The Great I Am

This is my new favorite worship song. The word "I" is only used to say how much we want to see God.

I wanna to be close close to your side 
So heaven is real and death is a lie 
I wanna hear voices of angels above 
Singing as one 

Hallelujah Holy Holy 
God almighty Great I am 
Who is worthy 
None beside Thee 
God Almighty 
Great I Am 

I wanna be near near to your heart 
Loving the world hating the dark 
I want to see dry bones living again 
Singing as one 

The mountains shake before Him 
The demons run and flee 
At the mention of the name 
King of Majesty 
There is no power in hell 
Or any who can stand 
Before the power and the presence of the Great I am 

I know how worship songs are written and I have a great respect for all of them, but in today's Christian culture, I find we sing about ourselves a lot. We sing about what God has done for us, what he can do for us, and how we love him so much. These things are not bad in any way and they reveal and describe the awesome characteristics of God, but it's nice to find a song that leaves all that behind and simply focuses on how amazing, holy, and incredible God is. My church jammed to this song for probably a half hour today, and it was awesome to be in the moment and forget everything but the glory of God. 

Red Pandas

If you ask anyone in my family, they will tell you that I love cats. They will also tell you that whenever we see a fox, which is quite often, in our woody neighborhood I always say that I wish that I had a pet fox. They're adorable!

But alas, I have found better. A fellow from my brother floor at school posted the following clip on facebook tonight: 

I'm in love! Fox+cat=RED PANDA! I'd never even heard of these cute little guys, but here are a few facts, thanks to the ever useful wikipedia.


The red panda (Ailurus fulgens, or shining-cat), is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China.


The red panda has been classified as Vulnerable by IUCN because its population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals. 


They are generally quiet except for some twittering and whistling communication sounds.


It has a “false thumb” that is an extension of the wrist bone. When descending a tree headfirst, the red panda rotates its ankle to control its descent, one of the few climbing species to do so.

They're so cute! 

Looks like I found what to put on my Christmas list! Too bad I couldn't bring it to school with me me. This is what I will really be asking for: 

BOOM. Awesomeness. 

Islands and Dust

With today being the last day of classes, finals are really in full swing. I watched one of my very good friends graduate college this morning. Lots has been happening. 

Millions of people have gone through finals week, and yet, when the time rolls around again, it's all we ever talk about on Facebook. Of course this isn't a bad thing, and I'm sure I've posted about finals too, but let's take a little look at our perspective here. 

Right now, the big things that have my attention are finishing my Exegesis paper, finishing a classroom management plan, and studying for four major tests. The tasks seem daunting, but only when I ignore all perspectives but my own. 

This semester I had the pleasure of taking Systematic Theology 1. For all of you at home who do not attend the fine establishment of North Central University, it's basically a class where I learn what Pentecostals believe and why. For the majority of the semester, I didn't put much effort into the class. I was able to study the notes and get decent grades on the tests, so that's what I did. I regret this, but it's a lesson learned. Then one day, with about a month left of class, I started actually listening to the lecture and was fascinated. I was reminded that this was exactly why I chose to go to a school where I would not only be taught all I need in the area of academics, but where I would also be taught how to understand, synthesize, and share the Gospel. This is all of humanity's ultimate calling. 

Along with listening in class, I began to read the textbook last night. Today I stumbled upon not a great epiphany or discovery, but simply a Bible verse being explained. Isaiah 40:15 says,

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; 

they are regarded as dust on the scales; 

he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

At the mention of an island, I instantly thought of Hawaii. Hawaii has the area of 10,931 square miles and its width is 1,422 miles. 

Now Hawaii obviously isn't the largest landmass on the planet, but the fact that this large, beautiful, breathtaking island is the size of dust to God is something that makes me stop and think. Having a God so big puts me more at ease about my little problems that won't matter much farther down the road, but at the same time it makes me feel overwhelmingly blessed that he would care for me so greatly when Hawaii is like a fleck of dust to him. 

No Expectations

I feel that the one thing humankind will never quite figure out is how to deal with each other. There's no handbook on how to make, keep, and throughly enjoy friends, and even with the best intentions, selfish desires usually take hold and leave us asking, "What am I getting out of this?" Obviously, that is the exact opposite of what should be asked. With relationships, the whole 'you get out what you put in' mentality doesn't always work. You can put in all the effort you want, and unless the other person feels so inclined, there is a chance of receiving nothing in return. But this isn't the point of relationships. The point is to enjoy the other person's company in that moment, no matter what is given back. The point is to forget all agendas and simply live to love, expecting nothing back. As people who want to accomplish things, we formulate these goals for our relationships in our heads and always think of what could be, but this thinking almost always leads to frustration when it doesn't happen or expectations that don't get fulfilled. When affection is given with the sole motivation to be given affection in return, real love cannot develop. Real love is selfless, pure, and completely free of charge.

Noah and the Whale

I went to see Noah and the Whale a while ago with some awesome people. It was my first time at Minneapolis's famous First Ave venue, and it was phenomenal.

There's something about handsome British men in full suites playing violin and singing that just makes everything okay. ;)

Styrofoam and Mirror Art

It's been forever. School rules my life but I still have time to be artful. Here's my latest creation.

Step 1: Garbage pick some styrofoam.
Step 2: Paint it blue

Step 3: Splatter the white.

Step 4: Be awesome.

Human Obsession

When I feel empty I tend to try to find things to fill myself up with. I attempt to shove music, TV shows, books, and other hobbies into the uniquely shaped space that I should be letting God fill every day. The greatest and probably the most dangerous thing I try to force into that space is people and their roles in my life. This is not saying that I necessarily worship people that I know, but I do spend far too much of the time and thought on them that rightly belongs to God.
This is not a new experience for me and I have dealt with this many, many times, but it has been only recently that I started questioning why this happens. There will be seasons where no person can get between myself and God and then there will be times where literally everyone is standing between Him and I. Seasons happen and things change, and you can insert your typical mountain top and valley of death sermon here, blah, blah, blah. But why do we become obsessed with people? Why does it seem that people can capture our hearts in a stronger and quicker fashion than God can? Why do we give into people with much less hesitation than when we give into God?
There is a simple answer to this, which is that we are humans and that we give into what we want to do instead of what we know God wants us to, but why people? God is clearly superior to any human ever in existence, and yet when we are given the opportunity to spend time with God or our best friend, we most likely choose the less divine. Human interaction and interaction with God are quite different, and God obviously wants us to have fellowship and good relationships, but why does it get so out of hand?
My main theory concerning this issue is the fact that as humans we love what we see when we look at other humans, which happens to be the very image of God.
I recently read the book Captivating by Stasi and John Eldredge, and my favorite part of the book was the explanation of how men and woman received different traits of God in their creation. I think that many times we start believing we are simply these little humans roaming the Earth and that life is just time ticking by. We forget that we contain actual traits and qualities of God and that we were made in His image.
As humans we are simply made to seek God and be completely in love with Him. Sometimes laziness gets the best of us and we settle for the next best thing, which are the qualities of God in the people around us. We're drawn to God in others, but adoring the creation without acknowledging the Creator is like trying to turn on a lamp that isn't plugged in. No matter how many times you flip the switch the result remains the same.