Been a Long Time Comin'

Well,
It's been quite a bit since my last post---I guess I'm still not quite used to having a "blog".

I was having some interesting conversations with two seperate people the other day stemming off of some things I've been reading in Rob Bell's book "Velvet Elvis". It seems to me that the word "Christian" is scary to people. If I was to go over to a friend of mine, or not even a friend of mine- if I was to go over to a stranger and introduce myself, tell them my name, where I'm from and then at the end add in that I'm a Christian- I would immediately be judged.

This person would feel like I'm trying to recruit them, trying to brainwash them into my way of thinking or my belief. Yes it's true that as a Christian I am supposed to spread the Word of God however, it is NOT true that it's my goal to set out and convert people or make them suffer in any way. If people have questions I have answers. If people want discussions I've got topics. If people want to know what I'm thinking I have thoughts. It is not my intention to instill anything upon anyone. My relationship with God was a personal one throughout my years and I found this way of life on my own. Nobody forced me to become a "Christian".

There are select frew groups of worshipers out there that do worship in the way that outsiders might be thinking of when they hear the word "Christian". However, this word simply means "follower of Christ". That's all I'm doing---following the ways of Christ.

I'm still me. I'm still funny. I still struggle. I still have hate. I still like a party every now and then.
Just becuase I want to live like Christ doesn't mean I am him.
Human beings were granted free-will by God, which was his greatest gift to man. (Besides his son dying on the Cross of course...) By this free will, I will still get angry and flip off another driver on the highway. By this free will I'll still drink a little too much every now and then. By this free will I'll still let a swear word come out through my lips. By this free will the occasional irrational or pornographic thought will pop into my head once in a while.

I repeat:
Just because I want to live more like Christ, does not make me anything like Christ.
I'm a human being with free-will, the freedom to choose right from wrong and the freedom to be tempting by the wrong every once in a while.

The beauty of being a Christian is dealing with the struggle and saying a prayer to fight through it.

I don't want to brainwash people.
I just want to have a better life for myself and someday my family.
If God wants to find you---He will there's not much you can do about it. I won't need to brainwash once God has His hand on your heart.

This also stems from a recent outburts from my sister's boyfriend who almost broke up with her because she attended Church with Jillian and I.
Hey Matt:
Hey Everyone:
IT'S THE SAME GOD. IT'S THE SAME BIBLE. WE'RE LIVING THE SAME VIRTUES.
Jesus did not once say that everyone HAD to be Catholic or everyone had to be Protestant.
He didn't want division. He wanted unity in the Holy Spirit. I don't understand the division people have towards Christians. It's not for me to understand though- it's been a constant struggle since the beginning.

That's all for today.
Not very long just a bit of a tangent from me.
I was going to add some things about movies (The Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, Hancock and Get Smart) but after all of that it seems futile to talk about movies. I'll save all that for next time.