the joy of the Lord

it is fun to sit and listen to our church choir sing. i actually really enjoy this. there is something that i enjoy more than this though: to watch my brother John sing and listen and smile as he hears the words and music. he really loves to sing. it's awesome to watch. to think that God worked many crazy things together so that he could be here is something even more amazing. if God hadn't worked hundreds of things together, there would have been no way for him to be here now. yet here he is, sitting next to me, listening and singing songs to God. please continue to pray for him, we are not certain of the state of his soul. he understands sin, though i'm not sure as to how much he understands atonement and Christ's work on the cross for him. he really is a great kid.

it's also great to watch my other brother Garrett sing in the choir this year. he just started in the choir but he has always loved to sing, even though it bugs me at times. he is seriously always singing. i wish that i was like that. as christian, we are always to be singing our saviors praise, he does things. he really is always singing, even in the shower at times. it is cool to watch him grow up. he is still very much a kid most of the time with his friends, but he is good at being serious when he needs to be. he just needs to learn when to be serious at certain times, because unless he is called or told to lead, he doesn't so much. he'll grow up though, he is the most disciplined person i know so i know that it is just a matter of time. i do wish i could have fun like him. my idea of fun isn't so fun, i generally just read or something, but people love him. he really is a huge leader, i just am not sure how much he realizes this. anyways, i've got off topic. it has been great to watch him sing on sundays and then also tonight at the concert.

"By this we know love..."

so tonight i was closing my eyes to go to bed and my mind was kinda sleepy but i wanted to go to sleep thinking of something good so i thought about a verse that i am studying to teach this wednesday.

1 John 3:16 "By this we know love, the he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers"

the first phrase really got me thinking and after a hour of thinking and 600 words, i figured i would write down some of my thoughts here.

"By this we know love..." how amazing is it that we know what love is because of what the Father and the Son has done for us. just as children learn to live and love from their parents, so we learn to live and love from our heavenly Father. we are His sons, we are like Him and so we should live and love like Him. in Matthew, we learn the greatest commandment, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strengthen, while the second greatest commandment is like it, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.
as Christ gave up His life for us, so we should give our life to Him. if we give our life to Him, then we should live our life the way that He would want us to live it.

my mind is seriously going in a million different directions a million miles per hour because of this phrase. this verse reveals a trait of God in it's entirety and it is the trait that means that most to us because this trait is what saves us from ourselves and brings us back to God.
i'm having a hard time writing my thoughts down because of how awesome this verse is and what it means to us. we get to know and see God's love for us and we also get to know how we are to live our lives. this is what it is to be Christian, to live and love as Christ.