.posthidden {display:none} .postshown {display:inline} By His Own Hand. . .: November 2010

11/25/2010

a list of thankfulness

Coming up with this is harder than it looks (well, to make it a legit list anyway)! And double points for alliteration :)

Apples
Brotherhood of believers
Challah
Dancing (I really shouldn't have joined a Baptist church. . . hah)
Ellipses (I used five sets in this entry alone, and I didn't even have complete sentences!)
Forgiveness of and freedom from sin
Golden Grahams (see previous entry)
Harpsichords (maybe someday. . . when I win the lottery and have a house with a music wing. . . I'll get myself a Steinway and a harpsichord. . . someday)
Insurance (car, health, renter's, whatever!)
Jokes
Kids (both the big ones and the little ones)
Love
Music
Notation software (i.e. Sibelius, but something more important needs the "S" slot in this list)
Ovens
Parchment paper
Quiet times
Romans (the book of, that is)
Sunday School class
Tea
Uganda (otherwise we wouldn't be able to sponsor Patrick!)
Vacuum cleaners (though I don't use mine enough. . .)
Washing machines
Xylophones (and that's actually legitimate!)
Yeast (VERY important for baking challah)
Zeal

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

11/17/2010

How big is God?

I have to believe that He is HUGE. IMMEASURABLE. Imagine, if you will, a box of Golden Grahams that always has fresh, delicious honey squares to be poured into an endless amount of just cold enough milk that never runs out, gets sugary, or changes temperature. That's kind of how big God is.

Sorry. I have a thing for Golden Grahams. I think I could eat an entire box over the course of the day without even thinking about it.

Anywho.

I stumbled upon (ok. . . give credit where it's due: the Holy Spirit led me to) Romans 8 last night (or maybe the night before. . . recently enough anyway), and while it is a very familiar passage, it is a good reminder for me with everything that is going on in my life right now. My job, the production of Christmas Carol, personal problems. . . all of them might feel gigantic at times, but you know what? God is bigger. WAY bigger. And He chose me to be involved in the things I'm doing. While that doesn't guarantee success by any means, it is comforting to know that I am supposed to be where I am. Whatever the outcome, NOTHING will separate me from the love of Christ.

The question is this: will I keep myself connected to Him?

I think that's what all this adversity and difficult/overwhelming time is all about. And God will reward faithfulness. . . so I have to remain faithful. I have to be the man that God is calling me to be, even if I'm only 22.


So. . . here I am. Use me, Lord, for Your glory, and I will give you credit where credit is due, because it's certainly not me that's going to do all the amazing things You have in store for my life.

11/08/2010

praise, gentleness, awareness, prayer, and thanksgiving

Life is still crazy, but things are starting to wrap up and/or get into a groove more, so I figure it's time for a small update just to share something that's on my heart tonight.


I still will never forget the night that Pastor Dan preached on this passage at prayer meeting many many months ago. Apparently he preached on it recently at a Wednesday night service (sermon available here: "5 Steps to a Peaceful Life"). I may not get the exact points he talked about that night, but basically the idea was this: to receive the peace of God, there are certain things we need to do. We need to rejoice in all circumstances, always be nice (because we never, never, never have a reason to be mean as a Christian), realize God's presence and role in our life, pray about everything (to eliminate doubt), and be thankful for everything.

I saw that truth in my life today.

I have been having a rough time with my job (more on that when I have more time to write). I had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning, but once I did, for whatever reason, I just started thanking God for everything I could think of. I wasn't even sure if I was repeating myself at times or not, but I just kept saying "Thank you for ______." Throughout the day, I did the same thing. Anytime something irritating happened, I just stopped and said, "Thank you for ____," whether it was related to the situation or not. I did not allow myself to get emotionally wrapped up in classroom management today, even in really aggravating moments of complete stupidity and disrespect.

You know what? From an outside view, it was still a tough day. It's still the same job. But my attitude, my feeling leaving the school, was not animosity, not loathing the idea of going back.

It was an attitude of hope.

One day down. . . one day at a time. . . just gotta follow His formula. I'm choosing to rejoice, to be nice, to be aware, to pray unceasingly, and continue in a spirit of thankfulness.


On a somewhat related side note, I have been seeing the power of prayer unfold in my life, and it is amazing. I think sometimes that our concepts of prayer is that we close our eyes in church while someone else talks and we (far too often) make a flippant statement before we eat. . . and that's about it. I challenge you to try this out (especially any of you who have a hard time falling asleep because your mind works on overdrive at night)- instead of listening to music or TV or whatever static noise right before you go to sleep, just spend time in prayer to the point where you actually fall asleep talking to God about whatever it is on your mind. And pray with others, ideally a small group (like a Sunday School class or family unit). Pray for others. You never know how encouraging it can be to hear someone else speaking aloud a request to God for your sake. What a gift; what an offering! And what a privilege to be able to do that for others.




Why wasn't I doing all this before?