The Thoughts of Ryan-C

The thought of the day comes from Ed Welch.

He writes, ” . . . there is a mean streak to authentic self-control. . . Self-control is not for the timid. When we want to grow in it, not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ, we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin. . . . The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war. . . . There is something about war that sharpens the senses . . . You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode. Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger. Even after days of little of no sleep, war keeps us vigilant.

There is a mean, violent streak in the true Christian life! But violence against whom, or what? Not other people. It’s a violence against all the impulses in us that would be violent to other people. It’s a violence against all the impulses in our own selves that would make peace with our own sin and settle in with a peacetime mentality. It’s a violence against all lust in ourselves, and enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame. It’s violence against the impulses in our own soul toward racism and sluggish indifference to injustice and poverty and abortion.

Christianity is not a settle-in-and-live-at-peace-with-this-world-the-way-it-is kind of religion. If by the Spirit you kill the deeds of your own body, you will live. Christianity is war on our own sinful impulses.”

This man is my idol.

Reasons why he is my idol.

1. He is awesome.

2. Witty remarks… always.

3. He has a vast array of nicknames: Barn, The Barnacle, Barnito supreme, Swarley, Swarles, Swar-(wait for it)-ley, Swarhili, Bob Swarley-mon, Swar-lay, Swarles Barkley, Swarlos, Jennifer

4. His father is Bob Barker.

5. He always wears a suit.

6. He is legen– wait for it… dary!

7. His half-brother is gay Wayne Brady.

8. He is the best wing-man of all times. *I’m sorry Iceman*

9. He loves laser tag.

10. He constantly lives in the fear of being slapped in the face by Marshall, but his life goes on as normal and as awesome as usual.

Thank You, Barney Stinson.

Fazoli’s closed down… my day just went from great to crap.

So today was my first ever day of summer school. It has been going well so far. My stats teacher is awesome. She is like 55, southern and a very nice lady. My history teacher is basically Bradford Barrett but 30 and probably not a militant republican *<3 you Braddy bear*. I did a good job selecting my classes... hopefully next semester will turn out the same.

Things I am excited about...

- New iPhones. Although I won't be getting one for another year or so, the new iPhones are going to be balling. My sources tell me they will be 3G, will come in black, and they will have larger storage capacities not to mention the iPhone app store that is launching in June along side it.

- I am still beyond pumped from SNL on saturday. If you haven't seen it yet, hit this link up and click “recently added” below the video… those are all from the last episode.

- A mormon just added me on Flickr.

- I still don’t have ‘the herps.’

- How I Met Your Mother is on tonight.

- It is Moe Monday. And I will be playing the double meat and queso lottery.

- My eBay feedback is up to 117.

and

- This girl from my religion class is in my history class but there is something different about her… oh wait, its because she had a sex change over break. I’m dead serious, she/he is in my class.

Life is good.

Ok. So I have a lot to say. Bear with me.

First on the list is PETA; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Ok, so I like animals and all, but seriously if your life is devoted to saving chickens from being cloned for KFC then your life is wasted. PETA should stand for People for the Ethical Treatment of Africans *natives, that is*. People should be devoting their lives to saving people not animals. I can whip out a huge Biblical argument on how people are God’s image bearers and what-not but I don’t even need to because PETA’s purpose is clearly a waste of time considering the world we live in. Every day, people *that is human beings with intrinsic value* are dying of curable diseases and starvation. Last year PETA’s annual budget was $30 Million. Even with the soaring price of rice on the worlds market, PETA could have bought over 120,000,000 pounds of rice and given it to the starving nations of the world. According to my own calculations and research, that is enough rice for 480 BILLION meals. HOLY CRAP. That would give every person living in Africa 1.6 bowls of rice EVERY day for 1 year. So yeah, do we want to help save some animals from being in the circus or do we want to feed hungry people? That will conclude this rant of righteous anger.

*all of the figures in the above paragraph we’re taken from various websites and I did the math in order to come to the conclusions that I did. I checked my math and PETA does really suck that much.

Second on my list of bloggings is… Summer at UCF. So today I got up to UCF and realized that I am going to be without a lot of human contact for a while. I do have friends up here, no doubt, but 90% of my friends are back home and only a few will be up here. I love the people up here, but I did realize that they too have their own lives and won’t be able to devote all of their time this summer to hanging out with me. This leads me to the good part of being up here. I will finally have a lot of alone time that I never get when I am in south Florida or when school is in session. Today was nice. After I got unpacked I got to eat some food *Bubbalou’s woot!* and go to Barnes and Noble and read some magazines. After that I picked up an iced coffee from Mickey D’s and sat outside the Arena and read for an hour and a half. What? I read for an hour and a half? Yes, I did and it was glorious. When life isn’t hectic and I don’t have to jump around from person to person, I can get some good reading time in *something I need to allot myself even when I am home and with my friends*. Don’t worry everyone, I still love you, but I think that this summer will be very profitable for my mind’s expansion.

Third is 1 Timothy. That is what I read today when I had my free time. I got my awesome Reformation Study Bible that has some great notes in it to help me. Here are some of the main things I got out of my reading. Paul was pissed at the Gnostics and was doing all that he could to put them out. I approve of this. Most of the book was written to instruct Timothy on how to bring up leadership in the church and to fight against that false teachers that were infiltrating at a rapid speed. He [obviously] puts a huge emphasis on having good doctrine. It got me thinking about all of the crazy health and wealthers out there preaching their prosperity gospel… then I got really angry and kept on reading. In 1:12-17 Paul talks about grace again and how he is the least likely man to be an instrument of God and it made me smile again. I was also encouraged by 4:12-16. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Yeah, Yeah, Yeah… I know, I know. But when you actually read this in context and don’t use it as your life verse because you want to ’stick it to the man’ its pretty powerful. As an aspiring theologian its very encouraging to know that their is a Biblical example of a young man in my same shoes. Timothy *although he was probably about 30 years old when Paul wrote this to him* was young in comparison to the people he was preaching to and lacked the seasoned credibility typical in this time period. Thats basically where I am, a kid stuck in a world where only PhDs are credible in ‘real life’ applications. So it’s nice to know that there is an example to follow and hope to look for. I guess that’s a bout it…….. for now.

Fourth, Shia LeBeouf was on SNL tonight and he was amazing as usual.

Fifth, I watched a show on musical savants today and it was amazing. I’m pretty sure they singlehandedly prove the existence of God.

The new Death Cab album has officially blow my mind.

Nights spent talking theology are always good nights.

Last night I just happened to hang out with my fuzzy teddy-bear of a friend, Jimmy. After one of these nights I always start thinking and learn something new. The thing that was revealed to me the most last night was grace. Jimmy was telling a story of about one time when he was working as a youth volunteer *or something to that effect* and he was talking to a kid about salvation. He asked the kid what he would tell God when he was being judged so that he could prove he was a Christian and deserved entrance into Heaven. After a few minutes of thought the kid said, “I would tell him I don’t deserve it.” And at this point, Jimmy knew that this kid got it, because that is what this is all about… grace.

Everything we do and get we don’t deserve to be able of doing or having those things, but it is only through God’s bountiful grace that we are permitted anything. I was reading last night and I came across this quote from St. Augustine, “Give me the grace, O Lord, to do as you command, and command me to do what you will!…Oh holy God… when your commands are obeyed, it is from you that we receive the power to obey them.” Even our ability to do good, to combat sin and follow God’s commands are only possible through His grace and without it we are nothing. The only reason I have a wonderful girlfriend is because of grace. I don’t deserve her, but I am given the grace to have her and that grace requires much responsibility and trust. Basically what I am driving at is that God’s grace is the only reason why we have what we have and can do what we can do. We don’t deserve ANYTHING. Nothing.

I think Paul had some of the best thoughts on grace because he knew how evil he was and how he deserved nothing but condemnation and death, but he was saved by Jesus and was presented with the grace to believe. One of the best examples of grace is in 1 Corinthians 15:8-10. Paul writes,”Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, Because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Basically what Paul is saying is that he was the last person to see the resurrected Christ long after Christ had ascended into Heaven. By doing this God saved him and revealed his grace to him. He was the least likely man to be preaching the teachings of Jesus… His job was to kill Christians and he was pretty good at it. And after working against the ministry for a while, Jesus extended his divine grace to Paul (Saul) and gave him the grace to live for something better.

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Romans 5:19-21

So don’t take anything lightly and be thankful for the things you have been given. Don’t be like Pelagius, know that it is only by grace that you have been saved and it isn’t of works or your own doing, because in the end you and I both suck at life beyond our own knowledge of what it means to suck at life.

EDIT: Jimmy just posted a blog on Jonah and he mentioned grace in reference to salvation… here is what he wrote, “Jonah is about slavation. Jonah is all about God showing people how he hates sin, but still he forgives them and shows grace. It is not about anything else. It is all about God showing grace that leads to Jesus. Again, Jonah 2:9 ‘… Salvation belongs to the Lord’.”

I thought that would be a nice addition….

It only takes a few seconds…

Gizmodo Article

Nasa Site for Name Submission

So here is a list of ingredients in Meth…it is basically the contents of a hick’s shed.

# Gasoline additives/Rubbing Alcohol
# Ether (starting fluid)
# Benzene
# Paint thinner
# Freon
# Acetone
# Chloroform
# Camp stove fuel
# Anhydrous ammonia
# White gasoline
# Matches (the red parts)
# Pheynl-2-Propane
# Phenylacetone
# Phenylpropanolamine
# Rock, table or Epsom salt Red Phosphorous
# Toluene (found in brake cleaner)
# Red Devil Lye
# Drano
# Muraitic acid
# Battery acid
# Lithium from batteries
# Sodium metal
# Ephedrine
# Sudafed
# Iodine
# Bronchodialators
# Energy boosters
# Iodine crystals

mmm…. tasty.