Hey, Soul Sister

So you can all pretty much guess that I am not the kind of guy who just puts on his radio and listens to anything and to any station. -It has to be specific for me...its just how I roll. However, to my surprised set of ears, I have recently been pleased to find some pop music that I actually find myself singing along with. One song, I mentioned in a previous blog,"live like your dying" the other is mentioned above in my title, "Hey, soul sister."

-To say I like this song is a major understatement.

A portion of the song goes like this:

"You're the only one I'm dreaming of -

You see I can be myself now finally

In fact there's nothing I cant be

I want the world to see you'll be with me "

Those words remind me of what I tell people when I sit down and do pre-marital counselling with them. I usually ask them to look in each others eyes and then answer this question:

How many times are you planning on getting married?

[Their response generally goes something like this....pause, then deadpan stare at me- like I was kidding...but of course I was not... I never joke.]

Then they turn toward one another again and say, "ONCE" (tear....)

That's when I usually launch into something like:

"You will only be married once, and one day you will be old and grey. You will have a choice to make: will this be the greatest life with your spouse...One for the story books kind of life.

OR will you go through life miserable, holding grudges and all that kind of ugly stuff.

--The decision is yours..."

--

"Husbands love your wife like Christ has loved His Church." Ephesians 5:25

"I PASSED"

About two minutes ago, I get this text message from Christen saying that she passed her final exam for her RN Degree. I as sit and reflect on her accomplishments, my mind goes back to the beginning of when this whole thing started. Christen is not the "school-type" so things were a little rough up front. I can remember the struggles, the long drives to Butler, then to Beaver, the constant updates at Career link, the long days at school, the long nights of studying.... This morning I was listening to the new U2 album, No Line on the Horizon in the car. One song in particular is my favorite, "ill go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight." In this song, Bono sings:

Its not a hill Its a Mountain When you first start out the climb Listen for me...Ill be shouting through the darkness...

Those are the words I sent Christen today after she passed. This journey started out hard. --It was like staring up at Mt. Everest-- But as she started walking, she realized she had someone who would be right with her the entire time. Step by step. Side by side.

That was my promise when you started this whole thing.

That was my promise when we stood at the altar.

That was my promise when you asked me what my intentions were when we first started dating.

That will be my promise as long as I live.

Ephesians 5:25, "Love your wives just as Christ has loved the Church"

Da Lifne Mi Atah Omed

Question...

-Does God really care about you?

-About me?

-About the little things that make up our ordinary lives?

I would love to hear your answers to those questions above. From a Biblical perspective I would answer that God is personally interested in His creations existence. The words that fill the title of my blog may seem weird because they are Hebrew.

Da Lifne Mi Atah Omed means "KNOW BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND"

You can find those words inscribed in some Synagogues above the Torah scroll cabinet. Those words are a reminder that we live our lives everyday in the presence of God.

Did you ever wonder why the Disciples lived such extra-ordinary lives? Just flip through the book of Acts and be amazed that at every turn the disciples were attempting something great for God. Could it be that today we lost the idea of living every moment in God's presence? Could it be that we confuse going to Church for 1 hour on 1 day of the week as our "God Time" instead of every single second of every single day?

Were did this false idea come from?

I think it started when we got a little too comfy with our Christianity...

-Most come to church and want the service to be exactly 1 hour.

-Some of us sit in air conditioned sanctuaries.

-Others sit on padded pews.

Maybe things have become a little too easy in America and the Christian church now reflects that. But when was the Church ever supposed to be a reflection of anything other than its Head, Jesus?

Sadly, for some, Jesus is just another slice of our lives that we conveniently eat on Sunday mornings from 11 o'clock to noon.

--But it was never meant to be that way.

"Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do- do all for the glory of God." (I Cor. 10:31)

In other words...Da Lifne Mi Atah Omed

inFLUence

Just last night our youth group engaged in a simple, yet powerful discussion based on "peer pressure." Most of the time, people associate peer pressure with doing things that are bad (drugs, smoking, trying to fit in...) but some people like to influence others to do good. McManus bring up the fact that right in the middle of the word influence is the word flu. Think of how you act around someone who has the flu. I like to hit the avoid button and limit my interaction with those infected. Why? Because I know that I do not want what they have. The flu is just too easy to get. Influence is like that -a person can choose to influence those around them for the good or for the bad. As a Christ follower, I am called to influence those around me for Christ. Paul made a pretty bold claim when he said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). I am not sure what that does to you when you read that verse, but it really stops me in my tracks. Imagine being Paul. He was well known. He was always around people. He wrote that portion of Scripture to a church filled with people... yet he says to imitate him.

-It is as if he were saying

watch me and you will see Jesus living right through me- -In the good times

-In the bad times

-In the light

-In the dark

Follow me as I follow Christ...

Live Like Your Dying

Have you noticed that the radio has a way of playing the same songs over and over again until you actually like songs you never planned on liking? This happened to me with a song titled, "Live Like Your Dying." Have you heard it? If not, you need to listen to it and let the words sink in. (Below are the words...) The song is a reminder that everyday we are working till the end of our lives. In other words... you and I will die one day. Considering this, how would you live your life differently if you had this perspective? -Would you love more?

-Would you hate less? -Would you spend more time with the people you love?

-Would you spend less time working? "Sometimes we fall down and can’t get back up We’re hiding behind skin that’s too tough How come we don’t say I love you enough Till it’s to late, it’s not too late Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come We could make a feast from these crumbs And we’re all staring down the barrel of a gun So if your life flashed before you What would you wish you would’ve done Yeah… gotta start Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’Gotta live like we’re dying We only got86 400 seconds in a day to Turn it all around or throw it all away We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em While we got the chance to say Gotta live like we’re dying And if your plane fell out of the skies Who would you call with your last goodbyes Should be so careful who we live out our lives So when we long for absolution There’ll no one on the line..."

-You tell man to return to what he was; you change him back to dust. A thousand years to you are like one day; they are like yesterday, already gone, like a short hour in the night. (Psalm 90)