Worship in Wonder

Sandiego not "a whales...."

2006-06-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

What a great week

2006-05-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

Game off

2006-03-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted so badly to go to a ballgame and had no one to go with. No I’m not having a pity party. I found that God had other plans for this afternoon. I spent the afternoon with Him just talking and reading and it was very peaceful.

It’s funny because I called almost everyone I thought might be able to go to the game and no one answered their phone. At first it was very frustrating, but now I understand that it was the Holy Spirit acting on my behalf. God knew just what my soul needed and He gave it to me just when I needed it.

freedom

2006-03-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

”And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”

In Christ I am holy and blameless and beyond reproach. What freedom I have in Him.

Reputation

2006-03-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”

Once I decide to live for Him I am free from worry about what others think or say.

Someone encouraged me recently that if I live my life for God then He is responsible to carry my reputation, and it is no longer my responsibility.

Only day off this week

2006-03-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

2006-02-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Some things have been pretty rough for me over the past few months and it seems that some things just keep getting worse. Yesterday a really good friend of mine had to share some hard news with me, and it made me feel like I was punched in the gut by Mike Tyson. I didn’t even get the $5,000,000 that fighters used to get when they climbed in the ring with him.

These days my comfort comes from spending time with my God. I read His word, listen to His word, talk to Him, sit before him, and cry out to Him. And The Almighty God responds. He responds with love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

With the Almighty on my side I can take Mike Tyson and whatever else the enemy wants to throw at me.

Busy

2006-02-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to share here, but I'm way too wiped from moving over the past two days.

I'll check in soon.....

Powerful

2006-01-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

This is from Neil T. Anderson's book Victory Over the Darkenss, And I found it very powerful.

"Why do we need the nature of Christ within us? So that we can be like Christ, not just act like Him. God has not given us the power to imitate Him. He has made us partakers of His nature so that we can actually be like Him. You don’t become a Christian by acting like one. You are not on a performance basis with God. He doesn’t say, “here are My standards, now you measure up” He knows you can’t solve the problem of an old sinful self by simply improving your behavior. He must change your nature, give you an entirely new self-the life of Christ in you-which is the grace you need to measure up to His standards."

Word!

Who Am I?

2006-01-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

I am the salt of the earth
I am the light of the world
I am a child of God
I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ’s life
I am Christ’s friend
I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit
I am a slave of righteousness
I am enslaved to God
I am a son of God; God is spiritually my Father
I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him
I am a temple –a dwelling place-of God. His spirit and His life dwell in me
I am united to the Lord and am one spirit with Him
I am a member of Christ’s body
I am a new creation
I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation
I am a son of God and one in Christ
I am an heir of God since I am a son of God
I am a saint
I am God’s workmanship-His handiwork- born anew in Christ to do His work
I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God’s family
I am a prisoner of Christ
I am righteous and holy
I am a citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now
I am hidden with Christ in God
I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life
I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved
I an a son of light and not of darkness
I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling
I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His life
I am one of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house
I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession
I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live
I am an enemy of the devil
I am a child of God and I will resemble Christ when He returns
I am born of God, and the evil one-the devil-cannot touch me
I am not the great “I Am”, but by the grace of God, I am what I am

Real?

2006-01-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

When and how do you find the strength to forgive? When do you find the strength to move on? Do you have ten different people telling you ten different plans of action? How do you lead your life when others tell you how to live. I don't want the conventional Christianity, and I don't want the Jewish tradition. I want the freedom that Christ preached to those who hated Him. God may you hear my heart and respond.

What do you think?

2006-01-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

I read this today and I would like to know what others think about this paragraph.

"In the 1980s and 1990s, it was the evangelical turn. Suddenly the air in evangelical conferences and magazines was thick with assaults on the irrelevance of history, the outdatedness of traditional hymns and music, the uptightness of traditional moralism, the abstractness of theologizing, the impracticality of biblical exposition, the inadequacy of small churches, and the deadly, new unforgivable sin--irrelevance. What happend? The new evangelicals were in the process of becoming the old liberals. Church growth was now to be 'on new grounds.' Modern assumptions from the spheres of management, marketing, and psychology had become accepted without challenge. The Irony was underscored when chastened liberals began to point out with sadness that evangelicals were now making the same mistakes they had made earlier. Evangelical pastors, for instance, were criticized for being 'shrinks in their pulpits and CEOs in their offices,' which had been the critique of liberals in the 1960s. In other words, in swapping psychology for theology in their preaching and enthroning managment and marketing in their church administration, evangelicals were making the same errors as liberals had earlier. Whatever the newly sharpend statments about biblical authority, the real authority of the Bible had been eclipsed in practice by the assumptions of the modern world."

Mending

2005-12-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Good news. I am on the road to mending!

Broken

2005-11-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

I’ve been surrounded by men and women who love me over this past week. Some of these people I’ve even called to wake them from their rest because my soul could not rest.

To all of you who love me and have been there for me I want to say “thank you”

May the spirit of The Lord that lives in me also continue to live and work in you.

I can’t tell you how much you have meant to me this week.

Why?

2005-11-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

So I was at this “outreach” event the other night. The purpose of this event was to reach out to the surrounding community; the neighborhood. The hope was that through the use of a “harvest festival”, instead of trick or treating, the church could share God’s love with those who may not have heard about Jesus.

I found myself uncomfortable with some things that were happening that night, but this one thing in particular got my blood boiling.

The volunteer staff at this event wore a T-shirt that said something like this
“The guy on the cross is my boss”

Black with really balloon like pink and blue letters I thought this t-shirt was confusing and really cheesy.

More confusing to me was a table I found where these T-shirts on display with a sign reading “T-shirts $19.00”

Why?

I wanted to grap a whip and overturn the table.

Pain

2005-10-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Who are we helping? Do we love people who are hurting? One of my best friends wrote this and I wanted us to take and look at why we do what we do.

"How many times do we get the opportunity to close the door on a bad memory? To take something from our past that was so painful we cringe when we remember it, but turn it around and make it something beautiful? I would say not nearly often enough. God promises to make our scars beautiful, but not all of us will see it in our own lifetimes. In fact, I dare say that most of us will go to the grave asking "why". This is our finite humanity trying to understand the infinite deity. That which exists outside what we know. I'm on a quest. I was given an answer to a big question: Who am I? Now I seek the answer to the other burning question: What the hell happened? My childhood was not fun, and my adolescence was something of which nightmares are made of. I sometimes pray for a sudden blow to the head causing me to have amnesia, wiping the first seventeen years out of my memories. Yes, I would lose some amazing things, but those would be sacrificial lambs to purify the demons that haunt my nightmares.

Please pray for those around us who are experiencing pain. Also please love on these people and share their burdens as you are able; even if it stretches you in ways that are not always easy. Isn't this why we do what we do?

Certainty?

2005-10-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just hearing this word will make some people cringe, but I like that. I wish more of us would cringe sometimes.

There are many things that I am not certain of, but I don’t believe that to be certain of something is to be wrong.

Our Church

2005-10-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

Distinctions?

2005-10-19T01:01:00.000-07:00

There are some folks who seem to be making a distinction between evangelism and discipleship and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I’ve also heard from some Christ followers that maybe we were never called to evangelize, but I think that God’s word speaks clearly on this issue. I don't believe this is something that the “Old”, “Traditional” or even the “non-emergent” Church made up.

This is what Jesus said:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:19-20

For the sake of space I will only share this passage.

I don’t see a distinction here. Maybe I’m wrong, which is sometimes the case, but I just don’t see it. I welcome thoughts on this issue if you believe differently than I do.

Beautiful

2005-10-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

These are not a stock photos; I shot these pictures this past summer at a place called Rackova Dolina in the High Tatry Mountains. This territory is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited; it’s up there with the massive volcanoes of Guatemala and the rain forest of Brazil. I have enjoyed the art work of The Almighty in many countries.

When I look at such beautiful places as these my heart just fills with awe; they make me want to see God’s face. There are only a few things in this world that might be more beautiful than this.

I believe the cross is also one of the most--if not the most-- beautiful things on earth. Not because of it’s shape or design, but because my King showed more love to me on a cross than anybody else could possibly show. My King suffered on a cross so that He could make Me beautiful.
Can you think of anything more beautiful than that?

Ugly

2005-10-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

I found this little sucker in my garage last night and it freaked the heck out of me. You can’t really tell from the photo, but it was the size of my fist. I really don’t like Scorpions and everybody tells me that the big kinds are far less dangerous than the little guys. I don’t care if their less dangerous because they are ugly. Obviously this Photo was taken after he went to be with The Lord.

Wednesday Night

2005-10-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

I am the leader of a House Church for High School students. We had a meeting last Wednesday night where about 50 or so students came together to worship their creator. I was ill that night, and I probably should have stayed home. I noticed as I led the meeting that night if felt forced; I mean that I felt as if I was leading the meeting out of my strength. I know that this was because of how I felt physically. It was as if I told myself “I have to get through this meeting.” At one point I was sharing my Testimony with the students and as the words came out of my mouth they felt like empty words, not like the powerful story of how The Almighty God changed my life. I wanted to just stop talking and sit down, but I didn’t stop sharing my story. I finished speaking and asked who else might want to share.

This is where the night became something special. One of the students began to share her story and then she paused. She was silent for a short time and began to share the following:

“I don’t know why God wants me to share this now, but I really feel like He is telling me to share. I don’t share this with anybody, and I’ve never shared this in public. I was born with a genetic disease.” Her voice was pretty shaky at this point and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was looking at the floor. She continued with “It’s really hard because I can’t do everything that everybody else gets to do. I have to take treatments for two hours everyday. All I’ve ever wanted was to be normal and that is why I don’t share this with people. I think about death more often than most people. I’m not going to die soon, but I will die younger than most people, and I know how I’m going to die. It makes me think a lot about heaven. I don’t know why God wants me to say this.”

The house was silent at first. I began to say thank you so much for sharing your story with us tonight, and every student in that living room began to clap and cheer. It was their way of saying thank you for being vulnerable. I was in awe of the community that we have at this house. This student felt she could be open and vulnerable with her struggle, and she was right to feel that way. Nobody looked down on her, or judged her. She was rewarded for her honesty with a million hugs and smiles. I too was rewarded for sharing my story with many hugs and smiles. God must have changed the words I was saying and replaced them with His in their ears.

For me this was just a glimpse into Heaven and the perfect community we will have there someday. Even as I struggled to lead this night out of my strength, God stepped in, and I'm glad I didn't stay home that night.

Slovakia

2005-09-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

These students were amazing!! I loved being around them and hanging out with them while in Slovakia. I love this country because the people are honest; they are honest about who they are and what they do. One reason they are honest (I believe) is because they don’t know how to be other…
Lord I pray that I can be honest with who you have made me to be and what you have given me to do.

Scottland

2005-09-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve done a lot of traveling this summer; I was in England, Scotland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech. Although Slovakia is my favorite country to visit, I must say that I enjoyed Scotland very much. I really loved walking down the street and hearing bagpipes being played in the streets of Glasgow, or Edinburgh. It was like some romantic dream that I’ve had since childhood. My Grandfather was Scottish. Campbell was my mother’s maiden name. I was told by a few bartenders and waiters not to tell people that I was part of the “Campbell clan”, because they were known for being ruthless people in Scottish history. I really did love Scotland very much. I loved hearing people say “cheers mate”, or “no worries mate”. I loved sitting in pubs where there was only one waiter, and only one cook. I loved this because it meant that people had to converse with each other to pass the time, and these people, the locals, lived in community. It was beautiful. I really mean that. I will admit that it was cold and wet, even in July, and the people told me that the weather is so miserable in Scotland, but don’t most people complain about the weather where they live. I loved talking to the taxi drivers as they told me about their city and what life in Scotland was like. The whole time I was there I was thinking about William Wallace, and how these heroes’s where doing all their work, fighting and loving, while wearing kilts. It was cold in July (outside), but it was warm in my heart.

2005-09-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Coffee in Praha!