Okay, I was going to post about what I did this weekend... <_<
But against my better judgement, I opted not to.
I thought, you know, a couple days from now and the world is going to talk about Valentine's day and how I need to polish up my handwriting so I can write a decent love letter. (Someone did tell me that actually. Love letter to who?)
I took calligraphy for a while, but just so I could make a fake degree. ;-]
The Ladies Man Of God, (AKA Mark Lowry) has a couple tips for all you single christian homeschool guys out there.
*Disclaimer* the 80's just called, they want their music videos back.
So do you guys think I should do something a little more serious next time? Maybe throw out a few of my favorite pickup lines? Qualifications for the ideal woman?
We just had the presidential primaries just a couple days ago here in Oklahoma. There are some who take these things VERY seriously.
And then... those that think otherwise.
Take a look a this unedited chat transcript.
Kind of crazy these elections eh?
Methinks the candidates should settle it with a fisticuffs match.
Verily!
Or a umm...
UFC champeenship?
Presidential Edition.
LOL
Hah
Iron Obama vs. the HuckaBeekeeper
Those are the best wrestling names I can come up with
Obama vs. Yo Momma.
Haha
Exactly
Me like.
So, who do you think is going to win?
Yo Momma.
I can't say, for security reasons... Who participated in this chat. I will just say that one, or quite possibly both were named Andrew Smith. =)
In other news, apparently I released a Contemporary Christian album...
I believe it may have something to do with THIS. bahaha.
Cover design by my good friend Josh Osborne.
Really the best thing you can do, besides maybe studying the candidates enough to make an INFORMED VOTE, is prayer.
God might not care about the Superbowl, but he is interested in Government. After all, He did institute it.
How much does a pirate pay to pierce his ears?
A buck an ear!
What is the latest pirate movie rated?
Arrrgh!!
Sorry, every now and then I have to tell some pirate jokes. It's something we ninja's do for street cred.
Today I spent most of my time trying to get my expensive camera to connect to my expensive computer and software. I spent a nauseating amount of time on user forums, Apple discussions, culminating with a hour-long chat with an Apple Final Cut technical support guru. All to no avail. I'm still at the same place I was at when I started... many hours later.
There was no logical explanation as to why it wasn't working.
Later on this evening, I was reading this passage in Matthew 25. It's that parable about the talents. You know, every servant was given a certain number of talents. It was an investment by the Master, and He expected a return on them.
It was convicting, that sometimes I don't live up to the talents given to me. It's easy to give a cheap cop out and throw on some false humility and say I don't have any talents. Several people in the bible tried that.. Moses, Jeremiah, Timothy, ect.
I'm so grateful that God doesn't say, "There's no logical explanation why these humans aren't working." Jesus Christ didn't die on the cross to get us to get us into a boring box of religion, confined to a bunch of rules and filled with other christians just waiting to get to get off this lousy planet waiting get to heaven like so many containers stuffed with cheap stuff from Shanghai going to Wal-Mart stores everywhere. (btw, my brother is there right now. You should pray for him please. No, not in Wal-Mart. In China... silly.)
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Luke 16:10-12 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
Quote of the day: Security is worthless if you have to sacrifice growth to get it.
Have a great weekend everybody,
~Andrew
It seems that as of late, a reoccurring theme for our weekly bible studies often run past the notion of hearing God's voice. "What does God's voice sound like anyway?" Or, "How do I know if that's what God is really telling me to do?" These are questions that often pop up in the back my mind.. Actually, most of the time they just lurk back there, way back in the deep end, the breed of questions you have to go scuba diving after.
Anyway, we all want answers to our questions so I hope this shines a little ray of light into your dreary existence. =D
God wants you to hear his voice!
You already hear God's voice but most people don't know what it is or what it sounds like. You can only love God as much as you love His Word. And you can certainly cannot obey God any more than you obey His Word.
You need to have an essential view of God's voice. It's not as if you say, "I'll give you five minutes if you speak to me in that time, then fine, if not then I'll get along fine without it." Or waiting several weeks without speaking to God, then asking him to get you out of your predicament, then going back to your carnal, sinful ways. If you aren't seeking God with your whole heart, you won't hear God clearly.
If you have an old tv with a bad signal, you wouldn't call up the television company and complain about the poor quality of their transmission, the station is broadcasting all the time. You'd try to discover what was wrong with your tv receiver and try and adjust it to get to work better. You'd take it in to somebody and get it repaired. However, in Christianity, we beg and plead with God to fix his transmitter! God's transmitter is never broken, it is working 24/7 365 days a year.. Our receiver is broken. John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Most people are expecting to hear God's voice in a 'third person' voice. i.e. "I want YOU to move to Dallas." 1 Cor 6:17 "But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit." In other words, your born again spirit is one with God's Spirit. Therefore, God's spirit will communicate to your spirit which will transfer that knowledge to your brain and that will be first person. "I think... I should move to Dallas."
1 Cor 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
Other passages: John 4:24, 1 John 2:20.
God doesn't typically speak to us in a showy or spectacular way. (Yes, He still does awesome miracles.) His customary ways of communication are natural, simple and often subtle ways. When Jesus came to earth, he could have showed up in a rocket ship and used a big booming voice, but he just had a bright star and came as a baby to a manger. He could have had his angels announce his arrival to kings in every nation. But the angels just told shepherds. He could have a tree point to direct you, or he could have clouds printed with messages for you. His ways are are ones that take faith to perceive.
Your spirit already knows your gifts and calling of God, the clincher is getting that knowledge to your brain so you can use it!
The only way your can know which thoughts or intuitions are from God is through his Word. Hebrews 4:12
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
You have to have a thorough knowledge of the Word of God to know use it correctly. If you're going to let someone else tell you what the Word says, or if you are living a self-centered life then you won't be effectively using it. Also, if God has already showed you His answer out of his Word, then don't expect any further specific direction until you are obedient to the first thing He told you to do.
If you landed on the beaches of Normandy and there was a huge minefield you couldn't see, would you rather have a map of where every mine was, or someone directing you on your radio guiding your every step? The Spirit is like a voice telling you where to go. The Word is like a map. You need both.
God's Word speaks to everything, it's like a football field that has boundries, if you are out of bounds, your forward progress stops.
I hope you learned something helpful, these are my notes from Andrew Womack's (http://www.awmi.net/) sermons on hearing God's voice.
God bless you all!
You may recall a couple weeks ago my sister and I went to visit Sarah Barlow in Chicago. If you don't just scroll down a few posts, you'll find it. (She's only in every other post since I started this blog LOL>) In any case, here's a video of one of our photoshoots. Which, in my humble opinion, turned out pretty durn cool. So please watch, enjoy, comment, & leave some love.
Chao.
Photography in Chicago from Andrew PC Smith.
I was on my way to Florida once... My uncle Tony and I, we had nothing but a '85 Volvo and our dreams and aspirations of going to our friend Elisha's wedding. This is the true story. I filmed an hour and edited enough to get the gold out. There were many, many other interesting things that transpired during this trip, but guess what? I don't want to talk about it.
It still gets me right here. Ow.
If there's anything I learned from this trip, it was that Romans 8:28 is still very true and applicable. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Sure we didn't make it to Florida, but we got to spend a couple days chillin' with Nathan, my very good friend I went to Honduras with.
It's undoubtedly one of the best promises in the bible. I've heard it said that this verse in the basis for true optimism. You've probably heard a negative comment about your situation, say, that time you were 12 and pessimists often say, "I'm just being realistic."
I say, that if you live only by what you can see you have a very dangerous outlook on life. It takes vision and faith to live a God-honoring life... Which reminds me, do yourself a huge favor, and surf over to Amazon and buy a copy of The Principles and Power of Vision. It just might change your life. I'd say a good 89% chance anyway. Props to Sarah Barlow. Yay!