What to Do with Ida?

So, yesterday during Student Ministries we focused on the new "missing link" fossil known as Ida. This fossil is amazing for many different reasons but because of what the pro-evolution scientists say. This is just a small sample of what we went over last night but there are 5 reasons given by Answers in Genesis as to what this fossil is and is not:

1.Nothing about this fossil suggests it is anything other than an extinct,lemur-like creature. (This creature is similar to the lemurs we see today)

2.A single fossil can never show evolution.(Need to be consecutive "transitional" fossils to prove evolution)

3.Similarities can never show evolution.(Similarities only show similarities)

4.The remarkable preservation is a hallmark of rapid burial.(Can anyone say world-wide flood?)

5.If evolution were true, there would be real transitional forms.(Half monkey men would be walking around maybe?)

With these 5 points its clear that these "scientists" are either money-hungry or disillusioned by their presuppositional stance that evolution has to be true. So, don't let the hype of this tiny God-created creature fool you. Ida is another extincted lemur like animal that God created on day 6 (Answers in Genesis).

Critique the Critics

There is a lot of hoop la about this new missing link discovery called Ida. It is a creature that has a few features similar to that of humans. Some of these features include opposable thumbs and space for fingernails. Now this find has been the big talk on the internet. However, this post is not about this new "missing link" but rather being critical of what people say. I don't care if it is a scientist, teacher or preacher we all need to be critical of what everyone is saying. For myself I took what people around me were saying and never thought twice about it being true or false. Unfortunately, this does not work especially in today's media run era. People are saying this and that. But this and that both can't be true. So, let me encourage you to be critical of what people around you are saying. If a preacher teaches you about a specific passage of Scripture then go look it up yourself and learn as much as you can about it. If someone says hey we have found the "missing link" then go and see what all scientist say about it and not only the ones you find jumping for joy about the fossil. At the heart of this post is one thing that all people need to come to terms with and that is owning what they believe. For the longest time I didn't know what I believed because I didn't want to take the time to investigate the truth. So, if you have been coasting through life without owning your faith or ideas you need to get out and do it!

Throwback the Throwback

OK so this post is a critique on the new "old school" Pepsi and Mountain Dew products that just came out. I purchased these products thinking that they were only changes to the cans and labels because the throwback look is pretty jazzy. I, however, was in for a very rude surprise when I cracked a can open. It could have been the most disgusting this I have tasted in a long time! It was a poor excuse for Mountain Dew! Anyway, I found some people enjoyed the taste because they said it is smooth. The natural sugar is what gives the taste of the throwback Pepsi and MD products. I will stick to the corn syrup version! For those who enjoy a nice "new school" Pepsi or Dew I suggest you stay away from the throwback variety because giving your money to me would be a better investment. I give these products two thumbs way way way down!

Coffey (with the song of the day)

I have posted some other stuff from this guy. His name is Coffey and he has a style that is pretty cool. I really enjoy this song because it shows us a little about why God gives us laws or guidelines to live by. One example is that we shouldn't sleep around cause of STD's (and many other reasons). I hope you enjoy the song and look at some more of his stuff cause its pretty neat.

What Picture Will I Paint?

Sometimes I need to look at myself and think about what other people think of me. I hear all the time, "Who cares what others think about you?" Well, I guess I do care. There is a balance that needs to be maintained with this thinking. If I care about what others think about me too much then I become a person who is only there to please man. If I don't care what others think of me at all I could become insensitive to their needs. We are to portray Christ in a way that makes people investigate Truth (so we need to care how others view us). However, we need to make sure that Truth is what we are representing because people will hate the Truth. People's lives are like portraits. What we decide to put on them are our action, thoughts and beliefs. Like a painter cares what he/she is communicating we also need to be aware of what we are communicating with our lives. Hopefully that will painting with portray Christ! So, let me challenge you and encourage you to be like Christ be wrapped in love and in truth. I pray that I will be the same!

Just Follow Your Heart.....Or Not

One of the biggest lies that has ever been told is "follow your heart." This comes up often in chick-flicks when the main character needs to decide if they should dive into a relationship with the person standing right in front of them. This phrase also comes up when someone is questioning what type of career they want and the school counselor says, "just look in your heart for the answer." (My answer would be a Pro baseball player). There are a couple of problems with following your heart. The first one is that it is all about you. When one tries to follow their heart they tend to only look out for their own best interest. It becomes a choice that only involves one's self and that can create a limited view of the whole situation. The second problem with following the heart is that we are fallible people. We do not have all the answers and we make mistakes (lots of mistakes) and how can we rely on a heart that is so full of mistakes? This post is short but I hope that it encourages you and helps you. Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

I have been a little lazy getting posts out recently so for those that actually take time to read my posts I am sorry for that. Now that I have apologized I will tell you what's on my mind. I have always been a bigger kid. Even when I was a little tyke I was chubby and most of the time my clothes didn't really fit me well. Needless to say the clothes still don't fit me that well but I view myself how God views me. A child of His! But this wasn't always the case. Just like many young people today I struggled with "self-esteem" issues. I would get picked on in school and come home feeling worthless because I felt others viewed me that way. When I tried to boost my self confidence it would always come through sports. I wanted to be the best in whatever sport I was playing because that gave me worth. Even if it were for fun I would play with extreme competitiveness in order to win and that was supposed to make me feel better about myself. Well, that didn't work! I realized that I was never going to be the best at sports and that realization dragged me down again. For me, sports gave me a false sense of worth. That is the problem with "self-esteem" when we rely on ourselves to give us worth we see we are worthless. When we look into ourselves we see a person who is dirty, dark and disgusting. My endeavor to gain "self-esteem" just made me dirtier, darker and more disgusting! I knew I needed change and I looked for it. Wanna know what I found? I discovered that "self-esteem" is a counterfeit for God-esteem. It sounds like a bad cliche but it is true! The only way one has worth is with the Lord. So, if you are struggling with how you view yourself just ask yourself this question...How does God view me? That answer is really the only answer that matters!

Prune Not Prunes

It is another awesome Wednesday! I love Wednesdays because I get a chance to share some of my heart with my students and get to have them all together and hang out. Tonight is sure to be a fun night! On another note I went to the doctor yesterday to get my shoulder checked out (I had surgery in December) and the doctor cleared me to start throwing a baseball again! I am so excited about this because my shoulder had been giving me a ton of trouble before my surgery and after the surgery I needed to be extremely careful with it. Now I can do everything with it and that is good news. This process of rehab and relaxation of the shoulder has taught me a little about spiritual life. Sometimes in our spiritual lives we have things that need to be pruned by God. When that happens we need to take that spiritual surgery and allow that to heal. We need to allow God to do His work and sometimes that means we need to take a break from being a spiritual leader in order to be a better leader. When I had surgery I wouldn't go out and try to pitch in a baseball game because it would injure my shoulder. Sometimes when we have things in our lives that need pruning and God prunes them we need to allow them to heal. So, allow God to prune you to make you a better follower of Jesus and don't be afraid to let that heal. This is a little bit of a rant but thanks for reading and I pray that this encourages you and makes sense!

VICTORY

There are some things that I have learned about life and ministry. One of those things are celebrating little victories when they come. The reason for this is because sometimes life is tough. It throws Barry Zito like curveballs at you (if you dont know this reference that's OK just Youtube Barry Zito curveball). When life throws a curveball and you nail it out of the park it makes you feel good and so don't be afraid to enjoy that when it happens. It can make all the difference in the world when you are having a bad day or week or month and you get excited about something little that goes well it pumps you up. Especially when we give God the proper glory for things that go right we not only pump up ourselves but we see that in the scheme of life God has a plan that goes beyond little problems that crop up. So, now that I have said that I have a small victory to share. This is going to seem extremely small but I do give glory to God for allowing me to figure out how to get Youtube and Tangle videos to play full screen on my computer. Last week in Student Ministry Group I played a couple videos on my laptop that couldn't play full-screen. But today I have fiddled around with some flash player settings and now they play full screen just fine! Anyway I just wanted to encourage the readers of this blog to enjoy the small little victories and know that God's got you!