Everlasting

Have you ever thought about the word, Everlasting? Everlasting is a word that should not be taken lightly. To last forever, pretty strong words. I have found that this word is more comforting and helpful when everything falls. Nothing has fallen in my life recently, but when thing have, the word everlasting is there standing strong to describe my Lord Jesus.

The song that I posted along with this blog is called "From The Inside Out" When the chorus hits the words are "EVERLASTING, your light will shine when all else fades. Neverending, your glory goes beyond all fame." Have you ever come to the realization that God's glory is neverending? It is really easy as a musician to have your name spread around. But my God's glory will outshine me all day long. His glory is so big that it goes beyond any worship leader, any child, any parent, any friend, any leader, any president, any movement, and any belief. It consumes everything.

I often find that I am easily discouraged when I find that things change. I really hate a lot of change. It makes my life feel that there is no structure...nothing is the same. I believe that everyone can come to the conclusion that nothing is ever the same. As much as I love my family, their character changes...they are not always the same. Jesus found the key to create structure. Something in the lives of these people has to be .... everlasting. Something has to be constant that will never change. His death on the cross created his everlasting glory. Just being God makes him everlasting. He would not be God if he was not everlasting. He will never end.

So God has reached down into a world that has no peace or prosperity and gave it...the word everlasting. When everything fades...His Glory stays as strong as it has ever been. When Friends fail...He is everlasting, his friendship remains. When frustration covers your life...his everlasting grace pushes everything aside. When love fails...Everlasting love has never let go.

I have found that I have resisted God's everlasting grace. There was a time in my life that I did not want Christ to show me what he had for me. I thought his everlasting plan was not good enough. Then when my plans failed, and failed, and failed his plan stood EVERLASTING. It outlasted my plan and Jesus welcomed me with everlasting arms. I realized that his arms never had left the welcoming position that he was waiting on me. God is slowly revealing to me his plan. After seeing how my plans failed recently (like in the last 2 years) I see that I would rather have an everlasting light guiding my path.

Many times I have heard the words, "It's just not enough". The girl who moves from Boy to Boy looking for love seems to say, "That guys love just isn't enough". The man who is a work-a-holic says, "60 hours in a week just isn't enough" The athlete says "breaking state records just aren't enough". Why is it that the things of this world aren't enough. When we try to create the paradise Satan has put in our minds, we find that it is never enough and we are stuck in this endless cycle of failure.

But when we decide to follow Christ's EVERLASTING plan, the plan that will always outlast and satisfy the heart, we find that things start falling into place. The girl finds the love of God through a guy who loves the same God, she finds that this kind of love is enough because it comes from an EVERLASTING source. The work-a-holic finds that when they work for the Glory of Christ that they are finally satisfied with who they are working for. The athlete starts to tap into the fact that they realize that an EVERLASTING God gave them a talent, that talent is meant to glorify Him who gave it to the athlete. So they find that when they glorify Christ, they don't need records to be complete. They need the satisfaction of knowing that their God is Everlasting, he is neverending, and the cry of that person's heart is to bring Him praise from the inside out.

Attack of the Prom Dates

So today was great! I went out with my dad to go look for somethings for my house that I will be moving into in a couple of weeks. Then we just did "man" things and went and looked at cars and drove around for a while. Today was so peaceful and good for me. I finally relaxed a little. So after all of the riding around Greenville, I came home and of course, got bored. So I decided there isn't much to do so I will go downtown and do my quiet time because I have not done it today. I was stoked about going to my spot at falls park. I have a two seater bench that I always sit on. That is spot #1. Spot #2 is a swing that is located on the back side of the park. Spot #3 and the final spot is a place on top of a drain entering the park that is almost toward the end of the falls.

I get to downtown and I forgot that there was the greek festival this weekend but no biggie. I can share my space with everyone. It's fine. But I started noticing Limos coming out of the wood work. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!!!! Stretch Lincoln Navigators, Stretch Hummers, Stretch Town Cars. Then I remembered that the BMW Pro-Am was this weekend. So those have to be celebrities. Once again I'm cool. Everything is fine. So I go and park my car at the Fall's Park Parking Deck and for the first time ever, I have to drive the very top of the parking deck where I take the LAST spot. Ok something has to be up.

As I make my way toward falls park, I hear what sounds like hundreds maybe even thousands of people. As I turn the corner what do I find... Tuxedos and Prom Dresses as far as the eye can see. I'm glad I wasn't epileptic because the amount of florescent color could have sent me into a convulsion! These people were EVERYWHERE. There was no where to go. Spot #1 was long gone with a line of people waiting to have there picture made in front of or on the bench. Spot #2 had grandmas and grandpas waiting on the grandkids to "hurry up and get it over with already". So I went to my last resort, and God showed me great mercy....no one was sitting on my drain pipe!

It is funny how God can use your surroundings when he wants you to learn something. I was in a very impatient mood tonight. I did not want to be around all of these people. But I knew God had something to share with me. I opened my bible to psalms... I can't remember the exact verse but it said "Give thanks to the Lord, Our God and King. His Love endures forever". He was teaching me that I should be thankful, even when things are not exactly the way I wanted them. I was hoping for some eye opening experience with God tonight that was peaceful. That is why I always go to Fall's Park to do my quiet time.

God showed me that he can work through any circumstance to glorify himself...even the hectic ones. He always wants us to be thankful for everything we do. Even be thankful when things don't exactly go our way because he has set everything into motion.

So, next time you are attacked by the prom dates (unexpected turn of events), be thankful that the God of the Universe has set things into motion, then sit back and watch him work.

Monday's in Margaritaville....

So the title of this definitely sounds interesting. So it's Monday in Myrtle Beach. For some of you that are already questioning my Southern Baptist ethic...no, I don't drink. I have just seen Margaritaville signs everywhere down here. So the title seemed to fit. My Monday has started off great! I woke up at 8:30, got up did my quiet time, and am sitting in my friend Robert's brand new stilt house. Life is good. This Monday seems to be so much more different than most Mondays. I guess it's because I am on vacation. I guess it could also be because I am done with school at North Greenville and this is my week of Celebration with some of my best friends on the planet. I guess it could also be that today is better because I woke up at 4:00 A.M. yesterday to drive back home to see my Mother on Mother's Day. That was pretty intense and it caused me to be exhausted yesterday afternoon. So what did I do...I drove back to the beach, last night. But, I did take a nap so it wasn't that bad. I got on the road about 8:00 p.m. last night after hanging out with someone (I will let your minds wonder, who is this "someone".....hmmm). She and I talked about how Monday's are the worst. Except this Monday is an exception because well, I am on vacation. Anyway, back to the subject

Most Mondays are, well lets face it...hard. You go to bed Sunday night knowing, "well, it's time to start all over again." There are usually 52 Mondays in a year. 52 new starts to a new week. Before I go any further read this:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Paul (Hebrews 12:1-2)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

-Paul (2nd Letter to Timothy 4:7-8)

Why is it that on Monday's, it is so hard for us to want to keep the race going? When Monday rolls around, I feel as if the race just starts all over again. Because of these natural thoughts, I am so glad God is a definite God. He is not a God of "What if". He clearly states to Moses that He is "I AM" which is an absolute truth.

Our world has taught us to believe that every week is the same, Monday being the worst and Friday Night - Sunday is the best because of no work. This causes us to take our eyes off of an endurance race. Each week is the same, mundane. Paul never talked about how long or short the race was. But he did say run the race with perseverance. Keep pushing. Our world sets us up for failure when it has teaches us to think that Monday is the start of another mundane week, because it causes us to take our eyes off of the end of the race.

Have you ever thought about the fact that perseverance isn't boring. In fact, it makes life kinda interesting. I remember the first camp that I ever did with the band, I was 14. The band I was involved with was no little thing. We had about 140-150 members, and worked hard. Here is the scenario:
It was 94 degrees outside, and we had only been outside for 45 minutes. I was ready to say, "Forget this crap." The director was a tyrant, and if we got a break from working hard for a minimum of 3 hours, it included about 30 - 40 seconds of drinking semi-warm gatorade. Then one of my friends said, "Morton, I can already see it on your face man." I new exactly what he was talking about. I was ready to quit. Now granted I wasn't a quitter, so I WAS NOT going to quit. But I wanted to. So that same friend said, "Let's see how long we can go without passing out." Of course being the tank of a 14 year old that I was, I lasted. But I had a goal,a prize, something to go after. Perseverance made it interesting. I wanted to see if I could outlast the other guy. If someone else was going to lose it before I did. It was a rough day, kids were puking, others passed out, but no one sat down. If you passed out, you got some water and sucked it up. Perseverance that day was very interesting.

So here is my final thought:

Because something may seem mundane, may be boring, may hurt, may be hard...never give up. It's not what we are called to do. Push through those Mundane Monday.

Independence vs. Isolation

Preface:

As I was walking downtown today, I saw a lot more people than I expected. People were talking and mingling and well...chillin. That is the only way to put it. I went and sat down on a swing at Falls Park to do my quiet time. There were people everywhere doing everything from playing with dogs, painting, to reuniting with old friends. But I had my purpose at falls park today so I put my iPod in and went off into Mortonville. I was reading a book called "Soul Cravings" by Erwin McManus. Interesting book. This is by far the hardest book I have ever read from a "dealing with reality" standpoint. McManus in his first entry makes this statement about love: "How is it that the same thing that can make your life a rhapsody can also leave you gutted, like a dead fish wrapped in day-old newspaper." (He is speaking about any kind of love I believe not just between two people, or just between you and God.) I wanted to put the book down and not read another word.

Why is even Agape (God's Love) such a hard thing to deal with? It is so simple yet so complex. I believe it is because this kind of love is one that gives life, and life is well complex. The giver of life is much more complex. He is something that the greatest Christian minds like Luther and Calvin could not wrap their minds around. Luther struggled with how to appropriately fear God, but taught the church that God is one who desires salvation through all men, through faith. Calvin (more or less his followers) tried to reduce God to an acrostic (T.U.L.I.P.) but at the same time tried to explain to everyone that God's love is good for salvation once and for all. There has always been this struggle because some of humanity realized along the way this fact:

Love = Life.

"To give up on love is to choose a life that is less than human. To give up on love is to up on life.", Erwin McManus

Who is the author of love? Jesus Christ/Holy Spirit/Father God. So I guess to say "Giving up on God is giving up on Life" and the other way around.

Independence vs. Isolation.

One of the most dangerous questions in all of humanity is " I wonder if anyone..." McManus addresses this in his book but specifically addresses "I wonder if anyone cares?" Why is this question so dangerous? because when asked in isolation or by yourself with no one else's say so, the answer is a resounding NO! It is dangerous to think alone. Thinking alone gets people in trouble. When you answer NO to the previous question you are leaving yourself wide open for attacks from Satan. Isolation is not good. This is why Jesus grants us the church body. This is why he created it. He wants us to have loving fellowship with each other.

Often times people confuse Independence with Isolation. I am a very independent person. I do stuff on my own. I am an only child, I like being able to do stuff by myself. For instance like today, it was really good for me to get downtown and walk around by myself with my iPod in Falls Park. But there is still that desire that God has given me to have family relationships, friendships, to have a girlfriend, to meet new people, and to "enlarge my circle of influence" so to speak. Just because you are independent does not give you the excuse to be alone. If there is one thing that I have learned from being a music major in college, it is that you cannot be forced to be in a practice room 24/7 with no contact with anyone. Now granted I probably used that a little to much as an excuse to go hang out with the guys, or just get in the car and go downtown. But people are not people anymore if they have no contact with others. Contact with the real world is not something that is optional, it is a must have.

So what does this have to do with love? Love is an interaction or a feeling between two individuals. So for love to exist there has to be two parties (the action of love that is, we know that God is the definition or noun of love) Isolation says that no 2 parties are needed. This is wrong. Where there is no love, there is no value for life. That is scary, so being in isolation could cause someone to not have a value for life. Very much so.

Live, Laugh, and Love seems to be a much more profound statement now.