A Real and Full Beauty: Found in God?

I have been amazed at the beauty I have found in Germany, and I absolutely love this country. I just wish that I could speak the language. For our first week in Germany we spent it in Berlin and did a lot of touring the city and learning more about the city and the history of Germany and Berlin. Its cool to see things that were a major part of German history that were around when I was alive (a baby), like the wall.
I can't forget about the T.V. Tower put up by the CCCP and the park surrounding it.
What about the Brandenburg gate?
The Things that Impressed me the most in Germany......well.....Berlin at least, weren't the main tourist and historic sites (though they were amazing). The things that impressed me most were the Cathedrals.
The Berliner Dom
The German DomeThe French DomeThese Cathedrals were amazingly detailed and Beautiful, but why were they built like that. Maybe I'm Wrong, but aren't they built for the glory of God? We serve a great, creative and beautiful God and so why shouldn't the places we worship be beautiful. A building can't nearly reflect Gods beauty and glory, but why should they be plain and boring? The Beauty of these cathedrals were amazing and it was more pleasing to look at than any other building. It seems to me that Building that are built by man for the purpose or ego of man quickly loose their beauty and amazement. Right now in Chicago they are starting to build the tallest building in the world, to show it off for the 2010 Olympics. This was done once with the Sears tower and cool as it may be, it looses its glory very quickly.......yay.....a tall building. What about the Eiffel Tower?........yay......a large skeletal structure. Such things seem to loose interest very quickly, but why? Seems to me that they were made for the glory of man and not the glory of God. The Cathedrals which were meant for the glory of God to be a sacred place have such a greater beauty, God shows from all over the building and it seems to keep its beauty longer and for a greater purpose.


A Video about it

A Gift from God

I have been playing guitar more and leading worship a few times. Something I have rarely dome before. I am still lower level guitar player, So I am working on that.
A few weeks ago I was trying to sell my Playstation Portable(PSP) and my acoustic guitar, but it wasn't working out. I tried going to local pawn shops to trade them in for a nice acoustic/electric. At all the shops I went to they would only give me $120 for both of those items, and the guitars were at least $200
I went into one one shop and found a guitar That I liked. I asked the lady there about trading those items for that guitar, but the owner of the shop was not in. So I waited a while and played, then talked with her for a while. She was a Christian lady who had supported YWAM since she had moved to Texas. When the Owner Got back (Her son), she told him who we were and what we were doing. Thought the trade was in my favor, he did the trade directly for the guitar. He said "I know you will put the guitar for good use for a good purpose.".
So that is my Gift from God. I am trying my best to put it to good use and learn to play better
-B3n

God’s desire for relationship with us!!

Written by a friend of mine.

I thought this was a great blog that she had on her myspace.

Thanks Leah

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God’s desire for relationship with us!!

You guys when I read what I'm about to share with you in the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge, I was totally and completely overwhelmed. It brought me to tears because i had never thought about God in that perspective. So, i just have to share this with ya'll! When you read it, really think about it and make the comparison that its bringing across between God and His purpose for putting Woman on earth. Its incredible so brace yourself!! :)



God's Heart For Relationship

"The vast desire and capacity a woman has for intimate relationships tells us of GOD'S vast desire and capacity for intimate relationships. IN FACT THIS MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE EVER LEARN ABOUT GOD- THAT HE YEARNS! FOR RELATIONSHIP WITH US.
If you have any doubt about that, simply look at the message he sent us in Woman. Not only does God long for us, but he longs to be loved BY US. Oh, how we've missed this! How many of you see God as longing to be loved by you? We see him as strong and powerful, but not needing us, vulnerable to us, yearning to be desired. But as I wrote in Wild at Heart,

After years of hearing the heart-cry of women, I am convinced beyond a doubt of this: God wants to be loved. He wants to be a PRIORITY to someone. How could we have missed this? From cover to cover, beginning to end, the CRY of God's HEART is, "Why won't you choose me?" It is amazing to me how humble, how vulnerable God is on this point. 'You will find me,' says the Lord 'when you seek me with all your heart'(Jer. 29:13). In other words, 'Look for me, pursue me-I want you to pursue me.' Amazing. As Tozer says, 'God waits to be wanted.'

Can there be any doubt that God wants to be sought after? The first and greatest of all commands is to love Him, (Mark 12:29-30, Matt. 22:36-38). He WANTS us to love Him. A woman longs to be sought after, too, with the whole heart of her pursuer. God LONGS to be DESIRED. Just as a WOMAN longs to be desired. This is not some insecurity on the part of a woman, that deep yearning to be desired. 'Take me for longing,' Alison Krauss sings, 'or leave me behind.' God feels the same way. Remember the story of Martha and Mary? mary chose God, and Jesus said that THAT is what he wanted. 'Mary has chosen what is better' (Luke 10:42). She chose me.

Life changes dramatically when romance comes into our lives. Christianity changes dramatically when we discover that it, too, is a GREAT ROMANCE. That God yearns to share that life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure with us. 'I have loved YOU with an EVERLASTING love' (Jer. 31:3). THIS WHOLE WORLD WAS MADE FOR ROMANCE-THE RIVERS AND THE GLENS, THE MEADOWS AND BEACHES. FLOWERS, MUSIC, A KISS. But we have a way forgetting all that, losing ourselves in work and worry. EVE- God's message to the world in feminine form-invites us to romance. Through her, God makes romance a PRIORITY of the UNIVERSE.

So God endows Woman with certain qualities that are essential to relationship, qualities that SPEAK OF GOD. She is INVITING. She is VULNERABLE. She is TENDER. She embodies MERCY. She is also FIERCE and FIERCELY DEVOTED. As the old saying goes, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' That's just how God acts when he isn't chosen. 'I the Lord your God, am a JEALOUS God who will not share your affection with any other god!' (Exodus 20:5) A WOMAN'S RIGHTEOUS JEALOUSY SPEAKS OF THE JEALOUSY OF GOD FOR US.

Tender and inviting, intimate and alluring, fiercely devoted. Oh yes, our God has a passionate, romantic heart. Just look at EVE."

My Thoughts:

How can we not choose God after reading something like that? It broke my heart to hear God's heart cry and to think that he put woman on earth to be the epitomy of how His heart is towards us!!! Just think about bf's and gf's today......what do you do? what is romantic? Beaches and flowers and sunsets and rivers and streams. We love all that when we are dating someone, but GOD gave us and designed the whole earth and all the flowers in it and every sunset as a gift to us as we are in relationship with HIM!!! That thought totally blows my mind!! If you do not know Jesus in this way, then look in your heart and make things right and CHOOSE this loving, incredible, awesome, passionate, merciful God!! He is so amazing and all he wants is YOU!!!

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Just a thought

-B3N

Revolution against the paper

I understand how scissors can beat paper, and I get how a rock can beat scissors, but there is not way that a stupid piece of paper could beat rock. Is paper supposted to magically wrap around rock and leave it immobile? And Why cant paper do this to scissors? You know what? Screw scissors, why can't paper do this to people? Why aren't sheets of college ruled notebook paper constantly suffocating students as they take notes in class? I'll tell you why, because paper can't beat anybody!!! A rock would tear up that crap in 2 seconds. When I play rock-paper-scissors, I always choose rock. Then when somebody claims to have beaten me with their paper I can punch them in the face with my already clenched fist and say, oh crap I'm sorry, I thought that paper would protect you, moron!

Imagine if these people played like I do. there would be a lot of people coming out with bloody noses and black eyes.

See this? This is what happens to paper using fools!!!!

just a thought
-B3N

Where is your home?

47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
-Luke 6:47-48 (New International Version)

But what is a house other than something that you live in? Isn't Home the place where you long to be?

home–noun
2.the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.

Before I left for YWAM I lived in Ohio and that was home, even when my parents had moved to Delaware. Ohio was where my "domestic affections were centered" where my heart and mind were. I never lived in Delaware so it is not home to me, other than seeing my family. I'm going to my parents house, not home. In a similar way shouldn't this be how it is with God? He is not your house, but our home. We are longing to be with him, this is the place where we belong where we wish to be. It shouldn't be our house, the place that we temporarily dwell in, but the place where our heart truely lies and where we wish to be, dwelling with the Lord Almighty

Just a Thought
-B3N

The Haunted

She haunts me, a mistaken belief, a false hope.

Following me, torturing me,

reminding me of how i thought it should be.

A faint memory of how i wanted this to be.

Where do I go with this? How do I run away.

The pain is not enough for me to give up,

but not faint enough for me to forget.

May I remind you that it haunts me,

the ghost of what could have been,

or should i say, what should have been?

Leave me alone, for it shall never change.

Come tears and wash away this pain,

join me in a conversation that would lift my spirits,

give me a word that could express this event.

Grieve with me the loss of a love I never had.