So God has been incredibly good to me this past month. I mean really good. As you saw last week Krista and I bought a house. And not just any house, but a really awesome new house that we just love and can't wait to get to move into. On top of that, just the week before my Dad gave me his truck. Now you need to understand that I have wanted a truck for an incredibly long time. Krista can testify to that because I use to talk about how bad I wanted a truck all the time. Then on top of that, I love my Dad's truck. It is a man's truck. It is an old F-150 with just the right amount of dinks and dents to let you know that this truck has done its share of work but it has also been taken care of. It is a special truck. And now it is mine. I can't believe it.
I named the truck Grace. I always name my vehicles. My first car was called Daddy Long Doors because it was a tank and it only had two doors but the doors alone were the size of a Miata. I had to make sure no cars were coming on both sides of street if I was going to try to get in or out of that car because the doors were so long. Then I bought my Mustang which I appropriately named Mustang Sally after the great song by the same name. After I drove Mustang Sally into the ground I inherited Krista's Toyota Corolla that we named Cloe. Cloe the Corolla. I was happy to have a working car but I must admit I hated having to drive Cloe. It made me feel like less of a man. Even the horn on Cloe sounded feminine. I would get all angry and honk at someone and this polite little melodic sound would come out as if to say, "please don't hurt me but you are in my way and so if you would be so kind as to get out of the way if you want to then I would appreciate it but only if it is okay with you." I man can only go so long in a car like that before he finds himself listening to magic 95.5 and pulling over on the side of the road to admire some flowers. But then came the truck. Given as a free gift from my Dad to me. Given as a free gift to me because my Dad was given another vehicle from my Papaw as a free gift that enabled him to pass on his truck to me. So my truck was given as a free gift to me because another vehicle was given as a free gift my Dad. On top of that the way that my Dad first got the truck, that is now mine, was because it was given to him by incredibly godly man at Hill Country NW about ten years ago. Given the history of my truck the name Grace fits it like a glove. Grace, a free gift.
So yeah, God has been so good. In fact He has been so good to me over these past few weeks it has made me realize all the more what a good and awesome God we serve. For me, the backlash from the "health and wealth" gospel preachers has caused me to downplay the fact that God does like giving good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:9-11). I have realized I need to be able to separate the difference between trying to manipulate God into "blessing" me by doing good things or saying the right thing or having the right amount of quiet times or something with God loving me and giving me good gifts just because He is my Father and He loves me. I guess it all comes back to the idea of grace. God gives good things to His children as free gifts because He loves us, not because we have done anything to deserve them.
God has been showing me how much He loves me. He has been reminding me that though I have nothing of worth to offer Him he loves me still. He loves me so much He gave me a new house. He loves me so much He gave me my dream truck. And as I was reminded this past week, He loves me so much He gave me life through His Son's death and resurrection. He loves me more than I will ever know. He is an incredibly good God and I am amazingly blessed to be considered one of His children.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Finding the Right One
Easter Sunday was great. It is always one my favorite Sundays out the entire year. This year it was even better than usual because Baker, Josh and AJ were all in ties and Sean was looking snazzy in a suit. Amazing. I think AJ won though because he somehow pulled off a Sponge Bob tie without even getting much attention drawn to it. That says something about a man.
As for The Gathering I had a great time. For me, Easter just makes everything even more meaningful and special. I loved the band as usual, but I thought that they sounded better than ever. You could tell Jason was having a great time with the guitar and drum solos. It think he is an awesome worship leader. He keeps things fun and moving and yet at the same time he does a great job keeping us focused on God and he helps us see exactly why we are singing what we are singing. I love that.
As for the series, I am looking forward to the next four weeks. Two weeks on talking about what a young man of God is to look like and then two weeks on what a young woman of God looks like. That should be a lot of fun. I don't know about you, but I always liked hearing what the girls were supposed to be like. It helped me see what I was to be looking for and it was not near as convicting because it was all geared towards them and not me. So, girls enjoy these next two weeks and then guys look forward to getting to enjoy the two weeks focused on the girls.
My biggest encouragement to all of y'all as we spend time talking about what a man or woman of God is to look like is to remember that the stuff I am talking about is impossible to just "muster up" on your own. You must remember that it is only by God's grace and by His power that these things can be true of you. So like I said at the end of the talk, let these talks drive you to God for grace and power. Let it cause you to become more dependent on Him and let Him develop His character in you. Because when that happens then you will be the Right One. And that is a very good thing.
As for The Gathering I had a great time. For me, Easter just makes everything even more meaningful and special. I loved the band as usual, but I thought that they sounded better than ever. You could tell Jason was having a great time with the guitar and drum solos. It think he is an awesome worship leader. He keeps things fun and moving and yet at the same time he does a great job keeping us focused on God and he helps us see exactly why we are singing what we are singing. I love that.
As for the series, I am looking forward to the next four weeks. Two weeks on talking about what a young man of God is to look like and then two weeks on what a young woman of God looks like. That should be a lot of fun. I don't know about you, but I always liked hearing what the girls were supposed to be like. It helped me see what I was to be looking for and it was not near as convicting because it was all geared towards them and not me. So, girls enjoy these next two weeks and then guys look forward to getting to enjoy the two weeks focused on the girls.
My biggest encouragement to all of y'all as we spend time talking about what a man or woman of God is to look like is to remember that the stuff I am talking about is impossible to just "muster up" on your own. You must remember that it is only by God's grace and by His power that these things can be true of you. So like I said at the end of the talk, let these talks drive you to God for grace and power. Let it cause you to become more dependent on Him and let Him develop His character in you. Because when that happens then you will be the Right One. And that is a very good thing.
Revolution
This week I am going to try to take down this book called Revolution by George Barna. If you are not familiar with Barna he does all kinds of research all the time about the church and demographics and trends and stuff. He finds out some pretty interesting things. What he writes about in this book deals with the church and how new kinds of churches are popping up everywhere. He claims that the church is changing (hence the word revolution) and that it will not look anything like it does today in just a few years. I don't know if I agree with him but it sounds interesting and so I am going to read his book to see what he has to say. I'll let you know what I find out when I finish it.
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