He Loves Us!!

I am undone...

2010-04-02T23:44:00.003-04:00

Isaiah 52:13-15

"See, my servant (Jesus) will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him - His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness - so will He sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand."

Isaiah 53

"He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed...and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth..For He was cut off form the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will hear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

So tonight I thought about Jesus undergoing the "suffering of His soul" and I am now undone. Scenes from the Passion of the Christ gripped my heart and I wept. I wept because a man who knew no sin became sin on MY behalf, so that I could become the righteousness of God. Jesus bore the wrath of God instead of me; me who totally deserves to be stricken and smitten by God because I am the worst of sinners and I have fallen short of the glory of God. Before His flesh was ripped open, before a crown of thorns was placed on His head, before the nails were driven into His hands and feet, before blood dripped from every inch of His body, before He was lifted high on a cross to endure THE most painful and excruciating death known to man, Jesus thought of me. Jesus withstood all of that...for me....and for you. I am undone. A good heaviness overwhelmed me and my heart rate rose as images of the perfect light of the world was silent before His torturers. And what for? He desperately wants to be with me and He desperately wants me to be with Him and His Father. I am undone.

From the fall of man in the Garden of Eden we see the story of God's redemption being played out. There has to be sacrifice and shedding of blood for forgiveness. But, no more bulls and no more lambs...Jesus' ultimate and perfect sacrifice tore down the veils and made a way for me to enter the Holy Place. He did it once and for all and will not do it again. I am undone. He suffered and died...for me...and for you.

Before the truly despicable and horrendous acts were done to Him, Jesus said to His Father, "I am Your servant, my heart is ready...not my will, but Your will be done." Wow, His heart was ready. His heart is for you Beloved! His desire is to be married to you; forever betrothed to you! I am undone.

Hebrews 12:2

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

I find it one of the most difficult things to comprehend; that there was joy in Jesus' heart as He endured so much pain and so much suffering. The joy was in Him paying the way for our eternal pleasures, which are at His right hand. His joy was in the justification of us all who would believe. His joy was an eternal marriage. His joy was me. His joy was you.

So let us remember Him; let us remember the cross. The cross is where we find everything we will ever need or want...love, joy, peace, comfort, freedom, deliverance, healing, our very life. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and on the cross. I want to be found hidden behind that rugged cross.

I am undone.

Grace and peace.

Must Read, Trust Me

2010-01-20T02:11:00.007-05:00

In today’s world, especially in the Western world, a massive strategy of the enemy that keeps us in torment, in sickness and affliction is the mirror we look in. We come into agreement with the lies of the enemy in front of the mirrors in our bedroom and our bathrooms. We build altars to devils and come into agreement with the evil one.

You see, the enemy hates us because we are made in the likeness of God. There is no other creature that Jesus Christ joined Himself to forever. There is no other creature in heaven or on earth that is like you.

A 1/3 of the angels rebelled against God and He did nothing. However, 100% of humanity rebelled and God said, “No! Not my prized creation!” Not the ones He fearfully and wonderfully made. “No! I’m going after them!” He joined Himself to us in a human body forever, Beloved. In Isaiah 53 it says that Jesus had no beauty at all, that nothing about Him would catch our eye. He was just like us. The enemy hates our physical frame.

Most people believe God wants to save your soul but very few of us believe He loves your body. We begin to hate and despise ourselves by saying; “I hate this or that about my body.” This is too big or that is too small, or I wish I didn’t have this quality or that quality. In James 3 it says that with the same mouth we praise God we curse ourselves and we judge ourselves. By doing so, we build altars to the devil and allow him entry to torment and to inflict sickness. The Lord does NOT want us to open ground for the enemy to bring depression, anger, self-hatred, cutting, starving ourselves, throwing up, sickness, etc.

A majority of people, especially Believers, lives with the torment of what our future spouse is going to think about our body. For those of you who are married, you live in torment about what you think your spouse thinks about your body. If your spouse thinks anything different than what the King of the Universe thinks, then they are idiots! Your spouse is going to love you one day!

In Isaiah 62 verses 6-7, the Lord is releasing night and day prayer. However, prior to that, He releases a voice and a declaration over His people; He declares over us a NEW NAME:

- Hephzibah – The Lord delights in you. This includes your soul and your body. BUT, with your mouth you curse yourself who is made in HIS likeness

- Beulah – He’s married to you. You are fit to be married to the King of kings, the King of the Universe, but you are wondering what your spouse thinks or will think about you.

Beloved, you were made to be filled with His glory and not any foul thoughts. If we are to live in freedom, we must tear down the altars in our bedrooms and bathrooms. You must never worship another demon at a toilet again by throwing up!! Do not build an altar there. You must never come into agreement with a demonic thought again, but instead come into agreement with what the Lord thinks about you. You are beautiful, you are fit for a King, you are Hephzibah and you are Beulah!

I imagine some of you have sickness or infirmity in your body because of this issue. When you get set free from self-hatred, your body will be healed. When you come into agreement that you are lovely to Him, physical healing will occur.

God did not join Himself to angels, but to you. You are the aristocracy of the Kingdom to come Beloved! You will reign with Christ forever. You are co-heirs with Him, and you are co-heirs with Him in your body and your spirit. Do you realize what is to come? You are destined for resurrected bodies!

The enemy hates your body, no matter the body type. Some want to look like the skinny supermodels, but you know what, they are probably some of the most tormented people out there. He hates your body. Why do you think FOUL spirits want to come and possess or oppress a human body? He doesn’t care if you are skinny, overweight, have a big this or small that! The enemy hates you.

Now I do not have kids, but just imagine a father’s heart and thoughts when his son or daughter says they hate something about themselves. An earthly father’s heart is broken when they hear these words because he took part in making them. Imagine the Heavenly Father’s, the One who knitted you together in your mother’s womb, sorrow when His son or daughter looks in the mirror in self-hatred.

An earthly father cannot get into his children’s heads, but God can. He can get into your head and He will speak Hephzibah and Beulah over you, and you will stop listening to the demonic thoughts inside your head.

Today He is raising up a worship and prayer movement. We will worship Him in purity, not worrying about what the guy or girl next to us thinks about our bodies. We will worship Him in the truth of who we are to Him.

Beloved, tear down the altars and hear the voice of the Father and Son in your head. Tear down those idols; burn those mirrors (not literally unless you want to!)! You may want to write "Hephzibah" and "Beulah" on your mirrors to remind you of how the Lord feels about you. You are lovely just the way you are. He has your future, trust Him and trust His leadership. Do not worry about what your spouse thinks or will think. He delights in you; you are beautiful to Him. Oh if you only knew what He thought!! You are Hephzibah! You are Beulah! You are fit for a King and He is going to join Himself to you forever!

Grace and peace.

*Reference: Allen Hood

What I'm listening to...

2010-01-10T01:38:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to write a post about what worship artists/bands/etc I'm listening to now. I will give you my top ten and they are in no particular order...they are all #1 to me. And I must say that these are all "must-haves"!

Ok, so here it goes...

1) United Pursuit Band - They are a worship team out of Knoxville, Tenn and they are incredible. I strongly encourage everyone to check out their stuff.
2) Christian Lewis - IHOP - Atlanta worship leader. I've had his cd on repeat for a long time now...
3) Cory Asbury - IHOP Kansas City worship leader = so good
4) Matt Gilman - Another IHOP KC worship leader. And also his stuff = so good
5) Bethel Live - This is a live worship cd from Bethel Church out in Redding, California. Amazing.
6) Hillsong/Hillsong United - You CANNOT go wrong with any of their cds. I just saw United at the Passion 2010 Conference and I was overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. Kind of made me want to up and move to Sydney, Australia! Seriously...
7) Jesus Culture - Another worship group out of Bethel Church in California. They have 4 cds out and each one is anointed. Worship leaders are Kim Walker Smith, Chris Quilala and Melissa Wise How.
8) Jake Hamilton - Woah! Man is he anointed!! I get so fired up listening to his stuff...
9) Johnathan David Helser - I've been listening to his cd "The Reward" lately and I'm loving it. The prophetic anointing on his songs is incredible! The song "You're Never Giving Up" has become one of my new fav's...
10) Phil Wickham - Enough said...

Ok, I'm going to add a few more because each one of these worship leaders/groups are inspiring and encouraging me to new heights and spurring me to new levels in worship leading...

11) Daniel Bashta - The past year of having him as our church's worship leader has been instrumental for my walk with the Lord and cultivating the worship heart inside me. His full-length cd should be out in the spring...
12) Tim Hughes - In a way he is a worship leader mentor of mine. He has his finger on the pulse of the worship movement the Lord is raising up all over the world. The worship leader training conference I went to a few years ago still resonates in my spirit!

I realize there are so many more worship leaders/artists out there...so I would love to hear who is influencing and moving your hearts right now. Please respond with their names so I can check them out!

Grace and peace.

Extravagant worship

2009-12-21T01:13:00.003-05:00

I was listening through a old podcast by Mike Pilavachi today and after spending an incredible night at RiverStone where extravagant worship erupted, I felt led to share a little from the podcast. I'm not going to add anything to it. It should speak for itself:

In Matthew chapter 2, we read of the extravagant worship of the Magi. They came to bring the new king of the jews extravagant worship with extravagant gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. When they arrived in Jerusalem they asked King Herod, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." This was a BAD mistake...telling the current king of a coming king that will replace him. The king's response was, "As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." But he wanted to kill him, not worship him.

Extravagant worship also has an equal and opposite reaction in some hearts. Those that cannot call Him king because they want to stay king of their own lives, sometimes under the guise of worship, they want to kill.

Then we read at the end of Matthew's gospel the story of the sinful woman pouring the expensive perfume on Jesus' head. She was showing extravagant worship of Jesus. What happens when she does this? The very next scene is Jesus eating with the 12 disciples [the Lord's Supper]. While they were eating, Jesus says that "one of you will betray me." Then the disciples were in disbelief saying one by one, "Surely not I, Lord" (v. 22). Each disciple said this until Judas. Judas says, "Surely not I, Rabbi" (v. 25). Why does Matthew put this in? To tell us a story. The story is, 11 disciples knew Him as Lord and one didn't. That is why Judas betrayed Jesus. At the beginning of Matthew, the extravagant worship of the Magi led to Herod, under the guise of worship, to try and kill Jesus because he didn't know Him as King. At the end of Matthew, the extravagant worship of the sinful woman led to the Judas' betrayal of Jesus to have Him killed because He did not know Him as Lord.

How does Judas betray Jesus? With a kiss, an act of homage, an act of intimacy, an act of worship [but it wasn't]. So Jesus goes to the cross and on the cross He offers the Father perfect worship. Why? Because the worship of the Old Testament, central to the worship of the old Tabernacle and Temple, was sacrifice. Jesus offered the one, ultimate and perfect sacrifice. Through Jesus' perfect act of worship of the Father on the cross, we too can come to worship and we too can come boldly before the throne. And as we do, as we gaze into His presence, we touch the Holy of Holies.

In Exodus 29 it says, "If anything touches the holy things that are not holy, it defiles the holy things. But if anything unholy touches the Holy of Holies, it becomes holy."

The woman who was bleeding for years, who was ceremonially unclean, touched Jesus, she was made clean because she touched the Holy of Holies. When we come to worship, we touch the Holy of Holies. We are cleansed, we are made whole and we become the people of His presence. And that is THE hope for a broken and hurting world...the ONLY hope. We don't need to get smarter, or more equipment, or better looking, we need more of Jesus! And then, we will be a light to the Gentiles.

Worship is the best evangelism and our greatest example of worship is Jesus. I long to have the aroma that comes with extravagant worship; that comes with spending loads of time with Him in His presence. When alone, or in congregational worship, or when we are out amongst the poor, feeding them and praying for healing. The call is to engage in extravagant worship without considering the cost. There is nothing more useful than spending time in His presence. Because if we don't, when we go out, all the people will be touching is us...and us isn't good enough. If all people touch is me, then they are in big trouble. We long they touch Jesus in us. We long they touch the Treasure that is in our little jars of clay.

If we love Him, then it will come out of every part of our being. We will not be able to shut up about Him. We will bore the world to death [in the best possible way!] talking about the One we love. THAT is what worship is all about!

Worship is the best evangelism.

Grace and peace. Merry Christmas to all!

A Head Scratcher

2009-11-27T23:12:00.003-05:00

So I have been pondering something for a few weeks now of an encounter me and Biddle (my roommate) had a few weeks back. We were at the As Tall As Lions and Mute Math concert (which was stinkin' awesome by the way!) and as we were trying to decide what to eat, a homeless man name Derrick came up to us to help us out. We knew right away what his motives were. He wanted to show us a good place to eat so that we would give him a few dollar bills. Well, as we were walking behind him, we noticed that he walked with a significant limp. I immediately felt that the Lord wanted to heal him...because God is good like that! Amen?!

Anyway, we reached our destination (some diner down by the Tabernacle) and Derrick asked for some change so he could go down to Hooters and eat some wings. We approached him and asked what happened to his leg. He proceeded to tell us that when he was younger he got shot in the leg and has walked with a limp ever since. Biddle and I both shared the Gospel with him and that God, in His vast goodness, grace and mercy, wanted to heal him. We asked if we could pray for him because the Lord WANTED to heal him right then and there. Then, much to my surprise, he said no, but repeatedly asked us for some money so he could go down to Hooters! What?! We said that what the Lord wanted to do that very moment was SO much better than a few dollars; yet, he still said no! He would rather go to a restaurant full of debauchery instead of having the power of God rush over his body and be able to walk normally without any pain! I just don't get it?! Maybe some of you can offer some insight...my only guess is that the enemy has a hold over him and has blinded his eyes to God's goodness and mercy. The Word says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). Or maybe it was just too foolish for him to imagine that he could be healed that very instant? Because the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18). The cross, where everything was purchased (our salvation, our healing, our power, our lifeline, our reconciliation to God, etc), was foolishness to him...

So again, I just don't get it...thoughts? So we prayed for him as we continued to walk to the restaurant that the Lord would heal his leg. And again I ask right now, Lord, for Your glory and for Your fame, will you heal Derrick now in the Name of Jesus. Lord move in power right now in his life, bring healing, bring restoration and I ask that salvation would spring up from the ground so that his name may be written in the Book of Life! In Jesus Name...

Grace and peace

Long overdue

2009-08-25T23:13:00.003-04:00

Hello all (or all 2). I feel like I am a broken record when I say that it has been a long time since I last blogged. So kill me. A lot has been going on, but I will start off with the mission trip to Scotland. I've had several people ask me to post a synopsis. I will do my best to summarize and hit the key points without being too long-winded!

Where to start?? Ok, let's start with some of the miracles that happened while we were there. A young man, let's call him Thad (random I know but go with me) hurt his back during the obstacle course on Wednesday where he could barely stand up, walk, his ribs hurt and he could barely breathe. Leading up to this, the Lord was definitely moving in his heart. Anyway, we stopped the obstacle course and prayed for Thad. Immediately his ribs stopped hurting and he could get a full breath of air, but his back was still hurting and he couldn't walk. We pressed in harder in prayer and I had my hand on his back. As we prayed, I literally felt his back move, almost as if the Lord was realigning his back. When we finished, he was able to walk back to his room and the next morning had ZERO pain. Praise the Lord! The next story is about a girl named, we'll call her Lucy. She had been dealing with an injured leg for several years, so much so she could not run or do the activities she was used to doing (sports, etc). One night during worship (Tuesday I believe), some of our team prayed for her and took her outside to test her leg. Before then she could only run a very small distance before her leg would start hurting. After they prayed, she was able to run all over the grounds there without any pain or discomfort! She even ran the obstacle course the next night! Praise be! The other miracle that happened during the week was that several of the youth there gave their lives to the Lord. They realized that God was real and He loves them with an unending, unrelenting love! All of heaven was rejoicing (having a party) in heaven over these youth!

Worship. Was. Intense! Every year the Lord blows me away in His goodness when it comes to how He is so faithful to show up during worship! He completely honors His promise that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. Before we left, a very good friend of mine prayed over me and prophesied that the songs that we will sing will be songs directly from His heart. Fast forward to Tuesday of camp. That day I was taking a walk with Lord, talking and listening to see what He wanted to do during worship. As I walked, the Lord laid on my heart several songs He wanted me to do. Excellent, right? Well...not so much. You see, the songs HE wanted me to do were very intense songs. These songs had full bands...we had me on a guitar, 2 BV vocals and a beginner percussionist (who did great for being thrown into the fire so to speak! - Way to go Walker!). So how was I going to pull off a set list consisting of songs that almost have to have a full band. The set list included You Never Let Go by Matt Redman, Awakening and Like a Lion by Daniel Bashta and The Anthem by Jake Hamilton. Intense, huh? I was talking with Tom Tanner before the service started and I told him that the worship was either going to be amazing or it was going to be a complete bust! I prayed and pleaded for Him to show up because if He doesn't, it was going to be really bad. Well I'm sure you know how the story ends...the Lord definitely showed up! It was as if the Holy Spirit provided the energy a full band would provide. We worshipped in complete unity how God has not forgotten Scotland (more specifically, the youth of Scotland) and how a light is definitely coming! Then we joined together and sang prophetically how God was bringing an awakening to that nation and how heaven is roaring over Scotland and revival is going to fall! Then came the most intense song of the night. Here are some of the words:

"Wake up child, it's your time to shine. You were born for such a time as this."

"This is the anthem of our generation! Here we are God, shake our nation!"

"I am royalty, I have destiny, I have been set free, I'm gonna shape history!"

Can I get an amen??!!

Then, after Tom spoke we had some great ministry time. After a few songs into it, heaven came even closer. The time was around 11:30 pm and "lights out" was supposed to be at midnight. I asked the leaders what they wanted to do...keep going or end it. Then some of the youth started yelling out "worship!" For the next hour and a half or so, we worshipped and danced all over the meeting hall, crying out for this generation!! It was beautiful!!!

Afterwards, the pastor of the church we partner with came up to me with tears in his eyes. Listen to this...he tells me that when I started singing "wake up child, it's your time to shine" the Holy Spirit overwhelmed him. He said it was as if we were singing the heart of God!! That was word for word what my friend prophesied over me before I left! Man how the Lord is faithful!

Worship the rest of the week was equally as amazing. I hit just some of the highlights. Scotland is near and dear to my heart. Even more so to the Lord! Revival is coming to Scotland (again) and it will be a burning flame engulfing the hearts of both young and old alike. I believe it with all of my heart. I love those youth and cannot wait to see them again. Greater things are still to be done in their hearts and in Scotland!!

Grace and peace.

Scotland here I come...

2009-07-16T01:58:00.002-04:00

So in a few short hours (9 to be exact) I will be leaving with a team of 20 others to Paisley, Scotland to put on a youth camp. This will be year number 3 that we have done this. I am super excited about going back! Seeing old faces and meeting new ones. The Lord has BIG things in store for this camp. This youth. This country. Be praying for us as we go overseas and partner with God's heart to bring revival (again) to Scotland. We believe (like truly believe) it is coming and it is coming through the youth of Scotland.

If you want to check out more of what we are doing in Scotland (more importantly what the Lord is doing in Scotland), then check out the BLOG.

You will also be able to watch the services online through the blog. So hopefully everyone will tune in!

Alrighty folks, can't wait to share what the Lord is going to do over the next couple weeks! Until then....

Grace and peace.

Potential

2009-06-24T11:24:00.004-04:00

The Lord has been doing some pretty interesting and sweet things in my life recently. I'm not going to bore you with all of them but I do want to share some thoughts that I've had recently [or that the Lord has given me].

The word potential has been a key word lately. This word has both positive and negative connotations attached to it. The positive side is usually associated with younger children or teenagers. "Bobby Sue has so much potential...". On the flip side, the negative aspect of the word potential typically is used when talking about older folks. "Stan had all of that potential but blew it when he did...(fill in the blank)".

I will add a third category of potential...Kingdom potential. This goes much farther than your Kingdom destiny or calling. Here's how: In Genesis 1 and 2, God gave Adam the authority over everything on earth. Genesis 1:26: "...let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." God then put the man in charge of the Garden of Eden [2:15], which to me is a HUGE responsibility. Man was in charge of the grounds where God walked and talked! Anyway, in chapter 3 we read where Adam and Eve are deceived and the fall of man occurs. Adam had all of the potential yet he blew it! He had authority over everything and in one decision he brought a curse to mankind.

Now the rest of the Old Testament was God setting up the coming of His One and Only Son [the "Second Adam" - read 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5] to come and fulfill all of the potential the first Adam had and lost. Jesus walked with the authority of heaven...perhaps the same authority Adam could have had. Read all through the Gospels and you read where Jesus healed every sickness and disease, cast out demons, set the captives free, made blind eyes see, made deaf ears hear, turned water into wine, walked on water and so on and so on.

Now we, as co-heirs with Christ [Romans 8:17] and who walk with the same power and authority Jesus did, are called to fulfill all of the potential the first Adam had [just like Jesus]. It is in my opinion that God is raising up a generation that are to be known as "fulfillers of the Kingdom potential." A generation that will encompass believers walking down the streets performing signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit. Some will be preaching the Gospel with the fire of heaven in their bones and unction in their words. To some, the gift of worship and prophetic singing is released. To others, prophetic utterances and words of knowledge. And some, because of their unquenchable love for Jesus, will become martyrs for their faith.

However, this is not just for some. Every Believer is called to fulfill this potential. But to do so, we need to live by the culture of the Kingdom, not by the culture of this world. No longer can we tolerate the things of this world [abortion, murder, slander, gossip, fornication, idolatry, etc]. We must live by the culture and value system of the Kingdom of God that is soon coming. This value system is found in chapters 5-7 in Matthew's Gospel. Billy Humphrey of IHOP-Atlanta says that these chapters not only describe what Jesus is like, but they also describe what Jesus likes! These chapters unveil God's heart.

There are 8 core values of the Kingdom which are described in the Beatitudes. We must be poor in spirit knowing that Jesus is all that we need and that He alone provides for us. We must be ones who mourn [or long and ache] for His return just as Jesus longs and aches to be reunited with His Bride. We must be a humble people. We must hunger and thirst for righteousness, holiness and the pleasures of God. We must be a forgiving people full of mercy. We must live lives of purity and not condone the acts of this world. We have to be a people that bring peace and live a life full of peace because this world is about to get a little hairy during the end of this age. And beloved, we must be prepared to be persecuted. A time is coming [and has already come] where many are ridiculed, beaten and put to death for their belief in Christ. In fact, more people have died because of their faith in the past 100 years than have died in the previous 1900 combined!

We must be cheerful givers and lovers of the secret place with God. We must be a people that bow our hearts and bend our knees to seek the face of God in prayer, fasting and supplication. In doing so, we will undoubtedly hear the voice of God and learn what is burning on His heart for today.

So I encourage each and everyone of you to study chapters 5-7 of Matthew. Take it slow. Digest it. I also recommend Billy Humphrey's book, "The Culture of the Kingdom." It is a valuable resource and study guide for the value system of the Kingdom of God.

Grace and peace.

Hilarious!!!

2009-06-03T01:37:00.004-04:00

As a little comedic interlude between Revelation discussions, check out this amazingly funny bit from a comedian named Brian Regan. If you haven't heard of him, do yourself a favor and search him on youtube and watch some of his clips. You might have to change your underwear....

Grace and peace.

Conclusion of Revelation 1

2009-05-19T23:28:00.003-04:00

Alright, so we are down to the final 2 verses of Revelation 1:

"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."

Growing up, or I guess I should say, in my early years of being a Believer, I always avoided reading the book of Revelation. I avoided it because I thought there was way too much symbolism for me to understand. But as I've studied it recently, I've realized that yes, there are a bunch of symbolic figures and visions, BUT I've found that most of them are explained right in the text. And we are seeing that here. In these 2 verses, Jesus is explaining to John what the vision of the seven stars and the seven golden lampstands are. A few verses earlier John sees "someone 'like a son of man'" walking among the lampstands and having seven stars "in his right hand."

The seven stars, according to Jesus, are the "angels of the seven churches." The word angels could also mean "messengers." Now there are 2 explanations for the word "angels" [or messengers]: It could be taken literally and that these seven churches actually had angels assigned [I guess that's the right word?] to their churches. Then I guess you can assume that there could be angels assigned to churches in today's time? The other possible explanation is that the word messenger refers to the pastors/preachers that are over the churches. I tend to go more with this explanation, but that's just me...

One of the most encouraging parts of this vision is Jesus ["son of man" - which is how Daniel described the person in his vision recorded in Daniel 7] walking among the lampstands. Here we can imagine Jesus walking between each lampstand, probably stopping by each one with a smile on His face. Maybe He reaches out and places His hand on the lampstand. You see, Jesus longs to be with His church, loves to reach out and touch His church, and for sure He loves it when His church welcomes Him in. The sad part is that there are many churches out there that have four walls, but Jesus is not found in them. The Holy Spirit is not taught on and He is certainly not allowed to minister. These churches are dead. They have the appearance of being alive, but in fact are quite dead. The Spirit is not living and dwelling within them! These churches have the fluff and flattery [ie. seeker-friendly] but lack the truth. It makes me so thankful to belong to a church where the Lord is free to do what He wants, when He wants and how He wants. I pray that the Lord would grab ahold of the messengers of these dead churches and put a fire in their bones to preach the Word, and to preach it boldly! If not, then it is my opinion that these will be the ones to fall away during the End Times that Jesus talks about in Matthew 24 [see also 2 Thess 2, Revelation 17]. Wake up churches!!

So I pray that wherever you are at, that Jesus would walk near you and reach out His mighty hand to touch your life exactly where you need/want Him to. I pray that you would see Him smile at you! There's nothing better...

Grace and peace.

Musings and Revelation 1 continued...

2009-05-11T23:55:00.004-04:00

As I have been sitting by the ocean the past several days, I've been in awe of how amazing my God is! He is so infinitely huge yet comes down to man to speak to him, to encourage him and to love him...speechless! I look out into the expanse which is the Atlantic Ocean and I can't help but imagine God holding all of the water on earth in the palms of His hands...ok, that's crazy BIG!! The second thought that comes to mind is the overwhelming knowledge that God thinks about me; that He has engraved my name on the palm of His hands (Isaiah 49:16) and His heart is ravished when He sees my name and when our eyes meet. Psalm 139 comes to mind as I sit on the beach:

"How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand."

Ok, I'm not always good at math, but that is a LOT of thoughts. So today I did a little experiment. I picked up a handful of sand on the beach and I tried to count the grains (I wouldn't call that being bored, just taking a break from reading and trying to bring this Scripture to life!). The key word here is "tried." I was about 1/500th of the way through the sand in my hand and I was already higher than I've ever counted before, plus I'm not accounting for all the grains of sand that sifted through my fingers! And the Lord just quietly and gently encouraged me, "I love you, my thoughts for you and only you outnumber the grains of sand on every beach on earth...and each one is good and makes me smile!" The unfathomable beauty of it all is that He can say that about each and every person...and that includes you!!

The third thought that came rushing through my mind happened yesterday while I was out surfing. I sat out there watching wave after wave come in, some I rode while others I just floated over and watched as the white water refreshed the seashore. The Lord said, "A wave is coming. A wave that has never been seen before in history. It is going to be big and powerful, but if you love me and rest in me, you are going to see it coming and building. But, will you ride it with me or will you just watch? You can't control the wave. You must surrender to its power and let it take you." Wow! As we study Revelation, we see that a new, fresh, never-seen-before wave is coming (and is coming soon!). Many are going to see this wave and either just sit and watch or they are going to get out of the water altogether. A few are going to see this wave coming and are going to get excited about the possibilities. Just as a wave breaks and refreshes the seashore with new grains of sand, in the same way this Wave is bringing with it restoration and renewal. The Wave is bringing with it the Kingdom of heaven to earth!! It is going to be powerful and it is going to be scary, but I can promise you it is going to be exhilarating and for lack of a better word, good.

So how does this relate to Revelation 1? Well in verses 12-18 John vividly describes his vision of Jesus. It is the same vision Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1), Isaiah (Isaiah 6) and Daniel (Daniel 10) had. This Wave that is coming is bringing with it a clear Revelation of who Jesus is! A Jesus that is "dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest." A Jesus whose "head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire...feet like burning bronze in a furnace." And this last description brings it back full circle, "And His voice was like the sound of rushing waters." A voice that is so thunderous and full of power that every other noise is drowned out. Imagine Niagara Falls multiplied by I don't know, some high number! : )

One of my blog posts would not be complete if I didn't mention something that relates to worship. This vision and portrayal of Jesus is one that most of us don't regularly think of. Let's be honest, when I think of Jesus, I see a caucasian male with a beard, wearing sandals and a smile. This may be true and all, but when we come into a worship setting, we need to have the same picture of Jesus that John (and others) describes. A picture of royalty and majesty; of power and of someone that shines brilliantly with glory and light! We need to focus on Him majestically walking throughout the aisles of your church with a double-edged sword bursting forth from His mouth ready to pierce our very beings and change us for eternity! I'll wager a bet and say that our worship experience will be completely altered once we have this image etched into our minds and hearts. Agree?

Anyway, thanks for reading my random musings...until next time...

Grace and peace.

Revelation 1

2009-05-06T22:57:00.008-04:00

Ok I'm back and we are on a mission. We are going to go through the book of Revelation, starting from the beginning. Well...at least I hope to go through every chapter. I may skip around a little bit...don't hate me!

We are going to start by looking at the first half of chapter 1...

It is important to understand first that the book of Revelation was written about things present and about the things to come...both in the near future and in the distant future. The first 3 chapters are written about the things present.

In verse 1 John addresses one of the things I cannot stand right off the bat..."The revelation of Jesus Christ...". Like I've said before, this book is about only ONE revelation...the Revelation of Jesus Christ! This is not the book of RevelationS. That's one of my pet-peeves (spelling?). I literally cringe when someone says Revelations instead of Revelation. The main focus of this book is to reveal the Father's heart for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to be reunited with His bride (us, the church), and for us to come to the realization that we must fall deeply in love with Jesus!

Verse 3: "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."

There are 3 crucial things a Believer MUST do when it comes to this book: 1) Read it; 2) Hear it; and 3) Take it to heart. The last imperative there means that this book must alter how we live our lives. Believers have to take this book to heart and change the way they live. We must live as love-sick brides longing for the return of our Bridegroom!

Verse 4: "...Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne." The "seven spirits" is also translated "sevenfold Spirit." So what is the "seven spirits?" We find the answer in Isaiah 11:2, which states, "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him (Jesus) - the Spirit of wisdom (1) and of understanding (2), the Spirit of counsel (3) and of power (4), the Spirit of knowledge (5) and of the fear of the Lord (6) - and He will delight in the fear of the Lord (7)."

Verse 5: "...and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." The firstborn of the dead refers to Jesus being the first One ever to be resurrected from the dead and who is the King of Kings. He will soon rule over the entire earth with His iron sceptor and every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is Lord of heaven and of earth.

We will skip down to verse 7 which describes Jesus' descension and earthly procession:

"Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen." The Bible tells us that Jesus is going to return the same way He left. After He was resurrected and walk the earth with His disciples, it says that Jesus ascended up into the clouds. So, we know that this is the same way He is going to return...with the clouds. When He does this, every eye is going to see Him. To me this is crazy to even think about and there are opinions being tossed back and forth as to how this is going to actually look. Some say that every person on earth is going to see Jesus at the same time. I know that He is God in the flesh, but this seems rather hard to process. It is hard to imagine that every living person on planet earth is going to see Him at the same time.

I have a thought of my own here (well maybe not my own but it's backed by Scripture). In Malachi 1, verse 11 it says, "My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun." It is the rising and setting of the sun that serves as a symbol of how Jesus' triumphal procession is going to look!

Want another reference? Psalm 19:4-6

"In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat." The bold there is to emphasize my point. This basically says that the sun is our day-to-day example of how the bridegroom is going to run his course when He comes again! To maybe try and make more sense of this, take for example the sun rising. Nowadays, the sun rises around say 6:30 in the morning here in Georgia. In California, the sun rises at around the same time; and the same goes for people in Hawaii, Australia, India, etc. So in essence, we will all see Jesus at the same time, but not at the exact same time. Make sense?! I hope it does.

And I would love to hear your thoughts!!

In that same verse it says that "all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him." This may have several meanings. One may be the type of mourning described in Matthew 5. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." We as Believers must mourn (ie. long or ache) for His return, and we will be comforted when we see Him coming on the clouds because we would have just gone through the worst time period in history...the Great Tribulation. Also, people are going to mourn because they know their names are not written in the book of life and they are now going to spend eternity in hell, apart from Jesus.

Can I just say here that I cannot imagine how crazy unbelievable His return or procession is going to be. Imagine now the Son of Man, riding on the clouds in all of His glory with all of the resurrected bodies with Him, cruising around the earth! Man, it gives me chill bumps even thinking about it now. Since Jesus is fully man (and fully God), one would have to think that the cloud He is riding on will have to be close enough to the ground in order for us to recognize Him...maybe? Thoughts?

Jesus then is quoted in verse 8: "I am the Alpha and the Omega...who is, and who was, and who is to come, THE Almighty." We all know that Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last letter of the alphabet. So Jesus is saying here that He was the first (He was there WITH God before the creation of the universe - John 1) and He is the last (He is coming back to reign forever). Jesus then sums it all up by saying that He is THE ALMIGHTY! There is none like Him; none past, present or future. He is above ALL! He is so completely other!

So there you go, the start of our study of the book of Revelation. Again, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments as we proceed.

Until next time...

Grace and peace.

A must needed "pause"

2009-04-07T00:43:00.006-04:00

I've been out of the blogging world for the past week or so, but it has been such a needed and sweet time for me. During my time away, I've dealt with...no actually, the Lord has gotten rid of...a lot of misconceptions [and lies] I've had about life and myself. I must say here how refreshing, joyous and life-giving it is to hear the Lord speak to you and speak encouragement and truth over you!! There is nothing better in this world...His love is better than life! How many of us can honestly say this; that deep within our very being we know and walk in this very truth? For a while I knew it in my head but there was a big chasm between my head and my heart. Anybody out there feeling me on this?! BUT, the Lord totally mended a secretly broken heart...man, I feel alive again!

So I will give a huge shout-out to the SOZO ministry and to the amazing leaders and ministers of His truth and grace at Riverstone! If you don't know what SOZO is, then check it out at Bethel Church's website [from Redding, California -- Bill Johnson's church] or at Riverstone's website [www.riverstoneonline.org]. Every believer needs to do this! If you have baggage, and let's be honest...we all do, then you definitely need to check this out and sign up for a session. You will leave there hearing the Father's heart for you. Who wouldn't want that?! Doors of lies that the enemy has opened in your heart will be shut and walls that are keeping you from the fullness of all that God is will be torn down!! Enough said...

Alrighty then, well I will be picking back up with some discussions on the End Times. We will go over some chapters in Revelation and maybe hit Daniel up another time or two. So stay tuned...all of the 3 readers out there!

Grace and peace.

Honesty is the best policy...so I've heard...

2009-03-24T23:49:00.006-04:00

James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

I'm just going to be honest with y'all right now...I need some wisdom seriously. The past month or so has been one of the weirdest and toughest seasons of my life! I know there is a light at the end of this tunnel of apparent darkness (or maybe cloudiness is the best word) and I know that I will look back at this one day and say, "Oh so that's what You were doing!" However, in midst of the mire and muck, I find myself easily discouraged and easily frustrated and maybe I'm not so fun to be around (I don't know, you will have to ask those that hang out with me...). But seriously, it has been a season where a lot of the things I felt so sure about and so confident in, have been in a way taken from me. Or I guess the best way to put it is that things are not working out how I thought they would. Yes, yes I know what I just said and I am not claiming that I run my own life. Nor am I saying that I don't trust God's sovereignty or His leadership...I'm just being real.

Right now (and maybe some of you out there) I am struggling to find my role in a number of different situations (church, worship, relationships, etc). I'm the kind of personality that thrives on feeling value. I need affirmation. Lately, that has been lacking. Maybe it's just a season where I'm taught to find my true value in Him, or maybe it's an attack from the enemy. Whatever the root, I'm constantly trying to remind myself that God likes me! God likes me! Hey in case you forgot, God likes you!

There are moments where I wish it could be like the movie Click where Adam Sandler fast forwarded through all of the bad stuff and only lived out the good stuff. But where would the lesson be? And where would the refining and purification be? It would be just a thing that happened with no deep-rooted, heart transforming revelation. I don't want that! I need a revelation. I need wisdom from the Lord.

Ephesians 1:17 - "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better."

So God, that is my prayer. I'm asking for wisdom and revelation. I want to know You better. I want to know the purpose behind this season better. I need wisdom that can only come from You. You promised to give it to us IF we ask for it. Your move.

(Note: I'm not angry or bitter)

Grace and peace.

The Seventy "Sevens"

2009-03-18T21:54:00.005-04:00

A good friend of mine posted a comment on one of my last blogs about explaining what the "Seventy 'Sevens'" are that Daniel mentions in Daniel chapter 9. So I will do my best to offer some insight into this prediction that was inspired by a prophetic word given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel.

To best explain this portion of Daniel 9, we are going to take it a verse at a time...

To start off it is necessary to clarify that the term "weeks" in this passage actually means "years." So if you do the math, then Seventy "sevens" equals 490 years...roughly. I say roughly because the actual number depends on what calendar you use, even though the difference in years with the two different calendars is miniscule. The Babylonian calendar is 365 and a 1/4 days, whereas the Jewish calendar is 360 days. Therefore, you can see where the number of years will only be off by a few years in the grand scheme of things.

In verse 24 Daniel is told that "seventy sevens" are decreed for Israel in order "to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."

Then in the very next verse the angel Gabriel broke down 69 of the 70 "sevens." He says, "From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One [Jesus], the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens' [7 + 62]

It is not sure which "decree" Gabriel is talking about but most believe it was the decree made by Artaxerxes mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah which allowed the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Other decrees that it could refer to is the decree made by Cyrus that began the return of the exiles in 536 B.C. or the decree made by Darius, which allowed more of the exiles to go back. So most believe that the first seven "sevens" mentioned is the actual rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple.

To take this a little further and boggle your mind even more, if you fast forward 483 years [which is the 69 - sevens], then you land on the time period around either Jesus' birth or His baptism. Note, some say it could be His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. To me, it doesn't matter. It's just simply amazing to think that Daniel, through the words spoken by Gabriel, was able to predict the coming of Jesus some 500-odd years before it was to happen!!

You might be asking, "Then why didn't he just say 69 'sevens' instead of breaking it down as he did?" I believe [and others] that the answer lies in that same verse [25]. "It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, in times of trouble." The time period for Jerusalem and the temple to be rebuilt and function as a city, according to Nehemiah and Ezra, was 49 years. Also, it was built after the Babylonian captivity [troublesome times].

Verse 26: "After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One [again, Jesus] will be cut off and will have nothing [or, but not for Himself]. Now stick with me, my hope and goal is not to confuse you with too many numbers! If you remember, the end of the sixty-two 'sevens' will end with either Jesus' birth, baptism or triumphal entry. Again, it is in my opinion and others that what Daniel is referring to here is the CROSS! Jesus will be cut off, but "not for Himself." It was the Father's will for Jesus to be crucified for the sins of the world. Look at the words of Daniel again...."AFTER the sixty-two 'sevens'...". It was AFTER Jesus' birth, baptism and/or triumphal entry when He was crucified!

The latter part of verse 26 talks about the "city and sanctuary" being destroyed. This is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. It also talks about the "end" coming like a "flood." It has been described that the Romans "flooded" the city with soldiers and destroyed it!

It is also worth mentioning here that Daniel says, "The people of the ruler...". The "ruler" here is referring to the Antichrist. So, some believe that the Antichrist will be of the same people, or in this case, of Roman descent. Interesting stuff!

Daniel then writes, "War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed." Here he is describing the interim period between the 69th 'seven' and the 70th 'seven.' I believe we are living in this interim period now due to the amount of wars that are occurring now and that have occurred in our recent past.

Another question you might be asking is why is the Lord waiting on this last seven year period? One possibility is that the Lord is giving us humans time to repent and accept Him as their Lord and Savior [hello? He is gracious and compassionate!]. Another possibility is that He is giving time for us the saints to hasten the day of His return because we, and I mean all Believers here, will be partnering WITH God in bringing about His judgements.

Therefore, we are still awaiting this final 'seven.' In the next verse, verse 27, Daniel describes this final 'seven.' He writes, "He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."

The "he" mentioned here refers to the Antichrist. As discussed in previous posts, there is going to be a universal peace treaty that is established on the earth which will put an end to wars for the first time in history. Also, along with this universal peace treaty, there will be the establishment of a one-world religion based on no absolutes [see last post]. The signing of this peace treaty will mark the beginning of the final 'seven' [or the final 7 years of this age]. Right smack dab in the middle of the 7 year peace treaty the Antichrist will put an end to the treaty AND put an end to this universal religion. No longer will there be the idea that it doesn't matter what religion you declare or what god [or God] you serve as long as you focus on being a good humanitarian and feed the poor. Instead, the Antichrist will force people to worship Him and will set up the "abomination that causes desolation" in a wing of the temple in Jerusalem.

From this point, we know that we are starting the final 3.5 years, or "42 months" or "time, times, and half a time" as described in Revelation [aka the Great Tribulation].

"...until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." To me this coincides with the final 7 bowls of wrath being poured out on the Antichrist's empire and his followers you can read about in Revelation 16.

The end result is the defeat of the Antichrist and Jesus reigning forever! Praise be!!

Alright, I know that was a lot of information to digest, but read it, pray and ask God for clarity because you know He WANTS to tell you about the things to come. See Amos 3:7; Matthew 24:6, 25; John 13:19; John 15:15

Grace and peace.

Addendum...

2009-03-17T11:38:00.002-04:00

After reading my post a few times I feel like I need to go into a little more detail regarding the "woman" to bring everything together...and hopefully it will make more sense.

This "woman", or Harlot Babylon, will have one purpose: establishment of a one-world religion that focuses on peace and humanitarian aid, but all for the wrong reasons. There will be false peace and wars will cease for the first time in history. She will have incredible influence (albeit Satanic influence) that many will become "drunk on her fornication"...even her worship will be seductive and captivating, but it will be demonic in origin. Leaders all over the world will give money to support what she is misleading them with. At the same time, she will be given support by the Antichrist, which is represented by him carrying her [which we talked about last time].

This woman will be carrying a golden cup of abomination and filth. Filth means moral perversion and abomination is idolatry (hence the term "abomination of desolation" which will be an idol the Antichrist sets up in the temple).

But the Antichrist is only using her for his gain. This false religion that she promotes revolves around no absolutes. The driving theme will be to throw off any denomination, religious belief, etc and focus on feeding the poor and offering humanitarian aid. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, etc will be deceived by her because a big focus of religions, especially Christianity, is to feed the poor. The Antichrist is using her and this false religion to set up his own world religion, which is worship him or die [Revelation 13].

The woman is a forerunner for Satan's influence on the earth. The Harlot Babylon will open up hearts to tolerance and no absolutes [or truth], and then the Antichrist will then set up a religion with zero tolerance and will kill anyone who doesn't worship him.

II Timothy 4:3-4 : For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables…

If we are to "stand firm" then we need to be lovers of Truth! Enough said...

Finally, once the "woman" has served her purpose, she will be killed by the 10 kings who become jealous of her. According to the end of Revelation 17, these 10 kings will "burn her flesh". This will occur 3 1/2 years into the false peace time period. Her murder, along with the establishment of Antichrist's religion of intolerance and the setting up of the abomination of desolation, marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation and God's judgements are released.

I hoped this addendum helped. I read the previous post and realized the "woman" needed more explanation.

Grace and peace.

The vote is in...

2009-03-16T23:33:00.003-04:00

Well, just as I suspected, I had one person offer their opinion as to where to go next on our journey through the End Times [thanks Kurtitos!!]. So the plan for the next however many posts will be to take some Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, and relate them to the Last Days.

With that being said, we are going to start with a portion out of II Thessalonians 2...verses 1-12:

Paul starts off by correcting a report that was floating around then that the "day of the Lord has already come." From what I have researched, at that time, the people of Thessalonica were undergoing some intense persecution. And since Paul had taught them that the last days were to involve intense trouble and persecution, they were convinced by others [and evidently by a false letter supposedly written by Paul] that the Lord's second coming had already happened.

Paul corrected them by saying "that day will not come, until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness [the Antichrist, 'the man doomed to destruction'] is revealed...". Paul goes on to say a few verses later that the lawless one will revealed when the "one that is holding him back...is taken away."

So what is Paul talking about?

Well first off, the "rebellion" Paul talks about is the massive falling away that occurs during the last days [which we read about in Matthew 24]. This falling away is termed, apostasy. The word apostasy is defined as "departure, an abandoning of a position formerly held."

The next major event Paul describes is the unveiling of the "man of lawlessness." This person is the Antichrist. This person [and it will actually be a person] will "oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped." He will set up an idol of himself in the temple, which we know is the "abomination of desolation." Paul says that the "coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing." He will make everyone worship him and will claim to be God [Revelation 13]. The prophet Daniel [which we will go into greater detail later] describes this Antichrist in very intense detail. In Daniel 9 it says that this lawless one will sign a counterfeit universal peace treaty and 3 1/2 years into the false peace he will break the treaty. This, and the setting up of the abomination of desolation, will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

Now what about this restrainer Paul talks about in verses 6-7? Some say that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit is the One who is holding the Antichrist back and then one day He will step out of the way and let the Antichrist do his thing. Now this may be the case, but I have a different idea.

I will pause here and say that these are MY thoughts. Please get into the Word, pray and ask questions as to the validity of what I am writing. If you have a contradiction, post a comment and we will discuss. I like discussion!!

I believe the one that is "holding him back" comes out of Revelation 17. The woman described here is a False Prophet that the Antichrist will use to gain his stronghold on earth. Another label this woman has is the "Harlot Babylon." This woman, or "prostitute", "sits on many waters." The angel that is showing John these visions says that the waters here are "peoples, multitudes, nations and languages" [Revelation 17:15]. It says that the prostitute "sits" on the waters and that the "inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." To me this means that this woman is going to be very influential on earth. In verse 4, it describes her appearance: dressed in purple and covered in precious jewels. The color purple indicates royalty and the fact she had a lot gold and precious jewels on her could mean that she is very rich as well.

Also, it says in this chapter that the prostitute was riding on a "scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns." The beast once was and "will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction", which Paul writes about back in II Thessalonians 2. The beast will be "overthrown with the breath of His mouth and destroyed by the splendor of His coming." Anyway, back to Revelation 17, the fact that she was riding on the beast means that they will be partnering together during the first 3 1/2 years of the final 7 years of this age. They will be partnering together in bringing about this false peace.

The ten horns on the beast's head are 10 earthly kings who will eventually give the beast all of their power and authority in order to "make war against the Lamb." These 10 kings will hate the prostitute and together with the beast/Antichrist will kill the prostitute [verse 16].

So, now with the prostitute out of the way, the Antichrist and all of his evil are revealed and unleashed. The false peace on earth is over and the Great Tribulation begins.

Comments are encouraged!

Grace and peace.

Vote

2009-03-05T13:23:00.003-05:00

Since I have gone through Matthew 24 in regards to End Times, I need some help from my 2-3 readers as to where to go from here. There is an incredible amount of information to cover and if you want me to, then I want to. We could do this a number of ways: I could go through some important chapters in the Bible that are about the End Times (non-Revelation books) and discuss those, or I could start going to through parts of the Book of Revelation or I can open up this blog to questions and then answer them one at a time?

So there you go, it is in your hands now. And if I don't get any responses (which is highly likely), then I'll just quit blogging altogether!! Haha...I'm just kidding...or am I?!

Let me know what would be most beneficial for those who want to know more about the Final Days and the Father's heart (because that's what it all boils down to!).

Grace and peace.

Matthew 24 continued

2009-02-26T23:30:00.007-05:00

Ok, so we are back on track of walking through a little bit of some End Times Bible studying. Sorry for the break in action, but someone decided to leave a car in the middle of the interstate for me to hit. Anyway, so here we go...

I believe the last thing we/I talked about was some of the signs of the end of the age (false christs, famines, earthquakes, Global timing indicators, etc - click HERE to read the previous post). Then Jesus begins to answer the disciples 2nd question: "What will be the sign of your coming?" There is a statement floating around most churches and maybe even houses that we will not know the exact hour or day Jesus will return. To this I would say that you might be right and/or that you might be wrong. It does say in verse 36 of Matthew 24 that "no one knows the day or hour...only the Father." So obviously, that would be the argument in favor of that statement. However, Jesus did not say that the Church would not know the day and hour in the generation the Lord returns and neither did He say that we could not know the season or conditions surrounding His return. We all agree that only the Father knows when Jesus will return. But as we learned in Amos 3, "surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret" to us His friends. The Lord revealed a very specific number of days to both Daniel and the Apostle John as to when Jesus will come again.

Please read Daniel 7:25 and 12:7; also read Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5, 14

The Lord made it clear that the Messiah would come EXACTLY 1,260 days after the abomination of desolation. So Jesus answered the disciples question as to what will be the sign (and the when) of His coming by reminding them what was written by the prophet Daniel. Once the abomination of desolation has been set up, then we can flip ahead 1,260 days on our calender (roughly 3.5 years) and circle that day as THE DAY!

But what is the "abomination of desolation?" I will hopefully get into this more in the future, but basically it is an idol that the Antichrist sets up in the temple in Jerusalem and it has the power to "speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed" (Revelation 13:15). This occurs right in the middle of the final 7 years before Jesus' return where a false universal peace will be over the earth, and this will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation (final 3.5 years of this age). This is also when the 7 seals will be opened, the sounding of the 7 trumpets will occur (Revelation 6, 8-9), and the 7 bowls of wrath being poured out on the Antichrist's empire happen (Revelation 15-16). All of this I again hope to cover soon...there's just so much!

Scripture references: Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4, Revelation 13:11-18

Starting in verse 21 of Matthew 24, Jesus begins to describe the Great Tribulation, which he describes as "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." Jesus goes on to say in verse 22 that if these days were not cut short, then "no one would survive." But there is a blessed hope Beloved! Daniel 12:1 says, "But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book (is yours?) - will be delivered." Hallelujah!

Jesus next says that "immediately after the distress of those days," everything will go dark, the stars will fall out of the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken (verse 29). THEN!!! the Son of Man will appear in the sky with "power and great glory!" The rapture then begins and the final battle ensues. We will take a more detailed look at what this will look like later! So hang in there!!

Just as back then they knew when summer was near by the fig leaves coming out, we will also know that His return is near when the above things take place. Jesus tells us that we will know the hour and the season and He also tells us that the days of Noah will be like the days when He returns. What does that mean? Well Noah was told 120 years before judgement was coming to the earth in the form of a great flood, and then the Lord reminded Noah 7 days before the impending judgement on the earth (Genesis 6 and 7). Again I refer to Amos 3:7...read it, pray it, live it!

Paul taught that the Church should know the times and seasons related to the Lord's coming:

"Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. But you, brethren, are NOT in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore...let us watch and be sober." (1 Thess. 5:1-6).

So what was Jesus' concluding command? "Keep watch." We need to keep our lamp stands filled with oil!

Grace and peace.

Thank you Francis...

2009-02-23T15:41:00.003-05:00

Here is a recent article by Francis Frangipane that encouraged and challenged me. If you want to read more of his articles (I suggest you do), then check out his website, Francis Frangipane Ministries.

The Cup
Part Two: Christ Living in Us
by Francis Frangipane

Having a true vision is not the same thing as having a godly motive. A person could have a vision directly from God, yet be driven by self-promotion and ambition in seeking to fulfill it.

Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. This is vision. But He also taught: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross" (Matt. 16:24).

If we will follow Jesus, notice we each have been given our own unique cross: "let him take up his cross." God has a cross specifically designed to crucify our fleshly ambitions en route to reaching our vision.

Consider Joseph: God had given him a dream of his future, but rather than quietly ponder the divine experience, he exalted himself to his ten older brothers. He assured them that one day they would each bow, like stacks of wheat, in subservience before him. His fleshly immaturity awakened a fleshly, even diabolical plot among his brothers: they sought to kill him. Joseph's vision was from God, but his motives lacked character, and his actions nearly cost him his life (see Gen. 37).

Yet, God was with Joseph, even in his lack of spiritual knowledge. And, we should rejoice for God is with us as well, even in our immaturity and ambition. Yet we should also understand: A true vision will kill you before it will fulfill you. Joseph had to learn to trust God in whatever circumstance or injustice he found himself; he had to become patient, serving others until the time arrived when his dream bloomed into reality.

"Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him" (Ps. 105:19).

Consider: the Almighty could have certainly brought Joseph to Egypt by a less threatening route. Joseph could have grown to maturity among his family without being sold into slavery. Since he was given the gift of dreams and interpretation, the Holy Spirit could have simply given him a dream and told him to move to Egypt (as He did another Joseph centuries later). Once safely there, Joseph's fame at dream interpretation would have reached the ears of Pharaoh at precisely the right time, say the morning after the king's night of ominous dreams. Joseph, the "dream merchant," would have been positioned in the right place at exactly the right time.

Instead, God brought him to Egypt thirteen years earlier than needed. The young man had to face and overcome repeated experiences with dying inwardly to self. He faced betrayal and abandonment; he was enslaved, tempted sexually, slandered and imprisoned. How hopeless could his situation be? Yet, he then faced the challenges of being forgotten. In spite of all these things, Joseph trusted God and grew in both wisdom and spiritual integrity.

God didn't merely want a man to interpret dreams, but a man who could rule his heart when it suffered abandonment, injustice, slander and rejection and betrayal, and still remain the man of God regardless.

Joseph kept his heart free from the bitterness that overwhelms the soul when one suffers repeated heartache. Yet, Joseph never let his wounding cause his heart to harden or keep him from trusting God. He was a man who wept when he finally saw his brothers. These were the men who laughed while he cried to them from the pit, then would have left him to die a long, agonizingly slow death had not a caravan passed by and Joseph been sold to traders. Joseph could have had his revenge - off with their heads! But the scriptures record that five times Joseph turned away and wept in the discourses with his family; once he "wept so loudly that the Eyptians heard, and the household of Pharaoh heard" (Gen. 45:2).

Joseph was a man of character, a man whose ambitions died but whose vision lived. He drank the cup given him by God, and his dream became a reality. Jesus drank the cup given Him, and we experienced salvation. But each of us has a cup to drink en route to our destiny. There will be no shortcuts to power. We will swallow the full dregs and though it kills us, we shall live. Yet, it shall not be us, but Christ living in us.

Grace and peace.

Oh to be alive...God is so good...

2009-02-19T03:05:00.016-05:00

Folks, I just want to say that I love each and everyone of you! I felt the need to say that because one, you need to hear it, and two, my life was spared this week. On Monday night on my way to work, I was in an accident...a very bad one! Without going into too much details (if you want them, ask me the next time you see me), a car was left abandoned in the middle of Interstate 75. I changed lanes and did not see this vehicle and I smashed right into the back of it. Just saying "crashed into it" would not do it justice. I SMASHED it! So hard in fact that the car (or small truck) flipped! The airbags were deployed but I did not lose consciousness...amazingly. Several good Samaritans ran to my car and one guy pulled my door open and immediately began talking to me, asking me questions like what is my name, where do I live, is there anybody he could call, etc? From the tone of his voice I knew it had to be bad. I felt a lot of pain in my back but I remember telling myself to wiggle my toes and fingers, which I could. The fire department got there and started to assess the situation and me. They made sure I stayed still and calm. One guy pushed my door all the way back the other direction. The best way I could describe it to you in written form is when Chris Farley backs David Spade's car up in Tommy Boy and the door extends the opposite direction.

The ambulance arrives and they immediately stabilize me. One of them got into my back seat and placed a neck brace on me and held my head tight against the head rest. The other person took my vital signs and made sure I could feel my hands and legs. They slid a board underneath me and lifted me out of my car. They taped my head to the board and immoblized my arms and legs and immediately put me in the back of the ambulance. One of the paramedics, who was great by the way, told me that as soon as he got to my car he was expecting to find me either unconscious or dead. All that I could see was a deflated air bag and a shattered windshield, so I had no idea the extent of the damage. He again checked all of my reflexes and mobility in my arms and legs...everything was good.

To the emergency room we went and once there, I was placed in a room where I laid, strapped to the MOST uncomfortable backboard in the whole wide world for at least an hour and a half. I, of course, chose one of the busiest nights at the emergency room to get in an accident. Luckily, I had some amazing friends there. They were with me the whole time...yes the entire 7 hours! Granted them seeing me strapped to a board immobilized probably wasn't the most soothing of sites. The doctor finally came and evaluated me, palpated my spine and localized an area of concern to the thoracic portion of my spine (funny, cause that was the area that hurt most...). He removed the backboard and body restraints, but left the neck brace on. He asked if I wanted oral pain medications, an injection into my muscle or if I wanted the pain medications to be given through an intravenous catheter. Immediately I said IV. The nurse came and placed an IV catheter and gave me some really, really, really good drugs. Hopefully I didn't say any incriminating things! They then took me to have some x-rays taken of my back and neck. The doctor finally came back into my room and said he sees a fracture of my 5th thoracic vertebra. Being in the medical field, I honestly was scared...actually freaking out but not outwardly. Back fractures have the potential to be very bad, very fast. The doctor ordered a CT scan of my spine/vertebra and when he left, my friends laid hands on me and prayed for healing and that there would be no fracture. So I was carted off for the CT scan and after an hour or so, the doctor came back in and said that he did not see any fractures! Praise the Lord!! I started feeling pain again so the doctor gave me more of that wonderful pain medication...ahhhh! I will say that I had to be helped to the car...I was a little woozy!

I was discharged from the emergency room and the doctor told me to expect to be very very sore the next day. He prescribed me a narcotic and prescription strength Ibuprofen. I was totally expecting to not be able to move the next day. But the Lord is faithful and I was hardly sore at all. There was only a mild amount of discomfort in my back, but that's it! I haven't had to even touch the narcotic yet. I've only taken the Ibuprofen. The Lord is the ultimate Healer!

The next day I got a call from my parents who said they were on their way up from Macon and we were going to go see my car and get my belongings out. Once we got there, the lady at the counter said where my car was located and she said that this is location for cars that are really jacked up! But I didn't expect to see what I saw. We walked up to my car and I immediately started to cry! I should not be walking today. Heck, I shouldn't even be alive right now! My mother of course started crying too as we examined my car. I have attached some pictures below to show you how the Lord saved my life! Sorry if they are a little disturbing.

So it's with a thankful heart and renewed spirit, I say:

Grace and peace.

Matthew 24

2009-02-09T23:30:00.004-05:00

To really understand the Book of Revelation [not RevelationS as a lot of people say because it is only one Revelation, and that is the Revelation of Jesus Christ], I believe Matthew 24 has to be the backbone and crutch to truly move forward in the knowledge of the end times. So, I'm going to touch on a few key points from this passage over the next several posts. Note there will be some overlap in the information provided, so don't get angry with me and say that I keep saying the same things over and over...

A little history: Jesus' disciples knew Jesus was the Christ, but there was one thing they could not comprehend. There are 3 instances in the Bible where Jesus prophecies about His death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21; 17:22; 20:17) and every time it is either responded with the disciples rebuking Him or just simply thinking He was a little crazy. They assumed that because He was the Christ, then He was going to go to Jerusalem to overthrow the Roman government with force.

Now we pick up in Matthew 24:

The chapter begins with the disciples asking Jesus 3 questions and Jesus then spending the rest of the chapter answering their questions. Their questions:

a) When will these things be? (speaking of the buildings of the temple being destroyed so that "not one stone will be left on another."
b) What are the signs of Your coming?
c) What are the signs of the end of the age?

I will go over their last question tonight and cover the others later. Otherwise, this post will be super long!

Jesus does something interesting here and answers their questions in reverse order. He starts with explaining the signs of the end of the age. Jesus says, "For MANY will come in my name, claiming 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." As discussed in my previous post, there has been an huge rise in "new religions" this century (Branch Davidians, Jim Jones and that nutty guy in Miami who actually claims He is the Christ!). Many have been deceived by these people, some so much so that many have killed themselves for their false claims. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda has 100,000's of followers believing every word he says, including his claim that he is the man Christ Jesus. Again I will say that a lot of his followers are getting the numbers "666" tattooed on their bodies!

Jesus then mentions "wars and rumors of wars" and that "nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." If you look through history over the past 100 years or so, you will see that this has been one of the most bloodiest centuries in human history. Over 150 million people have died in wars in this century alone! The Greek word for "nation" is ethnos. The word ethnos specifically refers to those of different racial groups and ethnicities rising against one another. Ever heard of the word genocide? This term describes the destruction of an ethnic, racial or religious groups. There have been close to 50 million people that have been killed in genocide during this past century. The Nazi Holocaust alone saw 6 million Jews killed by Hitler's regime. "Kingdom against kingdom" not only refers to earthly kingdoms, but also the opposition of spiritual forces (ie. kingdom of darkness versus the kingdom of light). The degree of spiritual activity (ie. spiritual warfare) I believe has increased exponentially in the past 10-20 years.

Jesus says, "There will be famines and earthquakes...". Other translations include pestilences, or incurable diseases. The Greek word for earthquakes is "seismos," which can also be translated into "tempests" or storms. Scientists believe that there has been a dramatic increase in seismic activity in the past century, but this can also be attributed to the development on better detection devices, but still, the fact still remains that there has been an increase. Also on the increase is the amount and severity of storms that pummel the shores of many nations (ie. Katrina, tsunamis, etc). The AIDS virus has killed over 25 million people in 25 years, and over 40 million people are infected. Researchers say that in Africa ALONE, the AIDS-related death toll could reach 100 million by the year 2025! And now we have this "super bug" (MRSA) that is claiming more and more lives.

Jesus then goes back to the subject of false prophets saying that they are going to deceive many. He also says that the level of wickedness is going to increase so much, that "the love of most will grow cold." To me, this is scary. This basically means that many "believers" are going to fall away and follow Satan. These "believers" will be those who do not seek after the heart of God and His truth, and their love of Jesus will fade away.

Finally, Jesus concludes his answer of the disciples' 3rd question with this: "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." A few weeks ago there was a conference called "The Call2All", and it involved hundreds of missions oganizations and prayer ministries. They got together to come up with a strategy to fulfill the Great Commission. During the conference, the president of Campus Crusade for Christ made this very bold statement:

"Absolutely, the Great Commission can be fulfilled in our lifetimes; from the way God is moving today, even without some terrific eye of faith, I have been persuaded it will be fulfilled in our lifetimes and I personally think in the next decade."

Jesus is saying, "Get ready for I am coming soon!" Don't just take what I am writing as the ultimate truth. Research, study, pray, get into the word, and see if the Lord confirms it in your spirit. But the point still remains, we need to fall in love with Jesus. All of the signs are pointing to this generation being THE generation that is going to see and play a vital role in the second coming of Jesus Christ. We must "stand firm to the end" and to do so, we need to understand the Father's heart and the blue prints He has laid out for us.

I'll say it again, we must fall in love with Jesus! Jesus has to be the life-blood of our very being. We cannot stand for the mediocre any more. The soon-to-be Revelation of Jesus MUST alter how we live our lives!

Next up: The disciples 2nd question...until then...

Grace and peace.

Revelation of Jesus

2009-02-08T22:01:00.007-05:00

So I realized as I was fiddlin around on my computer that I haven't blogged a "real" post in a while. I sat here and stared at my computer screen for a while and pondered what I should write. Then the thought came to mind to just write something about what's on my heart lately. But what? There are a lot of things that I have been thinking about and even wrestling with, but I decided to write a brief post [not so much...sorry!] on a subject that is of utmost importance in this day and age...

I realize that I can't write about this subject and make it brief, but I will do my best to save your reading eyes...and your interest.

So what's the subject? Well, get ready and try not to get scared, but the End Times. Woah! Heavy stuff, huh? Yes. But, for every believer it is vital [VITAL!] to read, understand and act on the soon to be coming Revelation of Jesus [Revelation 1:3]. Brothers and sisters, He is coming soon! I believe [and this is my opinion...and I'm not predicting what year] that Jesus' second coming will be in this generation. Meaning that either I will see it with my own eyes or my kids or grandkids will see it.

Revelation 1:3 - "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart [ie. act on it with how they live] what is written in it, because the time is near."

Like I mentioned earlier, it would take a forever long post to explain everything in the book of Revelation, but I will try and put out some very key points. Heck, who knows, maybe I'll start a little blog series on it [please note: I haven't been too successful in following through with claims I've made to write a series of blog posts on a particular subject].

As it states in Revelation 1:3, blessed are those who read, hear and take the Book of Revelation to heart and live their lives according to it. This CANNOT be just a book in the Bible that you read to check it off your list of books in the Bible that you have read. Study it and get it into your very being because the time is near my friends. Yes there is a lot of verbage in there that may be confusing, but if you take the time to study it, then the Lord will show you His heart and the urgency of the time we live in. He wants to which is the crazy good thing! In Amos 3 it says, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servant prophets [us!]. As a result, you will alter how you live and pray and worship. There will be an unction to your words, prayers and actions. Your lamps will have oil and you will be ready and longing for His return! "Blessed are those slaves [or believers] whom the Master will find on the alert when He comes {or Jesus' return]" (Luke 12:37)

First of all, I must say that the book of Revelation is scary, but it is very exciting too. It is described as being the "great and terrible day" (Joel 2:11). Just read it and you will see how it will be terrible, but the great part is that the earth will experience the GREATEST revival in history! Isn't that exciting?!! The awesome part is that you may be an actual participant and you play key roles in ushering in His coming Kingdom here on earth. Amazing!

So what I will briefly touch on tonight is the timing indicators which will explain why I think He is coming soon. First Jesus describes these timing indicators as being the beginning of birth pangs [Matthew 24]. He describes them as birth pangs because just as a woman's contractions increase in intensity until the glorious birth of a child, in the same way the wrath that is poured out will increase in intensity and result in the glorious Kingdom of Heaven coming to earth.

Matthew 24:34 - "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all of these things take place."

A Biblical generation lasts about 70-100 years. What are "these things"? They are the challenges that Jesus identifies in verses 9-14 in that same chapter [massive falling away of believers, many false prophets, increase of wickedness, etc]. Jesus is referring to the Great Tribulation which will occur during the last 3.5 years of this age and will culminate with the Second Coming of Jesus. The 3.5 years is described in Daniel 7 where he writes of a "time, times and half a time" [time = 1 year].

I know this is getting long already but please hang with me. This is very important!

There are 3 prophetic time frames mentioned in the Scriptures related to the final days: 1) beginning of birth pangs with wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:4-8). This will precede the final 7 years of this age. 2) The increase in labor pangs in the first 3.5 years of the final 7 year period. This will be characterized by a counterfeit world peace (1 Thess 5:3, Daniel 9:27). 3) The hard labor pangs in the final 3.5 years which is called the Great Tribulation.

Ok, now that there is somewhat of a baseline, here are the global timing indicators:
1) Israel - Back in Genesis God makes a covenant with Israel through Abraham. In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus makes it clear that His covenant people [Israel] will NOT see their Messiah again UNTIL they say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Meaning that Jesus will not come back until they recognize Jesus as their Messiah and in order for them to do so, Israel must be restored as a nation and Jerusalem a city. Back in 70 AD the Romans took over Jerusalem. It was not a city and Israel was not a nation until 1948 when Israel was reinstated as a nation after World War II, and then Jerusalem was reestablished as a city in 1967. Now, since they are officially a city and a nation, they can say "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." This is a tremendous prophetic signpost of the hour in which we live. So if we take a Biblical generation and add it to 1948, then we could be looking at His coming in the next 20-40 years.

2) Gospel going forth to all Nations - Matthew 24:14 - "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." Folks, we are on the doorstep of this actually happening. Leaders of YWAM and Campus Crusade have said [even as recently as within the past month] that this could happen in our lifetime. They say that if missionaries do a really bad job at preaching the Gospel, then it will go forth to all nations in about 30 years. If they do an "ok" job it will take 10 years, and if they do a really good job, then around 2-3 years! Hello!!

3) Beginning of Birth Pangs - Matthew 24:4-8 talks about the beginning of birth pangs - wars, false christs, famines, earthquakes, travel and knowledge (I mean look at what all we can do at a click of a mouse!), pestilences (ie. incurable diseases - AIDS). We are seeing these birth pangs today and in our not so distant past. Look at all of the deaths related to wars, disease, famine, etc. Also, there are and have been some wackos who have claimed to be Christ (David Koresh - Branch Davidians, Jim Jones back in 1978). Heck, there is even a guy in Miami with a strong Latin American following who claims to be Christ (Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda) but He has yet to perform any sign or wonder! In fact he himself, and many of his followers, have gotten tattoos of "666". What the.....?!

I will end this for now with this, all of this information is not meant to create some completely fabricated story or something that isn't real. We must discern the times in which we live and these are mere facts to help us do so. This is for real people. A lot of folks have the fantasy misconception that we will one day turn into a chubby baby with wings and play harps for the rest of eternity. Not so. We are called to be alert of His coming and timing indicators and dig deep into His word and His heart, because we as believers are going to be partnering with God in ushering in His Second Coming. His heart is love and He does not want anyone to perish! The Revelation of Jesus is there to spark in our hearts to fall more and more in love with Him. So much so that we LONG for His return, so that we will see Him and eventually reign WITH HIM forever and ever.

Sorry so long, but we must be made ready. We have a reason to celebrate because we are going to see Him one day!

Grace and peace.

Amazingly Awesome

2009-01-25T23:26:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine sent me this video and it is incredible! I want to definitely try this one day...anybody else with me?!!

Grace and peace

Worship in Motion

2009-01-13T01:36:00.002-05:00

So I just got back from an evening stroll over to Birmingham, Alabama and it was incredible! Why Birmingham you ask? Well, there was a night of worship led by Daniel Bashta, Jason Morant and Rita Springer. One word...AMAZING! Ok, there are other words too...powerful, intense, encouraging, Holy Spirit-ladened, crazy, fun (or crazy fun), unpredictable (cause that's what the Holy Spirit is), beautiful, sweet (or beautifully sweet) and inspiring to name a few. The energy in the place was tangible. It makes me excited, and a little nervous and anxious, for what the Lord has in store for Riverstone. I will say that if you like any of the above mentioned descriptive words, then you better come check out Riverstone in the near future. I'm sure some people are going to be turned off and made a little uneasy, and they are probably going to want to leave. If you do, then you are going to be missing out for sure! People better get ready, because Jesus is coming! And He is going to shake some things up and it is going to be so good...I promise!

Grace and peace.

Neat story...

2008-12-23T15:18:00.003-05:00

Please read this story linked below. You tell me if you didn't tear up a little...I did.

Click on "Read story" below:

Read story

Grace and peace.

Real quick

2008-12-21T16:00:00.004-05:00

I just want to give a shout out to Daniel Bashta. He led worship this morning at Riverstone and it was intense, powerful and engaging. If you don't know who Daniel Bashta is, then do yourself a favor and check out his website and read about him. He has incredible heart and even more incredible gifting. Plus my friends, his EP/CD is free to upload (plus his chord charts). Trust me when I say that you will love his cd. I've had it for almost a year now and I never grow tired of it! [which is something I cannot say about most of my other cds]

Grace and peace.

I Need Africa...Part Deux

2008-12-01T13:31:00.006-05:00

About a week ago I posted on why I need Africa more than Africa needs me, how they live out the very nature of Christ [Philippians 2] and how just looking at their land, the country our very creative Creator created [a little alliteration for your reading pleasure], drops my jaw and brings a tear to my eye. I hope you took my challenge and wrote about how much you need Africa! Or at least I hope you clicked on the links to read more about this amazing campaign [if not, you still can click on the little square box in the upper right hand corner of my blog...see it? Yep, that one...click on it...]

Well, here are some more thoughts from the founder of Mocha Club:

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference.

“I am needed here?” I think.

“They have so little, and I have so much.”

It’s true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in the people. It’s a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day. [read more]

And after you "read more", check out this video:

So there you go. Let's show the world how much we [America] need Africa!!

They also have these very sweet, nifty shirts you can purchase from the website. Check 'em out!. I'm getting one [I love me some shirts!]

Grace and peace

I just want to say...

2008-11-27T02:21:00.008-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

What are you thankful for?

Grace and peace.

I Need Africa!

2008-11-24T22:42:00.004-05:00

I was asked by Mocha Club to write about the concept of why ‘I need Africa more than Africa needs me.’ Mocha Club (www.mochaclub.org) is a community-based website where members can start a team and invite friends to join them in giving $7 a month (the cost of 2 mochas) to support a project in Africa. Mocha Club's vision is to provide a way for people who don't have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa.

So, do I need Africa?! Great question! And yes, I most certainly do!! But why? Another great question. Well for one, I have never met a more genuine, self-less people group in my entire life. Back in 2000 I spent 3 weeks in Africa. Everyday I had numerous people ask to carry something for me (guitar, baggage, etc) or do something for or help me out in any way, shape or form. It really made me think of how selfish I can be. Sometimes I get caught up in, "what can this person or that person, do FOR me?" and not think of how I could (and should) serve them. The people of Africa embody the heart of Jesus Christ...they serve!

Is there another reason why I need Africa? Oh you...yes! In my world that is full of concrete, skyscrapers and traffic, Africa is a breath of fresh air (no pun intended...wait, maybe some pun)! The land is so beautiful. Taking in all of the features of the land (the mountains, the flatlands, the rivers, the waterfalls, the coastline) and the animals cause a sensory overload! Every time I turn around there is another incredible view.

So I've shared with some of the reasons why I NEED Africa. Now it's your turn. Share your thoughts in my comments; shoot, even blog about it yourself. Join in the worthwhile cause of recasting the damaging images that force pity over partnership.

But that's not all! Come back Dec 1st to see what Mocha Club is doing about reforming that image.

Grace and peace.

Challenge

2008-11-02T23:39:00.002-05:00

This is my challenge to you (however many of you read this little blog):

Take a gander at your calendar or planner and for each day set up an "appointment" to sit and listen to God. I heard Mike Bickle say that if you schedule it on your planner, then you will follow-through with the "appointment" 80% of the time. I don't know about you, but 80% sounds better than 3-5% (or 0%)...

I have been doing this lately (ie. the past week) and it has been really good. The Lord is faithful and He is trustworthy. He will honor your diligence and speak to your heart. But I pray that it doesn't turn into a religious thing and that it doesn't turn into an "i have to..." chore. Those thoughts are from the enemy. Rebuke them as soon as they come into your mind...

During some of these times, really try to quiet your mind and your heart and listen. When you are in the Word, ask Jesus to open the Scriptures to you and speak through the written Word. You don't need a commentary on each and every book in the Bible. Instead, before you start reading, just pray that the Lord would speak to you through the Scriptures and show you new things concerning His heart. He likes that prayer...

Try it out. Even if it is for just a week and let me know how it went and if the Lord spoke to you...

Grace and peace

Your Very Word Spoken to Me

2008-10-26T18:35:00.009-04:00

It seems as lately I'm always posting after a Sunday morning service. I can't help it. I mean the Lord is moving in our body at Riverstone. This morning was no different. Worship was Emmanuel, God with us! There is really no other way to describe it. The Lord showed up and fulfilled His promise that if we draw near to Him, He will most certainly draw near to us. And let me tell you, He was near! The main set started off with Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle [awesome], then we went into Lord of Lords by Hillsong. The bridge of that song moves me into His throneroom like no other. It is a cry that we will be singing for eternity..."Holy Lord, You are Holy...Jesus Christ is the Lord!" Enough said. After that we did With Everything, another song by Hillsong. Even though we've done that song a lot lately, it still is a very intense and powerful song. The last song of the main set was a song off of Chris Tomlin's new cd, "Hello Love." The song is called "Exalted (Yaweh)." You know there are some songs out there where you want to keep singing it over and over again [a lot of Chris Tomlin's songs are like that...what can I say? He is an anointed song writer]. The chorus of this song goes as follows:

"Yaweh, Holy is Your Name"

That's it. Simple yet so powerful. Again, we are joining with the angels and elders gathered around the throne proclaiming the truth that our God, Yaweh, is Holy!

The congregation was as engaged as I have ever witness them being in a long time. At the end we just sang the chorus without any instrumentation. I took out my in-ear monitor and just listened to them belt this out at the top of their lungs. It gave me goose-bumps [even as I type this I'm getting goose-bumps]. The only response I could muster up was to get on my knees and adore the only One who is worthy. I felt a little closer to heaven at that moment.

Afterwards we as a worship team gathered together and prayed. The Holy Spirit came upon me in a for real way. I literally started trembling. I was holding a Coke in my hand and I had to put it down because I was afraid I was going to drop it or spill it. I felt like there should be a word in tongues, but I didn't know if I was supposed to do it because I don't believe that is one of my spiritual gifts. Granted I know that the Lord can bestow spiritual gifts on a believer for a particular time and it's not one of their spiritual gifts. Does that make sense? So needless to say, I didn't do it and in hindsight I wish I would have. Any way that's not the point [even though the Lord wants us to be bold...and I dropped the ball...then I kicked the ball...thank goodness for grace!].

The Lord then spoke to me saying, "This is the kind of worship I desire. The kind of worship I look throughout the earth for. I long for worship that is grounded in complete abandonment of WHO I AM because I am the I AM. My heart is moved by genuine and authentic worship. But, this worship should not just be on Sunday mornings. Do not neglect your secret, private life of worship for this will prepare you for the public life of worship. Do not forsake the private. Do not forsake the intimate moments between Me and you, just Me and you; for I AM there. Do not lose the abandonment of worship during the week. For I AM there."

I am fearful right now trying to add anything more to what the Lord said. But take heed people. When a community of believers come together in unity to put a big fat exclamation point on what the Lord has done in our lives during the week ["exclamation point" quote compliments of Charlie Hall], the results will be a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled, miracle happening, soul claiming, spirit lifting, heart bowing, God-speaking, God-inhabiting service!

Do not neglect the secret, private place of worship! This is going to look different for each and every person, so I am not going to give you a "how-to" or "7-step" manual for what you should do during your secret life of worship. You know what moves you. You know what best puts you into His presence. Find it. Do it. You will no doubt see the floodgates of heaven open up and pour all over you. You will ooze the water and oil and fire of His presence. Doesn't that sound good?!

So what are you waiting for?

Grace and peace.

Side note: Check out Steve Hambrick's message from this morning. Oh my gosh, so good!

Great sermon...

2008-10-12T19:35:00.003-04:00

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
Philippians 4:4

Perfect follow-up verse to my previous post. Rejoice in the Lord...ALWAYS! Rejoicing, or worshiping, when things are not going good is the key to tapping into the river of life and comfort that flows from the Lord's throne. Then...then my friends will the peace of God, which overcomes any anxious thought, GAURD your hearts and your minds. Worshiping the Lord in times of plenty and in times of drought welcomes in the Lion of Judah [the word "Judah" actually means "praise"] to the gates of your heart and he is perched there, guarding against the flaming darts of doubt, of worry, of anxiety, of stress and of fear. Pause for a second and get that picture in your mind...a roaring Lion protecting your heart. Wow!

If you were not at Riverstone this morning, please go to Riverstone's website and listen to Mark Nysewander's sermon. It was excellent and so pertinent to today's world. You will be encouraged and blessed for sure.

Also, my good friend Brad posted an incredible speech by Sarah Palin. It is the subject of the speech alone that has captured my vote for Senator McCain and Governor Palin. Check it out.

Grace and peace.

I don't understand...

2008-10-09T21:53:00.004-04:00

...life sometimes. I totally trust in the Lord's goodness and His faithfulness to make all things good and give good gifts to His children. But life, real life, is hard sometimes. I'm trying not to get too philosophical or whatever on you guys, but there are times where I have to just sit in silence and ponder on the age-old question...Why? One of my very good friends just lost his brother in a car accident...why? Sure there is a light that is going to come out of this apparent darkness, but why? Anybody feel me? The Lord does work in mysterious ways and the Lord is grieving with and comforting my friend. But sometimes I just don't understand. My friend is so strong in his faith in the Lord and as I was praying for Him today, I had a sense that the Lord is very near to him and is going to whisper encouraging, love-inspired words into his ears and heart. There's no better comfort than the Lord's comfort...

Anyway, you can look at the world today and ask that same age-old question about any one of them...

War...why?

Crime...why?

Abortion...why?

Hate...why?

The economy...why?

Hunger...why?

AIDS...why?

I think I could go on and on and on...and that makes me sad. For real.

But...BUT...I trust in the Lord's goodness. He is such a faithful God and He is bigger than any and every one of the many horrible, tragic, awful, painful circumstances we encounter or will ever encounter. Nothing is too big for HIm and nothing ever, ever, ever surprises Him. Pray, listen, cry, laugh, read the Word and never forget to worship. The worship of God ALWAYS wins the day!

Grace and peace.

Quirky-Tag

2008-09-29T22:39:00.002-04:00

So I was tagged to offer some quirky tid-bits about myself. Here they are in no particular order...

1) I like to have all the clocks in the house to be exactly the same. I mean I will stand next to the microwave and wait for the clock on the oven to change and sync the microwave as fast as I can with the oven clock. There is one exception though. My bedroom clock is set faster than the other clocks. Mainly this is a mental game against myself. I set it faster so I can hit the snooze a few more times and get a few extra "z"s.

2) Again with the microwave (I guess your getting the picture that I use my microwave a lot...those dinners are good!)...I like to heat my food up for odd times. For example, if the box says heat on high for 2 minutes 30 seconds, I'll do 2 minutes 33 seconds.

3) After reading about a friend of mine's quirkiness, I now realize that there are a lot of people out there who share this same characteristic. I tend to rub my feet together when I'm laying around. I like it. It soothes me. Someone picked up on this one time and asked if my mother rubbed my feet when I was little. I don't remember (read #7 from the previous post).

4) I have a shower routine and for the most part, a morning routine, that I do pretty much every morning. No need to go into details about the shower routine...just trust me that it is the same every day.

5) When I pray, I tend to hear the Lord better when I'm moving around. I don't know, maybe my mind doesn't race as much as when I'm just sitting there?

6) I can't think of a sixth one...let me know if any of you out there can think of one.

Grace and peace.

Random thoughts by Justin Boggs...

2008-09-15T23:17:00.004-04:00

Here are some random thoughts that have been going through my mind lately...

1) I need a little "Spring" in my life (reference to Steve Hambrick's sermon this past Sunday at RS...check it out at www.riverstonewf.org. It was really good). My days are fairly monotonous and I need a little rejuvenation.

2) Is it possible to be perfect (when it comes to walking with the Lord)? It says multiple times in the Bible that we can be perfect and when I say perfect, I mean without sin. If we are called to be "imitators" of Jesus, then I would say the answer has to be yes. But, is it possible? Again, I think yes. Thoughts?

3) I'm ready for November 4th to be here so we can get this election thing over with.

4) In regards to #3, I need to really seek the Lord and hear what He has to say about this election. I'm wondering if Obama will get elected and we will start seeing things come to light in regards to the Lord's returning. Hear me now, I am not saying Obama is the anti-christ or anything like that. I'm just saying that the Lord's second coming is near and I wonder how this election fits in? That's all.

5) I'm really getting annoyed with ESPN. How far are they up USC's rear! C'mon, do we really need hours upon hours of how "great" the USC team is? Yes, they are good, but I don't want to hear it over and over again. I'm not throwing UGA a pity party or anything like that (because they looked bad on Saturday and they have the potential to lose this coming Saturday if they play the way they did), but they get no love. Kirk Herbstreet didn't even have them in his top 5! What?! No more USC please!!

6) I need to keep up with my family a little more than I do. My grandfather is really sick and I need to call him and my grandmother more. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow...if I remember (see #7). I need to call my brothers more. Family is so important and it is of the utmost importance to stay in-tuned with what's going on in their lives. My little brother needs prayer, in a for real way, and I have dropped the ball a lot when it comes to persistence in prayer. Lord help me be more persistent.

7) I have a really bad memory, especially my short-term memory. Maybe my hippocampus is damaged?

8) Matt Damon is an idiot.

9) I forgot my other thoughts...

Grace and peace.

Healer

2008-08-30T23:50:00.003-04:00

My good friend, Annie, recently sent me an email with a link to this video. Please read my thoughts first, watch the video and then leave me some of your thoughts.

When I first heard that Mike Guglielmucci was lying about having terminal cancer, I, along with mostly everyone I'm sure, felt sick to my stomach. How could he fake something so gross as cancer?! Honestly, I was hurt because I felt a little portion of my faith stolen from me. Mike was proclaiming the truth as God as our Ultimate Healer and yet was betraying his parents, his wife, his friends and his church. Christians and non-yet Christians all over the world were rooting for him, sending money to him and backing him with their precious prayers and thoughts. What was he thinking?! Why? How?

On a selfish note, as a worship leader I was pondering never singing his song in a service [or at least putting it on a shelf for a VERY long time] out of fear of what the congregation would be thinking. In my mind, they would automatically disengage themselves during the worship because this song was born out of a lie!

However, since the news broke of his fraud I've had time to think about the situation and I've got my own thoughts on the situation. Number 1, Mike Guglielmucci is sick. No doubt. Not with cancer, but with a psychological illness that has plagued him for many years. Pray for him! Number 2, the song is loaded with truth and is such an inspiring, powerful song! So can we still sing this song? YES! You see, the Lord's power is made perfect in our weakness and He uses the weak and lowly to show His glory more fully. The Lord in His grace and mercy used Mike, despite all of the crud that is in his life, to bring us a song that captivates our hearts and proclaims the truth that God IS our Healer. This situation is just a testimony of how good our God is. He takes what the enemy is doing for evil and turns it around for our good.

Mike's story did not surprise God. He knew what was going on and still used Him. Does the word grace ring a bell? God is so much bigger than our troubles. Has anyone ever felt like God could or would not use you because of all the junk in your life? Well take this weird example and believe that He can and will use you despite the troubles and struggles in your life. Or maybe you yourself have a testimony of how God used you for His glory when all around you seemed to be falling on you.

ALL of us fall short. ALL of us have some form of Mike Guglielmucci in our own lives. You probably will never do something like he did, but I know for sure that there are skeletons hanging out in your closet [or at least used to be]. But do you believe He can still use you? He is so much bigger than us. His thoughts and ways are so much higher than our own. Do NOT sell yourselves short when it comes to the Lords grace, mercy and sovereignty! Press in and strive to keep your eyes fixed on Him and seek Him first in everything. Blessed are the weak [or poor] in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

Thoughts?

Grace and peace.

In Memory of Leroi Moore

2008-08-22T00:34:00.005-04:00

I'm very sad to report that the saxophonist of the Dave Matthews Band died from sudden complications stemming from an ATV accident he incurred a few months ago. He was an amazing musician and was a crucial part of the success of the band. Please remember his family and the band in your prayers. He was 46 years old.

If you want, you can read the whole article here.

Grace and peace

For those of you who don't know...

2008-08-19T03:05:00.003-04:00

...the word on the street is true. I've talked with a few of you and I'm sure most of you have heard that Louie Giglio is starting a church here in Atlanta. It will be called Passion Church and as of right now, they do not know where it will be located or when it will be starting. Also, there has been a lot of discussion about who the worship leaders, or lead worshipers will be. This has not been confirmed, but Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and the Knockels are moving or have already moved to Atlanta [I even read on another blog that Chris Tomlin's house is for sale in Austin - I don't know how people find this information but I'm willing to pass on the little juicy nugget of knowledge!].

If you care to hear Louie talk about Passion Church, then you can go to this blog to watch an interview with him.

I'll be honest, at first I had a little mixed emotions about him starting what will be a MEGA-church here in Atlanta. I initially thought, "Man, how many people will leave their respective churches to go to his church?" That was soon followed by, "I think I'll go there when I can." Hypocritical? Yeah I think so...oh well, shoot me. But after doing some blog searching [blearching] and hearing Louie speak, I trust the Lord's leading of Louie. It's not to steal people away from churches but to reach the thousands upon thousands of people in Atlanta that are unchurched and to ignite a flame of revival that will undoubtedly transform a city! Our church has had the vision of community transformation for many years now and I think Passion Church coming to Atlanta confirms what the Lord has laid upon our own pastors' hearts. We will be partnering with Passion Church to see our community [Atlanta, not just Cobb County] transformed.

I have also heard a rumor [and it may just be a rumor] that Passion Church will be starting a worship school as well, a la Hillsong. I haven't read anything about this, but I can only hope, right?

So I have a little bit of the nervous excitement with a splash of jealousy [just being honest]. I have a wonderful church home with an amazing team of leaders and an even more amazing congregation, but on days I'm not helping lead worship I might be tempted to travel to wherever Passion Church is located.

I want to hear your thoughts and reactions to Louie starting a church in Atlanta with some of the most prominent lead worshipers. I'm truly interested!

Grace and peace.

I'm not good at this...

2008-07-28T23:57:00.002-04:00

As my blog so clearly bestows. I haven't blogged in about 6 weeks. I'm not as good as Annie is at this. I have a hard time coming up with "interesting" things to write about every day, or every other day, or every week, etc. So this one is going to be short. The purpose of this blog is to say hey...

So...Hey!

I will post a recap of my Scotland trip soon because right now it is too hard to put what happened or what the Lord accomplished into words. I'll need a few more days and more time (it's midnight now) to make sure all of my thoughts are gathered. I'm sure you understand?

Grace and peace.

Joining the Angels...

2008-06-08T22:18:00.003-04:00

This morning's worship at Riverstone was incredible. We finished the main set with a song written by Jennie Lee Riddle and performed by Kari Jobe called "Revelation Song." It is such a powerful song. I think the reason why it was so moving is that it is Heaven's song.

The chorus goes:

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

These are the words that are being sung by the angels and elders for eternity. They are gripped by the glory and majesty of God and this chorus erupts spontaneously. I get goose-bumps just thinking about that. There have been many songs that seem to have "Heaven" written all over it, but this one moved my spirit to a new deeper level. As I worshiped to it, I got a glimpse of heaven and the thousands upon thousands worshiping the Lord for who He is, which is HOLY. He is completely "other." Nothing will ever compare to His beauty and splendor. If you need a little refresher, read Revelation chapter 4 again. Here we have those "creatures" circling the throne. Every time they catch a glimpse of the glorified King they cannot help but sing this chorus. It is a beautiful picture of what heaven will be like. We will be so enamored by the Lord that this chorus will be our only appropriate response. Falling on our faces because of the beauty of His holiness, adoring Him, praising Him, loving Him, worshiping Him, soaking in Him. Man! So good!!

So for that brief 10 minute section of worship I felt as if our voices were uniting with the voices of heaven to praise and ADORE the King of Kings. It was powerful. I was in awe. I wanted to stay in that place forever. I carried the song with me to work and worshiped with the angels there [good thing we weren't that busy!].

My prayer is for heaven to come to earth [like a sloppy wet kiss!]; for His glory to fill our temple [the church and our temporary bodies]. His River flowed this morning and we jumped in and swam. I pray that it doesn't stop. I want a continual flow of His River in our worship. Glorifying, praising and adoring Him prepares an open highway for His manifest presence to come. The amazing thing is that He WANTS to do it. It's in His heart. He longs for His people to experience and encounter His manifest presence; you know the one where miracles happen, where mourning is turned to dancing, where sorrow turns to joy, where people are set free!! Agghh, it is the cry of my heart. Lord, will You do this?! WE NEED YOU!!

I am loving Daniel Bashta's CD right now. He has a song called "Heaven" on there and the chorus exemplifies where my heart is right now...

Heaven fall down on me
Heaven fall down on me
Bring Your peace, bring Your joy
Let it rain, let it pour!!

Won't You come!?!

Grace and peace.

Great Gain

2008-06-03T23:08:00.006-04:00

For the past week or so the Lord has been focusing on one particular theme...Contentment. In 1 Timothy 6 verse 6 Paul writes, "Godliness with contentment IS great gain." How many of us want to have the "great gain" in our lives? [My hand is raised right now. Is yours?] According to John Piper, contentment is simply faith in future grace.

Faith that His promises are for you and He will fulfill every one of them in and through you. His promises are as sure as the sun, rising to bring light to your darkness, and setting to give you rest when all around you life's circumstances are swirling about stealing your peace. Faith that when you are hurt, you know He will comfort. Faith that when you are rejoicing, you know He is rejoicing even more over you. Faith that when you are lost, you know He will shine a light to guide your steps. Faith that when you think you are alone, you know that His presence is ALWAYS with you, for He PROMISES to never leave or forsake you.

That last line is huge for me now. Contentment HAS to be found in Him and in Him alone. You may be with me on this one, but we as humans tend to find contentment in the things or people around us. This isn't entirely wrong, but I have inadvertently put the latter in front of the former. As a result, the Lord [I think] is drawing me away from certain aspects of my life to help me learn this critical lesson.

And yes, it is a learned quality. And yes, it is a quality we have to seek God for. It's not a clear-cut lesson that is easy to learn or we just all of the sudden have. In Philippians 4, Paul says, "I have LEARNED the SECRET of being content in any and every situation." I have emphasized two key words to this passage: 1) As I just mentioned, it HAS to be learned, and 2) It is not an easily attainable or recognizable quality. It is a secret. What helped me understand this was thinking back on your childhood years [or now in some cases] and one of your friends would say, "Hey come over here, I want to tell you a secret." You would excitedly go over to the side with your friend and he/she would whisper a juicy nugget of information into your ear. In the same way, to learn this lesson, you have to go over to the side [alone] with God so He can whisper into your ear the secret [or juicy nugget if you will] of being content in any and every situation.

Paul knew what it meant "to be in need and what it meant to have plenty," but was still content. Why? Because he sought after solitude with God so he could hear the secret of contentment. Paul had to learn how to rest in the Lord's promises; that God alone is sufficient, that every promise of God is for him, and that all things will work out for his good. If Paul had to learn this lesson, then how much more do we need to press into God's heart to learn the secret? Can I get an Amen?

Finding contentment in something or someone else is idolatry. What is the result of our idolatry? Judgement and...H - E - Double Hockey Sticks.

God knows what is BEST for us and contentment believes that it is going to be good, even if it's not what our own human nature would seek out first.

There is a song that is resonating in my spirit lately, Closer by Charlie Hall. It's singing my heart's cry, Come in close, come in close and speak. He is beautiful. The words He speaks are beautiful. The power of His words are FILLED with grace and mercy. I pray that they would fall on my/your deaf ears and melt my/your stony heart!

Grace and peace.

Long time away

2008-05-30T23:17:00.006-04:00

I have been gone from the blog world for a little over a month now. A lot has been going on, and I plan on sharing some thoughts in the near future...hopefully : ) . Anyway, as for my first blog back from hiatus, I will post a really funny video from a Japanese game show. I don't know where they come up with some things?!? One time I saw a video of a soccer game where the soccer ball was on fire! Craziness. This video is a little over 6 minutes but it is well worth it. Enjoy and hope to see you back here soon!

Grace and peace.

This scares me...

2008-04-30T20:15:00.003-04:00

...to bits! I recently came across an article by Tara Leigh Cobble on Relevant Magazine's website. You've probably heard about Tara Leigh Cobble on Annie's blog, but she recently wrote an article for Relevant Magazine about a U2 concert she went to called, How to Dismantle an Idolized Bono.

It left me disappointed and a little baffled [though it was very well written...way to go Tara...I know why Annie encourages her writings so much]. For so long now I have associated Bono with Christianity even though I don't think he has publicly stated such. His songs have so much Biblical underpinnings in them that I just assumed. You know what happens when you assume? Well, I guess I've made an A out of me!

Click on the link above, read the article and let me know what you think...

Bono saying things that the antichrist would say?!?! It's hard for me to think that but after reading that article and looking at things in the Bible, it's possible. Crazy am I? [You have to read that in your best Yoda voice] Yes, but it does make you think. I will admit [and I've asked for forgiveness] that I have in a way idolized Bono because he has had some amazing, well-written "Christian" songs and the messages in the songs are sound.

Anyway, like I said, read it and let me know your thoughts.

Grace and peace.

What I'm listening to

2008-04-25T21:55:00.003-04:00

I get questions a lot about what's new and good on the worship music scene. So here is what I'm into lately.

Daniel Bashta - My Worship Motion : Excellent stuff. You should definitely check him out. You can actually download his CD on his website for free, which is super cool.

Leland - Opposite Way : Amazing CD. A must have! They are all super talented and he is an incredible song writer

David Crowder Band - Remedy : He continues is creativity on this CD. I love their style. Download any and all of their CDs and you will be pleased, trust me.

Jesus Culture - We Cry Out : 2 words, freagin awesome!

Jason Morant - I have 2 of his CDs, Abandon and Open, and I love them both. The styles of both CDs are different, but both equally as good.

Passion - God of this City : Most of the songs are good, but you can get them on other CDs. My favorite is the song God of this City. Powerful! I recently posted about how the song came to be. Incredible!

Phil Wickham - Cannons : Amazing voice, sweet guitar player, and come on...he stinkin sports a mustache!

Hillsong - Any of their CDs! Get them all!! Enough said...

Kari Jobe - Kari Jobe : She leads worship with Rick Pino out in Texas. I don't know of a better voice than hers!

Anyway, these are some of the worship CDs I'm listening to lately. What are you all listening to? Leave me some comments on artists out there I need to get. It doesn't have to be worship but I always enjoying finding out new worship CDs to add to my collection.

Grace and peace.

Change of Pace

2008-04-18T23:03:00.003-04:00

As promised in a previous post [...My Job], this is an inspiring video on how dogs can help children with autism. This is a great story. I can't help it, I'm partial to dogs...

Canine Companions

Grace and peace

Rejoice!

2008-04-16T23:35:00.005-04:00

Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice!

This sounds so simple, but often times I find it to be so difficult. There are some things going on [which I will withhold from you because I don't want to share...just being honest] and lately it has been hard to do the whole rejoicing thing.

Why do I let myself get lost in the stress, worry and anxiety of the circumstances of my life, or my job, or my relationships, etc? It's as if I'm saying that my problems are too big for God. Or that my worries out-weigh God's command to always rejoice.

So I continue reading in Philippians and only make it 2 more verses...

Verse 6 of chapter 4: ...Do not be anxious about anything. Busted! Arrogant aren't I?!

Worry implies that we "don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives."

Stress says that "the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control."

Why am I so quick to doubt? How can it be that I can encounter the holiness and otherness of God and still believe that my problems and worries are bigger than Him? Why do I lose sight of the fact that life is all about God and not at all about me? I just need to get over myself!

I am reading a book right now by a fantastic writer and speaker, Francis Chan, called Crazy Love. I just started it today and I cannot put it down. He covers this topic of stressing and worrying early on in the book and I had a hard time moving forward with the reading.

Picture this, you are an extra in a movie and the camera rolls by and catches the back of your head. A whole 2/5 of a second of screen time. You call home or your friends and you talk about this movie and how it features you...that it's all about you. They called you an idiot and are stunned that you think the movie is about you.

Unfortunately a lot of Christians get disillusioned with this. We believe that the movie is about us.

But the thing is, the star of the movie is God and will always be God! Opening scene is the creation of the universe [Were you there? Did God consult you on what to create next?]. There's a flood. Then a character arises, Abraham, and he becomes the father of a nation. After awhile Joseph comes in, then Moses and David. God then appoints prophets and judges to speak against a people who have lost the art of obedience. The movie was still not about these people. They were extras...

The movie starts to become interesting. You sit up in your seat and your pupils dilate as the Son of God is born of a virgin into a world that God still loves, He performs miracles and teaches them about true love.

The climax...your heart is pounding [maybe you cover your eyes or grip the seat handles]...the Son of God dies, in 3 days is alive again, then goes back to be with God the Father! The church is born...Pentecost...

Whew! Wipe the sweat off your palms [maybe the tears], the movie's done. No wait, it's not. There's one more scene. Read about this final epic scene in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. There are these scary creatures with lots of heads and lots of eyes flying around a throne singing Holy is the Lamb that was slain. Elders are laying down their golden crowns ascribing worth to the Lord. Incredible!

From the opening to the final scenes, it has always been about God!

So where do we fit? You see our 2/5 of a second fall somewhere after Pentecost and the final scene described above. So are you still thinking everything should be about you? I'm glad I am reading this book to re-learn this unshakable truth...God IS the main character. It is ALL about Him!

1 Corinthians 10:31: ...whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.

That's what I want my 2/5 of a second to be about...His fame and renown and glory! If I'm struggling [which I may be right now], then I need to show the world that my God is good and He is the God of PERFECT PEACE and He will calm the storms. If things are good, then show the world that even though you are experiencing a time of blessing, it is still not about you!

God wants to be glorified. Point to Him! Have a blessed 2/5 of a second...

Grace and peace.

The story behind the song...

2008-04-14T15:16:00.004-04:00

Story number 2 is such an amazing, jaw-dropping, hand raising, 'no way'-saying kind of story. Hopefully I didn't build it up too much.

During the last worship service Saturday night [which I must add is now in my top 5 worship experiences...yes I rank them], Louie Giglio came out onto the stage and started to talk about the inspiration of the next song, God of this City. Y'all, this story is so sweet. Here it goes:

Louie starts off by talking about a worship event Chris Tomlin and his band were at in Belfast. It was early in the afternoon and Tomlin's guitarist was the only one not doing something. So he decided to go out and "support" the local bands there. While he was listening in the back, the band started singing a song and it gripped his heart. He said he ran to get Chris out of the dressing room to come hear this song because "he HAS to hear it!" By the time Chris got to the stage, the song was over. So Chris Tomlin and the rest of his band met with this local Belfast worship band afterwards. They gave him MP3s of all of their songs and he listened to that one special song. Tomlin said that he was so moved that he just had to ask them what inspired this song.

They started saying that their band and a few other members of their church went on a mission trip to Pattaya, Thailand recently. In Pattaya, there are over 30,000 female prostitutes over the age of 18! [That is not counting the ones under 18, or even the male prostitutes there] While they were walking around the town, they walked into a local bar there called....the Climax bar, which you can imagine the folk that were up in that joint. Anyway, the owner of the bar somehow found out that they were a music group and asked (through a translator) if they would mind playing music for his "guests." They agreed and asked how long they wanted them to play and the owner answered back, "As long as your team continues to buy cokes." So they ended up buying cokes for 2-3 hours.

Think about it! For over 2 hours this band sang Jesus over these prostitutes and they had no idea what they were singing! All of the sudden this song "came down from heaven," as one of the band members recalls. Then spontaneously they started singing:

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done here

I'm getting goose-bumps just writing the story behind the song. Doesn't the song mean so much more to you now that you know the inspiration behind the song?! You ARE the God of this city loaded with prostitutes! You ARE the King of these people God! You ARE the Lord of this nation! This city is dark Lord but You ARE the light in this darkness!! And...ANd...AND!!...GREATER THINGS HAVE YET TO COME AND GREATER THINGS ARE STILL TO BE DONE HERE!!

Needless to say, Chris Tomlin asked if he could play their song for the up-coming Passion tour. They agreed [Who wouldn't?] and then Chris sent the MP3s to Louie and told him to listen. He said that there is one song that ruined him but wouldn't tell him which one. Louie listened to the songs and quickly wrote him back asking in wonder about God of this City. It was unanimous, this song had the Holy Spirit and God's heart all over it!

All I can say is WOW!! Believers, soak in this truth! Bask in His light! Rest in the warmness of His embrace! Get close to Him! Your circumstances may be dark and hopeless, but He IS the hope to hopeless and He IS the peace to the restless!

Hold on Beloved! Greater things have yet to come!

Grace and peace.

Freedom we take for granted...

2008-04-14T00:31:00.004-04:00

Ok,
The first story from Passion Atlanta I'm going to share is a short testimony shared by one of the volunteers regarding a girl from Turkey who was there this weekend...

The first night of Passion a young girl was walking into the Gwinnett Center Arena. All of the sudden she broke down and started weeping. The volunteer went up to her and asked her if everything is ok. The girl then said that she has never seen this many people gathered together to worship and her heart was overwhelmed. She comes from Turkey where people are killed for their faith and for worshiping Jesus.

They prayed together and the girl's prayer was gripping:

"Lord, if worshiping like this back in Turkey results in me becoming a martyr, then I am willing."

Whoa, heavy, isn't it?

Grace and peace.

Passion 2008

2008-04-13T01:44:00.003-04:00

One word...amazing! I met some really cool new people. The messages...challenging and heart piercing. The worship...let's just say that 9,500 people encountered Jesus. What more could you ask for?!

I have a few stories to share but not now. It's almost 2 a.m. and I just got home. All of the volunteers had to stay after it was over and break down everything. So, I am freakishly tired and I have to work tomorrow.

But I promise to share them.

Grace and peace.

Passion Atlanta

2008-04-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

...is tonight at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center. Roughly 10,000 people will be flocking to Gwinnett to unite with one goal...to encounter Jesus! I've read that over 550 college campuses will be represented this weekend. I'm super excited to serve [I'm a volunteer], to worship, pray and be encouraged by some amazing people. I mean, can you beat a Louie Giglio message...uh uh, no way.

Details to follow...

Grace and peace.

Coming through a T.V. set near you...

2008-04-10T21:28:00.004-04:00

is the worship of God! I'm sure it is going to be a hot topic of a lot of Believing bloggers out there, but tonight on American Idol they sang "Shout to the Lord" by Darlene Czech from Hillsong Australia. To add to this, I heard that David Crowder's song, Stars, was nominated as one of the "inspirational" songs the contestants could choose from this past week!

The worship of God is winning the day!!

I find it quite fitting that they sang Shout to the Lord the week of "Idol Gives Back." This event American Idol is promoting revolves around going out to the world to stop injustice. Why is this so important? Because it is near and dear to God's heart. WORSHIP WITHOUT MISSION IS NOT WORSHIP! Just as faith without love is dead, worship that does not inspire you to fight for and help the poor and needy is pointless. We worship because of the faith we have and we help because of the LOVE that is inside of us.

This shouldn't be a once a year Idol event. It needs to be a daily prayer for us.

"God, give me a heart for those suffering injustice."

If you take out all of the verses of the Bible where God talks about justice and helping those in need, then you are left with a very thin book.

I heard Bono say one time, "If you want to be with God, then go and be with the poor."

What's the result?...

Everyone around the world will be singing...

Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing
Power and majesty praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the sea will roar
At the sound of Your Name!

I sing for joy at the works of Your hand
Forever I'll love You forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You!

Grace and peace.

Why I don't like my job...

2008-04-03T13:07:00.004-04:00

So I'm sitting here at my house on my lunch hour contemplating the morning I had. One word...tough. I felt the need to unwind a little through my little blog here. I could have a chat with my dog, but all he would do is wag his tail and perk up his ears.

[He does have some awesome ears by the way...]

I will add here that dogs are quite therapeutic. Back in Athens we used to take my old dog Savannah to a nursing home. The folks there loved her! She just sat there while they petted [that a word?] her for hours. Anyway, I will post a video on how dogs are helping autistic children. It's a pretty amazing story...

Sorry for the digression...

My first appointment of the day was a 2 year old Jack Russell Terrier that the owners said was crying a lot and they noticed a "bump" on his side. They also said that he went missing yesterday for a couple of hours. My physical examination revealed scabs on his ears, a nasty bruise behind his right front leg and this "bump," well I could reduce it. This means that whatever was poking out under his skin I could push back it.

When I finished my examination I talked to the owners, which was a mom and her child, and told them that I'm suspecting he got hit by a car and that he has a tear in his abdominal wall. We took some x-rays which showed a few broken ribs, proof of this abdominal wall tear and that he may have some fluid in his abdomen, which could be either blood or urine. Urine? Yes, a common finding in some blunt-force trauma to the abdomen is a ruptured bladder...not good.

I go over the results of the x-rays with the owners and tell them that their pet needs to have emergency surgery to fix the abdominal wall tear and to find out where this "fluid" is coming from. I gave them an estimate for what it would cost to fix their dog and their eyes widened. The mom at first said go ahead with the surgery, but then quickly changed her mind and turned to the kid and asked him, "What do you want to do? It's your dog." I felt awful for this kid. He was probably 12 years old and was left with the decision to try and save his dog or put him to sleep (aka euthanize him). He started crying so I left them to discuss it for a few minutes.

I went back into the room and the mom again turned to the kid and asked the same question, "So what do you want to do?" In between the tears he said, "I guess put him to sleep." I asked him if he was sure and he nodded his head. Then I discussed with both of them what happens during a euthanization and reassured him that his dog would not feel any pain.

The end went smoothly and pain free. The kid wept...I mean all-out weeping, and I too was fighting back the tears. I gave the kid a hug and even though I knew in my head that I could fix their dog, I told him that he made a very mature and humane choice.

It hurts because I could have fixed him but I didn't get the chance. The price to pay for the procedures was too much. I hate that. I HATE THAT!

Maybe the afternoon will be better?

Grace and peace.

Back to the River - Part 2

2008-03-29T22:47:00.002-04:00

Ezekiel 47
"...now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

If you remember from a previous post, I discussed the River of God and how it pertains to corporate worship. I want to continue that discussion with the last part of that amazing passage. If you pay attention closely, Ezekiel did not see the "trees" until he reached these swimming depths of water. Some say that these trees represent healing. So, once we reach these depths of the river in our worship services, we will no doubt start seeing miracles and healings on a regular basis.

The "Sea" that Ezekiel mentions is the Dead Sea. This Sea is described as a Dead Sea because of its salt content. The salt percentage is so high that no living creature can live. So, this River will bring healing and life to places that have the stinch of death! This is not unlike some churches and worship services around today. But Ezekiel offers a prophetic declaration by saying there is still hope for these churches; the River of God will bring life to the dead areas of religion and traditionalism through worship. There is hope church! It's found in finding the River in worship.

This passage concludes with an abundance of fish. People, believers and non-believers, will begin to flock to churches where the River is found continually in worship. Some will refute this and say that churches will scare away people if we really get into the deep depths of the River. Ezekiel prophetically saw the contrary. He envisioned fish being drawn to places where life and miracles and fruit abound!

Again, the River is what we seek and ask for in our worship services. I want it. I need it. I long for it daily. Join me and ask/pray for a longing, a thirsting for this River [Psalm 42:1].

Grace and peace.

Great Scary Scott

2008-03-26T22:18:00.004-04:00

My mom sent me this picture the other day that a TV tower took the night of the tornado in downtown Atlanta. I'll just let the picture speak for itself. Stinking scary for real! [Just click on the picture to make it larger]

Much grace and peace.

Faux sho

2008-03-21T23:11:00.003-04:00

So today I did something pretty random and out of the ordinary for me...I decided to give myself a faux hawk. Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure below. The pictures were taken with Photo Booth so the quality isn't as crisp. I will try it out for a little bit and if it doesn't work for me, then I'll just cut off the rest. Anyway, let me know what you think and be honest [You know where liars go!]

"Come and you will see"

2008-03-20T22:48:00.004-04:00

Lately I have been trying to dig deep in the Word and try to figure out the "next step" in my life. My routine consists of worship, reading some, then worship some more and listening. Unfortunately no answers yet but I know God is pleased with where my heart is. I am still praying for clarity and wisdom, but I just want to be with the Lord, where He is, in His pocket so to speak.

I'm reading John right now and something in the first chapter stuck out to me in a way that hadn't before. In verses 35-39 we read of two of John the Baptist's disciples leaving him to follow Jesus. John [the writer] mentions one of the disciples, Andrew. In case you didn't know, the other disciple was John himself [again the writer, not the Baptist]. Anyway, the two ask Jesus, "Where are you staying?" Jesus then answered them, "Come and you will see."

What connected most with my spirit as I read this story was the question the two disciples asked Jesus..."Where are YOU staying?" They wanted to be wherever Jesus was. They wanted to be with Him, stay with Him, commune with Him, dine with Him, learn from Him and soak all of Him in by simply being where He is. The disciples knew that it would be best to be where Jesus was.

Here is where I have failed [and you may be in this boat too]: I approach God with good intentions of giving my life, future, etc to Him, but I want to put Him in a box close to where I am at. "I know you are staying over there God, but it would be so much easier if you just come over here where I'm at. Everything seems to be going good right here, so if You could just come over here to my area, that would be great." We need to be ready and willing to ask Him where He is staying so we can go there to be filled and fulfilled. It's in our best interest to be where Jesus is and partner with Him in what He is doing. We can't force something into being. We just have to be able to sense where God is and where His river is flowing and go there.

So God where are you staying? Because I want to be with You...

Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases."

Psalm 143:8 "Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul"

Grace and peace.

Ok...scary...

2008-03-15T23:49:00.007-04:00

If you haven't seen or heard about the tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta, then I ask you to either wave your hand in front of your face and tell me if you can see your hand or, place a finger up under your jaw and feel for a pulse. Ok? Good...

Anyway, so as a birthday gift I was given tickets to the SEC basketball tournament. My dad and I went down to the Georgia Dome Friday around lunchtime for the first 2 of 4 games. The games were exciting and we were having a good time. Then there was a dinner break and Tate Welling met us for the last 2 games. The first game was Alabama against Mississippi State [To this day I still say that little saying to help me spell Mississippi...anybody else with me?]. The game was back and forth and it eventually went into overtime. With about 2 minutes and 11 seconds left in overtime all of a sudden we saw people across the Dome scattering and frantically running. A minute or so before I had heard some rumbling but didn't think anything of it. What was going through my head initially is that somebody was sick and they were running to find help or there was a fight happening between fans from Alabama and Mississippi State. Then boom, the entire Dome started to shake and it sounded like a freight train was going through the middle of the Dome. The scoreboard, big screens and scaffolding were swaying back and forth. The lights were shaking. It felt as if an earthquake was occurring. I looked up and the entire cloth rooftop of the Dome was rattling and it looked like the "parachute" game we used to play on the playground when younger. You know the one where everyone holds a piece of tarp and starts to shake it up and down. The balls on top start bouncing around like "popcorn." Remember?

Anyway, people were scattering all over the place running for the exits. For a brief moment I was thinking that this could be it. I don't want to be over-dramatic but we had no where to go because all of the aisles were jammed. I thought, "What am I going to do if the roof comes down?" Then all of a sudden 3 panels from the side of the Dome were ripped open. You could see the rain and lightening outside from where we were sitting! Debris was falling all over the court and the people in the stands. After what seemed to be an eternity rapped in about 30 seconds, the freight train-like rumbling quieted down. We could still see the rain and lightening though outside. We found out later on that a big bolt fell from the roof in front of somebody, which set off the mad-scramble at the beginning.

After about an hour delay, they came back out and played the last 2 minutes and 11 seconds of overtime [which Mississippi State won]. The overhead announcer told everybody to stay in the Dome and there is still severe weather outside. Roughly 30 minutes later they announced that the UGA-Kentucky game was postponed until the next day [GO DAWGS!].

Even though it was very frightening, things could have been a lot worse. The roof could have fallen it or blown off. The big screens, scaffolding, lighting and scoreboard could have fallen on people. Also, if the game didn't go into overtime, there would have been a large crowd outside leaving the Dome, which could have resulted in devastating injuries or even deaths. The Lord definitely had His team of angels protecting us that night! I am thankful!!

I didn't have my camera with me but I did manage to take some pictures with my phone. Here are some of those:

These are some views of the Georgia Dome from the outside. Look at all of those panels ripped off...

Here is some of the debris outside. There were benches overturned, glass was everywhere from doors and windows blown out, trash cans blown everywhere. That sign with the C on it usually stands upright. It is a solid concrete sign that was almost toppled over by this storm!

If you look towards the top of the Dome you can see the holes ripped into the side. In case you can't see them, I utilized my pointer finger to "point" out one of the openings...

It was a crazy scary night my friends. Continue to pray for those that lost homes and other possessions.

Grace and peace.

Birthday Laugh

2008-03-13T12:27:00.005-04:00

In honor of my birthday, I am going to show a video that I recently came across again. I laugh out loud over and over every time I see it. It's from the Wesley Men's Retreat a year or so ago. Enjoy! You can thank Clay Kirkland for the video...

Grace and peace

White Out Wednesday

2008-03-06T22:52:00.014-05:00

Aren't these pictures stinkin' sweet?! And yes, we are wearing headbands!! What is White Out Wednesday, you might be asking? Well my friends, let me explain. Last month the Wesley Foundation in Athens, GA had "Fun February." For the last Wednesday of Fun February, they decided to have "White Out Wednesday" modeled after our fantastic football team's Blackout game against Auburn. The night before we covertly mounted black lights all around the sanctuary and over the stage. So Wednesday night around 500 or so students strolled into the sanctuary wearing their white shirts, jackets, vests, pants, etc. The opening song was as usual (Everything Glorious by David Crowder), then there was the announcements and video. Then the entire sanctuary went pitch black and the lead guitar player started playing the opening lick to Typical by MuteMath. As soon as the full band kicked in, the black lights turned on! It was pretty sweet. As you can see in the pictures, everyone in the band wore white headbands.

So the entire main worship set was under the black lights. You might be thinking that would be a little on the irreverent side, but I will tell you that it had the complete opposite effect. Maybe it was the fact that nobody could really see the people around them, but worship escalated to new heights that night!

The set included:

Dancing Generation (Matt Redman)
My God Reigns (David Ruis I think)
We Make a Way (another old school song)
I Desire (Elliott DeJarnett)
Diamond (Vineyard)

The worship was intense and incredible. All around the room the Holy Spirit was invading students' lives and hearts and ministering to their spirits. After Bob Beckwith's message we had another extended time of worship under the black lights. Worship was interspersed with people coming up to pray or give prophetic words, or simply give a short testimony on how God is moving in their life. The service officially ended around 12:30am! (unfortunately I had to drive back to Marietta that night/morning)

Folks, the Lord is doing new, exciting and powerful things in Athens, GA. He is taking worship to new levels and He is releasing a healing anointing. I had the priviledge of playing drums again at Wesley this past Wednesday. I will say firsthand that last week was not a unique, isolated, one-time event. About 550 students showed up with ready hearts to encounter Jesus, and we did. We did a song called "God of this City" off of the new Passion CD. This song has a special anointing on it! If you don't have the new Passion CD, go buy it now!

The chorus says:
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city

This is prophetic call to every city across the globe. We are crying out for greater things to be done! Lord will you do greater things in our city?!!

Anyway, I mentioned the word healing and you might be wondering if I was going to share some of the testimonies of how the Great Physician is healing folks over there. Two Wednesdays ago one girl stood up and asked for prayer during worship for her left knee. She had just torn her ACL and the doctor said she has to have surgery in order to have the chance of playing sports again. Well, folks prayed for her and her knee was completely restored! Last night there was a girl there who had been deaf in one of her ears for some years now. During worship people started to pray for her and then she was able to hear the people around her singing. She covered her good ear and she still was able to hear folks singing and praying! You want one more?! There was young man there who got struck in the eye with a bottle rocket last year and as a result, was blind in that eye. The doctors said he would never see again out of that eye. He was getting prayer and then all of a sudden he was able to see his hands. They kept praying and he could see his feet. They prayed more and he could see outlines of people 15-20 feet away! A 4th time they prayed and he was now able to see pictures on the opposite wall! He actually has a black dot on the affected eye and they said that as they prayed for him, the Lord shrunk this black dot down to a very small size. Glory to God!! He is truly revealing Himself in powerful ways.

These are just a few of the many testimonies of the Lord's healing power resting on students, staff and basically anybody that walks through their doors! I encourage any and all of you to make the trip to Athens on a Wednesday night [Not next week, it's their spring break. You would be there by yourself and I wouldn't want you to be mad at me!]

Again my prayer is that God will continue to move in greater ways in Athens and especially here in Marietta! In order for this community to be transformed, we need the Holy Spirit to move...for real!! Please join me as we cry out for more!

Grace and peace.

Life's ups and downs

2008-03-03T23:53:00.003-05:00

I will be totally honest here and say that I haven't really felt like blogging in a while because a lot has been going on that I really didn't want to share publicly. I'm probably not going to give you the entire scoop but let's just say that the Lord is shaking things up in my life. On one end of the spectrum there is the possibility of losing one of my closest friends and companions. The Lord is teaching me to trust Him completely and surrender EVERYTHING to Him because He knows what is best for me. It has been real hard and frustrating and sad, but I have to daily tell myself that He is THE Good Father and His plans for me are so much better than I can muster up myself. My heart is crying out for clarity, for wisdom and for me to completely rely on Him. I need to diligently lean in and on Him for my strength, my joy and my affirmation. I've come to realize that in the past (or basically my whole life) I have relied too much on getting my affirmation from the people around me. Sometimes God does use the people around us to affirm us, but what He desires most is for us to come to Him so He can affirm us and download into us His delight and pleasure for us. This is huge beloved! It carries with it confidence, assurance and joy in walking with and serving the Lord.

We've all read this before, but before Jesus began His ministry, He first had to hear that God was pleased with Him. So it is even more crucial for us to know that we know that we know He is pleased with us. Before we set out on the journey that is our Kingdom destiny, we need to hear how near and dear we are to His heart. Song of Songs has to be rooted deep within us. Beloved, please know that His desire is for you! With just one glance of your eyes towards Him overwhelms Him! YOU are the one that "ravishes" His heart. The Lord has a jealous and zealous love for you. In order to captivate you and return you to your first love, He may shake things up in your life. I am learning this first-hand, and I will be the first to say that it is hard. But again I have to remind myself that "I am His beloved and His desire is for me."

So if this is you, I encourage you to read Song of Songs again, maybe even multiple times. He wants to tell you how much He loves you and how much He wants to be your everything. Please find the time for Him to do this; you will never be the same!

Not all things have been rough and tough for me lately. I played drums at the Wesley Foundation last Wednesday and the Kingdom Expansion Conference was this weekend at Riverstone Church. Both of these events were amazing! Out of fear of making this a super long post (and for the sake of your eyes and attention), I will discuss these later. But I will tell you that the Holy Spirit showed up in a MIGHTY way in Athens last week! More to come soon...

Grace and peace.

My Rock

2008-02-27T03:08:00.002-05:00

These verses have kept me emotionally sane for the past several days. If you are struggling, or feel helpless or hopeless, and you need a little encouragement, take a gander:

Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock Eternal

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart...

If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge-then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.""

Grace and peace.

If I had a narrator

2008-02-23T00:02:00.003-05:00

This is going to be a completely random, but hopefully fun post. I was watching T.V. this evening and a few of those GEICO commercials came on. You know the ones where Sally Smith isn't a "real actress" but they hired a "real actress/actor" to speak on her behalf. You have the likes of Peter Frampton, Michael Winslow, Joan Rivers, etc speaking about their accidents for them. It kind of reminds me of the Will Ferrell movie, Stranger than Fiction, where he can hear the narrator comment on his daily activities (I really like that movie by the way and I say it is a must see).

So my question to you is, if you could pick one actor or actress (or I guess anyone for that matter) to be the narrator of your life, who would it be?

For me I would pick Johnny Depp. I know that is kind of random and he has had his struggles in his past, but hey, haven't we all. I imagine he could tell one heck of a story and he would definitely provide a comedic unction to my story as he reads it. Laughing is a must. I find myself laughing at myself a lot...even when I'm alone!

Anyway, my selection was made pretty quickly. But I'm sure if I had more than a few minutes to think about it I could think of someone a little more meaningful (?) to my life. Which means, I expect a lot from you guys.

So, post a comment on who you would have as a narrator and say why.

Ok? Ready, go.

Grace and peace.

Tagged (last and probably least)

2008-02-21T20:00:00.006-05:00

So Brad kind of tagged me today. I think he actually tagged Matt, but then said if Matt doesn't, then I'm up? I dunno...

1) I was born in Panama City, FL, which is neither full of white trash nor creepy, drunk high school kids

2) I've had a grand total of 10 surgeries in my life. One of those is when I took a ground ball right between my eyes which broke my nose (and knocked me out).

3) We moved around a lot growing up. The longest place I ever lived at was Athens, GA for undergrad and vet school.

4) Building on that, in my 4 years of being a vet I have killed (most of them purposefully) over 100 animals...but have saved at least 10 times that. Holla!! Booyah!

5) In my 3rd year of vet school our flag football team won the UGA championship (I was quarterback, no big deal)

6) I used to be able to make...umm...noises...umm...come out of a certain area on command. Me and two other guys would do this for entertainment but they were so much better than me (Kyle and Candler were the kings of "breathing")

7) I used to hate musical instruments when I was a little kid. Now I want to learn any and all of them.

8) I eat a lot of frozen dinners (insert Debbie Downer noise here). I'm eating one right now. Chicken, rice and broccoli = Yum (but definitely not as good as some fantastic shrimp and grits that I've had recently!)

9) I love the beach! The sound of waves hitting the shore is so peaceful. The ocean reminds me of God everytime I'm there.

10) I believe the worship of God will win the day where healings, miracles and true encounters with God are the norm!

Welp, is there anybody left? How about Duane or Sean Kirkland or even the Mann's?

11) I end every post with "Grace and peace" because that's what I want everyone to fully know and experience!

So as promised...

Grace and peace.

He enjoys me!

2008-02-18T14:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a good day. It started off with me leading worship at Stonebridge church, which was really good. I hate to sound like a broken record but I truly believe worship (whether leading, equipping other worship leaders, or both) is my Kingdom calling for my life here on earth. Anyway, worship was sweet yesterday morning. The band consisted of Mike Bedingfield on drums, Mark White on bass and Gary Austin singing background vocals and mixing in some harmonica. I felt as if most of the congregation was engaged with the Lord and I'm praying that they encountered Jesus (I did so I'm believing they did too!). The set list included:

Holy (Vineyard) --> We Will Embrace Your Move (Darrell Evans)
Come (own) --> All Who Are Thirsty chorus (Vineyard)
Holy God (Brian Doerkson)

Came to My Rescue

Then, Sunday evening I took on the storms and tornado warnings and drove over to Lawrenceville to the Sunday evening "Encountering God" service at the International House of Prayer. This was exactly what I needed! Most of the time I am the one either leading worship or playing on the worship team, and not "participating" with the body in worship. Anyway, one of my good friends, Caleb Andrews, was leading worship. Let me tell you, he has an incredible anointing on him to lead worship. His sensitivity to the Spirit is impeccable. Worship, as you can imagine, was awesome! There is a freedom in worship at the House of Prayer that is contagious. It is truly a place where all cares, worries and burdens fall to the side in the presence of the Almighty God! Singing, dancing, prophesying, weeping, etc are all the norm here (as it should be for any church service I might add).

Billy Humphrey, main guy over at IHOP-Atlanta, then came up and shared on the Foundation of Prayer. It was the 3rd part of a 3-part series on prayer (if you have Itunes you can get his sermons on podcast for free). The gist of the message was that the foundation of prayer is that God, Creator of the Universe, enjoys me! He delights in us as we come to Him in prayer. A trap that I continually find myself in is that I view prayer as a task. Checked that box, now it's time to move on to my next task of the day. Oh Believers how mis-guided was I?! You see, God designed prayer as a way to communicate with Him and tap into His heart. If you take any Communications course in school, you will learn that the key to communication is listening. Hello!! How much do I listen? Not very much, as sad as that is for me to confess. But it's true. The Lord is the Master Communicator BECAUSE He is the Master Listener. Think about it, He has the ability to listen to 6-some-odd billion people! Ponder on that one for a while.

But the beautiful thing is that He enjoys listening to us! How sweet would it be to "walk and talk with the Lord" like Adam did? Or like Noah did? Or like Enoch did? I can picture it now, the Lord comes strolling into the Garden (whistling perhaps? I don't know?) and calling for Adam. "Adam, it's time for our walk in the Garden!" The Lord has this incredible joy on His face and He walks and talks with Adam. I can hear Adam ask the question, "Lord, what are those bright things in the sky that shine when it's dark?" The Lord would then reply with a smile, "Adam, those are stars that are millions and billions of miles away and I formed each and every one of them." The Lord would then explained to Adam the mysteries of the Universe. Incredible! Now take Noah. He walked and talked with the Lord and the Lord told him to build an arc. If you remember, the earth had never experienced rain before! I'm sure Noah was like, "Lord, what's an arc?" He would then explain to Him that it is just like the boats they put go out on the lake with, but much much bigger. "But why am I building this arc?" Noah might then ask. The Lord replies, "Because I'm about to send a flood" and then He would explain to Noah what a flood is and what rain is.

So why would He do all of this? Because He enjoys communicating with us and He delights in us! As it says in Colossians 1, God took pleasure in sending His One and Only Son, God in the flesh, to earth. God took pleasure in having Jesus die on the cross, the most humiliating forms of death. Why? Because He takes pleasure in calling us His children (Ephesians 1).

Child of God, I pray that God will reveal to you His delight and enjoyment of you. I pray that He removes any shame or guilt or hidden sin or whatever it is in your life so that you can truly know this enjoyment. Believe me, it is very liberating! If you grab a hold of this truth, your prayer life will become pleasurable to you and it will not be a sense of duty anymore. The Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Beautiful One wants to communicate with you!!

How indescribable!!

Grace and peace.

Should we pay?

2008-02-16T16:27:00.003-05:00

Today Ernie Wagoner and Harrison DeJarnett were over at my house and we came upon the discussion of worship in the church these days. We had an amazing talk about what God is doing around the globe in worship and how He is raising up a praying/worshiping generation [and I love it!]. But then I posed the question which I will pose to you as well: Should churches pay their musicians?

For me, I struggle with this. [Note: This is my opinion and I am totally open to other's point of views. That is the beauty of this blog-thing: Freedom to voice your opinion.] I am a firm believer that a church needs to recognize the sacrifices their worship team(s) offer to be there week-in-and-week-out. Some sacrifice time with their family, jobs, friends, relationships, etc. But should each worship team member be financially compensated? Before I go on I think I need to totally EXCLUDE places like a North Point where they have the financial backing to pay EVERYONE on their worship teams. They are their own special, unique breed. I will say that most churches are not at the same level North Point is. So, if you pay a drummer or guitar player that plays during the main worship service on Sunday morning, then I believe you have to pay the other people that lead worship for the smaller settings (ie. youth, children's ministry, cell groups, etc). How can you segregate them from the others. Each person is giving up something to be there on any given day.

Something that has burdened my heart lately and saddens me is churches paying outside "musicians" to come in on a Sunday morning to play an instrument. I may be overstating here, but probably most of these people that come in to play are not members of the church AND are not being discipled or raised up. More than likely, a quasi-background check does not even take place. I am not implying here that churches need to contact the feds and see if you have ever been put in jail or cheated the government, or anything like that. I'm concerned with the potential lack of discovering what is at the center of their heart. Are they playing to just play because they are talented? Or are they playing because they love the Lord and love worshiping Him through their giftings? If they are the former, then what you are left with is a good-sounding performance. Members of the body are left watching and not worshiping, and that hurts my heart for real! Could satan be using this avenue to infiltrate a worship team or even a church to hinder the move of God? Is he setting up levies to prevent the river of God from flowing in a church service? My answer, I wouldn't put it past him. He is crafty like that.

I heard someone say that "sin equals worship gone wrong." If you take this is the literal sense, my fear is that churches are "sinning" by worrying too much about having top-quality musicians rather than having people play who genuinely have a heart for worship. An amazing guitarist or drummer can come in and play phenomenally, but what are they doing Friday night? Yes I know, we all have our own "thorns" that weigh us down at times, but we rely on the amazing grace that was given to us by Jesus' death on the cross and press in and press on because we rest in the wondrous fact that the Lord looks at our heart!

What do y'all think? Should worship team musicians be paid? My church does not have the financial capabilities to pay each person, and some have voiced the concern that we are going to lose musicians to other churches because of this. But I have to believe that one, our God is bigger than that and two, we will not lose God-centered musicians because they will see that God is truly in our house of worship.

I'm anxious to hear what you think...

Grace and peace.

U2 on IMAX

2008-02-14T19:16:00.009-05:00

So I saw/heard that U2 has a 3D movie out on IMAX! Well, basically it is just one of their concerts in 3D. One of the things I want to do before I die is go see a U2 concert! From what I'm hearing and reading, it is supposed to be really good (especially sound wise). Has anyone seen it? I would love to hear how it is. Or, anybody want to go one afternoon/evening/night? I really want to see it!

Any takers? Anyone?...Beuller...Beuller?

Migraines

2008-02-12T00:10:00.000-05:00

I hate them. I literally hate them. I have one right now and I'm not enjoying it a one bit. Head pounding, nausea, neck aches and the light sensitivity. Even now I'm closing my eyes due to the lgare of the comuter scren soi f mak any smelling misakes, please forgiv me! Migraines completely wipe me out.

But the Debbie Downer for me is that I think my brain is training future migraines to be resistant to whatever forces I come against them with. You see, if you take away the hard core prescription drugs, I have found over the years that the only thing that works for me is if I turn off every light in my house, lay down, place a pillow over my head being careful not to suffocate myself, and fall asleep [or at least try to]. Most of the time the headache is gone when I wake up. So if you really think about it, I didn't really 'beat' the migraine. I just laid aside unconscious while it did it's thing.

There are a lot of different "remedies" out there that my headaches laugh at. For example, Excedrin "Migraine". **Insert pre-emptive apology here for non-funny reference** When my headache gets "this big", it doesn't scream for Excedrin...it mocks it and taunts it, and calls it little girly names like Sally or Nancy. [Again, sorry for the obscure 1980's and 90's T.V. commercial reference...I'm so stupid!]. Sometimes I think the Excedrin Migraine actually feeds the migraine...

Caffeine. Yeah right! I've downed a few Cokes this evening and nope...the ole brain still feels like a pinata.

And the herbal wackos have their supposed miracle remedy too! Have y'all ever heard of Feverfew? This is some herbal medicine that people claim will completely stop the progression of a migraine if you take it as soon as you feel one coming on. Can someone say 'gullible.'? Cause I am. I spend the $10 or so for a bottle of Feverfew, thinking that I had found a hidden treasure, but was only left with disappointment as the lights from across the street [in somebody else's house I might add] made me want to vomit.

Am I missing anything? Does anyone have any home remedies that works for them?

I'm up for trying anything.

Anyway, blye...oops sorry...had my eyes closed again...Bye for now, my dark room and pillow await!

Grace and peace.

I got bit...

2008-02-09T23:24:00.001-05:00

Today at work I got bit by a dog. This wasn't the first time and I guess it comes with the territory. If you work around sick, stressed and anxious dogs and cats, you are just bound to get bit every now and then. Anyway, this was nothing major, but he did break the skin on my left pinky finger. It's not that it hurts so much, but it's more of a shock factor. Like, "whoa, did I just get bit?!" I must say that I didn't realize how much I use my pinky finger. Granted, it's not as important as the ole opposable thumb (thank God for this!), but the pinky is still very important for grasping and stabilizing! The rest of the day I found myself holding my pinky out straight as if I were a rich English person drinking tea...or coffee...or whatever rich, English people drink (or at least what I envision them holding a cup like when they drink).

I guess it goes to show you that even when you think you are doing good, sometimes life sneaks up and takes a chunk out of your pinky! But, you have to take a deep breath, press in, hold that pinky out and move on. The bleeding will eventually stop and life goes on (unfortunately not for the dog though...very sad, but needed).

Anyway,

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Grace and peace.

Let's Swim! Part 1

2008-02-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

As discussed in a previous post, "The River," I just finished re-reading a book called Following the River by Bob Sorge. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for worship leaders and worship team members to read this book! So I'm going to spend the next few posts discussing some of the important points of the book. A majority of the information is from the book, but I will try not to plagiarize it too much.

Let's first focus on the River itself. For that, we are going to focus on the passage in Ezekiel chapter 47. This River can be applied to many different areas of Christian living, but we will look at how this river relates to corporate worship.

Ezekiel 47: 1-5

The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side (some versions have "the right side").

As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.

This depiction of the River that Ezekiel saw is one of the most vivid descriptions of this river in the entire Bible. Some believe that this is the river that you will see once you pass from this life. To that I will say true, but I believe this river can be encountered here on earth...today! In a corporate worship setting, there is a river that flows and it's source is the throne of God. In verse 2 it states that the river ran out of the "right side." Now think back to when Jesus was hanging on the cross; the guards pierced Him in His "right" side and water flowed out. Jesus' death on the cross opened up the avenue for us to drink of Him, to experience an abundant life in and through Him. So, the river of God finds its origin in the crucified Lamb. As a result, as we focus on the Lamb, we will soon find ourselves flowing in the deep waters of worship.

As we read on we see that Ezekiel was led down the river as it grew it depth without any tributaries feeding it. The river of God is self-generating. Here the Lord is showing how we can progress from the shallows of the river to its greatest depths, a progression that can be experienced powerfully in corporate worship! This is what I long for in worship. Not a service that people leave a little damp, or their shoes wet, but one where they have been swimming in the river of God! No more the statements of, "That was a nice service," or, "They have good music at that church." People who say these comments have experienced far less what Jesus died to provide.

Men and women today need to have a sweep-you-off-your-feet kind of worship service. They need to experience the "swimming" depths of the river! No matter what kind of mood they entered into the service with, or where they are in their faith, they will leave changed. It is here that they will feel the delight of their Lord and Savior. They will quiver and bow at the touch of His hands. Hard hearts will be softened and callings will be made clear.

You see, worship must lead to transformation. Richard Foster says in his book, Celebration of Discipline, "Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends with holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship." Worship CANNOT be just songs! It has to radically transform us, which will ultimately impact society around us. Worship where we genuinely encounter the Lord and His river will leave us sharing his heart for a broken world. Worship without mission is self-indulgent. Mission without worship is self-defeating.

So we need to seek after the swimming depths of worship. It can't be superficial any longer. It is time to forget about rolling up our pants just so our ankles get wet. True worship is getting everything that makes up you wet. You have to get out of the mindset of just singing songs and tune your heart to the Crucified Lamb, and the River will indeed overtake you and sweep you off your feet!

Part 2 to come...

Grace and peace.

It's all about who you know...

2008-02-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

So I went over to Athens last night to see the fam and watch the UGA-Vanderbilt men's basketball fan. I'll admit I'm not a college basketball fan until March Madness starts. But my older brother Andy works with Vanderbilt's sports information department and he got me and the rest of the family free tickets. I was going more for the family time (aww that's sweet, isn't it?). So I met my parents, little brother Steven, and Andy at the new Hilton Hotel across from the Classic Center.

Yeah, yeah...that's not very exciting Justin. Why the heck are you blogging about going to see a sorry UGA basketball team? Well, I don't really know. Maybe because I want to! Booyah! Also, I didn't want to blog about anything serious tonight. I'll save that for tomorrow. Anyway, back to the story...So Andy scored us Press Passes. Oh yeah, I felt like Garth in Wayne's World when he and Wayne had backstage passes to the Alice Cooper concert and he was flashing this pass to any and everybody. That was me. My parents didn't think it was that funny, but Steven sure did! (I did too!) With these passes we could go anywhere we wanted. It was pretty sweet, even if it was for a lousy game (which Georgia lost by the way). I'm keeping the pass and maybe I could carefully and skillfully change the date to a Saturday in the fall (if you're picking up what I'm throwing down).

Welp, that's it. Til tomorrow...

Grace and peace.

The River

2008-02-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

Greetings! Ok, so I am not really big on reading books, but I have a must-read for those of you involved with worship, which means that everyone should read this book because we were ALL created to worship! But this book is especially for those who lead worship, play in a worship band, or have a interest in learning about where the Lord is taking worship on a corporate, congregational level. The book is called "Following the River," by Bob Sorge. Mr. Sorge is a worship leader and is involved with the International House of Prayer out in Kansas City. He has written many books and even though I have only read about 3 or 4 of them, I can say that they are all very well written and incredibly challenging. But the one that has really stirred my heart lately is "Following the River." Trust me, it will leave you hungry and desiring after the River of God, not only during your worship services, but in your daily lives! He encourages worship leaders to step out of the box of merely running through a well-rehearsed "song service," and he gives a prophetic insight to what our church services will be like if we totally render ourselves to the Holy Spirit. If we do so, we will go past the ankle and knee deep waters of the River, and we will experience swimming-depth waters in worship!

If this hits home with you, you can go to Bob Sorge's website and order a copy for yourself or for your entire worship team. It is well worth it!!

I've read it twice now and I'm planning on reading it once a month...that's how good it is! I'm even going to start a blog series on some of the topics Mr. Sorge covers. So stay tuned...

Also, a singer/songwriter named Tara Leigh Cobble has a new book out called, "Crowded Skies: Letters to Manhattan" that I hear is really good. I haven't personally read it but I hear it is a wonderful book. You can check out on Annie's blog to learn more about Ms. Cobble and her book. In fact, you can even post a comment and register to win a FREE copy of her new book. How freagin' awesome is that?! So go do it...NOW!

Grace and peace.

Facedown

2008-02-04T00:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our monthly worship and prayer service. For those of you that don't know it is 2 hours of seeking after the Lord's heart in worship and in prayer. It is always a monthly highlight of mine. The theme for tonight was love. Most of us these days find ourselves seeking more to lead than seeking to love. Anyway, tonight's set list included:

Opening:
Holy is the Lord
It is You

Prayer Session 1:
Unashamed Love
Hosanna

Prayer Session 2:
Let it Rain
He Loves Us

Prayer Session 3:
O Praise Him
For Who You Are
Love Song
You Never Let Go

It was an amazing night of worship and the Lord met us in powerful ways. My new favorite song and highlight of the night was He Loves Us. If you don't know it, check it out now! It was originally written by a youth leader named John Mark McMillan, but it is on a CD called We Cry Out which is from a service, called Jesus Culture, at Bethel Church in Redding, California. You can also search Jesus Culture on Youtube and they have numerous videos from their services. You will be blessed. If you want, you can see the video on a previous post I had, He Loves Us.

Grace and peace.

Private vs Public Place

2008-01-31T19:36:00.000-05:00

I love this quote by Louie Giglio:

"We become what we worship. If you don't like what you have become, then take a quick inventory of what sits enthroned on your heart."

This quote reminds me of the phrase, "You are what you eat." I used to bring this one out on many occasions when I was younger. Almost as much as, "I know you are but what am I?" Picture it...someone would call me a doodoo head, and as soon as they were finished supposedly cutting me down, I would whip this line out against this unsuspecting fellow 12 year old. Then I would proudly lean back in my wooden desk and think to myself, "Whammy!" Other kids around us would say, "Did that just happen?!" Yes it did my friend...yes it did.

But in all seriousness, if I were to look introspectfully at myself using this childhood one-liner, I would say that I'm one big fat Frosted Mini Wheat, or maybe a big bowl of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream (I love that stuff. I could have both at every meal of the day!). But, I find myself lacking in the "eating the Word" department. Anybody feel me? Or if I were to use Louie's quote and look at my daily life, I would be either a nice comfy leather sofa or a nice flat-screen (LCD) TV. (Sorry, I had to throw the LCD adjective in there! So what, I have a nice TV...if anyone wants to watch the Super Bowl after Facedown Sunday night, just let me know!).

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my daily walk with the Lord and about church services on a Sunday morning. There is a rut that myself, and probably others too, get caught in. Which is, Sunday morning is my time to be with the Lord. Or, Sunday is my time to read the Word. Some of you might be in this category, Sunday morning worship is my time to really worship and adore God to try and get my passion revived again. All of those sound like decent reasons to go to church. But there is so much more. Charlie Hall said this cool quote one time, "Sunday morning services should be one big fat celebration for what God has been doing in our lives for the past week." Sunday mornings should put a big exclamation point on the sentence that is your week. For me, a lot of the times this is not the case. I find myself leaving Sunday morning saying, "That was a good sermon this morning", or "Man, the music was really good." Both of these are the complete opposite of what it should be. It should be, "I had a true encounter with the Lord today and it totally sealed what He has been doing in my life!"

So where does the problem lie? I'm going to venture a guess at what that might be. You see, Jesus is looking more at your private life than your public life. Peter missed this. When Jesus took him and a few others to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, he fell asleep. So, Peter failed in his private life. Later on as we all know, Peter denied Jesus 3 times (ie. public life). Jesus, on the other hand, knew the importance of developing the private life. If you look at Matthew 27 (verse 40) where Jesus was being crucified, the on-lookers yelled at Him to "come down from the cross" if He is the Son of God. This looks awfully familiar to the passage in Matthew 4 when He was being tempted by the devil. Jesus got it right in the private place; therefore, he got it right in the public place!

How do we develop this private life? We need to continually romance God. If we don't, our hearts will grow hard, dull and apathetic. God is praised when He is prized. In Matthew 13 it tells of a merchant that sold everything for one pearl. In today's society we are constantly being distracted from this One thing. Success, relationships, jobs, clothes, money and so on are stealing the passion for Jesus. We need to seek Him in our secret place, digging deep in the Word, praying, LISTENING, and worshiping throughout our week, not just on Sundays! John Wesley, a little bit of an extremist, once said, "Every morning I set my heart on fire for Jesus, then I go out and let people watch me burn." Whoa! Granted, John Wesley had a unique anointing, but he had it figured out. He understood the immense importance of the private place!

So, as Louie states, we need to take an inventory on what sits enthroned on our hearts on a daily basis. If it's not the Lord, then our worship will suffer. If we all make it a point to develop our private life, then Sunday morning worship services WILL be one big fat celebration! The worship we offer will be transformed! We will become like the merchant and worship and seek after that One Prized Pearl, giving all that we have in order to have a true encounter with Jesus...and we will!

Grace and Peace.

Why the change

2008-01-30T02:15:00.000-05:00

I don't know if any of you noticed the change in the title of this blog or not, but if you didn't...it did. I felt the need to change because that phrase is where my heart is right now. Have you ever felt like you were on the verge of something big, huge, ginormous? Well, I have felt that way for the past year or so. It is a routine thing in my walk with the Lord where I catch glimpses of what's "going to be." I am a very visual person and since the Lord knows me so well, He speaks to me in pictures. The pictures are of real people I know, or a specific situation or event in time, or He gives me symbolic pictures and later gives specific meanings to those pictures. He has even given prophetic words to people I don't know, or hardly know, about these images to encourage me that I am where He wants me to be. Anyway, for the past 12-18 months I have been collecting and praying through many different pictures that He has given me. So as you can imagine, I'm ready for this next step. I'm ready for the will and plans of God to come to fruition. I know, I know...patience Justin...His timing is perfect. I do know this. I've been praying for patience over and over for the past year, but I'm in desperate need of a step (not trying to steal from you Annie, I promise). I need a step forward. Even if it is half a step. Even if I step forward and fall on my buttocks; it would still be forward motion. I would be satisfied with a slip and fall. Does that make sense? This past week at cell group Tom led a discussion on his sermon from this past Sunday on the Parable of the Talents. The gist of this parable is that we need to be faithful with what talents the Master has given us. Because if not, we will be going to H-E-double hockey sticks. It says in Matthew 25 that whoever is faithful with a little will be given more, and so on and so on.

As I sat in cell group and thought about what was being discussed, I wondered which one I was in this passage. Each servant in this passage was given a different amount of talents "according to their own ability." One got 5, another got 2, and still another only got 1. You have to assume that the Master knew that the servant whom He only gave 1 talent to would mess up! That's why He only gave him 1, right?! Anyway, I don't want to make myself out to be nothing but I'm not sure I would be the one to get 5 talents. Am I being faithful with where I'm at? Have I missed opportunities to step forward? Maybe. Have I not obeyed His prompting and missed an open door to step forward? Am I not risking enough out of fear of failing? Possibly. Or maybe I'm completely missing the boat and I HAVE been faithful with the "talents" He has given me. Maybe this past year and a half has truly been a preparation for the next step that I will hopefully take in the somewhat near future. I need help, am I being too hard on myself?! I mean I have had the opportunity to share what I learned in London with the different worship teams at RIverstone and Stonebridge, and the Lord is blessing me with opportunities to lead worship (cell group, Scotland Youth Camp). Plus, I have this blog avenue (blavenue) where I can throw out ideas on worship (and life) that the Lord is showing me! So maybe I am being too hard on myself. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I have been given. But the thing I can't get away from are those pictures in my mind that He gives me at the most random of times. These pictures I alluded to earlier are ones of complete freedom and joy, where I am in step with the Lord's purpose and plans for my life. I want that!

I was talking with Clay Kirkland one day about 4 or 5 months ago about this same thing. As he was praying for me he felt as if the Lord as imparted into me a heart similar to David's. But then he shared this fact, after David was anointed king he went back out into the fields and tended the sheep/animals for 13 years before he became king. I thought, "Huh, I'm a vet that tends to animals...that's odd." I just hope I don't have to wait another 12 years, but if so, then in 12 years from now it is going to be so GOOD!

Grace and peace.

Recording - part deux

2008-01-23T00:17:00.000-05:00

I don't even know where to begin. First, the studio was amazing! To think that we recorded in the same studio as many famous folk (granted most of them are country artists, but still, they are famous nonetheless), including Elton John, Tina Turner, N'sync, Lonestar, Taylor Swift, Brooks and Dunn, Gretchen Wilson, etc. Second, it was an incredibly long and tiring weekend. Third, studio musicians are the bomb. I don't usually play to a click track and it takes some getting used to. You get off a little bit from the click and it totally throws everything off and sounds really weird in your head phones. Fourth, Adam, the sound engineer and cousin to the DeJarnett's, is really good at what he does. He was very encouraging and had great ideas for our songs. Fifth, I can't wait to do it again!

I must say that we had pretty low expectations going into the weekend. We were expecting to do around 4 songs in the two days we had the studio. Around mid-day Sunday we had 7 songs done (at least instrumentation wise). We still have some lead vocals to lay down and some background instrument tracks (ie. mandolin, keyboard, B3 organ, etc). So hopefully come spring we fill have a finished, 7 song CD!! So if any of you creative-folk have the time, we could use a CD title and cover artwork ideas.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Day One of Recording

2008-01-19T22:20:00.001-05:00

Welp, right now I am sitting in the sound booth of Studio A at Sony Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. As I type I'm listening to Elliott play acoustic guitar, Jason Laiche play percussion and Caroline Darnell sing on a song called Psalm 116. It is sounding really stinkin good. It has been a good, but somewhat humbling day. I have much more respect for the studio musicians that do this day in and day out. Playing to a click track takes some getting used to if you don't do it on a consistent basis. Anyway, we've been in the studio for one day and pretty much completed four songs. We have one more day tomorrow to iron things out and maybe add another song or too. Our very first song we actually completely changed things around (kick pattern, strumming, etc) and it turned into a very rockin, up-beat jam song.

I apologize for not have any pictures up. I forgot the cable to go from my camera to the computer, so those will have to be added later. Anyway, just wanted to check in and I will holla at yall later!

Grace and peace from Studio A at Sony Tree Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

Spirit-led Worship

2008-01-17T18:23:00.000-05:00

In the Old Testament and up until Acts, there were many different worship songs with the names of the different people; we will call them worship leaders, singing these songs. Some examples include:

- Song of Moses
- Israelites sing a song after their escape in Exodus 15
- Song of David
- Song of Solomon
- Song of Mary
- Song of Zechariah
- Song of Simeon

However, at Pentecost a shift occurs. From then on out there is no mention of worship leaders. It ceases to be the Mary’s, David’s, or Solomon’s leading the crowd in worship. At Pentecost, a new worship leader steps up, the Holy Spirit. Here, God takes worship out of our hands (or man in general) and places it in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Music continues to play an important role for us, but it is God’s Spirit that connects, inspires and conducts! See John 4:7-24.

There are a few concepts we can use to help, or encourage, Spirit-led worship. To help remember them, an acronym is provided:

P – Prepare with the Holy Spirit through Prayer. This is of utmost importance! As it relates to leading worship, do not just throw songs together without prayerful preparation. Ask God what He wants to accomplish in the worship service. Ask God what kind of response He wants the congregation to have. Ask God for songs He wants to use to achieve this response.

* Ezekiel 36:26 --> The Lord will put a new heart and a new spirit in you…a heart of flesh…”And I will put My Spirit in you…”

R – Rely on the Spirit as you lead. Quietly pray during parts of the service where you are not playing. This goes along with the first point, PRAY AS A BAND BEFORE EACH SERVICE. Something that you may want to adopt is stopping practice 20-30 minutes before the service to pray, no matter where you are in the practice. You ask the Lord to lead you and the band members in the direction He wants to go. DO NOT simply run through well-rehearsed songs.

A – Adjust to the Spirit. Keep one eye on the Lord and one eye on the people. In your mind ask yourself: How do we see the Spirit moving? Are they engaged? Are they dancing, or are they weeping? It is probably not a good idea to go into a celebratory song if the Holy Spirit is ministering to people and they are overwhelmed and weeping. You need to be able to see the congregation. Here is the kicker: The Spirit is unpredictable. Just look at the book of Acts.

I – Inspiration of the Spirit. Breathe in the Spirit! Take in what the Spirit is doing. A song may be placed on your heart; a line of Scripture; a chorus or a line of a song that the Lord may want you to transition into. Important: Make room for the inspiration of the Spirit! Again, do not just breeze through well-rehearsed songs. In your preparation time and during the service, be ready and willing for the Holy Spirit to change directions on you.

S – Sing in the Spirit. Don’t force it! If you are sensing that the congregation is still hanging around a song, then it might be a good time to go into spontaneous singing. Try to encourage them that it is a Biblical act; we are trying to find that spiritual song in our hearts. Encourage them that they can start by simply singing the name of Jesus.

E – Edify the church. Is the direction you are going edifying the church? See 1 Corinthians 14.

It is important to communicate with your church leaders to gather their thoughts and opinions. This gives you the chance to explain why you did what you did during the last service, and gives your leaders the chance to tell you where you did well and also tell you where you totally missed it! But please do not be afraid to risk out of fear of failing. If we don’t find ourselves failing, then we aren’t stepping out in faith enough where all we can do is rely on the Holy Spirit. Meet with someone whom you know can hear from and sense the Lord and ask for their input. Also, give your pastor the freedom to come up on stage and whisper in your ear if he/she is sensing the Lord moving in a particular direction.

Please encourage your pastors/leaders to engage in and model worship to the congregation! In addition, your pastor has the responsibility of teaching the congregation who the Holy Spirit is. The people are not going to sing in the spirit and the worship cannot be Spirit-led if the congregation does not know who the Holy Spirit is!

Lastly, worship leaders MUST be filled with the Holy Spirit! Leaders must make room for the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. We must intentionally seek after that regular, daily outpouring of the Spirit.

So, there’s your second session. I will be taking a break from the Sessions over the weekend due to the fact the worship band I play in will be recording a CD in Nashvegas! Stay tuned for more information on that. I will be blogging and posting pictures from this weekend. I am uber excited!

Grace and peace.

The Heart of it All

2008-01-16T01:53:00.000-05:00

Well, evidently I have 2 readers and they both voted for me posting about some of the topics that we covered in London. If you don't know, I had the amazing priviledge of spending some time with Tim Hughes at a worship leader conference. It was a fairly intensive week of learning and exploring worship led by one of the most anointed worship leaders today. There was so much juicy information to take in that I'm still digesting some of it. Something that has been laid on my heart lately is holding seminars, if you want to call them that, where I sit down with worship leaders or worship team members and share what I learned and share where I think the Lord is taking congregational worship all around the globe.

**Warning: Long post, may take multiple readings**

So, with that being said, the first "session" is on humility in that it is THE most important characteristic/trait everyone needs to aspire to thrive in. When it comes to being a worship leader, there are 2 simple concepts: 1) It all comes down to your heart, and 2) God is the center of everything. In 1 Samuel 16 we read about the calling of David. Here Samuel was sent by God to Jesse of Bethlehem because He (the Lord) had chosen one of his sons to become king. Samuel was instructed to anoint the one He indicates. So Jesse sent for his sons and Jesse thought it was going to be Eliab because of how he looked. He even went as far as to say, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord." But the Lord spoke to Samuel regarding His criteria. He rebukes Samuel and says to not consider his appearance or his height, for He has "rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at, but the Lord looks at the heart." All of Jesse's sons went before Samuel and none of them were to be king. David, the youngest, was out tending the sheep and was brought in before Samuel. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him, he is the one."

It all comes down to a humble heart. In Isaiah 57:15 it reads, "The Lord says, 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit." Also Isaiah 66:2 says, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit."

There are 2 misconceptions of humility:

1) We got this humility thing in the bag...
2) We make ourselves out to be worthless...

The passage in 1 Samuel 17 (vv. 34-58) is a perfect example of someone who has amazing confidence in the Lord, yet still is a man of humility. David walked out on that battlefield with confidence in the anointing he was given by the Lord and was driven by passion for Him, but always called himself, "Your servant." He was not concerned with personal glory. His only motive was to see the glory of God win the day! So whose glory are you living for? Whose glory are you going after by being on-stage? There are only 2 choices: ourselve's or the Lord's.

There are 2 instances in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus speaks on humility. So if He said it twice, do you think it's important?! In Luke 14:11 and in Luke 18:14 it says, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." If you think about it, it is much easier to humble ourselves before God than before man.

If you look at the original text of these verses, then you will see that these are action verbs. Humility is an active process. So how do you make it an active process?

1) Consider the vastness of God and how enormous He is. Look at the galaxies and the stars and the planets...Stinkin' huge! But, in one passing sentence in Genesis it says He made the stars. Also, ponder on the incommunicable aspects of God (ie. eternal, uncreated, omnipotent, omniscient, etc). Then think of how He made Himself man for us; for relationship with us! Unbelievable!!

2) Invest in obscurity. Be a behind-the-scenes guy or girl. Choose to serve! It's not about being on-stage. It's about what you are like off-stage. I love this quote by the famous conductor Leonard Bernstein. Someone asked him one day what was the most difficult instrument to play. He replies, "Second violin, because everybody wants to be first violinist." He goes on to say, "It's hard to find someone who wants to play second violin and to do so with the same enthusiasm...without the second violin there is no harmony."

In Matt Redman's book The Unquenchable Worshiper, he uses the term "unnoticed worshipers." Redman says that the offerings of unnoticed worshipers are as private as possible, but heaven pays extra special attention. They do not go unnoticed by the heart of God. (Read the first part of Luke 21 with the poor widow giving all that she had)

God first seeks devotion to Him in the hidden, private place. The private place prepares you for the public place. This is of vital importance!

3) Choose to prefer others. Jealousy and competitiveness are some of the most common things to infiltrate a worship team. "Why am I not playing or singing more?" Or, "Why are they using that person so much?" Going back to the story of David, in 1 Samuel 18 it says that Saul became jealous of David. We have to seek out that jealous root and get rid of it before it ruins!! I love this, DELIGHT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS BLESSED. DELIGHT WHEN DOOR ARE OPENING FOR SOMEONE ELSE AND/OR WHEN YOU RECOGNIZE THE HAND OF GOD ON THEIR LIVES!

A few more thoughts on humility to leave you with. Humility is reflecting the grace that has been given to you; it is reflecting God's glory. Humility is embracing what God has for us, no matter how big or small the stage.

So there you go. Session #1 in the books. I'm not going to apologize for the length because it is all food for your heart. Session #2 to follow soon.

Grace and peace.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

2008-01-11T23:18:00.000-05:00

So, I'm sitting here on a Friday evening and I am uber tired. But I can't seem to put the computer away. I feel like I need to blog about something but I don't have a one clue. So, I'm going to put it in the hands of the few (that may be an overstatement) people that read my blog. Ok, should I write about:

1) My testimony
2) Lessons from London (here I would cover 1 topic from the worship conference I went to last summer, which could develop into a series if you will)
3) Random work stories (for those of you that don't know...I'm a veterinarian and I save lives)
4) Other (insert idea here): ____________________

Grace and peace.

So where would I be...

2008-01-04T00:28:00.000-05:00

Ok...so I came home from work today (you know, saving lives..) and as I ate my leftover Chinese Dragon chicken fried rice, I turned on the TV. Don't make fun of me, but I started watching the Family Feud. Not the old episodes with the creepy dude that always flirted with the ladies, but with the guy that played Elaine's boss on Seinfeld. Anyway, this episode pitted WWE Wrestling superstars (which Ric Flair is supposedly a part of? I mean, he is at least 72 years old!!) versus the WWE Wrestling "Divas." It was round 1 and they came down to the last girl on the line. The host says, "Michelle, what is your answer?" Then underneath her face it says the name "Michelle McCool." My jaw dropped down and I said to myself, "no freagin way!" I grew up with Michelle McCool in a little town called Palatka, which is about an hour south of Jacksonville along the St. Johns River (it is the bass capital of the world!...no joke). We were actually mixed doubles tennis partners. I played sports and was good friends with both her brother and cousin. Craziness!! So I had to call my dad, older brother, and an old Palatka friend to let them know what I had just witnessed. They were all equally as dumbfounded as I was.

So it made me think the rest of the day about how thankful I am that the Lord took me out of Palatka, FL and placed me in Macon, GA. Nothing against Michelle and her being a WWE Diva (I actually looked her up for kicks on the internet and she has a strong faith and speaks out about how important her relationship with the Lord is), but whenever I think about where I would be if I had stayed in Palatka, it leaves me incredibly thankful. I had a friend in school that was shot in the head over drugs, others that had kids, some are in jail. I don't want to sound to negative about folks in Palatka and I will say that I have other friends that are doing very well for themselves. But it makes you think though? Where would I be and what would I be doing if I was still in Palatka? Would I be in jail? Would I have kids? Would I have a wife? Or more scary, would I be alive (because I didn't always do the "right" thing with the "right" people all of the time)?

But the beautiful thing is that the Lord's hand was on me. I wasn't a Christian when my family moved from Florida to Macon, GA. I was totally against moving! I was involved with sports and people knew me (I was a pretty big deal...just kidding). I was so adamant about not moving that my parents actually thought about letting me stay with my best friend. Ludicrosity!! Here's the scoop though, if I hadn't had moved, I never would have met a group of guys that invited me to a youth retreat, then I never would have had a 'for real' encounter with the Lord, and I never would have surrendered my life and my all to Jesus. It just goes to show you (and I'm reminded of this over and over) that the Lord has plans and purposes for each and every one of us. He has a destiny for you! You may not feel like His hand is on your life now guiding you, but in the future you will look back and say, "Ooohhhh, so that's what You were doing God?!" His plan may be for you to be a star in a wrestling federation and be a Jesus-loving follower on and off screen. Or, He may take you out of a town and place you in an unfamiliar place where you will be able to see Him more clearly. It may be hard and it may hurt, but it so necessary.

If this is you in any way, ask God to increase your faith. If you have disbelief, then ask God to help you with that. He is so good and faithful, and He wants to give you an abundant life and He wants to give you the desires of your heart! Believe!!!

Grace and peace.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T12:26:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!! Here is a clip from one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, plus it is very spiritual. Enjoy and again, merry Christmas!

Grace and peace.

Oh How He Loves Us

2007-12-17T22:41:00.000-05:00

I confess, I am lazy. There's no getting around it, I am lazy. Just look at this blog, I haven't posted since December 1st! Most of that is laziness but it could due to the fact my life is fairly monotonous...saving lives...church...saving lives...church...occasionally making it to the gym (had to throw that one in there for you Annie)...saving lives...et cetera, et cetera (is that even how you spell that?). I am looking forward to a little change when I head down to Macon for a few days. It is going to be so good spending time with the parentals, brothers and sister-in-law. I'll be down there for 3 days and then it's back to, as you might guess, life-saving!

Anyway, lately I have also been really lazy when it comes to getting into the Word. I put it off and give the excuse, "I'll wake up early and do it." Yeah right Justin. Since when are you the one to get up early?! Never. But not allowing God the time to speak to me through His Word has totally stolen my joy. My fuse is a little bit shorter, and in a way, I shrink back from people because I really don't want to be social. I'm just being honest folks! Then I think of what I'm missing by not spending time reading and listening. I'm depriving myself of the very heart of God! I'm depriving myself of the mysteries of God, the love of our Father and the joy and beauty of being in His presence! I just need the hunger and drive for His Word to return.

But hold on my friends, there is the truth that His heart beats for us. His heart melts with one simple glance towards Him. The thing is He is jealous for us! He gets so jealous when we spend time doing other things (especially insignificant things) instead of turning our eyes toward Him. It's a jealousy that is basked in love. I simply need a love encounter with Him!!

There is a song that has been ministering to me in amazing ways lately. I first heard it when I was watching clips from the Call in Nashville. A worship leader named John Mark McMillan was awakened in the middle of the night with this song after one of his closest friends died (there is way more to this amazing story, so please do yourself a favor and look up John Mark McMillan on YouTube). Just look at the words:

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.
Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.

So we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

That he loves us,
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves us
Woah, how He loves

I love that 2nd verse. I need a big fat sloppy wet kiss of heaven meeting earth in my life. And that last line is truly a line to live by. "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us." Beautiful.

Please, please, please watch this video clip. The video is of Kim Walker with a worship group called Jesus Culture singing John Mark McMillan's song. It will bring you to tears and give you goose bumps, and for me, every time I listen to it I have to raise my hands in adoration.

Enjoy. Grace and peace.

Shane and Shane

2007-12-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the Shane Barnard and Shane Everett concert at Riverstone and let me tell you, it was amazing! Those guys are incredible. Their voices are superb and Shane Barnard is insane on the acoustic guitar. They did Vision of You as an opener and I could have left after that song and it would have been worth it! But I sucked it up and stayed the rest of the show. I know, it was a tough call to stay! It was their "Christmas Tour" so they winged some Christmas classics. And when I say wing, I mean wing. A few of the songs they had to stop and start over, or they didn't know some of the words of the verses. To me, that's what makes a musician, artist or a worship leader great. They have enough humility and vulnerability to show that they are human and make some mistakes, but at the same time point their lives, their hearts and their music upward towards heaven. This was made even more clear after the show when I got the chance to talk to both Shanes. They are such nice and humble people. They are the epitome of David's heart of humility. When David went before King Saul before he defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17), he was confident in his ability and giftings given to him by God, but continually called himself "your servant."

Humility is one of the hardest characteristics to develop. There are 2 misconceptions on humility. Number one, "we have this humility thing in the bag," and two, "we make ourselves out to be nothing." The latter is what is commonly called "false humility." We need to be confident in our skills and abilities, but we need to take hold of and walk by the truth that it is only by and through God's grace that we have those things. So how do we develop and maintain this life of humility? First you need to focus on God's grandness and on the incommunicable aspects of His character (omnipotent, omniscient, uncreated, etc). You look at the stars and galaxies and how vast they are, but in one passing sentence in Genesis He spoke those into existence. Second, invest in obscurity. Be a "behind-the-scenes" person; look to serve! Thirdly, delight when others are blessed and/or when doors are opening for other people. We have to make sure the jealous root doesn't go deeper. We cannot have the attitude of, "Why is that person being blessed am I'm not?" or "Why did that person get chosen and I didn't?" The jealous root, if not sought out and prayed out, can ruin you!

In order to do this, we must have accountability. We need prayer! It's crucial to have an intimate relationship with friends, pastors, etc that will pray for you and hold you accountable if you struggle with humility and jealousy, which we all do in some form or fashion.

Back to the concert (and on a little bit of a side note), Shane Barnard wrote a song called "Burn us up." The song is based out of Daniel 3 and the amazing story of the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. If you're not familiar with this story, read it and you will be blown away! If you haven't read it in a long time, read it again. I say this is a side note because I play drums in a worship band called The Fourth Man (based on the story in Daniel 3) and we are recording our first CD! The weekend of January 19th we will be in a studio in Nashville, Tennessee recording! Shane Barnard told me tonight he would draw his "Sunday School" picture of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for us to put on our CD cover. He was joking but I told him we would send him a copy. So hopefully The Fourth Man will have a CD out by spring. Stay tuned!

Grace and peace.

Don't see this movie...

2007-11-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

I was recently sent this article regarding a movie that will be released on December 7th called "The Golden Compass." The commercials make it out to be a pretty intriguing, Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia-type movie to draw in the kids. However, the author has different motives. Phillip Pullman is an atheist who "hated" C.S. Lewis and hates Christianity. The author says he wants children to see the movie and read his books and decide against Christianity and decide against the kingdom of heaven. He is actually quoted as saying, "My books are about killing God." Pay attention people. In this movie there is an "Aslan" like character; however, in the movie he is killed and does not come back to life like our favorite lion Aslan did. This dude claims to be both an agnostic and an atheist, which I don't think is possible...so the guy is very confused and cookoo. I'm praying that this movie makes zero dollars at the theaters. The movie stars Nicole Kidman so it is definitely going to get some hype but I'm asking all Believers to boycott the movie.

I've attached an article that you can read for yourself how disturbing this is. Just click on the link below...

The Golden Compass

Grace and peace.

Nashville and my Tuesday

2007-11-20T14:48:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I made the trip up to Nashville and it was a great trip! My older brother, Andy, and his wife moved to Nashville several months ago when he took a job at Vanderbilt to work in their Sports Information department. They were previously in Huntington, West Virginia where he worked at Marshall University. Anyway, I headed up Nashville after I got off of work Saturday night. My parents and little brother got there earlier in the afternoon. The next day we had an early Thanksgiving dinner since Andy will be traveling with the Vanderbilt basketball team over Thanksgiving. I ate way too much (which tends to be the case whenever I eat holiday meals). Meagan, Andy's wife, and my mom prepared an amazing spread. That night one of my cousins and her husband stopped by. It was my first time meeting her (I think she's my second cousin? I don't understand family lingo sometimes). Anyway, her husband plays in a bluegrass band in Nashville and he plays with Alan Jackson! Needless to say he is really good on the 6 string...and mandolin...and banjo...

On Monday I headed over to the Mann house! I was able to see Kevin, Mandy and Bennett, as well as Mandy's parents. Bennett is a super cool baby. I particularly enjoyed the mix of laughs, hiccups and spitting up...priceless! Then Kevin and I went and had lunch together. I hadn't had good quality Kevin time in over a year. It was so good to catch up and laugh together again. Kevin and Mandy are like a brother and sister to me, which makes me Bennett's uncle...Uncle Justin...I like the sound of that! You know you have a close friendship when you can not see someone for 1-2 years and once you see them, you pick right up where you left off. That's how Kevin and I are, and I'm so thankful that he is as close as a brother to me.

Now I'm back in Marietta. I don't have to work any before Thanksgiving so it means I get to fill my time up with whatever I can find to do before I head to Macon on Thursday for another Thanksgiving dinner! I'm going to gain so many pounds over Thanksgiving...oh well. That will just mean I will have to get back in the gym...so I can throw out my back again!

Today I had the cool opportunity to go to McClure Middle School and talk about veterinary medicine. Emily and I prepared a power point presentation about why we chose to become a veterinarian, what veterinary school was like and what a typical day looks like for us. We also brought in some radiographs (ie. x-rays) of some cool cases we had seen (pregnant Pug with 7 puppies inside of her abdomen, broken bones, x-rays of a dog who ate a bottle cap and a nickel, etc). The kids were very attentive and asked some good questions. I find that I really enjoy teaching people about animals and what I/we try to do to make them better.

Well, that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with their respective families. Be safe.

Grace and peace.

In the Name of Jesus

2007-11-16T00:52:00.000-05:00

I was going to blog about this earlier, but I went ice skating with a big group of folks...it was fun. Then I read Annie's blog and I sadly realized we were blogging about the same subject. There is a guy that used to work at a veterinary clinic I work at fairly regularly. His name is Denard and a few months ago him and his wife had a miscarriage. She was 7 months pregnant and they were expecting a boy. He was devastated but still remained amazingly strong and faithful to the Lord. Then I find out today that their 4 year old daughter, Kristen, was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer on Halloween and just finished her first week of chemotherapy. I'm having a hard time conjuring up how I would react to this same situation. But I don't think I would be handling it as well as Denard is. His faith is still strong and he is trusting the Lord for great things.

I just don't understand why this sort of thing happens. The Sunday School answer is to say that this happens in order for God to show His glory. Don't get me wrong, I totally believe this. I believe God is going to show Himself mighty in both Kristen and Evan's (see Annie Down's blog) situation. But still, it breaks my heart when a young boy or girl has to undergo something traumatic and painful. Maybe it stems from my own personal history as a baby, but I think it touches every man and woman's heart.

So, please pray for Denard, Keisha (his wife) and their little daughter, Kristen. She is at Eggleston Hospital right now and I heard that she is still a light and so full of joy in the hospital, even when her hair is falling out. Some of these kids are so strong! To be even bolder, let's join together in prayer to eradicate cancer. It is killing so many and it needs to be gone!

Grace and peace.

You don't like it? Deal with it!

2007-11-14T00:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, there is one thing I have a problem with...well there are lots of things I have problems with but this one makes me shake my head in disgust. I have a big problem with people saying they do not like a particular worship song. I know I know, there are plenty of songs out there that really are NOT good, a one bit. Just listen to the Fish every now and then and you will hear some songs that musically are not that good. But don't listen to the Fish now because all they are playing is Christmas songs. They have been playing Christmas songs since Halloween! Yes, Hallo-freakin-ween!! Who are the ad wizards that came up with this one? Still, the focus and heart behind the song is Jesus and what He did and is doing for us. How can you dislike this?! And even more absurd is that one can have the nerve to go up to somebody else and say, "Hey, you know that song that talks about praising God? Yeah...I don't like it. Let's not sing that one anymore." What?! Please do not confuse this with singing a song too much or too often on Sunday mornings. I am totally in favor of putting a song on the bench for a while and bringing it back some time later. It tends to have a rather profound effect on worship. Nor am I talking about playing a song the same way every single time. I am all about doing the old songs in a new and fresh way. I'm talking about criticizing a song because of how it sounds or because you don't like the wording.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be venting a little but sometimes I get fed up with "too" opinionated people. More people these days are getting their theology out of the songs we sing than by liturgy or a good Sunday sermon. Music across the board is very influential, especially the words inside the music. I used to be a big cynic when it came to worship songs and I was full of musical snobbery. But after realizing how much music affects people, and how much people are paying attention to the words they/we are singing, I've slowly but not so gently, put the proverbial foot in my mouth. Writing songs is hard; writing congregational worship songs is THE hardest thing to do (I know, I'm trying and I can't seem to finish nary a song). I truly believe God anoints and speaks songs to those with the gift of song-writing. So by criticizing and passing judgments, you are doing the same thing to God. Stop it!!

Sorry this came out of nowhere. People just need to think before they speak.

Incredible!!

2007-11-08T23:10:00.000-05:00

I was going through old emails today and I came across this one that was sent to me by Amy Norris. This kid is like 12 years old I think at the time and he is SICK!!! Throughout the whole video my jaw is dropped open in awe of his skills. There's a part towards the end where he starts playing the toms with one hand...you can barely see his hands. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Grace and peace.

Mentors

2007-11-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

As I sit down after playing guitar non-stop for over like 4 hours (and after reading most people's blogs that are doing the daily blogging), I feel the need to write a little somethin somethin. I just got back in town from a Continuing Education seminar in Raleigh, NC. Veterinarians here in Georgia have to have 30 continuing education (CE) hours every 2 years to maintain their license. Anyway, at this conference, there was a professor/clinician I had at vet school. He was/is a mentor of mine and he is awesome...I mean he has his own Infectious Disease Book (Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat). Dr. Greene is an amazingly smart doctor. One time during one of our clinical rounds sessions, he asked me if I had considered this one particular bacteria as the cause of this cat's swollen joints. I of course answered no (in my mind I said heck no). Dr. Greene then chimed up, "It's on page 430, 2nd paragraph on the left hand side." I was like, "Wha?!" I got out his book at home and checked his referencing skills. He was exactly right! Way too smart for me! Well, he is also really stinkin funny. If you know a little about medicine, steroids (not the kind that's plaguing are sports these days) do have some benefit, but also have some bad side effects. Dr. Greene will not call these steroids by their name. One in particular is Prednisone. He calls it "Vitamin P", or "Pixie Dust", or "the exogenous unmentionables" to name a few. He used to randomly call me after I graduated, introducing himself as "El Presidente" or "god" and ask if I was keeping my "gun in my holster," which meant that I was not using any steroids. I would tell him of course...I was a little bit of a brown-noser. Anyway, before I left for North Carolina, I picked up 2 toy guns with a holster and put "P"s on all the handles. I gave them to him before one of his talks and he thought it was pretty funny. He actually used them in a few of his sessions! Again, I am a little bit of a suck-up.

You are probably wondering where the heck I'm going with this. I do have a point, just be patient! As I thought about Dr. Greene and how he has influenced how I practice medicine, I began to think of other "mentors" in my life that have influenced or affected me. The first person I thought of was Kevin Mann. He has been so instrumental in my walk with the Lord and my passion for worship. He is such a kind, gentle and wise man of God and I thank the Lord everytime I think of him. Kevin, if you do read this, I plan on coming up to Nashville the weekend of Nov 17-18th. I hope to see you, Mandy and Bennett!. Then I thought of other mentors of mine. Here they are in no particular order: Bill Tanner, Mark Fritchman, Tom Tanner, Steve Hambrick (miss you dude), Clay Kirkland and of course, my dad. All of these people spoke words of life, wisdom and encouragement into me, whether through meeting one on one, praying for me, teaching and admonishing me, or just simply being my friend.

What I've realized is that I need to tell these people that they have been a huge part of my life and have helped mold me into who I am today, and that I need to thank them! So, if you are on the list and you read this blog, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

I encourage you to think about those who have affected and influence you and find them! Find them and tell them thank you. I just hope one day someone will find me and tell me how I influenced them. It would be such an encouragment to me!

Grace and peace.

Approaching His throne with boldness...

2007-10-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

Last night at cell group during the prayer time, Tom asked a very unique question to a group of the guys. He asked, "If you could ask God to give you one thing right now, what would it be?" I thought that this was a mesmerizing question. I then thought, could God follow though and actually give us this one need/want instantly? Obviously the answer is an emphatic "Yes!" But, would He? I'll admit, it is a little difficult to believe. I mean, I want to believe it. In my mortal, infantile mind I find it hard to fathom that God could instantly grant a want or need that I have been praying for for the past however long. May God rid me of this doubt.

Anyway, I asked God to allow certain dreams and past prophecies to come to fruition sooner rather than later. Over the past 10 years or so, I have had numerous dreams and prophetic words spoken over me regarding my kingdom destiny, which is to lead worship. I know that I know that I know that this is what I will be doing in the hopefully near future. For some, this may come across as redundant (because you know where my heart is), but that's ok. If you so desire, you can read past posts of mine that cover my thoughts on worship and my journey: Worship, Make a Joyful Noise, So timely, Got to Crawl.

At times I find myself leading a particular song in a corporate worship setting, or I see myself leading worship with other "more famous" worship leaders. I often wake up at night singing certain worship songs! The only way I can explain this is that there is a much higher purpose in my life. I believe there are interests in your life and there are your passions. I can only speak personally on this matter and for some, the two line up. For me, the interest I have had since I was a wee lad was working with and being around animals. God has allowed me to have a job (and be good at it...I think) that pertains to my interests, so that I can perform to the best of my abilities because I enjoy doing it. However, the PASSION in my life is worship. God is slowly working this out. I understand that it is all on His timing, but I'm believing that He will make this happen soon!

So, maybe you are reading and you are feeling what I'm saying. You have heard God speak kingdom purposes over you and you are waiting for those to fall into place. Or, maybe you have something else that you would ask God to fulfill NOW or give you NOW. Maybe you need wisdom? In James it says that if any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God to give you wisdom and HE WILL! Whatever it may be, I encourage you to be bold in your prayers. Approach His throne of grace with boldness (and humility) and ask for a speedy granting of your needs. He is a God that longs to give good gifts! Don't forget that promise!!

If you feel led, you can leave a comment saying one thing you want God to give you right now and I will join with you in prayer for this...if you will join with me.

Grace and peace.

Working it out?

2007-10-20T13:46:00.000-04:00

"Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Philippians 2:12

For a long time I have wondered what it means to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. To set this up, I want this post to be more of a forum-type setting, where a dialogue if you will (and I will) is created. So I will start with what I think Paul is trying to say here and I really would like for others to post with what their own take on it.

Here it goes: First off, salvation is a free gift from God, which we all know. I think that after we received this free gift afforded to us by the amazing grace of God, it is our job to perfect our salvation - ie. reading, praying, listening, loving, serving, encouraging, etc. By this we will avoid falling into the category of living by "cheap grace" that so many Christians do. Their sole motivation is to avoid hell, not to go deeper or fall more in love with our Beloved King Jesus. Will they make it to heaven? Sure. Will they be close to the throne? Probably not.

The second part of this particular verse stems from the fact that only He is the author and perfector of our faith. The fear and trembling arise out of sheer awe of who God is. We are a weak people that depend on God to be and provide for whatever we need. He is a Holy God, and our Sustainer! Once we realize this fact, and realize that He is our strong and wise adversay, then automatically the attitude of fear and trembling will be birthed.

Thoughts?

Grace and peace.

Why not?

2007-10-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

I was reading today in 1 Thessalonians and a few phrases stood out to me. It probably won't do much for you but it really motivated me. The first one being in chapter 1, verse 3:

"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

The bold print is there for emphasis. "Your labor prompted by love." I think that the Word itself says enough and my attempt to analyze it is, well, wimpy. But I think it is worth taking a second of your busy day to ask yourself, am I prompted by love to serve or labor? Is love the motivating factor in my day-to-day life?

The second comes from verses 7-8 from chapter 1:

"And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere."

The question I asked myself after reading this was, "Why are we not hearing more of people's faith in God from other parts of the world or other parts of the U.S.?" Thessalonica was the capital city of one of the largest and influential provinces back then. So, one would have to assume it involved a large people group. Would it be egotistical to strive after being known everywhere for our faith in God? I don't think so. Maybe it starts with community transformation, which our church is so passionate about. Will people one day being able to say that they have heard about the faith of the people of Cobb county (or wherever you live)? Will people one day say that they have heard about the faith of the people of Atlanta? Even more unbelievable will be people talking about the faith of the Americans. I can only say 3 words, hopefully one day.

I know this post is a little random and my thoughts are probably incomplete. But it was just something I thought about today. Maybe some of you can offer some input?

Grace and peace.

My job

2007-10-15T02:05:00.000-04:00

This is a late night, tired and frustrated post. I'm laying here, about to fall asleep (cuz I'm friggin tired), but I need a little release. I will say that this weekend has been one of the busiest weekends at work I've had in a long time. I've already expressed this to a few people, but I need to blog it out. Ok, if you don't know, I work most weekends down in Sandy Springs at a specialty and emergency clinic. My job is entitled, "Staff Emergency Doctor." I see emergency cases that walk in or are referred over by other private practice veterinarians, and I have the job of training interns (ie. fresh graduates). Teaching others, whether it be owners or interns, is something I truly enjoy doing. But, it can be quite frustrating too. Annie I'm sure you and the other teachers understand. As their supervisor, I get a little bothered when proper care (or sometimes just plain common sense) isn't taken. But I have to hold back the "you blew this one" comments, and try to gently correct them and hope they don't make the same mistake twice. Completely belittling them, though tempting, is not the way to build up a new doctor. Although sometimes I wish I could be more like the sarcastic doctor on Scrubs and make fun of them every chance I get. But I can't.

But the thing I have to remember is that I was once in their shoes, and not too long ago in fact. Eyes wide open, pupils dilated, heart racing and the feeling of, "oh crap," rushes through your head, as multiple emergencies come walking through the door. Some are very critical, some are the easy emergencies. But still, it is overwhelming. At this particular clinic, when there is an emergency, the receptionist calls on the overhead speakers, "Emergency, your next patient has checked in." I used to cringe everytime I heard their voice! I would say to myself, "Nooooooo!"

Anyway, back to the point of it all, was I that inept in what I was trained to do?! To put it bluntly and honestly, was I that stupid?! Answer...probably. Actually, probably more so. You learn as you go. And the exciting thing is that I/we will continue to learn new things. Mistakes will be made, no doubt. Don't dwell on it. Learn from it and be dang sure it does not happen again. Encouragement is the key. Tell them things they are doing right and then bring up the things they really didn't handle the right way. I have one patient right now that I'm hoping survives. Proper care was not taken and this dog's life is hanging in the balance. Granted, it has an awful underlying condition, but I have to wonder if his situation would be a little bit better if a different approach would have been chosen. But I held back the idiot comments and tried to correct them in a non-attacking way.

Words have the power of life and death. This is so true in every avenue of life. Train them and BUILD THEM UP. Kids these days don't need more ridicule and comments of inadequacy. They need encouragement. WE ALL NEED ENCOURAGEMENT. Wherever you are in life, sharpen one another. Speak life and purpose.

I know this is kind of a random post, but I felt it needed to be said. I just hope my mind, which is working on about 3-4 hours of sleep, made it comprehensible.

Grace and peace.

Splendid Day

2007-10-04T01:27:00.000-04:00

I say splendid day, well, because it was. The afternoon got started off with a trip to IHOP-Atlanta for one of their intercessory worship sets. It was good to be back at "the House." I haven't been back there since they left their previous location at City Harvest Church off Indian Trail Rd and moved into their new building, which is the old Crossroads Church. I had spent almost 2 years there as part-time staff, or "Family" as I was called, playing drums for 2 intercessory sets a week. Their new location is a little ways away down 316 and that is way too far for me to drive once or twice a week. I don't know why I just wrote down all of that pointless knowledge, but whatever. This afternoon Caleb Andrews was leading worship. He is crazy good! I love his style of worship, and his voice is very unique and excellent. Not to mention his wife can belt it too! Anyway, so I was blessed just to worship with him again, but more than that, the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to just sit in His presence. Cause it was there...thickly (is that even a word?). I encourage any and everybody to go to IHOP. You will meet and become friends with amazing, genuine, Spirit-filled Believers, and the Lord will fall on you. You can check them out at www.ihop-atlanta.com. If you click on the "Music" section of their web-page, you will see that they have a CD of songs written by the worship leaders there. It doesn't say on their website, but the guy playing percussion on those songs...none other than yours truly. No big deal.

After IHOP, we continued down 316 to Athens, GA. We ate at 5 Star Day, enough said! If you have been to Athens and have NOT eaten at 5 Star Day, slap yourself. Right now, slap yourself in your face if you have not eaten there. Then, take tomorrow off from work and go eat there. I'm serious! After dinner we went to the Wednesday night service at the Wesley Foundation. Our own Elliott Dejarnett led worship with Tate Welling. Incredible time of worship! They did a LOT of old school songs, which are always good to bring back every now and then. Maybe I'll try to get some old school songs played at Riverstone (ie. We Make a Way, My God Reigns, You Alone, etc). Elliott is quickly moving up my top 5 worship leaders to play with (Kevin Mann and Tate are still 1-2 in my book). I also got to talk to Clay Kirkland, Aaron Biddle and Aaron Vickroy to cap off the trip!

It was so good to go back to Athens. I really do miss that place! Maybe I will move back there one day? Who knows?!!

But the best part of it all was having an evening of incredible worship and spending time with our INCREDIBLE GOD! I need to do it more often...

Grace and peace.

Sunday Sunday, na na...na na na

2007-09-30T22:37:00.001-04:00

Sorry about the title of this blog. It was the first thing I thought of when I was thinking of a tile for my Sunday recap. And I know that it is supposed to be Monday Monday (na na, nanana), but I still hope it leaves you humming that jingle in your head for a few minutes. So, I haven't sat down and wrote down my thoughts for a week or two and as I sit down on my sofa before I call it a day and read some of the Good Book, I felt like recapping my day.

First, it was Mission Sunday at church today. Here they announced the different mission trips the church is taking in 2008. Teams are heading to India, Ghana, Guatemala, Spain, Camp Hope, Born Again Blessings (local ministry here in Marietta, and last and certainly not least, Scotland! Annie Downs, Katie Bedingfield, Tom Tanner and myself have the wonderful opportunity to lead a team back to Scotland to put on another youth camp. I've yet to sit down and compile my thoughts and emotions from last year's camp. In one word...amazing! For more day-by-day details you can check out the blog, www.scotlandteam07.blogspot.com. I'm just going to touch on a few things that ministered to me the most. To start, the youth are stinkin incredible. From the first day we arrived there the kids befriended us and opened up to us. There wasn't that day or two of awkwardness. Their hearts were so soft and open to whatever we were doing, and more importantly, to whatever God was doing! Scotland is a very dark country and the younger generation is forgotten in man's eyes. But thankfully, not in God's eyes. He has amazing Kingdom plans for the youth there. Scotland has had numerous revivals, but none of them have stood the test of time because the church is dead. I'm being honest, the church is almost non-existent. There are a few there that are thriving (like the one we are working with), but a majority of them are simply cold. There have been numerous prophetic words given to missionaries and pastors over there saying God is bringing another revival to Scotland, and He is going to do it through the youth. After being there, I believe it with my whole heart. Over half of the members of the church we are working with are youth! And let me tell you, the youth of this church are going to move mountains in Scotland, bringing God's glory and the Kingdom of Heaven to Scotland and to the ends of the earth!

During the camp, I had the priviledge of leading worship. If you don't know me, my heart is broken for the younger generation and I have a longing to see youth truly grasp what it means to WORSHIP. So I had a bird's eye view of how God moved in and transformed many lives that week. The first night of worship was tough. Most of them just sat there and watched me, Andrew Taulbee and Elizabeth Smith lead songs. However, as the week progressed, their hearts opened, and God began to take a hold of their lives! This was definitely made evident in the worship services. Each night more and more youth remained standing, some even closed their eyes! Crazy I know. But then on Thursday night, heaven broke open. That night Annie had an awesome talk on Worship; that there is more to worship than just singing songs...it's how you live your life. Worship is laughing with your friends. Worship is being alone in nature, sitting in awe of God's creation. Worship is reading your Bible. Worship is honoring your parents. Worship is being a friend to the lonely. Worship is serving others. Worship is gathering together and lifting up the only Name that is worthy to be lifted up. And that is what we did. I swear, after Annie's message we worshipped for close to 2 and a half hours! Guys and girls, young and old, stood in awe of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with arms high and their heart completely abandoned to Him. Some were on their knees. Some wept. Some had an overwhelming joy written all over their faces. I stood there and soaked it all in. I was so thankful of the opportunity God gave me to be a part of the beginning of a huge move of God sweeping across Scotland. It got to a point that night where I was literally out of songs to play. I even had to ask for requests! Well...I tried to ask, my voice was pretty much shot! Even after the service ended the kids continued to worship together in their rooms (and showers!). Tears welled up in my eyes as I walked the halls and heard boys, whose ages ranged from 8-15, sing with all of their heart Love Song, Holy, For Who You Are and Blessed be Your Name. I will say it was more of singing and crying mixed together, but it was still altogether beautiful and moving.

I can't wait to go back! We are leaving July 9th and returning July 23rd, with a youth camp stuck in the middle. Our goal this time is to not just have our team put on the camp, but to really get the adult leaders over there involved. We want to teach and train them to put on youth camps in the future on their own so if there ever comes a day when we don't make the trip to Scotland, they will be fully prepared to keep it going. Don't get me wrong, I believe Riverstone (and myself) will be involved with putting on annual youth camps for many years to come. But this is truly a partnershp; Riverstone partnering with their church, as we both partner with God and jump into His river that is flowing through Scotland.

So if reading this moves your heart, join us. Join us as we pour into the youth of Scotland to bring God's light to a dark country; to breath life into the dead and dry bones!

I'll leave you with one of the most profound statements I have ever heard (and it came from one of the youth):

"I felt the love of 5 million people, then I realized it was just God." WOW!

Grace and peace.

You Got me Dancin...

2007-09-17T02:08:00.000-04:00

This morning was so much fun and an incredible blessing. The worship band I play in (The Fourth Man) led worship at Riverstone Church. There was such a sweet spirit during the worship, and there was an intensity in the congregation (yes, even the 9am crowd) that I haven't seen in a while! Most of the band was there, minus a few folk: Aaron Biddle on lead, Kyle Hutcheson on keys, and the ever-talented, always funny Jason Laiche on percussion. But, we had the tasty lick-laying Nate Bedingfield sitting in on lead guitar. Anyway, our set list was:

Not to Us (Tomlin)
Hungry (Falling on My Knees) - Vineyard
Free (chorus by Tate Welling)
Holy (Vineyard)
Victory in Jesus (the 9am service was dancing around! Crazy I know!)
Lord of Lords (Hillsong's new album Saviour King)
Prince of Peace (chorus)

Ministry Time:
It is You (acoustic) - Newsboys
Better is One Day
No Sweeter Name (Throneroom worship, Kari Jobe - listen to her please!!)
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Anyway, I really do not know why I'm posting about this except for that I had fun and I'm proud to be a part of this worship band/team. Each person's heart for worship and the Lord is so encouraging to be around; and the leadership of Tate, Elliott and Caroline is amazing. I hope we are able to come back soon and lead again. We had numerous people come up to us afterwards and tell us how refreshing worship was to them and how they enjoyed learning new(er) songs. So, I am thankful that the Lord brought this team together and I'm humbly and boldly asking for more!

Welp, that's all I got. Kind of random but I'm proud.

Grace and peace.

You have to watch this...

2007-09-09T02:21:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you have heard of the amazingly terrible show called America's Got Talent, but it's the one that has David Hasselhoff as a judge deciding on who has talent or not. Could they not find anybody else?! David Hasselhoff?!! What were they thinking? Yeah...talent is the first thing I think of when I think of David Hasselhoff...

Anyway, there is the exact same show over in Europe, creatively called Britain's God Talent. On the show they had a quiet, humble cell phone salesman on whose talent was singing. I'll just let you be the judge. If you are not inspired or brought to tears, then you need to place 2 fingers up to your neck and check your pulse!

Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxTx7KIAaA

Grace and Peace.

Piedmont Park Overtaking

2007-09-09T02:07:00.001-04:00

I just got back from watching a concert at Piedmont Park with Emily and 55 some odd thousand other folk. The lineup was incredible. The evening got started with the Allman Brothers playing for 2 hours. It was their first time back to Piedmont Park, where they got their jump-start, since 1969! They were good; playing most of their classics. Derek Trucks played with them. That dude can tear up a guitar! The Brothers finished off their set with Whipping Post...awesome. Then the stage was set for the Dave Matthews Band. I love watching them in concert not just because every single one of them is freagin incredibly talented, but they have such a stage presence and energy to their music. If I wasn't groovin to the music, my eyes and/or mouth were wide open as I watched Carter Beauford, perhaps the best drummer around, tear it up. He has so much fun playing. Almost every time the camera showed him playing he was smiling or laughing. I only wish I could do a 1/4 of what he can do with a drum set.

If I can take one spiritual thing away from this concert, it would be this: Like I said, there were about 55,000 people there and they were all pouring their hearts, souls and their very beings into the music that was being played. I couldn't help but think that one day there will be worship gatherings at places like Piedmont Park or other big stadiums, where there will be thousands upon thousands of people pouring their very beings out to God. I can't wait. I know it will happen. Are you with me?

Anyway, I'm about to finish watching the UGA-South Carolina game and I'm a little disappointed. No, make that a lot disappointed. Well at least Auburn lost too!!

Grace and Peace.

Oh to know that I know that I know...

2007-09-07T01:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, this post is one where I throw out some thoughts I'm trying to arrange in my little noggin about what I'm currently reading in the Good Book. So I've spent the past week reading II Peter and the first chapter has left me, well, a little, no a lot, humbled. It has also made me realize a lot about myself that I need to work on. Specifically verses 2-4:

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

I have read these verses over and over, dissecting them phrase by phrase, trying to fully understand what Peter is trying to say. So here is what I got so far: #1, it is only because of HIS glory and HIS goodness do we have access to His divine power. Then, it is this divine power through which He WILL meet all of our needs. But an important aspect to remember is that these needs are met and His power is made available through knowing Him. Next, "through these...". What are the "these" Peter's talking about? I have to assume that the "these" is the Lord's glory and goodness. So through His glory and goodness He gives us very great and precious promises. Also, we can deduce that we learn of these promises as we get to know Him better. And finally, again through the promises He gives because of His glory and goodness we can participate in His divine nature. Christians become partakers of God's very nature by faith in His promises. God's nature in us manifests the likeness of God and Christ through us. It also gives us power enabling us to overcome the temptations of lust that result in corruption of our very beings.

So, we can participate in His divine nature through His very great and precious promises via His glory and goodness, which we are made aware of by the knowledge of Him, who will provide for all of our needs as we continue to attempt to know Him. Does that make sense? Even as I write it I'm a little confused and I'm scared I'm not making much sense. I could use some help here!

At any rate, I'm left with the feeling that I do not know Him. I remember writing something similar when I was going through Colossians (which I know I didn't finish blogging about...give me a break people!). Anyway, I have this renewed feeling of inadequacy; inadequate in my knowledge of Him. A simple prayer, Lord I want to know You...I need to know You. I want Your divine nature to be united with my own human nature. Rather, I want Your divine nature to overcome and replace my human nature. But, I need to know You!

To go even further and possibly take me a little lower, in verse 2 Peter says, "Grace and peace be yours in ABUNDANCE through the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM..."! Enough said.

I will end this undoubtedly confusing post with one last scripture. We all can recite John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." But there is one other verse that explains what eternal life is...check this out:

John 17:3 - (this is Jesus praying) "Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." So eternal life = knowing God and Jesus! Hey, I just realized that this is one of His very great and precious promises that we can participate in through the knowledge of Him, who called us by His glory and goodness!

Oh MY goodness yall!

Grace and Peace.