A Bit Extreme
I saw an episode of Scrubs today in which Elliot drags J.D. somewhere to help him start taking risks. They bungee jump off a bridge together, holding each other on the way down, and i thought to myself...
I'd like to be in a relationship with someone who might find holding each other while bouncing from a bungee cord romantic. Of course, it doesn't sound romantic at first, partly because bouncing upside down from a bridge sounds nauseating. But to have that adrenaline rushing through you from the jump, having a heightened sense of holding someone you adore with the ebb and flow of the bungee, looking into each other's eyes...
I like the sound of that. And I suppose there's a lot of deepness there if you want to dig for it, such as a relationship being a risk that both people have to work equally together on, and if one person takes a plunge, you dive in after them (which isn't always good advice). It has its highs and lows, blah blah blah...sorry if you were in the moment, but any Disney story, or any chick flick for that matter, implements that same moment with different backdrops.
Byyy the way. I am totally an extreme person. Ever since my early teens i have enjoyed the Summer and Winter X Games and extreme sports in general (actually, just about any sport will do). One of my favorite tv shows is Nitro Circus, extreme sports people that do wild and fun things. Within the last couple of years i discovered free running, which i would absolutely be doing in my free time if it wasn't for my ankle injury. I have already decided i want to skydive! That got me really interested in base jumping! Just look at me, i grew my hair out for several years and tried to get dreadlocks. If you know me at all, you know my love for metal music, and if you scroll several posts down you'll see a picture of the Dean Razorback guitar i purchased over a year ago. In my mid to late teens i faced my fear of heights by jumping off a 15 foot bridge into an unexplored creek which had rumors of refrigerators, washers, dryers -- big appliances -- being in the water. Once i found out how fun that was, i climbed a tree that overlooked the creek and jumped from an estimated 40+ feet, getting about 3 seconds of air time (or so my friends counted). I'm also no stranger to running long distances and hope to someday complete a marathon race. I've always loved hiking, but before i was old enough to know the risks, i even wanted to climb Mt. Everest! I remember being a kid and having that goal! Now i'd be just as happy hiking the entire Appalachian, and hopefully someday spending time in Alaska to hike the mountains there and just enjoy nature.
Now that i think about it, i'm not interested in all things extreme. I don't have tattoos or piercings and probably never will. I don't care about racing or any type of speeding vehicle. Guns are ok, but i'm not as good at hitting my target as i thought. I would probably have to be encouraged to risky levels of white water rafting, mostly because i still can't go under water unless i plug my nose. Eh, water just doesn't excite me.
Since part of this post is about relationships it won't be too out of place to say that all my life i have wanted to prove girls wrong. Even at a young age i looked forward to the day that i could prove that not all guys are the same, and that i can be some sort of knight in shining armor. It was never a fairy tale to me, at least the way i visualized it. Disney, of course, is probably the sole reason many girls grew up day dreaming about being a princess and being rescued by Prince Charming. I've always been able to picture myself going to the ends of the Earth to protect the person i loved, and always having the strength to do so, if only through our love. Heh, i wonder what God has to say to all this.
Even now, i anticipate a shared love with an amazing girl to transform my life, not without God of course. Perhaps that is childish thinking, not entirely, but maybe all the transforming in life is in God alone. The older i get, and the more i learn about God, and the more experience i gain in relationships, the more i realize that everything that i anticipate to transform my life from loving someone might really be found in loving God.
I have loved, and there's no doubt about it. I loved deeply at a young age and in some way i was totally changed. I became patient. Kind, even to my family which was always a struggle. Considerate. Before i "fell in love" i was often a complete jerk to my friends. Then, I knew love and suddenly i knew there was nothing i wouldn't do to protect the person i loved (at this time i wasn't a Christian). There were all these attributes that i acquired because of love that i can now look back at and know that love is from God. We've all seen love in movies comically turn a motorcycle gang leader into a love-giving pansy who changes his name to Teddy -- as in the stuffed bear -- and forgives the issue with the main character. All this to say that before love (and without God), i can be a very selfish person. When i "fell in love," even in my teens, i learned the importance of giving and wanting to make everybody's day better, as if love gave me enough joy to put me in a stable position to become the help for someone else. What i've realized is love can do that on a local scale. But finding love in God can do that on a global scale!
If having someone to love gave me the compassion to make sure everyone i knew went without hunger pains, then having love in God gives me the compassion to make sure people i don't know get fed.
Going back to what i was saying about the idea of love transforming me being childish thinking...
From what i know about living for God, we are doing His will by devoting all we have to Him, by being faithful and obedient, to pray, worship and read the Bible is to communicate and dwell with Him. Because of God we can have love, compassion, strength, wisdom, self-control, and every other fruit of the Spirit, all on a global scale. If we are first in Christ and in His will, then having a significant other is like a partnership ordained by God. Then, having someone to love really compliments what God wants us to do for Him. Having someone to love, without God, still makes the world about "us," the couple. I have loved deeply twice in my life and both times have taught me valuable things, but no matter how much that person may mean to us or how badly we want to share the bond of being in love, life's mysteries still won't be solved. Our purpose could never be like the animals: survive and find a mate. As scary as it might seem, we can find everything we could ever want and need in God. We have purpose in Christ, and much of that purpose is living for someone other than yourself, and other than one person you hand picked to love. However, if God gives the green light to be devoted to a significant other, living for God together is a beautiful thing :-).
Shalom,
~Jacob
I'd like to be in a relationship with someone who might find holding each other while bouncing from a bungee cord romantic. Of course, it doesn't sound romantic at first, partly because bouncing upside down from a bridge sounds nauseating. But to have that adrenaline rushing through you from the jump, having a heightened sense of holding someone you adore with the ebb and flow of the bungee, looking into each other's eyes...
I like the sound of that. And I suppose there's a lot of deepness there if you want to dig for it, such as a relationship being a risk that both people have to work equally together on, and if one person takes a plunge, you dive in after them (which isn't always good advice). It has its highs and lows, blah blah blah...sorry if you were in the moment, but any Disney story, or any chick flick for that matter, implements that same moment with different backdrops.
Byyy the way. I am totally an extreme person. Ever since my early teens i have enjoyed the Summer and Winter X Games and extreme sports in general (actually, just about any sport will do). One of my favorite tv shows is Nitro Circus, extreme sports people that do wild and fun things. Within the last couple of years i discovered free running, which i would absolutely be doing in my free time if it wasn't for my ankle injury. I have already decided i want to skydive! That got me really interested in base jumping! Just look at me, i grew my hair out for several years and tried to get dreadlocks. If you know me at all, you know my love for metal music, and if you scroll several posts down you'll see a picture of the Dean Razorback guitar i purchased over a year ago. In my mid to late teens i faced my fear of heights by jumping off a 15 foot bridge into an unexplored creek which had rumors of refrigerators, washers, dryers -- big appliances -- being in the water. Once i found out how fun that was, i climbed a tree that overlooked the creek and jumped from an estimated 40+ feet, getting about 3 seconds of air time (or so my friends counted). I'm also no stranger to running long distances and hope to someday complete a marathon race. I've always loved hiking, but before i was old enough to know the risks, i even wanted to climb Mt. Everest! I remember being a kid and having that goal! Now i'd be just as happy hiking the entire Appalachian, and hopefully someday spending time in Alaska to hike the mountains there and just enjoy nature.
Now that i think about it, i'm not interested in all things extreme. I don't have tattoos or piercings and probably never will. I don't care about racing or any type of speeding vehicle. Guns are ok, but i'm not as good at hitting my target as i thought. I would probably have to be encouraged to risky levels of white water rafting, mostly because i still can't go under water unless i plug my nose. Eh, water just doesn't excite me.
Since part of this post is about relationships it won't be too out of place to say that all my life i have wanted to prove girls wrong. Even at a young age i looked forward to the day that i could prove that not all guys are the same, and that i can be some sort of knight in shining armor. It was never a fairy tale to me, at least the way i visualized it. Disney, of course, is probably the sole reason many girls grew up day dreaming about being a princess and being rescued by Prince Charming. I've always been able to picture myself going to the ends of the Earth to protect the person i loved, and always having the strength to do so, if only through our love. Heh, i wonder what God has to say to all this.
Even now, i anticipate a shared love with an amazing girl to transform my life, not without God of course. Perhaps that is childish thinking, not entirely, but maybe all the transforming in life is in God alone. The older i get, and the more i learn about God, and the more experience i gain in relationships, the more i realize that everything that i anticipate to transform my life from loving someone might really be found in loving God.
I have loved, and there's no doubt about it. I loved deeply at a young age and in some way i was totally changed. I became patient. Kind, even to my family which was always a struggle. Considerate. Before i "fell in love" i was often a complete jerk to my friends. Then, I knew love and suddenly i knew there was nothing i wouldn't do to protect the person i loved (at this time i wasn't a Christian). There were all these attributes that i acquired because of love that i can now look back at and know that love is from God. We've all seen love in movies comically turn a motorcycle gang leader into a love-giving pansy who changes his name to Teddy -- as in the stuffed bear -- and forgives the issue with the main character. All this to say that before love (and without God), i can be a very selfish person. When i "fell in love," even in my teens, i learned the importance of giving and wanting to make everybody's day better, as if love gave me enough joy to put me in a stable position to become the help for someone else. What i've realized is love can do that on a local scale. But finding love in God can do that on a global scale!
If having someone to love gave me the compassion to make sure everyone i knew went without hunger pains, then having love in God gives me the compassion to make sure people i don't know get fed.
Going back to what i was saying about the idea of love transforming me being childish thinking...
From what i know about living for God, we are doing His will by devoting all we have to Him, by being faithful and obedient, to pray, worship and read the Bible is to communicate and dwell with Him. Because of God we can have love, compassion, strength, wisdom, self-control, and every other fruit of the Spirit, all on a global scale. If we are first in Christ and in His will, then having a significant other is like a partnership ordained by God. Then, having someone to love really compliments what God wants us to do for Him. Having someone to love, without God, still makes the world about "us," the couple. I have loved deeply twice in my life and both times have taught me valuable things, but no matter how much that person may mean to us or how badly we want to share the bond of being in love, life's mysteries still won't be solved. Our purpose could never be like the animals: survive and find a mate. As scary as it might seem, we can find everything we could ever want and need in God. We have purpose in Christ, and much of that purpose is living for someone other than yourself, and other than one person you hand picked to love. However, if God gives the green light to be devoted to a significant other, living for God together is a beautiful thing :-).
Shalom,
~Jacob