Writing funny posts....that is my LEAST favorite thing to do

I promised some levity for a Friday and hopefully I can bring that. Mainly I will be doing it the only way that I know how, allowing some one else to take the credit in the form of links and clips.

I have been thoroughly enjoy some Llamas with Hats. If you haven't ever seen the Charlie the Unicorn (part 1 or part 2), then I don't know if we can be friends. However, Llamas with Hats is equally if not even more so amazing. Please take your time and enjoy it for all the splendid things that it is.

I know that as a child I watched some really bad movies thinking that they were good. I am pretty sure that at some point I sat through Mac and Me. However, I don't think there is anyway to truly be entertained by such a movie until today. So, I submit clips like the famous wheelchair clip (the first 30 seconds are just indescribable). Then if you feel like you haven't had enough, you can enjoy the McDonald's dance off because who hasn't happened upon one of these in their trip to the arches?

I will warn you about this next clip. Its from the group Lonely Island that includes Adam Samberg from SNL and Hot Rod (which is a long clip of goodness for those who are interested). Its one of their latest additions called "Im on a Boat". I present the edited version just because I wanted to be somewhat "Christian" here.

I hope that these give you reasons to laugh today. I am probably going to go and watch Llamas with hats again because I got a rumbling in my funny bone that only llamas will satisfy. Have a great weekend and hopefully I will be doing all this again next week.

Feb 23 till now

I have been reading Galatians to sort of prepare me for the men's bible study that we have on Sunday. It doesn't matter that I won't be there this week (due to a trip down to see my parents), but I want to take the time to soak in this book as Jeff leads us through it. So, I have devoted myself to really looking at Galatians and spending a few weeks in it. I am sure at some point I will question my need to keep reading the book, but for now, its pretty fresh and exciting.

I say all that to just give you an idea of what is happening in my personal study time. And also because something here made me reflect on everything that I have been thinking and talking about with others. This week has been about God's love and how it is just amazing. How He loves us more than we can know. So, when I was reading Paul's words in verses 15 and 16, it just hit me about how God is constantly reminding us that we were important to Him before we even realized how important He was to us.

I am sure that I am not the only one who does this, but it seems that whenever something is sticking in your mind, that God will keep bringing it up. I am thankful for that. Both because we are always quick to dismiss something that could be considered a coincidence. But, God's love isn't something that just happens, it something that He earnestly and willfully does. So, I think that He enjoys reminding us how much we mean to Him.

One of the things that Chan challenges the small group to do on the DVD is to make it a point to remind each other of God's love for us throughout the week. I had a couple examples today that I thought were good, but I went with this from Psalms 56:8-

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

The image of God caring so much about you that He would collect your tears and not just because He cares when you hurt, but also that He would keep track of where each one is from so that He can comfort you in those areas of need. This is the God who created galaxies, constellations, stars, worlds, but He isn't too busy to care for a child of His who hurts. Just think of that. Do you ever think that you are too small for him to care about? Well, you aren't. You are exactly what He cares about. We can get so numb to the idea of God's love, that we forget how truly remarkable it is. And I guess that, more than anything, is what I am getting this week, just another chance to marvel at the deep desire that God has for me and for each of us individually.

Crazy Love Thinking

Today starts my posts about our small group and my personal reflections on Crazy Love. I have mentioned it a couple times in the past and how our group is reading it for this semester's study. This week we looked at chapter 3, aptly named "Crazy Love". (Yes, I realize that I am starting to talk about the book on chapter 3.)

Chan talks about taking a spiritual retreat where he is alone for 4 days. Before hand, he has a friend pray over him about what to study and think about during this time apart. And his friend says something like, "I know that you have wanted this time with Francis..." Chan talks about how at the time he wanted to shy away from that. But if you heard some one say that to you, would you react the same way? I would. For most of my life, my thoughts were, "yeah, God loves me, but that's because I am His creation". I wouldn't think about how His love is a deep desire for me. That just floors me to think of. I am amazed that the God, who created everything, wants not my empty attempts to be holy, but for me to allow Him to create something holy in me. I am constantly in awe of God's love for us.

I love the way that Chan phrases our place, "His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you." He doesn't need us, but he wants us. How do we not respond with an outpouring of love toward Him?

The question that Chan poises to the small groups in the video is what moments have you been fully aware and just "got it". Got God's love, and felt it so real. As I watched that, the one thought that came to my mind was a time that I will talk about more in my testimony when I am talking about my college years, but it was on a mission trip to Boston. That time is one of the few times that I can say that my desire for study didn't come out of a sense of obligation, it was genuine hunger. My desire for helping others, wasn't because I thought I should, but because I could. My life wasn't about pleasing myself, it was about what I could do for some one else. I was secure and knew that the only way that God's love for me made sense was so that I could share it.

What about your life? Have you had moments when you got God's love for you? If you want to join in these thoughts, check out Chan's Crazy Love. And no, I don't get any royalties for plugs. But I think its a great source for refocusing our lives. Next week, chapter 4, and some hard truths.

Early Years

I bet you thought that I forgot or that I wasn't going to make it back today to post. Well, I might be in that mode later, or next week, but this week is time for me to focus and start off right. Today will be the first of my posts about my journey so far. I am sure that there will be more to tell as the weeks and such go on, but this day will focus on where I have been. Basically, my testimony without a better word to describe it. I offer it as a chance for you all to get to know this author more.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't going to church. When I was a kid, that was Sunday. Mom would take us kids (my sister and myself) while Dad stayed home and we went to Charleston First Baptist church. Some of my early memories of being at church is that after the singing, I would lay down with my head in my mom's lap and sleep during the rest of the service. I really didn't think anything of it. I just assumed that was what everyone did. But I guess as a kid, you think that everyone is the same as you. Also, since I was in a small town, the same kids I went to church with were there with me all week in school. In fact, the school and the church were about 100 feet apart. So, when I would hear about Jesus, it didn't really impact me. I just believed what was said at church the same way that I believed things that were taught in school, it seemed like the same thing.

I don't say that to condemn the church or anything. I am glad that I had that upbringing and without really understanding it, I was being given the moral compass that would help me later in life. However, with it being such a "of course" type of thing, I took it for granted. It wasn't hard to believe that Jesus loved me because I wasn't in any position to question it.

Eventually, I did what I thought I was supposed to do, accept Jesus as my savior, though I didn't really know what I was being saved from. I didn't know because while I had heard about hell and punishment, I don't think that I ever really believed that it was an option for me. By the time that I did this, I understood that there were people who didn't spend their Sunday mornings and early afternoons and evenings and Wednesday nights at church. They were the ones that were in need of saving. Not the little boy who is being taken to church all the time. But, still I cried and said the words that I knew were supposed to be said. I think about that time in the Pastor's office and because of doubts about myself, I still wonder what happened. Did I get saved there? Did I fully give my life to God in those few moments when I said what I thought were the right words? The reason why I wondered is because my life didn't change. I still went to church every Sunday, Wednesday, etc. I was still a "good boy" or at least I wasn't completely evil. I think that this is where things are really hard for those children who are raised in a Christian home. They are taught at a young age a way to act and it looks very similar to some one who loves God. Then when they admit their dependence on God, they don't see any real change. So, they question whether or not anything really happened. That's what I did. I wondered if I was saved.

Now, I know now that even if I don't know the day, I am fully God's child. I have no question about that. Even typing that line, I get that hesitance that I used to get all the time as a child. Its obvious that if Satan can convince us we aren't saved, that we won't live like we are. If Satan can tell us that God isn't our strength and our hope, then we have no support.

Back to the whole childhood goings on of me, I eventually went to a Royal Ambassador's camp. It was a fun time and I had the normal camp conversion. I know that most Christians have these type of stories, where they go to a camp or some sort of retreat and they are changed. I think that after this, that I understood what it meant a lot more than before. Whether this was THE day or THE prayer, it doesn't matter. What mattered was that I now KNEW that I was God's and that He wanted me. I am not saying that throughout my life I haven't had moments of distress due to doubts, but from those days forward, I could have the assurance that I felt that I lacked beforehand. Again, my life didn't really change at least the routine of it didn't. Those changes didn't really show up until sometime in my youth days.

That's where I will pick up next time. I know that this will be a long journey in listen or reading my life story. One of the things that I notice when I talk about this stuff (or type it) is that throughout so much of my early life, my dad had very little to do with my spiritual life. I don't say that to speak ill of him, just observing my life. I guess that's really the reason for this exercise, to look at my past and see where God has taken me from and to. I am just taking you along as you read.

Revamp and New Schedule

I have been thinking this weekend about some sort of way to keep myself on a schedule to make sense. First, I have said that this would be a personal journal of a sort, but I also want to be open to talking about my life and what has happened to me. So, I think that its only fair to give where I have been, my testimony so to speak. I think that it will both allow myself to be open but also give me time to reflect on where God has led me from.

So, in that thought, here is my new schedule:

Monday-weekend thoughts, personal study revelations
Tuesday-my personal journey from past to now (will take a few posts)
Wednesday-"Crazy Love" study thoughts
Thursday-where God is taking me this week
Friday-something lighthearted and thoughts for the weekend


That's my idea at least. Hopefully it will give me a bit more focus and hopefully give me some idea of what to type about. Thus, today I am talking about what has gone on this weekend and what I have been thinking about.

Yesterday was another great service and a great worship set. Of course, I am a bit partial due to my gorgeous wife showing her amazing voice and praising God. But, even if she hadn't been up there, I would have been blown away by the sound of God's people singing. I have talked about that before on here, but its something that always moves me. I hear a church full of people earnestly singing to God and it makes me just stand in awe. When I think about that will be a part of eternity, getting to stand in a crowd of fellow redeemed people and sing of God's glory directly in front of Him, it just floors me. I know that this is probably part of my absolute love of music. I think that it has a quality that oftentimes mere words can't illustrate.

Then last night at the men's bible study, while we were talking about Galatians, Jeff mentioned how he doesn't put anyone in a position of leadership unless he trusts them. This made me realize that I wouldn't be part of the leadership of our little small group unless I had earned Jeff's trust. I know that it seems like something that I should have noticed before, but it just never really was something that I thought about. Now, I know that Jeff's trust isn't the end all be all, but its something like what Jon Acuff spoke about on Wednesday, wanting to be good enough. We, as humans, seek that approval from others. I then started reflecting on my life and how even just a month before my wife and I started dating, I wouldn't have trusted myself to lead anyone. But, God moved quickly to make me more the man that I am now. He continues to make me the man that I need to be, but I am miles from the guy that I was before then.

So, this morning I took the time to pray for today to be God's day. I wanted to be deliberate about making today not about myself but about what He has for me. With every action, every thought, every word spoken, I prayed for God's love to be evident.

Today I focused on just verse 6-9 of Galatians 1. The wording is very blunt about the punishment to some one teaching a false doctrine. I found it interesting that Paul even goes so far to say that "even if we...should preach to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we preached to you, let him be accursed." To me, this spoke of Paul's understanding that both he was flawed and that the gospel of God is that important. Obviously this is something that we all know, but just loved the emphasis that even he would consider himself cursed if he was to start preaching a gospel contrary to the one that converted him.

Well, that's day one of a new format. Hope that it still entices you guys to check out this place from time to time. Tomorrow, the early days of my life and my being brought up in the church.

Another day in the life of James

I have got to be better about getting on here. I say that like there is a throng of people clamoring for more of me just typing away on a keyboard. I know that for the most part this is just a personal exercise. I am more than fine with that. I need it and I guess that's the part of me that says that I should be on here more. We will see how that goes of course.

I actually took some time out of getting ready this morning to read. I have a break from session this week due to a shifting around of the session calendar and thus I don't have to be in at work until normal hours. So, today I took some of that extra time to read a little about Galatians. Our men's bible study is going to be spending this semester in Galatians and I was just wanting to look at an overview of it. So, I was reading How to Read the Bible book by book and looked at Galatians. Its interesting stuff. Jeff had mentioned on Sunday that this book was key to Martin Luther's questioning of the Catholic church's practices. I can see the direct correlation. In Galatians, Paul is confronting those who say that you have to be circumcised in order to be a Christian. That we as Gentiles, also have to follow the old Mosaic law. Paul's emphasis is that grace and nothing else is what it takes for us to be Christians. If you add anything to it, you take away the power that grace has. I can see the driving force that Luther probably saw in this when confronted by the strict law of the Catholic church, at least at that time.

There was one phrase that just struck me in this summarizing of Galatians. It is pointed out that the law was only able to point out the problems, and if you followed the law you could be "religious". However, you would never be able to embody the spirit of the law without the grace of God through Jesus. Without having the book in front of me, I am in no way saying it as succinctly as they did, but I hope you get the point. I was just rocked by that. And that's where my mind is sitting right now.

Last week was a good study group. We will be meeting again tomorrow and talking about all the fun things that Chan has in chapter 2. If you have read the book, then you probably get the slight sarcasm.

First night of a new Semester

The new bible study kicks off tonight. We will be looking at Francis Chan's Crazy Love. It looks like we will have a couple extra faces and a few more people interested. I think that the "trailer" that the DVD offered was a great intro to our study. It was amazing timing that today kicks off our study. I say that because one of my favorite stops in the interweb is SCL. Jon's post today was just perfect. Both because it spoke to me personally with what I have been struggling with and because it went along well with the theme of giving of ourselves to God that Chan talks about.

I will just talk about how it affected me personally. Jon talks about how we are reluctant to give up our time in order to see God's will accomplished. I think that this is a major problem with the body of believers today. We have so long raised money for foreign missions, or held a love offering for things far away from us. However, we seldom have given of our time to show God's love. Our money, while not always easy to give, is much easy to part with than a Saturday when we wanted to sit and do nothing. We live in a culture that is so involved with what we can get and what we think we deserve. Our pastor Jeff gave an illustration a few weeks ago about this. Have you ever been driving in a parking lot and people have refused to walk along the sides and instead walk right down the middle of where you are supposed to be driving? Even if its not really verbalized, they are thinking that they don't have to move, that you will have to move around them.

Seldom do we take the time to realize how blessed we are and how much we can give, even if its just our ears to listen or our hands to help. I don't point fingers, because more than anyone else reading this, I am guilty of it. I have been so self-involved that I have been more willing to give my "free time" to TV than to take 30 minutes to talk to the God who loves me more than I realize.

I am going to be confessional about this stuff tonight. I want to be more willing and more open to using all that God has given me for His glory. I don't want to be closed off. I want God to show His love for others through me. Isn't that what we are called to do? Isn't that supposed to be our greatest goal? That's where my mind is right now.

Rants and Session

I am back in the middle of session. In case you didn't know and I don't know why you would, but I work for a part of the legislative branch of Kentucky. Last week, they came back to go into session and enjoy the creating of bills and debating over what we should do about our budget problems. In fact, as I type, they are having a press conference talking about them changing the days that they meet in order to tackle some issues. Fun times. I have always been sort of a geek in regards to politics and watching this stuff anyway. So, there is at least some part of me that still enjoys the back and forth and good debate that happens during a session. Some of the most enjoyable parts are when they are on the floor of a chamber of the legislature and trying to not really insult another member but still insult them. Those poorly veiled insults are often some of the most funny things that happens during a legislative day.

I realized that I just told you that for no particular reason beyond that is part of the reason that I have really wrote on here. Yeah, I am using work as an excuse, but it really hasn't been a big hindrance. No, the major obstacle to me writing is my lack of reading or even studying more than watching a couple Andy Stanley messages. This is where I get all confessional. I haven't take the time to sit and just read since the storms hit around here. I guess when I got out of the habit due to being someplace else, I found it easier to just keep that up. I won't beat myself up about it due to the fact that I don't think that God would want me to. I have a new chance each day to be more committed to following him and have my heart desire my life to be more like His. So, I am just going to do better. This will start with a conscious effort to set aside time at night to read and just sit in God's presence.

Ok, seriousness aside for a few. I don't think that this will spark any real thoughts but if it does in you, great. I have mentioned my love of How I met your Mother on here before and even placed links for others to enjoy as well. I went on this site Imeem and they allow you to create play lists and listen to music for free. So, I found a list of music from the show and created a HIMYM play list. And for the past few minutes I have been listening to it. One of the songs that I am just amazed by is Otis Redding's "Coffee and Cigarettes". I don't know why, but it is just a masterful song full of emotion and a beautiful melody. I am sure that I have heard it many times before but just recently I was taken with the song. How is it that we often forget how good something is? Ok, I just happened to come upon something serious. Its what my main thoughts have been lately, about how we forget about how good we have it and how great God is to us. Sorry to juke you with a serious thought there.

I hope that today's post will allow me to be accountable to myself about taking time away from the TV and instead spending it in thought and reflection in the evenings. Have a great weekend, till next week.