a mere breath

I love when I read something in God's word and it puts things back in perspective for me. Check out Psalm 39:5...

"Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah." (nasb)

What a humbling idea. Were are at best a mere breath. Our life is a vapor. (James 4) This verse, in a strange way, is so reassuring. When I begin to worry about life and circumtances I can remember that I am just a breath in eternity. Hopefully not one that stinks.:) But I pray that I would be a breath that would reflect Christ and have an impact on eternity. Life is to short to be worrying about things. Not only that, God is to BIG to be worrying about anything. I love this verse that follows verse 5.

"And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you." v. 7

We can look to Christ and trust Him through every circumtance and trial. He is our hope and our salvation. He is the one who brings life. He alone is worthy of my trust and faith. He is the one who allows me to but a mere breath on this earth. My hope is in You and it is You alone that I trust. I pray that I would be humbled by how big you are and how small I am.

glorious

The other night Jason Coobs (my roomy), Booby Wood (our neighbor) and I went downtown to take pictures. It was the night when the big storm came. We found a spot to take pictures and we were trying to catch the lightening. I caught it, even though it came out a little blurry, and it was beautiful. It is things like lightening, rain and thunder that show me just how big God is. I love this picture because it reminds me how small I am and how big God is. I pray that I will always keep the bigness of God in the forefront of my mind. He is an amazing God who is Glorious.

random pics after chapel

These are some random pics I took after chapel on Thursday. I took some shots of Dr. Scroggins with his daughter. Seeing Dr. Scroggins interact with his kids, makes me want to have 6 kids. :)

strength for humility

Sorry, I have not posted in few days. Life has been somewhat crazy with work. On Thursday Dr. Scroggins preached in chapel on pride. You can listen to the message here. It was very convicting. Pride is so dangerous. It can totally mess up everything. I struggle with this very much and it seems to creep up in certain situations. I absolutely hate that I struggle with pride. Why do I worry so much about saving face? I know that my pride has held me back from doing things that I felt God telling me to do. I was too worried about what I would look like if I failed. Pride so often holds me back from doing things because I don't want to look stupid or incapable of doing something. The truth is that I am incapable of doing anything good on my own. Apart from Christ I can do nothing. I am still wrestling with this issue. How do I fight pride? Dr. Scroggins gave four suggestions for fighting pride:
1. Know your place
2. Be humble on purpose.
3. Vent to God.
4. Be alert because Satan prowls around like a lion.
I pray that I can begin to do these things. I do not want pride or fear of looking stupid hold me back from doing what God wants me to do. Father, I pray that I can fight this with your strength and I pray that you would draw me to my knees constantly. You are a holy and righteous God. I am a prideful man in need of humility. Give me the courage to be willing to look foolish for you Name. Father, I pray that Your will be done and that I would do whatever you call me to do regardless of how might look.

Pray that I can become more like Christ and grow in humility.

community group

At Crossing Church we do community groups. These are just groups that meet in homes throughout the week. I love my community group. God has taught me so much as to what a community group is to be. We get together and talk about the previous week's sermon, how it applies to our lives, we pray together, we talk about the good and bad in our lives and we laugh....alot. Here some pictures from my community group tonight.

uncertain trust

Here lately I have been doing a Bible reading plan, which has been really good. One of the places that I have been reading has been in the book of Psalm. When I read the words that David writes, it is like I am right there with him. I love that he is so honest with where he is. When David writes he goes from being totally down and fearful to praising God and proclaiming his trust in Him. This is where I have been lately. One day I am praising God and proclaiming my trust in Him and the next day I am wondering where He is. But through this time, God keeps bringing me to a Psalm like this one:

1 To You, O LORD, I call;
My rock, do not be deaf to me,
For if You are silent to me,
I will become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help,
When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked
And with those who work iniquity,
Who speak peace with their neighbors,
While evil is in their hearts.
4 Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;
Requite them according to the deeds of their hands;
Repay them their recompense .
5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD
Nor the deeds of His hands,
He will tear them down and not build them up.

6 Blessed be the LORD,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplication.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults,
And with my song I shall thank Him.
8 The LORD is their strength,
And He is a saving defense to His anointed.
9 Save Your people and bless Your inheritance;
Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.
Psalms 28:1-9 (NASB)

I love the peace that comes when I am struggling with my trust in God and my focus on Him and God brings me to a Psalm where David proclaims his trust in the Creator and turns to praising the one who created the universe. I feel so much like David so many times. I know God is who He says He is and I know that He is faithful, but sometimes I get off focused and begin to get caught up in circumstances and in the fear of the unknown.

Thank you God for hearing my prayers and being faithful even when I am unfaithful. Father I want my trust to be in you alone. You are the Creator God. You hold all things together. You alone are the one that gave me life. You are my salvation!! You are the sovereign God. Father, I pray that in you alone I would trust. Given me strength and grace to trust in You even in the most uncertain and difficult times. Father, you will be done.

crossing church

For those of you who don't know, I go to a church plant called Crossing Church. We are in the east end of Louisville. Tonight we launched our new website. This is the second church plant I have been apart of and I love it. I feel God is leading me to one day plant a church that plants other churches.

Anyways, any time we get to celebrate things at Crossing, we do. Here are some pics.





This is my community group leader. He is awesome. He is going to be planting a church in Cleveland soon!



This is one of the pastors at Crossing. He has a heart for reaching people for Christ.



The kids can't stay away from the twizzlers.


I will post some more pics of my church soon.

soaked in scripture

God taught me many things during the retreat this past weekend. But one of the main themes that kept coming up in my life was about being in the Word more. God has been giving more and more of a passion for His Word, but it seems that sometimes when I read it and come to a difficult passage I don't really figure out what the meaning is. I just keep reading. I not only want to read the Word more but I desire to know the word more so that it will create more and more of a passion for the Creator. I kept meditating on this passage this weekend....

"All scripture is inspire (God-breathed) by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17 NASB (parenthesis added)

God's Word is what we need to live and breathe. It is our source of wisdom and peace. God has given us everything that pertains to "life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3). I need to be immersed in the Word of God and learn more of who God is. I pray that I can become dripping wet in scripture. That the Word becomes so much of my life that I can't help but talk about it and live it out.

I am still wrestling through what this looks like in my life. But I do know that I want to be soaked in scripture and allow God's word to radically change my life.

....trying not to stay dry

a few more pics from the retreat

More about the retreat to come. Thanks to all who helped make this retreat happen. You guys rock.

back from the retreat...

Eric Yeldell did an amazing job of leading people into worship.



Our small group time with the guys.



That is us getting into trouble...kinda!



This is the view I had when I was spending time with God.



We climb this big hill on the first day. It was pretty cool.


I will update more about what God taught at the retreat. God did some cool things in my life. He never ceases to amaze me. God pours out His grace and peace on us. This weekend was an amazing time to seek God's face.

spring retreat

I'm leaving to go on our college's fall spring retreat. I am excited to get away and see what God is going to teach me. I am also excited just to get away, even if it just a day and a half. I pray that this will be a great time to learn and grow in God and I pray that God will not only speak to my heart, but that He would get a hold of the hearts to the people going.

Pray for us.

in myself I trust....

I have been wrestling with some issues lately regarding my trust in God. It's when certain circumstances come along it seems that it causes me worry more and doubt God's control. The danger in this is that when we (or I) begin to worry, we then want to put things in our own hands. We want to do something that makes things better or more clear. But that is where the struggle lies. When we put things into our own hands we step away from trusting in God and move into trusting in ourselves.
I was reading today in Matthew 10, while still wrestling with this issue, and I read this.

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from you Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." Matthew 10:28-31

Why should we try to take things into my own hands when the God of this universe tells us that not even one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from the Father. One sparrow! They are hardly worth a thing. Yet the very hairs on our head are numbered. Jesus tells us that we are far more valuable then sparrows. But why do we fear or worry about what lies ahead? Why can we not trust the Creator of this universe to be in control of what we are going through? We serve a big God. A God who cares for us enough to send His Son down to die on a cross for our sins. A God that gives us His Spirit so that we can have a helper in this world. A God that lives inside each one of us and walks with us through the toughest of times and through the most joyous of times. God knows exactly what we are going through and the last thing that we need to do is try to put things into our own hands. Rather we should fall on our knees before the Father and ask Him for wisdom and guidance in how to walk through these circumstances.

I pray that when we are tempted to put things into our own hands, that we would remember the value of two sparrows and realize that God is in full control.


trusting in Him

diving in to Total Truth

I have just started reading Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey and I have to say that it is a phenomenal book so far. Many people have said this is a great book and I am now seeing why. This book gives a good foundation on how our worldview effects every area of our life, hence total Truth. The first chapter talks about the sacred vs. secular and private vs. public view. In this she gives a great illustration that shows where our culture is at. She talks about a professor, who while teaching students, draws a heart and a brain on the board and then proceeds to tell the students that religion is for the heart and science/rational thought is for the brain. That is our culture, but the truth is that the Bible and Christianity is not just for the heart, but for every part of our lives. Pearcey gives great thought on this topic. This book has really got me thinking. I am excited to see how God will challenge me through this book. I will give updates as I read through this.

what is church?

I have been wrestling with the idea of what church really is. In America it seems that we have made a certain "church culture". But, what I wonder is how much of this "church culture" is truly a biblical way of doing church? How much of what we do is tradition? And with that, how much of our Americanized church tradition holds people back from becoming a follower of Christ? Dr. Payne said it well, "Nothing but the cross of Jesus Christ should be a stumbling block for someone coming to faith in Christ." What are we doing wrong? What should we do to become more like the church that God had in mind and how can we reach the people in our culture? This is the question wrestling in my mind. I want to reach people in this culture with the life changing message of Christ. What is the best way to do that? I pray that God would show us.

living for the Creator

God is at work all around us. He never ceases to do amazing things. He calls us to put full trust and faith in Him and to go beyond ourselves to do great things for His glory in order to change the lives of the people in which he died for. My life is a journey in pursuit of the Creator of this universe. I desire to live a life that goes beyong cultural norm and traditional christianity and to live in a way that pleases the God who created all things and calls me to live beyond myself.

This is about my journey. The encounters with God, the people I meet, the way God challenges my faith and thought, the books I read and the life change that happens not only in my life but in the lives of those around me.

"Jesus did not suffer and die so that we could build for ourselves havens, but so that we might expand the kingdom of His love. Because invisible kingdoms are at war for the hearts and lives of every human being who walks on the face of the earth. And times of war require barbarians who are willing to risk life itself for the freedom of others."
-Erwin McManus-