Worship

I went to CharlotteOne last night and the worship was phenomenal.  The first set was pretty good, but after the message they lead a song that I didn’t know, but was digging.  It just kept going and broke off into two or three different choruses that I also didn’t know, but the Lord was in it.  I haven’t been able to figure out what songs they were singing, but when worship is flowing like that I just can’t get enough!

Praise the Lord.

Risk

This word has come up over the past few days for me over and over.  I was reading “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” by Eugene Peterson and he made the statement that as long as we think that things can be fixed by anything from politics to our next pay rise, we’ll never experience the life of faith found in risk.  I then heard in a sermon on Sunday morning almost the exact same thing being taught out of Esther.

This concept is tough for everyone I guess, but I really saw myself in thinking that man could ultimately fix anything.  I like to believe that people are good, even if they don’t know Jesus, and they can be.  But, to think that they are fixed or can fix is just missing the mark.

I thought of how I don’t live a life of risk and how I could and it came to me.  Once again, maybe it’s not a tough concept for some, but for me the idea of even paying my bills on time is sometimes a risk.  I think, what if I pay it all now and then don’t have enough for the next week?  Maybe I’ll just hold onto this bill or that for the next week or so and then I won’t have to worry about doing without for the weekend.

My credit score is in direct correlation with my faith!  Is that strange?  Oh well.  It’s true.

up the cut

this political season, i’ve found, has really proven to be much more exciting than campaign seasons of the past. with the first black man to receive a presidential nomination to the first republican woman on the ticket, it’s all been a bit overwhelming. it’s also the culmination of the freedom that we preach to the rest of the world.
i have to admit that i’ve been pretty interested in the whole obama movement and that he seems pretty fresh and new. my initial feeling was that mccain was pretty much the same old thing we’ve always seen…..an old white guy with ties that we don’t know and that’s great at playing the game. the tough thing about labeling mccain as such, is that if we cut the guy open he’d bleed red, white and blue. few candidates have been vetted as much and even fewer have already given so much to the country before their political careers.
having said all that, he’s a guy that has also stated that politics drew him because he loved the power it afforded. i want a guy that can make a tough decision with conviction, but i don’t know that i want a guy that will do whatever he has to for more power.
obama, on the other hand, is obviously an intelligent guy that deliberates over issues and takes his time and the advice of others when considering his options. i like that he’s not afraid to move into innovative territory and lead the country away from it’s harmful dependencies. that’s all great!
what’s not great? the fact that he would allow end of term abortions. i can’t stomach it.
so, who is it?? a lot of decisions to be made, but definitely not to be discussed with my family. it’s tough to have views that run straight up the middle in my family. they don’t tolerate it and see the views of others as an attack on their own views. not so, but definitely creates egg-shells to be tip-toed around.
either way, no one is going to get everything they want out of the next president, so the best thing is for everyone to chill the heck out and be glad you can vote at all.