Change is Good

I'm always amazed how good it feels to change things around a bit... I'm not sure why - but I enjoy change... Today, for example, I got to exchange and rearrange some furniture in my office... It was fun... It made it feel like a completely different room... A piece of furniture here - some wall art there... Voila! A totally new space...

When it comes to change - I know I'm blessed... I don't mind it as much as some people do... Some people HATE change... They avoid it as much as possible... Now - I will admit that some change is bad... It can even hurt at times... But - know this - God is a God of 'change'... He wants to change our hearts - our lives - and our eternity... He wants to change us from the sinful creatures we are into the children He's always longed for us to be... That change comes when we accept Christ and let Jesus take over... Now - that's way cooler than moving my desk!!!

Raining Babies

Today my wife had her baby 'shower'... Her mom, sister, and best friend put together this celebratory shin-dig to 'shower' her with gifts for our near (nearer all the time) addition... It was a nice mix of ladies... There were family members, close friends, ladies from church, and even a few rugrats... The ladies were single, divorced, married, mothers, and grandmothers - all from different walks of life... On this day, though, they all had one common goal - to 'shower' my wife with blessings... They wanted to show their love and support to my wife and I by providing gifts that would benefit both us and our 'soon to be' son, Bam Bam... It always warms my insides to see people be selfless and show genuine concern for others, let alone bombard them with diapers, soaps, and blankets... It was amazing...

But you know what's even more amazing - is that no matter how much we are 'showered' with gifts by others - nothing compares to the 'showers of blessings' from our Heavenly Father...

"I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing." (Ezekiel 34:26)

As God's children - we have 'baby showers' available to us each and every day... God wants to pour out His blessings on all of us - all we have to do is move our umbrella out of the way... "I'm singing in the rain..."

Concert for One

We had a very exciting event for our church tonight... We were involved in a 'Summer Concert' series at our city park... The organizer for the event contacted our worship pastor and worked it out for our praise band to come and do a concert for the community... He wanted the concert to begin promptly at 6 pm - but there was a problem... We have Friday night services that start at 6 pm and get over around 7:15 pm... Whatever to do..? Solution - me and some of my student praise band members did a 'pre-concert' concert... It was a blast!!! It was extremely hot - and the monitors didn't work so we couldn't hear a thing - and there were only like 13 people there when we started - but it was a BLAST!!! I told my band, though - that they may feel kind of funny playing for only a small number of people - but that wasn't our purpose... We were there to play for one person - Jesus Christ...

"How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God ?" (John 5:44)

If He's pleased with our performance - what more could we possibly want... Rock on!!!

Gone Again

I regret to inform you, my blog-buddies, that I will - yet again - be gone and unable to blog for a week... I know - some of you will truly miss my daily ramble on some obscure topic... I too will miss rambling... I've come to look forward to it every day, actually... But I assure you I will be back soon - full of clever stories and anecdotes from a week spent with my wife and 33 of our students and 5 volunteer sponsors...

We trudge over to Indiana tomorrow for a week of a 'church camp thing-a-ma-jig'... We leave on a Monday and return on Saturday afternoon... It is always an amazing week as we spend the vast majority of our time focusing on Christ... Whether it be between devos, services, quiet time, or playing ultimate Frisbee - I am always amazed at how God can truly work in a span of 5 days... Well - I shouldn't be amazed, I guess - God is pretty amazing... Nah - HE'S TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

"For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome" (Deuteronomy 10:17)

I plan on having plenty of 'blog-able' material when I return... Send us your prayers if you have some extra 'God chatting' time... We could sure use it... Until then, my friends...

Good News From Afar

Nothing brightens up your day like a dose of good news... You know - when you hear something that just brings an uncontrollable smirk to your face... It seems to be so joyful when you hear a report that people you care about are doing well and exciting things are happening... For example - you find out that your best friend is getting married... Or you get a call from your brother saying 'round 2 is on the way'... You can't help but become intoxicated with the adrenalin of the moment...

Today, for example - I found out that my family is embarking on a new endeavor... They have taken the plunge and are 'cannon-balling' in to the world of commercial business... Now mind you - They've been talking about this for years - so much that I've always began to roll my eyes and think such things as, "yeah right" or "when pigs fly"... But it appears it's going to happen... Now -0ne might think that one's family would inform them of such a venture, but in my case - I found out in my mother's blog... I know - I'm blogging about something in a blog! Watch out!!!

"Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land." (Proverbs 25:25)

I found that a bit strange - but if you know my family - "strange" isn't very foreign... But you know what - it doesn't matter... I'm still very excited for them... You know why - because they are going to do great... They have the giftings, the education, the experience, and the determination to make it into a great success... Whether they chose to inform me of their good news, or not doesn't change the fact that it remains 'good news'...

But you know what the BEST 'Good News' is..? The GOSPEL (good news) of Jesus Christ... The fact that we can all be saved from our sins and an eternity separated from God... Jesus dying on the cross took care of that for us... All we have to do is accept and follow Him...

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

If you ever find yourself at a time when 'good news' is in short supply - Remember that - and that smirk will turn into a soar face... (From smiling, of course)

The Last Crusade

One of my favorite movies has got to be "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"... No - it is not an Arthurian Tale of Knighthood to recapture the Holy Land - But it does still manage to capture the imagination in true 'Ford fashion'...

The movie's main plot is the quest to find the 'Holy Grail' - the cup used by Christ during the Last Supper... They go on to say in the movie that the cup also caught His blood and was given to Joseph of Arimathia (Not really very accurate, huh..?) All of this leads to a suspenseful chase to find the 'grail'... We have Indiana, his dad (Good ol' 007), Marcus Brody, and our fun 'eastern' friend whose name currently escapes me (hmm...) - Going against wealthy Walter Donovan and the Nazi's... Of course there's a weak love story (okay - 'lust story') in the middle, too - but nobody wants to hear about that...

In the end, though - Indy must overcome impossible odds and stretch his faith to find the 'Holy Grail' and save the day... Isn't it amazing - that even in a hollywood blockbuster - that they know how important faith is... The Bible talks about faith in great deal and the importance of it...

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards." (Hebrews 11:6)

Now - I ask you - If Indiana Jones can step out on faith - what's stopping you..? What's stopping me..?

Cleaning the Clubs

I figured after a spring season of playing golf in the mud - that it was time to scrub the ol' clubs up... I shimmied through the garage to the spot on the wall where my clubs are displayed and gingerly carried them into the kitchen to receive their spa treatment... I began to chip away at the layers and layers of mud that have cemented its way onto each face after several 'duffed' shots on the fairways... Okay - 'The Rough'!!! Are you satisfied.?! I confess - I don't even know what the fairways look like... Gee Whiz!!! A little judgemental, aren't we..?

Anyways - like I was saying - I was scrubbing up my golf clubs: My SUMO driver, my Tour Select irons (That's right - Tour Select... These are the greatest clubs you've never heard of!!!), and my new putter... And I'll tell you what - they looked brand ne... Well - they looked like they were right out of the bo... Okay - they weren't perfect, but they sure looked better... It's amazing how - what seemed to be cruddy and worn out clubs - now all of a sudden look like they can still do me some good... That once they were dipped in the water - they were still valuable...

Unlike my numbered devices of torture (if you play golf you know what I mean) - when Jesus cleans us up - we're better than brand new... We were never even put in the box... He takes the crud caked on us called sin and washes it off with His blood to make us clean - As white as snow...

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10:22)

After that wash-job, I'm ready for any course... Tee it up, baby!

Planning Your Battles

It's often been said that we should always "pick our battles"... It's best not to fight every battle - especially when there doesn't seem to be a peaceful resolution to follow, or ANY resolution at all for that matter... But isn't it strange, though, that at times we feel this natural yearning in every fiber of our being to "pick a fight" and attempt to resolve things our own way - 'Mano y Mano'... (I know - I know - I'm busting out the multi-lingual stuff...) Well - figuratively speaking, of course... I don't condone violence and believe (most of the time) there are better ways of handling sticky situations... But we feel that if we would just 'speak our peace', or 'tell em' off' that we'd feel so much better... If any of you have ever tried that before - you are already aware of what my next sentence will be... IT DOESN'T WORK!!! Seldom does the idea of "speaking your mind" and giving them "what fer" ever resolve things totally, or peacefully... It just doesn't... It's normally a complete reactionary response in an attempt to make ourselves feel better immediately... And people - the success rate is slim... And I mean slim...

It's not our place all the time to make people understand, or to even rectify every situation... In our battles - it's not us we should be depending on to make things right or to 'settle the score'...

"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD." (Proverbs 21:31)

I know it's dfficult to fathom that God will ACTUALLY deal with our stuff in His own time - but I assure you He will... And don't just take my word for it - I'm just relaying what He said... God, at times, will use your physical stature to defend and protect you and your loved ones from attack or snares... But in the end - The Big Picture - The real battle has nothing to do with what you see on the surface... "we don't fight against flesh, but against evil spirits (principalities)"... So - if you're in the thick of that 'rumble' - Do you want to go 'mano y mano' or do you want God to step in the ring..? That's what I thought...

"Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame." (Psalm 44:5-7)

Unforseen Blesings

I didn't realize how much I was going to miss composing my daily blog when I was at a church camp outside of Manford, Oklahoma all last week... I did have internet access, but finding the right time to sit down and collect my thoughts was few and far between... So - 'the drought is over' - for this week, at least...

I had a very exciting week at this camp... We hung out with kids, played frisbee and hacky sack (I know - all of the 'hippies' out there got excited for a moment), wrote songs, went to IHOP way too often (and late), and laughed a lot!!! Each evening during our worship services - I got to play guitar for the band AND gave the evening message... Our theme for the week was "Extreme Makeover"... I had prepared messages that would line up with that thematic idea... Laying down foundation, building up walls, and changing from the inside were some of the topics covered...

During the mornings I spent a great deal of time alone writing messages, praying, and focusing on the task that God had for me... I kept praying that the lives of these students would be greatly changed by what God was doing through me - which I believe did happen... I know God loves them just as much as He loves me and He definitely longed for them to know Him more...

But you know what..? Do you know who was really changed by the week..? ME... I'm the one that felt the presence of the Lord... I'm the one that left refreshed (exhausted from lack of sleep), but refreshed... My soul felt recharged... Sometimes - the things we think we're doing for God are actually the 'things' He's doing for us... I think this acts as a great reminder to us - that God uses our service to Him to not only benefit others, but build us up, as well... Man - He sure knows what He's doing...

"Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God." (Romans 5:17)

Wordless Wednesday?

I'm not sure what to think about the practice of Wordless Wednesday... I've seen my sister adhere to this 'Blogger Montra', but I'm not sold on it... For one - I have been unable to 'blog' since last Friday - Ugh!!! (I was doing so well, too...) Besides - I like to chat... It's what I do, people...

Anyways - I don't have long to rant with regal ramblings - but I leave you with this closing idea for Wordless Wednesdays... I don't remember Jesus saying, "Go into all the world teaching them what I've taught you and make them my disciples... But you can't teach on Wednesdays..." Haha - Just kidding... Have a great Wordless Wednesday Blogger World...

"For I alone know the plans I have for you... Plans to prosper and not to harm you; to give you hope and a future - GOD (Jeremiah 29:11)

Absent in Oklahoma - returning soon!