Vlog 11: It's my favorite number!

It's green! =D

Vlog 9: Marines! som'm like that.

Vlog 8: Rockstars from Mars!

Vlog 7: Choir tour.

Vlog 6: Onomatopoeia Dragon!

Guard your heart.

"Guard your heart above all else,

for it is the source of life." Proverbs 4:23

If you've been a Christian long at all, you've probably heard this verse. Even if you aren't a Christian at all, however, you've probably heard advice like it; let's face it, whether this country was founded as a Christian one or not (which I don't believe it was), Christianity certainly has influenced our cultural heritage, and many idioms, sayings and beliefs stem from verses in the Bible. However, for as much as we all have heard this verse, I would take a gamble to say that nearly every time you heard it referenced it was taken out of context.

Before I get to that, I'll break down what we've always heard it to mean. An example would be easiest, so I'll start with that. Say you're a girl (or guy) who likes someone, and wants to date them. You go to your parents or friends, and somewhere in the conversation, they advise you not to rush into things, to "guard your heart." We have taken this verse to mean guard your heart from other people. Let's face it though, none of us want to get hurt, and there are many untrustworthy people out there! But is this what the Bible is really saying with this verse? Is God advising us to keep closed until we have learned that we can trust someone?

While this may be practical advice, this is not what the verse is saying. In fact, if I had time and had a more fully thought-through argument, I'd say that in the end it's not even practical advice; you'll get just as hurt in the end with a "guarded heart" from someone. But I won't get into that. Instead, lets take a look at the verses before and after this one. They say,

"My son, pay attention to my words;

listen closely to my sayings.

Don't lose sight of them;

keep them within your heart.

For they are life to those who find them,

and health to one's whole body.

Guard your heart above all else,

for it is the source of life.

Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly,

and don't let your lips talk deviously.

Let your eyes look forward;

fix your gaze straight ahead.

Carefully consider the path for your feet,

and all your ways will be established."

Now, nowhere in here do I even hear a slight reference to how we are to be when loving other people. In fact, in even more surrounding verses before and after these that I posted, Solomon has been and continues to talk about walking a straight path and not straying into evil. Solomon is saying to guard your heart from evil, from letting wicked thoughts and actions fill your life. He isn't saying to guard it from people.

So what? Shouldn't we still guard our hearts? I suppose, in the sense that none of us should be absolutely foolish, especially around those that have proven untrustworthy. But don't look to this verse to prove that you should "take a relationship slow" or keep disconnected from another person; I believe we are all made different, even relationally. I for one get connected to people very quickly (and, if you haven't figured out already, I'm not talking about simply romantic relationships), and while that may leave me hurting sometimes, pain isn't sinful, nor is it even something to be avoided. Pain teaches us lessons and can raise our compassion for others' pain, so I believe that those like me who get connected to others quickly shouldn't feel ashamed of it. We can hurt, and then we can be a blessing to those hurting. Nowhere in God's word does it say to be slow to care, and I look forward to showing care to even the random strangers in my life that I have just met, and especially to those who I have known for a while and do care about deeply. I'm not going to stifle that for anyone.

Shalom.

ACR Homes Interview

Vlog 4: That's not Wal-Mart. . . .

Vlog 3: Zombie RPG

Minecraft!

Hey everyone, I've decided that I'm going to take a break and not make a vlog today. I just don't have a whole lot to talk about right now anyway. But it has definitely been a good weekend, and I hope all of your weekends are going well also.

So, I did get minecraft a few days ago, and it is awesome! Seriously, anyone who has heard of this game should get it asap, and if you haven't heard of or seen it then look it up. It looks extremely simplistic, and it kind of is, but it provides the simple pleasure playing with legos once did in a more interesting way. The central focus is on creativity, exploration and survival, if you decide to let the little monsters roam your world. While there isn't a whole lot of action in fighting, which isn't a problem since most of the time you'll want to avoid monsters anyway unless you're farming for a resource they give, watching your little "safety hole" in the beginning turn into a cave, castle, bunker or whatever else you want to make it is immensely satisfying.

For those wondering how I am doing in my own game, I have a pretty good "home" set up that resembles a bunker (at least to me). I've contemplated putting a giant sword on top of it made of steel iron and calling it the sword base, lol, but maybe not. Later, much much later, I'd like to dig out all the dirt and stone that I'm leaving and replace them with iron blocks.

I also have another mine that I started where I farm some sand, because my base has needed a bit of glass. In this other mine (which I only had built so I could stay safe at night and not have to travel back and forth hauling sand back to my base) I have dug to the bedrock and made a number of other branching paths. I think it may be bigger than my bunker at this point.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to talk about for this blog post. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Shalom!

Vlog 2- Your first glimpse of my room!

Faith and Writing

I mentioned on my vlog that I was going to post the devotional I gave for my Advanced Writing of Fiction class, so here it is! Thank you all for reading, and shalom!

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Faith and Writing

Going to a Christian college, it’s easy to get inundated with all the Christian ways to do things. Every class tries to incorporate God directly into what they’re teaching in some way, all the writers on the newspaper seem to feel the need to reference God or Jesus at least five times in their articles, and then there’s the chapels every day, where they encourage you to go even more to some Christian evangelizing event or whatnot evening. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing, it just is what it is. It comes with the territory of going to a Christian college that we all signed up for and even likely wanted. Now, in writing class, we are asked to contemplate faith and writing and how they affect one another.

The concept of faith and writing is rather simple to me anymore, though it wasn’t always. Before I understood faith, or if I really even had it, I would have broken some synapse in my mind trying to figure this one out. But now, to me it seems, faith and writing isn’t something you do, it’s what you live. I believe that if you have faith, writing your faith will be like breathing; it’s going to happen. I say this because who can honestly say that their biases and worldview and beliefs don’t make it into their own writing in some way or another? To write differently from what you believe, truly differently, you would have to become a different person in the most literal sense. Tolkein didn’t set out to write some Christian novel, and I hear even C.S. Lewis wasn’t planning Narnia to be the allegory that it was, but both wrote compellingly beautiful novels that speak to us of God’s love and the struggle between good and evil.

Many young authors feel like they need to directly reference God in their stories, and squirm a little bit when someone asks what their story is going to say about God or if it even has Christian characters. They hesitantly answer that they don’t know to the first question, and “no” to the second, and contemplate scrapping the idea for something that will be a little more “Christiany.” I believe their stories already were. Should we honor God by writing worlds that he didn’t create? And I’m not talking about fantasy here so much as who people are and what they really do. What lessens people really take from day to day life, and what is simply too disgusting for them to believe in their pain. We all like the characters who stick with God unquestioningly when faced with hardship, but how many people really do that? Don’t most rather whine and complain, like Job did? Or doubt, like Thomas, claiming that they must see God’s hands before they will believe? And what does God’s faithfulness really look like? Does everyone get what they want, and then sing praises in the streets in the end? Or rather, is it a subtle learning of love that takes place in their life when they learn of the grace that God has for them, soon or long after learning of their wickedness?

To write faith into one’s stories I would say, then, simply requires one to have faith. To know God, and then faith and writing will happen.

Vlog 1- Train!

Here is my first vlog! I thank you all for watching this, and look forward to getting better.