LOVE THE HELL OUT OF YOU

So, I'm finished with over 1/4 of my life. (I'm 22 today).

And this has got me thinking. The truth of the matter is, I cannot name a single great-grandparent's real name (nicknames, yes, but not their real names). Within four generations they are already forgotten.

Within four generations, my name will be forgotten. My life will not be remembered, and my time on earth will not be noticed. This doesn't depress or sadden me; but it does make me think. My natural inclination is to want to make a name for myself. To have others remember me as some great Christian teacher or some soft rock star from Texas.

But these titles will pass as well. This is to be my legacy: nothing. People will not remember me within just a few generations (and that's within my own family). So, if I can't make a name for my self, then what is my purpose on this earth? If my name will not me known to even my great-grandchildren, then what do I have to live for?

And I come to only one conclusion. I will not be remembered in the future, but I can know people now, in the present. I can impact lives on behalf of the all-powerful God who created me. I can show people in the present who He is and what He's done. I can love people in the present to show them that God loves us and doesn't change.

My life is nothing but a tiny grain of sand on God's tapesty of time. And I should not focus on living my life in this small period of time and expect others to remember me long after I'm gone. Rather, I have been placed here and now for a purpose. My purpose is not the future; it is the present. And I can make God known here and now, instead of myself known in the future.

I'm here to make God known and to bring people into his presence by the way I live my life and the love that I give in the name of God. Because my life is short and it will pass and not be remembered, I must focus on the mission God has given me and not bow to the illusion that my life will mean something past this time. My life only has meaning if I can do God's work here and now: if I can love people in a way that bring them to my God.

In essence, I'm here to love the hell out of you (literally).

YET ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Birthdays for me have always been anti-climactic. It's not like people don't remember, they do and they're very gracious. But up until the day of, it like woot! woot! this week's my birthday. But then the day comes and it's like, oh well. I didn't even realize it was my birthday until about 1:30 this afternoon.

I'm 22 today. That's more than a 5th of a Century old. I'm over a 4th through with my life.

I don't mean to be morbid or anything. That's just the way things are.

Well, I'm about to go and do some Birthday stuff with family - eat some good ol' Tex-Mex. Blog more later.

TRUSTING GOD

It's funny how we can stop trusting God and not even know it. We preach trust and dependence on the All Knowing, All Powerful God of the Universe and then when something doesn't go right in our lives, we stop trusting, stop giving credit to God.

But the most scary thing about this is that we can sometimes give up on trusting God, and not even be aware of it. We simply start making decisions for ourselves and leaving God completely out of the picture. We only will allow God for force his way in though some major circumstance in our lives.

I don't think I'm making sense.

But God is God and we are supposed to trust Him no matter what has happened in our lives. And the next thing we find out, God's been working his plan for our lives, while we had completely given up on Him. That's what true grace is... neat, huh?

THE CRUZ-CONTROL IS NO. 1

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

Based on popularity (i.e., hits to date) and relevance, The Cruz-Control is No. 1 on a Google search for my name. It is Number 1 out of about 6,530,000 sites containing the name Jonathan Cruz.

The sweet thing about this is that if you type in "Jonathan Cruz" and hit 'I'm feeling lucky' button, it will bring you directly here!!!

So just a THANK YOU to all who read The Cruz-Control. Updates and postings will be much more frequent now that my internet is connected at my house. So, tell at least one person this week about the discussion and topics brought up here, and encourage them to read, and more importantly encourage them (or yourself) to comment.

Again, thanks for making The Cruz-Control number 1! I'm going to go celebrate with a mocha. Yay.

OH GEEZ!

OK, so I've been trying to understand this whole woman thing. Women think differently than men (no duh). But because of this, we often miss the mark because we do not undrestand what the opposite sex is thinking.

So, for all you guys out there, just keep trying to understand, because even if you don't succeed, it's apartently worth something to the girls out there.

READ THIS for a "guy's" perspective.

THE ANSWER IS NO!!!!!

Due to the recent (over the course of 8 months) explosion of hair on the top of my head, I have received numerous suggestions of what to do with it.

1) Cut it. This has been suggested by the likes of Marc and Jerry. But I say: What's the point? I want to see how long it'll grow. Besides, my friend Tom and I are viing for longest hair. It's been since February 3, 2006 since the last haircut. And it's still growing. Why break a winning streak on purpose?

2) Mullet. This has been suggested to me several times over the course of the last week. I could have a decent mullet in time for Christmas. To this I simply say, NO. While Grandma would completely dig it at Chrismastime, I just don't think I would the rest of the year.

So, for now unless yall offer better suggestions for what to do with the hair, it shall continue to grow.

DOH!

Darn evangelicals! I came across this...

"The fact that drinking alcohol under any conditions is forbidden [in the Bible], has been demonstrated in this book."

This is a qote from The Biblical Approach to Alcohol by Stephen Reynolds. What about Jesus wine miracle at that wedding shindig in Matthew? I won't go off right now, I'll yet yall do that.

Your thoughts...

FINDING MY MESSIAH

So, I visited a mosque and a synogogue on Friday afternoon/early evening. It was quite an interesting experience. Half of the service at the mosque was in arabic. It was different. After the service (yes, they have a sermon too) I got a chance to atlk tot the preacher for the afternoon. We eventually got to talking about what we believe and why. He taught me a lot about the Islamic faith, and he said I taught him alot about the Christian faith.

The Jewish temple was also really interesting. It was a conservative Jewish congregation. We got to read in Hebrew and all. My Hebrew sucks. But it was all good because they had english transliterations in the hymn-book thingy.

The sermon at the mosque was about the proper observation of Ramadan and why this year should be the most special and that Muslims can use it as a spiritual growth time of year to really make a difference in their lives. (Much like Christians can use lent, or just let it pass by). The sermon at the synogogue was also about the start of an upcoming holiday, and how people (jewish) should properly observe it.

What was really interesting that I did not get in either service, was the idea of grace from God. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet, because God would never lower himself to become like us. Therefore, Jesus cannot possibly be God. The Imman teaches that people cannot have any certainty of the afterlife, because we don't know how God's going to judge us.

In the Jewish (conservative) faith, it is much the same. We must keep the law and the Sabbath in order to the on God's good side it seems. But absent from both faiths is what we call grace - what Christians believe. That Jesus did lower himself in an unimaginable way in order to provide a bridge over the gulf our sins created between us and God. That's the kicker, the punchline - that while it's inconceivable for God to become human, that's what happened because God is a loving God above all else. So, he offers us grace.

And because he offers us grace, the law which we cannot always keep does not determine our relationship with God now or in the future. I have found my Messiah and he is a God of grace and compassion. I can't ever be good enough to keep this command or that one at every moment of my life. But I can love. And that's the purpose of this grace that we're offered.

I really learned a lot, Friday. God really is good.

VISITING

I'm visiting a mosque and a synogogue today for my World Religions class. Blog more about it later.

WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?

So, I was at McDonald's grabbing some nuggets for lunch. The lady strolled over and asked me what I wanted."

"A Number 9, lots of ketsup." I replied.

"And how are you doing today?" I inquired.

She proceeded to lay out to me how her entire day had gone. She was tired and frustrated and wanted to get off work, which was in about 20 minutes.

This got me thinking. When we asked people how they are doing, why are we always superficial about it? We expect them so say, "fine" and get on with their lives, even if it's the worst day they've even lived through.

But what about when we do show a concern for other people? What if we were to stop being superficial and truly care about people we don't even know? What would that do for people's lives?

I told her that I hoped her day went better. And that it was only a short time until she got off work. I've needed encouragement like this before. And it was great when I got it from someone I least expected it from.

So, next time you're offered "fries with that," ask the person on the other side of the counter how they are doing? They may need it.

NO INTERNET

I am about 7/8 of the way done with moving. But I probably won't have internet until the middle-later part of the week. Unitl then, I will blog, but it may be sporadically.

Anyways, I've learned a few things while moving. First I have more shoes than most females I know, combined. No offense to anyone of the female species. But I really have a massive quantity of footwear.

Anotherthing, moving sucks. Like it seems all cool to live somewhere else and stuff, and it is. But the actually moving of everything makes you realize how much STUFF we accumulate and hang on to, whereas others simply have nothing, literally. I discovered I have a lot of stuff I don't use or have any desire to use. And it's heavy. I've actually gotten rid of a lot of it, but still, moving sofas and tables is not very fun.

-peace

BAD JOKE CONTEST

OK folks, it's time to make each other laugh. We've having a contest: who can tell the worst joke. Now, these jokes need to be so pathetic they can potentially (although probably will not) evoke laughter in someone across the globe reading this blog.

Here's three to get us started:

Two peanuts were walking down the road, and one was a-salt-ed. hehe

Q: What was Benjamin Franklin's favorite dance?
A: The electric slide. hehe

Q: What did the tree say to the mountain?
A: Stop peaking at me. hehe

I know yall can do worse... much, much worse actually... now let me hear ya!

MY NEW DIGGS

Yaa-Ya!

Blog more later.

MOVING! YAY!

So, I'm moving. It's kind of tough in the middle of the school year. But it's all good. I'm moving to a spiffy keen place in China Spring, TX; it's about a seven minute drive from the Waco throughfares.

I'm excited! Yay!

I won't have to replace the tires on my Jeeep a due to slashing (while parked in my own driveway), nor will I have to replace the front lights on my Jeep because they've been shot out. BUT the best part of all: NO ICE CREAM TRUCKS DRIVE OVER THERE! (I personally believe that ice cream trucks are from Hell, as I believe I have stated on this blog earlier.)

China Spring is a nice suburban community (NOT a "town," as the lady in the General Store pointed out to me tonight: "We are a community.").

Geez.

But it's all good. This whole moving and finding a place to move to and all has had me pretty stressed the past couple of weeks. But it's all good. Because no matter where I go, as long as there's a Bush's Chicken... it's all gravy (literally).

p.s. if you haven't experienced the essence of Bush's Chicken, just ask a Wacoan, they'll tell ya!

HERITAGE: PART 2

An old book lies in disrepair somewhere in my great-aunt's house. Tucked away in an old Zip-loc bag. No one in our family can read the what is written. Many museums and history people have tried to obtain it, but none have as of yet have been able to.

The book was written by Grandpa Eusabio. It is music. They are songs. But they are not written in the European/Western music notion or a common vernacular (such as Spanish or English) that we've all learned to read. They are in the language of the Tankawa, and the notation is quite unique.

My aunt is learning the language (though CD's in her auto) in hopes of dicifering the songs. It's ironic, I think, of how much of us and our gifts from the Creator are passed on their our genes. Scientists have studied this throughly: how much of a person is in his or her genetic makeup. Apparently this is from my family. We are a family of musicians: songwriters, church musicians, rock musicians, bar musicians, and even wanna-be musicians.

It's funny how other cultures (other than the mainstream American one in which I was raised) integrate their religion, their cultural heritage, their talents, and their sense of identity into one solid cohesive mix. My Native American heritage, therefore, cannot be seperated from my musical heritage; they are one. Learning to gain identity, not through a rigid "cultural" heritage, but through a cohesive heritage of one's family can teach and demonstrate that an awesome God really created us and loves us.

My view of my family heritage is summed up in David Huddle's Only the Little Bone: "I am my grandfather's grandson after all."

Click here to read the rest of Only the Little Bone. It's really quite good.