[ bona fide God ]

   Jesus didn't care if He offended people.

   Welcome to a fact that has rocked my world for the past month or so. I'm not completely sure where I heard this, although I have a feeling it was probably Kris Vallotton. [But don't take that reference for real.]

   Example: Matthew 13.1-17, and 36-43.

   In the first part, Jesus is telling the parable of the sower, of the seed falling on good ground, etc. He ends with saying, "He who has ears, let him hear."

   That's a puzzling phrase. And He clearly isn't talking about physical ears. But He also doesn't bother to explain this -- nor the parable He had just told. Not until the disciples come up to Him and ask Him what He meant.

   And right after that, Jesus goes on again to tell another parable, this time about the weeds taking over the wheat. Again, He doesn't bother to explain until His disciples ask Him to.

   Curious, isn't it? Usually when you're saying something that isn't literal, that has a deeper, hidden meaning, you'll explain it so your audience gets it. So your teaching doesn't go completely to waste. But obviously Jesus wasn't concerned about this. To me, His attitude says "either you get it, or you don't, but there it is."

   I love it. That's my kind of attitude. haha. [Those of you who know me well can just nod in agreement.]

   Another example: Matthew 23.1-36.

   Jesus rips a good one on the scribes and Pharisees. Specifically in 33: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"

   I mean, really. Jesus just isn't concerned about offending people. Which is so refreshing to discover.

[ americans are chickens ]

   Americans are chickens. Scardy cats. Whatever you want to call it.

   We're so afraid of what someone else is going to think of our actions, or what we say.

   I think we need to be less concerned about what other people think, and be more concerned of what God thinks.

   Tonight, my dear girlfriend [shoutout to Taralah] and I hosted a night at our church. God had been putting some things on our hearts lately -- specifically about worship and dance, and really felt it was important to share with others.

   Throughout the years, God has really shown the two of us different perspectives on what dance really is.

   I went into my DTS wondering whether dance was going to continue to have a place in my life, if I should continue it at all. After multiple times of God repeatedly telling me that I did in fact need to keep dancing, I finally realized that dance was such a big part of who I am.

   But even more than that, that it was a very powerful form of worship and intercession for me. Something that was spoken over me during DTS as well was that I crush demons beneath my feet when I dance. If that isn't spiritual warfare, then I don't know what is.

   And after not having danced for too long, I began to feel off, not myself, and incredibly cranky. By the end of a bad week, I finally realized I needed to do something about it and go dance. So I gathered up my things and headed to the Ohana court and practiced for the next 3 hours. Needless to say, I felt amazing afterwards. Completely myself again. I had been denying such a big part of who I was when I hadn't been dancing. It's so crucial for me, I began to see.

   So all this to say that dance took on a totally different value for me. I know that it's something God has gifted me with to bless others with and do some serious battling and worshipping.

   Tonight was a huge step forward for me in this. Taralah and I did a couple of dances together, none of it was choreographed. Which I don't do. I mean, trust me, I do not do that. I have specific dances and steps that I know by heart, and I do those. I don't do improv. But that's exactly what I challenged myself to do tonight.

   And shoot, the first dance was crap. I was nervous and freaking out up until I started dancing. I was offtime with the music and I messed up and tripped on the wood.

   But that's not the point.

   The point is that I decided to take a step of faith, put myself out there with the risk of looking like a fool for God not knowing what the heck I'm doing, and dance whatever comes to mind.

   And that was one of the most freeing things I've ever done. Because I stood there and chose not to care what everyone else in the room would think. Why? Because their opinion shouldn't matter to me. God's should.

[ how to: live a long life ]

   Ephesians 6:1-3 has been on my heart for a few days. So here it goes.

   ¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. [NIV]

    Wait, what?

   Yeah, Paul not only just quoted one of the Ten Commandments, saying that it's right to honor your parents -- but by doing so, God will bless you with a longer life. Well shoot kids, I'd say that in itself is a good motivation to honor your parents.

   But what is honoring your parents? I think we tend to automatically refer to "obey", and leave out the honoring part. What I'm getting at is that just because you obey doesn't necessarily mean you're honoring them.

   "Attitude is the clothing of the heart", one of our speakers wisely stated.

   So in that, your attitude towards your parents when you obey them will determine whether or not you're honoring them. What's your attitude telling them?

   Honoring your parents doesn't just apply when they're around either. You know, one of the biggest things I noticed when I began high school [after being home schooled for 5 years] was that very few kids honored their parents. They trashed them verbally; few had good things to say about them.

[ 2 + 2 = chicken ]

   A lot of this will tag along with my last blog post -- which I highly recommend reading before this, actually.

   Watch this to begin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUvw2McL8g

   First of all, I really enjoyed Rob Bell's "Everything is Spiritual" spiel. Loved it, actually. I love that kind of science, digging into the deepness and intricate matter of God's creation.
   But with this, he's just gone completely off into something that doesn't line up with the Bible at all. And I really fail to see how any of this can be Biblical.
   It just doesn't add up. 2 + 2 = chicken? I don't think so.

   See, a lot of people have this idea that God's love is unconditional. As it seems, Bell believes as well, with "Love Wins."

   The Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
   So where does that notion come from? Where did that originate?
   In fact, how does that line up with people who don't choose God going to Hell?

   The term "unconditional love", I feel, comes from our own inability to handle a God that does send people to Hell. I think it's easier for me to understand because I understand the whole gift of free will, hence humans being able to choose their own path and end result of their life. [Enternal life vs. enternal death.]

   It's just really scary for me to think that people believe what Bell is talking about here.

   You know, I think what I've realized is that we don't understand what God's love is at all. I think our human minds understand what human love is. But God's love is completely different. And so much more profound. I think we need to redefine what God's love is. Or what it isn't.