This post is written specifically for my Trinity friends, but anyone else is free to read it and add some useful comments (since people from all churches and walks of life may have similar needs or desires)

So…

It is my desire to help people encounter God as much as possible and in as many ways as possible.  I spend a large amount of energy helping people encounter Him on Sunday mornings, primarily through song, prayer and the reading of scripture, but I know that to have a vibrant, dynamic relationship with anyone spending 20 minutes a week with them wouldn’t create any kind of deep relationship.

I am on a mission!  I want to help people (anyone really, but again, specifically people at Trinity) discover what a dynamic, open, and deep relationship with Christ can be like.  I know that usually throwing another program at something might seem like a good idea, but is usually just a place where people can learn more information and not see real life change.

My question to you all is: what would you like to see available to you to help encourage your own personal growth in Christ?  How can I encourage, train, instruct, facilitate, etc. you best in this manner.  A relationship with Jesus is a Monday-Sunday thing, and what we do on Sunday mornings really should be a celebration of what God has been doing in our lives throughout the week, but unfortunately, for many of us, we allow life to get in the way of the most important relationship we have.

Well, that’s probably enough rambling on this subject – comment away!!
Also, feel free to ask questions, I encourage dialogue!

Have a great weekend friends!

Having read Gabe Lyons’ first book, Unchristian, I was very excited to hear the culmination of his research contained in this book.  I myself have met many people who are disenfranchised by Christians they have met, or more likely, by Christians they have heard about in the media, but as Lyons points out, there is great hope in a new generation of Christians.

This book is written in a very conversational style, making it easy to read and digest the great wealth of information he offers.  It is very encouraging to read about a group of people of all ages and from places all over the world who see the mission of Jesus Christ as a major priority.  Lyons calls this group the “restorers.”  The second half of the book describes in great detail and with hope the attitudes and actions of this group.

I would highly recommend this book, not only as a text to read for encouragement, but also as a challenge to live out the Christian life with service and sacrifice, showing others the way to Christ.

So, I couldn’t help it.
I was reading Psalm 16 this morning, and had an accompanying devotional reading on the same passage, and I couldn’t help it – I had to share it!

Psalm 16

    A miktam of David.  
¹ Keep me safe, O God,
   for in you I take refuge.
 ² I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
   apart from you I have no good thing.”
³ As for the saints who are in the land,
   they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.^c]’>[c]
   nor will you let your Holy One^e]’>[e] known to me the path of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence,
   with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Look at verse 8 – I have set the LORD always before me.  What does that mean?  Think about that, meditate on that for a minute.  Stay focused on Him.  Revere and worship Him – always.

Here’s what the writer of the devotional had to say:
If David is a worshiper’s great example, Jesus is the great fulfillment of our desire.  His Spirit in us worships God as He worshiped God on earth.  David tried to make everything in his life point to God.  Jesus not only tried, He succeeded.
Our priority, according to Scripture, must be God Himself.  Not the tings God gives us, but God.  Not the ways God leads us, but God.  Not even the worship of God, but God.  It’s so easy to understand, so hard to grasp.  Be relentless about it.  Set the Lord always before you.

Selah

Have a wonderful day friends!

I wouldn’t call myself an avid reader, but I do like to read and have recently begun to pick up some extra books to enlighten and encourage.  So, I heard about a program where I can get a copy of a book for free in exchange for writing a blog post about it.  This is the first of those posts.

I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to discover in Mark Batterson’s new book, Soul Print, but I was pleasantly surprised.  If you have read any of Batterson’s previous books, his blog, or heard him speak, this book’s accessible and friendly style will be very familiar to you.  That said, this is not only a book that would be a great encouragement to those already walking with Christ, but is also a story of Christ’s love for us to those who don’t know Him.

At first, I thought Soul Print was just going to be another “Jesus loves you, and has a great plan for your life” book, but it ended up being so much more than that.  Using the story of David as an outline, we discover God’s plan for our life has nothing to do with who we are (or who we think we are), but instead with who God is and who He created us to be.  David came from the humblest of positions to be king of Israel, and our destiny is tied up in God’s plan for our lives as well.

Our world tries to tell us that our image and worth are tied up in our clothes, our jobs, our families, our physical shape, but God tells us that our worth is tied up in His unimaginable love for us.

I would recommend this book for anyone struggling with finding who you are meant to be, or just anyone needing to be encouraged and reignited with the knowledge of the uniqueness with which we were all created.  This would also be a great book for small groups to study together with the included discussion questions sure to create some excellent dialogue.


Click here to get yourself a copy if you would like…

Why is it so hard to do what is best for us?

In many ways, we are supposed to be disciplined people, but how often do we truly live disciplined lives?  Let’s look at some simple disciplines:
Don’t watch too much TV
Don’t overeat (or eat too much bad food)
Do the dishes (this is more of a discipline for some people)
Dust the house!
Exercise
Read the Bible
Pray
Seek after God

So many things get in our way from practicing important disciplines for our lives.  Why don’t I exercise?  I’m too tired.  Why don’t I read my Bible?  I’m too busy.  It seems simple enough, we don’t do the things we should do because we’re too caught up in the things that we “want” to do that we thing we “have” to do, or because we just find a “good” excuse not to.  For the past few months, I’ve been teaching a class on spiritual disciplines at church, and I’ve discovered that first, they’re not as hard to integrate into my life as I would have thought, and second, it’s actually much better for me to live a life of discipline.

How about exercise?  Yeah, I’ve been doing that lately too.  It’s super hard work, and it makes you tired, but the interesting thing is, the more you exercise, the less tired you actually are.  Your body gets used to the activity and you end up having even more energy for the rest of the day (assuming you’re getting enough sleep at night).

Then, there’s the most important discipline of seeking after God.  The most common response I hear from people who don’t regularly spend time with God is “I’m just too busy.”  Busy with what?  Here’s what I’ve found.  I certainly spend way too much time doing things that I really don’t need to be doing.  Not that those things are inherently bad, they just take away time I could be doing more important things.  Also, I’ve discovered that when I set aside time for God it effects the rest of my life.  My heart and mind are more full of God’s Word, effecting my attitude, thoughts, speech, and relationships.

Living a life of discipline can really change us.  Getting up even when it’s nice and warm under the covers and exercising can dramatically effect us physically and spending quality time with God can really change us from the inside out.  Another great thing about being disciplined is that the more we do it, the easier it is to keep going.  The more we exercise, the less difficult it becomes, and the stronger we become.  The more we seek after God, the more we want to seek after God and the more He forms us more into the image of His Son.

So, join me!  Let’s all work on living disciplined lives together!

I’ve been doing a large amount of learning lately.

Between school, books I’ve been reading, and a class I’m teaching at church (yeah, you probably learn the most when you teach!), it sometimes feels like I’m having a mental explosion.  I suppose that it is good to be learning and it’s good to be sharing what I’m learning with others as well.

I’ve been learning about how perceptions on how music is created, performed, and heard changed significantly with the dawn of the Romantic period – and much of that thought still dominates our thinking today.  I’ve learned about a greater and higher calling for art in the church, that God truly holds our identity, not something or someone here on earth, and that God has surprises in store for us that we can’t even imagine.  I’ve also been learning how to deepen my relationship with Him through the various disciplines.  Many of them are so much broader and more fulfilling that I thought – fasting, solitude, etc.

Lots of new information.

How about you, what have you been learning lately?

Hello!

If you’re at Trinity, read this scripture (in NIV and the Message) to prepare your heart for the service on Sunday. If you’re not a Trinity person, just read it anyway because God is so incredible and we all have an ever growing desire to worship Him and delve into His Word.

Psalm 19 (New International Version)

Well friends, it’s been a super busy month with Easter and with my recital and everything, and it’s nice to be done with all of that, no matter how wonderful it all is. Just a few weeks of school left (and both written and oral exams…) and then we’ll be in China before we know it.

Goodness!

For today, I thought I’d share a little video with you all that I found today. The video itself is pretty fun, but the message is very poignant for many of today’s Christians. Take a listen and let me know what you think.
By the way, I think I fixed the comment problem, so you should be able to leave a comment below.

I want to take this post to advertise for my church 🙂

So, this weekend at Trinity is going to be soooo awesome. Mostly because we will be celebrating two super incredible days in history. The day Jesus gave up his life to defeat our sin is, of course, Good Friday. If you haven’t been to a Good Friday service at Trinity, it’s time to try it! It’s always so great, and very unique. The church is open anytime from 6:30-8:30pm for you and your family to come and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice.

THEN on Sunday we are going to have a huge celebration for Easter! How fantastic is it that not only did Jesus die (which lots of people do), but He rose again from the dead to conquer death once and for all! We don’t have anything necessarily flashy planned, just a few excellent reminders of the work that Jesus has done in our lives.

On that note, I would like to be a little transparent for a moment.
One of the many things that Jesus has saved me from is pride. Now, it’s pretty hard not to be proud when you’re so awesome (…kidding…), but for a while, I really did consider myself much better than I should have. I also tended to really look down on people who weren’t really living how I thought they should be living. God decided that I needed that out of my life, and He used a missions trip to Australia to do that. While I cannot say that I haven’t still had some pride issues since that time, I can say that everyday I move another step away from that person. God has also been at work in my life on issues of lust, anger, jealousy, and all kinds of selfishness.

As part of our service on Sunday, we will hear about the work that Jesus has done in the lives of many of our church body.

From what has Jesus saved you?