Psalms

Psalm seven, verse 1 and 2 pretty much sums up my Christmas shopping experience today...

1 O LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
save and deliver me from all who pursue me,

2 or they will tear me like a lion
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

dedicated to my fellow last-minute Christmas shoppers

Inital steps

I should be sleeping right now.

I have to get up in less than 4 hours to head in to church but I can't stop thinking about the future. I have begun the initial steps toward a new future as a church planter/site pastor at Freedom Valley. The concept is still very new to me, but I can feel God's joy over my willingness to sacrifice my own ambitions for His and that is what I want. His will be done...(Step one)

So, I am going to jump out in the middle of traffic and try my best to get my ducks in a row. I have changed my reading habits. Instead of manuals on melody, pitch and worship I have begun to read leadership books and, gulp...church planting for idiots manuals! Instead of worship preview cd's I have begun listening to podcasts from well known leadership gurus because I have a lot to learn...and fast.

Most of all, I am looking at the Gospels, because I want to learn to minister like Jesus did during His time in the ancient dust near and around the Galilee. I am reading Acts because I want to begin to think like God's favorite people did. (Step two.)

I am doing these things because I sense that the time is short. Jesus is coming back soon and I want to be found ready. So I have trimmed my lamp, filling it with the oil of intimacy and the result of this intimacy is a keen awareness of the work that must be done. (Step three)

Is it possible that God could raise up another group of disciples in this day that will turn the whole world on it's ear again? We won't know until we offer ourselves up to His crazy ambitions and die to our own.

"Dear God, I am way out of my element here, so it's gotta be you and not me! Help me throw my desires and ambitions on the altar of your passion daily. Make me a better evangelist than singer, a better pastor than musician and let my worship manifest as I open up my mouth to preach the good news! I am yours."

Painful steps...

Feeling small today.

Worship was incredible and the time we spent in Simply Desperate rocked me to the core.

Hebrews 11 says that "By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead."

God is calling me to offer a better sacrifice. I am in competition with yesterday's sacrifice, not Cain. This morning, I heard Him ask me to drag my desires and dreams up onto the altar, still kicking and wriggling, and slit them from ear to ear. God help me have the faith to yield those things to you!

I surrender all my ambition and dreams to Christ and ask Him to help me to remain focused on His to-do list today. Like Abraham, I know your promises are true but I can't see beyond this sacrifice. I trust you with everything...