Year-in-Review: 2010 and NYRs

Instead of copying and pasting full entries, I'm just going to put links that summarize each month of this past year.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

And some New Year's Resolutions! In no particular order. . .

-Make time for a daily devotional each night. Even in the really busy times, it is not fair for me to make excuses and avoid taking another 3-5 minutes to just stop and listen to what God wants to say to me. And I've found that those really busy weeks, I don't just skip one or two times, but the entire week, and then I get to the end of it wondering why everything feels so crazy, and then I realize my disconnect from the Head and proceed to hit myself in my own head.
-Exercise a few times a week. I know me and my schedule, and I know that if I say "I'm going to ______ everyday!" that that will never happen. Far too busy for a specific commitment in the realm of physical health. However, this gives me some freedom, because in my less busy weeks it will be easy to make time for it, and in my busier weeks I won't have the guilt factor of "I didn't do any real exercise (since I was busy for 17 hours today)." It's really more a commitment to making time for physical activity when possible.
-Finish "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" entries. That poor book has been sitting by my computer since this past summer. . . oops. I think I have about 11 or so entries to enter into the blog still. My bad.
-Clothe myself with love in all things. No excuses. There's never a reason not to be nice, no matter the situation. Breathe, and realize that God is there in all things and has planned all things.

I don't know when I'll start a new book project- that all depends on when I get the current (. . ."current") one completed.

Happy 2011!

eclipse

Just a jumble of thoughts before I go to bed again (I slept from 11:30-2 and woke up to go watch the eclipse- many layers and two blankets later, I'm back inside my warm apartment). I think the most amazing part of the eclipse is realizing that the thing that is causing the eclipse is the very planet that you are standing on. I don't know what else you need to know to make you realize how small you are in comparison to the whole universe. And down here, in C. Fla, the air was quite clear, so you could see ALL the stars as well. Just. . . amazing. Amazing. More amazing is the fact that God cares about each one of us, no matter how small we may feel. He is big enough for everyone.

weary

Lord, I'm tired of fighting. It seems like at every turn, there's yet another wall, another obstacle, and I don't see how things are ever going to work out.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." -Galatians 6:9

I barely even made it through today. I don't see how I will be able to get back at it again tomorrow; I am exhausted, Lord. . .

"O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress." -Isaiah 33:2

But there's so much to be done! No matter how many things get planned or accomplished, it seems like it all crumbles down the next day.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:34.

What's the point of it all then?

"So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light." -Colossians 1:10-12

Can you really use me to do this?

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:13.

I will trust You, Lord. You have done nothing to make me doubt you.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" -Jeremiah 29:11.

whew

We made it through the first weekend of "A Christmas Carol"! At some point, when I have a little free time (hah!) I'll do a big update on that, but for now I want to leave you with something small and encouraging.

Hebrews 11:1 gives us a pretty good definition of faith, and it's very simple (which is great)- we should have confidence in our hope and assurance in the unseen. The first part seems easy, because if we can believe in the vast greatness of God and in the truth of His word, then there's absolutely no room to doubt where we will eventually end up, no matter what happens in this life. It's the second part that gets a little crazy (at least for me. . . probably the Type-A part of me). Assurance in the unseen? How can I be sure of something that when I don't know that it's going on? I have a hard enough time believing the things I see! OK, not really, but I have to say that God's unseen hand movements have blown my mind (when seen in retrospect). I moved out to Florida about 16 months ago, and. . . just wow. How perfectly He had been setting up this area for me (yes, even my job. . . if you keep up with my facebook, then you know some of what has been going on)(I mean, I'm a teacher, I clearly do not have a facebook. . . .). The thing that has hit me the most is in the people that He brought into my life within the first month of the move. I will never forget the first time I walked into my Sunday School class. Although at the time I wasn't quite able to put it into these words, God had prepared all of them for me, and I for them. It just felt so. . . right. And now, a year and a half later, these are still the closest friends I have down here. I've met a ton more people of course, and found a lot of friends and colleagues, and I still know a lot of people up north and/or spread across the nation as music educators, but I am still in awe of the people in that class. And even thinking about where I was in those first couple months to where I am now, I never would have guessed at the way things have turned out (all great). I've gotten hooked into the local music community, and people that I don't even know are starting to recognize me because of it. I love my church choir family (and have missed them! I haven't been in a month :( but we have rehearsal Tuesday!), and have gotten plugged into a lot of cool thing via my church.
OK. . . I feel like I'm just rambling, so my point is this: if you are in a place where it seems like nothing is going right, where you can't seem to see how anything good will ever come of your situation, have faith. God works in all things for the good of those who love Him. Even if your love starts out small, He will fill you in ways you have never imagined. Will life be perfect? Not until you're really living in Heaven. But even in those tough times, realize that you have a hope for a better future (an AMAZING future) and that you can be sure God is working for you AND through you. Don't tire of doing good works, and God will reward your faithfulness.

And if you don't have that hope. . . if you don't have that faith. . . will you open your ears and your heart to hear about it?

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! :)

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.

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?