J-Ra: An Autobiography

Well, since this is the first blog, I thought I'd start out with an introduction to me. I was born early 1986 in Phoenix, the hottest city on earth. I grew up fairly boringly, always trying to stay out of trouble, trying to "keep my nose clean" as they say. I grew up believing that I had to "be good" in order to get to heaven, a belief that many people hold today. I think people like to think about the afterlife because our current lives are so uncertain. I came to a realization about how uncertain life was on September 11, 2001, when about 3,000 people died all of a sudden, with no warning. About a month or so later, my grandmother died of cancer. We knew she had cancer, but nobody plans for that. A couple months after that was Christmas, and that's when I really started thinking. Christmas was the holiday some people use to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Over the year-and-a-half before this particular Christmas, I'd been hearing the gospel, which says why it was that Jesus was born, and ultimately died: to bridge the chasm between man and God caused by our sinfulness and His perfectness. Jesus was the only one who was able to reconcile man to God. That's when I gave my life to Christ.

Over six years later, here I am, trying to tell others about this Man who willingly gave His life as the penalty for what we did/do. If you're reading this, this should be important for you to consider, whether you've heard it a million and three times, are hearing it for the first time, have accepted it already, or has rejected it already. Jesus is an important figure in history. He split time. He is widely accepted as being a real person, despite a total lack of anything from His time period that makes any mention of Him, save the Bible. I've even talked to atheists who've said that, though they don't believe that a god exists, they like the teachings of Jesus (which causes a problem, that I'll probably get into in another blog). He's such a huge piece of history, that I think it's foolishness to not even look at what He said and stood for, and see what He's about. If you haven't thought about that, I would suggest that you give it some consideration.

Well, that's what I believe. A few other random things about me, that aren't very important, but interesting, are

• I've changed my major 4 times, and am somehow graduating in 4.5 years.
• The name J-Ra comes from a pun on my actual first name mixed with some Egyptian mythology: My name is Jason, which I once wrote as J'son. Someone saw that, and said that Ra was the Egyptian sun (son) god and so I could be called J-Ra. That's the only nickname that's ever stuck.
• I've lived in AZ all my life and have never been to the Grand Canyon.
• My senior year of high school, I didn't want to do a play, so I told the drama teacher that my mom was forcing me to get a job, so I could go play tennis for the team. I told my mom I wasn't going to do a play, so she forced me to get a job.
• I found out that I was lactose intolerant when I tried the Gallon Challenge. Not a fun night.
• I've been sunburned once in my life. I didn't understand why my skin hurt and was peeling at first.
• I had an extended stay in a hospital a few years back. Because of that, I can't eat Jell-O.
• When I graduate, I either want to become a teacher, or go into full-time ministry with The Navigators.
• I'm an extrovert, but tend to be quiet in groups.
• My head was the same size as my shoulders when I was born. Thus, the oversized head.
  

Galatians 2:20--I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.