Painting The Picture (Revelations)

So in class on Thursday we painted a picture based off of a couple of verses from Joel that we chose to paint on. The verse in Joel 2 that says: "The sun will turn to darkness, and the moon into blood." Of course this makes me think about revelations. In that moment of painting I was picturing a literal scene of what that day will look like. I have actually been reading through Revelations and just finished it recently. Some of the things I was reading in it gave me chills. I know the Bible has a lot of metaphors, but the things that are described in it are pretty crazy. In the moment of painting I was just thinking about what it would be like if the moon was actually blood. The whole picture of the sun turning to darkness freaked me out a little. If the sun turns to darkness, then their would be no light. My picture represented both the sun and the moon. The moon had a reflection on the water but the sun didn't. The sun is light and that's what it represents to us on earth. The sun being dark is basically like an eclipse but without the moon moving in front of it. I don't have a lot of insight for this blog, but I encourage anyone who is reading this to read my JOEL blog from earlier. Since this assignment was more visual it is challenging to explain a lot. Ironically though from this assignment, I realized some lyrics to this song that I like a lot, talk about the sun being dark and the moon having blood. One of my favorite bands is Anberlin. They have a song called "Miserabile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum)." Miserabile Visu translates to "wonderful by the sight." Ex Malo Bonum translates to "good out of evil." The song is obviously about revelations. Everytime I listen to it, it gives me some sort of chills. The lyrics and music are written so well. I encourage you all to listen to it with a pair of headphones. Really listen to it and embrace the words.

Proclaim in the Name

During class on Tuesday we were told to go out somewhere quiet and read the book of Joel as if we were proclaiming it. In doing this, I feel like the realism of proclaiming the words written by Joel had more of an effect on how what he said was comprehended. When we proclaim words that are holy and of God their just seems to be just a power behind it. These are straight words from God. How can that not seem powerful? Just reading it on our own I didn't realize a lot of what was being said until I said it out loud. I would love to go back in time and here things straight from Jesus or God speaking through prophets. Though if Jesus were speaking arabic then I would have a little trouble understanding.lol. I was out on a dock and I kind of pictured myself standing over people instead of water. I tried to sound happy as I was proclaiming. What is not cool about telling people about what God is saying to us? I was actually starting to get into it more than I thought. Professor Corrigan talked about how the Bible has a lot of metaphors. I realized this in one of my classes a couple of years ago. Someone brought it up and it was like the lightbulb in my head switched on. I not the best at metaphors since I like hearing things straight forward. Then I realized why I have trouble reading parts of the Bible and not understanding it. In this generation I feel like their is a lot of things that are sugar-coated and straight forward. I feel like there wasn't enough embracing of metaphors growing up. I don't know really how to explain it, but in a way it is almost as if their has been a laziness to learning something that is hard. There are things in the Bible that we want to know so bad and we are not supposed to know and understand everything. If we were to understand everything our life wouldn't be a journey.

Joel

I thought that this was a pretty good read and at a great timing for me. Especially when God tells the people to repent for what the people have done and instead of tearing their clothes to tear their hearts. How are we supposed to grow if we don't tear our hearts. Joel talks about how God will pour out his blessings on the people of Jerusalem when they do what he asks. When you do what asks he will bless you in whatever it is HE wants to bless you with.

   I feel as though sometimes we overlook things that God has blessed us with and then we don't realize it until later. Submitting to what God wants I have learned is so hard times. I think the struggle we have is that we are afraid for someone else to control what happens in our life. When you give God control, we lose control. I think of it as if I were in the driver's seat in a car and asking the person in the passenger seat to steer. You have to have a great trust in order to make sure that person is not going to crash the car. Or you could think of it like someone driving your car with you in it. If we can't trust in God to steer our car he will let you know. You will crash at some point. I thought I was giving God things recently and he showed me otherwise. In a way it can break you. There is always joy in the building process though. As something gets built you can see the beauty in it.
   You start to see what it is being built and the you can see the development in whatever it is. You really see that in people's characters and attitudes when they start letting God work in them. One thing I have learned from being a Christian and just life in general. If you realize you need to deal with something to make your life better, DO NOT WAIT. People talk about not having enough time or just say that they'll deal with it. The sooner you deal with it, the sooner you can leave it in the past. Make the time to deal with your issues. He will just bring it up another time that will be inconvenient as well. Let God work in you. It's not supposed to be convenient for us. Sacrifice and serving is not convenient. These things are what makes us humble in the Lord and his will. We must submit to him as a believer. There's pain in the night, but the joy omes in the morning (I love that song). Embrace his love to embrace others.

House Made of Cards

Yesterday in class we did the whole activity of building a house out of cards. If you've never tried it then you have no clue what frustration you're in for. Cards are not very stable subjects to build with yet alone stack and build on top of.  Even just building the base, you have to position the cards just right in order for them to stay up. We related this to our Christian faith. Building your relationship with God takes time and hard work. You really need to place yourself in the right mindset to focus. When you focus on God in the quiet, it is a challenge to clear your mind. Sometimes it takes a while to do so. When you take so long to build something and then it gets torn down, a lot of times we think that it is the end of the world or something. God puts us through trials obviously to build even more of what we already have. Trials are something in our faith that I at least somewhat look forward to. It shows me that God is going to show me something through it. Hope and growth is something we can hold on to through these trials in our walk. Sometimes their are things that will tear us down faster than we want them too. I feel like those things that tear us down are maybe things we need to work on. There are some events that happen though that we can't control but I still believe that God helps us learn how to deal with whatever it is as it comes. Sometimes we don't know how to deal with it and we have no choice but turn to God. Then it becomes hard because we want to control our own lives so bad that we lose focus on giving God control. Things start to collapse as God is ignored by us. He helps us build. Without him we have nothing. No hope, no faith, no life. I mean yea I guess we could have those things still, but in what? The world? I guess it just depends on where you are in your walk. Everyone is in different places to build their house. How are you going to build yours?

Through The Grave Yard

     First of all let me say that, going through a graveyard at night is probably one of the creepiest things that I have done in my life. Unfortunately me and Chris did not get to take a picture of our little journey. He didn't have his phone and my phone always freezes when I turn the camera on. I felt like something would have happened like it did in the movie Casper. 2 boys were trying to take a picture and Casper randomly takes the camera out of nowhere and they boys freak out. It is interesting how creepy we can see death when you enter a graveyard at night. It's probably the perception we get form the movies that we watch and it freaks us out. It could be that Lakeland is a pretty ghetto place as well and the possibility of drug dealers being in there is pretty high. Maybe it could be that some of the caskets were stone and above the ground. Seeing somebody dead is frightening to me because I think about the fact that this person was once a living talking person. They now just sit in there casket lifeless and immobile. 
     I haven't really had anyone close to me die yet so it was a little challenging to reflect on something personal about death. Though thinking about a more recent death to someone who used to go to SEU gave me the chills. He was younger than me and his life was probably not where he might have wanted it to be. I remember this past summer when I heard about his death and I was more surprised than sad. I knew him but wasn't super close. As Christians I feel that we shouldn't fear death because afterwards is a life in a place that we read and dream about. So why do we still fear things that have to do with death? Everyone is different obviously. We all have different ways of how we view death. Maybe it's because of a past death of a loved one, friend, or pet even. Death is a real thing and a part of life, but their is more to life than just fearing death. If we were to fear death everyday, how do we live?

Literature Going To Life

     Yesterday our group at lunch talked a lot about Harry Potter and Star Wars. We talked about the books and the movies. Obviously the books are going to be more detailed since a book is meant to be taken some time to be read. Movies have a limited time in which they are to be done and viewed as well. We discussed the different movies and how much detail some of them leave out and why. I know there are some things in Harry Potter that were probably left due to sticking to the main part of the story. I know that in the last Harry Potter movie a lot of people enjoyed the cinematography more than the story-line itself. People complained about how the whole movie was about one of the main characters and not enough on what part of the title was about.
     Making books into movies is a hit or miss thing. A lot of times people prefer the book over the movie. I personally like things coming to life through the movies. Sometimes it can be a little disappointing though. Sometimes you have an image of a character in your head and then it looks nothing like what you thought when you see the movie. I also don't like when they change things in movies that are not relevant to what happened in the book. That drives me crazy! I know with Harry Potter J.K. Rowling said that if the movies weren't relevant to the books then she didn't want them made. I would probably be just as anal. If I have a movie done then I would want it to be great. There were some things we each pointed out about the likes and dislikes of the movies. Books are great for just getting in depth and taking the time to get there. Movies tend to rush things because of the time frame. Also when reading, we have to read through the descriptions of actions when in a movie we don't need to read because we see. I've thought about someone making a movie detail to detail on a book. In a way, television shows are like a long drawn out movie. LOST is a great example. There are so many things you have to pay attention to and it is drawn out. That's how I kind of look at shows like LOST and HEROES. Just a big movie or story coming to life.

Happily Ever After

In the short story Happy Endings, there are 6 stories with only the first one ending in a happy manner. The first one ends with the couple growing old and just dying from what it implies. The other stories of A and B ruin the happy endings in the beginning of them by stating the wrong ways in which John and Mary fall in love. What kind of love is there when one person doesn't fall in with the other? In story B it implies that Mary may not be happy with who she is. Why does she have to put on makeup to look good for her own husband? No one can force someone to love them. Or you cannot marry someone because you feel sorry for them. Forced love is never the way to go. Love that happens naturally results in the full effect of it. Both people put in efforts to make it happen. One sided love is not healthy. The emotional atmosphere would be unstable.
    There are going to be trials in any relationships especially friendships. Friendship trials are typically ones that we fall into and deal with first. In a way, you can look at friendships as practice for an intimate relationship in the future. You don't have to worry about what you look like around your friends because they like you for who you are. Trials lead to growth in any relationship depending on how they are handled. It needs to be a double-sided effort once again. Happily ever afters can always happen if you want them too. As a Christian, if you always keep God in the center of everything, you will be successful in whatever you do. The Bible shows us the path of righteousness. As long as we keep seeking after what is right and what is God, then a happy ending should always be successful. 

Love

I guess to start off, Love explained in this story was a little crazy for me. In the beginning when Terri was talking about a previous spouse, she was saying how he loved her so much he tried to kill her. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole killing thing to be honest. That is probably what stuck out to me the most about the whole story. If you love someone, why would you kill them? Maybe they are suffering on a death bed. Could you really live with the responsibility of the death of your loved one. There should not be any abuse between any spouse. The way Terri talked about this guy dragging her around and beating her up is totally up-surd. A guy should not even threaten to hit a lady. Abusive love is not love, it is sick.
    As a man of God, I know I am only supposed to love my spouse and not lust over other girls. It's funny how this subject came up for our first blog. Love to me is special. Love is when you see that girl who is the only girl in the room even when their might be some other attractive girls in the room. Love is when you're there for her in a good mood or bad mood. Love is not violent, but gentle, patient, and kind.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 explains exactly what love should be. The last part about persevering is a part of love that is probably one of the hardest ones to do. I have found that persevering shows that you can commit. Persevering through the good times and the bad is not easy. I will not pursue someone unless I feel like they are wife material (for me that is). I 'd rather not waste the time or money going on dates. I want to know that one of my friends is going to be there for me through everything. A best friend. Why not build a strong friendship before taking it to the next level? You can be yourself with a great friend through the good times and the bad. People should look at their own friends before searching for something that has been in front of them for a while. You are going to have to live with this person for most of your life.

    I know I'm not married or anything, but I've seen love between people and the right and wrong ways to go about it. I feel that I've been getting a taste of what real love is. God's love should be first. I've prayed about sharing that love with someone who will always be around. Someone to love on and make happy. Someone who you can share God with and help one another spiritually. Someone to laugh, cry, and pray with. I'm very passionate about love. I feel that it is a big deal and that it is worth more money than the world could offer. Money is pretty common, love is not. There is love in God, and love for that special person that matches with the 1 Corinthians verse. Of course their is always growth for things, but that is why we have a guidebook called the Bible. Don't waste a moment when something gives you that urge to persevere the heart of someone that is worth it. Prayer is the biggest help and motivator. Let God direct your path of love and you can never go wrong. The lyrics to this song below speak some truth....