Giveaway
I like playing guitar. I’ve been playing in church for about six years. I play electric and acoustic. Electrics are fun to play because there’s an amazing amount of pedals, amps, and gizmos you can use to alter your sound and play with your tone. Acoustics, on the other hand, aren’t given that kind of attention. Probably because most acoustics sound great out of the box.
I found this little acoustic pedal a couple of years ago being sold as a refurb. It’s super fun to play with and I especially like messing around with the step-phaser. I’ve since upgraded to another acoustic multi-effects pedal and thought, rather than selling it on eBay, I’d give it away to one of my blog readers.
I know you’ll enjoy playing with this and crafting your own sounds as you go. It even has a built in tuner!
All you have to do for a chance to win this pedal is leave a comment about how you’ll use it (At church? In a band? Practice?) and then hit that little retweet button on the left.
I’ll be announcing the winner in a blog post at the end of the week so stay sharp or you might miss it 🙂
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Christ Following, prayer
Another edition of Tozer Tuesdays, prayers from his book The Pursuit of God
They have profoundly impacted me and I hope they challenge and move you as you pray them too.
Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, “Speak, for Thy servant heareth.” Let me hear thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that it’s tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice.
Amen
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Christ Following, life, Love, Social Media
This is my friend Shelby. She frequently visits the shelter I help at. I met her there last Christmas when my family and I went to go help serve Christmas dinner. She usually wears sunglasses and a cute hat. I’ll join her towards the end of lunch and she’ll tell me what the squirrels say when she drinks her coffee in the park. She also shares about her daughter in New Mexico, her kittens, and the life she once knew a long time ago.
Yesterday, she approached me and asked if I would pray for her. She said she was on day 5 of her “new life”. She couldn’t tell me what her new life was all about or what it entailed but she knew that she needed a new life and that she couldn’t live it without a little help. I was honored to sit next to her and say a prayer.
I have to admit, I wonder why she asked me. We’ve never really talked about faith before. Most of the time I just sit and listen. When I’m not sitting with her, I’m usually helping participants fill out assistance forms or hauling bags of dog food for our pet assistance program. It’s not like I wear a t-shirt that says “Licensed Minister” and I know she’s never read my blog.
The only conclusion I can make is that maybe all that sitting, listening, smiling, and serving has made an impression that no amount of preaching, shoulder patting, scripture quoting, or advice giving could ever make.
Whatever the reason, I’m glad she asked me to pray and I’m still praying that her “new life” continues on to day 6, day 7, 8, 9, 10 and keeps on going.
life
This is a picture of my writing teacher. Her name is Ms. Hoeltzner. It’s not a very good picture because we’re not supposed to have our phones out in class.
The thing about Ms. Hoeltzner is that she doesn’t teach writing. She PREACHES it! She’s passionate about the subject and I love it. There’s just something about passionate people that draws me in and stirs up interest in whatever it is they’re talking about.
I remember the first time I ever watched Steve Irwin on television. Previously I had no interest in wildlife, but I soon wanted to adopt every animal in the zoo.
That’s the power of passion. It moves people, compels them, and awakens something inside them they didn’t know was there. Passion is vital to anyone who desires to lead, inspire, or effectively communicate.
So do me a favor. Why don’t you tell me about one person who’s passion has motivated you. Just tell me about them in the comments section below.
Oh, by the way, Ms. Hoeltzner told me today that she thinks I’m a really good writer. It really meant a lot to me 🙂
Christ Following, prayer
Before I saw the light… er… switched to Mac, I used to build my own computers. Yep, I loved to pick all the right components and put together a rig that was raw power. One that could edit videos without a hiccup or play any game I could throw at it. Sure it was time consuming and frustrating at times but the satisfaction of putting together a real hot rod of a machine was worth it.
Consequently, when you’re the guy in the family with the nerd skills, your phone often rings with questions from family members about which computer to buy. Usually my computer shopping relative would already have a machine in mind that was a ripper, a real Cadillac of a PC and they just wanted to know what I thought about it. 100% of the time I would ask the question, “What are you going to do with it?” and, most of the time, the answer would be, “You know, play Solitaire, check my email.”
That would be where I had to fight back that queasy feeling in my stomach. You know, that feeling that makes me want to yell, “Are you kidding me?! You want to fork over a thousand bucks so you can play Solitaire? Why don’t you just buy a deck of cards?! Don’t you know all the cool things you can do with that computer? What a waste!”
PCs aren’t the only thing suffering from the syndrome of massively unused potential. One trip to the iPhone app store and you’ll find that the top selling apps are simple games like Tetris and Angry Birds. You can run a business, edit video, and explore earth from satellites in space on the iPhone but people prefer to play “Plants Vs. Zombies”.
It makes me wonder if this phenomena isn’t spilling into our faith. The life Jesus says he came to give us (John 10:10) is life, abundantly, to the fullness, rich and satisfying! So why does “abundant life” seem to be the exception rather than the rule? Why do so many believers I know still struggle with the same baggage they did before they were saved? Why is Christianity for so many just a list of things they shouldn’t do and a series of weekly meetings they must attend? It’s no wonder countless Christians eventually give up, coast, or drop out. What’s the deal? If God is making this awesome life available to us, then why are so many satisfied with just playing Solitaire?
I have a couple ideas about this. In Philippians 3:8 Paul calls knowing Christ his “infinite value”. Some translations read “surpassing greatness”, “best thing of all”, and my favorite “nothing is as wonderful“! Allow me to give you the Lee Bezotte translation to this, “Abundant life comes from knowing Christ.” But wait, there’s more! “knowing Christ comes through prayer.” There, I said it and now I feel better! Christianity without prayer is like playing Solitaire on a 12-Core Power Mac. You’re wasting all the good stuff!
It’s prayer that brings us into relationship with Jesus! It’s not a homework assignment or another thing to check off our discipline list. It’s an invitation to connect with our creator! Who wouldn’t want that?!
OK, I’m about to wrap up but I just want to add one more thing. Many times, when my relative’s computer would arrive, I’d go over to their house and help them get all set up. When I did, I’d take a few minutes to show them all the cool things their new computer would do. Their eyes would get bigger and I could see the light bulbs going on over their heads. They never knew! But when I showed them, it got them excited about using their new computer to it’s full potential. I think most believers never get to that “life abundantly” because no one ever shows them it can be so incredible. If we’re going to have praying churches, then we have to have praying pastors. If believers are to know what a “rich and satisfying life” looks like, it needs to be modeled for them.
So where are you? Have you discovered the “best thing of all”? or are you just playing Solitaire?
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