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@joshcirre
The Ramblings of Life
Why do we fixate our minds on meaningless things that ultimately have no value? Why do we allow our emotions to become twisted and tangled because our selfish fantasies of how reality should be does not come out to play exactly as we pictured it? Why do we not strive for things that will hold eternal value and instead waste every second worrying about things that will be whisked away the second the clock moves forward?
T-Shirt Design:
This project was created as a submission to a contest that the Student Mission Fellowship at my school was having for an upcoming t-shirt. It was designed to emphasize the unity we have as believers throughout the body of Christ.
THAT, my little ones is love. THAT, my little ones is Christmas.
Script:
This was a personal project that I wrote and performed as a monologue with only a chair as a prop. It was performed at a Christmas Eve service and was written to emphasize the importance of Jesus becoming fully human when He came to take on the sin of the world.
Full script available here.
Poster Design:
This project was created in order to create awareness and to advertise for the student led program called "Scrabble" on Moody Campus Radio. The theme of the poster was created in order to show the contrast of American and British culture which would be presented throughout the program.
By all means, Don't sit back, but do enjoy the ride.
Script: This project came out of an assignment for my "Introduction to Communications" class. This script was the final segment in a group project which outlined the history of drama, by using the medium of drama, throughout the course of several decades. The script focuses on keeping the performance simple with limited props while still portraying the advancements and the downfalls of modern day theater.
Full script available here.
We may think we have all we need for our life, but God has all our life will ever need.
Script: This project was an Easter Play that I wrote to be performed Easter weekend at my church. The Richest of the Rich became a concept after discussing certain themes with my pastor. This play was based off of the temptations of Jesus in accordance with modern day life.
Full script available here.
T-Shirt Design:
I got the privilege to design the t-shirts for the cast and crew of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the MBI Drama Department.
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 2
As I near my departure date, it seems every minute I am saying goodbye to someone and promising them that I will stay in touch. Whether it be through social networking sites, email, in person, or through a phone call. And even through these conversations the Lord reminds me what he has shared with me in the past.
On March 13, I gave my first sermon to a church congregation. It was also the first time that during the service, as a youth worship team, we had played one of my songs that I had wrote. In fact, just the story behind the song that I wrote was what I had originally planned to write a sermon on. However, God had different plans. I wanted to share that story here.
The Bible is filled with verses about love. God's love in particular. How he shares his love for us, how we should love one another, and how he loved us so much he sacrificed the son he loved. Now that really is a lot of love. The world also has a sense of love, but it's sense of love is entirely different from the way God meant it to be and created it for. Everywhere around me I see people trying to fill what I call a "love void" in their life. They seek to fill that with relationships, sex, drugs, alcohol, media, money, fame. The "love void" is only filled with vaporizing liquid that disappears after the hype and high wears off.
Because of my love for music, especially in the Christian scene, I am very familiar with Katy Perry. A lot of people do not know that Katy Perry, born as Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, was born as the second child to two pastors. She sang in churches with her parents from the ages of nine to seventeen and was your stereotypical "pastor kid". She grew up listening to Gospel music and was not allowed to listen to any form of secular music. At the age of 15 she was signed with a Christian record label in Nashville. Judging at even the name of some of her recent work, after she left home and changed her name, any person would have a tough time guessing she had a hint of Christian roots.
Wasn't her "love void" filled, or was it being filled for her by her parents? If people can't find something to fill their "love void" with relationships, sex, alcohol and drugs, what can fill the void? Katy Perry writes about love all the time, but why does that love not last the way many people, especially teenagers, want it to.
As I pondered all of this one day, I was led to numerous verses on where the love of God was explained. Not through fame, not through materialistic highs, but through a gift. Not through sex and physical pleasure, but through endearing sacrifice.
Your Love is unchangeable, it's unspeakable, it's unbelieveable
And Your love is unexplainable...
What drug gives you a high that never changes? What level of fame lasts long enough that people are speechless when that person names come into conversation? What physical pleasure can not be comprehended by the human mind? What alcoholic drink has the ability to leave someone with no explanation on how they feel in their heart? Even if one or all those questions could be answered, what kind of love could anyone have that they would be willing to die for their enemy? If someone can honestly say that any drug can make me die for someone that hates me with their guts, then I will be proven wrong.
God's love is all these things.
How can we even show God's love when it is a sovereign, omniscient, heavenly feeling? Can we show it by e-cards or Facebook messages? There is only one way that I believe we can truly show others God's love.
And all I can show to prove Your love is You.
There is no scientific algorithym. No 'Ten Steps to Fill Your "Love Void"'. It's simple to write, hard to comprehend and unimaginably difficult to practice. However, if God is the only one we show to others, their "love void" will be wanting what our "love void" was filled with. A quote I heard once states this:
Preach all day and everyday, and open your mouth only when necessary.
God sees so many falsely filled "love void's". How long will it take for us to help fill them by showing those people what they really need?
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 3
Influence. It is everywhere around us. It can be good and it can be bad. In fact, all of us have at least one person that we influence each and everyday whether we know it or not.
We are royalty and might in fact be royalty without having any say in it or even wanting to be royalty at all. But the fact of the matter stands, we are kings and queens in our own kingdom of influence. Other influence in this world still exists, and we can't change that. God has given EVERYONE authority over his or her kingdom of influence and can take that away at any time he desires.
What we can change, however, is the fact that in OUR kingdom of influence, it's the type of influence that people seek above all the rest. That stands out and sets itself higher than the influences of drugs, alcohol and sex.
As a baseball umpire and soccer referee, the number one thing that is always taught is to not let anyone else influence you on your call. You stand firm in what you believe to be the right call and don't base your call off of what someone else is screaming in your ear. That doesn't mean it is easy to not let someone influence you, even if it is just umpiring. However, it proves how powerful influence is in everyone's life.
We are rulers in our kingdom of influence. We need to take charge, and take a stand and step up to the responsibility that we know we have to those watching us. If influence can be so powerful to cause two people to go to jail instead of just one, can't it be even more powerful to cause a greater number of people to follow Christ because one person ruled his kingdom correctly.
Kingdom of influence. Have it God's way.
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 4
The daily verse that I received by email today was 1 Thessalonians 5:17. My devotion today was based on the verse... you guessed it, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. This verse states simply:
Pray without ceasing...
Now with God just forcing me (in a Godly way of course) to study this verse today, you probably already know what the rest of my writings today will be about. I am going to be writing about being prepared.
Today I traveled to the store with my mother to pick up some things that I will need for my trip and to make sure I had a fresh supply of simple items that I would bring from my house. Now these things were just your average necessities to keep me smelling and looking as fresh as I can. As I begin to pack I am planning for each day by going through the whole day in my mind. Because if I can have everything I need for one whole day, I would have everything I need for each day and ultimately everything I need for my entire trip.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says in simple terms...
Pray without ceasing...
Praying is our spiritual way to prepare. We prepare to eat, we say a prayer to thank God for allowing us to digest food. We prepare to start our day and we say a prayer and thank God for allowing us to wake up. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked God to prepare him for what lay in store for him. Praying without ceasing seems like it would be a extensive task. Or is it just a foretaste of how we should prepare with God on our side? Traveling through the day and making sure everything we need spiritually is packed and good to go as we continually pray throughout the day. It seems to also take a little bit more stress off of that big test, the long vacation or the hard day at work. It's like God giving us his 5 hour energy (except no side effects, and of course it's like 5 heaven hours).
Preparing for anything can be a weary task. God helped us by making it easier. He gave us a checklist for each day, and ultimately for the rest of our race to the finish line. It goes as follows:
Pray
Pray
Pray
Be prayed up to be prepared and powered up by the perfect God.
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 5
Today was my last day in school as a junior. After I return from Tennessee, I will be a senior. Today was filled with goodbyes, questions and talks about where I am going for the summer and just why I am going there. All in itself I was allowed to share more about why I am doing what I am doing and the reason behind it. A witnessing opportunity came from a question. Just a normal question that was being asked all over campus, but a question nonetheless.
During the daily devotions that my family and I have every night, we have been watching video's about acceptance by Dr. S.M. Davis. He talks about how to have a simple conversation with someone, either you know or have never met. It is remembered simply by the abbreviation, FORM.
F - Family
O - Occupation
R - Religion
M - Message
A prayer to salvation with a close friend or a prayer to salvation with someone you have never met can come about by having a normal conversation with someone. Having a conversation shows acceptance and tells the person you are speaking with that you care about them. During school today, it was not just an out of the blue question that people asked me what I was going to be doing this summer. In fact, it is probably what most people can only think about during this time (at least in high school). However, God allowed me to use a average conversation to do above-average work.
During the school year I also experienced how something so little and so common can be a big witnessing tool in itself. During classes in school in which computers are involved there is always talk about what music sites are blocked and which music sites are accessible. If it boils down to it, its much simpler just to bring a iPod or such along. Good thing God knows which sites should stay unblocked and has the power to do so. I started to listen to the Air1 online radio station while I was at school. Soon, other students in my classes started to wonder what I was listening to and how they could access it as well. Soon other students from other classes began to ask me how they could get access to the "radio website".
Music is something that everyone can relate to, and in a boring class session some people will listen to anything that they possibly can listen to. But even just a simple song can lead to questions about the meaning behind it. Asking about what someone is going to do during the summer is just an ordinary question, but any answer that involves church, VBS camps or even just helping out some neighbors can be very impacting.
God uses ordinary questions, ordinary situations and ordinary people to make something extra-ordinary. All he is looking for is the people who are ready and willing to go the extra mile, out of the ordinary, to make it happen.
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 6
There are some days when a spark ignites in your brain and you just want to share everything you have discovered with everyone that will hear it. Then there are also days when you feel like you have done nothing to contribute to anything because your brain is just empty and no 'epiphany-like' thoughts have come to you at all during the day.
Needless to say, today was neither of those kind of days for me. Today was a day that just seemed like another day of living life. Another day to take by the hand and stroll through the meadows of life without stopping to smell the new flowers that had blossomed. However, as I got to the end of the path, something caught my eye. By the time I had admired the beautiful flower of wisdom that captured my attention, the sun was fading. I could not share my 'epiphany-like' excitement with anyone.
So, what better thing to do then to post it here.
Everywhere around us, there is excitement. That excitement can come from anything from sporting events, entertainment, concerts, money, fame, fortune. One just needs to walk into the arena of any major league baseball team or football team and be surrounded with feelings of hype and intensity.
Last summer after my mission trip with my youth group to Colorado, I shared with the church when I returned some of my thoughts. My main point was that there is all this excitement in the world around us, but yet so much of it wasted on things that won't last perhaps past the end of this year. There is hype that is embedded into us at concerts and parties that just fades out as a new day rises. In fact, in the church, there is so much energy and time being poured out to raise money for foreign missionaries and for children in rural countries. Is there anything being done about the state, the city, neighborhood, the house that we live in right now?
Now there is nothing wrong with excitement for sports teams, excitement for foreign missionaries and even supporting children from rural countries. It is work that the Lord uses each and every day in great ways. However, if you had an excitement meter would the excitement you have for church and for the Lord outweigh the excitement you had when the San Francisco Giants won the world series?
I constantly think to myself as I prepare for my trip how much easier it is going to be to talk to people in Memphis that I do not know. People that have no idea who I am and most likely will see me once in their lifetime. I think to myself that it will be easy to share Christ with someone like that. That same state of mind also makes me think, who today did I tell or talk about Christ with? Why am I not being a first priority missionary here where the Lord placed me? How many people even know I am a Christian and do they have any evidence that I am?
A song that I wrote recently has these words in the bridge.
Why are we so scared to shout out Your Name?
Why are we so scared when You would do the same?
The fact of the matter is, we rep our sports teams with shirts, handshakes, paints, cheers. How much more do we outweigh that by repping God? If people know who my favorite team is, I want people to know even more so whose team I am on. After all, I'm pretty sure he has a shirt with my name on it.
The 7 Day Countdown - Day 7
Well, it's official. Today was the last Sunday that I will be attending church in Winslow, Arizona. Today was the last Sunday that I will be enjoying a night of relaxing with my family. However, not last LAST Sunday so to speak. I am speaking more in a short term sense, but what to me and my family might seem like a long term sense. But for this writing, "last" really just means two months. And I promise this is the last time I talk about the definition of the term.
In seven days I will be in Memphis, Tennessee starting my work with the Street Reach Ministries team in Memphis.
Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the hype. Sometimes I have to stop and tell myself that these two months isn't going to be a vacation. (Although, two months being away from my family really IS a vacation.) But honestly, I am sure that God has hand picked the spot. Has hand picked the people I will be working with and has hand picked the troubles that will occur before, during, and after my trip. Now that I think about all the things I could forget at my house, all the troubles that COULD occur, it makes me stop and think about the real reason for this trip even more.
Today, I asked for prayer in church that the other students I will be working with are spiritually, physically and emotionally prepared. These students that I will be working with by the end of these next two months won't be just friends, but rather a spiritual family. These next seven days aren't just going to be physically preparing and packing for this trip for me. This week is going to be the last time (had to throw last in there just one last time) that I will have to spiritually prepare myself and others as well. Thank God I can help spiritually prepare other student missionaries and vice-versa because God knows I need as much help as I can get. I am glad he is allowing others to help such as my church, my family and other student missionaries.
So now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep... Gonna hit the spiritual weight room in the morning, Lord wake me up with some kind of warning.
Last (couldn't help it) seventh day of a seventh day countdown.