3 randoms and a rant

3 prompts:
-the word 'ark'
-isaiah 45:6-7 'that you may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'
-the phrase 'the stately ships go onto their haven under the hill'

i was given these three things by a certain someone in exchange that i somehow wrap my mind around all three and give my take on them, right here in this blog. how did these prompts come about? lets just say that there was a dictionary, a verse (that im guessing is a favorite? or one that is be wrestled with?), and an excerpt from a stanza on page 92 of a book that is still nameless to me.

i think you can take any piece of literature and make it personal. find some meaning within it. you always, always will find what your searching for in any form of literature. most likely will be taken out of context, which by then i think the true meaning is lost. granted you find something, but overall changing the meaning of what's trying to be portrayed actually loses meaning. and in some form or fashion is kind of pathetic, i mean if you truly think about it, the reason why you form ideas about something is to normally make yourself feel good. but i feel like that's just taking the easy way out. instead of you changing meaning, let the meaning change you.

upon first glance of these things, i figured i would just talk about each one separately. but that's no fun. there has to be a connection. there's gotta be a deeper meaning behind these randomized thoughts. and maybe im making there be a deeper meaning, thus contradicting myself from what was said in the previous lines..but hey, im not God. mistakes do happen. hypocrisy? no, maybe just gaining new perspectives, working out the ol' brain.

the word 'ark'. first thoughts? noah's ark. God basically hated everything that earth had become so he destroys it, but calls upon noah to build an ark and gather 2 of every animal. time out. the movie evan almighty. he has 30 days or something, and everyone makes fun of him every day. imagine 120 years of people teasing him. that would suck.

random side note/thought. i wonder how tempted Jesus was to getting off the cross. i wonder how many times he almost just stopped everything. sure it was "supposed" to happen and stuff, but he was still a man, he had humanly thoughts. that'd be tough.

at this point of the blog, i have realized that i cannot make a single connection with all three of this things. so addie, im sorry haha. but i find the verse to be very cool. the whole passage is God speaking, and talking about a soon to be king, Cyrus, and how he will basically be His instrument. Cyrus is very Messiah-ish, and God even sort of hints at that, at least to me God makes Cyrus sound Jesusy. "I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward." very Jesus like to me. but even with all these things stated in all of chapter 45 that God will do, Cyrus will receive most of the praise. Which kind of sounds like my life to other non-believers, we all do some pretty cool things throughout our own individualistic lives, and, at least for me, forget to glorify God. but in these two verses, He makes it very clear that He is the only one, He makes every thing possible "I, the LORD, do all these things." He does everything.

as for the phrase 'the stately ships go onto their haven under the hill'. i have no idea what that even means. i have literally been trying to make sense of it for hours now. a ship going under a hill? how is that possible? its not. so it must be some sort of metaphor. but what the heck hides under a hill, it says their haven..to be honest, all i'm thinking about right now is scientology. and how aliens came flying out of volcanoes from distant planets in the galaxy, and yet no one has ever seen these aliens. they probably hide under the hills. it would be the perfect spot to hide, who would ever actually look at a hill and decide to start digging. no one. cause climbing a hill is kinda like kissing your sister. that made no sense. but there you go.

i'll leave you kind followers with this..God did not use evolution when creating the earth. Gen 1:5 "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." some may say "kevin, it's not defined on how long each day was" and i would say "yes it is." He called the light day, and the dark night. time hasn't changed. there has always been 24 hrs in a day. there has been a night portion and a day portion. i don't see God making light last for 4 million years, then saying welp it should be time for some darkness, then let that be happening for another 4 million years, then once everything has evolved in 65 million years he makes the 24 hour day. i feel like if i were to lay claim to that belief then i would ultimately be challenging God and his ability to do things. which probably isn't the right thing to do. and another thing, everyone can agree that we can't comprehend God and how he works. but we somehow have put all our belief into one thing, and that just has to be how he created earth. if you could understand how God works, i feel like living would be absolutely pointless. maybe all of this is mumbo jumbo and i have absolutely no idea what i'm talking about, but if you fall under this belief, well then im gonna assume that you also have no idea what your talking about haha. if you wanna chat about this topic, then just ask, cause i would love to.

i dedicate that last paragraph to noah.

this is weird

living in a timeless scene. i was just outside, standing in the rain and for some reason this phrase kept popping in my head. i started to think about what it could possibly mean, and why i couldn't get it out of my head. i think maybe it's what i always strive for. i've been lookin back on my days, and everything seems to be so complacent. i wake up, do nothing all day, then go back to bed to do it all over again. sure there's important things goin on, like younglife for example. hanging out with kids, being a fisher of men so to speak, but even that has started to feel weird and different. all of a sudden i've been feeling pressures of this world, as in what i'm going to do with my life, i have ideas of what i want to do, but have absolutely no idea of how to obtain them. the one thing i tried to do, ended up failing. so what the heck? life can be worrisome sometimes. and i'm not used to worrying. i've decided that this timeless scene is eternity. i can't wait. lets take a pause. im currently watching the jimmy fallon show, and the new kids on the block are performing. these guys are still trying to be sexy and singing about how girls turn em on and stuff. get real. haha. but anyways, let me give ya a picture of how i comprehend eternity.

i'm given a feather. at this point of my feather acquirement, a metal orb, 100 times the size of the sun comes into the atmosphere and floats 2 meters above the earths surface. but only for ten seconds, then it goes away. and doesn't come back for another 2000 years. now in that ten seconds of time that the large metal orb is here, i get to hit it only one time with my feather in hopes that i'm chipping some of the metal off..with my feather. when that metal orb, that is 100 times the size of the sun and that i hit with my feather one time every 2000 years, is the size of a pea..that would be the end of eternity.

kind of a cool way of picturing something that can't be comprehended eh?

all of these thought landed me somehow on the idea of the dangerous prayer. something we might hear about, but don't really know how to do. last time i made a 'dangerous prayer', my life went on a spiral, but thankfully ended up back at the cross. i used to always think of a 'dangerous prayer' as being of envious feelings. at least thats what my one 'dangerous prayer' was all about. but now i look at dangerous prayers as something of the complete opposite. i feel like a 'dangerous prayer' is just being honest with God. i feel like most of us try to hide some feelings and thoughts from God. what's more dangerous than someone truly knowing everything about you? and if your saying "not me kevin" well then i'm happy for you. but as for me i know this is true. i guess there's just a feeling of shame, telling God what's really going on in life. if this is all God wants from us, to be completely open with Him, then why the heck do we make it so hard? life is weird.

on another note, im pumped for some phil wickham and leeland action on thursday. gonna be there with a butt load of my friends. not expecting to go to sleep thursday night, i feel like to many epic situations will be presented.

this was a weird post haha.

for i am convinced.

Romans 8:35-37
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.


"We're to be lambs. We're to be salt that's sprinkled to add flavor, create thirst, and bring healing. We're to be light that illuminates, not dominates. And know this: From the world's perspective, we'll never win. If you don't understand this, you'll be frustrated, disillusioned, embittered. We're not conquerors. We're more than conquerors." -Courson-

i love that quote.

today i was riding in a car with a friend and we were listening to switchfoot. i commented on how i saw the song live, and he was envious. i also commented on how i saw phil wickham live. envious. he later showed me a beautiful scenic picture where he had climbed and asked "how would you like to have been naked here?" i responded with, "i've been to a cooler place. naked and pushing boulders down a 1000 ft rock face." his response was, "you have all the experiences kevin." that got me thinking. i have a crap load of things in my life that i have done and completely overlook most of the time.

i can think, off the top of my head, two times in my life where i will never overlook the feeling, emotion, and experiences that occurred. one being the beyond trip last summer..actually, last summer in general. and the other would be this past week.

here's how it went down.
rich-hey, judy just payed for our plane tickets to the cali student staff conference. which means your in now.
me-sweet.
two days before-hey mom, is it cool if i go to cali?
mom-what? payed for? ok.
last friday i ended up in san diego with rich, drew and ross for a young life student staff conference at a camp called oakbridge. we get there, the father in law picks us up and we go sight seeing. stopping by Point Loma, and it was to coolest campus i've ever been too. went down to ocean beach. had a fantastic burger then booked it to oakbridge. it's always interesting finding out what a speaker is going to talk about, and this time it was a very strange coincidence. backing up a bit, earlier that week i had found out that i didn't get the internship that i was basically set on. i was convinced that i would get it, and that it was exactly where God wanted me to be, my calling so to speak. well turns out the whole weekend was devoted to God's calling in our lives. weird. just like every other yl camp, there was an all camp quiet. during this time i stood in the middle of a field and tried to pray. but nothing was coming out. i didn't know what to do. that's never happened to me before, i had no idea what to say to God. for the first time in a while i truly cared about what was going on in my life. you see, i tend to overlook things and just take them as they are, which i tend to feel like its a good quality. not that i have no sympathy, empathy, or passion, but i honestly look at things, good or bad, and have a trust in God. but this time i was almost upset. life has just not been going to well. not talking about the abundant life that God gives us, but the one that we fall subject to. this worldly life that showers us, consumes us. causes us to worry, to fear, that life has been under the weather so to speak. and i had ran out of things to say to God, there was literally nothing in me that had inspiration. all hopes felt as if they had ran away. almost felt like i did laying in my bed 3 years ago. a contentment that was not so pleasant. so i opened my bible to the only place i knew i would find peace. Romans 8. my eyes fell upon verses 20-28--
For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

i, as well as many others im sure, find myself in prayers demanding things of God. asking Him to do things for me. for the first time, i sat back and just asked Him into my everyday thoughts, opened the door for Him to come in and do what ever he wants in my house. instead of just limiting Him to the family room couch. it felt good. and of course following this passage is the one at the top. and following that one is my favorite verse. "For i am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels or demons, nor the present or things to come, nor other powers, neither height nor depth, or anything in all of creation will separate me from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ". and that's the first account.

leaving oakbridge refreshed and feeling a new calling from God, we headed to LA to go to Mosaic. Erwin McManus' church. it was flippin sweet. before worship a man got up and talked about working together as a body, and knowing that as that body there is no condemnation. if He is with us the who is against us. he quoted those 3 passages above. and that's the second account.

After the church service we hit up some huntington beach, the sand was heavenly. monday morning started with some pool action and some fantastic conversation about life and the conference and what God is doing. it was sweet. padre's game? for free? seventh row? alright sweet.

facebook status sunday night-death is the period at the end of a sentence that needs to be rewritten. my dad commented on that status with a verse. can you guess which one? yup, romans 8:38-39. and folks, that's the third account, in three days of this verse, in completely random situations. this verse had already been near to me with a very special and powerful influence. after this past week, it will always be with me, at my side. so looking back at where i've been, proves that where i'm going in life is gonna be sweet. cause where i've been is in the valleys and at the mountain tops with God. He's been there in the past, he'll be there in the future. i'm truly blessed with what's happened in my life and the experiences i've had. for i am convinced.

The Christian Experience

looking through selected readings, although few, in my room i stumbled upon a folder full of essays. believe it or not, this was an essay my dad wrote in 1975. kind of a cool read, so here it is. hope its enjoyable.

why is there sorrow and strife when the world holds so much beauty? why are we plagued with obsession, slander, gossip, and hate, when there's no provision made for these on this isle that we live. in the still dark night when man is fast asleep his affects on the world and their outcome go practically unnoticed. the night gives insight to the peace and harmony that God intended. but then if nature shows inherent signs of God's handiwork, why doesn't man? the answer is that the Lord himself opened to man for acceptance, or rejection and most men choose the latter. these men are like cars driving down the freeway without any tires. what results is an array of sparks shooting up on all sides from the forced contact of the metal tire rim's on hard coarse pavement. that's what life is like without the buffer provided by Christ; forced, hard and coarse with sparks of anger, indecision, pain, and suffering winging up around us, imprisoning us...killing us. amongst all the ignorance and death there does lie an alternative, that being, life through the "Christian experience." the only problem lies in disbelief.

the christian experience is the condition produced in the mental, moral, and spiritual nature of man by the Holy Spirit of God, as a result of the establishment of a personal relationship with his son, Jesus Christ.

many people have the impression that the Christian conversion is a psychologically induced experience brought about by brainwashing the subject with persuasive words and emotional presentations of Christian "myths". an evangelist is though of as a psychologist manipulating weak, helpless minds into conformity with his own views. some people even suggest that the christian experience can be explainedon the basis of conditioned reflexes. they claim that anyone, after repeated exposure to christian thoughts, can get caught in a type of "spiritual hypnosis" in which he will mechanically react in certain ways under certain conditions. perhaps the christian experience can be described psychologically, but this doesn't tell the all important WHY it happens nor explains its reality. the "why" of the christian experience is Jesus Christ. Furthermore this "object" of our faith isn't some philosophical invention of man's mind, but a physical, historical reality. christians can believe that their sins have been forgiven because forgiveness was accomplished and recorded in history by the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross. christians can believe that Christ is now living within them because he was raised from the dead in history.

you can also view the christian experience through its "objective reality". look at the transformation of the lives of millions of people when they become related by faith to Jesus. although they're from every walk of life and from all nations of the world, they are changed in remarkably similar ways. if you think this is a delusion, then it must be quite a delusion. once a redeemed drunk, with vivid memory of past struggles and a new sense of strength through Christ replied to the charge that "his religion was a delusion." he said: thank God for the delusion, it has put clothes on my children, shoes on their feet and bread in their mouths.

it's made a man out of me and has put joy and peace in my home, which had been a hell. this is only a specific reality, it is by far no the most though of problem nor probably not the worst. but you see, it doesn't matter how big the issue, if you don't have Christ those metal rims are going to start wearing against the hard coarse pavement. the first couple of sparks we handle pretty well, we just sort of brush them as everyday life. no matter how good we are at this, we're just fooling ourselves, because with time these sparks start to mount and they keep accumulating until before long you can no longer deceive yourself by saying, 'they don't exist' or 'they don't matter.' if you are lucky you see this awful reality, some people never do, they spend their whole lives deceiving themselves. i'm glad there is a way out of this via the christian experience..my experience. if only people would let it be a world experience

comfortably awknowledging a slight fabrication

this past week. shall i give a run down? you got it.
worship concert with great pals.
driving back from concert and everyone is asleep.
park action with wheels, deals, crocks and a guitar.
pork to tortilla, followed by apples to apples.
no such thing as an early night.
im a middle schooler night.
sleeping bag worm fights on trampolines.
naked runs through quiet house at 4 in the am.
paranormal activity.
stoagy sesh.
talk about the future wifey? sure.
played cajon in the magical worship sesh for good friday service.
remembering what its like to have a slumber party.
cuddle fest 2010 on a roof with billions of blankets.
stoagy sesh.
all in all. this spring break was a great time to just sit back and do fun things with some of my best pals. i guess your a young life leader when some of your closest friends are still in high school. thats just how it goes.

there's a song called distraction by angels and airwaves. if you don't know it, then listen to it. its fantastic. the chorus sings "i'll be your distraction". what are we going to let be our distraction? this brings me to the next point. girls. man, sometimes i wish i had one.

in all seriousness, how does it feel to take a lukewarm shower? you know, where the temp is on the brink of being too cold, but there's a little bit of warmth that's keeping you still standing in the shower? it's not even enjoyable! lets apply this to life. because everyone lives a lukewarm life. if Jesus stopped you in your car, in the middle of the highway, and said 'follow me', how many would first pull your car off to the side of the road? who wouldn't even care about the car? who would step out of a materialistic world and into a super-naturalistic eternity? now don't just read those options and automatically say 'well obviously i wouldn't care about the car, i would definitely be stepping into eternity'. actually think about what you would do. this has happened before.
"as they were walking along the road, a man said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' He said to another man, 'Follow me.' but the man replied, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' Jesus said to him, 'let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' still another said, 'i will follow you, lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family.' Jesus replied, 'no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'" (luke 9:57-62)
why do we find things of this world to outweigh the Thing not of this world.
"set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (col 3:2)
coming back in some form or fashion of what you would call a 'full circle', these things leave me thinking about death. more importantly what would i die for? a man once said he would give his life for a youth revolution. he died later that day, and through a song about him thousands are saved. a man was giving a eulogy and said "you never know when God is going to take your life. at that moment, there's nothing you can do about it. are you ready?" am i ready? i find myself standing in a lukewarm shower of what i like to call my life and asking myself if i'm ready? ready to face Jesus. the man giving the eulogy, sat down after saying those words..fell to the ground..and died. am i ready?

"eyes swollen, fading, and weak..these eyes, they still know me"