Yesterday some of my middle school guys and I began Romans for our mostly-weekly small group gathering. When I read the Bible, I spend a bit of time around each line, making sure I understand it on the surface before moving on. It's very easy the way most Bibles are written to simple read the words and not internalize any meaning from them. Anyway, as I read and try to follow along, I wait for something strange to jump out at me. Usually it's a very odd wording, or something that the author repeats over and over again. In this case, it happens to be an incredibly long list of things wicked men do. After a pretty wordy paragraph on homosexuality, Paul adds....
Romans 1:28-31
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Paul lists off at least 22 forms of wicked things. My personal favorite is in the middle of all these acts, it clearly wasn't enough, so the people invented NEW ways of doing evil that didn't even exist yet. It's interesting that a lot of the things on this list are things we do occasionally. Greed, disobeying parents, senselessness, envy.... But clearly Paul pants a picture of a people that are just... so far off the deep end it's depressing. As we (our small group) were going through this passage, it's interesting to note that this whole cacophony of evil begins ever so simply. If you wonder how a people could possible fall so far into depravity, you only need to look a few paragraph up....
Romans 1:21
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Even though they knew and understood God, they never glorified him or gave him thanks. That's it....
It doesn't say they cursed him, they ran away from him, it doesn't even really say they ignored him. All it really says is that they never gave him thanks or glory. That was all it took to allow their hearts to be filled with wickedness.
When we glorify God and give him thanks for the many blessings in our lives, we keep our eyes fixed forward, and it's a lot easier to run the race when you're looking in the right direction.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
My life be like...
Yay for GRITS!
So the three of you that still check this site out are probably wondering, "why the heck isn't Rob updating his blog?!" Well the short answer is that I've been busy lately. When ever I change something major in my life, it always takes me a little while to get back 'into the groove' again. Selling cars has been a huge life change for me, and I've been able to hold onto a lot of things. I've gotten to spend time with some of my amazing friends, had a pretty good string of reading my Bible every day, and had a lot of fun at Church. Unfortunately, the blog has been suffering big time.
Time to wrestle that area back into my routine. The new job is going awesome! I have discovered that I really love selling as a profession. The schedule is a little tough, but aside from that, I can't complain. So if anyone wants to come see me, feel free. By the way, if anyone you know wants to buy a Honda and you send them to me, I can put $200 in your pocket! :-)
And now to enjoy my night off.
So the three of you that still check this site out are probably wondering, "why the heck isn't Rob updating his blog?!" Well the short answer is that I've been busy lately. When ever I change something major in my life, it always takes me a little while to get back 'into the groove' again. Selling cars has been a huge life change for me, and I've been able to hold onto a lot of things. I've gotten to spend time with some of my amazing friends, had a pretty good string of reading my Bible every day, and had a lot of fun at Church. Unfortunately, the blog has been suffering big time.
Time to wrestle that area back into my routine. The new job is going awesome! I have discovered that I really love selling as a profession. The schedule is a little tough, but aside from that, I can't complain. So if anyone wants to come see me, feel free. By the way, if anyone you know wants to buy a Honda and you send them to me, I can put $200 in your pocket! :-)
And now to enjoy my night off.
Monday, May 19, 2008
My weekend...
Proverbs 17:9
He who covers over an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
One of the things I have to get used to with the new schedule is the random string of days off. This week for example, I had Sunday and Monday off from work, thus this is my weekend. The nice thing is that my good friends the McCart's are usually around the house and Kelly and Jennica are staying with them for a few weeks. It makes it easy to see my friends during the week.
Yesterday I went golfing with Phillip and I learned that I may never forget how to ride a bike, but I sure as heck can't remember how to swing a club. Time for some practice. Tennis today was much better though.
Saturday was my first day on the floor and I sold my first car. Lets home this is the first of many. Back to work for the next 5 days tomorrow!!
He who covers over an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
One of the things I have to get used to with the new schedule is the random string of days off. This week for example, I had Sunday and Monday off from work, thus this is my weekend. The nice thing is that my good friends the McCart's are usually around the house and Kelly and Jennica are staying with them for a few weeks. It makes it easy to see my friends during the week.
Yesterday I went golfing with Phillip and I learned that I may never forget how to ride a bike, but I sure as heck can't remember how to swing a club. Time for some practice. Tennis today was much better though.
Saturday was my first day on the floor and I sold my first car. Lets home this is the first of many. Back to work for the next 5 days tomorrow!!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Psalm 14:1-5
1 The fool [a] says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
You know, the more I know Jesus, the easier it is to live my life and be positive. Those of you who know me know that I am rarely down about anything. That wasn't always the case. I use to be insecure, unsure of myself, and very withdrawn. I call it middle school. In high school I became much more outgoing, but still struggled with life in general. It wasn't until I put my faith in Jesus that I understood what joy was like in His presence.
1 The fool [a] says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
3 All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Will evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the LORD ?
5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
You know, the more I know Jesus, the easier it is to live my life and be positive. Those of you who know me know that I am rarely down about anything. That wasn't always the case. I use to be insecure, unsure of myself, and very withdrawn. I call it middle school. In high school I became much more outgoing, but still struggled with life in general. It wasn't until I put my faith in Jesus that I understood what joy was like in His presence.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Trying something new
So, my spiritual life recently has been majorly slacking. I'm going to try something new and we'll see how it works out. I'm going to try to post at least one verse (that I read that day) on my blog every day to make sure I'm reading my bible and taking the steps I need to protect myself and grow in Christ. This is public permission for all my friends to get on my case if I go more than a day without doing it. I'm going to try it for a week and see what happens....
Psalm 71:17-18
Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.
On a complete side note, why the heck don't I read the Bible more often? It's seriously the best freaking book I've ever read and I always get something positive out of it.
Psalm 71:17-18
Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.
On a complete side note, why the heck don't I read the Bible more often? It's seriously the best freaking book I've ever read and I always get something positive out of it.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Why I can't work from home.
So I have had two days off from the dealership and I'm taking these days to finish up on my training modules online. They are supposed to take 3ish weeks and I'm going to knock these suckers out so I can start selling cars ASAP. I'm basically working full time from home these two days and I've realized I will probably never make a living doing this because...
- There is now always something more important than dishes or laundry
- I can now eat something when ever I'm hungry without depositing cash into a machine
- I apparently don't shower unless I'm going out in public somewhere
- When people call me I'm convinced I have time to answer the phone and talk
- I can now take naps
- Strange people come by my house to check oil, cut grass, look at land, read meters, or look into my windows
- There's nothing good on TV
- Something tells me I'm not as productive...
You know...
I've noticed most of my titles tend to be open ended with a lot of periods after them. Any one else?
So, there's absolutely no point to this post. Truly without agenda other than to say that it's been a few days and it's time to update this thing. Life is pretty fantastic at the moment. I have an amazing group of middle school guys that I love to hang out with. I just started a new job that I am pretty sure will be enjoyable for me, and Jesus continues to pour into my life and teach me things on a daily basis.
It feels really good to be busy again although the trade off is NOT having time to spend with friends like I use to be able to do. My schedule is such that I get random days off with no consistency and have to work very long days. It also has been interesting from moving to a person that was very broke but had tons of time, to someone who now has precious little time and (hopefully) a fair amount of money. I need to re-evaluate my sacrifices and how I budget my resources.
So, there's absolutely no point to this post. Truly without agenda other than to say that it's been a few days and it's time to update this thing. Life is pretty fantastic at the moment. I have an amazing group of middle school guys that I love to hang out with. I just started a new job that I am pretty sure will be enjoyable for me, and Jesus continues to pour into my life and teach me things on a daily basis.
It feels really good to be busy again although the trade off is NOT having time to spend with friends like I use to be able to do. My schedule is such that I get random days off with no consistency and have to work very long days. It also has been interesting from moving to a person that was very broke but had tons of time, to someone who now has precious little time and (hopefully) a fair amount of money. I need to re-evaluate my sacrifices and how I budget my resources.
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