Can I See God?

We were driving in the car the other day and my son Joshua had some building blocks in the backseat of the car and was putting them together in a complex arrangement. Trying to have a conversation with him, I asked him what he was doing.

His response was, "I'm trying to put God together."

I kind of half-smiled and replied, "And why would you want to do that?"

My 7-year old almost made me melt when he said, "So I can see Him."

How often do we as people go through life and wish we could catch just a glimpse of what God looks like? I mean, God is everywhere, all around us, so why can't we see him?

Jesus tells the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, and he says that he "was hungry and we gave him something to eat, thirsty and we gave him something to drink," etc....

Then he concludes the passage with this statement, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

God is all around us, and we can see him, but we have to first open up our eyes.

Mini-Vacation

Cara and I are taking off today for a couple of days of R & R.

It's good sometimes to get away from it all and just kick back. That's what I fully intend to do this weekend.

See you all Sunday morning!

Power 90 at the .25 Mark

I just completed Day 23 of Power 90 which puts me at the 1/4 mark. Having taken all of my stats before I began this process, I am now amazed at the results I've gotten in just 23 days. Here are some figures for you to compare: (everything in inches)

Day #	Day One	Day Twenty-Three
CHEST	43	42
UPPER ARM R	14	13.5
UPPER ARM L	14	13.5
WAIST	43	38
HIPS	42	39
THIGH R	21	22.5
THIGH L	22	22.5
WEIGHT	204	191.5

As you can see, I have lost 5 inches off of my waist, and 3 off of my hips, but the biggest one for me is the 12.5 pounds I have lost in weight. I am absolutely amazed.

Big props to Josh Young for suggesting this program. I can't wait to see what Day 90 brings.

Church Music

It's finally here. I've been waiting for them to deliver for two years and I'm not disappointed. David Crowder*Band's "Church Music" hit the streets today and it is a great album.

Church Music picks up where the band left off with their Sunsets & Sushi E.P. It is chock full of electronic loops, heavy driving guitar riffs and solos, orchestral arrangements that make you want to spread your arms and fly, and lyrics that will calm and challenge your soul to its innermost depths.

Some of the music is softer than their previous albums, while some songs are rock anthems that will drive to the core of who you are. All in all though, Church Music absolutely delivers. I need to listen to it longer, but in the end, this may give my favorite worship album of all time, A Collision, a run for its money.

If you need some new music for your personal worship time, don't hesitate. Pick this one up.

Encouragement

A lot of times, I feel like this quote:

"Leaders in ministry have a lot of fans and a lot of foes, but very few friends."

Yesterday though, God did some amazing things at ACC. I received a lot of encouragement and so did everyone that was there.

All you have to do is look at one of our longtime members and what this person had to say on their Facebook status.

I am in awe of God's timing. Brian and Mike both hit it out of the park yesterday. There was someone there who is struggling and needed to hear exactly what was said at exactly that time.

Nuff said. Thanks for the encouragement. All praise and credit goes vertical.

Rest in Peace

By now, I'm sure you have all heard that Patrick Swayze has died.

The iconic man's man who commanded an almost idol-like following was 57 and lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

I had a friend from high school comment on Facebook that she wonders if Kanye West will show up to Patrick's Funeral and say "Pat, you were great man, but Michael Jackson had the best death this year."

Whatever happens, I keep seeing posts on the social networking sites that say "R.I.P." which is the acronym for Rest in Peace.

So, the question is, where did Patrick Swayze go when he died?

There are only two options. Heaven or Hell.

Either way, He won't rest in peace.

You see, Hell is a place of eternal torment. There's no peace there. There is fire and darkness and pain. The Bible only describes Hell in seven different verses and that's enough to frighten anyone. There is no rest. There is no peace.

But, what about heaven? I thought that there was peace there?

There is, but not in the sense that you may be thinking.

You see, while Patrick Swayze may have enjoyed his sense of idolness down here on earth, if he goes to heaven, he won't enjoy any idleness.

In heaven there is no pain or suffering. There is also no night. The Bible also tells us that we will be worshiping and serving through celebrating God. Ergo, I can safely conclude that while there is peace in heaven, (the lion will lay down with the lamb), we will not be resting. We will be serving and celebrating and feasting and working. Anything but being idle.

Only God knows where Patrick Swayze has gone. But I know this - he's not resting in peace.

The Nines 09-09-09

Greetings all,

I spent the majority of today at a leadership conference and I did it all in the comfort of my own office!
Leadership Network and Catalyst presented a one day leadership seminar for church leaders entitled "the Nines".

The premise was simple: A conference on 09-09-09 that began at 9:09am CDT where speakers from around the globe had no more than 9 minutes to deliver an address to the church on any topic they wanted.

It was amazing.

I got more encouragement and positive reinforcement about where ACC is as a church and the direction we're headed in than I could have gotten anywhere else. And the best part was the price: FREE.

Here are just a few snippets from different speakers that stuck out to me:

"Take off your mask, your fancy hair, your cool clothes and say, 'this is who I am, who God created me to be.'" - Anne Jackson

"Obeying God means obeying Him in the small things as well as the big things." - Scott Hodge

"A movement of God cannot be planned but it must be prepared for." - Perry Noble

"I hope that I can give you inspiration and information that leads to transformation - not stagnation that can breed frustration. I just used five -ations." - Steven Furtick

"Well intentioned but ill informed efforts often eliminate the crucial step toward maturity." - Noel Hekkinen

"Do ministry out of the overflow of the Spirit of God. Seek Him out until you're so full of God that it overflows into every area of your ministry." - Craig Groeschel

"We cannot be a 'sky-is-falling' kind of people - because we know how the story ends." - Larry Osborne

"It's not the church's job to save, fix, or change anyone. That's God's job." - Jim Burgen

"In your world as a leader, don't get so busy in ministry that you forget to fight for your home, your wife, your children." - Reggie Joiner

Awesome stuff.

What Does God Look Like?

We like to ask the question, what would God look like if we could see him? We typically picture God as an old man with long white hair and a beard who is aged beyond time. So is that a correct picture of God? Does God really look like that? For the answer, read Deuteronomy 4:10-20

¹⁰ That day when you stood before God, your God, at Horeb, God said to me, "Assemble the people in my presence to listen to my words so that they will learn to fear me in holy fear for as long as they live on the land, and then they will teach these same words to their children."

^11-13 You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone.

¹⁴ And God commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to live by in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.

^15-20 You saw no form on the day God spoke to you at Horeb from out of the fire. Remember that. Carefully guard yourselves so that you don't turn corrupt and make a form, carving a figure that looks male or female, or looks like a prowling animal or a flying bird or a slithering snake or a fish in a stream. And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. God set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere. But you—God took you right out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become the people of his inheritance—and that's what you are this very day. (Deuteronomy 4:10-20, The Message)

According to this passage, God has no form that we can comprehend in our limited capacity to understand things as human beings.

You see, God created time and is therefore master over it and is not bound by its limits. God does not sin and therefore remains unscathed by the curse of sin, part of which is age.

These are deep things to understand, but there are times where we try to anthropomorphize God and we cannot begin to understand what God really looks like.

John gives us as close of a description as we could ask for in Revelation 4:

²Right then the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it. ³The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.

When you wonder what God really looks like, try that picture on for size. It's about as close as we'll get this side of heaven.

God Lives Here Too

I just came across this passage while reading from the book of Numbers in the O.T.

Numbers 35:34 - "Don't desecrate the land in which you live. I live here, too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel."

God set his law in place for us to follow. We love Him and that drives us to want to obey His commands. In turn, He dwells among us through His Holy Spirit.

Question - How would your behavior towards God change if you were constantly aware of His presence around you?