Sweet stuff….

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M

Posted: July 28th, 2009 under Videos, Worship.
Comments: 1

NFL meet the best offensive line in the league…yup, I said it. BRING ON FOOTBALL SEASON!

M

Posted: July 24th, 2009 under Sports.
Comments: none

Growing up and playing with the TMNT…this is pretty cool stuff to me. NASA and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blended together…wow.

If you want to know more about this, check out:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mplm.html

http://mplm.msfc.nasa.gov/

*Who would have thought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would enter into space?

M

Posted: July 21st, 2009 under Check This Out.
Comments: none

What is worship exactly? Is it all about the Music?

I read this post today and really dug it. Check it out (from Tim Stevens) and I’ll post my thoughts later…

We’ve been having an interesting discussion going for a couple weeks. I suggested that a certain artistic element in a service brought me to a place of worship. Others weren’t so sure.

Some were quick to point out what worship is not. Yet they wouldn’t tell me what it is.

I was told by some commenters that only God defines worship. Yet they also told me that my experience with worship wasn’t right, it wasn’t really worship. And yet God defines it?

One person said that worship isn’t about music or lyrics. God must be worshipped in Spirit. And yet for some reason my admission that I was taken to a place of worship (spirit) wasn’t valid in his eyes.

And one individual chose to quote Humpty Dumpty. Not sure what I’m supposed to do with that.

The truth is, much of what these commenters say is true, but I wonder if they may have filters on that blind them from their own traditionalism and church baggage. I know sometimes I do.

Worship is a personal thing. You can’t look at someone in a worship service who is singing praise songs and lifting their hands and know for sure that they are worshiping. It is a heart issue. They might be thinking about a recipe for lasagna.

You also can’t look at someone who stays seated in a worship service (while everyone else is standing), arms folded, staring straight ahead, not participating…and know that they are not worshiping.

A few years back I was with a friend in Vienna and we walked into St. Stephen’s Cathedral. His eyes instantly filled with tears as the majesty and history of the building brought him to a place of awe about the majesty of God. I stood there thinking about the architecture and construction process. For my friend, it was worship. For me, it was not.

For some, spending time in nature makes them aware of the awesomeness of their God. For others, standing at the base of a skyscraper in New York City does the same thing. For many, a church service filled with praise songs about God will usher them into the presence of God. For me, that rarely does it. But the excellence of a musician playing their instrument without words–it makes me so aware of the amazing splendor of our Creator God.

What are your thoughts on worship?

M

Posted: July 15th, 2009 under Worship.
Comments: none

Last night LeeAnn gave the whole family haircuts. What a blessing to have a great hairdresser as a wife! As I was getting my haircut the kids hung around us and continued to play with all of LeeAnn’s “tools”. As they enjoyed the handheld mirror, I told them, “Be careful…don’t drop that mirror. Don’t break it…I’m warning you!” as a good father might say.

Only a few moments later, Aadyn, my oldest, drops the mirror and it instantly shatters. The kids stand there in shock. LeeAnn and I yell, “stay away from the glass” and make an attempted to get them away from the scene. I called them all over to me and said, “Do you see why I told you not to play with that? You could have all that glass in your feet. Do you understand why your Mom and I tell you not to do something? It’s for your own benefit and safety.”

Immediately God “reminds” me that He does this same thing with me all the time (without all the shouting I’m sure). Constantly His word, and the Holy Spirit, tell me, “don’t go there, don’t do that, don’t watch that, don’t say that…..” But I do it, thinking I know better than Him. As the “mirror breaks” or whatever the reaction to my disobedience is, God stands there like I was last night. Easily He could say, “I told you so” but instead He loves and forgives me and give me another chance.

How dumb can we be to continue to play with things that can cause us harm, only to see, time and time again, the reaction to it. Our sin can leave us cut (emotionally, physically, mentally) but God is there to clean up the mess and keep us away from the “glass”. As children of the Most High, we have a protector and a Father that keeps us safe despite our stupid reactions. I think it would be so easy for God to get frustrated with us and say “Enough…” but He doesn’t. His Mercies are NEW every morning! Although the result from our sin is death, God protects us many times from that. It doesn’t stop us from the punishment some times, but God continues to love us.

If you have children, you can probably relate well to my story. It seems God likes to continue to remind us of how much He loves us and how much His Grace covers a multitude of our sins! Thank you Jesus!

M

Posted: July 13th, 2009 under Family, Leadership.
Comments: none