Happy......but missing people

Here we are in Texas.  I'm loving the alone time with Melissa, we couldn't have asked for it at a more perfect time, except well, maybe a month before now :).  It's been great to get to know a new place and knowing that we're about to get to go to class again is really exciting to me. 

I am sad about a couple of things though.  First of all, we have no friends out here.  As much as the alone time has been good for us, we're a missionary couple and we are completely out of our element being alone for so much time.  We desperately need people around us so that we can minister to them and encourage and worship with them.  Basically, we're missing fellowship.  I know that we've only been here for a little over a week, but we're alone here.  I'm really excited about going to church tomorrow, it'll be the first time we've been able to go since we've been here.  I'm not excited about the search for a church home though--that means we wont be able to truly build relationships with people until we decide where we want to worship. 

The other thing I'm sad about is the lack of communication between people who were my friends before the move, and well, before Melissa and i got married.  There are some people who were great friends and people that encouraged me and I got to encourage them, but they haven't felt obliged to talk to me since the wedding.  I know people are incredibly busy with school and work and life, but I need encouragement too.  (And just so you know, if you feel compelled to respond please do, but its probably not you, its the one's who come up with a good excuse not to respond that I feel abandoned by).  People used to trust me and seek advice from both Melissa and i, now the only people we get to talk to are the people that we call and our families. 

I really miss the fellowship I had with a lot of my brothers and sisters that were at NGU.  I know life goes on, but with the technology and communication advances made in our society the best excuse anyone can come up with is laziness.

Please don't think i'm whining at specific people, this is mostly just a cry to know that people remember me. 

anyway, i'll talk to you guys later,
Drew

What does it mean to be a servant?

Better yet, what does it mean to be a bond-servant?

A bond-servant is one who serves without wages. He is expected to do the work of a hired-hand but must do so because he owes a debt, or because he was captured.

I am a bond-servant to the Messiah. He has purchased me with His own blood, and i have no other will than to seek His will. Not only does He own me, but He also is responsible for giving me life. I owe Him everything. I would be dead, not sick, but dead without Him. He owns me. . .and I couldn't be free-er.

Its the very essence of life to seek freedom. The very core of our being deplores slavery, or at least our own enslavement. Much has been made of the Christian code of morals, the "slavery" to morality and a code of conduct. It is this morality that turns most people away, in fact, it incites such indignation against Christianity that the "free-thinking" populace of the world has declared war on the traditionalist-moralist world views. It is Christianity in this light (the enslavement motif) that has convinced the world that it must be done away with.

The world is convinced, and rightly so, that Christianity demands the sacrifice of everything it enjoys. What the world has failed to acknowledge, and the church has failed to capitalize on, is the fact that "what the world enjoys" leads to hopelessness and despair. That hopelessness and despair come from the fact that they truly are dead and need life.

But honestly, does the church of today really have what the world needs? Do the people in the church truly have the hope, the life that the world needs? Does the church, in essence, know Christ?

Well now, that is an interesting question to answer. If the church is defined as the Body of Christ, then the answer must be yes. But if we are simply defining the church as that group of people who meet in those buildings with steeples on saturday or sunday, then the answer is a resounding NO! The answer then lies in the definition we must use for the church. And since so many people in the U.S. are convinced they belong to this entity, we must define it as that group of people who call themselves such.

First of all, I have very little patience for that incompetent, smelly, ingrateful, unregenerate people that call themselves the church in America. This does not include those who are lost and truly seeking, nor does it include the truly born-again. I cannot stand the hypocritical masses that simply attend church one day a week to appease their consciences.  I have a blank intolerance for people who seek their own good by abusing the concept of grace.  They are paving the highway to hell with masks and smiles and lies and the rest of the country is following (I'm talking to you Joel Osteen).

The Christian life is to be lived in the most radical, wreckless way possible.  It begins by following commandments, and ends by living by those commandments out of absolute adoration for a Father who adored you.   The commandments allow infant Christians to know what to do, how to live, and what love looks like.  In the end, however, the commandments simply describe the lives of saints.  That the "christians" in this country still struggle with the simplest of commandments such as "<em><strong>go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you</strong></em>"  speaks volumes to the spiritual maturity of this country's "christian" leaders and thus the imparted maturity to the rest of the nation.

If you claim to be a Christian "you are not your own"!! You were bought with a price and guess what, you were dang expensive!  To rebel against your God, your owner, master, Father, and Lord is ridiculous and exposes that more-often-than-not you have not been redeemed by that price yet.  I hate to break the news, but 95% of Americans claiming to be Christians is a load of garbage. 

Faith requires more than spoken words and a signed commitment card.  A Christian is more than someone who has been dunked or sprinkled or christened.  Jesus said there is a cross to bear, there is a price to pay, a burden that can only be managed with His assistance.  That means its a lot heavier than what we're bearing right now.  The individualism of Americana has absolutely destroyed any concept fellowship, which is spoken of as the body of Christ.  The American dream has devastated the ability to give sacrificially.  What once was considered necessary and expected is now considered a sacrifice.

What does it mean to be a servant, or bond-servant?  It means that real faith, dependence, obedience without question.  Thats what it means.  I am afraid that the number of true Christians is far less than we would like to believe.  Personally i would rather err on the side of telling people to evaluate and re-evaluate than err on the side of passive encouragement that sends people to hell.

Currently Watching Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie By Dan Anderson (III), Kristin Blegen, Sarah Catherine Brooks, Paige Craig, Adam Frick see related

I'm back. . .

Hi to all, its me again.  I haven't posted anything in a long time and tons of stuff has happened since then.  Melissa isn't going to the Pacific Rim now.  We're going to seminary.  But we're not going to seminary in Kansas City, we're going in Fort Worth, TX.  We're getting married, i proposed on July 4, and we're getting married on November 24.  And lots of other things have changed too.

I'm really struggling with where i've been over the past year.  I see now that God was definitely in control, even when i was being lazy and insecure.  I see now that that brought Melissa and me together.  I also see how everything has brought me here. 

But as i face life with someone i'm also keenly aware that i wasted much time that i could have used to make life easier for us as we plan on making a life together.  I am now back where i was and have been for so long: where is the line between faith and responsibility?  Melissa and I dont want to look like the rest of the world at all, not even in wisdom.  We would rather be called foolish by the world and wise in the eyes of God, faithful to him. 

I have the opportunity to volunteer at the North Greenville Baptist Association and help start a hispanic ministry among the churches and peoples of that area of Greenville.  I really enjoy organizing things like that, but i might not get paid for it.  I'm really struggling with whether or not i should offer to do the job even if i can't get paid as an intern or something, or if i should focus more on getting money so that life is actually possible over the next year or so.  On the other hand, i've got a chance to work a full-time second shift job at a place in Simpsonville making good money and having a job to transfer to when we get to Texas, but that takes away any time i'd have to spend with Melissa and most of the time i'd have to work on school work once we got out there.  It seems as though i'm having to choose between two extremes, but those are the choices i have right now.

If i do the first thing, i can continue to work with my dad. . .if he has work.  If i do the second, we have money, but no time for each other.  I'm leaning toward the first, but it doesn't seem very responsible.  I'd love any advice or insight anyone would want to offer. 

Anyway, thats whats on my mind at this point in time.  There are plenty of bigger fish in the barrel, plenty.  Please pray for us, and say hi if you feel like it.

For Emily

Rules: After posting these rules, each player proceeds to list 8 relatively random facts/habits about himself/herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, leaving them a comment on their blogs to let them know.

I bite my finger nails

I talk between 3 and 6 hrs on the phone every night to my girlfriend and future bride Melissa Cox

I absolutely love playing guitar

My room has ants in it

I get to go see Melissa this weekend

My favorite drink is Sunkist

I'm allergic to every animal on the face of the earth. . .and pretty much everything else too

I have a headache

I tag, Melissa, Adam, Jeremy, Lexie, Sharon, Brandon, Crystal, and Gloria!!

Hello Friends

I sit here again on a monday afternoon, thinking through what i should write so that my friends will know the thoughts and feelings going on in my head and heart.  I've got some amazing friends  I had a really long talk with Adam yesterday.  That talk did not result in much happiness, but it was good.  Several issues that came up have already been resolved in a great and amazing way.  Jeremy and i had an awesome talk today.  We're both experiencing things that we can share with each other and understand exactly what the other is thinking and feeling. . .its really cool.

Greater than all of that is the fellowship that I've shared with Melissa over the past three days. . .she is absolutely wonderful.

God has been showing me a lot of stuff lately.  He's been answering prayers, subtly, but He's still answering prayers, and i'm being blown away!!  My quiet times and personal reading and devotions have also been really, really good.  I read Mark's account of the crucifixion and ressurrection today and could not help but bust out into song for what i knew that meant for me and my friends and family. . .its a good thing that family wasn't home though

All said, i'm really excited about the things that God is doing. . .but honestly i'm still afraid to hope for everything my heart desires.  I've been told not to by so many people lately. . .but hope is a persistent little bugger, ya know?  anyways, please let me know how i can pray for you, thats something i've been doing a lot more of lately and i'd really like to know how to pray specifically for each of you my friends

p.s. Melissa, i absolutely adore you with everything that i am!!!  I love you!!!