Archive for December, 2008

For those of you who know me real well you know that my ipod collection is very eclectic.  I have everything from heavier rock to hip-hop to soul to contemporary.  Now all of the music is Christian and I literally listen to it all depending what mood I am in at the time.  So with that being said I was intrigued when I read a blog by a friend of mine  about Jimmy Needham, an artist that is coming more and more onto the scene and has a great sound that is also lyrically stimulating.  One of the songs that I love on the album is titled “Hurricane” and here is why I love it.  Read the lyrics to the chorus below:

I need You like a hurricane
Thunder crashing, wind and rain
To tear my walls down
I’m only Yours now
I need you like a burning flame
A wild fire untamed
To burn these walls down
I’m only Yours now
I’m only Yours now

This is a simple plea as a child of God to have God come into your life and turn everything that is worldly and of the flesh into rubble and to take what is left and build a mighty man or woman of God.  So today’s post is simple and to the point, ending with a set of questions.  And remember you are not the only one who knows the answers because God knows it as well.

1. Are you running from or toward Christ today?
2. Are you living torn down or behind your walls?
3. Do you need a Hurricane?

We wanted to take this time to tell all of our family and friends “Merry Christmas” and we pray that you will take the time this season to focus on Him instead of it!

We hope that you have a safe holiday and we love you all!!!
Merry Christmas!

God  Bless ~ Tyler

Well as I was blog surfing this morning I came across a blog on President-Elect Obama and his choice for the pastor that was going to lead the invocation prayer at his inauguration.  For me that was a welcomed move by the President-Elect (not that my opinion matters.)  So this is the impressed part!

And as I read this pastor’s blog I was directed to other blogs through comments that were left on his site either for or against Obama’s decision.  And as I began looking through these comments I was irritated at the number of people that will take a stand against something without truly researching that which they are taking a stand in.  Let me give you an example.  When I was younger in my walk I would never talk with any other “religious” groups that would come to my door because I did not feel I could defend myself well enough.  Well I got tired of this so I went out and researched their beliefs, their books, and their leadership.  I found holes and I found what was the same jargon and I learned where they had contradictions in their teachings.   Now I at one time would have been very direct and forceful to prove a point that I was right and they were wrong and it would have benefited now one.  So I have learned that the best is to talk and hash it all out and force them to think about the holes and try to not only answer it for me but for themselves as well.  Not because I want them to be wrong but because I urn for everyone to seek God’s face.  So in reading these comments people were taking “quotes” (I use that loosely) out of the Bible and misrepresenting Christians to be hate-mongers.   In all actuality they were misrepresenting scripture and taking out of context statements made to prove their point when if they really looked for truth instead of looking to prove their point our world might be a little different.  That is the irritated part.

The ironic part to me was that the very people that pushed Obama and said that I was a hate-monger and not tolerant because of my beliefs; hate me and are not tolerant of my beliefs.  But instead they turn on their very own and make statements like this:

“So over the past days I have felt angry at Obama. And then sad. And now blank. And I worry if he’s up to the task of all the problems the country and the world have. He looked exhausted at the last press conference he appeared at…”

The last things that struck me and saddened me was that as a Christ follower and as a person that will talk with anyone and share my beliefs and compare and so forth with anyone I am saddened that people are not more open to the truth.  Now I understand that is is going to be this way but the true problem is not other people.  It is us…Christ followers.  We have seperated ourselves from those that need us the most.  And we dont effectively share our beliefs because we dont know what we believe.  We are to influenced by the World and not influenced enough by the Word.  Lets make a deal and loose the “L”!!!!  I have heard and have even jokingly said myself that “I wish I had a burning bush for this decision” but the truth is you don’t need a burning bush to tell you what is God’s will because He already gave that in the Bible.

So here is the point.  Lets get fired up and lose the L.

God Bless ~ Tyler

Sometimes as guys were are such ego maniacs.  Especially those of us who grew up scrapping and thinking that we are bad because we can physically knock someone down or make them submit to us through physical intimidation.  How ridiculous is that?  As we grow we realize and learn (I hope) that this is not always the best way to handle a situation.  Sometimes we have to walk away from situations now that we normally would not have in younger years just to keep the peace or because it is the right thing to do at that moment.

Well in our Christian life peace is something that the devil is constantly trying to steal from us.  We so often try to make things of this world our peace, whether it is comfort in how much money is in the bank or the size of our house or “newness” of our cars.  But what is really awesome about God is that it is not “our” peace that we have.  Scripture tells us that He will give us His peace.

Philippians 4:6-9 (New American Standard Bible)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.*Emphasis Added

So as you read that pay close attention to the fact that it does not say that God will give us normal human understandable peace.  It is saying that He will give us HIS peace.  Meaning the actual peace He has in Himself He will impart on us.  So the statement comes true in this regard do you want the Peace of God?  Scripture is very clear how to get it…We are to petition God with a heart that is humble and filled with thanksgiving.  And we are to focus our lives on things that are worthy of praise.  Things that are true, honorable, things that are right, things that are pure.  To do this we must stay in the Word and we must stay on our knees.  We must not use a worldly standard to measure our steps but God’s standard.  Again the only way to know this standard is to know His Word.  Keep reading and studying.

God Bless ~ Tyler