This post is going to be vulnerable. Here’s your opportunity to bail if you don’t want to go there.

I had a friend. At least I thought I had one. Turns out I was wrong.

There’s been no big blow up. No breaking of trust. No major jerk moves. Just coming to the realization that some relationships that I defined in a certain way have been clearly defined differently by others.

Continue Reading…

I’ve been following this debate closely. Here’s where I’m at today. Did he “deserve” to die? Yes. Do we all? Yes. Is his murder justifiable? Yes (I get this could be dicey but I don’t have a problem with the death penalty so this isn’t a difficult jump).

There are scriptures that describe the way that wicked men pursue their death. (Proverbs 11:19) The most thought provoking thing I’ve read is “How should we  have reacted when Hitler died?”. I don’t know how Christian leaders reacted when it happened and would be interested to know. It’s difficult to imagine not taking any sense of justice/reciprocity in knowing one of the world’s most evil men met his demise.

The bottom line for me is this…

—I feel like a hypocrite for getting self-righteous at all about “we should feel bad this guy died without Jesus”. Some people say that 150,000 people die without Jesus every day. To not weep for them and then feign sadness about this one man doesn’t mesh for me. That probably means I need to up my thoughts about people who die without Christ but it’s the truth.

—I’m happy for the families that this will bring closure and peace to. This world is broken and their hearts have been since that September day. My fear is that our talk about what the “proper” response is could rob someone of their right to have a human response just like David did in several places in the Psalms. What I’ve always loved about David’s stories were his honesty before God and I think it’s a guiding example for us.

—I think rejoicing over anyone’s death is not a great response but I understand why some people are. It speaks to the brokenness of our world and the brokenness of our hearts. It is a victory for our military people who have been working so hard to find him and for that I’m proud of the work they’ve done and the justice that’s been served. I’m not saying it’s God’s justice, I’m just saying that it feels like justice to me. I wouldn’t have been out in the streets in front of the White House but sitting on my couch I was proud of our military and thought the President nailed his speech.

—I’m scared for what this does to people sold out to the devilish ideologies he espoused. Wrath normally stirs up more wrath and angry people usually don’t get suddenly better when the person they’ve built their world around is taken away.

Here’s the last thing I’ll say (in this post) about it. What would have been even more interesting is if Osama would’ve come on TV and told us of his conversion to Christianity and his Damascus road experience with Jesus. You think we’re having a debate now? Just saying that would’ve set the evangelical blogosphere on fire.

I could paint you a backdrop for this but I’ll just let this prayer stand on it’s own:

Father…You know me. Inside and out. The good, the bad and the worst. The fact that You choose to love me any way is beyond me. Always has been. Always will be.

Here’s my prayer today, Lord. Let my character reflect Christ’s. Let my words be His and my thoughts be driven by the Holy Spirit and not by my clouded vision. In so many ways I feel like I should be further along. Holier. More disciplined. Better. I’ve been trying to walk with You most of my life and see every day the ways in which I fall short. In a way it’s depressing. It drives me into a pit of self-doubt and lack of worth. The funny thing is when I go to that pit I find You there. Waiting for me. Waiting for me to find the end of myself so You can be all.

So I’m there today Lord. I’m in the pit and ready to acknowledge again that without You I’m nothing. That Your righteousness alone saves my soul and my righteousness stinks up the joint. Ready to beg You again to fill me again. Help me to find my way to Your cross, Your sacrifice and Your peace.

I want to know You. In the fellowship of Your sufferings, the power of Your resurrection and all that means; whatever that means. Thank You that You are mine. Today I pray again…I am Yours.

In Jesus’ perfect name…amen.

Last night I was reading 2 Timothy and came across this passage:

1 Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead.2 As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse,3 dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical,4 treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God.5 They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (The Message)

As I read through the list I was doing a little personal inventory. There’s 20 things on that list and I probably struggle with five. I was pretty pumped. Fifteen out of twenty isn’t too shabby.

Later I was telling a friend of mine about it over Skype and he said:

Those are the 5 that you know about.

Good friends speak the truth, even when it stings.

I’ve spent this evening listening to the new album from @OaksWorship. It’s a great listen. It feels like church and oozes what I can only assume is the essence of what the worship culture there is like.

Here’s what I love about this record:

• It’s Shane and Shane’s local church. That’s automatic cool points, right?
• The lyric writing is definitely their own. They’re not trying to be something. They are something.
• You can hear the church singing. It takes me right in and reminds me of Paul Baloche’s “A Greater Song”. Great congregational feel.
• Bethany Dillon on the song “I Want Your Presence”. It was my favorite song and one I could see using (especially if Bethany decided to come sing it).
• There were a couple of outstanding, unexpected grooves.
• I could worship with it.

I hate writing anything critical because I really am enjoying it but it might not be much of a review without something negative, right? Here’s what I was a little so-so on:

• I got a preview of the album and there was a couple of production moments where one track would be louder than another starting out but would correct. Probably an oversight that got caught in post-production after this went out.
• I mentioned that they were inventive in their writing and with that creativity is the risk that some people won’t connect on every song. I found myself disconnected at some points.

Here’s some songs that I could hear the local church gravitating to (truthfully there isn’t a song that couldn’t easily be used):

• I Want Your Presence–my favorite song on here. Great sense of worship.
• Everything’s Different–Great song of adoration and praise
• Worthy of Affection–I’m really growing to love this one. The congregational “holies” at the end will get you.
• I can imagine that Shane’s reading of Revelation of 21:21-24 will get some play from worship leaders that hear this.

All around this is a solid worship album with some great worship moments from a local church that has obviously put in the time to create a worship culture and write songs that reflect the worship in their community. It’s a beautiful thing and something I think most of us that are songwriters desire to see in our churches. Thanks to Kirk Graham and the folks at The Oaks for allowing me to listen and review. I can’t wait to try some of these songs on for size in our worship experiences at Quest Fellowship.