Upon the burning of your house.

Imagine this:
You have a beautiful home,
a perfectly landscaped lawn, with hedges and bushes all manicured down to the very leaf.
Your home is set on the firmest of foundations,
is pressure washed clean routinely,
and your lights shine so bright that people from five blocks away notice.
You live in a nice community where your neighbors seem to care for you like you are their brother or sister.
Your neighbors claim to be there to help you if you should ever need it...

Get the image in your head? The house should look like this:

Now imagine this:
Your neighborhood is beginning to be overrun with people who are different, their houses not being as nice and pure as yours.
You and your neighbors welcome them to the neighborhood.
You spend a majority of your time helping your new neighbors get accustomed to their homes.
But while you're too preoccupied with them, you fail to notice that...
You're sprinklers stopped working, and now your lawn has started to decay.
You've stopped asking for the person to come pressure wash your house, because you feel like you're bothering him, and he has better things to do. Your house starts to accumulate dirt.
You find that the foundation of your home is sinking in, apparently your foundation wasn't as firm as it was made out to be.
Your lights begin to dim, then they start to flicker on and off until, eventually, they burn out altogether.
And as luck would play out, there is a heat storm in your area.
The lightning cracks and strikes, hitting your dead and brittle grass...
Igniting a small flame.
But you don't seem to notice, so you fail to extinguish it while you can.
At first the flame burns your home slowly.
However it seems to sense that you aren't doing anything to tame it, so it sparks, striking while you're oblivious and weak.
The flame quickly spreads to your house, engulfing everything it touches as if its a starving man seeing food for the first time in months, maybe even years.
The neighbors that you thought would be there for you do nothing, they sit idly by and act as though they see nothing. After all, their homes are still prestigious.
By now your home is destroyed.
Everything that you've worked so hard to earn, build, and maintain, vanished.
Your home looks like this:

Your old neighbors see nothing, they continue on with their daily lives as though the shell of your once magnificent home is still in tact.
Your new neighbors walk past too.
However they stop, tell you not to worry about it.
Tell you that your home was too pure, too nice, too perfect.
They invite you over to their house, they're having a party and figure it'll take your mind off things.
You go with them, after all, you have nothing left to lose.
Your old neighbors, the same ones that say you are kin to them, are gone.
They don't seem to care.
The only ones who were actually there for you are the outsiders.
Your urban neighbors.
Granted, their house is nowhere near as nice as yours, actually, they live in a run down single wide...
...but at least they were there upon the burning of your house.












This is some pretty intense symbolism.
Let me be completely honest with you here; bear with me.
This last month has started my last year of college before I prepare to get myself ready a Christian school, where I will be specializing in ministry.
That being said...This last month has also been one of the toughest months ever with my walk with Christ.
During the summer I built my home with Him.
Set the foundations.
Watered my lawn.
Constantly cleaned my home.
Was surrounded by those who were at the same level as me.


But with school being in full swing,
I started slacking.
I stopped refreshing my lawn with the purest of waters,
stopped washing my home clean with the sacrifice He gave.
Instead I covered my yard in a debris of sin.
My house is destroyed, or so it feels.
I feel as though its a shell, I look back to those days of my prime and I see the happiness.
But the light isn't there anymore.
The warmth that was in my house is gone.
And it its wake it left a cold nothingness.
I let the devil in...
And when he saw that I was too weak and pathetic to stop the flame while I could, he swallowed my home.
His flames crackled like a sick laughter.
He consumed me.
...all because I didn't want to bother The Restorer, felt I didn't need to call up my Electrician, didn't ask for the best Pressure Washer to come clean my house.
My home is gone.
Enveloped by the hell fire...


All thats left is the land plot.
And part of the foundation.
Its time to start rebuilding.
And I have The Architect, The Electrician, and The Restorer on speed dial.

And they said a little competition never hurt nobody.

Lets just throw this out there; I'm competitive.
And it doesn't just stop there.
I am bold enough to say that I'm R E A L L Y competitive.
The saying "Go hard or go home" isn't taken lightly with me.
I like to play with everything I've got & I like to win.
However, I do understand that there is always going to be someone in the world better than me.
That being said, although they are better than me, I will still try my hardest that way I can say I gave it my all.
Its called healthy competition.

But my eyes have been opened to something that is so bothersome to me.
Its ugly.
Its horrendous.
Its unhealthy competition.

You ask, "How do you mean?"
Well let me explain....

I feel like there is a sense of developing competition when it comes everyday life.
You're always striving to "one up" someone,
look better,
act better,
be better...

I know people who will chase after their friend's crush just to be better.
Its ridiculous.
Its unhealthy.

Its to the point where you lose the sense of who you are and take on the sense of who you are in regards to someone else.

Lets take it to the next level...
People are becoming competitive in their walk with Christ.
its appalling.
Your relationship with the Father is not a rat race,
and if you base it off of that fact, let me tell you the outcome:
you lose.
And you lose by a landslide.
Because when you live your life in Christ competitively,
you're not living a life in Christ at all.
You're faking your whole relationship.
Living not for the Father, but for yourself.

And I'm willing to bet that He's appalled too.

However, there is a healthy competition when it comes to your relationship with God.
The twist is that its not with someone who goes harder than you do,
its with yourself.
You're going against yourself.
You push and push in your walk,
constantly trying to be better than the day you were the day before.
Absorb more of His word than you did the week before.
Spend more time with Him than you did the month before.
Do that, and you'll go farther with Him than you did the year before.
Go 100% for the Lord, and the next time go 110%.
Constantly strive for Him.
Set goals for yourself, and feel the sense of accomplishment when you exceed them.

Quit trying be better than everyone else.
Stop living a life based off a lie.
You may be fooling a man, but you're not fooling THE Man.

Its time to stop pretending and start getting real.
Dont try to be better than them,
be better than you.
This life is a race,
full of obstacles,
heaped with hurdles,
turns and twists,
who is going to win,
the old you:
who falls into traps, and strives for all the wrong things,
or the new you,
who knows your weaknesses and strives to overcome?
The choice is yours,
and the only one stopping you is yourself.

-A.

Spoiled rotten.

We have one of the best worship bands that I've ever heard.
And I've been to alot of churches, so thats not just me saying that.
But tonight, things were a little different for me.
Normally, I pray for the distractions to go away and I press into God...
Not tonight.
I had this nagging thought in my head about the music, the technology, and the people.
I couldnt let it go; the thought pestered me the whole service.
Dont get me wrong, the first thing I wrote was about how we have an amazing band...

But sometimes I feel like the music is just a distraction.

I've noticed that people dont really get it...
The Spirit of the Lord isnt just in a room; the Holy Spirit is in YOU.
Yes, the slow music is a nice way to get into worship, but its not necessary.

I believe we've been spoiled.
Spoiled rotten.

A majority of the churches that I've ever attended all have some pretty nice things to get us into the mood to worship, so to speak.
They have the fancy lights, they have the overhead projectors with the nice backgrounds, they've got nice equipment, but its so overdone.
Think about it: Did Jesus have to be in a room that had pretty lights to worship his Father? No.
Did the disciples worry about what playlist they would put on to coax them to give thanks? No.
They worshiped the Lord with no worries about any of that.
And, quite frankly, I think they had the right idea.
We spend so much time worrying about making everything perfect that we miss out on valuable time with the Lord.

I like to think of it as raw worship.
People gathering and uplifting His name.
People shouting praises to the Heavens.
People on their face.
People sobbing while the most unconditional love is poured on them.
People talking to God, and not caring who is around them.
People singing at the top of their lungs, without the worship leader prompting them to do so.
Thats raw worship.






There is just something extraordinary about being in a room full of people who unashamedly worship the Lord God Almighty.
I love the rush that I get when I'm surrounded by people who want to do the same thing I do.

I believe that worship has become too much of a routine.
Too much of just going through the motions.
Its time for us to step out of our comfort zone
Its time for us to press into God, regardless of our surroundings.
We dont need a song to get us to worship our Father.
All we need is already supplied.

So I ask you, will you start worshiping in the raw?
Or will you just continue to walk through worship, as instructed?
I challenge you to be different.
Because when you do, you'll be blessed like never before.

-A.

Teacher's pet.

Today's the first week of school for a majority of the people I know.
And this morning I've come to the conclusion that I was born for this.
No, not born to be a professional college student,
but born to be a professional student...
You see, everyday there is something that can be learned.
and as a student, you have teachers who are wise in their field of study,
those teachers pass on their knowledge until they've given all they have
and then you move on to another teacher.
This cycle goes on an on until, eventually, you become the teacher.

Are you following me here?

Let me clarify: Spiritually, we are all professional students.
We have teachers in our lives, whether they are literal teachers, mentors, spiritually stable friends, or leaders at churches.
They feed into us, they sharpen us, pour out their knowledge of God's love and His word until they have nothing left to give.
Then we move on to someone else, because the circle of knowledge is infinite.
Eventually, although we may not realize it, we become the teachers.
We begin to pour into others and help them with their walk with Christ.
So the circle continues.


It reminds me of one of my favorite songs by Sanctus Real "Lead Me"

"So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I'm called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can't
Don't want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up"

This song is the perfect example, (not to mention it makes me cry every time, lets be real, I just think its perfect...)
You ask the Father, who is the ultimate, universal Teacher, to give you, the student, strength and wisdom, so that you can eventually become a teacher and a leader to someone else.

Its the circle of life.
It's what I've been taught.
Its my favorite lesson.
You're the sheep and the shepherd.
And its the most beautiful concept to me.

-A.

Home=♥

"Home is where the heart is."

We've all heart it,

all seen it displayed by various signs,

throughout countless houses.

But I've never really experienced it like this.

The instant happiness the moment I realize we've crossed state lines and seeing the "welcome" sign.

The warmth I feel as I pull in to park.
How I run up the stairs instead of a leisurely walk.
The way our eyes light up when the font door opens and we see each other for the first time since we've been apart.
Being pulled in for a hug with such force...
such anticipation...
such longing...
such love...
before I even set my luggage down.

How when it's time to go I can't bear to even be near the door.
The cling of desperation as we hug goodbye.
The tears that fall, and knowing that there is someone there to catch them.
The shallow smiles that we share, already feeling the loss that has yet to happen.
The eyes that look so dead and beaten down.
How my legs trudge slowly down the steps and to the car, reluctant to leave.
A pull at my heart to stop the car, just turn around and go back;
Go back to the comfort I have in their arms.

I have a home here.
10 hours away, in a place I've only been to once, I have a home away from home.
A piece of my heart is there,
Not just there; a piece of my heart is with THEM.
It always will be.

-A.

A family.

08.19.11

I'm sitting in an apartment in South Carolina surrounded by people that I love.
As I'm listening to the sounds something hits me: this is the sound of a family.
There's the sound of a child playing with one of his many older brothers,
the sound of a father talking to his son,
the sound of a mother scolding one of her many kids for losing something yet again,
the sound of siblings bickering.
There's the sound of laughter.
There's the sound of happiness.
There's the sound of love.
This is what a family is.

As I type this, I realize how bittersweet the scene really is.
Things are changing.
People are leaving.
People are staying.
I've got to acknowledge the fact that nothing of this world stays the same.
There is never a constant.
I would say it's a sad fact...

but its not.

Because regardless of the changes that we are facing,
the difficulties that we are going through,
I know this isn't the end for us.
We are a family.
We stand strong through the tough times.
We mourn when the others grieve.
We laugh when the others are happy.
We love while we fight.
We are a family.
And we will overcome.

-A