Water and Oil Don't Mix on Earth, but in Space, They Do......

So I've got this buddy named Jeremy, and its kind of funny the way our relationship has turned out considering that for the first 6 to 8 months that I knew him, I absolutly hated him"D

Its always cool to see the way God does stuff. The way he seems to work things out. Its neat with Jeremy and I because we are totally opposite personalities. I mean, this guy, is a hard core disciplined kind of guy. You know the people who seem to have a plan for everything and seem to have everything in their life straightened out, Jeremy would be one of those guys. I mean he works across from me at my chapel and its crazy to watch him work. The guy DOESN'T STOP!! He just works and works and works and he's motivated and driven and has like all the attributes that the world would call superior LOL. Then theirs me, the goofy guy who can barely hold life together. I mean, I'm not an absolute waste of air LOL, but I definatly need help in a LOT of areas, time management for one.

Our personalities clashed and still do clash all the time. I would get so mad at him because of his desire to be perfect. His desire to do the right thing, the right way. He is such a by the book person that I just loose it sometimes working with him. He is confrontational, aggresive, and really doesn't care if he hurts your feelings when he approches you, especially if your wrong. He is definatly an alpha male personality LOL. I'm just a more goofy alpha male"D

Its just cool to see God work. In the bible, God talks about His followers being a body, and how one body part essentially can't be the other. I think it says somthing like the foot can't say to the hand "I want to be a hand" cause if you had no foot, you wouldn't stand. (Wow, that rhymed LOL. I'm sure thats probably paraphrased to the point of being absolutly wrong, but the body stuff is in their, and the analogy works LOL. ) Essentially what God is saying is that we all do different things and we all have different abilities, all of which can be used for His kingdom, and cause; and that we can work together with our different abilities to do great things.

Anyway, the picture up top is of us playing at one of his units prayer luncheons, and its funny because although we didn't get a long at first, I've managed to be able to play guitar together with him better than I have ever played with anyone. Our vocal harmonys on the praise songs that we do are just awesome and he can do all these chordal harmonys and its just awesome.

Maybe thats what Jesus was all about, you know, looking past the difference around you in different people, and recongnizing that in that though we are all different, we are all the same in in Him and that ultimatly the little petty differences don't really matter all that much. I mean, maybe its about being able to come together in that common goal of loving, serving, and worshiping God.

Jeremy is now one of my good buddies, and I'll always remembr him for what God taught me because of him.

My Gay friend...I Think Every Christian Should Have One

So I've got this friend here at Fort Knox, (and before I finish the story, I must point out that there is going to be a point in the narrative where most of my christian brothers and sisters, would throw huge rocks at me and call me a heathen. To that I say, BRING IT ON!!!!)

End Side NoTe*

Anyway, I've got this friend here at Fort Knox, and on the outside, you would never know that she was gay. I mean, she's a very pretty, nice, well mannerred, funny girl. She lives a pretty descent life as far as the worlds concerned. She doesn't drink too much, or act too crazy, and though she's done somethings in the past that she's not proud of (like most of us), she is what I would call normal. Yet when I hang out with her and or interact with her, I can't help but notice that somewhere deep inside her heart, there is a pain there. A sting, if you will, that brings the flow of poison with every pang. Its something elusive, something just above the top layer of the norm, something that comes from only the worst of ingnorance, the worst of persecution, and the very worst of indifference.

In search of that pain, through the various conversations we've had, through the various soul, one on one out pourings we've had. it saddens me to say that the source of that pain from my observasion, came from non other than.....the Church.

So this girl is torn apart inside, she's hurting. She's hurting because (note my opinion comes from the life history I know of her) she attended a church that talked about God's love, a church that talked about God's grace, a church that talked about God's acceptance of His people just the way they are. She came from a church that claimed that God would love her no matter what she did or how things could end up in her life. Yet at the same time, this church was quick to drop that stance and claim that God hates gay people, and that God is totally against them. I mean is this the God we know? Is this the God of the bible? Don't get me wrong, God does find the act of homosexuality to be sinful according to what He says in His word, but how far does that go? I mean does God literally hate that person for their abominations, is that person an outcast of the Lord? Does God just hate the act? I'm coming to find that though God hates the act of homosexuality, He does not hate them, but rather we hate them and pull God behind our cause twisting His words to fit our cause.

My friend, is torn inside, because she feels the conviction of God, (even if she's not aware of it) to change her life and stop these acts, yet she can't respond to God, because all she hears are the people of God, telling her that God will never love her as she is. Didn't Jesus say come as you are? Didn't Jesus say the world would know his followers by how they love each other? Is this the God of Jacob that we know?

How can we reach a dying world for Jesus, when the very actions and words that we speak about each other, bring the smell of death with every breath we take. How can we help this world, when all we do is tell it that God hates it? When I look at my friend, I see a dearly loved, and cherished child of God. A child that God makes the world turn for everyday, and though He might hate the choices she makes, He loves every ounce of her being. So the next time you call someone a "fag" or a "queer" or a "dike" Just remember that there is a very real Jesus that died for them, so that they might change their ways and embrace the love of God, just..like..you....