I'd rather not know!

Do you ever get the feeling like we know too much? Today we have so much info at our finger tips, but do you ever feel overwhelmed by it all? I certainly do. If you watch the news, especially related to Hollywood, you can get all the information, including personal intimate information that we the public have no business and should have no interest in knowing. My biggest problem is with the mainstream news media. Each day they report hundreds of news stories, and many of them are important. Sometimes I feel like they tell us too much, especially about our government. Now don't get me wrong, I feel like its important to know whats going on with our elected officials, especially this administration!! But, I often think that the media and our government leaks too much, for example.. the CIA torture techniques. We the U.S public don't need to know about how the CIA and or military goes about extracting information. That should be kept top secret, do you think that our enemies aren't watching CNN or even FoxNews? For the sake of our country, I would rather not know!

Faith and Politics...can they mesh?

I'll say it right now...I am a staunch Republican. No, not one like the majority who are in Washington, but rather a conservative Republican who is loyal to his country, and believes in small government. I am a patriot. When I say that I fiercely disagree with President Obama, I am not just being a sore loser, but someone who is very concerned that the path that Obama is taking us down, is a path of socialism and one that this nation was not meant to go down.
That said, I am also a staunch Christian, the first and foremost authority that I listen to is Jesus Christ. It may seem that at times, these loyalties compete. Especially when the man in the White House is of the other party. Romans 13 talks about authority and how all authority is God ordained, and that rebellion against that authority is rebellion against Him. What I want to know is, what constitutes rebellion? I should say that no matter how strong my feelings are against our President, I would in no way condone or support any violent act against him. I want to obey the Lord's command and submit to the authority, but when that government goes awry and who's actions are contrary to the good of the people, what then? Even great theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer rebelled against Hitler? What do you guys think?

I hate waiting...

So...so much has happened since spring break. Life seems to be speeding up a lot! As a college student this should not be a surprise. Papers papers and more papers. Exams and more papers! At times I swear I'm not learning anything in these classes, but thats not true. I have found that much of my education has come from college, but not in the classroom environment.
It seems like my most influential prof has been my girlfriend. We have been together almost 19 months now and it has been a blast! It has been one huge emotional rollercoaster, but well worth it. She has been probably the single best gift that God has ever given me, apart from Christ. She is wise where I am not, and seems to keep me on track with reality. At times I really get a glimpse of the beauty of the love that God meant for women to bestow upon their men. Its a sweet thing. We have had our arguements and struggles, but I have found that nothing is sweeter than making things right between us, and learning from the struggles. When I have been tempted to give up, she hasn't left me alone. I have had a very checkered past and by all accounts I should be dead and in hell, or at the very least dead. But God has given me the gift of repentence and has allowed me to date a very wonderful girl for 19 moths. Praise be to Him!

Life's discoveries...

Ugh...isn't spring break supposed to be relaxing? Mine hasn't been. Don't get me wrong, I got to spend nearly a whole week of quality time with my beautiful, amazing, sweet, gorgeous girlfriend at home in MI with my fam, but as is true of any large family(9 sibs + 2 parents + 2 spouses + 2 girlfriends and 1 little wiener dog = INSANITY), there is much drama. So much happened, and as I thought "this family is messed up", I realized how messed up I am. I realized that even as a Christian, I am hateful, hurtful, bitter, lustful and very selfish. It made me realize how if God has changed me to this point, and I am still like this, how far has he brought me from?
As, I contemplated my screwed upnesss, I couldn't help but ask the questions? How am I going to go into ministry, if I don't have my act cleaned up? Will I ever be good enough? Why do I ever try to do anything without God's help? Sometimes( and lately this has been very true), I feel like I don't have an ounce of Jesus in me. Do you know that feeling? If you are a Christian, I know you do. The awesome thing is, even in the midst of my sin, and frustration, God has not even come close to stopping showing me his love. My girlfriend is an awesome example of this. For the last 18 months, she has put up with me, forgiven me, believed in me and encouraged me. It hasn't always been easy to take, but she has lovingly delivered God's message of grace and hope in my life. I love this verse in Psalm 40:

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders
you have done. The things you planned for
us no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

I feel like this is very true in my life. God has done so much and is teaching me so much, its painful and uncertain, but I will trust that He is molding me and shaping me. Its always easy to say those words, but its a lot harder when they are actually true of your life right now. I watched The Princess Bride yesterday, its such a great movie, but one quote stuck out to me "Life is pain highness, anyone who says different is selling something". Sometimes I feel like Christians sell the world a "painless" Christianity, and so I just want to set the record straight. IT HURTS. But God is greater than any pain that we go through. This is something that I have to discover every day.

Pete

Hello Effingham!

Lol...weird title I know, but it really is the name of a town in Illinois. This last weekend, Josh, a friend and I went on an insane trip to Mississippi to surprise my girlfriend at a softball tourney that she was playing in. It was 13 hours away and we left on Friday night and arrived on sat morning. After a quick stop at McDonald's, we sought out the campus where we thought the tourney was going to be played. After finding the college, but not the team, we found out that we had past it about five miles before, it wasn't our fault that they rent a field 5 miles away! So off we went, and arrived about an half-hour earlier than the team did. This allowed me to scope out the situation, in order to achieve the biggest surprise. After the girls arrived, I walked up to the team as they were getting unpacked and there was my beautiful girlfriend! Needless to say she was surprised!
Well, we got to watch the last three games of the tourney, unfortunetly, they went 0-8 and got really sunburnt(as did I). So at about 3:30pm, we headed for home. Josh and I followed them as far as Cracker Barrel(yummy). We had some minor car trouble and so we decided to make the rest of the trip on our own. Our original plans called for us to drive straight home, but by the time we got to (thats right) Effingham, we realized we were just too tired. So we spent the night in a cheap motel and finished the trip on Sunday afternoon. All told, we drove approx 1700 miles(including the circles we did in Jackson) in a beat up little 1991 Dodge Shadow. That just goes to show the power of prayer! Was it worth it? Oh yeah. I love my girlfriend and would do anything for her...even a 1700 mile trip to Effingham! :)

Relationships.

Homework is calling me..and its Friday night! Crap! Lately, God has been teaching me about relationships. Relationships are one of the best ways that we demonstrate His image in our lives. Relationships can have so many facets and take on so many different shapes. I have an awesome family, a rather large family in fact. I have 6 brothers, of which I am 3 oldest and two sisters, one older one younger. I learned a lot about relationships growing up, living with that many people is a great and sometimes painful educational experience. I guess this background really formed my relational side of me, despite growing up in a "sheltered" home school environment ;).
I feel like I'm pretty good with relationships, as long as the other person is the same, or is relatively the same as I am. Same beliefs, religious, political or whatever, and share the same interests. I love loving people that I am familiar with and who don't take much work to discover who they are.
On the other hand, I shy away from weird people, people who the world looks down on, and shun. But this year, and specifically this semester, God is really opening my eyes, and showing me, that if I am to be effective at all in ministry, then I must embrace everyone, especially those who are hated and hurt. This is the essence of ministry, not to do work for God, but to be like God while we work. This is not something that I have mastered, far from it. I'm writing this, and even now God is bringing new thoughts and insights to mind. Pray with me, that God continues to change my heart, and that I will open myself to love those who are loved less than most. At the beginning of this semester, I prayed that God would bring me more guy friends to supplement my awesome relationship with my girlfriend(she is AWESOME), and He has answered me in ways that I couldn't imagine. God is AMAZING! I would love this to be a conversational blog, to get your feedback, and to see where God has you on your journey.

In Him,
Pete

Just Another Day

Its just another snowy day in Northern Indiana. There have been hints of spring in the air, but the snow has returned, albeit in the form of slushy messy nastiness. Its nice though. I am learning to appreciate God more through each type of weather that He sends us.
I'm excited about this blog. I hope to communicate JESUS to anyone who reads it. The idea sparked out of a desire to reach miltary families with the gospel. Growing up I have had a number of family members in the military and have always wanted to be a marine. Right now I am a junior in college and working on a youth ministry degree, and hope to enlist right after school. However, I still have a passion for people who are already in the military, I feel a sort of bond with them. I admire their passion and sacrifice and I want to reach them with God's love in any way possible. That will be one of my main goals with this blog, to reach anyone in the military or elsewhere with JESUS!

In Him,

Pete