Monday, April 26, 2010
Once a Year post
So this one is for the sake of keeping the blog somewhat current. I apologize if you have looked at this site and found in the comments things that are offensive. I really should check back on this one more than I do. If you have a legitimate comment, please feel free to leave it. I wish there was a way to send a reverse signal to spam spammers! I guess that is something that I hate, people who leave comments on other people's blogs to promote their crap!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Back from suspension!
Well, actually I haven't been suspended but I just haven't posted anything on here for a couple of years! Which brings me to the subject at hand, how quickly two years passes.
It doesn't seem like two years have passed since we did the Love/Hate project at UF. But obviously looking at the dates and the posts, it has. It seems that the older I get, the more time seems to fly past me. I know that isn't the reality. But that is the way it seems. Time moves the same for all of us whether we are 21 or 81. I'm somewhere in the middle of those two extremes by the way.
Today marks the first day of Summer B classes at UF and there are 2200 freshmen starting their college careers today. I'm sure their graduation seems like a lifetime away at this moment. But having watched students come and go for the last 20 years gives me a different perspective on their time at UF. Right now they think they have all the time in the world to enjoy the college life. They have time to party, time to relax with friends, time to study, and time to figure out what they want to do with their lives. And they are right. But that time is going to go buy quicker than they can possibly imagine.
The four or five years at UF are a rich time to make friends, develop your acadmic skill, learn a few things, and find your course for the rest of your life. You need to see these fleeting days as a chance to make a lasting investment. In your life, in the lives of your friends, and in preparation for God using you to impact the world. Don't just let the days pass, use them for a greater purpose. Make them count for something other than a count of days passed. These days are great days, but I hope and pray that they won't be the best days of your life. I belive if you live your life in relationship with the living Savior, Jesus Christ, then today is always the best day of your life! But the greatest day will be that day when we get to see him face to face. Until then, let us continue to love him and love others in his name in a way that honors the gift of this day to us.
It doesn't seem like two years have passed since we did the Love/Hate project at UF. But obviously looking at the dates and the posts, it has. It seems that the older I get, the more time seems to fly past me. I know that isn't the reality. But that is the way it seems. Time moves the same for all of us whether we are 21 or 81. I'm somewhere in the middle of those two extremes by the way.
Today marks the first day of Summer B classes at UF and there are 2200 freshmen starting their college careers today. I'm sure their graduation seems like a lifetime away at this moment. But having watched students come and go for the last 20 years gives me a different perspective on their time at UF. Right now they think they have all the time in the world to enjoy the college life. They have time to party, time to relax with friends, time to study, and time to figure out what they want to do with their lives. And they are right. But that time is going to go buy quicker than they can possibly imagine.
The four or five years at UF are a rich time to make friends, develop your acadmic skill, learn a few things, and find your course for the rest of your life. You need to see these fleeting days as a chance to make a lasting investment. In your life, in the lives of your friends, and in preparation for God using you to impact the world. Don't just let the days pass, use them for a greater purpose. Make them count for something other than a count of days passed. These days are great days, but I hope and pray that they won't be the best days of your life. I belive if you live your life in relationship with the living Savior, Jesus Christ, then today is always the best day of your life! But the greatest day will be that day when we get to see him face to face. Until then, let us continue to love him and love others in his name in a way that honors the gift of this day to us.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Big Brother Love/Hate
Check out my article on Big Brother Christianity at http://realitytv.suite101.com/article.cfm/big_brother_christianity
It's just another example of how love and hate play out in society, all though this time it's just reality TV!
It's just another example of how love and hate play out in society, all though this time it's just reality TV!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
What Did Love/Hate Experience Teach You?
What did you learn about yourself, about others, about your relationships through this experience that might help others?
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
What's this all about?
Now I can finally reveal the truth behind the blog, the flyers, and the boards on campus. I am the leader of the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at UF and I wanted to find a way to let our students who are active in the BCM get a real glimpse of the attitudes of other students towards Christians on campus as well as what they thought about a variety of topics. So we posted the boards and let you write and type away. Without knowing who was behind it, you were more likely to tell us exactly how you felt about the topics in general and less likely to be influenced by whether you knew anyone who attends the BCM. I tried to not restrict the flow of thought too much, although I'm sure that I did more that I wanted to in my first effort as a blogger. Then when we met last night, our students were able to read the boards and the blog comments. Our members then wrote responses on boards that are being posted on the tables at Turlington and the Colonade for you to read today through Friday. You can still post on this site for a while and I'm going to encourage some of our members to write responses on here as well.
For me personally, it was an eye opening experience. Not because of the language that was used on the boards or the content, but the damage that is being done by some because we fail to represent Christ in a positive manner. I think many of the "Hate" comments about Christianity, the church, and Religion are well deserved. We haven't lived up to the ideals of Jesus Christ. It probably is impossible to do it perfectly, but we need to be more faithful to live a life of love, grace, and forgiveness. That doesn't mean we don't have strong beliefs or that we believe everything is equally true. However, I can believe your beliefs are wrong without hating you or judging you and I give you the right to do the same with me. I need to do a better job of telling you what I believe, why I believe it, and then living that out while letting you make your own decisions about Jesus and his teachings.
For the next few weeks at our regular weekly meeting, College ministers from local Baptist churches will be responding to some of the things you have written on the boards or on the blog. We invite you to come and hear what they have to share and then to ask questions of me or one of our members. We'd like to continue the dialogue because when you tell us what you love and hate, we have a chance to get to know you and let you get to know us. Maybe then we can actually begin to understand each other rather than pre-judge.
I hope now that you see that this was an informational search and an effort to hear what you have to say in order to better understand our neighbors. Some of our posters may want to challenge your thoughts on the topics, but I hope you and they will continue to dialogue with each other in a genuine effort to understand each other and to present what you believe are truths upon which you base you life.
Hope to see you this Tuesday at 8 or to continue this discussion either on the blog or my email at eddie.gilley@ufbcm.org. Our website is www.ufbcm.org.
For me personally, it was an eye opening experience. Not because of the language that was used on the boards or the content, but the damage that is being done by some because we fail to represent Christ in a positive manner. I think many of the "Hate" comments about Christianity, the church, and Religion are well deserved. We haven't lived up to the ideals of Jesus Christ. It probably is impossible to do it perfectly, but we need to be more faithful to live a life of love, grace, and forgiveness. That doesn't mean we don't have strong beliefs or that we believe everything is equally true. However, I can believe your beliefs are wrong without hating you or judging you and I give you the right to do the same with me. I need to do a better job of telling you what I believe, why I believe it, and then living that out while letting you make your own decisions about Jesus and his teachings.
For the next few weeks at our regular weekly meeting, College ministers from local Baptist churches will be responding to some of the things you have written on the boards or on the blog. We invite you to come and hear what they have to share and then to ask questions of me or one of our members. We'd like to continue the dialogue because when you tell us what you love and hate, we have a chance to get to know you and let you get to know us. Maybe then we can actually begin to understand each other rather than pre-judge.
I hope now that you see that this was an informational search and an effort to hear what you have to say in order to better understand our neighbors. Some of our posters may want to challenge your thoughts on the topics, but I hope you and they will continue to dialogue with each other in a genuine effort to understand each other and to present what you believe are truths upon which you base you life.
Hope to see you this Tuesday at 8 or to continue this discussion either on the blog or my email at eddie.gilley@ufbcm.org. Our website is www.ufbcm.org.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Love/Hate
love hate...love/hate.
We have seen them many times before. We are comfortable with love and familiar with hate. We would like to say that we love more than we hate wouldn’t we? We would want to say that we hate things that hurt and love things that help, but it doesn’t always work out that nicely. love/hate on the campus of the University of Florida is a perspective shift. love/hate is about looking at things, the world, life in a different way. As we spin around on this globe our experiences change and our perspectives shift, giving us a new vision of the things we have seen many times before. As we move may we see things we are afraid of and grow brave. As we move may we give attention to things we overlook. As we move may we love and hate as truly as we breathe. May we be able to honestly communicate what we love and what we hate on this blog so that we might share in this world a point of life that is beyond a mere passing so that we will have a greater ability to truly see the inner workings of the human soul. So either you love it or hate it, but let it be known. Submit you opinion but make it your own…What is your opinion of the following stuff? Do you love it (church for instance) or hate it, and what do you love and hate about each?
Posting without creating an account is fine, but creating an account will allow for more direct dialogue. We'll be able to know who is posting what rather than just guessing who is the anonymous poster.
We have seen them many times before. We are comfortable with love and familiar with hate. We would like to say that we love more than we hate wouldn’t we? We would want to say that we hate things that hurt and love things that help, but it doesn’t always work out that nicely. love/hate on the campus of the University of Florida is a perspective shift. love/hate is about looking at things, the world, life in a different way. As we spin around on this globe our experiences change and our perspectives shift, giving us a new vision of the things we have seen many times before. As we move may we see things we are afraid of and grow brave. As we move may we give attention to things we overlook. As we move may we love and hate as truly as we breathe. May we be able to honestly communicate what we love and what we hate on this blog so that we might share in this world a point of life that is beyond a mere passing so that we will have a greater ability to truly see the inner workings of the human soul. So either you love it or hate it, but let it be known. Submit you opinion but make it your own…What is your opinion of the following stuff? Do you love it (church for instance) or hate it, and what do you love and hate about each?
Posting without creating an account is fine, but creating an account will allow for more direct dialogue. We'll be able to know who is posting what rather than just guessing who is the anonymous poster.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
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