You've got 40 Seconds

I have been using a blog tracker for about 9 months. It has been very interesting to see how much traffic comes in and out around the site.

A few days ago I added the Google Analytics tracker to my blog as well. It has a feature that my other tracker did not have...average time.

What is the average time on my site??

40 seconds.


This statistic has caused me to rethink about how I blog.

Maybe I just need to come out and say what I think, keep it short and sweet.
Maybe I need to post things more often to keep people coming back.

I am grateful for the 40 (give or take a few) seconds that you spend here; I do not want to waste any of your online time.

So, what does this mean for the ol' blog?

Well, I am not sure, but I want to make the most of your 40 seconds

Where is your hope?

1 Peter 1:13
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.


Where is my hope? Where is my source of strength?

Peter says that our hope can only be placed in the grace of Jesus Christ.

that is all.

This is something that has been resounding in my life the last few weeks. I want control, I want a say. I want to control my hope.

But, I cannot do it myself.

God has much bigger and better plans for me.

I must put all my hope in the grace of Jesus Christ.

That is only way to have peace



Are you in turmoil? Trying to do it on your own and not having any luck?

Give it over to Jesus. Set you hope in him.

You will find peace there.

Sign Nazi says NO to John 3:16

Apparently, it is not ok to have a sign that says "John 3:16" at the NCAA tourney.







Maybe if it had been a verse in Ezekiel or Zechariah they would have not known what it was...

Looks like a little march madness from that security guard (I apologize for that terrible joke... it is the caffeine talking). I am going to get off my computer now for fear of shear embarrassment in the morning.

Better with the lights off...(worship, that is)

Last night there was an amazing worship service at a local church with Shane and Shane.

I love Shane and Shane. Not only are they amazing musicians, they have amazing hearts for Christ. There is something about them when they take to the stage that brings you to a place of freedom to worship. They are not showy, they do not dress or act like rock stars (Shane #2 sings with his hands in his pockets and wears a backward baseball hat). They exist to make one person famous, Christ.

About halfway through the service, they stopped their set, turned off all the lights, and we entered into one of the most real and raw worship times I have experienced in a long time.

No frills, just Jesus.
No lights, graphics, electric guitars, just Christ

All focus was on Him.

When you can go from "Before the Throne" to "How Great is our God" to "O come let us adore Him" is an amazing experience (There were lots of other in between as well). A we sang the last verse of "O come let us adore Him", the Shane's walked of stage as we sang. There was no one else to applaud for except Christ.

I cannot shake some thoughts in my head. I have just been reevaluating everything that I do the last few days and begging God to show himself and what HE wants.

here are some of my thoughts
- How pure is our motivation in worship?
- Are the people on stage leading by example?
- words are cheap. Actions speak louder. James says faith without works is dead.
- When I am on stage, I do not want to say or do anything onstage that I am not doing regularly off-stage.
- I think God is concerned with REAL worship more than REALLY PRETTY worship. I am not saying that we should not play with excellence and practice. What I am saying, is that you are not "that good" at what you do. God is not super impressed with your vocals; He is much more concerned about your heart. The heart is where it is at.

- What do I need to get rid of in my own life?
- What is the "lighting" in my own life that I need to turn off to make sure that Christ is all that shines through?


Thank you Shane and Shane for being an example of beautiful and true worship.

I am not done with this thought; I do not think it going to go away soon.


- I am jacked up on Dunkin' Donuts coffee (there is waaay to much caffeine in that stuff). This post may not have made any sense in type, but it made sense in my head.
With that, I am going to stop typing.

More to come...

Want to be convicted?

Read The book of James.

Don't read it all at once; you miss stuff when you browse through it.
Take some time, soak it in, chew on it, eat it up, and then have some leftovers.

Over the last week I have been reading James and really trying to take it in. There is so much truth spoken in that one book.

No fluff, just facts and truth.

I could tell you all about what I thought while reading James, but I think I would rather just share some verse that really stuck out to me. I encourage you to read James this week, but just know that it will be convicting.

Here are some great verses

- 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says"

- 2:17 "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead."
- 3:1 "Not many of you should presume to become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly"

- 3:6 "The tongue is a fire, a word of evil among the parts of the body "
- 3:17 "But wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure: then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, fill of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

4:6 "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. "
4:17 "Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

I could keep going, but I think you can get the picture. James is really shaping and re-shaping who I am, and who I need to be.

I am excited to tackle 1 & 2 Peter next!


What are you reading??

I did that

Not sure why. But I thought it would be best to wear my official Old Navy "St. Patrick's Day"(thanks to Kami's aunt) T-shirt today...not yesterday. Yes, I got some interesting looks from people in the caf and around campus.

I do not have a deep, important, groundbreaking idea for why I decided to do this...I just thought it would be fun.

and it was.

No one would have even known I had it on yesterday, but today changed everything (that was a little over dramatic).


Do you have any interesting things you do on St. Patrick's Day, or any related day???


- LOST comes on tonight. I want to Twitter about it very much, but I am trying to stay firm (although I did send a few replies to some of my new Twitter friends the other day... oops).

- Ok, time for coffee

Left-Brained Worship. Part 5

Here is the last section in my article.

Bring it back

How can we get back to the right-brain side of worship? It is easy to say we don’t want it to be routine; the hard part is doing (and living) it.

I think getting our heart right is bridge back to the right side. After Jesus gives the Pharisees a nice lesson in worship, he tells the crowd
“What comes out of a man makes him unclean.” (Mark 7:20)
Jesus says that what comes out of our mouth if from our heart. Maybe it is time to do some cleaning on the inside.

What do you need to get rid of in our heart for Christ to reign supreme?
I am in the same boat; it is something that happens daily.

We have divine inspiration. Our praise to the creator should be wonderful and beautiful, because we worship with a pure heart. That is why David prays for God to wash him white as snow. The Pharisees knew you should be clean. They just became more focused on the cleaning they could take care of, the outside.
Only Christ can clean up the heart.

Cleaning up the inside means giving up the right to be in charge. It means giving over schedules, plans, future, safety, and logic. Giving our lives to God is always right. He is much better at taking care of me than I am.

Clean insides are more important than clean outsides.

So true.

This post really hits the point. I think this is something that many people struggle with. It is something that I have been very guilty of doing, and I can think of so many examples when this has become normal in so many places. We talk about other people all the time...and swear that we are not jealous of THAT person or THAT church.

But I think that when we are honest with ourselves, we find that we are VERY jealous of others. And that does not make it ok. It also does not make it ok when it is a normal habit.

Check out the post for yourself from Steven Furtick

I could not have put it better.

This something that I a begging God for during my Facebook fast. I want to focus less of criticizing others about what they are doing WRONG (or what I think is wrong...) and focus on what God wants me to do RIGHT.

Read his post a few times, let it sink it, don't just throw it out and think "well, that is not me..". Because it probably is. 

Left-Brained Worship. Part 4

Do Nothing

“You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right” –Mark Batterson

The Church prides herself on the absence of wrong, but where is the right?
Where is the right in our personal life?

I believe the most effective worship leaders are those who live a life of worship. Those who break through the fog of planning, set lists, PowerPoint, and sound checks, and seek the face of God. Worship leaders who spend more time on their knees then on stage.

My favorite verse is Psalm 51:15.
“Oh Lord, open my lips that my mouth may declare your praise.”

Every time I read it, I am convicted. I put my agenda above God’s on stage sometimes; I say what I want rather than what God desires. I am reminded of the verse in Isaiah where he says that our deed and righteous works are like filthy rags.
Those deeds don’t sound so good anymore…

I have no life-changing power of my own, but Christ is full of it. He is in the business of changing lives. That is what Psalm 51:15 is so powerful in my life. The times that God has shown up, in a way no one could imagine, I was the most transparent. That has become my prayer; I want to be invisible on stage. The only thing I want them to see when someone looks at me is my joy in Christ. Everything else is just a gross filthy rag anyway. I want to do the most right, not the least wrong. Doing the most right means taking myself off the pedestal, and getting on my knees. I pray that I become nothing, so God becomes everything. John 3:30 “I must decrease, He must increase.”