Blaha Life

Here is a blog that I stumbled upon today that I thought might be useful for those who want to see what those opposed to Christianity see in Christians. It may be eye-opening for some…maybe not for others. I know for me that it helps me make sure that I have my focus on Christ and that I do not get caught up in the affairs of this temporal life. I encourage you with these verses:

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
- Eph 3:1-3

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks [4] to the Father, who has qualified you [5] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
- Col 1:9-14

For those who stumbled onto my blog who are opposed to God, Jesus, and/or Christians I would like to give my utmost apology for those who have made a wreck of the name of Jesus. You will never see a perfect person in this world; however, I hope that some would reflect the fruits that a true believer yields. The book of Matthew clearly tells us that not all of those who claim to be believers are true believers just as you might also see that not all of those who claim to win the lottery actually have won the lottery. There are many who have and will continue to claim the name of Jesus Christ, but will not be anything like what you might think. I would suggest that you do not base your opinions on men but on Christ. I know that you have many major issues with the Bible and with Christ. Please feel free to discuss these. (I might add that I have conditions for “discussions” - believers and athiests alike.) We do not have it all figured out. Any god that we could figure out would not be much of a God if you ask me. This does not sufficiently state my case because of lack of time, but I would like to leave you with this passage:

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
- Is 55:6-13

Finding all hope in the cross of Christ,

Josh

I recently ordered a free China Prayer Band from the Voice of the Martyrs website. I have had many people comment on it or ask what it was for since then. To me, it has helped remind me a lot of prayer for the persecuted church in China. I would recommend you to get one too. With them in mind, I give you this song to meditate on:

In dark, filthy places, forsaken, forgotten
Our brothers and sisters are paying a price
They will not deny Him to purchase their freedom
For these are the faithful, the martyrs for Christ.

Twisted and broken, abandoned and beaten
Their bodies confined an unseen sacrifice
But deep in their spirits, they know perfect freedom
For they are the ones who’ve been set free by Christ

CHORUS

From under the altar the voices are crying,
“How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?”
But He’ll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white
For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

The deafening silence–their faithful refusal
To doubt or deny in the presence of men
They live by His promise beofre His own Father
That in His Kingdom, He’ll not deny them

CHORUS

“How long Lord?
How long till You come again to take us home?”

words and music by Michael Card and Phil Naish
copyright 1998
Mole End Music

I also would add that the pastor that was the inspiration for the prayer band was arrested. There is a lot that we can learn from men like this. Let’s continue to pray for them!

For His name,

Josh

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I was checking out the news today and I ran across this article and this article. These articles give a list of the most obese states in our country. Go figure! The ones with the highest percentage were from the southeast USA, land of grease-pits, gravy, and sweet tea. I then noticed that South Carolina was in the top five obese states. Here is the graph:

Average Obesity Rate in the USA

Could this be true!?? I mean, we even have hot buff guys like Ben Gfeller, Jeff Greene, Russ Moore, and Lorenzo Williams. So, I went to look in the mirror.

I need to lose weight

Yep! I got a lot to work on before the wedding.

Until later I guess I will be running and working out more.

Josh

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Many of you viewers have searched the internet looking for Andrew Franseen’s sermon called “Merely Traditional”. Well, here it is. I believe that it is a Must-Listen-To for any person from or in a traditional church.

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

— Matthew 15:1-9

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) — then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

— Mark 7:1-13

Enjoy!

PS - Feel free to download it from here.

Happy Anniversary, Hannah! It was two years ago today that we started dating. It was one year ago today that we got engaged. In sixty-eight days from today, we will be getting married!

God has been so faithful and good to us as always. His never ending faithfulness has kept us following Him together. It will be His faithfulness and grace that keeps us following Him as we proceed into marriage as a commitment to each other as long as we both live.

I praise God that He has given me such a woman of love, kindness, beauty, uniqueness, and charm as you have. God has taught me much through you. He has taught me that love is much more than a feeling, but yet it involves a lot of emotion. He has taught me that we are all weak and we all fail, yet He is our strength to continue on. He has taught me that the cross is to never be forgotten…and never can be when we realize what He has done for us for His glory. He has taught me that it is a wonderful thing to love you because He has given me a perfect example of what it is like to love.

I look forward to seeing a lot more of what He has for us as we continue down the road of life together. I love you! Je t’aime ma chérie. Je t’adore. ¡Te amo!

- Josue

Current status: “hating that people think life is about competition”

Real conversation with co-worker:

co-worker: why is life about competition?

me: it’s not. Life is about God, but a lot of people are so stuck on “I am doing a better job than that person.” or “My new toy is better than yours!” or “I really don’t like the way this person is doing this because I can do it so much better.” It drives me nuts (even though I am guilty of doing it too) because we cut our vision short of seeing our majestic God and what Christ has done and is doing for us. Why must we get so stuck on such petty things????

co-worker: because everyone tries to look good
to try to do it a better way
I don’t know…
what happened today???

me: I think that it is that we think we are so much better than we are. There is nothing that we have that we have not received from Him…our skills, our mind, our families, our jobs, the money from the jobs, every breath that we breathe. We are so dependant on Him yet we think it is all about ourselves.

Nothing much happened today…why?

co-worker: Yeah, we do think it is about ourselves
yeah, you are right
it sucks that we think that way….now that I think about it

me: yeah, it really does. I mean, in a small scale, we laugh at 3 year olds that brag about how great their little plastic trucks are better than the other persons when it was not them that made it. It was not them that bought it. It was only given to them. Those little plastic trucks are pretty much worthless compared to a nice F350 Dully Diesel with a Hemi. We are doing the same thing though…
What is the point of it? what does it accomplish??
What if we spend our whole lives fighting and bragging away and completely forget that we are nothing and that the Creator, Savior, and majestic King of all Kings reigns above and has given us everything that we call our own and more. We completely miss the point that He is such a good and great God who takes care of our needs and treats us with such gentle care
anyways…I am sure you wanted to know all that…

co-worker: no, I think it’s nice for you to share…I had to read it twice to really understand….people don’t need to brag about what they have or what they think they can do better ….blah there is no point..
did something happen today? or you were just thinking about it?

me: no, there is a lot of stuff that is kinda building up and I was just reminded of it…that’s all. I do not even know why I put it on my status…but then who really cares. haha

co-worker: cause you always put on your status how you feel and that’s ok…I think it’s cool

This is just in case you were wondering.

Pursuing joy in Him,

Josh

Sometimes I think I should pick up smoking. Let’s face it - when you go outside for a smoke you can enjoy the beauty of His creation, strike up a conversation with neighbors, be still and meditate on Him, and (best of all) intake the wonderful aroma of the outdoors…oh wait!

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