He puts things in front of us to test our faith... which, if you think about it, He already knows what's going to happen.... ah rabbit trail! But anyways, God's just showing me how NOT to be. And man am i glad that He got my attention a while ago.

Under Pressure... (anybody name the band?)

Well, one coke, couple big glasses of sweet tea and alot of chocolate later, here i am with a massive sugar buzz.... awaiting the crash that is inevitably about to hit me. But that's not why i'm writing. A thought that i have been thinking about for a while just popped back into my head so i had to write it down before my dumb butt forgot about it again.

Jesus died for us. We all know this. He died on the cross. Again, we all know this. But have you ever really taken the time to really process everything that happened while He was hanging there, conquering the sins that had happened, the sins that were happening, and the sins that were going to happen.

Remember when you, oh, i don't know, disobeyed your parents? (if you say you never did, i will jump through the computer and ninjy chop you.) Remember the guilt you felt? Remember the pressure that was upon you as you waited for daddy to come home and pull the belt out because you screwed up big time? And that crazy amount of guilt and pressure is just from 1 thing we did wrong... or sin.

Now that we can all relate, take that pressure and multiply it by oh, i dont know, around 15 billion (the number is probably waaaaay higher but just go with it.) Can you imagine the pressure of all that sin... on one person?

Yea..... that's how Jesus felt. That's how Jesus felt when He conquered all of our sin. When He got 3 huge spikes nailed through His hands and feet. When He got a crown of nothin but thorns shoved violently on top of His head. When He was beaten again. and again. and again. and again. Until He was nothing but a beautiful mess of flesh that emitted such righteousness, such glory, that the Roman guards were to blind to actually see what He was doing.... for them. and me. and you.

a gift money can't buy

S.A.D.... Single's Awareness Day... funny huh? Well, i thought i was. Anyways, i hope everyone who reads this has had an awesome V-Day! Tonight i don't want to go into much detail about anything, i just want to say what i'm thinking without wasting 5 minutes of your time by reading a whole long, drawn out blog. So, here goes nothing.

I've never really thought about God on Valentine's Day. I mean, if you really think about it, He's the author of Love. And without love, we are nothing but insignificant beings roaming the face of this planet, hopelessly searching for something that we cannot obtain... that is, until roughly 2,000 years ago.

You see, the best gift we've ever gotten, either for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day... whatever, is the gift of Christ. I mean if you really think about it, we've become numb to the fact that God... OUR God, came down here on this planet, walked, talked, ate... with people. And He knew exactly what He was here for. His entire 33 years of existence (as a human upon the earth) He knew He was going to die a death that was, at the time, the worst possible way any human being could die... and yet He still went through with it.

It's funny, because we (myself included) walk around this Earth, HIS Earth, and act like we actually deserved everything that happened that day upon the hill at Golgotha. We actually think we deserved it... when in all reality we don't (if you disagree, i'll be glad to show you otherwise). We don't deserve the computer we're playing on, the clothes we have on, the air we're breathing... we don't deserve anything! And yet, the God, OUR God, gave it all to us in the form of a "card" if you will. Hallmark couldn't think this stuff up man! This is as real as it gets. Jesus Christ was the best V-Day gift ever given... and do you know why?

It was given out of Love.

"You of little faith".... huh? you're talkin to me?

You ever wonder what the heck the disciples were thinking? I mean, they spent roughly three years with Jesus, who by the way, is God in human form.... AND THEY STILL HAD A HARD TIME BELIEVING HE WAS WHO HE SAID HE WAS!! I don't know about you but if i was with this guy who was being followed around by masses of people all day everyday, i would think that something was a little different about him than most people.

They saw him heal the blind, raise Lazarus from the dead, saw him in His true form on the mountain while He was having "small talk" with Elijah and Moses. They saw Him freakin walk on water, they saw Him get arrested (like He said it was going to happen), they saw Him get beaten and crucified (which He also said was going to happen), and they saw Him rise from the grave on the third day (which He also said would happen). And yet, after all of this most of them still didn't believe He was the Messiah, Emmanuel, "God with us". And one of them still didn't believe... and by the way he got busted (probably one of the funniest yet serious things i've ever read). John 20:24-31 go read it. it's pretty awesome.

One of my favorite guys out of the disciples has got to be Peter. Peter was "that guy" in every sense of the phrase. He was always saying stuff along the lines of "if you are who you say you are then..." to Jesus. One of my favorite times that he did this was right after Jesus had fed the 5,000. (food for thought: He freakin fed 5,000 people (not counting women and children) and the disciples were still blinded to the fact that He turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough for all of them. He does stuff like this everyday, just not in a way like feeding 5,000 people. He answers prayers that seem un-answerable and does things that seem un-doable and yet we're all still blind t0 the fact He's God). He told the disciples to go ahead and sail for another town and He would catch up. Late that night Jesus comes strolling up to the boat like He's walking on the sidewalk without a care in the world.

All the disciples go freakin nuts... and i know that i would too if i saw some guy walking on water in the middle of a storm. But Jesus says to them don't be afraid it's me. Cue Peter! On point Peter says " Lord if its you, tell me to come to you on the water." Jesus says come on out here buddy (not really like that but you get it). So Peter gets out of the boat and WALKS on water.

BUT!!! (i always hate that word as soon as the plot thickens). Peter looks around and gets scared... completely forgetting he's walking on water with Jesus... and he begins to sink. And here comes one of the most famous verses "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

How many times has He said it to you? He's said it to me everyday of my life. He looks me dead in the eye and says "Hunter, why the heck do you doubt me? Am i not good enough for you? did i not create everything so that you could see My glory so you would have proof that I am the great I AM?" IT really gets you thinking don't it?

LET"S GET READY TOOOOO.... tremble?

Putting off homework has to be one of my favorite pastimes. So instead of doing it, i came to the decision that i was gonna watch the Francis Chan main session video from Passion (courtesy of a good friend). And man am i glad that i did.

Isaiah 66:2 "Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? delcares the LORD. This is the one i esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word."

I underlined it for a reason. Tremble. not usually the first word that comes to my mind when i read the Bible. But really.... it says it right there in the first sentence. "... declares the LORD." You ever prayed for you to hear God speak to you? i know that i have. so lets see it again. "...declares the LORD." There it is. Plain as day. God Almighty himself is speaking to you. Now, if you're like me, you're completely oblivious to the fact that God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the One who breathed us into freakin existance, just spoke to you.

So it begs for the question to be asked... WHAT THE HECK ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT THEN?!?!? God, freakin GOD is speaking to us and we pay about as much attention to Him as we do when we read "Julius Caesar" or whatever... you get my point.

Another example. Matthew 17. Otherwise known as "The Transfiguration." When Jesus, Peter and some other disciples go up onto a mountain... and all of a sudden Jesus is appearing in His heavenly form... a form that gives off WAY too much light for Peter to see. And freakin Elijah and Moses are standing there with him. You know the story right? if not PLEASE go read it... matter fact go read it anyways it'll do you some good to read God's word. Anyways, Peter asks if he can build a shelter for all 3 of them when all of a sudden the "glory cloud", as Francis Chan so awesomely names it, envelops Peter and he LITERALLY hears God speak.... FREAKING LITERALLY!!!! I don't know about you but this absolutely blows my mind. God says to Peter, (and i really feel like He is saying this to all of us) "This is my Son, whom i love; with him i am well pleased. Listen to him!" And when the disciples heard this, all of them fell to the ground terrified. In other words, the trembled when the heard the word of God.

So what do you think they would've done if Jesus had come up and said "Peter go tell everyone you know about Me." Dangit, if i was Peter my butt would've been gone in a heatbeat. To hear God say "listen to Him" would've been the only 3 words i would need to hear for the rest of my life. And it's so funny (in a sad way) because He's saying it to us all the time in the Bible and we have become so numb to the fact that its GODS HOLY WORD THAT HE SPOKE to understand that He is talking to us.

So i guess my final question is:

Will we tremble and do what God tells us when we hear Him speak? Or will we treat His words like the same ol' words from the same ol' book we read in high school?

You're acting like a 5 year old... SO WHAT

Okay, so i'm gonna go ahead and jump on the bandwagon really fast.... GO SAINTS!!! okay there, got it out of me. Man, today has just been... well, different. I'm just gonna go ahead and get straight to it.

Tonight at Bible study we spoke about faith... and not just any faith. A very specific type of faith: Faith of a child. You see, in one of the Gospels, (sue me for not knowing which one) when a group of small children want to come up and speak to Jesus, the disciples tell them to pretty much go away. Then Jesus turns to the disciples and says basically, you need to have faith like these small children or else you'll never know who i am. Pretty weird huh? Why the heck would we need to have faith like that of a child to become closer to Christ? why, i'm glad you asked!

You see, children have the tendency to love... unconditionally. I'll give you an example. When my mom would drop me off at daycare in the mornings, i would be the saddest kid on the planet. But when 5:00 rolled around, i was the happiest kid alive. To know that my mother was there to rescue me from the dark depths of daycare was the greatest feeling in the world because she was the one i ran to when i got a boo boo, when i was happy, when i was crying. Because she was always there to comfort me and she loved me no matter what i did. And i loved her because, well... i just did. There's not really a reason behind it. It's that simple but complex at the same time.

Children also have the tendency to do what they're told... when they're told. Another example. Tonight, we told a young boy, around the age of 4 or 5, to go tell one of our friends he looked like a girl... childish, but nonetheless very entertaining. His response was "okay." He walked off and did it like his life depended on it.

If you can't see where i'm heading with this, meet me somewhere and we'll get your eyes checked.

Jesus said this because to Him, we are supposed to act like young children. To be completely in love with Him.. and not know why and be perfectly fine with that. We're supposed to do what we're told... when we're told instead of sitting there saying "hold on, this show is almost over" or something along those lines. And when we mess up, He's okay with that! He still loves us. He's still there to put a spiritual band-aid on our boo boo and He's there to embrace us when we are weeping uncontrollably.

To me Jesus, God, (they're the same person by the way) is the ultimate parent. Yea we've heard it 1,000 times, He's our Father. But just think about it. He's our Father. Yea He's gonna punish us when we screw up but He is still, without a doubt, unequivocally in love with us.

So my challenge, to me also, is to have faith like that of a child. So what if we fall and get hurt. So what we screw up... we do it all the time by the way. We've got the love of the Ultimate Father there to save us at the end of the day.

Bringin Down the House

hmmm. Well it's 2:30 in the morning and i'm finally dragging in from a fun night of bowling with my boys. I now think that i am possibly addicted to cigarettes because of all the second-hand smoke i inhaled, but that's another thought for another day. The past week has been crazy.. as you might've already read. But another thought that i have been mulling over in my brain is what would it be like to travel back to when Jesus walked the earth and see Him. like, PHYSICALLY see him as you are seeing and touching your computer right now.

The thought is mind boggling is it not? One of my favorite stories of Jesus is when He just goes beserk on the people trying to make a profit by selling stuff in the temple... in HIS temple. Here, let me set the scene for you:
"Tear Down this Temple" (even the title sounds pretty cool)
"When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. he told the doves merchants, 'Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!' Thats when the disciples remembered the Scripture, 'Zeal for your house consumes me.'" John 2: 13-17 The Message

So... could you imagine literally, like LITERALLY seeing this? My favorite part is when Jesus is making the whip. I can't imagine the look in His eyes as He watches them defy His temple. Huh, here's a sobering thought for me and you, do you think He looks at us the same way when we do crap that outright, straight up, no holds bar defies Him and His temple? Think about it. But anyways, the look alone would make my heart stop. To see him tearing each strip of leather and tying each knot on the whip... I want to be right there behind Him just to kinda get the full scale of this passage in the Bible. And another thing, most likely, Jesus wasn't some scrawny guy. He was a carpenter. Not one who had power tools and a butt crack hanging out his pants, but he did everything physically. So more than likely, He was ripped. So to read how he flipped over tables and over powered everyone in there, (these tables were more than likely solid wood. not cheap light plastic ones) is pretty freakin cool. So to see Him doing all of this, AND not sinning, is possible the coolest thing every.

I love the part where it says "Zeal for your house consumes me." Another thought. Why doesn't zeal (or passion) consume us when we see people defy God's temple? Are we (i say we including me) scared? scared to get looked down upon? scared to lose a job? lose a friend? lose a life maybe? Another thought that has been in my head, completely off subject by the way but nonetheless a good thought, is why are we afraid of death? If death is all that we have to be "afraid of", then by all means bring it on. that's the final step to getting to God! So anyways, off that rabbit trail, why are we not passionate when stuff happens that affends God?? Passion for God is an all consuming fire, burning in the depths of our soul, waiting to be unleashed! So why not go for it and unleash it on someone and quite possibly change thier life for the greater good? Because after all, we are involved in an Epic far greater than our own?

Da Remedy ... no not the car wash... something a little bit better

This week has been a little wierd. And i'm not sure yet if it's wierd in a good or bad way, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

Even thought its been a hectic week, God still never fails to reveal Himself. Its pretty crazy how He works sometimes. Scratch that, all the time. i pretty much put God back into the "box" and put him in my pocket and i only pulled Him out when i needed him. I am beginning to realize just how much that i actually need Him in my everyday life. Because when you think about it... He already knows what's going to happen... so why not just let Him lead you into it? just some food for thought. Anyways, God has just really been letting me know just how far down the list i have put Him.

I think its pretty crazy how i shove God down farther and farther and He still always finds a way to pop into my head and make me think throughout the day. Yesterday for example, as i was getting out of the shower i just stopped and started blankly at the wall, while thoughts of suffering and thoughts of following God flashed through my brain. I was kinda dazed for the next hour or so thinking about what had happened.

So today, another string of thoughts popped into my head as i was driving home. My train of thought went something like this:

• If you're hurt you need something to heal you right?
• If you're down you need a pick me up right?
• Remember your grandparents had "home remedies" to help you?
• I'm your remedy
• Let me heal you
• You can't do it by yourself

Yea i know right? how did i not wreck while all this was going through my head?

This week my mind has just been flooded with thoughts from different relationships over the past year and the only thoughts i was able to think about were the bad ones. And it's always the same ones over and over. and over. and over. Its just torn up my heart to the point where i just get numb to the pain. So needless to say i've been a little out of it. But not letting God deal with it has made everything 19,000 times worse. So i guess the question is, is God our remedy? is God our source of Hope? is God our source of Life? I guess the biggest question is is God our SOURCE of anything?

so point blank, in your and my face, here it is.

If God is our remedy then what the heck are we so worried about? We know that our slate has been wiped clean, we are the redeemed, we are the ones who are free, and we belong to Jesus!

If God isn't our remedy, then what the heck is? This is mainly my problem. No, i'm not afraid to say it. God hasn't been my remedy because i struggle with pride. Not afraid to throw that out there either. But the problem is that God isn't our remedy. So here's the question again. If God isn't our remedy, then what the heck is? what is so much more important that it can get in the way of the Creator of the Universe. The One who breathed us into existance. God is our remedy becuase He knows what makes us tick, he knows what buttons to push to get to us and He knows US! He is the One who has saved us! He is the one who forgave us! He is the one who has come and is coming again. HE'S THE FREAKIN REMEDY.

God, let me get it through my thick skull! You've already saved me, you've already forgiven me. You've already died for me! forgive me for worrying. for doubting. for not putting you in your place that you so rightly deserve.

Think about it. You're sick. You're hurting. Are you not? if you say no you're a liar. i said it. i'll say it again. you're a liar and so am i. Let Him be the medicine that heals. The only medicine that truly heals. Try it. i know i am.

Eureka!!

Thank the Lord! One Saturday out of my life that i didn't have to be in Chick-Fil-A past 6 o'clock! But then when I got home.... boredom sets in. You see, come to think of it, having to close at work actually gives me something to do... even though i'm happy when i get the chance to leave the place early. Ironic I know. So after playing some Madden 10... which i LOVE... i decided - thanks to some help from one of my friends - to pick up a book and read. The book i read is called "Battling Unbelief" by a man named John Piper. This isn't an ordinary book by any means. This man is gifted with such intelligence i'm suprised he even understands what he's talking about. While reading i came across one particular passage of scripture:
"Cast all your anxieties on him because, he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

.... and then it hit me... well, God hit me. I know i've heard this at least 1,000 times... i don't know about you. It's basically saying give God all your worries, baggage, pain, whatever you want to call it, because he cares for you..... i don't know if you caught what i caught.... HE CARES FOR YOU. Which means stop "laying" down all your stuggles (and i put laying in quotes for a reason... sarcasm) and LAY down all your struggles. Don't get me wrong, i'm in the exact same boat... but God really spoke to me when i read this.
God: Hunter... stop bullcrapping around and let Me, the God who breathed you into existance, handle your struggles. Because i don't know if you realize it.... but I CAN HANDLE THEM.
Hunter: nah man, i'm okay right now... thanks though....
?!?!?!?!?!
I know! i want to punch me in the face too!!! But in all reality, we do it all the time. I'm not saying this is anybody in particular, PROMISE. Just saying that i do it and that not everyone is perfect. But for me... i lie to God... i'll say it again... i LIE to God. Which is pretty much looking at God and saying "no man, you're not good enough to handle my struggles even though you did put them in front of me."

God really just said to me tonight:
God: Look Hunter, i know that you lie to me, think you can outsmart me (which I do find very entertaining) (God has a humor.... just saying), but man, I care about you so much that I am ABLE to handle everything that is going on in your life... remember, I already did once on the Cross.

Did you guys catch that too? Just in case you didn't, i'll say it. God already handled all our struggles, pains, baggage... YOU NAME IT... on the Cross around 2000 years ago... when we weren't even in existance yet!

So if He already did it, why can't He do it again?

"So what you're saying is.... I screwed up?"

Oh the wondrous joy of getting my eyes examined.... at the butt crack of dawn. I got my eyes dilated and luckily i can drive with one eye opened and closed. But that's neither here nor there... you see, as I was sitting in the examination room, a thought dawned on me. I was wondering why my eye sight couldn't be any better so i wouldn't have to go to the doctor all the time and God said "So Hunter, you're saying I screwed up when I made you?"

talk about a slap right into the face. I mean, we think and say this kind of stuff all the time. "why can't i be taller, why can't i look better," and the list goes on. But every time we think or say things like this, we're saying that God didn't do His job right... and that's spitting right in His face. God made us the way we are for a reason even if we don't see it. the thing is, we're not supposed to see until He wants us to... if that makes any sense at all. God has a plan for us and He created us just the way we are so that we may fulfill His will for our lives. Because the whole point of us living is to freakin glorify His mighty name. He sent His Son to glorify Himself.... not to save us. And heck yea this is freakin hard to wrap your mind around it, but just think of it as this: If we could wrap our minds around God's will and plan and why He made us like He did.... then why in the world would we need Him? Because if you already didn't know, He does NOT need us one bit to glorify His name.

God made the world... to glorify Him
God made the cosmos... to glorify Him
God sent His ONLY SON.... to glorify Him

So, as I get off the rabbit trail that i so wondorfully went down, i just wanted to say this:
God - our Father who knows what's best for us even if we can't see it at the very moment - created us exactly the way we are for a reason... I'm tall for some reason... i have bade eyesight for some reason and to be honest... i'm perfectly content with not knowing why.

What's your favorite color?..... ORANGE!

So... right now my brains are still leaking out of my ears due to the insane worshipping and the insane speaking and the insane music and... dang i could go on forever. Well, if you didn't already know i just got home from the Passion2010 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.... which i have to say without a doubt is the best glimpse of Heaven that i have ever, in my entire life, seen. To be worshipping the One True Living God with 22,000 of your brothers and sisters in Christ boils down to one word... EPIC. The speakers, bands, and students allowed the Holy Spirit to move through them like i have never seen before.

One thought that i still cannot get out of my head is the idea of having... no.... WANTING a heart of anguish. Francis Chan spoke about it in his breakout session and it completely blew me away. Francis summed it up with this statement: "If the Holy Spirit is called the Great Comforter, let it do it's job! How can the Great Comforter comfort someone who's already comfortable?"......See what i mean!?!?! We're supposed to actively pursue a heart of anguish for our Lord so we can suffer like He did! We're supposed to imitate Christ... even if that means dying for him! We're supposed to imagine ourselves being arrested with Jesus... being tied to the pole across from Jesus and being beaten... and being nailed to the cross.... RIGHT NEXT TO JESUS CHRIST.... all the while staring into His eyes and our Lord staring back at us. This absolutely without a doubt blows my mind completely to a thousand pieces.

God is an awesome God. No doubt about that statement whatsoever. God really spoke to me this week about just how awesome He is and how much praise, worship, and glory He deserves. He showed me how self-centered i am and how God-centered I'm not. In the words of John Piper: "We were not made to be somebody... but to KNOW somebody." This statement is without a doubt 100% true. We are God's creation... created for one purpose and one purpose only... to serve His name... to glorify His name... and most of all to worship and adore our great redeemer who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God showed me this week just how proud I am and just how much attention I try to get.

He is glorious and He reveals it to us daily... we just have to be Passionate enough about him and want to exalt him on a daily basis to see Him in all his splendor.