Random blah blah

So on that last note, you know the one about needing to blog more regularly, its been almost a year. But I find myself in one of those situations where I can't sleep because there is a nervous excitement in my body. I have a job interview later tomorrow (technically today), and the suspense is killing me. With no luck and all grace of God I will be interning at Mulder UMC in Wetumpka this summer. I spoke with the Youth Pastor earlier today and he seems very wise; like the kind of man I want to mentor me.

All these decisions coming to a crossroads so soon. Tomorrow this interview, December graduation, next year seminary? working fulltime in ministry? 2-3 years from now Ordination? or some other masters? It is a good thing God is in control and not I.

On a more understandable note, I have put it off for a LONG TIME, (almost as long as I put off buying an Ipod just because I try not to follow trends) but I finally collapsed and got a twitter.

Follow me !!!! http://www.twitter.com/WildSmile22

I'm so LAZY!!!!!!!

So its been awhile since Ive blogged. I know I'm getting pretty lazy about it. I just feel like there's never enough time in the day to do what has to be done let alone take time out to blog. However, I realized something as I lay in bed last night (early this morning rather) that kind of struck me.... The whole reason I even created a blog is because I NEED to release some feelings and messages about how I feel or how God affected me TODAY. This makes it an extension of my ministry which is of course the most important thing in my life. So how is it that just because I'm lazy...I neglect the most important part of my life. HMM.... maybe I should start prioritizing my blog a little bit more.

awaiting the unbearable

Well, I promised I wouldn't always come in high spirits and I was right. Worked at the church all day today and halfway through the day, Davis whom Ive been staying with the a few days tells me Ive done something that pissed him off. He wouldn't say what "yet" and I am still waiting to hear what exactly it is. I feel a huge pit in the middle of my stomach that makes me feel weighted down. I always get this feeling when I am waiting on a confrontation I know to be inevitable. Hopefully its nothing, but who knows.

I'm just praying everything works out with no one hurt.

~Amen~

The Love of a Father part 1.

Well, I just really like this illustration so as I stress about moving out of my dorm...into Davis's house for 2 weeks then back into a different dorm, ask God to open your eyes to really see him in this illustration:

There is a father who almost lost his son at birth. Doctors said the son would never
move, talk, or function on any normal level of intelligence. The father raised him
anyway. He didn’t put him in a 24-hour care facility like the doctors had suggested;
he brought him home. Wheelchair-bound and unable to communicate, the son
needed constant attention. The father didn’t mind this, though. He loved his son.
Eventually, doctors found that the son’s level of intelligence and comprehension
were not compromised. Engineers built a device that allowed him to communicate
using small head movements. When his son told him, “I want to run,” the father began
to pursue something for his son that none could have imagined. Slowly but with
eager determination, the father began building his endurance for marathons and triathlons.
He worked with engineers to build a bicycle that would hold his son on the
front while he pedaled. When he swam, he attached a raft to his body and placed his
son in the raft. And when he ran, the father pushed his son in a specialized wheelchair
so that he could feel the wind on his body. And at the end of each race, the father
picked up his son in his arms and carried him across the finish line.


How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children
of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

A life of abundance!!!!!!

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." ~John 10:10~
As I sit and think rationally, it never ceases to amaze me how self destructive we are as humans. We know what we have been called to (at least Christians do) and we know the requirements told for its full fruition. God wants to draw nearer and nearer to us every waking moment of our existence. He wants us to live into his promise of a better life!! He sais in John chapter 10 that he has come that we may have life and have it more fully.....the translation I used above says that we may have it more ABUNDANTLY. If you would study the Greek language you would learn that the Greek route word for Abundantly is "Periosos" which literally translates as "extraordinary". or "Overflowing" God doesn't want a mediocre life for us. He wants to be acknowledged as the best thing that ever happened to us. As soon as we believe this...TRULY believe this, he will be able to bless our lives with peace and grace that cannot be contained.

Synergy faith

Ahhhhh another great day to be alive......I can almost promise you that not all of my posts will find me in such high spirits...but for now I am so yay me! So we took the youth to the lake today and had a BLAST. Even having grown up around the water and having been there a hundred times before...I don;t think Ive ever seen lake martin so beautiful. Anyway the Lord used a 67%wedgie and a double "backflip" into nakedness to show me something. I was really hoping to kneeboard and wakeboard today but of course the kids mostly wanted to tube....it was kind of a battle getting over myself and the fun I wanted to have on the lake but by noon everything had settled itself in me and I realized its not about me its about the youth!!! So I get my chance to go tubing atleast and Jeremy and Lanning and Jake and some others and I get out on thewater. Well...I'm no stranger to the tube. I know how it works I know how to stay in as well as the next guy. However, when Jeremy and I were the 2 on the tubes...Steve put us through the watery version of Sheol. We started out rough and both of us took our falls. As the abyss called my name as I skimmed in the shape of polygons and cookie cutters heading straight for Davy Jones' locker I did what I knew to be instinct lean my weight back the opposite direction to keep myself upright right? Well when I thought more clearly I realized Jeremy was doing the same thing and leaning his weight toward me and my tube. When one of us would go through a wake wed get about 3 feet of air. However when both of us leaned in and our tubes met we got maybe 6 inches and were more firmly rooted together. HOW MUCH LIKE LIFE THIS IS! We are called to be in fellowship and learning with one another. Proverbs states that "As iron sharpens iron, one man must sharpen another." We are called into unity through Christ. There is a term called synergy that means that when things join together they become increasingly effective. For example if 2 people were to lift 100 pounds each and it was a strain...synergy says that if we join together the 2 people could easily lift MORE than 200 pounds together. We are more than twice as effective when we tackle the world together. The bible says where 2 or more are gathered in his name there shall he be also. That's why our theme for the summer is Unity at St.James. I encourage every one of you to sharpen one another lovingly. If I didn't have a group of coworkers and a pastor willing to call me out when I fell short...I wouldn't be effective in ministry. Let's be gathered in his name!!!!!
In the name of the father, son, and holy spirit...AMEN

2 dimensional worship

It has come to my attention throughout the years as I've worshiped different places that there are 2 different dimensions to worship. One can have what is called "Pure worship", and one can have what I refer to as "stale worship". Firstly we will address the idea of the meaning of worship and then we will tackle stale and pure worship respectively. As I have come to understand it, the term worship is defined as "A reaction to an encounter with God". This directly correlates worship with God or at least with what we consider to be our "god". Now that we've defined worship let's put some superlatives on it and tackle stale and pure aspects of it. The term stale, we usually associate with a food item like ...potato chips for example. They are great while they are in their environment or fresh into the oxygen. However, once they have spent a while "out in the world" they become s accustomed to where they are...they lose their freshness. Speaking from the sense of corporate (usually musical) worship, stale worship I consider to be those times when we have become soooo accustomed to the world that we get stale...we lose our freshness and our vigor. Our desire and pull to lift high the cross and pour out ourselves to Christ becomes nothing more than conforming to what others around us are doing. We lift our hands cause thats what mama did in church when we were kids and we close our eyes because we want others to feel like we are "in on it" too. If we were to be honest with ourselves...we just get STALE sometimes. Pure worship is the complete opposite. I consider it pure worship obviously when we worship with our everything for no other reason than to glorify Jesus Christ and make his name known like a banner hanging over us. The opposite of the conforming we do in our staleness is to experience 1 on 1 encounters with God as a sort of "spiritual tunnel vision" for lack of a better term. Big Daddy Weave wrote a song I LOVE called Audience of One. What a great concept. Much like you can be in a secluded place and feel like you are being watched from everywhere, you can stand amid thousands and thousands of people and be experiencing "pure worship" with the father, and it will feel like you are simply an audience of one. THAT is what we should be aiming for EVERY time we worship. In the name of the father, son, and holy spirit...AMEN