Distractions

Isn't it crazy how we can get so distracted from God? What is even crazier is that a lot of the times we think we are on the right track, but we can even get distracted by spiritual things. A worship song can distract us from Jesus. Especially for people who lead worship. A paper on a religious topic for school can distract us from the God who is allowing us to live so we can write this paper for school. Right now I'm writing this paper on the emergent church for one of my classes. It has to be pretty long, and I'm getting pretty stressed about it. It's a huge distraction for me because I need to realize that it is Jesus in me that is allowing me to live, to be at this school, and it is an honor to write this paper to learn more about this movement.

Right now, my church is doing a sermon series on how to kill a church. The Bible promises that the church will flourish, but he doesn't promise that every church building is going to survive and Noel, the pastor there has been giving every week a different thing that could potentially kill a church. The first week he talked about how our beliefs could kill a church. He talked about the importance of the resurrection, and how simply without it, none of us could believe what we believe. He talked about how the resurrection should be preached on all throughout the year, not just on Easter, and we should constantly be celebrating and acknowledging it. The next week he talked about how we can kill a church with our lives, and how we live it. He said that our lifestyles or a lot of times ones of hypocrites and of course, full of sin.

The next week he talked about how we can kill a church with our actions and with favoritism. I really liked this one because it is so true. There is so much of this in the church, and it is not biblical, and is not needed. Our actions should always be that of Christ's, and it's just not true. Today, Noel talked about how we can kill a church with our words. Hmm. Pretty interesting. I just heard someone swearing up a storm on campus. That breaks my heart. It breaks my heart to know there are lost people on this campus, and that people either don't notice or don't care. I wish I knew who this person was.

This campus needs prayer people. There is no doubt in my mind that revival is happening, but it needs to come onto this campus more and more everyday.

It's way to late to continue to think.
Love, Marc

Contemplation

I sit here with my dear friend Becca to my left I wonder what homework to even begin. I mean I have a group project, a individual project, two six page papers and a one act scene to successfully direct before school gets out, and yet I decide to blog. A ton has been tugging at my heart, and sometimes I can't even put on paper (or computer screen) all of it, but I think its healthy to put at least some of it on here.

What does it look like to live radically? Marrissa had a good point today in the choir devotion. Am I living radically for Jesus? I don't think I am. Is being on Wellspring radical? Is being a PA radical? Or am I completely sidetracked in thinking that? Am I just living comfortably? I really want to research this.

I had probably the crappiest week of my college career last week. But the weirdest part is last week I've gotten more encouragement from people than ever before. This really isn't contemplation, but simply me constantly being more in awe of Jesus than ever before. Two things specifically really got me down (petty things, of course), but through those, I've gotten even closer to Brad Moss. Someone I didn't think I could get closer to. The ways I appreciate him is definitely something I want to blog about...maybe at the end, but anyways, through the crap of last week, I've been completely encouraged by so many people, and that is why I love this college so much. It is full of staff and professors to encourage me, and full of incredible people to mentor, and support me through everything. Paul Patton is the great ever. 'Nough said.

I am so excited to live in U-Hall next year. I cannot wait to live with the brothers I'm going to live with, and serve with them! I'm so ready to be intentional, and that is something else I have been thinking about lately. Ever since the new PA list went out, I have just been convicted. I feel like the biggest mistake I've made this year is attempting to create the illusion to my students that I am perfect. I feel like it pushed many of them away from me because they felt it impossible for them to create a relationship with me. That is not going to happen next year. I still feel this year went really well, that was just my biggest mistake.

Anyways, I just wanted to take a couple lines to tell you about my best friend. I really want to start to use this blog to encourage others who have made an impact in my life, and I don't think there is any other man I could think of right now who deserves some encouragement. I love Brad Moss, and I know he loves me, and I'm really thankful for that. He has said some of the most encouraging things to me, and I couldn't thank him enough for it. Brad Moss is a man after God's own heart, whether he knows it or not sometimes. His humility baffles even himself sometimes, and I can't quite wrap my head around that. I hope I can be what Brad was to me for my students, and right back to him. I consider our friendship a dual mentorship, and I pray I can be the mentor to him as he is to me. Last week is a great example. I didn't get the housing choice I wanted, and if you don't mind me getting completely honest, I was mad. I was so frustrated because I thought it was because there was something about me that bothered the other people in the house therefore resulting in them not choosing me. I was wrong in that, and Brad helped me realize that it wasn't something about my character, but simply just something. He helped me realize (just like Doug) that I am who I need to be, and the only person that can question my character is the Lord. My character is not something I feel needs to be changed, however, I didn't feel that way last week. Now, Brad didn't just say "You're dumb, stop it." He really dug deep and made me completely vulnerable by answering questions I didn't really know how to answer, and made me really think about how I'm viewing these situations. He helped me through my other frustration that week too, by simply just going out and hanging out with me for a night. It literally made my week.

The relationship I have with Brad is what I want with all my friends. I don't want the same exact friendship with everybody because that would be boring, but the base of our friendship is solid. It is the Solid Rock. Jesus is our base, and that is what I want for everyone, and I pray that it can be like that for even the people I know who may not love Jesus. I love this man, and I am SO excited to see where he goes from here.

I love you all. Thank you for faithfully reading

-Marc

Home

Ever since I've been at Spring Arbor, I've never really called Lansing home. I can honestly say that although I love and adore my friends at Spring Arbor, home has been so much better. I've met some incredible people that I'm going to know forever, and I've rekindled friendships from high school, and we've been growing so much closer.

The cool part about it, though, is that they are all completely head over heals in love with Jesus. Every single one of them. Their whole lives are for him, and they are consistently reaching out, studying the word, studying together, and loving. They love all the time.

Meet James. James is a hard working, freaking hilarious, easy going person who loves to love, and show Christ through it. There is no way the love he pours comes from himself, but from the Jesus, who also happens to be the love of his life.It's been awesome to see how much he loves the students at his church, and invests in their lives. I knew him in high school, but it's been super cool to develop a deeper friendship.


Cayden loves more than anyone I've ever met before in my entire life. Seriously. Let me tell you something. He lives in Lansing in not the best neighborhood with some guys (including James) and his life has just been wrapped around loving on the people in his neighborhood. He knows the name of almost every kid in the neighborhood, and he just loves on these kids so selflessly. It has been an incredible honor to watch Cayden grow and grow and grow. I think what fasinates me most about him is how in tune he is with the Holy Spirit, and what his calling is as a Christ Follower. I see Jesus in Cayden. It is so cool how apparent it is in him. It has been nothing but pure joy seeing Cayden and see how he's changed from when I knew him in high school.


Finally, meet Doug Mains. Doug Mains plays music, and he is quite good at hit. In fact, he's incredible. I had the privilege of meeting this kid at church last semester, and I'm so happy I did. From the moment I've met him, he's shown me nothing but love, and throughout our friendship he has been the one that has encouraged me the most out of anybody I know. Through sharing with him about the horrors of my past, and the deepest things in my heart, he shoots back with great advice and a TON of encouragement. He's the one that shows me that it's okay to be me, and people like me the way I am just by simply caring intentionally, listening, and loving. The love of Jesus is apparent in him also. I've never met someone who isn't in school yet studies the bible daily, and lives by it's every word. I love this kid. [check out Doug's music here: http://www.reverbnation.com/dougmains].

Also, Kelly is in this picture. She is the most genuine person I've ever met. Seriously.


I think the key word here is love. These four people I've talked about simply love to love, and it truly means a lot to a person that sometimes finds it hard to love himself. I've been completely convinced that I should be, and need to be who I am because of these people. I've learned that I don't need to change anything about me because I simply can't be liked by everyone. It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks. I've loved every minute of time I've spent with them.