We need all of the songs to truly worship God.

We need the contemporary worships songs, the contemporary Christian, folk country, bluegrass the Black Gospel as well as the old hymns of faith. The different genres reflect our diverse community of faith.

After all, we all aren’t all like me, white and male.

We all sing the songs of faith in our own style and culture.

The Newsboys sang:

Its the song of the redeemed
Rising from the African plain
Its the song of the forgiven
Drowning out the Amazon rain

The song of Asian believers
Filled with Gods holy fire
Its every tribe, every tongue, every nation
A love song born of a grateful choir

Read more: Newsboys – He Reigns Lyrics | MetroLyrics

We do everything we can in our language to offer praise to God.

The Language of Thanks

And, at this time of the year, the week of Thanksgiving, we look for something to say to offer our thanks.

Many will engage in the 30 Days of Praise Challenge. It’s a great discipline, and maybe I should have engaged that, but I usually don’t like to do what everyone else is doing, especially while it is happening. In other words, I might try that next Spring during the season of Lent.

In years past, I had a practice of listing the Top Ten Things I am Thankful for. I posted those starting at my blog College Football Top Ten which I no longer have. I’ve posted something similar at DFW Football which I also no longer have.

Now, the thought is, I have to say something here (at toddejones.net).

Sometimes, the night is too dark. I’ve been there before too.

No Words

Sometimes, we just don’t have the proper words to say to thank God.

There are plenty of ways to say thanks to God starting with a personal prayer time.

There is, of course, joining other believers in worship at church and singing songs of praise together. There is spending time with family and praying before we eat that big turkey meal and saying thanks. There is doing something for others, service or ministry.

How does one thank God without being shallow?

I think it starts with knowing the One, and who the One is, that we are giving thanks to.

In the book Job, after chapter after chapter of Job and his friends telling each other about all that is in the universe with their pathetic wisdom (just like ours!), God speaks up:

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

Job 38:1-7

I think I understand what Todd Agnew was saying when he said in his song:

And I searched the world for a poem I could read
A rhyme that would bring glory to my King
But no writing I found was worthy
Of this God high above all other Gods
And what are my words compared to Yours

Read more: Todd Agnew – This Fragile Breath Lyrics | MetroLyrics

He understood that our feeble attempts were insufficient in the midst of God’s greatness. Our breath is, as the song says, fragile and God holds our very being in His hands.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t praise God, on the contrary, we should. We just need to know that there is nothing that compares and we should come to our praise offering, our thanksgiving, with that very attitude.

The Divine meets our humanness

Our praise, our very prayer, as my Small Group Leader said Sunday, is a meeting of the divine with our humanity. That’s a powerful thought.

Agnew continues in the chorus:

‘Cause You speak with thunder and lightning
Your voice shakes the mountains
The foundations of the earth
All I can offer is this fragile breath
And with each one I’ll praise You
With each one I’ll praise You more

Read more: Todd Agnew – This Fragile Breath Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Everything lines up, no?

After we understand this, we are free to thank God.

Too often, Thanksgiving, the day, is about turkey and pie (I love pumpkin pie!), cranberry sauce, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, moms and dads and Cowboys football. It is racing from one Thanksgiving meal to the next. It is a turkey induced slumber. It is planning a strategy for Black Friday.

It is entirely too easy to be caught up in things that have absolutely nothing to do with thanking God for another year of love and faithfulness, of meeting our needs, of giving us hope and peace.

How will we be thankful this year, in 2014? Here are some thoughts from Dr. Thom Rainer.

Doing something a little different, I thought I’d see what some thoughts were on Twitter.

Faith in Jesus results in powerful change and thanksgiving for His salvation.

— Dr. Matt Capps (@MattCapps) November 23, 2014

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving week? We are thankful for you and for sharing our story & coffee #thankful #thanksgiving

— Thrive Farmers (@thrivefarmers) November 23, 2014

#Thanksgiving in all things squeezes diffcult circumstnces until joy oozes out of us…➽READ @SharonJaynes Girlfriends https://t.co/e3DHNSUDfB

— Bible Gateway (@biblegateway) November 22, 2014

As Thanksgiving approaches, please take a moment to pray with us for those struggling with hunger: http://t.co/hQa7ltmHMF #HopePrayerTeam

— World Vision USA (@WorldVisionUSA) November 23, 2014

“This Fragile Breath” by Todd Agnew

I’ve made a strategic decision with this blog and I thought a point of clarification was in order.

I noticed one person dropped off my subscribers list, and I am sure that is because I have changed directions.

I created a site on this domain several years ago, not sure how long ago. About four or five years ago, I started writing about small business as it relates to websites and social media, etc. In the past couple of years, I created a business website at grafixCatmedia.com where I do much of the same thing. Also, I touch on some of the topics at ARScene.net where I talk about the great state of Arkansas.

That leaves me with this blog/website.

Lately, the past few months, I started writing more about faith. In fact, I kind of call it “Conversations on Faith” or something subtle like that.

That is where this blog is going to continue going.

I am not dropping the articles I have written, but I just don’t expect I’ll write much about that in the future and focus more on my thoughts on faith, the Bible, and Spiritual Formation.

If you are still wanting to read articles I write about online marketing, websites, WordPress and the like, I encourage you to subscribe to the blog at grafixCat media. If you are okay listening to my rambling about faith, Bible and Spiritual Formation, then I am happy to have you hang around!

Let us walk this journey together.

³³ He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and horrified. HCSB,  Mark 14:33 Bible Gateway 

Somehow, I think Mark may have undersold the scene just a tad. At least, that’s what I think.

The Son of God was hours from a horrible, brutal, sadistic death and he knows what’s coming.

This is the ultimate clash of divinity and humanity in Jesus. The divinity knows what’s coming but his humanity is, well, horrified as the Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it.

Eugene Peterson puts it this way in The Message:

He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony. (The Message, Mark 14:33)

What do you see and what do you feel when you look squarely into the face of certain death?

Not just death, but one that will be as brutal as the one our savior suffered.

We have our moments.

They may not be moments like this one, although some do, but we have moments when we feel the world is closing in on us, not going to let us breath and we see absolutely no way out. Where is God in that time?

We are told that Deitrich Bonhoeffer went to the gallows with great calm and certainly.

As described by the camp doctor where Bonhoeffer was hanged:

“At the place of execution, he again said a prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued in a few seconds. In the almost 50 years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.” Christianity Today

I don’t contemplate this for any other reason than to say that my God has been where I have. Anything that happens to me that is bad, He knows. He really knows.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin,” the writer of Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 4:15, HCSB). Then, the writer offers some wisdom, “Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. (Hebrews 4:16, HCSB)

Truth is, Gethsemane is a place where Jesus went to be with God, feel close to God. When we are in our darkest hour, hopefully, we seek God. Sometimes, I have not. It’s ironic though, that when things are their worst, we are often alone, and able to seek God’s face even more fervently.

Jesus’ future, the torture, was sanctified by God at a garden of olives, an oil press. The way he was to go, towards the cross, He was anointed by oil on that night, sanctified as the Messiah, the King, the Savior and, ultimately, the Son of God. That anointing comes from the pressure, just like with the olives, the pressure of the agony of what he was to face, and the decision to submit to God’s will for him.

Sometimes, the agony is grueling.

But, we know there is joy in our Lord!

As with Jesus, we know that there is a resurrection.

If I knew the answer to that question, I’d write an e-book and sell it and make a million dollars. We simply don’t know.

There is so much heartache. There is so much pain. Some suffer from cancer and other horrible diseases and are never are healed.

Each situation is unique, it seems like, and then, sometimes, it seems like it is random, left to chance.

Let me be clear: I don’t doubt that God loves us. Loves me. I don’t question His justice.

There are two prayers in the Bible that we see are unanswered, and we get a glimpse as why.

Gethsemane prayers

³⁶ And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:36

While studying a passage for a Bible study I am presenting, I was looking at Gethsemane in the book of Mark. It must have been excruciating to Jesus to experience Gethsemane.

Three times he asked God to “remove this cup from Me” with the caveat “yet not what I will, but what You will.”

Three times, silence. His disciples even fell asleep. God was no where to be found.

Think about it if you will. Jesus spent about three years going from town to town in the countryside of Israel and his prayers were answered, often and repeatedly.

He prayed for healing, it was done. He cast out unclean spirits, done. He fed thousands of people. A time of constant communion with God.

Then, nothing.

Now, of course, he was to be the redemption of all of humans. There was a plan and a purpose, and he knew that. However, it still doesn’t change the fact that, as a human, he lost all contact with God. Jesus didn’t hear from God in his greatest time of need, and his disciples failed him.

He felt silence.

His deepest, most excruciating prayer went unanswered.

Paul’s deepest prayer

Another time in the Bible, there is an unanswered prayer.

⁸ Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. ⁹ And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast^[c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Paul had a “thorn in the flesh.” What it is we do not know, but one thing is for sure, it was agonizing, causing great pain, whether physical or emotional.

Paul wanted it gone.

Have you ever experienced something like that?

Have you ever had something that caused great pain that you wanted gone?

Maybe it was an emotional state, depression, a distorted self image or chronic pain.

You implored God to remove the “thorn.”

You pounded on the floor, and you cried in anguish for God to take it away.

I’ve had a physical ailment that began, in its worst, present form, when I was just 25 years old. I am 43 now.

I just wanted it over. I wanted God to miraculously heal the physical ailment.

Why does He not heal that ailment?

I think now, it doesn’t seem to matter any more.

It hasn’t gone away.

It doesn’t keep me from praising God.

It doesn’t keep me from going to church on Sunday.

It doesn’t keep me from teaching a Bible study class.

It’s just something I have to deal with.

Why is that prayer unanswered? I don’t know.

I think it helps me be stronger in my weakness.

I can say with Paul:

¹⁰ Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with ^[d]insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

I don’t know the answer to your unanswered prayer. I do know that his “grace is sufficient.”

Seek first the Kingdom of God & His Righteousness

Prayer connects us to the Kingdom (the presence of God); it is our life-blood
Prayer changes us allowing us to see clearer;
Prayer is our conversation with God, communication with Him.
Prayer is less about doing and more about being;
Seek first the Kingdom.

In the business world, a rainmaker is someone who is able to deliver a large amount of business for his or her company.  If a company is able to do well, chances are they have a rainmaker on staff.

Most everyone I know who runs a business is always seeking how to get more business. In spite of how good you are in real estate, consulting or any other business including your top level skills to do the job, there is always, always the need to get new business. This is the million dollar problem.

I don’t claim to know all the answers. I do know, as you, that finding someone who can produce, a rainmaker, is pivotal to moving your business forward.

In the movie Rainmaker, Rudy Balor (Matt Damon) gets a call a late night phone call from his law partner letting him know the good news of a new judge assigned to the case they are trying. Deck, his partner, says

You know what a Rainmaker is, kid? The bucks are gonna be falling from the sky.

Sometimes it’s that way. Sometimes you stumble into good news.

For those who operate online, who love WordPress, that is exactly what may have just happened. Copyblogger Media has introduced a new product that has some real potential benefits.

Thursday, on the Genesis Office Hours podcast by Carrie Dils, Ms. Dils had Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media on to discuss the latest invention, the New Rainmaker Platform. Copyblogger is the parent company of StudioPress, makers of the Genesis Framework (affiliate link) that I, Carrie and so many others use on projects.

Basically, Rainmaker makes available in one setting all of the products that Copyblogger and StudioPress has put together in the past few years. For instance, you have access to Genesis and all of StudioPress’ child themes, Scribe for SEO and Content Marketing, their premium hosting solution, Synthesis, along with a landing page component, analytics and much more. It is WordPress on steroids, and for WordPress fans who do online marketing, it is a viable alternative to Hubspot.

Thus far, testimonies have been good. Chris Brogan, one of the prolific online business owners there is, has given his thumbs up. In fact, Chris moved his website, ChrisBrogan.com to Rainmaker.

I like the fact that, along with the solid back end and technology, you can set up an e-commerce solution to sell digital products, a sophisticated online membership website, online training courses, integration to two of the best email marketing platforms and utilize the StudioPress new landing page generator. These are key components to a robust online marketing system. In addition, according to Brian Clark, a learning management system component.

Are you kidding me?

Seriously, if you are wanting to set up a full scale, WordPress powered, online marketing system for your business, you should at least take a look at Rainmaker.

Don’t think that the platform is finished either as pointed out by John at Duct Tape Marketing. There is more to come.

Let me know if you have looked at Rainmaker and what you think.

“Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

Matthew 6:33, The Message

Anxiety is a real problem in our world today. All of us experience anxiety, or worry, at some point in our lives. The use of the term in Matthew 6 is a combination of two terms that means, quite literally, divided mind.

To be fair, who really has the cure for anxiety? Or a divided mind?

The verses preceding this one is a systematic detailing of just what God accomplishes for birds in the air and lilies in the fields.

“Are you not worth much more than they?” Jesus asks (Mat. 6:26)

Good question.

Jesus explains that God will take care of our clothes and our food whether we believe it or not, just like the lilies and the birds. Therefore, we might as well believe.

And, to be sure, when we concern ourselves with riches we divide our loyalty from the Father.

It seems silly to be concerned about clothes and food in this day and age. At least, here in America. We have closets full of clothes and pantries full of food. Some, however, do not.

We have to be cautious not to fall to the god of self sufficiency.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God.”

“Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.”

The Kingdom of God is the reality of God’s presence in our lives and our allegiance to that presence.

I know enough to know that pain will distract us. It has me. Physical pain and emotional pain.

In his book, Prayer: Does it make any Difference?, Philip Yancey tells of a story of extreme anxiety. He was headed to the mountains to write a chapter on the very book about prayer when he encountered a stretch of the road that was in a blizzard. The road was treacherous with many cars suffering from a slippery fate.  The anxiety was racing through him like “acid churning in my stomach sweat pooling on my hands.”

As his mind was racing with ideas a thought came to him.

Suddenly a thought came to me: I could pray. For the next forty-five minutes I prayed aloud for every relative and friend and missionary and prisoner and every suffering person I could think of. That very act somehow disengaged me from the anxiety. Although my foot kept touching the brake and my hands turned the steering wheel as needed, the rest of my concentration poured into my prayers.  (page. 90)

He added that this is a not a good idea for a winter driving manual. Nevertheless, he engaged in the most Kingdom of God like activity he could think of and navigated the slippery situation. He added that he arrived to his destination remarkably stress free.

The best thing we can do, as Jesus tells us, when our minds are divided, full of anxiety, is to seek the presence of God, in all of its glory and live within its shelter.

Easier said than done.

I believe it is best accomplished in prayer.

Prayer is embracing the presence of God. It’s a two way street as all communication is.

On September 11, 2001 cowards sent planes into towers, the Pentagon and into a field in rural Pennsylvania. It was a terrorist attack.

We don’t forget.

Ever.

We remember.

If you are friends on Facebook with someone from Batesville, AR, chances are you will see the face of Sara Low on their profile picture. We remember.

Sara was that vibrant young lady that a small town in Arkansas could not contain. She had to spread her wings, she had to fly.

She was a gorgeous young lady with an infectious smile, and even though she moved away, Batesville always claimed her. Her spirit was still in Batesville.

Sara was a flight attendant on American Flight 11.

We remember.

When I think about September 11th, I think about so many. Many brave men and women did their best to help rescue those who’s lives hung in the balance. Many were simply victims.

I think about Sara on this day.

I think about the others.

We remember.

Sara, keep on flying.

For some reason, tonight (Sunday Sept 7, 2014) I am reliving my youth/college days christian music time. I had a cassette (that’s what we used back then) back in the day called Ultimate Rock. I spent a lot of time figuring that out and decided to find as many of those songs on Spotify and I made a new list. I have added a few other songs from Greg X Volz and, hopefully, others that I remember and maybe some new ones in time.

Here it is if you are interested.

My brother came home from college and he introduced me to some Contemporary Christian Music, a little more edgy. He handed me a Volz’s The River is Rising. There are a lot of songs on the CD I like. Some great riffs, great vocals and simply, great lyrics. Some of the lyrics were mystical, some were downright aggressively prophetic, and very clever for the former Petra lead singer.

One of the songs on that album is an extremely well written praise song, before we used praise songs by CCM artists. I would love to heart it sang in a worship service.

All I Can do is poignant.

I am surrounded – there’s no way out – I must fight
A nasty situation
On the horizon – reinforcements coming in sight
To face the confrontation
And tho I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil
I know by His power He will give me that rest
Which passes understanding
All I have to do – for Him to pull me thru
Stand on the word and He’ll fight the battle

All I can do, all I can do is praise Him
Praise, praise, praise Him again
All I can do, all I can do is praise Him
Praise, praise, praise Him again
All I can… All I can do

All I can do More lyrics http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/greg_x_volz/all_i_can_do-lyrics-1170409.html#ixzz3CgQ81Tcu

Going into the battle, praise God. That’s what the Apostle Paul did in prison (the story covered in a song by Ray Boltz). That’s what the Children of Israel did at Jericho.

I have been reading “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer lately. I have read other authors refer to Tozer but had never picked up a copy of one of his books.

Tozer, of course, was from a different time. He passed away in 1963, after over thirty years in the ministry as a pastor.

"Go to church once a week and nobody pays attention. Worship God seven days a week and you become strange!" AW Tozer #tozer

— A W Tozer (@TozerAW) April 26, 2014

The most recent chapter I read is called “The Universal Presence.” The chapter starts with Psalm 139:7.

Tozer quotes the KJV:

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

There are are a couple of things I want to point out from this chapter.

First, I love the passage he begins with, Psalm 139:7. More so, I love how the late Rich Mullins turned it into a song.

Nothing Beyond You was recorded on the Jesus Record, the final of Rich Mullins’ works. There was the demo version recorded by Rich before he passed way, and then the amazing version by Amy Grant.

Rich Mullins really captured the essence of Psalm 139:

Rich Mullins – Nothing Is Beyond You Lyrics

Where could I go, where could I run
Even if I found the strength to fly
And if I rose on the wings of the dawn
And crashed through the corner of the sky

If I sailed past the edge of the sea
Even if I made my bed in Hell
Still there You would find me

‘Cause nothing is beyond You
You stand beyond the reach
Of our vain imaginations
Our misguided piety

The heavens stretch to hold You
And deep cries out to deep
Singing that nothing is beyond You
Nothing is beyond You

Time cannot contain You
You fill eternity
Sin can never stain You
Death has lost its sting

And I cannot explain the way You came to love me
Except to say that nothing is beyond You
Nothing is beyond You

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/rich-mullins/nothing-is-beyond-you-lyrics/#2gDs0CfWrSRAqDyY.99

The second thing I want to point out is a very poignant passage in the chapter, that, five decades later still ring true.

We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar. (p. 65)

I think he was talking about me. Indeed, all of our life belongs to God, and so does all our time, and its not that we are expected to spend multiple hours a day just thinking about God and praying, however, we fail to drink in the presence of God in anything but a small glass. Is it any wonder we are “bankrupt” as he said of a keen understanding of God’s presence. At least, that is what I see in me.

We can’t really escape God’s presence, as the Psalmist says, so, we might as well enjoy God’s presence.

Listen to Nothing is Beyond you by Amy Grant on Spotify.