Work

Landon found him a truck on Saturday

     I am sitting in my office this morning preparing for the day that is about to start.  I started thinking about stuff in general.  Landon and one of his friends from church are wanting to start a business together,  people that we have prayed for, new job opportunities, our family garden.  I noticed and recognized the voices that started filling the once silent suite where my office is and where the morning huddle takes place.  What a blessing it is a) to have a nice, comfortable place to work and b) enjoy being around your teammates that you work with.  I guess the reason I am so thankful is that I recognize that there are folks in this world that because of circumstances beyond their control, don't have the worldly things that I have.  But! (There is always a But)  There are many folks that have started this life with less than I started with and have fought and scratched their way to the point that they are much better off, according to the world's standard, simply because they believed that it was possible.  

    Having material things in this world is awesome!  Zig Ziglar said,
"Money is not the most important thing, but when you need it, there are few substitutes. So while I like the things money can buy, I love what money won't buy. It bought me a house but it won't buy me a home. It would buy me a companion, but it won't buy me a friend."

     I guess my point this morning is, Jesus offers a gift that money can not buy, and that is the gift of salvation.  While this world offers everything you can imagine, everything in this world is fading, it is rotting, and it can be destroyed.

Here are the words of Jesus from Mark 8:

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life[d] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

I hope you have an awesome day!!

Un-Made

I wonder how many other people besides me listen to a song and begin immediately to imagine and think about what the music video would be.  As the song plays I can see in my mind the different themes and camera shot angles.  Well, it happened to me again yesterday as I was driving home from work.  "The Unmaking" by Nicole Nordeman started playing on my truck radio.  There is a lot in those lyrics that we can tie to our own lives and a lot of scripture to back the lyrics up.  America,  I am confident that we will have to be "unmade" to get back to the point where we worship the creator instead of the created.  Demolition is messy and unpleasant, especially when you are not even aware of how big your creation has gotten because the building process has been so slow and gradual.  We have built walls of government welfare, church denominations, rituals, church growth, skin color, gender identities, and the like.  I am confident this has all been done to satisfy our need to make ourselves gods.  I am as guilty as anyone else. In this season of my life, I have fallen into the trap of focusing on my career, my family, and my growth.   This isn't a call for us to do anything except; READ THE BIBLE and PRAY.  Get by yourself and meditate on the Word of God.  Examine and judge your own heart according to God's standard and not the world's.  I am praying for you!

 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Matthew, Chapter 6

Psalm 25

THE UNMAKING LYRICS

This is where the walls gave way

This is demolition day

All the debris, and all this dust

What is left of what once was

Sorting through what goes and what should stay

Every stone I laid for You

As if You had asked me to

A monument to Holy things

Empty talk and circling

Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do

What happens now

When all I’ve made is torn down

What happens next

When all of You, is all that’s left

This is the unmaking

The beauty in the breaking

Had to lose myself

To find out who You are

Before each beginning

There must be an ending

Sitting in the rubble

I can see the stars

This is the unmaking

The longer and the tighter that we hold

Only makes it harder to let go

But love will not stay locked inside

A steeple or a tower high

Only when we’re broken, are we whole

What happens now

When all I’ve made is torn down

This is the unmaking

The beauty in the breaking

Had to lose myself

To find out who You are

Before each beginning

There must be an ending

Sitting in the rubble

I can see the stars

This is the unmaking

This is the unmaking

I’ll gather the same stones where

Everything came crashing down

I’ll build You an altar there

On the same ground

‘Cause what stood before

Was never Yours

This is the unmaking

The beauty in the breaking

Had to lose myself

To find out who You are

Before each beginning

There must be an ending

Sitting in the rubble

I can see the stars

This is the unmaking

This is the unmaking

Oh, this is the unmaking

Had to lose myself

To find out who You are