Friday, March 30, 2007

The Gospel in Song

From time to time I think it is important that I post on somethings that I find very enjoyable. I have over time really started to enjoy to listen to Todd Agnew. He is insightful, theological, and just plain deep. I rejoice when I listen to his music and I have some of the best times of worship just simply listen(and singing) to his music. The song lyrics below are from a song of his called "Something Beautiful". I will let the song lyrics speak for themselves. I will say that I totally 100% agree with every word of this song.

"
I am struggling to find a way to make myself attractive to You, attractive to You
I am trying to be more deserving of the gift You have to me, so free

(Chorus:)
It's funny how all I can be is someone completely ugly
And yet when You look at me, You don't see a wretch
You see a reflection of something beautiful

I am searching for the water that can wash me clean enough to earn Your love
I want to stop all the things that break Your heart, but come so natural to me, naturally

(Chorus)

I can't believe you could fall in love with me "

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Expections vs. Entitlement

Ever had one of those "AA Ha" moments? I had one of those this weekend as I was working on the house. If you don't know crystal and i have done alot of work to our house. We have done nearly all the work ourselves to help save money. But no matter how much work we do on this house it never looks as nice as I think it should look. I want our house to look like a $250,000 in Prospect(a very nice sub-division in louisville). What I came to realize is this. No matter how much work or money we put in this house it is never going to look like one of those houses.

Two thing are at work here. First, this is sinful because basically I am trying to "keep up with the Jones" instead of being content with what God has provided for Crystal and I. I keep thinking "if i could just fix this or replace that" then this house would look like that "dream house". So basically I have unrealistic expectation of what this house should look like.

Secondly, this problem of expectations goes deeper. I feel like I deserve to have a big, fancy, nice, prospect type house. This is very cultural. We as a culture believe that we deserve it because someone else has it and we want it. Truth of the matter is that is sin plain and simple. Tha that is the pure definition of envy. So I have two things to work on in my personal life but I am not done yet.

I have for a long time had a problem with UK basketball fans. I couldn't really tell you what it was that i didn't like but UK basketball fans are just different. Ok let me be clear here...I am not speaking of all UK fans but a large group of fans that I am going to describe are like what I am going to say. For a while I thought it was the expectations they put on their program. I thought it was the expectations that drove Tubby out. But then I got to thinking. I am the first person on the wagon to see Darrin Horn be fired from Western Kentucky. He has not taken us to the big dance yet in four years. This is unacceptable for WKU...PERIOD!!!Heck if there isn't a band wagon yet, i will start the dang thing. I WANT DARRIN HORN FIRED!!!! Then it hit me, I expect WKU basketball to be in the big dance every year. I have high expectations. This is no different than UK fans wanting to be in the final four every year. Thus it is not the unrealistic expectation on the program that are what I don't like. I mean every fan has unrealistic expectation on the team they pull for and if you say you don't then you aren't a true fan.

Then it hit me. The problem is no different than what I experienced over the weekend. The feeling that I deserve a big fancy house. ENTITLEMENT! What drives me nuts about UK fans is just that. A lot of fans of UK think that simply because of their tradition that they are entitled to the final four, the best coach, the best recruits, etc. This is simply FALSE. Past preformance are no promise of future results. I as a WKU fan do not feel like WKU basketball is entitled to the NCAA every year. I think they need to work to get there but this seems much different from UK basketball fans. They feel like they are entitled to Billy Donovan. They are entitled the top 5 recruits. Now let me be fair every sport has this at different schools. Alabama and Tennessee football for example. So I am not condeming UK fans simply stating the facts. I am no different than then when it comes to tennessee football but we all should keep this in mind because our sports teams are ENTITLED TO NOTHING!!!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Sporting Report

This is the sporting report....it is the long and the short. This one will be short and sweet. How about some NCAA basketball. This is the second best time of the year for the sporting person only second to the NFL playoff!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Disciple vs. Christian

Something that has been bugging me for some time is this statement I hear alot from Christians. "Well I got my fire insurance, I know I'm not going to hell". Now that is a nice statement and I am sure that the heavens rejoice on high that you have accepted Jesus Christ as the only son of God, that died on the cross for your sins, and was resurrected 3 days later. But the next thing that comes to mind is this....is it merely enough to accept that Jesus is Lord or does it require much more of us.
If you look at the great commission in Matt 28:28 it does not say go and make converts. It does not say go and make Christ like people, it say make Disciples and teach them everything that Jesus commanded. What a pitiful job we have done at this command. I for one was horrible at this. I always thought it was simply about seeing people come to accept who Jesus was and what he did. I never thought about the next step which is instruction and training in the Lord.
Now don't read in to my statements...I am not saying that if you accept Jesus in your heart and confess with your mouth that he is Lord that you aren't saved because scripture is very clear in this regard that you are forgiven of your sins and are going to spend eternal life with God. But how when you accept Jesus can you not thirst to serve him and serve others, by not being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The process of being all that God would have us to be is a long process and requires a lot of time, prayer, and study. I simply hope that anyone reading this post would hear my heart....I want to see people live the abundant life that God as planned for them and a relationship with Jesus is the only way to do that. Anyone reading this knows that a relationship of any kind requires more than one day a week for 2 hours. Saying that you believe Christ is who He says he is would only be the first step(The most important step as we can't go any further with out taking it) but there are many other steps in the life of a Disciple of Jesus.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Been Absent for a While

Ok I'm back. This has been along time coming but I have been so out of ideas that blogging just wasn't appealing for a while but I have some creative juices flowing again and time to get some folks caught back up.

First off lets do the "I havn't heard from you in a while thing." Crystal and I are fine. Work keeps us both busy and the house continues to keep us busy. In December I laid tile in the kitchen, entry way, and both bathroom. Here very very soon We will be replacing all the carpet in the entire house. Let me say Carpet is freaking expensive but all you married, or been married folks, know that if she ain't happy...you ain't happy so we get carpet. I am not against carpet at all I just can't believe the amount of money we have to spend to get it.

Now for some random thoughts from my mind and then I leave you hangin for the next post because it is going to be a good one I think
1) This years NCAA bracket is a pain in the neck. The matchups are not very good and the mid-majors got hosed really really bad.
2) Can UK fans please read the this article below and leave Tubby alone. Tubby Test
3) WKU Please fire Darrin Horn. I know he is the prodigal son and all but most of the boosters dislike him, he has made enemies out of the other coaches on campus with his "I am better than you" attitude and lets face it. He has yet to do anything in the post season. I am no UK fan but at least tubby is a good person. Darrin Horn isn't.
4) WKU Please fire David Elson. I know he is a good guy but no coach in the history of the NCAA has run an elite NCAA D1 2A program in the ground quicker than him. They are going to D1 1A football soon and lets face it, Elson is not going to bring us a Sun Belt title in football.
5) Final though. If you don't already listen to Alistair Begg you need to. This man is one of the most amazing expository preachers I have heard and he is also very down to earth in his preaching. If I lived inside of 2 hours of his church I would drive to it every sunday. Alistair Begg

Next post will be coming shortly but it is going to be a post about discipleship and what it means to be a disciple of Christ.