2pac and prophetic messengers

I pulled up to a light today in downtown and heard a familiar 2pac song blaring from the car next to me. These were my thoughts as I tried not to bob my head…

So 17 years ago the gangster son of a prominent Black Panthers leader decided to unload his angst and frustration concerning the gangster life. His style was unprecedented, his vexation toward poverty, racism, and being done wrong, was felt. He was a modern day apologist for those living in the ghetto. His name was Tupac. He is to rap and hip-hop what Elvis is to rock, what Jordan is to basketball. The experiences he shared in his music transcended genre, race, prejudice. He was an unredeemed prophet struggling to proclaim the truth of what thug life really looked like to the world.
However, 2pac’s honesty has been the most detrimental thing to happen to rap, and the ghetto culture. People idolized 2pac, therefore idolized his lifestyle. His lifestyle was one of gangs, extreme violence, sex, drugs, and Hennessey. (In fact Hennessey credits 2Pac for it’s success because of the rappers mentions of drinking a “5th of Hennessey” ghetto kids buy it by the case.) Which has translated to an entire generation of young people, rapers, and ghetto kids striving to emulate the lifestyle he walked out. 2pac was to a generation what the church should have been: an example of honesty. While the church was trying to put on a “seeker-sensitive” face, 2pac was giving people reality, “life is hard, and you need something to satisfy the hunger pain.” 2Pac’s advice was to kill, steal, and indulge in earthly pleasures such as sex and drugs, to squelch the pain of life. If you ask me God gives everyone gifts, talents, and abilities to be used to further the gospel. 2pac, had he ever gotten saved, would have been the prophetic voice the ghetto culture needed. He would have proclaimed the same reality of life’s plight, but would have presented Jesus and his river of eternal pleasures as the answer. Instead 2pac promoted a life of violence that ultimately forecasted his end.

Today the hood is still in need of prophetic messengers. For years I’ve been praying that God would raise up those who would proclaim the gospel to the ghettos and inner-city areas. Recently I’ve seen the fruit of those prayers coming to fruition. Lecrae and the 116 click, Cross Movements, and Corey Red and Precise, are taking the gospel and the word and breaking it down for those kids in the streets. They don’t make tons of money, nor do they water down their message to make it ‘relevant’ to the people. Rapper Lecrae was asked in a radio interview why he preched the gospel so truthfully. The interviewer said to him, “Ain’t nobody gonna go for this stuff dog, you ain’t gonna make no money off of it, you ain’t gonna make nothing!” Lecrae’s response, “I feel what your saying, I may not make a dime off of this, but that’s not the point. You know what I’m saying? It’s kind of like telling the pastor not to preach on Sunday because the congregation might not give that Sunday. You Know? The point of it is I got the truth! It’s not a truth, it’s not what I deem to be a truth, It’s THE truth!. I got the gospel man, and it’s what people need. It’s my responsibility as a believer to put it out there regardless of if I make a dime off of it, or if anybody caught the album. You know what I’m saying? It’s the Great Commission, so be it.”

2pac may have missed his calling but people like Lecrae are catching on to thiers. There will be revival in the inner-city, and this new generation of talented young rappers giving themselves on behalf of the gospel are going to be the ones making heads bob all the way to the alter.

pictures from my weekend

pictures courtesy of my sis!

My wonderful girlfriend Carrie and I. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.

Tim and Bri at the Evangelism BBQ I threw Friday

Jared learning how to cut watermelon, while my beautiful Grandma tries to stay out of the way.

Tiffany and Whitney at the BBQ. My favorite adopted sisters!

Roomate Jacob and Lacey making up after Jacob threw her in a pond and injured her foot. Lacey now has to use crutches, or Jacob to get around.

Random picture of me and some friends from Highschool taken back in ‘99. you know me and randomness.

random rantings Friday…finally it’s back!

Greetings ladies and germs, welcome to randomness with your host Zack Random. This is yet again the part of the blog where I share the most random facts, tid-bits, news happenings, daily happenings, and things that randomly happened, a randdom time ago, at random! So here we go!

After a few years of diligently studying the Book of Ecclesiastes I have come to a conclusion concerning the authorship of the book. I am settled in my findings that King Solomon did not actually write the book. Don’t believe me? I’ll answer why in the comments, or another post.

In fifth grade I wore my favorite Cross Colors shirt every almost every day to school. I loved it. Even though it was a sweater, and I lived in Arizona. Cross Colors rocked!

On Tuesday at 4:30am all 4 urinals in the Mens’ bathroom overflowed simultaneously at the Prayer Room. Guess whose job it was to fix the problem? That’s right mine. In fact it was so bad the “pee water” not only flooded the whole bathroom, but the proceeded to overflow through the drinking fountains in the hallway, thus flooding the hallway as well. Intense I know…

Carrie rocks my world! She is my favorite person. Dating her thus far has been so much fun. I definitely took Randy’s advice and looked for a woman smarter than myself. Carrie is brilliant, beautiful, and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be with her!

Hungry uncovers 8 million year old trees! I guess the beavers in that country weren’t all that ‘hungry’… bad I know…

So Scientists say they have found an enormous hole in the universe. I’m completely fascinated by stuff like this, not only because a hole in the “uni” sounds cool. But also because scientists only have the ability to see light. So if there is anything out there other than light their guesses for what it is from millions of light years away are simply entertaining to me! pfft! a hole in the universe!

Speaking of simply entertaining… you know what was? Chutes and Ladders! Man that game was great. I admit it’s been some decades since I last played, however I remember nothing but good times!

Michael Vick wont plead to killing dogs Apparenly he’s just pleading to the dog fighting charges. Either way this is all such a waste of God given talent. The whole thing grieves me on every side.

Karl Rove is out. Does this officially make Bush a ‘lame duck’? If the Dem’s are right Bush won’t be able to do anything more than tie his shoes know that Rove is gone. Personally I’ve never cared for Rove’s views, however his “Meet the Press” exit interview was quite worthy of a watch.

My favorite color is Purple. I don’t wear anything purple because I’m a guy. But I love that color!

So many young people spend their young lives fretting over what their “calling” is. Just FYI, no where in the Bible did anyone fret over what their “calling” was, nor was anyone commanded to. God called, they answered, but never did they seek out their calling. Love Jesus in everything you do, love those around you, do whatever career, or life path you desire. He is faithful, and will bless you in whatever you choose to do, as long as your heart is resting in him.

Today is the BBQ with all the Waiters and Waitresses from IHOP (house of pancakes). Apparently it won’t be just them and friends of mine. See I told Jared to invite his class, instead he invited all of FSM with fliers and all. So I’m expecting about 100 people… OI! Pray people get saved!

So this time last year Newt Gingrich said “we must call this war in Iraq what it is, World War III”. I remember because Brent Steeno and I talked about it. Well a few weeks ago he Pulled a John Kerry and “Flip Floped” and calling the war a “Phony”. Hmmmm

I met Jen Mcarthur! Finally! She has been a long time blog friend, until last week she became a real life friend when she came to town. Jared and I took her and Kristen, her niece, out to breakfast. We entertained, they laughed, just another day with Z and J!

I don’t drink Mountain Dew because of Yellow dye # 5… you shouldn’t either.

I’m out like the Rove-less GOP…

That’s just the way it is…

“That’s just the way it is”… Not sure which version of that song I like best. Both Bruce Hornsby’s version and TuPac’s version rock…or bump, it really just depends… 

I’m busy, so busy I don’t having anything else to write about except for the fact that I’m busy. So I’ve decided that’s what I’ll talk about today, the nuances of being busy.

By personality type I’m a Sanguine, according to Myers Briggs an ENFP. This means I’m loud, love people, care what people think (though I try oh so hard not to) have a hard time sticking with something for an extended period of time, and am not very good with details. Just so happens that in leadership, and adulthood one must pay attention to details, be focused, long suffering, and reserved in certain situations. Therefore, when busy I have to be really focused, or my focus is gone, once gone it’s hard to find it again. For instance, I was so focused today that when I went to slam the cap down on my pen I didn’t notice that the cap wasn’t even on the pen. This resulted in me stabbing myself in the hand quite hard, leaving a nice little hole reminiscent of my cellulites experience.

When busy I often miss jokes that I would normally find hilarious in a slower pace world. Someone will grab me and tell me something that’s supposed to be funny. I usually give a courtesy laugh. Not because I want them to feel like it was funny, but because I’m sure it was funny, but I’m to busy processing the things I have to do to find it funny. If I stop, processing will stop, focus will stop, and on and on.

When busy I write completely meaningless posts such as this one. You think I’m going to say something profound no that we are into the third paragraph. But alas, nothing profound has surfaced. Simply simple rantings simplistically said by a simpleton. which reminds me remember that one song by Collective Soul entitled “Simple”? It was a great song. I remember the first time I heard it I was 13 years old playing laser tag at Laser Quest. I was horrible at laser tag. In fact it was may clumsiness while playing laser tag that I decieded a career in the military would be a bad idea.

So all that to say… I’m busy…

The weakness of prayer

 

I’m inviting you in on my thoughts right now…welcome… 

For over 5 years now, prayer has been my occupation. For 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week, I’ve sat in this prayer room. Some days I’d sit here from the moment I’d wake up until the moment I’d go to bed. Some days I’d opt not show up at all. Prayer is my life’s very source, yet it can be the hardest task in creation. Over the years people have often asked me, “Does it ever get easier?” My answer? Most definitely Yes, and Most definitely No. I know that if one is consistent in prayer the enjoyment of prayer grows. However prayer at its essence is about weakness. For the human frame admitting weakness is, and until the Lord returns will always be, an exhausting task. Prayer causes us to stop whatever task we are doing, problem we’re trying to solve, or independent life we’re trying to live and simply say, “Lord I need your help! I can’t do it on my own!” The reason why prayer brings us to this point is because we can’t do it on our own, ever. He never asked us to. Trying to live life with out help from God is to frustrate the grace that Jesus paid for us with his blood. (Gal 2:21)

The disciples, having the luxury of having the Lord with them, come to Jesus and ask an important question, “Lord teach us to pray.” He answers them, “This is then how you should pray. My Father in Heaven, Holy is your Name. Let your kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give to us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. In this “pull yourself up by the boot straps” culture that we live in, Jesus is asking us to be weak. Prayer is hard because every time we pray we have to admit that we can’t pull our selves up by our boot straps. We have to admit that no matter how badly we like to think we are the providers for ourselves and family, that it’s Him, not us, who gives us our daily bread. We have to admit that no matter how strong we think we’ve built up ourselves to withstand temptation, that it’s Him, not us, who keeps us from temptation. II Cor. 12:9 The Lord reveals this to Paul: “But He said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the strength of Christ may be perfected in me.”  Prayer is the first step to boasting in our weakness.

Weakness is a hard thing to admit. Why? Because of shame. We are ashamed to admit that with all of our striving we’ve gained no actual ground in getting closer to God.  We’re ashamed to admit that our efforts to be completely sinless have been futile. Which is where shame shows its true face; pride. The message of the Gospel is contrary to these. If we could strive to be righteous, or get close to God, then we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. “It’s not a result of works, so no man may boast.” (Eph 2:9) Instead no matter how worthless we feel. No matter how badly we’ve messed up. No matter how hopeless the situation seems. If we will come to him and admit our weakness, He is faithful to help us. The more we do this, the more we learn to lean on his strength; thus it becoming perfected in us. The more we learn to lean, the more we learn to love him. If we learn to love him, then yes prayer becomes much easier. But we have to get over ourselves and admit our weakness. Once you do that, prayer will become the most enjoyable thing you’ll ever experience.

going back before I go forward…

Greetings readership!

I made it back to K.C. after restful, and much needed vacation. However jumping back into the fray is taking up more time than anticipated. So in honor of my 148th post (on this blog) I thought I’d bring you back to some of my personal favorites from the past. Some for fun, some with topics we can still discuss. I think would like to discuss again. so check them out:

• How then shall we live? (Part 1) (Part 2)
• Can you lose your salvation? (Part 1) (Part 2)
• Things I don’t understand
• Jesus A ‘Constitutional Monarch’
• Story Time Monday: Dating Blunders
• The Church’s Incomplete Gospel (Part 1) (Part 2)
  
• I want to be Famous
  
• Morality is not Christianity
• Story Time Monday: Miss Kansas
• Lesson #1 An once of relationship is worth a pound of advice

Mitt Romney on faith and abortion

Interesting radio interview with republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Mitt is a Mormon, but not when in office, but yet he is a strong one. I have many thoughts on this interview, but I’d rather hear yours. Watch clip and weigh in.

p.s. my vacation is going great! Although I miss Carrie… and Jared too…

can we cool it with genetic alterations?

Sheep born with 7 legs. at what point do we stop altering the animals we breed?

found this article today….

(ARTICLE)

and scene…

So after the play by play yesterday… I lost cell phone reception in Arizona so the updates ceased. After driving 22 straight hours, Jacob and I pulled into my parents house in Mesa, AZ. Where we hung out with my dad for a few hours, then crashed for about 13 hours. Now I’m up in the hot Arizona sun and loving it! I plan on still throwing you some posts while on va-cay. We’ll see how it goes.

In the mean time peace