I hope its a good one...

So, I've jumped on the blogging bandwagon again because it seems to have become a popular thing. I used to blog all the time frehman year to keep everyone back home updated on my new life at college. I might be a little rusty, so bear with me.

I wanted to make my first blog really good, to keep people coming back for more, so I thought I'd share this video with you. Jaron showed it to me, and I stole it from him. It's Mark Driscoll talking about why he hates religion. Its long, but really good, so you should take the ten minutes it takes to watch it, because it will make you think:



Unfortunately, I'm technologically retarded, so you'll have to just click the link for now. I promise once I figure out how to post videos the right way, I'll change it for you.

Anyways, I really like this video because I think it is a good reflection of what God has been trying to teach me lately. I just finished reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (its a really good book and I highly recommend it) and throughout the book, Don talks about this topic. I really enjoyed the last chapter, where Don compares the relationship we have with Jesus to that of the story of Romeo and Juliet.

I've also been reading in Galatians about it, and Jaron is speaking about religion vs. relationship at the Attic tonight. It's like God won't let me get away from this idea.

I think I have such a problem with this because of the way I was raised. As much as I love my parents, I don't think I ever understood the idea of unconditional love growing up. In my house, you had to make A's and be the star player on the team and portray the picture of perfection to make my parents happy. Our house is all about appearances, and its hard for me to wrap my mind around not having to be perfect for God.

It's something I've always known and understood, but its been hard for me to apply to my life if that makes sense. Basically, I've gone through life telling myself that God doesn't expect me to be perfect, but then I've still kicked myself for weeks after messing up, and I've still gone about stressing out about being perfect and checking everything off of the "religious checklist" that I think will make God happy.

I think God's really been trying to show me lately that He just loves me for me. How awesome is that? Praise God that He loves me regardless of my gossiping, my jealously, my anger, and my judgement of others.

Pray for me as I work toward throwing my "checklist" out the window and developing a relationship with God that is based solely on love and not on expectations.

How was that for a first blog?