A Poorly Updated Blog

Be free

2012-01-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

I have the best intentions:

Study hard for my licensing test
Read my bible more
"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17)
Love Lindsey better and more consistently
Wake up earlier
...etc.

but the same thing always happens. I get stuck. I hit a road block. I get distracted. I lose focus. I choose the easy way out. I hit the snooze button (metaphorically AND for reals).

Is it faith that I lack? Probably, but that might be too broad. I do life based on how I feel. I'm hungry, I eat. I'm tired, I sleep. I want to watch tv, I put off those goals. It takes work to achieve my intentions. Work is hard.

Now I think about the book of James. Works and actions are an outpouring of the faith and the dwelling of Christ inside of us! Choosing narrow road is, dare i say, easier with an unhampered flame of Christ burning in my chest. The place to start is my heart. Can I choose Him over me? Those who lose their lives will find them. Where has choosing me gotten me in the past? Nowhere. Well, thats not true. It got me depressed in high school. It made for painful relationships early in college. It hurts my wife. But above all that, it keeps me from experiencing in greater fullness the freedom and love of Christ. This is what I truly want. This freedom and love is what I was made for. It was for freedom that Christ set us free.

Choose Him. Be free.

Glimpse

2012-01-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

When the fall, is feeling near
And all is reeling here
We need Your grace
A glimpse of Your face

When we've, become undone
Your light will overcome
A measure of grace
A glimpse of Your face

When our sin, threatened deep
Your strength caused us to leap
A response to grace,
A glimpse of Your face

Your love, it never stales,
Though many times we fail
A reminder of grace
A glimpse of Your face

When we fall, and stay down
And our hearts, wear a frown
A rejection of grace
A veer from Your face

When all, is dead and gone
And Your Light has overcome
The triumph of grace
A glimpse of Your face

When we see, You bright and full
And our praise, eternal
The fullness of grace
A life with Your face

Weddings

2011-10-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the supreme pleasure of best man-ing the wedding of my best friend from middle school and high school (and roomie in college), Mike.

We were at the holland ranch which is a few miles on broad past Edna. What a beautiful evening of friends and family (I call his mom, "mom"). I gave the first toast of the evening and after a little background - I shared with Mike the 4 things I've learned so far in marriage:

1) Anything involving Cal of Duty: Black Ops is NOT quality time.

2) remove all guitar picks from your clothes BEFORE it's laundry time; they get everywhere.

3) If you're using your iphone for an alarm, Beastie Boys are acceptable but definitely not 95.7 the game, the bay area's only FM sports station.

4) Lastly, if her favorite NFL QB has his 3rd and season ending neck surgery and is replaced by a retired Kerry Collins, tread lightly.

in other news... RBC turns 1 NEXT WEEK! Gonna be a blast. :)

sigh

2011-04-11T23:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Blogdom,

I miss you.

Maybe one day I'll be back with the time and energy to write to you again.

Never liked January...

2011-02-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

January isn't a good blog month. So I waited until February to blog this year. It's on purpose. Really.... (ok I just failed).

Hmm, service #16 for Rock Bible Church this week. Praise God!

Let's see here, I've introduced a few songs since my last post: Our God (Is Greater), Jesus Messiah, How He Loves, I Will Follow and Christ Is Risen. Five new songs in 7 weeks - not bad! :p

Our God (Is Greater) - I understand that this tune is made popular and played most frequently by Chris Tomlin, but for the most part, it's written by Matt Redman (...Blessed Be The Name, You Never Let Go, You Alone Can Rescue). The first time I heard this song I was struck by the middle section. What a proclamation! "If our God is for us / Who could ever stop us? / And if our God is for us / What could stand against?" This is straight from Romans 8 (go read the whole chapter, it's awesome!). The chorus, similarly, encourages me and challenges me. I know that God is greater, stronger, higher, healer, and awesome in power. But at the same time, by singing this truth, I am challenging my heart to take it deeper and strengthen my faith.

Jesus Messiah - Jesus Messiah, Name above all names, Blessed redeemer, our Ransom, our Rescue, Jesus Messiah: the Lord of all. Enough said.

How He Loves - Some songs are straight forward, like the first two I've mentioned. Other songs, like How He Loves, are overflowing in metaphor about our Lord and His grace. How could we describe grace? This song suggests that "if His grace is an ocean / we're all sinking". What a picture of abundant grace! He is "jealous" for us? James 4:5 gives us some context: "Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made dwell in us?"" Lastly - what a simple praise of our awesome God "yeah He loves us! Oh how He loves us! Oh how He loves!" There is no love like His love. Amen.

I Will Follow - Reading through the early chapters of John, preparing for the first few weeks of RBC in 2011, I was struck by how the early disciples followed Christ. He called, they answered and left to follow Him. This song is a response to Him that likewise we too would follow Christ: where He goes, where He stays, when He moves, whom He loves, how He serves - if it costs me my life - I will follow Him. What a challenge.

Christ Is Risen - The 'newest' of the bunch. I love the call to "Come awake", not just in this song, but in other songs and in Ephesians 5: "Come awake, oh sleeper! Arise! And let the light of Christ shine upon you!" Some scholars (read: the commentator in my bible) believe this is one the earliest Christian songs; Paul is quoting a common writing or lyric to the people of Ephesus. Christ is risen, we are one with Him again. Amen? Amen.

Communion tomorrow. Stoked:

Worship Songs

2010-12-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

first things first - after almost a month of inactivity, I have gone back to the old name... for now.

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Ok so 2011 is approaching. I love New Year's Day and new years. I like to think about resolutions and hopes for the upcoming year, whether it's for church, work, Lindsey, or myself.

These are four GREAT songs that I hope to bring around in the next few months (no particular order, links are to YouTube):

- "You Are" by Josh Jeter: This song has clear praise of the Lord and clear response to Him. Here's a snippet:

"Sovereign Lord, Righteous One, Gracious Savior, Living Word, ...

We come to praise, we come to raise our hands in worship, ...

We love you, we need you..."

- "Where the Spirit Of The Lord Is" by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels: CHeck out 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." This song has a cool male/female trade off in the chorus (yes COOL trade off, not early 90's cool. Now cool):

male: "We know where the spirit of the Lord is..."

female: "Where the spirit of Lord is there is liberty!"

- "Glorious" by Paul Baloche: Resurrection song #1 on this list.

"Look inside the mystery, see the empty cross, ...

"Look beyond the tombstone, see the Living God, ...

"no one is above Him, none to match His worth, ...

"Glorious, He stands above the rulers of the earth, ..."

- "Christ Is Risen" by Matt Maher: Resurrection song #2. The first line alone is quite powerful.

"Let no one caught in sin remain inside the lie of inward shame, ..."

The chorus references Ephesians 5, that those in Christ might come awake, rise up, and have Him shine upon us:

"Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death, by death, come awake come awake, come and rise up from the grave."

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Rock (bible church) on!

You Alone Can Rescue

2010-11-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Genesis 4:26 - "...And at that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord."

So much to unpack here... what hope! what faith! Before the covenants to Abraham, before the law to Moses, before the judges and before the kings, "people began to call upon the name of the Lord."

What does this look like? What does it mean for us? Scott had somethings to say about last Sunday: here.

I asked myself this last week and now I ask you, what do you think "call upon the name of the Lord" sounds like? We'd each have a different answer. The bible gives us many Psalms of how King David and other psalmists called upon the name of the Lord. In the context of Genesis, there are a few things that pointed me to the new song You Alone Can Rescue. To call upon His name is to recognize that He is greater than I. That we need Him. In Genesis 3, we see that the fruit of death ("for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die..." Gen 2:17) is consumed. Separation from God, aka death, now exists. In Genesis 4, we are introduced to physical death (Cain killing Abel). Without the Lord's provision and intervention, we shall surely die. Last week, when dwelling on this and "calling upon the name of the Lord," I routinely came to this:

(partial first verse)

Who, O Lord, could save themselves?

Their own soul could heal?

(chorus)

You alone can rescue

You alone can save

You alone can lift us from the grave

You came down to find us

Led us out of death

To You alone belongs the highest praise

(bridge)

We lift up our eyes

Lift up our eyes

You're the giver of life.

With tremendous grace, the Lord came down to gather His lost sheep, us, to Himself. As Paul details in Romans 5, sin came to world through one man, but also through one man, Jesus Christ, came abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness.

(second verse)

You, O Lord, have made a way

The great divide You healed

For when our hearts were far away

Your love went further still

Yes, Your love goes further still

Check out the song on iTunes (open iTunes Store).

...To Him alone truly belongs the highest praise. Amen? Amen.

Rock Bible Church - 11-7-2010

2010-11-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

How's your evening?

I tried to plan a relaxing evening and so far, so good. These nights are so important. I've found that with engineering, worship leading, the girlfriend, some kind of social life, etc. I need to be intentional about taking some time to relax, reflect, and replenish. Writing here is great way for me to relax, but moreso to reflect, particularly on worship at RBC. Replenishing generally comes from two places: 1) talking with Lindsey or my close college friends (who are also worship leaders) about God, worship, anything or 2) Reading the Bible and/or other books that simultaneously encourage and challenge me to better lead my heart and the RBC congregation in praise of the Lord. Recently, these books have been:

Worship Matters - Bob Kauflin: www.worshipmatters.com

Doctrine - Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears: www.relit.org

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We (band) had planned and even practiced for this Sunday, but Devin (drummer) was in a bike accident at 1pm that afternoon. His leg was pretty beat up and swolen; drumming wasnt an option. I spoke with him today and thankfully, his leg has already healed so much! Praise the Lord.

This past Sunday's set was a black and white of old and new. Hosanna and Wholly Yours are both relatively new songs (last 5 years), while Come Thou Fount, Doxology, and Jesus Paid It all are "oldies but goodies"... emphasis on goodies. I wrote about Wholly Yours here (last week) and I that description is applicable to this week. Hosanna was the opening song for Rock Bible Church back on 10/10/10. He is the God who saves us; "Hosanna" means "Save, I pray!". With a discussion on the introduction of sin and our disobedience of the Lord, it's important to elevate our Savior as exactly that - Savior.

I could dedicate an entire post to the truth in Come Thou Fount, but I'll try to keep it simple here. First verse (partial):

Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my hear to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise...

The Lord blesses. He is worthy of praise. This verse highlights some of his (most defining, in my opinion) attributes: grace, mercy, and love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer,

Hither by Thy help I've come

And I hope by Thy good pleasure

Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger...

I sang this song for years (many as a member of a congregation (a congregette?) and a little over a year as a worship leader) without know what "...raise my Ebenezer" meant. I eventually stumbled upon it's meaning in 1 Samuel 7, where Samuel erects an "Ebenezer" (meaning: Stone of help) to remind himself and the people of Israel that it was the Lord who helped them to this place. Likewise, we too must remind ourselves that Christ sought us when strangers to God, and that it is by His ultimate stream of mercy, death on a cross, we are considered righteous and enabled to return to community with God.

...Let thy goodness, like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee

Prone to wander Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart Lord...

What great confession: "Lord, I am prone to wander." Do we admit this to the Lord? To ourselves? Sometimes I wish could fetter, aka "bind" or "fasten", my heart to Lord. Since this physically cannot happen, we need to ground and root our hearts in ways the Lord has provided for us. Isaiah 40 tells us that strength will rise for those "who wait on the Lord". Moses, before he passed away, told the people of Israel to write "Love the Lord your God..." on the doorposts and on your hands and to teach it diligently! Those are two examples. ...I say it like I have it down, I certainly do not. I need these words as much or more than the next.

(ok i tried to keep it short, emphasis on try.) As you can see, I really dig Come Thou Fount; it's safe to say we'll be singing it again.

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Without totally dragging on, I'll stop here. Maybe (read: most likely) a little more later this week to touch on Doxology and Jesus Paid It All.

Rock Bible Church - 10-31-2010

2010-11-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hello!

It's been a bit of a busy week, but I wanted to take a moment and talk a bit about the songs from this past Sunday.

Holy Is The Lord by Chris Tomlin - His anthem is rising up from our lips and our hearts: "Holy Is the Lord, God almighty". The earth, His creation, is full of His glory!

Forever by Chris Tomlin - The Lord is faithful. Psalm 136 lists many of the ways the Lord was good to the people of Israel and after each one, they proclaim "His love endures forever" (depending on the translation). I recognize that this song (and Holy Is the Lord) are sung often by churches around the country and I don't want to overplay them, but there is a powerful reason these songs are so common. They are so straight to the point with praise of the Lord and His kindness and holiness. (Related to this: I wrote earlier (here) about the need for these songs and for more metaphorical, imagery driven songs.)

Wholly Yours by David Crowder - I try not to say this about every song, but this one is truly one of my favorites. Great chorus, so honest and so praise-ful! "You are holy, holy / All heaven cries "holy, holy God!" / You are holy, holy / I want to be holy like You are." The last line may seem a little odd or out of place, but the bridge drives it home. Consider the bridge an extension of the chorus like this: "I want to be holy like You are. But the harder I try, the more clearly can I, see the depth of our fall and the weight of it all. So this might could be the most impossible thing: your grandness is me, making me clean!" What a great confession! "Lord, I try so hard to be holy like You, but I always find myself more fallen and more burdened. I truly could never reach You by my own works or strength. But what grace and kindness: You see my sin, yet love me! You see my sin, yet You have made my heart Your dwelling place, perfecting it - making it holy. Glory, glory, halleluiah...." Amen.

The Solid Rock - Hebrews chapter 6 begins to detail that Christ is the perfect High Priest. He is "anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19). That on our behalf, as a high priest does but once and for all, Christ entered the Holy of Holies behind the veil - where the presence of God dwelt. In addition to this great biblical truth, this song also touches on the vision and heart that the Lord gave Scott when steering him to start Rock Bible Church. In Matthew 7:24-27, Christ talks about the importance of a firm foundation on the solid rock verses a weak foundation of sand. Christ is our solid rock and all other ground is sinking sand. Amen. (again).

Center by Charlie Hall - Colossians 1:17 says that Christ holds all things together. This is right after Paul says that all things were made by, for and through Christ. This song is a great prayer to Lord, that we might fix our eyes upon Him and place Him, rightfully, at the center of our lives. I hope that as we sing to the Lord the words of this song, that we internalize them as well. Be encouraged that "everything was made in Him". Be strengthened that he "holds everything together"!

....I hope you're able to join us this Sunday as we explore Genesis 3. 5pm at Centerpointe.

Blessings!

Rock Bible Church - 10-24-2010

2010-10-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ahoy!

Three weeks now... pretty cool! As is the pattern so far, a few neat things from last Sunday:

1) Baptisms. Acts says that as the church began and grew, people were being baptized. So rad to see people hearing the call to publicly declare that Christ has saved them... on a cold rainy day.

2) Scott brought it from Genesis 1. His main point, simply, was centered around what the Lord chose to tell us about creation and what He chose to not tell us. When, how, what, who, why? The first two, "when" and "how", aren't that detailed. And really, these are secondary to "what" and "who". The Lord (Elohim!) made everything.

Those of you who were there know that Scott didn't touch on the "why". That's ok, I was trying a capture that a little with the music for the evening. The Lord created everything for His glory and His praise - everything is for Him. Let Everything That Has Breath and All Creatures Of Our God And King, the bookends of our worship together, truly capture this. Let every creature and created thing praise our Creator! David Crowder (to my knowledge) wrote the "Alleluia" outro to All Creatures, and I think it is so fitting. What would the praise of all creatures be? If everything the Lord gave breath to started praising, what would that be? "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia...." isn't a bad guess. Christians have been praising the Lord with "Alleluia" since the beginning.

I was hoping to explain a little bit of my thought process with Indescribable, Wonderful Maker and I Stand Amazed during service, but my head was pounding. To be honest, I was a little distracted by it too. Colossians makes it clear that all things were created by, through and for Christ (1:16). I found myself in such awe when I thought about the fact that our creator God came down to save us by dying. Indescribable is one of my all time favorites: great imagery, great biblical lyrics (Job 38:22 for example), and great praise of the Lord's love for us. After 3 minutes of praising the Lord's power, majesty and creativity, we get to this: "You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same." wow. How truly marvelous and wonderful is that?

Colossians 1:16 -> New Song

2010-10-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

"For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him."

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Separated dark and light,

Placed the sun and moon

And it was good.

Set aside aside Your dwelling place,

Formed the earth from empty space;

it was good.

By You all the earth was made.

By You all the people saved.

"Holy" is its praise;

"Holy" is our praise

You created man,

Placed Him on the earth

And it was good.

Every living thing

A purpose and place

And it was good.

By You all the earth was made.

By You all the people saved.

"Holy" is its praise;

"Holy" is our praise.

For You all the earth was made.

For You all the people saved.

"Holy" is its praise;

"Holy" is our praise.

Father in heaven,

Christ who died,

Spirit who came now dwells inside:

It's by Your power,

Through Your grace,

We approach You face to face.

Creator in heaven - face to face.

By You, all the earth was made.

By You, all the people saved.

"Holy, holy" is our praise to You.

For You, all the earth was made.

For You, all the people saved.

"Holy, holy" is our praise to You.

By You all the earth was made.

By You all the people saved.

"Holy" is its praise;

"Holy" is our praise.

For You all the earth was made.

For You all the people saved.

"Holy" is its praise;

"Holy" is our praise.

Youtube soon (days, not hours)

Rock Bible Church: 10-17-2010

2010-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

I thought last night was a great follow-up to launch day! A couple cool things:

1) Similar to last week, a local pastor (Jim Meek, Trinity Baptist in Livermore) came to pray for us and dedicate our church to the Lord and His work. It's such an encouragement to see local pastors come and stand by Scott and what the Lord has called him to do.

2) I have never shared my story about worship leading to a congregation before; I apologize for being a little scattered! ...His grace is enough. I am continually humbled that He allows and chooses me to lead His people in songs of praise. Thank you for extending me grace as your leader.

3) Podcasts are up for launch night and last night. www.rockbiblechurch.com.

4) I thought Scott nailed it last night. Our God is 3-in-1, 1-in-3. He is all powerful, creating all things from nothing. He is active, moving always. He's not done either. Amen.

As for the music, I was pretty excited about the truth we proclaimed in our song time. Here is Our King by David Crowder Band is one of my favorites. I went into some detail about this song at the beginning of the year (here). Briefly, He came for us. He is here. He is here with the fullness of His majesty and beauty. The verses, metaphorically, drive this home. From wherever spring arrives, there is our King. From wherever searching comes, the act of looking itself - there in it is our King.

I want to take a moment and talk a little about simple and clear lyrics vs. abstract and metaphorical lyrics. Take a song like Here is Our King and compare it to How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin. What do you notice? How Great is Our God lays is out so clearly: "Age to age He stands / Time is in His hands / Beginning and the end / Beginning and the end." We need songs like this. (and thankfully, we have them!). Our faith and our knowledge of God is confirmed and strengthened by these words. Here Is Our King takes a more abstract approach. Imagery of spring and the unfolding rose are created to depict a parallel of the beauty and majesty the Lord has given nature, and what He has done for us. Our winter is now spring. Our night is now light. Our bud is now blossoming (He is continually perfecting us. Philippians 1:6). We need these songs too. To close this section, I will say two things: a) we need balance of these types of songs. We need to balance a song like Here Is Our King with an In Christ Alone. And (much) more importantly b) these songs need to praise the Lord. The metaphor needs to resolve to a fundamental truth about Him (He is here to bring us back to Him). (ok that was more than a moment. sorry).

As I mentioned above, I believe abstract and imagery driven songs need to be balanced by straight-forward, more clear ones. Your Grace is Enough (by Matt Maher) and In Christ Alone (by Stuart Townsend) are definitely the latter. Going through Genesis makes the "Heaven reaching down to us" (from Your Grace is Enough) even more powerful and astounding to me. Him who by, through and for all things were made (Colossians 1:16) came down to us! In Christ Alone proclaims His coming down and His rising up. The truth is chilling: "There in the ground His body lay / Light of the world by darkness slain," and the truth is triumphant "Then bursting forth in glorious day / Up from the grave He rose again." I will not to over-play this beautiful song.

I felt that Jesus Lord of Heaven by Phil Wickham was a fitting close to learning about our creator King of heaven, who freely brought grace to all. His love cannot be measured in depth, width, height, or greatness; it simply is deep, wide, high and great.

My "theme" for the evening, if you will, was this: Heaven's creator King came down to us with undeserved, yet perfectly sufficient grace. Through Him alone we can have community with God.

...As I'm sure will be the normal case, I'm already getting excited for this upcoming Sunday. We will go deeper into what the Lord created and praise Him because and for it. All of creation was made to praise Him. Since the fall, the deep longing and hope of creation is for the Lord to redeem it. (Romans 8). We will proclaim His glory and His grace this Sunday. Hope to see you there!

PB (Post-Blog?): Read and take in Colossians 1 this week as you prepare for corporate worship (singing and hearing His word).

Looking forward to this Sunday

2010-10-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

Just worked on this Sunday for a little bit (order of service, band emails...). I'm hoping to see the momentum that began last Sunday continue through this weekend. Scott will be returning to Genesis 1:1 and continuing through creation. I previously mentioned (last post) I was aiming for clear and simple exaltation of God with our music last week. This week we will zero-in on exaltation of Christ - that He was there at the beginning and all was created through Him. Not only that, He came with bountiful, undeserving grace for sinners like you and me.

We aren't singing this song this weekend (sad-day) but I hope to soon. It touches on this topic so well and so poetically.

"Oh The Glory of It all" by the David Crowder*Band (lyrics in video):

Have a great night - See you Sunday!

10-10-10

2010-10-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Awesome.

That's my one word for RBC last night. It's overused I know, but it fits. I dont know how people were there, but it felt pretty full at Centerpointe around say 5:10pm. A few sweet non-worship things:

1) Centerpointe Pastor Mike Barris (we lease their building) prayed for us, during the serice. Their tech guru has been helping us twice a month in the soundbooth since June. These guys have lived the Gospel to us. Church A helping start Church B... in the same town.... at the same place... these are guys who understand what is important to God, not man.

2) Pastors Leron Heath and Gino Cunninghman led us in prayers of dedication and for our offering (respectively). I know these guys have been and are very close to Scott. Really neat to see that many godly men are affirming Scott and Rock Bible Church.

As for worship, I went for exalting. I hope that was clear. I wanted to start our worship as a church with Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) "You are the God who saves us / .... / Come have Your way among us / We welcome You here Lord Jesus". After that, Holy Is The Lord, How Great Thou Art and Agnus Dei rounded out the evening. My thought process: "....the anthem of the Lord's renown" is "How Great Thou Art".

It's hard to think about yesterday - I'm already looking forward to this Sunday!

See you then...

www.rockbiblechurch.com

Lift-Off is coming!

2010-10-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

How can you have a "launch day" without a lift-off?

Rock Bible Church, the Tri-valley's newest church officially begins (lifts-off!!) THIS SUNDAY 10/10/10 at 5pm. www.rockbiblechurch.com

Personally, this is a day I have been looking forward to dating back to November of last year. Since then, we have moved from (grown out of, really) a living room to a space leased to us by Centerpointe in Pleasanton. Unplugged, solo-led worship has become a 4-piece rock-tastic experience (slight exaggeration). We have sung songs that I have led for years (Here Is Our King, Holy Is The Lord, etc.) and a few new ones for me (Hosanna, Awesome is Lord Most High, etc.).

In the coming weeks and months we will be exploring the Beginning. Scott Berglin (Senior Pastor) will teach from Genesis and I will (attempt to) lead praise of our great, eternal and creating God.

More to come soon!

Song of the week: Constant by Charlie Hall from his latest album "The Rising".

...I love that bridge: "God, You are here with us, constantly here with us!"

Happy Blogtober (haha).

A poorly updated blog gets updated, poorly.

2010-09-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

My october resolution is to blog more. (sound familiar? ...one day it will stick and I wont be a liar anymore)

http://www.rockbiblechurch.com/ is coming and I want to use this place as an outlet of thought and insight into God, music, Rock Bible Church and more importantly, how they fit together.

Rock Bible Church: 5-23-2010

2010-05-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Yes.... another post! I'm sure one day I'll stick with it.

Anyway, tonight was great. So great in fact, I deemed it worthy of blogging about. Tonight Pastor Scott defined to us what Rock Bible Church is currently and what we will strive toward. Acts 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Luke (the writer of Acts) goes on to say, "they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God..." (v46/47ish).

We are a church that gathers together to hear the word of God, be together in fellowship, eat meals together and pray together/for one another. I love our gatherings. There's a simple joy that is in our group; I think we gather with "glad and generous hearts."

Our Sunday evenings, though relaxed, have Acts 2:42 all over them. We begin with praise and prayer to our Lord (more on that below). Pastor Scott has been teaching from Acts (appropriate, no?). There is a unique vibe right now between him and us in the congregation; our proximity allows for questions and comments and interaction. After teaching, we break bread together. Food is fun! (No shame, I know). I've been fighting allergies and I'm a wuss when it comes to being sick so I was being a little anti-social tonight, but I got to kinda sit back and observe. It was a joy to watch the fellowship at our church tonight. I'm excited to keep this vibe going for our transition to having our evening service at Centerpointe here in Pleasanton. The pastor and his church have been so kind to us. We will still break bread together and have community afterwards.

More will come about RBC in the coming weeks/months. We are looking toward a formal "launch" at Centerpointe in the fall and thanking God for His provisions - past, present and to come.

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As for worship, an unamplified setting is tricky. I'm looking forward to having some better volume control and lyrics on a projector. There are some great songs I'm looking forward to introduce to RBC. Appropriateness and timing, of course, apply to this however. I won't show up on June 27th at Centerpointe with 5 new songs :p ...no worries. (For those interested, go to youtube and check out "Glorious" and "Our God Saves" by Paul Baloche, "Our God (is Greater)" by Chris Tomlin and "How He Loves" by David Crowder.)

Tonight, we sang Everlasting God and Oh Praise Him (by Brenton Brown and David Crowder, respectively)- an appropriate follow up to last weeks' Holy Is The Lord and Forever (both by Chris Tomlin). Everlasting God is straight from Isaiah 40:28-31. Praising the Lord by singing His word up to Him, in my opinion, can't be topped. It's the bible. It's the truth. It's His praise. Oh Praise Him is a song I could sing every Sunday (don't worry, I won't). I've probably said this before, dear blog, but oh well - There are two themes in worship that I just love. One is praising the height, depth, and width of the Lord's love for us (see Jesus, Lord of Heaven below in the previous post). The other theme is joining the angels. After reading Revelation over a few weeks a few years ago in college, I was struck by the role of the angels in praising our Lord. They were unrelenting. They were loud. And, they wasted no words. Oh Praise Him, to me, captures this.

"For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?" - 2 Samuel 22:32

Rock Bible Church: 3-15-2010

2010-03-15T23:52:00.001-07:00

So, I owe the blog a post about Rock Bible Church (RBC). Whoops. This blog is like that part of the room I always neglect to clean, yet think about it all the time. Meh, once every 2 months is better than never!

Following the theme of the previous post, I want to share some of the "method behind the madness" if you will, of these sets I "throw" together. Also, I want to provide a semi-easy way us to recall what we are singing and by whom so you, if you want, can go to iTunes (or equivalent) and download the track for your own worshiping pleasure!

We started singing at our every-other-week prayer and planning meeting for the RBC two weeks ago. Last time, we sang: Holy Is the Lord, Hosanna (by Paul Baloche), God of this City, and The Solid Rock. I will talk about these songs later, I'll definitely be leading them again. Tonight's set was:

Indescribable by Laura Story / Chris Tomlin

Our God (Is Greater) by Chris Tomlin (now to be honest, I'm not sure he wrote this one)

Jesus, Lord of Heaven by Phil Wickham

Indescribable is one of my favorites. Come worship with me for a few weeks and you'll hear it, at least once. It captures a beautiful picture of worship: all creation (not just man!) worships the Lord, their creator. The chorus' lead-in lines really get me: "All exclaiming: " and "None can fathom: ". Creation yearns (as we do, perhaps?) for the Lord and has, like us, been redeemed by Christ! (Romans 8:19ff). No man can fathom the magnitude of the Lord, nor the heights of His grace and love (more to come later on this). All creation too cannot comprehend this; we join their praise and their song to the indescribable, untamable, all powerful, uncontainable, unchangeable, incomparable God.

Our God (Is Greater) is from the latest Passion CD, "Awakening." What a proclamation: "Our God is greater / Our God is stronger"! I think about 1 John 5:21 when I sing this. It says "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." This is John's warning that idols and their lure and their "promise" can negate what we the body are called to do: share and be the love of Christ. When I hear this song I think, "My God (read: our God!) is greater and stronger than any idol the world can offer me." I need this truth. The song doesn't stop there however, it firmly (and defiantly) declares Romans 8:31. "...and if our God is for us / then who could ever stop us? / and if our God is with us / then what could stand against (us)?"

(side note, i kinda butchered the lyrics tonight, sorry... I'll get it next time :p )

Lastly, after a brief message on Acts 1:12-26, Jesus Lord of Heaven. I've mentioned this to a few people, but one of my favorite themes in worship is the unfathomable love and grace of the Lord. Paul prays that the Ephesians (read: we) would know "the breadth, length, height and depth" of His love. (3:14ff). I deeply enjoy the creativity of this truth as found in this song: "Your love has no bounds." When I lead this song, we sing this line alot. Honestly, I want to sing it more. I want to believe deeper and deeper in my mind and heart and soul that His love for me, for us, has no bounds.

Worship in song is a beautiful form of preaching the gospel to ourselves - proclaiming the truth of His word, from our mouths to Him. Sometimes it's truth we have held and will continue hold dear in our hearts and other times it's truth we must digest further. These songs, are praises to our Lord, and they truly are prayers too. "Lord, teach me more of Your love! Thank you for seeing the depths of my heart and loving me the same (from Indescribable). Praise You for being greater and stronger than all of and in the world and being accessible through the saving work of Your Son, in whom we are more than conquerers (Rom. 8:37). Amen"

A New Year, Resolution, and Church

2010-01-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

Blog-town - been awhile, I apologize.

I have made a New Year's resolution to blog more and given that about 4% of the year is over, I better get started in order to secure an 'A'.

I am helping plant a new church: Rock Bible Church (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182241546809). Many blogs will (hopefully) be written about this. I am going to be leading worship and helping with main services. The feelings of joy, excitement, anxiety and unpreparedness have taken (and will continue to take) their turns dominating my psyche. My old youth pastor and soccer coach, Scott Berglin, has the vision for this church. We have been holding planning/prayer meetings, men's bible study and soon a women's study as well.

One of the reasons specifically I want to blog again is to share about worship. My thoughts on leadership, song choice and whatever else comes up. That being said:

Here Is Our King

by David Crowder

Big surprise: a song by the guy in my profile picture. Well let me share a bit (story time). There was actually a 15-month period where I played this song only once with the college band - yeah, once. I had gotten "over" it. It wasn't new or cool anymore to me. I didn't take the time to ask myself "What's it about? Why play it in the first place? What's the purpose of the song? ...etc." During my last year of college and again a few weeks ago (but deeper), I got so struck by the declarative nature of the chorus, given the verses. Let me explain.

From where ever Spring arrives, to heal the ground

From where ever searching comes, the look itself - a trace of what we're looking for

So be quiet now and wait

Spring. Blossoms. New Life. (See an earlier post "Spring"). Faith is a journey. We take faith because there is an unsatisfied longing in us for something yet to come, but the beauty of this is in this journey to find Him, who is our longing, we encounter Him (well, He encounters us). "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10). That power and glory and beauty that makes healing Spring come is here and with us. Here is our King....

And what was said unto the rose, to make in unfold,

Was said to me here in my chest,

So be quiet now, and rest.

My dad is a tree doctor (seriously, Ph.D. in trees) and my mom runs her own garden business. Needless to say, I have been surrounded by plants my whole life; I love them and their beauty. The rose unfolding is breathtaking. There is a reason that for Valentine's day that the ladies like roses, not pansies, iris', or even daffodils. The rose is majestic, and the creator of the rose - the whole world - similarly unfolds and perfects (Phil 1:6) the human heart. He is with us (Emmanuel, Isaiah 7:14). Here is our King.

Lastly, the bridge, is simply "Majesty, Finally." Though not fully perfected and with Him in heaven, He is here with us! Not leaving us nor forsaking us (Deut 3:16), He leads us and grows us in faith. His eternal Majesty is here. Psalm 8. Finally.

Peace, love and rock'n'roll.

Other things on my mind

2009-09-29T22:19:00.001-07:00

(the post below this is from Sept 29th also, not August 3rd. it only took me 57 days to finish. please read that too, actually, if you were to only read one post in its entirely, please skip this one and read "the proverbs 31 man." thank you. Love, Brendan.)

The Beatitudes, learn them, love them.... live them. Matthew 5: 3-12 (my comments in parentheses)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they inherit the earth. (The Beasties Boys rhyme this in "Shadrach". even the Beastie Boys use the bible in conversation. So can we.)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (BOOYAH!!!!)

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (yesss)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (praying for a pure heart now, well, more earnestly.)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons (or daughters) of God.

Blessed are those who are persecutes for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Proverbs 31 Man

2009-08-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Wanting to go deeper into Proverbs 31 is something I've wanted to do for awhile. Some of these thoughts have been in me'noggin for a few months, others are fresh. I'm no pastor. Please take what I say with a grain of salt. I do make inferences and interpretations of the Bible in this blog. If something I have said is against the whole counsel of God, please please please tell me and I will modify/delete as necessary. Lastly, let me just say, I don't have it figured out. I need these words. Please do not be discouraged. The Lord is perfecting this good work of making us men into "kings" (Phil. 1:6) (and women into "queens"). When challenged by Him, we must recognize it and ask for help and enact change. "Strength rises for those who wait upon the Lord" (Isaiah 40... somewhere between 27 and 31). Anyway...

I was in Cottonwood, CA two months ago with some friends from the Grace Church UK team. We were going to a church to lead worship and solicite (maybe not right word choice?) prayer and financial support for our trip. Anyway, Proverbs was the theme of the summer in a lot of different ways. I overheard a conversation about Proverbs 31 where my buddy's mom exclaims "there is a Proverbs 31 man too!"

I loved that phrase "Proverbs 31 man" ....because it's so true.

Dudes read (and by "dudes read" i mean "I read") chapter 31 with some humor, (half) jokingly exclaiming "heck yes!" after certain verses (like 12, 15, and 27). But for a minute (or 10) I'll try to be serious.

Proverbs 31 is not entirely dedicated to the character of a good wife. Maybe it's just me who forgets that... over and over again. There are two sections of this 31-Man I want to look at. The first being verses 1-9 and the second, what's sporadically alluded to in verses 10 and on. I will be referring to the 31-man as "king" and the 31-woman as a "queen."

King Lemuel is the fortunate recipient of these words. They are from his mother; he is recalling her "oracle" (31:1). A king listens to his mother. Verse 3 is a strong warning, "Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings." I checked 4 versions (NLT, NASB, NIV, and ESV); they all said said "strength." A few things come to mind. Our strength, all of it, is meant for the Lord (Deut 6:5, and again in Matthew something and Mark 12:30). I would postulate that he is hearing a warning that calls to something deeper than just physical strength. A king should not give to a woman, nor find from a woman, that which makes him a man. "Lemuel, do not forsake who you are for women - you will be destroyed." She makes a similar case for "wine" and "strong drink" (v4). A king is not controlled by the intoxications of alcohol and/or women. Solomon wrote about this in detail in Ecclesiastes. Just as Lemuel's mother calls these destroyers of kings, so Solomon finds them meaningless (this is another blog for another day...). Lemuel is warned that if he succumbs to these temptations he will "...forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of the afflicted" (v5). Ouch. Basically, homie will become incompetent at his life's purpose and harm those around him, those whom he has swarn, as their king, to protect. This first section ends with an encouragement to speak for the mute (v8) and to judge righteously (v9). One (I) could say that "A king conducts their life with integrity" is an accurate summation of verses 1-9. A higher calling of service and life's work has superseded the king's wants and desires. Our kingdoms are not as easy to recognize as these Old Testament kings'. Our families, workplaces, bible studies, ministries, worship bands that we lead are crying out for our dedication. A dedication not unlike a king to his people.

(shifts gears)

Verse 10 begins the real meat or, salad I guess, of Proverbs 31. There are 5 verses I want to look at of this section. For reference, they are:

10: "An excellent wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels."

11: "The heart of her husbands trusts her and he will have no lack of gain."

23: "Her husband is known at the gates where he sits among the elders of the land."

28: "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, he praises her."

29: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."

There is another proverb that must be always, in opinion, be called to mind (sadly) when reading 31:10 and that is 20:6 "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?" Ouch (again). There are some sweet Gospel implications of this verse (yet, another blog) but I will stick with the more apparent meaning. Many men proclaim to be kings, yet only a few kings are found. Just as a woman, if she desires to be a queen, aspires to the truth found in these verses 10-31, so must a man, if he desires to be a king, heed these truths. Recognizing our shortcomings and need for the grace of God surely must be the first step of becoming one of the few real kings (and queens). A king repents and relies upon the King.

Verse 11 is great. It's great because it's so freaking hard. The inner core of a king, his heart, trusts his wife. It doesn't quantify or qualify this trust with when or to what extent. To trust someone with something to relinquish control of it. Yes there are two parties to this trust; she must be trustworthy - that's her problem right now, not the king's. Are we willing, as men, as kings, to trust our queens? He is confident in her. He has faith in her. He doesn't treat her like a child or baby her along life.

The third verse of that list, v23, is my favorite. For it implies that the woman's character is not entirely up to her. "Her husband is known at the gates where he sits among the elders of the land." Beautiful. I remember being in a men's group/bible study/thing one time (early college, maybe high shcool?) and we were talking about this chapter and how we wanted our future wives to be queens. What makes an excellent wife (queen)? The answer is (partially) "an excellent husband." This husband is an "elder." First Timothy and Titus talk extensively about elders - leaders in the church - and their qualifications/character traits. Quite the list (1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9): above reproach, faithful, sober-minded, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, manages household well, with dignity keeping his children submissive, not a recent convert, well thought of by outsiders, not insubordinate, not debaucherous, lover of good, upright, holy, disciplined, holds firm to the trustworthy word and can rebuke those who contradict it. Wow. These are the traits and marks and qualities of a king, as the bible says. A king prays for, seeks and lives the elder-life.

One note, particularly after that exhaustive list: we are fallen. we are broken. we. are. sinners. With all humility and faith, we must beseech and ask the Lord for help, for grace, for mercy, that He might hasten his "perfecting work" (Phil 1:6) in us. We must ask Him that as He gives grace to us, that we would grow in giving grace to ourselves. to continue...

The last two verses are together: A king knows how to encourage a queen. (I'm going to steal from John Elderidge (he wrote Wild At Heart) for this paragraph a bit, and yes, I used parentheses inside of parentheses). There are questions that haunt every man "Am i strong?" Am I a man?" etc. and, likewise, there are questions that haunt every woman "Am i beautiful?" Am I loved?". Verses 12-22 and 24-27 describe a woman, who in all honesty, must be exhausted at the end of the day. Her hair, yes, is probably a mess. With all that sewing, cooking and gardening (13, 15, 16, 21, 22, 24) she probably has a band-aid or two on her fingers. She doesnt get to the end of the day and hear "thanks schnookums, see you tomorrow." She hears, in v29, exactly what she wants, no, needs to hear. "You surpass them all." "I adore you; I'm humbled by you and your faithfulness to this family. I'm indebted to you." The truth in this verse goes beyond the marriage relationship. Brothers, aspiring future kings, we (yes WE: you and me), must recognize and encourage our sisters, aspiring future queens.

.....

The italics, as you've probably noticed, are the one-sentence conclusion, in my opinion, of the verse(s) in question at that point.

Obviously, I hope it's obvious, I'm challenged by these words too. Pray for me as I pray for you (collective "you"... the biblical "you").

lastly, once again, please comment or email/call me with complaints or pointing out heresies or whatever. This stuff has been on my mind for quite some time.

"Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with you all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible."

we are the moon.... poetically

2009-07-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Rays of sun fly all around

look on up or feel the ground

the moon shines not of its own

reflecting only what it's shown

we are the moon

the moon with no sun is a lamp with no power

we are the moon shining light thats not ours

the call is to shine through word and through deed

giving of what we've so freely received

rays of sun fly all around

look on up or feel the ground

the moon shines not of its own

reflecting only what it's shown

we are the moon

shining in dark

we are the moon

to this night we embark

we are the moon

2009-07-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

I love when nature points me to God and the Spirit has me express it by poetry.

Tonight is a great example.

the night becomes bright

when the moon reflects the Light

the night becomes bright

when the moon reflects His light

I originally had "shines the light" at the end and I remembered that the moon shines nothing by itself. It reflects the light and power and majesty and glory of our sun, our solar systems shining star and centerpiece.

Obviously, when the light of the sun comes upon the earth, darkness hides. Darkness can't be in presence of the light. The physical realities of dark and light are metaphor of the spiritual realities of God and His angels and Satan and his minions. This reminds of my favorite name of God: "Father of lights" from James 1:17.

What I saw tonight in the sky was the moon reflecting the sun. It lit up the sky. Piercing through the scattered clouds of the night, it shone quite brightly. There was light, even in the absence of earth's true light. So it is with us and God and the world. Physically, Christ (the Light of the world, John 8:12) is not with us anymore - He went to heaven to sit at the throne with the Father almost 2000 years ago.

We are the moon.

Matthews 5:15-16a has some insight into this: "[People do not] light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, yet your light shine before others...." (emphasis added)

A few questions come to mind... a) what is "our light"? and b) how do we "let it shine"?

"Our light" to be shone is the grace and mercy and blessing and teaching and all that we receive from the Triune God.

We "let it shine" alot of ways, some of which I blogged about earlier this year under the title of "Little Children" and those that follow. Although, I think it's deeper than "showing love." All this grace and mercy and blessing and teaching, etc. that we've received should be shown back to the world - those around us - the known and unknown. When God reveals to me a truth about Himself, am I to keep it only for myself and my notebook? I surely hope not. The truth learned is to be reflected upon a roommate or a bible study or a friend or even an entire congregation. Jesus continues (in Matt 5:16) "...so that [others] may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (emphasis added). I like the language "your Father." They are giving glory to God because of how He is my Father. How His kindness has been bestowed upon me causes others to praise. We do this all the time; we join each other in praise of God when one of us experiences the Light.

Christ has called: "let your light shine." He is our light. We are the moon, reflecting the light of God upon a place of darkness so that "others" will "give glory to" (praise!!) Him.

I'm too tired to keep writing... sorry!

Your grace...

2009-07-10T01:23:00.001-07:00

will it catch me when i fall?

grow me when i'm small?

put a smile on this frown?

lift me when i'm down?

will it sing to my soul,

when i give up control?

Ups and Down

2009-06-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

grace, sweet grace

gathers those fallen

-------

hurting

so hurting

i am hurting

can't stand up

doubting

so doubting

i am doubting

won't look up

falling

so falling

i am falling

can't find up

gracious

so gracious

You are gracious

brought me up

humbled

so humbled

i am humbled

face bowed down

oh music...

2009-06-09T01:20:00.001-07:00

Either:

a) I'm not perfect, yet a perfectionist.

b) songwriting is really, really difficult.

That being said, I'm writing some songs and I'm trying to finish them to share with the world (ok, 10 people tops) but it's freaking hard.

Also, I'm a perfectionist. I've scrapped so many songs in the last 2 years. They just didnt work. Some songs were only music, others were a chorus... a few even, whole songs with verses, bridges and choruses. But after a few days, if I'd think it's crap - poof GONE!

Anyway, welcome to the agony of 1:20am Brendan.

Little Children, part III

2009-04-29T22:20:00.001-07:00

Ok so, 1 John is my favorite New Testament letter - many of you know this (or at least, now you do).

Any and all love that is shone / poured out from our mouths / hands is only a response and outpouring of love received.

I find myself so often praying "to see Your love afresh." My anxiety (due to procrastination mostly) tends to blind me from this Love, which is like none other. When His love is being blocked from my heart - how am I to extend grace (read: love) to my roommate? to my friends? to the worship team? ...to myself?

We must accept the love from the Father. Feeling far from the love of God is not uncommon for sinners. Sin is the gap that, without Christ, separates us from God. "Thanks be to God... for neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God - which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8, butchered from memory). We must experience his forgiveness and grace (see 1 John 1:9) inwardly and daily, in order to live it outwardly.

Freaking chapter 4:19 "We love, because He first loved us." (NASB)

1 John 3:16-18 "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children (I love when he says "little children"...it means "hey if you're sleeping - wake up - time for the point") let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (NASB)

James 2:15-16 "If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use it that?" (NASB)

Our roommates and friends and those around us are to be treated above ourselves (see part II, below). Our time, our desires, our money - is not our own! It is for God, it is for others. (read: I am a hypocrit. Here i am talking about money and I'm the one flying to Vegas to see DMB on one hand and telling my friend in East Asia that I'm going to be late on giving him his support. I say these things because I need to hear them. please know this.)

examples of this: folding laundry, cleaning kitchens/bathrooms/living rooms, making beds, taking out trash, buying the TP, cooking breakfast/lunch/dinner for those around, offering to make starbucks runs, giving rides, verbal encouragements, hugs, speaking spiritual truth, listening.... (the list goes on)

lol, listening? really? My roommates have listened to countless rants on all sorts of things, because I need to get it out and they listen (these can last up to an hour sometimes). They serve me so much in this way.

to continue, sometimes those around us don't know what they need. Or they know it, but feel like its unattainable. For example, I have a friend and he sometimes (read: always) overbooks himself. We've chatted about this a few times, but this is a life lesson (I think, unfortunately) best learned the hard way. This doesnt stop me from trying to help him. So today, "Hey bud - we're taking a break. Let's go hike bishops on monday after the crazy weekend." Although to me, it seems like another thing on his list, he was all over it and admitted to me (and himself) it was necessary. (that was a long story to get to the point and I apologize.)

Last point: don't be afraid to receive love. I am not perfect and you are not perfect. When a brother or sister wants to show love, why not allow them? (of course, this is within reason, just like our love to give must be in reason).

Let Paul speak to us as he did to Titus and the church in Crete to be "sensible" (2:2, 5, 6, 12) and to be "sound in love" (2:2) and to be "zealous for good deeds" (2:14).

...thats all for now :)

Little Children, part II

2009-04-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this should be with the last post...

Paul (of course) understood what it meant to "Love your neighbor as yourself" (see lower post) and to "love one another as I have loved you" (Jesus, John 13:34, paraphrase)

Philippians 2:2-4

...make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interesets, but also for the interests of others.

Little children, love another.

2009-04-25T23:34:00.001-07:00

I don't understand the love of my Savior.

#1. I can and do love my roommates readily because they are my roommates. I'd do most anything for them.

#2. I can and do love my friends, as long as it doesnt interfere with #1

#3. I can love and sometimes do love those not in #1 or #2.

On Wednesday at Crusade, Jamey hit it on the head - I look around and say to myself "gee Brendan, living by #1 and #2 is ahead of most people. You're doing great!" Sadly though, I find that in the absence of perceived love returned, I stop serving/giving joyfully, but out of precedent and that "well I should do this" part of the noggin.

Christ died for all. Knowing that some would ignore it, He still died. Those whom He loved as friends were died for as much as those who scoffed at Him. Returned love was not a requirement for the pouring out of His own love. (but even as I type this... what about when he went to Nazareth and was rejected?)

I heard a pastor say once that when the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John) was very old and brought to the congregation to teach, he would speak of love (1 John anyone?). He would say something like "Little children (John was older than everyone), if we love one another, we are doing something right" (dont hold me to that quote, but same idea).

What does it look like to "love another" as John speaks? I think of this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. " There is a heirarchy there:

1) God

2) Others (not just friends... see the parable of the good Samaritan)

2 (not a typo)) self

How is love shown? Time, money, prayers, quality time, service... As we give these things on (and dare I say, "as we love...") ourselves - we are to the same for others. Quite the calling indeed.

Spring

2009-04-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Spring oh Spring:

makes everything green.

Green oh green!

What a lovely Spring!

The wind moves a million shoots of grass beautifully

Waves of air surfed by nature bring forth life

Scattered clouds shade patches of rolling hills

Rows of flowers shine under morning sun

Sun breaks through,

Light, cool breeze,

bright green hue:

Spring.

(I'm unsettled on this last part, poetically)

Rains poured out

Clouds said "bye"

...Time to sprout

Spring.

....happy Easter!!!

Awake.

Blue Sky.

Bright Sun.

He is risen.

The Veil Was Broken

2009-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, I started the upload at 10:30 last night and at 12:30 it wasn't done and I got sleepy...

It's said in Matthew 27:

"And behold, the veil of the temple was in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split" (v51)

This is a little diddy i started about 10 months ago and never settled on the lyrics. Well, as of right now, I like what they are. It's likely to change again...

Lyrics:

Oh it hid there, not to be seen

But once a year, if you were clean.

The high preist - if he was clean.

would go to place, (that) remains unseen

Oh He hung there, up on His tree.

The wise men wondered, how could it be?

How could it be? I don't know

That when He died, what did they see?

The earth was shakin and it came down.

The earth was quakin, (it) fell to the ground

It came onto, to the ground

The veil was broken, each and ev'ry thread.

The veil was broken; we should be dead.

It came onto, to the ground.

The presence of God is all around

But His presence, now dwells within,

For with His death, He conquered sin!

The veil was broken.

Ev'ry thread.

The veil was broken.

We should be dead.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Ok so, I have another song coming... tomorrow I think. It will be appropriate (this i also think).

*scurries to grab guitar*

See and Now Believe

2009-03-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

Last year, during Spring Break, I wrote this little song. Saturday night before Easter I started writing a poem about what (i think) it was like for Thomas: his doubts and his interactions with Christ after the resurrection. Sunday morning at Cornerstone Church (Livermore, CA), Pastor Steve was sharing about Thomas and the reality of doubt. I came home psyched and suddenly my poem had chords and evolved into this song. I might finish the poem one day and post it... I've attached the verses (John 20:19-31 NASB) and a YouTube with the song. :)

^{^19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."}

²⁰And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

²²And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

²³"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

²⁴But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

²⁵So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

²⁶After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

²⁷Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."

²⁸Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

²⁹Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

³⁰Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

³¹but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Lyrics:

"Peace with you" He says to me;
Do my eyes play (a) fool of me?
My doubting heart says it cant be,
The One who takes my sin?

Thomas, My son, do not doubt today!
For its you, I've come to save.
In this quiet room,
Do you now believe?
That I died to set you free!

Do His hands have holes so wide?
A gash that gapes there from His side?
Do I doubt whats standing there,
Right in front of me?

Thomas, My son, do not doubt today!
For its you, I've come to save.
In this quiet room,
Do you now believe?
That I died to set you free!

My faith - it is adrift;
My fingers - they must sift,
Through the hands of Him who died.
Of Him who died, of Him who died
I watched Him die, I watched Him die.
How can it be? How can it be?
He's standing in front of me -

Thomas, My son, do not doubt today!
For its you, I've come to save.
See now and believe.
Touch! I dont deceive.
Now call the nations to My praise!

2009-02-18T01:11:00.001-08:00

Hello Blog!

Two things today...

ONE: The garden is LOVING the rain!

Here are Daffodils #2 and #3. More on the way. These currently sit on my desk. The tulips rise a little bit more every day; I'm a bit worried they are getting TOO much water! (my mother says its fine though.)

TWO: I have started "Clouds".... here is what I have so far:

both grey and white

simultaneous

dark and bright

bring forth rain

throughout the night

blockade the sun

stealing its light

crash boom crack

lightning strikes back

thunder resounds

its' rumbles abound

These are way fun - particularly when the poems get more attention than my senior project and other things that graduation hinges on.

When I have time to blog about serious things, that will happen too... after March 5th i think.

sharing a goodie.

2009-02-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

This song has been on my mind for awhile (weeks), it's called "Walk the World" by Charlie Hall (Give Us Clean Hands, Center, Marvelous Light, etc.).

The chorus is uber sweet:

Let my life shine,

Come and let my heart shine

As we walk the world,

we lift the bread and wine

Like the stars shine,

come and let our hearts shine.

In a dark world,

We lift the bread and wine.

first blog + poem

2009-02-13T00:33:00.000-08:00

I like to write; many people dont know this. Write what? Poems, essays, songs, rambles, anything really about random stuff (random stuff = Christian things and nature things mostly, and alot of the time, they go together). Sometimes they are silly, other times they are serious - or somewhere in between. I tried to blog once, but I failed horribly.

anyway, here's the latest poem:

Hail

there's none like it;

i find it quite swell.

ice in the sky,

failing to melt.

hitting the ground,

bouncing to and fro,

little pitter-patters,

too dense to be snow.

A Poorly Updated Blog

Be free

Glimpse

Weddings

*sigh*

Never liked January...

Worship Songs

You Alone Can Rescue

Rock Bible Church - 11-7-2010

Rock Bible Church - 10-31-2010

Rock Bible Church - 10-24-2010

Colossians 1:16 -> New Song

Rock Bible Church: 10-17-2010

Looking forward to this Sunday

10-10-10

Lift-Off is coming!

A poorly updated blog gets updated, poorly.

Rock Bible Church: 5-23-2010

Rock Bible Church: 3-15-2010

A New Year, Resolution, and Church

Other things on my mind

The Proverbs 31 Man

we are the moon.... poetically

we are the moon

Your grace...

Ups and Down

oh music...

Little Children, part III

Little Children, part II

Little children, love another.

Spring

The Veil Was Broken

Good Friday

See and Now Believe

sharing a goodie.

first blog + poem

sigh