Can We Know God Personally?

Can we know God personally? That's a good question. How is it possible to have a relationship with someone who we can't see?

A Song of Hope

The storm rises from the deep
And rages around me
But I will remember
When doubt wars within my heart
The battle almost lost
I will remember

You have the last word
It is finished
My fear is silenced in Your love
My hope is endless

Your voice that calmed the violent sea
Speaks courage over me
So I will remember
The words that wake the sun to rise
Are breaking through my night
And I will remember
You have the last word

 

Live With Abandon

Chasing after this world makes me tired.

Praising my own name leaves me dry.

There has got to be so much more to life than this,

a higher calling that I have missed.

I want my life to count, every breath.

I want to live with abandon,

give you all that I am.

Every part of my heart Jesus,

I place in your hands.

Josh's Story

Josh's story is about what it can feel like when you don't really know who you are and you feel lost and lonely, when what matters the most is your social status.

What is Easter really about anyways?

Chocolate eggs and the Easter bunny, blood and a crucifixion, joy? How in the world do all those things go together and what’s the point of it all? That’s a question I think many of us ask ourselves. It doesn’t make much sense at first glance does it? J I thought I would answer a few questions surrounding Easter in this blog post according to my best ability. First up:

Why do Christians celebrate that Jesus died?

Christians believe that Jesus was God walking on earth and celebrate his crucifixion because that was the time it became clear that Jesus really was God. When Jesus rose from the dead his disciples finally understood that he wasn’t only some wise teacher, he was God himself.

If Jesus really was God then why did he not save himself and come down from the cross?

Jesus came to die in our place. If Jesus would have come down from the cross we would have to suffer and die for all our mistakes, he came to pay for our debt.

What do you mean “Jesus came to pay our debt”? What debt are we talking about here?

In the Old Testament we learn about how God’s chosen people (Israel) loved their God and lived in peace and harmony and everything was good. A few years later they got bored with their goody goody lifestyle and decided they wanted to do something else. They forgot about God and did everything that they were not supposed to be doing: murder, rape, incest, idol worshipping etc.

God was furious with their behavior and punished them for it. Israel eventually repented from their bad behaviors and went back to loving their God and living in peace and harmony. Fast forward a few decades and the people once again forgot what the point was with loving their God and living in peace. They got tired of being kind and friendly people and went back to doing whatever they wanted.

God got angry at their behavior again and punished them by bringing down destruction on Israel. Hopefully by now you get the picture. This cycle went on and on, century after century. You could simply say that this was a time when Karma would apply.

A few hundreds of years later nothing had gotten any better so God eventually came down to earth himself (in the form of Jesus) to set things right. God is all about justice and when Jesus died on that cross he died for all the things that his people (we) should have been punished for. Jesus died in our place, now the old time of karma is over and we are given grace.

When we love Jesus we are forgiven, we no longer have to pay for our own mistakes. After our death we will stand in front of God and have to pay for all the mistakes we have made in life. When we believe&love Jesus we are told that we will be forgiven on that day, Jesus will be there to proclaim something like: “this is my child, and his/her mistakes have been forgiven”.

When we believe in Christ God also gives us the holy spirit in life, through the holy spirit God starts to change us from the inside and out. Punishment couldn’t change us, only God’s love could.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up, so how does the Easter bunny fit into all this?

Good question. The Easter bunny has nothing to do with Jesus, he is some kind of a folk legend similar to Santa Claus. Parents like to convince their kids that the Easter bunny brings all the good stuff instead of the parents themselves. J

What about Easter eggs? Why do we eat chocolate eggs on Easter?

Chocolate Easter eggs is a modern invention and has nothing to do with Jesus either. The chicken eggs, on the other hand, was traditionally a symbol of fertility and rebirth. Christians started painting and decorate hard-boiled chicken eggs as a reminder of Jesus’ rebirth when he rose from the grave. The eggs were a reminder of the price Jesus paid when he died to pay for our mistakes so that we could become forgiven by God.

Rebirth itself is also at the core of Christianity, Jesus was reborn when he rose from the grave. We ourselves are considered reborn when we come to faith in Jesus, become forgiven and give up our old ways of living. We choose to love Jesus and therefore commit to living in peace, kindness and love rather than however we want. J

Happy Easter everyone!

Broken Vessels

I've been set free.

I once was lost,

but now I am found,

was blind but now I see.

 

I can see you now.

I can see the love in your eyes,

laying yourself down,

raising up the broken to life.

Good Friday

Today it's Good Friday and I'm filled with joy! :) I'm so thankful that I am where I am today and that my God has brought me here. I don't deserve this awesome life, but He has given it to me anyway!

This morning we went to church and experienced a powerful Good Friday service, a worship experience that brought tears to my eyes. Every time I think of everything I've been through this far and all the mountains God has removed in my life I get a little overwhelmed. :)

I've only lived for about a third of a lifetime but I have already experienced so much that shows me exactly how great God's love is for me. He has introduced me to amazing new people.

He has protected me from those who have been out to hurt me and has sustained me through it all.

He has given me new opportunities in life that I would never even have dreamt about 10 years ago! :)

He has shown me that he isn't a distant God, but that he is in everything and all around me. I like how Mother Teresa describes it:

"Wherever there is love, there is God."