Monday, March 1, 2010
So why exactly am I suddenly updating my blog?
I decided that if Im going to have this blog I may as well use it and use it in such a way that it brings glory and honor to God. At least that's my hope. So i started with some of my facebook notes and i hope to keep adding to my blog as the months go on and share the things that God is doing in my life and the many things that he lays on my heart. So enjoy I hope that God will use this in some way to further his kingdom
Bradley Hathaway :)
Like David, I wanna be a man after God's own heart. And I'm not there yet, but I'm past the start. And when people talk, I try to listen. A spirit of compassion, that's my vision. Surely I am a manly man. I want to be loved and have love and give love.
And not just that romantic kind either. Although I am looking for that beauty. Not helpless, but wants to be rescued. The damsel in distress, man, woman, myth, true. I will fight for her, climb the highest tower for her, love her, share with her, delight in her, be her warrior, her protector. She will be my crown and I will be hers. My masculinity will be passed down and affirmed to my sons. And each of my daughters will know they are lovely, and deserving of authentic romance.
Society tells me all day long that I've defined manhood completely wrong. But you ask any honest man, and he will agree. You ask any honest woman, and she too will see, that I am a manly man.
From: Manly Man
And not just that romantic kind either. Although I am looking for that beauty. Not helpless, but wants to be rescued. The damsel in distress, man, woman, myth, true. I will fight for her, climb the highest tower for her, love her, share with her, delight in her, be her warrior, her protector. She will be my crown and I will be hers. My masculinity will be passed down and affirmed to my sons. And each of my daughters will know they are lovely, and deserving of authentic romance.
Society tells me all day long that I've defined manhood completely wrong. But you ask any honest man, and he will agree. You ask any honest woman, and she too will see, that I am a manly man.
From: Manly Man
I Love this! and I am so blessed to have guy friends that remind me EVERY SINGLE DAY that guys like this are out there and that having a strong christian guy is worth the wait. So guys, you know who you are, thank you for being such Godly influences in my life.
So i dug out my CHIC notes....
Day 1
- We are not born as ordinary human beings. We are unique.
- Somewhere between our 1st and last breaths we lose the extra-ordinary essence of our being by living just an ordinary life
- Will my life really count?
- God places dreams and passions inside of us, but sometimes the rubble of our lives gets in the way
-If we made our dreams/passion our whole life would our world change?
-If we all had the courage to dream to change the world then we would find we had the courage to live out the dreams that God placed on our hearts.
-Live the dream God dreamed for you before you took your first breath.
-Don't let fear, doubt or lack of faith get in the way of the dream God has for you.
-There are things in our lives we can't do by ourselves, but there are also things that he has called us to do that he won't do for us
-Sometimes you have to jump and trust that God will catch you in mid-air
Day 2
-God has something for each of us
2 Corinthians 5:11-13
- Passionate people either scare us or create more passionate people
-What does it look like to be compelled by Christ?
1. We can't be compelled by Christ unless we truly know him/ spend time with him
2. Spend Time in Prayer
3. Spend time with others/fellowship
4. Am I talking about and living out of past faith experiences or am i building more? Is there progression in my faith?
5.Faith is something you do, not something you simply possess.
6. Touch the presence of God even if just for a moment and it will ruin everything else in comparison (thats a good thing!)
-Serving is simply loving others for their benefit not yours.
-Work w/o love is worthless
-Results in blessings for others and freedom for us
-Are you willing to put everything aside for the sake of Christ???
Shane Clayborne
-Kingdom isn't something we should look forward to its something that should be accomplished here on Earth
- " A lot of people tell stories like 'my life was messed up and then i met Jesus'... well for me it was pretty much the opposite. I pretty much had it all together and then i met Jesus and he MESSED ME UP. Im still recovering from my conversion."
-The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.
-We're made to live for God's kingdom and use our lives to see it realized here on Earth.
-Epic Fail "How are you preparing for the economic crisis?.... we're building 5 new jails." WRONG!
-God is anything but safe... But God is good
-Christians were never meant to be normal. We were meant to be holy troublemakers
-Life Overcomes death and love overcomes hatred
Day 3
- "If you have sex before marriage its not a 'test drive' Its carjacking! Someday that'll be someone else's spouse."
- 1 Samuel 14:1-7
-God's promise is always bigger then your perhaps
- "Love desires to please someone else at the expense of self because love wants to give."
Human (sex) Trafficking
-Fastest growing criminal industry in the world
-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually into the US
- But the # within the country is even higher at 200,000.
- We are not born as ordinary human beings. We are unique.
- Somewhere between our 1st and last breaths we lose the extra-ordinary essence of our being by living just an ordinary life
- Will my life really count?
- God places dreams and passions inside of us, but sometimes the rubble of our lives gets in the way
-If we made our dreams/passion our whole life would our world change?
-If we all had the courage to dream to change the world then we would find we had the courage to live out the dreams that God placed on our hearts.
-Live the dream God dreamed for you before you took your first breath.
-Don't let fear, doubt or lack of faith get in the way of the dream God has for you.
-There are things in our lives we can't do by ourselves, but there are also things that he has called us to do that he won't do for us
-Sometimes you have to jump and trust that God will catch you in mid-air
Day 2
-God has something for each of us
2 Corinthians 5:11-13
- Passionate people either scare us or create more passionate people
-What does it look like to be compelled by Christ?
1. We can't be compelled by Christ unless we truly know him/ spend time with him
2. Spend Time in Prayer
3. Spend time with others/fellowship
4. Am I talking about and living out of past faith experiences or am i building more? Is there progression in my faith?
5.Faith is something you do, not something you simply possess.
6. Touch the presence of God even if just for a moment and it will ruin everything else in comparison (thats a good thing!)
-Serving is simply loving others for their benefit not yours.
-Work w/o love is worthless
-Results in blessings for others and freedom for us
-Are you willing to put everything aside for the sake of Christ???
Shane Clayborne
-Kingdom isn't something we should look forward to its something that should be accomplished here on Earth
- " A lot of people tell stories like 'my life was messed up and then i met Jesus'... well for me it was pretty much the opposite. I pretty much had it all together and then i met Jesus and he MESSED ME UP. Im still recovering from my conversion."
-The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.
-We're made to live for God's kingdom and use our lives to see it realized here on Earth.
-Epic Fail "How are you preparing for the economic crisis?.... we're building 5 new jails." WRONG!
-God is anything but safe... But God is good
-Christians were never meant to be normal. We were meant to be holy troublemakers
-Life Overcomes death and love overcomes hatred
Day 3
- "If you have sex before marriage its not a 'test drive' Its carjacking! Someday that'll be someone else's spouse."
- 1 Samuel 14:1-7
-God's promise is always bigger then your perhaps
- "Love desires to please someone else at the expense of self because love wants to give."
Human (sex) Trafficking
-Fastest growing criminal industry in the world
-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually into the US
- But the # within the country is even higher at 200,000.
Me.
I'm half Palestinian. My dad and his whole family are muslim. When i was little my dad was having an affair, he was and alcoholic and he abused my mom. We moved to Alexandria when i was 2 years old. My dad got visitation rights back when i was around 4 years old and we would have supervised visits with him once a week. he left for a while and went overseas and when he came back he brought back with him a step mom a step brother and a step sister who i grew to love dearly. They had another daughter, my little sister zain the same year that my mom got remarried to a really great christian guy. I started going to visit my dad in the cities on weekends and thats how its been since. In 8th grade, my dad was sentenced to a year in federal prison for tax fraud and health care fraud. A few months after he got out I told him that i was a christian and he didnt take it very well at first but eventually we kind of agreed to disagree. I pray every night that someday he'll come to know the Lord. A few months later my dad and step mom of 12 years got divorced. 6 months later my dad got remarried to my current step mom. I love both of my step moms and they've both played significant roles in my life and i pray for them also. Through everything the ups the downs and the times that I've just wanted to cry God has never let me down. He's always been there to comfort me and when i turn to him in my struggle i know that he'll give me peace. I think its so important for us to realize that as christians God never promised us that our lives would be easy, in fact he guarantees adversity, but he promises that we will never have to face it on our own. Thats my story. Whats yours? Post it in your notes and tag people to pass it on! :) Love you guys, God bless!
Some of you guys have known me for years and others of you I've just met recently, but whatever the case God has blessed me by surrounding me with friends like you. There have been a lot of things in my life that have made me ask God 'why?' 'why do these things keep happening, what good could possibly come of this?' and for a long time God didnt answer that, but in the past few years God has revealed to me through certain circumstances that the things that have happened in my life were not for my benefit neccesarily but for the benefit of those that I would come in contact with. Its like when someone is struggling with something, and someone says "I understand" but they know they don't they kinda shut them out but when you've dealt with similar situations that can sometime open up doors that wouldnt be open otherwise. Its like a passage in 2 Corinthians 1:4-7 "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." So if you're struggling with someone it may just end up being a huge blessing to someone who is dealing with something similar later on and no matter what trial you're up against, God is always right by your side
Some of you guys have known me for years and others of you I've just met recently, but whatever the case God has blessed me by surrounding me with friends like you. There have been a lot of things in my life that have made me ask God 'why?' 'why do these things keep happening, what good could possibly come of this?' and for a long time God didnt answer that, but in the past few years God has revealed to me through certain circumstances that the things that have happened in my life were not for my benefit neccesarily but for the benefit of those that I would come in contact with. Its like when someone is struggling with something, and someone says "I understand" but they know they don't they kinda shut them out but when you've dealt with similar situations that can sometime open up doors that wouldnt be open otherwise. Its like a passage in 2 Corinthians 1:4-7 "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." So if you're struggling with someone it may just end up being a huge blessing to someone who is dealing with something similar later on and no matter what trial you're up against, God is always right by your side
Plans for the future
So a few ppl have asked me what my plans are for next year, so here they are. I will be attending Gordon College in Wenham Massachusetts to major in Youth Ministry. I really feel like God has called me there. It was a really hard choice for me because i know i'll be so far away from home and the people I love. But when God tells you to do something you certainly don't argue. I one day hope to open a youth center. Im not sure where yet but Im sure that God will work all the details out in time or change my dream :) Im trusting him to guide me. For those of you have been supporting me and praying for me I love you and appreciate you. :) God Bless!
God's plan
So with college coming up and such I've been thinking a lot about God's will for me and for those around me and on top of that at FCA i know the idea of Divine Providence or God having a plan for lives has come up a couple times. How does free will work if God has a plan for our lives, or does God even have a plan for our lives? This topic is a hard one for us to understand. Personally i believe that God does have a will or plan for our lives and the free will comes into effect in the fact that we can choose to follow God's will or we can disregard it and follow our own paths. Feel free to disagree. I won't pretend to know all sorts of theological reasoning behind my belief that God directs our lives but i will point you to a few places in the Bible that make me believe so. Most of them are small references to plans or paths that God directs us on but these subtle yet very present hints make me believe that God does have a plan for each of us.
Job 23:10-11
"Yet he knows the way i have taken...My feet have followed his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside."
Psalm 16:5
"...You hold my future."
Psalm 16:11
"...You reveal the path of life to me."
Psalm 23:3
"He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths."
Psalm 25:4
"Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths."
Psalm 25:12
"...He will show me the way i should choose."
Psalm 31:15
"The course of my life is in your power..."
Psalm 37:5
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act,"
I'll keep adding to this list as i go through my devotions each night. Im going through a study about having a heart like King Davids right now. He was a man after God's own heart and as you can see just in the book of psalms alone there are many verses that seem to point to God having a plan for our lives. Just a thought. Take it or leave it. God bless you guys!
Job 23:10-11
"Yet he knows the way i have taken...My feet have followed his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside."
Psalm 16:5
"...You hold my future."
Psalm 16:11
"...You reveal the path of life to me."
Psalm 23:3
"He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths."
Psalm 25:4
"Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths."
Psalm 25:12
"...He will show me the way i should choose."
Psalm 31:15
"The course of my life is in your power..."
Psalm 37:5
"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act,"
I'll keep adding to this list as i go through my devotions each night. Im going through a study about having a heart like King Davids right now. He was a man after God's own heart and as you can see just in the book of psalms alone there are many verses that seem to point to God having a plan for our lives. Just a thought. Take it or leave it. God bless you guys!
Every girl wants a knight in shining armor...
A Valiant gentleman riding a noble white steed rides into your life, sweeps you off your feet and whisks you away from all the problems in your life and you live happily ever after.... Most girls stop believing in this type of a once upon time tale pretty early on. But should we stop believing in the perfect ending?
Revelation 19:11-16
"Then i saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! It's rider called faithful and true...And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords."
Rewind: Once upon a time....
The King of Kings comes riding a noble white steed to judge the earth and establish a new heaven and a new earth. He sweeps you off your feet and whisks you away from the trials and hardships of this life and you live happily ever after in heaven. Literally. Revelation 21:4 says "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Im not gonna go in depth or or try to interpret the meaning of any part of Revelation. I can't wrap my mind around it. But let me point something out to you guys. Our father, the King of Kings, loves us more than we could ever imagine. Every detail of our lives matter to him and he listens to us, comforts us, and cares for us. One day soon Christ will return and call his children back to live with him in heaven. All the hardships we know here will cease to exist and we truly will live happily FOREVER after.
If that isnt the perfect bedtime story i don't know what is :) Love you guys :)
Revelation 19:11-16
"Then i saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! It's rider called faithful and true...And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords."
Rewind: Once upon a time....
The King of Kings comes riding a noble white steed to judge the earth and establish a new heaven and a new earth. He sweeps you off your feet and whisks you away from the trials and hardships of this life and you live happily ever after in heaven. Literally. Revelation 21:4 says "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Im not gonna go in depth or or try to interpret the meaning of any part of Revelation. I can't wrap my mind around it. But let me point something out to you guys. Our father, the King of Kings, loves us more than we could ever imagine. Every detail of our lives matter to him and he listens to us, comforts us, and cares for us. One day soon Christ will return and call his children back to live with him in heaven. All the hardships we know here will cease to exist and we truly will live happily FOREVER after.
If that isnt the perfect bedtime story i don't know what is :) Love you guys :)
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