The devil's constume of choice

The past few days I have been in some fierce warfare. This is colossal stuff. Satan has tried his old tricks on me. He attacks my health and my relationship with my wife, and my children’s health. But I was having nothing of it.

So the wily old snake tried to throw the old curveball at me. DOUBT. I received an atomic bomb of doubt. I was so down. I have wrestled with if I was good enough. "Am I wasting my time?" I asked. "Why am I going through all this effort? Should I even blog anymore? " I lay under my blanket and seriously thought about giving up.

But we aren’t alone in our fight, friends. There are good angels that come just in the nick of time and rebuke the slippery one and his minions. When all was dark and the world looked dry, I got two emails from the good folks at SPAW in Harlan. They were like warning lights in the stormy sea guiding me back on track. They put wind back into my sails. Thank you JESUS for my friends Marian and Robert!

I am reminded that the Devil lurks in many guises. Some times he is a big scary monster. Sometimes he’s the temptation of a better life or escape in the haze of drugs or booze… sometimes he’s a dark-cloaked whisperer… But sometimes, perhaps often times even, the devil looks like a good Christian.

"GET BEHIND ME SATAN!"

Friends, let’s remember who this is all for. This is for a man that was all-powerful. The Artist of Artists that came down into my puny existence and lived that I might know what true LIFE is. He carried a cross so that I might shed my brokenness and transform into something that I can’t even imagine. Who died so that I might die with Him and pass into an infinity of possibility, a sea of worship, a life of expression with the Artist-Artist as my best friend.

We are playing Saturday night at a youth rally at the Barn south of Exira. Friends, come and worship this Artist-God. Pour out your worship for Him. Sing praise-- dance your artful dance for the King of Kings. And keep us in your prayers. Pray for strength against the devil-fool. Pray for us to be restored to health and vigor so we may offer our sacrifice of praise and worship. And most of all, friends, pray for us to keep our focus on Jesus Christ and not our musicality!

Your brother in Christ