Why the Military is so Good for so Many People

Why is the military so good for so many people?
That's a question I thought about today. It's an important question for me, because I've thought seriously many times that maybe the military would be a good place for me to go.
I stumbled upon an article today. It is called 39 Gut Wrenching Photos of the Reality of War, Puts Everything Into Perspective.
Go take a minute and look at it. It puts things in perspective.

Now close your eyes and give a moment of silence for those who have given their lives for your freedom.

Back to the original question.
Why is the military so good for so many people?
Because it grounds them in what is real.
So what is real then?
This is real.

And so is this.

...And so is this.


Though it's not pleasant, it is real.
This is life and death at it's extremes. This is love and hate, joy and sorrow, happiness and pain.
War is the culmination of the extremes of human feeling.
That being said, do you know what else is real?

This is real.

And so is this.

And so is this.


Christ lives.
I testify to you with all of my being that he lives.
I love him. He is my savior. He has saved me from sin and death. I shall live forever.
So shall you, if you choose to accept him.
This is why the military is so good for so many people. It grounds them in what is real. It makes life so hard that they have to seek truth, because they can find solace in nothing else. They have to find what is real and hold so fast that their entire being becomes dependent on it if they are to live afterwords. Otherwise they perish.
So what is real?
Christ is real.
I believe in Christ.
Do you?

Bound for the Promised Land

I love this song with my entire heart. It fills my soul with fire.
This is my mission. This is my life. This is where I am going.

I am bound for the promised land.

Please, come with me.

13 Years Ago

13 years ago today, I sat in my living room and watched...

I watched as the world trade center was destroyed. 

I watched as people died.

I watched as the heart of America was broken.

I found this video today. Watch it, and then continue reading.

I really have very little to say. I feel like saying much at all would almost be irreverent.
God bless those people.
The only thing I must say is this.
We must not hate the people responsible for this. We must not be angered. We must not become defiled. Love is the only way to overcome this. We got Bin Laden, fantastic. I applaud all those behind counter-terrorism acts. But hate must not enter into our hearts.
If we hate, we lose. We lose the spirit of the Lord. We lose our unity. Eventually, we lose our freedom. It happens every time.
We cannot afford to hate.
Tonight, as you kneel beside your bed to pray, pray for the terrorists. Ask God to put truth in their souls and love in their hearts. Remember to pray for their victims too, but pray for the terrorists.
They need our prayers just as much as the victims.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
-Jesus Christ, Our Lord

Love

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
No disease that enough love will not heal;
No door that enough love will not open;
No gulf that enough love will not bridge;
No wall that enough love will not throw down;
No sin that enough love will not redeem. . .
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake--a sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. . . if only you could love enough, you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.

-Emmet Fox

I Believe In the Big Bang Theory

I believe in the big bang theory.
I do. I really, really do.
According to The California Institute of Technology, the big bang theory is defined as follows:
"The universe began by expanding from an infinitesimal volume with extremely high density and temperature. The universe was initially significantly smaller than even a pore on your skin. With the big bang, the fabric of space itself began expanding like the surface of an inflating balloon – matter simply rode along the stretching space like dust on the balloon's surface. The big bang is not like an explosion of matter in otherwise empty space; rather, space itself began with the big bang and carried matter with it as it expanded."
I believe that.
I do have one question though. Where is the mechanism? What is the force which began it all? Surely the universe is not a random error which came out of nothingness. It is more than that.
Look at these pieces of universe.











You live among all of that.
Isn't it astounding?
How though? How did all of this come to be? How did matter begin?
I don't know.
But I bet God does.
See, God is the missing link. He's the answer to the great question of how it all began. One day, it will be proven by science. Why? Because all things denote there is a God. Science and religion are not separate entities. They work simultaneously, and prove each other to be true. That is to say, true science and true religion.
One may say that God doesn't need the big bang theory, He could just make it all appear.
That may be true, but it's not what scripture says.
Genesis chapter one clearly shows that God was very articulate and purposeful in his creation of the universe. Genesis 1:1 says that, "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." That's what the most accepted English translation says. However, there are more ways to translate this phrase.

Another translation provided by Reading the Old Testament: Introduction to the Bible (pg. 38) says it like this, “When in the beginning Elohim created heaven and earth—earth being untamed and shapeless . . . —Elohim said, ‘Let there be light.’”

This fits exactly with the big bang theory, which according to space.com starts like this:

"In the first second after the universe began, the surrounding temperature was about 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 billion Celsius), according to NASA. The cosmos contained a vast array of fundamental particles such as neutrons, electrons and protons. These decayed or combined as the universe got cooler. This early soup would have been impossible to look at, because light could not carry inside of it. "The free electrons would have caused light (photons) to scatter the way sunlight scatters from the water droplets in clouds," NASA stated. Over time, however, the free electrons met up with nuclei and created neutral atoms. This allowed light to shine through about 380,000 years after the Big Bang."

Excepting the timelines, it fits just right. The universe was untamed and shapeless. Then there was light, and the universe continued to grow. The accounts support each other perfectly. There is no way that Moses when writing Genesis knew the big bang theory. His knowledge was the word of the great creator Himself. 

So when I am asked if I believe in the big bang theory, my answer is yes, yes I do; and I believe that God is the one who began and directed the process. 

What a marvelous process it has been.

Fire

I constantly feel uneasy. Restless. Unsettled. And I haven't been able to figure it out. But I think I have an idea.
I love big things. I love leading a great work or being a part of something great, or anything with a grand vision. Constantly I am enveloping myself in something that makes me feel that way. I pursue greatness almost like a drug. It's something inside of me. Always I am doing something to improve myself or help other people. If I'm not improving my mind with learning or my body with exercise, I'm probably serving somebody, and if I'm not serving somebody, I'm probably at work, and if I'm not at work, I'm probably talking to somebody trying to help them with something, and if I'm not doing that I'm looking for one of those things to do. I get so focused that I can't think of anything else. I want to help people. I want to change the world. It's not even a conscious focus. It's very subconscious. I don't like doing unproductive things as a result. I don't usually like small talk. I don't like television. I don't like video games. I hardly like school, (Although I am working really hard to learn to enjoy it.) Sometimes it drives me nuts. I want to just have a normal conversation sometimes. But I'm not very good at it. So I go away from a conversation where I've only talked small feeling angry because I didn't help them, or learn something myself.
A dear friend told me the other day that I should chill. Stop trying so hard.
She's probably right.
I just have such a great work to do, you know? And if everything I'm doing doesn't help somebody, than I'm wasting time, and I don't have time for that. But at the same time I don't want to burn out like a piece of paper, really bright, and really hot, but really fast. I don't want to extinguish myself, but I don't know how to slow down. I feel like I have a switch and I'm either really moving and getting things done or I'm not doing anything at all.
I will overcome this. I will learn when to be intense and when to be calm, and how to be both at once.
It's just hard to flow like the wind when you want to burn like fire.
You feel?

Making and Keeping Commitments

For once in my life, I'm doing it.

I'm doing something that I thought I couldn't do.

All of my life, I have struggled to make and keep commitments, but I'm doing it!

I want to stand on the rooftops of the world and shout, “Guys! I'm doing it! You can too!”

I've never struggled to make and keep commitments which I believed I could do. No matter how large. Practice wrestling 5 hours a day and skip meals to make weight while balancing school, family, and church responsibilities, meh. Big deal. I could do that, because I believed it. That commitment to excellence wasn't difficult for me to keep. I did it because I believed.

This year I took something on which I thought I could never complete. I was in my Journalism class one day, and we were talking about some thing or another, and the topic of Elevation came up. And I, being who I am, had a brilliant idea. So I raised my hand, and I said, “Hey! If we send a photographer to Elevation every year, why don't we send a journalist too?” and my mentor was like, “Hey! That's a great idea! Would you be interested in filling that role?” I said yes. But what I didn't realize in the moment was what I was getting myself into. As this idea started to develop and grow, so did my doubts. And by the time I was leaving for Elevation, I wanted almost anything but to be the Journalist. I felt like I had no clue what to do. I didn't think I could meet the demands. At the last minute there was a situation where they needed a new photographer, and I was on my end like “HEY! OVER HERE! I HAVE A NICE CAMERA AND I TAKE GOOD PICTURES, PLEASE PICK ME!”

But it wasn't to be. So I went as the journalist, did my thing. It was cool. But the whole time I was thinking, 'I may be able to gather this information, but how in the world am I going to put all of it together? And like... I don't think I'll make my deadlines, or have enough content, or write well enough. This was stupid.'

So I went home really believing that I would not finish my role as a journalist. That I would fail that Elevation grade and let everyone down because I didn't complete it. And, to be honest, I was okay with that. Inside I wanted to fail so that I could have an excuse for the rest of life. I wanted my life to be easier. To have another excuse to be less than extraordinary. But my deadlines were set, and I had an idea for an article that I really happened to like, and all of a sudden I made my first deadline. But more than that, I did really well. I turned in a well written article on time and with a good attitude. And my perspective changed from, 'I can't do this' to 'Hey, maybe this is possible' in an instant. So I did some more work, and just happened to make my second deadline. And guess what? I did a really good job. So my confidence started to rise. And I started to think, 'Hey, this isn't so bad after all. And you know what, Dallin? You feel really accomplished right now. You did something hard. Kudos, bro. Good job.' (Thought addressed to me because I talk to myself all the time. :D ) Last night I turned in my third article. And now I know. I can do hard things.

I can make and keep commitments.

Hm. Well that's neat. :D

At the school I attend, Williamsburg Academy, leadership is defined as making and keeping commitments. 

Maybe I really can be a leader.