"If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner."


-Martin Luther, On the day of the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle, 1521

"Everything you deal with from tests, papers, frustrations, joys, relationships, work... everything happens in the background of a daily walk with God."

Man of Steel? Humm..... 

Fear just plain stinks! Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith to some is an ambiguous concept of belief that there is something more than I know. Although this is a good start just believing there is something or someone bigger it is just plain foolishness, arrogance and laziness to find out what else is out there. Why am I a Christian? Some would probably say that I grew up in a home of people who go and meet at a building once a week. Others might point to the paper I have that says I studied Christian-like stuff at a university in the Christian category. What makes a Christian? Hard question isn't it?
Some people I have met in recent years believe that you can be a Christian and believe whatever you want. If this is true then anything and everything is a Christian? Sounds more like the Matrix than a belief system. Actually, it is a belief system but people call that Hinduism. It isn't that Hinduism is only evil it just is wrong. (ONE MUST ASK THEMSELF WHAT IS EVIL? Answer:Anything that sets itself against the true God.) Sure, right now you are reading this and saying, "What a narrow minded bigot?" It continues to puzzle me how if someone believes that all types of belief are valid how they can be so narrow minded not to fit in the narrow minded like myself. Is that a flaw in the belief that all roads lead to the same place (spiritually speaking)? It is almost comical how people will create new words to tack onto "Christian" to make themselves feel more comfortable. One friend over the years refers to herself as a "Christian Pluralist". Although that sounds convenient is it really Christian? The question must be asked "What is Christian?"
So... What is Christian? Christian... Sounds like those things having to deal with Christ. In this case the word comes from the Bible in the Book of Acts. In the 11th Chapter of the Book of Acts (yeah, the Bible is actually a book of other books...pretty cool, huh?) in the city of Antioch the people were first called Christians. These people were the followers of Jesus who were given the name Christian.
Following someone can be such a cavalier thing in this day and age. You can follow a band, a college basketball team (GO UCONN!!!) or just about anything. When the Bible talks about following it talks more about a surrendering of your life to God. Sounds like it costs a lot, huh? It does. There is nothing better though. Why? Well, God is just hard to understand. He is hard to understand because we were made for fellowship with Him. Yeah, God wants to hang out with you! The God who created the Pacific Ocean, pumpkins, snowflakes, gravity, pi and the Pythagorean theorem wants us to live in relationship with Him. Hard to believe. In all this, He not only wants us to hang out with Him but to experience the greatest joy in the universe, becoming like Him. The daily walk that begins with surrendering your life to God's great love and just living in a trusting relationship with Him daily...That's what being a Christian is.
Yeah, there might be bands, bumper stickers, voting guides or whatever else with the Christian label on it (these might be cool or helpful) but a Christian is one who is a ton more interested in what God's got to say than what any other book, professor or so called guru. Check out God's story in the Bible. It changed my life and keep changing me more and more every time I open it and see what God's about.

The last few months have sent me on a journey. Presently I am a student at a Christian seminary. Despite having the opportunity to learn under some incredible men and women of God, my brain gets tired. Within the realm of attempting to understand God, we can get lost on the road. Pilate, the Roman leader who commanded that Jesus be killed asked Jesus one several questions, but one in particular that I continue to hear people ask today "What is truth?" The problem is not the question but the where one might search for truth. If I were a Muslim I might seek truth in the Qu'ran in an attempt to hear what Muhammad heard from God. My frustration might be when I realize that there is no relationship with God as specified by the Qu'ran. To be a Muslim, it is only the decisiveness of God who would all me to enter with him into paradise. A genuine fear of God. If I were Hindu, my search might take me anywhere in search of something. Possibly reading the Vedas and worshipping of those Indian gods throughout history. Explaining what being Hindu is can sometimes be like trying to explain the Matrix. I mean this in no mean way since I have a dear love for the people of India after visiting the land personally. If you accept Hinduism then often it means living in the fatalism that Islam also offers that there is no hope to crawl out of the hole you are in. If I were Buddhist my search for truth might have me to follow the 8 fold path in an attempt to be enlightened. Buddhism confuses me in itself since it is to desire nothing. Doesn't that mean that you are desiring something?
My desire in this conversation is for someone to answer these questions. No one has yet. Some people comment that I am closeminded because I believe that Jesus is the only way to God. Honestly, it is the only thing that makes any sense at all. Granted, if one is to take the evidence surrounding Jesus it is really amazing. Cut away all the religiousness that surrounds him and just take a look at him anew. Here is this guy who was born in a small redneck village of a small nation in the middle east. His mom was a young woman and father was a blue collar hammer swinging carpenter. His only time to leave a 50 mile radius on his hometown was when he was a baby. This guy only knew the area he grew up in with no internet, no Concorde and no cell phone. He lives for 30 years just living. No one is really sure what he did in this time since there is only a single account of when he went to the big town of Jerusalem with his family at 12. Aside from that he was 30 years old before he ever said anything that people decided to write down and think was special. In three years he gets a following of 12 guys who eat, sleep and live with him. Jesus was a homeless man who walked to streets and got along with the rowdy crowd. He did not snub the upper class but he ate with them too, although he really had a love for those who seem to think less seriously of themselves. Actually, Jesus spent so much time with the rough crowd that he was accused of hanging out with drunks and hookers way too much.
Not sure what you think about this guy but sounds like one who I would like to grab a cup of coffee with. People like the reality of such a personal Jesus who loved people who have troubles. Maybe they have the same reaction as me that if Jesus would be so bold as to love them then maybe me with my inabilities God might just love me. Jesus did say other things that aren't really all that popular nowadays. He said that he was God and was the only way to God. (That seems kinda narrow if you ask me. But he didn't. It must be a cool thing about being God that you just be you and no one really can say much about it. So I digress...) To accept the life of Jesus and his teachings about loving one another and such is cool but it is pretty strange that people would take teaching like these (as every major world religion does) and adore Jesus, yet deny that he is God. Seems kinda strange to me. Either he was God or all the stuff that happened was pretty much crap. If I claimed to be God, first those who knew me would laugh because they know that isn't true. Funny thing about Jesus... Not only did his 11 of his twelve best friends end up suffering horrible tortures and sufferings as they died but they knew him. People might preach about a lie here and there but no one will die for something they know isn't true. Jesus' mom believed he was God. My mom thinks I am a pretty good kid but God... Not thinking that is ever going to happen. His brother James believed Jesus was God. I have one sister and she knows enough about me to know how frustrating I can be. If anyone can ever convince their brother they are God... It is a pretty sure bet.
What are the words of this blog saying? Simply this... check out Jesus. Read about him. Either Jesus was who he said he was in being God or he is some crackpot who should never be mentioned in another religion or anything. Check it out. Here is a link to the beginning of the book of John. I like reading John when reading about Jesus because John was the youngest of all Jesus' followers. He always refers to himself as "the disciple who Jesus loved" and that is cool. Check out what John, Jesus' best friend wrote about him.
http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?Search=John%201%20;&version=46;

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well" -Dr. Martin Luther King

You know my roommate who I said doesn't do the dishes enough? Well, this past week I was an A+ slacker so he did a ton more. Anyway, this is shannon. (He is on the left)

Adventures with the Soggy Bottom Boys...what adventures they were.