God is like Apple Juice: Thoughts from my bar (Otherwise known as the island in the kitchen)

Usually in the movies, TV shows, or just in normal life, when someone needs to get away to think and just to gather their thoughts, they go to a bar and have a drink. Now don’t get excited. I am not telling all you guys who are reading this to go get drunk at a bar. I am merely giving you the whole bar setting so that you can get somewhat of a feel for what I usually do on the nights where thoughts are provoked. Now I don’t go to an actual bar, but there is a island in our kitchen where I do a lot of my thinking, that island in the kitchen is my “bar”. The drink that I consume is not alcohol. I drink more age appropriate drinks and I don’t drink the same beverage every time I go to my “bar”. It all depends on what mood I’m in. Sometimes I drink apple juice, orange juice, coffee, hot coco, or just the good ole H2O. Last night felt like an apple juice night.

As I sat on one of barstools at the “bar”, I took a long, hearty, thoughtful drink of apple juice. After I had completed the drinking of the apple juice, I sat the glass down and sighed. I thought to myself, “It is a crazy world out there. I only have one more year of school left and then I will have to go out into that crazy world.” As I thought about this fact a little more, it occurred to me that lately, I had been a bit selfish in my thoughts and actions. I mean I always thought that whenever I did something it was all for God’s glory when in reality, Satan had been blinding me. While I thought that I was doing it all for God, I was really doing it for me and my interests. Again I thought to myself, “Man.......I am a selfish jerk.....and not the young man I should be. If I am letting the enemy blind me.....then what kind of Christian am I really? Am I the kind of Christian who just clocks in and clocks out? Do I only do the bare minimum and what is required of me? Why do I only read my Bible for 30 minutes a day when I should be buried in it, and taking every words and applying it to my life? Why do I only pray when I wake up and before I go to be when I should be offering every moment to Christ......Christ....the man that had nine inch nails imbedded into his hands in feet, the man who suffered three inch thorns piercing his holy head. If he put it all on the line for me, then why am I so mediocre and why do I let the very person I want to be farthest away from (Satan) consume my heart?”

I then took a moment to silence all my thoughts and zeroed in on my now empty glass which sat on the island in front of me. I stared at the glass for a while and then thought, “I am like this empty glass. Without anything inside of it, the glass serves no real purpose. I mean the glass may look good without anything inside of it but it still lacks so much. This is like me, while I may seem like a good Christian to others around me, inside, I lack Christ.” I then proceeded to take the apple juice out of the fridge and started to think again, “The apple juice is like God, Bible and the church teachings. It is the drink that satisfies people and makes people feel good.” I then poured the apple juice into my empty glass until the glass overflowed all the time thinking, “Now the glass has a purpose, it is a vessel that holds the drink that all satisfy me by bringing the drink to me and will make me feel good.”

I then immediately got onto my knees and prayed and said, “Lord, make me your overflowing glass, with you always, always, always inside me. Let me be the vessel which brings your word to others in order that you may satisfy their thirst through me. Transform me into yourself and always have me be overflowing with all that is from you.”

After this, like any good child who doesn’t want to upset his mother, I cleaned up the mess I had made then went upstairs to my room to get a good nights sleep. I am happy to say that I probably had the most peaceful sleep I had had in many a while.

If anyone reading takes anything away form this, it’s should be that while you may think you are serving your purpose as a Christian, you could and should always be doing more to fulfill your God-given purpose. Revelation 3:16 teaches us that, “So, Because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I will spit (vomit) you out of my mouth.” That should really hit it home dudes and dudetts. God will VOMIT us out of his mouth if we are not passionate about him and about what we as Christians believe.

My final message to all is to be happy, stay awesome, and to be the overflowing glass of apple juice. :)

~Andrew T. Ojeda

Fearlessness. What is this thing that we called fearlessness? 

Fearlessness in it of itself is defined by thefreecreditdictionary.com as, "a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear.”

This attribute of God commonly known as fearlessness has obcviesly been displayed by God himself. The time this attribute is shown can be seen in the common example of his crucifixion. The ultimite act of love and sacrafice and dying to oneself is definetly a way of displaying fearlessness. However, we are all called to strive to be like God and as such all of us are called to be fearless as well. Many great people have displayed this attribute of God throughout history. 

When I think of fearlessness, I think of David in the Bible who was armed with a few stones and slingshot in hopes that he would defeat the fully armored giant, Goliath. 

When I think of fearlessness, I think of America’s founding fathers who formulated words of thought which translated to words of the pen which translated to words of pages which in turn translated to words that would from a great nation.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of the soldiers in World War II who stormed Normandy beach. Those men knew that most of them were not going to live to see the next morning, yet they knew that what they were doing was for the happiness and vicotry of many.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of Jackie Robinson, who depsite an extreme amount of adversity, overcame all odds and brought down the racial prejudice and discrimination in sports and did so without violence but by leading by example. 

When I think of fearlessness, I think of Mother Teresa the little nun who ventured into the dangerous slums in Calcutta, India. In those slums she nursed some of India’s most sickly back to health and taught them all about he who made blind men see and lame beggers walk. 

All of these listed above had this attribute of God: Fearlessness! All did what they did for a god prupose, for a Godly purpose. Now don’t get scared, not all of you are called to do world changing things in your life. However, we are all called to be fearless throughout our normal, everyday life. I can list some more people who have this attribute of fearlessness and while they are not changing the wordl direclty, they are still inspirirng me to be like them.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of my 10-year-old brother, Samuel who is always ready and willing to help in any way he possibly can. Weather it is at home with our mom, for his baseball team, or for his freinds, he is ready for any challenge thrown his direction. 

When I think of fearlessness, I think of Minnisota Vikings football player, Adrian Peterson, who isn’t afraid to speak out for his beliefs and for traditional marraige and against hoosexual marraige. He is a fish swimming upstream, doing things out of the norm and for the he is fearless.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of my best friend who went through a multitude of storms in the past two years and overcame all and is now closer to Jesus than this person ever was before.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of Miss Kya Connolly and Miss Christine David. Miss Connolly has been diagnosed with a harsh disease and even though she has been in the hospital way more than she has been at home as of late, whenever I saw her she was laughing and smiling. Miss David blogged about Miss Connolly and asked many people to pray for Kya and her health. I can see Christ in both these young ladies and they are a true inspiration.

When I think of fearlessness, I think of my parents, Tony and Cyndi Ojeda. They are pretty much as perfect as perfect parents can get. They have always been there for me and my four siblings. Weather we were feeling happy, mad, weird, or sad, they were alwasy there happy with us, telling us to be happy when we were mad, acting wierd with us, or crying with us when we were sad......well not really my dad, he doesn’t cry, like ever. I love my parents to the moon and back and would not trade them for all the money in the world.

Now not all of these people I have listed are changing the world directly, but they are changing the world one small act at a time by displaying the attribute of God known as fearlessness. If there is anyone in your life who inspires you to be fearless, comment below and let their name be seen so that people can recognize them for being fearless. 

Before I end this first post of mine, I would like to leave anyone reading with the words to a song I started listening to.

"As I stand in the eye of the storm, 

It's Your love that keeps guiding me home.

I am fearless. Through the dark, You're my light and salvation oh within me. We’ll trust in you Lord. I am Fearless.”