The Sting of Death

Manda asked me the other day, "Why do people have to die, and if people have to die, why does it always have to be so painful and miserable?" Her grandma died last night after a several week long battle with all sorts of problems, and it is simultaneously heartbreaking and relieving. We are all relieved that she is no longer suffering, but our hearts are torn in two at our loss, but also at the loss of those around us.

After hearing about her death last night I was incredibly sad and spent a good deal of time in tears, and then I started thinking about death, about the curse, and about the question I mentioned before. So here are my thoughts.

When Adam and Eve first sinned the brought death into this world. What was a perfect creation, full of absolute joy and free from sorrow, suddenly was introduced to a curse that would haunt humanity for the rest of its existence. Where there had previously been eternal, blissful life, tragic, destructive death was thrust into the midst of it all; and we were cursed..."You will certainly die."

Now I have always considered this curse to fall on everyone, but to be on everyone individually. Every one of us will die, it was not meant to be that way, but that is the way it is now, and that is the curse. However, as I was thinking this morning I realized something else. The curse is not just individual. It is a collective curse on humanity. We all feel the sting of death. In fact, there are those who have never died (Enoch & Elijah), but they were still subject to the curse of death.

When someone dies, in many ways, it is hard on those that are left, not the one who died. It is the living who are cursed by and suffer as a result of death. For the one who died, whether it was quick and painless, or drawn out and miserable, death is a completion, a step into what is next, which can be either a return to the glorious paradise we were intended for or a full completion of the curse for all eternity. (Now if someone does not know God and enters death without salvation, the full magnitude of the curse is realized in an eternal death and separation from God. This is far worse than what the living suffer, and it is not God's desire. He "is patient with you, not wanting any to perish...") With that in there, I return to the curse of death on the living. I seemed to realize today how immersive this curse is. It doesn't just cause life to end at some point. It causes sorrow, suffering, depression, confusion, heartache, etc... for those who are left alive. The curse also causes murder, jealousy, adultery, and virtually every other type of evil in the world. The curse of death involved death of our morals and our spirit and our connection with God, and this is the greatest blow. "The sting of death is sin."

So why do people die, and why is it painful and miserable? Because we are cursed. Because we have walked away from God, and this means that absolutely everything in life falls under the curse of death. We are all walking dead.

HOWEVER

If this were the end of this blog I would expect everyone to go away incredibly depressed, but it's not the end. Here is the second part of what I realized this morning.

When Jesus came to this earth and became a human. He willing entered the curse of death. He went from being Life, absolutely, to being subject to death's curse, and He experienced the curse, to its fullest extent. He felt the sorrow and loss associated with those you love dying. "Jesus wept." He felt the individual fulfillment of the curse as He suffered and physically died. He was even separated from God. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He became fully cursed for us, but He then did something so amazing! He conquered the curse! He overcame it! He shattered it against the rocks and offered freedom to us as well!

In the past, when I have read "Death has been swallowed up in victory." - 1 Corinthians 15:54b I have always thought of it in terms of Jesus overcame death and rose from the grave, and because He is alive He is able to offer us salvation. This is absolutely true, but it is so much more! Victory over death was not just victory in that single instance. As I said before, it was victory over the curse completely! "O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" - 1 Corinthians 15:55 This does not mean that we will no longer die or that death will no longer be painful for those left alive, but what it does mean is that death does not have to hold us in bondage anymore. While it is still painful, we now have hope and joy that run deeper and stronger than any fear or sorrow that death holds! The sting of death is sin, but death no longer has its stinger. Like a bee that stings and the stinger stays behind and the bee dies, Death had its shot. It stung at what it thought would be its greatest victory, but instead its stinger was left behind and the curse of death was defeated!

"He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face..." - Isaiah 25:8

So we have hope and we have joy in the face of death now! We no longer have to fear it, and while it is hard, and we will miss her grandma, we have that joy that death did not win, and in this passing, her grandma stepped out of the curse and into the paradise of God's presence!

Mallory Punmpkin Pictures

So I have been really terrible at updating this blog, but I was recently inspired to post more pictures and videos of Mallory, and to just generally update this much more often. So, these pictures are a bit old, but here they are!



 

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Family Photos

I keep my family on my desk at work, but not with the typical photos. Below are my family photos that I keep on my desk.

1st of all we have Mallory:

These awesome bedazzled animal stickers were my birthday present from Mallory. She picked them out herself and was so excited to give them to me, and they are absolutely amazing! They now adorn my computer screen, but I have a bunch left so I need to figure out what else to put them on! Everytime I look at them they remind me of my beautiful daughter!

Second we have Manda:

About a month or so ago it was insanely crazy busy at work, and I wasn't able to take lunch several days in a row. It was a bit stressful. So Manda went and picked me up lunch, Happy Meals to make me happy, and included with the Happy Meals, of course, were these awesome superhero toys! So now I have Spiderman, Captain America, and the Silver Surfer adorning my desk. Cpt. America throws his shield, it's quite fun to play with! I now look at these, or play with them, and it makes me happy, and reminds me of my incredible wife and all of the amazing things she does!

Finally, my mom:

 Now I'm not trying to say this is a representation of my mom... On Father's Day she bought me a Mr. Potato Head, because I was saying how much I love them and wanted one. So now I have a Mr. Potato Head who resides on my desk, and is played with by everyone in the office. My mom also bought me parts for a Mr. Potato Headesque Pirate Pumpkin, they are a bit bigger, but still fit on my Mr. Potato Head as well. So right now I have a Punk Pirate Potato, my mom. :)

MVD :\

Yesterday I attempted to go re-register my car, which has been expired for over a year. Yes I know. I should have registered my car a year ago when I was supposed to, but it's a whole long convuluted story of why I didn't. Anyways, I finally got everything in place that I needed to register my car so I went over to the MVD for the worst part of the whole process. I had forgotten how much I really despise the MVD. First of all, you have to wait for hours, literally. And why do you have to wait so long? Because there are hundreds of people there and the MVD only decides to open 5 of the 12 windows they have. That makes sense, right? Then, after you wait for over an hour and finally have them call your number, which they tell you when you get a number that they don't call in order, you go up the window, have them ask you what you are there for, and then they tell you to go sit back down and they will call your number again. This will take another hour or more.

It was so frustrating! I spent over an hour there, was late getting back to work, didn't eat lunch, and still wasn't able to get my car registered because I had to go back to work. Then, on top of it all, they close at 4 so there is no way for me to go during the week. I would do it online, but I let it go too long so I can't. Grrr

Anyways, I guess I will attempt this again on Saturday, but until then I will continue to be a driver with expired registration...

Yelp

I was attempting to add this to my main blog page, and for whatever reason, I cannot seem to figure out how to do it... Does anyone know where to place new HTML in the Blogger HTML editor to get it to show up in the Sidebar?

Recent reviews by Scott D.

What's this?

Goals

Yesterday was Manda and my 4th Anniversary. We didn't do anything huge or go on some trip across the country as we have done in the past. I took the day off work and we were able to spend the day together, just basically living life. It was great! Last night we got a babysitter for Mallory for a couple of hours, and Manda and I went out to dinner and got to talk for a long time. One of the things that we talked about was what each of our goals are.

Here are some of my goals that I came up with.

1. Learn Web Design: HTML, Java, Flash, CSS, whatever else. I want to be able to build and design webpages, and do it well.
2. Write a Book: This has sort of been a goal of mine since I was a little kid. I used to want to be an author. Now, with Manda's encouragement, my goal is simply to write a book. However, to that end, I am curious what type of book you like to read.
• What genre?
• Fast or slow paced?
• What is more important? Plot, Characters, Dialouge, Setting?
• What is inticing to you? Give me your thoughts.
3. Landscape our front/back yard. I have been slowly getting this done, we have planted a peach tree, and Manda bought me a Dogwood tree and Blueberry bush, which I planted yesterday, and we have been working on weeding and getting everything ready. My goal, however, is to have everything set-up, grass seed planted, a few more fruit trees, etc... in our backyard by the end of September. Eventually I want to have sections of bark and plants along the walls, grass and rock in the middle, a nice back porch with ceiling fans and lights and nice area for our grill, garden area for Manda, and I want to fix and make really nice the sandbox for Mallory, and get a swingset for her. After that I want to get the front yard looking really nice, picket fence, grass, bushes, flowers, and probably tear out our "mostly dead" tree and replace it. It's a lot, but I'm really motivated to get it all done and looking great for next summer!
4. Finish the laundry room project we have been working on for almost a year now. We have hit a setback in that we recently discovered we have a leak, which has resulted in a puddle on the floor with all the recent rain we have received, but I am still set on getting this thing done in the next month, and then finishing up all of the small projects I have left unfinished for the last year and a half.

At the moment that is all of my primary goals, except for one. I have a goal to continue making and reaching for goals, to continue growing and learning and accomplishing things! I will post again when I have met some of these goals, which should hopefully be soon!

A Daddy's Love for His Kid

As I write this Mallory is sleeping totally peacefully in her bed. She is so amazing and beautiful! I do think, however, that my skin secretes some sort of potion that puts her to sleep because every time I hold her she falls asleep almost instantly.

Anyways, tonight Manda went to Bible Study so Mallory stayed home with me, which was great! This is the first time, I think that I was able to have some just me and her time, not that time with Mommy isn't great as well, but it was nice to be able to spend some time with Mallory since I have to be at work so much and don't get that much time to spend with her. We did some laundry, watched some TV, listened to the radio, talked, and played. I even got some videos of her kicking her ball, which was pretty cool. I will have to put that up later, but it takes too long to upload at the moment.

I am just so amazed at how incredible this little girl is! She is so great, and she is such a perfect example of pure, innocent love and absolute joy! When she smiles you can't help to feel thrilled, and I don't know how anyone could keep from getting the biggest grin on their faces when she looks at you and laughs.

When she cries it is so devestating because all I want to do is make her feel better and bring the smile to her face again. It somehow seems so much more wrong for her to be upset because of the joy that eminates from her most of the time.

I guess I'm just basically saying that I absolutely love this little girl! She lights up my whole world, and I cannot imagine life without her. If she is crying and fussy at 2 in the morning or smiling and laughing in the middle of the afternoon, it doesn't matter. I love her all the same, she's my kid, and I am so amazed to realize that the intense burning love I have for her regardless of the fact that she has pooped in my face and kept me up for the past 3 months is absolutely, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in comparison to the love that God, my daddy, has for me, and has for every one of His kids, which means YOU too. I am blown away by that love!

It is SO Amazing!
Mallory is SO Amazing!
God is SO Incredibly Blow-you-away Awesome!

Goodnight!

Danger

Welcome back to another edition of SADness & Truth! It's been awhile since the last newsletter, and I hope everyone has been doing great! As it is nearing the end of the school year, and summer is fast approaching, I thought that I would tell you all about something that I used to have a blast doing during the summer as a little kid.

Do you remember Slip n' Slides? Those long pieces of plastic that you cover in water, throw your body on and slide! My brother and I played with those alot as kids. We used to live in a house that had a two leveled front yard with a rock wall, about 3 feet tall, that separated the upper yard from the lower yard. I remember deciding one summer that it would be fun to get 2 Slip n' Slides, have one end at the top of the rock wall and the other pick up 3 feet below in the lower yard. We would take a running start from the top, slide off the wall and, hopefully, continue sliding below. Sometimes it hurt, afterall we were falling on our stomachs from 3 feet up, and we could have potentially hurt ourselves by missing the slide below, sliding into the rocks, or many other things, but it was great and we did it despite the danger.

Similarly, we would often ride our bicycles down the hill in our back yard, off the 4 foot wall and onto the concrete patio below. Oh we set up a ramp of sorts made up of two 4 inch boards, one sticking straight out from the top of the wall and one holding that one up, to make the 4 foot fall a bit better, but it was still ridiculously stupid.

These are just a few of the supid things I did as a kid, but it makes me think about my life as a Christian. I did crazy, dangerous things as a child because I had no fear, and the things I was doing brought me joy and thrill. Our lives as Christians should be the same way. God calls us to do some crazy things, and yes, dangerous things. He never said that following Him would be a walk in the park. He said we would be picking up our cross every day, that we would face persecution and that Satan himself would fight against us.

'Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."' - Matthew 16:24

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me."

- Matthew 24:9

However, despite all of this God also tells us not to be afraid. He tells us to be like little children, having no fear and absolute faith in Him. Christianity is not boring, safe or simple it is dangerous and exciting, but through this we can experience the joy and thrill that comes from the fact that "perfect love drives out fear." So embrace the love, embrace the danger, put your total faith in that perfect love!

Do not be afraid!

Drinking the Water I'm Drowning in

Ok, so first of all, the title of this post is a bit strange and only loosely has to do with what I'm writing about. Just thought I'd get t out there.

Now, all I really want to say is this:

I have so many thoughts swimming through my mind right now it's crazy! Thoughts of joy, excitement, love, frustration, confusion, fear, sadness...basically I have a rainbow of thoughts running through my mind, and they are on everything from church to youth group to work to family to God...it's hard to contain it all and fall asleep...however, I will be talking about some of these ideas very soon so stay tuned.

That is all for tonight...

Goodnight!

Why must I work?

So this week was my first full week back at work since Mallory was born, and it was by no means something I was happy about. I slowly went from spending all day every day with my wife and new daughter, to being gone half the day for two weeks, to having to be gone all day long and only see Manda and Mallory for 20 minutes for lunch. :( I really wish that I could have a job that allowed me to work from home, but more about that later. For this blog I simply want to relay an incredibly sweet yet heart wrenching story from earlier this week.

Monday was my first day working full time, and when I got home at 5:30 Manda and I had dinner and I was busy getting everything ready for X-session. At 6:30 it was time for youth, which lasted till around 8. Afterwards, Mallory was quite upset. Manda tried comforting her, feeding her, changing her, the whole 9 yards, but nothing worked. She was holding her when she noticed her little head following me around the room, so she handed her to me. Almost immediately she stopped crying, looked up at me with her big blue eyes, and gave me a huge grin. :-)

You see, my daughter missed me. I had left all day and Mallory missed me after just one day. All she wanted was for her daddy, who had left, to hold her.

I'm sure you can see why this story is sweet. I mean what story that involves grinning, blue eyed baby girls isn't? However, for me it was also quite sad, because I really don't want to have to leave all day and have my daughter miss me. :-/

Bittersweet...

Death

I haven't written a blog in a while so I decided to jump back in with a light happy blog about death! That was sarcastic in case you couldn't tell. Death is not a light or happy topic, but, at least for me, it is a very intriguing one. A lot of people try to avoid death completely and others seem to embrace it unnaturally, but regardless peoples' reactions to death, the reason behind them is almost always because we are uncomfortable with it.


I've been thinking about death recently due to the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili on his luge training run last Friday. Death seems like it should be the most natural of all life's events, afterall, every single person experiences it at some point, yet, death is strangely unnatural to many people. There is something that just seems wrong or off with death. It does not seem like it should happen, yet there is no way to prevent it. Occasionally death seems a little more normal when someone has lived a long, full, happy life, and they die quickly and peacfully, however, even in those cases, death is surrounded with grief and tragedy, and those left are left with a sense of loss, as if something went awry somehow and a hole is now left. And that is death in its best circumstances. More often than not, death does not come peacefully to those who have lived full lives. It comes suddenly, painfully, shockingly, and to anyone from babies, to children, to young adults, to middle aged people, to the elderly. When death comes unexpectedly and suddenly it leaves more than just grief. It rips the fabric of people's lives apart, bringing grief, tragedy, depression, loss, and hopelessness that leaves a dark void, which can often bring about more death. How can this be natural?

I have seen and experienced death in many different ways, and let me tell you what should NOT happen.

A wife and mother should not have to receive a call telling her that her husband was killed in a car wreck on the way to work. That he will not be coming home, that he he will not see his daughter and son grow up.

Parents should not have to watch their son die of disease and then a few years later receive a call that their daughter was killed in a car wreck.

A son should not have to watch his mother slowly die of cancer, slowly forgetting everything, and becoming unable to even speak, as he cares for her in his home.

Parents should not have to experience the extreme joy of bringing a child into the world, be told everything is great with their baby, and then experience their child's death the next day.

Parents, friends, and girlfriend should not have to receive a call that their son, friend, and boyfriend was riding his motorcycle home and crashed and died.

A mother should not have to watch as her son slowly dies of disease.


These are just a few of the experiences with death that I have personally seen. There are many many more, and every one is tragic. I am left wondering, why, if death is so natural does it seem so wrong. Even many animals recognize a certain problem with death, and we can see elephants mourning when one of them dies. There are many thoughts and ideas and branches that can be taken to look at this topic of death, but I am not going to explore them all here. Death saddens me to no end, especially when it is sudden, and I find myself truly grieving when I hear of people dying, even if I have never heard their name, and when I think about it, I come to the conclussion that death seems so unnatural because it is. We are not meant to die. We were never intended to be mortal, and a part of us, still, is immortal, so when we see death we are disturbed, because it goes against what we were meant to be.

I am going to stop there and not go into anything else as far as why we now die, or what is immortal. I am sure you can guess my thoughts on that, but I am interested to hear what you think. It's a tough topic, and I just sort of threw out some loose ideas here, what are your ideas on either mine, or on death in general? One last question: This blog is entitled SADness and Truth, so death is definitely the sadness, can there be truth and joy discovered within the sadness? I believe that yes there is, but I want to know what you think.

"What's the point of all of this..."

A question that I have asked in the past, and which many people around me have and are asking in some form is this: "Why go to church?" "What's the point?" and similarly, "What should church be, and what should churches do?" I have been on both sides of this question at different points in my life. I have been hurt by churches and wondered what the point of church is, does it really do any good? I have also been, and currently am, on staff at a church, and I have had a great opportunity to see the benefit that church can bring.

People have all sorts of reasons why they go or don't go to a church. Some people absolutely hate churches and anything that has to do with them. I have seen people become so hurt by and upset with churches that they swear to never go back. I have also seen people who don't go to church because they don't have the time or energy, it's simply another chore for them, and obviously, there are those that don't go because they don't hold religious beliefs.

I have also seen people that go to church because it is a responsibility, something they are expected to do, or something that they grew up with and has become a habit. There are also those that are forced or coerced in some way to go to church and really don't want to be there. And, of course, there are those that go to church because they love it and want to be there to fellowship and worship.

All of this makes me wonder, what should churches be doing, what should their goal and purpose be? Should churches cater to those people who want to be there and ignore those that don't or should they reach out to try and draw in those that don't want to be there and take for granted that those that do will come regardless? Or should there be something between these two?

I have come to realize that church is a very important and essential part of my life, and as I am on staff at my church I want to try and ensure that we are doing everything that we should to ensure that we are reaching people where and how they need to be reached and not hurting or pushing people away, and I do not think that we should ever be content with or "stuck" in how we are doing things, but constantly be striving to make a difference. I also believe that church should not be a place that people merely go to. That's completely useless. It should be a place that people grow in and are changed by. In the movie "To Save A Life" there is a quote:

"What's the point of all of this if you're not gonna let this change you?"

So my question is this: What are you looking for in a church? What would make you want to go to church in the first place? What would make you want to stay at a church? What would change you if you experienced it?

God Bless!

DISCLAIMER

I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I have many flaws and faults, and I always will. I post a lot of stuff on here that could be classified as "sermons" or Bible Studies. They are truths that I have learned and am learning, but they are not my truths. They are God's truths, and they are relevant to anyone and everyone reading them, including me. Please never assume that I write with any intention other than sharing the amazing truths of God, many of which I am still learning and grasping myself. Do not judge the truth or power of the truth based on my imperfections. This blog is called SADness & Truth, and these are contrasting elements. The Truth reveals how sad the SADness is and the SADness reveals how incredibly amazing the Truth is!

God Bless!

Sadness: How can you help?

For the last several months the SADness part of this has been a story from my life a childhood, and that will continue, but for this month I wanted to look at a different kind of sadness. The world that we live in today is filled with sadness and sorrow. It is easy to see that when something major happens, like the earthquake in Haiti last week. It seems that when there is some major catastrophe in he world everyone's eyes are opened for a minute to see the help that so many need, but once the need is out of the news, off CNN and Facebook, and no longer a trending topic on Twtter we forget about it, but that doesn't mean it's gone. There are people all and us everyday that desperately need our help, and yes, they are in Africa and Haiti and other places like that, but they are also here in Albuquerque, in your neighborhood, at your school or work.

How many of you walk by, talk to, or interact with in some way, people everyday who do not have enough money to pay their bills, who do not have any food to feed their children or themselves, who are living on the street, or who have any of an assortment of other needs, physical, emotional, or spiritual? They are all around us, and often, as people, and even as Christians, we seem to put on blinders, we look directly in front of us and refuse to see the need surrounding us. Either we don't want to believe there are people who have needs, it is upsetting for us to see it so we look away, or we simply do not want to have to sacrifice our time, money, emotional investment to help someone out, especially someone we don't know.

So here is the challenge. As the recent earthquake has opened everyone's eyes to hurting and needy people around the world, keep your eyes opened. Be aware of people you see throughout the day who could use a little help. Be willing to make a sacrifice to show God's love to someone. I asked everyone in X-session this week, "What can you do to help someone else?" And, I ask you the same thing.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." - Luke 12:23

God Bless!

Waves

We are only 5 days into the New Year, and already I have had a whole slew of experiences, both great and terrible. I guess that just goes to show that it really doesn't matter what year we are in, life truly is full of joy and sorrow, but through all of it there is a constant that we can grab onto and ride through the roller coaster of waves that make up life.

This past weekend I preached at our church. This was amazing and terrifying at the same time! Now, I have been leading out with Bible Studies for many many years, and I have been a licensed as a minister and been leading a youth group for 2 years, but there is a difference between that and standing up in front of the church in the role of pastor. It was amazing and exciting because it was an opportunity to allow God to speak through me. It was terrifying because I had a whole church looking at me and trusting me to teach them and faithfully relay God's word. That's a huge responsibility! Saturday night I was quite nervous, but it ended up going great, and Sunday morning went even better. It was quite amazing! I will probably post the general outline of what I talked about soon. The ironic part of the whole thing was that I, the Youth Guy, was preaching because the Pastor was out of town on a youth ski trip. :)

So that was great! Then we had a bit of a sad day as we watched the Broncos get kicked out of the playoffs, followed closely by the Steelers, and then we watched the Bengals get killed, but they are already in the playoffs so Manda was ok with them losing.

Monday turned out to be an utterly dissapointing day. I was very excited to have youth that night and start a new year with new ideas and opportunities and chances to grow as a group and for each of us to grow individually with God. However, for the 1st time in 2 years, not a single person showed up. It was very dissapointing and frustrating, and to make things worse, I learned that a large reason for this is that my family is basically going through a shattering at the moment, which I won't go into, but which is wreaking havoc on everyone involved. 

I woke up this morning amazed at how much can happen in 3 days and how different every day can be, but I also realized, even more than I have before, that life really does not and will not make sense. We can have incredible, amazing experiences that are butted up against terrible devestating ones, but we cannot allow these things to determine how we live and feel. We must rely on God, every single day, every single second. If we are with Him we can trust that we have a secure path through the fog that surrounds us, but the farther away we get the more lost, confused, and cold we become. He is our guide and lifesaver in the ocean of life, and that is an incredible hope and security!