One last thing from last Sunday (I think) was a great comment made by Richard Ross who was preaching.  He said something to this affect, too much of our prayer time sounds like an “organ recital” and not a talk with God about the real issues.  Our prayers need to be focused on the spiritual, not the physical.  We often spend more time praying for hearts, arms, knees, kidneys – the organ recital – than we do on things spiritual and it needs to be the other way around.  Do we think God cares more about us sustaining life on this earth or preparing ourselves to enter the next life, heaven?  God put us here for a purpose but it wasn’t to be healthy, wealthy and wise but to embody His spirit and His heart and His desire for humanity.  That’s where I prayer life needs to be centered, not to the exclusion of praying for things we do care about, but as the overwhelming topic of prayer.

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Last I heard, President Obama wanted a bi-partisan group to craft the new health plan.  Today, I hear the Democrats are using some tricky procedure (that the Republican’s have used plenty of times before) to get a health plan pushed through.  Sounds like Obama isn’t as interested in bi-partisan answers as he is answers.  I understand a President who wants to get his agenda passed but I do not appreciate a President who says who has heard the people and then carries on in the same manner as before. 

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I’ll finish a bit more light-hearted – the Rangers are having a tough spring but spring isn’t where championships are won, only started.  I’m concerned about Josh Hamilton’s health problems only because I want him to succeed but it sounds like the pieces are starting to fall into place.  It appears Chris Davis learned from last year’s mistake of resting on his laurels and his working hard.  Michael Young is still Michael Young, Kinsler needs to heal his ankle and Vlad needs to keep hitting crazy pitches.  I’m excited to see what they can do this year but my expectations are tempered.

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When you pray today, remember to pray for God’s will to be the one thing we can all fulfill in our lives.

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Grace and peace to you.
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I love conversations with people who love Jesus.  I had a good meal and great conversation last night with a friend and those times always leave me wanting to seek God’s will at deeper levels than before.

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The idea of worship is floating in my head the last few days so I’ll throw out some more things I’m thinking about.  (Just a reminder, it’s still my blog for the things on my mind – not a place where truth, wisdom or good guidance is intended to be imparted.)  I picked the church I went to Sunday based on the website.  The church’s site was updated and contemporary but what struck me were their belief statements – not defenses of how or why they worshiped but open proclamations of their belief in God, His Son, the Holy Spirit and the Word.  One of the other church sites I visited listed all the proof texts for their acts of worship and defenses of their singing and communion.  Now, I don’t disagree with their beliefs but their approach to them gave me a sense of what that church was about.  It reminded me of a quote I saw the other day, “if we spend more time defending our beliefs than living them, we are missing the point of the Gospel message.”  I digress.

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OK, the phrase that struck me and one I have heard forever on the second church’s site was “we worship in spirit and truth” which seems to mean their worship is justified by the actions they partake in and/or avoid.  This is where I really felt the rub because at the point Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman about worship, He’s not talking about the “acts of worship” but that God is spirit and our worship to Him needs to flow from the heart and be focused wholly on Him.  Jesus had been talking to her about living water, not something physical but something spiritual, that would fill her up inside.  What Jesus had to give her wasn’t about the physical, it was about the heart.  Jesus goes on to say that our worship won’t be in this physical place or that physical place but in spirit and truth.  Spiritual, not physical.  So why do churches try to tie that scripture to something that is physical?  There’s not enough space or time in this blog to explore that question but I am determined to understand what Jesus wants from me at a deeper level than I do today.

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One last thought about spirit and truth worship.  I do not believe our worship assembly is for me to feel better, it is for me to put all my energy in praising the LORD.  I want to sing songs that praise Him, I want to put energy and time and thought into praising Him.  I believe in doing so I will have a worship experience that does lift me up because I am a child of His and He lives in me but it is not about me, it is about God.  In that sense, I don’t want to get caught up in the amount of time it takes, whether I’m going to miss a part of the Cowboy game or the other church groups will beat me to the lunch line.  I want to worship God.  Some of the people I worshiped with Sunday clapped during the songs, some raised their hands, some closed their eyes, some did very little.  Some of those things resemble me, some don’t but when I walk out of worship, I want to be excited about what is before me and filled up with what I just did.  On Sunday, I thought about the basketball tournament I had just been to the night before.  During the games, people were on their feet, they were shouting, cheering, clapping, raising their fists in the air.  Should I be that excited at a basketball game that means nothing and not be more excited, more jubilant, more engaged in a worship time for the God of creation who has provided me eternal life in a place of constant joy?

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It’s on my heart to learn how to worship God in spirit and truth, not just Sunday morning but including the time I gather with brothers and sisters and lasting into every hour of every day.  I want to be more comfortable showing and sharing the excitement that is bursting in my heart for God everyday in every place.

Again, I say all this knowing little and only expressing things that are on my heart.

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Grace and peace to you.
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I attended the Round Rock Church of Christ on Sunday and “Wow!” it was a period of WORSHIP.  Yes, that is worship in big capital letters.  A great worship leader and an awesome message about Christ’s kingship made for a great morning and lingering thoughts for what I can do to be a better child of God.

I believe there is a big difference in “going to church” and “going to worship” and I’m guilty, for far too long, of going to church.  I may spend some more time exploring the semantics of the two terms later but for now I will simply leave it with you to contemplate.  I will say that for years, I’ve been guilty of going to church and not truly worshiping in truth and spirit (another term I want to explore).  As I have gone through a period that has led me to a growing, more real relationship with God I seek to worship him through song, through emotions, through a heart for His glory.

I believe the worship leader sets the tone for the worship service and the believer in Round Rock were led by a clear and obvious passion for God and I was thankful to be a part of it.  It was a reminder, even an eye-opener to what worship can and should be.

Grace and peace to you.
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There are some people we can talk to who really help us dig through the gunk and find the answers.  I have a friend like that and I think he really helped get me going in the right direction; not that all is right with the world type thinking but one of those aha moments that sure helps sort through the obstacles I have been facing.  The next few days will tell the tale.

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I did hear this gem today – “expectations are simply premeditated disappointments.”  Brilliant!

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The Texas Longhorns beat Iowa State to advance in the Big 12 tournament.  Now they face Baylor and we all know it’s hard to beat a team 3 times in a row.  That bodes well for Texas.

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I wish I could be in Surprise, AZ to watch the Rangers at spring training.  Maybe next year…

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God is good and we can always see it when we look to our future with him.  It’s much harder to see when we look at our present condition or think about what the future of this life holds.  I want to live focused on heaven.  I rather be there enjoying the best that God has to offer but until he decides to take me home, I will do my best to make him my focus each day.  Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone was doing that?

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Grace and peace to you.
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If you keep stopping by to see if I’ve unleashed any new craziness from my brain, I apologize for the lack of new content.  I’m still drained and not back in the swing of writing.  This blog normally comes easy for me with thoughts working in my head for days at a time but of late the thoughts are all criss-crossed and mish-mashed and not easily written.  I am confident this dry period is created by battles I am facing and by a return to the old ways of thinking at times…a failure to rely on God and a sense of figuring it all out myself.  It doesn’t work, never has, but the struggle is there. 

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I’ll keep wrestling through this dry period and I have faith I will be filled up soon, ready to write, ready to serve, ready to glorify God with all my being.  I hope you will keep dropping by and keep praying for the battles you see and don’t see. 

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Grace and peace to you.
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In our Life Group, the question was asked to define the perfect couple.  Immediate answers went to the things of this world – looks, finances, well-behaved kids; all the perceptions of success as our society defines it.  It was how I used to define so much but changes in my life have helped me bring a new vision of success to what I see.

Father Thomas Keating, in his book The Human Condition, says this, “Sometimes a sense of failure is a great means to true humility, which is what God most looks for in us.  I realize this is not the language of success, but we have oversubscribed to that language.  We need to hear about the interior freedom that comes through participation in the sufferings of Christ, the symbol of God’s love for everyone on earth.

It has taken some difficult moments for me to realize that I am promised nothing but suffering on this earth.  While Job was given a great deal after his suffering, I cannot believe the scars of what he went through left his mind but it never changed his love for God.  David, a man after God’s own heart, saw his family fall apart but he never changed his love for God.  The apostles faced beatings and prison but it never changed their love for God. 

What is it that makes me think I am different?  That I can have a “happy” life without all that suffering?  That going to church and contributing to my 401k is my means to an enjoyable future? 

The Bible is filled with people who suffered mightily.  One such story tells of a man who was beaten, his flesh ripped away from his body, people spit on him and then he was nailed to a cross to die.  It is understandable that he could be completely confused by the treatment because he was the son of God but his final words speak volumes about who he was…and who I must be.  Humbly, he said “forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.” 

I continue to pay my mortgage and contribute to my 401k and make plans for the future but I also know it can be taken away in an instant and that it very well could be replaced with suffering.  My joy is that each day I continue to accept that knowledge more living in the security that at the very worst, I still will not be called to bear all the sins of the world. 

I don’t want to oversubscribe to what success means to the world any longer – only to what success means in my relationship with my Savior.

Grace and peace to you.
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A good friend recently said “if people truly believe in a literal heaven and hell, it seems like they would act different.”  That’s been stuck in my head the last few days as I ponder how I’m living.  Do I approach each day living as if there is a real heaven or hell awaiting me or do I approach each day like there will always be a tomorrow if I can just muddle through today?

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Do I find the opportunity each day to share Christ with someone or am I more focused on the basketball game I want to go to?  Do I find the opportunity to serve someone each day or am I more focused on where I want to eat lunch?  Do people see Christ living in me or do they see a guy just getting through the day, just trying to survive the rat-race?

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I want to start living each day much more committed to the reality of my belief that there is a heaven and a hell and that there is a Savior who died for me so I could live in heaven and that I have been called to exhibit Christ-likeness in my words and actions.  I want people to know I believe there is a heaven because of my joy through Jesus Christ and the unexplainable love of God, the Father and my Lord.

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Yes, my good friend, I do believe in heaven and I do believe in hell and I hope your words will push me to live more wholly devoted to Christ each day.

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Grace and peace to you.
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I just realized it is March 1.  I’m not sure what that says about me but have had several thoughts run through my head and none have happy answers.  I’m not organizationally ready to start blogging again today so I will fill this space with rambling thoughts.

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I have been making a list of ideas and will start rolling those out in the next few days.  Exciting, huh?

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OK, for excitement, the Rangers start intrasquad scrimmages today.  That means baseball is close! 

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My son’s team played this weekend and while the record didn’t indicate success, the play on the field was really good and he had a great tournament. 

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More rain today.  Yippee.

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Do you ever have a lunch with someone where the conversation is so good you are thinking about it for days?  I had one of those Friday with a good friend.  Stuff we talked about is still bouncing around in my brain and it keeps bringing me back to one central thought – the power and majesty of God is indescribable.  Even though I continue to try and verbalize what God is doing in my life and in others, my efforts are weak to effectively describe God.

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I hope to get rolling soon but there’s too much to do today.

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Grace and peace to you.
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My foundation is shaky today.  Where I stood solid 3 weeks ago, today I feel trembling and a little bit of fear.  I am reminded that we can believe and hope and trust and think we see how things can and will work out only to find that it doesn’t go our way.  The thing we want desperately, the thing we will fall on our knees to pray for, the thing that we would just know God would take care of the way we want it taken care of…it doesn’t happen our way.  And here’s the thing – you can give me all the scriptures about God’s way not being my way and all but my foundation is still shaking a bit.  It doesn’t mean I have lost faith.  It doesn’t mean I don’t think God is sovereign.  It doesn’t mean I don’t think the victory is secure.  It simply means today that I am reminded that I have to come to grips with the understanding that God doesn’t always let things go our way, that sometimes the things we want most is something we lose.  Maybe it’s to remind us that he is bigger than we are.  Maybe it’s to remind us that our focus needs to be him and not what we can see and touch.  I just don’t know but it has struck me at my core that I cannot always get what I want, that things that are important and special may crumble before me.  I can expect to hurt and to shed tears over what I might lose in the here and now but I still believe, strongly, that the future remains secure and as long as I follow God, I will get to the promised land.

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I will forever think of this song as “Jenny’s song.”  What so many hoped for and prayed for didn’t turn out how we had hoped and prayed but God is still mighty to save because he gave Jenny victory.  He didn’t do it the way I was imagining but, then again, who would have thought up the idea of giving their child on a cross to save humanity?  God’s ways are not my ways, his thoughts are not my thoughts and for that, I do rejoice.  HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE.
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A little humor while I’m still on holiday.

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1. A day without sunshine is like night.

 2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.

 3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

 4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

 5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.

 6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

 7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

 8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.

 9. Support bacteria. They’re the only culture most people have.

 10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

 11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

 12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.

 13. How many of you believe in psycho kinesis? Raise my hand.

 14. OK, so what’s the speed of dark?

 15. When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

 16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

 17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?

 18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

 19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

 20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?

 21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, ‘What the heck happened?’

22. Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

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