What is LIFE?

For a moment, let us put the arguments for and against Jesus aside and think on this…

What is LIFE?

Think about it.
No, I don’t mean a lifespan.
What is life? How is it that plants, animals, humans…. are ALIVE?
We know that something is keeping them alive because there is a time when they die. Is it the air that sustains them, oxygen? No, because oxygen still surrounds them even when they are dead. What then makes something alive?
I’ll tell you what it is.. It’s life.

How do you define life?
It’s something we can’t even put our finger on, really. The dictionary says its a “condition” that sets us apart from “inorganic matter” that includes the possibility/capability of growth, changes.. Blah, blah, blah…. but is this what you think of when you think of LIFE? Are we on the same page? Take a look at a delicate flower. Look at the varieties and the colors, shapes, designs! Look at how intricately they operate.. How small some of the parts are, yet how perfectly placed. But the design set aside..
What makes a flower come alive? When the seed first starts to sprout under ground.. This is the first sign of life.
But how does it start? When does it begin? Is there a secret formula? No. If there were, we would have been able to create it on our own by now.
How long is life? Is there a set time? Some things live longer than others… We can estimate the span of life, but we cannot know it. We can observe life, but we cannot see it. All we see are the effects of life in something.
What are those effects? When we think of a flower that is alive, we might think of bright green stems, healthy, vibrant colors, beautiful, details, shape/form, energy…. but it’s so much more than that isn’t it? There’s an element that is unexplainable, isn’t there? We associate these adjectives with life, don’t we? We say things like “she is so full of life!” full of what? Life is just the term we use to describe this invisible force or energy.. Whatever we might call it. When something is dead, it is not that death has entered into it and killed the life.. It merely means that the life once there has now gone. Death is the word we use to describe the absence of life. So then, what is life?

Atheists can’t define it successfully.
If they could, they would mention it in their arguments… But then again, the fact that they don’t, shows you that the presence of life among us points to God’s existence, doesn’t it? You see, the problem with the atheist is that he thinks the idea of a “supreme being” or God who exists, yet has no beginning or end, is ridiculous. So what does he do? He laughs at it, talks about how idiotic the idea is. Okay, so say God doesn’t exist. Then where did life come from? To say it came from God, the Giver of Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, makes absolute, perfect, simple sense. But he just rejected the idea of God’s existence, so now what? Well, to tell you the truth, the atheist doesn’t have an answer. He hides behind the idea of evolution and embraces that. But as we all know, nothing cannot create something, so they’re stuck there too. But it doesn’t stop there. The Atheist has still not dealt with life. Do you want to know why? I’ll tell you why! Evolution merely explains a process of how things supposedly came to be, but that does not describe what life is.
Life is something none of us can deny because we have all seen it in something and have all experienced it firsthand with its presence in us. To say that life just happened and was not given by a higher, more powerful force/being is to say that life is the most powerful force, right? Without Someone (i.e. God) or Something controlling the presence of life in us, that makes life the most powerful force in the universe. Did I lose you in that statement? Think about it. We all see and have seen when life resides in a person, animal, or plant and when it doesn’t. And from what was said above, we know that there is not a set time limit to life.. It is unpredictable. Again, we can have estimates, like when doctors tell patients they have a month to live, but those doctors cannot tell the patients the exact day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond when life will leave the patient’s body. Who or what then controls life’s presence? If God doesn’t, then wouldn’t it make sense to say that life would control when it left and entered something? Well then if that be the case, this would make life the most powerful energy/force in the universe, having complete control over the future of us and the universe. Hmm… is it just me or does this sound familiar? An attribute that we associate with God is His ability to do anything, to control the future and the here-in-now. Thus, life would be god, the force that has control over us all. But if the Atheist came to this conclusion, it would contradict the very foundation of his belief (that there is no god). Therefore his approach to this problem is he beats around the bush, asking other questions that seem to stump people right away and distract them from seeing any flaws in his argument.

I tell you it takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. We, as Christians, believe that God holds our life in His hands.. It is not superior to Him.. And that life is merely His breath. He breathes life into us, into animals, flowers, plants… yes there are certain things we all need to STAY alive, like water, etc.. But life BEGINS when He breathes His breath into us. And that was when Adam became alive in the Garden of Eden. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” - Genesis 2:7

See how simple things are?
Yes, we have questions! But Atheists, people who refuse to believe there is a god and try to answer these questions with missing information, are forced to complicate things so that they at least SOUND like they fit. But let me point something out to you. Atheists really do not have many answers, if any at all. Their glory is manipulation and intimidation. They tweak questions and answers, manipulate the possible choices for answers, and have formed their own religion in rebellion against God, claiming God does not exist. But the atheist has a god. The atheist worships his intellect; his ability to come up with questions that seem to stump other people with opposing views. He worships himself, often times. Not in the sense of singing worship songs to himself, obviously. All worship is, even according to the world’s dictionary, is adoration or devotion that is shown to someone or something. It’s what happens when we begin to give ourselves over to someone or something, devoting all our time and energy on that one thing.. When it begins to consume us and we begin to live for it. That is worship. Most atheists thus, worship intellect, knowledge, or themselves. They live only for themselves and have thus made themselves god. So then, it is safe to say that most, if not all, atheists are hypocrites because they make something god through their worship of it, while claiming they believe there is no god.

teacher died

Today has been a very CRAZY and insane day so far and it's only 12pm. First of all, I woke up late and was almost 2 hrs late to my first class (which is 3 hrs long). Parking was horrendous. I have an assignment due on Thursday in my photo class, which I had hopes of finishing in my first class, but that didn't happen, needless to say. I don't know where my student ID card is and I need it to print in the darkroom, so I decided it would be better to miss school today so I could go home and find it and finish my project. So on my way home I texted a few friends letting them know I wouldn't be at my other classes and asked them to take notes. The first girl responds by saying (well, texting) "our teacher died". I was like WHAT?! I thought she was maybe pulling my leg cause how am I supposed to know if it's true or not? I'm not in class like she supposedly is. When I asked her if she was messing with me she said she wasn't and was serious. Later I called the school to find out and they said it is true... our chemistry teacher DID die and we will have a new instructor for the rest of the semester. I'm still sitting here just stunned right now. Our teacher wasn't that old. She was married to her high school sweetheart and has two kids still at home... it wasn't expected at all. I wonder if she knew the Lord... I don't know. How sudden our lives can change when we least expect them to. When suddenly life is vanished, taken from us forever, and nothing is the same. Those poor kids. I don't know what I would do without my mom. But her kids were even younger than me! I hope God uses this to make sure the rest of her family is saved... but wow. Life really is a vapor like it says in James. And we really don't know when our last day will be... it's definitely very sobering to think about. We don't know how much time we have left. Let's try not to waste it. Use it for God's glory.

better!

Better today! :) At least I'm getting there. Now It's time to jump back into the swing of things... ugh. Sometimes life can be so busy it's annoying and no matter how hard you try to slow things down, everything else seems to keep piling up! Anyways, trying to mentally prepare myself to go back to school on Tuesday. I can't believe Easter is this weekend! Doesn't even feel like it at all! Which is sad.. I wish it did. I wish we had a Passover Feast! That would be so cool! Someday I want to go to Israel do the whole tour thing. THAT would be amazing.

sick today.

ugh. Sick today. And yesterday. And probably tomorrow. Noooo.... :( No fun at all! It's kinda worked out nice cause it's given me time to catch up on editing some photos, but my head feels like it's a 1,000 pounds and has swelled up to twice its normal size. Such a bad headache with a slight fever. Plus I have a cough so I have to keep taking that NASTYYYY, overpowering cough syrup every 4 hours. It makes me gag. It is SO disgusting!! I literally have to swallow it really fast and then chug some water and then quick grab something to eat to get rid of the residual cough syrup flavor. Oh, and I also have a nose/sinus issue too. haha. So I'm all congested. Right now I'm on Sudafed, Cough med, and Aleve... and some emergen-C. I don't think I'm allowed to take anything else. lol. Might be considered an overdose, who knows. anyways! Had to miss work and church today. :(

Interesting...

God is very capable of speaking to us everyday. Sometimes He does. But sometimes He chooses silence for a voice. Nevertheless, it doesn't change anything about the fact that He wants to constantly fill you with His Spirit every moment of every day.

Even when my world is crashing down all around me; even when everything is falling apart; when all my hopes and dreams are like ashes that scatter in the wind, help me to remember You are ALL that I need. Jesus, give me eyes to see You in my life every day that I'm alive. Even if I just see Your hand or Your foot, I just want to know that You are there.

Women's Retreat

So this weekend I went with my Mom to the Women's Retreat! It was my first time and it was fun... Chelsie and I were laughing practically the entire time... mainly at ourselves, but anyways that's a whole different story. haha. Love you, Chels! So the retreat was pretty awesome! Joana Weaver was the speaker and MAN!! She was so good! The Lord spoke to me alot through her!

But besides all of that, I wanted to show you something that happened while we were there! Last night Chelsie and I went into the hot springs and I didn't even think twice about jewelry. I have two silver rings... one being my promise ring... and well, I didn't take them off before going in.. and apparently, the sulfur in the water TOTALLY tarnished both of my rings! They looked like mood rings, I am not even kidding you!! So when I got home tonight I took out the silver polish and fixed them! Yay! Now they look new! :) Here are the before and after pics of one of the rings!

- Lar

Girls Discipleship Group

Three weeks ago (February 24th) was our first girls discipleship group meeting. We started going through the book of Esther the following week and it has been so awesome! The Lord's been showing me alot through it and it is so awesome! It's kinda like a bonus for my devotions too, cause since I'm asking God to show me what He wants me to tell these girls, I find myself digging deeper and looking up meanings to words and all. It's cool. I love it and I know that I'm already benefiting from it! haha. And I love to be able to share what God's pointed out to me to the girls as well.

Here is the flier I made for it! :)




Please keep us in your prayers! And pray that the Lord will continue to speak volumes to me of everything He desires these girls to know, and different perspectives He wants them to see Him from.

- Lar