wordle wednesdays
Written on 7/30/2008 06:09:00 AM by Miles
Psam 145
this just in.... two things:
Written on 7/29/2008 09:40:00 PM by Miles
1. Step Brothers is a thumbs down
2. I have an unending love for cheese.
Peace.
Step Brothers
Written on 7/24/2008 07:18:00 AM by Miles
Anyone going to see this? I think we're going to try and hit it up on Friday. I can't stinkin' wait!
wordle wednesdays
Written on 7/23/2008 08:04:00 AM by Miles
This week's installment brings us to where it all began...the book of Genesis. enjoy.
Hosea 6
Written on 7/23/2008 07:34:00 AM by Miles
I've been reading this passage over and over for a while now, and I believe it has become one of my favorite passages of scripture. It's a passage that's getting more acclaim in songs of worship as well, which I'm really excited about. I've been writing one myself around these verses. It's Hosea 6:1-3 (NIV translation) and it reads:
1 Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
8/8/08: Phil Wickham live *Free Release*
Written on 7/16/2008 10:05:00 PM by Miles
So, Phil Wickham will be releasing a live recording, "Singalong," on 8/8/08 in an effort to apparently upstage the start of the Olympic games. :-) If you've not listened to Phil, wake up and check him out....unbelievable. He has a sample on his blog from the live recording. 
TrueFaced: a review
Written on 7/16/2008 09:11:00 PM by Miles
I haven't done a book review in a few years, so I'm feeling fairly nostalgic by doing this...
Whatever you're reading right now, put it down. Get yourself a copy of TrueFaced and make it the very next book you read. Dallas Willard says, "TrueFaced is one of the best books on practical theology I have ever seen."
TrueFaced, by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch, addresses the most basic motives faced by every follower of Jesus: the distinction between our determination to please God or to trust Him. Thrall and Co. draw on the metaphor of two rooms in our pursuit of God at the end of two roads: pleasing God and trusting God. They both sound good, right?
The first, at the end of a well-traveled road (pleasing God), is the Room of Good Intentions, entered by turning the knob of Effort. This room is filled to capacity with tired, cynical, well-intended Christians sporting various masks, who are determined to work on their sin to achieve an intimate relationship with God. Excellence is used often to describe the intentions. These folks are sincerely determined to be godly. No one in this room is interested in hearing about your struggles, trials or failures. To be welcome here, one must hold their cards pretty close to their chest and give the appearance of sufficiency and that everything is fine. I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine, fine, fine all the time, time, time.
The second room lies at the end of life's path with the motive of Trusting God. The path to this room is definitely less worn than the other. In this room, inhabitants have embraced the concept of Living Out of Who God Says I Am. To enter the Room of Grace, one only needs turn the doorknob of Humility. In this room, people have cried out, "Alright, listen! I'm not fine! I haven't been fine for a long time. I feel guilty, lonely and depressed. I'm sad most of the time and I can't make my life work. And if any of you knew half of my daily thoughts, you'd want me out of your little club. So there, I'm doing not fine! Thanks for asking!" Instead of working on one's own sin to achieve intimacy with God, in this room, people stand with God, with their sin in front of them, working on it together with Him.
I don't think it's a coincedence either when trusting God also pleases God....
The goal of TrueFaced is to help us discover the freedom that lies in allowing ourselves to be authentic before God and others, trusting them with who we really are. A prayer one might pray before entering the Room of Grace might go something like this:
God, if anything good is to come out of this whole deal, you will have to do it. I can't. I'm so tired. Please God, you will have to give me the life I am dreaming of. I can't keep doing this anymore. I'm losing confidence that this life in you is even possible. Help me. You must make it happen or I am doomed.
We've all been part of a community, a church, or a small group where we've felt the pressure of presenting a strong, fine front. One where we don't have the freedom to share sin or failures; where we have to put on appearances and pretend we've got it all together. Sadly, I believe these groups are far more common than the alternative. The effect is subtle, but grossly counterproductive to introducing people to the Kingdom of God. For reasons too numerous to count, Christians have fallen prey to the lie that we must appear fine, strong, good and often, productive. We don't want people to know we're flawed. I think for me, my flaws and imperfections serve only to draw attention to the fact that I NEED a perfect father. Those that appear flawless, often draw perceptions that something's not entirely right, and make genuine, authentic connection near impossible.
One of the primary postures you must take when reading TrueFaced is to understand that this book is for you. Don't read it with others in mind. God can do precious little in establishing an intimate relationship with you if you're thinking of others while reading this book...
What a freeing thing to truly trust in a grace-giving God who declares me as his child without conditions. There's nothing I could have done to earn His love, not by works or performance. I've often found myself traveling down the road of wanting to please God with my performance. I must realize that I don't need to perform for Him to call me valuable. I serve Him because he has called me valuable, long before any "performance."
I'll have to say that it's not an easy walk, this road of trusting....I'd love to have company on it.
wordle wednesdays
Written on 7/16/2008 07:00:00 AM by Miles
Today, the book of Colossians...one of my faves. 
feeling somewhat better
Written on 7/11/2008 09:49:00 PM by Miles
So, I'm starting to feel a little better. I'm still congested, and I definitely have an infection going on in the sinus region. Antibiotics? Nah. I'm taking my vitamins....seven of them to be exact!
wordle wednesdays
Written on 7/11/2008 12:49:00 PM by Miles
Hey folks- going to be starting a blogger occurence, and I'm gonna call it wordle wednesdays. It just has a nice ring to it, eh? Anyways, if you haven't heard of wordle, go here....pretty sweet. I'll give a preview of what's to come. Here's my blog in a wordle. Click it to get a better view, and see if you can catch the random arranging of the phrase, "hopeful Christianity poop-humor." I love it.
anyone ever done this?
Written on 7/08/2008 08:00:00 AM by Miles
Put one of these in a pool? (this is a Baby Ruth in the pic above, by the way)
I'm still sick, so I'm feelin' a bit crazy, like, Will Ferrell with a dart in his throat in the movie "Old Skool" crazy.
With the summer here and temps >110, it seems almost impossible to resist.
I'm a worship leader and a poop-humor fan. Yeah, I said it. What of it? :-)
being sick sucks
Written on 7/07/2008 04:20:00 PM by Miles
So, how does a slightly sore throat disguised as allergies, turn into a all-out flu in my body? I am aching in places that I didn't even know I had. I can also feel my veins in my wrists fill up with pressure as if they're going to explode...never had that happen before. And, how come I lose my voice all the time when sick now that my occupation involves using it frequently?
But enough about me...how are all of you? I don't think I've talked to anyone via phone in over two weeks. I'm having withdrawal.
"un-churched"
Written on 7/07/2008 10:15:00 AM by Miles
Does it mean:
a) A person who does not attend a worship gathering so they are unfamiliar with how we do things on Sunday?
b) A person who has been unaffected by the way that we, the church, live in their presence
c) A person who has no concept of the foundations of Christianity
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
Just a thought. I'm pretty afraid of where the us & them mentality leads on a lot of different fronts.
Maybe our concept of who the "we's" and the "they's" (in this case the "churched" and the "un-churched") are really effects how we see our role in the world and what it means to be the body of Christ and share the good news that is the gospel.
I'd love to hear some thoughts...
"peep this"
Written on 7/05/2008 03:00:00 PM by Miles
Please check out my San Diegan friend, Steve, and his Do What's Right campaign here. I love the idea of this, and am excited and hopeful that it really takes off. Check it out and comment back with your thoughts....we should get some conversation going around here. I feel as if I just post stories for reading enjoyment, which is fine. But, let's get some dialogue going here, people!
a new fear realized today...
Written on 7/03/2008 09:55:00 AM by Miles
...as if the rattlesnake wasn't enough. geesh.
I come into the office this morning to start my day. Once I'm settled in, I reach in the corner of my office to pull out the office guitar, just in case I'm inspired or something to write (or, I just like to play). I slide the case out and what's behind it???? A stinkin' AZ bark scorpion, tail up and everything. This is the only scorpion here that's considered lethal to a person. And, It was literally about two inches from where I was reaching to get the guitar case! I currently have it trapped under a box lid, awaiting our grounds crew to come take care of it. We were told to always call them without doing anything ourselves, and to call the "emergency" messaging system for them. Well, their response time is now going on two hours, so I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to squash it. But, there's a part of me that thinks that maybe, just maybe, this thing could sting through my shoe....it's pretty big, folks. This pic is from the web, so you can rest assured that the hand of an idiot pictured is not that of mine. Actually, the one in the picture is about the same size as the one under my box lid. dangit.
On a better note, while moving my heavy desk out to capture the scorpion, I come across another animal behind it. Only this time, a friend and not a foe. It is a yellow-backed spiny lizard, and they are all over the place around here. You can get close enough to pick them up no problem, but they will scurry off and do push-ups at you to make themselves appear larger than they really are. Some of them are pretty big around here.
I wish I had my camera here today...all I have is my phone, and it does not zoom. So, pictures of what they look like from the web will have to do to illustrate my, now second, near heart-attack experience.
finding balance
Written on 7/02/2008 12:24:00 PM by Miles
I wanted to give a nice little plug to my new friend's website. The organization is Findingbalance, and it was founded by Constance Rhodes (you can read about her and her story on the site). Findingbalance is an award-winning site created to offer countless avenues of help and advice for those who struggle with disordered eating, or for those who know someone who does. The site informs people on EDNOS, which stands for Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, along with many other aspects of disordered eating and body image. This is something that affects 3 out of 5 people in this country, both men and women. Enough of my rambling there....just check out the site and read her blog
Constance currently hails from Nashville, TN. She came out to my workplace to share her story, as well as offer encouragement for the staff, which is a monthly thing for us. I accompanied Andi with leading worship, and she did an amazing job. We played an original song of hers, and it was fun to sing on a song that was directly coming from the one who wrote it. There were several moments throughout all of the chapels (4 total in 2 days) during worship that were just very sweet and reverent. I think sometimes we get caught up in the performance of things beyond the required "performance" of playing/singing etc. that we can lose track of the One we worship in the first place. There were several pauses of silence, and they never felt uncomfortable.
I enjoyed listening to Constance's story (heard it four times and it never got old) and got a lot out of it for myself. Believing something other than the truth affects us all, whether it deals with eating and body image, self-esteem, our perceptions of value, etc. This life can take an amazing turn, however, once we understand and trust in who God already says we are.
We took a picture on the final day she was here, so I thought I'd share it with you all. It looks as if that tree is swallowing us...
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