42-Second Sermons: Introduction
(January 5, 2014)
Hey there, guys and girls. This is simply the introduction video. These videos are short, weekly tidbits of advice from me. While it was only 3 and a half years ago on May 7, 2010, that I graduated - while I also feel like an old man watching my friends grow and graduate in the youth - I have learned a lot, the hard way, and now I tell you guys every bit of wisdom I can in the Hopes that you guys might learn something from my Life and my mistakes to hopefully spare you from making some yourself.
This time in the Youth -Middle school and high school - is the shortest time in your Life. I know it feels like forever right now, but you guys need to really Live it up and enjoy every bit of it whole you can, because once it's gone, it's gone, and we only get older every day.
Love you guys.
Hey there, guys and girls. This is simply the introduction video. These videos are short, weekly tidbits of advice from me. While it was only 3 and a half years ago on May 7, 2010, that I graduated - while I also feel like an old man watching my friends grow and graduate in the youth - I have learned a lot, the hard way, and now I tell you guys every bit of wisdom I can in the Hopes that you guys might learn something from my Life and my mistakes to hopefully spare you from making some yourself.
This time in the Youth -Middle school and high school - is the shortest time in your Life. I know it feels like forever right now, but you guys need to really Live it up and enjoy every bit of it whole you can, because once it's gone, it's gone, and we only get older every day.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #1: Wait to Date
(January 6, 2014)
Money is only one - and not the most important reason - why you GUYS and GIRLS (but mainly guys since we pay for everything) do NOT need to worry about dating at your age. Instead, enjoy Life, and the youth group, save your money for more important and holy things, and have fun, not drama.
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
Money is only one - and not the most important reason - why you GUYS and GIRLS (but mainly guys since we pay for everything) do NOT need to worry about dating at your age. Instead, enjoy Life, and the youth group, save your money for more important and holy things, and have fun, not drama.
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
42-Second Sermons #2: Dating Part 2 (Let Me Clarify)
(January 6, 2014)
Listen, guys and girls. Dating itself is not a bad thing. But it CAN easily make you do lots of stupid things. My point is that you do NOT need a bf or gf to be happy, and if that's your focus, then you will never be happy. It is supposed to be a healthy, innocent, fun thing. When you date, you should be finding out what you do and do not want in a spouse. And be SMART with it; go on group dates, be friends with your bf/gf's friends, don't watch a movie at night alone with your door closed.
But at the same time, being single is a very, very good thing that you should appreciate while you are. Paul tells us it is good for a man [and women] to be single, but if you have the desire, then it is better for you to date and find out for yourself than to burn with desire. I Corinthians 7: "8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
Listen, guys and girls. Dating itself is not a bad thing. But it CAN easily make you do lots of stupid things. My point is that you do NOT need a bf or gf to be happy, and if that's your focus, then you will never be happy. It is supposed to be a healthy, innocent, fun thing. When you date, you should be finding out what you do and do not want in a spouse. And be SMART with it; go on group dates, be friends with your bf/gf's friends, don't watch a movie at night alone with your door closed.
But at the same time, being single is a very, very good thing that you should appreciate while you are. Paul tells us it is good for a man [and women] to be single, but if you have the desire, then it is better for you to date and find out for yourself than to burn with desire. I Corinthians 7: "8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
42-Second Sermons #3: Loved Ones
(January 12, 2014)
January 11, 2010, the first semester of my senior year. My Dad had a heart attack (severe atherosclerosis) and died at 7:31am. For future reference, I refer to this as Life's End, because I still can't say the words out loud. Kids, never waste a single moment or opportunity you are provided to express your feelings for, or spend time with, your parents, your family, or your friends.
When I was 8 years old, my Dad, with my Brother and I, began a project of rebuilding the fence line at our Family land. We finished when I was 17. The last year of His Life, I just stopped going with Him. He didn't force me to go. But He always reminded me that I was welcome. Little did I know I would never get to go down there with Him again.
My Dad and I have identical personalities, except He was a lot nicer and funnier, and not awkward like I am. As such, we were not physically affectionate with each other, nor did we ever say anything sappy. We knew that we loved each other without actually saying it, or physically expressing it. We told each other that by the Time we did spend together, talking, and laughing. But still. I wish I had said the words, and hugged Him more. Besides when I was a kid, I only remember hugging the Man one Time - once - in my entire Life.
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
January 11, 2010, the first semester of my senior year. My Dad had a heart attack (severe atherosclerosis) and died at 7:31am. For future reference, I refer to this as Life's End, because I still can't say the words out loud. Kids, never waste a single moment or opportunity you are provided to express your feelings for, or spend time with, your parents, your family, or your friends.
When I was 8 years old, my Dad, with my Brother and I, began a project of rebuilding the fence line at our Family land. We finished when I was 17. The last year of His Life, I just stopped going with Him. He didn't force me to go. But He always reminded me that I was welcome. Little did I know I would never get to go down there with Him again.
My Dad and I have identical personalities, except He was a lot nicer and funnier, and not awkward like I am. As such, we were not physically affectionate with each other, nor did we ever say anything sappy. We knew that we loved each other without actually saying it, or physically expressing it. We told each other that by the Time we did spend together, talking, and laughing. But still. I wish I had said the words, and hugged Him more. Besides when I was a kid, I only remember hugging the Man one Time - once - in my entire Life.
Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
42-Second Sermons #4: Hard Work
(January 19, 2014)
Ecclesiastes 2:23 - "There is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink and find JOY in his WORK."
Guys, I like the song The Big Rock Candy Mountain in which they hung the jerk that invented work as much as the next guy, and I know work is hard, and sweaty, and tedious, but what it will do more than anything is build character. I was fortunate - yes, fortunate - enough to have grown up working all of my Life. As I told you in the last video, ever since I was a kid, one big project was going down to our Family farm every Saturday and working for 6-7 hours on various things, chiefly rebuilding the barbed wire fence line. My first jobs were mowing and raking and doing odd jobs for neighbors and family friends.
Work builds character. Manual labor and any kind of work in which you must do to achieve any desired result. The lack of work, and thus character - which is evident all around us just by looking around the mall, any Starbucks, the campuses of REL, JT, TJC, and UT Tyler, and any idiot in their giant truck with mudding tires on the road - is appalling, and they are directly connected. Lack of work is a lack of discipline.
Love you guys.
Ecclesiastes 2:23 - "There is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink and find JOY in his WORK."
Guys, I like the song The Big Rock Candy Mountain in which they hung the jerk that invented work as much as the next guy, and I know work is hard, and sweaty, and tedious, but what it will do more than anything is build character. I was fortunate - yes, fortunate - enough to have grown up working all of my Life. As I told you in the last video, ever since I was a kid, one big project was going down to our Family farm every Saturday and working for 6-7 hours on various things, chiefly rebuilding the barbed wire fence line. My first jobs were mowing and raking and doing odd jobs for neighbors and family friends.
Work builds character. Manual labor and any kind of work in which you must do to achieve any desired result. The lack of work, and thus character - which is evident all around us just by looking around the mall, any Starbucks, the campuses of REL, JT, TJC, and UT Tyler, and any idiot in their giant truck with mudding tires on the road - is appalling, and they are directly connected. Lack of work is a lack of discipline.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #5: Doubts & Questions
(January 27, 2014)
Guys, this is just scratching the surface of what is on my heart for all of you about questions and doubts. I know you kids, just like I did, have questions and straight-up doubts - and not just small ones - about lots of things. Listen to me: NEVER, ever, be afraid to ask questions. Ask lots of questions. But know this: you will never stop having questions. Because they cannot all be answered.
If anyone tells you - or acts like - they have all the answers, and you know who these people are, you need to run the other way. Fast. Science does not answer everything. <--If you raised your eyebrow at that statement, please ask me in person what I mean. It's something that I wrestled with for the greater half of 2010. And what I have finally come to rest with is that even though all of my questions aren't answered, I have enough questions answered and enough information to make a solid foundation upon which I simply cannot doubt God, or Scripture, and I have rest in the fact that He is there, and He knows the answers, and I do not need to know the answer to everything.
People will say all kinds of things about religion; about the terrible things people do in the name of religion, how people just use religion as a means to cope with the world, and many things. These people are not employing even basic logic. Many people have done and do bad things in the name of religion, and many Christians are the most judgmental, ignorant, and hypocritical people on the planet; but this does NOT REPRESENT Christianity. And it is no excuse to blow off Christianity.
Love you guys.
Guys, this is just scratching the surface of what is on my heart for all of you about questions and doubts. I know you kids, just like I did, have questions and straight-up doubts - and not just small ones - about lots of things. Listen to me: NEVER, ever, be afraid to ask questions. Ask lots of questions. But know this: you will never stop having questions. Because they cannot all be answered.
If anyone tells you - or acts like - they have all the answers, and you know who these people are, you need to run the other way. Fast. Science does not answer everything. <--If you raised your eyebrow at that statement, please ask me in person what I mean. It's something that I wrestled with for the greater half of 2010. And what I have finally come to rest with is that even though all of my questions aren't answered, I have enough questions answered and enough information to make a solid foundation upon which I simply cannot doubt God, or Scripture, and I have rest in the fact that He is there, and He knows the answers, and I do not need to know the answer to everything.
People will say all kinds of things about religion; about the terrible things people do in the name of religion, how people just use religion as a means to cope with the world, and many things. These people are not employing even basic logic. Many people have done and do bad things in the name of religion, and many Christians are the most judgmental, ignorant, and hypocritical people on the planet; but this does NOT REPRESENT Christianity. And it is no excuse to blow off Christianity.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #6: Think for Yourself
(February 1, 2014)
Hey, guys.
Throughout your whole Life, you will meet very intelligent people who are not Christians, who have 'evidence' and arguments you probably haven't ever heard before. No matter how smart they sound - or they are - that doesn't give any more or less weight to their argument. IT'S UP TO YOU to think for yourself, weigh the evidence, and decide for yourself.
I have some beliefs that go way against modern mainstream Christianity, but as far as I see them, they explain things that otherwise would probably disable me from calling myself a Christian. If you EVER have questions about ANYthing, I'm here to offer my advice for you to take with a grain of salt.
Love you guys.
Hey, guys.
Throughout your whole Life, you will meet very intelligent people who are not Christians, who have 'evidence' and arguments you probably haven't ever heard before. No matter how smart they sound - or they are - that doesn't give any more or less weight to their argument. IT'S UP TO YOU to think for yourself, weigh the evidence, and decide for yourself.
I have some beliefs that go way against modern mainstream Christianity, but as far as I see them, they explain things that otherwise would probably disable me from calling myself a Christian. If you EVER have questions about ANYthing, I'm here to offer my advice for you to take with a grain of salt.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #7: Don't Be Defensive
(February 12, 2014)
I say "Consideration" in the video, but it's pretty much only about defensiveness.
You might think my example is dumb, but it's the same principle we deal with every day. It's one of the main things I learned from my last relationship, numero uno being not to date an un-Believer. We get mad at our friends, siblings, parents, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever. It is nothing but pride. Pride and arrogance are complete poison. We all need to get over ourselves and think about the feelings of others.
As Zach Galifianakis says in Due Date, "You need to check yourself, before you wreck yourself."
Love you guys. Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
I say "Consideration" in the video, but it's pretty much only about defensiveness.
You might think my example is dumb, but it's the same principle we deal with every day. It's one of the main things I learned from my last relationship, numero uno being not to date an un-Believer. We get mad at our friends, siblings, parents, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever. It is nothing but pride. Pride and arrogance are complete poison. We all need to get over ourselves and think about the feelings of others.
As Zach Galifianakis says in Due Date, "You need to check yourself, before you wreck yourself."
Love you guys. Don't make the same mistake(s) I did.
42-Second Sermons #8: Single's Awareness Day
(February 14, 2014)
Yo, guys. Listen. If you don't have a valentine today, so what? Enjoy your friends. Have fun. Live your wonderful, unique Life to the fullest. You have no reason to feel left out. It's just another day.
The more you WANT a relationship, the less fulfilling one will be. You cannot depend on another person, much less a romantic relationship, to be happy. It will drain your Soul. Being single is a good, good thing.
A mate will come in time. Live your Life, fulfill your mission that Providence has for you - which is your Life itself - and He will provide the girl/boy of your dreams, made just for you, and you for them, when the Time is right.
Love you guys.
Yo, guys. Listen. If you don't have a valentine today, so what? Enjoy your friends. Have fun. Live your wonderful, unique Life to the fullest. You have no reason to feel left out. It's just another day.
The more you WANT a relationship, the less fulfilling one will be. You cannot depend on another person, much less a romantic relationship, to be happy. It will drain your Soul. Being single is a good, good thing.
A mate will come in time. Live your Life, fulfill your mission that Providence has for you - which is your Life itself - and He will provide the girl/boy of your dreams, made just for you, and you for them, when the Time is right.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #9: Humble Pie
(February 23, 2014)
There is nothing uglier than arrogance. And I hesitate to say whether arrogance or selfishness are worse traits. What was Jesus Christ all about? LOVE and HUMILITY.
I know you guys go to either a private school or otherwise where people call themselves Christians, because we live in the Bible belt, but they do absolutely anything but walk the walk. They judge, chastise, pick on kids, and think they're so awesome their crap doesn't stink. These people are full of themselves and they do not represent what a Christian should be. And we all mess up and misrepresent, but arrogance is a special kind of damaging.
Do not be arrogant. Have some humble pie. It's delicious. These are the kind of people that Jesus Himself called vipers, hyocrites, and white-washed tombs.
Love you guys.
There is nothing uglier than arrogance. And I hesitate to say whether arrogance or selfishness are worse traits. What was Jesus Christ all about? LOVE and HUMILITY.
I know you guys go to either a private school or otherwise where people call themselves Christians, because we live in the Bible belt, but they do absolutely anything but walk the walk. They judge, chastise, pick on kids, and think they're so awesome their crap doesn't stink. These people are full of themselves and they do not represent what a Christian should be. And we all mess up and misrepresent, but arrogance is a special kind of damaging.
Do not be arrogant. Have some humble pie. It's delicious. These are the kind of people that Jesus Himself called vipers, hyocrites, and white-washed tombs.
Love you guys.
42-Second Sermons #10: What Christianity Is and Isn't
(March 8, 2014)
Hey, guys.
Relating to Sermons #7 and #9, there are tons of people who claim Christianity, and do anything but walk the walk. And in general, there are a ton of who reject and have a disdain for Christianity for how people misrepresent it.
It is not a list of do's and don'ts. It is not a checklist of how to be perfect and a ticket into Heaven. Jesus Christ embodied Christianity; it is about love and humility. We are all selfish, imperfect creatures. It is about accepting people as they are and meeting them where they are; reaching out, and loving, NOT judging. But this doesn't mean we stay where we are. We are supposed to grow; but the goal is not to focus on people's behavior, but to meet them where they are and grow closer to Jesus, and behavioral modification will be the result, rather than being the focus, which easily leads to dogma and legalism.
As my friend Caleb Hughes once said, "Love created us to Love for Love's sake." And as Pastor Charles Stanley said, ""What is the Christian life all about? It is NOT a list of rules and regulations...Because, you see, what we're saying is 'modify your behavior to have our approval.' Jesus never said that...He talked about loving us and accepting us as we are."
Love you guys.
Hey, guys.
Relating to Sermons #7 and #9, there are tons of people who claim Christianity, and do anything but walk the walk. And in general, there are a ton of who reject and have a disdain for Christianity for how people misrepresent it.
It is not a list of do's and don'ts. It is not a checklist of how to be perfect and a ticket into Heaven. Jesus Christ embodied Christianity; it is about love and humility. We are all selfish, imperfect creatures. It is about accepting people as they are and meeting them where they are; reaching out, and loving, NOT judging. But this doesn't mean we stay where we are. We are supposed to grow; but the goal is not to focus on people's behavior, but to meet them where they are and grow closer to Jesus, and behavioral modification will be the result, rather than being the focus, which easily leads to dogma and legalism.
As my friend Caleb Hughes once said, "Love created us to Love for Love's sake." And as Pastor Charles Stanley said, ""What is the Christian life all about? It is NOT a list of rules and regulations...Because, you see, what we're saying is 'modify your behavior to have our approval.' Jesus never said that...He talked about loving us and accepting us as we are."
Love you guys.