As The Curtain Rises....

My three week break at home has been great. Despite being bored by not getting in touch with people as compared to the regular school year, just being back at home could never been so sweet. Things have changed a lil bit up in La Verne, I tried a new burger place called the Habit and had their western bacon burger and it was nice. Meeting up with my old high school friends were nice too. I didn't have the best high school experience compared to college. But just meeting up with them was great.

I had some discussions with some people about Tim Keller's Reason for God which challenges some of the popular notions that various people bring up to challenge the Christian faith. We talked about how even though people try to bring up the faults with the faith, their arguments is comprised of faults as well which their claims can prove doubtful. Apologetics is not my strong point as it is mind boggling, but the fact is that some people try to bring up relativism and think that Christianity is a religion just like any other religion and that its all about being a good person and you'll get reward in some afterlife that some other religions claim and they think that its absolute.

While we Christians, do what we do by living righteous lives not to gain anything but as a response to Christ's sacrifice on the cross to pay for the penalty of our sins and that must be absolute to us. A good brother of mine from CCM or I would like to call him my mentor, had this little slip of paper which was a note underneath the cover of his Bible. It was from Tim Keller's sermon as he was comparing religion versus Christianity. The note from Keller's sermon says that religion is "I Obey, therefore I'm accepted" while Christianity says "I'm accepted through what Jesus Christ did for me, therefore I obey". To the eyes of the world it may seem like were relative as any other religion, but what the scriptures say is that we obey as a response to the work of Christ and not to gain anything because of the grace of God we are saved through Christ.

The note goes more in depth comparing be saying "Not justified by how many peopel come out to church or how well I do" and also a bible verse Jonah 2:9 that says "Salvation is of the Lord". I copied that note from my mentor's bible to remind myself of the message that the note portrays and I added my own verse Ephesisans 2:1-10. As I was going through a rough time last summer, my mentor showed me this passage and it shattered my heart. I won't go into too much detail about the historical context but its a letter from Paul to the Church of the Ephesus. Verses 1-3 speaks of our human depravity before we came to Christ with the fact that we were dead spiritually just like the world under a system of depravity known as sin. Verses 4-10 speaks of a God who despite his holiness and his righteousness and can't stand the sight of sin was filled with love for us even though we were sinful made us alive spiritually.

A new birth spiritually only by the blood of Christ, and it was the grace of God that caused this to happen which seated us with him in the heavnly places of Christ Jesus. And it is by the grace of God that we are saved and not by human works, so that no one can take credit that we are saved not by an action that we do on our part at all. Verse 10 speaks of us to live lives of righteousness as response for we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus.

I know I might have gone off topic with my summer break to this part, but its extremely comforting going over for this and I need it more than over. Even though summer break has been great at home. I felt the weight of the world of life after graduation and it was painful and lonely. But what gave me peace though was going through the word of God. I am doing my devotions on Exodus and I just finished Genesis a few weeks ago. Its so nice to go through the bible at one's own pace. From what I know, the whole central message of the bible is the gospel both explicitly and implicitly. The OT speaks of a Holy God and his character from the creation of the world and making a covenant with Abraham that promises of a great nation to come which is Israel.

Despite, Israel's many failures because of their sin in various ways in particular idolatry, this God remains faithful to them and prophesies the coming of a messiah which is Jesus which is how the gospel slowly came to pass. The NT speaks of Jesus and his teaching to his disciples about the hope of the gospel which is Christ's sacrifice on the cross. A sacrifice for sin to end all sins and the OT sacrificial system was no longer needed because of that great sacrifice on the cross. The gospel came to the apostles and Paul to preach it to various nations and places. With Paul and his instructions and guidelines in his letters to the various churches to live lives worthy of Christ. So worthy that gives us believers joy and being expectant till Christ returns. As a passage in revelation says "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This is a great truth and as I write this blog about this and it is comforting. Its definitely worth reminding ourselves constantly. Even though theology and doctrine which is based upon scripture is important to the life of a believer. Those things alone cannot bring life spiritually but looking at the scriptures that speak of the gospel in various ways brings such a great deal of spiritual satisfaction. My time over break, despite the comfort and discomfort over various things, has made me led to big decisions in my life right now. I am going through a hiring process right now applying for a job and my plans after my graduation have been made up. I look back at my life in various ways especially in how I came to college and have been led up to this point. As the Curtain called "My Senior Year: Last Year in UCI" begins to rise and my I have made some important decisions which are set, the only thing to do is wait and carry them out step by step.

One of my favorite TV shows hands down

I have a variety of TV shows that I like. But so far, the one thats been catching my attention is the office. BEST SHOW...HANDS DOWN!!!

As Summer Comes Down To A Close

I am sick, tired, and I have a migriane headache. I just seriously want to go back home. Home is definitely where the heart is but I just can't because I have school. I have two finals and 15 page paper to do and I most certainly cannot afford to slack off. I could go into more detail about some of the frustrating times I had this summer. But I want to talk about another point. This week, is my last week at my house here in Turtle Rock, and as I look back I had some good times with my roommates. One of them this week decided to put up the image you see above on my facebook profile picture. I'll miss those times. I really miss a lot of things especially those of who are back at their respective homes for the summer. Just chatting with these people on AIM somewhat helped me to cope with the loneliness and frustration of being here in Irvine. A good norcal friend decided to bring this up to my attention. And we were able to come to a conclusion that her theology is simply being a two-point calvanist. Enjoy.

Jumpin on the Blog Band Wagon

So, I just talked to one of my old small group guy from CCM and he told me he just started a blog. I wasn't exactly comfortable starting one. A sister told me I should start making one but I told her probably later during the school year. But with summer being boring, I decided to make one. I used to have a xanga and put and jot down everything and stuff but got out of it coming into college. I am not exactly the type of guy to share everything on the internet as a lot of people are not too fond of blogging, some people think that blogging can be a bit self centered and all other stuff. I don't want this blog to be where I spill out my whole life for you and let you know every single detail of my life whats about going on. But, hopefully, this can be interesting.