God's Blessings

So...it's been a while since I've posted anything. I want to let you all know how much Katie and I have appreciated your prayers and support through this time. For those that don't know, in addition to expecting our son Levi to arrive any day now, we also made the decision to close the doors of our small business. Tomorrow will be our last day open. (You can read more on Katie's blog www.katelikesthis.blogspot.com)

To call God "good" during this time would be the understatement of the year. Over and over again He has shown that He is in control, that He provides what we need (physically, emotionally, financially and especially spiritually) and that opening ourselves to His will is always the best and easiest way in the end.

As I await my little boy coming to this world, I know that the lessons I have learned in the past year will serve me well. I hope that I can pass those lessons along to him as well, though if he's anything like his father, I'm sure he'll have to learn some of them for himself.

On Sunday, Ron talked about God's judgement and how it still exists even if we don't believe it. But there's also the flip side to that. Even when we can't see or don't believe that we are receiving His blessings, they are most definitely still there.

Hosea 6:1-3

Every year, each member of the El Camino staff picks a verse for the upcoming year...one to live out, one to remind them of something through the year, etc. Usually, I start looking around September or October for something that might interest me but I have a feeling my verses for 2012 will be Hosea 6:1-3:

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

 

He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

 

So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

 

What great promises about God's faithfulness to us in time of need. It is as certain as the dawn so let's presson to know Him.

An Eternal Perspective

Katie and I were talking the other day and she asked me if I thought the angels were praising God in heaven using my songs. Hmmm...I hadn't ever thought about that. I know the Bible doesn't give us all the specifics about what heaven is like so I doubt a verifiable answer could ever be found out. I suppose it's something we'll find out when we get there.

But it did paint an interesting picture in my mind. One of angels getting excited when little old me writes a new song. "Woohoo!!! That song glorifies the Name of God!!! Let's go sing it to our Lord!!!" What a responsibility I now feel thinking that there is even a possibility that this is true.

But it's the same responsibility that we all share. Imagine when you are doing your personal devotion and come across a little nugget in Scripture, something perhaps that few people have ever thought about in the way that you do. No one who has ever lived has ever had the same exact relationship with God that you do. Think about that as you go through your prayer life this week and as you speak with the people around you.

Psalm 17:15

So, I've been meaning to post this one for a while now. Psalm 17 was the most recent song I recorded and posted on here. Lyrically, it is becoming one of my favorites. The last verse is the one that has spoken to me most over the past few weeks. The psalmist cries out for God to confront his enemies and the wicked that is surrounding him. For 6 verses, he is in despair but then, in the final verse of the psalm, he says:

 

As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.

 

Katie and I talked about what this verse really meant. The thing that I kept coming back to was an analogy of a father and his child. When a little one has a nightmare and wakes up screaming and crying, seeing a father's face brings comfort. So, in the same way, when we are beset on all sides by the evil of this world, we can see our Father's face and be at peace knowing His righteousness.

Psalm 17:6a

I am currently working on recording a song Psalm 17 and I have been thinking a lot about the first part of verse 6. The psalmist says:

 

I call on You, my God, for You will answer me.

 

This became exceedingly relevant as it was National Day Of Prayer yesterday. Notice the verse doesn't say "for You might answer me" or "for You'll probably answer me". It says "for You WILL answer me". Not only can we be confident that God hears our every prayer but that He will answer our every prayer.

Miracles

This past Monday, my wife, Katie, and I found out that God is blessing us with a baby boy. His name is going to be Levi Joseph (God has joined together in harmony and will increase). As I sat watching the ultrasound I thought about the miracle of birth. How so many things have to go right at every stage. How the female body adapts to having a whole other person inside of it. How the baby's body grows and matures as the weeks go by.

 

There are some that say miracles no longer occur. I say they are fools. There are 6 billion people on earth right now because of 6 billion miracles.

 

Not only is our first birth a miracle, but our rebirth as well. That the Holy Spirit can change my heart and mold my life according to the purpose of the Lord is nothing short of miraculous.

 

How many miracles have you seen this week, this month, this year?

God Knows Our Deepest Desires

Just a word of encouragement to anyone out there that might be experiencing some struggles.

 

I've been discovering lately that God has given me exactly what I have asked for. It has not been in the way that I expected, the way that I planned or the way that I desired. But He has been faithful to me and He will continue to bless me with what I need. It may not come in the neat little package that I've asked Him for, but it WILL come. Thank You Lord.

Integrity

Some of you might know that I am a huge sports fan, especially when it comes to college basketball. On Sunday, Pastor Ron taught about maintaining integrity. He used several sporting examples of a lack of integrity (Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, NBA ref Tim Donaghy). I wanted to share a story about the BYU basketball program. Now I know that the people involved believe some very different things than I do, but I still think we can learn a lesson.

 

For those that don't follow college basketball, BYU has a very good team this year. They whooped up on the U of A when they played early in the season, they have a national player of the year candidate in Jimmer Fredette and recently reached #3 in the rankings. But a couple of days ago, they dismissed their leading rebounder for violation of the school's honor code. It was just announced today that it was because the player had premarital sex with his girlfriend. You see, BYU makes every student, athlete or not, sign a covenant stating they will be abstinent (students are also not allowed to do drugs, drink alcohol or caffeine among other things). The student owned up to it, apologized to his teammates and is not appealing any action by the school at this point.

 

The thing that struck me was the school's response to this whole ordeal. They immediately removed the player from the team...a player that could be argued was their second most important...no questions asked...in the middle of a national championship caliber season. The landscape of college basketball and sports in general currently is to kowtow to the athletes. DUIs, drug charges and domestic abuse occur frequently and teams continue to let their players play so their team's record is not affected. A college baseball player was recently allowed to continue his run at the consecutive game hit streak record even though he has rape charges currently in the Bahamas (I'm happy to say, he fell 2 games short).

 

What set BYU apart from all of this? It was Pastor Ron's second point in his conclusion. True integrity is not influenced by circumstances. Many other schools would have kept it internal and withheld disciplinary action or at least waited until season's end. But they didn't. They did the right thing even when it truly hurt. How do we apply that? Psalm 15:4b says that one of the criteria for those worthy to live in God's sanctuary is to keep his oath even when it hurts. It's easy to have integrity on a sunny day, but it means so much more when we maintain it through the storm.

 

Hoss

4' 33"

For anyone wondering about the title of this post it is "4 minutes 33 seconds". This is the title of a "song" by "musician" John Cage. It is a 3 movement piece where the orchestra sits silent for 4 minutes and 33 seconds and the audience is made to listen to the sounds around them...shuffling feet, people clearing the throat, the air conditioner in the theatre. You can watch this on Youtube in several different venues (and be bored to tears I might add).

You might be thinking, what a strange subject to write about. But I use this example to arrive at a quote of Mr. Cage's that I wanted to share with you:

"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation."

This is what the world wants us to believe. If we have no real purpose, then nothing matters and we can act however we want. Mr. Cage presupposes that by having no purpose, we will be like nature. But I beg to differ:

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." - Psalm 19:1

"The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise." - Isaiah 43:21

It seems Mr. Cage is 100% wrong. Allow me to write my own quote:

"The highest purpose is to declare the glory of God. This puts one in accord with nature and, more importantly, into obedience of its Creator." - Hoss

El Camino Blog

So for those that may not read it, El Camino Baptist has a blog (http://www.elcaminochurch.blogspot.com/) where the 5 ministry leaders put down some thoughts each week (or as often as I can coerce them to). So I thought I would also share my posts on this blog as well. I find it really cathartic to put into writing what God has been doing in my life. I suggest it to everyone, even if no one reads it. It's just one more way to capture yourself in the promises of God:

I have been re-reading Matthew during my morning devotions and I came across this passage from chapter 5, verse 48:

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

That is one heavy command. But, think about the wording of that first phrase. We are to be perfect. He doesn't say we will be perfect. He doesn't say we can be perfect. If we were able to achieve perfection then we wouldn't have a need for our perfect Heavenly Father. God wants us to strive toward righteousness and holiness. If we are going to be a light to our world, will that be better accomplished sitting in the comfort of where we are spiritually or having a constant and burning desire for purity? Romans 6:18 has the answer:

"and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."