Seperation

ROMANS 8:31-39

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


WOW!! All time favorite chapter of the Bible. Lets make a list.


What can seperate us from Christ's love:

• not trouble
• not hard times
• not hatred
• not hunger
• not homelessness
• not bullying threats
• not backstabbing
• not even the worst sins in the Bible
• not the living
• not the dead
• nothing angelic nor demonic
• not today
• not tomorrow
• not the highest high nor the lowest low
• nothing thinkable nor unthinkable
• absolutely nothing will serperate us from the Love of our GOD!!!

COOL! If you don't know this kind of amazing, unbelievable, forgiving love, seek Him today.

Fools put their trust in other things. People let you down. Politicians break their promises. New age fluff leaves you empty. But Jesus is always there. He never fails. He's a sure bet. A done deal. Get on board with the one who will fight through any obsticle for you.

Generation Genesis out in the woods

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Come worship our Lord and Savior out in the woods. Loud music, jumping around, tossing a flying plastic circle, laughing and food... its Generation Genesis in the Grove.

5:00 Ultimate Frisbee and Fun in the Park

6:00 Thrown Starts Playing

Bring friends, a lawn chair or a blanket. Lets pack the park!

Grace and Peace,

Digger


The Elk Horn Creek Recreation Area is located two miles south, then two miles west of Elk Horn. Follow the county park signs.

Meant to live

I have a friend that is searching. I don't know how exactly I knew it, but the other day I just had a sinking feeling that she needed a spiritual hug. So I sent her a text asking if she was searching for answers. And she was. The funny thing is I really don't have the answers. What I know is that searching for answers, seeking the truth is what its all about.

Check this out from Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.

Over time when you purposely try to live the way of Jesus, you start noticing
something deeper going on. You begin realizing the reason this is the best way
to live is that its rooted in profound
truths about how the world is. You
find youself living more and more in tune with ultimate reality. You are more
and more in sync with how the universe is at its deepest levels.

Jesus'
intention was, and is, to call people to live in tune with reality. He said at
one point that if you had seen him, you had "seen the Father". He claimed to be
showing us what God is like.

In his compassion, peace, truth telling,
and generosity, he was showing us God.

And God is the ultimate reality.
There is nothing more beyound God.

-p21

I have been searching all of my life. I am still searching now. I know some truths to be real... but the more I seek the more I find questions that lead to new questions. Reality is that God is vast... bigger than we humans can explain. So we make our little boxes to squeeze Him into so we can make sense out of Him. GOD is not in a box. What we place in the box is what we want God to be... its our own creation. And its a farse.

I do know somethings. I know that their is more than this simple life. There is a much richer, much greater way to live. There is much more than these simple relationships that we live. There is a deeper way to live. There is something richer than the ritual and rhym and meter of our God-boxes that we build on the high hills of our towns. There is a deeper life, a richer life. We aren't meant to simply live cookie cutter lives. We were meant to live for so much more. We live in the shadow of a Mighty God! A Powerful and Mighty God!




Meant To Live
Switchfoot


We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life, yeah

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves? We were meant to live

As we move in line with Him... our lives become extraordinary!

Jesus exposes us to reality at its rawest.

So the way of Jesus is not
about religion; it's about reality.
Its about lining yourself up with how
things are.
-p21

New Location for Thrown Information

Welcome fans and supporters of Thrown and the Thrownroom blog. We are moving! Our new location is the much easier to remember www.thrownroom.com

You can still check the blog at this address but for all the most recent up-to-date info please add our homepage to your bookmarks. Happy surfing!

Grace and Peace,

Digger

Giver and Taker

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

psalm 46:10-11


I remember that first moment when I looked at my daughter's fractured skull... There was a deep tremble in the pit of my being... I thought, "Wow! This is it. I'm going to fall into the depths of the sea, loose someone so dear to me and experience just how dark and miserable life can be.

For the next two days we sat in quiet vigil... I prayed and prayed. I hung from the Lord. He was all I had.

When she came out of surgery healed Oh how high the high. I praised the Lord. I shouted for joy and held nothing back. I let the words pour from my lips. I sang and yelled and shouted. The Lord delivered. The Lord GIVES!

I remember hearing a few weeks later that my friends, the Kings, who were expecting their first child, were having major complications. The baby had to be taken by emergency surgery and the outcome looked bleak. I found myself at that place again, this time praying for my friends, my brother and sister in Christ. So pray I did. I prayed that night... I prayed until I couldn't pray anymore. So I wept. Then when tears wouldn't flow I got down on my belly and moaned for the same kind of deliverance to touch the Kings as did my baby Charisa.

But after three days, no miracle, Gavin and Deb said good-bye to their little girl. God is God... God gives and God takes. We don't always know why. But we continue to follow Him and seek Him and grow closer to Him because He's all we've got.

Trust in His plan. Deb told me once that if one heart is won for the Lord in the death of her daughter then her daughter would have died for a reason. Deb and Gavin's testimonial has inspired many, touched the hearts of more and lead souls to Christ. A week before the birth, I took a small group down to pray for Deb and the baby. I prayed for the Lord's glory to be revealed in the child's life. At first (and for many, many months) I felt like my prayer hadn't come true. But looking back now I see that the Lord just works in a different way then we would chose. The Lord's glory is being revealed in this child's life. From that small little coffin in the front of the church many people will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise the Lord! Praise the AWESOME MIGHTY POWER LORD! Who gives and takes away. Who turns all things from bad to good. Who turns frowns upside down... who takes lemons and makes lemonade.

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

A beautiful day

Yesterday was a lovely day. The wind was blowing and the summer heat was just right to make my hair all crazy curly. I enjoyed the sun on my skin, the wind in my hair and just breathing in the air and smiling. It was a beautiful day.

There have been a few deaths in my life, no one real close but close enough to done the black pants and jaket and make long drives to shake hands and hug. It is the duelaity of life. We enjoy the wonderful warm sun, we watch love ones die. We smile, we cry. We raise our hands in praise, we fall on our knees in anguish. In all things Jesus Christ is our aid, our savior, our champion.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name
Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Jesus is just as real when we raise the trophy as He is when we fall in defeat. He's just as warm, He just as loving. He came and died for the victor just as much the looser. So if you are on a highest high, or crawling through a lowest low, reach out and embrace the Living Lord.

Recycle Me

Today I drove eight hours round trip to visit my grandfather. Most of you know how major an impact he has had on my life. He is my earliest role model.

My grandfather for most of his life has been unchurched... but he IS a church. He lives the message that Jesus taught, to love others and help those in need. He has made his life a living act of praise for his Creator.

I love my grandfather. It was his influence that made a young boy dream of creating. It was his love that nurtured me and shaped me.

There were many things we would do together. By the time I got to know grandpa, he was no longer a progressive Iowa farmer, the first in the area to employ radical things a tractor. He was long since retired to a small little house in Bloomfield, Iowa were he gardened and took care of my grandmother.

My mother used my grandfather was free daycare when she’d have errands to do in town. These hours of quality time are some of the most important moments of my life.

We would read books. I remember Part Time Dog most of all. We would walk Waldo his black, hyperactive poodle. We would work outside running errands. And on special days, very special days, we would open the basement door and go down the steep stair to his workshop. I remember the shattered tools about the workbench, the piles of wood and things, and the smell of sawdust.

Down those steep stairs we he made devotional sculpture out of driftwood, recycled barn wood and other bits and scraps. I would be his helper. One of my favorite things I can remember doing was going about on garbage day and looking for useful things to make into sculptures. There was something amazing to me about this, even at a young age. These items were lost.. Thrown away… but then they were found and would be transformed… new life. Regeneration if you will. I new that there was something almost sublime about this process, but the implications I didn’t realize for years.

My grandfather has lived 100 years. He has seen many changes. And as he finishes his last time on this earth he is focused on finishing his artwork. He says he doesn’t do it to make sculpture. In fact he baulks at this term. He says he does it because he is compelled to pull the image that God has already formed inside the wood.

We are only guaranteed one thing in this life and its not longevity. We aren’t promised ten days let alone the one hundred years that my grandfather has lived. We aren’t promised good health or happiness or to be treated fairly. Only one said thing is universal. Sin will wreck our life. It will happen in one way or another... it is a fact. Is this fair? Not really. But it’s a byproduct of the fall. We live in this world where sin wrecks us and separates us from God. We end up just like the items my grandfather collected. We are broken, we are discarded and we are waiting on the curbside for the trash man to come where will be lost for eternity.

But that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. You see, the Savior is walking about, friends. He’s looking for those items, diamonds in the rough. He wants to pick them up and turn them recycle them, to save them from destruction and give them a new, everlasting life.

Don’t just be trash… let the Savior work in you. Be transformed into a beautiful work of art for the Lord. Be turned from trash to treasure. Embrace the Living Lord and become so much more.

BOB III

Well, friends. Another Bands of Believers is in the books. This year we opened up the all-day outdoor music festival. We played a pretty standard Thrown set. We did 10 songs, 8 were originals with Trading My Sorrows and our famous VBS medoly throughn in for fun. It was an awesome day and I would say it was one of our best.

We are so different than the other bands. We aren't a praise team doing the same Tomlin songs. We don't hit the audiance with praise ballad after praise ballad. We don't let people sit in their lawn chairs. We are a jump up and down, in-your-face, Christian punk rock band. There is nothing wrong with the other bands. I like many of them and worshipped with them. But we are of a different mold. When you come to see thrown, remember two things: bring your Bible and your joy for the Lord and be ready to get up and shake it for the Lord.

Psalm 57:7-11

7 My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.

8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

9 I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.

10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.

After the gig we talked to folks and sold some t-shirts. I was blown away by the response. Many people came up to us and commented about how great it was to see the gospel in a language that kids love and understand. We have been blessed with the chance to bring a lot of people to Christ with this band. And its just beginning. There are venues opening up to us every day. The people I met with at this concert are ready to do some radical things.... And I am on board.

We are THROWN! We rock the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We aren't just another praise band. We aren't an on-the fense psudo-Christian cop-out. We bring the Jesus and bring Him with the bang of the drums, the roar of guitars, the thunder of bass and the shouts of our voices.

Grace and Peace,
Digger


Disclainer: This in no way berates the other bands that played. I enjoyed worshipping with them and think they are all wonderful.... We are just called to play a louder music to reach a different audiance. Praise God for mild, spicy and the green stuff!

Felt board Jesus

I grew up with a felt board Jesus. He was a historical figure made of fuzzy material and lived on the pages of a big thick book, ink and paper. He was born in a manger, feed a multitude, healed and preached and died on a cross. I believed in him. I feared him. He was an awesome figure that lived long ago and did amazing things... But in today's world he only lived on that felt board... and maybe far off in heaven.

I learned about felt board Jesus at vacation bible school. My mother sent me to as many VBS as she could find when I was young. I don't know if she just wanted to get rid of me for a while or if she was hoping something would sink in. But at each different church I would see felt board Jesus and learn of his deeds and learn how he is far away in heaven. He was looking down on me from far away and someday I might meet him again in heaven if I was a good enough person.

This was my Jesus for so many years. I believed in felt board Jesus... I believed in a distant, historic Jesus that lived in the pages of my bible and far away in heave... but didn't have much effect on my daily life... I had to be good- good enough to see meet him in heaven.

I couldn't. I always failed. I couldn't make the grade. I couldn't be as good as that man in history... that bearded man made of felt.

But that all changed when I met a group of radical kids lead by a kooky lady and a wacky, bearded pastor. They didn't talk about a felt board Jesus. They lived in communion with a living, breathing God that was just as assessable today as he was when he did those amazing things 2000 years ago. This group took Jesus off the felt board and brought him into their hearts where he could perform those same kinds of miracles today. They moved him down out of their minds and invited him into their hearts where he could transform them and make them into new people. They allowed him to do all the work, as redeemer and savior... that heaven could become more than a place you are never good enough to reach, to a home where your best friend is inviting you back home.

If you still only know felt board Jesus, take him down today. Take him down out of the pages of history and let him work miracles today.

Alive

Thrown

He.... He's alive today... He's alive today.... My God's alive!!!
He.... He's alive today... He's alive today.... My God's alive!!!
He.... He's alive today... He's alive today.... My God's alive!!!

Thrown Summer Scedule

Gigs	Date	Time	Location
Bands of Beleivers Outdoor Christian Concert	June 17th	11:00	Pioneer Park, Harlan, IA
Generation Genesis Emergent Worship Experience	July 2nd	7:00	EHLC, Elk Horn, IA or the Grove (WP)
Thrown Live in Concert	July 4th	7:00	Faith E-Free Church, Audubon, IA
Thrown Live in Concert	July 8th	7:00	St Paul's Lutheran Church, Atlantic, IA
Thrown @ Rebels	July 15th	7:00	Rebel's, Council Bluffs, IA
Family Fest	July 22nd	TBA	MAC Dome, Council Bluffs, IA

Code Monkey

I am taking a course to become certified to teach college level Web Design. Right now we are deep into the code of Xhtml and BOY, am I enjoying it. I know its logic and structured and runs off the opposite side of the brain than I'm used to employing (Chris... you know what I mean... ROBOT GEEK!). But I love it. I love it! Its like the matrix... seeing into the meaningless symbols and taming it to mean, to be, to do what you need it to do.


While coding today I thought about God. I usually see ARTIST-GOD as this wild passionate artist sculpting with clay, making passionate brushstrokes as the world forms, as creatures are created and life is breathed into the world. But perhaps God is also like the computer programmer, hammering out code... a logic and an ordered code. Perhaps I can see God in this act of taming text to my will... God the computer programmer... God the Webmaster... God the Code monkey.

God, write my code. Be my code monkey. AMEN

Doctor Doctor

From an email from Mike:

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learnwhat this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come tocall the righteous, but sinners.

Matthew 9:12

One of the most remarkable features of the human condition is our capacityto pretend that we are healthy when our lives are in total chaos.

We work hard to cover up our problems and flaws in our character. We willsacrifice almost anything to keep from facing the truth about ourselves.

We work this hard to look good because we experience our human needs, limitsand failures with deep shame - a shame that drives us to strive harder andharder to look better and better. We sacrifice our serenity, our relationships,our sanity on the altar of perfectionism. We also sacrifice any possibilityof getting the help we need by continuing to insist that "we can handleit."

God does not ask such sacrifices from us. God has no need for us to be perfect.Jesus speaks to us gently but very clearly about this issue. He confrontsour pretense, shame and perfectionistic strivings. He says in effect "youdo not have to sacrifice yourself in this way. You do not have to driveyourself like this. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I want you to learn tobe mercy-full to yourself. Be compassionate with yourself. It will freeyou to accept your need of healing. It will allow you to acknowledge yourlonging for me."

Jesus was saying "I did not come to pass out blue ribbons to the peoplewho have all the answers and have worked hard to prove themselves. I cameto bring hope and healing to people who know they need help." We canstop shaming and condemning ourselves because God does not shame or condemnus. God knows our brokenness, our pain, our need. We can give up our attemptsto prove ourselves and acknowledge our need for help and healing.

Lord, I don't want to be needy.
I want to be strong for you.
But, I can't sustain the pretense any longer
I have nothing to show for all my efforts to look good.
All I have done is shut you out of my life.


Today I acknowledge my need for you, Lord.
I need your healing and your forgiveness.
I am not healthy.
I need a doctor.
I need you.
Amen.

Copyright 1991 Dale and Juanita Ryan

Change

Change is hard. Change is very hard to stomach. Very hard.

Bands of Believers

Bands of Believers

All Day Christian Music Festival
Harlan, IA
THROWN will play at 11:00am

We need your help. We are the opening band this year and our army of loyal fans are busy with softball and baseball games that morning. Please, if you are avaible that morning, come to Harlan, IA to Pironeer Park and support our band. Tell you teens and your youth groups. I promise they will have a blast praise Christ Jesus!

Grace and Peace

Digger

Popularity

I hate popularity. You know the stuff. The games people play in high school to make themselves feel better than everyone else.

I had a student once this past school year say that other student didn't deserve to exist... WOW! I have never heard such a terrible thing spoken by a fellow human being. I can understand not liking someone... not wanting to be social with them... or even not wanting to be civil. I have some people that I just can't stand. But saying that they didn't deserve to live? WOW!

Jesus died on the cross for everyone! He died carrying all our sins. He didn't just die for the popular kids.... He did for us all.

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

John 3:16 MSG

Embrace everyone. Popularity is stupid! ROCK THE GOSPEL!

Creation

Genesis 1 MSG

Heaven and Earth

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

God spoke: "Light!"
And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.
God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters;
separate water from water!"
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
from the water above sky.
And there it was:
he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.

God spoke: "Separate!
Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!"
And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.

I painted the other day. It had been a while. I just got a hair up my nose and decided our upstairs bathroom needed a mural of a light house and crashing ocean waves on it...

So I got out some nice blue paint and some glaze medium and set off painting my mural- all free hand and all from my imagination. What I ended up with even surprised me. I leaned back after an hour and a half of painting chaos and examined my big blue mural. I was so proud. I MADE THAT! AND ITS GOOD!


I love reading the creation. You see GOD the Artist in all his splendor. He makes His masterpiece and looks at it and proclaims its greatness. Its like the ultimate trash talk... OH YEAH! I MADE THAT THING!!! AND IT ROCKS!!!

Every time I make something that's inspired I stop and pay homage to the Artist of artists. He made the earth and the seas and everything on it and in it. He made me, He knew me and loved me before I was born and He sacrificed all for me.

Thank you Artist-God for everything! YOU ROCK!

Velvet Elvis 1

From Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis

Rob Bell describes the reformation. He tells of how Luther struggled to follow a faith set up on rules that seemed out of date, out of step and far more centered on keeping the powerful in power than it did on leading others to Christ or promoting the Gospel on earth. He tells of how Luther broke new ground to make religion personal and assessable to everyone in his time. Bell speaks of a tradition of reformers, far more than just Luther, but including monks, and nuns and theologians through the 2000-year history of the church that have all had this quest in mind, to make the experience of being a Christian more relavent. Bell points to the new emerging heartbeat in the church and says the following:

I’m part of this tradition.

I’m part of this global, historic stream of people who believe that God has not left us alone but has been involved in human history from the beginning. People who believe that in Jesus, God came among us in a unique and powerful way, showings us a new kind of life. Giving each of us a new vision for our life together, for the world we live in.

And as part of this tradition, I embrace the need to keep painting, to keep reforming.

By this I do not mean cosmetic, superficial changes like better lights and music, sharper graphics, and new methods with easy–to-follow steps. I mean theology: the beliefs about God, Jesus, the Bible, salvation, the future. We must keep reforming the way the Christian faith is defined, lived and explained.

Jesus is more compelling than ever. More inviting, more true, more mysterious than ever. The problem isn’t Jesus; the problem is what comes with Jesus.


In the days to come I will share what Rob Bell sees as the baggage that comes with Jesus. I hope you find my little quotes intriguing enough to buy this book. It's amazing.

Grace and Peace,

Digger

perfect people

You remember making paper people? I attended a lot of vacation bible schools at a variety of churches as a youth. One of the projects that stick out plainly in my mind is paper people.

You remember the project. Its the one where you neatly fold the paper, cut out a little man and woman and then open it up to reveal a magical little congregation. There they dangle before you, all worshiping, all proper, all perfect, all the same.

But today as I look back on that project it makes we wonder. White, perfect people that just barley touch... and are all the same. Is that really what we want our congregations to look like?

All too often we try to make worship like this, perfect, white people, all the same, just barely touching. We discourage behavior that doesn't match a norm. This behavior is called horseplay or rowdiness. Its frowned on and even punished.

Often we treat our churches more like country clubs than houses of worship. We want only nice people that sip their tea or coffee the same way that we do. We don't want sinners and we don't want poor and we don't want anyone of ill repute. In fact we boot those people right out as soon as we hear the gossip of their misdeeds. We grab stones and hurl them with joy so we can keep our country club fresh and clean, our teas and lunches filled with proper sippers and proper sandwich-makers.

But Christ's love isn't like this. Its radical and transforming. Christ sought out sinners, cheaters, traitors, whores... He made these people his. He fellowshipped with them, brought them into his fold. He ministered to them, healed them, forgave them, blessed them... restored them... made them whole. Jesus didn't want perfect little people all just barely touching. If he wanted that he would have spent his time in the temple with the Pharisees. Instead he went to the real people and hung with them and preached the Gospel to them and radically changed their lives. No his church as a motley band of fishermen, tax collectors and outcasts. They did amazing things that those in power feared, hated and turned their noses at. In the end, they crucified him for these radical acts. But that couldn't keep him down.

Don't conform. Don't just be one of many in the line of perfect paper people. Be original. Follow Jesus. Leap out of that line of perfect people. Be a radical Jesus Freak embracing the world and sharing God's love.

Aloness

There is a funny thing about being alone. Before you stumble upon news to the contrary you have no clue that you are out there on an island by your self. You have no idea how distant and remote the world is. Reality is what it is. We are comfortable in our lives because it’s all we know. We don't know we are alone because we look around at the familiar stuff that we placate our lives with, the things that dull us or make us happy. The whole time... we are alone.

Then there is the day when the boat arrives on the horizon and out comes the rescuer. He stands there and holds out a hand and embraces you and fills you up and listens and cares and mends you and climbs all over you with his love. Suddenly, for the first time, you realize that you are now complete. Everything else before is now defined with this new word... WOW! For all those years I was alone. Now I have this awesome amazing friend. He is transforming my life.

The thing is, this new friendship isn't always easy. We meet resistance for our relationship. Society hates it. They see it as weird and they hurl insults onto it. They bash you down as a Jesus-freak or a holy-roller or a wacko. But you are left with one real truth. For all the insults you might endure and all the hardships that come with the relationship... NOW YOU AREN'T ALONE ANYMORE.

I have been thinking about this state of aloness. And I have one thing that I know for sure... I AM NOT GOING BACK! I WILL NEVER BE ALONE AGAIN!

Jesus, don't set sail without me.

Generation Genesis

Loyal readers,

Sunday (tomorrow) is our monthly emergent rock worship experience at Elk Horn Lutheran. I am turning the speaking duties over to League alumni Nathan Howard. Howie has bee working in the ministry both in the twin cities and on mission trips to central america. We are blessed to have him speak.

Other highlights will be some new material by the band and a Chris Williams solo.

Come rock the Gospel of Jesus Christ... and bring some friends. Heaven is a big place. There is room for more.

Grace and Peace,
Digger

Psalm 63

Psalm 63
A David Psalm, When He Was out in the Judean Wilderness

1 God—you're my God! I can't get enough of you!
I've worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.

2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

A Deeper Well 2

Some songs are born complete. Everyday was hatched from Megan Mardesen's words during the West Virginia mission trip. Besides a few little changes to fit the melody better, the lyrics are the same as the first time I wrote them. Other songs float around my brain for years with lines and hooks ever to find completion. I started Deeper Well the other day and thought I had it. Then I woke this morning and started playing it. I adjusted some lines of the verse but then BOOM! the third verse just came from my mouth.

My God isn't trapped in a church on a hill. He isn't a new-age packaged deity in a shiny box or a wonder drug cure. He is the God that created everything. He is living and breathing all around. Here is a second updated version of our new song. I will post the scriptures this is from later.

A Deeper Well

Lord, You're my everything
I just can't get enough of You
My soul is thristy
My body aches for a drink that's true

I'm tired of the face and I'm tired of the race
Of the walls that are built between me and you
I'm tired of running and I'm tired of fighting
I need a deeper drink of you

A deeper well, a deeper well

I come here to worship
I need you to open my eyes
To drink from your deep well
At last my soul feels alive

my lips are open and spill forth like a fountian
with my every breath I give you praise
I rise up and stand and lift up my hands
My arms are like banners which I raise

I'm searching for a path that's true
One that leads back closer to You
I'm thristy for a deeper drink of You


You're not in a house
You're not on a hill
You're not in a box
You're not in a pill

You're not just a name
You're not just a label
You're not just a service
You're not just a table

You're everywhere.... You're everywhere.... You're everywhere.... You're everywhere....

I'm searching for a path that's true
One that leads back closer to You
I'm thristy for a deeper drink of You

Spirit won't you lift me up and tip me back and fill me with Your love
Spirit won't you lift me up and tip me back and fill me with Your love
Spirit won't you lift me up and tip me back and fill me with Your love


A deeper well
A deeper well