Be free

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

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

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*

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...

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

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

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.