Switchfoot

I made bandannas and bracelets for Switchfoot,I didn't get to give them to the band personally,but this awesome lady handed it to Jon Foreman for me,and Jon said "Tell her(me) thank you very much."
I was kind of sad I didn't get to meet them,but i'm really glad they actually have the bandannas I made.

Yeah,this was a good night. :)

-Karly

8-15-2011

This is my brother,Kyle. He left yesterday for Auburn.
I am going to miss him alot.
But i'm excited for him,and he will be back soon. :)

Also,this is my first drawing using charcoal.
It's pretty simple,but I like it. :)
                                                                                                         
                                                                                                             -Karly

Missing the Point (Rob Bell pt 2) - Gungor Blog

"Ok, so I guess I should update the blog with the fact that I have read Love Wins at this point as well as both supporting and refuting arguments from different people about it. And my conclusion... ? I'm sad.


I’m sad that the people that claim to follow Jesus are so divided against each other.  I’m sad that so much of Christianity has become about ideas and systems and theologies rather than about celebrating and moving towards the miracle, the event, the life-changing reality that is God.    Jesus prayed for us in the garden that we would be one, and here we are fighting about what happens to us when we die.  Our pastors get up in the pulpits and take sides and proclaim their biblical interpretation as the true revelation from God.  And we are secure and safe in our little bubble of self-righteous knowledge.  And it all just makes me sad.

As far as the theology goes, yes I do think that people like Rob Bell, N.T. Wright, Eugene Peterson..etc are telling a pretty different story of God than people like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, the Gospel Coalition…etc  There’s part of me that wants to try to keep all the family together and agree to disagree about a lot of this stuff, but the reformed and fundamentalists are right in seeing that it’s pretty much an entirely different story they are telling.  Most of the “left side” (if you must) is generally just too polite (or maybe afraid?) to call out specific names and why they are wrong like much of the “right side” seems to enjoy doing.

I don’t know.  Maybe Christendom is getting ready for another major split like the protestant reformation or something.  It’s happened every 500 years since Jesus, and it’s been about 500 years since the last one, so maybe we’re due for it.

All I know is I feel like on both sides of the argument, so many people have lost the point.  I don’t think the point to any of this is to have concrete human ideas about God, the Bible, salvation, heaven, hell…etc  as much as it is to live in a different kind of way in the world.  I don’t think that Jesus came to start a new religion..  He was Jewish, remember?  Jesus is the “rupture of our religion” (Peter Rollins).

Remember, it was the religious people who had God figured out, and were threatened by any word that challenged their place, power or authority that were the ones that screamed out “crucify him.”

This is of course not meant in any way to compare to Rob Bell to Christ.  I’m not even saying that I think that Rob Bell’s arguments are correct.  Rather I’m comparing the fear and the vehement ugliness that the religious community is demonstrating right now in their vicious defense of what they think is true to that of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.  They have their book.  They worship it.  God is understandable to them.  The afterlife is clearly laid out.  Anyone that dares question their view of it should be called out as a false teacher and a heretic.  (interesting that the founder of many of these people’s religion, John Calvin, used to burn the people that he considered heretics at the stake)

Whether Rob Bell is correct or not correct, so much of the Evangelical community’s response to it is not.  Perhaps Jesus would offer some “woe’s” to the evangelical church today.  Woe to our dead churches and shallow theology.  Woe to Lifeway and Mardel’s, and other “Christian” bookstores for their fear in not even carrying a book that people might want to read in an effort to wrestle with questions like these and think for themselves.  Woe to the preachers that have gotten up in their pulpits and spewed their own arrogant judgment into the hearts of their congregants.  Lord have mercy on us.  May this old dead corpse that is modern American evangelical Christendom burn up in the fires of God and blow away into oblivion, and then let your glorious bride rise from the ashes.  Amen."

Love and Justice by Michael Gungor

"I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard people say things like “Well, yes, God is love, but God is also just…”

It’s almost like they are afraid that if people believed that God really loved them fully, that they would take advantage of that and immediately run out to go on a sex and murder spree or something.  It’s almost like they believe that love is only this shallow, timid fondness that is easily conquerable and trampled over.  They say it kind of like a person saying, “well, yes she is pretty, but she is smart too..”

They say this in an attempt to communicate, “I don’t want you to misunderstand me here and think that God is ONLY loving…because then you will probably not be afraid of him and just go out and do whatever you want to.”

I think that this view demonstrates a shallow and inappropriate understanding of both love and justice.

Love can be ferocious.

I love my wife and my baby girl, Amelie,  and if anyone would try to do something to hurt those girls, I would ferociously try to protect them.  If Amelie tries to stick her fingers in an electric socket, I would be ferocious in making sure that she didn’t.  If I needed to, I would yell, or slap her hand away or do anything I needed to do to make sure she didn’t get her fingers in there.

Love IS just.

If my neighbor is being unjustly accused of something by the law, and I don’t step up and seek for his justice, then I do not love my neighbor.  If that woman can not feed her children, and the people around her love her, what do they do?  They seek justice for her.  They help her provide for her children. This is just.  This is loving.  They go hand in hand.  Justice is about setting things to right, and love always seeks justice for those who need it.

It is for these reasons that I believe that God is ONLY loving.

“Loving” doesn’t mean weak or passive.  Love is strong.  Love builds what he needs to build and destroys what he needs to destroy for the sake of his beloved.  Love is passion.  Love is justice.  Love is wrath.  Love is kindness.  God IS love.

Perfect love casts out fear.  This is because love is better than fear.  Fear gets you to obey the speed limit if you suspect that there may be police around, but love for the passengers in your car makes you drive carefully.  Fear can get you to obey rules, but it cannot transform your heart.  Religion that is based in fear says things like “well, yes God is love, but….”

No.  God is love.  Period."

The Birthday Girl

8/1/2011

Today is Karly's birthday!!! She is sixteen now! I love her so much. I'm so glad we are friends. I can't wait to see her beautimous face at small groups...

- Tyler