before i forget about this… i had a dream last night that my family and i were taking some boat tour, and I was taking pictures, and Bono was in front of me (almost in the way but not quite) and he asked me not to take pictures of him and I said I wasn’t. What a random dream!

So I have officially been up for 22 hours now! Joyous shouts for friends and friendliness! I thank God for ya! Oh yeah, one last thing. I keep thinking I’m going to xanga about this and I never do. Just a thought. In Christianity, the best offense is a non-existent defense. Have a great… morning?!

Okay, check it out! Show schedule! The First one is this Saturday at Java Junction. It’s by my house. Pretend like your going to my dad’s office, but just across the train tracks there’s a little shopping center and you’ll see “Java Junction” just sitting there waiting for you to drink coffee!

Schedule

Saturday at 7:00 at Java juction

Monday at 7:00 at the White Rabbit (most likely a back stage)

December 17 at the White Rabbit

January 14 ( or maybe 11) at the Lighthouse cafe’

So anybody who likes coffee, or wants to hear what’s been coming out of the writing factory, come on out to Java Junction this Saturday at 7:00!!! be there… or be… uhm… not there?

So I think I just had an epiphany. It’s funny because I think I keep having the same revelation over and over again. I have to keep coming back to the truth. So check it out! Read Chelsea’s most recent post if you haven’t, then come read mine.

I’ve just realized that it is those who hold everyone to a legalistic standard who are guilty of taking advantage of Grace. Those who think they have the whole of Christianity figured out attempt to hold the church to an impossible standard, never taking into account that some of their philosophy may be wrong. So God is loving them despite their incorrect theology because of His grace, while the theology they preach is that of “earning God’s grace” (which is impossible, “so that no one can boast). The irony is that it is the gospel of grace which is saving those very Christians who live a life denying grace.

Another reminder is as Paul said, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace might increase all the more? Of course not!”

“It is the kindness of the Lord which leads us to repentance.”

All this together means that God’s grace spurs us on to do good deeds.

Shouldn’t it be that true theology would go against all the natural inclinations of man. This is what proves Christianity to me. All other religion matches up with my way of thinking, but I am man. If something is of a “Higher Power,” shouldn’t it be of a superior logic, one that challenges and changes the mind of man rather than simply agreeing with what he already thought.

Another thought; proof of our perpetual irreversible sinfulness. How can something that is bad become good. it cannot. A rotten apple cannot be made to” un-rot.” It is only by the transplanting of life for death that we can be made whole. “We are crucified with Christ.” We died, and it is only his life in us that has the capability of making us truly whole. He did not repair our rottenness, but caused us (our flesh) to die completely so that he could bring us to life as a new creation, living because of His Spirit and completely dead to our old selves. It is not life created within us by us, but His life in the place of our death “so that no one can boast.”

Goodnight!

Well thanks for all the feedback, guys. It’s making me think. I’m not writing this in defense of what I said, but because you guys are challenging (in a good way i.e. correcting or bringing perspective to) what I said before. More than anything, I don’t want the physical to dominate my life. I want to be capable of falling in love with someone who is by the world’s standards, ” butt ugly” just as easily as I can fall in love with a stunningly gorgeous girl.

So here are my thoughts after thinking about your thoughts. By the way, I agree with everything you said, and the following is not written to disagree with you. I think that all the comments agree with what I’m about to say.

Desire for sex will be necessary for good sex. After thinking about what you said, I’ve reevaluated what my thoughts were. I think that the mere desire for sex is only half of the equation. It’s the carnal without the spiritual, and nothing of god is merely of the world. “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” We are not to deny the body, but to put it in submission to Christ. I guess what I mean is that if lust is your definition for sexual desire and not inordinant sexual desire then lust is well and good. What I mean is, God wants to transform all our sexual thought into, “Look how wonderful marriage and it’s benefits are.”, not “Look how wonderful it is that marriage got me to sex.” I guess what I’m saying is that marriage is not a means to an end. It is true, physical attraction is very necessary for marriage, but the only appropriate outlet for an expression of  love IS LOVE . I think it is of God to wait until that “one” relationship until I make any part of me “one” with the opposite sex. The Word says, “Don’t awaken love before it so desires.” Here is what I’m saying. Yes, we have sexual desire. We (including myself [heck yes!]) are (pardon the crassness) horny little teenagers and that is not bad in and of itself. Still, that sexual drive is not to be arroused in any way until it within the correct context (marriage) which was created by the same one who created the sexual drive in the first place. Wow… welcome to my stream of conciousness. If what I said was not biblical, although I believe with all my heart that this is God’s truth, then throw away what was not true, and keep what was. But don’t ignore something I said because it may challenge your flesh or intellectual predisposition. “We see very shadily as through a glass, but one day we’ll see clearly as He does.” I’m going to go back and read your comments ’cause I want to know the truth, not just what I am prone to believe. Love you guys! Have a really good day in Him!

Thanks for the movie guys. That was fun.: ) So I’ve been reading Boy Meets Girl. I think its a really good book. That coupled with Zorro (tonight’s movie) got me thinking about lust in marriage, and I learned something. Lust is wrong and damaging even in marriage. Think about it. Josh Harris says, in Boy Meets Girl, that our desire in every part of our courtship (what I think he means by this is simply, a godly, well-balanced and mentored dating relationship) should be to worship God through the relationship (to seek his glory alone in the relationship). When we are are living in the previous stated truth, which is essential to every healthy relationship, there is only a heart to honor him. Lust is born out of a desire for self-gratification, but to the Christian, a person who lives by the Spirit of God, the marriage bed is a worship service, void of selfishness, an act of thanksgiving for the purity He has created. This is where passion is found. Sex will be good within the context of worship to God, because that sex will be that which is not trying to have sex, but one which is patient. Lust is never, under any circumstances potrayed favorably in the Bible. Romans 14:twentysomething (I think that’s the reference) says what is not of faith is sin. Faith is not that which brings us life, but that which is life. Please do think about it. Have a good night : )

I was reminded of a song that Chad Fisher taught me and I just thought I’d share it with ya

You are my strong melody
You my dancing rhythm
You are my perfect rhyme
And I want to sing forever

God is Perfect Rhyme

I’ve always thought this but forget it all the time and also need to remind myself of it all the time. So much is lost in the translations between ourselves and others. We can rarely perfectly express what we mean to say. There is always something lost between our thoughts and the words we use to express them. Then there’s another imperfect translation between what we say, and what the other person thinks we are trying to say. So from our thoughts – to our words – and our words to the other person’s perception of our words, there is imperfection and a lot of grace is required to allow for the ensuing confusion that often arouses. I hope you know what I mean. It’s a little hard to write what I’m trying to say.

Jim is definately an attractive man. What can I say?

school kids painted tiles in memory of those killed on 9/11/2001

I’ll have to finish this later. Time for class!

::edit::

So today was a good day. I’ve been hangin’ out at the casa today and things have been really slow even if they’re fun. It was fun taking pictures and the guys really helped clean up afterward so it wasn’t a bad aftermath. Danny and Kris stayed for a while afterward and that’s nice. Man, check out the weather! It’s amazing.

I’ve been thinking. You know that Colin Hay song off the Garden State soundtrack? He talks about how he’s in love with this girl and they didn’t work out. Yeah, sounds cliche, but then he begins to talk about the fact that though he really is ok that it happened, he’ll never be able to treat himself as though he doesn’t love this girl, beacuase “even after all these years…” he can’t stop loving her.

I’m going to be completely honest. I am completely content. Chelsea and I are what we are and God has that whole thing figured out, but today just found me fondly remembering all the good times we had together. This one time, me and evans spent the night up at Joshua Creek Ranch and sat by the fire all night. When we came back home the next day, I was coming back and just though maybe Chelsea and I could hang out. Well I called her and she hadn’t showered and I told her that I smelled like ashes, so we decided we’d probably be a perfect match. Maybe if we both were smelly, neither of us would notice. So we spent the day together and a good time was had by all. Also today, I was reminded of the times when I was so confident in the way I felt about her, feeling the same way I do today.

So I’m sitting here, drving to get a suit for banquet with my mom (yay! ) and thinking about how so much has changed and how I’m content with it all. I was in love with Chelsea, and I suppose I will continue to be so in a way where I must appreciate the past and trust God for what is in the present and future. Trusting in God in the same way that I feel Chelsea and I did together for over 2 years. Now I don’t want you to be confused. I am truly content, but I will always be thankful for that past. Any of you that know me… I mean any of you that I talk to more than at school and church, you know that my thoughts over the whole break-up thing have been in constant change, but now that I’ve been removed from that day for over three months now, I’ve had a chance to learn the truth of the situation.

Here is the truth. I was in love. the Lord allowed me this indescribable love. There were times when I felt like I could have married Chelsea, and I think when I meet my wife several years down the rode, when I feel the way I did at that time for Chelsea, I will know that that girl is the one I’m to marry. But we were in high school, and most of the time it’s a bad idea to get married when your seventeen years old. So as I continue with what I have learned is the truth, another part of the truth is that after Chelsea and I broke up, we agreed that this is what God wanted for her. I also believe that that is what God wants for me as well, and at the very least it has opened up so many oppurtunities to love people who I never would have been able to know well if Chelsea and I were still dating. Then after Chelsea and I had been broken-up for a while, I started wanting a black and white explanation for what had gone on. Black and white is more appealing because it makes things easier to understand. I wanted to think that I could only fall in love with the woman I’m going to marry, so I forgot the beauty of our relationship, and decided that since we didn’t end up like Cinderella, it musn’t have been real. I’m sorry for thinking that. It was not true, but I wasn’t looking to lie or hurt when I believed. That was the last stage of my thoughts until the last 4 weeks or so. Now I’m beginning to understand that life is complex and love is fairly simple and the two often collide with results that aren’t bad or good, just not the archetype. So I’m at peace with that now. I’m sorry… deeply sorry… for the confusion. – Love you guys so much, *Dave

P.S. – Oh, and I’m going to ask you guys to not comment unless you really have something to say b/c this is something that’s pretty private and a lot of you guys just don’t have a place in it. I wrote this so that you guys would know about what I’ve been wanting to talk about for a long time now. I too have real things happen in my life, and i didn’t want anyone to feel like the only reason I believe in God is because only trivial things happen to me. However, until now I didn’t feel like it was okay to share these things. See ya tomorrow, my friends.