So... It's been a while!
When I started this blog, it was certainly not with the intention of six months passing before posting again, but you know how life is... between dealing with some losses in my life, another puppy(!), being sick myself and taking care of two sick pups... Life took over!
This is Alex- he's a sweetheart!
And here's Lillie- the result of a day at the dog park!
However, no matter how much life gets in the way, I know that God is always in control. I know that He will not allow anything that gets in the way of His plan for me to touch me, or harm me, or change me. This is not to say that I won't have hardships, and that I won't have trials, but this is to say that if it's in HIS plan for me, I will be OK!
The church service Tony and I attend is known as Pulse; it is a more contemporary service aimed at people in their teens through their 20's and 30's, but the Message is still the same. There are more people wearing jeans and Converses than their are suits and ties, and the music is more guitars and K-LOVE than it is an orchestra and a hymnal, but His word is what is preached. In the front row are three or four boys (I say boys- they look about 22) that fully belong to Him. I love watching them during the worship songs- they are not ashamed to raise their hands for His glory or to go to their knees in prayer. They remind me of another young man, from a YouTube video. It's in the morning in New York City, people are getting their coffees, the streets are wet and puddled from a rain the night before. A young man steps out of his apartment, puts on his headphones and starts to walk. As his music plays and the lyrics start he starts to silently sing along. As the music picks up, so does his response. As he is walking, other people are looking at him but he pays them no notice; he is praising his Lord.
Near the end of the song, powerful in itself, he crosses the street, stops in the median and raises his hands, singing out loud.Cars are passing him, people are walking around him, maybe grumbling about the crazy guy blocking the sidewalk, but he doesn't care. As he falls to his knees and prays, a mother rushes her child past him; cars are trying to make the left turn in front of him; the city keeps moving.
What isn't seen, however, is how he might have affected the people who saw him that morning. What if he was the only reminder of Christ for a passerby, for a driver in a taxi, or for that child that is rushed by his mother?
What is I am the only reminder of Christ for someone in my life, someone that I pass by? What if hearing K-LOVE when my car windows are down, or when I'm humming a tune walking through the halls at school, is the only opportunity for someone to hear that they are loved, that God loves them? I should be as unabashed as those guys in the front pew, but I stay in the back so that when I come in late I don't disturb anyone else, so that only a few people can see me.
You can try to fix your broken empire
Put bricks on a cracked foundation
But you'll be building castles on the sand
There's power in the blood of Jesus
Your father's screaming Just Come Home!
He's reaching out His hands!
Near the end of the song, powerful in itself, he crosses the street, stops in the median and raises his hands, singing out loud.Cars are passing him, people are walking around him, maybe grumbling about the crazy guy blocking the sidewalk, but he doesn't care. As he falls to his knees and prays, a mother rushes her child past him; cars are trying to make the left turn in front of him; the city keeps moving.
What isn't seen, however, is how he might have affected the people who saw him that morning. What if he was the only reminder of Christ for a passerby, for a driver in a taxi, or for that child that is rushed by his mother?
What is I am the only reminder of Christ for someone in my life, someone that I pass by? What if hearing K-LOVE when my car windows are down, or when I'm humming a tune walking through the halls at school, is the only opportunity for someone to hear that they are loved, that God loves them? I should be as unabashed as those guys in the front pew, but I stay in the back so that when I come in late I don't disturb anyone else, so that only a few people can see me.
You can try to fix your broken empire
Put bricks on a cracked foundation
But you'll be building castles on the sand
There's power in the blood of Jesus
Your father's screaming Just Come Home!
He's reaching out His hands!
