In memory of those we love

In loving memory of Bob and Randy Sims.


For those of you who know me, know that I am in Mississippi right now on a missions trip. We found out yesterday night that Bob and Randy Sims died in a car accident on the way down. Both men were very near and dear to me as well as the rest of my church family.
Through tragic occurrences such as this, we often are lost as to what God would have us do, and in all honesty all we can really do is pray and continue on with our lives. I'm not saying that we forget about it and brush it off. This isn't something that you can do that with. You cant just brush it off and move on. Death doesn't work like that. The fact that they are not in this world with us is a shock. It causes a lot of sadness and rightfully so. They are beloved people who are no longer here with us.
HOWEVER! God gives us hope and comfort in the fact that we will one day see them again. They are with God now, worshiping him and have no more pain, no more fear. Mr Bob's cancer is now cured for good. He will no longer have to live with that over his head anymore.
While we are here, mourning, and asking God WHY!? God's plan doesn't always make sense to us. Sometimes we look at God and wonder why he does the things he does. We don't really know. However we can take comfort in the fact that God DOES have a plan. That his plan is perfect. Even though we lose people we love, people we care about, people who we thought would live for many many more years to come. Do we know why God took them home? No we don't. In these situations, it's hard to keep our eyes on God. It's hard to be able to see how God can use this for good. Death is the last enemy we face. The last thing we face before we can live with our God. Just because someone has died, it doesn't mean that they are gone forever. We can see them again one day with our Lord and Savior.
In the time we do have here on earth, we should make the most of it. We should do everything we can to serve God and others. Make sure that people know you love them. Don't just tell them that you love them, actually do it, show your love in how you treat them because you never know when you our they might be called home by God.
Life is such a fragile thing, we are like dust that the wind blows away, here one moment, gone the next. So we need to make the most of the time that God gives us for we never know then God will call us home.
God has a plan. It may not make sense to us, but we need to make the most of life. Honor God and bring him glory.
In light of all this, don't be afraid to grieve. It is a part of life. It is ok to be sad or upset or angry. It's hard to understand God's plan. Just as long as we are honest with ourselves and with God. If you grieve differently than someone else, that's ok. Some cry, some go off in silence, others try to do something else to shove it away. Pushing things away, doesn't help. Take it from someone who has done a lot of that in his life. Once you shove enough things away to try to forget, they add up and it will come back to haunt you. I have scars because of that. I almost killed myself because of this. Trust me, DO NOT try to shove things down. It is ok to grieve. It is the way God made us.
We should honor the memory of Mr Bob and Randy by serving those around us, and making the most of the time that God has given us. Do not forget them, for we will see them again someday. Some of us sooner than others, but one day we will all be together with God with no more fear, pain or suffering. We can take comfort in that and it gives us something to look towards that gives us hope for the future.

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
-Psalms 30:5

What Do You Do When You Get Mad At Someone?

What do you do when you get mad at someone? Usually something they did or said ticked you off and you got upset and angry. Kind of a typical occurrence right? If not, I envy you because I get mad at someone almost every day even if its over the dumbest thing in the world like what direction the toilet paper went on the stand or something extremely dumb and inconsequential like that. Anyway, when you get mad at someone, how do you respond to the situation? Do you start fuming and go to that person and tell them exactly how you feel about what they did or said? Or do you sit there and bottle it up, say nothing and then explode on another day when things are so far built up? First off, its best if you are able to brush it off and move on, especially with the really stupid mundane things. Sometimes however, whatever the person did or said that got you so mad is not something you can just brush off. Sometimes these things could be something like a friend acting like a total jerk or a parent complaining that you are unreliable or don't listen or something. When you have these things happen, the first thing you should do is examine yourself. What are you doing wrong in the situation to cause the person to do or say such a thing? Next think about what God would want you to do instead. Once you have examined yourself that is when you figure out how to respond. Do you respond in anger and tell the person off? Or do you respond in love and humility and apologize for what you have done to cause them to do/say what they did. That is the best option right there. I know, much easier said than done and sometimes you end up responding in anger and make things worse. When this happens, the first thing you should do is pray. Asking God what you should do next is always a good idea especially in these situations. Paul in the bible tells us to never let the sun go down on your anger. I personally agree and think this is GREAT advice because you never know what may happen that night or the next day. That person you are angry with chances are is angry at you too. When this happens that anger can fester for both them and you. So it is best to be able to get it off your chest so that you can work on repairing the relationship. So I HIGHLY encourage you to get things worked out before the day is over.
Basically the gist of this is saying that it is best to respond in love and humility when angry at someone and things will go MUCH better. Once again, I know it is easier said than done. I have a difficult time with this myself. I find it hard to push my pride away and accept that I am probably part of the issue and apologize. My wise Sa Beom Nim (Martial arts instructor) told us just the other day that it when you remind other people of something, you are reminding yourself the same thing and this is exactly whats happening right now because I have just as many issues with this as anyone else if not more.
I hope that you can learn something from this and that I was able to help you in some way.

Chipper signing off.

P.S. Sorry I haven't posted anything in for EVER. Been super busy and to be honest the blog has been the last thing on my mind.

P.P.S This post is inspired by a friend of mine (Who's name will be kept private) who is struggling with some relationship issues with their parents. I'm sure you know who you are and I am praying for you.

Being Content

First of all, I’m sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I have been super busy with school and such. Anyhoo, let’s get on to the article.

A few weeks ago I went to a Teenpact alumni event called “Survival”. Just from the title you can probably guess what was going on. We slept in uninsulated cabins and also outside in homemade shelters, we cooked our own meals and came up with some interesting concoctions. We learned about surviving if we were to get stranded somewhere and we were also learning how to survive as Christians out in the real world.

I got a lot out of that week, but one of the big things that I learned during the week was contentment. We had to turn in all our electronic devices at the beginning of the week, so like cellphones, iPods, Tablets, and eBooks. No electronics for a week can be interesting for some people, for me I like listening to music when I fall asleep however I wasn't able to because I had to turn in my iPod.
That was contentment jolt #1. The next one was the food. Now I’m not going to say the food was bad, it was actually quite good most of the time the only bad thing was we never really got enough food for everyone. I am usually quite a picky eater but when you’re at survival, you eat what you get. I ate vegetable soup, and some baked beans mixed with salsa and rice there at survival. I usually hate that stuff but I had to be content with what I got. That was contentment jolt #2. Jolt 3 was kinda interesting. Since we were sleeping in non-insulated cabins, it was quite cold, especially in the mornings. I found myself complaining in my mind about it being so cold, and I realized that I do that kind of stuff all the time. I complain that it’s too cold or too hot, maybe if it’s raining or if it isn’t. So that was contentment jolt #3.

There were a few other things that kinda gave me a jolt but those 3 are the main ones. So what did I get out of this, you might be asking. Well, I learned that I have sooooo much here at home that I should be grateful for and be content with what I have. At home we have heating and cooling systems, a good insulated house, soft beds, and good filling meals (Thanks mom!). Those are just a few things that I named that we should be happy and grateful for.

I guess the reason I wrote this is because we so often as humans take things for granted and we complain when we don’t get exactly what we want. We talk about the Israelites sometimes and we are always going on about how ungrateful they were, but honestly we are no different except for the fact that what we complain about isn't getting written down (Yet).

I would encourage you to look at everything you have and realize just how fortunate you are for what you have and what God has done for you.

Hope you all enjoyed the article and got something out of it!

Chipper signing off.

The Missing Peace

How many of you have known someone who died? I have known many people who have died, some family some friends and some people I didn’t even know very well. It’s the ones we are closest to though that are the hardest. We all miss the ones we love when they die, and really when someone you are close to moves away, it’s kinda the same feeling. I mean not quite but it’s still the same general feeling, longing. We long for the ones who we lose; we miss them and want them back. We may stay up for days, weeks, even months in some cases missing the person. Missing their voice, the sound of their laughter, the way they walk down the hall. You miss every part of the person, and it seems like an endless cycle of misery and loss, it sometimes leads to depression. How do we keep from getting in this cycle? I have a verse here for you that might be of help.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 [New International Version (NIV)]

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

This is something God was telling his people. Sometimes we may not know where our life is going, or where God is leading us, sometimes we even lose sight of him. But this verse is a reminder that he is always watching out for us, he knows your future so there is no need to be afraid or miss someone because there is also the thought that if someone dies, you will one day see them again in heaven. No matter what happens here, no matter how much pain you go through, God is always watching and has a plan for you, and remember this, his plan for you is the best thing that’s possible for you. So even when things are rough, don’t lose hope, keep your sights on God, and you know what? It will give you peace, always remember that.

Just a random article I had some sudden inspiration for.

Chipper signing off.

(Also thank you to my sunday school teacher for reminding me of the verse)

The Broken Heart

Do you ever feel like someone ripped out you heart? Do you feel like you want it to end but it doesn't seem like God is listening? Do you feel tempted to commit suicide? Have you ever turned something into an outlet where you try to release all your pain where no one else can see? Or have something that you go to that keeps the pain at bay for a while?

If you have felt or done any of those things, you are not alone… I kinda feel all of those things right now. I’m a teenage guy and yes I actually have feelings. Some people would think that I didn't feel much but to be honest I probably feel a lot more than people expect. A lot of you probably are also teenagers that are reading this and if you’re not, then here is a little insight on how we think.

As a guy I’m expected to deal with it, a phrase that I have heard ever since I was little, from one of my sisters. Deal with it, is not really the way things should go. Like yes we need to be able to stand through the pain and stand your ground (I do believe that is song lyrics from a song) but we don’t want to just hold it all in. We need someone to go to who we can talk to about our problems, which always helps me.

Going to switch gears just ever so slightly here. So my sister got married within the past week and so I have been dealing with the pain of her moving away. I don’t usually show it but the pain is always there, and then last night I had some suspicions of mine confirmed. I found out that the girl I have a crush on is once again in a relationship with a guy. So here I am trying to stay strong for the rest of my family and trying to deal with 2 hear breaking pains at once. My advice, don’t get a crush on someone. It is one of the worst pains as a teen that I have had to endure. I’m not trying to complain to you all, I’m sorry if you feel that way right now, but trust me I’m not.

So how can you keep going and deal with all the pain the hurt the feeling that sometimes people don’t care about you. How do you deal with this? To be honest I’m not exactly sure the best way. Some people think the answer is suicide. Some think its drugs or drinking. I personally have a bad habit of submersing myself in video games. The best way I can think of is by praying to God and by talking to people about it. I know it’s hard to talk to people about it but it actually does help. That’s all the advice I can give on that.

I guess I need to go help my dad so I’ll leave it off here.

Chipper signing off

The USA Going The Wrong Way

Yeah I’m a teen, but I care about my country and the direction it’s going in. I mean why should I not? I love my country but I worry about what is going on, like with all the new laws that are being implemented and such. I just studied WW2 last semester in school, and looking at what happened in Russia and Germany before and during WW2. Looking at that and then looking at what is happening today? I was shocked at how similar things are. We have law after law restricting our freedom, and what do the people do? Nothing, absolutely nothing, if anything they are encouraging it. We are all fooled; we want the government to do everything for us, and what happens? The government starts to take away our freedoms that our founding fathers fought for.

It’s not only the government that’s going the wrong way, it’s also the people. We have abortions every day that kill unborn babies and yet we just brush over that and show you some cute little puppy that was “abused” that needs your help. We care more about our animals than our kids. The churches have been silent and sat and watched as our freedoms are being taken away. We were told to sit down and shut up, and we seem to be doing way too good at that.

This is the country I’m growing up to. And I don’t know about you but I want to change things. It’s time that we were no longer silent. It’s time that we spoke out for our freedom and defended it!

I’m sorry if I was a bit forceful with this post, I just feel very strongly about this subject.
If you have any questions about this topic please post a comment or send me an email.

Chipper signing off.

How To Contact Me

Hey all!
I just made a special email just for the blog. If you would like to get a hold of me email me @ chippersrandomramblings@gmail.com
You can either text or email me using this address.