MMM Smoothie

I have recently felt like my life was thrown in a blender and now I’m trying to figure out all the ingredients. 1 of them is work, which I do every weekday 11-5 and Saturdays 11-9. It’s definitely worth it to be working, but sometimes I just want to be doing something else. I’ll get there eventually I guess. Ingredient 2 is youth group. I love hanging out with some of the older guys and gals at my youth group and leading all of them in worship. The Sr. High guys small group that I started is also going pretty well. They haven’t really opened up to sharing with everyone yet but they are a lot of fun to just hang out with. Ingredient 3 is Church. Being a key member of multiple worship teams for Sunday services is great, but it also means me being at the church by 7 for first service practice, running out of that service around 8:45 to get to third service practice, which needs to end around 9:40 because of Sunday school. By the time we lead for the third service I am extremely tired and don’t really enjoy being there anymore. On top of that, other worship leaders don’t have guitarists or percussionists and they want me to join, which for everyone else in the church is what I should do. (However, me playing would make the music a lot better in my opinion.), but I can’t be on every team, it’s just too much. I think ingredient 4 would have to be friendships and just hanging out. I try to spend as much time as I can with my close friends. My work schedule and their school/homework schedules don’t always work out, but I do my best to see Jake, Barry, Darren, Katie, Josh, and Jeremy every week. There are many more ingredients being mixed together but I’m still trying to figure them out and how predominant they are in the smoothie of my life. Music is in there, writing/reading is there, and video games are another flavor mixed in there. The great thing about it is that God is the one doing all the blending so he kind of fits into all of these aspects (when I decide that he’s allowed to join.)

On another note, I thoroughly enjoy being 21 and going to Annie Bailey’s to hang out with others of that age and older. On the non-busy nights, (non weekends) it is extremely relaxing and fun. I’m learning what kind of drinks I like and which ones I don’t enjoy which helps in me actually knowing what I’m doing at a bar and not fumbling over what exactly I want or am trying to order.

Death to Life

It's been a while but since you all enjoy and desire my thoughts so incredibly much, I'll offer them to you for free today.

A theme that has been resounding in my life recently is Death and all his friends, Life and all his peers and resurrection and whoever he knows. More specifically, how When you come to know Christ, you are no longer someone who is dead, you are someone who was dead, and now is no longer dead. You are resurrected from sin. I think a lot of why society doesn't get why I am a christian or why others are christians/ other than we are arrogant SOB's sometimes/ is that a large portion of the Bible is talking about not what is material, but what we need faith to believe in. It's in the heart, soul, spirit, mind. When you come to know Jesus you don't actually come out of your moms belly for the second time. You don't suddenly wake up somewhere else with a new, perfect body. What changes is your heart and spirit. Your motives change, who you are at your core, is now being perfected by God and not sin.

On Saturday I was at a conference. Yes Lecrae was performing a concert that night there, but that's not what I want to talk about (even though it was sick. Especially Reilly. If you don't know, look em up. Violin Rock. ok moving on). It's called Vision Conference, and apparently it's pretty big, I hadn't heard of it before. Sponsored by a bunch of missions organizations, the big one being compassion, the conference is about Missions and how students (geared toward youth groups) can help out in the world. (Similar to YoWAW which is PCA sponsored) Bob Lenz was the speaker (really popular speaker to youth) The first session is the one that stood out to me the most although it was kind of the least missional. He went back to basics with Grace and Faith which has been hitting me in the face again and again. Colossians tells us to do everything for God's Glory, 24/7 365. I don't know about you, but that's a long time to be focusing everything that I have or that i'm doing on God. Is it possible, well Jesus did it but that's about it... but the idea that it is possible is not the reason for doing it. The reason for attempting is because God wants us to attempt, he is our desire and our desire as christians is to honor him in everything. At least it should be. Maybe sometimes we don't want to or are too tired to. We are human we can't help that, but we need to try to help that. We can't get into heaven by being good enough, or walking the righteous road, or being a know it all. The only way we can enter heaven is By Grace Through Faith... Eph 2:8-9.

Now, Grace is a gift, given by Christ because he bled and died for us then rose again to show that death has indeed been defeated. Ok so we take this gift, now i'm saved. I can do whatever I want. WRONG the exact opposite, Now i'm saved I can do whatever God wants. The point of Grace is not to allow us to just accept it and move on and live for whatever again. The point of it is that It doesn't matter how we live, It's never going to be enough, Never. There is nothing in our earthly power that can help us achieve heaven or God. Only through God can we find God. (confusing?)

The rest of the conference was really focused on going out and spreading the Gospel which is right above here, to those who don't know. Now that you are Following God as best as you can, He can send you into the world, making disciples. God gave this gift of grace free to us. Why don't we then give freely to others?

I'm back working again, which is a nice change of pace and has been helping me get into a good routine with working out and playing music and life is just moving quite well in my opinion right now. Which is why I found myself able to sponsor this little guy from Ethiopia. His name is Abebe Kuma and he's 4 years old. He looks pretty fly in his picture on the sponsor card that I have, which is one of the reasons that I picked him. Another is that he was the youngest that I could find. I want to be able to sponsor him until he is out of the program. Maybe one day visit him and see how he's doing over there.

oh and Lecrae was awesome.

p.s. I might be in South Africa next January through March teaching members of the local churches in Cape Town how to play music and more specifically worship music. I'd be going with good friend of mine who is a great worship leader.

this is awesome


and this song is on my heart along with the one way above


B.James