I read a few blogs from youth in our area & just pray overall for what we can do as Believers to offer some kind of Eternal Hope. Here is one from the 17 year old I've been writing to online these past several weeks. We've never met, but know several mutual friends. He attends State High... (emphasis mine)
so yeah its been i dont know hong that i have been like this maybe 4 months or so i forget.. but it doesnt seem to be getitng any better. I always tend to get into these fogs of hopelessness and feeling lost and that no one wants me.. well it sorta always feels that way to me. I havent been back to school in 2 months and i dont know if i iwll go back i am trying to still figure out different options. I am getting help and all but its just doesnt seem to help me over all.. its helping some little things. I dont understand why it seems liek all the bad things have to happen to the good people. And really it seems liek i didnt do anything to deserve being treated this way. It seems like i did nothing. but other people tend to think differently.. maybe those people should undertand who i am and what i am trying to do.. i know sometimes i dont act nice to others and it might seem like i odnt care but in a way i do i really care aobut everyone in a way or another even the people that hate me and dont like me. i cant hate them back thats not who i am and thats not the way i am. Its not good to hate people it just gives you a reason for nothing.. which is pointless i odnt get it.. and i gues people dont seem to get themselvs most of the time. I always act nice and kind to everyone ( most of the time anyways) and look what i get back.. i get all this shit.. and i dont liek it.. people need to deal with their own problems.. anbd not blame me i am already going through so much shit.. and if you say you understand maybe.. you understand only a little biut.. not all of it.. unless if i have talked to you personally and told you everything.. those would be the people who i trsut.. the people that i know care a little bit.if not alot. but sometimes i wish people would care.. like maybe call to see where i was or call to see hopw i was or.. just call to hang out and do soemthing.. but nope.. i havent gotten any calls and i am sure i wont qat all in the future. yeah thats why it seems liek no one tends to care because no one seems to do anything to cheer me up.. o well i gues i am sorta alone but o well thats who i am.. if people want to be my friend they can... if they hate me thats their problem and they have to deal iwth it.. i wish people would ten to deal with their own problems instead of blame them on me. no wonder no one likes me because i tend to get a false image from people. but if people tend to know the real me.. the kid who is nice and caring.. maybe more people will understand what i am trying to do.but for now no one seem to care and no one seem to want to iunderstand and really who wants to understand me
If this doesn't epitomize what goes on inside the heads of most American teens between 13 & 19, I can't think of anything else use for an example. I do know that with teens, there is always "the rest of the story" and I always go into these situations fully aware that there is more than meets the eye. I don't think the church needs to have "The Answer" as much as I think the church needs to have the spiritual latitude to provide growing room for youth so they have the freedom to not just explore Jesus, but their own lives as well.
1.16.2006
I Wanna Know What Love Is
Lou Graham, when he sang the song with Foreigner years ago, yearned to know what love really is:
How many of us really know what "love" is?
We have gotten such a whacked-out definition that we probably wouldn't know what love is if it were pinned to our noses with a namebadge. The phrase, "I love you" can mean a plethora of things depending on when you say it, to whom you say it, and even where you say it.
One of my pet peeves is how everyone becomes totally homosexually charged over the expression of love. It has totally destroyed the pure, respectful form of love that exists between two close friends. It is a non-sexual kind of love that bonds two people. My mom once placed a newspaper clipping on my mirror as a senior-high school student that really stuck with me. It was a column written by a psychologist showing that research had found that men and/or boys (in particular) who have had (or currently has) a "close, intimate friendship" with another male tends to make for a better husband because the man can first see his wife as a friend before seeing her as a sex object or as his lover.
The problem is that society has branded any guy ...or gal, really... who has anything remotely connected to a "close, intimate friendship" as "gay". How sad. How sad it is to pervert such a pure form of human expression. How sad to taint the bond that could be the sustenance for a guy's manhood. How sad to fling a guilt complex on something so liberating?
To me, the coolest thing to see is to watch two guys who are straight, but are close, intimate friends...who are so uninhibited in their friendship that they can freely express their feelings toward one another & are unaffected by public opinion...or peer pressure. There is something that is unexplainable which happens when I am with a friend who I can be myself & express myself in both body language & in verbal language. I can look my friend in the eye and know that he & I are on the same page when I express to him how much I love him, respect him, and admire him. And, when my friend places his arm around my shoulders & holds me as a non-verbal way to show support, encouragement, or (in a few cases) sympathy, it totally frees my soul.
Granted, a man should have very few secrets from his mate - his wife - but a man also has a few secrets that is reserved for a close male friend who understands the feelings & struggles men face. Let's face it: Women are very understanding...but they don't understand everything. And I do not think there is anything "gay" about a man expressing feelings of love & closeness with another man. The bible is quite clear as to what, specifically, homosexual love is:
There's pretty much no argument what is meant here, folks. I think a lot more guys would have a lot less anxiety if they were a lot more open to having close, intimate friendships. Everyone who sees two young boys as in the days of Huckleberry Finn walking along, arm-in-arm with fishing poles in hand, thinks this is such a wholesome sight. Yet if they see two guys walking arm-in-arm down a sidewalk or in a park or mall it is automatically assumed the two have a "thing" going between them.
As for me, I will continue to be me. Folks will continue to make their assumptions about me. And I will continue to care less. I do know that I am fulfilled because I have a few close, intimate friendships that I can always fall back on where I can open up uninhibited & pour out my heart to my friend & likewise, let him pour out his heart on me while I lovingly hold him & let him be totally at ease in his manhood.
Then I can go to my wife to enjoy a deeper love that includes the sexual side & know that I have a good balance on what I want to know love is. You have to be confident in what you know about love in order to fully know what love is. You have to be comfortable in your definition of love for you to embrace what love really is. And when this happens, you can recognize love in its many varying forms & know how to respond, when to respond, and where to respond to the love that is being expressed.
I refuse to let the gay agenda set my agenda on what I know about love.
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
I through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
How many of us really know what "love" is?
We have gotten such a whacked-out definition that we probably wouldn't know what love is if it were pinned to our noses with a namebadge. The phrase, "I love you" can mean a plethora of things depending on when you say it, to whom you say it, and even where you say it.
One of my pet peeves is how everyone becomes totally homosexually charged over the expression of love. It has totally destroyed the pure, respectful form of love that exists between two close friends. It is a non-sexual kind of love that bonds two people. My mom once placed a newspaper clipping on my mirror as a senior-high school student that really stuck with me. It was a column written by a psychologist showing that research had found that men and/or boys (in particular) who have had (or currently has) a "close, intimate friendship" with another male tends to make for a better husband because the man can first see his wife as a friend before seeing her as a sex object or as his lover.
The problem is that society has branded any guy ...or gal, really... who has anything remotely connected to a "close, intimate friendship" as "gay". How sad. How sad it is to pervert such a pure form of human expression. How sad to taint the bond that could be the sustenance for a guy's manhood. How sad to fling a guilt complex on something so liberating?
To me, the coolest thing to see is to watch two guys who are straight, but are close, intimate friends...who are so uninhibited in their friendship that they can freely express their feelings toward one another & are unaffected by public opinion...or peer pressure. There is something that is unexplainable which happens when I am with a friend who I can be myself & express myself in both body language & in verbal language. I can look my friend in the eye and know that he & I are on the same page when I express to him how much I love him, respect him, and admire him. And, when my friend places his arm around my shoulders & holds me as a non-verbal way to show support, encouragement, or (in a few cases) sympathy, it totally frees my soul.
Granted, a man should have very few secrets from his mate - his wife - but a man also has a few secrets that is reserved for a close male friend who understands the feelings & struggles men face. Let's face it: Women are very understanding...but they don't understand everything. And I do not think there is anything "gay" about a man expressing feelings of love & closeness with another man. The bible is quite clear as to what, specifically, homosexual love is:
If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an
abomination. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands. -
Lev. 20:13 [HCSB]
There's pretty much no argument what is meant here, folks. I think a lot more guys would have a lot less anxiety if they were a lot more open to having close, intimate friendships. Everyone who sees two young boys as in the days of Huckleberry Finn walking along, arm-in-arm with fishing poles in hand, thinks this is such a wholesome sight. Yet if they see two guys walking arm-in-arm down a sidewalk or in a park or mall it is automatically assumed the two have a "thing" going between them.
As for me, I will continue to be me. Folks will continue to make their assumptions about me. And I will continue to care less. I do know that I am fulfilled because I have a few close, intimate friendships that I can always fall back on where I can open up uninhibited & pour out my heart to my friend & likewise, let him pour out his heart on me while I lovingly hold him & let him be totally at ease in his manhood.
Then I can go to my wife to enjoy a deeper love that includes the sexual side & know that I have a good balance on what I want to know love is. You have to be confident in what you know about love in order to fully know what love is. You have to be comfortable in your definition of love for you to embrace what love really is. And when this happens, you can recognize love in its many varying forms & know how to respond, when to respond, and where to respond to the love that is being expressed.
I refuse to let the gay agenda set my agenda on what I know about love.
1.06.2006
Christmas is over: I need a VACATION!
Did I just go through a time warp? They've always said the holidays are the busiest time of the year. And when I wasn't busy, I would sit long enough for my eyelids to begin drooping to the point I would just get up & go to bed. Gosh, I'm starting to act like my father.
Actually looking over the recently departed Christmas holiday, it seemed to be a lot more of a flashpoint than in previous ones. More people have been making issues over whether or not to wish another a "Merry Christmas" or a "happy holidays" greeting. More schools have been weighing whether or not to exclude any Christmas carols from their choral presentations. And a few retail chains had egg on their faces when they tried to de-Christianize Christmas.
On the Sunday before Christmas, I heard a timely message on "The War on Christmas". It was during a month-long emphasis called, "The Christmas Chronicles" which was a clever play on the current buzz over C.S. Lewis' adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe motion picture which has the box office buzzing. The question was asked of the church: Are you making Christ famous or infamous by your actions? And what can you do in 2006 to make Christ famous?
The first think I think about if I consider somone famous is whether or not they have respect. If they have a lot of respect I would say they are pretty famous. If, on the other hand, they have a lot of disrespect then I would call them, "infamous". I wonder how much respect the church - Christians in general - are generating for Jesus? Are we "aiding & abetting the enemy" when we cast aspersion upon the Cross by our chaotic behavior?
Take Pat Robertson. His screwball "prophecies" saying that God is punishing New Orleans because of Katrina or that God is punishing Israel or its Prime Minister (who is near death at this time from bleeding on the brain) is not polishing any silver when it comes to giving Christianity a sparkling reputation. If we're going to follow that trail, I have to wonder about what God is doing in Tulsa, OK when a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Board (and a well-known pastor who has been critically outspoken against same-sex marriages & homosexuality) was busted propositioning a male prostitute.
We've become so polarized by our beliefs that we're no longer focusing on each other. We will always have differences no matter what. We can see these differences and note them in our mental journal, but we do not have to let these differences act as blockades to our interaction with each other.
In the middle of all the cerebral brickabrack on Christmas as a Christian holiday, is the physical effort one must make to keep momentum during this month-long marathon. We have Christmas parties to attend, church plays to support or prepare for, Christmas Eve services to plan, familes to visit, food to cook, people to see, parties to host, ....egad! Pretty soon, it's January.
You know, come to think of it...I kind of like January. Nice & quiet. No holidays. Just a normal month... I'll savor every day of it.
Actually looking over the recently departed Christmas holiday, it seemed to be a lot more of a flashpoint than in previous ones. More people have been making issues over whether or not to wish another a "Merry Christmas" or a "happy holidays" greeting. More schools have been weighing whether or not to exclude any Christmas carols from their choral presentations. And a few retail chains had egg on their faces when they tried to de-Christianize Christmas.
On the Sunday before Christmas, I heard a timely message on "The War on Christmas". It was during a month-long emphasis called, "The Christmas Chronicles" which was a clever play on the current buzz over C.S. Lewis' adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe motion picture which has the box office buzzing. The question was asked of the church: Are you making Christ famous or infamous by your actions? And what can you do in 2006 to make Christ famous?
The first think I think about if I consider somone famous is whether or not they have respect. If they have a lot of respect I would say they are pretty famous. If, on the other hand, they have a lot of disrespect then I would call them, "infamous". I wonder how much respect the church - Christians in general - are generating for Jesus? Are we "aiding & abetting the enemy" when we cast aspersion upon the Cross by our chaotic behavior?
Take Pat Robertson. His screwball "prophecies" saying that God is punishing New Orleans because of Katrina or that God is punishing Israel or its Prime Minister (who is near death at this time from bleeding on the brain) is not polishing any silver when it comes to giving Christianity a sparkling reputation. If we're going to follow that trail, I have to wonder about what God is doing in Tulsa, OK when a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Board (and a well-known pastor who has been critically outspoken against same-sex marriages & homosexuality) was busted propositioning a male prostitute.
We've become so polarized by our beliefs that we're no longer focusing on each other. We will always have differences no matter what. We can see these differences and note them in our mental journal, but we do not have to let these differences act as blockades to our interaction with each other.
In the middle of all the cerebral brickabrack on Christmas as a Christian holiday, is the physical effort one must make to keep momentum during this month-long marathon. We have Christmas parties to attend, church plays to support or prepare for, Christmas Eve services to plan, familes to visit, food to cook, people to see, parties to host, ....egad! Pretty soon, it's January.
You know, come to think of it...I kind of like January. Nice & quiet. No holidays. Just a normal month... I'll savor every day of it.
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