Song Thoughts: "Build My Life"

Worthy of every song we could ever sing
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe
We live for You

...

Holy, there is no one like You
There is none beside You
Open up my eyes in wonder...

from "Build My Life" as recorded by Housefires

Wait just a sec. Jesus is holy, yes. There is nobody else holy like He is. That includes me. So that means that every song I could ever sing and every breath I could ever breathe are tainted. Everything I do on this plane of existence is just a little bit messed up. Why would God possibly want the messed-up offering I have of imperfect praise from a person who daily has to fight just to keep from committing a new sin, not to mention the number of sins I've committed over the years of my lifetime? That's like saying "You did good work building me this house! You are worthy of payment! Here's ten cents, plus a half-eaten peppermint I found in my pocket! Sorry about the lint." Why would a holy God possibly want to be worthy of the meager, messed up, out of tune and out of whack praise we would be able to offer?

Within ourselves, we cannot offer God anything of high enough value to honor Him. We don't have anything that valuable. That's why we shouldn't live and exist in the context of our own worthiness - we don't have any! Only Jesus is truly worthy. BUT: the amazingly cool and exciting thing about the message of the cross is that when Jesus died, He took all of our unworthiness down with Him. All of the stain, all the guilt before God of every sin we have committed or will commit, when we choose to accept what He has done for us, is paid for and removed from us!

Jesus made us worthy. Because of that, we can offer praise that God accepts as a sweet scent, an offering fit for the only One holy enough to deserve it. With every breath you breathe, live for Him!

Song Thoughts: "Great Are You Lord"

It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise... - "Great Are You Lord"

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:17 ESV

Every time we sing this song and I get to the chorus, and take a deep breath to belt it out, I think, "Jesus, You're putting this air into my lungs. And you're putting this worship in my heart."

You do realize that every time your heart beats, it's because Jesus made it beat, right? Every time you wake up, it's because He gave you another day to wake up in. Every time your muscles make your body move, every time your eyes blink, every time your body turns food into fuel to keep you alive - it's because Jesus did it.

But more than that: the worship He put into your heart actually belongs to Him in the first place. When we say "You are worthy of praise" it doesn't mean the same thing as it does when we, say, make flattering statements about a successful athlete or celebrity or even our family member or child.

The worship actually belongs to Him, and always has.

As worshipers, we are a vessel to deliver back to God something He entrusted us with, something that belongs to Him. Because nobody but Him deserves it. He put the breath in your lungs, He put the worship in your heart, and when you use one to give another back to Him, it's simply completing the circle, bringing you closer to Him.

You give life. You are love. You bring light to the darkness.
You give hope. You restore ev'ry heart that is broken, and great are You Lord!

It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise!
It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only!

And all the earth will shout Your praise. Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, "Great are You Lord!"

Song Thoughts: "How He Loves"

He is jealous for me...

STOP RIGHT THERE!

Stop singing for a second. Yeah, I do notice that we only finished the first line. That’s because that first line totally wrecks.

Do you remember your first crush? Maybe you were in junior high school, or elementary school, or wherever. I’m talking about the first person your age who totally made your heart go pitter-patter.

Remember how you felt the first time you ever saw that person talking to someone else? Maybe they were even laughing? And it looked to you like your chance with that person was completely gone?

Remember how that felt?

THAT IS HOW GOD.

FEELS.

ABOUT.

YOU.

Close your eyes for a minute and take a deep breath and think about it for a second. I’’ll wait right here until you get back.

…

…

…

OK, done?

Now, go ahead and sing the rest. If you can!

He is jealous for me.
Love’s like a hurricane, and I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy…
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, and I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me!

And oh,
How He loves us, oh…
Oh how He loves us!
how He loves us, oh!
We are His portion and He is our prize, drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes.
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking!
So heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss, and my heart turns violently inside of my chest…
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us!

Oh how He loves us!
Oh how He loves us!
Oh how He loves!

I've blogged about this song before! Click here to see.

Song thoughts: "Friend of God"

I am a friend of God!
I am a friend of God!
I am a friend of God! He calls me "friend"!
-lyrics to Friend of God by Michael Gungor & Israel Houghton

When this song was new to most people, a worship leader friend of mine told me something that surprised me. It seemed that she was getting pushback from members of the congregation who didn't like the almost chummy way the phrase "friend of God" feels. Presumably they felt that God was their Lord, their King, their Father... but never just their plain old "friend."

The problem is that the Bible itself says otherwise. The inspiration for the song was James 2:23, which says "...and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God."

"But that's Abraham," you might say. "He's a special case. He's like THE father of faith!" Well, I would disagree with you that Abraham is a special case, but let's talk about a group of people who essentially started the body we now call the Church. Jesus' twelve disciples are the "us" in the Gospels. They were just people who loved Jesus, like us, and Jesus said to them, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

Guess what? In those very same Gospels, Jesus revealed to us that same information that qualified His first 12 disciples as "friends." God called Abraham his "friend" and He called His disciples "friends"... and He calls you His "friend" too!

Who am I that You are mindful of me, that You hear me when I call?
Is it true that You are thinking of me, how You love me? It's amazing!

I am a friend of God!
I am a friend of God!
I am a friend of God! He calls me "friend"!

God Almighty, Lord of Glory, You have called me friend!

Song thoughts: "Fierce"

Like a tidal wave crashing over me, rushing in to meet me here,
Your love is fierce!
Like a hurricane that I can't escape, tearing through the atmosphere,
Your love is fierce!
- Jesus Culture

"This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
- Hebrews 12:27–29 ESV

The first time I heard the song Fierce, I instantly thought of friends back home. I'm from Louisiana, where hurricanes and tidal waves aren't things that happen to people "somewhere else." I was living in Tulsa when Katrina hit, but I have family and friends who have been personally effected by Katrina and by other hurricanes over the years. My first thought when I first heard the chorus of this song was not, "That's a beautiful expression of how strong God's love is for us!" My first thought was, "This is a song that will really upset people who have been through an actual hurricane!"

It seems strange to describe the love of God as a destructive force - we usually think of love as something that does good things, not destructive things. But according to the Word, God's very presence does indeed contain destructive power. Which frankly seems a little scary!

The key fact here is this: the thing that is destroyed by God's presence is impurity. Sin. Fortunately for us, because Jesus decoupled us from our sinfulness on the Cross, our sinful actions do not cause us to be destroyed. Any sin in the area when God arrives is destroyed, but His people are not.

If we cannot be destroyed by the nature of God's love, but our sin can be destroyed by it, then that means that anything that tries to stand between us and God cannot stand! There is nothing that can withstand the force of a tsunami or a hurricane, and there is nothing that can withstand the force of God's love. It breaks down every barrier! God's love is on the way in a hurry, and there is no escape! (But why would we want to?)

Before I call, before I ever cry, You answer me from where the thunder hides.
I can't outrun this heart I'm tethered to, when every step, I collide with You!

Like a tidal wave crashing over me, rushing in to meet me here,
Your love is fierce!
Like a hurricane that I can't escape, tearing through the atmosphere,
Your love is fierce!

You cannot fail! The only thing I've found is, through it all, You never let me down.
You don't hold back, relentless in pursuit. At every turn I come face to face with You!

You chase me down!
You seek me out!
How could I be lost when You have called me found?

Song thoughts: "Joy of the Lord"

When I cannot see You with my eyes, let faith arise to You.
When I cannot feel Your hand in mine, let faith arise to You.
God of mercy and love, I will praise You, Lord!
-Rend Collective

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:10 ESV

I think the word "faith" tends to be misunderstood more often than it is understood. That's probably because in the English language, we use it to mean a bunch of different things. There is your "Faith" which basically means your set of religious beliefs. The phrase "keep the faith" is often used to mean "keep doing what you're doing because it's the right thing to do." And of course, in some circles "faith" is seen as a tool to get things to happen - almost like a currency that is spent to purchase something.

I think Bible faith is something else entirely. Bible "faith" is simply you and me trusting that God is Who He says He is, and that because He has said so in the Word, He will act on our behalf. Faith is not a means to an end, like repeating something over and over in order to memorize it. Faith is a lifestyle of trust toward God - whether God ever does what you think He should do or not. Sometimes God's best looks like a Bad Idea to the person it is happening to... just ask Job, or Abraham, or Moses, or any other Bible character who jumped the gun on God's plan. Faith is trusting God anyway.

So as the song says, sometimes we don't understand what's going on. We think we know a good plan, but for some reason God doesn't seem to be doing things that way. In fact, things may seem bleak to us. There may be tears, there may be anxiety. But faith says, "I don't know what's going on, but I do know that God loves me, and I'm going to praise Him!" It's a choice that we have to make - it doesn't usually just wash over you. But when you make it, it's the right choice! It's the path to joy!

Though tears may fall, my song will rise, my song will rise to You.
Though my heart may fail, my song will rise, my song will rise to You.
While there’s breath in my lungs, I will praise You, Lord!

In the dead of night I’ll lift my eyes, I’ll lift my eyes to You.
When the waters rise, I’ll lift my eyes, I’ll lift my eyes to You.
While there’s hope in this heart, I will praise You, Lord!

The joy of the Lord is my strength!
The joy of the Lord is my strength!
In the darkness I’ll dance, in the shadows I’ll sing!
The joy of the Lord is my strength!

When I cannot see You with my eyes, let faith arise to You.
When I cannot feel Your hand in mine, let faith arise to You.
God of mercy and love, I will praise You, Lord! 

Oh, You shine with glory, Lord of light! I feel alive with You!
In Your presence now I come alive! I am alive with You!
There is strength when I say, "I will praise You, Lord!"

When sorrow comes my way, You are the shield around me;
Always You remain, like courage in the fight.
I hear You call my name!
Jesus, I am coming, walking on the waves, reaching for Your light!

Song thoughts: "Your Love Awakens Me"

I'm writing up a series of short devotionals for the worship team at my church, based on the songs we do during the service, and I thought it would be cool to share them here too. Here's the first one!

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:4-5 ESV

I love how this song uses the images of death/darkness interchangeably, and life/light interchangeably. In our culture when we think of light, we tend to think of knowledge – which is a totally valid way of looking at it, and when Jesus brings “light” to our lives by saving us, spiritual understanding is certainly a part of it. But to ancient peoples, light was synonymous with life itself. With no sunshine, your crops will die, and eventually so will you. The light that Jesus brings is more than a source of knowing stuff about God… it is a source of life itself!

I also love the way the first verse uses words that relate to being imprisoned, but then in the pre-chorus we realize that the prison we were released from was actually death! How vivid is that idea of being in a cold, dark, deathly prison – but then suddenly God bursts in, kicking down walls and tearing off chains, and leading us into bright sunshine and light!

Did you notice that the first verse and pre-chorus are in past tense – things Jesus has done – and the chorus and second verse are in present tense? God did something for humanity on the Cross, and the effects continue to be felt and to cause things to happen. None of us is perfect – there are things in each of our lives that still haven’t found their way into the light of God’s life. Jesus continues to draw us out, wake us up, bring those parts of us back to life! Everything in creation sings “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”, and we shout it out too!

There were walls between us,
By the cross you came and broke them down – You broke them down!
There were chains around us,
By Your grace we are no longer bound, no longer bound!

You called me out from the grave, You called me into the light!
You called my name and then my heart came alive!

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

Feel the darkness shaking!
All the dead are coming back to life, oh, back to life!
Hear the song awaken, 
All creation singing “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”

You called me out from the grave, You called me into the light!
You called my name and then my heart came alive!

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

What a love we found!
Death can’t hold us down!
We shout it out, “We’re alive ‘cause You’re alive!”

Your love is greater!
Your love is stronger!
Your love awakens, awakens, awakens me!

New ORU Web Site!

How could I have forgotten to mention this? A couple of months ago I started a new job at my alma mater, Oral Roberts University. A big part of this first couple of months for me has been helping prepare the university Web site for a re-launch; the screen shot you see on the right is the main page of the terrific new version of our site! There are a number of things that are cool about this.

The first thing you'll see if  you visit from a computer is that the background is moving video! The next thing you'll notice is that there are huge links to most any major area you might want to visit on the site.

If you visit the site from a mobile device, it still looks great - not like a site designed for a desktop browser that you have to pinch-zoom to view from your phone! The big links are still there, and every page looks great on your tablet or cell phone.

We've created terrific new versions of several parts of the site. Some examples we are particularly proud of:

• The "Explore Majors" section (you can get there from the home page link in the top left, or using this direct link: http://www.oru.edu/academics/explore-majors/) - it looks great, and you can filter it down to a specific department, or just search for what you want to see.
  
• The new "Chapel Services" page (at http://www.oru.edu/chapel/) which looks GREAT, is easier to navigate and watch the videos - and when chapel is in progress, will allow you to watch it live!
  
• If you want to take a campus visit right from your computer, we've added a Virtual Tour at http://www.oru.edu/virtual-tour/ which will make you feel like you've actually been here.

Please visit the site and take a look around! ORU is a terrific place (I wouldn't have come back here as an employee if it wasn't), and we wanted the Web site to match.

Full disclosure: I was not asked to write this, or paid to do so. This is my personal blog, and if I wasn't excited about the school and the Web site, I wouldn't have done it. One more time, the Web site is at:

http://www.oru.edu/

Houseiversary

Four years.

It had been four long years since we moved to Bixby, Oklahoma. Don't get me wrong - we love Bixby. It's just that when we moved out of our house in east Tulsa and into an apartment in Bixby, we expected to live there for four months while we sold our old house and built the new one we would live in. But then our house in East Tulsa didn't sell, and to support that mortgage while it was on the market we wound up retracting our deposit on the new house build, and then we wound up having to turn our old house into a rental property. So we were stuck in an apartment which was very nice, but also very cramped for our family of four. With no money left to build our new house.

For four years.

Our lease was coming up for renewal, and we really felt like it might be time to make a move. It was either get out of the apartment, sign another year lease, or pay a huge premium to go month to month. One day my wife and I had dropped our little girl off at a friend's house for a birthday party, and with nothing else to do for an hour or so until picking her back up, my wife said "Drive down there." Apparently she had seen a sign for a little neighborhood that was going up... so we drove down to take a look.

There were only a handful of houses there, but right near the front of the new neighborhood there were three model houses available to look at. We peeked into each one in turn, and had a bit of a Three Bears experience... the first one wasn't quite what we wanted, and neither was the second one, but the third one was Just Right. The realtor told us that since it was close to the end of the month, it might be to our advantage to wait to shop for financing until after the first of the next month, so we told her we would get back with her then.

But we couldn't get away from being interested in that house! After the first of the month we went back over, and talked to the realtor - who was actually a different woman this time. She told us that the house was still available, but there was another potential interested party - if we had our minds made up, it would be to our advantage to put down our earnest money and lock it down for ourselves. We needed to run back to our apartment to get the checkbook, but she said she would be there when we got back.

Now, it so happens that that day was my wife's birthday, and to celebrate we had bought tickets to hear Jonny Lang play in concert that evening. Jonny is an amazingly talented blues guitarist who is also a man of faith, and his faith in God sometimes turns up in his music. To get pumped for the concert that evening, we had been listening to his Live at the Ryman album all morning - it was playing on the way back to our apartment.

When we got to the parking lot at the complex, something occurred to me. "We haven't actually prayed about this yet," I said to my wife. "Would you like to pray?" She said yes, and right there in the car she began to pray for guidance and wisdom.

I was listening and agreeing with her in prayer, but as it turned out I didn't hear much of what she said... because the Holy Spirit was speaking to me right through my stereo speakers! Right when my wife started praying, Jonny Lang got to a part of his song "Red Light" where he was half-speaking, half-singing to his audience about trusting God. "It's gonna be all right," he sang. "It's gonna be all right. Everything's gonna be all right."

Over and over Jonny sang "Everything's gonna be all right," and my heart said to me that it wasn't an accident that that part of the song happened to play right when we were seeking God's wisdom on this decision. I'm not someone who sees "sign from God" in every coincidence, but I'm also not too dense to recognize the Holy Spirit using something to encourage me.

There were a lot of things that day that came together for us. We happened to have enough spare money available to us right then to put down the earnest money - an unusual situation for us. We got there that day before this hypothetical other buyer - I realize that he may or may not have truly existed (I know how high-pressure sales work), but a man did turn up as we were working on the paperwork and he did want to look at houses. The perfect house for our family was already built and waiting for us just when we needed to move out of the apartment; no waiting for a 4-month build.

And my wife got the most lavish birthday present of her life so far: a new house!

We've never regretted what happened then. Today is the one year anniversary of the day we moved in, and we couldn't be happier! (Even our dog is more relaxed than he was in the apartment!) The neighborhood is nestled between some areas of farmland - the photo at the top of this blog post is a snapshot I took one morning within walking distance from where we live.

Four years.

Sometimes God's blessings take a bit of time to arrive (review this if you need additional information). But when they do arrive, they are amazing!

Epiphany 2016

You know, year after year God has used Epiphany to effect our family in any number of ways. This year, as you will see, the Holy Spirit is clearly trying to tell my wife and me something! Read on for the details.

First off: if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, you might want to review some of my past Epiphany posts. The short version of the story is that for the past five years, every year in my family we have a special tradition on January 6th where my wife and I, as the leadership in our home, give one gift to each family member which we hope will lead each of us to a closer walk with the Lord in the coming year.

In addition to that, every year I try to come up with something interesting to share with my family about the Wise Men, or the history of the church holiday, or whatever. Something relevant and edifying. Well, this year I realized that in my Logos Bible software installation I have access to lectionaries from several denominations, and those lectionaries contain Bible readings specifically chosen for use on any day of the year, especially holidays like Epiphany. I went through all of them to see what they have, and as it turns out, most of them had selected more or less the same Scriptures. And they were awesome.

For those from church traditions (like the one I come from) that don't use this kind of prescribed Scripture readings, generally there will be an "Old Testament" reading, a "Psalms" reading, a "Gospels" reading, and an "Epistles" reading for each date. The ones almost unanimously chosen for this date are:

Old Testament: Isaiah 60:1-6  which is a remarkably vivid prophetic description of a bright light rising and appearing over Israel and people (including kings) bringing caravans of camels laden with gold and frankincense.

Psalms: Psalm 72 in which David (who calls himself "the king" in his psalms) prophetically describes visitors from distant lands bringing gifts to one of his descendants (remember, Jesus was known as the "son of David").

Gospels: Matthew 2:1-12 which is of course the Gospel account of the coming of the Wise Men to see Jesus.

Epistles: Ephesians 3:1-12 The significance of the arrival of the Wise Men is that they were the first who recognized that Jesus was given not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles also (they were not Jewish). In this passage Paul explains that God has called him to share the message of Christ's salvation with the Gentiles as well.

I actually copied all of these passages into a Word document to print out and read to the family - if you'd like to see it or use it, I've shared it here. As in the links above, I used the New Living Translation, specifically because my daughter is still young and I didn't want to confuse or bore her with long Bible passages she couldn't understand.

So after we read through those passages and talked briefly about their significance, we moved on to the presents!

I Can Do All Things 20oz. Sports Bottle

At my daughter's school, they make a point to have all the kids bring water bottles, on the theory that well-hydrated kids make better learners. This year my wife and I spotted a cute sports bottle covered with flowers that has printed on it "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Philippians 4:13". I explained to my daughter that sometimes there are hard things that people ask you to do - like a tough assignment in math class. God can strengthen you to complete that task. Then sometimes there are things that the Holy Spirit speaks into your heart - like showing love to someone who hasn't been nice to you. God can strengthen you to do those hard things too. She took it to school with her the next day - she really loved the multicolored pinwheel of a flower right in the middle!

A Sherlock Holmes Devotional

My son was up next. This past year he expressed some interest in Sherlock Holmes, so when I saw a book called A Sherlock Holmes Devotional I was immediately interested! Basically, the book contains a synopsis of a Sherlock Holmes story, and then a kind of "personal application" kind of thing that goes along with it. When I handed it to him I explained that we chose it for two reasons: first, we thought he would enjoy using it. But second, we wanted him to remember that sometimes you have to search out the things of God, look for clues to find them. When he opened it he immediately started leafing through it with a smile on his face - I hope it makes a big difference for him!

Dream, You Are Never Too Old Framed Art

My wife was next in line. We just moved into a new house this past year, and frankly we haven't had the chance yet to decorate it like she would like for it to be. I took a little bit of a chance (sometimes a woman's sense of taste is really specific) and got her a small piece of framed art with a quotation from C. S. Lewis, "You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream," and a partial quote from Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you to give you a future and a hope." She has often told me about certain choices she made as a girl that she has since regretted, and I felt it in my heart to let her know that it's never too late to pursue the dreams God has placed on your heart. She loved it! She found a perfect place for it as soon as we were done, and we hung it then and there. You can see a picture of it proudly displayed on our wall below:

The "Dream" framed art, proudly displayed in our new house!

His Plans Desktop Reminder

Last of all it was my turn. This year my wife collaborated with my son, and they found a triangular office desk decoration that they liked for me. And it also has Jeremiah 29:11 quoted on it! Seems like maybe the Lord is saying to my family that He's got a plan for us this year, and it's going to be a good thing!

It's really cool to see that God has laid similar things on my heart and on my wife's heart for the upcoming year. If you read my blog post last year, my gift to my wife displayed a verse that says that God would back up her plans (conceived of course from a Godly heart), and this year her gift reassures her that God has His own plans for her. The gift I received last year said that I would be blessed if I put my trust in the Lord, and this year's gift lets me know that God's plans are for good things and not for disaster. How great is that?

Epiphany was on Wednesday this year, and my daughter wanted to bring the Wise Men with her to church. I let her bring the ones from our Little People Nativity set, along with the baby Jesus, but she also brought something else: a chest from her My Little Pony toy castle, containing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You can see it in the picture at the top of this post!

I write about our Epiphany every year, not to make us seem so cool and spiritual, but because it is a special time for us. I hope you make your own "plans" next year to follow our example with your own family. It's one of my favorite traditions from the holiday season!

"His Plans" on my desk at work

By the way... if you are interested in purchasing a base package of the Logos software I mentioned above - which is REALLY incredible, by the way - get in touch with me so I can give you my email address. If you call them and tell them I referred you, with my email address so they can locate my account, not only will you get 15% off your purchase and some other valuable books for free, but I'll get a credit on my Logos account so I can add some stuff to my library too. Win-win!

One More Gift!

It's the most wonderful time of the year again! No, I don't mean Christmas, although that's the other most wonderful time of the year. I'm talking about a church holiday called Epiphany, which falls on this Wednesday. Epiphany (or "Three Kings Day", or "Dreikönigsfest" if you want to go all crazy about it) is the traditional holiday when Christians celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men in Bethlehem. It is a celebration of the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles, which is what the "epiphany" (lower-case) is - when we understood that Jesus was a gift for all of us, not just the Jews. For some more about the Wise Men and their significance, check out the first part of my post about Epiphany from last year.

Several years ago I started a tradition in our home that I hope others will adopt. You can read about the basic idea in the post I wrote the first year we did it, but essentially we (the parents, the leadership of our home) choose one single gift for each member of our family that is chosen specifically to inspire them to draw closer to Jesus in the coming year. We give a gift because the Wise Men brought gifts! The holiday is close enough to Christmas that it still feels like a gift-giving time, but far enough removed that it's easier to remember that this is all about Jesus, not reindeer or fat men in red suits or elves on shelves any of that other fun stuff.

I encourage you to think about what you can give someone on Wednesday that might help them think about Jesus during the next twelve months. We always keep our gifts ver modest - $20 is more or less the limit on cost per gift for us. If you need some ideas, feel free to read back through my posts form past years about what we gave on Epiphanies past. Or just choose one person and give them something small, even handmade - as long as they know that this is about seeking more of Jesus this year. The Wise Men traveled hundreds of dangerous miles through desert wilderness to find Jesus and bring gifts. Maybe our gifts can inspire us to take a journey deeper into our relationship with Him!

HUGE Bible Sale at Christianbook.com!

Christianbook is having a HUMONGOUS Bible sale between now an November 2! If you're in the market for a new Bible, or would like to stock up on Christmas presents or gifts for other occasions (say, for example, Epiphany!), you really owe it to yourself to hop over to the sale and take a look. There are study Bibles, storybook Bibles for kids, daily devotional Bibles, Bibles with cute covers, Bibles for teens and their moms, Bibles in Spanish, Bibles in all of the popular translations like the ESV, the NIV, and the NLT, with prices up to and exceeding 70% off! (Reportedly there is something priced at 94% off... can you find it?)


Click here to check it out for yourself!

Win Logos & an iPad Mini!

Not to mention some great books by John Bevere! Enter now... here's the link! (But if you win and I don't I'll be very very sad so in that case you should definitely share!)

Crossway Bibles giving away ESV Global Study Bible for free!

You read right... Crossway is giving access to their Global Study Bible away for free! (This is of course digital access only; don't expect them to mail you a physical book for nothing.) Crossway has been so generous over the years in providing digital access to incredible resources like this for minimal or no cost - take advantage of the opportunity to dig deeper into the Word!

The easiest way to jump into the ESV GSB: ESVBible.org (click "Apps" then click "Global Study Bible Online"). You can also purchase access to a number of other study Bibles there, if you are so inclined!

Epiphany 2015

My 7-year-old daughter has been asking about "Three Kings Day" ever since Christmas. She's been really excited about it! She really loved what we gave her last year, and she was looking forward to getting something else this year. How great is that, when your kids are excited to receive something which will remind them about Jesus? I was excited too... this is one of my favorite times of the year, when I get to speak things over each member of my family by giving them a special token of was my wife and I see in them. If you haven't yet tried it yourself... you really should!

This year when I sat everybody down (I always insist on sitting on the floor next to the Christmas tree) I wanted to explain a few things about the Magi. First, I read the verses in Matthew that talk about them:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

(Matthew 2:1-2 ESV)

I told them that we don't really know exactly where these "wise men" came from, but some think that they may have come from the region of Babylon, and perhaps they came because they were familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures. I read them this:

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

(Daniel 9:25 ESV)

This is from a prophecy given to Daniel in Babylon. The "weeks" are actually weeks of years, not days. The angel was telling Daniel exactly when the Messiah was going to be born! A man of wisdom in ancient Babylon would certainly be familiar with the writings of Daniel, who was one of the wisest advisers any Babylonian king had ever had. Maybe they were looking at their watches and wondering when it was going to happen!

Then I read this:

I see him, but not now;
   I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
   and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
   and break down all the sons of Sheth.

(Numbers 24:17 ESV)

These were words given to a Gentile prophet named Balaam that talk about a future human person, but compare him to a "scepter" (meaning, he will be a king) and also a "star". This was widely considered a prophecy of the Messiah in those times. Assuming that these learned Gentiles knew about Daniel's prophecies and also about this one by Balaam, and assuming they had done the math and realized that Daniel's timing had elapsed, when they saw a "star" in the sky, of course they were going to go where it led them!

After explaining all of this, I told them that there are two things the Magi did that are what we want our Epiphany gifts to inspire us to.

1. The Magi knew the Word of God. They didn't have all of it that we have now, but they knew the parts of it that they had. We want our family to know the Word.
2. They searched for Jesus. They physically went looking for Him! We don't go anywhere physically now, of course, and Jesus has promised He is always with us. But we want our family to seek out ways to draw closer to Him.

With all of that out of the way, we went on to the gifts!


First, my daughter opened her gift. Last year we gave her a storybook, and she and I read through all of the stories several times in the months after we gave it to her. After going through it a couple of times we went on to other storybooks, but my wife (who tucks the kids in at night) told me that our little girl still keeps the book by her bed, and every night before she goes to sleep she reads one of the Bible verses. We decided to get her a book called Little Miss Grace Promise Book which has several Bible verses on each page, so she would never run out! We also bought her a bookmark to keep her place (the book has a ribbon bookmark built in, but we loved the one we found). She was so excited! She even took it to show her grandma later that night.

Next it was my son's turn. This year he entered high school, and not only is he taking his studies very seriously, but he is taking his music very seriously. He plays trumpet, and he is among the best in the school band, even as a freshman. My wife and I are both musicians also, and we know that one of the worst enemies any musician has is his own self-doubt. We gave him a little token, roughly the size of a quarter, that he can carry around with him. It says "No Doubt" on it, and has a Scripture on the back to remind him to never doubt God, and never doubt himself. (I don't have a link for the token, but here's a keyring with the same design.)


Later, after we had all opened our gifts, my son said "Why is it that the best gifts are always so tiny?" It may sound like irony to someone who doesn't know him, but he was being very serious. That little token apparently meant a lot to him!

Next, I gave my wife her gift. Like many women, she loves roses, and I gave her this mug, which just inside the rim where you can hardly help but see it when you take a sip has a Scripture that I hope she reads hundreds of times this year.

Finally, for the first time, this year I received a gift too! My wife had bought me the hugest coffee cup I have ever owned. It's a 20-oz mug, and it has a Scripture on the back of it (where you see it when you pick it up to drink). Because of things I've mentioned to her in recent weeks, she knew this particular verse would be meaningful to me. (If you stay with me in the coming weeks you will get to find out some of what she was thinking of when she bought it.)

(Next to a "normal-sized" cup for scale)

Edit: Looking at this cup every day actually did inspire me to think more about the Word of God. See what I wound up learning months later here and here!

After everyone had received their gifts, we went over to my mom's house - Three Kings Day is also the start of the season leading up to Lent, and where we are from (Louisiana) there is a special kind of cake called "Kings Cake" that you can serve at parties this time of year. She had some ready for us, and we had something ready for her: we had gotten her a little insulated cup with a picture of the kids on it and a little note they had written her. (I didn't take a picture of it.) We had another little mini-party at her house, and that was our celebration!

By the way - I know I always post pictures of our Epiphany gifts here, but that's not done in order to brag. I describe our gifts and post pictures here hoping to inspire you, reader, to take some time to really think about the people in your life and what word from God you would like to speak into their lives. To do this right you really have to put some effort into it, and find something that is both meaningful and useful. If it's not useful, they won't have it out as part of their lives for the next year, and if it isn't meaningful, then it's just more clutter around the house. But if you approach Epiphany gift-giving with thoughtfulness and love, maybe you'll have someone who is still, after a year, reading her storybook every night before bed. Maybe your one little purchase will make a huge difference when they need it. Maybe you can start the new year off with something genuinely special!

Count Down to Epiphany 2015

Saturday my wife and I went out and did our Epiphany shopping.

What is Epiphany, you may ask? (If you haven't been reading this blog for the past few years, that is.)

Epiphany is a traditional holiday also known as "Three Kings Day". It is celebrated in some churches as the day the Wise Men/Magi/Three Kings brought gifts to Jesus and Mary and Joseph. For the past few years in my family, we as parents have taken it as an opportunity to bless our children with some very small gift which we hope will help them grow closer to Christ in the coming year. You can read about what happened in previous years in these blog posts.

Anyway, I wanted to remind my readers that it is coming up this Tuesday. If you have people who are close to you, consider stopping by a Christian bookstore - or any store, really - and picking up a gift for someone. Don't give them something expensive. Give them something meaningful. And it doesn't have to be a Bible, either... be creative. Give it to them on Tuesday, and tell them you hope that whenever they run across it in 2015, it reminds them that God loves them and wants to be close to them, and you love them, too. And be sure and stop by later this week when I tell you about what my wife and I chose for our family!

By the way. You may have noticed that I've been... well, pretty quiet in this blog for the past while. In fact, it's been nearly a year since I've posted anything! To be honest, it was a rough, discouraging 2014 for me, and I've come to think that it was probably mostly my own fault. I'll probably share a little bit of that in the coming weeks. I've started to itch a little bit to share again here, so I hope you'll join me as I continue to pound out my thoughts about God that the Bible and spirituality and music and whatever else comes along that I think might be interesting. Why don't we have a great 2015 together!

Ragamuffin: The Movie

This past weekend, my wife and son and I went to see a movie that I'm comfortable saying I will never forget. And I don't say that about just any movie. Ragamuffin is about one of those guys who left an indelible mark on the world, and then abruptly and unintentionally left it too soon.

Rich Mullins wrote a song that by now, pretty close to anybody who's been in church more than about ten minutes is familiar with: "Awesome God". He wrote a bunch of other cool songs about Jesus, too. In fact, come to think of it, almost every song he wrote was about Jesus. In the 80s and 90s when Rich was around the music scene, there was a lot of pressure to do otherwise - his focus on vulnerability and seeking to honor only Christ in his music made quite an impact on the Contemporary Christian Music industry he was in. And that's part of what the movie is about, but it's about much, much more.

Let me back up a little bit. Back when I was in high school I heard "Awesome God" on the radio, and instantly realized how unusual it was. These days, Christian radio is pretty much full of songs that you also find in church worship services, but back then it wasn't like that. Back then, if you were doing "contemporary worship" in your church, you were probably getting your material from one of several outfits that were putting out CDs specifically for that purpose... the Integrity Hosanna series, the Maranatha Praise series, that sort of thing. But this song was on the radio, and it sounded like a song you would do in church, complete with a full choir on the chorus! And yet, it was kind of subversive. Have you ever listened to the parts that aren't the chorus? By "Awesome" Rich Mullins clearly primarily meant "powerful", and the verses are about God displaying his power. Ever sing that line about how God poured out judgement and wrath on Sodom in your church? I didn't think so!

Anyway, in the years following I enjoyed Rich's music very much, and I even bought a couple of his CDs, although I didn't try to snag every single one that came by. When I heard he was going to be playing a concert in Tulsa where I live, I jumped at the chance to attend! It was a terrific show, and I'm certainly glad I didn't play the "I don't have time, I'll catch Rich the next time he comes to town" card.

Rich never came back to town. I few weeks later I heard the news that Rich had been killed in an automobile accident.

Fast-forward to a month or two ago when I heard that this movie had been completed and was being shown literally a couple of miles from where I live! The only showing in the entire state of Oklahoma! My wife and I certainly weren't going to miss this! And I knew my son, who wasn't even born when Rich died but who has been a fan of his ever since he was old enough to be a fan of anything, would want to go too (he did).

The movie had a profound effect on the three of us. I think it moved my son more than any other movie he's ever seen. On one strange level, it's the same old story of a rock star who shone brightly, attacked life and music with gusto, and left too soon. On another level, it's the story of a guy who struggled to understand his own life and his own place in God's plan, but who always always always trusted God. All through the movie you desperately want to see Rich find an escape from the tumultuous things in his life. In the end, he does find that place, in the "Sunday-school answer" he knew all along: Jesus' love is that place of peace.

Rich had done interviews over the years, and I probably heard one or two of them, but most of what I knew about him was based on his music. Rich's songs are very tightly focused on Jesus and on God's love, but they also have a strong artistic sensibility about them. The lyrics are vivid, and (especially a bit later on) the musicianship and instrumentation are beautiful. This was clearly music created by someone who loved music very much, and who loved Jesus even more.

What I didn't know about were some of the details that a guy doesn't really care to talk about much in interviews with Christian radio stations, such as the unsatisfying relationship he had his whole life with his father, getting put out to pasture by the love of his life who apparently couldn't bring herself to follow him into his blossoming music career, and his alcoholism and smoking. The movie doesn't shy away from any of those things, and it gives you a very layered look at the man behind all of those beautiful songs.

But I think that you really have to be familiar with Rich's body of work to appreciate this movie for what it is. Rich's songs appear at many points during the narrative, but unless you have a firm sense of what Rich was trying to articulate in his music, what he truly believed with his whole heart, it would be easy to get a misguided idea of what the guy on the screen was really like. There aren't very many on-screen discussions of God; actually, there are a number of discussions that occur visibly, but narration sums up what they are about. The movie is about Rich's life; to find out about his beliefs you need to listen to his music. This is not a fault of the movie; this is what happens when you try to boil down 40 years of a complex man's life into a 2-hour movie. You hit the high points. And I think the move does a very satisfying job of giving us a bird's-eye view of the life of a very interesting human being.

The movie is not perfect. Judging from photos and videos I've seen of Rich, I think he generally had a friendlier vibe personally than was portrayed in the film. I suspect that in the movie Rich comes off more Jim Morrisony than he did in real life. However, Michael Koch (who played Rich in the film) does an impressive job of channeling Rich's vocals and piano/guitar playing, and his acting performance is certainly compelling. The story rambles a bit; instead of being a very clear exploration of one aspect of Rich's life (such as "this is the love story about Rich" or "this is the story of how Rich's music was made") it touches on a lot of things. On the one hand, maybe a polished Hollywood guy would have tightened that up a bit; on the other hand, I think to some extent Rich rambled his way through life, and maybe that kind of script is just the thing. It did give me the impression that the movie was longer than it turns out it actually was.

In the end, I am so glad I got the opportunity to see this movie. I would highly recommend it to anyone. I would go see it again in a heartbeat. If and when it comes out on DVD, I'll be picking up a copy. I've been listening to Rich's CDs all weekend, and now I see some dimensions of the lyrics that I didn't notice before (there are lines in "We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are" and "Jacob and 2 Women", for example, that take on an added poignancy when you know about the Rich's love for a woman who turned her back on him). I won't ever hear Rich's songs with the same ears again.

I do hope a lot of people see this movie and let God speak to them through it. If it's coming anywhere near your town, PLEASE go see it. You will definitely not regret it.

http://ragamuffinthemovie.com/

Epiphany 2014

Yesterday evening I sat my family down on the floor in our living room, as I have on January 6 each year for the past two. This year my wife knew what was going on (I got her help selecting the gifts!) but my two kids didn't know at first. "Today's a special holiday..." I started, and my 13-year-old son jumped in: "Oh, it's Three Kings Day!" Right he was! And his sudden understanding, appropriately, was an "epiphany" which is the other name for the day. Mostly for my 6-year-old daughter's sake (she's little, so she's going to need to full spiel for at least the next couple of years) but also for my son and wife's sake, I explained again this year that Epiphany or Three Kings Day is a day the traditional church celebrates the arrival of the Magi with gifts for the baby Jesus. I also explained something that hadn't really clicked with me until this year: the Wise Men are the first recorded Gentiles to come to Jesus. The holiday is called "Epiphany" because an epiphany is a revelation, and the arrival of the Wise Men was a revelation that Jesus was for everyone, not just for the Jews. How awesome is that?

My own tradition for the past few years has been to secretly purchase an inexpensive gift ($20 is about the max I spend on each gift) for each family member that I hope will inspire them to think about God more, or learn something about the Bible, or whatever. You can see examples of what I got them in the past two years here and here. The trick is to pick something that will truly speak to the heart of each person. This year was even more special because I invited my wife to pick the gifts for the kids with me. She was an awesome help! Frankly, I'm not sure I would have made the best choice for our daughter without her.

Princess Stories

My little girl opened that gift first. My wife and I had spent a significant amount of time searching and searching through the stuff in the children's section at the Christian bookstore the Saturday before, trying to decide whether to get her a "real" Bible, some kind of Bible story book, or something else. We finally settled on a book called Princess Stories: Real Bible Stories of God's Princesses which is a book of Bible stories specifically of women and girls, told from their perspective. The artwork is very warm and inviting, and the stories are designed to give little girls characters from the Bible that they can think about and look up to. (Not many of them are technically royalty, but the point is that as daughters of The King, every girl and woman who comes to Jesus is a real live princess!) As a bonus, there is either a kitten, a puppy, or a bunny on nearly every page (on some pages you have to settle for a bird or butterfly, but that's OK.) My daughter was so excited to start hearing the stories that she didn't want to wait for bedtime to hear one! She begged to hear the one about the Bible character who has her same name... "Look, my name is right in the book!" she said. I think that counts as a successful choice!

The Story:
Teen Edition

Next, my son opened his gift. Since he is a newly-minted teenager, we thought we would give him something to help him really get a grasp on the "big picture" of the Word of God. I'd seen the "The Story" items when they came out a year or so ago, and I found the idea of formatting the Bible's grand narrative like a modern novel very interesting. The Bible can be so intimidating... it's long, things don't come in the right order, and most people barely know about what happens in a huge hunk of it. "The Story" is a whole series of books and materials focused for specific age groups - there is a The Story for adults, the Teen version we got my son, and even storybook-style versions for grade schoolers and preschoolers. The grander idea is that a church can launch a program where each age group studies the same section of their own The Story edition (there are 31 divisions in each book) every week, and the whole church learns the basics of the whole Bible together. Our church isn't doing the larger program, but hopefully my son will get interested in it using his own copy. He's actually a pretty big reader (when he's not playing one video game or another!) and he was surprisingly enthusiastic when he realized what he was holding. He was actually more excited than I thought he would be. He's a great kid! And my wife is actually so intrigued with the concept that we'll be getting the e-book (adult edition) for her to put on her cell phone so she can read through it as well.

(On a side note, at this writing ChristianBook.com is running a big promotion of "The Story", and they have the materials on deep discount. For example, the $20 adult edition of "The Story" is on sale for $5! Check the sale out at their "What Is The Story?" page.)

Duck Commander
Devotional (Pink)

My wife had forgotten that she always gets a gift too... when I pulled out the gift I got her, she seemed embarrassed that she hadn't thought to get me something! I don't care whether I get a gift or not, but I suspect I will next year! I had gotten her The Duck Commander Devotional, a one-year devotional book written by the stars of the Duck Dynasty TV show, which she is a HUGE fan of. (I got her the girly pink one, of course, but there is a version with a green cover for the studly man in your life.) She was so excited that she almost decided to read the first six entries right away to catch up! I told her it was OK to wait and read those first few entries next January!

My daughter was so pumped about our Epiphany gifts that she immediately decreed that I should have one too, and she got out her art supplies and proceeded to make me the crown you see below. I was actually kind of surprised when she did the whole thing herself over the course of maybe 20-30 minutes, including designing the crown, cutting out all of the pieces, and gluing it all together! The end result is terrific! It's a little small for my big Daddy head, but it fits pretty well on one of my stuffed doggies at work. It will definitely be treasured for years to come!

Make a habit of watching this blog for the next year. Come late December, I'll be reminding my readers that Epiphany is coming up. It's a tradition that has been very meaningful for my family, and I have no intention of ever not doing it. (Heck, when my kids grow up and have their own families, they may be surprised to find something in their mailboxes on January 6!) And even though it's January 7, it's not too late to follow my lead! Stop by the Christian bookstore and pick up some little thing... a bookmark, a toy Bob the Tomato, a music CD. Something to encourage a loved one to draw closer to Christ. It's never a bad day to have the epiphany that Jesus Christ is a gift personally given to you!

My Epiphany crown. And, before you ask: YES, it is

right side up. (She corrected me when I turned it over.)

In A Year, Take 2, Part B

By the way, yesterday I blogged about how I'm planning to take the Bible by storm this year using the YouVersion Bible app, but I didn't mention another thing I'm also doing this year. I have about a 25 or 30-minute commute in to work every morning, and I've decided to use that time every day to listen to my favorite audio version of the Bible. Several years ago I purchased this audio New Testament read by a guy named Marquis Laughlin. I've listened to a lot of it in bits and pieces, but I've decided to start it from Matthew 1:1 and just let it run in the car on my commute in (my commute home I'll listen to the radio or whatever else I want; I'm not in a hurry). If you think this sounds like a good idea, there are a number of audio Bibles for sale in several different formats - MP3, audio CD, even some devices that come pre-loaded with audio Bibles on them. Or, use your smartphone and one of the apps like YouVersion, Bible Gateway, eBible, or Bible.is which have audio built into them for free (the Bible.is app has "dramatized" versions, which will have one of two affects on you: either you will feel immersed into the experience, or you will find the dramatic music a bit over the top. Try it out and see which reaction you have!)

The main point is, use whatever tools you have at your disposal to get into the Word. You will in no way regret it!

In A Year, Take 2

Three years ago about this time, I posted this. "This year I'm going to do it," I said - read all the way through the Bible. I wanted to go all the way through my ESV Study Bible (see what it looks like at ChristianBook.com) and read the whole text and the study notes. Not to far into my quest, I also decided to read the notes from my NIV Study Bible (here it is at CBD) and get a second perspective on things. The plan was good, the materials were just what I wanted, and I made some great progress. In fact, I made it more than halfway through the Bible that year (read my end-of-year wrap-up here), and in the long run I made it clear into the Minor Prophets before I completely fizzled out. We moved out of our house into a smaller apartment, the spot where I could read wasn't as conducive to peace and quiet, and whatever other reasons there might be took the wind completely out of my sails. At this point, if I picked that program back up where I left off, I would be totally in the dark about what I was doing.

So this year I decided to start over. This time, instead of doing it the "Give yourself a self-taught college-level Bible survey class" way, I decided to go with the "Get in, get it done, and get out Bible ninja" method. I still don't have a satisfactory Bible Study spot, but I think I can carve out a few minutes at bedtime every night. And I have a smartphone. It's got Bible apps. Bible apps have reading plans. In fact, I've used a couple of the shorter YouVersion reading plans before... why not jump in with one of the long-term plans?

One Year Bible (NLT)

So that's what I'm doing. I selected the plan based on The One Year Bible; it seemed straightforward enough. It's linked to the NLT version, which is generally not my preferred translation but it's easy to get through. And that's my goal for this year: get through all of the parts of the whole Bible. Read the whole thing. In my previous try I was hoping to get a pretty deep understanding of how the Bible fits together - I did get that understanding, to an extent, and the parts that I made it through should feel a bit like old friends now. This time I just want to experience the Bible on its own, without trying to hard to learn every detail. Some things about history and context I should remember; other things I certainly will not. But I have a lifetime to go back over that stuff. This year I just want to make it all the way through. And with the help of some 21st-century technology (the Internet and a smartphone) I think I can make it happen!