Bromance

truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFHZv7jGfc&feature=relmfu

The Good Life.

What is it? When the words run across your eyes what do you think of? The good life. The Life. When someone asks, "how ya doing?" And you respond with, "I'm living the life." While your answer may be laced with some humor, what's hidden in that response is what has been driven into us by our culture. Culture, media, the "American Dream" have all told us what this good life is: Get rich, grace yourself with dapper clothes, grab a few honies along the way, drink it up. Basically....live lavishly and get other people to respect you for it.

I find it interesting to be in a position where one year can change a person's financial position in the blink of an eye. One day they are playing collegiate football and barely scraping by, the next they have just signed a 6 figure contract and are playing in what most consider the highest league of all professional sports in the U.S. To put it plainly, they got it made. They are now living the "life" they dreamed about and what our culture has sold us on what life's supposed to be like. Fancy cars, louis vuitton handbags club appearances, large twitter following.

But is that all? Is that right there the life we were created to live? No. Not even close. The true Good Life is this:

John 10:10-11
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have LIFE and have it abundantly.    
                                 How?           


 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." [emphasis added]

Jesus calls us, not to a dour, lifeless, miserable existence that squashes human potential. Let's face it. That's all the world promises. It leaves you broken and destroyed. It kills you. But Christ calls us to a rich, full, joyful life, one overflowing with meaningful activities under the personal favor and blessing of God and in continual fellowship with his people. That's the life I wanna be living. I wanna be livin the Good Life.

Church Clothes

stop what you're doing right now and download Lecrae's new mixtape "Church Clothes". It's his effort to try to hit mainstream hip-hop right where a lot of dudes get their music. His basic message is that God wants us as we are. we don't have to "dress up" to go to church; we can come as we are.

Lecrae says it better: "Don't worry too much about what you wear today. Today is about Jesus getting up. Not us getting dressed up."

free download bros.

http://www.datpiff.com/Lecrae-Church-Clothes-mixtape.348497.html?utm_campaign=piff.me&utm_source=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FGx7DtSRz&h=BAQF1XZdD&utm_medium=piff.me

http://vimeo.com/41011190

check out P-town!

daily bread.

some things are said so well once, there's no point in trying to recreate or respond to. one of my teacher's has a blog and his latest post was exactly that for me. so here it is, michael bruner's post on any average day: 

"A pretty ordinary day today. Went to church ~ preached, actually ~ and witnessed 3 baptisms, served the Eucharist to about 100 people, and came home exhausted afterwards to watch some basketball on TV. Then went to my aunt’s and uncle’s to celebrate my birthday. Big 47. We ate 7-layer dip, drank some wine and sparkling cider, ate some tasty chicken, blew the candles out atop a chocolate cake, opened some presents, told old worn-out stories to each other that we’ve heard a million times, then piled in the car to come back home. My wife jumped in the shower with our baby boy, then with our daughter, while I got the birds in, fed the dog, and put away the day’s detritus. Then put my son to bed, gave my daughter her nightly hug, and listened to my wife fall asleep with our little girl after reading her a story and lying quietly next to her. An ordinary day.

And yet…

A pretty extraordinary day today. Gathered with God’s people to worship, in fits and starts, for much the same way God has been worshiped for 600 years, and 1400 years before that. Smart doctors, successful lawyers, rich financiers, and long-suffering grandparents all joined in the ruckus, listened to God’s Word broken over the Road to Emmaus story, witnessed the life-changing event of three young lives being committed to the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and prayed to the air expecting a God to overhear our mumblings. Ate the body and blood of the One called Savior, not once but twice ~ and served it, too, on a platter dripping with meaning we’ll never understand. Saw my wife watching me from the back of the sanctuary and wondered what she thought of this man, her husband, up there talking about the inevitability of doubt on the road to faith. Found myself knee-deep in symbolism, felt myself thick in the pull of ancient truths, and saw ordinary people in over their collective heads in the midst of it with me. Then came home in a dizzying spell of existential fatigue, took my own short walk to my Emmaus, then just as quickly rejoined the world in the blood-soaked, heart-rending, humor-filled, time-honored tradition of a family get-together where more wounds have been inflicted and more love suffered together than you can possibly imagine. Then came home to grow old with my family another day, to wash each other, feed each other, hold each other, speak to each other in quick staccato bursts ~ to love each other, in other words, on a day none of us will remember two weeks–much less ten years–from now, and yet it will be precisely because of days like this that we will sob uncontrollably at each others’ many deaths and try to catch that last, dying scent we call love-and-time when they’re rolled up together in an indistinguishable heap of being-ness. And then my house grew silent as my loves each fell asleep, one by one . . . surrendering to the night whatever silences the day had brought. And I found myself alone again, just as I’d awoken, but this time alone with more questions than before. And a day’s more love. And joy and sadness. An extraordinary day."

via http://exfontibus.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/my-daily-bread/

provoking.

went to a seminar last saturday. can you say nerd? but the woman who spoke was so wise. among other things, i found this the most convicting / cool / thought provoking aka i wanna do this.

"now when people ask me, 'megan, how is your day?' i have tried to have a reflex of thinking before i answer, 'it is not mine, it is His. what am i doing with it? am i wasting my breath?' which is only to say that i make a conscious thought to realize that my life is not about me."

i didn't have a recorder so that isn't an exact quote but you get the gist.  it was a really cool perspective on the whole He > i thing.

do with this as you wish.

I Live For This

Lord Hear my prayer:

Luke 18:1-8

It's time to show what I can do. At practice today Coach Phillips and Coach Jones made it clear that I am earning playing time right now. During 7on7 they told me to take 4 reps and rest 2, which is a butt-load. Whoo... I was tired after that, but this entire week I need to make plays. I earn it now, not during Fall Camp. They make their decisions on who plays during the Spring.

"No Pressure No Diamonds"

I've prepared. I'm ready. I just need to make the spectacular ordinary. Every day I need to make a play. Every day I need strength. Lord, I am weak! You are the author and perfecter of my faith. Let me not be put to shame! I believe I'm here for a reason, but sometimes I play tenative. Fill me with your power. Your Holy Spirit, the same one that raised Lazarus from the dead! You are the Giver of Good. My heart isn't living for this life, and I wanna bring as many people with me when this life ends. Show your power. But not my will but YOURS. If it doesn't work out, I will still love You.

Father, hear my prayer.