ⁿεŵ ŞΏйĞ

You know in church, when you sing the songs, and sometimes you just zone out. Like at the end of the song, somebody can ask you what song you just sang, and you have no idea... you just weren't paying attention. I must always do that to this song, because today when I listened to the Newsboys sing it, it just grabbed onto my heart. In Christ Alone...

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied; For ev'ry sin on Him was laid— Here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; Then bursting forth in glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again! And as He stands in victory, Sin's curse has lost its grip on me; For I am His and He is mine— Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

That's only the middle two verses. I wish I had this song so I could listen to it over and over again. I mean... "Scorned by the ones He came to save." When that phrase is sung, I get this picture in my head...

You're out at sea, your boat sank, and you're just floating there in your life jacket in stormy weather. Then this guy comes on a boat to save you. He reaches his hand out to save you and you completely reject him. But you don't just reject him, you call him names and cuss at him and are just a flat out jerk.

Seriously? He came to save you! There is no sense in not accepting his rescue! Why can we do this to Jesus? He came to rescue us, and we say "No thanks, I'm good. I'll just continue floating to shore."

Not me. I'm going to grab onto His hand and let Him save me.

(btw, just before I posted this, I figured I'd check on my Dell DJ to see if it was on there, and it was there! I'm so pumped!!!!)

Holiness or God?

"Paul did not say that he separated himself, but 'when it pleased God, who separated me . . .' (Galatians 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God."
-Oswald Chambers

As part of our Christian Life and Ethics course, with Dave Wager, we are to read at least 75 daily devotionals from Chamber's "My Utmost for His Highest." It works out to be 5 a week. I've read probably about a dozen or so. Reading through today's devotional, this just jumps out at me.

Growing up in the church I've kinda played the game... if you know what I mean. I wasn't seeking God, I was just making it look like I was a good Christian... I sought "holiness." I knew some characteristics to being a holy person. I was trying to become holy in the wrong way, though. The more you seek Christ, the more holy you become... that's the only way.

God set me apart. Set me to be holy. It's time I prioritize my desires...

#1: To know God.

That's the only priority I need to get in place right now...

The Last Christian Generation

I definitely just finished reading "The Last Christian Generation" by Josh McDowell. What an interesting book. Lots of challenging things, many things that will help me out. This guy presents some very interesting ideas, that I think are right on (some are even true of me). I'd tell you what some of the things are, but I forgot them at the moment and I can't find them in the book! Anyways, it's a good book, you should read it.

Sick

I feel like I'm getting sick. Pray for me, guys. I dont wanna get sick!

Proverbs 3:5

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"

No, I didn't accidentally post my memory verse of the day here. This verse has been on my mind like all day everyday since last Tuesday. I don't know why. I've heard people make references to this verse like 4 times since Tuesday, so I find that very odd too. There's gotta be a reason this verse is on my mind. I'm just going to keep thinkin about it, and let you know what I come up with.

Chapel

This weekend I led chapel for the dishcrew. The dishcrew consisted of some members of TNT, the middle school youth group at ACC. Of course I ran into some problems (I can never seem to have a worship session where everything goes smoothly...) but we still had a great time. Some of the songs we sang were Trading My Sorrows, You're My Friend, Blessed be the Your Name, He Reigns (probly my new fav song behind trading my sorrows), and It is You. We had three chapel services, with Justin, Sarah, and Tessa each speaking at one.
At the end of chapel today I asked them if they learned anything, if they learned anything that will change their lives. I kinda got some responses, but not really that much. I don't really know these kids, but I know these chapels helped build them up. It's discouraging when nobody really says they learned anything, but it's encouraging to know that we've been planting little seeds in their mind that will sprout up when they get older.

One side note about this... We met in the Erickson room, which I inconveniently found out doesn't have a projector. So I had to type up the songs to make some transparencies... only to spend an hour looking for some blank transparencies unsuccessfully. I searched the office from top to bottom, except for one place. There was a hidden storage shelf on the bottom of the copier where they were. I found that out the next morning, just in time to make the overheads for the second chapel.

A new blog...

http://meditatenightandday.blogspot.com/