HOSANNA!

PLEASE FIND ME…

Yesterday, I could not feel this, today I’m sick of trying,
To live like I can live on my own
This world around me, is suffocating, I keep forgetting,
To turn and run into You

So find me, wherever I am won’t You find me
I’ve got myself lost and I don’t think
I want to be roaming in heartache
Please find me tonight

I make it hard and I can’t stand this, can’t wrap my head around this
I wrestle with You more than I should,
I make a mess, of everything, but You see the best in me,
I’ve never been too far gone

So find me, wherever I am won’t You find me
I’ve got myself lost and I don’t think
I want to be roaming in heartache
Please find me tonight

(lyrics by Everyday Sunday) ______________________________

Ever feel like you’ve been wrestling with God?  Sounds odd, even foolish to think that anyone could wrestle with the Almighty.  But when He gently instructs, nudges, teaches, guides, and you, through your own musings, still don’t obey - well, you get the idea.  

But if you make yourselves at home with Me and My words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.  This is how My Father shows who He is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as My disciples.   John 15:7,8.

Make yourselves at home with Me and My words are at home in you.  Pray and read.  Pray and read.  Pray and read.  No wrestling there! 

BORED. with church?

Wow! Did I just say that? I think I did, and I think I am. How has North American Christianity turned God’s vision of “church” into a one-hour lecture with 3 songs and announcements?

I love to worship God. I love to meditate on His Word, sings songs of praise, lament, anguish, joy, love. I love to hear the testimonies of His children and how He works in their lives. I love to share mine. I love to see the brokenness of a man or woman, and see the people of God gather around and pour love on them. I love to hear silence. I love to pray, silently, aloud, shouting! I love to journal and write letters to God, even my own psalms. I love to watch videos that point me to God. I love to share with several intimate sojourners about their thoughts on spirituality and how it works today.

Oh, and did I mention I like the occasional challenge of the Scriptures, as interpreted by someone I trust and respect and look to, as a model for how I am to live my journey. Not every week, but occasional.

What if our gathering times, our worship times, our “Experience” times were 90% interactive and 10% instructional? What if the people of God were allowed to BE the people of God, during our time of worship?

more to come on this one…

LIVE YOUR LIFE?

So I was in my daughters room the other day, checking on the goldfish that is five times too large for his tank, and I noticed a stack of shopping bags from American Eagle Outfitters (AE, as affectionately known by those who shop there) and the slogan on the bag jumped out and cracked me across my face.

“Live Your Life”.  Wow!  I’ve seen it a million times, I mean, I shop there.  I’ve gotten bags splattered with the motto.  Why, today, did it strike me so different?  Hello!  Incredible.  Intriguing.  AE, a company that targets the coolest segment of our population (teenagers), gets it!   

“Winning Souls to Christ”.  Ever hear that one?  Seems like a popular theme among evangelistic circles.  Almost sounds like a some sort of competition, a game so to speak.  You against me.  Us against them.  Let me do my part to win the soul and give God the glory.  No doubt a “motto” of every “hardcore, sold-out, believer whose bent on nothing short of seeing the lost get saved.  And while I can understand that directive, probably based upon the “Great Commission” or Matthew 28:19.20 (as Scripture refers to it), I also believe that there’s so much more to what Jesus showed us while He walked this earth, than one specific command given just before He went skyward.

God’s craftmanship is excellent.  And He made us for a reason, for interaction, with Himself and with others.  He’s made us to live our lives.  And if you notice what He did while he journeyed on this planet, you’ll see that’s exactly what He did.  Fully God, fully man, but living out the purposes of His Father in the everyday. 

What if we approached our life (as a follower of Christ) with the approach that we have a mission.  That mission is to love.  Not “win souls”, but to live our life in such a way that others are blessed, encouraged, drawn into the amazing love of God.  To look at ourselves and where we fail, our character flaws, our hurts and baggage from the past.  To look into what makes “ME” tick and seek help for those areas that you don’t understand.  What if we took responsibility for our life, not the lives of others, and we LIVED OUR LIFE the best way we know how - letting others live theirs without the judgement of “my team against your team”.

What if we lived our life and loved others, and let God do the rest?  Sounds like a good life, doesn’t it?

THROUGH THE SEA, EXPLAINED…

So I was searching for a new pic for the header of my blog, cause I like to keep things fresh and new, and I came across this picture by Arnold Friberg entitled, “The Parting of the Red Sea“.  How absolutely cool!  But here’s the deal…can you imagine, being asked by God to lead over a million people out of bondage and into freedom.  Ummm, scary.  Oh and when you do get them to follow, you suddenly find yourself being chased by an army of soldiers bent on your demise.  Stressful.  And then, imagine if you will, running into a large body of water and thinking, “How in the world am I going to get out of this one?”.

I get so overwhelmed when I think of how God does what He does, how His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  Through the sea?  Are you kidding me?  Have you ever seen a “good” magic trick that totally blows your socks off and leaves you in amazement, wonder and confusion?  Something that seems to defy reality? Imagine what Israel thought.  I’d love to see journals from the people who followed Moses’ lead through the mighty waters.

I believe that, too often, in the world of Christianity, we have a tendency to fall back on  man-made plans, things that others have done before and seem to be working, or perhaps even the way it’s always been.  And standing in the midst of a wilderness experience, it would be very easy for me to acquiesce to another role as a student pastor in another community of believers, simply because that’s what I did before.  But after searching Scripture and hanging of the absolute immensity of God’s way, I see that that’s my “easy out”.  I don’t want to put God into the confines of my mind, I want to have the mind of Christ.  That means trust, even when trust doesn’t make sense.  Can He move me in a direction that I didn’t even think of?  Sure.  Can He invite me into something I’m fully incapable of?  Absolutely.  Can He lead me through the sea?  If He chooses.  Would I be scared?  Most definitely.

So as I continue to look for God’s path and lead “my people”, my wife and kids, I’m constantly aware of Psalm 77:19.  And I’m convinced that his pathway for us, the road for us, is through the mighty waters - a pathway that one day I’ll proclaim, “no one knew was there”.

STUMBLING, OR NOT?

So I’ve been noticing that my latest entries have all begun with me stumbling, per say.  What’s up with that?  Perhaps that’s the very thing I feel like I’ve been doing.  Stepping forward, not seeing the object in my path, and stumbling into my next several steps.  And perhaps those “objects in my path” are the very things I haven’t let go of yet.  The issues that I’m holding onto, like a old pair of really comfortable, but hideously ripped, jeans.

As I move through my recent days, I’m learning that healing is a choice.  My choice to want to move forward, to heal inside, to just be better, is something I must come to grips with.  And I am.  I want to have the best marriage possible.  I want to be the best, strategic parent that I can be for my kids.  I want to be grounded emotionally and relationally so that I can listen to others, really care, and offer wise counsel to friends.  I want to have the best relationship with my God so that I exude the “fragrance of Christ” whereever I walk.  All these things I want - ALL BEGIN WITH A CHOICE.  The choice to heal.

I’ll never stop stumbling.  Scripture is very clear on that.  But I may stop stumbling over the 5,000 pound elephant that’s right in front of me - over, and over, and over, and over.

God, give me the courage to choose healing and pave the step directly in front of me, that my feet may be stable.

WORSHIP AS A LIFESTYLE

Stumbled across this from an old version of one of the pages from welovestudents.com.  HMMM…. 

If you can think of worship as more than the single hour on Sunday morning, then you can begin to understand that throughout your day, each day, God desires to be set apart.

THE DAILY GRIND?
What if the in’s and out’s of everyday living could actually become your “daily worship”? No guitar, no piano, no gold-rimmed offering plate lined with red felt, no choir, and no pulpit. Can that really happen? It begins with the basic premise that today, in my life, my underlying, sole purpose is to set God apart from me and the rest of His creation. As you open your eyes and crawl out of bed, you are walking through the doors of the sanctuary…and as you drop into that same bed and close your eyes at night, you are leaving the sanctuary. Everything in between becomes your act of worship.

BENEDICTION
Your awakening prayer…”God help me win today. Help me treasure You and Your presence in my life today. Help me look at people the way You look at people. Help me have the strength to go where You would go today and do what You would do today. God I can do nothing apart from You. Amen.”

OPENING CHORUS
As you make your way through your morning routine (bathing, eating, driving, etc…) you find a song in the depths of your soul. A song centered on God and His glory (from your favorite band, or the CD of an up-and-comer that your buddy said you’ve got to hear). You allow this song to resonate in your mind, your heart, your body…as you smile, shout the words and do your little dance when you think noone’s looking. This song becomes your key to unlock the door of vocal praise, unhinging your mouth for later that day.

OFFERING
Somewhere between the song mentioned above and your arrival at your first stop, you’ve determined to give yourself to God today. Whereever you end up, whomever you run into, whatever you’re asked to do…you’ll do because today’s time table and today’s schedule is His time table and His schedule. You have asked God to align you with His will so that He may be made famous, and for a moment you realize that everything you planned and worked out may change in an instant…and you’re ok with that.

SERMON
Imagine looking for every opportunity to open your mouth and make Him famous. Your chance at delivering a God-given sermon. Speaking of the joys that He brings you, or the faith that has grown through really hard times, or the assurance you have of a life eternal becomes the basis for a discussion (and it doesn’t have to be 30-40 minutes long with bullet points). Every person, who knows God in a real and personal way, has the ability, and not of your own, to speak truth about God. In fact, it’s your duty to proclaim what He has done for you, telling of His marvelous works.

INVITATION
Go ahead and ask. If you have the opportunity to talk to someone about anything spiritual…be bold. Ask them. Ask them to taste and see that the Lord is good. Let them drink of the eternal fountain. Ask. Ask. Ask. Then show them.

CLOSING PRAYER
Lay your head on your pillow, and through a tearful eye, thank God that you made it…then thank God, that WE WIN!

Wow! Your very own worship service. And you’re the lead worshipper. What if you lived that way everyday? What if Monday through Saturday were spent worshipping God that very way…and when you arrived in church on Sunday morning, you joined the mass of other individual worshippers for a “corporate” time of worship. Voices lifted high, God exalted to His rightful place and everyone anxious and ready for the next six days of worship?

Breathe in deeper, there’s way more to life !

EXCITING READ!

I stumbled across this book in my latest searching through a catalog of resources and was extremely excited to find it at Barnes & Noble this past weekend. As I expectantly read on…I’m incredibly excited that God is continuing to carve the path directly in front of my eyes - no more, no less. (Psalm 119:105)

To be on the brink of such a deep soul search is incredibly frightening when you realize the One who put His plan for me inside my soul says, “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. Isaiah 55:8 The Message

(needless to say, I’ll be tightening the safety belt for this one!)

OUCH!

A must read!

7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Pastors (from THEOOZE)

METAMORPHOSIS

“According to Scripture, the very heart of how we show and distinguish true worship from false worship is apparent in how we respond to the poor, the oppressed, the neglected and the forgotten . . . our worship should lead us to greater mercy, to costly acts of justice, for those who are the least seen, the least remembered, the least desired.” (excerpted from Leadership, Summer 2007)

Sometimes the comfortable places we find ourselves, become incredibly uncomfortable in the light of Him.  When we begin to see life, John 10:10 life, things begin to change.  And perhaps the fear of that change causes rebellion.  Perhaps Jonah didn’t want to imagine what would happen if “they” became like him.  Perhaps he liked it just the way it was.  Perhaps I’m liking “the way it was, the way it is” a little too much.

Perhaps the metamorphosis is happening in me…and I’m a little scared.