about arks.

tonight i went to a special night they have at the church my dad goes to called Immersion, mostly for high school/college kids...but there were all sorts of different ages there. i've always wanted to go, but am always here a day late thanks to school and such. and i also really wanted to go because i missed church on wednesday to drive here, and i'm going to miss it sunday, or end up going to a catholic service for my grandma. who knows what'll happen there.

the service was really neat. at first i felt the atmosphere was kind of lacking some fun...or like everyone was scared to have fun. but the music was really great. i actually sat next to a guy who taught the worship leaders at that church (its a church of like, probably at least 10,000 people so i'm sure they have many worship leaders!). i asked him for tips since i'm helping lead our youth group next year.

when the sermon started, a guy started playing guitar with the pastor's speaking and continued on the rest of the time. maybe there are studies that show people pay attention more with music in the background. i thought it was cool because the musical mood fit what the pastor was speaking about, like when he was talking about our broken selves, the music was somber and sad, but when he talked about the return of Jesus it became bold, sort of dark but in a powerful way.

the pastor spoke about noah's ark in a non-sundayschool view. his main point was about how God uses people in his plans. he said something really interesting that i'd never thought of: how noah building the ark was a threat to the people around him. if God called a man to build a spaceship today because he wanted to rid the world of evil (which He promised He'd never do again, so it won't happen), everyone around him who believed would probably hate his guts because they couldn't board the ship with the man.

its interesting that the return of the Son of man is going to be like in noah's time. at least thats what it says in matthew 24:37. if someone could answer this for me it'd be awesome: is God's wiping out mankind the same as the end times? i dont think it is, because it would be breaking His own promise.

i haven't read up a whole lot on end times, but i really really hope i get to see it happen. well, not so much the plagues and stuff, but what i really want to see is the Son coming up from the eastern sky. hooooooly holy holy thats going to be the best moment ever. not exaggerating with that phrase like i often do (did you know exaggerating is a sin? its in james somewhere...). won't it be our first glipse of Jesus? the first hint of home is near.

so, something else i just thought of. will we go straight to heaven first...or will we go into "soul's sleep" and ressurect from it when Jesus comes to get us?

(man. if your not a christian, the above statement will have you thinking i'm crazy. haha. i'm okay with that though.)

its something i've always had on my mind. that guy who wrote the book about dying and going to heaven then coming back to life said he went right to the gates, seeing his gone-before family and friends first. then i didnt get any further because a) i really dont want it to be spoiled for me, even though i'll be satisfied way beyond anything i can imagine, and b) how could we possibly know if the guy was lying or delusional or not. he's just a man. but like i said, you never know what God's up to.

back to arks, the pastor ended with "what's your ark?" aka what has God called you to do. its amazing that God picks something out for each one of us, and its perfect. one may want to do great things, but settles for where they are at now because its God-glorifying. or someone unlikely accomplishes great feits for the Lord.

we are pretty much clueless without Him, basically. but everything works out. i theorized today out loud to my dad about how any person/group who is in charge of any job/organization has to sometimes go with something and have not a clue of the outcome, and sometimes not have a good reason why. he told me that those are the people who get better at what they do, because they aren't just fixing wrongs back to rights all the time. people sometimes have to tinker around until a possible solution is finished, and then let it fly free.

that could relate to a lot of things. i should probably stop before i write a book.
i want to end with some lyrics in my head right now.

sometimes i'm on a mountain, holdin on to Your hand
sometimes i'm in the middle, holdin the best i can
sometimes i'm in the valley, and i let go long ago
when my hand is weak and tired
You're hand still has a hold

its so incredibly true that He holds on when we dont. He covers our unfaithfulness. amen amen amen!!