Remember, Repent, Return

But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love]. Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

-Revelation 2:4-5

"The vital doctrines of Christianity met from them [the early Roman Christians living in the catacombs] far more than a mere intellectual response. Christ Himself was not to them an idea, a thought, but a real personal existence. The life of Jesus upon earth was to them a living truth. They accepted it as a proper example for every man. His gentleness, humility, patience, and meekness the believed were offered for imitation; nor did they ever separate the ideal Christian from the real. They thought that a man's faith consisted as much in the life as in the sentiment, and had not learned to separate experimental Christianity from practical Christianity. To them the death of Christ was a great event to which all others were but secondary. That He died in very deed, and for the sons of men, none could understand better than they. That He is risen and glorified at God's right hand, all power given to Him in Heaven and on earth, was to them divine reality. Among their own brethren they could think of many a one who had hung upon the cross for his brethren or died at the stake for his God. They took up the cross and followed Christ, bearing His reproach. That cross and that reproach were not figurative." -Martyr of the Catacombs, page 87

Lord, please help this be me.

Colossians 3:1-17 and 1 Corinthians 13 NLT (for those who know the Lord)

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.[b] You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile,[c] circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized,[d] slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Heat Exhaustion

A more in depth account of my heart exhaustion before I forget. I was playing soccer in the field, because I promised the kids I would. I played hard, and before I knew it, I couldn’t play any longer. I headed inside of the church building. No air conditioning, only electric fans. I was sweating like the dickens, and I tried to get the fans on me. I moved over to talk with Austin Loveing and I was feeling light headed already and as I was talking to him, I told him, kind of jokingly, that I was going to pass out and that happened he needed to go get some help. Well, I said it again a few minutes later, this time a bit more seriously. Suddenly I felt super light headed and needed to lie down on the floor. As I lay myself down, I started to lose feeling in my arms and legs. I was unaware that my muscles began to tense up and my fingers began to clench involuntarily. Tyler came over and poured water on me and he and Ryan picked me up and carried me over to the Baptismal and put me inside. I laster found out that when they first came up to me after Austin had told them what was happening, they thought it was a joke. Once inside the baptismal, they, and some Salvadorians from the church began to massage my hands to loosen up the muscles, and they held a bottle of water up so I could drink it. They got me Pepsi too so I could get some sugar in me. Soon I regained feeling in my arms and legs and I tried to stretch out my hands myself. It took a bit to finally regain all my range of motion, but soon I was feeling much better again. They prepared a hammock for me as I changed into dry clothes, and I was blessed with the ability to rest for the evening service. Tyler took really good care of me, making sure I had everything I needed and that I was properly hydrated. I got made fun of because I was essentially being treated like the king of the world, all because I had heat exhaustion. Oh well. Praise the Lord, Jesus has saved my life again!

Two picture of us playing "football"

Two pictures of the team just chill'n inside the church building the middle of the afternoon, 

this is where I went after soccer

Austin is pictured below on the right. This is before I pulled my chair over next to him.

The people lowering me into the baptismal. Tyler is on the left.

You can see my thumb involuntarily clenching in this one. I'm not doing that on purpose and I couldn't move it.

They thought it might be a good idea to lower me all the way into the pool. My whole body tingled all over and I couldn't move my arms and legs. At this point though, my legs were feeling better, but my arms still felt really really weird.

You can see why I got made fun of.