The Internet and Love: How Am I Supposed to Respond to this without Banging My Head on theTable?

Okay Ladies and Gentlemen,

It's time to get a little personal, vulnerable, yatta yatta. It's been a really long time since I've posted on the blog, and since I'm doing this for my lovely students in Mass Media Literacy, I suppose I should update the students and the long time veterans here on the blog.

1. I'm engaged and getting married in June to the wonderful man in the picture.
2. I'm doing really well and hope to write more on my blog very soon.
3. Y'all are awesome.

Now peeps,
The Internet is HUGE! I mean the largest thing I've ever set my eyes on. I only know a sliver of it and already I'm intimidated by how much information is on there. Can't handle it.

Online Dating is intimidating. Not that I've ever participated, but sometimes when you're single, you get lonely, and you get desperate, and then BAM online dating readily available for your naked eye to register and pay money for each month? Sounds awesome, right? Well, let us look a little further into this - shall we?

Here's some data...
Although there are a couple free online dating sites, there are some paid ones, and their audience is HUGE!
http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/money/cost-comparison-internet-dating-sites

Nonetheless, what does this say about relationships?
Well, I figured a little anecdotal evidence wouldn't hurt. So here it goes.

I met my man at a bible study. In person. We met a few more times. In person. And even with that, there was minimal texting and Facebook message coordination. I practically only really talked to him in person. We became official after that.

I went back to college. That was difficult considering I was out of state and needed to figure out a way to stay in contact with him. So, of course, we Skype and text each other, but there is something wrong with that. I didn't realize it until I met back up with him at the end of the semester.

1. I felt more and more single the longer I was away from him.
2. It's really hard to get to know a person when face to face time is minimal.
3. I had more desires to impress other guys, and sometimes there were moments where I would question his or my loyalty.
4. Texting and Skype didn't feel like enough, I always felt like a piece of my heart was missing from the conversations.

This may not say much, but what it does say is that maybe there was a reason why we marry people in person and not online (oh Lord heavens I hope that's not a thing).

Relationships are awesome when you feel that sense of connection and can look into their eyes and see love.

I personally, if I had a choice, would be to not live out of state anymore. I would LOVE to be with my man and build our relationship. That's the important thing. But since I'm at school, I need to deal with the situation I'm in. Luckily it's temporary, but I'm going to do my very best to come home and see him in person because that's what love is all about - spending a lot of money on travel! LOL not really.

Oddball

So many paths to take. The Life of a Artist that Can't Make up her mind.

Hey Oddballers,

Tonight...well anytime for you. I want to write about something that has been affecting me in many ways. I am in the point of my life where there comes a lot of choices. What to do for a living? What to pursue in life? What I want to do tomorrow? What projects I want to do? What pieces I want to finish? and What I want to write about. Life in general is full of these kinds of choices. We as people need to be prepared for moments like these where we have to sit back and think to ourselves, "What the heck to I want to do now?"
According to the minimal amount of research I conducted, I have found absolutely nothing to help anyone.

Go Figure.

I guess that is the point isn't it? We don't know what our future will be. We know what we want it to be, who we want to marry, what job we want to have, where we want to live? It is hard, decisions are hard. I understand. I feel your pain. Trust me...I ride the struggle bus everyday. Sometimes it even gets me to question my own self worth.

Nonetheless, there is a decision we can make as people, "How should I react as a person to make my life less confusing?" The more money we have, the more we have to watch it and budget. Really, it would be easy to budget ten dollars, try three million dollars?? Yep. point made. The more worries we add on to our plate, the harder it will become to satisfy those worries with a SUCCESS or a FAIL stamp because, well, there just isn't time to cover everything. You have to choose one or two things at a time. Work on it till you puke, and then you'll know.

I really hope that none of you feel this overwhelmed about your future as much as I can get sometimes. Yes, the world is a scary place sometimes. YES, ladies and gentlemen it does get a little bit lonely in "single-ville" sometimes. Yes, career decision making is difficult. Yes there are so many COOL hobbies we can have. Yes there are a million obligations you have in a day. YES there are so many words in the dictionary that you can use to write. BUT this is NOT YOUR IDENTITY or SELF WORTH.

A Woman is Shallow if she uses a man for his money. How much money you have does not make you more or less attractive. I just had to get that out there...otherwise it would be another eight paragraphs.

Yes, I can't make up my mind with what I want to do in my field. It sucks, its stressful, but I take a deep breath, and I say to myself, "you will find it in time. Just love what you do." I try people. I really try.

It doesn't help that society is all about finding a career early and getting things FAST, like getting married is the same as ordering a soft shell taco at Taco Bell. hahaha. Love takes time and nurturing. Like a baby in a way. A mother probably doesn't drop off her kid to the neighbor and says, "You take him, this is too slow for me." LOL I wish we as a society could just slow down. I notice this in myself, and I try to slap it out of me.

I DO not need to speed up my decision making processes, and don't feel like you have a deadline for your life. Yes discipline is important. I am all over discipline and a bag of chips. But it is YOU that makes choices, not Google Calender. We all are guilty of forgetting Facebook Events...I do it all the time. Obviously Facebook doesn't decide whether or not we physically attend a event. So all the skeptics out there with social networking. REST assured, they aren't forcing us to go to events. Much love though :)

Rest assured what you do with your life, it 100 percent up to you. So take your time...calm down, and do things one step at a time with assertion. :D

LOVE YOU ALL, TAKE CHARGE of your lives :D

Oddball. :)

Artists Like to Vent

Good Evening Oddballers,

Oddball is back, again, and is now going to do what most artists like to do...vent. Ha! No. Just Kidding.
I am going to talk about something similar to that though, why we like it?

What drives me to want to tell my friend how awful they are as a person? To me, this is extremely disturbing, I am driven, to personally, hurt someone's feelings for what??? What do I want out of the situation? Someone to cry? Someone to realize how totally inadequate they are?? No matter the reason, it is still wrong, but yet I catch myself doing it before it happens all the time. I just want to take that knife and just drive it in...LOL

I guess we as artists strongly dislike competition. It isn't like we realize we are doing it and do it anyway. We just don't like to have other people POTENTIALLY stand in our way. We want the whole playing field to ourselves...every stinking blade of freakin' grass. And no one else can have it. So when someone decides to create something, no matter what it is, it bothers the artist if there is a possibility that one day, they will get better.

WE NEED DO WORK on this!!!
I am not saying stop, because that would take years to train out of an artist, however, we as artists need to be consistently working at not telling people how we feel all the time. I know, people that shoot a video not following the rule of thirds and basic three point lighting structure is very, irritating, but we need to know that some people just don't know, and we need to be mindful of that.


I wish you luck on your closed tongue adventure...because it is an adventure for me.


Oddball

On Art and Design Part Four: Creativity is About Failure

Hey Oddballers,

I don't find the need to be overly obnoxious with a picture today, so I am just going to be forward with this post today.

As an artist, I find myself frustrated everyday. As I sketch storyboards, write screenplays, type a paper, draw people, and create visuals in my head as an director, I am frustrated. I am frustrated because I just can't seem to get anything right sometimes. Others will seem to view me as wonderful, talented, and creative but I find myself sitting there, thinking to myself, "What planet do you live on!?" and "How in the world would you ever think of something like that about me!!?" This is normal, if you understand anything about artistry, you will realize, that YOU are YOUR OWN WORST CRITIC. It's bound to happen, whether or not you realize it. WE are more harsh on our own work than we are on others. Unless you are pretentious or arrogant, but that is a different issue altogether.

Welcome Artists to the real world. The real world says, "SHUSH IT!!!" With capital letters just like that and they lightly backhand you on the back of the head. WE fail ourselves because we feel like we deserve it. We will never get our of amateur status and we will forever be broke and without worth. Well, if you believe that about yourself. Hit yourself with a Bible for me, because I would do that to you.

Being Creative is all about Failure. WE FAIL a lot. IF you don't realize it now you might as well be dead. I'm serious. You will never succeed unless you take your failures, shake em off, and keep going. Take it as a learning experience. Stop crying about your painting, and make another one. Stop criticizing yourself because you are not at a pro level, and start making another film. KEEP GOING!! Just do it!!! Stop wallowing in the failures of your career and just focus on being better every time. It is the only way we can grow as artists. Embrace your self expression as well as your ability to communicate ideas and go out there, and DO something with your life. YOU ARE WORTH a lot and if you think you aren't. I don't know what I am going to do with you. Yell at you??? I don't know.

We need new artists and creatives out there. I know you are out there, and I would love to see your work on display in Paris, so get at it and make it happen. Don't worry about the really arrogant guy sitting next to you in Drawing and Painting 1 or Intro to Dance, or Film Production Praxis 1. Just do your work. DO NOT worry about other's work. IF they aren't professionals, they aren't competition. :) Quote me I dare you :). I'm just a broke college Creativity and Film Production major that may or may not understand the basics of real life.

Take it or leave it, but please, leave the Failure party out the door.

You're Welcome

Oddball.

On Art and Design Part Three: You are Unique as an artist. You don't need to be as good as "What's her face"

"Some talents may be similar than others but honestly; I have not seen two completely identical fine artists. No painting is the same and neither is talent. Just because someone else can draw just as good or better does not mean that they are competition and that you will never make it in the field. That person has the capability to develop their own taste and talents that will make them stand out and be unique. God created us equally unique in his image. We need to take that idea and run with it."

- An excerpt from my assignment...again. 

Oddballers,

Another day another dollar. Right? So today we are embarking on a similar series that I have started on art and design. I guess I am using this to remind myself in the future ideas that I need to keep in mind as I grow as an artist and attempt to reach my goals. It is important to have a place where your roots are found, so you can refer to it whenever you are feeling discouraged and frustrated about something. So I guess, my friends, that this is the place where I take my roots and spew them at the internet. Sorry if you find my ideas insane, but too bad. I'm insane deal with it. It's thoughts from and Oddball not thoughts from a Sane person. :) In case you didn't know.

I have thought about a specific experience that only film students will understand-- film critique screenings. It is where a bunch of students will get together, and the professors will screen your assignments and students will share their thoughts on it. This is the absolute worst thing ever for an artist. No one wants to be criticized, and the negative results of this are very evident. What I’ve seen in those who take the criticism very personally and have it break down their self-worth and ability to achieve in their field, or, they criticize the crap out of everyone else to find fault in others to make themselves feel better. I, on the other hand, am in a predicament when this happens. I don’t do either of these things. It’s very frustrating for me because it makes me feel like an outsider but the more I think about it the more I realized that it makes me ahead of the ahead of the game. I am not trying to knock all the other buildings down. I am not lazy and not working towards building my building at all. I am building by building by listening to others, and help them build their building too. This is what it means to utilize your gifts for the benefits of others. Yes, sometimes I feel doubts because someone was extremely successful in achieving their goal in a project, but I need to not focus on others and strictly pay attention to what I need to do to get better.

WE need to do this everyday. Stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. Being successful isn't about you, it is about the journey and your growth as an artist. Yes everyone wants to be the best, but you can be the best by building the tallest building or knocking the others down. It is your choice what you decide, but trust me, the first choice is more enjoyable and worthwhile. You don't need to be like James Cameron to be a successful filmmaker, Heck you don't need to be like anyone! Just be yourself and express yourself. Everyone is unique as an artist. Utilize that and forget about pleasing people. It is not as much about pleasing people as it is about telling an amazing story. So tell some SICK stories with your work that mean something to you and others, and stop being a little thing and focusing on how you can be like someone else, because then you will never get a job. Because "that guy" will always have the job and not you. REMEMBER THAT!!! You can be someone else, so stop trying and don't compare yourself to someone that you are not. In that case...it means everyone. STOP it!!!

Much love though, its tough love but you'll thank me later.

God Bless

Oddball

On Art and Design Part Two: Get out of High School

"For me, I used to be trapped in the lie that is high school, “your identity lies in who you surround yourself with and who accepts you.” Cliques exist not because it is a way to make friends. It is to see where your identity lies. This is complete stupidity as I contemplated the dumb decisions I made to try and fit in: not wearing the clothes I like, talking to people I don’t like, trying to enjoy things I don’t like, lying about what I do like to please others, and changing myself. I became so obsessed at one point that I developed two eating disorders at the same time just to feel pretty enough and be accepted by males but I found that I was emptier than I am now thirty pounds heavier. In counseling, I learned that our identity is found in Christ, and we don’t need acceptance of others in order to feel something. We need to find ourselves and use our true self to please God. That is the only way to feel worth." 

- excerpt of an assignment that I had to turn in

Oddballers,

I apologize for the insanely long quote, but this whole idea is mind blowing. I am taking a creativity class in college, and what I find myself learning about for my art and design field is totally relevant so hold on for some amazing blog posts coming up.

Where is your motivation coming from to find worth? This is an important question that we have to ask ourselves and we try to do art, design, or any vocation for that matter. The quote above is great example of what happens when our identity is coming from the wrong place. I use this analogy with the people I meet all the time. I either label them as "out of high school" or "not out of high school" by this simple idea; does your identity lie with others or does it lie within the way God created you to be. If you are truly yourself, people WILL notice. You illuminate. Trust me. It's the most attractive thing in the world. We must find that passion and love of ourselves in the world and we need to find it in the core purpose of our uniqueness in how God created us. We must be aware in order to find our identity. It doesn't lie in people and it never will.

Trust me, people that don't know who they are and what they want to do are frustrating people. Do what you love and don't worry about anything else. The money will come later, trust me. My stepfather would tell me when I was young, "Do what you are passionate about, and if you are passionate about it, the money will come. Don't make the money come to you, it will happen all on its own." We must trust this idea of God providing for us. Out of fear we try to give ourselves a monetary "safety space" or "do our dues" until we actually do what we want to do. Can't we just start working towards what we want to do and struggle a little bit. The struggle is what makes success worth it anyways. WE need to be doing this. We need to work towards our passions and goals. Don't settle for less than what you want.

SETTLING FOR WHAT YOU WANT = AWESOMENESS :)

So do it all ready. GET OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL and make something of yourself and don't settle for less than who you are to please God. Please, save me the frustration. :)

Have a Good one,

Oddball

On Art and Design

Oddballers,

Another amazing post today because it is inspired by a new book I just bought from Angie Taylor called "Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist." As I was reading the introduction I came across some ideas that I think will be beneficial for all of you. Not only will you understand artistry a little better, but get into an artist's shoes and see what kinds of things they struggle with on a daily basis.

The first thing that I find important to talk about is the difference between art and design. The author says that "art is pure self-expression and is visually achieved with a combination of explanation, discovery, experimentation, and freedom." This, I will agree with. Making something art is entirely self-expressionist and requires complete artistic freedom to execute. In film making, art films will come about when they are either independent filmmakers on their own, or someone says to them, "tell a story in 'such and such' time." Its hard for an artist to fully express themselves when they are bombarded by parameters that they have to uphold to. So for this reason, I do agree with this idea.

On the other hand, the author defines design as "communicating ideas to other people." She also continues on writing that, "you can use techniques you have stumbled upon while being "artists" within your designs, but the execution is generally more considered and structured than a piece of pure self-expressionistic art." Now this, I think, is where film creation stands in it's field. It is a design field. Not an art field. You can be artistic in film but it won't be successful unless there is some structure to the art that you are creating. Film forces you to think about all the elements and how the piece will be executed before you even turn on the camera. This is absolutely essential to understand.

Design isn't always about pleasing other people, it is being able to have common ground with someone. Have you ever felt disconnected from an artist when you look at a painting in an art gallery. I do. I feel their emotion, I engulf myself in their worldview, and I explore their every stroke, but I cannot understand them completely. I am forced to just take the piece as creative freedom and not as a form of structure that I can critique the artist by.

Film is different. There is a structure to it. There is a "good" and a "bad" movie. I don't believe in art ever being good or bad because it is entirely defined by the person critiquing. However, there are areas in film making that can be critiqued. Like story, and character development, and lighting, and camera. You can't necessarily critique the execution all the time or say that "so in so" can't make a film because it is extremely team collaborative and involves more people than the director, I can assure you that. But you can say that "the person in this shot was very overexposed" and most people will write it off as a legitimate critique. That's what we have to understand about Design and Art. Design has critiquing parameters and Art does not. You can dislike an art piece, but you cannot say its bad. You can say a film is bad and you can explain why by critiquing it.

Starting to Make any Sense?

Probably Not....haha

But I will leave you to your thoughts. Feel free to comment on this piece explaining what art and design means to you. I am fascinated in knowing what kinds of things you all are thinking about today.


For the Grace of God,

Oddball

On Being a Jerk and Skidding on Ice...It Makes Sense if you Read it...I think

Hey Oddballers,

Photo Taken by Oddball

It's been a long time, TOO long actually, but I guess I needed the time off to really focus on what kinds of things I needed to be writing about. And honestly, I don't think I was being completely open and honest with all of you in regards to what needed to be said.Writing is more than just coming up with a topic and writing about it. It encompasses many things, like art, passion, love, responsibility, and diligence. Hopefully, I will take some more time to write meaningful and heartfelt posts for all of you out there.

At this very  moment, I am writing next to two, very inappropriate and downright rude men. They literally sit inside and talk about people in negative ways. I will not give examples but honestly the fact that are in a Christian campus is really disappointing. They should be careful with the words they use in daily life because you never know who might be listening. In this case, it is a returning blogger. Who decided to write about them because they inspired me to think about what types of qualities we have in ourselves that make us just like them; total complete jerks.

I guess for me, my weakness would have to be something on the lines of not being able to tell when I'm being serious or not. I tend to be very sarcastic with the people I talk to and honestly, I probably need to stop being overly sarcastic. I guess that is what makes me a jerk. I tend to focus on myself sometimes and not really look at the bigger picture.

Is there something about yourself that makes you a jerk? I'm pretty sure if we thought long and hard we could come up with something that makes us a bad person. However, I don't think it is healthy to dwell on our faults, but to only be aware and make effort to correct them. It shouldn't be a sad story on how our lives are a complete mess because we just can't hurt ourselves that much. We live in a fallen and broken world, but we cannot dwell on the falseness qualities of the world. We need to stop and see all the wonderful miracles we are living in everyday.

For example, I slid on the ice with my car today, luckily I did not hit anything but I guess it opened my eyes to the reality that we cannot control everything in our lives. We are in a broken world, therefore there is a lot of ice we have to skid through to make it to our destination safe. You want to know the first thing I was thinking about when I skidded on the ice? I thought about God, and I said to myself, "God, get me through this!" and surprisingly I was completely calm the whole time. I realized that as a driver, you only can control so much and there comes to a point where the timing and environment no matter how you drive, will determine whether you survive the next five minutes. Life, is honestly like this. WE need God to be able to get us through the ice in our lives, and we need to be calm to not freak out and forget that God is with us.

That's all I have for today. :)

G'day Oddballers,

Be Odd, Be You, and Be a Christ Follower(if you want to be)

Oddball

New School Year....New You

Hey Oddballers,

Guess What time it is??? Time for a new Oddball writing and video blog Season! Many people have asked me why I didn't bother to write much this summer....my response to you is this. After writing blogs for nine months, I thought maybe I should take the summer off to get some inspiration. Trust me, this year's blog posts shall not be boring whatsoever. I have many great things in store for my readers this season!

Now,
Today's topic is on new school years. The one day of the year where most people are happier to go to school than their own parents. hahaha It's a time to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones :) The time when the new batch of Freshman are here, and it's up to you to either avoid them completely or try to get to know some of the names. I personally want to try to get to know the Freshman on campus and be a friendly person to approach this year.

I think spiritually we should have a goal for the semester. Something to think about throughout the year and really focus on, for me, I want to work on my level of celebration. Learn to celebrate God more in my life instead of focusing entirely on trust and faith. The things that happened this summer solidified those things for me.


I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. Think of a theme for yourself this summer, and I will try to touch on Celebrating God the rest of the Semester. Not EVERYDAY but sometimes when it seems relevant. :)

because, well, CELEBRATIONS = FREAKIN' AWESOMENESS

yeah, I'm sure you really missed my equations right?? LOL

Much Love and God Bless

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Administration: Let's keep the world Organized

 

Proverbs 25:26 (ESV) ^"Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked."
 

G'day Oddballers,

I'm would first and foremost like to say how utterly crazy my life has been the past few days. It is no excuse to stop writing and not write blog posts, but any of my time that I spent in relaxation I honestly didn't want to spend writing.  So here I go, forcing myself to take some time for my blog readers and just write a post when I am fully awake and functioning...you're so very welcome. I will do my best to try and write more often so that you have more material for you to inspire your weeks with Christian ideas. Sometimes we just need a little something that is emotionally or intellectually stimulating in nature.

So today's spiritual gift is administration, and the reason why I really like this gift is that it is a skill that I personally believe is overlooked in some fashion. What the spiritual gift of administration contains is the ability to give direction on behalf of others that result in efficient operation and accomplishment of goals. It also includes the ability to organize people and things to make things more organized and efficient as well.

Why is this important? Well, the world is chaotic. That's why! People need some organization in their lives..and some people just have this gift at making things organized and making it more clear. So many people have things wrapped up in their lives to the point where they feel so overwhelmed and stressed that they turn to other things to handle that overload or stress. What the administrator's job spiritually is to help make people's lives easier by helping others around them get more organized. Make decisions on behalf of groups that will make the lives of the people spiritually bound and more efficient. We need people like this in our world to get excited about getting organized. Having a plan and following it through. Managing aspects of our lives in an organized fashion. It is up to us to make sure that there are plenty of administrators around us.

Find the people that seem to organize life well and ask them how they manage everything. Sometimes all a person needs is a new way at looking at life. So take the time and enlighten yourself with the administrators around you. And administrators, help the people around you get organized and make sure that you make decisions that benefit the body as a whole.
Let's keep the world organized.


Much Love and God Bless

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Faith

"These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:7)
 

 Good Morning Oddballers,

Today is on the Spiritual Gift of faith, which to me, is one of my favorite gifts to possess. It involves a sort of confidence and trust in God that many people struggle with on a daily basis. In reality, if a challenge is faced in a person's life, one of the major things that becomes something to work on involves Faith. It is ultimately one of the most rewarding Gifts to have because of the fact that through faith so many other gifts feed off of it. Similar to Love in a way. Love is the foundation of many spiritual gifts, and so is faith. Think about it....what if Love and Faith was used in spiritual gifts???? We could seriously change the world.

So I chose this Bible verse today because I wanted to stress how important faith is to God, it says, "which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor." We need to be aware of how important Faith can be, even it is broken in a way because of the sinful world we live in. We need to have faith there at all times, regardless of our circumstances.

Let me put it to you straight forward. I'm a blogger, I'm a young woman, and I am going through some of the toughest things in life involving my family. I feel torn and pulled in mulitiple directions, but I have faith that through Christ he can help me calm myself down, and by wise in the situations that face me in my future. I have confidence and trust that nomatter what happens it is all a part of God's plan. I am extremely broken, I cry most of the time when no one is looking. I spend mos of my time being strong for my friends and letting them know how ultimately loved they really are. I spend a lot of my time sending off positive vibes to the people around me so that they know that regardless of my circumstances I have a reason to smile.

I have Faith in that. I have Faith in God. He died on the cross for me even though I don't deserve it, and I thank him for a million other little things and the millions of things that will come in the future. I know that through thick or thin, or any challenge that faces me, I have trust and confidence in the Lord. You Should Too. Faith is ultimately one of the most important things a Christ Follower can have.

So here this, I need you all to be Strong for me. Have faith in the Lord through your trials and tribulations. Be Strong for Jesus. He needs your strength so he can mold you into the man/woman God would be proud of.

Have a wonderful Holy Spirit Led Day,

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Teaching

"Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19)

Good Morning Oddballers,

Today's Spiritual Gift is on Teaching..and I don't want to focus on school-ish teaching, because I feel like it only covers half of the role of Spiritual teaching. To me, teaching is not only about a Christ Follower teaching others by their actions, but also being open to letting others teach them.

Let me put it to you this way. I know a lot of people that have this spiritual gift that just have a knack at knowing what to say to others to get them to learn something about life and spirituality. They find the perfect way to slip a little life lesson into everything they say, and they always seem to know the right thing to say before they say it. However, they also have the gift of knowing when to stop teaching and just let God teach them something that they can use in their life as well.

In my opinion, I think it is important as Christians to know when we first meet someone to be aware if we have something to teach them, or they have something to teach us. Learning is something that never stops. We are constantly learning new things, broadening our minds, and expiriencing more and more the longer we stay on the Earth that we live in. As people, we need to make sure that however we present ourselves to society, it needs to be something that others can learn off of in a positive way. We need to be able to know when we face challenges how to accept the fact that we don't know everything and we still have much learning to do.

The reason why I picked this Bible verse today is because it really captures some of the things that I wanted to say. Basically, it supports a very common phrase "practice what you preach." If you are willing to teach someone an aspect of Christianity, be aware that the audience you  are speaking too will assume that you practice this regularily and you are teaching it because you do it. For example, if you do a whole presentation on swearing, and then when you stub your toe on the table and swear, then you are undermining every little ounce of credibility on that topic becaues you failed to practice what you were preaching.

Same concept people, we need to be aware of what we are teaching, and whether or not we need to be taught something from others.

Have a thought provoking day :)

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Service

 

"If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (John 12:26)

 

Dear Oddballers,

 

I hope you all are doing fantastic. I know it's been awhile since I wrote my las blog post or even have done a video blog, but I'm working on it. Things have gotten a little bit crazy the past few days and it's taking everything to stay up to date on all my assignments due for my classes. But don't worry, it's all managable. I just have to chang a few things about my schedule of my day to see what I do when.

 

Nomatter, Today's spiritual gift is on Service. I"m sure you all know what service is, but I want to talk about the importance of Acts of Service to those that have Acts of Service as their Giving and Recieving Love Languages.

 

If you do not know what Love Languages are, there are some fabulous books you can read to elaborate, but for now, they basically are 5 categories that people give and recieve affection (acts of service, touch, words, quality time, and gifts). If you really badly want to know what mine are. I am the best at giving gifts, and saying words of affirmation. I'm the best at recieving quality time and words of affirmation. There ya go, moving on.

 

Service in my opinion is absolutely one of the main foundations to following Jesus Christ, just like the Bible verse of choice is saying this morning, we all need to be servants of Christ. But what exactly does that look like for a person? Well, I think in order to understand the basic foundation of service we need to understand why it is important to those who give and recieve acts of service. People that give acts of service tend to be the kind of people that ususally serve others without thinking and/or find themselves doing too many things for other people instead of themselves. Service to them is a way to show how much they truely care about the people they are around and it helps them as people humble themselves and take the time to think about others before themselves.

 

The people that tend to recieve Acts of Service the best find it absolutely essential that actions speak louder than words. They want to see how much you care about them by what you do for them. Not in a selfish way, but more or less just affirmation that they have a special place in your heart.

 

We should be thinking about God when we question whether to serve someone or not. We should always have "serve Jesus" in the back of our minds every single day. As Christ followers, it is our job to represent Christ by the way we treat other people, and there isn't a whole lot of better examples than doing acts of service for other people. So GO out There..and SERVE the people around you. JUST DO IT. ;)

 

Have a great Serving of Christ Day,

 

Oddball

 

The Spiritual Gift of Mercy

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5)

Good Morning Oddballers,

Today I want to touch on the spiritual gift of mercy because It is a spiritual gift that I need to cover for mt spiritual gift series. I realize that I have recently done a post on mercy, but I want to try and take a different approach on mercy and see how as disciples we can demonstrate mercy to the people around us.

"Mercy" in Latin, means "price paid" and is a broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a "variety of ethical, relgious, social, and legal contexts" according to the dictionary. It's interesting how mercy can be connected to price paid on a Christian standpoint since Christ paid for our sins on the cross and gave us "mercy". Maybe in a way, Jesus dying on the cross was a form of mercy, because we as sinners were forgiven for our sin at that very moment. Jesus paying the price was mercy, and we should see it as that. I try not to connect mercy and forgiveness together when I talk with people, but now that I have been reading a bit on mercy, I feel like they are roughly one and the same and should be talked about as such. We should forgive people and pay the price for forgiveness. That is the basic foundation of Christianity.

Am I saying that mercy involves sacrifice? Absolutely, we need to sacrifice our bitterness, anger, and our earthly desires to forgive and give "mercy" to those who are sometimes undeserving. We need to sacrifice how we feel about another person sometimes just to do what is right and in God's image. Mercy isn't something that comes easy. If it is easy for you, then maybe you aren't working hard enough. It takes recognition and discipline to truely deny yourself, take up your cross, and sacrifice yourself for others regardless of their position, status, or burdens.

We as Christians need to step up to the plate and take a stand with Mercy and show Mercy to the people around us. I think it would be absolutely amazing to watch how the world will change to be an amazing place if all the lukewarm Christians fully committed themselves and Biblical Christians together stepping up to the plate and showing some genuine Mercy. Because Like the musician Duffy says, "I'm only begging you for mercy, so why won't you release me?"

Come On people, show some mercy, sacrifice for others. Pay the price.

How much are you willing to pay for your faith??

God Bless,

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Leadership

"When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan." (Proverbs 29:2)
 

Good Morning Oddballers,

Today Is the next day of Spiritual Gifts, and today I want to touch on Leadership. There are so many things that go into leadership, so it will be difficult for me to really take the term and get into huge detail on what a leader is and isn't. I spent a lot of time on this word throughout my teen retreat years as a small group leader, and what I learned in my opinion may describe leadership well. So here I Got

One thing that I learned about Leadership is that it is not necessarily who is the most outgoing or who takes control of the group or situation the quickest, it is about adaptability. How we handle change and problem solve. For example, in a small group setting, one thing I noticed is the best leaders were the one's that evaluated the situation and made the choice on whether to talk or sit back and let the group share ideas. It is a hard skill for many of us to hold our tounges and let other's speak, but that is what I found to be good leadership. Another thing is the ability to portray Christ through the decision making, thought processing, and speaking of the person. How the person demonstrates faith is absolutely essential to leadership, and people who have the gift of leadership have a very important gift in humanity. We as people need to be adaptable and portray Christ in a postive manner.

I do realize that many people could define leadership in other ways, but to me, that is how I define  and seperate leaders in my life. As we all go about our days, I guess we should be thinking about how we show leadership or view leadership in our lives. Do we look for people who are Christ centered, or do we look for people who can just take control of the situation? Do we see ourselves as people who tend to speak up on a regular basis, or people that tend to not say much in a group? How can I as a person become a Leader and a follower in society?? These are all questions we should be asking ourselves daily.

I hope you all have a good day :)

Oddball

The Spiritual Gift of Giving

"…the righteous gives and does not hold back." (Proverbs 21:26)

Good Morning Oddballers,

It's finally the end of Spring Break for me, which means it is the start of my series on spiritual gifts. Today we will start our journey off with Giving, because I feel that giving back is something that many people should be doing, and as a spiritual gift, it can be quite fullfilling and rewarding.

So today, I chose a really simple Bible verse because one, I'm tired after a very busy Spring Break having almost no free time to myself, and two, it gets to the point. I feel like there isn't really a logical explanation for putting down a Bible verse that is two paragraphs long if normal readers interpret the scripture differently. Just Saying.

Now unto business, I think giving is something that all of us can try to do. For example, we can give to others by sharing our wisdom, giving gifts, writing a note, serving the community, helping the poor and hungry, and just by being in their presense. Giving first is one of the best principles that we as Christians can have. The ability to give to others and not expect anything in return. It sounds easier than it is to actually practice. Because when we put God first in our hearts, then we tend to naturally give first because we are driven by the holy spirit to do so.

Another thing I find important about giving is to give wholeheartedly and secretly. Just because you give back to the community, doesn't mean you can brag about it on a social networking site. Now, I know that I was updating others on the recent happenings of the ministry I was volunteering at during Spring Break, but honestly, I didn't share any of the things that I was doing necessarily because sometimes it just isn't worth sharing. There are a few fantastic moments with God that happened that week that I will treasure in my heart, I don't need to share that with many other people. That's is why sometimes when we give, we don't have to tell people, sometimes it is just better to enjoy the gift of giving back to yourself.

Lastly, I think it is important to give only what you have and to give freely. Don't go to the nearest gas station, steal something, and then give it to someone. I know there was a previous woman that used to work at the ministry I was volunteering for and the woman would take donations that were given, hide them, put them in her truck, and give them to her family. Yes, the giving part was noble, but how she got the gifts were not. ONLY give what you have, and freely give it. Don't put conditions on service. Just serve and not expect anything in return.

Have a wondeful Day Everyone

Oddball

Having Spiritual Gifts Intruduction

 

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Corin 12:7-11) (KJV)

Good Morning Oddballers,

Today  I want to touch on our spiritual gifts. Because honestly, people don't know what they are gifted in. Plain and simple.I don't really want to go on a huge tangent today, so I'm going to keep it a bit simple.

I decided to do a series on Spiritual Gifts. Covering each gift for what it is and make others aware of gifts they could possess in their life. SO Today, I want to talk about the importance of spiritual gifts and list a few I want to cover these next couple weeks :)

Spiritual gifts are important to me because they are tools that we can use to minister and be disciples. It is the qualities in us that just come easy for us. We are great at doing these things when we interact with others around us. They are used in God's image. It showcases the good things about each and every one of us. For me, as I'm sitting in a new environment, I immediately try to figure out who is the leader in the environment, and then I look for what qualities they possess that make them the leader in the situation. Most of the time, the good things about that person as a leader had something to do with their spiritual gifts. That's why I'm going to talk about spiritual gifts. As Christians, we need to utilize our gifts to introduce people to the Holy Spirit. Being aware makes us role models for others who really need help.  Here are a few gifts I want to touch on:

GIVING, LEADERSHIP,  MERCY, PROPHECY, SERVICE, TEACHING, ADMINISTRATION, DISCERNMENT, FAITH, HEALING, HELPS, KNOWLEDGE, MIRACLES, TOUNGES, WISDOM, EVANGELISM, MISSOIONARY, CELIBACY.

Of course, there are plenty more, but I think these are the pretty big ones, and that is what I want to cover these next few days. Let's chat about our gifts so that we can grow as followers in Christ.

Have a Wonderful Day Guys,

Oddball

The Bible Brings Me Back to You (God)

 

"In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye." (Deuteronomy 32:10)

 

Good Morning Oddballers,

 

Today I really want to focus on overcomming obstacles in our lives, because it seems like myself and many other people I know are struggling in this area of their life.Recently I have been fighting with the thoughts that I don't have a purpose or place. Obviously that is completely untrue on every level, but I have been struggling with those kinds of thoughts recently. What I've found is that reading some scripture and getting involved in a depression topical Bible study was a good way to bring me back to Jesus again. When I'm struggling with something, usually I try to narrow down the problem, and then do some Bible study on that area and see what I find. So yep. I'm working on depression at the moment. I don't feel depressed, I just feel like my heart is heavily troubled, which can lead to depression if not treated right away. So that's why I'm doing a Bible study on Depression.

 

What I want you all to know is that having a troubled heart is something you can overcome. Yes, its going to take A LOT of work on your part and some major faith in Jesus to help guide you through, but trust me, once the wave is over (it hasn't ended for me quite yet but I know it will), you will feel so light and unbelievably happy. It will just hit you randomly and you will realize that God will never leave or forsake you. It's absolutely breathtaking. There is nothing more powerful than the emotion comming from an emotional wellness state farthest from God. :)

 

The verse I put up today kind of shows what kind of thing I'm talking about. Even if we are in a desert in our lives, God knows where we are, he knows what we are going through, and he wants to helps us overcome whatever we need to handle in our lives. He will shield you from your enemies and care for you. He will gaurd you and make you strong. What I"m saying is, NOMATTER what you are feeling, God knows about it, and is trying to find a way to guide you through the wave so that you don't hit the sand with a THUD and a bunch of seaweed wrapped around your ankles.

 

As Christians we can conquered anything through God. So if you are in a mental slump, the Bible will lead you back to God. Don't forget that ...EVER..I don't know what I'd do with myself if people didn't quite understand that concept. So many young Christian lives could be saved this way, and that's why I am writing about it to you today.

 

Much Love and God Bless,

 

Oddball

"I'm Only Begging You For Mercy"

 "Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." (Luke 6:36)

Good Morning Oddballers,

Today I want to talk about Mercy, becaue I feel like it is something I haven't really talked about in a blog post. So here I go. :)

According to the dictionary, mercy is compassion or kindly forbearance shown towards an offender, enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity or benevolence. So basically what it means is showing compassion towards others who do wrong towards you.

It sounds a whole lot harder than it looks, I mean, people dissapoint us everyday. We get angry at others because they lie, and steal from us. They will end up hurting us, but showing mercy is a way to be more like Christ in his image. One of the greatest things about God is his mercy. For example, how many times have you dissapointed God? I think that is a weird question to ask conisidering we are all sinners. Most likely, the answer will be around 10 times a day, and if you have lived around 10 years, that's around 3650 times. Yeah, God has shown you mercy over 3650 times. Why can't you give a person mercy once??

I think that is the question we all should be asking ourselves every once in a while. Forgiveness is along the lines of what I'm talking about, however, mercy is the glue that brings forgiveness into the picture. Feeling compassion towards a enemy is the only way forgiveness can be made for that person. I mean, who would want to forgive someone who they are not compassionate towards. This is simple logic people. That's why it is sooooooo important that we as people show mercy. It's so important for our health and well being.

So now, I'm going to post a video talking about Mercy..its a pretty famous song..H0pefully you tune into it to just relax after a long day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ZEVA5dy-Y


Much Love

Oddball

Reflection in Our Lives

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) (KJV)

Good Morning Oddballers,

I know it's been awhile since I wrote a blog post, but I spent a lot of time relfecting on my life and my goals. So today, I want to chat with you all about why I think reflection is necessary every once in a while.

First of all, I feel like personal reflections involving yourself and God are a rejuvination tool for when in life we get overwhelmed by our circumstances. When I'm stressed. I feel the need to just sit by myself in a quiet place and just meditate with the holy spirit. Usually that calms me down and helps me focus on what I need to focus on in my day. I honestly have a kind of life that is constantly in motion. There are events, and meetings, and drama all day. I never stop listening to problems that occur in my life or dealing with problems that occur in my life. IN all honesty, if people actually walked a day in my shoes and heard my thoughts, they would think I had an extremely stressful life. Which is true. That is why I reflect and meditate often. I think I would have lost my mind by now if I hadn't.

Secondly, reflection helps a person connect with God on a more intimate level. so many of us strive to have that intimacy with others in our lives. I think, that a way we can practice being intimate with others is by working on our personal relationship with Jesus. If we as people cannot connect with our savior, how can we connect with others? That is why I like reflection as well, it teaches me how to stop, and listen intimately to others when they are speaking to me. It helps me calm down and really focus on what the other people are trying to say instead of listening to my own ambitions and jumping to conclusions. Reflection is a good way to practice these skills. Having some one on one time with our Savior is a good thing. We should be spending time alone with him. Even if its just to have a conversation or to say nothing at all. Reflection is a good thing people.

So as you all go about your days in the next few weeks, try to take an hour out of your day to just sit, read a bible, and talk to God. It is one of the most refreshing things to do to spend your spare time. It makes me feel better after a long day, and I'm pretty sure it will make you feel better as well.


Have a Wonderful Day,

Oddball