Humans are fascinating. Oftentimes their complexities can be overwhelming and as a result most people tend not to think too much about them….I guess most people just don’t think. *kicks a tv* Regardless, humans have some very interesting characteristics which can explain why they tend to act the way they do. Humans have both a spiritual side and a physical side. Their spiritual side includes the will, the mind, and the soul/spirit which are NOT the same thing. Their physical side includes the flesh (body) and the passions (hunger, need for sleep, and need for love….) We also have a heart which is somehow both.  I don’t understand it yet. (Jeremiah 17:9)

Understanding all these parts of the person is very interesting but explaining them all would be quite tedious. I’ll get to the point and for anyone who actually reads this and has questions we can have a good conversation about what all the human components are. What is most important to understand is that the spiritual is more powerful then the physical. The physical is tied to decay, it is irrevocably cursed by God because of sin, this will not change until the second coming of Christ. Romans 8:20-23 An animal can not help being bound, to the physical world, it can not help being a victim of its passions and environment. So a dog that kills its owner because of harsh treatment should be pitied and loved because it was raised poorly and had no choice in the matter. A human because he has a spiritual side which can overpower the physical passions must be held accountable for his actions, he can never blame his circumstances nor environment. When humans blame other things for being responsible for their actions they lower themselves to the level of animals and degrades themselves and the human race.

As Christians a large part of our lives is to be spent eradicating sin. By sin I mean the distance between ourselves and God. God is everywhere. This is true, but until you know He’s there you He might as well not be there because its not going to help you at all if you don’t know He’s there. God is not physical being He is spiritual so I’m not talking about simply physical distance. There is spiritual distance between ourselves and God which must be traversed for us to truly rest in Him. As pagans we had no hope of traversing the gap, it was quite impossible. Christ’s sacrifice guaranteed the souls of those who believe an eternity in heaven and his blood made a road which we can travel on which will lead us to God. The road has many names, Godliness, Righteousness, Love, Perfection, Goodness.

To draw near to God we must bring all our components. If we wish to eradicate sin and to rest in the peace of God all of our faculties must be equally in pursuit of God. Often Christians make the mistake of cutting out the fruit of sin without ever taking out the root. A person who truly wants to walk the road of Godliness can not continually be stomping out all the outgrowths of sin saying, “I’m going to honor my parents, I’m going to respect my girls, I’m going to get good grades, I’m going to stop cursing, I’m going to stop drinking….” This will wear a person down, make them discouraged and they won’t experience the peace Christ did. The problem is that this person is just dealing the results of his sin, he’s just trying to fix what happens because he’s so far away from God. What He has to do is start asking the deeper questions of, “why do I dishonor my parents, why do I drink, why do I get bad grades?”

The problem usually resides in the spiritual side of a person. It is the more powerful side of a person and most people don’t even know its there or if they do they rarely access it. Its hard to change all of a sudden from being a sensual person who learns with one’s eyes and thinks with one’s feelings. But it must be understood that change comes by changing the heart not by changing the action. It is possible to stop drinking but the inner problem that forced that person to alcohol in the first place will soon enough find another avenue to vent its anger. A true disciple of Christ will discipline all parts of his person, not just the part doing the sinning. A person who wishes to destroy sin in his life by the power of God must allow God to control His mind for the mind creates one’s thoughts; his body because it is the throne of the passions; his will determines his actions; his soul because the soul decides one nature; the spirit because the spirit is one’s character and his emotions because they decide his feelings. A diligent disciple then would create a lifestyle in which each of his parts is properly disciplined. Christians are rarely taught today that their is more to them then what they can feel. They are not taught that the unseen determine what happens in the seen world and that disciplining their spirit is far more important then learning about the dangers of drugs and the rules of dating. *kicks the tv again*

Comment away, let me know what you think on the text or the music, I've started listening to Nightwish again, I haven't really listened to them since Junior High.

Perhaps the most relevant task for any human is to know God to the greatest extent that their circumstances allow. Mind, I don't mean you ought to know all the theological proofs for God's existence, although those are very useful, whats far more important and more practical is the knowing of God Himself. Knowing Him like you would know a person.

I've been struck recently with how much I know about God compared to how little I actually know Him.  Ravi Zacharias say's "the best way to know God exists is to actually meet with Him every morning and interact with the Living God." No amount of logical proof is more beneficial then a real life experience with the Divine. Don't believe me, well then meet with Him every morning, you'll find out soon enough the glory of a relationship with the Almighty. :) The more I've thought about it, the more I believe that you really can't do anything sensible without God. The fields of science, mathematics, philosophy, ethics and theology to rest upon God existence. If God didn't exist then all those fields of study are based on illogical assumptions.

I want to publicly praise God for blessing me this past week and helping me get to know Him a bit better. You may laugh after your done reading and say, "well, Caleb, you were just lucky" that is fine because I may just have gotten lucky. Wednesday was my day to take my driving test to get my license. I was nervous, I had already failed once, I didn't want to fail again and I was more upset at having already failed then I can ever remember being. I prayed to God that morning for two things, first that He would orchestrate it so that the parking lot which I'd have to park in would be relatively empty. This He did and so backing up wasn't nearly as nerve racking as it could have been. Second I prayed and asked for a nice test instructor. God allowed this also, I got a shortish plumpish baldish man named Hosea, who despite his name was not Mexican and was not munching on a tacco. An extra bonus was that God allowed it to rain, not only do I love the rain but I also drive better in the rain and the dark so I felt more comfortable during the test.

So, making a short story, even shorter, I passed with no x's on my sheet. I set a record at the DMV, "the place were happiness goes to die" and within one hour of getting there I had waited through three lines, passed my test and with license in hand was walking out the door. In my experience God tends to act just on the edge of the rational. It is certainly possible that God could have just made a license materialize in my wallet one day but I think He prefers to work through His creation, He likes to see us take pleasure in doing His will and braving scary things for His glory. So my story doesn't prove anything, I'm not saying God will always answer your prayer in the affirmative and help you pass your driving test nor am I saying that God never does totally impossible, irrational things just because He can. The moral of the story is to get in touch with God, not on just an intellectual level but on a spiritual level. Once we are willing to do that it seems God is very willing to bless us and help us in our times of trouble. 

Obeservations from a week without power.

The past two weeks have been fascinating. Eight days and one hour without heat, water, electricity and internet forces one to make adjustments to one's lfiestyle. I learned alot from being so long without power, here's a  list.

I. Experiation dates on food are relative
II. Its possible to cook frozen fish sticks over a candle
III. Melted ice cream does not refreeze
IV. One gallon of snow melts into only a quarter that amount of water.
V. It is possible to stay clean using only handsanatizer and toothpaste
VI. Reading by candlelight is much cooler then artifiial light.
VII. Scarves are super cool and warm.
VIII. Transformers are filled with toxic ooze
IX. Dropping said transformer on brother is unadvized
X. Stealing transformers can result in one month in prison or a fifteen thosuand dollar fine. If they catch you :).
XI. The average Simsburian doesn't trust unwashed, unshaved teenagers walking the streets with axes and chainsaws looking for work.

I would have put pictures with this but I am writing at school because we still don't have internet at the house.