New Year's...Implementations?

Here are some things I am going to begin implementing this New Year. I don't really like the word "resolutions", so I'm going to go with implementation.

- GET MARRIED! And have a great first 6+ months to mine and Allison's life together.
- Eat healthier. Drink more water (Eliminate Drinking Soda & Don't Drink So Much Sweet Tea).
- Exercise 4 times per week.
- Come to grips with the fact that I will be completely bald really soon, so the little bit of hair I have will be kept short forever.
- Read 48 books this year. I will be reviewing them throughout the year. (Of course, I will be reading the Bible as well; that's non-negotiable.)
- Use better capitalization and punctuation when blogging and twittering.
- Use as much of my gifts and potential to help Northwood Student Ministry go where God wants us to in 2009. I want to see students' and volunteers' lives changed! I love the opportunity God has given me and the people I get to do ministry with.

These are big implementations, so I am going to set goals in 21 day increments (Thank you Jeff Henderson) to monitor progress more efficiently.

Also, this blog will be coming to an end soon. I will be launching a new site and will let you know more about that in the next few days through this site and my Twitter. Thanks for reading and I will let you know the new Web Address very soon!

Happy New Year!

what makes a small group great?

i wanna hear it from you. if you've ever been in or led an effective small group, what made it so great? talk to me about it. talk to each other about it. leave a comment below and let the discussion begin.

what happens when you lose your voice?

if any of you were to talk to me right now it would sound like you were speaking with a 98-year-old man. i lost my voice yesterday after our first week of All I Want for Christmas at SHIFT, NSM Middle School Ministry. in some weird way, i think i lost my voice for a very specific reason.

this morning phillip and i went to pointe north community church to visit their student pastor and our friend, sean rheaume. he observed The Element last wednesday and had some great insights for us. i love when God uses others' observations to stretch us as leaders and pastors, even when the insights are things you didn't want to hear.

during our debriefing with sean this morning, i really could not even talk. just a few weeks ago i wrote about actively listening. well, this morning i forgot about my voice because i basically did not have one. instead of waiting for my turn to talk, i was truly, no i was actively listening. and boy did phillip and i need to hear it. thanks sean. love you bro.

as weird as this sounds i really want to say thanks to God for the loss (hopefully only temporary) of my voice. i do not want to sound like this forever. but i want to be someone who listens and learns from what they hear.

Proverbs 12:15 "Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others."

please pray for NSM for 2009 and for me personally to become a much better listener this upcoming year.

overflow of joy

II Corinthians 8:1-4

"We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints."

in the devotional i am reading it then asks: "how did the macedonians' joy relate to their giving?"

the title of the this week's chapter is true love: duty or delight? II Corinthians 8:1-4 is evidence that true love is delightful. the way in which we love God and one another is what i believe God tells us to monitor and take inventory of. this Christmas, start something that will change the rest of your life: turn up the intensity with in which you love, honor and respect our God. turn up the intensity with in which you love one another.

DO IT WITH DELIGHT. it will change things.

sundays are my favorite days

9:00 am - arrive at SHIFT to get ready for environments
9:40 am - leader meeting & prayer with our awesome 10:00 am Middle School group leaders
10:00 am - service begins with some really fun games which i had the privilege of hosting (decorate your leader & egg nog chug through a candy cane straw); worship; message; GROUPS!!
11:10 am - another leader meeting & prayer with our amazing 11:30 am Middle School group leaders
11:30 am - our second service begins and we get to worship God again (except this time my microphone doesn't work; the gameroom has a mind of its own as far as programming goes)
1:00 pm - we are packed up and headed to wild wing cafe to watch 7 nfl games at the same time (allison couldn't come today :( she was in a parade)
3:30 pm - write a blog post and watching games on tv and gamecast on my computer (holding onto a small lead against kevin harris in our fantasy football playoff game)
5:30 pm - arrive at THE AVENUE to get ready for service
6:00 pm - leader meeting & prayer with our super HS group leaders
6:30 pm - dinner at THE AVE, followed by worship, a message by phillip and GROUPS!!
9:30 pm - lock up the extension after hanging out with the band, leaders and students after THE AVENUE
11:00 pm - call allison to say goodnight, read for a bit and call it a day

p.s. i like mondays too

currently reading

i just picked a new book, emotional intelligence by daniel goleman. just reading the introduction and the challenge at the beginning of the book have gotten me amped about reading this book.

this is the quote from aristotle that goleman shares that has really challenged me:
"anyone can become angry-that is easy. but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not easy."

the first 30 pages are interesting. they uncover the anatomy of the brain and look at where these emotions that we have actually come from. goleman also explains what the body does when different emotions are expressed.

the next section on the nature of emotional intelligence begins with a chapter titled when smart is dumb. sounds thought provoking, i'll keep you posted on some excerpts that i find helpful throughout my reading.

i'm also currently reading through the end of the old testament and i've placed a large emphasis on the book of jonah. he is such an interesting prophet because his emotions and life are still so transparent to today's reader. it is a bit scary how much of ourselves we can see in a jonah. all we have to do is look.

no shave november concludes

the beard growing and grooming has ended for me as the month of november has ended. kevin trimmed has trimmed his and phillip continues to let it grow. i trimmed my beard at 12:01 am last night and there was so much hair in the sink. it is exciting that i no longer look 35 years old and actually look 22 years old again. one thing i really regret is that we did not get a 1st annual NSM no shave group pic. that would have been amazing!

are you really listening?

a leadership fable seth godin uses in tribes is ronald reagan's secret to leadership. check this out.

your tribe wants a leader who listens. and by listen i mean actively listen. reagan says, "you should value what you hear and then make a decision even if it contradicts the very people you are listening to. people want to be sure you heard what they said - they're less focused on whether or not you do what they said."

for the most part i really try to give people my full attention when listening; however, so many times i am not actively listening. i make excuses like, "i am busy and there are 1,000 things going on in my head" and i just let something that someone said to me go in one ear and out the other. i am striving to become an active listener.

tribes

this idea of a tribe that seth godin has introduced NSM to has made us rethink leadership. i just finished the book and it had some nuggets that were really worth the read.

- "heretics are the new leaders."

- "...faith is demonstrated by the actions you take."

- "being charismatic doesn't make you a leader. being a leader makes you charismatic." (my guess is this is kevin harris' favorite line in the book)

- "the only thing that makes people and organizations great is their willingness to be not great along the way."

- "change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question."

this book transformed the way i think about leadership. on the last page, seth challenges the reader to share the book with someone else if you got anything from the book. a few of you may be getting a copy from yours truly for Christmas.

NSMisms

i regularly read a blog by a pastor, Tony Morgan, from NewSpring Church. he calls quotes from the senior pastor, Perry Noble, at NewSpring Perryisms. he has inspired me to write the first ever blog titled NSMisms.

"That's money"
"Kevin Harris is now khartos"
"Bible says..."
"Organic Chemistry"
"Go Yearbook Yourself"
"You just got Pepe Le Pew-ed"
"Yeah Boy!" <-- Brian Jarvis Shout Out

there will be a lot where that came from.

ephesians 2:8-10

ephesians 2:8-10
8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

we are in the middle of our giving+thanks series at SHIFT and i will be giving a talk next week on putting our thankfulness into action. this verse in ephesians has stuck out to me and has been recurring in my mind over the past few weeks. tomorrow middle school students will be preparing Thanksgiving dinner boxes for Northwood Church's Turkey Outreach on Nov. 23rd. what better way for our middle schoolers to put their thankfulness into action?

that morning (before the Turkey Outreach) i will be speaking to our middle schoolers on this verse. i am praying that God will move in their lives and then in turn their lives will be full of good works streaming from the love of Christ that dwells within them.

recharging

what an excellent thing rest is. i really enjoy sleeping. when i got home today i was so tired but i couldn't go to sleep. this wasn't the type of rest i needed.

allison, her mom, and i went and visited allison's grandparents in cincinnati this past week. the 10-hour drive wore me out and i had not had a chance to catch up on my rest since i have gotten back on saturday afternoon. the rest i needed was to be recharged by God. God did that today through complete silence on my back porch (which i don't access near enough). the beauty of the night and coolness of the air were so magnificent tonight, and it is so amazing that nature was created by God and we can see His glory all over things like these. even thought the drive back from cincy wore me out i saw the beauty of His creation in the mountains, the starry night, and the colors of the autumn leaves. and man, was it beautiful!

just seeing the beauty of God in His creation makes me so happy and energizes me instantaneously. oh how i love to be recharged by His love, by His majesty, by His beauty, and by His glory.

the blazing center

all northwood student ministry male group leaders are invited to join the brand new group beginning this monday night at 6:45 pm at keith christmas' house. the group will be going through a dvd study with john piper's the blazing center. the study guides have just arrived at my door and will be provided.

if you have any questions email me at aj@northwoodstudents.com.

i can't wait. i'll see you there!

sacrifice

i was doing a word study last night on the word "sacrifice". i chased the rabbit back to psalm 50. the main nugget i took away from my study is that we offer sacrifices to God and then we forget the significance of the sacrifice so easily. as followers of Christ we must realize that we are giving up everything to follow Jesus because a true sacrifice is giving something that costs. most of us would agree that our lives are things we place a high value upon. the great thing about our faith is that Jesus says we are to give up our lives for His sake and for the Gospel and then you will actually save your life (Mark 8:35). yet, still it seems like we are so unwilling to give up comforts and habits that make our lives easy but steer us further from a Christ-centered life.

Jesus never said this whole thing we call life as a follower of Him was going to be easy. i was reading an interview with Francis Chan where he spoke about the commitment to follow Christ that Christians have made. he says this:
"Jesus almost gave an anti-altar call. 'are you sure you're supposed to be here? maybe you should leave because you don't understand the commitment to hate your father, mother, wife, kids. you still want to be here? pick up your cross and follow me.' Jesus preached sacrifice."

Jesus preached sacrifice. Jesus preached SACRIFICE!! sacrifice.

so, i broke the law today

i was going 34 mph in a 25 mph zone and i got caught. not only did i get caught but i got pulled over by a bike cop who was not even on his bike (you can go ahead and laugh at me now). he was standing in a parking lot, flagged me down and pulled me over. "license, registration and proof of insurance" has to be one of my favorite phrases!

God, ruin me?

i heard a message a couple of weeks ago in atlanta and it is still working on me. the realness, truth and authenticity sparked something in me. it is continuing to resonate in my heart and my mind, and is still challenging me. there were 3 points that craig groeschel made in his talk, for God to: heal me, stretch me and ruin me. i believe that God had me hear that message for a reason. it did something to all the other 12,000 pastors and church workers at the conference as well. this past week i have been praying over what that talk is still doing in my life. i want to be healed by God when i am hurt and i want to be stretched by God to follow after Him more. the real question is: do i want to give my life fully to God to the point where i pray for Him to ruin me so i can take my pride out of the equation and He can glorified through my life?

we hold on to our own lives so tightly sometimes. i pray that God would continue to work this Scripture through me: "for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25

CATALYST Wrap Up

what a great conference! i heard so many great talks that were definitely from God and really spoke to our team. the emcees, lanny donoho and reggie joiner were awesome. they brought in a school bus, an elephant and jeff foxworthy. some inspiring stories were from a choir in africa and a student who started an organization to fight aids when he was 9 yrs old. here are some things i got from some of the speakers:

andy stanley - your moral authority gives you the boldness to lead. let what you have to say about these areas (forgivess, family, finances) match your practices in these areas.

become preoccupied with those you haven't reached as opposed to those you are trying to keep.

craig groeschel - honest. pray for God to heal me, stretch me, and ruin me.

matt chandler - guard your life and doctrine. speak truth directly from the Word in a contextualized language that people can understand.

steven furtick - passion. Scripture memorization. in between the promise God has given you and the payoff of that promise, there is a process.

dave ramsey - i have never heard ramsey speak on anything besides financial management. he spoke on the enemies of unity and it was phenomenal. the 5 enemies of unity: poor communication, gossip, unresolved disagreements, lack of shared purpose, sanctioned incompetence.

jim collins - humility is the signature quality of level 5 leaders.


what a blessing from God that this conference was for me, for our team, and for our church. the Spirit of God was definitely in that place.

day one in the ATL

well, phillip, kevin and i arrived in atlanta for catalyst early this morning. we got a few hours of sleep in and then we were off to the conference. our pre-lab session with reggie joiner, chief creative officer of the rethink group, was phenomenal. he spoke about momentum and how we have a tendency to not want to change things that we create.

in the afternoon, phillip took us to a very well built church, NPM's Buckhead Church. we got to do a tour and some q&a with some of their student ministry staff. today has been quite a treat thus far. the main stage sessions begin tomorrow!

another bonus: the house we are staying in is SICK! thanks steve.

insight

i was not much of a reader until i transferred to CSU. since i've graduated i read even more than i did in college. i think i just didn't enjoy reading books teachers assigned in school because i wasn't interested in the subject. i love reading books about leadership, christianity, small groups, ministry, etc.

a book that i'm currently reading is Walking The Small Group Tightrope by Donahue & Robinson from WCA. the book talks about polarity management which is the recognition of many people trying to accomplish opposing facets of life simultaneously. it takes that theory and applies it to small group ministry. i can't give away all of the insights but if you are leading a small group you should definitely give it a look.

in an orange mood

and that's a good thing if you're in student ministry.

the orange style of ministry that reggie joiner and his team at http://www.rethinkgroup.org/ has really revolutionized the way i think about connecting ministry with families and families with ministry. for so long they have been separate. i wouldn't say they have been working against each other but they just aren't working with each the way good intended.

yesterday was so encouraging with some of the conversations i had with parents. i even wore an orange polo today.

glorious morning

i don't know if there is any other way to say it than, "what a beautiful morning!" i woke up and it was pretty chilly at 6:00 am. then i went to pray at the church and felt as though God was really speaking to me. i had a good talk with another pastor and when i came back outside to leave the church to go get some breakfast, the weather had warmed up just a bit and it felt so awesome. words can't describe so i'm gonna shut up now. if you weren't outside at 8:00 this morning run outside right now and try to catch it. it still feels amazing outside.

trying to say it before they do...

is what i once did. i once hated when someone thought of something brilliant before i did but i've had to learn to embrace it. being in on creative meetings and reading many blogs and listening to varying podcasts has taught me that most brilliant ideas have already been thought of; it is my job to embrace those ideas and not be envious of someone else's creativity or brilliance.

what it's all about

this past week i went to a football game where some of our students were playing and cheering. i've been to their games before and i really love watching any level of football, but i was so into this game. i was talking to a parent and it was his son's first start. i know the student pretty well so i was excited to see him get his first start too (his dad was a little more excited than me). the game got started and he was holding his own out there. then it was a run play to his side and he fought through the block and tackled the running back in the backfield for a loss. i was so excited! the dad and i were going crazy. i was so proud of him. i felt like i was this student's older brother. he played really well the rest of the game.

it was so awesome to see him after the game. he was smiling from ear to ear. that night he found his love for football, and that night this student and his father reminded me what ministry is all about.

groups launch!

we started our new groups strategy on sunday at SHIFT (middle school) and THE AVENUE (high school). it was so exciting and rewarding to see these students and volunteers getting into conversations with each other. i cannot wait to see God move in these relationships and communities. we still need some more qualified volunteers but things are off to a great start.

tropical storm preparation

Hanna is on her way. So, today Allison and I went to Blockbuster and Bruster's to prepare for the tropical storm. We got a pint of MY favorite ice cream (which she also enjoys) Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. If you have never tried it, please do. Your life will be changed. If you're a fud dud and love Butter Pecan then just stick with that. But seriously, give CRT a chance. I typically don't like fruit in my ice cream but this is the perfect combo.

We rented two DVDs at Blockbuster. We rented Disc 1 of Season 1 of Mad Men because we have caught a glimpse of some episodes on TV, and we wanted to do it right and start from the beginning of the series. So here we go.

We also wanted a comedy and I have been getting some flack at work from Phillip and Kevin about how much better Christmas Vacation is than Vegas Vacation (my favorite). I saw Christmas Vacation when I was young so I am going to give a chance to dethrone Vegas Vacation. I'll let you know what happens.

Enjoying Scenery

i drove out to kiawah island this morning for my last day at arborscape tree preservation. on the way i was just admiring God's creation and enjoying the oak canopied roads. once i got on the island i began looking at some of the houses. i saw allison and i's dream house (only like 3x bigger than we would ever need)!!! it was on the marsh and was only like 4 stories. it was quite a spectacle. but my real question is why would a family ever need a house that big?

"one of the greatest places to work in town"

i heard andy stanley during a talk at the drive conference this year talk about making npcc the best place to work in atlanta and i could not understand the comparison to working at a church and working at a "regular" job (sorry for that " ", it seems really vain and its not). its not vain because i work a job at a church and a "regular" job and let me tell you, there is a world of difference.

i have heard that church jobs can be "eeek" but it should be our responsibility as church leaders and co-workers to create a culture that is the best place to work in each of our cities. i also believe my other job has so much potential but they are still trying to iron out many wrinkles.

i have been on staff at this church as an intern and now part time as the student ministry groups director for a total of about a year and it has been great. some keys that i have picked up on that make a work place a great environment to work are: a creative decor, a common vision, similar work ethic, various styles, a true love for the work you are doing and a true love for the people whom you are working with.

thinking groups

all i can think about lately is this idea of community that God has placed on my heart. it is almost as though He is revealing to me my calling for the ministry i was created to do. in groups i feel it is our responsibility to show others God, not just talk about Him.

when doing ministry i feel we put so many things ahead of the main things. (of course, if God and the Gospel aren't the main thing in your ministry, you should just hang it up) but i think another key to ministry is putting people ahead of production/tasks/programs. as a follower of Christ i am called to go and make disciples and sure there are intriguing, creative ways of doing so but i cannot get so focused on the WAYS that i lose connection with the PEOPLE. i have to put the people that i am investing in first because lives are truly changed through meaningful relationships.

that is where our student ministry is headed. i am so excited to be a part of it. that conversation i was having with the small groups/volunteers pastor at our church sparked this post as well because we were talking about how to engage people in a group discussion about their relationship with a God who sometimes seems so far away. he said a simple thing that really got me thinking, "i like to ask them what has God been saying to them lately, and when they look puzzled and finally say, 'nothing', then ask them, 'why nothing?' and when they realize they are the problem in the relationship they will start taking revolutionary steps toward connecting to a God who is closer than they know." <-- longest run-on ever, but really thought provoking

yeah, i know. this post was too long. and now it's even longer because i am typing about how long an already too long post it is. now it is complete.

what happens when you lead someone?

i had a really good talk today with our small group/volunteer pastor at our church. we were talking about how student ministries is totally re-organizing our strategy on how we do groups. it was one of those conversations that you wish you could have recorded or had a court reporter in the room with you. i really felt God leading us toward some profound truth when it comes to community and relationships.

he said that high level professional coaches are some of the best leaders around and i totally agree. they teach and motivate those who play for them. and those coaches who are the best at what they do, teach and motivate players to do things that they would not be able accomplish without that coach leading them.

are we leading those who God has placed in our lives in this way? are we leading people toward the relationship with God that they were created to live?

staff retreat

so, we (phillip, kevin, brian, sarah, billy and myself) went out to the lake for our staff retreat this weekend and it was very productive.

God helped us open some discussion that we wouldn't typically ave with one another. our relationships and understanding of one another was strengthened. we also developed a mission statement and our core values. we nixed our "youth group" name and hopefully nixed the term "youth group" within our student ministry team (Northwood Student Ministry; NSM). we thought of some new potential environment names and recognized roles and structure within the organization.

we also had some fun by playing some games and just hanging out and eating with each other. i enjoyed the work and fun time this weekend so much. when we were creating and developing aspects of the ministry, that made me want to just working because i really realized this is what i love doing and this is what i was created to do. even though we were working very diligently on our student ministry department it did not seem like work at all.

what a great weekend and great leadership team we have at NSM. i am so excited about what God is doing at our church and with our department.

headache

i am very interested in where headaches come from. i mean, what causes them? i rarely get them but allison seems to get them frequently. i am one of those people who rarely gets sick and i sometimes think people are faking when they say they are "sick".

why am i talking about this? well, because today i have a major headache. all those who i thought were faking in the past, please forgive me. headache meds here i come.

blogging slacker

wow. i have been slack blogging. i have been working outside with arborscape, leading a tree trimming crew so i have not had any time to get on the computer during the week to blog. but i do today!

we are about to go on a summer road trip. i am pumped. we are going to be taking some students on some airboats (gator watching, which i've never done), and to universal and islands of adventure. i loved islands of adventure but i didn't even get to ride the spiderman ride which i have heard is the best ride at the park. so there will still be an element of surprise for me when i go there.

i have a feeling that it's going to be a great trip!

office ghost town

i just saw a tumbleweed blow by at the church office.
seriously though, no one is hear. everyone is on vacation. but i finally have a schedule at arborscape. therefore, i have a more set schedule here at the church. it's so nice.

my streak of predicting where we are eating staff lunch continued today...they tried to throw me a curveball with wild wings but i still got it right. i have a weird sixth sense of predicting where we are going to eat. long live the streak.

back home

mexico city was a blast. God is doing some amazing things down there. i really hope our team of students and leaders can bring the enthusiasm for people coming to know Christ home with them. over 1600 people came to know Jesus as their Savior on the missions trip.

it was my first missions trip so it was definitely a great experience and i had an awesome time connecting with God and our team. now, all we gotta do is put it into action hear and stay in tune with what God is doing in charleston and be ready for him to put us to work here. the task of missions and evangelism is to important not to go all out for God. we are on the frontline where life or death is decided and where heaven or hell is determined. this is the place where people have their eternity and their forever determined. if we don't sound the horn (Ezekiel 33) their blood is on our hands.

list making mode

i made a bunch of lists tonight and i felt as though tonight was a very productive night. i made a pros and cons list which was very beneficial and i made a ministry goals list for the rest of 2008. i like typing something when thinking about goals because you are more likely to take inventory if you actually type/write them down.

ideas in my head

if an idea comes into my head about something adventurous then i usually want to check it out. i don't really know how this idea came into my head but i definitely want to try it. i want to sleep outside for the entire month of july. i probably won't follow through with it but i really want to give it a go. why not?

what does peace look like?

i woke up with the question, "what does peace look like?" on my mind. The Scriptures say that we are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts (Col. 3:15). so if we let His peace rule our hearts, i can only imagine what that would look like.

i love the fact that we serve a God that is so passionate about His creation and at the same time He is so peaceful in His revolution.

i think peace looks like love. and when we show people love we show them Christ in us.

my prayer is that the Holy Spirit would mold me into a man that is directed by the peace and passion of God because out of those two actions come His love.

trust. move. love.

i spent the majority of the day yesterday at the hospital visiting my grandfather (better known as Papa and that's PAA-PAA not PAW-PA). he's doing much better. thanks for the prayers and support. he got the tube taken out and he is breathing basically on his own with a little help from an oxygen mask when he needs it. the main difficulty was getting the CO2 out of system. he is still struggling a bit to do that so please continue to pray.

it seems like for the past 2 months or so God has really been placing this idea of the burden on my life and purpose of my life both on my heart. i know i have a burden to bring the youth of america to know christ and change their generation but God is birthing something huge inside of me. i feel he is placing this burden for the poor and the oppressed in my heart but i feel as though i don't put myself in enough situations to encounter those people. there are so many opportunities to invest in the lives of those who are less fortunate that us but i feel like we overlook so many of those opportunities. i don't want to let those opportunities pass by anymore.

Mother Teresa once said, "It is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them." the burden is there in my heart. opportunities are all around. The Spirit of the Lord is here to guide me along the way. all i have to do is trust, move and love.

dreamer, yet realist

alright, the idea about sleeping outside for a month doesn't really make sense but i just cling on to ideas sometimes. one thing i do know is that God is calling me to live a radical life for Him. i do not want to get stuck in a 9-5 for the rest of my life and just live paycheck to paycheck. that is so scary to me. sure if you live a radical life for God you may not know where your next bit of money will come from but at least you know in whom you have believed. and isn't that more important?

i cannot waste my life. i just can't. God has given us all this amazing gift of life and i think He really wants us to see the importance in the life we are given. somehow society has brainwashed us to think a "career", a piece of property, some acquired materials and money is all that life is about. what do most people worry about? those things i just listed. that is not what life is about.

there's more to it. my prayer is that God will guide me along this journey called life and that i will not waste this precious gift by conforming to the world, rather that God can use me to change people's hearts and draw them close to Him.

peace.

clear your calendars for june 6, 2009!

we set a date for the wedding! june 6, 2009 at old santee canal park in moncks corner, sc. i am so excited to marry allison. allison and i have this connection that is so remarkable. we have been dating for about 2 years now and it feels like i've known her forever but at the same time when i see her i have the same excitement i had when i saw her when i picked her up for our first date. i thank God so much for her because it is so amazing how He places people in our lives at times only He can understand. God's fingerprint has been on our relationship from the beginning and my prayer is that our marriage can be a reflection of the love of Christ.

i am committing to blogging at least 3 times a week! please help me out by revisiting my blog and leaving comments and encouraging me to continue blogging.

also, please continue to prayer for my grandfather (lungs) and my family. thanks.

He knows who He is

When I pray, not only do I feel as though I learn about God's character but I also get to know who I really am. In Exodus 3 & 4 Moses encounters God and gets just a glimpse into how majestic and beautiful the Lord is. Moses also realizes that he is not worthy of this calling that God wants him to live out. Moses was filled with fear and doubt but God gives him a miraculous sign. God turns the rod into the snake and then back into rod and that is an awesome experience within itself but the part that floored me was when God tells Moses to reach into his cloak. He reaches in, pulls it back out and it is leprous. God tells him to put his hand back in his cloak, then to pull it back out and it is restored.

That moment when Moses looked down at his leprous hand is a powerful illustration of how Moses felt about himself. He already knew of his own inadequacies and it is as though at that moment he realizes God finds out that he is inadequate. But we know God knows us, even though sometimes we don't like to get real with Him. Then, when he reaches back into the cloak and this hand is restored it is as if God is telling Moses that His grace is enough, which we later see with Paul's thorn in the flesh.

God calls us. He called Moses. God knows who we really are. He knew Moses, even when Moses wasn't so sure. But what we have to realize is that God knows God. He knows who He is.

Just let your faith in Jesus Christ lead you to answer the call God places before you. Don't let doubt get in the way. Over the next two weeks, my prayer is that He continues to change us and that we can align our lives with the lives He is calling us to live.

God is the Solution

What a beautiful morning! Whenever I wake early to pray, those seem like some of the best times I have in communication with God. The spirit of expectancy that came over me this morning when I was praying about these next 21 days is indescribable. Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. Rather, He told His disciples, "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." It is so awesome that God answers prayer in the best way EVERYTIME and when we are praying in according to His will, we get to see it answered in the same light that He sees it. When I am on my knees in prayer, those are the times where God shows me who He is.

I am very excited about the fasting part of this 21 days of prayer. When I fast, I love being able to carve out that extra time with God during that time in which I would usually be doing the other practice. Fasting really stretches me; it helps me grow closer to Him and increases how dependent I am on Him.

I was reading Rodney's blog from last night before I posted this morning and it reminded me of something Filipe and I were talking about. In the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, when the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation was so dependent on God that prayer was the only answer when someone would ask how they are doing what they are doing, God seemed to have an overflow of blessings for them. I pray that whenever someone hears or asks about how God is advancing His Kingdom at Northwood Assembly, we can give Him the glory and say, "It's because we pray to Our Father."

John 3:8 says, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." The Holy Spirit, just like wind, is difficult to understand. But proof of the work of the Spirit is evident and undeniable when He begins to move. Let Him move in your life.