My Life Verses - Part 1

Something that has had a major impact on my life is the time I spend reading my Bible. When I was racking my brain trying to determine what I would post about this week (I am trying to get a new blog post out every week, not necessarily at any specific point in the week, just some time between every Sunday and Saturday, so hold me accountable.) I found myself searching through my Bible for lessons I have learned recently. I then realized, I should just put a whole bunch of verses that I claim as my life verses. 

My definition of a life verse is any verse that has had a significant impact on the way I live my life. With these life verses, I will be first giving the verse, and then giving a little bit of explainationof  what that verse means to me. Also, as you are probably noticing my title, this is part 1. I called it part 1 for many reasons. The first of which is I do not want my post to be too long, so if I begin to notice it starting to grow to a very excessive length, I will cut it off and continue later. The second reason is that I plan on continuing to add life verses as I continue to live my life, so this list could hypothetically continue until the point in time where I have listed every verse in the Bible.

But enough "seasoning" for one post, lets get on to the "meat and potatoes" of this post:

• "No temptation has overtaken you except that what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

This verse above all else speaks to me that God is always with us. He does not promise us that we will live an easy life, or that we will go without temptation. But he promises us that if we keep our faith in Him, we will be able to endure anything that comes our way.

• "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

This verse is a great reminder to me that God is always there. Even if we cannot see Him, He is there leading and guiding us. It also implies that we need to listen to what God is telling us, because it is the right way to walk. This verse reaffirms that we as humans still have free will. We have the right to choose whatever we want to do, and through it all God will stick with us and guide us. He will continuing to point us in the correct direction regardless of how much we mess up.

• "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with anyone that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8 (NIV)

This verse reminds me that we cannot have any true knowledge of where our future is leading us. We can be trying to point our lives and choosing our path, but ultimately we do not know where we are going to end up, just like the wind is unpredictable. But, throughout all of our unknowing, God still knows where our life will end up. All that being said, we should let the wind be, we cannot control its speed or direction, we can only try to follow where it is going. We should do the same with our lives, we should not try to control our speed or direction, but interpret where it is that our life is headed when it changes direction.

• (9)"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (10)Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV)

I think my understanding of these two verses is much more straightforward. Continue to good and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Whenever you have a chance, do good to all people. Now the tricky part, is when you stop doing good things for the right reasons, and start doing them for the glory that comes from being considered a "good person", you start to do things for the wrong reasons. Being selfish and cocky can turn a good action into a conceited action in an instant.

• (9)"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: (10)"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11)The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers,adulterers - or even like this tax collector. (12)I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' (13)But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER.' (14)I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."" Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

This passage is very similar to the verses I listed before it. It touches on the subject of the reason why we do the things we do. It shows that even if the things you do in your life are considered "good" things, if you lose track of the reason why you do them or you become selfish in your actions, you will not truly be doing good. I also like that this passage looks at a humble person directly compared to the selfish Pharisee. "GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER." If that is the attitude that all Christians had in all of their actions, I think the perception of Christians overall would be much better. That phrase, "GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER." is one that I strive for in my life. It in my opinion is the epitome of humility. It shows that you recognize you are not perfect and do not expect to be perceived as such. I want to live my life in the same manner as the tax collector. Standing at a distance, unable to even raise my head to the heavens, and pounding my hand on my chest, humbling myself before God because I know I am not perfect.

If you have any questions for me, or would just like to discuss something with me, let me know.

Thanks for Reading!

Logan Cullison

Giving Up

So for those of you that know me, you know that giving up is not an option I usually consider. For those of you that maybe don't know me as well, it doesn't matter what it is, I am usually set in whatever I am doing or thinking and am very obstinate. This post is about one of the hardest struggles I have encountered, and that was giving up swimming.

For those who do not know much about my past, I was a very dedicated swimmer in my early years. I made my National Debut at a meet in St. Louis in 2001 as a 10 year old, where I won medals in almost all of my races. Until the age of 14, it was hard for me to find competition my age that truly challenged me in Nebraska. At one point in my career I travelled so much to get to practice, that I actually spent more time in the car than I did in the pool. It was truly my dream to have swimming define my life and to compete in the Olympics.

But, that all got to my head and I was cocky. God humbled me in a way I never saw coming. During High School I played football in addition to swimming, and I found myself gaining muscle mass the summer before my sophomore year of high school. I was adding protein to my diet and lifting weights, bulking up to become "Bigger, Faster, Stronger". In all, from May to August the summer before my sophomore year, my weight changed from a slender 160 pounds to a bulky 245 pounds. My lifts almost all doubled in amount, and I could bench more than my own weight. I took 3 and a half months off of swimming during football season, the first time I had gone more than a couple weeks without rigorous pool workouts in 8 years. 

(This is my school picture from my freshman year, to give you all some perspective.)

By the time it came back to being swim season, the damage was almost irreversible. The change in exercise type however caused an immediate change in my physique. For the first several weeks I lost between 5 and 10 pounds a week, about 1 pound for every 2 hours I spent in the pool, until my weight was down to 200 pounds just before Christmas, which would be as low as it would ever get again. At this point my dream was gone, but I did not realize it. I continued to swim through high school and was even named the captain my senior year. It was not until late in the season that year that I started to realize that my swimming career was coming to an end. I had always thought that I would swim in college, and while that was still an option, I knew my attachment to my past career was at an unhealthy level.

It was after this realization that God gave me a little reward. I had been struggling as far as qualifying times for the state meet. But going into the conference meet I was finally at peace with what I had learned from my experience. I came out and in my final race put out my best performance of my career to that point. I ended up snagging the final spot in the state meet 2 weeks away, and would be competing in an individual race there for the first time in my career. 

When I arrived at the state meet I discovered who I would be swimming next to. It was one of my childhood rivals, who went on to swim at a Division I college. But in that moment I was ecstatic. The race came and I mounted the block and raced. I finished 20th overall, moving past 4 others, and posting my lifetime fastest time. I also finished only .01 of a second behind my rival right next to me. To this day I remember finishing that race, looking at the times, getting out of the pool and shaking hands with him. Capping my career with a handshake from a longtime rival, and the conversation that followed. We immediately proceeded to the cool down pool, talking about our careers and the past. 

At that moment I realized all that God had done in my life through swimming. All the people I met and all the lessons He taught me. For the next 5 minutes I recounted all that I could muster sharing my story and what God has done with my life to that rival. I am sure he thought it was odd, but I still keep in touch with him. He has since that day begun his own relationship with God. But through all of it, I cannot help but think of all the pieces that came together to help me have that conversation. 

Looking back on my career, I have records, achievements, stories, and more medals and ribbons than anyone would ever want to count. But none of it matters at all. I have something that is way better than any ribbon could ever be. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and salvation through the sacrifice He made on the cross. When I consider "giving up", I think of quitting and consider it a bad thing. But what changed my life was realizing that there was something better than what I was living for in my life, and I needed to give up the materialistic life I was living to achieve that full potential in my life.

Like always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

Thanks for Reading!

Logan Cullison

PS - I still swim laps on my own, and will help out anyone that wants pointers in the water.

PPS - I also volunteer coach at Omaha Central. Good Luck to both the Beatrice Co-op and Central at State this weekend.

Green For Growth

First off, I am a little curious to know who all is reading my blog. More specifically, I am wondering if the majority of my readership knows me from my pre-college years, if the majority is from my years while in college, or if you just happened to stumble across my blog. So, if you read my blog, and are willing to let me know, I would like to know who you are. So drop me a comment, send me an e-mail, shoot me a text, or mention something to me the next time I see you. If I get enough responses, then I can more effectively know my target audience.

And now on to my post! I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the wordless book, but the wordless book began in 1866 as a result of a message given by Charles H. Spurgeon. The modern wordless book is considered to have 5 or 6 colors that tell the story, although Spurgeon's message only introduced the first 3 colors (Black, Red, White). D.L. Moody is credited to first adding a fourth color (the gold page) in 1875 and many missionaries including Hudson Taylor are mentioned as using the wordless book in their ministries as tools while open air preaching. After the 19th century and much more recently 2 more colors were added. The first of which is the green page, and it became the new 4th page, pushing the gold page back to 5th. Also, blue has been used as a page, typically by Baptist Churches who use it to represent baptism, but the blue page is still from time to time omitted by Christians not wanting to cause people to misunderstand that baptism is not necessary for salvation, instead that baptism is simply a profession of faith.

So to catch everyone up, we will begin by considering the 3 colors that Spurgeon introduced. The black page was representative of the life of sin that all humans have by nature of our human lives. The red page was symbolic of the blood that Jesus paid as the sacrifice for our sin. The white page represented our sin being washed clean, as white as snow. D.L. Moody's gold page represented the reward of Heaven for all those who have salvation in Christ Jesus. But the green page is the one I will be talking about today.

The green page is representative of growth in the spiritual life. It is evidenced by a person's relationship with God. Ways to grow your relationship with God are through reading the Bible, praying to God, sharing the gospel, fellowshipping with other christians, among many other things.

I know in my last post I got into my own growth a little bit, but there is so much more than what I gave in the last post. After that trip, I started high school and began going to my church's high school youth group (FOOT). I was active in that for 4 years, as well as going on 4 mission trips to Cary, MS where we ran Vacation Bible Schools, and helping out as a sponsor for my church's middle school youth group (all through Christ Community Church in Beatrice, NE). I did countless activities through CCC during my high school years and in doing so built a strong relationship with many of my fellow students as well as our leaders. I could list off all the people that impacted me during this time, but if they read this, they will know who they are, and that is all that matters. But every story comes to a close, and for me it seems, that is when the growth happens the most.

As my high school career began to come to a close, I encountered the last thing any soon to graduate senior wants to hear. According to some weird strange error, there was a problem with my transcript. I had everything planned out in my head, and even some paper work confirmation, but that isn't always enough. Turns out, even though I was set to go to UNL and be a part of the Honors program and be on academic scholarship, that wasn't in God's plan for me. One of my classes in my final semester didn't meet the requirements for admittance that I needed in order for me to even attend UNL. All in one moment every part of my future went from being planned to going into complete chaos. (Another reason why I love the idea of fractals is that even when everything looks like complete chaos, God is still in charge, He knows everything that is happening, even if I feel abandoned. If you don't understand this little side note check out the rest of my blog.) My chaos spun around and around as my family looked for loop holes to allow my plans to stay the same. But when God is in control, there isn't anything anyone can do. So I waited and waited and waited. 

Then just as abruptly as all the doors of opportunity slammed shut right in front of me, one door opened. That door was an opportunity to go to UNO. I was able to maintain status as an incoming freshman, and keep my same general plan, just at a different school, albeit with a handful of extra hoops to jump through. I was even awarded more scholarship money. But we are only scratching the surface of chaos. Even more than what school I was going to attend, when my mind became set on UNL, I even discovered the church I was going to attend and the college group I was going to be a part of. All of that was taken away from me as well. After realizing that UNO was my new reality I began scouring sources trying to settle this gigantic feat that of finding where my church home was going to be when I arrived in Omaha. I stayed up late at night sneaking downstairs to get on the computer and check the internet for church websites. I dedicated a notebook to listing out churches and everything I could find out about them. I took into account everything from: location, driving time, size, age (of the church itself and the people going to it), and the obvious of denomination. I made lists and ranked all the churches and mapped out when I would attend all the churches I considered "worthy" enough to give a shot. 

My work continued into starting school and I was so detailed in my research that I paired multiple churches up on the same day so that I could attend 2 and sometimes 3 church services in a given weekend. When all was said and done I had attended 23 different churches in increments varying from 1 to 5 times and tried 8 different college ministries some on campus at UNO and others off campus. But now lets look at how I met the group that stuck. This group had people stationed all around the apartments helping new students move into their apartments.

Now for this next part its important for you to understand a little bit about my dad. He is the kind of guy that is not afraid to poke a little fun at someone to get them out of their comfort zone (and I have a very small comfort zone). Also, you should know that my dad tried, and I mean really tried to get me to go out on a date while I was in high school. He even offered to pay for the date, and pay me the same amount of money as I spent on the date, as long as it happened before graduation... which never even had a chance of happening. He was really adamant to get me out of my shell, and the day that I moved onto campus was not about to be the exception. (In fact, I think just about every time I see him I get asked at least once about a girlfriend that has never existed.) 

On this particular day, the day I moved onto campus my freshman year, my dad points out to me that these two girls that were helping us carry my stuff to my new apartment had Bible verses on the back of their bright yellow shirts. So here my dad is... poking and prodding me to talk to these girls and make a move. All the while I am trying to get my stuff into my new apartment and try not to let these girls think my dad is a crazy person. When all of a sudden I go out to get another load of stuff and my dad is talking to these girls telling them that I am a christian too and looking for a good christian group to join. They got really excited and invited me to a barbecue that their group was having that night. They used terminology that no one on their first day in a brand new place would have any idea about to describe the location, but I scoffed it off letting my pride get the better of me. So when the time came to go to the barbecue, I had no idea where I was going, which almost kept me from trying. I literally walked outside and was lost for a solid 5 minutes trying to find this barbecue, only to discover that it was just down the hill from my apartment. At that barbecue I met the college group that I would eventually call my own.


Well, you remember all that work I did trying to find a church, turns out the answer was the simplest choice. The church and college group I settled down with was Candlewood Church and the Rock, a church that hadn't even scratched a list of possibilities for me to try. But this group did something that no other church or group even tried to do, they were out trying to find people. It is crazy to think that my introduction to this group was marked by me meeting a couple of volunteers that were set up to help people in the apartments on the north campus at UNO, simply by helping students unload their cars and get their stuff into their apartments. 

The lesson I began to learn that day and am still learning now is that no matter how hard you try to force things to happen your own way, it will not work. When God is in control surrendering to Him is the only way to get anywhere in life, sometimes He works even when you don't expect Him to.

This is where I will leave you all for the time being. Until the next post I write.

Any questions, feel free to ask me.

Thanks for Reading!

Logan Cullison

PS - For those of you who are unfamiliar with the wordless book, you can find physical copies online or in most christian book stores, or you can make your own, also bracelets with colored beads are a more common substitute. But, for the more adventurous you could make a giant banner with the colors and use it as a conversation starter.

PPS - Hi Dad, I know you are reading this.

What Happens Next?

Okay, so I am starting to get the hang of this whole blogging thing. I started messing around with the features a bit, I added a few features on the side to help all of you stay in touch with my blog on your own. I also changed the number of posts shown on each page to one, and that is strictly so that the number of page views does not give an untrue indication of how many views are truly occurring. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy getting it all out there.

In my last post I talked about where my story begins, if you missed that post go back and read it... It is titled "Where my Story Begins", you can find it on the right side of the page under the January tab.

This post is about what happens after you make the decision to accept Jesus as your Savior, and how I began to implement these suggestions after getting saved.

After you have made the decision to accept Jesus as your Savior and the payment for all your sins, the first and easiest thing I would suggest you do is be in fellowship with other people who have made the same decision as you. 

• 1 John 3:16 - "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."
• John 13:34-35 - "A new covenant I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

You can easily be in fellowship by going out and finding like-minded people who are willing to be in fellowship with you. For most people that means finding a church. But for others who are already in some form of fellowship, expanding fellowship opportunities could include starting a bible study, or creating a worship group.

A few other things to do are to start praying (talking to God) and reading the Bible. Both of these things are tough to start out, but as you build it into a habit they get much easier to do. The impact those two things can have on your spiritual life can be as influential as you allow it to be. The more you study God's word (the Bible) and build in your relationship with Him, the stronger your spiritual life and your  faith will become. After you have gotten a handle on those to things, you can go and dive in deeper. You can memorize scripture and share the faith that you have, with the people you come into contact with throughout your day. The important part is that you are trying to make an effort at taking a personal interest in your own spiritual well-being.

Now, I bet you are wondering how little 8 year-old Logan was able to do all that. The truth is, right away there was not a whole lot that changed in my life. I was already involved in a church and participated in different things that strengthened my understanding of the Bible. But, what I missed the most at that point in my life was taking that personal interest in my own spiritual well being. I read my Bible, sure... when I was at church and sunday school and other various sponsored activities, but I did not ever do it on my own. At least not right away.

The first time I decided to take control of my own faith did not happen until I was 14, while I was at a retreat with my church, the summer after my 8th grade year.

(I'm wearing a blue hat and orange shirt in this photo)

The middle school youth group I was a part of (JV FOOT) went to Wyoming for a week long trip. We did various activities in the mountains around Cheyenne from Canoeing to Rappelling to Mountain Biking, all while growing together in fellowship with one another. When we arrived we all got a packet with an itinerary. Something I noticed right away was something listed at the very beginning of each day. Right after breakfast, but before we had anything else, it had a spot listed as "Personal Devotion Time" (or something similar to that). I thought to myself for the longest time about what that meant. It was something I had never considered before... I had an idea of what it was, but I had never read on my own. So I approached my youth pastor and asked him what it was, he gave me a very simple response and I paraphrase, "It is spending personal time with God, through reading the Word and prayer." 

So what did I do when that first morning came around? I went back to the room I shared with Steve Gloor, Chris Ulrick, Tanner Edeal, and our sponsor Nate Koch. I got on my bed, I was the lower bunk of a bed I shared with Steve, and I pulled out my Bible. As I sat there, I was lost for where to start. So I simply decided to open my Bible to a random page and point to a random spot and read the first verse my finger came to rest on, all the while trusting that whatever verse it was, God was going to use that verse to specifically influence my life. I rested my Bible on its spine, covered my eyes and let the pages all fall open on their own. I took my right hand and I dropped my pointer finger directly downward and opened my eyes.

• Ecclesiastes 10:15 - "A fool's work wearies him, he does not know the way to town."

Now this verse probably doesn't mean anything to you at first read, it sure didn't mean anything to me... but that is the verse that my finger landed on. I read it, and re-read it, and went back and read the chapter... trying without avail to understand what the verse meant. I committed the verse to memory, swearing to myself that I would find the meaning. In extended research, I came to understand a little more of the verse, but that didn't come until years later. The words for "fool's work" would be more appropriately translated to say something along the lines of: "toil of a man with no job". And a man in that time period with no job would most likely not have a home and would typically live outside the town to avoid embarrassment. So the verse is a warning, that a man with no job toils away his time, to the point of not being able to go into town to get work as a day laborer.

But what that verse inadvertently did in my life was start a longing to learn more, a longing to understand all that I could about the Bible and God. After that point I began to see a huge change in my life, I began to see myself slowly open up and gradually become more outgoing. 

I also want to stress that it is not only reading the Bible that strengthens your understanding of God, but all the things I mentioned in this post can help in revealing another little piece about God. If you read my post about fractals, all these steps would be like you selecting the part of the fractal to zoom in on as you wait for God to reveal more of Himself to you. The sooner you start to make the effort to grow your relationship with the Lord, the sooner you will start to see the benefits. Also, the more you invest, the easier it becomes to continue to invest yourself in prayer, reading the Bible, sharing your faith, etc. 

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thanks for Reading!

Logan Cullison

PS - If you would like any help accomplishing any of the things I suggested, feel free to contact me and I will do whatever I can to assist you in getting started!