Hosea 4:12

Some thoughts from my morning devotional:

My people inquire of a piece of wood,and their walking staff gives them oracles.For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,and they have left their God to play the whore. (Hosea 4:12)

God depicts the idolatry and adultery of Israel and their chasing after false gods as inquiring of a piece of wood and receiving oracles from a walking staff. We look at Israel and the people of this time and think "How stupid could they be?" But we are guilty of far more. We have the full counsel of God before us. We have the Old and New Testaments. And yet we inquire of psychologists, talk show hosts, horoscopes, and advice columns. We may not seek after pieces of wood, but we seek after that which is not God and we lend biblical authority to them to tell us right from wrong. To tell us how to act, what to say, and even what to think. And we do so because within us is a spirit of whoredom. We have turned from God and gone astray. Jeremiah 2:13 says that we have committed two evils. We have turned from the fountain of livng water (God) and hewn out for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. And because we have forsaken our God - the only one who can satisfy us - we drink the sand and call it refreshing. We are the fools. We are the whores. Father, forgive us. Forgive our land. Forgive the people. Forgive me. I have turned from you so many times and sought for answers from that which cannot satisfy. Turn me again by whatever means necessary.

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." (Psalm 27:4)

Come, let us return to the Lord.

A new season began...

...and then it ended just as quickly. If you're one of my facebook friends you might have noticed that my relationship status went from being in a relationship a little over a week ago to going back to being single yesterday. I thought I would use my blog to give a little insight (but not too much) into what happened over the last week or so. About 10 days ago I started dating a great Christian girl. We had been friends for a long time and I liked her and she liked me so we decided to try it out and see where God would take us. In my opinion anyway, we went about it maturely. I talked to her parents. We involved an older, godly couple to keep us accountable. And we went about it seriously, but not too seriously. But, after a week-and-a-half, it wasn't working like it should have. We both wanted to remain friends, but we realized that it wouldn't work out in a relationship at this time. So, we're still good friends, but I am no longer in a relationship. To be honest, it's a little weird for me. But God knows what He's doing and he has a plan for both of us and I know that this is the best. So anyway, I thought I would share with you a little of what has been going on in my life in regard to that.

Coming soon: I just got back from a mission trip to Washington D.C. with my youth group and I'll share some of what God is doing in my life through that.

LIfe comes at you fast...

Sometimes a lot faster than I thought it would. Last Saturday one of my best friends, Jeremy, got married to a beautiful girl named Stacey. It was my privelege to be one of the groomsman. I can honestly say that it was the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen. I haven't seen many, mind you. But of the ones I have seen, I have yet to see a more Christ-centered wedding. It included testimonies of both of their faiths from their closest friends. The vows were perhaps the most beautiful I have ever heard (they were a variation on I Cor. 13 - simply beautiful and amazing). And then they followed those up with communion. While I stood there I couldn't help but be blown away by God. Jesus Christ is our groom and we are his beloved bride. In order to win his wife, Jesus partook of the cross and all its suffering and shame and he sacrificed himself in order to make us his own. Our weddings are but a pale shadow of the awesome love and sacrifice that Jesus has and made for us. We are his bride!!! He has won us and loves us with a love beyond all understanding and comprehension! He gave himself for us as the Lamb of God and he will fight for us as the Lion of Judah. I am my beloved's and he is mine! I have loved seeing Jeremy and Stacey's relationship and how Christ-centered they both are and how much their wedding showed that.

Beyond that, life continues to change for me. My role at Christ Community continues to change and develop. I don't know if I announced it here, but I have given up the Sunday morning duties of being a youth leader. I still teach on Wednesday nights and lead a small group of seventh grade boys, but the Sunday morning instruction has been passed from me to my friends Rex and Jessica Griffin. I'm actually really happy for this. Because of our Sunday format, we only have about half-an-hour for the youth and we are using for sermon application. Due to the fact that we combine youth groups with Wasatch church on Wednesday nights the Christ Community parents wanted to have seperate events from time to time with just the CCC youth. I wasn't the guy for that job, so, with the approval of my pastor and others, I have passed that to Rex and Jessica. So far, it has really turned out well. We are both enjoying and growing in our roles and can work with our particular giftedness and don't have to go outside that. However, that means more work for me in other areas of the church. I recently wrote a position paper for my pastor, Tom, supporting the vision he has for starting a charter school. If you guys are interested in my reasons for it I would be happy to e-mail it to you. Just leave a comment indicating that. And now, Tom's next assignment for me is to help him develop a Member's covenant for the church and work on a new member's class. I agreed to it (about an hour ago) and I'm starting to realize that this is going to be a lot of work, especially if we try to make it a relatively short course (like 4-6 weeks).

The other big change for me is something that I have to keep under wraps right now, but if it happens it will greatly impact how I go about planting a church. It's really exciting stuff, but unfortunately I will have to leave you with that. Nothing has been nailed down so I need to keep it pretty quiet. Hopefully I will be able to say more about it in the near future.

Anyway, with everything going on my heart and mind and energies have been going a million different directions at a hundred miles per hour and I'm still without a job. So I would appreciate all the prayer you can muster for me. I need humility, work, and a continued focus on Christ and his work on the cross. Apart from him, I have nothing, I am nothing, I do nothing. May God bless you and keep you and cause his face to shine upon you and give you peace.