When Asking For Something...

I've just realized I haven't written in a month and a half...for this I offer some form of apology.  But to the point of this post.

We like to hit God relentlessly with requests and petitions with almost no expectations at times, this hits me as odd. We ask him frequently to heal someone, provide something, make a change, the mountain is never ending, and when it happens, we're blown away.  Two missionaries from our church recently visited and shared with us a story of answered prayer.  This may seem like an underwhelming statement or conversation, however it's the direction this is going that is the underlying theme to this writing.

Their prayer: The wife (Anchalee) comes from a small village in Thailand and has a heart for people in her situation, so obviously she has a heart for people in similar situations.  Anchalee and her husand (Kim) began to pray for the people in the jungle villages that they would know freedom in Christ and find hope in situations that would seem hopeless.  They wanted light in the darkness of the jungle. 

They however did not expect the answer they received.  God not only answered the prayer to send someone for the people, but He chose them.  This brings me to the point of this post.  When asking God to guide your steps, make sure you're ready to walk.  We pray for revival, for change in our family, provisions, so on and so forth, we rarely expect an answer, and even less often expect Him to use us to answer it.  On the flip side there's the I prayed for revival but God isn't using ME! That's a whole other can of worms I'll get in to some other time.  This is why I say (or I guess in this case write) MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY TO WALK, we should always stay in tune with God's will and where we fit in.  Make sure you're walking WITH HIM!!  That is the imperative point of this.  Without Him we can do nothing, ministry will fail, worship won't happen, evangelism will die; with Him, things flourish.

Not Afraid, Not Alone

I have a heart for inner city kids, when I was in college doing my education degree (I had to leave during the recession), my first practicum was at an inner city school. A lot of the kids come from broken homes, a number don't know their moms/dads, or barely know them. They don't have any positive influence in their lives, and some make bad choice, either for attention, or the impression they've been left with. It breaks my heart on a daily basis seeing kids go through this. My eyes are not dry, my heart is definitely broken, my emotions run wild, my passion flares up, and I get raw and down to the point with this. These kids need someone, they need hope, and a light in their life. They don't need punishment, or this reform school garbage. They need love, because they ain't gettin it any where else. They end up going to the wrong places looking for acceptance, for love, for some fake level of 'you did alright'. There is an attack on our Youth today, turning them into lifeless zombies drifting through life, numb and cold. Things need to change. Please help me; help me spread hope. Help me bring life to young men and women who feel their life deep down, means nothing. Help me, make a difference. 

**I wrote the words previous, and following this in raw aggression and desire for a change. Everything I say is real, pass it on.

When I slip into ignorance, complacancy surrounding me
I go numb, don't know what's goin on.
Ignorance is bliss, can I keep living like this?

When I see the hurt, when I see the pain
I know there's a God, he couldn't be more real to me
Cuz I know that when there's pain in the night, Joy comes in the morning
There is a hope, I'm not afraid, I'm not alone, I'm not afraid, not alone.

In the pain and the suffering, I know what hope will bring
I'm not alone, I'm not afraid.
I got the Lord Almighty by my side.
I'm not alone, not afraid.

Though the world is dark, cold, falling apart,
Here in His presence, He comforts me.
No mourning in Heaven, He'll wipe away my tears
I will rejoice, I will rejoice
I'm not afraid, I'm not alone.

Musical Tastes

Music is very much about taste.  To declare one genre greater than another is foolish.  Genres vary, and some genres are a result of preceding genres.  We would not have Metal today, if it were not for the Rock and Roll movement before, and the Blues/Jazz movement.  And those genres wouldn't exist if it wasn't for classical composers such as Beethoven and Bach the "rock stars" of their day.

This is something that always gets me going when I hear a comment like "(INSERT GENRE)sucks" or, I hate "(INSERT ARTIST)".  They don't enjoy the style of the artist, or the genre, and thus deem it to be musically unworthy of consideration.  I'm not a fan of Ke$ha, or Lady Gaga, or any of those artists, it's not a genre I'm in to, or artists I'm a fan of.  I won't discredit them, they obviously know what they're doing with sold out shows and high Record Sales.

One artist in particular has been up for discussion in my circle of friends lately, (please keep in mind we're all twenty something musicians), Justin Beiber.  Ever since JBeibs entered the music scene he's been the brunt of jokes and criticism as well as critical acclaim.  His music? Not really my taste.  He was discovered because of his voice, I personally as a musician can not discredit him for that.  It was talent that got him where he is, regardless of what pop culture has done with his abilities (unfortunate really).

This brings me to what I think is my final point; Different Strokes, for Different Folks.  You may not like Country (a lot of my friends don't), You may love Hip Hop (I don't).  I have a lot of Metal Head friends (I'm not one), You may not like Hard Rock (It's my favourite).  We all like different music, and as a musician I see it a lot.

Body Of One

If you see someone is having a hard time, go to them, help them. If they're in a low point in their life, go to them, lift them up. Do not wait until it is fixed and rejoice with them. But mourn with them as they are in the former, do not simply go with the latter. 1 Corinthians 12


We are one body unified in Christ, yet we live so much in opposition to this.  We hold grudges against each other in church for almost anything, jealousy runs rampant when someone receives something we don't, we hope others put forth a hand to those in need.  A body works as one, the church is a body, we should be one.


I was going through a difficult time for a while, I suffer from random stints of depression, that was coupled with being unemployed for 8 months.  Everything started going uphill when a young lady my age mentioned to me that it she was glad to see me happy because she knew I was going through all that stuff.  Now this isn't all about me, but it got me wondering, do we do that?  Do we see someone suffering, and hope someone else will fix it?  Psychologists call it a diffusion of responsibility. How it works: Group A (the larger the better) sees Person B in a crisis of some sort.  The larger group A is, the less likely someone is to help Person B during said crisis.  Studies have been done on this, an opposing idea has not yet come up.  Are we mingling into the crowd to not stick out?  


The bible calls us to something else.  We are called the light and salt of the Earth (Matthew 5), we are set apart and called to be different and to make a difference.  So I wish to issue this challenge, when you see someone going through a challenge, walk WITH them, not around them.  


1 Corinthians 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

The Stale Male (The Attack on Manhood)

I was recently reading an article on a men's webiste (http://www.theartofmanliness.com)  and it went along the lines of men being afraid to step into a situation where a child or young person needed help; this had nothing to do with their abilities, but society, false accusation, and assumption about men wanting to help.  Here's the main story from the article.


"he [Lapolla] took his 6-year-old grandson to a local playground and was accosted by a mom who questioned whether Lapolla was really the boy’s grandfather. He told the woman she was out of line, but then four other moms gathered around him and also questioned him, implying that he was really a kidnapper or child molester. They called the police and told Lapolla he couldn’t leave until they got there. He complied, and it only took the police a short time after they arrived to clear things up. Needless to say, neither Mr. Lapolla nor his grandson were very happy about the incident"




There were also a few other stories where men, who intended well, did not step up for fear of this same issue.  This has definitely been the case with myself as well, I've been in a situation where either a kid needed help, or someone to talk to, and I've been worried of being falsely accused and done nothing. And I'm a church leader which opens a whole other can of worms, because you want to help, but there are protocols and mandates, and as this articles lays out assumptions. I've found as well with church leaders, people look extra carefully for screw ups. It's an unfortunate move in our society when we as men can not "man up" and be the leaders we were meant to be because of societal ramifications and homophobia, etc.  Have we really turned men into sniveling, sad, pathetic beings?  Did we bring this on ourselves, or is there something greater at work.  Men are meant to be leaders, in the home, and outside, (Not that women can't be, you totally can.), have we lost our spines, did our balls fall off (yeah, I said that), what on earth is going on?  


MEN! My grandfather was not afraid to give me a hug, sit me on his knee, embrace me, my father was the same way when I was growing up.  It lead me to  be able to socially interact with people and actually enabled me to reach an intimate level with people (platonically speaking).  It's hard for us to even connect any more as men as we've perverted our very manhood with homophobia and fear of looking weird, or sticking out.  I give my mom a hug, and in the same way I give my best friend (a fellow man, and close friend of over a decade) a hug.  At his wedding I was the best man, and in my speech I made sure to let him know I loved him (as a brother and a friend of course, I have to clear that up for modern connotations that it carries).  Even in explaining that it's very apparent what we've done to the very state of our relationships with other men.  WE'VE BECOME SISSIES!!  


I'd like to call each and every one of you to be the man God made you to be! 

You can read the Art Of Manliness article HERE

Updates and Such

So it's been a few weeks (oops), I was at another Youth Camp, this time at Whispering Pines just outside of Medicine Hat, AB.  It was a great week and I saw the kids grow so much over that week and even saw the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in their lives (Mad props to God).

So I get back from camp and find my life in a slight uproar, while I was gone my Employment Inusrance Benefits ran out, thus leaving me with absolutely no income.  Want a stressful situation? Go through that while having the bank, etc. calling you for money.  STREEESSSSS!!!

But anyways, I sit down with my pastor/good friend, to mull over things, plan, and so on.  We end up scoring me a car for $1.00 (yes, One dollar, you read that right).  Thus I score a job as a delivery driver (for no less my favourite pizza place).  Now, what would life be without a curve ball (or two?), for my job I require commerical insurance, an extra $500 a year (ouch, I know), I know people that pay not much more than that for their insurance, and that's how much extra I have to pay.  On top of that, for it to be road worthy it needed a decent chunk of work.  Now for those wondering what car it is, it was a 1996 Geo Metro , now if it looked like this I would be COMPLETELY fine with it, however it looks like this

The story does not end here!! I drop it off at my church, I get a call asking what all the issues are and get told to drop off the list.  (Excuse that fragmented, messed up sentence thing).  So after dropping off that list of needed repairs, I get another call, everything is fixed!  For a grand total cost of, ZERO DOLLARS!  Why? Because we sat, prayed, planned, and followed God.  


Moral of this story: Trust in God, He has a plan, and it's better than any silly little idea we may have.  It may not be the prettiest car, or the fastest car, but God will used a rusty old lemon easier than a pimped out Mercedez (not knocking on you Mercedez owners).  


Do I car that my car isn't super awesome? Not really.
Do I plan on upgrading some day? Yeah, when I can actually afford it.
Am I content with how things worked out in a period of like two days? Definitely.


Don't be afraid to email prayer requests to amarks@live.ca

Unleashing Your Inner Adventurer:Geocaching

Ever feel the desire to go on an adventure? Even more, ever feel the desire to go treasure hunting?  I recently came across a popular worldwide hobby called Geocaching (Gee-Oh-Cash-Ing), where normal people like you and I place what is referred to as a geocache (Geo-Cash) at a specific geographic location and the co-oridanates are posted by that person.  At this point all you need to do is bring it up on your GPS device (also available on Smartphones) and follow the map/compass that's available to find the location of the hidden treasure.

Today my adventure started at selecting the coordinates on my iPhone, I then grabbed a water bottle and jumped on my bike.  And yes, there's an app for that (I never get tired of saying that).  I spent probably three hours finding the exact location of the cache, was it worth it? Absolutely.  It's like a high tech game of Hide and Seek.

If you'd like to start geocaching check out this site
You can also find out more about it on the above site or in this wikipedia article

HAPPY ADVENTURES!!

Tranquility

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote something, I tend to get busy running around at different Youth Camps. Single, unemployed guys are great for minstry in the sense of nothing tying them down (haha), but besides the point. 

I'm sitting outside at 5am, what am I doing up at the hour?  I've barely slept all night, and I recalled my friend Melissa deciding to watch a sunrise today.  Seeing as I was up at 4;30am still, I decided to proceed outdoors.  So I'm sitting outside listening to the birds chirp, various small animals wake up for the day (not excluding my four year old Bijon Schitzu), as I watch the moon fade and the sun rise, the dew on the grass gently rolling of the blades; and enjoy the crisp, clean, cool air.

As I'm taking all this in I had a thought, we get very busy in our lives, and we seem to forget of an enjoyable thing, known as tranquility.  I found it so peaceful this morning sitting outside in sweats and a tee, my dog pouncing about the yard like a puppy, just taking in all the sounds, the sight of night slowly fading to day.  It brought to mind a piece from scripture;
Psalm 46:8-11

⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
 ⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; 
         He burns the chariot in the fire. 
 ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations, 
         I will be exalted in the earth! 
 ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah


We can praise God easily in the good times, in our spare time.  Do we praise Him always?  He made the Earth, everything in the earth.  There is so secret formula to talking to God, it says very clearly here, BE STILL and KNOW, I AM GOD.  In everything going on in your life, it's not hard to find even five minutes, go into your prayer closet, a quiet room, free of distraction, and just bless His name for starters.
A simple way to understand the Lord's Prayer, and I'll finish with this.


Father God,
You are good, may Your name be blessed and holy.
It's Your will, not ours.  We want to see you glorified,
On earth and in heaven
God, you know my needs, even before I ask, and you are the provider.
I mess up, but you forgive me, grant me grace to forgives as well.
Keep me safe from attacks, clothe me in Your heavenly armour (Eph6)
All glory to You, it's all for Your name.
Forever and ever
Amen

Crisis

Life is not pain problem-free. As one of man said, “You’re either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or about to go into a crisis.”




Life is not all sunshine and lollipops (apologies if this is the first time you're hearing of this), it's true. Real life has it's ups and downs, low points, and high points. How we deal with them, can be directly influenced by our relationship with God. Sometimes we go through a trial to test our faith (1Peter1:7, 2 Corinthians 13:5, sometimes Satan wants to pull us away form God (John 10:10), and sometimes we just hit a speed bump so to speak, in our lives.




The thing with a struggle, crisis, dilemma, and the like, is that they build character when we persevere, (supposing we don't run off in the corner cowering). If we "man up" in a manner of speaking, push through, (as Paul says, run the race and fight the good fight for the faith), we will stand in the end stronger than we were in the beginning. The deciding factor in all of this, as aforementioned, is a relationship with God. Thus I am brought to my main point.




Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose"




Yes, this is from the bible. We KNOW, not we think, but it is for certain knowledgeability, that we say this. That ALL THINGS, that means everything! Work together for those who love God. See where our relationship with our Heavenly Father comes in? His love never fails, never gives up (1 Corinthians 13). God has a purpose for us (Jeremiah 1:5; 29:11,12).




So whatever your current situation is, remember that God cares about you and loves you. That He has a plan and a purpose for you.

Music

A fairly vague title, I could think of nothing better to title this as all my creative juices are currently being poured into writing, you guessed it, MUSIC. I was three songs away from my goal for writing my first album, currently however, I can't find the notebook in which I wrote four songs, so I'm sitting at half my songs. Tres sad (I don't really know french). I'm hoping I find that book soon.




A quick tidbit about the project:

I love writing music and I've always wanted to make an album so I started the endeavor a few months back. The album will consist of primarily original songs, the one cover I'm looking at doing more than likely (supposing I can get rights to do it) will be The Stand. It's a song that's meant a lot to me for some years and carries some memories and experiences no other song does. So look forward to that.




I think that's everything for this pointless entry.




Be blessed!

Circumstances

Two posts in one day, look at me go!

This writing is a result of a conversation I had with a really awesome lady.

We always seem to spend so much time and thought on our circumstances.  The who, what, how's of things.  And we let it draw us away from God.  We put our hope into our finances, instead of God.  We even put our hope in prayer and answered prayer and not God Himself.  A strange concept, but nonetheless true.  Here are a few verses to encourage;

"Cast your anxieties upon the Lord for He cares for you" 1Peter5:7
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you" Matthew6:33
"Pray without ceasing"1Thesselonians5:17

iPhone

A few months ago I was lucky enough to score an iPhone. This brought me utter joy, then I attempted doing a mobile post to my blog, via said iPhone. Telus does not support this feature however, so it was rather disappointing. This is the least serious post I've ever done, but sometimes we need to be on the lighter side of things. As serious as the bible is, it quite often speaks of rejoicing, and being joyful, and praising. Today, I would like to encourage you all to just get off your buts on to your feet, and praise the Lord.

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD

YOU-nique

Poetry is something I haven't written much of in the last few years, I wrote this piece today. It has no real style to it or anything, but all I can tihnk to call it is a poem. I hope it maybe stirs something up in someone.

What makes each of us who we are? What comprises our identity?
Is there anything that makes us unique, or are we all just pointless, faceless beings Is there a hope of anything in life, or do we just go about our day to day?
Just living however we can, do we go through life, half-hearted and jaded.
Slowly going numb each day, clinging to the remnants of our so-called, identity.
Forsaking every shred of our dignity, is that what we're meant to be?
Lifeless in a selfish society? Faceless, in an apathetic crowd?
Oh why must we live like this, or can we call it living?
Must I suffer, day after day, wondering the why's and the what's,
of an insufferable and meaningless existence.

Or

Lord help my unbelief, help me to cling to what is good and true,
and in so, cast out anonymity and idolatry.
Building a flawless identity and become a man of dignity,
integrity; boasting the power of your divinity.
Each one special in your heart, made to be a part
each one special in your eyes. Oh Lord, how great your love.
It is NOT hopeless, NOT meaningless, NOT without a purpose.
Destiny, and delivery, not sorrow and misery.
Thank you GOD, for what you did for me, what you do to me.
And though I do not deserve, you bled and died on calvary,
for how much you do love me, and for all man to see,
you are, Everlasting Majesty.

When I'm Found In The Desert Place

I haven't written in a while, but believe me there is reason behind this. I wish to write nothing, if it does not have God in it. May any words I put forth, be only what God wishes for me to say.

I've been going through a bit of a spiritual desert of late. Specifically, the last two months or so. The purpose behind a desert is usually for growth and maturing, or else preparation. For instance Elijah went into the desert before God sent him to do great things, Jesus went into the desert where he was tempted and then grew more spiritually with His heavenly father. John the Baptist grew spiritually in the desert. And so I consider myself priveleged to experience any form of desert these men of God faced. It's a sign of bigger things to come, and gets me excited as to what God has in store ministry wise.

I decided I would write a little bit of deserts just for any going through a similar thing, so that you would not feel hopeless, nor become discouraged. As I stated previously, God uses the desert experience to prepare you, grow you, mature you, or even break you. Perhaps you rely on people too much, and so you're being pushed into a position you must fully rely on Him instead of those people. Perhaps you have to some extent, taken for granted the power of the cross, or just haven't been in His presence like you should, and so He's pushing you into a position where you spend more time with Him. Whatever it is, remember, God has a plan for you, and He loves you, and will not abandon nor forsake. Don't let the lies of the enemy pull you into believing things that are not true. It may feel like God has turned His back on you, but the bible promises He will not leave nor forsake. He loves us so much, He gave His only son so we could have a relationship with Him.

What to do with your desert:
I'm not a fan of pragmatics and lists, but here some ideas a friend of mine gave.
-Thank God for everything, every little thing, but only if you're actually thankful for it, He judges the motives of man's heart, remember that.
-Let Him know how awesome He is, spending time in praise and worship and prayer, even when you don't feel like it, is perseverance. And character is built through perseverance, God wants men of character.
-Don't stop, while your relationship with God may appear to be on a standstill, it isn't, He's still there, He still wants you, but He may be wanting you to put more forward. Perhaps there is an area in your life you're not giving up, not denying yourself daily in some way.

And remember above all else, Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. The greatest calling in life, is to have a relationship with the God of the universe.

Gifts

So, this is pretty self explanatory, I'm going to talk about gifts. It's currently just after 1am on a Thursday night, and my mind is hyper active again. That's not the topic of this writing, although possibly a gift depending on how you view it.This will ring close to my challenge to singles post a few months ago,if you haven't read it click here
Anyways, gifts.


This started as a conversation in my head thinking about a friend of mine, and all the hardship she's endured because of men. There are a lot of men out there who solely want to use and then dump a girl, which makes me sick. I find it hard to some times refer to them as men even, but I'm not here to condem, and I ask God grant me the grace to forgive these men. Having largely female friends I see this a lot, "I know he'll change, I love him, it will work, I can make it work". If going into it he's set in sometihng, he's set in it, to make a story short. There are guys out there who simply want to get a girl in bed, he'll buy her gifts; shallow gifts, materialistic gifts; to make it seem like he cares. But in the end, he only wants one thing. The gifts should be that of authenticity, love, respect, trust, honour, and the like. If you're not getting those gifts, don't accept the material ones, those are inconsequential. A man who treats a woman sub-par to himself, is not a man, but a boy. It's even worse when a Christian man has this attitude, as the bible clearly tells us in Ephesians, that husbands need to love their wives as Christ loves the Church. That's a tall order, so that'll start seperating the boys from the men. I myself am not married, and personally, I don't feel I'm at a place yet, where I'm ready for that step.


But, moving to another gift, women. Now before I get feminists going we are not objects, so on and so forth I want to clear this up. You don't have a gift before a person, you have a person then a gift. God made man, and then, gifted him with a wife. Because God saw it was not good for man to be alone. Women are a gift from God, not the other way around like some men think. As such, women are deserving of that admiration, appreciation, respect, and dignity, anything less, shouldn't stand.


Going back to the earlier statement, Christ loving the church, I just want to touch on this quickly with Easter on the way very soon. God sent His son to die for us, so we could have everlasting life, and not perish in Hell. Thus, we would be able to have a fulfilling relationship with our heavenly father. What greater gift, than to lay down ones life for the ones they love? Now I ask you all this, are you willing to lay down your life for your friends and family, and most importantly, your spouse? I hope so.

For those that are fans of Mark Driscoll, or even if you've never heard of him. He issues some similar challenges, Mark Driscoll Youtube Clip

Full Sermon and More from Mark's Ministry Mars Hill


My Ministry
Prairie Harvest Ministry Facebook Page

A Poem Late At Night

Oh how thoughts invade sleep,
Like incandescent bulbs in the dark.
Disturbing me from mine slumber,
Like a rude awakening,
A subconscious cold bath,
Springs me from any rest.
Trials pushing every level.
I feel like things are crashing all around
Like i'm losing control and i'm all alone.
It's draining me



All these days
They are the same
I need a change, to rearrange
Move around, feel the beat again
I'm sick of the same old, same old
I need to get off this leash,
A sweet release, and maybe
At least, run with the bulls,
For a little while

A Recent Testimony

So, today I was having a conversation with a young man from the youth group I volunteer at.  It began the usual way with, "Hey, what's up?" and so on.  Soon it turned to me asking what he was up to, and his response of, listenin to some tunes, about to grab my bible and do some reading.  So I proceeded to ask, which book of the Bible?  He said about to start reading in Isaiah, I assumed he meant Isaiah 1.  In fact, he had worked through Isaiah and was reading the last chapter, 65.  At this point he will be beginning on Jeremiah.  What blows my mind even further, this young man, isn't even 16 years old.
The fact of getting to see God work in his life, defeating drugs, depression, just leaves me in awe.  This just proves, that God's word does not come back void. I felt I should just share this little testimony, and I've always shared a link to a personal favourite worship song of both the young man and myself.
How He Loves-John Mark McMillan ,
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Hope this encourages any who read this in your faith.
~Andrew

A Challenge To Singles

I write this as a single man. Because who knows, I could walk through the doors of a store tomorrow and find the woman of my dreams. This is something important for single, and even married men. You can correct me if I'm wrong somewhere. Now, to the point. This does jump around a bit, but I hope people get something from it. It's something that's been on my heart for a while.

"Men" today and Real Men are two different things. A man today is considered simply as some guy, over the age of majority in his place of residence, who probably lives on his own, or with someone else other than, say parents, and works at a job to pay bills and seek self serving pleasures. By these terms, there are a lot of "men" out there.


However,

We've created a society that has us pushing away from those good ol' family values. Where we respect women as a gift from God, and not just a pleasure object. There has been a shift in thinking from starting a family and having the man at the head of the family, to people being more independant (the idea isn't so bad, but the practice today, isn't so great).


We've become a society of self, we seek personal gain and satisfaction above most other things. So we either strive to to gain more for ourselves, or become content with where we are because we're comfortable. Depression has become such a large issue, it's easy to see why. We don't set goals, or else we do, but with no Godly wisdom. We remove God wholly from the equation, and wonder what happened.


There were single men in the bible that were great witnesses and so on and so forth. Phillip and Stephen in the book of Acts for example.


Many signle men today, are not men, but boys. They take responsibility for nothing, but want want, everything. I recently heard a sermon on this topic. Men need to build, and grow, and harvest. When God made man, He told him to work the land. Some where in the mix, that got taken away from some part of man. Creating the complacency we see now. Men building their empires, or destroying them, in video games.

I feel this is an incredibly important subject, and something all men, married or single need to know about. Men need to be just that, Men. Not a kid playing grown up, but a real man. Someone who seeks justice, shows respect, and follows what is right.


But maybe that's just me, maybe I'm just some weird guy who thinks that men today could be so much more. That, too many, have just given up. And some, just need to grow a set of balls (putting it bluntly).


I'm a single guy, but I look at the season of being single as a gift. We have more time readily avaliable for the Lord. Because when we find that woman God has intended for us, and we become one, we need to love her, like Christ loves the Church. For that reason, we need to look at our definitions of what a man is. Is it simply lifestyle, income, and materialism? Or is there something deeper to what a man is? I would argue the latter. A man is made up of more than exterior, but interior. Where's his heart? Where are his priorities? Does he have any plans in life? Or is he a life long drifter?


To woman, if you're married and happy, congrats!! If you're single and looking, look at each man carefully, don't jump from desperation, it will probably be the worst thing you do. It's better to be single and wait, then to jump the gun and be hurt. I've been there, it isn't pleasant. It's never worth the hurt. Set standards, don't compromise them, or your principles. If you have to do either, than the person, is not worth it. I've been single two years, and I'm gonna be single longer yet, at least I think so. Love, is worth waiting for, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Enjoy the time you have between you and God. I think that's all I have to say for now.