Moody Review

Well, my first year at Moody is almost over. This year has absolutely flown by, and I'm sure the next two will go even quicker. As I sit here thinking that in a week it will be summer, I start to get very excited. But thats not because Moody hasn't been awesome; because it has. I have learned more about my faith this year than I ever have before. I have been challenged in numerous ways, that stretched me in ways I didn't want to be stretched.

The hardest thing I had to do was definitely writing my own lessons for a class. We had one short devotion to do, and then two longer lessons. I learned the most from this class, but I had to put in a lot of time. I've been able to throw lessons together before, but it was awesome to learn the art of crafting a lesson. You can't just grab a verse and talk about it, you really have to work with the text and see how it fits in the bigger picture. The best lesson I learned from this class was the importance of internalizing the message. I need to speak from my heart, and for that to happen I need to choose something that God is teaching me. The first lesson I did this was not the case, the second however I really tried to focus on something that I had recently learned. Needless to say the second went much better.

The most annoying class I had this year was Lifetime Fitness. I pity anyone that takes Daly for that class. She is a good teacher, but the exams are insanely hard. I studied more for those(a one credit class) than I did for nearly all my other exams. I also had to do required workouts 3 times a week. I swear I put more time into that one silly class than most of the others.

There were 2 prof's from this year that really stick out to me. One is Dr.Litfin. The dude made history exciting; for me that is a great accomplishment! You can really tell that he cares about the material, and that his end goal is to make us care about it. He succeeded with me. I never before thought about how we got our theology, now I can't wait to learn more about it next year. It is amazing to see how God sustains His word. There were many times in history where the Bible should have been destroyed, but God did not allow that to happen.

The other awesome prof. was Dr.Macrae. He taught my Communicating Biblical Truth to Adolescents class. This was the class I was referring to earlier when I talked about writing my own lessons. Without Macrae, I would have been so lost in what to do. He taught us the material slowly, and with great clarity. I can honestly say that he cares about each one of us, and wants to see us have the best ministry possible. I took so much from that class that I will use in the future; and although like I said it stretched me, it was so worth it.

My PCM this year was Awana at Good News Bible Church. I helped 3rd-5th graders memorize Scripture, and I occasionally taught a lesson. I have a lot of experience with Awana so I was worried it was going to be "Same old same old" for me. However it was vastly different than what I was used to. The kids tended to not want to listen all the time, and sometimes they were downright disrespectful. This frustrated me, because all I wanted to see them do is love Jesus. As the year went on though, they started to get more used to me, and naturally they listened to me more and more. During the game time I would lead one of the 4 color teams. I was the blue leader(obviously the best color.) There was a little boy on that team by the name of Hector. Hector.....what can I say about that kid. He had the most vivid imagination I've ever seen in a kid before. He came up with things that were so ridiculous. He also had some trouble sitting and paying attention. He would run around and if we tried to stop him he would cry. This definitely tested my patience, but thankfully I've dealt with this kind of kid before in New Orleans. Aww yeah thats right I'm talkin' about my boy David. These kids could have been separated at birth! Overall I was taught how to love more like Jesus; unconditionally. I am going to miss these kids like none else, but next year I am going to move on to Younglife; an organization that works with high school kids. As much as I am going to miss Good News Bible Church I am so looking forward to working with the age that God has placed on my heart.

The main thing I'm taking away from this year is that God is good, through tough times and times of great joy. I've had both this year, and honestly when the tough stuff happened I did not really respond in a Biblical manner. I got angry with God for a number of things. School was tough, I was really sick for a couple weeks and junky relational stuff happened. I totally did not see how God was in control, and there was period of time where I was downright depressed. It wasn't until I gave my second message for class that all this changed. I was trying to figure out what to teach on when I stumbled across Philippians 4. Paul says in verse 4, "Rejoice in the Lord always!" The words leaped off the page at me. I was not rejoicing in the Lord.....so convicting. I gave up on selfish me at that point, stopped the pity party, and worked at loving others more effectively. I decided to rejoice in the Lord no matter what is going on. Later in verse 7 Paul says, "And the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Peace and Joy come in Christ alone; how had I forgotten that!! It hit me; Knowledge puffs up, but LOVE builds up. I was trying to love the things of the world rather than God. I am so thankful that I have been taught this lesson now, with my minor trials, rather than later when the big trials in life happen. Overall this year has been so good, I am so blessed to be here.

Osama

Well, it's midnight and I have to get up in a little over 6 hours, but I gotta write about this. This is a significant day in history as we all know, a man who has terrorized and killed thousands upon thousands of people is now dead. As I heard the news myself, I will confess I felt some joy. I thought, "Yes! Finally that piece of trash is getting what he deserves!" Then I began to read... I read many, many hateful postings about him on facebook. I noticed something; the postings of believers and un-believers were no different. This alarmed me greatly. It was when I read the post, "Burn in Hell, Osama Bin Laden!" that I knew something was so off here.

Am I wrong or are we all sinners? Have we not all broken God's law, and thus we are all culpable for our actions? Yes, Osama sinned on a much larger scale than many others, but his fate is same for all those who do not believe. There is none who is righteous, no not one!! Paul said, "Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." In short, we are all Osama. We are all hateful, prideful idolaters who want nothing to do with God. It is by God's grace alone that we are saved. I'm thinking of how many people are celebrating the death of Osama tonight, and then continuing in their life of sin tomorrow. We are hypocrites to rejoice in this man's death; because we deserve the same. Yes, justice was needed and it has been carried out, but don't you dare forget about the love that has been shown to you. A perfect and holy love that is the only dividing wall between you and Hell.

So what now? What do we do? Please I beg you, use this as a reminder to being a loving people. A people that loves because HE FIRST loved us. This should also remind us of where sin ultimately leads. Sin=death, that is the formula, and Osama is experiencing that right now.

So let this May 1st be a day where your love for God and hatred for sin is renewed; not a day focused on the death of one man.

Moody

Well, its the end of our last day of orientation. It was quite a long week, but a very informative one. I have really enjoyed getting to know a bunch of different guys, from completely different walks in life. It is amazing to see how God works in different ways through His people. It is clear that He has put each one of these guys at Moody for a definite purpose. I am so blessed to just be a small part of this great body of Christ! I am happy that orientation is over though, and I am so looking forward to starting classes. I know that some of these classes may stretch me, and make me feel uncomfortable, but I know that God will comfort me. If I could ask for a big prayer request it would be this, that my school would only be done to fall more in love with Jesus. If my classes don't do this, then I have not glorified God.

Where Cheating Happens

On the advice of one Drew Papillon, I am going to write about a topic that has been bothering me a lot lately. The issue is this: Is the NBA a real product, or one under the heavy influence of rich corporate executives? The commissioner of the NBA's name is David Stern. He is easily looked at as the most corrupt commissioner of any of the "big name" sports. There is a lot of evidence that points to the NBA fixing games so that the more popular teams would win. There has also been accusations that David Stern fixed drafts so that teams he liked would get better picks.

David Stern is an avid Knicks fan, and so it must have bothered him when they were doing very poorly in the 80's. A player came around that year by the name of Patrick Ewing. There was a great amount of hype that this player would be one of the best the league had ever seen. I don't think that it is just by chance then that Stern decided that year to do something different with the draft. He created a lottery type system where envelopes were placed inside a large sphere. These envelopes were then mixed and eventually chosen by none other than Stern. While watching the envelopes be put in, you can see that one of them does something a little different from the rest. It hits a pole inside the sphere which creates a rather large dent on one of the corners. This, I believe was the mark for Stern, so that he would know which envelope to pick. Sure enough, he goes right for the dented envelope. The most disturbing thing is that after he grabs it, you can clearly see him fixing the dent with his finger! Why would he do this? Because, he didn't want anyone to know what was going on. He had the whole thing fixed from the beginning. The only thing that gives me a laugh from the whole situation, is that the knicks never won a title with Ewing.

This scene would be enough cause for investigation into the way Stern has run the NBA. But sadly, there is always more. One of the saddest moments in the history of the league happened in 2002. The Lakers vs Kings series. This was a battle of two great teams, and one that Stern must have been salivating at. This was a re-match from the previous year, and it brought in great ratings. This was a great chance for the NBA to make a lot of money, and it did. The lakers were searching for their third title in a row. The Lakers were easily the most popular team in the NBA and the kings were just an up and coming team. The NBA could not risk the chance, that this group of rag-tag young guns could beat one of the greatest teams the NBA had ever seen. The series went 7 games and the Lakers won, but the controversy that came from it still lasts today. The highlighted game from the series was game 6. The Kings were up 3-2 and were playing to advance. Like I said before, this would be one of the greatest upsets ever. Instead of me going into all the detail of the game I will simply post a video that I found highlighting the travesty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhlGYvIMPgQ&feature=related

If you watch the video you will see exactly what I am talking about. Now obviously the sad music in the video will make it look worse than it was. But just watch the calls in and of themselves. I cannot understand how there was not a serious investigation after this game. But the saddest fact of everything that has happened, is that there was an investigation. The investigation showed that there was a few errors made, but that these errors helped both teams. Finally the report showed that nothing was wrong with the game, and that it was not fixed. Now, you might say, "Well thats the end of it then!" I say, not so fast. The report was spear headed by......... David Stern! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! The guy who is judge, jury, and everything else in the NBA is the same one who conducts the investigation to see if the NBA is dirty! That would be like having Osama Bin Laden do an investigation on Al Qaeda! There is something so fishy here that it is sickening.

Finally the day that every Kings fan waited for arrived. An actual referee from the NBA came out that he had been fixing games. He also mentioned that a certain 2002 series had been prolonged because the NBA wanted a certain team to win. He even went as far to say that they purposely did not call fouls on one team, but made up fouls for the other team. GEE I wonder which series he could be talking about. Hmmm, the Lakers had 27 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter alone of game six, so it is obvious which game he is talking about. But of course nobody wants to question or dig deeper to see what is going on here. We are afraid of what we will find, and it is this. The NBA supports the team that have the bigger markets, and leaves the smaller markets out to dry. It is a business, and Stern is the CEO. He is looking at the bottom line, and whatever makes the most money is what is going to happen. The NBA is starting to look more like the world wresting federation than an actual sport. The most important thing in all of sports is that the fan knows that what they are seeing is true. The NBA has lost this quality in my mind, and I can never be sure of what is really going on. So everyone, enjoy your Lakers vs Cavs series this year, because that is what is guaranteed to happen.

The Tongue

I have been sick this week with some sort of cold. This was a little different then the usual cold however, it attacked my throat more than any I can remember. I could hardly swallow without my throat being in great pain, before long, it would hurt for me even to talk. As I sat around not being able to speak, I was really overwhelmed with thoughts about how I speak. I was challenged by how my words need to reflect the greatness of Christ, not the greatness of things in this world. I was also hit by how much I speak in sarcasm, and I really realized how this is not glorifying to God. There are a couple verses that I want to share that I really liked, that talk about the tongue.

1. Luke 6:45-- "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." What we say shows what we want in this life. I pray that what I say will become more like what I hope for in Christ.

2. Proverbs 17:4--"A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue." This challenged me to not only guard my own tongue, but to not let my mind be perverted by the lying tongues of others. This made me think about how there are so many filthy comedians and songwriters out there, and as believers these are things we should not enjoy.

3. James 1:26-- "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." These are strong but true words that we see in James. They tell us that what we truly love in this life, will come through in how we speak. It is by our own words that we condemn ourselves! This is a frightening thought, but one that should encourage us to guard what we fill ourselves up with. I hope that these verses were as challenging and changing to you as they were to me.

Lukewarm and Loving It

I've been reading the book crazy love recently. Pretty much everyone I know at church has read or has been reading it, so

I thought that I would give it a shot. It has been incredibly challenging to me, to truly test my faith and see if I am at where I

need to be. The chapter that has really stuck out to me was called, "Profile of the lukewarm." Francis Chan, lays out many ways that we as Christians, tend to be lukewarm in. A few that stuck out to me are: Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict, Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want to be saved from the penalty of their sin, and Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, and friends. I think that we should all check ourselves and see if we fall short in any of these areas. Another thing that stuck out to me is that God says he will spit lukewarm people out of his mouth. I think its safe to say that this means we will not see lukewarm people in heaven. Everything about God is calling us to surrender our lives fully to Him. If there is any area that we are being lukewarm both in our daily lives and in the church, let us pray that God will transform us away from it!

Doppelganger

Facebook is having a doppelganger week, meaning that everyone puts a picture of someone that they think they look like. We always love being compared to, or thinking that we look like someone famous. We examine their faces and look for similarities to ours. This has got me thinking a lot about what we should look like. Not in appearance, but in action. We are supposed to be the fragrance of Christ. We should look like Him in every way, as we have Him working through us. So, thank you doppelganger, for reminding me who I want to strive to become more like every day.