AJ Teaters | 2 comments

Don't be a Refrigerator




After my side-tracked rant and rave about parenting or the lack there of, we will now get back on track. I am continuing my 3 part series of “Don't be a Christian appliance” with part 2: Don't be a “Top of the Line” refrigerator. First I want to thank my friend Zech for giving me this idea from a recent sermon of his. Second I want to ask everyone a question, what is the purpose of a refrigerator? When you go out and look for a refrigerator what is the main reason you go and buy a refrigerator, what does everything boil down to with a refrigerator? When you are able to shave everything else away, all the bells/whistles/upgrades, what does a refrigerator do?


ANSWER: It keeps your food cold.

We, as people living in the “technology age”, are on the constant hunt for the bigger, the better and the easier. Just look at what refrigerators have transformed into over the years since their invention:

1.Ice box: literally a box that had ice in it. You bought giant blocks of ice and put them in the box and then stacked your food on top of the ice to keep it cold.

2.Cold box: A box that had the capability of keeping food cold without ice, however it usually required the installation of the mechanical parts, motor and compressor, in the basement or an adjacent room while the cold box was located in the kitchen Cost in 1922 (with 9 cubic feet of storage) about $714. Comparison Alert! In 1922 a Ford Model-T cost about $450.

3. Refrigerator: Luckily freon invented in the late 1920's made it much MUCH more convenient to make and own a refrigerator. The storage space has almost tripled and is up to 27.5 cubic feet and there are close to 10 different major brands/manufacturers. Not only has the storage space grown but also the features have increased. Refrigerators now come with multiple shelves and organizers, a filtered water spout, ice dispenser that has 3 settings (cubed, crushed or snow-cone). Multiple cold settings for not only the separate refrigerator and freezer sections but because you have 2 doors on both the refrigerator and freezer section you can set them to 4 different individual settings!

Why do we bother with all the extras, the next thing we will be developing refrigerators to do is cook the food before we take it out of the refrigerator; program the refrigerator to prepare dinners, pack lunches for your kids or have an alarm go off before your vegetables and fruit go bad. So, if we shave all the extra features that modern day refrigerators have what are we left with?


ANSWER: Something that keeps your food cold.

We need to look at our lives in this same way. We need to prioritize and boil down all the extra features in our lives. This shouldn't be a surprise to you Christians out there, but I'll say it anyways, God should be what our lives boil down to. Once you strip every “extra feature” of your life away and get down to the purpose of your life God has to be at the center. Once you strip every “extra feature” of your refrigerator away and get down to the purpose of your refrigerator keeping your food cold has to be at the center.

Ultimately this breaks down to fulfilling purpose. How do we find and fulfill our purpose in life? We need to see from Jesus' perspective, Colossians 3:2 says it best. We can't walk through life blinded by the “extra features” we have added to our lives to try and make them bigger, better and easier, we need to break down our lives into what is most important (hint: keeping food cold).

To continue with my metaphor, food will spoil if your refrigerator does not fulfill it's purpose and if you do not fulfill your purpose you will spoil too. What does food really want? Does it want crushed ice, or 4 variable refrigeration settings? No, food wants to fulfill it's purpose, and the same goes for our lives. If we do not fulfill our purpose we will not only let ourselves down, but we will also let others down as well. God's purpose for our life is not only going to benefit us, the reason for this is another blog post for another time, but I'll leave you with this: We are relational beings. By keeping the food cold the refrigerator fulfills its purpose thus letting the food fulfill its purpose.

So I guess I'm saying it's okay to be a fridge (that should make the women happy...maybe), but try not to be a refrigerator with distracting accessories (that should put the women back where they were before they read this).
AJ Teaters | 1 comment

*Side Note*

I know that I am supposed to be continuing my 3 part series on “Don't be a Christian Appliance” but I've had something on my mind that I just haven't been able to remember to post until someone reminds me of the idea.


Enough with my vague-ality I might as well just get into the what it is that has got me side-tracked. Recently a couple of friends and I went out to see the “The Town” (That new Ben Affleck movie that takes place in Boston and centers around back robbery) which is rated 'R' for different reasons, but the 2 that float to the surface the fastest are language and violence. Pluggedin.com states, “The f-word tally exceeds 150,” with the run-time only being 125 minutes, that means that they said the f-word more than once a minute throughout the movie. I just want to dispel any judgment on the movie because of the language issue, if you ask anyone who lives in or grew up in Boston or close to it will tell you that (as hard as it is to believe) that's just how they talk out there. My in-laws are “Mass-holes”, trust me when I say I can back up this statement with credible references, and no they don't drop the f-bomb every minute (actually the never do) but they know what goes on back there... experience.


Where was I? The Town, great movie but has a slight language problem and is a little violent. The violence is nothing out of the ordinary for a present day bank-robber type crime movie: Car chases (with explosions), shoot-outs, beatings and pistol-whippings, so nothing that I haven't seen in my 8+ years of watching rated 'R' movies. But this isn't the problem, hopefully you've caught on to that by now.


My friends and I walked into the theater, on a Saturday night, and throughout the mandatory commercials we talked and caught up on any current news in our lives. Not until the previews started, had I noticed the travesty that was taking place right in front of me... I had almost eaten all my sour patch watermelon candy?! I couldn't believe that I just spent $4.00 on a bag of candy that was practically empty by the time the previews started! Nevertheless I ate the last few slices and dumped the sour-sugar coating that had collected at the bottom of the bag into my mouth when I noticed something else... something worse than my candy running out. We were surrounded by families, families with children... FAMILIES WITH SMALL CHILDREN, I'M TALKING 3-5 YEAR OLDS!


I couldn't believe it, I literally stood up and looked around me during the previews. I counted 3 separate families that had brought their kids to see this movie. Once the movie started I can, for the first time, honestly say that I wanted to smack a woman in her face. Why? Because she was shhhh-ing her kids during the movie, she actually told them to, “be quiet and watch the movie!” Once I realized that by smacking this woman in the face I would be doing nothing but smacking her in the face it made me think, "Smacking this woman wouldn't make her realize her faults, it wouldn't make her think over her decision, and it wouldn't make her take her kids and bring them into theater 3 where they were showing “Alpha and Omega” (that cartoon wolf movie)." I knew smacking her in the face would do nothing but give me a few minutes of gratification, but it wouldn't help the kids that were being forced to watch a movie that was (in every sense of the word) wrong for them to be watching.


Don't get me wrong, I'm normally not a violent person, but this was too much for me. I tried putting myself in their shoes and thinking HOW could anyone come to the conclusion that bringing their children to a rated 'R' movie would be appropriate? I thought about it throughout the entire preview section until I finally came to an answer: IT ISN'T! But what do you do? Should I have called Child Protective Services (CPS), told the manager of the theater, or tried to talk some reason into the families? I was absolutely appalled into a state of shock.


I teach, at the moment, so I am surrounded by kids (every age group) for half the year. I see the differences in children/students that have parents that are involved in every part of their lives. I see how easy it is for children/students to do whatever they want: interrupt you when you are teaching a lesson, call another student a name that they don't even know the meaning of, but heard Stewie call Peter it on the last episode of “Family Guy”, or be completely oblivious to the consequences of their choices. Am I saying that I only see this in the grade that I teach, no, but I do see it pretty much in every grade in school. A wave of disrespect, irresponsibility and entitlement has swept over this generation and is strangling the common sense out of them. Teachers then talk to parents about their child's/student's behavior and the parents say, “I don't know where he/she gets it from.”


The saddest part of this post is that this wasn't the first time and we all know this won't be the last time I run into something like this. I can count a handful of times I have seen underage kids in movies that have no business watching, or talking about a TV show they watch that I know the jokes or theme is geared toward adults, or bragging about their high-score on a video game that should even be discussed by them. Far too many times am I out late at night and have to stop by Wal-Mart (mostly out of convenience since it's late) to pick something up, and who do I see trudging through the aisle? Yep, you guessed it, a small kid or small children hanging on to their parent's hand, belt loop or just half asleep in the cart. I know it's not like I should think that I can walk into a Wal-Mart of all places and get a good image of solid parenting, but I'm talking 11-12pm at night. Isn't the answer as simple as: if you have children and you want to go see a rated 'R' movie you have to get a baby-sitter. If you don't get a baby-sitter, you don't go. If you don't get a baby-sitter, you don't say, "Grab the kids, we're going anyway!"


Having children is a privilege and a sacrifice, you can't just make them into adults and then back into children whenever you want. The thought crossed my mind sitting in the movie theater, "I wonder what's worse: Keeping the kids in the theater watching 'The Town', or sending them off to a theater all by themselves to watch a kids movie?!" Then I realized this question should never have to be asked!


Let me just end this rant/rave by simply saying, if this is how we parent our children what type of society can we expect in the next 20-30 years?

AJ Teaters | No comment yet

Vacuums Suck and So Do You

YOU SUCK! No, really you do. Don't get all offended until you hear why I said it... Can you give me 10 minutes to explain. You'll think about it? Okay, well while you think about it read the rest of my blog and hopefully it will make you think more.


Boys suck, girls suck, kids suck, parents suck, teachers suck, cops suck, bosses suck, the President sucks, Muslims suck, Jews suck and Christians suck! Why, because human beings (everyone) is a metaphorical vacuum; sucking in whatever they can to fill the metaphorical void in their lives. If you haven't noticed yet... it's all metaphorical. People suck... whatever they feel will fill the void in their lives, money, sex, TV, video games, clothes, relationships, “toys”, golf, Facebook, etc. The realization that people must come to is that all the things that you try and fill your life with won't make life any better. If they do make your life better, you end up asking yourself, “How long will it last?” When it does finally flicker, smolder and die out you ask yourself, “How can I get it back?”


Everyone's life is a vacuum, and the Christian's life is no different. Don't be so arrogant to think that just because you're a Christian that you don't suck. It can be the obvious sin that you keep hidden (let's not get confused. Yes, I did say “obvious” and “hidden” in the same sentence, but Christian's often hide sin and sin is the obvious first thing to think of... Thus “obvious” and “hidden” in the same sentence) sin is usually the easiest and most common thing that Christian's suck into their lives and it doesn't even have to be something horrible. However I have seen Christian's become too focused on being Christian. They completely turn off the world in which they live in and become sheltered and naive. My only objection to this lifestyle is how do you relate to the unchurched if you don't know the world they live in?


The misconception when people hear the word “sin” is they immediately think of the “bad sins”: The adultery, murder, sex before marriage, swearing, etc. Let's define “sin” is a very simple way that takes away the titles “mild, bad, horrible” from sins; sin is anything that takes your focus off of God. Why do I define sin in that way, because if something takes your focus off of God then you are ultimately not focusing on what God's purpose is for your life. Matthew 6:10 says, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and those are the words that need to keep you focused on what to suck into your void. You need to suck God's will into your life.


Don't get caught up in the easy argument of what type of vacuum you are, it doesn't matter if you're a Hoover, Kenmore, Oreck or a Dyson. Here's the key to all vacuums, they suck (and so do you). What you have to get past is the fact that you suck, and move on to recognizing what you are sucking into your life.
AJ Teaters | 1 comment

Be like the Pros.

You don't have to say it, I slacked off last week and didn't post. I thought that I had this post scheduled to go up last Sunday, but low and behold... nope! So I decided to post it today... Which kinda got forgotten, but I promise to keep on track and make the next posts A-mazing!


Every job needs to have the intensity of professional sports. That's not my opinion, that's a fact! My opinion only comes into play when I relate to my specific job. Being a teacher I could not begin to fathom how different it would be if we start incorporating more traditions and rituals of professional sports.

Announce the Line Ups

Start off every day with an announced line up like they do in the NBA! Complete with The Alan Parsons Project's “Sirius”.


Get Fired up!

All the teachers should start off everyday by getting together and getting “fired up” for the day. There's nothing like getting the adrenaline pumping before 1st hour!




Time out!

Teachers should get “professional” time-outs. 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Once the teacher calls the time out the class has to stop what they are doing, put their heads down and stay silent for 30 seconds. Just enough time to let the teacher take a deep breath and continue what they were doing.



Throw the Flag!

Instant replay for work. When something happens in the classroom or out on the playground there should be instant replay and even slow-mo instant replay to show the teacher what happened to disallow any bias or missed evidence. *Along with the instant replay the students should have a challenge flag that they are allowed to use once a semester to challenge a ruling in the classroom. If they are correct they can make another challenge, but if they are wrong they lose the privilege.


Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

What about having some celebration rituals? They do it in the NFL, they do it in the MLB, why can't teachers do it too? After we teach an awesome lesson; one that we trained for, that we prepared for, that we care for, wouldn't it be cool to have a celebration after?!




Did You See That?!

There should always be a greatest bloopers film at the end of every year. All the funny things that teachers have seen their students do or their colleagues.




I know that Teaching is already a very interesting profession all by itself, but imagine what it would be like with a little more "professionalism".

At the least we just don't want to walk out the door feeling like this guy.



Coming up for the next 3 weeks is a series I am calling "Don't be a Christian Appliance". Yes, it is will be as good as it sounds!
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It's a bird... It's a plane... IT'S...

We all have a picture of Jesus in our heads. I like to picture my Jesus (insert funny metaphor here):
  • as a mischievous badger.
  • as a figure skater. He wears like a white outfit, and He does interpretive ice dances of my life's journey.
  • as a dirty old bum, and I was about to sock him in the face because, well he's a dirty old bum, but then I thought, there's something special about him...
  • in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party.
  • like with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!

Maybe you prefer the “baby Jesus” to the “full-grown Jesus” sitting in his golden fleece diapers, lyin' there in His ghost manger, just lookin' at His Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors.

I like to picture my Jesus as a superhero, but the question that broods (it's a good comic book term) in my mind is, “which?”

Superman



I wanted to start with the obvious first. Why not make Jesus my own personal Superman? First because it would be too easy. Superman is the perfect superhero; he is honest, compassionate, patriotic, and pretty much all powerful. What can't Superman do? It would be so simple to make Jesus synonymous with Superman but I like to try and back my analogies and metaphors with some sort of Biblical backing or fact. The problem as I see it is that even though Jesus was honest, compassionate and all powerful... Jesus can't fly, He doesn't have heat vision, or super strength, but most importantly I know for a fact that Jesus ain't no alien that came to our planet because His was about to blow up. There is just not enough Biblical backing for me to make this correlation with any kind of reliability or validity.

The Incredible Hulk



At least there is some Biblical reference to Jesus getting so angry that He is ruled by His emotion more than His brain. Matthew 21:12-13, Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,'but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' I really wish Matthew would have added, "and you don't want to see me when I'm angry," Mark would've. But I digress, Doves! Jesus totally kicked the asses of guys selling doves, that just goes to show you how angry He was. It's not like the people in the temple were selling child pornography or cocain, they were selling doves. I like this Jesus, it makes me feel better about myself knowing that Jesus lost his temper at least once. But I still have a problem with the fact that it wasn't a constant occurrence throughout His ministry, but I guess if Jesus turned into a horrible monster every time He got frustrated He probably wouldn't have gotten many followers.

Mystique or Jedi



The reason that I chose two different “superheros” is two fold: 1) I have a hard time picturing my Jesus as a sexy blue, gun toting, leather clad, red haired vixen. 2) Mystique is a villain and that's just hard for me to have Jesus be. What is my reasoning for comparing these two “superheroes” and how do they fit into being anything like Jesus? The reason behind this is because of Jesus' ability to shield Himself from the masses. Luke 24: 15-16 as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. Who else besides the aforementioned sexy blue, gun toting, leather clad, red haired vixen (let's add one more adjective about her) shape shifter could have disguised themselves well enough for even their closest colleagues from recognizing them? Far be it from me to put Jesus in a box but a sexy blue, gun toting, leather clad, red haired shape shifting vixen is tight box. Jedi on the other hand is a little bit easier for me to picture Jesus as. They uphold truth, justice and have awesome mind powers! I can totally see Jesus walking to Emmaus and happening by these two disciples talking about... Jesus of Nazareth... blah blah... Crucifixion... blah blah... Messiah... blah blah... *tear* *sniffle*... boo hoo... Jesus thinks, “I can't let them know who I am... Quick, Jedi mind trick time!”

Man 1: Who did you say you were?

Jesus: (waving hand slowly) I'm not the man you are looking for.

Man 1: This isn't the man we're looking for.

Jesus: I don't know what you are discussing.

Man 1: He doesn't know what we're discussing.

Jesus: OK, stop

Man 1: We need to stop.

Nightcrawler



The next superhero that popped (no pun intended, who am I kidding they're always intended) into my head was Nightcrawler. He didn't only pop into my head because he is like the best X-Men character ever but because of the verse that was mentioned in the previous passage. Luke 24 (specifically 31) “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” If you can honestly tell me the first thing that popped into your head WASN'T Nightcrawler, let me know and I'll send you a cookie!

Wolverine



All I have to say is POWER TO HEAL!

Batman



Nothing says savior of all mankind quite like Vigilante Bad Ass! This is my pick overall. The comparisons are nothing but (pun intended) uncanny. The biggest parallel is that Jesus was fully human but also fully God (super-human), and Batman or Bruce Wayne isn't really a superhero, he is more of a super-human. Batman isn't a mutant, he isn't an alien, nothing radioactive bit him or blew up next to him to make him the way he is, it is totally Batman's choice to be the superhero that he is. Also let's not forget where both Jesus and Batman get their ability to be “super”, their Dads! Batman has an endless supply of the almighty dollar (buying himself infinite gadgets and vehicles) and Jesus has an endless supply of the Almighty Father (aiding Him in miracles of healing and conquering sin). Finally the most obvious similarity is that both were super-humans that fought against the corrupt government that was in place during their time, while constantly fighting the criminally insane (Jesus had the Pharisees while Batman had the Joker, Two-Face and Catwoman).

If you had to pick what superhero Jesus was most closely associated with, who would you pick?
AJ Teaters | No comment yet

Digital Life

Recently I was sitting in church listening attentively to a sermon my pastor was giving on prayer when I was struck with the idea for this post. As much as you all want to believe that my attention span went (pun intended) to Hell, you're wrong! I actually focused more on what my pastor was saying during the sermon because he was adding substance to my idea. I probably looked like a complete heathen during services when this happens. I can't help it though when God hits me with an idea, He really hits me with it. It takes all my attention off what else is going on until I write it down, so for all of you who think I'm facebooking, tweeting or texting during service you're wrong (most of the time).

I have been thinking about technology, and how much our lives are run by the different devices and contraptions that we own. My newest idea is called the iPray (Apple Inc. probably has this under development already) and it's a device that you can carry around and have it pray for you. Using this device will completely change Christianity by ultimately completely changing our relationships with God.


The Pitch:

Do you find yourself too busy to pray? Does communicating with God seem like a burden? Is it hard to find the right words to say when you pray? Do you feel awkward when asked to pray at big events or even small evening dinners? Then the iPray is for you!

The iPray takes all the guess work out of prayer. All you have to do is set it and forget it (oh... sorry that's a RONCO slogan). There are hundreds of settings for every occasion: Easter, Christmas, Dinners, Weddings, Youth, Old People, Healing, Strength, Patients. You can even record a prayer that you've said to use again! Don't forget to set your prayer alarms to pray for your day when you get up in the morning and thank God for your day before you go to sleep. If you don't have the time to talk to God don't worry, you don't need time you just need an iPray!


The Reality:

How much do we let technology take the place of us actually doing work? What devices do we place in our lives that we don't need? How much technology is too much technology? Can technology actually take the place of God? Has technology become an idol in our present society? Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!! Slow down, we need to look at all these questions as being the same one: What should we let technology help us with? The more technology that is injected into our society is supposed to be helpful to us... but what has happened to personal relationships? I'll be the first to admit that I use Facebook, Twitter and Blogger (both on my computer and my phone), and have noticed that I have friends, followers and readers that I might not even consider acquaintances. Our social network is way too big, we (as a society) now feel uninformed if we don't know what someone we haven't talked to in 10 years is thinking. Not only is our social network distracting us from the reality of the world we live in, but music is another huge problem because it is so accessible. I can't tell you how many times I have seen kids walking through schools, malls, stores, homes with a pair of headphones hanging from their ears. I honestly feel the choice to constantly have music in your ears is borderline disrespectful. I know that my parents would have definitely smacked those headphones outta my ears if I would've tried to walk around (anywhere) with music in my ears. The answer I hear most often to this behavior is that society has changed and kids have changed with it. Is that answer good enough? Should we just accept that this is the way our society is thus our kids will be this way? Sounds bad when you hear it put that way, doesn't it?


Sorry I have to cut this post short, my pizza just got here. I just set my iPray for reverent dinner prayer, listen in:


Thank you Lord for this bountiful feast of pizza. Please bless and keep Little Caesars pizza. Send your Holy Spirit before us at we eat to have an open heart to your voice. Thank you for this abundance of pepperoni and cheese. As we break this bread, bless this time with your presence, be in our midst. Amen.


Wow! I've never sounded so good!

AJ Teaters | 1 comment

Innocent Bystander

As much as I wanted to get away from youth related problems and youth related topics I just can't stop talking about youth. Obviously the story hasn't changed from the beginning of parenthood: the younger generation is always rebelling against the older generation that doesn't understand why the younger generation is so confusing and why both generations don't seem to do anything right. Plus you go where the stories are, and youth are full of more drama than Shakespeare's pantaloons! Two stories stick out in my mind, both happened within a week of each other and when both happened I was lucky enough to just be a bystander. This is what I learned:

1. Youth should care about sports more than our environment.

I was driving somewhere... and it was night time (I'm not trying to keep anything a secret, I honestly can't remember where I was headed, I feel so old when that happens). Anyways, I was driving somewhere at night and I happened to notice two, let's call them adolescent type people, walking down the sidewalk. One was a girl and the other was a boy and the boy was drinking something in a very large cup, probably a 'Big Gulp'. Just so you know this is all exposition, I need to set the stage. So, youth boy and girl walking down the street at night (sometime around 8-ish on a weekday...er... weeknight) and the boy was drinking something out of a large cup, hopefully you're keeping up. What grabs my attention as I'm driving down the road is that I notice that there are two “kids” out walking down the street (on the sidewalk) during a weeknight.


Side Note: It always interests me to see youth aged kids walking around town at night, for some reason I would have never thought to ask my parents if I could walk a mile down the road to go get a 'Big Gulp' around 8 o'clock at night. Actually to tell you the truth it always interests me to see anyone walking around town at night. When my wife and I took a short anniversary vacation up toward the White Mountains (Show Low/Pinetop area in AZ) this summer, which ironically enough is the “rainy season”, we saw multiple people walking around town at night ,and not just at night but when it was also raining. Neither my wife or I could explain this phenomenon.


So, again: youth boy and girl walking down the street at night (sometime around 8-ish on a weekday...er... weeknight) and the boy was drinking something out of a large cup, however at the same time I am driving by the boy finishes his drink. What happens next is the most disturbing thing that I could have imagined happening. The boy takes his last sip of the drink and proceeds to drop it out of his hand and tries to punt it like a soccer ball. If you didn't catch the keyword in that last sentence I'll repeat it for you, “TRIES.” He missed the cup, not missed kicking it well so he didn't get good height or distance, but completely missed the cup altogether! This is wear I get angry, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This kid tried to punt an empty drink cup, a piece of trash, on the sidewalk and he totally missed it. After he missed it he just kept walking, just leaving that piece of trash sitting there on the sidewalk! I was completely and totally appalled! I had half a mind to stop driving, turn around and grab that kid by the neck and show him how to kick properly! How could a teenage boy NOT be able to kick a cup?! At that moment I knew there was a bigger problem with youth than I had thought.


2. Youth should not give other youth advice.

I was standing in line at a grocery store (this time I am keeping it a secret, I don't want to discourage anyone from shopping at a particular location) and I heard this exact conversation between the workers.


Worker: Male, 18-21 years old

James: Male, 16-18 years old

Brian: Male, 24-26 years old


Worker: Hey James, you should close tonight.


James: Nah I can't, I have homework to finish so I don't fail.


Brian: It's scary that she knows my name (talking about a customer behind me that asked him question by name).


Note: Brian is wearing a name tag.


Worker: James you should close tonight and then come hang out at my place. Last night I bought this tiny BBQ grill and filled it with charcoal; we made s'mores and I cooked sausage (you have to imagine him saying this like it Benjamin Franklin explaining electricity for the first time, he was that excited about the s'mores and sausage).


James: That sounds like fun, but I need to do homework so I don't fail.


Brian: What?! It's Friday, you have all weekend to do homework. I didn't even do homework on the weekends, I just waited until it was due and did it in class... if I even did it.


Two thoughts shot through my mind almost simultaneously: First all I could think was, “So you're not surprised that you work at a grocery store then?” The second thought was, “RUN JAMES, PLUG YOU EARS AND RUN!!!” But then my conscience got the better of me, so I kept my mouth shut and just smirked as I walked out.


I know what you're thinking and you're right, two of those workers were not technically youth age, and I would have to agree. Physically they wouldn't be considered youth anymore, but if you read the conversation, and I didn't preface their ages, what age would you have guessed them to be. My guess would have been youth aged.


This is all I'll leave you with: The constant question in my head for youth isn't, “What are you thinking?!” Actually the #1 question in my head that I always want to ask you is, “Who is your role model? Who do you model your life around and why?” I never ask it and the reason is that I am terrified of the answers I would get.

AJ Teaters | No comment yet

The Answer to God's Entitlement

After much deliberation... well actually it had to do more with not being finished by my deadline and having more to write... so like I was saying, after much deliberation and a poke at my readers attention span, I give you the reasons why it's okay for God to have entitlement issues.

1. He's God and we're not:

Plan and simple, God created everything in the universe. He created the heavens, the earth, light, darkness, the air we breath, animals, water, steak, pizza, crab cakes, lucky charms, buffalo wings, ice cream, cheesecake (sorry, I was kinda hungry when I wrote this post) and us (humanity, mankind, people, etc.). He deserves everything that is coming to Him regardless if you think he has done anything for you or not (just an FYI, He has).


2. Just because entitlement looks bad on us doesn't mean it looks bad on Him:

Can anything look bad on God? God could be rockin' a mullet and it would still be Almightily Awesome. Wow, that sounds like good lyrics for a country song. Entitlement is the ugly step sister of gratuity, so what we see as God's entitlement is actually sinless entitlement, gratuity. He is thankful for us, regardless of our sin and shortcomings. He is thankful just like any parents are thankful of their children. That is what God bestowed upon mankind, He didn't impress us with entitlement but with gratuity.


3. Entitlement, just like Boy Bands, shouldn't exist:

The first being to show entitlement was cast down into the fire and pits of Hell. The moment that Satan felt that He deserved more than God had given him, he mounted a war against Him. Satan lost, sin lost but we still live and live with sin. Light and dark, entitlement and gratitude. Obviously entitlement is not of God, it was not created by God, so God could not bestow it upon us. Entitlement is an attitude of ungratefulness an attitude of sin and sin can not come from God. Thus, a lot like American Idol, entitlement should not be among us.


So in the end what I've learned about entitlement, God and mankind is that we can not confuse what we feel in our lives or how the world has molded us from what God is trying to do in our lives. As easy as it would be to say, “I'm entitled because God is entitled! You can't tell me not to be, because God made me this way!” We have to look at our lives and align them with the Truth.

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God and His Issues

As my last post pointed out one of the biggest problems with youth today is entitlement. Even though this post's topic is also entitlement, I am posing a different question. Does God have entitlement issues, because if He does, doesn't that make us an entitled people?

Roll with me: If God is in His nature an entitled being and we bear His image, than aren't we made in an image of entitlement. So youth having an attitude of entitlement is completely within their (pun intended) God given right. Nothing else on Earth bears God's image and by bearing God's image we (humans) differ from all other creatures because of the self-reflective, rational nature of our thought processes - our capacity for abstract, symbolic, concrete thought processes and decision-making.

Roll a little further with me: Who has the worst entitlement issues? God does. He wants us to give Him our lives before He gives us His Kingdom. He created us, so He wants what he deserves before He gives anything to us. If I have my theology right, we are not truly His until we are baptized in His name, thus dying and being reborn (correct me if I'm wrong). If I have this right, God wants us to die before He gives us anything? Sounds entitled to me. Just because God gave me life, He gets to take it away?

So if I have this right: God has entitlement issues, we are made in His image (we bear His image), we have entitlement issues too. It's simple math really x+y=z, if x=God and y=Mankind then z=Godkind... wait no, if x=God and His entitlement issues and y=Mankind then z=... Wait how can x equal two different things. Maybe it should be ab+c=d, because then ab=God times his entitlement issues and c=Mankind then d= the angle contained between sides of lengths a and b and opposite the side of length c. Hold on that was the law of cosine... So maybe the math isn't so simple.

What I've learned through writing this post is that this is a very confusing topic to write about. Why? Because I do think that God is the number one person... being... entity... whatever you want to label Him, that deserves everything from us without having done anything for us, but if that's entitlement (which it is) and we are made in the image of God, then how is it not okay for us to have the same issue?

Sorry, but this is turning out to be a 3 part series... I'm trying to keep the posts more toward the shorter end, so as to keep my readers attention (yes, I do think you have the attention span of a goldfish). Come back next week when I list the reasons why it's okay for God to be entitled.
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The Real Problem With Youth


What is the problem with today's youth? A million things just probably popped into your head: media, music, sex, drugs, violence, apathy, ignorance, depression, video games, etc (times infinity). However, the overwhelming answer was a word that begins with “e”, Enlightened, Egotistical, Eccentric, Embossed, Extinguished (oh wait, that distinguished... and I think I just started to write any “e” word that came to mind). Slight digression, back on track, what is the word that most people call this generation of youth? Entitled. Most adults see this generation (whatever you label them. Let's see, there was Generation X and I believe Generation Y, so there must have been a Generation Z, and don't forget the Pepsi Generation), but for name sake let's just call this generation the Children of the Millennium or CM for short as having entitlement issues. The CM want everything, they want everything now and they want everything given to them. Roll with me, I'm not trying to point the finger at one generation in particular. I think that this issue of entitlement has been growing for the past 50-60 years. Parents work hard to provide a better life for their children, those children have had children that now want everything handed to them because the idea of 'NOW' has been instilled in them, thanks society! Since we've identified the problem I guess we need to ask where does this issue come from, what breeds entitlement?

Just looking at entitlement won't tell us what breeds it, the only way to find out what breeds it is to find out what the opposite of entitlement is. I propose that gratitude is the opposite of entitlement (Thanks Jason), being thankful or appreciative in all circumstances and situations. However there are so many barriers that stop us from showing gratitude in every area of our lives.

Barriers:
  • The simple fact that we are human: Just being human stops us from showing gratitude. Why, because we are sinners and don't see every circumstance and situation as deserving gratitude. Especially the ones that don't go our way or hold us back from getting what we want.
  • We don't think we belong where we're at: How can we give gratitude to a situation that we don't think we deserve to be in?
  • We want everything now: By wanting everything now, we lose the sense of pride and thankfulness of taking the time to earn it. Yes, it's okay to take pride in your work and the time you put into your work to earn something you truly want.
What we need to do is break down the barriers and work on finding something, if not everything, in every circumstance to show gratitude for. Why is it important to grow a gratitude attitude (sorry, I know that sounds like an after-school special tag-line, but it's true)? Because without a constant view of gratitude you can't build a foundation of peace in your life, and without a foundation of peace you will look at every situation differently, always thinking that God should help you out of this circumstance because you don't deserve to be there. How can we ever distinguish between our needs and wants if they come to us simultaneously?

I think that Morgan Freeman said it best in Evan Almighty when he said, “Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

Entitlement is the opposite of gratitude and gratitude is built through working for what you want. God gives us the opportunities to work toward what we want. Just because we pray for healing, peace or strength doesn't mean that God is going to instantly give them to us. In most circumstances we are going to have to work to build those traits in our lives. Are we entitled to peace, healing, strength and everything else God has promised us? Simple answer, Yes! Complicated answer, no.

This is just part 1 in my Entitlement Series, luckily it is a 2 part series. Come back in a week and read my second part that looks at God and Him possibly having entitlement issues.

Philippians 4:10-13
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Poem #13



One Line of Truth

I can not because you will not.
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Poem #12


Swept Out to Sea

Wading out in the black night sky
Ripples float on this mirrored surface
I am upsetting the delicate balance
Ebb and Flow
Push and Pull
Light and Dark

Cold waters surround me
My chest constricts and I hope for the best
Confused I reach out to the darkness
Upside down or Right-side up
Safety or Shackled
Sinner or Saint

I am met with a crashing wave and bitter emotion
The stars that once led me now taunt me
The shoreline is lost; my horizon fades
Washed yet Stained
Vision yet Blurred
Saved yet Damned

Journey far from finished
My arms burn tired and my legs say, "Quit!"
The taste of salt pollutes my mouth and frustrates my eyes
Stop for No one
Struggle for Life
Reach for Me

Your Beautiful Disaster
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Poem #11


One City Story

Teardrops of old fall from the desperate
They freeze before they hit the sidewalk
Shattering with the force of love and hate
But the snow still falls

My only warmth is neon advertisements and the cigarette in my lips
Your memory chills my heart
Your cold shoulder still on my mind
But the snow still falls

This city sways and shivers in the cold winds of winter
Life is seen off the streets in coffee shops and delicatessens
Faith is seen in those who choose to jump with angels present
But the snow still falls

Shadows are cast on the backdrop of city lights
Failures are flown as flags for all to see
We break as the sun washes the city clean
But the snow still falls
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Poem #10


Haiti

Walking backwards out of this disaster
The streets
Filled with heavy hearts and broken plaster
Tenements fall and crumble
Toward the future
Our lives tripping, now stumble
Uncertain times lay ahead
No rest for the weary
They cannot blur the faces of the dead
Families split and spirits low
Band together,
The dim light of labor and salvation begins to grow
Shadows are where doubt creeps and grief will lurk
They crack a whip
Of depression across the back of hard work
We fight destruction and notice, that the stars are glowing brighter
("Men anpil chay pa lou")
"Many Hands make the load lighter"
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Poem #9


Cowboys and Indians

Your words cut like arrows through my canvas heart
I can not understand the smoke signals you send up
Your work is simple, your ways are spiritual
Our worlds are apart

You brand me with your name and I have no choice
I can not walk this trail without soaking it with tears
Your heart is tough like leather, your laws are rebellious
Our worlds are apart

We can not meet on the plains the stars are witnesses
We can not meet on the mountain top the cold will brush us off
We can not meet in the lake the waves will not permit us to speak our forbidden words
We must meet in the Valley and make our last stand.
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Poem #8


Cast a Glow

As the fire of us dies
The ashes fall on your eyes resembling
Snowflakes of past mistakes
My hurt
My sorrow
My misery

As the cinders slowly fade
Colors of white to red to black
The smoke of your memory stings
My eyes
My mind
My heart

As I am turned into smoldering embers
Burnt, scorched and forgotten
A new life begins from the remains
My purpose
My hope
My resolve
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