Glory Camp

Here I am. It's Day 3 of Glory Camp and God has been amazingly faithful already. He answered nearly every prayer we had prayed over our students (for breakthrough, deliverance, salvation...) last night. Students stood and gave their lives to Christ. Others stood surrendering to ministry. Some stood declaring freedom. We could load up the bus and head home now if we didn't believe that God is just getting started.

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I Passed!

Which is a good thing. I don't think there was a contingancy plan...

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Just Sitting Around Figuring T…

God is good! Today I try to get my CDL so I can carry kids to camp on Monday. It's been a little stressful, seeing that we leave tomorrow for Sterlington, LA, to play at a Kids Revival.

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A Song in the Night

"By day the LORD directs His love, at night His song is with me -
a prayer to the God of my life."
-Psalm 42:8

Life is a journey, that's true. But I don't think life is a highway. Life is a rollercoaster. A long, twisting rollercoaster filled with highs and lows and loop the loops; joy and sorrow, sunshine and rain.

One of the things I love about the Bible, and the Psalms in particular, is that there is no pretending. No sweeping reality under the rug. David sees that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes good things happen to bad people. And he doesn't hide the fact that this bothers him. Some of the Psalms sound like screams of fear or frustration. Jesus quotes one of these in His most desperate hour, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?!" (Psalm 22:1)

Psalm 42 is David struggling to praise God in the midst of a terrible circumstance in which God seems absent. Right is the center of this struggle we find the words I've quoted above. During the day, when things are good, I know that God loves me. At night I wonder; and then He gives me a song.

A song in the night. A prayer. I hope you have your song in the night. I encourage you to saturate your soul with songs that are prayers of praise and worship, so that, when the night comes, so will the song.

Christopher

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free;
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love…”
-Samuel Trevor Francis

The ocean. It’s big. There are mountain ranges in its depths. Deep unexplored canyons. Despite all of our advances and technology there are still places never seen by human eyes. Uncharted regions. It’s steady. Like the earth’s heartbeat, the tide rolls in and out, unstoppable. Ever on and on since the beginning. It’s dangerous. Fall in and it may consume you. Let it overwhelm you and you will die. What a fitting analogy for the love of God!

To often we are content to “go on making mud pies in a slum, because [we] cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C.S. Lewis) The invitation of God is to find ultimate joy in worshipping Him. To plunge into the depths of His love until it is over, under, and all around me. To allow it to consume me. To lose my life and allow the current of His love to carry me wherever He will. I can’t think of a better place to be.

It has never been about the music. We could stop singing today and worship will go on. Worship is an attitude of the heart. Worship is the gaze of the soul. Worship is breathing in and out. Worship is diving in.

Christopher

Contagious Joy

I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
or a bride with her jewels.
The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone will praise him!
Isaiah 61:10-11a

What a blessing it was to have Zach Randles and Zeke Dorr with us last month! The energy and enthusiasm and joy they had was contagious. Shannon May has such a way with words. In complimenting Zeke she said the joy of the LORD was so apparent in him because his spirit "remembered to tell his face" that he was filled with joy. I've had the opportunity to lead worship with Zeke several times and I can tell you he is not pretending. As he will tell you, there is no greater joy to be found than in worshiping the most high God and encouraging others to do the same. And I agree. As John Piper puts it, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

And when we are satisfied in Him, we become attractive to the world around us! Check out Isaiah 61:10! When we are filled with the joy of the LORD we are like a groom, all dressed up and beaming, smiling from ear to ear. (Have you ever seen an indifferent or unhappy groom on his wedding day? Me neither.) We are like a bride, beautiful and breath-taking and breathless. I like the way the Message says it, "I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my soul!"

Be encouraged, dear one. Be set free! Know that God wants you to enjoy yourself when you worship Him. It's okay for your spirit to let your face know that you are having a good time! And while it's at it, tell it to remind your hands and feet, too! When we "explode in praise" like that, "the LORD will show His justice to the nations..." and... "Everyone will praise Him!" Let's get contagious!

Christopher

The Reason

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

“So, what do you want for Christmas this year?”
“Have you made your Christmas wish list?”
Harmless questions.

Or reminders of the over-commercialization of our favorite time of year?
Sure, I have made my list. I’ve even checked it a couple of times. What can I say? I love Christmas. I love Christmas trees and holly and mistle toe. I love giving gifts. I like receiving gifts. Sure, if you want, you can trace the origins of our Christmas traditions to some ancient pagan holiday, but to the common man Christmas is still Jesus’ birthday. A recent Gallup survey found that 90 percent of Americans are familiar with "the reason for the season"—i.e. the birth of Jesus—and three out of four Americans say there is not enough emphasis on the religious basis for the holiday. I suppose the thing I love the most about Christmas is the way Jesus invades the earth.

Jesus invaded earth 2000 years ago and caught everyone by surprise, and, in my way of thinking, He does it again and again every December. Face it; there is no other time of year when you will hear the name of Jesus on every major radio station and TV station, in the theatres and on the streets. That’s why I’m a big fan of Christmas carols. Sure, there are a lot of “Happy Holidays” songs out there and songs about sleigh rides and Santa, but if you listen closely at the supermarket and the mall you’ll still hear strains of “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger”. Nothing puts me in the spirit of Christmas like Frank Sinatra crooning the long repetitions of “Christ the Savior is bo-ooo-oorn” while I’m walking through Wal-mart. I love Christmas.

There is no time of year when it is easier to be a Christ-follower. Take advantage of it! Give more. Love freely. Laugh loudly. Smile. Hug a stranger. Forgive a debt. Sing along with Sinatra. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Christopher