(boulevard)

A year ago this month, I was sitting in a friend’s apartment laughing and having a great time when I got a very unexpected phone call. It was my parents. My dad had received word that his position at work had been eliminated effective the following April. Let me give you a little background. I grew up in Peoria, IL which is (oddly enough) the world headquarters for the Caterpillar corporation. My dad had taken an engineering job there right out of college over 30 years ago. I knew the economy had seen a major downturn, but I have to admit, I never fathomed it would effect a man who had been working at the same major corporation for 30+ years. The phone call was a teary one, but my incredible parents were full of faith that God had a plan.

I hung up the phone and cried with my friend for a while before heading back to my own apartment where I took out my journal and wrote the lyrics to what became the title track on the EP I recorded last spring:

You give and take away
But still a faith remains
That proves itself worth more
Than wealth this world will claim

And so my song to You
Asks not what You can do
But here my faith resolves
To worship You in truth

In every circumstance, our God is God.

Like most people in a time of material loss, I thought of Job. In chapter one verse twenty-one, Job’s response to losing all his earthly wealth and family was, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” So I had two choices: I could stay angry, sad and bitter or I could acknowledge that everything I have is the Lord’s and it is within his sovereignty to give and take away. The next scripture the Lord reminded me of was I Peter 1:7, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

My family was blessed by an enormous amount of encouragement poured out by those around us, and within a month, my dad’s bosses had found a similar position for him within the same company. God provided and proved himself faithful once again.

I am so thankful for the Word of God and its living power to affect us. It is incredible to have words written thousands of years ago that speak directly to our situations today. Ecclesiastes makes it clear that there is nothing new under the sun, and I suppose circumstances like these are a good reminder of that. God cares for his creation, He knows what we feel, and He desires that our faith be proved strong.

Maybe you’re going through a hard time right now, or maybe things are going great in your life. Either way, I want to encourage you to remember that our God is God… with a capital G.

Our God is God

What are the top ten songs played in your itunes right now? I’ve only had this computer a few months, so my results are a little different that they would have been on the computer I used for the previous 4 years. Here are my top ten!

1. “School Bell” (This is a sound effect we used for our Christmas production. Don’t ask me how it possibly achieved #1 play status in my itunes.)

2. “After The World Came Undone” (Shout out to my Into the Ocean friends! Look them up if you haven’t heard of them.)

3. “Nothing Is Impossible” (Planetshakers)

4. “Love is Waiting” (Brooke Fraser… if you don’t have her Albertine album, you really need to purchase it.)

5. “12 Days Of Christmas” (Another Christmas production element. The relient K version I definitely played this a million times in rehearsal!)

6. “Beautiful” (Gateway Worship)

7. “To Know Your Name” (Hillsong)

8. “Hear The Sound” (Planetshakers)

9. “Clinging To The Cross” (Tim Hughes feat. Brooke Fraser… gorgeous song)

10. “What Do I Know of Holy?” (Addison Road)

I love reading books by worship leaders for several reasons. First, its nice to hear their stories from when they weren’t well-known and blasted all over K-love. They are real people, too. They are real worshippers. Second, the fact that they are well-known now must mean they did something right. There are always nuggets of insight that make me say, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” or “I would never have thought of that!” And sometimes, they just provide a fresh perspective to old concepts. This is one such enlightenment:

Step one: get our your Bible and read Matthew 16:13-19

Step two: reread verse 17

The power of the Spirit of God in our lives is incredible. This portion of scripture clearly states that it is the Spirit who reveals Christ to us. “Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, . . .  because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.’” The Message paraphrases this sentence as “My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.” In his book, The Way I Was Made, Chris Tomlin notes, “No individual–no matter how appealing or talented–can reveal the truth of God to another human soul. Only God can do that. That’s why we must depend on the Spirit to come into our worship times in fullness and power.”

So the issue becomes human persuasion versus divine power. I can’t force anyone to know God; I can’t force anyone to want to know God. Don’t get me wrong, this in no way negates the need to evangelize. As followers of Christ, it is our responsibility to lead a life worthy of that name. We must live in such a way that we can’t help but share our faith with those around us. But in doing so, it is important to remember that we are in submission to God’s Holy Spirit. It is His Spirit who transforms the hearts of people, including our own. We must create the opportunity for non-believers to see the Holy Spirit at work in our own lives, and we must ask God to lead us into situations where we can be used effectively by His Holy Spirit.

Maybe this struggle is seen more frequently in a worship leader. The fine line between providing an opportunity for people to worship God, and trying too hard to force people to worship God is a tricky one to walk. I pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to invade our worship experiences, so that others can know there is nothing greater than a life with Christ.

Yesterday was my six month anniversary of being on staff at Westover Hills. If you had told me one year ago that today I would be sitting in a church office in San Antonio, Texas, blogging about my first six months of youth ministry, I probably would have thought you were crazy. But, in this hypothetical scenario, you were not crazy! Here I am. Its been an unbelievable experience so far, and in these short months I’ve learned/lived/experienced/relearned more than I ever imagined I would. Here are a few of those things:

I love people.

Relationships are what make everyday life wonderful.

Patience is a virtue.

God loves to stretch His people.

God always knows what He is doing (and I usually don’t).

God has a sense of humor.

I love playing Settlers of Catan.

The San Antonio Riverwalk is the Venice of the American-Southwest.

I will never stop learning.

Leadership is a privilege and a challenge.

The Psalms are a hymnal to life.

There’s no place like home, and I have 3 homes (IL, MN, and TX).

Coffee… mmmm…

The team of people on which I serve probably don’t know how much of a blessing to me they really are.

Difficult circumstances from the past have shaped me and are now forming who I am as a leader.

Wonderful circumstances from the past have shaped me and are now forming who I am as a leader.

Sound systems are complicated and have many wires and cables and adapters and plug-ins.

Yo olvide mucho espanol.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that I am so grateful to be right where I am. The possibilities are limitless and the dreams are big, because I serve a God who is the God of the impossible, and the ultimate dream-giver.