Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Checking in with my Blog

For all those who have been checking in recently and finding yourselves disappointed that I don't have any new thoughts, I'm sorry. I've been in a blogging slump, just getting busy with lots of little things at the church. I haven't felt too pumped about blogging lately. There may be some bigger news to blog about in a few weeks, but there are issues of people wanting to keep secrets for the time being. I'll definitely keep you posted.

I CAN tell you about this Sunday at Grace Fellowship. We're celebrating our five year anniversary as a church, with a rockin' worship service full of media and music--believe it or not, we've given Mike only 10 minutes or so of service time to talk! But trust me, that 10 minutes you are NOT going to want to miss. I know God is doing great things at Grace, and that if more people will jump in alongside of us it will be even greater. Today I watched a short clip of a video from Gateway Church in Southlake, TX where they talked about how much they grew from 2001 to now. It made me hunger for that kind of growth at Grace. Numerical growth means greater momentum and excitement, and greater opportunity for people to come face to face with our living, almighty, gracious Father.

I've been hearing news lately of marriages and relationships being broken up by addictions and fights. I know this is the way the world works and addiction will be present until Jesus comes, but can I just implore you if you're reading this and you feel ready to medicate? DON'T! Your soul is worth much more than to sell it for a few brief moments of pleasure. I pray the prayer for you that I pray for myself, that the light of the Holy Spirit would fill us and drive away temptation, fill us with His strength through his residing in us, and empower us to say "No" to our sin. I pray that our hearts would cry out for God and not be satisfied with anything less. If you're reading this and you're wife or husband wants to walk out on you because of things you've done, may you even in this moment go to your knees and ask Jesus to come. Even though you feel totally unworthy, He is gracious and loving and ready to receive the person who is truly ready to turn away.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Existence of God

I copied only the actual story from an email I got without all the stupid, "If you don't forward this then you don't love God and won't be blessed" stuff.

A man went to a barbershop to have
his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work,
They talked about so many things
and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on
the subject of God, the barber said:
'I don't believe that God exists.'

'Why do you say that?'
asked the customer.
'Well, you just have to go out in
the street to realize that God
doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists,
would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither
suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine loving a God who
would allow all of these things.'

The customer thought for a moment,
but didn't respond because he didn't
want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer
left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop,
he saw a man in the street with long,
stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed
beard.
He looked dirty and un-kept.

The customer turned back and entered
the barber shop again and he said
to the barber:
'You know what? Barbers do not exist.'

'How can you say that?'
asked the surprised barber.
'I am here, and I am a barber.
And I just worked on you!'

'No!' the customer exclaimed.
'Barbers don't exist because
if they did, there would be no
people with dirty long hair
and untrimmed beards,
like that man outside.'

'Ah, but barbers DO exist!
What happens is, people
do not come to me.'

'Exactly!'-
affirmed the customer.
'That's the point!
God, too, DOES exist!
What happens, is, people
don't go to Him
and do not look for Him.
That's why there's so much pain
and suffering in the world.'

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Many thoughts

When I skip blogging for a week I sometimes do these blogs that are just short paragraphs reflecting what's on my mind.  

I don't get into football too much until the NFL playoffs.  Today I had football on while I did some reading, hanging out with a friend, etc.  Anne slept all day since she worked all night.  The Patriots game was pretty standard, not a bad game at all.  What was a freakin' blast to watch, what I really got into, was Giants/Packers!  I don't really have a favorite team, but I do have respect for both of the Manning's.  I sensed heart in all the guys on the Giants' team.  They're on the road, in subzero temps (I've been there and know how bitter it is), against a good Packers team, and they did it.   I appreciated how they gave Lawrence Tynes that 3rd chance to prove himself in OT--I must admit I was annoyed with him the first two times.  Glendale, AZ should be interesting.  Just have to find someone with an HDTV...

Is anybody else annoyed by Terry Bradshaw?  

Switching topics, call me irresponsible, lazy, etc., but I was doing some mandatory reading for tomorrow morning's small group while watching football.  I realized halfway through the first chapter that I was totally shortchanging myself if I moved on this week without seriously reading this chapter again, perhaps more than once.  It's the first chapter of Brennan Manning's (no relation to Eli or Peyton) Abba's Child.  The words that I read there are the exact, I mean EXACT, thing that I have been wrestling with for most of my life, and from what he says, I'm far from alone.  Here's a sample: "God's sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we have sinned and failed."  

Anne and I don't have much money saved up, we're actually just finishing paying off a little bit of credit card debt.  Even so, we're seriously looking for a house.  In Orlando, $200,000 buys a modest 3/2 in a less-than-spectacular neighborhood.  If I wanted to live by my parents in Amarillo, it would probably buy 10+ acres and a 3000 sq ft house (just guessing).  Nevertheless, this week has been about trusting in God, putting faith in Him and seeing him work.  So as we continue to look, and consider the complexity of the situation, all the issues involved, etc., we ask you to pray with us that we'll find the right house.  Pray also that the money we need to put down will be there when we need it to be.  Ideally, we would have $20,000 to put down.  Right now we have about $2000.  

Two AWESOME events coming for Grace on Sundays in the next few weeks (there are many other awesome things and non-sunday events currently taking place at Grace).   First, the 5 year anniversary of the church will be an awesome worship experience, where we'll make some big modifications to our worship environment for that morning.  If you love unhindered, radical, spirit-filled, honest, Godward worship music, you won't want to miss that day.  It's gonna be awesome.    

The other event is EASTER SUNDAY, March 23.  I believe, pray, trust and hope that Grace is going to a whole new level that day.  It is going to be an event by far unprecedented at Grace, and will impact the core of Orlando.  I'm not letting the cat out of the bag, but Friday was a great day for me as we sort of sealed the deal on our plan being a go. As a certain redneck Georgia pastor once said, "It's gonna rock your FACE OFF!" 

Monday, January 14, 2008

Not the Newbie Anymore

While many people at Grace probably assume our worship leader Chad has been part of staff for a while, his first official day as a paid staff member was today. Today he attended his first Grace staff meeting, started getting his office ready, all the typical first day kind of stuff. I took him to lunch to start getting him used to some of the local restaurants, and so over a couple slices and a coke we went over paperwork.

The combination of staff meeting today plus some of our discussions as people flowed in and out of the conference room today created a cool buzz. We were forward looking but also with a heart of care and concern to be responsible with the many hearts and souls and good people God has given us. But if we only focus inward we're not fulfilling God's plan for us as a church. Today we talked about some great and fun and cool ideas. Bringing Chad on board is one next step, and he's got some great ideas and great plans to implement them. Plus, it's going to be awesome for me to have a great friend to hang out with. My wife and I have really enjoyed getting to know Chad and Hilary, and we're all pumped about worship. We're ready to take worship at Grace to the next level. Also, with some of our staff's schedules, it's sometimes a little too quiet at the office. It'll be nice to have him around on those quiet afternoons.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Stories of Grace

We at Grace may wordsmith what we're going to call the sort of thing I'm about to do in this blog entry, but I think "Stories of Grace" is a good start.

A woman we'll call Mary (not her real name) came to church a couple weeks ago, looking for staff or pastors to talk to. I don't know who she talked to but she ended up at the office this afternoon, saying she'd been encouraged by someone from Grace to stop by regarding her needs. As I asked her what I could help her with, she said she had just gotten out of the hospital. Mary is a black woman in her 50's, possibly early 60's, who has five grandchildren, but her daughter recently passed away--I don't know the circumstances of her passing. She left the five grandchildren alone in the home for it sounds like two weeks, to be cared for by the eldest grandchild, who is 16 years old. This was not Mary's choice, but she had to go to the ER for lung problems, where her lung collapsed and she found she has sickle cell anemia.

Mary was just released from the hospital a couple days ago, rode the bus to her doctor and then to the Grace offices. She needed to have $62 to her landlord by 5:00 in order to be not thrown out, along with her 5 grandchildren. She showed me her papers from the hospital, and I could just tell from her personality that this was real, not a story. Mary also needed money for a bus ticket back to Winter Springs (the cheaper housing near Moss Rd). I got the sense she had five hungry children waiting for her when she got there. I gave Mary enough to cover all three basics for today, with the prayer that God's spiritual and physical healing would go with it, and this small amount of money would be only the beginning of the road to recovery and provision for Mary and her grandchildren.

I'm getting a bit smarter about these things, like asking for hospital papers, and getting a name and address for her landlord. I much prefer to give provisions of food or clothing than money, but the need for rent is just as real a need as food. I'm reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 25 where he talks about separating the sheep and the goats:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

I want to be counted among the sheep. And I want God to receive all the glory for it because of his local church Grace Fellowship, not because of me.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Lead Me to the Cross

I found myself carrying a literal cross this this morning at church. I was setting it up, then later taking it down after our "cross-nailing" ceremony. It was interesting bringing my own burdens to the cross--while people wrote theirs down and "nailed" them to the cross (with thumbtacks), I rehearsed them in my mind while playing guitar on stage. I ended up bringing those to His cross, and then literally carrying the cross reminded me of Christ's word to each of those who follow him. "If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me." Paul said we share with Christ in his sufferings and resurrection. I do feel like I'm taking up the cross and following him, one step at a time. Be it ever so imperfectly, at times grudgingly, at times complaining, at times even throwing it aside for a little water break. There is no way I would be on this road without Him empowering me, without Him even leading me to His own cross.

We sang a song this morning that said "You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, you lift us up on wings like eagles." I've had one of those weeks where by today I felt the weight of the cross. I'm glad for it; there honestly is a deeper joy that I think lingers under the surface of weariness and business as I try to keep all the balls in the air and inevitably drop a few. I'm encouraged by worshipping God with these words, acknowledging that He is my defender, and that no matter how strong I think I am, I am weak. Another song that I don't like all that much just popped in my head only for the line that I can remember that is awesome--"His cross will never ask for more than I can give, for it's not my strength but His..." I need to be reminded of this 1000 times a day, even this week I know I will need to hear it. If you see me this week, refer me to Tozer's prayer:

"Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foul of an ass, and let me hear the children cry unto Thee, 'Hosanna in the highest!" Amen."

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Lazy Couple Days

Sunday was a fun little service, I noticed there seemed to be a lot of new people that came to Grace. With Chad and Hilary gone for the week, God came through in a pinch to give us sound that we could work with by 20 minutes before the service, thanks to one of our drummers filling in as an audio tech. I did the talking parts of leading worship, while the girls led vocals. It was a bit crazy, but good over all.

By the 27th, I was starting to really feel a cold coming on strong, which got somewhat better for Sunday morning, but still hasn't totally disappeared. Anne and I both took the last couple days off, pretty much just hanging around the house. I haven't really touched church stuff, and we've slept in and things like that. Anne got sick as well, starting on Sunday and is still not feeling well. Kind of bummed me out a little to just hang around with both of us feeling sick. But we did feel good enough to go to some friends' house last night. We ended up staying there until about 2:15AM. It was fun.

With four guys last night we eventually fired up my friend Kyle's PS 3, and played Resistance: Fall of Man. It's one of those activities I didn't do growing up, because violent foster boys, like those we had in our home growing up, don't become responsible young men by playing video games. But I do enjoy video games, though I certainly wouldn't call myself an addict, and I especially enjoy those rare opportunities to play multiplayer games and have a bit of fun together. I always get my but kicked, I mean REALLY kicked hard, but I still learn and have some fun. Sometimes you just need to let yourself enjoy a bit of fun, you know? It was a great time.