Merry Christmas

Just wanted to take a few minutes and wish you a very Merry Christmas. This past Sunday, we sang a song written by my very good friend who happens to be my guitarist, Rich Stansbury. The song is entitled "Christmas Time, Don't forget whose Birthday it is." I know it's a long title, but it has a great message. As you go about your buisness this Christmas season, don't forget to honor Christ birth, by doing a little celebration of your own. Thank him for what He has done in your life and how He has gotten you through. Then, thank Him for this coming year and what He is going to do through you and in your life.

I am looking forward to seeing family, giving gifts, and sleeping in a little these next few days! But most importantly, I am looking towards celebrating the life He gives us through His birth, His life, His death, and His resurection. Find comfort in that and have a very Merry Christmas.

Made me glad

Welcome to my first blog entry. This should be interesting. I hope to use this as an avenue for the thoughts in my head concerning worship and using it as a tool for communication as to the purposes and significance of worship in our daily lives. And periodically, I come across things about worship that I really enjoy and feel I want to share with you. So I have created this space to do just that! I am excited about posting the things that God has placed on my heart and sharing with you some of the things He is showing me in order for me to grow in my walk towards Him.

As with all Christians, I have not arrived, He is God and I am not, and I too struggle in my daily walk. I am convinced that everyday no matter how hard we strive to involve Christ into our lives, Satan is working just as hard, maybe even harder, to separate us from the life we so desperately need and desire.

Take for example David. That was a guy who was described as being "after God's own heart" You think Davids got it really goin' on right? But take a closer look at Davids life and we see he was far from perfect. He committed adultery, murder, deception and was deeply troubled by the sin in His life and punished by God for it. But in some ways, we are not too far off from David. We too may have sin in our life. It may be something that has popped up recently or something that you have been dealing with for many years. It may be the sin of envy or jealousy. It may be sexual sin or the sin of anger and hate. Whatever it is, it is not only real to us, but real to God. Stay with me, there is good news here.

I have been listening to a song a lot lately and we have recently introduced it into our worship services. It is a song called "Made me glad" written by Miriam Webster. This song contains many reminders of God's promise to help us when we sin and to be with us in times of spiritual victory and in times of spiritual defeat. His promise to shelter us, to give us strength, to deliver us from unrighteousness and to be our "very present help in time of need." This song comes from one of my favorite pasages in Psalm.

Psalm 73:25-26 says "Whom have I in heaven but you? And nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." I pray that as God has given me this passage and promise, that you too will find His strength and portion for your life as you follow His footsteps for your life. May God richly bless you today.