More Than a Look to Light the Ignition.

I need to write tonight.

I’m writing from my living room. Looking out of our large picture window I see my backyard. Beyond that I see the night sky. I see other houses. I see life. I see trees. I see these things yet so often I don’t take a bit of interest in them. Everyday I see people. I see a soul walking down the street who has lived an entire life of experiences and regrets and pleasures just as I have, yet all I pay attention to, generally, is the way I feel inside. As I look at the night sky I “see” stars, but do I take the time to pray? Do I take the time to realize my Creator took the time to place each one there? Do I take the time to ask God what He wants to show me? How He might want to reveal truth to me through the closer examination of these celestial bodies? These enormous bundles of power and energy!

I’m not suggesting we stick our head in the clouds and speak metaphorically, or reverse our sentence structure just to make things sound inquisitive and down-right confusing. What I’m suggesting is that we, myself included (As God knows I need it),  live outside of ourselves. I want to remember that the world does not revolve around me, nor does it stop turning when I sleep. Not to belittle my existence however, because I know that God created me with a purpose in mind and listens when I call. Yet, I don’t want to stop my ears when I say amen, and pretend I’ve just given the Lord of Hosts my to do list for Him to accomplish before morning.  There’s so much to learn. There’s so much more to grasp. And maybe I’ll never grasp it all, I won’t, but maybe I can challenge my faith by seeking a God who isn’t the same size as me. A God who doesn’t have weak, human hands like mine, and a finite mind as I do. After all, isn’t faith strengthened by challenge? Could a plant grow at all if it didn’t fight gravity or the elements of nature and the weather? I would never find comfort if I never felt pain. Nor would I ever find strength in God if I never found my own strength lacking.

Today stands. A day that has yet to be seen. A minute from now is a new minute. Take the first step of this season, of this life by looking… Not just with your eyes, but with understanding, into a heart, a love, a joy, a peace, a contentment, outside of your own. I pray I would do the same least I become a ranting hypocrite. Pray for me. And I will for you. That we lift our eyes.

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem. I look up to the mountains– does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth! He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalm 121

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem. I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We look to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal. Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt. We have had our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant. Psalm 123

Casting my cares and train fares.

How often have I held onto cares like they were the only things that float in the wreckage of a ship? As if I would drown if I let go of one of them. How often have I wrongly assumed that I was the one keeping my head from going under? And how many times have I gotten more than wearied by this fight?

I was reading something tonight. I read it once through, and then wrestled with a thought. “How long has it been since I have surrendered? How long has it been since I gave everything to the Lord and fell in Love with Him and the way He holds my head up?” So I read it again and it seemed to take on the shape of a tool in the hands of the Potter ressurecting my soul.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7

Now, I would like you to stop. to stop and do as I did. Question yourself for a moment? How long has it been since you’ve been at home in the arms of you Saviour? Really at home. Now read that line over again.

As I did I began to further meditate on it. What does my God’s mighty hand look like?  And so i found myself in Psalms.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song. Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed. O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come. Iniquities prevail against me; [As for] our transgressions, You will provide atonement for them. Blessed [is the man] You choose, And cause to approach [You], [That] he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple. [By] awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, [You who are] the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas; Who established the mountains by His strength, [Being] clothed with power; You who still the noise of the seas, The noise of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of Your signs; You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice. You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth. You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip [with] abundance. They drop [on] the pastures of the wilderness, And the little hills rejoice on every side.  The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.  Ps 65

The ocean rages. i’ve seen it, I’ve felt it. I’ve been overwhelmed by it. Waves have shown their angry teeth, and even swallowed me whole. But My God is the one who calms those stromy seas.

The tumult of riots has screemed louder that the thoughts in my own head. People shout. People give up their oppinions like the graves will give up their dead on the day of redemption. But My God is the one who speaks a whisper above the noisiest crowd.

My point is this friends, To cast your cares off is one thing. You could just cast your cares into a pile and hope they don’t haunt you but let’s all face it. Nothing’s keeping them down. Where redemption, freedom, peace, and joy come from is the place where you cast your care upon Him. For, He cares for you. The one who quites the seas to a whisper, and silences the peoples to a hush, cares more for us then our human minds could ever comprehend. His desire is to be with you. His desire is for you to experience the gift of letting go of your care and letting Him care for you. In your place. Friends, it’s the message of the cross. It’s the message of a redeemer. Read ps 65 and know who your God is. The one who cares For you.

( I found this in my drafts from september. There must be a reason it didn’t get published then.)

Questions

It’s dropped cold again, and I’m left inside wondering whether the cold is comforting or strangely lonely.

I’ve really no single point to talk about tonight, but several, I feel, will work their way to the surface as I start to write so I start…

Have you ever dreamed about the stars? Or stayed up all night watching them burn? Have you ever wondered  how one day can be so different than another? How one way to convey a point makes things as clear as glass to you one day, and the next it seems strangely vague and another method is seemingly brilliant? Have you ever just asked a question about a matter that you don’t actually anticipate a certain answer for? But Instead asked genuinely for the sake of knowing the right answer or merely another’s opinion? Some of these are things that either haunt me, or greet me with a friendly handshake and  I usually can’t decide which it is. I realize if I go on rambling like this it will confuse the both of us so I’m choosing to narrow it down to a topic. We’ll start with the latter idea I posed.Questions.

Have you ever just asked a question? Not waiting for an answer that you will fight or compare to your already built notion? I feel it’s amazingly healthy to truly seek an answer and not an argument. Have you ever asked God a question? With the practical faith that He has an answer? (I find it somewhat ironic that this topic is mostly posed in questions) But in all sincerity I suggest you try. Try asking a question about a subject you just can’t comprehend. Eternity. Love. Truth. Hope. Fact. Morality. These are things we say the name of but have no perception of their depth and meaning. There are a thousand things that will race to the surface of your mind if you let them, but so often we discourage our actively seeking minds with the thought that, we’ll never understand so why think about it. This is an unreasonable excuse friends! I mean, let your mind race, let your curiosity run! And let your heart inquire to a God who hears. It was Saint Augustine that wrote, “And all the things of tomorrow and the days yet to come, and all of yesterday and the days that are past, Thou wilt gather into this Thy day. What is it to me if someone does not understand this? Let him still rejoice and continue to ask, “What is this?” Let him also rejoice and prefer to seek Thee, even if he fails to find an answer, rather than to seek an answer and not find Thee!” And wasn’t it our Infinite God who said, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”? Listen, like Augustine said, you may not get the answer you’re looking for, but please friend, don’t let that deter you! Wouldn’t it be worth the time spent in God’s presence? Wouldn’t it be worth listening and hearing your Maker say, “It’s not for your eyes now, but one day you will see like in a mirror. Clearly.” Whether you find the answer or not, embark on the adventure of a question. Listening to wisdom and grace. And hearing the question call your name.

Well, There’s one thing floating around in my mind now out in a few visible paragraphs. I hope I haven’t confused you with the rant of a fool but rather fueled your curiosity of life with the questions of a fellow seeker.  Grace and Peace

Character

Lately, yes. Well, perhaps  more lately than previously, I’ve been so wrapped up in watching personalities. I’ve been quite amazed in seeing the way God gives us different styles, different traits, different characters. It’s not by happenstance that the Maker of the universe created each of us completely and creatively unique. Upon attending a Bible study at my church last night called “Overflow” I heard a message by a friend who serves in our church’s Junior High Ministry. As I listened to the way he presented the things God had shown him, I was so excited. Excited you ask? Yes! Excited because I saw the way was this guy was reaching out to a completely different group of people then I could. I mean, of course we all have one thing in common and that is that we are Brothers and Sisters in the Body of Christ, but God uses the personalities and passions He gives each one of us to reach out to someone of that same Genre, Agreed? Please don’t mistake me for saying we should be segregated by our styles. That is very much the opposite of the point which I present to you. What I am saying is, that as you look at your own life, the passions you have, the desires of your heart, what makes you thrive, what gets you excited, (Go ahead! Ponder on that for just a moment) As you do, you can see so clearly that The Makers hands have shaped, and are shaping you, like clay in the hands of an exceedingly wise Potter.

To put things into perspective I would love to use some examples. ( that is, if you’d spare the time)  My mother. My mother loves the country. She loves country and bluegrass music. She loves to be out in the woods. And she loves to hear accents that are stronger than her own. haha I love my mother so much. Anyways, she loves the Lord with all her heart and she expresses it though these characteristics! This is the character that God has given her! My Father now. My Pops, Loves the blues. Haha It gets him so hyped! He dresses country but his heart is in the blues and rock n’ roll and when he hears or writes blues-rock songs displaying guitar leads that proclaim emotion and lyrics proclaiming the Lords return or the life of a believer it feeds the fire that the Lord has lit in deep inside of him. My sister. My sister is a photographer, an artist, and such a hard worker. And I can see how she can so effectively relate her love for the Lord to people wherever she is. Even a bunch of Junior Highers that she is so faithful to serve and lead on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Her love for the Lord is SO strong! Not to mention she’s a pretty grand big sister. And If time would allow I could go on and on about my other two oldest sisters who amaze me in their love for God and the way they raise their families! As for me, I am a musician. And I express art in other areas as well. But I get so enthused on things I see and hear. Thing like seeing God’s creation, Hearing God’s word, Seeing old hardback books, and hearing a folk song with lyrics that express a heart.

What are the unique things God has placed in your character?

Maybe I’m not making sense. Maybe I’m rambling. Maybe this is all in my imagination. But maybe take today, just start with today, and look at people. Look inside your self. But most Importantly look at Your Sovreign, Provident, Everlasting Creator. Read Psalm 139 and then ask Him what He made you specifically for and how you can glorify Him. As He begins to show you the things He has placed in your personality, start using those things to glorify Him! Friends, we are created to declare His praise! So today start giving all glory, honor, and praise to Him by serving Him in the ways He has given you to do so.

I encourage you to look at the parable of the talents in Matt 25:14-46  Also read the Scripture below:

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You [are] there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You [are there]. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light [are] both alike [to You]. For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And [that] my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, [And] skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When [as yet there were] none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! Ps 139:7-17

I can see You. I can hear You. Although only a  glimpse of an unimaginable sight and the lowest chorus of the most glorious roar. – I only wish Your fullness could I behold. However, what I see I love, what I hear I adore. – You are so far beyond what this world could express, but I can see what your hands resemble. The working of Providence so brightly displayed in Your creations and this elaborate ensemble.

Come have Your way amoung us, We welcome You here Lord Jesus.

I start a subject of worship,  something God has placed upon my heart again and again recently. Something I feel I can’t but scratch the surface of. Something I feel like diving into but haven’t the faintest clue how deep the subject waters are. I feel as if I’m placing my self at the edge of a cliff in the dark. Not seeing what all could possible be beneath, i close my eyes and jump. All the while singing and sinking deeper and deeper yet finding more joy and satisfaction with every meter. It’s an adventure for certain.

I suppose Worship is- Falling in love with a wonderful Maker who has become your provident Father. I suppose Worship is- Kissing the feet of your Master in adoration and respect. I suppose Worship is- Telling your best Friend, who is closer than a brother, just how much you love Him.

I suppose worship is NOT standing in the Sanctuary of your home church for twenty five minutes and singing words with no understanding while watching others find themselves lost in the unimaginable depths of our Saviour’s mercy and love. I suppose worship is more than I can understand, but if it wasn’t wouldn’t it have lost the mystery and power that the Holy Spirit loves to reveal to us? I suppose worship must be a human heart crossing a ravine bridged only by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I suppose Worship is fear. Not in a scared senseless sense, but in a way that we respect our God so much that we ask His opinion. That we seek His will. That we want to see His beautiful face. “worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness”

Give unto the LORD the glory [due] unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 1 Chron 16:29

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Ps 29:2

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Ps 96:9

Worship is more than I can say. I don’t mean to say it is a feeling. Because it is indeed not made with human hands. Our God is not a God made with human hands. Therefore worship is most certainly not something that can be fully experienced in the flesh-in the blood. It’s a communion that can be only experienced when The Holy Spirit inside of us takes our spirits by the hand to meet, see, and experience the love, grace, personality, mercy, beauty, peace, power, might, strength, kindness, and character of our Maker.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. John 4:23,24

Have you forgotten, my child, that God does not look at the outward appearance of man? As if to say our unfathomable God is built by fathomable hands! Your loving Master looks at your heart. He longs for you to stop - stop the so called worship that’s confined by the bounds of this world and reach out in true worship and devotion to your remarkable Saviour in Love.

Find yourself lost in worship not on occasion with the right song at chuch, but rather, being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, so much so that His praise flows from you like a river just at the mention of His beautiful name or the sight of the marvelous works of His hands. How? Ask for the Gift. O the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. Will our Father not gift Him, our helper, to us?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found.

Saitsfied.

 What does it mean to be satisfied? Can it be had if I tried? If I knew what I thought I wanted all along, and found said object to keep as my own, Then would I be okay, contented as it were? As if Satisfaction was climbing to the top of the earth. I’m lost amidst a sea of unanimous doubt, thinking as I’m lost, “well clearly i’m found!” I’m lost! I’m lost! But Lord you have found me, And the truth is those words hold O so much more meaning. To be found in my Saviour is my greatest of hopes, To be captivated and contented in Him and Him alone. I’m lost, O I’m lost. But in You, Lord, I’m found! I’ll be the resident if You’ll be the town. I’m lost, I’m found, O Lord, Im okay. ‘Cause safe in Your arms is where I’ll remain.

 

So, Tonight I find me at my kitchen table. With a thought on my mind. And once again my fingers lying in anticipation upon the keys, ( I suppose two of the greatest ways to get things out for me is on keys, through the warm tones of my upright Piano, or the cold unknowing keys of this laptop as I write.)

It seems my whole life I’ve gone from high to high, Satisfaction to satisfation. But none can really be called that cause the definition of the word is far from the picture this world has portrayed. Satisfaction is a son in the arms of a Father, A wedding day bride in the arms of her beloved, and an old wise fool in the arms of his helper after 52 years. But more than that Satisfaction is found in one self explanatory portrait. Ps 23

God is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Am i satisfied in the presence and everlasting Love of my God, Maker, Savior, and Friend? Or placed even unkowingly in the hands of a less than perfect circumstance, a relationship, a home, or even a dream that never had anything to do with God?

Place your hope in God, O my soul, for He is my strength and Song.

 

TWLOHA Jam Session with Jon Foreman, his band, and some of the most rad guys around. … Enjoy.

Notes on a Trebble Clef

Have you ever heard a song without hearing music?

It seems to me there are times, times spent with God, times spent with family, or just time spent looking on at creation, when it just seems like music in my ears? Call me crazy but I’ve had times when the perfect song is played or written. The song that seems more than fitting. The song that is like perfectly timed waves. Well, if you can identify with that then perhaps you’ll understand this nonsense rambling of mine. There are feelings, moments; that are notes placed on the clef of a day that just make you smile. These moments are usually found in my day when I seek God. When I, the clay say to the Potter. “Where are you? I want You to meet me here.” Or perhaps it’s when the Shepherd seeks, the wandering sheep by saying through a sunset, “I’m here. Right beside you.” It’s comforting. It’s joyful. It’s reassuring, and restoring.  And it’s what writes the song that you can’t help but sing to.

So listen! And Sing.       Eph 5:19 and 20

Homemade Biscuits and Strawberry Jelly

I’m writing this morning from my kitchen table, with a slight overcast sky outside the window behind me. As I’m sitting here enjoying homemade biscuits and strawberry jelly, I find many things present on my mind, and my fingers presenting themselves as ready writers. So off I go.

This morning as I read my Bible, seeking strength, seeking peace, seeking joy; I found myself seeking my God. He showed me His power, His marvelous works, His thoughts toward us and His   might. (Ps 19) I saw His hands sculpt the universe, yet also delicately mold me in my mothers womb. (Ps 139) I witnessed my Strong Tower, my Fortress of Refuge and Strength. (Ps 40) I read words that purified my mind, enlightened my eyes, and rejoiced my heart. (Ps 19) And I began to tell the Lord I would proclaim His name and His power. Though the act of writing songs, through this blog, through my words. And I pray I would follow through with this! But God also said something to me. He told me how He loves to hear my praises, He loves to hear me worship, and He loves to see my hands lifted. But He also loves to see my hands outstretched about His work.

I’m reminded of the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42

In this story Mary chose to sit at Jesus feet. To hear Him speak and to give Him glory. And Martha was ever so lovingly corrected for being much to distracted and overwhelmed with the details of service.

There is such a beautiful place for us to be, where we worship, wholeheartedly, from a pure heart, with hands lifted high, yet not forgetting to reach our hands out to others we see hurting. It’s the place where we serve God dilligently but not forget the God whom we serve.

Father, take us to the place where our hands and our hearts are completely surrounded and enraptured in Your grace and Your love. Amen.