This picture was taken in newburgh Indiana after an F3 tornado went for 40 miles and destroyed hundreds of homes. It went from Owensboro Kentucky to Boonville Indiana.
aJC

Here it is again, another picture of the indefinite time period. This was taken also in Switzerland by myself. I just found this thistle when exploring around the camp.
aJC

The Kingdom

This weekend I went to a retreat with Intervarsity. It was a really great retreat. They had a speaker there who presented some new (to me, but not Christendom) viewpoints on the Kingdom of God. If you have read the New Testament, you know that the Kingdom of God/Heaven is mentioned quite a bit. Most of the time though, if you are like me, you see that and just think "OK, that's talking about the Heaven that Christians will go to in the afterlife." Allen however had a different interpretation of this phrase however. He said that when you see the phrase "Kingdom of God/Heaven you should replace the word Kingdom with the word Kingship. The meaning is then, "anywhere that God is King." This is a really interesting idea. Anywhere Christians are gathered, and where God is king, there is the Kingdom (Kingship) of God. Two people sitting in the lunchroom having a time of accountability, there in that booth is the Kingdom (Kingship) of God. That is really empowering when you think about the things that Jesus said aboout the Kingdom (Kingship) of God. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. He said that though it seems small, it grows to be the largest plant. Even if there are only two people at lunch, they have power. Those two people have the power to affect many. Jesus goes on to say that the Kingdom of God is also like yeast. He says that we, as the Kingdom of God can spread throughout the whole batch of dough (the world). How amazing is that to think about. When we are a part of the Kingdom of God we have amazing power from God. He will enable us to do amazing things in his name. If you want to know more, these ideas were are further (and better) presented in the book (or better yet try reading the gospels with no preconceived notions and see if you can arrive at this explanation...) Kingdom Come written by Allen Wakabayashi
About the Book
"God is up to something!

And his plans are far greater than you might imagine.

Christianity is not merely about isolated individuals going to heaven. It's about God transforming the entire world and making things right. Sicknesses will be healed, sins will be forgiven, injustice will be eradicated, and all creation will be redeemed. But this is not merely a distant future. It's happening now through what Jesus came to establish--the kingdom of God.

Allen Wakabayashi reawakens you to the world-changing reality of the kingdom of God. With clear, biblical insight, he unpacks what Jesus proclaimed about the good news of the kingdom and spells out the implications for you today.

Focusing on the kingdom of God will revolutionize how you live out your faith, how you think about your world and how you explain the good news about Jesus. Ultimately, understanding yourself as a citizen of the kingdom will empower you to be one of God's change agents in the world.

God is at work to restore everything to be the way he intended it to be, and you can be a part of what he is doing! Get a glimpse of the kingdom coming, and experience his will being done--on earth as it is in heaven."

Here it is...Finally...THE Picture of indefinite time period...! I took this in Switzerland. Jeff Oatess and I found this waterfall back in some woods near where we were staying. It is a really small waterfall but it is really beautiful as you can tell.
aJC

Life Got Busy...

so life got pretty busy...and I definitely did not put anything up here for like 2 months...sorry about that...well I'm gonna try to stay on top of this now...

Misconceptions...

So I was reading through Matthew, and I came across some verses that caught me off guard. I was reading the sermon on the mount, and Jesus was talking about how good trees will bear good fruit and how bad trees will bear bad fruit. Now that is all pretty logical. A sickly little rotten apple tree is not going to produce beautiful, juicy, green, Granny Smith apples. That is common sense. But then he says in Matthew 7:21 that not everyone who calls him Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven. As my political sciences professor would say, "Pump the brakes!" I have always thought that in order to get to heaven all you have to do is believe in Jesus and trust him to forgive your sins. From there the Holy Spirit will come into your life and everything is good. This verse says however that you must also "do the will of my father in heaven." Hmmm...this made me dig further...I read on and came to Matthew 10:38. This verse says the same thing, that you must "take up your cross and follow" Jesus. There is obviously a theme forming...There is more to Christianity than just believing...We have to FOLLOW Jesus. Well, ok but what does that look like? We are supposed to live like Jesus. To love our enemies. That means that when someone does something to hurt us we should do something to love on them. What kind of impact do you think it would have if your roommates had stolen some things from you and instead of getting mad, you bought them a pizza and said "I know that you guys stole some of my stuff, but I just wanted to let you know that Jesus loves you. So I bought you guys a pizza." Wow how amazing would that be. That's life changing, and that is exactly what Jesus tells us to do-Matthew 5:38-42 - That is only one aspect of what our lives should look like. That's a lot to live up to, but He promises that in the end, when we get to the kingdom of Heaven all of our struggles will have been worth it.He promises rewards in life as well. In John 10:10 He promises a life "to the full." Not just a good life or even a great life, but life to the full. That means, the absolute best life that you could possibly have. An abundant life...I don't know about you, but I know that I want that life to the full.

Andy

It's David Spade!
aJC