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Monday, August 18, 2008

'never count God out' (copied)

copied from Kristian Stanfill, worship leader from the Atlanta area, "Jesus Paid It All" and "Marvelous Light" are two excellent worship songs he has done...even though his blog isn't updated often I enjoy the read...

what is this place?!!?
August 16, 2008
About half way through our summer a friend of mine called me and left me this message, “kristian, never count God out.” he said some other stuff too, but these words leapt out at me and stuck deep in my soul. i couldn’t shake them. what was it about those words that kept chasing me down? i realize now the reason i couldn’t shake my friend’s warning was because i was in fact counting God out. the beauty of it all is that it was in those times, when i had counted God out, that He made Himself known the most. just when i thought all was lost and that we might as well pack it up and call it quits cause nothing good was going to come from all this, we got more than we ever dreamed of.
a lot of this summer felt like i was being blindfolded, thrown into the back of a car and driven to a remote location a long way from anybody or anything that was familiar. i was scared to death to be in this new place. a place where all comfortability and predictability went out the window. i didn’t know which way to walk or what to do. i felt alone. until i stopped pitching a fit and realized who i was with. i wasn’t alone and in fact i was with the One who loved and knew me the best. God was there, and He began inspiring me and leading me to new places that i could never have made it to on my own. i had a closer, more intimate relationship with God than ever before. He spoke…i listened. He led…i followed. it was that simple. it IS that simple.
this all didn’t happen because i’m sooooo spiritual or because i take 1000mg of holiness pills everyday. this happened because God knew i was becoming a complacent follower and i needed to be shaken a little. i was becoming a revelation 3:15-16 Christian…lukewarm and in need of nothing. my proud heart of stone needed breaking and my white knuckled grip on the world around me needed to be loosened. the truth is, my heart is still breaking and becoming tender. the process isn’t over yet. even tonight as i write this post my heart is troubled because so much of what i have depended on for so long is crumbling. the days of depending solely on my gifts as a musician and worship leader are coming to an end. Leading worship and living the Christian life is less about singing and going to vacation bible school and more about complete dependence on God. The next season of my life is on the horizon and it’s all about dependence. God is teaching me that in every part of life…Him. that’s it. i need nothing else. we need nothing else.
this is really all there is to say about this past summer. i had planned on going through and sharing some details about what went down and how God changed my life forever, but i’m not going to do that. Simply…this summer was the summer that God cut a gaping hole in my “bag of tricks” and one by one they fell out until i had nothing left to rely on but His Holy Spirit and the truth that i profess to live for. i feel exposed and naked, but in beautiful, intimate fellowship with my creator.

for you Okies I believe he led worship at Falls Creek one week this summer...

up to $1.69...

Saturday, Derrick and I ran from 101st & Delaware across the Jenks pedestrian bridge around by the Aquarium back through downtown Jenks...found 5 pennies...4 of them thanks to a detail shop dumping their vaccum near the street...

Friday, August 01, 2008

found a penny....

running coin change update, up to a $1.64....found a penny this morning in the parking lot at 96th & Garnet...failed to update that I had found 3 cents and another penny over the last couple of weeks...hope to keep adding to this number if my knee will behave....