What happens in your mind when you hear or read this phrase? Well, you would probably say nothing happens unless I know what I’m getting ready for. I would agree with you. But this phrase can provoke so many different emotions based on what comes after it. If you’re getting ready for a date, there’s the excitement of what is planned for the evening. You are finding the right outfit and taking care of the hair and/or makeup. If you are getting ready for a surgical procedure there’s nervousness. There’s also medicine that will knock you out completely so you don’t feel any incisions. If you’re getting ready for a job interview, you are making sure that you can answer questions appropriately. You are making sure that you have left yourself enough time to where you need to be. All of these different emotions are tagged to the phrase ‘getting ready’.

The Bible uses the word prepare. And it gets used quite a bit from front cover to back. There is a lot of preparation that takes place in the Bible. In the early going the preparation centers quite a bit around sacrifices and preparing the animals for all the different sacrifices that took place in the early Bible times. In the beginning of the New Testament there was a lot of preparation for Jesus to be born and for him to die. After that there’s is talk of preparation as we wait for His return. After you read this, go to a Bible website (I would offer youversion.com) and type the word ‘prepare’ in the search bar. You’ll get quite the list.

So I’ve mentioned all of this to say that there is quite an emphasis in our world on being prepared. Yet, so many times we find ourselves unprepared for the things in our lives. How does that work? I spent some time as a Boy Scout when I was little and the main phrase of the Boy Scouts is ‘Be Prepared’. They then proceed to tell you how being prepared is the key to being a good boy scout and in turn, a good citizen. It seems like there’s great value in this concept of preparation. And again, I don’t think it’s just a worldly concept because it’s all throughout the Bible.

There is such great, almost painstaking detail taken in Scripture to talk about preparation for spending time with the Lord. In the Old Testament, only certain people could make sacrifices and only at certain times. Things had to be done in particular ways otherwise the sacrifices wouldn’t count. Then when Jesus was speaking about His impending fate then return to the Father (John 14) he said that he would go and prepare a place for us in Heaven. He went back to get things ready for the party that will occur when we get to be with Him.

How serious do you take preparation? Do you throw things together when you have the time? Or do you take the time to get yourself ready for whatever is coming up in your life? If you are a leader, do you take the time to prepare yourself to lead the people that are following you? I have rehearsals tonight with my vocalists and my band for church on Sunday. If I am not prepared to lead them, then that rehearsal won’t be very effective or efficient. But when I take the time to go through music and know what I want to hear, I have a better chance of relaying that message to them when the time comes. On Sunday morning a lot of time we pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the people for worship. We want people to come in and be ready for what’s going to happen when they walk in the door. That’s why we have things like prayers to help us clear our minds and get focused on the task at hand.

I don’t know what you do to get ready for things that happen in your life, but I realized that I might not be taking enough time to prepare my heart and mind for the things that I encounter. I will have to look into this some more and see what God has to say to me. This topic may get revisited before the week is out. Here’s the question: How do you prepare for the things you encounter in your daily life? And part B: How do you prepare for the things that are coming up? Answer at will.

MY GOODNESS!!! If you like baseball, this World Series has been great! A little bit of drama, some major long balls, pitching, a couple questionable umpire calls, and two teams laying it all out for that trophy. I’m having a blast and my home team is down one game right now! I’m trying to find a biblical reference to connect to the series, but I’m not sure that I could find one. Does the ‘there will be wars and rumors of wars’ one fit here? No? Okay. Can’t say I didn’t try. Anyway…

In the midst of all this baseball fun, I was profusely sick this past weekend. When you live in a family of 5, it’s really hard to escape catching something that starts with the children. Usually I do okay, but this time I caught it full fledged. I was NOT happy with that whole situation. It was so bad that I knew on Friday night that I wouldn’t make it to church on Sunday. Thanks to those who stepped in while I was in the bed trying not to die.

Sometimes we are given breaks as an opportunity to step back and refocus the lens. I’m not sure how much refocusing was done during this time. I definitely had to step back, but that’s because I was in NO position to do my job. I think the refocusing starts now. I’m not saying that God put me in a position like Job and got me super sick to see if I would still trust Him or anything like that. I just know that whatever it was I got blasted with got me pretty good and I’m glad to be back rolling again.

So how does a worship pastor bounce back from missing a week of church? Well, that’s a good question. It all depends on how much work you got done before you went down. I was in the middle of a whole bunch of stuff and none of it was anywhere close to being done at the time. So this is catch up, and if I’m lucky, get ahead again week for me. I ask for you guys to pray for me that I can jump back on the wagon and get moving down the road again. I’m working on some pretty cool and possibly big news type stuff. That’s about as spoiler as I can get for now. I will keep you posted as I know things, but it includes music. And a lot of it.

Something happens when you find a group of people that you relate to. It’s a magical thing that almost feels surreal. You get to talk to people about things that you both know about. You find that you can sit and talk about stuff until night becomes day. Then you realize that there is a whole bunch of stuff that is just inside of you that you rarely share. There’s a whole base level of communication that doesn’t have to happen because everyone is on the same general playing field. You can spend time talking about specifics and intricacies that you don’t always get to speak about. IT guys have their mbps and other acronyms. Guitarists have their humbucklers and amps and patch sounds. Sports guys have stats and the never ending conversation about who the best ever is. Musical lovers have Glee and the conversations about their favorite show tune. I could go on for awhile, but the point is that everyone has that one thing that they can spend hours talking about when they find the right group.

I was able to experience this for the first time in a while this past weekend. I am a part of a group of worship leaders that got together for the first time in hopes of making this a regular thing. I must admit that I had a great time and enjoyed sharing my experiences and hearing about what others like me deal with on a regular basis. The thing that was the most comforting about the whole time was knowing that I’m not alone. Sometimes when we are in the middle of picking song sets and fixing computer programs that didn’t work trying to fix transitions that didn’t happen you feel like you’re the only one doing it. Even though there are churches everywhere it can feel like you’re the only one dealing with the difficult things. It was great to hear that wasn’t the case.

I know I’m speaking from the standpoint of a worship leader, but I’m writing in hopes that you will realize that you aren’t alone in whatever it is you’re dealing with either. If nothing else, you have a God that says I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). But know that there is someone else out there that understands your situation. I hope you find them. Even more, if someone out there reading this doesn’t know who Christ is, maybe you can benefit

So yes, I know this is a worship blog where I talk about what it means to be a worship leader and the joys and challenges of living this life, but I have to take this Monday morning and give my home team, the St. Louis Cardinals a shout for this AMAZING run they are on. I am, have been and always will be a Cardinals fan and this last six weeks has been nothing short of amazing. If you are a regular reader and not a sports fan, don’t stop reading because I’ll return to normal on tomorrow ( I don’t normally write on Mondays anyway). I am excited for the world series and I hope upon hope that I find myself at one of these games.

In the mean time, I will continue to cheer on my boys and hope they bring home that 11th championship in 2011! LET’S GO CARDS!

So, this morning’s set was labeled epic power set by my band. I didn’t think about it being that way, I just felt like these songs were supposed to go together. So far it has been quite epic. Even with the main computer going completely out and needing to be restarted.

This week as I was praying and working through this set I was thinking about how to approach this idea of fear. So I looked for the antithesis of fear. This is what I found…

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.19 We love him, because he first loved us.

God’s perfect love is the antithesis of fear. We are sharing God’s perfect love through song today. Here’s what we are singing.

O How I Love Jesus

You Never Let Go

Our God

You Are Good

Glory to God Forever

Yahweh

Blessed Assurance

The Greatness of Our God

Maybe it is kinda epic. I know it’s huge. Be blessed today!

For the past few weeks or so, I’ve been writing from this ‘armchair quarterback’ position on Tuesdays. I tell you, it is forcing me to really look at who I am and what I do. At the end of the day, I am faced with the decision of choosing to follow God’s leading verses what I think we should do. Then I step back and look to evaluate the choices that have been made.

Retrospectively, this past week wasn’t one of my best as far as how I was feeling. I never felt totally comfortable with the music, I didn’t feel comfortable with the group that I put together. I wasn’t sure that all the pieces were going to work. But this was one of those times when God sat me down and said, “It’s not up to you”. He came in and did something quite amazing and this Sunday’s worship time was really special. That seems like a pretty standard, almost cliche story. But sitting on this side of the computer typing it, I know that it was quite far from that. How many times do we talk about not putting God in a box, and then promptly go right back to doing the same thing? I’m speaking as someone who has done such a thing. What I think is worse is that I keep putting him in and taking him out, like I’m the one making the calls. All the while God is looking down on me and laughing profusely while He continues to do His work.

As Christians, we bind ourselves by trying to make God fit into a space that we can understand. That was never meant to be the case. Psalm 19 tells us that the fear of the Lord endures forever. To me that means that we will never experience a time where the power of God will be underwhelming to us. That means that God will never lose the power to surprise (name that slogan). And that, my friends, is not something that you can change. It’s gonna happen. And that’s cool. Seriously. It is.

Before I wrap this up, I want to say congrats to my childhood friend (teenage-hood friend?) Jennifer Drake Fantroy who got married over the weekend. I love that girl and I’m so proud of the woman she has become. Love you JD!!!!

Good morning friends! I hope that you are enjoying your morning of worship. God is blessing here at The Word at Shaw this morning. I normally write these before service, but you’re getting a mid service update. Here’s what we are singing in service today.

Majesty-Martin Stuart

I Give Myself Away (with Here I am to Worship)-William McDowell

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing-Harry Walls IV arrangement

Everlasting God-Brenton Brown

How Great Thou Art-Public Domain

I will say that I didn’t know what I was going to have to give because of being tired, but God has taken over this morning and I didn’t fight him and try to do it on my own like I tend to do. Thank you Lord! Be blessed today friends.

I will admit, I’m still amazed at thing way God continues to work in my life. So many times I’ve been up against it and not knowing which way to go and he steps in and reminds me that he’s in charge. As I’ve been reading through Job and seeing how he had his hand on Job’s life even with the turmoil he allowed, I have to stand up and take note that he’s got me too. Sometimes when I’m working on something in my office (as I am right now), I keep getting stuck on how I want something to play out. Then I step back and let it breathe for a minute (that’s what I like to call it) and then I can see what I’m supposed to be doing. It is easy to jump in and do stuff and get dirty up to our elbows in “the ministry”. At times we don’t even realize that we are actually in the way.

Lately, I’ve been wrapped in the emergence of becoming the leader God is really wanting me to be. I’ll be sharing more about it later as I continue this awesome journey. I’ve been seeing God strip some things away that I have held dearly for so long. I can’t believe how much I stood in his way when he was trying to work on and through me. This morning, I was getting ready to go and do something with my girls that I thought for SURE would put me in the Daddy Hall of Fame. But I was knocked down off my horse real quick when I was greeted with a flat tire. So I spent the morning dealing with all the intricacies of mechanics and warranties. UGH! Anyway, my daughters got to see daddy handle life as it comes and not just as he likes to plan it all the time. As I was finally leaving this morning, my youngest daughter Brisa said “Daddy, thanks for fixing our car.” For those of you who know me, you KNOW I’m not the mechanical guy. Granted, changing a tire isn’t a super big deal. But to my girls, they saw daddy handling things in a practical way. Evidently they needed that more than homeschooling in the park. But that was totally something that God did because I didn’t want to spend my morning changing a flat and having my rusted jack snap and almost break my foot when the car fell on it.

Henry Blackaby said it best in his Experiencing God study. Reality 1: God is always at work around you. That is SO true. We don’t know WHAT he’s working on, but we must take comfort in know that he IS working. With all the economic vexation on our country and the political craziness it sometimes seems like God is up there watching the game and eating snacks while we suffer through this perilous times. Never forget that God is working things our for his glory. That means you’ll know soon what he’s doing. He will show you in due time. Step back and watch him work…

So, this will be the first TMQ (Tuesday Morning Quarterback) post that will have nothing to do with football because I didn’t watch any games on Sunday or Monday. Before you blast me out of the man cave, this was a rather unique weekend for me and so sometimes things have to take a back seat. And when your family is not accustomed to that being a regular thing, you have to go with the family. Anyway, I have still have something to share and it fits, so I’m using it.

Last night while watching the elimination portion of my favorite show, The Sing Off, something popped into my head. One of the groups that was in the last 2 (and the one that ultimately lost) was one that I expected to be there. However, the other part of the duo, I didn’t expect to see there for a while if ever. They are a powerhouse group of female vocalists who can blow the roof off. But in last night’s episode, they broke one of the big rules in music. They didn’t pick a song that they could sing. They changed their approach to the show and it almost cost them. They went for the cute factor and completely left behind the fact that as a group they probably have the strongest voices in the show every time they step on the stage. In a vocal competition that is so strong with a myriad of amazing groups, you have to lay it all on the line on every opportunity. They didn’t do that and they almost were sent packing.

Sunday, during our opener I had an idea that I thought was going to be a good one, but it sort of fell flat because I didn’t go all in and execute it they way I wanted to. I ended up being mad because about it because I thought it could have been a powerful moment that wasn’t because of me. So as I sit in my TMQ chair writing this, I know one of the things that was missing in this week’s service was me giving everything I had. The thing that is hard for me and should be hard for anyone in my situation is because, unlike the girls of Delilah, I didn’t give my all during a church service when I was supposed to be giving my all to the Father. How many times do we go throughout a day or week and not give our all? How many times can you look back and say “Man, this would have been better had I been able to give all to it”? After Sunday, I have decided that I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to have to look back and say “I wish”. I had almost forgotten about how bad Sunday was until I was reminded during the show last night. Interesting how that works…

I will leave you today with the words of a hymn by Elisha A. Hoffman.

You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

Refrain

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.

Would you walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His sweet will,
To be free from all ill,
On the altar your all you must lay.

Refrain

O we never can know
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.

Refrain

Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
And how happy our hearts will be made,
Of the fellowship sweet
We shall share at His feet,
When our all on the altar is laid.

We are starting a sermon series this week called Fear: What are you afraid of? I’m excited to see what happens in the near future. I think this is going to be great time of exploring some of the things that cause us to fear. Here’s what we are singing today.

The Stand-Hillsong

Indescribable-Laura Story

You Never Let Go-Matt Redman

God of This City-Chris Tomlin