love?

Here's another quote from C. S. Lewis...

"Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained."

I remember when Kitty was still a puppy. I remember smacking here a lot. I remember many would feel bad for her because she got smacked way too much...specially when she stepped out of the sidewalk. I even heard some say, "she's alright, she didn't know..." when she got spanked. Yes, i'm sure it hurt her or maybe just scared her...but they didn't know what it was for. Many thought we only did it because we didn't like the behavior or she disobeyed. We didn't like spanking her but we had to do it...we had to to keep her from getting hurt. Wow, that doesn't make any kind of sense...hurt her to keep her from getting hurt. Well, as some of you know...Kitty will never cross the street without being told. She sits and usually waits for us to tell her it's ok to go. Of course, there would be times when she gets too excited (dumb moment) and runs after something and not think about the street but that's pretty rare. So, how does that help her from getting hurt? Should be obvious...her risk of getting run over by a moving vehicle is way lower compared to a lot of dogs out there. Yeah...she doesn't know that but we do. There's just no way we can ever explain, how this all works, to her...she's a dog. She knows what it means when we say "no" and "go on". That's all she need.

Back to the quote. We all know that Kitty's a dog...but, we still "wished," for her, the ultimate good. Even if it means hurting her for a bit. And wishing doesn't just stop at just wishing. That's like praying for a job and after praying, sitting on the couch watching tv. No, that's not how we work. That's not how Christians live. It did say in the book of James..."As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." That "wishing" involves action...either by words or by action.

What brought this topic up?

I was going through my myspace friend list to delete some guys I don't really talk to anymore. And during this myspace cleanup I ran across the Public Unrest profile. Wow...good 'ol days, right? Yeah it was fun...played some shows, wasted a ton of money on eating out and gas, sold some shirts and cd's, reached out to some kids and then...and then what? We never really showed them what real love was all about. We spoke about it, maybe even sang about it...but didn't really follow up...no action behind our words. Sounds like dead faith. We just let everyone do whatever they wanted to do even when it was literally destroying them. I think about punk rock Rob and how much of a friend we (Public Unrest) are that we just let him destroy his life. Is that the love that we are to show people? Is that the love God showed us? I really don't think so. I remember realizing how pathetic I am when God finally turned my heart around because He loves me. He really showed me how much of a failure I am. For what? To make Him feel good? Maybe. I think it's because He loves me so much. He loves us so much that He would and will show us the truth (usually hurts) for our best...'cause He knows what's best for us. So, is that the kind of love we showed to our Public Unrest friends? Is that the kind of love we are showing to our loved ones now? Are we wishing, for our loved ones', the ultimate goood? Don't get me wrong...this is not everything about love...this is just a part of love we usually leave out. The rebuking part...the discipline. Yes, it will hurt some.

Everytime Nate and I talk about the Public Unrest days and all the kids we had an opportunity to hand out with, it makes me question myself on how much I really cared about the band and all the kids. I have to be honest...didn't really care much during that time, I guess...now that I think about it and look back on how I backed up the songs with my actions. If I really cared, I would've said something. I should have said something. Maybe I did...don't really remember. But even if I did, I didn't say enough. But that's all in the past now...can't do much about that. But, I can do something about today. It's still hard for me to do that part of love...still hard to rebuke someone and keep them accountable because I don't want them getting hurt at the moment, I don't wont them to "not like me". But I have to remember that it's just for that moment. The ultimate goal is for them not to be hurting for eternity. The ultimate goal is God's goal for every single one of us...eternity with Him.

So, for those of you kids reading this from myspace...if you have any "friends" who let you do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want...probably not the greatest friend to have around. It just means they don't care much about what you do.

Chrisitans, what are you doing with your life today?

Here's a quote from C. S. Lewis...

"Good an evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible."

Think about that really hard then think of how many times we've actually experienced this.

I've seen many who have fallen into this. I've seen young kids make one small, wrong decision in life and ends up in a really nasty pit. I actually started skipping school when I started going to community college...one day my friend decided that we were going to skip school just for one day...ended up missing half the semester. I realized how easy it was to skip school and still keep my grades up...until missing school turned into a really bad habit. I had to drop 2 of my classes that year because I knew I wasn't going to get out of the class with a passing grade. One bad decision = wasted semester = wasted money. But, that example is actually not that bad. Think of all the kids who got pregnant at the wrong time (not God's time). Think of all the time they would have to skip (growing up, being a teenager...10 years) to raise a child which most are not ready for that responsibility. Life, the teenage life, is literally over for them. For what? To look cool for your "friends"? To satisfy a worldly desire? Well, guess what? God knows all of that and he has a special plan just for you. Yes, even for pleasure. But you'll have to wait for HIS time. You have to or it just won't work out as great as God had planned it...and God's plans are super sweet. An example of God's sweet plan...

I got layed off from a job (normal for being in this industry) in the beginning of summer. I thought, cool...this is going to be a nice week to catch up with my World of Warcraft characters (online game), watch some movies and just relax. Well, the next day I received a call to go out to a job at the Bud plant in Fairfield. So that's where I worked for the whole summer and actually still dispatched there. That's a good thing...work is always a good thing. What I didn't like about it is the overtime work we had to do all summer. 10 hour days, 6 days a week for 4 months. Most of you will think that's a good thing...overtime money...lots of money. But I didn't want the money. There were many times that I wanted to just call-in because I was just tired from working so many hours but I knew that God gave this job for me and I need to be thankful that I have a job...thankful...can't take it for granted, so I worked all the days. I hated working so much...I missed a whole summer of Saturday morning hockey. But God had it all planned out. We found out mid-summer that we were going to have twins. Knowing this, we started looking for a bigger place. Well, this bigger place was actually bigger than we imagined. All the overtime work gave us enough money to save up for a down payment for an actual house. Trying to make this story short...we now have a house that is way bigger than our old duplex. All these, from making the small but right decision to go to work everyday. Little decision in the beginning of summer to having twins to having our own house. What a blessing! I never would've thought of having our own house by the end of this year...never even planned for anything this huge. This is the victory I never dreamed of.

Ah...so what's the point of all these? Do what God tells you to do today. Choose to follow God's plan today. You never know what He has planned for you. It might not make any sense at all right now but God's plan is always the greatest plan. Remember.

Papa Malabuyo

meaningless...what's your (follower of Christ) life like?

Christians, we've come a long way. God wakes us up every morning...we get ready for school, work, or whatever it is that we do everyday. We go through life throughout the week then what...we wake up Sunday morning to celebrate Jesus. Then back to the normal routine. We may even go to a mid-week Bible study...read and study God's word everyday, pray everyday...for what? To prepare us for Sunday morning? We play our instuments as part of the worship team on Sunday, lead Bible studies, serve in the different ministries, take our kids to church programs...and this is what Christianity is all about?

I don't know about you guys, but I see way too many of us doing this routine and we're satisfied with it...satisfied with our Christianity. What's wrong with that? We're living a good life, fellowshiping with believers, we're serving in the church...that's what God wants us to do, right? Of course, but does it end there? The problem with those routines is that we get satisfied and comfortable. Comfortable is not a bad thing but if that is it...if that's what our Christianity is all about, then it's a problem. The outcome of being comfortable is losing sight of what it's really all about. When we lose sight/focus on Jesus, we focus on other things...like the style of music. Do you really think that the music style you like is what they're going to play in Heaven? Really? It's just that I hear way too many of us, when looking for a church, that's the first thing we we look for in a church...style of music. Wow, that's our Christianity? Yeah, it sounds so obvious..."it shouldn't be like that." But, you know what...that's what it is when we lose focus. Another example...the pastor didn't go deep enough, read enough from the Bible, or too much, or he's too seeker friendly, or even this..."I didn't get anything from him." Is that why we go to church? To get more from God? To hear our style of music? To hear the message we want to hear? Sounds a bit selfish...but that's where most of us are...that is what our Christianity is looking like. Since when did God start calling us to go somewhere to be comfortable, to get what we want from the church, to be entertained?

When Nate and I finally got free from Castlewood, we looked at 2 churches (New Harbor and North Gate). North Gate was great, awesome worship songs, good sermon (don't remember what it was about...that's how good it is), and the people were very nice. New Harbor, well, it was a lot smaller than Norht gate and we saw that they could use some help with the music ministry. Then, we knew right away that New Harbor was where God wants us to be. We knew God had a place for us in that body. What's the point of this story? Jesus came to serve and not to be served...remember? Jesus was always serving. So why do we have this...mentality of...being entitled to be served? Why is it about us now? We have walked so far away from Jesus that we don't even include him when it comes to making decisions about life. We have walked so far away that we don't even see the opportunities he gives us everyday to serve others. All we see is "me." We go through our everyday lives without seeing God work in our lives. Yes, it's great to go to church and serve, help with the children minsitry, play and instument or sing as part of the worship team,...but what happened to the rest of the week? Can we really say we follow Jesus if that's all we're doing? What happened to following Jesus when we're at work? What about when we are in school? What about following Jesus as we go shopping or when we go out to eat? On our way home, when we see someone stuck on the freeway? How are we following Jesus when we see the homeless? Better yet, how are we following Jesus with our money? Look at the things we have...can we say that we used the resource God gave us for good? Or do we have the fancy-er car...the better sound system, better clothing, ...? Can you see what I'm getting at? It's the everyday things that we do, everyday decisions we have to make that really defines our Christianity. It's easy to be "Christian" within the church walls because we do it all the time and we got comfortable with it. You see, we can have all the knowledge about the Bible, we can have the greatest prayer life, best voice for singing worship songs...if we are not going to live it outside of the church walls, then what's the point? God wakes us up everyday...for what? So we can live out our lives and be ready for Sunday morning? I don't think so. God gives us life everyday...to serve Him everyday...by serving those around us everyday. If we miss this...if we forget this, then we forget the reason why Jesus came to die for us. Then our "follower of Jesus" life is...prety much, meaningless. Is that what our Christian life is like?

daniel m.

Let's try this again...

As you may have noticed, it had been over a year since my last post here on our blog. Since I have both myspace and facebook profiles, this blog has been neglected. I don't have much to do at work today so I thought, why not update this thing and see if I can keep it going this time. So here are a few things that are going on with us:

- We are moving into our new house on Saturday (only 2 days away!!!!) I'll post some pics once we're all moved in!

- I am now 22 weeks along in my pregnancy (wtih twins for those who don't know, one boy and one girl, due Feb 26th)

- The Sharks are having a great season, 6-1 so far!!!

- I am officially starting bed rest in 2 weeks. (that should give me more time to keep up with this blog)

- We have a new niece, Abbey Rose Cupples, born Oct 15th to Donald and Liz. (I'll try to post those pics too!)

I hope that you are all doing well!!! We'll be having an open house sometime here in the next few weeks so I'll post it when we figure out the specifics!

Lisa