Convictions
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I have been up and down lately and all over the place. Some of you may have noticed that I had started doing a few devotionals again. The other day I just felt like I could not do it. I guess you could call it a bad day. I felt that I was just not the right guy to be sharing God's word with others. Then the next day came and I thought about recording a devo, and once again it happened. Inside I just felt, why should I be doing this? It's not a feeling of do I think it's worth my time or is anyone even listening to them. It's more like a who am I to be sharing the word with people when I am so heavily convicted lately myself. The funny thing is that I'm not sure what I am being convicted on, just that there is a lot that needs changing in my life. I am the last person you will see trying to be fake. When I feel like something is not right then I withdraw from it. That is why I have not done any devos for the last few days, I just feel like something is not right between me and God. Of course nothing will ever be right because I will always fail Him but right now I feel like there is to much healing I need to let Christ do on me before I can feel right about talking to others about Him. Bare with me here, I will be back and do more of the devos but for now please keep me in your prayers.

Thank you so much,

Jerad

9:10 AM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

The Value of a Man

The value of a man:

For the man that feels his good works are unnoticed

It's not in the tie he wears, or the sharp suit he daunts in the morning

It's in the attitude and pride that he expresses after he is completely dressed



It's not in the shoes upon his feet

It's in the way he travels the path of life





It's not in the strength of his hands

It's the strength and ability to endure, and overcome trials


It's not in the number of lovers he's had in his midst

It's in the friendships he's nurtured along the way, and the one he chooses to spend his life with





It's not in the accuracy of his dialect

It's in the meaning of his words, and the level of understanding he strives to achieve





It's not in the amount of time he spends watching sports or playing video games

It's how he plays the game of life



It's not even in the way he enjoys making love

It's how tender his touch is, and how patient he is with the complexity of a woman


It's not in the places he's been

Rather, it's where he is going in life and what he will risk to get there


It's not the number of children he has

It's in his ability to create and love a family. To lead them spiritually, and provide for their needs.


It's not in his job, or how much money he makes

It's how he applies himself, and how he manages his hard-earned wages no matter the amount.


The pure value of a man can be found in his heart, mind, soul and spirit

Treasure, trust, love and respect the men in your lives. They're precious creations.

9:23 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

This Precious Flesh
Category: Religion and Philosophy

This Precious Flesh by Camerin Courtney May 3, 2006

I blame the Eastern Europeans and their friendly, gregarious ways. They ruined my little experiment this past January. I was going to see how long into the new year I could get before someone hugged me. I know this sounds like an exercise in patheticness, but I was trying to make a point about how little human contact your typical single receives.

I had visions of going weeks, maybe even a month, until someone reached out and touched me. Instead, 2006 started on a Sunday, and on my standing Thursday night gig of volunteering with an English as a Second Language (ESL) class, I got hugged by Dula from Kosovo and Sofia from Ukraine. While it was delightful to receive such a warm reception from these international friends whom I hadn't seen in three weeks due to our class's Christmas break, my experiment went bust in two heavily perfumed embraces.

This recent Easter weekend, I felt like God orchestrated his own little touch-oriented experiment on mea much more successful one. I traveled to be with my out-of-state family, as usual, where I get to slip into my alter-ego: Cool Aunt Cam. This time I was especially pumped because my nephew, Carson, was coming to the airport (the "plane station" in his lingo) with my mom and sister to pick me up. Instant nephew time!

He greeted me with I-haven't-seen-you-since-Christmas coyness, but let me pick him up so I could show him "my" plane. And in one quick heft of his three-year-old frame up to my hip, I was afforded the gift I'd been anticipating for weekssnuggling next to his wonderful little body. As much as I love our sporadic phone chats (during which we usually discuss his obsession with trains), and the holiday cards in which he scribbles his creative flourishes (which my sister usually has to translate in a caption), they pale in comparison to in-person time.

I joked with a friend recently about how Carson feels like my little loofa. Like if I could just high-five and hug and snuggle his precious flesh enough, letting his hands and feet, face and arms come into contact with my typically touch-free skin, that something dead and hard in me would fall away. And something softer and more tender would be revealed underneath. Such is the healing, restorative power of physical touch.

Throughout the rest of my visit home, I had a heightened sense of human contact. Holding hands with my family around the dinner table to pray before meals. Passing the communion plate into my grandfather's wrinkled 90-year-old hands. Receiving good-night hugs from my mom and dad. Shaking hands with strangers at church on Sunday morning. Nestling next to Carson in his Fisher Price tent on my sister and brother-in-law's living room floor.

But instead of this being simply a time to fill up on positive human contact, like a squirrel stashing away enough food for the long winter months ahead, God directed my all-too-introspective eyes upward.

Lying there in our make-shift campout, nestled next to Carson's play-sweaty body, I was reminded and thankful all over again for a God who came to this planet in the flesh. Who walked this earth, embraced children, traveled with his friends, ate with strangers, healed by touching, and eventually took our sin upon his sinless body, allowing it to be broken for us. And then rising again in that heavenly flesh, whole and healed for us all.

Once again redemption crashed into my single, broken, touch-deprived world, and I marveled at a God who can transform a deficit into a teachable moment. Standing with my family that Easter Sunday morning singing "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," I understood a bit more the countless generations of pre-Christ believers eagerly awaiting the Word made flesh, the hosts of angels heralding his physical entree into this world, Mary's wonder and awe at her divine boy, the eager hands of the woman who'd been bleeding for years, the betraying and punishing acts of those threatened by Christ's very presence, the utter grief of those looking upon Jesus' broken, crucified body. And the glorious wonder of resurrected flesh.

In the weeks following Easter, I've found myself a bit more willing to be the hug-initiator, embracing my friends and loved ones with fresh appreciation that sometimes we get to be Christ's hands and feet and arms to one another. I've been a bit more grateful to be a member of the body of Christ. And I've used those occasional melancholy moments of longing for a special someone's hand to hold as a reminder of the anticipation of generations of believers for the Christ child. I thank him again that this promise has been fulfilledand praise him for what I do have: an ever-present Savior who will one day return to bring us all home.

5:45 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

One Flaw In Women

One Flaw In Women
Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH

11:00 PM - 7 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Good Friday Video

The Good Friday video posted in the MySpace Devo iTunes feed was done by Rocketboom.

Rocketboom is a three minute daily videoblog based in New York City. We cover and create a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to quirky internet culture. Agenda includes releasing each new clip at 9am EST, Monday through Friday. With a heavy emphasis on international arts, technology and weblog drama, Rocketboom is presented via online video and widely distributed through RSS.

Rocketboom for the most part is a clean show. The only thing that goes on from time to time is very mild profanity, which really pans out to like one swear word a week if that. I watch Rocketboom as a daily part of my morning activity along with a few other online shows.

The Wikipedia link on Good Friday is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday

5:55 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Rely On God
Category: Religion and Philosophy

RELY on God
in the midst of the storm,
REST within
His comforting arms.
KNOW tomorrow is safe
in His hands,
TRUST even when
you don't understand.
STAND fast in courage,
day by day,
WALK by faith
when you don't know the way.
EMBRACE the Lord
and abandon all fear,
BELIEVE with all your heart...
He is near.


by Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Text Abbey Press, St. Meinrad, IN 47577

2 Peter 1:3-4 (New International Version)

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

3:42 PM - 2 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

When You Aime to Judge

Matthew 7:1-5 (New International Version)

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

John 8:6-11 (New International Version)

6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Romans 14:1-4 (New International Version)

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 (New International Version)

6Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)

24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Galatians 4:18 (New International Version)

18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (New International Version)

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

3:58 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Christians Gone Wild Series
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Today we start a series on 1 Corinthians called Christians Gone Wild. A study on us as the body of Christ today and the Corinthian church back in the day. There is a lot of relevance in our lives today in this book. This study will not be daily we will move through out this book over the next few months. Please post your thoughts and comments as we go through this study. I would love to hear back from you and encourage you to let your voice be heard by me, the other listeners and most of all Christ.

Jerad

1:10 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Anyway...

As life progresses and things change we are to remain steadfast anyway.

Click here to watch the video

2:19 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

All In His Time...???
Category: Religion and Philosophy

We all have heard it before. The scriptures tell us that "there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven..." Ok well why are we not living that way? Did we not read on to the part that tells us that "He has made everything beautiful in its time?" I think we all know it but why are we not living it? We still take on more then we can chew, we desire more then we should, we indulge overy moderated. What is the deal????

Listen to Today's Devo titled "All In His Time"

9:58 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment