my discouragement and Song

February 02, 2006as of lately it seems like some stuff just does not make sense or that many things have no purpose or lack hope...i think this type of thinking begins to set in when we begin to rely on our own thinking instead of relying on the promises God gives us. (His plans) they are beautiful plans which involve joyous and sad times of lament. its so easy to get out of our element (that is, Christians with a personal relationship) and to rely on our own plans, desires, and hopes. i sit many of times looking into the future (one thing man CANNOT do) and i think to myself what am i? or what is it that God has instore? what will i do after college? will i find the woman that has been promised for me to be with? ... and ah, just so many questions fill our minds and we try to answer the questions that we can NEVER answer... and when we get to the point of frustration of our own questions and trying to fathom the way we want our life to be, i think we sit back and nod our head (or laugh), and at that moment you must sit back and rest. Rest in the stillness of knowing that God is in control and not us.

I am not going to rant and rave about how mans pride is the source of this question/answer frustation thing because i think for many of us thats been preached on and we know that pride and self is the source of too much of our sin... but in all this im talking bout the importance of recognizing our Savior and our Lord as the reason man exists, the reason we have purpose, and the reason we breathe day by day is Him. i think it is so easy to look to ourselves, instead of looking to Him. we know he has answers and we know He holds every ingredient to life in his hands.

im not sure if any of this makes any sense to anyone, but i am just pouring out my hope for those around me and for myself... its so hard to go day by day and see people around you weather those you see daily or at home, the people you love and demonstrated care for, or just the strangers walking into you on campus or in any random location you may be... its hard to see whether they grasps your perspective of the beauty of God...its hard to see if they have the passion that you strive for them to have... its hard to accept that God is truley indescribable and is just this HUGELY LOVINGLY CARING JUST OPEN father. you want those around you to embrace that. you want to see fruit of the Spirit. you want to see an abandoned worshipper. you want them to have just a heart for God and experience that in return...

when Hope is lost, i call You Savior. when pain surrounds, i call You Healer. When silence falls, You'll be the song in my heart.

prayer

February 01, 2006i was curious if whoever is reading this could pray for me...
i ask this because of a few things... my mawmaw (dads mother) has been dealing with stage-4 melanoma cancer for about a year now...the doctors had expected her to have died around new years, but obviously God has had other plans for her. its been a beautiful road to see how God works and how we human do not in the predictions of ones life and how they can do things or cannot...her medication has tripled due to pain (she is barely 5 foot)... so if you all would please keep her in your prayers...im hoping to see her once more during spring break if possible so please do that...in this pray for my family...
...aslo this a minute prayer compared to the one above but i stress easily when it comes to school work and i have sooo much reading so please pray that i be comforted some how or another.
thank you so much... much love

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January 30, 2006Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. Zechariah 2:13

what a unique thing for the Lord to give to the prophet Zachariah... i mention this because it says just three versus earlier to "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD. (Zechariah 2:10)...
i was thinking about this and i think so many times we get caught up into looking at the versus which mention us to SHOUT and be glad because that is what we see as good... thats what we want many of times is just to live an "ideal happy life"... but how many times are we silent when the Lord says "Be silent"? how many times am I silent when He tells me "Be silent, John" ? its a tough thing to do but we MUST do it because we are to be obedient to our heavenly Father and he delights in us when we obey His commands.

keep on painting

January 28, 2006"For thousands of years followers of Jesus, like artists, have understood that we have to keep on going, exploring what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. The Christian faith tradition is filled with change and growth and transformation. Jeus took part in this process to rethink faith and the Bible and hope and love and everything else, and by inviting them into the endless process of working out how to live as God created us to live. . .
the challenge for Christians then is to live with great passion and conviction, remaining open and flexible, aware that this life is not the last painting. . ." -Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

Now then, we are apart of this tradition, a global herd of people who believe God has not left us alone but has been involved in human history and the individual lives of those around us. And as Rob Bell promotes in his book Velvet Elvis, I also, embrace the need to keep on painting... and by "painting" i dont intend on surfice changes like better lights and music, sharper and more animated graphics, or new methods of easy to follow steps or structural elements to building a church or steps to better the new born Christian to be "sent out" . . . to keep on painting is to keep on reforming because we dont everything perfect. the things we do many of times need to be revisited, rethought, and reworked... we must seek God and through seeking Him he will reveal the right way our faith is to be defined, lived, and explained.

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January 28, 2006And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. -Romans 5:5



The Lord has truley blessed me with things I cannot fathom. The numerous of opportunities he has allowed me to experience Him in different ways have been absolutely amazing, especially now that I can look back from this past semester. I look forward to this semester as God continues to work through the lives of others and in myself. He has a good and beautiful plan for me, and despite the trials and temptations that are in His good plan He will be glorified and magnified for what He has instore. "So great is His unfailing love... His love endures forever!"
-John Dunahoo