Series Leader

Day 1

DAY 2

1 Week Past

Well, I've wanted to post this for a week. And now I finally have the chance. Rachel and I went to a Derek Webb concert last Friday night. It was very cool. I like a good concert. This one was just what I was wanting. A place to sitdown, listen, and not do one more thing. It was great! It was quaint- only about 75 people there. After the show, Rachel and I hung around for a moment and talked to Derek, and told him we appreacitated his music. He seems like a great guy.

Anyway, in honor of my good friend Todd Wright, and in his customary fashion, I leave you with the set list for the night.

Set list was designed by the audience at the beginning and written down on paper by Derek with a Sharpie (imagine C with a cirle around it here). It went as follows:
Nobody Loves Me
Faith In My Eyes
Table for Two
Wedding Dress
I Repent

Intermission

Mockingbird CD Top to Bottom (all eleven songs!)

It was a great time!

Can't Wait!

Okay, so I'm just trying to hurry things along. If not May, how about early June?

Surpassing the Ordinary

It truly has been a long time since I spoke of the musings taking place in my life. I have been a little busy lately getting ready for some cool things coming up. Epic is just around the corner now and it has really caused me to think a few things over again and pose some new thoughts at some old ideas.

I have long known that God looks at the heart and not the outward appearance. (1 Samuel 16:7) I guess that I have always considered that to mean he looks at what we are doing then checks our motives. I have always forced a connection in my mind that once God checks our motives he comes back and looks at our actions and then "approves" them because the motives were correct. I think I have to correct that again. I think the true message is that God looks at our heart-- period. That's it? That's what I keep asking myself. You see if you are like me then you keep asking what I'm asking. Can't I do something else? I am wanting to do something so I can please Him.

In order to combat little evil thoughts like," What can I do to please God?", (if you are still stuck on the question being evil then we better talk) I am now force feeding Scriptures like the following (italics and bold are the key points):

1 Thessalonians 2:4On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Colossians 2:2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

These scriptures make me want to strive hard to accomplish the next one. (Notice the effort is still present - I desire to do something)

Colossians 3:16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Conclusion: When we understand completely these full riches we begin to see a shift in the way we see ourselves and conversely our actions. There is no longer a disconnect between our outward appearance and our inner motives. God looks at our heart and sees His Son and we are approved. Maybe we should look at heart as well and see His Son and call ourselves approved, and quit looking to our actions to convince us that we are.*

*If you are concerned that the avoidance of judging our own actions will cause us to do sinful things or things that are selfish - please see 1Thessalonians 2:4

CSI: Liberty Mountain

Thursday, we head to Summit Lake to investigate the Cross and discover our new identity. Pray for us as we are away. We hope to build some great, long-lasting friendships and experience an awesome time learning exciting life-changing truth

Not to mention some wild skiing!!!

Most importantly we want to come away from the weekend grounded in our faith at a deep level, knowing who we were and now who we are in Christ!

Pray for my family, seems like things are especially difficult now. We need God to intervene in many areas.

BrainScratch

If you go to a hotel and totally love it, and desire to recommend it to a friend, would you recommend it without reservation?

And if so, would not that set them up for a potential problem?

Guess-a-Google

http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/

If nothing else, it's creative.

An Actual Blog

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7050

I love the contrast that this article suggests.

Excerpt-

"For one thing, you don’t have to unlearn all the clutter that comes with formal religion. Many of us are trying to wipe the slate clean of all the stuff that came from well meaning, but misguided Sunday-school teachers."

Blogworthy

Ate an apple today. That makes 5 whole (minus core) in 30 years.

God The Farmer

I have been taking a few days to think about all that God showed me last week while I was at Passion 06. I can’t get over the fact that God really is doing something. I have always heard (and known) that God was in fact doing something, but the idea always seemed allusive at best. How many times has every American Christian heard a preacher say, “God is up to something big?” I mean I think I have heard that no less than 2000 times in my life, but for the first time I think I understand more clearly what He is indeed doing. God is growing a monument. He is building a people, a living monument of believers, which live for Him through the suffering of the Son.

It was pointed out to me this past week, something that I had read before, but had never seen.

John 15:1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer.

Most of us have heard this before, however, notice that it doesn’t say like a farmer. It says is a farmer. This is crucial to the imagery found throughout the whole Scriptures. It is no surprise that man starts in the garden of Eden. Don’t forget the children were led into the desert and eventually into the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. And don’t forget Jesus going to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.

God is a farmer and he is planting each and every one of us to bear much fruit. He is continuously pruning and shaping us into the image of His Son.

God really is moving, and many more people believe everyday.
May God grant us the faith to live in the reality of His Kingdom, and may that faith compel us to listen to the Father and obey.

New Year's Implementations

res·o·lu·tion: The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.

im ple·men·ta tion: To put into practical effect; carry out.

I prefer implementations, that way when I don’t accomplish them, then it means that I just haven’t implemented them yet.

New Year’s Implementations:

In 2006, I desire . . .

1. more time spent talking to God than about Him.
2. more understanding and reflection than assumptions and presumptions
3. less assuming that change is always progress.
4. a deep yearning for the way things should be and longing for when they will
5. me preaching less psychology and more theology
6. less of me aiming at relevance and more of me aiming at obedience
7. to present The Gospel “distinct from my own ideas.” – (Lewis 1945).
8. to live within the moment and not trying to revive the past.
9. to rent less movies and read more old books.
10. to fear God more, and fear man less
11. to risk hearing God more, not just assume it’s my own thoughts.
12. to voice my convictions, even if it make everyone uncomfortable – including me.
13. to quit eating like I was still in high school and playing football.
14. more time calling friends and less time wishing I did
15. to create visible, tangible, and positive changes in the lives of people I don’t know
16. a life that looks more like John the Baptist, you know, less civilized.

Happy New Year!

To You and Yours

Such a great Story.

A Good Day Ahead

Image #1: Ceramic Tile. Stayed up all night. Again. 3rd times a charm. Finished. (Need to grout tomorrow.)

Image #2: My new best friend.

Image #3: My front yard. Snow Day! 4 inches.

It's 7:30am. Good night.

"No. No. I got this one"

I have recently been reminded about the most often recurring sin in the old testament. The sin of forgetfullness. I find it interesting that when I heard this I actually said to myself, "is it a sin to forget?", followed by a quick "of course, forget God? That is definitely a sin. "

Then I would go on to remember, that God was constantly telling the Isrealites, "Remember me!" He started the prayer shawls with tassells tied in knots to remind them of God throughtout the day (Rob Bell) and then He also sent prophets to declare His word and then commanded that it be written down. And then their is the feast of booths that celebrated forgiveness and mercy and reminded generation after generation of God's goodness.

It's sad to me to think that I still forget. I go all day and then pray at a meal and realize, the one that created and supplies life, the one that vocationally serve, sometimes gets forgotten.

It seems to me that maybe this would be a good reason to pray without ceasing. Ceasing at prayer causes us to forget. Which means that everything we do, whatever it is, should recieve prayer. (Read: My X min "quiet time" becomes an excuse to not pray about everything) Maybe the goal should be constant prayer.

Funny. The alternative to not praying without ceasing, it subtly telling God "this one's mine."

"I wonder" - by Susie Moore

Is a Super 8 better than a Motel 6? I think all hotels should come with a number in their name as a type of rating. Like instead of a Holiday Inn it could be a Holiday 10. Just doing my part to make things a little easier.


Susie

I wish I was as funny as Susie.

jason

Mr. Fullen Goes To Washington...

And St. Louis and Dallas and Houston and finally back to Washington. Rachel and I went to Texas this past weekend to attend a funeral of a close friend. I secured our tickets at a better rate by flying out of Washington D.C., Reagan National Airport. This plan would have worked well had we not had an hour delay at Reagan that perfectly allowed us to miss our connecting flight in St. Louis which in-turn caused us to route though Dallas - just in time to miss our luggage and the expired rental car when we landed in Houston. Yep. It was frustrating.

It's funny how things have to work together in order to work well and sometimes work at all. I recently have been contemplating on the fact that God's Glory and my happiness work together. This may not seem possible because there is such a distance sometimes between how we feel and how we "should feel." I think it may be necessary to remind myself from time to time that thoughts always come before feelings. We think therefore we feel.

Colosians 2:6-7 says it best:

6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in
him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.

We can only feel "right" when we are thinking right. I love the phrase "overflowing with thankfulness." This feeling of thankfulness can only come when we are thinking the way we are commanded.

Romans 12:2 reminds us . . .

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

An Original Thought -Or "I Don't Know Who I Lifted This One From"

Man what a weekend! We hosted THE HUNT last night and it was incredible. We had such a fun time watching the students get so excited. The airport scene came off without a hitch and looked like something you would see at Universal Studios. The shirts looked awesome on everyone and it was such a blast! There were a few minor glitches, but an overall fantastic event!

Well, I've been in Maryland now going on two months. I have been making my adjustment pretty good. Other than getting teary-eyed passing by some Texas Longhorn cattle and hanging out for a couple of hours at the grocery store, staring at the Texas Toast, I'm doing just fine. I was driving around today and was in awe of the beautiful lanscape of the seasons. I was looking at only what I thought came in pictures, not actually existed! It was great to be driving around the back roads and feeling like I was on a beautiful scenic vacation.

Now that I have had sometime to reflect on moving and catch up to the fact that I have actually moved, I have had a couple of original thoughts. (Or at least, I have not consciously lifted them.)

I was moving in last week and encountered the thought about time and the cliche` "Time heals all wounds." I thought about it a while and I am not so sure it does. I don't think time heals our wounds, I think time only allows us an opportunity to do something with our wounds. If we are not deliberate, time will only allow us the flexibility to forget our wounds and busy our lives with something else, not heal them.

Now I do understand that I am splitting hairs, but the idea is this. Time doesn't heal wounds, God does. Only when we choose to allow Him to deal with us and change our perspective and grow our faith, does healing occur. Rach and I had a coversation tonight thinking another thought along the same line. We came to the conclusion that the only time our faith grows is when we doubt our faith. Let me explain. I think the process would go something like this: We have a thought of doubting God, something like "I don't think God has MY best interest in mind, so I will help Him out. Then we "leave our faith" momentarily in search of something else, only to find that their is nothing out there that can come close to Christ! So we return to our faith again this time stronger than when we left.

So what does this mean? I think maybe wounds force doubt, and provide opportunities for growth or rejection to God. This means that wounds that occur due to our sin, or someone else's sin, still have the potential to draw us nearer to Christ.

There still needs to be some thought on the fact that some people do leave their faith in Christ. Although, I think that a little light on the subject would most likely reveal that this person didn't leave a faith, they only left a religion. They certainly didn't find something better than Christ, only something they felt they could earn.
***

It's crazy how much time one can spend thinking while living in that wonderful world of Tetris called Moving! Followed by a new pass-time with all your stuff in boxes called Memory! You would think at 30 I wouldn't still be playing Tetris and Memory.