I was again researching rock band websites and what not and found a blog by Andrew Schwab of Project 86 that made me give a silent Oh, crap. (It is almost midnight.) Anyway, he was talking about a book he had read by a very well known "Christian" author who has had mass success with his wide smile on the cover of his self help books. The book he referred to basically said that God wants you to be happy and to have an absolutely perfect life here on earth. After I read the Schwab article I realized that what I wrote in my last post may be read that I was saying exactly what the smiling author wrote.

Sorry if that's what you thought I meant. It's not. And I want to apologize to everyone for making that huge of a mistake. To quote Schwab, "Notice Jesus never said “Follow this simple formula to unlock your potential within.” If my desire in coming to God is motivated by what he can give me, or how he can make me feel, then my ultimate desire is self-focused, rather than Christ-focused. If I treat God as the divine genie, or the eternal “life-improver,” then I think I have missed the point entirely." The real reason for coming to Christ is not to be happy, as I sort-of said earlier, it is to worship. Now, is happiness a side effect of worship, I believe it is. That is what I tried to say earlier. Okay, glad to get that all cleared up.

A word from David Crowder...

Heaven Came Down - We tried to put this song together musically in a way that if you were to draw a picture of it, it would look like the crescendo sign. Yet we wanted to carry the idea of God coming toward in a way that was steady but not necessarily linear, so, the arrangement of the song never goes from one section to the next in the same way. In our dynamic relationship with God A + B very rarely equals C. His light is indeed breaking through but in ways that we can never predict or settle into or get our heads around. The glow is growing ever more brilliant. The dawn is coming. Freedom from darkness is a possibility and you can feel it coming...

It goes without saying, but I totally agree with Crowder here. Case in point, maybe; this week I just had a totally amazing experience. It started when I found the Stephen Christian blogpost and has just been morphing each day. I've really never been closer to God than in these past few days and if it took a disaster in my life a couple weeks ago to get me to this point, then so be it. Okay... all I'm trying to say is that without a great relationship with God, I was pretty unhappy, now I've never been more happy. So, if you are struggling like I was, and still am, don't get me wrong, you need to find something that helps you to really feel God. For me, it was dark nights on the computer looking at rock band websites. For others, it is sitting on a rock with a Bible and thinking...
Hopefully, all of this made sense to you... and if you don't have the relationship I'm talking about, just sit down and think, figure out if something is missing in your life, or if you need to change something. But, you don't have to listen to me...

I came across this tonight, so yes, I did just copy and paste this into my profile. However, I really think this is something that everyone needs to read/work on. It comes from one of my favorite singers in the entire world, Stephen Christian of Anberlin. So, put on some thinking music and read on.

the (un)easiest acquisition.

praise is an easy acquisition, anyone that considers you a friend or you consider them a friend would instantaneously extend a kind word upon request. compliments seem to waterfall from most parents (hopefully) at random occasions and most of the time you don’t even have to ask for their approval, they simply profess it without a proposition.

the challenge in life is not to acquire praise but seeking criticism; Wilma askinas said “A friend is someone who sees through you and still enjoys the view.”
other people already know the dark/negative sides of us even when we ourselves cannot see it. it takes a real man or women to ask our true friends “what are some areas of my life you see i need to work on? what are some of my character flaws and how do you think i can improve them?”

by knowing the answers to these questions and NOT TAKING OFFENCE TO THE ANSWERS YOU RECIEVE, digesting them, and working on those areas in our life to improve ourselves we are not only working on/out our shortcomings but improving ourselves and the lives of the people around us.

'honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger'. Franklin Jones
mr. jones was saying that criticism is going to be hard to take from anyone; and it will be. most friends are going to be VERY hesitant about giving you the truth until they see why you want it and trust you that you are not going to be defensive and begin to point out their flaws. unwanted criticism about personalities and character is the poison in the vein of a healthy friendship. never point out someone’s flaws just because you assume they want to change as well. if you do ask your friends the heart wrenching questions above you will see that one has to arrive in a particular mental state, prepared for the number of discouraging answers one might receive, before you even initially ask. let them see the improvement in your life by applying the solutions to their answers and they will want to ask you the same questions down the road.

why not improve? why not question our family and friends with these questions? why live in a constant state of denial the rest of our lives? realize that the only person you are deceiving is yourself, everyone around you knows your shortcomings! what holds us back is not a lack of time, deep friendship, or honesty… it is merely PRIDE. it is the deception of self-righteousness that is the ugliest cause of the constant lack of improvement in our character and lives.

Kill Pride. Improve.

look him up...www.anberlin.com, modesty.blogspot.com