Glory be to ... Who?

"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." -  John 17:1

Often, when people find out that I am a musician several have asked, "Are you famous?" to which I answer with a smile, "If you have to ask then that means the answer is no." It seems that one of things things that people want to know or wish for me is fame. And I suppose that is cool and I believe it comes from a heart to bless me. The issue I have with fame is that most often it seems to be used in such a self serving way. An entertainer, athlete, public official or whoever, can use that notoriety to glorify themselves, make money, get that next job, etc When this happens it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Jesus, as usual, turns things upside down. He uses his fame, power and position for the purpose of putting the spotlight back on his Father. For every entertainer some amount of fame is part of the package. For me I pray for the ability and desire to use any fame I receive the highlight my Father in heaven.

It this important?

Conversation between my wife (W) and eldest child (EC)

EC - Momma, What is this? (Looking at a brown smudge on her finger)

W - I don't know. Where did you get it?

EC - From my ear. 

W - Oh, That's ear wax.

EC - (with a slight it of uneasiness in her voice) Is it important?

My wife and I laughed about that conversation for a while. What a good question? Is it important? I wonder how many things that I just let go or hold on to without asking God the question, "Is it important?" How many passing thoughts about someone have I missed because I haven't asked, "Is it important?" How many times have I held on to a wrong done to me without asking, "Is it important?" Life on this earth is only so long. I really want to make the most of what I experience here. My God, please give me the humility to ask you, "Is it important"

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Living on a prayer

Last Tuesday, I was in Austin and found this sign on the side of the road. Which certainly looked like the handy work of a homeless person. "Living on a prayer. Please Help" I was taken back by the sign enough that I took it home. I read the sign and I thought, "Now isn't that true of all of us." Take these events from the last week.  A couple that I know well continue to struggle with a painful illness that is said to have no cure, a friend just found out he has some form of lymphatic cancer, my daughter was sick with a 105 fever today and was taken to the emergency room, the finances are tighter than "under armour", the car is acting funny, and I have a friend who is working through suicidal thoughts. We are all living on a prayer and we need help in every aspect of our lives. To my unknown sign making friend, Thank- you for reminding me that my life is lived on a prayer.

Trading up

Today was a early morning. I have a friend that I meet, so that we can talk and pray. So I got up and took a shower and after the shower I find that my youngest daughter has left the coziness of her bed traded it for the comfort of sleeping with mom. My children tend to do this often. Therefore, the sight of my daughter in our bed was not a surprise but this morning I noticed something different. (Probably, because I was a bit more coherent than usual at that time of morning.) What I noticed was that she is making a trade. My youngest likes her bed just fine. It is just her size, it is the top bunk, it has all of her favorite stuffed animals and even her name is one the wall in her room. You would think that would be more than enough to cause her to hunker down and only come out for food, but there there is just something about resting with mom and dad. Eventhough, with mom and dad, there is no top bunk, no stuffed animals, no name on the wall and there is no room, I believe my daughters see this as trading up. As if there is no comfort like the comfort of resting with mom and dad. Here is a realization. I don't trade up enough. Sometimes, I am so comfortable with 'my bed' (literally and figuratively) that I don't trade up to be with my father. My daughters especially the youngest seem to rest the most soundly when they sleep with us. Maybe I will rest better as well when I go to my Father. "Come to me all who are tired and I will give you rest." - Jesus

“Wake up, I will show you how to die better”

“Wake-up, I will show you how to die better” – Cady Moore

 

I am driving and I hear my two girls playing in the back seat. Cady, my oldest child, is always the architect of the games that she and her sister, Cianna, play together. So hearing Cady tell Cianna how she should play a game is very common. But this time the  phrase above rang out in my mind for days. “Wake up, I will show you how to die better.” Out of her young mouth came this phrase so deep rich meaning and meaning on multiple levels depending on your perspective.

 

What stood out to me was that Cady knew that Cianna had to wake up (out of her pretend death) to learn Cady’s better way to die. When someone dies there life is what is looked at to determine if they died well. Surely, you have those who in a moment give themselves in a heroic/sacrificial death at times but I would suggest that even in those cases it was living in a life that was awake with purpose, meaning, and value that would was the seed that flowered into their heroic/sacrificial death. A good death is determined by the life that preceded it. When we are sleeping through life that is a death in itself. So friends, if you find me sleeping life away, please wake me up so that I can die better.

My Dad is bigger than your Dad!

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. - Psalms 8:1-2

Have you ever seen kids playing the "My Dad is bigger than your Dad game?" You know that game where one says,"My Dad is bigger than yours" and other child remarks, "Nuh uh! My Dad can lift a million pounds!" and then the first child says "My Dad knows how to shoot a bazooka!" Then the other says, "My Dad is as strong as Superman" and the other says, "My Dad is made of Kryptonite!" This back and forth goes on and on until one runs out of ideas. Well, I get the sense that we play that game with our fears. When fears say, "There no way God can get you out this financial mess' will we say, "Nuh uh! My God owns everything in the world". Then when fear says, "You have have messed this up too badly, things will never be the same" will we say, "No way, His mercy is prepared fresh every day." And will we go on and on until fear has nothing left to say?

Leaving the Church?

An interesting thought came to me after finishing my taxes the other night. I began to think about that phrase "He/She/They left the church". No, doing my taxes did not make me lose my religion and I don't think the phrase and my taxes have any correlation. (Though I know there are all kinds of jokes forming right now but that is okay too:) Anyway, that phrase "He is leaving the church" is one of those phrases generally used to say someone stopped meeting with a body of believers at a certain church location. Then after the phrase has been spoken, there are generally looks of disapproval, worry and sadness and maybe rightly so given each particular circumstance. But one phrase I don't often hearing anyone saying is, "He/She/They left Christ." This seems to be the weightier of the two phrases. Now, I am not saying that these two phrases mean the same because they don't. What I am wondering is, if I always think in terms of someone leaving the church, have I missed a crucial paradigm that Christ is the center of focus. He is the center even above our gatherings together on Sunday mornings. I wonder if the commonality of the '...leaving the church" phrase  and the lack of the "...leaving Christ" phrase exposes some off-centeredness in our thinking.  Understand me, I am not saying anything about attendance to the gathering of the body of Christ. I am wondering if our statements are exposing our focus. I want to be clear on the most important things. And whether someone is following Christ or not is on the top of my list. I want to peer through the clutter and see where Christ is and then continually point others to him. If that means reconsidering when I use certain phrases then so be it.

Death to life. The spiritual order of things.

"Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal." - Jesus The Message 

Today is Easter and the topic I most often I hear about at easter is Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection. This is always a powerful message, but today I am intrigued by Jesus' invitation to join him in his death, so that life can be attained. Death tends to bring out fear in most of us but Jesus says without dying we miss life. I suppose that the pain of sacrifice and the unknown of death is the reason it strikes so much fear in us. Death seems so final. Yet according to Jesus the death or sacrifice of the life that we live now is the door that opens us to real living. I don't begin to claim to understand all of this but I what I do know is the thing that pushes me to hold on to this life is my fear of losing it. So, I wonder if I live a life dominated by the fear of losing it, is that really living anyway. It seems that a true life of freedom can only be found in the ability to freely give up the life we have now, then our fear of losing this life won't keep us from the one promised by God. 

Forecasting High Winds

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8

The last few days in Houston, where I live, have been a kind of breezy. We have opened the windows in our house and enjoyed the experiencing cool breeze. You can hear the whistle of the wind passing through the house, every now and then the wind slams a door shut when no one is near it and when I look outside I see big strong tree limbs being moved back and forth. It is obvious the wind has been doing it's thing. I have never seen it come or go, but I have seen what it does and I surely have felt it.

I have wondered at times if people see the Spirit in my life. Do they hear the sound of the Spirit in my voice, do they see my heart being open with love for people and closed to things that promote hate, and do they see my limbs move with the actions of peace, patience and joy? I believe this is what Jesus is saying it will be like for those born of the Spirit. May our spiritual forecast call for high winds.

Money is not life.

Daily Bible Verse - 

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

The other day I was thinking about money. I mean I was thinking about the actually bills, coins, shiny (precious) metals and sparkly rocks (jewels) and I wondered when did paper, metal and rocks ever become so valuable to us. I don't know the history of money making but I do know that because of the value we place on it, we are able to trade it for things that our bodies need to live. Ex. water/food, clothing, and shelter. Try living without any one of these. So money is a means to and end. It is not end in and of itself. So, why do we fall in love with it so often. Loving money is misplaced. Loving money is overvaluing money. It would be like me falling in love with my wife's clothing. She looks great in it, but I am taken by the fashion of it, the designs and the feeling of her clothing. The clothing is there to adorn my wife, not the other way around. Money is not life, it doesn't produce life and to spend all of our energy trying to attain it so that we might live is a waste of life. Turn to the Giver of life and he will provide things you need to really live.

Message in a Diaper

Al-righty!  Today, I am changing my daughter's diaper and it was one if those everywhere diapers. You know, everywhere the diaper is you don't want to be. So, I am changing this impressively filled diaper and I get through it as usual. I clean my daughter up and dispose of the air pollutant. Then I go to sanitize myself and I notice a brown spot on my pants. Awwwww Maaaannn! That feeling of utter grossness totally covered me like a body bag. So, I commenced to deep cleansing so that I can be whole again. 

 I wonder what it was like for Jesus when he was carrying the full weight of our sin/filth. Did he smell it? Was it a feeling of utter grossness? It surely covered him like a body bag. Yet, he rose whole, new, and alive. Completely holy, sanitized and with power to cleanse others. Thank-you Jesus for getting filthy to cleanse us.

Need Fixing Again

While at the drive through today, My daughter asked me a question about something and as I was moving the car so she could get a better view. I ended up hitting a pole and damaging my rear view mirror. This is second time damage has been done to our rear view mirror. So, I got out got some duct tape put temporary fix on until I can take the car to our mechanic. 

My walk with God is similar to this incident in that I go along doing the best I can, then I get distracted by the world and sin hits me. The next thing I know I get my spiritual duct tape to hold things together but it never really fixes the issue. Until I go to the Father with my brokenness, I will never be healed of my self-inflicted wounds. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 and "God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left. (The message) Thank-you, God!

Good gift?

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

You ever received one of those gifts that when you opened it you thought, Oh...wow. Thanks? Well, I received one of those gifts once from my wife. A shirt and a pairs of shoes. When I first received them, especially the shoes, I thought I probably wont use these much. Today, I use them both frequently, especially the shoes. It was until later that I experienced the value of these gifts. Sometimes God gives us gifts that we can't appreciate. Sometimes the gifts are wrapped in hardship but if we hold on to the gift then after a while we might find ourselves really enjoying the gift. He always gives good gifts.

Securities

“…He (God) is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.” 2 Samuel 22:3

A typical thing that occurs in my home is that in the middle of the night one of my girls will wake up scared from a bad dream or can’t sleep and they come into the room to find some security in Daddy's or Mommy’s arms. Children seem to know where safety can be found. Along the line in my ‘growing up’ I seem to frequently forget where my security comes from. I have “securities” or at least that is what my financial institutions call them. I have a security system on my home, which tends to be more of a nuisance than a help at times. Also, I have ‘bootstraps’. You know, the kind that I can pull myself up by when life gets me down. But I think one of the straps broke a few months back when my car wouldn’t start. Are you getting the picture? Somewhere in there, I lose sight of where my refuge and salvation really comes from. Father, when I am in the dark hours of life, may I see clearly enough to turn to you for security. In Jesus name, Amen.

Rest easy. God is watching.

I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. Psalm 3:5

King David writes this as he is fleeing for his life from his son Absalom, who has orchestrated a coup against him. So, David takes all of his court and they run for their lives. Out of this comes what we just read. David says, he rested during this. I have a hard time resting when a few things around the house go undone. I assume that if a family member were trying to kill me, that rest would be hard to come by. But David says, ‘he slept and woke up in safety because God was watching over him.’ Which causes me to ask myself, “Do I believe in God’s watchful protection enough to rest when times are the hardest?” I am not talking about sleep to escape the problems but I am talking about rest, that reminds me that I am under God’s watchful eye. I got a lot of room grow here. May we all rest under God’s watchful eye.

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Good Fruit Filling

March 30, 2009 Daily Bible Verse

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Luke 6:43-45

We recently had to get my oldest daughter a new lunch box. I say ‘had to’ because the old one grew a forest full of mold in it. We (mostly me) didn’t take the leftovers out of the lunch box before we began traveling for spring break and poof ‘Chia’ lunch box was created. (Think Chia Pets) What is inside a container is a big deal. According to Jesus as recorded by Luke, the our actions and the words we say are an out growth of what is in our hearts. So, this leads me to think about what is in my heart. Is there anger, bitterness, and envy or is there love, joy, peace, patience and the like. There is only one way for our hearts to be filled with good things. Let’s hand our hearts to God so that he can fill them up with the stuff that produces good fruit. Good fruit filling is what we need. (Ok, that last line was cheezy)

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A Spiritual Workout

My wife asks me the other day, “How can joy be strength?” Which I thought was a good question. ‘The joy of the Lord will be my strength’ is a song Ihave sung and a verse that I have read for years. I sang it with excitement but it is one of those things that if you would have asked me about, then it would have taken some stumbling around in my mind to come up with... “ Uh, I am not sure”. With that said, this is my best shot right now. In Hebrew 12:1-3 it states that Jesus for the Joy put in front of him endured the cross. There seems to be something about going through hardship and knowing that once you get through it everything will be just right, knowing that the when the is over more than you can imagine will be accomplished, and knowing that if you see this through, then the world will be different. I believe those thoughts brought Jesus joy and with that joy in his heart it gave him the strength to bear the sin of all mankind and the death that would pay for it. God has given us all a picture of great joy that is to come with him? Let that joy be the workout the strengthens your spiritual muscles.


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How beautiful is unity

Daily Bible verse
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

In John 17 Jesus prays that we may all be one as he and the Father are one. Unity these something about it that truly makes my heart leap there are few things as beautiful as unity. It is also an active testimony that Jesus came from God. The song and this video seems to give a glimpse of unity in a way that few things that I have experienced have. All the different people, instruments, and dialects all singing about peace and unity. It makes my heart leap every time. I hope you enjoy. Click the link to watch the You tube video



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Fill up your hope tank.

Encouragement is the fuel for the car called Hope. Recently, I have had people give all kinds of support, verbal, financial, spiritual and even their mere presence. I feel so much more hopeful than I did maybe a week or two ago. Not a lot has changed except that I have received great support from my friends.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Heb. 3:13

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Congestion

Most people who live in Houston are familiar with congestion and I am not even talking about traffic. I am talking about allergen instigated nasal congestion. You know, the kind where try to breathe  with all your might and you take in less oxygen than a flea. Well, the last few days nasal congestion has been my plight. As I sit here feeling like there is a brick stuck in my nose and trying to come up with the thought of the day, I find myself thinking about my bills, my coffee shop gig tonight, the Conversant Life contest, my kids, my wife, the dog’s health, the phone calls that need to be made etc, etc, etc. My mind is congested just like my nasal passages. Maybe that is why God says ‘Be Still and know that I am God’. He says stop and focus on knowing one thing – “I am God.” I believe this practice may act like a decongestant for our mind and spirit. It clears the way for us breathe in God’s Spirit. Stop and breathe deeply of the Lord.

 

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