“There’s nothing you can do that will make God love you more. He just loves you.

There’s also nothing you can do that will make Him love you less. He just loves you.”

Blessed love, falling under
Sacredness taking hold
Split the air, the sound of thunder
Heaven begins to unfold

(Pre-Chorus)
And the nearness of there
Feels more near to here

(Chorus 1)
We can feel the breath of the angels
See the walls bend and shake
The skies in a tremble
Let the day wait

To sing the songs of the heavens
See the dawn starts to break
The bonds start to loose so
Feel the earth shake

(Verse 2)
Darkest night brought redemption
Inner sense, divine embrace
In the light of all creation
Heaven and earth start to twist

(Pre-Chorus)
And the nearness of there
Feels more near to here

(Chorus 2)
We can feel the breath of the angels
See the walls bend and shake
The skies in a tremble
Feel the ground break

We hear the songs of the heavens
See the world come awake
The bonds start to loose so
Feel the earth shake

(Bridge)
Blood of a Savior
Pushed back the fall
Love of a Healer
Have overcome

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way
He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. 
You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. 
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. 
What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. 

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. 
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. 
Don’t look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. 
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. 
Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. 
Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. 
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. 
Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise. 

Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. 
I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. 
Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice. 

Make Zion the place you delight in, repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls. 
Then you’ll get real worship from us, acts of worship small and large, including all the bulls they can heave onto your altar!

I can relate to Mike. About 4 – 1/2 years ago I left the marketplace and accepted a position as a short-term missions trip leader. I had led many trips prior to that, but never as my vocation; as the way I fed the family and paid the bills. All of the sudden I felt like I had to sound like an expert, but didn’t have the expertise. I had to raise my own salary. I had to understand the culture(s) and society(ies) I was leading trips to.

The best advice I got wasn’t about how to raise funds (though that advice was helpful); nor was it about how to lead the trips (that advice was also helpful). The best advice I got was “pray, often and earnestly, because if God doesn’t show up, it’s going to fail.”

So my advice to Mike today was to pray. If there is no element of fear, or of uncertainty, God may not be in it. And if He isn’t in it, it will surely fail.

That transfers to my own life. In 2006 I accepted a position as a Multi-site Lead Pastor for an area church. Among many other descriptors, it has been terrifying.

In my personal life, I continue to travel down paths I have no experience with, in situations I’ve never been in, with people I probably shouldn’t be hanging out with. Today more so than ever before. If I’m not prayerful, and I’m acting only out of selfish desires, or my personal wants and needs, what ever I’m doing is gonna fail.

So I’m praying. Earnestly and often.

I was on the phone with a good friend, and she was encouraging me to take the day off; no exercise, no bike riding, nothing. Just sit still.

4610.

I’ve touched on this several times over the past year – taking a Sabbath (read “The Rest of God” by Mark Buchanan) to restore your self. Usually for my that has entailed doing something that energizes me, like hiking, or camping or paddling. My friend made the point “David, sometimes it’s OK to do nothing.”

It may be OK, but do you know how hard it is to DO NOTHING?

My mind races, my body is poised to do something, anything. Clean the gutters (there are trees growing in the corners!), change the oil in the motorcycle, clean the garage, do something, anything.

If I just stop, my life gets too loud!

4610.

Maybe today will be different. Three weeks ago I changed my exercise routine. Harder, more often, different exercises. My body is ready for a rest.

4610.

I’ve been working through some junk in my personal life. Emotionally, I need a rest

4610.

I’ve been trudging through some growth opportunities at The Lake Campus. My mind is ready for a rest.

Today will be different. I’m going home now, and for a while, at least, I will rest.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

And I will know that I am not God. And He is.

A couple of twists with the allen wrench and the handle bars were almost as good as new. My shoulders and lower back however…

This got me to thinking about getting up. We’ve all heard the old adage “It’s not how many times you get knocked down; it’s how many times you get back up.”

Honestly, getting up after my falls was easy. Neither of them was close to being bad. But sometimes life deals you a blow, and it is v-e-r-y difficult to get up off your kiester, dust yourself off and get on with life. Life on life’s terms is hard.

All this got me to wondering, why do you get back up? What makes you want to give it another shot, to take another chance to be knocked down again?

Lately, despite my best efforts, my schedule is getting the best of me. As the Lake Campus grows, so do my opportunities to be with people. Social meetings, counseling sessions, one-on-ones for encouragement and coffee (is that a redundancy?), professional gatherings, leadership meetings… Drop family and friends into that, and all hope of finding time is lost.

But this struck me today – last year I made health a priority, and found time to exercise, and eat better (not “eat right” yet; just “eat better”). Now I have time to workout four times a week. What if I made people the same priority? Would I “find time” for people where none exists now?

I think The Rolling Stones were on to something!

So tell me, dear friends; how do you make time?

Last night I ate dinner with “The Peru Guys +1″ (Aaron Brown, Steve Rampa, Kevin Kleve, Eddie Papp and I all  went to Peru last June together. Zak Balbo came too, even though until July 3 he’s only a Peru wanna be) at Legends, a local sports pub. We met at 7:30, watched the Cleveland Cavaliers get drubbed by the Celtics, and then picked up Steve Kirkbride, and went to the premier of Ridley Scott’s new movie, Robin Hood.

The food was great (our server, Ashley, was loads of fun), and the movie was OK (I think they tried a little too hard to be epic). But the company was the best. I appreciate every one of those men and their lives. They all love Jesus, and love people. They’ve all got some “stuff” going on. But they share it, walk through it, and keep moving closer to Jesus, becoming more like him. They are great men.

Jesus valued relationships and friends. He didn’t set up shop in the Temple, though he had every right to. He didn’t wait for the crowds to pilgrimage, and then ask for an offering. Instead, he traveled with his friends and followers, going to the crowds, sharing the experience with them as they traveled.

I want to value people and relationships in the same way. I want to share God experiences with friends along the way. I want to join God in what He is doing in my community, with my friends. If it costs me a little sleep, that’s OK. I can always make it up on Fridays.