Me-Log

JOY

2009-07-25T01:28:00.005-05:00

Things that bring me joy...

Me and the girls

Toffee

Mocha

-- Post From My iPhone

Test post from Blogpress

2009-07-24T01:36:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone. Long time no...anything. I'm trying to revamp this blog a bit & am trying to do some posting from Blogpress on my iPhone. Here's a pic from the Willow Creek conference I went to last month. Anyway, come back and check out the revamping over the next few months.

-- Post From My iPhone

A lesson on "flow"

2008-04-28T14:22:00.003-05:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! For some reason, this week I thought it appropriate to give a bit of a hands on lesson. Several years ago, I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of Paul Baloche on the subject of songwriting & leading worship. For those of you that don't know, he is a very accomplished songwriter & leader in the realm of corporate worship. As a fellow songwriter, he has been hugely influential in my writing style as well as my worship leading.

One of the lessons that really impressed upon my heart was that of maintaining "flow" within the worship service. There are many aspects to creating such an environment...being prepared both spiritually & musically, Being aware of the keys that you are playing in and around, being aware of where your congregation is both spiritually as well as their musical skill level, and the list goes on & on. For a broader lesson from Paul, click here to go to an article on his website. My simple definition of "flow" is to lead in such a way that nothing hinders the Holy Spirit from doing His thing. That thing would be LIFE CHANGE! As worship leaders, we don't ever want it to become about us. Everything MUST point towards Him!

I want to touch on one aspect of "flow" that I learned from Paul, but he doesn't mentioned it in the article that I linked to above. That is that, sometimes, within your worship set, you may have two songs back to back that do not go together in keys, or maybe even style. However, they do fit together really well lyrically. This past Sunday we did an old deliriou5? favorite, "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble". For those of you that have done this song before, you know that in the original key of D, it's about as far of a stretch (vocally) as is possible for the average congregation. So, A key change on the chorus to E would be out of the question. However, the key to the next song, "Cleansing", was, you guessed it...E. What to do, What to do? Even though, the chorus in E would have been way too high, the verse was fine. So, we basically ended the song per normal in D, the band faded out & I transitioned us to E as we sang only the 3rd verse as a tag before leading into the next song. You know what, it actually worked quite well. The "flow" was kept in tact & the transition was made quite smoothly. The video below is of that transitioned key change into the song "Cleansing." I hope this was helpful to all you blogophiles out there. Until Next Time...

CLEANSING

A Passover week blessing

2008-04-23T15:58:00.007-05:00

During this passover week I thought I'd post a bit on a specific Jewish blessing that I learned of over the last few weeks. As you know, I'm not Jewish. However, I think there's a lot to learn from that culture, seeing as I serve the King of the Jews...Jeshua.

Last Sunday, Darrell preached a message about the parent child relationship. Within the message he listed four things that are vital to that relationship...Wisdom, Blessing, Hope & Forgiveness. As I began to do a little research, I discovered a Jewish tradition that I really latched onto. Every Friday evening, as a part of the sabbath ritual, the parents will bestow a blessing on their children that comes straight out of scripture. After stating that blessing, they will then whisper a positive note about the child's week into his/her ear. After reading this I thought, what an incredible joy to be able to speak a blessing into your child's life. If you would like to learn more, you can follow this link to aish.com. The chart below has the blessing printed out. Who knows, maybe this is something you might want to implement into your weekly routine. I don't think the Jewish community will mind.

A Son's Blessing

A Daughter's Blessing

The song in the video is called "A Child's Blessing". I was blessed for God to pour it into me through my studies on the subject. I hope you too are blessed by it.

4-6-08 Worship

2008-04-07T20:11:00.003-05:00

For those of you that have been asking about the missing part to this week's podcast, here's the video. For some reason we didn't get the audio recording from the beginning of the service, but we got the video that has the same audio feed. So, here it is. More than likely, we will soon just be putting the messages on the podcast & any music will be put on this blog. Stay tuned.

I look forward to soon being able to post an entry with some substance. I feel like I've been going a mile a minute, but I think thing's are now slowing down a bit. Hopefully, I'll also be able to catch up on my songwriting. Also, I want to thank all of you for praying for my wife Lisa. She came through her surgeries with flying colors & is now resting. She's sore, but doing really well. Thanks for loving on us this past week. We are incredibly blessed with AMAZING friends.

Blessings!

Await The King

2008-04-01T11:15:00.003-05:00

Hello friends. Thank you for keeping my family in your prayers over the last couple of weeks. In case you didn't know, my wife's last remaining grandparent passed away. The good news is...he loved the Lord & is now with Him for eternity. The bad news is...we miss him. As soon as our third Easter service was finished, we packed up the van & drove twelve hours to San Antonio. After two days there, we went on to Abilene to visit my parents. All is well & we are really grateful to be back on firm ground for a while. If you think of it, please remember my wife Lisa on Friday. She will be having some much needed surgery, that we pray will make her life a bit easier.

Before leaving you, I wanted to post an audio clip from our Easter services. The final song of each service was a collaborative effort between a few of the songwriters here at FBC. It's called, you guessed it..."Await The King". I was really pleased with how it turned out. Let me know what you think.

Blessings to you & yours.

Gateway CONNECT Pastors Conference

2008-03-14T08:17:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago we took a team to this conference from our recovery ministry "The Well". Although it is a pastors conference, we were primarily going for the breakout sessions on what Gateway calls "Freedom Ministry". Let me just say, our brains are overflowing with knowledge for this ministry. I'm so excited to see how God uses our leadership to take it to the next level. The future is bright!

However, today I want to write a bit about the first thing that we learned. We all went to learn more about how to do "The Well", and as God typically does, He spoke to us about so much more. The first message, right out of the chutes, was brought to us by pastor Jimmy Evans of Trinity Fellowship Church. One word...EXCELLENCE. I'd like to think that I do everything with excellence. Though I try, I have so far to go. Let's start with the Word:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

-Matthew 5:13-16

Here's a question for you. If we're not the salt & light, who's going to do it? How often do we go through life expecting others to step up to the plate? It must begin with us!! Here's a few thoughts to help you.

Excellence is not

-Perfectionism (Yes, I've been accused of this one. I'm recovering.)

*Perfectionism is a sickness. Excellence is a standard. (That's good stuff!)

-Materialism (ouch)

-Legalism

Excellence is

-Good stewardship - Mark 4

-Effective witnessing

-Teachable spirit

-Attitude of the servant spirit

What keeps us from excellence

1. The deception that excellence is more difficult. - Hebrews 3

2. Social comfort, or fear of status quo.

3. LAZINESS!

Wow, that last one hurt! Could the one thing that's keeping us from excellence simply be laziness? I know one thing. I work with some incredibly talented folks, but unfortunately that's not enough. God wants much more from us than just our willingness to use those talents. He wants our hearts to be so much more engaged than our talents. Don't get me wrong. In whatever you do, you must have the skills needed to do it well. However, if the hearts not there, the skill will only take you so far.

I hope to bring you more in the future from this conference. I have to believe that there's a reason that the first thing we heard was about excellence. Is it time for you to step it up??

...Until next time.

Snow Day!

2008-03-07T16:22:00.004-06:00

This may very well have been the perfect day.

1. Awoke to a beautiful white snowy day

2. Found out that school's were closed

3. Went back to bed

4. Had breakfast

5. Went outside to play in the snow & take pics

6. Helped Lisa clean the house (it's not going to ruin this perfect day)

7. Ate lunch & watched a movie (clam chowder & Dr. Dolittle)

8. Took a great nap

9. Blogging

Later we will play & watch more movies. GOD IS GOOD!!

Coming down the pike...notes from a conference I went to at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas. We went to learn for our new recovery ministry "The Well". However, as He usually does, God revealed way more to us. Like I said, GOD IS GOOD!!

Here's a few pics from today's fun.

Postcard from Home

Emily working on a snow kid

Samantha taking a break from building

Being artsy with my new camera

To Speak With Jesus...Press 1

2008-02-20T12:07:00.004-06:00

While the fam & I were out hitting the town in the big D, our Creative Arts teams were back here in Clarksvegas doing what they do best. Our drama team started the service off with a really funny tongue-in-cheek sketch about how difficult & almost silly we make prayer out to be. Please forgive the video shakes when switching between cameras. We kind of got thrown into this video venue stuff pretty quickly & are slowly getting better equipment as the funds are available. So, if you're itching to give to this ministry, we need a better switcher. In due time. Anyway, enjoy the video!

To Speak With Jesus..Press 1

Reason for not blogging

2008-02-18T19:33:00.004-06:00

Here's a few pics that should explain why I haven't been blogging lately. My family and I took a little excursion to Dallas. Today we went to the American Girl store for lunch & a little shopping. GOD IS GOOD! He has blessed me with a truly amazing family. I don't deserve it. THANK YOU LORD!!

Waiting for the fancy fru-fru food

Emmy J

Sammy B

Dazed & Confused...but loving every minute

Do over

2008-02-10T17:44:00.000-06:00

As Lamar Boschman once said..."It's a good thing God sees the heart & not the art". Let's just say that we had our fair share of technical difficulties this morning. It's always worse to me than the average joe sees (or hears) it. You know, the whole I'm my worst critic thing. Here's a video of one of the better moments. I posted this song last month, but this time it's with the full band. Enjoy.

The Lord's Prayer

Help Please

2008-02-08T20:28:00.000-06:00

Hello fellow bloggers. I received the following e-mail today from my friend Shaun Groves. He and several others are about to take a trip to Uganda on behalf of Compassion International. As you can see, I've added the widget for their trip to my sidebar. I would encourage you to do the same. It's the least we can do to help the impoverished children in Uganda & around the world. You can also help by clicking on the give button on the widget. My family sponsors a beautiful girl named Piper from the Philippines. My 5 year old heard Shaun talk at our church about the many children in need. She then turned to her mommy & said..."we have to do something". What will you do?

On Sunday (February 10th) I'm heading to Uganda with 16 other bloggers in hopes of documenting and spreading the life-saving work of Compassion International there. Compassion International is the first organization of its kind to spread its message through the blogosphere in this way and, as a result, hopefully, release hundreds of children from poverty in Jesus' name.

We could use your help making this first-of-its-kind trip a success:

PRAY: Please pray for our technology, creativity, health, families we leave behind, for our thousands of readers and the thousands of children in the third world in need of our help.

READ: Please visit our blogs February 10-18 and leave comments on our posts, let us know you're with us. Go here for a complete list of participating blogs: http://www.compassion.com/share/uganda-blog.htm

SPREAD: If you have a blog yourself, please link to our posts from Uganda, embed the videos we churn out, post a list of the bloggers and invite folks to read along with you. If you don't, e-mail posts that grab you, spread the word about this trip through your network of like-minded friends. Lastly, we've got widgets you can embed on any website. Here are links to those:

SMALL WIDGET perfect for blog sidebars etc:
http://greenhouse.sproutbuilder.com/sprout/seed/WgCXsHBYAJBMvplE

LARGE WIDGET: perfect for Facebook and Myspace pages etc:
http://greenhouse.sproutbuilder.com/sprout/seed/mgDRP3ijAE14ROiS

For more information about Compassion International visit http://www.compassion.com.

Thank you for helping us release children from poverty in Uganda.

-Shaun

Thoughts on prayer

2008-02-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we started a new series simply called "Prayer". In preparation for this series I quickly realized that I have so much more to gain in this area. Do I talk with the Lord? Yes. Do I even take time to listen for His voice? Yes. Is it a top priority in my life? I would have to say...No. That fact has really convicted me. In order for my relationship with the almighty to grow deeper & more intimate (which is something I deeply want), I must make prayer a priority. If you've noticed in my sidebar, I have put one of my favorite books, "Secrets of The Secret Place". It was actually the reading of that book that began me on my journey to a closer walk through prayer. Now, all these months later, after reading it, I find myself slipping out of the discipline.

Okay, Okay, enough of the confessional. Confession is good for the heart, but I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't strongly believe that many of you are right there with me. We love the Lord, we follow his teachings, we are even beginning to love our neighbors. That's a big one! Yet, we still lack the intimacy that we so greatly desire. I know exactly what it is for me...LIFE. I let the things of this world take over my schedule. On top of that, I have the added challenge of working in the church. It's very easy to see everything that I do as a direct part of my personal relationship with the Lord. Though there is some truth to that, I often find myself accidentally substituting my job for true relationship. For me, I have to do what doesn't come naturally...get with Him in the morning. Man, am I sooooo not a morning person. This is why I get up at 5:30 on Sundays. It takes that long to be coherent by the first rehearsal at 8:00. I will say though, as Bob Sorge put it in "Secrets of The Secret Place", there really is something special about the morning. Jesus prayed in the garden early in the morning. The past few months have been really good & getting better every day. I challenge you. Let's not reduce our prayer lives to giving thanks at the table & an occasional shower song. Let's vow to start our days on our faces. Let's be honest, not taking the time for prayer is really pride. It's me saying, my stuff is more important than you Lord.

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you."

-James 4:10

Darrell wrapped up our first service on prayer with a great story. Prior to that I shared a song that God gave me in my prayer journey. Take a listen & see what God is speaking to You.

Grunting & Pointing

Draw Me

Evangelism Conference - Lesson #1

2008-02-01T07:55:00.000-06:00

Morning friends. Well, I've had some time to process last Monday's conference. Oddly enough, I think I received the most insight from arguably, the least engaging speaker of the lot. In his defense. Dr. Roy Fish is now in his eighties. However, in Dr. Fish's case, age has obviously brought great wisdom. To be completely honest, he really just hit me where I am right now in my journey to Christ-likeness.

He began by quoting 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. Click on the scripture to read it at Biblegateway.com. For me, I knew I was in trouble, with the very beginning of that passage:

"Though I am free and belong to no man,

I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."

God has really been teaching me a lot through the birth of our new recovery ministry, "The Well". You know how I know that "The Well" is absolutely a God thing? Because it couldn't be more out of my comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, I have my own issues, but for the most part, I thank God daily that he has kept me from falling too hard. Lately, God has really been opening me up to a new outlook on life & even more, his children. ALL OF THEM, not just those who look...well...good. By the way, in many cases, it is just that, a look. Just because someone looks like they have it all together on the outside, they may very well be falling apart on the inside.

Along this same line, Dr. Fish smacked me with this statement:

"you have to do away with prejudice.

Everyone should be welcome into the kingdom of God."

Prejudice! I'm not prejudice! Actually...I am. We all are. How many times do you catch yourself judging someone simply because they're not like you? I'm not talking about extreme examples such as racism. It could be as simple as looking down on someone because they wear jeans & a t-shirt, instead of a suit & tie. Be careful. Prejudice is very sneaky. We have to constantly be aware of it & head it off before it takes root in our minds & hearts. For those of you that know me, I've always been a bit strange. Isn't that a prerequisite for being a musician? Even as odd as I am, I still find myself judging those stranger than me. IT HAS TO STOP! I am so thankful that, through "The Well", I have made new friends that I can honestly say, I love being around. Never forget that God is healing all of us from something.

Another stiff statement from Dr. Fish was this. As evangelizing Christians (which we should all be):

"We want the good guys to come to Christ...not the Lee Harvey Oswalds of this world."

What can be said about that? It's incredibly convicting to me. I'll let you process it on your own. No need to flesh out the obvious.

Lastly, Dr. Fish basically made the cry that we have to strive to be students of our culture. "Cultural relevance is a fact in building God's great church". I don't think this means that you have to change who God made you to be. For that matter, I don't think that's what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians. We just have to allow God to help us relate to those that may not be where you are in your journey, but nonetheless, we are all on the same journey. Being prejudice towards someone is absolutely not going to bring them to the cross. Sitting with them & listening (even though you don't have a clue about what they're going through), could very well move them one step closer.

For me, Dr. Fish's message simply cemented that I am headed in the right direction. God help me to stay on that path. I hope some of this was able to help you along. I'll be back next with lessons from the fiery preacher Robert Smith.

Blessings!

Are you fully $TUFFED?

2008-01-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

Wow! Today has been an incredibly fast moving day. I just feverishly returned from a staff outing to a local evangelism conference. I wanted to get back in time for tonight's "Well" meeting. God really spoke to me in some amazing ways. That's amazing in & of itself. Seeing as many of these conferences have turned out to be...let's just say...less than wonderful. As soon as I take some time to process it, I will post what I learned.

Here's a few clips from yesterdays final service in the $tuffed series. It has been pretty incredible to see how God has been moving through this series. Whoda thunk that talking about money wouldn't have to hurt. It was actually about much more than money. Check out the FBC clip in the sidebar to get the podcasts.

The first audio clip is of our choir singing "Let Me Be A Sacrifice of Praise" written by Regi Stone & Jeff Ferguson. The soloist is Miss Sarah Curlin. The second clip is our very own Richard Rogers wrapping up his message... "There is more to this life than this life". The band finishes with Matt Redman's song "Now To Live The Life". Enjoy! I'll be back in a few days with conference thoughts.

Let Me Be a Sacrifice of Praise

There is more to this life than this life

Vertigo...great movie, not so great condition

2008-01-25T11:36:00.000-06:00

For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm a big Hitchcock fan. I'm also a big Jimmy Stewart fan. My wife & I got engaged at an old art deco theatre called The Paramount Theatre in Abilene Texas. That's where we cut our teeth on old classic films. Do yourself a favor and get an old Hitchcock film. Saddle up on the couch with friends & a big bucket of popcorn

Vertigo is one of my favorite films of both Hitchcock & Stewart. However, for whatever reason, It's my pleasure to really experience vertigo today. I woke up today & the room was spinning. It really hasn't stopped much since I got up. Please keep me in your prayers. This is a crazy feeling.

So, who knows, maybe I'll go watch Vertigo in 3-D. Maybe those scenes will look even better now.

Weary, yet ALIVE

2008-01-21T08:47:00.000-06:00

As I awaken this morning, I am still feeling the weight of an incredibly exhausting day yesterday. As the day progressed through the normal Sunday routine, more & more sad news began to come my way. A good friend had stumbled the night before and was now suffering the consequences. Another good friend lost a close loved one that, unfortunately did not know the Lord. I was really having to live in the words..."You give & take away, BLESSED BE YOUR NAME!". Please keep these two situations in your prayers. My weariness doesn't even begin to compare to what they are going through. As in Acts 2, we are called to be there for one another. No matter the cost! That's the extent of my exhaustion.

So, as I arrived at the office this morning, I was reminded of a favorite song of ours around here. Yes, a song. That is what I do ya know. I can't help it, my heart always gravitates towards the healing that can be brought through a song. Anyway, the song is a Tommy Walker favorite called "When I Don't Know What To Do". It was recorded at the Kaleo Fair last October with our very own Docta Leeds leading us. As I listen & weep, the words definitely ring true for me this morning. I pray that they will for you as well.

Remember...when we fall he will pick us up, and when we bow he will lift us up.

To Trust or Not To Trust...

2008-01-17T08:33:00.000-06:00

...Apparently that is the question. Since posting the last two videos I've had more than a few people tell me that they were praying for me, or ask me what was wrong, or any number of other questions. Not knowing what the deal was, you can imagine I was a little concerned. As it seems, one of my statements during the prayer was taken a bit out of context. In case you missed it, here was the statement:

"Right now I'm just in that moment where I'm having trouble leaning completely & trusting".

As I often do in my corporate prayers, I was putting myself in the shoes of the many different people that come to worship with us. I always hope & pray that someone will hear my words & see them as their own.

So, to put my dear loving friends at ease, I am not presently having trouble trusting in God. However, (you knew there was a "but" coming), I have been there & suspect will be again at some point. Today I have finished studying Leviticus & believe that God has been speaking one strong word to me throughout the study. That word is OBEDIENCE. There will come a time in all of our lives when our faith may waver a bit. It actually may waver a lot. But through it all, I've learned & am continuing to learn to, as the words of the great old hymn says..."TRUST & OBEY".

Are you the one that I was speaking for in my prayer? If so, know that we serve a GREAT God who will be right there waiting for you when you are ready to reach out fully to Him.

Blessing to you this day!

Two $TUFFED Videos

2008-01-14T08:45:00.000-06:00

Morning friends. Actually, it's now afternoon. Before stepping out to Monday morning staff meeting, I wanted to post a couple of video snippets from yesterday's service. As you can see, I didn't quite get it done before the meeting. Anyway, the first video is of a familiar song by Chris Tomlin called "Not To Us". I really felt like God wanted us to have all the kids come down front. There's a line in the song that says..."Your children dancing". In many ways, they should be teaching us. You know how it is. Us adults can get so wrapped up in the "how-to's" of life, that we forget when Christ said we must have a child-like faith.

TO HIM BE ALL THE GLORY

The second video starts towards the end of the message as our pastor walked us through a wonderful "hands on" lesson. I encourage you to take some time today & not just listen to it, but really let God speak to you through this act of surrender. As a responsive song, we sang Darrell Evans' classic song"You Are My Portion", with a tag of the great old hymn "Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus".

WHAT STUFF IS KEEPING YOU FROM HIM?

A few morning thoughts

2008-01-10T08:47:00.000-06:00

Just a few thoughts from my study this morning.

God decided to remind me first thing of who He is. Multiple times in my reading this morning, He declared..."I AM GOD, YOUR GOD". How many times do we live our lives as if that is not true. In fact, by my actions, I am often times saying...MARK is god. Just this last Monday, at The Well, we were discussing the act of refusing God's forgiveness. Basically what we came down to is that every selfish act on our part is essentially the refusal of His love & forgiveness. Have you ever thought of it that way? It was good for me to put it in those terms.

To add to the declaration of who He is, God said, "Live a holy life, because I am God, your God". Holiness...to be set apart. How are we set apart from the world? Keeping in mind that God has also called us to be in the world, not of it. I ran across a great article in a website called gotquestions.org. Here's a snippet from it:

"It's not a matter of should or should not be of the world. Believers in Jesus Christ are simply no longer of the world; in the world, but not of it (John 17:14-15). What believers *should* do is to be set apart from the world. This is the meaning of being holy and living a holy, righteous life--to be set apart. We are not to engage in the sinful activities the world promotes, nor are we to retain the insipid, corrupt mind that the world creates. Rather, we are to conform ourselves, and our minds, to that of Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1-2). This is a daily activity; a daily commitment. We can enjoy the things of the world, but we are not to immerse ourselves in the world. Pleasure is no longer our calling in life, but rather the worship of God."

I leave you with this one last thought. In my study this morning, I finished with God stating in His Word, "I am the God who makes you holy". Did you catch that. Let's read it again...

"I AM THE GOD WHO MAKES YOU HOLY".

We can't do it on our own! We must submit to His authority to do this thing called life.

Joy in the journey!

LOVE OF MY LIFE!

2008-01-08T08:48:00.000-06:00

A picture speaks a thousand words. However, I don't say it enough.

I LOVE YOU HUNNY!

Thanks for loving me...

-as they say-

...warts & all.

Prayer for the new year

2008-01-07T10:29:00.000-06:00

Here's a snippet from yesterday's services. It begins with a prayer from our pastor as we go into a favorite song of ours, "Bless The Lord". It was written by an old friend, Chad Jarnagin, from our days at The People's Church in Franklin Tennessee. This song has been an incredible blessing as we've grown into a body that is able to ackowledge His blessings & then turn that blessing around to bless the Lord. My only request is that you worship as you listen. You may even find yourself singing along.

Levitical Journey

2008-01-06T14:53:00.000-06:00

Blessings to you this wonderful Sunday afternoon. Today we started our new series entitled:

The corporate worship was absolutely incredible. As always, I pray that our offering was acceptable to God. Speaking of that offering, God has really been speaking to me lately through, of all books, Leviticus. The Creative Arts teams have heard reference to this a couple of different times over the last few weeks. So, I thought I'd share those thoughts with you as well.

First of all, I realize that we are no longer living under Levitical law...THANK YOU JESUS! Literally, I give thanks to God for sending His son as the ultimate atoning sacrifice. However, I still believe that there is much to be learned in the study of the old testament sacrifices. They were so incredibly specific about the ways in which each sacrifice was made. Rightfully so considering the "instructions" came directly from God Himself! Can you imagine if God spoke to us regularly like He did Moses? The very thought sends a multitude of emotions through my tiny skull. WOW, what it must have been like. I digress.

Anyway, God has really been speaking to me lately about how incredibly messy the Levitical offerings were. To put it mildly, LOTS OF BLOOD & GUTS! Check out the link above to read it for yourself. I mean, there was blood everywhere. Shouldn't our offerings today be at least a little messy. Can you honestly say that your offerings to God have been in any way a sacrifice? Instead, are we offering up half-hearted laughable "trinkets", that more than likely don't make it past the ceiling! Whoops, sorry for meddling.

But here's where God really put the whammy on me. On several occasions God instructs the priests to "scrub the entrails & legs clean". Why, in the midst of such slaughter, were they to scrub the sacrifice clean. Now I know that I'm making a bit of a generality here, but God really spoke to me through this. In the midst of the act of sacrificial offering, God wants to bring purity. Once again, do we really want the "stuff" of our lives to be made clean through our offering? Or would we really rather throw up our little trinkets & be done with it.

To wrap up this Levitical journey, I wanted to share with you the best (in my humble opinion) & most frequent phrase in Leviticus...

A PLEASING FRAGRANCE TO GOD.

This simple yet profound phrase comes at the end of each sacrifice. Can you imagine the stench each sacrifice must have had?! Not to mention that multiple sacrifices were made at a time. To man...a foul smell. To God...a pleasing sacrifice.

Pretty heavy stuff from a book that most simply skim through. As He is still speaking to me, I pray that all of our offerings will forever be changed. May we all soon be lifting up a "pleasing fragrance" to the heavens.

On a different note, I told several of you that I would hopefully be posting a video of last week's choir piece "Miracle". Unfortunately, for some reason, my macbook won't read the DVD. It has a little scratch on it & my fine-tuned machine is a bit cranky that way. I will continue to post videos & audio as they become available. Hopefully, I will be posting some audio from this morning's service soon. We shall see after I edit the service tonight for our podcast. Speaking of the podcast, don't forget that you can always download each week's service from the FBC website.

Until next time...

Audio Test using "The Lord's Prayer"

2008-01-05T16:54:00.000-06:00

Can I get a big HOLLA! I finally figured out how to post audio files on Blogger without using a paid online service to save my files. You might even call it beating the system. I said...you might. After much googling I ran across the following blog, Skip's Tips. Thanks to Skip I was able to use the video uploading feature to post audio. HE'S A GENIUS!!

Anyway, here's a song I wrote based on the Lord's Prayer. For those of you that know me, you know I HATE self promotion. However, a wise friend of mine told me that I would be wasting a gift if it were not shared. So, here 'tis.

My Christmas gifts

2008-01-02T13:44:00.000-06:00

As I'm tinkering with my new design software, I'm reminded of the two best gifts this guy could ever have...MY GIRLS!

Whether or not you make resolutions (not sure I do), please take time for your family in '08.

This world will be a better place!

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!