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Archive for the ‘Worship’ Category

Turn Toward the Sun

Posted in God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Growth, The Father, tagged , , , , on May 28, 2015| 2 Comments »

It is a coolish late spring morning where I live.  As I slipped outside into the early dawn my shorts and t-shirt provided slightly less warmth than I needed, but the beauty of the pre-sunrise sky drew me in and kept me from going back inside.  As I walked I meditated upon my study the night before on spiritual growth and the classical disciplines which help us in that growth.  As I look back on my life I can see that it has been a series of growth spurts and plateaus.  It is probably much like a tree which grows rapidly during the spring and summer and then rests through the fall and winter.  I suspect we all have “growth rings” of a sort.  I recognized two other things.  Deeper intimacy with the Lord and increased practice of one, and usually more, of the spiritual disciplines were present during the times of growth.

There is an essential order to the process.  It is crucial that we recognize and keep before us the goal of our life, the goal of spiritual growth is to grow in our intimacy with the Lord.  Jesus’ death on the cross was not simply so that we could go to heaven one day.  No, His death was to remove the curse of sin which separated us from the Father and opened the door to a life of intimacy with Him.  The curse is removed immediately, but intimacy comes over time as we collaborate with the work of the Holy Spirit inside us.  So the essential order is 1) accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, 2) make intimacy with God our primary goal in life, 3) practice those activities which lead to greater knowledge of and intimacy with the Lord, and then 4) experience all the benefits, privileges, and responsibilities of a life surrendered to Him.  The benefits, privileges, and responsibilities begin showing up as soon as we begin our spiritual journey, but what I experience today is so much more than what I did when I was a young Christian.

I had been exposed to small doses of the classical disciplines over the first couple of years of my faith walk by more mature believers, but the real breakthrough came when someone gave me the book, Celebration of Discipline – The PATH to SPIRITUAL GROWTH by Richard Foster.  It is succinct, well-researched, and written in a way that I could easily understand.  I recommend it to anyone seriously desiring to grow spiritually but unsure what steps to take.  In the near future I suspect my posts will include things we discuss in our Home Group since we will be studying this over the next three months.  I am very excited because I sense the Lord wants to do something new and fresh in our group and in me.

As I continued to walk outside a shiver hit me due to the chill in the air even as my excitement was building.  I stopped and turned to look at the sunrise just as the sun was becoming visible through the trees on the horizon.  Immediately the chill was gone and I sensed a warmth on the outside that mirrored the warmth I was feeling on the inside as I had been meditating and praying to the Lord.  In that moment I was struck by the fact that as we look to the Son, Jesus, and grow in intimacy with Him, God the Father draws us into His warm embrace and fills us with His grace more and more.

At Pentecost, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples as tongues of fire.  So it is when we make it our life goal to live in intimacy with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will warm us with His Holy fire.  The closer we get to Jesus, the more we surrender ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us.  His fire is a refining fire though.  It will burn up the chaff in our life – those things that are not God’s best for us.  But with the purging and refining comes something so much better, so much greater – a deeper, richer faith and an intimacy with the Lover of our Soul that we were created for.

And that, my friend, is glorious!

Go forth to be blessed and be a blessing to someone God puts in your path today!

A pre-dawn sunrise viewed from our SC home.

A pre-dawn sunrise viewed from our SC home.

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Like the Weather

Posted in God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Worship, tagged , , , , on May 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Life is a lot like the weather.  Sometimes it is wonderful like blue skies and pleasant temperatures.  Other times it is rainy, dull, and dreary.  And on occasion a storm or hurricane decides to roll through.  For those in the northern climes we’ll say a blizzard blasts you.  Today I sit on a balcony at Myrtle Beach as tropical storm Ana decides to come ashore.  As storms go Ana is relatively mild.  Still the wind gusts and at times driving rain are scuttling the plans of many as we hunker down inside and plan to “make the best of it.”

Today several of our friends are going through hurricanes in their lives.  A precious 2 year old succumbed to cancer yesterday.  Another friend lost her only brother who leaves behind a wife and two young daughters.  Other friends are dealing with struggling relationships – marriages being attacked and threatened.  These painful events are akin to the wind, rain, and battering waves that threaten to destroy beach, buildings, and any soul who mistakenly wanders out into the storm.

Jesus talked about exactly these sorts of situations and He used a weather metaphor to do so.  In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus describes the wise and foolish builders.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I am an engineer so I know that there are many steps in building a good, solid house.  Jesus really emphasizes only one point in this story – the foundation.  You can do everything else in home construction perfect, but if you have a poor foundation the home will not stand when the earth shakes or the severe storm hits.  Jesus and His teachings are the only truly solid foundation for life.

 Just a little bit later in Matthew we see a real life example of Jesus’ authority demonstrated.  Crossing the Sea of Galilee Jesus falls into an exhausted sleep in the boat when a squall breaks out.  From Matthew 8: 23 – 27:
23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
For some storms in our lives Jesus will step in and calm the storm… the layoff passes us by, the diagnosis is marvelously / miraculously wrong, the wayward child comes to their senses and returns home.  For many storms though the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, chooses to walk with us through the storm rather than still the storm.  The promise of scripture and the experience of followers everywhere is that if the Lord doesn’t calm the storm, you can be certain He is with you in the storm.  That is my story.  Jesus’ peace, comfort, and grace have sustained and carried me through every storm I’ve experienced.  And on the other side I am a better person with a stronger faith because of it.  I have been in a particular storm for the past year plus, but I see the end of this storm on the horizon and I am excited.
As I’ve written the bands of wind and rain have continued to sweep through and yet I feel joy in my heart as if it where a beautiful, spring morning.  I know Him who is the foundation of life and He is my strength and shield.  I don’t know where you are in your life, but there is a truth our pastor says fairly frequently.  “Whoever you are you can be certain one of three things is true.  Either you are in a storm, you’ve recently come through a storm, or there is a storm in your future.”  This would be pretty discouraging IF we didn’t have a sovereign God who knew how to bring good out of every storm and Who walks with us through them.
If Jesus and His words are your life foundation, then join me in praising Him in the rain.  If you do not yet know Him, please comment to my blog and I will be happy to reach out and introduce you to the Lover of your soul who wants to be your foundation.  Ask the Lord to help you know Him.  Also pick up the bible and start reading.  The gospels are the best choice, but I would be happy to correspond with you and give you some suggestions based upon your life situation.
Be blessed today and be a blessing whether you are in the sunshine or in the rain.

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Lover of My Soul

Posted in God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Prayer, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I am moved by how deeply, how passionately God loves us.  As we approach Holy Week I invite you to pause each day and plumb the depths of what God did for us… for you 2000 years ago.  He literally dealt with sin once and for all.  Jesus, God’s Son, performed the most gracious act ever undertaken because He loved and obeyed the Father and because they both love us.  Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

I heard a story about a Railroad switchman many years ago that has stuck with me.  Back in those days switching a railroad from one track to another was accomplished by manually actuating sets of large, open gears that literally shifted the rails from one set to another.  The switchmen were the railroad employees responsible for knowing which tracks went where and how to keep the trains flowing smoothing through the yard without incident.  While this is all automated today, back then it was a task that rested upon the knowledge, quick-thinking, and physical strength of the switchman.  The story told was long before OSHA rules and regulations.

As the story was told to me one particular day a watchman had decided to take his young son to his work to show him the trains and give him an idea of what his dad did for a living.  The young lad was thrilled to see the engines and all new things in the switchyard.  While they are there another railroad employee approached the switchman with a question to which the switchman responded.  His son saw his chance to “explore” and slipped away.  The question it turns out reveals a significant drama unfolding.  A passenger train is barreling into the switchyard and has had a brake failure.  The father’s presence becomes providential in that he understands the gravity of the situation and is able to quickly determine what must be done to save the train and it’s passengers.  It’s fairly complicated, but with a few rapidly executed track switches he can prevent a certain crash and derailment which would injure and kill many passengers.  As the father runs from switch to switch making the necessary changes, he is barely ahead of the speeding train.  At the last switch he arrives with only a moment to look up before he must throw the switch only to realize making the last switch will send the train down the track where his son is seated playing with a piece of coal.  He has only two choices – either save his son and watch many people crash and die or make the switch and watch his son die.

I heard this story before I had children and it was hard to fathom the sacrifice the father made even then.  Today I have four children and it is even harder.  But this gives us a sense of the sacrifice our heavenly Father made in sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  Why did He do this?  The answer absolutely blows me away.  He did it because He loves me.  He did it because He loves you.  He did it because it was the only way we could be reconciled in our relationship with Him.

Sin… my sin, my choices to go my way, had put a barrier between the God who loves me and me.  But God never stopped loving me.  He never stopped loving you despite your sin.  In fact He knew we would be separated from Him so He made a way for us to be reconciled to Him.  He called a people group to be His chosen people.  Through this group He set up the process where by a substitution, a perfect lamb, could stand in the place of a sinner to take their deserved punishment.  The code of justice was served, the penalty was paid, and mercy was extended to the sinner.  But the blood of goats and lambs only rolled the penalty forward.  It foreshadowed God’s ultimate plan to send His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect sinless life among His chosen people.  And at the right time to become the one, perfect sacrifice for all people, for all time.  AMAZING… AMAZING LOVE!

For the person reading this right now, I believe God put these thoughts in my heart and encouraged you to read this so He can get you this message.  “He loves YOU with an amazing, hard-to-fathom, but true love.  You are so precious to Him that He gave that which was, and is, dearest to Him – the life of His Son, Jesus.  He purchased your salvation at the highest price imaginable because to Him, you are worth it.”

“Father, this day we thank you for your amazing love.  You absolutely overwhelm us with your goodness, your kindness, your mercy.  Although we don’t deserve it, we will receive it with thanksgiving.  And we love you in return.  Imperfect as it is, we offer you our love, our lives, our obedience.  God, please deepen our knowledge of You.  Help us to be transformed by Your Holy Spirit through the reading of Your Word and obedience to what it says.  Jesus, make your life inside of us grow more and more each day.  Let your love do its work in us and through us.  And love others through us today so that they might know You – the Lover of our soul.  Jesus, I pray this in Your mighty and powerful Name.  Amen.”

Be blessed and be a blessing today my friend.

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In the Sonshine

Posted in God, God Stories, Worship, tagged , , , , on February 28, 2015| 4 Comments »

I was at my parent’s home in Northeast Georgia this week when a snow storm hit.  They got 6″ of snow overnight and the morning dawned a crisp, clear winter wonderland of snow and sun.  I got my camera and hiked around in the woods and then hit the roads to see what I could see.

IMG_3662I was out in the snow the night before and I enjoyed the intense quiet of a world muffled of sound by the blanket of falling snow.  I had the feeling of being in a majestic cathedral empty of anyone except for the Ever-living One and myself.

IMG_3667As I slowly walked through the woods that morning I paused thinking I would again be surrounded by silence but instead I heard the sounds of a forest coming awake.  IMG_3685The birds were calling, in the distance a dog barked, and interestingly, every few seconds I would hear a rustling and a gentle whoosh.  I paused to ascertain the source of the sound and finally I saw it.  IMG_3712From the very tops of the trees, where the sun was just hitting, a clump of snow would release and fall to the ground.  The clump did not remain a clump for long, but usually struck a lower branch and burst into a fine powdery cloud floating to the ground.  IMG_3694If I was facing the sun the cloud of snow dust became a cloud of sparkling diamonds fluttering to earth.

The worshipful feeling was again strong as I enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation without manmade sounds other than my sometimes labored breathing and the click of my camera.  IMG_3722It’s amazing how majestic the mundane can become when it is clothed in a fresh mantle of pure white snow.  It reminded me of what Jesus does for us when we give Him our lives and put our trust in Him.  A holy exchange takes place.  We give up our sin-stained outer garments and we put on a robe of Christ’s righteousness.  From Isaiah 1:18 we read, “Come now, and let us reason together says the Lord.  Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”

IMG_3738I walked through the woods and along the road simply praising and clicking, praising and clicking – it was glorious.  I had in mind to try and get a view of Yonah Mountain, a local peak that is a few miles away from my parent’s home.  While I didn’t succeed in gaining a good vantage point, the search took me throughout the neighborhood and to many great pics.IMG_3754

As I stood at the end of the road with fields on either side that were surrounded by trees weighed down with snow another lesson came to mind.  IMG_3798I was still mindful of the whoosh of snow as a tree would shed it’s burden so I was watching with camera ready to catch the event.  I am sure I was comical looking to anyone watching.  I would be pointing at one area waiting to catch the snow just as it released and I would hear the whoosh off to my side.  Whirling to the sound I would snap a picture of a branch devoid of snow and whatever snow cloud had existed had vanished.  Of course you know what happened right after I turned… that’s right, the snow whoosh would occur back where I had been pointing just a moment before.  That lesson was that patience and trust are two key attributes I still lack.

Looking at the rows of trees bent over from the weight of the snow I thought how they represented people weighed down with the cares, worries, and problems of life.  I had even seen signs where some had broken limbs and suffered damage due to the weight.  IMG_3818As I stood watching and waiting, I realized the magnificent sunshine was melting enough of the snow in the trees that the burdens were slipping off all around.  As the upper limbs became unburdened, they stood up a little straighter and reached a little higher as if offering uplifted branches in thanks and praise to the sun that had set them free.

I realized we are the same.  We are often burdened by the difficulties life can bring.  But Jesus promises He will never leave or forsake His own.  Whatever challenge we face, we can do so knowing that the Lord of the universe is with us in the midst of it.  And just like those trees along the field we just need to patiently trust in the Sonshine to relieve us of our burdens.

I smiled and headed for home, happy for the lessons in the snow and somehow walking a little lighter realizing that a little more of my cares had melted away too.  While I wasn’t going home with the great shot of a snow whoosh, I had a reassurance of the Lord’s tender care for me and for you that was so much better than the perfect picture.

But just for good measure, the Lord provided a great opportunity to catch some snow whooshes in the final walk home.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and lessons as much as I enjoyed getting them.

IMG_3831IMG_3832IMG_3833IMG_3834

Here are a few other of my favorite pics from my walk in the Sonshine and Snow.

IMG_3724 IMG_3730 IMG_3732 IMG_3743 IMG_3750 IMG_3774 IMG_3825 IMG_3830 IMG_3835 IMG_3840 IMG_3843 IMG_3847 IMG_3858 IMG_3865 IMG_3867 IMG_3871

Be blessed today and be a blessing.

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Worship 1

Posted in Worship, tagged , , , on January 30, 2012| 2 Comments »

It was an awesome weekend of worship. The band from our church had a Night of Worship on Saturday in conjunction with the release of their latest worship CD. The 14 songs on the album are all original from different members of our church and performed by the band including members across the five campus’. The style is in the same vein as Chris Tomlin and the focus is upon our great God. If you get a chance look up the “No Other Name” album by the NewSpring Band.

Mentioning the night of worship makes me think of what worship is. As many of you know my occupation is as a Reliability Manager. I help my company’s plants understand what is necessary for the plants to run more consistently, producing product at a lower price by having the equipment do what it is supposed to do, when it is supposed to do it. One of the biggest tasks I have is to convince people that reliability isn’t just what maintenance does when the equipment breaks down. Reliability is all the activities, behaviors, and culture that have any impact upon the health and care of the equipment. Yet most persons have a very narrow view of reliability. The same is often true of the word Worship. In many cases we look at it as the time we sing praise songs. In other cases we may expand that view and encompass when we go to church. Even more progressive thinking would broaden that to say we worship when we are intentional to serving others in Christ’s name. I believe this is a fairly accurate definition although I see another level of worship that I believe we can and should aspire to and that is having the mind of Christ.

We are called to live “in Christ”. We are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are children of the King. All of these show our reality, yet so much of the time we don’t receive, perceive, or feel these truths. In many cases we can experience a nearness to God that lasts until we walk out the door of the church, or until the first trial trips us up and then we seem to fall back into turbulent ways of the world.  For me it is usually a gradual losing focus that gets my eyes off of the reality of living in Christ and onto whatever task or challenge I am up against.  A great Sunday service, a true Sabbath rest, solid praise music in my car radio can all help me maintain focus a while longer, but like a water bladder that has a pinhole leak, over time I lose that sense of joy and Christ-centered focus that buoys me above the fray and gives me such sharp focus.

I have had seasons in my life where this pattern has been broken and I experienced an extended time of divine joy.  Last year during Lent was one of those times.  As I look back at that time I see a few reasons which I will briefly mention and then I will go into greater detail in the coming posts.  1) I was committed to being obedient to a task that I know the Lord asked me to do.  2) I had other believing friends who joined with me in prayer.  3) The Lord by His Holy Spirit moved in situations and circumstances to make His presence clearly seen.  4) We were intentional about seeking and doing whatever the Lord asked us to do during this season.

It is my intention to have a Lenten discipline again this year that draws me closer to the Father.  However after Lent last year I relaxed and I know that was a mistake.  I am asking for the Lord’s guidance now on both the Lenten discipline and the follow up.  He is faithful and I am asking that He do whatever He needs to in me to grow my faith.  Won’t you join me?  To God be the Glory!

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