It’s always good to step away. Everyone needs a chance to refocus and get some rest. That is what my family and I are doing. I meant to write about this before now, but trying to pack for a trip with my family is a full contact sport. Anyway, here I am in Midland, TX where the temperature was 112 yesterday and is currently 104. This heat is unreal. But the people here are super fun and I’m having a ball…except for the being super sick because my son coughed his grossness onto me. I’m starting to get over that, too. Last night we went to a church family game night and played basketball and volleyball til about midnight. This Mexican culture is all about staying up late, having tons of fun and eating. So yes, that’s what we did. After all that craziness we went back to the house we are staying in and had dinner.

I’m quite grateful to be having this time away, even though it’s going to mostly include driving. This is the first real vacation I think I’ve ever taken. It’s kinda cool. Hopefully there will be lots of pictures taken and some great stories to share when I get back home a week from today.

This morning I want to take some time and ask everyone to pray for Joplin, MO. That city took a beating from a tornado last night. At last check there were 89 deaths as well. This has to be devastating for that city. I will be driving through there on Thursday and may take some time to pray over the city as we go…IF we can get through. Reports also said that Interstate 44 had been closed because of overturned cars. The weather has been bringing tons of chaos to our nation this year and prayers should continue to go up. Our church is still collecting flood buckets for the affected areas which helps me to remember that there are some other people who still aren’t out the woods yet. So definitely pray for Joplin, but don’t forget about the rest of our country that is still turned upside down as well.

I couldn’t think of anything productive to write about today. It must have something to do with the fact that I’m slowly approaching my vacation. However, I was reminded by my friend Ryan that the world is ending tomorrow. I wanted to take some time and share some things on my heart before the world ended and I went to heaven tomorrow. I’m not really sure what time this is supposed to be happening. I assume that since tomorrow is May 21st then it’ll be on 5:21. But is that AM or PM? I don’t know and so I want to get it all out now because I’m not going to be awake at 5:21 AM. So with no further interruptions, here’s some of my confessions.

1. To that girl in high school that asked me out, I did actually reschedule our ‘date’ for a sporting event. I was a jerk. Sorry.

2. I have skipped many days reading my Bible and then picked it up on Saturday night to find something inspirational to say before leading worship on Sunday morning.

3. If I said I liked your hair before. I probably did. But I also probably didn’t.

4.You looked completely horrible in that thriller jacket for way back Wednesday during homecoming week. Seriously dude.

5. I have forgotten to call you back probably because I wasn’t completely listening when you told me to call you in the first place.

6. I have NOT shared the Gospel with someone because I was convinced in my head before I ever walked up to them that they wouldn’t care. Dear lady with the cool tattoo, I really hope I see you in heaven because if you’re not there it’s my fault.

7. I have knowingly not given my all to my family at times. Family forgive me for not giving you all my love all the time.

8. I lost my toothbrush on a trip once and didn’t buy another one right away. For like 2 days.

9. When I worked at camp, I was in a competition with 5 other  counselors to see who could go the longest without showering. In the summer. In Branson. It was hot. It was a sports camp.

10. I know this one isn’t much of a confession, but I do plan on sharing more with you guys next week. I fully plan to be here.

So those were some of my confessions that I thought I had to share before the world ended. What you got?

I love this statement that I found as I was researching this idea. It’s so funny I’m just going to put it down in here and let you read it before I go on.

The robber ran from the policeman, still holding the money in his hands.
After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg.
Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.

If you said the last sentence to the football player’s face just the way it’s phrased above, you could end up a bloody lump of pulp lying on the astroturf, because he might conclude you think he “flits gaily,” a thing most people in his profession don’t do, at least in public.

From The Writing Guide 2002

Anyway, dangling participles are all about placing action in the wrong place. You see what happens to a sentence when you place the verb in the wrong place, you could end up beaten by a football player. What happens when we direct our actions in the wrong place? People are always searching for that thing. The thing that will make us famous. That thing that will make us a lot of money and create security. We direct our actions towards the things that look, feel and smell good. These motivations more times than not will lead us somewhere we had not set out to go.

That’s why it’s so important have our actions pointed in the right direction. When we place or actions in things that please us first, we tend to lose focus and head the wrong way. “You may think you’re on the right road and still end up dead.” Proverbs 14:12 CEV Our sights should be set on the cross. When Christ is our motivation then things around us can go every which way, but we have a steady focus point. In Philippians 3, Paul writes that he was forgetting the things that had already happened and pressing toward that mark of Christ. When Christ is our motivation, there is no way that we can get misguided. Christ wants to draw us to himself. He wants to bring us in to a place where we can live in freedom with him. When our motivations begin to dangle in other places chaos is created.

What motivates you each day? What is it that gets you out of bed? Is it money or your career? Or is it Christ? You may want to check that out. Your motivation could be misguided.

I’d like to go on record as saying I love my Mondays. I know that’s sort of blasphemous to everything the world stands for, but I love my Mondays. Monday is the day I get to take off and spend with my family. Every week. Nothing pops up on my radar but Eva, Kahmylia, Brisa and Quint. We do only the things we feel like doing and that’s it. I don’t check email or answer calls unless it’s family related. It’s a great time to recharge and love on the people that love me so much. So that’s why I love Mondays.

I also love Mondays because generally whatever pops in my head we end up doing. In this case, yesterday we braved the throngs of school buses and homeschoolers galore as we traversed the Saint Louis Zoo. For those of you who may not know, our zoo is pretty much the best in the country. Say what you want, but I happen to know it’s true. I’ve been to a couple zoos in my life, including the famed San Diego Zoo. Our zoo is just as big and you don’t have to drop $160 to walk in the door with a family of 5. Just sayin’. But I digress… So we went to the zoo and then we had a picnic. My girls LOVE picnics. Whenever you say the word they turn all mushy and start talking in their Disney princess voice. Why? Heck if I know, but that’s what they do. Silly girls. Anyway, we got the chance to go visit the zoo and it’s quite fun. They are doing lots of construction which made getting out kinda difficult, but we had a great time nonetheless. I found some things quite interesting as I walked through this expansive park. There are tons of animals in this place from all over the world. It’s very cool to watch them try to act as if millions of people don’t come and just stare at them every day and wait for them to move. We spend a TON of money each year trying to create the most natural habitat for these animals that have been put in captivity. But one of the coolest things I noticed was the combinations of animals that would be in the same area. My favorite was probably the Black Rhinoceros and the Sacred Ibis. Now granted, there was nothing particularly special about this exhibit, but I just noticed that these two were purposely put together. It turns out (because I asked) that these birds are commonly found with the rhino. When a rhino sits or lays down, the birds with gather around and shield themselves from the sun and the all live peacefully. That is something that had to be orchestrated by God because that bird seems as if it would be lunch to such a big animal. But then you read that rhinos are herbivores and they don’t even eat meat. Go figure!

It’s always a beautiful thing to see God’s creation work the way He intended it to. It’s screams harmony and proclaims that God is truly in control. Or at least it does for me. It does for my friend Mark Roach as well. He writes in his song ‘Glory Hallelujah’ a chorus that says “This is our song, we sing it to you, we sing glory hallelujah. Creation sings along in spirit and truth, singing glory hallelujah…” We were created to worship our Creator. That’s our job. That’s our purpose. It should be our desire. Sometimes we need to be reminded that our purpose is simple. For me, my reminder came from walking through the zoo holding my 8 month old son and getting the chance to experience him taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the zoo. Everything else seemed quite trivial at that moment. I don’t know what that thing is for you that causes you to stop for a second and open your eyes to what has been created all around you, but I say you should take some time periodically, regularly even, to step into that place rest there for a bit. If you don’t already have a place like that, try the zoo. Because ours is AMAZING.

This morning we are starting a new series called Seven where we will be going through the seven deadly sins. I decided to approach our worship from a place that speaks to the love and grace the Father shows for us when we sin. I don’t know how many songs out there speak specifically to these things, but we have songs that speak to sin and how we are and can be forgiven. With that being said, here’s what we are singing this morning.

It Is Well With My Soul-Horatio Spafford

Beautiful One-Tim Hughes-Happy Day

Your Grace is Enough-Matt Maher-Empty and Beautiful

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us-Stuart Townsend

Hallelujah-Brenton Brown-Live Vineyard Worship:Winds of Worship

If you don’t have anywhere to go today, come join us at The Word at Shaw at 10:30. Have a blessed day!

In music theory, a deceptive cadence occurs when you come to the end of a phrase and when convention tells you the next chord should be one thing something else happens there. You were deceived into thinking that you knew what was coming next. It happens a lot in music and when it does it is generally a dramatic difference.

The same thing happens in our lives all the time. Things are running along smoothly and we do pretty well at knowing what’s going on. Our analysis of a certain situation may be spot on. But then something happens. You get a phone call that reports a tragedy. You walk out of the office to see that your car isn’t where you parked it. You come home to an envelope that has papers that you didn’t want to see. Your child learns one of those painful lessons of teenage heartbreak. Something happens and it rocks your world and takes you somewhere you weren’t expecting to go.

Generally, a deceptive cadence will double back and repeat a portion of the section before en route to ending a song. It also has the ability to take you somewhere completely different and into a new section. We can’t really know what lies ahead around the next corner. We can only know what’s right in front of us. That’s why these types of cadences work. Sometimes they will cause a complete shift in your life. However, sometimes they will just simply lead you in a new direction, a direction you may not have seen before. Don’t be afraid of that direction because there may be something there for you that you may have never noticed.

God is the master conductor who is orchestrating our lives. We may think we know exactly what’s going on and how things are going to work out when change occurs and we aren’t sure how to handle it. It isn’t our job to know. It’s our job to pay attention to the conductor and make sure that we don’t miss our entrance to play. The cadence may be deceptive at first and catch you off guard, but in the end it’s all a part of His song. And we already know how that one ends.

I am continually amazed at how brilliantly written the Bible is! One of my favorite brilliantly written passages is found in John. It looks a little something like this:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me

John 15:1-4

There is so much truth in this entire passage, but I like to focus on one particular point, especially when I’m feeling really extra good about myself. I remember when this concept first made sense to me. It actually wasn’t that long ago, but it has been pretty life changing ever since. It’s there in verse 2. The first part makes total sense. The branches that aren’t producing get cut off. But it’s the next part that got me. Branches that bear fruit get cut so they can bear MORE fruit. One day I was reading this and it hit me; no matter what I do or how good I am or how well I sing or play piano, I’m gonna get cut, too. That was a big revelation for me. Once I thought about it in the context of being a gardener it made total sense. Even when a plant is doing well and growing, a gardener has to come in a cut some of the plant back to help it flourish and be the most fruitful. Pruning helps a plant get out of its own way. The same thing happens with us. We could be doing well and feel like things are moving right along. Our marriage is great. Our kids are behaving. Our job is good. We are going to church. We might even give a little money. But maybe in all of that we have filled our time up so well that we aren’t really spending time in the Word. We may think we are doing great by fulfilling our weekly duty to attend church. But then something happens that rocks us off the happy boat that we’re on. All of that good stuff is getting in the way of some real growth and even though it all looks good to our eyes, something has to be cut away.

It’s easy to look at a situation where things are going wrong and be able to say what needs to change. That’s way easy. The more difficult cuts happen when things seem to be all good. That’s when the master gardener has to come in and look at things and diagnose what cuts are going to be most beneficial for the plant to continue its growth pattern. For me, it is quite humbling to think about the fact that no matter what happens I’m not above being cut to make room for something even better. I’m never going to be so holy or so righteous to where God will decide that I’m good enough to let grow on my own. However, it helps me to understand my whole place in this situation. I’m not the one in control. And that is totally okay with me. I think about what would happen if I worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden doing this job. Even I can spot something bad and get rid of it when the time comes. But when I go and see something that looks pretty and is growing well, I’m not going to know which ones need to be pruned. I just see pretty colors. But the people who work there know those plants intimately and know exactly what they need to grow and flourish.

The same thing goes for our Father in heaven. He knows exactly what we need to grow. He knows when it’s time to make a cut that will weed out the decaying parts of our lives as well as the parts that are growing well but need some help to be more productive and fruitful. In the end, the thing that meant the most to me manifested itself in this way. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, you’re going to get cut. Sometimes it will be meant to root out some of the difficult and useless things in your life. Sometimes it will be meant to help better direct the fruit that you are bearing. But no one is above the shears. No one. And I like it that way.

One of my favorite games when I was younger was hide and go seek. I’ve played many different variations of this game and can’t find one that was bad. The craziest one had to be speed. That’s when the person that was it only counted to 7. So you had to get somewhere QUICK! I would have to say the favorite would be playing at my grandma’s house in Wellston. Times were a little different when I was younger, so my cousins and I would be blocks away from the house, and we’d be gone for hours because no one was actually going to go that far to look for you. We would eventually come home when we were hungry or had to go to the bathroom. We would also play at night, which obviously helped because it was already dark. This sometimes allowed us to stand in the middle of the street and not be seen. It didn’t work often, but when it did it was funny. This game was fun because it was all based on how well you could blend in to your surroundings and not be found out. Sometimes that meant hiding behind a tree. Sometimes that was hiding under a car. Sometimes it was running to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Skinker (that’s Wellston speak). The better the hiding place, the less likely you were to be found.

I don’t think that hiding is a good idea in all situations though. Sometimes standing boldly and stepping out from behind the barrier is needed and encouraged. Sometimes we have to be able to put ourselves out front and be found out. But what if we don’t want people to find out? What if we’re hiding because we’re not really proud of what people will see? What if they realize that we’ve been lying the whole time? What if there isn’t anything deeper than this? What if they realize that we don’t have the answers?

More and more today it seems to me (and you can agree or disagree) that the church is hiding behind the performance and the presentation. If we make it look good then people may or may not notice the substance. Let’s wow them with how cool our lights are or  how awesome our musicians are or how put together our worship service is. But when you start to dig deeper and look for truth and gospel then things become a little thin. I can’t speak for all the reasons why we have come to this point in our churches, but I have noticed the trend. I just wonder why sometimes we choose to hide behind the performance instead of standing firm on a truth that is unshakable. Why are we rejoicing in not being found out instead of boldly making known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19)?

On a more personal level, what are you hiding behind? Sometimes it’s hard to stand firm in who you are when everyone around you seems to be doing something else. It’s hard to live a life that represents Christ when you know everyone around you thinks that Christianity is a joke or that Christians are just fake. I have the privilege of working in a church, so sometimes I have to go outside of my own office to find people like this. For me I believe it is something that keeps me from living in a bubble and believing that everything is okay. For me, sometimes I’m hiding behind my own desk.

Hiding is good when you’re playing the game. The better you are at hiding the better chance you have at not having to be the one to go and find people. Now that I think about it, that works in both scenarios…

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?

Romans 8:31-32

Everyone is looking for someone in their lives that will be there for them. Someone that will stand up and stick by them no matter what. We start this search early in lives. Most boys and I know my girls have had imaginary friends when they were little. That friend is always there no matter what. We then get to school and start meeting all the other kids and we inevitably attach to one or two others and we call ourselves best friends. Some of us keep that friend for years. Some of us move and have to repeat this process. Some of us go to college and meet people and they become friends for life. Some of us get married and achieve various levels of success with that. All of these things are leading us to find that person who will be there through all the good and all the struggle.

How many of us spend our lives searching for that and NEVER find it? How many of us look past God to other things and continue to get disappointed and hurt? To believe in someone that can’ be physically seen can seem a little farfetched. Then there’s the problem with the people who claim to already have this guy as a friend. We don’t seem to act as if we do all the time. But in the end, the only one out there who is claiming to be that friend that we are looking for and has yet to let us down is still right there. So my question today is, who are you gonna choose? And I believe that’s all I got today. I will, however, post yesterday’s set list here because I forgot to do that yesterday. Holidays will get you every time.

Indescribable-Laura Story-Great God Who Saves

Yahweh-Hillsong Chapel- Yahweh Live

Marvelous Light-Charlie Hall- Passion

Lead Me To The Cross- Hillsong United-All of the Above

Forever-Chris Tomlin-The Noise We Make