Crazy Day

Well, today was a crazy day.  God once again reminded me that he is in control.


Today a good friend of mine lost his dad unexpectedly in a car accident.  I'll leave out the details as I don't know if he really wants his family business all over the internet. But it's just a reminder that we have absolutely no control over lives.


But in the midst of this, I was able to fill in for my friend at church tonight speaking to our youth group.  What's really crazy, is that I basically used my blog post from last night, something I didn't even intend to write in the first place.  It goes to show that God knows what he is doing.


Not being the best speaker, or even being close to prepared to lead a youth group message, I was able to use the insights God showed me last night with the youth group.  Whether the kids understood what I was talking about I have no idea, but I really hope so.  At least they seemed engaged.


So through this God once again showed me that he is completely in control.  He's using things I'm learning in my personal devotions and to teach to others.  He also reminded me that we should tell our family that we love them more often.

Late Night Readings

So I decided to stay up a little later than usual tonight to try and keep up with school work.  It's not usual I actually want to do school work so I thought it would be a good idea to do while I had the motivation.  That went pretty well and I wasn't all that tired, so after I thought I'd play catch up with my year long bible reading plan.  As of tonight, I am officially just one month behind my wife, who has done a much better job of staying on track.  

Well tonight's reading reminded me of some really good principles that I think all Christians should be reminded of every once in a while.  However, to me these reminders came from Psalms 49, one of most unlikely of places I thought to find it.  It's not that I don't think there's a lot of good stuff in the psalms, things usually don't come to light for me through them.  I probably shouldn't say this, being a worship leader and all, but I actually have a hard time understanding the psalms.  things just aren't revealed to me the way this was tonight.  

So here it is:

Psalm 49: 16-17 says,

     "Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; 

       for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him."

Typically, I tend to grow jealous when I see people around me able to buy nicer, bigger, better things.  many times I feel like I'm getting a raw deal because I can't buy all the things I want.  I would love to be able to buy a house, a nicer car for my wife, or even a new guitar, but the fact is, I would want those things purely for social acceptance and status, something that doesn't really matter in the end according to this verse.  

This small portion of the psalm reminds me that I need to be grateful for what I have been given, which at times I'm not.  I may not have the biggest house, fastest cars (although I do have a really nice truck), and top paying job, but what I do have is pretty awesome.  I have a nice little apartment that fits the needs (not wants) of my family.  Our vehicles work exceptionally well, and on a side note, I just finished paying off my truck note so now it has to last for a good long while.  I love my job and work with amazing people at church.  

[To take a quick pause from my main point here, but the one thing I think I do have above everyone else is a really awesome wife.  She is pretty awesome and I really don't deserve her. Love you Darlin'!!!]

Now the trick is, what am I doing with the stuff that I have been given?  There's a story in Mark 12 where a woman gave all that she had to live on as an offering.  Even though it didn't amount to much monetarily, Jesus basically said it was the best offering given at the time. He said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43-44)

(btw, this was also in my reading tonight)

I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to give everything I have to live on to God.  The full 100% of anything that I acquired would be sent directly back to God.  It's crazy to even think about! 

Now, I don't think that giving 100% of our monetary income is what this passage is saying, but I do think that if one takes it in light of the psalm passage from earlier, we should definitely be using the stuff we do have for God's glory.  Why?  Because it's not really ours!  We can't take it with us when we die so the real question should be is, Why Not?

So, to my five followers, here is something to think about. What are you doing with your stuff? How are you using your Car, House or Apartment, Hobbies, or to make somebody uncomfortable, your Money? Are you really giving those things back to God, allowing Him access to the things only He can give you? 

• If you have a nice house, Why Not let a small group meet there during the week? 
• Nice car, Why Not give somebody a ride who doesn't have one? 
• If you have lots of money, Why Not give more? It's not yours, you can't take it with you when you go.
• Have a Hobby that you're around lots of people? Why Not use that to build relationships which lead to sharing your faith? 

I ask the questions not to condemn or question what anybody is already doing, just to get you thinking if you could do more.

Personally, I need to be doing more.  I felt a strong conviction from Passion 2011 that I need to be carrying the name of Jesus and making disciples.  For me, I need to be investing more time into relationships that lead to sharing my faith and making disciples.  I don't know what this looks like for you, but I hope that you are offering the things God gave you back to Him to further His kingdom.

See ya next time,

David

The Tales of a Taylor

so about 10 years ago i was given one of the most awesome gifts a kid in 11th grade could get.  my grandmother bought me an acoustic guitar.  now wasn't just any acoustic guitar.  she sent me to the music store with an uncle and just told me to find a guitar i like.  at the time i had no idea what to look for in a guitar, i just wanted it to sound and feel good.  well i guess i'm naturally drawn to expensive equipment because after we got back, i realized that it was a $2400 guitar!


in case you're wondering, or care to know these things, i got a Taylor 714CE.  it has a cedar top which gives it an amazingly deep tone compared to other taylor guitars.


well my grandma bought me this guitar because i had been leading our youth group worship band for about 2 or 3 months borrowing our youth minister's acoustic.  i had a decent electric at the time but it wasn't suitable to use leading by myself, so she bought me one.  so needless to say, this guitar has a good bit of value to me, both monetarily and sentimental.


I tell you all of that to tell you this...


a couple of weeks ago, due to a careless mistake, i put a nice big CRACK on the side of my Taylor.  when I saw it happen, I literally almost cried.  Now i've put some dings and scratches in it over the years, but I've never cracked a guitar before.


after calling the Taylor factory I realized that it would cost way too much to send up to them to repair so I called around and brought it to a local guy at the New Orleans Guitar Center.  after we looked at it together he told me that the damage was mostly cosmetic.  he suggested that I mark the ends of the crack and watch it.  if the crack grows then to do something but he didn't think it would.


those of you that know my wife well will laugh good at this, but she jokingly told me to put a band-aid on the crack until it got fixed.  if it were any other guitar than my taylor i would consider it but this is my 'serious' guitar.  no stickers on the case, and definitely no band-aids on the crack.


but my wife's sense of humor reminds me that my guitar is just a tool for the work God has called me to do.  no matter how much money the thing is worth, reduced down, it's made of wood, metal, and glue, nothing more.


so now, i'm playing with an injured Taylor but that doesn't really matter.  all the cracks and dings add character not only to the guitar, but to its owner who is continually being reminded that the material things we have in this world hold no eternal value.  whatever we have, we don't really own.  we are just managers of what God has given us.


"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Mark

so i've successfully read through Mark this week for my New Testament class.  for this class we are required to write an outline for each book so i thought i would share it with you.


here goes my extremely simple outline for the book of Mark:

• Jesus' Ministry up the mountain to the Transfiguration: Mark 1:1-9:13
• Jesus' Ministry down the mountain to the Cross: Mark 9:14 - the end. 

i know this is just a simple outline and most anybody could make a longer one, but i like simple. Mark is a simple, short book, but has a lot of good stuff in it. here's a quote from Mark that i absolutely love...


"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." 2:17


david

Rambling #1

well hello again blogging world. it's been a while since i've been around here. i have so much to say and not enough time to type it. why you ask? because right now most of my time is going to school work. while it's a lot of work, i do usually enjoy what i'm learning once the semesters are over. that's usually when it actually starts to sink in.


as of right now, i have tons of reading to do each week, about 10 papers to write, and 5 other projects all due throughout the semester. but ... the plus side is ... i'm supposed to graduate with a Master's degree in may, so i'm actually pretty excited.


i would say one of the biggest positives of one class is that i'm going to read through the entire new testament for the semester. i've read most of it before, but not all of it, and definitely not in such a short time frame. i just hope i can retain some information along the way.


anyway, this week's reading: The Gospel of Mark. 16 chapters in 5 days. i started on monday and got through 13 so far. maybe i'll finish it tomorrow... oh and on top of that, my wife and i are reading through the bible together this year. yup, the whole thing. this is going to be an exciting year. i'll put up some details about this later.


well, this is truly one of my rambling posts. more of a stream of conscious thing. maybe because it's 11:00 at night. well i'm out.


david