Mission’s Flame by Matt Redman from the Passion 05: How Great Is Our God CD…
Month: October 2007 (page 2 of 3)
As both of you loyal readers know, I serve a small traditional church as pastor. I just finished up a message series yesterday about our mission as believers. The final talk was a challenge to be “messengers of hope” in our neighborhoods and our city. Included in the talk was this statement…
You are not the hope of your neighbors. You are not the hope of our city, our county, our state, our nation, or our world. That job is already filled! Jesus – and only Jesus – is the hope!
I told our folks I hoped that would take some of the pressure off their lives. But then I said I wanted to put a little bit of it back on: The only way some folks in our neighborhoods, our city, our county, our state, our nation, and our planet will ever find the real Hope is if we start being messengers of hope ourselves.
Sometimes when you step up and take the initiative you should have been taking all along, you don’t get the negative response you were dreading. In fact, it works out pretty well!
Just some stuff from the last couple of days…
- Love the high 40s in the mornings!
- Love the clear blue skies!
- Kind of hoping and praying that those clear blue skies will turn a little overcast and wet later this week!
- Saturday road trip with the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie” was a mixed bag.
- Road trip report #1: Great to just hop in the car with destination in mind, but not under any schedule, time constraints, pressure, etc. (Should have had the Rain Man soundtrack on in the car, I guess!)
- Road trip report #2: From the time I turned off the main road to get to the Ellijay Apple Festival, I sat in major traffic for over 37 minutes! Seems a few thousand of our closest friends decided to take the same Saturday road trip! Bottom line: We passed by the festival site, but didn’t even stop!
- Road trip report #3: Fresh, hot fried apple pies at the B.J. Reece Apple House…mmm, mmm, GREAT! Add in a few minutes picking a bag of Winesaps, and it’s even better!
- Road trip report #4: I love where we live! North Georgia in the fall is outstanding!
- Road trip report #5: The road to Amicalola Falls was worse than the road to the Apple Festival. Paid our $3 daily park fee, and found that there was not a single parking space to be found inside the park! Drove through, drove up to the Lodge, drove back down and around the pool at the base of the falls, and headed out the exit! The most people I’ve ever seen at that place! Ever!
- Road trip report #6: Coffee from Starbucks, $4.73. Rhythm Country and Blues CD, forgotten in the car, $9.98 original price. Spending the entire day, unhurried and unscheduled, with the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie”…well, you know the rest!
- Jackets win! Eagles snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! Classy move by Coach Richt after Georgia survives at Vandy. And hey! How ’bout them Kentucky Wildcats!?!?!
- 3 miles around Heritage Park is a good way to cap off a fall Saturday!
- Slim crowd at church today. Good preaching. My new favorite song? In Christ Alone, by Stuart Townend.
- Pretty good leadership team meeting this afternoon.
- Even slimmer crowd for the evening service. GREAT teaching from Colossians!
- A cup of green tea and cooling out. Won’t be long ’til head hits pillow…good night!
Just noticed that Rain Man is on the tube. Great flick! Great soundtrack, perfect for tonight’s Unwind…back on Sunday where it all started!
Iko Iko is one of my favorite movie-opening songs of all time! And who can resist Etta James’s classic At Last? But right at this very moment, the quintessential Unwind song is playing…Hans Zimmer’s Leaving Wallbrook/On the Road! YESSSSSSS!
Did I mention the little Bodum is doing overtime with some Joya del Dia?
Tying up some loose ends for Sunday, in anticipation of a whole day tomorrow out and about with the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie.” We’re heading north, probably to catch some various fall festivals, apple houses, etc., with one of our destinations being Amicalola Falls, one of our favorite places in the entire world.
So I’ve got a very eclectic mix on for my Friday night Unwind, most of them courtesy of either hearing them in Starbucks this week or picking them up via the “song of the day” iTunes promotion at Starbucks.
For example, the “freebies”…
- We Shall Not Be Moved by Mavis Staples
- One Day by KT Tunstall
- Moon by Emily King
- No One’s Gonna Love You by Band of Horses
- I Told You So by Keith Urban (not really a big Keith Urban fan, but free is free!)
- 90 Millas by Gloria Estefan
- Show Me by John Legend
And some inspired by the music in Starbucks and other places this week…
- Center by Charlie Hall
- Magnificent Obsession by Steven Curtis Chapman
- Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific
- Hold On Tight by ELO (newest addition to my “at bat” playlist, inspired by the Honda Accord commercial)
- Tighten Up by The Bamboos (great instrumental cover of the old Archie Bell & the Drells classic!)
- Help Me by Joni Mitchell
- Keep On Growing by Sheryl Crow
- I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith (from the Armageddon soundtrack)
- Nessun dorma (from Turandot) by Luciano Pavarotti (inspired by that British phone salesman with the bad teeth in the YouTube video – so sue me, I wipe a little dust every time someone else forwards that video to me!)
- Follow You Down by The Gin Blossoms
- So Much to Say by Dave Matthews Band
And right at this very moment…
- When Love Comes to Town by U2 with B.B. King!!!!!!!!!!!
Just saw this great quote from Darrin Patrick’s Catalyst talk on preaching, via Jay Hardwick’s blog…
In the gospel, we learn that we’re bigger sinners than we thought and that Jesus is a bigger Savior than we thought.
Good stuff! Thanks, Jay!
- I don’t really have what it takes to plan and run my own life. Because “my own life” is not really “my own life” anyway – it’s His great and gracious gift. I need His gentle – oh, so gentle! – correction and constant leadership every step of the way.
- I’m not working for my church, Uncle Sam, or anyone else! I’m working for The Boss. I’m responsible to do my work – whatever “my work” today may entail – for Him. He sets the agenda, He is responsible for my compensation, benefits, etc.
- I need to pray with my eyes open! I need to be watching out for opportunities, threats, difficulties, etc. and I need to be more grateful – a lot more grateful! – for all of God’s blessings.
- I need to be on the lookout for opportunities to touch the lives of those who are far from God. The keys for me: opportunity, responsibility, ability, clarity.
- The only tools I have for effective leadership are God’s call, my integrity, and my skills. I constantly need to remember the call, maintain my integrity, and develop my skills.
What are you hearing today?
Love him or hate him, you’ve gotta admit it…Ted Turner speaks what’s on his mind…
The word “impossible” does not exist for me. I’ve got a lot of signal flags in my flag bag, but there’s not a white one in there. I’m gonna keep fighting until the day I die, and I might keep on fighting afterward – depending on where I am.
And this gem…
I’ve already decided what I want on my tombstone: I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY.