Stranded

I was recently eating ice cream at Sonic- one of the best places for a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blast!! It was great!!! As I was eating I had not come the realization that my headlights were still on. Upon realizing it, i quickly turned them off and continued devouring the sweet sensations of my Blast! When I attempted to leave, the car would not crank. AHHH!!!! I was sooooo frustrated. What a stupid move on my part, I should have turned the lights off as soon as I got there and then this would not have happened. Another thing to add to my troubles was the location of the Sonic- York. So I then was stranded until my dad came to the rescue to jump start my car.

Have you ever felt stranded in your spiritual life? Have you ever felt like God just wasn't there when you needed Him most and there was simply no hope? I know I have. So what is going on in these times? Why does God seem so distant?

The reality is that God hasn't gone anywhere. If we are believers in Christ then we know that He is always with us no matter what, through thick and thin. But there are times in every believer's life where God seems distant and we feel stranded. So what do we do in order to become closer?

What i have found to be the key to getting closer to God is to spend time with Him. WOW, big revelation, in order to get closer to someone-spend time with them. Its not a complex or complicated idea, but what is hard is actually doing it. Its called "Daily Faith Renewal" In order to have an on-going intimacy with God we must DAILY renew our faith and trust in Him. This renewal can be different for everyone, somtimes its prayer, reading, writing, or music, but the key is having one-on-one time with the Creator of Universe. This is where the abudant life truely lies. Spending time with Him, the giver of all that is good, is the onlly thing that will keep us close to Him.

However, so many times we are tempted to fade. We get home from a retreat or mission trip and we are on fire and we feel close to God, but then we begin to fade. We get back to the "real world" and things get real again. We fade more and more as the days go on and our present tense faith is no longer evident. This is the time when we must honestly face the reality of what has become of our lives. We must ask God for forgivness and dive back into His word so that we can become intimate again.

Its an easy concept (spend time with the person who you want to be close to), but it is just as easy to fall to temptation and fade under the pressures of the "real world". What is hard is to stick with it. No one said that the Christian life would be easy, and its not. But if we truely want to honor God then we have to spend time with Him. Isn't that the point? Isn't it all for His Glory the One and Only?

"Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presenc, nut now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose."
Philippians 2:12-13

A great song that goes along with this idea is Santus Real's "I'm not alright". Check it out on itunes!!!

Faithful-Not Successful

When I was Indianapolis this past June I got the opportunity to meet Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. He was signing copies of his book, Quiet Strength. Seeing as buying a copy of the book would give me the opportunity to shake his hand and talk to him for all of about 1 minute, i gave in and purchased a copy. I got in line and got up to him and sopke with him for just moment and he signed the book and that was that. But then I was very interested in what the book was about so I read it, and man was it incredible. I would highly recomend the book to anyone and everyone wether you are a die-hard NFL fan or don't know how man points a touchdown is worth. The faith of this man is one that is inspiring and motivitating.

As I was getting to the end of the book and Mr. Dungy was wrappin it up a quote stopped me dead in my reading. He wrote that "God has not called me to be sucessful-just faithful" This struck me in a tremendous way. I always think that I have to be sucessful in life. To reach for the top in everything and that if I don't earn a bunch of money and am high up on the ladder then I'm not legit. But this is not at all what God has called me to do. He has not called me to be the spotlight of everything or to be sucessful in EVERYTHING that I do. All God wants me to be is faithful to Him. God blessed Tony Dungy in many ways and with a lot of sucess-winning the Super Bowl and having one the best football programs in the NFL. However, after reading his book it was evident that he didn't strive to be successful, he strove to be fairthful and God blessed him with success.

I think the world tells us all the time that we aren't anything if we aren't "successful", but God tells us something totally different.

Matthew 6:33"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you"Success is never promised, but faithfulness is blessed!

Everything Glorious

What's up folks? I just got back from Indianaplolis. I was attending the Southern Baptist Convention as a Page. I got to run around and make copies of important papers and do odd jobs here and there. As boring as this sounds it was an AMAZING experience because not only was I able to visit a cool city but I was able to meet some really neat people. But anywho. I was traveling on a small 15 passasnger bus from North Greenville University. It was a very bumpy and long trip but on the way we went straight through the Appalachian Mountains. As we were riding I couldn't help but be reminded of a song written by David Crowder. (yes i am a huge fanatic of David Crowder) This past year he won a Dove award for the song Everything Glorious as the best Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. the lyrics to the song are

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

(chorus)You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

(chorus)You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.

and as i was riding i was able to see the amazing creation that god has made, and i was awestruck by the enormity and heinousness of the mountatins and landscape. These huge figures aren't something that someone simply looks and at and goes "yea that's cool". They are something that you stand and look at in mere wonderment and if your like me you can't stop starring. It was soo easy to see how God truely does make everything glorious. It seems that everytime I visit the mountains I am reminded of the vastsness and huge character of God. He made everything that I see and it IS glorious. This gives me hope that even when my days aren't going great or things are tough in life, God makes everything glorious. He makes the day brighter and the night lighter. This can lead me to believe that he makes everything glorious.

Another part of this song that struck me was the line "What does that make me?' I think what Crowder was trying to get across was that when we can wrap our small minds around the fact that GOD makes everything glorious (and not us) then we are left with the question "What does that make me?" We realize that its not about us and it is all about the one who is glorious and the creator of the universe, the maker of all that is good. This is mainly what I got out of this song and experience in the mountains. that when we realize God makes everything and we are small with small eyes and small minds and small bodies then we will be left in question of who we are and the answer to this question is that we are nothing when it comes to the enormity of God and we must die to ourselves and submit our renewed minds to the one who makes everything glorous!!!

Coming Soon

What's up guys, thought i would let everyone that i will be bloggin more often pretty soon here. Had to take the school year off because of IB, but i hope to be able to write more now that school is out. More coming soon.

Authentic Worship

Sometimes I think that we as Chrsitians think that worship is something that we do on Sunday mornings when we sing songs, pray and listen to the preacher say a few words. I realized a few years ago that worship is not only this but it is an ongoing process and lifestyle that we should strie to have.I was reminded of that today. Worship isn't something that just happens on Sunday morning. Its a lifestyle that gives worth to God. That is the definition of worship "giving worth to God". Isn't that we are doing in a service? Giving our attention over to God and giving him all the praise and glory. But should it stop there. Defenitely not. its not something that only happens from 9 to 10 on Sunday morning, its something that happens from January 1st to January 1st. Worship is when we take the focus off ourselves and turn it towards God. This choice of where our focus is happens everytime we are faced with a decision. Should I read my Bible or watch TV, should I go to youth group or go hang out with other friends, should I sreve others or just worry about myself. We are faced all the time with wether or not to give worth to God by doing what the word says or give worth to ourselves by doing what the world says.

After realizing that worship isn't something that just happens for an hour I think we need to ask ourselves what is authentic worship. Are we faking our way through life by doing the right thing simply besause its the right thing to do. Or are we doing the right thing becuse it is what God wants us to do and we want to give the praise and glory to him? Is our worship authentic? When we sing the songs on Sunday morning are we sining them because we really mean them and they are our prayer? Or are we doing it to show off our vocal skills? (I know the anwser for some of us would defenitely not be to try to show off our vocals). But are the words really coming from the heart?

I think in today's society it is sooo easy to fake our worship. It is easy to do the right thing because it makes us look "spiritual" and it makes us look good in front of piers. i constantly have to check myself and ask myself if i'm just going through the motions or do I really mean what I say and do. i also have to ask myself if I am constantly worshipping God. If I am constantly giving all my attention over to him all the time. That is so hard to do. But i don't doubt God when he says that the rewards will be awesome.

Worship Him

I recently watced an interview of Matt Redman. If you've never listened to Matt Redman I would highly recomend him. The intimacy of his worship and his way of communicating that through song is truely awe inspiring.

Anyway, he was talking of how at times our worship has become more "me" centered in today's fast and growing world. I couldn't agree more with him. We walk out of a worhip service saying "I didn't really get much out of that" My question is "Well, is it really about us. Isn't worhip somehting that is for God, to God and about God?" Who are we to go into a time of worshiping the God of the universe, the one who created us and the one who gives us the ultimate gift of salvation and think about ourselves? I think we don't realize that at times we are worhiping a God who is bigger than anything we could even begin to imagine. When we go into worship knowing this it changes our entire attitude. No longer is it about us, but it is about God. No longer is it What i can get out of it, but it is what did God get out of it. Did i truely worship the creator of the universe who deserves all my praise and glory or was i focused on myself so much that God didn't get any praise or any glory.

I think we all must sit down and look at how we worship and our attitudes toward it, because the tendancy so many times is to fall into the trap of thinking that worship is a time for us to feel better about our realtionship with God or a time for us to show off our vocal skills. While both of these things can happen at worship, they should never be the center of why we gather to sing praise to our father.

So the next time you walk into a worship service, leave your selfish desires at the door and enter into a time souly for the purpose of praising God the Father.

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Love

Lately I’ve been asking God a lot of questions, mainly about what he wants for my life. I’m one of those people who wants to know what’s going on, when its going on and how it is going to be done. I don’t like not knowing. Especially when it comes to my future. I remember when I was a kid I had my whole future planned out. Where I was going to college what job I was going to have and where I was going to live. Since then those young dreams have changed and now they are starting to become a different kind of reality. I question God. Where do you want me to go to college? What do you want me to major in? Do you want me to go to seminary? Are you really calling me into the ministry? Do you want me to do something else? And then I ask questions to myself. Do I want to go to a big college or a small college? Is this really what I want to do? Do I want to make a lot of money first and then think about seminary? I want to know all the answers and I want to know them pretty soon because by listening to guidance counselors, parents, and teachers I don’t have that much time left. It seems like a lot of what is on my mind is what I’m supposed to do as far as my education goes. I don’t think I’m the only one that’s worrying about this either. But the biggest question that I ask God more than any other is “God what do you want from me, I know you have a plan but what do you want me to do right now?”In Matthew 22:35 Jesus is being tested. A religious leader is trying to get him to say something that isn’t right. The religious leader asks Jesus “Teacher, What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answers “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”This is a verse that I’m sure everybody who has been in church has heard. Love the lord with all you heart, soul and mind. That’s so simple but yet SO significant. After thinking I realized that this is what Jesus wants me to do. This is the one and only thing that Jesus wants from me right now. He wants me to love him. He wants ALL of me to love him. He wants my heart, my soul, my mind and he wants all of it. That is so easy to say but it is so hard to live up to. Jesus made it simple and however what he made simple is so hard to do. He wants us to love him. That’s all. All he wants is some love. As I read this I realized that all God wants from me right now is for me to love him with my whole being. It’s that simple. I also realized that he will then take care of everything else when I first love him. He will take care of my future, my dreams, my goals. Some of you might know that I have felt that God has called me into the ministry. At times I feel that this is really what God is calling me to do and at other times I feel that this might not be what I want to do. But after reading this I know for sure what God wants me to do and that is to love him. Maybe he wants me in some type of ministerial position, maybe he wants me to be an engineer, or maybe he wants me to be a banker. I don’t fully know right now. But I do know that when I love him and put him first he will show me exactly what he wants me to do. In the world we live in today people are telling us that we can make money doing this or that. They tell us we should do something that we enjoy doing as a career. All these are good suggestions, but I want to do what God wants me to do and not some teacher, career planner or anything else. I guess what I’m trying to say through all this is that no matter what the world says for us to do we should always remember the one thing that matters and that is God and God’s plan for our lives. And that when we love him and make him the number one priority in our lives he will show us how he wants to use us to advance his kingdom.

Overwhelmed

If your like me then you want everything to come easy and come fast. I want to be able to know the Bible and know it fast and have it all studied up and have it in my head. I get overwhelmed with how much there is and how much I really don’t know about the Bible.

What I’ve come to realize over the past couple of weeks is that it takes time to know the Bible. Its takes patience, practice and perseverance. Patience to realize there is a lot there and we can never understand all of it. Practice to know how to approach the Bible and how to learn it the correct way so that it will stick with us. And perseverance to keep with it even when it gets overwhelming. I think that if we put forth effort to learn the Bible and know who Jesus was and is then eventually we will start to see results. James 1:4 “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I think in the end we will come to realize how much studying the Bible pays off. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way but I have experienced that these past couple of weeks. So stick with it so that in the end we will be “mature and complete, not lacking anything”

Two-Way Prayer

I ran across some interesting things when i was doing my QT today and i just had to write them down.

I think for most Christians including myself we see prayer as a one-way thing. We see prayer as me talking to God. We pray "God you are great, you are the best, i pray for this person and that, and lord give me this, this and this" I know i have done that plenty of times and i still do it today when im really busy or have something else to do. I don't realize that im talkiing to the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. And how privliged i am to be talking to him.

Anyway the point i really want to make is that most people don't see prayer as a two-way thing. We see prayer as me talking to God and that's it. Well that is true. Prayer is us talking to God and giving him the praise and glory that he deserves, but prayer is also us listening. Its just like any relationship. A relationship requires you to talk to the other person and for that person to talk back. When this happens you get to know the person better and the relationship becomes more meaningful and important. If all we do is talk to God then we can't expect the relationship to grow. If our conversations with God are one-way then we can't expect to grow in him and through him. God is our ultimate mentor and we look up and learn from mentors, but if all we do is talk to them then we can't expect to learn from them.

So the next question is how do we know when its him talking.

This is a question that i don't know the anwser to. I don't know how we know when its God, but i know that when God is talking to me i know its him. There is no other feeling like hearing from the creator of the universe. God might speak to one person one way and another person another way, but God does speak to us and in very astounding ways. For me its music. I think that God speaks to me through music because that is what i love. For somebody else it might be different.

One thing however that i think we have to be careful of is to make sure that when we feel God is telling us something that it really is what GOD wants for our life and not what WE want for our life. It goes back to what i wrote the other day. We become so creative in justifying what we want for ourselves. We create ways to get around what God wants for us because its not what we think will benefit us and what will make us happy. We have to make sure that when we hear God and we start to do what he is telling us to do that it lines up with scripture. I know all the time i think God is telling me to do this or that and i jump right on it. I say "Oh this is what God would have me do because its the right thing to do" But most of the time its not what God wanted me to do its what i thought i needed to do in order to satisfy myself and please others.

So i think what im trying ot say is that prayer isn't just us talking to God. Its much more. Its listening to what we think God is telling us and then making sure it lines up with scriptures and finally acting on it. No matter where we are in our prayer lives we ALWAYS have to remember what Paul tells us in I Thessalonians 5:17. ......

"pray continually"

no matter what.

The Rock

Written August 5th, 2007

God put something on my heart about a year ago and I was reminded of it this past week. The thing that God laid on my heart dealt with the new facility that First Baptist Church is building. A year ago we were still in the planning stages and we were voting as a church on the different decisions that concerned the new facility. When we voted to go ahead with construction I was really excited, but then David Mitchell started talking about getting ready for the new building. That is when God spoke to me. I was studying in the first chapters of Mark at the time and reading about how John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come and begin his ministry. This really hit me in a big way. I saw two things when I read this that I think can apply to the new building and how we HAVE to be ready.The first thing I got out of this is that John was called to teach and preach BEFORE Jesus came. He didn’t wait to start his preaching until Jesus got there. He started BEFORE the savior got there. What I realized is that John was essentially “getting ready” for something that was to come. That something to come was Jesus. John was called to preach and baptize before Jesus came. This was talked about by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3. “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.” John was called to come ahead of Jesus and get the people ready for his coming. Mark 1:4 “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the repentance of sins for the forgiveness of sins.” John’s calling was a very daunting task that had a lot to it, but I think something to keep in mind in that he didn’t wait until Jesus to get there. He started BEFORE Jesus began his ministry. The second thing I realized is that John acknowledged that the one coming after him was greater than him. Mark 1:7 “And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unite. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John saw that he was just the messenger boy. His job was to come baptize and preach, but that he was not the one. Although some thought that he was the Christ (Luke 3:15) he told them that one will come who is greater than me. His simple message was that there was something greater to come.Today we are faced with this new building. I know that the entire student ministry at First Baptist is very excited about what this building can do for our ministry. The possibilities are endless. This past Tuesday I realized that at the leadership meeting. There are so many things that we are going to be able to do. The ministry can grow. We can have great worship services, great fellowship, and a great place to hold events for youth to come to. But after reading this passage of scripture I realized that at its very core this building is not about how the ministry can grow and how many events we can have and how much fun we will have. At its very core this building is not about us, its not about any of these things. This building is about Him. Its about what can this building do for the Creator of the Universe. That is why I believe that we as a student ministry have to be ready for it. I believe that God is providing the funds and the willingness of people so that he can do a big work, but if we are not ready and if our hearts are not prepared for it then it will fly right by us and we will miss the whole point. The whole point is not “what we can do with this building” , its about what can GOD do with this building IF our hearts are prepared. This is the key. If we realize that this building is not about us and it is about Him then we have to start preparing. We can’t wait for the building to get here to start praying asking him to use it. We have to start NOW. John didn’t wait for Jesus to get there in order to start his ministry. He started BEFORE Jesus got there. Also, John saw that there was something greater to come. Verse 7. He went out and preached repentance and salvation even though he knew there was something better than him to come. If we think that this building will solve all of our problems in our ministry then we are wrong. This building is something that is great to come, but it doesn’t mean we wait till it gets here to bring people to church and reach others for Christ. We have to be ready for this building and see that it is a tool that we have to be ready for. If we aren’t ready then the tool will be useless. I’ve walked through the building many times, but yesterday I walked though and it really hit me. We have to be ready and if we aren’t then we are going to miss what God has in store for us. Yesterday I thought “Man, we can do sooo much but if we aren’t ready and if we think that everything will start happening when we move in then we going to miss out. And what a shame that would be.” The opportunities are endless, but we HAVE to be ready, just like John paved the way for Jesus to come and begin his ministry, we have to pave the way for this new building so that we can experience all the things that God has in store for us. So my challenge is that anyone who has anything to do with First Baptist Church or the youth ministry please pray. Pray that God would show us that this building isn’t about us. Its about Him. That right now we would not use this building as an excuse for our youth group not growing and us not going and sharing the gospel now. And that ultimately lives would be changed because of what we did to prepare and what God did through us. Sorry this is so long but I really am very passionate about this. We have to be ready and we can’t wait until The Rock gets here. WE have to start NOW.

The Last Supper

Well Folks, I haven't done a lot of writing since schoool has started but I'm sure everyone out there who is a student can relate with me when I say that school drains a lot out of you. But tonight at FBC we observed the Lord's Suppers. It was the youth-led sevice and though it was contreversial to have students do communion, we did it anyway's. hahaha. but something really hit me tonight that I was reminded of and it just really struck me in a big way. I'm sure most student out there understand what its like to be in school and how during the summer its easy to get close to God, because we go on mission trips and retreats and we have a lot of time, but once school stars we don't have that time. We don't have the time where we sit down and its just us and God. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has trouble spending that one-one time with God. But tonight I got a reminder of the greatness of God and how awesome his grace really is. The Lord's Supper is a time to reflect on what Jesus did on the cross. Its a time to look back at the sacrifice that he made for us and a time for us to think aobut the real reason we are here on this earth. I think whenever we are struggling in our walk with Christ we need to go back to the cross and realize that the reason we are on this earth is to glorify the one who saved us from an eternity destined for Hell. I love Chris Tomlin's new version of Amazing Grace. It says "My chains are gone, I've been set free, My God my Savior, has ransomed me and like a flood his mercy regins, Unending love Amazing Grace" God's grace is truely amazing and I think we forget that when we become Christians God sets us free from the sin that is all around us. That even when times get tough and we feel distant from God we know that we can run back to Christ no matter what and his grace is truely amazing. So I guess overall what I'm trying to say is that it is very easy to get caught up in this world. Its easy to get caught up in school, sports, band, and anything else. And when we get caught up in all this we become distant from God. And then life gets really hard. But if we want our lives to get better then we have to remember the cross and remember what Jesus did for us. Its a humbling experience when we do this. So for anyone who isn't as close to Christ as they would like to be, I challenge you to join me in reflecting on the cross and remembering the only reason we are here on this earth. Thanks to all who helped and participated in the service tonight.

Here is our King

While riding in the car today I was struck by a thought that I believe is rather simple but at the same time, quite amazing. I was listening to the song by David Crowder entitled Here is our King. The chorus sings...



Here is our King

Here is our Love

Here is the God who's come to bring us back to him

He is the one,He is Jesus



This struck me today. Many times we have ethier sung this song at church or in our cars or in our rooms but the message behind is the same no matter where we are. Here is our King. Our King, the God who created the universe and all that it makes up. The God who is bigger than we could ever imagine. The God who knows where we are in life and no matter how chaotic or complicated or hard it gets. The God who knows everything about us, the inner thoughts, the inner actions, the inner feelings we have. The God who is the King over everything......is here. No matter where we are. In our rooms, in our cars, at church. Our King is there. And his love is here too. The love that passes our comprhension, the love that can change our lives. The love that changes the way we think and the way we act and the way we carry out our lives ......is here. And the great thing about this King and this love is that it has come to bring us back to him. If we wondered off the path or we never got on the path, the King and his love are ready to bring us back to him. He is the one and only that can do this. No matter how much we try to do it ourselves. He is the only one who can. He is Jesus!



"When Jesus saw their faith, he said "Friend, your sins are forgiven."-Luke 5:20