A Fresh Look

Generally, when we think of Valentine's Day we think of the love between two people; a man and a woman and their relationship with each other. That's probably the way most people think about it. But I'm not most people. I don't think that's the only way to look at Valentine's Day. Being single, I am able to take a different approach to such a day. I don't see it as a day just for couples. I see it as a day to show love to all people; a day to remember to love one another.

We wouldn't even know what love is if it wasn't for our Heavenly Father. "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 God has loved us with an unconditional love and He wants us to do the same. Take a look in the New Testament and see how many times it is stated: love one another. (It's a lot)

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 John 4:7-10 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Romans 12:10a Love one another with brotherly affection.

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you.

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

These are merely a few places in scripture that mention loving one another. I could go on and on, but that would make for an extremely long blog post, but at least you get my point.

I'm not trying to change the definition of Valentine's Day. I'm just trying to say there's more than one way to look at it. I have a very deep love for people and I try to live out Christ's love every day in my life. If people only remember one thing about me, I hope that it is that I loved them. Because I know this: people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.

Happy Valentine's Day to all the couples, to my family, to my friends, and to all you single folk out there as well.
I love you guys!

Drive

I'm used to creating images with images, not images with words. However, I was curious to see if I could do it. So this blog post isn't anything profound or super serious. It's just a short, made up story I wrote. Is it any good? I don't know. I guess that's up to you to decide :)

It's late. Later than he anticipated. And it's colder than he had remembered it being a couple hours ago. He's about 30 feet from his truck. He pushes the unlock button on the key fob as he briskly walks and watches as the interior light flashes on. He arrives at the door and opens it, hearing the familiar click from the latching mechanism. He hops into the cab and shuts the door. He grabs the key from his jacket pocket and inserts it into the ignition. It's dark, but he's done it a million times and knows exactly where the key goes without having to look. As quickly as he can, he turns the key and the engine roars to life. He throws the gear selector into reverse, cuts the wheel to the left and hits the gas. He lifts his foot off the gas and mashes the brake. He pulls the lever down two notches into the drive position, straightens out the wheel and jams his foot back onto the accelerator. He hears a slight screech from the tires as he then glides to the stop sign. The pavement glistens in front of the yellow glow of the headlights. It had rained earlier that day and the asphalt was still damp. He was turning right. With no traffic visible in either direction, he romped on the gas pedal as hard as he could and turned to the right. The tires gave a profound squeal as he felt the rear end start to break loose and slide. Without having to think, he turned the wheel back to the left still keeping the gas pedal pressed tightly to the floor. Eventually the tires began to grip the road again and propel the truck in a more forward motion. He slowly straightened the steering wheel to bring the truck out of the oversteer and back in line with his lane. He stopped at the next intersection, a 4-way, then sped off into the night. He wasn't fully aware of it at that moment, but he would realize it soon enough. He let out a sob and wiped his eyes, one at a time, always keeping one hand on the steering wheel. His vision was blurred by the tears, and his mind by that word. It was a word he never wanted to hear again, although he would hear it many more times throughout his life. The word contradicted itself! It made no sense. He would later realize that it wasn't so much the word he had a problem with, but what the word meant.
- Goodbye