Over the River and Through the Woods

So Saturday was quite the day. Once again I was required to go from the East Side to the West Side in order to perform. It started at church for regular services. Maury put together a big band for worship. It was a blast! I got to play baritone sax. Bari is my favorite instrument to play. :) I just wish I'd gotten pictures, but alas, I failed to ask someone to take them for me. We decided to call ourselves the "One Rehearsal Band" since that's all we had, was one rehearsal the night before. It went well though, and the congregation seemed to enjoy the new experience (I did hear from those who did not, but I assured them, that it was not going to happen again for a long time, because of the work involved in pulling it off. I am grateful though to Maury for setting it up. Many of the musicians were professionals, in other words, they get paid to play. But Maury managed to get them all to volunteer! That's a tremendous feat. Many pros will insist on being paid. Not all of them were believers either, and we were all given a copy of the Jesus Film as a thank you gift, so this was also a great outreach. I've always thought music was a good way to get people into church).

So once worship was over, I didn't even stay for the sermon. I jetted out of there, so I could be in Beaverton by 7:30. I mad it in plenty of time, and even got to sit out in the sun for a little while before going in to play. This time, I played flute with the flute choir I belong to. Then I finaly went home. I didn't get in too late though, and slept well. Good thing, since I had High Ground in the morning.

I picked up Murray, and headed to church. Dave Stout spoke at High Ground. He has issued a challenge to all the men to share Christ with someone this week. Why does God always have to put what you say to the test? (see previous post) It's as if He thinks actions speak louder than words or something. Gee wizz.

So I played again for services, and then went to my friend Andrea's house. We then headed back to church together, and worked the coffee bar for the Columbia Symphony concert. By then, I was exausted. We went back to her house and took her dog for a walk, and then had dinner, and then I went home and crashed. Hard.

It was a good weekend though. Monday I finaly got my room clean!!!!!!!!

Oh, update on the job search. It decided to turn down the job at Starbucks. The more I prayed about, the less peace I had about taking the job. Now I'm pretty well at rest with the decision. I realized that I had not sought God in the beginning of this process, and just went off and did my own thing, expecting God to bless me somewhere along the line. That...uh...doesn't work. So I'm going to stop for now, and just spend the days ahead praying. Relying on His strength has been a weak point in my life the past several months, and that needs to change if I'm ever going to be free from where I am now. I am at peace with the decision to leave where I work. I think God has made that clear. I just need to trust Him with the right place to begin again.

Special Olympics, round one is coming up this Saturday. I'll be in Kelso reffing soccer games. Please pray that I will get enough volunteer refs. I don't have enough right now to cover all the games. I need at least six to eight in order to be effectively covered.

Oh, the quotes I got were from Stu's Four Pillars book, and S.D. Gordon came from "Quiet Talks on Prayer"

On a side note, I decided to start sending back those credit card offers with the FPU letter inside. I'm tired of the recycle bin piling up with them, so I figured why not make them deal with it?

Crossroads

I read the first chapter of one of Stu's books several weeks ago, and this paragraph, and in particular, the last sentence has stuck with me:

"As I look back on my life, I have to conclude that was the day I became a man. Turning twenty-one hadn't done it. A college degree hadn't done it. Even marriage hadn't made me a man. Nor having a son. Nor getting jump wings. Nor winning the Ranger tab. Nor wearing the Green Beret. But when I decided to follow Christ without reservation, I became a man."

So I've come to that point in my life. The critical crossroads that all believers face at some point in their walk with the Lord. Some come to it sooner than later, but we all come to it sooner or later. With the many different issues and responsibilities pressing in on me from what seems like all sides, I have to make a decision. Am I following Christ without looking back?

This may sound like an easy question on the surface, but I've learned that it is anything but. I can look at people around me who have come to this same crossroads, and chosen to go their own way. They may still be walking with the Lord, but they're holding back for one reason or another. I've been holding back for one reason or another. I keep allowing other things in life get in the way of taking a hard look at myself and see what parts of my life I have not surrendered to Christ. So I return to the question: am I ready to become a man? Am I ready to decide to follow Christ without reservation before the issue is forced upon me?

Sometimes I think changing my career will do it. This is only a temperary fix though. If I'm not walking with Christ in every aspect of my life, then I'll just fall back into the same old patterns. I could also step away from one or two of what seems like the miriad of responsibilities I have. This will still have the same result in the end. There are many other possibilities that could solve my problem for a little while on the outside, but unless, and until I choose to let the Holy Spirit change me on the inside, they will all ultimately fail to bring about any substantive difference in my life.

It may sound like I've made up my mind already. I could boldly proclaim that I'm going to follow Christ without reservation. But I know me. I know the times I've been confronted with the choice to go the right way, or do the right thing, and have failed to do so because it was "too difficult" for one reason or another. What makes me think that this time won't be different? There is a coward lurking inside this heart of mine. He pops up at the most unexpected, and inconvenient, times and begins a war inside me. Unfortunately, he often prevails. But why? I can go out on a soccer field as a referee, and make some pretty gutsy calls, and make very difficult and often unpopular decisions without a second thought because I know it's the right thing to do. Why can't I do the same in my Christian walk?

I will present one answer here. It comes from S.D. Gordon:

"...you must first win the victory, every step...every foot of the way, in secret, in the spirit-realm, and then add the mighty touch of your personality in service. You can do more than pray, after you have prayed. But you can not do more than pray until you have prayed. And just there is where we have all seemed to make a slip at times, and many of us are yet making it--a bad slip. We think we can do more where we are through our service: then prayer to give power to service. No--with the blackest underscoring of emphasis, let it be said--NO. We can do no thing of real power until we have done the prayer thing."

I know that I just talked about changing my career, but I am still in the process of doing that. I just got offered a job with the Starbucks is Canby. I really need to be able to work elseware in order to take this job and step out of the one I have now, but I'm tempted, very tempted, to just step out anyway, and line something up later. Am I willing to step out of my current job without a net? Am I willing to risk a financial struggle simply to improve my work environment? What if this is exactly what Jesus is calling me to do? With that said, I redirect your attention to the above quote, and ask myself if I will begin again to devote myself to stretching into the spirit realm and call upon God for guidence, in this, the most significant decision I've had to make since I chose to move down here.

So other than that, I had a pretty normal week. ;)

Wild Ride

What a weekend! It was so full, that I didn't even get pictures! Of course the whole problem was that I ran out the door without putting my memory card in my camera. So, you will simply have to read about my journey. It started at about 7:00am when I took off for church to have a rehearsal for worship that night. Rehearsals with Bruce are the coolest. I can't think of anyone I've ever met who is more patient with people. I rehearsed with Sarah Pyne and Julie Reed. Both of whom are far more proficient at their instruments than I am at mine (they play violin and flute respectively). It was a lot of fun.

We got done at 9:30, and I dashed from the church on my way to Aloha High School for the annual Flute Fair trade show. I got there just in time to start warming up. We played for about 45 minutes and then it was my turn to volunteer for an hour. With that done, I got to go play on some really neat (and REALLY expensive) flutes. One that I played on was a solid gold flute! If you want it, it only costs $15,000!!! And that was on special!! Oh, well, at least I can say I played on one. I did make a serious effort to find some kind of accessory to buy to make my flute playing life easier, but alas, I found nothing, and left empty handed.

So I jetted out of Aloha at about 2:15. I had to be back at church by 3:00. Right. That didn't happen, but I did manage to make it back to church. Then I played for worship (oh yeah, all this time, there was this icky feeling in the back of my throat that would not go away, and got progressively worse as the day went on).

After service, I went to Jodie's for One Point Three. We had a lady named Erica Irvine from Portland Rescue Mission. She was actually inspiring. I think a lot of people are pretty excited about helping out down there. I know I am. The thought of teaching people gets me excited, and apparently there are lots of opportunities to do so. Plus, doing things as a group to reach out in Christ's name is also pretty neat. Please pray for God's guidence, and for continued momentum to carry us over that initial hump of just getting started. My buddy Murray has done a great job in getting the group involved in this! I'm proud of the guy. He stepped up to the plate and put the ball into play, and that's what you really need from some one is to just get the ball into play.

Sunday was great. I went out to lunch with friends to celebrate Amy's and Sean's birthdays that are both happening this week. I did manage to get those pictures:







Amy is trying on her new reading glasses! Carrie's future is much too bright for her to bear.












Matt's never been the same since he tried on the glasses











You can tell Sean's getting old, he needed the glasses just to read the menue ;)















Amy decided she preffered this pair instead.













So she gave her glasses to me...hmm.