Switchfoot song that is truly awesome

I've been watching the skies
They've been turning blood red
There is not a doubt in my mind
There's a storm up ahead

(Chorus)

Hello Hurricane
You're not enough
Hello Hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

Everything I have I count as loss
Everything I have is stripped away
But before It started building
I counted up these costs
Ain't nothing left for you to take away

(Chorus)

Hello Hurricane
You're not enough
Hello Hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

Im a fighter fighting for control
Im a fighter fighting for my soul
Everything inside of me surrenders
You can't silence my love
You can't silence my love

(Chorus)

Hello Hurricane
You're not enough
Hello Hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

Moving

Yay! We finally moved buildings! Our church (Calvary Chapel Gilroy) just moved to a new building (370 Tompkins Court). I was at most of the work days and stuff to prepare the new building for us. While doing some touch-up painting in the sanctuary, a thought passed through my head. What makes a sanctuary any different form any other room? So, what does?

Does it need a stage? No. Does it need a chairs? No. Sanctuary comes from some roots and stuff pretty much meaning holy place. Holy Place. Okay, so is our sanctuary really a sanctuary? It isn't holy. It has its imperfections.

God makes a place a sanctuary. The only way the sanctuary is holy is if God is in it. So some clearing in a forest in the middle of nowhere could be a sanctuary if God is there.

We seem to put things out of perspective when we are decorating a sanctuary room. We treat it like it needs to be perfect-looking if people will worship correctly.

Moral of the post is to realize that any place where God dwells is a sanctuary, including our hearts, if we let him.

Yet another Donald Miller Quote

"I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn't. It's a chocolate thing."

— Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality)

Why? (Good Friday Post)

Earlier this morning (in the shower actually) I was thinking about the cross. I know Good Friday's coming up, so this is why i'm posting this. I've grown up in the church, so i've heard the crucifixion story hundreds of times. But my question is why? Why did He do it? The church answer is "Because he loves us," but that doesn't make any sense to someone who does not understand God's love.

Picture a dad. He and his son have spent some time making a maze and some mice to put in it. These mice can only get out one way, but they've chosen to stay in a corner of the maze where they can't get out. So the son realizes that the only way he can get the mice out of the corner of the maze is to show him the way out. But, wait, he can't talk to the mice as a human! He has to become a mouse. So the son somehow becomes a mouse and goes down to show the mice the perfect way through the maze. The mice follow him through, but some stray off and get lost in the maze again. The only way the kid/mouse can ensure that they won't stay lost is to die for them. And he does... (to be continued around Easter, that was the good friday part)

Now lets look at that part of my story. Why did the boy care so much about the mice? It's cause he made them and they are his. Its just like a little kid caring about a pet frog. It's his. Why does he like it? It can't do anything for him. It's because he owns it. It is his.

All these analogies obviously represent Christ dying for us. Why did He die for us? It is because He loves us, but He loves us because we are His. How absurd would you think it would be if your best friend said he was gonna die for mice? Thats exactly what Christ's love is. It's insane. It's crazy. But thats exactly how it should be. Imagine the conversation that happened between the boy and his father.

"Hey Pops, I've gotta die for those mice."

"WHAT!? WHY!? They don't deserve it. They don't do anything for you."

"I've just gotta do it."

It doesn't make any sense. But thats also the perfect example of how we should love. Love our enemies like Jesus loved the people who beat him up and put him on the cross. Why? Because Jesus said to. That's good enough reason for me.

Don Miller Quote

"It occurs to me it is not so much the aim of the devil to lure me with evil as it is to preoccupy me with the meaningless. "
— Donald Miller

Pushy Christians

So a while ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, and basically, they said they didn't want to be a pushy Christian. What's a pushy Christian? Thanks for asking! Non-believers I have talked to say that they don't like Christians who are always telling you about God (a.k.a. a pushy Christian).

But wait, isn't it our job to be pushy? Aren't we always supposed to be worshipping God or in some way spreading the gospel? Yes, but there are ways of going about it. Like I said in my first post, people won't listen to you unless they know you like them. So, you don't want to scare people by telling them they're going to hell or by saying that everyone's gonna die in the end. If you want to share your faith, try to make it free of Christian lingo (Christianese). People start to think that you think you're better than them because you use big words that don't really mean anything.

Also, try to make the person comfortable. Don't just show up at your friends front door and say, "Hey, lets talk about faith," because they will feel uncomfortable. You want to sink into a conversation about it. In reality, people will never be fully comfortable talking about faith if they haven't ever done it before.

One main thing you want to get across is that the difference between Christianity and other religions is that it isn't a religion, it's a relationship. It is often thought that Christians are all perfect and goody-goodies. But it is honestly a relationship with the creator of the universe.

Personally, I don't like being called a Christian. It seems like it puts a title over my relationship with Christ. People think so many things about Christianity that is twisted or untrue that it doesn't make God look good. It makes him look like his followers are jerks and they always have to do what's right and they don't love non-Christians. And it's true. Lots of Christians (or thats what they claim to be) have hurt non-Christians and put on a bad face for Christianity. I prefer the term 'believer'. I believe that Christ died on the cross for me and sacrificed himself for me. And for all he's done, I love Him.

Quote from Blue Like Jazz

"The problem with Christian culture is we think of love as a commodity. We use it like money. The Church used love like money. With love, we withheld affirmation from the people who did not agree with us, but we lavishly financed the ones who did." - Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

OMG!

Okay, so we've all heard the phrase "Oh, My God," right? I had a friend ask me the other day, why Christians think the phrase is bad. I said it was God's name in vain. He asked what that meant. I grew up being told that, so I assumed it was just bad. I had never really looked at what it means. Really, nowadays, it is an exclamation or a cuss-word, if you will. But why is it bad? Does it have some sort of curse in the meaning?

Really, the phrase itself that is wrong, it is the way we say it. What the Bible says is that God's name is too holy and too powerful to be used so lightly. My friends dad, who is an atheist, said "Oh, My God!" on our DC trip. It got me thinking about why His name has been watered down to an exclamation. The scribes who wrote the Bible would wash their hands before writing "Lord" or "God" because it was just that holy. And, truth is, it a still is that holy. People have just adopted it as a something to say in a string of cuss-words or to say if something interesting happening.

A different friend, who also does not really believe in God, said "Oh, My God" after someone had whispered something in her ear. I tapped her shoulder and asked, "Um... your God?" She told me to chill and that she didn't mean it that way.

I have heard quite a few people use the phrase. It's really sad that so many people mock the name of their creator, but that seems to be a recurring theme in the world.

The Love of Argument

So last night, while reading Blue Like Jazz (fantastic book by the way), I had some thoughts about my relationships with other people. I'm a very argumentative person, I admit, so I always try to get people to see things my way.

I have a process while arguing. I have to first make at least three points and reinforce them. Then when the opposing person makes a point, I have to shoot it down (prove it wrong) or accept it as true. It is rarely the latter because I hate being told I'm wrong.

Anyways, I can normally make a point by arguing. What I have failed to do (most of the time) is change the person's view or opinion. Basically, I'm talking about arguing that Christianity is the only way to Heaven. So while I'm explaining how Christianity is a relationship not religion, I come across as fake; like I'm selling Christianity.

Take it from the point of view of a non-Christian. Here's some dude trying to tell me his religion is right. Oh, its a relationship? Obviously not. This dude has no relationship. Its just a way to get me to be 'one of them'.

Seems like I'm being a little fake doesn't it? So back to Blue Like Jazz. I was reading a chapter on love, specifically, how to love others. The point was made that nobody will listen to you unless they think you like them, or love them.

This hit me hard. I wasn't ever really loving people. I was selling Christianity. I had reduced it to a method of points and arguments. There wasn't any love in what I was doing.

I thought long and hard (about 45 minutes) about this. There has to be two conversations that go on in an encounter with any human, regardless of their beliefs.

The first is with the mouth. You can't make a point easily without words, well I can't, at least. Words, though, need to be well thought out and biblically built upon. If you are trying to make a point about about Christianity, try using the book its built on to make it.

The Second conversation is the words of the heart. This is love. This is how someone can tell you like them and how they can tell you are in love with the Lord. Nobody will believe you are in love with Him unless your heart and words show it.

I also questioned whether I was really in love with God. Could I gave been using God as some sort of puppet to get my own way?

Suddenly, it hit me. I started to feel this feeling that God was around me and was holding me and, well I don't know. I then listened to the Phil Wickham song, Divine Romance. This is now my favorite worship song. Your relationship with Christ should be romantic. I'm not saying to go to a fancy diner with the Bible. thats just weird. But if you realize that the Bible is a love letter to you, to everyone willing to except it, then you should fall into this 'divine romance' with Christ.

To close, all relationships need love. Most importantly, your relationship with Christ. But the Bible says to love unconditionally, and that means everyone, regardless of their looks, race, religion, political views or anything. Love unconditionally.

Blog Intro

Greetings! I have never blogged in my life. I got this idea partially from my brother. Well here's my lil' intro to my blog. I'm Evan. Yeah. I don't expect anyone to be wowed by what I say here, but I hope to at least interest people. I'll probably blog like twice or thrice a week. I'll just share some thoughts and ideas that might partially matter to some people. Welp.