iPhone 4S

The iPhone is an awesome tool and device. I absolutely love mine. Before I got it, I never really wanted one, because I was satisfied with the phone I had at the time and just my iTouch, but my brother kept telling me that once I got it, it would change my life. And change my life it certainly did. I use my iPhone all the time, I’m on it quite a lot throughout the day, whether I’m texting multiple friends at once, or playing my friend’s back in our Words With Friends games or trying to get past the next Angry Birds or SpyMouse levels.

The iPhone 4S came out this past week, and I am pretty jealous of those who have it. Granted, my iPhone 4 isn’t much different, the 4S has a better camera (much better as far as phones are concerned, going from my 3 megapixels to 8 mexapixels), a faster processor, and what I really like is the Siri program. Siri takes voice control to a whole new level and adds so much more to telephone technology. I didn’t know much about it when I first heard the name, but after looking into it more and watching the video for it, it looks amazing and I really wish it came with the iOS5 update, another new update that I love. With Siri, I could tell my phone to text my mom and tell her I’m going to be late for dinner, or ask my phone what the weather will be like in San Francisco, or to play a certain playlist or artist from the iPod. I can now tell my phone pretty much everything I need it to do. Granted, I can’t tell it to play my Angry Birds levels for me, but that would certainly be something I would love.

iOS5 is a great update, and I keep finding new things that came with it that I was not aware about when I downloaded it. All the new features keep blowing my mind and I keep accidentally doing something and am amazed at it’s effectiveness and capabilities that Apple installed with it. I love my iPhone 4, and I would love a 4S for the Siri capabilities, but am I being spoiled in wanting the newest technology? Probably a little more than I should be, but who doesn’t want the newest and best thing?

But at 200 dollars for starting price, I can pass on this one and wait till this phone dies on me.

Hollywood’s unoriginality.

I feel like Hollywood and the writer’s who keep writing movies nowadays are losing all sense of originality. Every movie that we have seen come out within the past few years has primarily been either remakes or reboots of series. We saw it with the Friday the 13th that came out a couple years ago, and then Nightmare on Elm Street, and just yesterday a remake of Footloose and The Thing came out. They are rebooting the Spider-Man series by making a new one slated for release next summer. They’re also re-releasing Episodes 1-3 of Star Wars periodically into theaters again so audiences can experience it in 3D. They did this with The Lion King and Disney has decided to do this with four of their other films (Finding Nemo, Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, and Beauty and the Beast).

I’m not saying I don’t like this, because I love movies myself, especially Disney and horror films. However, Seeing trailers for movies that I saw years ago in their originality from the 80s, and loving those, I hate to see their names disgraced with bad remakes. The original The Thing with Kurt Russell was amazing and I loved it. I am very excited to see the new one tonight, however, I think Hollywood should stop making “prequels” that look more like remakes, and get their originality back. Yes, superhero movies are awesome, movies based on comics are awesome, because I am a huge comic nerd and love seeing them on the big screen. Movies like Captain America, Thor, and of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are my favorite, and I am super excited for The Avengers to come out in May. However, there comes a point in time when Hollywood needs to stop relying on things that are already practically written for them and think of their own new ideas.

Yes, the new technology we have nowadays gives us a much broader and bigger chance to make movies and explore new opportunities that movie makers in the 80s didn’t have, but that doesn’t mean we should strip them of their originality. I really hope that there can some day be an original movie that isn’t a remake or a prequel, or a twenty year old sequel of something made before I was born, that I can love today. It’s only a matter of time before they decide to remake cult classics like the Back to the Future series, and I can pray that day never comes as much as I want, but I fear it is inevitable.

Till then, I’ll keep going to the movies and being entertained any way I can.

Why do we stand with our eyes fixated on the back of the cross?

I couldn’t get my mind off of this one question and thought throughout the entirety of chapel last night. It just kept sticking with me. I know that God was telling and teaching me something with this, and I knew I had to write about it and share my thoughts. I couldn’t get the picture of me staring at the back of the cross not being able to walk around and look Jesus in the eyes and see what I had been doing and forgive myself for it. I sat in the cushioned seat in chapel and kept seeing Jesus die in front of me, but me not having the courage to walk around and see Him in front of me, and instead I turned around and walked away, going down the same path I had been walking, a path that was not paved by God Himself.

Why do we find ourselves in this position so much? We cause damage to our spirit, we cause damage to ourselves, we cause damage to Christ, and yet, we can’t bear to see the damage we are doing so we just keep doing it and shrug it off our shoulders and say “next time, next time I’ll be better.”

We consistently stare at the back of the cross, the clean side, the side untouched by the perfect blood of the Lamb, and we can’t bear to walk around and see our King, damaged by the sins we have committed that He has taken care of for us already. It’s so difficult for us to walk around and see Christ nailed to the cross because we do not want to face what we have done, the brokenness that we caused by being sinners (which there is no escape from). We should not be ashamed of the sins we commit, but learn from them. Make sure that we learn and do not fall again, but if we keep walking the path we go down, we will continue to commit crimes against our Lord. Until we learn to do that, until we learn to accept what we have done and learn from it, and look Christ in the eyes and accept His forgiveness, we will get nowhere on our own.

It shouldn’t be hard for us to admit to God the sins we have committed and ask for forgiveness. He wants us to, it’s why He sacrificed His Son for us, so we could be cleansed by His blood and have a future of perfection with Him in Heaven. We need to learn to take our faults straight to Him, to walk around the cross and look Him in the eyes as we bow at His feet above us. We need to see the damage we have caused as sinners, and watch as the blood flows and cleanses us of our sins and makes us whole with Him again.

I’m sick of looking at the back of the cross, turning around, and walking with the devil on my shoulder. I’m done being ignorant to the One who made me a priority. I can’t live my life staring at the back of Christ as He shouts my name from the cross. I’m done not hearing His voice scream my name to the crowds of Roman soldiers in front of Him as I turn and walk away. He’s calling me more than ever now, and I’m shrugging the devil off my shoulder and walking around to face Him as He died for me. There is no greater love than that, than the love He shows for me and you. I’m laying my life at his feet so that when He rises again He can come to me and lift me back up and say to me “Well done, my son.” It’s time to find out who I am, it’s time to find out who He wants me to be. And the only way I can do that is by facing Him head on and chasing after Him, looking Him in the eyes and asking for more. More grace, more love, more blessings.

I know I’m ready to grow and face my demons as I face the Creator who made it possible to conquer them.

The question I have for you is, are you? Take the few steps it takes to walk around the cross and stand with the Roman centurions and watch as your sins die with the One who sacrificed His life to take them with Him. Because when He went to heaven and left earth for three days, our sins went with Him, but they left for eternity, never to be seen or remembered again. God doesn’t remember them, so why do we dwell on them? It’s time for action.

I’m acting.

James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

1 Peter 4:15- “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is one with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly live for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do… They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready too judge the living and the dead.”

Just Get Me to a Show

Personally, I love going to shows. Some people call them concerts, others shows. It really depends on the genre of music you’re going to and who you talk to about it. For me, going to any hardcore show is what really drives me and helps me feel better about anything. When I’m having a rough time, or going through a hard patch in life, shows help me release whatever negative feelings that are bringing me down. Not because I get frustrated and release all my anger out on others while moshing in the pit at a show, but because of all the positive energy that’s there in the crowd.

Going to a show is the best way for me to worship my Creator, especially when I go to any August Burns Red show. Their music has impacted my life so deeply and positively that when I’m at a show, ‘singing’ along to every word with Jake Luhrs, my hands up and raised, I feel God’s presence more than ever before. Going to shows helps me feel so much better. Moshing, running around, slamming into other people, it may sound strange and negative and frustrating, but there’s just something about it that makes me feel so much better and have so much fun, especially when I’m there with my friends.

There are times when I go through “show-withdrawal” as my friends and I call it, and I’m in one of those times now. I just keep reminding myself that I’m seeing Underoath in six days and all of that goes away, and I absolutely can’t wait to go to that show because I need it more than ever right now. I need to be in the pit, moshing with others, body checking others and running around, sweating, bathing in sweat that doesn’t belong to me, screaming along with hundreds of other guys and girls to every word.

I need shows to survive, shows help me get through life, and without them, I don’t know where I would be. Call me crazy, but that’s who I am. A crazy hardcore kid.

Being front row during stuff like this is why I’m alive.