Why I Don't Go To Church

I have never written about this for the pure reason that I have not wanted to offend my other Christian friends but I think its time just to put it out there and be real about it.  There are some things about church and my fellow Christian brothers and sisters that really disturb and upset me.  It upsets me so much that I would just rather stay at home on Sunday than be around them.  I feel I get more out of the connections with my friends in AA than I do with my Christian brothers and sisters anyways. 

Here's the number one reason I stay home.  I find that other Christians are terribly judgemental of everyone.  If I remember from what I read in the Bible the most important commandment was to love God and then to love our neighbor.  This is what the Bible says:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (NIV, Mark 12:28-31).
Also in 1 Corinthians 13 it says in verse 4-6 it tells us that love is not arrogant or boastful and that it is patient and that it hopes all things.  To me that sounds like the opposite of judging.  And then it goes on to say its the most important thing and that without it we are nothing!

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [2] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Yet when I am around my Christian friends I find that they are terrible judgemental.  Have you ever noticed that when you walk into Church late everyone turns and looks at you.  I can guarantee they are not thinking how wonderful it is that you made it to church.  They are probably thinking something along the lines of how wonderful they are for making it to church on time when you couldn't.  When I am late for an AA meeting people are genuinely glad that I made it.  They even say you are never late for a meeting.  Its a shame I can't be accepted like that at church.
Also, there's this lady I work with.  She goes to church every Sunday.  She professes to love Jesus more than anything in the whole world.  Yet if someone comes in the door and they smell bad or are dressed bad I can guarantee you that she is the first person to talk about that person and how horrible it was for them to leave their house like that.  Well, excuse me I think its horrible for you to leave your house without the compassion of Christ.  Don't claim my saviors name if you are going to hurt people with your words.
Jesus came for sick people.  If we were well he would not have had to die.  Why is it when you go into a church everyone insists on acting like nothing is ever wrong in their lives.  You know that on the way to church in the car they were screaming at each other.  You can see the tear streams still etched on their face.  Yet when you ask how they are, they respond with life is wonderful and God is blessing us.  Don't lie.  Let your brothers and sisters in Christ help you.  That's why people go to drugs and alcohol to fix their problems instead of churches.  Churches don't seem like a place where sick people go.  To me that's sad.  That is exactly why Christ died on the cross.  To save the sick.  Not to be a resort club for the perfect.
I just wish there was a little less judging, a little more honesty, and a little more acceptance in the body of Christ today.  Do you want people to come to Christ.  You have to show them love first.  If you judge them first they will die before they come to Christ and they will die in their sins.  No one ever became a Christian because someone told them that they were scum.  You've got to show people love.  The Bible says they will know us because of our love.
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

I try to ask myself would someone be able to identify me as a Christian based on this statement.  

Not About Me

Wow, how fast I can forget that its not about me.  Today my blog was rising in popularity and I was really getting excited.  In just a few short hours I had gained 4 new members and none of these people were people I had ever met before.  I started thinking things like, "Wow, I must be a really good author," and "I must have a lot of important things to say."  How quick I forgot the real reason why these people joined my blog.  My last 2 posts were written about the grace and forgiveness of God.  These new followers came to my blog to see Jesus, not me.  They were not interested in how I said what I said, what interested them is what was being said.  And what was being said was that Jesus saves. 

My popularity grew because I was pointing to the cross.  I was saying look at God because he can help you.  And that is what I am going to continue to say.  Because I am starting to realise that when I am lifting my eyes towards Jesus and giving him the credit that is due him that is when life goes right.  Its all about him anyways.
1 Cor 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

I am starting to realise that we have to move out of the way.  When I was a teenager there was this man at my church that did a lot to help me go to church camp.  I would always try to thank him and his wife and it would never fail.  Every time I attempted to thank him he would point up and say "thank God, not me."  That used to irritate me a lot that this man would not take my thanks.  Now I understand why he did that.  He was trying to get me to see Jesus.  He did not want to take the attention off from God.  He understood that if I was thanking him it was distracting me from looking at God.  He wanted me to gain a closer relationship with God.

I want to be like my friend.  I want to help get people closer to Jesus.  I don't ever want to distract someone from God.

How can God forgive such evil?

Nice question Joe? In my last post I wrote on the mercy of God and Joe commented on whether or not God could forgive evil to the degree of Hitler? I would argue that he can. Our human mind is incapable of this kind of forgiveness and that is probably why it is hard for us to understand this kind of forgiveness. It is hard to understand something that we can not do. I visited a web site that explains this forgiveness so well. The web site is http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5306

I especially liked this excerpt:
"This is the other lesson. Whether you have one billion sinners being forgiven of one sin, or one sinner being forgiven for a billion sins, it all amounts to the same thing--a billion sins. The work of the cross is such that it can forgive even the most egregious of sinners. The fact of Jeffrey Dahmer's forgiveness, if it is a fact, ought to teach us an entirely different lesson. Paul put it this way in I Timothy 1:15-16, "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance (in other words be confident of this), that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order than in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life." Paul says, Look, I am the biggest of sinners. I persecuted the church of God. I led people to their death because they were Christians. If God could forgive me, He could even forgive a Jeffrey Dahmer. He could even forgive a Greg Koukl. He could even forgive a Ken and John.

For those of you who are tempted to say, Listen I'm no Jeffrey Dahmer, my response is simply this: Maybe not, but you are no Jesus Christ either. You are more like Jeffrey Dahmer than you are like Jesus Christ. That's the comparison that ultimately will matter. If God can forgive Jeffrey, He can forgive you. And that is good news."


So can God forgive Hitler? Yes, if Hitler had wanted to be forgiven.

Your Beautiful

I love this video!  It got me thinking today some things today.  Wouldn't this world be different if we could let this one thought penetrate our minds.  What would change if we dared to really believe this about ourselves and about others?  If every person I met I looked at through God's eyes.  He loved each of us enough to die for us.  That street junkie with the needle in his arm is a treasure so precious to God that he gave his very life up for him.  The convict serving 20 years in jail for murder, God died for him too, and he did it knowing that the convict would murder.
What would change in my personal world if I just let myself believe this about myself and the people in my personal life.  Could I be more tolerant and loving towards my family and the others in my life.  Could I look past some of the things that irritate me a little easier?  How should we see ourselves and those around us.  The Bible is very clear about how precious we are to God.  We are so precious that he laid down his own life to save ours.  He paid for our sins long before we ever committed them.  If there is one message that he wants you to believe its this one.  If there is one thing he wants you to let affect you its this.  Will you?

Diet Challenge

I am going on a diet.  I have decided that this time I am going to stick to it and just really buckle down and loose the weight.  Starting tomorrow I am going to exercise 5 times a week and watch my carbs and sugars.  I just really feel that it is time to tackle this demon.  I even have a weight loss buddy to help encourage me along the way.  I really just want to be healthy and I know that I need to lose some weight in order to reach my full potential of health.  So my goal is to lose 10 pounds a month.  That is a realistic goal that is neither to small nor to big.  And by next year at this time I will be at my goal weight of 150 pounds. 

So I am also going to blog weekly on my progress in order to have some added accountability.  I am going to let you in on my ups and downs and let you know when I succeed.  So we start this journey together.  May this be a successful endeavor!

Here is my before picture!

New Hairdo and New Laptop

So I just got my hair permed yesterday.  I really like the way that it turned out.  It looks like a spiral perm even though the lady who permed it did not use a spiral wrap to perm my hair.  She used a regular wrap because of how short my hair is.  She also cut my hair before she permed it so that it would have a style once it was permed.  We went to "Amy's Hair Hide Away"  on M-104 in Spring Lake just passed Burger King.  The price to get my hair permed was quite reasonable, just $45, compared to other salons that wanted $85 and up.  I like the perm so much that I may just keep it this way for a while since it is so cheap!  Also, my mom and I went to Rivertown Crossing in Grandville, Mi for the day after I got my hair permed.  That was fun also since we never go to this mall and I basically didn't even know what stores were in the mall.  We ate at TGI Fridays and the food was fabulous, and then we shopped until our legs were tired.  It was a good day!  This was to celebrate me having six months without a cigarette.  So here are a few pictures of my new hairdo.

Also, this week I purchased a new laptop.  I love, love, love my new laptop.  It is HP's special edition Garden Dreams laptop that is only available at Walmart.  So what did I do with my old laptop you ask?  I gave it to my dad.  It was so cool to see the excitement on his face last night when he realized that he was getting a laptop.  I was overjoyed to be able to do that!  Now I can go to Jumping Java with my dad and hang out and play games with him on the Internet.  Which is what we are going to do next Saturday!
So here's a few pictures of my new laptop.

So that is what I have been up to the last couple of days.  I have not had a lot of time to crochet but I will get back into that very soon.  Hope you all are having a very good February and goodbye for now!

Where's the Goods?

So why am I being so slow to deliver you ask?  Well, for one I started a project and ripped it apart today because it just did not look right.  I was going to do a purse with the same blue material that I used in my last scarf.  However, the purse was turning out too large so I ripped it apart and now I am making a gloves and scarf set for a friend. 
Another reason that I am being so slow is that I have another project in the works and believe it or not its not a crochet project.  I am putting a puzzle together.  I don't know why just that I really liked this puzzle and it gives me time to think and listen to music.  So here's a picture of the puzzle I am working on. 

Also an exciting thing happened at our arts and craft table.  Joey finally got his art displayed at the coffee house that we go to.  I am so proud of him.  Here is a picture of his art that was displayed.

If you would like to see more of his art please feel free to visit his blog at http://joepainter.blogspot.com/  He is very talented, but a new blogger, and could use all the support from those in the blogging world.

"Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World" by Joanna Weaver

This is one of the books that I recently finished reading.  I really gained a lot of insight into my own life through reading this book.  Joanna Weaver really wrote a book which gets to the core of having a passion for God in a world where we are told that we must do, do, do.  This book explains that we aren't put here on earth to just complete one task after another.  We were put here for a relationship with God.  That is the one thing that matters.  That is our sole purpose.  While service and good works is important, it is important that we first find our rest in Christ.  We are meant to have intimacy with God and that starts with slowing down enough to spend some time with him.  This book helps show you how to do that.  I really love this book and found it very helpful.  I highly recommend this book to others!

Six Months Smoke Free

Wow, I can not believe that in less than twenty four hours I will be half a year smoke free.  I never thought that I would make it past the first week, let alone the first day.  Now I hardly ever even think about smoking, and when I do think about it, it is only a passing craving and nothing serious.  I really believe that I will never pick up another cigarette as long as I live now, and that feels fantastic!  I can say honestly I am a non smoker.  So here are some things that I enjoy most about being a non smoker.
1.  I can go into a restaurant or a movie and not worry about how long I will have to go without a cigarette.  I can just enjoy my time with whomever I am with and be fully present in the current situation.  Cravings do not ruin the fun that I am trying to have, or determine where I will go.

2.  I smell better.  I do not smell like a ashtray.

3.  I can smell other things better.  Can also be a curse sometimes though because I can smell smokers and they smell bad.  No offense if you smoke but I never realized how bad I smelled until I quit smoking.  That alone is enough to make me never want to pick up another cigarette.

4.  I do not get winded when I exercise or clean like I used to.  My stamina is better.

5.  I have my singing voice back.  I can hit high notes again.  And when I wake up in the morning I do not sound like a man for the first couple of hours.

6.  When I get sick I do not cough my brains out.  I still have a stuffy nose and cough occasionally.  But I don't have the hacking cough that I used to have.

7.  My car, my clothes, and my house don't smell like an ashtray.  And all the Christmas gifts that I gave away this year did not reek of cigarettes.

These are the things that I love about being a non-smoker.

Arts and Crafts at Jumping Java

So I finally convinced my best friend that he needed to start painting again, and that we both needed to spend less time on the Internet and more time doing creative things.  So every night when we go to Jumping Java now, instead of bringing our laptops Joe brings his painting supplies and I bring my crochet supplies.  We work on our projects and visit with each other.  I have finished my first project which is this beautiful circles and waves scarf.

This scarf is actually two pieces sewn together.  It is another project that I got from Interweave Crochet magazine.  It was actually very fast to make, and a lot easier than it looks.

And Joe finished his first painting this week.  Here is the first painting that he has done in a while.

I just love it when he does winter scenes.  He does very good with winter scenes.  The cabin in this picture is the perfect size compared to the trees and the river.  Good job, Joe!  Now I am just trying to convince him that he needs to start his own painting blog.  I hope he does.  When I told him that he could blog about his painting technique he looked at me like I was crazy, so I don't know if I will succeed in this.