Silence and Solitude Part 3

Please refer back to Part 1 before you go on to read this section.

~~~~~~~

Part 3


Understanding Silence and Solitude


Silence and solitude is fasting from people and noise for a prescribed time to connect with God and replenish the soul. The opposite of solitude is isolation, where someone is burned out and goes into survival mode by disappearing. Solitude is goldy, isolation is deadly, and if we don't enjoy the former we'll wind up pursuing the latter.


Despite the constant pressures upon his time from family, friends, and fans, Jesus' own life was marked by ongoing times of solitude. The following verses speak of how Jesus often pracited the spititual disciplne of solitude:

• "And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone." (Matt. 14:23)
• "And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat." (Mark 6:31)
• "And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place." (Luke 4:42)
• "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." (Luke 5:16)

Furthermore, as we study Scripture we see that Jesus used solitude for a multitude of purposes. Following his baptism, Jesus spent forty days in solitude preparing for his public ministry (Matt. 4:1-11). After his cousin, John the Baptizer, was beheaded, Jesus spent time alone to mourn (Matt. 14:12-13). Jesus also used times of solitude as occasions for intense and focused prayer (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16). Jesus specifically used solitude as an opportunity to pray and seek the Father's will before choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12). In addition, Jesus used solitude to rest after a hard day of work (Mark 6:31). Finally, knowing he was soon to be crucified, Jesus spent time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane, coming to grips with the painful obedience that was required of him (Mark 26:36-46 [It is actually Matt. 26:36-46]).


Other biblical figures also used solitude for a litany of purposes. Moses spent time alone on the mountain with God in order to receive a word from God, namely the ten Commandments (Exodus 19-20). Isaiah was both saved and sustained by God through his times of solitude with the Lord (Isa. 30:15) In Psalm 62:1-2, 5 David says that in solitude God calmed his fears and encouraged this soul. Paul as well spent some three years in varying degrees of solitude being prepared by the Lord for ministry, according to Galatians 1:17-19.


Clearly, time alone with God serves innumerable good purposes in our lives. Therefore, to help you consider how to enjoy purposeful times of solitude, I would encourage the following. One, you may need to simply schedule a day of solitude to ensure that this is a regular part of your spiritual life. I do this at least one day a month and find it to be the most important and refreshing part of my life; it enables me to function in the other areas of my life because it helps me remain continually connected to Jesus. Two, find a place where you like to go. This may mean that  you spend a day in God's creation hiking or simply resting. Three, if you  are a parent, this may mean that you have to get up early or stay up late to get some time to yourself at home.


There are many things you can do during your periods of solitude, including:

1. Nothing
2. Meditate on a short section of Scripture
3. Rest
4. Read long sections of Scripture
5. Pray, including a prayer-walk/hike/bike
6. Read a good book
7. Journal

~~~~~~~


Wow, the first part was very much more relevant to me this time around that when I first read these. I have to admit and repent of yesterday. It seems like the whole day was a waste. I was lazy all day long. I got up and I was lazy. I sat around and played games on my computer from the time I got up to the time I had to head out, which was utterly lazy. At work, I was lazy and didn't really want to do things very well or to the glory of God. I didn't want to do anything to the best ability that I could. Small insignificant things would irritate me because it meant that I had to work harder. I just wanted to be lazy. Even after work, I had seen that I was completely lazy about it and I was still lazy after work. I did nothing productive at all. I probably could come up with many different verses about not being lazy. Here is one that I have memorized because of the things I do in ministry. Proverbs 22:29, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Be excellent at what you do, and don't be lazy about it! I think I was searching for isolation as I didn't want to do anything with anyone. And that is not me at all, I thrive off of other people.



As this is something that I have never really studied, seeing Jesus and all these different people in the Bible has a different impact now that I read them again. I can see that they thrived off of their times with God. They were rejuvenated and as David says, he put his hope in the Lord. I don't think that I do that very often. Most times I try and do this silence and solitude thing, I am looking forward to hanging out with people again. I need to change in how I think about these times. They are a time to seek God and to put my hope in him.


I would be careful about some of the things that Mark says you can do. I would abstain from doing nothing. I can't remember or find the exact verse but I believe that it says something to the extent of, idle hands brings about sin. So I would be careful to do nothing. I did that yesterday and it did not bring about any good. I would be careful of what you think rest is as well. Often times I rest by doing nothing, or by sleeping for longer than I should, or even by hanging out with people when I should be off by myself. Make sure you rest in God and not in things of this world.

Silence and Solitude Part 2

Please refer back to Part 1 before you go on to read this section.

~~~~~~~

Part 2

Organizing a Silence and Solitude Day

Four Ways to Change Your Life

1. Heart change - conviction from God and repentance from you
2. Study - research and fact-finding for how to change your life, which includes reading the Bible and other books, speaking with people you know who have wisdom, etc.
3. Plan - ongoing, detailed, and prayerful life organization
4. Action - working your plan and making changes as life requires:

Moleskine - always keep a journal like this nearby to jot notes, thoughts and convictions in
Journaling - use your laptop to gather the scattered ideas in your Moleskine and prayerfully and carefully add to and consider them
Calendar - take action items from you silence and solitude day and put them on the calendar, as without being officially planned, nothing ever gets done to completion


Most people are good at one or two of these steps. Some have a heart to change and do their homework but do not make a plan and take action to change thier life. Others have plans and action but are religiously just doing duties because they have not experienced heart change from God. Others move from heart change to action without research and a plan; they mean well but the make their life (e.g., health, finances, relationships) worse.


Take some time and be honest with yourself. List each of these steps in order from the one you are strongest at the one you are the weakest at.


Where is your life getting stuck and what can you do to grow where you are weak? Who do you need to talk to and learn from? What do you need to repent of?


~~~~~~~


So here is my list in order from strongest to weakest: 2, 1, 3, 4. And even then I am not very good at 2 or 1. I actually like journaling. I find that it is easier to get all of my thoughts on paper where I can see them in front of me instead of trying to keep them all sorted out in my mind. The problem that I have is that I often just don't find the time to journal. I think I am going to set a specific time each day to even just write that I don't have time to write much currently, but at least keep a journal going. That way I can see where God has worked in my life and what prayers he has answered.

Silence and Solitude Part 1

I am just going to give a preface before I dive into this. So far, this study has been good for me and I figured that I would share it with all of you as well. It is a five part series and I have gotten through part 3 so far. It is from Mark Driscoll and I don't know where the brother who got this for me, got it from. So I will retype it for you and remember, this is from Mark Driscoll...not me. At the end, I will give you my thoughts and how I see my life with the context of each section.


~~~~~~~

Part 1

Organizing a Silence and Solitude Day

I am an introvert who is contemplative. This means I crave and desperately need silence, solitude, study, prayer, and journaling because the Holy Spirit uses these moments to connect me to Jesus that I might be more like him. For those like me, organizing days for silence and solitude may come rather naturally. But for those who are extroverted and active, the people and tasks in their mind and life can keep them from having regular and productive time to fast from noise and people and to hear from God, speak to god, and be with God.


So, this blog is the first in a series that will help you organize a silence and solitude day. The series of blogs will culminate in a lengthy template I use to organize my own silence and solitude days. I shared this document with the Mars Hill staff and so many friends on Facebook and Twitter asked for it after hearing about it that I decided to write it up in brief form and give it away in hopes of being helpful.



Four Ways to Live Your Life



In his book Leading On Empty, Wayne Cordeiro says that there are only four ways to live your life:

1. Reaction - passively dominated by urgencies and pushy people
2. Conformity - succumbing to the fear of man and just being and doing what everyone else wants, which is not necessarily following God's will of you personally
3. Independence - nonconforming rebellion in the name of freedom, marked by doing only what you want and ignoring godly authority over you
4. Intentionality - reverse-engineering your life and living it prayerfully and putposefully, journalling your thoughts throughout the day, and using silence and solitude to hear from God and organize your life.

Whis one of these four most typifies you? Is your life a frazzled mess because you are in perpetual reation mode? Have you not really even deeply pondered God's will for your life but just done what you were told by other people?


Are you the sort of person who is defiant, independent, and self-reliant? Or, do you regularly (e.g., at least one hour a week and one day a month) get silence and solitude with God to work on your life before you work in it?


~~~~~~~



Now, back to what I think, I am very much the "extroverted and active, the people and tasks in their mind and life can keep them from having regular and productive time to fast from noise and people and to hear from God, speak to god, and be with God." I'll be honest and say that I don't get regular times in the word and many times, I just don't feel like it because I would much rather spend it with other people. People are what rejuvenate me, not being alone. Out of all of the ways that it says we live our life, I like number 4 the best and pray that I might do that more.

I feel like I am a person that is very much in the reaction mode, maybe not so much the pushy part but definitely the reaction part. Always running from one thing to the next, trying to manage everything that I am doing, I am a micro-manager. I would tend to say, most guys are like this, that they are in the reaction mode. When I see something wrong, my first thought is how do I fix it. And so, I am always trying to figure out how to fix things. And many times I am not the best at it and I have to let it go and let God take care of it. I pray that God would change me to make me a person that loves his word and longs for times with him.

This is why...

This is taken directly from our church news letter and this is exactly why I run this race. There is not much more that brings me more joy than seeing someones life change this dramatically! This story is especially close to me as he is on my discipleship team and although I have heard and read the story many times, it still brings me to tears because of the huge change in his life.



New Faith: Taking the plunge
Jumping from Atheism to Christianity
By Chris Neal

In September, during a D-Team campout, I stood at the edge of a 12-foot cliff along the Poudre River, contemplating if I would make the plunge from atheism to Christianity. 

I'm a 20-year-old student at CSU. No one in my immediate family is religious; I grew up thinking Noah and the ark was a fairy tale, and we only went to church on Christmas Eve. I started hanging out with a D-Team two years ago, and they convinced me to start going to the Rock last year.

On November 6th, after the Rock, I started talking to Chris Klumph, and he asked when I'd been saved. I told him that I wasn't yet, so he asked me where I was at spiritually. I told him that over the last couple years I've been looking for answers. He told me that I should earnestly seek God so that he would reveal himself. So I went home and kept reading the New Testament that Nathan Hrouda gave me a couple years ago.

I was in John 6, shortly after one of the versions of Jesus feeding the 5,000. I was immediately struck be line 26: "Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.'" I was convinced that eating the loaves had some deep symbolic meaning that might show me that there's a way besides an obvious miracle that might convince me of the reality of God. So I asked one of my housemates, Stephen Meyer, and he said that they were just following Jesus because He basically gave them a free lunch. I asked Stephen how looking for miraculous signs could be a preferable alternative when the Pharisees had asked for sign after sign. Stephen said that the problem wasn't in asking for miracles, it was that the Pharisees were so dead-set in their false beliefs.


I had to admit that I was definitely one of those stubborn people. Even though I'd been going to the Rock, to church, to a creation science class once a week, and I'd even started reading the Bible, I wasn't being open minded at all. Whenever I heard a statement, my first thought was "Where's the flaw in that argument? What's the best way to refute that claim?" I knew then that I needed to change my outlook, but still didn't know how I was supposed to get proof without a miracle. Then I read John 7:17 - "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.'" I kept reading until John Larsen came home, then told him about what had happened that evening and what I'd been thinking. He told me that it was awesome that my stubborn mindset had changed so greatly in one night, but that taking that step had pretty significant implications. I was sobered, but still determined to make a big step that night. I then remembered that I'd jotted down the lines of one more Bible verse that I'd just read while waiting for John. It was John 9:3, in which Jesus told people that a blind man wasn't being punished for his sins; he had bee blind so that God would be glorified upon his healing. The blind man might have suffered due to his blindness, but he must have appreciated his vision all the more once he miraculously received it. So maybe God wanted me to wait until now so that I'd have the kind of testimony that I'd wanted to hear for the last few months: a testimony with a clear point at which someone had a sudden revelation that led them to believe in God. I hope when I share my story with others, they will realize that the search for truth can be a long process, but eventually, if they're simply willing to open their mind just for a few hours, maybe God could reveal Himself to them.


That is what I did, as John asked if I was ready to 'take the plunge.' I did, praying with him to accept Christ. I may not yet understand everything about the Christian worldview or God's ways, but I felt that the events and emotional impact of that night were enough for me to make the jump of believing in God and begin my search for truth as a Christian.



That is why I love this church and this movement, to see people lives changed for Christ. I will say it again and I will say it for the rest of my life. I will run this race and keep running through the high and low only to see more peoples lives changed for Christ!

It's that time of the year again...

Well, yes the snow has fallen and it is about -5 degrees outside right now and we put up lights inside the house, have a little fake tree with lights on it and I am just loving this season right now.

But at the same time, it is also finals time. I have one final done and two more to go and a paper and a project. There is much to be done and much grace is needed. I could use some prayer along with the rest of everyone else that have finals.

And remember, keep that smiley face on your hand. :)

Why do I do all this?

The school year is about over. I am done with this semester on the 14th of December which means finals are right around the corner. I have this love hate relationship with finals as once they are done, that means I am done with that class. But that means that I have lots of studying to do. I always have to remind myself of why I am doing all of this.

Back when I was at CSU, I really didn't put God and school together. And with that, I was trying to do things on myself which eventually was my down fall with school at CSU. I would try and get a grade for myself to make myself feel good or for my parents so that I could show that I was doing okay. It was never for God that I was doing school.

I have learned way more now about why I do school than I ever thought I would. And even more so, why I do everything in this life. I have had to realize that my life is not my own. I have been listening to a band that I heard of recently called Owl City and one of the songs on the album is called Metor Shower says just that.

I can finally see,

that you're right there beside me,

I am not my own,

for I have been made new.
Please don't let me go,

I desperately need you

I am not my own,

for I have been made new,

Please don't let me go,

I desperately need you

 I had to realize that I do everything in my life for the glory of God and none other. That I can not take any praise for anything in my life and that it all has to redirected back to God. So when I do good in school, I can praise God for what he is doing in my life.


There was a brother who wanted to share the gospel with someone each day before he came and so he would put a small infinity symbol on his hand to remind himself to go sharing. It would remind him of eternity and that he wants to share eternity with someone else today.


Now what does this have to do with what we do and why we do it? For a while I would ask people if they wanted a smiley face drawn on their hand just because I had a permanent marker. I was actually talking about this subject with my break down group and I told them that if you need a reminder on why we do everything in our life, including school, put a smiley face on your hand just as our brother reminded himself of eternity.


So remember as we go through the end of the semester, why we do school. It is to glorify God alone! And if you need to remind yourself of that during the toughest of finals and projects and papers, then put a smiley face on your hand. 

Also, when you feel like school is just too much and over bearing, you can also look at this picture and know that our God is bigger than that! (Picture of the galaxy Andromeda taken with and ultraviolet camera) And that means that he is bigger than school!

Epicness!!!

I am not even sure where to start with this. Let's see here...So over the summer, Stephen, Gio, and I got to know Jayson. Jayson was our boss for Stanley Steemer and we got to challenge him in his faith and I know God did some pretty amazing things over the summer with just our little group of 4. Jayson was hoping that we would be able to come out for a Thanksgiving break trip like we did last year. That is where this story starts...

I knew that we were not going out to El Paso for a Thanksgiving break trip but I really wanted to bless Jayson so that we could see him again and encourage him. I decided that I would try as hard as I could to get down there for a short little trip. So I asked Stephen and Gio what they thought about it and they eventually said yes. I started working on the plans and got a place to stay at and was able to tell Jayson that we were coming down. We got to stay with Ryan and Amanda which was great fun as Stephen and I got to stay with them over the summer.

We headed down to my parents place after The Rock on Friday to stay the night. We got coffee and breakfast to go from my parents, which was awesome, and we were headed to Gio's place to drop stuff off there and to see his mom on Saturday morning. We got there and had even more coffee, which was okay with me considering that it was really good! Finally we were off to El Paso. After a long drive, lots of gas, and good times in the car we finally got down there. We made great time due to Gio's lack of being able to pay attention to what the reading was on the speedometer was.

We grabbed some dinner at Sonic as us three have some pretty good memories at sonic. And then we went to church, and that was freaking awesome in itself. Worship was great and then Tom talked about how we are not citizen's of this world but of a different kingdom. And I honestly can't wait till I am taken home. You can check the message out here, and I recommend it! Just click on Holy War (11/29/09). We stayed and helped clean up a bit and then headed home with the Ryan and Amanda. We got to hang out with them some as the packed up because they were actually headed to Colorado for Thanksgiving break. It was good to catch up some but they had to go to bed.

We hung out for a bit in the morning and then headed over to the shindig they were having that day. We got to eat and have lots of yummy food and hang out with the church. We finally were able to see and hang out with Jayson there and catch up over what all has happened since summer. Jayson and his wife Suzie had their first child the Wednesday before we came out which was one major thing that happened with them. Jayson's brother was out along with Suzie's sister and so we got to meet them and hang out and have much fun chatting. We hung out for a while and then headed over to Jayson and Suzie's for pizza and monopoly.

We played one of the oddest games of monopoly that I have ever played. Stephen, as hard as he tried, could not die. The game went a totally different direction than anyone would have thought it would have gone and it was much fun, or at least I thought it was...Stephen might disagree with me. We had to head out then because Jayson had to work early in the morning and we had decided then that we just wanted to head home then instead of stay the night again. And so we went home to pack up and clean up.

I went to the store to grab some food and coffee mugs and a 3 liter of Dr. Pepper. I have to say that I was very proud of the 3 liter :) Gio drove the first leg of the trip while Stephen and I slept so that we could stay awake together during the second leg of the trip. We got to Albuquerque when Gio decided that it was time to wake me up to drive as he was starting to get tunnel vision, if you understand what that means when driving...I think I understand it. I drove for a while talking with Stephen when he decided that it was time to go to sleep as he didn't really sleep while Gio was driving. As I was driving, I all of a sudden saw flashing lights behind me and that feeling of "oh crap, I'm caught". I was averaging about 85-90 during this time because there was absolutely no one on the road. But the sheriff went around me and I saw him cross over the median to a car that was on the other side of the road with it's flashers on. Well with great excitement I hit 105 when I figured that I should slow down so that a po-po really don't pull me over. I got all the way to Trinidad when the sun was coming up and I could no long drive safely. I switched with Gio again, as Stephen really is not a fan of driving, and promptly fell asleep once we were back on the highway. I was awaken by Gio slowing down and he said that he was being pulled over. After that was done, I went back to sleep and was awoken again because he was being pulled over again. And well, I went back to sleep. We got to his house where we picked up his brother and kept driving to my house. Gio decided that he didn't want to drive anymore and so I took over. I had much fun during this last part and made it home safely. This was not the end of the trip yet. We had to take Stephen home and I drove with my mom up to Fort Collins and back and we had a blast on that drive too.

In all the trip was less than 72 hours and I was greatly encouraged. Jayson has completely turned his life around from where it was when we first met him. He stopped drinking and smoking altogether and has been pursuing Christ even more. It is going to be awesome to see what God does with that man! 

As you can see, the whole weekend was completely epic because everything was very impromptu which made it great and did I say epic, well it was epic! If you ever get the chance, go and see some friends so that you may encourage them and so that you may be encouraged yourself.

Your Love Remains

Here is an awesome video and song from our brothers and sisters out in Utah

More Hebrews and a Proverb

Hebrews just got done talking about how a bunch of the Old Testament characters had faith and because of their faith, it was counted to them as righteousness. And then it says at 11:13-16

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

I am not a citizen of this world. I belong else where and I am awaiting my homeland and my God is not ashamed to be my God!

I laughed when I read this Proverb. It is 27:14

14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.

I now have a verse to tell people not to wake me because I am sleeping! Okay...well, that might be taking it a little too far

mmmm....so good!

Here is some encouragement for you... or at least I found it encouraging.

Hebrews 10:23-25 says:

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

I love verse 23! What is our hope? Our hope is that Christ has covered all of our sin and is coming back! And then it says, 'for he who promised is faithful'. With this, we can know that he will be faithful in redeeming us.

And then in Hebrews 10:31, it says:

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 It just got done talking about our sin and that God will be just and I actually find this encouraging. I am in the hands of the living God which is a place of comfort, but at the same time it is such a fear thing. I am in the hands of the God that could end my very next breath.

Be ready because Christ is coming back, I am reminded of Luke 12:35-48

 35 "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

41 Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?" And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Sounds

A friend of mine found this video...check it out

Sounds

An interesting talk, I think it is true that music is very powerful. Maybe that is why I like it so much and why I love running sound. Music strikes a powerful chord with a lot of different people.

Words can't describe it....

Alright, so you know how I was talking about my super sweet friends, well their website is up and they have a few songs that you can stream. I have gotten the privilege to listen to the entire CD and it is freaking sweet! I am super excited for when the rest of you can listen to it all. The album will be released on the 13th and you all should buy it.


Now I also have some pretty sweet friends that live out in Utah. We have a sister church out there that is called The Rock Church. They also have put out some pretty sweet CD's and they have a new one that is going to be released on the 14th. Here is the website for their newest CD called Promises.


I just can't escape from all of the awesomeness around me. I am privilaged that I even get to be part of it. Plus some good friends of mine are getting married that weekend as well. It is going to be one epic weekend of awesomeness!

I have the coolest nephews ever!

They were Star Wars Clone Troopers for Halloween

AWESOMENESS!!!

So I have some pretty sweet friends. There isn't much more to it....

Okay, so I will tell you why. Travis Swan and Katrina Stone are some of the best musicians I know of. Travis is the worship leader for Summitview which is the church that I go to. And Katrina does music for life. She has also been a fellow sound person with me.


Anyway, they just finished a CD which will be released mid-november. The band is called The Unlikelies and here is a song that they are giving away for free that will be on the CD.


http://www.travisland.net/Almighty.mp3

This is their website that will be up soon; theunlikelies.com

And while I am at it, I might as well tell of the band that I run sound for almost every Friday. I also think that these friends are pretty sweet. I get to hang out with them lots and also get to make great mixes for them. They also have an EP that you can download on the Rock website. The Rock is the college student group from Summitview.


Pretty much, my friends are cool.

Not a bad deal!

http://www.win741.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/

Where is your heart?

And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So where do you put your treasure and your heart?

Joy

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
-Jesus (Luke 10:19-20)

Alright, just think about this. Jesus has given us authority to tread over Satan...how cool is that. I have been given the power to go through anything that this world can throw at me. But for those who have accepted Christ, we get to rejoice that our names are written in heaven! How much more cool is that?

What a day!

Let me tell you about the day of September 28th, 2009. It was quite an epic day...

I had a really hard time getting up that morning and got to work just a tad bit late. But the thing was that Greg and Chris weren't there yet, so does that mean that I was actually late? I'll let you ponder on that for a bit....okay, that was long enough.

Chris and I started working on the lights in the auditorium because a lot of them were out. By then end, I think we changed about 10 lights. Now, to change all of these lights in the auditorium, you could use the genie, which is a scissor lift, but for the other, you would have to use this super freaking huge ladder that has to way lots and is really hard to move around. Now I would have to climb all the way up it and then change the bulb while not actually touching it because they are special. Okay, so it isn't that hard, it just seems like it when all you are doing is yawning while you work. About mid-morning, we decided that we needed to get some liquid caffeine and so Chris got some coffee and I got some DP! yeah, woot woot for the DP. Although a vanilla latte would have been just as good. So after our short break we get back to work and finish up the lights and start to work on the sprinkler system in the auditorium. Each sprinkler head has a cap that goes on it and some had been falling off. Now, the place to get to the pipes in the ceiling requires going up to the very top and climbing around on 2" wide pieces of metal that are holding drywall up and the metal is held up by wire. And so if you take a wrong step somewhere....down you go. And so I climbed around and got to this hole that I had to go through. It was like a fire wall that has this small 2' by 2' access hole and well...I yet again had to step on 2" metal that is more flimsy than the first set. So we work on the system and figured out that there was nothing that we could do for it at the time and so I went up there for essentially nothing. But all the same, I love climbing around up there and doing stuff and it was a lot of fun. And so not it is about 12:15 and I have to rush off to my next thing for the day.

A good friend, Justin Marks, wanted to take me to get a message at the Student Center. We tired to do it on Friday but they were all booked and so we rescheduled for Monday. I get there and we wait for just a bit and then it is my turn. I sat down in the chair and he starts going at it and it is just awesome! It only lasted for 10 minutes unfortunately but as Justin is getting his turn, I get to sit in one of those chairs that you see in malls all the time. It was this robotic chair messager thingy and I decided that I need one in my house. I can only imagine they are super expensive. Well by this time, it is time to head off to class.

I get to class to see an unfimiliar face at the front of the room. Apperantly our teacher got a cold and had this sub come in for the day. He has been an audio engineer for a couple of years now and is not really a teacher. He even admitted that. It didn't really seem like he wanted to be teaching and I guess he thought we didn't want to be there. Although, I would have to say that it is one of my favorite classes right now. And so he fly's through the powerpoint and after class there is a classmate asking him a question and I was sticking around just to make sure that I understood. And we start talking some and he is showing me some of the mics that he brought in to class and he asks if I want to come and see his studio some time. I was like, REALLY??? And I said sure, I got his number so that I could call him some time to come and see the place. I couldn't believe it. Hopefully, this might even turn out to be a career oportunity. We will have to see what God has in plan. Another class comes in and he has to teach and so I head out and go home.

I am home for a bit just to realize that I had locked my keys in the truck...again! I did it about two weeks ago. I think I need to go and make a spare copy. I call AAA and they come and get my keys out and then I decided that it was time for a nap. After all this excitment in the day, I was tired. I dose for a while and get up to work on some homeworkness before I have to head out to the observatory to do some astronomy labs.

That place was packed. I was in a group of about 40-50 people memorizing where things are in the sky. I had so do another lab of looking through a telescope at the moon. And the deck where the telescope was at had about 20 people on it. Now this deck wasn't very big. When I was final able to look at the moon throught the telescope, I was just amazed! The moon as so beautiful and bright and it had so much detail on it...I can't describe how cool it was to look at it. This just gives me more evidence that God created such a thing for us to look at. That is his beauty that we are looking at in the night sky.

Our God is so cool. Just the small things in life can bring us so much joy. Things like while you are at work climbing around in the ceiling, or having someone message your back, or getting a number to go and look at a recording studio, or looking at an amazing moon! What a day it was to live in God's presence. He is always there and he does care about us. Although we may have good days and bad days, he loves us all the same!

Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:7-9 (emphasis mine)
who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.

the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.

the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

Just let go

Today, I was reading in Luke 9 and right at the very end where it talks about The Cost of Following Jesus.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

I started thinking about this passage and well, I was pretty convicted and still not quite sure where I stand with it. Jesus said to these three men to follow him. But Jesus hit them at the heart, where it hurts the most. He told them that they had to let go of certain things before they could start to follow him.

I had to take that and apply it to my life. How much am I still holding onto? I can say that I am still running and following after Jesus but what am I holding onto that is behind me and keeping me from getting closer to him? It is like you are running as hard as you can in one direction but you are not getting very far because there is a parachute attached to your back with the wind blowing in the opposite direction. All you have to do is release the parachute so that you can run. I know that as life goes on that I will let go of a lot of things and I will cling to many others. That is sadly only because I unfortunately love this sinful-broken world. I wish it was not this way and that Jesus would take me home already but as Philippians says, I am still here for a reason.

I can only ask you this as I realize what is holding me back...what are you still holding onto?

Pretty much awesome!

The bass guitar has to be one of my favorite instruments in a band and I have to say that this is pretty cool



And as far as more classical instruments go, the violin would be one of my favorites, but this too is pretty cool



But I love running sound the most!

Let me catch you up some on life since El Paso. I told my boss at Stanley Steemer that I would be able to stay till about mid-august while most everyone else came back on August first. I let the peeps who went back on the first borrow my car because they needed an extra car to go back and the few of us that stayed were going to be able fine without it. Well, I didn't think to check the oil and neither did they and so my car died. It blew a piston rod and is no longer useable. We sold it for what the body is worth and going to save that money for a new car. Well, new car to me...probably used. Because my car died, my parents and I are going to be a two car family until we get another one.

I am still doing sound for The Rock (www.rockrevolution.com) and for Summitview (www.summitview.com). We just had out first service last Friday....and that seems to be worded wierd. Anyway, it was freaking awesome. The service was great and God did some pretty awesome stuff. The week prior, I was working to get out new place ready, which turns out to be an awesome venue. Last Friday though, before the Rock, it was seemed like chaos all around. Partly because we have a pretty young crew as to what they are doing in their ministries and so I had to help out all over the place. I felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions. But with God's help and strength, I made it through the night. By the time I got home, my legs just ached and I was ready for bed.

Instead of working nights at the church building as a building attendant, I am now working days there as Chris's side kick, the facilities guy. I just started this week and I worked on sprinklers with Chris and Greg, our boss. It was much fun.

I am also now on a new team...or rather a combined team. The discipleship team that I was on just joined John Larsen's team to make a huge team. We had our first team yesterday and it was fun. We are going through Philippians and we started with 1:1-18. We are finishing out the rest of chapter one next week. There are now approximately 20 or so people on our team. I am super excited to be on the team. I think God is going to do some awesome stuff with our team in ways that we probably won't see or understand.

I am taking classes out at Front Range again this semester and I have to say that I am kind of excited for some of my classes. One class that I am excited for my Audio Production class. I get to learn about recording sound and all that fun stuff.

So that is Zach's life as of right now, I'll keep you post for later things

Drumming in your sleep....????

So I was at band practice, and it is always a great time as always. I love listening to the band figure things out and get it down for The Rock. I get to sit there and try and figure out what sounds the best and make sure things aren't overlapping eachother, blah blah blah. You don't want to hear about what I do at band practice. In fact, I think most people would consider it boring. But as they were practicing for a song, Ryan closed his eys for a sec and he some how thought that his new puppy was jumping on him because a tom fell therefore waking him up....while he was drumming still. It was hilarious :)

This is fun

This is something that my uncle sent me....and I have to say, that is pretty awesome. And even if this isn't real, which I have a feeling that it is fake, it is still pretty cool.

Response

So my sister had my nephews look at my blog and all the pictures that I posted on here and they liked it so much that they drew a picture for me. And well, my sister...haha...took another picture and sent it to me. I have to say that I love them too!

My Nephews!

My sister recently got a Blackberry and has been loving it. She sends photos, it seems almost everyday. Although I don't get to see them very much, I get to see them via pictures from my sister.


































































































































































































































I do have to say that I love them lots and can't wait to go and see them in a couple of weeks...

El Paso thus far...

Once again, it has been quite a while since I have written on here. I have been super busy with work and have barely been able to even get on the internet, my main mode of communication is through the phone which is really weird considering I don't even really talk on the phone that much anyway.

I am working for Stanley Steamer and if you don't know what that is, it is a carpet cleaning company. I'll tell you a little about how I got the job. I remembered that one of my friends that did an infusion a couple of summers ago cleaned carpets and I figured that I would give it a try. I emailed as many as I could find, I think that was on a Thursday. On Saturday morning, I got a call from my the regional manager and he told me to go and have an interview on Monday morning and fill out an application. So I go in Monday morning and it turns out that I get hired on the spot and started that day. Circumstances turned out to be that by Wednesday of that week, I was in charge of a truck and had keys to the shop. Which also means that I got a pay increase within three days. I also have been working essentially 40+ hours a week which means that I have been really tired. This week starts my 4th week working down here in El Paso

A short break that I was able to have was to go back to Colorado for Ryan and Christy's wedding. I was one of the groomsmen in the wedding and I so I got to get all dressed up and have an awesome time. I drove up with a group of people on the Thursday before the wedding and had Ryan's bachelor party which was a blast. I also met my mom in FoCo for dinner that evening just so that I would be able to see at least her while I was in Colorado. Then we had the rehearsal and dinner. I don't think I have seen or ever will see again a rehearsal dinner so elaborate as that one again, it was super fun. Then the day was upon us. They got married in Estes Park and so during the morning we went and played disc golf at the Y there and then got ready after we had finished that really fun course. Took some pictures and then I got to help solve some sound problems which is always fun! And now for the big moment, after dating for 5 and a half years, they were finally at the time. We had gone through everything and all was ready. Ryan was up at the front with the rest of the wedding party and Christy was on her way down. You could tell that Ryan was trying to not make any funny faces as his beautiful bride was walking down the isle. John Meyer gave a great message and then it was time to celebrate. We all had fun dancing and hanging out. We had to head back down to El Paso on the following day, so we went down to my parents house to sleep and then head out from there. My parents made us a Father's day breakfast and we left from there. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

Today I went with my boss and three other people to the Guadeloupe Mountains in Texas. The hike was not all that long but super fun. I took some pictures but my camera died soon after we got on the trail which was epically sad because we saw some amazing sights that I would have loved to take pictures of. Hopefully I will be able to get back there some time soon and take pictures for real this time.

God has been awesome down here and I feel like this is a time of trusting God this summer. Keep praying for us!

Psalm 146:7b-10

Life...

It seems as though it has taken forever for me to update this thing. There has been so much that has been going on, it seems as though I have not had any time to do anything on the computer.

I am current in El Paso, Texas and have been here since the may 24th. I am down here to tell people about Jesus and help a sister church that is down here. I am super excited and can't wait to see what God has in store. I am taking a break from looking for jobs, so that I can finally update this. Most of the places that we have been to keep saying that I have to go online to apply and so I spent pretty much all day in one spot applying for jobs. Maybe I will go backwards in the timeline of Zach to update you on my life.

So I am currently in El Paso and we came down here on the 24th and I totally just repeated myself here. We have been looking for jobs ever since we got down here but still haven't found any. There are two people who had jobs before they came down and then only one other person has found one so far. So there are still 17 of us looking. Hopefully we will have jobs by next week or some of may have to start looking at going back home for the summer. Not something that I want to do and I trust God will get us jobs.

I went to Disney World recently and had a blast there. One of my high school friends has an intership there right now so he works at Splash Mountain. We were able to cut the line and just go to the front for splash mountain and thunder mountain because Andrew (my friend) has conncetions. So we went on those bunches. Here are some pictures...

The Magic Kingdom!!!








Splash Mountain!!!








Thunder Mountain!!!








Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror!!! I have never really been a big fan of this ride, but is is great to try and make some good faces at the camera...






EPCOT...which stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired according to one of the cast members.










We had dinner and a show at this really cool place. They cooked the food infront of us and then it we were celebrating my birthday and Andrew's birthday and so we got hats too just like this cool guy...






I didn't like my hat very much...








This ride was awesome! It was a super huge centrifuge and it would spin you around and put I think it was 2.5 G's on you. I had a lot of fun on that one yelling and pushing buttons and landing the space ship!





School ended and I didn't do as well as I wanted to but things are still good. Something to do with school though, I have decided that I am just going to get my A.A. and then decide what I want to major in. I am about half way through it but and I am taking a super exciting class next semester! It has to do with sound.

I think this is all that I will write about for now, partly because I haven't written forever and even writing this one I paused for like a week and have forgot more that has happened and also I just can't remember right now.

Be praying for jobs for everyone here in El Paso for the summer!