Random things...

Jeremiah 7:9-11

jacoboverby — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:56:46 +0000

I was reading this morning and came across a section that I began thinking about. I wanted to share the text and a few thoughts. The passage is Jeremiah 7:9-11:

“Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’ – safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.”

As I read through this, I became very convicted. I can only speak for myself personally. However, as I look across the spectrum of American Christianity, I see this very warning being completely ignored.

Why is it that we so easily tolerate our sin? Why do we think that we can do whatever we want and then come to church on Sunday and stand before God and proclaim things to him that we think he wants to hear? Does the passage not say “but I have been watching! declares the Lord.” God has been watching. He knows whether or not we are bringing before him lip service or a heart that is consumed by him.

Do not be foolish. May we be a people who hear the warning. May we be a people who come before God with our hearts truly desiring him. May we be a people who do not tolerate sin.

Homeless

jacoboverby — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:52:40 +0000

Tonight I was leaving Common Grounds when I met a very friendly character. His name was J.D. He had a ball cap pulled down over most of his face. He wore a large camouflage jacket that covered most of the jeans that were probably too small for him to be wearing. He had a long beard that covered most of his face. As he walked right up to me in the friendliest manner possible, I realized that J.D. was carrying his life savings in his hands. His life savings consisted of a baby stroller full of coke, and beer cans. These cans were literally J.D.’s lifeline. You see, J.D. is homeless. And all he wanted was some food to hold him over until tomorrow because he hadn’t collected enough cans to buy food today.

Homeless. It’s a word we hear every so often but it’s a word that many of us don’t really pay any attention to. It’s kind of like the people that carry this label. People like J.D. We see them every so often but don’t really pay any attention to them. I wonder why it is that we don’t pay any attention to these people. Is it because the sight of them disgusts us? Maybe it’s because they are too dirty or smelly to touch or be around? Is it because we don’t have anything to give them? I know this question isn’t true, because we all have something we can give every time we see a homeless person. Or is it because of the stereotype which screams in our ears that the only reason they are asking for money is so that they can get a pack of smokes or beer? I wonder if this last question is only an excuse for us to not have to help the homeless. I really wonder how many excuses we make unconsciously so that we do not have to help the homeless.

Is it our job to judge what a person like J.D. does with the money I give him? I don’t think so. Rather, I think that it is our job to give to those in need. Period. We discussed the other day in my scriptures class that the Bible offers less than 5 verses on the topic of homosexuality while over 200 verses on how to care for the poor. And I find it quite disturbing that we spend more time getting up in arms about using the 5 verses for homosexuality as a proof text rather than spend half that amount of time helping those in poverty.

“Then the righteous with answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you?’” (Matt. 25:37-38)

My question tonight that I have pondered on my drive home from buying J.D. some food and talking with him for a short time: Are people like J.D. really asking that much of us? Even more so: Is it our job to judge what they do with the money we give them? Or is it just our duty to give? Are we so busy and so full of ourselves that we cannot stop and take a few minutes to help a fellow human who is just trying their best to make it to tomorrow?

The King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you do it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matt. 25:40)

As I lay my head on my pillow tonight, I will be praying for J.D. I will not be praying for God to send someone else in his path to give him food or money (although I do hope that happens). I will be praying that God will grant me the mercy and grace to see J.D. again. I will be praying that I will have a chance to help J.D. at least one more time. I will be praying that God will allow me at least one more chance to further a friendship that has begun tonight.

May we be a people that no longer ignore J.D. May we be a people who slow down enough to put a name with the face of those homeless we see every so often. May we be a people who befriend those like J.D. And may we be a people that truly believe that it is more blessed to give than receive.

Crowder CD Release

jacoboverby — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:19:46 +0000

I just left David Crowder’s CD release party for his new album entitled Church Music. It was a wonderful experience. It is difficult these days to get as excited about seeing him play as everyone else does, since I see him almost every week at church. However, I cannot say that I am ever disappointed with the music that he produces. And I believe that I am never disappointed because of this reason alone. His music is so theology packed that you cannot just come to church and sing and leave and not be convicted or hit in the face with the truth of the Gospel. This is something that I have always admire about Crowder and his band. They never settle or intend on creating the next best song. They are more concerned with their worship of the Father above rather than enjoying the praises of men. I plan to post more about the music and lyrics of this album very soon. I just felt the need to give myself a start to this series of posts by letting everyone know what was to follow.

As far as a plan for this blog, I do not really have one. So any suggestions would be welcomed. I plan to take it in succession and possibly do a series concerning different topics. Right now, I will run with this Crowder theme and will probably be commenting on the music and lyrics of his new album.

New Posts for an Old Site

jacoboverby — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:38:11 +0000

Ok. So the other day I remembered that I had this website that hasn’t been used in forever. Its obvious from the date on the last post. Anyway, I am writing this post to at least let all of you know that I plan on blogging more often. There are a lot of things taking place in my life right now and a lot of changes. I figured the best way for me to keep track of those things as well as share those with whoever wants to know about them was to start using this nifty little website. So, those of you who have been here before, you know there have to some changes to the website. Those of you who haven’t been here before, welcome. Just to give a fair warning to all, I don’t plan to write anything special in these pages. I just plan to share life will all who care to read or are too bored to do anything else. So, be looking for new posts in the very near future.

Woo Pig Sooie!

jacoboverby — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:54:11 +0000

“Lord…it’s hard to be humble…when your an Arkansas Razorback fan.” Another week of college football…and the underdog takes the win. This was one of the best college football games I have watched all season…so thank you LSU for an exciting game. So many crazy things have happened this year, there is no telling what is going to happen tomorrow or the rest of the season. But I will share some predictions with you that I made several weeks ago after Oregon’s lose. (I figured I would document these predictions after I was accused of false predictions earlier this weekend.)

Since it is obvious that the #1 and #2 teams cannot hold their position this year, I predicted that LSU would lose to either Arkansas today or to Georgia in the SEC championship since Tennessee will lose to Kentucky tomorrow. Oregon having lost several weeks ago, puts Kansas in the #2 spot going into tomorrow’s game. Bad news for you Kansas, I predict that you will be upset tomorrow by Missouri. This puts Missouri and Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship and sorry Missouri, your National Title hopes will end there with a loss to Oklahoma. What does all this mean? It means that West Virginia and Ohio St. will be playing for the National Championship. West Virginia has a tough two games ahead of them which makes me nervous, but I have confidence that they will pull through.

My prediction: West Virginia vs. Ohio St.

Let me know who you think will be playing for the National Championship on January 7 in New Orleans.

Homework or Football?

jacoboverby — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:34:33 +0000

Neyland Stadium

At 11:30 pm Friday night I received a call from a friend of mine. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Arkansas game. Normally I wouldn’t debate on whether I wanted to go or not. But this game started at 12:30 pm ET on Saturday in Knoxville, TN. It is an 8 hour drive there and I have several papers I need to writing. So, after much deliberation, I decided to be a diligent student and go to the game. This is how I spent my weekend. Driving 16 hours in a car for a 4 hour game, but it was completely worth it. Yes, Arkansas got dominated and that’s only because Houston Nutt is a complete idiot. But, it is not often you get to watch a football game with 104,435 screaming fans. Nealand Stadium is the loudest stadium I have ever been too. I can’t even describe to you how awesome an environment it is. So, if you ever have a chance to watch a game in Knoxville I would encourage you to do so. The only bad part about taking this trip…I still have papers to write.

Salvation

jacoboverby — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:30:23 +0000

I came to the realization at the beginning of this semester that I wasn’t completely sure of all the things that I claimed that I believed. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe them, it was more of the fact that I didn’t know why I believed the things I did. I have grown up in church all my life and I have heard all there is to hear. So, I set this semester aside to sort some things out theologically. I have a question to ask all of you. Several friends and I have been talking about this question for some time now and are still struggling to come up with a set definition. So, any of you with a theological background (and those of you without one) I pose this question. What is salvation? I don’t want any of you to think that I am doubting my salvation, because I am not. Everything is just fine. I am just curious to know if we actually know how to communicate salvation appropriately. I think I know what salvation is, but I honestly don’t know if I can communicate it in a way that does justice to the actual process of salvation. It is here that I think we as Christians fail to do a good job. I think we all know what salvation is, but do we know how to communicate it appropriately? And if we don’t know how to communicate it appropriately, does the problem really lie in our definition. I am still sorting through all of this myself, but I would like to see what some of you have to say about this. So, I pose the question to you: What is salvation? And if you have a definition, do you communicate that definition appropriately?

Ridiculous!

jacoboverby — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:05:20 +0000

I hate to put out two videos in a row, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share this with you guys. I don’t know what you have to do in order to be considered a guitar expert, but I’m pretty sure this guy would be in the running for that title. His name is Andy McKee and he has two cd’s and a dvd out (as far as I know of). This guy is ridiculous!

theory of evolution…anyone?

jacoboverby — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:03:50 +0000

My roomate introduced me to a video today and I thought I would share it with all of you. Some of you might find this video offensive, but I found it rather hilarious. Anyway, I was reminded how glad I am that I do not believe in the theory of evolution. So, those of you that are believers in the old theory, here is one of your ancestors. Enjoy!

fresh on the scene

jacoboverby — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:11:24 +0000

i was reading daniel’s blog the other day and was inspired. so here i am giving this whole blog thing a try. i dont really know what im doing yet, but hopefully soon i will get the ball rolling soon. anyone who wants to give some advice (cough…blake…cough) it would be much appreciated. hopefully ill have these blogs rolling out soon.