Yep, I agree with you all, a Keepen_it_real post is in order.
Its not that God hasn't been awesome to me, its just I've been lazy in posting thats all.
I'll write a bit about what I spoke to the middle school youth about last friday.

It's about being an ambassador. And here is the train of thought. (nothing fancy today folks)

We believe in and accept Christ, this is what happens. . . (read the verse)

It's kinda like a spiritual morph (or metamorphisis). Or better yet, a transformation. On the outside, we really look the same. Still got the same old human frame, but on the inside? the spirit is renewed.
So hey thats awesome right? For sure.
So and? . . . .yea? What's next?
Well. . .keep reading. . . .(same place just verse 20)

Yep, its underlined and bold. We have been given a new life, we are a new creation.
We are ambassadors for Him.

So whats an ambassador do? (bear with me this is simple but is important)(and I dont have my notes so these are my definitions and not 'technical' definitions)

1. Speaks on behalf of another, represents another
2. Promotes the interest of another

That means, that we are to speak on behalf of God, and be a representative (meaning, do what Jesus would do)
That means, if everything I just said was true, that means:

1. we are going to have to 'lay down' what we want to do and 'take up' what God wants us to do
2. we are going to have to 'lay down' what we want to say and 'take up' what God wants us to say

 Jesus was God's first ambassador. Jesus had his own will, did you know that? Yep, he said this:

(Heres other verses that prove that Jesus layed down what he wanted to do and did what God wanted him to do. John 5:19, John 5:30, John 7:16)

That means . . .(drum roll). . . .we have our own will to!
So we have to withdraw from our own way, and submit to God's way. . get it? (just like Jesus)

So, back to the ambassador thing.
In order to speak on behalf of God, we have to know what he said and would say.
In order to promote the interests of God, we have to know what God is interested in.

So how do we find out what God is interested in?
Read the Bible. Period.

If another country sent an ambassador here, and he was all rude, he smelled, he cursed everyone, and he had a mullet, we would judge that country based on the ambassador they sent.

Same with us. Some people, the only Jesus they will ever meet will be 'in' us. The only Bible people people will ever read is the words they hear us speak. I hate the thought of someone seeing my conduct, and having the right to blaspheme the name of God.

To be a good ambassador we have to get to know the Father. To promote his interests we will have to know what he is interested in. In order to speak on his behalf we will have to know what he has said and would say.

It all hinges around the Bible.

How else do you know that God hears you when you pray? How else do you know that we are a new creation? How else do you know that 'God so loved the world'? How else do you know how God feels about these subjects: Prayer, sin, righteousness, heaven, judgement, anger, love, forgiveness, the lost, mercy, honesty, integrity, and the list goes on.
The bible is the only place. And reading 5-10 minutes every night or even every other night (to start) is plenty.

He left this amazing book because it is His way of speaking to us. I dont know about you all but, God has never spoken to me audibly, but he has left His Word (the bible) and in it contain the very words of God.

Some people read with this mindset: "I am reading as a part of my Christian duty"

I read with this mindset: "Here is my chance to get to know the Father better"

Get to know him better, be a better ambassador. It only takes a decision right now, a choice.

There is a dying world that needs to see a group of believers that allows their beliefs to govern their actions. Not a bunch of religious hocus pocus.

God Bless you all.   -jyo

(too tired to check for errors, lol. Sorry)

Here is a picture I took today to illustrate my entry.

(todays entry is meant to be very simple, very light, and very direct. Many of us know these truths, but it is always nice to hear them again.)

You know the word 'sin' is used as a marksmanship term meaning 'to miss the mark'?

If you miss it, you miss it.
It doesnt matter by how much, it doesnt matter how close.
You could be just one centimeter away, or straight off the board, it wont matter. . . .

. . . .and the truth is, we all have missed it.

God said:

For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard (romans 3:23)

But you know this post isn’t going to be about? It isn’t going to be a constant beating over the head about sin. No, this is going to be about 1 sin in particular.

Did you know there is one thing that will keep you separated from God? Yes there is, but first, lets handle the misconception.

Smoking, drinking, cussing, lying, getting mad, breaking the law, stealing, etc. will not keep you from being reconciled to, or brought back to, or made cool with, God.

The one thing that will keep a person from entering the gates of heaven is. . . .(drum roll). .

Rejecting Jesus Christ as lord and savior.

Remember the verse "all have sinned and fallen short of Gods glorious standard"?  Well what are the consequences? Read. . . .

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (romans 6:23)

The wages of sin is death. What does that mean?
That means that man has missed the mark, and man is separated from God. It also means that God has provided a way for us to be cool with him, to come back to him. 

I want to be cool with God, totally. But does that mean I have to be perfect before I can be cool with God?
Nope,  read this next verse.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (romans 5:8)

So and? What’s the point?
The point is, you don’t have to be perfect to come to God. The point is, that while we had no power to save ourselves, God sent Jesus to do the work.

Well why did God do that?
Read the first part of that verse above, it says "God showed his great love toward us"

He did it because of his love toward us, read this . . .

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (john 3:16)

Jesus came and provided the way. God didn’t do it based on the way we act or who we are, he did it because of his love and mercy. God doesn’t show favoritism in this, it says: "that everyone who believes" There is no exception.

God said:

For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . .

. . .For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (romans 10:9,13)

ANYONE?
Yep. Anyone.

Take it from me, I was a hardcore dirtball when I turned my life over to God. I tried everything in my own power to obtain peace. I would do anything to have tranquility in my life. But there was always an emptiness in my heart that I knew was there. You can feel it.

There is no kind of work or giving of money or good deed that you can do to fill that void.
There is nothing on earth that you can do to redeem yourself back to God.

Only Jesus can fill that, and only Jesus can do that. You call on him, ask him to come into your life, he will. He did it for me; he will do it for you. . . . .

Here is a sample of something you can ask God, nothing fancy.

"God. Dude I know I have sinned before, and I know I have missed the mark, forgive me. I need you so bad. I want peace in my life, come into my life, help me to follow you."

Nothing fancy right? God sees our hearts. He isn’t impressed by fancy prayers or over dramatic emotions, he is concerned with a genuine heart change. Mean it from your heart and God will be there for you.

Forgiveness.

SO. . . .I have proven to myself (and to all of you) that I am not perfect, I got deals and you got deals, so how are we supposed to know how to forgive? Today’s world subscribes to this theory:

You spit on me, I spit on you. You cut me off, I cut you off. An eye for an eye. You dis me? Now its over. Now I hold a grudge. You've ruined my outlook on you. You were #1, now you're scum. I'll forgive you, but I'll never forget what you did to me, and I'll always treat you differently. Things will never be the same. You owe me so huge now. 

So where's the example? How do we know. People view forgiveness as "I forgive you (but I will never let you forget that you did this to me)"  That is the most dangerous in my opinion. How do we forgive? Who sets the example? Not me! In my natural state I'm with the example that I listed above. Jesus sets the example. How do I know? Because God said:

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)

And. . . .

You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13)

What’s that saying? It means - People that have been forgiven by God (from a fat debt) should, out of all people, be quick to forgive other people of the small things. Remember the story Jesus told of the "unforgiving servant". . . . . (I’ll give you the breakdown, this is my version here.)

A king wants to get his dough straight.
He calls for this servant who owes him money.
The king says "yo dawg, where’s my money?"
And the servant says "ehhh, umm, well, uhhh, mmmm, errrr"
So the king says "take this sucka, sell this foo, and his wife and children so I can get my money"
And the servant says "OH HEY HOLD UP HOLD UP, Dude, please forgive me man, I’ll get your money and pay it all back to you, I am so sorry, be patient!"
And the king was moved with compassion, he released this servant, and not only did he get released, but the debt he owed was forgiven; he didn't have to pay it!

How cool is that? Well the story is not over, read on. (and this is Jyo's version)

So then this dude, who just got told he was forgiven the debt, went out and found one of his other homies who owed him money and grabbed the homie by the throat, mafia style, and said. . .

"Pay me my money sucka!!!!!"
And his homie said to him "oh please forgive me, I’ll pay you bro I promise! Just give me a --"
"NAW!" the dude said, and threw his homie in prison till he could pay the debt!!!!

So you know that aint right, you know that aint right. Well the word gets back to the king that this happened. And the king called this dude back to him and said.

"Dude?! are you illin'? You must be! I just forgave you this HUUUUGE debt and saved you and your family! How you gonna take your homie by the neck and toss him in jail cause he owed you $5? And you did that after I let you off the hook? You aint right, now you are going to jail punk"

So of course you know that was my spin. But basically the story Jesus is tryen to get across is this: "I forgave you an immeasurable debt, cant you forgive others the small expenses"

So ok ok yea yea we know what God is saying now ok. But HOW! What is wrong with my method of forgiveness? Lets look at another illustration Jesus gave, this one is about the lost son. And again, this is my version.

A son goes to his father and is like, "dude, I want out, give me my inheritance, and let me be outtie"
The father gives him his dough and the son is on his way.
He moves far far away, and just gets tore up. Acting all crazy, goin to all the clubs, spending all crazy.
So this son hits rock stinking bottom, he's spent all his money and is feeling stupid now.
He thinks to himself. "dang, even the dudes that work for my father live better than me, I could go and be one of his servants and have a better life" So he rehearses what he will say to his father "Dad, I am not even worthy to be called part of your family, I totally dissed you in every way. Please let me just work for you so I don’t have to live like this anymore, just let me be your servant"

So the son goes back to his father (and I’ll plug in here what the Bible says, cause I don’t want the meaning to get lost in my translation) (and I will underline parts that I think are key)

So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began. (Luke 15:20-23)

So you see? That isn't normal for today. But it always has been normal for God. Think about what the father does here.

• The father sees his son coming, and before his son ever says anything to him, the father is "filled with love and compassion"  He also "embraced him and kissed him"
• The father says get the finest robe, THE BEST, and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet, and get a serious feast going!

There is SOOO much to say about the symbolism of these items, but we wont go into that, lets just say this one thing, and you will hear me say this one thing anytime the subject comes up, here it is:

When you forgive, you restore the person to the original position they were in, before they committed the offense.

(disclaimer about that statement: In this world there are natural laws and consequences to breaking laws. While God forgives, and we forgive a guy for robbing a bank, he still has to face the consequences of his actions, got it?)

But that’s what Jesus is illustrating in this story. Restoration. You know if I was the father here, I woulda smacked my kid in the head and been like, "whass wrong wit you foo dang!!!" But no, notice that the father never once mentioned the original sin of the son!? He never said anything!

So how does that apply to you and me? When you forgive someone, you do not bring it up again. We all, or should all, be asking God to forgive us, that’s a normal daily thing. And imagine if one day God was like "uhhh, hey dude, you totally asked for forgiveness for that already like 5 times and just went out and screwed up again, and remember that one time you did such and such? Yea, nice try, and when you did such and such. . .yea you're a sinner dude." Imagine if God threw your old sins in your face, it would hurt, bad.

And it’s the same way when we do it to others. Ok let me end this and just load you up with some verses that illustrate God's willingness to forgive, which in turn illustrates the importance of forgiving others. Please read all of them, this is good stuff.

Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No!" Jesus replied, "seventy times seven! (which implies an infinite amount)  (Matthew 18:21,22)

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14)

Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. (mark 11:24-26)

If another believer sins, rebuke him; then if he repents, forgive him. Even if he wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, forgive him. (Luke 17:3,4)

And here is the final one, and one I find to be most important. I will set the scene for you. . .

Jesus, despised and rejected among men, beaten and mocked, clothes torn, nails driven through his hands and feet. Crucifixion, an embarrassing, humiliating form of roman punishment. Jesus on the cross, being spit on and slandered uttered some of his last words . . . .

Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

What offense is there greater than this? that you can not forgive? Name it.

We desperately need Gods forgiveness, therefore we desperately need to forgive others.

Peace be upon you all.

     I think all he really wants to do is protect us. Its like, when I look back, way back in to the Old Testament, Gods law, the 10 commandments, were given to set a standard, and to show us that we are not perfect. But if I look deeper, all God was trying to do is keep us out of trouble. Just looking out for us.
     You people with kids, help me out here. Say your little mongril is trying to see what the inside of an electrical outlet is like, what are you going to do? 1. Tell the kid to stop and 2. tell the kid not to do it again. (make a rule) Why? Because you care for his safety.
     Anyway, my point is, anytime there is any instruction in the Bible about us having to do something, it isn't out of God just wanting to be strict. Besides, God already told us that LOVE, yes LOVE fulfills all 10 commandments. .  . .. oh, you don’t believe me? lol.

Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

And when that scripture says "demands of the prophets", that means people that God once tried to speak through. So basically God is saying here, Love Me, and love your neighbor as yourself, and you are in line with all the other commandments.

     Anyway, hahaha, i'm way off track. I said alllllllll of that to say this one thing, well. . .. let me show you this verse and then say this one thing. Is that cool with you? ok here it is. .

"So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock.

"But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!" (Luke 6:47-49)

So you can notice a few similarities here.

• They both heard what God was saying
• They both built their house
• Both houses got hit by the same storm

And a few differences.

• One man built on rock, one man built on sand
• One man's house endured the storm, one man's house fell.

     Before I got hooked up with Jesus, my life was consumed with trying to build my "house". I had no blueprint, I had no instruction, I had no help, I had no guidance, etc (you get the point). So what building I did manage to do, was on sand. Just when I thought everything was in place, ~whoosh, gone. One storm hits and ~whoosh. Even to this day, I come into contact with people who are laboring in vain. (and no i'm not talking about anyone on xanga) They know God's trying to speak to them, it’s like, He just wants to help.

     A storm can represent any obstacle you can imagine; losing a job, breaking up with a gf or bf, having a family member pass away, or any other thing in life that happens thats not "fair". For some people that don’t know God, that’s all it can take to break them down, 1 storm. 

     Now that Jesus' gots mah back, its like, I know my stuff is getting built on a firm foundation. I look to him for direction, and he gives it. And of course, of course i get a board out of place here and there, and mess up, but my foundation stays secure. God shows me in the Bible whussup. I pray to him and ask for direction and he lets me know whussup. He gives us a Holy Spirit that promises to lead us and to guide us, and to show us things to come. Its like, my junk is protected.

And I’m not sure even what the theme of this post is but just remember this, God wants to help us, period. He is there for you saying; "Yo, this be the way" which means "Build on this rock, not on that sand".

And you know I gotta leave you with this last script, peep it.

God says, "I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as Lord. When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them. I will reward them with long life; I will save them." (Psalm 91:14-16)

His word is true yall, so true.

and i'm out. . . . . . .  -jyo