Today's Purchases

I know... amazing.

Love this Song!

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah!
All I have is Christ
Hallelujah!
Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

"All I Have Is Christ" by Jordan Kauflin.
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

Happy Birthday, Abbi!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl! I love you so very much and am grateful for you. I love hanging out with you and your family whenever I get the chance. Thank you for how you serve you Mommy by helping with Esther and loving her so dearly. Thank you for your help with the CG children each week. You'll make a great Mommy one day! :) I enjoy watching you unselfishly play with younger children, just to bless them. I pray the Lord blesses you with a passionate love for Him and His glorious gospel! I love you so much, Abbi!

Antidote for (Dis)contentment = God

"Bless the Lord, O my soul,and all that is within me,bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul,and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity,who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit,who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses,his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide,nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west,so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children,so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass;he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you his angels,you mighty ones who do his word,obeying the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts,his ministers, who do his will! Bless the Lord, all his works,in all places of his dominion.Bless the Lord, O my soul!"
Psalm 103 (ESV Bible)

M&M Bliss

So, I saw these at Ingles today and decided to try them. WOW! They are so very good and are bursting with rich, coconuty flavor... and of course chocolate!

Happy Birthday, Boaz!

Hey, bud! Just wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday! Can't believe you're already 12! I'm so grateful for you and the rest of your family. I pray you continue to grow in the Lord and in becoming a godly leader.

Next09 Live Album is HERE!

The songs on the download album are:

God Over All (Devon Kauflin)
His Name is Jesus (All Hail the Power) (Judah Groveman)
He Is Jesus (Stephen Altrogge)
Praise the Lord (Doug Plank)
By This We Know Love (Judah Groveman)
All I Have (Jordan Kauflin)
Jesus Thank You (Pat Sczebel)
I Need You (Kristian Stanfill/Eddie Kirkland)
The Name above All Names (Judah Groveman)
What a Savior (Devon Kauflin)
I Will Glory in My Redeemer (Steve & Vikki Cook)
Blessed Is the One (Doug Plank)
Oh the Deep, Deep Love (Bob Kauflin)

All of the songs are so amazingly good! I recomend it for the lyrics alone. And the bands were pretty awesome. :) Follow the link if you wish to purchase. It's only $5.

Pictures

I finally have started to actually use my camera. AND, I finally uploaded the pics to my computer. Here are a couple that I like.

So, I have officially started to get excited about WorshipGod09! This will be my first Worship Conference. God very kindly provided the time and finances. I'll be taking all of the sound seminars. That'll be fun! The trip up and back could be interesting. :) Jessica, Jimmy, Wendy A., Cameron and I will all be driving up to Gaithersburg, MD. I'm not sure how come I get stuck in the back seat with Jimmy and Cam. :P

30 days and counting!

Dream Vacation

So, Jimmy and I bought Mom a year's subscription to Southern Living. The July addition has some pretty cool stuff... including an article on what is now one of my dream vacation spots. Never thought I'd so want to go to Missouri. The founder of Bass Pro Shops deigned and owns "a lodge property on a nearly 60,000-acre lake just outside Branson, Missouri... The Bass Pro spirit and [the man's] gentle call of the wild fill all 81 cabins, 3 lodges, 4 restaurants, and 100 boat slips." Yeah... I know, a bit random. But, that's just me! I can dream, can't I? :)

Encouragment from this morning

Neither of the below sections are from my head. I was sent two different e-mails during the last few weeks, each containing one of the below. I was reading them this morning and was freshly encouraged and spurred on. Hope you enjoy them as well.

"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,“I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (JE 2.1-2).

When my wife Kristi was a young bride she followed me into the wilderness because she loved me. In our first year of marriage I quit my secure teaching job and came on staff as a pastor-in-training in a small, fledgling church where neither the pastor nor myself really had any idea of what we were doing. At least I didn’t. Even scarier, within 2 years I became the Sr. Pastor. In those early years our church navigated some dry times when it looked like the church wouldn’t make it. Times when more people were bailing than joining. Times when it seemed like nothing was happening, mostly when I preached. Yet Kristi still followed me.

That’s what it’s like to run after Christ. He gives us such a love for him, we follow him in the wilderness, where we aren’t sure where our provision will come from. Sometimes it’s a wilderness of suffering, or a desert of having no idea what in the world to do with our kids. It may be the solitary wasteland of loneliness or the badlands of being sinned against.

That’s what it is to love Jesus. To follow him in the wilderness and trust him, no matter what the outcome. To keep following him when we’re dry and thirsty, tired and weary. Where it’s bleak and boring. What devotion he implants in our hearts, to go, not knowing where, to walk with him in arid places because he alone can satisfy our thirsty souls.

Are you in the wilderness today? Is it because you followed Jesus? Know this, the Lord Jesus takes great delight in your desert devotion."

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"I've been thinking and working through and failing at...repentance. Approximately one month ago, I attended NEXT and God revealed (again) areas of my life that were not under His prememinence. Repentance was in order.

Yet I did not want begin, and even then, where to begin? Here I was staring at a long standing sin pattern and only seeing all the failed attempts to change.

Tired of failing. Tired of trying. Tired of knowing that I should change.

But God.

He reminded me~ "...for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6b, KJV). If I would climb that mountain in repentance, it must be with faith, believing that He will work and change me. He is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him. (I realize that this verse is refering to faith, but that is simply repentance in action. If I believe, I leave my sin behind. I step forward, knowing there is grace for my failed attempts, but that step-by-step, God will change me and make me like him.)

He reminded me~ I am called to repent today. Present tense. Tomorrow hasn't been written and I am not called to look at it without God's grace or imagine failing and repenting for years to come. If I keep repentance in the NOW (which would be biblical), repentance is tangible.

He reminded me~ The Gospel gives grace and power to change. "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor. 1:18). It's the means by which all of God's favor and transforming power are lavished on my life. Christ came to redeem me from the bondage of even this sin, and not just to save me from this sin, but to lavish on me His richest kindness and blessings (Eph. 1 & 2). What hope! What joy! What wonder!

Repentance is a verb.It is me humbly begging God to help me repent today.

Repentance is a verb.It is a life actively pursuing God and turning from sin.

Repentance is a verb.It is God transforming a life one step at time."