Day 26 "Keep It Up"

Daily Summary: I woke up this morning much better then I have in a while. Although I woke up a few times during the night and when my roommates alarm went off around 7:00AM I still managed to fall back asleep just like I prayed for the night before. Eventually I got up around 8:30 or so and jumped in the shower. My friend Kurt and I planned the night before that we were going to go to breakfast and read the Bible together. He asked me about a week ago if we could do that more often and I was really excited that he did. Well we went to breakfast and read a few chapters of the book of Amos. I had never read Amos all that much before so it was really interesting to me and it was also very new. Basically it was about God judging Judah and Israel for the horrible sins they were committing. God had done so much for them and time and time again they went against Him and forgot about what He had done. It is horrible to think of what they have did but the thing is we do it to God almost every single day. It is a shame to think about it but it's true. Anyways it was really great to read with Kurt and I hope to continue reading with him everyday. After breakfast and reading we went to chapel. My roommate and I have a bet going on that whoever gets done with our chapels first has to buy the other roommate Taco Bell. So I am going to go to as much as I can in the beginning of the semester. After walking up to the gym we realized that it was a free chapel and everyone got credit so we thought about just not going. Then as we were debating my friend Luke came up and basically dragged us in there. I am really glad he did because it was an awesome chapel and an awesome message. The theme of the speech was When God Doesn't Make Sense. It was really cool to hear all of the great words of The speaker. One thing is said that really appealed to me was God's timing is perfect even when He appears to be catastrophically late. This is so true. My mom also brought this to my attention the other day when we were talking about everything happens for a reason and God has a plan. So when instead of thinking negative during certain situations I should always be looking on the bright side of it. For example when I sit in traffic I tend to get a little frustrated and annoyed with my surroundings. Instead of getting annoyed I should think about what God may be keeping me from. Maybe from an accident or something like that. Literally anything could happen, now I probably won't ever enjoy the experience of traffic but thinking about it in a positive gesture can really help the situation. Well after sitting through an awesome chapel . I went and got my parking sticker so that way I wouldn't get a ticket. Then I just came back to the room and chilled for a little bit then Phill and I went to lunch. Lunch wasn't t bad today but there wasn't to much healthy stuff so that kind of stunk. After lunch I came back to the room once again and kind of just sat around up until practice began. We had another inter squad game scheduled so i was looking forward to it. It went alright for the most part. I only had one hit today and walked but I still had a lot of fun. It was also really cold at practice for the first time ever. I enjoyed it. After practice I took a shower ate some dinner then totally dominated my roommate at a few games of ping pong. For the remainder of the night I just kind of laid back and relaxed and prepared myself for the first day of school tomorrow. Shoot half of me can't wait but the other half of me isn't looking to forward to it only because it is school and it isn't really all that fun. With writing once again I find it harder to do so with having everyone back here at school. I think I am going to have to try and find a nice quite place to really sit down and finish my blog that way there are no distractions around me. To cap off the night I am going to work out withmy roommate Phil and then hitting the sheets pretty early because I have to wake up at 7. See YA!

Daily Reading: James 2:14
Today I asked my roommate Phillip what his favorite verse was and I decided that I would to today's study on that. These are to really intense questions that we not only must ask others but we should ask ourselves. When someone claims to have faith, what he or she may have is intellectual assent, agreement with a set of Christian teachings and as such it would be incomplete faith. True faith transforms our conduct as well as our thoughts. If our lives remain unchanged we don't truly believe in the truths we claim to believe. We as Christians really need to shout out to the world in what we believe in and share to others who Christ really is. Having faith alone isn't going to save us but doing acts of Christ will. We can not just earn our salvation by serving and obeying God. But such actions show that our commitment to God is real. Deeds of loving service are not a substitute for but rather a verification of, our faith in Christ. After reading something like this I reflected on some things that I have done just for Him and no one else. The list wasn't as long as it should be. Sometimes I saw myself doing stuff with the Church such as going places or participating in events and I thought to myself was I doing those things to serve God, or was I doing it just to be with my friends. What I should do is volunteer right away without hesitation and do it only for God and no one else. There are so many different ways we can serve God and do these sort of deeds. It is up to us to really commit and find these deeds. It really could be anything as long as it glorifies and is for God. Don't just say Your a Christian. BE A CHRISTIAN! Faith without works can't save you from the consequences here and now of your spiritual slothfulness. Saying your a Christian to everyone then going out to party and drinking or having sex and things like that will get you know where but hell. In Revelation Chapter 3 Jesus is talking about being a lukewarm Christian. Jesus was talking to the Church of Laodicea that there deeds were either hot or cold and that because they are lukewarm He will spit them out of His mouth. I don't know about You but I would definitely would not want to be considered a lukewarm Christian when I first see Jesus.

Daily Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for another cool day today and the feeling of winter. I also thank You for letting me get the things done that needed to be done. Along with having a pretty good practice. God I pray for my injuries. My shoulder is still hurting and I pray that You will use Your power to heal my arm Lord. I pray for this baseball season coming up God. Please help us all to play to the best of our ability and come out with a winning record. Please help us to play with a positive attitude and to all refrain from any kind of injury or trouble. I pray that in Hawaii that You not only get us their safely but to also have a good time and win the games we play Lord. I pray for the strength and the opportunities to separate faith and deeds God. Please help me to be a Christian and have a Christ-like attitude and to grow in my relationship with You. Help others to be able to see You through me. Help me God also to find a quite place where I can do write this journal on time and give my best thoughts with out any kind of distraction. I pray now God for the strength in being able to get through this whole year with writing these blogs. It is becoming more and more difficult every single day. Please knock Satan out of my thoughts and make him stop distracting me and telling me that it is okay if I don't write and don't serve You. I pray for my friends and family that may be going through any type of problems God. Please help them in whatever they may need. I pray for the ones that don't know You God. Please help them to some how find Your light and please use me in that process God. I pray now once again for my dream girl. Please help me to find her Lord and for me to be patient in the process. Please help me refrain from judging others and help me to be friends with everyone no matter what they look like or how they act. Help me also in baseball not to get frustrated with myself and give me the strength so I can work to get better. Please help me to keep up my eating and dieting habits Lord. I thank You for the sleep You gave me last night and please help me to get a good night sleep tonight. I pray tomorrow as it is my first day of classes please help these classes to go well and please help me to get good grades in these classes and work my hardest. Help me to make it to as much classes as possible. Keep me away from earthly desires God. Keep me away from sexual temptation. Help me not to get filled with anger and to take it out on other people. I pray for all of the things that i may have missed and not thought of. Please help them to come to me so that I may pray for them. I pray these things in Your wonderful Name.
AMEN.