"Do not try to copy someone else's calling. It is very difficult to dance ballet while wearing boots. If GOD gave you ballet shoes, dance ballet; if He gave you lumberjack boots, cut down trees....The shoes He made for you will not fit anyone else. Fill them." ~Heidi Baker
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Jesus Paid It All
"Do not try to copy someone else's calling. It is very difficult to dance ballet while wearing boots. If GOD gave you ballet shoes, dance ballet; if He gave you lumberjack boots, cut down trees....The shoes He made for you will not fit anyone else. Fill them." ~Heidi Baker
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Can I Sneak This In?
Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God
Okay. Lets get real and brutally honest. I don't know, maybe this is a way for me to finally understand my own heart while I am convinced that I need to share this with your hearts.
Bob Kauflin wrote this book called Worship Matters and I was humbled and brought to the dirt within the first two chapters. Imagine that. Bob is no saint. And his book is no Bible. But my heart- my heart needed this book. I didn't know that when I picked up this book to do an average book report for a college music class, that my heart would be hit with an overwhelming amount of truth, understanding, and humility.
What is worship? Maybe you already know. Maybe you have heard this over and over and over...and over again. #sorrynotsorry Worship is, was, and always will be- about the heart. "Worship is about what we love. What we live for. It's about who we are before God. Worship matters. It matters to god because he is the one ultimately worthy of all worship. It matters to us because worshipping God is the reason for which we were created. And it matters to every worship leader, because we have no greater privilege than leading others to encounter the greatness of God." -Bob
So, maybe you're not a worship leader or aspiring to be a worship leader. Maybe you don't want to lead worship it all. Maybe- maybe you don't sing or play an instrument. Maybe you are just reading this because you love me and want to encourage me by adding a view to my blog status. Whatever you are- you are creation who was created by the ultimate master of creation... and you were created for a purpose. To Worship He that created you.
How enchanting!
Now, can we get down to the heart of it... the issues and challenges we really face? My heart is heavy loaded with the one sentence I read over and over:
"Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love most - God or something else"
Have you ever experienced this? The battle? The war raging within yourself? It is there. The battle between your desire to love God and your desire to love yourself. And within this struggle, we find the ever so kept sin of idolatry. You know- the statues and totems, the temples and shrines.
"All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together." Isaiah 45:16
"They served their idols, which became a snare to them." Psalms 106:36
"Little Children, keep yourselves from idols" 1 John 5:21
"Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them." Psalms 115:8
God commands against idols. We are to serve Him and Him alone. The Bible warns against idols. Warns us that the idols we serve end up making us into their image. Do you have an Idol? Can you recognize it? Name it? I can attest to this and I am tired.
I am tired. Tired of trying to explain what I can't express. Tired of a loss of words. Tired of holding it in and bottling it up. Tired of not understanding. I - am just tired.
Tired of being my own Idol. My daily struggle and constant battle is always against myself. I always bring it back to me. I care too much. I worry too much. I struggle too much. I compare. Too much.
I compare myself to the people around me. People I hardly know. People I see every day. People I feel I have lost to. Best friends. And possibly the worst of all- family. Every day. Every decision I make. Every time I need to know who I am or even try to figure myself out. It always comes back to me. Am I pretty enough? Am I smart enough? Am I creative enough? Am I nice enough? Am I doing enough?
The answer always seems to be no. And hear, feeling, living no- is tiring.
But where is my recognition? What am I known for? How will people remember me? Where can I stand out? What makes me special?
I will play volleyball - someone is better.
I will paint or draw - someone is better.
I will write poetry and abstract - someone is better.
I will sing - someone is better.
I will play piano - someone is better.
Please, just stop. Don't you get it? It is not about you...
It is not about me.
No matter what happens or what I do - someone may always be better. But that doesn't matter...does it? Maybe, just maybe, to the people around you, are aren't known for anything "special". Maybe you are like me and searching for recognition and waiting for someone to finally notice that you are good at something. It always comes back to the heart.
Whatever you do - whether in word or deed - do it ALL for the glory of our God in Heaven. That matters. and God recognizes that. God sees that as special. He sees all that you are, as worthy to be loved, admired, recognized and enough.
Okay. Lets get real and brutally honest. I don't know, maybe this is a way for me to finally understand my own heart while I am convinced that I need to share this with your hearts.
Bob Kauflin wrote this book called Worship Matters and I was humbled and brought to the dirt within the first two chapters. Imagine that. Bob is no saint. And his book is no Bible. But my heart- my heart needed this book. I didn't know that when I picked up this book to do an average book report for a college music class, that my heart would be hit with an overwhelming amount of truth, understanding, and humility.
What is worship? Maybe you already know. Maybe you have heard this over and over and over...and over again. #sorrynotsorry Worship is, was, and always will be- about the heart. "Worship is about what we love. What we live for. It's about who we are before God. Worship matters. It matters to god because he is the one ultimately worthy of all worship. It matters to us because worshipping God is the reason for which we were created. And it matters to every worship leader, because we have no greater privilege than leading others to encounter the greatness of God." -Bob
So, maybe you're not a worship leader or aspiring to be a worship leader. Maybe you don't want to lead worship it all. Maybe- maybe you don't sing or play an instrument. Maybe you are just reading this because you love me and want to encourage me by adding a view to my blog status. Whatever you are- you are creation who was created by the ultimate master of creation... and you were created for a purpose. To Worship He that created you.
How enchanting!
Now, can we get down to the heart of it... the issues and challenges we really face? My heart is heavy loaded with the one sentence I read over and over:
"Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love most - God or something else"
Have you ever experienced this? The battle? The war raging within yourself? It is there. The battle between your desire to love God and your desire to love yourself. And within this struggle, we find the ever so kept sin of idolatry. You know- the statues and totems, the temples and shrines.
"All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together." Isaiah 45:16
"They served their idols, which became a snare to them." Psalms 106:36
"Little Children, keep yourselves from idols" 1 John 5:21
"Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them." Psalms 115:8
God commands against idols. We are to serve Him and Him alone. The Bible warns against idols. Warns us that the idols we serve end up making us into their image. Do you have an Idol? Can you recognize it? Name it? I can attest to this and I am tired.
I am tired. Tired of trying to explain what I can't express. Tired of a loss of words. Tired of holding it in and bottling it up. Tired of not understanding. I - am just tired.
Tired of being my own Idol. My daily struggle and constant battle is always against myself. I always bring it back to me. I care too much. I worry too much. I struggle too much. I compare. Too much.
I compare myself to the people around me. People I hardly know. People I see every day. People I feel I have lost to. Best friends. And possibly the worst of all- family. Every day. Every decision I make. Every time I need to know who I am or even try to figure myself out. It always comes back to me. Am I pretty enough? Am I smart enough? Am I creative enough? Am I nice enough? Am I doing enough?
The answer always seems to be no. And hear, feeling, living no- is tiring.
But where is my recognition? What am I known for? How will people remember me? Where can I stand out? What makes me special?
I will play volleyball - someone is better.
I will paint or draw - someone is better.
I will write poetry and abstract - someone is better.
I will sing - someone is better.
I will play piano - someone is better.
Please, just stop. Don't you get it? It is not about you...
It is not about me.
No matter what happens or what I do - someone may always be better. But that doesn't matter...does it? Maybe, just maybe, to the people around you, are aren't known for anything "special". Maybe you are like me and searching for recognition and waiting for someone to finally notice that you are good at something. It always comes back to the heart.
Whatever you do - whether in word or deed - do it ALL for the glory of our God in Heaven. That matters. and God recognizes that. God sees that as special. He sees all that you are, as worthy to be loved, admired, recognized and enough.
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