Just a thought to spur discussion... I shared this Crowder song with the senior adult class I've been teaching (by the way they loved it). Oh and for the record the lessons have been various lessons on grace :) !
Only You
Words by David Crowder, Mike Dodson, Jason Solley and Mike Hogan
Music by David Crowder
Take my heart, I lay it down
At the feet of You who’s crowned
And take my life, I’m letting go
I lift it up, to you who’s throned
And I will worship You, Lord
Only You, Lord
And I will bow down before You
Only You, Lord
Take my fret, take my fear
All I have I’m Leaving here
Be all my hopes, be all my dreams
Be all my delights, be my everything
And it’s just You and me here now
Only You and me here now
Monday, December 19, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
A Happy Thanksgiving to all!
__________________________________
PRAISE TO GOD - - - - -
by Max Lucado
You are a great God.
Your character is holy.
Your truth is absolute.
Your strength is unending.
Your discipline is fair.
You are a great God.
The mountain of your knowledge has no peak.
The ocean of your love has no shore.
The fabric of your fidelity has no tear.
The rock of your word has no crack.
You are a great God.
Your patience surprises us.
Your beauty stuns us.
Your love stirs us.
You are a great God.
Your provisions are abundant for our needs.
Your light is adequate for our path.
Your grace is sufficient for our sins.
You are a great God.
We even declare with reluctant words,
your plan is perfect.
You are never early, never late.
Never tardy, never quick.
You sent your Son in the fullness of time
and will return at the consummation of time.
Your plan is perfect.
Bewildering, Puzzling, Troubling.
But perfect….
__________________________________
From Let the Journey Begin
Copyright 1999, Max Lucado
http://www.maxlucado.com/shop/detail2.php?pid=B139GB
PRAISE TO GOD - - - - -
by Max Lucado
You are a great God.
Your character is holy.
Your truth is absolute.
Your strength is unending.
Your discipline is fair.
You are a great God.
The mountain of your knowledge has no peak.
The ocean of your love has no shore.
The fabric of your fidelity has no tear.
The rock of your word has no crack.
You are a great God.
Your patience surprises us.
Your beauty stuns us.
Your love stirs us.
You are a great God.
Your provisions are abundant for our needs.
Your light is adequate for our path.
Your grace is sufficient for our sins.
You are a great God.
We even declare with reluctant words,
your plan is perfect.
You are never early, never late.
Never tardy, never quick.
You sent your Son in the fullness of time
and will return at the consummation of time.
Your plan is perfect.
Bewildering, Puzzling, Troubling.
But perfect….
__________________________________
From Let the Journey Begin
Copyright 1999, Max Lucado
http://www.maxlucado.com/shop/detail2.php?pid=B139GB
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Settled In
Dani and I have settled in (as much as possible) here in California and we continue to wait on the Lord. It has been good to see the Lord work in little ways…
Dani is enjoying a mom’s group. I’m teaching in a senior adult Sunday School class. Callie had her second tooth come in. I found a great coffee shop (nicely named “field of beans).
While we do not have a job yet, these little things remind me of the second part of Psalm 46.10. God says, “don’t worry your little head I will be exalted everywhere, in every way over the whole earth” (Dustin paraphrase).
Of course we know the first part of the verse very well, “Be still, and know that I am God” (not a paraphrase). This begs an interesting question for our discussion/dialogue: do we ever really “settle in” if we are to always be waiting on the Lord?
Dani is enjoying a mom’s group. I’m teaching in a senior adult Sunday School class. Callie had her second tooth come in. I found a great coffee shop (nicely named “field of beans).
While we do not have a job yet, these little things remind me of the second part of Psalm 46.10. God says, “don’t worry your little head I will be exalted everywhere, in every way over the whole earth” (Dustin paraphrase).
Of course we know the first part of the verse very well, “Be still, and know that I am God” (not a paraphrase). This begs an interesting question for our discussion/dialogue: do we ever really “settle in” if we are to always be waiting on the Lord?
Monday, August 29, 2005
This one is for you Dustin... :-)
From a newspaper article in the Sun-Sentinel
If you want to visit Steve Mullins at his "office," go to the Borders bookstore in Plantation any weekday afternoon. Hang a right into the coffee bar and look for a stocky blond guy with a Macintosh G4 on one of the two grayish-teal leather couches in the corner, the most comfortable seats in the house.
Mullins, 36, is worship pastor at Sawgrass Fellowship, a Baptist congregation that meets in Sunrise. He rotates among three wireless, or Wi-Fi, hotspots, using them as his virtual office, where he can check e-mails and exchange MP3 music files with church band members.
The T-Mobile account, which costs him $30 per month, works in at least 67 Starbucks outlets, 10 Borders and 22 FedEx Kinko's in South Florida. Mullins, who doesn't have a physical office, says the cost is worth it: He gets a stimulating environment, comfy couch, and "the coffee is always on."
If you want to visit Steve Mullins at his "office," go to the Borders bookstore in Plantation any weekday afternoon. Hang a right into the coffee bar and look for a stocky blond guy with a Macintosh G4 on one of the two grayish-teal leather couches in the corner, the most comfortable seats in the house.
Mullins, 36, is worship pastor at Sawgrass Fellowship, a Baptist congregation that meets in Sunrise. He rotates among three wireless, or Wi-Fi, hotspots, using them as his virtual office, where he can check e-mails and exchange MP3 music files with church band members.
The T-Mobile account, which costs him $30 per month, works in at least 67 Starbucks outlets, 10 Borders and 22 FedEx Kinko's in South Florida. Mullins, who doesn't have a physical office, says the cost is worth it: He gets a stimulating environment, comfy couch, and "the coffee is always on."
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Communion Thoughts From Bonhoeffer's Quote
Matt (and everyone else),
I was thinking about this line of thought in the context of communion. As a Baptist, and I’m starting to think I’m a bad Baptist, a remembrance view of the Lord’s Table is SO important. And while I still hold to that view, John 6 has some bizarre things to say that expand my little box of communion understanding.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6.54-57 TNIV—emphasis, obviously mine).
What a deep incarnational thought! Just as Jesus only did the will of the Father, so my life is only in Jesus; and that somehow communion represents that beyond my little remembrance view. There is a special added spirituality to the act, and as you say Matt, it might be in the fact that the people with whom I feast at the Lord’s Table are the body of Christ.
“Christ fulfills every authentically religious impulse in us”. Beautifully said! If Jesus does this, and accomplishes it in His body, not just a collection of individuals but a community in united under Him, then as the apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 4.8,9 we are to “live as children of light for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteous and truth”. This becomes our strong and passionate desire…more Jesus in “fulfillment of every good thing”!
I was thinking about this line of thought in the context of communion. As a Baptist, and I’m starting to think I’m a bad Baptist, a remembrance view of the Lord’s Table is SO important. And while I still hold to that view, John 6 has some bizarre things to say that expand my little box of communion understanding.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (John 6.54-57 TNIV—emphasis, obviously mine).
What a deep incarnational thought! Just as Jesus only did the will of the Father, so my life is only in Jesus; and that somehow communion represents that beyond my little remembrance view. There is a special added spirituality to the act, and as you say Matt, it might be in the fact that the people with whom I feast at the Lord’s Table are the body of Christ.
“Christ fulfills every authentically religious impulse in us”. Beautifully said! If Jesus does this, and accomplishes it in His body, not just a collection of individuals but a community in united under Him, then as the apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 4.8,9 we are to “live as children of light for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteous and truth”. This becomes our strong and passionate desire…more Jesus in “fulfillment of every good thing”!
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