How crazy is the shark attack in Solana Beach this morning!?!

I went surfing with Trace and Corey this morning from about 6-9. This is Corey.
It turns out in that time that we surfed a guy was attacked by a shark less then 10 miles away
The crazy part is that Trace and i were sitting in the water talking about how it blows my mind as to why people are so afraid of shark attacks (prior to hearing about this news). I was ranting that statistically it is a ridiculous longshot!

Well maybe it is a little more close to home than i thought, but i still rest pretty securely on some of the stats below:
The last known fatal shark attack in San Diego County was in 1959, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Shark File.

Other stats of death stats.

Shark Attack	4 (out of 57 total attacks)
Contact with hot tap-water	26
Lightning	47
Contact with hornets, wasps and bees	66
Intentional self-poisoning	5,462

In my head i will continue to surf and rationalize it as this: sure that happened, and it happened close, and it will definitely make me WAY more cautious, but i have a better chance of statistically dying by a bee sting, car crash, or lightning, but i definitely don't hide out from bees. or avoid driving, or flee from thunderstorms.

It is a part of the everyday life of a surfer. It is just as real, but less probable than the risk every person who drives to work takes of getting in a car accident and dying.
Sorry mom
for scaring you as usual, but hopefully you are getting kind of used to it.

Sweatshirt & Surf in San Diego

Who would've thought that the days in the days i came to San Diego that it would actually be warmer in Plymouth, IN than any other place i have lived in the last couple of years!
Went out surfing with Adam and Trace(in the picture) and Corey and Ben this morning and had a blast.




The waves were not good at all in Del Mar but we definitely enjoyed each other and made the best of it.

Made for relationship

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.

George Moore

At the core of who we are as humans we are made for relationship.

I just spoke on freedom at youth group last night, and one distinction i had never noticed before when talking about freedom was this

Human freedom is to do whatever one wants or feels

God's freedom is to do whatever one wants out of love

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5
God's freedom is true freedom because it is the best way to help people.

Anger, envy, drunkenness, sexual immorality, etc. all hurt others, BUT
Love, joy, peace, self control, etc. all help others.

Freedom in Christ is the ability to help and not harm people in their deepest need: To be in a love relationship with God and others

Security in Prayer

I just realized something a few days ago. The road back to New Zealand has been an encouraging process, but it has also been a long and hard process. During those times it has been so easy to be tempted to think, "What if i mess this whole thing up?!? I know i am weak."

But i can't. I have too many people praying for me and i trust the Lord and i trust their prayers! it is one thing to believe you could fail because you are alone. But by the consistent reaffirmation of friends mentioning specifically praying for me, there is no way for me to believe i am alone.

God has called me. I am humbly on his side. I am being supported through prayer. Although there is room for me to mess up, there is really NO WAY for me to FAIL with God and the Body as my strength.

It is like for the first time, i really understanding and TRUSTING what the Bible means when it says
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Two Phrases I want to adapt into my everyday conversations

These are two statements that would make me more enjoyable to be around and continue to plant vision in others.

"What I like about you is..."

"What I see in you is..."

What? the Lexington gun show?!?

These are thoughts i have about people all the time in conversation, but rarely say. Very rarely would such a sentence be inappropriate and rarely would it be unnecessary in a day where honest encouragement is lacking and purpose givers are needed.

"You speak life..."

I have been given some of my most valued compliments over the past month or two. I have had more than one person say something along the lines of, "You bring life to a room."

Some alluding to general excitement and others to a zeal and passion for God in this life. Although the way "bringing life to people" may change how it looks over years and different seasons of life, i hope this is always apart of who i am in Christ.

in honor of me going to California this friday!

I wholeheartedly believe in the idea that the salvation message and who Jesus is something to be loved and enjoyed by people, but so often we can make it sound cumbersome.

God is good. He has shown me a lot of cool stuff as of late so i look forward to blogging right now! Even the fact of God's timing is cool. I am just now reading two books that i bought back in college and the timing has been so instrumental for me right in what i am learning right now.

Here are a few verses below that are taking on new meaning for me and if you read them and are skeptical or doubt the reality of the verses below, ask yourself why?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17

Why ask the question, "Does God ever hate humans?"

I had a friend ask me where i was going with my last post and I didn't quite know how to articulate my thoughts. Then my professor asked the question:

If God's justice is loving justice, and hell is the ultimate expression of God's justice, what is loving about hell?

and I answered
My dilemma is whether God sees the people that he sends to hell as confused lost souls or as enemies of God. If God ultimately chooses to send them to hell because they have chosen to be the antithesis of God and/or want nothing to do with God, such as Satan, then the loving God is respecting that person's will and although he hurts for his creation, he justly and respectfully gives him what he has ultimately chosen.

If God is sending confused and unjustly deceived people to hell that Satan has deceived then something still sits wrong. it is like God ultimately still feels sad for them and Satan has won on some lever... or something along those lines.

But i feel like the second idea is how most people approach the idea of God sending people to hell... as Him sending deceived confused people to hell who don't deserve it rather than people who have fairly and justly chosen their destination.

This all comes back to trusting God as being Just and loving and trusting Him to treat everyone accordingly without showing favoritism.

Is it a choice of rebellion or a misunderstanding?

that is my main question and although it may not seem important, it seems like the difference in my head of whether
God is doing what he truly believes to be true in sending people to hell or
whether he is hurt and almost torn from his true wishes by the choices of man & Satan

the difference between God's complete responsibility for Heaven and Hell and
Satan and man having the power to make the need for hell against God's wishes.

Does God ever hate humans?

This is a question that I have wondered about but have yet to study on so don't take this as my final opinion. Hear are my initial thoughts without doing a study and I would love to hear your opinion before i post a response later.
I do believe in the concept of God loving the sinner and hating the sin, but if my mind serves me correctly i believe God hates Satan... i don't believe he still loves him even though Satan was created being of God that chose to rebel.

1. If this is so, when nonbelievers go to hell, have they ultimately chosen to become that sin and therefore become enemies of God such as demons and Satan?

OR

2. will God's heart still love them but understand that they have chosen their own punishment and feel no remorse? (if God feels remorse for his actions i would see it as a double standard)

I feel like most of the people i would talk to would tend towards (#2) God still loving the humans, but I am having a tendency to wonder why (#1) God's demeanor would be different between Satan and humans who are both created beings that have ultimately chosen sin and eternal rebellion against God.
(This may seem like an inconsiderate idea, but i will talk more in my follow up post)

Your Thoughts...?!?