Worship Wrap 2/5/12

This morning Pastor Mark continued the 40 Days of Community series, asking the question "How can you partner with your small group to share the good news with others"?

As a Christian, I need help to overcome selfishness. Yes, I've asked God into my heart. To forgive my sins. To be the center of my life. But, in most of the 35 years of my existence I've primarily been concerned about me. My relationship with God. My problems. My needs. My prayer requests. My job. My financial situation. My relational needs. My uni-brow issue.

So the question is, Do I care enough about others to look for situations to share the good news? Do I care enough to pray for those situations? One of my prayers is that I will care more.

In 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, Paul says, "Whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ." (Living Bible)

Sounds like a double whammy.

Rock the week.

Worship Wrap 1/29/12

Worship opener today at Hillside Church Mankato was "Let God Arise" where we're reminded that:

Our God is the God who Saves...

Yeah!

Pastor Mark continued the 40 Days of Community series discussing "5 Reasons We Need Others To Walk With Us". So here they are if you missed it!

I need others to walk with me.
I need others to work with me.
I need others to watch out for me.
I need others to wait and weep with me.
I need others to witness with me.

I'm an independent person. It's easy to tell myself sometimes, "I don't need anybody"...But guess what? That's crap!

Ecclesiastes 4:12 reminds us: "A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." (NLT)

Love that.

And just because this song rules, I picked it up at the first chorus.

Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me...

Rock it!

Predicting tomorrow what you don't know today

When I was young I told all my friends and family that I was going to name my son Rick. Why? Because Rick was the coolest. The name of above all names. Just under Jesus. So cool it didn't even need another syllable.

Today, there's no Rick. No Ricky, Richard, Ricardo...nothing close. Somehow between now and 25 years ago Rick got replaced.

Replaced with Bryce, Baran, and Owen.

Rick is now a distant memory.

I'm pretty sure Rick used to be my fav because my sister had a friend Rick who had a cool jean jacket or something.

Life's great that way. Every day your perceptions change. What you value changes. Who you value changes. How you spend your time changes. What jean jackets you think are cool change. It used to be stonewashed for me. Now it's straight blue.

Have you ever thought about writing an email that would be delivered to you a year from now? Yes, that's right. Sending an email to yourself on a date somewhere in the future.

Why?

Because it excites me to see how I'm growing. And I think performing this exercise will be a perfect way to prove how God is changing me from one year to the next. I'm going to bet that the email I receive from myself 1 year from now will make me think something similar to:

I guess my plans didn't work out, but His did.

I guess God can enlarge my territory if I choose to truly seek Him.

I guess chunks randomly falling from my ear and landing on my keyboard is just typical for me.

So I'm going to do this exercise. And I'm going to schedule the email to be sent to myself a year from now by using http://www.futureme.org.

Maybe my next post will be a good forum to complete that exercise.

Rock the weekend.

Worship Wrap 1/22/12

Today we kicked off 40 days of Community at Hillside Church. What does that mean? It means it's time to get off your can and get to know somebody new at a deeper level! Yes, I know life is busy. It always is. Yet, I'm looking forward to joining a pow-wow of other believers to press deeper into God over the next 6 weeks. Everyone's got some insight to share. Who are you going to connect with this week?

The video above is today's worship opener at Hillside Church (Mankato, MN).

We sing:

We're free to live
free to give
free to be
We're free to love you

Let's keep giving and loving and rock this week!

Only 11 Years in, but Always Til the End

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary. To the left is my wedding photo. I don't even have any liphair. I'm sitting here today in frigid Minnesota while my wife is in Las Vegas (Sin City), not sinning.

11 years ago Ahmelie and I hopped into my 95 Dodge Intrepid ES and headed to Christ Chapel at Gustavus Adolphus College. We were about to begin the first day of the rest of our lives. It was freezing.

I think back and remember the day.

I remember not being nervous. I remember the aisles and pews decorated with evergreen and candles. I remember my brother-in-law Joel taking pictures and my contacts drying out and how beautiful Ahmelie looked in a dress she made. I remember how proud I felt to have all my brothers joining me as groomsmen and how thankful my soul was to be in this moment.

I remember my sisters reading scripture of verses Ahmelie and I chose. I remember my brother Justin playing the piano and singing Michael W Smith's "You are the Love of My Life". I remember feeling gripped by the lyrics as he sang "I guess this is how it feels...when you finally found something real". Because I had finally found something real.

I remember reading the vows that we wrote. I remember not being able to get the ring on my finger. I remember Ahmelie's sliding on fine. Maybe I was nervous.

I remember hugging my parents. I remember looking forward to the day where I could hug my parents in front of all my family and friends and I realized today was that day. I remember my Dad hugging back hard and me not really wanting to let go. I remember lighting a unity candle and a 4 year old tightly grasping his arms around my neck and my new wife bending down for an embrace of her own.

I remember Rusty Torbenson singing in socks and sandals. I remember bawling uncontrollably throughout his entire song, holding Ahmelie's hand while facing the altar with my back to the audience. I remember not being able to stop and feeling as though God was dousing me with a 500 gallon barrel of love. And wondering what Clay was thinking as he held his Bible in front of me. Listening, and watching. I remember the lyrics as Rusty sang, resonating throughout my heart, as if I was singing to God, He was singing back to me, and Ahmelie was joining in:

This is the promise that you made. So I know that it is true. I need you more than ever now. So I'm calling out to you.

Always. I'm with you Always. Even til the end. You're the beginning and the end. All creation's in your hand. Your that tugging in my heart. Begging me to try. Begging me to try.

Always. I'm with you Always. Til the end.
Always. I'm with you Always. Even til the end.

This is the promise that you made. So we know that it is true. We need you more than ever now. So we're calling out to you.

So here it is. Recorded with my iPhone video camera while playing on my TV:



At this moment I remember the dousing of love I received from God on my wedding day. Because the feeling is back.

Ahmelie, God is with us Always. Always, til the end.

I love you whether you're in Las Vegas or Madison Lake.

Happy Anniversary.

Jeff

White as Snow and Pure as Gold

Disclaimer: There is no sarcasm in this post. No references to passing gas either. Just a great song from a great service this morning worshiping a great God. Let's rock this week!

God Speaking in a Deerstand?

Here's a view from my favorite tree stand location. From September through December there's nothing I'd rather do in Minnesota than sit in a deer stand with my bow and arrow. It's 2 hours of just me, my creator, His creation, and my iPhone. Can't forget the iPhone.

I didn't hunt until I was about 15 years old. About that time my sister Kris got married to her husband Derek. When he heard my voice was still cracking I think he decided it was time for me to man up and learn how to shoot something. The fact that I now have 20 years filled with unique outdoor experiences enjoying God's creation I attribute fully to Derek. Thanks buddy for lugging me along.

There have been countless mornings watching the sunrise on a perfectly still fall morning where all I can think and feel with my entire being is God, this is so good. You've created this moment to show me how crazily perfect your creation is. I can make out every sound: a chipmunk breaking a stick, a hawk shrieking in a tree across the slough, a flock of geese honking overhead, a fart unexpectedly, (yet pleasantly) joining the chorus of life. Yep, this moment was made for me.

I've never audibly heard God speak. I want to. I've listened to others tell of times they have. Yet every time someone tells me something like, "God told me to marry my wife", or "God told me to call you", or "God said I need to move to Nimrod, Minnesota", inside I find myself asking, really? Are you sure you aren't just overwhelmed with the hotness of the girl you want to marry and your friend agreed with you? Or, are you sure it wasn't just the commercial you were watching on TV that mentioned my first name which prompted you to call me? Or, when I called you a nimrod, are you sure that wasn't just me expressing my frustration rather than God speaking through me?

I don't want to limit God. I don't want my conservative Lutheran Brethren background to tell me certain people can't have tractor-beam moments with God. That's what I'm looking for. I believe it happens daily with common people who can't grow a full beard like me.

In the meantime I'm going to keep passing gas on a perfectly still morning and thank God for his mercy and grace.

What stands out as a tractor-beam moment you've had with God?