Christmas music

This is most likely going to make me sound like a terrible person and you know what I might have to repent, but I have a disdain for Christmas music. I have had it for as long as I can remember. This is not to say I won't sing it on certain occasions, such as caroling and what have you, and one of my favorite Shawn McDonald songs is O Holy Night. Overall though I just really don't like it.

What brings this up is the fact that every year KSBJ does nothing but Christmas songs from Thanksgiving day til Christmas day, and I dread it.

Is there something wrong with me that I can only handle Christmas songs in small doses?

Really this only pertains to those really cheery and happy songs like "Here comes Santa Claus", "Jingle Bells", or "White Christmas".

I promise I not a Scrooge, even though it sounds like it. I just can't handle the fakeness of this season. In reality this is one of the craziest and stressful times of the year for a lot of people, and it is like this music is suppose to counteract that.

Well I will not be fooled by lies of this Santa music! I have made it a point to revolt against the norm in this case. Down with pointless jingles and snowy white holidays that have been abused and distorted!

Yeah sorry about that sometimes it just comes out.

What is next?

It is almost that time when I have to start looking for companies that I would like to work for or that will take me, and sending resumes out to them, getting my name out there. I knew this time was coming again... and I felt that I was ready for it, but now I am starting to become more aware of the economy that so many were telling me about and what I was hearing on the TV and radio. I am not necessarily worried about finding a job, I think that will happen in due time as long as I am making a good effort at searching and emailing, but I am conscience of the fact that I might not be here in College Station.

I love College Station, mainly because of the people I have met and the church that God has brought me too, and it is where I would really like to stay and start a family and career. (big plan small steps that is what I tell myself)

Though I am willing to go somewhere else, I don't really want to start all over again, kind of a selfish reason, but it is the truth. There is just so much I have learned here and so much growth that I have been able to see that has gone on here, and I know that I won't stop learning or growing just because I move away. How easy do we relate an experience to a place? Like it couldn't happen somewhere else or as if God doesn't move in other places. Haha. That is how ridiculous our thoughts are sometimes.

So this is going to be an interesting next few months as I trust and wait patiently on where God will lead me. I have seen and know He is capable of amazing things, and I am excited about finishing school and getting back to work to be able to provide for myself and/or family if that so happens to take place.

My prayer is that I would trust God, that He always provides even when it is not the way I want Him too, and in that I would be constantly reminded that I am not in control(that is a hard one for me at times). There so much stress when we try to take loads that we cannot carry and so much peace when we give that load over to Christ.

Religion vs. Christianity

I have for some time now argued, mainly with myself, this idea of calling myself a baptist or any other name for that matter, other than Christian. Before I start I must put this disclaimer, there is nothing horribly wrong with being called a Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, or Calvinist, but there is a problem when that name defines you. Let me try to hopefully explain all this.

All my life I grew up in a baptist church, I was lost but that is what I grew up going to, and what I remember of it is a lot of do's and don'ts. Every time someone would ask me what denomination I was I would always say baptist, and as we continued to talk we would talk about what we do and don't do as a religion. I don't know how I got to this point but I just remember having enough of explaining. I was tired seeing the expression on peoples face when I said I was a baptist. The actual idea of claiming to be a baptist made me sick, I mean who cares really what religion you are, religion is man made.

I believe we have twisted these words, such as Baptist, to define what we do and do not do, and we leave out the biblical applications of why that religion existed in the first place. The problem I have is not with the word Baptist or Pentecostal, but rather with what we have made those words mean today. I refuse to ever call myself a Baptist or a Calvinist even though those are the two main groups that I agree with when it comes to biblical understanding. The term Calvinist leaves just an unsettling feeling inside of me. Here is my reasoning, when I call myself a Calvinist or Baptist I am saying this is what I line myself up with, this is what I follow, and don't misunderstand me that in itself is not bad, but why would I call myself a Baptist or a Calvinist when I could say that I am a follower of Christ and cover both of those titles? I believe the answer is because we have made the Bible say what we want it to say, we leave out scripture or we lift up other scripture as more important, and so "Christian" becomes very broad and can mean a host of things, so we try to narrow it down by using "Baptist".

Understand I agree very much with guys like John Calvin, John Piper, D.A. Carson, C.J. Mahaney and Mark Driscoll, I do look to these for better understanding over passages I don't get, but I would never call myself a Piperian or a Carsonite.

I wonder what John Calvin or Martin Luther would say if they were here today and you said you were a Calvinist or a Lutheran. I can't imagine that they would be ok with that. We are to follow Christ that is who we are to be imitating.(Ephesians 5:1-2)

It seems that we dilute every title that is good, and I think we are doing that to the title of Christian as well. We say we are Christians because in Texas is it good for business or because that is what girls look for in a guy. So we use that and abuse that and distort the true meaning of it. Christianity is not a list of do's and don'ts, it is freedom, it is realizing that we can do nothing good and we can not save ourselves. We needed a Savior to save us from our sin and that is why Christ came that if we believe in Him alone we might be presented in the righteousness of Christ before a just and holy God.

This is the difference of religion verses Christianity... to me

I miss summer

I realize when most people put up a picture it is to represent what the blog is about and this one is no different, so I am sure someone might be confused.(Whoever reads this thing)

It is barely even fall and I already wish it was summer again. I mean don't get me wrong I am loving this weather, it is pretty much amazing, but there is still so many things about summer that can't compare. One of those things is surfing in warm water or if the water is cold at least the beach is hot.

June 1 of every year is like a birthday to me, I get excited when it starts getting near. It is the start of hurricane season! Now I am not some fool who is bent on destruction or people losing everything they own, I am content with a hurricane spinning out in the Gulf of Mexico for a while and then dissolving, but that doesn't happen and it has to go somewhere. In Texas, in the summer, hurricanes = big powerful waves which = good surfing.

All I ever hear is "you can't surf in Texas", in which I have to wipe the "are you kidding me" look off my face and kindly say "yeah, you can."

I owe much of my enthusiasm of surfing to a good friend from Bryan, Texas, who I randomly met in a physics class at Blinn. I have no clue how this guy got into surfing, sorta crazy when you realize that Bryan is 2 hours away from the coast. This guy pumps me up all the time, and is always trying to get me to make crazy trips to the coast, what can I say, when it comes to surfing I fall to peer pressure. Well, this summer he finally got me to make a trip with him. Destination? Jacksonville Florida for Hurricane Bill. We drove 14 hours on a Thursday morning got there surfed 12 foot waves for two days and came back on Sunday stoked, sore and ready for more. That was definitely one of my favorite trips.

But now it is winter...and hurricane season is 7 months away