Watered Down Gospel

Often times, I look around the world we live in today and it makes me sad. People hating each other openly, tearing others down, complacency and a watered down Gospel being presented at every turn, and a rising trend of cultural Christianity without the sacrifice of actually having a relationship with Christ.

How have so many of us bought into the lies we swore we'd never buy into?

You can't pick and choose what parts of the Gospel you live your life in accordance to. I tried for a really long time and all I ever felt were feelings of complete unfulfillment and dissatisfaction.

It seems really easy to write off Jesus' life here on earth and focus on the lie that He doesn't actually understand anything we're going to. It's a different society, we have to adapt, right? Wrong.

Jesus faced many trials and temptations just as we do. He was a human. A real human, with real feelings. He once breast fed from His mother, there was a time He didn't know how to walk or talk, He wept at the thought of dying. Not just dying, but suffering. Yet, He still sacrificed His life for those of us who continue to live a life against His cause. In 1 Peter 3:18, it says "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit."

It's hard to be different. For fear of judgement. For fear of standing out. For fear of being weird.

So, what am I saying here?

Stop feeding into the lies society and the world have spoon fed us. Realize that there is an urgency to spread the Gospel and that we can't sit around and wait for other people to do it. As Christians, our job is to spread the good news throughout the whole world. Our job is also to be kind to others. Yes, to be kind. I think there is a fine line that people have blurred. We all sin. We often live in our sin knowingly. Does that mean that we are undeserving of Christ's love? Absolutely not. So, why should we label someone else as undeserving? Not to say that we should continue down a path of negligence. 1 Peter 3:15 says it best: "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

Don't fall into the trap of the watered down Gospel. Be bold.

How sad would it be to never hear of Christ's love in all its potency? I don't want a watered down Gospel. I want a strong, in my face, knocks me to my knees Gospel. That is what Christ suffered for. The Father in that Gospel is one that I want to know. He's the one that desires me, a messy, hypocritical, secret sinning being, to know Him.

How amazing is that?

I understand why people are constantly choosing the world over Christ.

The watered down version of Christ fails in comparison to the potent Savior He truly is.

Why wouldn't want to share of His true greatness? The fact that we have been redeemed. We were once dead, but we are now alive through Christ. He loves us in spite of our messy baggage.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5

Do you know the watered down Christ who had long hair, wore sandals, and was really nice to a bunch of people, or do you know the Christ who bore your sin so you could have a relationship with God, the one who never abandons you, the one who knows you better than you know yourself, and the one who has already beaten the enemy?

How I Received Free Shirts from Colleges Across the Country

Have you ever had one of those ideas where it seems ridiculous, but at the time, you wonder why you’ve never thought about before? I have.

It all started at the end of November when I had ankle surgery. Much to my dismay, this pretty much sentenced me to a life of couch sitting for at least 2 months. As boredom ensued, I spent most of my time in the unexplored depths of the internet which really just means I was reading random people’s blogs and searching for ways to get free stuff.

The first search I made was for a list of companies that gave away free stickers because I thought it might add a little excitement to my day to add new stickers to my water bottle. Which, might I add, was exciting. I received quite a few stickers from a very diverse group of companies. Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort, Osprey, Chaco, In-N-Out Burger and Fish Hippie to name a few.

After I’d sent out all of my emails requesting stickers, which only took a total of five minutes, I found myself in the same state of boredom.

Then, I had an idea.
(This is where the reason for this whole post becomes really apparent).

My idea was this: what if I emailed a bunch of colleges and asked them for stickers? Or, better yet, because these are big schools we are talking about with loads of money, why not ask for a t-shirt?

Brilliant! Why had I never thought of this before? Every time I had visited a college when I was in high school, I got loaded up with free gear from these schools.

I decided to do a little research because I was sure I wasn’t the only person who had thought of this and I was correct! I ended up reading this awesome blog about a guy who received over 300 t-shirts after he read a blog about a guy who got over 800 or so t-shirts.

With all the time in the world, I started on my emails.

I ended up sending out around 400 emails to various schools around the country and I even included a couple Canadian ones requesting free apparel and information packets. You know, to make me seem like less of a free loader.

Immediately, I started receiving emails back. Most of them were telling me that they wouldn’t be able to send me any apparel. Two days later, I received my first t-shirt. It was from William Peace University in Raleigh, NC.

After the first one, I was getting at least one shirt a day and lots of information packets. My mailman was kind enough to put them on my front porch, but I think it was mostly because I was getting so much mail that he couldn’t fit it in the box.

I ended up getting over 40 shirts, plus a lot of other "swag," as many of the college reps called Majority of the people in the admission offices were nice and very helpful!

My absolute favorite interaction was with St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Father David was such a sweetheart and even included a handwritten note. I think he was as excited that someone was asking for a t-shirt as I was to receive one.

Initially, I was only doing it to get free shirts because who doesn’t love to rock a t-shirt from an obscure school that no one has ever heard of? But, the more I thought about it, I knew I didn’t really need all of these shirts. So, I kept my favorites and donated the others to a homeless shelter.

All in all, this was a fun experiment. Not only did I get some free stuff and make my time of boredom a bit more fun, but I learned a lot about some really cool schools that I’d never heard of prior to all of this.

If any of you decide to give this a try, I’d love to hear about your experience. Also, feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about any of the process.

Broken Windows Breaks Out

Local Athens band, Broken Windows, formerly known as RoHit, has recently begun to really put themselves on the music radar playing at house shows and smaller venues around town. Their big hoorah, however, will be coming on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 pm at Caledonia with Bourgeois Girl and Nihilist Cheerleader.

The self-described post punk/slacker rock band is made up of four members: lead vocalist Ty Thompson, guitarist Lucas McAuliffe, drummer Drew Hooks and bassist Matt Kraft. While they do have a very interesting sound, that isn’t the most unique thing about them, but rather the desire for their band to have a larger existence than just making music. “I would say that world events kind of influence us, more than we even realize. We’ve all become more serious about wanting our music to communicate something because of the way the world is and we don’t really feel like bands are talking about it,” McAuliffe stated. Currently, they’re trying to lend a hand in some way to the water poisoning situation in Flint, Michigan. They’re in the process of writing a new song about it with hopes of raising money through music to help with the crisis.

In talking with them about the significance behind their name, they all initially laughed because it was nice a little journey for them to pick the right name. Originally starting as RoHit, it was an ode to a good friend of theirs, but they found people had a hard time pronouncing it. Hooks was in the midst of studying the Broken Windows theory at the time they were renaming and as soon as he mentioned that, they all unanimously knew that was it. The literal name brought forth a deeper meaning for each member. As Hooks put it, “[it represents] broken dreams or how even this perspective, how you once saw the world changed and altered because of reality hitting.” McAuliffe was quick to chime in adding, “I think of how, in our society, in the Instagram age, everything has to be squeaky clean and perfect, we can’t have problems and faults and be broken. Our music is about being confrontationally real.”

Each coming from different backgrounds, musically and physically, they all bring something a little different with them to contribute to the almost ever-changing genre that defines them. Initially starting as a noise band when it was just a trio to slowly adding a bit of punk when Kraft later joined them and continuously evolving based upon their circumstances, but always remaining true to being “a mix of existential crises with social consciousness,” Hooks said, obviously with a little bit of music thrown in the mix. Thompson briefly added that from the beginning, he didn’t really want to do songs about girls, “Girls are great, don’t get me wrong, I love them a lot, but there’s already so much. I was hoping to some degree that we could have some level of advocacy in our music….I like music that makes you think, as well as dance.

As they’re really breaking out and making themselves known, they’re excited of what’s to come. Their plan, right now, is to release an LP before summer and follow that up with a tour while continuing to play local shows more often. Kraft said it best with his comment, “We’re gearing up for bigger things. We want to get on the road this summer. We’re not balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, we’re just taking it one day at a time, one step at a time and things are falling into place as we go, so we don’t have to worry about what the next move is right now because things are happening.” It certainly does sound like there are big things in store in for this group.

ED + me + traveling

I need to talk about my friend E. He is one of those people I've been lucky enough to meet in my early 20's: we're mature, but have the freedom to add some whimsy in our lives. I can just tell he's going to be one those people who will forevermore be apart of my life and I couldn't be more thankful. Although we've spent many nights just sitting around enjoying each other's company, we do a lot of little things with long lasting impacts...at least for me, but I'm a super sentimental person. E definitely inspires me to live above mediocrity, in actions and words.

Tonight, during one of our life talks over a beer, we started talking about San Francisco, a place I've never been to, but desperately want to. Upon finding out I've never been, E was shocked because this city is like the epitome of all things I love. The thing about E is that he has traveled to so many places all around the world, so he's definitely living a life worth living. So, he stuck out his hand to me and we shook on a promise to drive somewhere far together and explore this summer.

Grand Canyon? San Francisco? Minneapolis? Madison? We tossed around a few ideas, but we don't know right now. The only thing that matters is that we're taking a trip to somewhere new.

These are the things that make lasting memories and lasting friendships.

Here's and cheers to great friends and adventures to come.

cry cry cry

Crying. Happy tears, sad tears, angry tears. There are so many flavors. I've never understood why this is seen as weak. Somehow, I ended up falling into the trap of this popular belief and suppressing pretty much any emotion I've ever felt because I needed to be strong.

I guess I should give a little context to why I've been fixated on this notion lately. On September 5th, 2015, I came home from work and found my sister dead. That did a number on me, but not like I thought it would, initially. I was confused, but I was fine. I felt bad for not feeling as bad as I thought I should. I didn't how to feel anymore. Like I said, I had to continue to be the strong one, which I associated with no tears and no fears.

About two weeks ago, I was laying on the floor in my room, upset because the guy I was dating appeared to be blowing me off....yet again. All of a sudden, completely unwarranted, I found myself screaming and crying and laying on the bed I found her on. In the midst of this anguish, I felt so powerful and free. I'd never felt stronger. I felt in control of my emotions, as strange as it sounds, for the first time in so long. In that moment, that I lay there and screamed "why?" to the top of my lungs, I felt renewed and a sense of relief. I'd finally felt.

I'm currently truly, madly, deeply grieving. A lot. But you know what, it's okay. You know what else, it's okay that I'm not okay. I'm allowed to be sad. I'm allowed to cry for no damn reason at all. I'm allowed to feel sad when I hear a song that reminds me of her and suddenly remember I can't tell her about it.

Here's my point, kids. Cry your little hearts and don't you dare feel one ounce of shame about it. You're a beautiful being and tears only make you glisten more.

to all and maybe none

I'm not writing with the intent of reaching many people, but rather to reach myself. I feel like once you write out the things you've been thinking in your head, they magically become this real, tangible thing that you can no longer deny and have it stare back at you.

I come from a really cool town where many people truly embrace the meaning of freedom. Not in the super patriotic sense, but rather in the most basic form of the word. Freedom to feel, do, dress, stand as they please.

I've recently become a member of a local organization that really promotes awareness of social injustices and does what it can to fight for the good of the people. In such a brief time, I've already met so many great people. They all seem to possess such passion, compassion, kindness and love. There are many different backgrounds represented, but everyone is bonded by these qualities that we, as humans, should value most.

There's one person that stands out the most to me. For the purpose of privacy, he'll be J. I feel as though he would disagree with all I say about him because he recognizes the importance of remaining humble, but he is truly one of the most inspirational people I've ever met. Passion and kindness exude from him, but I can also see a pain in his eyes which to me means even more. Through his own struggles, he still wants to see the well-being and happiness of others, most of whom he doesn't and may never know.

All of this to say, J has inspired me to be the change that I wish to see in the world. To be kind. To listen. To have an opinion and stick to it when I truly believe it, even if it isn't the popular one. So here I go.