Good bye...

...at least for now. I sadly had to do this with caffeine as well. Since before the beginning of the year I gave up caffeine because I was too addicted to it. I could not go a day without getting a headache if I didn't have it. Either I would have coffee or pop or an energy drink and many times I would have a combination of two or three of them throughout the day. They are all just so tasty and I would live off of them and it was not good. I would stay awake throughout the day by drinking more caffeine.


The first few days were rough. It was almost like a constant headache for a couple of days but since then, things have been good. Now for the other thing, really I am saying goodbye to all of you.


The internet has become such a distraction that I have to put some limits on it. There is no way that I can get rid of it completely because most of my life revolves around the internet. But the constant checking of my email and facebook and reader and twitter. I would start by checking one and then I have to check them all. And then once I have checked everything, I would often find some computer game to let my mind go to mush. I have all of my connections to the outside world not only on my computer but also on my ipod which means that as long as I have internet, I am not too far away from all of my connections. I even get text updates sent to my phone from twitter and so I am constantly being bombarded all day.


Okay, I know that I did this to myself but at least I have realized it and now I am trying to turn it around. Will it be tough for a while? Yes, just like the caffeine there will be a withdrawal phase but I hope to turn all the time that I spend starring at a screen for something better. Something that will be more productive to my life.


This will mean that I only check my email once a day and the rest, I'm not sure I will check. They are all just things to keep me connected to other people but if you really need me, text me. Or you can call but if you tell me to call via text, I will probably get back to you faster.


So, goodbye for now.

And the wait is over

Drum roll please.......splash. I have taken two new jobs. The first job is not one that I will ever get the chance to have at any other time in life. Many of you that read my blog have probably heard about it, I am taking the Missions Initiative Internship with the church.


Many of the details have yet to be worked out. I am so excited for this that it is hard for me to know where to start. Maybe with what I will actually be doing...


I get to be on campus for big chunks of time during the week to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. Such as this past week, I was able to spend some time on campus to share my life with a dude who was eating lunch. I had just got mine and so I asked if I could join him and he said yes. I sat down and we started talking and the conversation led to Christ. He says that he knows Jesus as his Savior but I wasn't able to dig much more to see if that is what he really thought. I invited him to The Rock and to come to team sometime and got his contact info and so you could pray that he would come and get connected. His name is John.


I get to love on people and build a relationship with them. In today's world, there is so much that keeps us from relationship (i.e. twitter, facebook, texting, etc.) that many people have never experienced that. Within all of this, the gospel is the most important thing. And the goal is not to hand out as many tracts as I can but to have genuine relationship that leads to Christ.


I will get to live with a family and essentially become part of that family. I don't know whom I will get to move in with yet.


There is so much more but I will stop here because it is bed time.


I can't get enough prayer and so if you do remember me, please pray for me.

Mark 8:1-21

We don't know when each section was specifically written as the chapters and verse numbers were add later on in history. But for at least the section that I am going to be talking about, I don't think that we can have each section without the other ones right around it. This is verses 1-21.

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,  "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away."And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?"They said to him, "Twelve." "And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"

Boom, we start off with a miracle of Jesus feeding 4000 people out of a couple loaves of bread and a few fish. One part that I find interesting is that the disciples almost seemed reluctant to give up the bread that they had. Each one of them would get at least half a loaf of bread. Giving up their bread would mean giving up the food that they needed so that they too would not faint.

Side note: when I think of a loaf of bread way back in the day, I think of it as just enough for each person to have one loaf and have their fill. A loaf was not something that you cut up and share with a bunch of people. I could be completely wrong, but that is the way that I see it.

Now I say that we can't separate these sections because each one talks about a boat that went from here to there or there to here and it just seems like Mark decided to record these events one after another and I think because they happened in that order.

Now onto the pharisees, they want a sign from Jesus. And I can only think, if you had only been there to see him feed 4000 people, then you would have seen a sign but Jesus goes on to say that no sign will be given to them.

It just keeps getting better and better. Now they are back on a boat and Jesus tells his disciples to be careful of the leaven of the pharisees and of Herod. Now they are back to the point that they have no bread again, okay, so one loaf, but to them it must have seemed like none. It almost seems as if Jesus gets irritated with the disciples. He tells them, "Do you not yet understand?" What are they supposed to understand here?

It makes me think that they are worried about their food which brings to mind Matthew 6:25-34 where it tells us not to worry about such things. That if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God will take care of the rest. I want to think that the disciples were not thinking about kingdom matters but about how hungry they were.

I get from all of this that Jesus will take care of us. The disciples seemed to have forgotten that Jesus feed 5000 and 4000 with just a little. I almost also think that they didn't want to ask him for a miracle. With just a little faith, Jesus can do a whole lot. But I think Jesus wants us to bring him lots of faith, because that means there is that much more to work with.

Stay tuned for an update on Zach's life and big things that are happening there.

Mark 8:22-26

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."

 I found this passage very interesting. While I was reading it, the thought that Jesus messed up the first time came into my head. Why did Jesus heal this man's eyes twice? It isn't like Jesus would get it wrong. I mean come on, just read the gospels and you can see him healing all over the place. I just thought this was interesting...