The Spanish countryside reminds me a lot of California. Lots of rolling hills and agriculture. At the moment were going through a spot that looks like the beautiful drive from LA to Palm Springs! I took some video and I’ll try to see if I can upload it from my phone.

Despite our trip to Madrid being a last minute ‘need-based’ trip, I am really looking forward to hanging out with our friends there. We’ve been in BCN for a while now and have missed the comradory of having a team. And it will be great for Maisie to get to play with her friend Alleke a bit too!!! (she is our friends’ daughter who is Maisie’s age) Hopefully the ‘business’ part of our trip will go well too!!! Pray for us these next couple of days!

One: The words…

I have finally found a way to live, just like I never could before.
I know that I dont have much to give, but I can open any door.
Everybody knows the secret, everybody knows the score.
I have finally found a way to live in the color of the Lord.

I have finally found a place to live just like I never could before.
And I know I dont have much to give, but soon Ill open any door.
Everybody knows the secret, everybody knows the score.
I have finally found a place to live in the presence of the Lord.
In the presence of the Lord.

I have finally found a way to live just like I never could before.
And I know I dont have much to give, but I can open any door.
Everybody knows the secret, I said everybody knows the score.
I have finally found a way to live in the color of the Lord.
In the color of the Lord.

Two: As a guitarist, a rocked out, overdriven, wah wah pedaled, guitar solo has got to be one of the best ways to celebrate the presence of the Lord…Yes Eric, yes….and yes Jesus, yes.

When Jesus talked about loving our neighbor, He gave us a tangible place to start and focus our love and blessing.

Our neighborhood is incredibly diverse and very active at almost all hours of the day. I’ve heard kids playing at 1:30am. I hear four or five languages when I walk down the street. In the square across the street there are groups of people hanging out that represent 3 continents. There are shop owners who have been here for what seems to be forever. The lady at the bakery across the street has just come home from a long holiday and it’s been cool to see how people are glad that she’s back. (After having her bread and sweets, I know why they are glad!) I like that people in our neighborhood recognize and greet us now. I like that I run into people who know my name.

I’m glad that we are making this place our home. I like that I feel like I’m in a village even though in reality I’m in the middle of an urban center of over 1.5 million people.

There are things that I don’t like about my neighborhood too…I don’t like that trash is collected at 1:30am. I don’t like that there are groups of teenagers that smoke hash in the square where my daughter plays during the day. I don’t like seeing people trying to steal from the shop across the street. I don’t like that people sell drugs around the corner. I don’t like that I often see purses that are abandoned on the ground after a thief has picked their way though the contents. I don’t like that there are times that I feel like I’m the target for stealing from! I don’t like that there are bicycle skeletons laying under bike racks after being picked at by human vultures.

But I’m glad to be making this place my home. Jesus talked about if we only love those who love us: those who make our life easier, better, more peaceful, then what credit is that to us? It’s love to the dealers, the thieves, the noisy, the irritating, the litterers, the bullies that test my faith. And testing it does…But it is the testing that grows me up to be who God intends for me to be: a conduit of His blessing and bringer of good news.

But I love my neighborhood. This place is my home. As a speaker I heard once say, “As the neighborhood goes…so I go.” This is the heart of living among a people. Being committed to a people. Being committed to exposing the Kingdom in a specific place. I think that this is important.

May God give our family wisdom, grace, patience, joy, and boldness as we love our neighbors…

I’m thankful that I have the luxury of blogging from a fixed apartment…This story of optimism brings me hope and I wanted to pass it on…

Sex is the most intimate act a person can do with another. There is complete openness, vulnerability, and nothing is hidden. When sex is happening according to the way God intended it to happen, it produces intimacy that makes marriage relationships stronger, more whole, and complete.

While God intended sex for good, it is often entangled with shame, power, control, self-centeredness, and recklessness. In many cultures and lives, sex has been robbed of it’s purity, and become an engine fueled by an individualistic and self-centered obsession with sex. Many confuse orgasm with sex and trade the intimacy of marriage, with masturbation and casual sex…if there is such a thing.

I believe we do this because we either fear the intimacy that ‘real sex’ brings, or because we’ve never experienced the intimacy of true self-sacrificial, life-giving, and positive self-revelation that holy sexuality brings. It is an issue of intimacy. We exchange what God intended sex to be for what man has altered it to be because it’s easier. It’s easier to avoid intimacy than it is to truly give yourself to another. It’s easier to run from another than it is to pursue relationship. It’s easier to look at another person as an object than is to treat them like they are a person like us. It’s easier to be self-sustaining and self-centered than to risk rejection.

The truth is that intimacy is a really scary thing. Nobody wants to bear their soul to have it rejected. Nobody wants to be themselves and then look foolish to another. So I understand why we would avoid intimacy: We don’t want to ask the question,

“Do you unconditionally love who I really am?”

to have someone say,

“No.”

So, enough about sex. Let’s talk about prayer. Prayer is a communal act in two ways: our communion with God and with others. I believe that these areas of communion are ultimately also intimacy issues. Our fear or inability to find intimacy in sexuality can also be fears that we experience in both community and individual prayer.

What if we try to talk with God and we don’t hear anything back? What if we pray out loud and look dumb or say something ‘not spiritual enough’? What if we ask something of God and he doesn’t give it? Does that mean he doesn’t love us? Or worse, isn’t really there?

So it’s easy to…just not pray. We avoid praying alone, but I’ve personally experienced a avoidance of initiating prayer in community. Or maybe just as toxic, we may begin to treat prayer as a discipline that we perform, but not really engage with. Or to treat prayer as a self-centered practice and treat God as an object to bend to our will.

Our ability to lean into our fear of or avoidance intimacy has a direct influence on the way that we are able to commune with God and others in prayer. (and our spouse in sex.)

Prayer is at it’s best when we are content being with God as we are, resting in His perfect acceptance of who we are. When we trust in the reality that God wants to commune with us we are free from performance anxiety, self-conscience speaking, and the need to appear perfect. We are free to be what God gave us freedom to be: ourselves.

One last thought: Our ‘intimacy quotient’ isn’t only an issue reserved for prayer and sex. It is ultimately an expression of how we feel about ourselves. If we desire wholeness then we must draw from a well that is deeper than we could ever drill. I believe that trusting in God’s unconditional grace and love for us is fundamental for us living in complete wholeness. It is on this foundation that we find our ability to discover intimacy…with God and others.

Enjoy

Here it is: The Promenade: Worship and Song Part 2: Bring It Home?

Favorite line

Don’t give me the “side hug” folks. Write music from your gut, not out of obligation. I want the grit. I want the hard truth. Otherwise your just buzzing like the fridge. We all hear ya, we just don’t notice anymore. – John Mark McMillan

Here is a story of another man who might be suffering from the same level of deception:

BBC NEWS | Europe | US veteran’s D-Day lies exposed

It would be sad if this man were just be a deceiver like some boys (in contrast to men intentionally) on the Bachelorette named Wes. But his stories and ability to continue with them make me think that this guy has just created some memories and really believes them. (Unlike creating the idea that you’re going to be a successful public figure when everyone now knows how cruel of a person you are.)

But if you’re interested in learning more about self-deception and false memories you should really read the book…it’s very very interesting!

Mayor’s office: Michael Jackson memorial cost L.A. $1.4 million – CNN.com

Apparently, we live in an age where this type of mismanagement is acceptable. But the good news is that the government is asking for help via paypal.

BTW, I will be posting another post this week that you don’t want to miss. I have received over 30 emails from pastors (all anonymous) confessing to be involved currently in sexual affairs. As I read these emails it was like someone punched me in the gut. NO ONE knows what you’re going through like I do and I want to give you guys the reality of what your involved in but I want to take some time to allow God to get my thoughts straight before I post.