Moses delivered a few sentences that are easy to say, yet much harder to live out.
Archive for August, 2008
Thursday Throwdown
-I’m worn out this week and I’m off today! That’s a good thing
-Braiden has to go to the dentist today…He did well his last visit so hopefully today goes just as smooth.
-Brenden starts his 3 yr old pre-school next week and we get to meet his teacher today! He is switching schools (because it’s closer to home) so I hope he will adjust ok
-Tomorrow night amanda and I are going out on a date…It’s our anniversary on Sunday so we are celebrating it tomorrow…I can’t believe we have been married 6 years!
-Excited about Labor Day weekend…That means long weekend so an extra day to hang out with my wife and 2 boys! I love these people!
Shortest Route
I was drawn to this idea a couple of years ago and have really held on to it…God is leading his people….he isn’t taking them on the shortest, most direct route, but he is still leading them. Here’s what I take away from it…
-God knew that if he took them on the shortest route, they would encounter hardship–he knew if they encountered those hardships, they would turn back.
-God was still working on them–they weren’t ready to face what was to come yet–God was still preparing them for what was in store–That’s why we have different seasons in our life..some short lived, some a little longer…but God needs that time to prepare us for what’s ahead.
Has God ever been leading you somewhere? to do something? to make a decision? but you felt like it was taking forever to finally reach the finish line…maybe he is taking this extra time to prepare you for whats ahead..so, my advice, get ready….cause greater things are still to be done!
Pretty Cool Stuff
I just ordered a book called the Case For Christ from MTV. Now, if I wasn’t involved in culture and tried to stay away from MTV, I wouldn’t have known they sold this book…They were actually the cheapest. I just thought it was pretty cool!
When we win, AND when we lose
That is a piece of a line from the movie, Facing The Giants. I was reminded of this idea of praising God when we win (times are good) and when we lose (when life kinda sucks) when I was reading about Pharaoh here. Pharaoh had finally decided to soften his heart to God because he had finally decided things were going bad enough to obey God…Just a short time later, when he felt like things were coming back under control; he took the reigns back and began to screw stuff up again…
Bottom line, we can’t only seek God in the tough stuff, we’ve got to praise HIM in the good times too!
Relocation Project
Think you have ever lead a big relocation project…Think about this
That’s a big group to look after…
How Stubborn do we have to be?
I love this…Pharaoh’s heart isn’t budging…He’s totally set in his way…Even though everything around him was crumbling, he still didn’t get it. It never occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, he should try a different approach…Because of Pharaoh not being willing to make a change, many people suffered.
In church, I see this alot. I think the people that suffer the most are the people that never come to know Jesus because of our harden hearts…because of our unwillingness to do something different and follow God’s lead…We sometimes have this idea that we can be a chief right along side Jesus…what about if we were his Indian? How much more could we accomplish when we totally let HIM lead the charge? I don’t know, I just don’t want to get to Heaven and have to answer questions like… “Brian, there were 126,000 people within 5 miles of the building you call the church and I commanded to you go and preach my message and baptize them in my name and disciple them…Why didn’t you do that?” That’s not how I want my conversation with Jesus to start when I get to Heaven…I want it to go something like this… “Brian, well done thy good and faithful servant…you went out into the world and preached my message…because of that, many people are here to welcome you today…you were willing to change when i needed you to change, you were willing to adjust when it was necessary, and most of all Brian…you were about my agenda, not yours!” That’s how I want things to go when I get to Heaven…I don’t want to be a stubborn idiot like Pharaoh was.
Thursday Throwdown
-our RE-LAUNCH last night rocked! I felt like I was a little off on the message but God still used it to reach some folks and bring some people into a new relationship with himself…never gets old watching people surrender their life to Jesus
-Did have a parent get upset because we went over by 20 minutes from our scheduled ending time…I’m not willing to say I’m sorry for that because the kids that just began a relationship got to sing to their King in a different way…I don’t know, I just don’t put a time limit on what God is doing…I work on HIS schedule, not someone elses…I give an account to him, not you…If that makes you angry, take that up with Jesus…and when you are done taking that up with him, read this!!!
-I got to put Braiden on the bus for the first time today…He just hoped right on and didn’t even look back…who told him that he was so independent? where did he learn that? I guess pretty soon he won’t need me for anything…
-Doing a band clinic with my student band this weekend…bringing in this group to work with my kids…I’m looking forward to taking some strides in this area…we need to improve because music is a great way for kids to connect with God and worship leading is an area for growth for us
-I’m extremely tired today…yesterday took a lot out of me so i’m very glad that I took today off!
RE-LAUNCH
We are doing something interesting tonight with my students…we are re-launching our worship experience for students…I’ve been serving as an Interim Student Pastor for the past 7 months and for this entire time I’ve been trying to drill into my students a different culture that we are adopting…we are going to be a ministry that is open to anyone…that we are a group of people that will be Sold Out to HIM…that we are a group of people that are committed to reaching people who are disconnected from God…that we are a group of people that will take people from where they are to where God wants them to be…that we are a group of people that will be radically devoted to Jesus…that we are a group of people that isn’t satisfied with just “doing” church but “being” it!
We are re-launching this worship gathering with this new set of standards and a refocused vision on Jesus. I as a student pastor want the 20,000 middle and high school students within 5 miles of our “building’ to know that they are WELCOME at this worship gathering and they won’t be stoned/judged/condemned because of what they do, how they dress, or who they hang out with…This is a place where they will find acceptance and catch the true vision of Jesus…LOVE!
