13 days

I can't believe I only have 13 more days to spend in Vegas. I'm going to miss everyone here sooo much!! But i can't say i'll be sad to leave desert landscaping behind... :). I'm really excited to be moving forward in God's plan for my life. I believe He has great things planned for me and my fam in GA! This reminds me of that day 7 years ago when i was in GA going west... the only difference is this time I'm putting my trust in God COMPLETLY.

I have to admit 7 years ago I was not happy. I was leaving everything I've ever known behind. I didn't trust God then. But I'm so glad I followed him anyway. Vegas has been such and increadible blessing to me and my walk with God. I've learned so much from the people here and from Hope. I've learned so much about serving. I thank God for vegas because it was through Hope and my good friend Zeke that I found my calling in music. I want to touch people everywhere with music, I want to encourage believers and reach out to non-believers. I want to make music that it diverse, innovative, solid, emotion-filled, and most of all filled with truth. Bono sums up my call in this quote:


"If critics want me to stop going after the big subject or the deep emotion... they can forget it. For that matter, if another crowd of people wants me to only go after the 'safe Christian subjects' and the 'safe Christian crowd,' they can forget that, too."


I can't wait to see what God will do with the talent and calling he has given me and my partner in calling, Zach (aka "Mr. Casual" http://snapzach.blogspot.com/) I also see music as an oppertunity to reach out to poverty the same way U2 and switchfoot do. As far as musical style goes I have to lean toward something with the creativity and solid structure of bands like U2, coldplay, Switchfoot, and the Beatles.

Anyway, some would say that moving back to a place I've once lived is easier than coming to Vegas. I dissagree. Even though i have once lived in GA, I know that this in NO way will be returning to life there as it was. Our calling has changed, people and friends have changed, We'll meet new friends.... this is a completly new chapter in my life... and I'm stinkin' excited for it!!!!! God has greater things there for us than i can imagine. That's why i want to follow him completly and whole-heartedly.

I'm still going to cry about leaving Vegas though! You guys are Awesome!!!
Well I've run out of things to say... so bye.... :)

Alone?

Would You Try to Do This ALONE?
06/13/2009

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You awake to find yourself in the midst of a great and terrible war. It is, in fact, our most desperate hour. Your King and dearest Friend calls you forth. Awake, come fully alive, your good heart set free and blazing for him and for those yet to be rescued. You have a glory that is needed. You are given a quest, a mission that will take you deep into the heart of the kingdom of darkness, to break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron so that your people might be set free from their bleak prisons. He asks that you heal them. Of course, you will face many dangers; you will be hunted.

Would you try and do this alone?

Something stronger than fate has chosen you. Evil will hunt you. And so a fellowship must protect you. Honestly, though he is a very brave and true hobbit, Frodo hasn’t a chance without Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. He has no real idea what dangers and trials lie ahead. The dark mines of Moria; the Balrog that awaits him there; the evil orcs called the Urak-hai that will hunt him; the wastes of the Emyn Muil. He will need his friends. And you will need yours. You must cling to those you have; you must search wide and far for those you do not yet have. You must not go alone. From the beginning, right there in Eden, the Enemy’s strategy has relied upon a simple aim: divide and conquer. Get them isolated, and take them out.

(John Eldredge, Waking the Dead , 186–87)

A Journey toward Heaven

A Journey toward Heaven
06/08/2009

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Where do we go from here? “This life,” wrote Jonathan Edwards, “ought to be spent by us only as a journey towards heaven.” That’s the only story worth living in now. The road goes out before us and our destination awaits. In the imagery of Hebrews, a race is set before us and we must run for all we’re worth. Our prayers will have been answered if we’ve helped to lift some of the deadweight so that your heart may rise to the call, hear it more clearly, respond with “eager feet.” Our final thoughts echo the advice found in Hebrews 12:2–3:

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Eugene Peterson’s translation from The Message)

Jesus remembered where he was headed, and he wanted to get there with all his heart. These two themes, memory and desire, will make all the difference in our journey ahead. Without them, we will not run well, if we run at all.

( John Eldredge., The Sacred Romance , 196–97)