Anticipation

Next week, heaven and earth collide in Bells, Texas, and I plan to be there. Next Tuesday through Sunday, I will be volunteering to work at Collide Festival. It is a three day long Christian music festival that runs June 7th through the 9th. There will be around 35 Christian bands/artists there. They've got a really good line-up. There are several bands that I really like, and some that I've never heard of before. Maybe I'll discover some new bands that I'll end up liking. Of course, I'm going to be there to work, but I also plan to enjoy myself while doing it. It should be a good time.

I've been kind of gathering up the things I'll need to bring, and the more I get things together, the more excited I get. There will be thousands of other people there over the weekend coming together to praise God. Hopefully I'll make some good friends. Plus, because they've got me down for stage security, I may have a chance to meet some of the music groups. That'd be pretty cool. It's been raining a lot lately, so I'm praying that the weather will be nice next week.

My dad said I can bring his new camera, so hopefully I'll come back with lots of pictures.

The Call for Intolerance

I think I may have another book to add to the list of books I would eventually like to write. For now, I'll call it "The Call for Intolerance." In fact, I just added it to my list.


I keep hearing about how Christians should be more tolerant of the lives, actions, and choices of other people. I keep seeing churches that say you can have Jesus and continue living in your sins. Do what feels good, and He will forgive you on Sunday. It makes me sick to see preachers essentially sending people to Hell by telling them they can get to Heaven by going through the "ritual" of walking down the aisle and then going back to the lives they had already been living in.

Our God is NOT a tolerant God, He is a jealous God. People need to know that. There will be consequences(good or bad) for your actions. There will come a time when all will stand before the throne of judgment. The people preaching these lies are selling tickets to heaven for sure... sadly that's not the final destination for the people they've fooled, it's just a stop along the way. We need to show these people that it takes an inward change to make heaven the last stop on your journey.

Musical Monday

I've got a lot of things I want to post, but I've been really busy lately. So I figured I'd do something simple and post the words to a song that I like. Hopefully this will be something I'll start doing relatively regularly.

The song this time is called "I'm Guilty" by KJ-52. This song is a little different. It's half rap, half mock trial. I like it though, especially the last lines.


I'm Guilty

INTRO:
All rise. Case number seven-seven-seven-five-two.
Defendant KJ-52 verses the Son of God in murder one.
How do you plead?
Guilty as charged.
Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do.
Then go ahead.

VERSE 1:
I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth now, so help me God.
What I testify and what I'm speaking of is an eye witness account of an experience of a kindof love,
I confess now to what it was.
I was guilty of making the very Son of God now shed His blood, and
I was guilty of the reason now why He was hung, and
I'm filthy with what caused the death of the Son.
It kills me to think I was the one who shed His blood.
I still think of the way He died now and how it was.
It feels me with pain inside, I feel like throwing up.
I can't escape, I can't lie, I didn't make it up.
I was the one who took the life of the Holy One.
This is the first time I've confessed now to what I've done.

CHORUS 1:
I'm guilty, guilty.
That's right, I'm guilty.
God forgive me, I'm guilty.
You know what? I'm guilty!

VERSE 2:
Yeah that's right, I did it.
Right out in the open for all to see it, and
I never hid it, I got to admit it.
They took the whip, ripped His back wide open and split it.
I heard Him cry every time they pulled it back and hit it.
I wondered why was He silent now, I didn't get it.
I watched Him die while He cried out "It is finished".
Thought nobody would find out about the the crime I've committed.
I tried to hide out, it's too late, that's right I did this.
It's my time now, my own eyes have been a witness to my crime.
Now I'm speechless and I'm defenseless.
Can anybody find out it's obvious that this is my final time.
Now I've finally come to my senses.
I'm a climb down and take whatever I'm sentenced.
I know why there's no way now that I could miss this.
I opened my eyes, now I see Him just for who He is.
My guilt is mine now, it's so obvious that...

CHORUS 2:
I'm guilty.
God forgive me, I'm guilty!
I'm guilty.
That's right, I'm guilty.
So guilty.

VERSE 3:
I'm just another person, I'm just another man.
I was the one that hurt Him, I finally understand.
Now I know for certain I caused the nails to land,
That left Him dead and murdered, pierced in feet and hands.
So now you've heard it, I testified and took the stand.
No other way I could word it, this is my confession and,
I never lied or purgured, I told just the best I can but,
I was the one that cursed Him, I was the trigger man.
The page is turning and I've now just confessed to this.
I didn't kill Christ, but it was just my sin that did.
Now I've confessed to the crime, I don't deserve to live,
I'm ready to do my time. All that I can say is...

CHORUS 3:
I'm guilty.
God forgive me, I'm guilty!
I don't deserve to live, I'm guilty!
Take me away, I'm guilty.
I'm guilty!

OUTRO:
Case number seven-seven-seven-five-two,
KJ-52 verses the Son of God in murder one.
The court has found you guilty as charged.
However, after further review of the case,
The prosecution has dropped the charges.
You're free to go.

Relativity

At least three times in the past two days, I've had conversations(with different people) about my relatives.

First it was about the fact that my family is very scattered. At least partly because of that, when someone tells me about a place, I can normally say that I know someone from that area. In many cases, I can say I've been there, near there, and if not, I probably know someone who has.

That got me thinking. I don't actually feel like I know most of those people. I lost a lot of my memory about 4 1/2 years ago, and with the exception of one or two of them, haven't seen any of my relatives(beyond sisters, bro in-law, and parents) since about that time. I have vague memories about some of them. Others, I wouldn't be surprised if I bumped into them on the street and didn't know who they were. Well... I would be surprised if I just randomly bumped into them on the street, but that's not the point.

Trying to equate that to something more understandable, I guess it's like the stories your parents would tell you about relatives that aren't around anymore. With the exception that these relatives are still around... and I guess the exception that I'm in some of the stories they tell about them(which only makes it weirder).

I'm not sure why this topic keeps coming up in conversation. I would say that it's just because I've been thinking about it, but in most cases, I didn't initiate it. Maybe there's some big realization I'm supposed to be coming to from this. If so, I haven't found it yet.

First of Many

I've been thinking about starting up a blog for a while now, and I'm happy to finally be making the first post. It's weird though, this being the first post, I'm not really sure what to say. Nothing seems to fit... but putting nothing is even less fitting. So, I think I'm just going to make a brief post that makes little sense(less is more, right?) and then just start things in motion like everything is normal.

However, I will give you this. I guarantee this will be the best blog you've ever read, or I'll let you read it for FREE! Yes, that's right. If you aren't 100% satisfied, you don't pay a dime.