nellynumberthree's Xanga

The Boredom of Christianity...

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:55:03 GMT

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to draw responses, I will be posting a couple of questions below. I care not for "happy, bubbly Christian answers." Just be honest. Your response will be apart of my next post. Thank you.

Does any ever find that Christianity is boring?

What about church, are you excited to go? If not, why do you go?

Nelly Salutes You: kal_el_k76, KEAC, WeAllFallDownB4U, APuritanMindset, and flowerdust.

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:06:48 GMT

I have been confronted with an inordinate amount of writer's block. I have plenty to say, but I don't know how to go about saying it. So maybe it isn't writer's block, but maybe writing block. Either way, I would make my head heart with a long post, so I will just focus on the basics.

Romans...
I have been studying Romans for the past few weeks for my Sunday School class. I have realized that making your own lessons is a whole lot better than buying them in a book. I have also realized that Paul was a smart man. He is one of my new heroes. It seems that pieces of the first three chapters--all I have covered so far--seem to pop up at every interval throughout my day. Whether good or bad, Romans is there. It's like my shadow. So far, my favorite verse has been Romans 2:4, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

Girls and Relationships in General...
Point 1: I never realized how important time management is. In regards to having a girlfriend. It is very hard to try to spend time with her, work, go to school, and still have "me time." I have come to realize that I must dig deep and suck it up, for alas this is life. I have also seen, "The Light," and realized the importance of a couples' Bible study. Now if I could get around to doing it. Point 2: Why don't more people come to me for advice? God has given me an incredible gifting in that area, but it's funny that the people that come to me aren't ones whom I would describe as close friends. Point 3: Somewhere along the way, I ceased to be like everyone else and became, "Nelson." Much more is expected of me than other people and people presume that I am better than I actually am. Maybe it's the way I carry myself, or the way I don't divulge too much, or maybe I just don't know what the cheese I am talking about. All I know, is that if I hear, "But you're Nelson..." one more time, I might just leave the vicinity and become a Franciscan monk.

Cell Phones...
I have lost two cell phones in as many weeks. Both were egregious errors on my part. The first I had in my back pocket and then proceeded to sit on a hard bench at Whataburger. Which seems strange because I have done that countless times before. The second, which was the replacement, I had for no less than five days and proceeded to enter a swimming pool with phone in tow (actually, in pocket, but in tow is a bit more literary). Needless to say, I was not happy with myself and am still a bit upset about the whole ordeal. But thank God I have equipment protection. However, I have yet to go back to t-Mobile for the third time, so I feel out of the loop.

Thinking...
I think alot. Maybe even too much at times. You know you have a problem when: 1) You can make your head hurt with thinking and 2) It is impossible for you to stare off into space like other people and live although momentarily in the land of bliss that is known as, "Where Brain's Go to Dine."

Band...
I want to form a band. I even wasted a good amount of time in Sociology class coming up with a logo. I thought that I would need to learn an instrument. But Julian Casablancas of The Strokes only sings. The instrument would only be helpful when I left the band because I became too good.

School...
I don't know how I feel about DBU. I'm not taking any classes that I want or like and I do not like having to $445 per credit hour just because praying before class makes it "Christian," or because you must keep up with the campus greenery or so that Campus Security can drive a nice truck and SUV that guzzle gasoline. Also, I am not a fan of having to work so much that I cannot join any organizations.

God...
He is incredible. And He has proved Himself o'er and o'er. I have come to realize how blessed I am and how little I deserve it. It's easy to go about life and forget God, but chances are, you will not be able to go far for long without Him saying or doing something to get you back on track.

Thanks...
Thanks to the five people that commented. You stroked my ego and made me want to post again. Since this is xanga, the best I can do is give you a shout out, which will be the title of this entry and a free copy of my movie, "Nelly's New Workout Plan" which can be easily viewed on YouTube, by clicking here.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:28:01 GMT

Does anyone read xanga anymore? If not, I'll go elsewhere.

EDIT: I already have. Gone elsewhere that is. I sold out and got a MySpace and a Facebook.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:25:37 GMT

How to make a Nelson Howard

Ingredients:
3 parts success
1 part self-sufficiency
1 part ego

Method:
Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of lovability

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Christianity and Apathy...Go Hand in Hand

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:11:57 GMT

There are times when I care and times when I don't. Unfortunately, more often than not, the times I don't care outnumber the former. Why? Is there a reason for this complete lack of care and concern? In all areas from worship to work to meditation to other people to life in general, our lives take on a drudgery that they were never meant to sustain.

It seems that we find ourselves living in monotony and we are okay with it. Well, maybe we are not okay with it, but we definitely are not doing anything about it. We esteem lust above love. Selfishness above selflessness. Pride before humility. The list goes on and on ad infinitum. Something within us must begin to urge us to do something. To compel us.

In II Corinthians 5:14-15, Paul writes, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

Compel: to exert a strong, irresistible force on. There should be some force that comes from within us that is constantly urging us forward and away from the muckraking. There should be some type of urgency within us that directs us to further the cause of Christ. Life should be much more than the state in which we currently live. And most certainly, Christianity should be so much much more that what we have.

Let Thy love draw me nearer to Thyself.Wean
me from sin, mortify me to this world, and make
me ready for my departure hence. Secure me by
Thy grace as I sail across this stormy sea (from The Valley of Vision).

Friday, June 30, 2006

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 22:23:53 GMT

These Things I Know Are True...

1. Girls are confusing and can stress you out at times. Especially when you aren't dating them.
2. I have come to like soccer, that is until the World Cup is over.
3. LaMarcus Aldridge, the second pick of the 2006 NBA draft is my mom's cousin son. I guess that makes him related to me, but I don't know how. Either way, I will take it and run with it.
4. I know without a doubt that I am going to be a youth pastor.
5. God is the same at camp and back at church.
6. I have realized that one's own personal Christian growth is better if progress is made steadily as opposed to spurts here and there.
7. If one more person asks me, "Why philosophy?" in regards to my major, I may very well put them in their place with some not so nice Voltaire quotes.
8. It is very possible to know what God has planned for your life and ignore it.
9. Somewhere along the way, I became the funny guy, who can never get sick, never get angry, never get frustrated and who can never make a mistake. I don't care much for that.
10. Jarrett Carter, an incredible worship leader and Titus Hofer, Director of Admissions at Ecclesia College have become two of my most favorite people in the world. Jarrett because he made, "My Glorious" even better and Titus because he said crap alot on stage and because he referred to the story in Judges about the man and his concubine in a sermon. I will allow you to look up the story yourself.
11. I am a prude and I don't have a problem with that.
12. My favorite quote at the moment, "We esteem purity too little and desire it too late," by Josh Harris.
13. A real post is forthcoming.
14. I've been giving thought to selling my soul back to Blogger. But I don't know yet.

Disturb Us...

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 13:29:10 GMT

Last year upon leaving for camp, I found a prayer by Sir Francis Drake. Since then, I have become quite fond of it. So with that said and with camp fast approaching tomorrow, I leave again for a week with this prayer posted.

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing the sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push in the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. Amen.

As Christians, we need to be disturb. Unless we are, Christianity then becomes something that it isn't--dull, boring, tiresome and lacking in joy. J.I. Packer once said to some extent that we need God to disturb us so that our hands can be shaken lose from the world so that we can then grab hold of Him completely. God will disturb us if we ask, so then the question becomes, do we want to be disturbed?

Of Course He Isn't Safe...

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:31:41 GMT

Sail away with me
What will be will be ~David Gray

On Derek Webb's, "The House Show," he said quoting from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, "Of course he isn't safe, but he's good and he is the King."

We fear letting God take complete control of our lives because we know that the moment we do let go, life is going to become something that we don't want it to be. It's going to become exactly what we don't want it to be--life. Not our narrow view of life, but rather life as He initially planned for us. And for that to take place, some stuff is going to have to get out of the way.

The safety that we enjoy apart from Christ, is not truly safe by any means. Rather, it's a conglomeration of sin, fear and fantasy that allows us to see something that really isn't there at all.

Maybe if we were a bit more apt to leave our sense of false safety for true safety, we might just live the lives that God originally had planned for us. Lives that are happy, free, joyful, and full of love.

Grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to thee, that all else is trifling.
Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy.
Abide in me, gracious God. ~Valley of Vision

Friday, May 12, 2006

Fri, 12 May 2006 12:59:40 GMT

These Things I Know Are True...

The chances of breaking the toe next to your pinky toe is definitely one in a couple million. Even the doctors have no idea how I did it. What's funnier is neither do I.
The events leading up to aforementioned broken toe are rather stupid and highly unbelievable. But I promise you I was more sober than a nun. The staff at the ER then made fun of me for doing something so stupid while being sober.
Getting popsicles from the nurse after waiting for four hours in emergency is an even pay-off.
Having friends stay with you until four in the morning even though we had to be at church in a few hours is an even better pay-off.
In the past few days, I have realize how grand life is. Maybe I shouldn't take it for granted.
Having to use your debit card to pay $0.54 for a Scantron type 866-E sucks.
Thanks to my grandmother, I saved over $150 on a walking boot, how awesome is that.
Insurance is your best friend.
I realized that people who say they want the best for you (e.g. co-workers) don't know you at all.
DBU is incredibly late sending stuff to you. Why is that? U of Houston and Cornell responded much faster and I know they have far more applicants. Maybe it's because I am not Baptist.
By playing, "Would You Rather..." you find out alot about people.
My summer sneaker shopping has been put on hold for a month.
After breaking my toe, I realized that either I have a Chuck Norris level of pain--meaning none, or Jesus really loves me, or I just laughed and made jokes to keep from crying like a little girl. I'll go with the last two.
Taking my Ethics final exam, this was the introduction to the True/False section: The answers to these questions are taken either from class discussion or current news events. Mark "A" for True and "B" for False. Mark your answer clearly. DO NOT pay attention to the pattern of Trues and Falses, that is A's and B's.
So after getting six A's in a row, I thought something was amiss. That is until I read the instructions again. Moreland you tricky old bat.

Well I bet that you look
Good on the dancefloor
Dancing to electro-pop
Like a robot from 1984
From 1984! ~Artic Monkeys

How Great Me Art....

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:48:23 GMT

God is not impressed with my ability to stand up to sin. He's more impressed by the obedience I show when I run from it. ~Joshua Harris (from I Kissed Dating Goodbye)

Is it entirely plausible that we have allowed ourselves to become puffed up with our ability to not sin? Obviously, we would never brag openly about it, but aren't there times when we look at ourselves and think about how we didn't cuss today, or how we didn't lust today, or how we didn't make fun of that one guy today, and realize what a great Christian we have been. So much so that a chorus of, "How Great Me Art," goes about in our heads.

We tend to make a big deal that we didn't do certain sins today, but what about the other sins of the day that we choose to ignore? What about my impatience in dealing with others? What about my lack of love for my fellow brothers and sisters? What about my laziness regarding my studies? These sins and many others are shifted to the background as we bring our conquering of other sins forward.

Maybe we should begin to focus on sin as a whole and try our best with God's help to overcome it. Instead of taking pride in ourselves for a victorious battle today, we should take off our helmets, wipe the sweat from our brow, put back on the helmet and get back to action.

II Timothy 2:1-4, "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him."

We could have given up early
When it was dark still, not light
Now it's the 48th hour of a two-day night
And all the petty people party
While the pretty people fight ~Hot Hot Heat