Immanuel

It’s Christmas Eve!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Streets, businesses, and houses are all decorated in lights, snow, blow-up figures, trees, and so much more. People are typically nicer than they are the rest of the year. Families make time in their busy schedules to spend with each other. Overall it’s just a pleasant time of year. 

This year has been different for me. I’ve been super busy lately and haven’t made too much time to reflect on what Christmas means. But in the short time I have reflected on the meaning of Christmas, the term Immanuel stuck out to me greatly. 

Right before Thanksgiving, I strongly believe that God put this word on my heart to reflect on.  The term itself comes from the book of Matthew and means “God with us.” I did some research on the meaning of this name of Jesus and found that it is significant because God chose to be with us instead of being against us, or opposed to us. 

Think about that. Humanity was full of unholiness, sin, and was far from God. Because of his vast love for us, he chose to be with his creation. He chose to bring salvation to humanity because he loves us. That salvation is still available to humanity today. 

God still loves humanity. He loves me. He loves you. He chose to be with me and he chose to be with you. 

So that’s what I’m reflecting on this Christmas season. God’s love for me. Every time I hear the name Immanuel in sermons, talking, or songs I’m reminded of his ultimate act of love, shown for me, and for you. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

-DS

Book Review: Man Alive

I just finished reading a new book called Man Alive by Patrick Morley.  Morley is know for his book The Man in the Mirror, which has sold around three million copies, and for leading a weekly bible study that reaches over 5,000 men called The Man in the Mirror Bible Study. 

Man Alive is a book relating to helping men find their God given purpose in life. It’s about pushing men to live a life outside of mediocrity, one where we are not just going about days half alive, or just existing. Morley’s intention in this book is to help men answer questions, about themselves, their families, and God. 

I really thought Man Alive was an easy book to read. It is thought provoking, yet not wordy. It is setup well, explaining major problems in many men’s lives with solutions to help solve those problems. Each chapter ended with questions that, if one were to take the time to answer, would help a man examine himself. Even though each chapter is about 20 - 25 pages, they feel short and straight to the point, something I believe most men can relate with. 

Overall this is a great book for men. I would definitely recommend it if you are seeking answers to questions in your life like:

- I don’t feel like God cares about me personally - why?

- Why are my most important relationships not working?

- Where do these destructive behaviors of mine come from?

- How can I live a life that will make a difference in the world?

I received this book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Remembering

It's hard for me to believe that 11 years ago today, devastating acts of terror were taking place in my own country.  At the time it felt like I was watching a movie unfold right before my eyes. It felt surreal. 

Now I know how real that day was. I've been to the World Trade Center site. I saw the holes in the ground where two massive buildings used to stand. I rode in a subway that passed a destroyed train platform. I was seeing destruction in real life that I only thought could happen in the movies. I was seeing the aftermath of pure evil. 

As I think about it now, I'm still at a loss for words. Even though I was not personally affected the events themselves, I still ask "Why?". I know I may never have the answers to those questions, but I still have them. 

Today, I am reflecting a little bit on the events of 9/11/01. Why? Maybe because I saw a similar post like this on a blog or facebook. Or maybe because it's good to remember. Remembering helps us to see how God has changed us from those times. How we've grown, hopefully to Him. It helps us to see who we were, as individuals and as a country then, and how we are today. 

So as we remember, here are links to a couple of videos we did at Riverside Church last year where I was the music minister. We purposefully took time to remember and pray for individuals affects by these events, and for our country and its leaders. Maybe today, we could all do the same. 

The first link is how we opened our service last year, a video of the band playing Alan Jackson's 'Were Where You?'  Oh, and sorry for the poor video quality on this, it was the only camera we had. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z998M5RBoxk&feature=plcp


The second is to an interview video we made of people telling their stories from that day. 
http://vimeo.com/28870401 


-DS

Reminders

I love how God can use anytime, anywhere, to remind us that He’s around. He’s providing for us, caring for us, and loving us. Today, God once again reminded me of this so I’ll share it with you.

I’m currently on vacation with my wife’s family, so my father-in-law and I decided to go play some golf. We both love to play whenever we get the chance, and what better chance than now. 

Anyway, I haven’t played in about 6 months up to this point so I wasn’t expecting to make any great shots but, on our fifth hole, I shot a birdie. Now those of you that don’t play much know this aint an easy thing to do. But somehow I managed to make a 10-15 yard chip for birdie on a par 3. Since this isn’t a common thing for me I didn’t know how to act. No celebration fist-pump or jump in the air kinda thing. Just in awe. 

As I was walking back to the cart after picking up the ball I looked down to clean my club, and right there in the middle of mud, grass, and sand were to pine needles shaped just like a perfect cross. I thought, “Huh, that’s cool,” cleaned off the club and kept walking.  In the middle of walking down a steep hill my father-in-law said something about walking gracefully. Just by him saying something about grace, and the cross pine needles on my club God was saying to me, “Hey, I’m here. Just wanted you to know.”

I love that God speaks in so many ways, reminding us of His presence. Reminding us that He is always around. His presence is everywhere, sometimes we just have to stop and realize it. Stop and notice Him. Yes, even on the golf course he can say to you...

“Hey, I’m here. Watching you. Protecting you. Loving you. Just wanted you to know.”

-David

Summer recap from a different perspective

Hello there readers!

Below you will find a link to the official Clear Camps blog. One of our leaders has written some about the summer, and also a challenge to all who attended a Clear Camp this summer. It's a great read from a different perspective than mine so I figured I'd share it with you here, so take a look. 

http://www.clearcamps.com/yourmove/

David

Book Review: Living Close to God

I’ve said it before, but periodically I’ll write reviews on some books I get for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.  I usually enjoy the books I get and God uses them to speak some great things into my life. Basically, I learn some good principles. The book I’m writing a review on here is no different. 

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good At It) by Gene Edwards is a book about learning to fellowship with God throughout one’s busy day. It’s about having a spiritual life for spiritually handicapped or practical people. It’s about furthering one’s walk with Christ beyond merely reading the Bible and praying, but about genuinely walking day by day with the Lord.

Throughout the book, Edwards gives practical advice and steps, that he has personally taken, to learn how to fellowship consistently throughout one’s day. Some of these include finding God in the quiet places, putting up small reminders in places that one frequently goes, and finding cracks in the day where one can simply be with the Lord. 

While Edwards gives great practical steps for the “spiritually handicapped” to walk with the Lord, he’s not very consistent in his explanations.  At times the throughout there are redundancies upon redundancies to such explanations as ‘partaking’ of the Lord. Other times the content seemed to be shallow and simply a space filler. One such instance would be chapter 18 where he discusses pursuing Christ in a corporate setting. I would have loved for him to expand on these thoughts further, but they seem to be quick afterthoughts. 

There are other instances of inconsistent explanations in this book, however this is my only complaint about the work. For all practical purposes this is a great book and I would recommend it for those seeking a way to walk closer with Christ, even though you may not be good at it! 

Like I said earlier, I received this book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Clear 2012 - Week 8

Week 8 - Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment

Well, here the is, the last installment of my Clear Camp summer blog for 2012.  

The last week of camp consisted of all three of our teams converging onto the Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment for our biggest camp of the summer.  This youth camp brings in an average of about 600 students and 100 adults a year.  Add in the close to 70 Clear Staffers and guest throughout the week, there is about 800 people on the campus at any given time.  Needless to say, there is a lot going on.  

Throughout this week God was continually pushing me out of my comfortable place.  I didn’t realize that I had any comfortable places left after being surrounded by my other 16 team members non-stop for five weeks, but I did.  

Anyway, one of the major standards of Clear is that the staff is with the students as much as possible.  This means from breakfast at 7:30 in the morning until we walk them back to their cabins between 11-11:30 at night.  What this does is forces us to interact with students, at all times.  It forces those of us, like me, that don’t really like to talk, to talk.  

For me, this week started with just simply talking with the adult leaders.  I met some that had been doing this for a long time, and others that were at a Clear event for the first time.  Mostly, God pushed me in talking with students in the lunch/dinner line.  Since we all had to be there, and it took some time to go through, I had some great conversations with students throughout the week.  I really believe that God was speaking through me, showing His vast love to the students.  

Even as I type this, God is showing/reminding me how he systematically brought me through this summer, not just this week, teaching me to interact with people I don’t know.  He has continually been teaching me about His love for people.  About his love for me.  

The week at Daniel Springs concluded with 60 salvations.  How amazing is that!?  60 new believers in the kingdom!  That is why we do camp.  To lead students into a relationship with Christ, and give them tools to grow in that new relationship.  Over the entire summer, with three teams from East Texas, to Chicago, to Florida, and all the way to India, Clear has seen 293 give their lives to Christ!

This has truly been an amazing summer for me.  God has shown me a ton about himself, and myself.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along.  If you would like more information about Clear, let me know or check out the website at www.clearcamps.com. There is some great stuff coming up this fall that you should definitely check out. 

Until next time,
David

Clear 2012 - Week 7

Week 7 - Conroe, TX

Week 7 of our Clear summer consisted of our team heading down to Conroe, TX to work with a church called Under Over Fellowship.  The church, less than two years old, is pastored by Jerry Vineyard.  Due to a passion to serve the homeless community in Conroe, their vision is to be a literal “come as you are” church family.  

What's really amazing, is that Under Over genuinely wants to help people get back on their feet.  Vineyard and his team take a few people at a time, teach them how to restore old furniture in their shop Under Over Mission, and then sell it in the store called All Things New.  After time, the guys working in the shop make enough money selling furniture to have a secure sustainable income.  

This week we also had the chance to visit the Conroe House of Prayer, or CHOP as it’s commonly referred to.  This is a ministry that opens its doors for the homeless community every weekday from about 5:00 to 9:00am.  Food is provided along with daily worship and preaching.  

While at the CHOP on Monday, we were able to further connect with many of the same people we had met at Under Over Fellowship on Sunday.  Through the week many of the team had the opportunity to listen to stories and pray with many of the people.  We even had one guy tell us that he would give God another try after hearing one of our team members talk about the week.  What’s amazing is that God was showing His vast love for people through every individual on our team.  

I really think that was one of the big things God wanted to show me this summer, what His love really looks like.  I spent the whole week in 1 Corinthians 13, which most of you know as the Love chapter.  I really think that being in the middle of a bunch of people I’ve never cared about before, and spending time in this chapter, God expedited my learning of the subject.  I’m no expert on God’s love yet, but I have a better understanding.  I would encourage you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 and take some time to understand what love is, and what love is not.  I believe this will help you get a better understand of God’s love for people.  

So anyway, back to Conroe.  There is so much more I could tell you about our week in Conroe.  We put on a VBS for a parent center located in an old school and saw three or four kids come to know Jesus as their savior.  We walked around in some sketchy neighborhoods with known drug houses passing out flyers and making connections for Under Over Fellowship.  We had the opportunity to lead a Wednesday night service where many of our team had a part through music, preaching, testimony, dance, or serving.  But through all of what we did, God’s love was shown and that’s the only thing that really mattered.  

Thanks for reading!

David

Clear 2012 - Week 6

Week 6 - Shreveport, LA

Week 6 for us has been back home in the lovely state of Louisiana.  After being in Chicago for three weeks it has been good to be home for a short while before heading down to the Houston, TX area.  

All week we have been working with a ministry called The Hub Urban Ministries located in downtown Shreveport.  What we’ve been doing is working right alongside them in what they are already doing.  

The Hub works with homeless and low income people in the bottoms, a neighborhood located here around downtown Shreveport.  We’ve played bingo at the hospitality house, walked around to different places passing out flyers for events, hung out and talked with people in The Basement (one of The Hub’s locations), and helped with two different community meals in different places.  

Through all of this, I’ve once again seen God do some crazy things.  Before I go any further, I’ve had a hardened heart to this class of people for a while.  I don’t know if it was the what I was taught growing up in school or throughout life, but I haven’t really cared for or liked this social class.  (I only use “social class” because I know no other way to describe it.)  What I’ve learned is that not every homeless person is greedy and expects handouts from others.  Yes, there are those, but our team has had some great conversations with people who are very ambitious and want to work for what they’ve been given.  

Another great part of the week was when we held a water day at the park for neighborhood kids.  It was fun just to watch kids be kids.  I’ve learned that some of these don’t really have that opportunity in their home environments for whatever reason.  We also got to show kids a small portion of God’s love.  One of our guys held a small girl for a long while because she just wanted to be held.  I can only imagine that she doesn’t really experience that at home, and as I think about it now, it kinda breaks my heart.  

God has also shown me a lot about Spiritual Warfare this week.  I began asking God to show me what it looks like in my life, and the lives of others.  Well, I learned that God does answer prayers in a whole new way by showing me that very same day.  It didn’t click till later, but I got to see someone very close to me struggle through a good bit of troubles as we started off.  He showed me later in the week how I can easily let my flesh be a hindrance to the movement of His Spirit.  This was also one of those that clicked later on when I was discussing something with some of our team members.  So I’ve learned firsthand what Spiritual warfare looks like and it’s not pretty.  But our strength lies in the fact that in the end, Satan is defeated.  

Anyway, The Hub is an amazing ministry here in the Shreveport area. They have been working hard in this area to build a reputation as an organization that loves people and the community here sees that.  The Hub is solely supported by donations from individuals and local churches.  Since I can’t give you all the information about them check out The Hub website here.  

I look forward to sharing with you about H-Town next week!

David

Clear 2012 - Week 5

Week 5 - Chicago, IL


This week has been our last up here in the windy city.  Once again, we had a tremendous enjoying time in the city and learning about how people live in different parts of the world.  I’m not sure I will ever want to live in a city this large, but I do enjoy visiting one on occasion.  


Throughout the week God has been revealing tons of stuff to me.  He has shown me I can do great things even when I think I can’t, just by letting him work through me in unlikely situations.  


This week most of us changed form working with our work team to the camp team.  For me this meant going out of a place where I was extremely comfortable, to a place where I was immensely uncomfortable, working directly with kids.  Gladly I was with the oldest group but it was still challenging.  


One of the most amazing things I saw was one of my teammates spontaneously jump into teaching our group about the narrow and wide gates to Heaven and Hell from Matthew 7.  This was definitely a Spirit led moment and we learned that even though most of the kids have grown up in a Christian school, hardly any of them had a personal relationship Jesus.  We later learned that another one of our teammates did the same thing with her class.  


These two instances, along with a tremendous amount of prayer from our entire team, helped lead to many conversations with our students throughout the week, but everything seemed to come to fruition on Friday morning.  Maybe it was because we knew it was the last day, but just about every one of our team members were sharing the Gospel with the kids.  I’m happy to tell you that the Spirit of God moved in mighty ways on July 6 of 2012.  We believe that five students from the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, IL came to know Jesus as their personal Savior.  


This in itself made our three weeks in Chicago absolutely worthwhile.  Five kids came to know the Lord!  I get super excited just typing that. For many more kids, genuine seeds were planted for a future harvest and that excites me for whoever has the chance to see that harvest.  I personally had the chance to show one student that once he is in God’s hand, no one can take him out of it.  


So as a close to our three weeks in Chicago, we were able to see God do some amazing work in our lives and the students lives.  We are a little sad to say goodbye to the windy city, but we are thrilled to be headed back to Shreveport and spend some time working at home for a week.  


See you next week,
David

Clear 2012 - Week 4

Week 4 - Chicago, IL

Well, this is week 2 in good ole Chicago.  So far it’s been a mostly enjoyable experience.  This weekend we had the opportunity to go and spend some time in Millennium Park, right in downtown Chicago.  During this time, some of the team were playing a game we have yet name.  Anyway, it was really cool to watch a random game being played by our staff and have some locals come join in.  Afterwards we had the opportunity to talk with them about the Clear ministry and what we are doing in the city.  

Once Monday hit we were all excited to meet the kids we would be working with for the next two weeks.  Most of these kids attend school were we are working.  It’s a privately run organization that is backed by one of the churches in the Chicago area.  

Now as a Clear staff, we are used to doing things a certain way.  Working with this school has been a challenge for us all.  It feels more like a summer school than a summer camp.  The teachers or counselors act like regular school teachers with their method of doing things.  Our role as a staff is to work alongside them and maybe help equip them with some of the things Clear does.  

Now as challenging as this has been for us, we have experienced and seen God working in what we are doing.  We feel that the first week we have been here doing manual labor has helped us build some credibility with the school staff.  It has been tough for all, but we are taking Paul’s words from Ephesians 6:5-8 seriously. 

Here Paul says...

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”

So we are doing our best to serve wholeheartedly.  As we are serving the Lord in everything we do, not man. And slowly, we have begun to see effects of our work.  Kids have begun to open up to us during the day.  Through conversations with the adult leaders we have learned that they are impressed with what we do as a ministry. We have even had conversations with some of the younger workers here at the school about how they could possibly be involved with Clear next summer.  

Personally, God has reminded me that I am a leader.  People are watching me from every angle.  And as a leader, I have to be careful about how I react in situations.  This week I hadn’t had the best of reactions every time, but I’ve decided to learn from those mistakes and make tomorrow better than today.  

David

Clear 2012 - Week 3

Week 3 - Chicago, IL


Well, this week our team has traveled up to the grand ole city of Chicago.  Most of our team was surprised to learn that the entire east side of Illinois is mostly flat, and is nothing more than corn and a few windmills.   


And to say that coming up here has been a culture shock would be an understatement.  You could probably call it ignorance but I had no idea Chicago contains a large Hispanic population.  In conversation I have learned that the majority of the neighborhood is of Puerto Rican heritage.  I am now intrigued to do a little historical research about the city when I find the adequate time.  


Anyway, we have been working with Salem Christian School which is a ministry of New Life Covenant Church here in the city of Chicago.  The school is located in an old Lutheran church that was built in the 1890’s.  History tells us that the church closed in the early 1980’s and the school bought, and moved into the building.  So from an architectural and historical point, this is a pretty cool building.  Looking at it from a modern day comfort standpoint … not so much, but we are happy to be here serving the Lord, which I will tell you about next.


Ok, so this week we have helping do some renovation/maintenance work (cleaning, electrical, painting, cleaning bird poop from a bell tower, etc).  Yes, you read that right, quite a few members of our team were given the task of cleaning piles of old pigeon poop from the top of the school’s bell tower.  This was a nasty, but rewarding job for those involved.  Once it was cleaned, some of us went up that night and enjoyed a beautiful sunset along with a great view of the city of Chicago.  


While I was able to enjoy a piece of our teams hard work, most of my days were spent working on all things electrical.  Ron, the school’s maintenance guy, was extremely happy to have someone with an electrical background on the team as he has had a long list of items that needed to be fixed.  He’s probably been exploiting my limited skills as an electrician, but I don’t mind that because I’m one of those weird people that enjoys playing with wires.  


I’ve also had the chance to use this time to teach these skills to one of the other guys on my team.  God is definitely stretching me here as He’s basically given me someone to teach and mentor all day long.  


So while this week we are working, next week kids are coming!  Kids are one of the reasons Clear exists so we are extremely excited about that.  


Anyway, time for me to go. Try and see you all next week!

Clear 2012 - Week 2

Week 2 - Camp Bethany


Week 2 was our first camp of the summer, and my first real camp experience with Clear.  Originally my team was supposed to be in Pittsburg, TX doing a VBS however the church needed to change the dates.  Our next plan was to go do to Kenner, LA and help a church renovate some different areas but once again, God had different plans.  


So we found ourselves working with another team at Camp Bethany in Bethany, LA.  We were able to join right in with the other Bible study leaders and support staff which was pretty magnificent.  Like always, I jumped in on the production side of things which meant setting up and helping run staging, audio, lighting, and video.


God showed me something really fascinating about myself during this week, and I’ll tell you how it happened.  Warren, Clear’s director, asked me after the first day to train other people in using ProPresenter, our presentation program.  I was a little hesitant on the inside but did it anyway.  After trying my best to teach the first person I felt a little better about it, so I got a couple more.  During this process God showed me that I can teach and reproduce the knowledge that’s in my head, and pass it onto others.  I gained a great deal of confidence in this area over the course of the week.  


I was also able to teach the production leader on the second team a few things throughout the week.  It was completely refreshing for me to work with people that possesses a desire to learn.  I am looking forward to teaching others as the summer progresses.  


So while all of the teaching stuff is good, God also showed me at Bethany that I hide behind production equipment.  Why?  Because I fear the rejection of others.  I am insecure and unconfident in many areas of my life.  What’s really interesting about me though, is that I hide all of this very well.  I put on my mask and act a certain way but have many many internal battles.  Though I am learning that I need find my security in Christ alone.  This is a really new step as it’s uncharted ground for me but I’m really enjoying it.


During the week at Bethany, we saw 13 pre-teens come to know Jesus as their personal Savior.  This alone is what Clear is about.  Investing in people and leading them to Jesus.  


As always, get more info about Clear Camps at www.clearcamps.com


David

Clear 2012 - Week 1

Well, here it is, my summer blog about working with Clear.  Hope you enjoy… 

Week 1 - Training Camp

The first week of summer is training camp for the staff.  Training camp had been described to me as many things; Camp for staffers, Detox week, Leadership training, and Staff development.  As the week progressed, all of these things definitely happened.  

Something that was very intriguing to me was that we didn’t wait very long to have an encounter with God.  From my experience, camps typically reserve the first day for everyone to get acquainted.  As a result of not waiting, our times of corporate worship were intense from beginning to end and we saw the Spirit move in powerful ways among all of our staff.  Many moments throughout this week, we just worshipped.  A “worship leader” wasn’t necessarily needed, which kind-of blows my mind a little bit.

I also had my first opportunity to “lead” worship for the staff during training camp.  I don’t know how much leading I really did as I could start a song and the staff would pretty much take over.  I also felt extremely intimidated in leading for the group the first time because Clear has some amazing worship leaders already.  I didn’t really think I would match the others but then I realized that it’s not about me or the other worship leaders, it’s fully about the God we are serving.  What’s nice is that the staff knows that.  They are not ashamed to hold back, no matter who’s leading.  

Throughout the week I also had the chance to clear up some very important things in my life.  I was able to declare truth over extremely huge lies that have been hindering me.  I will blog about this in more depth after the summer is over but it’s literally life changing.

The last day of training camp was bittersweet.  After a good morning of some leadership/crisis training, we headed out to load up equipment for the remainder of the summer.  This was a chaotic few hours for me as I was the leader for the load and I felt extremely unprepared and unorganized.  However despite my feelings, it went very well.   

Friday evening we split up into our individual teams at different host homes.  It was nice to go from the big group of about 70 staffers to our smaller team of 15.  I’m starting to get to know the people on my team better and I’m excited about working with them this summer.  We had a nice ‘family’ meal around a gigantic table at our host home, which was huge in itself.  I have learned that some of the girls have devised a plan to force me out of my “shell” throughout the summer.  I don’t really think I have a shell, but they do so we’ll see what happens.  

David

Summer's Here!

Our first summer working with Clear Camps starts tomorrow and we are tremendously excited!  After training camp this week my team will be traveling to Chicago, Shreveport, & Houston doing mission work as well as hooking up with the rest of the team for Clear’s big youth camp at the end of the summer.  I hope to be able to post everyday but it might slack off at times due to Wi-Fi availability.  So stick with me and if nothing else, I’ll flood you at the end of the summer with what God has done! 

  My main purpose in blogging this summer is for you, my family and friends to be able to read about what we are doing.  I also hope that you will join along with me in praying for all of the Clear staffers throughout the summer.  God is going to be doing some big things and Satan knows it.  We will be going through spiritual warfare and will only be able to survive through your prayers and our strength in the Lord.  

      If you are on Twitter and would like to follow Clear activity, use hashtag #clearcamps.  This should set you up with anyone tweeting about Clear this summer!


You can also check out the Clear website at www.clearcamps.com

Hope you will join me on this journey!

David

Video - Stars

For now this is the last in my video collection from Riverside.  This was a bittersweet moment as it was the last I would play here as God was calling me to a new ministry opportunity.  I am thankful that I got to share it with my friend Jeremy Mohr.  Here is our cover of "Stars" by the David Crowder Band.

Stars Lyrics



you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now


you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now


and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again


and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now


and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful


and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now


and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.


cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.

Book Review: When Work and Family Collide

Well, if you haven’t figured out by now, I’m a fan of the material Andy Stanley and his team at North Point produce.  They consistently use their worldwide platform to introduce transformational biblical principles into our lives.  

I had the opportunity to read Andy Stanley’s book When Work & Family Collide.  Even though this is a short book at only 133 pages, it is packed full of good useful information to help us prioritize our families over our jobs.  It took me only two days to completely read this book and my copy is just about fully marked up with highlighter and notes.  

What I love about this book the most was that he uses examples of real life people that he personally knows.  The principles in this book can apply to men, women, professionals, ministers, stay-at-home parents, self-employed and obsessed hobbyist but, it also applies to ME and to YOU.  

In it’s simplest form, this book is about priorities and discipline.  Our priorities are simply what we give our time to.  When we give more of that time to our jobs than our families, our families tend to feel taken advantage of, or like the don’t matter to us anymore.  Andy helps us learn the difference between saying our family is a priority, and literally making them a priority.  He also shows how to be disciplined in choosing to make our spouses and children priorities.  

I received a free copy of Andy Stanley’s book When Work and Family Collide from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers to review. If you would like a copy of this book I suggest buying it from Amazon.com. 

Video - Where Were You

This video is really special to me.  For the 10th anniversary of September 11 we were able to do something completely different than we've ever done in church before, play a country song by Alan Jackson.  Now that may not seem like a big deal for some people, but it's not a normal thing to do in a church service.

Anyway, this song set up a remembrance video that you can find in one of my older post here.  

Here is Alan Jackson's "Where Were You" as played by me and the Riverside Band. 

Video - Happy Day

In continuing with posting some videos of mine, here is one of me and the Riverside Band leading worship with Tim Hughes' "Happy Day." This really is a great song with some amazing lyrics.  Hope you enjoy.

Happy Day Lyrics

Verse 1:
The greatest day in history, Death is beaten
You have rescued me
Sing it out Jesus is alive
The empty cross, The empty grave
Life eternal You have won the day
Shout it out Jesus is alive
He's alive


Chorus:
Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed


Verse 2:
When I stand, in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours Jesus You are mine
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate Jesus is alive
He's alive


Bridge:
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious name