Posts Tagged ‘Corinthians’

Love lacks a deadline

When I was a young teenager my uncle came out and told us he was gay. I remember some shock from family, but I don’t remember too much overall. There were no mass hysterics(at least not visibly amongst us kids) and he certainly wasn’t ostracized. In essence, nothing really changed inside the family dynamic. The foundation of love still existed. Years later at 19 years old I took a job as an intern at Bayer Diagnostics working with my dad. Not long before that my uncle had been diagnosed with lung cancer after smoking most of his life. He lived fairly close, and having worked there himself at one point, would come down often to visit former friends and co-workers. I spent quite a few lunch breaks walking to the local pizza shop with him and my dad, hanging out and just chatting. That summer means a lot to me. … [Read More]

Distant Thanksgiving

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ~2 Corinthians 9:11 For the first time in my life I didn’t wake up to the smell of Thanksgiving day. There was no turkey in the oven, no pies on the counter, no potatoes being boiled. I was in a foreign place, completely across the country without the usual cast of characters(family and friends) around me. Coming here was something I knew I had to do and I certainly felt an air of confidence that the Lord would fulfill me if I was patient, but it was still a little weird waking up this morning. When I first got here my friend said a friend of his had invited us all over for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t overly excited about it but it would… [Read More]

fuzzy lines

hola friends, i had a brief, but great, conversation with my friend jeremy yesterday when he visited my workplace. we were talking about the bible and some of its apparent contradictions. since jeremy is the pastor of his own community in hingham i will not speak to anything he said, but as you might assume, i am not too shy to let the world wide web know my current thoughts on the matter. a little background to start…i have, for a few years now, come to embrace the teachings, life, death and resurrection of jesus as the benchmark for which my life should be patterned (of course i fail. of course i cannot do it on my own). this is certainly not anything groundbreaking, but when it first occurred to me that jesus actually meant for us to take his word seriously my whole life changed. as one who grew up… [Read More]

Seperate from Christ, Seperate from everyone else

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~Hebrews 11:1 I am not married. Never have been. And I can see a lot of people coming out and saying I have no right and no basis for writing some of the things I have written on relationships. The Lord gives wisdom to those who ask, even among things they would not normally be considered an expert.(proverbs 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:6-7, James 1:5) Most of you have probably seen the movie Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon plays a janitor gifted in mathematics. Just because you aren’t schooled in one particular area does not mean you are not gifted in it. It takes a particular person(Jesus) to pull these gifts out and begin using them for His glory. Why do I preface my post with this? Because when your relationship with Jesus crumbles, so does… [Read More]

Mountains to molehills

if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ~1 Corinthians 13:2 A while back God really pressed upon my heart to pray for someone. I was in a broken place, a place where God’s voice and direction could not have been any clearer. And so I prayed. I prayed ferverently, both day and night, when I woke, when I went to bed, any moment I thought about this person, I prayed. Sometimes it was just a quick thought other times it was a long conversation but I have never prayed that hard in my entire life. For 6 weeks this went on, day after day. And then one day I was given some information that forced me to a decision. You see, Satan whispers in our ears, and sometimes those words come out in our conversations with others. I should have seen… [Read More]

Get off your butt

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ~2 Corinthians 12:9 Any one who’s ever been in a relationship long enough or who is married has seen this scenario. You both are exhausted, you can barely keep your eyes open. Maybe you’re lounging on the couch or falling asleep in bed. And then men, you hear “Honey, could you get me a glass of water?” Perhaps if your relationship is young you jump up and grab that glass of water or whatever she asked for. But the day comes later on when you’ve been together so long that the voice in your head wants to tell her “Your legs aren’t broken, I’m tired.” See, the Bible tells us to die to self(1 Peter 2:24) but inevitable our selfish nature creeps back in. When we started out as new Christians with our baby relationship we… [Read More]

I met someone

I will lead the blind along ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. – Isaiah 42:16 Coming back from lunch, I parked in my familiar spot and reclined my chair. David Crowder was playing through my ipod as I day dreamed for the last 20 minutes of lunch. I like to zone out during lunch, take my mind off of things and just relax. I stare at a computer screen for 8hrs a day so breathing in some fresh air and closing my eyes does wonders to break up the day. Moments later I caught a silhouette in my side mirror, followed it through my rear view mirror, and then suddenly through the passenger side mirror… She was walking up to my door! She caught me off guard, with a… [Read More]

It smells so good!

Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. -Romans 6:11 A couple of months ago I was walking to my car after work and recognized an unmistakable smell; The smell of autumn. It was 45-50 degrees, the sun was beginning to set, and it just smelled like fall. I love that smell for some reason. Maybe it’s memories, maybe it’s the changing landscape but something about that smell seems calming. I started thinking about what the smell actually was and it dawned on me that it was leaves. And I started thinking about why leaves die and regrow, why they change color, and why do they smell so good in the fall. God gives us a perfect example of His word in a real world visual. See, leaves bud, the sun gives them light and they grow. They mature and turn in to a vibrant color… [Read More]

Black Ice

You are the salt of the earth. – Matthew 5:13 As I was heading in to church yesterday an usher who helps with parking came sliding over as fast as he could scurry towards my car. He urged me to back up and park somewhere else as the spot I had coveted right there in the front was covered in slick ice. Turns out the salt truck had not yet showed up and the entire parking lot was coated in a layer of clear ice ready to take down anyone willing to venture on it. I carefully made my way around the ice through a carefully thought out path, around some cars, up a few spots, and then back down towards the church entrance. On my way out of church I noticed the salt on the ground. The truck had come and most of the ice was slowly melting away…. [Read More]

Roller Coaster

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering. -1 Peter 4:12 At the end of every school year my tiny Christian school would have an outing to a small amusement park about an hour from us. There was nothing great about the park, mostly kiddie rides, but they did have one ride all us older kids loved to get in line for. “The White Roller Coaster”. It wasn’t much to look at, an old school roller coaster made of wood. There aren’t many of these vintage coasters laying around anymore. It was rickety, it was noisy, and no matter how many times you rode it you always felt like this time could be your last and the cars could go flying off into the parking lot. There are four phases I see: The Anticipation, The Ride, The End, The Do-Over. The White Roller Coaster was… [Read More]