A Letter...

I went on a retreat with my church this weekend and had a great time. I have to admit that when the announcement was made that we were going to go to the Orange Beach, AL instead of some place near Florence, I was not really excited. To be honest, I really didn't want to go. I just don't get into beaches much. But I committed to go, so I was going to stick to my word. Then I come down with this cold and felt so bad that I still almost backed out. But, I decided to tough it out and go anyway. I'm so glad that I went.

I rode down with my friends Beau Mosley, Josh Weldon, and Whitney Weldon. Beau actually is related to some of my friends from Jasper. Josh's landscaping company does the work at the place I work. Whitney competes for Miss Alabama. This is her last year to do it, because she ages out. We left Friday evening around 5pm, stopped in Prattville and got some dinner, and arrived in Orange Beach around midnight. It was late and I was exausted so I went straight to bed.

Woke up Saturday and had three sessions. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and then one later on that night. The afternoon session was my favorite. We touched on the topic of when and where we feel closest to God. Ted, our young adult pastor, used Psalm 8 as a reference. We broke down in groups of four and he asked us to read Psalm 8 and rewrite it or say what it means to us. We could do anything, make a song, draw a picture, or just rewrite it. My group chose to keep true to the form of Psalms and kinda make a more modern day letter out of it. I wanted to share what we came up with, because I thought it was awesome. And, it was a lot of fun.

Psalm 8 in the NIV looks like this:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of you enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of you hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

OK, here's what we wrote. (Remember, in the form of a letter.)

God,

Check it. You rock! Kids praise you and it ticks people off, but they have to shut up and deal with it. When I look around and check out everything in this world, I try to figure out why you would care about me, but you do. You bring me to the same level as those who are hanging out with you in heaven and that is real cool. You created this place and gave me the freedom to do what I want to and for that I praise you. Well, peace out, I'll holla at ya in Chapter 9.

Sincerely,
David

P.S. Sorry about Bathsheba.

All of the groups went around the room and shared what they got out of it. Every group was different. It was a really good retreat. Everyone who went got a whole lot closer and our community of friends is stronger for it.

You live and you learn...

It's almost Friday. Thank Jesus for that. This weekend should be a really fun one. The Exit 148 community that I am involved with at church (Clearbranch Methodist) is taking a retreat weekend down to Orange Beach. I think that is in Alabama, not quite sure. I'm more of a Mountain Man, so I'm not up on all the beaches and stuff. Just Panama City and Jacksonville Beach, Florida because that is the only two that I have ever visited.

I've always heard the expression "Life is funny" and it really is. I've got this friend whom I am worried about. I am worried about this person because I feel like she is in the same situation that I was in about 2 years ago. I was dating a person, who at the beginning was great, and we had lots of fun together. Then, I graduated from college (UNA) and things got tough. I moved about an hour a half away and things became quite difficult. Sacrifices had to be made. Things like conversations over the phone and me driving to Florence to see this person. These are all things that I wanted to do. I felt like the sacrifice was worth it.

However, as months went by the relationship became really unstable. More fights, more problems, less compromise, and less trust for one another. Friends and family began telling us both that we should get out of the relationship and just be friends. But did we listen, nope. We're adults now and we can handle our own problems. The truth is that we should have listened to our friends and family and saved ourselves a lot of hurt.

My friend, in my opinion, is in this similar situation. In this particular relationship, she drives to where he is at. My group of friends never see this girl anymore, because she is doing all the work. Me, attempting to be a gentleman, disagree with this totally. The guy should be coming to Birmingham to see her. This girl that I am talking of used to hang out with my group of friends all the time and now we rarely see her. There is always some reason why she can't go or simply because she is driving to see this guy. It is frustrating for us all. Now I see what my friends were going through when I was the one in this story.

The dilemma for me is; how do I tell my friend without getting her mad at me or invoking that "I know what's best for me" attitude that I had when my friends would try to talk sense into me. I carry the opinion that I don't really care if she ditches me or not, but some of my friends are really upset about it. I guess I just don't want to see this person go through the same stuff that I went through. Really, it is almost the exact situation that I was in. Anyway, that is that. I just felt like I needed to get that off my chest.

I'm battling a cold at the moment, so I think I am going to get some sleep and try to get better. One Love...

And I'm Off...

Well, this is new. My very first blogspot thing. I'm kinda stoked about it and I'm not sure if that makes me a dork or what, but I really don't care. You might have read some of my blogs on myspace and if so, this blog site will take the place of that. So, welcome.

Can I just say right out of the gate that my weekend rocked. I spent Friday night and Saturday in Nashville with a good friend of mine Kelly Simmons. Kelly and I went to UNA together and she was one of the loyal ATO ladies who just flat out rocks. Anyway, my friend Kenny Bozich is in a band called The Almost (www.myspace.com/thealmost) and they played a show at The Anchor. At this show, I got to meet one of the best drummers on the planet Aaron Gillespie (the red headed kid). Aaron created The Almost and plays guitar and sings lead vocals in the band. Kenny was nice enough to get Kelly and I in for free and we hung out before the show. Nashville is officially my new 2nd Favorite Place. Second to, of course, Birmingham.

To the real point of this blog. Lately, I have totally neglected my quality time with Jesus. I was doing good there for a while. I was really into reading Donald Miller. Not that reading books makes me any better of a Christian, but I was growing in my faith and that is all that matters. However, the last couple of weeks with the holidays and stuff, I have neglected reading anything. This Sunday at church my pastor, who is amazing, preached a message on The Cross and God starting moving in me. He made me realize that I had been ignoring Him. Tonight, I finally hit my face and listened to Him.

I put the iPod on a worship playlist and just spent some time in quiet worship and prayer. And thru some advice from my friend Ted, I began to read Galatians. Here's what I got.

It amazes me tha tI am so much like the people Paul is talking to in Galatians 1:6. I am so constantly turning and going in the opposite direction of the very God who rescued me. I place my hope in other gospels: MUSIC (big one), money, and even my great group of friends. And like Paul says these aren't gospels at all, but simply perversions of the truth. These things in their pure form are not too terribly bad, matter of fact, they are stinkin awesome. But my selfish pride makes them my own worst enemy sometimes. In other words, these things will not bring me peace. I heard Pastor/Teacher Harry Reeder talk about not getting the complete peace of God today on the radio. I don't want to miss out.

I also love how Paul asks in v. 10 "Am I trying to win the approval of men, or of God?". I wake up everyday and try to win God's approval. I think that is probably the desire of every Christian that I know. However, I do a lot of things simply to impress people. I do them with the best intentions, but are these intentions the will of God. I think I have to constantly ask myself that in order to keep in check with what He wants for my life.

God revealed Himself to Paul in such an awesome way. It was an absolute revelation. I wonder how I would react if Christ, God, The Father showed up in that magnitude. Yes, I believe it can happen. However, at this point in my life and spiritual walk I may not be ready for it. I have to ask myself the uncomfortable question: Are there things (perverse gospels) that are in the way of God.

The Gospel of Jesus is not something that man made up. I cannot receive it from any man. It can only be received by a revelation from Jesus Christ. And there it is, I have received revelation. God's grace is my saving revelation. Now, I just have to live like it. What do you think?

One Love...