Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD ;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young-
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
9 Look upon our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.

———

I’m the Nerz King again. Just fyi.

Happy Birthday Mike!

hmmm…dang it. That’s a long time. I’ll probably be in a rest home or in a coma or something.
Just pull the plug already!!
(j/k)

There is some music that will always move me to tears. No matter what time, place, or age I am in my life, I believe that the song “The Mind of Christ” (Arr. Mark Hayes) will give me chills all over my body. I don’t know if it is the scripture that is in the song, the music itself, or the memories of singing it and directing it in UCO at APU. I remember leaving Azusa and driving up to Twain Harte and listening to that song in the car just balling-partly because I was leaving that chapter of my life behind forever, and partly because it is absolutely one of my favorite songs of all time, AND partly because the scripture touches me in amazing ways. Read it for yourself: (Phillipians 2:5-11)
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5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death–
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
————-
I think that this has just become one of my favorite passages of all time. It speaks so much about our lives–how we should live. I don’t need to know much else about the BIble to live a Christ-centered life, just the stuff above. You do that, and know that, you’re set. Have the mind of Christ-he was humble, obedient to his heavenly Father, and was exalted in a way that is still driving millions of lives thousands of years later. What else do you need to know?????

Yet we fail.

and this is our burden-we know what we need to do, and yet we fail. The great thing about failing is that as we fail and fall flat on our faces in life, at least that puts us in the position we are supposed to be in—on our face before the Lord.

God, I fail all the time. When I fail, I pray that I will come to you on my face, as a broken worshipper. I love you.

——–
“…God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
Romans 5:5b
——–

Love, the essential ingredient. Why, for so many of us, is it such a struggle to love sometimes…for some, it is absolutely impossible to love a certain person, or type of person. And I get upset at people who bicker and argue about arbitrary things in the Bible or about this translation or that, but they do it so unlovingly. It’s like “TAKE A MINUTE TO LOVE LIKE JESUS DID AND YOU’LL PROBABLY FORGET ABOUT THIS STUFF YOU’RE FIGHTING ABOUT.” but it’s weird. People hold onto things…

——-
“Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord–that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.”
Psalm 83:18
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btw- cool Psalm (83), because it has something in here about the moon of Endor (from Star Wars: Ep VI) …”Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera, and Jabin who perished at Endor and became like refuse on the ground.”
hee hee hee…!!! Endor!!

Hopefully we’re painting my office a little today.

I was shocked and appalled that Anwar was voted off AI…I thought his voice was soo cool! Anwar! You are invited to the MPC!!!! Join us!!!!!

Mike’s b-day is coming up…he’s going to join my wife in a new age bracket…29+1… those old fogies…hee hee!

Argh! I missed my favorite new show AGAIN! I love that new show “The Office”, starring Steve Carroll (the weather guy from Anchorman, and the anchorman on Bruce Almighty). It is really fresh and quite hilarious, I just can never seem to catch it. I’ve seen it only twice since it came out, and that was because it was on a Thursday night instead of Tuesday. Oh well…it’s not like I don’t watch enough TV as it is…

OK- we are in SERIOUS dire straits when it comes to the men in the MPC. We need more. I don’t just mean more tenors, or just more basses. We need more of BOTH. We need Tim Lamar in choir-and we need at least two more really good basses to be the anchor for our choir. That bass section is supposed to be the foundation, and right now it just needs to be a little stronger. We also need Tenors. There was a whopping TWO lady-tenors in the tenor section last night-no men. Talk about a need!! Pease pray with me that men would flock to the choir, because that is our only real weak point right now. Don’t get me wrong, those guys in the bass section are doing their best, and they are doing OK, but I’m talking about excellence, here! If we truly want excellence for the Lord in our choir-we need to double (at least) our men in the choir.

1 John 3:14
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.”

That’s a powerful verse about love. WOW! It hit me like a ton of bricks when I first read it. It’s pretty plain and simple: Love. Do it, or you’re going against everything Jesus taught…

You’ve got to download the pre-release single from Star Wars Episode 3 soundtrack! It’s in the iTunes Music Store. It’s very cool!! Of course, John Williams is the best film composer who ever lived. But, whatever…

I got a new profile pic–it’s from Kicking and Sceaming, a new Will Farrell flick coming out pretty soon that looks hilarious!

Great small group lesson last night. It was titled “Loving Insiders and Reaching Outsiders” and was from 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12. Incredible. One of the main points was about our love–the guy on the video said something to the effect of “To be Christian IS to be loving. Anything else is a contradiction.” WOWSERS! Check out 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 for the scripture we studied. I might just have to pull this one out tonight at choir!!! Watch out!!!

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Psalm 81
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, strike the tambourine,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;
4 this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

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We’re commanded to praise! This isn’t something new, but it’s always great to hear. Shout out loud! Stop being so quiet with your praise, it doesn’t always have to be loud (don’t get me wrong) but it shouldn’t always be quiet either.

Sometimes we get in these situations, and something horrible has happened or is happening, and we’re asking ourselves, “Where is God when all of this is going on?” well, he’s in your praises. The Lord inhabits the praises of his people–so next time you’re wondering where God is-praise the Lord–’cause there He is!

btw-the one Starbucks employee that was asking for the cookies wasn’t actually there, but all the other guys were pretty appreciative. I’ll stop by this morning and see if my morning buddies actually got any, or if those night guys ate them all.

Three times in Psalm 80, the psalmist writes the following phrase:
———-
“Restore us, O God;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.”
———-
Right away I’m reminded of a song that we did in Male Chorale, called “Shine on Us”. I know that Phillips, Craig, and Dean recorded a great version of it, and I think ours was based on a choral version or something-but it was pretty. The lyrics are posted below for your enjoyment:
–
Lord, let Your light, light of Your face
Shine on us (repeat)

That we may be saved
That we may have life
To shine our way in the darkest night
Let your light shine on us

Lord, let your grace, grace from Your hand,
Come over us (repeat)

That we may be saved
That we may have life
To shine our way in the darkest night
Let Your grace come over us

Lord, let Your love, love with no end
Fall on us (repeat)

That we may be saved,
That we may have life
To shine our way in the darkest night
Let Your love fall on us

Let Your light shine on us
—
It is a beautiful song. Nonetheless, I think it is an appropriate prayer for all of us today. I have been asking questions a lot lately of people in our church-(’cause people won’t give me any feedback unless I ask them directly–it’s a little strange, ’cause usually people talk about the music ALL the time in churches…). A lot of people have raved about the music on Easter, which was only slightly different than the music we do every other week-so I’m asking them what set it apart. Suprisingly, to me, the answer mostly has to do with the Midway Praise Choir, and how enthusiastic and excited they were.

I am convinced that we underestimate our impact on other people–ALL THE TIME. It is amazing to hear that the choir had such an impact on Easter to our congregation, but I truly believe that it is because they let the Lord shine on thier faces–shine through them, that morning. When we let the Lord shine on us, like the Psalm said, we can REFLECT His glory and countenance to others, all day, every day.

Check it out. There are these painters/drywall guys doing work at our church right now. They’ve probably been there working on our ceiling and walls for about a month. My office is at the front of the auditorium, so I am constantly trekking across their workspace to get to the front office or bathroom or to go anywhere, basically. The head guy on this team of 5 or 6 guys is a Christian, but I don’t know if anyone else is. One of the guys has been a little rude to a few people running around, especially Joli-who has on a couple of occasions walked inside the building with her 5 month son while they were spraying primer, and gotten yelled at because it could be dangerous for the baby. A few other people were complaining about his rudeness, and I’m thinking, “Why in the world are you guys expecting this person to act like a Christian, if he’s not? Why is it so maddening to us when people are rude or whatever?”

Instead of getting mad at this dude, who was clearly rude-but probably correct in his concern for your baby, (etc…there have been other yellings…) why don’t we shine and reflect God’s grace and love to people around us–people who don’t deserve it. THEN we will be pretty radical…

btw- going to make cookies for the Starbucks employees again. They’ve been asking for them…hee hee hee…

Watched “You’ve Got Mail” last night. It was OK, I was a little suprised at the last fifteen minutes of the film. It was almost like a totally different movie…weird.

AND I’ve got a GREAT big cardboard stand-up-thingy of Chewbacca and a Storm Trooper that is now adorning my fireplace. These guys are AWESOME! Somebody got them for me from some displays at Wal-Mart. They truly rock!

Quizzes for losers…

Excerpts from Psalm 79
———-
9 Help us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.

13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will recount your praise.
———-

I love it that they ask for help and do it for the sake of the Lord. For the glory of YOUR name, Lord, not mine. I love that motive. We forget sometimes that WE reflect the Lord, and everything we do should be for HIS NAME’S SAKE (to bring glory to Him). I’m sure we could all go off for a looong time about ministry leaders making decisions that are for the glory of thier own name’s and not the Lord’s–it happens everywhere, and it brings shame to the “Christians”, and it makes people look down on God and “religion”. I can’t wait to see people in leadership who truly have the motive of glorifying God.

and Lord, help me to always keep that same desire. I want to glorify You.

Thanks for the comments! You guys are my peeps!

We went to our buddy Brad’s graduation from the police academy last night. He is now working for the San Diego Harbor Police (starts Monday!). This is a huge answer to prayer-prayers that we’ve been praying in small group for about 2 years now. When Brad and Suzie joined our group, they were praying and looking for a fire-fighting job for Brad. So we joined them in praying for that to happen. Over the next several months, Brad hunted for a job all over the country. He flew to Denver, Reno, Seattle (I think) and a whole bunch of other places interviewing for a firefighting job. btw-it’s a REALLY competitive business. A place might have 2 or 3 openings, and 600 applicants. It was crazy–but we just kept praying. We knew Brad was a talented guy, because he always made it to the top levels of the interview process in these different places–we also were hoping he didn’t have to move away!!
But the Lord answered our small group’s prayers (and theirs) when some job openings came up at SD Harbor Police (who ALSO fight fires!!!!!!). Brad totally got through the process and into the academy (a 6-month training school). We were so proud of Brad last night when he got his badge and was sworn into service, and so thankful and in awe of the Lord and His goodness and faithfulness to answer our prayers like that. It is so marvelous to see God at work, and to see the completion of a part of His plan for you or someone else, especially when it comes as an answer to a long trail of prayers.

God is so good, and we don’t deserve Him.

by the way-got an inspiration of the Lord for our Christmas season and for next Summer for the MPC last night!!! I’ve been thinking and praying about my vision for this ministry, and God answered again!! PRAISE HIM!!!! I’m so stoked!