An explanation of sorts

As a Christian, I think it would be a good idea for others to know why I'm writing this blog. I'm not doing it because I'm a dogmatic church-on-Sundays hypocrite. For me, it's not about changing people, because I like people the way they are. It's more a matter of me wanting to share with others the hope and joy I've found.

I'm not saying non Christians are unhappier than myself, nor am I saying Jesus is the only way to be happy in life, no questions asked lest you declare yourself a heathen and acknowledge thou shalt spend eternity in a lake of burning sulphur. No. What I'm getting at is that God, i.e. the big man upstairs, he wants one thing for us.

He wants us to have a choice.

Of course, he wants us to love him and worship him too, but he wants us to choose to do it. Otherwise, we'd all be mindless robots, and where is the fun in that?

This is why I write this blog to explain what God has done in my life. I have a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, that for me, basically means I get tired really easily when walking or standing. For the most part, it is only my lower body that is affected, although I do have back pain because of it. I'm in a wheelchair most of the time, but I thank God for it.

I bet you're thinking I'm crazy right about now, and maybe I am, but I believe that God put me in a wheelchair for a reason. It is beyond me to say what that reason is, because God is not out to get us. Personally, I believe God blessed me with my disability so that I might learn to be patient and to trust in him.

Sure, my dad is a licensed preacher. He doesn't have his own church or anything, but the household I grew up in was the stereotypical preacher's house, so I heard all the church stories and stuff.

I also heard with conviction that the Bible is literally the word of God. You're right, it's a translated document, and has been translated countless times, sometimes as translations of a translation. What does that matter though? If God truly is the almighty god even atheists acknowledge he very well might be, what's to stop him from having his hand in each translation of the Bible?

By the way, that's not me being brainwashed, that's just me reasoning things out.

The conclusion I've come to is that I can trust the guidance shown in the Bible. Granted, like 99% of it confuses me to no end, and I'm not even sure I'm understanding the other 1% right, but if I can try to apply that 1% to my life then God's presence will be clearer to me.

It is.

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not that saintly a person. In fact, I see as a result of my own personal study of the Bible how much of a terrible person I am. I've been a slave to explosive anger and sharp criticisms; jealousy and lust aren't hard to be guilty of either. Self-pity is the big one for me, being disabled.

Yet, through my faith in Jesus Christ I am free of all that crud. I know I will still sin--it's human nature--but I pray that I will learn to live a more godly life.

The stuff in the Bible that really yanked on my heartstrings involved the strength God provides. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 promises that the power of God is made perfect through our weakness, and let me tell you, physical weakness is a daily struggle for me. I have my good days and my bad. On the good days, God keeps me going steady. On the bad days, my legs give out on me, the exhaustion hurts enough to chain me to a couch or bed, and I cannot go on--

--until I pray for strength.

And oh what strength my God gives to those who call on the name of Jesus!

When I trust God to help me with my MD, I suddenly have more strength and vitality than I ever do on my best of days. You could argue that I am "healed" because I am predisposed to believe God will heal me, and I won't stop you. I don't know that you could explain as easily what it feels like. Pour a glass of water slowly and watch how the water splashes and climbs the sides of the glass in jumping leaps. Got the image in your head? Good, now flip it upside down--the image of the splashing water, not the glass of water--and imagine pouring water into a cup shaped like a person. That's what it's like, just cool and tingling.

So now you're probably thinking I'm loony, and that's okay. I'd rather be loony for God than sane for science. Besides, when did science ever promise superpowers to its followers?

I write to keep my hope in the Lord. That is all.

Dawn of the Dead must be for Sunday service

So I don't like to blog about personal stuff because I usually end up wallowing in self pity over my disability.

Tonight however, I want to write about what God is doing in my life. I sat down an hour ago to read the Bible to find encouragement after the depressing reminders of my own problems I'd encountered today while spending time with my best friend.

I was namely discouraged because I couldn't physically play more than two rounds of Twister without exhausting myself (and also for my fear of recreating bone-popping muscle cramps, like those I've had before), I don't have a girlfriend at the time of writing this, and I seemed to be receiving mixed messages about my best friend's feelings toward me.

Now, I'm rejoicing in the Lord because in my readings, I went from a grizzly depiction of zombies in the Bible (see Ezekiel 37:7-11) and how even zombie armies can lose hope, to a promise of survival (Hebrews 10:31) due to my faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Check it out for yourself:

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹ Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.'

(Ezekiel 37:7-11 New International Version)

³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
(Hebrews 10:39 New International Version)

Sounds to me like the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) might make a great zombie shotgun, though I will admit, that's just my interpretation at the moment. Either way, I know I have nothing to worry about because if God can raise a zombie army and then promise me salvation, I'm in good hands for if God is with me, then who can be against me?