Dan Jones

i thought it would never happen to me

Today, as I was walking down the hallway in the H.M. Black Mechanical Engineering building, I came upon a frighteningly disturbing realization. I realized I struggle with something, something that I've never given any thought to before. Something that could have a pretty big impact on my life. I don't know how I've made it this far in life without realizing this is something I do on a subconcious level. I know that unless I nip this problem now, it will only get worse. That it will affect my life more and more, in ways that I do not want it to. I have a problem. Sometimes...when I'm all alone...and I think no one is watching...I talk to myself...

Not outloud, I might was well move to Chicago or New York if that was the case. I would be normal there. No, but as I'm thinking, I realize sometimes my mouth is moving. And, I've just come to realize I do it when I type. Will this ever end? Will I ever overcome my struggle? Please, will you still be my friend?

Victors

Man Conquering Sin JR Woodward

I borrowed this picture from JR Woodward, hope he doesn't mind. As we all know, most guys are very visual, as well as combative. When I saw this picture, it encouraged me to be a victor over sin, not a slave to it. Just thought I would pass it on.

This last week I followed a guy through campus I have named 'Joe Cool'. I didn't really follow him, he just happened to be walking in front of me on the way to where I was going. He was your stereotypical freshman frat-type, still too cool for everyone, hair spiked up, mirrored aviators, turned up color. Real cool. Before he turned to walk into Marston, he took one final puff on the cig he was smoking and flung it to the ground before the door.

Throughly disgusted, I, about 10 feet behind him, yelled, "Hey a-----, you dropped something!" Okay, so I didn't. But I really wanted to. About 2 feet to either side of him were special trash tubes for cig's. About 4 feet away was a trash can. It made me furious for about 15 minutes. I walked by, deciding if people want to trash their campus, they can live with it. I should have picked it up.

Whoa: A Short Novel

I haven't blogged about anything in long, long time. Mostly because I've been busy, and partly because I really didn't have much to say. I don't really see this thing as a journal, and don't want to pretend it's a soapbox. I definately don't think I need (or can) to try to sound authoritative on anything. And it just doesn't sit well with me that it's purpose is to "keep in touch". Maybe I'm just an idealist (okay - so I know I am), but if you just check someones blog periodically to keep in touch, it just seems kind of cheap to me. A phone call, or a face to face talk is where the real stuff is. I hate the idea that people can fully 'live' online, never dealing with flesh and blood people in...flesh and blood. I don't know if I'd really call it 'living'. The electronic world may be much easier, but I want the real deal. Don't get me wrong, I know several people who read this to keep in touch, because they're a long way off and I don't get to see them very often, so I think this is a great tool. But if you're a friend of mine living in the same town, reading this blog to keep in touch, well, come say hi sometime! Also, although she's only had 1 entry so far, I am incredibly excited about Jamie Andrists blog. Jamie, I miss you! I'm looking forward to hear about what's happening in Honduras.

Now that was a tangent. A long one. Didn't mean to go off, sorry. As most of you probably know Tom Short was just on the Iowa State University campus for 3 days. Tom is a campus evangelist who preaches on something like 100 campus's a year. He is an awesome guy. Some campus preachers come and yell and tell college students their horrible people, and that they need to repent or die. Now, while true, I can't recall Jesus ever using that evangelistic strategy. As you might imagine, these guys never get much of a crowd. Tom regulary has 50-100 people. I heard that Wednesday there were like 250 listening to him at one point in time.

One thing I heard discussed was sacrifice. A very intelligent, and polite, philosopher-type guy was stating that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't a sacrifice. He didn't argue that it wasn't hard, but his point was that you do sacrificial things all the time for the ones you love, and you do it willingly. So - it's not a sacrifice. I disagree.

The dictionary has several definitions of sacrifice. A few are:
-destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else
-to suffer loss of, give up, renounce, injure, or destroy especially for an ideal, belief, or end
-to sell at a loss

Jesus lived a sacrificial life. His death on the cross was not out of line with his character and pattern of action. In the gospels, he denied himself many times, always serving the people and not himself. What else would we expect from the Son of God?

Very shortly after finding out his cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed by Herod, he displayed some of what I'm talking about. He wanted to withdraw, to mourn and spend time with his Father, but the crowds wanted Him. So he served them, he preached the gospel to them, he fed them. Thousands of them. And he did it gladly.

I think a sacrifice is still a sacrifice if you do it willingly. When one gives up something for ones they love, it's a sacrifice. I find myself making sacrifices for those I love all the time, and I enjoy doing it. I relish the opportunity to follow my Lords example by putting others first. Just because I do it willingly, and look for opportunities to do it, doesn't make it not a sacrifice. It's a beautiful thing to see someone make a choice to put another ahead of themself.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.(NIV)
John 5:13