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Stepping Off Into The Air
Early in high school, when I was just learning how to play guitar, my youth pastor brought in a guy he knew to lead worship. I actually attribute a lot of what I learned about worship leading to him. He helped us grow as musicians and worship leaders simply by being there. It's hard to explain, but there was something about the way he carried himself and how he related to us. We lost touch over the years, but I'm pretty sure he's still doing student ministry and music to some extent. There's a...
Unity in a Divided World
I have a theory about the root of division among people and it's much more simple than nuanced ideologies and trained predispositions. We are simply different than each other and differences are often abrasive. Think about this: when we meet someone for the first time, do we start by looking for some kind of common ground to build from? As we take in the words they are saying, something jumps out that we have in common and we latch onto that as a springboard into further conversation, right?...
What’s On Your Mind?
Is there a look that your face defaults to when you have a lot on your mind? Mine must be a combination of looking concerned and sad, but that's also the look when I'm not thinking about anything. It's just what I look like when I'm not thinking about putting on a good face or emoting any kind of feeling. The more I think about it, that's probably how my face looks in general unless I am overcome by some kind of different emotion. When I'm wearing that face that accompanies either nothing or a...
Simple Reminders
There is a gathering of men who are pursuing God that meets every Tuesday night at The Bride Church. The name might be deceiving because they are not all tradesmen. Craftsmen for Christ meets every week to worship, dig into the Word of God, and encourage each other as we fellowship together. After worship through song this week, one of the gentlemen who never misses a week made a comment like this: As I sing the lyrics of songs like How Great Thou Art, I wish I had the kind of relationship...
Confident in Christ, Humbled by His Love
“If I don’t approach each new experience with an appropriate balance between confidence and humility, there’s a good chance I’m going to be humbled by force.”Destin Sandlin, "GOING SUPERSONIC with U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds! Pulling 7 G's in an F-16 -Smarter Every Day 235" - Smarter Every Day We find our confidence in Christ. There are a number of verses in Scripture that point to having confidence in the Lord. "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are...
Social Snapshot
I've written thousands of words today more than once, only to delete them all. Sometimes that's how The Holy Spirit works in me as He is forming and reforming my heart. I can't even tell you what I wanted to write about at this point. As much as I tried to wordsmith my way around it, my thoughts continually boiled down to calling attention to the speck in someone else's eye (Matthew 7:3). So I now look at the log in my own eye through a personal assessment exercise. A new commandment I give to...
There Really Is One World
Certain events have a way of changing our perspective on things. The birth of your first child makes you aware of so many more dangers in the world. When your child is old enough to drive and becoming an adult, you start to see her differently. She'll always be your baby girl though. If you've ever been laid off or found yourself unemployed, you've seen the world differently than those who have been blessed to have always been employed. Eighteen years have passed. I still have vivid memories...
Diluted and Lukewarm
Have you ever found yourself struggling with what you believe? It might not have been a full-blown existential crisis, but you questioned your faith. Maybe your conversations with peers led you to be more open to ideas that you used to be adamantly against. You've experienced a pain that made you question the goodness of God, or even His very existence. It may have even been a dark night of the soul where you couldn't recognize the presence of God. Those experiences are never easy. The status...
The Lingering Effects of a Spirit of Fear
I recently finished a book called #iAmWorthIt: The Wishful Thinking of an Ignorant Man-child by Matt Luecht. Amazon describes it as an "...honest look at one man’s heart-journey in pursuit of an infinite and profound God. It is a transparent account of revelation and humble acknowledgment of whose we are in spite of how we are." Since I knew the author (sort of), I purchased the book when it was first released, and it has been sitting, dormant and unopened, on my kindle app since 2015. As I...
What Does It Mean To Be “Saved”
I asked Jesus to come into my heart in kindergarten at a Christian school. Did that mean I was saved? It's hard to remember much from that long ago. I remember I liked the little girl who always stood in front of me in line. Math facts were a chore for me to memorize, and so my mother used M&Ms as a reward to help me learn. We played freeze tag and cops & robbers almost every day at recess. Isn't it funny how some things get ingrained in our long-term memory? One thing I don't remember...
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