Followers

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

living for God


Hello again,


How are you all?


i've been thinking about what it means to have God as Lord of your life, its something we throw about, and we sing 'i surrender all to you Jesus,' but i don't think we really get it! i mean what does having God in complete control of your life really look like, i don't honestly know but i would like to find out. We take words like worship, love, holiness, growth and we Churchize them, they no longer become radical words, or life changing words they are limited- we sing songs and that is worship, but worship isn't just singing songs, in fact i think that is just a small part of what worship really is, its about living a life of worship- but what does that look like, i don't know! how do you make every breath you take worship, that probably comes with getting to know God and what he really is like. we tend to have a really small view of God, or we focus on one aspect of him and forget about everything else, and because of this we can't really wworship him with our lives, our view of who God is really needs to be bigger. which means our view of ourselves needs to be smaller. but how does this happen? Look at Isaiah or Paul and their lives where completely transformed because they had a vision of God- they didn't want anything other than him once they caught a glimpse of him, i would love for that to happen. But until that time i need to look for God in the things around me, enjoy his creation, look for him in the people i meet, and of course explore him and get to know him through the bible. this will lead to more of God, it will lead to a radically different life, one where i am smaller and God is bigger. i think also that i need to start really serving people, i mean really serving them, putting them before any of my own selfish ambition, i mean like Jesus when he washed the disciples feet- a true example of humility, but its a true example of radical love, here was Jesus putting the disciples above himself, its a true example of worship- by serving these men, God was serving God in a true act of worship. i think we can be very selfish in our singing to God, it becomes not about what we give back to God, but what he can give to us, or about the nice feeling we get inside. i'm not saying its a bad thing, but what i am saying is come on, it isn't about us, its about God and glorifying his name, bringing praise to him. Its the same with love, so often we're in it for us, but God asks us to love unconditionaly, to show his love to everyone- Jonah- he had to go to Nineva, he had to show Gods love, much as he didn't want to- he was uncomfortable! and well its the same with us, God asks us to love uncomfortably, when it hurts he wants us to love, when its the unlovely he wants us to love, when its ourselves he wants us to love. why, because he is love, because all these forms of love he gives, and he gives more than we could ever imagine. he loves us, the unlovely, he loves us, even though time and again and we hurt him with our actions, because he loves us no matter what we think about ourselves! Man i wish i could really love like that, i wish i could leave of my selfishness and my own desires, Lord Please help me!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Blogging


so i have decided to enter the world of blogging! do i know what i'm doing? not really, but i'll do it anyway.

i don't know how much i will use my blog, or what i will put into it but i'm sure i'll think of something!

i suppose i could start by saying i now live in Swords, county Dublin, having vacated the beautiful house on Tates ave Belfast; which now has a PS2 with pro evo, i left at the wrong time.

I'm enjoying Swords, its a good change, there is a good beach near by. it can get very lonely down here someties, but that is all part of moving away from pretty much everyone you know. i also at times don't really know what i'm meant to be doing, you see, i took up a job as youth pastor in Swords Baptist which means now i am the youth pastor, but having a title does not mean you know anything about what you're job is, so i'm still finding that out, which is good, but at times frustrating, at other times i just feel lost and other times i think i might actually be doing something useful. i didn't expect it to be easy, i didn't really know what to expect, and i felt completely inadequate for the job, but i'm here now and i feel even more inadequate, which is hopefully a good thing, hopefully it will encourage me to rely on God more and more, and i think it is.

its funny how you normally associate people working in a church as people who have got it all sorted, who know what they are about and know where they are going, but i'm working in a church and i know that i definately do not have it all sorted, and i am a broken person, and i need God to put me together. but i know God wants me in Swords, and if he wants to use me as i am now, in all my brokeness and sin, and if he can use me as i am, well then my God is an awesome God!