grace

last night in my small group, we were going through the last chapter of paul's second letter to timothy, and we got into a conversation about grace. chris brought up the fact that almost every epistle in the new testament begins and/or ends with some form of the phrase, "grace be with you." as we discussed this, i realized that paul and i had something in common.

paul grew up in a jewish culture where it was all about what you did. the pharisees had great influence in this. it was all about rules. to a much lesser degree, i grew up (as the son of a baptist pastor) in a rules based religious structure. *this "rules based" religious system was not constructed by my parents, but by the people of the church creating a fish bowl in which i was to live and move and breathe. for much of my middle school and high school spiritual life, i acted out of fear of how i would be judged (by church-members) more than out of genuine love for JESUS... so, i understand why paul talks about grace so much, beginning and ending almost every letter with an affirmation of the grace we have in Christ.

i have to CONTINUALLY remind myself of this grace that changes things. everything. i want to live a life full of grace. i want to live a life that oozes grace to people i don't get along with, to my family, to my friends, to my co-workers.

rest assured in the overwhelming grace of God. give it/show it/live it to others.

"The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you." (2 timothy 4:22)

rise:stl

yesterday, we got back from a week-long mission trip to inner-city st. louis. we took about 30 high-school students and 10 adult leaders from our ministry. it was a great experience! we saw so much poverty. we saw so much need.

however, the most impactful thing that i saw this week was the passion and work ethic of our students. i was so impressed at how hard our students worked to further the work of a couple of churches in the city. they exhibited unbelievably positive attitudes no matter what work was put in front of them.

i've been on a lot of mission trips, as a student and leader, and i have never seen such good attitudes for the entirety of a trip.

it was really a blessing to be a part of.

folk music

i have been writing a ridiculous amount of songs this past week. most of these songs are written in the folk vein. weird. i didn't really listen to much folk music before a couple of months ago. my good friend tyler lyle is an excellent songwriter living in carrollton, ga (at the moment). a month or two ago, tyler exposed me to the beautiful music of josh ritter. since then, i've been hooked on the folk stuff. there's just a rawness/authenticity to it that i can't get enough of.

word to your mother.

soul pancake

i ran across an interesting site this morning. it's called SoulPancake.com. it is a site (created by Rainn Wilson [Dwight from the office]) where people can discuss openly the subjects of art and spirituality/religion. he posts questions and then allows people to respond and discuss their opinions and beliefs openly. i think this could be a great place for us to go and share TRUTH with people who are already open to talk about the BIG questions of life.

so, if you have a few minutes, click here and interact with a secular community asking honest questions and seeking TRUTH.

¹³'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

unpack

i have a tendency to look towards the next step ("always thinking one step ahead; like a carpenter who makes stairs." ha. i love the office.). i don't think it is bad to think/plan ahead. however, it is wrong to live for tomorrow. or even worse IN tomorrow. this is exactly where i am in my life right now. the end of my internship is in sight. scary and exciting. i have no idea where the next step will take me. but i really want to go ahead and get there. there is something about the human condition that moves us to avoid attachment. to avoid pain. we choose the easiest path. it's a coping mechanism. so much of our decisions are made on the understanding of which option will be less painful, and that sucks.

i moved in with a new family. my room has been full of boxes/suitcases for 2 weeks. today, i unpacked. i have been super busy the past couple of weeks and was just not able to carve out the time to do it before today. *part of me didn't want to unpack, because i know i will just be packing everything up again in a couple of months. however, as long as my things were all in suitcases/boxes, i couldn't enjoy my room. too much stuff everywhere [not very homey (sp?)].

i know i live my emotional/spiritual life the same way a lot of times. i don't unpack anything/open myself up to real relationships, because i know it won't be too long until i'll be moving along in life, and it will hurt to leave. BUT YOU HAVE TO UNPACK TO EXPERIENCE TODAY. it's not easy, but it's necessary. so, let's unpack. let's live today. let's make our choices not based on the avoidance of pain but on the pursuit of significance, the pursuit of a Savior.

God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life. -Erwin McManus

just a thought

i never realized how much my body missed the sun until the past two days. thank you illinois.