Filed under: AMAZING!, devotion, everyday life., hmm, I'm emotional!, kind of stupid., legitamite depression, my sites, Nothing, so boring
go to baileyschaaf.wordpress.com for my sketchbook site.
peace.
now I know there was a movie that kind of did this but I dont care because robin williams is lame.
what if peter pan lived as a boy who never grew up for an awful long time then left and eventually grew up. think of pan in college, pan having to deal with grades, teachers, parents, pressure, and just everything that comes with being an upstanding, american citizen. just think of who peter pan is, everything he is- happy, lucky, easy, free, content. Now drop him in the rat race. Think of how he’d turn out. after knowing what pure happiness is and what it can be and then having to deal with people for so long. I think he’d eventually just lose it, I probably would. He wouldn’t know what its like to deal with temptations, to deal with angry people, to manage his time, to work himself silly and end up not being able to afford what he needs. We dont think the world is THAT crazy because we dont know what neverland is like.. not really anyways.
The more I think of peter pan having to grow up in our world and having to experience how terrible it is, the more it reminds me of someone else.
seriously I didnt even think of this until after I started typing about this but jesus christ dealt with the same thing. if neverland is pure happiness what the heck is heaven? SUPERpure happiness? unmeasureable gladness? thats where jesus could’ve stayed and took naps and ate all the chocolate he wanted to. instead he had to be dropped into the rat race. now, he wouldn’t deal with the same EXACT things peter would deal with but he sure dealt with a lot. the same tempatations- because human nature has the same temptations even way back then, just different accesibility options. he dealt with people ALL the time. angry people, stupid people, people who wanted him dead, people who needed his help, and people who considered him a liar and a thief. the different between pan and jesus is jesus had a mission. jesus didn’t lose it because he had a mission in his life on earth. peter would just have been trying to get by.
I dont really know where Im going with this- I guess to do anything in life, you need a mission. or if you’re going to get through the world without messing yourself up too bad.
I thank god things happened how they did. jesus got beaten up really bad and then nailed to wood and left there to bleed for like a day. then wrapped up and thrown in a tomb. remember, he could’ve sat in heaven giggling with his dad and swinging everyday. reeses’ puffs for breakfast and ice cream for dinner. “yippee” he’d say. but there he was and here he is on our ugly world dying for us and helping us walk around. instead of feeling sorry for him I really just thank God for having it happen and giving me the understanding (at least a little) to understand what happened and take it into my heart and make jesus a nice little home in there.
I made the bed and hooked up his sattelite and everything.
Filed under: devotion
anyways so. here are these people, going about life in all shapes and sizes. but now the upper levels have learned to hate the lower and the lower have learned to hate the upper. through all this, its hard to remember the other levels sometimes. I walk where I am all day long, but its like I dont eat enough carrots and I cant see anyones level of staircase but my own, and I cant even see very far ahead of mine. a very small percentage of everyone in this world personally knows the highest staircase, jesus. and an even smaller percentage uses him in everyday life to remember the other levels, and remember to reach their hands down, up, even on the same level they’re on. as christians, we can not forget that. things turn out terrible when we do, they turn out religious, religiously terrible. and all that does is feed the “church sucks because everyone thinks theyre better than me” incentive. and we dont want to feed that beast.
I vote we kill the beast. and it has to start with a new generation. everyone keeps saying this is the jacob generation, this is the generation that makes a difference, this is the generation that blows everyone’s mind out with the love and service of christ. but its not as visible in school, in life, and unfortunately in the church. there are a few that go to church as a refuge. sadly, the church fails. they’re nothing but people as well. but we dont need to suffer all week long and fall back into a churchy beanbag and take a warm nap. we dont need a warm nap because thats not what church is for. thats what prayer and getting personally closer to god is for, church is an energizer.
ok then, suffer and fail all week long, go to church, energize for the day? fail again? no. the sanctuary is a place of refuge but the bible says that we ARE the sanctuary. what are we doing all week long as the sanctuary? a little of something and a lot of nothing? man, I hope not. revolution time, people.
make it visible and be jesus’ love, not your own.
its kind of like life is one big stair case. or maybe a bunch of staircases. everyone, for the most part, starts somewhere close to eachother. except for the few on extreme sides of the spectrum but EVERYONE, no matter where they are, is born with the same thinking and/or thoughts. its what happens in their life that changes which steps they take and on which staircases. Im not debating pre-destination, Im just talking about the physical aspect of how people’s lives turn out.
Imagine millions and billions of people, slowly getting older, running around up and down stairs. you’re walking along on one of the flatground sidewalks and to the left and right of you are old people who decided to stop where you are at your age because thats where they liked it. so they decided to just sit on the side and rest. say someone really liked doing drugs and even after high school, it was all they wanted to do. they’d have a squat with the friends in that time period or that place in the whole staircase world.
you walk past those people. but then you watch people make last minute drastic decisions like killing someone. when they do something like that, they climb over the railing of the staircase they’re on and hop over to the next few levels down. then look around and make another decision. which way?
but then theres people who had ambitions and big dreams. they put on a suit and tie and ran down the sidewalk past everyone who got in their way because they had their eye on the tallest staircase there was. so you walk at a nice steady comfortable pace, people shoving you, people hurting you, people landing on your sidewalk from above, people hopping over the edge, and talking, yelling, whispering, and crying in the distance all around you. You make friends, then they jump over the rail, or they see a staircase ahead so they run for it and its gone by the time you get there, or they like where they are and sit down. either way, the gist is you make friends, then lose them.
different ages and different conditions everywhere. automatically, people on the higher staircases start hating the lower staircases and people on the lower staircases start hating the higher ones. no matter where you are, you have your own frustrations, not the same as others, but equally tough.
In the midst of all this, your tiny body that is invisible to someone miles and miles of staircases away, up down and all over every degree or angle, is puttering away trying to figure out what you’ll do next. you are tempted often to sit, and tempted often to find a dishonest way to change where you are.
Im not exactly sure where Im going with this so I’ll keep pondering and keep you posted, I suppose.
Filed under: devotion
Im not exactly sure what Se-lah means but Im thinking it means praise or something close to it.
anyways- John 16:16-24.
basically, jesus is chilling with his discs just walking somewhere or something, and they’re talking about jesus leaving the earth. jesus tells them that in “a little while” they wont see him then in “a little while” they’ll see him again. then they keep walking and some of the disciples whisper to eachother stuff like what? a little while? whats he talking about? and of course, its jesus so he knows what they’re saying. he calls them out and answers their question.
verse 19-20 as translated by the message bible-
Jesus knew they were dying to ask him what he meant, so he said, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me’? Then fix this firmly in your minds: You’re going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You’ll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness.
then he goes on and explains it better by comparing it to a woman giving birth. throughout labor, shes like HOLY CRAP! this sucks big time! I really hate this and this is painful. all that junk fills up her mind but where does all the anger and pain and grief go as soon as her baby is born? it disappears and the only thing in her mind is how wonderful it is. she now has brought a child into the world. shes responsible for the life of a child. nothing but joy. translated from the message 21-23
When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You’ll no longer be so full of questions.
wow! what a day that will be!
but… dang… those days before that one will be… very… hard.
but jesus thought of that so the disciples dont sound like they’re complaining. I certainly wouldn’t would’ve wanted to be like, YES! but man, I dont know if I can do it. even if I was thinking it. so he continues. verses 23-24
This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!
I love thinking about this, I spend time thinking about this. theres a starbucks next to the subway I work at and sometimes when I get off and my ride isnt there yet I walk to starbucks, buy myself a strawberry frappacino with carmel drizzled on top of it, five bucks. then I sit and read the small green new testament/psalms/proverbs bible I have. just having it in my pocket reminds me to thank god for everything my eyes behold. when I make my food at work and sit on it before I eat, I feel it on my butt and take it out and holding it in my hand kind of electrocutes me and goes what up brandon, oh… whats that right there? a delicious toasted garlic tuna shredded cheese lettuce bannana peppers jalepeno peppers ranch mayonaisse southwest sauce sweet onion sauce six-inch subway sandwich for free? who gave it to you?…. guess again….. guess again…. right! GOD! thank him, moron! so I do it. and I read it between bites and even if Im reading some stupid part I don’t understand it still gives me joy. and I pray to god like jesus said, to send his holy spirit to stand next to me and remind me of everything I need to dwell on. I pray and pray and beg jesus to put that part in me that encourages me not to climb over the wall and join everyone else on the easy path of life, what can I say? I’m a joy mooch. and then he does it and adds this little thing that makes me want to sing and dance. so then there I am skipping and spinning and kicking and whooing and singing about his sunshine and his joy and how wonderful he always is and I pick up rocks and throw them up to myself and sing loud and sing so loud and sing so so so loud! and I enjoy jesus! because my father made me and he made me for a reason! and Im so happy I know it and Im so happy he gave me everything I need to fill it! and I sing SO SO SO LOUD SO HE CAN HEAR!!!!
SE-LAH JESUS!!! SE-LAH MY JESUS!
