In 2005 Steve Jobs gave a speech at a college commencement. I was reading this speech and one paragraph really stuck with me, and I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did:
"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
Hope this will impact you as much as it does to me.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Our Lives in His Hands
I was having a conversation over Facebook with a good friend in my youth group, and we got to talking about why everyone cares so much about what other people think. We both said that we thought the fear of other's judgments was the main thing keeping us from handing ourselves completely over to God. I brought up how stupid the things are that people do just to fit in! Why do we care how many friends we have, or what group of people we hang out in? I sent her a message saying:
"It's pretty dumb if you think about it. Why should we care what other people think? Why can't we all just realize that the judgment from earthly beings is nothing compared to how God sees you? It's so hard to comprehend how large God is, and I think that was His intention. If we all understood His magnificence then so many more people would be on their hands and knees before Him, but He wants us to make the decision ourselves, that we are willing to sacrifice everything we have for Him, even if we can't begin to imagine His holiness. People are destroying their own lives every day just so they can be part of a certain group! People do the stupidest things just to get their classmates to like them! It's crazy!"
She replied with:
"It is crazy. And the more time that passes the more I'm starting to see how stupid it is to want to give my life for earthly things and I'm starting to just let go of everything and give it to God. I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands."
That last line, "I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands.", stuck to my mind after I read it.
We rely so much on other people and earthly items to keep us safe when the safest place is in His hands. Is your life in his hands or wandering and lost in earthly bonds?
"It's pretty dumb if you think about it. Why should we care what other people think? Why can't we all just realize that the judgment from earthly beings is nothing compared to how God sees you? It's so hard to comprehend how large God is, and I think that was His intention. If we all understood His magnificence then so many more people would be on their hands and knees before Him, but He wants us to make the decision ourselves, that we are willing to sacrifice everything we have for Him, even if we can't begin to imagine His holiness. People are destroying their own lives every day just so they can be part of a certain group! People do the stupidest things just to get their classmates to like them! It's crazy!"
She replied with:
"It is crazy. And the more time that passes the more I'm starting to see how stupid it is to want to give my life for earthly things and I'm starting to just let go of everything and give it to God. I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands."
That last line, "I want everything that is going on to be his, and I want my life in His hands.", stuck to my mind after I read it.
We rely so much on other people and earthly items to keep us safe when the safest place is in His hands. Is your life in his hands or wandering and lost in earthly bonds?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Ripples in the Water
I was having dinner at a friend's house a few nights ago, and I looked down at one of the water glasses as the water in it rippled. I glanced at everyone sitting at the table, and no one seemed to bump the table. I later realized it was the small things that no one noticed that shook the water. Things like putting your elbow on the table or tapping the table's supports with your foot.
In our lives we do some things every once in awhile and realize the effect they have on other people, whether good or bad. We also do things that we do without thinking that can still effect other people. We may compliment someone and not realize how happy it made them, or we may just be messing around with someone and hurt their feelings. Make sure you watch for the small things, the bad ones at least, because the effects can be far worse/better than we intended. This is mainly for the bad things we may do/say to people. Make sure the point is made that you were only joking. I struggle with this all the time. I've found it a lot easier to avoid these unclear comments rather than go through the explanation to whoever it may be. So, watch your words, for the tongue is very dangerous.
In our lives we do some things every once in awhile and realize the effect they have on other people, whether good or bad. We also do things that we do without thinking that can still effect other people. We may compliment someone and not realize how happy it made them, or we may just be messing around with someone and hurt their feelings. Make sure you watch for the small things, the bad ones at least, because the effects can be far worse/better than we intended. This is mainly for the bad things we may do/say to people. Make sure the point is made that you were only joking. I struggle with this all the time. I've found it a lot easier to avoid these unclear comments rather than go through the explanation to whoever it may be. So, watch your words, for the tongue is very dangerous.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends upon
a red wheel barrow
glazed with rain water
beside the white chickens.
I sat in the Gordon-Smith library, located at my school, reading poetry. Every year we must choose a poem to recite for commencement, so we picked this day to read from poetry books for about two hours. if we found a poem we enjoyed, we stood up and read it to the rest of the class. My teacher stood up and read the poem above by the title of "The Red Wheelbarrow". After he read this poem, he sat back down and said nothing.
Afterwards many of the students in my class kept saying things along the lines of "What the heck was the point of that poem?" Well, I think I have an idea of what it might be.
Our lives depend upon Jesus Christ, our Savior (line 1). He died on the cross for us, shedding red blood (line 2). They pierced His side as he hung, dead. Water (and blood) poured from the wound (line 3). By dying on the cross for our sins, Jesus cleansed us white as snow (line 4). Jesus is the red wheelbarrow that all our lives depend on, He was dead but rose again; therefore, cleansing us white as snow and saving us from our sin.
a red wheel barrow
glazed with rain water
beside the white chickens.
I sat in the Gordon-Smith library, located at my school, reading poetry. Every year we must choose a poem to recite for commencement, so we picked this day to read from poetry books for about two hours. if we found a poem we enjoyed, we stood up and read it to the rest of the class. My teacher stood up and read the poem above by the title of "The Red Wheelbarrow". After he read this poem, he sat back down and said nothing.
Afterwards many of the students in my class kept saying things along the lines of "What the heck was the point of that poem?" Well, I think I have an idea of what it might be.
Our lives depend upon Jesus Christ, our Savior (line 1). He died on the cross for us, shedding red blood (line 2). They pierced His side as he hung, dead. Water (and blood) poured from the wound (line 3). By dying on the cross for our sins, Jesus cleansed us white as snow (line 4). Jesus is the red wheelbarrow that all our lives depend on, He was dead but rose again; therefore, cleansing us white as snow and saving us from our sin.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Just Something Interesting- Holy God
I was messing with Scrabble pieces to get the new profile picture for this blog's Facebook fan page picture and came across this. The Holy God sent his son to die on a cross for our sins. This is awesome! Feel free to use the picture.
You noticed the title is "Just Something Interesting." I may name many post that, just whenever I have something quick to share.
HTL-Catchafire by:Toby Mac
In the song "Catchafire" by Toby Mac, he says "...I'm feelin' luke warm like the water in my tub..."
My youth pastor has been preaching off of the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, and it talks about being lukewarm in most of the chapters. Mark Smith (my youth pastor) continued asking us the question "are you lukewarm?" It was followed by a long silence, on most occasions. Revelations 3:16 reads "So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I wish I could say I try my hardest to keep myself from being lukewarm, but I don't. For most of us, we are lukewarm for a majority of our lives. I always picture God spitting me out onto the floor. I don't know if you've ever had a lukewarm drink, but they are pretty terrible. So ask yourself "am I lukewarm?"
My youth pastor has been preaching off of the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, and it talks about being lukewarm in most of the chapters. Mark Smith (my youth pastor) continued asking us the question "are you lukewarm?" It was followed by a long silence, on most occasions. Revelations 3:16 reads "So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I wish I could say I try my hardest to keep myself from being lukewarm, but I don't. For most of us, we are lukewarm for a majority of our lives. I always picture God spitting me out onto the floor. I don't know if you've ever had a lukewarm drink, but they are pretty terrible. So ask yourself "am I lukewarm?"
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Hear the Lyrics
I'm going to start posting, once a week or so, something called "Hear the Lyrics", and I'll basically just point out the lyrics to a specific song. The title will include "HTL" (Hear the Lyrics), so you will know which post they are.
Sometimes you sit there and you sing a song you hear on the radio and you sing and sing and sing. You call it your favorite song; you tell all your friends to buy it. It's almost always stuck in your head, but if I walked up to you and said "What is the meaning of that song anyway?" You may be able to tell me because, of course, the title mentions it! It's OK to listens to songs and just sing them, but next time a song comes on the radio, listen to it like you were listening to a story. I've had friends sing a song for weeks then realize it has an inappropriate meaning. On Christians songs, which is what I listen to most of the time, the meanings can be pretty, well, meaningful. Big surprise! Just take the time to hear the words of the song.
Sometimes you sit there and you sing a song you hear on the radio and you sing and sing and sing. You call it your favorite song; you tell all your friends to buy it. It's almost always stuck in your head, but if I walked up to you and said "What is the meaning of that song anyway?" You may be able to tell me because, of course, the title mentions it! It's OK to listens to songs and just sing them, but next time a song comes on the radio, listen to it like you were listening to a story. I've had friends sing a song for weeks then realize it has an inappropriate meaning. On Christians songs, which is what I listen to most of the time, the meanings can be pretty, well, meaningful. Big surprise! Just take the time to hear the words of the song.
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Rushing Waters
The other day my class headed to the creek across a field from my school. A few weeks ago my principal found a beaver dam in the creek, and this was a surprise because he didn't even know there were beavers. A few weeks after he found the dam he found a dead beaver; someone had shot it! Well my principal wanted to know if there were more beavers left, so he decided we would tear a hole in the dam and see if they rebuilt it.
Well, we headed down there and my principal/teacher, a few other guys, and I started to tear a hole in the massive beaver dam. We pulled off a few smaller limbs then began pulling clumps of leaves and mud. The water began pouring over the dam, because the water was about a foot or two higher on the other side.
A kid in my class slipped on a rock and fell and was soaked from head to toe. After that three more people jumped in, keep in mind that we're all in our clothes. I was the third or fourth person in, and within five or ten minutes all but three or four people were drenched.
One of the things we were doing was letting ourselves "go with the flow" and be ripped down the water fall where the hole in the beaver dam was. The current was so fast that when we did this we wouldn't even be able to get back back up until you were a few yards down the river. This was annoying because the farther you went down the river the more you were scratched up. It wasn't too bad, but a few yards down stream the rocks became sharper and you could get scratched a little worse.
Another thing we were doing was sitting right where the hole in the dam was. This was pretty difficult because all the water was trying to rush out at this point.
When we were all letting ourselves "go with the flow" a kid in my class named Gray was standing on the shallow side of the dam and one time I went down and right as I was about to hit the place with sharper rocks, he reached down and grabbed my arm and stopped me and helped me up.
This is when I get to the biblical side of this story. When we were letting the tide carry us this relates to following the crowd. We knew we would get scratched up, but we enjoyed it anyway. When we were sitting right where the tide was, we were doing what we all do in our everyday lives, getting as close as we can to sinning but not going all the way. It's kind of like telling God "I won't disobey you, I'll just get as close as I possibly can then turn back." We may say this, but sometimes we still slip like I actually did, but Jesus is always there to stop us from going any farther, like when Gray reached out and stopped me from hitting the sharp rocks.
I love how almost everything in our daily lives can relate back to God. Think about it.
Well, we headed down there and my principal/teacher, a few other guys, and I started to tear a hole in the massive beaver dam. We pulled off a few smaller limbs then began pulling clumps of leaves and mud. The water began pouring over the dam, because the water was about a foot or two higher on the other side.
A kid in my class slipped on a rock and fell and was soaked from head to toe. After that three more people jumped in, keep in mind that we're all in our clothes. I was the third or fourth person in, and within five or ten minutes all but three or four people were drenched.
One of the things we were doing was letting ourselves "go with the flow" and be ripped down the water fall where the hole in the beaver dam was. The current was so fast that when we did this we wouldn't even be able to get back back up until you were a few yards down the river. This was annoying because the farther you went down the river the more you were scratched up. It wasn't too bad, but a few yards down stream the rocks became sharper and you could get scratched a little worse.
Another thing we were doing was sitting right where the hole in the dam was. This was pretty difficult because all the water was trying to rush out at this point.
When we were all letting ourselves "go with the flow" a kid in my class named Gray was standing on the shallow side of the dam and one time I went down and right as I was about to hit the place with sharper rocks, he reached down and grabbed my arm and stopped me and helped me up.
This is when I get to the biblical side of this story. When we were letting the tide carry us this relates to following the crowd. We knew we would get scratched up, but we enjoyed it anyway. When we were sitting right where the tide was, we were doing what we all do in our everyday lives, getting as close as we can to sinning but not going all the way. It's kind of like telling God "I won't disobey you, I'll just get as close as I possibly can then turn back." We may say this, but sometimes we still slip like I actually did, but Jesus is always there to stop us from going any farther, like when Gray reached out and stopped me from hitting the sharp rocks.
I love how almost everything in our daily lives can relate back to God. Think about it.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
His Story
I was sitting in class on Monday and my teacher wrote "History" on the chalkboard. Someone in my class blurted out "Hey! History looks like his story!" There were a few "Oh ya, that's cool," but I didn't say a word.
I could tell by the way he said "his story", he meant 'his' story, but thought of it more as 'His' story. If you think about it, history really isn't anything except God's story. He planned (and still plans) everything that happened. All the wars, battles, and discoveries that have ever taken place were all part of God's plan.
If you open up to my history section in my school notebook, it's labeled "His story". I go to a private school, so this doesn't, but for you 'public-schoolers' next time your history teacher brings up evolution just remember this: None of that is part of His story.
I could tell by the way he said "his story", he meant 'his' story, but thought of it more as 'His' story. If you think about it, history really isn't anything except God's story. He planned (and still plans) everything that happened. All the wars, battles, and discoveries that have ever taken place were all part of God's plan.
If you open up to my history section in my school notebook, it's labeled "His story". I go to a private school, so this doesn't, but for you 'public-schoolers' next time your history teacher brings up evolution just remember this: None of that is part of His story.
The Complexity of Simplicity
I was sitting in class yesterday and my teacher said "I'm going to show you all the parts of a flower."
I thought "A flower! This should be easy," but as he began to write all of them on the board I realized I was wrong. You see I was thinking roots, stem, and petals, but I had forgotten about the sepals and pistil and stamen etc. That doesn't even include all the more complicated things that each species of flower has.
This got me thinking. I realized how complicated the simple can be. As I looked farther into this, I realized God made it all perfect so that everything could work in unison. It is a truly amazing thing, and a flower is what we humans think of as something simple. And that is the complexity of simplicity.
This got me thinking. I realized how complicated the simple can be. As I looked farther into this, I realized God made it all perfect so that everything could work in unison. It is a truly amazing thing, and a flower is what we humans think of as something simple. And that is the complexity of simplicity.
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