Really Just One of a Kind: Joseph Freeman

So sometimes I like to think I'm a funny guy. Occasionally, I can crack a funny joke or two and maybe get a few people to laugh. For example:

I'm a particularly...odd Ear training and Sight Singing class. Our professor is, I'd be willing to say, mentally insane. While this may be a bit of a bold accusation, you could literally ask ANYONE ELSE in my class, and they'd say the same thing. So anyway, one of our favorite things to do in Music Theory class is vent to our prof. about how terrible our ET/SS class is, and a friend of mine said once, "oh yeah, and something like, EXTREMELY weird happened last class" and I followed it up with a, "Oh, you mean class, right?"

Haha, yeah, it's not that funny, but it got all the kinds in my class to laugh.

Anyway, really the thing I'm trying to get at here is the extent of my funniness/hilarity is smothered by the funniness of one of my very best friends, Joseph Freeman.

Joseph Freeman and I are really only "recent" friends if you will (and by recent, I mean like...3 years? Give or take) but when we met, we were friends almost instantly. I remember the first time we met, we just decided to call each other by whatever shirt we were wearing. (His first name was "Ireland" and I believe I was "Stripes") That wasn't really funny to anyone but us, but that's not really what matters, and that's what I LOVE about our friendship. It's never mattered to us what other people think about the things we say or do together and in a way, I believe that this is how our relationship with God is supposed to be like. NOthing held back, no holds bar, nothing. We should be able to act any way we need to around God and not have any care in the world about what others think about it.

Joe is probably the funniest kid I know. From his quick wit to his well thought out humor, he's always got a joke for anything and everything. What most people might miss about Joe is that he really can be serious and sentimental too, which could potentially be my favorite thing about him. We recently had a conversation about some religious philosophy (haha, yeah, I know. Trying to sound smart.) and it was INCREDIBLE to see how much he knows about all of it, and at a first impression, you may miss that about him.

He's also the best friend you really could ask for. He'll make fun of you all day (you know, kidding of course. And I make fun of him back, so it's cool.) but when you really get down to it, he'll do anything for his friends. He's picked me up from my house on numerous occasions, helped me do dumb stuff like clean my house and so many other things that would just take up space listing.

Really though, Joe, you have been such an awesome friend to me, and your humorous heart for God is something not a whole lot of people can boast about, and the good thing about you is that you don't actually boast about it. God is speaking to you and you know it. Continue to follow Him with all of yourself, and He'll be glorified through your actions. And never, ever, ever let people tell you that you joke too much or that you don't know when to stop because without people like you, this place would be a terrible place to live. You and your jokes, your love, your passion, and your heart, on many different occasions, are what keeps me going.

You know I love you bro.


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

A Heart Full of God: Marc Chewning

So. I'm sitting here in front of the largest computer screen I've ever seen. It's 27 inches. It's a mac.
It's a beauty.

However, with such an impressive piece of technology comes the great chance of it becoming what I spend all of my time on. This has been a struggle for me all throughout my life as it is. It's always cooler to have the newest and latest stuff. I mean, I know I'm not alone in this, but for me, it's probably one of the main things that I sometimes let hold me back from a life COMPLETELY and FULLY lived for God. I envy the ones who do not deal with this. One name comes to mind when I think of this:

Marc Chewning.

Marc Chewning is a friend of mine that I've known since who knows when. When we first met, we were really more or acquaintances rather than real friends. I think nothing is to blame for that other than our youth. At good 'ol HRBC, we were learning about the One who would change our lives forever. The one who keeps us and sustains us. Jesus Christ. However, Marc wasn't showing up to church anymore (and I didn't really think anything of it. Sorry buddy. Haha, again, we were young) and I didn't know why.

Who was I to know that our paths would cross in such a radical way many years later?

My family and I started attending a church in Powhatan called Powhatan Community Churchand who would've guessed that's where I would see Marc again. This time however, we were older, and really started getting to know each other. Along with the guys (we would later call ourselves the "five guys") Joseph, Andrew, and Robert, we started to hang out A LOT. And I don't mean like, just a normal amount of a lot. I mean A LOT. We developed Halo nights and would kill each other and aliens and such for 12 -14 hours easily.

God decided He wanted to get in on the action one day, and to make an incredibly long story short, He sent us to China.
And now He's sending Marc to South Africa with a few friends of his.

I'm currently reading a book called Forgotten God (by Francis Chan. Great Book. Great Guy) and just today, he started describing a person he knows that is that kind of person where they're so happy/joyful/"filled with the Spirit" that we almost think it's got to be fake. Well, Marc is one of those people in my life. I've never told him how much he really means to me and how much hes done in my life. It's INCREDIBLE to see His heart for God just constantly leading him wherever the Lord wants him to be. Without hesitation, Marc agrees, gives away all of his stuff, and goes.

We're all called to live the life Jesus did. We're all called to do whatever The Spirit of the Lord calls us to do (and this is different for everyone) no matter the cost. If everyone on this world lived like Marc, this would would genuinely be a much better, God-filled place.

Marc, I love you man. I really do, and I know you don't need any advice from me (actually, it's quite the opposite really) but NEVER EVER EVER stop what you do. It affects those around you in a way you may never be able to realize. Just know that I wouldn't be who I am if you didn't respond to the called of our Father the way you do.

I've never expressed how much you really mean to me (and probably will never be able to) so now, I just wanna say: Thanks.

:)

Gods Timing

(I hope this blog post doesn't make anyone uncomfortable, but I really need to vent about things in my recent past)

I've had about a week now to process the events of last monday (for those who know me, which I mean, 7 people are following me. I hope you all know me) I've been through a very, very rough week this past week, and it's been a terrible time for me.

But in terms of my spiritual life, I can't remember a time any better.

God truly does work in mysterious ways. Sometimes, His ways are not always what we would like them to be. In fact, I wish this had never, ever happened to me, but it did. And God is so Loud right now. And for that, I'm thankful. Through all of this, God has opened my eyes to things I've tried to forget and has said, "Uh, hey, you may have forgotten, but I haven't. Go make things right" So I've mended a few relationships, told some people sorry, and made something right. Now, am I all of the sudden holy? Oh no, I'm not by a long shot. Now though, I'm realizing I have to own up to my mistakes rather than just hide them and pretend they're not there.

As I said, do I wish things had happened this way? Oh no. It's not very fun having your heart ripped directly from your chest. The only thing that's good for really is song writing I think. Which, I have been doing lots of:

Breaking hearts comes naturally to you it seems
Opening cracks in your life and letting others fall in between
Wasting all of your time chasing the latest scene
While the ones who love you the most are left only with a dream
Oh how quickly the times can change
Well, it's not that strange
When everything you knew was just a lie
I guess that would make time fly by

I don't know where you are, but make this impostor leave me be
You're a good actress babe, but you're not fooling me anymore

These lyrics seem harsh, but they help me. That's all I really want to say about all of this though.

"Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors"

The Great Reversal

The rush and the stress that seems to come with finals time have finally settled on Greenvilles Campus. It's funny how all a teacher has to do is tell you that a test is worth 10% of your grade (and actually mean it, unlike high school, and all of the sudden, your education matters enough to study for it.
Do not worry. I'm not making fun of anyone. I'm actually in a way describing myself.

This however got me thinking about our scripture reading. And it also got me thinking about Facebook. And if someone who didn't know me was watching my every action, they would almost definitely say that Facebook is way more important to me then my spiritual life.

And that my friends, is a problem.

It's bad, because sometimes, when there's nothing to do here in 316 (which often times is the case, unless you want to sit around the virtual fire place) I'll go "Hey, I'll get on Facebook. Surely there will be someone to talk to on there!" And sure enough, there usually always is. While that's all well and good, sometimes, after I'm done talking to people, I'll catch myself STARING at the home page, looking at nothing. What in the world is wrong with me?

In Jesus' day, the children, by age 5, would be expected to have the Torah (the first five books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) memorized. We say that we could never do that now. But is that really true?

We're going to do a little math here: I would say that on average, a teen spends about 3-4 hours on Facebook any given day. So, if you take that and multiply that by 365 (for days of the year) you get between 1095-1460 hours a year spent on Facebook. That's roughly 6 1/2 weeks a year spent on Facebook.

Wow.

Now, what if we were to switch the amount of time spent on Facebook and the amount of time reading the Bible? (which is - for the average person - is about 60 hours a year.) There are 31,173 verses in the Old Testament, and about...842 (really rough average) verses in the Torah. Statistics show that the average person reads about 275 words a minute. The average verse length (in the KJV) is 25 words. This means that the average person can read 11 verses a minute.

So, if one were to read their bible for a month and a half for 3-4 hours a day, they would be able to read The ENTIRE Bible about...10 times. You could read the Torah about...1,114 times.

Plenty of time to memorize it i'd say.

So how about we all do that for a month and a half? Switch the amount of time we're on Facebook and the amount of time we read the Bible.

Then we can start memorizing Gods word rather than memorizing our friends statuses.

ps - it's Bennetts Birthday today. :)

Rain Rain, Go Away...

Here in 316 (this is my dorm room number) we've made it somewhat of a tradition to always play and sing "Rain" by Breaking Benjamin whenever it's raining. It's kind of fun to do, maybe since it's a good song. Without fail, the rain has actually stopped every time. Knock on wood.

As I think about this song more, the more I feel like - in a way - relates with my post from yesterday. The chorus of the song is the old rhyme

"Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. All the world is waiting on the sun."

Isn't that what we're all waiting for? We want the rain to be gone, and the sun to shine. We want the rough times gone, and let the good times roll.

The bridge in this song goes on to say "To lie here under you is all that I could ever do"
I don't know about you, but I LOVE the imagery that creates, especially in a sort of worship context. In the song, this line refers to the sun, but what if we could relate it to the SON? The son, Jesus Christ, savior of us all. How great will the day be when all we could ever do is lie under the son? How great of a day will it be when we can say that to Him, face to face?

Haste the day Lord.

So, this one is shorter than my last, but oh well. If you haven't heard this song, listen to it (not even for the reasons I said. It's just good in general. Not your typical breaking benjamin either)
I hope what little my words have to offer bless you in some way today.

Always say Never

Hello.

Kinda nervous right now. I'm about to try my hand at blogging.

Who knows what's going to happen? Oh well, I guess we won't find out until I try.

I would give an introduction of myself and everything, but I don't want this blog to be about me really. While it will include things and events that happen in my life, my life is not really my own. I belong to someone bigger than myself, and I want my experiences and actions to reflect that. I want to be everything I'm called to be, but in order to do that, I can't let myself get in the way. SO I'm going to do my best not to, but I am human.

College. That's where I am now. That's what I am now, and I love it. I go to a very small college in a very small town called Greenville College in (you guessed it) Greenville County, Illinois. This place reminds me so much of home, mainly because of the smallness of it. The community is great, the staff is WONDERFUL, and the presence of Jesus Christ is right in your face. Just the way it should be.

Recently, I've heard a lot of sermons and pastors talking about high points and low points in our lives (usually referred to as "mountains and valleys") and how we can overcome those times. Friends, family, prayer, reading the bible, yadda yadda yadda. These things are common in every one of the sermons I've heard. (and when I say yadda yadda, I'm not trying to lessen the importance of these things. I just feel as though sometimes, people who are going through rough times want to hear something new, because they feel like that's all they have ever heard)

Yesterday though, my roommate Bennett Wilson (add him on facebook. Cool guy.) and I went to his church in Indiana to play at what they call "Ignite" (this is a monthly worship service they do to kind of...relight the fire within. Pretty cool.) and his dad spoke on this very subject.

It was probably the best sermon on this subject I've ever heard.

(Sorry Perry, you did well. But Bret has got you beat I think. Hahahahaha, as if Mr. Noble is going to read this! Hahaha..haha...ugh)

He mentioned that without valleys, there would be no mountains. Without hard times, there would be no good times, simply because we would have nothing to compare it to. He used a shepherd and sheep analogy. During the summer, he said, as all the snow melts off of the mountain, the shepherd takes his sheep up to the top, where the grass will be long and lush for the summer. The journey to the top is very, very hard, but the shepherd KNOWS this path like the back of his hand. He has done this a million times, and he would never take his sheep somewhere that he didn't know. He would never put his sheep through something that he wasn't sure he could handle. The shepherd knows every nook and cranny of the path to the top, and is with his sheep the entire way. Perry Noble says it very well when he says (here you go! I AM quoting you!) "That friday when everything seemed lost, when it seemed like God wasn't in control and Satan had won was when God was MOST in control, and three days later, on that sunday, His glory was revealed in the most radical of ways! He conquered death on that day!"

So what we can get out of this is God is NEVER going to get you into something that He doesn't know whether or not you can handle it. God is faithful, and will NEVER leave you. God will NEVER forsake you, and if you're going through something and you feel like there is no way God is in the situation, think again. Gods glory is reveled most through our rough times.

I think I'm done blogging for now. I want to leave you with some Crowder lyrics (I will probably do this often.) This is from a song called "Shadows" on his new c.d. "Church Music" Go out and buy it. Support the incredible things these guys do.

Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
O the sorrow

And yet will He bring
Dark to light
And yet will He bring
Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When darkness falls on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When all seems lost
When we're thrown and we're tossed
We remember the cost
We rest in the
Shadow of the cross

NEVER fear. Friday may be here, but Sunday's coming.