We all know that we live in a free country. Little kids like to remind us of this when you tell them not to scream in your ear or something like that. "It's a free country!" Well next time remind them that you are not free to kill, have excessive amounts of yard sales, lie in court or run stop signs. Well, they might not care, but freedom is always accompanied by limitations. I know that sounds like a contradiction. Think about it though, if everyone could do what they wanted there would be no freedom. Limits are in place becuase people are prone to be selfish and careless and their freedom takes away the freedom of others. If there were no stop signs, people would be much more inconvenienced as they constantly slammed on their brakes and repared their damaged fenders.

There is a teaching in scripture that teaches that God has predestined the lives of people. Some people have a huge issue with this idea, because they believe that freedom is an important teaching in scripture. The truth is that both are important. Christ has made us free from the law that leads to sin and allows us to freely love Him, but He hasn't given us an all access pass to run our lives. That wouldn't have done us or anyone else any good. The word that we translate as pre-destination means "to set limitations" in greek. God has set boundaries for us, these include the times when we are born and die, our ability of have faith in God, the people that come into our lives, and so much more. It can seem like God is too controlling for doing this, but the truth is that He alone knows what is best for us and what needs to be done for His perfect plan to play out correctly. Take a look around at the situations in your school and every day life. There are so many limitations set in place by imperfect people that serve us for our good. This is just a shadow of the way that God rules over all things and sets boundaries so that we can be truly free.

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I love shoes. I don't what it is about them. I would seriously be pretty happy wearing an old ratty pair of jeans and a thrift store shirt as long as I had on a slick pair of Saucony's (or something like that). I used to own a lot of shoes, well I still do. They aren't super expensive shoes, but I do like to think they're trendy. Some of them are so dear to me that I just can't get rid of them even though I haven't worn them in months.

I used to feel like I needed to have the newest shoes on the market. I don't feel like that anymore. Those shoes cost three times as much as much trendier "vintage" shoes at Ross. Plus, they are only awesome for the first week that you own them. When you first buy the brand new shoes, everyone notices. The next week, they are just used shoes. I think I used to just buy the new name brand shoes for that initial week of artificial love that I received.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy new or brand name shoes. I happen to try to avoid off-brand shoes because I don't like wearing shoes that come apart in chunks or act as pebble storage devices. I actually love picking up a nice pair of Nike's at Buffalo Exchange. I also love to get a nice new pair of shoes that fit just right and will last me a few years. What I am saying is that we should examine our reasons for doing things. Purchasing a high quality pair of shoes because we actually intend on using that 3 year guarantee is good. Buying some shoes for basketball that are built well for the sport is wise. On the other hand, the need to have the newest and "best" shoes just for the attention that we will receive is both vain and a complete waste of time and money. I am in recovery for this type thing. The first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Let's be honest about why we do what we do and allow God to help us prioritize.

Is the best use of hundreds of dollars per year the acquisition of newer and more trendy foot coverings? Could we invest that money into the kingdom of God? Could we invest it into things that do not rot, that thieves cannot steal, and that are not going to just be dragged across the ground? So shoes are fun and we should enjoy them, but let's keep our priorities straight.

It's easy to think of what water could symbolize if you merely consider the ways that we need water in our daily lives. The most important use of water is to quench our thirst. If it weren't for water, we would die. That is why water is used as a symbol of life in the Bible. There is a river of life described in the book of Revelation and Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about water that would provide everlasting life. Of course He wasn't talking about literal water. He was pointing the woman to a spring of water that flowed from God Himself, the real source of life that extended beyond the physical to eternity.
We also use water to clean ourselves. We wash before we eat to avoid germ contamination. We bathe our bodies to eliminate the oils, dirt and odors that our bodies produce. The water in scripture also symbolizes cleansing. Our spirits produce unclean things just as our physical bodies do. Just as our physical bodies need cleaning, so do our spirits. We see this when the Priests symbolically washed themselves before serving before God in the temple. We also see this in baptism where water is used to symbolize the cleansing of our inner self. See, even water has a deep significance.

We often overlook some of the most amazing creations of God. Earwax and nose hair are no exception. We've created trimmers to get rid of nose hair and cringe at the sight of earwax. The purpose of both earwax and nose hair is for our own good and protection. They both protect us from airborne ailments. Earwax helps lubricate, disinfect and clean our ear canal. Nose hair acts like a filter for our nose and, as we all appreciate, keeps mucus from freely dripping out. It is so easy to overlook these amazing gifts from God, and we tend to even try to remove them because they seem annoying to us. Isn't this also true of God's law. When God gave us moral standard for living, they are also for our good and protection. These laws can feel restrictive to us, and they may even feel like a nuisance. As with everything that God has made, His law and the earwax and nose hair He has given us, are truly good.

This one goes out to Tyler Shepperd. I hope it was deep enough.

The circle has been given a lot of significance throughout history. It was a symbol used in astrology and astronomy and was a significant part of the design of ancient structures like Stonehenge. It was also a symbol used in religion.

Many ancient people believed that the circle represented cosmic order. They believed that all things were linked. The circle has also been used to symbolize perfection because all points of the perfect circle are equidistant from the center. Some people have even used the circle to represent the life cycle because they that all things in life are connected.

Some of this thinking has been used by Christians as well. It Christianity the circle has most often been associated with eternity because the line in a perfect circle never ends. The idea of perfection has also been associated with the circle. Perhaps this is why the symbol of the trinity is made up of three inter-linking perfect circles. This idea of perfection can also be seen in ancient Christian art where halos were put over peoples heads to show that they were divine. Unfortunately most of them were not.

Elle, I hope that is a satisfactory deep thought. Keep drawing circles!

It seems like a lot of work to investigate things. In "lepsog" we are learning some of the first steps involved in investigating the claims of Christianity. I hope you all are having fun discovering what Jesus said and did. I hope you're being strengthened in your faith as you work through the probability of it all being true. It's important that we believe in Jesus as a historical figure who did the things that we read in the Bible. If He didn't do those things or isn't who He said He was, then He isn't trustworthy in spiritual matters. On the other hand, if He is who He claimed to be and did what we read that He did, then there is no other authority on spiritual matters. It is very important that we investigate to be sure that we know who Jesus is.

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As we have experienced one week of waking up earlier for church (well, some of us) I found that not only was it not so bad, but that the main thing that can help us adjust our priorities is changing our perspective.

I've been doing a lot of thinking and talking about this, and I am convinced that one of our biggest struggles is that we have such a limited view of what's important in life. Let's try to stand back and take a look at what God considers worthwhile and important. What does God desire of our lives.

I think that two of the most important things to God are the relationship that we have with Him, and our love for others. Jesus told us that these were the greatest commandments. How do our priorities line up with God's perspective on things? This is a question we should ask ourselves every day of our lives.