⁷ And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods ⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced…

¹⁵ They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 2 Kings 17:7-8, 15

I can’t help but be blown away by this passage. For a little back story, we are in the midst of some pretty ridiculous kings. There is a lot of treachery and horrible practices taking place with these guys. At this point in the story, Israel has fallen and has been exiled to Assyria and we are getting an explanation as to why. There is no big philosophical reason that is hard to understand and needs to be reviewed by brilliant judges. They get exiled because of their idolatry and the results of their actions.

In out Bible study we began to talk about how that would look in our lives today. These guys were building idols and putting them everywhere. The conclusion was that we have just as many idols today, but they are hidden. Our idols aren’t put up on hills and under trees so that we can go and worship them at specific times. Our idols are in our pockets and on these screens and we can obsess about them in the secrecy of our own homes.

As a worship pastor, I began to think about the never ending question of contemporary vs. tradition. Praise chorus vs. hymn. And it caused me to at least ask the question: Are we fighting for our own musical idols…in the church? I’m convinced that God doesn’t care about this as much as we do. But down here on Earth, we have blogs, books, websites, magazine articles, conferences and other things devoted to this one conversation. This is sad for a few reasons. It’s scary, at least to me, for one reason in verse 15. “They went after false idols and became false.”  Yikes. Sometimes we become so attached to something that we aren’t even ourselves anymore. The Internet has done this faster than anything I can remember. We are allowed to create profiles and make ourselves whomever we want to be. We have these profile pictures that don’t look anything like us, or they are that one picture we all have that we think we look the most amazing we have ever looked. So we use that one. We create an idea in the heads of others that we are this person.

In church, we have created this idea about the way worship should go and we have crafted it and shaped it and worked to make it look prettier than any other worship style. However, I believe in many ways people end up looking at the person that is arguing more than the argument itself. The fight goes away from glorifying God and turns more toward our righteousness and winning the argument. We become the idol. We want our voices to be heard and so we try and say something more profound than the next person. We become the idol. We think that we are going to reveal something new that has NEVER been discovered that will blow the top off of this age old discussion. So we put ourselves in situations and create conflict about who worships God better. Who worships God better. Hmmmm…we become the idol. We become false.

Has winning the argument become more to you than worshipping God? Have you worshipped this idol to the point of becoming false yourself? Where do you stand?

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

This passage is taken from 1 Kings. It’s the story of the well known prophet Elijah. He had just finished making the prophets of Baal look stupid and everyone was trying to kill him. Jezebel had even sent word that she was looking for him. I won’t go into the WHOLE story, but the passage up above comes when the Lord speaks to Elijah while he is in a cave. I was looking through this passage when something hit me. This still, small voice packed a punch.

When I was younger, this passage was used for many sermon wrap ups. As the preacher was winding down and “bringing it to a close” they would always mention how God doesn’t always come in the fire and God doesn’t always come in the earthquake, but in a “stiiiiiiiiillll…..small voice…” Then the church would go crazy and the music would start. The inference was always that we were looking for God to do that miracle so we would know He was there, but sometimes it was when we were quiet that He was speak to us and would bless us that way. And that made sense, especially since we were all looking for our blessing. Or something like that. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that this whole passage is wrapped in controversy. And that this still, small voice just told Elijah to handle some folks. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun is coming his way. So I got to thinking…am I the only one who was led to believe that the still, small voice was there for my blessings only? So I ask that question to you readers. This is an interesting situation to me. The older I get and the more I study and listen to people, I realize that we leave things out sometimes, or we will ‘adjust’ a scripture to make it fit a subject. Sometimes during that process we end up changing what was originally said which, in case you were wondering, is in fact wrong. This one is a little bit different in the fact that they didn’t change anything, they left things out. That silly omission. I challenge you to read the whole story because you will in fact see that the still, small voice brought a punch.

God has no problem getting our attention. He can definitely use fires and earthquakes and tornadoes. But sometimes, He needs us to really listen. There are times when I have to sit my kids down and give them instruction. When I get to something that I really want them to grasp, I get as close to them as I can and do my best to clear all distractions. I want to make sure that we are on the same page. When God speaks softly for the same reason. He wants us to be free of distractions. That doesn’t mean that everything He says is sweet and lovely and warm fuzzy. It just means, “Listen close. Don’t jack this up!” What comes after that is something you better pay close attention to. Write it down.

What is God trying to tell you? Are you not getting it because you’re expecting the small voice to contain sweet messages of happiness and chocolate? Make sure to give Him your full attention. Listen closely. You do NOT want to miss that message.

For the past couple months I’ve been reading through the Bible with a group of friends using the Inductive Study Method. If you’ve never heard of it, in short, it is a way to read through the Bible, catching key words and phrases that help you gain understanding of a passage. What we have found up to this point is that the story is being beautifully woven as we are being led to the cross. With that being said, this past week we made it to what is probably the most interesting story in the Bible. Period. If you don’t believe me, just go read it for yourself. There are some flat out crazy things that happen in the book of Numbers, but none crazier than this in chapter 22. Here enters our boy Balaam. Why do I call him our boy? Well, he’s the star of this show and by the end you’ll probably be able to input your name in his place. I know I was. Anyway, as the story goes, there’s a king that is trying to knock off the Israelites and wants Balaam to help him by asking God to go before him. Balaam asks the Lord and of course he says no. Balaam goes back and says that God said no. Balak said, here’s my kingdom and everything in it if you can get God to say yes. Balaam goes back and God says “are you an idiot?” Go if you want to and see what happens. Now we get to the good part.

Balaam being stupid (and obviously not married) goes with fervor thinking that God really said this was okay. He jumps on his donkey and starts on the trip. Three different times the donkey does things that impede him from making this trip, at one point crushing his foot. After repeated beatings, the donkey finally just says (yes, SAYS), “Why do you keep beating me? Have I done anything before that would cause you to think that I want to do you wrong? Why would I start now? I mean SERIOUSLY!!!” (MAJOR paraphrasing done by me Numbers 22:28-30) This actually invokes a conversation between the two. It isn’t until this conversation that Balaam realizes that he is an idiot and there was an angel blocking his path the whole time.

How many times do we completely ignore what is being said to us because of something that will bring us gain? I mean, simply put, Balaam was willing to go against the will of the Lord for money. Granted, it was a WHOLE lot of money, but still, it was money. We live in a world where people are getting killed over $200. Can you look back at the times when you knew God was telling you to do something and you kept trying to blow through the signs? What was the moment when your donkey started talking to you? I was gonna name this blog post “Talking Out Your Ass”, but I have a wife who thinks for me and decided that wasn’t a good idea. But so many times we have this moment after we get beat up that we realize that maybe, just maybe we shouldn’t be pursuing whatever it is we are blindly following.

One of the greatest parts of the study method we are using is the application part. After reading this story, I had to figure out what the application was in my own life. Well, I immediately thought about all the people that consider me their worship pastor. I am called upon to lead this people toward Christ in the things I say and do and sing. I was quickly floored by the amazing grace that was given us when Christ died on the cross for us. We cannot take that lightly. It is my job to make sure that we don’t forget that it is Jesus who stands in our place, repeatedly taking the beating that He didn’t deserve so I don’t have to suffer God’s wrath. There were a lot of Israelites that died because of their inability to have faith that God was taking care of them and ended up doing their own things. But, there would have been even more deaths had Moses not stepped in MANY times. We have a reason to worship Jesus. Let that be your fuel and passion for worship. If you are in the midst of a trial right now, take a second, sit down and listen to your donkey. She may be trying to keep you alive.

I may or may not have said this here before, but I love technology. I am the guy who will go to Best Buy just to look at stuff and then come home super excited about what I saw. On the other hand, as a man with a family who has more responsibilities than spare dollars, you wouldn’t think so if you came to my house. I still have a TV with a tube. The screen is flat, but the rest of it is a beast. I do have a pretty sweet phone, but that’s about it. But I love how it’s always changing and new things come out and making the thing before it seem useless. It amazes me that people can continue to have new ideas and that such large quantities can be held in such small spaces.

I am intrigued at how technology infiltrates the church as well. Because of the many levels of technology, it seems like you can go to may different churches small to mega and see technology used in all of them. You can go to my dad’s small church in University City (for my St. Louis dwellers) and he runs his service off of a laptop using PowerPoint that runs, very visibly might I add, to 2 televisions hanging from the ceiling. It works for them. You can come to my church and see a couple screens and lights and all this stuff on the stage and a small but effective tech booth. It works for us. I’ve been to a couple churches that have multiple screens on the stage, some of which don’t do anything more than extend the screen background across the stage. Then I’ve seen churches with 60 foot LED walls. Awesome technology and really cool stuff. In all of these situations churches are using technology to enhance the worship experience that people receive when they walk through the doors. Some of the larger churches have the ability to keep up with technology and stay ahead of the game, which is something I believe churches really should strive to do. However, that’s another blog for another time. But my question to worship leaders, church staff and whomever else is this: when do you feel like there’s too much? Have you ever been distracted by the technology in a worship service? It is because of too much or because something doesn’t work? I’m curious because I’ve been having this conversation in my mind for a while and thought I’d get it out of there and share my thoughts with the world. Tell me what you think.

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.

Happy March everyone! Yes, I used a ridiculous pun just now. But I couldn’t really find any other link between the two major things I wanted to mention this morning. The first of them being how crazy it is that we’re already in March. It seems like I was just bringing in this year yesterday with friends and watching 2010 fade away. Now we’re starting the end of the first quarter of the year. This life moves so fast and sometimes I wonder what in the world I’m doing here. I was already wrestling with this thought last night and when I woke up this morning my friend had already written a similar post. I would implore you to go check it out. Here’s a link to Bry’s blog. But read it after this one .  However, I came to my conclusion as a result of something a little different.

So in the Christian author and theology world there is a huge controversy going on right now. Normally I don’t get into these big time theological debates. And I don’t really plan to get into this one, but I was intrigued by this and have paid a little more attention. Evidently Rob Bell, who is one of today’s most popular Christian figures with books, videos and sermons being accessed all over the globe, has made a splash with his upcoming book “Love Wins” where it sounds as if he has taken a rather awkward view of Christianity and God Himself. Since this news came out I have read many blog posts and other articles about this and they range from blasting his face off to at least giving him some benefit of doubt until the book comes out. Now based on this video, the stance that Rob has taken says that there is no way that a loving God could send anyone to hell. Now that sends people reeling in all kinds of directions, and I’m not trying to fight that battle right now. But I find something really interesting. The whole concept of this book is that love will reign supreme in the end. Now, I don’t know where you stand on this whole idea, but I do believe that love should reign in our lives. We have to love each other no matter what they believe. Differences will always occur, but we can’t let them drive us to where we treat people in horrible ways. This book hasn’t even come out yet and we have nailed Rob Bell to the wall. From the sounds of the video, it’s pretty safe to say that we know what to expect when we read it. But at the end of the day, until March 29th gets here the only people that know what are on the pages between that cover are Rob himself, publishers, editors and anyone he’s had to help him in this writing process. I don’t know any of those people, but I’m pretty sure that it isn’t ANY of the people that have blasted him on the Internet.

Now I say all of that to say that sometimes it’s REALLY easy to see why people tend to shy away from Christianity and everyone associated with it. If we blast someone this bad that is supposedly one of our own, what in the world does it look like to non believers? Are we displaying love? I think if nothing else Rob has proven yet again that we will like you if you agree with us. And if that’s the message we are sending out then it’s no wonder that people are already looking at a world that is post Christian and how that will affect the world that we live in. Now I plan on reading this book because I want to see what it is that he’s really saying. In the mean time I will, and you should, be praying for this man. Right or wrong he needs to be loved with the true love of Christ. In the same vein, there is someone around you in your neighborhood, on your job, at the store you frequent that doesn’t know the saving love of Christ. Pray for them. Love them. Love them to the foot of the cross. Happy March 1st.

I just want to start out by saying I don’t like this phrase. I was trying to think about why I don’t like it, and I think it’s because I can’t use it. I mean, I COULD use it. But in my own heart and mind, I can’t use that phrase. I was reading on the Internet this week when I ran across another celebrity divorce upcoming that used that as their reasoning for the break up. Now, I don’t have any real ties to that relationship so it doesn’t really matter to me in that sense. But I do wonder what it is in us today that allows us to so easy walk away from things when we don’t like them. That brought me to this idea…

Is this the mindset we operate from when it comes to church as well? What about worship music? The pastor? I see this very easily being something that people use without realizing it. Sometimes we will be involved in a situation and when it starts to not look like we want it to, we start to find ways to justify our disdain. One of my favorite people, Kevin Hughes always says that when someone comes to his church because it’s ‘perfect’ he already knows that they won’t be around long. Eventually that new church smell will wear off and they will begin to see all of the imperfections of the church and get disenchanted and leave. Whenever I hear about these things happening, I wonder if we ever get to a point that we look inward. At what point do we decide that the irreconcilable differences don’t come from the church, but they are within us? Are we not willing to reconcile the problems in our own hearts? Are we not willing to make the hard changes when we are forced to look at them? Are we not willing to say that we are getting older and even though it’s not bad, the new music is just something we need to get used to? Can we accept that the pastor isn’t perfect and sometimes he will say things that we don’t like? Do things that we don’t like? Not call me back as quick as I would like because he probably has other stuff going on as well?

I am from the school of thought (and I may be alone in this) that says that it’s not always the other person’s fault. Sometimes I have to look at myself no matter how hard that may be and no matter what I might find and know that I may have to make some changes. What are some of your ‘irreconcilable differences’ that you may need to take another look at?

Why do we do what we do? Why am I a Christian today? Why do I live this life and try to share it with others who don’t? Is it because it’s the cool thing to do? Is it because it’s my job and I support my family in this way? All of those things have popped into my head at some point. As I deal with these things, I notice that none of them have anything to do with Christ himself. They all have to do with me. I tend to struggle mightily when I take my focus away from where it should be. My heart gets hardened towards ministry and the work of Christ when I turn things inward and look with my own eyes. It’s not until I step back and refocus that I get another glimpse of the cross and Christ hanging there for me and my sins as well as those that we try to reach.

I did something yesterday that I haven’t done in a really long time. I woke up, got myself ready and went and did some work in some other place than my office or my home. I went to Hartford Coffee Company in South St. Louis City. If you’ve never been there, find yourself there soon. Great people and the coffee is pretty amazing. The atmosphere is really cool. One of my favorite places in the city. Anyway, I was there because I thought that I’d have a better chance to meet some people that might not know Christ if I wasn’t in my home or in the dungeon that is my office. What was the result? I met a couple that sat next to me at a table and I was able to talk to them for just a little bit. I also met an area columnist who comes there frequently to write and get coffee. None of these ended up being real long conversations, but they were conversations I would have never had working in my home. The other plus, I got a whole heck of a lot more done in the 3 hours I was there than I have in a really long time. But the focus changed for me from getting things done to being in a place where work is really secondary to presenting the cross to someone I may come in contact with. I feel that if I’m going to be able to lead people to the cross, I have to go where they are. For me, that also means that I need to be continually led to the cross myself. A lot of times I know that the cross is there and that’s where I leave it. I don’t go up to it, I simply look from afar just to keep an eye on it. I still have to allow myself to be led. Allow myself to let the power and severity of Christ’s death penetrate my hard, crusty heart. This became very clear to me as I was getting ready for this upcoming Sunday’s service. The pastor asked me if I could sing ‘Lead Me to the Cross‘ by Hillsong. I had already planned to do another song, but I listened to this one anyway and immediately decided that the Lord was putting this song here for me. I need to be led. Am I the only one? Am I the only one that needs to take a step back and refocus on Christ and what He’s done? I would venture to say that I’m not. I leave you with the words to the aforementioned song.

Savior I come
Quiet my soul remember
Redemption’s hill
Where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear
I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross
Where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees
Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself
I belong to You
Lead me, lead me to the cross

You were as I
Tempted and trialed
You are
Te word became flesh
Bore my sin and death
Now you’re risen

To your heart
To your heart
Lead me to your heart
Lead me to your heart

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I got something that I’ve been wanting for a long time. When the FedEx guy knocked on my door I about jumped out of my seat to open it. I spent a few minutes just staring at it. I spent the rest of the day figuring out how to make it work. I had a pretty good idea by the end of the day. So what is this thing? Well, it’s this. The reason the Zoom R16 was something that I’ve wanted for a while was because I have wanted to find a way to record music using my keyboard that I have had for a long time. I had purchased this beauty Friday and I was ready to put them to work together. I had some fun working that out. With all of this working now, I’m ready to start writing again.

Here’s my question for the day for any of you writers. What’s your writing process? I have tried a few different things. One of the things that I have learned is that I cannot write at home. It doesn’t matter if there are 60 people in my house or I’m the only one here. It just doesn’t work. I have learned that. Other than that, I haven’t found any other things that DON’T work. The problem is that I haven’t quite found the one thing that really does work. I’m still searching. Most of the songs I’ve written have just sort of happened. It always takes me a while to get going and so many things will run through my brain. I have to work really hard to concentrate. It happens eventually, but it takes longer than I would like. Just ask my friend, Brittany Howard.

So how do you work this? What’s your method? Do you have a certain thing that you always do? I’d love to hear from you. I’m gonna keep trying to find what works for me.

I have been in a severe drought as of late. I can’t remember the last time I’ve sat down to be creative. For me, creativity pertains to writing music and making stuff up. I’m starting to think that I’m trying to hard. I’ve been looking for the conditions to be perfect: the lights to be low, soft music in the background, the water is warm and the bubble are soft and fluffy…wait, wrong conditions. But I think this mindset is killing me. I haven’t had any time to just sit and think and let my mind do what it does. It has been filled with so many other things, life, that I have crowded out all my other fun stuff. I realize that it is starting to affect how I am around other people. I don’t want to be that person who has all these regrets and wanted to do all this stuff and never did because of whatever reason. I’ve been stuck for a long time

My question to all of you(whether it be 200 or closer to the 6 that might actually read it) is this: What do you do to make sure that you don’t lose yourself in all the busyness of this world? It’s so easy for me to throw myself into things that I forget to take time to be me; the me that God created me to be. How do I work through that whole thing? How do you work through that whole thing? I have officially stumped myself and am wanting to hear your thoughts and ideas…