Life's like that

Just a quick update on my life right now, nothing too exciting. I guess this would be the stereotypical journal entry. Good good. I'm currently housesitting for my old professor Lee, who is in New York for the summer. I'm also watching her ferret Magnus Robot Fighter. He's cool and all, but he wakes me up at 4:45 each morning by biting my feet. I need to figure out how to stop that... I'm currently jobless aside from the infrequent painting stuff my friend Kyle gives me. Still not too much. I'm thinking of asking out Mindy, and I realized that I've never really asked someone on a date before. I've always kind of gone right to relationship, so this'll be interesting! And finally, I've made a friend named Kayleigh, who is awesome and a staunch atheist. This has led to some good conversations that I've thoroughly enjoyed, and I hope it will continue into many more! Also it's good for me to have someone picking at my beliefs so I make sure I actually know what I'm talking about! Rayne did that for me way back when, and still does to an extent, but I've been missing that person you know? Reach at church is officially over, so I'm no longer a young adult leader, which has been kind of weird to be honest. I just went to a bible study tonight and I didn't need to prepare or have an answer for every question or anything. It was kind of nice! But I'm afraid it might get me lazy... We shall see! Till then, good night, or whatever time it is, and I'll see you on the flip side!

Are we the unchurched generation?

This is something I've been meaning to write for a very long time. A few of my friends have decided that they don't want to go to church. That they've got their own way of doing things. While I realize that everyone has a different way that they connect with God best, it's unbelievably obvious to me that they've been badly misguided. As Pastor Scott at my church is so fond of saying, "The church is God's plan A. There is no plan B."

As I've been fond of saying lately, let's have a look at what Jesus did. I figure that, being perfect, he probably has the best possible habits that we can follow. Starting right at Luke 2:41 there is the story of Jesus leaving Joseph and Mary and staying in the temple at the ripe old age of 12. When they ask him why he would do such a thing he replies, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And in case you forgot, he's God. That means that there really wasn't much for him to learn there. I know he limited himself, but still, if God decides that it's good to go to the temple to learn, you'd better believe it's a good idea for us too! This attitude he continues for the entirety of his life. Later he was more into the teaching rather than the learning, but again, isn't that a good reason for us to go to church? If we're a little more knowledgeable than others, the best thing we can do is share it. We're all part of the team. We're all part of the family. So really, shouldn't we all be saying, "Didn't you realize that I must be in our Father's house?"

So, if you don't think that simply following in Jesus' footsteps was a good enough reason (though I'd be very worried if you didn't...) let's look at the early church. Acts 2:42-46 tells us that the early Christians devoted themselves to fellowship, attended the temple together and broke bread together. It seems that simply going to church together wasn't good enough! In Hebrews 10:25, Paul pleads for them to "not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some..." It seems staying isolated is the exact opposite of what we're supposed to be doing as Christians.

Another line of reasoning is in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. There we're told that we are all part of the body of Christ. There's the funny yet profound questioning of the eye saying it doesn't need the hand, or the foot saying it isn't as good as the hand. In verse 14 it says "the body does not consist of one member, but of many." So then I ask, isn't is foolish to think that we can be apart from the body? It's as silly as thinking that the head can live without the heart. Alone we're just ears, eyes, and hands flopping around not doing anything. It's only together that we can actually accomplish anything of any worth.

Church is where we can love one another (1 John 4:12), encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), serve one another (Galatians 5:13), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), honor one another (Romans 12:10), and be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32). How can we do these things for each other if we're not around each other? How can we be know by our love for one another (John 13:35) if we're never seen together? I ask you, what are you doing?

The big reason that I haven't actually written this out until how (aside from the fact that this isn't as long as a full sermon) is because the people that I'd actually teach this to aren't the ones who need to hear it. I pray that God will use this as it's sitting here to maybe teach those of you who do need to hear it. I hope that I get to meet you! I have to say that that is one of my favorite things about church. Getting to meet together with people that share a lot of the same ideals and thoughts with me. Getting to go to a safe space where I can be encouraged and learn. I really do love learning. And the more I learn, the more I realize how little I really know! I hope that you'll go to church. I know that they're not all as great as mine. I know that there will be conflict, people that you don't like. I know that. But remember that we're all on the same side, part of the same family. Sure our brothers and sisters may drive us nuts sometimes, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. My dear brother or sister, I hope that I'll get the opportunity to meet you too.

The proverbial bell

It's been a while. Obviously. It's annoying to say that, but oddly necessary for my mental well being. Speaking of, I'm doing pretty well. Got to do a staged reading of my friend Garrett's play. Starting a new Pathfinder group in the world of Maelstrom that I created in high school. Still doing games nights and speaking at church. Getting pretty lonely though. Eh. It sucks, but I have great friends, so I feel kinda guilty for feeling like that. Not much I can do though. One thing I do need to do is get in contact with some peeps again. Berge, Becky, Carl, Annette, and Adrian in particular. That'll at least keep me busy. Man, these would be so boring for anyone to read! Except me, which is who this is for really, so no biggie I guess! And maybe some day I'll find someone who finds these interesting and we'll get happily married. Sigh... The angst.

Day 284

A lot has changed since the world died. Well, most of it anyways. It was apparently something in the water supply. The states started having people drop by the thousands. Said it was terrorists. But then it started happening everywhere. India, England, Iran... No one knew what was happening. I guess it didn't really matter. Before anyone really figured it out it was too late. Most everyone had died. There's not too many ways you can get away with not drinking any water! Heck, maybe they did figure it out. But then the freaks started appearing. At first it was just people that had gone nuts. Dad thought maybe it was a side effect from what was in the water. I thought it was zombies. After all the comic books I figured that'd be how the world ended. But the freaks eventually died out mostly. You still hear stories from time to time. There's no news sites or tv, so you can only hear about the world from random passers by. Gone back to primitive days I guess. It's not so bad. We have our own little tribe of about thirty people. Safety in numbers and all that. Mostly middle aged. No one like me.. It gets lonely sometimes, but really, I'd rather be here than alone. Or dead. We've been camped out in an old estate for the last few days. Pretty fancy. Woulda been amazing if anyone cared to keep it nice. We'll probably be leaving in the next couple days. We live like scavengers for now. Dad keeps saying we can find a place where we can have farms and live in safety. I don't know... I feel like something will go wrong. With us it always does. I can't tell you how many times we got into sticky situations with other scroungers. Scroungers with guns. Turns out that with there not being a war at the end of the world, there's actually tons of weapons if you know where to look. We haven't been that lucky so far. But Hally usually gets us out of those scrapes. He's got a silver tongue I guess. Weird name though. No idea where it's from. Good guy. Man, I don't know why I'm writing all this. Maybe I just hope that someday if I end up getting shot or eaten (apparently some people do that now) maybe someone will remember me. Maybe my story can help someone understand what's going on. Heck, maybe this notebook will be in a museum someday. When civilization starts up again. Who knows. I'm Mattias, I'm a survivor of the water death, and this is the story of my life right now. Read it and weep!

The Struggle is Real!

When people say' "Science has disproved God." here's what I think.

Person A: "I think that this box we call the universe has a creator."
Person B: "No that's not true!"
Person A: "Well why not?"
Person B: "Because we have looked over every inch of that box, and we haven't found a creator."
Parson A: "..."