New Day Everyday

Honeybees

2011-08-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

“I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a thundercloud;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.^[c]
⁸ Hear me, my people, and I will warn you—
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
¹⁰ I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.

¹³ “If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
¹⁴ how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

- Psalm 81:6-16

My, oh my, how stubborn I can be. It seems like more than not, I'm just like the Israelites, stubbornly following my own devices when God wants to give me gourmet honey on a daily basis.

Two weekends I had the opportunity to visit my sweet girlfriend and her family in Maryville, TN. Her father is a hobbyist beekeeper. On that Saturday, we spent most of the afternoon helping him tend to the hives. What a cool hobby! It was awesome to see the bees going about their business of honeymaking. We went to each hive and placed a jar of sugar-water in front of the entrance to the hive so that the bees could have food even if the flowers weren't blooming at the time. Although rewarding, it was alot of work! And the real kicker is that I only saw a tiny fraction of the entire work. In fact, it takes an entire year of constant tending to go from empty hives to honey. To sum it up: that's alot of work for a little bit of sweet honey.

According to the above passage of scripture, God is willing to give us this same sweet honey for free. In fact, he's going to pull it out of a rock. All we have to do is trust him and he will satisfy our needs. This doesn't mean that we will become millionaires overnight, it simply means that God knows how to provide for his children. We have to realize that his way is the best way, and that our own schemes will get us nowhere.

How often am I just like Israel. I am blessed with an abundance, but I go my own way. In my stubbornness, I forget to thank the one who has given it all to me. God could give me honey from a rock, but I decide I would rather spend a year making it myself.

Honey. From a rock. Whatever I need.

All I have to do is open my stubborn heart to the Lord every time I want to take control.

Meaningless

2011-04-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking alot about ambition lately. You see, I'm a man of many ambitions. The list of things that I desire to accomplish grows ever longer by the day. The irony of it all is that it seems that for every goal I accomplish, I come up with at least two new goals to conquer. It's a never-ending battle.

Take school for example. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to college and get an undergraduate degree. As I began to get close to completing my bachelor's degree, I wanted to go to graduate school AND I wanted to get a job and make some money. Of course I can't do both of those at the same time, so I have to pick one or the other. Naturally, no matter what path I start down, the trend will continue; I always have at least one more thing to become "accomplished": bachelor's degree, master's degree, PhD, the "perfect" job.........and on and on.

You get the picture.

Why are we motivated in this way? What drives our desire to excel...and the desire to continue to excel once we don't really feel like we are excelling anymore? It's like an intellectual keeping-up-with-the-Joneses. "If I can just accomplish one more dream, one more ambition of mine, then I will be fulfilled, content, and happy. Oh wait, he's working on a master's degree...I just have a lowly bachelor's degree."

There is something wrong with this mindset, both in the academic and professional arenas. What's the point of getting a better education anyway? To separate ourselves from the rest of society, right? To make ourselves more "intellectual"? That's all well and good, but what I've realized is that the more degrees I get under my belt, the more I understand that there are so many more people out there that have more accolades, more knowledge, and more titles at the end of my name then I do. And it just makes me want more. At this point I've lost sight of my initial goal (whatever that was).

The same is true of the workplace. As I start my climb up the corporate ladder, I realize that there isn't really a clear "top of the ladder". There is always another position to take, another pair of bigger shoes to fill. After awhile, doesn't all this chasing after "higher things" just kinda start feeling...useless??

The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes sums these thoughts up in the following passage (Ecclesiastes 1: 2-11):

^"2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”

³ What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
⁸ All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them."

Can you relate to these words? I know that I often can. As many of you know, I was looking very seriously into going to law school. I wanted a "better" career with more "opportunities". After alot of prayer and thought, I decided that I didn't really know why I wanted to become a lawyer. Was it just that I wanted another notch in my belt? Maybe. Was it that I needed to fill fulfilled doing something that I thought I might enjoy? Perhaps. Wealth? I think so.

At the end of the months-long process of prayer and thought, I came to the conclusion that pretty much the bottom line was that for me law school was one...big...ego trip. And a very expensive ego trip at that. I realized that what I really wanted to do was to get out of the endless cycle, to take a step of responsibility, and to embrace a path that God had laid out for me. I didn't really know what lay down that path. In fact, I think there might be more than one path for me to take, all of them equally good. But the key thing that I needed to realize was that the more that I continued to trust in my own feeble accomplishments, my own ambitions, the more times I kept coming up empty.

I'm not really sure how my ambitions line up with God's plan for my life, but I believe that they do have a place...I just can't trust in them to bring me happiness. I've realized the only place I can truly find happiness in this life is through God, through my family, and through all the other people that make this broken life something rich that's worth savoring.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to pursue higher and higher education or keep moving up the corporate ladder. But I am saying that sometimes we need to refocus our priorities and center them on the things in life that really matter. Echoing the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes:

"¹³ Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind." - Ecclesiastes 12:13

Play Ball!

2010-07-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

I love baseball. There is just something about being out there on the diamond in the summer sun with the smell of leather in your nostrils and the feel of rough dirt on your skin. A CRACK! of the bat and suddenly all eyes are on you as the leather-covered sphere comes hurtling in your direction. With quick and fluid movements you ready yourself to make the play. You have already thought through every possible scenerio in your mind; your body already knew what actions to take before the ball had even been pitched. With ease and grace you make the play...one out.

A skilled player has little to fear, for he has mentally prepared himself for every possible scenerio. To get to that point, each player spends hours perfecting his skills and studying every situation. However, to an ill-prepared player, the most innocent base hit could turn into a nightmare. How very much the Christian walk is like a game of baseball. God has given us his word and prayer with which to prepare for the "game" and if we make effort to make these tools central to our everyday life, the stumbles will be fewer and the falls not quite so hard.

Just like a baseball player who is lacking in wisdom for the game will likely fail, so will the Christian easily fall into a trap of self-righteousness if he thinks that wisdom comes from within himself. Look to God for wisdom on a daily basis through prayer and stay alert in the word and he will always prepare you for gameday.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." - James 1:5

Heart Surgery

2010-02-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

" For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God."

Ezekiel 36:24-28

This winter in Dallas/Fort Worth has seen the second highest total snowfall ever. The total accumulation of snow over the course of the winter to this point is about 12 inches above the annual average. It's pretty remarkable! There something awesome about looking outside after a night of snowfall and seeing a fresh blanket of snow that reflects the morning sun in all its purity and splendor. However, it doesn't take long before curious children and adults alike venture out to make entertainment for themselves in the white powder. The once-picturesque landscape is soon a muddied mess. The snow turns to slush as the temperature rises and more and more traffic tramps through it. How quickly the snow looses its purity (especially in Texas, where it rarely stays below freezing longer than a day at a time) and melts away...

As I read this passage from Ezekiel the other day I couldn't help but think about how much I am like muddied and trampled snow. The stain of sin has indeed left its mark on my life times before, leaving me only a shadow of my former self. But every time, Christ sprinkles some fresh snow on me and makes me clean and fresh. Except that what Christ does for us is different than simply covering up the soiled snow, it's so much more than simply covering up the wound with a bandage.

Christ gives us heart surgery...a new heart of flesh to replace our heart of stone. And not only that, he also gives us his spirit to help us follow his decrees. I sure need that help, every time I try to do things on my own I just mess it up. I just keep turning beautiful snow into a muddy mess. Jesus keeps the snow clean through washing by his blood and the power of his Spirit. And he does it without any help from us, which is why we just have to let him take control of our lives and surrender to him. Because I don't know about you, but last time I tried to give myself heart surgery it didn't go so well. :) And although sin will still reign in our mortal flesh, our heart is new so sin is no longer the thing that defines who we are, it's simply a disease that we must deal with on a daily basis. The permanent antidote is Christ.

Praise God that we are cleansed and released from the bonds of sin through Christ's work in us... clean snow is a beautiful sight!

Faith is trusting God with what we do not see...even when we think we are stepping into a sinkhole.

2009-12-11T23:13:00.001-08:00

So It's been awhile.

Lately I've been thinking about life. And stuff. You get the point. Things have been crazy!! I've been thinking alot about a dude named Abraham and how his part in The Bible, fits into my life. You see, life can throw us some crazy twists and turns, as well as some doldrums that would have even the most seasoned sailor screaming for a breath of wind. But what God has been telling me lately through his word is that he's got the big picture under control.

That's nice to know.

Because it's pretty obvious to me that I don't have a clue what's going on. But anyway back to Abraham. He's a pretty interesting guy! You see never could have imagined his life the way it played. One day he's living easy in UR , the pagan capital of the world, and the next day he's on a super-crazy-long journey to who-knows-where because that's where God told him to go. Pretty crazy stuff. And that's just the beginning. When Abraham and his family finally get to the land God has promised him, his relative Lot takes the prime cut of the land and Abraham gets stuck with the wilderness. If this would have been me, I would be seriously wondering if God really had a clue what he was doing or if he was just shooting around in the dark hoping to hit something good.

Especially after the events that follow.

God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham's like 90+ years old and still does not have a kid through his wife Sarah, who isn't too young herself. Then God works a miracle and what-do-you-know...baby's there. Sweet deal. Then God tells Abraham to kill...

Kill his only son. SAY WHAT?!?!?

(I would be freaking out)

Yet, because of Abraham's absolutely-out-of-this-galaxy faith, he does it. Or tries to. And guess what?

God provides.

Because, after all that's what God does: provide for those who trust him and his plan.

When I look at my life and my so-called problems, they pretty much pale in comparison to some of the tests that God put Abraham through. But then, I begin to think that maybe it's not really that much different. After all, Abraham trusted God in the little things as well. And you know what? Because Abraham trusted God with lots of the little things (in addition to alot of the big things), I'm here today, part of the family of God. Pretty crazy stuff.

Hebrews chapter 11 verses 11-13 says:

"¹¹By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth."

Abraham did not in his life see the sum benefit of his acts of faith. He never looked around and saw his descendants that are as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. But he still had faith and trust in God's plan. And who am I to question God's plan when the fulfillment of his plan is living in my heart. Jesus and his life - and death - should give me motivation and reason to trust God in the little things and the big things. The evidence that God is good on his word is right there in his word - the Bible.

"⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this." - Isaiah 9: 6-7

These words, which were penned hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, came true when the son of God was born in a manger and were completed when he rose from the grave on the third day. God gives us his spirit to live inside us - a security deposit for heaven - that assures us that he has our lives in the palm of his hand.

So yeah, after thinking about this the past week or so, I've realized that whatever issues I've had within the past year are trivial...yet God still wants to help me get through them.

God is in control.

And God is good! By his grace I (just yesterday) finished my fifth semester at UTD. Only three more! Over the Christmas break I will be recording a new (Awesome) album with the guys of The Family Business. And I will be spending time with the great family God has blessed me with. It's been an awesome semester, but I'm glad that it's over for now :)

Christmas Is All In The Heart

2008-12-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.""

__________________________________

God. Come to earth in human form. Born into this filthy, wretched, disgusting, mess of a planet that we call home...in a stable nonetheless. There were no trained doctors to bring him into the world. No sterile delivery room. Only a dirty...feeding trough...filled with soiled hay for bedding. His first visitors were humble shepherds.

And yet...

A star announced his birth. Kings attended him with gifts fit for a king. Angels heralded his coming. Prophets foretold his birth.

_____

He was raised in a humble family. A carpenter. A common working man. He had to do his chores. Take out the garbage. Sweep the floors.

And yet...

His mother was told by angels that she would be blessed. His carpenter's hands would be the hands that would change the world. His chores were not ordinary chores...after all, he was always "about his father's business".

_____

He had no home. He spent his days with the outcast of society. Tax collectors. Prostitutes. "Sinners". He spent 3 years of his life on earth wandering like a nomad from town to town. One day he was exalted as a messiah...the next day he was scorned as a criminal. He was convicted for a crime that he never committed. A crown of thorns was pressed into his head. The blood dripped down...and no one was there to wipe it up. He was nailed hand and foot to a rough wooden cross. He was raised alongside two criminals. The ENTIRE sin of ALL humanity was placed upon him. God the father himself turned his face away. He was totally outcast, totally rejected...totally cut off from God. He died. He was placed in a borrowed tomb.

And yet...

He did it willingly. For you. For me. For all humanity. He defied death itself. He was God in the flesh.

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." - John 1:4-5

__________________

You can say Christmas is about giving. You can say it is about a fat man in a red suit. You can say it is about being selfless. You can say Christmas is about a nativity. You can say it is about unity, peace for all men. You can say Christmas is about shepherds. Angels. Three wise guys. Joseph. Mary. A baby in a manger.

You can say all these things but you'd just be missing the point.

When all the dust settles, Christmas isn't really about any of these things. Christmas is about one thing.

GOD. I AM. JEHOVAH.

The creator of the universe, the king of kings, the Lord of Lords became human flesh. And he did it out of love. Love that shook the world. The-kind-you-can't-buy-in-the-store kind of love. He gave everything he had...his very life...so that we could have another chance. A chance we don't even deserve.

That's one heck of a Christmas present.

You see Christmas isn't something that you can put your hands on. You can't buy it or sell it. You can't hang it up in a department store window or auction it on eBay.

Christmas is all in the heart.

In our hearts. It's Love. God's love. Come to us in a baby in a manger. And it's good.

(As a side note...my inspiration for this post came from Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Christmas is all in the heart". Give it a listen if you get a chance.)

Living a 1 Corinthains 13 LOVE life

2008-09-23T07:44:00.001-07:00

"Water Under The Bridge" - Jars Of Clay

I do not love you the way I did when we met
There are secrets and arguments that I haven't finished yet
It's only that grace has outlived our regrets
We're still here

Maybe we can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge

There are times meant for breaking
And words to ignore
And a bent to our souls
When our skin is at war
If leaving were freedom
Well, we'd both walk right out of that door

Maybe we can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows

And the years roll by
And you hold my hand
While the shadows stretch over the land
Crumble and fall in my arms
And we'll struggle to hold on
Waters, they rise
And they carry our hopes and our dreams away
Baby, we can stay, stay

And the years roll by
And you hold my hand
And the shadows stretch over the land
Baby, we can stay

'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay
'Til the last drop of water flows under the bridge
We can stay

_________________________

Love is a concept that our society is almost totally devoid of in this day and age. As we have grown into a people that only care about self-advancement, climbing the perverbial "ladder" of society, we have lost one of the most important virtues that our creator breathed into us as he formed us out of the dust. We have lost our ability to love in the true sense of the word.

"But," you may say, "I see people each and every day showing love to the ones they care about, family and friends." Well, you may have a point, but before we go any father, let's see what the bible has to say about love. We'll look at one of the classic chapters on the subject: 1 Corinthains 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Think for a minute if you will about the adjectives that describe love in this passage.

Patient

Kind

Protects

Perseveres

Are these words that we as a society generally associate with love? I think not. Some good words that might describe love in the secular sense are:

Emotion

Lust

Feeling

Self-enjoyment

What's wrong with this picture? These words seem almost exact opposites of the biblical definitions! Where have we strayed as a nation? Well the root of it oviously is the fact that we have lost sight of God. Since God IS love, it is practically impossible to have love WITHOUT God. When we have God in our lives, we can love others through the love that God has given to us: love that took our shame, love that died on the cross, love that rose again...for you and me. Who does such a thing? One who truly loves.

Love is self-sacrifice.

I really like the song by Jars of Clay that I posted at the top of this post. I mean who doesn't like a heartfelt love song, right? Well, this is one love song that I think follows the biblical mold of love. It talks about how even though how the emotion of the two people in the song may not be what it once was, how even though they have arguments and disagreements, they still LOVE one another and are committed to what is best. To what glorifies God. It may not be easy, but in ANY relationship with anyone, we are called to this kind of love. To look out for the good of the other and not just ourself. And when that happens, we will understand just a little bit, a little piece, of the love that God has for us.

Praise be to God that we don't ever have to worry about his love being compromised or taken away.

Learning How To Die

2008-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Romans 7: 14-25

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is not longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So i find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our lord!

Sometimes we feel just like Paul. When the Christian life is going well, our sinful nature is under control, and when we are reaching out to others in love, we start to feel all good about ourselves and our life. But when white turns to black and walls start to crumble, it is easy to get depressed and downtrodden. After all, aren't we being continually sanctified through our savior's death and resurrection? Then why do we struggle with the things we do not want to do, and do the things we do not want to do?

Paul offers us further insight from his letter to the Romans in chapter 6 verses 15-23. One of the key scriptures in this passage is verse 18:

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

This verse reminds us that although we were once in bondage to sin, we have now been set free from its grip and are slaves to the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. This does not mean however, that we are incapable of sin. It simply mean that we are incapable of living a life of sin. Just as in this passage, a servant desires to serve his master. He will always follow and obey his master with all his heart because he desires to serve his master. But he will not always perfectly serve his master. Perhaps he will hear of another master and desire to serve him, or perhaps he may feel his master is too limiting. It matters not, because although he may stray for awhile, the servant will always return to his master to serve him and him alone.

Romans 8:5 says that:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desire; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds see on what the Spirit desires.

If we have truly given our whole being to the law of the Spirit, our minds will be set on that which the spirit desires. We may stray time and time again, but we must know that we will always go back to the one who has our heart. And we must not loose hope, we must not give up the fight. We must be thankful that we have been freed from this body of death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord.

To wrap this up, I would like to share one of my favorite songs. This song "Learning How To Die" by Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, details how each and every day we go through the process of learning how to die to ourselves and our sinful nature. The chorus goes as follows:

And I said, please

Don't talk about the end

Don't talk about how

Every living thing goes away

I said, friend

All along I thought

I was learning how to take

How to bend not how to break

How to live not how to cry

But really

I've been learning how to die

Die, die

I've been learning how to die

Praise to God that he gives us the chance to die to ourselves each and every day by his grace!

-Garrett