On an evening’s afternoon, sitting in the sunlit night…

Ever wish you could do something meaningful?

 

Do you ever wish that you could be someone?

 

Do ever feel alone?

 

Do you ever do things that you have regretted, and want to make them right but don’t know how? 

 

Do you have someone in your life that has wronged you and you can’t seem to forgive and probably you don’t even want to?

 

Do you want to forgive but don’t know how?

 

Do you long to spend your life with someone but just can’t find that right person?

 

Do you ever have thought hurt yourself to make yourself feel better?

 

Do you ever hurt other’s to make yourself feel better?

 

Do you feel like you have no idea who God is but you want to?

 

These are questions or feelings that most of us have. If we were truly honest with ourselves we could probably answer yes to at least half of those if not ninety percent.

 

If you are bold enough and you need help with any of these comment on what your struggling with, it can be anonymous so no one needs to know who you are. But as we walk out life lets lift each other up, lets support one another lets live this life together in relationship and love.

 

I’m going to to do some studies on these questions and I’m going to try to find what God would say about these things, end result always is that he loves you even when you don’t love him. His love is not conditional it is eternal.  

An Afternoon in the Corner Office

 

So I made my first real gesture at recording music today. It was an interesting process. Something that I loved. It was so much fun to actually put it together and sit down with friends and work on it. 

 

We started a song that I wrote about 3 years ago with Matt Burns. It is working out pretty well.  It’s weird to put these things together and work through them slowly instead of just throwing things together which is how I usually write… all spur of the moment. 

 

Although this has been really fun it’s the next song that is the one I’m looking forward to the most. I didn’t write it I wrote the melody and moved around a few things added some words here and there. The person that wrote it doesn’t even know that we are putting it together. It was only a poem and I don’t think it was even something written just kind of put together quickly but it was so inspiring that I just had to put it together and try to write it. It’s turned out really good so far and I’m excited because Craig has written the bridge to it.

 

Man I’m working with Craig and Chris Holcomb on this and wow these guys. Chris is hopefully going to be throwing down drum tracks for everything… hopefully, and he’s engineering everything right now for us too. He’s recording creating pad’s and beats and well he’s doing everything else basically. Don’t you love working with people that are so awesome. I sure do. I can’t argue with any of this it’s going so good. Actually it’s just fun, it probably isn’t even that great, it’s just fun.

 

I love writing something or co-writing things that God has placed on your heart and it’s actually starting to come together to be something that people could sing. I love how God places songs on your heart, or maybe more it’s he gives you abilities and shows us how good he is and who he is which… well that is giving us the songs. I love it.

 

My office was turned into a studio for the day and I loved every minute of it.  I wish it was a constant thing. That would be the only reason I would want to be a musician, not for money or anything but because I love making music even if I’m not good at it, I just love it and love the people that I am blessed to do it with. 

 

I’m excited but I need to sleep so,

 

Later 

Half Naked!

 

Well have you ever had a half naked person climbing on you well at this very moment my son who is in the process of being potty trained is climbing on my back with no pants, diaper, or underwear on.

 

This has not been my favorite thing that is for sure.

 

He just thinks it’s hilarious and again he’s climbing on me.  Just laughing and jumping on me. As funny as that is not my favorite thing that he does.

 

Ever think that maybe we are the crazy kids running around with out pants off because we don’t get the basics of our spiritual life with God. God is just laughing and loving every minute because no matter how much we pee on the floor we are in the process of learning.

 

Probably he is even much more willing to have us climb up on his back and play with him in the midst of that also. Me I’m a little scared I’m going to end up with a wet back but God he knows.

 

The basics, so simple for those that understand it and do it regularly but for those that aren’t there yet it’s just something new.

 

Ephram has a friend named Kiel who is potty trained and although in almost every way they are at the exact same place in their learning there is about 7 months between them so Kiel is ahead of Ephram in this area of the great and mighty POTTY.

 

Sometimes we have friends that just get it. They get those basic things. They understand what we are longing to get and understand. They know why we are half naked and how we can get our pants back.

When Kiel was actually using the potty and Ephram was not even trying yet, Ephram wanted to watch Kiel so he could see what it was suppose to look like cause he just didn’t get it but figured that if his best friend did it and was enjoying it then he must find out about it.

 

Sometimes we need to get support from out friends. We need to watch them learn from them lean on them for support to encourage us and teach us how to use the elusive spiritual POTTY. God will put people in our lives that we can learn from and that we can teach other things. We are suppose to be relational he says that we need to have people around us to help us up when we fall down.

 

Who knows how to use that potty in ways that you don’t get yet. Watch them learn from them so you can get your pants on and stop being Half Naked!

 

Later 

Say only what is Necessary… Really?

 

Well, I’ve been challenged but it’s not a fun one. Definitely not one that I want to take on but none the less feel called to walk in.

 

Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ESV

 

Some translations use this comment where it says “as fits the occasion”, they say “say only what is necessary”. Wow that is a tough one. So anything that I talk about that does not first of edify someone or build them up, and secondly is necessary, really I shouldn’t say. Honestly I probably just shouldn’t talk 99% of the time cause it’s meaningless banter.

 

God calls us in many places to speak, so that isn’t it at all. He doesn’t want you to take a vow of silence, but sometimes just close your mouth. Exodus 14:14 “The LORD fights for you while you are silent.” Maybe the stuff we talk about is actually not pleasing to God. See that’s what it is for me, I don’t want to do anything that isn’t pleasing to him. I want to please him in everything I do and know that I’ve left God with a smile after everything I do.

 

Earlier in that chapter verses 25-27 it speaks of being honest with one another, then immediately after it speaks about being angry. It says be angry, but do not let the sun go down on your anger. So anger is not a sin but holding it in judgement or as a grudge then is.  So our concern must not be at the way that the person we are speaking to takes the words we are saying but instead should be concerned with the words themselves that they are truth and necessary. 

 

So if someone is caused to be angry then how can that be edifying as we told our words should be in verse 29.

 

This is how I interpret it from my own personal situations. There are times that you need to speak truth to someone that isn’t very nice to hear and could cause the receiver to be upset but after the immediate emotions leave them they realize it was in love and that it was truth and they needed to hear it.

 

Now that is my experience mostly, sometimes it doesn’t work that well.

 

K anyways back to this thing.

 

James talks about how the tongue has the power to bring life or death. So really we need to be conscious of our speech at all times. No matter what

 

Really what this comes down to is us having to be aware of everything that proceeds from our mouth.

 

Imagine the world full of people that are edifying each other are lifting one another up. This is hard to believe but I would love to see it and hopefully can alter my life to be one that would fit into that world.

 

Later 

Look at this!

I just want to say that I think I have the most amazing family in the world. And man are they beautiful.

 

I came home the other day and found a few new pictures on our computer, here is one of my favorites.

 

Mostly I’m just showing them off.

 

Later

 

 

 

Justice…

 

So this past weekend I went to Eston Sask. so that I could see my sister and brother-in-law while they where at Sr. High. Sarah and I were not “attending ” the weekend for reasons outside of our hands to do with our church. So being there could have been awkward but was not.  The people there didn’t make it awkward even for a moment and it was actually a really good time.

 

We weren’t able to really take part because our kids were with us and late night worship services don’t go over great with a 2 year old and a 2 month old when they have just been in the car for 4 hours.

 

Anyways the weekend was about something that I feel like God is just starting to teach me about.

 

Justice

 

To be honest, up until last couple of year I looked cross eyed at anyone that used that word because the only thing I thought of when I hear of Justice was the music for Law & Order.

 

I had no idea what people meant of what the point of this so called “Justice” thing people kept talking about.

 

It all started to hit a head and I guess make sense when Tim Hughes released his most recent album with a song entitled God of Justice. The song hit me like a ton of bricks. We aren’t meant to continually be spoon fed, and even when we are hurt we need to get a bandage and get back out there. There is a line in the song that says “Fill us up and send us out” and it seems to be so fitting for the time in my life that I’m at. God seems to be revealing to me that I need to get out there. Even when I don’t feel fully capable or able I need to get out there and do something for other people. 

 

While in Eston a friend of mine Sammy spoke about an organization that he has just began working with called Bridges of Hope. It is based out of Lethbridge which is where he works with them. He spoke about how God was breaking him for other people. People that haven’t had a charmed life like he has had need to be cared for.He went on a trip to Burkina Faso with some other friends under the Bridges of Hope banner and did some mission work.  They do not talk about religion even though it’s run by Christian people it is not attached to any religions but instead is only about helping people regardless of faith. I over heard someone talking about some pictures that they had from their trip, and one of them was of him holding a baby moments before it died. Makes wanting a new pair of pants not so important anymore hey.

 

Anyways after he spoke, God spoke to me that I needed to talk to him about a dream God had given me about a year ago, which was to have a poverty march in Regina. This was to raise awareness as well as money for those that have less. Some would be put towards those is Regina, so a local section but also some would be given to fight poverty in other parts of the world and I believe that is where Sammy and Bridges of Hope come in.

 

After this weekend it’s been running through my head endlessly about what I need to do in order to get this done.

 

Who I need to talk to. Who I need to work with. What I need to do.

 

All I know is that God is about Justice for those that cannot support themselves. We all have a responsibility to do something. Maybe this is my something, maybe this is one part of my something but I know that as he awakens this inside of me it hurts, but causes me to be free in a new way all together.

 

I love how God works…

 

This is what God is doing in me for Justice, what is he doing in you?

 

Later