Hope

What is hope? 

I’ve been struggling with that question for a while now.  I’m in a season of waiting, and it seems like hope comes and hope goes.  Excitement comes when the hope of a job prospect starts to unfold and then all hope seems crushed when it falls apart.  That leads to asking the question of why? Why even hope? All it does is disappoint.  At the very least, that’s where I’ve started this journey - searching. 

So that leads to answering the question, “What is hope?”  I mean, we hear about it.  The old guy President Snow in the Hunger Games movie said, “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” Oprah has a section on her website about quotes that give hope.  Google found what seems to be a gazillion places where one can find more quotes on hope.  You know, those that make us feel fuzzy on the inside when we need that fuzzy warm feeling.

But all of that feels so insignificant to me.  Yea, I brought up Oprah, only because it came up quick when I typed in “Quotes about hope” in my search bar and was intrigued. I have no desire to read anymore of her feel-good philosophy.  It may work for tv, but not real life.  Anyway, digressing back to the point here, searching to answer how hope fits into real life. 

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you know I unashamedly believe that the Bible is truth.  So that’s where my search begins, in the concordance of a bible, which is really just a big word for the index.  In there we can find things about putting our hope in the Lord.  David proclaimed that his hope was in the lord.  Paul described that hope comes from the Lord, and that along with faith and love, it is one thing that will remain.  But that doesn’t really help me much, so I need to define what hope is. 

The Dictionary app on my iPhone defined hope in this way;

• A person or thing in which expectations are centered
• To look forward with desire and reasonable confidence
• To desire something with confident expectation of it’s fulfillment

Now, having a definition of hope, I can put it back in scripture to make a little more sense.  I’ll use the one that has really spoken to me Psalm 130:5. It says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Now to you that may not say a lot, but in my journey, it’s life-giving.  Grouping this together with what i’ve been learning about waiting, here’s what it’s saying to me, “I patiently anticipate the Lord, my soul stands in readiness, and in him all my expectations are centered.”

To center my expectations in the Lord means that I’m believing that his word is truth when it says he will provide for me in Matthew.  It means believing that my identity, my foundation, who I am to the core, is rooted in Jesus.  It means that I have confidence that whatever trial I face, will bring perseverance.  Perseverance produces character.  These are what he’s promised to me and there are many more I could name here but I won’t, I’ll let you figure those out for yourself because then they’ll actually mean something to you.  

I’ll leave you with my paraphrase of this scripture

“Let all that I am patiently anticipate the Lord, for my expectations are centered in his promises. He alone is my foundation, where I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6

Question: What is Love (part two)

So my last post was about answering the question, “What is love?” After talking about it a lot, I finally brought you to a list of what love is, along with one of what love is not.  This list came from breaking down the Apostle Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.  If you haven’t read that post I suggest checking it out here.  

Today we’ll continue that subject and look at how a person can love.  Looking at all of those traits it seems like an extremely daunting task to obtain all of them.  In actuality, when I first made the list I didn’t think that I possessed any of those traits.  I fit in better with the Hate side than the Love side.  So how did I change myself?  Well, honestly I didn’t, God did.  I know cheesy answer but I’m going to take you through the practical things I found.  

First thing to do is to make sure that you know God.  Here’s what I mean.  To love like God loves, which is described in part in 1 Corinthians 13, we must know God because God is love.  I’m getting this from a letter the Apostle John wrote to several churches in the late 1^st century.  It states; 

“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

What this says is that love comes from God.  If we have been born of God, meaning we have a relationship with Him through the salvation of his son Jesus Christ, then we can love fully like God because God is in us.  Well, that was a mouthful.  Maybe it’s better said like this - Because God is love, and we are in him through his Son Jesus, you/I can learn to love like God.  

This is really the only way to love fully, is to be in him.  Yes, we can argue that those of you who don’t believe in God can love as well and a semblance of that might be true, however, I’m under the firm belief that it is through God that we can obtain a love that is immensely greater than our own.  

The second thing I had to do was transform my mind.  Paul writes in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  What this means is that for anything to change in my life, I must first change the way I think about it.  For me to view myself as a loving person, I had to change my mindset and in doing so, God transformed my heart.  

Now don’t get me wrong here, this is not easy and it is a process.  It took us nearly a year of me working at Starbucks dealing with all kinds of difficult, demanding people to come to the realization that the entire purpose of me being there had been fulfilled.  I’m not done either.  The process is continuing to this day and will continue on, but the transformation is one of the essential steps in learning to love.  

So, time for a self-assessment.  Are you loving like God is calling you to love? Are you being honest with yourself? 

Question: What is Love?

As a Christian, I hear about loving others, and I’ve definitely been no stranger to saying that we need to love others.  But what is love, really?  Is it what we see in movies or read about in books?  Is it what we of when we think about our high school romance?  Is it what we think our parents have towards us that keeps them from completely disowning us?  Is love that thing that holds to brothers or sisters together even though they have completely different lifestyles?  

Thinking about it in those ways, it seems as though we’ll never really know what love is, which leads to another question, if we can’t even really define love, how can we properly show it?  As a Christian, it’s easy to say that we show love by showing people Jesus.  While that does hold some legitimacy, it just seems cheesy to me, and while I really like eating cheese, I don’t like to hear it.  So if you will, let’s take a journey together through what I’ve learned about love.  

Now I’m sure most of you have heard this recited at a wedding.  “Love is patient, Love is kind…” and so forth, but really have no idea where it comes from.  Well, it comes from a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to an ancient church in the city or Corinth.  It is in the middle of this letter that Paul gives us a beautiful description of love.  If you want to read it, grab a bible and look up 1 Corinthians 13, or click here. 

The more I read this, and the more I’ve studied Scripture, the more alive it came to me.  As God was teaching me to love people last year, this became a key passage for me, and here’s how I broke it down. 

Love is…

• Patient
• Kind
• Slow to Anger
• Keeps no record of Wrong
• Delights in Truth
• Always Protects
• Always Trust
• Always Hopes
• Always Perseveres
• Never Fails

I also came to the conclusion through this passage that the opposite of love is Hate. It looks like this;

Hate is…

• Envious
• Boastful
• Proud
• Selfish
• Easily Angered
• Keeps a vault of wrongs and constantly uses them against us
• Full of half-truths and pure evil
• Will Fail 

After looking at these two list, I’ve come to realize what love is.  I believe that it helps teach us what love can looks like.  Whatever relationships we have; romantic, brotherly, working, or friendly, they all benefit from showing love.  Whether its with my wife or a co-worker, showing love in the form of kindness, patience, or trust allows that relationship to grow far more than if I show selfishness, boastfulness, or pride.  Love is what makes relationships worth having.  Without it, everything we do is pointless.  

Later we’ll how to love a little deeper in Scripture, but I want to leave you with this question, 

Do you typically show Love or Hate in your relationships?

Book Review: Greater

I recently finished reading the book Greater by Steven Furtick. He is well known as the writer of Sun Stand Still and the lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Greater: dream bigger, start smaller, ignite God’s vision for your life is a book about just that, igniting God’s vision for our lives. Throughout this entire book he shows us that God is ready to give us more, if we are willing to go for it. Furtick says, “The thing is, most believers aren’t in imminent danger of ruining their lives. They’re facing a danger that’s far greater: wasting them.”  His desire is for every Christian to find the full potential God has for them. 

Overall this book was really great to read.  Furtick bases his entire work on the life of Elisha, and how he came to be one of the greatest prophets we know of in Scripture. He is saying that God has more for each and everyone of us, just like he had for Elisha. This book sure has challenged me to look at my own faith and walk with God and see that there is much more to Christianity than living a mundane life. My kindle version is now full of highlights and notes! 

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

David

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

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

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

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

Power in the small things

So while my wife and I have been living with her sister here in the lovely Shreveport area we were given the option to help out with some landscaping around the house.  Since they have been so generous as to let us stay with them without really asking for anything in return we had no problem helping out.  (I must say, before I get in trouble,  that my wife is the one who has been doing most of the work!)  But anyway... 


We got to a point a couple of weeks ago where we needed to cut down a bunch of old, dead bushes so I borrowed a chainsaw from good ole Dad.  Well when I went to get the saw, I thought I was getting the big one, you know, the big Stihl Farm Boss.  But instead he gave the his smaller chainsaw.  Now I actually forgot about this one because as a guy, I like power tools to be big and loud! Needless to say, when I opened the case I was a little disappointed.


After getting started cutting and chopping down bushes, vines, and trees, I was really amazed at the usefulness and power of this small saw.  See, had he given me the big powerful one, it would have been overly heavy and difficult to maneuver in the small places I needed to be.  The little one wound up being perfect for the job at hand.  


When I finished cutting I stopped and looked at everything laying on the ground and in that quick moment God reminded me of the parable of the mustard seed from Matthew 13:31-32.  In this parable Jesus says, "... The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches." Here's a couple of pictures.





This is great because Jesus is telling us that he can use the smallest of things, and make really big things.  I mean think about it, the first thing we know about God was that he created everything out of nothing.  It should be no surprise that he can use the small things to make big things.  


All this makes me think, what are the small things in my life that have grown into big things?  Are all of these things truth, or lies?  Yes, the devil can speak little bitty lies into our lives that have the power to send us down a path filled with bigger lies that we never would have believed without that first, very small lie.  What starts out as a small white lie or half truth can turn into a massive destructive force in our lives.  


But what about the things God has done in our lives? What are the small steps you've taken in faith that have led you down a path you never would have imagined?  I'm sure that looking back you can see exactly how God worked in your life.  At least I know I can.  I can see exactly where he worked in my life to get me where I am today.  

Don't get me wrong though, I mess up all the time.  I usually don't include God in the small decisions of life.  I forget this principle: small things will grow into big things.  Nevertheless, I'm on a journey to include God in every arena of my life, even in the smallest of thoughts and decisions.  


David

9/11 Ten Years Later

So today is Friday.  By the time I finish writing this post it may actually be Saturday but who’s really keeping track.  

Anyway, this Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the events that happened on 9/11/2001. Since this day fell on a Sunday I had (or God gave me) the idea over a year ago to do a video interviewing different members of our church about what they remembered from that day ten years ago.  

Going through the interview process was an interesting one as I was able to listen to five different, however, eerily similar stories about that day.  I was amazed at the clarity and vivid details of the memories and stories from each person.  (I’ll share the completed video with you soon). I felt blessed just to be able to listen to their stories, because as we were all reminded of on that day, life is fragile.  We are never guaranteed tomorrow.  

But as I was putting together this video by reviewing each interview, watching clips on YouTube and reviewing pictures from September 11, 2001, I began to feel wrecked.  So many emotions flying around at once.  I nearly began to weep just watching the video I was creating for our church to use as a remembrance of that day.  I was once again put through the disbelief that somebody would attack us on our own soil.  I felt the pain, sorrow, and grief for the families that lost loved ones on that day.  I was reminded that the world is not safe.  Evil is real, Hatred is destructive, and security is an illusion.  

As I was begin drug through this feeling of being wrecked, I was reminded through a small video clip from my friend Ron, that we can never be sure of anything, but it is the love of Jesus that will always prevail.  Now I never forgot this, but it was amazing to be reminded of that by a friend in a video interview talking about one of the worst acts of terrorism ever in American history.  

I think it’s amazing that through this terrible event we can still find hope.  We saw that heros do still exist.  Courage and Bravery knows no limit.  There is power in Unity and joy in Community.  And as the time continues to pass we will never forget that Faith is our refuge, Hope sustains us, and Love endures all things.  I love this passage from 1 Corinthians 13:6-8 (yea, the love chapter) 

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails …”

  

To close I just want to say thanks to Rose, Ron, Linda, Jennifer, and Jeremy for willing to be a part of this project.  Your stories are what made this project successful and they have had a great impact on me. Also, thanks to the Riverside band for helping write the questions.  It was your input that got this project off the ground.