Shopping

I went shopping twice on black Friday, once at Midnight and the other at 5 in the morning. This was the first time in my life that I ever participated in this event. I’m not a fan of being around people who are willing to punch me in the face to get a tickle me Elmo doll before I do. While being there it was fun to watch people and see the expressions on their faces. People would look at me when I would walk by them with the look of, “don’t think you’re getting this product before I do, or I will stab you!” I was a little worried that someone might try to hurt me, but I made it out of my first black Friday experience alive. I also got all I came for as well. I don’t know if I will go again next year, but if I do I will have some experience under my belt this time.

O Man

Blogging is difficult. I have to come up with cool things to talk about on a regular basis. Usually my blogs are full of grammatical errors. I know this because my mom told me. Grammar has never been my strong suite. I have other areas that I’m good at, but I don’t care to talk about those areas. I just like to start my blog posts with the random thoughts I have at times, now on to the good stuff.

What makes a man a man? Being a youth minister I come in contact with young men that think they are tough. A lot of them want to fight with me to prove that they are tough and could beat me up. Sorry kids you can’t beat me up I’m just too strong. Let’s hope I don’t actually get any students that are actually big and strong and want to fight me. The ones that want to fight me are always the skinny ones. Young men today want people to believe that they are not boys anymore, but men.

What does society say a man is? I feel that today’s world says a real man is a man that doesn’t takes anyone’s crap, fights people when anyone tries to get in their way, is good with the ladies, never shows any kind of weakness, or gets emotional and has a high paying job. So a bully that sleeps around, doesn’t show emotion and has too much money that is a real man. You know what I say to that? That is a bunch monkey poop. That is not a real man. Not at all!

Growing up I didn’t want to be called a boy anymore. I wanted to be considered a man. I fell into the trap of society. I thought in order for me to be considered a man in my world I had to do what the world said is becoming a man. As I moved on in my life and actually became a devoted follower of Jesus, I figured out what it truly means to be a man.

I believe a true man, is a person who fully devotes himself to following Jesus. He makes a point in his life to become the best follower of Jesus he can be.

A real man takes care of his family and his responsibilities. He is a man that loves his wife, his kids, and takes care of them the best way he can.

A true man leads his family in a Godly way. He teaches them to love and follow Jesus. He is the spiritual back bone of his family.

A real man doesn’t let his pride get in the way. Whether if it is admitting he is wrong or actually asking someone for help we he truly has no clue what he is doing.

A real man loves is wife like Jesus loves the church.

A real man (this hard for me to say) isn’t afraid to show emotion or actually cry. Now I’m not a fan of sobbing like a baby or crying all the time, but there is nothing wrong for a man to show emotion. It’s not wrong for a man to cry when he is passionate about something or is in a time of unbelievable stress.

Now being a man is not easy, but it is a possibility to become a true Godly man. It just takes time and effort, and maybe some tears, and throwing away ones pride. Becoming a truly Godly man is what males are called to do. We are called to be Men that love God and lead a life that honors him. God likes a man like that.

What do you know?

This might be hard for you to believe, but I don’t know everything. Can you handle that statement? Let me say it again. I don’t know everything. I know you are picking yourself off the floor from disbelief, but it’s true. As a man I’m a fan of being right and knowing things. I like to know how to get somewhere. I like to know how things work. I like to know the plans that are being made. I like to know. As a man I try to know things beforehand to avoid the chance of looking stupid or having someone tell me how to do something, that all has to do with my pride. My pride is something I struggle with everyday. It’s one of those things that I’m in a daily battle with to overcome. However it is something that I can overcome and I can overcome the idea of not always knowing everything. God does know everything, and he knows what he is doing. The good thing is I don’t always know what he is doing, because if I did that would make me God, and that would be bad. I was asked earlier this week why God would allow someone to die in a tragic way, where they leave a family behind and where a person, people so strongly depended on. My answer was, “I don’t know,” and I like to know. However I don’t know. I don’t know why these things happen. God is a God we can’t fully understand, and that’s ok. I wish I had the answer to the why questions, but all I can say is that I have the faith and belief that I serve a loving, caring God who will never leave me, no matter how hopeless things seem to be. Things happen in our lives that don’t always make sense and don’t always make us happy, however that doesn’t give us a reason to quit on God. We can doubt God, we can question him. I’m sure God doesn’t mind that at all, but we can’t leave him because things are confusing and uncomfortable. I like to know, but I don’t. God knows and that’s good enough for me. As long as I follow and trust that he knows what he is doing I feel like I’ll live my life to the fullest.

Last Days

Our church is going through a series called “one month to live. “The idea behind it is if you had one month to live how would you live. Well I have put some thought behind this idea, and I know if I had a month to live I would want to be with the people I love the most, and I would have them join me in all the things I did. However I want to write something like a bucket list of things that I would try to accomplish in 31 days. (Money is not an option with this list.)
1. I would go to the other 20 some states that I haven’t visited yet.
2. I would go sky diving
3. I would meet Shaquille O’Neal
4. I would set foot on every continent
5. I would spend about a week in Italy traveling and sight seeing
All right I have had enough of making this list. There is a lot more I’m sure I could think about, but ultimately I would live. I would truly try to live my life to the fullest in my last month. I would enjoy the company of the ones I love the most. I would explain to those that I knew over the years that haven’t accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, that Jesus is the way for a truly fulfilling life. Life is too short to miss out on opportunities. I think if we lived with more urgency we would be able to reach more people for Jesus. He’s coming back and we don’t know when and our lives are going to end someday. We can’t miss out on the chances to tell those we know about the great love of Christ. As my last days come to an end I hope I can say I truly lived my life. That I truly lived the way God called me to live.

Facebook Sissies

This blog post has the chance of being hypocritical, but that's a risk I'm will to take. Facebook has made people into a bunch of sissies. Facebook didn't always have the ability for you to share your thought and feelings. Now it has that ability and people have truly embarrassed it. Now people feel the need to share what they’re feeling or what they’re doing, which is fine I do that to. What I have a problem with is when people want to share their dislike with someone on their Facebook status. When people right the phrase, "you know who you are." Are you kidding me?!?! Facebook has made people into a bunch of sissies. If you have a problem with someone go tell them to their face how they have wronged you or hurt you. I really don't care and I'm sure the other people on Facebook don't care either. If you want to make a statement to someone go speak the words to their face. Facebook has made some people socially awkward. Facebook gives people the excuse not to confront someone when they have a problem with them. Facebook hasn't always existed and people confronted people face to face then, and I'm pretty sure it worked fine. People please if you feel someone has wronged you don't make little hints on Facebook that just makes you look ridiculous. Go to their face and discuss the problem with them. Don't be a sissy. You know who you are (that was the hypocritical part of the blog.)

More to come....

To the woman I love.

Cara Hedger is the woman I love. She is the best.

More to come....

O so this is what you were talking about.

I have been a full time youth minister for a little over a month. I can say that I have enjoyed most of it. I love ministry, but there are something that come with ministry that doesn't always bring me joy.That's OK though because I work through it. With being here a month I got the opportunity to lead my first youth group trip to a C.I.Y. Move conference. I knew going into the trip that this was my first time so I was OK if everything I tried didn't work out. If something didn't work I would remember not to do it again next year. Fortunately I didn't have much of those moments. This trip was the best youth group trip I have every been apart of. I truly saw God work in the lives of my students. I had 9 students make the commitment to be baptized. That is awesome. A part of me wants to say I did a great job. I had 9 kids make the commitment to get baptized. It wasn't me it was God. It was all the people praying for those kids by name. All I did was get them there and let God do the rest. I'm proud to say that I let God be in control of my ministry and let him use me the way he wants too. God is awesome and it was great to watch him work. The excitement I felt for those kids was like no other feeling I have had before. I have a passion of teens and it is an indescribable feeling to see them make the commitment to follow Jesus. I was once told I could feel that great about ministry and I thought they were dumb for saying that. I can now say I was wrong and I now have felt that way about ministry. I hope to continue to feel this way for a long time to come.

More to come....

Energy Drinks

One thing I might not every understand is teenagers and energy drinks. They feel the need to get them on any trip they ever take. Every youth group trip I have ever been apart of as a leader there is always some kid that has to have his energy drinks. The extra sugar helps get them through the day I guess. I personally just rather drink some lemonade. It tastes way better. I bring all this up because I have successfully gotten through the first day of a trip to CIY where I am the youth minister. It is a blessing to have a day of travel and have no major issues, not losing any kids or losing a receipt or falling on my face. I feel like this trip has a lot of potential to be amazing. I know lots of people have been praying and I have been praying. I pray that God is about to do some amazing things this week in the kids lives and mine. Tomorrow we will be going to Six Flags and I hope at least one kid throws up. I'm a little crazy I know.

More to come....

Shaquille Now Is The Time

Think of a man, a big man, a man who has always been an entertainer, and at the same time a skilled basketball player. This man would be none other than Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq has been my favorite athlete since I was six years old. I have been a fan of this man for 17 years. Shaq has had an amazing career. He will go down as the most dominate basketball player of all time. He has 4 championship rings, 3 Finals MVPs, 1 regular season MVP, 3 time all-star game MVP, and the awards go on and on. Shaq is one of the greatest basketball players ever. My question is what else does he have to prove? My answer, nothing. Shaq has accomplished so much in his career. My feeling is that he just needs to retire. I know he feels he’s got something left in the tank, but why play on a team that most likely has no chance to win the title. I don’t want my favorite athlete of all time to embarrass himself. I still believe Shaq could accomplish something in his career, but he’s not going to win a title unless he plays for the Lakers or the Heat, and they don’t want him. Shaq if you want to keep on playing that’s great, but all the greats have to hang them up sometime. I feel like now is your time. It will be said to see you go, but I’m prepared.

More to come...

Big Rocks Hurt

When I was a kid my brother and I were playing Nintendo. The original Nintendo. We were playing this Ronald McDonald game. It was packed full of fun. That really has nothing to do with the story. While it was my brother’s turn he did something in the game that I thought was stupid, so I told him he was stupid. To my misfortune my Dad heard me say this. My dad called me upstairs and said if I called my brother stupid again he would whip me with the belt. Well being the dumb five or six year old I was I called Jared stupid again, and guess what…… My dad heard me. My dad who is a man that sticks to his guns did just as he said he would, he took the belt to the back of my thighs. Being a tough guy I want to say it didn’t hurt, that I could handle it. Yeah right! It stinking hurts to get a belt across the back of your thighs. You know what happen after that? I didn’t call my brother stupid anymore. I was unkind to my brother and I was disobedient to my dad, who told me not to do something and I did it anyway. My dad punished me for what I did.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." 21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

I’m sure glad I don’t live under this rule anymore. I would have been dead a long time ago. This makes me realize God takes it seriously when we are rebellious or disobedient to our parents. I wasn’t always happy with the rules my parents gave me, but I had no right to go against what they said. They were the authority figures over me. God does not tolerate when we go against our parents. I see a lot of kids today being rebellious and not listening to mom and dad. Maybe we need to go back to this rule. Maybe when kids start smarting off to their parents we should just take them out back and throw baseball sized rocks at them until they get the idea that what they are doing is wrong. Just a thought.

More to come….

Christ>America

The fourth of July is a day in America to remember what men and women have done to give this country its freedom it has. Well an usually thing happened this 4th of July this year. It fell on a Sunday. So church was made out to be very patriotic. As an American I appreciate my freedoms that I have in this country and I’m extremely thankful for the men and women who serve this country, but I think American especially American Christians feel that America is God’s chosen nation. As for as I remember God has had only one chosen nation and that was under the old covenant. Every video that we watched had a theme that America is a blessed nation and it is because this country was based on Jesus, and Christianity. I don’t believe this at all. America is great but it is not God’s chosen nation. There are other countries that have tons of resources just like America but are extremely pagan, and weren’t based on Christ. I don’t want Christians to get the idea that worshiping the country they live is ok, because its not. Sure America is a good place, but not worth worshiping in anyway shape or form. Our ultimate freedom comes through Christ.
More to come…

Goal?!?!

I once was told that soccer is the biggest sport in the world, more commonly known throughout the world as football. Only in America I believe it is called soccer (don’t quote me on that that’s my educated guess). I feel that soccer is the most popular sport in the world. You want to know how that makes me feel. It makes me sad. Soccer is the single most boring team sport known to man. I almost rather watch woman’s basketball than watch soccer. I just don’t find it entertaining. I played soccer as a kid and I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed other sport much more. Soccer is just one of those sports that is really easy to set up. All you need is a round ball and a field and boom you got a game. I believe that it is so popular throughout the world. However it is a sport that I wouldn’t miss it if it was gone. I bring all this up because of the world cup. I tried watching the US soccer team, and I could only watch about ten minutes before I turned it off. If I can’t even watch the team that I want to win there is no way I’ll want to watch another team kick a ball around. If you play soccer that’s fine, but I can’t help to tell that it is boring. I will forever be a fan of sports. I love sports, but soccer is something I have tried and just couldn’t get into it. One day I might get into. Maybe my kids will play soccer, but let’s hope they choose a more entertaining sport like curling. Or join a bobsled team.

More to come....

Do you have a point?

If I told you that this blog entry might not have a point would you still read it? Shoot I would. However I believe this post has the ability to have a point. You just might have to look a little deeper while you read it. There is a lot to say about a blog post that doesn't have a lot of meaning behind it. You could analyze it every which way. You might think I’m trying to be political. If you know me what-so-ever you know that’s not true. You might say I’m trying to boost my self-esteem. I don’t know why you would think that though. Then after countless other guesses you come to the conclusion that I’m doing this because I’m Aaron Pier, and a lot of the stuff I do doesn't always make sense. I’m a person that tends to believe that life is a little more interesting when you make it not make any sense. I find enjoyment when I do things that don’t always make sense. Who said you always have to do what’s normal. I sure didn't say that. So life can be boring if that’s what you want it to be, or life can be made a little unpredictable when you don’t always make sense. Life isn't something that should just be done because we have to. Life should be done because you want to live life to the fullest. Don’t be afraid to have fun with life. Don’t be afraid to act a little out of the ordinary sometimes. Next time when you’re sitting around and wondering why life is a little boring today go out and do something a little out of the ordinary. And you thought this blog was going to have no point.
Gotcha
More to come….

Day One

My life is normal to some people, and to others they might think my life is strange and unusual. I find my life to be a life that has the potential to be full of crazy experiences. Today is the first day as a full time youth minister. Being a youth minister hasn't always been my desire in life, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else right now. I look forward to the excitement this job will bring. I also look forward to the challenges this job will bring. I also look forward to all the funny crazy things that will happen to me with this job. I'm sure after 5 years of doing this I will have lots of crazy stories. I most of all hope to have tons of stories of the amazing work God does in the lives of the students I minister too. I can't wait to watch God work in my life as a youth minister and watch him change the lives of my students. I didn't get into youth ministry because I just want to hang out with teenagers. I got into youth ministry because I want to watch students grow closer to God and live for him. Youth ministry will be a challenge, just as life will be a challenge. I know however that I can overcome these challenges if I rely on God.

More to come....