I went to Eugene last weekend with a few friends to see Switchfoot and Copeland! Pretty fun times, many memories, including: going to the Asian Celebration and watching old people do Tai Chi, eating at the Mandarin, walking around downtown looking for a restaurant, and some rockin' tunes from Switch and Cope (which are my nicknames for them because we are pretty much tight because they said that the crowd "completed" them from stage which means me and the guys in the bands are best friends and we'll hang out when their not on tour and I'll do Christmas with their families and things like that.) It's great being friends with the band :)
Here's a little video of Copeland for you to enjoy...
Scripture 15"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'"
Observation This is one of the greatest introduction’s of all time...”Who are you? I am Jesus.” Oh and by the way, you’ve been doing it all wrong! Talk about a BIG LETDOWN! The BIG NEWS is that instead of torturing Saul for murder and persecution God gave Saul one of the greatest second chances in history.
Jesus doesn’t let Saul grovel in his sins, in fact there wasn’t much evidence of a “confessional time” like a person going to a priest. Jesus says immediately to Saul “now get up and stand on your feet” implying that He came to make Saul into something great. Saul didn’t need hours of groveling and mourning for his sins, all he needed was a life change from that moment on. I'm paraphrasing it to actually say "get over this quick, I have something amazing for you to do!"
Application Confessing sins to God is good but a real true encounter with Christ happens when someones life turns around - when a noticeable change takes place. Instead of groveling in sins, GET UP and see what amazing things God has in store for you!
What kind of noticable "turn around" change is there in me? What can God restore or give me a second chance in?
Prayer Lord, thank you for being an interactive God! You showed up in Saul’s life and he was never the same. Thank you for that because now the Gentiles have access to salvation! I have access! I pray for this kind of “turn around” life change that Saul experienced. I want the freshness that comes with it too. Not just an old, stale Christian walk, but a new life in Jesus.
Final Thoughts I can take what Jesus said to Paul for myself today “now get up and stand on your feet, I have something amazing I want you to do!" This is the theme of restoration and forgiveness. When we mess up and mess up BIG, God says to not stay in your mess for long. Get up! Get up because God is about to do someting amazing through you. First He did something amazing in you by revealing to you how kind He is by forgiving you. Second, He has some big plans ahead.
For Paul is was taking the message of the Gospel to the rest of the world. The Jews were only part of it, God wanted to expand his program! God took it from local business to international corporation and the Holy Spirit was the catalyst for growth. Paul was the vessel that God chose for that task and now we see his influence throughout the world and history. What does God have in store for you and for me?
The first time I blogged I was at the beach. I figured that it was only appropriate while I'm here to rub it in. This is the view from where I'm sitting. Yep...it's 50 degrees at the Oregon Coast and beautiful as ever. Seth and Jesse have joined me on the trip...I'm sure there are more updates to come because we have little to do and we're loving it!
0 Moves 1 New Job 1 Brother married 1 New Sister Added 3 Minor Injuries 8 Years I owned my 1990 Subaru Legacy 1,237,899 times the back of the car squeaked while I drove 201,000 Miles it had on it when I gave it away 3 Times I had my credit card number stolen and used 1 New Vox Amp 1 New Fender Telecaster Guitar 1 Hour Spent Actually Playing Them :) 1 Vacation to the Beach (Grateful bread pancakes!) 1 Trip to Cairo Egypt 150 People that came to Christ in Egypt! 1 Trip to the Fray (Piano rock remember?) 4 Close Friends move away from Bend (Uganda and Nampa represent!) 302 Times I was mistaken for Corey 40 Student Leaders in our first year of the program (rockin' the city) 1 Unfinished Acoustic Project 35 Unfinished Books 1 Finished Backyard 0 Times I was in an epic battle with Ninjas and Warlords
1 Too Many Stats
Blue Ribbon Burgers from Red Robin Bills from the Emergency Room
Highlights
Egypt (watch this video to understand why!!)
The Fray
I'm just really enjoying bands like this right now. I went to their concert in Portland this year with a couple friends and thought it was great! Check out the band MuteMath - they are cool too.
Favorites
Books I was Into:
Searching for God Knows What - Donald Miller Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell Culture Warrior - Bill O'Reilly
Music I was Into:
Jonny Lang** Coldplay Mute Math Hillsong United Thrice Copeland The Fray** Delirious (revisted the old stuff + new) Leeland Keane **bands I saw live!
Ok, that's a mouthful of what happened to me in 2006. What was your favorite part of 2006?
The ground rules: Tell me in "one word descriptions" about a life threatening experience you had. After that include how God brought you through it...for examples look at the comments in the previous post. We'll read some of them next week at 1...8...0! Rock on!
