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You Are Salt and Light

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13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.   15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.   16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16 You are the salt. Jesus is making a claim right here. If you call yourself a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ you are the salt. This identity is not earned, but just by associating as a follower of Jesus we take on this identity. So what does that mean? Salt today is often used to add flavour. Its so common every restaurant as well as maybe the table in your home has salt and pepper on the table or near by at all times.
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Finding the Cure for Homelessness

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Almost any given day on my way to and home from work I drive by multiply people standing at various intersections throughout the commute, claiming they are homeless and in need of money and at the end of their sign will say God bless. What is so difficult for me is I always want to know their story. Whether it is their history, their struggle, or even their plan to get out of their situation. I have always had a soft spot for these people. I do believe that God does put these weights on our hearts to allow his Spirit to work through us by loving and caring for certain purposes. But I cannot help but think that this soft spot in my heart that hurts when I see someone begging was born through my own up bringing. When I was 7 my mom past away with breast cancer. My dad worked three jobs (plumber by day, waiter by night, and referee in between the two) just to take care of me and my brother and sister. My dad was superman. However, within the first year after the passing of my mom
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Nominated for a Liebster Award!

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Liebster Award Thank you  Alicia Day for nominating my post,  "Influences That Create Who We Are"  for a Liebster Award. I am honoured to be nominated for this award. I just recently heard about this award and what it represents and I think this is a great way to celebrate fellow bloggers. It is not easy putting your thoughts and words out there fearing what may come of them or how readers will respond to them. When we are given support in anything we do it can give us a spark that helps us to continue our work. The same goes for an opposite affect, negative and lack of support can easily put the fire out. Part of the nomination process is to answers some questions about myself and my blog. How would you define success? My perspective of success is shaped by what I make it. The value of anything grows when you invest into it. Success is often the opposite of failure but if success is something we build then failure isn't in the equation nor should it be
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Growing in Understanding

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The greatest piece of evidence in support of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for me, is the fact that we can't define him. If this God was created by man then we could comprehend who he is.  Before I was a believer, as I looked from the outside in, my view concerning a relationship with this "almighty" God, was that these people believing this stuff were creating a God that they wanted and on top of that it seemed that people believed in this same God differently. For an example The same God that freed the American slaves in the 1800's was the same God who protected the slave trade. People on both sides of this had a relationship with God, justifying their position yet rejected the other position.  I didn't realize it but I was making a big mistake. I was allowing my little bit of knowledge to determine my opinion, ignoring all of the knowledge that could be understood. This might sound odd but if we're honest, its a lot easier putting our own t
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Moving Mountains

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He said to them,  “Because of your little faith. For  truly, I say to you,  if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,  you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and  nothing will be impossible for you.”   Matthew 17:20 I don't know about you but after reading what Jesus said to his disciples I feel like I have very little faith. Im not near any mountains but if I were, I feel like I wouldn't be brave enough or would doubt I could move a physical mountain by my command.   When thinking about how much of something we tend to think in quantity. In this remark by Jesus we can notice that he uses such a small item to describe a faith that can move mountains. If one mustard seed of faith can do that I must have less then a 10th of that kind of faith. The trouble with this thinking is that if I want to gain a larger faith I'd need to somehow add to what faith I already have. I can try to work more, pray more, obey more, sacrifice
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Influences That Create Who We Are

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We are influenced by everything around us. The weather, our culture, news, available entertainment, our friends, family, social media When I get curious about something to the point that I am going to look into it the sources I use, either to educate myself or to support a thought or an idea I currently hold, that shapes my understanding. This is the case for me when  I first took on the task to educate myself with a greater understanding of God's existence and the history the Bible. I started by buying a bible for myself but I found it difficult for myself to study it on my own. I found it more helpful to listen to someone who could make the scriptures more relatable. When I came across a guy named Mark Driscoll, I thought I found the teacher I needed. Mark Driscoll is a passionate, "beat Christian men up" kind of preacher. He was the first preacher that I listened to that I felt like was preaching my life. I even at one point, when I first started going to c
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God Knows

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God knows everything you've done, you're doing, and what you're going to do.  “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23:24‬ ‭NIV ‬‬ When someone says God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient it tends to lead to the question "if God is everywhere, has unlimited  power, and is all knowing then why does he allow bad things to happen?" Most people who don't believe that a God exists struggle with this concept. If God was real and is everywhere,  and he can do anything and  he knows everything why does all of this evil still happen? One mistake we easily make is we put ourselves in the judgement seat. We can see apparent evil and then blame God or use as evidence against such God because he knew that this apparent evil was going to happen but didn't stop it even though he was there and had the power to do so. This would be a fair ju
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