My View On Guns

     Let me start by saying that, politically, I am a conservative, a gun owner, and a good ole country boy.  The possibility of a gun ban, regardless of what kind of ban it is, makes me upset.  Not because I’m scared that the government is going to take away my guns but because of the response that I see people giving.  The more I read about the arguments for and against guns it makes me think “What would Jesus do.”  As I search for this answer one seems to escape from me.  I have read Luke 22:35-38, Matthew 5:38-42, and Luke 22:49-51.  I have read countless Facebook post from pastors and friends that I look up to in ministry.  I have consulted dear friends about the matter; people of both political persuasions.  Yet, the answer just seems to not be there.  Maybe this is because the Gospel of Christ is about love and peace.  Maybe Jesus wasn’t clear on this matter because He wanted us to focus more on love and peace not guns and politics.  The King James Bible mentions the word “love” 310 times and the word “peace” 400 times.  The only verses that may pertain to a pro-gun argument are the ones listed above.  I don’t know what to believe about guns and gun bans in terms of a Christian but what I do know is that God saw fit to tell us to love people 310 times and have peace with people 400 times.  This leads me to believe that those two words are a lot more important than the multiple guns I have in my room. 

     Before we proceed any further, I will offer you my political option just so you will know where I stand on the issue.  I am not your average 19 year old college kid.  I love history, I love politics and I love this country.  I have heard just about every political argument about guns.  I have researched them and have studied them.  So I feel safe in offering you my option.  I believe that placing a ban on assault weapons will not solve the problems that we face today.  It’s not an issue with the type of weapon used.  It’s an issue of the person operating the weapon.  People have always killed people and people will continue to kill other people.  Cain killed Able without an assault weapon in Genesis 4.  Cain killed Able, not because he had a weapon that was considered dangerous, but because he was “very angry” as the New King James puts it.  The first crud firearms were invented around the 14^th century.  Until then people killed people with swords, spears, clubs, battle axes, bows and arrows, sticks and stones.  This is what leads me to believe that killing is ingrained in to humanity itself.  In the 1920’ the U.S. banned the sell and production of alcohol.  This ban was placed into effect because people thought that alcohol was causing men to beat their kids and wives and causing men to spend all of their money on alcohol.  The ban was in place until 1933.  The main reason the U.S. lifted the ban of alcohol was because the rate at which people were being killed over producing, running, and selling alcohol increased more than when alcohol was legal.  Is alcohol a bad thing?  It can be when it is abused.  Does alcohol cause men to beat their wives and kids?  If they drink too much, then it can.  I believe the same thing will happen with the gun bans.  The government will ban assault weapons and people will still be killed by assault weapons because the problem does not lie with the weapon but with the person.

     The problem lies in the sin that we have in us.  There is no ban the government can put on sin.  As long as sin abounds there will be death.  But lucky for us “where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.” (Romans 5:20b)  The only thing that is going to stop the death and destruction of this world is Christ.  Guns don’t save us.  They may save you from a robber or a thug but they will not save you from Hell.  Guns do not advance the kingdom of God.  Christians have tried that before.  Remember the crusades.  It didn’t work out well for them.  So why do we cling to our guns like they are the things that will save us?  Why are we, as Christians more outspoken about gun bans than about what Christ can do for people?  So as Christians, I would like to see people start to advance the kingdom of Christ and tell people about the peace and love that God can offer us.  Let’s put down our guns and put on Christ! 

Girls Please Read This

Hey there guys.  I haven't posted a blog update in awhile because of the massive amount of stuff that I am doing at P.A.  God is defiantly moving up here and He is moving in Mississauga, Canada.  This post was inspired the book Every Young Man's Battle which I just finished reading today.  I wanted to post this because this is what I expect out of a Christian girl.  I also don't want to offend anyone.  This post is not meant to bring shame or to make my past girlfriends look bad.  The reason that I dated them was because they did the things on this list.  So as you read this I hope that you will not look at those past girlfriends and think bad about them.  If you can't read this without judging them or me then please don't read it at all.  Now that those rules are in place, I want you to read this, think about this, and comment on it if you wish.

What I want to see in a Christian Girl

1. Loves God more than me- A Christian Girl should love God more than their boyfriend, family, friends, etc.  -Matthew 22:37
2. Loves the body, gifts, skills, calling that God gave her- A Christian Girl should accept the body, gifts, skills, and calling that God gave her.  She is "remarkably and wonderfully" made by the Creator of the Universe.  She should not only accept these things but put them to use to farther the Kingdom of God. -Psalm 139:13-18, Ephesians 4:1-6
3. Dress Modestly- I am not going to sit here and tell you that I don't like to look at women.  Its kind of a guy thing and its the way God made me, but that should not be an excuse because God provides a way out of that.  I hate it when guys blame the girls for not dressing modestly because it should be us men that are strong enough in our faith to bounce our eyes and to not lust after it.  With that being said, Christian girls could help us men out by dressing modestly.  Girls this means not yoga pants, no tight shorts, no short dress, and not low cut shirts.  Instead of showing of your body parts, try showing of how much you love God by dressing modest and telling others to do the same. - 1 Timothy 2:9-10
4. Reads her bible- A Christian Girl should stay in the Word of God.  This is how she will learn about her Creator.  When she stays in the Word of God, she will grow to trust, love, and want God.  -Hebrews 4:12
5. Understands that even Christian guys mess up- Women, we are not perfect.  We try our hardest to be but we are still sinners and we will mess up.  But I can tell you that even though we mess up that we still love you and will still want you to trust us. -Romans 3:23
6. Understand that a Christian guy will sometimes have to ignore you to follow God- Us men don't like ignoring the woman that we love.  It is one of the hardest things to do, but we have to follow God first.  Sometimes that means that we can't answer our phones because we are at church or at a bible study.  Sometimes this means that we have to go to other countries on mission trips to spread the word of God.  But just because we can't come out to eat with you or come over and watch a movie, we still love you and we still want to be with you.  We promise that when God gives us a break from our very busy schedules that we will spend every minute with you.  We make the most of every minute that we have with you because we love you. - Matthew 16:24

This are just a few rules that I came up with.  There may be more to come for the females but there for sure will be blog posted soon about men and how crappy of a job we have done at being men.  Thank you for reading them and I hope that you will be able to apply them to your life.

God Bless

Cody Walker

Driving Experiences

So we finally made it to a hotel last night but I was to tired to blog about my experiences of driving 650 miles though three states.  Here are some of the things I have learned about:

1. When people get on the Interstate, they completely forget how to drive.
2. Gas is pretty expensive up north.  It went from 3:35 in Arkansas to 3:72 in Kentucky.  
3. I hate driving.  This point is pretty much self explanatory. 
4. Every highway in America has some sort of road construction on it.  

I hope that you have enjoyed these experiences of mine and there will be plenty of more experiences that I will blog about in the coming days.  Thanks for your prayers and for your support.
 

My Rules

So today I have come up with a list of rules.  They are a lot like Gibbs List of rules off of NCIS.  This rules are not listed in any order, some are funny and some are serious.  Some come from Gibbs himself, some are made up from personal experience, and some come from God.  I hope that you enjoy each rule and there are sure to be many more to come.

1. Always Pray
2. Never be without a knife
3. Never take anything for granted
4. When the job is done, walk away
5. Never second guess yourself in a relationship or life
6. Never underestimate your opponent
7. Sometime you have to say no
8. You have to clean up the mess you've made
9. Forgiveness can rebuild burnt bridges
10. Always be polite
11. Never take God out of it
12. When God is taken out of it, it doesn't matter anymore
13. Your way isn't always the best or easiest
14. Learn as much as you can about as much as you can
15. Never look down on yourself
16. Always show someone love
17. Don't worry about life, God already took care of it
18. Never give up
19. You can't do everything by yourself 
20. Sometimes there are things that you can't fix
21. Always give second chances
22. Sometimes........Your wrong

Speaking at Fuel

So I am pumped about speaking at Fuel tonight.  I have a feeling that God is going to do good things tonight.  It so great to finally be able to speak to my old youth group.  I love having time to sit down with God and talk to Him about what I need to say and what I need to do tonight.  Going to be a great night.

Had a great time today talking with my pastor about my future and where God is leading me.  Shawn asked the question "Where do you see God taking you five years from now?"  That question really made me think about how I am living my life now and where I see God taking me.  I would love to be in youth ministry someday because I have such a heart for teens.  Now I'm not saying that that is where God is leading me but I do feel like it might be where He wants me at this very moment.  I use to worry about not making the right decision or making a decision that was against God's will, but today I think I realized that I am making this to difficult.  All I need to worry about is worshiping God and honoring Him.  So that is what I am going to do.  I am going to just let Him take care of things because He is God and I am not.  He has my right hand and won't let go of it.  Y'all should read Psalms 73 and meditate on those verses because they have really helped me.   

The need for Friends

Just had a great time "Hanging out" with my friends on Google +.  This time with them made me think of how great our friendships have been.  I thought that I would blog about friends and the need for them.  All though the Bible we find that people had great friends.  David had Jonathan, Paul had Timothy, and Jesus had twelve disciples( His friends.)  I am glad that I have the friends that I do.  They are great Christian role models and know how to make me smile even when I am down.  I thank God for blessing me with them.  Proverbs 17:17 says "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time."  This is how I view my friendship with these guys.  They are my brothers and I would do anything for them.  Those guys know who I am talking about so I am not going to name names but I just wanted to tell them that I love you guys and I am here if you ever need anything.  May God bless you in all that you do.