"I am the way, the truth and the life, no one gets to the Father but through me...he who hates Me hates my Father also." John14:5-7, 15:23

Sometimes Christians tell people that are other ways to heaven, that there might be other avenues to God only to profess to our believing friends that we believe firmly in Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. C.S. Lewis wrote that Jesus didn’t give us the option to look at Him as merely a good man or a good teacher. He was either the Son of God, a liar, or a lunatic. He didn’t leave us many options; we either deny Him or accept Him. To try and be accepting and think or say that Christ might not be the only way is to believe in some part of your heart that His sacrifice was not everything the bible professes it to be. It is to ascribe to the idea that He was not God’s completion of Himself. We who are Christians have handed our lives to Christ, we seek to submit continually and let Him work in us. In doing so, we believe that He made the perfect sacrifice, that he was the "perfect penitent" for our sins, that we need Him and can do nothing apart from Him. To believe that He is not the way is to degrade your choice to give your life to Him and it downplays what He did for us. I think we can all say that our choice to sign over our lives was the most important one we have ever made. If it was merely a good option among other good options then why give Him everything? Stand strong, not in judgment, but in faith, obedience, and gratitude for what He did and stand strong in your choice to allow Him to live in you. You don’t have to condemn anyone by knowing that Christ is the only way, you’re being faithful to Him. If others take what you believe as a harsh judgment then that is there own reaction to God convicting them. Don’t force the issue, just believe. Don’t be scared, just believe. Don’t judge, just believe. Jesus came "not to condemn the world, but to save it" (John 3:17), but He never denied that He was the messiah and so we must not deny Him, because to deny Him in any way is to deny the Father.

Nothing important, just felt like posting. It's amazing how a talk with my oldest sister (who knows almost everything) can help me put things in perspective. I was having one of those "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?" days and Laura basically said "Bry, you pray, listen and then walk and trust that God will guide you," and yeah I know that but she is a person who really lives that. She has been through so much and you can sense the solid faith in her. Sometimes you just need to hear the message from the right person, y'know? She doesn't complicate life in her head, she simply walks in faith because she has seen how complicated life can be. No sense in complicating life more than you need to, life will be hard enough on you, and I have God so I know I'll be good no matter what. S'all good, I still die for the hood.

This has been a heavy day...I talked with my parents for a while and it was encouraging and hurtful. My father and I cried for joy that God mended our relationship and my mother cried as she confessed how much trouble she was having with my decision to leave the Catholic church. I told her I hated all the divisions in our family and between the denominations. I don't know, I ask God to break my perceptions and replace them with His truth. I no longer want to filter in the truth with my views, I want to filter everything I see through God's word. My mother wasn't hurtful in the way she told me, she said she knew why I did what I did and that it wasn't an insult to her but she couldn't help but feel confused. I thank God for granting her a measure of understanding, I thank God that she came to me honestly instead of holding onto all of this and distancing herself from me. I wanted to wait for all of this until when I went home, but He had different plans and it worked out really well. I'm in such a wierd place right now. I'm at peace yet I'm torn and I just don't know...all I know is that He works and that is really all I have to know. All glory to Jesus.

For Ryan and Paul

I'm listening to "Getaway Car" by Audioslave, it's been stuck in my head since work for some reason. I went to the mall yesterday with Paul and Ryan and I realized that I'm a lucky man. When I was born, I'm pretty sure God said, "I am going to bless Bryan with some really good people throughout his life." I've met my share of people who have done me wrong but it hasn't daunted my love of people. I don't walk around thinking "I love him and her," but I really do love all the people in my life. I realize that no one will understand every decision you make. When I told Paul and Ryan how I was deciding to change my life they didn't hesitate to react in an accepting and loving manner. These are two examples of the friends that the bible tells me about, they love me and accept me. I've experienced some unintentional contempt from some people I love (I don't hold it against them) because they don't understand but I can honestly say that Ryan and Paul have been all support. I thought about that a lot yesterday as we walked around the mall, engaging each other in our usual, nonsensical humor. Both of them can go from silly to serious in the blink of an eye when I need their ears. I just wanted to express my gratitude to you guys.

"And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not...for I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say..."
John 12:46-50

I realized today that I don't have to argue for God. I always knew it logically but today I really saw the truth of it with my heart. I was talking to someone and they asked me what I believed and I told them, not my words but in the words of scripture, in the words that my Father provided for me. I knew they didn't agree with everything and that didn't bother me in the least. I told them not to take my word for it, take God's word. I am here to relay His message, it doesn't matter how good I am at arguing a point because some won't see it no matter how many ways I put it. I told them to take it up with God because I know He will answer. If you seek God for what He is and not what you want Him to be He will show Himself to you. Do I know how? Nope. It's different for everyone and that is the beauty of it, friends. I don't judge those who don't believe what I believe, I am here to relay God's message in the situations and times that He appoints and then it's between them and God. I won't force anything on anyone because I don't have to and that isn't what God wants (I don't want that either). Seek God and you'll find God, it's really that simple. I sought after Him without anyone standing over me with a bible, I opened the bible and I began to read and I saw things differently before I ever decided to step into a church. I asked questions of some, others shared God's message and I shrugged it off all the while thinking "they didn't prove me wrong." Then one night when someone didn't even intend to preach to me directly, the message that they delivered cut through my logical arguments right to my heart. I knew it was God's truth because no matter how I tried to think about it it didn't change the way I felt. The people didn't prove that I was living wrong, and they weren't trying to, God did. "Those that seek me early shall find me" - Proverbs 8:17

It's about 6:30 AM and I'm listening to "Ahead by a Century," by The Tragically Hip - I love this song. I accidentally set my alarm wrong and overslept for work, so I called in and I knew my boss wouldn't really accept my excuse so I told him I had had car trouble (I know, I shouldn't have lied). Either way I couldn't really sleep and I felt the urge to pray and read a little so I did. I also did some research on missionaries, which was pretty cool. I think I'll ask for more info about it b/c I think it would be a good experience for me. I'm not sure what else I really want to write here *five minute pause* I feel encouraged, motivated, something is going to happen, God is going to do something that is going to be great and I don't know what it is but I just know He is. Forgive the rambling, maybe I'm just a man whose been up since 5 AM, or maybe...