Man, A Little Lower than Angels (Part 1: Genesis)

The annual Act Like Men conference is coming up this Saturday at Veritas Community Church, thus I have been thinking about what it is to be a Man of God in 21st Century America.  Quite frankly, despite my short 23 years of experience, I can say confidently that it is hard.  The world and its Prince tell us to do one thing while our Father in Heaven calls us to obedience to Him, and the conflict weighs heavily on our entire self.   This is the first half of my thoughts on the topic, and I am looking at the Man that God created in Genesis and the men we see in the world (and, more often than we would like to admit, in the mirror).  The eventual second part will be about how our concept of Masculinity, warped by sin, has become a unrealistic ideal in the eyes of our culture.  (There may be a third and a fourth...who knows?)

My Year in (Biblical) Review

"Thy goodness has been with me during another year, leading me through a twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me to advance, when beaten back making sure headway. Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead; I hoist sail and draw up anchor, with Thee as the blessed Pilot of my future as of my past."

A Sinner Beholding the Incarnate Word of God

This is supposed to be my Christmas post, but with family in town and work (I work for a UPS Store, so business explodes around Christmas. And no, it is not our fault you didn't get your packages before Christmas or got stolen off of your front porch, like what happened to my new hockey pants...like that thieving jerk will ever use them!).  I usually got up around 9 AM, left for my grandparents house 45 minutes later, went to work (except on Christmas Eve and Christmas day), went back to my grandparents' house for dinner, and got home around midnight and hung out with whatever roommates were randomly home until 1 AM.  Thus, I did not have time to put my thoughts into Times New Roman until now.

I just hit play, and when the record comes to an end, I'll listen all over again.

Please excuse me as I step off my theological soapbox and step onto a musical one.

Some Brief Thoughts about Death

I am a 23 year old young man who will eventually die.  I may be in relative good health and may have only lived one-third or even one-quarter of my life (or, on the other hand, 99 percent of it), but I will inevitably die.  It is a thought that one may call pessimistic, morbid, or even say is on the brink of suicidal, yet  it is a thought that is infinitely realistic.  The Western mindset (as far as I can tell) seems to be avoidant of death—it says that death is unwanted, and therefore it is something that we put out of our minds and spend millions of dollars to delay.  Nevertheless, all our efforts are for naught, and we die.