Why I Worship

What Is Worship, Why Do We Worship, How to Worship

Black Friday Finds…

by 1 Comment

For  several years now, my wife and I have engaged in the “Black Friday” festivities in some fashion. Some years I get up early and fight the crowds for one or more of the “big ticket” deals and waits and goes after I get home. This year, we went ALL IN!!!

We both got up at 2:15 am. Jill dropped me off at Walmart, and she went on her way to another store. We met back up at around 7 am and brought our first round of bounty home then headed to the mall for round two.

I must say, today was a much better experience than we’ve had before. We did see some of the normal crazies, but nothing anywhere near as bad as things have been in previous years.

So… how was your day??? Did you brave the madness? Did you refuse to dive in? Did you you find any great deals? What were your best finds? What were some of the crazy things you saw? What were some thing you had not seen before? (Like maybe someone who really acted in a Christ Like manner or even the opposite…).

Let’s talk!!! Share your experience!!

Do You Smell That?

by 2 Comments

Such a beautiful Sight… I wonder how many of the people that pass this garden on the street ever really stop to take a look at how beautiful it really is or to enjoy the intoxicating aroma that fills the air around it.

You’ve heard the phrase a million times; “you’d better stop and smell the roses along the way.”

As a worship leader, I have the tendency to get very immersed in the “let’s get it done” mentality. We have so many things to accomplish, calendars full of meetings, people to keep track of, new music to learn or write, services to plan, etc. Sometimes we can forget what we are really here for: “To have an intimate relationship with our Creator!”

Jesus said to Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4, verse 18 “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

We often get so overwhelmed with our “goal-oriented” lifestyles that we forget to enjoy our everyday lives. We are so focused on “arriving” at our destination or our “next level” that we miss the simple joys of the journey. We spend our entire career as ministers of this life changing Gospel striving for arrival at some  far off destination when all we really were required to do was “Come… follow me….”

Notice, Jesus didn’t tell them where they were going. He just said “Come and follow…” It was the journey He was concerned about.

In Luke 9:23 He says these words: “23 And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

He doesn’t tell us we have to be perfectly organized or constantly completing everything on our to-do list. He says for us to follow Him(we could dive in to the “deny himself and take up his cross” part but that’s another discussion).

Please don’t misunderstand my words here! I firmly believe that we must have goals. We must be organized or we will never be able to lead people anywhere. I’m just afraid that we have become so consumed with a “Driven” lifestyle that many of us are truly missing the point of what it means to to walk with God.

Paul said it this way: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

Notice he didn’t say “I have won thousands of people to Christ. I have built hundreds of churches all over the world. I have written thirty something books, etc. He said I have fought the good fight (did he win?). I have finished the race (first or last?). I have kept the faith(did it keep him out of trouble?).

I believe there are many lessons we fail to learn, blessings we fail to receive, people we fail to touch along the way when we forget that our responsibility in this discipleship thing is to follow… That’s it. “Follow me and I WILL MAKE you fishers of men.”

Stop today. Take a look around you. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the journey.

Gettin’ Ready for New Wine

by Leave a Comment

Know what happens when God gets ready to take you to a new season of your life?

YOU GET STRETCHED!!!

Ask any woman who has carried and birthed a child what it feels like to “get ready” for the new season that is about to take place in her life.

Mark 2:22 says: “ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

We all rejoice when we hear a Word that confirms or awakens something in us that God has placed there, but we do not often realize that, in order for us to reach the destiny God has for us, our capacity to walk in the things of God must be enlarged. We must be “stretched.” Most of the time, this stretching is NOT comfortable. It hurts and, in some cases, it even leaves scars. It is, however, necessary because the way we have been operating in the current season of our life will not be able to sustain us in the next season God has for us.

The funny thing about the “stretching” is that it is completely our choice. We have the ability, as creatures of choice, to call a halt to whatever journey God has laid before us and stay where we are. This is where frustration begins to take over our minds.

Let me put it this way. Have you ever seen someone complaining about being cold while only wearing shorts and a tank-top shirt in the dead of winter? Funny, huh?  The season changed, but they chose to continue wearing what they wore in the previous season. Maybe they would say “But, I really like these shorts! They look good on me!” all the while, not realizing how ridiculous they look and sound. Frustration (in the form of shivering) comes when our season is changing, but we refuse to change our wardrobe to go along with it.

We must realize that there are many things that will not look right on us in or make the trip with us to our next season in God, whether they be thought patterns, habits, things we say to ourselves, or even some relationships. Parting with some of these things will come with a price, a price that will sometimes leave marks… scars, even.

This is what I believe Paul was talking about when he wrote in Hebrews 12:

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Paul Had experienced the maturing process of God in his life. He knew what it meant to have to let things and even people go in order to move forward with God. This why he could say, when he knew his life was about to come to an end:

2Timothy 4:7-8,

“7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Are you allowing God to stretch you in order to move you to the next place in your life? Or are you frantically jumping around trying to get warm because you still have on summer clothes when it’s snowing outside?

“Father, help me today to know what to hold on to and what to let go of in my life. Help me to keep my focus on you as you lead me through this journey each day. Help me to be quick to repent and even quicker to realize that your plan is perfect for me. I trust you. I give myself to you. Make me the person you want me to be.”