stooping down

when i think about stooping down i think about plugging something into an outlet. those things are always way down there at shin level. kind of annoying.

i feel like most of the time i'm bent over and wedged into some place i only halfway fit into and it's dark and i'm trying to plug something in. i can't quite see or reach the outlet so it takes forever and i get frustrated with it easily.



or generally i hate stooping down to plug something in because my knees are really bad and i just can't handle the stooping down part. i wouldn't mind if all outlets were like eye level or chest level.



but they're not. so i have to stoop down. and i have to stoop down for all kinds of little stuff. i have to stoop down for all kinds of stuff that's way down below me.



ever wonder what kind of stuff God stoops down for?



God is SO HIGH and so HOLY & Unique that He actually stoops down just to look on the heavens and earth!!! just to get low enough to see!



"Who is like the LORD our God? [implied answer = "NOBODY!"]

the One who sits enthroned on high,

who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?"



nobody is like that! That's the freaking awesome God we know! He's so big, so other, so unlike anything we can compare Him too... that the heavens & the earth are like a tiny little wall outlet that He has to stoop down to even see.



wow. no wonder this same Psalm says "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised."



for a God like this, i would say so.

resting

rest.



i had no idea how much i needed rest until i started resting. didn't know how tired i actually was from this past year...



i just fell asleep on the couch today at like 11am without even meaning to. i was out cold.



earlier today i saw Rob Bell tweet something that perfectly describes my sabbaths. & vacation for me is simply a LONG yearly sabbath:

"On the Sabbath- we ask the question: what feeds our soul? And then we do that."

right on. just feeding my soul for these 2 weeks.



i love love love the part of vacation & all sabbaths where we just sleep in until we wake up. whenever that is. i hope i can train myself to sleep in until at least noon 1 of these days.



today was simply an amazing day of rest. and there are still double digit days of rest to go.



Crystal and i were chilling out in the ocean air by the pool and i had my iPod shuffling. randomly hit a song i hadn't heard in years. a flash back to high school days. i don't even know how it got on this iPod. but that song was very appropriate for this afternoon as i just sat there looking at God's amazing creation all around and resting in Him as a form of worship:

"i REST in the shelter of your love & i REST in the WONDER of YOU."

that shelter is BIG and this WONDER is endless.



i let it repeat a few times as i just rested.

I hate all your show

Below is just a chunk of Isaiah 1... God talking to His people saying:

“The multitude of your sacrifices—

   what are they to me?” says the LORD.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

   of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure

   in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!

   Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—

   I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

   I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;

   I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands in prayer,

   I will hide my eyes from you;

even if you offer many prayers,

   I will not listen.

Your hands are full of blood;

 wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds

   out of my sight!

Stop doing wrong,

 learn to do right!

Seek justice,

   encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of the fatherless,

   plead the case of the widow."

wow, that's pretty hard core.
is it possible that God could feel this way about us?

here's Jon Foreman's updated take on that passage from his song "Instead of a Show":

I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands

Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all, all
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

sometimes i think it's possible that we're kidding ourselves. singing our songs but closing our eyes to the more important things God cares about.

just a reality check.

awe & joy & hope

(I originally posted this on August 24, 2009.)

most awesome way to start my Monday was singing this song David wrote a long time ago...

"God our Savior,
the HOPE of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by Your power,
having armed Yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with AWE at Your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
You call forth songs of JOY."
- David the songwriter (Psalm 65:5-8)
beautiful. I'm stoked that God, our Savior, is the hope of all the ends of the earth! That's amazing. That's awesome. I am completely filled with awe this morning... God has captured my sense of wonder because of all his amazing wonders. This morning I am singing songs of joy. I can't hold them back.

i bet this was awesome

(This is a repost from RENOWN on March 28, 2009.)

I do a lot of Bible reading in the shower... no the pages don't get wet. Every morning I usually listen to a few chapters from "The Bible Experience" - it's the straight text from the Bible, but VERY dramatic. Sometimes I even listen to a whole book while I'm getting ready. It's awesome & I highly recommend it. (You can learn more about it HERE. and you can even buy it HERE.)

the other day I was journeying through the book of Acts. This stuff all comes to life while I'm in the shower. These few verses below have been stuck in my head since I heard them. My first thought was "Man! I bet that was awesome!" Check it out...

"'Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.' After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them." (Acts 4:30-34)

WOW! That's what I want to be a part of. I'm praying God does something like this right here in the middle of us. It would be awesome for God to display His glory like this @ Ridge Church and in all of Charlotte and hopefully for the rest of my life wherever I go all over the world.

my 1st communion story (hilarious)

i want to take a minute to tell you a really funny story about the 1st communion i ever served.

communion is amazing.

when you get it. 

it's truly amazing for me and a powerful time of remembrance and worship.
communion is amazing when you understand it after someone explains it to you.

but if you're an outsider/ someone who is unfamiliar with Christian rituals... i can't even imagine what you would be thinking! = "What!? we're drinking some guy's blood & eating his body?"

i used to work at a big church and communion was pretty much this very rigid and extremely stuffy experience. all the pastors would line up at the front in black suits with trays of juice & crackers.
everything was always very insider focused. not very aware that someone might actually be at the church for the 1st time and not know what communion is or what to do.

we had just taken up an offering and then we started passing out the trays to serve communion.
of course i am CRAZY nervous. this 21 year old kid surrounded by peeps in their 40s-80s wondering what's up with my hair... + i'm carrying like 20 communion trays and they feel like they way 50 pounds. i just know i'm going to drop them all in this solemn moment.
what do i even do after i drop them?

anyway, thankfully that didn't happen. but it was SILENT in there. you could seriously have heard a pin drop on the carpet. and NO ONE would dare talk or make a sound.

i get to the back and there is a guy all by himself. and when i say all by himself, i mean that the closest person was literally 30 feet away from him.
from 1 look at this man everything about him screamed = "THIS IS MY 1ST TIME IN CHURCH!"... Or at least at this particular church/ kind of church. he stuck out big time.

so i gave him a big smile (because it would of course be forbidden to speak to/welcome this man during communion) and extended the plate of crackers to him for him to take one.

APPARENTLY an outsider doesn't recognize the difference between the offering plates we pass and the communion trays, because this guy DROPPED A $20 IN THE COMMUNION TRAY!

i was a little surprised and it took me a second to realize what just happened. then i handed his $20 back and said - "oh no man, actually you just take one of these."

he took a cracker, looked at me and said "thank you", and POPPED THE CRACKER IN HIS MOUTH AND ATE IT.

that may or may not sound weird to you but i know the guy felt really embarrassed about 3 minutes later when the Pastor gave this insider cue and 754 other people all picked up their cracker and ate it at the same time!


wow. pretty funny, but also pretty poignant. if we're going to invite outsiders into God's presence and actually want them to experience Him... maybe we should explain what the heck we're doing? knock down some barriers/obstacles for them? just a thought.

when i told some other staff about this guy's 1st communion 1 of them just said = "Don't tell Bob (the Business/Admin Pastor guy) that you gave the $20 back!"

no better way to start 2011

no better way to start off 2011 for me than watching Passion 2011 through their live link.

I guess being there would be better, but this is the next best thing to actually being there to experience it. i'm really thankful that Passion is gracious enough to let us all follow along via the streaming sessions for peeps like me who are too old now to be there.

crazy significant impact on my life in the college years... and still. very thankful. very nostalgic. full of awe for an amazing God who changed/is changing me.

tune in and watch the last few sessions of 2011 HERE.