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Realization: Church will NEVER be easy.

At least not as long as satan is around. It seems each Sunday shows up with totally unique set of potential disasters. Videos won't work. Microphones are peaking. A church member will deliver a discouraging comment. Blugh.

Satan will always try to find a way to get us flustered so that we don't give it our all. He understands how big this whole church thing is, but sometimes we put it in human terms and dumb it down to being something as small as us.

God wants to change the world through His church. We have the privilege of being a small part of this revolution. We must also consider it a privilege for satan to mess with us. It means God is up to something and the devil is scared out of his mind.

at Marathon Greenville:

I'm Not Ashamed - Hillsong
Everlasting God - LB
Jesus Paid it All - Kristian Stanfill
We Can Work It Out - The Beatles (via Bethany Dillon)
Evermore - Hillsong

at Marathon Greenville:

Take it All - United
Mighty to Save - Hillsong
Devotion - United
Love is Here - Tenth Avenue North

do you ever find yourself so confused that you don't even feel like your thoughts make any sense? do you ever say things and immediately think to yourself, "i should have never brought that up."? do you ever feel like things are so messed up that there's no going back to how it used to be? do you ever feel like happiness is something reserved for some people but not for you? and that no matter how hard you try the dream will never come true?

yeah...me neither.

I've never been a person to become really interested in video games. I do have the occasional phase where I dust off my PS2 and start a franchise on Madden '06. I have about 25 unfinished seasons on my memory card right now. Every once in a while I'll spend roughly 20 minutes a day for 3 days thinking, "wow this could be my new favorite thing to do." Then I start thinking about how much I'd rather be cutting my toenails or reading the latest issue of Low Rider Magazine.

The only thing worse than video games in general is role-playing video games. Back in the day I tried to get into these kinds of games. Final Fantasy, etc... I just couldn't do it. I guess I'm too much of a realist. I just didn't get stoked about meeting up with a wizard to gain control of the mysterious scroll containing to secret mantra that gave me access to the nether-world's supply of frozen pterodactyl ammunition. Its at this point in the game where I usually just go outside and thank the good Lord that in this dimension we have sunlight and no evil dragon-zords.

I'm not hating on you if you're a gamer. It just ain't for me.

at Marathon Greenville:

All Because Of Jesus - Fee
Lead Me to the Cross - United
From the Inside Out - Hillsong
We Shine - Fee

"What if" is one of my favorite questions to ask. As someone who's into the arts I love the idea of possibilities. What if this could happen? What if we could pull this off? What if we could make it look like this? I have a post-it note stuck over my desk that says, "what if..." to keep me thinking.

The Marathon Greenville band and I are in Daytona Beach leading worship for FBC North Augusta's student camp. On Wednesday night the camp speaker delivered a pretty cool challenge that involved my favorite question.

He asked us this question: What if all of our religious and moral accomplishments meant nothing? What if we have spent all this time trying to earn God's love by going to church, having quiet times, going on mission trips - when in the end its just all about grace?

I know we're not saved by our works, but what Christian doesn't, at times, feel like we have to perform to keep on God's good side? I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it.

I still think Bale is the best Batman. I still think he's an amazing actor. However, now I fear the impact guys like this are having on culture. The Dark Knight is the biggest movie in the world right now and every kid who's old enough to walk on his own wants to be Batman. Now he's accused of assault. Who did he assault? His mother and his sister! I don't know if he got fed up with his mom's nagging or if his sister picked on him one too many times. Regardless, you don't physically attack people. Even Batman knows how to control his temper.

I know, I know. People make mistakes. Emotions can get the best of us sometimes. And yes, God forgives. This blog is not a condemnation of Christian Bale.

Sometimes I just start to worry about our focus as a culture. We hold actors, musicians, and athletes in such high esteem that we will justify anything they do so that we can continue to look up to them. Something about our design requires us to look up to someone who is "greater" than us. God gave us that trait so that we would seek Jesus. Jesus never slapped Him mom.