Travel Blog

Matthew 7:1-2
1″Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ”

1 Cor 2:11
11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

10 “I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”

Proverbs 20:27
27 The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man;
it searches out his inmost being.

I wanted to quote all these verses I discovered because it goes along with the actions and attitudes I believe we are called to have towards others. This is a reminder and opportunity for me to work out some thoughts.

I remember a verse Matt 5:27-28 where Jesus says
27″You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[e] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Lust is discribed in the dictionary as
1. Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.

The word in greek is epithumeo {ep-ee-thoo-meh’-o}. Which is defined as
1) to turn upon a thing 2) to have a desire for, long for, to desire 3) to lust after, covet

You can’t define a word with the word so we’ll go with desire.

Desire is defined as
1. To wish or long for; want.

Want is defined as
2. b. To seek with intent to capture

Now we have a broader more acurrate view of what lusting means. Often our terms lose their true meaning thru inaccurate word association. And the best way to understand a word is to find it’s roots. Lust > Desire > Want > To seek with intent to capture. I think most of us have been socially conditioned to believe that lust = fantasy, more specifically: sexual fantasy. It doesn’t. Lust is to seek with intent to capture–sexually.

It becomes pretty clear that no one but God and the man lusting is going to know that he is truely lusting. Therefore it becomes even more clear that no man can judge another man based on his secret intentions. Only God knows and only God can judge a mans heart, mind and soul.

I chose lust as the topic because of its controvery regarding its definition in everyday conversation. I constantly find my self arguing over the semantics and wanted to document clearly how I’ve arrived at my understanding. This same principle can be used with ANY situation. Just as it is illegal to conspire to commit murder, Jesus is saying it is also a sin to conspire to commit adultery even if you don’t get the opportunity to actually commit the act.

In short, no one has the ability to judge another man’s secret intentions. You don’t know if he has secret, sinful intentions or not. So watch yourselves because you too will be judged with the measure you used.

I was reflecting after watching amovie here in Athens, and reaziled a truth. One of the major down falls in our society, our culture and our generation is a lack of knowledge on the topic of Honor. I see people finding absolutely no problem with lying, making empty promises, disregarding others, disrespecting themselves, etc.

This has lead people into financial ruin thru debt and backruptcies, broken familes thru adultry and divorce, broken souls and minds thru depression and suicide, and so much more. All because one priniciple lost its way in our culture and is hardly expressed as important to our generation. This is a sign that our society is depraved and coming to an end.

Think of what changes we would see if Chivalry and a code of Honor were restored. Here’s a code of honor I found on Google. It’s a nice example. Maybe someone has the time to find one in the Bible for me.

The Summer Knights Code of Chivalry

A Knight must:

• Respect themselves and others
• Demonstrate loyalty and strong leadership
• Exhibit courtesy, compassion and generosity
• Devote themselves in service to their community
• Display courage and fear no challenge
• Strive for excellence with tenacity
• Defend the weak and oppose injustice
• Search for wisdom, purpose and truth
• Remain faithful to their pledged word
• Exemplify Nobility, Humility and Knightly Honor in Every Word and Every Deed, Every Day!

Christian or not, anyone could find use for this! It would flip the world upside down.

I’ve discovered the BEST place in the world. And you may be shocked to discover where it is. I learned that the BEST place in the world is where your friends are. More specifically, where people who care about you are. The places I’ve had the most fun were the places where I had friends to enjoy my time with. Even in the most boring towns I’ve had fun, because I had friends there.

Jon is planning his bachelor party. The best place to go? Wherever you can get the most people together that care about you. Which is Thailand…. Just kidding.

Anyways… Relationships are what life is about. A relationship with God and with people. The places you are while those relationships are taking place are just backdrops. If you feel dead, you need to fill your life with more meaningful, deep relationships. I’ve also learned that if you aren’t expereincing these deep meaningful relationships, it’s almost definately your lack of participation. You want people to love you and show it? Do you love people and show it?

Next time you are hanging with your friends, tell them how much they mean to you and why. Everyone needs that. Everyone needs to be assured of their worth. The worth that is inherent to being a creation of God, the creator of the Universe.

So I’m at the hotel bar. I see this girl who is of course very beautiful, and I’ve been noticing her all week. Unfortunaetly I think most of us know that if you don’t go talk to a girl right away–and this window may be something like 30 seconds–she may move to Goddess status. A place in your mind where you’ve already gotten married, had kids, moved to a topical island and live happily ever after with no worries and everything taken care of. And if you blow it, your life ends. The world is over.

She moved into this zone. But I have good news. I went up and talked to her anyways. Holy crap is that hard to overcome! She ended up being a complete bore. This of course is inevitable. Goddesses can never live up to their place in your mind. They are doomed from the point of christening.

So, the moral of the story? Don’t wait. Go talk to her immediately, before she becomes a Goddess, because Goddesses don’t exist.

You guys have no idea how much I enjoy getting emails and comments on my blog from all of you! Thank you so much! I got like four emails today and I just checked it yesterday! One of the greatest things is getting email from long lost friends. This is one of the main reasons I put this site up. Friends from highschool are stopping by! How cool is that?!

Please enjoy the photos and stories. If you have suggestions on things you’d like to see on here, please send them. I’ll totally try to accomodate.

Today I’m off to Venice. Then quickly to Rome before heading to Greece for a week. Then back to Italy for Pompeii and other sites. Then I’m back to Greece for some final island hopping and my flight to egypt. I met an older lady lastnight who gave me the low-down on Turkey, Egypt, India and Thailand. She says it’ll be a cake walk and Turkey will be SWEET! and CHEAP! Love cheap. Prague was cheap….but Turkey will be rediculous.

Ta ta for now! Love you all!