Pick up the phone!

Man I think I blew a gasket last night at Genesis!  If you were there then  you know that I went off for a few minutes.  But I have to tell you I'm not sorry!  Sometimes we need to get mad about somethings.  I like to call it "Righteous Anger"!  

If you weren't at Genesis last night, I had rigged a Bible up so that I could fit a cell phone inside of it.  The message was called God on Hold.  I was talking about the Bible being the Word of God and that He was wanting to talk to us and that we have Him on hold.  So during the service the Bible started to ring and it impacted me more than I thought that it would.  It messed me up! "Can you believe it?  God is wanting to talk to us and we have Him (God, Master of the Universe) on hold".  Just thinking about it makes me type even harder!  I must have some issues:)  Anyways,  If it was your first time there, come back I'm not always like that.  To the rest of you I'm reminding you to pick up the phone! 

 That is why the Lord says,

      “Turn to me now, while there is time.

   Give me your hearts.

      Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,

      but tear your hearts instead.”

   Return to the Lord your God,

      for he is merciful and compassionate,

   slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

      He is eager to relent and not punish.

 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,

      sending you a blessing instead of this curse.

- Joel 2:12-14

This morning I was studying in the book of Joel and these verses jumped out at me and here is why.  

1. While there is time - We all think that we will make changes in our life later.  Unfortunately we may not have a later, today may be it so why wait.  Stop setting on the bench and get into the game.
2. Don't tear you clothing in grief but tear you hearts instead - God isn't impressed by our emotional games or even our spiritual games what he wants is a broken and repentant heart.
3. Return to the Lord for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and full of unfailing love! He is EAGER to relent and not punish! - Enough said!
4. Who knows?  Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of a curse. - This is what excited me, I always feel like the worst is going to happen when I sin.  I feel like God might just be so ready to give me exactly what I deserve but I love that statement - A blessing instead of a curse. Way cool!!!!

Middle of the night

Some times I wake up in the middle of the night and can not go back to sleep and it drives me crazy!  My mind starts going all over the place - work, the kids, my favorite food, puppies and stick people (?).  So I'll start counting sheep or anything to make my mind stop so that I can go back to sleep and most of the time it just does not work.  Next I'll most likely go for the Tylenol PM and wait for it to kick in.  SOMETIMES and I mean sometimes, I'll start to pray!  I'll pray for everyone and everything that I can think of.  I keep praying till I have peace or until O fall asleep.  If I'm feeling like something is really wrong then I will wake Tracy up and have her join me in prayer until whatever is keeping me awake goes away.  This can be 5 minutes or up to 2 hours.  Then there is one other thing that I try when these don't work, I get quite and listen.  I try to calm my brain and I say "God, this is your servant Rodney, speak I'm listening."  and then I wait.  Every now and then I'll turn on the light beside my bed and get out my journal and write down what I feel like what God is telling me.  I have never had Him physically talk to me I but I do feel like He awakens things inside of me that are from Him and only time will tell If it was Him or not.  Sometimes I feel as if He is convicting me of something and I'll repent of that. Other times, He will bring someone to my mind and I'll pray over them.  I have picked up the phone and called them (which freaks them out when I tell them that God woke me up to pray and He gave me their name).

I don't know why your reading this blog but maybe it's in the middle of the night and you can't sleep and there may be a reason for it.  So stop surfing the web and turn off your computer and still your mind and ask God if He just might be tying to talk to you.  You never know?

Worship

Worship at Genesis this past Tuesday night was amazing. I was sitting in the back doing the powerpoint and it was awesome to see how many people raised their hands and gave everything to God. For me, it was a confirmation of why we do what we do at Genesis. Bottom line is we need to bring people closer to God. It is so rewarding to see someone surrender their lives go Him with no reservations. Worship is a declaration of what we value the most and it needs to be expressed. We need to forget who is next to us or what they might think and focus on God. Praise and worship has always been one of my favorite parts of a service. You really get to see people express what they are feeling at the moment and just give everything to God.

The BIG GIVE!

Oprah has a new show called the Big Give that I think is amazing!  The concept is a little weird because it has contestants that are competing at seeing who can make the biggest impact by giving money and other things away.  I love that the show is challenging the contestants to give big or go home!  I would love to be on that show, not for winning  the prize but so that I could have someone with unlimited funds backing my desire to change the lives of the underdogs. That would be a dream come true.  Maybe if it didn't cost me anything to give something away I might not enjoy it as much though.  I don't know?!  But I love watching the contestants receiving such a rush when the make a hugh difference in peoples lives.  I think that was what Jesus meant when he said it is more blessed to give then to receive.