The Ultimate Power-Washer

Power-washers are cool.  Let's just all agree on that.  I've owned several over the years.  From cheap, small electric models that struggle to even remove a splattered bug from the grill of my car to gas-powered beauties that can rip the siding clean off your house if you're not careful. 

One of my annual springtime chores is power-washing my back deck.  It's one of those tedious tasks that are relatively monotonous but just need to be done.  Kind of like mowing the lawn, washing the car or anything associated with painting.

Over this past weekend I found the time to power-wash my deck.  I filled it with gas, hooked up the hoses and fired it up.  For the next two hours, there was nothing but the sound of a small engine and high pressure water shooting from the wand blasting away at my deck.  Moving the wand back and forth over every...single....board, well this of course gives a man time to think.  My thoughts typically drift from one topic to another topic when doing one of these types of chores.  Oh, and I'll admit, my thoughts are quite random; 

"I wish I had my own landscaping company so I could be outside all summer."
"Wouldn't it be cool if people had stingers like bees?"
"Scajaquada is a weird name for a creek."
"Beards are like candy to the eye."

As I watched my deck turn from dirt grey in color to bright and new looking, it got me thinking.  This is a good illustration of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  The dirty deck is your life of sin ground into the fibers of your self.  Left untreated, the deck (your life) continues to get darker and covered with more and more sin.  We can try to remove the life-stains by sweeping off the deck from time to time, but they still remain.  That type of cleaning is superficial and ineffective.  

In order to really make a difference, it takes a powerful change in how we try to get rid of those stains.  It takes a power-washer.  Jesus is the power-washer in our lives.  With our focus on Him, we can direct His power through us to blast away those stains of sin.  It's slow and methodical, but it's focused and lasting.  Through giving your life to Jesus we experience a powerful life change from a dirty and grey, to one that is bright and new. 


To quote an old hymn, "what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus"   


"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7 ESV

The Prayer Light

With the construction season in full swing in WNY, there is a bridge on my drive to church that is now being repaved.  This bridge is full of potholes and cracked pavement.  Being a bridge, there is a need to maintain traffic flow on one side while construction work is done on the other side.  As a result, they have made it a single lane bridge where they control traffic flow with a temporary traffic light.  It's one of those excessively long lights that you dread getting caught at because you know it will add what seems like 45 minutes to your trip.  But then there are those times when you are approaching the light, and you can see ahead of you that it's green...you start thinking stay green, staaay green, c'mon staaaaaay green, and then yes! you made it through without getting caught behind the light of eternal delay. 

On my way to church a couple days ago, I had a lot on my mind (stress, anxiety) and I was driving on auto-pilot (you know, those times when you arrive somewhere and you don't remember much about how you got there).  I approached that light...c'mon light...stay green, staaaay green....aaaand,

nope. 

Red.  Red as anything red has ever been red. 

Great.

So there I am, facing what will surely be like 90 minutes of waiting at a temporary traffic light.  If I'm being truly honest here, I really get annoyed at any traffic delays.  I have my plans set before me, my timing, my goals, my tasks to accomplish and traffic messes that up.  On top of the stress and anxiety I was feeling, annoyance is now added to that equation.  Certainly won't help at all, it just amplifies all that stuff going through my head. 

However this time, instead of letting my annoyed feeling pile on to the stress and anxiety, I was nudged by a word from the Holy Spirit..."pray."  That one word entered my mind clearly.  Pray?  Really?  Pray for what?  Maybe pray for this light to be faster, lol!  No, pray about the annoyance, stress and anxiety that was filling my mind and distracting me from keeping my focus on God.  Pray about why everything is about me...my plans, my goals, my tasks.  I took those moments waiting at the red light to pray.  I prayed away the annoyed feelings, anxiety and stress, and gave it to God.  Only after doing this was I able to put my focus back on Him and my worries were washed over with a feeling of peace that can only come from knowing God. 

The stress and anxiety I was dealing with were clouding my connection to God.  Without the focus on God, those things were like the potholes and cracked pavement on that bridge.  Prayer paves over that mess and makes your connection with God much smoother.

 

The Apostle Paul said in Thessalonians 5:17 that we are to "pray without ceasing."  Personally, I don't think this means we are to stop our lives and pray 24/7.  I think it means to continue to keep your focus on God and to seek Him in prayer for everything.  Not just your troubles, but pray and give thanks to God as Paul says in verse 18, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Whatever your circumstance, pray. 

Now instead of this light being an annoyance, it has become my "prayer light." and I will miss it when it's gone.        

Don't Try God

My daily work commute time is occupied with radio station surfing, singing out loud to CDs and wondering why the police speed traps never catch the guy who just went by me at 80mph.  Also, as I get closer to the city, I am greeted with the sight of various billboards sprinkled along the roadside.  Most are just advertisements for casinos, upcoming concerts, local grocery stores and personal injury attorneys.  This is my routine, and it’s fairly routine.  However, during a recent commute to work I saw a billboard that caught my eye, it read, “TRY GOD” and was sponsored by the local Catholic radio station.  This giant billboard had a black background with big bold white lettering, “TRY GOD.  Think of the “Got Milk” ads.  It looked like one of those, but without the paid celebrity sporting a milk-stach.  Just two simple words, TRY GOD.  Bold and simple and really to the point.  It sure beat all the other billboards advertising strip clubs or deals on local hotels.  TRY GOD. 

Sign Ahead

Over the next several weeks I passed this sign along with the others without much of a second thought.  Then one day it hit me, TRY GOD…maybe that’s not the best message to be put out there.  Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand what they were trying to do, to get people thinking about God.  But the problem I have with this billboard concept is the “try” part.  To “try” means to attempt to do something, and if unsuccessful, attempt to do something else.  Remember, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.”  To suggest a person is to “Try God” is to imply that God is one possible solution to whatever problem the reader of the billboard is facing.  Basically saying that if you are a person struggling with something, Try God out as a possible solution.  Go ahead, give Him a try.  If this is truly the message they are conveying, then they could have very well have put up a billboard right after the Try God one that said, “Try Therapy” and then the next billboard saying “Try a Vacation” and the next could say “Try Mom’s Home cooking.”

There are two problems with trying out God

THE FIRST issue is that by just trying God you are not giving 100% of yourself to Him.  You are testing to see if He’s a good fit.  To see if He can help.  This marginalizes God and brings the Creator of all things, the Alpha and Omega, the Father God of all creation and everything that ever was and ever will be…down to the same level as a self-help book.  Try Him out and see if you get what you are looking for?  Not a chance, God wants 100% of you because He created 100% of you.  Nowhere in the bible does God ask to be tried out as a possible solution.  The Old Testament is peppered with stories about how kings and even entire cities of people tried out something other than God and failed (often punished).  It’s only when they committed themselves to God at 100% did they receive God’s blessing.  This isn’t to say that they still didn’t have pain and struggles, but they went through those pain and struggles with God.  He was with them, as their strength, their guide, their Father, their provider, their creator and their savior.  There was/is no try, there was/is only God.

THE SECOND issue with trying out God is that if a person’s questions/problems/issues/concerns are not met in the timeframe that they’d expect and in a way they’d would like, the person could likely walk away from God to find something else to try.  This would be just like if a person tried out a new diet plan and then didn’t lose any weight.  In this scenario, God is the diet plan.  After failing, the possibility of them returning and trying out the diet plan again would be very low.  They might instead say, “that diet plan didn’t work out for me, I’m going to try something else.”  Plus, to make matters worse, they might also tell their story to someone else who because of the comments by this person, may not try that same diet (God) for themselves. 

“Hey, I’m struggling with anger issue, I was thinking about trying out this God-thing.”

“Yeah, I tried God when my spouse died suddenly, but I didn’t get what I needed, don’t bother.”

“Ok thanks…got any self-help books I can try?”   

By bringing God down to a level than man can manage, His sovereignty is removed and He is put into the same group as any man-made solution.  If a person doesn’t give 100% to God, they hold something back, and it’s what they hold back that will ultimately contribute to their failure.  In the instance where God is at that same level as a man-made solution, God can also be discarded..  Back to the “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again” idea, if there is no success the first time a person may try, try God again or he may try, try something else.  Either way, by setting our own standards for results from God, the risk of walking away from Him when those man-established standards aren’t met is significant.

I can appreciate the attempt to get the commuting population to find their way into a church or turn on a religious radio station by using a clever marketing campaign, but I think this “try” idea is weak at best, dangerous at worst.  Perhaps the sign should have read “KNOW GOD” which would challenge the viewer to seek Him out to meet, know, learn about, obey, love, thank, rely on, call out to and worship.  Those are the things God wants from us, not a trial period during a difficult point in our lives.    

Know God.       

Well Done

Well done, good and faithful servant!

 

One day we will all stand before the Lord in judgment.  How delightful it will be to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  You have been faithful with a few things; I put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!”  Just Imagine sharing in your master’s happiness!

 

 

This scripture is taken from a parable In Matthew 25: 12-30 The Parable of the Bags of Gold, which is sometimes referred to as the Parable of the Talents.

 

To paraphrase the parable;

 

A man is going on a long journey.  The man (master) has three servants and before his journey he entrusts each with a number of bags of gold each according to their ability.  The bags (talents) of gold are extremely valuable.  Each talent is said to be worth twenty years wages.  He gives five bags to one servant, two bags to another and one bag to the last servant.  This master knows each of their abilities and entrusts an incredible amount of money to them.  Although the master never gives direct instruction as to what each servant is to do with the bags of gold, it is understood that he expects them to invest the money with bankers so as to increase his wealth while he is gone.  Back in this time a servant was not so much an unpaid forced slave, but rather almost an employee who desired for this master to gain wealth and power because this then benefited the servant’s lifestyle.  Think of it as working hard at your job so the company makes more money resulting in you getting a raise and a bonus check. 

 

Upon his return, each servant reveals to the master what he did with their bags of gold.  The servants who had five and two bags each doubled them.  The master was very please and says to the two servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’  However, the third servant reveals that instead of increasing the master’s wealth, he hid the bags of gold so that the master did not lose any money.  The master was so angry with the servant’s lack of investment with his bag of gold that he took it and gave it to the servant who had ten because he knew that servant would do what the master wished.   

 

Like all parables, the surface story is not the true meaning…Jesus wants us to dig deeper.  This parable has nothing to do with money management.  It’s really about our relationship with Christ and doing things to please Him.  Consider these ten “bags of gold” that can be learned from this parable:

 

1)      The master of the story is Jesus and the servants are you and me.

Jesus is our master, He knows us and we need to know our place in this relationship.  We are not the masters, we do not make the rules or provide the direction.  This is the role of the master.  We need to be humble and submit to the master (Christ) so that we know what it is He wants us to do.  We need to understand who we are (servants) before we can understand who He is (master).

 

2)      The bags of gold (talents) are our God given gifts. 

Jesus knows our skills, gifts and abilities and does not give us any challenge that exceeds our capabilities.  Just like in the parable, He gives each servant bags of gold according to their abilities.

 

3)      “The long journey” is Jesus leaving the physical presence of man after his accession to heaven.

Although He is not wandering the earth like he did with His Disciples, what He wants from each of us is clear because he knows us and we know Him.  He is in heaven preparing a place for us and while He is gone, we are to continue to increase His kingdom, to help bring others to know their master.   

 

4)      He gives us our gifts and asks we use them to grow, expand and increase His kingdom

The things of this world are not eternal.  We’re never told to increase our personal value as measured on earth but rather in heaven.  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6”19-21

 

5)      Our master Jesus knows us, we must know him in order to know what pleases him

This parable cannot exist as written without a close relationship between the master and the servants.  Had the master not known the servants, how could he have trusted them with so much money?  Had the servants not known the master, how could they have known what to do with so much money?  We need to know Jesus to understand how we are to do to please Him.

 

6)      Jesus will return after an unspecified period of time

The parable just says “after a long time” and does not specify just how long this time was.  The servants weren’t instructed to take care of the gold for 10 years or 15 years or 100 years.  They were just asked to increase the master’s wealth until he returns.  The one thing they did know was that he would return.  We do not know when Jesus will return, but we do know that He will return.  “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” – Matthew 24: 36

 

7)      We will reveal to Jesus what we did to expand His kingdom while He was away.  Those who increased the kingdom will be rewarded

Just like when we stand before God to be judged.  He will ask what we did for His kingdom.  If we know Him and used the gifts He gave us for His purposes, we can expect to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:21

 

8)      Those who squander their gifts and do nothing to grow the kingdom will be cast aside into darkness.  Separated from God.

If we wasted our gifts and time on things that benefitted ourselves or like in the case of the third servant, did nothing to increase the master’s wealth (God’s kingdom) then when we stand before God (the master) He will be angry, He will say He does not know us and He will cast us aside.

 

9)      We are not asked to hide our gifts

Our faith is also like these bags of gold.  When investing the bags of gold with the bankers, the servants likely had to tell where the gold came from since they were only servants and the value of the gold was so high.  This is like our faith and telling people about Christ.  When we are out in the world, it’s not possible to hide how we are blessed by the Lord because the value is so high.  If we chose to hide our faith, or our gifts there will be no expanding of the kingdom.  “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” – Matthew 5:15

 

10)   There is no one servant better than the other

Like the master in the parable, God does not play favorites.  Although He gave them each different amounts of gold, they are all expected to yield the same results.  The servant with the five bags doubled them, the servant with the two bags, doubled them.  After hearing the results the master did not say, “well done, my favorite servant!”  No, he had exactly the same reply to each of the two servants.  Had the third servant known the master well enough, he two would have heard the same reply from the master even though he only increased his wealth by one bag.  God does not expect us all to be preachers, or missionaries, or authors, or musicians or builders of churches.  He gifts us each differently, but expects results equally.

 

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Who is your Lord?

Scripture asks us; “if you declare with our mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

 

“Jesus is Lord.” Have you said it? Can you say it? Do you believe it? I always find it fascinating that Followers of Christ as illustrated in the New Testament are not only able to believe, say and live those words, but they did so under the threat of oppression, incarceration, torture and death. Even today, there are reports of Christians in non-believing countries who are arrested, intimidated and sometimes murdered. What truly faithful hearts they must have, to proclaim Christ is Lord, and know the possible repercussions of their words.

On the contrary, I also find it fascinating that in our developed free-society, it’s rare (if not unheard of) for a person to make the very same statement. To just make that proclamation without even worrying about prison, bodily harm or death. Why is that? I think it boils down to the meaning of the word Lord/King. And what is Lordship? Back in Biblical times, the people typically lived under the rule of a king. Some good kings, some bad kings. But it was what they knew, how they lived. They desired a king so much that they even begged God to give them a king! Now they were of course looking for a king from a political perspective. One to rule the land, protect and guide them. This was the political landscape in which they thrived (or didn’t thrive). Either way, it’s what they knew.

 

When God sent his only son, they still understood the role of king. Although many probably were looking for Jesus to be King of their country rather than of their souls, they still understood the relationship hierarchy of King and subject. When Jesus came and began His ministry in Israel it wasn’t a matter of people understanding His role as King, but it was a matter of them accepting Him as King. That was His challenge. He did this by not only showing His divine powers and that He was the Son of God, but that He was also a servant King. He showed how to lead people by being humble. He was a King on bended knee.

 

Fast forward 2,000 years and look at how the role of king exists in our lives. Instead of a kingdom, we now live in a society where individual freedoms, goals and pursuits are our own. We no longer have or desire a king to lead us politically. We have established a government that is “By the people for the people.” We are driven for individual achievements and successes in life. We strive for success in our careers, homes, sports, everything we do. We have essentially become our own kings, and the term Lordship has little to no meaning. Since all our material and Earthly conquests are not eternal, we are kings of the temporary. We are so focused on the day to day, we forget at times our futures. 

 

This is likely the reason why it’s nearly impossible for many to believe and say, “Jesus is Lord.” There is no longer a need. Not only is there a lack of need for Jesus in our lives, we don’t even understand how to let Him be Lord of our lives because in order to do so, we must humble ourselves before another king. We have to take off our own crowns, step off our own thrones and kneel before the one true King. Far too often do we seek to acquire the things, the titles and achievements that are meaningful to us and our culture, and there is no room or desire for anything else. We plan to go through life, be good, do good and in the end we go to Heaven because we learned that Jesus dies on the cross to save us. We believe that there was a Jesus, but we don’t believe that there still is a Jesus. That He is the center of our lives, we don’t want to let him in other than just being able to label ourselves as Christian. We’re Christians without Christ.

 

Jesus does not desire for you to get to know him, for you to start listening to Him, for you to begin obeying Him and for you to begin serving Him once you are on your death bed! He desires to be the center of your life now so that He’s the center of your eternity. He wants you to seek and know Him. God is our father, and not knowing Him or seeking His guidance is like having a Dad around you your whole life, but who you completely ignore until you are dying where you then say, “so Dad…tell me a little about yourself.”

 

You cannot have two kings in your life. If you do, they will complete and contradict one another. If you listen to the king within you, the one seeking worldly treasure and victories, you’ll hamper your ability to humbly obey the King of kings and make it impossible to declare, “Jesus is Lord.”

Being Matthew

Matthew, a follower...

 

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." - Matthew 9:9

 

 

You could easily read right over this short verse as just some facts behind Jesus meeting Matthew for the first time, but it's important to dig a little deeper with this one.  Matthew was a tax collector.   These were horrible people of this time.  They lied and cheated their own people out of money.   They were corrupt and despised.  They had ill-gotten wealth and had no regard for others.  They had a lot of material gains and lived comfortably.

 

 

Jesus sees Matthew, knows his heart and says two simple words to him while he was completely engaged in his tax collecting life at that moment.  “Follow me"....That’s it.  Jesus said “Follow me” and Matthew stood up, walked away from that life and followed Jesus.  I’m not sure we give enough credit to Matthew for what he did.  His heart had to be aware of who Jesus was and he also had to believe Jesus was actually the Son of God.  But even so, Matthew still had to decide to follow or not.  To follow Jesus to a life of worldly poverty and persecution or to continue to reap the monetary benefits of being a tax collector.

 

 

This verse doesn't suggest that there were any doubts from either Jesus or Matthew.  Jesus did not ask Matthew, Follow me?  And Matthew didn’t ask Jesus a bunch of clarifying questions such as, “ok, but for how long? Where are we going? What do I need to do? Who are you?”  He got up and followed him.  Matthew had no doubts who Jesus was.

 

 

 

This verse also doesn't indicate Jesus was forceful with the way he spoke to Matthew.  Jesus did not make a demand on Matthew, like Follow me!  Maybe Matthew had been seeking guidance from God.  Perhaps Matthew was feeling that his life was headed the wrong way, that he knew what he was doing to others was not right.  Maybe he had been spending some of his time praying, “God what should I do? I know I'm a sinner, I’m taking advantage of people, God please help.”  Perhaps when Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow me.”  He was answering Matthew’s prayers.

 

 

Matthew gave it all up.  The money, the comfort, the power.  He gave it all up for Jesus.  This is what Jesus asks each of us to do too.  Give it all up.  Die to yourself as Matthew did.  He wants us to walk away from the sin that entraps our lives and “Follow him.”  Matthew went all in.  He didn’t follow Jesus part time, on holidays or when things were going good in his life.  He didn’t continue his sinful life, he didn’t define himself as a Tax Collector who loves Jesus.  He became a follower who loves Jesus.  His heart was open, his mind believed and when Jesus said “Follow me” he did just that.

Goose-bumps

I love music.

 

There, that could easily end this blog post. But, it’s a statement of fact. I love music.

 

The Artist

When I was in grade school and college, I really enjoyed Art. I liked to draw, I liked Art history and all sorts of Art related activities. I recall an important incident that happened once when I was taking a college Art class. The instructor was talking about how he loved Art and that Art was his passion. He said that when he sees a great work of Art he gets goose-bumps. He actually has a physical reaction to Art. Thinking that I too was passionate about Art, I immediately wondered why I never got goose-bumps when I saw a great work of Art. This kind of bothered me. Maybe I just liked Art. Maybe it wasn't my passion. I then started thinking to myself, “if it’s not Art, then what is it that actuallydoes give me goose-bumps?”

 

Best of the 1980s

Almost immediately, music popped into my head as the answer. Music. Back then and up to today, when I hear really powerful song lyrics, or unique vocals or someone expressing their heart and passion using whatever instrument they are playing, I get goose-bumps. I’ve gone through many musical phases in my life. Back in the 1980’s it was classic rock and heavy metal. I think the first record album (yes, vinyl) I bought was Queen, The Game. Admit it, you owned it too. Also in my vinyl collection you could find, Van Halen, Quiet Riot, The Doors and multiple K-Tel compilation albums such as Metal Hits of the 80’s and Greatest Guitar Rock. Admit it, you owned these too.

 

Skate or die

In my later teens, I followed the skate-punk music scene specifically straight-edge hardcore. If you don’t know what straight-edge hardcore is, it’s very loud, fast punk music with a no drugs, no drinking, no sex message. Against the teenage-grain so to speak. I’ve been into jazz, hip-hop, rock, grunge, alternative, blues, reggae, SKA, classic country, folk, pop and R&B. I still enjoy listening to most of this music even today. If you check my iPod, you’ll see I’m telling the truth! There is very little in the world of music I don’t enjoy to some extent.

 

Jesus rock?

Christian music however….I could do without that. Bunch of Jesus freaks singing about Jesus. Freaks. I paid zero attention to it. It was irrelevant in my life. I guess that was kind of my view on Jesus in general back then. Paid no attention to Him, He was irrelevant in my life. But that was ok. That was before I knew who He was, before I knew what He could do in my life. Now I know who He is, and what He’s doing in my life. If you told me even 4 years ago that I’d be not only listening to Christian music, but I’d also be playing it and getting those goose-bumps from it, I would have thought you were nuts. But there is just something extremely powerful about it. It’s in the lyrics, the worship of God. It’s in the crescendo of certain songs, the build-up to celebration! It’s in the way some of those songs cause you to pray in the middle, cause your spirit to be at peace, cause you to connect with God right then and there. Its’ the goose-bumps

 

 

Class, meet Mr. Youtube your Music Instructor

These songs boast about God, praise God and thanks God. The musicians who sing them have amazing vocals that add so much emotion to the words they are singing. As a novice guitar player, I really like that fact that these songs are simple in structure, and in general easy to learn to play. I’m amazed that so many of these “famous” Christian artists have posted how-to play videos on Youtube so that church worship leaders can learn the songs and play them on a Sunday morning. I’ve taken lessons from Paul Baloche, Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman all without leaving my computer. They know these are not their songs, they are all of our songs we can use to sing to God. I think that most are so easy to play so that we can all play them and sing them out and expose others to Jesus through song. One way Missionaries reach people in foreign countries where the encounter a language barrier is through music. It’s worship of God, through music. So powerful. Goose-bumps.

 

 

Studio 412

Most nights I will spend some amount of time in my attic (studio) practicing worship and praise songs on my guitar. I have a small space set up with guitars, stands, computer, microphone, drums and various other miscellaneous instruments. This is my time to connect, to worship and praise through music. Some of my most intense, spirit-filled conversation about God, Jesus and life have occurred in that attic studio with my transplanted friend from Oregon after a session of guitar playing and worship. My 9 year old son is learning to play the stand-up bass. We practice daily and he really enjoys it. Often times both of my boys will be in the attic studio where we mess around with harmonicas and drums and guitars. I might even get them to sing into the microphone we have, just like a “professional” musician does.

 

 

Studio 4wd

Often times when we are driving in the car somewhere as a family, we’ll have a praise and worship CD playing. There’s lots of attempted singing from me and my wife and the boys too. But they really like to listen to the lyrics with great interest. We’ll often use this time to expand on what the lyrics are saying and answering their questions. It’s a great time for us all to grow and bond spiritually. Try it sometime.

 

Worship band

Recently, I was driving with my boys and had a praise and worship CD played…I was doing my best to sing.

The cd had ended and there was a pause…

it was in that pause moment that my oldest broke the quiet and said, “Dad..”

 

(I could tell he had been sitting there thinking about something for a while.)

 

He said, “Dad, one day I want to play bass in a worship band with you.” I looked at him in the rear-view mirror and could tell he was completely serious. I smiled back at him and said, “I’d really like that too.” 

 

My heart was filled with joy and I got goose-bumps.

 

Today I am thankful that God has given us music as a way to praise and worship Him.