My Easter Prayer

I am blessed with youthfulness. Both in looks and attitude. Most people guess that I'm at least six years younger than I really am. I love this. Age seems to be an anchor pulling me out of a person that I am into a person that I don't want to be.

But as I find myself trapped in a sea of chaos I really have to examine this obsession with youth. Perhaps all of the real problems in my life come from the fact that I act half of my age. Perhaps all I'd really have to do is wake up one morning, raise my hands to the sides of my mouth and shout out to the world...

"I'm 32 years old!"

And everything would level out... Perhaps I could right the ship and put things back together again. But that is so hard to do. Its so hard to swallow deep and grow up. Its so hard that I stand right there at the brink, the solution right in my hands, and I delay. I delay. I ever chase youth. I ever look in the mirror and see that younger person.

My easter prayer was for me to become as good a husband as I am a youth leader... Its going to take a lot of grace to pull this one off. In your mercy, Lord, hear my prayer.

May G-squared

May Generation Genesis is coming at last! Next Sunday, May 7th at 7:00 in EHLC basement... emergent praise/postmodern worship. Thrown will be in the house! We have taken some time off for the ordeal that is prom to pass me by. I feel something building... I hope to let it out at G2. It might be mighty and loud. It might be quiet and tear-soaked. But I feel it coming.

Buckle your seat belts and prepare to experience Christ in a way you never have before. Bring a friend and prepare to worship OUR Savior, OUR WAY!

Generation Genesis
First Sunday of Each Month
EHLC Basement
7:00 PM until we are forced to leave!

Even When

I am back on the horse. I put on a Jeremy Camp CD... Restored. I just listened... both to the music and for the voice of the Lord. What happened? I heard His voice calling to me. I felt His Spirit washing over me. Everything is going to work out. No matter the outcome, I am part of His family. He wants to comfort me. He wants to restore me... and He will stick by me no matter the road. Now that road isn't guaranteed to be smooth. Its certainly not guaranteed to be easy... But I am guaranteed to have a partner to hold onto every step of the way.

Even when I stumble, even when I waste my inheritance, even when I throw a fit at the way things are and take my ball and go home... even when I close His Book, stop praying for a week, mope around listening to old U2 CDs... and feel sorry for myself... even after that... He's right there ready to pick me up and return me to his fold.

He is the best friend I have ever had. He is the only one that waits and waits and loves and loves... Even when I am weak, He is more patient than me. Even when I am a fool, He is smarter than me. Even when I doubt, He stands steadfast. He is my best friend.

Even When
Jeremy camp

you know and you see

the times of my defeat

when i fail to realize

your kindness reaches

through all my fragile fears

of wasting any years

and i see you go beyond

my silent feelings

even when i wrote my life away

you still receive me

even when i wrote my life away

you still receive me

Repost: Love

Or originally posted 2/21/2006.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

1 Corinthians 13:3

What is real love? Many people think it has something to do with reward. They ask, “What do I get from this relationship.... Why am I putting so much effort into it? What is the return?” That is how the world sees love. But it isn’t the love that Paul spoke of in the bible.

But it is possible, now I know, to love something-- someone even-- in a selfless way. You can love them for what they are going to give forward to the world. You can invest time and effort into your relationship because of the promise of a different kind of return. Some day, some where you will see a big list of things that your investment reaped and you can smile and say, “WOW, I helped put that light into the world....” and that is what it is all about.

Other people don't get that. In fact, they hate it. They attack real love and try to stamp it out, twist it, destroy it, mock it or snuff it from the world. They want love to be about selfish reward; be it sex or monetary or greed or possession or obsession. But that isn't love. That is control.

There is love without control, free and perfect love. Love that exists while opening the cage and letting the bird fly free. Love that my grandfather showed me in his basement. Love for a people you are ready to die for. Jesus loved me. I have found things that I truly love. I am ready to suffer for that which I love.

Lord, be with me as I carry this cross. AMEN

Martha and Mary

At the Home of Martha and Mary As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Luke 10:38-42

We all need the support of our friends. Jesus had good friends. Let's take a look at two of them.

Martha got things done. We need people like that! She offered Jesus her house. She cooked, prepared a place to stay, got all the hard details done. But Jesus had been on the road for a long time. He had been ministering to the masses, laying hands on the sick, healing the crippled, giving the blind sight, casting out demons. What did Jesus need? What kind of helper did he really NEED?

Mary didn't look to Jesus' physical needs but to his emotional needs. Mary sat with Jesus, close, down at His feet and listened to Him. She showed Him a different kind of love. She was supportive of His mission. She showed that she was on His side, and that she longed to know every detail of who He was and where He had been and where He was going.

Sometimes we just need Mary at our side. Sometimes our physical needs are SO secondary to our emotional and spiritual needs, that even though we have been lost in the desert for ages, we would forgo a drink of water for a moment in a caring person's arms, to see a smiling face, to know that you aren't alone on the road... that someone else is sharing this walk with you.

Thank God for placing Marys in our lives. We couldn't make it without them.

Fumbling in the Dark

Shadows Prove the Sunshine

Switchfoot

Sunshine, won't you be my mother
Sunshine, come and help me sing
My heart is darker than these oceans
My heart is frozen underneath

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight,
Dry eyes in the pouring rain well
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine


I teach photography. Sometimes when we are in the darkroom you can get disoriented and fumble for the way out. There is a eerie fear in total darkness. When lost in the dark, you scan the black for light. It doesn't have to be much.... the smallest ray can be like a beacon to draw you towards the exit.


Shine on me,
Let my shadows prove the sunshine

When we are down and lost in shadows, its easy to think that we are going to be eaten by the blackness. But as Switchfoot reminds us, shadows are created by the coming light. Shadows prove that the sunshine is coming. Jesus is coming. The Master is coming our way. He's reaching out into the dark to pull us out of the shadows and into a warm, bright world.

Embrace that healing light today. Shine on me... erase my shadows with your sunshine.

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105

No change

I want to hold onto everything
I want to melt into this moment
and just stay with all my pieces intact
I want to collect, like memories in a scrapbook
And cling to the album of remembrance as I tumble into time
I don’t want this time to end
I don’t want this moment to fade
into all the other memories of my life

But the more I try to hold onto something,
The more I cling,
The more I squeeze,
The more it wiggles away
Like sand drippling through the hour glass I watch
My breath is frozen
My heart pounds
My ears filled with a thick drone
As the granules slip away
Will I be left with nothing?

Hold me, sweet Jesus, as time erodes
Call to me, sweet Savior, as everything changes
Nurse me, sweet Shepherd, as I battle these demons
Give me a light, give me a path, give me a way
See me through this hour
See me through this dark shadowy valley
See me through to the light of day
See me back to your grace and your glory
Pick me up on your shoulders and carry me home

I am nothing without you!

A Trusty Saying

I always quote songs. When a youth has a problem, I look to the words of the Bible but then I will find a song that they can hang onto. Music is like medicine. Yesterday I listened to In God's Country literally close to 50 times. I hung on the words... but most of all I was blown away by the Edge's guitar solo... the haunting, piercing chime-like sound coming in over the rumbling bass and low tom pounding. That sound was what my soul felt like. It was the same echo, the same pain, the same cry.

Paul quotes songs in his letters to his buddy Tim. A pastor that he had raised from a young man to see him installed as a great leader in the early church, Timothy was more than a friend to Paul, he was more than a son, more than just another Christian that Paul loved in the brotherly way. Tim was Paul's partner in ministry. In the early days, Tim was there giving Paul support, even when things weren't going well. Then as Tim grew as a church leader, Paul was there to give guidance and lift him up. Now, as Paul suffers in the purgatory of a Roman jail, he writes to his dear, dear companion and tells him to keep on working for Jesus... and to remember to pay him a visit before he dies.

He quotes this dear friend a song, perhaps one that they had sung together in a better time. He says, Remember these words... they are good for your soul...



Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
we will also live with him;

if we endure,
we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,
he will also disown us;

if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

2 tim 2:11-13

Enter into relationship with Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and you enter into a new life. Everything shifts and you become a child of God. You are His and He is yours.

If we turn our lives into a work of art for Him... it is then that we live in HIM. We become heirs to the Kingdom. Our walk with Christ will continue in heaven. Oh, the day I see Him in heaven and I bow down at His feet and weep my tears of joy for they will be wiped away by His very hand. Praise GOD! The day is coming.

But oh, friends... Stay close to Him. Do not reject Him. Do not run from your promises. Do not give up your link to the Lord... for if you are not linked to Him you are linked to sin... and sin is the devil's only real power over you. Do not deny Him or on that day of Judgment you will stand before God alone... Jesus no where in sight. And you will have to make an account of each of your own sins... And friends, there is not a list long enough to scribe all that I have done wrong. I either have Jesus as my attorney... or I face eternal damnation for my pitiful failures.

But alas, Paul's lyrical quote gives us hope. We don't have to carry the burden. We don't have to be perfect. We don't have to be doubtless. We don't have to stand alone. For when we are WEAK... HE IS STRONG! And oh, friends, I am often weak. But Jesus will carry me over the finish line.

Jesus loves me! This I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak, but He is strong

Yes Jesus Loves Me... The Bible tells me so

Sorry

Sorry loyal blog readers. I haven't made a meaningful post in a while. Prom really wiped me out then yesterday I got REALLY ILL. I am at work today but don't feel very steady.

I am also struggling with doubt and depression today. I feel like the sky is falling. Pray! Pray! Pray! I need peace and clarity. I need to hear His voice clearly. I need to know that He's going to follow me... even when I fade.

In God’s Country
U2

Set me alight, we'll punch a hole right through the night

Every day the dreamers die to see what's on the other side

She is liberty, and she comes to rescue me

Hope, faith, her vanity

The greatest gift is gold

Sleep comes like a drug in God's country

Sad eyes, crooked crosses, in God's country

Naked flame, she stands with a naked flame

I stand with the sons of Cain

Burned by the fire of love

Burned by the fire of love.

Sleep comes like a drug in God's country

Sad eyes, crooked crosses, in God's country

Prom is over! Early morning antidote

I ever chase youth...

The Big Dance

This is the last big push for prom. The big event is tomorrow afternoon, evening and early morning. I have seen things go from chaos and insurrection to beautiful masterpiece. I have pulled through this event with the help of a few very strong friends that have really picked me up and carried me through this. I owe them so much.

When you look at the works of art that stand on our stage for grand march it makes every insult and attack milt away. My vision is realized and its amazing. But as I stand before the draw bridge that the girls will walk out I wonder... "What does prom celebrate?" As I gaze upon the ice castle where the boys will emerge in their tuxedos, I pause and think... "What are we doing here with this grand regalia? What are we worshiping?"

Prom is a celebration of youth and beauty. It stands as a time where kids take a break from their busy schedules and dress up and have fun. It’s a party... a day away. Is that ok? Sure! Why not. I love to see my kids, especially the girls who normally wear jeans and t-shirts in their fancy gowns, their hair and nails done professionally. For many its the only day they will were makeup that year. But what about the commitment?

I spend countless hours this month toiling over every detail. From every decoration to meal details, to seating charts and dj details and contracts and table clothes. I am not near the art teacher in the spring that I am in the fall. Is that ok? I don't know. I sure put on beautiful proms. If that is your priority than I guess that its fine. But what about the financial cost?

Our school... just the junior class, spends about $3,000 dollars on prom. That doesn't even begin to figure in what the parents bring in for donations and spend on door prizes, casino night merchandise and food. Then there is what the optimists spend on the early morning breakfast and grand door prize. That is quite the total I am sure. But that doesn't begin to figure in the expense that each youth (or more accurately often the parents) spend on prom. They get nails done, get hair fixed up, wax their brows, buy dresses, rent tuxes, fix up cars... some may even rent a limo. They buy flowers and jewelry and makeup and on and on. This all adds up to equal the total amount that we apply as the financial commitment of our community on prom... on a dance... on one night that glorifies beauty. Is that ok?

How many mouths would that feed? How many homeless would that shelter? How much medicine would that buy? How much good could we do with that money? That is the question. Where are our values? Where are our priorities? So as I head to prom in 24 hours I will have a heavy heart. I am the coach of the beauty show... I am the head of the big dance. Am I using my talents for the right endeavors?

Who's Your Daddy?

We all want to be on the winning team. We all want to think that we are good, right folk. But here is a reality check folks. John says it plain and clear in his first letter.

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

1 john 3:7-10

So who's your daddy? Are you a child of God or are you a child of the devil? Do you follow Father-God or father-Satan? You can't have it both ways. Those who say, "My sins are covered... I can do whatever I want" take the cross of Jesus Christ for granted. It belittles His sacrifice and that is a foolish game.

Those who abide in Christ find new life. Those who hide in His shadow and use Him as an insurance policy or as a reason avoid responsibility or consequences aren't living to please Him. They aren't living to follow His will or to walk in His ways. It makes me wonder if they truly know him. They are living to please their fleshly desires and follow their own worldly fancy.

This doesn't mean that we Christ-followers become perfect, blameless people. The process of becoming into His imagine is a lifelong venture. We always fight temptations-- that root of the old nature lurks in us... but as we grow closer and closer to Christ, we yearn to ever please Him. We constantly look to Him for strength and guidance and He works in us with his saving grace. God is our good parent, leading us, nurturing us... sometimes telling us no. Through our daily walk with Him, He changes us with His AWESOME LOVE. He works on us until that faitful day that we become refined in the next Kingdom like pure gold.

So next time you have a choice to make, stop and think. Who is your daddy? Who is working in your heart? Will your actions be pleasing to Christ or the evil one.

Power Prayer

They asked me to let them pray for me... I didn't hesitate.
I heard the voice of a teenage male say, "YEAH! BEEN WANTING TO DO THAT!" I had goose bumps.

I nodded. I have been waiting... my soul has been waiting. I have been hungry. Too often I give. I am the prayer guy. They come to me. I place my hands upon them... I give. I want to receive.

They circled around. There were a bunch of them. Most of them teens. I could feel His breath. I asked, "How do you want me?" meaning where and how. In my little troupe we would do a "GROUP HUG". But I was on their turf.

A voice said, "We'll take you as you are..."

I said, "I may fall, so I might as well start on my knees." I got down. Hands on my shoulders. Hands on my back. One strong hand on my left shoulder... not physical... but I felt full when it heavily came upon me. Ryan stood before me and laid a hand upon me.

I looked to the youth that I had brought along for the service. She was hanging back a few feet from the circle. I said, "I want her in on this too." Meaning I wanted her to pray for me, knowing that God works through her in marvelous ways. But before I knew it, she was on her knees next to me with hands laid on her as well.

They prayed. First Ryan... words of encouragement. Words that build. I was blown away. Everyone then. First in English... then a few in tongues. Then the person behind me to my right... in a strong voice spoke and drowned out the others. I could still hear them... but time seemed to stop as I focus on hers. Suddenly, I wasn't being prayed for by this circle of believers. Suddenly I was filled with a light and I felt a powerful presence, like being at the feet of Jesus Himself. I bowed lower... as low as I could and just cried out to Jesus. I let the words flow. I have no idea what they were but they said everything I needed to say. I spoke not to this girl or this youth pastor or my own youth... I was speaking to Him.

The only thing I can come close to comparing it to is the feeling I have as I am taking the bread and wine. I feel that union... that connectivity.

Soon I was returning to the world of FAoG in Harlan. They were done praying except one voice. Perhaps it was Ryan's. They backed away. I still knelt. A trickle of words still leapt from my mouth so I foolishly covered it with my hand. I didn't want to move. I wanted to stay right there forever. I looked at my youth. She had this look on her face. She looked like Moses coming down off the mountain. We smiled at each other for a moment.

Finally I got up and wandered around in a daze. Perhaps this is being drunk on the Spirit? Whatever it is, we rode back to town in silence... just speechless.

We Are Hungry

Lord I want more of you
Holy Spirit rain down on me
Lord I need more of you
Living breath of life come fill me up

We are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for the more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for the more of You

We lift our holy hands up
We want to touch You
We lift our voices higher and higher and higher to You

We are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for the more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for the more of You

There will come a day when we will be in a BIG circle of believers. We will bow and we will commune with God in a way even more personal than what I felt tonight. On that day... ZAM! I will be complete. I will be fed to my fill. That hunger in my soul will finally disappear.

What are you listening to?

What I'm Fighting For
Matisyahu

What I'm fighting for
Is worth far more than silver and gold
What I'm fighting for
Is a chance to unite the past
With the brothers coming home at last
Fighting together for light

Sons & Daughters of Abraham
Lay down to a higher command
Don't be tricked by the axl man
God's wisdom revealed in a holy plan

A chance to unite the past
With the brothers coming home at last
Fighting together for light

To Zion we roam & we're not all alone
Unite and you will find
What I'm fighting for
Is worth far more than silver and go-gold
What I'm fighting for
Is a chance to unite the past
With the brothers coming home at last
Fighting together for light

To Zion we roam & we're not all alone
Unite & you will find
What I'm fighting for

I have been rocking the Matisyahu lately. I don't know if its worshipful being Jewish reggae... but I'm just happy to have something that sounds like Sublime and quotes Psalms! Rock on Jewish Dude!

Don't close your eyes

It’s easy to get down. It’s easy to loose hope. It’s easy to decide life is hopeless and there is nothing worth living for. But let’s look today at who is behind these thoughts and who has a better way.

Life is inherently unfair. Things happen to us that we do not deserve. Your parents might die in a car wreck when you are little. Your house may burn down and kill your brothers and sister. You may be born with a disease that leaves you crippled and different than everyone else. You may be fat. You may be ugly. Someone may hurt you and make you feel like you are broken. Everyone is promised that sin will wreck their lives. This is a reality of this world. It is a byproduct of the fall. If this was not so, God the Father wouldn’t have had to send his only begotten son to die for that brokenness.

But you still hurt and you still can’t seem to find a way out of your troubles? So you think about quick, easy outs. You think about death. You think about jumping off- taking matters into your own hands. Forget God’s plan… you are ready!!!

Let's look at two examples the New Testament gives us on this topic. Jesus GAVE his life, a sacrifice for others. He willingly placed others needs before his own safety. He allowed himself to do so that YOU might live.

Judas, on the other hand, he took his life. Wrecked by guilt of what sins were on his hands, he selfishly took control. He ended his life thinking only of his own sorry self.

This is not Christianity! Being a Christ-follower involves giving up control to the will of Father-God, just like Jesus did in the Garden on the Mount of Olives. If we fall into a sea of our own self-pity we fool ourselves... we give control over to the devil and we die. We live life in the reflection of Judas, a betrayer... and not Jesus our Savior.

Jesus taught us that life is precious and that death is the work of the 'thief'. John 8:44 says that Satan is a "murderer" and the "father of lies". The feelings of despair that lead to suicide are caused by some of his lies. Jesus teaches us to embrace the opposite. He wants us to have LIFE! New Life in HIM! He said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

So what is the answer to feelings of despair and hopelessness? Make no mistake; these feelings are a result of the cancer that eats spiritually at this world. This cancer is sin... the devil's tool. There is only one REAL remedy to the sins of the world... Faith in God and the promises made and fulfilled by Jesus on the cross.

We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.

Psalms 33:20-22

Jesus won't just take your cares if you ask him to, he's begging you to. He loves you and he's calling you. He's watching you suffer and he's pleading for you to cast off the yoke of sin that is weighing you down. He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

Salvation isn't just securing eternal security. Salvation is placing trust in the Lord, giving everything to Him... mostly your TRUST! If we believe that Jesus is Lord and place our trust in Him and we walk with Him He becomes in us and we gain a new life in HIM! Our old sins are washed away. We become new creations in HIM! We break our old bonds of sin and become attached to HIM. If you are still a slave to your old sin... let it go and really trust in Jesus... don't just say a prayer... don't just go to the altar... ALTER YOUR LIFE! Jesus is there and He's ready to change you and take away your burdens and give you peace!

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

1 John 2:3-6

Transform your life into a reflection of Jesus Christ... never give up or give in to the pressures of the devil... Don't let your life become a reflection of Judas the betrayer. Find forgiveness. Find salvation in Christ. Find new life. Find a new beginning. Don't just go to Jesus... run to him and shout and weep and throw yourself down and give it all too Him.

This is your Life

Switchfoot

yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead

yesterday is a promise that you've broken

don't close your eyes,

don't close your eyes

this is your life and today is all you've got now

yeah, and today is all you'll ever have

don't close your eyes

don't close your eyes

this is your life, are you who you want to be

this is your life, are you who you want to be

Jake the Drake Update

Hey Brant! How's it going?!

You know I never thought I gave you guys the low down on how Spain went so I thought I'd send the message.

God did a lot of amazing things in Spain. We were split up again into three cities (Vic, Barcelona, and Gerona) and I was in Vic. We have been to Vic three years in a row now but have never seen as much fruit from the city as this year. Three people prayed to receive Christ and we meet a student at the local university who says that his friends all call him a Jesus Freak.

Last year one whole family came to faith in Christ but this is the first year we actually met another Christian who was on fire for God before we ever talked to him. He's already shared the gospel with his friends and so it was encouraging to both him and us to be able to hang out with him and his friends. The gospel was probably shared one-on-one with over 100 people in the week we were there and God did amazing things in some of the other cities as well. The whole week Malachi 1:5 was in my head as well.

You will see it with your own eyes and say,
"Great is the LORD -even beyond the borders of Israel!"

In other news, God has been doing some pretty neat things at Drake. We have a concert at my house next weekend that will be alcohol free and the talent that is performing is pretty much church bands from both our church and a sister church up in Minnesota. This weekend is a weekend that many people will go and get wasted and so we're hoping to be providing an alternative to the night for those who do not want to drink. Umm, God has led me to go on staff with the church, ahhh! An exciting but nervous thing since I will have to do support-raising for myself. And finally, I will be giving a poster presentation at the next science conference (the 27th) on Intelligent Design and how schools should handle it in the science classroom.

I know you had talked to me before about possibly taking the kids to Des Moines for Alive some night so I thought I'd also let you know that there's about 3 more weeks of the campus service left. It's again on Thursday nights at 8:30 PM. This week we have a national speaker, Tom Short (www.shortreport.com) coming to talk about The Davinci Code (you know all the lies and such it promotes). And there's no telling what's up for the next couple weeks after that. I hope all is going well in Elk Horn and continue to keep you in my prayers.

In Christ,
Jake Bennett

More on Jake

Almost Heaven

More West Virginia Memories

Tripple Post Saturday!

Can it be? Can I actually have three posts in a single day? COOL!

Here is an email from a former leaguer and good friend who endured the tornados two days ago in Iowa City, IA. Pray for those who have lost in these storms. Praise God for His awesome work also. God is at work in all things... Some times we have to look harder than others.

Hello,
As i'm sure you already heard on the news today, last night a series of tornadoes ripped through downtown IA city, and caused lots of damage to the downtown area.

Last night after the storm had passed and the all clear was sounded, some friends and i took a walk and looked at all the destruction. The worst of it was around Iowa Avenue, friend's houses were damaged (they're fine), traffic lights didn't work, trees and cars were tore up and flug everywhere, windows blown out, and the ENTIRE ped-mall had been roped off with caution tape by the police and national guard. (supposedly there were gas leaks).

The most amazing thing i saw last night had to have been near the hospital. We were walking near the hospital and we saw sitting there in the parking lot a devistated mini van, the side windows all broken up, and the doors dented. as we came closer to it for closer inspection, there was an elderly couple that came behind us and said "that was our van, we were on Jefferson Street when the tornado hit, and some lumber with nails flew through our windows, we got bloodied up a bit from the glass, but otherwise we're fine."

The husband of the couple opened the door on the driver's side, and held up three large pieces of wood with sevral protruding nails in it. "We're lucky to be alive," the wife said, "someone was really watching over us tonight."

It was really cool to see that little glimse of God's good work last night, you know? I mean he was watching over all of us, but it's still amazing that they survived, and God is really the only explination i can think of as to why they did.

I just thought you would find that interesting,

Angela

Everywhere I Go!

Yesterday I woke with a smile on my face. I just felt close to God... I walked down to the bakery and got a cup of coffee. I had my Jesus Journal and scribed some freeform poetry and worked on the half dozen terminally unfinished songs I always work on. When my coffee fix was satisfied I strolled up to the church and strummed my guitar. I rolled out the door at about ten o'clock and the sun was shinning and birds were churping.

Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Psalm 106:1

Spring has sprung! The cold frost of winter is long gone. Freedom from the cold bite of the frozen earth and new life popping out everywhere was so inspiring. I began to sing as I came down Main Street on foot. I sang a song by Jeremy Camp.

Right Here

All the world is watching
All the world does care
Even when the world weighs on my shoulder now,
These feelings I can bare
Because I know,
That you're here,

Everywhere I go,
I know you're not far away,
You're right here
You're right here, yeah

At first I whistled. Then I sang softly. Soon my joy was overflowing and a began to sing as loud as I could... People driving by and entering the downtown business looking at me wide eyed... especially since I don't know more than a few dozen of the words.

Praise God for the Spring.

Like Mike

When I think about special times, really special times in my life, I can quickly form a list in my mind’s eye. I see them laid out before me, like a collage made of fragments of photos spanning my years of existence. As I gaze at them I can see that there is a common thread that links together the mosaic of my life. Some stand out strong… formative… indelible in my mind. I remember my grandfather's woodshop in his basement. I remember how special and loved I felt there. I remember the way I felt when I watched Mr. Rogers. He said that he loved me no matter what, unconditional love. Other moments share this theme, each with this warm feeling of being surrounded in a warm nest of love. It is this shepherd-like quality that I so identify with.

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Acts 20:28

And that is what I long to share with my youth. On our mission trips there is this special moment on Thursday night where we have a foot washing ceremony. After a person's feet are washed, the leader offers to pray with the youth. These prayers of intersession can be short, rote blessings… or can be long power prayers where the two share back and forth what the Spirit lays on the participants’ hearts at that time. You can guess which one I go for. I have been a crazy prayer guy. YEAH!

There is this awesome feeling of closeness that I have only experienced in this sort of communion, two believers snuggled close in a hug, bound together by an outpouring of the spirit and words just coming… words that build… words that edify… words that make you who you are and who you want to be and transform you into the new person in Christ’s image that YOU HAD TO BE! I love prayer. And know that while I seem to have some sort of a gift for this sort of thing, I don’t take the credit for being good at prayer (Michael Casey states in Towards God that there is no such thing as good or bad prayer. Both bring you closer to God, which means it’s a success… see Romans chapter 8). But I do know that I am not afraid to let the Spirit work through me. Its all Him.

More of YOU… Less of me. –Jeremy Camp

But where did I pick this up? What happened that turned me from a hardened hearted fool who wasn’t into praying or crying or sharing my feelings into a crying, praying, hugging Jesus freak? To understand that you must know Mike. Mike was my pastor, my mentor, my shepherd, my councilor, my teacher…. And Mike is my friend. Mike is my inspiration. Mike has the kind of heart that I strive to have.

Mike isn’t with us anymore. But everyday I remember what he was. I remember the way he pulled you in real close, put his arm around you and asked, “How are you doing?” I remember that way he prayed with you… He would hug you tight, place his mouth by year ear and say, “Dear Jesus, thank you so much for this sweet child. He is the light of the world. Build him up daily with your life-changing GRACE. May he walk with you everyday of his life…”

When I draw someone in close to share a prayer of intersession, I am just doing what I witnessed Mike do so many times. He wasn’t there to perform a ritual… it was certainly no absolution of sin… Mike was always quick to point out that a much better pastor did that for us all two thousand years ago. He was there to build up that person with words, to bring a blessing of the Holy Spirit, to make that person feel so loved, so changed, so blessed, so at peace with who they are in the grand scheme of God’s perfection that they would leave walking on clouds. Prayer with Mike was like a mushroom on Super Mario Brothers. It built you up and prepared you for spiritual combat; be it missions work or daily struggles.

Everyday I strive to be the kind of shepherd Mike was to our little group. Lord may I find his heart to serve and his love for people. AMEN.

The Blood

Tonight was my favorite night of the year. Tonight is the night we celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. In my life I have a short list of definitive moments. I count my selection into TAG in the 3rd grade and meeting Judy Combs as one of them. I also rank meeting my wife high on the list.
Also on the list are having my kids, taking my first painting class with David Dunlap, and applying for a job in eastern Nebraska (my derogatory name for western Iowa).

But when it comes to the big picture, when it comes to eternity... I have a shorter list. Number one on that list was getting my arm twisted into coming to my first Easter Walk. To see my students preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to me, a prodigal son... trying his best to flee from God... It was life changing. It started a process of defrosting my heart, a process that saved me, not just from any short-term consequence. It saved my SOUL. Saved from death. Saved from the wiles of the devil and saved from the bondage of sin (I'm working on that last one... some days are better than others).

Tonight was our Easter Walk. It was just like other years but even more glorious.
Pastor opened in prayer. I sang an offering song, It was Love, an original. Then Amanda read a great set up about the passion. I may try to post it later. She did such a great job. She has come so far since last year when she read some stuff for League. She is becoming a great leader, public speaker but most of all, her heart is becoming every day more a reflection of Jesus Christ.

After a Michael W. video, we sent the audience to the stations. They returned to find Jesus on the cross. When they take him down it is so heart breaking. The guards place him in the tomb and the stone is rolled across the entrance and boom it is shut. And my Jesus is dead... and my Jesus is in the tomb.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8

Calla did the closing prayer. It turned into a soul-searching event with each member writing a private confession on a slip of paper and placing it at the foot of the cross. I don't know when last I felt so convicted by the Holy Spirit in that building. I wrote my prayer... "Be a better husband. Be a better father. Keep my relationships right and pure. Give me strength to be the same person at church, at school and home and in the dark when no one is watching. Thank you for dying for me and thank you for not giving up on me. AMEN"

After everyone had laid their confessions at the cross, folks filed out. But Two girls, still dressed in their bible-era costumes, made their way up to the alter and sat down cross-legged and held each other and wept, prayed, comforted and shared private stories. Mostly they wept.

I was really worried. Twenty minutes went by. I was taking down the cross and they still sat there on the floor and shed tears. So I asked Amanda what was wrong. Could I help her? How can I fix whatever got her so upset. She answered in words I won’t soon forget.

She said, "It hurts to know why He is up there. And not just why He's up there... but everything I do is right there with Him. And WOW! It gets me."

Speechless, again I see the glory of God revealed upside-down. The poor made rich. The weak made strong. The teenager made wiser than her youth leader. She just didn't cry during the video. She just didn't cry during the prayer or the confession. Her heart was touched. She was changed. It will take her a long stretch of time to process the extent that God loves her... And I am humbled.

God, work through our group. Work through our Easter Walks. Work through our kids. May they ever point to you and your sacrifice. AMEN.

I found it

Ok Bono... I get it.

In his song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Bono (of U2 if you live under a rock or are Amish) says that he's lived life as a sinner, he's confessed his sins to Jesus, he's spoke with the tongue of angels and ran back to the life of sin. And he still has found what he's looking for.

For a long while I didn't understand what this song meant. I thought it was about Bono wanting to leave his faith behind. But with all my struggles lately, I get it. I feel its more a song about find a place where we belong inside this big world of the body of Christ. Sometime we feel lost and homeless even though we know who is our Master.

I find myself in that location. My church preaches the right message... but the worship so dry. I love the readings and liturgical parts. But the music... OH MAN! I want to jump and raise hands and call out the songs I love. I have tried pole barn mega churches, but many of those are too lightweight theologically. And they don't seem to get grace.

I have good friends at the First AoG in Harlan and at the E-free in Audubon. But the Lord hasn’t leaded me there. I still have so much Lutheran in me… I’m not quite ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But still I twist in the wind. Never quite feeling like I have found what I am looking for, I continue searching for a place where I fit in. Where is my niche? As a charismatic, evangelical, confessional Lutheran/punk rocker/youth minister/artist-type, find a match has been hard in rural Iowa.

But today that is all different! Today that has all changed. I have big news….

I found it! Praise the Lord! I found it! I found it! Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines has an emergent service on Thursday night called Immersion and it is spot on everything that I try to do and want to do and want to be and want to nurture. The music was rocking and all songs we play or ones I listen to. The message was aimed right at my current issues. It was like the pastor was speaking to me. AND GRACE!!! They preached GRACE! And the Holy Spirit was there. I walked in and felt Him immediately. And I wept in the spirit all night.

Lastly, it ended in the Table. I can leave many of my Lutheran traditions, but I don’t think I can live in this life without my Lutheran Communion. We took the bread and wine while we sang You Alone by DC*B. I returned to my seat and wept and wept and just thanked Jesus for His life-changing gift.

I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!

Temple or Den of Thieves?

I've have something on my mind. Most of the time I focus on God's love and forgiveness. But I want to tackle a subject that may suprise some of my close friends. I think you will find that this does have to do with God's love... God's most precious gift that He has bestowed upon us when we are young adults, a gift that we are often too quick to discard.

Friends, Jesus says that our bodies are temples. A lot of my good Christian brothers and sisters think this is about tattoos. But I think it has something far more to do with what goes on inside the temple. When Jesus cleanses the temple, he is angry because His Father’s house was turned into a den of thieves. Who dwells in your house, the Holy Spirit? Or Thieves?

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”
Matthew 7:6

How are you treating your body? Do you treat it like a valuable gift from God? Like fine pearls? Or do you throw it away? Do you treat yourself like you are special, something to be treasured? Or do you give yourself away in order to find acceptance?
How are you feeding your special inner self? Are you building yourself up on a steady diet of the Word, good Christian fellowship, time with friends and family? Or are you feeding your inner being with the word’s trash? Do you fill your insides with a steady diet of porn? Do you feast on the vulgarities that the modern world deems as cool?

I can’t make you love and respect yourself. I cannot walk with you every moment of your lives, especially those of you who have left for college and careers. I can point you towards the words of our Personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Don’t throw it away. Value your sexuality. It is a gift from God that can make you happy in ways that only God can imagine. But it can also be just like a drug. It will drag you down a long winding road of destruction. And you will wake up one day empty, broken, alone and when you look at your heart you won’t find the Spirit… you will only see the mess left behind from a den of thieves.

Respect yourself and what God has given you. Don’t throw it away.

I still believe

I hear a lot of learned men saying a lot of thing about my God, my Bible, my Spirit. They tell me how I am supposed to believe. They tell me how far away I am supposed to believe God is. They tell me how I am supposed to read, understand and apply His Word. They tell me how I am supposed to understand the stories of His Holy Spirit. The whole time I hear logic, learning, studying.

I am reminded of the movie Dead Poet Society. In it, English professor John Keaning begins his study of poetry by opening to the first chapter of the text on how to interpret poetry. He instructs the students to tear it out. He says that the mechanical, scientific method of rating poetry robbed it of its power, its humanity, and its ability to move the soul.

How are we reading our bibles? How are we looking at them? Is God a powerful Being that revealed amazing things two thousand years ago and now we dissect and analyze the footprint of that revelation? Was the Bible written for that audience alone? Or is God just as active today. Does His truth not ring just as true TODAY? When He revealed the Word, did He not see us and weave into the passages messages for us? Does the Holy Spirit not make it real to us each day? Or are we only left to study someone else's revelation?

Are there miracles today? Can we still lay on hands and have amazing things happen in Jesus' name? Or are our only weapon words? Is our only miracle leading someone else to Christ? Was the Holy Spirit poured out to the witnesses of the Crucifixion and now is tame and mild... Are miracles gone? I tell you friends; I don't even know if I recognize their faith!

I still believe in a living, loving God. I believe He is just as powerful, just as awesome, just as miraculous today as He has ever been. I believe in His life altering Word. Not in its distant truth across some bridge, but in its living power! I don't buy into the notion that we have to trust in our own scientific study of the text. Let the Spirit make it real in our hearts. And most of all, I know my Holy Spirit. I know the miracles that He can perform TODAY. I have seen the damaged made whole. I have seen the demon-possessed set free. I have seen the crippled straightened. I have felt the power of the Spirit wash over me and erase all of my broken, nasty parts. I have prayed in ways that only my Father can understand. I have sung with a richness of the Spirit. I have experienced things that aren't gone with an age past. The Spirit is alive and waiting to be poured out.

Some say I am a mystic, an emotionalist, a charismatic, a holy roller. True, true, true and true. But I would rather be a mystic than a dried-up logical scientist any day.

I still believe in Your Holy Word! -Jeremy Camp

Its such a good feeling!

I remember feeling safe in watching Mr. Rogers as a child. I remember his songs "You Are Special to Me" and "Its You I Like." He made me feel like he was singing it right to me. In a way he was. Fred Rogers wrote his songs for all the little boys again girls out in America that had the same feelings inside. He sent them a soothing message of acceptance and love. He sang his songs for all-- anyone would seek out his show and become part of his neighborhood.

Years later, I found out that Fred Rogers was a minister. It didn't surprise me. Wasn't he always spreading the Gospel? God loves you and He has big plans for you. He made you special. He has written a wonderful message for anyone who seeks out his truth. When we stop worrying about earthly things and accept ourselves as God made us, when we stop trying to do things on our own and trust in that loving call of the Lord, real awesome things happen.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God made you special. He wants you to be just as safe and comforted as you were as a child curled up in your blanket watching Mr. Rogers. And what a wonderful neighborhood He is building for us in heaven.

Ostrich Brains

Today I took my family to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE. It is one of our favorite things to do as a family. You have never truly been to a zoo before you have seen it through the eyes of a child. Adison is at the perfect age. He gives us a list of things to see each time and wide-eyed he studies the animals.

This trip it was all about peacocks, monkeys, clown fish (Finding Nemo's influence), jaguars and elephants. We marched all the way across the zoo to stand for ten minutes and watch two elderly pachyderms standing straight and still. If it weren't for an occasional dust blow from their trunks they could have been statues.

On the way back across the zoo, I overheard a tour guide on one of those motorized trams. He was driving a glorified tractor and pulled four carts with about a dozen people on it. As he rounded the bend I heard him say, "On your left is the ostrich enclosure. The ostrich is the largest bird and is flightless. These birds have long, skinny necks and enormous eyes atop their tiny heads. Unfortunately for the ostrich its brain is smaller than one of its own eyes."

I thought about that for a while... Unfortunately for the ostrich? Really? Are they truly unfortunate to be made the way they are? I thought... surely God made them perfect and right! Surely their brains were made the way they were for a wonderful and glorious reason.

So I began to ponder... Why would a flightless bird need a bigger brain? What advanced functions do they need to do on the plains? As long as they can identify food and run away from danger then they are golden!

Then it dawned on me... God did make them right and wonderful. So I hollered back at the tram, now just rounding the bend, "Fortunately for the ostrich, God made its brain small so its long, skinny neck wouldn’t snap under the extra weight!"

Some times we are like that tram driver. We question God's design. We wonder, "God, why didn't you make me smarter, or stronger or taller. I see teenage girls asking God why He didn't make them thinner or bigger busted or smaller busted or blonde or darker skinned or lighter skinned. The whole time that we question His plan and we covet what those around us have... or the images that are placed before us on TV and in magazines... we rob ourselves of the perfection that God Himself has worked into us. Do we ever stop and ask, "GOD, why did you make me this way? What was Your reason? How can I use this body and these gifts to bring glory to Your name?"

When we stop wishing we were different and start working to maximize ourselves through Jesus Christ... then miracles happen.

God, thank you for making the ostrich and me just the way we are. AMEN!

Running through Shadows

Yesterday was the worst day of my professional career. Everyone knows that the most important thing in my life is my ministry with my youth. I feel stuck between worlds. I am theologically a Confessional Lutheran. I worship in charismatic style like AoG. I attend for all intents and purposes a Baptist Graduate College. I feel tugged and pulled and that I don't really belong anywhere. The only place I really fit in is with my youth. When I am worshipping with them, in whatever way that takes shape (rock youth service, local service project, mission trip, prayer walk, bible study, museum trip) I feel like I am home. They are my sanctuary.

So when I come under assault by the youth for the most ridicules reasons I feel betrayed, wounded and like my home is on fire. I do nothing but try and give them the nicest jr/sr prom experience I can. That just isn't good enough for some people. I will not let a glorified dance wreck my life.

On Monday I intend to submit my letter of resignation as prom sponsor. Its time I focus on a better banquet and a better celebration in the next life.

I feel like I am trapped in a dark place and that I am running through shadows. Pray for strength and peace these next two weeks. I need my true friends on my side.

Supernatural

I have always liked fantasy. As a young teen, the Legend of Zelda was always my favorite game. I read comic books, cheap dime novels and played geeky fantasy games. I loved the Lord of the Rings, Xanth and Conan the Barbarian.

In some of these books there are men of great power. Sometimes they are called wizards, mages or magicians. They wield archaic powers that tantalize the imagination. For a long stretch of my life I was enthralled with the notion of becoming something far greater than what I was.

As an isolated child growing up on a farm miles from town, caught in a family where I rarely felt loved or wanted, I felt trapped. I would go on long walks into the countryside. I would find a quiet spot, often atop a hay bale, and I would lay back and stare up at the blue sky watching clouds go by. I would dream up amazing tales of adventure and quests... I would imagine a young person like myself discovering a book that held the answers to ancient mysteries that offered great power... and could transform the reader into someone totally different. Our daring young hero would break away, escape his humble life and become a great champion in a new kingdom.

Many years later, I found myself confronted by a tub of warm water, a towel and Ashley Danner's feet. An amazing feeling of inadequacy washed over me. "Who am I to get on my knees and wash this girl’s feet? Who am I to tread on Jesus' ground? Who am I to even pretend?" My pride was broken as I came face to face with a truth that I was a trembling sorry wreck of lies and sin.

There in West Virginia and truth become real in my mind... ALONE I AM UNWORTHY! Without the Savior I am nothing. Emptying myself and giving my shell to Him to rebuild and refill is the only way to change, to grow, to become something more than a twisted, sinful being.

I returned from that mission trip on fire-- totally devoted. For the first time in my life I opened the Bible daily and started doing real devotions. I read not to learn what was on the page, but I opened my heart and my mind up to the Will of the Holy Spirit and said, "LIKE WET CLAY... HERE I AM... CHANGE ME." It was amazing. The Word was SO powerful. It was life altering. It was soul altering. I was being rebuilt, regenerated, reformed.

I remembered my youthful daydreams. Oh, how I longed for a book to come and offer me a new life. And when I found it, WOW. It was right there all along. The Bible can change your life. The bible can build you into a new person. The Bible can set you free. The Words of Jesus can guide you on a great quest if you reach out and grab hold of the Master. It’s supernatural in a much better way... Fantasy books and day dreams can help you escape a bad home life or your teenage angst. The Bible can eternally save your soul.


Super Natural
By Brant Bollman

Verse 1
I love Of Mice and Men and For Whom the Bell Tolls
All that highbrow literature about the human soul
I’ve read the words I know the lines still flip through the pages from time to time
But I just found another book; think I’ll take a brand new look

Chorus 1
Its supernatural, its supernatural

Verse 2
I love The Lord of Rings and stuff of fantasy
Wizards, warriors and dragons, O what mystery
I’ve read the books, I’ve played the games, I’m tellin’ you boys its just not the same
I just found another book; think I’ll take a brand new look

Chorus 2
Its supernatural, its supernatural
Miracles by the King of Kings and Castles in the sky
A Holy Stream and a Magic Beam that we might never die
Its supernatural in a whole, much better way
Its supernatural takes all you sins away, HEY!

Walk by Faith

It’s easy to praise Him when we are victors. It’s easy to bless Him when we are on top. When we have money in our pocket and food on the table, its easy to say that God is good. But what about when times turn bad? What about when everything begins to fall away? Then what escapes your mouth? Do you praise Him? Or do you curse His name?

God loves you just as much when you are at the end of your rope as He does when you are on the top of the mountain. He is just as available in the desert as he is at the oasis. Sometimes its hard for us to see that. But when we are in the shadows of trouble, when sickness or debt or pain is threatening to crush us, God is the only way out. He is the only reliable answer. The test of a true Christ-follower is what he or she does when stranded and assaulted by adversity. Does it cause you to run to the Lord or way from the Lord?

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Psalm 23:4-6

As Christians we are never guaranteed a free ride. We are only promised a companion during the ride.

Walk By Faith

Jeremy Camp

well I will walk by faith
even when I cannot see
because this broken road
prepares your will for me
Well I'm broken- but I still see Your face
Well You've spoken- pouring Your words of grace

Endure

Endure

Lyrics by Brant Bollman
Dedicated to the Kings and Kevin

How much is enough? How much is enough?

In a hospital bed, the devil said, "How much is enough?
How much will you give to follow, to follow your God?
You've given your heart, given your soul
Now you'll burry your first born."

How much is enough? How much is enough?

She answered him, "EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!
I'LL GIVE HIM EVERYTING... everything."


On the Streets after release Kevin's walking with
a bible in hand and he's looking for life and he's looking for love
and he's looking for a way home
and he's looking for love and he's looking for a reason
and he's looking for answers he's looking for God he asks

How much is enough? How much is enough? How much is enough?
How much is enough?

When you've lost....
Everything! Everything! Everything! Everything!

If you endure than you will reign,
If you have died than you will live again
If you endure than you will reign,
If you have died than you will live again

Everything! Everything! Everything! Everything!

In the streets of Jerusalem, Jesus is walking with
my cross on His back and he's fighting the guards and he's fighting the crowd
and fighting the pain
And He's falling down and He's falling down and He's falling down
and He's falling down
And they are driving the nails and they are hauling Him high
and the blood flows down
and the blood flows down

And He's drawing His last and He's drawing His last
And He's dying now and He's dying now....

How much is enough? How much is enough?
How much is enough? How much is enough?

HE GAVE US.....

EVERYTHING....HE GAVE US EVERYTHING.... Everything... EVERYTHING!!!!

If you endure than you will reign,
If you have died than you will live again
If you endure than you will reign, If you have died than you will live again

Everything! Everything! Everything! Everything!

If you endure than you will reign,
If you have died than you will live again
If you endure than you will reign,
If you have died than you will live again

Sidewalk Service

How do we offer praise and worship to the Lord? We can paint a picture. We can dance. We can write a poem or recite prose of our favorite author. We can sing a song or shout for joy. We can jump and run. All of these, me being the artist I am, are very good things. God planted creativity inside of mankind. It is the defining nature of who we are.

Creative praise and worship is in my comfort zone. I know that sometimes when I assign a task to make artful worship, people freak. But it comes so naturally to me. It is an extension of who I am.

Today I tried something totally different, quite by accident. Today I wasn't the one making a tribute to God. I was a passive worshipper. I sat back and let God do the amazing work. Today I lay down on my sidewalk and waited for a ride to come get me. I closed my eyes and let the spring sun soak into me. The warmth was medicinal. The orange glow of the sun was so bright that I could see it through the darkness of my closed eyes. I lay there and I just felt God. I didn't really pray. It was more like walking in a darkened room. I reached out the feelers of my spirit and touched God.

It was SO GOOD! It made me feel filled up. So as I reflect on this experience, I realize that there is a lesson in that time I spent lying on the sidewalk. When we are in the darkness, His awesome presence still shines through. Sometimes we have to stop and get our bearings and relocate Him... But His light is still there.

Go seek the Lord today. Worship Him in songs and creative endeavors like the arts. But also take a moment to lay back and let the work of the Lord draw you nearer to Him.

Bonus Round

Every day of life is a gift. Every moment awake is precious. The sweet substance called life is perhaps the greatest thing given to us. Without life there is darkness. That spark of life is the very essence of existence. God breathed life into us... mankind... you, me... everyone. That is a priceless gift.

But does God even offer you a greater gift other than life? Is there a greater promise?

Imagine if this life were just a dress rehearsal of sorts for a grand play. Some people never make it to the big show. They become lost... focused on other things... and they miss out on what the practice was all about. The greatest gift ever given was Jesus Christ on the cross. Through His atoning Sacrifice, we might find entrance into a new life and live eternally in Him.

Life is sweet. But endless joy at the feet of the Great Shepherd is priceless.

I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good--not only ours, but the whole world's.

1 John 2:1-2

How do you obtain this endless life? Entrance into the Kingdom of heaven is easy. All one needs is to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A DAILY WALK with Him. This is a faith not of events... but of daily communication. Its not about finding God at camp and then leaving Him behind. Its not about going through confirmation, promising to live and serve and then never seeking out His calling in your life. Its not about saying one prayer here or there... Its about loving Him daily like you would a best friend. Its about building a deep bound with Him in your heart... sharing your highs and lows. Its hanging your every hope on Him like He was the air that you breath and the earth on which you walk. A personal realitionship with Jesus Christ is the only thing that can prolong the sweet juice of life and take you into the bonus round.

Generation Genesis for April

April Generation Genesis is already here. 7:00 EHLC basement... emergent praise/postmodern worship. The full band will be playing just off the afterglow of the Barn last week. We will have a guest speaker, Pastor Gavin King and his wife Deb will talk about coping with loss and enduring hardships for the Lord. The Kings pastor the Elk Horn First Baptist Church and are our warriors in Christ. I attended the funeral of their daughter a few months back and it was the strongest testamony I have ever heard. Buckle your seat belts and prepare to experience Christ in a way you never have before.

Bring a friend and prepare to worship OUR Savior, OUR WAY!

Generation Genesis
First Sunday of Each Month
EHLC Basement
7:00 PM until we are forced to leave!