12.15.10 - 12.31.10
So this is about my billionth attempt at writing this and it is December 31st. I've written at least 2 rough drafts and deleted them, and then I've written down so many ideas and little things.. I can’t even begin to count them, (nor do I want to!) Needless to say, I was pretty desperate. Then I went to Onething in KC. And I know exactly what I need to say. :)
First of all I need to explain what invade means.
This summer, at youth camp, God gave me a word: invade. I had no idea what that meant to my life or what it was supposed to signify. I was really excited about it though. I figured God would tell me what it meant by the end of the week. But camp came and went and I still hadn’t heard from him (on that subject anyway). I remember feeling frustrated and confused. When I got hope I began seeking his face and fasting, seeking after Him on what this mean. After about two weeks and still no answer, I kind of threw up my hands if frustration and quit. Then Fall Retreat came around and I thought: ‘Surely, this is when God will speak to me on what this means.’ Well retreat also came and went; still no answer. I was desperate, confused, and frustrated. I almost gave up. Then I went to Onething this past week in KC. I remember I sat there on Tuesday night, and I began to write in my prayer journal:
“God, You gave me the word invade, but you still haven’t told me what it means. You know my heart and you know that I really want to know what it means. But I also know that you know what’s best, and if knowing what it is right now isn’t what you have for me, I trust you.”
People, I am telling you, no more than an hour later, as I stood at the front of the Kansas City Convention Center, God spoke to me what it meant, and I know now that he want me to share: As he invades our hearts, we will invade our world with a revolution and his love.
So that’s my challenge to you this year: Invade 2011. Invade your world, but not by your power. Allow the power of Christ to move you to speak word that are not your own, to do things that aren’t in your flesh, and to go places you thought were only for ‘radicals’ to go. And as you do, connect the dots from your actions to the Christ who is in you for all the world to see. Dig deep into the word of God and meditate on it. Pray daily; fast weekly. Be open and brutally honest with God. He already knows your heart anyways, so it would be foolish to try to hide it from him. When the hard times come, pray to God for the strength to take it with grace and to keep on going. He will give you the strength to take that next step, the next breath, to go to bed and to wake up the next morning and do it all over again. When temptation arises, remember 1Corinthians 10:14:“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Seek his face my friends, for then, “You will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.” (Job 22:26)
Peace out.
angie
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Cravings
11.01.10 - 11.16.10
BEFORE YOU READ:
This post is long. It is not designed to be a quick read. You will have to stop and ponder while reading this. This post is not cupcakes, sprinkles, and roses. It will call you out. It will challenge you. If you are not willing to peer into your heart and life and take a hard look at it, stop reading right now. Don't even waste your time. If, however you are ready to be challenged by the spirit and to take a hard look into your heart, read on, friend.
I suppose this whole idea of cravings got started a few weeks ago when we talked about cravings in youth group. Craving righteousness, that is. For some reason, this idea of craving...spiritually... stuck with me.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Hmmm.
As my youth pastor said, “there is not a day that goes by that you don’t eat or drink, and if there is, there’s not an hour that goes by that you are not craving something to eat or drink.
I can’t stop thinking: What if we treated the word of God like that? What if we craved his word as much as we crave food and water? The American church would look totally different. We would be so much more passionate, because we would know Him better. Late me give you a weird, but good example:
If you look at a body of believers in an impoverished, rural country, say, Saudi Arabia, v.s the church in America, you'll almost immideately notice a night and day difference in passion for Jesus. And i bet most of you know that. But do we ever stop to think, WHY? Amd I mean, seriously ask ourselves why on earth it is that the ones who have less "christian resources" than we do seem to love Him so much more?
I think there's a lot of reasons for it, but I think the main one is that in America, we tend to know a devotional book, a list of rules, maybe a great cloud up in tha sky, or the man upstairs, but not a Father. Not a Savior. And most certainly not someone who is madly in love with YOU individually, so much so that he died for you so you could spend eternity with him. And I don't know why we dont see that. I think part of it is because we take everything for granted here. I know that on the days when I dont spend time with jesus, its usually because i brush it off throughout the day with a thought that's sonewhere around the vicinity of:"I can do it later. I'm rushed now. By bible will be there tonight. I'm tired. I have loads of homework."
Which really, if you get to root of it, is partly taking advantage of the things that I have. I know my bible will be there when the day ends. I don't crave his word, because I know its always going to be there...
Guess what!? In Afghanistan,they aren't even allowed to own bibles! Do you know how crazy they go over ONE PAGE out of the bible? And here we sit with 5 or 6 bibles in our homes, and when was the last time you picked yours up? Please understand: I’m not pointing a finger here; I'm looking in a mirror... But can't you see? It should really be the other way around. We have all these resources and groups and organizations, and camps and retreats specifically designed to build our relationships with Jesus, and in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Maldives, and Somalia they can't really even say the name of Jesus without serious consequences, and yet, they are so much more passionate and in love with jesus...
Um, excuse me, but DO YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE?!?
Like i said before, I'm not trying to point a finger here or yell at people and preach hellfire & brimstone(although I do realize that at this point you might be seriously doubting that)But think about it. There is something seriously wrong with that picture, people!
So far, this blog has taken 2 weks to write, and I doubt i'll be done soon. But as I type on my laptop today, it's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This morning, I was once again reminded of how pasionate we should be.
Have you ever considered that people in countries where they are persecuted for ther faith are way more bold in their faith then we are? And they are the ones who are imprisones, tortured, and truly persecuted for their faith. And here we are, afraid to speak out because we're afraid someone might not want to be our friend anymore. How CHILDISH! I know childlikeness is good sometimes, but NOT HERE!
think of this:
I have a serious addiction to chocolate. i will eat a whole triple chocolate cake in one sitting if you let me(and then i'll be puking it all up afterwards, but that's besides the point) Well, heres an analogy: How can you crave chocolate if you’ve never had chocolate? How can you crave the word of God if you’ve never read it? In order to fall in love with Jesus, in order to crave is word and his presence, you have to get to know him first. And you cant really know someone unless you spend time with them. And so that's my encouragement to you: Get to know jesus. We fail and fail to spend time wiht him, but maybe thats just because we simply don't know him. Spend time with the one who created you, and maybe, just maybe, you'll find yourself falling in love.
Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Carpe Diem,
angie
BEFORE YOU READ:
This post is long. It is not designed to be a quick read. You will have to stop and ponder while reading this. This post is not cupcakes, sprinkles, and roses. It will call you out. It will challenge you. If you are not willing to peer into your heart and life and take a hard look at it, stop reading right now. Don't even waste your time. If, however you are ready to be challenged by the spirit and to take a hard look into your heart, read on, friend.
I suppose this whole idea of cravings got started a few weeks ago when we talked about cravings in youth group. Craving righteousness, that is. For some reason, this idea of craving...spiritually... stuck with me.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Hmmm.
As my youth pastor said, “there is not a day that goes by that you don’t eat or drink, and if there is, there’s not an hour that goes by that you are not craving something to eat or drink.
I can’t stop thinking: What if we treated the word of God like that? What if we craved his word as much as we crave food and water? The American church would look totally different. We would be so much more passionate, because we would know Him better. Late me give you a weird, but good example:
If you look at a body of believers in an impoverished, rural country, say, Saudi Arabia, v.s the church in America, you'll almost immideately notice a night and day difference in passion for Jesus. And i bet most of you know that. But do we ever stop to think, WHY? Amd I mean, seriously ask ourselves why on earth it is that the ones who have less "christian resources" than we do seem to love Him so much more?
I think there's a lot of reasons for it, but I think the main one is that in America, we tend to know a devotional book, a list of rules, maybe a great cloud up in tha sky, or the man upstairs, but not a Father. Not a Savior. And most certainly not someone who is madly in love with YOU individually, so much so that he died for you so you could spend eternity with him. And I don't know why we dont see that. I think part of it is because we take everything for granted here. I know that on the days when I dont spend time with jesus, its usually because i brush it off throughout the day with a thought that's sonewhere around the vicinity of:"I can do it later. I'm rushed now. By bible will be there tonight. I'm tired. I have loads of homework."
Which really, if you get to root of it, is partly taking advantage of the things that I have. I know my bible will be there when the day ends. I don't crave his word, because I know its always going to be there...
Guess what!? In Afghanistan,they aren't even allowed to own bibles! Do you know how crazy they go over ONE PAGE out of the bible? And here we sit with 5 or 6 bibles in our homes, and when was the last time you picked yours up? Please understand: I’m not pointing a finger here; I'm looking in a mirror... But can't you see? It should really be the other way around. We have all these resources and groups and organizations, and camps and retreats specifically designed to build our relationships with Jesus, and in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Maldives, and Somalia they can't really even say the name of Jesus without serious consequences, and yet, they are so much more passionate and in love with jesus...
Um, excuse me, but DO YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE?!?
Like i said before, I'm not trying to point a finger here or yell at people and preach hellfire & brimstone(although I do realize that at this point you might be seriously doubting that)But think about it. There is something seriously wrong with that picture, people!
So far, this blog has taken 2 weks to write, and I doubt i'll be done soon. But as I type on my laptop today, it's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This morning, I was once again reminded of how pasionate we should be.
Have you ever considered that people in countries where they are persecuted for ther faith are way more bold in their faith then we are? And they are the ones who are imprisones, tortured, and truly persecuted for their faith. And here we are, afraid to speak out because we're afraid someone might not want to be our friend anymore. How CHILDISH! I know childlikeness is good sometimes, but NOT HERE!
think of this:
I have a serious addiction to chocolate. i will eat a whole triple chocolate cake in one sitting if you let me(and then i'll be puking it all up afterwards, but that's besides the point) Well, heres an analogy: How can you crave chocolate if you’ve never had chocolate? How can you crave the word of God if you’ve never read it? In order to fall in love with Jesus, in order to crave is word and his presence, you have to get to know him first. And you cant really know someone unless you spend time with them. And so that's my encouragement to you: Get to know jesus. We fail and fail to spend time wiht him, but maybe thats just because we simply don't know him. Spend time with the one who created you, and maybe, just maybe, you'll find yourself falling in love.
Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Carpe Diem,
angie
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Safety
"cause there's nothing more important to you than your safety."
-car commercial.
"Man...I really hope not."- Mike Donehey.
That was all it took to get me started yesterday. A simple post on twitter yesterday started me thinking... I am so sick and tired of my safe, quiet, little christian life. I don't wanna be safe anymore. Our culture is so safe, isn't it? Airbags. Fire Alarms. House Alarms. Microwaves. I mean, come on what's a safer way to cook than a microwave? What happened to cooking over an open furnace. I mean, don't get me wrong, I AM NOT complaining. I'm thankful that we have all thees things to make life easier and keep us safe. But its so easy to get comfortable. It's so easy to slide into a mode of "I'll just life a quiet, safe little life and throw a 20 in the plate every week and read my bible and pray and that's it." But sometimes following Christ means walking into uncharted territory. Sometimes it means doing something dangerous." Like Mr. Tumnus said of Aslan the great lion in C.S. Lewis' The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe: "Safe? Who said anything about safe?... But he is good."
Been reading Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' for school. In the story, there this little hobbit, which is basically a midget dwarf, with fur on his feet (yea its weird, i know) but basically he has these dwarf friends who want to go on an adventure and he doesn't want to. He wants to stay in his comfortable little hobbit hole where he can eat 5 meals a day and have is tea time every day and sleep on his nice feather bed and not worry about dragons or goblins or trolls or gigantic spiders or enchanted water that makes you pass out or being captured or killed. He was perfectly content to sit around his little hobbit hole and never see if there was anything more to the world than what he knew.
And it seems so silly to us for this little hobbit to do that, but what we don't realize is that so often, that hobbit is us! We are content to sit in our little hobbit holes and not really take the risk of not being safe to see if there's anything more that what we know. We dont want to dig deeperin our ralationship with Christ because thats uncharted territory. We're afraid to see if there's something more that God has for us in life because, quite frankly, that's dangerous. I don't like writing rant blogs because that's dangerous for me as a writer. I make a lot of typos. I say things that don't always make 100% sense. But here's my point peeps: If we constantly life in the safety of our own little lives, we will never live up to the full potential that God has for us, because he never intended for following him to be safe. As my friend Sarah Fine (also a writer, but shes a whole lot better than I am) put it: "If Christians throughout the ages depended on convenience [or safety], I can guarantee you, heaven would be empty."
So it's up tp you now. Are you going to keep living in your own safe little world and pretend like theres not anything more out there, or are you going stick your head out of that hole and see the life that God has for you. It might not be safe. It might send you to the darkest, ugliest, poorest, most hazardous places in the world. You might get your heart broken. You might see the hurt on the faces of the homeless. You might see the scars left on this generation but the things of this world God might totally wreck you, and IT WILL NOT BE SAFE . But it will be altogether worth it, and it will be beautiful. It will be good.
"Safe? Who said anything about safe? He's a lion I tell you! But he is good."
-car commercial.
"Man...I really hope not."- Mike Donehey.
That was all it took to get me started yesterday. A simple post on twitter yesterday started me thinking... I am so sick and tired of my safe, quiet, little christian life. I don't wanna be safe anymore. Our culture is so safe, isn't it? Airbags. Fire Alarms. House Alarms. Microwaves. I mean, come on what's a safer way to cook than a microwave? What happened to cooking over an open furnace. I mean, don't get me wrong, I AM NOT complaining. I'm thankful that we have all thees things to make life easier and keep us safe. But its so easy to get comfortable. It's so easy to slide into a mode of "I'll just life a quiet, safe little life and throw a 20 in the plate every week and read my bible and pray and that's it." But sometimes following Christ means walking into uncharted territory. Sometimes it means doing something dangerous." Like Mr. Tumnus said of Aslan the great lion in C.S. Lewis' The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe: "Safe? Who said anything about safe?... But he is good."
Been reading Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' for school. In the story, there this little hobbit, which is basically a midget dwarf, with fur on his feet (yea its weird, i know) but basically he has these dwarf friends who want to go on an adventure and he doesn't want to. He wants to stay in his comfortable little hobbit hole where he can eat 5 meals a day and have is tea time every day and sleep on his nice feather bed and not worry about dragons or goblins or trolls or gigantic spiders or enchanted water that makes you pass out or being captured or killed. He was perfectly content to sit around his little hobbit hole and never see if there was anything more to the world than what he knew.
And it seems so silly to us for this little hobbit to do that, but what we don't realize is that so often, that hobbit is us! We are content to sit in our little hobbit holes and not really take the risk of not being safe to see if there's anything more that what we know. We dont want to dig deeperin our ralationship with Christ because thats uncharted territory. We're afraid to see if there's something more that God has for us in life because, quite frankly, that's dangerous. I don't like writing rant blogs because that's dangerous for me as a writer. I make a lot of typos. I say things that don't always make 100% sense. But here's my point peeps: If we constantly life in the safety of our own little lives, we will never live up to the full potential that God has for us, because he never intended for following him to be safe. As my friend Sarah Fine (also a writer, but shes a whole lot better than I am) put it: "If Christians throughout the ages depended on convenience [or safety], I can guarantee you, heaven would be empty."
So it's up tp you now. Are you going to keep living in your own safe little world and pretend like theres not anything more out there, or are you going stick your head out of that hole and see the life that God has for you. It might not be safe. It might send you to the darkest, ugliest, poorest, most hazardous places in the world. You might get your heart broken. You might see the hurt on the faces of the homeless. You might see the scars left on this generation but the things of this world God might totally wreck you, and IT WILL NOT BE SAFE . But it will be altogether worth it, and it will be beautiful. It will be good.
"Safe? Who said anything about safe? He's a lion I tell you! But he is good."
It's Only a Song Until YOU make it more.
So the other day I was listening to this song called The Lost Get Found. It's by Britt Nicole. But anyway, the vision behind this song sparked a thought in my head: It's just a song. That's all it is. This song is about reaching out, stepping up, and speaking loud about the name of Jesus and heck, yeah its a great message, but it's just a song!! We sit in our cars and hear songs like that and say "oh that's such a great song" and then for the majority of us, we just move along with our lives. We don't ACT on what we sing about! Listen , there are some awesome songs out there that call the body of Christ to BE the body of Christ. Have you EVER asked yourself why?
Matthew West- The Motions
Superchic[k]- Cross The Line
Skillet- Looking for Angels & Awake and Alive
Why do songs like If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns and Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath move us to tears?
Why does Barlow Girl have two whole albums committed to this message- How Can We Be Silent and Love and War?
Why does Jeremy Camp not only have a song called Speaking Louder Than Before but also have a ministry called that?
Have you ever asked yourself WHY!? Why do artists keep coming out with songs like this?
It's because we don't live what we sing , people!! Listen to me!! We don't do the things that these songs call us to do.These songs are awesome and all, but they wont change the world. WE the PEOPLE are the ones that have to take action and move in our communities. WE are the ones that have to go out and make the difference. Until we start to BELIEVE what we sing and then out of that belief in our hearts, we begin to act and to speak and to live, it's just another song!!! It doesn't become a MOVEMENT until WE live it!! Do you hear me, people?!?
This is NOT a call to go out and live your life better FOR God.
This is NOT a call to do more, be better, live better, read you bible more and to believe that that's gonna make you a better person so you can change the world.
This is NOT a call to go tell everyone you meet 'Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, hey did you know that Jesus loves you?"
This is NOT a call to believe that someones salvation depends on you.
This IS a call to start living BECAUSE of God.
This IS a call to realize that YOU are not the one that's gonna change the world. It's the spirit inside you that's gonna change the world.
This IS a call to stop believing that someone getting saved depends on you, because it doesn't. It's always supernatural, I don't give a darn as to whether they were born and raised in the church or if they were a homeless drug addict.
This IS a call to start putting actions with words.
This IS a call to not just let a song give you 'a moment' but to let it sink in and penetrate.
This IS a call to step out and live what you sing.
The world is asleep.
It's been asleep for far too long.
Are we going to be the generation that shakes this world awake so that it will never be the same?
WILL they remember?
Or will we also fall into that deep sleep and let the chance pass us by? Will we be just another generation in this world, or will they remember we were here?
"What if we lived like we sang?" -David Crowder.
angie
Matthew West- The Motions
Superchic[k]- Cross The Line
Skillet- Looking for Angels & Awake and Alive
Why do songs like If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns and Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath move us to tears?
Why does Barlow Girl have two whole albums committed to this message- How Can We Be Silent and Love and War?
Why does Jeremy Camp not only have a song called Speaking Louder Than Before but also have a ministry called that?
Have you ever asked yourself WHY!? Why do artists keep coming out with songs like this?
It's because we don't live what we sing , people!! Listen to me!! We don't do the things that these songs call us to do.These songs are awesome and all, but they wont change the world. WE the PEOPLE are the ones that have to take action and move in our communities. WE are the ones that have to go out and make the difference. Until we start to BELIEVE what we sing and then out of that belief in our hearts, we begin to act and to speak and to live, it's just another song!!! It doesn't become a MOVEMENT until WE live it!! Do you hear me, people?!?
This is NOT a call to go out and live your life better FOR God.
This is NOT a call to do more, be better, live better, read you bible more and to believe that that's gonna make you a better person so you can change the world.
This is NOT a call to go tell everyone you meet 'Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, hey did you know that Jesus loves you?"
This is NOT a call to believe that someones salvation depends on you.
This IS a call to start living BECAUSE of God.
This IS a call to realize that YOU are not the one that's gonna change the world. It's the spirit inside you that's gonna change the world.
This IS a call to stop believing that someone getting saved depends on you, because it doesn't. It's always supernatural, I don't give a darn as to whether they were born and raised in the church or if they were a homeless drug addict.
This IS a call to start putting actions with words.
This IS a call to not just let a song give you 'a moment' but to let it sink in and penetrate.
This IS a call to step out and live what you sing.
The world is asleep.
It's been asleep for far too long.
Are we going to be the generation that shakes this world awake so that it will never be the same?
WILL they remember?
Or will we also fall into that deep sleep and let the chance pass us by? Will we be just another generation in this world, or will they remember we were here?
"What if we lived like we sang?" -David Crowder.
angie
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
hurt with people
for we know that all things work together for the good of those who love him" Romans 8:28.
Personally I think we quote this verse way too often in the church. Yeah, I know I sound crazy for saying that: "What? We quote God's word too much? Have you lost your mind?" Well, one: no I haven’t lost my mind, and two: yes, I think we do. It's like we've turned this verse into a phrase that can automatically cure any situation and heal any hurt. And it stinks for me too, to realize this, because I now know that l all the times someone comes to me with something heavy, and I just rattle off " all things work together for good, sista!" I was actually coming off as a total snob who was too high above everything to talk about it. For example:
A friend comes to me and tells me about something heavy going on at home or with her parents, but I feel inadequate to relate because I haven’t been there, so I just brush it off and say its all gonna work out in the end...
See, the things is is that when we start trying remedy the hard stuff with the light and fluffy, we also unwittingly refuse to share in eachother's sufferings, or as Romans 12:15 puts it. ".. weep with those who weep"
I think sometimes, when people come to us with heavy stuff, we need to be willing to just sit there and cry with them. We need to be willing to not have all the answers, to be just as confused, scared, anxious, and angry as they are and just get through it together. Because what happens when we try to have al the answers is that sometimes we end up looking like our heads are so big we can't sit down and talk to people.. we just have to eb the one with all the answers. And to be honest, I don’t see Jesus doing that. When I read about Jesus' time on earth, I see him getting personal and intimate with people. When lazarus died, what did he do? Come up to Mary and Martha and say, "Listen ladies, it's all gonna work out for you?" No! He wept.
In Mark chapter 7 when a deaf and mute man beggs Jesus for healing, what does he do? Does he just speak a word and go on his merry way? No... he doesn’t.
Now, stop and thing about this, people. This is important. This guy who is deaf and mute, is an outcast in society. He's deaf, so he can’t hear Jesus speak, and He's mute, so he cant tell Jesus how amazing he is. But yet what does Jesus do?
He takes him aside.
He took him aside!!
Privately.
And not only that, but it goes on to say that he spit and touched the man's tongue, put his fingers in the mans hears and with a deep sigh, said the word "Ephphatha" (be opened). Wow.
And then to think that Jesus could of simply blinked at the guy and he would have been healed... He could of just thought it! But no. He took him aside and got personal. He went down to this guy's level for a minute.
And shouldn’t we all be doing that? Shouldn’t we be willing to weep with someone at the loss of their brother? Shouldn’t we be willing to get to know the people who come to us for advice or help, instead of just reading them a list of scriptures and saying "Well, hope that helps. Have a nice day" Cause the thing is is that scriptures are just scriptures. Jesus said you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life but you don't see that they're talking about me! I'M the one who give you life!
So maybe we need to start giving people Jesus instead of just scripture. Cause while the word is God breathed, it is also useless if we don’t realize who its talking about, and then follow His lead.
Alright, I'm all blogged out. Peace out people
angie S
Personally I think we quote this verse way too often in the church. Yeah, I know I sound crazy for saying that: "What? We quote God's word too much? Have you lost your mind?" Well, one: no I haven’t lost my mind, and two: yes, I think we do. It's like we've turned this verse into a phrase that can automatically cure any situation and heal any hurt. And it stinks for me too, to realize this, because I now know that l all the times someone comes to me with something heavy, and I just rattle off " all things work together for good, sista!" I was actually coming off as a total snob who was too high above everything to talk about it. For example:
A friend comes to me and tells me about something heavy going on at home or with her parents, but I feel inadequate to relate because I haven’t been there, so I just brush it off and say its all gonna work out in the end...
See, the things is is that when we start trying remedy the hard stuff with the light and fluffy, we also unwittingly refuse to share in eachother's sufferings, or as Romans 12:15 puts it. ".. weep with those who weep"
I think sometimes, when people come to us with heavy stuff, we need to be willing to just sit there and cry with them. We need to be willing to not have all the answers, to be just as confused, scared, anxious, and angry as they are and just get through it together. Because what happens when we try to have al the answers is that sometimes we end up looking like our heads are so big we can't sit down and talk to people.. we just have to eb the one with all the answers. And to be honest, I don’t see Jesus doing that. When I read about Jesus' time on earth, I see him getting personal and intimate with people. When lazarus died, what did he do? Come up to Mary and Martha and say, "Listen ladies, it's all gonna work out for you?" No! He wept.
In Mark chapter 7 when a deaf and mute man beggs Jesus for healing, what does he do? Does he just speak a word and go on his merry way? No... he doesn’t.
Now, stop and thing about this, people. This is important. This guy who is deaf and mute, is an outcast in society. He's deaf, so he can’t hear Jesus speak, and He's mute, so he cant tell Jesus how amazing he is. But yet what does Jesus do?
He takes him aside.
He took him aside!!
Privately.
And not only that, but it goes on to say that he spit and touched the man's tongue, put his fingers in the mans hears and with a deep sigh, said the word "Ephphatha" (be opened). Wow.
And then to think that Jesus could of simply blinked at the guy and he would have been healed... He could of just thought it! But no. He took him aside and got personal. He went down to this guy's level for a minute.
And shouldn’t we all be doing that? Shouldn’t we be willing to weep with someone at the loss of their brother? Shouldn’t we be willing to get to know the people who come to us for advice or help, instead of just reading them a list of scriptures and saying "Well, hope that helps. Have a nice day" Cause the thing is is that scriptures are just scriptures. Jesus said you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life but you don't see that they're talking about me! I'M the one who give you life!
So maybe we need to start giving people Jesus instead of just scripture. Cause while the word is God breathed, it is also useless if we don’t realize who its talking about, and then follow His lead.
Alright, I'm all blogged out. Peace out people
angie S
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Ants!!!
So... we found ants in out house today. Lots of them. I'm talking SWARMS, people.
I looked up and right by the windows, there was this creeping, crawling, black MASS of ants all over... I wish I had taken pictures so I could show you, but I didn't, which is a shame, because there were hundreds of these things, maybe even thousands.
So.
Gross.
As for right now, we have sprayed stuff all over and they're all dead, falling from the ceiling. Again... so. Disgusting.
Me? Well I'm sitting here wrapped up safely in my hoodie because I'm pretty sure I can feel those critters crawling all over my body just thinking about the whole thing. uggghhh...
Here's to an awesome, ant-free weekend, aye?
angie
I looked up and right by the windows, there was this creeping, crawling, black MASS of ants all over... I wish I had taken pictures so I could show you, but I didn't, which is a shame, because there were hundreds of these things, maybe even thousands.
So.
Gross.
As for right now, we have sprayed stuff all over and they're all dead, falling from the ceiling. Again... so. Disgusting.
Me? Well I'm sitting here wrapped up safely in my hoodie because I'm pretty sure I can feel those critters crawling all over my body just thinking about the whole thing. uggghhh...
Here's to an awesome, ant-free weekend, aye?
angie
Monday, April 26, 2010
Jeremy Camp got his 4th Certified Gold album!
heres the oppicial press release. ;)
-angie-
SEATTLE, WA…April 26, 2010…BEC Recordings’ artist Jeremy Camp was awarded his fourth RIAA Gold Certified album for Beyond Measure last week in Nashville, TN. The celebration was held at his booking agency, Paradigm, and he was awarded his Gold album by Tooth & Nail Records/BEC Recordings’ president Brandon Ebel. This certification follows his first GRAMMY nomination, his second American Music Award nomination and his 19th No. 1 Radio single. In addition to his Gold Record, BEC Recordings’ general manager Tyson Paoletti presented Jeremy Camp with a commemorative plaque honoring over 3 million albums sold in his career.
“It is an overwhelming joy to see how the Lord has been faithful even though I am undeserving of it,” shared Camp on this career milestone. “I just want to continue to seek Him in all that I do, and want to always remember that it’s the Lord doing the work…not me! I’m so thankful for those who have stood by my side with much prayer and encouragement.”
Celebrating with Camp was his wife Adrienne, manager Matt Balm, Bill Hearn CEO of EMI Christian Music Group and team members, Mike Snider and his team from Paradigm booking agency and Jeremy’s band.
This achievement precedes Camp’s upcoming studio release that is set for August 24, 2010, a worship-themed album titled We Cry Out – The Worship Project. Produced again with award-winning producer Brown Bannister, Camp co-wrote with notable worship artists such as Matt Maher, Reuben Morgan (Hillsong) and Brenton Brown. More information will be coming soon on this anticipated release.
- ### -
About Jeremy Camp: Since his debut BEC Recordings’ project in 2002 (Stay), Jeremy Camp has made a definitive mark in the industry with his ability to compose hit songs and capture audiences of all ages selling more than three million records. Following his Gold-selling debut, Camp has released five additional studio projects, which have garnered a total of four RIAA Gold-selling albums. Camp has also been awarded with a RIAA Multi-Platinum Certification of his long-form video and worship project “Live Unplugged.” With 19 career No. 1 radio hits under his belt, Jeremy Camp is clearly a powerhouse on the radio waves nationwide across all formats (CHR, AC, INSPO, and Rock). This GRAMMY-nominated artist has also been honored with two American Music Award nominations, three ASCAP Christian Music Awards “Songwriter of the Year” (2008, 2006, 2005) including “Song of the Year” (2006) and multiple Dove-nominations and five awards. In addition, Camp ended the decade with Billboard recognition as the No. 3 Christian Artist of the Decade. Camp also had five songs in the Billboard Top 50 Christian Songs of the Decade.
www.jeremycamp.com | www.speakinglouderministries.com
Curtain
for some reason ive felt this urge to post this blog a wrote awhile back.. no idea why, but ive finally given in. ;) here goes nada.
WOW! i cant believe its been almost a year since i wrote this!! longer than i thought!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been listening to the song 'Curtain' by Tenth Avenue North song a LOT lately... and the lyrics stuck with me pretty huge.
Especially the chorus.
"You step out from the curtain, revealing what is certain.
It's no wonder why you are.
Dreams fall to pieces as your love increases.
It's no wonder why you are.
You are mine."
The first thing that his me about this song was this:
Matthew 27:50-51 "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom... "
Mark 15:37-38 "With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
Before that time, only the high priest could go past that curtain to be with God, and only once a year. When Jesus died on the cross, his blood was shed, so that we could be given access to the Father to come to him at anytime. The curtain was torn. Jesus' sacrifice allows us to be able to enter into God's presence. We have been given access to the Father at any time, to come to him. WAY cool, right?
Yeah.
Now check this out.
I was reading thru Max Lucado's 'He Chose the Nails' (AWESOME book, by the way!) and he was talking about Hebrews 10:20.
"We can enter through a new and living way the Jesus opened for us. It leads through the curtain – that is, Christ's body." Hebrews 10:20
Wooowww...
Remember what happened to the curtain when Jesus died? It was torn. Torn from top to bottom. So if the curtain is Christ's body... then what happened to the curtain... happened to Christ's body. To quote Max:
"What happened to his flesh? It was torn. Torn by the whips, torn by the thorns. Torn by the weight of the cross and the point of the nails."
Wow again.
So does that bring a whole new meaning to the lyrics of that song?
"You step out from the curtain,
Revealing what is certain.
It's no wonder why you are."
I hope that gives you something to think about... and that it puts what Jesus did for you in a different perspective.
Peace
- ange -
WOW! i cant believe its been almost a year since i wrote this!! longer than i thought!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been listening to the song 'Curtain' by Tenth Avenue North song a LOT lately... and the lyrics stuck with me pretty huge.
Especially the chorus.
"You step out from the curtain, revealing what is certain.
It's no wonder why you are.
Dreams fall to pieces as your love increases.
It's no wonder why you are.
You are mine."
The first thing that his me about this song was this:
Matthew 27:50-51 "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom... "
Mark 15:37-38 "With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
Before that time, only the high priest could go past that curtain to be with God, and only once a year. When Jesus died on the cross, his blood was shed, so that we could be given access to the Father to come to him at anytime. The curtain was torn. Jesus' sacrifice allows us to be able to enter into God's presence. We have been given access to the Father at any time, to come to him. WAY cool, right?
Yeah.
Now check this out.
I was reading thru Max Lucado's 'He Chose the Nails' (AWESOME book, by the way!) and he was talking about Hebrews 10:20.
"We can enter through a new and living way the Jesus opened for us. It leads through the curtain – that is, Christ's body." Hebrews 10:20
Wooowww...
Remember what happened to the curtain when Jesus died? It was torn. Torn from top to bottom. So if the curtain is Christ's body... then what happened to the curtain... happened to Christ's body. To quote Max:
"What happened to his flesh? It was torn. Torn by the whips, torn by the thorns. Torn by the weight of the cross and the point of the nails."
Wow again.
So does that bring a whole new meaning to the lyrics of that song?
"You step out from the curtain,
Revealing what is certain.
It's no wonder why you are."
I hope that gives you something to think about... and that it puts what Jesus did for you in a different perspective.
Peace
- ange -
Monday, April 19, 2010
some freaking RAD vids!!
so i decided to post some of Tenth Avenue North's teaching videos, because they are so totally awesomely true!
Healing Begins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF1X9VvQbD4&playnext_from=TL&videos=I98IOLVfU9U
Strong Enough to Save
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNpw-kCUEtk&playnext_from=TL&videos=L0JfoP_5Uso
The Truth is Who You Are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJehFMBMuQU&playnext_from=TL&videos=OJn5bQ0EZvU
Healing Begins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF1X9VvQbD4&playnext_from=TL&videos=I98IOLVfU9U
Strong Enough to Save
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNpw-kCUEtk&playnext_from=TL&videos=L0JfoP_5Uso
The Truth is Who You Are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJehFMBMuQU&playnext_from=TL&videos=OJn5bQ0EZvU
GMA WEEK!
GMA week has officialy started! This is good news. In fact, it is very good news. Why? Well, it's good news because it means the Dove awards. It means TONS of info on new CCM music. An it means lots -and I do mean lots- of interviews. But best of all, it means podcasts. Wonderful, hilarious, ROFLMBO podcasts featuring some of my favorite people, sleep deprived and running around on nothing less than 50 cups of Starbucks during what is quite possibly the busiest week of the year. Bliss. (For the fans. Not so much for them)
so, keep an eye on this journal/blog thing, because I'm probably gonna be posting stuff every day from the GMAs on here... and youre gonna get WAY begind if you done keep up. which by the way, if you don't know what GMA is, its Gospel Music Association.
so, keep an eye on this journal/blog thing, because I'm probably gonna be posting stuff every day from the GMAs on here... and youre gonna get WAY begind if you done keep up. which by the way, if you don't know what GMA is, its Gospel Music Association.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Mike Donehey
this guys is the leas singer of one of my favorite artists... and he is an awesome writer... when you have a whole day to yourself and your up for a read thats gonna make you THINK... id check this guy's journal out... pretty awesome stuff...
http://tenthavenuenorth.com/journal/show/mike/page/50 there are 11 pages of blogs, so... read .
http://tenthavenuenorth.com/journal/show/mike/page/50 there are 11 pages of blogs, so... read .
how my knee surgery went.
so.. we got to the hospital @ 800... they took me back to prep for surgery (start my IV...mark up my leg... talk to the anesthesiologist( an- is- tee-gee- ol- uh- gist) ... run a pregnancy test.... yup, you heard me right... they ran a pregnancy test. stop freaking out. it came back negative, ok?) then they took me back to surgery at 1045.... and i was under for about 90something minutes (thats an hour and a half)
the thing is is that i had the surgery at hillcrest. the last one was at southcrest. the anesthesia that they used on me at hillcrest did NOT work out as well as the one they used @ southcrest did. lets just say that some anesthesia makes some people WAY overly emotional and... and the one they used on me this time did just that... i cried for like a hour this morning for no real reason. and i threw up twice in 3 minutes last night... :/ not fun.
the nice-ish thing was that they did a nerve block on me thsi time... that was nice b/c i felt NO PAIN for almost 12 hours.... and it just really started to kick in thie afternoon... but that was ok, because my wonderful friends, amy, miranda, and heather were over and they kept em buys! thanks girls! love you!!!
thanks to everyone for your prayers! :)
the thing is is that i had the surgery at hillcrest. the last one was at southcrest. the anesthesia that they used on me at hillcrest did NOT work out as well as the one they used @ southcrest did. lets just say that some anesthesia makes some people WAY overly emotional and... and the one they used on me this time did just that... i cried for like a hour this morning for no real reason. and i threw up twice in 3 minutes last night... :/ not fun.
the nice-ish thing was that they did a nerve block on me thsi time... that was nice b/c i felt NO PAIN for almost 12 hours.... and it just really started to kick in thie afternoon... but that was ok, because my wonderful friends, amy, miranda, and heather were over and they kept em buys! thanks girls! love you!!!
thanks to everyone for your prayers! :)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Contact
twitter: twitter.com/AngieRSanchez
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/a_n_g_i_e__r_o_s_e
youtube: youtube.com/speakinglouderthanb4
myspace: http://www.myspace.com/a_n_g_i_e__r_o_s_e
youtube: youtube.com/speakinglouderthanb4
Monday, March 22, 2010
Macaroni and cheese
My dad hates mac and cheese.
Well, he just thinks he does. See, he's never really tried it because he says the idea of macaroni and cheese together just doesn't appeal to him. Of course at this point, you're wondering what kind of home he had, that his mother never made him mac 'n' cheese... well she is Cuban. She never knew what mac and cheese was till a few years ago, when I introduced it to her.
Anyway, where was I? oh yes, mac'n'cheese. So my dad doesn't like it, and ever since i can remember, I've always teased him about it.
But i do remember one instance when i was about 5 that his dislike for mac and cheese, and me knowing about it, actually came to a pretty cool idea.
So like i said before, i was about 5 years old, and my guess would be that this was probably sometime after i had asked Jesus into my heart. I don't know how we got on this discussion, but I guess we were talking about how much God loves us in spit of the fact that we are so sinful, and my dad said this:
"its like this, if you were covered in macaroni and cheese, i would still want to give you a hug, because i love you so much. I would rather hug you if you weren't covered in macaroni and cheese, but because I love you so much, I would hug you if were. well its kinda like that with God."
Only now, (almost 10 years later) am i beginning to fully grasp the truth of that.
See, the macaroni and cheese is like sin. We are covered in it. And God, being perfect, cannot be in the presence of sin. But he loves us so much that he couldn't bear the thought of not being with us, so what did he do? He made a way to wash the sin off. That way was the cross, and the blood of his son, Jesus. So now all we have to do is ask for forgiveness, and we're forgiven.We can freely enter into the presence of the Lord any time we want. See, before, all these sacrifices had to be made, and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year. But the moment Jesus died, and he said "It is finished" the curtain to the old of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. No more separation; It wasn't necessary. No more sacrifices; Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. We can come to God and just talk anytime we want, about anything!! And isn't that amazing? Isn't that humbling? Isn't that uplifting? The the creator of the universe, the maker of the stars, the designer of the human body, who makes each fingerprint unique, Would car about US? He made each person special, with likes dislikes, interests, hopes, fears, dreams, and aspirations. He cares about us and desires an intimate relationship with us... individually.
Jesus didn't just die for the whole world.
He died for you individually.
He doesn't just want a relationship with the whole world.
He wants a relationship with you individually.
He doesn't just have the whole world in His hands.
He has your world in his hands.
He cares about you.
So next time you have a plate of mac'n' cheese, don't just thank God for you food. Thank him for his individual Love.
Well, he just thinks he does. See, he's never really tried it because he says the idea of macaroni and cheese together just doesn't appeal to him. Of course at this point, you're wondering what kind of home he had, that his mother never made him mac 'n' cheese... well she is Cuban. She never knew what mac and cheese was till a few years ago, when I introduced it to her.
Anyway, where was I? oh yes, mac'n'cheese. So my dad doesn't like it, and ever since i can remember, I've always teased him about it.
But i do remember one instance when i was about 5 that his dislike for mac and cheese, and me knowing about it, actually came to a pretty cool idea.
So like i said before, i was about 5 years old, and my guess would be that this was probably sometime after i had asked Jesus into my heart. I don't know how we got on this discussion, but I guess we were talking about how much God loves us in spit of the fact that we are so sinful, and my dad said this:
"its like this, if you were covered in macaroni and cheese, i would still want to give you a hug, because i love you so much. I would rather hug you if you weren't covered in macaroni and cheese, but because I love you so much, I would hug you if were. well its kinda like that with God."
Only now, (almost 10 years later) am i beginning to fully grasp the truth of that.
See, the macaroni and cheese is like sin. We are covered in it. And God, being perfect, cannot be in the presence of sin. But he loves us so much that he couldn't bear the thought of not being with us, so what did he do? He made a way to wash the sin off. That way was the cross, and the blood of his son, Jesus. So now all we have to do is ask for forgiveness, and we're forgiven.We can freely enter into the presence of the Lord any time we want. See, before, all these sacrifices had to be made, and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year. But the moment Jesus died, and he said "It is finished" the curtain to the old of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. No more separation; It wasn't necessary. No more sacrifices; Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. We can come to God and just talk anytime we want, about anything!! And isn't that amazing? Isn't that humbling? Isn't that uplifting? The the creator of the universe, the maker of the stars, the designer of the human body, who makes each fingerprint unique, Would car about US? He made each person special, with likes dislikes, interests, hopes, fears, dreams, and aspirations. He cares about us and desires an intimate relationship with us... individually.
Jesus didn't just die for the whole world.
He died for you individually.
He doesn't just want a relationship with the whole world.
He wants a relationship with you individually.
He doesn't just have the whole world in His hands.
He has your world in his hands.
He cares about you.
So next time you have a plate of mac'n' cheese, don't just thank God for you food. Thank him for his individual Love.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
TIME FOR A NEW BLOG!!!
ok.
sorrrryyy.. :) is anyone reading this thing anyway? because im not posting to facebook or myspace or any of those other sites anymore.... maybe the CAMP if its good but... dotn count on it.
ok i gotta make it quick cos moms gonna be makign dinner soon and i wanna help her.. but let me give you a cool story ok? ok. good.
i dunno how many people on here know this, but i am fluent in spanish. OK that set you up for the story.
soo last weekend some of us from our youth group went on a little missions trip to pratt kansas... (pratt is a really tiny town of 6000 ppl) we partnerered w/ teh youth group @ pratt first assembly and did a weekend of outrach with them. aside from that we did their main service on sunday morning and all three youth services involved in that outreach weekend. so saturday was the day where we really just did a ton of servant evangelism around the city of pratt... one of the things was walking dpwn Main Streed and walking up to people (in a non-assertive or freaky way) and askign them if they wanted prayer.... somethign ive been WANTING to do for a LONG time... like 2 years, ok. sooo were walking down the street and we ask someon eif they wanted prayer. he said "i dont understand english... anyone speak spanish"
so here i have an opportunity, and yet all of a sudden i didnt want to. i was tempted to just act liek i couldnt speak spanish either. noone in our group knew i could. but God did, and i knew i wouldnt be able to sleep if i didnt step it up, so i squeaked, "I do" so i had the chance to talk to this guy and that all want fine... i was coherent and all... but then i had to pray. IN SPANISH. i have NEVER done that, except when i was praying to recieve my prayer language... the youth leader praying with me made me pray in spanish. haha ANYWAYS... when i started praying, it was like eyery word i had ever learned in spanish totally slipped my mind. so i stopped for a second and was like, 'ok Lord, give me a glimpse into this guy's life. give me something that h ewill know is of you.' and God just said 'pray that he draws closer to me' now, thsi guy had readily accepted prayer, so i assumed he was a christian and all that, but i went ahead an prayed it anyway, and it was like as soon as i said that i could sense that i had said something that hit him hard. so i asked him later after we prayed if he was a christian, went to church, he said yes, showed us teh church's card, turns out it was the same church we were workign with.. they have a spanish congrgation too!!! CRAZY!
any way! :)
sorrrryyy.. :) is anyone reading this thing anyway? because im not posting to facebook or myspace or any of those other sites anymore.... maybe the CAMP if its good but... dotn count on it.
ok i gotta make it quick cos moms gonna be makign dinner soon and i wanna help her.. but let me give you a cool story ok? ok. good.
i dunno how many people on here know this, but i am fluent in spanish. OK that set you up for the story.
soo last weekend some of us from our youth group went on a little missions trip to pratt kansas... (pratt is a really tiny town of 6000 ppl) we partnerered w/ teh youth group @ pratt first assembly and did a weekend of outrach with them. aside from that we did their main service on sunday morning and all three youth services involved in that outreach weekend. so saturday was the day where we really just did a ton of servant evangelism around the city of pratt... one of the things was walking dpwn Main Streed and walking up to people (in a non-assertive or freaky way) and askign them if they wanted prayer.... somethign ive been WANTING to do for a LONG time... like 2 years, ok. sooo were walking down the street and we ask someon eif they wanted prayer. he said "i dont understand english... anyone speak spanish"
so here i have an opportunity, and yet all of a sudden i didnt want to. i was tempted to just act liek i couldnt speak spanish either. noone in our group knew i could. but God did, and i knew i wouldnt be able to sleep if i didnt step it up, so i squeaked, "I do" so i had the chance to talk to this guy and that all want fine... i was coherent and all... but then i had to pray. IN SPANISH. i have NEVER done that, except when i was praying to recieve my prayer language... the youth leader praying with me made me pray in spanish. haha ANYWAYS... when i started praying, it was like eyery word i had ever learned in spanish totally slipped my mind. so i stopped for a second and was like, 'ok Lord, give me a glimpse into this guy's life. give me something that h ewill know is of you.' and God just said 'pray that he draws closer to me' now, thsi guy had readily accepted prayer, so i assumed he was a christian and all that, but i went ahead an prayed it anyway, and it was like as soon as i said that i could sense that i had said something that hit him hard. so i asked him later after we prayed if he was a christian, went to church, he said yes, showed us teh church's card, turns out it was the same church we were workign with.. they have a spanish congrgation too!!! CRAZY!
any way! :)
Monday, February 15, 2010
thought inspired by tenth ave north... and it has nothing to do with them. haha.
02.11.10
Ok, had a pretty cool thought, but I need to explain how it came about first... :)
One of my favoritist bands... (...favoritist? Is that a word? If it wasn’t before, it is now, cuz I said so...and that’s good enough... right? :) ) Right. Anyway, one of my favoritist bands, Tenth Avenue North put out their debut album almost 2 years ago, and I love them. A lot. They are awesome, so check them out., of you haven’t. NOW! ;p So needless to say, that upon hearing the news yesterday that their new album is going to be called The Light Meets The Dark, and its gonna come out in May, well lets just say I've been thinking about them a lot more than I usually do within the past few hours.
Which triggered, among many, a thought. Not just any thought, mind you, but something special. Something cool I had never thought of before. Something, well deep, if you will. Well, maybe not deep, but still, cool nevertheless.
I'm sure you all have probably heard the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Well, can we apply that to music for a minute? (Hang on, hang on, you'll see how this all ties in and gets deep here in a bit, just hang with me)
So, beauty is in the ear of the hearer. Not as poetic, but whatever. You get it.
I think in the case of Tenth Avenue North though, beauty is in the ears of anyone who HAS ears. (like I said, getting to the deep part, just haaaannngggg on, you impatient little... person! ;) )
Not just from a musical standpoint, like, Mike has this awesome, expressive voice (which is true), or those beats are super catchy and insanely fun (also true), or the statement that every song on the album is kinda like a stress reliever, but better (also true, and getting to the deep part now).
But from a message standpoint. What are these lyrics proclaiming?
The Gospel.
Truth.
Love.
Hope.
Peace.
Freedom.
See where I'm going with this? What are those things? Beautiful. Beautiful to all who hear and believe.
Just look at the chorus of 'Love is Here':
"Love is here, love is now, love is pouring from his hands, from his brow. Love is near, it satisfies. Streams of mercy flowing from His side."
So beauty, not necessarily 'pretty', beauty, but beautiful, in the sense of, well, the Gospel, love, mercy, life!
So, beauty (the gospel) is in the ear of anyone who HAS ears.
Are you getting this?
" Then Jesus said, ' He who has ears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:9 (NIV)
" If anyone has hears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:23 (NIV)
Strange how Jesus would say this TWICE in one chapter, SEVEN times in all four Gospels. (Matt 11:15, Matt 13:9, Matt 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4: 23, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35.) (NIV) I guess he really meant it, huh?
I feel like this should just be enough said, but somehow I know it isn't.
The gospel is in the ear of anyone who has ears.
All we have to do is HEAR IT! That is IT, friends. That is it.
So... I guess the first three paragraphs aren’t really necessary, but it kinda sets you up.
All I'm really trying to say is that it's not like we have to strain to hear God's voice in our lives. All we have to do is just listen. I think sometimes we don’t want to hear what God has to say, because we know what he's gonna say, and we don’t like what he's gonna say. That doesn’t mean He's not speaking.
Look at it like this: Just because I mentally checked out when my mom told me to clean my room, doesn’t mean she didn’t tell me to clean my room! It does mean that eventually my room will be a total mess because I never picked things up. (And I'll probably get grounded. But that's besides the point)
God is talking.
All we have to do is sit and hear His voice.
So um, what started this anyway?
Oh yea, I was talking about my favoritist band, Tenth Avenue North, and telling you how Mike quoted one (or is it all) those verses in an interview...
Oh wait, what'd you say? I didn’t tell you that already? Oh, well, I guess I left that lil' detail out. Well, now you know. :)
love and prayers always,
Angie
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"He who has an ear to hear, Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" Revelation 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, & 3:22 (NIV)
Yup, it’s word for word, every single verse.
Are you surprised?
Don’t be. God does things like that when He wants us to get something.
Ok, had a pretty cool thought, but I need to explain how it came about first... :)
One of my favoritist bands... (...favoritist? Is that a word? If it wasn’t before, it is now, cuz I said so...and that’s good enough... right? :) ) Right. Anyway, one of my favoritist bands, Tenth Avenue North put out their debut album almost 2 years ago, and I love them. A lot. They are awesome, so check them out., of you haven’t. NOW! ;p So needless to say, that upon hearing the news yesterday that their new album is going to be called The Light Meets The Dark, and its gonna come out in May, well lets just say I've been thinking about them a lot more than I usually do within the past few hours.
Which triggered, among many, a thought. Not just any thought, mind you, but something special. Something cool I had never thought of before. Something, well deep, if you will. Well, maybe not deep, but still, cool nevertheless.
I'm sure you all have probably heard the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Well, can we apply that to music for a minute? (Hang on, hang on, you'll see how this all ties in and gets deep here in a bit, just hang with me)
So, beauty is in the ear of the hearer. Not as poetic, but whatever. You get it.
I think in the case of Tenth Avenue North though, beauty is in the ears of anyone who HAS ears. (like I said, getting to the deep part, just haaaannngggg on, you impatient little... person! ;) )
Not just from a musical standpoint, like, Mike has this awesome, expressive voice (which is true), or those beats are super catchy and insanely fun (also true), or the statement that every song on the album is kinda like a stress reliever, but better (also true, and getting to the deep part now).
But from a message standpoint. What are these lyrics proclaiming?
The Gospel.
Truth.
Love.
Hope.
Peace.
Freedom.
See where I'm going with this? What are those things? Beautiful. Beautiful to all who hear and believe.
Just look at the chorus of 'Love is Here':
"Love is here, love is now, love is pouring from his hands, from his brow. Love is near, it satisfies. Streams of mercy flowing from His side."
So beauty, not necessarily 'pretty', beauty, but beautiful, in the sense of, well, the Gospel, love, mercy, life!
So, beauty (the gospel) is in the ear of anyone who HAS ears.
Are you getting this?
" Then Jesus said, ' He who has ears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:9 (NIV)
" If anyone has hears to hear, let him hear" – Mark 4:23 (NIV)
Strange how Jesus would say this TWICE in one chapter, SEVEN times in all four Gospels. (Matt 11:15, Matt 13:9, Matt 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4: 23, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35.) (NIV) I guess he really meant it, huh?
I feel like this should just be enough said, but somehow I know it isn't.
The gospel is in the ear of anyone who has ears.
All we have to do is HEAR IT! That is IT, friends. That is it.
So... I guess the first three paragraphs aren’t really necessary, but it kinda sets you up.
All I'm really trying to say is that it's not like we have to strain to hear God's voice in our lives. All we have to do is just listen. I think sometimes we don’t want to hear what God has to say, because we know what he's gonna say, and we don’t like what he's gonna say. That doesn’t mean He's not speaking.
Look at it like this: Just because I mentally checked out when my mom told me to clean my room, doesn’t mean she didn’t tell me to clean my room! It does mean that eventually my room will be a total mess because I never picked things up. (And I'll probably get grounded. But that's besides the point)
God is talking.
All we have to do is sit and hear His voice.
So um, what started this anyway?
Oh yea, I was talking about my favoritist band, Tenth Avenue North, and telling you how Mike quoted one (or is it all) those verses in an interview...
Oh wait, what'd you say? I didn’t tell you that already? Oh, well, I guess I left that lil' detail out. Well, now you know. :)
love and prayers always,
Angie
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He who has an ear to hear, Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" Revelation 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, & 3:22 (NIV)
Yup, it’s word for word, every single verse.
Are you surprised?
Don’t be. God does things like that when He wants us to get something.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
UPDATE
Hi everyone.
First of all, yes, I am alive, despite the fact that I haven’t posted in months, and that I'm hardly ever online anymore...! Sorry! No, it's not because I don’t like anyone, or I'm mad. I love you all very much.... if I didn’t, I would tell you. You can count on that!
Having said this, and having made the necessary apologies for my absence, there is another issue at hand.(Yes, I know I'm talking all formally. If you have a problem with that, you can talk to your little computer screen.) I know my knee/dance updates have been getting rarer and rarer, so I figured I'd make a little blog put you all back in the loop. :)
My knee is doing a lot better... my Dr. said last week that in 8 weeks (7 now) I should be able to do anything at all and I'll have no problems...
IF I exercise 3 times a day! Uh, Doc, I think I can squeeze times 1 and 3, but where's 2 gonna go? :) But really, that is great! :) I'm so excited to be back 100% again! First time in almost 2 years!!! Crazy.
Now as for dance... even though it's true that by the time the 2010-2011 dance season rolls around, I'll be medically ok to dance, I've decided not to go back in. More simply, I am permenantly taking a break from dancing. Yes, you read me right folks. No more dancing for me. At least not extensively. Why? Well, this really should be another blog, but I'll do what I can to put it in a nutshell.
First of all, you have to consider that by the time I would start dancing again, I would have taken a 2 year break, and I haven’t been in the gym ½ as much as a usually was when I was dancing, which, all things considered, I should of been in the gym even more since I want dancing. And then there's the fact that I am 2 years behind where I should be. Facts are, I can spend all the time I want in the gym and on the dance floor, taking as many private dance lessons as I want, but I will never be able to get those 2 years back and get back with the same class. It might be worth it if I were going to make a career out of dance, but that has never been the point. So that’s one reason. But the main thing is that I feel like God was just saying:
"That season of your life is over now. It was good, and you learned a lot, but I have something else for you now, I want to show you some of the plans I have for your future."
Come to think of it, he was saying that a long time before all this happened with my knee, but I had made dance more important than Him, so I wasn’t paying attention to Him. Listen to me people, if God wants to get your attention, HE WILL GET IT, even if he has to let you get hurt. Now, don’t misunderstand, I'm not blaming God. The only person to blame for all this is me, and I know that. But here's the thing, is that God in His grace, used that time where I couldn’t dance to show me a lot. I suddenly had all this free time, and I found myself on my face, broken before Him, more and more. And that's when He began to show me that I had been idolizing dance. He began to show me the plans He has for me, and the calling He has on my life. And let me tell you, it was scary at first. But I decided to jump into it, and you know what? It still seems a little scary at times, but I'm ready for it.
The decision to not dance was the hardest, most back-and forth-, painful decision I ever made, but heck, was it worth it! Once I let go of that, doors started to fling open in every direction, it was a little overwhelming.
Ok, so it was a lot overwhelming.
This has quite possibly been the best year of my life, even though it's been without a doubt, the hardest. But its only because I let God do whatever He wanted. I remember being on my face one night, and I said, "God, I don’t know what to do anymore. I'm lost, I'm broken, and I'm on my face here before you, and I just don’t have a clue. So just do whatever you want with me. Take all of me until there's nothing left to take." And that’s when He said to me " Perfect. You don’t have any strength of you own, and now I can use you"
So here is my challenge to you, as a friend, not someone who's holier-than-thou: Have you allowed yourself to be broken before the Lord today? This week? This month? How about this year? If not, I challenge you to come before Him, and tell Him what's going on. Allow yourself to be broken before the One whose body was broken for you, and healed by our Perfect God. Listen for His voice, and let him change you. Let His love pour over you in your brokenness, and let him use you for His glory. Let me tell you, it is the most amazing thing when you realize you get to be a part of something that is so much bigger than yourself, and when you realize that God doesn’t need you at all, but that he deeply desires to use you anyway. All he needs on your part is a willing heart.
Much love,
angie
First of all, yes, I am alive, despite the fact that I haven’t posted in months, and that I'm hardly ever online anymore...! Sorry! No, it's not because I don’t like anyone, or I'm mad. I love you all very much.... if I didn’t, I would tell you. You can count on that!
Having said this, and having made the necessary apologies for my absence, there is another issue at hand.(Yes, I know I'm talking all formally. If you have a problem with that, you can talk to your little computer screen.) I know my knee/dance updates have been getting rarer and rarer, so I figured I'd make a little blog put you all back in the loop. :)
My knee is doing a lot better... my Dr. said last week that in 8 weeks (7 now) I should be able to do anything at all and I'll have no problems...
IF I exercise 3 times a day! Uh, Doc, I think I can squeeze times 1 and 3, but where's 2 gonna go? :) But really, that is great! :) I'm so excited to be back 100% again! First time in almost 2 years!!! Crazy.
Now as for dance... even though it's true that by the time the 2010-2011 dance season rolls around, I'll be medically ok to dance, I've decided not to go back in. More simply, I am permenantly taking a break from dancing. Yes, you read me right folks. No more dancing for me. At least not extensively. Why? Well, this really should be another blog, but I'll do what I can to put it in a nutshell.
First of all, you have to consider that by the time I would start dancing again, I would have taken a 2 year break, and I haven’t been in the gym ½ as much as a usually was when I was dancing, which, all things considered, I should of been in the gym even more since I want dancing. And then there's the fact that I am 2 years behind where I should be. Facts are, I can spend all the time I want in the gym and on the dance floor, taking as many private dance lessons as I want, but I will never be able to get those 2 years back and get back with the same class. It might be worth it if I were going to make a career out of dance, but that has never been the point. So that’s one reason. But the main thing is that I feel like God was just saying:
"That season of your life is over now. It was good, and you learned a lot, but I have something else for you now, I want to show you some of the plans I have for your future."
Come to think of it, he was saying that a long time before all this happened with my knee, but I had made dance more important than Him, so I wasn’t paying attention to Him. Listen to me people, if God wants to get your attention, HE WILL GET IT, even if he has to let you get hurt. Now, don’t misunderstand, I'm not blaming God. The only person to blame for all this is me, and I know that. But here's the thing, is that God in His grace, used that time where I couldn’t dance to show me a lot. I suddenly had all this free time, and I found myself on my face, broken before Him, more and more. And that's when He began to show me that I had been idolizing dance. He began to show me the plans He has for me, and the calling He has on my life. And let me tell you, it was scary at first. But I decided to jump into it, and you know what? It still seems a little scary at times, but I'm ready for it.
The decision to not dance was the hardest, most back-and forth-, painful decision I ever made, but heck, was it worth it! Once I let go of that, doors started to fling open in every direction, it was a little overwhelming.
Ok, so it was a lot overwhelming.
This has quite possibly been the best year of my life, even though it's been without a doubt, the hardest. But its only because I let God do whatever He wanted. I remember being on my face one night, and I said, "God, I don’t know what to do anymore. I'm lost, I'm broken, and I'm on my face here before you, and I just don’t have a clue. So just do whatever you want with me. Take all of me until there's nothing left to take." And that’s when He said to me " Perfect. You don’t have any strength of you own, and now I can use you"
So here is my challenge to you, as a friend, not someone who's holier-than-thou: Have you allowed yourself to be broken before the Lord today? This week? This month? How about this year? If not, I challenge you to come before Him, and tell Him what's going on. Allow yourself to be broken before the One whose body was broken for you, and healed by our Perfect God. Listen for His voice, and let him change you. Let His love pour over you in your brokenness, and let him use you for His glory. Let me tell you, it is the most amazing thing when you realize you get to be a part of something that is so much bigger than yourself, and when you realize that God doesn’t need you at all, but that he deeply desires to use you anyway. All he needs on your part is a willing heart.
Much love,
angie
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