{rescue}.
To my friends who walk with God; have you ever had one of those unexpected mornings where you are spending time in prayer, reading your Bible, or maybe singing praise songs, and God gracefully lets you know He is there? Today was one of those times for me.
This morning I was just worshipping God at my house before heading to school to do some studying, and I just started weeping. Not in a bad, “sad” way, but it was just one of those mornings where I became very aware of what God has done for me. It’s so easy for me to get discouraged, to feel like I’m not making any impact, and feeling like God is busy using more “famous” Christians to change the world. I often need to be reminded that God has done incredible things for me. For Rick Smith. (and for you to). And that He wants me to be a part of what He is doing in the world.
As I weeped this morning, I sung a song by Matt Redman called “You Alone Can Rescue” The entire song is awesome, but I can never make it through this verse without choking up;
“You, oh Lord, have made a way
The great divide You heal
For when our hearts were far away
Your love went further still
Yes, your love goes further still”
What a powerful reminder that even though we far away from God, in fact as far off as one we could possibly be, God sent Jesus to come rescue us. To save us. To make a way for us to be right with God. Through Jesus’ work on the cross, God has completely rescued us. In Eph 2:16 Paul says that through Christ we are reconciled to God. Again, I’ll spare you the details, but the word translated from the Greek into English as “reconciled” is a pretty awesome word. It isn’t used very often in The Bible, and in fact Paul is the only person in The Bible who uses the word. It brings with it this idea of being be made COMPLETELY RIGHT before God. In other words, those of us who know Christ, are made completely right with God! We are no longer far from God, we are near. We are RESCUED!
No matter how “bad” things are in your life, or how you are feeling today, if you have a relationship with God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, then you are COMPLETELY RESCUED! Saved! Made COMPLETELY right before God! Now if that doesn’t give you a reason to sing, then I don’t know what will…!
Take a moment and look at the cross above. Remind yourself that you are COMPLETELY reconciled, made right, toward God! Why not take a few minutes and thank God for what He has done for you through Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit! He has truly, completely, rescued us!
Yelp, I’ve danced in Times Square
The cool thing about life is you never know who you’re going to meet, where you’re going to meet them, or what fun you can have. (Like dancing on a Friday night in Times Square!)
I met the guys from Lanzanator and The Beat Calculator while I was in New York. They are a super cool improv group. They are from Dallas. We were in New York. They were shooting a video. I ended up in the video. I am an awesome dancer. We became friends. End of Story.
Check it out!
(Be sure to check out 2:41 to see some of my super-nova dance moves!)
Jay-Z got it wrong
Jay-Z’s new song, Young Forever, proclaims you can be ‘forever young.’ Lost seems to imply that some people can live forever, here on earth, (or wherever that island is) and Jack Bauer makes it look like you can always live another 24 hours.
As much as I enjoy all of the above, it’s all fiction. We won’t be ‘forever young.’ We won’t live ‘forever’. Our days are numbered. In fact the Bible says our life on Earth is ‘like a vapor.” It just runs out. Quick.
How are you spending your days here on Earth? I sometimes find myself living for the next day, instead of living in this one. I sometimes find myself ‘living’ for the things that don’t really matter, instead of the things that really to do.
How are you spending your days? Are you living for the things that really matter? Are you making an impact in this world?
I want to give my life away to others. I want to make investments into other people’s lives. One day my life here will be over, and when that day comes I hope people will be able to say that I cared more about others then I cared about my iPad.
Here’s to tomorrow…..
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking. – The story behind “How He Loves”
I first heard “How He Loves” while speaking at a Disciple Now weekend in Oklahoma back in January. I had never heard the song before, and I couldn’t even make it through the entire song without tears streaming down my face. The lyrics are that powerful.
Take a look at this video as John Mark McMillan talks about where the song came from. (No, it’s not a David Crowder song.) It’s a powerful story about how God will loves us no matter what, and how He isn’t afraid of our honesty.
The metaphor, “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” is perhaps the most powerful one I’ve ever sung. How true, and how good.
Man, the grace of God’s love for us is mind blowing.
He is jealous for me,
Loves 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 realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us allYeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.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.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen 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…
It is finished…for now
Yelp, that’s where I sat for the last ten days. I don’t think I left that chair for more then two hours at a time, including sleep, the last ten days. I’m thankful that my wife wasn’t frustrated (or at least did a great job of hiding it) that I kept the table looking like that all week.
However, another semester is over, and if you follow me on twitter, or read my status updates on facebook, then you probably know this semester has consumed me. If you are thinking of going to seminary, don’t expect it to an awesome, four, year summer camp…it’s not.
But it is good. Real good. You’ll learn more then you ever thought your brain could learn. You’ll also learn that you’ll never, ever learn all there is know about God. Ever. You’ll get humbled. A lot. You’ll learn that you’re not near as smart as you think you are. And you’ll learn that God loves us. A lot. More then we could ever wrap our minds around.
I’m planning on resting (somewhat) this next week, and then the busy summer schedule begins….here’s to having a few sno-cones next week…!
spiritual disciplines are hard
It’s almost 2 am, and I’m still up trying to finish up all the research, papers, readings, etc. that come along with the end of another semester.
Every semester is jam-packed, but this one has seemed to be especially busy.
I’ve pulled more all-nighters this semester then all of the other semesters in my academic career combined. I’m looking forward to taking a few weeks to rest before my very busy summer schedule kicks off. In fact, I hope to take a few naps like the dog above!
I certainly have a lot of junk in my life that God is in the process of ironing out, and one of those issues is the spiritual discipline of rest. I’m certain rest is a spiritual discipline, and like any other discipline, it takes work. I’m working on it, and it’s a struggle. I know God usually shows up in our lives in the slow, still moments; not so much the fast, slammed, crammed, busy ones. I’ve really got to learn to rest.
How about you? How are you doing in the area of rest?
How teenagers are using their cell phones
This is an interesting graph showing some stats of ways that teenagers are using their cell phones. Here are a few that really stood out to me:
Girls send and receive about 3 times as many text messages as guys.
Almost everyone uses their cell phone to take pictures.
“Sexting” isn’t as big of a problem as the media makes it out to be. (Sure any number is “bad” but the media makes it seem that every teenager with a cell phone is doing it – this just isn’t true.)
Take a look at the graph, and let me know what stats you find the most interesting. 
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info taken from flowtown
