'we are to live in such a way that demands a gospel explanation' this is a quote I read from facebook the other day from @aaronivey. I thought is was really cool and it made me think. Does your life and the things you do in it require the presentation of the gospel just to be understood? I wish I could say mine does. But I know that would be far from the case. I mean, I am sure it does sometimes, to some people. But on the whole, I could use some major overhaul of attitude, thoughts, self-control, speech, actions, etc. Then today at church in our study on the book of James. @kylegoen preached an awesome message on taming the tongue. (which you should totally go watch at www.lifepoint.org) It fit so well with that little nugget from Aaron. First off, during the worship, one of the songs we sang:
Inside Out by Hillsong United:
A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out,
Lord, let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out.
Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out,
Lord, let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out.
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out
I love that line. "Consume me from the inside out". Man how I want to be consumed by him. So on fire for Him and the things that He loves! Oh to feel like that again. It has been a while. Not just to have that feeling for a few hours or days. But I mean to really be immersed in it every day where my life spills out Jesus everywhere I go and in everything I do. If I am on fire for God, that fire should be catching on. As Kyle said this morning, fire (when it is free) can duplicate itself and will consume whatever is in its path. My life should be causing others to be consumed as well. The things I do, say, laugh at, get frustrated with, spend my time on, how I respond to things, etc all should be proclaiming His name in some way. To make people think and notice that something is different.
So anyway, I just want to say that I am proclaiming today that this week is going to be different. I can't say exactly what that looks like in entirety but I will be changing up some things a bit from what I have been doing lately. Starting with getting back to quiet times of course! And hitting the gym and laying off the unnecessary extra sweets. And watching my tongue extra carefully in the anger, negativity, complaining department, hehe. And doing a better job of what I am "putting in" so that what "comes out" is what I want to shine and not something I don't want. Among so much more, but you get what I mean. Only through the Lord's strength! Anyway, enough for now. Good night!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
summer update
Man it has been a really long time for me to post something. I was going to a few times but never made it and then most of the time I just didnt feel like doing it.
Life has been interesting this year. I can't believe its about to be July already, man the time has flown. Taylor is going to be 5 months old this week! She is still such a sweetie. She isn't growing very fast but she is a huggable lovable super cutie that steals our hearts every day! She still doesnt like tummy time, she has rolled over a few times front to back but not the other way yet. She is content to just lay there and play with her hands and feet or a toy. The other day she looked at Ethan and started cracking up. Then looked at Jacey and back at Ethan, the whole time just laughing a lot. We have never heard her do that and it was the cutest thing ever. (I think she pooed right before and thought it was funny and the kids make her smile a lot so yeah.) She sleeps great through the night like 12-13 hours. She will wake up and just lie there quietly until I come and get her up. Who knows how long she is awake before I go in there sometimes. She is so quiet.
The kids and I have been having a lot of fun doing summer things. My 12 yr old "nephew", Jesse, from TX is here staying with us for a month. He is a great kid and we enjoy having him here. We miss them living near us. Ethan keeps wanting to do school stuff. I have to keep telling him that it is summer time and we are taking a break for a bit and that we can do some soon, lol. He is doing a summer reading program through the library and is enjoying that. Jacey is still frustrating me to no end. I think this week I am going to start her over with the whole potty training thing like she is 2 yrs old. Between that issue and her tantrums, i think she really is the child that was put here to grow my character, lol (or show my lack of at times). She did get to try gymnastics for the first time last week. She had a lot of fun and while we were there Ethan took tons of pics of her and loved watching everyone there. He wanted to try it to so we went back another day for him. He had fun too. He loved the rings. The whole time we were there for Ethan's class, she was dying to be out there too. So, we are signing them both up for weekly lessons for the rest of the summer.
Erick has a busy summer with the band. They auditioned a drummer last week. He is from the St. Louis area. He and his wife came down for the weekend and stayed with us. They are great people and we enjoyed having them here. The audition went really well and if all goes well, they will be moving to the Nashville area. The band has a lot of shows booked for July. the just had one this weekend that went really well. The radio single is doing alright for a first release from an unknown indie band. So I guess we will see what happens from here.
I am alright. Should be a lot better, but could be doing a lot worse, hehe. Ben slacking BIG TIME in the work out dept. I sooooo need to get back to the gym. I have not felt motivated for it. I have also been eating poorly for months now and I have actually gained some weight. (and I haven't even finished losing baby weight). I have also not had a quiet time in a really long time. Which is prolly noticable just in the fact that I haven't had a dying urge to write. I have not been reading either. I have just been vegging every night instead. And I have been sleeping in every morning. I was getting woken up so many times so often that it was sooo nice to finally get some sleep and be able to sleep in. I mean I can sleep till like 9 with Taylor, it is AWESOME! So I have been taking advantage of that opportunity with it being summer and all. I know that sok to do sometimes, but I should still keep my priorities in line. So anyway I am pledging this week to be diff. Read my next post for more info.
There is still a lot going on the rest of the summer. We will keep you all updated as we can. Love to all.
Life has been interesting this year. I can't believe its about to be July already, man the time has flown. Taylor is going to be 5 months old this week! She is still such a sweetie. She isn't growing very fast but she is a huggable lovable super cutie that steals our hearts every day! She still doesnt like tummy time, she has rolled over a few times front to back but not the other way yet. She is content to just lay there and play with her hands and feet or a toy. The other day she looked at Ethan and started cracking up. Then looked at Jacey and back at Ethan, the whole time just laughing a lot. We have never heard her do that and it was the cutest thing ever. (I think she pooed right before and thought it was funny and the kids make her smile a lot so yeah.) She sleeps great through the night like 12-13 hours. She will wake up and just lie there quietly until I come and get her up. Who knows how long she is awake before I go in there sometimes. She is so quiet.
The kids and I have been having a lot of fun doing summer things. My 12 yr old "nephew", Jesse, from TX is here staying with us for a month. He is a great kid and we enjoy having him here. We miss them living near us. Ethan keeps wanting to do school stuff. I have to keep telling him that it is summer time and we are taking a break for a bit and that we can do some soon, lol. He is doing a summer reading program through the library and is enjoying that. Jacey is still frustrating me to no end. I think this week I am going to start her over with the whole potty training thing like she is 2 yrs old. Between that issue and her tantrums, i think she really is the child that was put here to grow my character, lol (or show my lack of at times). She did get to try gymnastics for the first time last week. She had a lot of fun and while we were there Ethan took tons of pics of her and loved watching everyone there. He wanted to try it to so we went back another day for him. He had fun too. He loved the rings. The whole time we were there for Ethan's class, she was dying to be out there too. So, we are signing them both up for weekly lessons for the rest of the summer.
Erick has a busy summer with the band. They auditioned a drummer last week. He is from the St. Louis area. He and his wife came down for the weekend and stayed with us. They are great people and we enjoyed having them here. The audition went really well and if all goes well, they will be moving to the Nashville area. The band has a lot of shows booked for July. the just had one this weekend that went really well. The radio single is doing alright for a first release from an unknown indie band. So I guess we will see what happens from here.
I am alright. Should be a lot better, but could be doing a lot worse, hehe. Ben slacking BIG TIME in the work out dept. I sooooo need to get back to the gym. I have not felt motivated for it. I have also been eating poorly for months now and I have actually gained some weight. (and I haven't even finished losing baby weight). I have also not had a quiet time in a really long time. Which is prolly noticable just in the fact that I haven't had a dying urge to write. I have not been reading either. I have just been vegging every night instead. And I have been sleeping in every morning. I was getting woken up so many times so often that it was sooo nice to finally get some sleep and be able to sleep in. I mean I can sleep till like 9 with Taylor, it is AWESOME! So I have been taking advantage of that opportunity with it being summer and all. I know that sok to do sometimes, but I should still keep my priorities in line. So anyway I am pledging this week to be diff. Read my next post for more info.
There is still a lot going on the rest of the summer. We will keep you all updated as we can. Love to all.
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