Infusion Podcast: Wednesday Night / August 19, 2009
MyLife On Purpose 2009 – Week 1 – Life Accepted
MyLife On Purpose 2009 – Week 1 – Life Accepted
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Tonight I was confronted with the world. The messy, screwed up, backwards, sad, hurting, empty, and meaningless, really real world.
Posted in Discouragement, Doubt, Gospel, Jesus, Life Accepted, Life Connected, Life Reflected, Love, Loving God, Meaning, Questions, Truth | 1 Comment »
Last week was action packed.
Next week, I am headed to Orlando with my wife and three other females. I am pumped for the break form business as usual. I am also excited to spend the week with some great people. Being in Orlando will put the icing on the cake. Look out Disney.
I am sad that the Magic lost last night. I knew that it was just a matter of time before the Lakers won, but I didn’t want to believe it. I am not really a Magic fan, but I really like Dwight Howard.
I saw two movies last week, Star Trek and Land of the Lost. I enjoyed both of them. I am not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but this time he did a great job. Star Trek was surprisingly awesome. I never really understood the hype, but enjoyed the movie none the less.
Book I’m Reading: I am still on The Godbearing Life
Music I’m Listening to: ESPN Radio. Sad but true
Funniest Thing From Last Week: I watched a teen girl attempt to swat a bug away from her face, but wound up slapping herself.
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Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Mth 5:17, NIV)
When I first looked this verse up, I thought it wasn’t the one I was thinking of. Abolish means to “do away with”, according the “Dictionaire” on my iPhone. I thought, “no, that’s exactly what Jesus came to do. He came so that we would love each other into relationships with Chist, not legalize each other into an unhealthy fear of God.”
I love commentaries. Mine states my thinking exactly…who knew I was a Bible scholar (ha). It says, “God’s…laws were given to help people love God with all their hearts and minds. Throughout…history, however, these laws had been often misquoted and misapplied. By Jesus’ time, religious leaders had turned the laws into a confusing mass of rules.” (Life Application Study Bible)
This circles back to the conversation that I was having this evening and my point. We have, all too often, judged someone’s spiritual credibility, relationship with Christ and message from the Holy Spirit based on appearances. Piercings, blue jeans and untucked shirts, funky-colored hair, age, grammar usage, education, the place one chooses to sit in the sactuary, the name of the sanctuary, the name of the song, the volume of music, the instrument, the age of the person playing the instrument and on and on. These seem to be the things I hear on a regular basis. Things that are “just not right” or that “keep me from worshiping”. These are the “laws” we have confused, misquoted and misapplied in church.
Back to that word abolish. My thought was that Jesus came to “do away with” all those laws. BUT NO!! He came so that the laws God had set up for us would be brought to their true purpose and restored. He came so he could live those laws out the RIGHT way and reveal God’s character.
Wow! So here I am thinking about Jesus’ words and thinking about those people who burn me up. The ones who call themselves religous leaders and have “misquoted, misapplied and confused” a mass of rules. I am humbled too. I know I have done this. I know I have uncessarily judged and said things like “I can’t worship when the lights are so dark or the music is so loud or…”
“God forgive me. Help me to abolish the law and reveal your TRUE character.”
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This week was a reminder of the little things in life that bring joy to my soul.
I was reminded of the joys that noticing the little things can bring. I encourage my friends to notice the little things this week.
“A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life” Proverbs 13:7
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i’ve always had trouble drinking water.
my soda drinking habit not only corrupts the taste of water, but it somehow corrupts my reasoning: see, i know i should drink water at restaurants, because water is free, but for some reason i feel like i need to drink soda and pay out the wazoo for it. and yet i know that the soda will only fill me up with air, possibly causing me not to enjoy the food i came to eat in the first place. i have a much easier time ordering water if all my cohorts at the table order water, but the minute someone at the table orders soda, i feel the sugar sweats coming on… the temptation to indulge myself in the sweet, fizzy, syrupy nectar.
then i remember the times when i worked outside on hot days. walking for miles each day under the scorching sun, nearly reaching the breaking point, my body would cry out for respite. and what, you ask, does one’s body yearn for in these harsh and unrelenting conditions? water. only water. not soda, not gatorade, not tea or even lemonade. not anything but pure, clear, cool water will quench the thirst of a truly parched man. all others only serve as temporary and less than adequate substitutes. i need water.
it comes as no surprise that God is like water. i know that his ways are good for me, but i admit it’s difficult to follow. i find myself following other things: selfish things, worldly things, temporary fixes, things that feel good in the moment, but things i know will never fill me or satisfy the deeper yearnings of my heart. but they feel so good. so good, in fact, that the thought of following God’s will seems unpalatable.
but i seem to lose my reasoning. i know God’s ways are better ways, but living my own way seems so much easier and immediately satisfying. and that’s where church comes in: i need others around me at the table who are following God. see, without other people, i am nearly powerless against the lure of my selfish desires. others not only keep me accountable, but they have the same struggles with which to contend, and they make it easier to choose God’s way by choosing God’s way themselves. without others, temptation is almost irresistable.
and at the end of the day, though i may have been a lifetime follower of my own way, when life really gets though and it seems i’ve got no way out, the only thing my heart yearns for is God. though all the other things in life seem to fill me up every other day, on days like these: these hot, dry, difficult days, all i can think about is God. it’s Him i turn to in the trials. and it is then i realize how empty and unsatisfying all the other things in life really are. sure, they feel good in the moment, but they are only temporary and less than adequate substitutes. i need God.
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Last week was a fast pace week. I barely saw my wife, home, or dog.
I finished the night off with K-Groups and a deep cleaning of the house since the grandparents are coiming in today. Grandpa will no doubt be dissapointed in my lawn care abilities since my front yard looks like the Amazon, but at least he will have a clean bed.
Book I’m Reading: The Godbearing Life
Music I’m Listening To: I’m on a bringing back the 90′s music kick. Green Day rocks!
Funniest Thing From Last Week: My lovely wife chasing the dog around the house b/c he was chewing on the wii remote.
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