In the wild there is no health care. In the wild, health care is "ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run, a lion eats me and I'm dead!". Well I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead!
All winter we got carried
Away over on the rooftops
let's get married
All summer we just hurried
so come over, just be patient, and don't worry
So come over, just be patient, and don't worry
So come over, just be patient, and don't worry
And don't worry
No I don't wanna battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't wanna follow Death and all his friends
No I don't wanna battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't wanna follow Death and all of his friends
And in the end
We lie awake, and we dream of making our escape
And in the end
We lie awake, and we dream of making our escape
This is one of my new favorite songs. It is from Coldplay's new album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. It is a fantastic album. For all of the Coldplay fans who don't have this album yet, go and get it. For those of you who are not Coldplay fans, go and get it (and the other three albums only $7.99 at best buy right now!).
What I meant by that was simply that Moses is an example where God commands a certain thing, and then later commands something else to the effect that what He commanded the first time is no longer acceptable. Likewise with music of the NT. The OT showed it was acceptable to use the instruments. They were commanded at one time. Under the NT, singing is commanded. Just as with Moses, under the new command, the old command is no longer an acceptable form of worship.
With Moses, God never explicity said, here is the new way to get the water to flow, so don't use the other anymore. He simply made the new command and said nothing about striking it that time. It was understood that Moses' striking of the rock would not have been acceptable the second time.
Love, I fear, is slowly passing away. A once central focus of ones life has become an idea in the back of ones mind. Love should never be an idea or a thought, it should be an action. It is the central focus of what Christ taught and yet is not always the central focus of our lives. In todays society, we have a very loose idea of what love should truly be. In most cases it only exists with family, spouses, children, friends, etc. Yet it is meant for everyone. And for the people who claim to love everyone (or at least attempt to), there is this notion that by not hating everyone, they are loving them. This is so wrong it hurts.
If ever asked for a definition of love, I could never give any other answer than I Corinthians 13. How inspiring is the beginning of this chapter when it lists several amazing actions that an individual can take, but without love they are absolutely worthless. Love is given so much emphasis that it shows that even a good deed is nothing without have love as the basis for that deed. The chapter goes on to personify love and give it a personality. If we have true, genuine love, we will posses these very characteristics that have been attributed to love.
The final portion reads "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I had always heard the reason that love was the greatest of these three was because it was the greatest command according to Jesus. I agree to an extent, but that is just showing that love is great, but doesn't explain why it is greater than the other two. Recently, I heard an explanation that has stuck with me. Faith, hope, and love are all very important aspects of a Christian's life. However, after we are dead and raised up again to be with our Father, love will be all that is left. Our faith will be confirmed and no longer needed because we will have seen God. Our hope will be fulfilled when we our given a permanent home in heaven with our Lord (and what is there left for us to hope for?). But our love for God, Christ, and all those who have joined us in heaven will continue for an eternity. Notice here that I said "continue" for an eternity. We need to start now. Love in my mind is passing away, but it is not lost.
Love is for everyone. Everyone should receive love and should readily give it as well. Anna Popplewell (an young actress) wrote an article that I found very encouraging. She uses the movie Love Actually and the song Where is the Love to convey the powerful message of love and how it is meant for everyone. There is so much discrimination and stereotyping in our society that it leaves very little room for love. She develops the thought that love and goodwill are ready to be preached and that there is still hope for humanity. This was very encouraging and uplifting to hear. She finishes by stating that "love is the most generous gift that you could possibly give." This brings to mind John 15:13, that Christ showed his love in the ultimate way by giving up his own life for us. If ever given the opportunity to read her article, I highly recommend it.
Most Christians claim to love everyone (I include myself here), but I must say some days I am just hiding behind a lie. I heard an interesting story not to long ago and I would like to share the condensed version of it with you. Essentially, there was a woman driving down the the highway and was weaving in and out of traffic, flipping off other drivers and cursing at them, and displaying classic forms of road rage. Soon after a police officer pulled her over. She had not really been speeding or doing anything wrong, but she was just being inconsiderate. When the police officer finally comes up to her window about 20 minutes later, he apologizes for pulling her over. She asked why he did it, and he replied that he thought the vehicle was stolen and was checking the plates to see if it was. When the driver asked why he thought it was stolen, he said that he saw her bumper sticker and thought there was no way the car could be her car. The bumper sticker said "Proud to be a Christian." Sometimes it is easy to say we are a Christian, but not act with the love for our fellow man in the way that we ought to.
In the movie V for Vendetta, there is an exceptional example of love. If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend it. In the film, one of the characters (Evey) is locked in a cell for a long duration. In the current society, it is considered wrong to be different than the standards set up by the government. If you display certain differences you are locked away and eventually killed. As Evey is seemingly rotting away in this cell, she finds a note written by the former occupant of the cell. In this note, she displays a form of love that I feel is very hard to show. Yet it is something that we should all strive for. The end of the note read "I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch. It is small and it is fragile and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must NEVER let them take it from us. I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the worlds turns, and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you." This individual expresses her love for someone she has never even met. It is very difficult to do and yet Jesus did it every day. I will hopefully be able to develop such love, so that I can be ready to show it to people of all walks of life whom I have never met and may never see again.
Finally, I would like to share part of the lyrics of a song written by Guster. The song is called All the Way Up to Heaven. In it, the singer begins to describe what heaven will be like (of course doing it in human terms, because no human emotion or thought could ever capture what it could possibly be like). "It's a warm summer breeze, it's a weakness in your knees. It's a perfect place above, full of everlasting love. Nothing to fear, nothing to hide, you just say what's on your mind. Needn't think before you speak, this is how it's meant to be. Ever high, never fall, you can do no wrong at all, in this heaven up above, full of everlasting love." This is a beautiful idea of what it will be like, but what I am looking forward to most is the everlasting love.
As a Christian, it is my responsibility to show love to others and to encourage others to show that same love that the Lord and Christ showed us. In the hymn we sing at our church, we sing "they will know we are Christians by our love." If you see me on the streets and I am not showing you the love that I ought to be showing, I hope that you will correct me and encourage me and I hope that I can do the same for you. Always remember that "love is the most generous gift that you could ever give." Sorry for the lengthy post. Thanks for reading. I love you all.
Hi my name is Mary and I am new to pleo. You are so right but I believe you also must consider intent. It's whats in your heart. It just can't be the action. It must be true and genuine. I don't know you but I love you too. Thanks for the encourging thoughts and awareness.
Normally I'm not really down with this sort of stuff, but this looked kind of fun and it's between this and studying for my Anthropology final that will happen in three hours.
Apparently I'm supposed to put my iTunes on shuffle and let it pick a random song for each category to narrate my life. I'm going to go ahead and not use the same band twice.
Opening Credits: Selfless, Cold and Composed (Ben Folds Five)
Waking Up: Give it Up (Midtown)
First Day of School: Beautiful Day (U2)
Falling in Love: One Time (Sister Hazel)
Breaking Up: So Long (Guster)
Prom: Sugar We're Goin' Down (Fall Out Boy)
Life's OK: Oh Me, Oh My (Imogen Heap)
Breakdown: Hate to See You Go (The Color Fred)
Driving: The Legionnaire's Lament (The Decemberists)
Flashback: Black Betty (Spiderbait)
Getting Back Together: Boss of Me (They Might Be Giants)
Wedding: Pictures of Shorelines (Further Seems Forever)
Birth of a Child: Simple Man (Shinedown)
Final Battle: Listen (Collective Soul) (this is going to be one boring final battle)
Death Scene: (All I'm sayin' is someone else better be dying in this death scene, nobody's killin' me!) Brain Stew (Green Day)
Credits: Erase/Replace (Foo Fighters)
Some turned our alright, others not so much. Ya take the good, ya take the bad, ya take em both and there ya have...my life according to iTunes!
An update on the softball playoffs. We won the first game 8-1. It was most enjoyable. What made it even more sweet was that we played the same team that we played in the first round of the playoffs last year (they destroyed us that season). Our next game is Monday at 5. This next one's for you Stubby!
My UT intramural softball team just won our last regular season game and thus will be going to the playoffs (2 seasons in a row). This is going to be awesome! Wish us luck, games start next Tuesday.
